cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prostate cancer biomarkers and multiparametric MRI: is there a role for both in prostate cancer management?

Several advancements have been made in recent years with regards to the detection and evaluation of prostate cancer (PCa). The low specificity of prostate specific antigen (PSA) has left much to be desired in a test, but a boom in novel biomarkers has made screening and surveillance more complicated. Several attempts at identifying a niche for these tests has helped somewhat, but much is still undetermined about the benefit that each test provides. In addition to laboratory tests, advancements in multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) and PIRADSv.2 scoring have provided significant benefit to the evaluation of PCa. With the widespread use of prostate imaging, it is important to re-evaluate the impact of novel biomarkers in the context of furthering PCa screening and management. In this review, we aim to assess the influence mpMRI has on the role of nine different novel biomarkers in the detection and evaluation of PCa. We performed a review of current peer-reviewed literature to assess this question. Much data has been published on the role of these tests, allowing for their placement into one of three best-fit categories: tests for biopsy-naive men (Prostate Health Index, Mi Prostate Score, 4K Score); tests for men with prior negative biopsies (ConfirmMDx, Progensa PCA3); and men on active surveillance (OncotypeDx, Prolaris, Decipher). Data on the role of these tests with the use of mpMRI have not been comprehensive and excludes several of the markers. More research is needed to determine the combined impact mpMRI and the novel biomarkers on the evaluation and management of PCa.
Power Plant Engineering

Our lives and the functioning of modern societies are intimately intertwined with electricity consumption. We owe our quality of life to electricity. However, the electricity generation industry is partly responsible for some of the most pressing challenges we currently face, including climate change and the pollution of natural environments, energy inequality, and energy insecurity. Maintaining our standard of living while addressing these problems is the ultimate challenge for the future of humanity. The objective of this book is to equip engineering and science students and professionals to tackle this task. Written by an expert with over 25 years of combined academic and industrial experience in the field, this comprehensive textbook covers both fossil fuels and renewable power generation technologies. For each topic, fundamental principles, historical backgrounds, and state-of-the-art technologies are covered. Conventional power production technologies, steam power plants, gas turbines, and combined cycle power plants are presented. For steam power plants, the historical background, thermodynamic principles, steam generators, combustion systems, emission reduction technologies, steam turbines, condensate-feedwater systems, and cooling systems are covered in separate chapters. Similarly, the historical background and thermodynamic principles of gas turbines, along with comprehensive discussions on compressors, combustors, and turbines, are presented and then followed with combined cycle power plants. The second half of the book deals with renewable energy sources, including solar photovoltaic systems, solar thermal power plants, wind turbines, ocean energy systems, and geothermal power plants. For each energy source, the available energy and its variations, historical background, operational principles, basic calculations, current and future technologies, and environmental impacts are presented. Finally, energy storage systems as required technologies to address the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources are covered. While the book has been written with the needs of undergraduate and graduate college students in mind, professionals interested in widening their understanding of the field can also benefit from it.
Blue Collar Booms and American Mortality: Evidence from US Counties

We exploit the positive labor demand shocks driven by the fracking boom to investigate whether a long-run increase in economic opportunities reduces deaths of despair. Within a difference-in-differences analysis using variation in geological characteristics amenable to fracking, we demonstrate that fracking produces a sizeable increase in earnings and employment, especially for prime-aged males, while deaths of despair decline for young men, driven by suicides. Our estimates imply that fracking led to a 14% decline in male suicides in boom counties. These findings are not driven by differential trends in mortality unrelated to the fracking boom or confounding factors like migration.
Crop management and agricultural responses at Early Bronze IV Tell Abu en-Ni'aj, Jordan

Abstract This study employs an array of quantitative methods to analyze village agricultural practices during a time of regional urban abandonment at the end of the Early Bronze Age in the Southern Levant. Coordinated cluster and canonical discriminant analyses of stratified archaeobotanical assemblages from the village of Tell Abu en-Ni'aj, Jordan support a detailed portrait of changing crop management at a sedentary agrarian community during Early Bronze IV, a period marked by widespread mobile pastoralism. Our quantified analyses of carbonized plant remains are augmented with stable isotope composition data for major cultigens to offer an innovative perspective on Early Bronze IV agrarian life in the northern Jordan Valley. Seeds from seven occupation phases spanning the time period from about 2500 to 2200 cal BC indicate increasing primary reliance on Hordeum vulgare (hulled barley), and only modest cultivation of wheat, mostly Triticum dicoccum (emmer) over this time span. Constrained incremental sum of squares (CONISS) cluster analysis and canonical discriminate analysis (CDA) illustrate significant shifts in crop cultivation, and possibly related animal management, including a major transition at about 2375 cal BC. Our analyses further highlight the most important plant taxa that contributed to these shifts. Cultivated crops, wild species and chaff are more ubiquitous in the earlier phases at Tell Abu en-Ni'aj, while percentages of H. vulgare and ubiquities of Lens culinaris (lentil) increase in the later phases. Lower seed densities, weed ubiquities and chaff to cereal ratios suggest more distant crop processing after about 2375 cal BC. Values of Δ13C for the major cereals, which provide a proxy for water availability, indicate dry farming of barley and preferential watering of wheat. This study proposes that a suite of changes occurred between the earlier and later phases at Tell Abu en-Ni'aj, which portray generally diminished, more remote crop production, possibly amid greater drought stress, leading to village abandonment. We illustrate a multi-faceted analytical approach suitable for interpretation of comparable archaeobotanical evidence and inference of agrarian dynamics elsewhere in prehistory.
A Return to Multilateralism—China’s Reform and Opening Up in a Historical Setting

The patterns of history provide important insights into current global political and economic trends. The ebb and flow of history illustrate that pivotal points create profound change. In the twentieth century, the obvious turning points were the two world wars. The emergence of China as an economic powerhouse, thanks to her ‘reform and opening-up’ policy, should be considered as the other significant event in the last century that is having a lasting impact in this century. Coupled with the United States’ retreat to isolationism, the world is likely to return to a more multilateral world order.
Procedures for Teaching Appropriate Gestural Communication Skills to Children with Autism

Four children with autism were taught to use gestures in combination with oral communication. Using a multiple-baseline across-responses design, intervention was introduced successively across three response categories containing gestures representative of attention-directing/getting, affective, and descriptive behavior. Although none of the participants displayed appropriate gestural and verbal responses during baseline, all participants acquired this skill with the systematic implementation of modeling, prompting, and reinforcement. Generalization measures indicated that the children learned to respond in the presence of novel stimuli and a novel setting. Social validity measures revealed that the participants' behavior appeared more socially appropriate at the completion of the study than at the start of the study, and that the participants' behavior was indistinguishable from that of their typically developing peers.
Polymorphisms in signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 and lung function in asthma

Background Identifying genetic determinants for lung function is important in providing insight into the pathophysiology of asthma. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 is a transcription factor latent in the cytoplasm; the gene (STAT3) is activated by a wide range of cytokines, and may play a role in lung development and asthma pathogenesis.
Focus on Technology: Taking Advantage of Web 2.0 Technologies: Classroom Blogging Basics

In the 21st century, technological hardware and software have changed many of the methods by which teachers can deliver instruction and communicate with students. Some of these new methods are cons...
Transform domain steganography with blind source separation

This paper applies blind source separation or independent component analysis for images that may contain mixtures of text, audio, or other images for steganography purposes. The paper focuses on separating mixtures in the transform domain such as Fourier domain or the Wavelet domain. The study addresses the effectiveness of steganography when using linear mixtures of multimedia components and the ability of standard blind sources separation techniques to discern hidden multimedia messages. Mixing in the space, frequency, and wavelet (scale) domains is compared. Effectiveness is measured using mean square error rate between original and recovered images.
Determination of Proteins in Biological Fluids by Electroimmunodiffusion and Two-Directional Immunoelectrophoresis

We have used electroimmunodiffusion and two-directional immunoelectrophoresis to measure proteins in biological fluids. Electroimmunodiffusion is based on the electrophoresis of antigens in antibody-containing agarose under standardized conditions. Pre-albumin, albumin, α1antitrypsin, α2-macroglobulin, IgG, IgA, IgM, IgD, and other proteins have been determined in our laboratory with a precision of ±5%. The lower limit for quantitation is 5 µg/ml. For immunoglobulin quantitation, treatment of the samples with potassium cyanate (carbamylation) before electrophoresis improves sensitivity and accuracy. Two-directional immunoelectrophoresis is based on electrophoretic separation of proteins in agarose or other high-resolution media followed by electrophoresis at right angles to the first direction, in a gel in which an appropriate antiserum has been incorporated. Qualitative and semiquantitative changes in proteins in abnormal specimens can be assessed. The two techniques combined provide a very sensitive tool for the evaluation of protein changes in biologic fluids. A simple apparatus has been designed in which a number of specimens can be analyzed simultaneously by either method.
Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography Imaging of Dopaminergic Function: Presynaptic Transporter, Postsynaptic Receptor, and “Intrasynaptic” Transmitter

Publisher Summary A promising single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) radiotracer—[ 123 I] β -CIT (2 β -carbomethoxy-3 β -(4-iodophenyl) tropane—have been developed that labels DA transporters (DATs), which are located on the terminals of DA neuronal projections from the substantia nigra to the striatum. Thus, this tracer is a marker for the neurons that degenerate in Parkinson's disease (PD). This chapter reviews studies with [ 123 I] β -CIT, which suggest it is likely to be a useful as a research and potential clinical imaging to measure dopaminergic terminal innervation of the striatum. Neuroreceptor imaging can be used not only to quantify the target receptor, but also to assess changes in the synaptic concentration of neurotransmitter following pharmacological challenges. This chapter reviews the development and validation of a SPECT paradigm designed to provide, in the same experiment, a measure of the baseline D2-binding potential (BP) and of the reduction in D2 BP induced by amphetamine, which is an indirect measure of an amphetamine-induced increase in synaptic DA concentration. D-Amphetamine challenge studies in conjunction with SPECT imaging of the D2 receptor have been performed in human subjects. A bolus plus constant infusion administration schedule of the D2-receptor radiotracer [ 123 I]IBZM was used to obtain a stable baseline for reliable quantitation of the d -amphetamine effect. These studies show the feasibility of using [ 123 I]IBZM programmed infusion and SPECT imaging to measure endogenous DA release after d -amphetamine challenge and to study brain neurochemical correlates of emotions.
Ablation of perivascular hepatic malignant tumors with irreversible electroporation.

BACKGROUND: Ablation is increasingly used to treat primary and secondary liver cancer. Ablation near portal pedicles and hepatic veins is challenging. Irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a new ablation technique that does not rely on heat and, in animals, appears to be safe and effective when applied near hepatic veins and portal pedicles. This study evaluated the safety and short-term outcomes of IRE to ablate perivascular malignant liver tumors. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective review of patients treated with IRE between January 1, 2011 and November 2, 2011 was performed. Patients were selected for IRE when resection or thermal ablation was not indicated due to tumor location. Treatment outcomes were classified by local, regional, and systemic recurrence and complications. Local failure was defined as abnormal enhancement at the periphery of an ablation defect on post-procedure contrast imaging. RESULTS: Twenty-eight patients had 65 tumors treated. Twenty-two patients (79%) were treated via an open approach and 6 (21%) were treated percutaneously. Median tumor size was 1 cm (range 0.5 to 5 cm).Twenty-five tumors were 1 cm from a major hepatic vein; 16 were 1c m from amajorportalpedicle.Complicationsincluded1intraoperativearrhythmiaand1postoperative portal vein thrombosis. Overall morbidity was 3%. There were no treatment-associated mortalities.Atmedianfollow-upof6months,therewas1tumorwithpersistentdisease(1.9%)and 3 tumors recurred locally (5.7%). CONCLUSIONS: This early analysis of IRE treatment of perivascular malignant hepatic tumors demonstrates safety for treating liver malignancies. Larger studies and longer follow-up are necessary to determine long-term efficacy. (J Am Coll Surg 2012;215:379–387. © 2012 by the American College of Surgeons)
Optimal Bayesian feature selection

Biomarker discovery and classification in medical applications both typically involve feature selection applied to a small-sample high-dimensional dataset. Recent work has proposed a framework to integrate a prior over an uncertainty class of parameterized feature-label distributions with training data to obtain optimal classifiers, MMSE classifier error estimates, and evaluate the MSE of error estimates. However, feature selection has not been investigated rigorously in this paradigm. In the present work, we begin to address optimal feature selection in a Bayesian framework via a sparsity inducing prior that assumes the number of “good” features is small. From modeling assumptions and this prior we derive expressions for the sample-conditioned probability mass over good feature sets. It thus becomes possible to find feature sets that are optimal relative to maximal posterior probability. Furthermore, one may provide this probability along with a given feature set, and thereby evaluate the validity and reliability of the results.
Relationship between neonatal nucleated red blood cell counts and hypoxic-ischemic injury.

Objective: To determine if nucleated red blood cell counts (RBC) are different in infants who develop intraventricular hemorrhage and periventricular leukomalacia in the first week of life and in those who do not. Methods: Nucleated RBCs were obtained from 441 infants weighing more than 499 g and less than 1751 g. Neonatal cranial fontanel sonography was performed on days 3 and 7 of life, and neonates were divided into those with normal and abnormal sonographic findings. The nucleated RBCs were compared between these groups and between normal and abnormal groups matched for birth weight and gestational age. Results: Mean gestational age, birth weight, birth weight percentile, Apgar score, respiratory distress syndrome and mortality were different between the infants with normal and abnormal ultrasound findings. The nucleated RBCs (per 100 white blood cells) were not different (40.5 ± 126.8 versus 41.8 ± 71.7, t = 0.09, P = .9). When we controlled for gestational age and birth weight, there was no significant difference between nucleated RBCs in those with normal and abnormal sonography (54.3 ± 206.5 versus 41.4 ± 72.0, t = 0.56, P = .6). In growth-restricted neonates, there was a significant increase in nucleated RBCs regardless of whether growth restriction was defined as tenth percentile or less, 25th percentile or less, or 50th percentile or less, even when we controlled for gestational age. Conclusion: Nucleated RBCs are not different in preterm infants with or without intraventricular hemorrhage and periventricular leukomalacia, even when one controls for gestational age and birth weight. There are significant elevations in nucleated RBCs in growth-restricted fetuses. Birth weight percentile must be considered when using nucleated RBCs as a marker of intrauterine hypoxia.
A Liquid Bridge Between Two Elastic Half-Spaces: A Theoretical Study of Interface Instability

The interaction between two elastic half-spaces coupled by a small liquid bridge is investigated theoretically. A non-dimensional number, Nc, is found to govern the interface stability. When Nc is greater than or equal to 1, the two surfaces jump into solid–solid contact. Once this occurs, the contact area will continue to expand until the two surfaces are in full contact.
Infantile hypotonia as a presentation of rett syndrome

Rett syndrome (RTT) is classically defined by meeting certain clinical diagnostic criteria. It affects mostly females, and one possible pathogenic mechanism was considered to involve mitochondrial function. This was based on the finding of ultrastructural alterations in the mitochondria and decreased respiratory chain enzyme activity. However, the principal etiology of RTT has since been found to be mutations in the MECP2 gene, which is located on the X chromosome. Molecular analysis has allowed the phenotype of MECP2 mutations to be broadened beyond RTT to include girls who have mild mental retardation, autism, and an Angelman syndrome phenotype, as well as males with severe encephalopathy. We present a girl with a previously described mutation in the MECP2 gene whose phenotype is of atypical RTT. She presented with hypotonia and developmental delay in infancy without a clear period of normal development. As part of her evaluation for hypotonia, a muscle biopsy and respiratory chain enzyme analysis showed a slight decrease in respiratory chain enzyme activity consistent with previous reports. This report supports broadening the phenotype of patients who should be considered for MECP2 mutation analysis to include cases of developmental delay and hypotonia without evidence of an initial period of normal development. Furthermore, it supports the hypothesis of an underlying secondary defect in energy metabolism contributing to the pathogenesis of RTT.
Recursive solution and stability conditions for 2-D least-squares modeling and stabilization problems

Abstract Least-squares autoregressive modeling and the planar least-squares inverse (PLSI) stabilization are problems of interest in two-dimensional signal processing. We attempt to unify the treatment of these two problems by showing that both can be transformed into a one-dimensional problem and efficiently solved by means of a recursive Cholesky factorization algorithm. The development of this algorithm permits us also to introduce sufficient conditions to ensure the stability of the model or of the PLSI. Furthermore, the recursive nature of the algorithm provides insight into the choosing of the order of the model or of the PLSI, and the shape of the support for the coefficients. To illustrate the efficiency of the algorithm and the use of the stability conditions, modeling and stabilization examples are given.
Pneumococcal Carriage in Infants Following Maternal Immunization with Pneumococcal Vaccine or Hemophilus influenzae type b Conjugate Vaccine During Pregnancy † 831

Pneumococcal Carriage in Infants Following Maternal Immunization with Pneumococcal Vaccine or Hemophilus influenzae type b Conjugate Vaccine During Pregnancy † 831
Policy making by the lower federl courts and the bureaucracy: The genesis of a national AIDS policy

Abstract This study investigates how and why judicial-bureaucratic interaction contributed to the development of a national, anti-discrimination AIDS policy in the field of education. It confirms that the lower federal courts and bureaucrats are important but over-looked policy makers. By reviewing the actual decisions, bureaucratic regulations and recommendaions, it traces the incremental development of the AIDS policy. This illustrates that the courts can both fulfill their traditional roles of examiner of administrative procedures and defenders of individual rights, and are competent to craft complex social policy.
Impact of the AIDS epidemic on morbidity and mortality among intravenous drug users in a New York City methadone maintenance program.

To examine the impact of the AIDS epidemic on morbidity and mortality in a defined population of intravenous drug users, we analyzed overall and cause-specific death rates, AIDS incidence, and acute medical hospitalizations among patients in a long-term methadone maintenance program in New York City for the years 1984 through 1987 (midyear population for each year 828 to 891; demographic characteristics did not differ). The number of deaths while in treatment increased from 11 (13.3/1000) in 1984 to 39 (44.2/1000) in 1987. Deaths from AIDS increased from 3.6/1000 to 14.7/1000, deaths due to bacterial pneumonia/sepsis from 3.6/1000 to 13.6/1000; deaths from cirrhosis, drug overdose, trauma, and other causes remained relatively stable. AIDS incidence rose from six cases/1000 in 1984 to 20.4.1000 in 1987. Hospitalizations for AIDS, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and endocarditis/sepsis increased from 84.9/1000 in 1986 to 144.8/1000 in 1987. These data suggest that the AIDS epidemic has had a profound effect on pat...
Lessons learned from occurrences involving procedures at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1994

This study used the Department of Energy (DOE) Occurrence Reporting and Processing System (ORPS) data to investigate occurrences reported during one year at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). ORPS provides a centralized database and computerized support for the Collection, distribution, updating, analysis, and validation of information in occurrence reports about abnormal events related to facility operation. Human factors causes for occurrences are not always defined in ORPS. Content analysis of narrative data revealed that 33% of all LANL 1994 adverse operational events have human factors causes related to procedures. Procedure-caused occurrences that resulted in injury to workers, damage to facilities or equipment, or a near-miss are analyzed.
Prediction of Dry-Friction Whirl and Whip Between a Rotor and a Stator

This paper addresses recent test results for dry-friction whip and whirl. Authors of these publications suggest that predictions from Black’s 1968 paper are deficient in predicting their observed transition speeds from whirl to whip and the associated precession frequencies of whirl and whip motion. Predictions from Black’s simple Jeffcott-rotor/point-mass stator are cited. This model is extended here to a multi-mode rotor and stator model with an arbitrary axial location for rotor-stator rubbing. Predictions obtained from this new model are quite close to experimental observations in terms of the transition from whip to whirl and observed precession frequencies. Paradoxically, nonlinear numerical simulations using Black’s model fail to produce the whirl and whip solutions. The Coulomb friction force in Black’s model has a fixed direction, and Bartha showed in 2000 that by making the friction-force direction depend on the relative sliding velocity, nonlinear simulations would produce the predicted whirl solutions. He also showed that Black’s proposed whip solution at the upper precession-frequency transition from whirl to whip was unstable. Results presented here show that Black’s whirl solutions are unstable for all whirl precession frequencies, not just the whirl-whip transition frequency. The multi-mode extension of Black’s model predicts a complicated range of whirl and whip possibilities; however, nonlinear time-transient simulations (including the sgn function definition for the Coulomb force) only produce the initial whirl precession range, the initial whirl-whip transition, and the initial whip frequency. Simulation results for these values agree well with predictions. However, none of the predicted higher-frequency whirl results are obtained. Also, the initial whip frequency persists to quite high running speeds and does not (as predicted) transition to higher frequencies. Hence, despite its deficiencies, correct and very useful predictions are obtained from a reasonable extension of Black’s model.Copyright © 2006 by ASME
The Rogers-Ramanujan-Gordon identities, the generalized Göllnitz-Gordon identities, and parity questions

Recently, George Andrews investigated a variety of parity questions in classical partition identities. In particular, he involved parity restrictions in the Rogers-Ramanujan-Gordon identities. In this paper, we reveal the relationship of his results with [email protected]?s generalization of the Rogers-Ramanujan-Gordon identities. In addition, Andrews observed that one case of his identities is related to the Gollnitz-Gordon identities. In the light of the fact that the Gollnitz-Gordon identities are special cases of a general partition theorem of Andrews, we extend [email protected]? identities by generalizing his observation. We also provide a generating function of the missing case of his identities.
Accurate Analytical Self-Consistent-Field Functions for Atoms. VIII. The Ground States of K + , K, and Ca

Self-consistent-field calculations by the expansion method were carried out for the ground states of ${\mathrm{K}}^{+}$, K, and Ca. The merit of this calculation is in its accuracy. Compared with solutions of the Hartree-Fock equations by the numerical-integration technique, the wave functions are considered accurate to three decimal places. The deviations from the nodal condition for the radial functions do not exceed 0.00006. The cusp condition is exactly satisfied.
Dissolution of Slightly Soluble Powders under Sink Conditions I: Development of an Apparatus and Dissolution Studies of Salicylic Acid Powders

A three-compartment apparatus was developed for dissolution studies of slightly soluble powders under sink conditions. The apparatus was designed to accommodate up to three phases to provide sink conditions. The apparatus could accommodate a barrier in the dissolution medium to prevent floating powders from entering and dissolving directly into the sink phase. Dissolution studies were conducted with several particle size grades of salicylic acid under nonsink as well as sink conditions. Effects of the rate of agitation and methods of introducing samples (dry or wetted suspensions) were also investigated. The data indicated that under diffusion-controlled rate of agitation, using the appropriate placement of propellers, it was possible to establish a rank order for in vitro dissolution times of different particle size salicylic acid powders.
Entropy change at the ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic transition in the intermetallic compound Ce(Fe0.8Co0.2)2

The intermetallic compounds Ce(Fe1−xCox)2 show two magnetic transitions (for x < 0.3), one occurring at Tc due to paramagnetic-ferromagnetic (PM-FM) transition, and the other arising at TN lower than Tc, supposedly a ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic (FM-AFM) transition. We present the results of magnetization measurements around TN under various magnetic fields for Ce(Fe0.8Co0.2)2. The field dependence of the transition temperature TN has been established. The entropy change at the transition is calculated and the result shows a linear region in the entropy change versus TN. An explanation for this linear behavior has been proposed in terms of electronic band structure. The calculated coefficient difference of electronic specific heat between the FM and AFM states agrees well with the value measured by others.
The relative effectiveness of several hallucinogens in disrupting maze performance by rats

The effects of hallucinogens and their nonhallucinogenic analogs on the performance of rats on the Lashley-III underwater maze were evaluated. After the rats were trained to swim through the maze without an error, they were injected i.p. with test compounds or saline solution and tested at various intervals after the injection. A substantial number of the treated animals made one or more errors. The time of peak effect of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) and mescaline was 15 min after the injection; that of 2-brom-lysergic acid diethylamide (BOL-148) and of several trimethoxyamphetamines (TMA) was 30 min; and that of d-amphetamine was 45 min. The dose-response curves showed that the effect of the compounds was a function of dose. The median effective doses (ED 50) in μmol/kg were: LSD-25 (0.3); TMA-2 (12.8); BOL-148 (15.9); d-amphetamine (32.0); TMA (33.4); TMA-6 (46.0); TMA-3 (52.1); mescaline (91.0); and TMA-4 (94.0). The rank order of potency of the compounds is, in general, similar to that derived from the data on man.
Mechanisms of ammonia—MBE growth of GaN on SiC for transport devices

The effect of growth parameters on impurity incorporation, surface morphology, crystal quality, and the strain state has been studied for ammonia molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth of GaN on SiC substrates. Study of the growth mechanisms has identified specific growth regimes ideal for growth of high quality and low strain, crack-free GaN/AlGaN HFETs on SiC wafers. A 2-D growth regime was found at moderate temperatures around 780 °C and high ammonia flow of 200 sccm, which yields smooth interface and low oxygen impurity level, but quite high tensile strain. Combined with a strain relief GaN/ AlN (0.2 μm/0.2 μm) buffer structure, this approach produced excellent HFETs with mobilities of 1700-1800 cm 2 /Vs and near zero or compressive strain. A 3-D growth regime was found at high temperatures around 880 °C and moderate ammonia flow of 100 sccm. Although 3-D growth results in rougher surface, this approach yields low tensile strain (<0.1%) and does not require multilayered strain relief structure. Electron mobility exceeding 1600 cm 2 /V s has been achieved using the 3-D growth approach.
Perceptions of female and male comic strip characters II: Favorability and identification are different dimensions

Identification ratings of 20 daily newspaper comic strip characters replicated a prediction that male characters would elicit greater identification than female characters, even though previous research had reported the favorability of Adjective Generation Technique (AGT) descriptions for female characters to be equivalent to or greater than that for male characters depending upon primary or secondary familiarity. Significant interaction findings affirming greater same-sex identification by both male and female subjects occurred within a context of significantly greater same-sex and lesser cross-sex identifications on the part of male subjects.
The operant conditioning of human motor behavior.

A very large body of experimental results have accumulated in the field of operant, or instrumental, conditioning of the rat, the pigeon, and of other experimental animals. The application to human behavior of the laws generated by such research is most often done by the use of theory. An alternative method is to demonstrate that the manipulation of classes of empirically defined variables that produce specific and highly characteristic changes in the behavior of small experimental animals in Skinner boxes produce similar changes in the behavior of college students. This paper reports procedures for the direct application of the variables defining the paradigm for operant conditioning to human behavior and shows that human beings act very much indeed like experimental animals when they are subjected to the same experimental treatments. It suggests that direct application of conditioning principles to some categories of human behavior may be justified. The procedures are simple and they may be followed by anyone, with a minimum of equipment. That it is possible to condition human motor behavior will surprise few who are concerned with behavior theory. Nevertheless, it has not always been clear what behaviors will act as "responses," what events will prove to be "reinforcing stimuli," or exactly what procedures would most readily yield reproducible results. This paper describes methods that have been worded out for easy and rapid operant conditioning of motor behavior in humans, states characteristic findings, and reports sample results. Developed in a series of exploratory experiments in an elementary laboratory course in psychology, the methods may have a wider utility.
Visual Markers for Navigating Instructional Texts

The visual dimension of meaning is widely accepted in technical communication. But theories (and pedagogies) that direct the making of visual meaning are still under development. A guidelines approach, a design decisions approach, and an information/reader model approach are applied as lenses for viewing the marking of meaning on an instructional page. A case study invokes these approaches to describe the visual markers students employ as they write descriptive and instructional text. Although neither group described marked their texts thoroughly, beginning technical writing majors enrolled in a writing class used fewer illustrations and visual markers than technical majors used. The difference in beginning students' performance may be due to prior reading patterns, since the difference is more pronounced in the descriptions than in the instructions. Thus, the paper proposes a longitudinal approach to sensitizing writing majors to visual cues.
Height dependence of equatorial zonal plasma drifts

Equatorial ionospheric plasma drifts play important roles on the dynamics of the low latitude ionosphere. We use extensive F region measurements by the Jicamarca incoherent scatter radar and E region observations by the JULIA system to determine the season and solar cycle dependent altitudinal dependence of the equatorial zonal quiet-time plasma drifts. We also examine the altitudinal dependence of the zonal quiet-time drifts in the topside ionosphere over Peruvian equatorial region using Vector Electric Field Instrument (VEFI) onboard the C/NOFS satellite during the 2008–2011 very low solar flux period. The quiet-time F region zonal drifts are westward from about 06 to 16 LT with solar flux independent quiet-time peak values of about 40–60 m/s; they reverse to eastward at about 16–17 LT. Near noon, the zonal drifts do not change much with altitude during June solstice, but increase with height during equinox and December solstice. The nighttime F region drifts are generally eastward with peak values in the early nighttime sector that increase from about 100 to 200 m/s from solar minimum to solar maximum. The F region drifts exhibit large altitudinal variations near dusk where they are westward at the lowest altitudes and eastward near the F layer peak and above. We show that this altitudinal shear varies with season and solar cycle and is closely related to the height variation of the vertical plasma drifts and peak plasma density. We present C/NOFS measurements showing that near solar minimum the post-midnight eastward drifts decrease with altitude above the F layer peak. We also compare our climatological E and F region drifts with results from recent numerical modeling studies and briefly discuss the large short-term variability of these drifts.
Osteoporosis risk assessment and ethnicity: validation and comparison of 2 clinical risk stratification instruments.

BACKGROUND: Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), coupled with early treatment, may reduce morbidity and mortality associated with osteoporosis. Clinical tools to enhance selection of women for DXA screening have not been developed or validated in an ethnically diverse population.
Conversion of electrodeposited Co(OH)2 to CoOOH and Co3O4, and comparison of their catalytic activity for the oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract Cobalt hydroxide, β-Co(OH)2, was electrodeposited cathodically from an alkaline solution of tris(ethylenediamine)cobalt(III). The Co(OH)2 crystals grew into a microcone morphology and the surface became CoOOH at anodic potentials. The Co(OH)2 film was fully converted to CoOOH by electrochemical oxidation at 95 °C in 1 M KOH and to Co3O4 by thermal decomposition at 300 °C in air. The Co(OH)2 and CoOOH films grew with a [001] orientation on Au(111), and the converted Co3O4 films had a [111] orientation. The overall morphology was retained upon conversion. However, an increase in roughness was observed on the surface of the CoOOH and Co3O4 microcones. The electrochemically active area of the films was estimated from double layer capacitance measurements in acetonitrile with tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate electrolyte. The CoOOH had a roughness factor of 9.4, and the Co3O4 had a roughness factor of 63.6. The catalytic activities of the films for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) were compared by Tafel analysis in an O2 saturated 1 M KOH at room temperature. The CoOOH and Co3O4 films appeared to exhibit different Tafel behavior with Co3O4 being the superior catalyst when the geometric area was used in the Tafel analysis. However, when the observed current densities were corrected for the measured electrochemically active areas, the linear regions of the two Tafel plots fell on the same line. The results suggest that the active species, likely Co(IV), for the OER is the same on both materials. Both CoOOH and Co3O4 had a Tafel slope of 60 mV dec−1 and an exchange current density of 6.1 × 10−11 A cm−2. The conversion method outlined in the paper provides a means to produce Co3O4 with a large electrochemically-active area.
Variation of oxygen content and crystal chemistry of YBa4Cu3O8.5+δ

Abstract All phases discovered so far in the Y–Ba–Cu–O system have layered (2-dimensional) structures with the exception of YBa4Cu3O8.5+δ (Y143), which has a cubic (3-dimensional) structure. In an attempt to understand the crystal chemistry of the Y143 phase and to make it superconductive, the Y143 compound has been treated at 450°C in oxygen and subsequently annealed at several different temperatures in a nitrogen atmosphere. The samples have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), iodometric titration, and SQUID magnetometer measurements. The Y143 phase was found to be nonsuperconductive for all annealing conditions. The oxygen content was found to decrease with increasing annealing temperature in two steps, corresponding to the loss of oxygen from two different lattice sites. The lattice parameter decreased during the first step and increased during the second step with increasing annealing temperature or with decreasing oxygen content. Rietveld refinement of X-ray powder diffraction data showed that the O3 and O4 sites, which are geometrically identical within the crystal lattice, have an equal occupancy of 51.5% in samples not annealed in N2. However, when samples were annealed in N2, an oxygen redistribution from the O4 site to the O3 site occurred during the low temperature (
GABAA and GABAB receptors differentially regulate striatal acetylcholine release in vivo

Microdialysis was used to study the effects of selective GABAergic agents on striatal acetylcholine (ACh) release in awake, freely moving rats. Local perfusion with the GABAA agonist muscimol dramatically reduced striatal ACh release, while the GABAB agonist baclofen caused only minor decreases in ACh release. Co-perfusion with the GABAA antagonist bicuculline diminished the muscimol-induced decrease in ACh release. Likewise, co-perfusion with the GABAB antagonist 2-hydroxysaclofen attenuated the baclofen-induced reduction in ACh release. Bicuculline alone markedly increased striatal ACh release, but 2-hydroxysaclofen by itself had no effect. These results suggest that GABA tonically regulates striatal ACh release primarily through stimulation of inhibitory GABAA receptors.
Copenhagen II or something new

For the first time since the failed 2009 Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, momentum is building towards a new climate agreement. But expectations must be kept in check, and making expert advice more useful to the process will require engaging the social sciences more fully.
Studies in histochemistry XXII. The quantitative histological distribution of zinc in dog gastric mucosa

Abstract The quantitative histological distribution of zinc in the normal dog gastric mucosa in both the fundus and pylorus was determined. The highest zinc concentrations per unit “reduced weight” were found in the epithelial and parietal cell regions, the former exceeding the latter. It is possible that the high values in the epithelial cell material resulted largely from uptake from the stomach contents and to a lesser degree from the occurrence of a certain amount of carbonic anhydrase, but the high level in the parietal cell portion may be related primarily to the maximum concentration of carbonic anhydrase which occurs in this region of the fundic mucosa.
A single-institution validation of the AJCC staging system for stage IV melanoma.

Background Survival of patients with stage IV melanoma is poor. In the current American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging system, site of distant disease and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) are the only prognostic factors included for stage IV disease. We sought to validate the current AJCC staging system in a contemporary, prospectively collected cohort of patients and explore additional factors that may influence prognosis.
Platelet function in acute respiratory failure

To assess the role of platelets in thrombohemorrhagic complications of acute respiratory failure (ARF), we studied platelet function in 13 ARF patients admitted for intensive care, in six acutely ill intensive care patients without evidence of acute lung injury (non-ARF), and in 10 normal subjects. Platelet counts in ARF and non-ARF patients were similar to the normal range. The bleeding time of the ARF patients (8.5 +/- 0.9 min) was significantly longer (p less than 0.01) than the normal (4.8 +/- 0.2 min) but similar to non-ARF patients (5.4 +/- 0.8 min). The bleeding time prolongations in ARF patients were unrelated to platelet concentration. Platelet aggregation induced by ADP and thrombin was normal in both ARF and non-ARF patient groups. The epinephrine response was impaired in one non-ARF patient and in three ARF patients; collagen-induced aggregation was absent in two ARF patients, with a prolonged bleeding time. Levels of VIII:C and vWF in both groups of patients were similar to the normal level, but VIIIR:Ag levels in ARF patients (407 +/- 45% of normal) were higher (p less than 0.01) than in both non-ARF patients (210% +/- 10%) and normal subjects (106% +/- 4). The electrophoretic mobility of VIIIR:Ag was abnormal in ARF patients. The prolonged bleeding time in ARF patients appears to result from the qualitative and quantitative VIIIR:Ag defect. beta-Thromboglobulin levels were greater (p less than 0.01) in ARF patients (87.6 +/- 6.9 ng/ml; p less than 0.001) than in non-ARF patients (46.2 +/- 3.1 ng/ml) or in normal subjects (25.3 +/- 2.5 ng/ml p less than 0.0001). However, platelet factor 4 plasma levels in ARF patients (18 +/- 1.6 ng/ml) did not differ from those in non-ARF patients (15.0 +/- 3.0 ng/ml), but both were significantly different from normal (6.1 +/- 0.8 ng/ml). Plasma thromboxane B2 (T X B2) levels were not different from normal values in either ARF or non-ARF patients, but 6-keto-PGF1 alpha levels were significantly reduced (p less than 0.01) in ARF patients (215 +/- 43 pg/ml) compared to normal values (381 +/- 34 pg/ml). Non-ARF patients had 6-keto-PGF1 alpha levels (285 +/- 111 pg/ml) midway between the normal values and those of ARF patients. Our results suggest that in vivo platelet activation occurs in ARF. ARF patients have quantitative and qualitative platelet defects that may contribute to thrombotic and hemorrhagic complications.
Seeding cirrus clouds could drive global net cooling

Cirrus clouds—thin, wispy streamers that form in the upper troposphere when ice crystals nucleate around small dust or metallic particles—have a net warming effect on climate. Previous studies have suggested that seeding cirrus clouds with an overload of dust particles reduces their formation and lifespan, thus leading to a net cooling effect on global climate. Recently, however, research has raised questions regarding how exactly cirrus clouds form, which has implications for seeding strategies.
A new approach to variance component estimation with diagnostic implications

Closed form expressions are developed for the estimators of functions of the variance components in balanced, mixed, linear models. These estimators are averages of sample covariances (variances) which offer diagnostic information on the data and the model. The cause of negative estimates may be revealed. Examples illustrate the basic concepts.
Source apportionment of molecular markers and organic aerosol. 2. Biomass smoke.

Chemical mass balance analysis was performed using a large dataset of molecular marker concentrations to estimate the contribution of biomass smoke to ambient organic carbon (OC) and fine particle mass in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Source profiles were selected based on detailed comparisons between the ambient data and a large number of published profiles. The fall and winter data were analyzed with fireplace and woodstove source profiles, and open burning profiles were used to analyze the spring and summer data. At the upper limit, biomass smoke is estimated to contribute on average 520 ± 140 ng-C m-3 or 14.5% of the ambient OC in the fall, 210 ± 85 ng-C m-3 or 10% of the ambient OC in the winter, and 60 ± 21 ng-C/m-3 or 2% of the ambient OC in the spring and summer. In the fall and winter, there is large day-to-day variability in the amount of OC apportioned to biomass smoke. The levels of biomass smoke in Pittsburgh are much lower than in some other areas of the United States, indicating significant reg...