cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Suicide ideation among Latinx adolescents: Examining the role of parental monitoring and intrinsic religiosity

Abstract Latinx adolescents continue to be at elevated risk for depression and suicide. The present study tested the mediation effect of depression in relation to intrinsic religiosity and suicide ideation and the mediating effects of parental involvement in relation to suicide ideation through depressive symptomology. This cross-sectional study included 3, 115 Latinx adolescent respondents from the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Regression path analysis results suggest that the indirect effects of intrinsic religiosity on suicide ideation via depression were statistically significant across various levels of parental monitoring groups suggesting intrinsic religiosity can have a reinforcing moderating mediation effect. Thus, intrinsic religiosity would do more to help reduce suicide ideation through depression. It seems prudent for suicide prevention and intervention efforts to include intrinsic religiosity and parental monitoring since the findings show that both elements can be valuable in reducing depressive symptomology and suicide ideation. Doing so may provide a pathway for reducing suicidality among Latinx youth, an ethnic group with some of the most acute suicide problems in the US.
Influence of hardiness, avoidance coping, and combat exposure on depression in returning war veterans: A moderated-mediation study

Abstract Background Depression is a serious problem among military personnel returning from combat deployments, and is related to a range of adverse outcomes including alcohol and drug abuse, family violence and suicide. The present study explores how psychological hardiness, avoidance coping, and combat stress exposure may influence depression in U.S. Army soldiers returning from a one-year deployment to Afghanistan. Methods National Guard soldiers (N = 357) completed surveys upon their return to home station, including measures of hardiness, avoidance coping, combat exposure, and depression. Path analysis with ordinary least squares regression procedures (PROCESS program; Hayes, 2013) were applied to test for mediation and moderation effects among the study variables. Results: Results showed a pattern of moderated-mediation. In the mediation model, hardiness had a significant effect on depression, which was mediated by avoidance coping. Soldiers low in hardiness reported using more avoidance coping strategies, which was related to increased depression. This effect in turn was seen to be conditional, moderated by level of combat exposure such that the effect was stronger at high levels of exposure. Limitations Data are cross-sectional, and the sample consisted of male soldiers only, which may limit generalizability. Conclusions Depression and related problems among combat veterans may be diminished by applying training programs and policies aimed at increasing hardiness attitudes and active coping skills.
Speculative holding of goods and the macroeconomic implications of interventions into the pricing process

Two decades after its publication, Steven Horwitz’s Microfoundations and Macroeconomics continues to be essential reading for all serious students of Austrian macroeconomics. One of the important contributions of the book is a detailed and insightful analysis of W.H. Hutt’s main contributions to macroeconomics. Building on Horwitz’s discussion, in this paper I delve deeper into the microfoundations of Hutt’s macroeconomic analysis and focus on three main points. First, I highlight the Wicksteedian foundations of Hutt’s price theory. I argue that the main point of connection between Wicksteed and Hutt lies in their common emphasis on the speculative holding of goods as being essential to the pricing process. Second, I outline the interconnection between this emphasis on speculative holding and three concepts that are fundamental to Hutt’s analysis of employment and idleness: the concepts of pseudo-idleness, withheld capacity, and market clearing prices. And third, I discuss Hutt’s analysis of the connection between interventions into the pricing process and widespread economic waste in the form of idle resources in the short run and the sub-optimal use of resources in the long run.
Trajectory Planning of Autonomous Vehicles Based on Parameterized Control Optimization in Dynamic on-Road Environments

This paper presents a trajectory planning framework to deal with the highly dynamic environments for on-road driving. The trajectory optimization problem with parameterized curvature control was formulated to reach the goal state with the vehicle model and its dynamic constraints considered. This in contrast to existing curve fitting techniques guarantees the dynamic feasibility of the planned trajectory. With generation of multiple trajectory candidates along the Frenet frame, the vehicle is reactive to other road users or obstacles encountered. Additionally, to deal with more complex driving scenarios, its seamless interaction with an upper behavior planning layer was considered by having longitudinal motion planning responsive to the desired goal state. The trajectory evaluation and selection methodologies, along with the low-level tracking control, were also developed under this framework. The potential of the proposed trajectory planning framework was demonstrated under different dynamic driving scenarios such as lane-changing or merging with surrounding vehicles with its computation efficiency proven in real-time simulations.
Wasps Use Social Eavesdropping to Learn about Individual Rivals

Summary Many animals minimize the costs of conflict by using social eavesdropping to learn about the fighting ability of potential rivals before they interact. Learning about individual conspecifics via social eavesdropping allows individuals to assess potential opponents without personal risk. However, keeping track of a network of individually differentiated social relationships is thought to be cognitively challenging. Here, we test how Polistes fuscatus nest-founding queens use social eavesdropping to assess individual rivals. Bystanders watched conspecifics fight through a clear partition. Then, bystanders were allowed to interact with fighters. Bystander behavior toward fighters was strongly influenced by the observed fight; bystanders were less aggressive toward fighters that were seen to initiate more and receive less aggression. Control trials allow us to reject alternative explanations for the link between observed aggression and bystander behavior, including priming or winner/loser effects. Therefore, P. fuscatus wasps observe and remember a complex network of social interactions between individual conspecifics rather than only paying attention to individuals they interact with directly. Wasps have an impressive capacity to learn, remember, and make social deductions about individuals. These results indicate that insects can have surprisingly complex social lives involving a network of individually differentiated social relationships.
The Future of Climate Action: From Systems Change to Behavior Change

Action on climate change is becoming increasingly personal. It is no longer the purview of primarily national policymakers, as presidents and prime ministers back out of the Paris Climate Agreement—a pact that intended to locate emissions reduction responsibilities in the hands of national governments. Now, sub-national actors—cities, states, businesses, universities, hospitals, religious organizations, and nonprofit sectors in the global North and South—are filling the void. As part of this shift, personal behavior change is increasingly discussed among sub-national actors and, as a result, social norms encouraging sustainable consumption are becoming more mainstream in the climate space, complementing more traditional environmental choices. This chapter explores the systems-level transformations within one particular sector of sub-national society—cities that are taking aggressive action on climate change—since the majority of the world’s population resides in cities and since cities are responsible for the majority of the world’s energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. The article explores the potential shift within these cities toward behavior change approaches and how social psychologies may be useful in motivating residents to reduce sub-national sector emissions further.
Outcomes of Repository Corticotropin Gel for Ocular Sarcoidosis

Purpose: To evaluate the utility and side effect profile of subcutaneous repository corticotropin gel (RCI) in ocular sarcoidosis.Methods: Retrospective chart review.Results: Among six identified p...
Defective mesothelium and limited physical space are drivers of dysregulated lung development in a genetic model of congenital diaphragmatic hernia

Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) is a developmental disorder associated with diaphragm defects and lung hypoplasia. The etiology of CDH is complex and its clinical presentation is variable. We investigated the role of the pulmonary mesothelium in dysregulated lung growth noted in the Wt1 knockout mouse model of CDH. Loss of WT1 leads to intrafetal effusions, altered lung growth, and branching defects prior to normal closure of the diaphragm. We found significant differences in key genes; however, when Wt1 null lungs were cultured ex vivo, growth and branching were indistinguishable from wild-type littermates. Micro-CT imaging of embryos in situ within the uterus revealed a near absence of space in the dorsal chest cavity, but no difference in total chest cavity volume in Wt1 null embryos, indicating a redistribution of pleural space. The altered space and normal ex vivo growth suggest that physical constraints are contributing to the CDH lung phenotype observed in this mouse model. These studies emphasize the importance of examining the mesothelium and chest cavity as a whole, rather than focusing on single organs in isolation to understand early CDH etiology.
Chromatin architectural proteins regulate flowering time by precluding gene looping

Chromatin structure is critical for gene expression and many other cellular processes. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the floral repressor FLC adopts a self-loop chromatin structure via bridging of its flanking regions. This local gene loop is necessary for active FLC expression. However, the molecular mechanism underlying the formation of this class of gene loops is unknown. Here, we report the characterization of a group of linker histone-like proteins, named the GH1-HMGA family in Arabidopsis, which act as chromatin architecture modulators. We demonstrate that these family members redundantly promote the floral transition through the repression of FLC A genome-wide study revealed that this family preferentially binds to the 5' and 3' ends of gene bodies. The loss of this binding increases FLC expression by stabilizing the FLC 5' to 3' gene looping. Our study provides mechanistic insights into how a family of evolutionarily conserved proteins regulates the formation of local gene loops.
Temporary Uterine Artery Occlusion and Surgical Techniques for Stage 4 Endometriosis

Study Objective To describe a surgical approach to minimize intraoperative blood loss and improve visualization for stage 4 endometriosis. Design Video presentation for surgical management of stage 4 endometriosis. Setting The procedure was performed with robot assisted laparoscopy in dorsal lithotomy position. Patients or Participants A 39-year-old patient G0 with stage 4 endometriosis and prior failed In Vitro Fertilization. Interventions In this Video we describe the surgical approach used for Stage 4 endometriosis after prior failed In Vitro Fertilization. Intraoperatively, Initial survey of the pelvis showed both small and large bowel adhesions to the posterior aspect of the uterus as well as obliteration of the cul-de-sac. We begin by opening the pelvic sidewall bilaterally, parallel and lateral to the infundibulopelvic ligament identifying the pararectal space. The ureters are identified bilaterally and are tagged with a vessel loop for easier identification and manipulation for ureterolysis. Further dissection into the pararectal space is performed to identify the uterine arteries at their origin and are temporarily ligated with vascular bulldog clamps. Ureterolysis is then performed followed by mobilization of the rectum using a lateral to medial approach towards the central pathology. The anatomy of the adnexa is then restored bilaterally and a bilateral salpingectomy was then performed due to hydrosalpinx to improve future attempts of In Vitro Fertilization. The vascular bulldog clamps are then removed at the end of the procedure. Measurements and Main Results Patient had significant improvement in pain post operatively and is pending In Vitro Fertilization. Conclusion Temporary uterine artery ligation during extensive endometriosis surgery could improve blood loss and visualization intraoperatively and can be utilized during pelvic side wall dissection and identification of critical anatomy.
An Automated Telephone Monitoring System to Identify Patients with Cirrhosis at Risk of Re-hospitalization

Hospitalizations for cirrhosis are costly and associated with increased mortality. Disease management outside of clinic, such as the use of interactive voice response (IVR) calls, may identify signs to prevent hospitalization. The aim of this study was to investigate whether IVR monitoring can predict hospitalization and mortality in cirrhosis. One hundred patients with decompensated cirrhosis were enrolled in this observational study, of which 79 patients were included in the final analysis. Participants were followed until death, transplant, or last clinical follow-up (range 7–874 days). Analysis focused on potential predictors identified during the first month of IVR calls: presence of jaundice, abdominal/leg swelling, weakness, paracentesis requirement, medication changes, and weight change. The primary outcome was time to first hospital admission; secondary outcomes included hospitalization and time to death. Potential predictors with a p value 80 % of their IVR calls. After adjustment for covariates, weakness was associated with an increased risk of first hospitalization (HR 2.14, CI 1.13–4.05, p = 0.02) and hospitalization rate (HR 2.1, CI 1.0–4.3, p = 0.048). Weight change of ≥five pounds (2.3 kg) in a week increased the rate of hospitalization by 2.7 (CI 1.0–7.1, p = 0.045). No variable predicted death after covariate adjustment. These results suggest IVR calls can be used to predict hospitalization in cirrhosis.
The Non-Human in New World Encounter Narratives of the English Renaissance

On the representation of plants, animals, and other parts of the natural environment in English accounts of New World exploration, especially the use of the word "commodity" to describe these entities.
Iron chelators increase the genomic stability of ataxia-telangeictasia cells.

Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 45, 2004 3819 Ataxia-telangeictasia (AT) is an autosomal recessive disorder characterized by immune dysfunction, genomic instability, chronic oxidative damage, and increased cancer incidence. Compared to normal cells, AT cells exhibit unusual sensitivity to exogenous oxidants, including t-butyl hydroperoxide. Since ferritin releases labile iron under oxidative stress (which is chronic in AT) and labile iron mediates the toxic effects of t-butyl hydroperoxide, we hypothesized that chelation of intracellular labile iron would increase the genomic stability of AT cells, with and without exogenous oxidative stress. At first, we found that the ferrous iron chelator desferrioxamine was shown to increase resistance to exogenous oxidative stress of AT, but not normal cells, in the colony forming-efficiency assay. This data suggested that iron metabolism is dysregulated in AT. Since desferrioxamine alters gene expression, as well as chelates iron, we tested the effect of apoferritinn and the iron chelating flavonoid quercetin on AT cell genomic stability. The data shown that apoferritin and quercetin increase the genomic stability of AT cells. To further analyze the role of labile iron in AT, we measured labile iron in the sera of AT knockout mice and found significantly elevated iron levels compared to syngeniec wild type mice. Our data supports a role for increased labile iron acting as a Fenton catalyst in AT, thus contributing to the chronic oxidative stress seen in this disease. Our data further suggests that iron chelators as a class might promote genomic stability in AT cells.
Gender Differences in Career Development: A Cohort Study of Economists

This study is based on a 1996 survey of Ph.D. economists who had worked in the academic and nonacademic sectors since 1989. Despite a raw gender difference in salaries, occupation, and publication rates, regression analysis reveals very few gender differences in measures of career success, once controls are added. There are, however, substantial gender differences in time use, workplace preferences, and in methods of integrating work with family life.
Margaret Urban Walker, ed. Mother Time: Women, Aging, and Ethics

How are the experiences of aging women connected to and influenced by contemporary philosophical and cultural beliefs about the experience of growing old and dying? What ethical and moral assumptions about aging affect how we think about and evaluate the lives of those in the aging population? How might a feminist reenvisioning and reevaluation of the aging process and the lives of older members of our society transform the way we view the physical, emotional, and social experience of aging? These and related questions are the focus of Margaret Urban Walker’s Mother Time, a book that makes an important and timely contribution to critical discourse on aging. Scholars and students of this rapidly growing field will find a wealth of information in this edited collection. Three key assumptions inform the work in this book: that aging should not simply be equated with “being sick or dying,” that women’s “life experiences in aging” are influenced by “gendered roles, expectations, standards of appearance, ideals of self, and conceptions of responsibility,” and that an “explicitly ethical discourse about what aging means for women” is important both for women and for discussions of ethics (2–3). The contributors explore a range of subjects, from the relationship between aging and physical appearance to the consequences of aging and disability on the very lives of the elderly, from issues of health care and various medical treatments to the kinds of living arrangements (such as home care and peer care) that are available to aging citizens. While all of the chapters in this book are informative and well written, a few stand out as particular noteworthy. I was fascinated with the chapter by Frida Kerner Furman that relates her observations of aging women at an “old fashioned” beauty shop. She argues that older women remain the object of both the “male gaze” and the “gaze of youth,” resulting in women’s shame about their own aging bodies (12). However, her interviews with the twenty participants in this specific beauty culture
A Logical Approach to Constraint Satisfaction

Since the early 1970s, researchers in artificial intelligence (AI) have investigated a class of combinatorial problems that became known as constraint-satisfaction problems (CSP). The input to such a problem consists of a set of variables, a set of possible values for the variables, and a set of constraints between the variables; the question is to determine whether there is an assignment of values to the variables that satisfies the given constraints. The study of constraint satisfaction occupies a prominent place in artificial intelligence, because many problems that arise in different areas can be modelled as constraint-satisfaction problems in a natural way; these areas include Boolean satisfiability, temporal reasoning, belief maintenance, machine vision, and scheduling (cf. [Dec92a,Kum92,Mes89, Tsa93]). In its full generality, constraint satisfaction is an NP-complete problem. For this reason, researchers in artificial intelligence have pursued both heuristics for constraint-satisfaction problems and tractable cases obtained by imposing various restrictions on the input (cf. [MF93,Dec92a,DM94,Fro97,PJ97]).
Government technology transfer: the effective use of both push and pull marketing strategies

The application of marketing principles to the transfer and commercialization of public funded technology is a vital policy issue in today's internationally competitive marketplace. Government officials have recognized the need for a market focus in technology commercialization; however, a technological push strategy has lead to a product orientation of 'if we build it they will come' philosophy. A market orientation and a reliance on marketing principles and marketing strategies designed to create more of a pull impact from the new technology may provide a better solution to the transfer problem. The article's conclusion maintains that technology solutions developed from government research will be more effective in commercial adoptions and technical applications if a product approach combining technology push and pull strategies is designed. The current practice of technology transfer is examined and suggestions are proposed on how a pull strategy may be integrated to enhance and improve the effectiveness of the federal government's diffusion of technology to the commercial sectors.
Dingle and de Sitter Against the Metaphysicians, or Two Ways to Keep Modern Cosmology Physical

It would be hard to find two more radically different personalities than the irascible Herbert Dingle and the courtly Willem de Sitter. Yet, when it came to their philosophy of science, these two otherwise-so-different men were united against a common enemy, those they both called the “metaphysicians.” Right from 1917, de Sitter attempted always to keep cosmology tightly bound to real observations made upon a real world. In Kosmos, written near the end of his life, he re-affirms most strongly his principle that “there is nothing an orthodox physicist abhors more than metaphysics.” Dingle, for his part, accepts early on the positivist use of the verifiability principle to eliminate metaphysics from science, and continuously wields the principle as a weapon against those errant cosmologists who would sacrifice science for a sort of mysticism. Both men reject the strict and literal use of the term “universe,” and for the same reasons: there is no observation, no verification, of statements containing that term. Both men reject the “cosmological principle” as Milne and others use it, on the grounds, as de Sitter puts it, that “we have . . . no means of communicating with other observers, situated on faraway stars.” Eddington, although always closely associated with de Sitter personally, comes in for his own fine share of criticism. After de Sitter’s death, Dingle carried on the battle alone, always on the bases that he and de Sitter had earlier established. The two peaks in Dingle’s long struggle were the notorious 1937 controversy in the pages of Nature, a nasty dogfight which managed to involve almost every single important physicist in Britain; thirteen years later, the long war with the metaphysicians ended with the pyrrhic victory of Dingle’s Royal Astronomical Society Presidential Address’ invective against the latest and greatest metaphysical creation, Bondi’s steady state universe theory. In the end, however, it would be a mistake to believe that the campaign of de Sitter and Dingle accomplished nothing. On the contrary, it is clear that their critique succeeded magnificently in keeping the metaphysicians at least somewhat in check, and, more importantly, maintaining cosmology’s connection to the real and observable world. As I will show, the common philosophical spirit of the two men grows out of precisely the same terrain: both men are exquisitely, excruciatingly, anchored in the rich empirical detail of observational astronomy. Unlike most of the other cosmologists, both men knew exactly what it took to construct data out of astronomical observations, both men knew exactly how hard is the subsequent task of interacting their hard-won data with theory, and it was this direct experience of real, genuine empirical science that they brought into the fray with the cosmological metaphysicians. And cosmology was the better for it.
A VAPOR-PHASE TECHNIQUE FOR RADIATION-INDUCED GRAFTING OF VINYL MONOMERS TO FIBERS

A technique for the radiation grafting of volatile vinyl monomers to fiber substrates is described. The monomer is applied from the vapor phase while the samples are exposed to gamma radiation from Co/sup 60/. The fibrous materials that are relatively unstable toward radiation are the ones that add the vinyl compounds the most readily. These are the cellulosics (cotton and rayon), cellulose esters (acetate), polyamides (nylon 66), and polypropylene fibers. The polyesters and the acrylics show little tendency to undergo graft polymerization. The monomers that were studied are methyl acrylate, ethyl acrylate, acrylonitrile, butadiene, vinyl acetate, methyl methacrylate. vinyl chloride, styrene, ethylene, propylene, and divinyl sulfone. The most successful experiments were conducted with the first five of the monomers, and acetate and polypropylene fibers take part in the grafting process most readily. The rate of grafting of the monomers to many of the substrates can be materially increased by the addition of a third material to the system. Water, methanol, and acetic acid vapors accelerate the rate of grafting to cotton, rayon, and nylon. The modification of cotton by the radiation addition of acrylonitrile results in a fiber almost completely resistant to microorganisms This effect can be achieved by themore » deposition of only 3.5% of the monomer (as polymer), and the fiber retains the appearance and feel of untreated cotton. The product is superior in these respects to that made by the addition of acrylonitrile from the iron-peroxide catalyst system. (auth)« less
FACILITY RFID LOCALIZATION SYSTEM BASED ON ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS

Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is used for asset tracking due to its accuracy and speed. RFID tracking systems are being used to locate tagged objects in indoor environments, however; reliability is low due to interferences. To overcome this limitation, artificial neural networks (ANNs) can be used to determining a device’s location in the proximity of interference. This research presents a proof of concept to an industrial application of using ANNs as an RFID localization algorithm when objects are subjected to metallic and human interference. To prove this concept, random samples are collected using the received signal strength indication (RSSI) values from passive RFID readers and antennas. The test results show that ANNs can determine the location of a passive RFID tag accurately in the presence of noise and shows that data preprocessing techniques can improve the predictive capabilities of the ANN-RFID localization algorithm.
Continuous culture of Cryptosporidium parvum using hollow fiber technology

Diarrheal disease is a leading cause of pediatric death in economically low resource countries. Cryptosporidium spp. are the second largest member of this group and the only member for which no treatment exists. One of the handicaps to developing chemotherapy is the lack of a reproducible long-term culture method permitting in vitro drug screening beyond 48 h. We have adapted the well-established hollow fiber technology to provide an environment that mimics the gut by delivering nutrients and oxygen from the basal layer upwards while allowing separate redox and nutrient control of the lumen for parasite development. Using this technique, oocyst production was maintained for >6 months, producing approximately 1×10(8)oocysts ml(-1)day(-1), compared with 48 h with a yield of 1×10(6)oocysts ml(-1) in two-dimensional cultures. Oocysts, after 4 and 20 weeks in culture, produced a chronic infection in a TCR-α-deficient mouse model. In vivo infectivity of oocysts was confirmed using oocysts from a 6 week culture in a dexamethasone immunosuppressed mouse model.
Ensuring Effective Education in Alternative Clinical Models

Experiential offerings can vary as to important structural characteristics. The decisions a law school makes on what arrangement to use as to any one characteristic will affect others, as well as the overall quality of the experience. Two fundamental best practices for evaluating how to structure experiential offerings that do not fit the well-established in-house clinic or externship model can be identified. These are to ensure that, first, students learn enough to justify the tuition the students pay and, second, the law school contributes enough to justify the law school receiving the tuition paid by the student.This section of the forthcoming book Building on Best Practices: Transforming Legal Education in a Changing World (Lexis 2015) provides guidance on how to design alternative clinical models.
A stereotactic radiation therapy device for retinoblastoma using a noncircular collimator and intensity filter.

The proximity of the lens to the retina makes the treatment of retinoblastoma a challenge for external beam radiation therapy. The ∼1 mm separation between the posterior edge of the lens and the anterior region of the retina causes a trade-off between coverage of the entire retina and excessive dose to the lens. A stereotactic, LINAC based, lens sparing technique for treating retinoblastoma is presented. The technique uses noncoplanar arcs with the lens at isocenter. A special noncircular collimator blocks the lens but it also causes the dose distribution to vary across the retina. A fluence modulation filter is used to reduce the dose inhomogeneity across the target. The resulting dose distribution is roughly hemispheric, providing both anterior coverage of the retina and lens blocking unlike conventional techniques. The method used to develop the collimator and filter assembly is presented. Dosimetry of the assembly was carried out using radiochromic film, and the results were entered in a treatment planning system. The dose distribution as measured in a phantom is provided and compared to calculations.
Comparison of the relative sensitivity of three benthic invertebrates to copper-contaminated sediments from the Keweenaw Waterway

The Keweenaw Peninsula in northern Michigan was once a major copper mining area and these mining activities were responsible for depositing tons of tailings in and around the Keweenaw Waterway. In recent years there has been concern about possible toxic effects of the contaminated sediments on aquatic communities in the system. In the fall of 1990, sediments were collected from various locations along the Waterway. Ten-day tests were conducted with the samples using three species of benthic invertebrates that have been proposed as suitable for evaluating the toxicity of freshwater sediments: Hyalella azteca (amphipods), Chironomus tentans (chironomids) and Lumbriculus variegatus(oligochaetes). A number of sediments were toxic to one or more of the three species and, in general, there was good agreement among the tests with regard to identifying toxic samples. Unexpectedly, the relative sensitivity of the three species to the test sediments was not accurately predicted from water-only copper exposures. This indicates that factors modifying exposure, such as different lifestyles and/or varying sensitivity to physico-chemical characteristics of sediments can influence results of sediment toxicity tests.
Boreal forests and atmosphere–biosphere exchange of carbon dioxide

Two approaches to investigating the role of boreal forests in the global carbon cycle are presented. First, a tracer support model which incorporates the normalized-difference vegetation index obtained from advanced, very high resolution radiometer radiances was used to simulate the annual cycle of CO2 in the atmosphere. Results indicate that the seasonal growth of the combined boreal forests of North America and Eurasia accounts for about 50 percent of the mean seasonal CO2 amplitude recorded at Pt. Barrow, Alaska and about 30 percent of the more globally representative CO2 signal at Mauna Loa, Hawaii. Second, tree-ring width data from four boreal treeline sites in northern Canada were positively correlated with Pt. Barrow CO2 drawdown for the period 1971-1982. These results suggest that large-scale changes in the growth of boreal forests may be contributing to the observed increasing trend in CO2 amplitude. They further suggest that tree-ring data may be applicable as indices for CO2 uptake and remote sensing estimates of photosynthetic activity.
Thermoelectric Properties of Yb 1−x (Er,Lu) x Al 3 Solid Solutions

Ytterbium trialuminide (YbAl3) has one of the largest thermoelectric power factors of known materials below room temperature, making it a material of interest for low-temperature thermoelectric devices. However, the high thermal conductivity, which is due to a combination of a large electronic thermal conductivity and a moderately large lattice thermal conductivity, is detrimental to the figure of merit. Substitution of different atoms on the Yb site was performed in order to assess their ability to favorably alter the electronic structure and/or reduce the lattice thermal conductivity. We have synthesized and studied the thermoelectric properties of the solid solutions of YbAl3 with ErAl3 and LuAl3. Results for electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and Seebeck coefficient for several of these solid solutions over the temperature range of 80 K to 300 K are reported. Although most substituted samples are driven toward a metallic state, we find that for some compositions the figure of merit is enhanced relative to pure YbAl3.
Tracking of food quantity by coyotes (Canis latrans)

a b s t r a c t Previous studies have demonstrated that Weber's Law mediates quantitative discrimination abilities across various species. Here, we tested coyotes' (Canis latrans) ability to discriminate between various quantities of food and investigated whether this ability conforms to predictions of Weber's Law. We demonstrate herein that coyotes are capable of reliably discriminating large versus small quantities of discrete food items. As predicted by Weber's Law, coyotes' quantitative discrimination abilities are medi- ated by the ratio between the large and small quantities of food and exhibit scalar variability. Furthermore, in this task coyotes were not discriminating large versus small quantities based on olfactory cues alone. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
A multi-criteria model for evaluating design for manufacturability

The design for manufacturability (DFM) method is most effective when integrated with the new product development (NPD) process. Due to the focused nature of the associated product and process knowledge and the extensive effort required, there are many NPD situations where classical DFM techniques cannot be readily applied. In this paper, Pro-DFM a multi-criteria model for manufacturability analysis that identifies product realisation opportunities (PRO) for cost reduction is presented. The key assumption in Pro-DFM is that the NPD team has a baseline estimate of production costs, and the evaluation question is how DFM issues will affect the expected unit production cost. The Pro-DFM model analyses a new design in three different factors: part procurement and handling, product assembly fabrication processes, and inventory costs. Each of these is independently analysed using a hierarchy of multiple criteria and sub-criteria. This approach is found to be amenable to most NPD processes, and conducive to easy ...
24‐Hour blood pressure differences in hypertension and normotension in bed‐confined subjects

This study investigates whether the degree of hypertension may be evaluated by information derived from the 24-h blood pressure (BP) curve unrelated to the pressure height. We performed 24-h BP intra-arterial monitoring in 52 bed-confined subjects (10 normotensives, 10 borderlines, and 32 hypertensives on WHO criteria). Computer analysis of 1152 BP values per subject per 24-h revealed the following: During the night hours, the percentage of the 1152 systolic BP values greater than or equal to 160 (in mmHg) increased (or did not change if 100%) in all subjects with mean 24-h systolic BP (24-h BP) greater than 170 and it decreased (or did not change if 0%) in all subjects with 24-h BP less than 150. The change in the percentage of the 1152 diastolic BP values greater than or equal to 95 during the night hours did not correlate to either the mean 24-h diastolic or systolic BP. The higher the mean 24-h systolic BP, the lower the skewness of the distribution of the 1152 systolic BP values (p less than 0.01). No such correlation existed between the skewness of the distribution of the 1152 diastolic BP values and either the mean 24-h diastolic or systolic BP. It is concluded that both the change in systolic BP during the night hours and the skewness of its distribution during the 24-h monitoring period are correlated to the severity of hypertension.
Photoionization Spectra of Traps Responsible for Current Collapse in GaN MESFETs

Current collapse in GaN MESFETS is believed to result from the trapping of carriers in the high resistivity GaN layer, and can be reversed by the application of light. Light photoionizes (or photoneutralizes) the carriers, releasing them from the traps and restoring all or part of the original I-V characteristics of the device. In these investigations we have taken advantage of this effect to characterize the traps responsible for current collapse in an n-channel GaN MESFET. At fixed source-drain voltage, the incremental light-induced drain current, above that measured in the dark, and normalized per incident photon, is measured as a function of wavelength. The resulting photoionization spectrum reflects two absorption thresholds corresponding to two distinct electron traps. Because of the nature of the measurement, these traps can be identified as those responsible for current collapse in the device.
Use of Burow's wedge principle for repair of wounds in or near the eyebrow

Burow's wedge flap provides an excellent method for repair of wounds in or near the eyebrow. Advantages afforded by this technic in this context include ample flap elasticity and vascularization, versatility in dealing with wounds of varying dimension and location, and fewer incisions in comparison with the number necessary with other methods. Between 1980 and 1984 the author used this method in twelve patients and obtained good to excellent results in eleven and a fair outcome in one.
Density of arc components in unicoherent continua

Abstract Research of C.L. Hagopian and of J. Krasinkiewicz and P. Minc concerning density of arc components in planar λ-dendroids is generalized to apply to semi-hereditarily unicoherent, ω-connected plane continua. Examples are given showing limits to possible further generalizations and answering a question, of Hagopian and the authors, about conditions that assure that an almost arcwise connected continuum is an almost Peano continuum.
A note on the no-slip condition applied to diffusing gases

Abstract The no-slip boundary condition is shown to be inconsistent with a steady-state diffusion assumption when concentration gradients exist parallel to a gas-solid interface.
Co-existence of Crohn's disease, sarcoidosis and malignant lymphomas.

Crohn's disease and sarcoidosis, two systemic granulomatous disorders, on rare occasions co-exist.
Cloning, expression, and characterization of chicken transforming growth factor β4

Transforming growth factor beta 4 (TGF-beta 4) is unique to avian species, though its roles in vivo have not yet been well established. In this paper we describe the expression and partial characterization of recombinant chicken TGF-beta 4. By using a GC-rich PCR system in a modified 5'RACE methodology we generated the 5'-end of cDNA sequence encoding the TGF-beta 4 precursor, which was in-frame cloned into pcDNA3.1/V5-His-TOPO and transfected into the Chinese hamster ovary cell line (CHO-K1). A cell line stably expressing TGF-beta 4 precursor protein was established from CHO-K1 cells. Acid-activated mature TGF-beta 4 inhibited the growth of mink lung epithelial (Mv1Lu) cell line. TGF-beta 4 also stimulated the expression of type I procollagen and enhanced heat shock protein 47 (Hsp47) expression in chicken tendon fibroblasts. Hsp47 expression by TGF beta 4 is likely regulated through activation of heat shock transcription factor 1 (HSF1). Because the presence of TGF-beta 1 has not been documented in avian cells and our data show that TGF-beta 4 elicits biological activities in chicken tendon cells, which closely parallel that of TGF-beta 1, we propose that TGF-beta 4 plays roles in avian species similar to what TGF-beta 1 plays in mammalian species.
Hospital Volunteers as Customers: Understanding Their Motives, How They Differ from Other Volunteers, and Correlates of Volunteer Intensity

SUMMARY The research objectives were to better understand the motives of hospital volunteers, determine if hospital volunteers could be differentiated from other volunteers using determinant variables from multiple conceptual domains, and to discover correlates which may predict more intensive volunteering. Social lifestyle, demographic, personality, and terminal value measures were obtained from a sample of 105 hospital volunteers and 908 volunteers serving in other organizations. Survey respondents were derived from over 40 nonprofit organizations in two midwestern cities. In comparing hospital volunteers to volunteers serving in other types of organizations, hospital volunteers are differentiated by two demographic variables (age and average hours volunteered each month), two social lifestyle variables (the number of volunteer organizations in which they serve and the frequency of attendance at religious services), one personality variable (self-esteem), and one value (a world of beauty). Determinates ...
Effects of ozonation and ultraviolet irradiation on biodegradability of oil shale wastewater organic solutes

Abstract Ozonation and u.v. irradiation were evaluated for their abilities to (1) mineralize organic solutes that remained in a biooxidized oil shale process wastewater and (2) effect sufficient structural modification of the remaining biorefractory organic solutes to promote secondary biooxidation. Full-spectrum u.v. radiation (5 h, total dose of 10.2 × 106 J l−1) failed to mineralize or effect the biooxidation of any of the biorefractory carbon. Although ozonation (5 h, total dose of 1.6 g O3 l−1) directly mineralized only 8% of the biorefractory carbon, it enhanced secondary biooxidation; 26% of the refractory carbon was mineralized by an acclimated microbial inoculum. When u.v. irradiation and ozonation were combined simultaneously, a synergistic effect was observed; 3 h of combined treatment (5.9 × 106 J l−1 and 0.83 g O3 l−1) was as effective a pretreatment for secondary biooxidation as was 5 h of ozonation. Sequential application of primary biooxidation, 6 h of combined u.v./ozonation, and secondary biooxidation removed only 59% of the dissolved organic carbon; total reduction of 87% was achieved by using a culture in the secondary biooxidation step that was specifically adapted to this oxidized water. Each time-course sample was analyzed for the distribution of polar and nonpolar organic solutes. In general, ozonation and combined u.v./ozonation mineralized carbon from the nonpolar fraction; biooxidation of formerly refractory carbon was promoted by oxidation of nonpolar carbon to yield more polar or lower-molecular-weight species.
Callous-Unemotional Traits, Narcissism, and Behavioral History as Predictors of Discipline Problems in an Adolescent Residential Program

This study explored the utility of ratings of behavioral problem history, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and narcissism for predicting disciplinary citations for 111 adolescents attending a residential intervention program for at-risk youth. Personality factors predicted unique variance in disciplinary citations during the residential program, whereas self-reports of a history of aggression, conduct problems, and delinquency did not. Implications for understanding personality variables as risk factors for problem behaviors in a residential setting are discussed. In particular, it appears potentially useful for professionals in residential programs to understand the potential role of some personality factors on adolescent conduct in the residential milieu.
Effect of the home environment on motor and cognitive behavior of infants

Although information is sparse, research suggests that affordances in the home provide essential resources that promote motor and cognitive skills in young children. The present study assessed over time, the association between motor affordances in the home and infant motor and cognitive behavior. Thirty-two (32) infants were assessed for characteristics of their home using the Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development--Infant Scale and motor and cognitive behavior with the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development--III. Infant's home and motor behavior were assessed at age 9 months and 6 months later with the inclusion of cognitive ability. Results for motor ability indicated that there was an overall improvement in performance from the 1st to the 2nd assessment. We found significant positive correlations between the dimensions of the home (daily activities and play materials) and global motor performance (1st assessment) and fine-motor performance on the 2nd assessment. In regard to cognitive performance (2nd assessment), results indicated a positive association with fine-motor performance. Our results suggest that motor affordances can have a positive impact on future motor ability and speculatively, later cognitive behavior in infants.
Interpolants from Z3 proofs

Interpolating provers have a number of applications in formal verification, including abstraction refinement and invariant generation. It has proved difficult, however, to construct efficient interpolating provers for rich theories. We consider the problem of deriving interpolants from proofs generated by the highly efficient SMT solver Z3 in the quantified theory of arrays, uninterpreted function symbols and linear integer arithmetic (AUFLIA) a theory that is commonly used in program verification. We do not directly interpolate the proofs from Z3. Rather, we divide them into small lemmas that can be handled by a secondary interpolating prover for a restricted theory. We show experimentally that the overhead of this secondary prover is negligible. Moreover, the efficiency of Z3 makes it possible to handle problems that are beyond the reach of existing interpolating provers, as we demonstrate using benchmarks derived from bounded verification of sequential and concurrent programs.
Agarose gel stiffness determines rate of DRG neurite extension in 3D cultures

The optimization of scaffold mechanical properties for neurite extension is critical for neural tissue engineering. Agarose hydrogels can be used to stimulate and maintain three-dimensional neurite extension from primary sensory ganglia in vitro. The present study explores the structure-function relationship between dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurite extension and agarose gel mechanical properties. A range of agarose gels of differing concentrations were generated and the corresponding rate of E9 DRG neurite extension was measured. Rate of neurite extension was inversely correlated to the mechanical stiffness of agarose gels in the range of 0.75-2.00% (wt/vol) gel concentrations. In addition, we postulate a physical model that predicts the rate of neurite extension in agarose gels, if gel stiffness is a known parameter. This model is based on Heidemann and Buxbaum's model of neurite extension. These results, if extended to scaffolds of other morphological and chemical features, would contribute significantly to the design criteria of three-dimensional scaffolds for neural tissue engineering.