cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Small Diameter Wells Drilled by Jet-Percussion Methoda

Observation wells and access holes for neutron probe use were drilled by a jet-percussion drill rig in coarse alluvial material near Tucson, Arizona. The method combines the jetting action which effectively removes loose materials with the percussion necessary to break up tighter formations and large particles. A unique feature of the equipment is the provision for simultaneous drilling and driving the casing to keep the hole open in loose formations. Washed samples of the material being drilled can be obtained from the recirculating water system. Drilling rates were from seven to ten feet per hour, and costs including casing were less than $1.50 per foot. Maximum depth is about 100 feet. Hydrologic study of a ground-water reservoir requires access to the aquifer. Observations are made where the water table intersects the land surface, such as at springs or seeps, or through existing wells. However, wells are not always found in desired locations or are pumped so heavily that their usefulness as observation wells is impaired. Measurements are also made in the unsaturated zone with neutron moisture measuring equipment, which requires a small diameter cased access hole for the neutron probe. An observation well needs a diameter only large enough for access by measuring devices and must be immediately responsive to changes in aquifer water level. For neutron probe use, the required diameter is about two inches, and the well must have no significant effect on moisture movement in the unsaturated zone. To meet these requirements the drilling process should have no lasting effect on the formation surrounding the well. Finally, since the wells have no economic utility, construction cost must be low. A network of observation wells and neutron probe access holes was drilled as part of a project to evaluate the natural recharge from Rillito Creek near Tucson, Arizona. The formation along the creek bed is a coarse alluvial outwash containing almost no clay, considerable running sand, and some large gravel and boulders. Commercial churn (percussion) and hydraulic rotary drills, commonly used for drilling in this area, were first tried but encountered much difficulty in the loose materials. Previous investigators used jetting equipment drill small diameter holes in a variety of alluvi formations (Cederstrom and Tibbitts, 1961; Bowma: 1911; and Pillsbury and Christiansen, 1947). Howeve in most cases, either open hole drilling was used because the fine material content and the limited numb. of boulders or large gravel particles made this methc possible, or drilling mud was used to maintain th hole. The jetting method uses water pumped unde pressure through hollow rods and a drill bit to loose the material and carry it to the surface. The jettin water receives little aid from the drill in loosenin the material to be removed. Usually the drill cutting are settled out in a tank or basin, and the water i recirculated.
A shortened version of the Southern Illinois university speech situation checklist for the identification of speech-related anxiety

Abstract This study investigated the ability of the 51-item Southern Illinois University Speech Situation Checklist (SSC) to differentiate stutterers known to have high levels of speech-related anxiety from nonstutterers with normal levels of speech- related anxiety. Checklist responses of 65 randomly selected subjects (33 stutterers and 32 nonstutterers) were subjected to a stepwise discriminant analysis. The analysis identified a combination of 21 SSC items that had significant discriminative power. Subsequently, the derived discriminant equation achieved 93% accuracy in correctly classifying a hold-out sample of 29 subjects (14 stutterers and 15 nonstutterers). These results strongly suggest that the 21 items of the SSC identified by discriminant analysis may provide an effective screening device for identifying disfluent speakers who experience an abnormal amount of speech-related anxiety.
Predicting Alzheimer's Disease: Neuropsychological Tests, Self-Reports, and Informant Reports of Cognitive Difficulties

Objectives: To investigate the independent and combined contributions to the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) of three important domains of cognitive assessment: neuropsychological measurement, self-reports, and informant reports. Design: Longitudinal, community-based sample. Setting: Einstein Aging Study. Participants: Six hundred twenty-seven individuals without dementia aged 70 and older systematically recruited from the Bronx, New York. Measurements: Comprehensive assessment included neurological examination, behavioral questions, and neuropsychological testing. AD diagnoses were based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, criteria assigned at a multidisciplinary consensus case conference. The major statistical analyses used Cox proportional hazards models (with age as the time scale) adjusted for sex, education, and depressive symptoms. Results: Forty-eight participants developed incident AD during a median of 3.3 years of follow-up. Self- and informant reports of cognitive status and baseline scores on tests of episodic memory and psychomotor speed predicted the onset of AD, but in models examining all the variables simultaneously, only the episodic memory tests and informant reports were associated with risk of AD. A likelihood ratio test confirmed the incremental effect of informant reports in addition to the neuropsychological test scores (P = .03). Conclusion: Informant ratings improved the prediction of AD conversion in addition to objective memory impairment in older adults without dementia. Combining these cognitive measures may provide a useful, empirical method for identifying individuals at high risk of future AD.
Central and peripheral neurite growth patterns in tissue culture

Neurites of mesencephalic V nucleus neurons, which in vivo have a peripheral process, were observed to grow away from cerebellar explants. This pattern of neurite growth was contrasted with a previously observed pattern of looping and returning to the explant characteristic of central processes of other neurons in cerebellar cultures. The described tissue culture system could serve as a model for elucidating mechanisms which determine the directional growth of neurites.
International Direct Real Estate Investment: A Review of the Literature

This paper provides a critical review of research on international direct real estate investment issues. To date, no review article has explored the various findings of studies completed on the benefits of international real estate diversification. In the past 10 years, the quantity and variety of work have increased dramatically. The paper is organised by how investing in a real estate asset is analysed: in a mixed-asset portfolio context or a real-estate-only portfolio context. A fourth section focuses on research that has explored currency risk, one of the prevailing risks associated with international investing. The last section provides conclusions about the research and offers ideas for future research in this growing area of real estate investment.
Quantification of DNA in Biologic Scaffold Materials

Biological scaffold materials composed of extracellular matrix (ECM) are routinely used for a variety of clinical applications ranging from the treatment of chronic skin ulcers to hernia repair and orthopaedic soft tissue reconstruction. The tissues and species from which the ECM is harvested vary widely as do the methods used to remove the cellular component of the source tissues. The efficacy of decellularization procedures can be quantified by examination of the DNA that remains in the ECM. The objective of the present study was to determine the DNA content and fragment length in both laboratory produced and commercially available ECM scaffold materials. Results showed that the majority of DNA is removed from ECM devices but that small amounts remained in most tested materials.
Characterization of pruriceptive trigeminothalamic tract neurons in rats

Rodent models of facial itch and pain provide a valuable tool for distinguishing between behaviors related to each sensation. In rats, pruritogens applied to the face elicit scratching using the hindlimb while algogens elicit wiping using the forelimb. We wished to determine the role of trigeminothalamic tract (VTT) neurons in carrying information regarding facial itch and pain to the forebrain. We have characterized responses to facially applied pruritogens (serotonin, BAM8–22, chloroquine, histamine, capsaicin, and cowhage) and noxious stimuli in 104 VTT neurons recorded from anesthetized rats. Each VTT neuron had a mechanically sensitive cutaneous receptive field on the ipsilateral face. All pruriceptive VTT neurons also responded to noxious mechanical and/or thermal stimulation. Over half of VTT neurons responsive to noxious stimuli also responded to at least one pruritogen. Each tested pruritogen, with the exception of cowhage, produced an increase in discharge rate in a subset of VTT neurons. The response to each pruritogen was characterized, including maximum discharge rate, response duration, and spike timing dynamics. Pruriceptive VTT neurons were recorded from throughout superficial and deep layers of the spinal trigeminal nucleus and were shown to project via antidromic mapping to the ventroposterior medial nucleus or posterior thalamic nuclei. These results indicate that pruriceptive VTT neurons are a subset of polymodal nociceptive VTT neurons and characterize a system conducive to future experiments regarding the similarities and differences between facial itch and pain.
Minority physicians and selective contracting in competitive market environments

This study used a framework of strategic behavior to further explore MCOs' physician contractual decision making. Using data from a cross-sectional mail survey of 1,215 physicians, we tested the assumption that a physician's patient profile is related to higher rates of contract denial or termination when adjusted and unadjusted for the level of managed care market competition. As minority physicians serve more minority patients who tend to have a poorer health status than white patients, we expected greater rates of contract denials and terminations for minority physicians when models are unadjusted for the level of market competition. In models adjusted for competition, we expected physician and patient race to be unrelated to MCO contractual decisions. We found physician ethnicity was not a predictor for contract denials or terminations, but patient ethnicity was a predictor for contract denials and terminations. When market competition is accounted for, the differences were almost unchanged.
Volume Component Analysis for Classification of LiDAR Data

One of the most difficult challenges of working with LiDAR data is the large amount of data points that are produced. Analysing these large data sets is an extremely time consuming process. For this reason, automatic perception of LiDAR scenes is a growing area of research. Currently, most LiDAR feature extraction relies on geometrical features specific to the point cloud of interest. These geometrical features are scene-specific, and often rely on the scale and orientation of the object for classification. This paper proposes a robust method for reduced dimensionality feature extraction of 3D objects using a volume component analysis (VCA) approach.1 This VCA approach is based on principal component analysis (PCA). PCA is a method of reduced feature extraction that computes a covariance matrix from the original input vector. The eigenvectors corresponding to the largest eigenvalues of the covariance matrix are used to describe an image. Block-based PCA is an adapted method for feature extraction in facial images because PCA, when performed in local areas of the image, can extract more significant features than can be extracted when the entire image is considered. The image space is split into several of these blocks, and PCA is computed individually for each block. This VCA proposes that a LiDAR point cloud can be represented as a series of voxels whose values correspond to the point density within that relative location. From this voxelized space, block-based PCA is used to analyze sections of the space where the sections, when combined, will represent features of the entire 3-D object. These features are then used as the input to a support vector machine which is trained to identify four classes of objects, vegetation, vehicles, buildings and barriers with an overall accuracy of 93.8%
The Properties of Molecular Hydrogen toward the Orion Belt Stars from Observations by the Interstellar Medium Absorption Profile Spectrograph

Absorption features from the Lyman and Werner bands of interstellar molecular hydrogen were recorded by the Interstellar Medium Absorption Profile Spectrograph (IMAPS) at ?/?? = 80,000 in the spectra of ??Ori?A and ?Ori. The objective was to find and study more examples of an unusual phenomenon found for one of the velocity components of H2 in the spectrum of ??Ori by Jenkins & Peimbert (1997). Specifically, they detected a gradual shift in velocity and broadening for features arising from progressively higher rotational excitations J. This effect appears to be absent in the spectra of both ? and ?Ori, which are only a few degrees away in the sky from ??Ori. The absence of atomic material at a large negative velocity in the spectra of ? and ?Ori (and its presence in ??Ori) supports a proposal by Jenkins & Peimbert that the line of sight to ? intercepts a bow shock facing away from us, perhaps created by the collision of windlike material with some foreground obstruction. One edge of the molecular cloud complex Lynds?1630 is situated close to ??Ori in the sky, but we present some evidence that seems to indicate that the cloud is more distant, in which case it could not serve as the obstruction. However, it is possible that the outermost extension of a high-speed jet from a star forming within the cloud can explain the high-velocity material and the shock front created by it. For both stars, the H2 absorption features are separated into two velocity components. Total H2 column densities toward ? and ?Ori are 5.5 ? 1014 and 1.9 ? 1016 cm-2, respectively. When these values are compared to the column densities of H I, the fractions of H atoms bound in molecular form 2N(H2)/[2N(H2) + N(H )] = 7 ? 10-6 for ? and 1.3 ? 10-4 for . The rotation temperatures of the molecules with J > 2 toward ?Ori indicate that the gas is in the general vicinity of the stars that emit UV fluxes capable of rotationally pumping the molecules. For the strongest component of H2 toward ??Ori, the pumping rate is lower and consistent with a general UV flux level in the plane of the Galaxy.
Frequent germline deletion polymorphism of chromosomal region 8p12-p21 identified as a recurrent homozygous deletion in human tumors.

A number of carcinomas show high frequency of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at chromosome 8p, suggesting that putative tumor suppressor genes are present in this region. While searching for homozygous deletions in a panel of pancreatic and biliary tumors, we discovered a homozygous deletion at the microsatellite AFMa224wh5 in chromosome region 8p12-p21. We applied a six-step algorithm comprising germline analysis, breakpoint sequencing, population screening, online gene mapping, allelic discrimination of tumor-associated LOH, and family history analysis. The results indicated that the deletion was likely due to a normal 102-bp deletion polymorphism present in nearly 10% of the study population, not likely to involve a recessive cancer-associated gene. Researchers need to be aware that germline insertion/deletion polymorphisms can affect the results of positional cloning efforts in human neoplasms. This problem would be accentuated in studies of cell lines where a paired sample of constitutional DNA is often unavailable.
Deep and wide metrics for HPC resource capability and project usage

This paper defines and demonstrates application of possible quantitative metrics for the qualitative notions of “deep” and “wide” HPC system use along with the related concepts of capability and capacity computing. By summarizing HPC workloads according to the science-oriented projects using the systems, rather than solely on job sizes and distributions, one can identify differences between the workloads on different systems as well as highlight certain instances of unique usage modalities. Specific definitions of depth and width are suggested, along with metrics that permit comparisons to determine which systems are deeper or wider than others. Similarly, the same data permit an alternate means of defining the degree to which HPC system activities are capability- or capacity-oriented.
Cyclic di-GMP activation of polynucleotide phosphorylase signal-dependent RNA processing.

Abstract The second messenger cyclic diguanylic acid (c-di-GMP) is implicated in key lifestyle decisions of bacteria, including biofilm formation and changes in motility and virulence. Some challenges in deciphering the physiological roles of c-di-GMP are the limited knowledge about the cellular targets of c-di-GMP, the signals that control its levels, and the proportion of free cellular c-di-GMP, if any. Here, we identify the target and the regulatory signal for a c-di-GMP-responsive Escherichia coli ribonucleoprotein complex. We show that a direct c-di-GMP target in E. coli is polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase), an important enzyme in RNA metabolism that serves as a 3′ polyribonucleotide polymerase or a 3′-to-5′ exoribonuclease. We further show that a complex of polynucleotide phosphorylase with the direct oxygen sensors DosC and DosP can perform oxygen-dependent RNA processing. We conclude that c-di-GMP can mediate signal-dependent RNA processing and that macromolecular complexes can compartmentalize c-di-GMP signaling.
Exploring developmental transitions in mental performance

Major cognitive-developmental transitions seem to occur at approximately 2–4, 7–8, 13–14, and 18–21 months of age.
Comparison of oxidation model predictions with gasification data of IG-110, IG-430 and NBG-25 nuclear graphite

Abstract A phenomenological oxidation kinetics model of graphite is presented and its results are compared with the reported experimental gasification data for nuclear graphite of IG-110, IG-430 and NBG-25. The model uses four elementary chemical kinetics reactions, employs Gaussian-like distributions of the specific activation energies for adsorption of oxygen and desorption of CO gas, and accounts for the changes in the effective surface areas of free active sites and stable oxide complexes with weight loss. The distributions of the specific activation energies for adsorption and desorption, the values of the pre-exponential rate coefficients for the four elementary chemical reactions and the surface area of free active sites are obtained from the reported measurements using a multi-parameter optimization algorithm. At high temperatures, when gasification is diffusion limited, the model calculates the diffusion velocity of oxygen in the boundary layer using a semi-empirical correlation developed for air flows at Reynolds numbers ranging from 0.001 to 100. The model also accounts for the changes in the external surface area, the oxygen pressure in the bulk gas mixture and the effective diffusion coefficient in the boundary layer with weight loss. The model results of the total gasification rate and weight loss with time in the experiments agree well with the reported measurements for the three types of nuclear graphite investigated, at temperatures from 723 to 1226 K and weight loss fractions up to ∼0.86.
Personal Exposure to Airborne Dust and Microorganisms in Agricultural Environments

Airborne dust and microorganisms are associated with respiratory diseases and increased mortality and morbidity. Farmers are at high risk of exposure to both of these hazards. Very limited information, however, is available on the combined exposures to both hazards on different types of farms. Moreover, most of the previous studies have measured the mass concentration of particles ignoring the particle size. In this study, farmers' exposure to airborne dust and microorganisms was studied using our newly developed personal sampling system. Particle number concentration and size distribution were measured with an optical particle counter. Simultaneously, particles were collected on a filter and analyzed for microorganisms. The field measurements were conducted in animal confinements (swine, poultry, and dairy) and during grain harvesting (corn and soybean). The results show the following average concentrations on the workers' breathing zone: 1.7 × 10 6 to 2.9 × 10 7 particles/m 3 for total dust, 0.9 × 10 3 ...
Dosequis: An interactive game for composition students

Few writing teachers have enough time or knowledge to develop interactive software programs that even begin to simulate a Socratic exchange between writer and respondent. Relatively unsophisticated CAI modules can be designed by resourceful teachers dissatisfied with commercial programs, but the hours are many and the "EUREKAs" few.(1) Furthermore, outright skeptics and begrudging acceptors of computer-assisted instruction rightly remind us that high-tech pedagogy, particularly when pre-arranged responses masquerade as intelligent interpretation, is a poor substitute for human criticism and encouragement.(2) I teach composition courses in which students write multiple drafts on microcomputers, and I annotate the hard copy. Eager to involve my students more directly in the process of composing with computers, I adapted Stephen Marcus' technique of "invisible
Maintaining organization in a dynamic long-term memory *

As new unanticipated items are added to a memory, it must be able to reorganize itself, integrating the new items into its structure. The reorganization process must maintain the memory's structure and also build up the knowledge retrieval strategies need to search that structure. This study will present an algorithm for knowledge-based memory reorganization. Included in that algorithm are processes for directed generalization and generalization refinement. A fact retrieval system called CYRUS which uses the algorithm is also presented. Conclusions are drawn about maintaining accessibility in a conceptual memory, organizing generalized knowledge with respect to specific knowledge, and expected retrieval failures due to change over time in the memory's organization.
Medical Student Mistreatment Results in Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress.

The authors assessed medical student attitudes regarding mistreatment and symptoms of posttraumatic stress in those students who reported exposure to mistreatment. Third- and fourth-year medical students (N=71) responded to questions from a vignette in which a student is mistreated and then described any mistreatment they had witnessed or experienced. They also discussed related symptoms of posttraumatic stress subsequent to the mistreatment. The revised Impact of Event Scale was the primary outcome measure. Ninety percent of respondents reported sympathy for the student in the vignette and supported her discussing the incident with peers, the resident, and administration. Seventy-three percent reported witnessing or experiencing mistreatment, suggesting symptoms of posttraumatic stress, with no differences in scores across the intended field of study, age, or gender. In a supportive environment, medical students will discuss their experiences of mistreatment. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress can occur from mistreatment.
Relating value-focused thinking and interactive planning

Value-focused thinking, using the dialogue decision process (DDP), and interactive planning appear to be two totally unrelated processes for making decisions. As this paper shows, new results on the interpretation of utility functions and new ways of thinking about downstream decisions allows us to reinterpret interactive planning as an ideal-focused decision process which is theoretically equivalent to DDP's value-focused decision process. But Ackoff's ideal-focused decision process may be more natural for certain organizational decision settings.
X-Ray Analysis of Fibers: Part I, Literature Survey

The March number of TEXTILE RESEARCH carried Mr. Sisson's literature survey and references up to the year 1929 and it is here concluded.Following publication of the first instalment of the survey, The Textile Foundation decided to make available complete mimeographed copies of Mr. Sisson's literature survey. Those desiring copies should address E. T. Pickard, Secretary, The Textlie Foundation, Commerce Building, Washington, D. C.
Thyroid Malignancies in Survivors of Hodgkin Lymphoma

Purpose To quantify the incidence of thyroid cancer after Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and determine disease characteristics, risk factors, and treatment outcomes. Methods and Materials Thyroid cancer cases were retrospectively identified from a multi-institutional database of 1981 HL patients treated between 1969 and 2008. Thyroid cancer risk factors were evaluated by a Poisson regression model. Results With a median follow-up duration of 14.3 years (range, 0-41.2 years), 28 patients (1.4%) developed a thyroid malignancy. The overall incidence rate (expressed as the number of cases per 10,000 person-years) and 10-year cumulative incidence of thyroid cancer were 9.6 and 0.26%, respectively. There were no observed cases of thyroid malignancy in patients who received neck irradiation for HL after age 35 years. Age Conclusions Although HL survivors have an increased risk for thyroid cancer, the overall incidence is low. Routine thyroid cancer screening may benefit females treated at a young age and ≥10 years from HL treatment owing to their higher risk, which increases over time.
The evolution of alloimmunity and the genesis of adaptive immunity.

ABSTRACT Infectious agents select for host immune responses that destroy infectious nonself yet maintain tolerance to self. Here we propose that retroviruses and other host‐antigen associated pathogens (HAAPs) select for the genetic, biochemical, and cell biological properties of alloimmunity, also known as the histocompatibility or tissue rejection response. This hypothesis predicts the major observations regarding histocompatibility responses, including: (i) their existence in animals as diverse as sponges and humans; (ii) extreme polymorphism and balanced allele frequencies at histocompatibility loci, including the human MHC and blood group loci; (iii) the frequency dependent selection of histocompatibility alleles; (iv) the ancient age of many alloantigenic polymorphisms; (v) the high ratio of nonsynonymous mutations to synonymous mutations at histocompatibility loci; (vi) disassortative mating based on MHC alleles; (vii) the inability to explain the existence and continuing selection of histocompatib...
Molecular and Vibrational Structure of 1,6,6aλ4-Trithiapentalene. Infrared Linear Dichroism Spectroscopy and ab Initio Normal-Mode Analyses†

The vibrational structure of the title compound (TTP) was studied by experimental and theoretical methods. IR absorption spectra were recorded in argon matrix and in stretched polyethylene at 12 K....
Design methods for space-variant optical interconnections to achieve optimum power throughput

Optoelectronic systems based on space-variant optics give great freedom to the system designer in terms of interconnect topologies. One feature of space-variant systems is that they can achieve a high interconnect density. However, this density is achieved by having large arrays of diffractive elements with very small apertures relative to the propagation distances involved. Thus diffraction losses from the finite apertures can significantly affect power throughput for these types of systems, regardless of the diffractive efficiencies of the optical elements involved. Therefore it is desirable that this loss be minimized. We present several space-variant optical interconnect design methods (for both one-to-one and fan-out interconnects) and compare them in terms of power throughput for diffraction-limited interconnect distances. Both numerical simulations and experimental results are presented.
Applications of Near-Critical Dilute-Solution Thermodynamics

Much of the thermodynamics of dilute solutions near the solvent's critical point is governed by a single thermodynamic derivative known as the Krichevskii parameter. This parameter manifests itself in some linear asymptotic relationships that describe the behavior of solute Henry's constants and infinite-dilution K-factors in the vicinity of the solvent's critical point. This paper reviews the application of these asymptotic relationships to practical thermodynamic calculations. Successful correlations have been produced for Henry's constants and K-factors. Application to apparent molar properties is discussed, and an explanation is given for its quantitative inadequacy. The Henry's constant relationship has been extended to describe the solubility of solids in supercritical fluids; current limitations and future prospects are discussed for this application. Finally, a new linear relationship is derived for the capacity factor in supercritical fluid chromatography and applied to some data from the literature.
Cytogenic Behavior of a Knobbed Chromosome 10 in Maize

In the report, "Cytogenetic behavior of a knobbed chromosome 10 in maize," by G. Y. Kikudome [Science 134, 1006 (6 Oct. 1961)], two errors occur in the counts for family 61:36 for the R:r ratio in Table 1 (line 2, columns 2 and 4). The number of R kernels is 1338, not 1388; the total number of R and r kernels is 2718, not 2178
Unilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis:The importance of “preoperative” voice therapy

This preliminary retrospective study of 19 female patients and 22 male patients with unilateral recurrent nerve lesions demonstrated the promise of objective measurements in predicting the need for surgery, the efficacy of voice therapy in ameliorating vocal symptoms, and the effects of therapy in conjunction with surgery. Sixty-eight percent (68%) of the female patients and 64% of the male patients did not elect to have surgery. Outcome satisfaction of nonsurgical and surgical patients appeared to be similar. The data from this study support the importance of preoperative therapy for patients with unilateral vocal fold paralysis.
Variations in high-density lipoprotein subclasses during the menstrual cycle

In a study of 41 healthy premenopausal women, plasma high-density lipoprotein-2a (HDL2a) levels (ie, HDL of diameter 8.8 to 9.7 nm) were significantly higher during the luteal phase than during the follicular phase of the cycle. There was no significant variation in HDL2b or any of the HDL3 subclasses.
Radiosensitization produced by iododeoxyuridine with high linear energy transfer heavy ion beams

Abstract Little is known about radiosensitization produced by iododeoxyuridine (IUDR) with high linear energy transfer radiation. Likewise, the effect of IUDR on repair of sublethal or potentially lethal damage is unclear. A series of in vitro experiments was performed examining these aspects of IUDR radiosensitization. Human T1 cells were grown in the presence of 3.0 micromolar IUDR for 72 hours (approximately three doubling times), an exposure which resulted in minimal cytotoxicity to unirradiated cells. As the cells entered plateau phase they were exposed to X rays and a variety of heavy ion beams. Sensitization was found to decrease as linear energy transfer (LET) increased. No sensitization took place in an extremely high LET Lanthanum ion beam (1000 keV/micrometer). However, IUDR produced significant sensitization in the Neon ion beam currently used to treat cancer patients at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Sensitization enhancement ratios at the 40% cell survival level were found to be 1.8 for X rays, 1.5 for the proximal Bragg peak of the clinical Neon beam, and 1.3 for the distal peak of the clinical Neon beam. Cell survival curves fitted to the linear-quadratic model showed IUDR significantly increased the value of the linear component (alpha) in beams with LETS below 40 keV/micron. The value of the quadratic component (beta) was unaffected by IUDR, regardless of LET. Split-dose experiments with both X rays and proximal peak Neon ions revealed IUDR did not affect sublethal damage repair. Similarly, delayed-plating experiments showed IUDR did not affect repair of potentially lethal damage. In contrast to cells unexposed to IUDR, IUDR-treated cells showed near-equal levels of cell killing throughout the extended Bragg peak of the clinical Neon beam. These findings suggest that the addition of IUDR to Neon ion radiotherapy could enhance the therapeutic ratio of the clinical Neon beam.
Regulation of the DNA damage response on male meiotic sex chromosomes

During meiotic prophase in males, the sex chromosomes partially synapse to form the XY body, a unique structure that recruits proteins involved in the DNA damage response, which is believed to be important for silencing of the sex chromosomes. It remains elusive how the DNA damage response in the XY body is regulated. Here we show that H2AX-MDC1-RNF8 signaling, which is well characterized in somatic cells, is dispensable for the recruitment of proteins to the unsynapsed axes in the XY body. On the other hand, the DNA damage response that spreads over the sex chromosomes is largely similar to that in somatic cells. This analysis shows that there are important differences between the regulation of the DNA damage response at the XY body and at DNA damage sites in somatic cells.
Central role for vasopressin in cardiovascular regulation and the pathogenesis of hypertension.

In recent years the role of neuropeptides in the central regulation of arterial pressure and the pathogenesis of hypertension has been the subject of considerable attention. Of all the neuropeptides, vasopressin (AVP) has been one of the most widely studied. The availability of sophisticated immunocytochemical and biochemical methods has permitted localization of AVP in areas of the brain known to be involved in cardiovascular regulation
Validity and Efficacy of Screening Algorithms for Assessing Deep Brain Stimulation Candidacy in Parkinson's Disease

DBS for Parkinson's disease (PD) may be underutilized because of limited access to care (most DBS surgeries are performed at specialized centers) or over-referral of poor candidates, leading to inequitable utilization of limited evaluative resources. There is a pressing need for a widely employable screening algorithm to aid in the evaluation of PD candidates for DBS. The aim of this study was to compare the validity and efficacy of two published screening algorithms, the Florida Surgical Questionnaire for PD and Stimulus, to predict candidacy for DBS. We reviewed the clinical data at our DBS center for 147 consecutive PD DBS referrals between 1 September 2007 and 31 December 2011. Florida Surgical Questionnaire and Stimulus scores were applied retrospectively through a chart review of the movement disorder neurologist's initial clinical evaluation. The validity and accuracy of these two algorithms in predicting candidacy for DBS was compared to the decision to offer DBS surgery by our multidisciplinary DBS team. Of the 130 consecutive PD referrals who presented for initial evaluation, 50 were offered DBS after a standardized multidisciplinary evaluation. The Stimulus scale was a superior screening tool for predicting PD DBS candidacy in these referrals (area under the receiver operating curve [AUROC] = 0.8088), compared to the Florida Surgical Questionnaire for PD (AUROC = 0.6285). In this single-center study, Stimulus was a more appropriate screening measure than the Florida Surgical Questionnaire for PD to assess DBS candidacy for PD.
Magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling by Alfvén waves at midlatitudes

[1] Numerical modeling of magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling by Alfven waves has proven to be a valuable tool in describing the propagation and evolution of field-aligned currents and the magnetic fields produced by these waves as observed on the ground. Although many models of this type have assumed that magnetic field lines penetrate the ionosphere vertically, this assumption is not valid at lower latitudes, where the dipole tilt is significant. This paper presents a new model of this interaction that takes the dipole geometry into account, while including an ionosphere that is radially stratified. Since the orthogonal dipole coordinates that have been used in previous studies do not come to a constant radial distance at the ionosphere, a nonorthogonal system is developed that reduces to the orthogonal system at high altitudes. This model is useful for many different problems of wave coupling and is applied here to the propagation of ducted Pc1 oscillations that can propagate thousands of kilometers across magnetic field lines.
Investigating the opportunity for a smart activity bag

As long as people have traveled, they have constructed bags to help them carry more items than their hands will hold. While quite effective at keeping things together, bags do a poor job of communicating when something is missing. We propose that there exists an opportunity for the HCI community to improve the quality of people's lives by creating bags that have knowledge of people's schedules and equipment needs, can sense their contents, and can communicate when something has been forgotten. To investigate this opportunity, we conducted a field study with six dual-income families. Through interviews and observations we investigated their experiences using bags to organize equipment needed for children's enrichment activities. Based on the findings we generated 100 concepts and conducted a needs validation session to better understand the best opportunity to improve people's lives with technical intervention. This paper reports on our field study and needs validation session, and shares insights on the opportunities and implications of a smart activity bag.
Regulation of endothelin production and secretion in cultured collecting duct cells by endogenous transforming growth factor-beta

Confluent cultures of two renal collecting duct cell lines (M-1 and mIMCD-K2 cells derived from cortical and inner medullary collecting ducts, respectively) express endothelin1 (ET1), transforming growth factor-beta (TGF beta; both TGF beta 1 and TGF beta 2), and both types of the TGF beta receptor. Experiments were performed to test whether endogenous TGF beta may be a paracrine modulator of ET1 expression in these cells. Treatment of M-1 and mIMCD-K2 cells with TGF beta 2 antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) significantly reduced ET1 messenger RNA (mRNA) and ET secretion (as well as TGF beta 2 mRNA) in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas control ODN were without significant effects. To produce ET inhibition, antisense ODN had to be present in the basolateral medium, whereas its sole presence in the apical medium was without effect. In addition, a pan-specific TGF beta antibody caused a significant reduction of ET1 mRNA expression and ET1 secretion. M-1 cells were found to express high levels of t...
Hydroplaning of subaqueous debris flows

We report laboratory experiments that demonstrate that the fronts of subaqueous debris flows can hydroplane on thin layers of water. The hydroplaning dramatically reduces the bed drag, thus increasing head velocity. These high velocities promote sediment suspension and turbidity-current formation. Hydroplaning causes the fronts of debris flows to accelerate away from their bodies to the point of completely detaching from the bodies, producing surging. Instigation of hydroplaning is controlled by the balance of gravity and inertia forces at the debris front and is suitably characterized by the densimetric Froude number. The laboratory flows constrain hydroplaning to cases where the calculated densimetric Froude number is greater than 0.4. The presence of a basal lubricating layer of water underneath hydroplaning debris flows and slides offers a possible explanation for the long run-out distances of many subaqueous flows and slides on very low slopes.
Narrating America: Socializing Adult ESL Learners into Idealized Views of the United States during Citizenship Preparation Classes.

Applicants for U.S. citizenship must pass the naturalization test on U.S. history, government structure, constitutional principles, and basic English skills. Although no formal preparation for the exam is required, many immigrants, especially those with limited English proficiency, avail themselves of citizenship classes offered by community adult schools. Citizenship curricula at such schools, however, rarely have room for extensive English as a second language instruction, and teachers frequently resort to linguistic and discursive adjustments to make the course content on civics accessible to their students. This paper investigates one such adjustment—namely, narratives used to make abstract constitutional principles more concrete and relevant to the students' lives. Based on the analysis of narratives selected from 28 hours of videotaped classroom interaction, I argue that, in addition to serving as explanatory devices, narratives also reproduce a dominant U.S. ideology of individualism. They contribute to the construction of the U.S. as a nation where the rights of individuals are supreme and where individuals are seen as primary agents of historic change. Because these views are not culturally universal, teachers need to be aware of their own ideological positions and their possible effect on the students' understanding and acceptance of the course material.
Capping DNA with DNA.

Twelve classes of deoxyribozymes that promote an ATP-dependent “self-capping” reaction were isolated by in vitro selection from a random-sequence pool of DNA. Each deoxyribozyme catalyzes the transfer of the AMP moiety of ATP to its 5‘-terminal phosphate group, thereby forming a 5‘,5‘-pyrophosphate linkage. An identical DNA adenylate structure is generated by the T4 DNA ligase during enzymatic DNA ligation. A 41-nucleotide class 1 deoxyribozyme requires Cu2+ as a cofactor and adopts a structure that recognizes both the adenine and triphosphate moieties of ATP or dATP. The catalytic efficiency for this DNA, measured at 104 M-1·min-1 using either ATP or dATP as substrate, is similar to other catalytic nucleic acids that use small substrates. Chemical probing and site-directed mutagenesis implicate the formation of guanine quartets as critical components of the active structure. The observation of ATP-dependent “self-charging” by DNA suggests that DNA could be made to perform the reactions typically associat...
Improvement in motor and exploratory behavior in Rett syndrome mice with restricted ketogenic and standard diets.

Rett syndrome (RTT) is a rare X-linked autistic-spectrum neurological disorder associated with impaired energy metabolism, seizure susceptibility, progressive social behavioral regression, and motor impairment primarily in young girls. The objective of this study was to examine the influence of restricted diets, including a ketogenic diet (KD) and a standard rodent chow diet (SD), on behavior in male Mecp2308/y mice, a model of RTT. The KD is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that has anticonvulsant efficacy in children with intractable epilepsy and may be therapeutic in children with RTT. Following an 11-day pretrial period, adult wild-type and mutant Rett mice were separated into groups that were fed either an SD in unrestricted or restricted amounts or a ketogenic diet (KetoCal) in restricted amounts for a total of 30 days. The restricted diets were administered to reduce mouse body weight by 20–23% compared to the body weight of each mouse before the initiation of the diet. All mice were subjected to a battery of behavioral tests to determine the influence of the diet on the RTT phenotype. We found that performance in tests of motor behavior and anxiety was significantly worse in male RTT mice compared to wild-type mice and that restriction of either the KD or the SD improved motor behavior and reduced anxiety. We conclude that although both restricted diets increased the tendency of Rett mice to explore a novel environment, the beneficial effects of the KD were due more to calorie restriction than to the composition of the diet. Our findings suggest that calorically restricted diets could be effective in reducing the anxiety and in improving motor behavior in girls with RTT.
Notes on Karlgren's “New Studies on Chinese Bronzes”

In the first part of his “New Studies on Chinese Bronzes,”1 Dr. Bernhard Karlgren presents an evolution of early Chinese ritual bronzes which requires reconsideration. Karlgren's theory, in brief, is that motives of the early Shang style were composed in part of zoomorphic forms which are recognizable as functioning organisms. He contends that toward the end of the Shang dynasty a more abstract style of zoomorphic motive began to supplant the organic type and during the early Chou period the abstract motive dominated the style of the ritual bronzes.
Three-fold disordering of the Re2 unit in the Re2Cl6(PEt3)2 molecule

Abstract When crystallized from toluene, Re2Cl6(PEt3)2 forms crystals that incorporate interstitial toluene molecules, and have the composition Re2Cl6(PEt3)2· C7H8. Space group R 3 c, with a = 12.433(5), c = 32.549(10) A, V = 4357(1) A3 and Z = 6. The two rhenium atoms are disordered over six positions that form an octahedron within a cubic rhombohedron defined by six chlorine and two phosphorus atoms, and centered at a crystallographic 3 position. The disorder is analogous to that previously found in [N(C4H9)4]2Re2I8.
Intragranular mossy fibers in rats and gerbils from synapses with the somata and proximal dendrites of basket cells in the dentate gyrus

Intragranular and supragranular mossy fibers arise from granule cells and are present in the dentate gyrus of hippocampi from kindled and epileptic animals. The intragranular fibers often appear as fibers perpendicular to the long axis of the granule cell layer at periodic intervals. Rats and gerbils were analyzed to determine whether such mossy fibers are also associated with nongranule cells (including the basket cells), which send their apical dendrites through this layer with a periodicity similar to that of mossy fibers. The results for rats and both epileptic and nonepileptic gerbils show that many intragranular mossy fibers are apposed to the surfaces of the somata and apical dendrites of basket cells where they form asymmetric synapses. This plexus of mossy fiber axons appears to follow the dendrites of these neurons into the inner molecular layer. Based on previous data indicating that basket cells are GABAergic inhibitory neurons, the present findings in normal rats and both types of gerbils suggest that intragranular and supragranular mossy fibers provide additional circuitry for feedback inhibition to granule cells. It is possible that under pathological conditions, such as denervation or kindling, these fibers sprout and form synapses with granule cells.
Anomalous carbonylation of [Pd(dppm)(O2CCF3)]2 to give an asymmetric μ-CO complex

Abstract The reactive palladium dimer, [Pd(dppm)(O2CCF3)]2, is carbonylated to [Pd(dppm)(O2CCF3)]2(μ-CO) in a reversible reaction with K = c. 7.2(2)x104 atm−1 (P1/2 = c. 2.4 Torr). This is significantly larger than is expected based on the λmax = 280 nm in the electronic spectrum. The product can be isolated in analytically pure form by crystallization under a CO atmosphere. It forms crystals in the monoclinic space group Cc with a = 18.584(5), b = 28.65(1), c = 11.164(3) A and β = 95.16(2)°. The structure is significantly distorted. The bonding about the two palladium atoms is quite asymmetric. While one is close to a square planar geometry with a PdC(O) distance of 1.90(2) A, the other is significantly pyramidalized and has a longer (2.00(2) A) bond to the bridging CO. The PdPd distance is only 2.896(2) A, much shorter than that usually observed for formally non-bonded Pd atoms.