cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ethnographic Language Learning Projects Through the Linguistic Landscape

Study of the linguistic landscape (LL) has significant pedagogical potential in additional language classrooms. This is particularly true in English as a foreign language (EFL) settings, where the perception is that the target language is remote and not immediately relevant to the everyday lived experiences of learners and teachers. Educators recognizing that environmental print in English provides more than incidental L2 exposure have looked at how to harness the LL as a pedagogical resource in EFL contexts (Rowland L. The pedagogical beneifts of a linguistic landscape project in Japan. Int J Biling Educ Biling, 16(4), 494–505. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2012.708319, 2013; Sayer P. Using the linguistic landscape as a pedagogical resource. ELT J 64(2): 143–154, 2010) by engaging students in community- and project-based learning. This chapter presents a framework for using the linguistic landscape as the basis for developing ethnographic language learning projects. These projects prompt students to become analysts of language use, paying careful attention to linguistic and cultural elements of the English used in environmental print.
Educator Perceptions of Adult-Student Relationships, Racial Climate, and Associated Discipline Techniques

The overuse and misuse of exclusionary and punitive discipline practices in schools have been consistently linked to social and educational inequities across the globe, particularly for students of...
Classroom interaction geography: visualizing space & time in classroom interaction

Methods to transcribe and represent classroom video data are central to studying teaching and learning in classrooms. However, current methods focus on encoding and representing data over time, not...
Nonlinear phenomena in respiratory mechanical measurements

The impact of nonlinearities on the assessment of respiratory mechanics was examined using a block-structured model (BSM) featuring both flow (V) and tidal volume (VT) nonlinearities. The model con...
Supernatural beliefs: Considered adaptive and associated with psychological benefits

Abstract Supernatural beliefs include peculiar beliefs, which are often considered a sign/symptom of psychopathology (e.g., Psi, remote viewing), religious/spiritual beliefs (e.g., angels), and fate beliefs (e.g., everything happens for a reason). We addressed limitations in the empirical literature by investigating, among a psychologically healthy community sample (n = 189) the perceived adaptivity of supernatural peculiar, religious/spiritual and fate beliefs. Results demonstrated that supernatural beliefs were considered adaptive (important, having a positive impact, serving understanding and hedonic functions). Perceived adaptivity, especially the understanding function, was consistently associated with psychological benefits (more life satisfaction, emotional clarity and positive affect, less negative affect, depression and perceived stress). Perceived adaptivity and associations with psychological benefits did not differ by belief type. The current study suggests that supernatural beliefs, broadly, and peculiar beliefs, specifically, are potentially adaptive in several ways, and associated with psychological benefits.
88 – The Surgical Research Program as a Business Enterprise

It is reasonable to envision a future in which highly qualified members of an academic surgical department, with an aptitude for basic, translational, and clinical research, will be able to generate significant revenue. This revenue will not only support infrastructure of their own research operation, but can actually generate excess revenue for use in funding the academic mission of a department and/or university. These programs require an innovative mindset that no longer looks at research as a non-paying portion of a department in need of support by clinical dollars, but rather a true business opportunity that can be used to fuel the engine of surgical programs. It is reasonable to envision a future in which creative business opportunities that exploit the high degree of intellectual capital often found in academic surgical departments can be used to fund many aspects of a department that were once funded from excess revenue related to patient care. At a time when the value of surgical expertise related to patient care has diminished in the eyes of third-party payers and the federal government, this may represent the financial future of surgical departments and may enhance the value of their own faculty in strategic positions that benefit development in novel therapy and patient care.
Serious Extravagance: Romance Writing in Seventeenth-Century England

Although little recognized as such, the 17th century was a period of great energy and experimentation in British prose fiction, particularly romance. After a brief review of the criticism that has shaped our understanding of romance in the last few decades, this article considers some of the particular problems and tensions defining prose romance in its last great heyday, the Civil War and early Restoration period. French and English romance writers attributed to romance the capacity to be a more flexible and persuasive mode of historical writing than history itself, a storehouse of ‘examples’ both fictional and historical with which readers could devise a course through uncharted political and ethical terrain. At the same time, at this historical crisis point British writers conceded and sometimes took refuge in romance’s tendency (even as roman a clef) to work against figuration, resisting closure and interpretation.
Antisperm Autoantibody Response After Unilateral Vas Deferens Ligation in Rats: When Does it Develop?

Unilateral obstruction or injury to the vas deferens can result in significant injury to the contralateral testicle. Antisperm autoantibodies are thought to play a significant role in this phenomenon. It has been reported that early surgical repair of the vas, before the development of antisperm autoantibodies, will prevent any potential damage to the contralateral testicle. This led us to investigate the timing of the antisperm antibody production and to attempt to determine whether antibody production precedes histologic testicular damage in the Lewis rat model. In a controlled study, mature rats were divided into temporal groups, with the experimental animals all receiving a unilateral vasectomy. At postoperative endpoints of 1, 7, 15, or 30 days, blood samples were collected for immunologic assay, and the testicles were harvested for histologic examination. Antibody levels were measured by an immunobead test using goat anti-rat immunoglobulin G (IgG)-coated Sepharose beads; tissue sections were fixed in Bouin solution, embedded in paraffin, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. There was no statistically significant histologic difference between any of the groups. However, immunologic evaluation revealed a statistically significant increase in immunobead antibody binding in the 30-day group compared to the control groups (P = .02). These data seem to indicate that in this model, antisperm antibody production is not evident until 15-30 days after unilateral injury to the vas deferens occurs, and the development of these antibodies precedes any demonstrable histologic damage to the testicle. If it is correct to infer that human antisperm antibody production will also precede histologic testicular damage, and further, that the onset of the human autoantibody response may vary from several days to weeks, then in cases of suspected or known ductal injury, the clinical monitoring of antisperm antibody levels could enable testicular damage to be predicted prior to its development and thus be avoided.
Regional variations in US cancer imaging data: a warning for imaging overuse

Danil V Makarov speaks to Gemma Westcott, Commissioning Editor: Danil V Makarov is an Assistant Professor and Director of Surgical Research in the Department of Urology at NYU Langone Medical Center (NY, USA). In addition, he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Population Health. His clinical areas of expertise include prostate cancer, benign prostatic hyperplasia, erectile dysfunction, kidney cancer, urinary tract infections, genitourinary neoplasm, elevated prostate-specific antigen and testicular cancer. In addition, his research interests are in the areas of prostate cancer, health policy and quality of care. An alumnus of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (MD, USA), he completed his residency in urology at Johns Hopkins Hospital and a research fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine (CT, USA).
The division of labour is limited by the rate of growth of the market: the Taiwan machine tool industry in the 1970s

In 1974 I visited Taiwan to make a study of its machine tool industry (Amsden, 1977). Late in 1981 I returned to visit the same factories I had visited seven years earlier. In the interim, Taiwan was transformed from an amateurish supplier of machine tools to Southeast Asia into the fourth largest exporter of machine tools to the United States (Cremeans and Dalton, 1982). This paper analyses the remarkable changes which occurred in the machine tool industry in this short period. The object is to study the process of capital accumulation in one industry in a newly-industrialising country in order to gain a better understanding of the nature of the process generally. Between 1970 and 1980, machine tool production in Taiwan rose by more than eleven times (see Table 1). One way to begin to understand the process of capital accumulation is to ask how such an extraordinarily rapid increase in demand alters the nature of production. This is the focus adopted in what follows. Most historians acknowledge a phenomenon of cumulative causation in economic development or decline. Economies which begin to grow rapidly tend to grow even more rapidly, but once growth falters there ensues a self-reinforcing downward spiral. Most economists, however, recognise only one part of this cumulative process: that which runs from technological progress (typically taken as exogenous) to increases in productivity to increases in output. What tends to be ignored is that part which runs from increases in output to increases in productivity, with technological change, broadly defined, sandwiched in between. It is this which is examined below.
Stimulated-emission cross section and inversion lifetime in a three-atmosphere iodine photodissociation laser

An iodine photodissociation laser has been operated at three atmospheres by adding an inert gas to the laser medium. With three atmospheres of helium added a stimulated-emission cross section of 2 \times 10^{-19} cm2and an inversion half-life of 110 μs was observed.
Rheological estimation of the spreading characteristics of pharmaceutical semisolids

A Ferranti-Shirley cone and plate viscometer was utilized to characterize the spreading properties of white petrolatum U.S.P., white ointment U.S.P., and anhydrous lanolin U.S.P. Data were obtained for structural breakdown during repetitive cycling and for structural breakdown at constant shear. The problem of slippage at the revolving cone/sample interface is discussed. An attempt is made to relate rheological differences and molecular structure.
Le XXVe anniversaire de l'Union Internationale de Psychologie Scientifique(1)

Abstract Le premier Congres International de Psychologie eut lieu en 1889, sous la presidence de T. Ribot. Quatre-vingt-sept ans plus tard, des psychologues du monde entier se rencontreront a nouveau a Paris pour le XXIe Congres International preside par Paul Fraisse. L'Union Internationale de Psychologie Scientifique (I.U.P.S.) s'est developpee a partir des Comitks Organisateurs des premiers congres; elle fut fondee officiellement au XIIIe Congres de Stockholm en juillet 1951. De nombreux et remarquables congres internationaux avaient largement contribud au developpement de la psychologie mais la croissance rapide de cette discipline, ainsi que le besoin d'une meilleure communication scientifique et d'une extension de la profession a travers le monde, firent apparaitre la nkcessitt d'un organisme permanent offrant des garanties de continuitt. A l'approche du XXVe anniversaire de l'Union, il nous semble opportun de passer en revue ses realisations et d'envisager ses perspectives d'avenir.
Evaluating the cost of government credit support: the Oecd context

Governments throughout the OECD allocate a large share of societies' capital and risk through their credit-related activities. Hence, accurate cost estimates for credit support programmes are a prerequisite for efficient resource allocation, transparency, effective management and public oversight. I find that OECD governments generally take their cost of capital to be their own borrowing rate, rather than using a weighted-average cost of capital that includes the cost of risk borne by taxpayers and the general public in their role as equity holders. That practice, which is institutionalised in government accounting and budgetary rules, results in cost estimates for credit support that are significantly downwardly biased relative to a fair-value metric that recognises the full cost of risk. The size and possible real consequences of those distortions are illustrated with analyses of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Stability Mechanism and the Tennessee Valley Authority. — Deborah Lucas
Actin dynamics coupled to clathrin-coated vesicle formation at the trans-Golgi network

In diverse species, actin assembly facilitates clathrin-coated vesicle (CCV) formation during endocytosis. This role might be an adaptation specific to the unique environment at the cell cortex, or it might be fundamental, facilitating CCV formation on different membranes. Proteins of the Sla2p/Hip1R family bind to actin and clathrin at endocytic sites in yeast and mammals. We hypothesized that Hip1R might also coordinate actin assembly with clathrin budding at the trans-Golgi network (TGN). Using deconvolution and time-lapse microscopy, we showed that Hip1R is present on CCVs emerging from the TGN. These vesicles contain the mannose 6-phosphate receptor involved in targeting proteins to the lysosome, and the actin nucleating Arp2/3 complex. Silencing of Hip1R expression by RNAi resulted in disruption of Golgi organization and accumulation of F-actin structures associated with CCVs on the TGN. Hip1R silencing and actin poisons slowed cathepsin D exit from the TGN. These studies establish roles for Hip1R and actin in CCV budding from the TGN for lysosome biogenesis.
Grazing‐incidence x‐ray photoemission spectroscopy and the accuracy of thickness measurements of CMOS gate dielectrics

Grazing-incidence x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (GIXPS) is a method that offers promise as a non-destructive technique to measure the thickness and chemical state of ultrathin gate dielectric films. This method utilizes the non-linear dependence of the photoelectron yield on the radiation incidence angle to characterize a given layer structure. The accuracy of the results also depends on the input parameters, such as photoemission cross-sections, indices of refraction and electron attenuation lengths within the incident x-ray energy range of application (1–2 keV). Uncertainties in these parameters have consequences not only for GIXPS but also for other techniques that rely on them for materials analysis. We present a study of the impact of uncertainty in the photoionization cross-sections and atomic scattering factors on the GIXPS measurement of film thickness and density. A test of the accuracy of the index of refraction is demonstrated by measurements of a native oxide layer on Si at incident energies below and above the Si K edge. We also discuss the effects of surface and interface roughness. Published in 2001 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A multilingual input/output device for Indian scripts

Abstract A design is presented for a multilingual interactive input/output device for Indian languages. A keyboard is proposed which is based on the basic letter sounds of the Indian languages. Since the union of the sets of basic letter sounds for the major Indian languages contains about 76 sounds, a keyboard of reasonable size can be constructed which will be suitable for use throughout India. The basic letter sounds also provide a means for an unambiguous internal encoding which preserves the lexicographic order of the characters in the language(s) being used. A possible model is given for an output device that transforms the basic letter sound oriented internal representation of the characters into graphical symbols for human reading. The use of the basic letter sound representation allows a unified design which is adaptable to different regional needs.
Challenging Current Notions of “Highly Qualified Teachers” through Work in a Teachers’ Inquiry Group:

A small group of Boston Public School teachers met for a year to explore the question of what keeps teachers going, a question that bears asking because of the precarious situation of public educat...
Water Adsorption on Thin Film Media

Abstract Disk drives experience a wide range of temperature and humidity during storage and operation. Humidity influences media tribology through the effects of adsorbed water on the interaction of Zdol lubricant hydroxyl end groups with the carbon overcoat. We measured the effects of Zdol 4000 thickness and chemisorption on the water adsorption isotherm and surface energy. The potential distortion model of Adamson was employed to derive the film thickness at saturation from the isotherms and contact angles. The isotherm was surprisingly independent of the Zdol chemisorption and thickness up to 1.8 nm, because, in this range of Zdol thickness, the adsorbed water resides in pores which exclude the larger Zdol end groups. The water adsorption isotherm provides a sensitive probe of overcoat structure due the ability of water to reach pores in the overcoat which are inaccessible to Zdol. Above a Zdol thickness of 1.8 nm there is a jump in the water adsorption as additional adsorption takes place on the “free” hydroxyl groups. The mechanism for the previously observed decrease in Zdol lubricated media durability at low humidity is derived from the effect of adsorbed water on Zdol surface diffusion and chemisorption.
Syllable Duration and Pausing in the Speech of Chinese ESL Speakers

* Although suprasegmentals (stress, rhythm, and intonation) and pausing are very important for intelligibility (Anderson-Hsieh, 1992), the literature contains only a few acoustic studies investigating these aspects of speaking proficiency in ESL learners. Bond and Fokes (1985) investigated stress and syllable duration at the word level and found that nonnative speakers representing several language backgrounds showed less differentiation in syllable duration than did native speakers (NSs). Adams (1979) investigated rhythm and pausing at the discourse level in a linguistically heterogeneous group of ESL learners using rhymes and paragraphs as elicitation tasks. She found that the nonnative speakers in her study paused frequently and at inappropriate points in the sentence and differentiated less in duration between stressed and unstressed syllables than did native speakers. However, the studies cited above did not use an independent test to assess speaking proficiency, and they apparently investigated only one level of proficiency-intermediate to high intermediate-so the extent to which more advanced speakers acquire syllable duration and pausing is not known. The preliminary study reported here investigated syllable duration and pausing in Chinese ESL speakers, a group not investigated in the earlier studies but one that has been reported informally as having difficulties with English rhythm (Chang, 1987). We investigated both intermediate-proficiency (IP) and high-proficiency (HP) speakers because comparing such speakers with native speakers should provide information on both the difficulties that Chinese learners have with syllable duration and
Comparison of injury mortality risk in motor vehicle crash versus other etiologies

The mortality risk ratio (MRR), a measure of the proportion of people who died that sustained a given injury, is reported to be among the most powerful discriminators of mortality following trauma. The primary aim was to determine whether mechanistic differences exist and are quantifiable when comparing MRR-based injury severity across two broadly defined etiologies (motor vehicle crash (MVC) versus non-MVC) for the clarification of important injury types that have some room for improvement by emergency treatment and vehicle design. All International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision (ICD-9) coded injuries in the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB) database were stratified into MVC and non-MVC groups and the MRR for each injury was computed within each group. Injuries were classified as 11 different types for MRR comparison between etiologies. Overall, MRRs for specific injuries were 10–18% lower for MVC compared to non-MVC etiologies. MVCs however produced much higher mean MRRs for crushing injuries (0.184 versus 0.072) and internal injuries to the thorax, abdomen, and pelvis (0.200 versus 0.169). Non-MVCs produced much higher MRRs for intracranial injuries (0.199 versus 0.250). Analysis of the top 95% most frequent MVC injuries revealed higher MVC MRR values for 78% of the injuries with MRR ratios indicating an average 50% increase in a given injury's MRR when MVC was the etiology. Addressing the large differences in MRR in between etiologies for identical injuries could provide a reduction in fatalities and may be important to patient triage and vehicle safety design.
Effect of finishing methods on washing durability of microencapsulated aroma finishing

Abstract To achieve a durable aroma finish on textiles has been a long time dream for textile chemists. As fragrances are volatile, only microencapsulated aroma can stay on textiles for long periods, since capsules greatly reduce the aroma evaporation rate. An aroma finished textile has to be washable. Therefore, aroma capsules finished on textiles should not only last for long time statically but also withstand harsh washing conditions. Due to low affinity between encapsulated aroma and fabric, a fixing agent must be applied with the capsules; the fabric has to undergo a curing treatment to make the agent fix these capsules. However, the curing process is usually a high-temperature thermal procedure that causes aroma loss from capsules by quick evaporation. Thus, fragrant durability on fabrics can vary significantly with different fixing agents and curing processes. Three fixing agents, three kinds of thermal curing equipment, and various curing conditions were investigated. By analysing properties of th...
The microchemistry of toxicity

A rheologist would express the fundamental physical properties of protoplasm in the following terms: the living substance is elastic, non-Newtonian, and possesses a measurable rigidity and tensile strength; these properties all owe their existence to continuity in the structure of protoplasm.
A subjectivist approach to consecutive conflict

An easily applied approach is developed to provide one participant in a sequence of conflicts with an optimal strategy. A goal of this article is to demonstrate that it is mathematically feasible to incorporate a decision maker's subjective distributions over the effects his actions will have on the outcomes of future conflicts. Unlike many other approaches, the model of this article does not restrict the beliefs that the participant is allowed to express. The participant, not the decision theorist, decides on what is relevent. Model assumptions required for updating rules, such as Bayesian updating, are not required unless they really are appropriate for the situation.
Sexual Needs and Interests of Postpartum Couples

The birth of a child may cause difficulties in the sexual adjustment of a marital relationship. The informational interests of 42 postpartum couples were investigated. Results indicate that postpartum sexual counseling needs to be individualized and that nurses and health educators can make a significant contribution to the quality of nursing care given to patients.
Role of the Highly Conserved Threonine in Cytochrome P450 2E1: Prevention of H2O2-Induced Inactivation during Electron Transfer

A highly conserved threonine in the I-helix of cytochrome P450s has been suggested to play an important role in dioxygen activation, a critical step for catalytic turnover. However, subsequent studies with some P450s in which this highly conserved threonine was replaced by another residue such as alanine showed that significant catalytic activities were still retained when the variants were compared with the wild type enzymes. These results make the role of this residue unclear. We provide data here that suggest a novel role for this highly conserved threonine (Thr303) in the function of P450 2E1. We found that the P450 2E1 T303A mutant undergoes rapid auto-inactivation in the reconstituted system during catalytic turnover when the electrons are provided by NADPH. This inactivation was much faster than that of the wild type P450 2E1 and was prevented by catalase. Both the P450 2E1 wild type and T303A mutants produce hydrogen peroxide during the incubations. The inactivation was accompanied by heme destruction with part of the heme becoming covalently attached to protein. The heme destruction was prevented by catalase or by the presence of substrate. Interestingly, this inactivation occurred much more rapidly in the presence of both an electron transfer system and hydrogen peroxide externally added to enzyme. This accelerated inactivation during catalytic turnover was also found with a 2B4 T302A mutant, which corresponds to 2E1 T303A. Our results suggest that the conserved threonine in these P450s prevents rapid auto-inactivation during the catalytic cycle, and that this residue may be highly conserved in P450s since it allows them to remain catalytically active for longer periods of time.
Interparticle Electromagnetic Coupling in Assembled Gold-Necklace Nanoparticles

A unique phenomenon of interparticle electromagnetic coupling in closely spaced gold nanoparticles has been observed by probing the ultrafast electron dynamics of spherical gold nanoparticles with those of a gold-necklace nanoparticle system. Electron−electron scattering and electron−phonon relaxation (two main aspects of electron dynamics) are found to be significantly different for gold-necklace particles when compared to spherical gold nanoparticles. On inter band gap excitation, appreciably slower and pump-power independent electron−electron scattering has been observed for necklace particles (∼500 fs for Au-neck compared to ∼200 fs for Au-spherical nanoparticles). Significantly slower pump-power dependent electron−phonon relaxation has also been observed for the necklace particle system. The electron dynamics for gold-necklace particles is quite unique, and existing models of electron−electron scattering and electron−phonon relaxation were unsuccessful in explaining the dynamics in this system. The r...
Joulean dissipation in hard superconducting tubes and cylinders

Abstract By a simple argument, it is shown that a uniformly changing axial magnetic field produces power densities which are easily compared on the basis of geometry and electromagnetic history.
The Full Unity of the Virtues

The classical doctrine that the moral virtues are unified is widely rejected. Some argue that the virtues are disunified, or even mutually incompatible. And though others have argued that the virtues form some sort of unity, these recent defenses of unity are always qualified, advocating only a partial unity: the unity of the virtues is limited to certain practical domains, or weak in that one virtue implies only moral decency in the fields of other virtues. I argue that something like the classical doctrine—a full unity of the virtues thesis—remains defensible. After reviewing the arguments of partial unity theorists for the claim that the virtues form at least some sort of unity, I examine their main arguments for thinking that this unity is only partial (limited or weak). I then show that these arguments fail, and address some further criticisms (such as the argument that full unity implausibly requires that a person must attain the virtues “all at once”). I do not seek here to prove the truth of the full unity thesis (in fact I suggest a modification of it), but only to refute important extant criticisms of it, and thus to show that it remains a plausible view.
Field performance of a prototype compact YBCO "annulus" magnet for micro-NMR spectroscopy.

Abstract A prototype compact annulus YBCO magnet (YP1070) for micro-NMR spectroscopy was constructed and tested at 77 K and 4.2 K. This paper, for the first time, presents comparison of the 77-K and 4.2-K test results of our annulus magnet. With a 26-mm cold bore, YP1070 was comprised of a stack of 1070 thin YBCO plates, 80-μm thick and either 40-mm or 46-mm square. After 1070 YBCO plates were stacked “optimally” in 214 groups of 5-plate modules, YP1070 was “field-cooled” at 77 K after being immersed in a bath of liquid nitrogen (LN 2 ) with background fields of 0.3 and 1 T and also at 4.2 K in a bath of liquid helium (LHe) with background fields of 2.8 and 5 T. In each test, three key NMR magnet field-performance parameters—trapped field strength, spatial field homogeneity, and temporal stability—were measured. At 4.2 K, a maximum peak trapped field of 4.0 T, equivalent to 170 MHz 1 H NMR frequency, was achieved with a field homogeneity, within a | z |
The higher oxides of nitrogen: Unintended products of technological progress

Abstract The higher oxides of nitrogen (NOx), of which nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and nitric oxide are the most important, pose serious health hazards in some occupations such as welding, agriculture, and mining. The NOx are also important constituents of photochemical air pollution. At high concentrations, NO2 can cause lung injury that may be fatal due to the accumulation of edema fluid in the lungs, usually several hours after exposure. At low concentrations, such as those observed in air pollution, the NOx) may impair resistance to respiratory tract infections. The history of NOx exposure reflects industrial and technological development since the 19th century. Occasional accidental exposures to nitric acid fumes produced the earliest casualties. At the turn of the century the munitions industry and underground mining saw many cases. In 1929 the catastrophic Cleveland Clinic Fire resulted in many deaths due to the inhalation of NOx from burning nitrocellulose X-ray film. Recognition of NO2 exposure as the cause of “silo-fillers' disease” came in the 1950s, 42 yr after the first description of this potentially fatal lung disease in agricultural workers. Since World War II, occupational standards for NO2 have been greatly tightened and the key role of the NOx in photochemical air pollution has been established. Present standards are in need of review in the light of new information, and a reduction in the occupational standard from 5.0 ppm time weighted average (TWA) to 1.0 ppm TWA is considered appropriate.
IMMUNOLOGICAL SPECIFICITY OF DELAYED AND IMMEDIATE HYPERSENSITIVITY REACTIONS

The effects of the following parameters on the immunologic specificity of delayed and immediate hypersensitivity reactions were investigated in the guinea pig using the picryl and p -toluenesulfonyl systems: ( a ) the contribution of the carrier protein, ( b ) the effect of the number of hapten groups per molecule of the immunizing and challenging antigens, and ( c ) the effect of interposing a 6 carbon chain (ϵ-aminocaproic acid) between the hapten and its usual attachment to the lysine ϵ-NH2 groups of the carrier protein. It was found that induction of delayed hypersensitivity was accomplished equally well with both lightly and heavily coupled conjugates. Sensitized animals which gave strong delayed reactions to the immunizing conjugate cross-reacted poorly or not at all to ( a ) conjugates of the same hapten with a different carrier protein, or ( b ) conjugates differing from the immunizing conjugate by having an ϵ-aminocaproyl chain interposed between hapten and its attachment onto the carrier protein. Animals sensitized with either lightly or heavily substituted conjugates exhibited strong delayed reactions to both conjugates, but more intense reactions to the immunizing conjugate were always observed. In contrast to the marker carrier specificity exhibited by the delayed hypersensitivity reactions, immediate hypersensitivity reactions, (specific precipitation, Arthus, and PCA reactions) could be elicited equally well with hapten conjugates of all carrier proteins, as well as with conjugates containing ϵ-aminocaproyl chains interposed between hapten and the carrier protein, provided the number of hapten groups per molecule conjugate was sufficiently high. Both in inducing antibody response and in provoking immediate hypersensitivity reactions, heavily substituted conjugates were considerably more effective than were lightly substituted conjugates. Alternative explanations for these observed differences in specificity between immediate and delayed hypersensitivity reactions are discussed.
Serum testosterone concentration during two breeding cycles of turkeys with low and high ejaculate volumes

Abstract Serum testosterone, ejaculate volume, sperm concentration, and total sperm per ejaculate were followed from 24 to 80 weeks of age in Large White breeder turkeys. Blood was collected immediately after the weekly semen collection and serum testosterone was determined by radioimmunoassay. Males were classified as low semen producers (LSP; ejaculate volume .50 ml). Semen production, which had started in all males at 28 weeks of age, stopped at 57 ± 2.4 and 62 ± 1.6 weeks, and resumed at 72 ± 0.2 and 71 ± 0.6 weeks (mean ± SEM) for LSP and HSP, respectively. Semen production (volume, concentration, and total sperm) of the second cycle was comparable to that of the first cycle. However, serum testosterone ranged from
Confeito-like assembly of organosilicate-caged fluorophores: ultrabright suprananoparticles for fluorescence imaging

We report ultrabright, photostable, sub-25 nm nanoparticle agglomerates (suprananoparticles) assembled from a few hundred 3.3 ± 0.9 nm units, each hosting on average a single rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) dye molecule encased in a thin organosilicate cage. These individual Rh6G-doped nanoparticle (DOSNP) units consist of a hydrophobic core containing the dye and an ultrathin, conformal silicate shell modified by CO2 plasma to confer a beneficial “cage effect” as well as surface hydrophilicity. The isolation of the dye within individual DOSNP units in the final 22 ± 5 nm agglomerate avoids dimerization and related spontaneous molecular interactions that otherwise lead to self-quenching in closely co-localized fluorophores. The resulting suprananoparticles are over 200 times brighter than the free Rh6G molecules in the same volume. There is no observable dye leaching, and the labels are 20-fold more resistant to photobleaching than free Rh6G in solution. We demonstrate the attractive features of DOSNPs as labels in bioimaging applications.
Florida red tide perception: Residents versus tourists

The west coast of Florida has annual blooms of the toxin-producing dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis with Sarasota, FL considered the epicenter for these blooms. Numerous outreach materials, including Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) cards, exhibits for local museums and aquaria, public beach signs, and numerous websites have been developed to disseminate information to the public about this natural hazard. In addition, during intense onshore blooms, a great deal of media attention, primarily via newspaper (print and web) and television, is focused on red tide. However to date, the only measure of effectiveness of these outreach methods has been counts of the number of people exposed to the information, e.g., visits to a website or number of FAQ cards distributed. No formal assessment has been conducted to determine if these materials meet their goal of informing the public about Florida red tide. Also, although local residents have the opinion that they are very knowledgeable about Florida red tide, this has not been verified empirically. This study addressed these issues by creating and administering an evaluation tool for the assessment of public knowledge about Florida red tide. A focus group of Florida red tide outreach developers assisted in the creation of the evaluation tool. The location of the evaluation was the west coast of Florida, in Sarasota County. The objective was to assess the knowledge of the general public about Florida red tide. This assessment identified gaps in public knowledge regarding Florida red tides and also identified what information sources people want to use to obtain information on Florida red tide. The results from this study can be used to develop more effective outreach materials on Florida red tide.
Application of gas chromatography‐infrared spectroscopy to the confirmation of the double bond configuration of conjugated linoleic acid isomers

Le couplage chromatographie en phase gazeuse - spectroscopie infrarouge a transformee de Fourier (GC-FTIR) peut fournir des informations specifiques sur la nature des groupes fonctionnels et confirmer la configuration de doubles liaisons (cis/trans, cis/cis ou trans/trans) de melanges complexes d'isomeres de l'acide linoleique conjugue (CLA).
The impact of lidocaine on secondary ischemia injury of skin flaps.

Abstract Purpose Lidocaine is used to reduce the undesirable effects of ischemia because of its anti-inflammatory effects. Herein we investigated the effects of lidocaine on secondary ischemia in a skin flap model. Materials and Methods In this epigastric skin flap protocol in animals, we followed 2 hours of primary global ischemia with a reperfusion period of 6 hours and then either secondary arterial or venous ischemia for another 6 hours during which we tested the usefulness of lidocaine. Lidocaine was injected via the intraperitoneal route 5 minutes before the second period of ischemia. The animals were allocated into secondary arterial ischemia or secondary venous ischemia groups which were subdivided according to the delivered agents. Neutrophil cell counts at the margins of the flaps were recorded 12 hours after the end of the second period of ischemia. Flap viability was assessed 1 week after the surgical procedure. Surviving flap area was recorded as the percentage of the whole area. The Least Significant Difference test was used to detect a significant difference among groups, and the Pearson test to evaluate the relationship between neutrophil counts and flap survival rate. Results There were significant differences among groups both with respect to neutrophil count and flap survival. There was a relationship between the neutrophil counts and the flap survivals. Conclusion Intraperitoneally injected lidocaine was an effective procedure to reduce flap necrosis as a cause of secondary ischemia in skin flaps, an effect of the ischemia-reperfusion injury.
Self-consistent space-charge-flow using integral equation field methods

Abstract Integral equations are used to calculate ion beams in a self-consistent space-charge-flow simulation. A charge-free solution is found, then an iterative process is used to determine new fields and the distribution of charge within the domain. Child's law is assumed to describe ion emission in the region of the emitter, and the remaining distribution is found by correlating trajectories representative of ions within the beam. Integral equations lead to a straightforward formulation for the charge density immediately in front of the ion-emitter in terms of the potentials for these locations which were obtained in the previous iteration. Advantages of the integral equation approach are that field equations need be solved one time only and subsequent iterated values of the field for updated charge estimates are found by a matrix multiplication. In addition, the gradient values needed to calculate the trajectories are in analytical form. An example of a planar election flow gun is used to demonstrate the approach of this paper.
SU‐FF‐T‐560: Evaluation of ExacTrac and CBCT Patient Positioning On the Novalis TX

Purpose: To evaluate the precision and accuracy of patient localization using a cone‐beam CT(CBCT) and an orthogonal x‐ray pair with infrared markers on the Novalis Tx treatment unit. Method and Materials: Twenty stereotactic radiosurgery/therapy patients with a total of twenty‐five lesions over ninety sessions (ranging from 1−5 fractions per patient) were localized daily using both ExacTrac (ETX, BrainLab) and on‐board CBCT (Varian) coupled to the Novalis Tx treatment unit. Each patient was first positioned using the ETX system accounting for variances in all six dimensions using a robotic couch top. Following these shifts, a CBCT was performed and further translations were made (x, y, z, table rotation) based on image fusion between the CBCT and simulation CT. A phantom study was also performed, mimicking the patient set‐up method to assess the reproducibility of each system and to determine any systematic differences between the ETX and CBCT localization approaches. Results: Patient positioning between ETX and CBCT was consistent in all four dimensions within 1.1mm and 0.1°. The average discrepancy between each system across all sessions was 1.1±1.2mm A/P, 1.0±1.2mm S/I, 0.1±1.4mm M/L, and 0.1°±0.5° couch rotation. Phantom testing showed that both systems were reproducible within 1.5mm and 0.5° in all dimensions. A systematic discrepancy of 0.3mm A/P, 1.2mm S/I, 0.8mm M/L, and 0.6° rotation was found between the two systems; however, this difference was deemed to be within the calibration tolerance of both systems. Conclusions: The ETX and on‐board CBCT systems were found to agree on tumor localization within 1.1mm (all dimensions) and 0.1° (couch rotation). Phantom studies showed the reproducibility of each system to be acceptable for stereotactic treatments. The Novalis Tx treatment unit incorporates both fiducial marker‐based, and volume‐based localization for reproducible and accurate SRS/SBRT patient treatments.
Mechanically-Induced Cytoskeletal Remodeling in 3D Cultures of Contractile Fibroblasts

Fibroblasts are responsible for collagen biosynthesis and organization in connective tissues, and play a role in regulation of epithelial differentiation, regulation of inflammation, and wound healing. Increasing evidence suggests that fibroblast might promote tumors by facilitating angiogenesis and cancer progression [1]. They are coupled mechanically to their fibrillar extra-cellular matrix, which can regulate cell behavior through its composition and mechanics.Copyright © 2010 by ASME
Flicker and suprathreshold spatial summation: evidence for a two-channel model of achromatic brightness.

Spatial summation of brightness was measured in the light-adapted periphery for targets that either flickered at 20 Hz or remained steady during a 1-sec exposure. For each target condition, stimuli of different diameters were adjusted in intensity to match a constant foveal reference target in subjective brightness. For comparison, increment thresholds were also measured. Large differences were found among the resulting equal-brightness functions of three normal observers. The data are consistent with a two-channel model of achromatic brightness. The spatial and temporal properties of the two brightness channels resemble those of the tonic and phasic systems of electrophysiology.
Translationally regulated C/EBPβ isoform expression upregulates metastatic genes in hormone‐independent prostate cancer cells

BACKGROUND C/EBPβ is a transcription factor regulating key biological processes including cellular growth and differentiation and its increased expression correlates with tumor invasiveness. Recently, the increased expression of C/EBPβ was reported in proliferative inflammatory atrophy of the prostate, associating with increased COX-2 expression and androgen receptor (AR) downregulation. METHODS C/EBPβ expression was determined in DU-145, PC-3 and LNCaP cells by immunoblotting. Transient transfection of C/EBPβ expression vectors was performed to investigate translational regulation of its isoform expression. Reporter gene analysis was performed to investigate transcriptional activity of C/EBPβ on metastatic gene expression. RESULTS We determined that transcriptionally active, full-length C/EBPβ isoforms were dominantly expressed in hormone-independent DU-145 and PC-3 cells, while transcription-repressing truncated isoform was dominant in hormone-dependent LNCaP cells. Our results further showed lack of full-length isoform expression from the transiently transfected C/EBPβ expression vector in LNCaP cells compared to that in PC-3 cells transfected with the same vector, while the expression of truncated isoform was comparable in both cell lines. Interestingly, however, the most upstream initiation site A null mutation restored translation of full-length isoform in LNCaP cells. These results suggest that full-length C/EBPβ isoform expression in LNCaP cells may be suppressed at the upstream initiation sites, likely at site A. Most importantly, C/EBPβ overexpression significantly upregulated promoter activities of IL-8, COX-2, and anti-apoptotic Bfl-1 genes. CONCLUSIONS Our study demonstrates that C/EBPβ is an important transcription factor upregulating metastatic gene expression and that its isoform expression is differentially regulated at the translational level in prostate cancer cells. Prostate 68:1362–1371, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Critical metabolic roles of β-cell M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors.

Muscarinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptors (mAChRs; M1–M5) regulate the activity of an extraordinarily large number of important physiological processes. We and others previously demonstrated that pancreatic β-cells are endowed with M3 mAChRs which are linked to G proteins of the Gq family. The activation of these receptors by ACh or other muscarinic agonists leads to the augmentation of glucose-induced insulin release via multiple mechanisms. Interestingly, in humans, ACh acting on human β-cell mAChRs is released from adjacent α-cells which express both choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (vAChT), indicative of the presence of a non-neuronal cholinergic system in human pancreatic islets. In order to shed light on the physiological roles of β-cell M3 receptors, we recently generated and analyzed various mutant mouse models. Specifically, we carried out studies with mice which overexpressed M3 receptors or mutant M3 receptors in pancreatic β-cells or which selectively lacked M3 receptors or M3-receptor-associated proteins in pancreatic β-cells. Our findings indicate that β-cell M3 receptors play a key role in maintaining proper insulin release and whole body glucose homeostasis and that strategies aimed at enhancing signaling through β-cell M3 receptors may prove useful to improve β-cell function for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D).