cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Solitary ulcers in reflux esophagitis: radiographic findings.

Background: Some patients with reflux esophagitis have solitary ulcers in the distal esophagus. This study was undertaken to characterize further the radiographic features of these ulcers and to determine whether or not they have a predisposition to develop on the posterior esophageal wall.
Influence of temperature change on optimum laminate design

Results of a laminate optimization study, which includes prescribed temperature change and mechanical loading conditions, are presented. Minimum-weight designs for balanced symmetric laminates are obtained subject to strength, membrane stiffness, and minimum thickness requirements, while including and omitting temperature change effects. Based on a first ply failure design philosophy and employing a linear thermoelastic analysis, it is shown that taking temperature decrease effects into account leads to substantial weight penalties in strength critical fiber composite laminates. Numerical results are presented for representative fiber composite materials based on three commonly used combined stress failure criteria.
A comparative study on chromophore diffusion inside porous filters by pulsed photoacoustic spectroscopy

In the context of investigations on drug diffusion into human skin, first examples of using porous filters as model bio-membranes to understand the role of physical and chemical parameters on the penetration of chromophores. The diffusion of small molecules has been investigated in porous filters of different pore sizes by using pulsed photoacoustic spectroscopy. An analogy is made between the model membranes and human skin concerning the influence of the filter structure and the hydrophilic nature of the matrix support material. Finally, first data are presented on the effect of a modified surface filter structure on the diffusion pattern, thus opening the field to the potential use of these filters as model membrane of adjustable structural and chemical parameters.
A plasma bubble display: A new approach to the design of a shift-addressed AC plasma display

The picture elements of the proposed plasma bubble display are plasma bubble domains. The properties of these domains, which are analogous to those of magnetic bubble domains, are reviewed. The design of a plasma bubble display based on an assembly of shift-registers composed of generator, propagator, and annihilator elements, is described. The bubble propagator design is analogous to the "angelfish" field access scheme first developed for magnetic bubble memories. Periodic modulation of the sustain voltage produces periodic modulation of the bubble area to move the bubble along an asymmetric guiding track. The display promises a number of attractive features including transparent backplate and faceplate electrodes, circular bubble picture elements, and a significantly reduced number of external connections. A 2560 character display with 32 lines of 80 7 × 9 characters with an 8 × 12 character field and cursor line will require 68 connections.
The Retained Surgical Sponge Following Intra-abdominal Surgery: A Continuing Problem

• The surgical sponge retained following intra-abdominal surgery is a continuing problem. Despite precautions, the incidence of this problem is grossly underestimated. During the past 10 years, we have treated four patients with this problem. The presentation of a retained surgical sponge is highly variable, as is the time before the onset of symptoms. The clinical presentation, predisposing factors, and management are presented as well as guidelines for prevention. ( Arch Surg . 1990;125:405-407)
Development of a modulator to measure water vapor selectively in a gaseous mixture.

Selective thermal modulation (STM) is a technique which produces a concentration-dependent pulse by selectively modulating a sample in a gas stream. Several types of modulation techniques, both chemical and physical, using adsorption, decomposition, and catalytic and mechanical methods have been developed for use with multiplex gas chromatography. Two of these applications involve selective modulation of the components present in the sample gas stream. The selective modulation of the concentration of specific sample molecules or classes of molecules provides additional analytical selectivity which can lead to selective detection. For some specific applications, the column may even be eliminated. Chemical modulation by absorption of a substance from the sample stream by a stationary phase will also produce a change in the signal intensity. Removal of a substance from the sample stream results in a signal containing a vacancy peak. In the work reported here, a selective thermal modulation technique has been developed as a method for determination of water vapor for possible use in Mars' atmosphere.
Teens' Experiences of Harsh Parenting and Exposure to Severe Intimate Partner Violence: Adding Insult to Injury in Predicting Teen Dating Violence

Objective: The present study examines whether teens’ experiences of harsh parenting and exposure to severe intimate partner violence (IPV) each contribute to the prediction of dating violence perpetration, and whether youth trauma symptoms mediate these hypothesized associations. Method: Participants were 88 teens (45 females) and their mothers; families were recruited from the juvenile justice system. At baseline, mothers reported on severe IPV with any current or former male partner, and teens reported on their experiences of harsh parenting and trauma symptoms. Teens reported on their dating violence perpetration in telephone interviews conducted over 3 months following the baseline assessment. Results: Teens’ exposure to severe IPV and recent harsh parenting were both positively associated with teen dating violence perpetration while controlling for the effects of the other. Harsh parenting was related to general and anger-related trauma symptoms, and trauma symptoms mediated the association between harsh parenting and teen dating violence perpetration. Trauma symptoms did not mediate the association between teens’ exposure to severe IPV and teen dating violence perpetration. Adolescent sex moderated some of the documented associations, with stronger associations emerging for females. Conclusions: The findings suggest that a broad assessment of family aggression and violence should be considered when investigating links between youth exposure to family violence and teen dating violence perpetration.
On the distribution of quadratic residues modulo a prime

It is well known that for a given positive number B, there is a prime p, depending on B, such that p has no quadratic non-residue in the interval (1, B) [I]. Since the integer squares are quadartic residues for all primes, it is not possible to indefinitely postpone the occurence of the first quadratic residue. However, it is possible to find an upper bound for the first pair of consecutive quadratic residues. M. Dunton proved the following theorem.
Apoptosis during luteal regression in cattle

The present studies were conducted to evaluate whether apoptosis occurs during spontaneous and prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha)-induced luteolysis and, if so, to determine the relationship between the onset of luteolysis and oligonucleosome formation (a characteristic of apoptosis). In the first study, nine normally cycling heifers were ovariectomized (ovx) during the midluteal phase (day 10 or 15; day 0 = estrus) or after luteal regression (day 19; n = 3/time point). While there was no evidence of oligonucleosome formation in DNA from corpora lutea (CL) collected on days 10 and 15, each CL collected on day 19 exhibited DNA fragmentation, represented by distinct bands of DNA in approximately 185-basepair multiples. In the second study, heifers were ovx (n = 5; controls) or given 25 mg PGF2 alpha 15-16 days after estrus. Heifers receiving PGF2 alpha were subsequently ovx 4, 8, 12, 24, or 48 h (n = 5/time point) after the injection of PGF2 alpha. The concentration of progesterone in venous sera collected at ovx was not different (P > 0.20) in control and 4 h groups, but was decreased (P 0.10) from 0 h (controls) to 24 h after injection (range, 3.2 +/- 0.5 to 4.1 +/- 0.6), but decreased (P < 0.06) to 2.0 +/- 0.3 at 48 h. With ethidium bromide (EtBr) staining, no oligonucleosome formation was detected in CL collected from 0-12 h after PGF2 alpha injection. However, pronounced oligonucleosome formation was observed in all 10 CL collected 24 and 48 h after the injection of PGF2 alpha. The absence of oligonucleosomes in 0 and 4 h samples was confirmed by the more sensitive technique of 3'-end labeling of DNA fragments. Some samples in both the 8 and 12 h groups had slight oligonucleosome formation, while all samples in the 24 and 48 h groups showed evidence of intense oligonucleosome formation. Histological analysis of tissue sections indicated an increase (P < 0.001) in the percentage of degenerated luteal cells in the 24 and 48 h groups compared to that in the 0-12 h groups. These data indicate that apoptosis occurs during both spontaneous and PGF2 alpha-induced luteal regression in cattle; however, apoptosis, as indicated by oligonucleosome formation, is not apparent until after serum progesterone concentrations have begun to decrease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
REDUCTION OF HYPOXIC ISCHEMIC BRAIN INJURY IN THE NEONATAL RAT WITH PAF ANTAGONIST WEB2170. † 2274

REDUCTION OF HYPOXIC ISCHEMIC BRAIN INJURY IN THE NEONATAL RAT WITH PAF ANTAGONIST WEB2170. † 2274
In the land of the blind, one‐eye is king: ecology of the mixotrophic ciliates Strombidium oculatum and Strombidium stylifer

Strombidium oculatum and Strombidium stylifer live in tide pools at mid-latitudes on both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean. These “green” ciliates obtain chloroplasts from macroalgae, in particular from members of the Ulvophyceae, which they use for photosynthesis. Both ciliates also contain orange-pigmented granules that are organized into an eyespot. These granules are probably also obtained from their prey, the motile swarmer cells of the algae. Strombidium stylifer has been cultivated in our laboratory on pieces of Ulva, as well as a variety of microalgae. Strombidium oculatum has resisted cultivation to date. S. stylifer is an obligate mixotroph, incapable of sustained growth either starved in the light or fed in the dark. The presence in the ciliates of algal-derived organelles of photosynthesis and photodetection raises interesting questions about the behavior of both predator and prey, with light possibly being a critical integrating cue for their interaction.
A new species of Fremontodendron (Sterculiaceae) from the Sierra Nevada foothills, California

The discovery of a new species of Fremontodendron i the Sierra foothills of California is of special interest, as the species of this genus are few in number and restricted in distribution. Specimens were first collected in 1956 by Beecher Crampton (Crampton 3524, UC) who noted on the label that the plant was a "sprawling semi-prostrate shrub" with a striking red-orange to reddish yellow flower.
The Carboxyl Terminus of the Human Calcium Receptor: REQUIREMENTS FOR CELL-SURFACE EXPRESSION AND SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION *

The G-protein-coupled calcium receptor plays a key role in extracellular calcium homeostasis. To examine the role of the membrane-spanning domains and the ∼200-residue cytoplasmic carboxyl terminus of the calcium receptor in cell-surface expression and signal transduction, we transfected HEK-293 cells with a series of truncation and carboxyl-terminal missense mutants and analyzed expression by immunoblotting, glycosidase digestion, intact cell immunoassay, and extracellular calcium-stimulated phosphoinositide hydrolysis assay. Two truncation mutants terminating at residues 706 and 802 within the second and third intracellular loops, respectively, were not properly glycosylated, failed to reach the cell-surface, and showed no calcium response, indicating that mutant receptors with the full extracellular domain but only three or five transmembrane domains are improperly folded and/or processed. Truncation mutants terminating at residues 888 and 903 within the carboxyl terminus were equivalent to the wild type in all assays, whereas mutants truncated at residues 865 and 874 showed no response to calcium, despite only ∼25% reduction in cell-surface expression. Mutants with a full-length carboxyl terminus but with residues between positions 874 and 888 replaced with alanines showed either no (Ala875, Ala876, and Ala879) or significantly reduced (Ala881–Ala883) calcium response at levels of cell-surface expression equivalent to those of the wild-type receptor. These results indicate that deletion of the majority of the carboxyl terminus is compatible with normal processing, cell-surface expression, and signal transduction of the receptor. The truncation and alanine substitution mutants identify a small region between residues 874 and 888 critical for normal signal transduction by the receptor.
The bidirectional relationships between alcohol, cannabis, co-occurring alcohol and cannabis use disorders with major depressive disorder: results from a national sample.

Introduction Alcohol use disorders (AUD) and cannabis use disorders (CUD) are common in the United States (US), and are associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). Co-occurring alcohol and cannabis use/use disorders (AUD+CUD), though understudied, have been found to be associated with greater adverse outcomes than alcohol or cannabis use/use disorders alone. There is a paucity of research on the co-occurring relationships of the two disorders with depression.
An Approximate Expression for Base Pressure Fluctuation Spectra for Bluff Bodies

[Abstract] The goal of this research is to derive approximate expressions for the pressure fluctuation spectra in the base region of blunt bodies. Though theory-based algebraic models are known for vortex shedding frequency, no such model is available to provide spectral behavior of the pressure fluctuation field in the lee of a body with a blunt base. Here we extend the algebraic model of Ahlborn (2003) to be an unsteady partial differential equation (wave equation) in terms of a scalar potential that is valid in the lee of the blunt body. The existence of a scalar potential is justified via the use of a Cauchy pair which relates vorticity and pressure near a bounding wall. The wave equation, which exhibits a mixed time space behavior is rotated to canonical wave equation form and solved using normal modes. The wave is dispersive where the dispersion relationship captures one of Ahlborn’s conservation expressions. The resulting solution (which is based upon near wall/wake assumptions and is therefore only locally valid) is extended to a full space-time domain via a heuristic damping term. The pressure field follows immediately via the Cauchy equations. Remarkably, because both fluctuation and mean pressure are governed by a linear equation, Reynolds decomposition is trivial and both mean and fluctuation are governed by the same model. With access to a space-time pressure field we can readily compute a fluctuation correlation function and power-spectral density (PSD) through the associated cosine transform pair. Comparison to data sets from Eldred (1961) and Shvets (1978) suggest that frequency associated with maximum PSD magnitude is predicted by the model. Moreover, rate of decay of high frequency fluctuations decays at the observed rate as St. Thus, we suggest that the closed form expressions derived here may be a useful physics based approach for base pressure fluctuation with direct application to fluid structure loading problems.
Finite generation of ambiguity in context-free languages

Abstract This paper presents a pair of sufficient conditions, within an algebraic model of the generation of context-free languages, so that the intersection of two context-free languages is finitely partitioned by common sublanguages. When such a context-free algebraic system satisfies this pair of sufficient conditions, the ambiguity in deriving strings of symbols is shown to be finitely generated. These conditions cannot be necessary, because these problems are equivalent to the language equivalence problem for context-free grammars, which is undecidable.
Calcium and cAMP Signals Differentially Regulate cAMP-responsive Element-binding Protein Function via a Rap1-Extracellular Signal-regulated Kinase Pathway *

Two major intracellular signals that regulate neuronal function are calcium and cAMP. In many cases, the actions of these two second messengers involve long term changes in gene expression. One well studied target of both calcium and cAMP signaling is the transcription factor cAMP-responsive element-binding protein (CREB). Multiple signaling pathways have been shown to contribute to the regulation of CREB-dependent transcription, including both protein kinase A (PKA)- and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-dependent kinase cascades. We have previously described a mechanism by which cAMP and calcium influx may stimulate ERKs in neuronal cells. This pathway involves the PKA-dependent activation of the Ras-related small G-protein, Rap1, and subsequent stimulation of the neuronal Raf isoform, B-Raf. In this study, we examined the contribution of the Rap1-ERK pathway to the control of gene transcription by calcium influx and cAMP. Using the PC12 cell model system, we found that both calcium influx and cAMP stimulated CREB-dependent transcription via a Rap1-ERK pathway, but this regulation occurred through distinct mechanisms. Calcium-mediated phosphorylation of CREB through the PKA-Rap1-ERK pathway. In contrast, cAMP phosphorylated CREB via PKA directly but required a Rap1-ERK pathway to activate a component downstream of CREB phosphorylation and CREB-binding protein recruitment. These data suggest that the Rap1/B-Raf signaling pathway may have an important role in the regulation of CREB-dependent gene expression.
Cholesterol Orientation and Tilt Modulus in DMPC Bilayers

We performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of hydrated bilayers containing mixtures of dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC) and cholesterol at various ratios, to study the effect of cholesterol concentration on its orientation, and to characterize the link between cholesterol tilt and overall phospholipid membrane organization. The simulations show a substantial probability for cholesterol molecules to transiently orient perpendicular to the bilayer normal, and suggest that cholesterol tilt may be an important factor for inducing membrane ordering. In particular, we find that as cholesterol concentration increases (1−40% cholesterol) the average cholesterol orientation changes in a manner strongly (anti)correlated with the variation in membrane thickness. Furthermore, cholesterol orientation is found to be determined by the aligning force exerted by other cholesterol molecules. To quantify this aligning field, we analyzed cholesterol orientation using, to our knowledge, the first estimates of the c...
Laboratory medicine and diagnostic testing.

The clinical laboratory is a vital component of modern podiatric medical practice. In order to interpret laboratory data correctly, the practitioner must understand the essentials of diagnostic testing. These essentials include precision, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and prevalence-based values of a given test. In addition, the podiatric physician should be aware of the limitations, variations, and interferences that can spuriously alter test results. (J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 94(2): 194-197, 2004)
Would Introductory Chemistry Courses Work Better with a New Philosophical Basis

One of the main functions that introductory chemistry courses havefulfilled during the past century has been to provide evidence for the generalvalidity of 'the atomic hypothesis.' A second function has been to demonstratethat an analytical approach has wide applicability in rationalizing many kindsof phenomena. Following R.G. Collingwood, these two functions can be recognizedas related to a philosophical 'cosmology' (worldview, weltanshauung) thatbecame dominant in the late Renaissance. Recent developments in many areasof science, and in chemistry, have emphasized the central importance of understandingsynthetic, developmental, and evolutionary aspects of nature. This paperargues that these scientific developments, and changes in other aspects of culture,amount to a widespread shift to an alternative cosmology, a quite different generalworldview. To the extent that this is the case, introductory chemistry coursesought to be changed in fundamental ways. Rather than having a main focus onanalysis to microscopic components, introductory chemistry instruction shouldemphasize current scientific understanding of the (synthetic) evolutionary originsof the present world. This altered approach would provide good preparation forfuture professional work, while also making better contact with the perceivedconcerns of students.
Deadbeat neighbors influence thymocyte lineage commitment

Commitment by thymocytes to a CD4 or a CD8 lineage depends on T cell receptor–mediated intracellular signaling cues. But new data indicate that T cell lineage fate may also be influenced by the frequency of nonselected cells in the thymic microenvironment during development.
δ-subunit containing GABAA receptor knockout mice are less sensitive to the actions of 4,5,6,7-tetrahydroisoxazolo-[5,4-c]pyridin-3-ol

The pharmacological profile of a gamma-aminobutyric acid A (GABA(A)) receptor depends upon subunit composition. Studies using recombinant expression systems suggest that delta-subunit containing GABA(A) receptors are particularly sensitive to the actions of the GABA(A) partial agonist, 4,5,6,7-tetrahydroisoxazolo-[5,4-c]pyridin-3-ol (THIP, gaboxadol). Here we investigated the actions of THIP in mutant mice lacking the GABA(A) receptor delta-subunit gene. Using the chloride flux assay, we determined that the actions of THIP were reduced by 21% in the cortical, but not cerebellar, membranes of knockout mice. Similar results were seen with another GABA(A) agonist, muscimol. Moreover, delta-subunit knockout mice exhibited a 54% reduction in sensitivity to the hypnotic actions of THIP as assessed by the loss of righting reflex test. These data support the notion that delta-containing GABA(A) receptors are at least partially responsible for the actions of THIP, and contribute to the growing literature suggesting that the pharmacological specificity of GABA(A) receptors depends on which subunits are present or absent.
Evaluation of temperature integrals for temperature-dependent frequency factors

Abstract The temperature integrals of the form where m = 1 2 , 1, 3 2 , and 2 have been evaluated for T = 300–800 K and E = 30–100 kcal mole −1 . The −log I values have been fitted to linear equations in E and 1/ T . Numerical equations have been obtained by treating the slopes and intercepts as functions of E and T . These equations permit evaluation of the integrals at any values of E and T . The functional dependence of −log I on the m value has also been investigated and linear relationships exist for given values of E and T .
Central Sleep Apnea

Neurophysiologically, central apnea is due to a temporary failure in the pontomedullary pacemaker generating breathing rhythm. As a polysomnographic finding, central apneas occur in many pathophysiological conditions. Depending on the cause or mechanism, central apneas may not be clinically significant, for example, those that occur normally at sleep onset. In contrast, central apneas occur in a number of disorders and result in pathophysiological consequences. Central apneas occur commonly in high-altitude sojourn, disrupt sleep, and cause desaturation. Central sleep apnea also occurs in number of disorders across all age groups and both genders. Common causes of central sleep apnea in adults are congestive heart failure and chronic use of opioids to treat pain. Under such circumstances, diagnosis and treatment of central sleep apnea may improve quality of life, morbidity, and perhaps mortality. The mechanisms of central sleep apnea have been best studied in congestive heart failure and hypoxic conditions when there is increased CO2 sensitivity below eupnea resulting in lowering eupneic PCO2 below apneic threshold causing cessation of breathing until the PCO2 rises above the apneic threshold when breathing resumes. In many other disorders, the mechanism of central sleep apnea (CSA) remains to be investigated.
Systematic trends in electron–hole pair trapping efficiency of rare earth doped YBO3 under vacuum ultraviolet excitation

Abstract Host-to-activator energy transfer efficiencies in rare-earth doped YBO3 under vacuum ultraviolet excitation have been estimated using excitation and reflectance spectroscopy. From these data, relative electron–hole pair (e–h) trapping rate constants have been calculated for seven different lanthanide dopants. In addition, the energies of activator electronic states relative to YBO3 band states were estimated using published empirical methods. From this, we find a correlation between e–h trapping efficiency and the energy of activator electronic states relative to YBO3 conduction and valence band energies.
Method for investigating nursing behaviors related to isolation care.

Background Although an emphasis has been placed on protecting patients by improving health care worker compliance with infection control techniques, challenges associated with patient isolation do exist. To address these issues, a more consistent mechanism to evaluate specific clinical behaviors safely is needed. Methods The research method described in this study used a high fidelity simulation using a live standardized patient recorded by small cameras. Immediately after the simulation experience, nurses were asked to view and comment on their performance. A demographic survey and a video recorded physical evaluation provided participant description. A questionnaire component 1 month after the simulation experience offered insight into the timing of behavior change in clinical practice. Results Errors in behaviors related to donning and doffing equipment for isolation care were noted among the nurses in the study despite knowing they were being video recorded. This simulation-based approach to clinical behavior analysis provided rich data on patient care delivery. Conclusion Standard educational techniques have not led to ideal compliance, and this study demonstrated the potential for using video feedback to enhance learning and ultimately reduce behaviors, which routinely increase the likelihood of disease transmission. This educational research method could be applied to many complicated clinical skills.
SHAPING THE LOCATION OF A PIGEON'S PECK: EFFECT OF RATE AND SIZE OF SHAPING STEPS

For several pigeons, pecking at particular locations within a ten-inch-wide response area was reinforced by grain presentations. The reinforced locations changed systematically to "shape" response location back and forth across the area. The rate and size of these shifts in reinforced locations were varied in both between-subject and within-subject comparisons to evaluate the influence of these variables on the shaping process. Larger step sizes produced larger shifts in location for all sizes inspected, with all sizes from .5 to 3.0 inches effective in shaping behavior. More rapid steps were approximately as effective as slower steps for all rates of shift inspected from 25 reinforcers to 400 reinforcers per step. These data suggest that shaping peck location proceeds most efficiently with rapid, relatively large shifts in criterion performance.
Measurement of total alkali and phenol in process liquor by FIA

Flow injection analysis (FIA) has been applied to the determination of total phenol and total alkali in high concentration alkaline phenoxide liquors as it occurs in industrial process streams. The total alkali content and total phenol content in samples containing 20–50% (w/v) sodium phenoxide can be directly measured without mutual interference. The first is measured by peak width measurement based FIA with conductimetric detection utilizing an electronic circuit to permit automatic measurement from minima to minima. The total phenol is measured by the Berthelot reaction using NaOCl and ammonia to form indophenol blue, monitored at 660 nm with a light emitting diode-based detector.
The nature of partition bijections I. Involutions

We analyze involutions which prove several partition identities and describe them in a uniform fashion as projections of ''natural'' partition involutions along certain bijections. The involutions include those due to Franklin, Sylvester, Andrews, as well as few others. A new involution is constructed for an identity of Ramanujan, and analyzed in the same fashion.
Approximate inference by Markov chains on union spaces

A standard method for approximating averages in probabilistic models is to construct a Markov chain in the product space of the random variables with the desired equilibrium distribution. Since the number of configurations in this space grows exponentially with the number of random variables we often need to represent the distribution with samples. In this paper we show that if one is interested in averages over single variables only, an alternative Markov chain defined on the much smaller "union space", which can be evolved exactly, becomes feasible. The transition kernel of this Markov chain is based on conditional distributions for pairs of variables and we present ways to approximate them using approximate inference algorithms such as mean field, factorized neighbors and belief propagation. Robustness to these approximations and error bounds on the estimates follow from stability analysis for Markov chains. We also present ideas on a new class of algorithms that iterate between increasingly accurate estimates for conditional and marginal distributions. Experiments validate the proposed methods.
Development of a Brewster's Angle Spectrophotometer

A variety of reflectance techniques have been developed to determine the thickness of thin transparent films on silicon substrates 1,2 These techniques are based on the way incident radiation is reflected from air-film and film-substrate interfaces. These reflectance techniques are ideally suited to measuring films ranging in thickness from approximately 500 A to many thousands of angstroms. The absolute reflectivity technique measures the reflectance at several wavelengths and, by matching the curve as measured to the theoretical, the actual film thickness can be determined. A refined version of the absolute reflectivity technique is the Brewster's angle spectrophotometer. This article describes the development phase for an automatic Brewster's angle spectrophotometer and discusses the performance of the instrument. The optical and mechanical layouts and photographs depict the choice of implementation.
Moving Cultural Background to the Foreground: An Investigation of Self-Talk, Performance, and Persistence Following Feedback

The negative and positive content of self-talk, the relationship of self-talk to performance, and persistence following positive and negative feedback were investigated across different cultural backgrounds (European Americans n = 54, East Asians n = 26). East Asians had a significantly larger proportion of negative to positive self-talk than European Americans, d = .62. The greater proportion of negative self-talk related to poorer performance for European Americans, but better performance for East Asians, r 2 = .13. European Americans’ practice persistence increased after receiving positive versus negative feedback, d = .59. No differences occurred in persistence for East Asians, d = .06. Results suggest sport psychology consultants and coaches should consider an athlete's cultural background when employing cognitive interventions and providing feedback.
Transient and Steady-State Sensitivity Analysis

The transient and steady-state sensitivity functions of a general electrical network may be obtained directly by constructing a source-coupled auxiliary network. The node voltages and branch currents in this auxiliary network are shown by topological methods to be equivalent to the classically defined network sensitivity function. The computations required may be carried out with many general purpose digital network analysis programs without modification of the program.
A consistent null-space based approach to inverse kinematics of redundant robots

A unified formulation is presented for the inverse kinematics of redundant arms based on a special formulation of the null space of the Jacobian. By extending (appropriately rescaling) previously used null space parameterizations, the manipulability measure, the null space projector, and particular solutions for the joint velocities are obtained in a unified fashion. The minimum norm pseudo-inverse solution is obtained as a projection from any particular solution, and the method provides an intuitive visualization of the self-motion. The approach is applied to the case of the extended Jacobian (extra subtask constraints) to yield the measure of manipulability of the extended Jacobian, and also to find the joint velocities (including subtask) as a projection of any particular solution of the joint velocities. It is argued that relationships among the optimal joint velocities for arbitrary different tasks can be easily visualized via the null space of the Jacobian by using the authors' approach. >
National Cooperative Gallstone Study

The National Cooperative Gallstone Study (NCGS), funded by the National Institute of Arthritis, Metabolism and Digestive Diseases of the National Institutes of Health, evaluated dietary supplementation with a natural bile acid (chenodiol) for the dissolution of cholesterol gallstones. Since the compound occurred naturally, there was no industrial sponsor. Thus, the study group also conducted preliminary studies of animal toxicology and hepatic morphology, among others, in addition to a randomized, double-masked, long-term, multiple-dose, Phase III clinical trial. The study employed central units for the evaluation of all outcomes with rigorous quality assurance procedures. The study results, study issues, and statistical considerations are described. Keywords: gallstones; bile acids; morphology; light microscopy; electron microscopy; radiological evaluations; big-stick randomization; sample size evaluation; reliability; quality assurance; external monitoring
Linguistic Weighted Standard Deviation

In classical statistics, the first- and second-order statistics, i.e., the mean and standard deviation, are the most important ones. This paper extends the definition of the standard deviation and makes it possible to compute the standard deviation when data contains not only numbers, but also words. The generalized standard deviation is called the Linguistic Weighted Standard Deviation (LWSD). The Linguistic Weighted Power Mean (LWPM) operation is also reviewed in this paper, and the LWSD is viewed as a special case of the LWPM when the parameter r in the LWPM is set to be 2. Two numerical examples that utilize the new LWSD are presented: one is synthetic where all the data are generated randomly, and the other is a practical decision making problem. These examples demonstrate that the LWSD can provide extra information to a decision maker when only uncertain input data (words) are available. We believe that the concept of the LWSD will certainly play an important role in many future applications.
Gut peptides in the treatment of diabetes mellitus

It has been known for at least one century that agents secreted from the intestine during meal absorption regulates glucose assimilation. Extensive research during the past three decades has identified two gut hormones, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP, also known as gastric inhibitory polypeptide) that are important in postprandial glucose metabolism. Both peptides are incretins; they are secreted during carbohydrate absorption and increase insulin secretion. Since they are potent insulin secretagogues, GIP and GLP-1 have received considerable attention as potential diabetes therapeutics. However, only GLP-1 exerts insulinotropic properties when administered to patients with Type 2 diabetes. Both GLP-1 and GIP are rapidly inactivated in the circulation by the enzyme dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV). The application of GLP-1 into clinical practice has been delayed due to the need to develop compounds that overcome this rapid inactivation. Two approaches have been taken to utilise the insulinotropic and glucose-lowering actions of GLP-1 as an antidiabetic agent: the development of DPP-IV-resistant analogues and the inhibition of DPP-IV. This review focuses on the physiology of GLP-1 and GIP and the advances that have been made thus far in developing treatments based on these physiological incretins for Type 2 diabetes.
THE EFFECT OF ENDOCRINES ON THE FORMED ELEMENTS OF THE BLOOD II. THE EFFECT OF ESTROGENS IN THE DOG AND MONKEY12

LARGE DOSES OF ESTROGENS exert a profound influence upon the cellular blood picture of some species of animals. In an attempt to lower the serum Ca level of dogs with large doses of estrogens, Arnold and coworkers (1, 1) found that large doses interfered with hemopoietic processes to such an extent that death resuited. The hemorrhagic purpura, gradual anemia and leucocytosis followed by a leucopenia found by these authors in the dog was soon confirmed by three groups of European workers (3, 4, 5). Tyslowitz, (6), Arnold (7), and McBride (8) repeated the above experiments using stilbestrol and obtained similar results. Because of the clinical significance of such findings it seemed to be of importance to extend this work to a species which is phylogenetically closer to man. This study was undertaken to confirm the work done upon the dog and to extend the observations to the rhesus monkey.
Differentiated Instruction as a Pedagogy of Liberation

As pedagogies of liberation are designed for establishing and enhancing freedom and accessibility for all individuals, it is proposed that differentiated instruction for students with disabilities is, by definition, a pedagogy of liberation. Because the field of special education has been and continues to be in a process of distinct legislative and political attention and reform, it is important that such reform be viewed in a more radical and active context to ensure that the exclusionary history of individuals with disabilities is not repeated. Since a considerable percentage of students are either officially classified or regarded as having disabilities, different modes of curriculum presentation and instruction are necessary to enhance such students’ accessibility to information without sacrificing the integrity of the curriculum. Failure to do so creates an instructional stratification between students with and without disabilities. Because practices of differentiated instruction will, if applied effectively, empower such students with the same or comparable curricular information as their non-disabled counterparts, equality of information accessibility will be fostered, thus enhancing all students to be a functional part of the community.
C-terminal signals regulate targeting of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins to the cell wall or plasma membrane in Candida albicans.

Fungal glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored proteins localize to the plasma membrane (PM), cell wall (CW), or both. To study signals that regulate PM versus CW targeting in Candida albicans, we (i) fused the N and/or C termini of the GPI CW protein Hwp1p and the GPI PM protein Ecm331p to green fluorescent protein (GFP) and (ii) expressed and localized the resulting fusions. Forty-seven amino acids from the C terminus of Hwp1p were sufficient to target GFP to the CW, and 66 amino acids from the C terminus of Ecm331p were sufficient to target GFP to the PM. Truncation and mutagenesis studies showed that G390 was the ω cleavage site in Ecm331p. Domain exchange and mutagenesis studies showed that (i) the 5 amino acids immediately N-terminal to the ω sites (the ω − 5 to ω − 1 amino acids) played key roles in targeting to the PM or CW; (ii) KK and FE residues at positions ω − 1 and ω − 2, respectively, targeted to the PM and CW; and (iii) a loss of I at position ω − 5 increased PM retention. Small fluorescent reporters can be used to study the peptide signals that regulate PM versus CW targeting of GPI proteins and may be useful for identifying proteins that interact with key targeting signals.
Transformers-a successful application of high temperature superconductors

With the exception of core steel and improvements in insulation, power transformers have changed little in the last fifty years. In general, modern power transformers larger than 10 MVA have full load efficiencies exceeding 99% and are routinely subjected to a form of life-cycle cost evaluation as a part of the purchase process. However, resistive losses in the windings constitute a significant proportion of losses at full load and the desire to further economically reduce these losses using superconducting windings has been an elusive goal for greater than a quarter century. Using high temperature superconducting (HTS) windings this goal is now within reach both technically and economically. Major HTS transformer projects are underway in Europe, Japan and the United States with all projects reporting success in their initial phases. With the desire for improved efficiency and lower losses within technical reach, additional benefits such as reduced size and weight, improved fire safety, overload without loss of transformer life and improved system dynamics through lower impedance and controlled fault current levels have also been identified. These additional benefits may well prove to be significantly more important to the applications of HTS transformers than improved efficiency through loss reduction in the windings. This paper summarizes the status of current HTS transformer projects and the remaining economic and technical challenges that must be met.
Compliance With Antidepressant Medication Among Prison Inmates With Depressive Disorders

This study assessed correlates of antidepressant medication compliance among 5,305 inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison system who were diagnosed as having a depressive disorder. Use of tricyclic antidepressants, male gender, and higher age were all positively associated with medication compliance scores. This investigation provided no evidence that broader use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors would improve adherence to pharmacologic treatment in this population. The results also suggest that correctional administrators may wish to target younger inmates and women with interventions to improve medication compliance.
A Strongly Convergent Primal Simplex Algorithm for Generalized Networks

A major computational problem that arises in the attempt to solve generalized network and network-related problems is degeneracy. In fact, using primal simplex solution techniques, the number of degenerate pivots performed frequently ranges as high as 90% in large-scale applications. The purpose of this paper is to develop a special set of structural and logical relationships for generalized network problems with positive “gains” that yields a new primal simplex algorithm which exploits degeneracy. The major mathematical differences between this new algorithm and the original simplex method are 1 each basis examined is restricted to have a special topology, 2 the algorithm is finitely convergent without reliance upon “external” techniques such as lexicography or perturbation, and 3 a special screening criterion for nondegenerate basis exchanges is available that allows some of these exchanges to be recognized prior to finding the representation of an incoming arc.
ARLP: an adaptive link layer protocol to improve TCP performance over wireless fading channels

Improving the performance of Internet services is essential for future generation wireless networks. However, the correlated fading channels are found to be very unfriendly to transmission control protocol (TCP) performance in such networks. The variation in fading rate brings further challenge to wireless networks when supporting Internet applications, most of which run TCP as the transport layer protocol. In this paper, we first analytically study the performance of different radio link protocol (RLP) retransmission schemes in supporting TCP. In particular, we investigate the key quality of service (QoS) parameters of RLP such as average delay, delay variance and recovery rate of lost frames. Our analytical and simulation results show that a single retransmission scheme does not yield the best performance for different fading rates. To address this problem, we propose an adaptive radio link protocol (ARLP) that dynamically estimates the channel fading rate and also adaptively chooses those retransmission schemes that best fit the estimated fading rate. The performance of ARLP is evaluated in terms of response time (the time ARLP takes to respond to fading rate change), throughput improvement and energy consumption. The results show that ARLP can improve the performance of a particular mobile host as well as the total throughput of wireless networks, at the cost of a little extra energy consumption at low frame error rate. On the other hand, at high frame error rate, ARLP saves energy because of fewer retransmissions. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Functional mapping in the evaluation of renal scintigraphic studies

Renal scintigraphy yields both anatomic and physiologic information about the kidneys. Several techniques have been proposed to improve display of the physiologic information. One of these is functional mapping where time dependant data is displayed in a single image to allow visual correlation with the anatomic data. This paper reviews the technique and presents examples of its utility along with recommendations for improvement.
Concurrent communication in high-speed wide area networks

A performance metric called receptivity is introduced for quantifying the degree of concurrent communication possible in high-speed wide area networks (WAN's). Given a stochastic demand pattern model, receptivity is defined to be the probability that all requested connections can be established concurrently. Because calculation of the exact value of receptivity is shown to (generally) have an exponential complexity, an analytic estimate for its value is derived. The derived estimate is dependent on network parameters such as the number of links, link capacity values, and a weighted hop distance metric (which depends on the topological structure of the network and its relationship to parameter values of the stochastic model for the demand patterns). The derived estimate for the proposed metric compares reasonably well with simulated values for several asymmetric topological structures ranging from planar meshes to random graphs. The utility of the estimate is twofold. First, it can be computed quickly, i.e., in polynomial time. Second, its simple analytic form provides the network architect with insight into some of the inherent limitations and consequences associated with topological design choices for high-speed WAN's. >