cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Is molecular remission the goal of multiple myeloma therapy

The increased number of effective therapies and the wider use of combinations that give deeper remissions have resulted in a reassessment of the goals of myeloma therapy. With the advent of new therapeutic strategies and diagnostic tools, achievement of minimal residual disease (MRD)-negative status has become increasingly important, with some even considering it as the primary endpoint for therapy. The level of MRD that is aimed for is a continuous, rather than an absolute variable, with studies in both transplant-eligible and -noneligible patients showing that the level of MRD achieved is predictive of progression-free survival and overall survival, with an improvement in survival of approximately 1 year for each log-depletion in MRD level. The most widely used methods to assess MRD status include flow cytometry and clonality detection, using next-generation sequencing technologies with sensitivity limits of 1:10-3 to 1:10-6 The timing of when to assess MRD depends on the treatment used, as well as the molecular and cytogenetic subgroup of the myeloma itself. It is also becoming clear that the level of MRD negativity, as well as microenvironmental factors, are important prognostically, including the regeneration of normal plasma cells, and the normalization of the immune repertoire. With advances in antibody-based therapy and immunotherapy, the achievement of stable MRD states is now possible for a significant proportion of patients, and is a prerequisite for myeloma cure.
Space-Time Localization and Mapping

This paper addresses the problem of building a spatiotemporal model of the world from a stream of time-stamped data. Unlike traditional models for simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and structure-from-motion (SfM) which focus on recovering a single rigid 3D model, we tackle the problem of mapping scenes in which dynamic components appear, move and disappear independently of each other over time. We introduce a simple generative probabilistic model of 4D structure which specifies location, spatial and temporal extent of rigid surface patches by local Gaussian mixtures. We fit this model to a time-stamped stream of input data using expectation-maximization to estimate the model structure parameters (mapping) and the alignment of the input data to the model (localization). By explicitly representing the temporal extent and observability of surfaces in a scene, our method yields superior localization and reconstruction relative to baselines that assume a static 3D scene. We carry out experiments on both synthetic RGB-D data streams as well as challenging real-world datasets, tracking scene dynamics in a human workspace over the course of several weeks.
Integrating Parallel Computing in Introductory Programming Classes: An Experience and Lessons Learned

Parallel and distributed computing (PDC) has become ubiquitous to the extent that even common users depend on parallel programming. This points to the need for every programmer to understand how parallelism and distributed programming affect problem solving, teaching only traditional sequential programming is no longer sufficient. To address the rapidly widening gap between emerging highly-parallel computer architectures and the sequential programming approach taught in traditional CS/CE courses, the Computer Science Department at Tennessee Technological University has integrated PDC into their introductory programming course sequence. This paper presents our implementation efforts, experience and lessons learned, as well as preliminary evaluation results.
Vitamin D and respiratory infections in infants and toddlers: a nutri-shine perspective

There is compelling evidence of a global problem of poor vitamin D status in expecting mothers and postnatal life; and even more critical, is the evidence showing the association of vitamin D deficiency with increased morbidity and mortality risks from respiratory infections. Viral and bacterial pneumonia kills more children than any other illness, accounting for 19 % of all deaths in children less than five years of age worldwide; and under-nutrition, which includes vitamin D insufficiency/deficiency, has been implicated in 53 % of all these deaths. Poor vitamin D status is a result of insufficient sunlight exposure and/or poor dietary intake. Greater understanding of the role of vitamin D deficiency in precipitating lung infections grew from the use of rodent models and observational and intervention studies in infants and toddlers. Vitamin D adequacy is important to maintaining the key protective mechanism of developing lungs since it mediates the synthesis of antimicrobial peptides, the lungs strongest defense against viral and bacterial pathogens. If vitamin D intervention currently under study in several clinical trials is proven successful, then implementation of new fortification practices, revised guidelines for healthy sun exposure and public health programs for vitamin D supplementation of pregnant/lactating women and their infants may be effective strategies to aide in preventing neonates and children under five from developing pneumonia. Globally, there is potential to save more than a million young lives with preventive treatment, a compelling reason why the efficacy of optimizing vitamin D mediated defense against respiratory pathogens in infants and children merits further study.
Efficacy of orchiopexy by patient age 1 year for cryptorchidism.

AbstractWe evaluated 77 male patients with true cryptorchidism ranging from 2 to 46 months old to determine whether orchiopexy could be performed safely and efficiently, and whether treatment was helpful in patients less than 1 year old. Our results indicate that orchiopexy in patients younger than 1 year is safe, effective and beneficial, and optimizes treatment of this condition.
Rule mining and missing-Value prediction in the presence of data ambiguities

The success of knowledge discovery in real-world domains often depends on our ability to handle data imperfections. Here we study this problem in the framework of association mining, seeking to identify frequent itemsets in transactional databases where the presence of some items in a given transaction is unknown. We want to use the frequent itemsets to predict "missing items": based on the partial contents of a shopping cart, predict what else will be added. We describe a technique that addresses this task, and report experiments illustrating its behavior.
Conicoids: Conic-Like Figures in Non-Pappian Planes

In a Pappian plane of odd characteristic (or odd order) a conic may be defined by a polarity, a projectivity or a second degree equation; the conic (if non-degenerate) is an oval. The extensions of these concepts to non-Pappian planes are not equivalent; we look at the differences. The curve defined by the equation y = x2 over a commutative semi- field does satisfy restricted versions of all these definitions. In many other cases, the restriction of the “concoid” to a Pappian subplane is a conic.
An Early Neolithic Hunting Camp: Jebel Queisa

Given the relatively high density of Neolithic sites in southern Jordan, it is somewhat surprising that a systematic, intensive survey of some 32 km2 within the region recorded only a single occupation. And even this find, the site of Jebel Queisa (J24), represents an ephemeral occupation that most likely served as a hunting camp or vantage spot. The Neolithic horizon at the site is deeply buried under more than a meter of deposit containing Chalcolithic artifacts. The occupation is defined by a concentration of lithic artifacts within a 20 cm thick horizon that is restricted to an area of a little more than 10 m2. The artifact inventory is composed largely of debitage and debris. The small toolkit is dominated by points and casually retouched specimens. The few temporally diagnostic characteristics of the assemblage (i.e., Helwan points, Netiv Hagdud truncation, and opposed platform, naviform-like blade cores) indicate an early Neolithic placement, probably on the order of 9,500 B.P.
Stratifying Thromboembolic Risk: Why Is Your Patient on Antithrombotic Medications?

Utilization of antithrombotic medications is extremely prevalent and may be indicated for a variety of disease states. Additionally, innovation and advancements in pharmacotherapy have increased the number of antithrombotic medications available to prescribers, the combinations of medications utilized, and durations of usage with these therapies. Understanding why patients are on certain antithrombotic therapies and the risks of discontinuing these therapies is a vital component of preparation for dental procedures patients may undergo. This chapter will highlight the most common indications for antithrombotic therapy, suggested medications for each disease state, along with recommended intensity and duration of treatment.
A Clinicopathologic and Molecular Analysis of 34 Mediastinal Germ Cell Tumors Suggesting Different Modes of Teratoma Development.

Mediastinal teratomas are enigmatic; those in children and women are almost invariably benign but in men they may be benign or malignant. There are few data on the chromosome 12p status of mediastinal germ cell tumors (GCT), whereas increased 12p copy number is virtually uniform in malignant testicu
Do singing humpback whales (Megaptera novaengliae) favor specific frequency bands

Many species alter their acoustic signals in response to environmental or anthropogenic factors. Differential use of frequency bands may occur as a result of overlapping biotic and abiotic sounds that interfere with communication signals between conspecifics. Singing humpback whales produce units with frequencies ranging from 30 Hz to over 10,000 Hz, but may favor specific frequency bands during song production. We tested the prediction that singing humpback whales consistently produce units with energy focused in specific spectral bands by measuring the consistency of peak frequency bands in the southeastern Pacific stock G population of humpback whales in the Gulf of Tribuga, Colombian Pacific. Preliminary results document extensive use of units with peak frequencies clustered in two different bands between 300 Hz and 1000 Hz for the dominant theme, and additional peak frequency bands between 300 Hz and 3000 Hz for other song themes. These analyses will allow for further spatial and temporal comparisons across distinct population segments, and can be used in future studies to assess whether singers change their use of frequency bands in response to increased anthropogenic noise or as themes evolve over time.
Computational periscopy with an ordinary digital camera

Computing the amounts of light arriving from different directions enables a diffusely reflecting surface to play the part of a mirror in a periscope-that is, perform non-line-of-sight imaging around an obstruction. Because computational periscopy has so far depended on light-travel distances being proportional to the times of flight, it has mostly been performed with expensive, specialized ultrafast optical systems1-12. Here we introduce a two-dimensional computational periscopy technique that requires only a single photograph captured with an ordinary digital camera. Our technique recovers the position of an opaque object and the scene behind (but not completely obscured by) the object, when both the object and scene are outside the line of sight of the camera, without requiring controlled or time-varying illumination. Such recovery is based on the visible penumbra of the opaque object having a linear dependence on the hidden scene that can be modelled through ray optics. Non-line-of-sight imaging using inexpensive, ubiquitous equipment may have considerable value in monitoring hazardous environments, navigation and detecting hidden adversaries.
Composite Membranes Derived from Cellulose and Lignin Sulfonate for Selective Separations and Antifouling Aspects

Cellulose-based membrane materials allow for separations in both aqueous solutions and organic solvents. The addition of nanocomposites into cellulose structure is facilitated through steric interaction and strong hydrogen bonding with the hydroxy groups present within cellulose. An ionic liquid, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate, was used as a solvent for microcrystalline cellulose to incorporate graphene oxide quantum dots into cellulose membranes. In this work, other composite materials such as, iron oxide nanoparticles, polyacrylic acid, and lignin sulfonate have all been uniformly incorporated into cellulose membranes utilizing ionic liquid cosolvents. Integration of iron into cellulose membranes resulted in high selectivity (>99%) of neutral red and methylene blue model dyes separation over salts with a high permeability of 17 LMH/bar. With non-aqueous (alcohol) solvent, iron–cellulose composite membranes become less selective and more permeable, suggesting the interaction of iron ions cellulose OH groups plays a major role in pore structure. Polyacrylic acid was integrated into cellulose membranes to add pH responsive behavior and capacity for metal ion capture. Calcium capture of 55 mg Ca2+/g membrane was observed for PAA-cellulose membranes. Lignin sulfonate was also incorporated into cellulose membranes to add strong negative charge and a steric barrier to enhance antifouling behavior. Lignin sulfonate was also functionalized on the commercial DOW NF270 nanofiltration membranes via esterification of hydroxy groups with carboxyl group present on the membrane surface. Antifouling behavior was observed for both lignin-cellulose composite and commercial membranes functionalized with lignin. Up to 90% recovery of water flux after repeated cycles of fouling was observed for both types of lignin functionalized membranes while flux recovery of up to 60% was observed for unmodified membranes.
A Conversation Between Nora Volkow and Johannes Czernin

Nora Volkow is internationally recognized for her groundbreaking discoveries of measurable and persistent neurochemical and functional deficits in the brain of the human drug abuser and for her sustained creative efforts to bring scientific rigor and clarity to our understanding of the molecular
Embedded Domain Decomposition Approach for Analyzing Complex Antenna Structures

In this paper, we demonstrate the simulation of a complex antenna model by employing an embedded domain decomposition method. The basic shape of the problem is modeled by a background mesh, while the geometric details are discretized as a set of embedded meshes. With the benefits of the embedded meshes, the modification of one subdomain would hardly affect the discretization and matrix computation of another subdomain. As a consequence, the introduced method offers a high degree of flexibility in modeling and simulation of sophisticated devices, and facilitates moving/replacing/adding geometric components in a background problem straightforwardly.
Short communication: Effects of mammary biopsy in the dry period on activity and feeding behavior of dairy cows.

ABSTRACT In dairy cattle, mammary biopsies are commonly used to study development and function of the mammary gland. The objective of this study was to investigate changes in activity and feeding patterns following the mammary biopsy procedure. Pregnant, nonlactating Holstein dairy cows (20 d before expected calving date) were exposed to either (1) a biopsy procedure, in which a mammary tissue sample (60 × 4 mm in diameter) was obtained from cows (n = 9) using a biopsy tool from the rear left quarter, following administration of a sedative (xylazine, 20 µg/kg of body weight) and local anesthetic (3 mL of lidocaine), or (2) a sham procedure, in which cows (n = 8) were removed from the pen and restrained for a similar duration of time as for the biopsy procedure. Behavior of cows was monitored for 5 d, beginning on the day following biopsy (approximately 14 h after the procedure). Cows were fitted with accelerometers to record daily lying time, lying bout frequency, and lying side. Daily individual feed intake was recorded using the Calan Broadbent feeding system, and feeding time and meal characteristics were determined from a subset of cows (n = 6 per treatment) using a change-of-state data logger to record the times the cows were accessing the feed bunk. Total daily lying time did not differ between treatments [13.9 h/d; standard error (SE) = 0.56], but biopsied cows had more frequent, shorter lying bouts on the biopsied side on d 1 following the procedure (6.67 vs. 4.25 bouts/d, SE = 1.03, and 70.0 vs. 97.0 min/bout, SE = 8.6; left vs. right side), whereas control cows had no side preference. We found no effects of treatment on feed intake and feeding time but, on the first day after treatment, biopsied cows had meals that were more frequent (7.2 vs. 4.6 meals/d; SE = 0.93) and tended to be shorter (28.2 vs. 60.9 min/meal; SE = 11.8) than control cows. In conclusion, we did not detect effects of mammary biopsy on feed intake or lying time during our time frame of observation, but activity patterns were altered, which could be indicative of increased overall restlessness and specific pain in the biopsied quarter.
The Negative Impact of Economic Hardship on Adolescent Academic Engagement: An Examination Parental Investment and Family Stress Processes

Academic success is a strong predictor of adolescent adjustment and subsequent adult social, psychological, and economic well-being. Importantly, research has established a negative relationship between family economic hardship and children’s educational outcomes. Despite being disproportionately represented among the most financially disadvantaged, African Americans remain an understudied group. The current study utilizes a longitudinal study design and prospective data from the Family and Community Health Study (n = 422, 52% girls, average age = 10.5 years at Wave 1), an African American sample, to investigate the impact of economic hardship on adolescent academic engagement by testing explanations offered by two commonly employed perspectives: the parental investment model and family stress model. While both models yielded significant results when tested separately, only the processes specified by the family stress model remained significant in a combined model, demonstrating that it is the superior explanation. By addressing many of the deficits of past research on the parental investment model and family stress model, the study was able to shed new light on the specific pathways by which economic disadvantage exerts an effect on youth outcomes. In doing so, the results question whether potentially middle-class, Eurocentric models (e.g., the parental investment model) are applicable when studying economically distressed African American youth.
A Strategy for Improving U.S. Health Care Delivery - Conducting More Randomized, Controlled Trials.

A Strategy for Improving U.S. Health Care Delivery Despite the prominence of randomized, controlled trials in medical research, they have rarely been used to evaluate health care delivery. But rese...
Preschool Parents’ Perceptions of Early Care and Education Arrangements: A Latent Profile Analysis

Parents make child care decisions based on their existing perceptions of early care and education (ECE) arrangements. Through secondary analysis of the National Survey of Early Care and Education d...
Legal Compliance in Telemedicine

The use of telemedicine is rapidly expanding and can offer valuable new ways in which patients and their healthcare providers can manage healthcare needs. Physicians may wish to offer telemedicine within their practices to established patients, or physicians may wish to join any number of rapidly growing networks that offer patients access to specialists where such access may have been historically limited, due to geography, cost, or other factors. Whatever the driving force behind the desire to explore the use of telemedicine, physicians should be keenly aware of the legal barriers or limitations prior to initiating or expanding the use of telemedicine in delivering medical care to patients.
Strategy simulations: The relationship of technical scores and socio scores

This study investigated the relationship between technical scores and socio scores with one commonly used strategy simulation, Glo-Bus©, filling a gap in the literature. Regression revealed finance...
Social Architecture and the Law

The reputation of American attorneys and of the American justice system has been steadily declining over the last 50 years. Two reasons for this are the loss of civility in the practice of law, and a shifting public understanding of our status from a learned profession to, now, beings Mostly regarded as little more than involved a specialized kind of business. The models of how to make well-structured comparison, and how to examine ritual space, borrowed from religious scholarship, as applied to a closely related legal system, notable for its degree of civility and popular perception as a profession — Great Britain — may illuminate how to address these two problems. Seven enumerated differences between American and British trial craft help foster a greater appearance of civility. The tradition British barrister’s distinctive raiment distinguishes them from laypersons and reinforce status as a learned profession.
Worship and Emotion: Introduction

The joy of a singing a favorite Christmas carol, the happiness of witnessing a baptism, the thrill of trumpets on Easter morning—readers of Liturgy will recognize such positive emotional responses ...
The β-adrenergic receptor blocker and anti-inflammatory drug propranolol mitigates brain cytokine expression in a long-term model of Gulf War Illness.

Abstract Aims Growing evidence suggests that Gulf War Illness (GWI) is the result of underlying neuroimmune dysfunction. For example, previously we found that several GWI-relevant organophosphate acetylcholinesterase inhibitors produce heightened neuroinflammatory responses following subchronic exposure to stress hormone as a mimic of high physiological stress. The goal of the current study was to evaluate the potential for the β-adrenergic receptor inhibitor and anti-inflammatory drug, propranolol, to treat neuroinflammation in a novel long-term mouse model of GWI. Main methods Adult male C57BL/6J mice received a subchronic exposure to corticosterone (CORT) at levels mimicking high physiological stress followed by exposure to the sarin surrogate, diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP). These mice were then re-exposed to CORT every other week for a total of five weeks, followed by a systemic immune challenge with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Animals receiving the propranolol treatment were given a single dose (20 mg/kg, i.p.) either four or 11 days prior to the LPS challenge. The potential anti-neuroinflammatory effects of propranolol were interrogated by analysis of cytokine mRNA expression. Key findings We found that our long-term GWI model produces a primed neuroinflammatory response to subsequent immune challenge that is dependent upon GWI-relevant organophosphate exposure. Propranolol treatment abrogated the elaboration of inflammatory cytokine mRNA expression in the brain instigated in our model, having no treatment effects in non-DFP exposed groups. Significance Our results indicate that propranolol may be a promising therapy for GWI with the potential to treat the underlying neuroinflammation associated with the illness.
Glypicans and cytonemes unite to distribute Wnt ligands

Hu et al. (2021. J. Cell Biol.https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202009082) show that Glypican 4 participates in filopodia-mediated Wnt transport from endoderm to mesoderm in zebrafish embryos to facilitate intercellular communication between germ layers.
Black, Urban, and Trans-National: A Legacy of Scholarship from William E. Nelson, Jr.

This panel will demonstrate how scholarship extends across generations and fields through an examination of the seminal work of Dr. William E. Nelson, Jr., which laid the foundation for research agendas of scholars across the country. Panelists will discuss the ways Dr. Nelson’s work informed their research and how their work extends and refines core concepts, theories, and methodologies in the study of urban and transnational politics for people of color in the United States and around the world.
The Therapeutic Factors Inventory: Development of a scale.

Although Yalom’s (1995) framework of the “therapeutic factors” facilitating outcome in group has been accepted by group specialists, no empirically based instrument assesses all of these factors. The Therapeutic Factors Inventory (TFI), with 11 scales based on the therapeutic factors, has been designed to fill this gap. This article summarizes the development and preliminary reliability testing of the TFI. Each scale of the instrument demonstrated high internal consistency; however, one scale obtained unacceptably low test-retest reliability. Further validity testing is needed. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Not by the Numbers Alone: The Effects of Economic and Demographic Changes on Social Policy

This chapter analyzes the impact of recent economic developments and demographic changes on social policy in the United States. It discusses the effects of globalization on employment and unemployment; the nature, extent, and distribution of poverty; and the growth of income inequality. It then analyzes the effects of major demographic transformations on social policy, with particular emphasis on immigration and internal migration. Through a brief historical overview, it refutes persistent myths about these phenomena and examines the implications of their persistence for contemporary policy. Finally, it briefly discusses other significant demographic trends, including the aging of the population, the impact of multiculturalism, the transformation of families and households, and the effects of depopulation and economic decline on rural areas and metropolitan regions. Welfare reform is used to illustrate the policy dimensions of some of these developments. The chapter concludes by exploring the implications of these trends for future social policy in the United States. Keywords: globalization; poverty; inequality; unemployment; immigration
A state machine approach to reliable distributed systems

In many distributed applications, processes synchronize with one another in a complex way and execute for a long period of time. Atomic transactions are inadequate for designing reliable applications with these characteristics, because transactions restrict the types of synchronization than can be specified. An alternative approach that exploits behavior specified in a hierarchical finite-state machine (FSM) model is proposed. A set of general conditions that ensures the correctness of recovery is identified. These general conditions permit combinations of different types of recovery methods to be used in a recovery. They also enable one to enhance recovery efficiency by exploiting permutation and substitution of operations allowed by the behavior specification. It is shown that existing recovery techniques, including those that exploit application semantics, satisfy these conditions for correctness of recovery. >
Methyl Groups by Reduction of Aromatic Carboxylic Acids with Trichlorosilane‐ Tri‐n‐Propylamine: 2‐Methylbiphenyl

Methyl groups by reduction of aromatic carboxylic acids with trichlorosilane- tri-n-propylamine: 2-methylbiphenyl product: 2-methylbiphenyl product: Toluene product: m-Xylene product: p-Xylene product: Mesitylene product: p-Chlorotoluene product: p-Bromotoluene product: o-Xylene Keywords: reduction, miscellaneous; diethyl ether; hydrogen chloride; trichlorosilane
New Dual Initiators To Combine Quasiliving Carbocationic Polymerization and Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization

New dual initiators, 3,3,5-trimethyl-5-chlorohexyl 2-bromopropionate (IB2BP) and 3,3,5-trimethyl-5-chlorohexyl 2-bromo-2-methylpropionate (IB2BMP), which contain initiating sites for both carbocationic polymerization and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), were synthesized and used to create poly(isobutylene-b-methyl acrylate) (PIB-b-PMA) diblock copolymers. Initiator synthesis involved reaction of methyl 3,3-dimethyl-4-pentenoate with 2 equiv of methylmagnesium bromide, followed by hydroboration−oxidation of the double bond to yield 1,5-dihydroxy-3,3,5-trimethylhexane (DHTMH). IB2BP was synthesized by reaction of the primary hydroxyl group of DHTMH with 2-bromopropionyl bromide, followed by chlorination of the tertiary hydroxyl group with anhydrous HCl. IB2BMP was synthesized analogously using 2-bromo-2-methylpropionyl bromide. Both initiators displayed slow cationic initiation of isobutylene, leading to moderate initiation efficiencies (0.50 < Ieff < 0.80) at low temperature (−70 °C) and low mo...
COGNITIVE CONSISTENCY AND THE PERCEPTION OF OTHERS' OPINIONS

Public opinion researchers are keenly aware of the many areas of ignorance that exist among respondents questioned on relatively simple matters. But how does knowledge of the facts really affect one's opinions? In a pioneering effort the author uses consistency theory to test empirically several hypotheses regarding the relation of knowledge and opinion. Don D. Smith is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the Florida State University, Tallahassee.
Gambling on UG: The Application of Monte Carlo Computer Simulation to the Analysis of L2 Reflexives

This paper introduces two techniques, CD analysis and Monte Carlo simulation, for the graphical representation and statistical analysis of linguistic data. These techniques were developed in the context of L2 Universal Grammar (UG) research on the acquisition of reflexives in order to address two problems: the difficulty of applying traditional correlation measures to more than two data groups, and the limitations of statistical techniques when faced with small sample sizes. These previously unused tools within the research arena of applied linguistics were found to be flexible as well as easy to use and interpret. They also take advantage of recent advances in data-visualization software for the PC. By visualizing and analyzing the emergence of two or more linguistic properties in the interlanguage grammar, these techniques enable the researcher to address the question of whether or not multiple properties associated with one UG parameter or principle emerge in the interlanguage grammar in a manner or sequence consistent with those principles and parameters.
A Note on the Use of Flanders Interaction Analysis

THE MOST common dependent variable used when evaluating the effect of experimental educa tional methods is achievement gain. Pitruzzello (10) has pointed out that many other areas, of equal or even greater importance, should also be evaluated. One of these areas is classroom inter action, the interplay and exchange that take place between teacher and pupil and between pupil and pupil. It is common knowledge that classroom interaction is seldom systematically studied. Many reasons are given for this situation: that an observer in a classroom is an intruder and his presence prevents normal classroom procedure from occurring; that the teacher resents this invasion of her privacy (as do many administra tors) ; and that observers are expensive to train and use. At the same time, research being done in this area suggests that observational schemes are feasible and that the resulting data can be of vital importance in analyzing and improving classroom instruction. The first attempt made to categorize classroom behavior, as is pointed out by Medley and Mitzel in a recent and thorough discussion of classroom interaction (9), was made by supervisors a half century ago (4). More elaborate schemes fol lowed, such as those of Puckett (11), Wrightstone (13), Barr (2), and Medley and Mitzel (8). Two fairly recent interaction models were used extensively by the authors in a two-year study comparing team with self-contained classroom organizations on the elementary level (6). One of these models appeared in 1960 when Lewis, With all, and Newell (7) constructed a communica tion model for the study of classroom interaction ; the instrument, often referred to as the Withall Model, represents a modification of both Bales' Interaction Process Analysis (1) and WithalFs Index of Classroom Climate (12). The other, also appearing in 1960, was Flanders' Interaction Analysis (3). This model (hereafter referred to I as the Flanders Model) is sensitive not only to the events, but (uniquely) also to the sequence of events, taking place in the classroom.
Light absorption at high intensities. Comparison of quantum theory and semi‐classical results

An error in the author's previous treatment of the interaction of an absorber with high intensity light is noted. The correct development of Mower is applied to determine the amplitude of the initial state of the radiation-matter system. Comparison of the quantum theory solution for a damped absorber exposed to a square light pulse with the results of semiclassical theories based on the undamped optical Bloch equations is effected by determining the effective in- and out-of-phase components of the transition dipole response. In general, the out-of-phase (or absorptive) part of the transition dipole is zero at the outset and strongly time-dependent at short times, evolving to a steady-state value at longer times. For resonance radiation the system exhibits either overdamped irreversible decay or underdamped oscillations, depending upon the relative magnitudes of the incident light intensity and the radiative damping rate. Specific results are presented for a variety of limiting values of the physical parameters, including light intensity, damping rate, and amount of off-resonance.
The nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine precipitates nicotine abstinence syndrome in the rat

Recently, a rodent model of nicotine abstinence syndrome has been developed based on observing the frequency of spontaneous behavioral signs following termination of continuous subcutaneous infusion of nicotine tartrate. In the present study, the nicotinic antagonist mecamylamine precipitated an abstinence syndrome in nicotine-dependent rats. Twelve rats were each infused for 7 days with 9 mg/kg per day nicotine tartrate in saline via Alzet osmotic minipumps; another 12 rats were shamoperated and remained nicotine-naive. Six rats from each group received 1 mg/kg mecamylamine in saline SC immediately before a 30-min observation, while the remaining six rats from each group received saline alone. Nicotine-infused rats receiving mecamylamine exhibited significantly more (P<0.01), overall abstinence signs than all other groups. In terms of categories of signs, they displayed significantly more gasps/writhes, teeth chatter/chews, shakes/tremors and ptosis. In a second experiment utilizing only nicotine-naive rats, a far higher dose of mecamylamine (5 mg/kg sc) induced a quasi-nicotine abstinence syndrome. The results provide further validation for this rodent model of nicotine abstinence syndrome.
An Individual Chick Cage for Use in Poultry Nutrition Studies

Abstract WITH the belief that chick nutrition studies at this, as well as other institutions, might be increased and made more definite and basic, if controlled on an individual bird basis, efforts were directed in the year of 1935 toward the development of an individual chick cage. The requirements of such a cage were outlined at the start to include, (1) capable of brooding with low mortality, (2) capable of furnishing quarters for one chicken from baby chick age to maturity, (3) so constructed that sanitation may be properly controlled, (4) contain a type of feeder which will allow a very minimum of waste, (5) contain dropping pan suitable for use in the event of chemical feces examination, and (6) be so proportioned and constructed that a series of cages may be maintained with the least effort and minimum requirement of space. With these principles in mind, a cage was designed . . .
Towards a loanable funds/amended-liquidity preference theory of the exchange rate and interest rate

Abstract The objective is to develop a unified theory of the exchange rate and interest rate, using a loanable funds/amended-liquidity preference approach, in order to provide a new perspective on many puzzling facts associated with the post Bretton Woods international economy. It is shown that: (i) a monetary expansion can initially raise the interest rate but depreciate the home currency; (ii) real demand shocks can cause interest rate and exchange rate overshooting; (iii) an infinite interest elasticity for capital flows cannot cause exchange rate overshooting if an ‘extended Marshall-Lerner’ condition holds; (iv) the home currency can appreciate when the current account is negative if the extended Marshall-Lerner condition is not satisfied; and (v) changes in the disequilibrium regime will cause instability in the estimates of reduced-form coefficients.
Role of the formylmethionine codon AUG in phasing translation of synthetic messenger RNA

The coding specificity of the triplets AUG and UUG was measured in the binding assay of Nirenberg & Leder (1964) , as a function of the magnesium ion and oligonucleotide concentration. AUG was extremely active in promoting the binding of formylmethionine-sRNA under all conditions tested, while UUG was active only at very high magnesium ion and oligonucleotide concentration. These results suggest that AUG is the correct formylmethionine codon. When the AUG codon is incorporated into longer polynucleotide chains, it suppresses the reading of codons which partially overlap its sequence, and promotes the reading of the adjacent 3′ codon. For example, ApUpG ( pU ) 15 ¯ stimulates the binding of Met- and Phe-sRNA, but not of Val-sRNA; in contrast, ApUpGpG ( pU ) 16 ¯ codes for Met- and Val-sRNA, whereas the binding of Phe-sRNA is reduced to a low level, comparable to oligo U. The triplets ACG, UAG and AAG do not show this phasing activity. AUG is capable of fixing the reading frame of the message regardless of its position within the polynucleotide chain. Thus ApApApUpG stimulates strongly the binding of Met-sRNA, but not of Lys-sRNA. On the other hand, ApApApCpG codes very well for Lys-sRNA. The phasing activity of AUG is a maximum at about 0·009 M -Mg2+ , and decreases sharply at higher concentrations, where the selection of a reading frame is made more or less at random. Since the initiation of polypeptide synthesis directed by natural messengers also occurs best at a low magnesium ion concentration, it is possible that the AUG phaser may be a part of the natural initiation mechanism.
Patterns of joint size dimorphism in the elbow and knee of catarrhine primates.

Differences in body size between conspecific sexes may incur differences in the relative size and/or shape of load-bearing joints, potentially confounding our understanding of variation in the fossil record. More specifically, larger males may experience relatively greater limb joint stress levels than females, unless an increase in weight-related forces is compensated for by positive allometry of articular surface areas. This study examines variation in limb joint size dimorphism (JSD) among extant catarrhines to: 1) determine whether taxa exhibit JSD beyond that expected to simply maintain geometric similarity between sexes, and 2) test whether taxa differ in JSD (relative to body size dimorphism) with respect to differences in limb use and/or phylogeny. “Joint size” was quantified for the distal humerus and distal femur of 25 taxa. Analysis of variance was used to test for differences between sexes (in joint size ratios) and among taxa (in patterns of dimorphism). Multiple regression was used to examine differences in JSD among taxa after accounting for variation in body size dimorphism (BSD) and body size. Although degrees of humeral and femoral JSD tend to be the same within species, interspecific variation exists in the extent to which both joints are dimorphic relative to BSD. While most cercopithecoids exhibit relatively high degrees of JSD (i.e., positive allometry), nonhuman hominoids exhibit degrees of JSD closer to isometry. These results may reflect a fundamental distinction between cercopithecoids and hominoids in joint design. Overall, the results make more sense (from a mechanical standpoint) when adjustments to BSD are made to account for the larger effective female body mass associated with bearing offspring. In contrast to other hominoids, modern humans exhibit relatively high JSD in both the knee and elbow (despite lack of forelimb use in weight support). Estimates of BSD based on fossil limb bones will vary according to the extant analogue chosen for comparison. Am J Phys Anthropol 120:278–297, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Reduced Graphene Oxide/Copper Phthalocyanine Composite and Its Optoelectrical Properties

Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composites containing tetrasulfonate salt of copper phthalocyanine (TSCuPc) are fabricated through the reduction of graphene oxide in the presence of water-soluble TSCu...
What's new in plastic surgery.

Abstract "What's New in Surgery" evolves from the contributions of leaders in each of the fields of surgery. In every instance the author has been designated by the appropriate Council from the American College of Surgeons' Advisory Councils for the Surgical Specialties. This feature will be presented in issues of the Journal throughout the year beginning in 2001 (formerly published in one issue, February, of each volume of JACS) .
μ‐ and δ‐opioid receptor mRNAs are expressed in spinally projecting serotonergic and nonserotonergic neurons of the rostral ventromedial medulla

The rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) is an important mediator of the supraspinal component of opioid antinociception. Previous studies have suggested that activation of the cloned mu- and delta-opioid receptors (MOR1 and DOR1 respectively) in the RVM produces the antinociception mediated by spinally projecting neurons. In the present study, we investigated the expression of mRNA encoding either MOR1 or DOR1 in the RVM of rats. In addition, we examined quantitatively the expression of MOR1 and DOR1 mRNAs in spinally projecting RVM neurons including serotonergic (5HT) cells by using in situ hybridization, immunocytochemistry, retrograde tract-tracing, and the physical disector. Brainstem neurons were labeled in 14 male Sprague-Dawley rats by applying Fluoro-Gold (FG) topically to the dorsal surface of the lumbosacral spinal cord. Five-micrometer-thick cryostat sections were cut and in situ hybridization was performed by using full-length cRNA probes labeled with 35S-UTP. We found that 43% of RVM projection neurons expressed MOR1 mRNA and 83% of RVM projection neurons expressed DOR1 mRNA. Of 192 retrogradely labeled cells in the RVM, 51 cells (27%) were immunoreactive for 5HT. Of this population, half appeared to be labeled for the mRNA encoding MOR1 and over three-fourths appeared to be labeled for the mRNA encoding DOR1. Thus, we conclude that bulbospinal neurons express MOR1 and DOR1; moreover, MOR1 and DOR1 are expressed by significant proportions of 5HT neurons projecting to or through the dorsal spinal cord.
Prediction of strong dichroism induced by x-rays carrying orbital momentum.

We predict the presence of strong dichroic effects induced by x-ray beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM). Taking the difference between spectra obtained with positive and negative OAM states allows the separation of quadrupolar from dipolar transitions at, e.g., the transition-metal K edges, enabling the study of the unoccupied states in the absence of strong core-hole effects. We study the dependence of OAM-induced x-ray dichroism on different polarization vectors and derive sum rules relating the integrated intensity to ground-state hole densities. Calculations of spectral line shapes for cuprates, manganites, and ruthenates confirm the strong OAM-induced dichroism and indicate the potential of this new spectroscopy in the fields of orbital physics and magnetism.
Optical Modes of Vibration in an Ionic Crystal Slab Including Retardation. I. Nonradiative Region

The optical modes of an ionic crystal slab are examined in the radiative region starting from Maxwell's equations including retardation. Since any excitation of the crystal in this region will radiate its energy, it is argued that the modes which characterize the system are virtual modes, which have oscillatory fields outside the slab and correspond to energy transport out of the slab. The determining equations for the virtual modes are obtained and are solved for LiF considering both $S$ and $P$ polarizations and a wide range of slab thicknesses. Characteristics of the modes of particular importance in determining the optical properties of a slab are emphasized. The effect of lattice anharmonicities on the properties of the virtual modes is discussed.
Optimization of Electrode Alignment for Electrochemical Detection in Capillary Electrophoresis Using a Scanning Electrochemical Microscope

Electrochemical detection in capillary electrophoresis requires decoupling the voltage applied to the working electrode from the separation voltage applied across the capillary. End-capillary electrochemical detection achieves this by placing the electrode just outside the ground end of the separation capillary. Obtaining adequate signal-to-noise in this arrangement requires using small inner diameter capillaries. Decreasing the inner diameter of the separation capillary, however, increases the difficulty of aligning the microelectrode with the open end of the capillary. Using scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM), the position of the capillary opening is determined while electroactive material is continuously emerging from the end of the capillary. The SECM instrument is then used to place the electrode at the position of maximum current for subsequent separations. Subsequent measurements found that the best signal-to-noise is obtained when the detection electrode is placed directly opposite the capillary opening and just outside of the capillary opening. When the electrode is further above the opening (but still opposite the capillary opening), the signal-to-noise does not dramatically decrease until the electrode is more than 30 μm above the 10 μm inner-diameter capillary.
To (TGF)β or not to (TGF)β: Fine-tuning of Smad signaling via post-translational modifications

Smad proteins are key signal transducers for the TGF-β superfamily and are frequently inactivated in human cancers, yet the molecular basis of how their levels and activities are regulated remains unclear. Recent progress, discussed herein, illustrates the critical roles of Smad post-translational modifications in the cellular outcome to TGF-β signaling.
Structural requirements for initiation of cross-reactivity and CNS autoimmunity with a PLP139–151 mimic peptide derived from murine hepatitis virus

MS is an autoimmune CNS demyelinating disease in which infection appears to be an important pathogenic factor. Molecular mimicry, the cross-activation of autoreactive T cells by mimic peptides from infectious agents, is a possible explanation for infection-induced autoimmunity. Infection of mice with a non-pathogenic strain of Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) engineered to express an epitope from Haemophilus influenzae (HI) sharing 6/13 amino acids with the dominant proteolipid protein (PLP) epitope, PLP139–151, can induce CNS autoimmune disease. Here we demonstrate that another PLP139–151 mimic sequence derived from murine hepatitis virus (MHV) which shares only 3/13 amino acids with PLP139–151 can also induce CNS autoimmune disease, but only when delivered by genetically engineered TMEV, not by immunization with the MHV peptide. Further, we demonstrate the importance of proline at the secondary MHC class II contact residue for effective cross-reactivity, as addition of this amino acid to the native MHV sequence increases its ability to cross-activate PLP139–151-specific autoreactive T cells, while substitution of proline in the HI mimic peptide has the opposite effect. This study describes a structural requirement for potential PLP139–151 mimic peptides, and provides further evidence for infection-induced molecular mimicry in the pathogenesis of autoimmune disease.