cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Negotiating Realities to Understand Others: Teaching About Meaning and Well–Being

Abstract Students often question the authenticity of meaning found by others (though rarely themselves) because they do not understand how people psychologically negotiate their individual realities. “Reality negotiation” is a term that encompasses a variety of flexible cognitive responses for managing self–referential information while searching for, adapting, and maintaining positive beliefs about the self. I discuss various tools, exercises, and goals for instructing about meaning and well–being through the lens of reality negotiation.
Plethodontid salamander response to silvicultural practices in Missouri Ozark forests

There is little information on the effects of tree harvest on salamander populations in the midwestern United States. We present data on plethodontid salamander densities in replicated stands of three forest age classes in the southeastern Ozarks of Missouri. Forest age classes consisted of regeneration-cut sites 120 years old. Salamander abundance on 21, 144-m2 plots was determined by area- and time-constrained searches. We also compared age-class habitat characteristics, including downed woody debris, canopy cover, ground area cover, herbaceous vegetation, and woody vegetation. Salamander density was lowest in newly regenerated forests and highest in forests >120 years old. Comparisons of recently regenerated forests with mature forests >70 years old indicated that terrestrial salamanders were reduced to very low numbers when mature forests had been intensively harvested. This reduction may result from a decrease in microhabitat availability. Forest age-class comparisons further indicated that salamander abundance slowly increased over time after forests had regenerated. Management decisions that take into account plethodontid salamander abundance and their response to forest structural diversity are important components in sustaining ecosystem integrity while maximizing economic yield.
Oral versus intravenous opioid dosing for the initial treatment of acute musculoskeletal pain in the emergency department.

Objectives: The objective was to compare the time to medication administration, the side effects, and the analgesic effect at sequential time points after medication administration of an oral treatment strategy using oxycodone solution with an intravenous (IV) treatment strategy using morphine sulfate for the initial treatment of musculoskeletal pain in emergency department (ED) patients. Methods: This was a prospective randomized clinical trial of patients >6 years old who were going to receive IV morphine sulfate for the treatment of musculoskeletal pain but did not yet have an IV. Consenting patients were randomized to have the treating physician order either 0.1 mg/kg morphine sulfate IV or 0.125 mg/kg oxycodone orally in a 5 mg/5 mL suspension as their initial treatment for pain. The time from the placement of the order to the administration of the medication was recorded. Pain was measured using a 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS) and recorded at 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 minutes after drug administration. Results: A total of 405 eligible patients were identified during the study period; 328 (81.0%) patients consented to be in the study. A total of 158 patients were randomized to the IV morphine sulfate treatment group, and 162 were randomized to the oral oxycodone treatment group. Of the patients who were randomized to IV therapy, 34 were withdrawn from the study prior to drug administration; leaving 125 patients in the IV group for analysis. Of the patients who randomized to oral therapy, 22 were withdrawn from the study prior to drug administration, leaving 140 patients for analysis. No serious adverse events were detected. There was a 12-minute difference between the median time of the order and the administration of oral oxycodone (8.5 minutes) and IV morphine (20.5 minutes). The mean percent change in VAS score was larger for patients in the IV therapy group than those in the oral therapy group at 10 and 20 minutes. At 30 and 40 minutes, the authors could no longer detect a difference. The satisfaction scale score was higher after treatment for the morphine group (median = 4; interquartile range [IQR] = 4 to 5) than for the oxycodone group (median = 4; IQR = 2 to 5; p = 0.008). Conclusions: The oral loading strategy was associated with delayed onset of analgesia and decreased patient satisfaction, but a shorter time to administration. The oral loading strategy using an oxycodone solution provided similar pain relief to the IV strategy using morphine 30 minutes after administration of the drug. Oral 0.125 mg/kg oxycodone represents a feasible alternative to 0.1 mg/kg IV morphine in the treatment of severe acute musculoskeletal pain when difficult or delayed IV placement greater than 30 minutes presents a barrier to treatment.
Low energy partial ablation of the atrioventricular node junction in the dog using a suction-ablation catheter

A suction electrode catheter was used for low energy, partial ablation of the atrioventricular (AV) node junction in 12 dogs. In 10 dogs, partial injury of the AV node was induced. In six dogs, delivered energy was measured precisely with use of a specially designed electronic circuit. The total energy required for partial ablation was 225 ± 91 J. The increase in PR (p < 0.0001) and AH (p < 0.001) intervals was proportional to the energy delivered. After ablation, the PR interval increased from 98 ± 10 to 154 ± 33 ms (p < 0.004) and the AH interval from 59 ± 8 to 102 ± 16 ms (p < 0.004). There was no significant change in QRS, QTc, HV or RR intervals. AH and PR intervals were significantly prolonged at 3, 7 and 14 days after ablation (p < 0.05). Anterograde conduction was significantly altered in 10 dogs. Anterograde AV node effective refractory period increased from 157 ± 14 to 214 ± 45 ms (p < 0.005). Anterograde AV node Wenckebach cycle length increased from 196 ± 30 to 244 ± 44 ms (p < 0.002). Retrograde conduction was assessed in three dogs. Retrograde AV node effective refractory period increased from 156 ± 21 to 260 ms in two dogs, with complete retrograde block in the third. These changes persisted for up to 2 weeks. Pathologic changes were limited to the region of the AV node. In four dogs adherent thrombus without pulmonary emboli was noted. Partial focal injury to the AV node is feasible in the canine model. A similar technique may be applicable for treatment of reentrant AV node tachycardias in humans.
Is it time to change the paradigm

Published research has suggested that infants whose mothers received opiates, barbiturates, or nitrous oxide gas during labor are significantly more likely to become addicted to opiates if they experiment with drugs in later life. Why has no one further investigated this hypothesis? What if these researchers are correct? In the future will there be class action lawsuits against the medical and nursing research communities for failure to follow up on this question? Is it time to change the research paradigm?
Composition of yeast snRNPs and snoRNPs in the absence of trimethylguanosine caps reveals nuclear cap binding protein as a gained U1 component implicated in the cold-sensitivity of tgs1Δ cells

Small nuclear and nucleolar RNAs that program pre-mRNA splicing and rRNA processing have a signature 5′-trimethylguanosine (TMG) cap. Whereas the mechanism of TMG synthesis by Tgs1 methyltransferase has been elucidated, we know little about whether or how RNP biogenesis, structure and function are perturbed when TMG caps are missing. Here, we analyzed RNPs isolated by tandem-affinity purification from TGS1 and tgs1Δ yeast strains. The protein and U-RNA contents of total SmB-containing RNPs were similar. Finer analysis revealed stoichiometric association of the nuclear cap-binding protein (CBP) subunits Sto1 and Cbc2 with otherwise intact Mud1- and Nam8-containing U1 snRNPs from tgs1Δ cells. CBP was not comparably enriched in Lea1-containing U2 snRNPs from tgs1Δ cells. Moreover, CBP was not associated with mature Nop58-containing C/D snoRNPs or mature Cbf5- and Gar1-containing H/ACA snoRNPs from tgs1Δ cells. The protein composition and association of C/D snoRNPs with the small subunit (SSU) processosome were not grossly affected by absence of TMG caps, nor was the composition of H/ACA snoRNPs. The cold-sensitive (cs) growth defect of tgs1Δ yeast cells could be suppressed by mutating the cap-binding pocket of Cbc2, suggesting that ectopic CBP binding to the exposed U1 m7G cap in tgs1Δ cells (not lack of TMG caps per se) underlies the cs phenotype.
Intensity and focus of heart failure disease management after hospital discharge

Background Although features of heart failure disease management programs are broadly outlined, little is known about which interventions are actually used in the outpatient setting or which patients are most likely to require interventions. Methods and Results Between September 2001 and June 2002, we enrolled 32 patients admitted to the Brigham and Women's Hospital Heart Failure Services, Boston, Mass, with decompensated heart failure. The intensity of care and outcomes of these patients were prospectively tracked for more than 90 days. During this time, there were 325 patient contacts (median 8.5 per patient), including 247 calls (median 7 per patient) and 78 clinic visits (median 2 per patient). Brigham and Women's Hospital clinicians adjusted diuretics a total of 109 times (median 2.5 times per patient). When frequency of diuretic adjustments was used to estimate the intensity of care, higher values of blood urea nitrogen at discharge predicted an increased intensity of care during the 90-day follow-up (relative risk [RR] 1.2, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.0-1.3, P = .02). When frequency of clinic visits, telephone calls, and diuretic adjustments were used to estimate intensity of care, discharge creatinine (RR 1.03, 95% CI 0.99-1.06, P = .05), discharge blood urea nitrogen (RR 1.13, 95% CI 1.04-1.23, P = .004), and length of stay (RR 1.07, 95% CI 1.00-1.13, P = .04) were predictors of the composite end point. Conclusions Even after undergoing optimization of medications during admission for acute heart failure, patients in a comprehensive disease management program required frequent interventions to maintain clinical stability. Renal dysfunction was the strongest predictor of increased interventions and worse outcome.
III. Measuring surface soil moisture using passive microwave remote sensing

Soil moisture is one of the few directly observable hydrological variables that has an important role in water and energy budgets necessary for climate studies. At the present time there is no practical approach to measuring and monitoring soil moisture at the frequency and scale necessary for these large scale analyses. Current and developing satellite systems have not addressed this important question. A solution utilizing passive microwave remote sensing is presented here and an optimum system, soil moisture estimation algorithms and a microwave simulation model are described.
The age of the Galactic disk - Inflow, chemical evolution, astration, and radioactivity

Theoretical models of Galactic evolution and observational data on the age of the Galaxy are compared, with a focus on recent results. Topics addressed include the infall of material and its effects on the age-metallicity relation, the distribution of metallicity, the present gas fraction and metallicity, and the age spectrum of interstellar nuclei; the chemical evolution of the solar neighborhood; the key results of nuclear cosmochronology; and astration effects on Galactic age. It is found that both nuclear cosmochronology and detailed stellar and Galactic evolution models tend to support an age of 12-16 Gyr.
Thermal Radiation Absorption in Doped Semiconductors Due to Direct Intersubband Transitions

This work proposes an engineering model for thermal radiation absorption due to direct intersubband transitions in doped semiconductors, which are excitations of bound electrons in the infrared spectral region. An existing quantum-mechanical approach is to model these transitions as a continuum of damped harmonic oscillators. This study modifies this approach to yield a more effective method for determining the optical constants of doped semiconductors. The room-temperature absorptance spectra of p-type GaAs samples with dopant concentrations from 8 X 10 17 to 1 X 10 20 cm -3 are measured using a Fourier transform-infrared spectrometer in the spectral region from 1.5 to 25 μm. The fitting of these spectra using the proposed model combined with the Drude and Lorentz models provides the optical constants and the dependence of the adjustable parameters on dopant concentration. The measured and fitted spectra agree closely. Potential applications of the model are semiconductor process control and infrared detector design.
Adhering lung macrophages produce superoxide demonstrated with desferal-Mn(IV)

It has been shown that H2O2, the dismutation product of O2., is produced at cell-surface interfaces. Nevertheless, the relationships between the degree of attachment itself, type of surface, and O2. production are not clear. Superoxide production can be measured by the O2.-dependent reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium to an insoluble formazan. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) may be unable to scavenge O2. produced between alveolar macrophages (AM) and a surface. Desferal-Mn(IV) (Des-Mn), a low molecular weight mimic of SOD, is protective against paraquat toxicity in vivo, presumably because of specificity for O2-. Using that assumption, Des-Mn was used to measure O2. production that occurred during adherence of AM. AM suspensions were placed on fibronectin-coated glass coverslips or uncoated glass coverslips or non-stick tissue culture plates. Adherence to the surfaces varied with fibronectin greater than glass greater than non-stick and the percent formazan positive cells was 60, 24, and 4, respectively. With SOD present, the percentage of formazan positive cells were 40, 17, and 2; however, in the presence of Des-Mn the percent stained cells was 4, 4, and 0. When phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) was added during adherence, the percent of formazan positive cells was 82, 57, and 44, respectively. With PMA, Des-Mn was able to inhibit 88-100% of formazan staining whereas SOD inhibition decreased more markedly with increasing adherence. These results indicated that the degree of attachment correlated with both the degree of NBT reduction and the relative effectiveness of Des-Mn versus SOD to scavenge O2..
A structural taxonomy of DNA-binding domains.

The structures of several classes of DNA-binding domains reveal a variety of designs for recognizing a specific site on DNA.
Fluorescence induced in platelet aggregates as a guide to luminal contours in the presence of platelet aggregation.

Abstract After intravenous injection of sodium fluorescein, appropriately filtered uv light will cause platelets to aggregate in the microcirculation. These aggregates brightly fluoresce. When aggregates build up and encroach on the vessel lumen they produce an irregular contour. When such vessels are observed by ordinary in vivo microscopy, the adherent aggregates (“white bodies”) may be difficult to distinguish from the vessel wall, which may itself be difficult to define. The appearance of the red cell column then commonly becomes the basis for determining vessel contour or diameter and an erroneous impression of irregular vasoconstriction may be obtained. The bright fluorescence of the platelet aggregates under uv illumination readily corrects this impression. Aggregates induced by other means may also fluoresce under uv light if fluorescein is injected following aggregation. However, production of aggregates by fluorescein and by uv light is a method which uniquely permits simultaneous production of aggregation and precise evaluation of apparent vasoconstriction or luminal narrowing.
Students against the school establishment: Crisis intervention in school conflicts and organizational change☆

Abstract Conflicts between students and school personnel, especially those related to the students' lack of decision making power, are aften handled in destructive ways due to the lack of structural means within educational organizations of conflict management and the general lack of conflict management skills of students and school personnel. Student-school conflicts often lead to organizational change by making the status quo intolerable. It is possible for individuals within and outside the school to facilitate the constructive resolution of student-school conflicts in ways which promote organizational growth and development.
BUILDING COSMOLOGICAL MODELS VIA NONCOMMUTATIVE GEOMETRY

This is an overview of new and ongoing research developments aimed at constructing cosmological models based on noncommutative geometry, via the spectral action functional, thought of as a modified gravity action, which includes the coupling with matter when computed on an almost commutative geometry. This survey is mostly based on recent results obtained in collaboration with Elena Pierpaoli and Kevin Teh. We describe various aspects of cosmological models of the very early universe, developed by the author and Pierpaoli, based on the asymptotic expansion of the spectral action functional and on renormalization group analysis of the associated particle physics model (an extension of the standard model with right-handed neutrinos and Majorana mass terms previously developed in collaboration with Chamseddine and Connes). We also describe nonperturbative results, more recently obtained by Pierpaoli, Teh, and the author, which extend to the more modern universe, which show that, for different candidate cosmic topologies, the form of the slow-roll inflation potentials obtained from the nonperturbative calculation of the spectral action are strongly coupled to the underlying geometry and topology. We discuss some ongoing directions of research and open questions in this new field of “noncommutative cosmology”. The paper is based on the talk given by the author at the conference “Geometry and Quantum Field Theory” at the MPI, in honor of Alan Carey.
Vibrational corrections to geometry and nuclear shielding constants of cytosine

Vibrational corrections to geometry of cytosine were evaluated at several different levels of theory and for several basis sets. The effects of these corrections on bond lengths involving hydrogen atoms as well as bond and dihedral angles involving the amine group were found to be more significant than correlation and basis set effects. A comparison with the bond lengths of C–H and N–H bonds involving cytosine in double stranded DNA structures that were deposited in Nucleic Acid Database showed that the length of both types of bonds in vast majority of structures is underestimated. In addition, the influence of vibrational effects on the shielding constants of all atoms was analyzed. It was found that vibrational averaging lowered the values of shielding constants of all atoms. Particularly, large vibrational corrections were found for nitrogen and oxygen nuclei, but proton shielding was not found to be significantly affected. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2011
The Nifty-Fifty Re-Revisited

The traditional Nifty-Fifty story is that the prices of growth stocks rose in the early 1970s to unreasonable heights, as evidenced by their subsequent crash. An article in The Journal of Portfolio Management argues that this story is wrong-the long-run performance of these investor favorites validates their seemingly high prices. That article poses a plausible list, although another list is frequently cited as the Nifty-Fifty. The 24 stocks that appear on both lists-the unambiguously Terrific 24-have done substantially worse than the market. For the combined lists, there is a substantial and statistically persuasive inverse relationship between P/E ratio and subsequent long-term performance. The basic elements of the Nifty-Fifty story are sound. With the spectacular exception of Wal-Mart, the glamour stocks that were pushed to relatively high P/E ratios in the early 1970s did substantially worse than the overall market, in both the short and the long run.
Comments on ‘on the formation of energy spectra in synchrotron sources’ by Donald B. Melrose

Criticism of paper on synchrotron sources energy spectra formation, examining time dependent spectrum on boundary conditions
A Rare Tetranuclear Thorium(IV) μ4‐Oxo Cluster and Dinuclear Thorium(IV) Complex Assembled by Carbon–Oxygen Bond Activation of 1,2‐Dimethoxyethane (DME)

The synthesis and X-ray crystal structure of two new multinuclear thorium complexes are reported. The tetranuclear μ4 -oxo cluster complex Th4 (μ4 -O)(μ-Cl)2 I6 [κ(2) (O,O')-μ-O(CH2 )2 OCH3 ]6 and the dinuclear complex Th2 I5 [κ(2) (O,O')-μ-O(CH2 )2 OCH3 ]3 (DME) (DME=dimethoxyethane) are formed by CO bond activation of 1,2-dimethoxyethane (DME) mediated by thorium iodide complexes.
Lifestyle Interventions to Reduce Risk of Diabetes among Women with Prior Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

While lifestyle interventions involving exercise and a healthy diet in high-risk adults have been found to reduce progression to type 2 diabetes by >50%, little attention has been given to the potential benefits of such strategies in women with a history of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). We conducted a literature search of PubMed for English language studies of randomized controlled trials of lifestyle interventions among women with a history of GDM. In total, nine studies were identified which fulfilled the eligibility criteria. The majority of randomized trials of lifestyle interventions in women with GDM have been limited to pilot or feasibility studies. However, preliminary findings suggest that such interventions can improve diabetes risk factors in women with a history of GDM. Larger, well-designed controlled randomized trials are needed to assess the effects of lifestyle interventions on preventing subsequent progression to type 2 diabetes among women with GDM.
A NEW FUZZY ANALYSIS METHOD FOR POSSIBILITY-BASED DESIGN OPTIMIZATION

ABSTRACT Structural analysis and design optimization have recently been extended to stochastic approach to take various uncertainties into account. However in areas whwew it is not possible to produce accurate statistical information, the probabilistic method is not appropriate for stochastic structural analysis and design optimization, since improper modeling of uncertainty could cause greater degree of statistical uncertainty than those of physical uncertainty. For uncertainty with insufficient information, possibility-based (or fuzzy set) methods have recently been introduced in stochastic structural analysis and design optimization. The main advantage of the fuzzy analysis is that it preserves the intrinsic random nature of physical variables through their membership functions and, when used for evaluation of designs, yields more conservative design than those from the probabilistic methods. There are two computational aspects in the fuzzy analysis compared to the probability analysis. First, the input fuzzy variables can be defined easier than the input random variables when no or very limited statistical data are available. Secondly, extended fuzzy operations are much simpler than those required to use probability, especially when a number of variables are involved. For possibility-based design optimization (PBDO), like for reliability-based design optimization (RBDO), the performance measure approach (PMA) with an inverse fuzzy analysis is more appropriate than other approaches, such as a possibility index approach. This paper proposes a new formulation of PBDO using PMA. It is also found that PBDO is more desirable than RBDO, since PBDO can inherently handle a system level possibility unlike RBDO. For the inverse fuzzy analysis, the maximal possibility search (MPS) method is proposed to improve numerical efficiency and accuracy comparing with the vertex method and the
Scan-Based Delay Test Types and Their Effect on Power Dissipation During Test

The peak power dissipated in nonscan logic during fast capture cycles of scan-based two-pattern tests for path delay faults is considered. It is first demonstrated that the peak-power dissipation for an enhanced-scan test set, which has the smallest peak-power dissipation, is lower than that for a skewed-load test set and that the peak-power dissipation for a skewed-load test set, which has the smallest peak-power dissipation, is typically (but not always) lower than that for a broadside test set. Test sets that consist of more than one type of tests are then considered. Skewed-load and broadside tests may be used together to improve the fault coverage when this is permissible by a standard scan design. It is demonstrated that using both types of tests can sometimes reduce the peak-power dissipation. Results are also presented of an experiment where an arbitrary test set of one type is modified to reduce the peak power without reducing the fault coverage by introducing tests of another type.
Sparse Feature Learning for Deep Belief Networks

Unsupervised learning algorithms aim to discover the structure hidden in the data, and to learn representations that are more suitable as input to a supervised machine than the raw input. Many unsupervised methods are based on reconstructing the input from the representation, while constraining the representation to have certain desirable properties (e.g. low dimension, sparsity, etc). Others are based on approximating density by stochastically reconstructing the input from the representation. We describe a novel and efficient algorithm to learn sparse representations, and compare it theoretically and experimentally with a similar machine trained probabilistically, namely a Restricted Boltzmann Machine. We propose a simple criterion to compare and select different unsupervised machines based on the trade-off between the reconstruction error and the information content of the representation. We demonstrate this method by extracting features from a dataset of handwritten numerals, and from a dataset of natural image patches. We show that by stacking multiple levels of such machines and by training sequentially, high-order dependencies between the input observed variables can be captured.
Electrical conductivity and thermoelectric power of Cu2O

Abstract Measurements of electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient have been made on p -type cuprous oxide single crystals in the temperature range from 300° to 500°K. The thermoelectric power decreased only slightly with temperature. Conductivity increased with temperature, with an activation energy of 0.26 eV. Cu 2 O may be nearly ionic and extrinsic conductivity could occur by thermally activated hopping, with electron exchange between Cu 2+ and Cu + ions. However, this interpretation is in disagreement with data on the Hall effect which indicate that hole mobility in the 300–500°K range decreases with increasing temperature.
Interstitial Myocardial Fibrosis Assessed as Extracellular Volume Fraction with Low-Radiation-Dose Cardiac CT

With a relatively low-radiation-dose method, extracellular volume values obtained with cardiac CT were shown to be comparable to those obtained with cardiac MR imaging.
A SUGGESTION FOR THE CONTROL OF PEACETIME INFLATION

The primary evidence of inflation is an excess of spending relative to production. The basic causes of the excess, whatever they may be, need not concern us here. In considering the possibilities of control of inflation, it is convenient to break down spending into several broad categories; inflation can be prevented either by reducing spending in one or more of these categories, or by increasing production in one or more of them to the extent that appropriate means are at hand. To the extent that factors of production are mobile, it is economically possible, and presumably desirable, to make an explicit choice as to the category or categories in which spending is to be reduced and those in which production is to be increased. To the extent that they are immobile, it will be necessary to reduce spending in each category to coincide with the productive capacity in the respective categories.
Argument as status assertion: Contextual variations in children's disputes *

Previous analyses of children's disputes have concentrated on the use of various strategies within discrete activity contexts. Using data from an ethnographic study of an integrated kindergarten, it is suggested that children's disputes are strongly influenced by the activity and role structure of a given event, and that variations in how an event is contextualized are linked to the social structure of the classroom. Analytical problems in studying disputes from this perspective are also discussed. They include determining the speaker's focus, coping with multiple contexts, and selecting the level of analysis. (Developmental sociolinguistics, children's social behavior, peer interaction, analytic problems, American English)
Neonatal stress alters LTP in freely moving male and female adult rats.

We previously reported that neonatal isolation stress significantly changes measures of hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) in male and female juvenile rats, i.e., at 30 days of age. The changes in dentate granule population measures, i.e., excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) and population spike amplitude (PSA), evoked by tetanization of the medial perforant pathway, indicated that juvenile rats exposed to neonatal isolation exhibit different enhancement profiles with respect to both the magnitude and duration of LTP in a sex-specific manner. Isolated males showed a significantly greater enhancement of LTP, while female “isolates” showed significantly longer LTP duration when compared to all other groups. The present study was designed to determine whether the effects of the neonatal isolation stress paradigm endures into adulthood. Rats isolated from their mothers for 1 h per day during postnatal days 2–9 were surgically prepared at 70–90 days of age, with stimulating and recording electrodes placed in the medial perforant pathway and the hippocampal dentate gyrus, respectively. Prior to tetanization, no significant effect of sex or treatment was obtained for baseline measures of EPSP slope or PSA. In order to rule out baseline differences in hippocampal cell excitability in female adult rats, we measured the response of dentate granule cells for one estrus cycle and found no pretetanization enhancement in the evoked response in either controls or previously stressed rats. Following tetanization, there was a significant treatment and sex effect. During the induction of LTP, PSA values were significantly enhanced in both isolated males and females and had significantly longer LTP duration when compared to the unhandled control group. Additionally, we observed that females took longer to reach baseline levels than males. Taken together, these results indicate that repeated infant isolation stress enhances LTP induction and duration in both males and females. These results indicate that infant stress alters hippocampal neuroplasticity in such a way that its effect endures into adulthood. Hippocampus 1999;9:651–658. © 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Cast into the Wilderness: The Impact of Institutionalized Religion on Lesbians

SUMMARY This article addresses the impact of traditional Judeo-Christian religion as a tool of social injustice against lesbians. The prejudices of sexism and heterosexism in religion are addressed. Biblical interpretations of woman-to-woman sexuality are reviewed. Primary Judeo-Christian groups, and their respective positions on homosexuality, are identified. Conversion therapy as a weapon of oppression against lesbians is addressed. Mechanisms for religious/spiritual transformation and empowerment are discussed, and suggestions for therapeutic intervention with lesbians recovering from religious trauma are offered.
Using Flash animations and 3D rendering to increase the effectiveness of instructional software

Animation and three-dimensional rendering software offers exciting new capabilities that can enhance engineering instructional material. Using these software tools, instructional media can escape the static two-dimensional confines of the printed page or the classroom blackboard. This work-in-progress describes a project to develop instructional material for a Mechanics of Materials course. The paper presents examples of instructional animations, discusses software development tools used to create the animations and discusses early student reaction to the multimedia presentations.
Analysis of Capillary Forces in Liquid‐Phase Sintering of Jagged Particles

It is predicted that contact geometries will markedly affect the kinds of interparticle forces and their dependence on liquid volume. The normal force between two spheres is maximum at infinitesimal liquid volumes, whereas for the corner-on-plane geometry it is zero and increases rapidly with volume. Sphere contacts have only normal forces, whereas contacts among jagged particles produce shears and torques which probably are important in particle rearrangement leading to densification.
Servicing range queries on multidimensional datasets with partial replicas

Partial replication is one type of optimization to speed up execution of queries submitted to large datasets. In partial replication, a portion of the dataset is extracted, re-organized, and re-distributed across the storage system. The objective is to reduce the volume of I/O and increase I/O parallelism for different types of queries and for the portions of the dataset that are likely to be accessed frequently. When multiple partial replicas of a dataset exist, query execution plan should be generated so as to use the best combination of subsets of partial replicas (and possibly the original dataset) to minimize query execution time. In this paper, we present a compiler and runtime approach for range queries submitted against distributed scientific datasets. A heuristic algorithm is proposed to choose the set of replicas to reduce query execution. We show the efficiency of the proposed method using datasets and queries in oil reservoir simulation studies on a cluster machine.
Effect of Piezoelectric Resonance in a Ferroelectric Plasma Source

Ferroelectric plasma sources have been studied extensively for the past few decades. Potential applications include cathodes for traveling wave tubes or high-energy electron beams, triggers for pulsed power gas switches, and microspacecraft propulsion. In addition to liberation of ions and electrons from the ferroelectric itself, one hypothesized source of particles is from plasma generated on the ferroelectric surface. Factors identified influencing the plasma formation include triple point enhancement due to microgaps and surface charges generated by polarization switching. In this paper, we detail the utilization of piezoelectric resonance to generate plasma with reduced applied voltages. To study this effect, an rf bipolar voltage is applied across the ferroelectric. A non-linear device impedance is observed around the radial resonant frequency of the disk. The plasma breakdown voltage is shown to correlate with the impedance of the device. This effect is similar to what occurs in Rosen-type piezoelectric transformers manufactured with the secondary in a dielectric barrier discharge geometry. In our experiments, the plasma is generated in backgrounds of both vacuum and atmospheric pressure air. In addition, both lead zirconate titanate and lithium niobate ferroelectrics are utilized.
Thin Composite Palladium and Palladium/Alloy Membranes for Hydrogen Separation

Dense composite Pd and Pd/alloy membranes are currently being extensively investigated. The synthesis and characterization of these membranes, with a special emphasis on Pd/alloy membranes, are reviewed in this paper. Experimental results on Pd/Cu membranes supported on porous stainless steel exhibited good thermal stability and reasonable hydrogen flux. Furthermore, optical micrographs showed the formation of the dense palladium layer was unaffected by the topological features of the porous stainless steel, although the surface of the support directs the topology of the final Pd layer.
Using distributed energy infrastructure for rural health care services: Design of a mobile health vaccine refrigeration technology in rural kenya

In developing countries, approximately 90% of the population lack access to sufficient and sustainable supplies of energy with nearly 2 billion people without access to electricity. This lack of access contributes to deficiencies in rural health care services, particularly limiting activities such as immunization programs which often require consistent refrigeration. The development of distributed energy technology has the potential to support increased health services in rural communities, particularly for vaccine distribution.
Olivine coronas, metamorphism, and the thermal history of the Morristown and Emery mesosiderites

Abstract Coronas are present on all millimeter-sized mineral clasts of olivine in the Emery and Morristown mesosiderites and are a manifestation of high-temperature (T ≈ 850–1100°C) metamorphism. These coronas formed by reaction and diffusion between olivine and a mesosiderite-like matrix assemblage. The bulk composition of the coronas can be approximated by a mixture of ≈ 10–25 wt% olivine and as 90–75 wt% metal-free matrix, except for P and Cr, which are significantly enriched in coronas. Phosphorus and Cr diffused relatively rapidly to coronas and were derived from a large volume of matrix, most likely from metal that was originally enriched in these elements prior to metamorphism. The coronas in both meteorites show a similar zone sequence, but are systematically thicker in Emery (≈800 μm wide) than in Morristown (≈350 μm wide), suggesting that Emery experienced more grain growth and more intensive metamorphism than Morristown. Textural relationships suggest that corona formation and high-temperature metamorphism occurred largely after intensive millimeter-scale brecciation and after or during metal-silicate mixing. A local equilibrium model can explain many features of the coronas, but chemical equilibrium was maintained only on a very small scale. Overgrowths are present on plagioclase in the coronas of both mesosiderites and probably formed during high-temperature metamorphism. The compositional interface between core and overgrowth plagioclase is extremely sharp, suggesting that cooling rates were ≥0.1°C/y at the peak temperature of metamorphism, consistent with high-temperature metamorphism occurring in a near-surface region of the parent body.
Encryption and multiplexing of fingerprints for enhanced security

A novel cryptographic technique is proposed for enhanced security of fingerprint information. An orthogonal coding scheme is developed to encrypt the given fingerprint image. Multiple encrypted fingerprint images are then mixed together by using a multiplexing process. The proposed encryption and multiplexing technique not only enhances the security of confidential fingerprint information by making the information inaccessible to any intruder having a random code, but also improves the system resource utilization by reducing the storage and/or transmission bandwidth requirement. The salient features of the technique is that any authorized user can retrieve the corresponding fingerprint information from the complex encrypted and multiplexed image by a single decryption process with the authentic key. The proposed cryptographic technique involves a simple architecture by not requiring any mathematical transformation. Performance of the technique is investigated through computer simulation employing real-life fingerprint images.
Understanding Informal Group Learning in Online Communities through Discourse Analysis.

Since informal learning occurs outside of formal learning environments, describing informal learning and how it takes place can be a challenge for researchers. Past studies have typically oriented to informal learning as an individual, reflective process that can best be understood through the learners’ retrospective accounts about their experiences. Although reports on the individual lived experience represent the privileged way of understanding social reality (including informal learning), the linguistic/discursive turn of the 1980s proposed a shift in our view of the function of language as creating rather than representing versions of the world. Accordingly, we propose resituating informal learning from a reflective process occurring in an individual mind to the meaning making that occurs in group conversations. We present an exploratory analysis of a single thread from an online hiking community to introduce discourse analysis as a framework to study informal learning as a group meaning-making process.
The BODE index predicted death in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Source Citation Celli BR, Cote CG, Marin JM, et al. The body-mass index, airflow obstruction, dyspnea, and exercise capacity index in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. N Engl J Med. 2004;350:1...
Non-degradable biocompatible polymers in medicine: past, present and future.

Polymers have a long history in medicine. Their uses to date range from traditional applications such as catheters, syringes, blood contacting extra corporeal devices to matrices for drug delivery, cell encapsulation and tissue regeneration. Polymers can be broadly classified on the basis of the reactivity of their chemical backbone (or susceptibility of the backbone to breakdown upon exposure to water, i.e., hydrolysis) as non-degradable and degradable. In this review, the polymers that exhibit no to very low degradation in aqueous and biological environments will be covered. The applications of various polymers both in traditional and emerging medical areas is discussed in the context of its chemical structure to better enable material selection for biomedical research.
Geldanamycin-induced PCNA degradation in isolated Hsp90 complex from cancer cells.

ABSTRACTHsp90 is a molecular chaperone involved in the folding and proteolytic turnover of many regulatory proteins associated with it. Some of the Hsp90 client proteins are known to be involved in tumorigenesis. An Hsp90-specific inhibitor, geldanamycin, is shown to bind to the ATP binding site of the chaperone to induce degradation of many client proteins, and results in antitumor activities. However, the mechanism of geldanamycin-induced client protein degradation is not fully understood. A large-scale immunoaffinity purification with anti-Hsp90 antibodies identified many Hsp90 client proteins from colon cancer cell line, HCT-116. One of the identified proteins, PCNA, was confirmed to be associated with Hsp90 in two additional cancer cell lines. After geldanamycin treatment, both PCNA and Hsp90 were shown to be degraded. More interestingly, this study demonstrated that in two different cancer cell lines, the degradation occurred in the isolated Hsp90 complex in vitro. This result indicated that the com...
The Effects of Supply and Interest Rate Shocks in Commodity Futures Markets

This paper extends previous studies of futures markets to highlight the role of expectations in the analysis of supply and interest rate shocks. Shocks which are expected to be permanent generally will create larger movements in spot and futures prices than shocks which are regarded as transitory. Further, the reactions of spot and futures prices may differ both qualitatively and quantitatively depending on whether new information refers to events in the current period or to likely developments in some future period. The results demonstrate the potential importance of capturing expectations effects in empirical studies of futures market behavior.
Differences in Caregiver Food Allergy Quality of Life Between Tertiary Care, Specialty Clinic, and Caregiver-Reported Food Allergic Populations.

Background Food allergy is associated with diminished caregiver quality of life (QoL), but the heterogeneity of this effect is unknown. Objective The objective of this study was to explore potential differences in caregiver QoL between self-selected caregivers reporting a child with food allergy (SS) and caregivers with children followed at a food allergy referral center clinic (RC). Methods The Food Allergy Quality of Life Parental Burden (FAQL-PB) index and screening questions regarding the child's most severe food reaction were administered to caregivers of milk, egg, peanut, or tree nut allergic children. SS were recruited via the email and/or social media networks of 2 large national food allergy advocacy groups, and RC from a tertiary referral center specialty clinic. Results Among 2003 SS and 305 RC, the mean total FAQL-PB QoL score was 2.67. Compared with SS, RC had a lower (better) mean total QoL score (1.84 vs 2.81, P Conclusions Caregiver food allergy QoL is heterogeneous, and worse among SS versus RC. Clinically and statistically significant differences were noted in the total, domain-specific, and allergen-specific QoL scores, which indicated that the food allergic population may be segmented and have different risk profiles and/or burdens of illness, despite a common diagnosis.
The Vertical Integration of Industrial Mathematics, the WPI Experience

The need for modeling and simulating emerging technologies, financial products, biological, or social phenomena has dramatically increased in the recent years and thus has substantially expanded the need for mathematically trained professionals. At the same time, reports concerning 4-year college and university undergraduate mathematics programs describe a drop in the number of mathematics bachelor’s degrees in the US. Thus, the need to find new ways to attract students to mathematics is a very real challenge for educators. Several authors show how industrial problems can be used to introduce new topics in mathematics, while others motivate the need to prepare students for jobs outside academia (Benkowski 1994). The recent SIAM Report (SIAM MII 2012)gives a clear picture of the mathematics used in industry.
Study of Tissue Oxygen Gradients by Single and Multiple Indicators

There are two types of naturally occurring oxygen indicators. The first includes myoglobin and some soluble enzyme systems and may be uniformly distributed in low concentration over the cytosol: the second is localized and concentrated either in discrete organelles about a micron in diameter such as the mitochondria or the peroxisomes (W.eibel 1969), or in more extended organelles such as the endoplasmic reticulum (Claude et al. 1947). In both cases, differing resolutions and sensitivities are possible.
Impact of Steinernema riobravis (Rhabditida: Steinernematidae) on the Control of Helicoverpa zea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in Corn

The efficacy of using an endemic entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema riobravis Cabanillas, Poinar & Raulston, prepupal and pupal populations of com earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), in the soil was evaluated. The optimum timing of nematode soil application in relation to larval exit from the com ear, the effects of nematode concentration, introduction method, and persistence on control of com earworm were determined. Better parasitism resulted when S. riobravis infective juveniles were applied on the subsurface + surface (81%) than when they were applied on the soil surface alone (45%), in the greenhouse. Striking results were obtained with 2 billion nematodes per ha applied when 10% of the com earworms had exited the ear to pupate or when 50% of the com earworms had developed to large larvae. This resulted in 95 and 100% parasitism, respectively. A low rate of parasitism (22%) was observed in plots that received nematodes when 40% of the com earworm had developed to medium size larvae. Parasitism in all plots that received nematodes was higher than the 11% natural parasitism observed in control plots. S. riobravis persisted (22%) in this sandy clay loam soil during the 75-d period field evaluations. These findings show the potential of using S. riobravis for soil application in source areas where the com acts as nursery crop to suppress the build-up of com earworm adult populations.