cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Does the fat-but-fit paradigm hold true for all-cause mortality when considering the duration of overweight/obesity? Analyzing the WATCH (Weight, Activity and Time Contributes to Health) paradigm.

Abstract Background Physical activity has been shown to attenuate the association between overweight/obesity and mortality. Much less is known, however, on how the duration of overweight/obesity potentially alters this association, which was the purpose of this study. Methods The 1999–2006 NHANES was used and 11,057 adults (ages 36–85) were evaluated. Eight mutually exclusive groups were created: (1) physically active, normal weight now and 10 years ago; (2) physically inactive, normal weight now and 10 years ago; (3) physically active, overweight/obese now but normal weight 10 years ago; (4) physically inactive, normal weight now but overweight/obese 10 years ago; (5) physically active, overweight/obese now but normal weight 10 years ago; (6) physically inactive, overweight/obese now but normal weight 10 years ago; (7) physically active, overweight/obese now and 10 years ago; and (8) physically inactive, overweight/obese now and 10 years ago. Results After adjustments, only those individuals that were inactive were at a significantly increased risk for all-cause mortality independent of overweight/obesity status (Groups 2, 4, 6, 8). Conclusion In alignment with the Exercise is Medicine initiative®, our results provide support for clinicians to perform routine assessments of physical activity, and to further promote physical activity among all individuals regardless of body mass status.
Counterpoint: The Legal Foundation of the Commission's Use of Section 5 to Challenge Invitations to Collude is Secure

In part, this article demonstrates that the Federal Trade Commission's authority to challenge invitations to collude as violations of FTC Act Section 5 is securely grounded on established legal precedent. As a matter of law as well as policy, the Commission ought to challenge certain unsuccessfully attempts to fix prices. It is shown that administrative adjudication, rather than court proceedings, is an especially appropriate way for the Commission to proceed. Responding to attacks on the Commission's use of administrative adjudication, the article derives lessons from those attacks. Expeditious agency adjudication is essential; and steps are recommended to improve adjudication quality and efficiency. The Commission as an agency (not as individual commissioners) should enunciate its positions clearly. And that agency should devote increased attention to the still-uncertain boundaries of the "invitation to collude" violation.
The Fungal Flora of Bark of Fagus Grandifolia

A total of 1910 fungal isolates were cultured from bark of American beech trees (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh.) in New Hampshire, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Nearly two-thirds of the isolates were members of the Fungi Inperfecti. The most frequently isolated species were in the form-genera Alternaria, Aureobasidium, Cladosporium, Coniothyrium, Fusarium, Geotrichum, Nodulosporium, Penicillium, Phoma, Rhinocladiella, and Trichoderma. While directional aspect (N, E, S, W) of the bole had little effect on isolation frequencies of most fungi, the kind of culture medium used had significant effects. With the exception of Nectria coccinea var. faginata Lohm., Wats., & Ay., all fungi were isolated from noncankered bark of beech trees in New Hampshire with and without beech bark disease. Healthy bark of temperate hardwoods has a community of organisms, including fungi, associated with it (Bier, 1964). Several workers have isolated fungi from bark of hardwoods, often to investigate the antagonism of these fungi to bark pathogens. Bier and Rowat (1962) found species of Aureobasidium and Epicoccum purpurascens Ehrenb. : Schlect. to be the most common fungi in the caulosphere of both black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa Torr. & Gray) and willow (Salix sp.). Species of Alternaria, Epicoccum, Fusarium, Penicillium, Phoma, and Trichoderma were most frequently isolated from healthy bark of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) by Kliejunas and Kuntz (1974). Garner (1967, and personal communication) isolated from the bark of quaking aspen (P. tremuloides Michx.) species representing 50 genera of fungi, and, of yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera L.) species of 22 fungal genera. Over 90% of the isolates from twigs of red alder (Alnus rubra Bond), black cottonwood, broadleaf maple (Acer macrophyllum Pursh), and willow were species of Aureobasidium; other fungi isolated from these trees included species of Epicoccum, Rhizopus, and Penicillium (Sivak and Person, 1973). Part of the resistance of black cottonwood to Hypoxylon pruinatum (Klotzxch) Cke. is due to the microflora of the tree's bark (Bier, 1964). Similarly, the microflora of peach bark probably contributes to the resistance of peach trees [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch.] to Leucostoma cincta (Fr.) v. Hohnel (Wensley, 1971). However, in a study of a third canker disease of maples, Kliejunas and Kuntz (1974) did not find evidence of antagonism by the caulosphere microflora of sugar maple against Eutypella parasitica Dav. & Lor. To understand the interactions of caulosphere microorganisms and to determine whether they may contribute to a beech tree's resistance to the agents of beech bark disease, a necessary first step is to catalog the microorganisms associated with the bark of American beech. To prepare such a catalog, caulosphere fungi and other microorganisms were isolated from bark of American beech trees in New Hampshire, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania during December, 1976, and January, 1977.
Effect of Using 2 mm Voxels on Observer Performance for PET Lesion Detection

Positron emission tomography (PET) images are typically reconstructed with an in-plane pixel size of approximately 4 mm for cancer imaging. The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of using smaller pixels on general oncologic lesion-detection. A series of observer studies was performed using experimental phantom data from the Utah PET Lesion Detection Database, which modeled whole-body FDG PET cancer imaging of a 92 kg patient. The data comprised 24 scans over 4 days on a Biograph mCT time-of-flight (TOF) PET/CT scanner, with up to 23 lesions (diam. 6–16 mm) distributed throughout the phantom each day. Images were reconstructed with 2.036 mm and 4.073 mm pixels using ordered-subsets expectation-maximization (OSEM) both with and without point spread function (PSF) modeling and TOF. Detection performance was assessed using the channelized non-prewhitened numerical observer with localization receiver operating characteristic (LROC) analysis. Tumor localization performance and the area under the LROC curve were then analyzed as functions of the pixel size. In all cases, the images with ${\sim}{2}\;\hbox{mm}$ pixels provided higher detection performance than those with ${\sim}{4}\;\hbox{mm}$ pixels. The degree of improvement from the smaller pixels was larger than that offered by PSF modeling for these data, and provided roughly half the benefit of using TOF. Key results were confirmed by two human observers, who read subsets of the test data. This study suggests that a significant improvement in tumor detection performance for PET can be attained by using smaller voxel sizes than commonly used at many centers. The primary drawback is a 4-fold increase in reconstruction time and data storage requirements.
Hazard analysis of surfactants in ecosystem

Surfactants are widely used in production and daily life. Most of them are inevitably discharged into the environment and cause damage to the environment. The environmental impact of surfactants in water and soil is summarized. The effects of surfactant on animal,plant and human being are analyzed in detail. It is very important to study the environmental safety of surfactants at present.
The synthesis of functionalized bridged polycycles via C-H bond insertion.

This review presents examples from the chemical literature of syntheses of bridged-polycyclic products via C–H bond insertion by carbenes and nitrenes. Applications to natural product synthesis, a description of the essential elements in substrate-controlled reactions, and mechanistic details of transformations are presented. Overall, these transformations allow the construction of important ring systems rapidly and efficiently, though additional catalyst development is needed.
Steroidogenesis, StAR and PBR: is there light at the end of the tunnel?

The biochemistry and physiology of steroidogenesis have been active areas of investigation for more than 30 years. Once the techniques of molecular biology were applied to this effort, the understanding of the regulation of steroidogenesis and the steroidogenic enzymes themselves moved forward at a rapid pace. While steroidogenesis is crucial for development and homeostasis in all animal species, the pattern of steroid hormone expression between different species is quite variable. However all steroidogenic pathways in all species begin in the mitochondrion with the conversion of cholesterol to pregnenolone. A mitochondrial steroid hydroxylase, cholesterol side-chain cleavage cytochrome P-450 (P-450scc), located in the inner mitochondrial membrane catalyzes this reaction. P-450scc activity is supported by a mini-electron transport chain located in the mitochondrial matrix, and it is presumed that P-450scc is an integral protein of the inner mitochondrial membrane that faces the matrix.In addition to being...
Atomic Structural Evolution during the Reduction of α-Fe2O3 Nanowires.

The atomic-scale reduction mechanism of α-Fe2O3 nanowires by H2 was followed using transmission electron microscopy to reveal the evolution of atomic structures and the associated transformation pathways for different iron oxides. The reduction commences with the generation of oxygen vacancies that order onto every 10th (3030) plane. This vacancy ordering is followed by an allotropic transformation of α-Fe2O3 → γ-Fe2O3 along with the formation of Fe3O4 nanoparticles on the surface of the γ-Fe2O3 nanowire by a topotactic transformation process, which shows 3D correspondence between the structures of the product and its host. These observations demonstrate that the partial reduction of α-Fe2O3 nanowires results in the formation of a unique hierarchical structure of hybrid oxides consisting of the parent oxide phase, γ-Fe2O3, as the one-dimensional wire and the Fe3O4 in the form of nanoparticles decorated on the parent oxide skeleton. We show that the proposed mechanism is consistent with previously publish...
Instability and violence in Imperial Rome: A “laboratory” for studying social contagion?

Imperial Rome with its >50% assassination rate of emperors, many of whom are depicted in history as ‘deranged’, initially appears a chaotic period of history beyond the purview of science. But time series analysis indicates this violence occurred non-randomly: reign length was autocorrelated and demonstrated ‘memory persistence,’ and short reigns occurred in clusters. Additionally, deviations from average reign-length occurred in patterns matching the Empire's rise and decline. A model is proposed for how army-backed usurpation and post-coup instability likely generated the observed cycles. The five-century span of Imperial Rome likely makes it the longest-lived regime with fair documentation, and potentially provides a ‘laboratory’ with ongoing relevance for studying transmission of violence and instability. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity, 2016
Alternative and virtual rurality: Agriculture and the countryside as embodied in American imagination

Affection for agrarian livelihoods and rural and small-town environments has long been held by residents in many of the world's “more developed” countries. Although the rural proportion of the U.S. population has shrunk to a minority over the last century, fondness for rurality continues to manifest itself in a number of ways. Attachment to the rural ideal or rural idyll can be considered as attachment to the idea of a type of place, rather than specific place attachment. Based on literature, field observation, computer searches, and data from the U.S. Census of Agriculture, connections to idea(l)s of rurality apparent in popular culture are identified and illustrated. These include rural and agricultural tourism, small-scale farming and large-lot rural subdivisions, urban agriculture, farmers’ markets and community-supported agriculture, creation of housing developments around farm activities, and rural-named housing and business developments. Idealized relationships with rurality call upon health and well-being, connecting to nature, aesthetics, privacy, and respect and nostalgia for rural livelihoods.
Widespread changes in mRNA stability contribute to quiescence-specific gene expression patterns in a fibroblast model of quiescence

Quiescence, reversible exit from the cell division cycle, is characterized by large-scale changes in steady-state gene expression, yet mechanisms controlling these changes are in need of further elucidation. In order to characterize the effects of post-transcriptional control on the quiescent transcriptome in human fibroblasts, we determined mRNA decay rates for over 10,000 genes using a transcription shut-off time-course. We found that ~500 of the genes monitored exhibited significant changes in decay rate upon quiescence induction. Genes involved in RNA processing and ribosome biogenesis were destabilized with quiescence, while genes involved in the developmental process were stabilized with quiescence. Moreover, extracellular matrix genes demonstrated an upregulation of gene expression that corresponded with a stabilization of these transcripts. Additionally, targets of a quiescence-associated microRNA (miR-29) were significantly enriched in the fraction of transcripts that were stabilized during quiescence. Coordinated stability changes in clusters of genes with important functions in fibroblast quiescence maintenance are highly correlated with quiescence gene expression patterns. Analysis of miR-29 target decay rates suggests that microRNA-induced changes in RNA stability are important contributors to the quiescence gene expression program in fibroblasts. The identification of multiple stability-related gene clusters suggests that other posttranscriptional regulators of transcript stability may contribute to the coordination of quiescence gene expression. Such regulators may ultimately prove to be valuable targets for therapeutics that target proliferative cells, for instance, in cancer or fibrosis.
Reducing Violence Risk

A great deal of work in mental health law has been addressed to improving the assessment of violence risk among people with mental disorder (Borum, 1996; Monahan et al., in press; Steadman et al., in press). It is clear, however, as a number of researchers have recently emphasized, that risk assessment is only the first step in dealing with violence by people with mental disorder and must be followed by effective risk reduction (Carson, 1994; Heilbrun, 1997). The clinical and empirical literatures on risk reduction have been reviewed in a number of important sources (Eichelman & Hartwig, 1995; McNiel, 1998; Quinsey, Harris, Rice, & Cormier, 1998; Rice & Harris, 1997; Roth, 1987; Wettstein, 1998). A fair summary of that literature is that mental health professionals (particularly when assisted by actuarial instruments) appear to be better at estimating an individual’s level of violence risk than lowering that estimated level of violence risk.
Protein footprinting comes of age: mass spectrometry for biophysical structure assessment

Protein footprinting mediated by mass spectrometry has evolved over the last 30 years from proof of concept to commonplace biophysics tool, with unique capabilities for assessing structure and dynamics of purified proteins in physiological states in solution. This review outlines the history and current capabilities of two major methods of protein footprinting: reversible hydrogen-deuterium exchange (HDX) and hydroxyl radical footprinting (HRF), an irreversible covalent labeling approach. Technological advances in both approaches now permit high-resolution assessments of protein structure including secondary and tertiary structure stability mediated by backbone interactions (measured via HDX) and solvent accessibility of side chains (measured via HRF). Applications across many academic fields and in biotechnology drug development are illustrated including: detection of protein interfaces, identification of ligand/drug binding sites, and monitoring dynamics of protein conformational changes along with future prospects for advancement of protein footprinting in structural biology and biophysics research.
Individual Voices and the Immigrant Italian Family: Disrupting the Master Narrative With Poetic Inquiry:

The Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda Ngozie Adiche in her insightful TED talk, expounds on “the danger of the single story.” I have always had a tacit knowing about this, that one story is just that: one story. If a story is told long and often enough, it becomes the truth, going possibly unquestioned through generations. I continue to explore my father’s nuclear family and the narratives of his siblings regarding their lives with their Sicilian father. Disrupting the “Master Narrative” using poetic inquiry and respondents’ own words help to redress the lack of their voice(s) in their own experience(s).
Smoking is associated with earlier time to revision of total knee arthroplasty

Abstract Background Smoking is associated with early postoperative complications, increased length of hospital stay, and an increased risk of revision after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, the effect of smoking on time to revision TKA is unknown. Methods A total of 619 primary TKAs referred to an academic tertiary center for revision TKA were retrospectively stratified according to the patient smoking status. Smoking status was then analyzed for associations with time to revision TKA using a Chi square test. The association was also analyzed according to the indication for revision TKA. Results Smokers (37/41, 90%) have an increased risk of earlier revision for any reason compared to non-smokers (274/357, 77%, p = 0.031). Smokers (37/41, 90%) have an increased risk of earlier revision for any reason compared to ex-smokers (168/221, 76%, p = 0.028). Subgroup analysis did not reveal a difference in indication for revision TKA (p > 0.05). Conclusions Smokers are at increased risk of earlier revision TKA when compared to non-smokers and ex-smokers. The risk for ex-smokers was similar to that of non-smokers. Smoking appears to have an all-or-none effect on earlier revision TKA as patients who smoked more did not have higher risk of early revision TKA. These results highlight the need for clinicians to urge patients not to begin smoking and encourage smokers to quit smoking prior to primary TKA.
Empirical evaluation of the delivery risk of extended supply chains

The rise in global sourcing has led to extended supply chains. Extended supply chains generally have more mode changes, border crossings, rail classification yards, port congestion and so forth, th...
Material Formation of Recombinant Spider Silks through Aqueous Solvation using Heat and Pressure

Many spiders produce seven types of silks. Six of the silks are fiber in form when produced by the spiders. These fibers are not water soluble. In order to reproduce the remarkable mechanical properties of spider silks, they must be produced in heterologous hosts as spiders are both territorial and cannibalistic. The synthetic analogs of spider silk also tend to be insoluble in aqueous solutions. Thus, a large percentage of research in recombinant spider silks rely upon organic solvents that are detrimental to large scale production of materials. Our group’s method forces the solvation of these recombinant spider silks into water. Remarkably, when these proteins are prepared using this method of heat and pressure, a wide range of material forms can be prepared from the same solution of recombinant spider silk proteins (rSSp) including: films, fibers, sponge, hydrogel, lyogel, and adhesives. This article demonstrates the production of the solvated rSSp and material forms in a manner that is more easily understood than from written materials and methods alone.
Structure of Membrane-Bound Huntingtin Exon 1 Reveals Membrane Interaction and Aggregation Mechanisms.

Summary Huntington's disease is caused by a polyQ expansion in the first exon of huntingtin (Httex1). Membrane interaction of huntingtin is of physiological and pathological relevance. Using electron paramagnetic resonance and Overhauser dynamic nuclear polarization, we find that the N-terminal residues 3–13 of wild-type Httex1(Q25) form a membrane-bound, amphipathic α helix. This helix is positioned in the interfacial region, where it is sensitive to membrane curvature and electrostatic interactions with head-group charges. Residues 14–22, which contain the first five residues of the polyQ region, are in a transition region that remains in the interfacial region without taking up a stable, α-helical structure. The remaining C-terminal portion is solvent exposed. The phosphomimetic S13D/S16D mutations, which are known to protect from toxicity, inhibit membrane binding and attenuate membrane-mediated aggregation of mutant Httex1(Q46) due to electrostatic repulsion. Targeting the N-terminal membrane anchor using post-translational modifications or specific binders could be a potential means to reduce aggregation and toxicity in vivo.
Improving patient access in radiation oncology from referral to consult.

122Background: To increase patient access, Oregon Health & Science University set an institution-wide metric for ambulatory clinics to contact the patient within a specified time frame. For our stu...
Association between Preoperative Indications and Outcomes after Major Lower Extremity Amputation.

Despite aggressive limb salvage techniques, lower extremity amputation (LEA) is frequently performed. Major indications for LEA include ischemia and uncontrolled infection (UI). A review of the nat...
Quasi-Diffusion Method with 3-D Cross Sections for TREAT Core Analysis

The conventional two-step neutronics method used to perform full-core reactor neutronics simulation has been used successfully for light water reactor steady-state and transient analysis. The first...
Two-Dimensional MXenes Mo 2 Ti 2 C 3 T z and Mo 2 TiC 2 T z : Microscopic Conductivity and Dynamics of Photoexcited Carriers

MXenes are a recently discovered family of two-dimensional transition metal carbides, nitrides, and carbonitrides with electronic properties that can be tuned by their chemistry and structure. Herein THz spectroscopy was used to investigate the microscopic conductivity and photoexcited charge carrier dynamics in two Mo-based MXenes: Mo2Ti2C3Tz and Mo2TiC2Tz. We find that both have high intrinsic carrier densities (∼1020 cm–3 in Mo2Ti2C3Tz and ∼1019 cm–3 in Mo2TiC2Tz) and mobilities and exhibit high conductivities within individual nanosheets. Optical excitations result in a transient conductivity increase in both compositions, in stark contrast with the most studied member of the MXene family, Ti3C2Tz, where photoexcitation suppresses the conductivity for nanoseconds. Deintercalation of water, and other species, from between the nanosheets by mild vacuum annealing at 200 °C further improves the long-range, internanosheet transport of the photoexcited carriers and increases their lifetime. High, and long-l...
“I just want to be a regular kid:” A qualitative study of sense of belonging among high school youth in foster care

Abstract In this study, we drew on qualitative data gathered during in-depth focus groups with 46 high school youth in foster care. The goal of this research was to center and amplify the often-unheard voices of youth in foster care and their experiences in high school. Drawing on sense of belonging as a theoretical framework, we addressed the following questions: (a) How do youth in foster care describe and make meaning of their sense of belonging in high school? (b) What factors help facilitate or thwart belongingness among high school youth in foster care? The first finding from this study offers insights about how students negotiated disclosure of their “foster identity,” both as a strategy for “fitting in” at school and as a buffer against the negative consequences of stigma. The second finding presented offers insights into how educational instability, as a result of changes in residential placement, reduced their sense of belonging by requiring them to sever ties with their established communities. Implications for policy, practice, and research are delineated.
ELECTROPHORETIC MOBILITY MEASUREMENTS BY CONTINUOUS PARTICLE ELECTROPHORESIS

ABSTRACT The Beckman Continuous Particle Electrophoresis (CPE) instrument was designed as a preparative tool to fractionate colloidal sols according to the electrophoretic mobilities of their particles. A thin stream of sample is injected into an electrolyte curtain moving downward through a thin, flat electrophoresis cell. As the curtain passes between the electrodes, the particle stream is displaced laterally according to the electrophoretic mobilities of the particles. Mixtures of as many as ten different-size monodisperse polystyrene latexes have been separated using this instrument. Thus, the CPE gives excellent relative values of the electrophoretic mobility, but in its present form is not well-adapted to give absolute values. The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a method to give absolute electrophoretic mobilities. The instrument was modified so that the displacement and width of the particle stream can be recorded with a magnification of 18. 2X. A theoretical expression was derived for the electrolyte flow profiles in the separation chamber as a function of the experimental parameters of the system. A series of monodisperse polystyrene latexes of known electrophoretic mobility was used to calibrate the instrument. The experimental results with this series were in good agreement with the theoretical expression. It is concluded that the Beckman CPE can be used to measure the absolute electrophoretic mobilities of colloidal particles under certain well-defined conditions. The advantage of this method is that particles smaller than 0.1μ in diameter can be measured, and complex systems comprising particles of different electrophoretic mobilities may be easily characterized.
Improving hydration and vase life of cut Zinnia

Abstract Zinnia (Zinnia elegans Jacq.) is a commercially important species in the cut flower industry that has several postharvest challenges including hydration, cold storage, and seasonality. The purpose of this work was to increase vase life of cut zinnia by assessing hydration, chilling sensitivity and storage temperatures, and environmental impacts incurred by harvest date. The negative effects of allowing zinnia ‘Benary Giant Deep Red’ stems to dry up to 4 h after hydrating were negated by recutting stems and removing 2.5 cm of the stem. However, if zinnia stems did not dry out, then recutting had either no effect or a negative impact. Zinnia stems did not rehydrate if allowed to dry for 24 h or more and recutting various amounts from stem ends before placing in vases demonstrated no significant effect on vase life, nor did varying the number of stems per vase. Vase life increased by 2.2 d when stems were stored in a 0.01845 mL L−1 sodium hypochlorite solution versus tap water. Postharvest quality of zinnia was affected by storage temperature such that the longest vase life of 13.0 d occurred when stems were stored for 5 h at 5 °C followed by 2 d storage at 1 °C. As storage temperature increased, zinnia vase life decreased, with the shortest vase life of 6.5 d occurring when stems were stored for 48 h at 20 °C. Vase life continually declined when zinnia stems were harvested every 2 wks from 27 July to 19 Oct. The use of floral preservatives increased vase life late in the harvest season but was not comparable to the extended vase life obtained earlier in the season. Zinnia vase life increased by 2.1 d with the use of a floral preservative (Floralife® Professional) as a 20 h pulse solution in lieu of tap water only. The main findings of this research show that zinnia stems can tolerate a short period of desiccation, while storing stems in a floral preservative and incorporating a brief cold storage period of 1–3 d at 1–5 °C increased vase life. Chilling sensitivity was not observed. Conversely, vase life was observed to be negatively correlated with late season harvesting.
Observations of Coronal Bright Points and Implications for Coronal Heating Mechanisms

A study of the observational characteristics of coronal bright points shows that they are the preferential site for the variable emission from the quiet Sun, and that not all loop-like structures within bright points reach coronal temperatures. There is a predominance of loops at temperatures below 2×105 K and at coronal temperatures. With a spatial resolution of 5″×5″ and a temporal resolution of 5,5 min in the EUV/Skylab data, we find that less than 20 percent of the area of the quiet Sun is the site of variable emission, with a peak in the spatial extent of the variability around 2×105 K. These characteristics are independent of the overlying large scale magnetic field structures, whether opened such as in coronal holes, or closed such as in quiet regions. Coronal bright points thus seem to define the basic small scale closed magnetic structure in the quiet sun. To account for the selective heating of loops in bright points to different temperatures, and for the characteristic radiative losses from the steady and variable components of the emission, viable coronal heating mechanisms should consist of a spectrum of energies and time scales.
Alternative Buffer Formation

Proximity buffers are used in many spatial applications in research and management. Nevertheless, they are limited in their representational validity. Since only the nearest points on the edge of an entity are used in calculating the buffer boundary, the various meanings of the ‘influence’ of an entity on its surrounding environment are not well-estimated. An alternative implementation of a more generalized class of buffers is described here. This method considers the contribution that the internal spatial geometry and attribute values of entities have on the buffered environment. It also considers the cumulative influence of multiple entities. The method is easily implemented by using a class of integrative spatial filters. For many applications, it is likely to yield results that are more meaningful than those obtained through proximity buffers.
Christianity, Islam and Social Capital in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper represents an initial attempt to discover whether Christian and Muslim communities in sub-Saharan Africa produce more social capital than secular associations and whether certain types of Christian and Muslim communities generate more social capital than others. The results indicate that the relationship between Christianity, Islam and social capital, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, is more complicated than existing theories lead us to believe. To a large extent, the findings support theorists who argue that the religious market structure has a greater impact on the extent to which Christianity and Islam produce social capital than theology or organizational structure. The extent to which a setting is religiously plural affects the degree to which a religious community promotes civic engagement, political participation, trust, religious tolerance and charitable giving. In religiously plural settings, religious communities tend to produce more bridging social capital than secular associations. Yet, religious pluralism is not the only factor that matters. There is evidence of a rather complex interaction of the religious landscape, the measure of religiosity, and the indicator of social capital.
A Critique of Strangers from a Different Shore

(1990). A Critique of Strangers from a Different Shore. Amerasia Journal: Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 71-80.
Rationality of Negative Stock-Price Responses to Strong Economic Activity

Monthly, quarterly, and annual data between 1956 and 1995 were used to examine the effects of real economic variables on stock returns, future corporate cash flows, and future inflation. In general, relative effects of various economic variables on stock returns are justified by their effects on future corporate cash flows and on inflation. In particular, employment growth shows the strongest negative effect on stock returns. Compared with other variables, employment growth is related more negatively with future corporate cash flows and more positively with future inflation. These effects are most pronounced in annual data, which reflect long-term relationships. Based on these results, negative stock-price responses to strong economic activity seem to be rational.
Comments on, "Improved multilevel quantization for detection of narrowband signals" by C.W. Helstrom

It is shown that optimum quantization levels may be obtained by using C.W. Helstrom's approach of the above named work (see ibid., vol.AES-24, p.141-147, Mar. 1988) but maximizing exact detection probabilities instead of approximations to it if the moment generating function of the test statistic can be expressed in rational form. Adaptive levels may be obtained for the quantizers by cell averaging, leading to constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detectors. >
Gender and masculinity-femininity ratings of tracheoesophageal speech.

Abstract Tracheoesophageal (TE) speech is frequently characterized as low pitched and hoarse. In laryngeal speakers, these features are most often associated with males. Because lower pitch and hoarseness are anticipated for male and female TE speakers, one might predict that females are at risk for being perceived as male. The purposes of this pilot study were to assess the reliability and accuracy of listeners’ perceptions of TE speaker gender and to evaluate the relationship between gender ratings and masculinity–femininity ratings. Twenty-five naive listeners rated the gender and the masculinity–femininity of 12 TE speakers from audio recordings of a reading passage. Listeners were able to reliably rate gender and masculinity–femininity. They accurately identified speaker gender at a high rate that was comparable for males and females. However, female speakers, despite being accurately identified as female, were at an elevated risk of being rated as masculine or neutral on the masculinity–femininity scale. Learning outcomes: As a result of this activity, the participant will be able to: (1) describe the reliability and accuracy of listener perceptions of the gender and the degree of masculinity–femininity of TE speakers; and (2) discuss the relationship between TE speaker gender identification and masculinity–femininity ratings for males and females, respectively.
Stability and vibrations of elastic thick-walled cylindrical and spherical shells subjected to pressure

Abstract Theoretical and experimental studies of the free vibrations and the loss of stability of thick-walled cylindrical and spherical shells subjected to external pressure are presented. General equations for the oscillations of the shell under pressure are formulated on the basis of a rigorous theory of finite elasticity. Loss of stability is determined when the fundamental natural frequency of the prestressed shell ceases to be real-valued. Numerical solutions are obtained by solving the specialized equations that are applicable to neo-Hookean materials. Experi- ments using specimens made of silicone rubber closely verify the theoretical results.
"Challenger" through the Eyes of Feyerabend.

Paul Feyerabend elucidated the role of prior adherence to scientific theory in shaping subsequent perceptions of data. Thus one's theory choice shapes data, rather than data shaping theory, as is traditionally held. Feyerabend's philosophy also downplays the role of raw data, emphasizing instead debate among competing theories. This iconoclastic philosophy yields important new insights into the Challenger disaster, insights consonant with yet distinct from those of social constructionism. We learn from it the salience of meaning rather than raw data; the powerful role of prior conceptualizations in shaping the data of experience; and the surprising need for debate and pluralism for the wholesome pursuit of science and technology.
Discipline in the classroom: Communicative strategies for negotiating order

Unrelenting routine problems, anxiety about discipline, and inability to respond to institutional demands are central communicative issues that many student teachers and first year teachers are concerned about as they begin their teaching careers. The purpose of this study was to extend the current understanding of one of these issues, discipline, by viewing it from the framework of Negotiated Order Theory. This case study examination reveals how and why discipline is negotiated by a first year teacher and his ninth grade students. Through the use of classroom observation and interviews with the teacher and his students, this study specifically explicates the communicative strategies used by the teacher and his students to negotiate classroom order. The results indicate that students' misbehavior often serves as a strategy for voicing dissatisfaction with the present classroom order. At the same time, the repeated discipline calls by the teacher reflect the teacher's and students' desire for changes in th...
Experimental study of mechanical properties and scratch resistance of ultra-thin diamond-like-carbon (DLC) coatings deposited on glass

Abstract To improve the mechanical and tribological properties of glass, an ultra-thin diamond-like-carbon (DLC) coating of 2.2 nm thick was deposited on the surface of glass, using the linear ion beam deposition technique. The coated glass showed significant improvement in scratch resistance against severe damage, such as cracking, delamination, and chipping. To understand the mechanism, an experimental study was carried out. It was found that the major contribution to the significantly improved scratch resistance attributable to the compressive stress, which was yielded during the deposition process and resides in the coating, as well as the top layer of glass substrate.
Calibration and Validation of a Seismic Damage Propagation Model for Interdependent Infrastructure Systems

Barring a few exceptions, most theoretical and computational models of lifeline system fragility and interdependent response to extreme events still lack calibration and validation relative to real...
Hybrid hybridoma producing a bispecific monoclonal antibody that can focus effector T-cell activity

Previous studies have shown that heteroconjugates of monoclonal antibodies in which one of the component antibodies is directed at the T-cell receptor and the other is directed against any chosen site can focus effector T cells to function at the targeted site. We report here the production of a hybrid hybridoma cell line, H1.10.1.6, which secretes large amounts of a bispecific hybrid antibody of the IgG2a class, that can focus T-cell activity. The parental hybridoma lines for the secondary fusion were F23.1, which secretes an antibody specific for an allotypic determinant on the T-cell receptor of most mouse strains, and 19E12, secreting an anti-Thy-1.1 antibody. The bispecific hybrid antibody was partially purified by hydroxylapatite chromatography and characterized by isoelectric focusing. It efficiently targets Thy-1.1-expressing tumor cells for lysis by F23.1 receptor-positive cytotoxic T-cell clones in vitro. Such hybrid antibodies produced by hybrid hybridoma cell lines may have application in the therapeutic targeting of tumors or sites of viral infections for attack by T cells.
Proteome-wide protein interaction measurements of bacterial proteins of unknown function

Despite the enormous proliferation of bacterial genome data, surprisingly persistent collections of bacterial proteins have resisted functional annotation. In a typical genome, roughly 30% of genes have no assigned function. Many of these proteins are conserved across a large number of bacterial genomes. To assign a putative function to these conserved proteins of unknown function, we created a physical interaction map by measuring biophysical interaction of these proteins. Binary protein-–protein interactions in the model organism Streptococcus pneumoniae (TIGR4) are measured with a microfluidic high-throughput assay technology. In some cases, informatic analysis was used to restrict the space of potential binding partners. In other cases, we performed in vitro proteome-wide interaction screens. We were able to assign putative functions to 50 conserved proteins of unknown function that we studied with this approach.
Web-Based PDA Downloads for Clinical Practice Guidelines and Decision Support Tools

The extraordinary volume of health-related information made available on the Internet comes at a high cost for effectively storing and accessing clinical information resources. Additionally, the ability to use critical patient care information is limited to the availability of computer access. Physicians and other health care professionals have readily adopted personal digital assistants (PDAs), also known as handheld computers, because the devices provide succinct critical patient care information at the point of need. Clinical practice guidelines available through the Internet for use with PDAs present health professionals, who have little time, with powerful information already formatted for point-of-care devices. This paper will review several strategies for finding and accessing point-of-care clinical information.
Locally compact groups acting on trees and property T

FollowingKazhdan, a separable locally compact groupG is said to have propertyT if the trivial representation is isolated in the dual space,Ĝ, of equivalence classes of continuous irreducible unitary representations ofG. We generalize results ofMargulis—Tits by showing that groups which have propertyT can not be amalgams.
Treatment of agitation in AD: a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Background: Treatment of agitation is a crucial problem in the care of patients with AD. Although antipsychotic and antidepressant medications and behavior management techniques (BMT) have each been used to treat agitation, clinical trials of these treatments have been characterized by small sample sizes and uncontrolled treatment designs. Objective: To compare haloperidol, trazodone, and BMT with placebo in the treatment of agitation in AD outpatients. Methods: A total of 149 patients with AD and their caregivers participated in a randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter trial. Blind assessment was conducted at baseline and after 16 weeks of treatment. The three active treatments were haloperidol, trazodone, and BMT. The Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study Clinical Global Impression of Change was the primary outcome measure. Secondary outcomes included patient agitation, cognition, and function, and caregiver burden. Results: Thirty-four percent of subjects improved relative to baseline. No significant differences on outcome were obtained between haloperidol (mean dose, 1.8 mg/d), trazodone (mean dose, 200 mg/d), BMT, or placebo. Significantly fewer adverse events of bradykinesia and parkinsonian gait were evident in the BMT arm. No other significant difference in adverse events was seen. Symptoms did not respond differentially to the different treatments. Conclusions: Comparable modest reductions in agitation occurred in patients receiving haloperidol, trazodone, BMT, and placebo. More effective pharmacologic, nonpharmacologic, and combination treatments are needed.
Computational Pedagogy: A Modeling and Simulation Approach

Modeling and simulation technology helps us pedagogically teach STEM concepts by deductively introducing a topic from a general simplistic framework and then gradually leading the learner to inductively discover the underlying principles through experimentation.
Mechanisms Responsible for the Compositional Heterogeneity of Nascent High Density Lipoprotein

Apolipoprotein (apo) A-I-containing nascent HDL particles produced by the ATP binding cassette transporter A1 have different sizes and compositions. To understand the molecular basis for this heterogeneity, the HDL particles produced by apoA-I-mediated solubilization of phospholipid (PL)/free (unesterified) cholesterol (FC) bilayer membranes in cell and cell-free systems are compared. Incubation of apoA-I with ATP binding cassette transporter A1-expressing baby hamster kidney cells leads to formation of two populations of FC-containing discoidal nascent HDL particles. The larger 11-nm diameter particles are highly FC-enriched (FC/PL = 1.2/1 mol/mol) relative to the smaller 8 nm particles and the cell plasma membrane (FC/PL = 0.4/1). ApoA-I-mediated spontaneous solubilization of either multilamellar or unilamellar vesicles made of a membrane-PL mixture and FC yields discoidal HDL particles with diameters in the range 9–17 nm and, as found with the cell system, the larger particles are relatively enriched in FC despite the fact that all particles are created by solubilization of a common FC/PL membrane domain. The size-dependent distribution of FC among HDL particles is due to varying amounts of PL being sequestered in a boundary layer by interaction with apoA-I at the disc edge. The presence of a relatively large boundary layer in smaller discoidal HDL promotes preferential distribution of phosphatidylserine to such particles. However, phosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin which are the primary PL constituents of nascent HDL do not exhibit selective incorporation into HDL discs of different sizes. This understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the heterogeneity in lipid composition of nascent HDL particles may provide a basis for selecting subspecies with preferred cardio-protective properties. Background: The molecular basis for heterogeneity in nascent HDL particle cholesterol content is unknown. Results: Apolipoprotein A-I-mediated solubilization of phospholipid/cholesterol membranes creates large cholesterol-rich and small cholesterol-poor HDL particles. Conclusion: Variations in cholesterol distribution between nanoscale HDL discs are due to particle size-dependent molecular packing constraints. Significance: This explains the origin of HDL particles with different cholesterol contents.
Evidence of precursive compression for two deep earthquakes

DZIEWONSKI and Gilbert1 have claimed that they can detect changes at a seismic source, starting 80 s before the origin time inferred from (impulsive) body wave arrival times. I believe, however, that their conclusion is almost certainly an artefact of their data analysis technique.
Amorphization and the Effect of Implanted Ions in Sic

The effects of implanted ion chemistry and displacement damage on the amorphization threshold dose of SiC were studied using cross-section transmission electron microscopy. Room temperature as well as 200 and 400 C irradiations were carried out with 3.6 MeV Fe, 1.8 MeV Cl, 1 MeV He or 0.56 MeV Si ions. The room temperature amorphization threshold dose in irradiated regions well separated from the implanted ions was found to range from 0.3 to 0.5 dpa for the four different ion species. The threshold dose for amorphization in the He, Si and Fe ion-implanted regions was also {approximately}0.3 to 0.5 dpa. On the other hand, the amorphization threshold in the Cl-implanted region was only about 0.1 dpa. The volume change associated with amorphization was {approximately}17%. No evidence for amorphization was obtained in specimens irradiated at 200 or 400 C. An understanding of the microstructural evolution of SiC under irradiation is critical to the application of these materials in fusion energy systems.