cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ethics, Transparency, and Diversity in Mindfulness Programs

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are commonly framed as secular. Yet, this chapter argues, many MBIs, including Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), as well as the multivalent term “mindfulness” itself, continue to reflect their Buddhist ethical foundations. Buddhist ethics remain implicit, even if not explicit, in MBIs, which often claim to cultivate moral and ethical virtues such as compassion. This chapter argues that if MBIs are not fully secular, there should be transparency about this fact—even if transparency comes at the expense of no longer reaping benefits of being perceived as secular. The secular framing of MBIs compromises transparency: through scientific claims that obscure religious dimensions, intentional tactics (disguise, script, Trojan horse, stealth Buddhism, skillful means), and unintentional conflation of Buddhist with universal ideals. Although the benefits of mindfulness may seem to justify any intentional or unintentional lapses in transparency, this chapter argues that unethical processes can taint results, potentially resulting in more harm than good. The ethical grounds for transparency may be articulated using principles internal or external to a Buddhist framework: (1) fidelity to the Noble Eightfold Path, including right mindfulness, right intention, and right speech; (2) intellectual integrity, cultural diversity (recognizing compassion as a contested value, adhering to professional ethical standards, sensitivity to risks of cultural appropriation and cultural imperialism), and informed consent (taking into account the potential for adverse effects, religious effects, or coercion).
The Right to Be Forgotten and Implications on Digital Collections: A Survey of ARL Member Institutions on Practice and Policy

In the spring of 2017, digital librarians and digital collection managers at member institutions of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) were surveyed on practices and policies surrounding takedown requests in openly accessible digital collections. The survey collected basic demographic information surrounding the digital repositories (anonymized) and presented a series of hypothetical scenarios for respondents to consider and reflect upon. The survey received a 25.8 percent response rate, with many intriguing insights. Survey findings are presented, along with a discussion on future recommendations for work in this area.
The Benefits of Living on Campus: Do Residence Halls Provide Distinctive Environments of Engagement?

The changing landscape of on- and off-campus undergraduate residential options underline the need to reexamine the impact of on-campus living. Using multi-institutional survey data from first-year ...
Anti‐Atherogenic Potential of Edible Mushrooms

For centuries, mushrooms have been used as medicinal plants, and, more recently, have been a growing component of a healthy diet. Mushrooms are low in sodium and are good sources of fiber, bioactiv...
Manual ventilation to prevent hypoxaemia during endotracheal intubation of critically ill adults: protocol and statistical analysis plan for a multicentre randomised trial.

Introduction Hypoxaemia is the most common complication during endotracheal intubation of critically ill adults, and it increases the risk of cardiac arrest and death. Manual ventilation between induction and intubation has been hypothesised to decrease the incidence of hypoxaemia, but efficacy and safety data are lacking. Methods and analysis The Preventing Hypoxemia with Manual Ventilation during Endotracheal Intubation trial is a prospective, multicentre, non-blinded randomised clinical trial being conducted in seven intensive care units in the USA. A total of 400 critically ill adults undergoing endotracheal intubation will be randomised 1:1 to receive prophylactic manual ventilation between induction and endotracheal intubation using a bag-valve-mask device or no prophylactic ventilation. The primary outcome is the lowest arterial oxygen saturation between induction and 2 min after successful endotracheal intubation, which will be analysed as an unadjusted, intention-to-treat comparison of patients randomised to prophylactic ventilation versus patients randomised to no prophylactic ventilation. The secondary outcome is the incidence of severe hypoxaemia, defined as any arterial oxygen saturation of less than 80% between induction and 2 min after endotracheal intubation. Enrolment began on 2 February 2017 and is expected to be complete in May 2018. Ethics and dissemination The trial was approved by the institutional review boards or designees of all participating centres. The results will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at one or more scientific conferences. Trial registration number NCT03026322; Pre-results.
Generative replay with feedback connections as a general strategy for continual learning.

A major obstacle to developing artificial intelligence applications capable of true lifelong learning is that artificial neural networks quickly or catastrophically forget previously learned tasks when trained on a new one. Numerous methods for alleviating catastrophic forgetting are currently being proposed, but differences in evaluation protocols make it difficult to directly compare their performance. To enable more meaningful comparisons, here we identified three distinct scenarios for continual learning based on whether task identity is known and, if it is not, whether it needs to be inferred. Performing the split and permuted MNIST task protocols according to each of these scenarios, we found that regularization-based approaches (e.g., elastic weight consolidation) failed when task identity needed to be inferred. In contrast, generative replay combined with distillation (i.e., using class probabilities as "soft targets") achieved superior performance in all three scenarios. Addressing the issue of efficiency, we reduced the computational cost of generative replay by integrating the generative model into the main model by equipping it with generative feedback or backward connections. This Replay-through-Feedback approach substantially shortened training time with no or negligible loss in performance. We believe this to be an important first step towards making the powerful technique of generative replay scalable to real-world continual learning applications.
Soft Body Armor for Law Enforcement Applications

This paper focuses on the development of a novel ballistic protection composite which can provide both cut resistance and impact protection. The ballistic shield is made by sandwiching high strengt...
Chronic Dyrk1 Inhibition Delays the Onset of AD-Like Pathology in 3xTg-AD Mice

There is a critical need for new treatment approaches that can slow or prevent the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Targets that act simultaneously on multiple relevant pathways could have significant therapeutic potential. Dual-specificity tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated kinase 1A (Dyrk1a) phosphorylates both amyloid precursor protein (APP) and tau. Dyrk1a is upregulated in post-mortem brains of AD patients, and such elevated expression is associated with cognitive deficits. We previously demonstrated that small molecule inhibition of Dyrk1 is well-tolerated and reduces amyloid plaques and pathological forms of tau in 3xTg-AD mice if administered after formation of these pathologies. However, while insoluble forms of hyperphosphorylated tau were reduced by Dyrk1 inhibition, overt neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) pathology remained unchanged. Herein, we specifically test the hypothesis that inhibition of Dyrk1 prior to NFT formation will delay the onset of pathology. 3xTg-AD mice were treated chronically, beginning at 6 months of age, prior to NFT pathology. Mice were dosed daily for either 3 or 6 months and amyloid and tau pathology were assessed. We show that chronic Dyrk1 inhibition reduces insoluble forms of amyloid beta peptides (Aβ) and hyper-phosphorylated tau long-term and that these reductions are associated with dramatic delay in the onset of both amyloid plaques and NFTs. In addition, we show that DYR219, a potent and selective small molecule Dyrk1 inhibitor, induces degradation of Dyrk1a protein, likely contributing to the efficacy of this small molecule approach in vivo. Collectively, these results suggest that therapeutic strategies targeting tau phosphorylation will show the greatest effect if administered very early in the pathogenesis of AD.
Thrombolysis for Acute Ischemic Stroke Following Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: Case Report and Literature Review.

Introduction Intravenous thrombolytic therapy with recombinant tissue type plasminogen activator (IV-tPA) is the first-line treatment option for acute ischemic stroke (AIS). The tPA exclusion criteria, defined decades ago, require updates as new technologies emerge. Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), which has begun to replace open surgery, poses a risk for acute stroke and falls outside of prior tPA guidelines. Case report Here we describe a post-TAVR patient treated safely with IV-tPA for presumed AIS. Conclusion Previously undescribed, we suggest that tPA should be considered for post-TAVR AIS patients who otherwise satisfy inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Kinematics and EMG activity in Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty.

Abstract Introduction Patients undergoing a Reverse Total Shoulder Arthroplasty (RTSA) often have functional limitations that affect the range of motion of the shoulder. These limitations are not mechanical in nature, but instead linked to a reduced ability to generate muscle force. The specific aims of this study was to offer a comparison between the muscle activity generated by a post-operative RTSA shoulder in a patient to that of their contralateral shoulder during a series of functional activities. Material & methods A convenience sample of 10 subjects between the ages of 50–75 years of age were recruited. EMG and kinematic data were concomitantly collected while subjects completed tasks that included common activities of daily living. Results The main findings of this study were that all sub regions of the deltoid functioned as abductors, versus the native shoulder where the middle deltoid primarily works in abduction. For the scapular elevation activity there was a significant difference in flexion between the surgical and contralateral shoulder (p Conclusion Anticipating limitations in functional outcomes and range of motion for patients after RTSA may inform patient decision-making and improve clinical evaluations. The finding of increased mid deltoid function during lifting activity has implications for rehabilitation and encouraging protocols that strengthen the deltoid in concentric motions. Additionally, the decreased scapular elevation found in this study may guide rehabilitation focusing on regaining range of motion post-operatively.
School Principals’ Perceptions of Crime Risk and Academic Climate: Links to School Safety Practices

Little is known about principals’ perceptions and their links to how school safety practices operate. Using data from School Survey on Crime and Safety from 2,009 public schools in the US, the curr...
Generic Measures of Quality of Life Are Not Correlated with Disease Activity in Eosinophilic Esophagitis

The relationship between histologic disease activity in eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and generic measures of quality of life (QoL) is unclear. To determine differences in QoL in adults with EoE based on histologic activity and assess changes in QoL over time. We performed an analysis of prospectively collected data from patients in the University of North Carolina EoE Registry. Patients were categorized with histologically active (≥ 15 eosinophils per high-power field [eos/hpf]) or inactive (< 15 eos/hpf) disease. Dysphagia severity was measured with a Likert scale. QoL was measured with 36-Item Short Form (SF-36), compared between active and inactive groups, and assessed longitudinally. Of 147 EoE cases, those with inactive disease (n = 56) reported less dysphagia severity (3.2 vs. 1.9; p = 0.003) and had lower endoscopic severity (3.8 vs. 1.0; p < 0.001) than those with active disease (n = 91). While SF-36 scores did not differ between active and inactive status, lower mental component scores (MCS) were seen in patients treated with empiric dietary elimination (44.9 vs. 50.8; p = 0.005). Dysphagia severity was negatively correlated with both physical component score (PCS) (r = −0.33; p < 0.001) and MCS (r = −0.18; p = 0.03). Despite more cases achieving histologic response over time, SF-36 scores did not improve on either raw or adjusted analyses. QoL measured by SF-36 in EoE was similar regardless of histologic disease activity and was in the range of population averages. General QoL metrics like the SF-36 do not appear to have substantial utility in EoE.
Together We Rise: The Role of Communication and Community Connectedness in Transgender Citizens’ Civic Engagement in the United States

This study examines the influences of online communication, in-person socialization, and degree of community connectedness on transgender citizens’ political participation in the United States. Dra...
Y-box binding protein-1 (YB-1) serine 102 is a downstream target of p90 ribosomal S6 kinase in breast cancer cells

AACR Centennial Conference: Translational Cancer Medicine-- July 20-23, 2008; Monterey, CA A20 Unlike estrogen receptor positive or HER2 over-expressing breast cancers the treatment of the aggressive basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) is currently still dependent on the use of chemotherapeutic agents. These have limited benefit in many patients and survival beyond 2 years is low. Expression of Y-box binding protein-1 (YB-1) is associated with all breast cancer subtypes and predicts poor survival and relapse. We previously reported that YB-1 appears to be enriched in the BLBC subtype where the frequency is 73%. There is currently no method of inhibiting YB-1 directly; therefore understanding its regulation may provide alternative approaches to impact the function of this protein. Phosphorylation of YB-1 allows this protein to act in an oncogenic manner by promoting transcription and translation. Of particular interest is the serine 102 (S102) residue that is required for the transcriptional activation of growth enhancing genes, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), by YB-1. Although it is known Akt phosphorylates this site, it is not clear which other factors play a role in regulating the S102 phospho-status. Using predictive algorithms within Motif Scanner, a second kinase was identified; p90 ribosomal S6 kinase (RSK) which is a serine/threonine kinase of the same family as Akt and is over-expressed in breast cancer. This was particularly interesting to us because in the past unlike YB-1 we were not able to link Akt to BLBC or poor survival and could therefore not explain how this transcription factor might be activated in these tumors. Herein, we show that the phosphorylation of YB-1(S102) is blocked by the inhibition of the MAP kinase pathway but further RSK1/2 indeed phosphorylates YB-1 at S102. We observed that YB-1 was phosphorylated at S102 in immortalized breast epithelial cells when RSK was active yet AKT was not. Further, inhibition of RSK1 or RSK2 through genetic and pharmacological methods decreased YB-1(S102) phosphorylation. This subsequently interfered with the ability of YB-1 to regulate gene expression; the RSK inhibitor SL0101 decreased the ability of YB-1 to bind the promoter, transactivate and ultimately reduced the expression of EGFR. Interestingly, in concordance with these results we found that expression of constitutively active RSK1 increased YB-1 phosphorylation. Furthermore, transfection of a kinase-dead RSK1 mutant was unable to phosphorylate YB-1 at this site. We therefore conclude that RSK1/2 is able to phosphorylate YB-1(S102). This provides a newly described mechanism whereby this transcription factor is activated in breast cancer. As the interest in developing small molecules against RSK has increased over the past two years, we believe this could be an important opportunity for therapeutic intervention. RSK has never before been associated with BLBC; we therefore introduce a new mechanistic understanding and potentially a therapeutic strategy for treating this aggressive disease.
Simulation of embedded decision processes in manufacturing systems

This paper addresses a new unified framework for simulation that includes both physical and decision making processes of manufacturing systems. The developed methodology uses a state-space representation based simulation modeling formalism along with object oriented software design. The model developer perceives the manufacturing system in terms of several physical entities, augmented by a number of decision making elements, each capable of making rational decisions that affect system behavior and contribute to the collective state of the system. The modularity of the user’s conceptual model in terms of physical and decision making entities with their programmed and non-programmed decisions and the capability of modeling these entities and processes at different hierarchical levels can vastly improve simulation’s role as a decision making tool.
Enumeration of Polyhedra for Grain Growth Analysis

The advent of three dimensional data collection, grain reconstruction, and subsequent materials analysis has created opportunities to revisit problems in grain growth and polycrystalline structure. In this paper we review the relevant literature concerning the total number of polyhedral grains of a given number of faces and take the additional first steps at enumerating the topologies of the members within each set. Analysis of the dispersion in topology relative to the idealized N-hedra is presented. The relevance to grain growth simulations and experiments is discussed.
Molecular epidemiology of ampicillin-resistant clinical isolates of Salmonella enteritidis.

During the last 6 years in Greece, there has been a significant increase in the number of ampicillin-resistant Salmonella clinical isolates reported. In this study 23 ampicillin-resistant Salmonella strains, consecutively isolated from patients with epidemiologically unrelated cases of food poisoning, were investigated. By serotyping and phage typing, 21 of these strains were identified as Salmonella enteritidis phage type 6a, 1 was identified as Salmonella typhimurium, and 1 was identified as Salmonella saintpaul. By plasmid pattern analysis, the 21 S. enteritidis strains were further differentiated into five groups. Group I consisted of 5 strains (carrying two plasmids of ca. 38 and 34 MDa), group II consisted of 10 strains (three plasmids of ca. 38, 34, and 2.5 MDa), group III consisted of 3 strains (four plasmids of ca. 38, 34, 15, and 2.5 MDa), group IV consisted of 1 strain (five plasmids of ca. 100, 38, 34, 24, and 15 MDa), and group V consisted of 2 strains (three plasmids of ca. 100, 38, and 24 MDa). Ampicillin resistance was easily transferred to Escherichia coli and was associated with the transfer of the 34-MDa plasmid, classified in the N incompatibility group for all strains of groups I to IV, and with the transfer of the 100-MDa plasmid for the group V strains. EcoRI restriction endonuclease digestions showed an extensive homology among the 34-MDa conjugative R plasmids. Hybridizations of the EcoRI restriction fragments of the 34-MDa plasmids with a TEM-type probe revealed the locus of the beta-lactamase gene to be situated on a ca. 6.6-MDa fragment, common in all plasmids. These results indicate that ampicillin resistance in Greece is due to the spread of a limited number of clones of S. enteritidis phage type 6A, carrying related 34-MDa R plasmids. Work is in progress to obtain a better understanding of ampicillin resistance in S. enteritidis. Images
Overlay networks monitoring

The phenomenal growth of the Internet and its entry into many aspects of daily life has led to a great dependency on its services. Multimedia and content distribution applications (e.g., video streaming, online gaming, VoIP) require Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees in terms of bandwidth, delay, loss, and jitter to maintain a certain level of performance. Moreover, E-commerce applications and retail websites are faced with increasing demand for better throughput and response time performance. The most practical way to realize such applications is through the use of overlay networks, which are logical networks that implement service and resource management functionalities at the application layer. Overlays offer better deployability, scalability, security, and resiliency properties than network layer based implementation of services. Network monitoring and routing are among the most important issues in the design and operation of overlay networks. Accurate monitoring of QoS parameters is a challenging problem due to: (i) unbounded link stress in the underlying IP network, and (ii) the conflict in measurements caused by spatial and temporal overlap among measurement tasks. In this context, the focus of this dissertation is on the design and evaluation of efficient QoS monitoring and fault location algorithms using overlay networks. First, the issue of monitoring accuracy provided by multiple concurrent active measurements is studied on a large-scale overlay test-bed (PlanetLab), the factors affecting the accuracy are identified, and the measurement conflict problem is introduced. Then, the problem of conducting conflict-free measurements is formulated as a scheduling problem of real-time tasks, its complexity is proven to be NP-hard, and efficient heuristic algorithms for the problem are proposed. Second, an algorithm for minimizing monitoring overhead while controlling the IP link stress is proposed. Finally, the use of overlay monitoring to locate IP links' faults is investigated. Specifically, the problem of designing an overlay network for verifying the location of IP links' faults, under cost and link stress constraints, is formulated as an integer generalized flow problem, and its complexity is proven to be NP-hard. An optimal polynomial time algorithm for the relaxed problem (relaxed link stress constraints) is proposed. A combination of simulation and experimental studies using real-life measurement tools and Internet topologies of major ISP networks is conducted to evaluate the proposed algorithms. The studies show that the proposed algorithms significantly improve the accuracy and link stress of overlay monitoring, while incurring low overheads. The evaluation of fault location algorithms show that fast and highly accurate verification of faults can be achieved using overlay monitoring. In conclusion, the holistic view taken and the solutions developed for network monitoring provide a comprehensive framework for the design, operation, and evolution of overlay networks.
Role of centrality in network-based prioritization of disease genes

High-throughput molecular interaction data have been used effectively to prioritize candidate genes that are linked to a disease, based on the notion that the products of genes associated with similar diseases are likely to interact with each other heavily in a network of protein-protein interactions (PPIs). An important challenge for these applications, however, is the incomplete and noisy nature of PPI data. Random walk and network propagation based methods alleviate these problems to a certain extent, by considering indirect interactions and multiplicity of paths. However, as we demonstrate in this paper, such methods are likely to favor highly connected genes, making prioritization sensitive to the skewed degree distribution of PPI networks, as well as ascertainment bias in available interaction and disease association data. Here, we propose several statistical correction schemes that aim to account for the degree distribution of known disease and candidate genes. We show that, while the proposed schemes are very effective in detecting loosely connected disease genes that are missed by existing approaches, this improvement might come at the price of more false negatives for highly connected genes. Motivated by these results, we develop uniform prioritization methods that effectively integrate existing methods with the proposed statistical correction schemes. Comprehensive experimental results on the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database show that the resulting hybrid schemes outperform existing methods in prioritizing candidate disease genes.
Live business intelligence for the real-time enterprise

We present our vision of a unified data management and analytics platform, which we call "Live Business Intelligence" (LiveBI) that transforms business intelligence from the traditional back-office, report-oriented platform, to an enabler for delivering data-intensive, real-time analytics that transform business operations in the modern enterprise. The LiveBI Platform leverages data management technology and fuses it with new paradigms for analytics and application development. We present the architecture of the platform and illustrate its value in a couple of applications.
Manipulation of multiple droplets on N/spl times/M grid by cross-reference EWOD driving scheme and pressure-contact packaging

This paper reports two recent breakthroughs in our development of EWOD-based (ElectroWetting On Dielectric) digital (droplet) microfluidic circuits: a driving scheme and a packaging scheme, both of which greatly simplify fabrication and make large-array chips a reality. This paper will explain (1) the concept of cross-reference driving, which allows single-layer electrode fabrication, including the techniques to allow simultaneous driving of multiple droplets and (2) pressure-contact connection, which greatly simplifies packaging and assembly for high-density EWOD devices. The efficacy of the driving concept is demonstrated by transporting four droplets simultaneously, each along its own path, on a 9/spl times/9 grid and performing essential fluidic functions such as creation, cutting, merging, and mixing of droplets.
Carbonate ion concentration in glacial‐age deep waters of the Caribbean Sea

[1] On the basis of the whole foraminifera shell weights for G. sacculifer and N. dutertrei from Caribbean cores, it appears that the carbonate ion concentration of water at 1800 m depth in the open Atlantic (i.e., the depth of the Caribbean sill) was ∼14 μmol/kg greater during glacial time than during the Holocene. The sense of this difference is consistent with the observation that the 13C/12C ratio for benthic foraminifera from glacial-age Atlantic upper deep water was higher than that for their Holocene equivalents. It is also consistent with fragment to whole foraminifera results. However, as several questions regarding the assumptions involved in converting shell weights to paleocarbonate ion concentrations remain unanswered, this reconstruction must be considered tentative. Critical in this regard are the assumptions that shell-wall thicknesses were the same as today's at any given site during glacial time and that the 0.3 μg per μmol/kg relationship between shell weight and carbonate ion concentration is applicable over the entire deep water column. The records reported here reveal no evidence for an early Holocene preservation event. However, that for core V28-122 documents a dissolution event close to the MIS 5-4 boundary.
Comment on "Kagomé lattice antiferromagnet stripped to its basics".

A Comment on the Letter by P. Azaria et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1694 (1998). The authors of the Letter offer a Reply.
Design of a photoswitchable cadherin.

There is a growing interest in engineering proteins whose function can be controlled with the spatial and temporal precision of light. Here, we present a novel example of a functional light-triggered switch in the Ca-dependent cell–cell adhesion protein E-cadherin, created using a mechanism-based design strategy. We report an 18-fold change in apparent Ca2+ binding affinity upon illumination. Our results include a detailed examination of functional switching via linked changes in Ca2+ binding and cadherin dimerization. This design opens avenues toward controllable tools that could be applied to many long-standing questions about cadherin’s biological function in cell–cell adhesion and downstream signaling.
Retributivism and the inadvertent punishment of the innocent

Retributivism is generally thought to forbid the punishment of the innocent, even if such punishment would produce otherwise good results, such as deterrence. It has recently been argued that because capital punishment always entails the risk of executing an innocent person, instituting capital punishment is tantamount to intentionally taking innocent lives and therefore cannot be justified on retributive grounds. I argue that there are several versions of retributivism, only one of which might categorically forbid risking punishing innocent persons. I also argue that our moral practices reveal either that we do not hold this particular version of retributivism, or that we reject equating risking punishing the innocent with intentionally doing so. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A9102008 00005
Law of the logarithm for density and hazard rate estimation for censored data

Abstract In this note, we establish law of the logarithm for kernel-type density and hazard rate estimators based on censored data. These results are applied to get optimal bandwidths with respect to strong uniform consistency.
Immunocontraception in wild horses (Equus caballus) extends reproductive cycling beyond the normal breeding season.

Background Although the physiological effects of immunocontraceptive treatment with porcine zona pellucida (PZP) have been well studied, little is known about PZP's effects on the scheduling of reproductive cycling. Recent behavioral research has suggested that recipients of PZP extend the receptive breeding period into what is normally the non-breeding season. Methodology/Principal Findings To determine if this is the case, we compiled foaling data from wild horses (Equus caballus) living on Shackleford Banks, North Carolina for 4 years pre- and 8 years post-contraception management with PZP (pre-contraception, n = 65 births from 45 mares; post-contraception, n = 97 births from 46 mares). Gestation lasts approximately 11–12 months in wild horses, placing conception at approximately 11.5 months prior to birth. Since the contraception program began in January 2000, foaling has occurred over a significantly broader range than it had before the contraception program. Foaling in PZP recipients (n = 45 births from 27 mares) has consistently occurred over a broader range than has foaling in non-recipients (n = 52 births from 19 mares). In addition, current recipients of PZP foaled later in the year than did prior recipient and non-recipient mares. Females receiving more consecutive PZP applications gave birth later in the season than did females receiving fewer applications. Finally, the efficacy of PZP declined with increasing consecutive applications before reaching 100% after five consecutive applications. Conclusions/Significance For a gregarious species such as the horse, the extension of reproductive cycling into the fall months has important social consequences, including decreased group stability and the extension of male reproductive behavior. In addition, reproductive cycling into the fall months could have long-term effects on foal survivorship. Managers should consider these factors before enacting immunocontraceptive programs in new populations. We suggest minor alterations to management strategies to help alleviate such unintended effects in new populations.
Target organ activation by stress.

IT is a well-established fact that under stress conditions the organism calls for increased cortico-steroid activity1. The response to such a call has been believed to occur solely by an increased cortico-steroid production, that is, by increased pituitary-adrenocortical activity. Recent studies2,3 have brought to light certain facts which suggest that the organism possesses an additional mechanism to meet the increased demand for corticosteroid activity. This mechanism functions by increasing the sensitivity of the target organs to corticosteroids.
Asymptotic Behavior of Continuous Trajectories for Primal-Dual Potential-Reduction Methods

This article considers continuous trajectories of the vector fields induced by primal-dual potential-reduction algorithms for solving linear programming problems. It is known that these trajectories converge to the analytic center of the primal-dual optimal face. We establish that this convergence may be tangential to the central path, tangential to the optimal face, or in between, depending on the value of the potential function parameter.
Pathogenic Old World Arenaviruses Inhibit TLR2/Mal-Dependent Proinflammatory Cytokines In Vitro

Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), the prototype arenavirus, and Lassa virus (LASV), the causative agent of Lassa fever (LF), have extensive strain diversity and significant variations in pathogenicity for humans and experimental animals. The WE strain of LCMV (LCMV-WE), but not the Armstrong (Arm) strain, induces a fatal LF-like disease in rhesus macaques. We also demonstrated that LASV infection of human macrophages and endothelial cells resulted in reduced levels of proinflammatory cytokines. Here we have shown that cells infected with LASV or with LCMV-WE suppressed Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2)-dependent proinflammatory cytokine responses. The persisting isolate LCMV clone 13 (CL13) also failed to stimulate interleukin-6 (IL-6) in macrophages. In contrast, nonpathogenic Mopeia virus, which is a genetic relative of LASV and LCMV-Arm induced robust responses that were TLR2/Mal dependent, required virus replication, and were enhanced by CD14. Superinfection experiments demonstrated that the WE strain of LCMV inhibited the Arm-mediated IL-8 response during the early stage of infection. In cells transfected with the NF-κB-luciferase reporter, infection with LCMV-Arm resulted in the induction of NF-κB, but cells infected with LCMV-WE and CL13 did not. These results suggest that pathogenic arenaviruses suppress NF-κB-mediated proinflammatory cytokine responses in infected cells.
Firm size and the information content of annual earnings announcements

. Previous work by Atiase (1985) indicates that the information content of quarterly earnings releases is inversely related to firm size. This study explores the firm-size related differential information content of earnings releases by focusing on annual earnings, assuming that the role of firm size as a proxy for the availability of predisclosure information may differ between annual versus quarterly earnings. In addition, it also investigates how abnormal return reactions to annual earnings releases as a function of firm size change around the date of annual earnings releases. The results show that the firm-size related differential information content of earnings releases exists with annual earnings. Specifically, the extent of common stock return reactions on (around) the annual earnings release date is inversely related to firm size, while market reaction to some early predisclosure dates is positively associated with firm size. The inverse relationship begins to show up a week prior to the earnings release date, and the positive relationship exists for days prior to that week. This latter finding is different from that reported by Atiase in that he did not detect similar evidence with quarterly earnings. No appreciable pattern of association between return reactions and firm size is detected during the week following the release date. Resume. Les travaux precedents d'Atiase (1985) revelent que le contenu informatif des renseignements trimestriels publies relatifs aux benefices est inversement proportionnel a la taille de l'entreprise. L'auteur analyse le contenu marginal en information des renseignements relatifs aux benefices par rapport a la taille de l'entreprise, et plus particulierement les benefices annuels, en supposant que le role de la taille de l'entreprise a titre d'agent d'information trimestrielle peut varier selon qu'il s'agit de benefices annuels ou trimestriels. L'auteur analyse en outre comment les reactions anormales du rendement a la publication des benefices annuels en fonction de la taille de l'entreprise changent a proximite de la date de publication des benefices annuels. Les resultats revelent que le contenu marginal en information des benefices publies est lie a la taille de l'entreprise dans le cas des benefices annuels. En particulier, l'etendue de la reaction du rendement des actions ordinaires a la date (ou pres de la date) de publication des benefices annuels est en relation inverse avec la taille de l'entreprise, alors que la reaction du rendement a une publication trimestrielle est en relation positive avec la taille de l'entreprise. La relation inverse commence a se manifester une semaine avant la date de publication des benefices, alors qu'elle est positive pendant les jours qui precedent cette semaine. Ce resultat differe de celui rapporte par Atiase, qui n'a rien decele qui permette d'en venir a la meme conclusion dans le cas des benefices trimestriels. Aucune relation mesurable entre la reaction a la publication et la taille de l'entreprise ne se manifeste au cours de la semaine qui suit la date de la publication.
Mercury pollution as a result of gold extraction in North Carolina, U.S.A.

Abstract Water, sediment and panned concentrate from active streams, together with some mosses and well waters, all from the vicinity of old Au operations in North Carolina, were analyzed to determine the extent of pollution from metallic Hg introduced into these areas in the 1800s and early 1900s and by modern “weekend panners”. Heavy mineral concentrates, Au grains, sediment and moss were all found to be indicators of Hg pollution, with concentrations of up to 784,000 μg/kg in heavy mineral concentrates, 7400 μg/kg in sediments, and 4900 μg/kg in moss. Surficial spots on Au grains contained as much as 44.8% Hg. Analyses of fish tissue from several of the drainage channels did not indicate Hg pollution with all values below the North Carolina average of 210 μg/kg. Mercury concentrations in stream and well waters were all below the LLD of 0.2 μg/l. In North Carolina, heavy mineral concentrates appear to be the best indicators of introduced metallic Hg.
Recognizing Contexts and Managing Processes in Universities

In their study of West German university departments, Bresser and Dunbar (1986) related measures of context and structure to measures of departmental effectiveness. Ryder (1988) suggests that other measures of effectiveness as well as measures of internal management processes would have greatly improved the study. Ryder may have missed some of the contributions that the Bresser and Dunbar (1986) study makes, particularly with respect to how size is measured and its impact on effectiveness. This note clarifies these contributions, along with implications for the management of contingencies that may influence the effectiveness of university departments.
Factors Affecting Terramycin Activity in Milk, Broth, Buffer, and Water

Summary Studies were conducted to determine the effect of heat, storage, total solids content, bacterial metabolism, and various gases upon the degree of terramycin inactivation in milk, broth, buffer, and water. Terramycin activity was determined by a modified disk assay technique and the acid inhibition method. The rate of heat inactivation of the antibiotic at 143 and 160° F. for 50min. followed the first-order reaction in milk and buffer but not in water. When autoclaved at 15lb., the antibiotic was inactivated completely within 5min. in all three media. The Z values for complete thermal inactivation curves for terramycin, aureomycin, streptomycin, and penicillin in milk were 48, 51.5, 36, and 49, respectively. Terramycin was more heat-susceptible than the three other antibiotics. Heat inactivation of terramycin in reconstituted milk of different solids concentrations was inversely related to the solids content. During storage terramycin lost its potency at a faster rate in the unheated than in the heated system. This may have been owing to natural microorganisms and their enzymes in the unheated media, because it was observed that the loss of terramycin potency in a broth inoculated with a raw milk bacterial suspension was directly related to bacterial multiplication. When sterile milk containing terramycin was exposed constantly to nitrogen, oxygen, or air, the antibiotic lost its potency, the greatest loss occurring with oxygen.
Calculating the micrometeorological influences on the speed of sound through the atmosphere in forests.

A key element in determining point-to-point acoustic transmission within and above forests is modeling the variation (with height above ground) of the effective speed of sound. Effective speed of sound is readily derived from estimates of air temperature, relative humidity, and wind velocity. However, meteorological models for the forest canopy vary from comparatively simple to academically complex, requiring different amounts and numbers of inputs and computer capabilities. In addition, not all canopy profile models are suitable for acoustic applications. In this paper, a meteorological computer model for the forest canopy is developed to derive continuous profiles of effective sound speed from the ground to 3h, where h is the height of the canopy. In turn, these profiles are used to make some initial approximations of short-range acoustic transmission loss through a uniform forest stand for typical clear sky, midday atmospheric conditions. Also, a radiative transfer and energy budget algorithm is incorporated into the model to obtain the appropriate heat source profile for any time of day. Thus, physics-based micrometeorology is coupled to acoustics for future applications of acoustic information in forest environments.
Cell ultrastructure responses to mechanical injury. A preliminary report.

Responses of cellular organelles to purposely-induced mechanical injury, at or near the surfaces produced by excision of sections from maize root tips, have been studied. These responses are apparent in sections fixed within a few seconds of excision, hence they are essentially immediate. The pores in the nuclear envelope are enlarged and, frequently, proliferation of the nuclear envelope is apparent. The nuclear ground substance appears more granular; the nucleolus appears unchanged. Structural modifications are seen in the mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum, and the plasma membrane, but there are no striking changes in the Golgi apparatus or the ground substance of the cytoplasm. Certain types of associations, not ordinarily seen in uninjured cells, between some cellular organelles, particularly mitochondria with mitochondria, mitochondria with proplastids, and both of these organelles with “lipid” bodies, are also injury responses.
Measuring Pavlovian fear with conditioned freezing and conditioned suppression reveals different roles for the basolateral amygdala.

In Pavlovian fear conditioning, pairing a neutral cue with aversive foot shock endows a cue with fear-eliciting properties. Studies of Pavlovian fear conditioning measuring freezing have demonstrated the basolateral amygdala (BLA) to be critical to both fear learning and memory. The nucleus accumbens core (NAc), while not important to freezing, is important to the enhancement of instrumental responding by cues paired with food reward. In the present study we investigated the role of the BLA and the NAc in another property of fear cues, the ability to suppress instrumental responding for food rewards (conditioned suppression). Sham, BLA and NAc-lesioned rats received a fear discrimination procedure in which one visual cue (CS+) predicted foot shock while a second cue (CS−) did not. Conditioning took place over a baseline of instrumental responding, allowing for concurrent measure of freezing and instrumental suppression. NAc lesions left fear conditioning fully intact. BLA lesions impaired acquisition and discrimination of fear when assessed with conditioned freezing. However, BLA lesions only altered fear acquisition and left discrimination completely intact when assessed with conditioned suppression. These findings suggest a critical role for the BLA in fear when assessed with conditioned freezing but a diminished role when assessed with conditioned suppression.
Factors Influencing Liquid Membrane Mass Transfer

Abstract An improved design of a liquid membrane diffusion column was developed which enabled the measurement of a concentration difference of surfactant between liquid membranes and the solutions used to form them. The previously proposed model for liquid membrane diffusion which assumed that the films were of the order of a few molecules thick was not consistent with the data observed using a specially designed diffusion column. A bimodal droplet distribution was measured for a typical emulsion, and the influence of the liquid constituent of the membrane on the permeation rate was investigated. No statistically significant difference in permeation rates was noted when different liquids were used to form the membranes.
Residues in Cattle Tissues Following Back-Line and Spray Applications of Trichlorfon

The following concentrations of trichlorfon (Neguvon® or Dipterexl®) were applied to cattle: 3% aqueous spray to 8 head at the rate of 2 quarts each; 8% white oil pour-on to 8 head at the rate of ¾ pint each; 8% water pour-on to 8 head at the rate of ¾ pint each. Four animals served as checks. At intervals of 1, 3, 7, and 14 days posttreatment, 2 animals were slaughtered from each treatment group, and 1 animal was slaughtered from the check group. Ten different samples of tissues or organs were removed from each animal and analyzed for trichlorfon residues. None of the samples of renal fat or liver contained detectable residues, and no residues were detected in any of the samples of organs or the back fat taken 7 and 14 days posttreatment. Small amounts of trichlorfon were found in some of the other samples. No residues of greater than 0.2 ppm were found in the steak samples taken after the 1-day sampling period. The largest residues were found in the samples of omental fat.
Removal of Cd(II), Pb(II), Hg(II) and Zn(II) ions from wastewater using synthesized poly(p-bromoanaline)

The present work deals with the study of uptake behaviour of Cd(II), Pb(II), Hg(II) and Zn(II) ions by chemically synthesized poly(p-Bromoanaline) PPBrAN using batch equilibration technique with both single and binary mixtures. The PPBrAN were chemically synthesized in different HCl concentrations. The effect of the various parameters such as synthesis method, physical oxidation state of the polymer, polymer thickness, solution pH and metal ion concentration on the adsorption, kinetics and efficiency were investigated. The results showed avary broad concentration range of the metal ions from (0.2 to 20 mg/L) can be adsorbed on the polymer at pH = 6.4 (efficiently ≫97%). The adsorption capacity of the polymer to different concentrations of metal ions was evaluated as the milligram of metal ions by one gram of various forms of the polymer. The DC conductivity measurements were also employed on the solid polymer before and after adsorption of metal ions. The experimental adsorption date was fitted to different mathematical isotherms to estimate the binding constant of metal ions with the polymer in both single and mixed ion solutions.