cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Note on the Production of Cosmic-Ray Showers

The cosmic-ray showers, which are shown so beautifully in the counter controlled cloud chamber,(1) have been investigated by numerous observers. The method in general has consisted in putting three Geiger counters below a thin plate of heavy material. The counters are usually arranged so that three particles emerging simultaneously from the plate are required to register a coincidence. Hence a shower will consist of at least three particles associated in time.
Cat sartorius muscle: An isolated perfused skeletal muscle preparation for microvascular research

Abstract The cat sartorius muscle is an example of a skeletal muscle which can be isolated and transilluminated for studies of the microcirculation. This preparation can be used for constant-flow or constant-pressure experiments, and for studies of reactive hyperemia, exercise hyperemia, and autoregulation in skeletal muscle. Detailed procedures are described for the isolation of the muscle. Some of the advantages and limitations in the use of this preparation are also discussed.
Effect of protein kinase C on the plasma membrane calcium pump in purified beta cells.

The effect of protein kinase C activation on (Ca2+-Mg2+)-ATPase and 45Ca2+ uptake in purified plasma membranes and membrane vesicles from beta cells was examined. PKC activation was achieved by incubating cells for 10 or 30 min in 100 nM or 1 μM of the phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) and evident by translocation of the α-isoform from the cytosolic to the membrane fraction. (Ca2+-Mg2+)-ATPase had a Km for Ca2+ of 0.56 ± 0.17 μM and the Vmax was 120 ± 12 nmol/min*mg protein in membranes from cells treated with TPA, while it was 0.66 ± 0.14 μM and 135 ± 19 nmol/min*mg protein, respectively, in its absence. In inside-out vesicles 45Ca2+ uptake had a Km for Ca2+ of 79 ± 19 nM and a Vmax of 1.68 ± 0.43 nmol/min*mg protein in the presence of TPA. In the absence of TPA, the Km was 71 ± 17 mM, and the Vmax was 1.59 ± 0.39 nmol/min*mg mg protein, respectively. It is concluded that in beta cells PKC activation does not regulate (Ca2+-Mg2+)-ATPase activity or Ca2+ transport directly.
Bias, history, and the Protestant Work Ethic

Purpose – The Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) is an important construct for management theorists. However, there appear to be biases and distortions in the way it is used in research. This paper aims to discuss the issues of assumptions involving the PWE, thus addressing this gap in the management literature.Design/methodology/approach – The management literature distorts the PWE in three ways. First, though there are multiple work ethics, researchers largely focus on this one. This paper examines work‐ethics research and language in various management fields. Second, the construct has been developed within limited philosophical perspectives. This is tested by comparing work histories. Third, the historic documents are investigated and it is argued that the PWE is not Protestant.Findings – There is evidence of bias in the management literature concerning the PWE. Though there are many work values, management research is dominated by the PWE. Luther's and Calvin's writings indicate that their essential views o...
AIDS Wrongly Diagnosed

To the Editor.— The significance of a diagnosis of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is widely appreciated and includes a grave prognosis as well as problems with medical expenses, employment, housing, and interpersonal relationships. Diagnosis of some AIDSdefining conditions requires considerable technical expertise. We report a case of misdiagnosis. Report of a Case.— A 58-year-old black man was admitted to a community hospital in July 1986 for dyspnea and mild nonproductive cough. He had used intravenous drugs (heroin and cocaine) for the prior 18 years. Physical examination revealed a large man in minimal distress; there were bibasilar rales, and multiple scars at sites of prior drug injection. His oral temperature was 37.6°C. The white blood cell count was 4.7×10 9 /L (4700/mm 3 ), with 0.30 (30%) lymphocytes; hemoglobin level was 119 g/L (11.9 g/dL). A chest roentgenogram demonstrated bilateral basal interstitial infiltrates; arterial oxygen partial pressure was 48 mm Hg. On
Relationship between snack and meal consumption

Abstract The USDA's 1977–78 Nationwide Food Consumption Survey was utilized to assess the relationship between the kilocalorie/total sugar content of snacks and the kilocalorie/total sugar content of subsequent meal. Chi-square tests and descriptive statistics were used in conjunction with various measures of snack and meal contents. Results showed the effects of snacking on total sugar and kilocalorie content of following meals were age/sex specific. For relatively small eaters, increased kilocalorie and total sugar content of snacks were associated with decreased kilocalorie and total sugar content at following meals. Particularly apparent was the inverse relationship between snack total sugar and main meal total sugar. Adult females were more likely than adult males to use snack sugars and kilocalories as partial substitutes for meal kilocalories and sugars. Alternatively, male adolescents' and, to a lesser extent, young adult males' large snacks tended to be followed by meals with above average content of kilocalories. However, for all age/sex groups, no association was observed between increased snack sugars and increased main meal sugars.
Microwaves: effect on thermoregulatory behavior in rats

Rats, with their fur clipped, pressed a lever to turn on an infrared lamp while in a cold chamber. When they were exposed to continuous-wave microwaves at 2450 megahertz for 15-minute periods, the rate at which they turned on the infrared lamp decreased as a function of the microwave power density, which ranged between 5 and 20 milliwatts per square centimeter. This result indicates that behaviorally significant levels of heating may occur at an exposure duration and intensities that do not produce measurable changes in many other behavioral measures or in colonic temperature. Further study of how microwaves affect thermoregulatory behavior may help us understand such phenomena as the reported "nonthermal" behavioral effects of microwaves.
Customer Lifetime Value and Firm Valuation

SUMMARY Unlike most marketing metrics, CLV provides information which is directly relevant to marketing decision makers, non-marketing executives such as CFOs, and financial analysts. This paper highlights why and how CLV is financially relevant. It explicitly compares CLV-based valuation with four finance-oriented methods (DCF, P/E ratio, customer counting, and extrapolation). We also discuss implications for marketing managers, financial executives as well as educators.
Prp43 is an essential RNA-dependent ATPase required for release of lariat-intron from the spliceosome.

The essential Saccharomyces cerevisiae PRP43 gene encodes a 767-amino acid protein of the DE XH-box family. Prp43 has been implicated in spliceosome disassembly (Arenas, J. E., and Abelson, J. N. (1997) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 94, 11798–11802). Here we show that purified recombinant Prp43 is an RNA-dependent ATPase. Alanine mutations at conserved residues within motifs I (119GSGKT123), II (215DEAH218) and VI (423QRAGRAGR430) that diminished ATPase activity in vitro were lethal in vivo, indicating that ATP hydrolysis is necessary for the biological function of Prp43. Overexpression of lethal, ATPase-defective mutants in a wild-type strain resulted in dominant-negative growth inhibition. The ATPase-defective mutant T123A interfered in trans with the in vitro splicing function of wild-type Prp43. T123A did not affect the chemical steps of splicing or the release of mature mRNA from the spliceosome, but it blocked the release of the excised lariat-intron from the spliceosome. We show that the lariat-intron is not accessible to debranching by purified Dbr1 when it is held in the T123A-arrested splicing complex. Our results define a new ATP-dependent step of splicing that is catalyzed by Prp43.
Editor's Introduction: New Perspectives on Puerto Rican, Latina/o, Chicana/o, and Caribbean American Literatures

The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions. This quotation, in various permutations, is attributed on the Internet to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Albert Einstein, three traditional great white males from the dominant culture. But, as these lines and their vexed lineage suggest, the source is a red herring. We cannot really determine an idea’s point of origin, nor can we return to it, even if we wanted to—which, according to the contents of this issue, we would not. Will the Capitol in Washington, DC—or indeed the US government—ever look the same to you now that you have experienced the image by Arnaldo Roche that graces our cover for this issue? Both our cover and the essays within truly provide “New Perspectives on Puerto Rican, Latina/o, Chicana/o, and Caribbean American Literatures.” And we must not forget that the very notion of these literatures opened new canonical vistas only a few decades ago. All the contributors to this issue, “New Perspectives on Puerto Rican, Latina/o, Chicana/o, and Caribbean American Literatures,” present us with new ideas, as well as authors new to some of us, that will stretch our minds with riches of scholarship and interpretive brio. Even a canonical modernist like William Carlos Williams, as one of this issue’s articles demonstrates, has cultural dimensions that we must reevaluate and appreciate in the context of ethnic literature. As the canon expands, so do our minds. Why would we ever want to return to the narrow dimensions of the past, with its limited perspective? Our first three articles make problematic any fixity of canon, place of origin, or ideas of home through the paradoxical notion of a fixed abode in the fluidity of motion, particularly walking, in which such mundane local forms of travel become globally suggestive. In “ ‘Little
Suppression ofhigh-pT nucleons — A signature of deconfinement in heavy ion collisions?

Abstract Protons with large transverse momenta are produced in proton-proton collisions primarily by hard scattering of diquarks. If the diquark radius were close to the Debye screening length, yields of protons, neutrons and lambdas with large transverse momenta would be suppressed in a deconfined quark-gluon plasma. It will be argued that this effect is not likely to be generated by dense hadronic matter.
Thermo-Mechanical Behavior of a Micromirror for Laser-to-Fiber Active Alignment Using Bimorphs With Breakable Tethers

We will present a novel micromirror design in which tethered bimorph strips are used for mirror active alignment including beam steering and position fixing. A micromirror is attached to bimorphs that are prestressed at room temperature. A series of tethers link the bimorphs to the substrate to restrain their deformation. Breaking a tether by joule heating allows the deformation of the bimorph to increase, changing the mirror position and orientation for precision alignment. With a large number of tethers, an optimum alignment can be achieved after breaking a selected group of tethers. Experimental results of the devices fabricated confirm the beam steering and position fixing designed.
Binary and Ternary Ion-Exchange Equilibria in Zeolitized Tuff: Cs-Sr-Co System

Abstract Sorption isotherms for the ternary system Cs-Sr-Co using ‘Nonscents,’ a zeolitized volcanic tuff material from southeast Arizona, as sorbent were measured with a columnar flow technique. The isotherms were correlated with an ion-exchange phase-equilibrium model, and the triangle rule of ion exchange has been validated. Sorbent-phase selectivity for the ternary system has been successfully predicted from a knowledge of the selectivity of constituent binary pairs. The study helps in the understanding of multisolute sorption behavior during host rockground water interactions relevant to a high-level nuclear waste repository.
A Wind Tunnel Investigation of the Growth of Graupel Initiated from Frozen Drops

Abstract The formation of graupel by the riming of freely suspended frozen drops has been studied in the UCLA Cloud Tunnel. The following parameters were varied: 1) initial frozen drop size, 2) ambient temperature, 3) liquid water content, 4) growth time and 5) cloud droplet size. The various combinations yielded a total of 16 separate growth environments each consisting of approximately 10 individual growth events. In all of the growth environments, heat dissipation was efficient enough so that all the water acquired by the growing ice particle immediately turned into ice (“dry growth” regime). From the observed growth rates of the ice particles, collection kernels were calculated. These kernels are significantly different from those of drops colliding with drops or those derived from the theoretically determined efficiency with which plate-like and columnar ice crystals collide with drops. In addition, the densities of rime acquired by the frozen drops during their transition to graupel were measured an...
Intracellular tryptophan pool sizes may account for differences in gamma interferon-mediated inhibition and persistence of chlamydial growth in polarized and nonpolarized cells.

Gamma interferon (IFN-γ) is an important factor in the modulating inhibition of intracellular chlamydial growth and persistence. In human epithelial cells and macrophages, this inhibition is the result of depletion of the essential amino acid tryptophan via the IFN-γ-induced enzyme indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase. Under these conditions, chlamydiae must successfully compete with the host cell for limited resources in order to maintain viability. We provide evidence to support the hypothesis that the host cell polarization state influences the host-pathogen interplay and outcome of IFN-γ-mediated inhibition. In polarized cells, intracellular soluble tryptophan pools were larger than those in nonpolarized cells despite only small differences in the initial uptake rate of this amino acid compared to that in nonpolarized cells. Furthermore, in Chlamydia trachomatis-infected cells, the amounts of tryptophan consumed by the organisms were similar for cells grown in either state. We propose that intracellular tryptophan pool sizes can account for differences in IFN-γ-mediated chlamydial persistence and growth inhibition in polarized and nonpolarized cells. Collectively, these results argue that polarized cell models, which more accurately reflect the conditions in vivo, may be more relevant than conventionally cultured cells in the study of intimate intracellular host-parasite interactions.
On the equivalent circuit of a receiving antenna

The equivalent circuit of a receiving antenna consists of a current generator and two admittances: one for the load, and one for the antenna. The short-circuit current, I/sub g/ - receiving property - may be expressed in terms of the transmitting properties of the antenna. The article gives a derivation for the value of I/sub g/. It is assumed, to simplify matters, that the antenna is located in free space, and that its feeding line is a monomode waveguide (a coaxial cable, for example). The extension to multimode lines, or to spatial regions containing linear media (possibly anisotropic, and/or non-reciprocal) is fairly straightforward.
Test-Retest Reliability of the Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting­ Manuscript

OBJECTIVE This study examined the test-retest reliability of the legibility portion of the Evaluation Tool of Children's Handwriting-Manuscript (ETCH-M). METHOD The sample consisted of 31 first-grade and second-grade students with handwriting dysfunction. The ETCH-M was administered two times, 1 week apart, to participants. The primary investigator acted as sole rater and followed standard scoring procedures. RESULTS The reliability coefficients were .63 for total numeral legibility .77 for total letter legibility, and .71 for total word legibility. Individual task reliability coefficients were generally lower and ranged from .20 (near-point copy) to .76 (alphabet uppercase). CONCLUSION Total letter, total word, and uppercase letter legibility were more stable than total numeral legibility scores and other individual tasks scores. When evaluating handwriting for a child, it is important to consider ETCH legibility scores as only one aspect of a comprehensive evaluation.
Hemodynamic effects of substance P and its receptor antagonist RP67580 in anesthetized rats with carbon tetrachloride-induced cirrhosis

Objective. Substance P (SP) is a vasodilator that may contribute to systemic and splanchnic vasodilatation in cirrhosis. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of SP (dose –13 pg/kg) and its specific inhibitor, RP67580 (dose – 300 µg/kg) on mean arterial pressure (MAP) and portal pressure (PP) in cirrhotic rats and controls. Material and methods. MAP and PP were measured before and after administering SP and RP67580. Additionally, a small group of cirrhotic rats were pretreated with L-NAME to block the effects of nitric oxide (NO) before measurements. Results. SP produced transient systemic hypotension in both groups. SP caused a significant increase in PP in cirrhotic rats and a decrease in PP in controls. RP67580 reduced the hypotensive effect of SP, but not completely. RP67580 decreased PP in the cirrhotic group but not in controls. In cirrhotic rats pretreated with L-NAME, SP administration caused a significant decrease in MAP but no significant change in PP. Conclusions. Exogenous SP incr...
Short-channel GaAs FET fabricated like a MESFET but operating like a JFET

Normally-on GaAs field-effect transistors (FETs) having 1 ?m gate lengths and 4 ?m channel lengths were fabricated in structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The unique part of this device is the very thin p+/n+ structure used to replace the conventional Schottky barriers. The device fabrication procedure is identical to that of a Schottky barrier FET (MESFET), but the devices exhibit characteristics similar to that of a junction field-effect transistor (JFET). This new device, the `camel diode gate FET?, is expected to have applications in both logic and power devices.
Error-resilient mobile video by edge adapted multiscale transforms

Summary form only given, as follows. Mobile video systems face particularly challenging problems due to the hostile nature of the mobile radio channel and the very low bit-rate available. For the fading channel, the Shannon separation principle does not hold, and hence source and channel coding should be considered jointly. This talk reviews some advances in our work on joint optimization of video coding and error control schemes for the mobile radio channel. As a new formal framework for end-to-end optimization, the so-called distortion-distortion-function (DDF) is introduced that shows the distortions introduced by source coding vs. the distortions resulting from channel errors for varying bit allocation between source and channel coding. We show the impact of various error-resiliency techniques on the DDF, such as motion-compensated concealment, increasing the frequency of synchronization words in the bit-stream, or increasing the percentage of intra-coded blocks. We show that for increasing burstiness of channel errors, the importance of an error-resilient decoder increases, while the effectiveness of FEC decreases. Channel-adaptive source coding is shown to be a powerful technique, if channel feedback can be incorporated into the source coder. Finally we address techniques that take advantage of layered scalable representations of the video signal. In order to achieve unequal error protection of the layers, we discuss FEC across IP packets and receiver-driven adaptive pre-etching techniques. Such techniques can be advantageously combined with proxy servers for mobile multimedia access.
Impact of a randomized clinical trial on children with perforated appendicitis

Background We previously conducted a randomized, clinical trial comparing early appendectomy with interval appendectomy for perforated appendicitis. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect this clinical trial had on subsequent practice patterns and outcomes for patients with perforated appendicitis at the free-standing children's hospital conducting the trial. Methods A retrospective study was conducted comparing children with perforated appendicitis treated before the trial (2005−2006) and after the trial (2009−2011). Early appendectomy was performed within 24 hours of diagnosis; interval appendectomy occurred 4−6 weeks after initial treatment with antibiotics. Patient characteristics, treatment variables, and outcomes were collected and compared. Results The pretrial group consisted of 92 patients—62 (67%) underwent early appendectomy, and 30 (33%) patients had interval appendectomy. The posttrial group was composed of 103 patients, with 87 (84%) undergoing early appendectomy and 16 (16%) interval appendectomy (P = .005). The groups were similar in patient and admission characteristics, although the posttrial group had a lower percentage of self-pay patients and fewer computed tomography scans; health care use was similar between groups. Overall, the posttrial group had fewer adverse events (18% vs 34%, P = .02), specifically fewer wound infections (2% vs 14%, P = .001) and fewer unplanned readmissions (7% vs 16%, P = .04) than the pretrial group. In the posttrial group, those patients selected for interval appendectomy were more likely to complete the planned course of therapy than in the pretrial group. Conclusion A clinical trial conducted at our institution to evaluate currently available treatment options for perforated appendicitis did change practice patterns at our hospital. After the trial, there was an increase in the use of early appendectomy, a decrease in the number of computed tomography scans performed per patient, and a reduction in the overall adverse event rate.
Are Some Cognitive Styles More Creatively Productive than Others

The conceptual similarities among several taxonomies of cognitive style were examined, and common themes emerged concerning their expected contributions to creative output. In the first of two studies, 626 adults from a range of creative occupations, including undergraduates, completed a measure of their quantity of creative output in several domains and their dominant cognitive style out of eight options. In the second, 277 undergraduates reported the extent to which they engaged in any of the eight styles along with the same indicator of creative output. Results showed substantial positive correlations between innovator, synthesizer, and planner styles with productivity, with negative and null relationships for other styles. Furthermore, creative output was highest for people who engaged in a wide repertoire of cognitive styles. It is recommended that creativity training or enhancement programs continue to allocate time to repertoire developement.
Mutations of Human Cu, Zn Superoxide Dismutase Expressed in Transgenic Mice Cause Motor Neuron Disease

ALS causes the degeneration of motor neurons in cortex, brainstem and spinal cord with consequent paralysis and death.1 Most cases of ALS are sporadic and have an unknown etiology.2 However, about 10–15% of all ALS cases are inherited. An adultonset, autosomal dominantly inherited trait is the predominant form3, although there is a rare, recessively inherited childhood-onset form of ALS in which survival can be quite long4. In 1991, a fraction of families with the familial form of ALS (FALS) showed linkage to a disease locus on human chromosome 21q.5 Shortly thereafter, in 1993, the target of mutation on chromosome 21q was shown to be the gene (SOD1) encoding Cu,Zn Superoxide dismutase (Cu,Zn SOD). At least 22 different missense mutations causing the substitution of one amino acid for another have now been found in FALS kindreds. Cu,Zn SOD is a metalloenzyme that catalyzes the dismutation of Superoxide (O2×-) to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The copper ion provides the redox center for the dismutation of Superoxide, while the zinc ion plays a structural role. Three different genes encoding Superoxide dismutases are present in the human genome. All three enzymes contain a transition metal in their active site, but differ in their subcellular localization. Only Cu,Zn SOD is mutated in FALS. Cu,Zn SOD is primarily cytosolic and is expressed in every cell within the body.6,7 Why only motor neurons are affected by the mutations found in FALS is unknown. The mutations of Cu,Zn SOD found in affected families are primarily amino acid substitutions in structural regions of the polypeptide.8 No deletions of the human SOD1 gene have been described which suggests that expression of the mutant polypeptide is required for pathogenesis.
Complement-fixing hidden rheumatoid factor in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

Fifteen to twenty percent of patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) have positive latex fixation tests (LFT), whereas approximately 46% have previously been demonstrated to have hidden rheumatoid factors (RF), i.e., 19S IgM RF which can be detected by the LFT after acid separation of the IgM-containing fraction from serum. In this study, hidden RF were found in 59% of patients with seronegative JRA by use of a complement-dependent hemolytic assay. The median titer of JRA patients was 1:42, and in healthy and disease controls it was 1:7. The difference was significant at P less than 0.001. When data from patients with active disease were analyzed separately, the median titer for polyarticular JRA was 1:97 and for pauciarticular JRA, 1:91. The differences due to active disease were significant at P less than 0.001 and P less than 0.005, respectively. The results demonstrate that the hemolytic assay is more sensitive than the LFT in determining the presence of hidden RF, and activity of disease correlates well with high hemolytic RF titers.
Inventing paganism in eighth‐century Bavaria

This article examines the hagiographies of Saints Emmeram and Corbinian and the synod of Neuching from eighth-century Bavaria. It argues that the references to pagan survivals in these texts are misleading, in the absence of other evidence of paganism in the region. Rather, since these texts were composed in a narrow window of time from 769–774, this anxiety reflects concerns aroused by pagan uprisings in neighbouring Carantania, which were only suppressed in 772. Thus, the texts' authors ‘invented’ paganism in their own culture as their perceptions of the dividing lines between Christianity and paganism grew sharper.
Antibiotic, Detergent, and Complement Sensitivity of Salmonella typhi After Ethylenediaminetetraacetic Acid Treatment

Antimicrobial substances, including antibiotics such as polymyxin and novobiocin, detergents, and complement, all of which are known or presumed to have an effect upon membrane permeability, showed greater potency against ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)-treated Salmonella typhi than against untreated cells of that organism. The differential effect was particularly marked with the complement system when serum antibody was limiting. EDTA-treated cells were also more susceptible to penicillin and bacitracin. On the other hand, such treatment did not affect the potency against S. typhi of mitomycin C, the aminoglycosides, chloramphenicol, and chlortetracycline, nor did it affect the permeability of S. typhi to these compounds.
Interpolating view and scene motion by dynamic view morphing

We introduce the problem of view interpolation for dynamic scenes. Our solution to this problem extends the concept of view morphing and retains the practical advantages of that method. We are specifically concerned with interpolating between two reference views captured at different times, so that there is a missing interval of time between when the views were taken. The synthetic interpolations produced by our algorithm portray one possible physically-valid version of what transpired in the scene during the missing time. It is assumed that each object in the original scene underwent a series of rigid translations. Dynamic view morphing can work with widely-spaced reference views, sparse point correspondences, and uncalibrated cameras. When the camera-to-camera transformation can be determined, the synthetic interpolation will portray scene objects moving along straight-line, constant-velocity trajectories in world space.
Optical nature of interface layers: a comparative study of the Si–SiO 2 interface

A comparative study is made of four methods for treating the graded nature of the Si–SiO2 interface in the analysis of ellipsometry data: (1) the stratified-media model, in which the total number of layers is large (>10); (2) the three-boundary approximation, in which the interface is treated as a single, homogeneous layer; (3) the two-boundary approximation, in which the effects of the interface are incorporated into an effective oxide-layer thickness; and (4) the integral-equation method, approximated to first order, of Plieth and Naegele [ Surf. Sci.64, 484 ( 1977)]. The Si–SiO2 transition layer is assumed to have optical functions that vary monotonically between those of Si and SiO2 in six different ways. In each of the six cases, the ellipsometry parameters ψ and Δ are computed for the air–SiO2-interface bulk-Si system by using the four methods stated above. The results illustrate the sensitivity of ellipsometry to the interface layer and reveal that the interface layer must be properly taken into account for accurate analysis. It is concluded that the three-boundary approximation is not necessarily more accurate than a judiciously applied two-boundary model and that the first-order approximation of Plieth and Naegele introduces sizable errors at short wavelengths for the Si–SiO2 interface.
Eliminating the improbable: Sherlock Holmes and standards of evidence in the genomic age.

In 2003, Shearman and colleagues reported that a common variant in the estrogen receptor-alpha gene (ESR1 IVS1 −397 C allele) occurred more frequently in male subjects with myocardial infarction (MI) than in those free of MI.1 The following year, Schuit et al described an association between the common haplotype containing the alternate (T) allele and MI, but only in women.2 In this issue of Circulation , Koch et al3 report no association, in either men or women, between the ESR1 −397 T>C genotype or the common haplotypes containing this allele and MI. What does this collection of heterogeneous results tell us about genetic association studies in general and genetic variation in the estrogen receptor in particular; and how can we use this understanding to improve our ability to understand, treat, and prevent cardiovascular disease? Article p 2138 Frequent failure to replicate initially promising genetic associations is a source of consternation and confusion for scientists and journal editors alike. Recent reviews of the literature indicate that 70% to 95% of reported genetic associations were not confirmed in subsequent studies.4,5 It has been argued that false-positive reports of genetic associations distract energy and resources from valid lines of inquiry and erode the credibility of medical research. Some reputable journals now decline to publish genetic associations of complex disorders except in “exceptional circumstances” (http://www.jci.org/misc/jcipoli.pdf), and some scientists have argued that association studies are so unreliable that they should be abandoned altogether.6 “The temptation to form premature theories on insufficient evidence is the bane of our profession.” —Sherlock Holmes, in “The Valley of Fear”7 In their simplest form, genetic association studies determine whether the frequency of an allelic variant is more or less common in cases than it is in appropriately selected controls. Like any case-control study, in …
Outcomes in post-ICU mechanical ventilation: a therapist-implemented weaning protocol.

Background: Therapist-implemented protocols have beenused to extubate or wean patients in the ICU setting. Barlow Respiratory Hospital (BRH) functions as a center for weaning patientsfrom prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) in the post-ICU setting ofa long-term acute-care (LTAC) facility. A therapist-implementedpatient-specific (TIPS) weaning protocol was developed at BRH tostandardize weaning from PMV. Study design: Prospective cohort study with historical control. Methods: A weaning protocol incorporating the proceduresand pace of LTAC weaning was developed using available scientificevidence and expert consensus. After training of staff, collection andanalysis of pilot data, and revisions and refinement of the protocol, the TIPS protocol was implemented hospital-wide. It was monitored foroutcome, variance, and respiratory care practitioner (RCP) andphysician compliance. Results: Forty-six RCPs workedwith eight pulmonologists treating 271 consecutive patients admittedfor weaning from PMV during an 18-month period. Nineteen patients wereexcluded from weaning attempts by any method after initial physicianevaluation. The remaining 252 patients (9,135 total ventilator days)were compared with a group of 238 patients treated by the samephysicians in the 2 years before instituting protocol weaning. Mediantime to wean declined significantly from 29 days in historical controlsubjects to 17 days for TIPS protocol patients (p Conclusions: Patients weaned from PMVusing a new therapist-implemented protocol at BRH, an LTAC facilityspecializing in weaning, had significantly shorter time to weaning thanhistorical control subjects, with comparable outcomes. The weaningoutcome data collected after the implementation of the TIPS protocolare in fact attributable to its use, as we found a high degree ofcompliance with the protocol.
Antigone's Nature

Antigone fascinates G. W. F. Hegel and Luce Irigaray, both of whom turn to her in their explorations and articulations of ethics. Hegel and Irigaray make these re-turns to Antigone through the double and related lenses of nature and sexual difference. This essay investigates these figures of Antigone and the accompanying ethical accounts of nature and sexual difference as a way of examining Irigaray's complex relation to and creative uses of Hegel's thought.
Emotion elicitation using films

Abstract Researchers interested in emotion have long struggled with the problem of how to elicit emotional responses in the laboratory. In this article, we summarise five years of work to develop a set of films that reliably elicit each of eight emotional states (amusement, anger, contentment, disgust, fear, neutral, sadness, and surprise). After evaluating over 250 films, we showed selected film clips to an ethnically diverse sample of 494 English-speaking subjects. We then chose the two best films for each of the eight target emotions based on the intensity and discreteness of subjects' responses to each film. We found that our set of 16 films successfully elicited amusement, anger, contentment. disgust, sadness, surprise, a relatively neutral state, and, to a lesser extent, fear. We compare this set of films with another set recently described by Philippot (1993), and indicate that detailed instructions for creating our set of film stimuli will be provided on request.
Nutrient leaching from pine needles impacted by acidic cloudwater

In coastal and mountainous environments, fog and cloud droplets are frequently deposited onto terrestrial surfaces; this deposition pathway may account for a large fraction of both moisture and chemical loading. Stratus cloudwater was collected for chemical analyses at Henninger Flats (870 m MSL), a site in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, 25 km northeast of downtown Los Angeles. Concurrent samples of intercepted cloudwater were manually removed, drop-by-drop, from needles on various species of pine trees upon which it had deposited. Samples were analyzed for pH, major cations, and anions. Solute concentrations were substantially higher in samples removed from pine needles compared to the suspended cloudwater. For example, cloudwater concentrations for nitrate and sulfate were measured between 0.25 and 4.5 meq L^(−1) while deposited samples were 0.4 to 90 meq L^(−1). This solute enhancement was due to evaporation following droplet deposition and to nutrient leaching. Nutrient leaching was indicated by (a) a disproportionate increase in the concentrations of cations such as K and Mg (a factor of 2 to 15 enrichment relative to sulfate), and (b) reductions in the leachate acidity and ammonium relative to the incident droplets. A relationship was observed between the enhancement of Na, Ca, and nitrate in pine needle leachate. This suggests that reactions at the foliar surfaces are occurring which involve gaseous HNO_3 and accumulated soil dust and sea-salt particles.
On Syria, War, and Health: When Universality Trumps Specialty

The deployment of weapons of mass destruction, and particularly chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, looms large worldwide with profound population health ramifications, yet international humanitarian law is inadequately structured to address the complexity of these threats, and particularly the social determinants that allow them to sustain. This work articulates the precise role of international criminal law in promoting, protecting, and validating the inextricable linkage between health and human rights, challenging a status quo that has heralded trade and national security as the preeminent and arguably exclusive factors of international intervention.
Identification and purification from bovine brain of a guanine-nucleotide-binding protein distinct from Gs, Gi and Go.

A guanine-nucleotide-binding protein (G-protein) was purified from cholate extracts of bovine brain membranes by sequential DEAE-Sephacel, Ultrogel AcA-34, heptylamine-Sepharose and Sephadex G-150 chromatography. Guanosine 5′-[gamma-[35S]thio]triphosphate (GTP[35S])-binding activity copurified with a 25,000 Da peptide and a 35,000-36,000 Da protein doublet. Neither pertussis toxin nor cholera toxin catalysed the ADP-ribosylation of a protein associated with the GTP[35S]-binding activity. Photoaffinity labelling of the purified protein with 8-azido[gamma-32P]GTP indicated that the GTP-binding site resides on the 25,000 Da protein. The 35,000-36,000 Da protein doublet was electrophoretically indistinguishable from the beta-subunits of other GTP-binding proteins, and the 36,000 Da protein was recognized by antiserum to oligomeric Gt. The purified protein specifically bound 17.2 nmol of GTP[35S]/mg of protein. The Kd of the binding site for radioligand was approx. 15 nM. The brain GTP-binding protein co-migrated during SDS/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis with a GTP-binding protein, named Gp, purified from human placenta [Evans, Brown, Fraser & Northup (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 7052-7059], and cross-reacted with antiserum raised against the placental protein, but not with antiserum raised to brain Go. SDS/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis of the brain and placental GTP-binding proteins in the presence of Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease yielded identical peptide maps.
The Paradoxes, Perils, and Possibilities of Teacher Resistance in a Right-to-Work State

This article, based on an ethnographic study in Arizona, provides a spatial analysis of teacher resistance in a right-to-work state. In contrast to geographical sites like Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia were there is a long tradition of teacher labor unions, teachers in right-to-work states produce alternate forms of resistance to neoliberalism. In particular, this article highlights how geographical variation mediates the meanings and practices that produce diverse relationships between neoliberalism, educational reforms, and teacher resistance.
Vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) infections in hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients

7036 Background: VRE blood stream infections (BSI) pose significant hazards to HSCT patients. Risk factors predisposing patients for a relatively nonpathogenic organism to become bacteremic include immune suppression, neutropenia, renal failure, antibiotic exposure, indwelling catheters, and VRE colonization. Some studies suggest that a VRE BSI is simply a marker of primary disease severity or an indicator of poor outcome, while other data demonstrate VRE BSI as an independent predictor of mortality. Methods: We performed a retrospective chart analysis of HSCT patient data using the electronic medical record and written charts using a standard data collection tool from February 1994 to October 2008. Vancomycin susceptibility was determined using the Dade Berhing panel. Results: We noted 625 infections in 385 HSCT patients; 26 patients developed 27 VRE infections over the course of 15 years. All isolates were Enterococcus faecium and not polymicrobial. Host characteristics included mean age of 49.5 yrs, al...
A New Emphasis in Strategies for Developing Lignin-Based Plastics

Lignins, a truly abundant group of biopolymers exhibiting some significant diversity, are usually thought to be constituted by a random proportionate distribution of ten different linkages between p-hydroxphenylpropane units. Over 20 million tons of kraft lignin derivatives are produced annually in the United States by the pulping industry, but 99.9% of these aromatic polymeric materials are consumed as fuel. Such industrial byproducts are generally viewed as being almost hopelessly complicated mixtures of partially degraded and condensed chemical species. However, a very different picture has begun to emerge from a more coherent understanding of the physicochemical behavior exhibited by kraft lignin preparations. Noncovalent interactions between the individual molecular components under a variety of solution conditions orchestrate pronounced associative processes that are characterized by a remarkable degree of specificity. Their consequences may be readily observed both size-exclusion chromatographically and electron microscopically, and are reflected in an anomalous variation of glass transition temperature, Tg, with molecular weight of paucidisperse kraft lignin fractions. How these effects may influence the mechanical properties of lignin-based polymeric materials is presently being scrutinized at the University of Minnesota.
Assessing trends over time

In the injury field, we commonly report injury or violence rates over time, obtained from national surveillance databases or other registries. Rates are usually available annually in most countries...
Performance of Pr-doped Fluoride Fiber Amplifier for Multichannel AM-VSB Transmission

System performance of Pr-doped fluoride fiber amplifier was examined for multichannel AM-VSB video signal transmission for the first time. For CNR of 51 dB, the loss budget of 15.1 dB was obtained with the amplifier.
Study on the Effect of Hygiene Intervention Measures on Diarrheal Diseases in the Rural Areas of Jiaxing City

Objective To investigate the current situation of drinking water,environmental sanitation and otherintervention measures for control of diarrheal diseases in the rural areas of Jiaxing City, and provide scientific evidence for developing health policies. Methods According to united questionnaires, household interviews were carried out for surveying water and toilets renovation, input costs, public hygienic habits and the incidence of diarrheal disease in 6 administrative villages of Haiyan County four times a year. Results Seven hundred and forty- two households were investigated, and the rates of water renovation, toilet renovation, water and toilet renovation were 66.71%, 80.05%, and 53.50%, respectively. The incidence rates of diarrheal disease in water and toilet renovation villages and toilet renovation villages were both lower than that of non- innovated villages(χ 2= 6.03,χ 2= 3.69, both P 0.05). There was a negative correlation between the rate of drinking bottled water(19.14%)and the incidence rate of diarrheal disease(r=- 0.816, P 0.05). Conclusions The measures accelerating water and toilet renovation in the rural areas and enhancing the related health education and training should be taken to control diarrheal diseases.
Investigation on hand hygiene of medical staff in Tianjin medical institutions

Objective To know the status of hand hygiene of health care workers and to strengthen the management in Tianjin. Methods Questionnaire survey and sample test were used to investigate,detect and evaluate the management of hand hygiene and quality on the medical staff in Tianjin. Results 150 medical staff were investigated,the hand hygiene knowledge awareness rate was more than 90%. 150 swab specimens were collected,pathogens or conditional pathogenic bacteria of 61 samples,the positive rate was 40. 67%,64 strains of bacteria were detected out. Pathogens in the hand were mainly Gram positive bacteria,especially Staphylococcus. Conclusion The medical staff in Tianjin medical institutions have a good command of hand hygiene knowledge,but the quality of hand hygiene should be paid attention to. And we should focus on strengthening the implementation of hand hygiene system and the goal of management should be improved.
Choice of dividend policy of creating-value and cash-shortage enterprises

In view of the dilemma in chosing dividend policy choices faced by the creating-value and cash-shortage enterprises,using the standardized method,this article point out the characteristics of these enterprises firstly and then it has profound study on how to choose dividend policy.Finally,it concludes that these enterprises should choose low-normal stock geography additional dividend policy and design the specific dividend model,which will play a role in the healthy and sustainable development of these enterprises.
Newspaper coverage of controversies about large-scale swine facilities in rural communities in Illinois

The building and expansion of large-scale swine facilities has created considerable controversy in many neighboring communities, but to date, no systematic analysis has been done of the types of claims made during these conflicts. This study examined how local newspapers in one state covered the transition from the dominance of smaller, diversified swine operations to large, single-purpose pig production facilities. To look at publicly made statements concerning large-scale swine facilities (LSSF), the study collected all articles related to LSSF from 22 daily Illinois newspapers over a 3-yr period (a total of 1,737 articles). The most frequent sets of claims used by proponents of LSSF were that the environment was not harmed, that state regulations were sufficiently strict, and that the state economically needed this type of agriculture. The most frequent claims made by opponents were that LSSF harmed the environment and neighboring communities and that stricter regulations were needed. Proponents' claims were primarily defensive and, to some degree, underplayed the advantages of LSSF. Pro-and anti-LSSF groups were talking at cross-purposes, to some degree. Even across similar themes, those in favor of LSSF and those opposed were addressing different sets of concerns. The newspaper claims did not indicate any effective alliances forming between local anti-LSSF groups and national environmental or animal rights groups.