cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Recollections of sexual socialisation among marginalised heterosexual black men.

This paper describes the sexual socialisation process of marginalised, drug-using heterosexual black men, focusing primarily on the sources and content of sexual information. Analysing qualitative interview data, we discovered that the men in our sample both learn about sex and become sexually active at an early age. They most often learn about sex from the media and least often learn about sex from family members. The content of sexual information varies in specifics, but overall tends to equate sex with pleasure, encourage sexual activity with multiple partners and emphasise using protection. Our goal is to use this data to better understand how sexual socialisation contributes to the prevalence of multiple sexual partners and high rates of HIV among heterosexual black men in order to inform future risk-reduction intervention programmes.
OPTIMIZATION OF PARAMETERS OF NONBONDED INTERACTIONS IN A SPECTROSCOPICALLY DETERMINED FORCE FIELD

Abstract A procedure is given by which parameters of nonbonded interactions in a molecular mechanics energy function can be optimized for maximum compatibility with ab initio force fields and structures. The method is based on a previously derived transformation of ab initio valence parameters to the molecular mechanics formalism. Explicit analytical expressions for the derivatives of the molecular mechanics force constants and reference geometry parameters with respect to the parameters of the nonbonded interactions are derived. The form of the goodness-of-fit function is discussed. A first application to a set of alanine dipeptides is described.
The cytoarchitecture of the torus semicircularis in the Tegu lizard, Tupinambis nigropunctatus.

The torus semicircularis (TS) of the Tegu lizard extends from the superficial caudal mesencephalon, dorsal to the exiting trochlear nerve, to a position ventral to the middle part of the optic tectum and its ventricle. It has an oblique orientation with the caudal pole abutting the midline while the rostral end is lateral and slightly ventral. The TS consists of a central nucleus and several adjacent cell groups. The central nucleus and the laminar nucleus, situated medially, extend the entire length of the TS while the cortical nucleus, situated dorsally and laterally, is present only in the caudal superficial portion. The central nucleus is composed of ovoid neurons with branched, radiating dendrites. The dendrites are directed medially and laterally with spines on the distal portion of the dendritic tree. The laminar nucleus consists of three to five neuronal layers. It is mainly composed of fusiform neurons with one dendritic trunk from each extremity of the soma. There is little branching and few dendritic spines. The cortical nucleus is a laminated region consisting of alternating layers of neurons and lateral lemniscal fibers. The neurons of the superficial layers are fusiform with their long axis perpendicular to the long axis of the brainstem. They possess two main dendritic trunks which parallel the laminae and are covered with dendritic spines. The deeper layers consist of pyramidal neurons with three dendritic trunks, secondary branches, and few spines. The long axis of these neurons extends from the center of the TS to the periphery. Two dendritic trunks extend dorsally or laterally towards the surface, while the third extends towards the central nucleus. The dendrites, thus, extend across the laminae. In addition, a cell-free lateral zone is described.
Disseminated histoplasmosis in renal transplant recipients

Five cases of disseminated histoplasmosis complicating renal transplantation are reported. Nine previously reported cases from the literature are reviewed. In this setting disseminated histoplasmosis usually presents as a nonspecific systemic febrile illness that may be fulminant or more subacute. Five of 14 patients presented with skin lesions; only one patient presented with primary pulmonary symptoms of cough and dyspnea. Three of our patients and three others previously reported on survived the infection and maintained good function in the transplanted kidney despite prolonged therapy with amphotericin B. Immunosuppression was the only predisposing factor that could be identified with certainty in the five patients reported on herein. However, in two of the five patients the onset of disseminated histoplasmosis coincided with a well documented cytomegalovirus infection; the viral infection may have been a factor predisposing to infection in these two cases.
Dynamics of evaporating drops. Part I: formulation and evaporation model

Abstract Modifications in the rate of evaporation of a drop due to its surface deformation are investigated using numerical simulations based on a Galerkin finite element method. It is first shown that, for a drop at its boiling temperature and surrounded by a gas at a uniform temperature (far from the drop surface), the liquid and the gas phases may be studied separately, provided a large density ratio. In this paper the results of the gas phase are presented. The surface of the drop is deformed using various spherical modes up to the eighth with amplitudes as large as 70% of the radius of the spherical drop. The mass transfer number is also varied from 0.1 to 2. The results show that the rate of evaporation increases with the increase of the amplitude of the surface deformation and varies significantly along the surface of the drop. A model has been extracted from the numerical results, which expresses the mass flux as a function of the surface curvature. The model is valid for surface amplitudes up to 10% of the drop radius.
Non-viral gene delivery regulated by stiffness of cell adhesion substrates

Non-viral gene vectors are commonly used for gene therapy1,2,3 owing to safety concerns with viral vectors4. However, non-viral vectors are plagued by low levels of gene transfection and cellular expression1,2. Current efforts to improve the efficiency of non-viral gene delivery are focused on manipulations of the delivery vector5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12, whereas the influence of the cellular environment in DNA uptake is often ignored. The mechanical properties (for example, rigidity) of the substrate to which a cell adheres have been found to mediate many aspects of cell function including proliferation, migration and differentiation13,14,15,16,17, and this suggests that the mechanics of the adhesion substrate may regulate a cell's ability to uptake exogeneous signalling molecules. In this report, we present a critical role for the rigidity of the cell adhesion substrate on the level of gene transfer and expression. The mechanism relates to material control over cell proliferation, and was investigated using a fluorescent resonance energy transfer (FRET) technique18,19,20,21. This study provides a new material-based control point for non-viral gene therapy.
Comparative analysis of collagen membranes for the treatment of implant dehiscence defects

Guided bone regeneration (GBR) evolved from the concept of guided tissue regeneration (GTR) and has been used for reconstructing sites with bone deficiencies associated with dental implants. For GBR, the use of absorbable collagen membranes has been increasing, but, at present, scientific information on the use of collagen membranes for GBR is limited. This study was aimed to clinically and histomorphometrically compare two collagen membranes, Bio-Gide(R) and BioMend ExtendTM, for the treatment of implant dehiscence defects in eight mongrel dogs. Implant dehiscence defects were surgically created in edentulous ridges, followed by the placement of three endosseous implants bilaterally in the mandible. Each implant dehiscence defect was randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups: (1) control (no membrane), (2) porcine dermis collagen barrier (Bio-Gide) or (3) bovine tendon collagen barrier (BioMend Extend). Dogs were sacrificed at 4 and 16 weeks (four dogs each) after treatment. Histomorphometric analysis included percentage linear bone fill (LF), new bone-to-implant contact (BIC) and area of new bone fill (BF). The results of the study revealed no significant differences among groups for any parameter at 4 weeks. However, at 16 weeks, more LF, BIC, and BF were noted in the membrane-treated groups than controls. BioMend Extend-treated defects demonstrated significantly greater BIC than control (P < 0.05) at this time point. BIC at 16 weeks was significantly greater than 4-week BIC (P < 0.05). Membrane exposure occurred in 9 out of 15 sites examined, resulting in significantly less LF and BIC than the sites without membrane exposure (P < 0.05). The results of this study indicate that: (1) GBR treatment with collagen membranes may significantly enhance bone regeneration, manifested at late stage (16 weeks) of healing; and (2) space maintenance and membrane coverage were the two most important factors affecting GBR using bioabsorbable collagen membranes.
Valveless sampling of ambient air for analysis by capillary gas chromatography.

A method for the high resolution, high sensitivity analysis of polluted air for individual organic compounds is described. Samples collected from 50 mL of ambient air at 87 K (liquid argon) are Injected without use of a valve into a silica capillary column which Is then temperature programmed from — 30°C to 180°C. Hydrocarbons (4 to 10 carbons) as well as carbonyl compounds, chlorinated compounds and terpenes can be identified and quantified. The detection limit, not strongly dependent on carbon number, is estimated to be 0.3 ppbc in a 50 mL sample. Use of small samples eliminates the need to remove water vapor, a procedure which might jeopardize sample integrity.
A Comparative Study of Cooling of High Power Density Electronics Using Sprays and Microjets

Direct cooling by means of jets and sprays has been considered as a solution to the problem of cooling of high power density electronic devices. Although both methods are capable of very high heat removal rates no criterion exists that helps one decide as to which one is preferable, when designing a cooling system for electronic applications. In this work, the results of an investigation of the performances of sprays and arrays of micro jets are reported. Experiments have been conducted using HAGO nozzles and orifice plates to create droplet sprays and arrays of micro jets, respectively. The liquid jets had diameters ranging from 69 to 250 μm and the pitches between the jets were 1, 2, and 3 mm. The test fluid was deionized water and the jet Reynolds number ranged between 43 and 3813. A comparison of heat transfer and pressure drop results obtained employing both sprays and jets has been carried out
Macro generation algorithms for LSI custom chip design

Presented in this paper are macro generation algorithms which have been developed and implemented for the optimization of physical and electrical designs of LSI macro circuits. Any type of logical macro circuit for a custom chip design can be automatically generated and optimized through the use of the concepts and numerical techniques for algorithmic layout generation and electrical network design which are described. The application of this design method to programmable logic array macros, which allow the generation of very attractive designs, is also discussed and illustrates the efficiency and flexibility of the macro generation concept.
Stomatal resistance measurement as an indicator of water deficit stress in wheat and soybeans

The usefulness of stomatal response as an indicator of the onset and development of water stress was studied over five seasons in field-grown wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and soybeans (Glycine max L. Merr.). With the onset of water stress, stomatal diffusive resistance (rs) showed a clear increase which coincided with changes in other accepted indicators, such as leaf water potential (ψ) and soybean leaf movements. Well-watered plants exhibited low variability in midday values of rs throughout the season and between plants, making changes easy to detect and a well-watered control unnecessary. Water stress was clearly manifested by an increase in rs control values and an increase in variability between measurements. Both abaxial and adaxial leaf stomata increased rs in. response to water stress, with the former more sensitive in wheat and the latter more sensitive in soybeans. Stomatal response in wheat, but not in soybeans, changed with water-stress preconditioning by staying open to lower values of ? in ...
Redo Bilateral Renal Bypass After 19 Years: Long-Term Management of Fibromuscular Dysplasia A Case Report

Acute bilateral renal artery occlusion with prolonged anuria carries a poor prognosis for renal salvage that may prompt insufficiently aggressive management. This case report describes successful r...
Localization of an underwater robot with inertial sensor fusion models

With an accurate estimate of the robot pose, robots will be capable of navigating in the environment autonomously and efficiently. In this paper, sensor fusion models that incorporate gyroscope, accelerometer and ultrasound sensors are presented. The designed models utilize Extended Kalman Filter to compensate biases from those inertial measurement units and postures and poses of the robot can then be estimated. An underwater robot comprises of a DSP-based embedded system, accelerometer, gyroscope and underwater ultrasound sensors are also designed for verification of the models proposed. Experiment results show the presented approach could help to localize underwater robot with localization errors within centimeters.
Linear convergence of the conjugate gradient method

There are two procedures for applying the method of conjugate gradients to the problem of minimizing a convex, nonlinear function: the "continued" method, and the "restarted" method in which all the data except the best previous point are discarded, and the procedure is begun a new from that point. It is demonstrated by example that in the absence of the standard initial starting condition on a quadratic function, the continued conjugate gradient method will converge to the solution no better than linearly. Furthermore, it is shown that for a general nonlinear function, the nonrestarted conjugate gradient method converges no worse than linearly.
Inflation of strongly connected networks

A coupled cell network is an inflation of if the dynamics of is embedded in as a quotient network. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a strongly connected inflation of a strongly connected network. We provide a simple algorithm for the construction of a strongly connected inflation as a sequence of simple inflations.
Evaluation of risk factors for elevated tricyclic antidepressant plasma concentrations.

SUMMARY Purpose To quantify the effect of clinical and demographic factors on the risk of elevated and toxic tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) plasmaconcentrations (Cp) and to describe the rates of elevated and toxic TCA Cp.Methods This matched, case-control study was conducted among adult patients enrolled in a group model HMO who had a TCA CplaboratorymeasurementandpurchasedatleastoneTCAprescriptionforeitheramitriptylineornortriptylineduringthe70daysprecedingtheTCA Cp measurement. Predictive models of experiencing an elevated or toxic Cp were created using multivariate conditional logisticregression.Results At least one Cp was drawn in 1057 unique patients with a TCA purchase. Of these, 18.4% (194/1057) patients (cases) had anelevated TCA Cp and were matched to 716 non-elevated Cp patients. Additionally, 27.3% (53/194) of the cases (matched to 196 controls)experienced a toxic TCACp. The best ﬁtting model of an elevated TCACp included TCA dose category (daily doses 150mg, OR¼4.08;doses of 50 to <100mg, OR¼0.36; and doses <50mg, OR¼0.18, p<0.05 for all comparisons), female gender (OR¼1.78, p<0.05) andconcurrent use of ﬂuoxetine or paroxetine (OR¼1.75, p<0.05). The best ﬁtting predictive model of a toxic TCA Cp included the samefactors as for the predictive model of an elevated TCA Cp.Conclusions Recognizing and monitoring predictors of elevated or toxic TCA Cps, including increasing TCA dose, female gender, andconcurrent use of ﬂuoxetine or paroxetine, may reduce serious adverse drug reactions and deaths in the TCA-receiving patient population.Copyright # 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.key words—tricyclic antidepressants; drug toxicity; therapeutic drug monitoring; selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors; drug interactionsReceived 10 June 2008; Revised 2 October 2008; Accepted 5 November 2008
Hypoxic cardiopulmonary-cerebral resuscitation fails to improve neurological outcome following cardiac arrest in dogs

Hyperoxic cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is associated with an increase in neurologic dysfunction upon successful resuscitation with much of the damage attributable to an increase in reperfusion oxidant injury. We hypothesized that by contrast, hypoxic ventilation during resuscitation would improve neurologic outcome by reducing available substrate necessary for oxidant injury. Specifically, this study investigated the effects of 2 levels of hypoxic ventilation during resuscitation: F1O2 = 0.085, PaO2 = 26.6 +/- 3.4 mmHg, (HY8), and F1O2 = 0.12, PaO2 = 33.0 +/- 4.2 mmHg, (HY12), and normoxic resuscitation: F1O2 = 0.21, PaO2 = 60.6 +/- 17.0 mmHg, (N) on survival and neurological outcome following 9 min of normothermic cardiac arrest. Concentrations of malonaldehyde (MDA) and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-OH) in plasma and concentrations of glutathione (GSH) in erythrocyte lysates were measured to quantify possible radical damage. Physiological variables including arterial blood gases were followed for 24 h after resuscitation. Neurologic outcome was assessed using a standardized scoring system. Hypoxically (HY8) resuscitated dogs tended to have a greater neurologic deficit than normoxically resuscitated dogs and had reduced overall survival (16.9 +/- 8.9 h) compared to N dogs (24.0 +/- 0.0 h). Overall survival time correlated negatively (-0.693) and significantly (P = 0.0018) with plasma glucose concentration. Arterial plasma glucose concentrations were higher in the HY8 group compared to the N group immediately (HY8, 312 +/- 86 mg/dL; N, 196 +/- 82 mg/dL; P = 0.17) and 30 min (HY8, 331 +/- 109 mg/dL; N, 187 +/- 74 mg/dL; P = 0.077) following resuscitation. No statistically discernible differences in markers of oxidant injury were apparent among the 3 groups, but pooled data increased significantly with time for MDA and 4-OH. Pooled data for GSH showed a significant drop at 1 h following resuscitation and returned to normal by 6 h. Data from these markers suggested attendant oxidant injury in all groups. Thus, hypoxic ventilation at 2 depths of hypoxia during resuscitation failed to improve neurologic outcome beyond that achieved by ventilation with air, suggesting that normoxia rather than hyperoxia or hypoxia is the ideal target for arterial oxygenation during resuscitation.
2007 Special Issue: Reducing uncertainties in neural network Jacobians and improving accuracy of neural network emulations with NN ensemble approaches

A new application of the NN ensemble technique to improve the accuracy (reduce uncertainty) of NN emulation Jacobians is presented. It is shown that the introduced ensemble technique can be successfully applied to significantly reduce uncertainties in NN emulation Jacobians and to reach the accuracy of NN Jacobian calculations that is sufficient for the use in data assimilation systems. An NN ensemble approach is also applied to improve the accuracy of NN emulations themselves. Two ensembles linear (or conservative) and nonlinear (uses an additional averaging NN to calculate the ensemble average) were introduced and compared. The ensemble approaches: (a) significantly reduce the systematic and random error in NN emulation Jacobian, (b) significantly reduce the magnitudes of the extreme outliers and, (c) in general, significantly reduce the number of larger errors. It is also shown that the nonlinear ensemble is able to account for nonlinear correlations between ensemble members and to improve significantly the accuracy of the NN emulation as compared to the linear conservative ensemble in terms of systematic (bias), random, and larger errors.
Voltammetric Detectors for Scanning Planar Chromatography Sheets

Abstract Analytes separated on planar chromatography sheets can be detected and quantified electrochemically by scanning the wetted sheets with voltammetrically controlled electrodes. Sensitivities rival typical fluorescence methods. Ce(III) can be quantified to 25 nmol, adenine to 1 nmol, tetra(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin to 0.1 nmol, and catechol to 0.05 nmol. Dopamine, noradrenalin, norepinephrine, epinephrine, cytosine, Fe(III), and guanine can also be detected. Separations have been carried out on paper, aluminum-backed cellulose, silica, and reverse-phase strips. Thus the technique seems to be generally applicable for electrochemically active compounds.
The Developmental Curriculum: An Articulation Model for Grades K-12

child to move from kindergarten through high school, he is passing through a number of developmental stages; and with each stage, his learning style or mode of adaptation changes. It is my contention that much of the feeling of dissatisfaction and alienation surrounding the schools stems in part from their failure to have matched their curricula to the various developmental stages through which all students pass. With this in mind, the issue of articulation becomes a matter of trying to fit the right educational environment to the student's present level of development. This match has been facilitated by designing a developmental curriculum model as represented in Figure 1. It depicts four basic learning environments that are suited for children in grades K through 12. The four learning environments are the formal, the informal, the incidental, and the interpersonal.
Electronic structure calculations on alloys using the polymorphous coherent-potential approximation

We present self-consistent calculations of the electronic density of states of disordered copper-palladium and silver-palladium alloys using the polymorphous coherent-potential approximation and the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker coherent-potential approximation. We find that the agreement between the theoretical partial density of states of palladium $d$ bands in copper-rich copper-palladium alloys and experiment is significantly improved when the polymorphous coherent-potential approximation is used. The densities of states of silver-palladium alloys calculated with the two versions of the coherent-potential approximation are identical and agree with experiment. This indicates that the improved treatment of Coulomb effects in the polymorphous coherent-potential approximation is necessary only for alloys such as copper palladium that have considerable charge transfer.
Interaction of heat‐denatured HeLa cell DNA with synthetic and natural polysaccharides

Heat-denatured DNA from HeLa cells interacts with natural as well as synthetic polysaccharides. Glucose does not inhibit the interaction nor will it produce it. Polysaccharides with a molecular weight of 10000 or greater are required before the interaction takes place.
Antagonistic, Stage-Specific Selection on Defensive Chemical Sequestration in a Toxic Butterfly

Larvae of the pipevine swallowtail (Battus philenor) sequester toxic alkaloids called aristolochic acids from their Aristolochia host plants, rendering both larvae and adults chemically defended against most predators. Using a chemically controlled artificial diet, we observed substantial among-family variation in sequestration ability and larval developmental rate in a population occurring in central Texas. Early instar larvae from families that sequester greater amounts of aristolochic acid showed increased survivorship in a field experiment in which cohorts from each family were exposed to natural predators, whereas among-family variation in growth rate did not predict survivorship. Conversely, the aristolochic acid content of adult butterflies was negatively correlated with adult fat content, a fitness correlate. Sequestration ability positively affects the probability of larval survivorship, but at the cost of adult fat content. The costs and benefits of aristolochic acid sequestration vary during the course of the butterfly's development, and these antagonistic selection pressures may explain why variation in sequestration ability persists in wild populations.
Effective action for SU(N) at a finite temperature.

Techniques are developed in order to study static magnetic screening and other nonperturbative aspects of QCD at high temperatures. In particular, a covariant derivative expansion of the one-loop effective action is presented and then modified by an infinite resummation so as to provide agreement with the exactly calculable one-loop effective potential. Essential to this technique is a self-consistently defined infrared cutoff which determines the prefactor in semiclassical calculations. Using this prefactor, densities of monopole and dyon plasmas are calculated, and it is found that if such plasmas do exist at finite temperature, then the solitons involved must be overlapping one another. It is also shown that no consistent perturbative or nonperturbative approximation can give rise to a linear term in the SU(2) effective potential, since such a term would not be gauge invariant. Finally, contour plots of the SU(3) ${\mathit{A}}_{0}$ effective potential are presented.
A Class of Integrodifferential Equations with Memory

This work considers an abstract integrodifferential equation in Banach space: $$u'(t) = A(\varepsilon) \left[u(t)+\int_{-\infty}^t F(t-s)u(s)\,ds\right]+Ku(t)+f(t), \quad t\ge0,$$ $$u(s) = \varphi(s),\quad s\le0,$$ where \(A(\varepsilon)\) is a closed, linear, and non-densely defined operator which depends on a multi-parameter \(\varepsilon\), and F(t) and K are bounded operators for \(t\ge0\). \(\varphi\) is refereed to as the "memory" of the equation. This study investigates the effect of the parameter on the solution of this equation. In particular, this work attempts to determine conditions for continuity with respect to parameters of solutions of this equation. Methods are employed to treat two different cases and to obtain results on continuity in parameters of integrated semigroups. With the aid of the theory of integrated semigroups, these results simply lead to the analogous results for the solution of this equation. In the last section, the applications of the obtained results to some equations of viscoelasticity are discussed.
Examining geographic visualization as a technique for individual risk assessment

This research examined the extent to which geographic visualization might serve as a technique for assessing and understanding levels of personal risk. An exercise was created, consisting of a series of five animations, representing five historical flood events in flood-prone central Texas and displayed on an Internet site along with a survey questionnaire. Three questions guided this research: 1) To what extent can individuals correctly rank levels of intensities among five historical rainfall events, and, therefore levels of risk after viewing visualizations; 2) Does professional training and experience in a hazards-related field prove to be an advantage for correctly identifying and ranking levels of risk among the rainfall events after viewing visualizations; 3) Is prior experience with a flood, or any other hazard occurrence a factor in whether individuals can correctly assess levels of risk in visualizations depicting rainfall events? Our study demonstrated that computer-interested individuals are willing and able to access website information related to historical flood events, and interact with that website in viewing, interpreting and ranking computer animations of featured events; and, for the most part, regardless of prior experience, or workplace training, can, more or less, distinguish between levels of intensity of events. However, due to the fairly recent introduction of geographic visualization in hazards research, we call for more work in this area, and have offered an extensive list of research questions for assessing the viability of this technique for more accurate risk assessment and management at the individual level.
Apparent Metabolizable Energy of Glycerin for Broiler Chickens

Three energy balance experiments were conducted to determine AMEn of glycerin using broiler chickens of diverse ages. In experiment 1, two dietary treatments were fed from 4 to 11 d of age. Dietary treatments consisted of a control diet (no added glycerin) and a diet containing 6% glycerin (94% control diet + 6% glycerin). Four dietary treatments were provided in experiment 2 (from 17 to 24 d of age) and 3 (from 38 to 45 d of age). Diets in experiment 2 and 3 were 1) control diet (no added glycerin); 2) 3% added glycerin (97% control diet + 3% glycerin); 3) 6% added glycerin (94% control diet + 6% glycerin); and 4) 9% added glycerin (91% control diet + 9% glycerin). Diets in experiment 1 and 2 were identical, but the diet used in experiment 3 had reduced nutrient levels based on bird age. In experiments 2 and 3, broilers were fed 91, 94, 97, and 100% of ad libitum intake so that differences in AMEn consumption were only due to glycerin. A single source of glycerin was used in all experiments. Feed intake, BW, energy intake, energy excretion, nitrogen intake, nitrogen excretion, AMEn, and AMEn intake were determined in all experiments. In experiment 1, AMEn determination utilized the difference approach by subtracting AMEn of the control diet from AMEn of the test diet. In experiments 2 and 3, AMEn intake was regressed against feed intake with the slope estimating AMEn of glycerin. Regression equations were Y = 3,331x -72.59 (P < or = 0.0001) and Y = 3,348.62x -140.18 (P < or = 0.0001) for experiments 2 and 3, respectively. The AMEn of glycerin was determined as 3,621, 3,331, and 3,349 kcal/kg in experiments 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The average AMEn of glycerin across the 3 experiments was 3,434 kcal/kg, which is similar to its gross energy content. These results indicate that AMEn of glycerin is utilized efficiently by broiler chickens.
Prevalence, formation, maintenance, and evaluation of interdisciplinary student aging interest groups.

The authors describe the prevalence, formation, maintenance, and evaluation of student aging interest groups. They conducted a cross-sectional electronic survey of the 46 academic medical centers funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. To evaluate their group of approximately 50 students, the authors conducted an electronic pretest and posttest of attitudes toward interdisciplinary education and knowledge about aging. Twenty-nine of 32 responding institutions funded by the Reynolds Foundation conducted a group; only medical students participated in one half of these groups. Panel presentations were the most prevalent group activity. Evaluation of their group revealed that an interprofessional service learning experience had the greatest impact on student perceptions of the educational preparation and competency of other disciplines. At posttest, medical students in their group had significantly less positive perceptions of actual cooperation between disciplines than did physical therapy or pharmacy s...
Is “stunned myocardium” a protective mechanism? Effect of acute recruitment and acute β-blockade on recovery of contractile function and high-energy phosphate stores at 1 day post-reperfusion

Abstract There is little doubt that the “stunned myocardium” is amenable to therapeutic intervention, as a host of diverse pharmacologic agents have all been shown to improve short-term contractile function of viable, previously ischemic myocardium. However, few studies have addressed the question: Should the stunned myocardium be forced to contract? If the stunned myocardium is a protective mechanism, then acute recruitment could have later deleterious consequences on recovery of contractile function and high-energy phosphate stores. Conversely, acutely “resting” the heart (i.e., by β-adrenergic blockade) could conceivably enhance or accelerate recovery of the stunned, postischemic tissue. We therefore sought to assess the immediate and longer-term effects of acute recruitment and acute β-blockade on regional wall thickening (WT: using two-dimensional echocardiography) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content in the canine model of the stunned myocardium. Anesthetized open-chest dogs underwent 15 minutes of transient coronary artery occlusion. At 30 minutes following reperfusion, the dogs acutely received either: the ultrashort-acting β-blocker esmolol, the afterload reducing and cardiostimulatory agent hydralazine, or saline. As anticipated, hydralazine enhanced contractile function of the stunned tissue in the short term: WT at 2 hours after treatment was 53.7 ± 6.9% versus 7.1 ± 6.5% in treated versus saline controls (p
Paraffin Section Thickness—A Direct Method of Measurement

Paraffin section thickness may be directly measured by re-embedding the sections wider consideration, cutting them again at right angles to the original plane of sectioning, and taking direct measurements with a filar micrometer after staining and mounting. Conditions and materials with which relatively un-distorted 3 and 5 μ sections were secured include (a) a hand-honed knife with a 23° facet bevel, set at a clearance angle of 7°, and (b) a hard paraffin (56-58°) embedding medium, preferably with 5% beeswax and 5% bayberry wax added. By taking direct measurements, it was found that bull testis tissue cut at a microtome setting of 10μ averaged 10.82 μ in thickness. Settings of 5 μ and 3 m resulted in sections averaging 5.25 and 3.31 μ in thickness respectively. Stages in sporogenesis of Onoclea sensibilis, Lewitsky fixed, were examined after sectioning at settings of 10, 5, and 3 μ to determine necessity for thin sections. For this material, it was indicated that mitochondrial preparations as thick as 10...
Use of a proximal anastomotic device in coronary artery bypass surgery: a word of caution.

Patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) today are older and have increased comorbidities than those a decade ago. In an effort to maintain favorable morbidity and mortality data, many cardiac surgeons have begun to perform CABG with less invasive techniques. Avoiding cardiopulmonary bypass and minimizing aortic manipulation with sutureless aortic connectors are two ways to potentially achieve this goal. A review of patients with the Symmetry aortic connector (St Jude Medical, Inc, Minneapolis, Minn), however, has shown a high percentage of early graft occlusions.
Mitigation of an anthracycline-induced cardiomyopathy by pretreatment with razoxane: a quantitative morphological assessment

A quantitative evaluation of structural modifications was undertaken in the myocardium of daunorubicin (DNR)-treated and razoxane (RZ)-protected mice. BDF1 mice were injected with DNR, 15 mg/ kg; a second group of mice was subjected to the same conditions but, in addition, received a pretreatment of RZ, 200 mg/kg. Representative cubes of myocardial tissue were processed for viewing with the electron microscope. Five hundred myocardial cells in each group were examined for the presence of lesions which had been categorized as early, moderate, or advanced.
Listening from a Distance: A Survey of University of Illinois Distance Learners and Its Implications for Meaningful Instruction

ABSTRACT In spring 2009, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library conducted a significant new survey of distance learners enrolled in off-campus or online graduate programs. Exploring distance learners’ perceptions about and use of library services, the survey of 146 students reveals opportunities to better meet the research needs of distance learners whose graduate work may demand extensive use of library resources. The survey affords insights into distance learners’ communication preferences, and their particular research needs. Findings from this survey have informed one academic library's strategy to begin addressing important questions in library instruction for distance learners.
Suggested guidelines for including or excluding categories in the DSM-IV

A set of guidelines is proposed for the possible inclusion or exclusion of diagnostic categories in the DSM-IV. For possible inclusion, a new category should meet all of the following five guidelines: adequate literature, specified diagnostic criteria, acceptable interclinician reliability, evidence that the criteria forms a syndrome, and differentiation from other categories. For possible exclusion, a category should possess an inadequate literature, extremely low coverage, or evidence of diagnostic bias. None of the exclusionary guidelines would be invoked if the category refers to a demonstrable disease.
Symposium on Red Tape in Public Management: International Contributions to Conceptualization and Empirical Analysis

Concerns over what we call red tape are many centuries old, with their classic nature illustrated by observers' tendency to attribute the popularization of the term to Charles Dickens. His novels a...
The bird brained and beyond

Memory, Imprinting, and the Brain: An Inquiry into Mechanisms. By Gabriel Horn. Clarendon: 1986. Pp.315. Hbk 25, 44;pbk 15, 24.95.
A nonlinear filtering algorithm for multi-dimensional finite element pollutant advection schemes

Abstract A nonlinear filter is developed for use with finite element methods in solving the atmospheric diffusion equation. Usually, high-order accurate finite element methods lead to ripples near sharp gradients. This is an undesirable feature in air quality modeling. The filter eliminates these ripples by adding artificial diffusion along the direction of the streamlines. Since it is applied only in regions where the ripples are located, the accuracy of the solution is maintained. Here, the filter was used with the streamline upwind Petrov-Galerkin method. It displayed good performance characteristics in the standard rotating puff test, and in a new test where the angular velocity profile is parabolic. It did not cause excessive crosswind diffusion that was present in a previously developed two-dimensional filter, or Forester filters applied to one-dimensional, spatially split algorithms. The new test problem was designed specifically to show that the rotating puff test may not always be the appropriate test to evaluate the performance of transport schemes, especially those that split the horizontal transport into one-dimensional operators. As expected, a one-dimensional splitting scheme (Chapeau function) displayed worse performance than fully two-dimensional schemes under more severe conditions of the new test problem.
La Frontera and Beyond: Geography and Demography in Mexican American History*

The recent publication of an expansive national dataset, the Integrated Public Use Microdata Sample, allows for new analyses of the historical geography and settlement of various immigrant and ethnic groups in the United States. The present research explores the growth, development, and geographic dispersion of the ethnic Mexican population, and outlines some of the demographic and social characteristics within significant clusters of this population in the United States across the first half of the twentieth century. The analysis does not attempt to overturn other geographies and ethnographies in Mexican American history, but through its ability to elucidate broad, national patterns it is able to create a more dynamic view of settlement, demonstrating the role of immigrants and of women immigrants in particular. Results indicate that place matters: the geographical context of arrival and settlement were key factors in differentiating communities and the lives of those who lived in them.
A variable syntax of speech, gesture, and sound effect: Direct quotations in Spanish

A variationist account of how direct quotations are framed in spoken Spanish requires definition of the variable and the envelope of variation followed by investigation of linguistic, stylistic, and social constraints. The variable is defined as a set of three strategies for directly quoting the speech, gestures, and sound effects of people, animals, or things in the natural world, real or imagined, faithfully or not. These strategies involve verbs of direct report, a bare noun phrase (Y yo, “i?Ay que hago?!” ‘And I, “Oh, what should I do?’), and freestanding quotation with no frame. Investigation of linguistic constraints finds influence both from within and above the sentence. These include clause type, person, number, animacy of speaker, quotation content, switch reference, and a “birds of a feather” effect. Data on stylistic constraints provide evidence for style as a function of attention to form. Social constraints reveal complicated, yet familiar influences of age, sex, and class, with teenagers showing parallels to Eckert's work on gender and variation. Evidence also emerges for both age grading and a change in progress.
Implications of near-death experiences for a postmaterialist psychology.

Classical physics, anchored in materialist reductionism, offered adequate descriptions of everyday mechanics but ultimately proved insufficient for describing the mechanics of extremely high speeds or small sizes, and was supplemented nearly a century ago by quantum physics, which includes consciousness in its formulation. Materialist psychology, modeled on the reductionism of classical physics, likewise offered adequate descriptions of everyday mental functioning but ultimately proved insufficient for describing mentation under extreme conditions, such as the continuation of mental function when the brain is inactive or impaired, such as occurs near death. “Near-death experiences” include phenomena that challenge materialist reductionism, such as enhanced mentation and memory during cerebral impairment, accurate perceptions from a perspective outside the body, and reported visions of deceased persons, including those not previously known to be deceased. Complex consciousness, including cognition, perception, and memory, under conditions such as cardiac arrest and general anesthesia, when it cannot be associated with normal brain function, require a revised psychology anchored not in 19th-century classical physics but rather in 21st-century quantum physics that includes consciousness in its conceptual formulation.
Biomass Burning Aerosol Absorption Measurements with MODIS Using the Critical Reflectance Method

This research uses the critical reflectance technique, a space-based remote sensing method, to measure the spatial distribution of aerosol absorption properties over land. Choosing two regions dominated by biomass burning aerosols, a series of sensitivity studies were undertaken to analyze the potential limitations of this method for the type of aerosol to be encountered in the selected study areas, and to show that the retrieved results are relatively insensitive to uncertainties in the assumptions used in the retrieval of smoke aerosol. The critical reflectance technique is then applied to Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) data to retrieve the spectral aerosol single scattering albedo (SSA) in South African and South American 35 biomass burning events. The retrieved results were validated with collocated Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) retrievals. One standard deviation of mean MODIS retrievals match AERONET products to within 0.03, the magnitude of the AERONET uncertainty. The overlap of the two retrievals increases to 88%, allowing for measurement variance in the MODIS retrievals as well. The ensemble average of MODIS-derived SSA for the Amazon forest station is 0.92 at 670 nm, and 0.84-0.89 for the southern African savanna stations. The critical reflectance technique allows evaluation of the spatial variability of SSA, and shows that SSA in South America exhibits higher spatial variation than in South Africa. The accuracy of the retrieved aerosol SSA from MODIS data indicates that this product can help to better understand 44 how aerosols affect the regional and global climate.
Lost in Translation: Disparate Impact Reduction Strategies and Legal Stakeholders

CHOCKALINGAM VISWESVARANFlorida International UniversityIn their coverage of employment discrim-ination issues within personnel selection,Lindsey, King, Dunleavy, McCausland, andJones (2013) aptly discuss how researchin the area of disparate impact has sug-gested and evaluated the merit of varioustechniques to reduce the occurrence ofdifferential hiring rates across groups(e.g., Ployhart & Holtz, 2008; Ryan &Tippins, 2004). Later, Lindsay et al. pro-vide various recommendations for howindustrial–organizational (I–O) psycholo-gists can advance research and practice inthis area. In our opinion, to reach the ‘‘. . .ultimate goal of eradicating employmentdiscrimination’’ (Lindsey et al. p. 1), at leastin terms of disparate impact, stakeholdersbeyond the I–O ﬁeld must be educatedabout the value of these strategies. In thiscommentary we summarize the results of anational survey that demonstrates attorneysmay not be aware of the usefulness ofdifferent strategies developed by I–Opsychologists to reduce the occurrence ofdisparate impact. We agree with Lindsayet al. that we need to inform the EEOC ofour ﬁndings—but argue that we need togo beyond the EEOC and make concerted
Driver's virtues

Julia Driver's Uneasy Virtue offers a theory of virtue and the virtues without being an instance of virtue ethics. It presents a consequentialist challenge to recent virtue ethics, but its positive views – and especially its interesting examples – have great significance in their own right. Driver's defence of ‘virtues of ignorance’ has force despite all the challenges to it that have been mounted over the years. But there are also examples differing from those Driver has mentioned that favour the idea of such virtues. Perhaps certain virtues of religious faith and the virtue necessary for dealing as best one can with moral dilemmas both require ignorance. However, some of the examples Driver does discuss raise the question whether virtue status is based solely on consequences, rather than perhaps having (in addition) a motivational component.
Premarital Relationship Correlates of the Erosion of Satisfaction in Marriage

The results of the present study show that premarital conflict is a precursor of marital conflict and that, while it does not relate to the feelings that partners report having about one another premaritally, it does predict the extent to which they are satisfied once they have been married about two and a half years. Twenty-one newlyweds provided detailed time-ordered descriptions of their courtships, dividing them into three stages of involvement - casual dating, serious dating, and commitment to marriage. With the events of the courtship fresh in their minds, they were asked to think about the time period of each stage in turn, and to fill out a questionnaire designed to measure: (1) love, (2) ambivalence, (3) conflict and (4) maintenance behaviours (e.g., attempts at problem-solving). Approximately two years later they completed the same scales, as well as a measure of marital satisfaction and adjustment. Premarital conflict was generally the strongest predictor of patterns of marital involvement, but...