cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
MO-F-110-03: Reference Dosimetry of New GafChromic XR-QA2 Model for Kilovoltage Imaging Dose Using Ion Chamber and Flat-Bed Document Scanner

Purpose: To study the process of generating dose calibration curve for a new radiochromic film model (GafChromic XR‐QA2) using ion chamber and flat‐bed document scanner. To investigate the effectiveness of both scanning modes (reflection and transmission) for film dosimetry. To investigate the impact of scanning spatial resolution on the uncertainty of dose calibration. Methods: The reference dosimetry system included GafChromic XR‐QA2 (ISP, Wayne, NJ) films designed for low dose measurement of low energy photonbeam, a Farmer‐type ion chamber calibrated for absolute dosimetry for photon energies of 100kVp and 120kVp, and an Epson Expression 10000 flat‐bed document scanner (Epson, Nagano, Japan). A kilovoltage cone‐beam CT system mounted on Elekta linac (Elekta, Crawley, UK) was used to irradiate the films. Film response (pixel value change in reflection scanning mode or optical density change in transmission mode) was correlated to air kerma using ion chamber measurements. Fifteen dose points ranging from 0 to 9cGy were used to generate calibration curves with optimal fitting function selection. Calculation of uncertainty included experimental and curve fitting uncertainties. Several different scanning spatial resolutions were tested to study its impact on the experimental uncertainty of dose calibration curve. Results: Both scanning modes generated repeatable and smooth calibration curves with small curve fitting uncertainty (<2%). Transmission scanning mode provided comparable result with reflection mode despite a semi‐opaque white polyester layer in this model of film. The experimental uncertainty was lower than 4% for doses above 1cGy with 50 dots‐per‐inch (DPI) scanning spatial resolution, but went up to about 7% for 300 DPI spatial resolution in both scanning modes. Conclusions: Dose calibration curves for XR‐QA2 film were successfully generated coupling with uncertainty analysis. Transmission scanning mode was capable of doing reference dosimetry with this model of film. Low DPI setting of the scanner reduced the experimental uncertainty with sacrifice of spatial resolution.
Simple tutors for hard problems: understanding the role of pseudo-tutors

The construction of cognitive tutors is often focused on tightly constrained domains. This is because the creation of a cognitive tutor is a time-intensive process. Pseudo-tutors allow us to model a small number of problems in a relatively short time. There is no need to program a general cognitive model if we can demonstrate this model by example. The creation of a relatively small set of examples can have real cognitive benefit to the student.The LSAT Analytic Logic Tutor demonstrates that this is possible. This tutor was designed for teaching strategies for solving analytic logic games. Although such a task would be difficult to model in general, three rich problems produced enough of an impact to significantly improve student performance. This is an interesting example where a small suite of well-designed pseudo tutors are significantly more useful than a full cognitive tutor.
Childhood in National Consciousness and National Consciousness in Childhood.

This article examines the place of national imagery and the experience of the nation in childhood. A comparison is drawn between such experiences in Iceland and Kamchatka, Russia. The ways in which...
Biodiversity and Sacred Sites: Vernacular Conservation Practices in Northwest Yunnan, China

Biodiversity conservation strategies around the world have been criticized when the goals of international organizations clash with the needs and traditions of local people. While the characterization of global conservation initiatives as a clash between scientifically-informed environmental policies and indigenous knowledge may retain discursive value in explaining the interaction of contending epistemologies, it is nonetheless an over-simplification of a dynamic, complicated and sometimes opaque and contradictory process. This paper sheds light on some of the conservation programs in southwest China as a case where these seemingly distinct knowledge regimes lie not in stark contrast, but in fact coexist within a localized discourse on biological and cultural diversity. In the example of the sacred site tradition of northwest Yunnan, disparate knowledge regimes have been negotiated and reinterpreted at the local, and even individual level to form dynamic and unique motivations for a conservation ethic. In this negotiation of indigenous and global epistemologies, classic distinctions separating global and local interests prove erroneous, or at the very least, unnecessary.
The Economics and Financing of Long‐Term Care

. Population ageing does not mean unaffordable care costs for the elderly, given economic growth. But current wide variations in financing chronic care in old age need to be reassessed. Major options discussed in the paper are: community care, home equity conversion, and private insurance.
Long Time Behavior of Solutions to the 3D Compressible Euler Equations with Damping

The effect of damping on the large-time behavior of solutions to the Cauchy problem for the three-dimensional compressible Euler equations is studied. It is proved that damping prevents the develop...
Divergent hemispheric reasoning strategies: reducing uncertainty versus resolving inconsistency

Converging lines of evidence from diverse research domains suggest that the left and right hemispheres play distinct, yet complementary, roles in inferential reasoning. Here, we review research on split-brain patients, brain-damaged patients, delusional patients, and healthy individuals that suggests that the left hemisphere tends to create explanations, make inferences, and bridge gaps in information, while the right hemisphere tends to detect conflict, update beliefs, support mental set-shifts, and monitor and inhibit behavior. Based on this evidence, we propose that the left hemisphere specializes in creating hypotheses and representing causality, while the right hemisphere specializes in evaluating hypotheses, and rejecting those that are implausible or inconsistent with other evidence. In sum, we suggest that, in the domain of inferential reasoning, the left hemisphere strives to reduce uncertainty while the right hemisphere strives to resolve inconsistency. The hemispheres’ divergent inferential reasoning strategies may contribute to flexible, complex reasoning in the healthy brain, and disruption in these systems may explain reasoning deficits in the unhealthy brain.
The Philosophy of Animal Magnetism: Together with the System of Manipulating Adapted to Produce Ecstasy and Somnambulism—The Effects and the Rationale by a Gentleman from Philadelphia

You might quickly notice that this book review is a bit different from those published in the past. First, rather than one of the most recent books written related to hypnosis, this book was publis...
INCREASED MORTALITY AND ALTERED IMMUNITY IN NEONATAL SEPSIS PRODUCED BY GENERALIZED PERITONITIS

ABSTRACTNeonates have a higher prevalence of bacterial sepsis and have greater morbidity and mortality from sepsis than other infants and children. Our understanding of the inflammatory and immunological responses to sepsis is hampered by the lack of appropriate neonatal murine models. In the presen
17-Ketosteroid Excretion and Seminal Function1

Aprevious report by members of our group dealt with the correlation of seminal findings and basal metabolic rates in men investigated because of presumed sterility (1). A number of individuals, including some of those previously reported and others since that time, has been investigated with regard to 17-ketosteroid levels and seminal biometric data. The present communication reports these studies. methods A group of 57 males was investigated. All patients underwent medical, urologic and endocrine surveys. All had determinations of basal metabolic rates and roentgenograms of the sella turcica made. Roentgenologic studies of bone age were made when these appeared to be indicated. No therapy was given prior to these studies. The majority of seminal specimens was secured by masturbation after 5 to 7 days of continence. As a rule, studies were initiated within 7 to 12 minutes after the specimen was obtained. The method for seminal evaluation was essentially that of Meaker (2).
Dielectron differential cross section in Au + Au collisions at different beam energies at STAR

Abstract Dielectron invariant mass spectra have been measured at mid-rapidity by the STAR experiment at RHIC in Au + Au collisions at s N N = 19.6 , 39, 62.4, and 200 GeV. The spectra exhibit excess yields for M e e 1.0 GeV / c 2 , when compared to the expected contributions from known hadronic sources. The enhanced production rates can be consistently described by a broadened ρ spectral function. In addition, the elliptic flow, ν 2 , has been measured for dielectron invariant mass M e e 1.1 GeV / c 2 in Au + Au collisions at s N N = 200 GeV .
A new synthetic route to todorokite-type manganese oxides

Abstract Microporous todorokite-type manganese oxides have been synthesized by a new route in which the key Na-birnessite precursor is prepared by oxidation of Mn(OH) 2 with K 2 S 2 O 8 in aqueous NaOH. The reaction is promoted by foreign metal cations such as Mg 2+ , Co 2+ , Ni 2+ , and Cu 2+ , which are incorporated into the manganese oxide layer framework. These same divalent cations are used in a subsequent ion-exchange reaction that converts the Na-birnessite into a related layered material, buserite. Hydrothermal treatment of the buserite ultimately yields Mg-, Co-, Ni-, or Cu-todorokite. The todorokites have been characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, Mn oxidation state determination, scanning electron microscopy, and cyclic voltammetry. The composition of Mg-doped Na-birnessite is Na 0.26 Mg 0.13 MnO 2.04 (H 2 O) 1.26 , with the average Mn oxidation state being 3.55. Mg-todorokite has a composition of Mg 0.33 MnO 2.14 (H 2 O) 0.97 , with a Mn oxidation state of 3.62. A mixed Co/Ni-todorokite has been synthesized to assess the distribution of foreign cation in framework and tunnel sites. For Co-todorokite, 42% of the Co is in the manganese oxide framework and 58% is in the interlayer galleries, which gives the formula Co 0.21 (Co 0.16 Mn)O 2.21 (H 2 O) 0.97 . If the Co percentages are applied to Mg-todorokite, a formula of Mg 0.19 (Mg 0.14 Mn)O 2.14 (H 2 O) 0.97 is obtained. Thermal stability experiments reveal that Mg-todorokite is more robust compared to the other todorokites and remains intact up to 400°C. The Co, Ni, and Cu-todorokites have similar thermal stabilities and their structures collapse at about 300°C. Na-birnessite prepared by the Mn(OH) 2 /K 2 S 2 O 8 route can further be used to generate other birnessite derivatives such as H-birnessite and alkylammonium-birnessites. These derivatives can be synthesized both with and without Mg 2+ , Co 2+ , Ni 2+ , and Cu 2+ as isomorphous framework dopants.
Neuronal adaptation accompanying metamorphosis in the flatfish.

Flatfish provide a natural paradigm to investigate adaptive changes in the central nervous system of vertebrates. During their metamorphosis, the animals undergo a 90° tilt to one side or the other to become the bottom-adapted adult flatfish. The eye on the down side is pushed over to the up side. Thus, vestibular and oculomotor coordinate systems rotate 90° relative to each other. As a result, during swimming movements different types of compensatory eye movements are produced before and after metamorphosis by the same vestibular stimulation. Intracellular staining of central neurons with horseradish peroxidase revealed that in postmetamorphic flatfish second-order horizontal canal neurons contact vertical eye muscle motoneuron pools on both sides of the brain via pathways that are absent in all other vertebrates studied. These unique connections provide the necessary and sufficient connectivity to adapt the flatfish's eye movement system to the animals' postmetamorphic existence. Although the adult fish has a bilaterally asymmetric appearance, the central nervous connectivity reestablishes symmetry in the vestibulooculomotor system.
Mice: Individual Recognition by Olfactory Cues

Mice discriminated between two male mice of the same inbred strain on the basis of olfactory cues. Mice could also discriminate by olfactory cues between two different species, C3H Mus musculus and Peromyscus maniculatus, and between males and females.
Managing Citizen Fears Public Attitudes Toward Urban Terrorism

The authors examine public attitudes toward urban terrorism, focusing on whether emotion or reason is a more important determinant of how people feel. Using the results of a public opinion survey in a large, northeastern city, the authors find that both emotion and reason affect people’s reactions to terrorist attacks. However, this relationship is affected by personal conversation. The more people talk about terrorism, the greater the chance reason rather than fear will dictate reactions. These results have important ramifications for how urban officials deal with homeland security and assuage citizens whose excessive concerns about terrorism have led to costly security expenditures.
A Low Cost Radioiodine Air Sampling System for Nuclear Incidents: Experience at Three Mile Island

An air mover was developed to draw 5 ± .5 ft3 min-1 through a combined HEPA filter and absorber. The air mover can be operated on 110V alternating current or 12V direct current available from standard automotive electrical systems. Air mover cost was a major design consideration. The third (last) prototype was used to estimate production cost of 100 air movers. The overall unit cost for an air mover and a filter-canister assembly was between $157 and $107 in 1978 dollars. A 4% silver loaded silica gel adsorber was developed that would trap organic iodine, hypoiodous acid, and elemental iodine with better than 90% efficiency under severe ambient conditions, for a 5 minute collection cycle. The principal advantage of the 4% silver loaded silica-gel adsorber was low noble gas adsorption efficiency. Xenon adsorption efficiency was less than 5 × 10-3% at 55° C and 4 × 10-2% at 7° C. The last figure is about 200 times better than charcoal at the same temperatures. High photon efficiency G. M. detectors were tested for improved filter-adsorber readout sensitivity. A specially filtered Victoreen 6306 tube provided a sensitivity improvement of more than 10 times the standard CDV 700 probe. The new Victoreen probe was designed to be about a factor of 2 less sensitive to 135Xe than 131I. The standard CDV 700 probe is more sensitive to 135Xe than 131I. Three Mile Island provided an operational test of the air sampling system. The following observations and conclusions are offered: a.
HRP-catalyzed bioactivation of carcinogenic hydroxamic acids. The greater reactivity of glycolyl- versus acetyl-derived hydroxamic acids.

Abstract An analysis of the hydroxamic acid oxidation reaction by H2O2 and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) was made with three pairs of hydroxamic acids. Each pair consisted of the aceto- and glycolhydroxamic acid derivatives from one of three different arylhydroxylamines. The parent arylhydroxylamines were the known carcinogens, N-hydroxy-2-aminofluorene and N-hydroxy-4-aminobiphenyl and the noncarcinogen 4-chlorophenylhydroxylamine. All the hydroxamic acids appeared to be converted to products that were expected on the basis of the previously-proposed mechanism of this peroxidative reaction. Each acetohydroxamic acid gave the corresponding nitroso compound and O-acetyl ester of the starting material in approximately equal amounts. The glycolhydroxamic acids gave the corresponding nitroso compound and a relatively unstable product that was proposed, by analogy, to be the O-glycolyl ester of the starting material. A comparison of the initial rates of reaction of each hydroxamic acid pair showed that the glycolhydroxamic acid was much more susceptible to the peroxidation reaction than was the corresponding acetohydroxamic acid. The initial rate of the reaction was also highly dependent upon the nature of the aromatic ring in the order fluorene > biphenyl > 4-chlorophenyl. The relative degree of HRP-catalyzed covalent binding to DNA of the aceto- and glycolhydroxamic acids in the fluorene series was studied and found to parallel the relative rates of reaction of these substrates in the H2O2/HRP system. It was proposed that glycolhydroxamic acids are likely to be more genotoxic than are acetohydroxamic acids when subjected to peroxidative bioactivation conditions.
Women Ministers in Latin American Government: When, Where, and Why?

We examine factors that affect the supply of and demand for female cabinet ministers in Latin America and seek to understand the frequency with which women join cabinets and the types of portfolios women receive. Our analysis covers 18 Latin American democracies from 1980 to 2003. We find that presidents from parties of the left appoint more women. Increases in the percentage of women in the legislature and higher human development correlate with more women in the cabinet. Intense partisan competition increases the likelihood that a cabinet will contain a woman. Women are more likely to receive high-prestige cabinet posts from leftist presidents and when the percentage of women in the legislature increases. In addition, an international diffusion effect appears to explain the rapid expansion of women in Latin American cabinets.
Prediction of signaling networks by information propagation on protein-protein interaction networks integrated with GO annotations

The experimental study of signal transduction over a decade has made a substantial contribution to understanding functional mechanisms in a cell. A signaling pathway represents a linear path of a signaling cascade involving a series of proteins. As an advanced model, multiple linear pathways with extensive cross-talk between receptors can be merged into a larger-scale signaling network. We present an efficient computational approach to predict signaling networks by integration of genome-wide protein-protein interaction (PPI) data and ontological annotation data. We adopt an advanced semantic similarity metric for weighting PPIs, and an information propagation algorithm that runs on a weighted PPI network. This algorithm iteratively selects potential directed edges for signaling cascade using user-specified path strength parameters. Our approach also includes a preprocessing step to filter the large-scale PPI network by distance condition using the maximum path length parameter. Our experimental results show that the proposed approach runs extremely faster than existing computational methods and has competitive accuracy in the test of predicting well-studied pathways of S. cerevisiae and C. elegans. High efficiency of this approach would facilitate development of a web-based application tool to discover potential signaling networks.
Prevention of osteoporotic fractures: possibilities, the role of exercise, and limitations

The Compression of Morbidity paradigm seeks to reduce lifetime illness and morbidity by compressing the dominant morbidity, that of the senior years, between an increasing age of onset of morbidity and a more slowly increasing average age at death. Fractures, often associated with osteoporosis, cause a substantial part of this morbidity. For morbidity resulting from fractures to be reduced, the age-specific incidence of fractures needs to decline, since treatment of fractures after they occur is not likely to prove a major benefit. Thus, the risk factors need to be identified and appropriate preventive interventions undertaken. The medical model seeks to diagnose, then to treat those with disease. In considering prevention, many apply the medical model. The disease is "osteoporosis", we must identify people with this disease and then treat them. The public health model, in contrast, seeks to prevent "disease" in all susceptibles. The disease is "morbidity resulting from fractures". The fatal flaws in the medical screening approach will be discussed, together with a lament that this conference was not entitled: "Recent Progress in the Prevention of Morbidity Associated with Fractures". Osteoporosis is only one of many factors associated with increased morbidity resulting from fractures. A fracture management model for reduction in this morbidity will be presented. Osteoporosis finds its genesis in many well-identified risk factors, including age, sex, estrogen levels, and exercise levels, together with positive (e.g. calcium, estrogen) and negative (corticosteroids) effects of medications. Falls, the other main branch of the model, find their genesis is such risk factor as slippery floors, medication side effects, and co-morbid conditions, often with their own antecedent risk factors. Together, over twenty preventable risk factors contribute to the major morbidity associated with fractures.
What Rationality Assumption? Or, How ‘Positive Political Theory’ Rests on a Mistake

In this article I address the reception of game-theoretic methods in political science. In particular I challenge the notion that such methods afford a plausible basis for what is commonly called ‘positive political theory’ (PPT). The standard rationale for PPT suggests that the point of formal models is, starting from ‘the’ rationality assumption, to derive predictions that can then be tested empirically. I argue that this standard rationale is hopelessly confused. The confusion stems from the assumption that game-theoretic models are empirically testable in some direct sense. This view is far from unanimously accepted among game theorists outside political science. I argue instead that game-theoretic models are best understood as tools for exploring the operation and limits of one set of basic causal mechanisms. I show how this works in practice and on that basis reassert the value of formal models in political science.
Free as in Regulated: Television Copy Protection, Cultural Enclosure, and the Myth of User Sovereignty

Following Foucault’s demystification of liberal rights, this article complicates narratives of cultural enclosure in intellectual-property regulation, and especially their central figure of a right-fully sovereign user constrained by copy protection. First, it problematizes the freedom imagined for the user, as a specific and ambivalent orientation to contemporary cultural transformation. Second, in a reading of the Federal Communication Commission’s proceedings on “broadcast flag” protection for digital television, it reconsiders apparent constraint as productive rather than simply repressive regulation, which goes to constructively map uses and users in new domains of digital media.
Focused Interactive Learning: A Tool for Active Class Discussion:

Focused Interactive Learning (FIL) is a tool for teaching psychological concepts through student participation in a focused discussion with other class members. Students from 5 upper and lower level psychology courses participated in FIL exercises in which they answered several multiple-choice or opinion questions on their own and then systematically discussed each item for about 2 min with other students before giving a final answer. FIL increased student test performance, helped them get to know other students in the class, and had a small effect on students' self-reported participation and interest in psychology.
Influence of Cycloheximide on the Synthesis and Utilization of Amino Acids in Suspension Cultures

Cells from 4-days old suspension cultures of Paul's Scarlet rose were incubated with acetate-U-(14)C for 10 minutes. After washing, cells were incubated for 2 hours in growth medium in the presence and absence of cycloheximide. The (14)C content of individual amino acids in the soluble form and in protein were determined at the end of the 10 minute pulse and at intervals thereafter in control cells and those treated with cycloheximide. During the period following the pulse there was a 3-fold increase in the (14)C content of protein in control cells; no such increase occurred in the presence of cycloheximide.In the control cells there was a net increase in the (14)C content of eight individual amino acids during this period. For six of these, the corresponding increases in the presence of cycloheximide were curtailed by the following amounts: arginine 98%, lysine 94%, isoleucine 93%, threonine 82%, valine 49%, and proline 36%. This is interpreted to mean that the synthesis of each of these amino acids was slowed down when their incorporation into protein was prevented.
Halophila ovalis in the Tropical Atlantic Ocean

A species of seagrass in the genus Halophila was found growing in a shallow lagoon on the west shore of Antigua in the Caribbean West Indies. Genetic analysis showed the plants were Halophila ovalis .I n addition, the samples had no genetic deviation (using nrDNA sequences) from Halophila johnsonii, considered to be an endemic and endangered species in Florida, USA. Morphological analysis demonstrated the Antiguan Halophila to be well within the range of plant characteristics previously described in the literature for H. ovalis, except for leaf width and number of seeds per fruit, and again, not different from H. johnsonii and very closely related to H. ovalis from the Indo-Pacific. Ours is the first report of H. ovalis in the Tropical Atlantic bioregion. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Locomotor energetics and leg length in hominid bipedality.

Because bipedality is the quintessential characteristic of Hominidae, researchers have compared ancient forms of bipedality with modern human gait since the first clear evidence of bipedal australopithecines was unearthed over 70 years ago. Several researchers have suggested that the australopithecine form of bipedality was transitional between the quadrupedality of the African apes and modern human bipedality and, consequently, inefficient. Other researchers have maintained that australopithecine bipedality was identical to that of Homo. But is it reasonable to require that all forms of hominid bipedality must be the same in order to be optimized? Most attempts to evaluate the locomotor effectiveness of the australopithecines have, unfortunately, assumed that the locomotor anatomy of modern humans is the exemplar of consummate bipedality. Modern human anatomy is, however, the product of selective pressures present in the particular milieu in whichHomo arose and it is not necessarily the only, or even the most efficient, bipedal solution possible. In this report, we investigate the locomotion of Australopithecus afarensis, as represented by AL 288-1, using standard mechanical analyses. The osteological anatomy of AL 288-1 and movement profiles derived from modern humans are applied to a dynamic model of a biped, which predicts the mechanical power required by AL 288-1 to walk at various velocities. This same procedure is used with the anatomy of a composite modern woman and a comparison made. We find that AL 288-1 expends less energy than the composite woman when locomoting at walking speeds. This energetic advantage comes, however, at a price: the preferred transition speed (from a walk to a run) of AL 288-1 was lower than that of the composite woman. Consequently, the maximum daily range of AL 288-1 may well have been substantially smaller than that of modern people. The locomotor anatomy of A. afarensis may have been optimized for a particular ecological niche—slow speed foraging—and is neither compromised nor transitional.
Training adolescents with severe handicaps to set up job tasks independently using picture prompts

Abstract Three adolescents functioning within the moderate to severe range of mental retardation were taught to use picture prompts to guide their performance on two vocational sequencing tasks. Evaluation of the effects of picture prompts was conducted within a multiple baseline (across subjects and tasks) with reversal design. Baseline was conducted on two tasks, valve assembly with 18 parts, and packaging with 20 parts. During baseline, students were to sequence a specified number of each part across three work stations. Following baseline, students were taught to use picture prompts to guide their performance on one of the tasks. All students completed the training task with at least 96% accuracy with the picture prompts, and generalized their performance with equal accuracy to the untrained task. When picture prompts were removed (reversal to baseline), the performance of all students decreased substantially, indicating that the pictures were controlling their performance. When the pictures were again available to guide behavior, the performance of all three adolescents returned to posttraining levels of accuracy.
Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of complementary solutions and characterizations of the matrix classes Q and Q Q

We simplify a result by Mangasarian on the existence of solutions to the linear complementarity problem. The simplified condition gives a new geometric interpretation of the result. When used to characterize the matrix classesQ andQ0, our condition suggests a finitely checkable sufficient condition forP andP0.
Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center high school initiative in computational science: report on findings (school years: 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94)

The purpose of the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center's High School Initiative was to motivate students to pursue careers in science, mathematics, engineering and computer science. The initiative generated excitement among teachers and their students by providing them with the opportunity to work on a project of their choosing using the world's fastest supercomputer — the same machine used by leading researchers working on today's most challenging scientific problems. The program gave teachers the means and support to institutionalize their computational science project into the curriculum so that the impact of the program would continue from year to year with each new class of students.
Bacteriologic studies of periodontal pockets ten minutes after curettage.

IN A PREVIOUS STUDY 1 samples of supra and subgingival microbial populations taken from mylar strips on subjects with treated periodontal pockets revealed that vibrios and fusobacteria were statistically more abundant over a period of 2 to 49 days in subgingival areas. In addition, a complex flora was established as early as two days in both supra and subgingival areas. The present study is an effort to characterize the very early stages of plaque accumulation by examining those microorganisms which attach to mylar strips subgingivally after ten minutes.
Disjunctive ordering in inflectional morphology

At a minimum, the discussion above ought to have the effect of convincing the reader that the facts of natural language morphologies are as predicted by a theory of disjunctive organization based on principles (3) and (4) proposed in the introduction. In some cases, such a theory allows us to bring much more coherence to our account of the facts than seems possible on a more traditional, morpheme-based account, as with the analysis of Georgian -t in section 1. In others, superficial counterexamples to the theory, such as those examined in section 2, turn out on closer examination to be consistent with it after all, as shown in section 3. More important than the demonstration that particular examples can be given analyses (often ones that are superior to those otherwise available) within this theory, however, is another consideration. In each case above, the theory of disjunctive ordering itself suggested problems and lines of research that might not otherwise have been apparent, and which proved interesting and useful to investigate. It is thus not only a candidate for part of the theory of morphological structure, but also a productive research strategy for the investigation of such systems. Based as it is on the construal of morphology as a system of interacting rules expressing relations between forms, rather than as an inventory of unitary and meaningful ‘morphemes’, it supports the general utility of this larger view.
Effect of compressed CO2 on phase transitions and polymorphism in syndiotactic polystyrene

When treated with compressed CO2, syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS) undergoes a number of solid−solid transitions that do not occur on treatment with liquid solvents. For example, planar mesophase → β, α → β, and γ → β transitions can be brought about under appropriate conditions of temperature and CO2 pressure. In addition, the transitions of glassy sPS to the planar mesomorphic and to the α form, and the γ → α transition occur at temperatures lower than when the same transitions are effected under ambient pressure. The dissolved CO2 lowers the glass transition and the cold crystallization temperatures of sPS at the rate of −0.92 and −0.58 °C/atm, respectively. Crystallization kinetics from the sPS−CO2 solution follow the Avrami equation, but the value of the exponent n is lower than when crystallization is conducted under ambient pressure.
The Current and Future Status of Biomarkers in Osteoarthritis

In this issue of The Journal , Aslam and colleagues1 examined blood and urine biomarker levels and their association with a variety of hand osteoarthritis (OA) phenotypes. They report that serum levels of hyaluronic acid (HA) and COMP (cartilage oligomeric matrix protein) were associated with the presence of hand OA. While among the first to study hand OA, this study is one of many reporting a positive association of these 2 serum biomarkers with the presence of OA. COMP is a constituent of hyaline articular cartilage and, with damage to cartilage, is released from cartilage into synovial fluid and hence into the circulation. Serum HA is a macromolecular glycosaminoglycan found throughout many soft tissues in the body. In arthritis, levels of HA are thought to be related to synovitis, although this relationship has been demonstrated in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and not specifically in OA2. While some studies evaluating the relationship of these biomarkers to the presence or severity of OA have been negative, most have shown a positive association3,4. The study by Aslam, et al 1 constitutes one of an increasing number of articles on systemic markers of joint metabolism and their relationship with OA. The goal of this editorial is to ask what insights these studies have provided into the biology and diagnosis of OA and the likely future value of biomarker studies for the clinical care of patients with OA. As part of a US National Institutes of Health effort to make sense of the burgeoning literature on biomarkers in OA, Bauer et al 5 provided a framework to categorize biomarker studies into an easily remembered BIPED classification (Burden of disease, Investigative, Prognostic, Efficacy and Diagnostic; see Table 1). Van Spil and colleagues4, in a systematic review of biomarker … Address correspondence to Dr. Felson, Boston University School of Medicine, A203, 715 Albany St., Boston, Massachusetts 02118, USA. E-mail: dfelson{at}bu.edu
A positive association between oviposition and fruit set: female choice or manipulation?

The relationship between where a female chooses to oviposit and her larvae’s performance at those sites is critical to both the ecology and evolution of plant-insect interactions. For predispersal seed predators that do not themselves pollinate their host and whose larvae are sessile, females must be able to predict which flowers will ultimately be pollinated and set fruit, or be able to manipulate flowers in some way to ensure they set fruit. Otherwise, their offspring will perish. Here we describe the results of an experiment in which we tested if female Hylemya (Diptera: Anthomyiidae) are choosing oviposition sites wisely, or if they are manipulating flowers of their host, Ipomopsis aggregata (Polemoniaceae), in some way to ensure fruit set. Previous work in this system established a positive correlation between oviposition and fruit set. By bagging females on flowers, we removed their ability to choose flowers on which to oviposit. We found that flowers females oviposited on, whether bagged (”no choice”) or unbagged (”female choice”), had a significantly higher probability of setting fruit than ”control” flowers that we bagged but did not cage females on. In addition, we tested if Hylemya prefer particular architectural locations of flowers and if those locations correspond with higher than average fruit set. Although flowers at the distal end of the plant, and those most proximal to the main stem, were more likely to set fruit overall, Hylemya was no more likely to oviposit on those flowers than others on the plant. Taken together, our results suggest that Hylemya is somehow able to manipulate its host to ensure fruit set and thus the provisioning of their larvae.
Enhancing the usability and performance of structured association mapping algorithms using automation, parallelization, and visualization in the GenAMap software system

Structured association mapping is proving to be a powerful strategy to find genetic polymorphisms associated with disease. However, these algorithms are often distributed as command line implementations that require expertise and effort to customize and put into practice. Because of the difficulty required to use these cutting-edge techniques, geneticists often revert to simpler, less powerful methods.
Dissolution behavior of commercial enteric‐coated aspirin tablets

Dissolution behavior was studied for four commercial batches of enteric-coated aspirin tablets from two companies. The USP XIX dissolution procedure was modified by including pretreatment in simulated gastric juice. The effects of five pretreatment times were studied. Pretreated tablets yielded higher dissolution profiles and fewer undissolved fractions than nonpretreated tablets. Among pretreatments, 15 min was adequate and 60 min produced the highest dissolution profiles. None of the pretreatments differed significantly from each other. An F test conducted on the data indicated that Product × was significantly better than Product Y at the p = 0.05 level. Batch C was ranked as the best batch irrespective of pretreatment time, followed by Batch D. Batches A and B were equal, although Batch A appeared to be better than B for the (60-min pretreatment, as indicated by the lower t80% value.
Personality traits are expressed in Bullfrog tadpoles during open-field trials

Abstract Variation in personality traits is observed commonly in many taxa but has been rarely studied in amphibians. We tested whether individual Bullfrog tadpoles exhibit personality, behaving consistently across multiple trials, and differently from conspecifics. From video footage of individual tadpoles in a familiar (home) environment and a novel environment (open field), we obtained measures of their level of activity, boldness, and exploration behavior over multiple trials. We found that activity level did not differ consistently between individuals. Boldness was moderately repeatable and exploration highly repeatable within individuals across trials, but only exploration varied significantly among individuals. These findings provide evidence of typical personality traits in tadpoles and support the value of Bullfrog tadpoles as model organisms in personality research.
Microscale-modulated porous coatings: fabrication and pool-boiling heat transfer performance

The manufacture of microscale-modulated coatings (periodic, porous stacks with a thin base layer) under mass-production conditions was investigated experimentally to establish robust process parameters. Copper powders (average diameter of 100 µm) were compacted on a copper substrate under controlled pressure, temperature, surface geometry and processing sequences (e.g., sintering before and after compaction). Porosity, stack height, pitch and base thickness of coatings were measured. Results show that a minimum temperature of 350 °C and pressure of 25 MPa are required for permeable coatings, when sintering is carried out after compaction. When 'sintering before compaction' is followed, pressure values in excess of 100 MPa are needed and surfaces from this approach block the pores and diminish permeability. Pool boiling heat transfer experiments were conducted on selected coatings, showing that the best enhancement is by low-pressure compation coatings.
Counter-regulatory anti-parasite cytokine responses during concurrent Plasmodium yoelii and intestinal helminth infections in mice

Malaria and helminth infections are two of the most prevalent parasitic diseases globally. While concomitant infection is common, mechanisms contributing to altered disease outcomes during co-infection remain poorly defined. We have previously reported exacerbation of normally non-lethal Plasmodium yoelii malaria in BALB/c mice chronically infected with the intestinal trematode Echinostoma caproni. The goal of the present studies was to determine the effect of helminth infection on IFN-gamma and other key cytokines during malaria co-infection in the P. yoelii-E. caproni and P. yoelii-Heligmosomoides polygyrus model systems. Polyclonally stimulated spleen cells from both E. caproni- and H. polygyrus-infected mice produced significantly lower amounts of IFN-gamma during P. yoelii co-infection than malaria-only infected mice. Furthermore, the magnitude of IFN-gamma suppression was correlated with the relative amounts of IL-4 induced by these helminths (E. caproni=low; H. polygyrus=high), but not IL-10. Concurrent malaria infection also suppressed helminth-associated IL-4 responses, indicating that immunologic counter-regulation occurs during co-infection with malaria and intestinal helminths.
“Hairy” Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Prepared by Atom Transfer Radical Polymerization

"Hairy nano-objects" are hybrid nanostructures comprising a core surrounded by a "hairlike" corona of flexible polymer chains, the role of which is typically to improve the solubility of the core material or to improve its dispersability and adhesion in other polymer matrices. Both aspects could be particularly useful with carbon nanotubes, especially in their applications as reinforcing agents. The controlled synthesis of hairy carbon nanotubes is accomplished by chemical modification with 2-bromopropionate followed by extension with poly(n-butyl acrylate) through atom transfer radical polymerization. The obtained hairy nanotubes are visualized at nearly molecular resolution with tapping-mode atomic force microscopy, providing insight into the uniformity of grafted chain lengths and grafting density. The grafting densities vary from approximately 1.0-10.0 chains nm(-1) along the nanotubes. Such a wide range of grafting density may indicate some chemical heterogeneity along and between the nanotubes; it may be also an indication of the challenges associated with carrying out chemical modification of nano-objects having high tendency to aggregate.
A speech theory of human communication: Implications and applications

(1982). A speech theory of human communication: Implications and applications. Journal of Applied Communication Research: Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 1-8.
Twin pregnancy, contrary to consensus, is a desirable outcome in infertility

Objective To determine whether the worldwide consensus that twin pregnancy after fertility treatment represents an adverse outcome to be avoided is correct. Design Literature search via PubMed and MEDLINE, going back to 1990. Setting Academically affiliated private fertility center. Patient(s) Mothers and offspring in singleton and twin pregnancies. Intervention(s) None. Main Outcome Measure(s) Maternal and perinatal/neonatal risks as well as cost considerations for singleton versus twin pregnancies. Result(s) Most risk assessments of twin pregnancies after fertility treatment have used spontaneous conceptions data, which reflect different treatment paradigms and outcome benefits from pregnancies after fertility treatments. In vitro fertilization (IVF) twins demonstrate approximately 40% lower outcome risks than spontaneous twin conceptions. Most risk assessments in the literature are calculated with pregnancy as the primary outcome, but in a fertility-treatment paradigm where patients want more than one child the statistically correct risk assessment should refer to born children as the primary reference. If published data are corrected accordingly to achieve statistical commonality of outcome (i.e., one child in singleton versus two children in twins), twin pregnancies no longer demonstrate a significantly increased risk profile and/or cost for mothers or individual offspring. Conclusion(s) For infertile patients who want more than one child, twin deliveries represent a favorable and cost-effective treatment outcome that should be encouraged, in contrast to the current medical consensus.
The unconscious feeling of knowing: a commentary on Koriat's paper.

In Koriat's paper "The Feeling of Knowing: Some Metatheoretical Implications for Consciousness and Control," he asserts that the feeling of knowing straddles the implicit and explicit, and that these conscious feelings enter into a conscious control process that is necessary for controlled behavior. This assertion allows him to make many speculations on the nature of consciousness itself. We agree that feelings of knowing are produced through a monitoring of one's knowledge, and that this monitoring can affect the control of behavior such as whether or not to search memory for an answer. Further, we believe that monitoring of performance with a strategy can also affect cognition control and strategy selection; however, we also believe that frequently this monitoring and control occurs without conscious awareness. Feeling of knowing has received an inordinate amount of attention because it lies behind the highly recognizable tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon that represents one of the rare cases of conscious monitoring. There are other feelings of knowing which are much more common and are not accompanied by conscious awareness. These are evident in the early selection of a strategy for answering a problem. In our view, the research on feeling of knowing will not resolve the question of whether consciousness is merely epiphenomenal.
The rise and fall of the committee on mathematical tables and other aids to computation

The National Research Council's Committee on the Bibliography of Mathematical Tables and Other Aids to Computation (MTAC) was the first professional organization in the US. It held the first public conference on computers in 1945 and published the first journal of record for computing. It was chaired by R.C. Archibald, who held strong views about the nature of professional organizations, views that often conflicted with the visions of others.
Continuum theory for lumping nonlinear reactions

A lumping procedure is proposed for continuous reaction mixtures whose components undergo nonlinear reactions. A species-type distribution function is introduced to ensure that the lumped continuous mixture is kinetically consistent with the underlying lumped discrete mixture. It is shown that, if the mixture contains some virtually unreactive species, the lump after a long time will react at a second-order rate. This is true as long as the underlying unlumped reactions are irreversible nth-order with n < 2 or reversible first order. When many first-order reversible reactions are lumped together, the apparent behavior of the lump can qualitatively look like that of a reversible reaction. Practical implications of these predictions are discussed. Some published data are reconciled in light of the present theoretical development.
A contextual perspective of clinical judgement in couples and family therapy: is the bridge too far?

This paper reviews the clinical judgement literature and discusses its applicability to the practice of couples and family therapy. Key findings and conceptual foundations are highlighted. A contextual perspective is advocated to guide future investigations and to enhance the generalizability of the literature to the real-life experiences of therapists. Suggestions for theory development and future research are provided.