cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
DIRECT MEASUREMENT OF COMMUNICATION DURING PSYCHIATRIC ADMISSION INTERVIEWS.

Abstract A new technique has been developed which allows the continuous, automatic and direct recording of the auditory and visual communication between two persons. This study presents findings derived from the application of this technique to the analysis of interviews of newly-admitted patients by the admissions director of a large state hospital. Although most of the patients included in the study were acutely disturbed at the time of the interview, all but two began responding almost immediately and continued to respond throughout the interview at rates high enough for the interview to proceed satisfactorily. Both the patients and the interviewer adjusted to the artificial nature of closed-circuit television within 10–15 min. The patients' rates of looking, listening and talking correlated negatively with the severity of their illness. Cumulative records of several interviews demonstrate that speech-content of significance to a patient frequently correlates with altered rates of looking and listening. Suggestions for further research with this method are also given.
Generalized tube model of biased reptation for DNA-gel electrophoresis

We present a generalized tube model for the theoretical analysis of the reptational motion of DNA in gel electrophoresis. The generalized model incorporates effects of molecular fluctuations and is capable of explaining some main features observed in electrophoresis experiments involving periodic inversions of the external electric field. These features may be attributed to a delicate interplay between the internal motion and the center of mass motion of the DNA molecules under pulsed field conditions.
Particle size nonuniformity in large scale columns

Experiments were made on particle size distribution in a packed tube, which has an important effect on the potential efficiency of large columns. Results obtained with 80/100 mesh chromosorb W and l20/l70 mesh glass beads show that, irrespective of mechanism, larger particles tend to accumulate at the outside and therefore greater velocities are expected at the outside. It was concluded that particle size variation can easily explain full velocity variation, but that the wall effect can only account for a small fraction, if any, of the variation. Particle size variation, however, cannot be ignored. (P.C.H.)
Omega-3 fatty acids are oxygenated at the n-7 carbon by the lipoxygenase domain of a fusion protein in the cyanobacterium Acaryochloris marina

Lipoxygenases (LOX) are found in most organisms that contain polyunsaturated fatty acids, usually existing as individual genes although occasionally encoded as a fusion protein with a catalase-related hemoprotein. Such a fusion protein occurs in the cyanobacterium Acaryochloris marina and herein we report the novel catalytic activity of its LOX domain. The full-length protein and the C-terminal LOX domain were expressed in Escherichia coli, and the catalytic activities characterized by UV, HPLC, GC-MS, and CD. All omega-3 polyunsaturates were oxygenated by the LOX domain at the n-7 position and with R stereospecificity: α-linolenic and the most abundant fatty acid in A. marina, stearidonic acid (C18.4ω3), are converted to the corresponding 12R-hydroperoxides, eicosapentaenoic acid to its 14R-hydroperoxide, and docosahexaenoic acid to its 16R-hydroperoxide. Omega-6 polyunsaturates were oxygenated at the n-10 position, forming 9R-hydroperoxy-octadecadienoic acid from linoleic acid and 11R-hydroperoxy-eicosatetraenoic acid from arachidonic acid. The metabolic transformation of stearidonic acid by the full-length fusion protein entails its 12R oxygenation with subsequent conversion by the catalase-related domain to a novel allene epoxide, a likely precursor of cyclopentenone fatty acids or other signaling molecules (Gao et al, J. Biol. Chem. 284:22087-98, 2009). Although omega-3 fatty acids and lipoxygenases are of widespread occurrence, this appears to be the first description of a LOX-catalyzed oxygenation that specifically utilizes the terminal pentadiene of omega-3 fatty acids.
Structural reanalysis for topological modifications - A unified approach

A unified approach for structural reanalysis of all types of topological modifications is presented. The modifications considered include various cases of deletion and addition of members and joints. The most challenging problem where the structural model is itself allowed to vary is presented. The two cases, where the number of degrees of freedom is decreased and increased, are considered. Various types of modified topologies are discussed, including the common conditionally unstable structures. The solution procedure is based on the combined approximations approach and involves small computational effort. Numerical examples show that accurate results are achieved for significant topological modifications. Exact solutions are obtained efficiently for modifications in a small number of members.
The sources of variability in U.S. food prices

Food prices surged in the United States and around the world between 2006 and 2008. Global increases have been attributed to income growth in the developing world, diversion of farm products from food to industrial usage, speculation in commodity markets, and energy price increases. Although pass-through of farm commodity price increases to retail prices may be mitigated by additional processing costs and food sector organizational structure, food prices in the U.S. have also recently outpaced general price increases. Time series analysis of factors influencing monthly food prices from 1970 through February 2009 suggest that innovations in farm prices and manufacturing wages, rather than consumer incomes or the prices of other food production inputs including fuel play the most significant role in determining food price changes.
Out-of-hospital analgesia in adults and children

Study objectives: Numerous studies have assessed the delivery of analgesia in the emergency department; however, few have assessed analgesia delivery in the out-of-hospital setting. We describe the use of out-of-hospital analgesia in adults and children with suspected extremity fractures or burns. Methods: This was a retrospective review of all patient encounters in a statewide emergency medical services (EMS) database from January 2001 through December 2002. The statewide database consists of a mix of rural and small urban EMS systems with more than 200,000 annual patient encounters. Records for all patients with fractures or burns, excluding multisystem trauma and head injuries, were included. Data collected included age, type of injury, pain medication administration, and adjunctive therapies for fracture management. Interventions including oral suctioning, oral or nasal airway, bag-valve-mask ventilation, endotracheal intubation, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and naloxone use were collected for patients receiving analgesia. This study was approved by the hospital institutional review board. Results: A total of 426,767 EMS runs were reviewed. Fractures or burns were identified in 25,647 patients. Of these, 21,393 patients were included in the study, with 4,254 meeting exclusion criteria. There were 2,120 (9.9%) patients younger than 18 years compared with 19,273 (90.1%) patients who were 18 years and older. Overall, 9.9% of patients received any type of analgesia. The rate of analgesia use in patients younger than 18 years was 13.0% (95% confidence interval [CI] 11.6% to 14.5%). For patients 18 years and older, 9.5% received analgesia (95% CI 9.1% to 10%). Of the 20,584 patients with fractures, 49.7% (95% CI 47.5% to 51.9%) of children and 23.2% (95% CI 22.6% to 23.8%) of adults were splinted. Cold application for patients with fractures occurred in 38.0% (95% CI 37.5% to 42.0%) of children and 14.8% (95% CI 14.3% to 15.3%) of adults. An intravenous line was placed in 21.9% of children and 22.3% of adults. Adults receiving analgesia were more likely to undergo an intervention for airway or vascular compromise compared with those receiving no analgesia (1.1% versus 0.5%). Only 1 child (0.1%) who received analgesia required any of the airway or cardiac interventions. Conclusion: In this study, children were more likely to receive analgesia for their injuries compared with adults. In addition, children were more likely to receive adjunctive therapy for fracture management. The need for airway or cardiac interventions in patients receiving analgesia was limited. The overall rate of analgesia delivery remains low.
Tolerability of extended duration intravenous milrinone in patients hospitalized for advanced heart failure and the usefulness of uptitration of oral angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors.

Milrinone is a phosphodiesterase inhibitor that has been shown to improve hemodynamic parameters in patients with class III to IV heart failure when administered intravenously for ≤48 hours. This study examines the tolerability of long-term intravenous milrinone therapy and assesses its utility in allowing upward titration of oral vasodilator agents. A retrospective review of hospital records identified 63 patients who underwent hemodynamic monitoring and received intravenous milrinone for >24 hours in a critical care setting. Hemodynamics and medications were recorded before and after 24 hours of milrinone therapy. Additional medications, as well as any adverse events, were recorded throughout milrinone therapy. The mean dose of milrinone was 0.43 ± 0.10 μg/kg/min, with a mean duration of 12 ± 15 days (range 1 to 70). Therapy was continued for >48 hours in 89% of patients. After 24 hours of milrinone therapy, patients exhibited significant improvements in pulmonary artery pressures, pulmonary capillary wedge pressures, and cardiac index. When compared with baseline, significantly more patients received angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors after 24 hours of milrinone and at the end of milrinone therapy (67% vs 86%, p <0.01). Likewise, significantly more patients also received oral hydralazine and/or nitrates at the end of milrinone therapy (38% vs 65%, p <0.01) when compared with baseline. The mean doses of most oral medications at the 3 time periods were similar. The ACE inhibitor dose was significantly higher at the end of milrinone therapy when compared with baseline, and hydralazine dose was significantly higher at the end of therapy when compared with 24 hours. Few adverse effects were noted, with only 10% of patients experiencing symptomatic ventricular tachycardia and 2 patients with significant hypotension requiring discontinuation of the drug. The adverse events were similar in the group of patients who received milrinone for ≥7 days compared with the entire cohort. Milrinone was well tolerated over the long term in a controlled inpatient setting, and allowed uptitration of oral vasodilator therapy.
Test of the overlap ratio method on the calculation of the aqueous hydration free energy difference between acetone and dimethylamine

The overlap ratio method, used previously for relatively simple systems only, has been tested successfully in an aqueous system: the calculation of the hydration free energy difference between acetone and dimethylamine. The results are compared with previous calculations on the same system using the perturbation method and the finite difference thermodynamic integration method.
Records and Recollections: A New Look at Barbara McClintock, Nobel-Prize-Winning Geneticist

BARBARA McClintock (1902-1992), one of the foremost women scientists in twentieth-century America, is most noted for her pioneering research on transposable elements in maize, for which she was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology. Much has been written about McClintock’s life,
Terminal decline and practice effects in older adults without dementia: The MoVIES project

Objective: To track cognitive change over time in dementia-free older adults and to examine terminal cognitive decline. Methods: A total of 1,230 subjects who remained free from dementia over 14 years of follow-up were included in a population-based epidemiologic cohort study. First, we compared survivors and decedents on their trajectories of 5 cognitive functions (learning, memory, language, psychomotor speed, executive functions), dissociating practice effects which can mask clinically significant decline from age-associated cognitive decline. We used longitudinal mixed-effects models with penalized linear spline. Second, limiting the sample to 613 subjects who died during follow-up, we identified the inflection points at which the rate of cognitive decline accelerated, in relation to time of death, controlling for practice effects. We used mixed-effects model with a change point. Results: Age-associated cognitive trajectories were similar between decedents and survivors without dementia. However, substantial differences were observed between the trajectories of practice effects of survivors and decedents, resembling those usually observed between normal and mildly cognitively impaired elderly. Executive and language functions showed the earliest terminal declines, more than 9 years prior to death, independent of practice effects. Conclusions: Terminal cognitive decline in older adults without dementia may reflect presymptomatic disease which does not cross the clinical threshold during life. Alternatively, cognitive decline attributed to normal aging may itself represent underlying neurodegenerative or vascular pathology. Although we cannot conclude definitively from this study, the separation of practice effects from age-associated decline could help identify preclinical dementia. Neurology ® 2011;77:722–730
Leadership Styles for the New Millenium: Creating New Paradigms:

As the second millennium draws to a close, leadership educators should examine what can be learned from the evolution of leadership as modern societies have developed, and participate in creating new leadership paradigms for the future. Changes in government, families, knowledge/technology, business, health-care, social activism and religion will necessitate new leadership approaches in Millennium 2000. To begin discussion among leadership educators in preparing for these new paradigms, this article reviews the evolution of leadership, projects changes which may occur during the next century, and proposes alternative administrative, catalytic, collegial, humanitarian/activist, innovative, religiosity, and visionary leadership paradigms which may evolve.
Shuffled belief propagation decoding

In this paper, we propose a shuffled version of the belief propagation (BP) algorithm for the decoding of low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. We show that when the Tanner graph of the code is acyclic and connected, the proposed scheme is optimal in the sense of MAP decoding and converges faster (or at least no slower) than the standard BP algorithm. Interestingly, this new version keeps the computational advantages of the forward-backward implementations of BP decoding. Both serial and parallel implementations are considered. We show by simulation that the new schedule offers better performance/complexity trade-offs.
First fast Z-pinch current scaling experiments suggest faster radiated power dependence

Summary form only given. In previous current-scaling experiments performed by William A. Stygar, the load masses were 5.8 mg for 90 kV charging of the Marx generators and 2.7 mg for 60 kV charging, resulting in implosion times of the order of 95 ns. The observed average peak radiated powers and energies were respectively 132TW and 1.625MJ for the 90-kV shots and 82.3TW and 0.841MJ for the 60-kV shots. The peak radiated X-ray power was proportional to the 1.24th power of the load current (P/spl prop/I/sup 1.24/), and the total radiated X-ray energy was proportional to the 1.73rd power of the load current (E/spl prop/I/sup 1.73/). In the present current scaling experiments the purpose is to look at current scaling of X-ray energy and power at shorter implosion times. The wire number (300), the array diameter (20 mm) and the height (1 cm) were the same as in previous studies. However the load masses were half the previous ones and equal to 2.5 and 1.25 mgr. This caused the arrays to pinch faster: /spl sim/80 ns into the current pulse. The power output at full charging of the Marx's (90 kV) and the standard 100 ns current drive of Z driver was quite high for a single 20-mm diameter W wire array and equal to 170TW. The total radiated energy was equal to 1.14MJ. We fired one shot at full 90 kV charge (Z/spl I.bar/1142) and a second one at 60 kV (Z/spl I.bar/1143). The pinches were of very high quality as witnessed by the output X-ray pulses and framing cameras. The FWHM of both shots were 3.9 ns and the rise times 2.5 and 3.1 ns. The peak load currents were respectively 16.45 and 11.09MA. The radiated power ratio is equal to the current ratio to the 1.88th power (P/spl prop/I/sup 1.88/) while the ratio of the total radiated energy is almost the same and equal to the 1.90th power of the current ratio (E/spl prop/I/sup 1.90/). Despite the fact that fast pinches do not use all the available Z driver energy and consequently deliver less total radiated X-ray energy, they however yield more radiated power and tighter stagnations than the slower, higher mass pinches. This may be most important for ICF loads. More shots are planned to further validate and confirm these scoping results.
Substructure search procedures for macromolecular structures

This paper accompanies a lecture given at the 2003 CCP4 Study Weekend on experimental phasing. The first part is an overview of the fundamentals of Patterson methods and direct methods with the audience of the CCP4 Study Weekend in mind. In the second part, a new hybrid substructure search is outlined.
Effect of Neem (Azadirachta indica) on the Survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Dairy Manure

Escherichia coli O157:H7 (EcO157) shed in cattle manure can survive for extended periods of time and intervention strategies to control this pathogen at the source are critical as produce crops are often grown in proximity to animal raising operations. This study evaluated whether neem (Azadirachta indica), known for its antimicrobial and insecticidal properties, can be used to amend manure to control EcO157. The influence of neem materials (leaf, bark, and oil) on the survival of an apple juice outbreak strain of EcO157 in dairy manure was monitored. Neem leaf and bark supplements eliminated the pathogen in less than 10 d with a D-value (days for 90% elimination) of 1.3 d. In contrast, nearly 4 log CFU EcO157/g remained after 10 d in neem-free manure control. The ethyl acetate extractable fraction of neem leaves was inhibitory to the growth of EcO157 in LB broth. Azadirachtin, a neem product with insect antifeedant properties, failed to inhibit EcO157. Application of inexpensive neem supplements to control pathogens in manure and possibly in produce fields may be an option for controlling the transfer of foodborne pathogens from farm to fork.
Paleoclimate simulations for North America over the past 21,000 years: features of the simulated climate and comparisons with paleoenvironmental data

Maps of upper-level and surface winds and of surface temperature and precipitation illustrate the results of a sequence of global paleoclimatic simulations spanning the past 21,000 years for North America. We review a) the large-scale features of circulation, temperature, and precipitation that appear in the simulations from the NCAR Community Climate Model Version 1 (CCM 1), b) the implications of the simulated climate for the past continental-scale distributions of three plant taxa ( Picea spp., Pseudotsuga menziesii, and Artemisia tridentata), which are broadly representative of the vegetation across the continent, and c) the potential explanations in terms of atmospheric circulation or surface energy- and water-balance processes for mismatches between the simulations and observations. Most of the broad-scale features of previous paleoclimatic simulations with the NCAR CCM 0 for North America are present in the current simulations. Many of the elements of a conceptual model (based on previous climate simulations) that describes the controls of paleoclimatic variations across North America during the past 21,000 years are found in simulations reviewed here. These include 1) displacement of the jet stream by the Laurentide Ice Sheet to the south of its present position in both winter and summer, 2) generation of a "glacial anticyclone" over the ice sheet at the LGM, and the consequent induction of large-scale sinking motions induced over eastern North America, 3) changes in the strength of surface atmospheric circulation features through time, including weakening of the Aleutian low in winter, and strengthening of the eastern Pacific and Bermuda high-pressure systems in summer as the ice sheet decreased in size, 4) development of a "heat low" at the surface and a strengthened ridge in the upper-atmosphere over the continent at the time of the maximum summer insolation anomaly, 5) increases in summer temperature earlier in regions remote from the ice sheet (these increases appear earlier in the present (CCM 1) simulations than in the previous (CCM 0) ones, however), and 6) continuation of negative winter temperature anomalies into the middle Holocene. In general, simulated surface conditions that are discordant with paleoenvironmental observations can be attributed to the simulation of particular atmospheric circulation patterns (e.g. those that suppress precipitation or advect warm air into a region), with these mismatches amplified in Beringia and the southeastern United States by surface energy- and water-balance processes.
Leadership, Administration, Management, and Professionalism (LAMP) in Physical Therapy: A Delphi Study

Background and Purpose . The knowledge and skills needed by physical therapists entering practice in the areas of leadership, administration, management, and professionalism (LAMP) are not known. Using the LAMP components identified by American Physical Therapy Association's Section on Administration, this study sought to define the range of LAMP content pertinent to physical therapy clinical management and to explore LAMP knowledge and skills required of physical therapists upon entry into the profession. Subjects and Methods . Thirty-four physical therapist managers participated in a Delphi study to (1) create a comprehensive list of defined LAMP components, (2) determine the perceived importance of each component in the management of clinical practices, and (3) identify the level of knowledge and skill for each component believed to be necessary for a new physical therapist graduate. Results . Respondents agreed that 178 items should be on the LAMP component list. They perceived that almost all LAMP components are important in the management of a clinical practice, and they indicated that new graduates needed moderate to extensive knowledge in 44% of them. They believed that new graduates needed no skill in 29% of the components, whereas they needed at least intermediate skill for 22% of them. Top-ranked component categories across the 3 scales (importance, knowledge, and skill) were communication, professional involvement and ethical practice, delegation and supervision, stress management, reimbursement sources, time management, and health care industry scanning. Discussion and Conclusion . This study provides a basis for further exploration of which LAMP components should be included in professional (entry-level) physical therapist curricula and which components should be learned after graduation.
Adaptive multiuser opportunistic fair transmission scheduling in power-controlled CDMA systems

We consider the problem of multiuser opportunistic fair transmission scheduling (OFS) in power-controlled CDMA systems. OFS is an important technique in wireless networks to achieve fair and efficient resource allocation. Power control is an effective resource management technique in CDMA systems. Given a certain user subset and the channel states, the optimal power control scheme can be calculated. The multiuser OFS problem then refers to the optimal user subset selection at each interval to maximize instantaneous system throughput subject to some fairness constraint. We propose discrete stochastic approximation algorithms to adaptively select user subsets with the maximal system throughput. We also consider the time-varying channel scenarios where the algorithm can track the time-varying optimal user subset. We present simulation results to show the performance of the proposed algorithms in terms of the throughput optimization, the fast convergence, the excellent time-varying tracking capability, and the fairness.
Mechanics of Fresh, Refrigerated, and Frozen Arterial Tissue

Arterial grafts and experimental soft tissues are commonly preserved using refrigeration and freezing. The present study was designed to investigate effects of common storage protocols on arterial mechanics. Porcine aortas were axially distracted to failure implementing fresh, refrigerated, and frozen storage conditions. Fresh tissues were tested within 24 h of sacrifice; refrigerated tissues were stored at +4 degrees C for 24 or 48 h prior to testing, and frozen tissues were stored at -20 or -80 degrees C for 3 months prior to testing. Blunt arterial injury experimentally occurred in distraction with intimal subfailure before ultimate failure in 82% of specimens. Subfailure stress decreased in refrigerated (0.59 +/- 0.19 MPa) compared to fresh (0.83 +/- 0.39 MPa) and frozen (0.99 +/- 0.41 MPa) specimens. Ultimate stress was also significantly decreased in refrigerated (0.83 +/- 0.19 MPa) compared to fresh (1.15 +/- 0.39 MPa) and frozen (1.32 +/- 0.31 MPa) specimens. Subfailure and ultimate strain were not significantly dependent upon storage technique. Young's modulus significantly decreased in refrigerated (1.89 +/- 0.63 MPa) compared to fresh (2.98 +/- 1.45 MPa) and frozen (3.49 +/- 1.32 MPa) specimens. Physiological, subfailure, and ultimate failure mechanics between fresh and frozen specimens were not significantly different. Clinically relevant intimal failures can be reproduced and injury mechanics determined while adhering to experimental protocols of freezing specimens before testing. However, short-term tissue refrigeration may affect mechanics.
Effects of the emerald ash borer invasion on four species of birds

The emerald ash borer (EAB) Agrilus planipennis, first detected in 2002 in the vicinity of Detroit, Michigan, USA, is one of the most recent in a long list of introduced insect pests that have caused serious damage to North American forest trees, in this case ash trees in the genus Fraxinus. We used data from Project FeederWatch, a citizen science program focused on winter bird populations, to quantify the effects of EAB invasion on four species of resident, insectivorous birds known or likely to be EAB predators: three woodpecker species and the white- breasted nuthatch (Sitta canadensis). We compared relative numbers of birds within 50 km of the epicenter of the region where EAB was first detected, an area known to have suffered high ash tree mortality by 2008, to numbers 50-100 km from the epicenter and to control sites within 50 km of five comparable Mid- western cities where damage due to EAB has yet to be severe. We found evidence for significant effects on all four of the species in response to the EAB invasion in the highly impacted region, with red-bellied wood- peckers (Melanerpes carolinus) and white-breasted nuthatches showing numerical increases while downy woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens) and hairy wood- peckers (Picoides villosus) initially declined but exhibited at least temporary increases several years later. Temporal correlation analyses failed to provide support for immigration being a major cause of the elevated numbers in the highly impacted area, and thus these results are consistent with the hypothesis that increases were due to enhanced survival and/or repro- duction associated with the EAB invasion within the highly impacted area. Results suggest that the contin- uing invasion of EAB into new areas is likely to significantly alter avian communities, although not always in ways that will be easy to predict.
THE INFLUENCE OF NITROGEN RETENTION UPON THE REGENERATION OF PLASMA PROTEINS

1. Because of the clinical observation that the capacity to form new plasma proteins is sometimes impaired in cases of nephritis (2), experiments were performed to determine whether the impaired function in the nephritic is related to nitrogen retention. 2. These experiments consisted of producing renal injury by injecting uranium nitrate into standard hypoproteinemic dogs and comparing the rate of blood plasma protein formation under these conditions of nitrogen retention with that in the uninjured dog. 3. Despite elevations in blood N.P.N. to more than ten times normal, no interference with plasma protein formation was observed. These elevations in N.P.N. affected principally the urea and undetermined fractions. 4. Neither elevation in N.P.N. nor proteinuria per se appears to have any effect upon plasma protein production. Possibly the deficient production of plasma proteins in the nephritic is related to a more general disturbance in metabolism in which the elevation in N.P.N. is secondary.
Environmental effects on genetic variation of chilling resistance in cucumber

Environmental effects on genetic variation for chilling resistance were studied in nine cultivars and breeding lines (referred to as cultigens hereafter) of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). Five experiments were carried out in controlled-environment chambers to measure the effects of growth temperature, photoperiod, duration of chilling, light level during chilling, and watering frequency on chilling resistance of seedlings at the cotyledon and first true leaf growth stages. Significant interactions were found between cultigen and all environmental factors studied except for the photoperiod and watering frequency. Cultigen rank was affected by growth temperature before chilling, chilling duration, and light level during chilling, but shifts in rank were not consistent. Genetic variation was largest when the plants were grown at 22/18 °C, most pronounced after a chilling duration of 5 to 9 hours and a light level during chilling of 270 µmol·m-2·s-1. Variation was larger at the first true leaf stage than at the cotyledon stage. Differences among cultigens in chilling damage were largest 5 days after chilling. Therefore, it seems that testing for genetic variation in chilling damage can be restricted to one set of environmental conditions. We recommend the following conditions for screening cucumber for genetic variation in chilling resistance: grow the plants at 22/18 °C, under a 9-hour photoperiod with a 3-hour night interruption, water them once daily, subject them at the first true leaf stage to a chilling treatment of 7 hours at 4°C at a light level of 270 µmol·-2·s-1, and evaluate damage 5 days after treatment.
Plasticity effects on fracture normal to interfaces with homogeneous and graded compositions

Abstract This paper deals with the problem of a crack in a multi-layered material with a homogeneous or a compositionally graded interface. The effects of plasticity mismatch between the layers (which have no elastic mismatch) on the shielding or amplification of the crack tip driving force are examined by recourse to finite element analyses for the case of a crack perpendicularly approaching the interface between the layers. When the near-tip plastic zone spreads across the interlayer, the crack-tip J integral is smaller than the remotely imposed J integral, if the crack is situated in the plastically weaker material. For this situation, introducing an interlayer between two dissimilar solids provides greater crack-tip shielding than joining the two solids without an interlayer (i.e., with a sharp interface). An interlayer with a homogeneous yield behavior (i.e., where the yield strength of the interlayer is the average of that of the two constituent layers) provides a greater shielding effect than a graded interface within which the yield strength varies linearly from one end of the interlayer to the other. When the crack approaches the interlayer from the plastically stronger material, the crack tip driving force is amplified as the plastic zone spreads across the interlayer. This amplification is the maximum for the interlayer with homogeneous properties, and essentially the same for the situations with a graded interlayer or no interlayer. The dependence of the shielding and amplification effects on the thickness of the interlayer, on the distance from the crack-tip to the interlayer, and on the remote loading are systematically examined.
Annealing effects in plated-wire memory elements, part I: Interdiffusion of copper and permalloy

Results of investigations using X-ray diffraction and electron-beam microprobe techniques have shown that copper and Permalloy platings interdiffuse at low temperatures (in the range 180-230°C) when plated-wire memory elements are annealed for times as short as 50 h. Measurable interdiffusion between Permalloy platings and gold substrates does not occur in similar conditions. Both magnetic and compositional changes during aging are found to occur by a thermally activated process with activation energies around 38 kcal/mol. It is shown, however, that copper-diffusion and magnetic-dispersion changes during aging are merely concurrent processes, neither being the other's cause.
Chemokines and Chemokine receptors: disease targets for therapeutic development

About a decade after discovery of IL-8, the first designated member of the protein family of chemotactic cytokines, about 50 of these so called ‘chemokines’ and about 15 receptors have been discovered in humans. Experimental as well as clinical data have identified many of the players in this network to be associated with various pathological phenomena. This conference discussed how research is closing in on chemokines as therapeutic targets as well as how chemokine functions might be exploited to design useful therapeutic tools.
Effects of eutrophication and snails on Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) invasion

Exotic species can invade and establish new habitats both as a result of their own traits, and as a result of the characteristics of the environment they invade. Here, we show that the abundance of the invasive submerged aquatic plant, Myriophyllum spicatum (Eurasian watermilfoil) is highly dependent on the conditions of the environment in a mesocosm experiment. M. spicatum is allelopathic towards epiphytic algae, and in the absence of algivorous snails, we found that the abundance of both algae and M. spicatum significantly increased with experimentally increased nutrient loading, while the abundance of native submerged macrophytes declined. However, when snails were present, snail biomass increased with increasing nutrient loading, and M. spicatum biomass was consistently low while native submerged macrophyte biomass was consistently high. Our results stress the importance of the interaction between species traits and environmental conditions when considering the invasiveness of certain exotic species and the invasibility of certain environments.
The evolution of an evaluation: a case study using the tribal participatory research model

This article presents a case study of how the evaluation design for a dating violence prevention and/or youth development program for American Indian youth in Arizona evolved throughout the project. Particular attention is given to how the evaluation design was guided by the tribal participatory research model. A brief rationale for the project is presented along with literature on culturally competent evaluation and research with American Indians. A description of the project and the unique communities in which it was implemented is provided. The focus of the article is the process of how the evaluation plan changed and how various factors influenced this process (e.g., feedback from community stakeholders, conversations with funder, results of process evaluation, suggestions from literature, the authors' experience working in American Indian communities). The authors conclude with lessons learned for others to consider as they develop working relationships and evaluation plans in similar communities.
“Should They Dance with the One Who Brung 'Em?” Latinos and the 2008 Presidential Election

Although Latinos have grown substantially as a percent of the American population to now comprise the largest ethnic-racial minority group in the U.S., whether or not this national population growth can translate into direct political influence in presidential elections has always been unclear (DeSipio 1996 ; Fraga and Ramirez 2003–04 ). At least since the 1988 election, however, scholars of Latino politics have argued that Latino voters could serve as key swing voters if certain contextual and strategic conditions existed in specific contests (Guerra 1992 ). Among these are: a competitive election in states where Latinos are a determinative segment of the electorate; strategic mobilization of Latino voters; active engagement in the election by Latino elected officials, related organizational leaders, and Latino campaign strategists; a viable Latino candidate; and issues of specific relevance to Latino voters (Guerra and Fraga 1996 ).
Framing Virtual Experiences

In virtual environments (VEs), users experience visceral simulations that feel like the real world. Virtual experiences are proposed as a novel operationalization of gain and loss framed environmental messages. A 2 (gain vs. loss frame) × 2 (high vs. low interactivity) × 3 (pretest, posttest, delayed posttest) experiment was conducted. Immediately following exposure, virtual experiences promoted environmental behavior by reducing paper consumption by 25% compared to a control group. In addition, the gain framed experience of growing a virtual tree promoted behavioral intentions more effectively than the loss framed experience of cutting down a tree. Response efficacy mediated the relationship between framing and environmental behavioral intentions. One week after exposure, response efficacy heightened as a result of the gain frame. Participants in the high interactivity conditions also reported higher levels of environmental behavior than those in the low interactivity conditions one week following exposure.
A hybrid knowledge-based and data-driven approach to identifying semantically similar concepts

Graphical abstractDisplay Omitted Highlights? Similarity of concepts in an ontology is context dependent. ? Distributional semantics help identify candidates pairs of similar concepts. ? Definitional similarity performs well as secondary similarity measure. ? Relationship types are useful to examine when calculating ontological path similarity. An open research question when leveraging ontological knowledge is when to treat different concepts separately from each other and when to aggregate them. For instance, concepts for the terms "paroxysmal cough" and "nocturnal cough" might be aggregated in a kidney disease study, but should be left separate in a pneumonia study. Determining whether two concepts are similar enough to be aggregated can help build better datasets for data mining purposes and avoid signal dilution. Quantifying the similarity among concepts is a difficult task, however, in part because such similarity is context-dependent. We propose a comprehensive method, which computes a similarity score for a concept pair by combining data-driven and ontology-driven knowledge. We demonstrate our method on concepts from SNOMED-CT and on a corpus of clinical notes of patients with chronic kidney disease. By combining information from usage patterns in clinical notes and from ontological structure, the method can prune out concepts that are simply related from those which are semantically similar. When evaluated against a list of concept pairs annotated for similarity, our method reaches an AUC (area under the curve) of 92%.
The prognostic impact of shocks for clinical and induced arrhythmias on morbidity and mortality among patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators

Background Recent investigations have demonstrated that the occurrence of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) shocks is associated with adverse long-term outcomes. These studies have emphasized that the risk is most reasonably due to arrhythmias rather than to the shock itself. We sought to compare the impact of shock delivery for induced ventricular arrhythmias during implantation defibrillation threshold testing and noninvasive electrophysiology study (NIPS) to clinical shocks on long-term outcomes among patients with ICDs. Methods This was a cohort evaluation of 1,372 patients undergoing ICD implantation at a tertiary hospital from December 1997 to January 2007. The probability of all-cause mortality and hospitalization for acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) was evaluated based upon the type of ICD shock received using multivariable Cox proportional analyses. The four shock types analyzed were implantation shocks only (n = 694), additional NIPS shocks only (n = 319), additional appropriate shocks only (n = 128), or additional inappropriate shocks only (n = 104). Results The risk of death (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] 0.91 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.69–1.20]; P = .491) or ADHF (AHR 0.71 [95% CI 0.46–1.16]; P = .277) were similar between recipients of NIPS shocks and recipients of implantation shocks. Receiving an appropriate ICD shock increased the risk of death (AHR 2.09 [95% CI 1.38–2.69]; P P P P = .003) as compared with NIPS shocks. Conclusions ICD shocks delivered during induced ventricular arrhythmias at the time of NIPS testing does not increase the risk of death or ADHF as compared with recipients of appropriate ICD shocks. The occurrence of spontaneous arrhythmias in vulnerable substrates may explain the increased risk.
Tapping into the Wellspring of Wellness.

Wellness is the result of internal as well as external factors. This article examines 3 internal means for promoting wellness: humor, metaphor, and writing. By using these resources, individuals may stay healthier and happier psychologically and physically. Research on the power of these factors is briefly described.
THE ACPI PROJECT, ELEMENT 1: INITIALIZING A COUPLED CLIMATE MODEL FROM OBSERVED CONDITIONS

A problem for climate change studies with coupled ocean-atmosphere models has been how to incorporate observed initial conditions into the ocean, which holds most of the 'memory' of anthropogenic forcing effects. The first difficulty is the lack of comprehensive three-dimensional observations of the current ocean temperature (T) and salinity (S) fields to initialize to. The second problem is that directly imposing observed T and S fields into the model results in rapid drift back to the model climatology, with the corresponding loss of the observed information. Anthropogenic forcing scenarios therefore typically initialize future runs by starting with pre-industrial conditions. However, if the future climate depends on the details of the present climate, then initializing the model to observations may provide more accurate forecasts. Also, this ∼130 yr spin up imposes substantial overhead if only a few decades of predictions are desired. A new technique to address these problems is presented. In lieu of observed T and S, assimilated ocean data were used. To reduce model drift, an anomaly coupling scheme was devised. This consists of letting the model's climatological (pre-industrial) oceanic and atmospheric heat contents and transports balance each other, while adding on the (much smaller) changes in heat content since the pre-industrial era as anomalies. The result is model drift of no more than 0.2 K over 50 years, significantly smaller than the forced response of 1.0 K. An ensemble of runs with these assimilated initial conditions is then compared to a set spun up from pre-industrial conditions. No systematic differences were found, i.e., the model simulation of the ocean temperature structure in the late 1990s is statistically indistinguishable from the assimilated observations. However, a model with a worse representation of the late 20th century climate might show significant differences if initialized in this way.
In sickness and in health: an examination of relationship status and health using data from the Canadian National Public Health Survey

There is an extensive literature suggesting that marriage confers benefits to both men and women in the form of increased earnings, better health and a longer life. Yet, where the focus is on health, most of this work has centered on one or two measures of health outcomes or on certain health behaviors such as smoking or alcohol use and has often failed to include those who cohabit as a separate relationship status. In this paper, we extend the research on the links between health and relationship status in three important ways. First, we consider a wide array of health indicators including self-reported health, chronic conditions, physical limitations, a measure of mental health, body mass index (BMI), and a number of health-related behaviors. Second, we use data from eight waves of the Canadian National Public Health Survey between 1994 and 2008 which allows us to estimate the effect of relationship status on health in a setting in which health insurance is not dependent on marriage. Third, we incorporate cohabitation as a separate relationship status. After controlling for time-invariant factors related to selection into and out of marriage, we find that marriage confers health benefits in the form of improved mental health, and lower levels of alcohol use. Marriage, however, is not without its cost. Similar to studies using U.S. data, marriage results in higher BMI, greater incidence of overweight and obesity and lower probabilities of regular exercise. These benefits and costs accrue to those who marry, and often to cohabiters.
RIGHT HEREDITARY, RIGHT PERFECT RINGS ARE SEMIPRIMARY

If R is a right hereditary, right perfect ring, then every maximal ideal of R is idempotent, and every ideal of R has a stationary power. Consequently, every right hereditary, right perfect ring must be semiprimary.
Very fast computation of the radix-2 discrete Fourier transform

This paper develops and presents a radix-2 fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm that reduces the computational effort (as measured by the number of multiplications) to two-thirds of the effort required by most radix-2 algorithms. The resulting algorithm is similar to one obtained by applying a principle suggested by Rader and Brenner; however, its structure is particularly appealing when transforming pure real or imaginary sequences and/or symmetric or antisymmetric sequences; furthermore, memory requirements (other than those for storing the input data) do not grow with the size of the transform.
Insights from the OppNet initiatives on psychosocial stress and sleep: themes for multidisciplinary team science research

Understanding the multilevel and bidirectional factors and basic mechanisms linking psychosocial stress, sleep, and their interactions to health outcomes is critical to building successful interventions and promoting population health. We report here on the first gathering of the National Institutes of Health Basic Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Opportunity Network grant recipients in the separate but interrelated topics of psychosocial stress and sleep. The meeting provided an opportunity for investigators to present their research methods and discuss emerging findings, gain insight into new research directions, and form innovative collaborations. Several recurring themes were identified: contextualizing behavioral processes as they unfold in the real world, developing and using novel measurement techniques, and looking over time and across the lifespan. The need for multidisciplinary team science was also identified as a key determinant of success. These themes suggest useful future research directions.