cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Stress on Interfacial Waves in Elastic Compressible Interlayers

The characteristics of elastic interfacial waves in pre-stressed compressible interlayers are examined. The interlayer is separated from an infinite surrounding solid of a generally different non-linear elastic compressible material by planar parallel boundaries. The underlying stress conditions in the two solids are homogeneous with their underlying finite strain having common principal axes, one axis being normal to the planar interfaces. For arbitrary materials and otherwise arbitrary stress, the dispersion equation of superposed small amplitude waves is derived in explicit form for propagation along a principal pre-strain axis lying on an interfacial plane. Analysis of the dispersion equation reveals the characteristics of propagating waves. In respect of the solids’ material and pre-stress parameters, single or multiple mode propagation occurs or no propagation at all. The propagation characteristics are classified into categories defined by the material and pre-stress parameters. For wavelengths large as compared to the interlayer thickness, the interfacial wave speed is derived in explicit form yielding parameter conditions for the non-existence of interfacial waves. The bifurcation equation, a limiting case of the dispersion equation, is also examined yielding standing waves as solutions which define the boundaries of stability for the propagating waves. Graphical illustrations are also presented based on numerical computations for Blatz-Ko materials.
Prevalence and Impact of Dietary Avoidance among Individuals with Hidradenitis Suppurativa.

Background People with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) are interested in dietary alterations to manage the condition. However, there are few data on the prevalence of this or the impact on HS activity. The objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence and impact of dietary alterations made by people with HS. Methods A cross-sectional survey was sent to people with HS through multiple sources. Participants reported food alterations in the prior 6 months. -Results: Overall, 242 complete surveys were included in this analysis; the mean age was 35.8 years, and most (87.5%) were women. The majority (75.8%, n = 182) altered at least one food from their diet. Within this group, 154 (84.6%) made changes to multiple food groups. The top 5 food groups that were altered were gluten (48.8%), dairy (44.2%), refined sugars (40.0%), tomatoes (36.7%), and alcohol (37.1%). Smoking was eliminated in 27.5% of participants. Some participants (30.9%) reported the change made the HS "much better." Conclusions Dietary alteration to manage HS was common among participants in this study. Some people reported improvement in HS activity, but some noted worsening. Additional research is needed to evaluate the efficacy of dietary alteration to manage HS and to better understand the underlying pathomechanisms.
The Current State of Gender-Affirming Surgery Training in Plastic Surgery Residency Programs as Reported by Residency Program Directors.

Background The purpose of this Web-based survey was to elucidate the current perspectives of plastic surgery residency program directors on training residents to perform gender-affirming surgery. Methods Web-based surveys were distributed to 79 plastic surgery program directors. Demographic information and perspectives on training of gender-affirming surgery in plastic surgery residency were queried. Results Of 79 distributed surveys, there were 43 responses (54 percent). Overall, program directors reported that their trainees were prepared to address plastic surgery-related transgender concerns (67 percent), and believe plastic surgeons are the most appropriate specialty referral for each type of gender-affirming surgery (top/chest, 98 percent; facial, 95 percent; and bottom/genital, 79 percent). Ninety-three percent of program directors noted that transgender surgery is becoming more accepted and/or practiced in their referral area, with 26 percent reporting a dedicated clinic experience. There was a mixed response on the need for additional fellowship training for gender-affirming surgery. Residents are exposed to significantly more bottom (p = 0.0018), top (p = 0.0013), and facial operations (p = 0.00005) if they rotate through a "gender" clinic. Conclusions Of the queried program directors, the majority feel their residents are well-trained in gender-affirming surgery. However, residents have more clinical exposure in facial and top (chest) gender-affirming surgery as compared to bottom (genital) surgery. Although most program directors agree that plastic surgeons are the most important referral for top, bottom, and facial operations, there is less consensus over the role of fellowship training. Most program directors reported a desire to devote additional CME time to the topic in the coming years.
Caregivers and Tax Reform: Before and After Snapshots

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) changed the way families are taxed, starting in tax year 2018. By rearranging a myriad of deck chairs, politicians painted rosy pictures of families reaping the benefits of tax reform. In reality, however, generalizations cannot be made and the extent to which any one family gains or loses depends on particular facts. Even more obscured is the way in which the TCJA changed –– and failed to change –– the taxation of different types of caregivers. This Essay seeks to provide needed clarity in this area. It begins by offering snapshots of how parents of minor children were taxed immediately prior to and after the TCJA’s enactment. Specifically, while the TCJA expanded some of the general benefits available to parents of minor children, it failed to expand — and in critical cases, even preserve — specific benefits that are contingent on “parenting model.” For instance, the TCJA departed from historical norms by rolling back benefits reserved for unmarried parents and failed to make long over-due inflation adjustments to provisions of the Code that allow dual earning couples and unmarried parents (but not sole earning couples) to recover childcare costs incurred to work outside the home. These snapshots reveal how Congress, through the TCJA, picked winners and losers, enacting tax reform that disproportionately favored sole earners at the expense of other parents. This Essay next turns to other types of care-giving, such as elder care, and develops two more pre-and post-reform snapshots. These pictures show how the inequities that result from Congress’ favoritism of sole earners extend to other care-giving arrangements and how these inequities compound for members of the “sandwich generation” who provide both parental and non-parental care. In the end, this Essay develops a series of snapshots that contrast starkly with rosy political rhetoric and which reveal that the TCJA not only failed to address many pre-existing tax inequities between caregivers but also made them worse.
An Experimental Study of Bias in Platform Worker Ratings: The Role of Performance Quality and Gender

We study how the ratings people receive on online labor platforms are influenced by their performance, gender, their rater's gender, and displayed ratings from other raters. We conducted a deception study in which participants collaborated on a task with a pair of simulated workers, who varied in gender and performance level, and then rated their performance. When the performance of paired workers was similar, low-performing females were rated lower than their male counterparts. Where there was a clear performance difference between paired workers, low-performing females were preferred over a similarly-performing male peer. Furthermore, displaying an average rating from other raters made ratings more extreme, resulting in high performing workers receiving significantly higher ratings and low performers lower ratings compared to when average ratings were absent. This work contributes an empirical understanding of when biases in ratings manifest, and offers recommendations for how online work platforms can counter these biases.
Rotational Stability of Scaphoid Waist Nonunion Bone Graft and Fixation Techniques.

Purpose Rotational instability of scaphoid fracture nonunions can lead to persistent nonunion. We hypothesized that a hybrid Russe technique would provide improved rotational stability compared with an instrumented corticocancellous wedge graft in a cadaver model of scaphoid nonunion. Methods A volar wedge osteotomy was created at the scaphoid waist in 16 scaphoids from matched-pair specimens. A wedge was inset at the osteotomy site or a 4 × 16-mm strut was inserted in the scaphoid and a screw was placed along the central axis (model 1). The construct was cyclically loaded in torsion until failure. The screw was removed and the proximal and distal poles were debrided. A matching wedge and packed cancellous bone graft or an 8 × 20-mm strut was shaped and fit inside the proximal and distal pole (model 2). A screw was placed and testing was repeated. Results In the first model, there was no significant difference in cycles to failure, target torque, or maximal torque between the strut graft and the wedge graft. Cycles to failure positively correlated with estimated bone density for the wedge graft, but not for the strut graft. In the second model, the strut graft had significantly higher cycles to failure, greater target torque, and higher maximal torque compared with the wedge graft. The number of cycles to failure was not correlated with estimated bone density for the wedge or the strut grafts. Conclusions The hybrid Russe technique of inlay corticocancellous strut and screw fixation provides improved rotational stability compared with a wedge graft with screw fixation for a cadaver model of scaphoid waist nonunion with cystic change. Clinical relevance The hybrid Russe technique may provide better rotational stability for scaphoid waist nonunions when the proximal or distal scaphoid pole is compromised, such as when there is extensive cystic change, when considerable debridement is necessary, or with revision nonunion surgery.
COVID-19-associated Guillain-Barré syndrome: The early pandemic experience.

Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is an inflammatory polyradiculoneuropathy associated with numerous viral infections. Recently, there have been many case reports describing the association between coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) and GBS, but much remains unknown about the strength of the association and the features of GBS in this setting. We reviewed 37 published cases of GBS associated with COVID-19 to summarize this information for clinicians and to determine whether a specific clinical or electrodiagnostic (EDx) pattern is emerging. The mean age (59 years), gender (65% male), and COVID-19 features appeared to reflect those of hospitalized COVID-19 patients early in the pandemic. The mean time from COVID-19 symptoms to GBS symptoms was 11 days. The clinical presentation and severity of these GBS cases was similar to those with non-COVID-19 GBS. The EDx pattern was considered demyelinating in approximately half of the cases. Cerebrospinal fluid, when assessed, demonstrated albuminocytologic dissociation in 76% of patients and was negative for severe acute respiratory distress syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) in all cases. Serum antiganglioside antibodies were absent in 15 of 17 patients tested. Most patients were treated with a single course of intravenous immunoglobulin, and improvement was noted within 8 weeks in most cases. GBS-associated COVID-19 appears to be an uncommon condition with similar clinical and EDx patterns to GBS before the pandemic. Future studies should compare patients with COVID-19-associated GBS to those with contemporaneous non-COVID-19 GBS and determine whether the incidence of GBS is elevated in those with COVID-19.
Bodies, Race, and Performance in Antony and Cleopatra and Derek Walcott’s A Branch of the Blue Nile: Memory’s Signatures

A late example of Nobel laureate Derek Walcott’s career-long interest both in theatre and in echoing Shakespeare, A Branch of the Blue Nile considers the relationship between postcolonial subjects and the culture of their former colonizers, as a Trinidadian theatre company tries to stage an indigenized Antony and Cleopatra. As well as the heritage of shame attached to his heroine’s dark skin because of its reminder of black women’s abjection during slavery, Walcott’s revision of Antony and Cleopatra also takes up questions of representation and performance. While Walcott’s career was marked by his creative negotiations with the cultural remainders of the Caribbean’s colonial past, his Trinidadian Cleopatra is finally unable to negotiate a way of being beyond her formation within the stifling regulation of her island’s sexual and racial histories.
The Transition from High School to College

The transition from high school to college provides an opportunity for peer mentors to assist first-semester students. Students transitioning to college have completed at least two cycles of school advancement, from elementary school to middle school and from middle school to high school. The messages received from family and society imply that high school graduates are ready for college, but their state of readiness depends on their college preparation during their K–12 experience (Maltese & Tai, 2011; U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2020).
A year in review: artificial intelligence permeates into mainstream statistics in pharmaceutical product development at a laggard pace.

There was a total of 74 original articles published in the Journal’s Volume 30 in 2020. Many of the articles talk about unique problems in the following broad research areas: Adaptive or group sequ...
Comprehensively addressing postpartum maternal health: a content and image review of commercially available mobile health apps

The United States is currently facing a maternal morbidity and mortality crisis, with the highest rates of any resource-rich nation. In efforts to address this, new guidelines for postpartum care suggest that mobile health (mHealth) apps can help provide complementary clinical support for new mothers during the postpartum period. However, to date no study has evaluated the quality of existing mHealth tools targeted to this time period in terms of sufficiency of maternal health information, inclusivity of people of color, and app usability. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) standards were used to review the peripartum apps from the Apple and Google Play stores in either the Health/Fitness, Medical, or Education categories. Apps were evaluated for extent and quality of maternal health information and inclusivity of people of color using an a priori coding scheme. App usability was evaluated using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) score. Of the 301 apps from the Apple and Google Play stores, 25 met criteria for final evaluation. Of the 30 maternal health topics coded for, the median number addressed by apps was 19.5 (65%). Peripartum behaviors were more frequently addressed than peripartum outpatient care topics and peripartum acute health risks. The coverage of maternal health information and inclusivity of people of color in app imagery both correlated positively with the MARS usability score of the app. Only 8 apps (32%) portrayed greater than 24% images of people of color- the percent of non-white Americans according to 2019 census estimates. There was no correlation between MARS usability score and number of app users, as estimated by number of ratings for the app available on the app store. In addition, apps with evidence-based maternal health information had greater MARS engagement, information, and aesthetics scores. However, presence of evidence-based information did not correlate with greater numbers of app users. Current commercially available peripartum apps range widely in quality. Overall current app offerings generally do not provide adequate maternal health information and are not optimally accessible to the target users in terms of inclusivity of women of color or app usability. Apps delivering evidence-based information and more usable design are more likely to meet these standards but are not more likely to be downloaded by users.
Surgery, Music, and Art: How Billroth Made the Connection.

This is letter to the Editor regarding a recent article in your journal. Billroth's contribution to fine art was not only from a musical aspect but also from a famous painting by allowing Seligmann to document his surgery class in this historical work.
A Pseudo-Temporal Multi-Grid Relaxation Scheme for Solving the Parabolized Navier-Stokes Equations

A multi-grid, flux-difference-split, finite-volume code, VULCAN, is presented for solving the elliptic and parabolized form of the equations governing three-dimensional, turbulent, calorically perfect and non-equilibrium chemically reacting flows. The space marching algorithms developed to improve convergence rate and or reduce computational cost are emphasized. The algorithms presented are extensions to the class of implicit pseudo-time iterative, upwind space-marching schemes. A full approximate storage, full multi-grid scheme is also described which is used to accelerate the convergence of a Gauss-Seidel relaxation method. The multi-grid algorithm is shown to significantly improve convergence on high aspect ratio grids.
Quantum Computing Opportunities in Renewable Energy

Quantum computing is a new field of computing that relies on the laws of quantum mechanics to perform types of information processing that are not possible on traditional (”classical”) computers. As a result, quantum computers are capable of using problem-solving approaches which are not available to classical computers. Thus far, most research in quantum computing has taken place in physics and theoretical computer science, leaving a disconnect between these researchers and practical problems/applications. There is a need to identify good near-term problems to demonstrate quantum computing’s problem-solving potential. One possible area of contribution is in renewable energy. Adoption and scale-up of renewable resources in the next several decades will introduce many new challenges to the electrical grid due to the need to control many more distributed resources and to account for the variability of weather-dependent generation flows. We identify a few places where quantum computing is most likely to contribute to renewable energy problems: in simulation, in scheduling and dispatch, and in reliability analyses. The problems have the common theme that there are potential future issues concerning scalability of current approaches that quantum computing may address. We then recommend potentially fruitful areas of crossover research to advance applications of quantum computing and renewable energy.
Event-Centric Natural Language Processing

This tutorial targets researchers and practitioners who are interested in AI technologies that help machines understand natural language text, particularly real-world events described in the text. These include methods to extract the internal structures of an event regarding its protagonist(s), participant(s) and properties, as well as external structures concerning memberships, temporal and causal relations of multiple events. This tutorial will provide audience with a systematic introduction of (i) knowledge representations of events, (ii) various methods for automated extraction, conceptualization and prediction of events and their relations, (iii) induction of event processes and properties, and (iv) a wide range of NLU and commonsense understanding tasks that benefit from aforementioned techniques. We will conclude the tutorial by outlining emerging research problems in this area.
Mycelium: Large-Scale Distributed Graph Queries with Differential Privacy

This paper introduces Mycelium, the first system to process differentially private queries over large graphs that are distributed across millions of user devices. Such graphs occur, for instance, when tracking the spread of diseases or malware. Today, the only practical way to query such graphs is to upload them to a central aggregator, which requires a great deal of trust from users and rules out certain types of studies entirely. With Mycelium, users' private data never leaves their personal devices unencrypted, and each user receives strong privacy guarantees. Mycelium does require the help of a central aggregator with access to a data center, but the aggregator merely facilitates the computation by providing bandwidth and computation power; it never learns the topology of the graph or the underlying data. Mycelium accomplishes this with a combination of homomorphic encryption, a verifiable secret redistribution scheme, and a mix network based on telescoping circuits. Our evaluation shows that Mycelium can answer a range of different questions from the medical literature with millions of devices.
Contextual and Industry Considerations in Strategic Leadership-EO Research

I begin this chapter with a brief review of the task environment—environmental hostility, dynamism, and complexity—as a moderating factor in the EO-performance literature, and direct-effect relationships of the task environment to EO. But I quickly turn my attention to contextual factors that go beyond the task environment, and that represent fruitful avenues of inquiry in the strategic leadership—EO context. I focus first on capital velocity expectations, and how capital efficiency may influence leadership decisions and resource allocation decisions regarding EO. I then explore how the speed of digital transformation in an industry creates a series of moderating conditions on various strategic leadership predictors and EO outcomes. I next turn to a brief discussion of differences between public and private firms, specifically in the context of disclosure requirements and performance expectations among publicly traded firms. I conclude with how various boutique EO conceptualizations—international EO, non-profit EO, and so forth—relate to the research model presented in the book.
Driving Simulators for Commercial Truck Drivers - Humans in the Loop

This paper reports the findings of a research study that addresses differences in human performance outcomes based on various driving simulators, as measured by comparison of scores resulting from completion of the Virtual Check Ride System (VCRS), a simulator-based, blended learning Commercial Drivers License (CDL) application. The objective of the project was to examine human performance across four different levels of driving simulators and to determine if driving simulators can contribute to human performance improvement. Each level of simulator has a definite set of tasks that can be performed on it to enhance human performance. By identifying which level of driving simulator is the best fit according to the skill, knowledge, and attitude task element, we can now prescribe for diagnostic, testing, pre-hire, remediation, safety issues and advanced driving skills.
Limited Faith in the Good Faith Exception: The Third Circuit Requires a Warrant for GPS Searches and Narrows the Scope of the Davis Exception to the Exclusionary Rule in United States v. Katzin

On October 22, 2013, in United States v. Katzin, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held that police and federal agents must obtain a warrant prior to attaching a GPS device on a vehicle. In doing so, the Third Circuit became the first federal appeals court to add a warrant requirement to the practice of GPS tracking by the police. The court also held that the good faith exception did not excuse the warrantless use of a GPS device, and that law enforcement’s reliance on out-of-circuit or distinguishable authority alone was insufficient to support a finding of good faith. This Comment argues that the Third Circuit took a mistakenly narrow view of the good faith exception, and failed to further the purpose of the exception as determined by the U.S. Supreme Court. This Comment contends that on rehearing en banc, the Third Circuit conducted a superior good faith analysis of the law enforcement conduct in Katzin, and correctly reversed the district court’s decision to apply the
Bites and Stings

As travel increases and humans continue to expand their presence throughout the world, dermatologists must be familiar with a number of creatures capable of inflicting medically significant injury. This chapter describes those creatures which, when encountered by the unsuspecting human, may result in notable morbidity and mortality.
Es viable el periodismo investigativo

El periodismo de investigacion no es rentable porque requiere grandes inversiones de tiempo y de recursos. Sin embargo, los medios que deciden apoyar este tipo de reportajes asumen un compromiso que determina un capital invaluable en terminos de prestigio y credibilidad. Palabras clave: Periodismo investigativo; relevancia social; prestigio del medio.
Ultrastructural Alterations Associated with the Growth of Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the Presence of Benzalkonium Chloride

Cells of Pseudomonas aeruginosa resistant to benzalkonium chloride (BC) underwent unique ultrastructural reorganizations when they were grown in the presence of 1 mg of BC/ml. The resistant cells usually contained a single, centrally positioned pseudovacuole. The pseudovacuole was surrounded by a diffuse substance that spread irregularly throughout the cytoplasm. The presence of the pseudovacuole seemed to cause a physical compartmentalization of the cytoplasm into random pockets of ribosomes and nuclear material. Contained within the pseudovacuole was a horseshoe-shaped, electron-dense body which was bounded by a trilaminar membrane 5.2 nm in width. These bodies averaged 77 nm when measured through the long axis. The surfaces of resistant cells were covered by an additional layer not found in sensitive cells. Thin sections of sensitive cells which had been treated with 1 mg of BC/ml showed little or no lysis. The cytoplasm appeared to be deeply stained and coagulated. Ribosomes were no longer distinctly visible. Although the cell wall remained intact, the cell membrane was dissolved and fragmented. BC-grown resistant cells could not be successfully stained by standard techniques; however, details were demonstrated with the aid of a combination of 1.5% glutaraldehyde, 1% osmium tetroxide, and 1% phosphotungstic acid prepared in 0.1 m sodium dimethylarsonate buffer (pH 6.8).
Neuropsychiatric Alterations in MDMA Users

: The use of marijuana is rampant among 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) users. The co-occurrence of abuse of these two drugs has made it difficult to assess the specific residual effects of MDMA alone. As a first step toward identifying the effects of long-term MDMA use, we studied 8 MDMA abusers, 8 marijuana/MDMA abusers, 15 marijuana abusers (matched in marijuana use without MDMA use), and 17 control subjects. EEG, cerebral blood velocity by pulsed transcranial Doppler (TCD), and psychological measures were collected. Three-minute resting eyes-closed EEG recordings were obtained from 16 electrodes. The EEG was converted to 6 frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha-1, alpha-2, beta-1, and beta-2) using a fast Fourier transformation. Blood flow velocity was determined using a temporal window for the right and left middle cerebral arteries using TCD. Absolute log delta power in the EEG of MDMA abusers at central electrode sites was significantly higher than that of the MDMA/marijuana, marijuana abusers, and control subjects. There were also increases in alpha-2 EEG power observed only in marijuana abusers. The blood flow measure, diastolic velocity, was increased in MDMA abusers whether they used marijuana or not. Because increases in delta power and perfusion deficits are associated with some chronic disorders, our findings in these ecstasy abusers suggest that MDMA use may be associated with a drug-induced neuropathological state. More research is necessary to test these ideas.
Iris Hemangioma and Abnormal Retinal Vasculature in a Case of Diffuse Congenital Hemangiomatosis

Generalized cutaneous and visceral hemangiomas in the neonate are a rare and se­ rious phenomenon; there are only eight re­ ported cases.' This is a report of an infant with diffuse congenital hemangiomatosis; in addition to a unilateral cavernous hemangioma of the iris, retinal vasculature was found to be abnormal bilaterally. In the other affected tissues, the lesions consisted of vas­ cular hamartomas in which abnormally di­ lated capillaries were sometimes associated with a reduced number of the vessel-wall pericytes.
Paleoliquefaction study of the Clarendon Linden fault system, western New York State

Abstract The lack of earthquake-induced liquefaction features in Late Wisconsin and Holocene sediments in Genesee, Wyoming, and Allegany Counties suggests that the Clarendon–Linden fault system (CLF) did not generate large, moment magnitude, M≥6 earthquakes during the past 12,000 years. Given that it was the likely source of the 1929 M 4.9 Attica earthquake, however, the Clarenden–Linden fault system probably is capable of producing future M∼5 events. During this study, we reviewed newspaper accounts of the 1929 Attica earthquake, searched for earthquake-induced liquefaction features in sand and gravel pits and along tens of kilometers of river cutbanks, evaluated numerous soft-sediment deformation structures, compiled geotechnical data and performed liquefaction potential analysis of saturated sandy sediments. We found that the 1929 M 4.9 Attica earthquake probably did not induce liquefaction in its epicentral area and may have been generated by the western branch of the Clarendon–Linden fault system. Most soft-sediment deformation structures found during reconnaissance did not resemble earthquake-induced liquefaction features, and even the few that did could be attributed to non-seismic processes. Our analysis suggests that the magnitude threshold for liquefaction is between M 5.2 and 6, that a large (M≥6) earthquake would liquefy sediments at many sites in the area, and that a moderate earthquake (M 5–5.9) would liquefy sediments at some sites but perhaps not at enough sites to have been found during reconnaissance. We conclude that the Clarendon–Linden fault system could have produced small and moderate earthquakes, but probably not large events, during the Late Wisconsin and Holocene.
Light-induced rapid absorption changes during photosynthesis. VIII. Cytochrome and bacteriochlorophyll reactions in Rhodospirillum rubrum cells☆

Abstract By means of flash spectrophotometry, the oxidation reactions of cytochromes c 2 and b can be differentiated. Cytochrome c 2 oxidation had a risetime of 1–2 msec; that of cytochrome b was several times longer. Both risetimes were several orders of magnitude longer than the duration of the excitation flash, suggesting that both cytochromes were oxidized in the dark. Unique for the cytochrome- b transients was the appearance of sharp spikes occurring always in the direction opposite of those of the cytochrome- b oxidation. These transient spikes occurred at an excitation intensity level beyond the saturation level for both cytochromes c 2 and b . The risetime for the sharp spike transients was approx. 50 μsec. In the wild-type Rhodospirillum rubrum cells, reactions due to the carotenoids caused spectral changes in the 470–560-mμ region. This resulted in an unproportionately large negative α- and β-bands in the light- minus -dark difference spectrum. There was no noticeable difference in the decay kinetics between the cytochromes and the carotenoids. The oxidation of both cytochromes c 2 and b was stopped near o°. At −196°, positive bands appeared at 430 and 790 mμ, and negative bands appeared at 380, 810 and 870 mμ. All reactions taking place at the liquid-nitrogen temperature had a risetime of approx. 50 μsec. The low-temperature difference spectrum probably represents changes originated from the bacteriochlorophyll molecules. The net effect of 4 inhibitors ( p -chloromercuribenzoate (PCMB), phenylmercuriacetate, 2- n -heptyl-4-hydroxyquinoline- N -oxide (HOQNO), and antimycin A) on R. rubrum cells was similar, i.e. , the light- minus -dark difference spectrum resembled closely that obtained with whole cells at −196° or from chromatophores at room temperature. The effect of PCMB on the transients at all wavelengths was immediate. In the presence of phenylmercuriacetate, HOQNO or antimycin A, however, the final transient profile at 420 mμ took more than 2 h to become established. Prior to that time, the transient underwent a series of intermediate stages. More unusally, the 420-mμ transient in the presence of HOQNO or antFSimycin A appeared to completely revert to the initial profile at approx. 120 min after the inhibitor was added.
Kindling of neuroanatomic pathways during recurrent focal penicillin seizures.

Abstract Sequential changes in convulsive phenomena have been studied using intracortical injections of penicillin as a kindling agent. Rats given 25 units of penicillin every 4 days had a progressive increase in the frequency of contralateral muscle jerks. Unilateral tonic-clonic events began after the third injection, and bilateral jerks of both upper extremities began subsequent to that. No generalized convulsions occurred, and further changes in focal convulsions stopped after 7 injections. The seizure events occurring in this kindled state could be seen in rats given a single injection of 100 units of penicillin. Rats subjected to daily injections at this dosage did not develop more intense seizures, and afterdischarges essentially stopped after the first injection. Animals studied with deoxyglucose autoradiography during kindling with 25 units showed an increase in the size and intensity of metabolic activity in the seizure focus. In additon there was an increase in size and intensity of most transynaptic sites, with new activity appearing in contralateral basal ganglia. A comparison of these findings with the autoradiographic results of animals receiving 100 units of penicillin suggests that the major change during kindling takes place in the focus itself. The appearance of new activity in contralateral basal ganglia is probably an expression of activity in crossed corticostriate pathways from the focus as well as pathways descending from the homotopic cortex in an obligatory input-output response. Use of these pathways is not dependent on kindling, but is available on a first come basis if the intensity of discharges from the seizure focus is strong enough.
HELIUM-OXYGEN MIXTURES DO NOT IMPROVE PULMONARY FUNCTION IN CHILDREN WITH ASTHMA 1820

Helium-oxygen mixtures (heliox) have been used in patients with bronchial asthma with variable results. To better understand the effects of heliox on respiratory function we studied 36 children with moderate to severe chronic asthma who were not acutely ill. Ages ranged from 6 to 17 years (mean 11.6) and 10 to 15 years (mean 11.8) for 27 males and 9 females, respectively. Spirometry (PK Morgan Spiroflow) was performed before and after breathing two heliox mixtures (80:20 and 60:40) for 7.5 minutes each. The order of heliox mixture administration was randomized and the washout period between tests was 15 minutes. The data were expressed as mean% predicted (Polgar) ± SEM and means of groups were compared using ANOVA (Sigma Stat).Table
Polypropylene photostabilization by hindered amines in the presence of acidic species

Some volatile acids were found to dramatically reduce the effectiveness of additives based on 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine as photostabilizers for polypropylene films. Strong acids such as HCl, HBr, and HNO3 had the largest effect with sulfurous acid somewhat less detrimental. Weak organic acids did not impair the effectiveness of the hindered amine light stabilizers. The role of acid concentration and contact time were explored for the HCl–piperidyl additive system. Secondary and tertiary amines were included in the study as well as oligomeric additives and an N-oxyl derivative. The latter is less basic than the free amines, and it was correspondingly less effected by acid exposures. The possibilities for acid exposure during the compounding, fabrication, and use of stabilized polyolefin articles is discussed as well as the effects of acids in terms of proposed stabilization mechanisms for the hindered amines.
Vasopressin-induced activation of protein kinase C in renal epithelial cells.

Abstract Recent studies indicate that the actions of arginine vasopressin (AVP) and other agonists that stimulate electrogenic sodium transport in renal epithelial A6 cells are linked to a Ca 2+ -mobilizing signal transduction mechanism that involves generation of inositol trisphosphate. Since diacylglycerol is the other product in this pathway, studies were performed to determine the possible role of PKC in the stimulation of sodium transport. AVP induced a biphasic increase in diacylglycerol generation, characterized by an initial rapid rise and then a sustained elevation, and PKC activation, reflected by phosphorylation of a specific 80 kDa myristoylated alanine-rich PKC substrate (MARCKS). To determine the PKC isoform(s) involved in this process, immunoblot analysis was performed using antisera that recognize both classical PKC isoforms, XPKC-I and XPCK-II, cloned from Xenopus oocytes. The transcripts of both isoforms were expressed in the A6 cell. Since protein recognized by antisera was translocated from cytosol to the particulate fraction after exposure to AVP, one or both isoforms were activated in the A6 cell. Further studies showed that cyclohexyladenosine and insulin, additional agonists of sodium transport in A6 cells, also stimulated phosphorylation of MARCKS. These results argue that Ca 2+ -dependent PKC is involved in the action of AVP, and that of other agonists, which stimulate sodium transport.
Unraveling K -page graphs

I show in this note that for any integer k and any k page graph G , there is an easily constructed 3-page graph G ′ (called the unraveling of G ) such that the minimum separator sizes of G and G ′ are within a factor of k of each other. Further the maximum degree of a vertex of G ′ is at most 2 plus the maximum degree of G .
Report on a community based venereal disease clinic for homosexual men

Abstract The present report describes the organization and operation of a community based venereal disease clinic designed to meet the particular needs of homosexual men. Male same‐sex contact is seen as an important factor in the epidemiology of venereal disease and the community based clinic is described as a potentially important mechanism for control of the disease. Socio‐medical characteristics of male homosexual patients are described. Data are offered to document the prevalence of asymptomatic gonorrhea and the need for screening of atypical sites in this population.
TH‐C‐103‐10: AIR: Fused Analytical and Iterative Reconstruction Method for Computed Tomography

Purpose: CT image reconstruction techniques can be classified roughly into two categories: analytical reconstruction method and iterative reconstruction method (IR). Analytical methods reconstruct images through analytical formulas, such as filtered backprojection (FBP) in 2D and FDK in 3D, which can be either mathematically exact or approximate. In contrast, IR is often based on the discrete forward model of X‐ray transform and formulated as a minimization problem with certain image regularization, so that the reconstructed image corresponds to the minimizer obtained after iterations. Each method has its own advantages. This work is to investigate the fused analytical and iterative reconstruction method (AIR). Methods: As a 2D example of AIR, FBP is incorporated into tensor framelet (TF) based IR. Specifically, AIR is formulated as a L1‐type optimization problem. The data fidelity term consists of the discrete X‐ray transform with the preconditioner that is specific to FBP. The image regularization term is via TF. The formulated minimization problem is efficiently solved through split Bregman method with GPU‐accelerated X‐ray transform and its adjoint. Results: FBP, IR, and AIR were compared using experimental data that were acquired from a resolution phantom and a contrast phantom with TomoTherapy megavoltage CT. The reconstruction was performed with the regular fully sampled case (100% data) and the low‐dose undersampled case (25% data). Quantitative contrast and resolution evaluations were computed, including the full width at half maximum (FWHM) and the contrast‐to‐noise ratio (CNR). The experimental results suggest that AIR provides better image resolution than FBP or IR, and the reconstructed image contrast from AIR is comparable to that from IR, and better than that from FBP. Conclusion: AIR is proposed with a 2D example of FBP‐based TF‐regularized IR. Its superiority in terms of the resolution and the contrast for either regular or low‐dose scan has been established through experimental studies. This work is partially supported by NIH/NIBIB grant EB013387.
Transducers for automotive applications

Transducers account for about 60% of the cost of the powertrain control system in a modern vehicle. It is worth emphasising the vital role they play in making low-cost, reliable control systems possible
Potent Inhibitors of the Qi Site of the Mitochondrial Respiration Complex III

A series of azole-fused salicylamides were prepared as analogues of antimycin and assayed for activity at complex III of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. The activity of these compounds approached that of antimycin in inhibitory potency and some showed growth reduction of Septoria nodorum in vitro. Compound 8a was shown to bind at the Qi site of complex III by red-shift titration of the bc1 complex.
Corporal punishment, psychological maltreatment, violence, and punitiveness in America: Research, advocacy, and public policy

Abstract The high levels of punitiveness in our society are used to explain why it is taking so long to ban corporal punishment in American schools. Corporal punishment in home and school, and the related issues of psychological maltreatment and violence, are discussed in terms of definitions, demography, research, and effects. Advocacy research is explained as an approach to amelioration and to test the hypothesis that the United States is the most punitive of Western democracies. Policy initiatives for legislative action and prevention are presented.
Restructuring: From Student Strengths to Total School Improvement

The Total Talent Portfolio is one component of a plan for school restruc turing that allows us to view students differently than we have in the past. It focuses our attention on individual students and the high-level learning options that can maximize their talents.
Brugia pahangi: histopathological study of golden hamsters.

Abstract Sixteen male hamsters were inoculated subcutaneously with 95 to 150 infective larvae of B. pahangi and were examined for histopathologic lesions at 39–109 days postinfection. The basic microscopic lesion observed was obstructive granulomatous lymphangitis. Analogous lymph node changes sometimes occurred along with lymphoreticular hyperplasia and increased numbers of eosinophils. Cellular infiltration of perivascular and perinodal tissues was common, with plasma cells and eosinophils predominating. Genital lesions included funiculitis, epididymitis, and mild orchitis. Live and dead worms were found in the testicular parenchyma. Pulmonary changes in hamsters infected more than 105 days included multiple small, granulomatous foci and periarteriolar, peribronchiolar, and subpleural cellular accumulations of plasma cells and eosinophils. Granulomatous obstruction of pulmonary arteries associated with dead worms was observed in two hamsters infected for 39–45 days and in one hamster infected for 109 days. Small liver granulomas were common. Disintegrating microfilariae occurred within giant cells in the lymph nodes, spleen, lungs, and testes.
Modeling primary radical termination and its effects on autoacceleration in photopolymerization kinetics

In industrial photopolymerization processes, high light intensities are used to achieve fully cured products in short exposure times. Under these conditions, a high concentration of primary radicalsthose radicals derived directly from the photocleavage of the initiatoris established. These high concentrations can lead to a phenomenon known as primary radical termination, in which growing macroradicals are terminated by primary radicals instead of other macroradicals. This mechanism violates the pseudo-steady-state assumption used in most radical polymerization modeling. While previous research has demonstrated the effects of primary radical termination on low conversion, linear polymerizations, little has been done to describe its effects on diffusion-controlled polymerizations and high conversion systems. To improve our understanding of primary radical termination on photopolymerization kinetic behavior, a previously developed kinetic model is extended to include the primary radical termination mechanism...
Minimal uterine serous carcinoma: diagnosis and clinicopathologic correlation.

The clinicopathologic features of uterine serous carcinoma (USC) lacking myometrial invasion, including its putative precursor lesion endometrial intraepithelial carcinoma (EIC), have not been studied extensively. Some USCs may prove fatal even when myometrial invasion is apparently absent, whereas
Mitofusin Proteins Tether Proteoliposomes as Shown by Cryo-EM

A balance between mitochondrial membrane fusion and fission is required for normal mitochondrial morphology and function. Shifts in mitochondrial morphology as a result of changes in the balance of membrane fusion and fission accompany cellular differentiation and changes in metabolic state. It is thought that the severe, early-onset peripheral neuropathy Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 2A disease is a manifestation of mitochondrial fusion malfunction as a result of a mutation of one of the two human mitofusins, mitofusin 2. Our aim is to reveal the mechanism by which mitofusins cause membrane fusion. Both mammalian mitofusins contain a large GTPase domain at their N-terminus followed by two transmembrane domains and a short C-terminal domain. It is predicted that GTP hydrolysis and mitofusin conformational changes are coupled to membrane fusion. However, the precise mechanism for mitofusin-mediated membrane fusion remains an open question. In fact, it is still unknown if mitochondrial outer membrane fusion proceeds through the canonical steps of tethering, docking, fusion, and disassembly. To gain insight into the conformational changes that lead to membrane fusion we are examining the structure of mitofusins in a lipid bilayer. As two-pass transmembrane proteins, mitofusins have proven difficult to express and purify in their full-length state and are poor candidates for crystallography. Here we present a purification strategy and the first cryo-em images of full-length mitofusins in a lipid bilayer. In addition, we show that mitofusins tether proteolipsosomes by forming oligomers that interact in trans between synthetic membranes. This implies that mitofusins are sufficient for driving the first step of membrane fusion.
On the unimodality of the independent set numbers of a class of matroids

Abstract It is shown that the independent set numbers of polygon matroids of outerplanar graphs are log concave.