cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Arthroscopic Hip Capsule Reconstruction for Anterior Hip Capsule Insufficiency in the Revision Setting.

Abstract Iatrogenic hip instability is increasingly recognized as a cause of persistent pain and disability after hip arthroscopy. Many authors currently advocate capsular repair to reduce postoperative instability. However, anatomic deficiencies in the anterosuperior capsule can prevent a functional capsular repair, particularly in the revision setting. Capsular reconstruction has been shown to restore biomechanical stabilization in cadaveric models and improve short-term patient outcomes in patients with primary hip arthroscopy failure. Arthroscopic hip capsular reconstruction is technically challenging, largely owing to complex suture management and difficulties with graft placement and sizing. This article describes the capsular reconstruction technique, detailing the technical aspects of anterosuperior capsular defect identification; capsular preparation; suture management; and dermal allograft sizing, preparation, and positioning.
Early Use of Bronchodilators and Outcomes in Bronchiolitis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES There are no effective interventions to prevent hospital admissions in infants with bronchiolitis. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against routine bronchodilator use for bronchiolitis. The objective of this study was to characterize trends in and outcomes associated with the use of bronchodilators for bronchiolitis. METHODS This is a multicenter retrospective study of infants RESULTS A total of 446 696 ED visits of infants with bronchiolitis were included. Bronchodilator use, hospital admissions, and ED return visits decreased between 2010 and 2018 (all P .05). CONCLUSIONS In a large study of infants at children’s hospitals, bronchodilator therapy decreased significantly from 2010 to 2018. Hospital-level early bronchodilator use was not associated with a reduction in any outcomes. This study supports the current American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation to limit routine use of bronchodilators in infants with bronchiolitis.
Role of Oxidative Stress in ED: Unraveling the Molecular Mechanism

Many advances in the understanding of erection physiology and pathophysiology have been made in recent years. These advances have revealed the importance of oxidative stress and a complex interaction between oxidative stress and regulatory pathways in the penis in the development and progression of erectile dysfunction (ED) associated with various disease states. In this chapter, we present current knowledge of the pathophysiology of ED pertaining to the mechanisms of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, the interaction between ROS-generating sources and the main regulatory pathways in the penis, the status of the antioxidant systems that reduce ROS bioavailability, and cellular targets for ROS action in vasculogenic and neurogenic ED. We further discuss a therapeutic strategy to improve erectile function in disease states by targeting specific ROS mechanisms in the penis.
Finding the Right Questions: Does the world really need another computing magazine?

Does the world really need another computing magazine? Surely, that’s a legitimate question. By any measure, we already have an overwhelming number of publications to choose from. But how many do you actually read? And of those, how many do you feel really contribute to your knowledge and understanding of emerging software technologies and capabilities?
Steroid-independent upregulation of matrix metalloproteinase 9 in chronic rhinosinusitis patients with radiographic evidence of osteitis.

Background Chronic sinonasal inflammation is associated with tissue remodeling, such as osteitis, which may be a marker of refractory disease; however, the pathophysiology of osteitis in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) is insufficiently understood.
Developing Visualization Tools for Geographic Literacy in a Museum Exhibit: An Interdisciplinary Collaboration.

Abstract As a result of reduced formal instruction and reduced direct experience in the natural environment, students suffer from a deficiency in geographic literacy. Informal learning environments, such as a model railroad exhibit at a history museum, can be exploited to introduce key geographic concepts (e.g., scalar compression, landscape transformations, and human-environment interaction). Presented here are historically and geographically accurate visualization tools developed via community collaboration across disciplines (geography/education) and institutions (university/museum/community volunteers). This article highlights geographic learning that takes place in informal education settings.
Isolated congenital mitral valve regurgitation presenting in the first year of life

Aim: Isolated congenital mitral regurgitation is rare and, when presenting in infancy, reflects severity of the malformation. The natural history is often fatal, and management during the first year of life remains a therapeutic challenge. These infants are poorly understood largely because of an absence of reporting in the medical literature and limited experience in each institution. We reviewed our own experience in order to add to the understanding of this condition. Methods: A retrospective review was performed on seven infants with significant isolated congenital mitral regurgitation. An associated patent ductus arteriosus was present in two. Mean age at referral was 17.7 weeks (1 day to 47 weeks) and mean weight was 6.8 kg (3.7–12.5 kg). Results: Two infants were managed conservatively, and one underwent surgical ligation of a patent ductus arteriosus. Following spontaneous and surgical duct closure, no further intervention was required in two infants. The remaining four infants underwent three valve repairs and three valve replacements. The in-hospital mortality was 29%, occurring in those under 1 year of age undergoing emergency valve surgery. Two reoperations followed mitral valve repair in the first year of life. No significant complications or late deaths occurred. Conclusions: Our experience suggests closure of a patent ductus arteriosus should be undertaken prior to mitral valve surgery. There may be a poorer prognosis in those under one year of age requiring emergency mitral valve surgery. Those who can be managed conservatively or undergo mitral valve surgery as an elective procedure tend to have a better outcome.
The Relationship of Maternal Antibody, Breast Feeding, and Age to the Susceptibility of Newborn Infants to Infection with Attenuated Polioviruses.

1. Over 1,000 infants were fed attenuated polioviruses during the first 3 months of life and susceptibility to infection with these agents was shown to be related to dose of virus, titer of maternal antibody, method of milk feeding, and age at vaccination. 2. Larger doses of virus elicited a response in a high proportion of infants, but even the smallest dose employed was of nearly optimal effectiveness in infants with little or no maternal antibody. 3. No significant differences between the 3 types of polioviruses were observed other than those which could be related to differences in maternal antibody titer for the 3 types. 4. Maternal antibody had a direct relationship to the incidence of infection, particularly in breast-fed babies and in bottle-fed infants vaccinated on the first day of life. 5. Human milk contains poliovirus neutralizing substances (probably antibody but not specifically characterized) in concentrations related to the antibody titer in the mother9s serum. However, a number of significant discrepancies between the antibody content of the serum and milk or colostrum were observed. It is postulated that infection is prevented by neutralization of the virus in the lumen of the infant9s gut. 6. Susceptibility of bottle-fed babies increases rapidly during the first three days of life, but remains relatively unchanged thereafter. A reasonable hypothesis to explain this phenomenon is that maternal antibody in the infant9s gut, whether from ingested amniotic fluid or by leakage from his circulation into the intestine, inactivates virus given on the first few days of life, but not later.
Peer reviewed: evaluating natural attenuation for groundwater cleanup.

The National Research Council has issued the first comprehensive assessment of when natural attenuation works.
Modeling perceptual similarity of audio signals for blind source separation evaluation

Existing perceptual models of audio quality, such as PEAQ, were designed to measure audio codec performance and are not well suited to evaluation of audio source separation algorithms. The relationship of many other signal quality measures to human perception is not well established. We collected subjective human assessments of distortions encountered when separating audio sources from mixtures of two to four harmonic sources. We then correlated these assessments to 18 machine-measurable parameters. Results show a strong correlation (r=0.96) between a linear combination of a subset of four of these parameters and mean human assessments. This correlation is stronger than that between human assessments and several measures currently in use.
Protectionism Actually Hurts U.S. Jobs And Economy: An Investigation Of Proponents And Opponents

Outsourcing is an issue that is generating a lot of debate in the Pacific Northwest, often in response to stories about job cuts and fears that workers will get left out in the cold. However, much of what we read and hear about outsourcing is based on misinformation, no information, or just plain politics. Every major national study confirms that outsourcing creates more jobs than it destroys in the U.S. One of the most persistent complaints against globalization is that it destroys jobs. Many people believe that, the more shoes or cars or steel beams we import to the U.S., the fewer we produce ourselves and the fewer Americans with jobs in those industries. Anxiety about trade and jobs is especially acute about imports from poor countries, where workers typically earn a fraction of the wages earned by American workers. The most ardent proponents of free trade will grant that its benefits are not universally distributed, while it almost always outweighs the costs. Along with the many winners come smaller but still real numbers of losers: people whose jobs are indeed put in jeopardy and even eliminated by competition from imports. For those people, the benefits of lower prices, higher quality, and wider consumer choices can be swamped, at least temporarily, by the trauma of losing their jobs. The purpose of this research is to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of protectionism and its impacts on U.S. jobs and the economy.
Parental military service and adolescent well-being: mental health, social connections and coping among youth in the USA

The association between parental military work factors and adolescent’s well-being was examined. Data were collected from 1036 military youth. Using a within-group design, we examined adolescent’s well-being related to parental absence, school and neighbourhood transitions, paygrade/rank and participation in military-sponsored activities, and differentiated outcomes by sex and age. Two parental work factors primarily influenced adolescent’s well-being, parental paygrade/rank and engagement in military-sponsored activities. Parental paygrade/rank was the only factor uniformly related to poorer well-being, and this variable likely represents a more complex set of family circumstances. Engaging in military-sponsored activities served as a resource and was related to enhanced well-being. Individual-level differences and implications for social workers are discussed.
Virulence of Streptococcus mutans: In Vivo Reversion of a Low-Virulence Mutant Results in Partial Displacement and Pathogenesis

A mutant of Streptococcus mutans 6715 wild type (WT), designated C4, has been shown previously to be defective in glucosyltransferase synthesis of insoluble glucan and to have low virulence in monoassociated gnotobiotic rats. The present investigation was concerned with the detection of WT-like variants of C4 in monoassociated rats, the supplantation of C4 by these WT-like organisms, and finally, the pathogenic potential of these WT-like organisms in gnotobiotic rats. In the first series of longitudinal studies with C4-monoassociated rats, WT-like organisms were detected at a low frequency (0.001%) in oral swab samples from only one of four cages of animals analyzed on day 7 after infection (age 27 days). The frequency of variants isolated from animals in the one cage increased, and by age 45 days these organisms represented approximately 1% of the mandibular plaque flora. After random redistribution of rats in the four cages (age 45 days), microbial analysis of oral swab samples (age 60 days) demonstrated the presence of variants in samples taken from rats in all four cages. The frequency of recoverable variants increased in older animals (age 90 days) and correlated with high caries activity. WT-like organisms were transmissible, since offspring (age 45 days) from these animals had high levels of variants as well as high caries activity. Similar results were obtained in a second longitudinal study; however, variants, although present in all four cages, were not detected until rats were 45 days old. All variant isolates exhibited morphological, biochemical, and in vivo virulence characteristics more similar to S. mutans 6715 WT than to C4. In vitro mixing experiments with C4 and either WT or a selected variant suggested that C4 was rapidly displaced by WT organisms. The results of this investigation demonstrate that the glucosyltransferase-defective, low-virulence C4 reverts to virulent WT-like organisms in vivo which compete more favorably for smooth surfaces than C4. Subsequently, these variants reached significant numbers in plaque which correlated with increased dental caries.
An Empirical Assessment of Support for Pursuit of Doctoral Degrees in Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education

Both administrators and faculty in four year institutions offering Hotel and Restaurant programs were surveyed with regard to three topical areas: basic information dealing with the program and its faculty; institutional support for faculty pursuing terminal degrees; and respondents attitude about the level of support available for pursuing terminal degrees.
FERMI SURFACES OF Cr, Mo, AND W BY THE AUGMENTED-PLANE-WAVE METHOD

The Fermi surfaces of chromium, molybdenum, and tungsten were calculated using linear-variation functions consisting of 19 augmented plane waves (APW). The muffin-tin potential was constructed from a superposition of atomic potentials centered on the lattice sites. The atomic orbitals were solutions of the Hartree-Fock-Slater self-consistent field. Constant-energy surfaces throughout the Brillouin zone and the volume contained by each of the regions were determined. The Fermi surface was selected from these energy surfaces by the requirement of equal hole and electron volumes. The density of states at the Fermi energy was determined from the slope of the volume-vs-energy curve. The Fermi surfaces of Mo and W were found to be almost identical and similar to the model postulated by Lomer for the Cr-group metals. The Fermi surface of Cr, however, differs from the other two by the disappearance of the hole pockets around $N$ and a shrinking of the knobs on the electron jack. A quantitative comparison between experimental results and the Fermi surface of Mo is presented.
Creating multimodal predictors using missing data: classifying and subtyping autism spectrum disorder.

Abstract Background Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by wide range of symptoms and severity including domains such as language impairment (LI). This study aims to create a quantifiable marker of ASD and a stratification marker for LI using multimodality imaging data that can handle missing data by including subjects that fail to complete all the aspects of a multimodality imaging study, obviating the need to remove subjects with incomplete data, as is done by conventional methods. Methods An ensemble of classifiers with several subsets of complete data is employed. The outputs from such subset classifiers are fused using a weighted aggregation giving an aggregate probabilistic score for each subject. Such fusion classifiers are created to obtain a marker for ASD and to stratify LI using three categories of features, two extracted from separate auditory tasks using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and the third extracted from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Results A clear distinction between ASD and neurotypical controls (5-fold accuracy of 83.3% and testing accuracy of 87%) and between ASD/+LI and ASD/−LI (5-fold accuracy of 70.1% and testing accuracy of 61.1%) was obtained. One of the MEG features, mismatch field (MMF) latency contributed the most to group discrimination, followed by DTI features from superior temporal white matter and superior longitudinal fasciculus as determined by feature ranking. Comparison with existing methods Higher classification accuracy was achieved in comparison with single modality classifiers. Conclusion This methodology can be readily applied in large studies where high percentage of missing data is expected.
Evaluation of variation in resistance to sugarcane borer (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) in a population of sugarcane derived from tissue culture

Leaf tissue from ‘CP 74-383’, a sugarcane cultivar susceptible to the sugarcane borer, Diatraea saccharalis (F.), was cultured on a medium favoring the growth of callus tissue. Calli from this tissue produced over 2,000 plantlets when transferred to a differentiation medium. These somaclones were evaluated and selected for resistance to D. saccharalis over a 3-year period. The final 63 somaclones were evaluated in a replicated test with artificial infestation. Although some selections were attacked less than the resistant standard, no significant differences existed among entries. This final population statistically fit a normal distribution, and the correlation between the last 2 years of testing was not significant ( r = 0.08). The somaclones, therefore, represent randomly varying members of a single population rather than a population of somaclones different from the donor cultivar.
Copper selective adsorption with a microemulsion‐based resin

Cross-linked terpolymers of allyl acetylacetone, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate were synthesized in the oil phase of a bicontinuous microemulsion stabilized with didodecyldimethylammonium bromide. The resulting material is porous, with a surface area of 58 m{sup 2}/dry g. It selectively adsorbs copper, picking up 0.07 meq/dry g from a 0.1-M solution. This is less than the total apparent capacity of 0.65 meq/dry g inferred from titration with base and much less than the amount in conventional, nonselective resins, which is typically 5 meq/dry g. Breakthrough curves in packed beds and across membranes of this material seem consistent with uptake controlled by chemical reaction compromised by dispersion. Nonporous membranes of this material do not show facilitated transport.
The conserved disulfide bond of human tear lipocalin modulates conformation and lipid binding in a ligand selective manner.

Abstract The primary aim of this study is the elucidation of the mechanism of disulfide induced alteration of ligand binding in human tear lipocalin (TL). Disulfide bonds may act as dynamic scaffolds to regulate conformational changes that alter protein function including receptor–ligand interactions. A single disulfide bond, (Cys61―Cys153), exists in TL that is highly conserved in the lipocalin superfamily. Circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopies were applied to investigate the mechanism by which disulfide bond removal effects protein stability, dynamics and ligand binding properties. Although the secondary structure is not altered by disulfide elimination, TL shows decreased stability against urea denaturation. Free energy change (ΔG0) decreases from 4.9 ± 0.2 to 2.1 ± 0.3 kcal/mol with removal of the disulfide bond. Furthermore, ligand binding properties of TL without the disulfide vary according to the type of ligand. The binding of a bulky ligand, NBD-cholesterol, has a decreased time constant (from 11.8 ± 0.2 to 3.3 s). In contrast, the NBD-labeled phospholipid shows a moderate decrease in the time constant for binding, from 33.2 ± 0.2 to 22.2 ± 0.4 s. FRET experiments indicate that the hairpin CD is directly involved in modulation of both ligand binding and flexibility of TL. In TL complexed with palmitic acid (PA–TL), the distance between the residues 62 of strand D and 81 of loop EF is decreased by disulfide bond reduction. Consequently, removal of the disulfide bond boosts flexibility of the protein to reach a CD-EF loop distance (24.3 A, between residues 62 and 81), which is not accessible for the protein with an intact disulfide bond (26.2 A). The results suggest that enhanced flexibility of the protein promotes a faster accommodation of the ligand inside the cavity and an energetically favorable ligand-protein complex.
Floppy swimming: viscous locomotion of actuated elastica.

Actuating periodically an elastic filament in a viscous liquid generally breaks the constraints of Purcell's scallop theorem, resulting in the generation of a net propulsive force. This observation suggests a method to design simple swimming devices---which we call ``elastic swimmers''---where the actuation mechanism is embedded in a solid body and the resulting swimmer is free to move. In this paper, we study theoretically the kinematics of elastic swimming. After discussing the basic physical picture of the phenomenon and the expected scaling relationships, we derive analytically the elastic swimming velocities in the limit of small actuation amplitude. The emphasis is on the coupling between the two unknowns of the problems---namely the shape of the elastic filament and the swimming kinematics---which have to be solved simultaneously. We then compute the performance of the resulting swimming device and its dependence on geometry. The optimal actuation frequency and body shapes are derived and a discussion of filament shapes and internal torques is presented. Swimming using multiple elastic filaments is discussed, and simple strategies are presented which result in straight swimming trajectories. Finally, we compare the performance of elastic swimming with that of swimming micro-organisms.
Fracture in oriented short fibre-reinforced thermoplastics

Abstract Fracture mechanisms in a series of short fibre-reinforced thermoplastics made with controlled fibre orientation were investigated. The matrix materials used ranged from very ductile to brittle and the fibres from tough, relatively low modulus organic fibres to high modulus graphite. Examination of fracture surfaces using electron microscopy showed that, even when fibre length greatly exceeded the critical length, these composites fractured by fibres pulling out of the matrix with little fibre fracture. Cracks initiated at misaligned fibres, fibre ends, or other flaws tended to propagate through the matrix or along the fibre/matrix interface, depending upon the fibre-to-matrix adhesion.
Controlling Antibody Orientation on Charged Self-Assembled Monolayers

The orientation of antibodies on surfaces is critical to the performance of biosensors. Due to the charge distribution within an antibody molecule, it is hoped that the orientation of adsorbed antibodies can be controlled by adjusting microenvironments (e.g., surface and solution properties). In this work, we investigated the orientations of two types of monoclonal anti-human chorionic gonadotropin (anti-hCG) adsorbed on NH2 (positively charged) and COOH (negatively charged) terminated self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensors. Adsorbed antibody molecules on surfaces were also characterized by atomic force microscopy. Results show that the orientation of the IgG1 type antibody is better on the NH2 surface than on the COOH surface, as indicated by a higher hCG to adsorbed anti-hCG ratio on the NH2 surface from SPR experiments. However, for the IgG2a type antibody, the antigen-to-antibody ratio, and thus the orientation of the adsorbed IgG2a, is similar on the NH2- and C...
Barker's theory of the absolute

context), but rather upon a comparable definition such as "a being than which there is none lesser." But see then in what manner Richman's black magic is exposed. His version of the argument for the devil's necessary existence, properly modified, now reads as follows: "I have in mind the idea of a being than which none lesser can be conceived. Clearly, if this being exists in reality, it is greater. Therefore, such a being (called the Devil) exists only in my mind." But do not despair, Richman, there is yet hope. I spoke above of Anselm's acumen. A being than which there is none lesser in the good Saint's system turns out to be not a being at all; rather does the phrase not designate anything, or, more dramatically, it designates nothing (see Monologium, Chapters VII and VIII). St. Anselm apparently decided that no demonstration was needed to show that nothing did not exist. The devil is not that being than which there is none lesser (nor in some versions of ancient and medieval thought is he that than which none is more evil, for that phrase, too, would not designate anything). Hence, since his necessary existence or nonexistence cannot be demonstrated, he is a contingent being. All those who need a devil or Richman's type of religious assurance may now rest assured, for the existence of the devil is possible-and that ought to be enough.
Bathocuproine sulphonate: a tissue culture-compatible indicator of copper-mediated toxicity.

Metal-binding chelators may interact with biological systems by either of two mechanisms: they may combine with an essential metal, which can be either freely dissociated or part of an enzyme prosthetic group, or they may react with a metal ion to form a biologically reactive metal–chelate complex1. As trace metals are always present as contaminants in serum-supplemented culture media used to study chelating agents, it is frequently difficult to distinguish between the two possibilities. Here we describe the use of a nontoxic, copper-specific chelating agent, bathocuproine sulphonate2,3 (Fig. 1) which, by combining with available endogenous copper in a tissue culture preparation, abolished the toxicity of three structurally unrelated chelating agents. These three agents may therefore be considered to be biologically active by the second mechanism.
New concepts in the treatment of genitourinary cancer in childhood.

The treatment of Wilms' tumor is based on initial surgical removal followed by clinical and histologic staging. Chemotherapy provides the major adjunctive therapy in virtually all Wilms' tumors, radiotherapy being used in some situations. Exceptions to this are the treatment of bilateral Wilms' tumors and large intracaval extension. Bilateral Wilms' tumor is treated with initial biopsy and staging, adjunctive chemotherapy, and/or radiation therapy and bilateral partial nephrectomy after there is maximum resolution of tumor. Similarly, extensive caval extension of tumor may be treated preoperatively with chemotherapy and radiotherapy followed by resection. Nephroblastomatosis, a precursor of Wilms' tumor, is a common associated finding at exploration. It requires alteration in management and may change the prognosis. Sarcomas of the kidney and congenital mesoblastic nephroma represent the spectrum of severity of solid renal masses in children. Neuroblastoma is the most common solid tumor in children, and its prognosis is largely dependent on the age of the patient and the stage of disease. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy as adjunctive treatments have been disappointing. Immunotherapy holds some promise for the future. Testicular tumors are unusual in children. Those that occur in infancy are most often benign teratomas that require orchiectomy alone. Malignant germ cell tumors in children are most often yolk sac tumors and respond to surgery and chemotherapy. Lymph node dissection is indicated only in paratesticular rhabdomyasarcoma. Other genitourinary rhabdo-myasarcomas occur in the bladder, prostate, vagina, and uterus. After maximum decrease in tumor volume with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, surgical exploration and resection of remaining tumor probably represent the best form of treatment. Organ-sparing procedures should be carefully selected in that they may worsen the prognosis.
2e or not 2e: Flux Quantization in the Resonating Valence Bond State

The "resonating valence bond" (RVB) state has been proposed as the basis for an explanation of high-temperature superconductivity. Recently, we have described the charge and spin excitations about this state, and have shown that they are solitons, precisely analogous to those found in polyacetylene. Since the charged solitons are + e bosons, it is natural to ask whether flux quantization will occur in units of hc/2e, as in traditional BCS superconductivity, or will come only in larger units of hc/e. We show here that flux quantization in units of hc/2e will occur unless a condensation of cooperative ring exchanges occurs analogous to that found in the fractional quantized Hall effect.
Semiconductor thin films directly from minerals—study of structural, optical, and transport characteristics of Cu2O thin films from malachite mineral and synthetic CuO

Abstract We demonstrate the proof-of-concept of using an abundantly occurring natural ore, malachite (Cu2CO3(OH)2) to directly yield the semiconductor Cu2O to be used as an active component of a functional thin film based device. Cu2O is an archetype hole-conducting semiconductor that possesses several interesting characteristics particularly useful for solar cell applications, including low cost, non-toxicity, good hole mobility, large minority carrier diffusion length, and a direct energy gap ideal for efficient absorption. In this article, we compare the structural, optical, and electrical transport characteristics of Cu2O thin films grown from the natural mineral malachite and synthetic CuO targets. Growth from either source material results in single-phase, fully epitaxial cuprous oxide thin films as determined by x-ray diffraction. The films grown from malachite have strong absorption coefficients ( 104 cm− 1), a direct allowed optical bandgap ( 2.4 eV), and majority carrier hole mobilities ( 35 cm2 V− 1 s− 1at room temperature) that compare well with films grown from the synthetic target as well as with previously reported values. Our work demonstrates that minerals could be useful to directly yield the active components in functional devices and suggests a route for the exploration of low cost energy conversion and storage technologies.
Effects of Cobalt and pH on the Growth of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Chlamvdomonas reinhardtii is a typical unicellular, spherlcal, green algae containing a large chloroplast, two anterior flagella, and chlorophylls a and b. It is an important organism in several diverse environments, mainly fresh water and soil (Bold & Wynne, 1985). As producers, they have great importance in food chains and the accumulation of heavy metals at various trophic levels of algae, higher plants and animals might affect man ( Kelly, 1988). The study of organisms, such as Chlamvdomonas, can provide an indication of the toxic effects of a pollutant on general metabolic processes, as well as acting as an indicator of the level of pollution in the environment. Algae, more than other groups of organisms, may yield information from experimental simulations that have predictive value for field situations. Organisms at higher trophic levels are more complex and not as easily studied (Stokes, 1984). Previous studies have indicated that dependent upon the organism and the test system employed ranging from prokaryotes to eukaryotes, different sensitivities to metal toxicity will be demonstrated (Codina et al., 1993).
Post-radiation Atypical Vascular Lesion/Angiosarcoma Arising in the Larynx

Atypical vascular lesions (AVL) and angiosarcomas (AS) are lesions known to arise after radiation therapy. These lesions can show overlap in both their gross and histologic pictures, and distinction between the two can be extremely challenging at times. They are known most commonly to arise in the breast region after radiation therapy. We present the first unique case of post-radiation AVL/AS arising in the larynx of a 51 year old woman, occurring 8 years after she received radiation for tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma.
A study of thermal radiation transfer in a solar thruster

Combined convective and radiative heat transfer in an axisymmetric solar thruster is analyzed. In a solar thruster, focused solar energy is converted into thermal energy by volumetric absorption, resulting in a significant increase in the temperature of the propellant gas. The heated gas is then expanded through a propulsive nozzle in order to generate thrust. In the present theoretical analysis, submicron size particles are employed for providing the mechanism of solar energy absorption. The two-dimensional radiation problem is solved using both an exact integral method and the P{sub 1}-approximation. The overall energy transfer is solved iteratively by numerical means. The computational model is used to perform parametric studies of the effects of Boltzmann number, optical dimensions of the medium, and wall emissivity. The overall performance of the solar thruster is assessed by determining the thrust levels and the specific impulses of the device under different operating conditions.
Are Likert scales unidimensional

Abstract Likert's method of scoring his categories can be justified by the Rasch Rating-Scale model if the categories produce unidimensional responses. Tests involving eight items from the 1956–1958–1960 American Panel Study suggest that unidimensionality often is not achieved with the Likert categories strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree. Combining the first two and the last two of these categories can be justified under a two-dimensional, Content-by-Intensity, Rasch model, provided that the two components are not confounded in the response process. Tests using the same data suggest that such confounding may occur fairly often. Thus the methods commonly used for analyzing Likert data may not be as generally applicable as research workers have assumed. Validation of measurement involving rating scales should be an integral part of any research employing the Likert design.
Adaptive decreases in amino acids (taurine in particular), creatine, and electrolytes prevent cerebral edema in chronically hyponatremic mice: Rapid correction (experimental model of central pontine myelinolysis) causes dehydration and shrinkage of brain

The experimental model of central pontine myelinolysis—chronic (4-day) hyponatremia induced by daily injections of hypotonic dextrose solutions and vasopressin followed by rapid correction with saline—was used in young fasted and thirsted mice. In normal controls, chronic fasting and thirsting lowered plasma and brain glucose levels and cerebral glycolytic and tricarboxylic acid cycle metabolic fluxes. The fasting state had little effect on brain amino acids. Clinically, the animals became semistuporous; about one-third died. Chronic hyponatremia in fasted mice almost tripled the plasma glucose concentrations and increased the brain carbohydrate reserve. Levels of other brain glycolytic and Krebs citric acid cycle intermediates were similar to those of controls. Severe hyponatremia and hypoosmolality induced profound decreases in levels of brain electrolytes, amino acids (especially taurine), and creatine. These changes permitted a new osmotic balance between blood and brain and a normal brain water content. The behavior and mortality of the hyponatremic animals were not different from those of the fasted control mice. Correction of hyponatremia to normonatremic levels over a 9-hr period returned brain Na+ and K+ levels to normal but the contents of the measured amino acids and creatine were still reduced one-third or more. As a result, treatment produced a significant degree of dehydration and shrinkage of the brain. The findings stress the importance of amino acids (taurine in particular) and creatine levels, as well as electrolytes, in brain osmoregulation and suggest a role for an osmotic disequilibrium—blood osmolality higher than brain—in the production of brain lesions following rapid correction of chronic hyponatremia in animals and possibly in humans. Replenishment of depleted brain K+ and amino acid levels, as well as slow elevation of the chronically depressed level of plasma Na+, is recommended.
Liquid level control of nonlinear Coupled Tanks System using linear model predictive control

This paper investigates the usage of Discrete-time Linear Model Predictive Control in controlling a nonlinear Coupled Tanks System. Two different schemes of Model Predictive control are employed. To begin with, a basic Model Predictive Control based on Generalized Predictive Control is used and then a Model Predictive Control approach based on Laguerre functions. Simulation results have been included which demonstrate the performance of both controllers when used to control Single-Input Single-Output Coupled Tanks System and the performance when Laguerre based Model Predictive Control is applied to Multi-Input Multi-Output Coupled Tanks System.
Efforts to Improve Public Policy and Programs through Data Practice: Experiences in 15 Distressed American Cities

Philanthropies and government agencies interested in children’s issues are encouraging localities to improve the process of collecting, linking, and sharing microdata and aggregated summary statistics. An implicit assumption of these efforts is that outcomes will improve as a result of the new approaches. However, there has been little systematic study of these efforts. In this article, we examine efforts to improve data practice in 15 distressed American cities. Interviews conducted in these cities revealed variation in the types of information collected, dissemination, and intended audiences. We identify significant challenges to these efforts, including adequate resources, turf battles, technical problems, access to information sources, inconsistent leadership, and absence of political will. We find that little is known about the impact of these initiatives on decision making. Assumptions that improved data practice will lead to improved policy making have not yet been realized in these cities.
Ammonia triborane: Theoretical study of the mechanism of hydrogen release

High-level electronic structure calculations have been used to predict the thermodynamic stability of ammonia triborane B3H7NH3 and the molecular mechanism of H2 elimination from various isomeric forms in the gas phase. Geometries of stationary points were optimized at the second-order perturbation theory MP2 level, and total energies were computed at the coupled-cluster CCSD(T) theory with the aug-cc-pVnZ (n ) D, T, Q) basis sets and extrapolated to the complete basis set limit. Heats of formation for the structures considered in the gas phase were evaluated at both 0 and 298 K. The lowest-energy process for H2 release from the most stable isomer of B3H7NH3 is a 1,3-elimination characterized by an energy barrier of 28.9 kcal/mol. Although the barrier height for H2 release from B3H7NH3 is slightly smaller than the B-N bond cleavage energy of 30.7 kcal/mol yielding B3H7 + NH3, the calculated rate coefficients predict that bond cleavage is faster than H2 release by 3 orders of magnitude at 298 K and 1 atm. We predict the heat of formation for the most stable isomer of B3H7 to be ¢Hf (0 K) ) 37.1 ( 0.8 kcal/mol and ¢Hf (298 K) ) 32.5 ( 0.8 kcal/mol, and for the most stable isomer of B3H7NH3 to be ¢Hf (0 K) ) 0.4 ( 1.0 kcal/mol and ¢Hf (298 K) )- 7.1 ( 1.0 kcal/mol.
The Haskins Laboratories' pulse code modulation (PCM) system

The pulse code modulation (PCM) method of digitizing analog signals has become a standard both in digital audio and in speech research, the focus of this paper. The solutions to some problems encountered in earlier systems at Haskins Laboratories are outlined, along with general properties of A/D conversion. Specialized features of the current Haskins Laboratories system, which has also been installed at more than a dozen other laboratories, are also detailed: the Nyquist filter response, the high-frequency preemphasis filter characteristics, the dynamic range, the timing resolution for single- and (synchronized) dual-channel signals, and the form of the digitized speech files (header information, data, and label structure). While the solutions adopted in this system are not intended to be considered a standard, the design principles involved are of interest to users and creators of other PCM systems.
Biological basis for restriction of microRNA targets to the 3′ untranslated region in mammalian mRNAs

MicroRNA target sites tend to reside in the 3′ untranslated regions of transcripts in animals. By altering the stop codon position in a model target and thus placing miRNA target sites within open reading frames, it is now found that translation through a miRNA target region is refractory to miRNA-mediated repression.
The Notch amino terminus regulates protein levels and Delta-induced clustering of Drosophila Notch receptors

Notch signaling is required for the development of almost all animal tissues. It is a cell surface receptor that generates intracellular signals in response to Delta binding its extracellular domain. Notch response to Delta is affected by mutations in its extracellular domain outside of the Delta binding region. One such region is the Notch amino terminus. Mutations in this region are associated with developmental defects. How a mutation in the Notch amino terminus affects Notch function is unknown. We explored this issue in Drosophila melanogaster. We report that Notch receptors mutated in the amino terminus accumulate to abnormal levels, are deficient in Delta induced receptor clustering, and exhibit reduced rate of internalization and signaling. Notch receptors lacking the whole or the carboxy-terminal half of the intracellular domain are defective in internalization but not in clustering or accumulation. None of the other mutated Notch receptors showed defects in clustering, accumulation, or internalization. These observations suggest that the Notch amino terminus regulates Notch levels and clustering, which could affect the rate of Notch signaling and down-regulation.
LINKING ETIOLOGIES IN HUMANS AND ANIMAL MODELS: STUDIES OF AUTISM

Thalidomide has been shown to lead to a high rate of autism when exposure occurs during the 20th to 24th d of gestation. Both the critical period and the neurological deficits of the autistic cases indicate that they have sustained injuries to the cranial nerve motor nuclei. To determine whether such lesions characterize other cases of autism, the brain stem of an autistic case was compared to that of a control. The autopsy case showed abnormalities predicted by the thalidomide cases and evidence of shortening of the brain stem, a defect that could have occurred only during neural tube closure. To test whether animals can be similarly injured but remain viable, rats were treated with 350 mg/kg of valproic acid on day 11.5, 12, or 12.5 of gestation. Neuron counts showed reductions of cell numbers in the cranial nerve motor nuclei. Rats with motor neuron deficits also had cerebellar anomalies like those reported in studies of autistic cases, supporting the idea that these animals may be a useful model of the developmental injury that initiates autism.
Joint Modeling of Anatomical and Functional Connectivity for Population Studies

We propose a novel probabilistic framework to merge information from diffusion weighted imaging tractography and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging correlations to identify connectivity patterns in the brain. In particular, we model the interaction between latent anatomical and functional connectivity and present an intuitive extension to population studies. We employ the EM algorithm to estimate the model parameters by maximizing the data likelihood. The method simultaneously infers the templates of latent connectivity for each population and the differences in connectivity between the groups. We demonstrate our method on a schizophrenia study. Our model identifies significant increases in functional connectivity between the parietal/posterior cingulate region and the frontal lobe and reduced functional connectivity between the parietal/posterior cingulate region and the temporal lobe in schizophrenia. We further establish that our model learns predictive differences between the control and clinical populations, and that combining the two modalities yields better results than considering each one in isolation.
Philosophy of science and the progressiveness of the DSM's theory-neutral nosology: response to Follette and Houts, part 1

Abstract Follette and Houts [Follette, W. C., Houts, A. C. (1996). Models of scientific progress and the role of theory in taxonomy development: a case study of the DSM. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 1120–1132] argue on philosophy-of-science grounds that the DSM's theory-neutral nosology is scientifically unprogressive because of its growing number of categories and lack of a unifying explanatory theory. They suggested replacing the DSM by competing theory-laden diagnostic manuals. I argue: (1) the ways things can go wrong with the mind are inherently diverse, so a unified theory of mental disorders is unlikely; (2) the claim that an increase in categories is inconsistent with scientific progress is empirically false; (3) the claim that the DSM's new categories expand the domain of disorder is largely false; (4) progress in a theoretically fragmented field requires a shared theory-neutrally defined domain; (5) theory-neutral diagnosis and integration of etiological theories is preferable for now to competition among theory-based diagnostic manuals; (6) philosophy of science supports use of a theory-neutral nosology for now.
They were cheap and available: prisoners as research subjects in twentieth century America

On 20 August 1947 Gerhard Rose, one of Germany's most respected physicians, stood in the prisoner's dock at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany, awaiting his sentence for “murders, tortures, and other atrocities committed in the name of medical science.” Dr Rose, the department head for tropical medicine of the Robert Koch Institute, was on trial along with 22 of his medical colleagues, for perpetrating “ghastly” and “hideous” experiments on concentration camp prisoners during the war.1 At one point in the trial when the chief prosecution witness, Dr Andrew C Ivy of the medical school of the University of Illinois, underscored the basic principle “that human experimental subjects must be volunteers,” Dr Rose and his defence counsel vigorously objected, arguing that the United States was guilty of similar medical practices and giving several examples to support this contention.1 The Nazi doctor's first example of American complicity concerned the medical experiments of Dr Richard P Strong, who performed a series of studies in 1906 with “cholera virus upon inmates of the Bilibid Prison in Manila.” The Philippine Islands experiment on prisoners already sentenced to death resulted in 13 fatalities and was eventually attributed to a bottle of bubonic plague serum having been substituted mistakenly for a bottle of cholera serum.2 3 4 5 Strong, who later became professor of tropical medicine at Harvard University, was not deterred by the error and continued experiments on Philippine prisoners. His beriberi experiments six years later also resulted in death, but survivors were compensated with cigars and cigarettes. Another German physician on trial for his life at Nuremberg, Dr Georg August Weltz, the chief of the Institute for Aviation Medicine in Munich, offered the name of another American doctor who used prisoners on behalf of medical science. Dr Joseph Goldberger, a …