cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Phospho serine and threonine analysis of normal and mutated granulocyte colony stimulating factor receptors.

Granulocyte colony stimulating factor receptor (G-CSFR) plays an important role in the production of neutrophil granulocytes. Mutated G-CSFRs have been directly associated with two distinct malignant phenotypes in patients, e.g. acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and chronic neutrophilic leukemia (CNL). However, the signaling mechanism of the mutated G-CSFRs is not well understood. Here, we present a comprehensive SILAC-based quantitative phosphoserine and phosphothreonine dataset of the normal and mutated G-CSFRs signaling using the BaF3 cell-line-based in vitro model system. High pH reversed phase concatenation and Titanium Dioxide Spin Tip column were utilized to increase the dynamic range and detection of the phosphoproteome of G-CSFRs. The dataset was further analyzed using several computational tools to validate the quality of the dataset. Overall, this dataset is the first global phosphoproteomics analysis of both normal and disease-associated-mutant G-CSFRs. We anticipate that this dataset will have a strong potential to decipher the phospho-signaling differences between the normal and malignant G-CSFR biology with therapeutic implications. The phosphoproteomic dataset is available via the PRIDE partner repository. Machine-accessible metadata file describing the reported data (ISA-Tab format)
Offshore Substation Design: High-Level Overview of the Industry Best Practices

The offshore wind industry has been gaining momentum on the East Coast of the United States as its first U.S. offshore wind farm (OWF), off Block Island (30 MW), has been in operation for nearly three years. States such as Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Maryland are all taking significant steps forward in embedding offshore wind within their future energy portfolios. BVG Associates predicts that the U.S. offshore wind market will develop rapidly between 2020 and 2030, with a high forecast of annual installed capacity surpassing 1 GW by 2026 and reaching 8.4 GW by 2030. As the industry moves from demonstration- to commercial-scale projects, there is growing interest in high-capacity farms sited farther offshore in deeper waters (see Figure 1).
Creative Problem Solving by Robots Using Action Primitive Discovery

Humans and many other species have the remarkable ability to innovate and creatively problem solve on-the-fly. Inspired by these abilities, we propose a framework for action discovery in problem solving scenarios similar to puzzle-boxes used to evaluate intelligence in animal species. The proposed framework assumes that the robot starts with a knowledge base including predicates and actions, which, however, are insufficient to solve the problem faced by the robot. We describe a method for discovering new action primitives through object exploration and action segmentation, which is able to iteratively update the robot's knowledge base on-the-fly until the solution becomes feasible. We implemented and evaluated the framework using a 3D physics-based simulated object retrieval task for the Baxter bi-manual robot. Results suggest that action segmentation is one viable path towards enabling autonomous agents to adapt on-the-fly and in short amounts of time to new situations that were unforeseen by their programmers and engineers.
Mapping Drug Overdose Demographic and Socioeconomic Characteristics in the Community.

Introduction Drug use and drug overdose have increased at an alarming rate. Objective To identify demographic and neighborhood social and economic factors associated with higher risk of overdose. These findings can be used to inform development of community programs and appropriately devote resources to prevent and treat drug abuse. Methods The electronic health records of all patients seen in the emergency department or admitted to the hospital for a drug overdose in 2016 at Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin, were reviewed retrospectively. Patient data collected included age, sex, race/ethnicity, insurance type, overdose intention (intentional, unintentional), drug involved, and total charge for the episode of care. Patient residence was geocode mapped to census tract to analyze the relationship of drug overdose to neighborhood characteristics. Overdose rates were calculated by census tract and compared by several sociodemographic characteristics. Results Four hundred nineteen patients were included in this study. Forty percent of overdoses were unintentional. Patients who were older, male, nonwhite, and who had no insurance were more likely to have unintentional overdoses. Opiates and heroin were most commonly present in unintentional overdoses, whereas benzodiazepines and sedatives were more common in intentional overdoses. Patients living in census tracts with a higher percentage of residents with some college also had a higher rate of unintentional overdose. Rates of overdose at the census tract level varied and were higher in tracts with lower median income, low income inequality ratio, high percentage of college attendance, and higher percentage of nonwhite residents. The average charge per overdose was $14,771 (median = $9,497) and totaled $6,188,923 for the year. Conclusions This study provides demographic, geographic, and socioeconomic detail about drug overdose in the community that can be used to focus future treatment and prevention interventions.
Two-phase wash to solve the ubiquitous contaminant-carryover problem in commercial nucleic-acid extraction kits.

The success of fundamental and applied nucleic acid (NA) research depends on NA purity, but obtaining pure NAs from raw, unprocessed samples is challenging. Purification using solid-phase NA extractions utilizes sequential additions of lysis and wash buffers followed by elution. The resulting eluent contains NAs and carryover of extraction buffers. Typically, these inhibitory buffers are heavily diluted by the reaction mix (e.g., 10x dilution is 1 µL eluent in 9 µL reaction mix), but in applications requiring high sensitivity (e.g., single-cell sequencing, pathogen diagnostics) it is desirable to use low dilutions (e.g., 2x) to maximize NA concentration. Here, we demonstrate pervasive carryover of inhibitory buffers into eluent when several commercial sample-preparation kits are used following manufacturer protocols. At low eluent dilution (2–2.5x) we observed significant reaction inhibition of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), and reverse transcription (RT). We developed a two-phase wash (TPW) method by adding a wash buffer with low water solubility prior to the elution step. The TPW reduces carryover of extraction buffers, phase-separates from the eluent, and does not reduce NA yield (measured by digital PCR). We validated the TPW for silica columns and magnetic beads by demonstrating significant improvements in performance and reproducibility of qPCR, LAMP, and RT reactions.
The Fault in our Systems: LMS as a Vehicle for Critical Pedagogy

Postsecondary instructors and students alike perceive the primary function of a learning management system (LMS) as a means of static information dissemination, particularly assessment-related information such as grades. Subsequently, the most-used LMS features are those that facilitate such information transfer. Perhaps because of these usage patterns and perceptions, a growing number of scholars and practitioners are calling for alternatives to the LMS. This article argues, however, that the LMS is not limited to (nor designed around) its current use as a grade delivery service, but can, rather, be leveraged as a vehicle for critical pedagogy and praxis through technology. Specifically, we seek to explore some of the current uses and perceptions of the LMS in higher education, as well as considerations and implications for faculty and educational technologists working with these systems in higher educational contexts.
B cell-intrinsic TLR9 expression is protective in murine lupus

Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) is a regulator of disease pathogenesis in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Why TLR9 represses disease while TLR7 and MyD88 have the opposite effect remains undefined. To begin to address this question, we created 2 alleles to manipulate TLR9 expression, allowing for either selective deletion or overexpression. We used these to test cell type-specific effects of Tlr9 expression on the regulation of SLE pathogenesis. Notably, Tlr9 deficiency in B cells was sufficient to exacerbate nephritis while extinguishing anti-nucleosome antibodies, whereas Tlr9 deficiency in dendritic cells (DCs), plasmacytoid DCs, and neutrophils had no discernable effect on disease. Thus, B cell-specific Tlr9 deficiency unlinked disease from autoantibody production. Critically, B cell-specific Tlr9 overexpression resulted in ameliorated nephritis, opposite of the effect of deleting Tlr9. Our findings highlight the nonredundant role of B cell-expressed TLR9 in regulating lupus and suggest therapeutic potential in modulating and perhaps even enhancing TLR9 signals in B cells.
Fatty Acid Characterization of Beef Longissimus from Steers Finished on Fodder Beet or Traditional Winter Forages in New Zealand Compared to US Grain-Fed Beef

Fatty acids were evaluated to characterize lipid profiles of beef from 3 feeding programs: New Zealand (NZ) fodder beet (FB), NZ grass/non-FB (NFB), and United States grain. Strip loins were selected within each program based on expected eating quality focusing on marbling, ossification, and pH. Selection resulted in 6 treatments: FB high quality, FB low quality, NFB high quality, NFB low quality, US Top Choice, and US Select. Samples were aged 21 d or 35 d postmortem. A subset of 152 samples (12–13 per treatment combination) were used for fatty acid characterization. Within the polar lipid fraction, US treatments had lower monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) and greater polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) than NZ treatments (P 0.05), and aging did not affect fatty acid composition. Lipid profiles were impacted by finishing diet; however, most differences were between US grain-fed beef and NZ treatments—with limited differences between FB and NFB samples—when product was selected based on quality descriptors. Therefore, FB could be substituted for grass forages to sustain the NZ beef industry through winter months and limit seasonality without detrimental effects on product quality.
10.5 A Fully Integrated 27dBm Dual-Band All-Digital Polar Transmitter Supporting 160MHz for WiFi 6 Applications

The ever-increasing demand for wireless data traffic requires WiFi transceivers to support wider (160MHz) bandwidths (BW) and higher-order modulation schemes (1024QAM), with future standards expected to bring in even more demanding requirements. As many WiFi-enabled devices are battery powered and mobile, there is also a continuous demand to improve power, cost and form factor, which can only be achieved by a high level of integration in advanced digital CMOS processes. WiFi transmitter (TX) integration has been demonstrated with a quadrature analog TX (Q-ATX) topology using Class-AB CMOS power amplifiers (PAs) in [1]. Recently there is a shift towards digital TX (DTX) architectures due to their more compact die area, scalability in advanced CMOS processes, and improved power efficiency of their switching PAs. Quadrature DTX (Q-DTX) topologies [2] benefit from a straightforward extension of Q-ATX topologies and high BW support, but their main drawbacks are reduced output power and efficiency due to I/Q combining and limited EVM due to IQ mismatch and nonlinearities. Polar DTX (P-DTX) topologies using various phase-generation techniques were proposed including 2-point modulation [3], I/Q mixing [4] and a digitally controlled delay line digital-to-time converter (DCDL-DTC) [5]. P-DTX solutions proposed so far suffered from limited BW (≤40MHz) and limited EVM floor, including our previous work [6], which also did not support the 5-to-6GHz band, nor an integrated PA. This work presents a 27dBm P-DTX architecture for dual-band WiFi 6 operation that supports 160MHz BW and MCS11 1024-QAM OFDM. It incorporates: (a) a zero-crossing-based CORDIC algorithm, (b) a dual-band digitally controlled two-point edge interpolator (DCEI2)-DTC phase modulator and, (c) a switched-capacitor digital PA (SC-DPA) with optimal transformer combining in order to achieve the high bandwidth, low EVM and improved efficiency.
Urgent reoperation early after coronary artery bypass graft

Objective To explore the cause of acute myocardial ischemia early after coronary artery bapass graft (CABG) and surgical management on it. Methods From 2001 to 2009, 28 patients underwent urgent reoperation early after CABG due to acute myocardial ischemia. The incidence of reoperation is about 0.02%. The cause of reoperation inclouded early graft occlusion (10 cases) ,IMA damage or injury during harvesting(9 cases), inexactitude distal anastomosis(2 cases)and radial artery spasm(4 cases). The mean interval time between two operations was 8 hours. Reoperation was done under offpump bypass in 2 patients and on-bypass used in other patients. Unsatisfactoey graft were substituted with new graft material and thrombotic was removed. If LIMA was the reson for myocardial ischemia, an additional vein graft was inserted. The spasm radial artery were substituted with new vein graft. Completely revascularization was used in re-do CABG. Results Two patients died during reoperation. 8 patients was died between 1 day and 14 days after reoperation. IABP was used in 16 patients,which 2 patients received ECMO suppord and 2 patient received LVAD suppord at mean time. Conclusion There have very high mortality in acute myocardial ischemia early after CABG. The early diagnosis and correct surgical management can improve the rates of survival. The active prevent should be emphasized during the first CABG. Key words: Coronary artery bypass; Myocardial ischemia; Reoperation
Persistent organic pollutants exposure in newborn dried blood spots and infant weight status: A case-control study of low-income Hispanic mother-infant pairs.

Abstract Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are believed to alter metabolic homeostasis during fetal development, leading to childhood obesity. However, limited studies have explored how fetal chemical exposures relate to birth and infant weight outcomes in low-income Hispanic families at the highest risk of obesity. Therefore, we sought to determine associations between neonatal POPs exposure measured in newborn dried blood spots (DBS) and prenatal diet quality, birth weight, and overweight status at 18 months old. We conducted a case-control study nested within the Starting Early Program randomized controlled trial comparing POPs concentrations in infants with healthy weight (n = 46) and overweight status (n = 52) at age 18 months. Three categories of POPs, organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) were measured in archived newborn DBS. We assessed correlations between prenatal diet quality and neonatal POPs concentrations. Multivariable regression analyses examined associations between POPs (dichotomized at the mean) and birth weight z-score and weight status at 18 months, controlling for confounders. Seven of eight chemicals had detectable levels in greater than 94% of the sample. Higher protein, sodium and refined grain intake during pregnancy were correlated with lower POPs in newborn DBS. We found that high concentrations of perfluorooctanesulfonate (unstandardized coefficient [B]: −0.62, 95% confidence interval [CI]: −0.96 to −0.29) and perfluorohexanesulfate (B: −0.65, 95% CI: −0.99 to −0.31) were related to lower birth weight z-scores compared to those with low concentrations. We did not find associations between PBDEs, OCPs, and the other PFASs with birth weight z-scores, or between any POPs and weight status at 18 months. In conclusion, two PFASs were associated with lower birth weight, an important indicator of child health and growth, although direct associations with infant overweight status were not found. Whether neonatal POPs exposures contribute to economic and ethnic disparities in early obesity remains unclear.
Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: Clinical Manifestations, Imaging, and Patient Selection for Prostate Artery Embolization

Prostate artery embolization (PAE) has been shown to be safe and effective at treating lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), urinary retention, and hematuria caused by benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). To distinguish from other causes of these symptoms, a multidisciplinary evaluation by a urologist and interventional radiologist should include a complete history to screen for any nonprostate causes of LUTS. The International Prostate Symptom Score is a useful objective measure to quantify the patient's urinary complaints. A physical exam should be performed to evaluate a patient's candidacy for angiography, and baseline laboratory evaluation should ensure that the patient's coagulation and kidney function are adequate. In certain situations, patients may benefit from cystoscopy and urodynamic evaluation to ensure their symptoms are related to BPH. A review of the patient's imagining can be the most important component of the evaluation of a patient prior to PAE, because a patient's gland size is often a primary driver of what procedural options available are to him. Men with small glands (≤30 mL) can be treated with several of the available minimally invasive transurethral procedures, but larger glands (≥80-120 mL) may be limited to holmium laser enucleation of prostate, thulium laser enucleation of prostate, surgical prostatectomy, or PAE, depending on institutional practice patterns. Secondary considerations include medical comorbidities, the risks for sexual side effects, the risk for bleeding, and the possible adverse events associated with the procedure, which are all low for PAE. Most patients suffering from symptomatic BPH resulting in LUTS, retention, or hematuria will benefit from PAE.
The pronoun which comprehenders who process it in islands derive a benefit

There is ongoing debate about the role that resumptive pronouns play in the processing of islands in intrusive resumption languages such as English. This squib provides evidence that resumptive pro...
Friends of Freedom: The Rise of Social Movements in the Age of Atlantic Revolutions

From the Sons of Liberty to British reformers, Irish patriots, French Jacobins, Haitian revolutionaries and American Democrats, the greatest social movements of the Age of Atlantic Revolutions grew as part of a common, interrelated pattern. In this new transnational history, Micah Alpaugh demonstrates the connections between the most prominent causes of the era, as they drew upon each other's models to seek unprecedented changes in government. As Friends of Freedom, activists shared ideas and strategies internationally, creating a chain of broad-based campaigns that mobilized the American Revolution, British Parliamentary Reform, Irish nationalism, movements for religious freedom, abolitionism, the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and American party politics. Rather than a series of distinct national histories, Alpaugh shows how these movements jointly responded to the Atlantic trends of their era to create a new way to alter or overthrow governments: mobilizing massive social movements.
New techniques for mobility spectrum analysis

Mobility spectrum analysis (MSA) is a process of recovering the spectrum of carrier mobilities in an electronic material from a magnetic-field-dependent Hall measurement. This paper first presents a set of useful general properties of MSA that are true for all MSA methods. One such property is that Hall data can be classified as either “physical,” with at least one spectrum of carrier mobilities that exactly fits the data, or “unphysical,” where no mobility spectra exactly fit the data and the analysis must find approximate solutions. Almost all experimental Hall data collected at seven or more magnetic fields are slightly unphysical. The closest approximate solution for such unphysical data is always a set of discrete-carrier mobilities. A new method for multicarrier MSA is presented to display the likely properties of the discrete carriers as two-dimensional spectra vs both mobility and carrier density instead of one-dimensional spectra vs only mobility, as in previous methods. Measurement uncertainties are included as a fundamental part of the analysis so that the user can easily view the resultant uncertainty in the derived carrier properties. A separate method is also presented for reliably determining a smooth, high-entropy spectrum of carrier mobilities, which is constructed as the maximum-entropy linear combination of discrete-carrier solutions to the Hall data. An example using calculated Hall data corresponding to acoustic phonon scattering shows that the technique could potentially be used to measure the continuous mobility distributions that result from different scattering mechanisms.
Compressive Kalman filtering for recovering temporally-rewiring genetic networks

Genetic regulatory networks undergo rewiring over time in response to cellular developments and environmental stimuli. The main challenge in estimating time-varying genetic interactions is the limited number of observations at each time point; thus making the problem unidentifiable. We formulate the recovery of temporally-rewiring genetic networks as a tracking problem, where the target to be tracked over time consists of the set of genetic interactions. We circumvent the observability issue (due to the limited number of measurements) by taking into account the sparsity of genetic networks. With linear dynamics, we use a compressive Kalman filter to track the interactions as they evolve over time. Our simulation results show that the compressive Kalman filter achieves good tracking performance even with one measurement available at each time point; whereas the classical (unconstrained) Kalman filter completely fails in obtaining meaningful tracking.
Mechanism of CRISPR-RNA guided recognition of DNA targets in Escherichia coli

MSU’s Graduate School and the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development (to P.B.G.v.E.); Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health [F32 GM108436 to R.N.J.]; Undergraduate research from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute [#52006931 to J.C.], Montana IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence from the National Institutes of Health [P20GM103474 to J.C.], Irving L. Weissman Undergraduate research (to J.C.); National Institutes of Health [R01GM097330 to S.B.]; National Institutes of Health [P20GM103500, R01GM108888 to B.W.], National Science Foundation EPSCoR [EPS-110134 to B.W.], M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust (to B.W.); Montana State University Agricultural Experimental Station; Advance Photon Source [ACB-12002, AGM-12006, DE-AC02-06CH11357]; Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource [DE-AC02-76SF00515, P41GM103393]
Protective Actions of Aspirin-Triggered (17R) Resolvin D1 and Its Analogue, 17R-Hydroxy-19-Para-Fluorophenoxy-Resolvin D1 Methyl Ester, in C5a-Dependent IgG Immune Complex–Induced Inflammation and Lung Injury

Increasing evidence suggests that the novel anti-inflammatory and proresolving mediators such as the resolvins play an important role during inflammation. However, the functions of these lipid mediators in immune complex-induced lung injury remain unknown. In this study, we determined the role of aspirin-triggered resolvin D1 (AT-RvD1) and its metabolically stable analog, 17R-hydroxy-19-para-fluorophenoxy-resolvin D1 methyl ester (p-RvD1), in IgG immune complex-induced inflammatory responses in myeloid cells and injury in the lung. We show that lung vascular permeability in the AT-RvD1- or p-RvD1-treated mice was significantly reduced when compared with values in mice receiving control vesicle during the injury. Furthermore, i.v. administration of either AT-RvD1 or p-RvD1 caused significant decreases in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid contents of neutrophils, inflammatory cytokines, and chemokines. Of interest, AT-RvD1 or p-RvD1 significantly reduced bronchoalveolar lavage fluid complement C5a level. By EMSA, we demonstrate that IgG immune complex-induced activation of NF-κB and C/EBPβ transcription factors in the lung was significantly inhibited by AT-RvD1 and p-RvD1. Moreover, AT-RvD1 dramatically mitigates IgG immune complex-induced NF-κB and C/EBP activity in alveolar macrophages. Also, secretion of TNF-α, IL-6, keratinocyte cell-derived chemokine, and MIP-1α from IgG immune complex-stimulated alveolar macrophages or neutrophils was significantly decreased by AT-RvD1. These results suggest a new approach to the blocking of immune complex-induced inflammation.
Communities of practice as cause and consequence of transnational governance: The evolution of social and environmental certification

When communities of organic farmers began certifying ecologically friendly agriculture, they could never have guessed how prominent the certification model would become. Nearly four decades later, consumers can buy products not just from certified farms, but also certified forests, fisheries, and factories – with standards pertaining not only to the environment, but also to “social” conditions of labor and community development. Firms interested in “corporate social responsibility” and “ethical sourcing” can now draw on a growing set of suppliers whose labor or environmental standards have been certified by an independent body. For their part, the certification associations that oversee this activity – the Fairtrade Labeling Organization, Forest Stewardship Council, Social Accountability International, and others – find themselves entwined in an increasingly elaborate web of transnational governance, layered with evolving rules about trade and standard-setting, competing initiatives, and a variety of questions about the legitimacy and effectiveness of their activities. Certification of quality and product safety has, of course, existed for many years (Cheit 1990), but the transformation of certification into a mode of social/environmental regulation has occurred mainly since the 1990s. Most observers of certification initiatives have focused on a single sector or issue domain. Thus, we have a range of studies of forest certification, organic agriculture, Fair Trade certification, labor standards monitoring, and the sustainable management of fisheries. More general theories of this form often portray it as a solution to several types of problems.
Dietary determinants of energy intake and weight regulation in healthy adults.

Until recently, the percentage of energy from dietary fat has been considered a primary determinant of body fatness. This review covers recent studies from our laboratory that challenge this notion. High and low fat diets matched for energy density, palatability and fiber resulted in similar mean voluntary energy intakes over 9 d; analysis of the individual foods in these diets showed that energy density and palatability were significant determinants of energy intake, independent of fat content. Path analysis further revealed that the influence of energy density on energy intake was in part direct, and in part indirect and mediated by palatability. In another study, dietary variety within food groups was shown to be an important predictor of body fatness, and the direction of the association depended on which food groups provided the variety, i.e., the variety of sweets, snacks, condiments, entrees and carbohydrates consumed was positively associated with body fatness, whereas the variety of vegetables was negatively associated. Last, a study of restaurant food and body fatness showed that the frequency of consumption of restaurant food was positively associated with body fatness, independent of education level, smoking status, alcohol intake and physical activity. Restaurant meals tend to be high in fat and low in fiber, and thus energy dense. Restaurants also typically serve a variety of palatable foods in large portions. The increasing variety of high energy foods available and the increasing proportion of household income spent on foods consumed away from home may help explain the U.S. national rising prevalence of obesity.
A highly unsaturated fatty acid predicts carbon transfer between primary producers and consumers

The factors that regulate energy transfer between primary producers and consumers in aquatic ecosystems have been investigated for more than 50 years. Among all levels of the food web (plants, herbivores, carnivores), the plant-animal interface is the most variable and least predictable link. In hypereutrophic lakes, for example, biomass and energy transfer is often inhibited at the phytoplankton-zooplankton link, resulting in an accumulation of phytoplankton biomass instead of sustaining production at higher trophic levels, such as fish. Accumulation of phytoplankton (especially cyanobacteria) results in severe deterioration of water quality, with detrimental effects on the health of humans and domestic animals, and diminished recreational value of water bodies. We show here that low transfer efficiencies between primary producers and consumers during cyanobacteria bloom conditions are related to low relative eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5omega3) content of the primary producer community. Zooplankton growth and egg production were strongly related to the primary producer 20:5omega3 to carbon ratio. This indicates that limitation of zooplankton production by this essential fatty acid is of central importance at the pelagic producer-consumer interface.
Social Competence and Marital Adjustment.

The argument is made that social competence would be related to marital adjustment. Data were collected on a community sample of 44 men and 39 women. Marital adjustment was related to the individual's self-perceived social competence. In general, a manipulative inter personal orientation was negatively related to marital adjustment for females, but need for dominance was positively related to dyadic cohesion for males. The results are discussed in terms of their conceptual significance and their implications for home economists.
Characterizing surface soil water with field portable diffuse reflectance spectroscopy

Surface soil moisture plays a key role in regulating a variety of processes associated with water and energy, especially evaporation. Most prevailing methods measure soil water content only for soil blocks or layers of a certain depth, rather than directly on the soil surface. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) provides a way to approximate surface soil water content by utilizing surface reflectance to quantify soil water. The direct measurement of surface water content could potentially improve the understanding and modeling accuracy of the processes associated with surface water dynamics. The present study investigated the reflectance variations in one artificially constructed sample set, one set of natural soil cores, and one set of natural surface soils, with various moisture levels. Results showed that the reflectance decreased non-linearly with an increase in soil moisture at single wavelengths for all three sample sets. The models derived from partial least square (PLS) regression with segmented cross-validation using natural logarithm transformed wave bands or full spectra provided accurate and stable prediction for all moisture ranges studied. Although it is still problematic to construct a single, universal model for surface soil moisture, segmented models based on soil property classes (i.e. texture, color) are able to accurately predict surface soil water content from measured reflectance. Specific calibrations for soils with similar soil texture or color are expected to provide promising prediction of surface soil moisture.
Streptococcal pharyngitis in a college health population.

Abstract This study of a college population showed that group A streptococcal pharyngitis accounted for 0.6%–2.5% of total visits to the student health service for the academic years 1977–78, 1978–79, and 1979–80. Streptococcal pharyngitis accounted for 4.0%–13.6% of all throat cultures performed. The prevalence of reported acute rheumatic fever (ARF) in this population was virtually nonexistent. Review of medical records for 346 cases of streptococcal pharyngitis for academic year 1979–80 revealed that 253 (73%) were treated with oral penicillin V potassium. Nine (4.8%) repeat positive cultures occurred in 188 persons presenting for reculture after completing their course of therapy. All of the repeat positive cases had been treated with oral antibiotics, and almost all responded to a second course of oral treatment. It appeared that oral penicillin was adequate as primary prevention of ARF in this population. Despite pitfalls of the bacitracin disc method, results of negative cultures prevented unnecess...
Criteria for Linear Model Selection Based on Kullback's Symmetric Divergence

Summary Model selection criteria are frequently developed by constructing estimators of discrepancy measures that assess the disparity between the 'true' model and a fitted approximating model. The Akaike information criterion (AIC) and its variants result from utilizing Kullback's directed divergence as the targeted discrepancy. The directed divergence is an asymmetric measure of separation between two statistical models, meaning that an alternative directed divergence can be obtained by reversing the roles of the two models in the definition of the measure. The sum of the two directed divergences is Kullback's symmetric divergence. In the framework of linear models, a comparison of the two directed divergences reveals an important distinction between the measures. When used to evaluate fitted approximating models that are improperly specified, the directed divergence which serves as the basis for AIC is more sensitive towards detecting overfitted models, whereas its counterpart is more sensitive towards detecting underfitted models. Since the symmetric divergence combines the information in both measures, it functions as a gauge of model disparity which is arguably more balanced than either of its individual components. With this motivation, the paper proposes a new class of criteria for linear model selection based on targeting the symmetric divergence. The criteria can be regarded as analogues of AIC and two of its variants: 'corrected' AIC or AICc and 'modified' AIC or MAIC. The paper examines the selection tendencies of the new criteria in a simulation study and the results indicate that they perform favourably when compared to their AIC analogues.
Designing high impedance etched ground GCPW

As a result of simulation and fabrication, guidelines for designing high impedance etched ground grounded coplanar waveguide transmission lines are presented. These lines have been shown to be useful in unequal power divider circuits and stepped-impedance lowpass filters. By etching the ground beneath the center conductor of the grounded coplanar waveguide (GCPW), high impedances up to 220 Ω have been realized. Measurement results and em simulation agree well at 5 GHz.
Occupational contact dermatitis I: Incidence and return to work pressures

Since the passage of the United States Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in 1970, there have been extensive changes in United States workplaces that should have served to enhance the prevention of occupational skin disease (OSD). Analysis of skin diseases reported to OSHA (OSHA recordables) shows that the number of OSDs declined steadily from 1974 to 1983 to about half the previous annual incidence. After 1984, there was a modest resurgence peaking in 1994, with a subsequent decline. A similar but somewhat greater decline in the late 1990s has been observed for occupational respiratory diseases, diseases caused by toxic agents and for poisonings. Likely explanations for the trends in OSD are discussed; the initial decline probably reflected an improvement in workplace conditions, the later resurgence and decline may have been attributable to changes in recording behaviors and in worker's compensation. The decline in recorded OSD since 1996 has been fairly uniform in most major industrial sectors but has been less marked in agriculture, forestry, and fishing so that this sector has replaced manufacturing in recording the highest incidence rate. In 1999, the incidence rate of recorded OSD was 0.49 per 1,000 workers, which appears to grossly underreport the true incidence. OSD now constitutes about 10% of all occupational disease cases. Currently, there is increasing emphasis in corporate and occupational medicine on reducing costs and maintaining productivity as well as in preventing occupational injuries and diseases. This is shown by the trend for a greater proportion of workers with occupational conditions to return to modified duty positions rather than to be completely off work. Implications of this phenomena for management of OSD are discussed.
Effect of cluster size in kiloelectronvolt cluster bombardment of solid benzene.

Emission of benzene molecules by 5-keV cluster bombardment of a range of carbon projectiles from C6H6 to C180 is studied by a coarse-grained molecular dynamics (MD) technique. This approach permits calculations that are not feasible using more complicated potential energy functions, particularly as the interesting physics associated with the ion impact event approaches the mesoscale. These calculations show that the highest ejection yields are associated with clusters that deposit their incident energy 15−20 A below the surface. The highest yield for the projectiles is produced by the C20 and C60 projectiles. The results from the MD simulations are also compared favorably to an analytical model based on fluid dynamics to describe the energy deposition. The analytical model is then utilized to extend the range of the calculations to higher incident energies. The issue of the relative amount of chemical fragmentation and intact molecular desorption is also examined for the benzene crystal. These results sho...
Analysis of high resolution scatter images from laser damage experiments performed on KDP

Interest in producing high damage threshold KH{sub 2}PO{sub 4} (KDP) and (D{sub x}H{sub 1-x}){sub 2}PO{sub 4} (KD*P, DKDP) for optical switching and frequency conversion applications is being driven by the system requirements for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL). Historically, the path to achieving higher damage thresholds has been to improve the purity of crystal growth solutions. Application of advanced filtration technology has increased the damage threshold, but gives little insight into the actual mechanisms of laser damage. We have developed a laser scatter diagnostic to better study bulk defects and laser damage mechanisms in KDP and KD*P crystals. This diagnostic consists of a cavity doubled, kilohertz class, Nd:YLF laser (527 nm) and high dynamic range CCD camera which allows imaging of bulk scatter signals. With it, we have performed damage tests at 355 nm on four different {open_quotes}vintages{close_quotes} of KDP crystals, concentrating on crystals produced via fast growth methods. We compare the diagnostic`s resolution to LLNL`s standard damage detection method of 100X darkfield microscopy and discuss its impact on damage threshold determination. We have observed the disappearance of scatter sites upon exposure to subthreshold irradiation. In contrast, we have seen scatterers appear where none previously existed. This includes isolated, large (high signal) sites as well as multiple small scatter sites which appear at fluences above 7 J/cm{sup 2} (fine tracking). However, we have not observed a strong correlation of preexisting scatter sites and laser damage sites. We speculate on the connection between the laser-induced disappearance of scatter sites and the observed increase in damage threshold with laser conditioning.
Trade flows and real exchange-rate volatility: an application of cointegration and error-correction modeling

Abstract This article examines the impact of real exchange-rate volatility on the trade flows of Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland in the context of a multivariate error-correction model. The advantages of this statistical approach vis-a-vis earlier approaches is that it provides more efficient short-run and long-run coefficient estimates and avoids the problems of spurious regressions. The major results show that increases in the volatility of the real exchange rate, approximating exchange-rate uncertainty, exert a significant negative effect upon export demand in both the short-run and the long-run.
Effects of diabetes mellitus in patients with heart failure and chronic kidney disease: A propensity-matched study of multimorbidity in chronic heart failure

Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are common comorbidities in heart failure (HF) and each is associated with poor outcomes. However, the effects of multimorbidity related to having both CKD and DM compared to CKD alone have not been well studied in a propensity-matched population of chronic HF patients.
The role of α6β1 integrin and EGF in normal and malignant acinar morphogenesis of human prostatic epithelial cells

Complex multiple interactions between cells and extracellular matrix occur during acinar morphogenesis involving integrin receptors and growth factors. Changes in these interactions occur during carcinogenesis as cells progress from a normal to a malignant, invasive phenotype. We have developed human prostatic epithelial cell lines of the same lineage, which represent multiple steps in carcinogenesis, similar to prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia and subsequent tumor progression. The non-tumorigenic, RWPE-1 and the tumorigenic WPE1-NB27 and WPE1-NB26 cell lines were used to examine their ability to undergo acinar morphogenesis in a 3-D cell culture model and its relationship to invasion, integrin expression and EGF presence. An inverse relationship between the degree of acinar formation and invasive ability was observed. The non-tumorigenic, non-invasive RWPE-1 and the low tumorigenic, low invasive, WPE1-NB27 cells show high and decreased acinar forming ability, respectively, while the more invasive WPE1-NB26 cells show a loss of acinar formation. While RWPE-1 acini show basal expression of alpha 6 beta 1 integrin, which correlates with their ability to polarize and form acini, WPE1-NB27 cells lack alpha 6 but show basal, but weaker expression of beta 1 integrin. WPE1-NB26 cells show loss alpha 6 and abnormal, diffused beta 1 integrin expression. A dose-dependent decrease in acinar formation was observed in RWPE-1 cells when cell proliferation was induced by EGF. Anti-functional antibody to EGF caused an increase in acinar formation in RWPE-1 cells. These results suggest that malignant cells lose the ability to undergo acinar morphogenesis and that the degree of this loss appears to be related to invasive ability, EGF levels and alterations in laminin-specific integrin expression. This model system mimics different steps in prostate carcinogenesis and has applications in the secondary and tertiary prevention of prostate cancer.
IgG and IgG Subclasses in Human Periodontosis (Juvenile Periodontitis): Serum Concentrations

Serum immunoglobulin (Ig) concentrations of IgG and the IgG subclasses (IgGl, IgG2, IgG3, IgG4) in periodontosis (juvenile periodontitis) patients were examined and compared to those of normal nondiseased patients. Ig titers were determined by radial immunodiffusion. The mean serum concentration of IgG, although within the normal range, was significantly greater (P < 0.01) in periodontosis patients compared to nondiseased patients. In contrast, there were no significant differences in serum IgG subclass levels between groups.
Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator-independent Phagosomal Acidification in Macrophages

It was reported recently that the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) is required for acidification of phagosomes in alveolar macrophages (Di, A., Brown, M. E., Deriy, L. V., Li, C., Szeto, F. L., Chen, Y., Huang, P., Tong, J., Naren, A. P., Bindokas, V., Palfrey, H. C., and Nelson, D. J. (2006) Nat. Cell Biol. 8, 933–944). Here we determined whether the CFTR chloride channel is a generalized pathway for chloride entry into phagosomes in macrophages and whether mutations in CFTR could contribute to alveolar macrophage dysfunction. The pH of mature phagolysosomes in macrophages was measured by fluorescence ratio imaging using a zymosan conjugate containing Oregon Green® 488 and tetramethylrhodamine. Acidification of phagolysosomes in J774A.1 macrophages (pH ∼5.1 at 45 min), murine alveolar macrophages (pH ∼5.3), and human alveolar macrophages (pH ∼5.3) was insensitive to CFTR inhibition by the thiazolidinone CFTRinh-172. Acidification of phagolysosomes in alveolar macrophages isolated from mice homozygous for ΔF508-CFTR, the most common mutation in cystic fibrosis, was not different compared with that in alveolar macrophages isolated from wild-type mice. We also measured the kinetics of phagosomal acidification in J774A.1 and murine alveolar macrophages using a zymosan conjugate containing fluorescein and tetramethylrhodamine. Phagosomal acidification began within 3 min of zymosan binding and was complete within ∼15 min of internalization. The rate of phagosomal acidification in J774A.1 cells was not slowed by CFTRinh-172 and was not different in alveolar macrophages from wild-type versus ΔF508-CFTR mice. Our data indicate that phagolysosomal acidification in macrophages is not dependent on CFTR channel activity and do not support a proposed mechanism for cystic fibrosis lung disease involving defective phagosomal acidification and bacterial killing in alveolar macrophages.
Science Librarians Analysis of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: The Work of Dan Shechtman

The 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Dr. Dan Shechtman of the Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, for the discovery of quasicrystals. Quasicrystals represent a class of solids that have characteristics that fall between glassy and crystalline structures and that exhibit symmetries previously thought impossible in crystalline solids. Initially, the identification and classification of quasicrystals was met with skepticism and intense opposition within the scientific community. The resulting scientific debate is well documented in the literature and provides some insight into the struggle Dr. Shechtman endured when presenting his findings. The acceptance of quasicrystals within the scientific community is a testament to the perseverance and dedication of Dr. Shechtman in his pursuit to present findings that went against the accepted theories of crystal structures.
METHODS FOR THE ANALYSIS OF COMPARATIVE DATA IN EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY.

Inferences regarding phylogenetic patterns and constraints on the evolution of characters often can be derived only from comparisons of extant species. If the phylogeny of these species is known, then the mean phenotypes of taxa can be partitioned into heritable phylogenetic effects and nonheritable residual components. Methods are presented for the estimation of phylogeny- wide means of characters, the variance-covariance structure of the components of taxon-specific means, and the mean phenotypes of ancestral taxa. These methods, which are largely an extension of maximum-likelihood techniques used in quantitative genetics, make an efficient use of the data, are unbiased by phylogenetically uninformative contributions to mean phenotypes, and take into account fully the nonindependence of data resulting from evolutionary relationships. Statistical tests are introduced for evaluating the significance of phylogenetic heritability and of correlations between traits, and expressions are given for the standard errors of ancestral mean phenotype estimates. It is argued that the covariance structure of phylogenetic effects provides a description of a macroevolutionary pattern, whereas that for the residual effects, when corrected for sampling error, is more closely related to a microevolutionary pattern.