cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Parametric Estimation of Wave Dispersion for System Identification of Building Structures

The linear-elastic response of a building structure subjected to an earthquake base excitation can be approximated as the response of a continuous, spatially inhomogenous, dispersive, viscoelastic solid subjected to vertically incident plane shear waves. The frequency-dependent phase velocity and attenuation of seismic energy at different wavelengths, together with the inertial properties of the multilayer solid characterize the response of the building structure. The objective of this study is to identify the structural system by estimating the parameters that characterize the propagation of seismic waves in an equivalent multilayer viscoelastic solid. To pursue this objective, first, the measured dynamic responses of a building structure are used to derive the frequency response functions (FRFs) of the floor absolute acceleration with respect to the base excitation using a seismic interferometry approach. The FRFs obtained from the measured structural responses are then compared with the FRFs estimated using analytical models for one-dimensional shear wave propagation in a multilayer Kelvin-Voigt dispersive medium. Through a recursive Bayesian estimation approach, the parameters characterizing the phase velocity and damping ratio of the multilayer medium are estimated. This study provides a step forward in seismic interferometric identification of building structures by proposing a new method for parametric estimation of shear wave velocity and damping dispersion at the story level of a building structure. The estimated shear wave velocities before and after a damage-inducing event can be used to identify permanent loss of effective lateral stiffness of the building structure at the story level, thus can provide an alternative method for structural health monitoring and damage identification.
New United Nations Procedure to Protect Prisoners and Other Detainees

In 1974, the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities established a new procedure for implementing international human rights law to deal with worldwide patterns of violations of the rights of detained persons. This Comment explains the new procedure, discusses the action the SubCommission has taken and is authorized to take regarding detainees, and suggests ways in which the procedure might be used and strengthened by interested groups.
Interactions of ethanol with cyclic AMP.

The introduction of ethanol into a biological system affects its functions in two ways: the first is the effect of ethanol on excitable membranes and the second is the effect of ethanol metabolism on the intermediary metabolism of the system. Both of these primary effects are described in other chapters of this book.
Theoretical limitations to englacial velocity calculations

To study the dynamics of ice sheets and glaciers, velocities at the bed of a glacier must be measured directly or calculated using data gathered from boreholes and surface surveys. Boreholes to the bed are expensive and time-consuming to drill, so the determination of basal velocity is almost exclusively by numerical inversion of velocities observed at the surface. For non-linearly viscous glaciers, a perturbation analysis demonstrates that inversions for englacial velocities will magnify measurement errors at an exponential rate with depth. The rate at which calculation errors grow is proportional to a Lyapunov exponent, a measure of “information loss” which is shown to be a simple linear function of spatial frequency with a coefficient depending on Glen’s flow-law exponent, n. The coefficient decreases with increasing non-linearity, demonstrating that inversions with non-linearly viscous ice have smaller calculation errors than inversions with linearly viscous ice. In both the linear and nonlinear cases, the Lyapunov exponent (and rate of error growth) increases with decreasing wavelength, which limits velocity calculations at the bed to wavelengths on the order of one ice thickness or greater. This limitation is theoretical and cannot be countered by more accurate survey data or special numerical techniques.
Diagnosis of Orofacial Pain of Dental Origin

Odontogenic (tooth related) pain is by far the most prevalent source of orofacial pain. Because of the high prevalence, it is important to rule out odontogenic pain when evaluating patients with orofacial pain complaints. Odontalgia (toothache) is the most common source of odontogenic pain. Pain associated with the supporting structures of the teeth (periodontium) can be sources of pain as well. Oral mucosa and adjacent structures such as the sinuses and temporomandibular joint also are significant sources of orofacial pain that can be considered in the realm of dental pain. Neuropathic and idiopathic pain entities can present as pain of dental origin also.
Shaking the bad boys: troubling the criminalization of black boys’ childhood play, hegemonic white masculinity and femininity, and the school playground-to-prison pipeline

Few studies have sought to understand the childhood play experiences of Black boys in early childhood education (ECE), and a majority of those that investigate them often socially construct Black b...
Preoperative Long-Acting Opioid Use Is Associated with Increased Length of Stay and Readmission Rates After Elective Surgeries

Objectives To compare postoperative outcomes in patients prescribed long-acting opioids vs opioid-naive patients who underwent elective noncardiac surgeries. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Single urban academic institution. Methods and Subjects We retrospectively compared postoperative outcomes in long-acting opioid users vs opioid-naive patients who underwent elective noncardiac surgeries. Inpatient and ambulatory surgery cohorts were separately analyzed. Preoperative medication lists were queried for the presence of long-acting opioids or absence of opioids. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to analyze the impact of long-acting opioid use on readmission rate, respiratory failure, and adverse cardiac events. Multivariable zero-truncated negative binomial regression was used to examine length of stay. Results After exclusions, there were 93,644 adult patients in the study population, 23,605 of whom underwent inpatient surgeries and 70,039 of whom underwent ambulatory surgeries. After adjusting for potential confounders and inpatient surgeries, preoperative long-acting opioid use was associated with increased risk of prolonged length of stay (incidence rate ratio = 1.1, 99% confidence interval [CI] = 1.0-1.2, P < 0.01) but not readmission. For ambulatory surgeries, preoperative long-acting opioid use was associated with increased risk of all-cause as well as pain-related readmission (odds ratio [OR] = 2.1, 99% CI = 1.5-2.9, P < 0.001; OR = 2.0, 99% CI = 0.85-4.2, P = 0.02, respectively). There were no significant differences for respiratory failure or adverse cardiac events. Conclusions The use of preoperative long-acting opioids was associated with prolonged length of stay for inpatient surgeries and increased risk of all-cause and pain-related readmission for ambulatory surgeries. Timely interventions for patients on preoperative long-acting opioids may be needed to improve these outcomes.
Socialbots and Their Friends: Digital Media and the Automation of Sociality

Timing is everything, and yet sometimes you just don’t know what’s right around the corner (to use two cliches in one sentence). Robert Gehl and Maria Bakardjieva’s Socialbots and Their Friends was...
Adaptation to different communicative contexts: an eye tracking study of autistic adults.

Learning through social observation (i.e., watching other people interact) lays the foundation for later social skills and social cognition. However, social situations are often complex, and humans are only capable of attending to one aspect of a scene at a time. How do people choose where to allocate their visual resources when viewing complex social scenarios? For typically developing (TD) individuals, faces are often given priority. Depending upon context, however, it may be more useful to attend to other aspects of the environment, such as hands, tools, or background objects. Previous studies reported reduced face looking in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but modulation of visual attention in response to contextual differences (e.g., according to social richness, or the presence/absence of communicative behaviors between two people) has only briefly been explored. In this study, we used eye-tracking technology to test the extent to which ASD adults and TD adults use social context to guide their gaze behavior. Fifty-five adults participated (28 with ASD). The location and duration of participants’ gaze were recorded while they watched a series of naturalistic social videos. Half of the videos depicted two people engaging in non-verbal communication (rich social scenes) while playing with toys. The other half depicted two people playing with toys separately, not interacting with each other (lean social scenes). ASD and TD adults both increased their attention to faces in communicative contexts (rich social scenes) as compared to non-communicative contexts (lean social scenes). However, TD adults increased their attention to faces significantly more when watching two people communicate than did ASD adults, who increased their attention to a lesser degree. Further analysis revealed that ASD adults persisted in looking at hands and toys, even when observing two people communicate in a rich social scene. Diminished gaze to faces when observing two people communicating may lead to fewer opportunities for social learning and subsequent reductions in social knowledge. Naturalistic measures of contextual modulation could help identify areas of need for individuals learning about the social world and could become treatment targets to improve everyday social learning.
Application Health Monitoring for Extreme-scale Resiliency using Cooperative Fault Management.

Resiliency is and will be a critical factor in determining scientific productivity on current and exascale supercomputers, and beyond. Applications oblivious to and incapable of handling transient soft and hard errors could waste supercomputing resources or, worse, yield misleading scientific insights. We introduce a novel application-driven silent error detection and recovery strategy based on application health monitoring. Our methodology uses application output that follows known patterns as indicators of an application’s health, and knowledge that violation of these patterns could be indication of faults. Information from system monitors that report hardware and software health status is used to corroborate faults. Collectively, this information is used by a fault coordinator agent to take preventive and corrective measures by applying computational steering to an application between checkpoints. This cooperative fault management system uses the Fault Tolerance Backplane as a communication channel. The benefits of this framework are demonstrated with two real application case studies, molecular dynamics and quantum chemistry simulations, on scalable clusters with simulated memory and I/O corruptions. The developed approach is general and can be easily applied to other applications.
Aristotle on Joint Perception and Perceiving that We Perceive

While most interpreters take the opening of De Anima III 2 (“Since we perceive that we see and hear […]”) to be an oblique reference to some sort of conscious awareness, I argue that Aristotle intends to explain what I call ‘joint perception’: when conjoined with Aristotle’s subsequent claim that perceiving and being perceived are the same activity, the metaperception underpins the perception of a unified object. My interpretation is shown to have a more satisfactory account of the aporiai that follow. While I argue that the immediate focus of the metaperceptual account is joint perception, it may also be applicable to other kinds of complex (i.e. non-special) perception, which I briefly consider in the closing section.
Ultrafast modification of oxide glass surface hardness

Application of femtosecond lasers is widely utilized in micromachining transparent materials. We have successfully altered the surface hardness of various commercial silicate glasses using a high-intensity femtosecond pulse laser. The femtosecond laser generates pulse energy of 500 nJ with a central wavelength of 800 nm. Using a peak power of 2.2 W and a repetition rate of 5.1 MHz, we observed an 18–20% increase surface hardness in glasses with low-modifier content and 16.6% decrease in glasses with high-modifier content. All laser exposed glasses show no detectable induced-crystallization or surface ablation. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results of our samples confirmed that the laser irradiation had no detectable effect on surface chemistry. X-ray reflectometry data showed the change in hardness was attributed to a thin layer with modified density. Experimental results suggest the strengthening mechanism derives from local structural transformation of interatomic bond distances and angles.
International experiences during United States ophthalmology residency training: Current structure of international experiences and perspectives of faculty mentors at United States training institutions.

Background There is a high level of interest in international experiences during United States (U.S.) ophthalmology residency training among both program directors and trainees. Methods An electronic invitation to a 26-question survey was sent to all 114 U.S. ophthalmology residency program directors. The invitation requested that the survey be completed by the one faculty member who was most involved in overseeing the international experiences for the residents. The survey consisted of multiple choice and Likert-type scale questions. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for analysis of demographic data and Friedman’s test and Wilcoxon-Signed Rank test were used to analyze ranked responses. Results Responses were obtained from 70 faculty mentors representing unique programs, yielding a response rate of 61.4%. The majority of programs that responded (88.6%, n = 62) either offered international ophthalmology experiences for residents or supported residents finding their own experiences to go abroad. International experience participation rate among residents correlated with the number of years the experiences had been offered by the programs (p = 0.001). More than half of the respondents (55.0%, n = 33) felt that the residents benefited more than the hosts during these international experiences. Approximately half of the respondents (51.6%, n = 32) believed that additional training beyond what is covered in the standard curriculum to practice ophthalmology in the U.S. is necessary for practicing ophthalmology in an international setting. Conclusions There is high interest and participation in international experiences within U.S. ophthalmology residency programs. This high participation warrants further investigation into the long-term impact of these international experiences and how U.S. residency programs can structure these experiences to maximize the benefits to both the residents and the international host communities.
Perceptions and preferences for long-acting injectable and implantable medications in comparison to short-acting medications for opioid use disorders.

Abstract Aim Treatment for opioid use disorders has recently evolved to include long-acting injectable and implantable formulations of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). Incorporating patient preferences into treatment for substance use disorders is associated with increased motivation and treatment satisfaction. This study sought to assess treatment preferences for long-acting injectable and implantable MOUD as compared to short-acting formulations among individuals with OUD. Methods We conducted qualitative, semi-structured telephone interviews with forty adults recruited from across the United States through Craigslist advertisements and flyers posted in treatment programs. Eligible participants scored a two or greater on the heroin or opioid pain reliever sections of the Tobacco, Alcohol, Prescription Medications, and Other Substances (TAPS) Tool, indicative of a past-year OUD. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and thematically analyzed. Results Twenty-four participants (60%) currently or previously had been prescribed MOUD. Sixteen participants (40%) expressed general opposition to MOUD, citing concerns that MOUD is purely financial gain for pharmaceutical companies and/or a “band aid” solution replacing one drug with another, rather than a path to abstinence. Some participants expressed personal preference for long-acting injectable (n = 16/40: 40%) and implantable formulations (n = 12/40: 30%) over short-acting formulations. About half of the participants were not willing to use injectables (n = 19/40: 48%) or implantables (n = 22/40: 55%), preferring short-acting formulations. Mixed evaluations of long- and short-acting MOUD focused on considerations of medication-related beliefs (privacy, concern over an embedded foreign body), the medication-related burden (convenience, provision of structure and support, medication administration, potential side effects), and medication-taking practices (potential for non-prescribed use, control over dosage, and duration of treatment). Conclusions Though many participants personally prefer short-acting to long-acting MOUD, some were open to including long-acting formulations in the range of options for those with OUD. Participants felt long-acting formulations may reduce medication-related burden and the risk of diversion. Conversely, participants expressed concern about invasive administration and loss of control over their treatment. Results suggest support for expanded access to a variety of formulations of MOUD. The use of shared decision making may also help patients select the formulation best aligned with their experiences, values, and treatment goals.
Improving Whitefly Management.

Whiteflies (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), especially the sweetpotato or cotton whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), are among the most destructive and difficult to manage polyphagous insect pests around the globe [...]
Effects of Hazmat Train Speed Restrictions on Train Delay Performance and Railroad Line Capacity: Comparative Study with Two Railway Simulation Tools:

In response to multiple derailments involving hazmat trains, in early February 2020 Transport Canada released ministerial order (MO) 20-02, imposing speed restrictions of 20 to 25 mph on trains tra...
Design for Debug and Diagnosis

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the design features at the architectural, logic, circuit, and layout level that are needed to facilitate silicon debug and defect diagnosis of integrated circuits. These design features are generally referred to as design for debug and diagnosis (DFD). This chapter explains how these DFD features are used effectively in a debug or diagnosis environment for applications ranging from design validation to low-yield analysis, and all the way to field failure analysis. Common probing techniques used to access internal signal values (logic and timing) and alter the execution and timing behavior of an integrated circuit in a controlled manner are covered. It also describes circuit-editing techniques and tools to enable probing, validate hypotheses, and confirm root-cause design fixes. These DFD features are categorized into logic DFD (LDFD) features, which enable the nonintrusive isolation of failures, and physical DFD (PDFD) features, which enable physically intrusive analysis. Effective and efficient debug and diagnosis are certainly critical to the success of products. Better debug and diagnosis capabilities and faster fixes to problems are constant imperatives. Tools to enable automated diagnosis continue to evolve while tools for debug are still in a relatively infant state. Tools that identify sensitive areas of the design, add DFD features in an automated manner, generate tests for validation, debug, and diagnosis, and automate the debug process need to advance.
Effect of pH, protein concentration, and ionic strength on heat inactivation of staphylococcal enterotoxin B 1 .

Heat treatment of highly purified staphylococcal enterotoxin B causes a more rapid loss of immunological activity at 70 to 80 C than at 90 to 100 C. Toxicological results based on intravenous injection of dogs paralleled the results obtained by immunological means (single gel diffusion). The loss of immunological activity did not follow first-order kinetics. Results are given on the effects on heat inactivation of changing pH, ionic strength, and initial concentration of enterotoxin. Disc-gel electrophoresis of purified enterotoxin B showed a major and minor band. The minor band was a size isomer of the major band.
Perturbation theory for semigroups of operators

The subject of this chapter originates in the so-called time-dependent perturbation theory in quantum mechanics, in which the main question is the perturbation of the unitary group generated by a given Hamiltonian due to a small change in the latter. This problem is generalized in a natural way to perturbation theory for semigroups, which is no less important in applications.
Where Does Professional Education on Digital Libraries Lead Our New Librarians

This study investigates the state of school education for digital libraries. For this study, a web survey was conducted of syllabi of courses on the subject of digital libraries. Similarities and differences on such subjects as teaching emphases, course outlines, textbooks and assignments were compared. The majority of classes now contain a “hands-on” element, a practical component of the course that requires that the students interact with digital libraries. Those students who have received practical experience with digital libraries, like those provided in the “hands-on” courses, are best served for future practice in the field of librarianship.
The Need for More Integrated Epidemic Modeling with Emphasis on Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance has become one of the greatest threats to public and patient health. Pathogens resistant to antibiotics can significantly decrease a physician’s ability to treat infection and increase the probability of mortality in patients [3]. Estimates are that, per annum, a minimum of two million Americans contract antibiotic resistant infections, resulting in 23,000 deaths [18]. Decreases in the efficacy of antibiotics threaten to reverse a variety of major medical gains [60, 85]. For example, the ability to perform transplants and other surgical procedures are dependent on antibiotic effectiveness [28] and would be severely hampered in a post-antibiotic world. Overall, the annual economic cost to the US health care system of antibiotic-resistant infections is estimated to be $21–$34 billion [34, 64, 70]. Given the importance of this problem, from standpoints both of human health and economics, there is much to be gained from better understanding how resistant bacterial pathogens evolve and
Social Discounting with Diminishing Returns on Investment

I estimate the social discount rate allowing returns on investment to differ from returns on wealth. The rate of return on investment is below that on wealth, and both are declining. U.S. data imply pure time preference of 1% and relative risk aversion of 3, which I use to project returns going forward. The analysis suggests a descriptive social discount rate of 7.1%, and a prescriptive rate of 6.1%. Zero pure time preference implies only a modest increase in investment over historical and projected rates.
Advanced Hormone-Sensitive Breast Cancer: Overcoming Resistance

Novel strategies to overcome resistance to endocrine therapy are on the horizon, especially PI3K inhibitors, CDK 4/6 inhibitors, and agents targeting methylation. However, many, if not most, patients with progressive estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer will continue to show response to multiples lines of endocrine therapy alone. Which patient subsets will be candidates for the emerging agents is still unclear, but in the future, subtype of the tumor, mutational status, and treatment goals will be part of the equation. Always, it will be necessary to individualize treatment.
High utilization of inpatient detoxification: predictors among US veterans.

ABSTRACTBackground: Readmissions are among the most problematic and expensive problems in the treatment of substance use disorders. Objective: To evaluate the characteristics associated with four or more inpatient medically managed detoxification admissions in FY 2012, when all had post-discharge appointments within 7 days. Methods: A retrospective case control study. A total of 38 (6.0%) of 623 unique veterans had four or more detoxification admissions (high utilizers). A random sample of 42 was selected from the remaining 585 people (comparison group). In all, 264 detoxification and 70 hospital admissions for other reasons were reviewed. Results: The high utilizers had more alcohol use disorder (AUD, 82% versus 59%, p = 0.03) of significantly longer duration (mean 28.9 years [SD = 17] vs. 19.6 [SD = 13.4], p = 0.01). AUD increased the odds of being a high utilizer three-fold [OR = 3.0, 95% CI 1.1, 8.4], and every additional year of AUD, increased the number of admissions 1.3%, p = 0.0006. The high utili...
Strongly Fault Secure Logic Networks

Strongly fault secure logic networks are defined and are shown to include totally self-checking networks as a special case. Strongly fault secure networks provide the same protection against assumed faults as totally self-checking networks, and it is shown that when stuck-at faults are assumed a strongly fault secure network can be easily modified to form a totally self-checking network. A class of strongly fault secure networks is defined in terms of network structure. This structural definition of these "path fault secure" networks facilitates their design and implies other interesting properties. Finally, networks that are strongly fault secure with respect to single stuck-at faults are discussed. A large class of these networks is shown to be easily characterized, and network behavior under nonmodeled faults is considered.
Certification of a submarine design using fiber Bragg grating sensors

Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc. (SPA) has recently planned, installed, and tested a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensor system to validate FEM predictions of a new submarine design undergoing American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) certification testing. Fiber optic triaxial, biaxial, and uniaxial gage locations were selected based on the FEM analysis. FBGs were placed on six optical fibers with two fibers (33 sensors) mounted internally to the hull and four fibers (64 sensors) mounted externally. Testing was performed by lowering the submarine to the design depth and recording strain measurements. The optical sensor signals were transmitted directly to the water's surface and monitored by top-side interrogation instrumentation through over 2000 feet of optical cable. Measured temperature-compensated strain values were compared to the FEM predicted strain values with excellent results. To the author's knowledge, this successful test represents the first time that FBG sensors have been used to certify a submarine design and to validate FEM analysis on a large-scale structure.
Minimal-Size, Constrained Corticotropin-Releasing Factor Agonists with i−(i+3) Glu−Lys and Lys−Glu Bridges†

In three earlier publications (Miranda et al. J. Med. Chem. 1994, 37, 1450-1459; 1997, 40, 3651-3658; Gulyas et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 1995, 92, 10575-10579) we have hypothesized that covalent constraints such as side-chain-to-side-chain lactam rings would stabilize an alpha-helical conformation shown to be important for the recognition and binding of the CRF C-terminus 30 residues, to CRF receptors. These studies led to the discovery of useful CRF antagonists such as alpha-helical CRF (alpha-hel-CRF) and Astressin both in vitro and in vivo. To test the hypothesis that such lactam rings may also be modulating activation of the receptor when introduced at the N-terminus of CRF, we studied the influence of the successive introduction from residues 4 to 14 of a cyclo(i, i+3)[Lysi-Glu(i+3)] and a cyclo(i,i+3)[Glui-Lys(i+3)] bridge on the in vitro potency of the agonist [Ac-Pro4,dPhe12,Nle21,38]hCRF(4-41) and related compounds. We have also introduced the favored cyclo(Glu30-Lys33) substitution found to be remarkable in several families of antagonists (such as Astressin) and in a number of CRF agonists and investigated the role of residues 4-8 on receptor activation using successive deletions. Earlier studies had shown that in both oCRF and alpha-helical CRF, deletion of residues 1-6, 1-7, and 1-8 led to gradual loss of intrinsic activity (IA) (from 50% IA to <10% IA) resulting in alpha-hel-CRF being a potent competitive antagonist. We show that acetylation of the N-terminus of these fragments generally increases potency by a factor of 2-3 with no influence on IA. While cyclo(30-33)[Ac-Leu8,dPhe12,Nle21, Glu30,Lys33,Nle38]hCRF(8-41) (30) is the shortest reported analogue of CRF to be equipotent to CRF (70% IA), the corresponding linear analogue (31) is 120 times less potent (59% IA). Addition of one amino acid at the N-terminus ?cyclo(30-33)[Ac-Ser7,dPhe12,Nle21, Glu30,Lys33,Nle38]hCRF(7-41) (28)? results in a 5-fold increase in agonist potency and full intrinsic activity (113%). The most favored modifications were also introduced in other members of the CRF family including sauvagine (Sau), urotensin (Utn), urocortin (Ucn), and alpha-hel-CRF. Parallel and consistent results were obtained suggesting that the lactam cyclization at residues 29-32 and 30-33 (for the members of the CRF family with 40 and 41 amino acid residues, respectively) will induce (in the shortened agonists) a structural constraint (alpha-helix) that stabilizes a bioactive conformation similar to that shown in the Astressin family of CRF antagonists and that residue 8 (leucine or isoleucine) bears the sole responsibility for activation of the receptor since deletion of that residue leads to potent antagonists (Gulyas et al. Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci. U.S.A. 1995, 92, 10575-10579).
Evangelization is inculturation: A case study

The evangelization of Mexico is a good case study in inculturation. This article presents the challenges, obstacles, and unexpected events that led to the birth of the new church in Mexico. It traces the principal elements of the native religious culture, presents the efforts to proclaim the gospel through their symbolic world, and Our Lady of Guadalupe as the unexpected event that led to the implantation of the gospel in Mexican soil.
Who is a carrier? Detection of unsuspected mutations in 21-hydroxylase deficiency

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency is a common autosomal-recessive disorder. During our routine genotyping of affected individuals and their relatives using allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization and single-strand conformational polymorphism analysis, we identified two families each segregating three mutations. In both families, a mutation known to be associated with 21-hydroxylase deficiency was identified in healthy individuals but was not detected in the propositus. The propositus in family 1 was shown to be a homozygous carrier for G at nucleotide 655, which alters the splice acceptor site at exon 3. The propositus in family 2 carried the same splicing mutation on the maternal allele and a gene deletion/conversion on the paternal allele. In both families, other clinically unaffected relatives carried the Q318X mutation in exon 8. If molecular diagnostic studies had been limited to the mutation carried by the propositi, relatives would have been misinformed regarding their status as carriers or mildly affected individuals. The findings in these two families emphasize the high frequency of alleles causing 21-hydroxylase deficiency in the population.
Latent Tuberculosis Infection: Screening and Treatment in an Urban Setting

Despite its benefit for treating active tuberculosis, directly observed therapy (DOT) for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) has been largely understudied among challenging inner city populations. Utilizing questionnaire data from a comprehensive mobile healthcare clinic in New Haven, CT from 2003 to July 2011, a total of 2,523 completed tuberculin skin tests (TSTs) resulted in 356 new LTBIs. Multivariate logistic regression correlated covariates of the two outcomes (a) initiation of isoniazid preventative therapy (IPT) and (b) completion of 9 months of IPT. Of the 357 newly positive TSTs, 86.3 % (n = 308) completed screening chest radiographs (CXRs): 90.3 % (n = 278) were normal, and 0.3 % (n = 1) had active tuberculosis. Of those completing CXR screening, 44.0 % (n = 135) agreed to IPT: 69.6 % (n = 94) selected DOT, and 30.4 % (n = 41) selected self-administered therapy (SAT). Initiating IPT was correlated with undocumented status (AOR = 3.43; p < 0.001) and being born in a country of highest and third highest tuberculosis prevalence (AOR = 14.09; p = 0.017 and AOR = 2.25; p = 0.005, respectively). Those selecting DOT were more likely to be Hispanic (83.0 vs 53.7 %; p < 0.0001), undocumented (57.4 vs 41.5 %; p = 0.012), employed (p < 0.0001), uninsured (p = 0.014), and have stable housing (p = 0.002), no prior cocaine or crack use (p = 0.013) and no recent incarceration (p = 0.001). Completing 9 months of IPT was correlated with no recent incarceration (AOR 5.95; p = 0.036) and younger age (AOR 1.03; p = 0.031). SAT and DOT participants did not significantly differ for IPT duration (6.54 vs 5.68 months; p = 0.216) nor 9-month completion (59.8 vs 46.3 %; p = 0.155). In an urban mobile healthcare sample, screening completion for LTBI was high with nearly half initiating IPT. Undocumented, Hispanic immigrants from high prevalence tuberculosis countries were more likely to self-select DOT at the mobile outreach clinic, potentially because of more culturally, linguistically, and logistically accessible services and self-selection optimization phenomena. Within a diverse, urban environment, DOT and SAT IPT models for LTBI treatment resulted in similar outcomes, yet outcomes were hampered by differential measurement bias between DOT and SAT participants.
Material and device properties of a solid state electrochromic display

A solid state electrochromic display with the following configuration: transparent conductor/WO3/Na1+xZr2SixP3−xO12/ Na0.3WO3/conductor has been fabricated and studied. The properties of the electrodes are shown to be dependant upon the preparation conditions. Two problems, specifically due to the solid state nature of this device, are also discussed. These are the incompatibility of the WO3 layer with the processes necessary to deposit a transparent electrode onto it, and the large resistance at the solid electrode/electrolyte interfaces.
Hinze receives Kaula Award

William J Hinze was presented the William Kaula Award for Publication Service as part of the Editors Evening at the 2006 AGU Joint Assembly Meeting. The award recognizes unselfish service to the scientific community through extraordinary dedication to, and exceptional effort on behalf of, the AGU publications program
Spectral and electron-collision properties of atomic ions: Threshold phase shifts.

Threshold phase shifts (or equivalently, quantum defects at the series limit) are calculated within the framework of the Hartree-Slater (central-field) approximation for positive atomic ions with nuclear charge number Z-italic< or =37. The results are displayed in isoelectronic (the number of electrons, N-italic, constant), isonuclear (Z-italic constant), and isoionic (Z-italic-N-italic constant) pictures. The systematics of the threshold phase shifts are delineated, and the utility of each of the pictures is discussed. The possibilities and pitfalls of interpolation to generate new data are also discussed. This paper represents the initial report of a systematic investigation of ionic properties.
Relative Quantification of Carboxylic Acid Metabolites by Liquid-Chromatography Mass-Spectrometry Using Isotopic Variants of Cholamine

Labeling reagents that differ only in their isotopic composition offer a powerful approach to achieve relative quantification between samples by ESI-MS. Heavy and light isotopic forms of cholamine, which contain a positively charged quaternary ammonium group, were synthesized and tested as new labeling reagents for the relative quantification of carboxylic acid-containing metabolites, specifically fatty acids. The positive charge on cholamine ensures that the labeled product is also positively charged under all LC−MS conditions, regardless of mobile-phase pH. This leads to high ionization efficiency and correspondingly high detection sensitivity, demonstrated here for the analysis of fatty acids in positive ion mode ESI-MS after reversed-phase separation under acidic conditions. Good accuracy and precision were obtained by mixing heavy- and light-labeled hydrolyzed egg lipid extracts in different known ratios. The relative quantification results for 10 observed fatty acids had an average absolute error of...
SITE INFORMATION AND SPILL RESPONSE STRATEGY (SISRS) AND THE SISRS DATABASE: CALIFORNIA'S APPROACH TO MARINE OIL SPILL PROTECTION PLANNING AND RESPONSE FOR SENSITIVE SITES1

ABSTRACT The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) has developed a database of sensitive site information and oil spill protection strategies as a part of the California coastal contingency planning. The Site Information and Spill Response Strategy (SISRS) approach was developed to enable involvement and ownership of Port Area Contingency Plan (ACP) strategies among stakeholders, as well as provide consistency in site documentation and strategy development for the widely variable habitats of the long California coast. Through site visits and tabletop discussions, the Area Committee uses this approach to incorporate the input of state and federal trustees, contingency planners, and stakeholders (industry, spill response co-ops and contractors, environmentalists, other agencies) to form a consensus on the appropriate site protection strategies and response resources. This information is stored in the SISRS database. The SISRS database has important benefits. It generates uniform Site Summary and Site...
The Interplay Between Narrative, Education, and Exposition in an Emerging Science

Drawing upon eleven volumes of articles published between 1890 and 1990 in The Auk, journal of American ornithology, this study shows the path to professionalization through four phases of ornithological discourse history. In the science of ornithology, the interests of conservationists, science students, and scientists themselves were originally served by a single discourse form—the personal narrative of natural history. But, with professionalization, scientists increasingly associated such narratives with amateur performance. The resulting gap between professional science and public understanding of science was reinforced by the establishment of a university program of study in ornithology, by an emerging sense of a scientific community, and by the forces of environmentalism.
The carbohydrate moieties of the beta-subunit of Na+, K(+)-ATPase: their lateral motions and proximity to the cardiac glycoside site

The beta-subunit associated with the catalytic (alpha) subunit of the mammalian Na+, K(+) -ATPase is a transmembrane glycoprotein with three extracellularly located N-glycosylation sites. Although beta appears to be essential for a functional enzyme, the role of beta and its sugars remains unknown. In these studies, steady-state and dynamic fluorescence measurements of the fluorophore lucifer yellow (LY) covalently linked to the carbohydrate chains of beta have demonstrated that the bound probes are highly solvent exposed but restricted in their diffusional motions. Furthermore, the probes' environments on beta were not altered by Na+ or K+ or ouabain-induced enzyme conformational changes, but both divalent cation and oligomycin addition evoked modest changes in LY fluorescence. Frequency domain measurements reflecting the Forster fluorescence energy transfer (FET) occurring between anthroylouabain (AO) bound to the cardiac glycoside receptor site on alpha and the carbohydrate-linked LY demonstrated their close proximity (18 A). Additional FET determinations made between LY as donor and erythrosin-5-isothiocyanate, covalently bound at the enzyme's putative ATP binding site domain, indicated that a distance of about 85 A separates these two regions and that this distance is reduced upon divalent cation binding and increased upon the Na+E1-->K+E2 conformational transition. These data suggest a model for the localization of the terminal moieties of the oligosaccharides that places them, on average, about 18 A from the AO binding site and this distance or less from the extracellular membrane surface.
Lysophosphatidic Acid Facilitates Proliferation of Colon Cancer Cells via Induction of Krüppel-like Factor 5

Among the multiple cellular effects mediated by lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), the effect on cell proliferation has extensively been investigated. A recent study showed that LPA-mediated proliferation of colon cancer cells requires activation of β-catenin. However, the majority of colon cancer cells have deregulation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. This prompted us to hypothesize the presence of additional pathway(s) activated by LPA resulting in an increase in the proliferation of colon cancer cells. Kruppel-like factor 5 (KLF5) is a transcriptional factor highly expressed in the crypt compartment of the intestinal epithelium. In this work, we investigated a role of KLF5 in LPA-mediated proliferation. We show that LPA stimulated the expression levels of KLF5 mRNA and protein in colon cancer cells and this stimulation was mediated by LPA2 and LPA3. Silencing of KLF5 expression by small interfering RNA significantly attenuated LPA-mediated proliferation of SW480 and HCT116 cells. LPA-mediated KLF5 induction was partially blocked by inhibition of the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase and protein kinase C-δ. Moreover, we observed that LPA regulates KLF5 expression via eukaryotic elongation factor 2 kinase (eEF2k). Inhibition of calmodulin or silencing of eEF2k blocked the stimulation in KLF5 expression. Knockdown of eEF2k specifically inhibited KLF5 induction by LPA but not by fetal bovine serum or phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. These results identify KLF5 as a target of LPA-mediated signaling and suggest a role of KLF5 in promoting proliferation of intestinal epithelia in response to LPA.
On the Bass–Lubotzky Question about Quotients of Hyperbolic Groups

Abstract We prove at Theorem 1 that any non-elementary hyperbolic group G possesses a non-trivial finitely presented quotient Q having no non-trivial subgroups of finite indices. The theorem was “commissioned” in August 1997 by H. Bass and A. Lubotzky because the statement was required to constructing of their counter-examples to Platonov's conjecture on the representation rigid linear groups [BL]. Theorem 2 gives three equivalent reformulations of the known problem on existence of non-residually finite hyperbolic groups.
Intraventricular perineurioma: case report.

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE: Perineurioma, a rare benign nerve sheath neoplasm occurring in either an intraneural or soft tissue form, has never been reported to arise in the central nervous system. CLINICAL PRESENTATION: We describe the clinical, radiological, and pathological features of a perineurioma arising in the choroid plexus of the third ventricle in a 65-year-old woman and causing obstructive hydrocephalus. INTERVENTION: The lesion, apparently unassociated with a nerve, was gross totally resected by frontal craniotomy using a left-sided transcallosal approach. Short-term follow-up showed no evidence of recurrence. CONCLUSION: Perineurioma of the variety found in soft tissue may occur in the central nervous system, wherein it shows the typical light microscopic, immunohistochemical (epithelial membrane antigen- and Collagen IV-positive, S-100 protein-negative), and ultrastructural (pinocytotic vesicles, discontinuous basement membrane) features.
Toxicology of N-nitroso compounds.

Abstract The acute and chronic toxicity of N -nitrosamines and N -nitrosamides are reviewed in general terms. Emphasis is made of the relationship between metabolism and toxicity.
Mean values and classes of harmonic functions

Let μ be a finite complex Borel measure supported on the unit circle . In this paper, we are concerned with the characterization of the sets of functions satisfying the generalized mean value equation of the form . and for all ξ ∈ , | ξ | = R for some fixed R > 0.
Creation of a wire-frame model for three-dimensional registration of raster image regions of interest

Both CT and MRI images present three-dimensional information as a series of two-dimensional slices. In conventional film sheet display, recovering the third dimension of information requires the physician to mentally reconstruct the volume. This complex process inhibits the understanding of three dimensional registration of both lesions and normal structures of surgical concern. We have developed a technique for the computerized generation of a wire-frame model from the raster image set. By using a 10242 pixel display, any three raster frames plus the wire-frame may be simultaneously displayed. Each raster frames's location is displayed on the wire-frame providing perspective clues as to the three-dimensional relationship between frames. Each raster image may be changed with real time tracking on the wire-frame model. The wire-frame may be formed from either CT or MRI images and takes less than two minutes for a standard 25 slice head series.
Comparative subchronic toxicity studies of nixtamalized and water-extracted Fusarium moniliforme culture material

Abstract Fumonisins are mycotoxins produced by Fusarium moniliforme, F. proliferatum and other Fusarium species, which are commonly found on corn, cause a variety of species-specific toxicoses, and have been linked to human oesophageal cancer in areas of southern Africa and China where corn is a dietary staple. The effect of nixtamalization, the process by which masa flour is produced by alkaline hydrolysis of corn, on the organ-specific toxicity of F. moniliforme culture material containing fumonisin B 1 (FBI) was studied and the effectiveness of nixtamalization and water extraction for detoxifying culture material was compared. Male rats (n = 10/ group ) were fed diets containing 5% culture material equivalent weights of nixtamalized culture material (NX diet) providing 58 ppm hydrolysed FB1 but no FB1, water-extracted culture material (WE diet) providing 8 ppm FB1, or untreated culture material (CM diet) providing 71 ppm FB1 for 4 wk. An additional control group was fed a diet containing sound seed corn. Serum chemical and histopathological findings confirmed that the nixtamalized culture material was hepatotoxic and nephrotoxic. Hepatopathy was found in all rats fed the NX or CM diets. The lesions were qualitatively similar in these two groups, but were noticeably less severe in rats fed the NX diet. In contrast, only one rat fed the WE diet exhibited mild hepatopathy. Mild-to-moderate nephropathy resembling that induced by FB 1 was found in all rats fed the NX, WE or CM diet. Thus, the organ-specific effects of nixtamalized culture material, containing no detectable FB1, were similar to those of the FB1-containing diet prepared from untreated culture material. Furthermore, nixtamalization was not as effective as water extraction as a detoxification method.