cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The contradiction between teachers' instructional goals and their assessment practices in high school biology courses

This study examines the correspondence between (1) teachers' student learning outcome goals, and (2) teachers' assessment practices. Ten high school biology teachers were interviewed individually about their teaching philosophies and practices. Teachers' student learning goals were categorized, and their test and practice items were rated on level of processing (whether the item required basic knowledge, integration, or application) and item format (recognition or recall). Overall, teachers wanted their students to develop a general interest in and understanding of biology as well as its real-world applications. They also wanted their students to develop higher order study skills by interpreting information, managing their time and effort, and thinking critically. However, their assessment practices did not support these goals. On average, over half of the items (52% of test items, 53% of practice items) required only basic knowledge, while almost none required application (5% of test items, 4% of practice items). Nearly two thirds (65%) of test items were recognition items. Interview findings suggest that teachers were not aware of the contradiction between their instructional goals and assessment practices. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Signal Estimation based on Mutual Information Maximization

We study the problem of estimating signals in the presence of noise, clutter, and interference based on maximization of mutual information. Traditional approaches for signal estimation involve minimum mean squared error, maximum likelihood, minimum variance unbiased estimators, and others. The derivation of estimators for most of these, however, requires precise knowledge of the signal and noise (or clutter and interference) distributions. In many practical applications, these are difficult to obtain. Here we propose a generic approach for estimating signal parameters by maximizing the mutual information between the signal being estimated and the available data. We show by simulation that this approach can significantly outperform least squares-based approaches in estimating parameters of linear models, including an application in time-delay estimation.
LOW TEMPERATURE NAFION BONDING OF SILICON WAFERS

The practical use of silicon wafer bonding in fabricating sensors, actuators, and microelectromechanical structures has grown rapidly and is presently receiving increasing attention. Currently, direct silicon bonding is achieved at temperatures which generally are not feasible after metallization in microelectromechanical system (MEMS) processing. 1-4 High temperature anneals (usually in excess of 700°C) may cause doping profile broadening, defect formation, induction of thermal stress between dissimilar materials, and dissociation between materials. Therefore, the high annealing temperature of silicon fusion bonding, typically >1000°C, restricts its application in the field of MEMS. In contrast to the high temperature fusion bonding, low temperature fusion bonding is not strong enough to guarantee high yielding devices during subsequent pro
Superacidic FSO3H/HF catalyzed butane isomerization [1]

Superacid catalyzed isomerization of butane was studied. Highly efficient isomerization of butane to 2-methylpropane (isobutane) was achieved using fluorosulfuric acid containing up to 5% of hydrogen fluoride acting as a protic co-acid. The isomerization when carried out in excess FSO3H at 21 ° C in a flow system gave ∼70% conversion to 2-methylpropane with generally less than 3% cracking. When 2-methylpropane was isomerized under similar conditions about 12% butane was formed. Attempted isomerization of pentane and hexane with prolonged reaction times in a static system results in predominant protolytic cleavage (cracking).
Evaluation and Management of Children and Adolescents Presenting with an Acute Setting

Headache is the third leading cause of referral to a pediatric emergency room. It is imperative for providers to be able to rule out rare but possible life-threatening disorders, such as meningitis, intracranial hemorrhage, brain tumor, or hydrocephalus. Most of the presenting headaches are secondary to viral illnesses followed by primary headache and migraine. A detailed initial evaluation is essential to guide toward necessary testing as well as diagnosis.
Cigarette smuggling mitigates the public health benefits of cigarette taxes

Merriman (2002) argues that cigarette smuggling does not reduce the health benefits of cigarette taxation, because, in addition to the purchase price of smuggled cigarettes, those purchasing smuggled cigarettes have to pay a higher inconvenience price for their cigarettes, so that smuggled cigarettes no more than replace legal cigarettes. Here, it is argued that Merriman is incorrect, that while smuggled cigarettes have the same full cost as legal cigarettes at the margin, they have a lower inframarginal full price, which has the effect of increasing smoking behaviour.
Blunt Splenic Injury: Efficacy of Superselective Splenic Artery Embolization

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of superselective splenic artery embolization (SAE) using a coaxial catheter technique in patients with blunt splenic injury. Patient Selection and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed cases of 24 consecutive patients undergoing splenic angiography for blunt splenic injury at a Level 1 trauma center. After angiographic confirmation of splenic injury, superselective SAE was performed using gelfoam pledgets (n=15), with or without coils, and liquid embolic materials (n=9). All procedures were performed through a microcatheter advanced coaxially through a selective angiographic catheter. Severity of splenic injury was graded using CT imaging. The angiographic findings were retrospectively divided into four groups. Outcome measures included technical success, complications and recurrence of symptoms requiring additional intervention or surgery despite embolization. Results: All cases were technically successful, with immediate occlusion of targeted vessels after embolization. One patient underwent distal pancreatectomy- splenectomy 3 days after splenic embolization due to symptoms related to distal pancreatic injury, unrelated to the angiographic intervention. A second embolization was performed 1-3 days after initial embolization in 4 patients with clinical suspicion of rebleeding. One of these four patients underwent splenectomy 3 days after the second embolization, during exploration for associated bowel and diaphragmatic injury. A second patient underwent splenectomy 1 day after a second embolization due to need for continued transfusions. The splenic salvage rate was not significantly related to CT grade of splenic injury (p=1.0) or angiographic classification (p=0.8). Conclusion: Superselective SAE can be performed as a safe alternative to splenectomy in patients with blunt splenic trauma, particularly when there is no additional major organ injury.
Running the Gauntlet: Women's Use of Emotion Management Techniques in the Abortion Experience

Women who have abortions are caught in the crossfire of a heated ideological battle. The prochoice contention is that most women feel relieved after terminating an unwanted pregnancy. The antiabortion camp asserts killing an unborn child psychologically scars the mother. Drawing on in-depth interviews with forty women who have terminated a pregnancy, this study examines how the clashing emotion culture of abortion politics shapes women's feelings about abortion. Findings indicate that women use behavioral and cognitive techniques in an attempt to transform unpleasant physiological reactions, inappropriate expressive gestures, and problematic emotional labels. As they run the gauntlet, women also strategically dodge or deliberately approach hazardous situational cues (e.g., abortion debate rhetoric and demonstrators, pictures of fetal development and the ultrasound, and babies and pregnant women) to achieve a feeling state that is consistent with their ideology.
Colloid-facilitated radionuclide transport in fractured porous rock

Numerical methods have been applied for the prediction of colloid-facilitated radionuclide transport through water-saturated fractured porous rock. The presence of colloids may enhance the transport of radionuclides in groundwater by reducing retardation effects. The colloids existing in the groundwater act as carriers, adsorbing radionuclides in their large surface area and moving faster than the average water velocity. With colloids present, the system consists of three phases, i.e. an aqueous phase, a carrier phase and a stationary solid phase. In the basic model, one-dimensional advection in a single planar fracture of infinite extent is coupled with diffusion in the rock matrix perpendicular to the fracture. In this study, a full-equilibrium model was developed to describe the transport and fate of the radionuclides in the fracture. Sorption onto the rock matrix, fracture surface and sorption onto mobile and immobile colloids are included. The effect of colloidal particle size was also considered. Mass partition mechanisms between the colloids and solid matrix and between colloid and contaminant are represented by local equilibrium. In the three-phase system, the three parameters, the retardation coefficient, the hydrodynamic dispersion coefficient and fracture width, are modified to include the equilibrium distribution coefficient of a contaminant with a carrier. In the three-phase model, much smaller retardation and hydrodynamic dispersion coefficients are obtained and the effect of the fracture width is larger. Much faster transport of contaminant has resulted mainly because the radionuclides attached to colloidal particles are not subject to retardation by diffusion into the rock matrix. With the additional consideration of colloidal particle sizes, these effects become ever larger. Numerical solutions for the model were obtained using a fully implicit finite difference scheme. A significant sensitivity to model parameters was discovered, and, in particular, the equilibrium distribution coefficients between a contaminant and the carrier were found to be the most important factors.
Occlusion of the Central Retinal Artery After Retrobulbar Corticosteroid Injection

Occlusion of the central retinal artery with loss of all vision occurred in a 38-year-old white woman given a retrobulbar injection of betamethasone acetate and betamethasone disodium phosphate (Celestone Soluspan) for the treatment of a retrobulbar neuritis. Ophthalmoscopy revealed embolic, whitish material within several of the small retinal arterioles and capillaries. This, together with the absence of any signs of retrobulbar hemorrhage, suggested that the corticosteroid material was accidentally injected into a branch of the central retinal artery and subsequently passed into the main vessel.
Evidence for psychrophiles outnumbering psychrotolerant marine bacteria in the springtime coastal Arctic

During a springtime study of pelagic microbial activities in the coastal Alaskan Arctic (Chukchi Sea, June 1998), a selective serial dilution technique was used to estimate the relative abundance of cold-loving (psychrophilic) and cold-tolerant (psychrotolerant or psychrotrophic) pelagic bacteria at four stations representing different stages of an algal bloom. Psychrophiles were numerically dominant, regardless of the organic nutrient concentration of their source waters (51–101 µmol L−1 total organic carbon; 2-17 µmol L−1 total organic nitrogen). At all stations, lower temperature incubations generated significantly higher most probable number (MPN) estimates. Further, these psychrophiles were unable to acclimate to 20°C over the course of a 3-month incubation. Our pelagic experiments are the first of their kind reported from the Western Arctic, where surface waters are dominated by the Pacific Ocean inflow, and suggest that psychrophiles can dominate even in waters only recently subjected to perennially cold conditions, independent of nutrient status or bloom condition.
Adsorption at grain boundaries and its effect on decohesion

The energy of decohesion of a grain boundary as influenced by solute adsorption is considered. In the nearly reversible case, the change in this energy, and hence of the likelihood of decohesion, is developed in terms of the thermodynamic description of Gibbs. A distinction is made between the normal separation of a grain boundary, where cohesive force and cohesive energy are interrelated and relevant, and separation at a crack tip where cohesive force is not relevant but where a lattice trapping barrier exists. A number of irreversible decohesion phenomena that can be influenced by solute adsorption are also discussed.
Comparing Exposure Metrics for the Effects of Fine Particulate Matter on Emergency Hospital Admissions

A crucial step in an epidemiological study of the effects of air pollution is to accurately quantify exposure of the population. In this paper, we investigate the sensitivity of the health effects estimates associated with short-term exposure to fine particulate matter with respect to three potential metrics for daily exposure: ambient monitor data, estimated values from a deterministic atmospheric chemistry model, and stochastic daily average human exposure simulation output. Each of these metrics has strengths and weaknesses when estimating the association between daily changes in ambient exposure to fine particulate matter and daily emergency hospital admissions. Monitor data is readily available, but is incomplete over space and time. The atmospheric chemistry model output is spatially and temporally complete but may be less accurate than monitor data. The stochastic human exposure estimates account for human activity patterns and variability in pollutant concentration across microenvironments, but requires extensive input information and computation time. To compare these metrics, we consider a case study of the association between fine particulate matter and emergency hospital admissions for respiratory cases for the Medicare population across three counties in New York. Of particular interest is to quantify the impact and/or benefit to using the stochastic human exposure output to measure ambient exposure to fine particulate matter. Results indicate that the stochastic human exposure simulation output indicates approximately the same increase in the relative risk associated with emergency admissions as using a chemistry model or monitoring data as exposure metrics. However, the stochastic human exposure simulation output and the atmospheric chemistry model both bring additional information, which helps to reduce the uncertainly in our estimated risk.
Changes in terpene production following nitrogen fertilization of grand fir (Abies grandis (Dougl.) Lindl.) seedlings.

Of ten terpenes that comprise most of the volatiles of grand fir foliage only four were affected by addition of nitrogen. Levels of beta-phellandrene, camphene and bornyl acetate and terpinolene were significantly reduced with nitrogen added to the equivalent amount of 44.8 g/m2. A quantity of 22.4 g/m2 did not affect terpene production. Several populations were examined and these did not respond consistently on a regional basis, yet a significant interaction effect was apparent between treatment and local population response. Overall, total yield of terpenes as a function of fertilization was not altered.
Mixed-function oxidase activity toward cyclodiene insecticides in bass and bluegill sunfish

Abstract Microsomal mixed-function oxidase (MFO) was characterized in liver of freshwater fishes, bass, Micropterus dolomeiux , and bluegill, Lepomis macrochirus , using the chlorinated cyclodiene insecticide aldrin as a substrate. The MFO activity of bluegill adults, bluegill fry, and bass fry using cyclodienes as substrates was compared with that of mouse. Aldrin epoxidase activity was found to be high in bluegill fry (73% of the activity in mouse) compared to bluegill adults (13% of the activity in mouse). Chlordene was found to be metabolized by both fish and mouse MFO to chlordene 2,3-epoxide and 1-hydroxychlordene. Competitive inhibition between various cyclodiene substrates studied in mouse and fish showed that endrin was a potent inhibitor of aldrin epoxidation in vitro .
Toward a better understanding of loneliness in community-dwelling older adults.

ABSTRACT The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological study was to explore the meaning of loneliness in community-dwelling older adults and to understand their daily practices in coping with loneliness. The sample consisted of 8 women and 4 men. Interviews were conducted with the 12 participants utilizing several tools, including 3 separate interview guides and the UCLA Loneliness Scale, Version 3 (Russell, 1996). A critical finding was that many participants experienced loneliness as a result of disrupted meaningful engagement, due to age-related changes, as well as other losses, including death of spouse, retirement, and giving up the car. Two paradigm cases and themes representing the loneliness and coping experience emerged. Participant coping practices with loneliness included reaching out to others, helping those in need, and seeking companionship with pets. Many older adults are at risk for loneliness because of declining health and other age-related losses that prevent them from remaining eng...
Architecture optimizations for BP polar decoders

Polar codes have emerged as important channel codes because of their capacity-achieving property. For low-complexity polar decoding, hardware architectures for successive cancellation (SC) algorithm have been investigated in prior works. However, belief propagation (BP)-based architectures have not been explored in detail. This paper begins with a review of min-sum (MS) approximated BP algorithm, and then proposes a scaled MS (SMS) algorithm with improved decoding performance. Then, in order to solve long critical path problem in the SMS algorithm, we propose an efficient critical path reduction approach. Due to its generality, this optimization method can be applied to both of SMS and MS algorithms. Compared with the state-of-the-art MS decoder, the proposed (1024, 512) SMS design can lead to 0.5dB extra decoding gain with the same hardware performance. Besides, the proposed optimized MS architecture can also achieve more than 30% and 80% increase in throughput and hardware efficiency, respectively.
Transcytolemmal water exchange in pharmacokinetic analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI data in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Purpose To investigate the effect of transcytolemmal water exchange on the dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) T1-weighted MRI of human squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck (HNSCC). Materials and Methods Nine patients with HNSCC nodal metastasis underwent pretreatment DCE-MRI with a temporal resolution of 2.5 seconds and a spatial resolution of 1 mm × 1 mm × 5 mm at 1.5T. We used two pharmacokinetic models for data analysis: generalized kinetic model (GKM) without considering transcytolemmal water exchange and the shutter-speed model (SSM), based on a two-site exchange model for transcytolemmal water exchange. The results were compared in three subgroups of voxels in the tumor depending on the level of contrast enhancement. Results SSM was found to be a better fit for more than 75% of pixels of all subjects (P < 0.01) in terms of residual size and Bayesian information criterion (BIC). For all three subgroups based on the contrast enhancement, the median Ktrans values of SSM were 42% to 55% higher than those of GKM and the median ve values of SSM were 116% to 176% larger than those of GKM. The median Ktrans and ve of two models were found significantly different (P < 0.01). The median τi measured by SSM were from 211 to 364 msec. Conclusion The effect of transcytolemmal water exchange is an important factor that needs to be incorporated for adequate modeling of contrast enhancement dynamics measured by MRI of HNSCC. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Dramatic transport properties of carbon nanotube membranes for a robust protein channel mimetic platform

Carbon nanotube (CNT) membranes offer an exciting opportunity to mimic natural protein channels due to (1) a mechanism for dramatically enhanced fluid flow, (2) ability to place ‘gatekeeper’ chemistry at the entrance to pores, and (3) being electrically conductive to localize electric field or perform electrochemical transformations. The transport mechanisms through CNT membranes are primarily (1) ionic diffusion near bulk expectation, (2) gas flow enhanced 1–2 orders of magnitude primarily due to specular reflection, and (3) fluid flow 4–5 orders of magnitude faster than conventional materials due to a nearly ideal slip-boundary interface. Transport can be modulated by ‘gatekeeper’ chemistry at the pore entrance using steric hindrance, electrostatic attraction/repulsion, or biochemical state. Electroosmotic flow is seen to be highly power efficient and can act as a pump through regions of chemical selectivity. The fundamental requirements of mimicking protein channels are present in the CNT membrane system. This membrane structure is mechanically far more robust than lipid bilayer films, allowing for large-scale chemical separations, delivery or sensing based on the principles of protein channels. Applications ranging from water purification, energy generation and bio-separations are highlighted.
Comparison of Some Response to Hyperthermia by Normal Human Diploid Cells and Neoplastic Cells from the Same Origin

Abstract Human diploid fibroblasts (WI- 38 ) and SV- 40 -transformed WI- 38 -VA 13 / 2 RA cells were used to investigate the differences in survival and population kinetics between normal and neoplastic cells exposed to hyperthermia at 43 °C. Survival is measured by colony-forming ability and by population growth following exposure using a mathematical growth model. The WI- 38 cells are shown to be more resistant to heat killing than the 2 RA cells at low population densities, but the difference in sensitivity disappears at very high population densities where both cell systems are very resistant. The differences in sensitivity to hyperthermic killing at different population densities may result from multiple “targets” for heat damage but we show that it may also be explained by differences in cell cycle distributions at the time of heating. Population kinetics studies indicate that both cell systems suffer a mitotic delay following exposure with the cells apparently stopped in G 2 or mitosis. For equal exposures the 2 RA cells incur a longer delay than do the WI- 38 cells, and it is possible that this difference might be exploited in cancer therapy.
Nature, Nurture Or Just Blind Chance: Stochastic Gene Expression And Its Consequences

Life itself is a study in the contrast between randomness and determinism: from the chaos of biomolecular interactions to the precise coordination of development, living organisms are able to resolve these two seemingly contradictory aspects of their internal workings. The traditional means by which scientists reconcile the stochastic and the deterministic is by appealing to the statistics of large numbers, thus diminishing the importance of any one molecule in particular. However, cellular function often involves small numbers of molecules, of which perhaps the most important example is DNA. It is this molecule, usually present in just one or few copies per cell that gives organisms their unique genetic identity.But what about genetically identical organisms grown in homogenous environments? To what degree are they unique? In this talk I will present experiments on bacteria, yeast and nematodes that suggest that even genetically identical individuals exposed to identical environments can be very different. Moreover, some of the most striking sources of this variability are random fluctuations in the expression of individual genes.In some cases populations might even exploit these fluctuations to improve their chances of survival in variable environments.
A new sensor, the “filtration probe,” for quantitative characterization of the penicillin fermentation. I. Mycelial morphology and culture activity

In this article the filtration resistance of fungal (Penicillium) mycelia is shown to be quantitatively related to the morphology of the cells. On this basis, it was possible to determine the intracellular volume by simple filtration measurements. Since the dry weight of the cells can also be measured, a morphological variable-the “hyphae density” (dry weight hyphae/volume hyphae)-can be quantified. This variable typically is measured to have values in the range of 0.35–0.20 g/cm3; the lower values represent the final stages of the fermentation. It can be shown that this loss of cell material during fermentation is limited to cytoplasmic components, and that most (70%) of the components which disappear are proteins. Concurrent with and linearly related to this loss of proteins, the culture activity in terms of both cell maintenance energy (respiration activity) and penicillin synthesis also decreased. The hyphae density measured by filtration is therefore a direct measure of the metabolic potential of the organism.
Peer Review in 18th-Century Scientific Journalism

Although the beginnings of "peer review" are frequently associated with the Royal Society of London when it took over official responsibility for the Philosophical Transactions in 1752, antecedents of peer review practices go back to the 17th century. Despite the differences in the academic, social, intellectual, and economic environments of the 18th century and today, we can find interesting and instructive similarities in the way early editors defined and exercised their prerogatives and responsibilities. These concerns extend to ideas and practices that are closely related to what we call peer review or refereeing today. ( JAMA . 1990;263:1321-1322)
Methodological issues in the use of the concurrent activities paradigm

This paper presents a critical analysis of one type of dual-task procedure, the lateralized concurrent activities paradigm. Extrinsic and intrinsic factors that may influence the interpretation of results obtained with this paradigm are isolated and methodological refinements in experimental design and analysis are suggested.
Applications of Energy Beams in Material and Device Processing

Energetic ion beams used outside the traditional role of ion implantation are considered for semiconductor applications involving interface modification for self-aligned silicide contacts, composition modification for formation of buried oxide layers in Si on insulator structures and reduced disorder in high energy ion beam annealing for buried collectors in transistor fabrication. In metals, aside from their use in modification of the composition of near surface regions, energetic ion beams are being investigated for structural modification in crystalline to amorphous transitions. Pulsed beams of photons and electrons are used as directed energy sources in rapid solidification. Here, we consider the role of temperature gradients and impurities in epitaxial growth of silicon.
Time Interleaved RF Carrier Modulations and Demodulations

This paper proposes a time-interleaved RF carrier modulation and demodulation technique, suitable for high frequency mixer applications under a constraint of active device speed limitation. The presents are in essence mixer arrays where modulated outputs by a series of time-delayed carriers with a reduced frequency, compared with a carrier frequency in fundamental mixers, will be interleaved in the time domain to synthesize the final output. The mixer arrays inherit an FIR filtering function, and the time interleaving process is equivalent to the filtering process where the arrays select the fundamental tone or its harmonics of a carrier in a periodic manner. The carrier waveform and duty-cycle play important roles in the noise performance of the mixer arrays. A comprehensive noise analysis is presented in this paper for both cases of correlated-noise and uncorrelated-noise mixer arrays. To minimize output noise power, optimization of carrier duty-cycle and noise filtering technique have been proposed and analyzed extensively for various types of carrier pulse. Finally analytical mismatch models are provided and output SNR degradations under finite mismatches amongst mixer array elements have been discussed based on the mismatch models. All theoretical analyses are verified through behavioral mixer array simulations including Monte-Carlo statistical simulations.
A factor analytic investigation of the BASC-2 Behavioral and Emotional Screening System Parent Form: Psychometric properties, practical implications, and future directions

The Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2) Behavioral and Emotional Screening System Parent Form (BESS Parent; Kamphaus & Reynolds, 2007) is a recently developed instrument designed to identify behavioral and emotional risk in students. To describe the underlying factor structure for this instrument, exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted utilizing two subsets of a large, nationally-representative sample. The results of the EFA suggested that the BESS Parent contained a four-factor latent structure (i.e., Externalizing, Internalizing, Adaptive Skills, and Inattention), which was supported by CFA. Results support further investigation into utilizing four subscales in addition to an overall risk score; distributional and reliability information for the BESS Parent subscales is provided. Practical implications for school psychologists interested in early identification and directions for future research are discussed.
Overdose of cyclobenzaprine, the tricyclic muscle relaxant

A case of cyclobenzaprine (Flexeril ® ) overdose in a 31-year-old woman is presented. The treatment rendered was analogous to treatment protocols implemented for tricyclic overdose. A review of the pharmacology of cyclobenzaprine, as well as the management of patients who overdose on this drug, is presented.
Performance Estimation for Turbofans with and without Mixers

A relatively simple equation set is developed to estimate the optimal performance of mixed-stream turbofans with component losses included. The set provides the specific fuel consumption and required bypass flow and fan pressure ratios to give a prescribed specific thrust for given flight conditions, component design limits, and engine core stream Mach number entering the mixer. Example results confirm the expectation (based on ideal cycle analysis) that the optimal specific fuel consumption and bypass ratio are nearly independent of the fan pressure ratio, provided that an optimal mixer is employed. Further, an engine designed for use in a mixedstream configuration only would best use a lower fan pressure ratio than would an engine deliberately designed for an unmixed exhaust. a0 ec ec> et F / G h K M m p pt S S3> T
Oncogenic role and therapeutic target of leptin signaling in breast cancer and cancer stem cells

Significant correlations between obesity and incidence of various cancers have been reported. Obesity, considered a mild inflammatory process, is characterized by a high level of secretion of several cytokines from adipose tissue. These molecules have disparate effects, which could be relevant to cancer development. Among the inflammatory molecules, leptin, mainly produced by adipose tissue and overexpressed with its receptor (Ob-R) in cancer cells is the most studied adipokine. Mutations of leptin or Ob-R genes associated with obesity or cancer are rarely found. However, leptin is an anti-apoptotic molecule in many cell types, and its central roles in obesity-related cancers are based on its pro-angiogenic, pro-inflammatory and mitogenic actions. Notably, these leptin actions are commonly reinforced through entangled crosstalk with multiple oncogenes, cytokines and growth factors. Leptin-induced signals comprise several pathways commonly triggered by many cytokines (i.e., canonical: JAK2/STAT; MAPK/ERK1/2 and PI-3K/AKT1 and, non-canonical signaling pathways: PKC, JNK and p38 MAP kinase). Each of these leptin-induced signals is essential to its biological effects on food intake, energy balance, adiposity, immune and endocrine systems, as well as oncogenesis. This review is mainly focused on the current knowledge of the oncogenic role of leptin in breast cancer. Additionally, leptin pro-angiogenic molecular mechanisms and its potential role in breast cancer stem cells will be reviewed. Strict biunivocal binding-affinity and activation of leptin/Ob-R complex makes it a unique molecular target for prevention and treatment of breast cancer, particularly in obesity contexts.
Particle Involvement in Fatty Acid Synthesis in Liver and Yeast Systems

THE synthesis of fatty acids from acetate has been shown to occur in particle-free supernatant fractions obtained from a variety of mammalian tissues1–3. An examination of the literature4–7 reveals that such synthesis is significantly increased in the presence of a microsomal fraction. (While the term microsome may be used to describe the particle fraction prepared from liver, it is premature to refer to yeast particles by this name since the cytological fractionation of the yeast cell is less well established. As used here, the term particles refers to the fraction sedimented, after prior removal of the mitochondrial fraction, at 100,000g for 45 min. ‘Supernatant’ refers to the solution obtained after removal of the 100,000g pellet.) We have shown, for example, that the addition of rat liver microsomes, in appropriate amounts, results in an increase in the incorporation of acetate carbon into fatty acids many times greater than that observed with the rat liver supernatant fraction alone8. Similar observations have been made with a yeast system9.
A NOTE ON “TRENDS IN POLITICAL TOLERANCE”

John Mueller has argued that attitudes toward political rights for Communists, examined over the historical period from the 1950s to the 1970s, contradicts our conclusion that levels of tolerance have probably not changed a great deal. He suggests that our content-controlled results are not well suited to support our conclusions. We relied on the content-controlled measurement strategy because the conceptualization of political tolerance that we found most apt postulates that questions of tolerance do not come into play unless one seriously objects to a political group (Sullivan, Piereson, and Marcus, 1982:2-10). An individual's attitudes toward the civil liberties of a particular political group can reflect actual support of that group (a positive predisposition toward the group and its ideas) or indifference (including "not caring much one way or the other") as well as the more commonly analyzed responses of tolerance and intolerance. Our conceptualization of tolerance dictated that tolerance is only at issue for someone in the presence of serious dislike and objection. We therefore used the content-controlled strategy to take account of the expectation that one particular stimulus group would not (indeed could not) provide the same test of political tolerance for all respondents. Attitudes toward each group could, in theory, vary from strongly positive through neutral to strongly negative. Given the kinds of groups we and others studied in most instances, these attitudes would tend to range from indifference through dislike. The point here is that the meaning of our results must be understood within the framework of our conceptualization of tolerance. As a result, our findings are not easily compared with those derived from either a different conceptualization of political tolerance, or in the case of much empirical research, in the absence of an explicit conceptualization of tolerance.
Localized Spin Fluctuations in Metals

Abstract : The concepts and results of several theories of localized spin fluctuations are contrasted. The random phase approximation--qualitatively correct for weak exchange coupling U--overemphasizes the collective nature of the fluctuations and in dilute alloys leads to an unphysical instability for U = or > U sub c. For U approximately equal to U sub c, nonlinear interactions between spin fluctuations suppress the instability. These anharmonic effects have been treated through the functional average and the diagram summation schemes, and they lead to a smooth variation of the system properties as U increases through U sub c. A complementary treatment in which one studies the time-evolution of spin fluctuations is also considered. (Author)
When printed hypertexts go digital: information extraction from the parsing of indices

Modern critical editions of ancient works generally include manually created indices of other sources quoted in the text. Since indices can be considered as a form of domain specific language, the paper presents a parsing-based approach to the problem of extracting information from them to support the creation of a collection of fragmentary texts. This paper first considers the characteristics and structure of quotation indices and their importance when dealing with fragmentary texts. It then presents the results of applying a fuzzy parser to the OCR transcription of an index of quotations to extract information from potentially noisy input.
Sex-Role Orientations of High School and College Students.

Previous studies (e.g., Matthews & Tiedeman, 1964; Rand & Miller, 1972) have found a decrease in career commitment of women between the junior high school and senior high school years. These studies hypothesized that this decrease may be a result of senior high school women giving marriage a greater priority in their plans. Interest in the psychology of women, however, has increased in recent years, with particular emphasis on the emotional, intellectual, and behavioral consequences of stereotypic sex-role connotations. The traditional roles of women in the educational and occupational sectors of society have been challenged by thoughtful and vocal advocates of equality and social change, necessitating reevaluation and redefinition of sex-appropriate behavior by both men and women. To explore possible reevaluations of sex-role attitudes, the present study analyzed sex-role orientations of 86 (43 females, 43 males)undergraduate introductory psychology students enrolled at Washington State University and 86 (43 females, 43 males) students attending Pullman, Washington, Public High school. All class levels were represented in the high school sample. Participation in the study was voluntary on the part of all students. Each student was issued a copy of the revised French-Lesser Student Attitude Scale, a 65-item true-false questionnaire (French & Lesser, 1964). This attitude scale consists of two subscales: a 34-item scale, which measures the extent to which subjects value various aspects of intellectual (career) attainment,
The duality principle in fuzzy set theory

Abstract A rigorous mathematical approach to extending nonfuzzy structures to fuzzy sets is presented. This approach is based on classical ideas of duality in analysis and inverse image in set theory. We apply these new techniques to characterizing indistinguishability relations, fuzzy interval orders, and fuzzy operations. Zadeh's extension principle is characterized in terms of the duality principle.
Toward a Grand Theory of the Study of Canadian Political Thought

One of the most challenging aspects of the study of Canadian political thought is its apparent lack of a clear consensus (perhaps in the form of a “grand theory”) that provides it with more structured analytical organization and parameters. This absence can be remedied through an explicit recognition of the competing traditions that have contributed to the mosaic of Canadian philosophical and political beliefs and values. The interplay between liberal and communitarian traditions of Canadian political thought could provide the basis for this sort of model, though other contributions also need to be acknowledged and considered.
Brightness and loudness as functions of stimulus duration

The brightness of white light and the loudness of white noise were measured by magnitude estimation for sets of stimuli that varied in intensity and duration. Brightness and loudness both grow as power functions of duration up to a critical duration, beyond which apparent magnitude is essentially independent of duration. For brightness, the critical duration decreases with increasing intensity, but for loudness the critical duration is nearly constant at about 150 msec. Loudness and brightness also grow as power functions of intensity. The loudness exponent is the same for all durations, but the brightness exponent is about half again as large for short durations as for long. The psychophysical power functions were used to generate equal-loudness and equal-brightness functions, which specify the combinations of intensity E and duration T that produce the same apparent magnitude. Below the critical duration ET equals k for equal brightness, and ETa equa Is k for equal loudness. The value a is about 0.7 for threshold and about 1.25 for supraliminal loudness.
Gold Schottky contacts on oxygen plasma-treated, n-type ZnO(0001̄)

Reverse bias current–voltage measurements of ∼100-μm-diameter gold Schottky contacts deposited on as-received, n-type ZnO(0001) wafers and those exposed for 30 min to a remote 20% O2/80% He plasma at 525±20 °C and cooled either in vacuum from 425 °C or the unignited plasma gas have been determined. Plasma cleaning resulted in highly ordered, stoichiometric, and smooth surfaces. Contacts on as-received material showed μA leakage currents and ideality factors >2. Contacts on plasma-cleaned wafers cooled in vacuum showed ∼36±1 nA leakage current to −4 V, a barrier height of 0.67±0.05 eV, and an ideality factor of 1.86±0.05. Cooling in the unignited plasma gas coupled with a 30 s exposure to the plasma at room temperature resulted in decreases in these parameters to ∼20 pA to −7 V, 0.60±0.05 eV, and 1.03±0.05, respectively. Differences in the measured and theoretical barrier heights indicate interface states. (0001) and (0001) are used in this letter to designate the polar zinc- and oxygen-terminated surfac...
Analysis of longitudinally observed irregularly timed multivariate outcomes: regression with focus on cross-component correlation.

Components of repeatedly observed multivariate outcomes (for example, the two components of blood pressure measures (SBPit, DBPit), obtained on subject i at arbitrarily spaced times t) are often analysed separately. We present a unified approach to regression analysis of such irregularly timed multivariate longitudinal data, with particular attention to assessment of the magnitude and durability of cross-component correlation. Maximum likelihood estimates are presented for component-specific regression parameters and autocorrelation and cross-correlation functions. The component-specific autocorrelation function has the ‘damped exponential’ form $({\rm corr}(Y_{it},Y_{i,t+s})=\gamma^{|s|^{\theta}})$\nopagenumbers\end, which generalizes the AR(1), MA(1) and random intercept models for univariate longitudinal outcomes. The cross-component correlation function (CCCF) has an analogous form, allowing damped-exponential decay of cross-component correlation as time between repeated measures elapses. Finite sample performance is assessed through simulation studies. The methods are illustrated through blood pressure modelling and construction of multivariate prediction regions. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Purification of beta-glucuronidase from urine of androgen-stimulated female mice.

Abstract β-Glucuronidase (EC 3.2.1.31) has been purified from the urine of androgen-treated A/J female mice. This is a convenient starting material as the enzyme comprises 0.5 to 1.0% of total urinary proteins. Weekly injections of testosterone enanthate increased β-glucuronidase excretion from kidney into urine by approximately 300-fold. Unexpected urinary enzyme activity declined after six weekly treatments, but returned after the testosterone injections were discontinued. These observations suggest that testosterone influences not only the rate of β-glucuronidase synthesis but also the excretion of the enzyme into the urine. Other hormone regimens for achieving β-glucuronidase synthesis and excretion into urine are discussed. After concentrating the urine 10- to 12-fold, β-glucuronidase was isolated using two chromatography steps. Gel filtration on Bio-Gel A-0.5m resulted in a 16-fold purification of the enzyme and removed most of the major urinary proteins. Anion exchange on diethylaminoethyl-cellulose resulted in a further purification of β-glucuronidase by 12-fold. These two chromatography steps gave 190- to 200-fold increases of β-glucuronidase activity per milligram of protein and the enzyme electrophoresed as a single band in two native gels. However, analysis on sodium dodecyl sulfate gels revealed traces of protein smaller than the 70,000 molecular weight subunit of the enzyme. The β-glucuronidase isolated from urine had the same physical properties as the lysosomal form of the enzyme in mouse kidney.
Deconstructing the Peasantry: Class and Development in Rural Kenya:

This essay illustrates the power and reach of the new Marxian class analysis when it is applied to the economic development of the third world. Economic development in third world countries has been analyzed, debated, and promoted but the implications of class analysis (in the surplus labor sense) have rarely been explored. This essay will reexamine the concept of the peasantry that has played such an important theoretical role in Marxist theories of development. In contrast to the typical concept of the peasantry as a rather homogeneous group differentiated according to levels of income and/or property ownership, we develop a theory of the peasantry based on a surplus labor theory of class. A surplus labor theory of class will allow us to investigate in a systematic way how the multiple class structures of so-called less developed rural economies contributed to their “underdevelopment.” This question derives in part from Kautsky's parallel inquiry into the nature of the class structure in the rural econo...
Molecularly Designed Chromonic Liquid Crystals for the Fabrication of Broad Spectrum Polarizing Materials

The chromonic mesogens shown were designed to absorb at different wavelengths and yet display chromonic liquid-crystalline properties in a common solvent. Induced orientation of the mixed liquid crystals by a mechanical shearing force followed by evaporation of solvent produced anisotropic solid films that polarize light from about 450 to 890 nm.
The production of congenital heart defects with the use of antisera to rat kidney, placenta, heart, and lung homogenates

Abstract Pregnant Long-Evans rats received antisera to adult rat kidney, lung, and heart, rat placenta, and purified glomerular basement membrane on the ninth to eleventh days of gestation in doses ranging from 1 to 3 ml. per 100 Gm. The teratogenic antisera produced increased resorption rates, reductions in fetal weight, and significant malformations—with the exception of heart antiserum, which was not teratogenic in this experiment. Kidney and placenta antisera had a malformation rate of 76 and 80 per cent, with nearly three fourths of these being cardiovascular defects. Glomerular basement membrane and lung antisera were also teratogenic but less so. The cardiovascular malformations included situs inversus associated with truncus (4), as well as single ventricle (2), truncus arteriosus (8), various transpositions (7), interventricular septal defects (6), and several aortic outflow tract or proximal aorta abnormalities. These abnormalities were compared to those produced by trypan blue, which produces mostly transposition complexes, as well as to those produced by other teratogenic agents. The results suggest that antiserum produces its own unique spectrum of malformations, somewhat different from those produced by trypan blue, and therefore that the two agents may have different modes of action.