cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
OBSERVED FINITE ELEMENT CAPABILITIES AND LIMITATIONS FROM MULTI-TEAM SIMULATIONS OF THREE CONCRETE SHELL STRUCTURES

Abstract This paper describes a study whose primary intention was to determine how well state-of-the-art analytical/numerical methods could predict the response of three shell structures in the service-level and strength-level regimes. Presented herein are the results of six finite element analyses, performed by different analysts of three, reinforced concrete shells. The shells were scale models of: an end-supported cylinder with edge beams; an end-supported, three-unit folded plate without edge beams; and a hyperboloid of revolution. The results of the analyses generally showed good agreement between predicted and measured displacements before cracking. Significant differences were noted between the different numerical results, and between numerical and experimental results from post-cracking to structural collapse. Nevertheless, it is concluded that the finite element approaches presented here can provide a suitable platform for the analysis and design of these shells if used by an experienced designer.
Substance abuse treatment for people with schizophrenia

Substance abuse by people with schizophrenia is a serious public health problem that is associated with poor treatment compliance, increased rates of relapse, and disruption of role functioning. There is widespread agreement on the need to integrate psychiatric and substance abuse treatment for this dual disorder, but to date there are no specific treatments with solid empirical support. We first review the primary consequences of substance abuse by people with schizophrenia and then examine what is currently known about their treatment needs. We then describe the special problems faced by this population that interfere with their ability to reduce substance use, with or without treatment. The remainder of the paper focuses on description of a new behavioral treatment we have developed to compensate for the cognitive and motivational deficits that characterize the illness. We describe the development process and present some process data that demonstrate that the intervention is safe and acceptable for people with schizophrenia, and that we are able to train therapists to administer the procedures in a consistent and effective manner. Future studies will examine the effectiveness of the intervention.
Minimization of dispersion in an ultrafast chirped pulse amplifier using adaptive learning

Minimizing residual frequency dispersion that accompanies pulse stretching, amplification, and recompression is an important consideration in ultrashort chirped-pulse amplifiers. Here we show how an adaptive learning algorithm can be used in conjunction with a pulse shaper to compensate for higher-order and nonlinear dispersion in a chirped-pulse amplifier. Using spectral blueshifting as a sensitive diagnostic for pulse shape, we implement a ‘learning loop’ comprised of the pulse shaper, strong field laser ionization, and a genetic algorithm to minimize dispersion through the amplifier. We verify our optimization results using frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG) measurements and also show theoretically and experimentally that spectral blueshifting is indeed a sensitive diagnostic for pulse shape, and specifically, for higher-order dispersion.
A Double Pass Attachment For The Linear And Plane Mirror Interferometer

An optical accessory has been devised for doubling the resolution of the Hewlett-Packard linear and plane mirror interferometers. This device, termed the double pass attachment, does not fold one of the two interfering beams, as in previous attempts to extend resolution optically, and hence does not introduce error due to its own motion. The simple addition of a quarter wave plate to the attachment can be used to give a differential version of the plane mirror interferometer. Various configurations of this differential interferometer, and their application to I.C. lithographic and inspection equipment, are discussed.
A bounce-averaged kinetic model of the ring current ion population

A bounced-averaged ring current kinetic model for arbitrary pitch angle, including losses due to charge exchange and Coulomb collisions along ion drift paths, is developed and solved numerically. Results from simplifield model runs, intended to illustrate the effects of adiabatic drifts and collisional losses on the proton population, are presented. The processes of: (1) particle acceleration under the conditions of time-independent magnetospheric electric fields; (2) a predominant loss of particles with small pitch angles due to charge exchange; and (3) a buildup of a low-energy population caused by the Coulomb drag energy degradation, are discussed.
Remark on algorithm 644

Algorithm 644 computes all major Bessel functions of a complex argument and of nonnegative order. Single-precision routine CBESY and double-precision routine ZBESY are modified to reduce the comput...
Scaled Toda-like flows

Abstract This paper discusses the class of isospectral flows X = [X, A ∘ X] , where ∘ denotes the Hadamard product and [., .] is the Lie bracket. The presence of A allows arbitrary and independent scaling for each element in the matrix X. The time-1 mapping of the scaled Toda-like flow still enjoys a QR-like iteration. The scaled structure includes the classical Toda flow, Brockett's double bracket flow, and other interesting flows as special cases. Convergence proof is thus unified and simplified. The effect of scaling on a variety of applications is demonstrated by examples.
Study of elastic-plastic fracture problem using finite element technique

Formulation de la matrice de rigidite a l'aide d'elements isoparametriques quadrilateraux a 8 nœuds. Etude de la taille et de la forme de la zone plastique d'un echantillon a fissure centrale. Resultats presentes sous forme graphique
Upscaling of upward CO2 migration in 2D system

Abstract A procedure for upscaling CO 2 buoyancy driven upward migration in finite-difference simulation models is presented in this work. This upscaling procedure accounts for capillary and buoyancy forces to enable CO 2 upward migration modeling in coarser grids while accounting for dominant fine-scaled geological effects. The developed method is applied to 2D domains with no-flow boundary conditions. The absolute permeability field is correlated in the horizontal direction, with zero correlation in the vertical direction. Capillary pressure is parameterized using a Leveret J-function. A Dykstra-Parsons coefficient of 0.7 was used to generate a relatively heterogeneous absolute permeability field and hence test the developed algorithm under more stringent conditions. Multiphase flow upscaling is improved by accounting for spatial connectivity (percolation), which enables us to obtain more realistic rock-fluid pseudo-functions and capture effects of local capillary trapping at the fine scale (meso-scale trapping). The upscaling method and estimation of rock-fluid functions are numerically tested and compared with currently accepted single and multiphase flow upscaling methods. Results show that single-phase flow upscaling is insufficient, because it fails to adequately predict mobility and residual saturation, and hence multiphase flow upscaling should be employed. Significant improvement in gas travel time (representative of mobility) and trapped CO 2 saturation (representative of trapped saturation) are observed when spatial connectivity (percolation) is included. The simulation execution time reduces 17-fold through upscaling. This speedup will enable simulating 3D CO 2 sequestration simulation scenarios.
State culture and terrorism in Nigeria: an alternative approach to Realism

Since September 11th, 2001 world attention has again been riveted on terrorism as a sudden menace. The memory of the 1998 horrific bombings in Kenya lasted as long as the public outrage followed by the March 11th, 2004 attacks in Madrid. Terrorism is not confined to any specific geopolitical space, and cannot always be reduced to Realism as a common denominator. Social and cultural movements that are anti-sovereign and anti-national need culturally sensitive but firm handling. The fact remains that a new way of looking at Africa is emerging (Abraham 2001). This new way combines the social science with the political science for a holistic understanding of Africa's security problems and hence their solutions. In this context, Nigeria is an African state that is worthy of attention. Paul Wolfowitz was partly right when he said: “I emphatically disagree” with people who apply historical and cultural determinism to the future of countries. But he also missed the point that institution building in furtherance of security has to take place contextually (Wolfowitz 2004), and there is no military solution to terrorism in Africa. Institute of African Studies: Research Review 2005, Vol. 21(1): 59-72
Injectable bulking agents in fecal and urinary incontinence: current agents, techniques and rationale for their use

While the use of injectable bulking agents in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence may be infrequently considered due to lack of permanence, properly injected agents can be a good initial, minimally invasive, therapy or an excellent second-line therapy in very complex patients. Proper patient counseling and selection are essential to successful treatment. The use of bulking agents in fecal incontinence is young, with the refined technique and defined outcomes yet to be determined.
Interrelations of Age, Self-Reported Health, Speed, and Memory

Contributions of self-reported health to adult age differences in perceptual speed and memory were assessed for 301 adults ages 20-90. Participants were asked 4 health status questions, given 3 perceptual speed tests, 2 working memory tests, and 2 memory tests. Self-reported health was found to predict speed better than it predicted memory. Covariance structural equation modeling was used to assess the relations among age, self-reported health, perceptual speed, working memory, and memory. The results support the hypothesis that any effects of self-reported health on age differences
XML CLUSTERING AND RETRIEVAL THROUGH PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS

XML is increasingly important in data exchange and information management. A great deal of efforts have been spent in developing efficient techniques for storing, querying, indexing and accessing XML documents. In this paper we propose a new approach to clustering XML data. In contrast to previous work, which focused on documents defined by different DTDs, the proposed method works for documents with the same DTD. Our approach is to extract features from documents, modeled by ordered labeled trees, and transform the documents to vectors in a high-dimensional Euclidean space based on the occurrences of the features in the documents. We then reduce the dimensionality of the vectors by principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster the vectors in the reduced dimensional space. The PCA enables one to identify vectors with co-occurrent features, thereby enhancing the accuracy of the clustering. We also discuss an extension of our techniques to XML retrieval. Experimental results based on documents obtained from Wisconsin's XML data bank show the effectiveness and good performance of the proposed techniques.
Thin-layer chromatography for detection of peptide cleavage or integrity during reactions of the z-alanyl-glycines with aniline or phenylhydrazine under papain catalysis

Abstract Z- l -Ala-gly and Z- dl -ala-gly can yield anilides and phenylhydrazides through peptide cleavage or peptide integrity during papain-catalyzed reactions with aniline (NH 2 Ph) or phenylhydrazine (NH 2 NHPh). Since Z- d -ala-gly yielded only uncleaved Z- d -ala-gly-NHPh or Z- d -ala-gly-NHNHPh, these were used as standards in thin-layer chromatography (TLC) for detecting integrity. Known Z- l -ala-NHPh and Z- l -ala-NHNHPh were the standards for cleavage. Depending on the time of incubation, cleaved or unsplit products, or both, were readily detected. The solvent systems that were used for TLC were also effectively employed for separations of reasonable amounts of mixtures of cleaved and uncleaved products through thick-layer chromatography on ChromAR. This was followed by isolation of the separated components.
Library Safety and Security : Campus/Community Police Collaboration

While police departments large and small across the United States battle crime, funding for police resources is dwindling. Collaboration of resources and combined educational and training initiatives are widely accepted means of providing a high degree of public safety, thereby assuring a sound quality of life. This article cites examples of collaboration between campus law enforcement agencies and those external agencies that work regularly with campus police. The article focuses on issues specific to universities and collaborative opportunities to make campuses safer through the efforts of joint police strategies.
Progress toward therapeutic application of interferons, 1979–1983

Interferons differ chemically and biologically from other modalities of cancer treatment. They are proteins that inhibit viral replication, influence subcellular processes, slow cellular proliferation, affect cell differentiation, and modulate immune responses. These regulatory effects on cell function undoubtedly underlie the effects of interferons in malignant disease. As a result of efforts by academia, industry, governments, and organizations such as the American Cancer Society, significant progress has been made over the past 5 years in elucidating structure, improving production, and defining clinical applications of interferons for both virus and malignant disease.
On the relationship between compact regularity and Gentzen's cut rule

The patch topology on a stably compact space, generalizing the Lawson topology on a domain, is a coreflection of stably compact spaces in compact regular spaces. This paper investigates compact regularity and the patch coreflection in multilingual sequent calculus (MLS), which can be regarded as a category of predicative representations of stably compact spaces. An object of MLS is a certain sort of generalization of the positive fragment of Gentzen's sequent calculus. We show that an object of MLS represents a compact regular space if and only if every sequent arises as an instance of Gentzen's cut rule with complete freedom to choose the placement of the cut formula.The relationship between compact regularity and Gentzen's cut rule is further explicated by the patch coreflection in MLS. The construction is a universal solution (up to a certain equivalence of tokens) to the problem of adding opposites to a logic, i.e., tokens that obey Gentzen's rules for negation. In the spectral case, this is equivalent to adding Boolean complements. The paper closes by considering the full subcategory of MLS consisting of objects with opposites. By taking contrapositives of sequents, we obtain an anti-involution on morphisms making this category equivalent to the Freyd/Scedrov allegory of compact regular spaces and closed binary relations. Moreover, the category of "maps" of this allegory is predicatively equivalent to the image of the patch functor.
Water movement through an aggregated, gravelly oxisol from Cameroon

Abstract Increasing population pressures have caused increased utilization of the gravelly (stone line) soils common to the hilly landscapes of equatorial Africa. This study was conducted to determine if macropore water flow and immobile-water regions should be considered in describing solute movement while developing nutrient-management strategies. Break-through curves (BTC's) from miscible displacement experiments with tritiated water were measured from 70-cm long by 9.6 cm internal diameter, water-saturated, undisturbed soil columns. Simulations produced by theoretical transport models were fitted to the BTC's to determine the magnitude of dispersivity and immobile-water regions. Gravel separates composed of kaolinite, gibbsite, goethite and manganese oxides had porosities ranging from 0.13 to 0.32 m 3 /m 3 , with a composite sample porosity of 0.20 m 3 /m 3 . Adsorption coefficients of tritium ranged from 0.031 to 0.052 ml/g for the three horizons in the soil columns. Columns containing gravel (30% by volume and 62% by weight) gave asymmetrical BTC's. A convective-dispersioe (CD) transport model was unable to simulate observed BTC's accurately. The mobile/immobile (MIM) water model provided close agreement to BTC's obtained at flow rates ranging from 2.71 to 111 cm/d. The water-saturated soil columns had about 50% of all water in immobile regions. Soil water dispersivity was 3.3 cm 2− n d n −1 (with empirical constant n =1.3) from a curvilinear plot of the dispersion coefficient and the mobile pore-water velocity. Parameters estimated from one column were applied to the BTC's of a similar soil column. The MIM model showed close agreement between the measured and the independently estimated BTC's. These soil characteristics can contribute to the rapid deep transport of a limited quantity of solute and to the storage and/or slow diffusive mass transport of the remaining solute from within immobile regions.
Simultaneous Statistical Inference Concerning the Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMB) of Several Strata in an Epidemiologic Study

In the present paper, simultaneous prediction intervals are constructed for some mortality measures involving real data in a recent retrospective epidemiologic study of a cohort of man-made mineral fiber workers. The object is to compare a test population with a standard population in which the workers are exposed to several levels (say K) of a suspected carcinogen and the number of deaths in the K exposure groups are recorded. The SMR is chosen as a mortality measure for this comparison. If the total number of deaths d. in the entire study is known, the number of deaths in the various strata become dependent random variables. Using univariate statistical procedures to test the significance of the individual SMR's is inappropriate and may give misleading conclusions. The present paper shows how to test the simultaneous statistical significance of the SMR's of the K exposure groups, i.e., to test the simultaneous null hypothesis Ho : E(SMR1) = E(SMR2) =…E(SMRk) = 100. If the null hypothesis Ho is rejected, it is shown how to identify the SMR (or the SMR's) which contributed to the rejection of Ho. The power function of such a test is also constructed for some simple and useful alternative hypotheses.
Substrate specificity of antinuclear antibodies in scleroderma.

Studies of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) were carried out in 39 cases of systemic scleroderma and for comparison in 19 cases of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 4 of mixed connective tissue disease (MCTD) using indirect immunofluorescence (IF) methods under standard conditions. The results on three different substrates—monkey esophagus, guinea-pig lip and rat liver—are reported. In 48.7% of scleroderma cases ANA showed a substrate specificity. The highest percentage of positive results in scleroderma was obtained on monkey esophagus (97.4%) and the lowest on rat liver (61.5%). In SLE and MCTD, in contrast, only about 13% of the sera displayed such specificity. If only sera with substrate specificity are considered, the positive results on monkey esophagus and rat liver are 94.7% and 21.1%, respectively. Titers of sera reacting positively on 2 or 3 substrates were mostly in agreement, although some sera both in systemic scleroderma and SLE showed higher titers on monkey esophagus. The IF pattern was usually the same regardless of the substrate. Tests for ANA in scleroderma should be performed on at least 2 substrates simultaneously.
Assessing the Driving Potential of Cerebral Vascular Accident Patients

In this report, literature pertaining to training the post-cerebral vascular accident (CVA) driving candidate is reviewed; a driver training program is described, with special emphasis on evaluating the CVA candidate; the role of the occupational therapist as a disabled driver training instructor is outlined; information and suggestions for comprehensive evaluation and training of right- and left-CVA driving candidates are presented; and data comparing driver's training outcomes for right- and left-CVA candidates are provided. Retrospective data of left- and right-CVA driver performance are compared.
Upper Green River Basin (United States) Streamflow Reconstructions

The Upper Green River represents a vital water supply for southwestern Wyoming and Upper/Lower Colorado River Compact states. Rapid development in the southwestern United States combined with the recent drought has greatly stressed the water supply of the Colorado River system, and concurrently increased the interest in long-term variations in streamflow. The current research developed six new tree-ring chronologies in and adjacent to the Upper Green River Basin (UGRB). Nine proxy reconstructions (three main-stem streams and six headwater streams) of UGRB streamflow were created by combining these new tree-ring chronologies with existing tree-ring chronologies from sites adjacent to the UGRB. All UGRB streamflow reconstructions extended back to the year 1615 or earlier. The variance explained ( r2 ) by these reconstructions ranged from a low of 0.44 at one headwaters gauge to 0.65 for the lowest main-stem gauge in the drainage. An extended reconstruction of the main-stem Green River gauge near Greendale, ...
Phosphorus Fertilization of Sunfish Ponds

Abstract Phosphorus fertilization rates were reduced from 9 to 4.5 kg/hectare/application of P2O5 in ponds on a wooded watershed without significant decline in sunfish production. Evaluation of the present and an earlier study suggests that 9 kg/hectare/application of P2O5 be used for woodland ponds with heavy fishing pressure, while 4.5 kg/hectare/application is suitable for woodland ponds subject to less fishing.
Performance assessment in review: new directions for assessing student understanding

Abstract This chapter briefly reviews each of the preceding chapters and then outlines a set of issues that confront the development and use of performance assessments in school settings. For performance assessments to be useful, the following issues need to be kept in the forefront: conceptual clarity in the link between instruction, assessment, and reporting; support from the measurement community to assist teachers in using and interpreting results for instructional and student decision making; fairness across raters, tasks, administration, scoring procedures, and student subgroups; and cost-feasibility given current high monetary, time, and human-resource costs for development and use.
Permissively structured transfinite electrical networks

Transfinite electrical networks of ranks larger than 1 have previously been defined by arbitrarily joining together various infinite extremities through transfinite nodes that are independent of the networks' resistance values. Thus, some or all of those transfinite nodes may remain ineffective in transmitting current "through infinity." In this paper, transfinite nodes are defined in terms of the paths that permit currents to "reach infinity." This is accomplished by defining a suitable metricd v on the node setN S v of eachv-sectionS v, av-section being a maximal subnetwork whose nodes are connected by two-ended paths of ranks no larger thanv. Upon taking the completion ofN S v under that metricd v, we identify those extremities (now calledv-terminals) that are accessible to current flows. These are used to define transfinite nodes that combine such extremities. The construction is recursive and is carried out through all the natural number ranks, and then through the first arrow rank � and the first limit-ordinal rank �. The recursion can be carried still further. All this provides a more natural development of transfinite networks and indeed simplifies the theory of electrical behavior for such networks.
Polarization-maintaining hollow glass waveguides with noncircular bore

Hollow waveguides are made from square and rectangular glass tubing for the transmission of polarized CO2 laser radiation. These hollow noncircular cross section glass waveguides have Ag and AgI thin film coatings deposited on the inside surface using liquid-phase chemis- try techniques. The losses for straight square (5003500 mm) and rect- angular (22531250 mm) hollow glass waveguides at 10.6 mm were 0.8 and 2.2 dB/m, respectively. The degree of polarization is more than 90% for the rectangular waveguides, and this degree of polarization is pre- served when rectangular guides are bent or twisted to rotate the polar- ization. © 2004 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.
Expanding Philosophy of Science into the Moral Domain: Response to Brown and Kourany

Janet Kourany argues that philosophers of science should place more emphasis on the moral and political aspects of scientific research. As a possible site for philosophical intervention she discusses professional codes of ethics. James Brown describes various systemic problems in pharmaceutical research and proposes that socializing medical research is the best way to remedy the situation. I criticize each of their examples, but concur with many overall aspects of their expanded agenda for philosophy of science.
Psychological concomitants of cancer: current state of research.

An increasing interest in the psychological concomitants of neoplastic diseases has led to a burgeoning literature in recent years. The present review identifies five major areas of psychiatric research, documents the current state of knowledge, and indicates fruitful avenues for further study.
Infrared absorption by conical silicon microstructures made in a variety of background gases using femtosecond-laser pulses

Summary form only given. Previous work in our group has shown that novel conical microstructures are formed on the surface of silicon when it is irradiated with 100-fs laser pulses in the presence of halogen-containing gases. Structures are also formed using other background gases, such as N/sub 2/ or air, but they tend to be more blunt and irregular in shape. We have measured the optical,properties of microstructures formed in various gases. The structures are typically 1 /spl mu/m wide at the top and several /spl mu/m wide at the base, with a height in the range 1-20 /spl mu/m, depending on ambient gas pressure, and laser fluence.
Tales of the Phylogenetic Woods: The Evolution and Significance of Evolutionary Trees

The styles of continuing intellectual traditions can have a major effect on the way in which scientific findings are expressed. Darwin and Huxley, for all their intellectual daring followed the skeptical tactics of the Scottish Enlightenment and avoided the construction of human phylogenetic trees, even though they were aware of the evidence on which such could have been con- structed. The romantic evolutionism of Haeckel, Keith, and many subsequent writers in English produced suggested phylogenies on the basis of largely hypothetical forms including Homo "alalus," "stupidus," and "Eoanthropus." The structural aspects of phylogenetic schemes that derive from the French in- tellectual ethos, from catastrophism to cladistics and punctuated equilibria, have stressed discrete categorical entities in the tradition of Platonic essentialism and have tended to avoid a consideration of evolutionary dynamics.
Hacking Culture, Not Devices: Access and Recognition in Feminist Hackerspaces

This paper examines the motivations, activities, and ideals of people organizing feminist hackerspaces: collaborative workspaces developed to support women's creative and professional pursuits. Drawing on interviews, participant observation and archival data collected across the Pacific Northwest over nine months, we show how members of these spaces use small-scale collaborative design and acts of making to work out their place in society in ways that contest widely accepted understandings of hacking, technology, and collaboration. In designing how the space should look, feel, and run, members reframe activities seldom associated with technical work (e.g., weaving, identity workshops) as forms of hacking. In so doing, they shift concerns for women in technology from questions of access (who is included) to questions of recognition (who is visible) while grappling with productive ambiguities in between. We describe lessons these tension present for examining women's relations with technology in CSCW.
A bone marrow report of absent stainable iron is not diagnostic of iron deficiency.

The absence of stainable iron in a bone marrow aspirate is widely considered to be diagnostic of iron deficiency anemia (IDA). We re-evaluated this concept by studying a cohort of 108 consecutive bone marrow specimens from an unselected series of patients who were seen at a hematology clinic and in whom iron stores were reported as being absent. A review of the pathologic reports revealed 19 inadequate specimens and 15 with decreased, but not absent, iron stores. Thus, only 74 of the 108 cases had been accurately reported. In 37 of these cases, adequate clinical and laboratory data were available and allowed further analysis. In 18 patients, careful review of patient history, physical examination, results of endoscopic procedures, and follow-up information failed to suggest the presence of IDA (group A). The review process in the remaining 19 patients suggested the possibility of IDA (group B). Significant differences between groups A and B were observed in serum ferritin (P=0.001) and red blood cell mean corpuscular volume (P=0.004). In contrast, the two groups did not differ significantly in hemoglobin concentration, serum iron, total iron-binding capacity, transferrin saturation, or erythrocyte sedimentation rate. These observations suggest that a pathology report of absent bone marrow hemosiderin may be inaccurate in more than 30% of cases and, even when accurate, may not necessarily signify the presence of IDA. Measurement of the serum ferritin level is needed to confirm a clinical diagnosis.
Femtosecond Aqueous Solvation at a Positively Charged Surfactant/Water Interface

The effect of a positively charged dodecyl trimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) surfactant on the aqueous solvation of coumarin 314 (C314), a solvatochromic molecule, at the air/water interface was investigated. Steady-state and femtosecond time-resolved second harmonic generation (SHG) spectroscopy was employed as a surface-selective tool to characterize the solvation of C314. The molecular orientation and the static and dynamic solvation of the probe C314 at the positively charged surfactant interface were found to be significantly different from that at the previously studied neat air/water interface and at a negatively charged surfactant air/water interface. Steady-state SHG spectra show a red shift and therefore increased local polarity at the positively charged interface (λmax = 436 nm) compared to the negatively charged interfaces (λmax = 431−432 nm) and the surfactant-free air/water interface (λmax = 423 nm), though less polar than bulk water (448 nm). Two diffusive dynamical time scales τ1 and τ2 of ...
Shock facilitation and suppression of alcohol- and coke-maintained behavior.

3 long-term alcoholic patients were introduced to concurrent FR30coke FR30alcohol (30 responses on one manipulandum followed by coke reinforcement, 30 on the other followed by liquor), allowed to stabilize in responding for their preferred reinforcer, then exposed to shock of low intensity contingent on each reinforced response. The shock schedule was accompanied by a distinctive SD (response-contingent red light flash). Shock intensity was increased after every one or two sessions until the subject switched to the other available manipulandum (and reinforcer). Two of three subjects showed increasing rates of response (conditioned reinforcement) correlated with increasing shock intensities, followed by the reverse (suppression) prior to a switch to the other manipulandum. One subject showed only shock suppression over a narrow range of intensities. Later introduction of the SD for shock (red light) was sufficient on most occasions to facilitate a switch prior to shock. Four such reversals were accomplishe...
SENSED DURATION OF TIME: INFLUENCE OF TIME AS A BARRIER

This study examined the hypothesis that duration of time seems longer in situations in which time represents a barrier to a desired goal. 16 male and 20 female undergraduate students, randomly assigned to experimental and control conditions, were told that they would participate in a brief experiment. In the control condition the students were told that an assistant would arrive shortly with the questionnaires needed to begin. In the experimental condition, the experimenter appeared mildly frustrated and the students were told that the assistant was overdue. In both cases, the assistant arrived in 5 min., and the students were asked to estimate how long they had waited. Those in die experimental condition made significantly longer mean estimations than controls.
Stigmatizing surveillance: blood-borne pathogen protocol and the dangerous doctor

HIV and hepatitis B and C are viruses that have been unduly set apart from other infectious diseases in terms of the symbolic pull they exert and the anxiety they produce. This is reflected in health care policy and protocol. Hospitals, health care regions and colleges of physicians and surgeons create guidelines and procedures that single out HIV or hepatitis B and C as requiring special attention. This paper examines such surveillance and stigma in blood-borne pathogen protocol, using the example of recently refined policies in Newfoundland, Canada. We argue that policies distinguishing HIV and hepatitis B and C as requiring special treatment are produced by a combination of four factors: (1) the ideological and political function of risk discourse, and how this overshadows actual measures of probability, (2) the historical association of HIV and hepatitis B and C as belonging to ‘deviant’ bodies, (3) the normalizing function of health surveillance mechanisms and (4) the contradictory image of the ‘sick...
Two-Photon Excitation of Fluorogenic Probes for Redox Metabolism: Dramatic Enhancement of Optical Contrast Ratio by Two-Photon Excitation†

Fluorogenic probes for redox metabolism are shown to exhibit two-photon absorption using femtosecond pulses from a Ti/sapphire laser. The probes consist of a coumarin or naphthalene core and a ketone−alcohol functional group. The probe design is based on the changes in fluorescence properties and two-photon cross section values when the ketone derivative is reduced to the corresponding alcohol. The resulting contrast ratio of the fluorescence differs significantly from that obtained by one-photon excitation. This phenomenon was demonstrated with all three switches examined herein and represents an attractive approach to modulation of emission properties of molecular switches. The practical applicability of the two-photon-excitation redox switch was demonstrated in an enzyme-catalyzed transformation. The nonfluorescent probe 1 is efficiently converted by AKR1C3, a human 3α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, to the fluorescent derivative 2. Using two-photon excitation (775 nm), we achieved a large contrast ratio...
Should Aortas in Patients with Bicuspid Aortic Valve Really Be Resected at an Earlier Stage than Tricuspid? CON

Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV)-associated aortopathy is a complex phenomenon, and the current lack of univocal interpretation of its causes and treatment can be ascribed to the multiform nature of its clinical presentation. Although there is strong bias in the literature favoring more aggressive treatment of ascending aortic dilatation in patients with BAV, evidence supporting this opinion is lacking. This review discusses some of the relevant issues relating to causation to facilitate a better analysis of the current recommendations used to guide surgical management, and concludes that treatment should be tailored by individual valvular pathology, clinical phenotype, and relevant comorbidities, using well-documented evidence-based clinical size criteria.
The Premature Demise of the Solo Experiment

Papers reporting multiple studies have become common publication practice in our field. This practice has several serious costs that have not been foreseen, and it ma be responsible for unfortunate developments such as a reduction in creativity, a paralysis of scientific interaction, a decline in the integration of the field, and an emphasis on microcertainty at the expense of examination of broad possibilities. The paper that reports a solo experiment is suggested as a potential solution to these problems.
Family Adaptation: Adult Sons with Long-Term Physical or Mental Illnesses

A descriptive study of 62 family members with an outpatient adult son with a long-term physical (8 families) or mental (3 families) illness using multiple methods and multiple family members' perspectives. Family members completed FILE, FIRM, FAM-III, FACESIII, the Progress Evaluation Scale, and the Nottingham Health Profile. Single-item indicators were based on Rollands (1988) psychosocial typology of illness, Mishel's (1988) components of uncertainty of illness, and selected demographics. On most of the instruments and their subscales, there were few statistical differences. Family members often did not report the same diagnosis. Based on the qualitative data, families coped by “just working with it” or “trying to step back.”
Mechanism of Entry Determines the Ability of Toxoplasma gondii To Inhibit Macrophage Proinflammatory Cytokine Production

Macrophages (Mphi) infected with tachyzoites of the opportunistic protozoan Toxoplasma gondii are blocked in production of the proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-12 (IL-12) in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) triggering, and this is associated with parasite-induced inhibition of NFkappaB translocation. Here, we demonstrate a requirement for active invasion in the ability of the parasite to mediate suppression. Neither soluble tachyzoite antigen nor secreted products were suppressive, and heat-inactivated, antibody-coated tachyzoites, which efficiently entered the cell through receptor-mediated uptake, failed to inhibit LPS responses. Cytochalasin D, a drug blocking tachyzoite invasion of, but not adherence to, Mphi, severely curtailed Toxoplasma-induced suppression. In addition, parasite-induced nonresponsiveness, as measured by TNF-alpha production, was reversed by treating infected cells with the toxoplasmastatic drugs pyrimethamine and 6-thioxanthine prior to LPS stimulation. A divergence in IL-12 and TNF-alpha responses was found during extended incubation of tachyzoites and Mphi in that 24 h of incubation of infected Mphi resulted in IL-12, but not TNF-alpha, secretion, and production of the latter cytokine remained suppressed when these cells were subjected to LPS triggering. Our results demonstrate that active invasion and survival of the parasite within the parasitophorous vacuole are required to induce and maintain Mphi cytokine-specific nonresponsiveness to LPS. They also show that the effects of Toxoplasma on IL-12 and TNF-alpha production are nonidentical, with the parasite exerting a longer-lasting suppression of the latter.
Implication of the miR-184 and miR-204 Competitive RNA Network in Control of Mouse Secondary Cataract

The high recurrence rate of secondary cataract (SC) is caused by the intrinsic differentiation activity of residual lens epithelial cells after extra-capsular lens removal. The objective of this study was to identify changes in the microRNA (miRNA) expression profile during mouse SC formation and to selectively manipulate miRNA expression for potential therapeutic intervention. To model SC, mouse cataract surgery was performed and temporal changes in the miRNA expression pattern were determined by microarray analysis. To study the potential SC counterregulative effect of miRNAs, a lens capsular bag in vitro model was used. Within the first 3 wks after cataract surgery, microarray analysis demonstrated SC-associated expression pattern changes of 55 miRNAs. Of the identified miRNAs, miR-184 and miR-204 were chosen for further investigations. Manipulation of miRNA expression by the miR-184 inhibitor (anti-miR-184) and the precursor miRNA for miR-204 (pre-miR-204) attenuated SC-associated expansion and migration of lens epithelial cells and signs of epithelial to mesenchymal transition such as α-smooth muscle actin expression. In addition, pre-miR-204 attenuated SC-associated expression of the transcription factor Meis homeobox 2 (MEIS2). Examination of miRNA target binding sites for miR-184 and miR-204 revealed an extensive range of predicted target mRNA sequences that were also a target to a complex network of other SC-associated miRNAs with possible opposing functions. The identification of the SC-specific miRNA expression pattern together with the observed in vitro attenuation of SC by anti-miR-184 and pre-miR-204 suggest that miR-184 and miR-204 play a significant role in the control of SC formation in mice that is most likely regulated by a complex competitive RNA network.
Risk of Progression to AIDS and Death in Women Infected With HIV-1 Initiating Highly Active Antiretroviral Treatment at Different Stages of Disease

Background The optimal virologic and immunologic stage at which to initiate antiretroviral therapy in individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is undefined. Methods Among 1054 HIV-1–infected women in a prospective cohort study, we determined the time from initiation of highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and death. Results Median follow-up was 3.4 years. Of 553 women without AIDS at HAART initiation, 62 (11%) developed AIDS. Compared with women with CD4 + cell counts greater than 350/µL at HAART initiation, women with cell counts of 200 to 350/µL and less than 200/µL had relative hazards (RHs) for progression to AIDS of 0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.46-1.86) and 2.48 (95% CI, 1.39-4.42), respectively. Compared with those with HIV-1 RNA values less than 5000 copies/mL, women with 5000 to 50 000 copies/mL and greater than 50 000 copies/mL had RHs of 1.39 (95% CI, 0.74-2.64) and 2.09 (95% CI, 1.09-3.99), respectively. Among women with AIDS at HAART initiation (n = 501), RHs of death were 1.97 (95% CI, 0.84-4.66) and 3.35 (95% CI, 1.59-7.08) with CD4 + cell counts of 200 to 350/µL and less than 200/µL, respectively, relative to those with greater than 350/µL, and 1.90 (95% CI, 0.84-4.30) and 3.70 (95% CI, 1.81-7.54) for those with HIV-1 RNA values of 5000 to 50 000 and greater than 50 000 copies/mL, respectively, relative to those with less than 5000 copies/mL. Conclusions Progression to AIDS and death was predicted by pre-HAART values of less than 200/µL for CD4 + cells and greater than 50 000 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL, indicating that deferral of HAART until the CD4 + cell count is between 350 and 200/µL is a valid strategy in the clinical management of HIV-1 infection.
Predicting Competitive Response to a Major Policy Change: Combining Game-Theoretic and Empirical Analyses

This research uses Procter & Gamble's value pricing initiative as a context for testing whether actual competitor and retailer response to a major policy change can be predicted using a game-theoretic model. We first estimate demand functions for P&G and competitor brands from the period before value pricing was initiated. We then formulate a dynamic manufacturer-retailer Stackelberg model that includes P&G, a national-brand competitor, and a retailer. The model takes P&G's move as given and prescribes the price and promotion response of the competitors and the retailer. We substitute the estimated demand parameters into the model to obtain prescriptions for each competitor and the retailer, and see whether these prescriptions are related to the actual response. We find that the dynamic game-theoretic model calibrated with empirical estimates of demand parameters has significant predictive power. We also test the predictive power of two benchmark models. The first is based on the reaction function approach of Leeflang and Wittink Leeflang, Peter S. H., Wittink, Dick R. 1992. Diagnosing competitive reactions using aggregated scanner data. Internat. J. Res. Marketing9 39-57., and the second is a simplification of our dynamic model where the retailer is not strategic. The dynamic game-theoretic model performs better than either benchmark.
Planning Product Configurations Based on Sales Data

Manufacturing companies are focusing on mass customization. Delivering products that meet the requirements of individual customers complicates the production process, and diminishes the benefits of the economy of scale. By exploring commonality among products, this complexity can be significantly reduced. To determine product configurations sought by the customers and to produce them in large quantities, a new approach is proposed. The proposed approach uses a modified k-means clustering algorithm to analyze past sales data for capturing prime product configurations. The most suitable configurations are selected by solving an integer-programming model or using a sorting-based algorithm. The proposed approach was tested with an industrial case study involving sales data of large trucks collected over a period of one year.
Retrofitted Bridge Fragility Analysis for Typical Classes of Multispan Bridges

Retrofitted bridge fragility curves provide a powerful tool for assessing the effect of retrofit measures on the seismic performance of different bridge types under a range of loading levels. Traditional methods for retrofit assessment typically evaluate the effectiveness of retrofit based on the performance of individual components. However, the use of fragility curves for retrofitted bridges has the ability to capture the impact of retrofit on the bridge system vulnerability. Using three-dimensional nonlinear analysis, fragility curves are developed for four common classes of multispan bridges and five retrofit methods. The results show that the effectiveness of retrofit is a function of bridge type and damage state. General conclusions of the influence of the different retrofit measures on the fragility of each class of typical bridges in the Central and Southeastern United States, as well as the fragility parameters, are presented. The results from this work can be used to enhance regional seismic risk assessment and can form the basis for retrofit cost-benefit studies. DOI: 10.1193/1.3049405
A phosphorylation defective retinoic acid receptor mutant mimics the effects of retinoic acid on EGFR mediated AP-1 expression and cancer cell proliferation

The effects of the vitamin A metabolite retinoic acid (RA) are mediated at the transcriptional level by retinoic acid receptors (RAR). These proteins are part of a superfamily of transcription factors which activate target gene expression when bound to their respective ligands. In addition to ligand binding, heterodimerization with transcriptional cofactors and posttranslational modification such as phosphorylation are also critical for transactivation function. Previous studies have shown that phosphorylation of a serine residue at amino acid 77 in the RARα amino terminus was required for basal activation function of the transcription factor. We have determined that RA inhibits cyclin H and cdk7 expression thereby decreasing levels of phosphorylated RARα in human cancer cell lines. To determine the effects of decreased RARα phosphorylation in human cancer cells, we stably transfected a phosphorylation defective mutant RARα expression construct into SCC25 cultures. Cells expressing the mutant RARα proliferated more slowly than control clones. This decreased proliferation was associated with increased cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor expression and decreased S phase entry. In the absence of ligand, the RARα mutant inhibited AP-1 activity to an extent similar to that of RA treated control clones. Levels of some AP-1 proteins were inhibited due to decreased EGFR expression upstream in the signaling pathway. These results indicate that hypophosphorylated RARα can mimic the anti-AP-1 effects of RA in the absence of ligand.