cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Electromyography Based Orthotic Arm and Finger Rehabilitation System

Electromyography (EMG), a technique used to analyze and record electric current produced by skeletal muscles, has been used to control replacement limbs, and diagnose muscle irregularities. In this work, an EMG based system comprising of an orthotic arm and finger device to aid in muscle rehabilitation, is presented. As the user attempts to contract their bicep or forearm muscles, the system senses the change in the EMG signals and in turn triggers the motors to assist with flexion and extension of the arm and fingers. As brain is a major factor for muscle growth, mental training using motor imagery was incorporated into the system. Subjects underwent mental training to show the capability of muscle growth. The measured data reveals that the subjects were able to compensate for the loss of muscle growth, due to shorter physical training sessions, with mental training. Subjects were then tested using the orthotic arm and finger rehabilitation device with motor imagery. The findings also showed a positive increase in muscle growth using the rehabilitation system. Based on the experimental results, the EMG rehabilitation system presented in this paper has the potential to increase muscle strength and improve the recovery rate for muscle injuries, partial paralysis, or muscle irregularities.
Repeat-dose ketamine augmentation for treatment-resistant depression with chronic suicidal ideation: A randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial.

Abstract Background Several studies indicate that ketamine has rapid antidepressant effects in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). The extent to which repeated doses of ketamine (versus placebo) reduce depression in the short and long term among outpatients with TRD and chronic, current suicidal ideation remains unknown. Methods Twenty-six medicated outpatients with severe major depressive disorder with current, chronic suicidal ideation were randomized in a double-blind fashion to six ketamine infusions (0.5 mg/kg over 45 minutes) or saline placebo over three weeks. Depression and suicidal ideation were assessed at baseline, 240 min post-infusion, and during a three-month follow-up phase. Results During the infusion phase, there was no differences in depression severity or suicidal ideation between placebo and ketamine (p = 0.47 and p = 0.32, respectively). At the end of the infusion phase, two patients in the ketamine group and one in the placebo group met criteria for remission of depression. At three-month follow-up, two patients in each group met criteria for remission from depression. Limitations Limitations include the small sample size, uncontrolled outpatient medication regimens, and restriction to outpatients, which may have resulted in lower levels of suicidal ideation than would be seen in emergency or inpatient settings. Conclusions Repeated, non-escalating doses of ketamine did not outperform placebo in this double-blind, placebo controlled study of patients with severe TRD and current, chronic suicidal ideation. This result may support our previously published open-label data that, in this severely and chronically ill outpatient population, the commonly used dose of 0.5 mg/kg is not sufficient.
Notes on Stratified Semantics

In 1988, Kit Fine published a semantic theory for quantified relevant logics. He referred to this theory as stratified semantics. While it has received some attention in the literature (see, e.g. Mares, Studia Logica 51(1), 1–20, 1992; Mares & Goldblatt, Journal of Symbolic Logic 71(1), 163–187, 2006), stratified semantics has overall received much less attention than it deserves. There are two plausible reasons for this. First, the only two dedicated treatments of stratified semantics available are (Fine, Journal of Philosophical Logic 17(1), 27–59, 1988; Mares, Studia Logica 51(1), 1–20, 1992), both of which are quite dense and technically challenging. Second, there are a number of prima facie reasons to be worried about stratified semantics. The purpose of this paper is to revitalize research on stratified semantics. I will do so by giving a ‘user friendly’ presentation of the semantics, and by giving reasons to think that the prima facie reasons to be worried about it are too simplistic.
Current Imaging Modalities Understage One-Third of Patients with Stage I Rectal Cancer: Implications for Treatment Selection:

Accurate preoperative clinical staging is essential to optimize the treatment of rectal cancer. Primary surgical resection is typically indicated for stage I disease, whereas neoadjuvant therapy is...
Моделювання навантажень в системі приводу валкового пресу на прикладі пресу для брикетування бурого вугілля

Fine grained or dust materials often need to be consolidated in a bigger form. This increases the some parameters of this raw material or prepare them for processing in appropriate technology, for example utilization. An example can be brown coal. In Europe there are rich resources of this raw material. Briquetting of this hi-energy raw material improves its properties for use. In the form of briquettes it can be used for energy production - mainly electricity, as well as heat. One of the most profitable methods of agglomeration is briquetting in roller press. When designing or choosing the press, proper compacting unit is required to ensure proper briquettes and the specified power of the press. This involves providing the necessary energy that should be provide to a drive system. Inadequate estimation of the power needed for the briquetting process results in the process being incorrect or creating unnecessary investment costs. The article presents the analysis of the influence of material and the volume of materials on the load of the drive system, with the given capacity of the press.
Failure of Anatomic Total Shoulder Arthroplasty with Revision to another Anatomic Total Shoulder Arthroplasty.

Background: While outcomes of primary anatomic total shoulder arthroplasty (aTSA) are generally favorable, resultsafter revision procedures are less reliable. This study examines the functional outcomes, complications, and implantsurvival in patients who underwent revision of aTSA to aTSA.Methods: Patients who underwent revision aTSA were identified from 2008-2015. Demographic, clinical, surgical,and outcomes data were analyzed. Patient-reported outcomes including the American Shoulder and Elbow SurgeonsScore (ASES), Single Assessment Numerical Evaluation (SANE), Visual Analog Scale for pain (VAS), the Short Form-12 Health Survey (SF-12), and patient satisfaction were recorded.Results: Twenty patients underwent revision from a primary aTSA to aTSA (55% male, 62.0±6.8 years-old). RevisionaTSA occurred at 2.5±3.4 years after index surgery. Seven (35%) required future revision at 1.8±1.9 years after revisionaTSA. Among the 13 patients who did not undergo revision, twelve (92.3%) had over two-year follow-up (4.0±2.4years). Average ASES score was 70.1±23.5, SANE 66.0±29.4, VAS 2.7±3.0, SF-12 Mental 52.4±10.5, SF-12 Physical36.8±8.9, and satisfaction of 3.6±1.2.Conclusion: Results of revision aTSA to aTSA were unpredictable and the revision rate was high. The cases that donot undergo revision had satisfactory, but inconsistent functional results. Reverse arthroplasty may be more reliable inthis patient population.Level of evidence: IV
Neue Eigenschaften für Oberflächen mit Ionen

Mit der Ionenimplantation konnen Oberflacheneigenschaften von Werkzeugen oder Bauteilen ohne Schichtauftrag verandert werden. Eigenschaften wie Harte, Reibwert oder Biokompatibilitat lassen sich auch auf kompliziert geformten Teilen homogen und gezielt einstellen.
Ultralow-Dose CT (REDUCTION Protocol) for Extremity Fracture Evaluation Is as Safe and Effective as Conventional CT: An Evaluation of Quality Outcomes.

Objectives:To assess clinical and hospital quality outcomes of patients receiving the previously reported Reduced Effective Dose Using Computed Tomography In Orthopaedic Injury (REDUCTION) imaging protocol.Design:Retrospective Chart review.Setting:Level I Trauma Center and affiliated Tertiary Care H
Abstract 3006: A novel strategy of targeting opioidergic receptors to potentially reduce human breast cancer cell proliferation, colony formation, invasion, and migration

Breast cancer is the second most prevalent cancer after lung cancer among American women. The efficacy of current antitumor therapies is still quite limited. Endogenous opioid peptides, such as endorphin, which is involved in body stress controlling mechanisms, have been shown to enhance immune function and prevent cancer growth and progression in various animal models of cancers. Therefore, targeting the endogenous opioid peptides receptors in the regulation of cancer chemoprevention may offer new promise for the design of therapeutic strategies. Our previous studies have shown differential actions of mu-opioid receptor (MOR) and delta opioid receptor (DOR) on various cell types. In this study we tested the effects of a MOR antagonist naltrexone (NTX) and a DOR agonist (D-Ala2-,N-Me-Phe4,Gly-ol Enkephalin; DPDPE) on proliferation and invasion of human breast cancer cells of different molecular subtype such as T47D (Luminal A), MDA-MB-231 (triple negative, Claudin-Low) and MDA-MB- 468 (triple negative, basal A) in cultures. We used cytotoxicity, clonogenic, cell migration and cell invasion assays to identify effects of these drugs on cancer cells. We found that both NTX and DPDPE have significant cytotoxic effects on these breast cancer cells. Our work from clonogenic, cell migration and cell invasion assays showed that both NTX and DPDPE inhibit the formation of colony, migration and invasion of cancer cells in a concentration-dependent manner. These data suggest that naltrexone and DPDPE have anticancer efficacy in subtypes of human breast cancer cells. The anticancer effects varied depending on the concentration of the drugs and the subtype of breast cancer cells. (Supported by NIH grant R01 CA20863201). Citation Format: Sengottuvelan Murugan, Vanisha Patel, Dipak K. Sarkar. A novel strategy of targeting opioidergic receptors to potentially reduce human breast cancer cell proliferation, colony formation, invasion, and migration [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3006.
Thermodynamic and kinetic behavior of low-alloy steels: An atomic level study using an Fe-Mn-Si-C modified embedded atom method (MEAM) potential

Abstract A quaternary element Modified Embedded Atom Method (MEAM) potential comprising Fe, Mn, Si, and C is developed by employing a hierarchical multiscale modeling paradigm to simulate low-alloy steels. Experimental information alongside first-principles calculations based on Density Functional Theory served as calibration data to upscale and develop the MEAM potential. For calibrating the single element potentials, the cohesive energy, lattice parameters, elastic constants, and vacancy and interstitial formation energies are used as target data. The heat of formation and elastic constants of binary compounds along with substitutional and interstitial formation energies serve as binary potential calibration data, while substitutional and interstitial pair binding energies aid in developing the ternary potential. Molecular dynamics simulations employing the developed potentials predict the thermal expansion coefficient, heat capacity, self-diffusion coefficients, and stacking fault energy for steel alloys comparable to those reported in the literature.
Follow the Trail of Enemies

Difficult games have become a popular avenue for players who enjoy a test of skill. Gamers often like to seek challenges, break constraints within the rules of a game, and create new levels of difficulty to create a new play experience. Often though, when we find difficulty in games, the instinct is to quit playing. However, if we are persistent and change up our strategies, we are able to not only beat a boss, but also grow psychologically. The goal of this chapter is to recognize how gamers can overcome cognitive dissonance within a hard game, beat the challenge in front of them, and how that accomplishment can transfer to other activities in life.
Intelligent ball screw fault diagnosis using a deep domain adaptation methodology

Abstract Intelligent data-driven fault diagnosis methods have been successfully developed in the recent years. However, as one of the most important machines in the industries, the ball screw health monitoring problem has received less attention, due to the complex operating patterns and sophisticated mechanical structures. In practice, the working conditions of the ball screws usually change, that further makes the fault diagnosis problem more challenging since the data distributions are not the same. In order to address this issue, a deep learning-based domain adaptation method is proposed for the cross-domain ball screw fault diagnosis problem. The deep convolutional neural network is adopted for feature extraction and health condition classification. The maximum mean discrepancy metric is proposed to measure and optimize the data distributions of different operating conditions. A data segmentation method which is specially designed for the ball screw is further integrated. The experiments on the real ball screw condition monitoring data are carried out for validation. The results indicate the proposed approach is promising for the cross-domain diagnostic tasks of the ball screw in the real industries.
Maximizing and evaluating the impact of test-trace-isolate programs

Background: Test-trace-isolate programs are an essential part of COVID-19 control that offer a more targeted approach than many other non-pharmaceutical interventions. Effective use of such programs requires methods to estimate their current and anticipated impact. Methods and Findings: We present a mathematical modeling framework to evaluate the expected reductions in the reproductive number, R, from test-trace-isolate programs. This framework is implemented in a publicly available R package and an online application. We evaluated the effects of case detection, speed of isolation, contact tracing completeness and speed of quarantine using parameters consistent with COVID-19 transmission (R0=2.5, generation time 6.5 days). We show that R is most sensitive to changes to the proportion of infections detected in almost all scenarios, and other metrics have a reduced impact when case detection levels are low (<30%). Although test-trace-isolate programs can contribute substantially to reducing R, exceptional performance across all metrics is needed to bring R below one through test-trace-isolate alone, highlighting the need for comprehensive control strategies. Formally framing the dynamical process also indicates that metrics used to evaluate performance of test-trace-isolate, such as the proportion of identified infections among traced contacts, may be misleading. While estimates of program performance are sensitive to assumptions about COVID-19 natural history, our qualitative findings are robust across numerous sensitivity analyses. Conclusions: Effective test-trace-isolate programs first need to be strong in the "test" component, as case detection underlies all other program activities. Even moderately effective test-trace-isolate programs are an important tool for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, and can alleviate the need for more restrictive social distancing measures.
Ella Baker and the challenge of black rule

What is African American Politics? What form should it take? How does it conceptualize white supremacy? In In the Shadow of Du Bois, Robert Gooding-Williams uses the work of W. E. B. Du Bois and Fredrick Douglass to provide answers to these questions. While the choices of Douglass and Du Bois make a great deal of sense, they reproduce the tendency of confining political theory to literature – a move that bounds the genre in problematic ways. In this article, I in effect attempt to “unbound” the genre by considering Ella Baker, a civil rights era political organizer.
A Dynamic Multi-Threaded Queuing Mechanism for Reducing the Inter-Process Communication Latency on Multi-Core Chips

Reducing latency in inter-process/inter-thread communication is one of the key challenges in parallel and distributed computing. This is because as the number of threads in an application increases, the communication overhead also increases. Moreover, the presence of background load further increases the latency. Reducing communication latency can have a significant impact on multi-threaded application performance in multi-core environments. In a wide-range of applications that utilize queueing mechanism, inter-process/ inter-thread communication typically involves enqueuing and dequeuing. This paper presents a queueing techniques called eLCRQ, which is a lock-free block-when-necessary multi-producer multi-consumer (MPMC) FIFO queue. It is designed for scenarios where the queue can randomly and frequently become empty during runtime. By combining lock-free performance with blocking resource efficiency, it delivers improved performance. Specifically, it results in a 1.7X reduction in latency and a 2.3X reduction in CPU usage when compared to existing message-passing mechanisms including PIPE and Sockets while running on multi-core Linux based systems. The proposed scheme also provides a 3.4X decrease in CPU usage while maintaining comparable latency when compared to other (MPMC) lock-free queues in low load scenarios. Our work is based on open-source Linux and support libraries.
Microscopes in Education: Unlocking Unseen Worlds and Undreamed-of Futures

The education of children, particularly in scientific inquiry, is a powerful force that has shaped humanity's history and holds the key to our future. Given their power to provoke wonder and awe in child and adult alike, microscopes have proven to be transformative as tools for education. Exploratory learning using microscopes has helped to overcome critical barriers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and to broaden participation in these vital fields. Since its inception, the Microscopy Society of America (MSA) has recognized this and made education and outreach to children a priority. Here, we provide a brief review of MSA's efforts in this direction, focusing on current efforts aimed at improving STEM education through the greater adoption and utilization of microscopes.
Social justice in the courtroom: youth culture and multiple narrative voices in Eustace Palmer’s A Hanging Is Announced

African writers who have been concerned with governmental authority have sought to uncover the sources of injustice in the larger societal context, to redefine criminality beyond the focus on indiv...
Cost-effectiveness analysis of gastric cancer management using perioperative chemotherapy versus adjuvant chemoradiation therapy.

e16079Background: The most commonly used treatment options for gastric cancer include complete resection with adequate margins with either perioperative chemotherapy (PCT) or adjuvant chemoradiothe...
Pathological Lying: Psychotherapists' Experiences and Ability to Diagnose.

Objective: Pathological lying has been discussed in the research literature for more than a century, mostly in case studies. Recent research has supported pathological lying as a diagnostic entity,...
Vodou harmonizes the head-pot, or, Haiti’s multi-soul complex

Haiti’s multi-soul complex proves a deeply enigmatic aspect of Vodou cosmology. This essay examines Haitian concepts of personhood and ‘plural soul’ philosophy in relationship to Vodou’s figurative...
Global Mindset Initiative Paper 1: Growth Mindset Cultures and Teacher Practices

This article forwards a vision for enhancing equity and educational outcomes by creating growth mindset cultures in schools and classrooms. In growth mindset classroom cultures, teachers provide a coherent meaning system for students’ mindsets, goals, beliefs, and behaviors. By normalizing and infusing growth mindset beliefs and behaviors into routine practices and interactions, these classroom cultures give students (and teachers) a shared and productive way to understand challenges, setbacks, and learning inside and outside the classroom, ultimately benefiting their longer-term academic trajectories. In describing the possibility and promise of growth mindset cultures, we focus on the role of teachers and their instructional practices in creating these cultures. We provide a framework for integrating evidence-based instructional practices and growth mindset research. Finally, we chart an ambitious research agenda describing questions the field must answer if we are to create effective growth mindset cultures that spur students’ motivation and learning in school.
Comparison of coliform contamination in non-municipal waters consumed by the Mennonite versus the non-Mennonite rural populations

Mennonites reside in clusters, do not use modern sewage systems and consume water from non-municipal sources. The purpose of this study is to assess risk of Escherichia coli exposure via consumption of non-municipal waters in Mennonite versus non-Mennonite rural households. Results were reviewed for non-municipal water samples collected by the local health department from Mennonite and non-Mennonite lifestyle households from 1998 through 2012. Water contamination was examined with the help of two study variables: water quality (potable, polluted) and gastrointestinal (GI) health risk (none, low, high). These variables were analyzed for association with lifestyle (Mennonite, non-Mennonite) and season (fall, winter, spring, summer) of sample collection. Data were split into two periods to adjust for the ceiling effect of laboratory instrument. From the entire cohort, 82 % samples were polluted and 46 % samples contained E. coli, which is consistent with high GI health risk. In recent years (2009 through 2012), the presence of total coliforms was higher in non-Mennonites (39 %, P = 0.018) and presence of E. coli was higher in Mennonites (P = 0.012). Most polluted samples were collected during summer (45 %, P = 0.019) and had high GI health risk (51 %, P = 0.008) as compared to other seasons. Majority of non-municipal waters in this region are polluted, consuming those poses a high GI health risk and contamination is prevalent in all households consuming these waters. An association of E. coli exposure with the Mennonite lifestyle was limited to recent years. Seasons with high heat index and increased surface runoffs were the riskiest to consume non-municipal waters.
Stigmaphyllonpatricianum-firmenichianum (Malpighiaceae), a new species from Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia.

A new species of Stigmaphyllon (Malpighiaceae) is described: Stigmaphyllonpatricianum-firmenichianum Butaud. It is restricted to the coral islands of Ouvea, Lifou and Mare in the Loyalty Islands Province (New Caledonia) and is most similar to Stigmaphyllondiscolor (Gand.) C.E.Anderson, known from New Caledonia and Solomon Islands. Previously, plants now known as Stigmaphyllonpatricianum-firmenichianum were included in Stigmaphyllontaomense (Baker f.) C.E.Anderson, endemic to the northern part of Grande-Terre and Belep Islands (New Caledonia). A new circumscription of Stigmaphyllontaomense is proposed. The regional key for New Caledonian species of Stigmaphyllon is updated.
Weary of War: Life on the Confederate Home Front – By Joe A. Mobley

Nothing in U.S. history remains quite as shrouded in myth as the Civil War South. Students and members of the general public continue to envision a land of dashing men and determined belles steadfa...
The Hyper-Cortex of Human Collective-Intelligence Systems

Individual-intelligence research, from a neurological perspective, discusses the hierarchical layers of the cortex as a structure that performs conceptual abstraction and specification. This theory has been used to explain how motor-cortex regions responsible for different behavioral modalities such as writing and speaking can be utilized to express the same general concept represented higher in the cortical hierarchy. For example, the concept of a dog, represented across a region of high-level cortical-neurons, can either be written or spoken about depending on the individual's context. The higher-layer cortical areas project down the hierarchy, sending abstract information to specific regions of the motor-cortex for contextual implementation. In this paper, this idea is expanded to incorporate collective-intelligence within a hyper-cortical construct. This hyper-cortex is a multi-layered network used to represent abstract collective concepts. These ideas play an important role in understanding how collective-intelligence systems can be engineered to handle problem abstraction and solution specification. Finally, a collection of common problems in the scientific community are solved using an artificial hyper-cortex generated from digital-library metadata.
Weak Foundations: The Failure of Equilibrium-Based Population Growth Forecasts

The traditional paradigm used to project population growth is the expectation that people follow jobs. The recession of 2008 made plain that a significant number of U.S. metros experienced high levels of population growth despite persistently high unemployment. Equilibrium-based growth models assume that employment to population ratios should remain constant over space. Data on metroscale population and employment from 1969 to present shows that (1) there are significant spatial variations in the rate of change of population and employment ratios; (2) metro areas either outperform U.S. averages or underperform—suggesting that employment–population equilibriums are independent of the growth process; (3) analysis of errors in a time-series of regression models of employment and population growth rates suggests that momentum and narrative might be more critical to explaining population growth than the availability of employment. Our data are consistent in showing that neoclassical expectations consistently f...
Comparative genomics--an application for positional cloning of the weissherbst mutant.

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on comparative genomics. Comparative genomic resources are helpful to further establish zebrafish as an excellent model organism for studying vertebrate development and genetics and for modeling human biological processes and diseases. Genomic comparison between zebrafish and other vertebrate model organisms provides useful information that one can use to understand the evolution of each vertebrate species. At the same time, this comparison facilitates the use of genomic information obtained in other vertebrate organisms for zebrafish research projects and vice versa. It is therefore important to create and use comparative genomic tools and resources to accelerate research projects in zebrafish and other vertebrates. The chapter also provides resources for comparative genomic studies. To demonstrate how one can use the available comparative genomic studies resources, the chapter also presents an updated version of the bioinformatic method used in the positional cloning of the zebrafish hypochromic mutant weissherbst. A vast amount of genomic information is available to the zebrafish community. To take advantage of these resources, researchers need to be able to use comparative genomic analysis as a tool for identifying potential mutant genes in positional and candidate cloning projects of zebrafish genetic mutants.
A novel 240-Gbps channel-by-channel dedicated optical protection ring network using wavelength selective switches

A novel optical add-drop multiplex (OADM) node architecture design using wavelength selective switches is proposed. We demonstrate experimentally the OADM configuration and optical channel dedicated protection in a two-fiber ring network with 24/spl times/10-Gbps DWDM traffic.
Hybrid nested partition method with intelligent greedy search for solving Weapon Target Assignment problem

The Weapon-Target Assignment (WTA) problem is one of the most important problems of military applications of operations research. The objective of the WTA problem is to find proper assignments of weapons to targets which minimize the expected damage of defensive side. The WTA problem is known to be NP-complete. In this paper, hybrid Nested Partitions (NP) method is proposed to solve WTA problems. The proposed algorithm is named as “Hybrid NP method with intelligent greedy search”. The NP method has been found to be very effective for solving complex large-scale discrete optimization problems. In addition to that, due to the inherent flexibility of the NP method, any other heuristic for generating good feasible solutions can be incorporated and improve the performance of the NP method. The intelligent greedy search is an improved version of greedy search which finds good solutions very quickly. The proposed algorithm combines the advantages of the NP method and intelligent greedy search. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is very efficient for solving the WTA problem.
Sexual Health Model

This article outlines the Sexual Health Model, which is anchored in a holistic definition of sexual health. Derived from a sexological approach to education, the model defines 10 key components posited to be essential aspects of healthy human sexuality: talking about sex, culture and sexual identity, sexual anatomy and functioning, sexual health care and safer sex, challenges to sexual health, body image, masturbation and fantasy, positive sexuality, intimacy and relationships, and spirituality. The model's 10 key components are discussed in more depth, and the theoretical and practical applications of this approach are discussed. It is recommended that those using the model should design their sexual health education and/or intervention to fit the unique needs of their target population. Keywords: components of sexual health; model; sexual health; sexual well-being
A Primer on Needs Assessment: More Than 40 Years of Research and Practice

This chapter consists of an overview of needs assessment’s rich history, definitions, models, tools, and techniques. These closely align its theory, research, and practice to several associated fields—most notably strategic planning and evaluation. The highlights of the content include a comparison to—and differentiation from—evaluation, a brief timeline of the recent history of the field, the notable emergence of hybrid assessment and asset/capacity building approaches, some discussion of opposition to needs assessment, and a description of two prominent models that guide what assessors do. The summary captures the dynamic nature of the enterprise and how it is evolving. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc., and the American Evaluation Association.
A dinuclear Ru(II) complex capable of photoinduced ligand exchange at both metal centers

{[Ru(CH3CN)3]2(tppz)}4+ (tppz = tetra-2-pyridylpyrazine) undergoes photoinduced CH3CN exchange with λirr ≥ 610 nm in H2O. In contrast, cis-{[Ru(tpy)(L)]2(bpm)}4+ (tpy = 2,2′:6′,2′′-terpyridine, bpm = 2,2′-bipyrimidine, L = CH3CN) is not reactive, but the complex with L = DMSO is photoactive. These complexes are potentially useful for the release of multiply caged drugs.
The Colorado Lineament: A middle Precambian wrench fault system: Discussion and reply

No Abstract Available. The article discussed was published in the Bulletin , v. 89, p. 161–171.
Photoelastic analysis and comparison of force-transmission characteristics of intracoronal attachments with clasp distal-extension removable partial dentures.

This investigation photoelastically compared the load-transfer characteristics of various bilateral distal-extension removable partial denture designs embodying intracoronal attachments and clasp assemblies. Six distal-extension designs that included the RPI clasp assembly, cast circumferential clasp, P.D. locking semiprecision, Thompson dowel nonlocking semiprecision, and McCollum and Stern G/L precision attachments were tested. Each prosthesis was subjected to various simulated occlusal loads. Evaluation of the load-transfer characteristics of the various designs was based on comparison of the recorded isochromatic fringe distributions. The RPI clasp assembly generated the most uniform stresses. In general, the four intracoronal retainer frameworks produced higher stresses than did the two clasp frameworks. The highest stresses were developed by the Stern G/L precision attachment.
What’s in a name? Ethnic party identity and democratic development in post-communist politics:

There has been surprisingly little literature differentiating between different kinds of ethnic parties. Most works tend to treat all ethnic parties as if they are basically the same. Although, to ...
A Proapoptotic Peptide Derived from Reovirus Outer Capsid Protein μ1 Has Membrane-Destabilizing Activity

The reovirus outer capsid protein μ1 is responsible for cell membrane penetration during virus entry and contains determinants necessary for virus-induced apoptosis. Residues 582 to 611 of μ1 are necessary and sufficient for reovirus-induced apoptosis, and residues 594 and 595 independently regulate the efficiency of viral entry and reovirus-induced cell apoptosis, respectively. Two of three α-helices within this region, helix 1 (residues 582 to 611) and helix 3 (residues 644 to 675), play a role in reovirus-induced apoptosis. Here, we chemically synthesized peptides representing helix 1 (H1), H1:K594D, H1:I595K, and helix 3 (H3) and examined their biological properties. We found that H1, but not H3, was able to cause concentration- and size-dependent leakage of molecules from small unilamellar liposomes. We further found that direct application of H1, but not H1:K594D, H1:I595K, or H3, to cells resulted in cytotoxicity. Application of the H1 peptide to L929 cells caused rapid elevations in intracellular calcium concentration that were independent of phospholipase C activation. Cytotoxicity of H1 was not restricted to eukaryotic cells, as the H1 peptide also had bactericidal activity. Based on these findings, we propose that the proapoptotic function of the H1 region of μ1 is dependent on its capacity to destabilize cellular membranes and cause release of molecules from intracellular organelles that ultimately induces cell necrosis or apoptosis, depending on the dose.
A study of mixed mode fracture by photoelasticity and digital image analysis

Abstract In this paper, the results from two experimental methodologies, photoelasticity aided by digital image processing and precision digital image correlation, are presented for a mixed mode fracture problem. The mixed mode fracture problem was a three-point-bend edge-crack specimen which was loaded at various off-crack-line locations between the crack line and the specimen support line. The estimations of KI and KII from both methodologies indicate that the crack tip stress field is strongly intensified by KI but not KII.
Governance potential for cetacean bycatch mitigation in small-scale fisheries: A comparative assessment of four sites in Southeast Asia

Abstract Bycatch of cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) in small-scale fisheries is a major global conservation threat. Mitigating bycatch is a fisheries management issue. However, investigation of the governance context of bycatch has been limited. Much-needed progress in bycatch mitigation requires integration of governance assessment in bycatch-related studies. This project assesses “conservation-relevant elements” of local governance institutions and activities that are involved in coastal and aquatic resource management (CARM) and considered important to bycatch mitigation. Research focused on four sites in Southeast Asia with small-scale fisheries bycatch of Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris): Trat, Thailand; Mahakam River, Indonesia; and Malampaya Sound and Guimaras and Iloilo Straits, Philippines. Using key informant and household surveys, this project examines the extent to which conservation-relevant governance elements are active and effective in CARM, contribute to enforcement, coordinate across institutions, and engage communities. These attributes varied across sites, holding potentially significant implications for the feasibility and process of bycatch mitigation. The role of bridging organizations appears to be vital in CARM activities and current bycatch mitigation efforts, but involvement of local communities and support from external institutions are also necessary for sustained and impactful management. Insights derived from approaches such as that used here can hold lessons beyond Southeast Asia in terms of research methods (i.e., how to incorporate interdisciplinary approaches into bycatch studies), findings (i.e., what governance elements might be most conducive to bycatch mitigation), and setting priorities for conservation (i.e., at what sites is mitigation most feasible, and how can governance capacity for mitigation be enhanced).
Bisphosphonates Are Potent Inhibitors of Trypanosoma cruzi Farnesyl Pyrophosphate Synthase

We report the cloning and sequencing of a gene encoding the farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase of Trypanosoma cruzi. The protein (T. cruzi farnesyl pyrophosphate synthase, TcFPPS) is an attractive target for drug development, since the growth of T. cruzi is inhibited by carbocation transition state/reactive intermediate analogs of its substrates, the nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates currently in use in bone resorption therapy. The protein predicted from the nucleotide sequence of the gene has 362 amino acids and a molecular mass of 41.2 kDa. Several sequence motifs found in other FPPSs are present in TcFPPS. Heterologous expression of TcFPPS in Escherichia coli produced a functional enzyme that was inhibited by the nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates alendronate, pamidronate, homorisedronate, and risedronate but was less sensitive to the non-nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate etidronate, which, unlike the nitrogen-containing bisphosphonates, does not affect parasite growth. The protein contains a unique 11-mer insertion located near the active site, together with other sequence differences that may facilitate the development of novel anti-Chagasic agents.
Predetermined Wages and Prices and the Impact of Expansionary Government Policy

This paper characterizes the monetary equilibria of an economy with commodity and labour contracts. If government policy is not "too variable," there may exist an equilibrium with predetermined wages and prices. In this equilibrium, observed changes in the money supply to finance government purchases have persistent real effects. The paper also provides theoretical support for an inverse relationship between the degree of indexation in contracts and the persistence of policy effects.
Isolation of new ribozymes from a large pool of random sequences [see comment]

An iterative in vitro selection procedure was used to isolate a new class of catalytic RNAs (ribozymes) from a large pool of random-sequence RNA molecules. These ribozymes ligate two RNA molecules that are aligned on a template by catalyzing the attack of a 3'-hydroxyl on an adjacent 5'-triphosphate--a reaction similar to that employed by the familiar protein enzymes that synthesize RNA. The corresponding uncatalyzed reaction also yields a 3',5'-phosphodiester bond. In vitro evolution of the population of new ribozymes led to improvement of the average ligation activity and the emergence of ribozymes with reaction rates 7 million times faster than the uncatalyzed reaction rate.
Embedding decision-analytic control in a learning architecture

Abstract An autonomous agent's control problem is often formulated as the attempt to minimize the expected cost of accomplishing a goal. This paper presents a three-dimensional view of the control problem that is substantially more realistic. The agent's control policy is assessed along three dimensions: deliberation cost, execution cost, and goal value. The agent must choose which goal to attend to as well as which action to take. Our control policy seeks to maximize satisfaction by trading execution cost and goal value while keeping deliberation cost low. The agent's control decisions are guided by the MU heuristic—choose the alternative whose marginal expected utility is maximal. Thus, when necessary, the agent will prefer easily-achieved goals to attractive but difficult-to-attain alternatives. The MU heuristic is embedded in an architecture with record-keeping and learning capabilities. The architecture offers its control module expected utility and expected cost estimates that are gradually refined as the agent accumulates experience. A programmer is not required to supply that knowledge, and the estimates are provided without recourse to distributional assumptions.
Far-infrared interferometry technology development: a progress report

We report on the progress in developing cryogenic delay lines and integrated optics components. These are some of the critical components needed to enable far-IR direct-detection interferometers. To achieve background-limited performance in the 40 to 400 μm region, th einterferometer optics and delay lines must be cooeld to near liquid Helium temperatures. Our cryogenic delay line designs incorporate a number of novel features and has been operated at liquid nitrogen temperatures. Our integrated optics effort has focued on producing single-mode spatial filters and beam combiners.
The role of microvascular injury in the pathogenesis of cutaneous lesions of dermatomyositis

Abstract Although microvascular injury has been postulated as the pathogenetic basis of skeletal muscle injury in dermatomyositis (DM), its role in the genesis of the skin lesions, which are said to be difficult to distinguish light microscopically from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and subacute lupus erythematosus (SCLE), has not been analyzed. The authors' intention was to assess the role of microvascular injury in the pathogenesis of skin lesions in DM, SLE, and SCLE. Light microscopic features of biopsies of lesional skin from 20 patients with myopathic DM and 11 with amyopathic DM were compared to eight lesional skin biopsies from eight patients with SLE and 12 lesional skin biopsies from 12 patients with SCLE. Vascular density was compared in the three groups using an inmmunohistochemical preparation with an antibody to factor VIII. In 12 biopsies from the DM group, and in 19 of 20 lupus erythematosus (LE) specimens, frozen tissue was available. An indirect immunofluorescence methodology was used to detect C 5b-9 deposition, and direct immunofluorescence studies for other immunoreactants were performed in standard fashion. Compared with LE, lesions of DM showed a greater degree of endothelial injury, vascular ectasia, and vascular fibrin deposition; there were no differences between myopathic versus amyopathic DM. C 5b-9 deposition in vessels was significantly greater in DM than in LE. The superficial vascular plexus density was reduced in lesions of DM versus LE control groups with the greatest reduction observed in myopathic DM. Epithelial injury and mucin was greatest in myopathic DM. Microvascular injury is the apparent pathophysiological basis of skin lesions in DM. Careful attention to microvascular pathology enables distinction of DM from SLE and SCLE. Indirect immunofluorescence testing using a monoclonal antibody to C 5b-9 is a valuable tool to distinguish DM from LE in biopsies of lesional skin.
Do the Claims Hold Up? A Study of Medical Negligence Claims Against Neurologists

We performed an in-depth review of each of the 42 closed medical malpractice claims filed in the past 20 years against neurologist defendants covered by a common insurer. For each case, we determined whether the neurologist had rendered harmful, substandard care and noted the case outcome. In 23 of 42 claims (55 percent), there had been no harmful negligence, and payment on behalf of the neurologist occurred only once. The other 19 claims had negligent harm, but in 13 of them (68 percent) no payment was made on behalf of the negligent neurologist. In our series, the medical negligence system performed poorly, yielding a majority of inappropriate claims and no payment in a majority of appropriate claims.
Interpretation of Interdecadal Trends in Northern Hemisphere Surface Air Temperature

Abstract Monthly Mean time series of 1) surface air temperature anomalies averaged over the Northern Hemisphere based on data from land stations, 2) sea surface temperature anomalies averaged over the Northern Hemisphere oceans, and 3) 1000–500-mb thickness anomalies averaged over the region poleward of 40°N are examined. The data are stratified in terms of warm (May–October) and cold (November–April) seasons. Time series 1) and 3) based on cold-season data exhibit much larger month to month variability and a richer spectrum of interannual variability than those based on warm-season data: the interdecadal to century scale variability stands out more clearly in the warm-season time series. Cold- and warm-season time series for 1) differ substantially, even when heavily smoothed. It is hypothesized that the richer spectrum of variability in the cold-season time series is dynamically induced. To test this hypothesis, departures of cold-season data for 1) and 3) from their respective smoothed warm- season tim...
Acute chlorine gas exposure produces transient inflammation and a progressive alteration in surfactant composition with accompanying mechanical dysfunction

Acute Cl2 exposure following industrial accidents or military/terrorist activity causes pulmonary injury and severe acute respiratory distress. Prior studies suggest that antioxidant depletion is important in producing dysfunction, however a pathophysiologic mechanism has not been elucidated. We propose that acute Cl2 inhalation leads to oxidative modification of lung lining fluid, producing surfactant inactivation, inflammation and mechanical respiratory dysfunction at the organ level. C57BL/6J mice underwent whole-body exposure to an effective 60ppm-hour Cl2 dose, and were euthanized 3, 24 and 48h later. Whereas pulmonary architecture and endothelial barrier function were preserved, transient neutrophilia, peaking at 24h, was noted. Increased expression of ARG1, CCL2, RETLNA, IL-1b, and PTGS2 genes was observed in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cells with peak change in all genes at 24h. Cl2 exposure had no effect on NOS2 mRNA or iNOS protein expression, nor on BAL NO3(-) or NO2(-). Expression of the alternative macrophage activation markers, Relm-α and mannose receptor was increased in alveolar macrophages and pulmonary epithelium. Capillary surfactometry demonstrated impaired surfactant function, and altered BAL phospholipid and surfactant protein content following exposure. Organ level respiratory function was assessed by forced oscillation technique at 5 end expiratory pressures. Cl2 exposure had no significant effect on either airway or tissue resistance. Pulmonary elastance was elevated with time following exposure and demonstrated PEEP refractory derecruitment at 48h, despite waning inflammation. These data support a role for surfactant inactivation as a physiologic mechanism underlying respiratory dysfunction following Cl2 inhalation.