cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Against Cooperative Federalism

The United States Constitution envisions political conflict and functional separation among independently constituted states and national institutions. Historically, this arrangement has been called "dual federalism," a term that emphasizes the co-existence of state governments with the federal government, with each level of government possessing its own sphere of autonomy and direct coercive authority over citizens. The "dual" adjective stresses federalism's vertical, state-to-federal dimension. In its horizontal, state-to-state perspective, the arrangement may also be called a "competitive federalism." Since dual federalism confines the national government to a limited sphere of autonomy, it compels the states, in the vast realm that lies beyond the national government's reach, to compete for citizens' assets, talents, and affections. Diversity among states, the citizens' ability to vote with their feet, and the disciplining force of state competition are federalism's chief attractions. In practice, however, American federalism has become an administrative, "cooperative federalism": state and local governments administer and implement federal programs. Many stateadministered programs are funded by the federal government, in whole or, more often, in part. Others take the form of conditional preemption, meaning that the states may choose to administer the federal program or else, cede the regulatory field to the federal government. Cooperative federalism covers an enormous array of regulatory fields, from the environment to education to welfare and, lately, crime control. In its horizontal dimension, cooperative federalism replaces dual federalism's competition with state policy cartels and uniform regulatory baselines. This article argues that cooperative federalism is a rotten idea, its political popularity notwithstanding. Cooperative federalism undermines political transparency and accountability, thereby heightening civic disaffection and cynicism; diminishes policy competition among the states; and erodes self-government and liberty. The sooner we can think of viable means to curtail cooperative programs and to disentangle government functions, the better off we shall be.
Non-traditional factors affecting referral for coronary angiography following SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging

The use of myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) in the management of coronary artery disease (CAD) is well established. Although prior studies have shown disparities in the use of invasive angiography in patients with acute MI, data on factors affecting referral to angiography post-MPI are lacking. We sought to evaluate the primary determinants of referral to invasive angiography post-MPI and specifically assess the role of non-traditional non-clinical factors such as race/ethnicity, socioeconomic factors, insurance status, and marital status. All patients without known CAD who underwent stress SPECT MPI over 15 years were reviewed and the performance of coronary angiography within 90 days of their MPI was recorded. Multiple factors were analyzed for an association with referral to angiography, including exercise and MPI results, baseline demographics, traditional cardiac risk factors, and non-traditional factors such as ethnicity, insurance, marital and socioeconomic status. In a secondary analysis, these factors were assessed with regard to abnormal MPI results. Out of 27,895 total patients, 2,150 (7.7%) underwent invasive coronary angiography. On multivariate analysis, inpatient location, positive ECG response, and abnormal MPI results were the strongest predictors of angiography. Non-traditional factors such as race/ethnicity and insurance status had a significant association with referral to angiography with Caucasians (OR 1.42, 95% CI 1.18-1.71, P < .0001) and those with private insurance (OR 1.35, 95% CI 1.13-1.62, P = .001) or Medicare (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.08-1.56, P = .006) having higher rates of angiography despite controlling for traditional risk factors and test results. Our study results indicate that non-traditional factors such as race/ethnicity and insurance status influence patient management decisions and impact the performance of downstream cardiac invasive testing after stress MPI. Higher rates of angiography in Caucasians, privately insured and Medicare patients were seen despite controlling for traditional risk factors and abnormal test results. Further research is needed to better understand these disparities, especially in the current healthcare environment.
Chapter 16 Inter-industry studies of structure and performance

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses inter-industry studies of the relations among various measures of market structure, conduct, and performance. It discusses that tradition has indeed uncovered many stable, robust, and empirical regularities. Inter-industry research has taught much about the way markets look, especially within the manufacturing sector in developed economies, even if it has not shown exactly the way markets work. Work in some areas has produced no clear picture of the important patterns in the data, and non-manufacturing industries have not received attention commensurate with their importance. But cross-section studies are limited by serious problems of interpretation and measurement. Future inter-industry research should adopt a modest, descriptive orientation and aim to complement case studies by uncovering robust empirical regularities that can be used to evaluate and develop theoretical tools. Much of the most persuasive recent work relies on nonstandard data sources, particularly panel data that can be used to deal with disequilibrium problems and industry-specific data, which mitigate the problem of unobservable industry-specific variables.
Total Least-Squares Determination of Body Segment Attitude.

To examine segment and joint attitudes when using image-based motion capture, it is necessary to determine the rigid body transformation parameters from an inertial reference frame to a reference frame fixed in a body segment. Determine the rigid body transformation parameters must account for errors in the coordinates measured in both reference frames, a total least-squares problem. This study presents a new derivation that shows that a singular value decomposition-based method provides a total least-squares estimate of rigid body transformation parameters. The total least-squares method was compared with an algebraic method for determining rigid body attitude (TRIAD method). Two cases were examined: case 1 where the positions of a marker cluster contained noise after the transformation, and case 2 where the positions of a marker cluster contained noise both before and after the transformation. The white noise added to position data had a standard deviation from zero to 0.002 m, with 101 noise levels examined. For each noise level, 10 000 criterion attitude matrices were generated. Errors in estimating rigid body attitude were quantified by computing the angle, error angle, required to align the estimated rigid body attitude with the actual rigid body attitude. For both methods and cases, as the noise level increased the error angle increased, with errors larger for case 2 compared with case 1. The singular value decomposition (SVD)-based method was superior to the TRIAD algorithm for all noise levels and both cases, and provided a total least-squares estimate of body attitude.
P35 The Effect of a Traffic Light Labeling Intervention on Amount of Food Served in a College Dining Hall

Background College students may not use the nutrition facts label suggesting changes to the label, such as the Traffic Light Label, are needed to increase user friendliness. Objective To examine the effect of traffic light labels on the amount of food served in a university dining hall in comparison to the control nutrition facts panels. Study Design, Setting, Participants This study utilized a repeated measures observational design with a control and an intervention period each lasting 28 days at a Midwestern midsize, private university. Following the control period (nutrition facts panels), each food was labeled with a single color (red, yellow, or green) based upon its nutritional quality. Measurable Outcome/Analysis Number of servings per day by color (dependent variable) was combined for both lunch and dinner during the control and intervention period. To compare the amount served per day of each color during control and intervention, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. Bonferroni post hoc tests were utilized for multiple comparisons. Results The one-way ANOVA for color and time point was significant (F (5, 150) = 4.75, P Conclusion These results suggest that traffic light labels may not be more effective than nutrition facts panels in college dining halls to improve food choices. Specifically, there was no significant difference in number of servings per day in red- and/or green-labeled foods between control and intervention. Furthermore, servings per day of red-labeled foods continued to be significantly greater than yellow-labeled foods during the intervention. Because students may not use nutrition labels to make food choices, college dining halls should consider reformulating recipes to improve healthfulness of options.
“An Overwhelming Cloud of Inertia”: Evaluating the Impact of Course Design Changes Following the COVID-19 Pandemic

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in March 2020, educators at all levels faced the challenge of responding to student needs and utilizing technology for instruction. While much of the emerging research highlights the experiences of students and instructors as they shifted from face-to-face to remote learning, this study explores the experiences of students in a fully online graduate program as the scope of the pandemic was growing. What is the best way to maintain a community of inquiry (Garrison et al., 2000) when so much is changing? This case study explores the impact of a variety of course design changes that sought to help students meet learning objectives while also seeking to alleviate the unanticipated pressures created by external forces. Ultimately, the findings suggest that increased flexibility with due dates and access to course materials were the most helpful strategy for helping students deal with the disruptive events of the semester. In addition, managing the disruptions and finding some sense of balance were important for both instructors and students.
WE-D-303-02: Applications of Volumetric Images Generated with a Respiratory Motion Model Based On An External Surrogate Signal

Purpose: Respiratory motion can vary significantly over the course of simulation and treatment. Our goal is to use volumetric images generated with a respiratory motion model to improve the definition of the internal target volume (ITV) and the estimate of delivered dose. Methods: Ten irregular patient breathing patterns spanning 35 seconds each were incorporated into a digital phantom. Ten images over the first five seconds of breathing were used to emulate a 4DCT scan, build the ITV, and generate a patient-specific respiratory motion model which correlated the measured trajectories of markers placed on the patients’ chests with the motion of the internal anatomy. This model was used to generate volumetric images over the subsequent thirty seconds of breathing. The increase in the ITV taking into account the full 35 seconds of breathing was assessed with ground-truth and model-generated images. For one patient, a treatment plan based on the initial ITV was created and the delivered dose was estimated using images from the first five seconds as well as ground-truth and model-generated images from the next 30 seconds. Results: The increase in the ITV ranged from 0.2 cc to 6.9 cc for the ten patients based on ground-truth information. The model predicted this increase in the ITV with an average error of 0.8 cc. The delivered dose to the tumor (D95) changed significantly from 57 Gy to 41 Gy when estimated using 5 seconds and 30 seconds, respectively. The model captured this effect, giving an estimated D95 of 44 Gy. Conclusion: A respiratory motion model generating volumetric images of the internal patient anatomy could be useful in estimating the increase in the ITV due to irregular breathing during simulation and in assessing delivered dose during treatment. This project was supported, in part, through a Master Research Agreement with Varian Medical Systems, Inc. and Radiological Society of North America Research Scholar Grant #RSCH1206.
Pulse dynamics and relaxation oscillations in harmonically modelocked semiconductor lasers

This paper presents the requirements for pulse stability in harmonically modelocked semiconductor lasers. Results show that dynamic gain saturation is essential for the stability of harmonically modelocked semiconductor lasers. The precise limit for stable operation and design criteria for operation without pulse dropouts are also presented.
Signalling within the neurovascular unit in the mammalian retina

Neuronal activity in the central nervous system evokes localized changes in blood flow, a response termed neurovascular coupling or functional hyperaemia. Modern functional imaging methods, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), measure signals related to functional hyperaemia in order to determine localization of brain function and to diagnose disease. The cellular mechanisms that underlie functional hyperaemia, however, are not well understood. Glial cells have been hypothesized to be intermediaries between neurons and blood vessels in the control of neurovascular coupling, owing to their ability to release vasoactive factors in response to neuronal activity. Using an in vitro preparation of the isolated, intact rodent retina, we have investigated two likely mechanisms of glial control of the vasculature: glial K(+) siphoning and glial induction of vasoactive arachidonic acid metabolites. Potassium siphoning is a process by which a K(+) current flowing through glial cells transfers K(+) released from active neurons to blood vessels. Since slight increases in extracellular K(+) can cause vasodilatation, this mechanism was hypothesized to contribute to neurovascular coupling. Our data, however, suggest that glial K(+) siphoning does not contribute significantly to neurovascular coupling in the retina. Instead, we suggest that glial cells mediate neurovascular coupling by inducing the production of two types of arachidonic acid metabolites, epoxyeicosatrienoic acids (EETs) and 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE), which dilate and constrict vessels, respectively. We show that both light flashes and direct glial stimulation produce vasodilatation or vasoconstriction mediated by EETs and 20-HETE, respectively. Further, we show that the type of vasomotor response observed (dilatation or constriction) depends on retinal levels of nitric oxide. Our data also demonstrate that glial cells are necessary intermediaries for signalling from neurons to blood vessels, since functional hyperaemia does not occur when neuron-to-glia communication is interrupted. These results indicate that glial cells play an important role in mediating functional hyperaemia and suggest that the regulation of blood flow may involve both vasodilating and vasoconstricting components.
Mapping abbreviations to full forms in biomedical articles.

Objective: To develop methods that automatically map abbreviations to their full forms in biomedical articles. Methods: The authors developed two methods of mapping defined and undefined abbreviations (defined abbreviations are paired with their full forms in the articles, whereas undefined ones are not). For defined abbreviations, they developed a set of pattern-matching rules to map an abbreviation to its full form and implemented the rules into a software program, AbbRE (for “abbreviation recognition and extraction”). Using the opinions of domain experts as a reference standard, they evaluated the recall and precision of AbbRE for defined abbreviations in ten biomedical articles randomly selected from the ten most frequently cited medical and biological journals. They also measured the percentage of undefined abbreviations in the same set of articles, and they investigated whether they could map undefined abbreviations to any of four public abbreviation databases (GenBank LocusLink, swissprot, LRABR of the UMLS Specialist Lexicon, and Bioabacus). Results: AbbRE had an average 0.70 recall and 0.95 precision for the defined abbreviations. The authors found that an average of 25 percent of abbreviations were defined in biomedical articles and that of a randomly selected subset of undefined abbreviations, 68 percent could be mapped to any of four abbreviation databases. They also found that many abbreviations are ambiguous (i.e., they map to more than one full form in abbreviation databases). Conclusion: AbbRE is efficient for mapping defined abbreviations. To couple AbbRE with abbreviation databases for the mapping of undefined abbreviations, not only exhaustive abbreviation databases but also a method to resolve the ambiguity of abbreviations in the databases are needed.
Medical libraries and the assessment of user needs.

Abstract Users of information in science and technology have been studied in great detail with respect to material read, amount of time spent in reading and searching the literature, categories of questions asked, and so on. Probing for this information has been undertaken by means of structured and unstructured interviews, diaries, surveys, and questionnaires. Although a large amount of data has emerged on information usage and flow, the subjective response of scientists furnishes comment only on the satisfaction produced by present information services and does not yield insight into the extent to which needs remain unsatisfied. Relevance figures based upon the response of systems to questions cannot be equated with satisfaction of needs, since questions constitute, in most cases, inadequate representations of underlying information needs. Assessment of the needs of users of medical libraries and information systems must, in fact, be made in relation to the observed behavior and experience of biomedical scientists. There is room for well-designed experimentation which can explore the interaction of both psychological and environmental factors. Significant differences in information needs exist among and between individuals such as researchers and clinicians in the same environment. With respect to environment, it is hypothesized that the information needs of medical practitioners in remote areas might differ significantly from those of their colleagues working in large metropolitan centers in close proximity to medical schools, research institutions, and other rich sources of information fallout. It is anticipated that experimentation will eventually result in a methodology which will permit the determination and prediction of the information needs of any identified groups of users in a specific environment.
Clinical features and outcomes of young patients with head and neck non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcomas.

Background The history, prognostic factors, and outcome of young patients with head and neck non-rhabdomyosarcoma soft tissue sarcoma (NRSTS) have not been adequately characterized. Methods Medical records of 58 patients with head and neck NRSTS treated at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital were reviewed. Results The majority of tumors were ≤5 cm and high grade. Lymph node and/or distant metastases were present in 17% at presentation. Patients received a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. The 10-year event-free and survival rates were 53.1% ± 7.3% and 63.2% ± 7.1%, respectively. Features associated with inferior survival included high histologic grade (p = .006), tumor diameter >5 cm (p < .001), invasiveness (p < .001), and incomplete resection at diagnosis (p = .005). Conclusion Most head and neck NRSTS in young patients are small, high grade, and nonmetastatic. The outcome is poor compared to NRSTS at other anatomic sites. Innovative approaches to local control and improved systemic therapy are needed. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 37: 76–83, 2015
Effects of exercise and immobilization on bone formation and resorption in young rats

The influence of physical activity on bone formation and resorption was studied in the following three groups of 6-wk-old female rats: 30 controls, 24 sciatic denervation immobilized, and 28 treadm...
Influence of pH of the medium on free fatty acid utilization by isolated mammalian cells

Studies with Ehrlich ascites tumor cells showed that small decreases in the pH of the incubation medium from 7.4 increase the magnitude of incorporation of free fatty acid (FFA) into the cells from an albumin solution. A similar effect occurred when rabbit erythrocytes, rat heart slices, or rat liver slices were incubated with FFA-bovine albumin solutions and when tumor cells were incubated with FFA in media contain- ing human albumin, &lactoglobulin, or rat plasma. The effect was not seen when the medium contained no protein. When the pH of the albumin-containing medium was lowered from 7.4 to 6.6, oxidation of FFA to COZ by the tumor cells increased, esterification of the FFA (mostly into phospho- lipids and triglycerides) increased, and less esterified radio- active fatty acid was depleted from the cells. Hence, more fatty acid accumulated in the cells in more acid media. These findings suggest that small changes in extracellular pH might regulate FFA utilization and lipid accumulation in mammalian tissues.
Formation of Alewife Concretions in Polluted Onondaga Lake

Abstract The previously reported finding of alewife concretions along the shores of Onondaga Lake in Upstate New York prompted investigation of the field conditions necessary for their formation and laboratory simulation of these conditions to induce concretion formation. Onondaga Lake is shown to be calcium-polluted and continuously supersaturated with respect to CaCO3. Anaerobic conditions exist in the hypolimnion in approximately eight months of every year. In controlled laboratory experiments, formation of structure-retaining alewife concretions was successful under anaerobic conditions, and was enhanced by elevated calcium concentrations. Additional chemical analyses of fresh alewives, natural concretions and laboratory-formed concretions were performed. A previously proposed mechanism for concretion formation is evaluated with respect to the presented results. The common occurrence of alewife concretions in Onondaga Lake is a manifestation of the unique polluted state of the ecosystem, combined with the invasion of the lipid-rich alewife.
Proposed Changes to the Psychiatric Classification: Towards DSM5

Objectives: The World Health Organization and the American Psychiatric Association are revising their classifications of mental disorders – a costly, time-consuming exercise with wide implications. This article seeks to make practitioners aware of the proposed changes, which have been posted on the internet and are freely available.Conclusions: Taxonomic changes create strong emotions; the ones proposed for DSM5, though far from drastic, are no exception. The main diagnostic categories remain largely the same as in DSM-IV. Most of the modifications entail moving specific disorders from one section to another, deleting disorders that have had little practical use, or changing the name. The substance-related disorders and personality disorders sections have been changed the most. It remains to be seen whether the proposed new categories – several of them controversial – will make it to the final version.
Wafer Scale Encapsulation of Large Lateral Deflection MEMS Structures

Packaging of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is a critical step in the transition from product development to production. This paper presents a robust, hermetically-sealed encapsulation method that can accommodate many traditional MEMS devices by allowing large lateral deflection structures within a clean environment. Using the new technology described in this paper, trench widths ranging from 1?m to 100?m were successfully encapsulated at the wafer level while maintaining devices as thick as 20?m. Devices produced with this method have proven durable enough to withstand harsh post-processing such as dicing and wire bonding. Two different types of MEMS resonators are also discussed, demonstrating the use of both large and small trench widths within the encapsulation.
An assessment of moral development in gifted adolescents

A study was conducted to assess the levels of moral development in gifted adolescents. The participants attended a one month intensive summer institute in which they were administered the Defining Issues Test (DIT) which measures levels of moral development. The results indicated that the students received scores above the norm for their age range. Implications and further considerations for educators are discussed.
In situ measurement of increased ferroelectric/ferroelastic domain wall motion in declamped tetragonal lead zirconate titanate thin films

Ferroelectric/ferroelastic domain reorientation was measured in a 1.9 μm thick tetragonal {001} oriented PbZr0.3Ti0.7O3 thin film doped with 1% Mn under different mechanical boundary constraints. Domain reorientation was quantified through the intensity changes in the 002/200 Bragg reflections as a function of applied electric field. To alter the degree of clamping, films were undercut from the underlying substrate by 0%, ∼25%, ∼50%, or ∼75% of the electrode area. As the amount of declamping from the substrate increased from 0% to ∼75%, the degree of ferroelectric/ferroelastic domain reorientation in the films increased more than six fold at three times the coercive field. In a film that was ∼75% released from the substrate, approximately 26% of 90° domains were reoriented under the maximum applied field; this value for domain reorientation compares favorably to bulk ceramics of similar compositions. An estimate for the upper limit of 90° domain reorientation in a fully released film under these condition...
Interaction of a fragment of the cannabinoid CB1 receptor C-terminus with arrestin-2

Desensitization of the cannabinoid CB1 receptor is mediated by the interaction with arrestin. In this study, we report the structural changes of a synthetic diphosphorylated peptide corresponding to residues 419-439 of the CB1 C-terminus upon binding to arrestin-2. This segment is pivotal to the desensitization of CB1. Using high-resolution proton NMR, we observe two helical segments in the bound peptide that are separated by the presence a glycine residue. The binding we observe is with a diphoshorylated peptide, whereas a previous study reported binding of a highly phosphorylated rhodopsin fragment to visual arrestin. The arrestin bound conformations of the peptides are compared.
Growth and surface structure of epitaxial Be thin films

ABSTRACT We have investigated the growth of beryllium thin films on a-A12O3, Si(l 1 1), and Ge(1 1 1). In all cases,epitaxial Be films were obtained under the proper conditions. The effects of substrate temperature T on crystallinequality and surface structure were also studied. Samples were analyzed in situ using reflection high energy electrondiffraction and ex situ with ion beam analysis, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and a variety of x-ray diffraction techniques. Studies showed an increase in crystalline quality with increased T, as well as thepresence of a surface superstructure, probably I3x'I3, R30°, for films deposited on Si at T  300 °C and films onGe at T  200 °C. To date, the highest quality Be films are those grown on Ge(l11) at T = 300 °C. 1. INTRODUCTIONHigh quality beryllium thin films are desirable for possible applications in several fields. For example,because of its extremely low absorption in the soft x-ray region,' Be is of great interest to the x-ray opticscommunity. Calculations for multilayer mirrors with Be spacer layers show that they should have very highreflectivities for the wavelength ranges A<44 A and X=1 1 1—200 A. Such mirrors would be useful for x-ray
Physiological Exposure to Melatonin Supersensitizes the Cyclic Adenosine 3′,5′-Monophosphate-Dependent Signal Transduction Cascade in Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells Expressing the Human mt1 Melatonin Receptor

Here, we report the effects of short exposure to melatonin on the human mt1 (h mt1) melatonin receptor-mediated signaling in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, and the consequences of an exposure that resembles the physiological pattern of melatonin release on cAMP-mediated signal transduction. Short exposure (10 min) of h mt1 melatonin receptors to melatonin (400 pm) inhibited forskolin-stimulated cAMP formation, cAMP-dependent protein kinase activity, and phosphorylation of the cAMP response element-binding protein. However, treatment of mt1-CHO cells with melatonin in a manner that closely mimics the in vivo activation of melatonin receptors (i.e. 400 pm melatonin for 8 h to mimic darkness) resulted in a supersensitization of the cAMP-dependent signal transduction cascade during the period of withdrawal (i.e. 16 h without melatonin to mimic the light cycle of a diurnal photoperiod). During the period of withdrawal, forskolin induced a time-dependent (1–16 h) increase in cAMP formation (∼200% of control...
Ingestion of a dietary supplement containing dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and androstenedione has minimal effect on immune function in middle-aged men.

Objective: This study investigated the effects of four weeks of intake of a supplement containing dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), androstenedione and herbal extracts on immune function in middle-aged men.Design: Subjects consumed either an oral placebo or an oral supplement for four weeks. The supplement contained a total daily dose of 150 mg DHEA, 300 mg androstenedione, 750 mg Tribulus terrestris, 625 mg chrysin, 300 mg indole-3-carbinol and 540 mg saw palmetto.Measurements: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were used to assess phytohemagglutinin(PHA)-induced lymphocyte proliferation and cytokine production. The cytokines measured were interleukin (IL)-2, IL-4, IL-10, IL-1β, and interferon (IFN)-γ. Serum free testosterone, androstenedione, estradiol, dihydrotestosterone (DHT) were also measured.Results: The supplement significantly increased serum levels of androstenedione, free testosterone, estradiol and DHT during week 1 to week 4. Supplement intake did not affect LPS or ConA proliferation and had mi...
Sampling methods for estimating stem volume and volume increment

Abstract Probability sampling is proposed as an alternative to reliance on models for the estimation of tree stem volume and volume increment. A number of methods, which are in a class of procedures known in the simulation literature as variance reduction techniques, are presented with their corresponding estimators. Variance reduction is achieved by the ancillary use of a tree stem model such as a taper function, but unbiasedness does not depend on the validity of the model.
Spin trapping of the superoxide anion: complications in the use of the water-soluble nitroso-aromatic reagent DBNBS.

Abstract Sodium 3,5-dibromo-4-nitrosobenzesulfonate (DBNBS) is reported to be a useful spin trap for the measurement of superoxide anions in aqueous solution. However, the signal observed arises from interaction of the spin trap with some species other than the superoxide radical or hydrogen peroxide, a product of its dismutation, as the addition of both superoxide dismutase and catalase to a superoxide generating system failed to attenuate the signal. Therefore caution must be employed in the interpretation of results obtained using this spin trap.
Gun concealment, display, and other magical habits of the body:

This analysis argues that armed Americans and their weapons are central agents in a network of objects and affects. Guns may not only assert agency on people but, also, firearm–human relations – emergent within the contested legal boundaries that discipline their bodily concealment and revelation – are best seen as an enchanted assemblage of performance, control, omnipotence, pleasure, and fear. Both material and semiotic in nature – guns are things that shoot and things that convey meaning. The cultural desire to secretly arm or openly carry a firearm in public spaces, and the range of motivations and reactions that frame it, inform this project. How are gun owners transformed by the corporeal relationships they have with their weapons? Moreover, how is this relationship a mode of affective embodiment, in which the gun so easily merges with its owner, forming and conforming to the body, dissolving into one’s person unconsciously, much like but much differently than a cell phone?
Congenital Macronodular Juvenile Xanthogranuloma of the Eyelid

A large congenital eyelid mass prevented an infant from elevating his eyelid successfully. A small punch biopsy was initially interpreted as "consistent with a dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans." On the basis of this diagnosis, radical surgery was advised. Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, however, rarely affects children and seldom appears in the head and neck area. Because of the discrepancy between clinical and pathologic diagnoses, additional biopsies were performed, which disclosed the lesion to be a juvenile xanthogranuloma. The mass regressed after intralesional injections of corticosteroids. This is the first clinicopathologic description of congenital macronodular juvenile xanthogranuloma affecting the eyelids. The variability in the histologic composition of this large lesion may lead to a mistaken diagnosis of an aggressive condition that may provoke unnecessary radical surgery.
Energy dependence of 26Mg(p,t)24Mg and 12C(p,t)10C L = 0 and L = 2 angular-distribution shapes

Abstract Though (p,t) angular distributions with L = 0 and 2 normally show a static behavior, their measurement on 26 Mg and 12 C targets for proton energies between 20 and 54 MeV shows a marked shape and magnitude deterioration at the lower energies. These results are compared to two-nucleon transfer DWBA theory.
Microarray Analysis of Gene Expression in Mouse (Strain 129) Embryonic Stem Cells After Typical Synthetic Musk Exposure

Synthetic musks are widely used in personal-care products and can readily accumulate in the adipose tissue, breast milk, and blood of humans. In this study, the Affymetrix Mouse Genome GeneChip was used to identify alterations in gene expression of embryonic stem cells from the 129 strain of the laboratory mouse after treatment with the synthetic musk tonalide (AHTN). Among the 45,037 transcripts in the microarray, 2,879 genes were differentially expressed. According to the microarray analysis, the potential influence of AHTN on the development to embryo should be of concern, and the toxicological effects of it and related musk compounds should be studied further.
Mathematical models of brand choice behavior

Abstract A critical review of recent developments in the single-stage and two-stage models of brand choice behavior is provided. The rich and complex history of development of choice models is organized via the two fundamental principles that drive most of the literature on single-stage choice models. The first principle of utility maximization has its roots in economic theory and it led to models such as the independent multinomial logit model (McFadden, 1976). The other principle of attribute-based sequential elimination has originated in psychology. Tversky's (1972) Elimination-By-Aspects model is a prime example of the models based on the second principle. The recent two-stage models of brand choice behavior (Gensch, 1987; Manrai and Andrews, 1994) use an attribute-based sequential elimination principle in the first stage to obtain a smaller consideration set from a full feasible set of brands and a utility maximizing logit model in the second stage to select a single brand from the reduced consideration set. We also provide conclusions and directions for future research.
Nonlinear interfacial stress-deformation behavior measured with several interfacial viscometers

Abstract Two techniques for measuring nonlinear interfacial stress-deformation behavior using rotational interfacial viscometers are proposed. Either a single bob can be used or two bobs of slightly different radii can be employed. A series of experiments with the interface between air and an aqueous solution of 0.1 wt% dodecyl sodium sulfate have been carried out using the disk, knife-edge, and thin biconical bob interfacial viscometers. Four sets of data have been analyzed using the single-bob technique. Data for two disks also have been analyzed by the double-bob technique. Agreement among the results supports the validity of the proposed methods. The same system has been studied in a deep-channel interfacial viscometer. For the first time, consistent measurements of interfacial stress-deformation behavior have been obtained from two different interfacial viscometers.
Targeted share repurchases and top management changes

Abstract Firms paying greenmail, i.e., repurchasing a block of stock on favorable terms from a particular shareholder or shareholders, experience above-average management turnover within one year of the payment. This high turnover is not necessarily connected only with the greenmail payment, since it follows other evidence of conflict between the target company and its shareholders. Since companies paying greenmail experience positive stock returns before the management change, the high management turnover is not related to poor share-price performance. Given that greenmail harms shareholders, our findings support the view that internal mechanisms monitor top management activity.
Role of Hydrogen Sulfide as a Gasotransmitter in Modulating Contractile Activity of Circular Muscle of Rat Jejunum

Our aim was to determine mechanisms of action of the gasotransmitter hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on contractile activity in circular muscle of rat jejunum. Jejunal circular muscle strips were prepared to measure isometric contractions. Effects of sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS), a H2S donor, were evaluated on spontaneous contractile activity and after pre-contraction with bethanechol. l-Cysteine was evaluated as an endogenous H2S donor. We evaluated extrinsic nerves, enteric nervous system, visceral afferent nerves, nitric oxide, $$ {\text{K}}_{\text{ATP}}^{ + } $$ and $$ {\text{K}}_{\text{Ca}}^{ + } $$ channels, and myosin light chain phosphatase on action of H2S using non-adrenergic/non-cholinergic conditions, tetrodotoxin, capsaicin, l-NG-nitro arginine (l-NNA), glibenclamide, apamin, and calyculin A, respectively, and electrical field stimulation (EFS). NaHS dose-dependently and reversibly inhibited spontaneous and bethanechol-stimulated contractile activity (p < 0.05). l-Cysteine had a dose-dependent inhibitory effect. Non-adrenergic/non-cholinergic conditions, tetrodotoxin, capsaicin, l-NNA, or apamin had no effect on contractile inhibition by NaHS; in contrast, low-dose glibenclamide and calyculin A prevented NaHS-induced inhibition. We could not demonstrate H2S release by EFS. H2S inhibits contractile activity of jejunal circular muscle dose-dependently, in part by $$ {\text{K}}_{\text{ATP}}^{ + } $$ channels and via myosin light chain phosphatase, but not via pathways mediated by the extrinsic or enteric nervous system, visceral afferent nerves, nitric oxide, or $$ {\text{K}}_{\text{Ca}}^{ + } $$ channels.
Lemon Juice Composition. V. Effects of Some Fruit Storage and Processing Variables on the Characterization of Lemon Juice

SUMMARY The variables included storage prior to processing, heavy and light juice-extraction pressures, and various methods of juice finishing. Lemons stored for 15 weeks dropped 64% in l-malic acid but increased 34% in the total amino acids. Total polyphenolics showed no significant change. Extremes of extraction pressure had a significant effect on the amino acid (increased), total polyphenolic (increased), and Z-malic acid (decreased) values but not on the citric acid, sterol, carotenoid, and soluble pectin values. The finishing process affected only the pectin content. Changes in some of the constituents with extraction pressure were small in comparison with the natural range of values. The prediction of citric acid by the multiple-regression approach, reported earlier, is independent of commercial fruit storage and processing practices.
Statistics of extreme values of air quality—a simulation study

Abstract Some of the existing National Ambient Air Quality Standards require the use of an extreme observed concentration in a year to determine compliance. Since observed extreme values tend to be not reliable, different statistical approaches for determining the extreme values have been used or suggested. However, none of these approaches properly take into account the effects of an underlying trend and the serial correlation of the air quality time series. By means of a time series simulation, these effects can be considered concurrently in estimating the extreme values. This paper reports the results of such a simulation for determining the statistics of the seven highest values (rank m = 1–7, m = 1 representing the highest value) using actual air quality data that contain both trends and autocorrelations. The result of this simulation shows that for a high-pollution season of 122 days, the commonly used asymptotic distributions overestimate the maximum (m = 1) values and underestimate their uncertainties. As one moves from m = 1 to m = 7, the over- and underestimations by the asymptotic distributions worsen (compared to the simulation result). These findings in logarithmic space are further enhanced when they are converted back to concentration space. The simulation using the oxidant data for Azusa, California further shows that the uncertainties associated with the estimates Of the extreme values are typically 20% of the values for m = 1 and 10% of the values for m = 7. Compared to the observed data, which is a single series for each year, the result based on the popular lognormal distribution consistently overpredicts the extreme values, by about 40% for the maximum values and about 20% for the seventh highest values. Our results illustrate the difficulty of estimating the extreme values of air quality time series with accuracy and confidence. However, the accuracy and confidence of the estimates improve as the rank moves away from the extreme. This result calls for the need for using a less extreme value in setting a sensible air quality standard. Of course, such a standard can be set without sacrificing its stringency.
Modeling stochastic dynamics in biochemical systems with feedback using maximum caliber.

Complex feedback systems are ubiquitous in biology. Modeling such systems with mass action laws or master equations requires information rarely measured directly. Thus rates and reaction topologies are often treated as adjustable parameters. Here we present a general stochastic modeling method for small chemical and biochemical systems with emphasis on feedback systems. The method, Maximum Caliber (MaxCal), is more parsimonious than others in constructing dynamical models requiring fewer model assumptions and parameters to capture the effects of feedback. MaxCal is the dynamical analogue of Maximum Entropy. It uses average rate quantities and correlations obtained from short experimental trajectories to construct dynamical models. We illustrate the method on the bistable genetic toggle switch. To test our method, we generate synthetic data from an underlying stochastic model. MaxCal reliably infers the statistics of the stochastic bistability and other full dynamical distributions of the simulated data, w...
Reducing variability in the output of artificial neural networks through output calibration

In this study we developed an effective novel method for reducing the variability in the output of different artificial neural network (ANN) configurations that have the same overall performance as measured by the area under their receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. This variability can lead to inaccuracies in the interpretation of results when the outputs are employed as classification predictors. We extended a method previously proposed to reduce the variability in the performance of a classifier with data sets from different institutions to the outputs of ANN configurations. Our approach is based on histogram shaping of the outputs of all ANN configurations to resemble the output histogram of a baseline ANN configuration. We tested the effectiveness of the technique using synthetic data generated from two two-dimensional isotropic Gaussian distributions and 100 ANN configurations. The proposed output calibration technique significantly reduced the median standard deviation of the ANN outputs from 0.010 before calibration to 0.006 after calibration. The standard deviation of the sensitivity of the 100 ANN configurations at the same decision threshold reduced significantly from 0.005 before calibration to 0.003 after calibration. Similarly the standard deviation of their specificity values decreased significantly from 0.016 before calibration to 0.006 after calibration.
Defining discrimination across cultural groups: Exploring the [un-]coordinated management of meaning

Abstract Through an inductive, qualitative methodological frame, this study examines 957 stories of discrimination collected as part of a larger study on uncertainty in oppressive forms of communication. Specifically, this paper focuses on how a large, diverse group of individuals defined their experiences with discrimination – based on race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and abilities – in similar and different ways. Using a coordinated management of meaning theoretical frame of analysis, several thematic insights are explicated demonstrating the (1) core elements of communicative discrimination across narratives, and (2) diverse nature of meaning-making across different cultural groups. Following a description of these interpretive findings, directions for future research and implications for praxis are discussed.
Thermally stimulated nonlinear optical effects in a multicell stepped limiter

The application of a numerical algorithm to the design procedure of a multicell stepped limiter (MCSL) is discussed. This application illustrates the ability to predict thermal damage and the thermal lensing effects that occur within the stepped limiter. Both the optical limiting and the temperature profile through the MCSL are determined for three design cases. The results illustrate the potential application of a numerical simulation in designing a MCSL and of predicting thermal damage.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Public Health Sealant Delivery Programs: Optimal Delivery and the Cost of Practice Acts

Background. The greatest unmet health need for US children is dental care. School-based sealant programs target low-income, high-risk second graders and are effective in preventing caries for as lo...
Gas permeability in rubbery polyphosphazene membranes

The synthesis, characterization, and gas permeability of 10 new polyphosphazenes has been studied. Additionally, the first gas permeation data has been collected on hydrolytically unstable poly[bis-(chloro)phosphazene]. Gases used in this study include CO2, CH4, O2, N2, H2, and Ar. CO2 was the most permeable gas through any of the phosphazenes and a direct correlation between the Tg of the polymer and CO2 transport was noted with permeability increasing with decreasing polymer Tg. To a lesser degree, permeability of all the other gases studied also yielded increases with decreasing polymer Tg. The trend observed for these new polymers was further supported by published data for other phosphazenes. Furthermore, permeability data for all gases were found to correlate to the gas condensability and the gas critical pressures, except for hydrogen, suggesting that the nature of the gas is also a significant factor for permeation through rubbery phosphazene membranes. Ideal separation factors (α) for the CO2/H2 and CO2/CH4 gas pairs were calculated. For CO2/CH4, no increase in α was observed with decreasing Tg, however increases in α were noted for the CO2/H2 pair.