cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Changes in COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rate among recovered critically Ill patients: A 12-month follow-up study.

Introduction We surveyed a cohort of patients who recovered from severe SARS-CoV-2 infection to determine the COVID-19 vaccination rate. We also compared the willingness to accept COVID-19 vaccine before and after its availability to assess changes in perception and attitude towards vaccination. Materials and methods Recovered patients with severe hypoxemic respiratory failure from SARS-CoV-2 infection treated in the ICU at Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia between April 1, 2020, and June 30, 2020 were followed up over a 1-year period to assess vaccine acceptability and acceptance rates, and changes in perception towards COVID-19 vaccination before and after vaccine availability. Results A total of 98 and 93 patients completed the initial and follow up surveys respectively. During the initial survey, 41% of the patients intended to receive vaccination, 46% responded they would not accept a vaccine against COVID-19 even if it were proven to be 'safe and effective 'and 13% undecided. During the follow up survey, 44% of the study cohort had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Major reasons provided by respondents for not accepting COVID-19 vaccine were lack of trust in the effectiveness of the vaccine, pharmaceutical companies, government, vaccine technology, fear of side effects and perceived immunity against COVID-19. Respondents were more likely to be vaccinated if recommended by their physicians (OR 6.4, 95% CI 2.8-8.3), employers (OR 2.5, 95% CI 1.9-5.8), and family and friends (OR 1.6, 95% CI 1.1-4.5). Conclusion We found a suboptimal COVID-19 vaccination rate in a cohort of patients who recovered from severe infection. COVID-19 vaccine information and recommendation by healthcare providers, employers, and family and friends may improve vaccination uptake.
Callimachus in Context: From Plato to the Augustan Poets

Introduction 1. Literary quarrels 2. Performing the text 3. Changing places 4. In my end is my beginning Conclusions Appendix: the Aetia.
Background and Basics

We will be working with sequence spaces. There will be two types of sequence spaces. One is composed of one-sided infinite sequences and the other is composed of two-sided infinite sequences. These are metric spaces where two one-sided sequences are said to be close together if they agree for a long time at the beginning and two two-sided sequences are said to be close together if they agree for a long time around the center. In the first part of the book the sequences will have entries coming from a finite set and in the second part the entries will come from a countable set. When the entries are from a finite set the sequence space is usually homeomorphic to the standard Cantor set. The transformation we study will be the shift transformation which shifts each sequence once to the left. The richness of the dynamics does not arise from the topology of the space or the definition of the transformation but from the definition of which sequences belong to each space. We study subshifts of finite type. They are the sequence spaces characterized by having a finite rule which determines the sequences belonging to each space.
Recession and Unemployment: A Comparative Analysis of Germany and the United States

Unemployment is a long-term, cyclical problem that plagues governments and citizens in states across the globe. During periods of high unemployment, individual citizens struggle to provide basic needs for their families as they continue to search for gainful work. Consequently, governments become hard pressed to produce quality public service in the face of the dipping levels of tax revenue that results from low citizen income. Never has this systemic issue been more apparent than during the most recent economic recession.
Efficient approximate visibility query in large dynamic environments

Visibility query is fundamental to many analysis and decision-making tasks in virtual environments. Visibility computation is time complex and the complexity escalates in large and dynamic environments, where the visibility set (i.e., the set of visible objects) of any viewpoint is probe to change at any time. However, exact visibility query is rarely necessary. Besides, it is inefficient, if not infeasible, to obtain the exact result in a dynamic environment. In this paper, we formally define an Approximate Visibility Query (AVQ) as follows: given a viewpoint v, a distance e and a probability p, the answer to an AVQ for the viewpoint v is an approximate visibility set such that its difference with the exact visibility set is guaranteed to be less than e with confidence p. We propose an approach to correctly and efficiently answer AVQ in large and dynamic environments. Our extensive experiments verified the efficiency of our approach.
Reactive power allocation control scheme for multiple grid connected inverters

This paper proposes an allocation control scheme to maximize resource sharing of grid connected inverters. Grid connected inverters with diverse capabilities are increasingly present in the utility grid and are regarded as key components in future Smartgrids and microgrids. Due to the aggregation of grid connected inverters in the power network, allocation of their available resources is a new challenge. The focus of this paper is the allocation of reactive power because more economical power distribution systems can be designed through increased flexibility. Thus, reactive power compensation through resource allocation results in deferrals of phased investments for power networks. Additional benefits include minimized transmission losses, enhanced energy efficiency, and improved power quality. In order to effectively allocate resources, selection of the control and communication methods for the inverters are critical because investment costs are relative. A virtual power management system with token ring communication is proposed to increase allocation capabilities. The proposed method acquires the load data of each inverter sequentially. During each turn, reactive power reference values are calculated so that each inverter's resources are properly allocated based on load conditions. A simulation based on the actual load data is used to validate the performance and additional benefits.
The Life Cycle of Bruises in Older Adults

Objectives: To summarize the occurrence, progression, and resolution of accidentally acquired bruises in a sample of adults aged 65 and older. The systematic documentation of accidentally occurring bruises in older adults could provide a foundation for comparison when considering suspicious bruising in older adults. Design: Between April 2002 and August 2003, a convenience sample of 101 seniors was examined daily at home (up to 6 weeks) to document the occurrence, progression, and resolution of accidental bruises that occurred during the observation period. Setting: Three community-based settings and two skilled nursing facilities in Orange County, California. Participants: One hundred one adults aged 65 and older (mean age=83). Measurements: Age, sex, ethnicity, functional status, handedness, medical conditions, medications, cognitive status, depression, history of falls, bruise size, bruise location, initial bruise color, color change over time. Results: Nearly 90% of the bruises were on the extremities. There were no bruises on the neck, ears, genitalia, buttocks, or soles of the feet. Subjects were more likely to know the cause of the bruise if the bruise was on the trunk. Contrary to the common perception that yellow coloration indicates an older bruise, 16 bruises were predominately yellow within the first 24 hours after onset. People on medications known to affect coagulation pathways and those with compromised function were more likely to have multiple bruises. Conclusion: Accidental bruises occur in a predictable location pattern in older adults. One cannot reliably predict the age of a bruise by its color.
Colloidal properties of rubber latex

The coagulation and reversal of charge of a styrenebutadiene rubber latex (Naugatex 2740) by freshly prepared and aged aluminum nitrate solutions has been studied as a function of pH. The entire “[Al(NO3)3]-pH” and “[Al2(SO4)3]-pH” domains have been established giving the regions of uncoagulated and coagulated latex, as well as the stabilization region due to charge reversal. The results are similar to those obtained earlier with silver halide sols. Some differences are apparently due to interactions of hydrolyzed aluminum ions with the stabilizing agent, Dresinate 214. This work represents another confirmation of previous findings that the critical coagulation concentrations of a metal counterion varies as a consequence of the change in charge due to hydrolysis. It also shows that only hydrolyzed metal ions may adsorb in amounts sufficient to cause charge reversal.
The Role of Racial Identity in Perceived Racism and Psychological Stress Among Black American Adults: Exploring Traditional and Alternative Approaches

This investigation tested whether racial identity status attitudes moderated the relationship between perceived racism and psychological functioning in a sample of 340 Black American adults. The study utilized 2 approaches to racial identity assessment: the standard group-means approach, plus a profile analysis of individual racial identity statuses. Results based on the group-means approach indicated that racial identity did not moderate the relationship between racism and psychological functioning. Findings based on the profile analysis, however, indicated that individuals whose profile type was identified as internalization-dominant exhibited the lowest levels of general life stress, the lowest levels of psychological distress, and the highest levels of psychological well-being. Implications for ongoing research are discussed.
Observation of Melting by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

WE have developed a new method of observing melting and of measuring melting points which exploits the motional narrowing of the nuclear magnetic resonance line at the phase transition. Impurity premelting1 allows the observation of a spin echo signal immediately below the melting point. A plot of the signal amplitude versus temperature determines both the impurity depressed or apparent melting point and the correction to this melting point due to impurities. These then provide the true melting point. Knowledge of the freezing point depression constant also gives the impurity concentration of the sample.
Centrifugal regulation of neuronal activity in the olfactory bulb of the waking rabbit as revealed by reversible cryogenic blockade

The influences of centrifugal projections to the olfactory bulb were examined on the bulbar EEG and mitral-tufted cell activity in waking rabbits. Each of 6 rabbits was implanted, under surgical anesthesia, with fine wire electrodes for recording of the EEG and mitral-tufted cell unit activity and for stimulating the lateral olfactory tract. Two cooling probes, for reversible cryogenic blockade, were implanted on either side of the left olfactory peduncle. Records of EEG and unit activity were taken for 200 s before, during and after cooling of the probes to 3 degrees centigrade. Antidromic evoked potentials were used to assess the efficacy of the blockade. During the cryogenic blockade bursts of EEG activity, evoked in the bulb by inspiration through the nose, were augmented in amplitude and reduced in frequency. Mitral-tufted cell unit activity was reduced in rate but was more highly correlated with the phase and amplitude of the EEG bursts. Analysis of individual EEG bursts revealed that the variance in frequency of bulbar activity was significantly reduced in the isolated state. The data demonstrate that oscillatory bursting activity in the olfactory bulb is intrinsically maintained within a relatively fixed frequency range during receptor input and does not depend on centrifugal projections for its electrogenesis. Changes in EEG frequency, amplitude and correlation with unit activity support the hypothesis that centrifugal projections act in part to inhibit mitral-tufted cell output by direct excitation of granule cells. These findings are supported by a theoretical model in which distributed feedback to the granule cells from more central olfactory structures acts to regulate the coherency of bulbar activity.
Procedure for quantifying a solute flux to a shallow perched water table

Abstract In order to comprehend the mechanism of solute transport and to develop predictive models, it is critical to first develop an accurate monitoring protocol to monitor the field-scale solute mass flux through an undisturbed soil profile. A total solute flux monitoring protocol recently developed for tile-drained systems was extended to a coarse loamy sand soil with a perched water table located at 1.68 m. Three mobile tracers were applied to a 28.2 m2 area around an observation well at different times to quantify chemical transport. The first tracer, bromide (0.106 kg Br m− 2) was surface broadcast applied around the observation well 1.5 days before the irrigation at 4.1 mm h− 1 was initiated. The second tracer, chloride (0.518 kg Cl m− 2) was surface broadcast immediately before irrigation was initiated, while the third tracer pentafluorobenzoic acid (0.167 kg PFBA m− 2) was applied 7 h after irrigation began. The water table height in the observation well was kept constant by pumping water out of the well from the water table interface, while the water table height below the well pumping depth (1.68 m) was continuously monitored. The soil water content profile for the top 1.8 m was also continuously monitored with a moisture capacitance probe (MCP). Shortly after irrigation began, water flows from the observation well increased slowly over the duration of the study while the pressure transducer data indicated a near constant water table height near the well. Flux results from the study show that: 1) this protocol successfully recovered over 97% of all three surface applied tracers; 2) at 4.1 mm h− 1 over half of the surface-applied tracers were recovered at a depth of 1.68 m after only 280 mm of irrigation; 3) by the time piston flow theory predicted the front would reach the 1.68 m depth, 80% of the applied tracers had already leached through the soil profile, and 4) at this location, the solute fluxes were dominated by preferential flow when subjected to a 4.1 mm h− 1 irrigation rate. These preliminary results suggest this procedure may be a useful tool for quantifying a total solute transport flux in non tile-drained soils with a shallow or perched water table.
Tradeoffs between somatic and gonadal investments during development in the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis)

Tradeoffs between time to and size at metamorphosis occur in many organisms with complex life histories. The ability to accelerate metamorphosis can increase survival to the next life stage, but the resulting smaller size at metamorphosis is often associated with lower post-metamorphic survival or reduced fecundity of adults. Reduced fecundity is thought to be because of reduced energy reserves, longer time to maturity, or reduced capacity to carry eggs or compete for mates. This pattern could also be explained by a shift in allocation to somatic growth that further retards the growth or development of reproductive tissues. The main goal of this study was to determine if the relationship between growth and development of somatic and gonadal tissues depends on environmental conditions. We address this question through two experiments in which we quantify the development and growth of the body and gonads of Xenopus laevis reared in different resource environments. First, tadpoles were reared communally and development and growth were evaluated over time. Restricted food reduced somatic and gonadal growth rate, but did not affect the developmental rate of either tissue type. Second, tadpoles were reared individually and evaluated at metamorphosis. Restricted food reduced somatic development and growth, but only influenced size, and not developmental stage of testes at metamorphosis. This work demonstrates that environmental conditions influence tradeoffs between growth and development of somatic and gonadal tissues, apparently in a sex-specific manner. These tradeoffs may contribute to phenotypic correlations between small size and reduced fitness.
Membrane partitioning of the Rose-type chamber for the study of metabolic interaction between different cultures.

The Rose tissue culture chamber has been divided into 2 compartments by using half-thickness gaskets with an interposed Nuclepore (General Electric Co.) filter. This permits study of the interaction of 2 different cell populations on each side of the membrane. Radioiodinated serum albumin concentration studies demonstrate rapid distribution of labelled protein across the membrane while its pore size of 0.5 μ or 0.8 μ prevents migration of the cells themselves. Equilibrium between plain medium and radioactive medium was established in 7–9 hr.
Optimal controllability of descriptor systems

To the regularity, non-impulse of descriptor systems, proportional and derivative output feedback (PDOF) and left and right orthocomplement are applied to investigate the weakest impulse-free condition for descriptor systems, and the weakest sufficient necessary condition is obtained for the close-loop descriptor system.
Self-Reported Marital Quality of Military Families Living Off-Post in a Midwestern Community:

Military, student, and other wives from a sample of 212 wives and both spouses from a sample of 79 couples from the Midwest are compared on a variety of self-report measures of marital quality. While few significant differences were found among the three groups, those that were significant favored the military couples. In these samples, the strengths of military families appeared sufficient to offset the stresses peculiar to their family life. The results suggest that not all military families can be fairly characterized as problematic or dysfunctional.
Sustained attention and response inhibition in young children at risk for Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Background: Studies of school-aged children, adolescents, and adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have variably shown ADHD-related impairment in both inhibitory control and sustained attention. However, few studies have examined ADHD-associated patterns of performance on these tasks among younger children (below age 7 years). Methods: A combined continuous performance test and go/no-go task (CPT/GNG) and the Day–Night Stroop Task (DNST) were administered to an ethnically diverse sample of 3.44- to 6.95-year-old children rated by parents and teachers as being either high risk or low risk for ADHD. All children performed the DNST (N = 71) and a subset of the sample (N = 44) performed the CPT/GNG. Analyses assessed task validity as well as the effects of age and risk status. Results: Significant main effects for age and risk status were found on all tasks. In addition, age × condition interactions were found for the CPT and DNST, which suggest that the tasks were sensitive to age-related changes in sustained attention and inhibitory control respectively. No significant risk status × condition interactions were found, suggesting that young children at risk for ADHD do not exhibit specific deficits in either inhibitory control or sustained attention. The most consistent effect related to risk status across tasks was the greater number of errors and longer and more variable reaction times on the part of children at risk for ADHD irrespective of condition. Conclusions: ADHD-associated decrements in performance on these tasks appear to be attributable either to generalized behavioral dysregulation or poor state regulation rather than to deficient inhibitory control.
Determination of L-756 423, a novel HIV protease inhibitor, in human plasma and urine using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.

Abstract A method for the determination of L-756 423, a novel HIV protease inhibitor, in human plasma and urine is described. Plasma and urine samples were extracted using 3M Empore extraction disk cartridges in the C18 and MPC (mixed-phase cation-exchange) formats, respectively. The extract was analyzed using HPLC with fluorescence detection (ex 248 nm, em 300 nm), and included a column switching procedure to reduce run-time. The assay was linear in the concentration range 5 to 1000 ng/ml when 1-ml aliquots of plasma and urine were extracted. Recoveries of L-756 423 were greater than 84% over the calibration curve range using the described sample preparation procedures. Intra-day precision and accuracy for this assay was less than 9% RSD and within 7%, respectively. Inter-day variabilities for the plasma (n=17) and urine (n=10) were less than 5% and 3% for low (15 ng/ml) and high (750 ng/ml) quality control samples. Bovine serum albumin (0.5%) was used as an additive to urine to prevent precipitation of L-756 423 during the storage of clinical samples. The assay was used in support of human clinical trials.
The starship for point estimates and confidence intervals on a mean and for percentiles

The starship procedure for transformations to normality described by Owen (1988) is implemented using the Johnson (1949) System of transformations, the Slifker-Shapiro (1980) technique for choosing a transformation, and the Shapiro-Wilk (1965) test for normality. This procedure was applied to obtain maximum likelihood point estimates of a mean, to obtain confidence intervals on a mean, and to estimate percentiles of a distribution based on a sample. Simulations of three distributions show that the starship has many desirable properties, and can be compared very favorably with the bootstrap procedures of Efron (1987).
Spawning Habitat of Kootenai River White Sturgeon, Post-Libby Dam

Abstract The Kootenai River white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus has been isolated from other white sturgeon populations for over 10,000 years, Bonnington Falls in British Columbia, Canada, creating the isolation. Libby Dam, constructed in 1972, modified the flow and temperature regime of the river, which affected spawning and recruitment of white sturgeon. Kootenai River white sturgeon are only known to spawn in a reach near Bonners Ferry, Idaho, 100 km downstream from the dam. In 2 of 8 years of study, only 15 white sturgeon eggs were collected over gravel–cobble substrate. However, in the other 6 years, 1,193 eggs were collected over sand substrate; these areas usually exceeded 5 m in depth, were within the main channel, and had water velocities of 0.2–1.0 m/s and temperatures of 8.5–12°C. In general, these characteristics differed from optimum white sturgeon spawning habitat in the Columbia River, where velocities average 0.8 m/s, water temperatures are 12–17°C, and gravel–cobble substrate is availa...
Radiative Properties for Fire Suppression Environments Using a Correlated-k Method

This study uses the correlated-k (c-k) and Mie scattering theory to evaluate absorption and scattering properties of participating media for fire suppression environments. In this approach the irregular spectral distribution of the radiative properties is reordered into cumulative distribution functions on a narrow band basis increasing the speed of property evaluation when compared to line-by-line calculations. The spectral properties are determined from the HITEMP database for carbon dioxide and water vapor, along with Mie and Rayleigh scattering theories for water droplets and soot particles, respectively. Results are presented for radiative heat transfer in a 1D domain for several mixtures and show that the attenuation of the radiation is highly sensitive to the water droplet size, mass loading and soot particle concentration.Copyright © 2005 by ASME
Advances in Positive Airway Pressure Treatment Modalities for Hypoventilation Syndromes

The physiologic rationale for advanced positive airway pressure (PAP) modalities is sound considering the complexity of sleep-disordered breathing in patients with hypoventilation syndromes. The therapeutic physiological rationale for the various advanced PAP modalities and the details about the principles of operation and technology implementation need to be well-understood by the prescribing health care provider. Sleep-disordered breathing is complex and requires sophisticated devices with algorithms designed to accurately detect and effectively treat respiratory events that include hypoventilation, upper airway obstruction, lower airway obstruction, central apneas, and central hypopneas, and reduce the work of breathing while maintaining breathing comfort. There is much opportunity for further refinement of these devices that include the ability of the device to reliably monitor gas exchange, sleep–wakefulness state, and for reducing variability in device efficacy owing to provider-selected device settings.
“EDGE” OR “EDGELESS” CITIES? URBAN SPATIAL STRUCTURE IN U.S. METROPOLITAN AREAS, 1980 TO 2000*

ABSTRACT This paper presents a descriptive analysis of spatial trends in six U.S. metropolitan areas. The results show that generalized job dispersion was a more common spatial process than subcentering during the 1980s and 1990s when jobs continued to decentralize from the metropolitan core to the suburbs. Three distinctive patterns of spatial development were found. Job dispersion was predominant in Portland and Philadelphia, whereas the polycentricity of Los Angeles and San Francisco was further reinforced. New York and Boston with large and long-established CBDs were less prone to decentralization. Each metro seems to have developed a unique pattern of decentralization in light of their histories and circumstances, which has limited the growth of commuting times.
The isoquinoline sulfonamide inhibitors of protein phosphorylation, H-7, H-8, and HA-1004, also inhibit RNA synthesis: studies on responses of adipose tissue to growth hormone.

To evaluate the possibility that some of the metabolic effects of GH in rat adipose tissue depend upon phosphorylation-dephosphorylation reactions, we examined the effects of the isoquinoline sulfonamide family (H-7, H-8, and HA-1004) of protein kinase inhibitors on the actions of GH. In the course of these studies it became clear that these compounds may also block RNA synthesis. In the concentration range of 50–200 μM, H-7, H-8, and HA-1004 completely blocked lipolysis in response to the combination of 100 ng/ml dexamethasone and 30 ng/ml human GH in segments of epididymal fat from normal rats, but were less effective in blocking lipolysis in response to either 1 μM (Bu)2cAMP or 1 ng/ml isoproterenol, which are known to depend upon activation of protein kinase-A. Activation of protein kinase-C with phorbol myristate nearly doubled the rate of glucose oxidation in segments of normal adipose tissue, and this insulin-like response was completely inhibited with 200 nM H-7. At concentrations as high as 500 μ...
Trail laying in the subterranean ant, Acanthomyops interjectus

Abstract Acanthomyops interjectus, a subterranean ant, lays odorous trails in the tunnels leading to abundant food sources. The trails consist of small droplets of hind-gut contents which are released while the ant presses the tip of the abdomen intermittently against the substrate.
Long-Term Storage of Lyophilized Liposomal Formulations

Because aqueous liposomal formulations containing multiply unsaturated lipids are susceptible to chemical degradation, these formulations are often lyophilized. Despite their limited chemical stability, interest in the use of multiply unsaturated lipids to promote intracellular delivery has increased considerably in recent years. The goal of the current study was to examine the long-term storage stability of lyophilized formulations containing lipids with increasing levels of unsaturation, and various strategies that can be employed to improve stability. Aqueous lipid-trehalose formulations containing 1,2-dilinolenoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DLPC), 1,2-dilinoleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DLinPC), or 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC) were lyophilized and stored at temperatures ranging from 4°C to 60°C. We observed that the lipid degradation rate increased as the storage temperature and unsaturation level were increased. Even the cleanest sugars, which are available commercially, contain iron contaminants, and it was observed that the chelation of these iron contaminants significantly improved the stability of DLPC during storage. However, the glass transition temperature of the sugar that was included in the formulation, the reduction of the oxygen in the aqueous sample prior to lyophilization, the inclusion of helper lipids (i.e., cholesterol), and the rate of freezing did not significantly improve stability.
Nuclear Radius and Many-Body Problem

The radioactive $\ensuremath{\alpha}$-decay is discussed as a many-body problem. The nuclear radius is found to be 13 \ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{} ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}13}$ cm\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}10 percent, as compared to 9 \ifmmode\cdot\else\textperiodcentered\fi{} ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}13}$ in the older theory. The increased radius makes the theoretical cross section for the disintegration of heavy nuclei by deuterons agree with experiment.
Use of Selected Factors as Predictors of Success in Completing a Secondary Teacher Preparation Program

A multiple regression analysis was performed on all EPPS and SVIB scales to determine those scales which could be used to predict success in a secondary teacher preparation program for 207 females and 88 males. Significant discriminant function equations for fourteen male predictor variables and for eight female predictor variables were obtained. Thus, for both males and females it was possible to discriminate between those who had completed the teacher preparation program and those who had not; for applicants it was possible to classify them as likely or unlikely to complete the teacher preparation program. Cross-validation studies, however, with larger samples would be needed to establish generalizable equations that would permit realization of a comparatively high degree of accuracy of classification of applicant members in new samples.
Dynamics of fluctuations below a stationary bifurcation to electroconvection in the planar nematic liquid crystal N4.

We fitted $C(\mathbf{k},\ensuremath{\tau},ϵ)\ensuremath{\propto}\mathrm{exp}﻿[\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\sigma}(\mathbf{k},ϵ)\ensuremath{\tau}]$ to time-correlation functions $C(\mathbf{k},\ensuremath{\tau},ϵ)$ of structure factors $S(\mathbf{k},t,ϵ)$ of shadowgraph images of fluctuations below a supercritical bifurcation at ${V}_{0}={V}_{c}$ to electroconvection of a planar nematic liquid crystal in the presence of a voltage $V=\sqrt{2}{V}_{0}\mathrm{cos}﻿(2\ensuremath{\pi}ft)$ [$\mathbf{k}=(p,q)$ is the wave vector and $ϵ\ensuremath{\equiv}{V}_{0}^{2}/{V}_{c}^{2}\ensuremath{-}1$]. There were stationary oblique (normal) rolls at small (large) $f$. Fits of a modified Swift-Hohenberg form to $\ensuremath{\sigma}(\mathbf{k},ϵ)$ gave $f$-dependent critical behavior for the minimum decay rates ${\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{0}(ϵ)$ and the correlation lengths ${\ensuremath{\xi}}_{p,q}(ϵ)$.
Mechanical Stretch Modulates the Promoter Activity of the Profibrotic Factor CCN2 through Increased Actin Polymerization and NF-κB Activation

The connective tissue growth factor known as CCN2 is an inducible, profibrotic molecule that becomes aberrantly expressed in mechanical overload-bearing tissues. In this study, we found that CCN2 gene expression is rapidly induced in cyclically stretched bladder smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in vitro and in the detrusor muscle of a mechanically overloaded bladder in a rat model of experimental urethral obstruction. The activity of CCN2 promoter constructs, transiently transfected into cultured SMCs, was increased (up to 6-fold) by continuous cyclic stretching. Molecular analyses of the CCN2 promoter by serial construct deletions, cis-element mutagenesis, and electrophoretic mobility shift assays revealed that a highly conserved NF-κB binding site located within the CCN2 proximal promoter region is responsible for the activation of the promoter by stretch. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays showed that NF-κB binds to the endogenous CCN2 promoter in both stretched cells and mechanically overloaded bladder tissues. Furthermore, stretch-dependent CCN2 promoter activity was significantly reduced upon inhibition of either phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, p38 stress-activated kinase, or RhoA GTPase and was completely abolished upon inhibition of actin polymerization. Concordantly, actin polymerization was increased in either mechanically stretched cells or overloaded bladder tissues. Incubation of cultured SMCs with a cell-penetrating peptide containing the N-terminal sequence, Ac-EEED, of smooth muscle α-actin, altered both actin cytoskeleton organization and stretch-mediated nuclear relocation of NF-κB, and subsequently, it reduced CCN2 promoter activity. Thus, mechanical stretch-induced changes in actin dynamics mediate NF-κB activation and induce CCN2 gene expression, which probably initiates the fibrotic reactions observed in mechanical overloadassociated pathologies.
Lithium–liquid battery: harvesting lithium from waste Li-ion batteries and discharging with water

This study demonstrates the feasibility of using water and the contents of waste Li-ion batteries for the electrodes in a Li–liquid battery system. Li metal was collected electrochemically from a waste Li-ion battery containing Li-ion source materials from the battery's anode, cathode, and electrolyte, thereby recycling the Li contained in the waste battery at room temperature. The harvested Li metal in the battery system was discharged to produce electricity by using water as the cathode. The discharge voltage of the water showed 2.7 V at 0.1 mA cm−2versus Li metal harvested from waste Li-ion batteries, compared to 2.8 V versus fresh Li metal at the same current rate. Since the electrodes for this proposed battery system are water and the contents of waste Li-ion batteries, the cost of the battery decreases, which is an attractive strategy for a large size energy storage application.
Association between response to brief trastuzumab exposure in cell lines and early stage HER2+ breast tumors

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 amplified (HER2+) breast cancer is common and aggressive. Trastuzumab is a targeted therapy to the HER2 cell surface receptor and has greatly improved prognosis for HER2+ breast cancer patients, but trastuzumab-resistance is a significant problem. Few biomarkers of trastuzumab resistance of response have been found, and there has been tremendous difficulty identifying in vitro biomarkers that transfer to the in vivo HER2+ breast cancer setting.We identified gene expression signatures of trastuzumab-response and trastuzumab-resistance in HER2+ breast cancer cell lines across 24-hour exposure to trastuzumab. A set of 180-genes changed significantly in a trastuzumab-sensitive HER2+ cell line (BT474) and 58 genes changed significantly across treatment in a trastuzumab-resistant HER2+ cell line (UACC812).To demonstrate that these signatures have clinical relevance, we applied them in vivo to gene expression profiles from early stage HER2+ breast tumors treated with a single dose of trastuzumab. We found that the BT474 trastuzumab-responsive signature was enriched among the changes in expression across treatment for responsive patients. The expression change for the BT474 signature genes was also able to partially cluster responsive and resistant breast tumors by outcome. A subset of the UACC812 trastuzumab-resistance signature was also enriched in the differential between responsive and resistant tumors prior to trastuzumab treatment.These results show for the first time that cell line-derived gene signatures can be useful in identifying whether breast cancer patients will ultimately benefit from trastuzumab treatment. This approach might one day be applied to enhance clinical treatment decisions.
Librarians as Part of Cross-Disciplinary, Multi-Institutional Team Projects: Experiences from the VIVO Collaboration

Cross-disciplinary, team-based collaboration is essential for addressing today's complex research questions, and librarians are increasingly entering into such collaborations. This study identifies skills needed as librarians integrate into cross-disciplinary teams, based on the experiences of librarians involved in the development and implementation of VIVO, a research discovery and collaboration platform. Participants discussed the challenges, skills gained, and lessons learned throughout the project. Their responses were analyzed in the light of the science of team science literature, and factors affecting collaboration on the VIVO team were identified. Skills in inclusive thinking, communication, perseverance, adaptability, and leadership were found to be essential.
NASA data systems users

A considerable evolution has occurred in the past two decades in the disciplines of solar-terrestrial and interplanetary physics. Early research was centered around exploratory missions in which measurements from individual scientific instruments could be meaningfully employed to advance our state of knowledge. As these scientific disciplines have advanced, a much more profound, and interrelated, set of questions is being posed by researchers. The result is that present-day investigations are generally much more complex; large volumes of data are acquired from multiple sensors on individual spacecraft or from ground-based systems and, quite often, data are needed from multiple sources in order to address particular physical problems.
Lunar Surface Electric Potential Changes Associated with Traversals through the Earth's Foreshock

We report an analysis of one year of Suprathermal Ion Detector Experiment (SIDE) Total Ion Detector (TID) resonance events observed between January 1972 and January 1973. The study includes only those events during which upstream solar wind conditions were readily available. The analysis shows that these events are associated with lunar traversals through the dawn flank of the terrestrial magnetospheric bow shock. We propose that the events result from an increase in lunar surface electric potential effected by secondary electron emission due to primary electrons in the Earth's foreshock region (although primary ions may play a role as well). This work establishes (1) the lunar surface potential changes as the Moon moves through the terrestrial bow shock, (2) the lunar surface achieves potentials in the upstream foreshock region that differ from those in the downstream magnetosheath region, (3) these differences can be explained by the presence of energetic electron beams in the upstream foreshock region and (4) if this explanation is correct, the location of the Moon with respect to the terrestrial bow shock influences lunar surface potential.
The effect of field dependent mobility on the threshold voltage of a small geometry MOSFET

Abstract Threshold voltage calculations for small geometry MOSFET's typically assume a constant mobility. Calculations are performed with a two-dimensional computer model to determine the effect of field dependent mobility on the threshold voltage. The field dependent mobility is seen to decrease the threshold voltage as compared with the constant mobility case as the drain voltage is increased. For low to moderate drain voltages, this effect is not of significant magnitude to be of concern.
Limit analysis of simply supported conical shells subjected to uniform internal pressure

Abstract A recapitulation of the basic concepts of the theory of limit analysis is followed by an upper and lower bound determination of the collapse load of a simply supported conical shell subjected to a uniform internal pressure. The bounds established coincide, thus representing an exact solution according to the assumed two-moment limited interaction yield criteria (1). The solution is then used to determine bounds on a shell following the Tresca yield criteria.
Studies on masticatory efficiency

Abstract A method of testing the masticatory efficiency in animals has been described and applied to studies in the rat. Using a test meal consisting of coarsely ground corn of known particle size (20 mesh), the degree of food partition in the mouth was determined by immediate examination of the masticated bolus removed from the stomach. The masticatory efficiency has been studied under various experimental conditions with the following results: 1. 1. There is a marked decrease in the masticatory efficiency of rats which for some time have been fed a coarse-corn diet, especially after 100 days or more on the caries-producing diet when molar lesions start to appear with increasing frequency. 2. 2. When the maxillary molars of rats are removed, the rats swallow the whole corn particles without partition, indicating that they cannot manage to grind off the 20 mesh particles with their incisor teeth, as they do with whole corn by holding it between the forelegs. 3. 3. Young rats show a slightly higher masticatory efficiency than full-grown rats, when both have intact teeth. 4. 4. Young rachitic rats have a considerably lower masticatory efficiency than normal rats of the same age. 5. 5. The masticatory efficiency of normal and fluorosed rats of the same age show no marked difference, being only slightly higher in the latter animals.
Convective Heat Transfer Near One-Dimensional and Two-Dimensional Wall Temperature Steps

Steady-state experiments with one-dimensional and two-dimensional calorimeters were used to study the convective heat transfer near sharp steps in wall temperature in a turbulent boundary layer Data acquired under low and high freestream turbulence conditions indicated that spanwise turbulent diffusion is not a significant heat transport mechanism for a two-dimensional temperature step. The one-dimensional calorimeter heat transfer data were predicted within ±5 percent using the STAN7 boundary layer code for situations with an abrupt wall temperature step. The conventional correlation with an unheated starting length correction, in contrast, greatly under-predicts the heat transfer for the same experimental cases
Thrombospondin-1, vascular endothelial growth factor and fibroblast growth factor-2 are key functional regulators of angiogenesis in the prostate.

Background Prostate cells secrete many molecules capable of regulating angiogenesis; however, which of these actually function as essential regulators of neovascularization is not yet clear. Methods Functional angiogenic mediators secreted by normal and diseased prostate cells were identified using an in vitro angiogenesis assay. These factors were quantified by immunoblot or ELISA and localized in tissue by immunohistochemistry. Results Normal prostate epithelial cell secretions were anti-angiogenic due to inhibitory thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) whereas this inhibitor was decreased in the pro-angiogenic secretions derived from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and cancer cells. This pro-angiogenic activity depended primarily on fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) and/or vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) whose secretion was increased. Immunolocalization studies confirmed that the changes detected in vitro also occurred in vivo. Conclusions During disease progression in the prostate, production of TSP-1, the major inhibitor, is down-regulated while that of stimulatory FGF-2 and/or VEGF rise, leading to the induction of the new vessels necessary to support tumor growth. Prostate 49:293–305, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The relationship between social behavior and emergent literacy among preschool boys and girls

The purpose of the present study was to investigate relationships between social behaviors and emergent literacy among young children, and sex differences in these relationships. Participants were 123 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse preschoolers (63 girls, 60 boys). Social behaviors were observed in classrooms, and emergent literacy skills were assessed with standardized tests. Among boys, difficulties with emergent literacy were associated with aggressive misbehavior and fewer prosocial interactions, while neither of these relationships was observed for girls. Emergent literacy difficulties in both boys and girls were related to higher levels of solitary play and more frequent displays of negative affect. These findings suggest that learning problems in girls may be associated with different, less obvious factors than in boys.
Low-Complexity Soft-Output Decoding of Polar Codes

The state-of-the-art soft-output decoder for polar codes is a message-passing algorithm based on belief propagation, which performs well at the cost of high processing and storage requirements. In this paper, we propose a low-complexity alternative for soft-output decoding of polar codes that offers better performance but with significantly reduced processing and storage requirements. In particular we show that the complexity of the proposed decoder is only 4% of the total complexity of the belief propagation decoder for a rate one-half polar code of dimension 4096 in the dicode channel, while achieving comparable error-rate performance. Furthermore, we show that the proposed decoder requires about 39% of the memory required by the belief propagation decoder for a block length of 32768.
Small angle light scattering from deformed spherulites. Theory and its experimental verification

The observed small angle light scattering (SALS) from deformed spherulites is described by the theory of an anisotropic spheroid in an isotropic medium. Experimental verification of the theory, based on SALS data from both photographic and photometric measurements on isotactic polypropylene films, is presented. The theory led to a method for experimentally determining the extension ratio of the deformed spherulite and the radius of the original undeformed spherulite from the SALS pattens.
LUTEINIZATION OF THE OVARY OF THE MONKEY BY MEANS OF COMBINED USE OF ANTERIOR PITUITARY EXTRACT AND AN EXTRACT OF PREGNANCY URINE

In previous communications evidence was presented which indicates that the gonad-stimulating, anterior-pituitary-like substance from urine of human pregnancy does not act as a follicle activator in the rhesus monkey (Engle, 1933, 1934). In those instances where massive doses of the pregnancy urine factor were administered intravenously, no increase in oestrin production resulted. The changes were in general regressive in nature, but in many of the larger and medium sized follicles luteoid changes occurred, particularly in the theca interna. Most frequently the granulosa was entirely cytolized in the atretie process set up by the action of the active principle of human pregnancy urine. In cases where this cytolysis did not occur, some of the cells of the granulosa underwent hypertrophy, forming sporadic clumps of typical Intern cells. While a smaller quantity of this substance given intravenously over a longer period would perhaps form typical corpora lutea, from certain practical considerations it was des...