cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A comparison of lower stratosphere temperature from microwave measurements with CHAMP GPS RO data

[1] In this study, we compare the microwave brightness temperature (Tb) for the Lower Stratosphere (TLS) datasets provided by Remote Sensing Systems (RSS) Inc. and University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) with the GPS radio occultation (RO) data from Challenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP) over 49 months from June 2001 to June 2005. The GPS RO data are used to simulate microwave brightness temperatures, for comparison with Microwave Sounding Unit (Channel 4) and Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (Channel 9) measurements. Excellent agreement was found between both RSS and UAH TLS and that of CHAMP. This study demonstrates the usefulness of GPS RO observations as independent data for comparison against and use with other satellite observations in climate studies. Citation: Ho, S.-P., Y.-H. Kuo, Z. Zeng, and T. C. Peterson (2007), A comparison of lower stratosphere temperature from microwave measurements with CHAMP GPS RO data, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L15701, doi:10.1029/ 2007GL030202.
Association of matrix metalloproteinases with MRI indices of brain ischemia and aging

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of large white matter hyperintensities (LWMH), decreased brain volume and silent cerebral infarcts (SCI) are subclinical indices of brain ischemia and aging. Although the pathophysiology of these findings remains uncertain, extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling, a process regulated by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their inhibitors (TIMPs), may be implicated. We evaluated the cross-sectional relations of circulating MMP-9 and TIMP-1 to these MRI indices in 583 stroke and dementia-free, Framingham Offspring participants (mean age 57 years, 58% women). Using multivariable regression MMP-9 (detectable versus non-detectable) and TIMP-1 (modeled as sex-specific quartiles) were related to LWMH (>1 S.D. above age-specific mean; yes/no), SCI (yes/no) and total brain volume (ratio of parenchymal to intracranial volume, TCBVr). Mean TCBVr was 0.78 (S.D. 0.03), 13% of subjects had LWMH and 12% had SCI. Detectable MMP-9 was associated with higher prevalence of LWMH (OR 2.09, 95%confidence interval (CI) 1.00–4.37), but not with TCBVr. TIMP-1 was associated with a high prevalence of LWMH (OR for Q4 versus Q1–3: 1.83, 95%CI 1.06–3.18) and with lower mean TCBVr (Q4 associated with 0.17 S.D. units lower value relative to Q1–3; p = 0.04). Neither biomarker was associated with SCI. Our findings are preliminary but if confirmed in further studies, suggest a pathophysiological role for the MMP/TIMP pathway in processes of brain ischemia and aging.
Planetary science: A mega-landslide on Mars

The vast Thaumasia plateau on Mars is fringed by extensive zones of deformation. Topographic and structural analysis suggests that the plateau may have slipped in a massive landslide, deforming its margins in the process.
Multi-stage electrical PMD compensator in digital coherent receivers for higher-order PMD mitigation

We proposed a multi-stage electrical-PMD-compensator for coherent systems. The method is format-independent and capable of mitigating higher-order PMD. We show negligible penalty after compensation in a 100-Gb/s system with 15 ps average DGD.
Superior Vena Cava Obstruction Due to Sarcoidosis

Obstruction of the superior vena cava due to sarcoidosis is described and to the best of our knowledge has not previouly been reported. Although the patient did not have the clinical manifestations of superior vena caval syndrome the obstruction is demonstrated by a superior vena cavagram. The obstructing mediastinal mass regressed with therapy.
Why ‘financialisation’ hasn’t depressed US productive investment

The rate of capital accumulation in the USA has fallen markedly in recent decades. Works in the financialisation literature have tried to explain this phenomenon by arguing that rising financial payments and purchases have come at the expense of productive investment. This article shows that such arguments are not supported by the data. It also explains theoretically why rising dividend payments and the growth of corporations’ portfolio investment are compatible with the fact that corporations’ productive investment did not decline during the first two decades of ‘neoliberalism’ in the USA. There would necessarily be a trade-off between these uses of funds if they were all funded out of current profits, but there is no necessary trade-off because borrowed funds are an additional source. Finally, the article shows that the fall in US corporations’ rate of profit (rate of return on investment in fixed assets) fully accounts for the fall in their rate of capital accumulation.
Aspirin and the prevention of colorectal cancer.

Awareness of the substantial morbidity and mortality attributable to colorectal cancer has focused attention on early detection and prevention through screening and on other strategies such as chem...
Opposite effects of TGF-β1 on rapidly- and slowly-triggered excitotoxic injury

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) has been shown to protect central neurons against diverse metabolic and excitotoxic challenges. We induced different types of excitotoxic injury on cultured rat hippocampal neurons and investigated TGF-beta 1 for its protective activity. TGF-beta 1 (0.3-10 ng/ml) effectively blocked excitotoxic injury of cultured rat hippocampal neurons induced by short-term exposure to the selective agonist N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA; 100 microM, 20 min). Excitotoxic injury caused by long-term exposure to the non-NMDA agonists kainate (50 microM, 24 hr) or alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA; 10 microM, 24 hr) caused a similar reduction in neuronal viability. However, treatments with TGF-beta 1 (0.1-10 ng/ml) actually potentiated this slowly-triggered excitotoxic injury. Cultures of rat cerebellar neurons enriched for Purkinje cells have been shown to express AMPA/kainate receptors with significant permeability to Ca2+ and to be uniquely sensitive to non-NMDA receptor-mediated neurotoxicity. In this culture system, short-term exposure to kainate (100 microM; 30 min) in Na(+)-free extracellular solution caused a pronounced decrease in neuronal viability, and this toxicity was also significantly reduced in cultures treated with TGF-beta 1 (10 ng/ml). These results suggest that TGF-beta 1 has the capacity to protect neurons against rapidly-triggered, Ca(2+)-mediated excitotoxic injury, but significantly potentiates slowly-triggered types of excitotoxic injury. This complex action of TGF-beta 1 could have important implications for the use of TGF-beta s and related growth factors in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.
Interactive lexicon updating

One of the pressing needs of present-day natural-language data research is for a large-scale lexicon. This is the case both for computer-oriented applications and for other investigations utilizing natural-language information. Substantive applications of discoveries in linguistics to such tasks as grammar testing and sentence parsing (for example, as part of a question-answering system, a machine-translation scheme, or for basic linguistic research) are often hampered by the complete unavailability of a suitable lexicon or serious inadequacies in already existing ones. This is especially true of standard, general-purpose dictionaries in computer-processable form. The standard dictionaries which now exist in this form either are by-products of the typesetting of dictionaries (for example, The Random House Dictionary of the English Language) or are copies prepared for computer processing from existing standard dictionaries (for example, the tape versions of Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary and of The New Merriam Webster Pocket Dictionary prepared by the Systems Development Corporation or the two Russian dictionaries prepared at Wayne State University-UJakov's Tolkovij slovar' russkogo jazyka and the Academy of Sciences' Slovar' russkogo jazyka). Since all of these are full or abridged copies of standard dictionaries, they suffer from the inadequacies of such dictionaries, in particular in the type and amount of information stored.1 The need for more detailed information in lexicons than is currently available can be illustrated by the following example. (The example can be interpreted either as a synthesis or an analysis problem, but in either case the information has to be known for a proper analysis or synthesis to be performed.) In English certain sets of verbs require particular complementizers; for example, it is possible to say I know that John is going. but not
NUCLEAR QUADRUPOLE MOMENTS AND NUCLEAR SHELL STRUCTURE

Describes a simple model, based on nuclear shell considerations, which leads to the proper behavior of known nuclear quadrupole moments, although predictions of the magnitudes of some quadrupole moments are seriously in error.
Fat arcs: a bounding region with cubic convergence

Abstract A new bouding region for planar Bezier curves is introduced. This bound is referred to as a fat arc , and is simply a circular arc with some finite thickness. Fat arcs are compared with three other traditional bounding regions: convex hulls, min-max ☐es and bounding strips. Based on empirical data, fat arcs demonstrate O( h 3 ) convergence, convex hulls and bounding strips O( h 2 ) convergence, and min-max ☐es converges linearly to the curve. This means that, in the limit, fat arcs for the two halves of a subdivided curve total 1/8 the area of the fat arc of the undivided curve. Operation counts are given for the four bounding regions. A curve intersection algorithm is discussed.
THE EXPERT’S OPINION

Micael Cimet received his Bachelor of Science degree from Technionâ€“ Israel Institute of Technology and a Diploma in Taxes from ITAM (Instituto Technologico Autonomo de Mexico). He has extensive experience working for both the government and industry in The Republic of Mexico. During his tenure in government he held the positions of Subdirector of Budget Systems for the Ministry of Programming and Budget (1977â€“1982) and General Director of Information Systems for Mexico City (1983â€“1988). While working for the industry, he served as Principal in the Area of Systems for Boozâ€“Allen, and Hamilton (1989â€“1991) and CIO of CIFRA (Mexican Consortium for Department Stores) (1992â€“1993). In 1993 he became the President of EDS Mexico.
Inhibition of thromboxane A2 synthesis in rats treated with phenobarbital.

Abstract The effect of phenobarbital administration on serum lipoproteins and thromboxane A 2 synthesis in platelets was studied in rats. Phenobarbital decreased the serum LDL level by 33% and increased the HDL level by more than 15%. The synthesis of thromboxane A 2 in the platelets of the phenobarbital treated animals was found to be reduced by 43%. Thromboxane A 2 synthesis in the platelets of the control animals was inhibited by HDL and stimulated by LDL. Hence it appears that the decreased thromboxane A 2 synthesis in the platelets of Phenobarbital treated rats was at least partly due to the increased HDL and decreased LDL in the serum. Phenobarbital treatment also caused a 15% increase in the serum HDL-cholesterol although it did not have any significant effect on the total. serum cholesterol.
DOWNSCOPING: How to Tame the Diversified Firm

The article reviews book “Downscoping: How to Tame the Diversified Firm,” by Robert E. Hoskisson and Michael A. Hitt.
THE SPECTRALLY RESOLVED Lyα EMISSION OF THREE Lyα-SELECTED FIELD GALAXIES AT z ∼ 2.4 FROM THE HETDEX PILOT SURVEY*

We present new results on the spectrally resolved Lyα emission of three Lyα-emitting field galaxies at z ~ 2.4 with high Lyα equivalent width (>100 A) and Lyα luminosity (~1043 erg s–1). At 120 km s–1 (FWHM) spectral resolution, the prominent double-peaked Lyα profile straddles the systemic velocity, where the velocity zero point is determined from spectroscopy of the galaxies' rest-frame optical nebular emission lines. The average velocity offset from systemic of the stronger redshifted emission component for our sample is 176 km s–1 while the average total separation between the redshifted and main blueshifted emission components is 380 km s–1. These measurements are a factor of ~2 smaller than for UV-continuum-selected galaxies that show Lyα in emission with lower Lyα equivalent widths. We compare our Lyα spectra to the predicted line profiles of a spherical "expanding shell" Lyα radiative transfer grid that models large-scale galaxy outflows. Specifically, blueward of the systemic velocity where two galaxies show a weak, highly blueshifted (by ~1000 km s–1) tertiary emission peak, the model line profiles are a relatively poor representation of the observed spectra. Since the neutral gas column density has a dominant influence over the shape of the Lyα line profile, we caution against equating the observed Lyα velocity offset with a physical outflow velocity, especially at lower spectral resolution where the unresolved Lyα velocity offset is a convoluted function of several degenerate parameters. Referring to rest-frame ultraviolet and optical Hubble Space Telescope imaging, we find that galaxy-galaxy interactions may play an important role in inducing a starburst that results in copious Lyα emission as well as perturbing the gas distribution and velocity field, both of which have strong influence over the Lyα emission line profile.
Some health hazards associated with the building trades.

Abstract Technological advancement in building construction has produced some new modes of exposures to some traditional hazards, and has introduced several new types of hazards. Included are those from the use of various dusty materials in new processes, from new chemical products and solvents as they are used in construction, and from fuel exhaust. Recommendations are given for controlling hazards in the pneumatic application of sanded plaster and concrete grinding; in the use of epoxy and polyurethanes; in paint spraying; and in the operation of engines for materials-handling equipment and heaters for construction jobs.
Dirac optical potentials for nucleon scattering by 208Pb at intermediate energies.

We perform a global analysis of intermediate energy nucleon plus /sup 208/Pb scattering data using the Dirac phenomenology. Proton elastic differential cross sections, analyzing powers, spin rotation functions, and total reaction cross sections, together with neutron total cross sections, spanning an incident energy range of 80--800 MeV, are used in the determination of a Dirac scalar-vector global potential. Two of six energy dependencies studied are selected to construct best-fit nucleon-nucleus potentials for the reduced incident-energy interval of 95--300 MeV. These potentials reproduce the experimental data uniformly within the reduced energy interval. Explicit values for the isovector strengths of the nucleon-nucleus potential are given. The correlations and ambiguities among the parameters of the potentials are studied. Predictions are made for the elastic differential cross section and spin observables for neutron plus /sup 208/Pb scattering.
The effects of instructions on recall and recognition of categorized lists by the elderly

Sixty noninstitutionalized elderly people were tested for recall of both taxonomic and thematically related lists. On Trial 1, subjects were instructed either to look at, categorize, or remember the pictures; on Trial 2, they were all required only to look at the items. Subjects instructed to remember or categorize recalled and clustered more than subjects required only to look. Although there were no differences due to category type on the first trial, when freed from the restriction to organize or memorize on Trial 2, subjects performed better on the thematic lists. The results are discussed in terms of the possible effects of institutionalization and age-related shifts in the logical basis for classification.
Secretory γA Antibodies induced by Local Immunization

THE γA class of immunoglobulins is a minor component of the serum immunoglobulins. It is a major, and sometimes the only, immunoglobulin in certain external secretions of man1, rabbits2,3 and dogs4. The γA of human external secretions has a characteristic antigenic determinant called “secretory piece”, “transport piece” or T-chain. The T-chain of rabbit colostral γA was partially purified and was found to have a molecular weight of about 50,000 (ref. 3).
The anorexic effect of naltrexone is independent of its suppressant effect on water intake

Abstract Rats deprived of food with ad lib access to water, consume large amounts of both food and water when allowed access to food. In these rats, the opiate antagonist, naltrexone (5.0 mg/kg) attenuates feeding by 47% and drinking by 71%. To determine if naltrexone could decrease feeding independent of its effect on water intake, rats were food-deprived and allowed access to food with and without water present. Although rats consumed less food when water was withheld, naltrexone (5.0 mg/kg) produced an identical degree of anorexia (46%). Thus, the anorexic effect of opiate antagonists is not due to a secondary effect of these agents suppressing water intake.
Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Clusters, Trauma History, and Substance Use among College Students

Previous research found associations between experiencing specific posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom clusters and use of specific substances among combat veterans, women exposed to domestic violence, and an inpatient sample; however, research has not utilized a college sample when considering this association. This study assessed trauma history, PTSD symptoms, alcohol use, and nonexperimental use of depressants, stimulants, opioids, cannabinoids, hallucinogens, inhalants, and steroids in college students. Results indicate unique associations between the PTSD symptom cluster of reexperiencing and use of depressants, avoidance/numbing with use of depressants and opiates, and hyperarousal with use of opiates. Further, the individual subclusters of behavioral avoidance and emotional numbing were associated with use of depressants and avoidance was associated with hallucinogen use. Implications are discussed.
Individual and Organizational Predictors of the Ethicality of Graduate Students’ Responses to Research Integrity Issues

The development of effective means to enhance research integrity by universities requires baseline measures of individual, programmatic, and institutional factors known to contribute to ethical decision making and behavior. In the present study, master’s thesis and Ph.D. students in the fields of biological, health and social sciences at a research extensive university completed a field appropriate measure of research ethical decision making and rated the seriousness of the research issue and importance for implementing the selection response. In addition they were asked to rate their perceptions of the institutional and departmental research climate and to complete a measure of utilitarian and formalistic predisposition. Female students were found to be more ethical in their decision making compared to male students. The research ethical decision measure was found to be related to participants’ ethical predisposition and overall perception of organizational and departmental research climate; however, formalism was the only individual predictor to reach statistical significance and none of the individual subscales of the research climate measure were significantly correlated to ethicality. Participants’ ratings of the seriousness of the issue were correlated with their ratings of the importance of carrying out their selected response but neither was significantly predictive of the ethicality of their responses. The implications of these findings for the development of more effective training programs and environments for graduate students in research ethics and integrity are discussed.
Ammonium perchlorate phase transitions to 26 GPa and 700 K in a diamond anvil cell

Abstract The behavior of ammonium perchlorate (AP) was studied as a function of temperature (to 693 K) and high pressure (to ≈ 26 GPa) in a diamond anvil cell (DAC). At temperatures above the known 513 K orthorhombic-to-cubic phase transition, liquid droplets were observed, and are interpreted as the onset to melting. Mid-infrared FTIR spectra of the residue showed only ammonium perchlorate. At much higher temperatures, gas formation was also seen. Rapid decomposition took place during gas formation in the presence of oxidized steel, but not in the presence of tantalum. The appearance of both liquid and gas is interpreted as corresponding to the solid-liquid and liquid-gas phase lines in the phase diagram of AP.
RADIOGRAPHIC AND COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC EVALUATION OF OTITIS MEDIA IN THE DOG

The purpose of this study was to compare computed tomography (CT) and radiography in the identification of canine middle ear disease. Fourteen canine patients underwent a radiographic “bullae series” and CT examination of the tympanic bullae. Confirmation of otitis media was based on surgery. The overall diagnostic accuracy of CT and radiographs regarding the diagnosis of otitis media was similar. Although a marked difference was not detected between radiographs and CT for detecting otitis media using Youden's index values, CT was a more sensitive test for the detection of otitis media.
White male teachers on difference: narratives of contact and tensions

This research reflection explores a narrative pattern that emerged in participants’ interviews on student differences. In exploring this narrative pattern, this reflection reveals tensions between participants’ structural and deficit understandings of student differences of race, class, culture, and language. Framing participants’ understandings of structural and deficit thinking, this reflection articulates three discursive contexts relating to participants’ work. Articulating participants’ structural and deficit thinking within discursive contexts, this reflection seeks to re‐initiate the conversation on white teachers through increased attention to researcher positionality, discursive contexts, and research pedagogy.
Applications of simulator computed tomography number for photon dose calculations during radiotherapy treatment planning.

Abstract Purpose : To study the variation of computed tomography (CT) number from a simulator-based scanner and the effect of this variation on photon-dose calculations. Method and materials : CT images of a cylindrical phantom with multiple inserts were obtained using a commercially-available simulator-CT (Ximatron: Varian, Palo Alto, CA). The linear correlation coefficient and Chi-square methods were used to determine the X-ray effective energy in a phantom. CT numbers in Hounsfield units (HU) were measured as a function of phantom size, orientation, field of view (FOV), distance from the center, and time for various inserts. The change of dose calculations due to the CT number variations was then determined using the equivalent path-length (EPL) and collapsed cone convolution methods. Results and discussion : A significant beam-hardening effect was observed for the simulator-CT. Consequently, the CT number from the sim-CT was more sensitive to the size of the phantom than those from a conventional CT. The sim-CT number is not sensitive to the locations within the phantom and is stable over a 6-week period. It is important to use the proper FOV for sim-CT studies; scanning a small polystyrene phantom using a large FOV may result in an increase of l20 HU in CT number at the center of the field. However, the dose-calculation variations, due to the CT number uncertainty, do not exceed 2–3% for 6–18 MV photon beams. Conclusion : The simulator CT images were acquired with patients in the treatment position, and these CT numbers are useful for CT-based dose calculations.
Skin and wound care: important considerations in the older adult.

Purpose To provide the wound care practitioner with a review of important considerations for skin and wound care in the older adult. Target audience This continuing education activity is intended for physicians and nurses with an interest in skin and wound care. Objectives After reading this article and taking this test, the reader should be able to:
Improved outcomes associated with stenting in the healthcare cost and utilization project

Recent results from Medicare indicated that both hospital mortality and the use of same admission coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery were lower in patients receiving stents, and that stenting did not alter the finding of improved outcomes at high volume centers. The purpose of this report is to compare outcomes in a national sample of patients of all ages receiving stents with those undergoing conventional balloon angioplasty. A second purpose is to evaluate the volume outcome hypothesis. This study included 100,318 angioplasties from 191 hospitals in 19 states; 43,966 (44%) involved stent placement. The major outcomes of interest were same admission hospital death and same admission CABG surgery. In comparison to patients with conventional angioplasty, patients receiving stents were younger, less often female and nonwhite, and had less diabetes and hypertension. In the group without infarction, hospital mortality was lower in the stent group (0.7% vs 0.9%, P = 0.01), as was the use of same admission bypass surgery (1.4% vs 2.7%, P < 0.0001). The same pattern was true for myocardial infarction; hospital mortality (2.7% vs 4.2%, P < 0.0001) and bypass surgery rates (1.6% vs 5.3%, P < 0.0001) were lower in the stent group. These results persisted after adjustment for important predictors of outcome. In general, outcomes were better in high volume centers, although in the stent group, there was no clear relationship between volume and outcome. These results support earlier findings that hospital mortality and particularly same admission surgery rates are lower with stenting. Although the volume outcome association for stenting was less clear in this study than in Medicare, these results do not mean that the fundamental volume outcome relationship has been changed by stenting. (J Interven Cardiol 2001;14:159–164)
Development of Sabin Type 3 Poliovaccine Constructs with and without a Single Base Pair Mutation Associated with Neuroreversion of Sabin Type 3 ♦ 885

Development of Sabin Type 3 Poliovaccine Constructs with and without a Single Base Pair Mutation Associated with Neuroreversion of Sabin Type 3 ♦ 885
Aminolysis of an N-Diazeniumdiolated Amidine as an Approach to Diazeniumdiolated Ammonia

Recent theoretical studies have suggested that the parent diazeniumdiolate ion, H2N-N(O)═NO(-) ("diazeniumdiolated ammonia"), might be stable enough to be isolated and that it could potentially serve as a uniquely advantageous prodrug form of bioactive nitroxyl (HNO). Here, we report on an attempt to isolate its O(2)-benzylated derivative by aminolysis of the C═N bond in PhC(NH2)═N-N(O)═NOBn. The reaction proved remarkably sluggish in comparison to aminolysis of unsubstituted benzamidine, and the desired product could not be isolated, apparently because of base sensitivity of the NH2 group. Consistent with this interpretation, O-benzylhydroxylamine and N2O were recovered from the reaction mixture in high yields, along with N,N'-dibutylbenzamidine. Theoretical calculations rationalize the observed slow aminolysis by demonstrating that the diazeniumdiolate group greatly suppresses the electrophilicity of the adjacent C═N carbon center, rendering attack at that position endothermic. The data provide significant insights into the challenges inherent to the pursuit of diazeniumdiolated ammonia.
Open intransitivity cycles in development and education: Pathways to synthesis

Development as an open-systemic phenomenon involves feed-forward processes that guide the organism to face always uncertain future states of its relations with the environment. This creates a major conceptual problem for science — and a practical one for education — its theoretical terms need to captureboth the certain and uncertain aspects of the developing system. Psychological theory has failed to model developmental processes since it has been built on static ontology of being, rather than on the epistemology of becoming. This contrast is accentuated by the use of transitivity relations in psychological models which are axiomatically closed to the open-endedness of the future in conjunction with the uniqueness of the past-to-present trajectory. Flexibility of developing systems is guaranteed by intransitivity cycles that set up conditions for their own rupture. Development as multi-level interdependent process requires breaking of intransitivity cycles and is organized as an autocatalytic process. Novelty is the key feature in all developing systems, and our formal models in psychology need to open the process of emergence for empirical and theoretical inquiry. Implications of such theoretical reconstruction for educational practices will be discussed — demonstrating that (a) education is necessarily open-ended and constructive process, and (b) outcomes of educational efforts cannot be predicted — while setting the direction towards educational goals is the key to any outcomes.
Isoperimetric Numbers of Regular Graphs of High Degree with Applications to Arithmetic Riemann Surfaces

We derive upper and lower bounds on the isoperimetric numbers and bisection widths of a large class of regular graphs of high degree. Our methods are combinatorial and do not require a knowledge of the eigenvalue spectrum. We apply these bounds to random regular graphs of high degree and the Platonic graphs over the rings $\mathbb{Z}_n$. In the latter case we show that these graphs are generally non-Ramanujan for composite $n$ and we also give sharp asymptotic bounds for the isoperimetric numbers. We conclude by giving bounds on the Cheeger constants of arithmetic Riemann surfaces. For a large class of these surfaces these bounds are an improvement over the known asymptotic bounds.
Tracing the identity of objects.

Near the winter holidays, many of us receive greeting cards and accompanying photocopied letters from friends whom we have not seen in years. The letters provide news, usually of vacation trips and children’s successes, but occasionally of more important life changes, allowing us to keep track of these friends and update our knowledge of them. Our initial encounters with these friends may have given us a rich stock of perceptual information, and this information may survive as part of our representation. However, unless snapshots accompany these cards, we have to track our friends on the basis of nonperceptual facts. Our surviving images may be radically out of date (Bjork, 1978). Still, the letters may provide enough nonperceptual, descriptive information to allow us to reidentify these people—to determine who in 2006 is Aunt Florence, the same individual we last saw in 1970. At a minimum, higher level information about identity must come into play when perceptual information is absent. Although we sometimes misrec
Wisdom of crowds versus groupthink: learning in groups and in isolation

We evaluate the asymptotic performance of boundedly-rational strategies in multi-armed bandit problems, where performance is measured in terms of the tendency (in the limit) to play optimal actions in either (i) isolation or (ii) networks of other learners. We show that, for many strategies commonly employed in economics, psychology, and machine learning, performance in isolation and performance in networks are essentially unrelated. Our results suggest that the performance of various, common boundedly-rational strategies depends crucially upon the social context (if any) in which such strategies are to be employed.
Characterization and serial propagation of mouse prostate epithelial cells in serum-free medium

Epithelial cell cultures derived from the ventral prostate of normal adult mice have been propagated in serum-free medium. The cultures were initiated and maintained in Ham's F-12 nutrient mixture supplemented with insulin (5 μg/ml), EGF (10 ng/ml), hydrocortisone (0.5 μg/ml), cholera toxin (10 ng/ml), bovine pituitary extract (25 μg protein/ml) and antibiotics. The cells exhibited microvilli on cell surfaces, interdigitations and junctional complexes including desmosomes between cells, and cytokeratins in cytoplasm which are characteristic of epithelial cells. In addition, the cells exhibited the tissue-specific markers, prostatic acid phosphatase and prostate-specific antigen.
A phenomenological model for estimating metabolic energy consumption in muscle contraction

A phenomenological model for muscle energy consumption was developed and used in conjunction with a simple Hill-type model for muscle contraction. The model was used to address two questions. First, can an empirical model of muscle energetics accurately represent the total energetic behavior of frog muscle in isometric, isotonic, and isokinetic contractions? And second, how does such a model perform in a large-scale, multiple-muscle model of human walking? Four simulations were conducted with frog sartorius muscle under full excitation: an isometric contraction, a set of isotonic contractions with the muscle shortening a constant distance under various applied loads, a set of isotonic contractions with the muscle shortening over various distances under a constant load, and an isokinetic contraction in lengthening. The model calculations were evaluated against results of similar thermal in vitro experiments performed on frog sartorius muscle. The energetics model was then incorporated into a large-scale, multiple-muscle model of the human body for the purpose of predicting energy consumption during normal walking. The total energy estimated by the model accurately reflected the observed experimental behavior of frog muscle for an isometric contraction. The model also accurately reproduced the experimental behavior of frog muscle heat production under isotonic shortening and isokinetic lengthening conditions. The estimated rate of metabolic energy consumption for walking was 29% higher than the value typically obtained from gait measurements.
The capability of capability indices with an application to guardbanding in a test environment

The author addresses 13 cautions associated with capability indices, covering the areas of computations, assumptions, applications. and interpretations. Some recommended uses are also provided. A naive guardbanding scheme using capability indices is presented and contrasted with a more traditional approach involving a bivariate normal model. A slight modification of the traditional approach, which views consumer loss from the consumer's point of view, is proposed. Both the capability and modified traditional approaches are applied and contrasted in a semiconductor testing example. The capability approach is shown to be more conservative than the modified traditional approach. >
Two new species of yellow-shouldered bats, genus Sturnira Gray, 1842 (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) from Costa Rica, Panama and western Ecuador

Two new species of yellow-shouldered bats Sturnira Gray, 1842 (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae) from Central America and western South America are described using molecular and morphological data. The two new species, which occur in Costa Rica and Panama and in western Ecuador, were previously confused with S. ludovici, and S. lilium and S. luisi, respectively. Sturnira now includes 22 described species, making it the most speciose genus in the Neotropical family Phyllostomidae.
Transcatheter closure of fenestrations and excluded hepatic veins after Fontan: Versatility of the Amplatzer device ☆

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to evaluate the Amplatzer septal occluder (ASO) for transcatheter closure of fenestrations and excluded hepatic veins in patients after modified Fontan operations. Residual right-to-left shunts have improved surgical results of the Fontan operation. Shunt closure may eventually be desirable to eliminate hypoxemia and reduce risk of embolic complications. Methods and Results Ten patients with hypoxemia caused by residual shunts after Fontan procedures were evaluated for closure. After favorable results of test occlusion, all shunts were closed with the use of the ASO. Eight ASOs were used to close fenestrations in 7 patients with 6F transvenous sheaths. Three ASOs were used to close excluded hepatic veins in 3 patients with 6F venous sheaths and transbaffle punctures. Fluoroscopy and transesophageal echocardiography were used to guide device placement. Device placement in all patients was successful. All shunts were closed by angiography after device placement. While breathing room air, systemic oxygen saturation rose from 87.9% ± 3.0% to 96.3% ± 0.9% ( P Conclusions This experience suggests that the ASO is safe and effective for closing surgical shunts after Fontan procedures. The ASO design allows closure of excluded hepatic veins and has advantages over other devices in closure of fenestrations. (Am Heart J 2000;140:534-40.)
Perspective: Going Beyond A ‘Philosophy Of Care’

A focus on providing quality and value to patients is what's most important, says the American Medical Association.
Direct measurement in the nanosecond regime of the remanent coercivity in perpendicular media

The switching behavior on a nanosecond time scale of a CoCrPt-based perpendicular medium has been studied both experimentally and by simulation. The sample was composed of a granular storage layer with a saturation remanence close to unity and a soft underlayer. The time-dependent remanent coercivity was measured down to 2.3 ns. The results are in good agreement with the extrapolation of the long time data, in accordance with the thermal switching model proposed by Sharrock, with n=2/3. The dependence of the switching field in the nanosecond regime on the initial remanence was studied. The remanent coercivity of the saturated sample was found to be lower than that of a partially demagnetized sample. This counter-intuitive behavior was confirmed by simulation, which elucidated the role of the local demagnetizing field in the switching process. The simulation also showed that the effect is sensitive to the time scale of the initial demagnetization process.
The effectiveness of pre-release advertising for motion pictures: An empirical investigation using a simulated market

Abstract We use data on a movie’s stock price as it trades on the Hollywood Stock Exchange, a popular online market simulation, to study the impact of movie advertising. We find that advertising has a positive and statistically significant effect on expected revenues, but that the effect varies strongly across movies of different “quality”. The point estimate implies that the returns to advertising for the average movie are negative.
A Wonderful Life or Diarrhea and Dry Mouth? Policy Issues of Direct-to-Consumer Drug Advertising on Television

Over $4 billion is being spent on direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs. Although the greatest proportion of this media budget is spent on television, relatively few studies have investigated the key issues of DTCA on television (DTCA-TV), including fair balance, FDA regulations and if information or appeals is focused on more. This study found that emotional and rational appeals were used to a similar degree in DTCA-TV. Print tends to be more informative than TV. After developing a four-tiered classification scheme (lawbreakers, bare minimums, DTC main pack/peloton and proactives), this study found that DTCA-TV ads are not doing a good job of meeting the FDA's fair balance requirement, particularly in presenting risk information in a comprehensible manner. Today's new active healthcare consumers often want to learn what issues are important to consider when investigating drugs and how to evaluate alternative courses of treatment. Given the proportion of money spent on television, the medical industry is correct to be concerned that education does not appear more important to DTCA advertisers.
Mechanism of nucleotide inhibition of gonadotropin binding to cell membranes of bovine corpus luteum.

Abstract ATP, CTP, ADP, AMP, cyclic 3',5'-AMP (cAMP) and cyclic 3',5'-CMP (cCMP) effectively inhibited the specific binding of 125 I-labelled human chorionicgonadotropin([ 125 I]HCG) to bovine corpus luteum cell membranes. This inhibition was observed with 2.5 × 10 −4 M to 1.0 × 10 −3 M nucleotide concentrations, regardless of the presence of a nucleotide regenerating system. Submaximal concentrations of combinations of the nucleotides were additive in inhibiting binding. The inhibition of [ 125 I]HCG binding was observed when the nucleotides were added at the beginning of or during incubation or preincubation of the membranes with nucleotides. Preincubation of membranes with CTP and cAMP, subsequent washing and reincubation with hormone, showed time-dependent inhibition of [ 125 I]HCG binding when the preincubation temperature was 38°C but not at 4°C. The concentrated supernates from nucleotides preincubated with membranes had no inhibitory effect on [ 125 I]HCG binding to fresh membranes. In the absence of added nucleotides, [ 125 I]HCG-membrane interaction had the following apparent binding constants: a K d of 1.5 × 10 −10 M, 46.3 fmoles of binding sites per mg membrane protein, and rate constants for association and dissociation 4.0 × 10 6 M −1 sec −1 and 1.0 × 10 −3 sec −1 , respectively. At steady state conditions of [ 125 I]HCG binding, CTP inhibited [ 125 I]HCG at lower concentrations of added hormone ( −9 M) whereas at higher concentrations, this nucleotide enhanced [ 125 I]HCG binding. Scatchard analysis of the data revealed that inhibition and enhancement of [ 125 I]HCG binding in the presence of CTP were due to lowered affinity of gonadotropin receptors (32–37 fold) and to exposure of new low-affinity binding sites for [I25I]HCG, respectively. At non-steady-state conditions, nucleotides increased dissociation rates (80 to 100%) and decreased association rates (30 to 38%). The data appear to be compatible with the suggestion that the nucleotides may bind to sites in the membranes and subsequently induce conformational changes in membrane components, resulting in a decreased affinity of gonadotropin receptors. The physiological significance of these findings needs to be determined.
Mathematics: Logic and Lewis Carroll

As Alice's Adventures in Wonderland reaches 150, Francine Abeles surveys its creator's wide-ranging legacy.
Ultraviolet radiation in urban ecosystems with consideration of effects on human health

Excess exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) from the sun, particularly the ultraviolet B (UVB), is cited as a cause or contributing factor for deleterious effects on human health, including skin cancers and cataracts. Rates of skin cancer have increased greatly in recent years, and increased UVB caused by reductions in stratospheric ozone may be responsible for some of the increase in rates, though quantified estimates of the effect of the UVB changes on health have low certainty. UVB exposure also affects the function of the immune system, and the potential resulting effects on infectious diseases and immunizations are a concern. Epidemiological considerations suggest that peoples' routine exposure to UV in urban areas can be significant in adverse health effects, particularly for young children. Projected trends of ozone indicate that agreements to limit ozone-depleting substances are slowing the UVB increase, but high levels will continue and apparently impact health to the middle of the current century. Urban trees greatly reduce ultraviolet irradiance in their shade when they obscure both the sun and sky. Where trees or other structures obscure only the sun, leaving much of the sky in view, UVB irradiance will be greater than suggested by the visible shade. Since air pollutants influence the UVB above the canopy, and the overlying atmosphere is usually more polluted in urban than rural areas, additional above-canopy monitoring of UV in urban areas is needed for comparison to existing rural monitoring sites. Such monitoring would facilitate the development of computer models of urban effects on UV, which are needed for epidemiological investigations, public education, and urban planning.
Pilot interaction with TCAS and air traffic control

The Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) is often framed as separate to -- or opposing -- air traffic control, i.e. as a backup, redundant system that invokes resolution advisories (RAs) when all other methods of separation assurance fail. A flight simulator experiment examined pilot interaction with TCAS in the context of a full air traffic environment. This paper will describe how pilot responses to RAs are impacted by immediately-prior interactions with the air traffic controller (notably whether they were provided a call-out of the traffic that then caused a traffic event, could overhear party line information relevant to the build of a traffic event, or received air traffic control instructions just before an RA that conflicted with the RA's advised maneuver). Likewise, this paper will describe how features of the RA impact subsequent pilot communications with the air traffic controller.
After Clan Cleansing in Somalia: Towards a Multi-Directional Memory Project

This paper will reflect on how the author went about documenting (analyzing and contextualizing) the under-analyzed and often purposefully concealed history of the clan cleansing of 1991 while simultaneously beginning to create space for that plurality of narratives of the past that are in part distortive and denialist and yet indispensable to moral repair and social reconstruction in the present. In other words, how did the author of this book try to reconcile her responsibility to the past with that to the future and how does she envision a multi-directional memory project for and by Somalis of different backgrounds that may be indispensable to moral repair.
Morquio-Brailsford Osteochondrodystrophy and Osteogenesis Imperfecta

A patient with both osteochondrodystrophy and osteogenesis imperfecta is presented. Biopsy material from the costochondral junction of a rib and of the proximal tibial epiphyseal plate demonstrated abnormal maturation of chondrocytes, a quantitative decrease in the number of chondrocytes, and inactivity of enchondral growth areas.
Room Temperature Tensile Properties of Aluminum-Alloy Sheet Following Brief Elevated Temperature Exposure

The room temperature tensile properties of nine high-strength aluminum-alloy sheet materials have been determined after elevated temperature exposures covering a range of times and temperatures suitable for elevated temperature forming. Times ranged from 5 to 20 min. at temperatures up to 500°F. I t is found tha t the naturally aged materials 24S-T, 24S-RT, and 61S-W may be exposed (without deformation) for 20 min. at temperatures up to a t least 500°F. with little or no loss in yield stress. Large increases may be expected at temperatures from 450° to 500°F. The artificially aged materials 24S-T81, 24ST84, 24S-T86, 61S-T, R301-T, and XB75S-T may be exposed as long as 20 min. (without deformation) at temperatures up to 400°F. with little or no loss in yield stress but above 450°F. the loss becomes great. Additional tests made on material taken from deep-drawn cups formed at 300° and 450°F. indicate that the deformations involved in hot forming may induce an acceleration of the elevated temperature aging process.