cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Seasonal Natural and Fishing Mortality of Striped Bass in a Southeastern Reservoir

Abstract Reliable estimates of natural and fishing mortality are important for management of exploited fish populations, but these components of the total mortality rate can be difficult to determine by traditional fisheries methods. We used telemetry data to determine seasonal instantaneous fishing (F) and natural mortality (M) rates of subadult and adult striped bass Morone saxatilis in Badin Lake, North Carolina. Our analyses were based on the fates of 64 fish implanted with sonic transmitters and released and tracked for 2 years. Natural mortality was low and constant during the course of the study (M ± SE = 0.10 ± 0.01) and was similar to estimates for other reservoir populations of striped bass. A natural mortality rate of 0.09–0.16 may be a reasonable approximation for populations across the southeastern United States. Fishing mortality varied seasonally and was highest in the spring and summer of 2002 and the summer and fall of 2003; annual fishing mortality (F ± SE) was 0.65 ± 0.08 in 2002 and 0....
Systematic Variation of Observed Radar Reflectivity–Rainfall Rate Relations in the Tropics

Abstract The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Global Validation Program provides a unique opportunity to compare radar datasets from different sites, because they are analyzed in a relatively uniform procedure. Monthly observed radar reflectivity–rainfall rate (Ze–R) relations for four different sites that are surrounded by tipping bucket gauge networks (Melbourne, Florida; Houston, Texas; Darwin, Australia; and Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of Marshall Islands) were derived. The radar and gauge data from all sites are controlled for quality using the same algorithms, which also include an automated procedure to filter unreliable rain gauge data upon comparison with radar data. The relations are generated by two different methods. The first method is based on using a power law Ze–R with a fixed exponent of 1.4, and the second is based on matching unconditional probabilities of rain rates as measured by the gauge to radar-observed reflectivities and is known as the window probability matching method (WPMM)....
A study on the Ogawa's system for cytochemical demonstration of oxidoreductases with ferricyanide as electron acceptor.

Spectrophotometric study on kinetics of the reaction under the conditions mimicking its course in the tissue, carried out with α-glycerophosphate as substrate, rat spermatogenic mitochondria as a source of enzyme, tris/hydroxymethyl/aminomethane as copper complexing agent, and in pH 8.4, i. e. in such a range in which the final product, copper ferrocyanide, is soluble led to the following conclusions. Enzymatic oxidation of the substrate is immediately followed by ferricyanide reduction, whereas the final product preciptation starts with a few minutes latency. Dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) in the final concentration of 5% does not alter the reaction course. However, at its concentration of 15% there is no latency in the final product formation that runs parallelly to the course of the reduction of ferricyanide but there is an inhibition of both the enzymatic reduction of ferricyanide and the formation of copper ferrocyanide as final reaction product. On fine structural level it was found that already at 5 per cent concentration of DMSO and at a shortened time of incubation the localization of the reaction for a-glycerophosphate: ferricyanide oxidoreductase in mitochondria and the other structures of rat spermatids was improved.
3rd Ishihara Lecture: An investigation into why liquefaction charts work: A necessary step toward integrating the states of art and practice

Abstract This paper is a systematic effort to clarify why field liquefaction charts based on Seed and Idriss׳ Simplified Procedure work so well. This is a necessary step toward integrating the states of the art (SOA) and practice (SOP) for evaluating liquefaction and its effects. The SOA relies mostly on laboratory measurements and correlations with void ratio and relative density of the sand. The SOP is based on field measurements of penetration resistance and shear wave velocity coupled with empirical or semi-empirical correlations. This gap slows down further progress in both SOP and SOA. The paper accomplishes its objective through: a literature review of relevant aspects of the SOA including factors influencing threshold shear strain and pore pressure buildup during cyclic strain-controlled tests; a discussion of factors influencing field penetration resistance and shear wave velocity; and a discussion of the meaning of the curves in the liquefaction charts separating liquefaction from no liquefaction, helped by recent full-scale and centrifuge results. It is concluded that the charts are curves of constant cyclic strain at the lower end (Vs1
A case study of the amount and distribution of heat and fluid during metamorphism

The volume of fluid and amount of heat involved in a portion of a metamorphic event around three synmetamorphic granitic stocks has been quantitatively estimated using mineral composition and modal data from carbonate rocks. Values of volumetric fluid-rock ratios range, with respect to a reference zoisite isograd, from 0.001 to 0.434. Amounts of heat involved range from −25 to 134 cal/cm3 rock. Contours of constant fluid-rock ratio and of constant amount of heat are generally concentric about the granitic stocks indicating that the stocks are foci of high heat and fluid fluxes during metamorphism. In addition, contours of fluid-rock ratios and amount of heat outline NE-SW-trending channelways of high fluid and heat fluxes that alternate with regions of lower fluid and heat fluxes. The NE-SW-trending vertical bedding and schistosity in the area — of premetamorphic origin — probably constrained fluid and heat transfer to occur preferentially in NE-SW directions. Large values of heat involved in metamorphism are strongly correlated with large fluid-rock ratios, suggesting that fluids are an important carrier of heat during metamorphism. Configurations of mapped isograds in the area mimic the patterns of contours of constant fluid-rock ratio and of heat content, indicating that configurations of isograds may contain useful information about regional patterns of heat and fluid transfer during metamorphism.
Towards efficient event aggregation in a decentralized publish-subscribe system

Recently, decentralized publish-subscribe (pub-sub) systems have gained popularity as a scalable asynchronous messaging paradigm over wide-area networks. Most existing pub-sub systems, however, have been designed with the implicit assumption that published data is clean and accurate. As the pub-sub paradigm is incorporated in real-world applications with human participants, this assumption becomes increasingly invalid due to the inherent noise in the event stream. The noise can take many forms, including redundant, incomplete, inaccurate, and even malicious event messages.This paper explores the distributed computing issues involved in handling event streams with redundant and incomplete messages. Given a distributed broker overlay-based pub-sub system, we present our initial ideas for (1) aggregating event information scattered across multiple messages generated by different publishers and (2) eliminating redundant event messages. Key to our approach is the concept of an event-gatherer---a designated broker in the routing graph that acts as a proxy sink for all messages of a particular event---located at the graph center of the corresponding routing tree. This paper proposes a novel decentralized algorithm to find this graph center. Early results show that the proposed scheme typically reduces the message load by over 60% with less than 25% time overhead to subscribers.
Pharmacy nonprescription syringe distribution and HIV/AIDS: A review

Objective To summarize current research findings on pharmacy nonprescription syringe distribution to prevent the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) among injection drug users (IDUs), including research on pharmacist attitudes and behavior, drug user attitudes and behavior, and the health impact on HIV/AIDS risk behavior. Data sources Data were collected using PubMed and PsycINFO through July 2011. Search terms used were pharmacist or pharmacy and syringe or syringe exchange or needle or needle exchange. Two journals (Journal of Urban Health and Journal of the American Pharmacists Association) with a high number of hits were manually inspected. Reference sections for each article also were examined. Study selection Studies were included if they examined attitudes toward, experiences with, or the impact of pharmacy nonprescription syringe distribution for the purpose of preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS among IDUs in the United States. Studies were excluded that mentioned these topics in passing or did not report empirical results. Data synthesis 47 studies were identified that met the inclusion criteria. Studies included a diverse range of perspectives, including pharmacist viewpoints, IDU attitudes, and evaluations. Conclusion According to the available literature, many pharmacists express willingness to sell and report selling syringes to customers without a prescription. IDUs show willingness to use pharmacies to obtain syringes. Finally, pharmacy syringe sale and the legalization of this practice appear to have a positive impact on HIV risk behavior. Accordingly, the nonprescription sale of syringe should be promoted. However, the literature remains incomplete and future research is required.
The Diverse Roles of Anticonvulsants in Bipolar Disorders

Anticonvulsant drugs (ACs) have diverse antiseizure, psychotropic, and biochemical effects. Carbamazepine and valproate have mood-stabilizing actions, benzodiazepines and gabapentin have anxiolytic actions, lamotrigine is useful in rapid cycling and acute treatment and prophylaxis of bipolar depression, and topiramate and zonisamide can yield weight loss. Limited controlled data suggest the carbamazepine keto derivative oxcarbazepine has antimanic effects. A categorical approach to the diverse roles of ACs in bipolar disorders is proposed, using broad categories of ACs, on the basis of their predominant psychotropic profiles. Thus, some ACs have "sedating" profiles that may include sedation, cognitive difficulties, fatigue, weight gain, and possibly antimanic and/or anxiolytic effects. In contrast, some newer ACs have "activating" profiles that may include improved energy, weight loss, and possibly antidepressant and even anxiogenic effects. Still other newer ACs have novel "mixed" profiles, combining sedation and weight loss. A categorical-mechanistic extension of this approach is also presented, with hypotheses that "sedating" profiles might be related to prominent potentiation of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) inhibitory neurotransmission, "activating" profiles could be related to prominent attenuation of glutamate excitatory neurotransmission, and for "mixed" profiles, sedation and weight loss might be related to concurrent GABAergic and antiglutamatergic actions, respectively. The categorical approach may have utility as an aid to clinicians in reinforcing the heterogeneity ACs, and recalling psychotropic profiles of individual ACs, but is limited as it fails to address the etiology of the heterogeneity of AC psychotropic effects. The categorical-mechanistic extension strives to address this issue, but requires systematic clinical investigation of more precise relationships between psychotropic profiles and discrete mechanisms of action to assess its merits.
On the mechanism of fluidelastic instability of a tube placed in an array subjected to two-phase crossflow

In this work, the fluidelastic instability of a tube placed in an array subjected to two-phase crossflow has been studied. For the determination of fluidelastic instability, acrylic tubes 2.2 cm or 2.37 cm in diameter and 20 cm in length were arranged in a triangular array with pitch to diameter ratio of 1.4 to 1.3. The test tube was flexibly supported with two cantilever beams. By installing cantilever beams horizontally and vertically, drag and lift direction tube vibration were studied. The total damping ratio is found to increase as the liquid gap velocity or void fraction increases. It has been found that the effective spring constant decreases rapidly with increase of liquid gap velocity or void fraction just prior to the onset of instability. For the range of parameters studied in this work, the onset of fluidelastic instability is associated with a rapid decrease of the effective spring constant because for a given applied force the amplitude of the tube vibration is inversely proportional to the spring constant
THE ETHICS OF OBSERVING : CONFRONTING THE HARM OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

In this article I explore the ethical terrain of experiential learning activities drawing on my experiences leading college students on field trips into criminal justice settings. Though there are numerous educational benefits to adopting experiential learning activities, the rewards must be evaluated in light of the potential harms to nonstudent participants. Student observations of criminal justice settings can reinforce common stereotypes of prisoners as scary and dangerous while reifying the legitimacy of state power exercised through agents of social control. More broadly, experiential learning activities can also highlight the shame and embarrassment of subordinate groups when such activities devolve into voyeuristic spectacles of human misery. In light of these potential harms to nonstudent groups, this article proposes guiding questions for educators to address in designing experiential activities. These questions draw attention to the following issues: the vulnerability of participants, the relative social power of nonstudent participants, whether participation is truly voluntary, the accessibility of the setting to outside observers, group size, benefits to nonstudent participants, duration of activity, protection of confidentiality, the role of students in the activity, and the curricular focus of the experience.
In Situ Balancing of Flexible Rotors Using Influence Coefficient Balancing and the Unified Balancing Approach

A number of sophisticated procedures for balancing flexible rotors have been developed during the past two decades. For a variety of reasons, none of these methods has gained general acceptance by practicing balancing engineers. Several of these balancing techniques require a great deal of operator insight and expertise. This has tended to discourage many potential users where this expertise was not already available in-house, particularly where balancing is required as a production operation. In other cases (for example large steam turbines), the machinery owner has had to rely on the manufacturer to provide this balancing expertise when it is needed often resulting in excessive downtime and maintenance costs.Other balancing methods have been developed which are more systematic so as to reduce the level of expertise required of the user. Unfortunately, these methods have invariably required the collection of large quantities of data and very complex computations. Thus, originally, this data was taken by hand and transcribed for input to a large computer. The results of the balancing calculations were returned some time later for use by the balancing engineer. Such an operation was clearly not conducive to effective commercial application. With the development of minicomputers, the situation was alleviated to a certain extent through the use of more accessible, and even on-line computers to perform these calculations. However even with these minicomputers, in-place flexible rotor balancing facilities were expensive and inconvenient to assemble, and in situ balancing of flexible rotors was impractical if not impossible.The subsequent development of the microcomputer has made in situ balancing of flexible rotors a possibility. This paper describes a completely portable, microcomputer-based flexible rotor balancing system that uses influence coefficient balancing and the Unified Balancing Approach two of the systematic methods which have been shown to be very effective for balancing flexible rotors. The results of a series of verification tests are also presented.Copyright © 1983 by ASME
Electromigration studies of some complexes of some group III Metals

Abstract Zone electromigration of Al, Ga, In, Y, and La ions in the presence of several ligands of the “complexone” type was investigated as a function of pH. The formation of anionic species was noted even at low pH values, indicating strong ionization of the carboxyl groups of the ligand or of coordinated water molecules. Information was also obtained on the comparative behavior of these ions.
Mutation of Jak3 in a Patient with SCID: Essential Role of Jak3 in Lymphoid Development

Males with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (XSCID) have defects in the common cytokine receptor γ chain (γ c ) gene that encodes a shared, essential component of the receptors for interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4, IL-7, IL-9, and IL-15. The Janus family tyrosine kinase Jak3 is the only signaling molecule known to be associated with γ c , so it was hypothesized that defects in Jak3 might cause an XSCID-like phenotype. A girl with immunological features indistinguishable from those of XSCID was therefore selected for analysis. An Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed cell line derived from her lymphocytes had normal γ c expression but lacked Jak3 protein and had greatly diminished Jak3 messenger RNA. Sequencing revealed a different mutation on each allele: a single nucleotide insertion resulting in a frame shift and premature termination in the Jak3 JH4 domain and a nonsense mutation in the Jak3 JH2 domain. The lack of Jak3 expression correlated with impaired B cell signaling, as demonstrated by the inability of IL-4 to activate Stat6 in the EBV-transformed cell line from the patient. These observations indicate that the functions of γ c are dependent on Jak3 and that Jak3 is essential for lymphoid development and signaling.
Human mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase inhibition by diethyldithiocarbamic acid methanethiol mixed disulfide: a derivative of disulfiram

Abstract A derivative and possible physiological metabolite of disulfiram, diethyldithiocarbamic acid methanethiol mixed disulfide, is shown here for the first time to inactivate the mitochondrial low-Km, isozyme of human aldehyde dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.3). By comparing inactivating effects of diethyldithiocarbamic acid mixed disulfides with thiols of increasing chain length evidence is provided that steric hindrance is the reason for lack of inhibition of the mitochondrial enzyme by disulfiram in vitro. Since methanethiol is a normal metabolite [(1983) Annu. Rev. Biochem. 52, 187–222] the results also suggest a mechanism by which aldehyde dehydrogenase is inhibited by disulfiram and diethyldithiocarbamic acid in vivo.
The Multiple Activities of Polyphosphate Kinase ofEscherichia coli and Their Subunit Structure Determined by Radiation Target Analysis

Abstract Polyphosphate kinase (PPK), the principal enzyme required for the synthesis of inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) from ATP, also exhibits other enzymatic activities, which differ significantly in their biochemical optima and responses to chemical agents. These several activities include: polyP synthesis (forward reaction), nATP → polyPn + nADP (Equation 1); ATP synthesis from polyP (reverse reaction), ADP + polyPn → ATP + polyPn − 1 (Equation 2); general nucleoside-diphosphate kinase, GDP + polyPn → GTP + polyPn − 1(Equation 3); linear guanosine 5′-tetraphosphate (ppppG) synthesis, GDP + polyPn → ppppG + polyPn − 2 (Equation4); and autophosphorylation, PPK + ATP → PPK-P + ADP (Equation 5). The Mg2+ optima are 5, 2, 1, and 0.2 mm, respectively, for the activities in Equations 1, 2, 3, and 4. Inorganic pyrophosphate inhibits the activities in Equations 1 and 3 but stimulates that in Equation 4. The kinetics of the activities in Equations 1, 2, and 3 are highly processive, whereas the transfer of a pyrophosphoryl group from polyP to GDP (Equation 4) is distributive and demonstrates a rapid equilibrium, random Bi-Bi catalytic mechanism. Radiation target analysis revealed that the principal functional unit of the homotetrameric PPK is a dimer. Exceptions are a trimer for the synthesis of ppppG (Equation 4) and a tetrameric state for the autophosphorylation of PPK (Equation 5) at low ATP concentrations. Thus, the diverse functions of this enzyme involve different subunit organizations and conformations. The highly conserved homology of PPK among 18 microorganisms was used to determine important residues and conserved regions by alanine substitution, by site-directed mutagenesis, and by deletion mutagenesis. Of 46 single-site mutants, seven exhibit none of the five enzymatic activities; in one mutant, ATP synthesis from polyP is reduced relative to GTP synthesis. Among deletion mutants, some lost all five PPK activities, but others retained partial activity for some reactions but not for others.
Degradation study of ZrNiH1.5 for use as actuators in gas gap heat switches

Abstract ZrNi hydride has been assessed as reversible hydrogen storage material in actuators of gas gap heat switches for various applications including hydride compressors in closed-cycle Joule–Thomson (J–T) sorption cryocoolers. Three ZrNiH1.5 samples have been cycled between 280 and 450 K for more than 24,000 cycles to evaluate phase stability and durability of this hydride for conditions simulating device operation. Changes in the hydrogen absorption and desorption were evaluated by measuring the pressure and temperature dynamic relationship during each cycle and by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) of the material. No significant evidence for degradation was observed although disproportionation had been seen previously when ZrNiHx was heated above 675 K. The resistance of the present samples to degradation is primarily attributed to the lower desorption temperature during cycling.
A brominated secondary metabolite synthesized by the cyanobacterial symbiont of a marine sponge and accumulation of the crystalline metabolite in the sponge tissue

The dictyoceratid marine sponge Dysidea herbacea (Keller, 1889) is common in shallow waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Polybrominated biphenyl ethers such as 2-(2′,4′-dibromophenyl)-4,6-dibromophenol (1) are characteristic secondary metabolites of some specimens of this sponge and may represent as much as 12% of the dry weight. We have found 1 to be deposited as conspicuous crystals throughout the sponge tissue. The dominant prokaryotic endosymbiont in the mesohyl of the sponge is a filamentous cyanobacterium (Oscillatoria spongeliae), although a vacuole-containing, heterotrophic bacterium is also present. The cyanobacteria were separated from the sponge cells and heterotrophic bacteria by flow cytometry. Coupled gas chromatography—mass spectrometry and proton nuclear magnetic-resonance spectroscopy revealed that the major brominated Compound 1 isolated from the intact symbiotic association is found in the cyanobacteria and not in the sponge cells or heterotrophic bacteria. This suggests that the production of the compound is due to the cyanobacterium, and not to the sponge or symbiotic heterotrophic bacteria, as had been suggested earlier.
The use of expected value in pricing judgments

Previous research has examined the extent to which decisions made in binary choice situations are consistent with expected value. Li (2003) reports that decisions in multiple‐play gambles are well explained by expected value, while single‐play gambles are not consistent with expected value. The present study extends previous work by examining the use of expected value in the pricing of gambles. The results show that subjects' pricing decisions are much more consistent with expected value in multiple‐play situations than in single‐play situations, particularly when the subjects are provided with a simple decision aid (i.e. a very brief description of expected value and the calculated amount of the expected value). Additionally, substantially fewer subjects in our study made decisions consistent with expected value than in Li's (2003) study, suggesting that binary choice studies may overstate the extent of expected value usage.
Marine survival of steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) enhanced by a seasonally closed estuary

To investigate the role that estuaries play in the survival of steelhead, Oncorhynchus mykiss, we compared juvenile size at ocean entry with back-calculated measures of size at ocean entry for retu...
Signals controlling renin release in aglomerular toadfish.

The toadfish,Opsanus tau, lacks renal glomeruli and macula densa, but has high renal renin activity and abundant granulated cells in renal arteries and arterioles. Reduction of blood pressure (BP) or blood volume by hemorrhage or vasodilatory drugs causes renin release, indicating that an intrarenal or extrarenal pressure- or volume-sensitive mechanism exists for controlling renin release in the toadfish. Thus, we examined whether 1) β-adrenergic receptor-mediated activation of renin release, and 2) calcium influx which may underlie the baroreceptor mechanism are involved in the cellular control of renin release. Acute injection of isoproterenol (1 μg/kg, n = 6) decreased BP and increased plasma renin activity (PRA) 4–5 fold in unanesthetized toadfish. Propranolol abolished both effects, but did not decrease basal PRA levels.In vitro superfusion of renal slices with bicarbonate Ringer's solution showed a steady secretion of renin, and addition of 50 mM K+ (K+ methylsulfate replacing NaCl, n = 10) to the superfusate markedly suppressed renin secretion. Nifedipine (10−5 M, n = 8) completely restored the high K+-induced inhibition of renin secretion from renal slices, whereas isoproterenol (10−4 M, n = 6) neither increased basal renin secretion nor restored K+-induced renin suppression. These results suggest that calcium influx may mediate inhibitory messages for renin secretion, while the β-adrenoceptor-mediated activation of granulated cells appears absent in toadfish.
Promoters and heterogeneous 5' termini of the messenger RNAs of adenovirus serotype 2.

Abstract Adenovirus serotype 2 messenger RNAs are transcribed from nine separate transcription units, which function during early, intermediate and late stages of infection. We have sequenced capped 5′ termini of messenger RNAs from each of these transcription units, and located the templates for each capped terminus in the sequence of the Ad2† genome. These results define the putative initiation sites and promoters for all major Ad2 transcripts. By comparing the termini and promoter DNA sequences, we conclude that seven of nine initiation sites including EIa, EIb, PIX, major late, EIII, EIV and the late form of region IIa mRNA have clearly defined “TATA” box homologies. With early region IIa and IVa2, this homology is absent. For most messengers, the mRNA terminus is microheterogeneous, and encoded within a two to seven-base cap region located ~30 nucleotides downstream from the TATA box. However, the two transcription units that lack TATA boxes display equivalent microheterogeneity. Purine termini are greatly favored over pyrimidine termini. We propose a model for Ad2 cap site recognition in which RNA polymerase scans short DNA segments for purine starts, and discuss the model in the context of EIV mRNAs of Ad2 and Ad5, which differ in their promoter region DNA sequence.
Calmodulin and parvalbumin: Activators of human liver glucocerebrosidase

Abstract Lysosomal glucocerebrosidase of human tissues is reversibly inactivated by extraction with sodium cholate and n-butanol. Enzyme activity can be restored in the glucocerebrosidase assay by the incorporation of small amounts of phosphatidylserine (1 μg/ assay) and a heat-stable factor obtained from the spleen of patients with Gaucher's disease. In the present report, we show that two heat-stable, low-molecular-weight, acidic, calcium-binding proteins, namely calmodulin and parvalbumin, are relatively potent activators of human liver glucocerebrosidase. A third structurally related, calcium-binding protein, troponin-C, does not stimulate glucocerebrosidase significantly. Removal of calcium from these proteins by treatment with 5 m m ethylene glycol bis(β-aminoethylether)-N,N′-tetraacetic acid greatly decreases the quantity of material needed to stimulate enzyme activity. Parvalbumin stimulation of glucocerebrosidase activity is dependent on the presence of phosphatidylserine whereas the ability of calmodulin to activate the enzyme is not dependent on the acidic phospholipid. In terms of the level of glucocerebrosidase activity they support and under optimal conditions, parvalbumin and calmodulin are about 50 and 30%, respectively, as effective as the heat-stable factor from Gaucher spleen. On the other hand, on a molar basis, it takes about 35 times more parvalbumin than calmodulin to achieve maximum stimulation of glucocerebrosidase activity.
A Multimedia Audience Response Game Show for Medical Education

Games are increasingly popular in medical education. However, there is a need for games that target today’s learners, including their preferences for active participation, social interaction, immediate feedback, and multimedia formats. With these preferences in mind, a commercially available game show template was used to develop a game show for review of medical microbiology. The game show was combined with an audience response system (“clickers”) to enable participation of all students in a large group setting. A 19-item questionnaire was used to measure students’ perceptions of the game. The questionnaire was administered after participants had played the games on three separate occasions during their first year of medical school. The response of medical students to the game shows was overwhelmingly positive. Students valued the ability of the game shows to engage them, to provide a positive learning environment, to clarify concepts, and to develop clinical thinking. The game software combined with an audience response system provides a visually rich, engaging format that could be used for a review of any basic science discipline.
Concomitant Therapy with Methotrexate and Anti-TNF-α in Pediatric Patients with Refractory Crohn's Colitis: A Case Series

Background: Crohn's colitis refractory to anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) therapy is commonly seen in tertiary care centers for pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). We report our experience in managing pediatric refractory Crohn's colitis with concomitant use of methotrexate and anti-TNF-α therapy. Methods: We reviewed records from 2007 to 2010 at the Mayo Clinic pediatric IBD center. We included all patients with Crohn's disease (CD) failing anti-TNF-α therapy who then received concomitant methotrexate. The primary endpoint was clinical remission, defined as inactive disease in accordance with the short pediatric CD activity index (PCDAI). The secondary endpoint was last day of follow-up. Results: Fourteen patients with CD received concomitant methotrexate and anti-TNF-α treatment (age, mean [range], 15.7 [6–20] years; standard deviation [SD], 3.4 years). Mean age at diagnosis was 12.5 years (range, 3–17 years; SD, 3.83 years). The male-to-female ratio was 10:4. All patients had moderate to severe disease activity using the short PCDAI and had predominately Crohn's colitis. Twelve patients were previously treated with thiopurines (85.7%). Seven patients (50%) were in clinical remission within an average of 6 weeks postmethotrexate induction. Five patients (35.7%) experienced adverse events including nausea and headache, yet only one discontinued therapy due to adverse events. Infection with Clostridium difficile was common, complicating therapy in four patients (28.6%). Conclusions: Concomitant use of methotrexate and anti-TNF-α therapy is a promising option for children with refractory Crohn's colitis. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2012)
On the persistence and attrition of women in mathematics

The purpose of this study was to investigate what motivates women to choose mathematics as an undergraduate major and to further explore what shapes their future career goals, paying particular attention to their undergraduate experiences and their perceptions of the role of gender in these decisions. A series of semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted with twelve undergraduate women mathematics majors who were attending either a large public university or a small liberal arts college. This study found that strong mathematical identities and enjoyment of mathematics heavily inuenced their decisions to major in mathematics. At the career selection stage, these women desired careers that are service-oriented, social in nature, and involved mathematical applications. For those planning to become teachers, the desire to help others predominantly inuenced their career decision. Many of the non-teaching majors were unaware of mathematical careers other than teaching that satised these career qualities. Implications of these results with respect to women’s participation in mathematics are discussed.
Affective and Personality Characteristics Inferred from Length of First Names

The Name Connotation Profile was used to investigate judgments made about another based on that person's given name only. Nicknames were excluded to avoid confounding of name length with given name versus nickname effects. Longer names, because of their greater substance or "mass, n were expected to convey characteristics associated with a high social position (successful moral). Shorter names, with their ease of use and greater informality, were expected to convey approachable qualities (popular; cheerful, warm). Except for the length/warmth hypothesis, all hypotheses were supported for men. Also as hypothesized, subjects inferred greater masculinity (less femininity) for men with shorter names-a result corroborated by an additional finding showing that male names were shorter than female names. Only one of the preceding hypotheses was sup ported for women's names: shorter names connoted greater warmth.
Special Issue on Hurricanes and Insurance

This issue of Natural Hazards Review focuses on hurricanes and insurance. In recent years, a number of major hurricanes have made landfall in the United States with significant structural, economic, and social impacts. During the 137th ASCE Annual Conference held in 2007 in Orlando, Florida, the Council on Disaster Risk Management organized a symposium on hurricanes and insurance to bring together a group of experts to address the damage profiles of recent hurricanes, the insurance industry perspective and research needs, and opportunities. The presentations and panel discussions focused on the current research as well as future research needs for damage characterization to address the needs of the insurance industry. With the increasing population density in coastal areas, housing insurance has been continuously increasing. Empirical relationships between gust speed and historical damages often do not accurately reflect changes in landscape, codes, and construction practices. Aerodynamic complexities such as interactions between buildings and local topographic features present challenges for numerical modeling. The future of building practices and insurance needs assessment depends on better understanding of structural damage profiles during hurricanes. The high hurricane activity in recent years has been attributed in part to the La Nina climate phenomenon. The southern states in the United States have been hit by several exceptionally damaging hurricanes that included Charley, Frances, and Jeanne in 2004; Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Stan in 2005; Felix and Noel in 2007; Gustav and Paloma in 2008; and Tomas in 2010; and of course, similar extreme events have caused great damage in many other coastal regions around the world. Hurricanes can be considered as unintended urban renewal systems owing to extensive property damage and subsequent changes in building codes and code enforcement. One of the most important lessons learned from experiences during recent-past hurricanes has been changes in building design codes with specific attention to very severe wind loads. The papers included in this issue address posthurricane field surveys, damage profiles, hurricane damage and loss estimation, estimation of potential insured losses, testing of residential homes, lessons learned, and the research outlook.
Social Constraints on Disclosure and Adjustment to Cancer

This article introduces the concept of social constraints on disclosure, puts it in a theoretical framework, and examines how it can affect adjustment to major life stressors using the exemplar of cancer. Cancer is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. It is often life threatening, disfiguring, and unpredictable; hence, it can undermine people's basic and often positive beliefs and expectations about themselves, their future, and social relationships. For many people with cancer, it is important to come to terms psychologically with the illness – to make sense of or somehow accept the reality of it. People often do this by thinking about different aspects of the disease and its implications for their life, but also through socially processing, or talking about, their cancer-related thoughts, feelings, and concerns with others. When people experience social constraints on their disclosure of cancer-related thoughts and feelings, it can adversely affect how they think and talk about their illness, their coping behaviors, and psychological adjustment. In addition to discussing mechanisms and consequences of social constraints on disclosure, we discuss some of its determinants and future research directions.
Localizing and tracking electrodes using stereovision in epilepsy cases

In epilepsy cases, subdural electrodes are often implanted to acquire intracranial EEG (iEEG) for seizure localization and resection planning. However, the electrodes may shift significantly between implantation and resection, during the time that the patient is monitored for iEEG recording. As a result, the accuracy of surgical planning based on electrode locations at the time of resection can be compromised. Previous studies have only quantified the electrode shift with respect to the skull, but not with respect to the cortical surface, because tracking cortical shift between surgeries is challenging. In this study, we use an intraoperative stereovision (iSV) system to visualize and localize the cortical surface as well as electrodes, record three-dimensional (3D) locations of the electrodes in MR space at the time of implantation and resection, respectively, and quantify the raw displacements, i.e., with respect to the skull. Furthermore, we track the cortical surface and quantify the shift between surgeries using an optical flow (OF) based motion-tracking algorithm. Finally, we compute the electrode shift with respect to the cortical surface by subtracting the cortical shift from raw measured displacements. We illustrate the method using one patient example. In this particular patient case, the results show that the electrodes not only shifted significantly with respect to the skull (8.79 ± 3.00 mm in the lateral direction, ranging from 2.88 mm to 12.87 mm), but also with respect to the cortical surface (7.20 ± 3.58 mm), whereas the cortical surface did not shift significantly in the lateral direction between surgeries (2.23 ± 0.76 mm).
PGE2 through the EP4 receptor controls smooth muscle gene expression patterns in the ductus arteriosus critical for remodeling at birth.

The ductus arteriosus (DA) is a fetal shunt that directs right ventricular outflow away from pulmonary circulation and into the aorta. Critical roles for prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and the EP4 receptor (EP4) have been established in maintaining both the patency of the vessel in utero and in its closure at birth. Here we have generated mice in which loss of EP4 expression is limited to either the smooth muscle (SMC) or endothelial cells and demonstrated that SMC, but not endothelial cell expression of EP4 is required for DA closure. The genome wide expression analysis of full term wild type and EP4−/− DA indicates that PGE2/EP4 signaling modulates expression of a number of unique pathways, including those involved in SMC proliferation, cell migration, and vascular tone. Together this supports a mechanism by which maturation and increased contractility of the vessel is coupled to the potent smooth muscle dilatory actions of PGE2.
Power law Kohn anomalies and the excitonic transition in graphene

Abstract Dirac electrons in graphene in the presence of Coulomb interactions of strength β have been shown to display power law behavior with β dependent exponents in certain correlation functions, which we call the mass susceptibilities of the system. In this work, we first discuss how this phenomenon is intimately related to the excitonic insulator transition, showing the explicit relation between the gap equation and response function approaches to this problem. We then provide a general computation of these mass susceptibilities in the ladder approximation, and present an analytical computation of the static exponent within a simplified kernel model, obtaining η 0 = 1 − β / β c . Finally we emphasize that the behavior of these susceptibilities provides new experimental signatures of interactions, such as power law Kohn anomalies in the dispersion of several phonons, which could potentially be used as a measurement of β .
XPS study of the chemical structure of the nickel/silicon interface

The chemical nature of the Ni/Si, Ni/Ni_(2)Si and Si/Ni_(2)Si interfaces have been investigated using x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Peak position, line shapes, and envelope intensities are used to probe the compositional structure of these systems. Two approaches have been employed: one approach examines the advancing planar silicide front by dynamically monitoring the in situ formation of Ni_(2)Si. This has the advantage of allowing examination of a realistic interface which is bounded on either side by an extended solid. The second approach follows the development of the Si/Ni interface using UHV depositions of thin layers of Ni on Si . ^(4)He^+ backscattering is used to follow the progression of the thin film reaction and to provide quantitative information on atomic composition. These experiments demonstrate that the Ni/Ni_(2)Si interface consists of a Ni‐rich silicide transitional phase while the Si/Ni_(2)Si interface shows a transitional structure which is correspondingly Si‐rich. Intensity analysis indicates that these interfacial regions are at least 22 A wide for α‐Si substrates and 9–14 A wide for crystalline Si. The as‐deposited Ni/Si interface cannot be described as a unique single‐phase, but rather as a chemically graded transitional region showing a composition which varies from Si‐rich to Ni‐rich silicides.
Histamine modulates in vitro IgG production by pokeweed mitogen-stimulated human mononuclear cells

Abstract The modulatory role of histamine was investigated in an in vitro model involving immunoglobulin production by human blood mononuclear cells. The addition of histamine in vitro had little effect on the spontaneous production of IgG (measured by double-antibody radioimmunoassay). However, the addition of histamine (10 −4 –10 −9 M ) to mononuclear cells stimulated with an optimun concentration of pokeweed mitogen (PWM) significantly suppressed IgG production in a dose-dependent fashion from 10 −4 to 10 −6 , M (range 55-37% suppressor, respectively). The kinetics of histamine-induced suppression was investigated by adding histamine to mononuclear cells at the time of stimulation by PWM or up to 4 days later. Histamine only significantly suppressed PWM induced IgG synthesis if added up to 72 hr after the addition of PWM. In order to characterize the histamine-responsive suppressor cell in this system we employed a coculture technique and compared our findings to those of Con A-induced suppression. Mononuclear cells were either separated into E-rosette-positive (T-enriched) or E-rosettenegative (T-depleted) populations, irradiated, or treated with monoclonal antibodies plus complement; cells were then stimulated with histamine or Con A for 24 hr and cocultured with autologous E-rosette-negative populations that were then stimulated with PWM, and IgG production was measured. The histamine- and Con A-responsive suppressor cell was found within the T-enriched population, was radiation sensitive to 2000 and 3000 rad, respectively, and was identified by OKT8 antisera but not OKT4 antisera. Of particular interest, the addition of histamine to irradiated T cells and PWM-stimulated T-depleted populations did not result in suppression of IgG production, implying that B cells were not being inhibited directly by histamine. The nature of the histamine receptor present on the suppressor cell was investigated. The H 1 antagonist, diphenhydramine (10 −4 , M ), inhibited IgG production as effectively as histamine. The combinations of h 1 antagonist and histamine did not result in an additive effect. Cimetidine (10 −4 , M ), had no effect by itself on in vitro IgG production and the combination of cimetidine plus histamine in equimolar concentrations did not abrogate histamine-induced inhibition of IgG production. Studies employing the H 1 and H 2 agonists (10 −4 to 10 −6 , M ), 2-pyridylethylamine and Dimaprit, respectively, resulted in an equivalent suppression of IgG production. The H 1 and H 2 agonist-responsive suppressor cell was found in the T-enriched population and was sensitive to 3000 rad. These experiments imply that the histamine-reactive cell suppressing IgG synthesis may be activated through either its H 1 or H 2 receptor.
Online learning: Are subjective perceptions of instructional context related to academic success?

Abstract This study explored the extent to which students' thoughts, feelings, and actions are associated with the nature of an online course and how that course relates to them personally. Following completion of an online course in aviation physiology, service academy undergraduates ( N = 481) completed a survey that assessed several motivational, emotional, and behavioral outcomes. Consistent with expectations, results from a logistic regression analysis revealed that students who said they were planning to become aviators upon graduation were more likely to report greater perceptions of task value and greater use of metacognitive control strategies than their non-aviator counterparts. On the other hand, after controlling for the other variables in the model, aviators were actually less likely to report being satisfied with the online course, an unexpected finding. Taken together, these results partially substantiate the social cognitive notion that subjective perceptions of the learning environment ultimately shape students' motivational and behavioral engagement in that environment. Implications for the theory and research of online learning are discussed.
A quantitative model of the human-machine interaction and multi-task performance: A strategy function and the unity model paradigm

A human-machine-interaction (HMI) model is developed for the human operator (HO) performing five simultaneous tasks and characterized by a strategy function. Five levels of total machine-initiated baud rate (B"I"N) are generated by the multi-attribute task battery (MATB) and five HO baud rates (B"O) are then recorded. Total baud ratio ([email protected]?) is defined as the ratio of B"O to B"I"N. Results indicate that with increasing B"I"N levels: (1) there is an overall increase in B"O, and (2) there is an overall decrease in [email protected]?. These results are due to a decreasing HMI performance and divergence of the strategy function from a unity model paradigm.