cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Slow Diffusion of Molecular Hydrogen in Zeolite 13X

High-resolution quasi-elastic neutron scattering measurements have been performed on molecular hydrogen in zeolite 13X. Previous NMR measurements suggested that the freezing temperature is suppressed from 14 K down to 8 K. In contrast, previous intermediate resolution quasi-elastic neutron scattering studies suggested freezing occurred between 25 and 35 K. Unfortunately, the limited instrumental resolution available in the previous quasi-elastic neutron scattering study was not sufficient to show this point definitively. We report new quasi-elastic neutron scattering measurements with very high resolution that show no evidence of mobile hydrogen below 25 K, which is well above the bulk liquid-solid transition temperature for hydrogen. A quasi-elastic component appears between 25 and 30 K indicating the presence of mobile H2. However, the width and momentum dependence of the quasi-elastic scattering are much different than would be expected for the diffusive motion of liquid hydrogen in this temperature range. Instead, we find that a slow diffusive component representing jumps between well-defined sites appears first at low temperatures. As the temperature is raised, a faster liquid like diffusive component appears.
Reconstitution of E. Coli Preprotein Translocation using Purified Components

Virtually all proteins found in membrane bound compartments are synthesized as precursor proteins in the cytoplasm. In route to their final destination, these protein must be directed to and pass through at least one membrane. How are precursor proteins directed to the correct membranes? How do they then translocate through the membrane, a barrier which is otherwise impervious to such large charged molecules? To approach these issues, we are biochemically dissecting the process of targeting and translocation of proteins across the E. coli inner membrane. E. coli is well suited to biochemical analysis because it is genetically malleable, easily fractionated and most (or perhaps all) of the genes involved in targeting and translocation have been identified, cloned and sequenced (Schatz and Beckwith, 1990; Bieker et al., 1990).
1776 Strikes Back—Anti-federalist Critics of the Constitution

This chapter examines anti-federalist critique of the newly proposed Constitution. It combines the elements of the older tradition of “mixed” or ancient constitutionalism, with the typical economic arguments against mercantilism and central government’s control over the economic life. It demonstrates that anti-federalists were a diverse group of people who cherished American traditional political concepts mixed with an intuitive, and yet sometimes rather sophisticated grasp of free market economics and the dangers for economic liberty posed by the emerging mercantilist machinery of government. The chapter challenges the conventional interpretation of the weakness of the regime under the Articles of Confederation and demonstrates its superiority over the new Constitution in protecting economic liberty. It employs economic analysis to demonstrate the relevance of anti-federalist arguments for modern theories of fiscal federalism and decentralization.
Root and Shoot Growth Periodicity of Pot-in-Pot Red and Sugar Maple

Abstract Red maple (Acer rubrum L. ‘Franksred’) and sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh. ‘Green Mountain’) trees were grown in a 56 liter (15 gal) pot-in-pot system for two years. During the second y...
Symptomatic palliative care for children with neurodisability

Abstract Paediatric palliative care and neurodisability are two relatively new, evolving paediatric sub-specialities that have increasing relevance in the current paediatric landscape. For many people palliative care has been synonymous with end of life care, but in paediatrics it encompasses much more and is for all children with life-threatening or life-limiting conditions, from the point of diagnosis. This breadth of focus is demonstrated well through the interface between paediatric palliative care and paediatric neurodisability. In this article we explore this unique interface through the three domains of complex symptom management, advanced care planning and end of life care. We describe the practicalities involved in all three areas and highlight the importance of early referral and the process of “dual” or “parallel” planning. We cover in more depth the specific management of the symptoms: dystonia/abnormalities of muscle tone, seizures, pain, agitation, secretions, respiratory failure, and gut failure.
Analysis of the impact of chronic corticosteroid use on free flap reconstruction.

BACKGROUND Systemic corticosteroids negatively impact wound healing, potentially increasing postoperative wound complication rates. In this study, the authors utilize the American College of Surgeons (ACS) National Surgical Quality Improvement (NSQIP) database to investigate the impact of chronic steroid usage on postoperative complications following microvascular free tissue transfer procedures. METHODS The ACS NSQIP database was queried for all free flap procedures performed between 2005 and 2016. Patients with a history of chronic steroid use (n = 159) were compared to patients with no history of chronic steroid use (n = 3,405). The two cohorts were compared by univariate analysis, followed by multivariate binary logistic regression for all complications noted to be statistically significant on univariate analysis. RESULTS Patients treated with systemic corticosteroids were more likely to be smokers, have a history of diabetes, hypertension, bleeding disorders, hypoalbuminemia, anemia, and have a wound infection at time of surgery. There were increased rates of bleeding requiring transfusion (37.7 vs. 27.5% p = .005), overall surgical complications (48.4 vs. 36.7%, p = .003) and overall complication rates (56.0 vs. 42.3%, p = .001) in these patients. On multivariate analysis, chronic steroid use was not associated with increased risk of surgical complications (OR = 2.540, p = .056, 95% CI 0.975-6.622), overall complications (OR = 2.303, p = .086, 95% CI 0.888-5.973), or wound complications. However, chronic steroid usage conferred nearly a four times increased risk for major bleeding complications (OR = 3.995, p = .009, 95% CI 1.415-11.279). CONCLUSION Chronic corticosteroid use does not increase rates of wound complications, reoperation, or readmission. However, this population may be at increased risk for major bleeding requiring blood transfusion following free flap reconstruction.
Assessment of Pharmacy Closures in the United States From 2009 Through 2015.

This quality improvement study examines trends in pharmacy closures in the United States between 2009 and 2015, as well as pharmacy, community, and market factors that might be associated with such closures.
Low Dimensional Motor Skill Learning Using Coactivation

We propose an approach for motor skill learning of highly articulated characters based on the systematic exploration of low-dimensional joint coactivation spaces. Through analyzing human motion, we first show that the dimensionality of many motion tasks is much smaller than the full degrees of freedom (DOFs) of the character. Indeed, joint motion appears organized across DOFs, with multiple joints moving together and working in synchrony. We exploit such redundancy for character control by extracting task-specific joint coactivations from human recorded motion, capturing synchronized patterns of simultaneous joint movements that effectively reduce the control space across DOFs. By learning how to excite such coactivations using deep reinforcement learning, we are able to train humanlike controllers using only a small number of dimensions. We demonstrate our approach on a range of motor tasks and show its flexibility against a variety of reward functions, from minimalistic rewards that simply follow the center-of-mass of a reference trajectory to carefully shaped ones that fully track reference characters. In all cases, by learning a 10-dimensional controller on a full 28 DOF character, we reproduce high-fidelity locomotion even in the presence of sparse reward functions.
Degradation of E-glass fiber mechanical properties during composite sheet molding compound production for automotive applications

Research into pyrolysis-based recycling of sheet molding compounds (SMCs) to recover glass fiber for reuse has indicated significant preexisting tensile strength damage in the shredded recycling input materials. This loss in mechanical durability inherently hurts the value proposition of recycled glass fiber by limiting reuse of the fiber for reinforcement. In this study, the mechanical properties of glass fibers at each step in the first lifecycle of an SMC material are measured to assess the extent of cumulating fiber damage prior to recycling and identify potential causes of this degradation to maximum fiber tensile performance.
In vitro degradation of gastric mucin

Abstract The polypeptide core of mucin glycoprotein subunits resists cleavage by proteases. To determine if the carbohydrate side chains of these subunits protect the underlying polypeptide core from proteolytic cleavage, we compared the effect of pancreatic proteases on hog gastric mucin before and after cleavage of its carbohydrate moieties by bacterial glycosidases from an anaerobic human fecal culture supernate. Hog gastric mucin was resistant to pancreatic proteases:
Compare and Contrast of Differential Gene Expression Software Packages of RNA-Seq

High-throughput sequencing technology has rapidly become a popular tool to calculate RNA expression level. There are many computational methods that have been designed to identify genes that are differentially expressed by using RNA-Seq data. The set of differentially-expressed genes detected varies greatly. Some of them are identified in all or most of software packages, whereas, some genes are detected by just one method. In this study, we compare four widely-used software packages for identifying differential expression between gene samples: DESeq2, EdgeR, Cuffdiff2, and DEGSeq. This paper shows that Cuffdiff2 has a slight advantage over other software packages but takes the longest runtime.
Evaluation of various corn variety kernels for hydrogen gas production by APR

Abstract The present study was designed to evaluate gasification performances of various corn kernel varieties (field corn, non-genetically modified (non-GMO) field corn, yellow field corn, white field corn and popcorn) for hydrogen gas production by aqueous-phase reforming (APR) using activated carbon supported platinum catalyst. Corn kernels were solubilized in 200°C-subcritical water medium under 13.79 MPa CO2 pressure before use. The hydrolysates obtained from hydrolysis process were rich in total organic carbons (TOC) with a 5200–5850 mg/L concentration range. There were significant differences among varieties in terms of overall solubilization. However, hydrolysates from different corn varieties produced the same amount of hydrogen gas with a yield of 130 mL/g corn on average. The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of corn hydrolysates showed considerable decreases in the peak areas after APR compared to initial hydrolysates. These decreases indicate consuming most of the corresponding organics in the gasification process. Evaluation of gasification results based on carbon balance showed that only small fractions of organic carbons converted to carbon-containing gaseous products (CO and CO2) and remaining carbons were precipitated as ungasified solid residue. Thus, gas mixtures produced from corn kernel hydrolysates were mostly composed of hydrogen as found in gas analysis.
Effect of Time to Surgery of Colorectal Liver Metastases on Survival.

Resection of liver-only colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) with perioperative chemotherapy is potentially curative. Specific primary tumor and liver metastasis characteristics have been validated to estimate the risk of recurrence. We hypothesize that the time interval from diagnosis of CRLM to surgery, or time to surgery (TTS), is clinically prognostic. Patients from a prospectively maintained institutional database at a Comprehensive Cancer Center from May 2003 to January 2018 were reviewed. Clinicopathologic, perioperative treatment, and TTS data were collected. TTS was categorized into short ( 6 months) intervals. Two hundred eighty-one patients were identified. While overall survival (OS) was similar across TTS, postoperative overall survival (postoperative OS) of long TTS was associated with worse survival, 44 months (95% CI, 34–52) compared to short TTS, 59 months (95% CI, 43–79), and intermediate TTS, 63 months (95% CI, 52–108), both p < 0.01. With regard to long-term OS, intermediate TTS had 5-year OS of 59% and 8-year OS of 43% compared to long TTS (5-year OS 53% and 8-year OS 18%) and short TTS (5-year OS 54% and 8-year OS 29%). Long TTS was negatively associated with postoperative OS on multivariate analysis (HR 1.6, p < 0.01) when adjusting for resection margin, CRLM size, age, and use of postoperative chemotherapy. Short and intermediate TTS had similar survival although patients with intermediate TTS may have better odds of long-term OS. While long TTS was associated with worse survival, likely due to higher disease burden, long-term survivors were still observed.
Use of Artificial Intelligence Deep Learning to Determine the Malignant Potential of Pancreatic Cystic Neoplasms With Preoperative Computed Tomography Imaging.

Background Society consensus guidelines are commonly used to guide management of pancreatic cystic neoplasms (PCNs). However, downsides of these guidelines include unnecessary surgery and missed malignancy. The aim of this study was to use computed tomography (CT)-guided deep learning techniques to predict malignancy of PCNs. Materials and methods Patients with PCNs who underwent resection were retrospectively reviewed. Axial images of the mucinous cystic neoplasms were collected and based on final pathology were assigned a binary outcome of advanced neoplasia or benign. Advanced neoplasia was defined as adenocarcinoma or intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm with high-grade dysplasia. A convolutional neural network (CNN) deep learning model was trained on 66% of images, and this trained model was used to test 33% of images. Predictions from the deep learning model were compared to Fukuoka guidelines. Results Twenty-seven patients met the inclusion criteria, with 18 used for training and 9 for model testing. The trained deep learning model correctly predicted 3 of 3 malignant lesions and 5 of 6 benign lesions. Fukuoka guidelines correctly classified 2 of 3 malignant lesions as high risk and 4 of 6 benign lesions as worrisome. Following deep learning model predictions would have avoided 1 missed malignancy and 1 unnecessary operation. Discussion In this pilot study, a deep learning model correctly classified 8 of 9 PCNs and performed better than consensus guidelines. Deep learning can be used to predict malignancy of PCNs; however, further model improvements are necessary before clinical use.
Long-Term Maintenance of Acinar Cells in Human Submandibular Glands After Radiation Therapy.

Purpose In a combined retrospective and prospective study, human salivary glands were investigated after radiation treatment for head and neck cancers. The aim was to assess acinar cell loss and morphologic changes after radiation therapy and to determine whether irradiated salivary glands have regenerative potential. Methods and Materials Irradiated human submandibular and parotid salivary glands were collected from 16 patients at a range of time intervals after completion of radiation therapy (RT). Control samples were collected from 14 patients who had not received radiation treatments. Tissue sections were analyzed using immunohistochemistry to stain for molecular markers. Results Human submandibular and parotid glands isolated less than 1 year after RT showed a near complete loss of acinar cells. However, acinar units expressing functional secretory markers were observed in all samples isolated at later intervals after RT. Significantly lower acinar cell numbers and increased fibrosis were found in glands treated with combined radiation and chemotherapy, in comparison to glands treated with RT alone. Irradiated samples showed increased staining for duct cell keratin markers, as well as many cells coexpressing acinar- and duct cell–specific markers, in comparison to nonirradiated control samples. Conclusions After RT, acinar cell clusters are maintained in human submandibular glands for years. The surviving acinar cells retain proliferative potential, although significant regeneration does not occur. Persistent DNA damage, increased fibrosis, and altered cell identity suggest mechanisms that may impair regeneration.
Ambulatory advanced heart failure patients: timing of mechanical circulatory support - delaying the inevitable?

Purpose of review Current indications for continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (cfLVAD) implantation is for patients in cardiogenic shock or inotrope-dependent advanced heart failure. Risk stratification of noninotrope dependent ambulatory advanced heart failure patients is a subject of registries designed to help shared-decision making by clinicians and patients regarding the optimal timing of mechanical circulatory support (MCS). Recent findings The Registry Evaluation of Vital Information for VADs in Ambulatory Life enrolled ambulatory noninotrope dependent advanced systolic heart failure patients who had 25% annualized risk of death, MCS, or heart transplantation (HT). Freedom from composite clinical outcome at 1-year follow-up was 23.5% for the entire cohort. Seattle Heart Failure Model Score and Natriuretic pepides were predictors with modest discriminatory power. Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (INTERMACS) profile 4 patients had the highest risk (3.7-fold) of death, MCS or HT compared to INTERMACS profile 7. Summary We propose individualized risk stratification for noninotrope dependent ambulatory advanced heart failure patients and include serial changes in end-organ function, nutritional parameters, frailty assessment, echocardiographic and hemodynamic data. The clinical journey of a patient with advanced heart failure should be tracked and discussed at each clinic visit for shared decision-making regarding timing of cfLVAD.
Location, Location, Location - Does Epitope Matching Matter in Pediatric Heart Transplantation?

Purpose Recent data in adult solid organ transplantation suggest that epitope-based human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching may permit better risk assessment of de novo donor‐specific antibody (dnDSA) development compared to antigen-based HLA matching, but data in pediatric heart transplantation (PHTx) are scarce. We evaluated the association between epitope mismatches and dnDSA in PHTx. Methods We performed high resolution HLA typing and epitope mismatch analysis (HLA Matchmaker) in children undergoing primary PHTx at a single center from 2014 - 2020. DSA >1000 MFI (Luminex Single Antigen Bead Assay; One Lambda) were considered positive. Data are presented as median (interquartile range). Results Epitope and dnDSA data were available in 109 transplants (age 5.8 years [1-12], 66% male, 32% non-Hispanic White, follow-up 2.5 years [1.3 - 4.7]). There was significant diversity in the number of epitope mismatches within each HLA locus (Fig 1A), and the number of mismatches were: A 20 (13-28), B 17 (12-22), C 10 (6-15), DR 16 (8-30), DQ 12 (8-16), and DP 8 (3-13). The number of epitope mismatches did not differ among any donor-recipient race combination (not shown). The development of dnDSA was not associated with a higher number of epitope mismatches at any HLA-loci (Fig 1B). However, patients with antibody mediated rejection (AMR) had more DQ mismatches (15 vs 11; p=0.04) than those without AMR, and there were more anti-DQB1 DSA than any other DSA in the cohort (Figure 1C). Conclusion There is significant variability in the number of HLA epitope mismatches within each HLA locus. These data suggest that it may not be the total number of epitope mismatches but rather epitope mismatches at specific loci that vary in location and function that are of immunogenic importance. Further investigation of epitope-matching in PHTx may permit a more personalized immunosuppressive approach based on individualized alloimmune risk assessment in the future.
“What is slavery?”: Third-grade students’ sensemaking about enslavement through historical inquiry

This study investigates how 19 third-grade students developed their understandings of enslavement during a six-week social studies inquiry. Using Teaching Tolerance’s key concepts as my analytic fr...
Comparison of attitudes towards the service connection claims process among veterans filing for PTSD and veterans filing for musculoskeletal disorders.

ABSTRACT Many veterans have negative views about the service connection claims process for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which likely impacts willingness to file service connection claims, re-file claims, and use Veterans Healthcare Administration care. Nevertheless, veterans have reported that PTSD claims are important to them for the financial benefits, validation of prior experience and harm, and self-other issues such as pleasing a significant other. It is unknown if reported attitudes are specific to PTSD claimants or if they would be similar to those submitting claims for other disorders, such as musculoskeletal disorders. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare attitudes and beliefs about service connection processes between veterans submitting service connection claims for PTSD and musculoskeletal disorders.Participants were Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation New Dawn veterans filing service connection claims for PTSD (n = 218) or musculoskeletal disorder (n = 257) who completed a modified Disability Application Appraisal Inventory. This secondary data analysis using multiple regression models tested the effect of demographics, clinical characteristics, and claim type on 5 Disability Application Appraisal Inventory subscales: Knowledge about service connection claims, Negative Expectations about the process, and importance of Financial Benefits, importance of Validation of veteran's experience/condition, and importance of Self-Other attitudes.The PTSD group assigned significantly less importance to financial benefits than the musculoskeletal disorder group. In addition, the subset of the PTSD group without depression had significantly more Negative Expectations than musculoskeletal disorder claimants without depression. Negative Expectations did not differ between the PTSD and musculoskeletal disorder groups with depression. Depression was significantly positively associated with Negative Expectations, importance of Financial Benefits, and importance of Validation.Most perceptions around seeking service connection are not specific to PTSD claimants. Depression is associated with having negative expectations about service connection claims and motivations to file claims. Addressing depression and negative expectations during the compensation and pension process might help veterans at this important point of contact with Veterans Healthcare Administration services.
Characteristics of Statistical Investigations Tasks Created by Preservice Teachers

This study focused on statistical investigation tasks designed by preservice teachers. Participants designed a statistical investigation task as a culminating summative assessment after completing ...
Strategy and benefit analysis of water saving in 8" semiconductor fab

This article was introduced the example of water saving in 8-inches semiconductor plant of UMC-8E plant. The technology and strategy was established by the water character, which included the recovery source, POU demand, environmental impact and running cost. We select the RO as a main unit in recovery system of waste water because the condition of environment and cost can be matched. The process recovery rate can be exceeded 85% after this saving strategy was practiced. This accomplishment was hard to achieve for the old plant, so we obtained the honor of water saving in 2002.
Tibiotalocalcaneal Arthrodesis Using Retrograde Intramedullary Nail Fixation: Comparison of Patients With and Without Diabetes Mellitus.

Retrograde intramedullary nailing for tibiotalocalcaneal arthrodesis is a salvage procedure reserved for severe cases of deformity. The aim of the present study was to compare the outcomes of this technique in patients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM). A total of 61 patients with and 56 without DM underwent retrograde intramedullary nailing and had a minimum follow-up period of 12 months. The overall incidence of complication was 45.2%; however, the overall incidence of complications between those with and without DM was not significantly different (odds ratio [OR] 0.79, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.38 to 1.65, p = .54). Patients with DM had a significantly greater rate of superficial infections (OR 8.3, 95% CI 1.01 to 68.67, p = .03). However, no difference was seen in the rate of deep infection (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.34 to 2.46, p = .83) or noninfectious complications (OR 0.50, 95% CI 0.23 to 1.13, p = .09). Successful limb salvage was achieved for 96.8% of the patients with DM and 94.7% of those without DM (p = .66). A femoral head allograft was used in 32 (27.4%) of 117 patients to substitute for an osseous void. Of the 32 patients who required a femoral head allograft, 21 (67.7%) experienced a complication compared with 32 (37.6%) of 85 patients who did not require a femoral head allograft (OR 3.16, 95% CI 1.35 to 7.41, p = .008). The incidence of patient satisfaction was 80% for patients with DM and 72% for those without DM (p = .36). Despite a high incidence of complications, limb salvage was accomplished in approximately 95% of patients with complicated deformities. Four patients (6.56%) with DM experienced a tibia fracture; therefore, we now routinely use a 300-mm-long nail for this reconstruction.
Mixed-Precision Cholesky QR Factorization and Its Case Studies on Multicore CPU with Multiple GPUs

To orthonormalize the columns of a dense matrix, the Cholesky QR (CholQR) requires only one global reduction between the parallel processing units and performs most of its computation using BLAS-3 kernels. As a result, compared to other orthogonalization algorithms, CholQR obtains superior performance on many of the current computer architectures, where the communication is becoming increasingly expensive compared to the arithmetic operations. This is especially true when the input matrix is tall-skinny. Unfortunately, the orthogonality error of CholQR depends quadratically on the condition number of the input matrix, and it is numerically unstable when the matrix is ill-conditioned. To enhance the stability of CholQR, we recently used mixed-precision arithmetic; the input and output matrices are in the working precision, but some of its intermediate results are accumulated in the doubled precision. In this paper, we analyze the numerical properties of this mixed-precision CholQR. Our analysis shows that ...
Continuum Capture in the Three-Body Problem

The hydrogen atom is often referred to as the Rosetta Stone of atomic physics. It occupies this role as the most readily accessible quantum mechanical realization of the Kepler two-body problem. In the quantum domain only the solution to the static, stationary state Kepler problem, suitably modified by the theories of relativity and quantum electrodynamics, is known to high accuracy. Knowledge of the dynamical two-body problem nonetheless represents a triumph of mathematical understanding compared to the relatively primitive present-day comprehension of the scattering theory appropriate to the three-body problem. Again, the stationary version of the three-body problem is quantitatively far better understood than the dynamical version, even though the analytical history of the problem is a long and distinguished one. In his well-known book entitled Men of Mathematics, E. T. Bell refers to Sir Isaac Newton’s work on the particular three-body problem central to Newton’s thinking: the motion of the moon. Though Newton regarded this work as a “Cdiversion” from his alchemical and theological studies, Bell notes that “these ‘diversions’ occasionally cost him more incessant thought than his professed labors, as when he made himself seriously ill by thinking day and night about the motion of the Moon, the only problem, he says, that ever made his head ache.”1
Shock-induced modification of inorganic powders

Early exploratory work in Japan,1, 2 the Soviet Union3, 4 and the United States5, 6 demonstrated that high pressure shock-wave loading such as produced by the detonation of high explosives or high speed projectile impact can substantially alter solid state reactivity. Such effects are manifest in catalytic activity,2, 7, 8 compound synthesis,1–3, 9 enhanced sinterability, 6, 9–11 reduction in reaction start temperature,12, 13 rapid growth of dense phase crystallites5, 14 and strong bonding in dynamic compaction and explosive welding.15 That such effects can be utilized in industrial operations is well demonstrated in synthetic diamond production,16–17 polycrystalline cubic boron nitride production17 and explosive welding. 18 Scientists in the Soviet Union have maintained a continuing effort in shock-induced chemistry and shock modification13 but mechanisms to account for and control shock-induced solid state reactivity are poorly understood. Presently, significant efforts in this area are developing in Japan and the United States.
Numerical simulation of cometary nuclei: III. Internal temperatures of cometary nuclei

The thermal diffusion equation for the internal temperature of cometary nuclei is exactly solved by means of a one-dimensional numerical model in order to shed light on the complex behavior of these temperatures with varying orbital and thermal parameters and in order to consider possible cometary nucleus thermal evolution targets for comet rendezvous and/or sample-return missions. The concept of 'new' and 'old' comets, classified in terms of how many passages around the sun have been made, may take on new meaning in view of the present demonstration that differences in eccentricity between two comets having the same period and number of apparitions may yield significantly different internal temperature profiles.
Line-of-Sight Anisotropies within X-ray Luminous Cluster Samples

We present the results from two-point spatial correlation analyses on X-ray confirmed northern Abell clusters. The cluster samples are subsets of a volume-limited ROSAT All-Sky Survey study of 294 Abell clusters of which 240 are X-ray luminous. We examined magnitude- and volume-complete samples for differences according to richness and X-ray luminosity. For R>=1 clusters, we find r_0 = 22h^-1Mpc and gamma = -1.7, which is consistent with previous analyses of visually selected clusters. We also find no indications of line-of-sight anisotropies. For R >= 0 clusters, we find r_0= 17.5h^-1Mpc which is considerably lower than recent determinations of r_0 for similar X-ray bright cluster samples (e.g. the XBACs and the RASS1 clusters). All of the R>=0 X-ray confirmed samples, including the XBACs and RASS1 clusters, show line-of-sight anisotropies. Since X-ray emissions confirm a cluster's reality, we conclude that these anisotropies are not the result of spuriously selected clusters. We also examine the Abell clusters for the depedence of r_0 and gamma on X-ray luminosity, and find no evidence for r_0 to grow with increasing X-ray luminosity thresholds. This is contrary to similar L_x vs. r_0 analyses of the RASS1 and XBACs cluster samples. We describe selection effects within the flux-limited XBACs and RASS1 samples and suggest how they can affect both the size of r_0 and its dependence on L_x.
High Velocity CO Emission around T Tauri Stars

T Tauri winds are detected via their interactions with ambient cloud material. The magnitude of the mass flows are calculated and dynamical effects on molecular clouds are discussed.
Does Spoiling Work? Assessing the Impact of Spoilers on Civil War Peace Agreements

Scholars and policymakers argue that violent actors – termed ‘spoilers’ – pose a significant threat to civil war peace agreements. Yet existing research, which is overly reliant on single-case studies, has not effectively determined how prevalent spoiling is, or thoroughly examined what its ultimate effects are on peace agreements. This article draws on a newly constructed cross-national dataset of spoiling following 241 civil war peace agreements in the post-Cold War era to analyze spoiling. It finds that spoiling intended to terminate an agreement is not as common as typically assumed, but still plagues a sizeable number of peace agreements. Moreover, most actors who resort to this strategy typically fail in their goals and the agreement is not at risk, despite the high publicity and attention given to these threats. Yet particular types of actors, most notably paramilitaries and state security forces excluded from the agreement, can pose a significant threat to peace.
Total energy expenditure and physical activity in prepubertal children: recent advances based on the application of the doubly labeled water method.

The prevalence of obesity in children has continued to increase despite a general increased awareness of health and fitness. Epidemiologic data show that the prevalence of obesity in children is 25%, with a higher prevalence in some subgroups of the population. In addition, the incidence of obesity-related diseases is dramatically increasing in children. For example, the incidence of type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents has increased 10-fold over the past decade, and this increase is more pronounced in obese persons. The etiology of the development of childhood obesity and subsequent disease is poorly understood, but is likely to be explained by alterations in the regulation of energy balance between energy expenditure and energy intake. It is not known whether obesity is caused by an increase in energy intake relative to energy needs, a decrease in energy expenditure relative to energy needs, or the effect of both. This review will focus on recent studies that have attempted to elucidate the etiology of childhood obesity and have increased our understanding of the regulation of energy balance in prepubertal children by using the doubly labeled water method for estimating total energy expenditure and physical activity-related energy expenditure. This review serves as a brief and general update of recent reviews of this topic.
Excisional biopsy should be performed if lobular carcinoma in situ is seen on needle core biopsy.

Abstract Context.—Percutaneous image-guided core biopsy is increasingly becoming the method of choice to evaluate impalpable breast lesions presenting with mammographically detected calcifications or as a mammographically detected mass. Infrequently, a diagnosis of a primary lobular lesion is rendered by needle core biopsy. Although lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) and atypical lobular hyperplasia (ALH) are not themselves detectable by mammography, they can be associated with calcifications. The management of patients with a primary diagnosis of LCIS or ALH on needle core biopsy is uncertain. Recommendations include excisional biopsy, tamoxifen citrate therapy, mammographic surveillance, or a combination of these approaches. Objective.—The purpose of this study was to report the histologic findings of excisional biopsies performed after ALH or LCIS was found in a needle core biopsy. Design.—Hematoxylin-eosin–stained slides of 20 needle core biopsy specimens from patients with a primary diagnosis of LCIS o...
Multiple subunits of the Caenorhabditis elegans anaphase-promoting complex are required for chromosome segregation during meiosis I

Two genes, originally identified in genetic screens for Caenorhabditis elegans mutants that arrest in metaphase of meiosis I, prove to encode subunits of the anaphase-promoting complex or cyclosome (APC/C). RNA interference studies reveal that these and other APC/C subunits are essential for the segregation of chromosomal homologs during meiosis I. Further, chromosome segregation during meiosis I requires APC/C functions in addition to the release of sister chromatid cohesion.
Children's metacognition: Exploring relations among knowledge, process, and motivational variables.

Abstract Following a metamemory pretest, 60 first and third grade children (6 and 8 years of age, respectively) were divided into three treatment groups which received task-specific strategy instructions appropriate for three memory problems, general metacognitive information about subordinate and superordinate processing, or both strategy and metacognitive training. Maintenance and generalization versions of the memory tasks were given, followed by an attributional assessment of children's perceptions of the causes for specific success and failure outcomes. Post-training scores on the memory tasks showed that strategy training was highly successful. Metacognitive training appeared to have no effect on the metameory or strategy scores with one exception: metamemory and strategy use on the generalization task were significantly correlated only for children who received both metacognitive and strategy training. Apparently, children who were initially high in metamemory skills profited more from the comprehensive training package, using new metacognitive insights to aid the generalization of acquired strategies to the transfer tasks. Among strategy-trained children those who attributed success to effort were both more strategic and higher in metamemory than those who attributed task outcomes to noncontrollable factors such as ability or task characteristics. Results were discussed in terms of the interactive nature of knowledge, process, and motivational variables as determinants of strategy transfer.
Propranolol and infantile hemangiomas four years later: a systematic review.

To systematically review the literature evaluating efficacy and adverse events of propranolol treatment for infantile hemangiomas, we searched the MEDLINE and Cochrane databases for all studies examining the response of infantile hemangiomas (IHs) to propranolol published between June 12, 2008, and June 15, 2012. Forty-one studies with 1,264 patients were included; 74% of patients were female and approximately 30% had received other treatments before propranolol. Propranolol was initiated at a mean age of 6.6 months at a mean dose of 2.1 mg/kg/day and for a mean treatment duration of 6.4 months. The response rate for patients with IHs treated with propranolol was 98% (range 82%-100%), with response rate defined as any improvement with propranolol. Treatment response rates were comparable for studies evaluating IHs at specific sites, such as periorbital IHs. Studies that followed patients after treatment completion reported IH rebound growth in 17% of patients. There were 371 adverse events reported in 1,189 patients. The most common adverse events were changes in sleep (n = 136) and acrocyanosis (n = 61). Serious adverse events were rare, with reports of symptomatic hypotension in five patients, hypoglycemia in four, and symptomatic bradycardia in one. This systematic review of 1,264 patients treated with propranolol for IHs showed a high rate of efficacy and a low rate of serious adverse events.
The possibility of intrinsic local curvature in DNA toroids

A variety of solution conditions are known to induce collapse of linear DNA into a compact configuration without dramatic change of local structure. When visualized, these compact forms frequently have a toroidal appearance. We ask whether the molecular basis of the toroidal shape can be a stable curvature of isolated rodlike DNA segments. Application of the classical Euler-Lagrange theory for the buckling of elastic rods provides us with an affirmative answer. Specifically, we see that, in principle, sufficient addition of inert polymer to DNA solutions can induce buckling of DNA segments. However, no attempt is made to quantitate the Euler-Lagrange condition for sufficiency in terms of added polymer concentration. We find also that complete neutralization of the phosphate charge is more than sufficient to induce buckling of DNA segments of length comparable to a Kuhn segment. The quantitative argument involves comparison of buckling forces provided by polyelectrolyte theory with the Euler-Lagrange criterion. Knowledge of the ionic-strength dependence of DNA bending stiffness (persistence length) is not required.
Optimal control of a flywheel energy storage system with a radial flux hybrid magnetic bearing

Abstract This paper describes the design and implementation of digital controllers for a flywheel energy storage device that incorporates a radial flux hybrid permanent magnetic bearing. Although the uncontrolled device is asymptotically stable, active control is required to: (i) ensure that a finite radial air gap is maintained at all times, and (ii) attenuate the oscillations of the flywheel which reduce the efficiency of the motor generator. The paper presents the design of gain scheduled discrete time linear quadratic regulator (LQR) and linear quadratic Gaussian (LQG) controllers for this rotordynamic system. Real time experiments are conducted to investigate the performance of the controllers. The result indicates that the LQR controller with approximate system velocities is easier to implement than the LQG controller, and also provides superior performance.
Microvolt T wave alternans inducibility in normal newborn puppies: effects of development.

T Wave Alternans in Normal Newborn Puppies.Introduction: The cause of sudden infant death syndrome is unknown, but increased cardiac vulnerability due to repolarization instability may be a contributing factor. The QT interval normally is long at birth and increases further during the first few postnatal months. Although excessive QT intervals indicate increased cardiac vulnerability in the long QT syndrome, the impact of less pronounced QT prolongation during this developmental period is unclear. In adults and older children, the ease of inducing microvolt-level T wave alternans (TWA) is used as a measure of repolarization instability and arrhythmia vulnerability. The aim of this study was to determine if TWA is inducible in normal newborn puppies. Methods and Results: Atrial pacing was performed in 15 anesthetized beagle puppies 7 to 35 days old. The pacing drive cycle length was systematically decreased in 20-msec steps from baseline until AV conduction blocked. Pacing was performed for 8 minutes at each cycle length. Three-lead ECGs were recorded continuously during the last 5 minutes of pacing at each cycle length. The recordings were analyzed off-line for the presence of microvolt-level TWA using a sensitive spectral analysis technique. Microvolt-level TWA was present in all puppies. TWA was not present at baseline but developed and increased in amplitude as heart rate increased. The threshold heart rate for TWA did not correlate with age. However, due to age-dependent changes in baseline heart rate, the 7- to 14-day-old animals needed a 50% to 78% increase in heart rate to reach threshold heart rate, whereas the oldest animals needed only a 5% to 25% increase. Conclusion: These data suggest that developmentally dependent dynamic repolarization instability exists in puppies as manifest by the inducibility of TWA.
The impact of government spending on the level of private sector strike activity

The results from this study indicate that government spending does affect strike activity by decreasing the frequency of strikes and by increasing the size of strikes. The findings are consistent with the hypotheses developed in the theoretical section of the study.
Product-variable models of interaction effects and causal mechanisms

Abstract Among those who use multiple regression or its offshoots, the dominant method of modeling an interaction effect of two independent variables on a dependent variable is to include a product variable in a linear estimation equation. In this paper, I show how the coefficient for the product variable in these models depends on the causal mechanism that underlies the interaction effect. I also show that different causal mechanisms can imply the same estimation equation, which means that one cannot determine the causal mechanism underlying an interaction effect from the empirical results produced by the estimation equation. Social scientists typically lack the kind of theoretical knowledge required to specify causal mechanisms for interaction effects, and researchers who do specify a mechanism, such as those who specify that contextual-level variables moderate the effects of individual-level variables but not vice versa, rarely justify their implicit claims. Although it is difficult to specify the causal mechanism underlying a particular interaction effect, I show that there are cases where it is possible to do so.
Cysteine-Free Proteins in the Immunobiology of Arthropod-Borne Diseases

One approach to identify epitopes that could be used in the design of vaccines to control several arthropod-borne diseases simultaneously is to look for common structural features in the secretome of the pathogens that cause them. Using a novel bioinformatics technique, cysteine-abundance and distribution analysis, we found that many different proteins secreted by several arthropod-borne pathogens, including Plasmodium falciparum, Borrelia burgdorferi, and eight species of Proteobacteria, are devoid of cysteine residues. The identification of three cysteine-abundance and distribution patterns in several families of proteins secreted by pathogenic and nonpathogenic Proteobacteria, and not found when the amino acid analyzed was tryptophan, provides evidence of forces restricting the content of cysteine residues in microbial proteins during evolution. We discuss these findings in the context of protein structure and function, antigenicity and immunogenicity, and host-parasite relationships.
A Public Confession: The Retina Trumpets Its Failed Predictions

To compensate for delays of phototransduction, the retina anticipates the future by extrapolating the position of a moving object. But what if the object's motion changes, and the extrapolation is wrong? In this issue of Neuron, Schwartz and colleagues show that these prediction failures trigger a large burst of firing that helps to rapidly correct the neural representation of the object's new position.
A Comprehensive Analysis of XOR-Based Erasure Codes Tolerating 3 or More Concurrent Failures

In large-scale database storage systems, RAID systems have gained popularity due to their capability to support multiple failures. As data loss is not an option in a system, recent studies focus on erasure codes for the RAID systems, which can tolerate three or more concurrent failures. This paper surveys recent XOR-based erasure codes and presents a comprehensive analysis and comparison among these codes. Moreover, some erasure codes that focus on clustered erasures are also discussed. The paper concludes with open research issues.
Police Arrests in a Time of Uncertainty: The Impact of 287(g) on Arrests in a New Immigrant Gateway

Using a novel data set created from police narratives between 2005 and 2010, this article examines whether and how police reporting varies before and after the implementation of 287(g), a local enf...