cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of saltation flux impact responders (Safires) for measuring instantaneous aeolian sand transport intensity

The measurement of aeolian sand transport rates on small scales is of interest to the development and testing of detailed models of sand movement by wind. This paper reports on laboratory evaluations and preliminary field tests of a new design of a piezo-electric impact responder, called a 'Safire', capable of measuring saltation impacts at a frequency of 20 Hz. The advantages of the Safire are: (1) that it provides high-frequency measurements, (2) that it presents a minimal obstruction to the wind flow (no scour observed in the field), and (3) that it is of a (relatively) low-cost. Laboratory calibrations were performed with a vertical gravity flume generating known sand grain fluxes using both mixed sand and specific size fractions. Initial tests investigated three fundamental characteristics: correspondence between digital and analogue signals generated by the instrument, directional response of the probe, and linearity of instrument response to mass flux. Instrument calibration included determination of the momentum threshold required for the sensor to register a grain impact. Based on this lower limit and the known distribution of grain size and speed at different fall heights, a prediction is made as to the sand grain flux the Safire ought to measure, which is then compared with the signal response. The result of this comparison is an assessment of the instrument's efficiency in counting saltating grains. These Safires were also deployed in the field as part of a larger investigationof spatio-temporal transport variability.Thisexperiment providedthe opportunity to compare the instrument's performancewithtraditional sandtraps,andthispaperdevelopsmethodsandassumptionsrequiredtoconvertmeasurements from impact responders to traditional mass transport rates. The evaluations indicate that improvements to the instrument production process are required to ensure a standard momentum threshold among individual instruments. Furthermore, the sensor design needs to be reconsidered in order to eliminate the variation in response depending on azimuth direction, so that the sensor is uniformly omni-directional. D 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Faint Active Galactic Nuclei and the Ionizing Background

We determine the evolution of the faint, high-redshift, optical luminosity function (LF) of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) implied by several observationally motivated models of the ionizing background from 3 < z < 5. Our results depend crucially on whether we use the total ionizing rate measured by the proximity effect technique or the lower determination favored by the flux decrement distribution of Lyα forest lines. Assuming a faint-end LF slope of 1.58 and the SDSS estimates of the bright-end slope and normalization, we find that the LF must break at M = -24.2, -22.3, -20.8 at z = 3, 4, 5 if we adopt the lower ionization rate and assume no stellar contribution to the background. The breaks must occur at M = -20.6, -18.7, -18.7 for the proximity effect estimate. Since stars may also contribute to the background, these values are lower limits on the break luminosity, and they brighten by as much as ~2 mag if the escape fraction of ionizing photons from high-z galaxies is consistent with recent estimates: fesc = 0.16. By comparing our expectations to faint AGN searches in the Hubble Deep Field and high-z galaxy fields, we find that typically quoted proximity effect estimates of the background imply an overabundance of AGNs compared to the faint counts (even with fesc = 1). Even adopting the lower bound on proximity effect measurements, the stellar escape fraction must be high: fesc 0.2. Conversely, the lower flux decrement-derived background requires a smaller number of ionizing sources, and faint AGN counts are consistent with this estimate only if there is a limited stellar contribution, fesc 0.05. Our derived LFs together with the locally estimated black hole density suggest that the efficiency of converting mass to light in optically unobscured AGNs is somewhat lower than expected, 0.05 (all models). Comparison with similar estimates based on X-ray counts suggests that more than half of all AGNs are obscured in the UV/optical. We also derive lower limits on typical AGN lifetimes and obtain 107 yr for favored cases.
Psychological distress and post-abortion contraceptive method effectiveness level chosen at an urban clinic.

Objective We investigated whether more psychological distress before an abortion is associated with the effectiveness of contraception selected (low, moderate, or high effectiveness) at an abortion clinic visit.
Group covariance and spin motion in gravitational theory

Abstract The kinematics of a metric theory is developed which exhibits all the degrees of freedom of a semisimple local invariance group. The theory is a modification of multidimensional non-Abelian Kaluza-Klein theories with the Cartan-Killing metric of the group manifold as a source-free solution. The De Sitter group SO(3, 2) gives rise to additional degrees of freedom which may be interpreted as classical spin motion and spin-spin interaction. More extended invariance groups are considered.
Exploring strategies and guidelines for developing full body video game interfaces

We present a Wizard-of-Oz study exploring full body video game interaction. Using the commercial video game Mirror's Edge, players are presented with several different tasks such as running, jumping, and climbing. Following our protocol, participants were given complete freedom in choosing the motions and gestures to compete these tasks. Our experiment results show a mix of natural and constrained gestures adapted to space and field of view restrictions. We present guidelines for future full body interfaces.
PM2.5-induced changes in cardiac function of hypertensive rats depend on wind direction and specific sources in Steubenville, Ohio

Background: Increases in particulate matter less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) in ambient air is linked to acute cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Specific components and potential emission sources of PM2.5 responsible for adverse health effects of cardiovascular function are unclear.Methods: Spontaneously hypertensive rats were implemented with radiotelemeters to record ECG responses during inhalation exposure to concentrated ambient particles (CAPs) for 13 consecutive days in Steubenville, OH. Changes in heart rate (HR) and its variability (HRV) were compared to PM2.5 trace elements in 30-min time frames to capture acute physiological responses with real-time fluctuations in PM2.5 composition. Using positive matrix factorization, six major source factors were identified: (i) coal/secondary, (ii) mobile sources, (iii) metal coating/processing, (iv) iron/steel manufacturing, (v) lead and (vi) incineration.Results: Exposure-related changes in HR and HRV were dependant on winds predominately from either the nor...
When Routines Support or Stifle Innovation: Evidence from Primary Care Practices

This study examines how routines advance organizational change, in this case implementation of a health care innovation promoted by U.S. health reform legislation called the patient-centered medical home model of primary care delivery. Through an examination of routine enactment across six medical practices, I find that specific routines play a pivotal part in making this particular innovation successful, thereby helping to recreate these practices as higher quality service deliverers. I also find that other routines hinder medical home implementation, making them enablers of organizational inertia and the status quo. The concepts of “routine bundles” and “facilitating routines” are introduced to describe how routines impact innovation and change. Routine bundles are groups of routines which function similarly to promote the psychological, social, and work-related changes that factor into organizational progress. This makes inter-routine homogeneity an interesting focus for theorizing and inquiry. Facilit...
Task analysis for SI metric training

Whilst there is an enormous range of industrial activity, and many hundreds of job classifications, the analysis of the working task in relation to metric training needs is a much simpler matter. Broadly, the needs for metric appreciation and depth training can be split into three areas. ▾ High level management — where the degree of technical thinking and calculation is usually relatively small. ▾ Technical and middle levels of management — which includes designers, technologists, technicians — who use their technical skills in their design or managerial function. ▾ Craftsmen and unskilled workers — where the extent of the thinking is small or confined to a very narrow technical band. The range of the doing may be either extensive or limited.
Synthesis of B/Ga and B/In Heteronuclear Bidentate Lewis Acids: Formation of Intramolecular π‐Arene‐Gallium(III) and ‐Indium(III) Complexes

Reaction of 1,8-dilithionaphthalene x TMEDA (TMEDA=tetramethylethylenediamine) with dimesitylboron fluoride in diethyl ether followed by treatment with THF affords the Li(THF)(4) salt of dimesityl-1,8-naphthalenediylborate (1). Compound 1-Li(THF)(4) undergoes a ring-opening reaction with trimethyltin chloride to afford high yields of 1-(dimesitylboron)-8-(trimethyltin)naphthalenediyl (2), a compound in which a boryl and a stannyl moiety coexist at the peri positions of a naphthalene core. Compound 2 has been characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and X-ray single-crystal analysis which reveal the existence of a sterically crowded structure. Compound 2 is a useful starting material for the synthesis of other heteronuclear naphthalene derivatives. Thus, the transmetalation reaction of 2 with GaCl(3) or InCl(3) in THF results in high yields of 1-(dichlorogallium)-8-(dimesitylboron)naphthalenediyl (3) and 1-(dichloroindium)-8-(dimesitylboron)naphthalenediyl (4), respectively. These unprecedented boron/gallium and boron/indium heteronuclear bidentate Lewis acids have been characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and X-ray single-crystal analysis. Owing to the presence of a short contact between the ipso-carbon atom of a mesityl group and the heavy Group 13 element (C(ipso)bondGa 2.279(4) A for 3, C(ipso)bondIn 2.442(6) A for 4), compounds 3 and 4 are best described as intramolecular pi-arene complexes and are the first examples of such complexes. As shown by (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, this pi interaction subsists in solution.
H2O2 production by high-energy electrons on icy satellites as a function of surface temperature and electron flux

Abstract Chemistry on the icy surface of Europa is heavily influenced by the incident energetic particle flux from the jovian magnetosphere. The majority (>75%) of this energy is in the form of high energy electrons (extending to >10 MeV). We have simulated the electron irradiation environment of Europa with a vacuum system containing a high-energy electron gun for irradiation of ice samples formed on a gold mirror cooled with a cryostat. Pure water films of ∼2.6 μm thickness were grown at 100 K and then either cooled (to 80 K), warmed (to 120 K) or left at 100 K and subsequently irradiated with 10 keV electrons. The production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was monitored by observation of the 2850 cm−1 (3.5 μm) band. Equilibrium concentrations of H2O2, in units of percent by number H2O2 relative to water, were found to be 0.043% (80 K), 0.029% (100 K), and 0.0063% (120 K). These values are 33%, 22%, and 5%, respectively, that of the reported surface concentration on the leading hemisphere of Europa (Carlson, R.W., Anderson, M.S., Johnson, R.E., Smythe, W.D., Hendrix, A.R., Barth, C.A., et al. [1999]. Science 283(5410), 2062–2064) and less than the equilibrium concentrations formed by ion irradiation. In addition to the ice film temperature, the current of electrons was varied between different experiments to determine the production and destruction of H2O2 as a function of both electron flux and ice temperature. Variation in current was found to have little effect on the results other than accelerating arrival at radiolytic equilibrium.
Grandstanding, certification and the underpricing of venture capital backed IPOs

Abstract We examine the role of venture capital backing in the underpricing of IPOs. Controlling for endogeneity in the receipt of venture funding, we find that venture capital backed IPOs experience larger first-day returns than comparable non-venture backed IPOs. Between 1980 and 2000, the average return difference ranges from 5.01 percentage points to 10.32 percentage points. This return difference is particularly pronounced in the “bubble” period of 1999–2000. Consistent with the grandstanding hypothesis proposed by Gompers (J. Financial Econ. 42 (1996) 133), we find that higher underpricing leads to larger future flows of capital into venture capital funds, particularly after 1996. Cross-sectionally, the effect of underpricing is attenuated for younger venture capital firms and those that have previously conducted fewer IPOs.
Indole‐3‐acetic acid production by bacteroids from soybean root nodules

This study examined the question: do bacteroids within the nodule have the ability to produce indole-3–acetic acid (IAA) and does their IAA-producing ability correlate with the amount of IAA contained in the nodule? Soybean [Glycine max, (L.) Merr. cv. Tracy] plants were inoculated with a wild-type clone of Bradyrhizobium japonicum, 1–110 known to form nodules that contain low amounts of IAA or with 5-methyltryptophan-resistant B. japonicum, clones known to form nodules that contain large amounts of IAA. The resulting bacteroids were isolated from the nodules and examined for their ability to synthesize IAA. IAA production by wild-type bacteroids was 90 pmole IAA (mg protein)−1 h−1 and IAA production by mutant bacteroids was 620 to 690 pmole IAA (mg protein)−1 h−1. These data indicate that bacteroids from high IAA-containing nodules have an enhanced ability to produce IAA, implying that bacteroid-produced IAA accumulates in the nodule.
Solution structures of antimalarial drug-heme complexes

Paramagnetic metal centers [such as Fe(III) found within ferriprotoporphyrin IX heme (FPIX)] exert through space effects on the relaxation rate of nearby proton spins that depend critically on the metal-proton distance. We have measured these effects for all protons of several antimalarial drugs that bind to FPIX by systematically varying the drug:heme molar ratio in high field NMR experiments. These measurements allow us to determine precise FPIX Fe-drug H distances for the solution structures of noncovalent complexes formed between FPIX mu-oxo dimers and the antimalarial drugs chloroquine (CQ), quinine (QN), and quinidine (QD). Using these distances, we then performed distance restraint calculations to determine the lowest-energy solution structures of these complexes. Structures were solved for neutral, monoprotic (+1), and diprotic (+2) forms of the drugs. Analysis of these structures allows us to visualize for the first time the stereospecific differences between QN and QD binding to FPIX and the differences in populations of QN and QD solution structures upon changes in digestive vacuolar pH for drug resistant malarial parasites [Dzekunov, S. M., et al. (2000) Mol. Biochem. Parasitol. 110, 107-124]. The data indicate a previously unrecognized key role for the CQ aliphatic chain in stabilizing FPIX-CQ complexes, and suggest how lengthening or shortening the chain might perturb stability. We also define FPIX:drug stoichiometries of 2:1 for the complexes formed at physiological FPIX concentrations, in contrast to the 4:1 and 5:1 stoichiometries previously determined at higher FPIX concentrations [Dorn, A., et al. (1998) Biochem. Pharmacol. 55, 727-736]. These atomic resolution antimalarial drug-heme structures should help elucidate how these drugs inhibit formation of hemozoin during metabolism of heme within the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum and assist ongoing development of strategies for circumventing antimalarial drug resistance.
TARGETED DISRUPTION OF LUTEINIZING HORMONE/ HUMAN CHORIONIC GONADOTROPIN RECEPTOR GENE

LH/hCG receptors were disrupted by gene targeting in embryonic stem cells. The disruption resulted in infertility in both sexes. The gonads contained no receptor mRNA or receptor protein. Serum LH levels were greatly elevated, and FSH levels were moderately elevated in both sexes; estradiol and progesterone levels decreased but were not totally suppressed in females; testosterone levels were dramatically decreased and estradiol levels moderately elevated in males. The external and internal genitalia were grossly underdeveloped in both sexes. Abnormalities included ambiguous vaginal opening, abdominal testes, micropenis, dramatically decreased weights of the gonads and reproductive tract, arrested follicular growth beyond antral stage, disarray of seminiferous tubules, diminished number and hypotrophy of Leydig cells, and spermatogenic arrest beyond the round spermatid stage. LH/hCG receptor gene disruption had no effect on FSH receptor mRNA levels in ovaries and testes, progesterone receptor (PR) levels in ovaries and androgen receptor (AR) levels in testes. However, it caused a dramatic decrease in StAR and estrogen receptor-alpha (ERalpha) mRNA levels and an increase in ERbeta mRNA levels in both ovaries and testes. Estradiol and progesterone replacement therapy in females and testosterone replacement in males, to determine whether phenotype and biochemical changes were a consequence of decreased gonadal steroid levels or due to a loss of LH signaling, revealed complete restoration of some and partial restoration of others. Nevertheless, the animals remained infertile. It is anticipated that the LH receptor knockout animals will increase our current understanding of gonadal and nongonadal actions of LH and hCG.
Integrated Earth and Environmental Evolution of the Southwestern United States: The Clarence A. Hall Jr., Volume

This Geological Society of America (GSA) volume was produced in honor of Clarence Hall, Professor of Geology at the University of California, Los Angeles, after his retirement, to call attention to his “administrative and scientific contributions as well as to his dynamic, visionary leadership” (editors' introduction). The volume has 23 papers and is divided into four sections. In the first paper of the volume, “Archean Tectonics and Magmatism,” Warren Hamilton does one of the things he does best: stir up controversy! As a longtime fan of the greenstone belt literature, I found Hamilton's summary of the case against Archean plate tectonics very convincing. In contrast, his arguments that ”plumes probably do not exist in the modern Earth“ (and therefore should not be used to explain Archean geology) are completely unconvincing and ignore a wealth of seismological evidence for present-day plumes and superplumes.
Puzzles: Queues, Coups and More

This is my ninth and last column of puzzles. I want to thank my readers for their support; without their contributions I would never have made it this long. The puzzles in this column look at queues, revolutions, squash, and more Pareto improvements, all with answers provided at the end. We continue to award T-shirts for the best new puzzles and most innovative answers. The new winners are Amahai Glazer, Peter Karpoff, John Londregan, William Hurley, Hal Varian, and one for me. The editors are currently searching both for a new puzzles editor and for new puzzles. If you are interested in the job, this is your chance to apply by sending in a sample column with some of your favorite puzzles (with answers, please). Until the torch is actually passed, please keep sending your answers, comments, favorite puzzles and T-shirt size to me: Barry Nalebuff, "Puzzles," Yale School of Organization and Management, Box IA, New Haven, CT 06520. Once again, I thank you and wish you good luck in solving all your puzzles, not just the ones below.
Refining the control structure of loops using static analysis

We present a simple yet useful technique for refining the control structure of loops that occur in imperative programs. Loops containing complex control flow are common in synchronous embedded controllers derived from modeling languages such as Lustre, Esterel, and Simulink/Stateflow. Our approach uses a set of labels to distinguish different control paths inside a given loop. The iterations of the loop are abstracted as a finite state automaton over these labels. Subsequently, we use static analysis techniques to identify infeasible iteration sequences and subtract such forbidden sequences from the initial language to obtain a refinement. In practice, the refinement of control flow sequences often simplifies the control flow patterns in the loop. We have applied the refinement technique to improve the precision of abstract interpretation in the presence of widening. Our experiments on a set of complex reactive loop benchmarks clearly show the utility of our refinement techniques. Abstraction interpretation with our refinement technique was able to verify all the properties for 10 out of the 13 benchmarks, while abstraction interpretation without refinement was able to verify only four. Other potentially useful applications include termination analysis and reverse engineering models from source code.
Diamagnetically levitated robots: An approach to massively parallel robotic systems with unusual motion properties

Using large numbers of micro robots to build unique macrostructures has long been a vision in both popular and scientific media. This paper describes a new class of machines, DiaMagnetic Micro Manipulator (DM3) systems, for controlling many small robots. The robots are diamagnetically levitated with zero wear and zero hysteresis and are driven using conventional circuits. System test results have reported unusual motion properties, including exceptional open loop repeatability of motion (200 nm rms) and relative speeds (37.5 cm/s or 217 body lengths/s) [1]. A system using 130 micro robots as small as 1.7 mm with densities up to 12.5 robots/cm2 has been demonstrated. This paper reports initial data on robot trajectories, and shows that open loop trajectory repeatabilities on the order of 0.8 µm rms or better are feasible in a levitated state compared with 15 µm rms repeatability in a non-levitated state with surface contact. These results suggest an encouraging path to complex micro-robotic systems with broad capabilities.
Using cues to forage for information on the Web

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to study users’ behaviour when using different search engine results pages (SERPs) to identify what types of scents (cues) were the most useful to find relevant information to complete tasks on the Web based on information foraging theory. Design/methodology/approach – This study has designed three interface prototypes and conducted a qualitative study using the protocol analysis methodology. The subjects were recorded and videotaped to identify patterns of searching behaviours on visualization interfaces of SERPs. Findings – The study found that users found titles of categories or websites, keywords of categories, orientation of results and animation are strong scents that users follow to help find information on SERPs. If certain scents are not used followed on an interface, then their strength will diminish. Furthermore, the study showed that simple scent trails are more important to users than complicated trails. Originality/value – This study uses a qualitative...
The Effect of Traffic Safety Laws and Obesity Rates on Living Organ Donations

This paper uses variation in traffic safety laws and obesity rates as instruments to identify substitution patterns between living and cadaveric kidney donors in the presence of unobserved levels of altruism. The US market for organs is restricted by price controls where organ are donated purely for altruistic reasons. Using panel data from 1988-2008, we find that a 1% decrease in the supply of cadaveric donors per 100,000 increases the supply of living donors per 100,000 by .7%. With respect to traffic safety laws, a national adoption of partial helmet laws is estimated to decrease cadaveric donors by 6%, but leads to a 4.2% increase in the number of living donors, or a net effect of 1.8% decrease in the supply of kidney donations. The recent rise in obesity rates is estimated to increase living donor rates by roughly 18%. Lastly, we find evidence that increases in disposable income per capita is associated with an increase in the number of non-biological living donors within a state, but is not found to have an effect on biological donor rates.
Wide-area multi-object tracking with non-overlapping camera views

We present a system for wide-area multi-object tracking across disjoint camera views. We employ a probabilistic Petri Net-based approach to account for the uncertainties of the vision algorithms (such as unreliable background subtraction, and tracking failure) and to incorporate the available domain knowledge. We combine appearance features of objects as well as the travel-time evidence for target matching and consistent labeling across disjoint camera views. 3D color histogram, Histogram of Oriented Gradients, object size and aspect ratio are used as the appearance features. The distribution of the travel time is modeled by a Gaussian Mixture Model. By incorporating the domain knowledge about the camera configurations and the information about the received packets from other cameras, certain transitions are fired in the probabilistic Petri net. The system is trained to learn different parameters of the matching process. We present wide-area tracking of vehicles as an example where we used three non-overlapping cameras. The first and the third cameras are approximately 150 meters apart from each other with two intersections in the blind region. The results show the success of the proposed method.
Overwrite in thin film disk recording systems

Overwrite in thin film rigid disk recording is studied experimentally using disks with a wide range of magnetic moment and coercivity. Standard f/sub 2//f/sub 1/ overwrite is investigated in detail at various recording currents and different flying heights. A theoretical model is developed using simple analytical approximations that relate demagnetization-field-induced position shift (hard transition shift) to the measured overwrite. The demagnetization fields due to the leading edge transitions are calculated analytically including a good approximation to the gapped head image. The results compare well with experimental measurements. A new overwrite measurement technique using the second harmonic component of a 0.5f/sub 1/, signal is also described. >
Cooperative receding horizon control for multi-agent rendezvous problems in uncertain environments

We consider the problem of controlling vehicles to visit multiple targets and obtain rewards associated with each target with the added requirement that two or more vehicles are required to be present in the vicinity of each target in order to collect the associated reward. The environment is uncertain and targets may appear or disappear in real time. In view of the problem complexity, we focus on an optimization-based algorithm that makes decisions driven by available information. We develop a cooperative receding horizon controller to maximize the total reward obtained in a finite mission time horizon. We control the motion so as to maximize the expected rewards over a planning window, and show that the resultant trajectory is stationary in the sense that vehicles converge to targets without explicit target assignment.
Superoxide ion as a primary reductant in ascorbate-mediated ferritin iron release.

The mechanism of ascorbate-promoted ferritin iron reduction under aerobic conditions was studied. The unitial rate of ferritin iron release was determined by spectrophotometric measurement of the Fe(ferrozine)32+ complex which absorbs at 562 nm. Variation of the initial ferrozine concentration had no influence on the rate of iron release suggesting that ferrozine does not participate in the rate-determining step. Experimental measurements of the initial rate of iron release as a function of ascorbate concentration resulted in saturation kinetics with Vmax = 2.0 × 10−7 M · min−1 and KM = 1.3 × 10−3 M. The effect of pH was quite pronounced with a maximal rate of iron release at pH 7.0. Stoichiometric measurements on the reaction mixture, with added catalase, resulted in a ratio of 2 Fe(II) released per ascorbate. Ascorbate-mediated iron release was inhibited 85% by superoxide dismutase, but 0% inhibition was noted with aposuperoxide dismutase. It is proposed that superoxide ion, generated during the iron-promoted oxidation of ascorbate, acts as a reductant of ferritin iron. A mechanism of ferritin iron release consistent with these experimental observations is discussed.
Establishing a therapeutic hospital environment: the patient perspective.

In the previous issue of Geriatric Nursing, the ‘‘Acute Care of the Elderly’’ column considered aspects of a therapeutic hospital environment from the patient’s perspective. In this column, I focus on the therapeutic environment from the nurse’s perspective. Consideration of the work environment is especially pertinent in light of multiple issues that are specific to nurses. Nurses must contend with an aging workforce who suffer concomitant physical problems, increasing nurse workload with an aging population, increasing patient acuity, more complex technology, and an obese patient population, both young and old, with increased dependency care needs. A therapeutic environment is one that enhances function, efficiency, and safety. As nurses when we provide patient care, we need to consider how we help patients compensate for loss of function, monitor patient status, administer physiologic therapies, provide emotional support, and educate patients and families. In addition, we must account for indirect care activities that include documenting, integrating care, and supervising others in the provision of care. The following discussion highlights aspects of the environment that impact these functions and offer directions to create optimally therapeutic environments.
Borderline personality disorder in clinical practice.

OBJECTIVE: Most studies of borderline personality disorder have drawn patients from among hospital inpatients or outpatients. The aims of this study were to examine the nature of borderline personality disorder patients in everyday clinical practice and to use data from a sample of borderline personality disorder patients seen in the community to refine the borderline construct. METHOD: A random national sample of 117 experienced psychiatrists and psychologists from the membership registers of the American Psychiatric Association and American Psychological Association provided data on a randomly selected patient with borderline personality disorder (N=90) or dysthymic disorder (N=27) from their practice. The clinicians provided data on axis I comorbidity, axis II comorbidity, and adaptive functioning, as well as a personality description of the patient using the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (SWAP-200) Q-sort, an instrument designed for assessment and taxonomic purposes. Analyses compared border...
Persistent Policy Pathways: Inferring Diffusion Networks in the American States

The transmission of ideas, information, and resources forms the core of many issues studied in political science, including collective action, cooperation, and development. While these processes imply dynamic connections among political actors, researchers often cannot observe such interdependence. One example is public policy diffusion, which has long been a focus of multiple subfields. In the American state politics context, diffusion is commonly conceptualized as a dyadic process whereby states adopt policies (in part) because other states have adopted them. This implies a policy diffusion network connecting the states. Using a dataset of 187 policies, we introduce and apply an algorithm that infers this network from persistent diffusion patterns. The results contribute to knowledge on state policy diffusion in several respects. Additionally, in introducing network inference to political science, we provide scholars across the discipline with a general framework for empirically recovering the latent and dynamic interdependence among political actors.
DIMINISHED PROLIFERATION OF B BLAST CELL IN RESPONSE TO CYTOKINES IN ETHANOL-CONSUMING MICE

ABSTRACTWe and others have demonstrated that ethanol suppresses the antibody response in humans and animals. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ethanol affects cytokine-induced proliferative responses of splenic B blast cells, and whether the decreased response was due to an imbalance of the cytokine activity. Thus, the ability of spleen cells from individual ethanol-diet-fed C57BL/6 mice to proliferate and produce cytokines was determined. The ability of anti-IgM monoclonal antibodies (mAb)-activated splenic B blast cells in response to mouse recombinant IL-2 (rIL-2) or rIL-4 was also assessed. A thymidine incorporation assay was used to determine cell proliferation, and the conventional bioassays for cytokine-dependent cell proliferation were used for determining the bioactivity of cytokines. Data were analyzed with general linear model procedure.Our results showed that ethanol weakened the proliferative response of B cells in response to mitogen as well as to mouse rIL-2 and rIL-4. The ...
Evaluation of the child who convulses with fever.

Febrile seizures result from age-dependent hyperexcitability of the brain that is induced by fever. Although there are important genetic influences that render a febrile child more likely to develop seizures, it is the fever per se that causes the seizure.
Time Division Multiplexing Front-Ends for Multiantenna Integrated Wireless Receivers

The approach of time division multiplexing (TDM) within an integrated wireless receiver to reduce the power, area and cost of multiple antenna receivers is studied. A solution is proposed to address the cross-interference between multiplex channels that affected previous attempts at TDM for multiple receive antennas. Detailed analysis from a radio system viewpoint is provided for when TDM is used as a low complexity hardware technique for managing multiple antenna channels. Simple closed form noise figure relations in terms of the number of multiplex channels and the anti-alias filter rejection are developed. Noise figure expressions that relate an individual TDM amplifier or TDM amplifier array's noise figure to that of a regular static amplifier are also given. These simple relations provide a quick method of determining expected noise figure of such systems. A four-antenna 2.4 GHz LNA array circuit in CMOS is designed in a 0.18-μm technology. The noise and linearity performance of this circuit is measured to verify the developed theory. The results obtained show close agreement with the developed model of the TDM-based multi antenna receiver system.
Preliminary measurement results of biotinylated BSA detection of a low cost optical cavity based biosensor using differential detection

We report an optical cavity based biosensor using a novel differential detection method for point-of-care applications. Two laser diodes allow for multiplexing capability along with the ability to enhance the responsivity using differential detection. The laser wavelengths are chosen so that the optical intensities of two lasers change monotonically with opposite slopes upon the adsorption of desired biomarkers. The cavity width, PMMA thickness, and silver thickness have been optimized to achieve a large change in scaled differential value. We chose biotinylated BSA detection with Avidin as a receptor molecule to demonstrate the proposed design. Avidin is attached directly to the PMMA layer by physisorption. Then, biotinylated BSA is introduced to the sample and the intensities of the laser diodes are measured by a sCMOS camera. A change in the scaled differential value will correlate to the binding of biotinylated BSA. In this presentation, we will discuss simulation results, fabrication procedures, and preliminary measurement results.
Classification of lupus glomerulonephritis: an update

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multisystemic autoimmune disease commonly affecting the kidneys, mostly mediated by immune complexes, resulting in a spectrum of glomerular lesions. They range from mesangial proliferative, focal proliferative (often segmental) with 50% of glomeruli affected, and membranous glomerulonephritis, depending on individual susceptibility, environmental triggers and the physic-chemical characteristics of the immune deposits. The clinical manifestations include varying degrees of proteinuria, hematuria, nephrotic syndrome, renal insufficiency and hypertension. The proliferative categories can be qualified by several additional features, such as the pattern of proliferative disease, crescents, wire loop lesions and hyaline thrombi, the latter two representing amount and location of immune deposits apparent by light microscopy. Classification of lupus nephritis has evolved from the first version in 1975 as the original WHO classification. Subsequent versions have incorporated additional prognostic features into the various classes/categories. The current ISN/RPS classification of lupus glomerulonephritis has gained wide acceptance and was published in 2004, following an international consensus with significant refinement of the definitions and classes. The advantages and problems associated with this classification are discussed, based on subsequent clinicopathologic validation studies in the last 10 years.
Effects of Vineyard and Winemaking Practices Impacting Berry Size on Evolution of Phenolics during Winemaking

Four methods of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI), an irrigation technique whereby water is supplied at rates at or below the full evapotranspiration (ETc), were applied to Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. The grapes were thereafter processed with three winemaking techniques: control (10-day maceration), extended maceration (EM; 30-day maceration), and saignee (removal of 16% of must by volume at crushing). The 25% ETc treatment had higher concentrations (fresh weight basis) of skin anthocyanins and seed tannins. Overall, skin tannins showed increased biosynthesis in 100% ETc and 25/100% ETc, whereas seed tannins were mostly (positively) affected due to a reduction of fresh weight in 25% ETc. Extraction of anthocyanins and tannins during winemaking ranged from 40 to 73% and from 17 to 26%, respectively. During maceration, the extraction curves for both anthocyanins and tannins were unaffected by the RDI treatments; quantitative differences were caused primarily by the winemaking treatments and secondarily by the RDI treatments. Consistent with a higher content of anthocyanins, 25% ETc wines had higher concentrations of polymeric pigments and greater color saturation and a* (red color component) both at day 30 and after 120 days post-crushing. EM enhanced seed tannin extraction, which resulted in a 50% increase in wine tannins relative to control and saignee wines, but it lowered anthocyanins and color saturation. Saignee increased anthocyanins at day 5 by 22% and tannins by 24% (relative to control wines), resulting in higher concentrations of polymeric pigments after 120 days. Both saignee and control wines had a roughly equivalent proportion of seed- and skin-derived tannins, whereas EM wines had 73% seed-derived tannins.
Effects of Minority Status and Perceived Discrimination on Mental Health.

Based in a minority social stress perspective, this study uses propensity score matching techniques to assess the impact of self-reported discrimination on mental health. Using a sample of 14,609 young adults from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we explore whether the effects of discrimination vary across status characteristics (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and body mass), including both majority and minority populations. Further we investigate the heterogeneous effects of discrimination across propensity scores, or probabilities of experiencing discrimination. We find that self-reported discrimination increases the average perceived stress score and depressive symptoms score by roughly ½ standard deviation, but is not related to anxiety. Further, our results show that while all groups are negatively affected by discrimination, the magnitude of the impact is largest among groups with the lowest propensity scores.
Ionic strength-induced inactivation of mu-calpain in postmortem muscle.

The present study was conducted to study the stability of autolyzed -calpain activity and determine whether measurement of -calpain activity after anion exchange chromatography accurately re- flects its activity in postmortem muscle. Ionic strength and pH affected the stability of partially autolyzed - calpain. Complete loss of activity was observed as a result of binding of autolyzed -calpain to DEAE-Seph- acel when the large subunit of -calpain was autolyzed from 80 to 76 kDa. Therefore, determination of -cal- pain by standard anion exchange chromatography may underestimate -calpain activity in postmortem mus-
Using Natural Gas/Hydrogen Mixture as a Fuel in a 6-Cylinder Stoichiometric Spark Ignition Engine

Hydrogen added to natural gas improves the process of combustion with the possibility to develop engines with higher performance and lower environmental impact. In this chapter, experimental analyses on multi-cylinder heavy duty engines, fuelled with natural gas–hydrogen blends, are reported. Theoretical aspects on engine performance are illustrated and a formula to evaluate the benefit of H2 addition on NG combustion is defined. Experimental data on the effects of air index and exhaust gas recycling on combustion with different NG/H2 blends are discussed followed by an experimental comparison of stoichiometric and lean-burn strategies on the European transient cycle for heavy duty emission certification. Results of the study indicate that a right metering of hydrogen into the natural gas and an optimization of the charge dilution provides not only a reduction in tailpipe CO2 emissions and a more complete combustion process with a lower formation of THC and CO, but also a possible increase in engine efficiency, avoiding abnormal combustion phenomena.
Effect of Microbial Inoculum Fertilizer on the Growth and Yield of Super Hybrid Rice

The test took Liangyou 959 as material, comparing the influence of different fertilizer treatments on the growth and yield of super hybrid rice. The results showed that among the 4 dispose, the best efficiency was the dispose of the routine fertilizers + microbial inoculum fertilizer(spraying 300 g/667m2 every time), compared with the check test, there were 2.4 more tiller number of single plant averagely, and the absolute plant increased 11.05%, while the yield increased 10.3%. Generally speaking, we can conclude that microbial inoculum fertilizer has popularization and application value in the production of super hybrid rice.
Discussion On the Design Of Passenger Car Bumper Coating Line

This paper mainly introduces the general car bumper coating process and elaborates coating line design on its main process and the key points of the equipment.
Application of Time Reversal Acoustics in Shallow Water Environment

Based on pseudo-spectral method,this article calculates focusing and active sonar of time reversal in shallow water environment and introduces evolution process of forward modeling sound field distribution and back analysis sound field distribution for noise source frequency of 100Hertz.
PANCASILA: A Contemporary Application of Maqasid al-Shari‘ah?

This paper proposes that the traditional principle of maqa s id al-Shari ‘ah, or the higher intentions and object­tives of Islamic law, can go beyond the realm of theoretical Islamic jurisprudence and is made manifest in practical politics. I argue that the most robust example of this phenomenon occurs in Indonesia. I therefore examine whether or not the concept of Indonesia’s ‘secular’ and natio­nalistic doctrine of Pancasila, the Five Principles, can be construed as a contemporary application of maqa s id al-Shari ‘ah. This study strives to link the classical jurispru­dential tool of maqa s id al-Shari ‘ah , as discussed by al-Ghazālī (d. 1111), al-Shātibī (d. 1388) and more recently by Muham­mad al-Tahir Ibn ‘Āshūr (d. 1973), with the contemporary model of Pancasila.
Glossary of Land and Energy Resources Engineering

Technical and legal terms commonly used by land pollution control engineers and energy engineers are introduced. This chapter covers mainly the glossary terms used in the following two books: 1. Natural Resources and Control Processes 2. Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering
Omega-3 Fatty Acids and Cognitive Behavior

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) may influence cognition throughout the lifespan. This chapter will discuss how omega-3 PUFA supplementation may impact cognitive development in infants and children, cognitive performance in young adults, and age-related cognitive impairment in older adults. Research examining omega-3 PUFA supplementation in mothers and children shows positive effects on certain aspects of cognition; however, there is less evidence to support a role for omega-3 PUFAs in global indices of cognitive development. Studies in young adults are quite limited, with conflicting effects of omega-3 PUFAs on mood and cognitive measures, particularly executive function. In older adults, while epidemiological studies suggest that higher omega-3 PUFA intake and plasma and/or erythrocyte levels are associated with reduced cognitive decline, results from randomized controlled trials are less consistent. Though evidence points to a beneficial influence of omega-3 PUFAs on cognitive performance across the lifespan, the conclusions remain tenuous and this issue remains a topic in need of future research.
“It’s been an Experience, a Life Learning Experience”: A Qualitative Study of Hospitalized Patients with Substance Use Disorders

Background Individuals with substance use disorders (SUD) have high rates of chronic illness and readmission, yet few are engaged in addiction treatment. Hospitalization may be a reachable moment for initiating and coordinating addiction care, but little is known about motivation for change in the inpatient setting.
Cardiomyopathy: Danon Disease (Lamp2 Cardiomyopathy)

Consider heart transplant at earliest sign of HF due to rapid demise in patients with this disease
Advances in Psychotherapy for Depressed Older Adults.

We review recent advances in psychotherapies for depressed older adults, in particular those developed for special populations characterized by chronic medical illness, acute medical illness, cognitive impairment, and suicide risk factors. We review adaptations for psychotherapy to overcome barriers to its accessibility in non-specialty settings such as primary care, homebound or hard-to-reach older adults, and social service settings. Recent evidence supports the effectiveness of psychotherapies that target late-life depression in the context of specific comorbid conditions including COPD, heart failure, Parkinson’s disease, stroke and other acute conditions, cognitive impairment, and suicide risk. Growing evidence supports the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of psychotherapy modified for a variety of health care and social service settings. Research supports the benefits of selecting the type of psychotherapy based on a comprehensive assessment of the older adult’s psychiatric, medical, functional, and cognitive status, and tailoring psychotherapy to the settings in which older depressed adults are most likely to present.