cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Does reconstruction of the vesicourethral junction result in improved continence after radical prostatectomy

This Practice Point discusses the paper by Tewari and colleagues, which reports the effects on postoperative continence of incremental modifications to the surgical technique for creating the vesicourethral anastomosis during robot-assisted laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. Compared with an initial control technique, use of a 'posterior support' improved postoperative continence, both in terms of time to continence and absolute rate, and outcomes were even better when an 'anterior support' was also used (>97% continence within 1 year). The authors conclude that their data support the use of these technical modifications. Notably, however, surgical outcomes improve with surgical experience, even if the causes of amelioration are not known. The temptation to associate technical modifications with improved outcomes is great, but it is often difficult to definitively assess the benefits of incremental modification by comparison of consecutive patient groups. To properly evaluate surgical technique, we have to be committed to evidence-based medicine and accept the need for patient randomization.
Geo-localization policy based on a position message exchange for mobile nodes within wireless sensor network technology

Wireless sensor networks have the potential to become the future pervasive sensing technology. Large number of sensors and the major application scenario require manual location that may cause sensor position variation problem However, we need mechanisms to localize sensors randomly and control the correspondent movement. In such item, we propose in this paper a WSN policy using the peddling information for a centralized collection point to achieve a posterior localization and mobile entities history movement. By creating a position message exchange between sensor nodes we can trace the mobile trajectory. Results have been obtained by simulating a new geo-localization policy based on WSN.
Impact of race on male predisposition to birth asphyxia.

To examine the associations of: (a) neonatal sex with mild-to-moderate and severe birth asphyxia, (b) fetal sex with mortality due to birth asphyxia and (c) neonatal race with severe birth asphyxia. We used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) Database including the years 1993 to 2008 or its pediatric sub portion Kid’s Inpatient Database (KID) for the years 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2006. NIS database is collected annually from more than 1000 hospitals across the United States for millions of inpatient discharge summaries. We included newborns older than 36 weeks gestational age or more than 2500 g at birth. We excluded newborns with congenital heart disease, major congenital anomalies and chromosomal disorders. We compared birth asphyxia in males to females, and in each race compared with whites, and examined effect of sex in association with birth asphyxia within each race/ethnicity. There were 9 708 251 term infants (51.8% males) included in the study. There were 15 569 newborns diagnosed with severe birth asphyxia (1.6 in 1000); of them 56.1% were males. Odds ratio (OR)to have severe birth asphyxia in male newborns was 1.16 (confidence interval (CI): 1.12 to 1.20, P<0.001). Compared with Whites, African-American newborns had more birth asphyxia, OR 1.23 (CI: 1.16 to 1.31, P<0001), whereas Hispanics and Asians had less birth asphyxia. Native American newborns did not differ from their white counterparts. On comparing males to females within each race, male sex was associated with increased birth asphyxia in all races but Native American. Male sex and African-American race were associated with increased prevalence of birth asphyxia.
ALTERATION IN EXILE

Critics generally note a big shift in Lord Byron9s style: the potently gloomy Eastern Tales, showcasing the magnetically alienated Byronic Hero, give way to a sharply contrasting style, that of the conversational Don Juan (1819-24). Accounts of Byron9s career tend to treat this alteration as sudden or whimsical. In fact, it is intrinsically tied to exile, a connection illustrated by the verse-romance Mazeppa (1819), in many ways the forerunner of the contemporaneously begun Don Juan. Mazeppa is Byron9s most elaborate-even systematic-depiction of exile; its hero, tied onto a wild horse and sent off into the wilderness, learns to endure amid dramatically changed circumstances. As its hero describes his travails, Mazeppa yokes together a number of entities forced to interact, uneasy pairings that include horse/water, man/horse, past/present, history/ romance, and narrator/auditor. Dialogic interchange thus shapes Byron9s portrayal of exile; the conversational style he developed in Italy underscores M. M. Bakhtin9s emphasis on interaction across boundaries. Byron9s investment in alteration helps us to frame his seemingly dismissive treatment of some contemporaries, particularly the Laker poets. As Mazeppa particularly demonstrates in its elaborate echoing of Samuel Taylor Coleridge9s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798, revised 1817), Byron9s denouncement of what he called the "wrong revolutionary poetical system" was not repudiation so much as interchange, from the vantage of exile. Unlike the Rime, Mazeppa envisions narrative as subject to unpredictable recontextualization, a submission that marks exiled poet and distanced reader as the most important dialogic pairing in Byron9s late work.
Debates—Perspectives on socio-hydrology: Socio-hydrologic modeling: Tradeoffs, hypothesis testing, and validation

Socio-hydrology focuses on studying the dynamics and co-evolution of coupled human and water systems. Recently, several new socio-hydrologic models have been published that explore these dynamics, and these models offer unique opportunities to better understand these coupled systems and to understand how water problems evolve similarly in different regions. These models also offer challenges, as decisions need to be made by the modeler on trade-offs between generality, precision, and realism. In addition, traditional hydrologic model validation techniques, such as evaluating simulated streamflow, are insufficient, and new techniques must be developed. As socio-hydrology progresses, these models offer a robust, invaluable tool to test hypotheses about the relationships between aspects of coupled human-water systems. They will allow us to explore multiple working hypotheses to greatly expand insights and understanding of coupled socio-hydrologic systems.
Diagnosis of adolescent hypertension on initial screening by the use of height age.

Abstract The tremendous variability in growth and maturation during adolescence makes body mass a better determinant of blood pressure (BP) than chronologic age (CA). To evaluate whether two accepted indicators of body mass, height age (HA), and weight age (WA) could accurately predict hypertension on initial screening, 1426 healthy adolescents had their BP, height, and weight measured and Tanner stage assessed. The mean of three BP measurements were compared to eight published nomograms which correlate BP with height, weight, or CA. Patients with an initial elevated BP (>95 percentile for height, weight or CA) were reevaluated to verify persistent hypertension. Eighty-seven (6.1%) initially appeared to be hypertensive with 0.84% persistently hypertensive. The diagnosis of hypertension varied considerably when the BP measurements were reevaluated based on HA or WA. Height age was the most sensitive (100%) and specific (62.6%) criteria for the diagnosis of hypertension and can be used for initial BP screening in this age group.
Possible mechanism for late gestational development of the antioxidant enzymes in the fetal rat lung.

We hypothesized that a possible mechanism to explain the significant increases that occur in the pulmonary antioxidant enzyme (AOE) system late in gestation might be an endogenous increase in the norm
Negotiating Locality: Decentralization and Communal Forest Management in the Guatemalan Highlands

Decentralization is a political process, concerned with the distribution of power, resources, and administrative capacities across national territories. This research analyzes nominal decentralization of the forest sector in Guatemala, where recent legislation situates administrative power and territorial control of communal forests at the municipal level. We explore the local implications of this legislation, especially for communal forest management, in the context of historical power asymmetries between competing localities and the state. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and historical analysis of public policy in several municipalities in Guatemala’s Western Highlands, we suggest that decentralization policies at times diffuse centralization and actually increase state power at the local level, putting at risk and even weakening successful village-level forest governance structures and local livelihoods.
Approximate analysis of product-form type queueing networks with blocking and deadlock

Abstract A numerical procedure for analyzing exactly closed exponential queueing networks with finite queues is presented first. Due to the finiteness of these queues, blocking and deadlock may occur. Deadlocks are assumed to be detected and resolved instantaneously. The numerical procedure is then incorporated in an approximation algorithm for analyzing closed exponential queueing networks of the product-form type, in which some of the queues are finite. These finite queues are assumed to be linked together to form a single subnetwork. The approximation algorithm is based on a variant of Norton's theorem. Comparisons between the approximate results and exact numerical results were carried out and the relative error was observed to be small.
Gender Differences in the Effects of Acute Stress on Spatial Ability

Although reports that men and women differ in spatial ability are common, recent research examining stress effects on spatial navigation have not included analyses of gender differences. The current study investigated cue perception and mental rotation after an acute cold-water hand immersion stress in 156 undergraduates from the western United States. Gender differences were observed in spatial performance and spatial anxiety. Discriminant analysis revealed that distal gradient cue identification and mental rotation reaction times as well as spatial anxiety differed among men and women exposed to the acute stress and their warm-water hand immersion controls. These results indicate that stress differentially alters spatial performance in men and women, and underscores the importance of assessing gender differences when examining spatial ability.
Regulation Versus Modulation in GnRH Receptor Function

ABSTRACT Serum luteinizing hormone (LH) concentration after exposure to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) indicates that an instantaneous increase occurs in the rate of release of LH directly from the anterior pituitary, as measured dynamically during superfusion in vitro. On the other hand, estradiol-17β (E 2 ) alone shows no such instantaneous effect on LH release rate (at least for the first four hours), in either physiologic or pharmacologic concentrations. At the same time, brief (ten to 30 minute) exposure of isolated anterior pituitary plasma membranes to physiologic concentrations of E 2 significantly alters the binding of a fully biologically active 125 I-GnRH to its plasma membrane receptor protein. In order to characterize the effect of E 2 on GnRH binding further, we preincubated dispersed bovine anterior pituitary cells for six hours in the presence or absence of physiologic concentrations of E 2 (10 − 10 M), Following preincubation in the presence of E 2 , the cell suspension was incubated for 30 minutes with physiologic concentrations (5 × 1.0 − 11 − 5 × 10 − 10 M) of a fully biologically active 125 1-GnRH. The treatment, at least, doubled the number of biologically important high affinity GnRH binding sites (K d’s = 7.5 × − 10 − 11 − 4.5 × 10 − 10 M), and changed the binding capacity of some of the binding sites up to three fold, which altered the cooperativity of GnRH-receptor interaction. Thus, the interaction of E 2 with GnRH at the level of GnRH receptor is mandatory for the short-term pituitary effect of E 2 on LH release in vitro and in vivo. At least, during the initial exposure of anterior pituitary cells, GnRH and E 2 function more as a controller and modulator, respectively.
Immune regulation of transgene expression in the brain: B cells regulate an early phase of elimination of transgene expression from adenoviral vectors.

Cellular immune mechanisms that regulate viral gene expression within infected brain cells remain poorly understood. Previous work has shown that systemic immunization against adenovirus after vector delivery to the brain results in complete loss of brain cells infected by adenoviral vectors. Although T cells play an important role in this process, we demonstrate herein that B cells also significantly regulate transgene expression from the CNS. After the systemic immunization against adenovirus of animals injected via the brain with an adenoviral vector 30 days earlier, we uncovered substantial infiltration by CD19+ B cells of the area of the brain transduced by the virus. This suggests the involvement of B cells in the adaptive immune response-mediated loss of transduced cells from the brain. Confocal analysis of these brains demonstrated physical contacts between transduced brain cells and CD19+ cells. To test the hypothesis that B cells play a causal role in the loss of infected cells from the brain, w...
Phase separation of diamine chain-extended poly(urethane) copolymers: FTIR spectroscopy and phase transitions

Abstract As part of our continuing effort to understand microphase separation of poly(urethane urea) block copolymers, FTIR spectroscopy and thermal techniques (DSC and DMA) were used to investigate the phase behavior of two series of MDI–polytetramethylene oxide soft segment copolymers, chain-extended with ethylene diamine or a diamine mixture. Due to the complex nature and multiple absorbances in the carbonyl and N–H regions of the FTIR spectra, quantitative analysis was not possible. However, qualitative trends could be discerned, and the spectral changes were found to be in excellent agreement with our previous quantitative analysis of the same copolymers using small-angle X-ray scattering. DSC and DMA experiments both indicate that the soft phase Tg decreases with increasing hard segment content. This is contrary to increased hard segment mixing in the soft phase, but can be rationalized by taking into consideration soft segment crystallinity and the concentration of ‘lone’ MDI units in the soft phase.
Unexpected substituent effects in offset π-π stacked interactions in water

We have measured the rotational barriers of meta- and para-substituted N-benzyl-2-(2-fluorophenyl)pyridinium bromides in aqueous solution by dynamic NMR as a model system for offset-stacking interactions in proteins. Because the benzyl ring can stack with the 2-fluorophenyl ring in the offset conformation in the ground state, but not the transition state, the rotational barrier reflects the magnitude of the stacking interaction. Only a small (0.1 kcal/mol) change in rotational barrier was found for para substituents relative to hydrogen. A much larger energy difference was found for electronegative meta substituents (up to 0.66 kcal/mol for CF3). Evidence suggests that this is due at least in part to an electrostatic interaction between electron-poor hydrogens on one ring with the electronegative substituents on the other ring.
Claudication pain and hemodynamic responses to exercise in younger and older peripheral arterial disease patients

BACKGROUND Claudication patients who are candidates for exercise can frequently walk to maximal pain without experiencing exaggerated blood pressure and heart rate, as well as other clinical symptoms. However, these concomitant problems are more likely to become apparent as patients age. Consequently, this study compared the claudication and hemodynamic responses to exercise in younger and older peripheral arterial disease patients. METHODS Forty younger (mean age 60.4 yr, range 55-62) and 51 older (mean age 75.5 yr, range 73-81) patients with stable claudication symptoms performed a progressive treadmill walking test to maximal leg pain. The times to onset and to maximal claudication pain, peripheral hemodynamic measurements (oximetry, ankle systolic pressure, and ankle-to-brachial systolic pressure index), and central hemodynamic measurements (heart rate and brachial blood pressures) were obtained. RESULTS Onset and maximal claudication pain occurred 71 sec and 126 sec sooner (p < .05) in the older group, respectively. Greater reductions (p < .05) in foot transcutaneous oxygen tension, ankle systolic pressure, and ankle-to-brachial systolic pressure index were obtained during and following exercise in the older group. Furthermore, smaller increases (p < .05) in heart rate, brachial blood pressures, mean arterial pressure, and rate-pressure product were noted during exercise in the older group. CONCLUSIONS Greater impairment in the peripheral hemodynamic measurements occurs without exaggerated heart rate and blood pressure responses in older claudication patients who walk to maximal leg pain compared with younger patients.
A STUDY OF CONCURRENT DECISIONMAKING PROTOCOLS IN THE DESIGN OF A METAL CUTTING TOOL USING MONOTONICITY ARGUMENTS

Abstract In this paper, the objective is to study game-theoretic approaches for concurrent decision-making in engineering systems when well-defined, quantitative models are available to represent the different stages in the product life-cycle. The design and operation of a single-point metal cutting tool is used as an illustrative case-study and explicit models are developed for the design and operation stages of the life-cycle of the tool. Monotonicities in these two models have been evaluated symbolically and numerically. leading to the deduction of active constraints and the convenient computation of the rational reaction sets of the two players. Cooperative (Pareto). non-cooperative (Nash) and leader-follower (Stackelberg) solutions are obtained which show that the unique Pareto solution coincides with the Stackelberg strategy when Design is the leader but this is not necessarily the case when Manufacturing is the leader.
Preparation and characterization of boron oxysulfide glasses

Abstract Stable, homogeneous x B 2 O 3 +(1− x )B 2 S 3 glasses were prepared between 0⩽ x ⩽0.80. It was not possible to prepare homogeneous, stable glasses of compositions 0.85⩽ x ⩽0.95 due to a strong exothermic enthalpy of mixing between the B 2 S 3 and B 2 O 3 phases. Raman and 11 B NMR spectroscopies, used to characterize the structure of the glasses, show that the boron oxide structures of B 2 O 3 especially the six-membered (thioboroxol) rings, quickly diminish with increasing sulfide content, whereas the corresponding sulfide structures in B 2 S 3 remain relatively intense as the oxide content is increased. Differential scanning calorimetry and density measurements, used to characterize the physical properties of the glasses, show that the physical properties of these boron oxysulfide glasses heavily favor the B 2 S 3 properties regardless of the amount of B 2 O 3 added to the system. It is hypothesized that the stability of the thioboroxol ring group relative to that of the BS 3/2 trigonal group is a possible source of this behavior. The large heat of mixing for B 2 O 3 rich glasses is associated with the formation of new mixed boron oxysulfide structures of composition BS i O 3− i where 0 i
Food web structure and function in two arctic streams with contrasting disturbance regimes

Summary 1. We studied the effect of substratum movement on the communities of adjacent mountain and spring tributaries of the Ivishak River in arctic Alaska (69°1′N, 147°43′W). We expected the mountain stream to have significant bed movement during summer because of storm flows and the spring stream to have negligible bed movement because of constant discharge. 2. We predicted that the mountain stream would be inhabited only by taxa able to cope with frequent bed movement. Therefore, we anticipated that the mountain stream would have lower macroinvertebrate species richness and biomass and a food web with fewer trophic levels and lower connectance than the spring stream. 3. Substrata marked in situ indicated that 57–66% of the bed moved during summer in the mountain stream and 4–20% moved in the spring stream. 4. Macroinvertebrate taxon richness was greater in the spring (25 taxa) than in the mountain stream (20 taxa). Mean macroinvertebrate biomass was also greater in the spring (4617 mg dry mass m−2) than in the mountain stream (635 mg dry mass m−2). Predators contributed 25% to this biomass in the spring stream, but only 7% in the mountain stream. 5. Bryophyte biomass was >1000 times greater in the spring stream (88.4 g ash-free dry mass m−2) than the mountain stream (0.08 g ash-free dry mass m−2). We attributed this to differences in substratum stability between streams. The difference in extent of bryophyte cover between streams probably explains the high macroinvertebrate biomass in the spring stream. 6. Mean food-web connectance was similar between streams, ranging from 0.18 in the spring stream to 0.20 in the mountain stream. Mean food chain length was 3.04 in the spring stream and 1.83 in the mountain stream. Dolly Varden char (Salvelinus malma) was the top predator in the mountain stream and the American dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) was the top predator in the spring stream. The difference in mean food chain length between streams was due largely to the presence of C. mexicanus at the spring stream. 7. Structural differences between the food webs of the spring and mountain streams were relatively minor. The difference in the proportion of macroinvertebrate biomass contributing to different trophic levels was major, however, indicating significant differences in the volume of material and energy flow between food-web nodes (i.e. food web function).
Characterization of the temporal behavior of ultrashort pulses emerging from a near-field fiber probe

Abstract A photon correlation technique has been used to characterize the temporal behavior of a picosecond pulse train emerging from an aluminum-coated near-field fiber probe with a 100 nm aperture.
A new method for making advanced textbooks

The Space Science Series has developed a method of publishing advanced text and source books that provide up-to-date information on fast-moving fields. Seventeen books have been published, ranging in length from 484 to 1,294 pages. They are produced in between a year and two years at a price below $56. This article describes the procedure by which topics are selected and articles solicited and referred, as well as editorial and production processes. Fundraising and budgets are also described. The series might be used as a model for similar series in other scientific disciplines and for books on global issues that need advanced interdisciplinary study.
Electronic-to-rotational energy transfer in molecular collisions

Abstract A quantum mechanical study of collision induced electronic-to-rotational energy transfer in the fluorine—para-hydrogen system (F + H 2 ) is reported. The three potential energy surfaces of the system, constrained to lie in a fixed plane, are obtained by the diatomics-in-molecules approach, and close-coupling calculations are performed in a diabatic representation. An enhancement of rotationally inelastic (compared to rotationally elastic) transitions is observed when fluorine makes a transition from its upper to its lower spin—orbit state.
Theory of propellant ignition by heterogeneous reaction.

1 Massier, P. S. and Roschke, E. J., "Application of exhaust diffusers for rocket engine testing," Jet Propulsion Lab., Tech. Memo. 33-97 (August 21, 1962). 2 Barnes, C., Jr., private communication, Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, Calif. (February 1961). 3 Stratton, J. A., Electromagnetic Theory (McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc., New York, 1941), 4 Primich, R. I. and Hayami, R. A., "The focused Fabry-Perot resonator and its application to plasma diagnostics," paper presented at the 1963 National Professional Group—Microwave Theory and Techniques Symposium, Santa Monica, Calif. (May 20, 1963). 5 Morita, T., private communication, Stanford Research Institute Menlo Park, Calif. (December 1964). 6 Nichol, J., Siminski, V., and Wolf hard, H. G., "lonization in rocket flames," Thiokol Chemical Corp., Air Force Office of Scientific Research AFOSR-TN-60-285 (1960). 7 Cobine, J. D., Gaseous Conductors (Dover Publications Inc., New York, 1958). 8 Rosner, D. E., "Estimation of electrical conductivity at rocket nozzle exit section," ARS J. 32, 1602 (1962).
Novelty Detection: The TREC Experience

A challenge for search systems is to detect not only when an item is relevant to the user's information need, but also when it contains something new which the user has not seen before. In the TREC novelty track, the task was to highlight sentences containing relevant and new information in a short, topical document stream. This is analogous to highlighting key parts of a document for another person to read, and this kind of output can be useful as input to a summarization system. Search topics involved both news events and reported opinions on hot-button subjects. When people performed this task, they tended to select small blocks of consecutive sentences, whereas current systems identified many relevant and novel passages. We also found that opinions are much harder to track than events.
Carbofuran and Other Systemic Insecticides for Control of Insects on Flue-Cured Tobacco

Pretransplant, posttransplant, and pretransplant plus posttransplant applications of 10% granule formulations of aldicarb, carbofuran, disulfoton, GC-6506 (dimethyl p -(methylthio)phenyl phosphate), and phorate were applied to the soil of flue-cured-tobacco fields at 4 pounds active ingredient per acre for control of natural infestations of the tobacco flea beetle, Epitrix hirtipennis (Melsheimer), and artificial infestations of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta (L.), and tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens (F.). The pretransplant treatment of carbofuran provided flea beetle, hornworm, and budworm control for about 10, 7, and 5 weeks, respectively, and the pretransplant plus posttransplant treatment extended this control at least 3 weeks. Aldicarb, disulfoton, and phorate were less effective than carbofuran against flea beetles and inffective against budworms, whereas GC-6506 was ineffective against both of these insects. Aldicarb and disulfoton were ineffective against hornworms, whereas GC-6506 and phorate were not tested against this insect.
Refinement of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory solar benchmark computations and an improved parameterization for climate models

[1] A recent intercomparison study of solar radiative transfer models has revealed a notable difference (5%) in the total spectrum column absorptance, for a specified clear-sky atmospheric profile, between two principal line-by-line benchmark results (namely, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) and the Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Inc. models). We resolve this discrepancy by performing a series of “benchmark” computations which show that the water vapor continuum formulation, spectral line information, and spectral distribution of the solar irradiance at the top of the atmosphere are key factors. Accounting for these considerations reduces the difference between the two benchmarks to less than 1%. The analysis establishes a high level of confidence in the use of benchmark calculations for developing and testing solar radiation parameterizations in weather and climate models. The magnitude of the change in absorption in the newer GFDL benchmark computations, associated with the use of a more recent spectral line catalog and inclusion of the water vapor continuum, has also necessitated revising the solar parameterization used in the operational GFDL general circulation model (GCM). When compared with the newer reference computation, the older parameterization shows an underestimate of the clear-sky heating rate throughout the atmosphere, with the error in the atmospheric solar absorbed flux being about 20 W m−2 for a midlatitude summer atmosphere and overhead Sun. In contrast, the new parameterization improves the representation of the solar absorption and reduces the bias to about 5 W m−2. Another important feature of the new parameterization is a nearly 50% reduction in the number of pseudomonochromatic columnar calculations compared to the older formulation, with only relatively small increases in the biases in absorption for cloudy layers. This yields a reduction of about 10% in the GCM computational time. The effect of the new parameterization on the simulated temperature in the new operational GFDL climate GCM is also examined. There is an increased solar heating; this yields temperature increases exceeding 1 K in the lower stratosphere.
Evaluation of Submandibular Salivary Flow Rate in Different Age Groups

The production of unstimulated and citrate-stimulated submandibular saliva was examined in 90 male and female adults, aged 26-93 years. None was taking prescription medications for treatment of systemic disease. There was no diminution in submandibular gland fluid output, at rest or during stimulation, with increasing age. Similar findings, previously reported for the parotid glands, were also confirmed. These results demonstrate that major gland fluid secretion capacity is maintained in healthy older individuals.
Penetration of semi-infinite AD995 alumina targets by tungsten long rod penetrators from 1.5 to 3.5 km/s

Abstract The performance of confined AD995 Alumina against L D 20 tungsten long rod penetrators was characterized through reverse ballistic testing. The semi-infinite ceramic target was cylindrical with a diameter approximately 30 times the rod diameter. The target configuration included a titanium confinement tube and a thick, aluminum coverplate. The impact conditions ranged from 1.5 to 3.5 km/s with three or four tests performed at each of six nominal impact velocities. Multiple radiographs obtained during the penetration process allowed measurement of the penetration velocity into the ceramic and the consumption velocity, or erosion rate, of the penetrator. The final depth of penetration was also measured. Primary penetration approaches 75% of the hydrodynamic limit. Secondary penetration is very small, even at 3.5 km/s. The effective Rt value decreased from 90 kbar to 70 kbar with increasing impact velocity over the range of velocities tested. In tests in which the ratio of target diameter to penetrator diameter was reduced to 15, Rt, dropped by 30% to 50%. When a steel coverplate was used, total interface defeat occurred at 1.5 km/s.
Subjective well‐being in rich and poor countries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and discuss important predictors of subjective well‐being (SWB) that are relevant to explain well‐being as experienced by individuals in developing countries. The paper will use Egypt as example of an economy in transition to free market. Egypt is the largest country in Africa and Middle East and it is an example of an emerging market that struggles to achieve political stability and economic prosperity.Design/methodology/approach – This paper is based on data from international survey programs such as: Freedom in the World. Available at: www.freedomhouse.org; World Database of Happiness. Erasmus University Rotterdam. Available at: www.worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/statnat; Political Regimes Characteristics and Transitions. Available at: www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/polity/. Findings – The factors of absolute income, relative income and economic justice, freedom, human rights, social capital, and population density help to explain national SWB in developing ...
High-efficiency blue-green electrophosphorescent light-emitting devices using a bis-sulfone as host in the emitting layer

Abstract A bis-sulfone small molecule, 4,4′-bis(phenylsulfonyl)biphenyl has been evaluated as a host for the phosphor iridium(III) bis(2-(4,6-difluorophenyl)pyridinato- N , C 2′ )picolinate in blue-green organic light-emitting devices. In addition, a poly(norbornene)-based polymer functionalized with a 3,6-bis(carbazol-9-yl)carbazole moiety as a side group is utilized as a solution-processible hole-transport layer; comparison is made to the widely-used hole-transport polymer poly( N -vinylcarbazole) (PVK). At 100 cd/m 2 , the highest efficiency device incorporating the new polymer achieved an external quantum efficiency (EQE) of 6.9% (12.9 cd/A) with a turn-on voltage of 4.3 V. In comparison, the highest efficiency device using PVK achieved an EQE of 6.4% (11.3 cd/A) with a turn-on voltage of 6.0 V.
Decadal variability of the tropical stratosphere: Secondary influence of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation

This work was supported in part by grants from the Office of Naval Research and from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under grants NNX06AC06G (L. Hood, P.I.) and NNH08AI67 (J. McCormack, P.I.) issued through the Living With a Star research TR&T program. NOGAPS‐ALPHA simulations were made possible by a grant of computer time from the DoD High Performance Computing Modernization Program at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.
The cholinergic amacrine cells of rabbit retina receive on and off input: An analysis of [3H]-ACh release using 2-amino-4-phosphonobutyric acid (APB) and chloride free medium

Abstract Using the in vitro rabbit eye-cup we have examined the light-evoked release of ACh from cholinergic amacrine cells under conditions known to eliminate On responses in the retina. APB (100 μM), which blocks the photoreceptor/depolarizing bipolar cell synapse, reduced the light-evoked release of ACh by 80% but a small light-evoked response remained, which was potentiated by bicuculline. Depolarizing bipolar cells are also Cl − dependent. Cl − free medium caused a tenfold Ca 2+ -dependent increase in the release of ACh but some small light evoked release remained. These results indicate that the cholinergic amacrine cells receive On and Off input. Our findings are consistent with anatomical and electrophysiological evidence which suggests that the displaced cholinergic amacrine cells are On cells and the conventionally placed cholinergic amacrine cells are Off cells.
Hyalophysa Iwoffi sp.n. from the Fresh‐water Shrimp Palaemonetes paludosus and Revision of the Genus Hyalophysa

SYNOPSIS. Hyalophysa Iwoffi sp. n. is described from the shrimp, Palaemonetes paludosus. Its life cycle is like that of other exuviotrophic apostomes. Hyalophysa Iwoffi differs from the type species, H. chattoni, in the details of its infraciliature and the shape of its macronucleus during the trophont stage. Emended diagnoses of the genus, Hyalophysa, and the species, H. chattoni, also are given.
Shoulder pain in acute traumatic quadriplegia

Fifty two patients with traumatic quadriplegia admitted to a spinal cord injury program within 6 months of injury were studied retrospectively. Seventy five per cent had shoulder pain documented in their medical records during initial rehabilitation, and 60% had shoulder pain for 2 weeks or more. When shoulder pain was documented it was bilateral in 61% of the cases. Age greater than 50 years, decreased shoulder range of motion, and not receiving shoulder exercise during the first 2 weeks after injury were positive risk factors associated with the onset of shoulder pain. At discharge 42% of the patients with shoulder pain were pain-free, 35% were noted to have improvement of their pain, and 23% had the same or worse shoulder pain. Study results demonstrate the high incidence of shoulder pain during initial rehabilitation of patients with traumatic quadriplegia and the importance of starting shoulder exercises during early acute care.
The Spectral Results of the Far-Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer Instrument on COBE

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) spectral results of the Far-Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) instrument are summarized. Some questions that have been raised about the calibration accuracy are also addressed. Finally, we comment on the potential for major improvements with new measurement approaches. The measurement of the deviation of the CMB spectrum from a 2.725 ± 0.001 K blackbody form made by the COBE-FIRAS could be improved by nearly 2 orders of magnitude.
The effect of povidone iodine flush versus drops on conjunctival colonization before intravitreal injections.

Background To determine the most effective method of applying povidone iodine 5% to decrease conjunctival colonization before intravitreal injections.
Understanding Cross‐Cultural Management, 2nd Edition

Cross-cultural competence in management is necessary to succeed in organizational life as we interact in the global environment of business and appreciate even more the increasing diversity of workforces that help us achieve our business goals, mission, vision, and key objectives. The serious reader who is interested in managing across national and cultural boundaries can sharpen skills and apply the cross-cultural concepts, international case studies, and mini-cases to the practical world of work. Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2nd ed. (2011; ISBN: 978-0-273-73295-2) is published by Pearson/Financial Times (paperback).
Suboptimal awareness and comprehension of published preexposure prophylaxis efficacy results among physicians in Massachusetts.

In 2010, the centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA)004 and iPrEx trials (microbicide gel containing tenofovir and oral pill containing tenofovir–emtricitabine, respectively) demonstrated that antiretroviral preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) reduced the risk of HIV acquisition among high-risk individuals. To determine the facilitators and barriers to PrEP provision by health-care providers, we conducted an online, quantitative survey of Massachusetts-area physicians following the publication of the CAPRISA and iPrEx results. We assessed awareness and comprehension of efficacy data, prescribing experience, and anticipated provision of oral and topical PrEP among physicians, as well as demographic and behavioral factors associated with PrEP awareness and prescribing intentions. The majority of HIV specialists and generalist physicians were aware of data from these PrEP trials and able to correctly interpret the results, however, correct interpretation of findings tended to vary acco...
The Enhancement of Teaching Skills in US Medical Schools: An Overview and some Recommendations

Most medical teachers have little or no preparation for their responsibilities as teachers. A growing number in the United States, however, are expressing an interest in enhancing their teaching skills and are attending faculty development programmes being offered by their own medical schools and by various professional organizations. This article describes those characteristics of effective faculty development programmes which are most logically defensible.
Patterns of prey use by lesser scaup Aythya affinis (Aves) and diet overlap with fishes during spring migration

Recent decline in the lesser scaup Aythya affinis population has been linked to changes in wetland conditions along their spring migration routes. In particular, the use of amphipod prey by lesser scaup has declined in many regions of the upper Midwest U.S.A. and has been linked to expanded fisheries, although empirical data on diet overlap are lacking. To explore patterns of prey use by lesser scaup and diet overlap with fishes, we quantified diets of scaup and fishes during the 2003 and 2004 spring migration in eastern South Dakota, U.S.A. We compared diet overlap between lesser scaup and fishes collected from Twin Lakes, South Dakota—an important stopover location for spring-migrating scaup. Plant seeds occurred in >95% of lesser scaup diets (n = 118) and represented an appreciable amount of consumed biomass (>70%). Gastropods, amphipods, and chironomids were the most abundant invertebrate prey taxa and occurred in 29–34% of lesser scaup diets. Although relatively frequent, these taxa each contributed only 4–27% of the diet by weight. Percent dry mass of amphipods, a preferred prey by lesser scaup, was low (4%) indicating that amphipod availability may be reduced during spring migration. Analysis of fish diets showed that black bullhead Ameiurus melas and yellow perch Perca flavescens had the highest diet overlap with lesser scaup at 94% and 92%, respectively. Moreover, mean size of amphipods and chironomids found in fish diets were significantly larger than that consumed by lesser scaup. Our findings support the notion that amphipod use by spring-migrating lesser scaup has declined and that size-selective predation by fishes may influence prey availability for lesser scaup.
Surviving sensor network software faults

We describe Neutron, a version of the TinyOS operating system that efficiently recovers from memory safety bugs. Where existing schemes reboot an entire node on an error, Neutron's compiler and runtime extensions divide programs into recovery units and reboot only the faulting unit. The TinyOS kernel itself is a recovery unit: a kernel safety violation appears to applications as the processor being unavailable for 10-20 milliseconds.Neutron further minimizes safety violation cost by supporting "precious" state that persists across reboots. Application data, time synchronization state, and routing tables can all be declared as precious. Neutron's reboot sequence conservatively checks that precious state is not the source of a fault before preserving it. Together, recovery units and precious state allow Neutron to reduce a safety violation's cost to time synchronization by 94% and to a routing protocol by 99.5%. Neutron also protects applications from losing data. Neutron provides this recovery on the very limited resources of a tiny, low-power microcontroller.
Opiate Dependence in Schizophrenia: Case Presentation and Literature Review

In the past decade opioid pain reliever misuse among the U.S. population has increased to epidemic proportions. While the U.S. has only 4% of the world's population, Americans consume 86% of the world's opioids. In 2011, approximately 13 million people (5% of the U.S. population) reported nonmedical use of prescription opioids, which are now the second most commonly abused class of drug behind cannabis. There has been little in the way of formal study examining the association between mental illness and prescription opiate abuse, but preliminary evidence suggests a strong association. Neurobiological processes involved in psychosis and opiate abuse may partially explain this association. Despite compelling evidence of the growth in opiate misuse and the potential relationship with mental illness, patients with mental disorders and/or substance abuse are routinely excluded from randomized trials, making it impossible to better understand these phenomena. Treatment guidelines, especially regarding opioid agonists such as methadone and buprenorphine for people with mental illness, are woefully inadequate. We present the case of a young man with schizoaffective disorder who sustained an injury and developed chronic back pain. Opioids were prescribed and he quickly progressed to abusing increasing doses of opioids, which eventually led to daily heroin use. The young man struggled with repeated relapses, serious use-related consequences and suicide attempts. This case highlights the role of chronic pain and opioid prescribing, the segue from prescribed use to abuse and dependence, and the transition to heroin use. It demonstrates the difficulty patients may have in obtaining adequate treatment for co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse and how outcomes are improved when treatment is integrated to address both disorders. Comprehensive treatment must involve a combination of case management and medical management, including possible opioid replacement therapy.
The dual of Göllnitz’s (big) partition theorem

We present a new companion to the deep partition theorem of Gollnitz and discuss it in the context of a generalization of Gollnitz’s theorem by Alladi–Andrews–Gordon that was obtained by the method of weighted words. After providing a q-theoretic proof of the new companion theorem, we discuss its analytic representation and its link to the key identity of Alladi–Andrews–Gordon.
Regulation of tRNA methylase by thyroxine in rat liver.

The specific activities of the crude and the pH 5.0 precipitated tRNA methylase preparations from thyroidectomized rats were about 30‰ and 66‰, respectively, of those from normal animals. The activity of the crude preparation returned to normal level within 3 hr after thyroxine treatment, but the activity did not change in the pH 5.0 precipitate fraction. The pH 5.0 supernatant fraction inhibited the activity of the pH 5.0 precipitated enzyme. There was a 2-fold increase in the concentration of the natural inhibitor in thyroid deficiency. (Endocrinology95:1185, 1974)
Outcomes of ethical leadership among salespeople

Abstract The study of ethical leadership has gained importance in recent years given the number of business scandals involving corporate leaders. This study, using a sample of 331 salespeople, expands upon prior research by examining how ethical leadership influences several important job outcomes (perceived organizational fit, organizational identification, and organizational citizenship behavior) that have seldom been included in previous studies. The results indicate that ethical leadership directly influences salespersons' perception of the degree to which their values fit with the organization's values, their willingness to engage in extra-role behavior, organizational identification, and turnover intentions. The results show that ethical leaders positively influence employees' job attitudes and behaviors.
SCO5745, a Bifunctional RNase J Ortholog Affects Antibiotic Production in Streptomyces coelicolor

The bacterial RNases J are considered bifunctional RNases possessing both endo- and exonucleolytic activities. We have isolated an RNase J ortholog from Streptomyces coelicolor encoded by the gene sco5745. We overexpressed a decahistidine-tagged version of SCO5745 and purified the overexpressed protein by immobilized metal ion affinity chromatography. We demonstrated the presence of both 5′-to-3′ exonucleolytic and endonucleolytic activities on the Bacillus subtilis thrS transcript. Exonucleoytic activity predominated with 5′ monophosphorylated thrS, while endonucleolytic activity predominated with 5′ triphosphorylated thrS. While sco5745 is the only RNase J allele in S. coelicolor, the gene is not essential. Its disruption resulted in delayed production of the antibiotic actinorhodin, overproduction of undecylprodigiosin, and diminished production of the calcium-dependent antibiotic, in comparison with the parental strain.
Shaping senior leader officer talent: how personnel management decisions and attrition impact the flow of army officer talent throughout the officer career model

Army Officers play a critical role in our nation's security strategy. Throughout a career of service, officers develop talents through a unique and rare set of experiences, education, and formal training. The demand by corporations for these talents, coupled with a distinct feature of the Officer Career Model, limited lateral entry, create significant retention challenges for the U.S. Army. Understanding how personnel policies, resources, and organizational decisions affect the flow of officer talent through the Officer Career Model is a first step in addressing these retention challenges. This analysis employs discrete event simulation to quantify the probable impacts of attrition on the distribution of talent available for service across the Army's officer ranks.