cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Impact of postimplant edema on V100 and D90 in prostate brachytherapy: can implant quality be predicted on day 0?

Abstract Purpose: To determine the effect of edema on the dosimetric parameters V 100 (percentage of prostate volume that received a dose equal to or greater than the prescribed dose) and D 90 (minimal dose delivered to 90% of prostate volume) in 125 I prostate brachytherapy and to determine whether the edema can be used to predict implant quality on the day of the implant (Day 0). Methods and Materials: Fifty consecutive patients treated with 125 I implants who had two postimplant CT scans were selected for this study. The mean interval between the studies was 46 ± 23 days. The implants were preplanned to deliver 150 Gy to the prostate plus a 3–5-mm symmetric dose margin using peripherally loaded 0.4–0.6-mCi (NIST-99) 125 I seeds. A dose-volume histogram was compiled for each postimplant CT scan. The V 100 and D 90 from the first and second CT scans were compared to determine the effect of edema on these parameters. A multivariate regression analysis was performed to define the linear relationships for predicting the V 100 or D 90 at 30–60 days after implant from the magnitude of the edema and the values of V 100 and D 90 on Day 0. Results: V 100 and D 90 increased by 5% ± 6% and 15% ± 17%, respectively, during the interval between the first and second postimplant CT scans. The mean edema was 1.53 ± 0.20. The increases in V 100 and D 90 were found to be proportional to the edema and the values of V 100 and D 90 on Day 0. The increase in V 100 was also found to depend on the width of the preplan dose margin. Linear relationships were derived that predict the V 100 and D 90 at 30–60 days after implant with a standard error of ±4% and ±24 Gy, respectively. Conclusion: V 100 and D 90 increased by 5% ± 6% and 15% ± 17%, respectively, during the first 30–60 days after implant. The results of a multivariate linear regression analysis showed that the increases in V 100 and D 90 were proportional to both the magnitude of the edema and the values of these parameters on Day 0. The relationships derived by linear regression analysis predict V 100 and D 90 at 30–60 days after implant to within ±4% and ±24 Gy, respectively. However, predicting the 30–60-day V 100 and D 90 on Day 0 is a poor substitute for obtaining a 30–60-day CT scan, because the uncertainty in the predicted values is greater by a factor of ≥2. Nevertheless, on average, the predicted values should provide a more reliable estimate of the actual V 100 and D 90 than the Day 0 values that ignore the effect of edema altogether. The increase in V 100 was also found to depend on the width of the preplan dose margin; therefore, our results for V 100 are only valid for implants planned with a 3–5-mm margin.
Characterization of a microalga Chlorella sp. well adapted to highly concentrated municipal wastewater for nutrient removal and biodiesel production

The feasibility of growing Chlorella sp. in the centrate, a highly concentrated municipal wastewater stream generated from activated sludge thickening process, for simultaneous wastewater treatment and energy production was tested. The characteristics of algal growth, biodiesel production, wastewater nutrient removal and the viability of scale-up and the stability of continuous operation were examined. Two culture media, namely autoclaved centrate (AC) and raw centrate (RC) were used for comparison. The results showed that by the end of a 14-day batch culture, algae could remove ammonia, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) by 93.9%, 89.1%, 80.9%, and 90.8%, respectively from raw centrate, and the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) content was 11.04% of dry biomass providing a biodiesel yield of 0.12 g-biodiesel/L-algae culture solution. The system could be successfully scaled up, and continuously operated at 50% daily harvesting rate, providing a net biomass productivity of 0.92 g-algae/(L day).
Five year's experience with reverse osmosis systems using Du Pont “Permasep” permeators☆

Abstract The broad applicability and reliability of Du Pont “Permasep” permeators in a variety of water treatment applications are reviewed. Case histories of reverse osmosis plants operating in the European area are presented. Operating costs are cited and examples of actual membrane replacement rates are given. Data are given demonstrating the impact on operating costs of the long-term performance of Du Pont aramid (aromatic polyamide) membranes.
The National Institute of Social Sciences' Project in field experience education

Eleven public and private, two- and four-year colleges and universities were involved in planning, and six in implementing a national project on experiential education sponsored by the National Institute of Social Sciences (NISS) during the years 1974 to 1976. This article describes the developmental work in experiential education by the six institutions, the purposes of the research intended to be accomplished, and the reasons for the termination of this NISS Project.
'Remember six feet deep': masks and the exculpation of/from death in Aro masquerade

La societe secrete masculine, Ekpe, des Aro de Arochukwu, procede a des mascarades lors des enterrements. Description des processions Okwu Akang, Akang et Mgboko. Les masques auraient une fonction de couverture face aux limites de la rationnalite. La nouvelle identite qu'ils creent est celle d'une entite surhumaine. Ils aident a transformer les emotions de la communaute (tristesse et esperance) : ce paradoxe, cette ambivalence sont au centre de toute mascarade. Les masques servent d'interface entre les humains et le monde des esprits, ils mediatisent le probleme intellectuel de la mort
Errors Involved in Instantaneous Intravascular Input Assumptions

A comparative evaluation of a zero-order input and the generally accepted instantaneous intravascular input assumption is made for two- and three-compartment open model systems. Equations are derived and a nomogram is prepared to calculate the magnitude of error involved in instantaneous input assumptions. It is suggested that all intravascular administrations be considered as zero-order inputs.
Energy levels, lifetimes, wavelengths, and transition probabilities of Fe XIV

Abstract Energy levels and lifetimes are reported for all the states of the n = 3 odd and even complexes of Fe XIV, as well as the 2 s 2 4 l 2 L states. Data for selected allowed ( E 1) and forbidden ( E 2, M 1, and M 2) transitions between these states are also reported. The results have been calculated using the multiconfiguration Hartree-Fock method with a Breit-Pauli relativistic correction.
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AND DELINQUENCY: RECONSIDERING A PROBLEMATIC RELATIONSHIP*

Employment is often thought to discourage participation in crime, but self-report data from juveniles consistently disclose a positive correlation between employment and delinquency. This analysis tests three possible explanations for that correlation. The first is that differences in levels of delinquency between workers and nonworkers exist prior to employment. The second holds that working increases independence from parents, thereby reducing the controlling effect of parental influence. The third explanation, drawing on Sutherland's theory of differential association, is that employment increases delinquent behavior by exposing adolescents to a wider network of peers, including delinquent peers. Analysis of data from waves 1, 2, and 3 of the National Youth Survey reveals a positive association between employment and some forms of delinquency, especially alcohol and drug use. Selection bias explains much, but not all, of the association. Although no support is found for the parental influence explanation, the remaining employment effect is explained by exposure to delinquent peers.
Crystal structure of RhoA–GDP and its functional implications

RhoA, a ubiquitous intracellular GTPase, mediates cytoskeletal responses to extracellular signals. A 2.1 A resolution crystal structure of the human RhoA–GDP complex shows unique stereochemistry in the switch I region, which results in a novel mode of Mg2+ binding.
Response to "Comment on `Effective thermal conductivity in thermoelectric materials'" [J. Appl. Phys. 113, 204904 (2013)]

It is commonly claimed that achieving maximum power from a thermoelectric generator necessitates electrical load matching conditions instead of the operating condition derived for maximum generator efficiency. Here, we explain why the electrical load matching claim for maximum power in a design optimization is flawed and show that the load condition derived for maximum efficiency always produces more power. Finally, we consider a CPM generator, and prove that the electrical condition for maximum efficiency is indeed the electrical condition for maximum power, maximum power density, maximum power/cost of thermoelectric material, and maximum power/weight of thermoelectric material, when the leg length of the thermoelectric generator is a design variable.
Molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations for the structure of the aqueous trimethylammonium chloride solution in the 0.2–1 molar range

Molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations have been performed for characterizing the structure of the 0.2 and 1 molar aqueous trimethylammonium chloride solutions. Atomic charges were derived through the CHELPG and RESP fits to the molecular electrostatic potentials calculated for the cation in water at the IEF-PCM/B3LYP level using the 6-31G* and 6-311++G** basis sets. Maxima and minima of the calculated radial distribution functions were not sensitive to the four atomic charge sets. Simulated solution structures suggest non-negligible solute-solute interactions and remarkable inhomogeneity at both concentrations. This means that equilibrium ratios, derived for conformers/tautomers by means of ab initio calculations with the IEF-PCM continuum dielectric solvent model, should be corrected for free energy changes following solute association when compared to experimental data obtained for the 0.1-1 molar aqueous solutions.
Marketing implications of privacy concerns in the US and Canada

Purpose – Increasing availability of data obtained via the internet and the proliferation of direct mail advertising provides tremendous opportunities for marketers to reach their customers. However, increased risks to the personal privacy of consumers, and attention in the media to these risks, provide unique challenges. Companies and especially direct marketers are finding that they need to change their tactics to deal with the increase in consumer concerns and privacy‐protecting behaviors. This paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approach – Using the results of a multinational privacy survey, the paper examines consumer privacy concerns and privacy‐protecting behaviors in the USA and Canada. It uses factor analysis and multiple regression techniques to analyze the data.Findings – While consumer concerns about privacy are essentially the same between the two countries, the privacy‐protecting behaviors differed significantly. The paper also suggests that demographic variables influence ...
Electropharmacology of nonsustained ventricular tachycardia: Effects of class I antiarrhythmic agents, verapamil and propranolol

Forty-seven patients with spontaneous and inducible nonsustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) underwent serial electrophysiologic studies to evaluate the effects of antiarrhythmic agents on inducible arrhythmias, the role of electrophysiologic testing in the evaluation of pharmacologic therapy for these arrhythmias, and potential mechanisms underlying these arrhythmias. Type I antiarrhythmic agents prevented induction of VT by programmed stimulation in 18 of 37 patients and by isoproterenol in 9 of 11 patients. Verapamil and propranolol did not prevent or alter the mode of induction of VT by programmed stimulation, nor did they slow the induced tachycardias. Propranolol prevented induction of VT by isoproterenol in all 14 patients tested. Type I antiarrhythmic agents converted nonsustained into sustained VT in 2 of 37 patients. Inducible VT was prevented in 88% of patients without underlying heart disease, in contrast to only 38% of patients with associated cardiac disease (p less than 0.02). This study demonstrates that electrophysiologic studies may be used to identify antiarrhythmic agents with both beneficial and potentially harmful effects in patients with nonsustained VT. The responses of inducible tachycardias to antiarrhythmic agents in this group of patients with spontaneous nonsustained VT are similar to those previously observed in patients with sustained VT. Finally, the results suggest that VT induced by isoproterenol may frequently respond to type I antiarrhythmic agents in addition to beta blockers.
POIC‐radon filtering of near‐offset multiples

The primary only imaging condition (POIC) can effectively remove some of the migration artifacts generated by multiple energy in the far-offset data. The multiples predicted by a POIC filter in the far-offset data are used to predict and eliminate the near-offset multiples in the τ−p domain with the Radon transform. The hybrid algorithm is tested on a simple synthetic example and the 2-D SMAART JV. Pluto 1.5 dataset which is associated with a complicated velocity model. Results indicate that this approach is effective in predicting and attenuating some of the surface related multiples. The POIC image with both near and far-offset data has higher image resolution than the one obtained with just the far-offset data. The high resolution Radon transform is helpful in improving the resolution in the τ−p domain so that the performance of the hybrid approach can also be improved.
Strategies to prevent sepsis-induced intensive care unit-acquired weakness: are there any options? Commentary on "Comparison of melatonin and oxytocin in the prevention of critical illness polyneuropathy in rats with surgically induced sepsis".

* Corresponding author. Department of Surg Suite 2M, New York, NY 10003. Tel.: þ1 212 E-mail address: mleitman725@me.com (I 0022-4804/$ e see front matter a 2013 Elsev http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2012.12.019 Intensive care unit-acquired weakness (ICUAW) is one of the leading causes of morbidity in critically ill patients and a significant risk factor for the development of chronic critical illness. In 2008, 727,000 patients were hospitalized for sepsis, with mortality rate of 17% at an estimated cost of $14.6 billion [1]. The risk of critical illness neuromuscular abnormalities in
Numerical Characterization of Gross Vehicle Weight Distributions from Weigh-in-Motion Data

This paper presents a method for quantifying gross vehicle weight (GVW) distributions of commercial vehicles using weigh-in-motion (WIM) data. Finite mixture models are used to fit a combination of normal distributions to the overall GVW distribution to identify peak parameters more precisely. The GVW distribution is commonly bimodal or trimodal with prominent peaks occurring in the loaded and unloaded weight ranges. The GVW characteristics of FHWA Class 9 vehicles are commonly used for assessing WIM accuracy by visual interpretation of frequency histograms. Temporal changes in the GVW distribution are difficult to detect using common visualization techniques. Mixture models enable the statistical identification of the modal peaks and the proportion of traffic belonging to those peaks for ongoing monitoring purposes. Mixture models are applied to a WIM site in Indiana to illustrate the analysis method and benefits. Numerical monitoring of the GVW distribution is shown to have some advantages over the wide...
Effects of Charge State and Cationizing Agent on the Electron Capture Dissociation of a Peptide

Electron capture dissociation (ECD) is a promising method for de novo sequencing proteins and peptides and for locating the positions of labile posttranslational modifications and binding sites of noncovalently bound species. We report the ECD of a synthetic peptide containing 10 alanine residues and 6 lysine residues uniformly distributed across the sequence. ECD of the (M + 2H)2+ produces a limited range of c (c7−c15) and z (z9−z15) fragment ions, but ECD of higher charge states produces a wider range of c (c2−c15) and z (z2−z6, z9−z15) ions. Fragmentation efficiency increases with increasing precursor charge state, and efficiencies up to 88% are achieved. Heating the (M + 2H)2+ to 150 °C does not increase the observed range of ECD fragment ions, indicating that the limited products are due to backbone cleavages occurring near charges and not due to effects of tertiary structure. ECD of the (M + 2Li)2+ and (M + 2Cs)2+ produces di- and monometalated analogues of the same c and z ions observed from the (M...
Total quality management and sustainable competitive advantage

Abstract Although it is generally accepted that Total Quality Management (TQM) can generate a sustainable competitive advantage, there is, surprisingly, little or no theory to underpin that belief. Therefore, the primary purpose of this paper is to explore the validity of the claim. By drawing on the market-based theory of competitive advantage, resource-based theory of the firm, and systems theory, we are able to conclude that the belief is warranted. We deduce that the content of TQM is capable of producing a cost- or differentiation-based advantage, and that the tacitness and complexity that are inherent in the process of TQM have the potential to generate the barriers to imitation that are necessary for sustainability.
Protection by budesonide and fluticasone on allergen-induced airway responses after discontinuation of therapy.

Background Treatment with inhaled steroids is an effective method of reducing bronchoconstriction and airway inflammation after allergen challenge. However, the durationof the protective effects of inhaled steroids after discontinuation of therapy has not been established. Objective We sought to evaluate the protective effect of 1 week of inhaled steroid therapy against inhaled allergen challenge 12 hours after discontinuation of therapy. Methods In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial, 26 asthmatic subjects (>18 years old) not using inhaled steroids were administered 200 μg of budesonide twice daily, 200 μg of fluticasone twice daily, or placebo twice daily for 1 week. Twelve hours after discontinuation of therapy, subjects were administered an inhaled allergen challenge. Each treatment period was separated by a 3-week washout period. Results When compared with placebo (26% ± 14%), there was a slight but significant protection against the allergen-induced early response after fluticasone treatment (19% ± 10%, P =.001) but not after budesonide treatment (23% ± 13%, P =.08). However, when the area under the curve for the early airway response was examined, there was no difference between the 2 drugs in the amount of protection ( P =.62). Partial protection was demonstrated against the late-response allergen-induced sputum eosinophilia with both treatments ( P =.001). By contrast, no protection was observed against allergen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness for either treatment. Conclusions The protective effects of inhaled steroids against allergen-induced early responses, airway eosinophilia, and allergen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness are partially or completely lost as early as 12 hours after discontinuation of therapy.
Activity of juvenile hormone acid in brainless, allatectomized diapausing cecropia pupae.

Pupal diapause in the cecropia silkmoth is terminated by activation of the prothoracic glands. Implantation of adult male cecropia corpora allata or injection of juvenile hormone-I (JH-I) or juvenile hormone-I acid (JH-I acid) causes initiation of development in debrained, allatectomized diapausing pupae. The subsequent development results in formation of second pupae or pupal-adult intermediates. The dose-response patterns for JH-I acid and JH-I are nearly identical. These data suggest that JH-I acid activates prothoracic glands and in addition acts like a morphogenetic hormone. Diapause in saturniid pupae results from the programmed inactivation of the brainprothoracic gland system and is terminated by activation of the prothoracic glands (PG) which leads to the secretion of ecdysone (Williams, 1952). Removal of the brain from such pupae keeps them in a state of permanent diapause (dauerpupae) which can be terminated by implantation of active brains or active corpora allata (Williams, 1952, 1959; Ichikawa and NishiitsutsujiUwo, 1959). Juvenile hormone (JH), farnesol, methyl famesoate, and various other compounds with JH activity are also effective in terminating pupal diapause (Gilbert and Schneiderman. 1959: Krishnakumaran and Schneiderman, 1965). Besides the presumed activation of the prothoracic glands, JH and JH analogs also prevent normal metamorphosis and hence dauerpupae treated with sufficient JH often develop into second pupae or pupal-adult intermediates. Recently, it was discovered that corpora allata (CA) of adult male cecropia lack an active JH acid methyltransferase and in
Management of chronic disease by patients.

▪ Abstract Chronic conditions dominate health care in most parts of the world, including the United States. Management of a disease by the patient is central to control of its effects. A wide range of influences in the person's social and physical environments enhance or impede management efforts. Interventions to improve management by patients can produce positive outcomes including better monitoring of a condition, fewer symptoms, enhanced physical and psychosocial functioning, and reduced health care use. Successful programs have been theory based. Self-regulation is a promising framework for the development of interventions. Nonetheless, serious gaps in understanding and improving disease management by patients remain because of an emphasis on clinical settings for program delivery, neglect of the factors beyond patient behavior that enable or deter effective management, limitations of study designs in much work to date, reliance on short-term rather than long-term assessments, and failure to evaluate...
Confirmation of reported aspirin use in community studies: utility of serum thromboxane B2 measurement.

Aspirin (ASA) is recommended for the prevention of cardiovascular disease; however, the compliance is low. Reported use may not reflect actual use. Serum thromboxane B2 (STxB2) measurement was evaluated to validate reported ASA use. Males aged 45 to 79 years and females aged 55 to 79 years completed a survey and STxB2 measurement (Thromboxane B2 EIA Kit; Cayman Chemical, Ann Arbor, Michigan). The 107 patients were grouped by use of ASA (56 ASA+ and 51 ASA−) and possible interfering medications (INT) such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The STxB2 levels (ng/mL) were significantly lower in ASA users: ASA+ INT− 3.0 (0.7, 8.4), ASA+ INT+ 2.0 (0.8, 4.9), ASA− INT+ 176 (75, 390), and ASA− INT− 271 (199, 366). The INT use did not cause a significant difference in STxB2 levels. A STxB2 cut point of 25 ng/mL had high sensitivity (94.1%) and specificity (91.1%) for ASA use. The STxB2 was a reliable marker of ASA use and could be used to confirm ASA exposure in population-based health studies.
N-acetylcysteine prevents preterm birth by attenuating the LPS-induced expression of contractile associated proteins in an animal model.

Objective: Intrauterine infection is associated with maternal immune activation (MIA) leading to preterm birth through upregulation of contractile associated proteins (CAPs). We hypothesized that N-acetylcysteine would decrease NF-κB activation and CAP expression in a MIA model for preterm birth. Methods: Pregnant CD-1 mice were given intrauterine LPS or saline on day 15/20. They received NAC or saline prior to injection and were monitored until delivery. The rate of preterm birth in the control, LPS, and LPS + NAC animals was determined. In another group, animals were sacrificed 6 h after treatment and myometrium was collected. COX-2, connexin 43, and oxytocin receptor expression was determined. Results: LPS administration resulted in preterm birth and this effect was attenuated by NAC. LPS increased COX-2, connexin 43, and oxytocin receptor expression. NAC significantly decreased COX-2 expression. LPS increased NF-κB activation; this was attenuated by NAC. Conclusion: NAC may be beneficial in prevention...
Variable robustness control design for system of aerospace vehicle

A robust control is developed for the system of aerospace vehicle via variable robustness control (VRC) algorithm. Aerospace vehicle dynamics contain uncertainties due to cross coupling between longitudinal and lateral dynamics. The proposed scheme makes the system of aerospace vehicle impervious of uncertainties ensuring high performance. The variable robustness control technique is based upon scenario approach of robust control design which gives flexibility of modulating robustness in control design. Scenario approach is a probabilistic approach in which cost function can be guaranteed with a certain probability. The effectiveness of proposed control design is established in presence of unknown non-linear dynamics. VRC uses convex optimization of constraints formulated in the form of linear matrix inequalities. The performance of proposed technique is tested in comparison with H ∞ control design technique.
Identification of New Fungal Pathogens of Coast Live Oak in California.

Lynch, S. C., Zambino, P. J., Mayorquin, J. S., Wang, D. H., and Eskalen, A. 2013. Identification of new fungal pathogens of coast live oak in California. Plant Dis. 97:1025-1036. A decline of coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) has been observed throughout southern California. In this study, the identity and pathogenicity of non-Botryosphaeriaceae fungal species consistently recovered from necrotic tissues of branch and bleeding trunk canker samples from these locations were assessed. Species were identified morphologically and by comparison of the complete sequence of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the ribosomal DNA to sequences available in GenBank. Phylogenetic analyses were then conducted using ITS and partial sequences of the β-tubulin and mitochondrial small ribosomal subunit genes for unknown species. Fungi recovered and identified included Fusarium solani, Phaeoacremonium mortoniae, Diatrypella verrucaeformis, and a fungus described herein as Cryptosporiopsis querciphila sp. nov. One-year-old coast live oak seedlings were wound inoculated under controlled conditions to test pathogenicity of the fungal species. Each fungal species was successfully reisolated from necrotic tissue at 70 and 100% for P. mortoniae and all other species, and xylem necrosis was significantly different between all treatments and controls (P < 0.0001 at α = 0.05). Isolates of F. solani were the most aggressive tested. These species represent new records of fungal pathogens of coast live oak in California. Results from the pathogenicity test suggest that these fungi play a role in the decline of southern California coast live oak trees. Oak woodlands support higher levels of biodiversity than any other terrestrial ecosystem in California (47). Coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia) is a common evergreen tree that dominates oak woodlands throughout western North America, from Mendocino County, CA to Baja California, Mexico (40). In addition to providing important habitats for wildlife, coast live oak is frequently used throughout the United States for landscaping purposes (41). For these reasons, susceptibility of coast live oak to biotic factors that cause or contribute to tree mortality is a great concern.
Asset Building One Way the ACA May Improve Health and Employment Outcomes for People With Disabilities

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The contents of this article were developed under a contract with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KHPA2007-055) and a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) Grant H133G100082.
Filtering of partitioned large scale hydrological systems / Le filtrage d'un système hydrologique de grande dimension, divisé en sous-bassins

ABSTRACT Recent work in on-line hydrological forecasting has utilized the Kalman-Bucy filter for state (discharge) forecasting. One drawback of using these algorithms has been restrictions related to the size of the state vector due to computation and computer limitations; resulting in limiting hydrological applications to small headwater catchments. Forecasts of headwater catchments are of limited use to agencies such as the US National Weather Service which routinely have catchments with between 10 and 100 forecast points. This paper sets forth the methodology that allows forecasting of large systems by partitioning the system into subsystems where the filtering of subsystems is performed in parallel. The interactions between the partitioned subsystems are accounted for by supplementing the noise processes. An added institutional advantage to the partitioning approach is the ability for forecasting agencies to set up local forecast centres that are coordinated through a regional centre. This is especial...
Preserved reward outcome processing in ASD as revealed by event-related potentials.

Problems with reward system function have been posited as a primary difficulty in autism spectrum disorders. The current study examined an electrophysiological marker of feedback monitoring, the feedback-related negativity (FRN), during a monetary reward task. The study advanced prior understanding by focusing exclusively on a developmental sample, applying rigorous diagnostic characterization and introducing an experimental paradigm providing more subtly different feedback valence (reward versus non-reward instead of reward versus loss). Twenty-six children with autism spectrum disorder and 28 typically developing peers matched on age and full-scale IQ played a guessing game resulting in monetary gain (“win”) or neutral outcome (“draw”). ERP components marking early visual processing (N1, P2) and feedback appraisal (FRN) were contrasted between groups in each condition, and their relationships to behavioral measures of social function and dysfunction, social anxiety, and autism symptomatology were explored. FRN was observed on draw trials relative to win trials. Consistent with prior research, children with ASD exhibited a FRN to suboptimal outcomes that was comparable to typical peers. ERP parameters were unrelated to behavioral measures. Results of the current study indicate typical patterns of feedback monitoring in the context of monetary reward in ASD. The study extends prior findings of normative feedback monitoring to a sample composed exclusively of children and demonstrates that, as in typical development, individuals with autism exhibit a FRN to suboptimal outcomes, irrespective of neutral or negative valence. Results do not support a pervasive problem with reward system function in ASD, instead suggesting any dysfunction lies in more specific domains, such as social perception, or in response to particular feedback-monitoring contexts, such as self-evaluation of one’s errors.
Developmental arrest of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum within the mosquito midgut via CTRP gene disruption

Apicomplexan protozoa possess a family of micronemal and cell surface-associated proteins, each comprised a combination of cell-adhesive vertebrate von Willebrand factor (vWF)-like A domains and thrombospondin (TSP) type 1-like domains. The human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum has in the extracellular portion of the CS protein TRAP-related protein (CTRP) six tandemly arrayed A domains followed by seven TSP type 1-like domains, whereas a second member of this family, thrombospondin-related anonymous protein (TRAP), contains a single vWF-like A domain and a single TSP type 1-like domain. Here we show that CTRP transcripts are present within the infected mosquito midgut and that CTRP protein is expressed with a punctate distribution and a predominance at the apical end of mosquito midgut-stage ookinetes. This expression pattern is analogous to micronemal expression of TRAP in Plasmodium sporozoites. Disruption of the CTRP gene by homologous recombination in cultures of the human malaria parasite P. falciparum demonstrates that CTRP is essential for mosquito midgut development. Oocyst formation was never observed following membrane feeds of CTRP disruptant lines to Anopheline mosquitoes, despite the development of mature ookinetes. We propose that CTRP is involved in essential recognition or motility processes at the ookinete cell surface within the mosquito midgut.
A COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF COLLECTIVE DISCOURSE

This paper is focused on the computational analysis of collective discourse, a collective behavior seen in nonexpert content contributions in online social media. We collect and analyze a wide range of real-world collective discourse datasets from movie user reviews to microblogs and news headlines to scientic citations. We show that all these datasets exhibit diversity of perspective, a property seen in other collective systems and a criterion in wise crowds. Our experiments also conrm that the network of dierent perspective co-occurrences exhibits the small-world property with high clustering of dierent perspectives. Finally, we show that non-expert contributions in collective discourse can be used to answer simple questions that are otherwise hard to answer.
Technology Use in the Teaching of Mathematics and Science in Elementary Schools

Principals from 80 elementary schools, in predominantly rural Western Pennsylvania, completed and returned a 22-item questionnaire designed to assess the nature and extent of technology use for the teaching of elementary mathematics and science within their buildings. Technologies included calculators, microcomputers, overhead projection panels, videotape, and interactive video. Microcomputers were being used in at least some elementary grade levels for mathematics or science instruction in 84% of the schools. Teachers used microcomputers more frequently in mathematics (82.5%) than in science instruction (55%). Principals reported a lower frequency of calculator use with 63.3% of the schools having some grade levels where calculators were used in mathematics lessons, and 21.5% of schools in science lessons. Further analyses of data suggest that microcomputer and calculator use is more common in the intermediate grades (3–6) than in the primary grades (K-2).
Comparing voxel-based absorbed dosimetry methods in tumors, liver, lung, and at the liver-lung interface for (90)Y microsphere selective internal radiation therapy.

To assess differences between four different voxel-based dosimetry methods (VBDM) for tumor, liver, and lung absorbed doses following 90Y microsphere selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) based on 90Y bremsstrahlung SPECT/CT, a secondary objective was to estimate the sensitivity of liver and lung absorbed doses due to differences in organ segmentation near the liver-lung interface. Investigated VBDM were Monte Carlo (MC), soft-tissue kernel with density correction (SKD), soft-tissue kernel (SK), and local deposition (LD). Seventeen SIRT cases were analyzed. Mean absorbed doses ( AD ¯ $$ \overline{AD} $$ ) were calculated for tumor, non-tumoral liver (NL), and right lung (RL). Simulations with various SPECT spatial resolutions (FHWMs) and multiple lung shunt fractions (LSs) estimated the accuracy of VBDM at the liver-lung interface. Sensitivity of patient RL and NL AD ¯ $$ \overline{AD} $$ on segmentation near the interface was assessed by excluding portions near the interface. SKD, SK, and LD were within 5 % of MC for tumor and NL AD ¯ $$ \overline{AD} $$ . LD and SKD overestimated RL AD ¯ $$ \overline{AD} $$ compared to MC on average by 17 and 20 %, respectively; SK underestimated RL AD ¯ $$ \overline{AD} $$ on average by −60 %. Simulations (20 mm FWHM, 20 % LS) showed that SKD, LD, and MC were within 10 % of the truth deep (>39 mm) in the lung; SK significantly underestimated the absorbed dose deep in the lung by approximately −70 %. All VBDM were within 10 % of truth deep (>12 mm) in the liver. Excluding 1, 2, and 3 cm of RL near the interface changed the resulting RL AD ¯ $$ \overline{AD} $$ by −22, −38, and −48 %, respectively, for all VBDM. An average change of −7 % in the NL AD ¯ $$ \overline{AD} $$ was realized when excluding 3 cm of NL from the interface. AD ¯ $$ \overline{AD} $$ was realized when excluding 3 cm of NL from the interface. SKD, SK, and LD are equivalent to MC for tumor and NL AD ¯ $$ \overline{AD} $$ . SK underestimates RL AD ¯ $$ \overline{AD} $$ relative to MC whereas LD and SKD overestimate. RL AD ¯ $$ \overline{AD} $$ is strongly influenced by the liver-lung interface.
Electromechanical coupling between skeletal and cardiac muscle. Implications for infarct repair.

Skeletal myoblasts form grafts of mature muscle in injured hearts, and these grafts contract when exogenously stimulated. It is not known, however, whether cardiac muscle can form electromechanical junctions with skeletal muscle and induce its synchronous contraction. Here, we report that undifferentiated rat skeletal myoblasts expressed N-cadherin and connexin43, major adhesion and gap junction proteins of the intercalated disk, yet both proteins were markedly downregulated after differentiation into myo-tubes. Similarly, differentiated skeletal muscle grafts in injured hearts had no detectable N-cadherin or connexin43; hence, electromechanical coupling did not occur after in vivo grafting. In contrast, when neonatal or adult cardiomyocytes were cocultured with skeletal muscle, ∼10% of the skeletal myotubes contracted in synchrony with adjacent cardiomyocytes. Isoproterenol increased myotube contraction rates by 25% in coculture without affecting myotubes in monoculture, indicating the cardiomyocytes were the pacemakers. The gap junction inhibitor heptanol aborted myotube contractions but left spontaneous contractions of individual cardiomyocytes intact, suggesting myotubes were activated via gap junctions. Confocal microscopy revealed the expression of cadherin and connexin43 at junctions between myotubes and neonatal or adult cardiomyocytes in vitro. After microinjection, myotubes transferred dye to neonatal cardiomyocytes via gap junctions. Calcium imaging revealed synchronous calcium transients in cardiomyocytes and myotubes. Thus, cardiomyocytes can form electromechanical junctions with some skeletal myotubes in coculture and induce their synchronous contraction via gap junctions. Although the mechanism remains to be determined, if similar junctions could be induced in vivo, they might be sufficient to make skeletal muscle grafts beat synchronously with host myocardium.
Sources of Entoptic Stray Light

A technique is described for photographing the light scattered from the various ocular media. The results indicate that about seventy percent of scattered light stems from the cornea, the remainder from the lens.
X-Ray Structure Determination of Isocytochrome C2 from the Photosynthetic Bacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides

In cytochrome c2-deficient strains of the photosynthetic bacterium, Rhodobacter sphaeroides, a related c-type cytochome, isocytochome c2 replaces cytochrome c2 as the secondary electron donor to the photo-oxidized bacteriochlorophyll dimer in the reaction center. We will describe the x-ray structure determination of isocytochrome c2 at 2.2 A from Rb sphaeroides.Analysis of the x-ray diffraction data indicated the crystals belong to space group P3(2) with unit cell dimensions a=b=56.0 A c=90.5 A and are merohederally twinned. The structure of isocytochrome c2from Rb. sphaeroides shows significant structural similarity to the cytochrome c2 from a different photosynthetic bacterium, Blastochloris viridis.
The Incidence and Potential Pathomechanics of Patellofemoral Pain in Female Athletes

Background The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence and incidence of patellofemoral pain (PFP) in young female athletes and prospectively evaluate measures of frontal plane knee loading during landing to determine their relationship to development of PFP. We hypothesized that increased dynamic knee abduction measured during preseason biomechanical testing would be increased in those who developed PFP relative to teammates who did not develop PFP.
Mental Health of College Students

Abstract A random sample of college sophomores was studied regarding their mental health status, mental health service use, and attitudes toward mental health professionals. Data were collected through home interviews and a search of the students' service records at the university. Mental health status was measured by the 22-item Midtown Mental Health Scale. Religious affiliation and performance satisfaction were both found to be significantly related to mental health status. Catholics had higher scores on the mental health symptom scale, while protestant scores were lower. This pattern was reversed in service use. Catholics used mental health services proportionately less than protestants, although this difference did not reach an acceptable level of significance. Performance satisfaction was negatively related to need for mental health services. The relationship between need and use of mental health services was significant only when students' self-report of use of counseling services outside the univer...
Is Narrative “Primary”? Some Insights from Kindergarteners' Pretend Readings of Stories and Information Books

This paper involves a consideration of the validity of the common assumption in literacy development that narrative or story is somehow primary—that children's abilities to understand and compose stories precede their capabilities to understand and use non-story, informational written language. An examination of kindergarteners' repeated pretend readings of two stories and two information books was made to gain insights into their strategies in dealing with the distinctive textual properties of the two genres. Two features were specifically addressed: (a) their use of co-referentiality of stories versus the co-classification aspects of information books, and (b) their acquisition of lexical items in the two genres. These analyses indicated that children were just as successful in reenacting the information books as they were the stories. Based on these findings, as well as children's preferences for the information books over the stories, it is argued that our unexamined, unacknowledged narrative as primary ideology needs to be reevaluated. There is a common assumption in literacy development that narrative or story is somehow primary—that children's abilities to understand and compose stories precede their capabilities to understand and use non-story written language (Spiro & Taylor, 1987). Older, widely accepted developmental schemes, such as those developed by Britton, Burgess, Martin, McLeod, and Rosen (1975) and Moffet (1968), have supported this assumption. Moreover, more recent claims made by curriculum theorists such as Egan (1988) and those who work in the area of literacy more specifically (e.g., Adams, 1990; Wells, 1986) also foster this story primacy notion.
Reverse Engineering of Gene Regulatory Network by Integration of Prior Global Gene Regulatory Information

A Bayesian network is a model to study the structures of gene regulatory networks. It has the ability to integrate information from both prior knowledge and experimental data. Some previous works have explored the advantage of using prior knowledge. Unfortunately, most of the existing works only utilize biological knowledge about local structures of each gene in the network. In this study, we propose an approach to efficiently integrate global ordering information into model learning, where the ordering information specifies the indirect relationships among genes. We study the model behaviors with synthetic data. We demonstrate that, compared with a traditional Bayesian network model that uses only local prior knowledge, utilizing additional global ordering knowledge can significantly improve the modelpsilas performance. The magnitude of this improvement depends on how much global ordering information is integrated and how much noise the data includes.
Soil Phage Ecology: Abundance, Distribution, and Interactions with Bacterial Hosts

The development of appropriate methods specific to the study of viruses in soils has enabled us to take the first steps toward establishing the roles of viruses in soil ecosystems. Viruses are incredibly abundant in most soils, with numbers reaching as high as 1010 per gram dry weight. This astounding abundance is likely due to a combination of virus production and storage of viruses over time, and determination of the relative contribution of these two processes to soil viral abundance is a ripe topic for research. While soil viruses are poorly represented among metagenome projects, available data suggest that the genetic diversity of soil viral assemblages may exceed that of marine assemblages. Through infection and lysis, soil viruses exert significant control over host-mediated activities and likely contribute to host evolution in the soil environment.
Mobile LiDAR Data Collection and Analysis for Post-Sandy Disaster Recovery

On October 29, Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc in the much part of East Coast. The crumbling infrastructure along the East Coast suffered major damage during this historical storm, leaving tens of millions of residents without electricity. Rapidly acquired high-quality and high-resolution spatial and photo data on damaged structures are of great value to scientific studies and post disaster recovery-related decision makings. This paper describes a mobile LiDAR study conducted in the sandy impacted areas. The application and utility of mobile LiDAR data for disaster response and recovery is presented and discussed. The preliminary results of this research demonstrated mobile LiDAR data fill in the gap between airborne remote sensing data and typical ground survey data. INTRODUCTION On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy landed on New York and New Jersey, causing nearly $60 billion in damage to the region’s property, infrastructure, and commerce. In many parts of New York City and New Jersey, infrastructures have been crippled; beaches and boardwalks have been erased; family homes have been condemned. In the Northeast, hurricanes are not typical weather events – coupled with the region’s dense population and intricate transportation network, Sandy’s lasting devastation is considered second only to the damage caused by Hurricane
The preparation and properties of coal gangue based sialite paste-like backfill material

In order to make vast and efficient use of coal gangue to resolve the serious environmental and ecological problems caused by the extensive stockpiling of coal gangue,investigated the preparation and performances of coal gangue-based sialite paste-like backfill material guided by the theory of simulation of natural rock formation.On the basis of studying the phase composition and thermodynamic properties of coal gangue,explored the physical performance and mechanical performances of coal gangue-based sialite paste-like backfill material,and compared the durability performance of concrete using it as cementitious material with ordinary Portland cement concrete.The result suggests that coal gangue-based sialite backfill material exhibits superior mechanical and durability performances which make it suitable for mine paste-like backfill.