cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Orgasm Equality: Scientific Findings and Societal Implications

Studies have consistently found that there is a gendered orgasm gap, with men experiencing orgasm more frequently than women in heterosexual sexual encounters. This literature review aims to highlight the current state of research on orgasm equality and to explore the reasons underlying this orgasm gap. Our review of recently published studies indicates that the gendered orgasm gap still exists today. Additionally, these studies underscore how sociocultural factors can contribute to the differences in reported orgasm frequency between men and women in heterosexual encounters. This review suggests that our cultural prioritization of penile-vaginal intercourse over more clitorally focused sexual activities is linked to the gendered orgasm gap. Additional related contributing sociocultural factors may include women’s lack of entitlement to partnered sexual pleasure, societal scripts about masculinity, and women’s cognitive distractions during partnered sex. Recommendations to increase orgasm equality are discussed.
CHAPTER 8 – Characteristic Values

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses how to get the dominant characteristic value and vector of a matrix A and how to get a few of the largest characteristic values and vectors by deflation, noting that the accuracy falls off rapidly. It discusses two classes of methods by means of which one can get all the characteristic values of a matrix at substantially the same accuracy. The characteristic values being found, the corresponding vectors can be obtained by inverse iteration. The chapter discusses rotation methods by Jacobi, Givens, and Householder. It discusses the Frobenius or Schur norm of a matrix A is invariant under orthogonal similarities.
Accommodating Multi-Tenant FPGAs in the Cloud

This work presents a network-on-chip based architecture enabling multi-tenant access to FPGAs in cloud infrastructures. Prototyping the proposed architecture on Xilinx Virtex Ultrascale + and Intel Stratix IV demonstrated performance similar to single tenant mode while enabling hardware consolidation.
Joseph Conrad and Scientific Naturalism: Revolutionising Epistemology in The Secret Agent

This article approaches Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent (1907) as an epistemologically Janus-faced text that retrospectively parodies the material-empiricist worldview of scientific naturalism whi...
Emotions and backlash in US society and politics

Alter and Zurn’s framework identifies ‘frequent companions’ to backlash politics including emotive elements. This article addresses those emotive elements. In particular, it defines and unpacks the...
Graft Semi-Interpenetrating Polymer Network Phase Change Materials for Thermal Energy Storage

Graft semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) out of poly(ethylene glycol), PEG8000-based polyurethane, and acrylic copolymers were synthesized for phase change applications. The chemical str...
Children, cement, and catastrophe go well together. Review of Earthquake children: Building resilience from the ruins of Tokyo: by Janet Borland, Harvard University Asia Center (Harvard East Asian monograph series 434), 2020, 330 pp., $32 USD (paperback), ISBN 9780674247833

The historical record is relatively silent regarding children and their experiences but, fortunately, not all traces have been lost to time. Some scholars have probed the boundaries of what the his...
The biochemical diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency with modern cortisol assays: Reappraisal in the setting of opioid exposure and hospitalization.

OBJECTIVE We aimed to (1) examine the diagnosis of opioid-induced adrenal insufficiency, and (2) investigate the diagnostic value of a morning cortisol 30 days. Cohort 2 (N = 854): adults, with or without opioid exposure, who had a morning cortisol level measured the same day as stimulation testing. MEASUREMENTS Peak cortisol during cosyntropin stimulation testing. Sensitivity and specificity of morning serum cortisol for adrenal insufficiency. RESULTS The prevalence of adrenal insufficiency in patients with chronic opioid exposure who underwent cosyntropin stimulation testing was 4.0% using a cortisol cutoff of <405 nmol/L (14.7 µg/dl) versus 19% using the traditional cutoff of <500 nmol/L (18.1 µg/dl). For hospitalized patients with and without opioid-exposure, 14 of 22 (64%) patients with morning cortisol levels of <83 nmol/L (3 µg/dl) passed cosyntropin stimulation testing. A morning cortisol level of <348 nmol/L (12.6 µg/dl) had 100% sensitivity (95% confidence interval: 84.5%-100%) for the diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency. CONCLUSION Applying a cutoff of <405 nmol/L (14.7 µg/dl), opioid-induced adrenal insufficiency is rare. Nearly 1 out of 6 patients would be reclassified as having adrenal insufficiency applying the guideline-recommended cutoff of <500 nmol/L (18.1 µg/dl). Serum morning cortisol <83 nmol/L (3 µg/dl) is not a valid diagnostic test for adrenal insufficiency in hospitalized patients, whether or not receiving opioids.
Adaptation of a Range-Doppler Algorithm to Multistatic Signals from Ultrasound Arrays

Frequency-domain beamforming has become increasingly popular for fast processing of large synthetic aperture data in medical ultrasound. Here, we modify the Range Doppler Algorithm (RDA) to focus ultrasound signals from multistatic acquisitions. RDA, which was first proposed for fast beamforming of monostatic data in radar remote sensing, is suitable for fast processing of large datasets because all operations are done in one dimension at a time, allowing for an efficient and intuitive implementation. We demonstrate through simulation that multistatic RDA achieves similar image quality as traditionally used, multistatic delay-and-sum (DAS), while increasing the reconstruction speed by approximately a factor of three. We also show that the RDA and DAS images from the multistatic acquisition show reduced sidelobe levels compared to their counterparts from the monostatic acquisition. Demonstrated version of the multistatic RDA might be applicable beyond ultrasound medical imaging, such as for processing of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data from satellite constellations.
The Nonpharmacological Treatment of Abuse and Addiction to Alcohol and Drugs

The principles and philosophy of the abstinence-based Twelve-Step Program of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) can be incorporated into the treatment process for alcohol and drug addiction. Current inpatient and outpatient psychiatric treatment may use the first 5 steps as an approach to alcohol and drug addiction. Furthermore, the program of AA is recommended as a mainstay of continued treatment in the long-term follow-up. However, AA limits its affiliation with rehabilitation centers as suggested in its Six Tradition: “An A A group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the AA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.” Adherence to this principle ensures that AA remains focused on helping alcoholics recover from alcoholism and drug addiction.
Cis rescue of a mutated reverse transcriptase gene of human hepatitis B virus by creation of an internal ATG

Using mutational analysis, we have investigated the translation strategy of the reverse transcriptase gene (pol) of human hepatitis B virus. It has been proposed that this pol gene product is synthesized as a core-pol fusion protein from a polycistronic mRNA template via ribosomal frameshifting, a mechanism often seen in retroelements. Our data indicate that creation of a novel ATG initiation codon near the original ATG can compensate for a lethal missense mutation at the first ATG position of the pol open reading frame. Genetic analysis has rigorously ruled out the possibilities of frameshifting, non-ATG initiation, or RNA editing. These results are discussed in the context of a 5'-end entry model versus a novel model of direct internal entry of ribosomes.
Quiescent coronae of active chromosphere stars

The EINSTEIN Observatory has for the first time provided high sensitivity X-ray measurements of quiescent coronal emission from a large sample of dwarf stars. We now have observed a sufficient number of the nearby M-dwarfs to determine an X-ray luminosity function and we have explored the activity and variability of these stars to the extent of observing, for the first time, X-ray flares with simultaneous ground-based optical and IUE ultraviolet coverage.
Fatty acid metabolism in cardiac hypertrophy and failure

Publisher Summary This chapter explains the fatty acid metabolism in cardiac hypertrophy and its failure. Studies proposed that contractile failure may develop as a consequence of structural and biochemical alterations that accompany cardiac hypertrophy. The hypothesis is based on two major premises: (1) the anatomical nature of cardiac hypertrophy and the role of hypoxia and (2) functional defects in mitochondria in failing heart. Factors that control and regulate fatty acid metabolism are described in the chapter. Although derangements in fatty acid metabolism of the heart have already been noted in the nineteenth century, a link between derangements in fatty acid metabolism, altered gene expression, and impaired contractile function of the heart is appreciated. As a result, fatty acid metabolism has become a target for the pharmacological treatment of the failing heart.
Computational Modeling of the Effects of Transient Blood Flow Characteristics and Wall Thickness on the Rupture of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

Precise estimation of wall stress distribution within an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is clinically useful for prediction of its rupture. In this paper a computational fluid dynamic model incorporating two-way coupled fluid-structure interaction is employed to investigate the role of laminar-turbulent flow transition and wall thickness in altering the distribution and magnitude of wall stress in an AAA. Blood flow in axially symmetric aneurysm models governed by a compliant wall mechanics was simulated. Menter’s hybrid k-epsilon/k-omega shear stress transport (SST) model with a correlation-based transition model was used to capture laminar-turbulent transition in the blood flow. Realistic physiological transient boundary conditions were prescribed. The numerical model was validated against experimental data available from the literature. Fluid flow analysis showed the formation of recirculating vortices at the proximal end of the aneurysm after the peak systole which then, moved towards the distal end of the aneurysm along with the bulk flow and were dissipated eventually due to viscous effects. These vortices interacted with the aortic wall and led to local pressure rise. Von Mises stress distribution on the aneurysm wall and location of its peak value were computed and compared with those of a separate numerical simulation performed using a laminar viscous flow model. The predicted peak wall stress was found to be significantly higher for the SST model as compared to the laminar flow model. The location of maximum stress shifted more towards the posterior end of the aneurysm when laminar-turbulent flow transition was considered. In addition, a small reduction of 0.4 mm in wall thickness resulted in the elevation of peak wall stress by a factor of 1.4. The present study showed that capturing flow transition in an AAA is essential to accurate prediction of its rupture. The proposed numerical model provides a robust computational framework to gain more insight into AAA biomechanics and to accurately estimate wall stresses in realistic aneurysm configurations.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Gas-Phase Acidities of Phosphorylated Amino Acids

Gas-phase acidities and heats of formation have been predicted at the G3(MP2)/SCRF-COSMO level of theory for 10 phosphorylated amino acids and their corresponding amides, including phospho-serine (pSer), -threonine (pThr), and -tyrosine (pTyr), providing the first reliable set of these values. The gas-phase acidities (GAs) of the three named phosphorylated amino acids and their amides have been determined using proton transfer reactions in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron mass spectrometer. Excellent agreement was found between the experimental and predicted GAs. The phosphate group is the deprotonation site for pSer and pThr and deprotonation from the carboxylic acid generated the lowest energy anion for pTyr. The infrared spectra were calculated for six low energy anions of pSer, pThr, and pTyr. For deprotonated pSer and pThr, good agreement is found between the experimental IRMPD spectra and the calculated spectra for our lowest energy anion structure. For pTyr, the IR spectra for a higher energy phos...
High skin temperature and hypohydration impair aerobic performance

This paper reviews the roles of hot skin (>35°C) and body water deficits (>2% body mass; hypohydration) in impairing submaximal aerobic performance. Hot skin is associated with high skin blood flow requirements and hypohydration is associated with reduced cardiac filling, both of which act to reduce aerobic reserve. In euhydrated subjects, hot skin alone (with a modest core temperature elevation) impairs submaximal aerobic performance. Conversely, aerobic performance is sustained with core temperatures >40°C if skin temperatures are cool-warm when euhydrated. No study has demonstrated that high core temperature (∼40°C) alone, without coexisting hot skin, will impair aerobic performance. In hypohydrated subjects, aerobic performance begins to be impaired when skin temperatures exceed 27°C, and even warmer skin exacerbates the aerobic performance impairment (-1.5% for each 1°C skin temperature). We conclude that hot skin (high skin blood flow requirements from narrow skin temperature to core temperature gradients), not high core temperature, is the 'primary' factor impairing aerobic exercise performance when euhydrated and that hypohydration exacerbates this effect.
The magnitude, time course and spatial distribution of current induced in salamander rods by cyclic guanine nucleotides.

1. Cyclic GMP was introduced into isolated salamander rods through a tight-seal electrode attached to the inner segment while the outer segment was held in a suction electrode; nucleotide-induced membrane current was recorded by both electrodes. After 3-15s of nucleotide exposure the cells were stimulated with intense, brief flashes, which suppressed 90-95% of the induced membrane current. 2. The magnitude of the induced light-sensitive current depended little on the pipette cyclic GMP concentration in the range 10-20 nM: the mean whole-cell current magnitude was 1256 +/- 160 pA (mean +/- 2 S.E.M., n = 41). 3. Experiments and analyses addressed hypotheses about the nature of the magnitude limitation on the induced current. It was shown that the spatial distribution of nucleotide, the residual series resistance of the whole-cell electrode, and the diminution of the ion gradients driving the induced current did not limit the current magnitude by more than 20%. 4. In contrast, the hypothesis that outer segment internal longitudinal resistance severely limits the magnitude of the cyclic GMP-induced current was supported by experiments in which various lengths of the outer segment were drawn into the suction electrode. These showed that the ratio of nucleotide-induced light-sensitive current collected by the suction electrode to that collected by a whole-cell electrode decreased steeply as a function of outer segment length excluded from the suction electrode, having an apparent space constant of 5-7 microns. 5. A cable model of the rod was developed and used to analyse the magnitude of the nucleotide-induced currents. The data are consistent with an outer segment longitudinal resistance of 1-4 M omega microns-1, and a maximum (space-clamped) light-sensitive current density of 313 pA microns-1, equivalent to a total induced current of 7200 pA (23 microns outer segment). 6. A diffusion model was developed and combined with the non-linear cable model to provide an account for the time course of the induced membrane currents. The results are consistent with an effective longitudinal diffusion coefficient of cyclic GMP in the outer segment of 3-10 microns2 s-1, and Hill coefficient of 2-3 for the cyclic GMP gating of the light-sensitive conductance. 7. 8-Bromo-cyclic GMP also caused the light-sensitive membrane current to increase to about the same magnitude as did cyclic GMP.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Effect of counterion substitution on the viscosity anomaly in AOT microemulsions.

AOT-based water-in-oil microemulsions display an anomalous maximum in the viscosity with X, the water to surfactant ratio. Several explanations for this phenomenon have been offered. In this work, we investigate viscosity and droplet interactions in Ca(AOT)2/water/n-decane and KAOT/water/n-decane microemulsions and compare our results with the commonly studied NaAOT/water/oil system. The Ca(AOT)2 system demonstrates a maximum in relative viscosity and droplet attraction near X=15, similar to the NaAOT system, although the maximum occurs at a higher value of X in the Ca(AOT)2 system. By contrast, the viscosity and interparticle interactions in the KAOT system do not strongly depend on the amount of water in the system. We attribute the differences in behavior between the two systems to different hydration characteristics of the counterion, and we believe that our results are consistent with a previously proposed model that attributes interdroplet attractions to charge fluctuations and surfactant exchange. Our findings support the connection between the viscosity anomaly and interparticle interactions.
Emergency psychopharmacology: A review and update

The emergency area is a difficult site for the practice of careful psychopharmacology. The detailed history taking and collaborative treatment relationship often found in the consultant's office is rarely present. Instead, rapid decisions are made under a variety of pressures, with patients who may be uncooperative and unwilling to be treated. Many emergency patients are concurrently in treatment with a psychotherapist or psychopharmacologist who is available for consultation to the emergency service. When this is possible it is of great potential value, both in arriving more quickly at an appropriate treatment and in preventing a harmful opposition of the patient's treatment resources. For patients who are not currently in another treatment, additional helpful information often may be obtained from friends or family members. This is especially useful in treating patients who are acutely psychotic, unable to communicate, or uncooperative with the emergency interview. Although psychopharmacological approaches properly chosen often yield rapid results, medications are only a part of most emergency treatment plans. Medications are ineffective in a variety of crises and cannot replace careful interviewing of patients and others aimed at understanding the exogenous stress, change in interpersonal relationships, intrapsychic conflict, or biological disorder that precipitated an emergency visit. Furthermore, the decision to treat with medications must include a consideration of the adverse effects that may occur. With these limitations in mind, the area of emergency psychopharmacology can provide powerful assistance to emergency clinicians.
Behavior of edges in scale space

An analysis is presented of the behavior of edges in scale space for deriving rules useful in reasoning. This analysis of liner edges at different scales in images includes the mutual influence of edges and identifies at what scale neighboring edges start influencing the response of a Laplacian or Gaussian operator. Dislocation of edges, false edges, and merging of edges in the scale space are examined to formulate rules for reasoning in the scale space. The theorems, corollaries, and assertions presented can be used to recover edges, and related features, in complex images. The results reported include one lemma, three theorems, a number of corollaries and six assertions. The rigorous mathematical proofs for the theorems and corollaries are presented. These theorems and corollaries are further applied to more general situations, and the results are summarized in six assertions. A qualitative description as well as some experimental results are presented for each assertion. >
Coproducts of bounded distributive lattices: cancellation

Let $ L* M $ denote the coproduct of the bounded distributive lattices L and M. At the 1981 Banff Conference on Ordered Sets, the following question was posed: What is the largest class L of finite distributive lattices such that, for every non-trivial Boolean lattice B and every $ L\in {\cal L}, B*L=B*L' $ implies $ L=L' $ ? In this note, the problem is solved.
The May 2-3, 1986 CDAW-9C interval: A sawtooth event

[1] We re-examine the CDAW-9C interval and show that it was a sawtooth event - and therefore that sawtooth events have been studied as substorms in the past. We also show that tail-like stretching of the magnetic field can occur well inside of geosynchronous orbit and we present evidence that substorm-associated tail reconnection can occur inside of −11 RE. We conclude that a major difference between sawtooth and non-sawtooth substorms is that the sawtooth variety appear to represent a ‘mode’ of behavior in which substorm activity is brought anomalously close to the Earth for extended periods of time.
Probabilistic detection of mobile targets in heterogeneous sensor networks

Target detection and field surveillance are among the most prominent applications of Sensor Networks (SN). The quality of detection achieved by a SN can be quantified by evaluating the probability of detecting a mobile target crossing a Field of Interest (FoI). In this paper, we analytically evaluate the detection probability of mobile targets when N sensors are stochastically deployed to monitor a Fol. We map the target detection problem to a line-set intersection problem and derive analytical formulas using tools from Integral Geometry and Geometric Probability. We show that the detection probability depends on the length of the perimeters of the sensing areas of the sensors and not their shape. Hence, compared to prior work, our formulation allows us to consider a heterogeneous sensing model, where each sensor can have an arbitrary sensing area. We also evaluate the mean free path until a target is first detected.
The structure of cortical hypercolumns: Receptive field scatter may enhance rather than degrade boundary contour representation in V1

The spatial relationship of orientation mapping, ocularity, and receptive field (RF) position provides an operational definition of the term “hypercolumn” in V1. Optical recording suggests that pinwheel centers and blobs are spatially uncorrelated. However, error analysis indicates a 100–150 micron systematic pinwheel center positional offset. This analysis suggests that pinwheel singularities and cytochrome oxidase blobs in primate V1 may in fact be coterminous. The only model to date that accounts for this detailed spatial relationship of ocularity, orientation mapping, and RF position is the columnar shear model (Wood and Schwartz, Neural Networks, 12:205–210, 1999). Here, we generalize this model to include RF scatter, which is observed to be in the range of one third to one half of the local RF size. This model provides a computational basis to address the following question: How is the existence of RF scatter consistent with accurate edge localization? We show that scatter of about one half the average RF size can provide an accurate representation of region and edge structure in an image based on a simple form of local inhibition between the blob (spatially lowpass) and interblob (spatially band-pass) neurons resulting in a process equivalent to nonlinear diffusion. The advantages afforded by this mechanism for edge preservation and noise suppression are that it avoids the slowness of diffusion (where time is proportional to distance squared) and is fully consistent with a correct understanding of the structure of the cortical hypercolumn. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this algorithm, known in the computer vision literature as the offset filter (Fischl and Schwartz, IEEE PAMI 22:42–48, 1999), by providing results on natural images corrupted with noise. This work emphasizes the importance of an un-normalized, low-pass response to accurate edge-representation—a function usually attributed to the intensity normalized, band-pass response of extra-blob neurons. Presented at unknown. Abstract number 894. Support Contributed By: NIH/NIBIB EB001550 Contact info: Neil A. Bomberger, Computer Vision and Computational Neuroscience Lab, 677 Beacon St., Boston, MA, 02215. URL: http://eslab.bu.edu, Email: nbomberg@cns.bu.edu
Quantifying the effects of dynamical noise on the predictability of a simple ecosystem model

The need to understand the effects of anthropogenic perturbations on ocean biology has renewed interest in ecosystem and biogeochemical models in recent years. We develop a nonlinear time series approach to quantify the effects of different types of noise on ecosystem dynamics. Different types of noise can alter the local predictability of the system, induce qualitative regime shifts in model dynamics, and destroy (create) internal nonlinear oscillations and chaos. The ecosystem model we use in our article is a model of plankton dynamics and nitrogen cycling. It is a compartmental model (NPZD) consisting of compartments for nitrogen (N), phytoplankton (P), zooplankton (Z), and detritus (D). The flows or intercompartmental exchanges are modeled as a nonlinear system of four first-order differential equations. The types of noise of interest are both independent and correlated. Because the noise is an integral part of the system's dynamics, a nonlinear time series approach is used to quantify the dynamics and predictability of the system. This involves fitting neural network models and estimating dynamical system quantities of interest such as global and local Lyapunov exponents, along with measures of uncertainty for these estimates. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Scalability and Resilience in Data Center Networks: Dynamic Flow Reroute as an Example

The recent literature on data center networks often propose the use of centralized control server to manage resources or for coordination. These controllers are always a single omniscient device. While we see no problems in practice yet as it works for small scale networks, there is a scalability concern. This paper proposes the idea of devolved controllers, namely, a number of controllers that each with only limited information about the network, but they together can replace a omniscient controller. Thus it permits the controllers' workload to scale up. We use dynamic flow reroute as an example, to study how we can build a network with devolved controllers, how to configure them, how they operate, and especially how they provide resilience. We show that these devolved controllers can remove the scalability concern and provide redundancy to each other; externally, they are as easy to use as a single omniscient controller. We describe how these controllers are prepared and used to prove that devolved controllers is feasible idea, and provide a precursor to a new direction on the control aspect of networking.
The international variation in breast cancer rates: An epidemiological assessment

Part of the international differences in breast cancer incidence rates can be explained by geographic variation in reproductive and other breast cancer risk factors. Age at menarche and age at onset of regular ovulatory menstrual cycles are two such factors; both vary across populations directly according to breast cancer risk, and both are acknowledged as breast cancer risk factors. Consideration of the body of evidence on these factors, as well as that on age at menopause, suggests that the cumulative frequency of ovulatory menstrual cycles is a critical determinant of breast cancer risk. Although age at first term pregnancy explains the majority of the protective effect of parity on breast cancer risk, two recent studies have demonstrated a small residual protective effect of increasing number of births. It appears that pregnancy has paradoxical effects on breast cancer risk in terms of hormone production and metabolism. The initial effect is an increased risk associated with first trimester estrogen exposure. However, the hormonal consequences of completing the pregnancy counteract this negative effect of early pregnancy. The effect of body weight, a breast cancer risk factor for postmenopausal women, can be explained in terms of increased extraglandular conversion of androstenedione to estrone. Further evidence supporting a pathogenic role of estrogens in the development of breast cancer comes from international studies of endogenous hormones in populations with differing risks of breast cancer. These risk factors have been incorporated into a mathematical model which is based on the concept that breast tissue ages according to hormonal (primarily estrogen) exposure; this model closely predicts the incidence rates throughout the world.
On the advantages of instantaneous invariants and geometric kinematics

Abstract This paper points out the advantages of using geometric kinematics rather than time-based kinematics when dealing with the instantaneous geometric properties of rigid body motions. This paper is limited to planar motion, however the same principles apply to spherical and spatial motions. It is pointed out that the use of instantaneous invariants and canonical coordinate systems created a big advance in the elegance and rigor of studying instantaneous property. Examples are presented showing how to use invariants to design instantaneously equivalent mechanisms. In addition Erskine Crossley's contribution to facilitating the awareness of these advances is noted.
Summer stream habitat partitioning by sympatric Arctic charr, Atlantic salmon and brown trout in two sub-arctic rivers

Summer habitat use by sympatric Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus, young Atlantic salmon Salmo salar and brown trout Salmo trutta was studied by two methods, direct underwater observation and electrofishing, across a range of habitats in two sub-arctic rivers. More Arctic charr and fewer Atlantic salmon parr were observed by electrofishing in comparison to direct underwater observation, perhaps suggesting a more cryptic behaviour by Arctic charr. The three species segregated in habitat use. Arctic charr, as found by direct underwater observation, most frequently used slow (mean ±s.d. water velocity 7·2 ± 16·6 cm s−1) or often stillwater and deep habitats (mean ±s.d. depth 170·1 ± 72·1 cm). The most frequently used mesohabitat type was a pool. Young Atlantic salmon favoured the faster flowing areas (mean ±s.d. water velocity 44·0 ± 16·8 cm s−1 and depth 57·1 ± 19·0 cm), while brown trout occupied intermediate habitats (mean ±s.d. water velocity 33·1 ± 18·6 cm s−1 and depth 50·2 ± 18·0 cm). Niche overlap was considerable. The Arctic charr observed were on average larger (total length) than Atlantic salmon and brown trout (mean ±s.d. 21·9 ± 8·0, 10·2 ± 3·1 and 13·4 ± 4·5 cm). Similar habitat segregation between Atlantic salmon and brown trout was found by electrofishing, but more fishes were observed in shallower habitats. Electrofishing suggested that Arctic charr occupied habitats similar to brown trout. These results, however, are biased because electrofishing was inefficient in the slow-deep habitat favoured by Arctic charr. Habitat use changed between day and night in a similar way for all three species. At night, fishes held positions closer to the bottom than in the day and were more often observed in shallower stream areas mostly with lower water velocities and finer substrata. The observed habitat segregation is probably the result of interference competition, but the influence of innate selective differences needs more study.
Dreams and realities: developing countries and the English language

This is an edited volume that examines English language teaching (ELT) and its implications for developing nations. A foreword by Michael Carrier, the Head of English Language Innovation at the Bri...
Evaluation of Human Vibration Thresholds at Various Body Loci

Researchers at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln are currently designing a vibrotactile alerting mechanism for a neutron sensor. The instrument will vibrate on users' skin in the presence of high levels of neutron radiation. The head, neck, upper arm, wrist, waist, and ankle are potential body placements for the device. However, there is minimal information about the vibration frequency thresholds at those body sites. The investigators divided the aforementioned body loci into 24 stimulation sites representing orthogonal directions at each site. The objective of the study was to investigate the underlying effect of stimulation site, subcutaneous fat, and gender on low frequency vibration perception thresholds. Thirty-six subjects were categorized into a dichotomous body fat content group and gender. The results show that vibratory threshold depends significantly on the body site stimulated (p = 0.001). The site with the lowest frequency threshold was the nape of neck while the right lateral area of the waist had the highest frequency threshold. There was no statistical difference in frequency thresholds for the variables of the body fat group or gender (p = 0.302, p = 0.159, respectively). Although, the mean frequency thresholds of participants in the low body fat group was consistently lower than that of those in the high body fat group. Language: en
Removal of antimony from copper by injection of soda ash

The removal of Sb from molten copper is of importance in the development of processes which can smelt copper concentrates directly into copper in a single furnace. A promising method is injection of oxygen and sodium carbonate in a modified anode furnace. This study encompassed a thermodynamic analysis of the impurity removal reactions and an experimental investigation of antimony removal from molten copper in a 15 kW induction furnace. The results showed that the reaction was controlled by diffusion of Sb in the metal phase. The reaction between metal and injected flux can be divided into two subprocesses-. (1) “transitory contact” reaction to the injected flux particles as they rise through the melt and (2) “permanent contact” reaction across the interface between the metal bath and the supernatant slag layer. On the basis of the experimental work, the overall volumetric mass transfer coefficient (cm3/s) at 1473 K was expressed in terms of the two subprocesses as follows:(k d A) ov = (k d A) pc +(k d A) tc = 1.25Q g 0.29 + 0.28(H Q f ) whereQ g is the injection gas flow rate in normal liters per minute,H is the depth of injection in centimeters, andQ f the rate of flux injection in grams per second.
Musical Play: A Case Study of Preschool Children and Parents

In this study of a 10-week music education program for preschool children and parents, we observed the musical behaviors of preschool children in free and structured musical play environments to discover how children explore sound alone and with others. Analysis of the data revealed three themes: unfinished play, extinguishing play, and enhancing play. The children communicated their needs for free musical play to adults and other children through statements, requests, gestures, and actions. We identified conditions that interrupted, modified, or enhanced children's musical play. We concluded that children needed extended, uninterrupted time for play episodes as well as appropriate materials in the environment. Adult valuing of all children's musical utterances and flexibility within structured lessons enhanced play.
Solid Phase Synthesis of Mitochondrial Triphenylphosphonium-Vitamin E Metabolite Using a Lysine Linker for Reversal of Oxidative Stress

Mitochondrial targeting of antioxidants has been an area of interest due to the mitochondria's role in producing and metabolizing reactive oxygen species. Antioxidants, especially vitamin E (α-tocopherol), have been conjugated to lipophilic cations to increase their mitochondrial targeting. Synthetic vitamin E analogues have also been produced as an alternative to α-tocopherol. In this paper, we investigated the mitochondrial targeting of a vitamin E metabolite, 2,5,7,8-tetramethyl-2-(2′-carboxyethyl)-6-hydroxychroman (α-CEHC), which is similar in structure to vitamin E analogues. We report a fast and efficient method to conjugate the water-soluble metabolite, α-CEHC, to triphenylphosphonium cation via a lysine linker using solid phase synthesis. The efficacy of the final product (MitoCEHC) to lower oxidative stress was tested in bovine aortic endothelial cells. In addition the ability of MitoCEHC to target the mitochondria was examined in type 2 diabetes db/db mice. The results showed mitochondrial accumulation in vivo and oxidative stress decrease in vitro.
Divergent Regulation of Dihydrofolate Reductase Between Malaria Parasite and Human Host

For half a century, successful antifolate therapy against Plasmodium falciparum malaria has been attributed to host-parasite differences in drug binding to dihydrofolate reductase–thymidylate synthase (DHFR-TS). Selectivity may also arise through previously unappreciated differences in regulation of this drug target. The DHFR-TS of Plasmodium binds its cognate messenger RNA (mRNA) and inhibits its own translation. However, unlike translational regulation of DHFR or TS in humans, DHFR-TS mRNA binding is not coupled to enzyme active sites. Thus, antifolate treatment does not relieve translational inhibition and parasites cannot replenish dead enzyme.
The concept and measurement of economic freedom

Abstract Since 1996, the Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) reports have presented an index that measures the consistency of a nation's policies and institutions with economic freedom. The key ingredients of economic freedom are personal choice, voluntary exchange, freedom to compete, and protection of person and property. Earlier versions of the EFW index have been based almost exclusively on objective quantifiable data. However, some important elements of economic freedom, particularly those dealing with property rights and regulatory restraints, are difficult to capture with objective measures. This paper integrates survey data on legal structure and government regulation into the EFW index and uses it to develop a more comprehensive measure of economic freedom.
Solubility of benzene in aqueous solutions ofmyo-inositol

Solubilities of benzene in aqueous solutions of myo-inositol have been obtained at 15, 25, 35, and 45°C. Large ‘salting-out’ effects are observed, indicating that the inositol is as effective as the common strong electrolytes in decreasing the solubility of benzene. The results are intepreted by a simple model involving the hydration number of inositol as an adjustable parameter. Hydration numbers varying from 14.4 at 15°C to 9.1 at 45°C are reported.
Differences in morning and evening fatigue in oncology patients and their family caregivers

Purpose of the research To identify distinct latent classes of individuals based on ratings of morning and evening fatigue; evaluate for differences in phenotypic characteristics, as well as symptom and quality of life scores, among these latent classes; and evaluate for an overlap in morning and evening fatigue class membership.
Metastatic-adenoid cystic carcinoma of the major salivary glands presenting as a spinal cord tumor.

Abstract An adenoid cystic carcinoma (cylindroma) of the sub-mandibular salivary gland presented 17 years after diagnosis with a compressive syndrome of the spinal cord as well as a local recurrence. This is the first reported case of such an occurence. The literature is reviewed concerning other malignant tumors of the salivary glands presenting in this way. Fifteen cases of mixed salivary-gland tumors are reviewed. Evidence of histologic change from one tumor type to another and the mechanism of spread to the vertebral column is discussed.
Contemporary Chinese public relations education: development and challenges

This study provides a comprehensive update of Chinese public relations education. Particularly, it (1) examined the challenges facing Chinese public relations education and (2) explored the positive changes that have emerged in Chinese public relations education. Researchers conducted 49 face-to-face in-depth interviews with Chinese public relations educators, students, and professionals supplemented with a content analysis of 22 Web sites of Chinese universities with public relations programs. Major findings include: (1) absence of doctoral programs, (2) rigid public relations curriculum structure, (3) dominance of traditional public relations pedagogy, (4) lack of qualified public relations educators, and (5) inadequate institutional recognition. In addition to these key challenges that Chinese public relations education confronts, it has also been undergoing some promising changes. For example, public relations education is adjusting to meet the needs of students. Educators are developing both educatio...
An Intelligent Foot Monitoring System for Diabetic Patients to Prevent Foot Ulcerations

Elevated plantar pressure plays a major role in foot problems in diabetic patients. High pressures interrupt arterial blood flow, which is further compounded by the fact that diabetic patients lose sensory feedback from their feet, hence are not able to change their stance leading to unnatural pressure points. This can lead to dermal ulcerations, necrosis, and ultimately to partial or total amputation of the foot. This paper presents a preliminary design of an intelligent shoe-insert that automatically monitors critical foot parameters in diabetic patients. The objective is to collect information on plantar pressure, temperature and moisture and come up with a system that would help in the prevention of foot ulcerations. This would be accomplished by keeping track of these parameters and sounding alarms when critical thresholds may be reached. This paper describes a comprehensive monitoring system with sensing, A/D, data storage, interpretation, transmission and alarm sounding capabilities in a single unit.Copyright © 2006 by ASME
AN ELECTRON MICROSCOPE STUDY OF THE RAT ENDOMETRIUM DURING DELAYED IMPLANTATION.

The luminal and glandular epithelia of the rat uterus during delayed implantation have been studied with the electron microscope. The tall columnar cells of the luminal epithelium are characterized by a distinct zonation of organelles. On the free surface there are short microvilli and occasional cytoplasmic extrusions, with terminal bars joining adjacent cells at their apical margins. Beneath the free surface are numerous pinocytotic vesicles and mitochondria. Above the nucleus are a prominent Golgi apparatus with large dilated vacuoles, and numerous dense inclusion bodies. Large clusters of lipid droplets and aggregations of mitochondria occupy the basal zone of the cell. The apical portion of the gland cell has fewer pinocytotic vesicles and the Golgi is smaller than in the luminal epithelial cells. Dense bodies are numerous above the nucleus. The basal portion of the gland cell is devoid of lipid, but there are often one or more enlarged mitochondria. Although a dense PAS+ substance fills the lumina of the glands, there is no obvious evidence of secretory activity in the glands during delay. The relationships of the epithelia to the environment of the blastocysts during delay is discussed.
A critical review of remote sensing and other methods for non-destructive estimation of standing crop biomass

Several different techniques for the non-destructive estimation of pasture or range biomass are critically reviewed and compared to remote sensing methods. Similarities and differences between the visual estimation procedure, β-attentuation, capacitance meters, weighted disc, and spectral methods are discussed in terms of accuracy, time, ease of operation, operational constraints and calibration procedures. No one technique has been shown to be superior across the board to the other techniques reviewed for ground-based biomass estimation. A discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of each non-destructive method allows for the selection of the technique most suited to a particular application.
Luminescence and photochemistry of 9-nitroanthracene at 4.2 K

Abstract The luminescence resulting from photoexcitation of 9-nitroanthracene in degassed ethyl alcohol and in a polyvinylbutyral film at 4.2 K indicates that it occurs completely from photochemical products. In contrast to previous studies of this molecule the interpretation of data is facilitated at this low temperature, which prevents diffusion, thermal activation and bimolecular events. The primary photoproduct is 9-anthrol, and an additional emission with a maximum at about 520 nm is tentatively assigned as the 9-anthrolate anion. Although an extremely weak phosphorescence emission is observed at 685 nm, it still appears that 9-nitroanthracene is non-phosphorescent, and that this emission originates from substituted anthracene photoproducts.
Dynamics of ligand binding to myoglobin

Myoglobin rebinding of carbon monoxide and dioxygen after photodissociation has been observed in the temperature range between 40 and 350 K. A system was constructed that records the change in optical absorption at 436 nm smoothly and without break between 2 musec and 1 ksec. Four different rebinding processes have been found. Between 40 and 160 K, a single process is observed. It is not exponential in time, but approximately given by N(t) = (1 + t/to)-n, where to and n are temperature-dependent, ligand-concentration independent, parameters. At about 170 K, a second and at 200 K, a third concentration-independent process emerge. At 210 K, a concentration-dependent process sets in. If myoglobin is embedded in a solid, only the first three can be seen, and they are all nonexponential. In a liquid glycerol-water solvent, rebinding is exponential. To interpret the data, a model is proposed in which the ligand molecule, on its way from the solvent to the binding site at the ferrous heme iron, encounters four barriers in succession. The barriers are tentatively identified with known features of myoglobin. By computer-solving the differential equation for the motion of a ligand molecule over four barriers, the rates for all important steps are obtained. The temperature dependences of the rates yield enthalpy, entropy, and free-energy changes at all barriers. The free-energy barriers at 310 K indicate how myoglobin achieves specificity and order. For carbon monoxide, the heights of these barriers increase toward the inside; carbon monoxide consequently is partially rejected at each of the four barriers. Dioxygen, in contrast, sees barriers of about equal height and moves smoothly toward the binding site. The entropy increases over the first two barriers, indicating a rupturing of bonds or displacement of residues, and then smoothly decreases, reaching a minimum at the binding site. The magnitude of the decrease over the innermost barrier implies participation of heme and/or protein. The nonexponential rebinding observed at low temperatures and in solid samples implies that the innermost barrier has a spectrum of activation energies. The shape of the spectrum has been determined; its existence can be explained by assuming the presence of many conformational states for myoglobin. In a liquid at temperatures above about 230 K, relaxation among conformational states occurs and rebinding becomes exponential.