cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of Irrigation Frequency on Turf Quality, Shoot Density, and Root Length Density of Five Bentgrass Cultivars

The culture of creeping bentgrass (Agrostis palustris Huds.) at low mowing heights on putting greens in the hot humid region of the USA presents numerous water management problems. Frequent irrigation of greens to prevent water stress has been credited with producing shallow rooted turf with reduced tolerance to environmental stress. The present study was conducted to determine the relationship between irrigation frequency and turf quality, shoot density, and root length density for five cultivars of creeping bentgrass grown on a sand-based root zone and maintained to putting green standards. A total of 81 plots, 1.5 by 1.5 m each, were established on a USGA-type root zone mixture and organized into nine irrigation cells of nine plots each. Each irrigation cell could be irrigated individually. One plot in each irrigation cell was planted to the following bentgrass cultivars: A-4, Crenshaw, Mariner, L-93, and Penncross. The remaining four plots in each irrigation cell were also planted with bentgrass but were not a part of this study. Irrigation frequency treatments of 1-, 2-, and 4-d were imposed on three irrigation cells each. After establishment, measurements of turf quality, shoot density and root length density were made over a 2-yr period. In both years, Crenshaw and L-93 had the best turf quality. At the end of the study, shoot densities for Crenshaw, L-93, and A-4 were 37 to 42% greater than Mariner and Penncross. Because of frequent rainfall events in 1997, there were no significant (P ≤ 0.05) effects of irrigation frequency on shoot density or root length density. However, in 1998, turf was more dependent on irrigation and bentgrass irrigated every 4 d had significantly greater turf quality, shoot density, and root length density than that watered every 1 or 2 d. The data show that even under putting green management conditions, reduced irrigation frequency of bentgrass produces a larger and deeper root system resulting in greater overall plant health, turf quality, and shoot density.
A THREE‐DIMENSIONAL LIFE TABLE APPROACH TO IMMIGRANTS' SOJOURNS ABROAD

: This article develops a three-dimensional life table as a spatio-demographic tool to estimate the cumulative years spent abroad for an age-heterogeneous immigrant cohort as well as conditional life-abroad expectancies. The three-dimensional life table accounts simultaneously for the two attrition processes terminating immigrants' life-abroad, namely the spatial process of return migration and the demographic process of mortality, using age-dependent mortality and duration-age dependent return migration probabilities for age-heterogeneous immigrant cohorts. The three-dimensional life table forms the basis for a series of simulations to derive the cumulative years spent abroad for an age-heterogeneous immigrant cohort as well as conditional life-abroad expectancies under a variety of scenarios, ranging from no return migration to strong return migration characteristic of the early phase of an immigration system.
Molecular assays advance understanding of sulfate reduction despite cryptic cycles

Abiotic and secondary biotic reactions can contribute to the formation of cryptic biogeochemical cycles, resulting in an underestimation of carbon and nutrient budgets. This Texas coastal estuary sediment study provided a unique opportunity to use multidisciplinary RNA-based molecular and geochemical approaches to identify cryptic cycles associated with sulfate reduction, a commonly measured biogeochemical process considered to be the predominant anoxic terminal electron accepting process in shallow marine environments. Active sulfate reduction within an environment is typically determined by the detection of sulfides. However, a biologically driven cryptic cycle was determined by identifying metabolically active sulfate reducing and sulfur oxidizing lineages co-locating within the sediments, effectively masking sulfide production through re-oxidation back to sulfate. Similar co-location of sulfate and iron reducing lineages prevented the detection of sulfides through the formation of iron sulfide minerals, producing a geochemically driven cryptic cycle. We also showed that sulfate reduction rates determined by 35SO4 2− incubation analysis can be positively correlated with dsrA transcript abundance, and thus this molecular technique may be a proxy for the prohibitive radioactive method. Based on these results, support is given to a synergistic geochemical and molecular biological strategy to better provide an understanding of marine sulfur cycle.
Retention of Under-represented Minorities in Drug Abuse Treatment Studies:

Background Differential attrition by minority participants can be as limiting to interpreting final results as poor initial recruitment of minority participants. This is especially important in drug abuse treatment studies, as minorities are over-represented in substance abuse clinical treatment programs.Purpose The specific aims of this secondary data analysis were to: (1) determine if there are differences in study retention rates by race/ethnicity and age, and (2) explore other client characteristics, as well as protocol and treatment program factors, that could account for differential retention rates.Methods We conducted a secondary analysis using data from 1737 participants in the first six clinical trials whose databases were locked in the NIDA Clinical Trials Network. Protocol level characteristics were also abstracted from these studies, and we used data from a study which assessed characteristics of community treatment programs that participated in these studies. Logistic regression was used to ...
Elastic properties of microstructural components of human bone tissue as measured by nanoindentation

The elastic properties of several microstructural components of dry human vertebrae (T-12 and L-1) and tibiae have been investigated in the longitudinal and transverse directions using nanoindentation. The largest Young's modulus was that for the interstitial lamellae in the longitudinal direction (25.7 +/- 1.7 GPa). This was followed in decreasing order by osteons in the longitudinal direction (22.4 +/- 1.2 GPa), trabeculae in the longitudinal direction (19.4 +/- 2.3 GPa), an average over osteons and interstitial lamellae in the transverse direction [16.6 +/- 1.1 GPa (it was difficult to microstructurally distinguish osteons from interstitial lamellae in the transverse direction)], and trabeculae in the transverse direction (15.0 +/- 2.5 GPa). An ANOVA statistical analysis revealed that the values all are significantly different (p < 0.05). Since the elastic moduli in the longitudinal direction are all greater than in the transverse, measurable elastic anisotropies exist in the components. The hardnesses also varied among the microstructural components in the range 0.52-0.74 GPa.
Manufacturing employment, city size, and inter-urban wage differentials

The positive correlation between city size and money wage rates has been an important factor in the spatial redistribution of population in the United States. Previous studies of inter-urban wage differentials have emphasized labor productivity differences (arising from sex, age, racial, and educational characteristics) and variations in labor demand associated with factor proportions, scale of firm, and industry mix. The analysis presented here expands this research base by articulating a theoretical model of the labor demand-supply relationships which incorporates (1) the implied predictive assumptions underlying regression studies of the relation between wage rates and city size and (2) the conflicting locational forces of local demand for products and/or labor and the competitive disadvantage of distance from intermediate or final markets for output. Statistical estimation and testing of the important relationships implied by the model confirm the significance of its principal variables.
Evaluation of Early Marrow Response in Childhood Aneuploid Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Flow Cytometric DNA Analysis versus Standard Morphology

Despite improved survival rates for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the relapse rate remains at 20–30%. Early peripheral blood and bone marrow (BM) responses have been associated with more favorable outcomes; all current children’s cancer group (CCG) protocols for ALL require BM evaluation at days 7 and 14 with subsequent therapy based on the results. Morphologic interpretation of aspirate smears during induction chemotherapy is challenging, as the samples are often hypocellular, excessively friable, and cytologically altered by drugs. We have shown discordancy of day 7 and 14 BM lymphoblast counts using morphologic and flow cytometric immunophenotypic analyses (FC). The aim of our study was to determine the utility, reliability, and cost effectiveness of lymphoblast enumeration using DNA content analysis by flow cytometry (DNA-FC) and to further demonstrate the subjectivity of morphologic review. All new cases of ALL had DNA-FC and FC analyses. The percentage of lymphoblasts as determined by both methods was compared for 82 aneuploid cases. Three pathologists independently reviewed aspirate smears from 39 bone marrow samples of aneuploid ALL that were obtained during early induction. These results were compared among themselves and with the results obtained by DNA-FC. We found excellent correlation between the percentage of lymphoblasts as determined by DNA-FC and FC (R 2 = 0.97) over a range of 0 to 99%. Pathologic review agreed with the DNA-FC, on average, 68%. The sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of morphologic review, averaged 53, 84, 78, and 63%, respectively, when using DNA-FC as the “gold standard.” All three pathologists achieved agreement of lymphoblast percentage by morphology in 72%. In our laboratory, the use of DNA-FC equates to one-sixth the time and one-half the price of FC per exam. We have shown a strong correlation between blast counts determined by DNA-FC and FC. DNA-FC is an objective, economical, and reliable method to assess early response in induction marrows from aneuploid ALL where morphology is often uninterpretable. This test is highly reproducible and available at most pediatric institutions. Prospective studies need to be employed to evaluate the effect of more definitive methods (DNA-FC and FC) of assessing the early response in bone marrows on prognosis.
Some Remarks Concerning an Example of a Minimal, Non-Uniquely Ergodic Interval Exchange Transformation

On etudie l'existence de mesure invariante unique pour une transformation d'echange de l'intervalle satisfaisant la condition de minimalite
Surgical management of hemodialysis-related central venous occlusive disease: A treatment algorithm

Background Creation and preservation of dialysis access in patients with central venous occlusive disease (CVOD) is a complex problem. The surgical approach and decision-making process remains poorly defined. We evaluated our experience in the surgical management of hemodialysis-related CVOD. Surgical technique, demographics, complications, reinterventions, access function rates, and factors influencing morbidity and mortality were examined. Methods From January 2006 to May 2010, we performed a total of 1,703 dialysis access-related procedures, 1,021 arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs), 335 arteriovenous grafts (AVGs), and 314 access revisions including endovascular salvage procedures. Seventeen patients (10 women [58%] with a mean age of 44 ± 27 years) with CVOD who were not suitable for peritoneal dialysis or kidney transplant underwent 20 complex vascular access procedures. The indications were need for access creation in 14 cases (70%) and preservation in the remaining 6 (30%). Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was used for all surgical bypass grafts (BPG). All patients had previously undergone multiple access surgeries and had failed percutaneous interventions for CVOD. Results The surgical planning centered on finding venous outflow for an arteriovenous (AV) access; central venous reconstructions were necessary in 10 (50%) cases (seven [35%] in the thoracic central venous system and three [15%] in infradiaphragmatic vessels) and extracavitary venous BPG in two (10%) cases. Non-venous access options included axillary arterial-arterial chest wall BPG in five (25%) cases and brachial artery to right atrium BPG in three (15%). Technical success was achieved in all cases (100%). Mean follow-up was 14.1 months, both BPG and AV access patency rates were 66% at 6 months and overall average AV access function time was 9.2 months. Of these, 85% of patients were discharged home and following 19 (95%) cases they returned or improved their baseline functional status. One death occurred from multiorgan failure during the 30-day postoperative period. Four additional patients died within 3 years of the procedure secondary to nonsurgical-related comorbidities. Conclusion The need for complex vascular accesses will continue as the number of patients with end-stage renal disease increases. CVOD is an access surgical challenge and with this article we propose a decision-making algorithm.
Gaussian random fields

Nonanticipative representations of Gaussian random fields equivalent to the two-parameter Wiener process are defined, and necessary and sufficient conditions for their existence derived. When such representations exist they provide examples of canonical representations of multiplicity one. In contrast to the one-parameter case, examples are given where nonanticipative representations do not exist. Nonanticipative representations along increasing paths are also studied.
Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology of peripheral nerve-sheath tumors

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) has allowed for the fine-needle aspiration and diagnosis of many different gastrointestinal neoplasms, including mesenchymal tumors. Although most mesenchymal tumors of the gastrointestinal tract are gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), other mesenchymal tumors, including neural tumors, do occur. Proper diagnosis and differentiation of these tumors from GISTs are important because of their different prognoses and treatment regimens. We encountered three peripheral nerve-sheath tumors of the gastrointestinal tract aspirated by EUS (two schwannomas and a granular-cell tumor). We report on the endoscopic ultrasound, cytologic, histologic, and immunohistochemical findings of these cases. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2004;30:172–177. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Solving the algebraic Riccati equation with the matrix sign function

Abstract This paper presents some improvements to the matrix-sign-function algorithm for the algebraic Riccati equation. A simple reorganization changes nonsymmetric matrix inversions into symmetric matrix inversions. Scaling accelerates convergence of the basic iteration and yields a new quadratic formula for certain 2-by-2 algebraic Riccati equations. Numerical experience suggests the algorithm be supplemented with a refinement strategy similar to iterative refinement for systems of linear equations. Refinement also produces an error estimate. The resulting procedure is numerically stable. It compares favorably with current Schur vector-based algorithms.
Applying Delphi methodology in family therapy research

The Delphi technique, which is increasingly seen in family therapy publications, encourages the articulation of refinement in family therapy practice and theory. Combining both quantitative and qualitative methodology, this technique involves consideration of information that might otherwise have been overlooked. Due to lack of clarity on this approach, a dilemma exists in applying this research procedure in family therapy. To remedy this deterrent, this paper reviewed 11 studies and outlined use of the technique in regard to design, procedure, and sampling.
Oxidation Kinetics of Fe(II) in a Eutrophic Swiss Lake

The rate of oxidation of ferrous iron was measured in samples from Lake Greifen, a eutrophic lake in Switzerland. Fe(II) concentrations were followed using an automated flow injection analysis system employing luminol-based chemiluminescence detection of Fe(II). For kinetic studies at pH > 7.8, the system was modified to allow a time resolution of less than 1 s. Oxidation rates were measured in unfiltered samples at 2−2000 nM Fe(II). The pH was varied between 6.8 and 8.3 by bubbling with CO2 and synthetic air. Above pH 7.4, rates were consistent with the rate law determined in pure carbonate systems. Between pH 6.8 and pH 7.3, however, the apparent rate was independent of pH. This surprising finding may be explained by some naturally occurring (organic, colloidal, or surface) ligand(s) that accelerate the oxidation of Fe(II). The relative importance and pH dependence of the direct reaction with O2 in comparison to that with H2O2 was determined, and the enhancement of the overall rate was attributed to the...
Reading paradigms: From lab to cyberspace?

Computer-controlled display procedures useful for doing reading research are discussed. The procedures used in the present research vary the text unit size (from single words to half-sentences), the amount of context available (no context and varying amounts of prior text), text movement (centered words or successive left-to-right placement), and use of text highlighting (present, absent). The data suggest links between the display attributes and the subjects’ coding strategies during reading of mathematical word problems. Display attributes can influence the time course of processing, the subjectively coded unit size, and the nature of linguistic processing. The data also have implications for display attributes that may make reading in cyberspace more user friendly for both novice and expert readers.
Drops on soft surfaces learn the hard way

A liquid drop sits on a solid surface and slides away when the surface is tilted. Few physical systems seem so mundane or would appear to be governed by such plain, predictable, and long-understood principles. Indeed, Young’s fundamental understanding of the equilibrium gas/liquid/solid contact line (Fig. 1A) has remained intact for over two centuries (1). Nonetheless, static and dynamic contact lines continue to provide surprises (2), yielding qualitatively new insights, motivating new materials, and highlighting the mysteries that can remain overlooked within even the simplest of systems. In PNAS, Style et al. reveal yet another surprise hidden within this classic system: droplets spontaneously migrate along substrates that are chemically homogeneous, but inhomogeneously deformable (3). The Young (or Young–Dupre) equation,relates the equilibrium angle formed at the solid/liquid/gas contact line to the respective surface energies γ, which act as tensions pulling along each interface (Fig. 1A). Any nonzero vector sum of these three tensions would cause the contact line to move in response, unless some chemical or topographical inhomogeneity held it in place. Young’s equilibrium contact angle, then, arranges the interfaces to balance these forces, giving Eq. 1.
From few to many: generative models for recognition under variable pose and illumination

Image variability due to changes in pose and illumination can seriously impair object recognition. This paper presents appearance-based methods which, unlike previous appearance-based approaches, require only a small set of training images to generate a rich representation that models this variability. Specifically, from as few as three images of an object in fixed pose seen under slightly varying but unknown lighting, a surface and an albedo map are reconstructed. These are then used to generate synthetic images with large variations in pose and illumination and thus build a representation useful for object recognition. Our methods have been tested within the domain of face recognition on a subset of the Yale Face Database B containing 4050 images of 10 faces seen under variable pose and illumination. This database was specifically gathered for testing these generative methods. Their performance is shown to exceed that of popular existing methods.
Is insulin sensitivity a causal intermediate in the relationship between alcohol consumption and carotid atherosclerosis?: the insulin resistance and atherosclerosis study.

OBJECTIVE —A J-shaped association has been demonstrated between alcohol consumption and atherosclerosis. Insulin resistance, also a risk factor for atherosclerosis, has been shown to have a similar J-shaped association with alcohol intake. This raises the question of whether insulin sensitivity ( S I ) is a causal intermediate in the alcohol-atherosclerosis relationship. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS —The Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study was a multicenter cohort study designed to investigate relationships among S I , risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and carotid artery atherosclerosis. Using regression analysis, we tested whether adjustment for S I attenuated the alcohol-atherosclerosis relationship observed at baseline. RESULTS —A J-shaped association was observed between alcohol consumption and common carotid artery intimal medial thickness. The protective aspect of the alcohol-atherosclerosis relationship was attenuated by 25% after the adjustment for S I . However, an interaction was observed between alcohol consumption and glucose tolerance (GT) status. In comparison with never drinkers, all levels of alcohol consumption were associated with less atherosclerosis in participants with normal GT status. Participants with impaired GT status (but not diabetes) demonstrated a J-shaped alcohol-atherosclerosis association. All levels of alcohol consumption were associated with more atherosclerosis in participants with diabetes. CONCLUSIONS — S I may be a causal intermediate at protective levels of alcohol intake, but an alcohol-GT interaction precluded a definitive conclusion. Moderate alcohol consumption may increase the risk of atherosclerosis in people with diabetes. These findings contrast with previous reports and do not support current recommendations regarding moderate alcohol consumption in people with diabetes. More research is needed to clarify this issue.
Reduced order compensator design for an experimental large flexible structure

A low order controller is designed for the TRW experimental truss structure described in [20]. The objective is to achieve good disturbance attenuation, while at the same time preserving good stability margin and other robustness properties. The method used as a first cut is LQG with frequency dependent weights and colored noises. Controller reduction is accomplished through the open-loop balancing scheme of Moore applied to the full order compensator. A typical design result shows that it is possible to obtain a very low order design which meets the above specification.
Conformational Transitions as Molecular Signalling Mechanisms in Synthetic Bilayer Membranes

Conformational transitions in membrane-bound macromolecules probably provide the most general and powerful mechanisms for chemical and physical signalling processes in biology. Changes in the conformations of membrane proteins and glycoproteins are exploited in cell biology to modulate enzymatic activity, to change membrane permeability, and to initiate the membrane reorganization events involved in endocytosis, in secretion and in the processing of ligands and receptors. In recent years, we have explored the consequences of conformational transitions in synthetic macromolecules bound to lipid bilayer membranes by adsorption or via hydrophobic anchoring groups.1-4 The present chapter examines the roles of polymer conformation and solvation in controlling membrane structure in such systems.
Time to Prison Return for Offenders With Serious Mental Illness Released From Prison A Survival Analysis

Serious mental illness (SMI) represents a major risk for repeated incarceration, yet recidivism studies often do not specifically focus on persons with SMI as compared to non-SMI offenders. The study reported here systematically identified Utah State prisoners released from 1998 to 2002 (N = 9,245) who meet criteria for SMI and compared SMI and non-SMI offenders on length of time to prison return. Findings indicate that 23% of the sample met criteria for SMI (n = 2,112). Moreover, survival analyses demonstrated a significant difference in return rates and community tenure for offenders with SMI compared to non-SMI offenders when controlling for demographics, condition of release, offense type, and condition of return (parole violation vs. new commitment). The median time for all SMI offenders to return to prison was 385 days versus 743 days for all non-SMI offenders, 358 days sooner (p < .001). Implications of these findings are discussed.
Normal epidermal basal cell behavior in the absence of basement membrane.

The definitive role of the basement membrane complex adjacent to epithelial cells has not been established for developing systems. Speculation based on its position and properties of permeability to molecules of various size (1, 2) has led to the idea that the basement membrane is an important factor in mediation of extrinsic cues to developing epithelial cells (3). I t is unknown whether the basement membrane must be present in order for normal cell behavior to proceed. Embryonic chick epidermis possesses a basement membrane below its columnar, mitotically active basal cells (4). Such epidermis can be freed from the adjacent dermis by trypsin-pancreatin treatment and cultured in vitro on Millipore filters (5, 6). During such treatment, fixable basement membrane materials are removed (5). When cultured in the presence of protein-free, defined chemical nutrients, the basal cells flatten and become mitotically quiescent after about 10 hr (7). In the presence of 20% by volume of chick embryo juice in the medium (6) or with dermis placed on the opposite side of the filter (5), the cells retain their normal orientation and activities. Under these
A SAS® macro for constructing simultaneous confidence intervals for multinomial proportions

Quesenberry and Hurst (1964), Goodman (1965) and Fitzpatrick and Scott (1987) proposed simultaneous construction of confidence intervals for multinomial proportions, however. statistical computing packages do not generally give one the option of specifying the type of construction to be used. We have written a SAS macro using PROC IML that takes multinomial cell counts as input and returns simultaneous confidence intervals with the user-specified coverage probability. Two main features of the macro are its ease of use and its flexibility in allowing the user to choose among six methods of constructing confidence intervals for multinomial proportions. Based on simulation May and Johnson (1997) recommended the intervals proposed by Goodman (1965) in most practical applications.
Locking depths estimated from geodesy and seismology along the San Andreas Fault System: Implications for seismic moment release

[1] The depth of the seismogenic zone is a critical parameter for earthquake hazard models. Independent observations from seismology and geodesy can provide insight into the depths of faulting, but these depths do not always agree. Here we inspect variations in fault depths of 12 segments of the southern San Andreas Fault System derived from over 1000 GPS velocities and 66,000 relocated earthquake hypocenters. Geodetically determined locking depths range from 6 to 22 km, while seismogenic thicknesses are largely limited to depths of 11–20km.Theseseismogenicdepthsbestmatchthegeodeticlockingdepthswhenestimated at the 95% cutoff depth in seismicity, and most fault segment depths agree to within 2 km. However, the Imperial, Coyote Creek, and Borrego segments have significant discrepancies. In these cases the geodetically inferred locking depths are much shallower than the seismogenic depths. We also examine variations in seismic moment accumulation rate per unit fault length as suggested by seismicity and geodesy and find that both approaches yield high rates (1.5– 1.8 ×1 0 13 Nm/yr/km) along the Mojave and Carrizo segments and low rates (∼0.2 × 10 13 Nm/yr/km) along several San Jacinto segments. The largest difference in seismic moment between models is calculated for the Imperial segment, where the moment rate from seismic depths is a factor of ∼2.5 larger than that from geodetic depths. Such variability has important implications for the accuracy to which future major earthquake magnitudes can be estimated.
Nitrogen alters carbon dynamics during early succession in boreal forest

Boreal forests are an important source of wood products, and fertilizers could be used to improve forest yields, especially in nutrient poor regions of the boreal zone. With climate change, fire frequencies may increase, resulting in a larger fraction of the boreal landscape present in early-successional stages. Since most fertilization studies have focused on mature boreal forests, the response of burned boreal ecosystems to increased nutrient availability is unclear. Therefore, we used a nitrogen (N) fertilization experiment to test how C cycling in a recently-burned boreal ecosystem would respond to increased N availability. We hypothesized that fertilization would increase rates of decomposition, soil respiration, and the activity of extracellular enzymes involved in C cycling, thereby reducing soil C stocks. In line with our hypothesis, litter mass loss increased significantly and activities of cellulose- and chitin-degrading enzymes increased by 45–61% with N addition. We also observed a significant decline in C concentrations in the organic soil horizon from 19.5 ± 0.7% to 13.5 ± 0.6%, and there was a trend toward lower total soil C stocks in the fertilized plots. Contrary to our hypothesis, mean soil respiration over three growing seasons declined by 31% from 78.3 ± 6.5 mg CO2–C m−2 h−1 to 54.4 ± 4.1 mg CO2–C m−2 h−1. These changes occurred despite a 2.5-fold increase in aboveground net primary productivity with N, and were accompanied by significant shifts in the structure of the fungal community, which was dominated by Ascomycota. Our results show that the C cycle in early-successional boreal ecosystems is highly responsive to N addition. Fertilization results in an initial loss of soil C followed by depletion of soil C substrates and development of a distinct and active fungal community. Total microbial biomass declines and respiration rates do not keep pace with plant inputs. These patterns suggest that N fertilization could transiently reduce but then increase ecosystem C storage in boreal regions experiencing more frequent fires.
Developmental Attainment in Preschool Children: Analysis of Concordance Between Parents and Professionals

P.L. 94-142 mandates parent participation in the evaluation of their children's difficulties. The authors discuss parents' reports of their children's current development, in contrast to previous studies that have relied on parents' memory of their children's developmental mile-stones. A 34-item checklist was developed to document parents' perceptions of their children's strengths and weaknesses in developmental and skill-related areas. A total of 287 preschool children with a mean age of 5 years-1 month were tested by psychologists, pediatricians, and teachers. Parents' reports were compared with the findings of these professionals. Factor analysis was applied to the parent checklist scores and 4 major item clusters were identified: language and memory, scholastic interest, visual-perceptual-motor skills, and gross-motor competence. Findings from multiple-regression analyses indicated that parents' reports were generally consistent with those of the professionals. In particular, parental reports of their...
Aneurysmal change at or above the proximal anastomosis after infrarenal aortic grafting.

Abstract We conducted a retrospective review of all patients undergoing repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm at or above the proximal anastomosis of a previous infrarenal aortic graft between 1986 and 1991. Infected grafts and patients with suprarenal aneurysms present at the time of the original graft were excluded. Twenty-one patients, 19 men and two women, were included. The original indication for surgery was aneurysm in 14 patients and occlusive disease in seven; the mean interval from initial surgery to presentation was 10 years (range, 3 to 23 years). Twelve lesions were anastomotic false aneurysms, and nine were true aneurysms beginning in the proximal juxtaanastomotic aorta. Fourteen patients had an asymptomatic abdominal mass. Seven patients had symptoms of acute expansion (three), rupture (three), or thrombosis (one). True aneurysm and symptomatic presentation were correlated with aneurysm as the original indication for surgery. Repair was accomplished by an interpositional graft in 13 and graft replacement in eight. Seven patients required suprarenal anastomosis or renal and visceral reconstruction. Five operative deaths (24%) occurred, including two of three patients with rupture (67%) and two of seven patients (28%) in the suprarenal group. The mortality rate for elective repair with an infrarenal anastomosis was 11%. Two additional late deaths occurred during the follow-up period. (J Vasc Surg 1992;16:855–60.)
Reconstructing Hurricane Disturbance in a Tropical Montane Forest Landscape in the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic: Implications for Vegetation Patterns and Dynamics

Abstract Hurricanes are intense, frequent disturbances of Caribbean ecosystems and are important agents in structuring the region's ecological patterns and processes. The rugged topography and diverse vegetation of Caribbean tropical montane forests interact with hurricane forces to create complex disturbance patterns. In this study, we used a 158-yr historical database of hurricane tracks to calculate fine-scale hurricane return intervals across the Caribbean, and Landsat imagery and field inventory to reconstruct wind and rain disturbance from Hurricane Georges in the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic. Spatial patterns of disturbance from Georges and the relationship of disturbance with hurricane meteorology, topography, and vegetation were analyzed for the landscape. The long-term hurricane return interval for the Cordillera Central was 14.4 yrs. Damage from hurricane Georges was distributed over a small portion of the study area (∼330 km2 study area); only 11.3% of the study area was disturbed by...
A novel solution-technique applied to a novel WAAS architecture

The Federal Aviation Administration has embarked on an historic task of modernizing and significantly improving the national air transportation system. One system that uses the Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine aircraft navigational information is called the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). This paper describes a reliability assessment of one candidate system architecture for the WAAS. A unique aspect of this study regards the modeling and solution of a candidate system that allows a novel cold sparing scheme. The cold spare is a WAAS communications satellite that is fabricated and launched after a predetermined number of orbiting satellite failures have occurred and after some stochastic fabrication time transpires. Because these satellites are complex systems with redundant components, they exhibit an increasing failure rate with a Weibull time to failure distribution. Moreover, the cold spare satellite build-time is Weibull and upon launch is considered to be a good-as-new system with an increasing failure rate and a Weibull time to failure distribution as well. The reliability model for this system is nonMarkovian because three distinct system clocks are required: the time to failure of the orbiting satellites, the build time for the cold spare, and the time to failure for the launched spare satellite. A powerful dynamic fault tree modeling notation and Monte Carlo simulation technique with importance sampling are shown to arrive at a reliability prediction for a 10 year mission.
Bone characteristics and femoral strength in commercial toms: The effect of protein and energy restriction

Selection for rapid growth in turkeys has resulted in skeletal problems such as femoral fractures. Slowing growth rate has improved bone structure, but the effect on mechanical properties of the bone is unclear. The current study's hypothesis was that slowing the growth of turkeys by reducing energy and CP in the diet would result in increased femur integrity. Commercial turkeys were fed 1 of 3 diets: control with 100% of NRC energy and CP levels, as well as a diet feeding 80 or 60% of NRC energy and CP levels. All other nutrients met or exceeded NRC requirements. Control birds were grown to 20 wk of age, whereas the 80 and 60% NRC birds were sampled when BW matched that of control birds at wk 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20. Both femurs were extracted, with one being measured and ashed and the other twisted to failure to evaluate mechanical properties. Total bone length, diameter, cortical thickness, and cortical density were measured. The total femur length was longer in the 60% NRC birds at 5 and 10 kg of BW compared with control (P < 0.05); this significance was lost by the time birds reached 16 kg of BW. At 5 and 10 kg of BW, ash content was higher in the control birds than in the 60% NRC birds (P < 0.05). At 16 kg of BW, the 60% NRC birds had the highest femur ash (P < 0.05). The mechanical testing parameters were failure torque, shear strength, and shear modulus of the bones. The 60% diet produced the highest failure torque (P < 0.05), at 16 kg of BW and onward. The shear strength was greater (P = 0.01) once the birds reached 5 kg of BW for the 60% diet than other diets. In conclusion, reducing the energy and protein in the diet to 60% of NRC recommendations, thus slowing growth, improved bone strength, as measured by failure torque, and bone quality, as measured by shear strength, without altering bone length or ash content by the time birds reached market weight.
Improvements on an out-of-plane MEMS quadrupole for portable mass spectrometry

Quadrupoles are mass filters composed of a set of four cylindrical rods in a symmetrical setup that are biased with a combination of DC and RF potentials. There has been an active interest in developing scaled-down quadrupole technology for over a decade. This has led to remarkable results in both miniaturized and MEMS-based quadrupoles. This paper reports the design, fabrication, and characterization of a second generation of MEMS out-of-plane quadrupoles mass filter, part of a portable mass spectrometer for gas sensing. The mass spectrometer is composed of a CNT-based ionizer array, a MEMS quadrupole mass filter, MEMS electrometer for charge sensing, and a MEMS displacement pump that provides the required vacuum level. Two key advantages of scaling down quadrupoles are device portability and the relaxation on the vacuum level required for operation. For a fixed rod aspect ratio the quadrupole weight roughly scales to the cube of the rod diameter. Also, scaled down quadrupoles can work at higher pressure provided the gas mean free-path is larger than the quadrupole length. We have experimentally demonstrated that higher working pressure, up to the mTorr level, is compatible with our CNT-based electron impact and field ionizers with no loss in ionizer performance, thus setting the maximum quadrupole length at 5 cm.
Spasmodic Croup in Children: Personal Experiences with Intermittent Positive Pressure Breathing in Therapy

A new approach has been described for the treatment of spas modic croup, an illness frightening to both doctor and child. Intermittent positive pressure breathing (IPPB) therapy ap pears to abort acute attacks and eliminate need for tracheotomy.
Primary culture of lobster (Homarus americanus) olfactory sensory neurons.

Lobster olfactory sensory neurons have contributed to a number of advances in our understanding of olfactory physiology. To facilitate further study of their function, we have developed conditions allowing primary culture of the olfactory sensory neurons in a defined medium. The most common cells in the culture were round cell bodies with diameters of 10–15 µm that often extended fine processes, features resembling olfactory sensory neurons. We discovered that acetylcholinesterase acted as a growth factor for these cells, improving their survival in culture. We also confirmed previous evidence from spiny lobsters that poly-D-lysine was a superior substrate for olfactory cells of this size and morphology. We then identified olfactory sensory neurons in the culture in two ways. Almost half the cells tested responded to application of a complex odorant with an inward current. An even more rigorous test was made possible by the development of an antiserum to OET-07, an ionotropic glutamate receptor homolog specifically expressed by Homarus americanus olfactory sensory neurons. It labeled a majority of the round cells in the culture, unequivocally identifying them as olfactory sensory neurons.
Reported Stress and Its Relationship to Tobacco Use among U.S. Military Personnel

ABSTRACT In addition to common stressors, members of the U.S. Armed Forces experience a high level of stress unique to their status as service members. In an effort to combat stress, many military personnel report high levels of nicotine use. This study investigated the relationship between tobacco use and perceived stress among military members in all four armed services. Results indicate that those who use tobacco products specifically to reduce stress report significantly higher stress levels than those who do not use tobacco. Moreover, current users and those who both smoked and used smokeless tobacco were far more likely to report experiencing “a lot” of stress from a variety of sources than former or never users. Tobacco users also engaged more frequently in negative coping behaviors and relied less on the positive coping strategies used more often by former or never smokers. These findings are consistent with the larger body of literature suggesting that tobacco is not only an ineffective stress-re...
Correlation of Predicted and Observed Suspension Bridge Behavior

Validity of model tests concerning behavior of suspension bridge in wind depends on possible scale effect, and difference between natural wind and wind used in model tests; test data are presented to demonstrate that turbulent or dynamic effects dominate wind action on bridges; behavior of Tacoma Narrows Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge provides good correlation with predictions from model tests and analysis.
Automatic Calibration of Multiple Coplanar Sensors

This paper describes an algorithm for recovering the rigid 3-DOF transformation (offset and rotation) between pairs of sensors mounted rigidly in a common plane on a mobile robot. The algorithm requires only a set of sensor observations made as the robot moves along a suitable path. Our method does not require synchronized sensors; nor does it require complete metrical reconstruction of the environment or the sensor path. We show that incremental pose measurements alone are sufficient to recover sensor calibration through nonlinear least squares estimation. We use the Fisher Information Matrix to compute a Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) for the resulting calibration. Applying the algorithm in practice requires a non-degenerate motion path, a principled procedure for estimating per-sensor pose displacements and their covariances, a way to temporally resample asynchronous sensor data, and a way to assess the quality of the recovered calibration. We give constructive methods for each step. We demonstrate and validate the end-to-end calibration procedure for both simulated and real LIDAR and inertial data, achieving CRLBs, and corresponding calibrations, accurate to millimeters and milliradians. Source code is available from http://rvsn.csail.mit.edu/calibration.
Life Prediction Feasibility in TMF via Stress/Strain Data From a Viscoplasticity-Based Numerical Model

Contemporary computing packages handle a wide variety of stress analysis types, but are yet to provide an optimal way to handle certain load cases and geometries. Blades in gas turbine systems, for instance, undergo repetitive thermal and mechanical load cycles of varied shape and phasing. Complexly-shaped airfoils create non-uniform stress paths that exacerbate the problem of FEA software attempting to determine the correct states of stress and strain at any point during the load history. This research chronicles the update and integration of Miller’s original viscoplasticity model with ANSYS finite element analysis software. Elevated temperature strain-controlled LCF and strain-controlled TMF loadings were applied to single-element, uniaxial simulation runs and the results were then compared to data from duplicate experimental testing. Initial findings indicate that the model maintains significant accuracy through several cycles, but longer tests produce varying error in hysteretic response. A review of the modernized implementation of Miller’s viscoplasticity model is presented with a focus on modifications that may be used to improve future results.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Eye Examinations in Patients Taking Oral Contraceptives

For proper evaluative criteria on the possible opthalmologic effects of oral contraceptives data were collected on patients both prior to and during therapy at the New York Medical College Family Planning Center. The subjects of the study included 611 patients examined prior to therapy and 305 women examined from 1 to 3 years after starting medication. All were from the lower socioeconomic levels the great majority being of Puerto Rican and Negro extraction. Ocular abnormalities were found to occur in the control group with an unanticipated frequency. Approximately 25% of all patients in all groups had an entirely normal examination. Over half of both the control and the various therapy groups were observed to have at least 1 remarkable finding of the lens. No statistically significant changes were noted between the control and therapy groups. None of the severe eye damage previously reported by others was noted in this study.
Morphing Methods to Visualize Coarse-Grained Protein Dynamics

Morphing was initially developed as a cinematic effect, where one image is seamlessly transformed into another image. The technique was widely adopted by biologists to visualize the transition between protein conformational states, generating an interpolated pathway from an initial to a final protein structure. Geometric morphing seeks to create visually suggestive movies that illustrate structural changes between conformations but do not necessarily represent a biologically relevant pathway, while minimum energy path (MEP) interpolations aim at describing the true transition state between the crystal structure minima in the energy landscape.
Vascular adaptations in rat hindlimb skeletal muscle after voluntary running-wheel exercise

To test the hypothesis that voluntary running-wheel exercise would elicit vascular adaptations in rat skeletal muscle, male Sprague-Dawley rats (202 +/- 5 g) were cage confined (C, n = 11) or house...
Constitutively Active STAT5 Constructs

The transcription factor Signal Tranducer and Activator of Transcription 5 (STAT5) plays an important role in many biological processes. To study STAT5 biology, several different constructs have been designed that render STAT5 constitutively active. These constructs have now been used to generate animal models that allow for targeted expression of constitutively active STAT5 including a model where STAT5 is expressed in developing B and T cells. Herein we briefly describe the design of constitutively active STAT5 constructs and recent advances in their use.
Design and development of a 3D folded slot antenna for body-worn wireless devices

A new 3D foldable flexible slot antenna is proposed to be embedded in body-worn devices. It can accommodate skin-thin wearable devices while maintaining a radiation efficiency as high as 75%. The antenna is designed for on-body applications to be operated in 2.36–2.48 GHz frequency range, which covers both the medical body area network (MBAN) and the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) frequencies. It also has a large bandwidth of 120 MHz that can facilitate high data rate wireless channels, suitable for many critical medical applications.