cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Ripstein procedure: a 16-year experience.

A retrospective study was undertaken, evaluating 54 patients who underwent 57 Ripstein procedures at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation during the years 1963–1978. The patients were evaluated for their preoperative characteristics as well as early and late postoperative results. Patients who experience procidentia are generally middle-aged women who have had significant disorders of bowel function. Although the operative mortality was zero, and the majority of patients were satisfied with the results of their Ripstein procedure, there was significant operative morbidity (26 per cent). Twelve and one-half per cent of patients had recurrent rectal prolapse, and 18 per cent of patients had significant long-term obstructive symptoms. The Ripstein procedure still remains the treatment of choice for rectal prolapse.
Distributed video data fusion and mining

This paper presents an event sensing paradigm for intelligent event-analysis in a wireless, ad hoc, multi-camera, video surveillance system. In particilar, we present statistical methods that we have developed to support three aspects of event sensing: 1) energy-efficient, resource-conserving, and robust sensor data fusion and analysis, 2) intelligent event modeling and recognition, and 3) rapid deployment, dynamic configuration, and continuous operation of the camera networks. We outline our preliminary results, and discuss future directions that research might take.
Monotonic and cyclic crack growth response of a Mo–Si–B alloy

Abstract Fracture toughness and fatigue response in the temperature range 20–1400 °C of a two-phase Mo–Si–B alloy is compared to that of a TZM alloy. Fracture toughness of the Mo–Si–B alloy varies from ∼8 MPa√m at room temperature to ∼25 MPa√m at 1400 °C, the increase in toughness with temperature being steepest between 1200 and 1400 °C. S–N response at room temperature is shallow whereas at 1200 °C, a definitive fatigue response is observed. Fatigue crack growth in vacuum and air in the temperature interval 20–600 °C is similar for the Mo–Si–B alloy whereas significant deterioration is noted for TZM when it is tested in air. The difference in response is attributed to differences in the oxide scales formed in the two alloys. The Paris slopes for the two alloys is high at room temperature (∼20–30) and decreases with increasing temperature to ∼3 at 1400 °C. For the Mo–Si–B alloy, d a /d N for a fixed value of Δ K in the Paris regime in the 900–1400 °C range, increases with increasing temperature. Apparent activation energies extracted using an Arrhenius-type relationship illustrate grain-boundary diffusion dominance in the 900–1200 °C regime and volume diffusion dominance in the 1200–1400 °C regime.
Kinetic energy release in metastable transitions determined by electric sector variation

Abstract A method that possesses good reproducibility and accuracy for determining the kinetic energy released in metastable decompositions by utilizing the electric sector variation technique for studying metastable transitions is presented. A comparison of these results is made with the calculated kinetic energy released obtained from the metastable peak width under normal scan conditions from various laboratories. The advantages of using the electric sector technique in determining the kinetic energy released in a metastable transition are discussed.
Computational analysis of reduced-mixing personal ventilation jets

Abstract In this paper we develop a detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a personal ventilation (PV) setup comprising a PV nozzle, seated thermal manikin and floor diffuser, then use experimental velocity and tracer gas concentration data for the same setup to validate the CFD model. Specifically, we compare CFD results with the experimental results obtained with both a conventional round nozzle and a novel low-mixing co-flow nozzle directing a PV fresh air jet toward the breathing zone (BZ) of a seated thermal manikin in a thermally controlled chamber ventilated also by a floor diffuser behind the manikin. The CFD model shows excellent agreement with the experimental data. We then exercise the CFD model to study the effect of nozzle exit boundary conditions such as turbulence intensity and length scale, flow rate and temperature, and manikin temperature on the air quality in the BZ of the heated manikin. It is shown that the air quality of the novel PV system is sensitive to the nozzle exit turbulence intensity and flow rate, and insensitive to jet temperature within the 20–26 °C range, and to body temperature within a clo range of 0–1. A companion paper presents in detail the experimental set up and results used to validate the CFD model discussed in this paper.
Controlling user interaction

The user of an interactive application is in an anamolous position, especially if he is not one of the elite class known as "computer bums". This mythical user is at the end of a process totally controlled by a computer and a program. His communications with the program may suffer greatly because of this total dependence.Control of communication in the batch environment is much more a one-way street. Here the user supplies the program data, and the batch program informs him if something has gone wrong by evicting his run from the machine. The user then consults available documentation (if it exists) or a computer expert (if one exists) for help in solving the problem. The communication between program and user is not critical in this environment; the user is expected to know what to do before he starts the run and can seek assistance outside of the computer.The interactive environment, however, has the user totally at the mercy of the program for diagnostic and prompting information. Even sophisticated graphics-oriented applications, which provide large amounts of useful information through pictures, may not adequately control the user's interaction. The user needs direction imposed on him to successfully solve his problem. At the same time, the system must provide flexibility, i.e., he must not be constrained to a single path of action that may only suit the code's implementor. No user's manual can capture a flow of this nature because of the inherently static nature of words on paper. Furthermore, paging back and forth in a manual to decipher what is to be done next destroys the spontaneity implicit in a successful interactive system.The user must be the main concern of the interactive system for it to be successful. With this goal in mind, Battelle-Columbus has developed a structured approach to controlling user interaction. The approach benefits the implementor as well as the user. It places emphasis on design and checkout of interaction as the first, rather than the last, step in an interactive application.
Are Half of All IPV Perpetrators Women? Putting Context Back into the Intimate Partner Violence Research Field

SUMMARY For our field to truly understand women's use of IPV, it is crucial that the following three steps be taken by researchers to put context back into the equation: (a) incorporate the effects of multiple oppressions women face within the context of predominantly male offending across different types of violent criminal categories (top level); (b) integrate findings from both objective and subjective IPV research methods that will require elevating subjective approaches to the same status as objective (middle level); and (c) centralize the issue of ongoing patterns of coercion, power, and control within our definitions of IPV (individual level). Without such an embedded approach, our field will continue to divert much-needed resources toward the so-called gender symmetry debate and run the risk of helping to perpetuate further injustices against women.
Brain activation in complex partial seizures during switching from a the goal-directed task to a resting state: Comparison of fMRI maps to the default mode network

The default mode network (DMN) has been previously identified as a set of brain regions activated during internally directed cognition. The objective of this study was to investigate patterns of brain activation during switching between a goal-directed task and a rest period obtained from clinical functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigms in complex partial seizures (CPS) and age-matched controls. As part of pre-surgical evaluation with fMRI, a visually presented block-design language task was performed by eight subjects (4 CPS, 4 age-matched controls). Single subject fMRI maps were calculated and transferred into Talairach space for an atlas-based analysis. For the rest state, total volumes of activation, brain regions with largest volume of activation and regions commonly activated in the CPS and the control group were identified. A voxel-by-voxel comparison was conducted to reveal inter-group statistically significant differences. Average volume of activation in the CPS group was significantly higher (32,080 mm3) than in the control group (7,915 mm3, p-value < 0.03). In both groups, most of the common activation volume (81% in the CPS group and 98 % in the control group) was located in cognitive regions of the frontal lobe and temporal lobes as well as anterior cingulate cortex, precuneus and cuneus. The remaining 19% in the CPS group included regions in the precentral gyrus, the superior and medial occipital gyrus, the parahippocampal gyrus, the inferior parietal lobule and the angular gyrus. The voxel-by-voxel comparison showed larger areas of activation mostly in the frontal and temporal lobes in the CPS group (as well as in the cuneus and precuneus), while regions with larger activation in the control group were found mostly in the parietal lobe. Our findings implicate that switching from goal-directed behavior to the default mode in CPS patients is impaired. Information contained in clinical fMRI block-design image data can be used to quantify this impairment.
Shell model predictions of three- and four-particle clusters transfer spectroscopic factors in some s-d and f-p shell nuclei

The intensity of the leading SU(3)-representation in the lowlying eigenstates of /sup 19/F, /sup 20/Ne, /sup 36/Ar, /sup 37/K, /sup 43/Sc an d /sup 44/Ti is used to estimate three- and four-particle cluster transfer spectroscopic factors to these states. (auth)
A Fracture Limit Diagram for Determining Hydrogen Embrittlement of Sheet under Multiaxial Loading Conditions

Abstract : The application of punch-stretch testing as a means of determining hydrogen embrittlement of sheet under multiaxial loading conditions is described. The results may be expressed in the form of a fracture limit diagram which identifies at fracture the principal strain components in the plane of the sheet for any multiaxial deformation path associated with a thinning of the sheet. As an illustration, a fracture limit diagram is reported for internally charged, commercially pure titanium sheet. The diagram clearly shows that the titanium is susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement under plane strain and biaxial loading paths even though no loss of ductility occurs in simple tension.
A unified hardware/software runtime environment for FPGA-based reconfigurable computers using BORPH

This paper explores the design and implementation of BORPH, an operating system designed for FPGA-based reconfigurable computers. Hardware designs execute as normal UNIX processes under BORPH, having access to standard OS services, such as file system support. Hardware and software components of user designs may, therefore, run as communicating processes within BORPH's runtime environment. The familiar language independent UNIX kernel interface facilitates easy design reuse and rapid application development. To develop hardware designs, a Simulink-based design flow that integrates with BORPH is employed. Performances of BORPH on two on-chip systems implemented on a BEE2 platform are compared.
Structural evolution of an intermetallic Pd–Zn catalyst selective for propane dehydrogenation

We report the structural evolution of Pd–Zn alloys in a 3.6% Pd–12% Zn/Al2O3 catalyst which is selective for propane dehydrogenation. High signal-to-noise, in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used quantitatively, in addition to in situ diffuse-reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) to follow the structural changes in the catalyst as a function of reduction temperature. XRD in conjunction with DRIFTS of adsorbed CO indicated that the β1-PdZn intermetallic alloy structure formed at reduction temperatures as low as 230 °C, likely first at the surface, but did not form extensively throughout the bulk until 500 °C which was supported by in situ EXAFS. DRIFTS results suggested there was little change in the surfaces of the nanoparticles above 325 °C. The intermetallic alloy which formed was Pd-rich at all temperatures but became less Pd-rich with increasing reduction temperature as more Zn incorporated into the structure. In addition to the β1-PdZn alloy, a solid solution phase with face-center cubic structure (α-PdZn) was present in the catalyst, also becoming more Zn-rich with increasing reduction temperature.
An experimental study of auctions with a buy price under private and common values

eBay's Buy It Now format allows a seller to list an auction with a "buy price" at which a bidder may purchase the item immediately and end the auction. When values are common, there is theoretically no revenue advantage to offering a buy price whether bidders are risk neutral or risk averse, while when values are private a buy price can be advantageous for the seller when bidders are risk averse. We report the results of laboratory experiments designed to determine whether in practice a buy price is advantageous to the seller. We find that a suitably chosen buy price yields a substantial increase in seller revenue when values are private, and a small (but statistically insignificant) increase in revenue when values are common. In both cases a buy price reduces the variance of seller revenue. A behavioral model which incorporates the winner's curse and the overweighting by bidders of their own signal explains the common value auction data better than the rational model.
Partial characterization of the structural proteins of sonchus yellow net virus.

Abstract Sonchus yellow net virus (SYNV) proteins separate into four major and three minor proteins during polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). The major proteins consist of a glyoprotein (G), a nucleoprotein (N), and two proteins thought to be membrane proteins (M-1 and M-2). Minor proteins include two or three high molecular weight proteins (L) and a protein (possibly NS) with an electrophoretic mobility near the N protein. Proteins of potato yellow dwarf virus (PYDV) are similar in number and staining intensity to those of SYNV after PAGE, but the electrophoretic mobilities of proteins from the two viruses differ. SYNV dissociates with 2% Triton X-100 in 0.4 M NaCl at pH 7.5 to produce a 250 S nucleoprotein core plus solubilized L, G, and M proteins. A 200 S core is released at pH 7.5 in 0.8 M NaCl or at pH 8.4 in 0.4 or 0.8 M NaCl. The 250 S core contains all of the N protein and some undissociated L, G, and M proteins, but the 200 S core contains N protein and only traces of the L, G, and M proteins. After fixation with glutaraldehyde and negative staining, both 200 and 250 S cores are loosely coiled strands with a helical structure. The cores are infectious after being treated with detergent and separated on sucrose gradients, but the infectivity is considerably less than intact virus preparations. Iodination patterns of intact and detergent-disrupted virions suggest that L and G proteins are on the exterior of the virion, that M-2 is partially exposed on the virion surface, and that M-1 and N proteins are located beneath the surface of the virion.
Nano-scale adhesion in multilayered drug eluting stents.

Abstract Using stainless steel 316L for drug-eluting stents needs specific surface finishing due to corrosion phenomena that take place on the metal surface upon prolonged contact with human tissue. Poly (o-chloro-p-xylylene) (Parylene C) is one of the inert and biocompatible materials that are used for 316L coating with γ - methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane as an adhesion promoter. In this study, a combination of atomic force microscopy experiments and contact theories have been used to quantify the work of adhesion between parylene C/316L and silane added parylene C/316L. An atomistic simulation has been used, first, to investigate and compare the adhesion at the room temperature with the experiments and then, to investigate the effect of aqueous environment with higher temperature, inside the body, on the adhesion between layers in the structure of drug eluting stent. The simulation results of simplified model for 316L are in good agreement with the experimental results and suggest that the week affiliation between this polymer and 316L is mainly due to Van der Waals interactions. The effect of temperature on the adhesion is found to be regressive and as the water molecules permeate the polymer the adhesion decreases. They also imply that the effect of silane on the adhesion between parylene C and steel is modest.
Dominant lethal assay of some hair-dye components in random-bred male rats

Male rats were exposed to maximally tolerated doses of 5 hair-dye components in a dominant lethal test. Each component was tested at 3 dosage levels with 15 random-bred male rats per level. The highest dose, selected on the basis of subacute toxicity testing, generally reduced weight gains without being lethal. Freshly prepared solutions were injected i.p. at 1 ml/kg 3 times a week for 10 weeks. Rats injected with dimethylsulfoxide and triethylenemelamine served as solvent and positive controls, respectively. A majority of rats survived the treatment at the levels tested and were mated to two virgin females each per week for 2 weeks. The females were sacrificed at midterm of pregnancy and examined for live and dead implants. Dominant lethality was evaluated on the basis of 4 criteria: dead implants per pregnant female, dead implants per total implants, proportion of females with one or more dead implants, and proportion of females with two or more dead implants. 2-Nitro-p-phenylenediamine, 2,4-diaminoanisole sulfate and 2,5-diaminoanisole sulfate produced negative responses, whereas m-phenylenediamine and 4-nitro-o-phenylenediamine induced weak dominant lethality in the first trial. On retesting these weakly positive components, both m-phenylenediamine and 4-nitro-o-phenylenediamine produced negative responses.
Deriving Sight Distance on a Compound Sag and Circular Curve in a Three Dimensional Space

Insufficient roadway sight distance (SD) may become a contribution factor to traffic collisions or other unsafe traffic maneuvers. The sight distance (SD) for a two-dimensional (2-d) sag or circular curve has been addressed in detail in various traffic engineering literatures. Although three-dimensional (3-d) compound sag and circular curves are often found along ramps, connectors, and mountain roads, the sight distances for these compound curves are yet to be analyzed on an exact analytic setting. By considering human-vehicle-roadway interaction, the formulas for computing the SD on a 3-d curve are derived the first time on a unified analytic framework. The 2-d sag curve SD can also be deduced from these derived formulas as special limiting cases. Practitioners can easily program these formulas or equations on a user-friendly Microsoft Excel spread sheet to calculate 3-d SD on most roadways with roadside clearance. This framework can be extended to estimate SD on roadways with obstacles partially blockin...
Predictive Performance of Sawchuk-Zaske and Bayesian Dosing Methods for Tobramycin

We evaluated the reliability of pharmacokinetic parameter estimations determined by the Sawchuk-Zaske method and by a Bayesian method for predicting steady-state tobramycin concentrations on day 4 and day 10 of therapy in 30 patients treated for gram-negative infections. We also assessed the effect of using only trough tobramycin concentrations on the predictive performance of the Bayesian method. The mean estimation of tobramycin volume of distribution was significantly different for the Bayesian methods compared with the Sawchuk-Zaske methods when the same number of L/kg). Comparing the Bayesian and Sawchuk-Zaske methods when the same number of serum concentrations was available, the Bayesian method overpredicted peak concentrations on day 4 of therapy. When only trough concentration data were used, the Bayesian method significantly overpredicted peak concentrations compared with the Sawchuk-Zaske method on days 4 and 10 of therapy. Each method predicted steady-state trough concentrations without significant differences in bias or accuracy. The Bayesian method may be useful in providing aminoglycoside dosing recommendations.
Anatomy of the CNS opioid systems

Abstract The amino acid sequences of the three endogenous opioid peptide precursors are known, and the anatomical distribution of the opioid peptides has been studied extensively. This report summarizes these anatomical studies and looks at the problems that result from the biochemical relatedness of the precursors. We also discuss the relationship of opioid systems to opioid receptors, and the use of anatomical studies to derive new hypotheses of opioid function and provide dynamic measures of opioid neural activity, especially via specific mRNA quantitation.
Chondrodysplasia and neurological abnormalities in ATF-2-deficient mice

Activating transcription factor-2 (ATF-2) is a basic region leucine zipper protein whose DNA target sequence is the widely distributed cAMP response element (CRE). We report here that mice carrying a germline mutation in ATF-2 demonstrated unique actions of ATF-2 not duplicated by other ATF/CREB family members. Mutant mice had decreased postnatal viability and growth, with a defect in endochondral ossification at epiphyseal plates similar to human hypochondroplasia. The animals had ataxic gait, hyperactivity and decreased hearing. In the brain, there were reduced numbers of cerebellar Purkinje cells, atrophic vestibular sense organs and enlarged ventricles. Unlike CREB alpha/delta-deficient mice whose main defect is in long-term potentiation, the widespread abnormalities in ATF-2 mutant mice demonstrate its absolute requirement for skeletal and central nervous system development, and for maximal induction of select genes with CRE sites, such as E-selectin.
Assembly of G Protein-Coupled Receptors from Fragments: Identification of Functional Receptors with Discontinuities in Each of the Loops Connecting Transmembrane Segments†

The α-factor receptor of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a member of the superfamily of G protein-coupled receptors that mediate signal transduction in response to sensory and chemical stimuli. All members of this superfamily contain seven predicted transmembrane segments. We have created a series of genes encoding α-factor receptors with amino- or carboxyl-terminal truncations at each of the loop regions connecting transmembrane segments. Split receptors containing a discontinuity in the peptide backbone were synthesized by coexpressing pairs of truncated receptor fragments in yeast. Complementary pairs of fragments split at sites within each of the cytoplasmic and extracellular loops were capable of assembling and transducing a signal in response to α-factor binding. One pair of noncomplementary fragments containing a deletion in the second intracellular loop of the receptor also yielded a functional receptor. Coexpression of certain combinations of overlapping fragments containing supernumerary t...
Energetics of acceptor-bound magnetic polarons in diluted magnetic semiconductors.

We present a theory of the bound magnetic polaron (BMP) in diluted magnetic semiconductors, valid for large ${\mathrm{Mn}}^{2+}$ magnetic ion concentrations x, and investigate the formation of acceptor-BMP in ${\mathrm{Cd}}_{1\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{x}}$${\mathrm{Mn}}_{\mathrm{x}}$Te as a function of x and of the temperature T. Experimentally determined magnetization up to 40 T is used to derive a self-consistent potential expressed in terms of the magnetization in order to investigate the BMP binding energy for x up to 0.5. The nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation obeyed by the BMP is solved numerically to obtain the BMP wave function. This permits the separate estimation of the binding due to the Coulomb potential and that due to the self-consistent exchange potential, including fluctuation effects. The antiferromagnetic Mn-Mn interaction leads to a lowering of the effective value of x. With increasing x, the BMP binding energy saturates. It is proposed that stannite structures containing ${\mathrm{Mn}}^{2+}$, with their absence of nearest-neighbor Mn-Mn interactions, be investigated in order to observe larger BMP binding energy due to an increase in the effective value of x to 0.25. Theoretical estimates for the binding energy of BMP in such structures, due to the exchange interaction alone are found to be about 5 times that in ${\mathrm{Cd}}_{0.75}$${\mathrm{Mn}}_{0.25}$Te. The formation of free polarons, formed by free carriers lowering their energy and localizing in the exchange potential, is also investigated. In stannite structures, with their large effective Mn concentration, it is found that free-hole\char21{}polaron formation is favored at temperatures below 15 K.
N-linked Glycosylation of the Thyroid Na+/I− Symporter (NIS) IMPLICATIONS FOR ITS SECONDARY STRUCTURE MODEL

The Na+/I- symporter (NIS), a 618-amino acid membrane glycoprotein that catalyzes the active accumulation of I- into thyroid cells, was identified and characterized at the molecular level in our laboratory (Dai, G., Levy, O., and Carrasco, N. (1996) Nature 379, 458-460). Because mature NIS is highly glycosylated, it migrates in SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis as a broad polypeptide of higher molecular mass (approximately 90-110 kDa) than nonglycosylated NIS (approximately 50 kDa). Using site-directed mutagenesis, we substituted both separately and simultaneously the asparagine residues in all three putative N-linked glycosylation consensus sequences of NIS with glutamine and assessed the effects of the mutations on function and stability of NIS in COS cells. All mutants were active and displayed 50-90% of wild-type NIS activity, including the completely nonglycosylated triple mutant. This demonstrates that to a considerable extent, function and stability of NIS are preserved in the partial or even total absence of N-linked glycosylation. We also found that Asn225 is glycosylated, thus proving that the hydrophilic loop that contains this amino acid residue faces the extracellular milieu rather than the cytosol as previously suggested. We demonstrated that the NH2 terminus faces extracellularly as well. A new secondary structure model consistent with these findings is proposed.
Instability of Taylor-Couette flow of helium II.

The study of Taylor-Couette flow has been useful in understanding classical fluid flows and non-linear phenomena because of its simplicity and its versatility. The Taylor-Couette system promises to be equally useful in understanding the behavior of liquid helium II, a non-classical fluid.
Complications Related to Radial Artery Occlusion, Radial Artery Harvest, and Arterial Lines

Recent publications have suggested that there may be an important role for the radial artery regarding long-term perfusion of the hand. The increasing popularity of the radial artery as an access site for cardiac catheterization has also resulted in the recognition of acute and chronic radial artery occlusion, and cardiologists have placed renewed emphasis on preserving the patency of this artery for future interventional procedures. This article reviews the present literature on radial artery harvest and occlusion. Also discussed are the complications associated with radial artery occlusion and treatment options to prevent such complications.
Differing controls on river- and lake-water hydrogen and oxygen isotopic values in the western United States.

Surface water oxygen and hydrogen isotopic values are commonly used as proxies of precipitation isotopic values to track modern hydrologic processes while proxies of water isotopic values preserved in lake and river sediments are used for paleoclimate and paleoaltimetry studies. Previous work has been able to explain variability in USA river-water and meteoric-precipitation oxygen isotope variability with geographic variables. These studies show that in the western United States, river-water isotopic values are depleted relative to precipitation values. In comparison, the controls on lake-water isotopic values are not well constrained. It has been documented that western United States lake-water input values, unlike river water, reflect the monthly weighted mean isotopic value of precipitation. To understand the differing controls on lake- and river-water isotopic values in the western United States, we examine the seasonal distribution of precipitation, evaporation and snowmelt across a range of seasonality regimes. We generate new predictive equations based on easily measured factors for western United States lake-water, which are able to explain 69–63% of the variability in lake-water hydrogen and oxygen isotopic values. In addition to the geographic factors that can explain river and precipitation values, lake-water isotopic values need factors related to local hydrologic and climatic characteristics to explain variability. Study results suggest that the spring snowmelt runs off the landscape via rivers and streams, depleting river and stream-water isotopic values. By contrast, lakes receive seasonal contributions of precipitation in proportion to the seasonal fraction of total annual precipitation within their watershed. Climate change may alter the ratio of snow to rain fall, affecting water resource partitioning between rivers and lakes and by implication of groundwater. Paleolimnological studies must account for the multiple drivers of water isotopic values; likewise, studies based on the isotopic composition of fossil material need to distinguish between species that are associated with rivers versus lakes. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Stroop Interference as a Function of Percentage of Congruent Items

Color-word interference in the traditional Stroop paradigm was investigated as a function of the percentages of congruent and incongruent items. Over-all color-naming times decreased with increasin...
Intracellular calcium and the mechanism of the dip in the anodal strength-interval curve in cardiac tissue.

BACKGROUND The strength-interval (SI) curve is an important measure of refractoriness in cardiac tissue. The anodal SI curve contains a "dip" in which the S2 threshold increases with interval. Two explanations exist for this dip: (1) electrotonic interaction between regions of depolarization and hyperpolarization; and (2) the sodium-calcium exchange (NCX) current. The goal of this study is to use mathematical modeling to determine which explanation is correct. METHODS AND RESULTS The bidomain model represents cardiac tissue and the Luo-Rudy model describes the active membrane. The SI curve is determined by applying a threshold stimulus at different time intervals after a previous action potential. During space-clamped and equal-anisotropy-ratios simulations, anodal excitation does not occur. During unequal-anisotropy-ratios simulations, electrotonic currents, not membrane currents, are present during the few milliseconds before excitation. The dip disappears with no NCX current, but is present with 50% or 75% reduction of it. The calcium-induced-calcium-release (CICR) current has little effect on the dip. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that neither the NCX nor the CICR current is responsible for the dip in the anodal SI curve. It is caused by the electrotonic interaction between regions of depolarization and hyperpolarization following the S2 stimulus.
Applying cointegration and error correction to measure trade linkages: maize prices in the United States and Mexico

The impact of U.S.-grown maize on Mexican markets is a subject of heated debate, and is complicated by limited substitution between white and yellow maize as well as regional price differences within Mexico. This article improves on previous analyses using a detailed data set of white maize prices reported weekly in 11 states across Mexico from 1998 through 2005. Using cointegration analysis and the error-correction model, we find that prices between the United States and Mexico do not share a common long-run relationship. Within Mexico, prices in Michoacan and Oaxaca are only weakly related with prices in neighboring states, whereas prices in Sinaloa and Jalisco exert considerable influence on prices elsewhere in Mexico. We conclude that, despite North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), white maize prices in Mexico are determined by local conditions including particularly the degree of integration to other regions within Mexico.
The Judgment Defense in Medical Malpractice

In medical malpractice litigation, one well-recognized defense is that the physician or surgeon was simply using his or her best judgment, such that an adverse outcome was simply a matter of probability. In fact, the shielding of physicians and surgeons from legal liability under circumstances where it is clear that prudent professional judgment was exercised is a time-honored principle of American jurisprudence. To wit, in 1898, the court in the legal case of Pike v Honsinger set forth the principle that a physician or surgeon would not be “… liable for a mere error of judgment, provided he does what he thinks is best after careful examination” [1]. The Pike case dealt with a poor outcome from closed treatment of a patella fracture. This “error of judgment” doctrine became part of American legal thinking, and at first glance, its application appears straightforward. If the physician did the best that a similarly-situated professional could under the circumstances, there should be no legal liability for an adverse outcome, when that outcome arose despite reasoned decision-making among competing treatment alternatives. Like most legal doctrines, however, the so-called “error of judgment” defense is more complex than it may first appear. This complexity begins with defining what “judgment” means in the context of a professional liability lawsuit. As an egregious example, if an orthopaedic surgeon were to operate on the wrong limb, one could argue that the surgeon made a judgment not to confirm which extremity to operate on. The law certainly does not contemplate that such judgment errors should be protected. Given the definitional ambiguity surrounding the word “judgment,” the inevitable question that this article will attempt to address, is: Can courts develop a rational and fair jurisprudence around the meaning of “judgment” in professional liability cases?
Structured reporting in neuroradiology.

: We have developed a system to structure free-text neuroradiology reports using a natural language processing program and formatted the output into the digital image and communication in medicine (DICOM) standard for structured reporting (SR). DICOM SR formats the correspondence of pertinent diagnostic images to the radiologist's dictated report of clinical findings. In addition, DICOM SR allows the information to be organized into a tree structure. Individual nodes of the tree can contain individual items or lists. Structuring the content of free-text information allows the creation of hierarchies with defined relationships between the concepts contained within the report.
Deep Planting Long-Stem Nursery Stock: An Innovative Method to Restore Riparian Vegetation in the Arid Southwest

On the Ground The successful establishment of riparian shrubs in the arid Southwest has been accomplished by using “deep planting” methods in riparian areas that lack overbank flooding. This methodology involves the immediate exploitation of capillary fringe moisture by the existing root system of long-stem nursery stock and the deep burial of native shrub root crowns. The methodology precludes or drastically reduces the need to apply irrigation water in arid and semi-arid environments in order to establish riparian shrubs and trees by deep planting long-stem native nursery stock.
Cluster and Molecular Mechanical Analysis of the Conformations of All Six-Membered Cobalt(III) Diamine Rings in the Cambridge Structure Database

An agglomerative, single-link clustering method was used to separate all of the cobalt(III) diamine six-membered rings found in the Cambridge Structural Database into chair, boat, unsymmetric twist-boat, and δ and λ twist-boat conformations. Of all of the six-membered rings analyzed, 80% adopt the energetically favored chair conformation. Twist boats are favored for steric reasons, while the high-energy boats are only found when the six-membered ring is structurally prevented from adopting a chair or twist-boat conformation. This is the first inorganic cluster analysis to published. The conformations of all of the nonchairs, except one, could be found by generating all of the possible combinations of the different idealized conformations of five- and six-membered rings and minimizing them.
Significance of higher-order many-body interaction energy terms in water clusters and bulk water

Abstract The magnitudes of the two- and three-body energy terms and their contribution to the interaction energy are computed for different water trimer arrangements at the second- to the fourth-order many-body perturbation (MP2 and MP4) levels of theory. Configurations in which the water molecules act as proton donor-acceptors, double acceptors and double donors were considered. The energy separation between the ‘cyclic’ and ‘open’ water trimer minima was estimated at 4·2 kcal mot −1. Its origin was quantitatively accounted for in terms of the difference between the two- and three-body energy terms for the two configurations. We have found that the three-body term is attractive and accounts for 18% of the binding energy of the ‘cyclic’ trimer but its contribution is less significant (6%) and repulsive for the ‘open’ trimer. It is also repulsive but smaller (4%) for an intermediate trimer configuration which has the arrangement double acceptor, double donor, donor-acceptor for the three water molecules. M...
Causality and Lifshitz Holography

We study signal propagation in theories with Lifshitz scaling using the gravity dual and show that backgrounds with z 1 are incompatible with causality of the strongly coupled theory. We argue that causality violations in z 1 theories show up in boundary correlation functions as superluminal modes.
Scanning transmission electron microscopy of thin specimens.

The intensity distributions in bright field and dark field images of thin specimens obtained in scanning transmission electron microscopy are evaluated in terms of the phase object approximation for coherent and partially coherent illumination. Previous treatments, based on a weak phase object approximation are shown to contain unwarranted assumptions in some cases, resulting in predictions of limited validity. The probable errors due to the neglect of higher order terms in power series expansion and in the assumption that the dark-field signal from an annular detector is proportional to the total elastic scattering are evaluated. Questions of optimizing the signal intensity and contrast are examined by considering the detector configuration in relationship to the form of the convergent beam diffraction pattern formed in the detector plane and the implications for the use of diffraction pattern information to enhance the imaging process are considered.
Evidence of pluripotent human prostate stem cells in a human prostate primary xenograft model.

INTRODUCTION The phenotypic plasticity of the human prostate stem cell within human prostate tissue was examined to determine the response of the stem cell to changes in the androgenic environment. METHODS Prostate xenografts were transplanted into athymic nu/nu mice implanted with testosterone pellets, allowed to establish for 1 month time point, the hosts were castrated and pellets removed, and following 1 month of androgen deprivation, the hosts were stimulated with androgen for 2 days to induce proliferation of the residual population of stem cells (2-month time point). RESULTS Glands in benign xenografts harvested at the 1- and 2-month time points contained basal cell layers that expressed p63 and high molecular weight cytokeratin, and in which essentially all of the cellular proliferation was localized, consistent with the proposed localization of the prostate stem cell. Benign glandular structures in the xenografts were populated by basal, secretory epithelial, neuroendocrine (NE), or squamous cells overlaying the basal cell layer, whereas, adenocarcinoma glands in the xenografts resembled the original prostate cancer (CaP) tissue. CONCLUSIONS In this human prostate primary xenograft model, the residual stem cell population that survives transplantation, or androgen deprivation, maintains significant pluripotentiality as demonstrated by the capacity to generate progeny that differentiate along multiple lineages in response to microenvironmental signals, particularly along the secretory epithelial lineage in response to androgen, and along the NE cell lineage in response to androgen deprivation. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Parental Restrictiveness of Negative Emotions: Sowing the Seeds of Thought Suppression

Research on parental socialization of emotion highlights an interesting irony by showing that parents who attempt to restrict their children's expression of negative feelings are especially likely to produce children who have emotional problems and social skill deficits. Eisenberg, Cumberland, and Spinrad consider a variety of potential explanations for this state of affairs, including maladaptive learning, overarousal, unrealistic expectations, and emotional constriction. An unexplored possibility, however, involves the high incidence of avoidant coping observed in these children (Eisenberg & Fabes, 1994; Eisenberg, Fabes, & Murphy, 1996). Mental control research suggests that efforts to avoid unacceptable thoughts and feelings may set into motion a process that can ultimately undermine emotional well-being. Although the experimental study of thought suppression has attracted considerable attention among social and clinical investigators (for reviews, see Polivy, 1998; Purdon & Clark, in press; Wegner, 1994; Wegner & Wenzlaff, 1996), it has not yet had an appreciable impact on developmental research. By highlighting the relationship between parental responses and children's avoidant coping, however, Eisenberg et al. provide the impetus for considering how issues of mental control may relate to emotional development. The existing evidence suggests that using thought suppression to control undesirable feelings may not only prevent the child from developing an adequate understanding of the complexities of emotional life, but it can also backfire, ironically promoting the emotional state it was meant to avoid. Although researchers in developmental psychology acknowledge an association between avoidant coping and developmental problems (Finnegan, Hodges, & Perry, 1996; Lengua & Sandler, 1996), they have generally overlooked the possibility that the process of thought suppression may itself contribute to emotional maladjustment. This prospect, however, is suggested by recent research showing that thought suppression can produce ironic effects in the form of mental and emotional states that are contrary to intentions. A consideration of this work can provide a new conceptual framework for understanding the consequences of restrictive parental responses to children's negative emotions. Before examining the process and impact of thought suppression, we consider how parents' reactions to their children's emotions can promote this type of avoidant coping. Parent-Instigated Thought Suppression
The dynamics of methanation of carbon monoxide on nickel catalysts

Earlier we studied methanation kinetics on a 5% Ni/SiO2-catalyst. The extensive data were described well with a mechanism involving dissociative adsorption of H2 and CO and stepwise hydrogenation of Ca and Oa. Hydrogen isotope effects were also described with fair accuracy. Since then kinetic data were obtained on two further catalysts, 52% Ni/SiO2 and 4% Ni/Al2O3. The mechanism described also these data. However, using a feed containing 13C16O and 12C18O no isotope scrambling was found. The assumption of equilibrated dissociative CO adsorption was invalidated. The original mechanism was extended by a s.s. approximation for CO dissociation. The rate data were well described but scrambling was not eliminated. A new mechanism was designed, involving hydrogen-assisted dissociation of adsorbed CO with formation of Ca. With fast H2O-elimination this step is unidirectional. A new rate equation describes kinetics and isotope effects very welland excludes isotope scrambling. Two types of transient rate observations were performed, one on switching12CO to13CO, the other with a switch from CO to He. The new mechanism also describes these data. Information on residence times τ and surface occupation CHx on the nickel surface were obtained. Combining these with the s.s. rate information yields two independent estimates of the fraction Fs of SNi which is active. Both agree closely and yield values between 8 and 25%, depending on catalyst type. At the same time additional confirmation of the essential correctness of the new mechanism is obtained. Finally a larger range of catalysts, supported on silica, alumina and titania is tested. As found before, larger crystallites are more active. Alumina and titania supports yield higher activity. The higher activity was found to be equally due to higher Fs and higher rs, the activity per active site.
Inequality and Careers: A Dynamic Model of Socioeconomic Achievement

Socioeconomic careers involve a process of attainment. One model that explicitly recognizes this is a simple linear differential equation model. This article shows how such a model can be used to d...