cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Neurocognitive Assessment in Virtual Reality Through Behavioral Response Analysis

The ability to detect and diagnose neurocognitive disorders at the earliest possible moment is key to a better prognosis for the patient. Two of the earliest indicators of potential neurocognitive problems are motor and visual dysfunction. Motor disorders and problems in visual cognition can be seen in many neurocognitive disorders, resulting in abnormal physical reactions to visual stimuli. Analyzing physical behaviors when presented with such stimuli can provide insights into the visual perception and motor abilities of an individual, yet there is currently no unbiased, objective, general-purpose tool that analyzes attention and motor behavior to assess neurocognitive function. We propose a novel method of neurocognitive function assessment that tests the patient's cognition using virtual reality with eye tracking and motion analysis. By placing the patient in a controlled virtual environment and analyzing their movements, we can evoke certain physical responses from subjects for neurocognitive assessment. We have developed a prototype system that places the subject in a virtual baseball field and captures their full body motion as they try to catch baseballs. This scenario tests the subject's ability to determine the landing time and position of the ball, as well as the test subject's balance, motor skills, attention, and memory. Preliminary tests with 20 healthy normal individuals demonstrate the ability of this tool to assess the test subject's balance, memory, attention, and reaction to visual stimuli. This platform has a twofold contribution: it is used to assess several neurocognitive constructs that affect visual and motor capability neutrally and objectively based on controlled stimuli, and it enables objective comparison between different neurocognitive disorders research in this field.
MERGING ART, SCIENCE AND MOTHERHOOD TO SAVE JOSHUA TREES

Human behaviors have driven us into a planetwide species extinction crisis that is linked to the rapidly changing climate. To move forward we need interdisciplinary research approaches that protect...
Is Economic Freedom the Hidden Path to Social Justice

How can societies advance social justice? Many of the goals of social justice are addressed by research on economic freedom, including social tolerance and protection of minority rights, promotion of democracy and political freedoms, and income inequality. We survey the academic literature on these topics and find that in many cases economic freedom can serve to advance the goals of social justice. Income equality is the goal for which the results are the least clear, and it is possible that some components of economic freedom increase income inequality, but the effects are nuanced. Based on these results, advocates of social justice may indeed want to embrace economic freedom in some areas while recognizing that there may sometimes be a trade-off between various goals.
Corruption and Health expenditure: A Cross-National Analysis on Infant and Child Mortality

How does corruption impact a nation’s capacity for well-being? Expanding government services and funding for health may not be effective at increasing well-being if corruption is rampant in government authorities. Therefore, both petty and grand corruption in different government bodies have the potential to greatly decrease the effectiveness of health expenditure at improving infant and child health, yet this relationship is understudied in the cross-national literature. Using two-way fixed effects models for a sample of 90 low- and middle-income nations from 1996 to 2012, I examine how the interaction between corruption in the executive and public sector and health expenditure impact infant and child mortality. The findings reveal the importance of controlling for corruption in improving the development effectiveness of health expenditure. In short, while states must have the fiscal capacity to generate enough funds for health expenditure, they must also reduce grand and petty corruption in the executive and public sectors to reduce infant and child mortality.
Full and Open Competition in Public Procurement: Values and Ethics in Contracting Opportunity

Governments have sought to respond to increasing pressures to accomplish aims with efficiency and at low cost. A perception of the potential for corruption and waste of public resources has been me...
68P When is a Close or Positive Margin Following a Mastectomy an Indication for Chest Wall Radiotherapy in Patients with T1N0 Breast Cancer

Abstract Background Since a mastectomy for T1N0 breast cancer generally results in very high rates of local control, radiation oncologists are only consulted when close or positive margins are encountered in this setting. The actual length of margins below which the risk of local failure increases and the rate of local recurrence in this subset of patients is, however, not well defined in the literature. Here we report our experience with these patients in this retrospective analysis. Materials and methods Of the women who underwent a mastectomy for pT1NO breast cancer from 1994 through 2004 at our institution, 256 had an invasive and in-situ margins of Results Median follow-up for surviving patients was 7.2 years. Chest wall recurrence was found in 8 patients (3.1%) at a median interval of 2.2 years, one of whom had a simultaneous axillary recurrence. Isolated axillary failure was noted in one patient. The incidence of chest wall recurrence was 6.5% for those with margins ≤3 mm (N = 107) vs 0.7% when margins were >3 mm (P = 0.02). Additionally, 7.9% of those with high-grade disease had a chest wall recurrence compared to 1.1% in those with grades 1-2 (P = 0.01). Among 28 patients with both high-grade disease and margins ≤3 mm, 6 (21%) developed chest wall recurrences. No other factors were found to be predictive of local recurrence. Of note, only one of eleven patients with positive margins had a chest wall recurrence. Conclusions This analysis suggests that although postmastectomy patients with T1N0 breast cancer with margins ≤3 mm have an elevated risk of chest wall recurrence, only those with the additional risk factor of high-grade disease appear to have a sufficiently high risk to merit strong consideration of chest wall radiotherapy. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
Topographies and functions of emerging problem behavior and appropriate requests in neurotypical preschoolers

The current study builds on a small but growing body of research evaluating the formal and functional characteristics of emerging problem behavior before it becomes harmful and requires costly treatment. The researchers tested 21 preschool children's sensitivity to establishing operations that commonly precede severe problem behavior. Sensitivity tests were embedded in a small group play context to optimize safety, efficiency, and ecological validity. The tests screened several levels of problem-behavior severity as well as the presence of adaptive alternatives (i.e., communication) to problem behavior. Overall, outcomes suggested sources of reinforcement for minor- and moderate-severity problem behavior in 86% of children. Only 17% of children exhibiting problem behavior also engaged in appropriate requests in the same condition(s) as problem behavior. The present data are compared to published functional analyses of severe behavior. The results are discussed as a preliminary step towards a function-based model of risk identification and behavioral prevention of severe problem behavior.
Gendered Tweets: Computational Text Analysis of Gender Differences in Political Discussion on Twitter:

Politics is an area that is traditionally believed to be gender divided. According to intergroup communication theory, this gender-salient context might cause differences in political communication...
Time-Dependent Speckle in Coherence Domain Tomography

We developed a high-speed Fourier domain optical coherence tomography to detect time-dependent speckle. The technique uses autocorrelation to calculate time-constant of speckle. The developed technique can be used to evaluate health status of tissue.
Is a Rose Really Just as Sweet? Editorial: On Becoming "Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology".

The current editorial outlines the reasoning that went into changing the name of the Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology to Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology. Connotations of the term “abnormal” have changed, since it was first used for the journal title in 1973. It is now frequently interpreted as describing the person, and not the condition that he or she has. It also does not currently promote the view that the person needs professional intervention but is often interpreted as indicating that the person is defective in some way. The new name of the journal was not intended to promote any single way of conceptualizing mental health problems but to provide a name that captures the significant distress and impairment experienced by persons with serious psychological difficulties, recognizes the need for professional intervention for these individuals, and attempts to minimize potential harmful effects of labelling. This name change is embedded in a broader appeal for mental health professionals to be sensitive to how labels can reinforce the stigma associated with mental health problems and to work to change the stigma that is associated with such problems in most modern societies.
Propagation of stochastic gene expression in the presence of decoys

Genetically-identical cells can show remarkable intercellular variability in the level of a given protein which is commonly known as the gene expression noise. Besides intrinsic fluctuations that arise from the inherent stochasticity of the biochemical processes, a significant source of expression noise is extrinsic. Such extrinsic noise in gene expression arises from cell-to-cell differences in expression machinery, transcription factors, cell size, and cell cycle stage. Here, we consider the synthesis of a transcription factor (TF) whose production is impacted by a dynamic extrinsic disturbance, and systematically investigate the regulation of expression noise by decoy sites that can sequester the TF. Our analysis shows that increasing decoy numbers reduce noise in the level of the free (unbound) TF with noise levels approaching the Poisson limit for large number of decoys. Interestingly, the suppression of expression noise compared to no-decoy levels is maximized at intermediate disturbance timescales. Finally, we quantify the noise propagation from the TF to a downstream target protein and find counterintuitive behaviors. More specifically, for nonlinear dose responses of target-protein activation, the noise in the target protein can increase with the inclusion of decoys, and this phenomenon is explained by smaller but more prolonged fluctuations in the TF level. In summary, our results illustrates the nontrivial effects of high-affinity decoys in shaping the stochastic dynamics of gene expression to alter cell fate and phenotype at the single-cell level.
Micro LED display: technology and manufacturing challenges

Manufacturing cost is the highest risk for μLED displays. μLED display cost is composed of backplane and frontplane costs. Backplane cost may be similar to OLED displays. The major cost contributors for frontplane are epitaxy, transfer, and defect management. Here, the technology requirements for manufacturing high performance, cost-effective μLED displays are discussed.
Ethicists' Deception: Theory, Role, Concepts, and Applications.

I am grateful to colleagues for their comments on my target article (2021a); they are almost uniformly insightful, telling, and helpful. In this brief response, I extend the discussion on, in order...
Combined portable free fall penetrometer and chirp sonar measurements of three Texas river sections post hurricane Harvey

Abstract The US Gulf of Mexico coastal region has repeatedly been subjected to major flood events. Local geotechnical site characteristics and geomorphology can change due to sediment transport processes during such events. However, field measurements during extreme conditions are challenging. This paper discusses initial attempts at a combined geotechnical and geophysical site investigation of the uppermost layers of riverbeds following severe flooding events at three different rivers in Texas: the Guadalupe, Brazos, and Colorado Rivers in terms of sediment strength derived from a portable free fall penetrometer, backscatter intensity recorded by a chirp sonar, and soil sample characterization. Results show low strength sediments ( 50 kPa) and larger grain sizes (d50 ∼ 0.3 mm), sediment strength of the Guadalupe and Colorado Rivers displayed more variations around bridge piers. The spatial variations likely resulted from sediment remobilization processes and local scour under severe hydrodynamic conditions. Both, geotechnical and geophysical results, reflected the observed variations in the riverbed sediments; nonetheless, a quantitative correlation among the rivers was impeded by challenges primarily related to limitations of spatial accuracy and the significant riverbed heterogeneity, as well as shallow water limitations of the chirp sonar.
Polysomnography and Actigraphy Concordance in Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis, Asthma and Healthy Children

The aims of this study were to evaluate sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy with an epoch-by-epoch comparison of polysomnography (PSG) and actigraphy with activity counts scored at low, medium, and high thresholds, and to compare PSG derived total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiency (SE), and wake after sleep onset (WASO) to the same variables derived from actigraphy at low, medium, and high thresholds in 9-to-11 year-old children with Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), asthma, and healthy control children. One night of PSG and actigraphy were recorded. Pairwise group comparisons for sensitivity showed significant differences at the low (Tukey HSD p<.002), medium (p<.001) and high threshold (p<.001) between JIA and asthma groups, and at the high threshold between JIA and controls (p<.009). Significant differences were found for specificity at the low (p<.001), medium (p<.001) and high threshold (p<.001) between JIA and asthma groups, and between JIA and controls (low, p<.002: medium, p<.002: high, p<.008 threshold). PSG TST, WASO and SE were not significantly different among the groups, but significant group differences were found for actigraphy TST, WASO, and SE at all three thresholds. Actigraphy showed the least overestimation or underestimation of sleep or wakefulness at the medium threshold for TST and WASO for all three groups. Compared to PSG, actigraphy was most accurate in the identification of sleep from wakefulness in 9 to 11 year old healthy children, and less accurate in children with JIA and asthma.
Mixed-integer programming methods for finding Nash equilibria

We present, to our knowledge, the first mixed integer program (MIP) formulations for finding Nash equilibria in games (specifically, two-player normal form games). We study different design dimensions of search algorithms that are based on those formulations. Our MIP Nash algorithm outperforms Lemke-Howson but not Porter-Nudelman-Shoham (PNS) on GAMUT data. We argue why experiments should also be conducted on games with equilibria with medium-sized supports only, and present a methodology for generating such games. On such games MIP Nash drastically outperforms PNS but not Lemke-Howson. Certain MIP Nash formulations also yield anytime algorithms for E-equilibrium. with provable bounds. Another advantage of MIP Nash is that it can be used to find an optimal equilibrium (according to various objectives). The prior algorithms can be extended to that setting, but they are orders of magnitude slower.
Treatment of Depressive Symptoms in Diverse, Rural and Vulnerable Older Adults

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES We examined the effects of home-delivered CBT on depressive symptoms among rural, diverse and vulnerable older adults. Furthermore, we differentiated depression into its two salient aspects: psychological and somatic.
Chemokine Production by a Human Alveolar Epithelial Cell Line in Response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis

To investigate the role of chemokines during the initial local response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the human lung, we studied chemokine production by the human alveolar epithelial cell line A549 after infection with M. tuberculosis. M. tuberculosis-infected A549 cells produced mRNAs and protein for monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and interleukin-8 (IL-8) but not mRNAs for macrophage inflammatory protein 1α (MIP-1α), MIP-1β, and RANTES. Chemokine production in response to M. tuberculosis was not dependent on production of tumor necrosis factor alpha, IL-1β, or IL-6. Two virulent clinical M. tuberculosis isolates, the virulent laboratory strain H37Rv, and the avirulent strain H37Ra elicited production of comparable concentrations of MCP-1 and IL-8, whereas killed M. tuberculosis and three Mycobacterium avium strains did not. The three virulent M. tuberculosis strains grew more rapidly than the avirulent M. tuberculosis strain in the alveolar epithelial cell line, and the three M. avium strains did not grow intracellularly. These findings suggest that intracellular growth is necessary for mycobacteria to elicit production of MCP-1 and IL-8 by alveolar epithelial cells but that virulence and the rate of intracellular growth do not correlate with chemokine production. Alveolar epithelial cells may contribute to the local inflammatory response in human tuberculosis by producing chemokines which attract monocytes, lymphocytes, and polymorphonuclear cells.
Acquired Hyperhomocysteinemia in Heart Transplant Recipients

The etiology and clinical significance of hyperhomocysteinemia are under intense investigation. Although non-genetic (1) and genetic (2)(3)(4) factors influence plasma homocysteine concentrations, the etiology of moderate to intermediate hyperhomocysteinemia (15–50 μmol/L), commonly found in patients with coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, and in patients with end-stage renal disease, is often unclear. The causes are likely to be multifactorial, involving both acquired and genetic components. There is strong evidence that hyperhomocysteinemia is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (1)(5)(6)(7), but there are conflicting reports as well (8)(9)(10). Some individuals cannot afford to wait the several years it may take before definitive results are available from intervention studies. These include patients with end-stage renal disease, renal transplant recipients, and heart transplant recipients. Immediate treatment of their hyperhomocysteinemia may be more prudent. Homocysteine is an easily modifiable risk factor that responds well to benign intervention strategies using water-soluble B complex vitamins (11)(12)(13). It is derived from methionine in a three-step pathway (14). Homocysteine may be cytotoxic, and low intracellular steady-state concentrations are maintained by remethylation back to methionine (to complete the cycle), conversion to cystathionine in the transsulfuration pathway, and export to the circulation. The transsulfuration pathway appears to be highly organ-specific (14), and the betaine-dependent remethylation pathway is found only in the liver and kidneys (15). The transsulfuration pathway requires pyridoxal …
Differential effects of rabies and borna disease viruses on immediate-early- and late-response gene expression in brain tissues.

Abstract In situ hybridization and Northern blot analysis were used to examine expression of the immediate-early-response genes (IEGs) egr-1, junB, and c-fos, and the late response gene encoding enkephalin in the brains of rats infected intranasally with Borna disease virus (BDV) or rabies virus. In both Borna disease and rabies virus infections, a dramatic and specific induction of IEGs was detected in particular regions of the hippocampus and the cortex. Increased IEG mRNA expression overlapped with the characteristic expression patterns of BDV RNA and rabies virus RNA, although relative expression levels of viral RNA and IEG mRNA differed, particularly in the hippocampal formation. Furthermore, the temporal relationship between viral RNA synthesis and activation of IEG mRNA expression in BDV infection differed markedly from that in rabies virus infection, suggesting that IEG expression is upregulated by different mechanisms. Expression of proenkephalin (pENK) mRNA was also significantly increased in BDV infection, whereas in rabies virus infection, pENK mRNA levels and also the levels of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase mRNA were reduced at terminal stages of the disease, probably reflecting a generalized suppression of cellular protein synthesis due to massive production of rabies virus mRNA. The correlation between activated IEG mRNA expression and the strong increase in viral RNA raises the possibility that IEG products induce some phenotypic changes in neurons that render them more susceptible to viral replication.
The Twenty‐First Century Will Not Be a “Post‐American” World

One of the refreshing aspects of Christopher Layne's work over the years has been his willingness to challenge conventional wisdom. But now, he is in the awkward position of being part of a new conventional wisdom. Recent polls show that in 15 of 22 countries surveyed, most people say that China either will replace or has replaced America as the world's leading superpower. Even Americans themselves are equally divided about whether China will displace the United States. Layne is correct that such views reflect the slow growth and fiscal problems that followed the 2008 financial crisis, but one should be wary of extrapolating long-run trends from short-term cycles. Such moods are not historically unprecedented. Americans have a long history of incorrectly estimating their power. After Sputnik, the Soviets were 10 feet tall; in the 1980s, it was the Japanese. Now it is the Chinese. Layne is also right that enthusiasts for the “unipolar moment” badly over estimated American power a decade ago, but not all skeptics about American decline believed in American hegemony. For example, I argued in The Paradox of American Power that the prevailing concepts of polarity and hegemony led to confused analysis and poor policies. After the collapse of Cold War bipolarity, power in the global information age became distributed in a pattern that resembles a complex three-dimensional chess game. On the top chessboard, military power is largely unipolar, and the United States is likely to retain primacy for quite some time. But on the middle chessboard, economic power has been multi-polar for more than a decade (well before the 2008 financial crisis that Layne cites), with the United States, Europe, Japan, and China as the major players, and others gaining in importance. The bottom chessboard is the realm of transnational relations that cross borders outside of …
Ordinal judgments in multiattribute decision analysis

Abstract The article discusses the contradiction between the ambiguity of human judgment in a multicriterion environment and the exactness of the assessments required in the majority of the decision-making methods. Preferential information from the decision makers in the ordinal form (e.g., “more preferable”, “less preferable”, etc.) is argued to be more stable and more reliable than cardinal input. Ways of obtaining and using ordinal judgments for rank ordering of multiattribute alternatives are discussed. The effectiveness of the step-wise procedure of using ordinal tradeoffs for comparison of alternatives is evaluated. We introduce the notion of ordinal tradeoffs, presentation of ordinal tradeoffs as a flexible three-stage process, a paired joint ordinal scale (PJOS), and evaluation of the effectiveness of the three-stage process. Simulation results examine the sensitivity of the number of pairwise comparisons required for given numbers of criteria and categories within criteria, as well as the number of alternatives analyzed. This simulation shows that ordinal pairwise comparisons provide sufficient power to discriminate between 75% and 80% of the alternatives compared. While the proportional number of pairwise comparisons relative to the maximum possible decreases with the number of criteria and categories, the method is relatively insensitive to the number of alternatives considered.
Impact of antibiotic use during hospitalization on the development of gastrointestinal colonization with Escherichia coli with reduced fluoroquinolone susceptibility.

Objective.Infections due to fluoroquinolone-resistant Escherichia coli (FQREC) are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Fluoroquinolone resistance likely arises at the level of gastrointestinal colonization. The objective of this study was to identify risk factors for the development of FQREC gastrointestinal tract colonization in hospitalized patients, including the impact of antibiotics prescribed during hospitalization.Design.A prospective cohort study was conducted from 2002 to 2004 within a university health system.Methods.Hospitalized patients initially colonized with fluoroquinolone-susceptible E. coli were followed up with serial fecal sampling for new FQREC colonization or until hospital discharge or death. A Cox proportional hazards regression model was developed to identify risk factors for new FQREC colonization, with antibiotic exposure modeled as time-varying covariates.Results.Of 395 subjects, 73 (18.5%) became newly colonized with FQREC. Length of stay before sampling (hazard ratio [HR], 1.02 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.1–1.03]; P = .003) and malignancy (HR, 0.37 [95% CI, 0.21–0.67]; P = .001) were significantly associated with the development of FQREC colonization. In addition, receipt of a first-generation cephalosporin (HR, 1.19 [95% CI, 1.10–1.29]; P<.001) or cefepime (HR, 1.05 [95% CI, 1.00–1.10]; P = .048) during hospitalization increased the risk of new FQREC colonization.Conclusions.The acquisition of FQREC in the hospital setting is complex, and antimicrobial stewardship programs should take into account patterns of antibiotic use in implementing strategies to reduce the development of new FQREC colonization. Future studies are needed to identify risk factors for infection in hospitalized patients newly colonized with FQREC.
On methods for continuous systems with quadratic and cubic nonlinearities

Methods for determining the response of continuous systems with quadratic and cubic nonlinearities are discussed. We show by means of a simple example that perturbation and computational methods based on first discretizing the systems may lead to erroncous results whereas perturbation methods that attack directly the nonlinear partial-differential equations and boundary conditions avoid the pitfalls associated with the analysis of the discretized systems. We describe a perturbation technique that applies either the method of multiple scales or the method of averaging to the Lagrangian of the system rather than the partial-differential equations and boundary conditions.
Desorption electrospray/metastable-induced ionization: a flexible multimode ambient ion generation technique.

Presented here is a novel multimode ambient ion source termed desorption electrospray/metastable-induced ionization (DEMI), which integrates the benefits and circumvents some of the limitations of desorption electrospray ionization (DESI, polarity range limited) and direct analysis in real time (DART)-type metastable-induced chemical ionization (MICI, molecular weight limited). This ion source allows three unique operation modes, each with unique capabilities, including spray (DESI-like)-only, MICI-only, and DEMI (multimode), and can be thus operated in each of these modes allowing the detection of a wider range of analytes of interest. Ion source operation in the MICI-only mode is particularly well suited for the analysis of low-polarity, low-molecular weight compounds in powdered, solid, or dissolved samples. Operation of the ion source in spray-only mode shows superior performance for the analysis of high-molecular weight, high-polarity compounds over the MICI-only mode. Heating the nebulizer gas in sp...
Interspecies Extrapolation of Physiological Pharmacokinetic Parameter Distributions

Three methods (multiplicative, additive, and allometric) were developed to extrapolate physiological model parameter distributions across species, specifically from rats to humans. In the multiplicative approach, the rat model parameters are multiplied by the ratio of the mean values between humans and rats. Additive scaling of the distributions is defined by adding the difference between the average human value and the average rat value to each rat value. Finally, allometric scaling relies on established extrapolation relationships using power functions of body weight. A physiologically-based pharmacokinetic model was fitted independently to rat and human benzene disposition data. Human model parameters obtained by extrapolation and by fitting were used to predict the total bone marrow exposure to benzene and the quantity of metabolites produced in bone marrow. We found that extrapolations poorly predict the human data relative to the human model. In addition, the prediction performance depends largely on the quantity of interest. The extrapolated models underpredict bone marrow exposure to benzene relative to the human model. Yet, predictions of the quantity of metabolite produced in bone marrow are closer to the human model predictions. These results indicate that the multiplicative and allometric techniques were able to extrapolate the model parameter distributions, but also that rats do not provide a good kinetic model of benzene disposition in humans.
Green Bank Telescope observations of low column density HI around NGC 2997 and NGC 6946

Observations of ongoing HI accretion in nearby galaxies have only identified about 10% of the needed fuel to sustain star formation in these galaxies. Most of these observations have been conducted using interferometers and may have missed lower column density, diffuse, HI gas that may trace the missing 90% of gas. Such gas may represent the so-called "cold flows" predicted by current theories of galaxy formation to have never been heated above the virial temperature of the dark matter halo. As a first attempt to identify such cold flows around nearby galaxies and complete the census of HI down to N(HI)~10^18 cm^-2, I used the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) to map the circumgalactic (r < 100-200 kpc) HI environment around NGC 2997 and NGC 6946. The resulting GBT observations cover a four square degree area around each galaxy with a 5-sigma detection limit of N(HI)~10^18 cm^-2 over a 20 km/s linewidth. This project complements absorption line studies, which are well-suited to the regime of lower N(HI). Around NGC 2997, the GBT HI data reveal an extended HI disk and all of its surrounding gas-rich satellite galaxies, but no filamentary features. Furthermore, the HI mass as measured with the GBT is only 7% higher than past interferometric measurements. After correcting for resolution differences, the HI extent of the galaxy is 23% larger at the N(HI)~1.2x10^18 cm^-2 level as measured by the GBT. On the other hand, the HI observations of NGC 6946 reveal a filamentary feature apparently connecting NGC 6946 with its nearest companions. This HI filament has N(HI)~10^18 cm^-2 and a FWHM of 55+-5 km/s and was invisible in past interferometer observations. The properties of this filament are broadly consistent with being a cold flow or debris from a past tidal interaction between NGC 6946 and its satellites.
Proton electrochemical gradients and sucrose accumulation in the maize scutellum

Abstract Estimates of proton and sucrose gradients across the plasmalemma of maize scutellum cells were made in order to test previous conclusions that sucrose uptake occurs by a proton-sucrose symport with a 1:1 stoichiometry. Membrane potential and cytoplasmic pH were estimated from the distribution between cells and bathing solution of [14C]tetraphenylphosphonium ions and 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP), respectively. External pH in the range 3–8 had no effect on cytoplasmic pH which was 8.0, but external pH strongly influenced membrane potential which was 40 mV (inside negative) at pH 3 and 140 mV at pH 7–8. Additions of KCl and NaCl caused some depolarization of the membrane potential, as did the energy poison, DNP, but mannose (an energy poison in scutellum cells) had no effect. The electrochemical proton gradient (protonmotive force) varied from 340 mV at pH 3 to 163 mV at pH 7.6. During 5 hr incubations at pH 4 or 7, bathing solution sucrose [S]o appeared not to reach a steady-state with tissue sucrose [S]i. The non-steady-state sucrose gradients were too small at pH 4 and too large at pH 7 to be accounted for only by the operation of a proton-sucrose symport. Sucrose gradients also were calculated from the measured protonmotive forces on the assumption that cytosol [S], in contrast to [S]i, had reached a steady-state with [S]o at both pHs. It was concluded from these calculations that leak and/or ‘slip’ (sucrose exit via the porter without a proton) pathways for sucrose as well as a proton-sucrose cotransporter are present in the plasmalemma and that sucrose gradients exist across the tonoplast.
Perfectionism and Suicidal Preoccupation

One hundred twenty-nine undergraduate students were assessed for suicidal preoccupation, using the Alabama Adolescent Health Survey (AAHS) and selected cards from the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). They were also administered the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) to assess perfectionistic tendencies. Objective scoring of the TAT was found to be highly reliable. Canonical correlational analyses were nonsignificant for a relationship between perfectionism and suicidal themes on the TAT. However, the more direct questions of the AAHS relating to suicide were significantly related to perfectionism. Results suggest that passive perfectionists who procrastinate out of fear of making mistakes are more likely to be preoccupied with suicide, unlike perfectionists whose strivings produce achievement. High personal standards and parental expectations do not appear related to suicidal preoccupations.
Influence of age and illumination on distribution of several Calvin cycle enzymes in greening barley leaves.

Activities of phosphoriboisomerase, phosphoribulokinase, and ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase, protein content, and chlorophyll accumulation in dark-grown barley seedlings were measured before and after illumination. Enzymatic activities, levels of soluble protein, and accumulation (upon illumination) of chlorophyll in leaves declined from tips toward the base. In response to increasing time of illumination, chlorophyll accumulation and activities of phosphoribulokinase and ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase (enzymes located in chloroplasts) increased most in tip portions whereas activity of phosphoriboisomerase and levels of soluble protein (constituents not confined to chloroplasts) increased similarly in all sections of the leaf. Maximum activity of phosphoribulokinase and maximum accumulation of chlorophyll shifted toward median portions of the leaf blade with increased age of seedling before illumination. Maximum activity of ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase and maximum level of soluble protein occurred in all leaf sections when the seedlings were 7 days of age before illumination.
Optimization of the SHX Fusion Powered Transatmospheric Propulsion Concept

Existing propulsion technology has not achieved cost effective payload delivery rates to low earth orbit. A fusion based propulsion system, denoted as the Simultaneous Heating and eXpansion (SHX) engine, has been proposed in earlier papers. The SHX couples energy generated by a fusion reactor to the engine flowpath by use of coherent beam emitters. A quasi-one-dimensional flow model was used to quantify the effects of area expansion and energy input on propulsive efficiency for several beam models. Entropy calculations were included to evaluate the lost work in the system.
Likelihood-Based Random-Effect Meta-Analysis of Binary Events

Meta-analysis has been used extensively for evaluation of efficacy and safety of medical interventions. Its advantages and utilities are well known. However, recent studies have raised questions about the accuracy of the commonly used moment-based meta-analytic methods in general and for rare binary outcomes in particular. The issue is further complicated for studies with heterogeneous effect sizes. Likelihood-based mixed-effects modeling provides an alternative to moment-based methods such as inverse-variance weighted fixed- and random-effects estimators. In this article, we compare and contrast different mixed-effect modeling strategies in the context of meta-analysis. Their performance in estimation and testing of overall effect and heterogeneity are evaluated when combining results from studies with a binary outcome. Models that allow heterogeneity in both baseline rate and treatment effect across studies have low type I and type II error rates, and their estimates are the least biased among the model...
Modeling of lubricant performance in Kurt Orbahn tests for viscosity modifiers based on star polymers

The kinetics of stress-induced degradation of a star polymer additive dissolved in a mineral oil lubricant is modeled. The polymer degradation is modeled on the basis of a new system of kinetic integro-differential equations for the distribution densities of star polymer molecules with different numbers of arms and arm chain lengths. Some properties of the solution are established. Among these properties are the existence and uniqueness of the solution of the initial-value problem for the above mentioned system of integro-differential kinetic equations for star polymer degradation. A number of numerical solutions of the problem are obtained and analyzed. Some of the numerically simulated molecular weight distributions are compared with the independently obtained experimental ones. The lubricant viscosity losses due to polymer degradation are determined and compared with the experimentally measured ones. The theoretical and experimental data are in very good agreement.
Delta-doped AlGaN/GaN metal–oxide–semiconductor heterostructure field-effect transistors with high breakdown voltages

The fabrication and dc characteristics of AlGaN/GaN-based heterostructure field-effect transistors (HFETs) by employing the δ-doped barrier and the SiO2 insulated gate are reported. The device grown on sapphire substrate has a high drain-current-driving and gate-control capabilities as well as a very high gate-drain breakdown voltage of 200 V for a gate length of 1 μm and a source-drain distance of 3 μm. The incorporation of the SiO2 insulated gate and the δ-doped barrier into HFET structures reduces the gate leakage and improves the two-dimensional channel carrier mobility, and thereby allows one to take the inherent advantage of AlGaN/GaN HFETs with relatively high Al contents—the device structure is capable to deliver higher electron density (or drain current density) yet ensures an excellent pinch-off property as well as small gate leakage current. These characteristics indicate a great potential of this structure for high-power-microwave applications.
11 Dawn Patrol Patient Follow‐up Protocol

Follow-up of patients after their emergency department course provides a rich educational experience for residents, but due to time and logistical constraints, is infrequently performed in a scheduled and rigorous manner. The Dawn Patrol initiative was added to our residency curriculum to facilitate and protocolize patient follow-up for education and feedback on patient care. It also strives to improve communication with inpatient services, and provides a means of collection for morbidity / mortality and risk management cases. Our process functions by charging the clinical senior resident who is going off-shift, with reviewing the admission record for the past 24 hours. Interesting, clinically important, or cryptic case presentations are selected via our electronic medical record for review at the end of Morning Report. Generally, 1-3 new cases are selected for review each weekday morning. These cases are then recorded on a dry erase board in the Morning Report room, and the cases are followed until inpatient discharge, or are no longer of clinical interest. Visits to the inpatient wards are encouraged. Patient callbacks of outpatients are also eligible for inclusion. The cases are updated daily, and generally 5-10 cases are reviewed per day in approximately 10 minutes. The staff member attending Morning Report is responsible for providing bulleted teaching points on each case. The Dawn Patrol patient follow-up initiative seeks to improve emergency medicine resident education by facilitating and protocolizing patient follow-up, and provides real-time feedback on patient care performed in the emergency department.
Distribution of spore-positive and spore-negative nodules of Myrica gale in Maine, USA

The distribution of spore-positive and spore-negative root nodules ofMyrica gale L. was investigated at 34 sites throughout Maine. the sites represented a wide range of environmental conditions, including soils from organic to sand, soil pH from 3.1 to 6.4, elevations from 3 to 529 m, and average number of frost-free days per year from 80 to 162. Habitats included peatlands, streamsides and lakeshores.
Gamow-Teller strength of Mg 26

We have measured cross sections for (d${,}^{2}$He)-induced reactions on $^{26}\mathrm{Mg}$ at an energy of ${\mathit{E}}_{\mathit{d}}$=125.2 MeV. The measured Gamow-Teller strength is significantly smaller than that inferred from (p,n) reactions. We demonstrate that ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\beta}}}^{+}$ Gamow-Teller strengths for ${\mathit{T}}_{0}$+1 states deduced from (p,n) reactions may have significant systematic uncertainties due to ambiguities in the large backgrounds that must be subtracted. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based biosensors: visualizing cellular dynamics and bioenergetics

Forster (or fluorescence) resonance energy transfer (FRET) is a process involving the radiation-less transfer of energy from a “donor” fluorophore to an “acceptor” fluorophore. FRET technology enables the quantitative analysis of molecular dynamics in biophysics and in molecular biology, such as the monitoring of protein–protein interactions, protein–DNA interactions, and protein conformational changes. FRET-based biosensors have been utilized to monitor cellular dynamics not only in heterogeneous cellular populations, but also at the single-cell level in real time. Lately, applications of FRET-based biosensors range from basic biological to biomedical disciplines. Despite the diverse applications of FRET, FRET-based sensors still face many challenges. There is an increasing need for higher fluorescence resolution and improved specificity of FRET biosensors. Additionally, as more FRET-based technologies extend to medical diagnostics, the affordability of FRET reagents becomes a significant concern. Here, we will review current advances and limitations of FRET-based biosensor technology and discuss future FRET applications.
Transforming growth factor β1 stimulates type II collagen expression in cultured periosteum-derived cells

Chondrogenesis can occur during a bone repair process, which is related to several growth factors. Transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-beta 1) downregulates the expression of type II collagen by chondrocytes in vitro, but injection of TGF-beta 1 into the periosteum in vivo increases type II collagen mRNA levels and initiates chondrogenesis. We examined the effect of TGF-beta 1 on collagen gene expression in a bovine periosteum-derived cell culture system to evaluate its direct effect on the periosteum. Cultured cells expressed alkaline phosphatase and collagen pro alpha 1(I) and pro alpha 1(II) mRNAs. A low level of type II collagen synthesis was demonstrated by immunoprecipitation. TGF-beta 1 had no effect on periosteal cell proliferation. Expression of collagen pro alpha 1(I) mRNA did not change with TGF-beta 1 treatment, but alkaline phosphatase mRNA showed a dose-dependent decrease. Expression of collagen pro alpha 1(II) mRNA was stimulated 2.7-fold by TGF-beta 1. TGF-beta 1 also caused a 2.6-fold increase in type II collagen synthesis by immunoprecipitation. These findings indicate that TGF-beta 1 is an enhancer of the expression of the chondrocyte phenotype of the periosteal cells and suggest that TGF-beta 1 is important in initiating and promoting cartilage formation in vivo.
Retroactive effects in S1-R2 and S2-R1 paradigms

A preliminary study was conducted to indicate whether two transfer surfaces described by Houston (1964; 1965) would be useful in predicting retroactive effects. First-list retention was measured in five two-list paradigms (A-B, B-A; A-B, C-A; A-B, C-D; A-B, B-C; A-B, B-Ar) and a single-list control condition. With one major exception the pattern of the results conformed to the predictions of the surface. The exception was the A-B, C-A paradigm which produced much poorer first-list recall than that predicted by the surfaces. While not overwhelmingly convincing, these data suggest that the surfaces may contain some accurate predictions concerning retroactive effects.
Melatonin and its metabolites accumulate in the human epidermis in vivo and inhibit proliferation and tyrosinase activity in epidermal melanocytes in vitro.

Melatonin and its metabolites including 6-hydroxymelatonin (6(OH)M), N1-acetyl-N2-formyl-5-methoxykynuramine (AFMK) and 5-methoxytryptamine (5MT) are endogenously produced in human epidermis. This production depends on race, gender and age. The highest melatonin levels are in African-Americans. In each racial group they are highest in young African-Americans [30–50 years old (yo)], old Caucasians (60–90 yo) and Caucasian females. AFMK levels are the highest in African-Americans, while 6(OH)M and 5MT levels are similar in all groups. Testing of their phenotypic effects in normal human melanocytes show that melatonin and its metabolites (10−5 M) inhibit tyrosinase activity and cell growth, and inhibit DNA synthesis in a dose dependent manner with 10−9 M being the lowest effective concentration. In melanoma cells, they inhibited cell growth but had no effect on melanogenesis, except for 5MT which enhanced L-tyrosine induced melanogenesis. In conclusion, melatonin and its metabolites [6(OH)M, AFMK and 5MT] are produced endogenously in human epidermis and can affect melanocyte and melanoma behavior.
Recent results in B and D decays from CLEO

We present three new results in the physics of B and D decays obtained by the CLEO Collaboration. These are new measurements of B→Dπ branching ratios and subsequent evaluation of the strong phase in these decays, a first measurement of the decay B→K∗π, and an update on D meson mixing results.