cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Maximum quasiparticle velocity in nonrelativistic quantum field theories.

It is shown that the fermion quasiparticle in many nonrelativistic quantum field theories has a maximum velocity.
Continuous blending of cohesive granular material

Results are presented from discrete element method (DEM) computer simulations of cohesive particles in a periodic slice of a continuous blender. The influence of inter-particle cohesion at various impeller speeds and fill levels is reported. Although increasing cohesion does not significantly change axial flow rates, mixing rates in the transverse plane and axial direction are affected. Mixing is generally enhanced for slightly cohesive materials, but decreases for larger cohesion, similar to trends observed in tumbling batch mixers. Changes in fill level are also shown to affect axial transport rates and mixing. These results suggest that the controllable operating parameters, such as feed rate and impeller speed, may be adjusted for cohesive powder formulations to obtain optimal mixing performance.
Effects of long-term estrogen replacement therapy on osteoarthritis severity in cynomolgus monkeys

Objective To determine the effects of long-term estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) on the severity of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee joint in surgically postmenopausal (bilaterally ovariectomized) female monkeys. A secondary aim was to evaluate the effect of soy phytoestrogen (SPE) treatment on the severity of OA. Methods Feral adult female cynomolgus macaques were ovariectomized bilaterally and then randomly divided into 3 age- and weight-matched treatment groups. For 3 years, the first group received ERT with conjugated equine estrogens, the second group received SPE, and the third group received no treatment (controls). At necropsy, histologic lesions of OA were graded, and the area and thickness of cartilage and subchondral bone were measured. The data were summarized by principal components analysis, and the resulting factors and individual variables were compared using analysis of variance and analysis of covariance (age and weight as covariates). Results Cartilage lesions of OA were significantly less severe in the animals given ERT compared with those in the control group. This treatment effect remained significant when adjusted for age and weight. The factor representing subchondral bone was significantly higher, but the number of osteophytes was lower, in the ERT group compared with the control group. SPE treatment had no significant effect on cartilage or bone lesions of OA. Conclusion These results demonstrate that long-term ERT significantly reduces the severity of OA lesions in this animal model.
NONLINEAR EFFECTS IN ELECTRON AND PHOTON EMISSION FROM ATOMS IN INTENSE LASER FIELDS

Atoms subject to intense laser fields are capable of absorbing many more photons than the minimum number needed to ionize. This leads to two striking nonlinear phenomena, above-threshold ionization, and high-order harmonic generation. We have used time-dependent methods to calculate both these processes nonperturbatively for realistic, three-dimensional atoms. This allows us to clarify the relationships between photon and electron emission rates in the strong field regime.
Adverse childhood experiences and leukocyte telomere maintenance in depressed and healthy adults.

Abstract Background Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with poor physical and mental health outcomes in adulthood. Adverse childhood experiences are also associated with shortened leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in adults, suggesting accelerated cell aging. No studies have yet assessed the relationship of ACEs to LTL in individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD), despite the high incidence of antecedent ACEs in individuals with MDD. Further, no studies in any population have assessed the relationship of ACEs to the activity of telomerase, the major enzyme responsible for maintaining LTL, or the relationship between telomerase and LTL in individuals with ACEs. Methods Twenty healthy, unmedicated adults with MDD and 20 healthy age-, sex- and ethnicity-matched controls had ACEs assessed and had blood drawn for LTL and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) resting telomerase activity. Results In healthy controls, greater ACE exposure was associated with shorter LTL ( p p p =.022). Limitations Study limitations include the small sample size, a single timepoint assessment of telomerase activity, and the use of retrospective self-report to assess ACEs. Conclusions These results replicate prior findings of shortened LTL in healthy adults with histories of multiple ACEs. However, in MDD, this relationship was substantially altered, raising the possibility that activation of telomerase in ACE-exposed individuals with MDD could represent a compensatory response to endangered telomeres.
A spatially distributed hydrologic model utilizing raster data structures

Abstract A distributed hydrologic model, known as the Terrestrial Hydrologic Model or THM was developed for use with rasterized databases to simulate surface runoff. Computations are performed on a pixel-by-pixel basis and all physical drainage basin properties including area, slope, stream length, and stream order are obtained or estimated from a digital elevation model (DEM). Other data sets, such as curve numbers or infiltration rates, are required for estimating the hydrologic abstractions. Precipitation is supplied in the form of gage input, uniform distributions, or raster data. At the present time, hydrologic abstractions can be estimated by any of three methods: a constant infiltration rate, the Soil Conservation Service curve number method, or solution of the more physically based Green-Ampt equation. Overland flow is computed by a kinematic wave approximation and channel routing is performed using the Muskingum-Cunge method.
Parameningeal rhabdomyosarcoma: Outcomes and opportunities

Purpose To examine patterns of failure in patients with parameningeal rhabdomyosarcoma (PM-RMS) treated with intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Methods and Materials Forty-seven patients with PM-RMS received chemotherapy and IMRT for definitive treatment. The median age was 9 years (range, 0.5-35 years). The high-risk features were as follows: 40% alveolar histology, 72% group III and 26% group IV disease, 57% either intracranial extension (ICE) (n=25) or cranial neuropathy (n=21). The median time to RT from the start of chemotherapy was 15 weeks (range, 2-54 weeks). Patients received 50.4 Gy in 1.8-Gy fractions to the primary tumor by use of IMRT. Thirteen patients aged ≥14 years with alveolar histology received 36 Gy prophylactic nodal irradiation (PNI) to bilateral cervical nodes. Events were defined as local, regional (nodal), central nervous system (CNS), or distant failures. Results With a median follow-up time of 3.3 years (range, 0.5-12.8 years), 18 patients experienced failure: 5 local, 2 regional, 6 distant, and 7 CNS. The 5-year local failure-free survival was 86%. Age, histology, and time to RT did not influence the risk of local failure. The 5-year regional failure-free survival was 92%: 100% for embryonal and 74% for alveolar ( P =.03). However, there were no lymph node failures in patients with alveolar histology who were given PNI. The 5-year CNS failure-free survival was 83%: 100% without and 70% with ICE ( P =.01); 95% without and 69% with cranial neuropathy ( P =.02). The estimated 5-year event-free survival and overall survival were 61% for group III and 58% for group IV patients. Conclusions Distant failure was the most common type of failure among group IV patients. Patients with alveolar histology seem to benefit from PNI. The presence of ICE or cranial neuropathy portends a high risk of CNS failure, the most common pattern of failure among non-group IV patients. These patients may benefit from the addition of novel CNS-directed therapy.
Parents as behavior therapy-technicians in treating reading deficits (dyslexia)

Abstract The present experiment was an attempt to discover whether parents of children with reading deficits could act successfully as therapy-technicians in helping their own children to overcome these deficits. Four children with reading problems were reinforced for appropriate reading behaviors with tokens backed up by monetary value. The children's parents administered the learning material following a 4-hr training period. All four Ss showed a positively accelerated rate of reading responses and made from 49,303 to 95,906 single word reading responses during the 35–65 hr of training. The number of new words learned ranged from 458 to 1040. At least 63 per cent of these words were retained on a short-term retention test and at least 53 per cent were retained on a long-term retention test administered 10–15 days later. The ratio of reinforcers to reading responses decreased markedly for all Ss despite the increasing difficulty of the material. Pre- and post-test comparisons indicated an increase (significant at the 0·05 level) in the children's reading ability. The results support the feasibility of parents providing complex behavior therapy to their children when they have standard procedures to follow and some supervision.
Developmental Effects in Social Facilitation and in Being a Model

Summary The present study explored audience effects as a function of (a) age of performer and (b) role as model or performer. Five-, eight-, and 11–year-old children (N # 72 boys and girls) performed seven acquisition trials of the WISC Object Assembly item #3 (FACE) and seven trials of Object Assembly #4 (AUTO) alone or in the presence of a peer who was a confederate of the E. In the audience conditions, the performer was told in the model condition that the observer would learn by watching him perform, or in the neutral audience condition that the observer was simply waiting for the E to return. Compared to the alone condition, the neutral audience produced a negative audience effect in 11-year-olds but not in the five- and eight-year-olds. For all ages, the model group was consistently superior to the alone and neutral audience conditions. Implications for social-learning theories of development are discussed.
Implantation of collagen punctal plugs for the reduction of post-keratoplasty ametropia

In 1995, a 46-year-old woman was referred for refractive surgery. Eleven years earlier, she had undergone an uncomplicated penetrating keratoplasty in her right eye to treat a dense corneal opacity caused by contact lens-related microbial keratitis. Due to high myopia in the graft, she was unable to achieve useful vision and declined contact lens use. After extensive counseling, she elected to undergo radial keratotomy (RK) and arcuate keratotomy (AK) in her right eye. We recommended the insertion of collagen punctal plugs into the keratotomy incisions to increase the RK effect. She also decided to have RK in her left eye. Postoperatively, her uncorrected visual acuity was 20/25 OD and 20/30 OS. We were able to contact her and her ophthalmologist eleven years later, and eight of eleven collagen plugs were still present in the incisions, with no signs of rejection or inflammation. Later, we learned that she underwent a repeat penetrating keratoplasty due to corneal graft failure after a phacoemulsification procedure. The pathologic examination of the intact plugs and graft also showed no rejection or inflammation.
Virulence Plasmids of Nonsporulating Gram-Positive Pathogens.

Gram-positive bacteria are leading causes of many types of human infection, including pneumonia, skin and nasopharyngeal infections, as well as urinary tract and surgical wound infections among hospitalized patients. These infections have become particularly problematic because many of the species causing them have become highly resistant to antibiotics. The role of mobile genetic elements, such as plasmids, in the dissemination of antibiotic resistance among Gram-positive bacteria has been well studied; less well understood is the role of mobile elements in the evolution and spread of virulence traits among these pathogens. While these organisms are leading agents of infection, they are also prominent members of the human commensal ecology. It appears that these bacteria are able to take advantage of the intimate association between host and commensal organism, via virulence traits that exacerbate infection and cause disease. However, evolution into an obligate pathogen has not occurred, presumably because it would lead to rejection of pathogenic organisms from the host ecology. Instead, in organisms that exist as both commensal and pathogen, selection has favored the development of mechanisms for variability. As a result, many virulence traits are localized on mobile genetic elements, such as virulence plasmids and pathogenicity islands. Virulence traits may occur within a minority of isolates of a given species, but these minority populations have nonetheless emerged as a leading problem in infectious disease. This chapter reviews virulence plasmids in nonsporulating Gram-positive bacteria and examines their contribution to disease pathogenesis.
Mechanistic Electron Transport Chain Model Explains ROS Production in Different Respiratory Modes

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been implicated in disorders ranging from neurodegenerative diseases to diabetes to heart disease. In cardiac myocytes mitochondria represent the predominant source of ROS, specifically complexes I and III. The model presented here endeavors to explore and elucidate the modulation of electron transport chain ROS production under state 3 versus state 4 respiration and the role of succinate as a substrate. A mechanistic complex III model was developed, driven by redox potential differences between adjacent redox centers. This model shows that ROS production increases exponentially with membrane potential when in state 4. Because the mechanism of ROS production from complex I remains unknown, a more general thermodynamic model was used to describe the influence of NADH/NAD+ and ubiquinone/ubiquinol redox potentials on complex I-derived ROS release. This release occurs in the presence of NADH and succinate, leading to a highly reduced ubiquinone pool, displaying the highest ROS production flux in state 4. Overall, total ROS production is moderate in state 3 and increases substantially under state 4 conditions. The ROS production model was combined with a minimal model of ROS scavenging. Since scavenging systems rely on the reduced form of NADPH, scavenging capacity decreases as the cellular environment becomes more oxidized. When the cellular redox status is modified by increasing mitochondrial inner membrane uncoupling, simulations with the combined model of ROS production and scavenging show that ROS levels initially decline as production drops off with decreasing membrane potential and then increase as the mitochondria become more oxidized and scavenging capacity is exhausted. Hence this mechanistic model of ROS production demonstrates how ROS levels are controlled by the cellular redox environment in agreement with the Redox-optimized ROS Balance hypothesis.
Long-term MRI changes in brain after pediatric open heart surgery.

We performed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on the brain and neurologic examinations on 23 children after open heart surgery for congenital heart disease. Twenty children also had psychometric assessments. Examinations were performed at a mean age of 66 months (range, 26 to 180 months). Age at operation was less than 1 month in 43% and more than 6 months in 45%. Abnormal scans were found in 17 (74%) and showed diffuse findings consistent with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, with or without areas of cortical infarction; focal cortical infarction alone; and (in one patient) callosal agenesis and abnormal neuronal migration. Normal IQ and neurologic examinations were found in all six of those who had a normal MRI, and five of six children with changes consistent with focal cortical infarction without diffuse change had a normal neurologic examination. Cerebral palsy and mental retardation was common in the group with diffuse abnormality (in eight of nine children), and this was more likely to occur in tho...
POLARIZATION DIVISION INTERFEROMETRY: FAR INFRARED DICHROISM

We report the first far-infrared dichroism measurements using a polarization-division interferometer (PDI) developed in our laboratory. This interferometer uses a free-standing wire-grid beamsplitter made of tungsten wires. In conjunction with a linear polarizer in front of the source and two roof-top mirrors (one in each arm of the interferometer), the PDI divides the input beam into two orthogonal linear polarization components, recombines them for interference at the beamsplitter, and directs the output beam at 90° to the direction of the input beam. Light exiting the interferometer is manipulated with far-infrared lenses, to avoid polarization distortions that are inherent to the reflecting surfaces of the mirrors. The performance of the PDI is evaluated by measuring the linear dichroism of oriented PVF2 [poly(vinylidenefluoride) and circular dichroism of α-pinene, camphor, and 3-methylcyclohexanone. The dichroic multiplex advantage (ability to measure dichroism in the entire far-infrared region from a single measurement) and throughput advantage are demonstrated. These measurements establish the utility of the PDI in measuring transmission and linear dichroism spectra simultaneously without the need for any additional components. Additional developments appear necessary to establish the circular dichroism measurements when the magnitudes are less than one part in one thousand.
An Historical Analysis of Federal Housing Policy from the Presidential Perspective: An Intergovernmental Focus

The Federal government in the United States has been involved in housing policy for over 80 years. The involvement has grown from a handful of programmes to a vast array of programmes dealing with numerous aspects of housing. This paper provides an historical examination of how Presidents, from Herbert Hoover to Ronald Reagan, have viewed housing, their role in initiating Federal housing policies and programmes, and the role of the Federal government in resolving the country's housing problems. Essentially, we have experienced three periods of Federal housing policy - a period where Presidents set the Federal housing policy agenda, a period where Congress became the centre of action, and a period where Presidents and Congress shared the initiative in developing and setting the Federal housing policy agenda. This paper examines Federal housing policy through these three periods.
Airway epithelial tight junctions and binding and cytotoxicity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The role of tight junctions in the binding and cytoxicity of Pseudomonas aeruginosato apical or basolateral membranes of lung airway epithelial cells was tested with fluorescence microscopy on livi...
Flexible Control of Parallelism in a Multiprocessor PC Router

SMP Click is a software router that provides both flexibility and high performance on stock multiprocessor PC hardware. It achieves high performance using device, buffer, and queue management techniques optimized for multiprocessor routing. It allows vendors or network administrators to configure the router in a way that indicates parallelizable packet processing tasks, and adaptively load-balances those tasks across the available CPUs. SMP Click’s absolute performance is high: it can forward 494,000 64-byte IP packets per second on a 2-CPU 500 MHz Intel Xeon machine, compared to 302,000 packets per second for uniprocessor Click. SMP Click also scales well for CPU intensive tasks: 4-CPU SMP Click can encrypt and forward 87,000 64-byte packets per second using IPSec 3DES, compared to 23,000 packets per second for uniprocessor Click.
Frontal activations associated with accessing and evaluating information in working memory: an fMRI study

To investigate the involvement of frontal cortex in accessing and evaluating information in working memory, we used a variant of a Sternberg paradigm and compared brain activations between positive and negative responses (known to differentially tax access/evaluation processes). Participants remembered two trigrams in each trial and were then cued to discard one of them and maintain the other one as the target set. After a delay, a probe letter was presented and participants made decisions about whether or not it was in the target set. Several frontal areas--anterior cingulate (BA32), middle frontal gyrus (bilateral BA9, right BA10, and right BA46), and left inferior frontal gyrus (BA44/45)--showed increased activity when participants made correct negative responses relative to when they made correct positive responses. No areas activated significantly more for the positive responses than for the negative responses. It is suggested that the multiple frontal areas involved in the test phase of this task may reflect several component processes that underlie more general frontal functions.
Primary sublimates at Parícutin volcano

The first lava flow of Paricutin Volcano, which began within two days of the birth of the Volcano, was particularly rich in fumaroles. With each succeeding flow the fumaroles decreased in abundance, the later flows showing very few. The fumaroles of the first flow were concentrated about the periphery of the lava and persisted for more than a year, when they were covered by later lava flows. From the odor of their gases and the character of the salts about their orifices, it was obvious that they were of two different types.
Postseismic viscoelastic surface deformation and stress: 1. Theoretical considerations, displacement, and strain calculations

A model of viscoelastic deformations associated with earthquakes is presented. A strike-slip fault is represented by a rectangular dislocation in a viscoelastic layer (lithosphere) lying over a viscoelastic half-space (asthenosphere). Deformations occur on three time scales. The initial response is governed by the instantaneous elastic properties of the earth. A slower response is associated with viscoelastic relaxation of the lithosphere and a yet slower response is due to viscoelastic relaxation of the asthenosphere. The major conceptual contribution is the inclusion of lithospheric viscoelastic properties into a dislocation model of earthquake related deformations and stresses. Numerical calculations using typical fault parameters reveal that the postseismic displacements and strains are small compared to the coseismic ones near the fault, but become significant further away. Moreover, the directional sense of the deformations attributable to the elastic response, the lithospheric viscoelastic softening, and the asthenospheric viscoelastic flow may differ and depend on location and model details. The results and theoretical arguments suggest that the stress changes accompanying lithospheric relaxation may also be in a different sense than and be larger than the strain changes.
On-line individual differences in statistical learning predict language processing.

Considerable individual differences in language ability exist among normally developing children and adults. Whereas past research have attributed such differences to variations in verbal working memory or experience with language, we test the hypothesis that individual differences in statistical learning may be associated with differential language performance. We employ a novel paradigm for studying statistical learning on-line, combining a serial-reaction time task with artificial grammar learning. This task offers insights into both the timecourse of and individual differences in statistical learning. Experiment 1 charts the micro-level trajectory for statistical learning of nonadjacent dependencies and provides an on-line index of individual differences therein. In Experiment 2, these differences are then shown to predict variations in participants’ on-line processing of long-distance dependencies involving center-embedded relative clauses. The findings suggest that individual differences in the ability to learn from experience through statistical learning may contribute to variations in linguistic performance.
Development of a comprehensive detection method for medicinal and toxic plant species

Pharmacologically active ingredients in plants can cause significant morbidity through their increasingly common use in herbal alternative medicines and dietary supplements. Monitoring consumer products for the presence of toxic plants is encumbered by the lack of rapid and specific assays. To create a sensitive, reliable, fast, and broad-spectrum assay for medicinal or toxic plant species, we tested multiplexed ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA), which requires partial genomic DNA sequences from species of plants that are not well represented in currently available genetic databases. Genomic DNA was obtained from 21 species of medicinal and/or toxic plants. The PCR products were amplified from these plants and cloned for sequencing. The MLPA method was successful with DNA samples from many different species. The use of a microarray to facilitate screening of potentially thousands of plants in a single assay also was successful. The combination of the specificity of the MLPA assay with the broad-scale capabilities of microarray technology should make this an especially useful tool in screening in foods and commercial herbal preparations to identify the plant compounds actually present. Other applications could potentially extend to the identification of any plant species in samples for academic botanical studies and for biodefense and forensics applications.
Limiting fault-induced output errors in ANNs

Summary form only given, as follows. The worst-case output errors produced by the failure of a hidden neuron in layered feedforward artificial neural networks were investigated. These errors can be much worse than simply the loss of the contribution of a neuron whose output goes to zero. A much larger erroneous signal can be produced when the failure sets the value of the hidden neuron to one of the power supply voltages. A method was investigated that limits the fractional error in the output signal of a feedforward net due to such saturated hidden unit faults in analog function approximation tasks. The number of hidden units is significantly increased, and the maximal contribution of each unit is limited to a small fraction of the net output signal. To achieve a large localized output signal, several Gaussian hidden units are moved into the same location in the input domain and the gain of the linear summing output unit is suitably adjusted. Since the contribution of each unit is equal in magnitude, there is only a modest error under any possible failure mode. >
Aerobic fitness does not modulate protein metabolism in response to increased exercise: a controlled trial

A sudden increase in exercise and energy expenditure is associated with an increase in protein turnover and nitrogen excretion. This study examined how a sudden increase in exercise-induced energy expenditure affected whole body protein metabolism and nitrogen balance in people of differing levels of aerobic fitness. We hypothesized that alterations in whole-body protein turnover would be attenuated, and nitrogen balance would be preserved, in individual with higher levels of aerobic fitness. Eleven men, categorized as either having a lower (LOW-FIT; n = 5) or higher (FIT; n = 6) aerobic fitness level, completed a 4-d baseline period (BL) of an energy balance diet while maintaining usual physical activity level, followed by a 7-d intervention consisting of 1,000 kcal·d-1 increased energy expenditure via exercise (50–65% VO2peak). All volunteers consumed 0.9 g protein·kg-1·d-1 and total energy intake was adjusted to maintain energy balance throughout the 11-d study. Mean nitrogen balance (NBAL) was determined for BL, days 5–8 (EX1), and days 9–11 (EX2). Whole-body protein turnover was derived from phenylalanine and tyrosine kinetics assessed while fasting at rest on days 4, 7, and 12 using a priming dose of L-[ring-15N]tyrosine and a 4-h primed, continuous infusion of L-[15N]phenylalanine and L-[ring-2H4]tyrosine. A significant main effect of time indicated that NBAL increased over the course of the intervention; however, a group-by-time interaction was not observed. Although FIT demonstrated a lower net protein oxidation and higher net protein balance compared to LOW-FIT, neither the effect of time nor a group-by-time interaction was significant for Phe flux, net protein oxidation, or derived whole-body protein synthesis and net protein balance. The absence of significant group-by-time interactions in protein metabolism (i.e., NBAL and whole-body protein turnover) between LOW-FIT and FIT males suggest that aerobic fitness level does not modulate protein "sparing" in response to an unaccustomed increase in energy expenditure.
Lighting up micro-structured materials with four-wave mixing microscopy

Ongoing progress in micro- and nano-material fabrication has led to novel devices and new optical properties have emerged. Among these properties are high optical nonlinearities, which can be used for light-based operations such as frequency shifting and optical computing. Optimizing and utilizing optical nonlinearities requires sensitive instruments to study them. Given the miniature sizes of the new materials under study, conventional analysis approaches may be insufficient, thus putting an emphasis on emerging technologies. Four-wave mixing (FWM) microscopy is a budding technique that is poised to become a useful tool in materials science. FWM microscopy provides a fast eye for spotting small structures and uncovering their material properties. The FWM signal derives its selectivity from material-specific electronic resonances and Raman transitions, providing an optical microscope that is attuned to visualizing and studying a broad range of micro- and nano-structured materials. In this article, the basics of FWM microscopy are discussed and the impact of this technique in materials science is highlighted.
Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing bacterial infections in adult solid organ transplant recipients.

Background:Limited research is available evaluating infections due to extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)–producing organisms in adult recipients of solid organ transplant (SOT).Objective:To evaluate clinical response and rate of recurrence of ESBL-producing organisms in 20 SOT recipients.Methods:In a retrospective case series, records of adult SOT recipients with an admitting diagnosis of infection and a positive culture for an ESBL-producing organism from January 2003 through August 2006 were reviewed.Results:Twenty patients met inclusion criteria. The median time to infection following transplant was 3.5 years (range 1-23 years). Overall, 85% of the patients received inadequate empiric antibiotic therapy, including ciprofloxacin or piperacillin/tazobactam, to manage their infection. Nineteen patients had clinical resolution; however. 12 patients required at least 1 readmission due to infection recurrence. One patient's death occurred during the study period. The median time to readmission for a recurr...
A molecular informed poroelastic model for organic-rich, naturally occurring porous geocomposites

Molecular simulation results on organic maturity (mature and immature kerogen as the two asymptotic cases) are introduced into a continuum micromechanics based model for organic-rich shales. Through a fundamental functional relationship that constrains microporous kerogen density and elasticity variable spaces and within the framework of effective media theory; the model bridges the gap between asymptotic cases of organic maturity with texture as the overriding theme, specifically a matrix/inclusion (Mori–Tanaka) texture for immature systems and a granular (self-consistent) texture for mature ones. The utility of the molecular results merged into a continuum framework is demonstrated by estimating kerogen's microporosity (<2nm) from nanoindentation measurements. The effect of burial and diagenetic processes on the effective poroelasticity of these porous, naturally occurring geocomposites are captured by introduction of imperfect interfaces. Finally, the performance of the model is fully characterized by ranking the normalized contribution of uncertainty of input to the overall behavior and parameters of interest to geophysicists and geomechanicians such as degree of anisotropy and in situ stresses.
Sexual Consequences of Acculturation of American Indian Women

If we look at the study of human sexuality today, we find considerable attention being given to the changes taking place in female sexuality. Interest is focused on future change and the effect it will have on female sexuality. The influence of acculturation on the sexuality of American Indian women is, therefore, considered a fitting and timely topic.
A role for airway taste receptor modulation in the treatment of upper respiratory infections

Taste receptors, initially identified in the oral epithelium, have since been shown to be widely distributed, being found in the upper and lower respiratory tracts, gastrointestinal epithelium, thyroid, and brain. The presence of taste receptors in the nasal epithelium has led to the discovery of their role in innate immunity, defending the paranasal sinuses against pathogens. This article addresses the current paradigm for understanding the role of extraoral taste receptors, specifically the T2R38 bitter taste receptor and the T1R2+3 sweet taste receptor, in respiratory innate defenses and presents evidence for the use of these and other taste receptors as therapeutic targets in the management of chronic rhinosinusitis. Future studies should focus on understanding the polymorphisms of taste receptors beyond T2R38 to fully elucidate their potential therapeutic use and lay the groundwork for their modulation in a clinical setting to decrease the health impact and economic burden of upper respiratory disease.
Experimental Markets: An Information-Efficiency Research Agenda

A number of experimental-markets studies deal directly or indirectly with factors influencing the behaviors of decision makers and related effects on market information efficiency (i. e., efficiency, for short, unless clarity dictates otherwise) using experimental markets. The studies preceding Lundholm (1991) provide mixed results concerning efficiency depending on how the experimental variables are manipulated. Ignoring Lundholm (1991), the remaining studies tend to present evidence consistent with inefficiency. Lundholm's (1991) study is noteworthy because (1) it focuses on the relationships among differential-information dissemination, numbers of traders, and efficiency in markets characterized by both aggregate uncertainty (AU) and aggregate certainty (AC). In my view, the most important outcome of Lundholm's study is that it suggests that differential information dissemination to informed traders and aggregate uncertainty are sufficient for market efficiency (i.e., his sufficiency result). I derive a related experimental-markets research agenda pertaining to various substantive efficiency-related issues. The agenda follows partially from comments made in Vickrey et al. (2001). Its purpose is to provide a partial framework for identifying the factors affecting the behaviors of individuals in, and the efficiency of, real-world markets. Specifically, I identify research implications pertaining to the relationship between efficiency and (a) Lundholm's sufficiency result and (b) individual sophistication.
KIR3DL1 and HLA-B Density and Binding Calibrate NK Education and Response to HIV

NK cells recognize self-HLA via killer Ig-like receptors (KIR). Homeostatic HLA expression signals for inhibition via KIR, and downregulation of HLA, a common consequence of viral infection, allows NK activation. Like HLA, KIR are highly polymorphic, and allele combinations of the most diverse receptor-ligand pair, KIR3DL1 and HLA-B, correspond to hierarchical HIV control. We used primary cells from healthy human donors to demonstrate how subtype combinations of KIR3DL1 and HLA-B calibrate NK education and their consequent capacity to eliminate HIV-infected cells. High-density KIR3DL1 and Bw4-80I partnerships endow NK cells with the greatest reactivity against HLA-negative targets; NK cells exhibiting the remaining KIR3DL1/HLA-Bw4 combinations demonstrate intermediate responsiveness; and Bw4-negative KIR3DL1(+) NK cells are poorly responsive. Cytotoxicity against HIV-infected autologous CD4(+) T cells strikingly correlated with reactivity to HLA-negative targets. These findings suggest that the programming of NK effector function results from defined features of receptor and ligand subtypes. KIR3DL1 and HLA-B subtypes exhibit an array of binding strengths. Like KIR3DL1, subtypes of HLA-Bw4 are expressed at distinct, predictable membrane densities. Combinatorial permutations of common receptor and ligand subtypes reveal binding strength, receptor density, and ligand density to be functionally important. These findings have immediate implications for prognosis in patients with HIV infection. Furthermore, they demonstrate how features of KIR and HLA modified by allelic variation calibrate NK cell reactive potential.
Ductile Phase Toughening of MoSi2-Chemical Compatibility and Fracture Toughness

Chemical compatibility between oxide coated Nb filament reinforcements and MoSi2 was investigated. It was determined that ZrO2, Al2O3, and mullite coatings were chemically compatible with both Nb and MoSi2. Comparison between coated and uncoated filaments indicated that the coatings reduced the thickness of the interaction zone. The fracture toughness of the Nb filament reinforced composites showed an increase, while W filament reinforced composite showed a decrease, in the toughness compared to that of the matrix. The results are discussed in terms of the mismatches in the coefficients of thermal expansion and the bonding characteristics of the reinforcement/matrix interface.
Cooperation between AP1 and PEA3 sites within the progression elevated gene-3 (PEG-3) promoter regulate basal and differential expression of PEG-3 during progression of the oncogenic phenotype in transformed rat embryo cells

Cancer is a progressive disease in which a tumor cell temporally develops qualitatively new transformation related phenotypes or a further elaboration of existing transformation associated properties. Subtraction hybridization identified a novel gene associated with transformation progression in mutant adenovirus type 5, H5ts125, transformed rat embryo cells, progression elevated gene-3 (PEG-3). To define the mechanism by which expression of PEG-3 is enhanced as a function of cancer progression a 5'-flanking promoter region of approximately 2.0-kb, PEG-Prom, was isolated, cloned and characterized. The full-length and various mutated regions of the PEG-Prom were linked to a luciferase reporter construct and evaluated for promoter activity during cancer progression. These assays demonstrate a requirement for AP1 and PEA3 sites adjacent to the TATA box region of PEG-3 in mediating basal promoter activity and the enhanced expression of PEG-3 in progressed H5ts125-transformed rat embryo cells. An involvement of AP1 and PEA3 in PEG-3 regulation was also confirmed by electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) and transfection studies with cJun and PEA3 expression vectors. Our findings document the importance of both AP1 and PEA3 transcription factors in mediating basal and elevated expression of PEG-3 in H5ts125-transformed rat embryo cells displaying an aggressive and progressed cancer phenotype.
The big motivational picture: Examining the relationship between positive intrapersonal processes and adolescent health-promoting behaviors

ABSTRACTThe purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between positive intrapersonal processes (intrinsic motivation and subjective vitality) at a general level and adolescent physical activity and food intake. Self-report questionnaires were administered to 433 ninth graders to assess their generalized perceptions of autonomy, competence, relatedness, and subjective vitality as well as their physical activity and eating behavior. Cluster analytic procedures resulted in the identification of three groups of adolescents who differed in their positive intrapersonal processes. Furthermore, these groups exhibited significant and contrasting patterns in their health-promoting behaviors. Participants who were in the most positive intrapersonal cluster (high well-being) reported the highest levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and healthy eating patterns when compared to the adolescents in the low and moderate well-being clusters. These findings support a top-down approach to under...
Pharmacology of Directionally Selective Ganglion Cells in the Rabbit Retina

Kittila, Christopher A. and Stephen C. Massey. Pharmacology of directionally selective ganglion cells in the rabbit retina. J. Neurophysiol. 77: 675–689, 1997. In this report we describe extracellu...
Fast Inference for Interactive Models of Text

Probabilistic models are a useful means for analyzing large text corpora. Integrating such models with human interaction enables many new use cases. However, adding human interaction to probabilistic models requires inference algorithms which are both fast and accurate. We explore the use of Iterated Conditional Modes as a fast alternative to Gibbs sampling or variational EM. We demonstrate superior performance both in run time and model quality on three different models of text including a DP Mixture of Multinomials for web search result clustering, the Interactive Topic Model, and M OM R ESP , a multinomial crowdsourcing model.
A High-precision Control Method for Synchronization

The implementation method for traditional synchronization prediction is introduced and its characteristics and limitations are analyzed. A high-precision synchronization algorithm is proposed by exactly describing the phase-angle difference trajectory with the fitted curve based on the least square method and solving the accurate moment of zero phase-angle based on iterative solution. The high-precision of this control method is proved by simulation experiments.
How Knowing the Facts About the Polygraph Test Alters Pharmacy Students' Attitudes

This study involved the measurement, by questionnaire, of attitudes and knowledge concerning the polygraph procedure. Subjects were pharmacy students who were exposed to a 50-minute lecture about the polygraph. After the lecture, significantly fewer subjects believed that the procedure should be used to screen applicants for employment, for routine periodic honesty checks, or for investigative purposes after a theft has occurred. In addition, significantly fewer subjects felt that, as practicing pharmacists, the procedure would "protect their job" or that it was "a good thing," while more indicated that they would "fear for their job." After the lecture, significantly more respondents would refuse to take the polygraph test as part of an employment application or routine periodic test of honesty. Also, more respondents objected to the procedure on grounds of poor validity/reliability, or ethical/legal grounds, and significantly more said the procedure should be outlawed. No significant difference was detected in the number of respondents who would be angry and resentful, or in the number who reported "not caring one way or the other," or in the number who would object if they were requested to undergo a polygraph exam as a practicing pharmacist. Almost all respondents did care and did object before and after the lecture.
Fuel Saving Potential of Optimal Route-Based Control for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle

Abstract In this paper, we evaluate the fuel savings of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) that uses an optimal controller, itself based on the Pontryagin Minimum Principle (PMP). A process was developed to synthesize speed profiles through a combination of Markov chains and information from a digital map about the future route. In a potential real-world scenario, the future trip (speed, grade, stops, etc.) can be estimated, but not deterministically known. The stochastic trip prediction process models such uncertainty. A PMP strategy was implemented in a Simulink controller for a model of Prius-like PHEV and compared to a baseline strategy using Autonomie, an automotive modeling environment. Multiple real-world itineraries were defined in urban areas with various environments, and for each of them multiple speed profiles were synthesized so as to provide a statistically representative dataset, and finally fuel savings were evaluated with the optimal control.
Stabilizing perovskite halide solar absorbers through direct atomic layer deposition of pinhole-free oxides

Direct deposition of pinhole-free oxide thin films by atomic layer deposition (ALD) have proven to be an efficacious route to passivation layers and diffusion barriers in many applications. However, perovskite halides absorbers are largely incompatible with the process conditions for conventional atomic layer deposition oxides, namely temperatures greater than 100 °C and oxygen sources that include water or ozone. We have identified deposition chemistry based on an anhydrous acetic acid oxygen source which can be applied directly to perovskite halide thin films to produce oxide overlayers (including TiO 2 ) that dramatically stabilize against relative humidity, liquid water, and temperatures up to 250 °C.
DNA barcoding as a tool for identification of host association of root-hemiparasitic plants

Root hemiparasites are green plants which attach to roots of other plants and extract solutes from the host-root xylem parasitically. They frequently act as keystone species by affecting competitive relations in plant communities and altering mineral nutrient cycling. Understanding their ecology has been hindered by the difficulty to identify host associations of hemiparasitic plants growing in natural conditions. Direct examination of host associations is only possible at sites with specific soil types (e.g. sandy substrates) that allow host roots to be traced to the shoot to identify the host species. We investigated the possibility of using a DNA barcoding-based approach to identify host associations of root hemiparasites growing naturally. Host associations of Melampyrum nemorosum, Rhinanthus major and Rhinanthus minor were investigated. Their root systems were washed free of soil to reveal haustorial connections. Host-root fragments were subjected to DNA extraction and the plastid DNA trnL intron was sequenced. The functioning of haustoria was examined in semi-thin anatomical sections. The analysis of the DNA of host roots yielded a ca 60% success rate. The Rhinanthus species were confirmed to attack mostly grasses and legumes. By contrast, Melampyrum nemorosum attached mainly to plants of Rosaceae and Asteraceae. In addition, both conspecific and heterospecific connections between the hemiparasites were frequently observed. Our study demonstrates the usefulness of the DNA barcoding approach for identifying host associations of root hemiparasites at sites where tracing host roots to their shoot is not possible due to soil structure or high rooting density.