cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Post-exposure prophylaxis awareness and use among men who have sex with men in London who use geosocial-networking smartphone applications.

ABSTRACTThe number of new HIV infections continues to be on the rise in many high-income countries, most notably among men who have sex with men (MSM). Despite recent attention to the use of antiretroviral medications as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) among MSM, considerably less research has been devoted to examining the awareness and use of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). Based on a convenience sample of 179 self-reported HIV-uninfected MSM using a geosocial-networking smartphone application, this study is among the first to examine the awareness and use of PEP and their demographic and behavioral correlates among MSM in London. Most respondents (88.3%) had heard of PEP, where 27.4% reported having used it. In multivariable models, the disclosure of one’s sexual orientation to their general practitioner (Prevalence ratio [PR]: 3.49; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.14, 10.70; p = .029) and reporting one’s HIV status as negative (rather than unknown) (PR: 11.49; 95% CI: 1.68, 76.92; p = .013) were assoc...
Contracting to compete for flows

Abstract We present a model in which asset managers design their contracts to attract flows of investor capital. We find that they make their contracts depend on public information, e.g. credit ratings or benchmark indices, as a way to attract flows, rather than as a way to mitigate incentive problems, as has been emphasized in the literature. Unfortunately, asset managers' competition for flows triggers a race to the bottom: asset managers use public information in their contracts even though it is socially inefficient. This inefficiency arises because contracting on public information prevents risk sharing.
Parental occupational exposures and the risk of childhood sporadic retinoblastoma: a report from the Children’s Oncology Group

Objectives We examined associations between parental occupational chemical exposures up to 10 years before conception and the risk of sporadic retinoblastoma among offspring. Methods In our multicentre study on non-familial retinoblastoma, parents of 187 unilateral and 95 bilateral cases and 155 friend controls were interviewed by telephone. Exposure information was collected retroactively through a detailed occupational questionnaire that asked fathers to report every job held in the 10 years before conception, and mothers 1 month before and during the index pregnancy. An industrial hygienist reviewed all occupational data and assigned an overall exposure score to each job indicating the presence of nine hazardous agents. Results We estimated elevated ORs for unilateral and bilateral retinoblastoma among offspring of fathers who were exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or paints in the 10 years before conception. However, only for exposure to paints did confidence limits exclude the null for bilateral disease (OR: 8.76, 95% CI: 1.32 to 58.09). Maternal prenatal exposure to at least one of the nine agents was related to increased risk of unilateral disease in their children (OR: 5.25, 95% CI: 1.14 to 24.16). Fathers exposed to at least one of the nine agents and who were ≥30 years of age were at increased risk of having a child diagnosed with bilateral retinoblastoma (OR: 6.59, 95% CI: 1.34 to 32.42). Conclusions Our results suggest a role for several hazardous occupational exposures in the development of childhood retinoblastoma.
An Infectious Malignancy

An 82-year-old Cantonese-speaking woman presented complaining of a rapidly enlarging, painless mass on her right breast. She noted the mass approximately 6 months prior to the initial evaluation by her primary care provider. A chest x-ray was obtained which was negative for intrapulmonary findings. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study showed a large, subpectoral right chest wall mass that extended into the anterior mediastinum through the proximal sternum. Incidentally noted were bilaterally enlarged thyroid gland lobes and two sub-centimeter, non-enhancing lesions in the right lobe of the liver. A computerized tomography scan of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis showed a large mass in the ascending colon, likely representing a primary colonic malignancy as well as the large chest wall mass described on the MRI.
Treatment of stress urinary incontinence with low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy in a vaginal balloon dilation induced rat model.

Background: To investigate the outcomes and mechanisms of low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy (Li-ESWT) on stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in a vaginal balloon dilation (VBD) rat model. Methods: Thirty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly grouped into normal controls, VBD only, and VBD with Li-ESWT. Li-ESWT was administered twice per week for 3 weeks. Afterward, all 30 rats were assessed with functional and histological studies. To explore the acute effect of Li-ESWT, another 25 rats, given intraperitoneal 5-ethynyl-2-deoxyuridine (EdU) at birth, were treated with Li-ESWT followed by assessment of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression and endogenous progenitor cells distribution at 24 hours or 1 week after the last Li-ESWT therapy. Additionally, rat myoblast L6 cells were used for myotube formation assay in vitro . Results: Functional analysis with leak-point pressure (LPP) testing showed that rats treated with Li- ESWT following VBD had significantly higher LPP relative to those receiving VBD only (44.8±3.2 versus 27.0±2.9 cmH2O, P In vitro , Li-ESWT promoted myotube formation from L6 cells. Conclusions: Li-ESWT ameliorated SUI by promoting angiogenesis, progenitor cell recruitment, and urethral sphincter regeneration in a rat model induced by VBD. Li-ESWT represents a potential novel noninvasive therapy for SUI.
Setting the stage: Creating a social pragmatic environment for toddlers with ASD and their caregivers

Abstract Data from a 12-week randomized control trial of the Pathways Early Autism Intervention were analyzed. Pathways provides coaching to parents to facilitate early development of pragmatic skills for shared emotions with their toddlers. Thirty-four culturally and socioeconomically diverse toddlers with suspected or confirmed ASD were randomized into one of three groups: Pathways with an innovative protocol (IP) to facilitate social eye gaze, a similar intervention without the IP, and a business-as-usual group. Pre- and post-analyses of caregiver–child interactions and the Vineland Social subscale were used. A two-way mixed ANOVA tested response to treatment for the dependent variables. There was a significant group-by-time interaction for the sharing emotions measures of social eye gaze, F(2, 31) = 7.34, p = .002, partial η2 = .321, vocal-verbal reciprocity, F(2, 31) = 3.753, p = .035, partial η2 = .195; Vineland social, F(2, 31) = 3.48, p = .043, partial η2 = .183. Social eye gaze and Vineland scores favored the Pathways group, and vocal-verbal reciprocity favored Pathways and the intervention without the IP. There was a significant main effect of post-intervention Vineland social on pragmatic diversity, F(1, 30) = 5.84, p = .022, partial η2 = .163, and on rate of communication, F(1, 30) = 5.63, p = .024, partial η2 = .158. The Pathways group, with its protocol for social eye gaze, was more effective at facilitating the shared emotion skills than the other two groups, suggesting that eye gaze may be a pivotal skill for the development of early pragmatic skills in children with ASD.
The Last Years and Legacy of Ruby Payne-Scott

When Payne-Scott left her position at Danebank School in late 1974, her mental condition was deteriorating. Her conflicts with colleagues at Danebank were possibly due to the first signs of Alzheimer’s disease, which accelerated until her death only 6 years later in 1981. She aged rapidly as indicated in the passport photograph taken of her in 1976 before the trip to Europe (see Fig. 14.1). This photo shows an aged individual, yet her daughter, Fiona, has little memory of her appearing as an old person—the transition occurred rapidly.
Clinical Techniques to Assess Language in Young Children

Clinical evaluation of language in a young child may be difficult because of shyness, negativism, or hypospontaneity of speech. Assessment of spontaneous language during play often overcomes these obstacles and provides information about conversational skills, supplementing formal quantitative tests of language. A language checklist for scoring the various aspects of language live or from recordings lends itself to efficient and serial assessment and ensures systematic data collection. The requirements for reliable scoring are to limit the list to unambiguous readily observable items and to use either dichotomous scores or allow no more than three levels of severity with a continuous scale. Such a checklist is ideal for following recovery from acquired aphasia. It may enable investigators to pool data and, possibly, to carry out cross-linguistic studies of children with acquired aphasias and developmental dysphasias.
Balken über mehr als zwei Stützen

Bisher sind Balken besprochen worden, die einfach, d. h. beiderseits gelenkig1, oder die einerseits eingespannt, andrerseits gelenkig oder die beiderseits eingespannt oder die nur einseitig eingespannt (Freitrager) gelagert waren. Wie man sich das Einspannmoment entstanden denkt, ist gleich-gultig: ob durch Einzelkrafte oder durch verteilte Krafte innerhalb des Wandauflagers etwa; jedenfalls mus an der Einspannstelle ein Kraftepaar und eine Kraft wirken, die z. B. fur einen Kragtrager die Werte M = P·l und A = Q = P haben (Abb. 312).
Animal receptors ― Examples of cellular signal perception molecules

Considerable information has accumulated about the mechanisms by which animal cells perceive extracellular signals. In sharp contrast, very little is known about cellular signal perception in plant cells. The purpose of this article is to examine signal perception mechanisms in animal cells and to highlight general principles that may prove applicable to the study of plant systems. I will focus on the receptors in target cells that specifically bind the signal molecule(s). This is the initial event in the signal cascade that eventually leads to changes in cellular metabolism (e.g., gene expression) in targeted cells. Secondary messengers, which are often involved in the signal transduction process subsequent to the binding of signal molecules to receptors, are the focus of another review (see article by C. A. West, this volume).
Introducing Voice Recognition into Higher Education

Abstract Voice Recognition (VR) software has now evolved to be fast and accurate enough to be useful in many educational settings. This paper describes two new uses for VR technology, both protected by patents, which can effectively address the lack of universal oral training in education today. The first use is Instant Note Capture (INC) which can be employed in live computer presentations and in an online software add-on tool called Incredible Classroom (IC) to place and store voice to text records in educational activities. The second is a new assessment tool called Virtual Oral Recitation Examination System (VORE) which enables oral discourse to be automatically and instantaneously assessed and used in new educational software tools requiring oral exercises. This paper identifies the necessity for and demonstrates the uses of voice recognition systems in education.
Paediatric Neuro-enhancement and Natural Goodness

In this paper I give an overview about the general implications of issues of human nature within the field of human enhancement, especially paediatric neuro-enhancement. The first section of my contribution deals with a certain intertwining of human enhancement and the intrinsic claims of human nature showing that the concept of human nature still plays a crucial role in the debate on human enhancement. Subsequently, I take a step towards analysing of several childhood-related influences on those claims of human nature. After that, my aim is to validate the view that paediatric neuro-enhancement is a special case of human enhancement that falls under the same normative criteria as “normal enhancement”, requiring a special contextual awareness to get along with it ethically. Methodically, my intention is to draw on naturalistic approaches, which argue that our human nature is not a “mixed bag” but seems to be wholly constituted by its species-related characteristics. Against this backdrop, I finally hope to give rise to the view that paediatric neuro-enhancement is no part of a countable set of therapeutic practices prescribed by the life form and its natural goodness.
Automated learning of chemical reaction networks

Abstract The identification of kinetic models from process measurements relies on obtaining expensive data from experimental designs in order to estimate kinetic rate parameters and discern which mechanisms fit the data most appropriately. This paper proposes an approach that utilizes a mixed-integer nonlinear programming formulation to estimate and identify kinetic rate parameters from a postulated superset of reactions. The proposed methodology can be applied to steady state systems, or dynamic systems through explicit derivative estimation. An adaptive design of experiments methodology is proposed to facilitate intelligent sampling across the experimental domain. The proposed methodology is applied to three problem settings: isothermal CSTRs where initial concentrations are varied to learn the reaction network, dynamic chemical looping combustion reactors where semi-empirical mechanistic models are used to model catalyst conversion, and an expanded example that considers alternative reaction mechanisms and stoichiometric relationships and applies the proposed adaptive sampling technique to a higher dimensional domain.
Total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplantation in children

Abstract Chronic pancreatitis (CP) and recurrent acute pancreatitis (RAP) in children most often occur in the setting of genetic mutations that increase the risk for pancreatitis. CP and RAP are associated with high disease burden, including multiple hospitalizations, missed school, and risk of opioid dependence. Medical and endoscopic therapeutic options are limited, and so when disease is severe, total pancreatectomy with islet autotransplant (TPIAT) may be considered. In children undergoing TPIAT, quality of life substantially improves and > 80% of children remain free of opioids long term. Most children are C-peptide positive following islet autotransplantation, and insulin independence is achieved in over 40%. Very young children may have the greatest chance at insulin independence and possibly greater likelihood for complete pain relief. Before and after TPIAT, these children require frequent care from a multidisciplinary team, for glycemic control, malabsorption issues, micronutrient deficiencies, and management of surgical asplenia.
An adaptive big data weather system for surface transportation

Abstract Operating modern multi-modal surface transportation systems are becoming increasingly automated and driven by decision support systems. One aspect necessary for successful, safe, reliable, and efficient operation of any transportation network is real-time and forecasted weather and pavement condition information. Providing such information requires an adaptive system capable of blending large amounts of observational and model data that arrives quickly, in disparate formats and times, and blends and optimizes their use via expert systems and machine-learning algorithms. Quality control of the data is also essential, and historical data is required to both develop expert-based empirical algorithms and train machine learning models. This paper reports on the open-source Pikalert® system that brings together weather information and real-time data from connected vehicles to provide crucial information to enhance the safety and efficiency of surface transportation systems. This robust framework can be applied to a diverse array of user community specifications and is designed to rapidly ingest more, unique data sets as they become available. Ultimately, the developmental framework of this system will provide critical environmental information necessary to promote the development, growth, refinement, and expanded adoption of automated and connected multi-modal vehicular systems globally.
Towards improved speed and accuracy of laser powder bed fusion simulations via multiscale spatial representations

Abstract Due to the growing popularity of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) as a metal additive manufacturing technique, there is a strong need to be able to accurately predict build outcomes. Full fidelity simulations of this process are not feasible due to the vast range of length and time scales inherent to it. While part-scale codes for simulating residual stress and distortion have shown reasonable predictive capability, they often neglect many aspects of the process occurring over smaller length/time scales, and thus are unable to capture effects of process parameter adjustments or the behavior of fine features. One way of capturing aspects at more refined length scales is through the use of adaptive mesh refinement (AMR). AMR allows for the process to be simulated at scales approaching the physical spatial dimensions without drastically increasing the total degrees of freedom in the simulation. This manuscript describes the implementation of an AMR algorithm within a multiphysics, parallelized finite element code, and its application to the LPBF problem. Part-scale examples are provided where the use of AMR has allowed for higher fidelity thermal and thermomechanical simulations, as compared to experimental measurements. Results from these higher resolution simulations show that while AMR is a necessary component for increased accuracy in a computationally efficient manner, other improvements are also necessary, including handling of the multiple time scales inherent to the problem and the need for improved AM-specific material models.
Just War and Ordered Liberty

When is war just? What does justice require? If we lack a commonly-accepted understanding of justice – and thus of just war – what answers can we find in the intellectual history of just war? Miller argues that just war thinking should be understood as unfolding in three traditions: the Augustinian, the Westphalian, and the Liberal, each resting on distinct understandings of natural law, justice, and sovereignty. The central ideas of the Augustinian tradition (sovereignty as responsibility for the common good) can and should be recovered and worked into the Liberal tradition, for which human rights serves the same function. In this reconstructed Augustinian Liberal vision, the violent disruption of ordered liberty is the injury in response to which force may be used and war may be justly waged. Justice requires the vindication and restoration of ordered liberty in, through, and after warfare.
Recent progress in acoustic field-assisted 3D-printing of functional composite materials.

Acoustic forces are an attractive pathway to achieve directed assembly for multi-phase materials via additive processes. Programmatic integration of microstructure and structural features during deposition offers opportunities for optimizing printed component performance. We detail recent efforts to integrate acoustic focusing with a direct-ink-write mode of printing to modulate material transport properties (e.g., conductivity). Acoustic field-assisted printing, operating under a multi-node focusing condition, supports deposition of materials with multiple focused lines in a single-pass printed line. Here, we report the demonstration of acoustic focusing in concert with diffusive self-assembly to rapidly assembly and print multiscale, mm-length colloidal solids on a timescale of seconds to minutes. These efforts support the promising capabilities of acoustic field-assisted deposition-based printing to achieve spatial control of printed microstructures with deterministic, long-range ordering across multiple length scales.
Vorticity transport and the leading-edge vortex of a plunging airfoil

The three-dimensional flow field was experimentally characterized for a nominally two-dimensional flat-plate airfoil plunging at large amplitude and reduced frequencies, using three-dimensional reconstructions of planar PIV data at a chord-based Reynolds number of 10,000. Time-resolved, instantaneous PIV measurements reveal that secondary vorticity, of opposite sign to the primary vortex, is intermittently entrained into the leading-edge vortex (LEV) throughout the downstroke, with the rate of entrainment increasing toward the end of the stroke when the leading-edge shear layer weakens. A planar vorticity transport analysis around the LEV indicated that, during the downstroke, the surface vorticity flux due to the pressure gradient is consistently about half that due to the leading-edge shear layer for all parameter values investigated, demonstrating that production and entrainment of secondary vorticity is an important mechanism regulating LEV strength. A small but non-negligible vorticity source was also attributed to spanwise flow toward the end of the downstroke. Aggregate vortex tilting is notably more significant for higher plunge frequencies, suggesting that the vortex core is more three-dimensional.
Mining moving object, trajectory and traffic data

With the wide availability of satellite, RFID, GPS, sensor, wireless, and video technologies, moving-object data have been collected in massive scale and are becoming increasingly rich, complex, and ubiquitous. There is an imminent need for scalable and flexible data analysis over moving-object information; and thus mining moving-object data has become one of major challenges in data mining. There have been considerable research efforts on data mining for moving object, trajectory, and traffic data sets.
Courts, Legislatures, and Ballot Initiatives: How Policy Venue Affects Public Acceptance

Is the public more supportive of policies when they are produced by a court, by a legislature, or by citizens voting on a ballot initiative? In particular, are court-produced prescriptions more unpopular precisely because they have emerged from anti-majoritarian institutions? Using an experimental survey, we find strong evidence that state-level policy venue does indeed color the way individuals perceive policies – largely in ways that flow from popular conceptions of democratic theory. Individuals are more likely to agree with, and less willing to work against, policies that have been produced by their fellow citizens. Meanwhile, they are least likely to support policies that have come from the courts. However, the effect of policy venue differs dramatically between self-identified partisans and Independents, suggesting that Independents may value the partisan neutrality of courts more than bemoan their antimajoritarian tendencies. These findings have important implications for public opinion scholars, pollsters, and policy entrepreneurs seeking to promote their agenda through these state-level venues.
Making the White Matter Matters: Progress in Understanding Canavan’s Disease and Therapeutic Interventions Through Eight Decades

Canavan’s disease (CD) is a fatal autosomal recessive pediatric leukodystrophy in which patients show severe neurodegeneration and typically die by the age of 10, though life expectancy in patients can be highly variable. Currently, there is no effective treatment for CD; however, gene therapy seems to be a feasible approach to combat the disease. Being a monogenic defect, the disease provides an excellent model system to develop gene therapy approaches that can be extended to other monogenic leukodystrophies and neurodegenerative diseases. CD results from mutations in a single gene aspartoacylase which hydrolyses N-acetyl aspartic acid (NAA) which accumulates in its absences. Since CD is one of the few diseases that show high NAA levels, it can also be used to study the enigmatic biological role of NAA. The disease was first described in 1931, and this review traces the progress made in the past 8 decades to understand the disease by enumerating current hypotheses and ongoing palliative measures to alleviate patient symptoms in the context of the latest advances in the field.
Astronomical Uses of Cascade Intensifies

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews measurements made at laboratory on the operating characteristics of a two-stage cascade image intensifier developed by the Electron Tube Division of RCA for the Carnegie Committee. Some of the equipment that has been built for the use of the telescope is also described. The cascade tube described in the chapter is the RCA Type C33011. This is a high quality version of the C70056 developmental image tube. The tube includes an S.20 photocathode, a single electron-multiplier of the phosphor-photocathode type, and a final output screen with a fine-grain P.11 phosphor. The cascade intensifiers developed for the Carnegie Committee have demonstrated their usefulness in a variety of astronomical applications. At the present time, the limitations of the cascade system are primarily those associated with the transfer optics. Because of their sensitivity, reliability, and ease of operation, these tubes are particularly suited for a number of routine astronomical observations.
Chapter 93 Structure Induced Equilibrium in Spatial Committee Games

Publisher Summary Markets, auction mechanisms and political institutions all affect outcomes. For students of collective choice, minimal decision making institutions provide a baseline by which we expect outcomes that best can be characterized as chaotic. Such outcomes are rarely predictable and the processes by which they are selected are marked by voting cycles and drifting through the alternative space. More interesting for collective choice theorists are those mechanisms introduced into a minimal institutional setting that in turn brings predictability to outcomes. Almost all institutions charged with making collective choices are richly layered with rules. The United States House of Representatives is one of the more rule-bound institutions that has been studied extensively and empirical scholars take for granted that its outcomes will be predictable and patterned. However, disentangling which structural features matter and when they matter remains a task for theorists. Experimentalists continue to offer examples as to when institutions matter.
AIPS, the VLA, and the VLBA

At this writing, the AIPS package has been in active development and use for over 23 years. It is still the software of choice for all phases of data reduction for the Very Large Array, the most productive groundbased telescope in the world. It is the primary reduction system for most Very Long Baseline Interferometry including the VLBA and has been used to reduce data from other radio interferometers and single-dish telescopes as well as data taken at other wavelengths. The history and general structure of this software package are reviewed and a number of the scientific achievements for which it has been used are summarized.
Nox Response to Injury

Szocs and colleagues,1 in this issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology , have added to our understanding of the role of NAD(P)H oxidase and reactive oxygen species in vascular injury. The study was undertaken by using the rat carotid artery balloon injury model, a well-characterized model of neointimal formation. In this model, vascular balloon injury leads to medial smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration across the internal elastic lamina to form the neointima.2,3 Adventitial myofibroblasts may also migrate across the media and into the neointima within the first week after balloon injury.4 The processes of proliferation and migration of smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts in vitro are critically dependent on the production of reactive oxygen species.5–8 Moreover, several reports suggest that vascular production of reactive oxygen species increases rapidly after balloon injury, and that treatment with nonspecific antioxidant regimens can inhibit experimental neointimal formation.9–14 Although the relevance of the rat balloon injury model to human post-angioplasty restenosis is questionable,15 the well-defined kinetics of neointimal formation in this model provide a unique opportunity to explore the cellular and enzymatic sources of reactive oxygen species during vascular cell proliferation and migration in response to injury in vivo. See page 21 Recent studies indicate that nonphagocytic NAD(P)H oxidases are major sources of reactive oxygen species in the vascular wall. Like the phagocytic respiratory burst NADPH oxidase, non-phagocytic NAD(P)H oxidases reduce molecular oxygen to generate superoxide, which is in turn converted to hydrogen peroxide. However, unlike the phagocytic NADPH oxidase, the NAD(P)H oxidases present in blood vessels are constitutively active, producing relatively low levels of reactive oxygen …
Macrocognition: a communication perspective

Although many disciplines have investigated the relatively new concept of macrocognition, the benefits of a communication perspective have yet to be explored. Oftentimes, in social psychological or organisational studies, communication is oversimplified and treated statically or mechanistically, and often represented by a simple sender → receiver or information sharing model. From a communication perspective, interaction is problematised and shared meaning is complicated, as represented by a sender ↔ receiver model in which individuals fulfil both roles simultaneously and meaning is developed in the interaction. Thus, a communication model necessitates a different way of understanding macrocognition, in addition to a different way of methodologically capturing it. Analysis from a communication perspective places the creation and existence of macrocognition in process, a view of macrocognition that is needed when conducting interdisciplinary research.
Transitions from welfare and the employment prospects of low-skill workers

This study examines the effects that labor market conditions and welfare policy changes had on single mothers' welfare participation and economic outcomes using longitudinal, individual-level data from the 1992 and 1993 panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). The study uses special versions of the SIPP panels that include state and county identifiers and links the individual information to county-specific measures of low-skill employment opportunities and state measures of welfare policies. It estimates transition models of program entry and exit and regression models of economic outcomes. The study finds that employment conditions and welfare benefit levels were significant determinants of single mothers" welfare participation and economic success over the period 1992-95. However, it does not find statistically distinguishable differences in participation and economic success between states that did and did not reform their welfare programs through waivers to the federal rules. JEL Classification: I3, J3
A posteriori error analysis of multiscale operator decomposition methods for multiphysics models

Multiphysics, multiscale models present significant challenges in computing accurate solutions and for estimating the error in information computed from numerical solutions. In this paper, we describe recent advances in extending the techniques of a posteriori error analysis to multiscale operator decomposition solution methods. While the particulars of the analysis vary considerably with the problem, several key ideas underlie a general approach being developed to treat operator decomposition multiscale methods. We explain these ideas in the context of three specific examples.
Legume residue and soil water effects on denitrification in soils of different textures

Abstract Legume cover crops commonly used to supply additional N and reduce potential for over-winter N leaching losses may also influence denitrification depending upon soil water status and soil type. Interrelationships between incorporated hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) residue and soil water status on denitrification in coarse, medium and fine textured soils were investigated in the laboratory. Repacked soil cores were incubated, 10, 20 and 30 d with and without acetylene (C2H2). Denitrification losses were 20–200 μg N kg−1 from each soil when 60% of the soil pore space was filled with water and increased to from 14.0 to 18.6mg N kg−1 at 90% water-filled-pore space (WFPS). Incorporation of vetch residue (2.5 g kg−1) greatly stimulated denitrification (51.1–99.5 mg N kg−1), probably due to greater availability of organic C as indicated by higher CO2 emissions. The major denitrification losses occurred during the first 10 days and more so in residue-amended soils. The supply of C from incorporated legume crop residue was a major factor influencing denitritication especially when soil wetness restricted aeration and adequate nitrate was present. At similar water contents, rates of denitrification differed greatly in soils of varying texture, but when varying water holding capacity and bulk density were accounted for using WFPS. all soils behaved very similarly. Use of WFPS as an index of aeration status enabled identification that differences in denitrification losses in vetch-amended soils of varying texture resulted in part from varying capacity to supply NO3− and metabolize organic matter. These results illustrate the utility of WFPS, compared with soil water content, and its reliability as an indicator of reduced aeration dependent denitrification for soils of varying texture.
Can Reservoir Storage Be Uneconomically Large

The effect of reservoir losses on the economically optimal use of reservoir storage capacity is explored theoretically and numerically. We demonstrate that reservoir seepage and evaporation losses lead to a trade-off between the reliability and mean level of water deliveries, and that as the price elasticity of demand increases and variability of inflows decreases, the optimal reservoir storage decreases. Corresponding reductions in the optimal maximum use of reservoir storage capacity as price elasticity of demand increases, variability of inflows decreases, and losses increase are illustrated. The approach helps clarify the role of storage in maximizing economic benefits from consumptive uses.
The variation of moisture conditions in China during the last 2000 years

Utilizing more than 50,000 reports of droughts and floods found in local records we have reconstructed the history of moisture conditions in eastern China for the last 2000 years. The area studied extends eastward of Gansu province and is situated between Inner Mongolia in the north and Zhejiang in the south. Separate analyses are presented for the semi-arid, semi-wet and wet subdivisions of this area. It was possible to develop moisture indices with a time resolution of 5 years in each subregion. The time series of the moisture index presented for the semi-wet area extends over the period AD 1–1950, while for the other two subregions the period covered is AD 251–1950. Each of the climatic subdivisions is found to undergo prolonged periods of dryness and wetness. The frequency of alternation between dry and wet conditions increases from the semi-arid region to the semi-wet region to the wet region. The variations of moisture conditions in the whole area of eastern China is compared with known changes in the level of the Caspian Sea. The variations in the two regions are found to be coherent.
Conformation and possible role of hypermodified nucleosides adjacent to 3'-end of anticodon in tRNA: N-(purin-6-ylcarbamoyl)-L-threonine riboside.

The crystal structure of N-(purin-6-ylcarbamoyl)-L-threonine riboside was determined from three-dimensional x-ray diffraction data. The N6-substituent is distal (trans) to the imidazole ring, leading to a bifurcated hydrogen interaction involving two intramolecular contacts with the hydrogen on N(threonine): a hydrogen bond to N(1) of adenine and a close contact to the hydroxyl oxygen of threonine. The conformation of the molecule and the internal hydrogen bond completely block the two sites N6-H and N1 of adenine from taking part in the Watson-Crick base pairing. This inability to base pair according to the Watson-Crick scheme appears as a common structural feature in all modified bases adjacent to the 3′-end of anticodons. These results, along with Crick's hypothesis for codon recognition, suggest that the hypermodified bases adjacent to the anticodons may be important in (i) preventing the misreading of the codons by bases adjacent to anticodons and (ii) promoting a single stranded conformation for the anticodon loops.
Language, Name, and Concept

The experiment of teaching a young chimpanzee to use American sign language1 is an important advance on previous attempts to test the linguistic potential of primates. For the first time, a primate’s capacity for a language used by some humans has been clearly separated from his capacity for making the sounds of human speech. In the nature of things, this pioneer study has been made under special conditions, and (like any single study) cannot be assumed to be perfectly representative. Nevertheless, it does offer evidence of a new kind, in the light of which it is timely to reexamine the relation between human language and the signals that animals use or can learn to use.
Impedance-Based Structural Health Monitoring for Temperature Varying Applications

A new structural health monitoring technique capable of in-service, on-line incipient damage detection has been proposed by the Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, Physical changes in a structure cause changes in the mechanical impedance. Due to the electromechanical coupling in piezoelectric materials, this change causes a change in the electrical impedance of the piezoelectric sensor. Hence, by monitoring the electrical impedance and comparing this to a baseline measurement, we can determine when structural damage has either occurred or is imminent. However, in almost all practical health monitoring applications, the structure being monitored is constantly undergoing change due to the effect of external boundary conditions. One of the important factors that leads to this change is the temperature variations. In this paper, temperature effects on the electrical impedance of piezoelectric materials and the structures have been investigated. A computer algorithm was developed which incorporates temperature compensation into our health monitoring applications. Three experimental investigations were performed successfully under the temperature varying condition, in the range of 25 to 75°C, including a bolted pipe structure, composite reinforced aluminum and precision part such as gears. It was found that, by this compensation procedure, the impedance based health monitoring tehcnique is able to detect damage in the incipient stage, even with the presence of significant temperature variation.
The ins and outs of collaborative walls: demonstrating the collaborage concept

A collaborage is a collaborative collage of physically represented information on a surface that is connected with electronic information, such as a physical in/out board connected to a people-locator database. The physical surface (board) contains items that are tracked by camera and machine vision technology. Events on the board trigger electronic services. This paper motivates this concept, sketches the system, describes the first application, and presents some design issues.
Modeling the zero and forward bias operation of PIN diodes for high-frequency applications

Abstract Silicon-based PIN diodes have been studied in a high-frequency switching application under moderate to high input voltage levels. A model suitable for full circuit simulators such as SPICE is proposed and tested. The model accurately describes the impedance behavior over changes in frequency, DC bias current and applied voltage level. A localized maximum in series resistance is accurately modeled and found to be a function of the diode’s transit time effect. The model also describes the nonlinear high current stored charge-DC bias current effect. The full circuit PIN diode model is verified with experimental observations.
Complete dissolution of trichloroethylene in saturated porous media

Porous media containing trichloroethylene (TCE) trapped at residual saturation in otherwise water-saturated porous media were flushed with water to assess the dissolution rate of TCE as TCE volumetric fractions approached zero. Careful attention to column design and experimental methods limited the effect of column materials on effluent concentrations. Effluent concentration measurements during TCE dissolution are presented for a glass bead porous medium, a mixed sand, and a treated soil. Effluent concentrations were measured as they decreased below 5 μg/L, the maximum allowable contaminant level, in the glass bead and mixed sand media. Effluent concentrations from columns packed with treated soil were measured down to 20 μg/L. Solvent extraction of the treated soil after the dissolution experiments revealed that extremely small quantities of TCE were retained in this medium. Results from parallel experiments on columns exposed to only aqueous TCE suggest that TCE remaining in the treated soil columns was...
Reduction of the native microflora on alfalfa sprouts during propagation by addition of antimicrobial compounds to the irrigation water.

Abstract Alfalfa and other types of sprouts are known to harbor large populations of native microorganisms. As some of these microbes may be causes of reduced shelf life of the product (plant pathogens and other spoilage organisms) and sprouts may, on occasion, harbor bacteria pathogenic towards humans, the addition of antimicrobial compounds to the irrigation water may be warranted. In this study, we tested the efficacy of several antimicrobial compounds for reducing the native microbial populations on alfalfa sprouts during propagation. These compounds included H 2 O 2 , peroxyacetic acid+hydrogen peroxide (Tsunami 100™), acidified NaClO 2 , NaClO 2 (Aquatize™), EDTA, Na 3 PO 4 and NaOCl. When added to the irrigation water at various concentrations, none of the antimicrobial compounds reduced the levels of any class of native microflora by more than 1 log 10 without evidence of phytotoxicity.
Progesterone and Estradiol Modulate Interleukin-1β Messenger Ribonucleic Acid Levels in Cultured Human Peripheral Monocytes*

The relationship between the endocrine system and immune monokines, such as interleukin-1 (IL-1), is of increasing interest. IL-1, a protein secreted by peripheral monocytes and tissue macrophages, mediates a wide variety of immune responses, and its production appears to be inversely related to the level of gonadal steroids. In this report, we have investigated the relationship between estradiol and progesterone concentrations and the level of IL-1 beta mRNA in cultured human peripheral monocytes and pelvic macrophages. Human peripheral monocytes, isolated during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, were activated with lipopolysaccharide (10 micrograms/mL). Cellular RNA was isolated and analyzed by Northern analysis using an 800-basepair IL-1 beta cDNA probe. Hybridization with 32P-labeled probe showed maximal levels of IL-1 beta mRNA occurring between 3 and 7 h of culture. Cultures of lipopolysaccharide-activated human peripheral monocytes incubated for 3-6 h with increasing amounts of progesterone or estradiol (0-10(-5) M) in the presence of either 5% fetal calf serum or 0.1% BSA demonstrated an inverse relationship between IL-1 beta mRNA levels and steroid concentration. In both cases, IL-1 beta mRNA levels decreased by 80-90% as the progesterone concentration increased to 10(-5) M and by 70-90% as the estradiol concentration increased similarly. A similar 80% decrease in IL-1 beta mRNA was observed with peritoneal macrophages incubated with increasing amounts of progesterone. This reciprocal relationship between IL-1 beta mRNA and gonadal steroids may have important ramifications in reproductive biology for both embryonic implantation and fetal survival as well as for clinically relevant changes in bone mass.
Imaging of Inflammatory Bowel Disease in Children

■ Children with clinically suspected IBD should have both upper and lower endoscopies as part of the initial workup (strong evidence). Fluoroscopic small bowel follow-through studies are typically performed as part of the initial diagnosis (limited evidence).
Absence of postnatal testosterone fails to demasculinize the male rat' s corpus callosum

We had previously shown that elimination of testosterone from embryonic day 17 through adulthood reduced the midsagittal area of the male rat corpus callosum (CC). However, day 1 castration, performed after the 2-h post-birth testosterone surge, was without effect. To elucidate the contribution of this surge on the CC, male rats were delivered by cesarean section and castrated within 20 min. This procedure eliminated the 2-h postnatal rise in testosterone levels. The prenatal surge in testosterone, which occurs on embryonic day 18, remained intact. In adulthood, callosal area was examined in castrate males, sham males, and intact females. Castrate males and sham males had significantly larger CCs as compared to females. The two male groups did not differ from each other. Body weight was significantly higher in sham versus castrate males, establishing the effectiveness of the castration. These results show that hormonal organization of the CC in the male is the result of the independent action of prenatal testicular androgens, and suggest that the end of this period marks the end of callosal sensitivity to testicular hormone influence. In addition, this report documents sexual dimorphism of the CC in a third rat strain.
The Need for Voluntary Consensus Systems in Setting Socio‐Economic Standards

As civilisations become more advanced and complex from an economic perspective, the need to integrate and co‐ordinate human behaviour and institutions becomes more acute. The chief co‐ordinating devices are not government laws or regulations enacted to compel conformity and dependability in socio‐economic relationships, but the standards sometimes embodied in laws, more often outside the legal framework of government and properly so. Such standards, arrived at by voluntary consensus or common consent, are far too numerous, too complex, too widely and diversely applied to be amenable to codification into statute law or centralised systems of administration.
Learning Modality and Word Recognition of First Grade Children

This study investigated the relationships between learning modalities and word recognition of first-grade children. The learning modality—auditory, visual, or kinesthetic—of 106 children was identified. Subjects within each modality were then randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups and a control group. The treatment groups were presented with word recognition tasks that were differentiated by modality emphasis. Each of the four treatment groups differed significantly from the control group on the criterion word recognition meausre but not significantly from each other. There were no significant differences among the groups when the subjects were categorized by modality preference; and there was no significant difference between the like treatment-modality preference group and the unlike treatment-modality preference group. Results of this study, which were not conclusive, did indicate that learning modalities can be differentiated and that further research in matching prescriptive teaching to...