cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Finite element structural analysis and complementary energy

When finite element analysis first emerged, the challenge to be met was to adapt the capabilities of electronic computers to the solution of linear static or dynamic problems of aircraft. This goal was soon achieved, thanks to the efforts of individuals such as Bob Melosh. By 1960 the linear analysis base of finite element methodology was in place, permitting the explosive expansion of the method to treat the exceptionally wide range of nonlinear problems to which it is today applied. Bob Melosh has continued to contribute to this expansion, to this very day. Given his deep understanding of mechanics and his innovative mind, it could not have been otherwise. Thus, a homage to his accomplishments, to be up to date, might address itself to an advanced problem that features a high degree of sophistication. Yet, even some of today's research thrusts embody a need to revisit very basic issues, and one could argue that an examination of a very fundamental aspect of finite elements is in keeping with a tribute to someone whose contributions were fundamental to the basic development of the method. With respect to the role of basic aspects of the method in today's research interests, we have, for example, extensive research into methods of adaptive mesh refinement. For these, the fundamental issue is as old as finite element analysis itself: set out element meshes which produce the smallest discretization errors among candidate meshes requiring the same solution cost. Also, very basic solution algorithms are being revisited, for the sake of exploiting parallel processors with maximum effect. Many other examples could be cited. With this in mind, we explore in this paper a methodology which once competed, toe-to-toe, with the form of finite element analysis that is universally in use today. In the very early years of finite element analysis there were two "camps": the "displacement method" camp and the "force method" camp. Allegiance among design analysis groups was evenly divided until the 1960's, when the force method, for all practical purposes, vanished from the scene. The notable achievements of Bob Melosh in displacement method theory contributed to this state of affairs. He had a hand in the emergence of the concept of simplex elements, developed elements for the analysis of solids, and introduced energy principles into the process of element formulation, all for the displacement method. Other factors played a role. The construction of the algebraic equations for large-scale structures, via the force method, is awkward and inefficient in comparison with the displacement method process. Consciousness of this was raised as the problems tackled grew larger and larger. In addition, and in contrast with the widening menu of elements available for displacement method analysis, the menu of elements available for force method analysis was severely limited.
An overview of adverse events reported by participants in CDC's anthrax vaccine and antimicrobial availability program.

Purpose The CDC's Anthrax Vaccine and Antibiotic Availability Program was implemented under an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to provide additional post-exposure prophylaxis for individuals potentially exposed to Bacillus anthracis in the fall of 2001. Participants were provided with two options: (1) 40 additional days of antimicrobial prophylaxis (i.e., ciprofloxacin, doxycycline, or amoxicillin); or (2) 40 additional days of antimicrobial prophylaxis plus three doses of anthrax vaccine adsorbed (AVA). Methods Participants were monitored for adverse events (AEs). Participants were asked to complete 2-week AE diaries for 6 weeks post-enrollment, and approximately 2 months after enrollment, active surveillance was conducted through telephone interviews with 1113 (64%) participants. Results A total of 1727 of approximately 10 000 previously prophylaxed persons enrolled to receive 40 additional days of antibiotics. Of these, 199 opted at enrollment to receive three doses of AVA in addition to the additional 40 days of antibiotic. Overall, 28% of participants reported at least one AE on their diaries. Results varied by surveillance mechanism, the diary data indicated differences in the proportion reporting AEs between participants receiving antibiotic only and participants receiving antibiotic and AVA. However, during the active 2-month telephone follow-up, the rates of AEs reported for both the antibiotic only and antibiotic plus AVA treatment regimens were similar. Additionally, ciprofloxacin and doxycycline had similar AE profiles, with only rigors reported significantly more often among ciprofloxacin recipients. Conclusions Overall, the rates of AEs experienced by all participants were acceptable given the seriousness of potential B. anthracis exposure. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The synthesis of DNA associated with the nuclear membrane of guinea pig adrenal cells.

Abstract Adrenal glands isolated from adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-treated animals and incubated in vitro in the presence of [ Me - 3 H]thymidine were able to synthesize DNA. Nuclear isolation and fractionation after exposure of the glands to radioactive thymidine yielded particulate-bound DNA with a specific activity higher than that of total nuclear DNA. When pulse exposure was followed by further incubation in the presence of unlabelled thymidine, the radioactivity remained associated with the nuclear fraction sedimenting at a sucrose density of 1.22 (Fraction V) while a nuclear fraction sedimenting at a sucrose density of 1.09 (Fraction II) exhibited a decrease in its radioactive content followed by an increase and a second decay. DNA was purified from all the nuclear fractions obtained and its molecular weight was determined by continuous sucrose gradient. DNA polymerase (DNA nucleotidyltransferase, EC 2.7.7.7) activity was found to be associated with the fractions of intermediate densities when they were prepared from nuclei isolated from ACTH-stimulated adrenal glands, but not when they were prepared from nuclei isolated from unstimulated glands.
Laparoscopic splenectomy by the lateral approach: a safe and effective alternative to open splenectomy for hematologic diseases.

Background. The purpose of this study was to compare the clinical outcomes and expense of laparoscopic splenectomy by the lateral approach with open splenectomy for the treatment of hematologic diseases. Methods. Medical records of 20 matched patients undergoing open splenectomy and lateral approach laparoscopic splenectomy were retrospectively reviewed detailing perioperative course, clinical outcome, and hospital charges. Results. Patients undergoing laparoscopic splenectomy (n=10) experienced longer anesthesia (324 versus 176 minutes; p 0.05), operative charges were always significantly higher. Conclusions. When compared with open splenectomy, lateral approach laparoscopic splenectomy allows a more rapid return of normal gastrointestinal function and shorter hospital stay. The operative expense of laparoscopic splenectomy is significantly higher; however, the overall hospital expense is not. If costs can be decreased, the lateral approach laparoscopic splenectomy will be the preferred operative approach.
Blood transfusions for surgical cancer patients: More harm than good?

BLOOD transfusions are widely used in major cancer surgery and have contributed greatly to the safety of extensive resections. Blood transfusions are, however, associated with certain risks which increase with the quantity of blood transfused. The potential harmful effects of blood transfusions include transfusion reactions because of incompatibility, and transmission of infectious disease due to the presence of bacterial, viral or protozoa1 organisms in the transfused blood. Transfusion of large quantities of blood may produce metabolic disturbances and coagulopathies. Blood transfusions can also produce clinically important changes in the immune response of the recipient. There is convincing evidence that the immunomodulating effects of transfusions can be beneficial to some patients and considerable circumstantial evidence that the immunomodulating effects can be deleterious to other patients. On the beneficial side, the immunomodulating effects of transfusions have led to increased rates of success after renal allografting [l-3]. Moreover, there is a doseresponse relationship between the number of transfusions and long term renal allograft function rates. On the side of possible deleterious effects due to immunomodulation by transfusions have been reports of increased susceptibility to post-operative infection and increased recurrence and decreased survival after cancer surgery. The similarity between tumor antigens and histocompatibility antigens [4] has lead a number of investigators to question whether blood transfusions given to cer-
Polynitroalkyl derivatives of SF5NCCl2: nitrations of SF5 imines

Abstract Polynitroalkyl SF5 imines have been synthesized from SF5NCCl2 via nucleophilic substitution and nitration reactions. Only in one instance was the SF5 imino moiety (SF5NC) affected by a nitration reagent; the product was the fluorosulfonyl compound; very similar SF5 materials were not affected by the nitration reagent. The SF5NC moiety, when compared to the carbonyl group (OC), exhibited a strong tendency to lower the melting points of nitro compounds. The crystal structures of three SF5 imines and one fluorosulfonyl imine have been determined.
Multiscale Photon-Limited Spectral Image Reconstruction

This paper studies photon-limited spectral intensity estimation and proposes a spatially and spectrally adaptive, nonparametric method for estimating spectral intensities from Poisson observations. Specifically, our method searches through estimates defined over a family of recursive dyadic partitions in both the spatial and spectral domains, and finds the one that maximizes a penalized log likelihood criterion. The key feature of this approach is that the partition cells are anisotropic across the spatial and spectral dimensions, so that the method adapts to varying degrees of spatial and spectral smoothness, even when the respective degrees of smoothness are not known a priori. The proposed approach is based on the key insight that spatial boundaries and singularities exist in the same locations in every spectral band, even though the contrast or perceptibility of these features may be very low in some bands. The incorporation of this model into the reconstruction results in significant performance gains. Furthermore, for spectral intensities that belong to the anisotropic -Besov function class, the proposed approach is shown to be near-minimax optimal. The upper bounds on the risk function, which is the expected squared Hellinger distance between the true intensity and the estimate obtained using the proposed approach, matches the best possible lower bound up to a log factor for certain degrees of spatial and spectral smoothness. Experiments conducted on realistic data sets show that the proposed method can reconstruct the spatial and the spectral inhomogeneities very well even when the observations are extremely photon-limited (i.e., less than 0.1 photon per voxel).
Distribution of moderately repetitive sequences pTR5 and LF1 in Xq24-q28 human DNA and their use in assembling YAC contigs.

Abstract Xq24–q28 DNA, from a hamster/human hybrid cell containing only that portion of the human X chromosome, was found to contain 56 Taq I restriction fragments that hybridized to the moderately repetitive sequence pTR5. Using the pTR5 sequence as a probe in colony hybridization, 136 cognate yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) clones were detected among a collection of 820 containing about three genomic equivalents of the Xq24–q28 DNA. The YACs were then grouped into 48 contigs and single clones containing one or more of the Taq I fragments. Overlaps were confirmed both by fingerprinting YACs with Alu I and L1 probes and by additional information. A less complete analysis was also carried out with a second moderately repetitive sequence, LF1, and some smaller contigs were merged into larger ones. Moderately repetitive sequences can thus be used as probes for multiple loci in single hybridization experiments and can help to organize and confirm YAC overlaps during the development of maps with long-range contiguity.
Effects of enterally- and parenterally-administered bombesin on intestinal luminal tryptic activity and protein in the suckling rat.

Because of the presence of bombesin-like immunoreactivity in milk we investigated if enteral administration of bombesin affects the intestinal luminal content of trypsin and protein in 12-14-day-old rats. Bombesin (40 μg/kg), given either orogastrically or subcutaneously, produced a significant elevation in the intestinal content of trypsin activity. Thus, enterally-administered bombesin can produce acute biologic effects in suckling rats.
A close-packed planar 4-atom motif serves as a variable-pathway mechanistic switching device in enzymatic catalysis

We have found a new kind of structural motif that appears to be highly conserved among the pyridine nucleotide-linked α-amino acid dehydrogenases. This feature is comprised of four atoms closely packed in a planar form. Two of the atoms are donated by the enzyme, one is provided by the substrate (or reactive intermediate), a bound water molecule constitutes the fourth. This tetrad, by virtue of its spatial connectivity, constitutes a two-dimensional machine in contrast to the one-dimensional charge-relay system commonly observed at enzyme active sites. As such, this new motif is capable of more complex behavior permitting a wide variety of possible bonding patterns. Modulation of these potentially variable patterns can lead to qualitative differences in mechanism between structurally similar enzymes, and, in the case of a given enzyme, may constitute the core of its catalytic machinery. We offer a conjecture as to how such a structure may participate in enzymatic catalysis.
Backestimation for training multilayer perceptrons

The training of a multilayer perceptron is formulated as a maximum likelihood estimation problem. Statistical techniques such as the EM algorithm and the linear regression are used to exploit the linearity and separability structures of the feedforward multilayer neural networks. The resulting algorithm iterates a few linear regressors and nonlinear data transformers. All its parameters are statistically determined. Initial numerical experiments show that the algorithm has outstanding performance and deserves to be fully developed. >
VERSO Graphic Interface to Reference Sources: A Project of Quinnipiac University's Arnold Bernhard Library

ABSTRACT Librarians at the Arnold Bernhard Library of Quinnipiac University were concerned with the usage levels of their electronic reference titles. They added the titles to the library's Web page, made individual records in the online catalog, and even established links between an OPAC keyword search and a search through electronic reference titles. It was still felt that the collection was underutilized. In 2007, the Automation Librarian began a project to add one more level of access to these titles—a graphic interface that simulated the process of walking into a reference room and picking out a title. A preliminary version was loaded in the Fall of 2007, and early results indicate that it has found an audience.
The expert witnesses and courtroom discourse: applying micro and macro forms of discourse analysis to study process and the 'doings of doings' for individuals and for society:

The expert witness in legal proceedings is both a historically necessary part of modern legal proceedings in a society increasingly influenced by science and technology, and a much maligned figure often accused of purporting 'junk science' and of acting as an ethically empty mercenary. While much of the social action that attempts these various subjectifications is done outside of courtrooms, this article takes as its object verbal interaction in actual court proceedings that involve an expert witness. The study takes a combined conversation analytic (specifically, non-sequential, or membership categorization analyses) and discourse analytic (specifically post-structural) perspective. Findings focus on the particular use of categorizations by lawyers, judges and the expert witness in terms of rules of the law and of relevant science in the process of court proceedings and the way those categorizations are then used in subsequent court activities and decisions.
The Differential Effects of Type of Abuse and Abuse History on Abuse Disability Questionnaire Scores

ABSTRACT The Abuse Disability Questionnaire (ADQ), a 30-item measure designed to assess the perceived impairment of abuse from the survivor's perspective, was administered to women who were receiving services from domestic violence shelters. The total score of the ADQ was used as a dependent measure to determine whether the type of abuse experienced and the developmental period during abuse affected the severity of perceived impairment from abuse. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis found that the type of abuse experienced (psychological, physical, or sexual) was an important predictor of abuse disability, accounting for 13% of the variability in ADQ scores. A One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) indicated that the cumulative effects of multiple types of abuse (psychological, physical, or sexual) also increased impair ment as measured by the ADQ for women in the domestic violence shel ter. Additional research to further investigate abuse history and to further establish the utility of the Abuse Di...
The crystal structure of a nonalkenic, cyclic trimer of levoglucosenone

Abstract A single-crystal, X-ray diffraction study was performed on a nonalkenic, cyclic trimer (C 18 H 18 O 9 , 4 ) of levoglucosenone, in order to confirm its chemical structure. Crystals of 4 are orthorhombic, with unit-cell parameters of a = 792.20, b = 1874.35, c = 2383.02 pm, space group P2 1 2 1 2 1 , and z = 8. The structure was solved by direct methods, and refined by least-squares to R = 0.032, based on 2990 unique reflections. Each asymmetrical unit contains two symmetry-independent molecules of 4 and one of acetone. The previously assigned chemical structure and stereochemistry of 4 were found to be correct.
Party Polarization: Congressional Divergence on Environmental Policy from 1970–2008

Abstract We investigate empirically the importance of a conjectured linkage between economic conditions and increasing party divergence with respect to national-level environmental policy in the US. Using data from 1970–2008, we find that increases in the rate of unemployment are associated with increases in divergence between the two parties with respect to voting on environmental legislation; a result that is consistent for both the House and Senate. We also report evidence of a positive relationship between party divergence on environmental legislation and real per capita income (inflation) in the House (Senate).
Nonexistence of smooth electromagnetic fields in nonlinear dielectrics: Shock development in a half-space

Implications of the Rankin-Hugoniot and Lax k-shock conditions are explored for a systems of hyperbolic conservation laws associated with the propagation of an intense plane wave into an isotropic nonlinear dielectric half-space. Asymptotic estimates are obtained for both tmaxand smax, respectively, the time elapsed and distance travelled by the wave into the half-space before shock development occurs.
Dynamic Balance Performance and Noncontact Lower Extremity Injury in College Football Players: An Initial Study

Background:Field expedient screening tools that can identify individuals at an elevated risk for injury are needed to minimize time loss in American football players. Previous research has suggeste...
MSH Activity in Plasma and Pituitaries of Rats After Various Treatments

Plasma and pituitary MSH activities were measured in albino rats after various treatments. Administration of trifluoperazine increased plasma MSH activity and decreased pituitary MSH activity. Ether also elevated plasma MSH levels and lowered pituitary MSH content 2 min after anesthesia; however, plasma MSH activity in these rats exposed to ether vapors subsequently declined despite a persistent decrease in pituitary MSH levels. Pretreatment with dexamethasone failed to block the MSH releasing effects of ether at 2 min. MSH also appeared to be released by synthetic lysine vasopressin. Darkness diminished and pinealectomy elevated pituitary MSH content but did not seem to affect plasma MSH levels. The tendency for Nembutal to cause a lowering of plasma MSH activity without much change inpituitary MSH content was not statistically significant. Morphine raised plasma MSH levels but did not alter pituitary MSH levels. An interaction of the effects of treatments on MSH release was observed with morphine and et...
Antiferromagnetism in Chromium Alloys. I. Neutron Diffraction

The magnetic properties of Cr alloys containing small amounts of the transition metals V, Mn, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Rh, Ta, W, and Re have been studied by powder and, in some cases, single-crystal neutron-diffraction techniques. Mn, Tc, Ru, Rh and Re, which increase the electron-to-atom ratio, also increase the N\'eel temperature and magnetic moment, which reach maximum values of about 700\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K and $0.75{\ensuremath{\mu}}_{B}$, compared with 311\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K and $0.40{\ensuremath{\mu}}_{B}$ for pure Cr. The wave vector of the magnetic structure also increases until, at a concentration of about 1%, it changes abruptly to $\frac{2\ensuremath{\pi}}{a}$ and the structure becomes commensurable with the lattice. The addition of V, Nb or Ta, which reduces the electron-to-atom ratio, or of Mo or W, for which it remains constant, diminishes the N\'eel temperature and moment and reduces the wave vector. Ta is the most effective in modifying the properties of pure Cr, followed by Nb and V, W, and Mo in that order. In all cases studied the transition temperature from a transverse- to a longitudinal-wave magnetic structure is reduced by alloying. These observations can be explained by the two-band model of Lomer, which has been studied in detail by Fedders and Martin. The wave vector of the magnetic periodicity connects electron and hole sheets of the Fermi surface and its magnitude and rate of change with electron concentration are in semiquantitative agreement with the energy-band calculations of Loucks. The N\'eel temperature is proportional to the ordered moment, and varies very rapidly with electron concentration in a way which can be qualitatively explained by the form of the Fermi surface. The variation of the ordered moment with temperature follows the BCS superconducting energy-gap function, as predicted by the theory.
Two-dimensional smoothing of a vector Laplacian random field with application to geodesy (Ph.D. Thesis abstr.)

A two-dimensional signal processing algorithm is developed to obtain smoothed estimates of a vector random field when observed in the presence of additive two-dimensional white noise. The vector random field consists of a two-dimensional scalar random field and its two orthogonal derivatives, each of which can be scaled arbitrarily by a constant. The signal model consists of the Laplacian operator acting on the two-dimensional scalar random field excited by two-dimensional white noise. Such a signal model that permits a nonstationary and nonisotropic random field is "spatially dynamic" as opposed to a static model specified by autocorrelation functions or power spectral densities. The model is also "bilateral" such that any given spatial point’s dependency upon all its neighboring points is preserved and no unnecessary limitation of causality is enforced on the two-dimensional system. To preserve the noncausality of the problem, the estimation algorithm must not order the two-dimensional data since there is no sense in which any data point can be said to be "prior" to any other data point. To this end, a two-dimensional smoothing algorithm is developed first in the continuous domain by making use of a two-dimensional Karhunen-Loeve expansion that makes no specific reference to either the geometry or the ordering of the parameter space.
The molecular basis of interstitial pulmonary fibrosis caused by antineoplastic agents

Pulmonary toxicity is an important, proliferation-independent, undesirable aspect of anticancer chemotherapy, which can ultimately develop into lethal interstitial pulmonary fibrosis. The loss of lung function, which defines pulmonary fibrosis, is due to pathological alterations in the content or composition of extracellular matrix components such as collagen, fibronectin, glycosaminoglycans and elastin (1). Biochemical studies suggest that the alteration in matrix is due primarily to an increase in extracellular matrix deposition. The altered synthesis of matrix may reflect an expansion of a cell population (e.g. fibroblasts) (15, 20). New matrix-producing cells also may be recruited into the lungs by the chemotactic activities of polypeptides (15). I n addition, the constitutive levels of matrix synthesis by the resident cell population could be altered. There is increasing evidence that endogenous growth factors and cytokines participate in the remodeling of the interstitial regions of the lungs (20). One focus of our research has been to identify these factors and the mechanisms that regulate altered collagen and extracellular matrix deposition. We have studied the pulmonary toxicity of the DNA interactive anticancer agents, bleomycin (BLM) and cyclophosphamide (CYC). Wh en administered to animals, they cause a reproducible fibrosis that has great similarity to the final fibrotic lesion seen in humans (4, 8, 16). We and others (3, 4, 7, 8, 16) have identified inbred murine strain differences in the pulmonary responsiveness to both BLM and CYC. Thus, C57B1/6 mice are much more sensitive to BLM-induced fibrosis compared to BALB/c mice. Conversely, BALB/c mice are more sensitive to CYC-induced fibrosis than C57B1/6 mice. The differences in strain sensitivity to these fibrogenic agents may reflect differences in drug metabolizing enzymes in the lungs (3, 7). In the case of BLM, the resistant strains have higher levels of the inactivating enzyme, bleomycin hydrolase, which has recently been identified as a member of the thiol protease family (17). Th e availability of murine strains with different sensitivities to fibrogenic drugs provides an important tool for identifying essential prefibrotic factors of fibrosis. The accumulation of pulmonary collagen in C57B1/6N mice after S.C. BLM infusion is preceded by sequential increases in total pulmonary fibronectin, ~(~111 procollagen and sl,I procollagen mRNA (7), as well as increases in a,IV procollagen and a,IV procollagen mRNA levels. Other laboratories have observed similar results with fibronectin, a,111 procollagen and a,1 procollagen mRNA in rats after BLM (2, 9, 13, 14). In our studies, however. these increases are largely confined to the sensitive C57B1/6N mice and are
Effects of estrogens on adrenal 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase in ovariectomized women.

The acute and chronic effects of estradiol (E2) on the serum levels of four delta5,3-beta hydroxysteroids and their four delta4, 3-keto products were studied in four ovariectomized women with and without adrenal stimulation by ACTH. Six hour infusions of saline and of synthetic 1-24 ACTH were administered and later repeated with a two hour infusion of E2 50 mug/h. The patients were then given 50 mug of ethinyl estradiol (EE2) p.o. for 4 to 6 weeks and the control and ACTH infusions were again repeated. Levels of pregnenolone3 (Pe), 17alpha-hydroxypregnenolone (17 Pe), progesterone (Po), 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (17 Po), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), androstenedione (Adione), androstenediol (Adiol), and testosterone (T), as well as cortisol and DHEA-sulfate were measured by radioimmunoassay on serum samples taken at 1200 and 1300 h. There was no significant effect of E2 or EE2 in the doses administered with or without exogenous ACTH on 3 betaOHSD activity as reflected in absolute steroid levels or in the ratio of concentrations of each delta5:delta4 steroid pair. During the 4th and 5th hour of ACTH infusion, the plasma level of 17 Pe (mean 22.5-fold stimulation) was most elevated, followed by 17 Po (12.5-fold), Pe (10-fold), cortisol (5.9-fold) and Po (4.5-fold), with smaller increases for the other steroids. These results, as well as the pattern of change in plasma levels in one of the subjects in whom fifteen minute samples were measured, provide further evidence suggesting that the major pathway for cortisol biosynthesis in vivo proceeds from Pe via 17 Pe, and not via Po.
Exploring a Literacy Website that Works: ReadWriteThink.org.

While it is easy to find lesson plans on the Internet, the quality of plans and the formats in which they are written vary considerably, and the process of sifting through the chaff in order to find the wheat can be time-consuming and discouraging. To address these concerns the authors of this Technology in Literacy column introduce www.ReadWriteThink.org. The International Reading Association (IRA), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and a consortium of other organizations developed the site, which provides lessons in reading and writing, as well as many other interactive features that provide unique supports for teachers: Lessons are written and reviewed by literacy educators. Lessons are carefully screened and edited to save teachers from wasting time with poorly prepared materials. Lessons are linked to other lessons in the collection with related objectives, activities, or themes, to help teachers develop focused units of study. Lessons are offered in a level of detail that far surpasses the lesson plans provided at most other educational sites. Lessons include many online activities and resources that can be accessed easily to save teachers from spending time in looking for necessary materials. Resource links are provided in the body of the lesson, as well as in a sidebar accompanying the lesson. Links to sites offering further information and resources are kept up-to-date. Lessons are aligned to the IRA/NCTE Standards for the English Language Arts.
Social attitudes and the gender pay gap in the USA in recent years

Purpose – Although the labor force participation rates for women in the USA have steadily risen during the last three decades, the gender pay gap has not decreased significantly since 1992. In fact, there is evidence that it actually widened during the 1990s. This paper seeks to present a social economics explanation of this phenomenon. Mainstream economic explanations for the anomalous behavior of the gender pay gap in the USA in recent years usually involve increasing numbers of women opting for part‐time jobs. Recognizing the importance of social change in explaining certain features of the labor market, this paper aims to explore whether a broad change in social attitudes towards women's roles may form the basis for such phenomena.Design/methodology/approach – A unique set of questions from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth which asks the same respondents about their attitudes towards “traditional” roles for women in 1987 and again in 2004 allows measurement of the change in attitudes in indiv...
Rear surface passivation of interdigitated back contact silicon heterojunction solar cell and 2D simulation study

Rear surface passivation by deposited intrinsic amorphous silicon (a-Si) buffer layer in interdigitated back contact silicon heterojunction (IBC-SHJ) solar cells significantly improves open circuit voltage (V OC ) and short circuit current (J SC ) but can lead to very low fill factor (FF) with an “S” shape J-V curve. In this paper, methods to optimize IBC-SHJ solar cell with improved FF are discussed and guided by two-dimensional numerical modelling. Two approaches to improve FF by modifying the buffer layer are evaluated: (1) increased conductivity, or (2) reduced band gap. Experimental results show that replacing the intrinsic a-Si layer in emitter with lightly doped p-type a-Si layer greatly improves fill factor, which is consistent with modelling prediction. However, the V OC and JSC are limited by the high recombination velocity of the unpassivated gap between the emitter and contact strips. The importance of gap passivation to achieve high efficiency in the IBC-SHJ structure was verified by 2D device simulation. The band gap of the intrinsic buffer layers have been reduced by changing the deposition conditions without substantially decreasing the passivation quality.
Proceedings of the International Symposium on Hydrometeorology

The Proceedings of the International Symposium on Hydrometeorology, which was held in June 1982 in Denver, Colo., is a timely document on the current state of the art of hydrometeorology. The symposium was attended by numerous researchers from both the hydrology and meteorology fields and from government, university, and private sectors of 12 countries. As such, the proceedings covers a wide variety of topics that are of interest to both hydrologists and meteorologists.
Spatial Equilibrium, the Theory of Rents, and the Measurement of Benefits from Public Programs

BENEFIT MEASUREMENTS FOR PUBLIC PROGRAMS AND THE PARTICULAR QUESTION OF WHETHER CHANGES IN LAND VALUES ACCURATELY MEASURE BENEFITS ARE DISCUSSED. THE MODEL DEVELOPED IN THIS PAPER WAS DESIGNED TO BE OF USE IN EVALUATING THE BENEFITS FROM A LARGE CLASS OF PROJECTS THAT AFFECT SPECIFIC PARCELS OF LAND, BUT THAT ARE NOT SO EXTENSIVE AS TO ALTER THE ECONOMIC AND SPATIAL STRUCTURE OF A REGION. THE RESULTS THAT ARE DERIVED SHOW THAT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BENEFITS OF THESE PROJECTS AND CHANGES IN LAND VALUES IS NOT A SIMPLE ONE, AND THAT IN GENERAL THE CHANGE IN THE VALUE OF LAND DOES NOT EQUAL THE BENEFITS EXCEPT IN THE CASE WHERE ALL PROFITS ARE ELIMINATED.
Fractional integration methods in political science

We argue that fractional integration methods have the potential to unify and simplify time series analysis. Estimation of the d parameter in an ARFIMA (p, d, q) model is no longer difficult and multivariate extensions are proving useful. In particular, we discuss and illustrate the most promising route, fractional cointegration and the innovation of relaxing the assumption that the parent series are I(1). We illustrate the technique with an analysis of congressional approval, a topic of great interest to institutional scholars, and its relationship with economic expectations. © 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Spatial-Filtering-Based Contributions to a Critique of Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR):

Interaction terms are constructed with georeferenced attribute variables and spatial filter eigenvectors, and then used to compute geographically varying regression coefficients. These coefficients, which are analogous to geographically weighted regression (GWR) coefficients, display preferable properties, and this specification is used to critique selected features of GWR. Comparisons are illustrated with the Georgia data appearing in the standard GWR tutorial.
How the spatial frequency of polarization influences the induction of reentry in cardiac tissue.

UNLABELLED Influences of spatial frequency of polarization. INTRODUCTION The mechanism by which an electric field induces a rotor during cross-field stimulation of cardiac tissue is not entirely known. Different heterogeneous aspects of cardiac tissue have been offered as possible theories, a prominent one being fiber curvature. The polarization produced when an electric field is applied to a sheet of tissue is varied over many spatial frequencies, depending upon the fiber angle. This article compares the effect of high and low spatial frequencies of polarization on reentry induction. METHODS AND RESULTS We incorporate a randomized fiber angle geometry into a two-dimensional active cardiac tissue model with unequal anisotropy ratios already exhibiting smooth, curving fibers. We simulate cross-field stimulation to initiate reentry in the tissue model, and compare the electric field thresholds at different S1-S2 intervals for tissue with randomized fiber angles, tissue with a smooth fiber geometry, and tissue with randomized fiber angles plus smooth, curving fibers. The tissue with both small, random fiber angles and curving fibers has a significantly lower threshold for reentry at certain intervals on the strength-interval curve than for the two cases individually. CONCLUSION Cardiac tissue exhibiting a random fiber geometry in conjunction with a smooth fiber geometry includes high and low spatial frequencies of polarization that may have an effect on the mechanism for reentry at certain S1-S2 intervals. Low spatial frequency regions of hyperpolarization carve out excitable pathways, and high spatial frequency regions provide the large gradient of transmembrane potential required to initiate break excitation.
Antidiuretic Action of the Urine of Patients in Cardiac Failure

Stimulated by the increasing interest in the operation of antidiuretic principles and the recent development of new concepts of the mechanism of heart failure, this investigation was planned to study antidiuretic effects of the urine of patients with heart failure. It is noteworthy that an antidiuretic effect was induced in hydrated dogs by the intravenous injection of concentrated dialyzed urine of 12 of 15 patients with congestive heart failure. No such effect was exerted by urine from normal controls. Additional studies indicated that the antidiuresis could not be attributed to a substance with the characteristics of commercial Pitressin.
Design of nanocarriers for efficient cellular uptake and endosomal release of small molecule and nucleic acid drugs: learning from virus

There are many challenges in developing efficient and target specific delivery systems of small molecule and nucleic acid drugs. Cell membrane presents one of the major barriers for the penetration of hydrophilic macromolecules across the plasma membrane. Nanocarriers have been designed to enhance their cellular uptake via endocytosis but following their cellular uptake, endosomal escape is the rate limiting step which restricts the value associated with the enhanced uptake by nanocarriers. Viruses are an excellent model for efficient cytosolic delivery by nanocarriers. Viruses exploit intracellular cues to release the genome to cytosol. In this review, we first discuss different endocytic uptake pathways and endosomal escape mechanisms. We then summarize the existing tools for studying the intracellular trafficking of nanocarriers. Finally, we highlight the important design elements of recent virus-based nanocarriers for efficient cellular uptake and endosomal escape.
Seeing through water

We consider the problem of recovering an underwater image distorted by surface waves. A large amount of video data of the distorted image is acquired. The problem is posed in terms of finding an undistorted image patch at each spatial location. This challenging reconstruction task can be formulated as a manifold learning problem, such that the center of the manifold is the image of the undistorted patch. To compute the center, we present a new technique to estimate global distances on the manifold. Our technique achieves robustness through convex flow computations and solves the "leakage" problem inherent in recent manifold embedding techniques.
Modulation of cardiac Na+ current by gadolinium, a blocker of stretch-induced arrhythmias

Gd3+ blocks stretch-activated channels and suppresses stretch-induced arrhythmias. We used whole cell voltage clamp to examine whether effects on Na+ channels might contribute to the antiarrhythmic...
CeGeCl/sub 3/: A ferroelectric material with -0.4-20 /spl mu/m transparency for NLO applications

Oxides such as LiNbO3 and KDP are the most familiar nonlinear optical materials since they are readily available and bave Tiner desirable properties, such as reasonable nonlinear coefficients and high laser-da mage thresholds.
GLUCAGON STIMULATION OF MITOCHONDRIAL METABOLISM

It has been known for a number of years that if liver mitochondria are isolated either from rats treated a few minutes with glucagon or from hepatocytes treated briefly in vitro with the hormone, the mitochondria exhibit remarkable changes in a number of functions. Among these are increases in the rates of state 3 and uncoupled respiration, the carboxylation of pyruvate, the formation of citrulline, and the activity of the uncoupler-dependent ATPase. In addition, the mitochondria contain an increased quantity of adenine nucleotides. Except for this last phenomenon, the increase in mitochondrial nucleotides, the physiological significance of these events is not known, nor is the mechanism by which glucagon and other hormones produce these changes.
Eigenspace analysis for threat detection in social networks

The problem of detecting a small, anomalous subgraph within a large background network is important and applicable to many fields. The non-Euclidean nature of graph data, however, complicates the application of classical detection theory in this context. A recent statistical framework for anomalous subgraph detection uses spectral properties of a graph's modularity matrix to determine the presence of an anomaly. In this paper, this detection framework and the related algorithms are applied to data focused on a specific application: detection of a threat subgraph embedded in a social network. The results presented use data created to simulate threat activity among noisy interactions. The detectability of the threat subgraph and its separability from the noise is analyzed under a variety of background conditions in both static and dynamic scenarios.
Myosin heavy chain synthesis is independently regulated in hypertrophy and atrophy of isolated adult cardiac myocytes

Abstract Hypertrophy of isolated adult feline cardiac muscle cells may be induced in culture by either alpha- or beta-adrenergic agonists. However, it has been shown previously that each of these agonists activate different subsets of immediate-early response genes and have different effects on expression of "fetal" protein isoforms and stimulation of protein synthesis. Moreover, in adult feline heart cells, beta-adrenergic agonists, such as isoproterenol, activate sustained synchronous beating and sarcomeric reorganization while alpha-adrenergic agonists, such as phenylephrine, do not. The objective of the present study was to determine whether these differences in proximal signaling events converged in a common signal pathway during activation of contractile protein synthesis. By direct comparisons of actin and myosin heavy chain (HC) synthesis and accumulation following isoproterenol and phenylephrine, it was determined that both agonists stimulate a coordinated accumulation of these proteins during cardiomyocyte growth. However, each agonist stimulated a very different program of contractile protein synthesis. During phenylephrine-induced hypertrophy, actin and myosin HC syntheses were rapidly and coordinately activated and continuously maintained at rates 10-25% greater than untreated cultures. The pattern of myosin HC synthesis following isoproterenol was very much more complex with periods during which it was as much as 40% greater or 25% less than in control cultures. Furthermore, there was no correlation between rates of actin and myosin HC synthesis following isoproterenol. It was concluded that actin and myosin HC syntheses and accumulation were regulated independently and in a very different manner following isoproterenol or phenylephrine. Since protein accumulation was not correlated with synthesis rates during development of hypertrophy, it was also concluded that post-translational mechanisms played a significant role in the maintenance of contractile protein stoichiometry during beta-adrenergic/beating-induced hypertrophy. Myosin HC synthesis also appeared to be independently regulated during cardiomyocyte atrophy induced by the calcium channel blocker nifedipine. Unlike the case in hypertrophy, however, protein balance was not maintained in nifedipine, and the depression of myosin HC synthesis and loss of myosin HC content were much greater than in the case of other contractile proteins.
Serum Testosterone Is Reduced Following Short-Term Phytofluene, Lycopene, or Tomato Powder Consumption in F344 Rats

Elevated serum androgens are associated with increased prostate cancer risk. Tomato consumption is also associated with reduced prostate cancer incidence, and the primary tomato carotenoid, lycopene, may modulate androgen activation in the prostate, yet little is known about other tomato carotenoids. To evaluate interrelations between phytofluene, lycopene, or tomato powder consumption and androgen status, 8-wk-old male F344 rats (fed a control AIN 93G diet) were castrated or sham-operated and subsequently provided with daily oral supplementation of phytofluene or lycopene ( approximately 0.7 mg/d) or fed a 10% tomato powder supplemented diet (AIN 93G) for 4 d. Sham-operated rats provided with either phytofluene, lycopene, or tomato powder had approximately 40-50% lower serum testosterone concentrations than the sham-operated, control-fed group. Tissue and serum phytofluene and lycopene concentrations were greater in castrated rats than in sham-operated rats, which may have been due in part to a decrease of hepatic CYP 3A1 mRNA expression and benzyloxyresorufin-O-dealkylase activity. Some changes in prostatic and testicular steroidogenic enzyme mRNA expression were found; in particular, prostate 17 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 4 mRNA expression in castrated rats fed lycopene or tomato powder was 1.7-fold that of the sham-operated, control-fed group. Modest changes in mRNA expression of steroidogenic enzymes with short-term carotenoid intake may alter the flux of androgen synthesis to less potent compounds. Overall, results illustrate that short-term intake of tomato carotenoids significantly alters androgen status, which may partially be a mechanism by which tomato intake reduces prostate cancer risk.
The role of "marriage agencies" in the sexual exploitation and trafficking of women from the former Soviet Union.

Each year tens of thousands of women leave the former Soviet Union by accepting risky offers of employment and marriage in the hope of finding a better life. Many of these women become victims of violence sexual exploitation and trafficking. Marriage agencies play a role in recruiting women and connecting them with foreign men. Information on the numbers and locations of recruitment of women were collected from 500 Web based sites for marriage agencies from 15 countries of the former Soviet Union. Additional research included interviews with representatives of NGOs in Russia research interviews in Ukraine media stories and content analysis of web based sites. Russia Ukraine and Belarus had the highest number of women recruited (62605 31837 and 12683 respectively) followed by Kyrgyzstan Kazakhstan Latvia and Uzbekistan (4190 3037 1760 1139 respectively) with the lowest numbers from Moldova Lithuania Estonia Azerbaijan Turkmenistan Armenia Georgia and Tajikistan (884 626 551 204 25 23 8 7 respectively). There were large differences in the number of women recruited in different oblasts within each country. There is not uniform recruitment of women across the 15 countries or within the countries. Some of the variation may be explained by population size but the operation of recruiters for marriage agencies also must play a role. Marriage agencies also serve as sex tour and pornographic model agencies for foreign men. Vulnerable populations of women are targeted for recruitment. (authors)