cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of Ferritin on Globin Synthesis

IN certain hypersideraemic anaemias the erythroid precursor cells in the bone marrow contain iron deposits. The iron overloaded mitochondria of these sideroblasts are not capable of synthesizing haem at a normal rate1. Iron-containing deposits are demonstrable not only in mitochondria, but also in other parts of the cytoplasm of these cells. It is, therefore, possible that iron overload also affects globin synthesis directly. In some of these hypersideraemic anaemias pyridoxine has been found to have a therapeutic effect which is likely to be due to the mobilization of the mitochondrial iron deposits1. In view of the amelioration of the anaemia of thalassaemia with pyridoxine2, a direct influence of this vitamin on globin synthesis might also be assumed.
Advances in Application of Natural Clay and Its Composites in Removal of Biological, Organic, and Inorganic Contaminants from Drinking Water

Natural clays are abundantly available low-cost natural resource which is nontoxic to ecosystem. Over the recent years, research on the modification of clay to increase their adsorbent capacity to remove other contaminants from drinking water other than metals is in progress. This paper reviews the recent development of natural clays and their modified forms as adsorbing agents for treating drinking water and their sources. This paper describes the versatile nature of natural clay and their ability to adsorb variety of contaminants ranging from inorganic to emerging, which are present in the drinking water. The properties and modification of the natural clay and its significance in removing a specific type of contaminant are described. The adsorbing efficiency of the natural and modified clay in the purification of drinking water, when compared to existing technologies, materials, and methods was found to be significantly higher or comparable.
Sexual conflict is not counterbalanced by good genes in the laboratory Drosophila melanogaster model system

Sexual conflict theory is based on the observation that females of many species are harmed through their interactions with males. Direct harm to females, however, can potentially be counterbalanced by indirect genetic benefits, where females make up for a reduction in offspring quantity by an increase in offspring quality through a generic increase in offspring fitness (good genes) and/or one restricted to the context of sexual selection (sexy sons). Here, we quantify the magnitude of the good genes mechanism of indirect benefits in a laboratory-adapted population of Drosophila melanogaster. We find that despite high-standing genetic variance for fitness, females gain at most only a modest benefit through the good genes form of indirect benefits--far too little to counterbalance the direct cost of male-induced harm.
Science as instrumental reason: Heidegger, Habermas, Heisenberg

In modern continental thought, natural science is widely portrayed as an exclusively instrumental mode of reason. The breadth of this consensus has partly preempted the question of how it came to persuade. The process of persuasion, as it played out in Germany, can be explored by reconstructing the intellectual exchanges among three twentieth-century theorists of science, Heidegger, Habermas, and Werner Heisenberg. Taking an iconic Heisenberg as a kind of limiting case of “the scientist,” Heidegger and Habermas each found themselves driven to place new constraints on their previously more capacious assessments of science, especially its capacity to reflect on its method. Tracing how that happened, through archival and historical contextualization and close readings of their texts, lets us make visible Heidegger and Habermas’s intellectual affinities and argumentative parallels, which derived not only from their shared grounding in earlier reactions against positivism, but also from confrontation with contemporary events. The latter included, for Heidegger, the rise of a technically powerful science exemplified by nuclear physics, and for Habermas, post-World War II controversies over science, technology, and their socially critical possibilities.
A Channelized, Sand-Rich, Deep-Sea Fan Deposit, Lower Atoka Formation (Pennsylvanian), Ouachita Mountains, Oklahoma and Arkansas: ABSTRACT

The lower member of the Pennsylvanian Atoka Formation exposed in the Ouachita Mountains of Oklahoma and Arkansas is part of a thick (more than 10,000 m or 32,800 ft) turbidite sequence deposited in a remnant ocean basin (the Ouachita geosyncline) during the Carboniferous. Paleocurrent data indicate a predominantly longitudinal sediment dispersal pattern westward down the basin axis. Nine lithofacies are recognized: massive, amalgamated sandstones (A1), graded, matrix-supported sandy mudstones (A2), six different types of classic turbidites (C1, C2, C3, D1, D2, and D3), and chaotic deposits (F) including debris flows. These occur in two principal lithofacies associations, both representing deposition in an areally extensive, sand-rich, channelized deep-sea fan environment. Lithofacies association 1 consists of packages of lithofacies A1 (and to a lesser extent A2 and C3) 1-30 m (3-98 ft) thick, interbedded with intervals comprised of lithofacies A2, C1, C2, C3, D1, D2, and D3, in which the sandstone:shale ratio is generally high (amalgamated to 1:5). Thickening- and thinning-upward sequences are arranged symmetrically about the lithofacies A1 packages, producing s acked symmetrical sequences 1 to 20 m thick. Lithofacies association 2 consists of lithofacies C3, D1, D3, and minor amount of D2, arranged in symmetrical as well as individual thickening- and thinning-upward sequences 1-40 m (3-130 ft) thick. The sandstone:shale ratio is highly variable (amalgamated to 1:50). Although thickness trends in this lithofacies association can be highly complex, thinning-upward sequences (10-40 m or 33-130 ft thick) are prominent. Slumped chaotic deposits (lithofacies F) are intercalated throughout both lithofacies associations. Common crevasse splays that develop into new channel segments, and filling of distributary channels are the inferred processes involved in the development of the two lithofacies associations. The absence of deposits of major depositional lobes and the extensive development (both vertically and laterally) of a channelized (distributary channel) fan environment suggest that current submarine-fan models are not generally applicable to this deposit. End_of_Article - Last_Page 531------------
Public–private wage differential and gender gap in Latin America: Spoiled bureaucrats and exploited women?

Abstract This paper uses a rich collection of household surveys to investigate the wage differential between the public and private sectors in 13 Latin American countries. It also studies how the sector of employment affects the gender wage gap. Contrary to what is commonly thought, it is found that, in the majority of Latin American countries, there is a premium associated with working in the public sector. It is also found that the premium is often higher for women than for men but that this difference does not compensate for the wide gender gap.
The role of topology and geometry in the irradiation-induced amorphization of network structures

Abstract Network structures are characterized by some measure of directed bonding and more arbitrary connectivity. Crystalline networks additionally exhibit long-range translational periodicity and orientational order. The irradiation-induced loss of both latter features - commonly known as amorphization and geologically as metamictization - actually represents a loss of topological order and provides a measure of the structural redundancy in the network. Because of its similarity to glass formation, the metamict transition can provide potential insights into the structures of network glasses. High-resolution electron microscopy and energy-filtered electron diffraction provide important, though unfortunately limited, information about the process and the products of the topological disordering.
Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) with T-fasteners obviates the need for emergent replacement after early tube dislodgement

Background Despite technical refinements of percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube placement, complications such as early tube dislodgement remain relatively static. This study aimed to review the experience of a high-volume endoscopy center after the introduction of T-fastener placement in high-risk patients.
Nodal domains and growth of harmonic functions on noncompact manifolds

Harmonic functions are studied on complete Riemannian manifolds. A decay estimate is given for bounded harmonic functions of variable sign. For unbounded harmonic functions of variable sign, relations are derived between growth properties and nodal domains. On Riemannian manifolds of nonnegative Ricci curvature, it has been conjectured that harmonic functions, having at most a given order of polynomial growth, must form a finite dimensional vector space. This conjecture is established in certain special cases.
Responses of 3-dimensional arch wires to vertical V-bends: comparisons with existing 2-dimensional data in the exist lateral view

The mechanics of V-bends in orthodontic arch wires have been described almost exclusively in terms of bending forces in two-dimensional (2-D) single plane terms. When a rectangular arch wire enters a third dimension, a more complex wire deformation pattern develops from both torsion and bending during the activation of the Wbends. The necessity for a rectangular three-dimensional (3-D) arch wire to undergo torsion during activation results in a greater resistance to deformation at those points in the wire where the torsion is greatest. This is especially apparent with 2 × 2 long span arch wires. This study used finite element analysis to model the force systems produced by activation of V-bends in 3-D arch wires. 1n both 2–13 and 3-D data, greater moments are present as any V-bend is moved toward either adjacent bracket. 1n 3-D systems, however, a Wbend at the molar produces significantly less moment and associated equilibrium forces than the same V-bend located the same distance from the incisor. Moreover, the reversal of the direction of the moments at either bracket does not occur when the V-bend location is two thirds of the distance toward that tooth as reported with 2-D studies.
Anodic electrochemistry of Mn and Re tricarbonyl complexes of tris(oxazolinyl)phenyl borate ligands: comparison to tris(pyrazolyl) borate complexes

M(CO)3 (M = Mn, Re) complexes of two tris(oxazolinyl)phenylborate ligands (ToM and ToP) have been prepared and characterized by spectroscopic, electrochemical and crystallographic methods. The steric bulk imparted by the sp3-hybridized carbons in the oxazoline ring gives the tris(oxazolinyl)borate ligands significant structural protection against dimerization while leaving the M(CO)3 face open for possible reactivity. The anodic electrochemistry of these systems in relatively benign media showed that their one-electron oxidation products were stable and persistent in the case of Re, but of limited stability in the case of Mn. The anodic oxidation of Mn and Re complexes of four tris(pyrazolyl)borate (Tp and Tp*) ligands was also investigated, once again showing that the radical cations of the Re complexes were longer lived than their Mn congeners in CH2Cl2/[NBu4][B(C6F5)4]. The E1/2 data were used to classify the electron-donating properties of the different scorpionate ligands in comparison with their cyclopentadienyl counterparts as Tp* > Cp* > ToP, Tp, ToM > Cp. Comparison of the νCOIR frequencies of these complexes gave a slightly different sequence of donor strength, Cp*, ToM, ToP > Tp* > Tp > Cp. The electronic effects of the tris(oxazolinyl)phenyl borate ligands are that they convey “Tp*-like” character in terms of the chemical reactivity of their complexes, and “Tp-like” character in terms of the redox potentials of these complexes.
Cost Effectiveness Analysis and Transportation: Practices, Problems, and Proposals

Cost effective analysis (CEA) is used frequently in health and other fields in which controlled experiments are possible. The problem is, however, that for many activities that are outsourced in infrastructure finance, we have no comparison groups, and when comparison groups are present, we have no data on quality, presenting any interested researcher or decision maker with some serious dilemmas. In this article we establish some basic guidelines for the collection and use of quality data, and associate these with our own errors in attempting CEA with a lack of an existing quality measure.
CA3: collaborative annotation of audio in academia

We present a collaborative tagging tool for audio streams. We discuss two case studies using this tool: The first case study demonstrates the usefulness of simple tags as metadata. The second case study elaborates issues discovered while allowing students to tag events during a classroom lecture, and methods for aggregating and displaying the collected tags. We conclude with insights into collaborative tagging for data retrieval in content streams.
Form-deprivation myopia in monkeys is a graded phenomenon

To shed light on the potential role of the phenomenon of form-deprivation myopia in normal refractive development, we investigated the degree of image degradation required to produce axial myopia in rhesus monkeys. Starting at about 3 weeks of age, diffuser spectacle lenses were employed to degrade the retinal image in one eye of 13 infant monkeys. The diffusers were worn continuously for periods ranging between 11 and 19 weeks. The effects of three different strengths of optical diffusers, which produced reductions in image contrast that ranged from about 0.5 to nearly 3 log units, were assessed by retinoscopy and A-scan ultrasonography. Control data were obtained from ten normal infants and three infants reared with clear, zero-powered lenses over both eyes. Eleven of the 13 treated infants developed form-deprivation myopia. Qualitatively similar results were obtained for the three diffuser groups, however, the degree of axial myopia varied directly with the degree of image degradation. Thus, form-deprivation myopia in monkeys is a graded phenomenon and can be triggered by a modest degree of chronic image degradation.
Stability of multiloop LQ regulators with nonlinearities--Part I: Regions of attraction

The closed-loop stability of linear, time-invariant systems controlled by linear quadratic (LQ) regulators is investigated when there are nonlinearities in the control channels which lie outside the ( 0.5, \infty ) stability sector in regions away from the origin (i.e., saturation-type nonlinearities). An estimate of the region of attraction is obtained which provides methods for selecting the performance function weights for more robust LQ designs.
Application and analysis of rake receiver to hybrid CPM modulation

Constant Envelope, Spread Spectrum Modulation is highly desirable for low-power, battery-operated systems. It has been demonstrated that Hybrid CPM is a constant envelope modulation with similar frequency diversity properties to the standard spread-spectrum m-PSK DSSS and spread-MSK modulation schemes while retaining a superior emissions profile. This paper continues the analysis of the novel constant envelope spread spectrum modulation technique with an analysis of the commonly utilized rake receiver signal processing. Initially, a simple channel model is developed to illustrate and compare the convergence of the channel estimate over a fixed, non-time-varying channel. A more complex, wireless channel model is then developed and a new corresponding method for channel estimation created. A Monte- Carlo simulated bit error rate performance of Hybrid CPM is then generated to evaluate the overall performance of the Hybrid CPM modulation scheme.
On the Role of a Stock Market: A Study of France, Germany, and the Euro Area

What factors cause banks to lend to the private sector in a bank-based financial system like the ones in place in Europe? In this paper we compare a traditional demand oriented model to a non-traditional capital budgeting model of bank lending based on movements in the equity cost of capital for France, Germany, and the Euro area. Using non-nested hypothesis tests and omitted variables tests we find that we can reject the traditional demand oriented model of bank lending and fail to reject the capital budgeting model of bank lending for Monetary Financial Institutions in France and the Euro area. For Germany the evidence is mixed in that both models are rejected for Monetary Financial Institutions, but only the traditional demand oriented model is rejected for the commercial bank sector. Even though Europe may be a bank-based financial system, it appears the stock market plays a key role in the lending decisions of banks.
Development of Spalangia cameroni and Muscidifurax raptor (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) on Live and Freeze-Killed House Fly (Diptera: Muscidae) Pupae

ABSTRACT The use of pteromalid parasitoids for muscoid fly control is becoming increasingly common. Two species that are often recommended for releases are Spalangia cameroni Perkins and Muscidifurax raptor Girault and Sanders. This study was conducted to determine if the reduced suitability of freeze-killed pupae for Pteromalidae, particularly S. cameroni, is due to freezing, freezing duration, or the type of freezer used. Processing pupae through freezing had a considerably greater negative effect on rearing of S. cameroni than on M. raptor. Although freezing pupae did reduce M. raptor progeny production, there was no effect of length of storage or type of freezer used. Freezing pupae for 5 months resulted in significantly fewer S. cameroni progeny than freezing pupae for 2 weeks. Although not significant, pupae held in a frostfree freezer produced more progeny than those in a non-frostfree freezer. Measurements of weights of parasitized pupae over time indicated that freezing did not result in accelera...
Potassium bromate poisoning

Summary 1. Three cases of poisoning due to ingestion of potassium bromate arepresented. 2. These cases illustrate a range of effects of toxic action of potassiumbromate, varying from moderate gastrointestinal irritation to severe toxic nephrosis. 3. A review of experimental data on the effects of potassium and sodiumbromate is presented.
ACE2-Mediated Reduction of Oxidative Stress in the Central Nervous System Is Associated with Improvement of Autonomic Function

Oxidative stress in the central nervous system mediates the increase in sympathetic tone that precedes the development of hypertension. We hypothesized that by transforming Angiotensin-II (AngII) into Ang-(1–7), ACE2 might reduce AngII-mediated oxidative stress in the brain and prevent autonomic dysfunction. To test this hypothesis, a relationship between ACE2 and oxidative stress was first confirmed in a mouse neuroblastoma cell line (Neuro2A cells) treated with AngII and infected with Ad-hACE2. ACE2 overexpression resulted in a reduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation. In vivo, ACE2 knockout (ACE2−/y) mice and non-transgenic (NT) littermates were infused with AngII (10 days) and infected with Ad-hACE2 in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Baseline blood pressure (BP), AngII and brain ROS levels were not different between young mice (12 weeks). However, cardiac sympathetic tone, brain NADPH oxidase and SOD activities were significantly increased in ACE2−/y. Post infusion, plasma and brain AngII levels were also significantly higher in ACE2−/y, although BP was similarly increased in both genotypes. ROS formation in the PVN and RVLM was significantly higher in ACE2−/y mice following AngII infusion. Similar phenotypes, i.e. increased oxidative stress, exacerbated dysautonomia and hypertension, were also observed on baseline in mature ACE2−/y mice (48 weeks). ACE2 gene therapy to the PVN reduced AngII-mediated increase in NADPH oxidase activity and normalized cardiac dysautonomia in ACE2−/y mice. Altogether, these data indicate that ACE2 gene deletion promotes age-dependent oxidative stress, autonomic dysfunction and hypertension, while PVN-targeted ACE2 gene therapy decreases ROS formation via NADPH oxidase inhibition and improves autonomic function. Accordingly, ACE2 could represent a new target for the treatment of hypertension-associated dysautonomia and oxidative stress.
Reaction Time and Intelligence: Contemporary Research Supports Cattell's Abandoned Hypothesis

James McKeen Cattell's contributions to the development of psychology have been well recognized. His earliest efforts in experimental psychology, however, were regarded by himself and others as unsuccessful. Following in the tradition of his mentors, Wundt and Galton, Cattell tried to demonstrate that psychophysiological measures could be related to general intelligence and achievement, but unsatisfactory results from Clark Wissler's (1901) dissertation combined with the wide acceptance of Alfred Binet's model of measuring intelligence led him to abandon his research and devote his considerable energies to other professional endeavors. Contemporary researchers have recently revived the basic research paradigm that Cattell was using, and considerable support has been found for the hypothesis that individual differences in elementary cognitive tasks are related to general intelligence. It is possible that intelligence theories of the future may owe as much to the Galtonian model of intelligence and its adhe...
High success rate of hematopoietic cell transplantation regardless of donor source in children with very high-risk leukemia

We evaluated 190 children with very high-risk leukemia, who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation in 2 sequential treatment eras, to determine whether those treated with contemporary protocols had a high risk of relapse or toxic death, and whether non-HLA-identical transplantations yielded poor outcomes. For the recent cohorts, the 5-year overall survival rates were 65% for the 37 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and 74% for the 46 with acute myeloid leukemia; these rates compared favorably with those of earlier cohorts (28%, n = 57; and 34%, n = 50, respectively). Improvement in the recent cohorts was observed regardless of donor type (sibling, 70% vs 24%; unrelated, 61% vs 37%; and haploidentical, 88% vs 19%), attributable to less infection (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.12; P = .005), regimen-related toxicity (HR = 0.25; P = .002), and leukemia-related death (HR = 0.40; P = .01). Survival probability was dependent on leukemia status (first remission vs more advanced disease; HR = 0.63; P = .03) or minimal residual disease (positive vs negative; HR = 2.10; P = .01) at the time of transplantation. We concluded that transplantation has improved over time and should be considered for all children with very high-risk leukemia, regardless of matched donor availability.
Eigenmode compression for modal sound models

We propose and evaluate a method for significantly compressing modal sound models, thereby making them far more practical for audiovisual applications. The dense eigenmode matrix, needed to compute the sound model's response to contact forces, can consume tens to thousands of megabytes depending on mesh resolution and mode count. Our eigenmode compression pipeline is based on non-linear optimization of Moving Least Squares (MLS) approximations. Enhanced compression is achieved by exploiting symmetry both within and between eigenmodes, and by adaptively assigning per-mode error levels based on human perception of the far-field pressure amplitudes. Our method provides smooth eigenmode approximations, and efficient random access. We demonstrate that, in many cases, hundredfold compression ratios can be achieved without audible degradation of the rendered sound.
The relationship between sugar-sweetened beverages and liver enzymes among healthy premenopausal women: a prospective cohort study.

To prospectively assess the association between sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), added sugar, and total fructose and serum concentrations of liver enzymes among healthy, reproductive-age women. A prospective cohort of 259 premenopausal women (average age 27.3 ± 8.2 years; BMI 24.1 ± kg/m2) were followed up for up to two menstrual cycles, providing up to eight fasting blood specimens/cycle and four 24-h dietary recalls/cycle. Women with a history of chronic disease were excluded. Alanine and aspartate aminotransferases (ALT and AST, respectively) were measured in serum samples. Linear mixed models estimated associations between average SSB, added sugar, and total fructose intake and log-transformed liver enzymes adjusting for age, race, body mass index, total energy and alcohol intake, and Mediterranean diet score. For every 1 cup/day increase in SSB consumption and 10 g/day increase in added sugar and total fructose, log ALT increased by 0.079 U/L (95 % CI 0.022, 0.137), 0.012 U/L (95 % CI 0.002, 0.022), and 0.031 (0.012, 0.050), respectively, and log AST increased by 0.029 U/L (−0.011, 0.069), 0.007 U/L (0.000, 0.014), and 0.017 U/L (0.004, 0.030), respectively. Women who consumed ≥1.50 cups/day (12 oz can) SSB versus less had 0.127 U/L (95 % CI 0.001, 0.254) higher ALT [percent change 13.5 % (95 % CI 0.1, 28.9)] and 0.102 (95 % CI 0.015, 0.190) higher AST [percent change 10.8 % (95 % CI 1.5, 20.9)]. Sugar-sweetened beverages were associated with higher serum ALT and AST concentrations among healthy premenopausal women, indicating that habitual consumption of even moderate SSB may elicit hepatic lipogenesis.
Ultracentrifugal crystallization of proteins: transport-kinetic modelling, and experimental behavior of catalase

Although ultracentrifugal crystallization (UC) of proteins has been demonstrated previously and its main advantages established, a clear quantitative understanding of the phenomena involved has not been presented. This issue is addressed here by development of a model accounting for the key transport (sedimentation, diffusion) and kinetic (nucleation, growth) effects in UC. Numerical solution of the governing equations shows how the protein concentration profile changes with time, and how it interacts with the crystallization kinetic phenomena near the bottom of the tube to give rise to protein crystals. It is shown that the centrifugal speed and the initial protein concentration represent the most convenient parameters to use in manipulating crystallization behavior. Some of the predicted features of UC behavior were explored experimentally using bovine liver catalase. Crystal size increased and optical activity improved as the initial protein concentration was reduced. Crystallization was very robust to the presence of appreciable quantities of impurities. UC appears to be an underused route to protein crystallization, and the availability of a quantitative model may aid in its application to novel protein systems.
A class of upper-bounds on probability of error for multi-hypotheses pattern recognition

A class of upper bounds on the probability of error for the general multihypotheses pattern recognition problem is obtained. In particular, an upper bound in the class is shown to be a linear functional of the pairwise Bhattacharya coefficients. Evaluation of the bounds requires knowledge of a-priori probabilities and of the hypothesis-conditional probability density functions. A further bound is obtained that is independent of apriori probabilities. For the case of unknown apriori probabilities and conditional probability densities, an estimate of the latter upper bound is derived using a sequence of classified samples and Kernel functions to estimate the unknown densities.
SEMI‐PARAMETRIC ESTIMATION OF HURDLE REGRESSION MODELS WITH AN APPLICATION TO MEDICAID UTILIZATION

This paper develops a semi-parametric estimation method for hurdle (two-part) count regression models. The approach in each stage is based on Laguerre series expansion for the unknown density of the unobserved heterogeneity. The semi-parametric hurdle model nests Poisson and negative binomial hurdle models, which have been used in recent applied literature. The empirical part of the paper evaluates the impact of managed care programmes for Medicaid eligibles on utilization of health-care services using a key utilization variable, the number of doctor and health centre visits. Health status measures and age seem to be more important in determining health-care utilization than other socio-economic and enrollment variables. The semi-parametric approach is particularly useful for the analysis of overdispersed individual level data characterized by a large proportion of non-users, and highly skewed distribution of counts for users. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Randomized comparison of diode laser photocoagulation versus cryotherapy for threshold retinopathy of prematurity: seven-year outcome.

Abstract PURPOSE: To report the structural and functional outcomes at a minimum of 7 years postmenstrual age after randomized treatment of threshold retinopathy of prematurity with laser ablation or cryotherapy. METHODS: Nineteen patients were entered into a prospective, randomized protocol, in which one eye received cryotherapy, while the other eye received diode laser photocoagulation. Asymmetric eyes were randomly assigned. Two patients have died, and seven were no longer available for 7-year outcome examinations, leaving 10 children for analysis. RESULTS: Six males and four females with a mean birthweight of 631 g and a mean gestational age of 24.8 weeks were examined. Eight were symmetrical cases and treated in both eyes. Of these, there were six concordant and two discordant structural outcomes. The laser-treated eyes had the favorable outcome in each instance. The geometric mean visual acuity of the paired eyes after laser photocoagulation was 20/33, and after cryotherapy it was 20/133 ( P = .03). The mean refractive error was −6.50 diopters after laser photocoagulation and −8.25 diopters after cryotherapy ( P = .27), although one of the cryotherapy eyes could not be refracted because of phthisis. CONCLUSIONS: Laser photocoagulation appears to be associated with a structural and functional outcome at least as good as cryotherapy 7 years after therapy. Visual acuity and refractive error data suggest that laser photocoagulation may have an advantage over cryotherapy.
Clathrin self-assembly involves coordinated weak interactions favorable for cellular regulation

The clathrin triskelion self-assembles into a polyhedral coat surrounding membrane vesicles that sort receptor cargo to the endocytic pathway. A triskelion comprises three clathrin heavy chains joined at their C-termini, extending into proximal and distal leg segments ending in a globular N-terminal domain. In the clathrin coat, leg segments entwine into parallel and anti-parallel interactions. Here we define the contributions of segmental interactions to the clathrin assembly reaction and measure the strength of their interactions. Proximal and distal leg segments were found to lack sufficient affinity to form stable homo- or heterodimers under assembly conditions. However, chimeric constructs of proximal or distal leg segments, trimerized by replacement of the clathrin trimerization domain with that of the invariant chain protein, were able to self-assemble in reversible reactions. Thus clathrin assembly occurs because weak leg segment affinities are coordinated through trimerization, sharing a dependence on multiple weak interactions with other biopolymers. Such polymerization is sensitive to small environmental changes and is therefore compatible with cellular regulation of assembly, disassembly and curvature during formation of clathrin-coated vesicles.
Do fertility intentions affect fertility behavior

This paper examines the relationship between fertility intentions and fertility behavior using the data from the National Survey of Families and Households with a sample of 2812 non-Hispanic Whites. Results demonstrated a strong relationship between fertility intentions and the percentage of having a birth. It was also noted that the effect on fertility is greater when the intentions are held with greater certainty. Furthermore fertility intentions and their certainty predict fertility behavior better among married persons as compared to all other variables in the model. Thus marital status is an important life course variable wherein a change in marital status significantly affects birth probabilities. Finally this study indicated that fertility is a purposive behavior that is based on intentions applied into the life course and changed when unexpected developments occur.
Coupled cluster calculations with numerical orbitals for excited states of polar anions

A recently proposed technique, which combines numerical orbitals for diatomic systems with coupled cluster methods, has been applied to study excited states of negative ions of polar molecules. Computational strategy is presented and calculations of ground and excited state electron affinities are reported for the LiH and BeO molecules. LiH and BeO are found to have excited state electron affinities of 0.0028 and 0.0234 eV. Both excited state affinities should be amendable to experimental determination.
Drought and Heat Stress Injury to Two Cool‐Season Turfgrasses in Relation to Antioxidant Metabolism and Lipid Peroxidation

Drought and high temperature are two major factors limiting the growth of cool-season lurfgrasses during summet in many areas. The objective of the study was to examine whether the adverse effects of drought and heat alone or in combination on tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea L.) and Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) involve oxidative stress. Grasses were exposed to drought (withholding irrigation), heat (35°C/30°C), and the combined stresses for 30 d in growth chambers. Turf quality (TQ), leaf relative water content (RWC), and chlorophyll content (Chl) decreased with prolonged drought, heat, and combined stresses for both species, but the severity of decline varied with stress type and duration. Transient increases in superoxide dismatase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (AP), and glutathione reductase (GR) activities occurred at 6 or 12 d of drought and the combined stresses in both species; however, the activities of all three enzymes decreased with extended periods of drought and the combined stresses. The SOD activity was not affected by heat stress alone. The activities of AP and GR were reduced after 18 d of heat stress for both species, but reductions were less than under the combined stresses. The catalase (CAT) activity continued to decrease to below the control level, beginning at 12 d for drought-stressed or heat-stressed plants and 6 d for plants exposed to the combined stresses Lipid peroxidation occurred after 18 d of stresses in both species, as indicated by the increase in malondinldehyde (MDA) content. The results suggested that injuries of drought, heat, or the combined stresses to both tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass, as manifested by declines in TQ, RWC, and Chl, could be associated with a decrease in antioxidant enzyme activities and an increase in membrane lipid peroxidation.
Sensor management and Bayesian networks

This paper introduces the sensor management problem and uses Bayesian networks as a scalable approach to handling the operational decisions concerning the sensor network. In general, single sensor systems only provide partial information on the state of the event or environment while multisensor systems provide a synergistic effect, which improves the quality and availability of information. Data fusion techniques can effectively combine this environmental information from similar and/or dissimilar sensors. Until recently, the operator could manage the systems easily, but current systems are more complex and produce data more quickly than earlier versions. A sensor manager becomes necessary when this occurs to assist the operators. Researchers have developed many single point sensor management solutions. General sensor management algorithms that can handle a variety of sensor network applications have yet to emerge.
Treatment of parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis with cholecystokinin-octapeptide.

Abstract The authors investigated whether parenteral nutrition-associated cholestasis (PNAC) in surgical neonates could be alleviated by the administration of cholecystokinin-octapeptide (CCK). Two groups of infants were studied, after major abdominal or cardiac surgery in the newborn period. The low-dose group consisted of three infants with PNAC who received cholecystokinin-octapeptide (Sincalide) at a dose of 0.02 μg/kg intravenously (IV), twice daily. The high-dose group comprised eight infants with PNAC who received an initial dose of 0.02 μg/kg IV or intramuscularly, three times daily on the first day, followed by a daily doubling of the dose up to as high as 0.32 μg/kg. In the low-dose group, direct bilirubin levels declined a mean of 50.2 ± 14.5%. In the high-dose group, direct bilirubin levels declined a mean of 23.4 ± 14.3%. In three patients in the high-dose group, no decline occurred. All three had clinical signs of overt liver failure and died of liver failure within 2 months after treatment with CCK. By excluding these patients from the highdose group, the decline in bilirubin levels increased to 49.6 ± 10.9%. Side effects from CCK occurred in two patients and consisted of abdominal pain and feeding intolerance. Treatment with CCK appears to be associated with a decline in direct bilirubin levels, provided overt liver failure has not developed.
Asynchronous Bluegill Recruitment in Four South Dakota Impoundments

ABSTRACT We quantified recruitment patterns and modeled the relation of climatic variation to bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) year-class strength in four South Dakota impoundments. Because year-class strength of many species in the northern Great Plains can be erratic due to abiotic factors, we hypothesized that recruitment among populations would be synchronous and that broad-scale climatic patterns would likely affect bluegill survival and subsequent recruitment. We used the residual method based on otolith age structure to assess relative year-class strength and examined six candidate models using the Akaike's information-theoretic approach to determine the influence of temperature, precipitation, and winter severity (and combinations of these variables) on bluegill recruitment. We found that bluegill recruitment was asynchronous, and all three single variable models performed similarly (Δi <1) and were more supported than combinations of variables. However, the single variable relationships were weak i...
Cry, the imagined country: Legitimacy and the fate of Macedonia

Whether or not the future Europe will be characterized as one of constant security dilemmas or a place of integrating security identities may well be linked to the fate of Macedonia. Indeed, Macedo...
Structure of flux line lattices with weak disorder at large length scales

Dislocation-free decoration images containing up to 80 000 vortices have been obtained on high quality ${\mathrm{Bi}}_{2}{\mathrm{Sr}}_{2}{\mathrm{CaCu}}_{2}{\mathrm{O}}_{8+x}$ superconducting single crystals. The observed flux line lattices are in the random manifold regime with a roughening exponent of 0.44 for length scales up to 80\char21{}100 lattice constants. At larger length scales, the data exhibit nonequilibrium features that persist for different cooling rates and field histories.
Safe Schools for LGBTQI Students: How Do Teachers View Their Role in Promoting Safe Schools?.

This literature review presents insights from existing research on how teachers view their role in creating safe schools for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and intersex (LGBTQI) students. Analysis of the literature shows that there are concerns for LGBTQI students’ safety in schools, that educational settings operate from a position of heteronormativity, and that heterosexual teachers are uniquely positioned as part of the dominant group in which they help to define what is normal and what is deviant in school culture. Research findings on the ways heterosexual teachers respond to institutional heteronormativity are summarized and compared. This review of research provides considerations for and recommendations to school administrators and teacher educators to address needs of teachers. Areas for future research also are identified.
Claims-Making and the Construction of Legitimacy: Press Coverage of the 1981 Northern Irish Hunger Strike

This paper examines the media's role in the claims-making process, specifically as this relates to the construction of legitimacy. The 1981 Northern Irish hunger strike was a claims-making activity in which paramilitary prisoners sought to construct themselves as legitimate political actors rather than “terrorists.” To challenge the assumptions of the criminalization policy that characterized paramilitary organizations as terrorists who lacked popular support, the prisoners contested parliamentary elections and ultimately starved themselves to death. A qualitative content analysis of coverage of their claims in the Irish Times , the London Times, and the New York Times shows that, while the three papers offered criticisms of the criminalization policy, they did not present the prisoners' claims as legitimate. The paper concludes that local media and cultural understandings of such events may provide sufficient support to sustain these understandings, even in the presence of negative coverage in national media.
Summary of ECE Presentations at EC-17

At the EC-17 workshop there were 12 presentations in the topic of diagnosing plasmas by measuring radiative emissions, mainly by ECE with one talk on EBW imaging. The number of ECE imaging systems on plasma devices has increased and new discoveries are being made from the expanded data set they provide. Technology continues to improve with some significant advances in receiver capabilities and clever designs for coupling to the plasma. A wide variety of ECE systems on many machines are providing crucial information on electron temperature and other plasma parameters, particularly on fluctuations related to MHD modes, their temporal and spatial structures. The ITER ECE system design is well along with the recent successful completion of the conceptual design review.
A study of the relationships between the Baldrige categories

The categories, examination items, and framework of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) criteria present the underlying relationships between the various quality management constructs and between quality management and organization performance. This research uses data from the Arizona Governor’s Quality Award, which is based on the MBNQA, to study the strength of these relationships using path analysis. The results of our analysis confirm the validity of the MBNQA framework. The results from this research indicate that leadership significantly directly or indirectly affects all of the systems constructs, except for strategic quality planning and information management, which was not tested in the model. The results also indicate that information management, human resources management and customer focus have a significant effect on customer satisfaction and business results. A strong focus on customers and employees, in addition to effective leadership and information management is clearly shown to be essential for organization success.
Current Experience in the Diagnosis of Pheochromocytoma

The pharmacological and biochemical tests available for the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma were evaluated among 28 patients with proved tumors and 148 other patients in whom the diagnosis was suspected. Of the biochemical tests on urine, determinations of total metanephrines (MN) and of vanilmandelic acid (VMA) were much less subject to false-positive results than was determination of catecholamines (CA). Since urinary MN values changed the most in tumor patients, MN determination is preferred as the current screening test. Of the pharmacological tests, the histamine test continues to be the most valuable, especially when combined with determination of plasma CA concentration. The phentolamine (Regitine) test has not proved to be of any distinct value as a primary diagnostic aid. Any of the chemical or pharmacological tests occasionally may give a false-positive result. The urinary output of excessive amounts of homovanillic acid (HVA) was an indication of the presence of pheochromocytoma with some features histologically similar to other neural crest tumors but was not an indication of malignancy. Reliable diagnosis of pheochromocytoma still must be based on multiple studies in an appropriate clinical setting.
Corrigendum to ‘Comparing coronary artery calcium among U.S. South Asians with four racial/ethnic groups: The MASALA and MESA studies’ [Atherosclerosis 234 (2014) 102–107]

Corrigendum to ‘Comparing coronary artery calcium among U.S. South Asians with four racial/ethnic groups: The MASALA and MESA studies’ [Atherosclerosis 234 (2014) 102e107] Alka M. Kanaya *, Namratha R. Kandula , Susan K. Ewing , David Herrington , Kiang Liu , Michael J. Blaha , Shweta Srivastava , Swapna S. Dave , Matthew J. Budoff e University of California, San Francisco, United States Northwestern University, United States Wake Forest University Medical Center, United States d Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, United States Harbor-University of California, Los Angeles, United States
Global solutions of the equations of one-dimensional, compressible flow with large data and forces, and with differing end states

We prove the global existence of solutions of the Navier–Stokes equations of compressible flow in one space dimension with minimal hypotheses on the initial data, the equation of state, and the external force. Specifically, we require of the initial data only that the density be bounded above and below away from zero, and that the density and velocity be in L 2, modulo constant states at $x=\infty$ and $x=-\infty$ , which may be different. There are no smallness hypotheses on either the data or on the external force. In particular, we include the important case that the initial data is piecewise constant with arbitrarily large jump discontinuities. Our results show that, even in this generality, neither vacuum states nor concentration states can form in finite time.
Half life of yeast messenger RNA

WE have determined the half life of Saccharomyces cerevisiae messenger RNA (mRNA) and its associated poly (A) sequences, from the kinetics of their labelling with 14C-adenine. Corrections have been made for changes in the ATP pool specific activity during the labelling period. This method of determining the mRNA half life is preferred to observing the decay of mRNA in the presence of inhibitors because changes in the cell metabolism caused by an inhibitor may also change the mRNA half life1. One of our purposes in determining these half lives is for their use in the characterisation of temperature-sensitive mutants which are defective in macromolecular synthesis2. For this reason we have determined the half lives of mRNA and poly(A) in two different conditions, at 23 and 36 °C.
The solution of characteristic value-vector problems by Newton's method

LetT(?) be a bounded linear operator in a Banach spaceX for each? in the scalar fieldS. The characteristic value-vector problemT(?)x = 0 with a normalization condition? x = 1, where? ? X *, is formulated as a nonlinear problem inX xS:P(y) ? (T(?)x, ? x - 1) = 0,y= (X, A). Newton's method and the Kantorovia? theorem are applied. For this purpose, representations and criteria for existence ofP?(y)?1 are obtained. The continuous dependence onT of characteristic values and vectors is investigated. A numerical example withT(?) =A +?B +? 2 C is presented.