cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis (ADEM) and Increased Intracranial Pressure Associated With Anti–Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Antibodies

Abstract Background Antibodies to the myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) have been identified in about 40% of children with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). The objective of this report is to describe three individuals with fulminant ADEM complicated by increased intracranial pressure associated with the presence of the anti-MOG antibodies. Methods This is a retrospective case series. Informed consent was obtained from the concerned patients or caregivers. Results High intracranial pressure associated with ADEM in the presence of MOG antibodies can result in cerebral edema, herniation, prolonged hospital stay (average intensive care unit stay: 22 days, average hospital stay: 50.6 days), and long-term disability. Conclusion Increased intracranial pressure complicating MOG antibody—related ADEM is a unique finding in our cases. This can complicate the clinical picture of ADEM and confers high morbidity. Long-term immunosuppression is warranted in selected cases with persistent seropositivity.
The Perceived Effect of HIV/AIDS on Other Identities

The onset of a chronic disease influences other roles or identities. For example, an HIV or AIDS diagnosis can affect a person’s work identity (Bedell, 1997). In this article, we explored how living with HIV/AIDS shapes other identities. Thirty-six individuals living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) participated in semi-structured interviews. Participants’ work, sexuality / intimacy, spirituality, advocate, self-esteem, addict/recovering addict and parent identities changed after being diagnosed with HIV or AIDS. In general, respondents’ advocate and recovering addict identities emerged and gained salience after being diagnosed with HIV or AIDS. Further research on how HIV/AIDS affects identities and their salience is warranted especially for lower income individuals with a history of chemical dependency. Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Identities, Roles, Identity Theory, Basic Qualitative Study Once considered a death sentence, HIV or AIDS is now considered a chronic illness
Analysis of Classification Methods for Identifying Stands for Commercial Thinning Using LiDAR

Commercial thinning (CT) is an important tool that meets a diverse set of forest management objectives, including the generation of intermediate revenue, promotion of regeneration tree growth, and ...
Cognitus Interruptus: The Courts and Minors' Access to Contraceptives

In his opinion in Gillick v. West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority, l Lord Scarman of the English2 House of Lords remarked that "women have obtained by the availability of the pill a choice of lifestyle with a degree of independence and of opportunity undreamed of until this generation . . . ."3 He went on to caution wisely that the "law ignores these developments at its peril . . . ."4 While this is indeed enlightened prose, courts in both the United Kingdom and the United States have been far less rational when faced with the
Spatial reasoning mechanism to enable automated adaptive trajectory planning in ground penetrating radar survey

Abstract Lack of accurate and complete utility records is a root cause of utility strikes that occur on average once every minute in the United States, leading to hundreds of deaths and billions of dollars in financial losses. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has emerged as a promising tool to detect, locate, and measure underground pipes. Many algorithms have been devised to process GPR scans to determine pipe location and burying depth. Their accuracy depends on the relative angles between the GPR survey trajectory and the buried pipes. Perpendicular-to-pipe scanning yields the highest detectability, and along-pipe scanning yields the highest planimetric and depth accuracy. However, the challenge in practice is to maintain such ideal angles while not knowing the exact orientation of the pipes. This paper devises a novel spatial reasoning mechanism to enable the automation of GPR survey trajectory planning and adjustment based on ill-shaped and incomplete GPR signatures to achieve ideal angles in real time. The spatial reasoning mechanism provides trajectory adjustment suggestions based on the connection between the GPR signatures extracted from GPR scans and the relative angles between the GPR trajectory and underground pipes. The adjustment process continues until the GPR signatures from synthetic data under ideal angles and from field survey converge, and further adjustment no longer improves the results. Both indoor and field experiments have been conducted for validation. The results show that the newly developed method is capable of guiding the adjustment process in real time to achieve ideal angles and collect high-quality GPR data, leading to a more accurate estimation of pipe locations and burying depths. It has the great potential to support the operation of robotic unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS) to fully automate the GPR field survey.
Acute aortoiliac and infrainguinal arterial thrombotic events in four patients diagnosed with the novel coronavirus 2019.

Abstract The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is seriously challenging the healthcare system globally. Endothelial damage and increased coagulation activity have been reported in some patients with COVID-19, resulting in a variety of thrombotic events. We report the cases of four patients with various severities of COVID-19 who had presented with acute arterial thrombosis. Although these are rare events, they carry high morbidity and mortality and require prompt diagnosis and treatment. These cases highlight the major life- and limb-threatening clinical sequelae of COVID-19 that frontline medical providers must be aware can occur even in the absence of previous cardiovascular disease.
Hyperglycemia exacerbates ischemic stroke outcome independent of platelet glucose uptake.

OBJECTIVE Hyperglycemia is a common comorbidity for ischemic stroke and is associated with worsened neurological outcomes. Platelets are central mediators of ischemic stroke and hyperglycemia mediates platelet hyperactivity. In this study, we investigated the contribution of platelet glucose metabolism to ischemic stroke. METHODS Mice lacking both Glut1 and Glut3 specifically in platelets (DKO) and their littermate controls (WT) were subjected to 1-hour transient middle cerebral artery occlusion under normoglycemic and streptozotocin-induced hyperglycemic conditions after which stroke outcomes, platelet activation, and platelet-neutrophil aggregate (PNA) formation were examined. RESULTS Under normoglycemic conditions, DKO mice were protected from ischemic stroke with smaller brain infarct volumes and improved cerebral blood flow. In addition, DKO mice had reduced platelet activation, PNA, and cerebral neutrophil recruitment after stroke. Hyperglycemia significantly increased infarct size and cerebral Evans blue extravasation and worsened neurological outcomes and cerebral blood flow in both WT and DKO mice, abolishing the protective effect witnessed under normoglycemic conditions. Flow cytometric analysis after stroke demonstrated increased platelet activation and neutrophil trafficking to the brain, independent of platelet glucose metabolism. Finally, platelets from healthy DKO mice were unable to become procoagulant upon dual agonist stimulation. Conversely, hyperglycemia increased platelet mitochondrial reactive oxygen species production which potentiated procoagulant platelet formation in WT mice and restored procoagulant platelet formation in DKO mice. CONCLUSION Hyperglycemia aggravates ischemic stroke outcome independent of platelet glucose uptake. Furthermore, we demonstrated that hyperglycemia primes procoagulant platelet formation. This underlines the therapeutic potential for strategies targeting procoagulant platelet formation for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke.
High-throughput screening to discover inhibitors of the CarD·RNA polymerase protein–protein interaction in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) accounts for 3.7% of new cases of TB annually worldwide and is a major threat to global public health. Due to the prevalence of the MDR-TB and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) cases, there is an urgent need for new drugs with novel mechanisms of action. CarD, a global transcription regulator in MTB, binds RNAP and activates transcription by stabilizing the transcription initiation open-promoter complex (RPo). CarD is required for MTB viability and it has highly conserved homologues in many eubacteria. A fluorescence polarization (FP) assay which monitors the association of MTB RNAP, native rRNA promoter DNA and CarD has been developed. Overall, our objective is to identify and characterize small molecule inhibitors which block the CarD/RNAP interaction and to understand the mechanisms by which CarD interacts with the molecules. We expect that the development of a new and improved anti-TB compound with a novel mechanism of action will relieve the burden of resistance. This CarD FP assay is amenable to HTS and is an enabling tool for future novel therapeutic discovery.
Hypercalcaemia, Renal Dysfunction, Anaemia, Bone Disease (CRAB Criteria): A Case of Lymphoma.

Calcium elevation, Renal dysfunction, Anaemia and Bone disease (CRAB criteria) are usually seen in multiple myeloma (MM). We report a unique case of lymphoma with all the features of CRAB criteria. We describe a 59-year-old patient who presented with confusion, severe back pain, fatigue and constipation and was found to have hypercalcaemia, kidney dysfunction, anaemia and multiple osteolytic lesions. Physical examination and imaging did not reveal any enlarged lymph nodes. Work-up for MM (serum protein electrophoresis, serum immunofixation, bone marrow biopsy) was negative. The patient was diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma based on a pelvic mass biopsy. Hence, our case report suggests that CRAB criteria are not pathognomonic of MM and that in the appropriate clinical scenario, lymphoma is a possible diagnosis. Learning points The CRAB criteria consist of end-organ damage with hypercalcaemia, renal dysfunction, anaemia and bone involvement.The CRAB criteria are not pathognomonic of multiple myeloma, and in the appropriate clinical scenario, lymphoma is a possible diagnosis.Major mechanisms by which hypercalcaemia of malignancy can occur are tumour secretion of parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP), osteolytic metastases with local release of cytokines, or tumour production of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D (calcitriol).
Creating Tunable Collagen Matrices – An Approach Inspired by In Vivo Collagen Synthesis and Self-Assembly

The tunability of collagen at a fibrillar and molecular level, along with its proteolytic degradability, can offer a great potential to create multifunctional soft tissue grafts capable of spatiotemporal molecular delivery. However, conventional collagen implants with minimal or no crosslinking provide little control over tunability without having exogenously cross-linked and/or chemically treated. Without these modifications, conventional collagen formulations degrade rapidly, without allowing for the host tissue to deposit its own ECM (Liang HC, Chang Y, Hsu CK, Lee MH, Sung HW, Biomaterials 25:3541–3552, 2004). Therefore, there is a need to regulate collagen microstructure as well as the degradation (Perez-Puyana V, Romero A, Guerrero A, J Biomed Mater Res Part A 104:1462–1468, 2016) in a way that preserves collagen properties and provides desired molecular release kinetics. When designing a drug delivery system, it is important to quantify molecular release kinetics, analyze the empirical model of molecular release, and elucidate the mechanisms involved in the release process (Siegel RA, Rathbone MJ, Fundamentals and applications of controlled release drug delivery. Springer US, Boston, 2012).
Subtherapeutic posaconazole prophylaxis in a gastric bypass patient following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

PURPOSE: A case of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) with subtherapeutic posaconazole prophylaxis in a gastric bypass patient following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is reported. SUMMARY: A 52-year-old malnourished male with a medical history of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for obesity developed acute myelogenous leukemia and underwent allogeneic HSCT approximately 17 months later. He was admitted 1 month after HSCT for failure to thrive and initiated on parenteral nutrition due to worsening diarrhea and suspected gastrointestinal graft-versus-host disease (GI GVHD). During admission, the patient was continued on daily oral posaconazole for antifungal prophylaxis and was found to have subtherapeutic posaconazole and deficient vitamin levels, likely secondary to his gastrojejunostomy and increased gastric transit time. The oral posaconazole was altered to twice-daily dosing in an effort to increase serum drug levels and prevent IFIs. CONCLUSION: Patients with a history of gastric bypass are at increased risk for malabsorption of oral posaconazole and nutrients, especially following HSCT with suspected GI GVHD.
Concurrent Morgagni and Bochdalek congenital diaphragmatic hernias with omphalocele

Abstract Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is a well-documented developmental abnormality in the formation of the diaphragm, resulting in herniation of bowel into the thorax causing pulmonary hypoplasia. CDH has been associated with many genetic syndromes and other anatomic anomalies including craniofacial, cardiac, skeletal, brain, ocular, renal, and abdominal wall defects. Despite this, co-occurrence of CDH and omphalocele is rare and only identified within 0.63% of neonates with CDH. Most congenital diaphragmatic hernias are located posterolateral (Bochdalek hernias) or anterior retrosternal or parasternal (Morgagni hernias); bilateral diaphragmatic hernias are rare. We describe the first documented case of concurrent Bochdalek and Morgagni hernias with an omphalocele and no other associated anatomic anomalies.
Imagination, expectation, and “thoughts entangled in metaphors”

George Eliot strikingly describes one of her characters as making a mistake because he has gotten his thoughts “entangled in metaphors,” saying that we all do the same. I argue that Eliot is here giving us more than an illuminating description, but drawing our attention to a distinctive kind of mistake—a form of irrationality, in fact—of which metaphor can be an ineliminable part of the correct explanation. Her fictional case helps illuminate both a neglected function of the imagination, and a pervasive way in which metaphor can affect it. The function is the creation and maintenance of what I call imaginative expectations, which are relatively stable imaginative representations of future events or experiences, analogous to latent memories. These imaginative expectations have a distinctive causal profile and distinct ways of interacting with other mental activities. I argue that their formation is subject to at least two norms—a “source” norm and an “experience” norm—and show how metaphorical framing can give rise to violations of either.
Political Identities, Emotions, and Relationships

Political identities tie us to families, friends, generations, and educational groups. In this chapter we will discuss the powerful emotions that arise when strongly held political identities come into conflict. In America, many recent Thanksgiving dinners dissolve into chaos when Trump supporters and Trump opponents insist on airing their views—often loudly. How can such family feuds be avoided? We end the chapter by discussing techniques for avoiding the contagion of anger in these and other explosive settings.
Graph theoretical structural connectome analysis of the brain in patients with chronic spinal cord injury: preliminary investigation.

Study design Retrospective study. Objectives We aimed to characterize the convergent disruptions of the structural connectivity based on network modeling technique (i.e., graph theory) to identify significant changes in network organization/reorganization between uninjured and chronic spinal cord injury (SCI) participants. Setting USA. Methods Ten adult participants including 4 with chronic SCI and 6 uninjured were scanned using a multi-shell diffusion imaging on a 3.0 T MR scanner. Whole brain structural connectivity matrix was estimated by performing the quantification of the number of white matter fibers (called edges) connecting each possible pair of brain region (called nodes). Brain regions were defined according to Desikan-Killiany cortical atlas. Using connectivity matrix, connectivity strength as well as six different graph theoretical measurements were computed for each participant. They include: (1) global efficiency; (2) local efficiency; (3) degree; (4) betweenness centrality; (5) average shortest length and (6) clustering coefficient. Finally network based statistics was applied to extract nodes/connections with significant differences between groups (uninjured vs SCI). Results The SCI group showed significant decreases in betweenness centrality in the left precentral gyrus (T-score=2.98, p value=0.02), and the right caudal middle frontal gyrus (score = 2.35, p value=0.047). It also showed significant decrease in left transverse temporal gyrus (T-score=2.36, p value=0.046) in clustering coefficient. In addition, altered regions in the occipital and parietal lobe were also identified. Conclusion These results suggest that not only local but also global alterations of the white matter occur after SCI. The proposed modeling technique has the potential to serve as a screening tool to identify any areas of the brain affected after SCI.
The Relevance of Women’s Economic Marginalization to Recidivism:

This study examines whether changes over time in women’s criminogenic needs, particularly their financial needs, predict recidivism. In a 9-year longitudinal study, 304 women were interviewed repea...
Reddit Sentiment Analysis

It has never been easier for individual investors to get started trading stocks or options. Companies like Robinhood and Webull even offer zero commission trades, no account minimum size, and incentives like a free stock if a user creates an account. Recently, there has been a huge increase in the growth of users of these types of platforms. The combination of many people out of work because of the coronavirus and the US government stimulus package appears to have sparked this. This surge in new investors has sparked tons of activity on popular social media websites like Reddit. There users regularly post stock recommendations and trading strategies. It appears that many Reddit traders are grouping together and causing irrational stock market moves. Panic buying stocks for companies that just declared bankruptcy, betting against Warren Buffet, and ignoring the impact of the coronavirus on airlines and cruise ships are a few of the unusual market moves lately. The purpose of this project is to identify if there is a relationship between the Reddit sentiment on stocks and performance.
Application of Java Applets to Basic Ultrasonics Education Via the Internet

An Internet course in NDE/NDT technology and applications is being developed as part of the North Central Collaboration for NDE/NDT Education to complement new course materials and instructional modules for use in NDE/NDT technician programs, curriculum redevelopment, and innovation in NDE/NDT technological education in community and technical colleges. Java applets provide a widely used mechanism for platform-independent interactive graphics applicable to learning environments. Embedded in web pages, Java applets enhance the understanding of a physical phenomenon with adaptive visualization. Additionally, many applets can serve as an on-line calculators often required as part of NDE/NDT inspection planning. This paper demonstrates the application of Java applets to basic ultrasonics education via the internet.
Mutation and analysis of prenylation signal sequences.

Publisher Summary This chapter describes various rationales for mutating a prenylation signal sequence and discusses the methodology for such mutation and for analyzing the success of the procedure. Different classes of prenylation signals are recognized by different prenyltransferases; signal sequences also contain recognition motifs for other posttranslational modifications, including proteolytic cleavage and carboxylmethylation. Proteins that are modified by prenylation include members of the ras superfamily of small (GTPases), γ subunits of heterotrimeric G proteins, nuclear lamins, retinal signal transducing proteins, yeast transport proteins and mating pheromones, and viral proteins required for virion assembly. It is sometimes desirable to mutate the prenylation motif of a protein to remove or alter the type of isoprenoid attached to it. Mutational analysis can complement genetic, pharmacological, and biochemical approaches to studying prenylation processes. The functional requirement for prenylation in the biological activity of prenylated proteins is because of the crucial role of prenylation in mediating protein–protein and protein–membrane interactions.
Determination of ionic (plus ionizable) fluoride in biological fluids. Procedure based on adsorption of fluoride ion on calcium phosphate.

Abstract A method is deseribed for the determination of ionic (plus ionizable) fluoride in biological fluids by a procedure not requiring ashing, diffusion, or distillation. The method is based on quantitative adsorption of ionic fluoride on calcium phosphate. The fluoride adsorbed on calcium phosphate is measured with the fluoride ion electrode. The concept of “ionic fluoride” which emerged from these studies demonstrates the need for reinvestigation of the subject of homeostasis of fluoride in the body.
Status of high performance PV: polycrystalline thin-film tandems

The High-Performance Photovoltaic (HiPerf PV) Project was initiated by the U.S. Department of Energy to substantially increase the viability of photovoltaics (PV) for cost-competitive applications so that PV can contribute significantly to our energy supply and our environment. The HiPerf PV Project aims at exploring the ultimate performance limits of existing PV technologies, approximately doubling their sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiencies during its course. This work includes bringing thin-film cells and modules toward 25% and 20% efficiencies, respectively; and developing multijunction concentrator cells and modules able to convert more than one-third of the sun's energy to electricity (i.e., 33% efficiency). This paper will address recent accomplishments of the NREL in-house research effort involving polycrystalline thin-film tandems, as well as the research efforts under way in the subcontracted area.
Any time, complete algorithm for finding utilitarian optimal solutions to STPPs

We present a simple greedy algorithm and a novel complete algorithm for finding utilitarian optimal solutions to Simple Temporal Problems with Preferences. Unlike previous algorithms, ours does not restrict preference functions to be convex. We present experimental results showing that (1) a single iteration of the greedy algorithm produces high-quality solutions, (2) multiple iterations, bounded by the square of the number of constraints, produce near-optimal solutions, and (3) our complete, memory-boundable algorithm has compelling anylime properties and outperforms a branch-and-bound algorithm.
Biogeography of the Anthropocene: Domestication

The past and present impacts of humans on the biosphere have altered many ecological and evolutionary processes. One of the most dramatic set of examples comes from domestication, which has transformed species, landscapes, and socioeconomic systems over the last 30 millennia. Recent research driven by advances in molecular biology and information sciences, and enriched by whole genome analyses of the main plant and animal domesticates, is now able to elucidate obscure phylogenetic relationships complicated by past hybridization and chromosome rearrangements. These methods also reveal information on the historical events that converted wild species into useful, and in some cases, codependent taxa. A further set of human-domesticate interactions produces the great diversification behind the origin and maintenance of numerous crop landraces, fruit and vegetable variants, and animal breeds. Fashion, taste preferences, and familial dynamics are some of the additional factors involved beyond usefulness that col...
Diurnal Restratification Events in the Southeast Pacific Trade Wind Regime

AbstractThis paper describes the occurrence of diurnal restratification events found in the southeast trade wind regime off northern Chile. This is a region where persistent marine stratus clouds are found and where there is a less than complete understanding of the dynamics that govern the maintenance of the sea surface temperature. A surface mooring deployed in the region provides surface meteorological, air–sea flux, and upper-ocean temperature, salinity, and velocity data. In the presence of steady southeast trade winds and strong evaporation, a warm, salty surface mixed layer is found in the upper ocean. During the year, these trade winds, at times, drop dramatically and surface heating leads to the formation of shallow, warm diurnal mixed layers over one to several days. At the end of such a low wind period, mean sea surface temperature is warmer. Though magnitudes of the individual diurnal warming events are consistent with local forcing, as judged by running a one-dimensional model, the net warmin...
Design and Evolution of an Agent Based System Applied to an Autocatalytic Network

Abstract In this paper, the design and implementation of an agent-based framework to safeguard an auto-catalytic reactor network against external disturbances is discussed. The autocatalytic reactor network producing a robust, host species is attacked by an unmeasured, un-sustained disturbance of a non-robust invading species. The invading species adversely affects host species and manifests different behavioural responses depending on its magnitude and location of injection. The agent framework is employed to detect and counteract the invasion. The agent architecture consists of the physical layer and multiple invasion detection and local operator agents. Based on the operation state of the process, the detection agent raise a variety of flags (for example, “normal operation”, “severe invasion” etc.), whereas the operator agents take control actions based on the flags raised by the detection agent. The agent knowledge in the form of rule-based heuristics designed based on process knowledge gained through simulation under open-loop. The agent knowledge base consists of several parameters which affect their behaviours. Here, we propose a methodology to optimize the parameters critical to agent design. With this method, the agent system evolves in its structure, which facilitates more accurate responses.
Analysis of Oligonucleotides by HPLC-Electrospray Ionization Mass Spectrometry.

A new interface procedure has been developed that allows, for the first time, the high-efficiency analysis of synthetic oligonucleotides up to 75 bases by reversed-phase HPLC and on-line electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. For oligonucleotides up to 30 bases in length, single-base resolution can be obtained with low levels of cation adduct formation in the negative ion electrospray mass spectra. A key part of the method uses 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol as an additive to the HPLC mobile phase, adjusted to pH 7.0 with triethylamine. This novel additive results in both good HPLC separation and efficient electrospray ionization. The broad potential of this new method is demonstrated for synthetic homopolymers of thymidine (PolyT), fragments based on the pBR322 plasmid sequence, and phosphorothioate ester antisense oligonucleotides. This approach will be of particular utility for the characterization of DNA probes and PCR primers and quality control of antisense compounds such as phosphorothioates...
Estimated, in situ, rates of egg production for the copepod centropages typicus (Krøyer) in the new york bight

Abstract Centropages typicus (Kroyer) and Pseudocalanus sp. are the two predominant copepods in the Continental Shelf waters immediately south of Long Island, New York. The estimated, in situ , rate of egg production for Centropages typicus ranged from 5 to 230 eggs female −1 day −1 during this study. Variability was partly attributed to seasonal variation in water temperature and partly to variations in the physiological condition of individual females. It could not be shown that the ability to produce eggs varied seasonally due to factors related to food. Egg production by Pseudocalamus sp. is probably from 1–10 eggs female −1 day −1 . The two reproductive behaviours result in average abundances of adults that are approximately the same, although the peaks are at different times of the year, indicating that Centropages typicus has a higher mortality between the egg and adult stages than Pseudocalanus sp.
Measurement of implicit and explicit attitudes toward Barack Obama

The present study evaluated implicit and explicit attitudes toward Barack Obama in a student sample assessed during the 2008 election season. Implicit measurement was based on the Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT), in which participants categorized photographs of Obama as target objects associated with positive and negative evaluation categories. The relative darkness of Obama's image in the photographs was manipulated to accentuate racial cues. The results showed significant differences in implicit and explicit attitudes toward Obama between self-identified conservative and liberal students, as well as significant relationships between implicit and explicit measures and between implicit measures and modern racist attitudes. A stronger negative associational bias was found for conservative students, but not their liberal counterparts, to darker images of Obama in the implicit association test. The results underscore the importance of taking individual differences into account in measuring implicit responses to target stimuli. The results also support the convergent validity of implicit measures of attitudes toward a prominent political figure, as well as the construct validity of the SC-IAT. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Galerkin Methods Based on Hermite Splines for Singular Perturbation Problems

We develop Galerkin methods for solving the singularly perturbed two-point boundary value problem of high-order elliptic differential equations. These methods are based on Hermite splines with knots adapted to the singular behavior of the solution of the problem. We prove an optimal order of uniform convergence for the method with respect to the perturbation parameter. Specifically, we present a sufficient condition on the mesh of grid points that ensures the corresponding approximate solution has the optimal order of uniform convergence in the energy norm. We also construct optimal meshes that satisfy the sufficient condition. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the method and the corresponding theoretical estimates.
Storage assignment optimizations through variable coalescence for embedded processors

Modern embedded processors with dedicated address generation unit support memory access with indirect addressing mode with auto-increment and decrement. The auto-increment/decrement mode saves address arithmetic instructions.Liao et al [2][3] categorized this problem as simple offset assignment (SOA) problem and general offset assignment (GOA) problem, which involve storage layout of variables and assignment of address registers respectively proposing heuristic solutions. Later work [6][7] proposed improvements in the performance of Liao's solution by undertaking program and storage transformations that affect access sequence.The algorithms are incorporated into and evaluated on the commercial compiler provided by Motorola to boost code generation performance on the DSP 56k chip. Compared to previous approaches, variable coalescence with program reordering reduces SOA costs by 48% and GOA (2AR) costs by 66% for Mediabench and SPEC benchmarks. Moreover, we show that our approach obtains theoretically optimal solution (zero cost) for the GOA problem in 87% of the cases with just 2 address registers and in 94% of the cases with 3 address registers.
Substance Use and Other Risk Factors for Unprotected Sex: Results from an Event-Based Study of Homeless Youth

This study used an event-based approach to understand condom use in a probability sample of 309 homeless youth recruited from service and street sites in Los Angeles County. Condom use was significantly less likely when hard drug use preceded sex, the relationship was serious, the partners talked about “pulling out”, or sex occurred in a non-private place (and marginally less likely when heavier drinking preceded sex, or the partnership was monogamous or abusive). Condom use was significantly more likely when the youth held positive condom attitudes or were concerned about pregnancy, the partners talked about condom use, and the partners met up by chance. This study extends previous work by simultaneously examining a broad range of individual, relationship, and contexual factors that may play a role in condom use. Results identify a number of actionable targets for programs aimed at reducing HIV/STI transmission and pregnancy risk among homeless youth.
Using protein charge ladders to estimate the effective charges and molecular weights of proteins in solution

This paper describes the use of capillary electrophoresis (CE) and protein charge ladders to estimate values of effective charge (Z) and molecular weight of proteins under nondenaturing conditions. A panel of 14 proteins with a range of charges and shapes was modified by acetylation with acetic anhydride to yield protein charge ladders. A protein charge ladder is a family of derivatives of a protein that differ in integral units of charge, but minimally in hydrodynamic drag; this mixture of proteins appears in electrophoresis as a set of peaks with regular spacings. Analysis of the electrophoretic mobilities of the members of these charge ladders yields values of Z and electrophoretic coefficients: for a description of mobility based on the equation μ = CPZ(MW)-α, CP = 6.3 cm2 min-1 kV-1 charge-1 kD0.48, α = 0.48; for μ = CrZ[r(1 + κr)]-1, Cr = 55 cm2 min-1 kV-1 charge-1 A (r is the spherical radius of the protein and κ is a function of ionic strength). The primary usefulness of charge ladders is in meas...
Platelet-activating factor (PAF)-induced decreases in whole-body and skeletal muscle protein synthesis.

Platelet-activating factor (PAF) has been shown to reduce rat skeletal muscle amino acid uptake, which may restrict intracellular amino acid availability for protein synthesis and amino acid oxidation during endotoxemia. We investigated in rats the effect of PAF infusion on amino acid and protein metabolism by measuring (a) whole-body and tissue leucine kinetics; (b) plasma amino acid profile; and (c) muscle RNA activity (protein synthesis efficiency) and relative abundance of myofibrillar proteins. Fasted male Sprague-Dawley rats (250+/-20 g) were given a 4-h i.v. continuous infusion of L-(1-14C)-leucine to determine leucine kinetics during the infusion of PAF (2 microg/kg PAF as a priming i.v. bolus 1 h before a 4-h i.v. infusion of 2 microg/kg/h PAF) or vehicle. PAF infusion caused sustained hypotension, hyperglycemia, hematological alterations, and hyperlacticacidemia. Whole-body protein synthesis was decreased by 24% (P < 0.05) and leucine flux oxidized was increased by 23% (P < 0.05). Leucine flux was reduced, although not significantly (P = 0.07), in PAF-treated rats (n = 8) compared with controls (n = 8). PAF significantly decreased fractional protein synthesis in the rectus abdominus (33%), soleus (30%), and extensor digitorum longus (26%) muscles, but not in the liver. Plasma branched-chain amino acid levels decreased (approximately 30%, P < 0.05) in PAF-treated rats. Muscle RNA activity was 32% lower and myosin relative abundance declined whereas actin was unchanged in PAF-treated rats. PAF induced net protein catabolism as a result of elevated leucine oxidation at the expense of protein synthesis. PAF had the cumulative effects in the skeletal muscle of (a) attenuating amino acid uptake, (b) reducing protein synthesis efficiency, (c) decreasing fractional protein synthesis rate, and (d) decreasing myosin relative abundance. Thus, PAF may be an important mediator of decreased protein synthesis in skeletal muscle during endotoxic and septic shock.
Milk as an eluant of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons added to wax.

PROTEINS in aqueous solution have been demonstrated to elute polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from soot particles. The liberated hydrocarbons, although hydrophobic, are retained in solution by the proteins1. We wished to determine whether milk, a protein solution, would elute incorporated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from paraffin waxes despite the hydrophobic nature of the hydrocarbons.
The development of verbal thinking and its implications for teaching

Marilyn Buckley University of California, Berkeley A t birth, the infant appropriately announces his entry in the world through language a cry, a spilling out of vowels complete with juncture, stress, and pitch. This vocal pronouncement of birth is apt because language more than any other symbolic expression will shape and define his thinking, his behaviorin fact, his entire human experience. The journey from the child's first birth cry to the last death sigh, is a journey of language, a travel along verbal roads which involves crossing through thickets of word definitions and complicated syntax as well as searching for meanings on the map of semantics, and enduring long highways of sustained discourses. Human consciousness is largely a consciousness of language. During the extraordinary first year of life when the infant's brain triples in size, he takes in through listening, the language of his family whether Finnish, Cantonese or English. His first language is receptive. By absorbing streams of talk, the child takes in language and makes sense out of it. From the very beginning the child is a maker of meaning. By listening to small talk, social talk, stories, nursery tales, songs and lullabies, and all and any of the verbalizations that occupy the 8,760 hours of his first year, the child learns to understand the language of his social group. Remarking about this phenomenal linguistic acquisition, Chomsky (1959) writes: "The child who learns a language has in one sense constructed the grammar for himself as the basis of his observations of sentences and non-sentences . .. Furthermore, this talk is accomplished in an astonishingly short time and to a large extent independent of intelligence and in a comparable way of all children. Any theory of learning must cope with these facts." When Chomsky speaks of language "independent of intelligence," he means I think conscious intelligence. The child does not "study" the language by noting the associational patterns of phonemes or word order. Learning language at this age is not deliberate, didactic or explicit. The child as a natural living phenomenon inherits a collected, unconscious intelligence that provides him with the motivations to get on with living and learning, adapting when adaptation is appropriate, compensating when need be but always surviving. Surviving mainly through acting upon his environment and making sense out of it. The child's inherited, unconscious intelligence motivates him to interpret new events according to his frame of previous references which leads him to reconstruct or re-define his hypotheses about the world. The unconscious intelligence of the child is as important for teachers and parents to understand as is
Modeling and Analysis of Induction Machines Containing Space Harmonics Part II: Analysis of Asynchronous and Synchronous Actions

The steady-state equations which describe the asynchronous and synchronous actions in a general polyphase induction machine are derived. The conditions for synchronous action at standstill and at some finite rotor speed between two harmonics are identified. It is concluded that every pair of harmonics belonging to the same set of a-P components produces synchronous action, conversely every pair of harmonics which produces synchronous action belongs to the same set of a-P components. This also confirms that the harmonics of each set of a-P components are not separable.
Glass-membrane potentials in mixed anion melts—I☆

Abstract Experimentally measured potentials for anion concentration cells are compared with values derived from theoretical equations based on the Temkin model and the “first approximation” formula.
Sex and Sexuality in Men's Personal Advertisements

In this article, the author examines 2,400 men's personal advertisements from the Internet to explore gender role and sex role preferences in mate selection. Using content analysis, the author examines how men define their gender roles and sex roles, and how they express role preferences in their mate. The results show that when compared with gay men, straight men are less concerned about gender roles and sex roles. Gay men's personal advertisements are the real analytic lens here because they are the ones faced with the ambiguities that need to be negotiated, whereas straight men may have taken gender-typical roles for granted. The author also discusses how men knowingly or unknowingly express and reproduce cultural norms of heterosexuality and gender-typical behavior, and how they may perpetuate forms of heterosexism and sexism.
Electronically Available Surveys of Attitudes Toward Animals

Much of the research on attitudes toward non-human species has been conducted with non-representative samples. Largely ignored in the literature on human/animal interactions are surveys conducted by commercial polling organizations using large probability samples of Americans. Many of these surveys contain information relevant to attitudes about animals and animal welfare issues. This information is available to researchers electronically at little or no cost through organizations such as the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research and the National Opinion Research Center.
The Hobby-Eberly Telescope Completion Project

The Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) is a fixed-elevation, 9.2-m telescope with a spherical primary mirror and a tracker at prime focus to follow astronomical objects. The telescope was constructed for $13.9M over the period 1994-1997. A number of telescope performance deficiencies were identified and corrected following construction. Remaining problems included: 1) Dome seeing, 2) inadequate initial mirror segment alignment accuracy, and 3) mirror segment misalignment with time. The HET Completion Project was created in May 2001 to attack these problems and to identify and solve the next tier of problems. To address dome seeing, large louvers were installed and in operation by May 2002. Efforts are also underway to eliminate or suppress heat sources within the dome environment. To address segment alignment accuracy, a prototype Shack-Hartmann device, the Mirror Alignment Recovery System (MARS), was built and is in routine use at HET. The Segment Alignment Maintenance System (SAMS) is in early operation and has markedly improved telescope performance. Two Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM) telescopes were brought into regular operation in July 2001 to quantify atmospheric seeing at HET. As these improvements have been implemented, telescope image quality has improved significantly. Plans are in place to address additional performance issues.
Spin-on Gate Dielectric Materials for Next Generation Display Systems

We present recent advances on spin-on polymers as gate dielectric for thin film transistors. We have developed film type I with significantly improved dielectric properties. At a curing temperature of 250 °C, the dielectric constant is 3.46, the breakdown voltage is 4.10 MV/cm at 1 μA/cm2, the leakage current is 4.9 × 10−8 A/cm2 at 2.5 MV/cm, and the CV hysteresis is 3.4 V. At a curing temperature of 425 °C, the dielectric constant, the breakdown voltage, the leakage current, and the CV hysteresis are 3.2, 4.73 MV/cm, 2.6 × 10−8 A/cm2, and 0.44 V respectively.
Effect of Tourism and Trade on Intestinal Parasitic Infections in Guatemala

A survey was performed to determine if infection with gastrointestinal parasites differs between the rural and urban poor inhabitants of Guatemala. A total of 317 stool samples from children in two towns, one rural and one urban, were examined using the formalin–ether concentration method. The overall prevalence of parasites in infected children was 67%, 20%, 30%, and 22%, respectively for Ascarislumbricoides, Trichuristrichiura, Giardiaduodenalis and Entamoebahistolytica in the rural town of La Mano de Leon and 49%, 14%, 15%, and 21%, respectively in the urban town of Santa Maria de Jesus. Two sub-studies were carried out to determine the effects of (1) gender and (2) age on the rate of parasitic infections. Female children in the 1-to 6-year-olds age group in Santa Maria de Jesus had more infections with A. lumbricoides and T. trichiura when compared to La Mano de Leon. A. lumbricoides was most prevalent in Santa Maria de Jesus. These results propose that accessibility to tourism and trade decreases the risk for the establishment of parasitic diseases in children of Guatemala possibly due to improvements in basic nutrition and availability of health care.
Detection of the Hydronium Ion (H 3 O + ) by High-Resolution Infrared Spectroscopy

The first high-resolution measurement of the ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{3}$ vibration (doubly degenerate asymmetric stretch) of the hydronium ion (${\mathrm{H}}_{3}$${\mathrm{O}}^{+}$) is reported. An analysis of sixty transitions in the symmetric and antisymmetric inversion states yields effective band origins of 3530.165(55) and 3513.840(47) ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$, respectively.
Improvement in best corrected visual acuity in amblyopic adult eyes after laser in situ keratomileusis.

Purpose To evaluate improvement in best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA) after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) in adult patients with amblyopia. Setting Refractive Eye Surgery Center, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Methods The charts of consecutive patients with a diagnosis of amblyopia at the time of refractive evaluation who had LASIK were reviewed retrospectively. The preoperative and postoperative uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) and BSCVA were analyzed. Results Twenty-one eyes of 19 patients were identified as having amblyopia and LASIK surgery. Eight patients (42.1%) were diagnosed with amblyopia only, 6 patients (31.6%) had anisometropic amblyopia, 4 patients (21.1%) had strabismic amblyopia, and 1 patient (5.2%) had anisometropic and strabismic amblyopia. Eleven eyes (52.4%) had myopic astigmatism, 7 eyes (33.3%) were hyperopic, and 3 eyes (14.3%) had mixed astigmatism. Seven eyes (33.3 %) experienced more than a 1-line improvement in postoperative UCVA compared with the preoperative BSCVA. Nine eyes (42.8%) experienced more than a 1-line improvement in postoperative BSCVA compared with the preoperative BSCVA. The BSCVA was unchanged in 11 eyes (52.4%) and was worse by 2 lines in 1 eye (4.8%). Conclusion After LASIK, the postoperative BSCVA was better than preoperatively in 42.8% of eyes with a history of amblyopia and the postoperative UCVA was better than the preoperative BSCVA in 33.3%.