cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Molecular characterization of nonionic surfactant components of the Corexit® 9500 oil spill dispersant by high resolution mass spectrometry

RATIONALE Approximately 7 million liters of Corexit® dispersants were applied during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill to facilitate the dispersion of crude oil. At the time of application, the exact chemical composition of Corexit® was relatively unknown. Characterization of Corexit® 9500 was performed using high-resolution mass spectrometry to further understand the complexity of the nonionic surfactant components of this mixture. METHODS Corexit®9500 was analyzed by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) coupled to a high resolution Orbitrap Fusion Lumos mass spectrometer operated in positive electrospray ionization mode and a charged aerosol detector. Chromatographic conditions were optimized to efficiently separate isobaric and isomeric compounds. Polyethoxylated nonionic surfactants in Corexit® 9500 were identified using the following criteria: accurate mass (<3 ppm), retention time, and homologue series; in addition, interpretation of high-resolution tandem mass spectra was used to annotate tentative component structures. RESULTS More than 2000 polysorbate nonionic surfactants in 87 homologue series were detected. Polysorbate surfactants were characterized by the type of molecular basis group (sorbitan, isosorbide, or fatty acid), degree of esterification (n = 0-4), ester chain length (C6-C24), and ester saturation, in addition to polydispersion by ethoxylation. Isomeric compounds were differentiated by LC/HRMS/MS analysis with product ion assignment. Results from the charged aerosol detector showed that the diesters (23.9 ± 0.78%) were the most abundant component in Corexit® 9500 followed by dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (DOSS) (19.2 ± 1.5%), triesters (17.3 ± 1.5%), and monoesters (15.7 ± 2.3%). CONCLUSIONS Our analytical approach facilitated the characterization of polysorbate surfactants within Corexit® 9500 and allowed a systematic study to differentiate isomeric and isobaric compounds, when standards were not available. The characterized composition of Corexit® 9500 will facilitate future studies to determine the chemical and biological transformation kinetics and byproducts of Corexit® 9500 under environmental conditions.
Precision Medicine for Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Increasingly, obstructive sleep apnea treatment is being recognized as amenable to a precision medicine approach. Many pathophysiologic mechanisms (endotypes) beyond anatomic compromise have now been identified and are readily determined during polysomnography, although randomized controlled trials of endotype-specific therapies are needed. Research indicates that endotypes may also be important in predicting both adherence to therapy and disease consequences (phenotypes). Biomarker discovery and Big Data approaches derived from wearable technology are areas of active investigation and may allow more robust conclusions to be drawn over time, such that patients may soon fully realize the benefits from fresh insights into sleep science.
Treating University Students’ Depression using Physical Activity with Peers: Two Field-Based Quasi-Experiments Grounded in the Self-Determination Theory

The present research aimed to test the effectiveness of peer-supported, physical activity (PA) intervention for university students with depression. The 8–10 week intervention was structured to ful...
Love as Union and Affiliation

This chapter describes the idea that love is an interpersonal union that includes affiliative processes. Research demonstrated that love, as a unity, is a cross-cultural idea. Longing to be together is natural for lovers. Communication develops many bonds and connections. The attitudes of equality lead to deeper partnership and friendship ties, yet leaving the room for autonomy. Scholarship also highlights that the important aspects of love as a union are emotional investment and appreciation for what a partner did. The chapter reviews cross-cultural studies of friendship-based love in multicultural settings and across nations.
Manifestly-invariant action for self-dual supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories coupled to auxiliary supergravity

Abstract We propose a new action-formulation for the N = ( 1 , 1 ) multiplet ( A μ I , λ I ) of a self-dual (SD) supersymmetric Yang-Mills (YM) theory in D = 2 + 2 dimensions using an auxiliary supergravity multiplet. We first consider non-supersymmetric case with constraint lagrangians that restrict the metric g μ ν to be ( η μ ν ) = diag. ( + , + , − , − ) . We add the kinetic-term of a purely-bosonic YM-field, and show that the YM-field in the D = 2 + 2 space-time allows only SD or anti-SD (ASD) configurations. In other words, the condition of vanishing energy-momentum (EM) tensor restricts the YM-field to be either SD or ASD, but not an admixture of them. Finally, we generalize this result to N = ( 1 , 1 ) supersymmetric YM multiplet ( A μ I , λ I ; D I ) in D = 2 + 2 with the off-shell supergravity multiplet ( e μ m , ψ μ ; S , P , a m ) as an ‘auxiliary’ multiplet without its kinetic terms. Special constraint lagrangians restrict the supergravity multiplet to be auxiliary, i.e., both the Riemann-tensor and the gravitino field strength to vanish. We show that the e μ m and ψ μ -field equations produce the vanishings of both the EM-tensor and spinor-current, which in turn lead only to either SD or ASD supersymmetric YM multiplet, as the only Lorentz and gauge-covariant supersymmetric solutions. A broad class of similar action-formulations with auxiliary supergravity multiplets yielding SD or ASD systems in D = 2 + 2 or higher-dimensions may be constructed in a similar fashion.
Barriers to patient adherence with adjuvant endocrine therapy.

6605 Background: Adjuvant endocrine therapy for hormone receptor positive breast cancer is essential to decreasing recurrence and improving survival. However, adherence to these drugs has been repo...
Dermatology consultation service at a large metropolitan hospital system serving minority populations

BACKGROUND Dermatology consultations in the inpatient hospital setting can improve diagnostic accuracy and management. OBJECTIVE Characterize dermatologic diagnostic and treatment trends in the hospital setting and identify variables that may affect patient care. METHODS Retrospective chart review from 1 January 2012 to 31 December 2017 at Jackson Memorial Hospital (JMH) (Miami, Florida, USA), an academic non-profit tertiary care centre affiliated with University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, was performed. Patients who received dermatology consultations in the emergency department (ED) or inpatient settings were included. Patient demographics, admission information, provisional diagnosis and management plans by primary teams, final diagnosis, management plans and testing recommendations by the dermatology consults team, and follow-up information were collected. Analysis using Microsoft Excel of how time to consultation, admission length, inpatient versus ED setting and primary team affected diagnostic accuracy was also performed. RESULTS The 1004 consultations for 812 patients (n = 812) were reviewed (359 women, 453 men). Most patients were Hispanic (n = 359; 44.2%) or African American (n = 273; 33.6%). Mean admission length was 20.6 days (range 0-439; median 6). The most common consulting service was internal medicine (n = 452). In 387 cases (47.6%), primary teams did not give a provisional diagnosis. The most common provisional diagnoses were bacterial infection (n = 93), viral infection (n = 49) and drug reaction (n = 44). The most common diagnoses by dermatology were viral infection (n = 93), bacterial infection (n = 90) and drug reaction (n = 80). Dermatology consultation changed the provisional diagnosis in 55.7% of cases, more often in cases where consultation took place ≥2 days after admission (P < 0.05). Primary teams followed dermatology treatment recommendations in 85.2% of cases. CONCLUSION Dermatology consultation improves diagnostic accuracy in skin disorders in the hospital setting and serves as a valuable resource for inpatient care. A notable aspect of data from this study is the unique patient population, predominantly comprised of underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities including Hispanics and African Americans.
The Nature of Modern Marketization

This chapter discusses the fundamentals of the historical construction and the resulting nature of the modern market to explore the consequences of marketization for contemporary humanity. I explore the reasons for such consequences and suggest that there is a need to transcend the separation of culture into its domains as well as to further rethink all solutions through an understanding of the complex integrity of culture.
RADIO AND FAR-INFRARED EMISSION AS TRACERS OF STAR FORMATION AND AGN IN NEARBY CLUSTER GALAXIES

We have studied the radio and far-infrared (FIR) emission from 114 galaxies in the 7 nearest clusters (< 100 Mpc) with prominent X-ray emission to investigate the impact of the cluster environment on the star formation and AGN activity in the member galaxies. The X-ray selection criterion is adopted to focus on the most massive and dynamically relaxed clusters. A large majority of cluster galaxies show an excess in radio emission over that predicted from the radio-FIR correlation, the fraction of sources with radio excess increases toward cluster cores, and the radial gradient in the FIR/radio flux ratio is a result of radio enhancement. Of the radio-excess sources, 70% are early-type galaxies and the same fraction host an AGN. The galaxy density drops by a factor of 10 from the composite cluster center out to 1.5 Mpc, yet galaxies show no change in FIR properties over this region, and show no indication of mass segregation. We have examined in detail the physical mechanisms that might impact the FIR and radio emission of cluster galaxies. While collisional heating of dust may be important for galaxies in cluster centers, it appears to have a negligible effect on the observed FIR emission for our sample galaxies. The correlations between radio and FIR luminosity and radius could be explained by magnetic compression from thermal ICM pressure. We also find that simple delayed harassment cannot fully account for the observed radio, FIR, and mid-IR properties of cluster galaxies.
Abstract WP99: Reversible VWF Inhibitor Reduces Stroke Volumes Compared to TPA in Canine Model of Large Vessel Occlusion Stroke

Introduction: Von Willebrand Factor (VWF) is a glycoprotein critical to initiate, propagate and stabilize an occlusive thrombus seen in a significant segment of large vessel occlusion stroke as wel...
[Analysis on medical observation of 1 665 close contacts of COVID-19 cases]

Objective: To understand the identification and medical observation of close contacts of COVID-19 cases in a city and provide scientific basis for the adjustment of the epidemic prevention and control strategies. Methods: Descriptive epidemiological methods were used to analyze the general characteristics of all the close contacts of COVID-19 cases in a city. Throat swabs were collected from the close contacts for real-time fluorescent RT-PCR. The confirmed cases were diagnosed according to diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 (trial version 5). Results: Among the 1 665 close contacts of COVID-19 cases in a city, 10 were diagnosed as COVID-19 cases during the medical observation period, accounting for 30.30% of all the confirmed cases in a city, most of them were close relatives of the confirmed cases. The longest contact time with the confirmed cases was 8 days and the shortest was 0 days. Ten COVID-19 cases in close contacts constituted to six family clusters. Conclusions: In COVID-19 prevention and control in a city, the active tracking of the transmission chains of the confirmed cases and timely identification of the close contacts were conducted. The people who had close contacts with the confirmed COVID-19 cases within 14 days before onset were all placed under medical observation, which played a key role in the effective prevention and control of COVID-19 epidemic in a city. Nearly one third of COVID-19 cases occurred during the medical observation period, so the infection sources were effectively controlled and transmission routes were effectively blocked, which greatly facilitated the prevention of the clusters of COVID-19 cases.
When Does Government Limit the Impact of Voter Initiatives? The Politics of Implementation and Enforcement

In many states and localities, citizens make laws by initiative. Many winning initiatives, however, are later ignored or altered substantially. Why? Our answer emerges from two under appreciated aspects of the initiative process. First, many initiatives contain policies that powerful governmental actors once prevented from passing via traditional legislative channels. Second, implementation can require these actors to comply with policies they once opposed. The question then becomes: When do governmental actors comply with winning initiatives? We use a model and examples to clarify the post-election politics of initiative compliance. Our findings defy conventional explanations of how initiatives change public policy.
An Order-aware Dataflow Model for Extracting Shell Script Parallelism.

We present a dataflow model for extracting data parallelism latent in Unix shell scripts. To accurately capture the semantics of Unix shell scripts, the dataflow model is order-aware, i.e., the order in which a node in the dataflow graph consumes inputs from different edges plays a central role in the semantics of the computation and therefore in the resulting parallelization. We use this model to capture the semantics of transformations that exploit data parallelism available in Unix shell computations and prove their correctness. We additionally formalize the translations from the Unix shell to the dataflow model and from the dataflow model back to a parallel shell script. We use a large number of real scripts to evaluate the parallel performance delivered by the dataflow transformations, including the contributions of individual transformations, achieving an average speedup of 6.14$\times$ and a maximum of 61.1$\times$ on a 64-core machine.
Statistical Methods for Feature Identification in Microbiome Studies

Numerous microbiome studies have been carried out in recent years to understand the function of microbiomes and their associations with outcomes in different organisms. With the huge amount of high-dimensional microbiome data available, there is a crucial need for statistical methodology to identify which particular features are biologically interesting. To this end, this chapter covers strategies for feature identification in microbiome studies to answer three specific target questions of biological interest: (1) differential abundance analysis: which features are impacted by treatment or environmental conditions? (2) mediation analysis: which features mediate the treatment effect on the outcome of interest? (3) which features are (potentially causally) associated with the outcome of interest while adjusting for confounding that may result from the interactions among host, environment, and microbiome? We describe statistical methods for answering each target question, list the available R packages, and provide some R code for data analysis.
Butterfly citizen scientists in the United States increase their engagement in conservation

Abstract Nature-based citizen science projects can educate their volunteers about conservation issues and encourage them to engage in conservation actions. Theory and previous research suggest that knowledge of issues and action strategies, as well as social factors can influence the decision to take action on a given issue. To determine the extent to which volunteers are receiving information and support through their citizen science projects that could increase their engagement in conservation, we surveyed participants from butterfly citizen science projects across the United States. We asked volunteers if they received information on butterfly conservation threats and action strategies, if they were actively encouraged to engage in conservation, if their project provided a sense of connection and community that supported engagement in conservation, and how their engagement in 12 different conservation actions, ranging from planting host plants to contacting the media about butterfly conservation, has changed since joining citizen science. 79% of our respondents reported that they have received information on butterfly conservation from their citizen science project, and 55% felt that their project actively encouraged them to engage in conservation. 95% of respondents reported that they had increased their involvement in butterfly conservation. Notably, volunteers who received information on conservation and who were encouraged to engage in conservation by their citizen science project were more likely to have increased their engagement in conservation. Connection to other volunteers was also linked to increased conservation action. We make recommendations for how citizen science projects can improve their programming to increase conservation engagement.
Stress update: Adaptation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to chronic stress

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis exhibits a circadian rhythm, activation by stress, and inhibition by corticosteroids. Activity in the HPA axis is very sensitive to inhibition by corticosteroids when they are administered exogenously. When stress-induced corticosteroid secretion occurs, however, normal activity in the HPA is not inhibited and may even be augmented. Experiments in rats have shown that stress also induces facilitation of subsequent activity in the HPA axis that appears to balance the inhibitory effects of corticosterone and thus maintains responsiveness to new, acute stresses in chronically stressed rats. Stress-induced facilitation of HPA axis activity may be mediated by a parallel stress-induced (CRH-dependent) increase in the capacity of brain noradrenergic cell groups to respond to acute stress. A continually responsive HPA axis, even under conditions of chronic stress, appears to be important for survival. Stress-induced increases in glucocorticoid secretion to levels sufficient to occupy glucocorticoid receptors enable appropriate thermoregulatory and cardiovascular responses to acute stress. There is, however, an overall metabolic cost to the animal of maintaining continued activity in the HPA axis during chronic stress.
Polo-like kinase 1: a new target for the management of skin cancers

5410 Skin cancer, the most common cancer world wide, encompasses several different types of cancer including the less invasive basal cell carcinoma squamous cell carcinoma as well as malignant melanoma. More than one million new cases of non-melanoma skin cancers are diagnosed annually in the United States. Further, it is estimated that melanoma will account for about 62,190 new cases and most (about 7,910) of the 10,710 skin-cancer related deaths this year. Because the existing preventive or treatment approaches have not been able to effectively manage skin cancers, novel mechanism and target-based approaches are needed. A clear understanding of genetic controls of cellular proliferation and cell division may provide the basis for the rational design of specific targets and therapeutic strategies for the management of skin cancer. Polo-like kinases (Plk) are the family of mitotic serine/threonine kinases, which are highly conserved among eukaryotes and have been shown to play critical role in cell cycle progression, especially during cell division. Plk1, the most well-studied member of this family has many functions in controlling cell cycle progression. These include centrosome maturation, bipolar spindle formation, activation of Cdk1/Cyclin B1 cascade promoting entry into mitosis and finally regulation of anaphase promoting complex (APC) targeted degradation which is necessary for mitotic exit. Elevated Plk1 expression has been shown in many human cancers and is believed to be an indicator of poor prognosis and disease outcome suggesting its possible role as an oncogene. Here, employing many skin cancer cell lines viz. human squamous cell carcinoma A253 cells, human metastatic melanoma Hs-294T cells, and human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells, normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEK) and human tissue arrays containing a variety of skin tumors and normal skin samples, we determined the expression of Plk1 in skin cancers versus normal tissues. Our data from immunoblot- as well as quantitative real time PCR- analyses demonstrated that Plk1 is significantly overexpressed in A253, Hs-294T and A431 cells compared to the NHEKs. Further, this increase in Plk1 was found to be accompanied with an increased expression in the protein levels of Cdc25C, Cdk1 and CyclinB1. Furthermore, our preliminary results of immunohistochemical analyses demonstrated that Plk1 expression is markedly upregulated in a wide range of skin tumors compared to the non-cancerous skin. Thus, our data suggest that Plk1 could be a potential target for designing novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of skin cancer. However, further mechanistic studies are needed to support and confirm this suggestion.
Extensive incorporation of (2-14C) mevalonic acid into cholesterol precursors by human platelets in vitro.

Human platelets convert [1-14C]- or [2-14C]acetate to labeled CO2 and fatty acids; the latter, in turn, become esterified to acylglycerols and phospholipids. However, acetate apparently does not reach mevalonate in the sterol pathway. By contrast, with [2-14C]mevalonate as substrate, there is labeling of farnesol, farnesoic acid, squalene, lanosterol, and dihydrolanosterol in the chloroform-soluble fraction. Proof of the identity of these five labeled compounds was established by gas-liquid radiochromatography; identities of squalene and lanosterol were further verified by gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, as well as by recrystallization to constant specific activity. Platelets share this pattern of mevalonate uptake with human reticulocytes, buffy coat, bone marrow, saphenous vein, coronary artery, and aorta. On an equivalent protein basis human platelets direct 14% as much label beyond mevalonate as does rat liver, a heavy producer of sterols. However, the platelet is able to carry the label only as far as lanosterol and dihydrolanosterol, with considerable accumulation of radioactivity in farnesol and farnesoic acid, the degradative products of farnesyl pyrophosphate, whereas the liver puts 76% of utilized mevalonate into the end product, cholesterol. The platelets cannot produce any 14CO2 whatever from [14C]-lanosterol, as evidence of demethylation, whereas the liver has no problem with CO2 and cholesterol production from the same substrate. Interestingly, platelets can convert [14C]desmosterol to cholesterol, although not nearly as efficiently as liver. This fact suggests that a major block exists in vitro in demethylation of lanosterol by human platelets.
Understanding Computer Network Security

Before we talk about network security, we need to understand in general terms what security is. Security is a continuous process of protecting an object from unauthorized access. It is as state of being or feeling protected from harm. That object in that state may be a person, an organization such as a business, or property such as a computer system or a file. Security comes from secure which means, according to Webster Dictionary, a state of being free from care, anxiety, or fear [1].
Electrochemical Deposition of Copper(I) Oxide Films

Films of copper(I) oxide can be electrodeposited by reduction of copper(II) lactate in alkaline solution. Rietveld analysis of electrochemically grown films reveals pure copper(I) oxide with no copper(II) oxide or copper metal present in the films and a lattice parameter of a = 0.4266 nm. The cathodic deposition current is limited by a Schottky-like barrier that forms between the Cu2O and the deposition solution. A barrier height of 0.6 eV was determined from the exponential dependence of the deposition current on the solution temperature. At a solution pH of 9 the orientation of the film is [100], while at a solution pH of 12 the orientation changes to [111]. Atomic force images of the [100] oriented films have crystals shaped as four-sided pyramids, while the [111] films have triangular crystals. The grain size for films grown at 65 °C ranges from 2 to 5 μm. A refractive index of 2.6 was measured from the transmission spectrum for wavelengths between 1350 and 2800 nm. The p-type semiconductor has a dire...
Toward scalable algorithms for orthogonal shared-memory parallel computers

The problem of developing scalable and near-optimal algorithms for orthogonal shared-memory multiprocessing systems with a multidimensional access (MDA) memory array is considered. An orthogonal shared-memory system consists of 2/sup n/ processors and 2/sup m/ memory modules accessed in any one of m possible access modes. Data stored in memory modules are available to processors under a mapping rule that allows conflict-free data reads and writes for any given access mode. Scalable algorithms are presented for two well-known computational problems, namely, matrix multiplication and the fast Fourier transform (FFT). A complete analysis of the algorithms based on computational time and the access modes needed is also presented. The algorithms scale very well onto higher dimensional MDA architectures but are not always optimal. This reveals a tradeoff between the scalability of an algorithm and its optimality in the MDA computational model. >
A synthetic intron in a naturally intronless yeast pre-tRNA is spliced efficiently in vivo

Saccharomyces cerevisiae glutamine tRNA(CAG) is encoded by an intronless, single-copy gene, SUP60. We have imposed a requirement for splicing in the biosynthesis of this tRNA by inserting a synthetic intron in the SUP60 gene. Genetic analysis demonstrated that the interrupted gene produces a functional, mature tRNA product in vivo.
Accentuation of Individual Differences in Social Competence During the Transition to Adolescence

Using a sample of individuals (277 males, 315 females) studied since birth in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development, the present study investigated how early pubertal maturation and school transition alter youth trajectories of social competence during the transition to adolescence. Social competence showed strong continuity, with the most socially competent children remaining so in adolescence. Early pubertal maturation and school transitions accentuate individual differences, increasing social competence among more competent youth, but further diminishing social competence among less competent individuals. In essence, facing challenges that require social competence may further separate competent individuals from less competent peers. Thus, the psychosocially rich become richer, while the psychosocially poor become poorer.
Achromobacter xylosoxidans. An unusual neonatal pathogen.

Abstract Perinatal acquisition of a rare pediatric pathogen, Achromobacter xylosoxidans, with evidence for in utero transmission, is described. Cultures from the mother and neonate demonstrated A. xylosoxidans. An ascending bacterial infection in the mother with clinical chorioamnionitis is presented as the probable mode of transmission. Postmortem examination of the infant confirmed Achromobacter meningitis. In contrast to the current case with transmission from mother to neonate, previously published neonatal cases of Achromobacter infections indicate that nosocomial transmission of the organism is most common (79%). In addition, the literature review revealed a high mortality associated with meningitis (77%), frequent hydrocephalus, and subsequent neurologic sequelae (36%). To the authors' knowledge, this is the first documented case of maternal-fetal transfer of A. xylosoxidans.
Near-infrared excitonic absorption as a phase modulator mechanism

Near Infared Excitomc Absorption as a Phase Modualtor MechanismDaniel M. NorthernS. K. ChiouDon A. GregoryDepartment of PhysicsThe University of Alabama in HuntsvilleHuntsville, Alabama 35899205-895-6276 Ext 323email: northemd@email.uah.eduABSTRACTA modulator using a GaAS/AIGaAS MQW structure has been designed and grown to modulate phase inthe 85Onm region.Keywords: MQW, phase modulation1. BACKGROUNDThe spatial light modulator (SLM) is utilized in the modulation of the amplitude or phase of an incoming
Accelerated Stokesian Dynamics simulations

A new implementation of the conventional Stokesian Dynamics (SD) algorithm, called accelerated Stokesian Dynamics (ASD), is presented. The equations governing the motion of N particles suspended in a viscous fluid at low particle Reynolds number are solved accurately and efficiently, including all hydrodynamic interactions, but with a significantly lower computational cost of O(N ln N). The main differences from the conventional SD method lie in the calculation of the many-body long-range interactions, where the Ewald-summed wave-space contribution is calculated as a Fourier transform sum and in the iterative inversion of the now sparse resistance matrix. The new method is applied to problems in the rheology of both structured and random suspensions, and accurate results are obtained with much larger numbers of particles. With access to larger N, the high-frequency dynamic viscosities and short-time self-diffusivities of random suspensions for volume fractions above the freezing point are now studied. The ASD method opens up an entire new class of suspension problems that can be investigated, including particles of non-spherical shape and a distribution of sizes, and the method can readily be extended to other low-Reynolds-number-flow problems.
Carbidopa/levodopa for smoking cessation: a pilot study with negative results

The mesolimbic dopamine system is thought to be a critical substrate for drugs of addiction including nicotine. Since dopamine may play a critical role in mediating the reinforcing effects of nicotine, we hypothesized that administering levodopa in its therapeutic form (carbidopa/levodopa) might be effective for smoking cessation by replacing the effects of dopamine that smokers may seek during smoking. A pilot open-label study using carbidopa/levodopa for smokers wanting to stop smoking was carried out at the Mayo Clinic Nicotine Research Center, Rochester, MN. The dosing schedule was one tablet TID for 1 week, 1 1/2 tablets TID for 1 week, then two tablets TID for 6 weeks. Each tablet contained 25 mg of carbidopa and 100 mg of levodopa. The subjects were 40 adult smokers smoking > or = 20 cigarettes per day for 3 or more years. Self-reported abstinence from smoking was confirmed by expired air CO level of 0.10), and 12.5% of the carbidopa/levodopa group were abstinent versus 15.7% for the placebo group (p > 0.10) at 6 months. Subjects from both studies had significant increases in withdrawal scores from baseline, but there were no significant differences between the two groups at any time period. We found no differences in smoking abstinence rates or nicotine withdrawal symptom relief in smokers receiving carbidopa/levodopa compared to placebo. Despite the theoretical reasons why carbidopa/levodopa might be effective as a pharmacological adjunct in treating smokers, it was not observed in this group of smokers at this dose.
Echocardiographic imaging of procedural complications during self-expandable transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) using a balloon-expandable valve is an accepted alternative to surgical replacement for severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis in high risk or inoperable patients. Intraprocedural transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) offers real-time imaging guidance throughout the procedure and allows for rapid and accurate assessment of complications and procedural results. The value of intraprocedural TEE for TAVR will likely increase in the future as this procedure is performed in lower surgical risk patients, who also have lower risk for general anesthesia, but a greater expectation of optimal results with lower morbidity and mortality. This imaging compendium from the PARTNER (Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves) trials is intended to be a comprehensive compilation of intraprocedural complications imaged by intraprocedural TEE and diagnostic tools to anticipate and/or prevent their occurrence.
Synthesis of shape morphing compliant mechanisms using a load path representation method

The performance of many mechanical systems is directly related to the geometric shapes of their components, such as aircraft wings and antenna reflectors. While the shapes of these components are mostly fixed, incorporating shape morphing into these systems can increase the flexibility and enhance the performance. A synthesis approach for shape morphing compliant mechanism is presented in this paper, using a load path representation method to efficiently exclude the invalid topologies (disconnected structures) from the Genetic Algorithm (GA) solution space. The synthesis approach is illustrated through a flexible antenna reflector design and a morphing aircraft trailing edge. The results demonstrate the capability of the load path representation method to create various designs with less design variables. The results also show that the use of compliant mechanisms can indeed provide a viable alternative for shape morphing applications. Methods to improve convergence such as employing a local search within or following the GA are also discussed.
The Delivery of Organic Matter from Asteroids and Comets to the Early Surface of Mars

Carbon delivered to the Earth by interplanetary dust particles may have been an important source of pre-biotic organic matter (Anders, 1989). Interplanetary dust is shown to deliver an order-of-magnitude higher surface concentration of carbon onto Mars than onto Earth, suggesting interplanetary dust may be an important source of carbon on Mars as well.
Lower Bounds for Additive Spanners, Emulators, and More

An additive spanner of an unweighted undirected graph G with distortion d is a subgraph H such that for any two vertices u, v \in G, we have \delta _H \left( {u,v} \right) = \delta _G \left( {u,v} \right) + d. For every k = O\left( {\frac{{\ln n}} {{\ln \ln n}}} \right), we construct a graph G on n vertices for which any additive spanner of G with distortion 2k - 1 has \\Omega \left( {\frac{1} {k}n^{1 + 1/k} } \right) edges. This matches the lower bound previously known only to hold under a 1963 conjecture of Erdos. We generalize our lower bound in a number of ways. First, we consider graph emulators introduced by Dor, Halperin, and Zwick (FOCS, 1996), where an emulator of an unweighted undirected graph G with distortion d is like an additive spanner except H may be an arbitrary weighted graph such that \delta _G \left( {u,v} \right) \leqslant \delta _H \left( {u,v} \right) \leqslant \delta _G \left( {u,v} \right) + d. We show a lower bound of \Omega \left( {\frac{1} {{k^2 }}n^{1 + 1/k} } \right) edges for distortion-(2k - 1) emulators. These are the first non-trivial bounds for k \ge 3. Second, we parameterize our bounds in terms of the minimum degree of the graph. Namely, for minimum degree n^{1/k+c} for any c \geqslant 0, we prove a bound of \Omega \left( {\frac{1} {k}n^{1 + 1/k - c(1 + 2/(k - 1))} } \right) for additive spanners and \Omega \left( {\frac{1} {{k^2 }}n^{1 + 1/k - c(1 + 2/(k - 1))} } \right) for emulators. For k = 2 these can be improved to \Omega \left( {n^{3/2 - c} } \right). This partially answers a question of Baswana et al (SODA, 2005) for additive spanners. Finally, we continue the study of pair-wise and source-wise distance preservers defined by Coppersmith and Elkin (SODA, 2005) by considering their approximate variants and their relaxation to emulators. We prove the first lower bounds for such graphs.
Drop size-dependent chemical composition in clouds and fogs. Part I. Observations

The first observations of size-dependent cloud and fog drop inorganic ion and trace metal concentrations obtained using the Colorado State University 5-Stage cloud water collector (CSU 5-Stage) during field studies of orographic clouds (Whiteface Mountain, NY, July 1998) and radiation fogs (Davis, CA, January 1999) are reported. Although some mixing between drop sizes occurs, the CSU 5-Stage effectively separates the largest drops ( > 30 μm in diameter) from the smallest ones ( < 10 μm in diameter) permitting the discernment of size-dependent drop composition not possible with previous two- or three-stage collectors. At Whiteface, pH and the concentrations of the major ions -NH + 4, NO - 3, and SO 2 4 appeared largely independent of drop size as measured by a two-stage collector. The same major ion concentrations differed in Davis fogs by up to a factor of approximately 10 in the two-stage collector with consistently higher small drop concentrations. In both locations, CSU 5-Stage data generally indicate a greater range of concentrations is present across the drop size spectrum. CSU 5-Stage data show U- shaped profiles of major ion concentration vs. drop size at Whiteface and L- shaped profiles at Davis and the maximum/minimum concentration differences between fractions increased up to a factor of 2 (Whiteface) and 30 (Davis). Lower concentration species at both locations showed multiple concentration vs. drop size profiles with CSU 5-Stage data again exhibiting more variability than observed with the two-stage collector. While rarely reported, significant nitrite concentrations-relatively higher in the larger drops- were observed, and copper concentrations merit further investigation in the Davis fogs. The findings presented here are consistent with other studies. The implications and benefits of the increased resolution of size-dependent drop composition provided by the CSU 5-Stage are explored for the Davis fogs in a companion paper (Moore et al., Atmos. Environ. (2004), this issue).
A Shifting Paradigm in the Recruitment and Retention of Underrepresented Graduate Students

Efforts to recruit and retain a diverse graduate population at colleges and universities are undergoing a paradigm shift. Diversity has traditionally been operationalized as racial minority, yet recent court decisions have indicated that such a definition is legally problematic. As a result, institutional leaders are moving toward defining diversity in terms of “underrepresented.” However, little is known about the specific activities institutions are undertaking to attract and retain underrepresented graduate students. This study presents the results of a national survey of members of the National Association of Graduate Admission Professionals on the efforts their institutions are undertaking to attract and retain underrepresented graduate students as well as their perceived effectiveness of such activities.
Growth and characterization of RuO2 single crystals

Abstract Using the vapor transport technique in a flowing oxygen system, we have grown the largest single crystals of RuO2 ever reported (10 mm × 5 mm × 5 mm). Polycrystalline RuO2, a mixture of polycrystalline RuO2 and purified Ru metal powder, or purified Ru metal powder were used as the starting material. Optimum conditions are given for growing large high quality crystals. The morphology, stoichiometry and resistivity of selected single crystals of RuO2 are discussed.
The Relationship of the Bayes Risk to Certain Separability Measures in Normal Classification

For the problem of classifying an element (e.g., an unknown pattern) into one of two given categories where the associated observables are distributed according to one of two known multivariate normal populations having a common covariance matrix, it is shown that the minimum Bayes risk is a strict monotonic function of certain separability or statistical distance measures regardless of the a priori probabilities and the assigned loss function. However, for the associated conditional expected losses, strict monotonicity holds, if and only if a certain condition dependent on these probabilities and the given loss function is satisfied. These results remain valid for classification problems in which the observable can be transformed by a one-to-one differentiable mapping to normality.
Loneliness The Relationship of Self-Disclosure and Androgyny

The relationship of self-disclosure and of psychological masculinity and femininity to the experience of loneliness was examined in a sample of college students. Since both disclosure and sex-typing are important factors in close interpersonal relationships, it was expected that they would also be associated with loneliness the experience of a deficiency in one's social relations. As predicted, loneliness was negatively correlated with past disclosure, willingness to disclose, and social responsiveness, but only for women. High masculinity and high femininity offered protection against loneliness, with androgynous students being least lonely.
Indices of stress in rats: effects of sex, perinatal alcohol and artificial rearing.

Abstract Three groups of rats were normally reared by dams, artificially reared but not exposed to alcohol or artificially reared and exposed to 6.6 g/kg/day of ethanol condensed into 8 h of each 24-h period. Alcohol exposure was given from postnatal day 4 through 9 and artificial rearing was conducted from postnatal day 4 to 12. In adulthood, approximately half of the rats were fitted with a chronic jugular catheter and were exposed to swim stress for 1 min in 21°C water. Alcohol exposure augmented the corticosteroid stress response to the swim stress in female rats but not in male rats. The other half of the animals were tested for acquisition and extinction of a conditioned emotional response (CER). While alcohol exposure had no effects on the CER, extinction of CER was greatly accelerated by artificial rearing alone in female rats but not in male rats. Taken together, these findings suggest that some aspects of the stress response in female rats are more vulnerable to insults during the early postnatal period than those in male rats and that the insult-induced alterations can affect hormonal and behavioral measures differentially.
Varying rates of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea at prevention epicenter hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) causes substantial healthcare-associated morbidity. Unlike other common healthcare-associated pathogens, little comparative information is available about CDAD rates in hospitalized patients. OBIECTIVES: To determine CDAD rates per 10,000 patient-days and per 1,000 hospital admissions at 7 geographically diverse tertiary-care centers from 2000 to 2003, and to survey participating centers on methods of CDAD surveillance and case definition. METHODS: Each center provided specific information for the study period, including case numbers, patient-days, and hospital characteristics. Case definitions and laboratory diagnoses of healthcare-associated CDAD were determined by each institution. Within institutions, case definitions remained consistent during the study period. RESULTS: Overall, mean annual case rates of CDAD were 12.1 per 10,000 patient-days (range, 3.1 to 25.1) and 7.4 per 1,000 hospital admissions (range, 3.1 to 13.1). No significant increases were observed in CDAD case rates during the 4-year interval, either at individual centers or in the Prevention Epicenter hospitals as a whole. Prevention Epicenter hospitals differed in their CDAD case definitions. Different case definitions used by the hospitals applied to a fixed data set resulted in a 30% difference in rates. No associations were identified between diagnostic test or case definition used and the relative rate of CDAD at a specific medical center. CONCLUSIONS: Rates of CDAD vary widely at tertiary-care centers across the United States. No significant increases in case rates were identified. The varying clinical and laboratory approaches to diagnosis complicated comparisons between hospitals. To facilitate benchmarking and comparisons between institutions, we recommend development of a more standardized case definition.
Reactions of manganese iminoacyl complexes with phosphines, phosphites and sulfur dioxide

Abstract Reactions involving the Mn&.sbnd;N bond of tetracarbonyl[1,2-bis(p-tolylimino)-3-(p-chlorophenyl)propyl]manganese, and some of its tricarbonyl derivatives containing phosphine or phosphite ligands were investigated. In an effort to prepare complexes with non-chelated bis(iminoacyl) ligands, this Mn compound was allowed to react with phosphines and phosphites. Only products of carbonyl substitution were obtained. All these compounds were allowed to react with sulfur dioxide. The SO2 adducts were unstable and had CO stretching frequencies 20–30 cm−1 higher than those of the patent phosphine or phosphite compounds. Evidence is presented for nucleophilic attack by SO2. The molecular structure of Mn(CO) 3 [P(OCH 2 ) 3 CCH 2 CH 3 ][C(NC 6 H 4 CH 3 )C(N C6H4CH3)CH2C6H4Cl] has been determined by X-ray diffraction. Also investigated were reactions of tetracarbonyl [1,2-bis(p-tolyl-imino)-3-(p-chlorophenyl)propyl] manganese with SO3 tetracyanoethylene and 1,1-diphenylethylene. Instead of the anticipated imino N displacement and ring closure, SO3 gave only oxidation products while the olefins did not react.
Recreation and Quality of Life in Old Age: A Causal Analysis

This study examines the interrelationships among recreation and other life circumstance variables and quality of life. LISREL, a causal analysis technique, was used to test a theoretical model based on previous gerontological research. Results indicate that the variables of sex, education, religiosity, marital status, and age are significantly related to income, health, recreation activity participation, and recreation satisfaction. However these variables do not significantly influence quality of life directly. The only significant, direct predictor of quality of life is satisfaction with recreation.
Correlating point‐referenced radon and areal uranium data arising from a common spatial process

Summary. Because exposure to radon gas in buildings is a likely risk factor for lung cancer, estimation of residential radon levels is an important public health endeavour. Radon originates from uranium, and therefore data on the geographical distribution of uranium in the Earth's surface may inform about radon levels. We fit a Bayesian geostatistical model that appropriately combines data on uranium with measurements of indoor home radon in the state of Iowa, thereby obtaining more accurate and precise estimation of the geographic distribution of average residential radon levels than would be possible by using radon data alone.
SIX-YEAR FIELD TEST RESULTS OF MICROPROPAGATED BLACK CHERRY (PRUNUS SEROTINA)

A field test was established in 1987 to evaluate the growth of micropropagated black cherry plantlets and control seedlings. The study also evaluated effects of two container types on initial survival and growth and of pruning on stem form and growth. At the time of field establishment, plantlets had more extensive root systems than the control seedlings. Survival and height growth were not influenced by container size. Through the first three growing seasons, seedlings were larger than micropropagated plants, but growth differences diminished in the fourth through sixth seasons. Pruning increased the length of clear stem by nearly five-fold but adversely affected diameter growth.