cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Privacy-Preserving Indoor Localization via Active Scene Illumination

Traditional camera-based indoor localization systems use visual information to resolve the position of an object or person. This approach, however, may not be acceptable in privacy-sensitive scenarios since high-resolution images may reveal room and occupant details to eavesdroppers. In this paper, we address privacy concerns by replacing cameras with a small network of extremely low resolution color sensors. To make the system robust to ambient lighting fluctuations, we modulate an array of LED light sources to actively control the illumination while recording the light received by the sensors. We quantitatively validate the performance of our localization approach through simulations and real testbed experiments. We quantify the impact of sensor noise and changes in ambient illumination on localization accuracy. Finally, we demonstrate the superior performance of localization via active illumination compared to passive illumination where LEDs produce constant light.
Longitudinal Heterogeneity in Handgun-Carrying Behavior Among Urban American Youth: Intervention Priorities at Different Life Stages.

Abstract Purpose To determine longitudinal patterns of handgun-carrying behavior among urban American youth and identify modifiable risk factors associated with distinct carrying patterns that should be targeted at different life stages. Methods Using panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, we estimated longitudinal trajectories of handgun carrying among urban Americans, who carried a handgun at least once between 1997 and 2011 (N = 1,574). Multinomial logistic regression analyses examined risk factors associated with handgun-carrying trajectory groups during late adolescence (ages 16–20), emerging adulthood (ages 20–24), and young established adulthood (ages 24–28). Results Group-based trajectory analyses identified four groups: Declining (35.0%, N = 560), bell-shaped (35.5%; N = 561), late-initiating (19.6%; N = 303), and high-persistent (9.9%; N = 150). During late adolescence, lower risks of mental health problems, hard drug use, police arrest, and presence of a gang in the neighborhood or school differentiated the late-initiating group from the other higher risk groups. During emerging and young established adulthood, higher risks of alcohol use, police arrest, and presence of a gang in the neighborhood or school were associated with trajectory groups with higher likelihood of handgun carrying than the declining group. Conclusions There are more than one profile of adolescents and young adults who carry handguns. Preventive interventions should have distinct priorities that address different patterns of handgun-carrying behavior at different life stages.
Adjuvant radiation for positive margins in adult head and neck sarcomas is associated with improved survival: Analysis of the National Cancer Database.

BACKGROUND Adult head and neck (HN P = .002), both microscopic (57% vs 49%; P = .010) and macroscopic (57% vs 41%; P = .036). Improved OS was significant after controlling for other known covariates on multivariate analysis (HR: 0.76; [0.64-0.90]; P = .002). Treatment at a community-based facility was an independent predictor for reduced OS (HR: 1.37; [1.15-1.64]; P < .001). The percentage utilization (53%) of PORT for these patients did not change significantly over time. CONCLUSION PORT provides a significant survival benefit for adult HN however, PORT is underutilized. Treatment at academic/research cancer programs was associated with increased utilization of PORT and improved survival outcomes.
Evaluating the Performance of Finnish Mutual Funds Using a Conditional CAPM

In this paper the performance and the persistence in performance of Finnish equity and balanced funds is evaluated using a sample consisting of both surviving and non-surviving funds during 2000-2009. The performance is evaluated using the conditional alpha-beta model by Christopherson, Ferson and Glassman (1998). Fund alphas and betas are conditioned on a number of macroeconomic and fund-specific variables. Persistence in performance is first evaluated by studying the predictive power of past performance measures and second by investigating the performance of recursively formed portfolios based on former top and bottom performing portfolios. The overall results suggest that the average equity fund has been able to generate significant and positive abnormal returns during 2000-2005. The conditional abnormal returns are furthermore significantly different from the unconditional abnormal returns during 2000-2002. This is mostly found to be caused by time-variation in betas. Significant negative autocorrelation in the ranks of mutual funds is found on the aggregate fund level. When the performance of recursively formed portfolios is evaluated both portfolios are found to exhibit significant and positive abnormal returns before expenses. This is in contradiction to many others studies on developed fund markets.
Tibial Tubercle Osteotomy and Medial Patellofemoral Ligament Imbrication for Patellar Instability Due to Trochlear Dysplasia

Background:The treatment of patellar instability in the setting of trochlear dysplasia is challenging.Purpose/Hypothesis:The purpose of this study was to evaluate outcomes for the treatment of recu...
Preliminary Study of the Effects of BEST in CLASS–Elementary on Outcomes of Elementary Students With Problem Behavior:

Student problem behaviors in early elementary school are associated with fewer learning opportunities, poor relationships with teachers, and academic and behavioral problems, including increased ri...
Ethical Guidelines for Working with Culturally Diverse Clients

In the past few decades, cultural awareness and cultural competence in clinical practice have become an important point of focus among helping professionals. Moreover, helping professionals have raised concerns regarding the gaps in current professional ethical codes regarding multicultural competence in clinical practice. That is, professional ethical codes may not adequately provide guidelines and considerations that are culturally informed in providing care for diverse clients, especially when facing ethical dilemmas. An issue that may arise is that helping professionals opt to follow Eurocentric ethical frameworks over culturally informed ethical decision-making when faced with an ethical dilemma, potentially to the detriment of the client. This chapter provides an overview of the professional ethical codes and criticisms of these in relation to multicultural ethics and multicultural competence. Next, the concept of multicultural ethical competence is discussed in conjunction with ethical decision-making models. This chapter also brings focus to two examples of the intersections between ethics and legal issues impacting culturally diverse clients. At the end of the chapter, two case examples are provided along with ethical considerations. Finally, a resource table is provided listing various ethical and practice guidelines for practitioners and students to utilize when working with culturally diverse clients.
Novel nanofluidic and microfluidic devices and their applications

The review covers the hydrodynamic and physico-chemical aspects of a number of inter-related situations arising in relation to flows in the individual nanochannels and microchannels or in the interconnected networks of microscopic pores inside membranes formed by electrospun nanofibers. The applications of such flows or devices comprised of such elements are discussed too, having in mind reverse osmosis, cooling of high-power microelectronics by means of nanoparticles of phase-change materials, charging oils in electrostatic atomizers, printing wearable microelectronics on textiles, separators, and forensic science. Such flows can be also used for non-specific adsorption of heavy metal ions on biopolymer-containing membranes, and scavenging of nanoparticles from throughflows by means of the van der Waals or Coulombic forces. Microchannel flows inside the inter-connected pores of electrospun membranes can be electrokinetically driven as the electro-osmotic Smoluchowski flows, which opens a way to malleable membranes and surfaces. They also can be thermo-responsive or pH-responsive in the case of membranes formed from PNIPAM and poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) electrospun nanofibers, which yield novel actuators and drug carriers.
Deciphering the relationship between bikesharing and public transit: Modal substitution, integration, and complementation

Abstract Public bikesharing systems (PBSs) have witnessed rapid growth in the last decade. Bikesharing has been found to have a mixed relationship with public transit, but such a relationship has not been well quantified. This research uses real bikesharing trip data in four cities that host the largest bikesharing fleets in the U.S. to investigate when, where, and to what extent bikesharing trips substitute, integrate with, and complement public transit, and what factors contribute to the modal integration between bikesharing and public transit. The results show that it is not where the bikesharing trip takes place that predominantly determines its relationship with public transit but rather when the trip happens (weekday or weekend and what time period during the day) and who takes the trip (a subscriber or customer). Regression models show that modal integration is associated with shorter trip duration, higher public transit service frequency, and higher share of subscribers on weekdays. The relatively high share of bikesharing trips that integrate with public transit helps to improve the experience of riding public transit and in the long term, enhances urban mobility and reduces automobile dependency with multiple beneficial societal and environmental effects.
LGBTQ Workplace Inclusion before and after Obergefell V. Hodges: Association with Tobin’s Q and ROA

Diversity and inclusion advocates claim organizations benefit from diversity. Diversity is purportedly associated with many positive outcomes such as increased creativity, reduced turnover, increased productivity, a broader talent pool from which to choose, improved employee performance, increased innovation, potentially new customers and, ultimately, higher profits. Many studies support that claim, finding evidence that diversity is associated with higher company returns and market values. We examine if the association of company LGBTQ-benefits and policies with corporate returns and market value changed in the years around the 2015 Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that legalized same-sex marriage nationally. The Corporate Equality Index (CEI), calculated and reported by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC.org 2020a), is used as a proxy for the level of company LGBTQ inclusiveness and support. The CEI is meant to provide a tool to rate U.S. businesses on their treatment of LGBTQ employees, investors and consumers, thereby focusing on a different aspect of diversity than simply defining diversity based on gender and/or race and ethnicity. Results indicate that higher HRC CEI ratings appear to be associated with higher Tobin’s q, a measure of long-term corporate performance. We find similar results for three time periods, pre-Obergefell, during the Supreme Court decision year, and post-Obergefell. These results indicate that diversity policies toward the LGBTQ community are associated with higher company market value, regardless of how uniformly US law has regarded same-sex marriage.
Performance Improvements on SNS and HFIR Instrument Data Reduction Workflows Using Mantid

Performance of data reduction workflows at the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) and the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is mainly determined by the time spent loading raw measurement events stored in large and sparse datasets. This paper describes: (1) our long-term view to leverage SNS and HFIR data management needs with our experience at ORNL’s world-class high performance computing (HPC) facilities, and (2) our short-term efforts to speed up current workflows using Mantid, a data analysis and reduction community framework used across several neutron scattering facilities. We show that minimally invasive short-term improvements in metadata management have a moderate impact in speeding up current production workflows. We propose a more disruptive domain-specific solution: the No Cost Input Output (NCIO) framework, we provide an overview, the risks and challenges in NCIO’s adoption by HFIR and SNS stakeholders.
In-vivo demonstration of irrigated lesion morphology using near-infrared spectroscopy and artificial neural networks

Radiofrequency ablation is the most common procedure to treat cardiac arrythmias, such as atrial fibrillation. Catheter ablation isolates or eradicates abnormal electrical activity to maintain sinus rhythm. However, inadequate lesion formation permits arrhythmia resurgence. Optical spectroscopic signatures can detect biomolecular and tissue structural changes and can potentially serve as a tool to evaluate lesion quality. In this work, we introduce a near-infrared spectroscopy through fiber-optic integrated catheter to assess contact and predict lesion size using artificial neural network model on both ex-vivo porcine model and non-survival in-vivo pilot experiments in pigs.
The Impact of Marijuana and Other Drugs of Abuse on Pain Control in Ambulatory Anesthesia

The large expansion of Marijuana consumption as well as the popularization of other drugs of abuse (Cocaine, methamphetamine) has had a major impact on the conduct of anesthetics. These drugs can affect both the dosing of anesthetic medications, postoperative analgesic choices as well as increase post procedure complications. Vaping is another concern for anesthesiologists where lung injury can complicate otherwise simple anesthetics. Reviewing the pharmacology and pharmacodynamics of these drugs can prevent or better prepare anesthesiologists in managing untoward events. With a rise in proportion of ambulatory surgeries, this knowledge is particularly important for the ambulatory anesthesiologist who may have limited resources in an ASC setting.
Conducted EMI susceptibility analysis of a COTS processor as function of thermal cycling and overvoltage stresses

Abstract As technology evolves, processors are increasingly used in critical applications while the operating environment has become more unfavorable, with greater electromagnetic interference (EMI) detrimental to the proper functioning of the component. In this context, EMI represents one of the most critical problems for assessing the reliability and robustness of electronic systems, worsening when associated with the natural aging effect of circuits. This paper investigates the electromagnetic susceptibility (EMS) of a Cortex-M4 processor to conducted EMI in the power supply lines as function of accelerated aging. The component's reliability assessment was performed according to the IEC 61000-4-4 and IEC 61000-4-6 standards as function of the accelerated aging by means of stress combination of temperature variations and overvoltage. Test results demonstrated an increased processor susceptibility to conducted EMI after accelerated aging process. In this context, after aging it was observed a 13,166% increase in the number of observed faults, while current consumption raised by 5.63%.
Structurally abnormal collagen fibrils in abdominal aortic aneurysm resist platelet adhesion.

Background Platelet adhesion to the subendothelial collagen fibrils is one of the first steps in hemostasis. Understanding how structural perturbations in the collagen fibril affect platelet adhesion can provide novel insights into disruption of hemostasis in various diseases. We have recently identified the presence of abnormal collagen fibrils with compromised D-periodic banding in the extracellular matrix remodeling present in abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). Objective In this study, we employed multimodal microscopy approaches to characterize how collagen fibril structure impacts platelet adhesion in clinical AAA tissues. Methods Ultrastructural atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis was performed on tissue sections after staining with fluorescently labeled collagen hybridizing peptide (CHP) to recognize degraded collagen. Second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy was used on CHP-stained sections to identify regions of intact versus degraded collagen. Finally, platelet adhesion was identified via SHG and indirect immunofluorescence on the same tissue sections. Results Our results indicate that ultrastructural features characterizing collagen fibril abnormalities coincide with CHP staining. SHG signal was absent from CHP-positive regions. Additionally, platelet binding was primarily localized to regions with SHG signal. Abnormal collagen fibrils present in AAA (in SHG negative regions) were thus found to inhibit platelet adhesion compared to normal fibrils. Conclusions Our investigations reveal how the collagen fibril structure in the vessel wall can serve as another regulator of platelet-collagen adhesion. These results can be broadly applied to understand the role of collagen fibril structure in regulating thrombosis or bleeding disorders.
Effects of in Vivo Hyperoxia on Erythrocytes V. Changes of RBC Glycolytic Intermediates in Mice after in Vivo Oxygen under High Pressure

In vivo hyperoxia effects on erythrocytes in mice, noting RBC phosphofructokinase inhibition, ATP increases and other phenomena
Copyright and Innovation: Responses to Marks, Masnick, and Picker

In this piece, I respond to the comments on my article, “Copyright and Innovation: The Untold Story,” offered by Steven Marks of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Mike Masnick of Floor 64 and Techdirt, and Randal Picker of the University of Chicago Law School. I begin by noting how Marks’s response overemphasizes old business models and insufficiently appreciates the synergy between technological and creative innovation, while offering an ironically upbeat assessment of new technologies the record labels tried to quash and a newfound unsupported interpretation of the Constitution. I then explain how Picker’s emphasis on an ideal solution that would maximize copyright-related distribution innovation runs aground on the realities of copyright enforcement today. Finally, I highlight Masnick’s recounting of the themes I described in my article in settings ranging from ringtones to videogames to cable television alternatives. In today’s copyright debates centering on piracy and theft, the relationship between copyright and innovation needs all the attention it can get. This discussion will hopefully play a role in nudging the needle in that direction.
Measurement of Internal Residual Strain Gradients in Metal Matrix Composites Using Synchrotron Radiation

Low density titanium based metal matrices combined with high strength and stiffness ceramic fibers are under widespread investigation for possible use in high temperature aerospace applications [1]. Inherent in the processing of these composite materials are the residual stresses resulting from the thermal expansion coefficient mismatch between the fiber and matrix. A tensile hoop and a compressive radial stress result upon cooling from the consolidation temperature because the fiber has a smaller expansion coefficient [2]. The thermal stresses can be very large and may exceed the matrix yield or even fracture stress [3].
What the Cops Can’t Do, Internet Service Providers Can: Preserving Privacy in Email Contents

In this article, I discuss the current and emerging problem of searches of personal information by Internet Service Providers. Specifically, I explore the issue of ISP searches of the contents of users’ emails. I present three ways to address this problem: through statutory law, through constitutional judicial rulings, and through subconstitutional judicial rulings, specifically in tort. I conclude that a hybrid approach including statutory law and common law (either constitutional or tort) is the best way to ensure people’s privacy interests and keep the law current. The last section of this article presents a model for any judicial ruling or statute that would protect users’ email contents from being searched by ISPs.Although I argue for a hybrid approach that may include subconstitutional judicial rulings, I discuss in depth the possibility that ISPs could be considered state actors for the purposes of searching the contents of emails that exist on their networks. They could be so treated based on the public function doctrine and the entwinement doctrine. The use of the assumption of risk doctrine to counter this argument is discussed and rejected. The Fourth Amendment could, therefore, limit ISPs’ legal right to search email contents. This is an important issue because ISPs are currently searching the contents of individuals’ emails, have many incentives to continue and increase this practice, and are working with law enforcement agencies as they perform these searches. Often, ISPs perform these searches in order to discover criminal activity taking place on their networks.An appropriate solution to this issue is to prohibit ISPs from searching email contents except where they need to do so in order to maintain their networks. The law on administrative searches provides a good framework for shaping this solution. To round out this article’s argument, I present a model approach that limits ISPs’ right to search, but also ensures that they are able to maintain their networks.The issue presented in this article is a small part of a large paradigm shift that is taking place in criminal procedure law today. This paradigm shift has been brought about by the advent of computers and the Internet, and it’s doubtful that the law is keeping pace with new technologies. Whenever possible, therefore, courts ought to begin to make precedent-setting rulings in this field. Although courts and statutes have addressed the right of government agents to search email contents, this article is the first to propose that ISPs be treated as state actors for that purpose. Considering the arguments put forth herein, this argument can be seen as uncontroversial and worthy of consideration, if not adoption.
Homocystinuria due to cystathionine β-synthase deficiency in Ireland: 25 years' experience of a newborn screened and treated population with reference to clinical outcome and biochemical control

Homocystinuria (HCU) due to cystathionine β-synthase deficiency (Mudd et al 1964) was independently described by Gerritsen and colleagues (USA) and Carson and colleagues (Northern Ireland) in 1962. The worldwide frequency of HCU has been reported as 1 in 344 000, while that in Ireland is much higher at 1 in 65 000, based on newborn screening and cases detected clinically. The national newborn screening programme for HCU in Ireland was started in 1971 using the bacterial inhibition assay. A total of 1.58 million newborn infants have been screened over a 25-year period up to 1996. Twenty-five HCU cases were diagnosed, 21 of whom were identified on screening. The remaining four HCU cases were missed and presented clinically; three of these were breast-fed and one was pyridoxine responsive. Twenty-four HCU cases were pyridoxine nonresponsive. Once the status of pyridoxine responsiveness was identified, all pyridoxine nonresponsive cases, but one, were started on a low methionine, cystine-enhanced diet supplemented with pyridoxine, vitamin B12 and folate. Dietary treatment commenced within 6 weeks of birth (range 8–42 days) for those cases detected by screening, while for the late-detected cases treatment was started upon presentation and diagnosis. Biochemical control was monitored measuring deproteinized plasma methionine, free homocystine and cystine at least once a month. Review of the clinical outcome of the 25 HCU cases with 365.7 patient-years of treatment revealed no HCU-related complications in 18 screened, dietary-treated cases. Fifteen of these had lifetime medians of free homocystine ≤11 μmol/L (range 4–11). The remaining three cases with higher lifetime medians of free homocystine (18, 18 and 48 μmol/L) have developed increasing myopia recently. Among the three screened non-dietary-compliant cases, two have ectopia lentis, one has osteoporosis and two have mental handicap. Of the four cases missed on screening, three presented with ectopia lentis after the age of 2 years. There were no thromboembolic events in any of the 25 HCU cases. The lifetime medians for methionine ranged from 47 to 134 μmol/L. The Irish HCU clinical outcome data suggest that newborn screening, early commencement of dietary treatment and a lifetime median of free homocystine of ≤11 μmol/L had significantly reduced the probability of developing complications when it was compared to the untreated HCU data (Mudd et al 1985).
U.S. Geological Survey protocol for measuring low levels of inorganic constituents, including trace elements, in surface-water samples

The US Geological Survey (USGS) has sponsored a number of studies to evaluate its sampling, processing, and analytical procedures for filtered water samples. The major findings of these studies were that surface-water sampling and processing procedures and equipment used in USGS programs were inadequate to produce contaminant-free trace-element data on a consistent basis. This led to development of a new protocol for collecting, processing, and analyzing filtered water samples for the analysis of trace elements at the 1 microgram-per-liter (ug/L) level using clean procedures. The protocol specifies (1) supplies, (2) office and between-site cleaning procedures, (3) samplers, (4) sample splitters, (5) use of disposable capsule filters, (6) quality-assurance measures including use of disposable gloves and shelters for sample processing, and (7) quality-control requirements including blanks, replicates, and split samples. The USGS is not implementing this protocol for all USGS efforts to produce trace-inorganic data at the microgram-per-liter level on filtered water samples. The protocol will also be used for collecting and processing samples for major ions and nutrients when trace-elements are also being determined.
Noise-residual normalization

A new normalizer, called the noise-residual normalizer (NRN), is proposed for use in array signal processing applications. Whereas most time-spectral normalizers commonly handle source related bias reduction by examining power values in a small, moving, time-spectral window, the NRN technique exploits the phase information contained in the array to spatially model and subtract these source contributions at the array sensor level prior to beamforming. The remaining "residual" sensor data is beamformed and time-spectrally smoothed to obtain the noise estimate used in normalization. The performance of the NRN technique for narrowband, time-spectral normalization is investigated with respect to bias and variance. Results are compared with those obtained for the two-pass, split-window normalizer. >
Studies of N-methyl-N′–nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine action on the guanylate cyclase-guanosine 3′5′ monophosphate system of isolated colonic epithelial cells

The effects of the colon carcinogen N-methyl-N′–nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) on the guanylate cyclase (GC)-guanosine 3′5′ monophosphate (cGMP) system were examined in epithelial cells isolated from the distal colon of the rabbit. MNNG (1 μM to 1 mM) increased cGMP accumulation 2- to 50-fold within 5 minutes, without producing concurrent increases in adenosine 3′5′ monophosphate. The action of MNNG to increase cGMP was expressed in the absence of both extracellular calcium and molecular O2. cGMP was also increased by nitrite and by nitric oxide (NO), a reactive derivative of MNNG and nitrite. Increases in cGMP induced by MNNG in colonic epithelial cells were suppressed by retinol and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), whereas the effect of a submaximal concentration of MNNG was potentiated by 0.1 mM deoxycholate. MNNG, nitrite, and NO activated GC in the 100,000 × g particulate fraction, the predominant form of the enzyme in colonic epithelial cells. However, this action was expressed only in the presence of an appropriate concentration of a reducing agent (dithiothreitol, glutathione or ascorbate), which concurrently led to formation of a paramagnetic complex with the ESR spectral characteristics of NO-heme in colonic particulate fractions exposed to MNNG. By contrast, several preformed paramagnetic NO-hemeprotein complex (NO-hemoglobin, NO-catalase and NO-cytochrome P-450) increased particulate GC of colonic epithelial cells in the absence of added co-factors. These observations suggest that formation of NO-heme may be involved in the process by which MNNG activates particulate GC of colonic epithelium. Retinol, BHA, high concentrations of dithiothreitol, and the thiol blocker N-ethylmaleimide suppress the effects of both MNNG and of preformed NO-heme complexes to activate GC. Thus, the effects of these inhibitors may be expressed, at least in part, at point(s) in the enzyme activation pathway distal to generation of NO-heme from MNNG. Stimulation of the GC system of colonic epithelium by MNNG, as well as the inhibition of this effect by antioxidants (BHA and retinol) and its potentiation by a putative co-carcinogen (deoxycholate) could play a role in the expression of the oncogenic actions of MNNG in colon.
Remarks on the generalized overrelaxation and the extrapolated Jacobi methods for operator equations in Hilbert space

The purpose of these remarks is fourfold: First, we amplify the implication made in our paper [5] concerning the necessary and sufficient conditions for the convergence of the generalized overrelaxation method (go-method). Theorem 1 below, which is equivalent to the Main Theorem in [5], states these conditions explicitly. Second, using our results in Section 1, we obtain in Section 2 similar explicit necessary and sufficient conditions for the convergence of the extrapolated Jacobi method studied in [6]. Third, the results of Sections 1 and 2 are extended to certain classes of non-self-adjoint and non-K-symmetric operators. Fourth, we obtain an estimate for the rate of convergence of the go-method as well as for the extrapolated Jacobi method and their spatial cases. In particular, as a special case of our result for the gomethod, we get an estimate for the rate of convergence of the Gauss-Seidel method obtained recently by Krasnoselsky and Stetzenko [2]. In what follows, our notation and arguments are those used in [S]. We refer the reader to [l, 3,4, 5, 61 f or references dealing with the overrelaxation methods for finite matrices.
Development of the rat thalamus: I. Mosaic organization of the thalamic neuroepithelium

Short-survival, sequential, and long-survival thymidine radiograms of rat embryos, fetuses and young pups were analyzed in order to delineate the boundaries of the proliferative thalamic neuroepithelium, describe its early transformations, identify its regional divisions, and, finally, attempt to relate its distinct neuroepithelial components to specific thalamic nuclei that they supply with neurons. On day E13 the thalamic neuroepithelium consists of two divisions, the rostral lobe and the caudal lobe, and interposed between the two is a small transient structure, the reticular protuberance. By day E14 the rostral lobe has become partitioned into the anterior lobule and the reticular lobule, and the caudal lobe into the intermediate lobule and the posterior lobule. By day E15 these four lobules have become further partitioned into sublobules, characterized as regional eversions and inversions (concavities and convexities) of the thalamic neuroepithelium. Several of these sublobules are still recognizable on day E16 but progressively disappear thereafter. In this introductory paper, some evidence is presented in support of the hypothesis that the identified thalamic sublobules represent putative cell lines committed to produce neurons for specific, early-generated thalamic nuclei. Detailed documentation of the evidence on which the identifications are based is provided in subsequent papers of this series which deal with the early development of specific thalamic regions and nuclei. In our attempt to identify these putative cell lines, we sought to meet the following criteria: (1) a good match between the time course of mitotic activity in a neuroepithelial sublobule and the birth days of neurons in the nucleus that it is postulated to supply with neurons, (2) relative proximity between the putative neuroepithelial source and the thalamic target structure, and, where possible, (3) the tracing of migrating cells from the germinal source to its destination. Using these criteria we have made the following tentative identifications. The early derivatives of the anterior thalamic lobules are the sublobules (committed cell lines) of the anterior thalamic nuclei, and of the central lateral and mediodorsal nuclei. The early derivatives of the reticular lobule and reticular protuberance are the sublobules of the reticular nuclear complex. The early derivatives of the intermediate lobule are the sublobules of the ventrolateral and ventrobasal nuclei. Finally, the early derivatives of the posterior lobule are the sublobules of the dorsal geniculate, ventral geniculate, and medial geniculate nuclei. The proposed partitioning and mosaic organization of the thalamic neuroepithelium are discussed with reference to traditional descriptions.
The reaction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon anions with hydrogen

Abstract The reaction of naphthalene anion with an H atom to produce 1-hydronaphthalene anion is exothermic by about 50 kcal/mol. The exothermicity for the formation of 2-hydronaphthalene anion is 4.7 kcal/mol smaller. The 1-hydronaphthalene anion reacts with a second hydrogen atom to restore the naphthalene anion and produce H 2 . This reaction has no barrier and is exothermic by 53.3 kcal/mol. Similar energetics are found for the analogous coronene and circumcoronene reactions. Thus the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) anions can catalyse the formation of H 2 , using a mechanism analogous to the PAH cations. This could have important consequences in several problems of astrophysical interest.
The Incidence of Prostate Cancer Progression with Undetectable Serum Prostate Specific Antigen in a Series of 394 Radical Prostatectomies

AbstractPurpose: Serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) has been reported to be a sensitive indicator of recurrent carcinoma after radical prostatectomy but it is not absolute. Disease progression with undetectable PSA levels has been described but the incidence of this phenomenon is unknown.Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 394 consecutive men who underwent radical prostatectomy between 1980 and 1991 to characterize the incidence of recurrent carcinoma despite undetectable serum PSA levels.Results: Of the 394 men 133 had documented evidence of disease recurrence, 3 (2.3 percent) despite undetectable serum PSA levels (2 had local and systemic evidence of disease progression). Histological dedifferentiation characterized these recurrences.Conclusions: Although a post-prostatectomy detectable serum PSA level precedes clinical evidence of disease progression by years, rare patients (2.3 percent in our series) in whom recurrent disease is characterized by marked histological ded...
Chelating polymer bearing 2-(2-diazolylazo)phenol moiety for adsorbent of heavy metal ions

Chelating polymer bearing 2-(2-diazolylazo)phenol moiety was synthesized and its metal adsorption properties for 6 divalent heavy metal ions (M2+): Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, Cd2+ and Pb2+ were investigated. The polymer changed color from orange yellow to blue or to red violet with its chelation to Cu2+ or to Ni2+, respectively. The maximum capacity of the polymer for Cu2+ was found to be 1.35meq/g in pH 5.71 solution. The degrees of saturation of the capacity of the polymer after shaking for 30min were 71.3 and 83.6% for the adsorptions of Zn2+ and Cu2+, respectively. The capacity of the polymer for M2+ hardly varied with the presence of alkali or alkaline earth metal ions. The elimination of metals from the polymer-M2+ chelates was achieved with 4mol/l HCl or 4mol/l H2SO4 solution.
Effect of eccentric strength testing on delayed-onset muscle pain.

Dannecker, E.A., P.D. O'Connor, J.W. Atchison, and M.E. Robinson. Effect of eccentric strength testing on delayed-onset muscle pain. J. Strength Cond. Res. 19(4):888-892. 2005.- This investigation was designed to determine the effect of eccentric strength testing on delayed-onset muscle pain in 20 untrained university students. Initially, eccentric strength testing (5-repetition maximum [5RM]) was performed bilaterally. Next, 1 arm completed 3 sets of 10 eccentric repetitions to induce delayed-onset muscle pain. Then, in a subsequent session, whichever arm previously performed only the 5RM test completed the 5RM test a second time and the 3 sets of 10 eccentric repetitions. Statistical analyses supported significantly increased pain intensity and unpleasantness across 48 hours post-5RM test alone. However, pain intensity and unpleasantness after the eccentric training bouts were significantly lower in the arm that performed 2 5RM tests than the arm that performed only 1. Thus, the eccentric strength testing produced delayed-onset muscle pain and protected against future delayed-onset muscle pain. These effects should be considered when such testing is used in baseline strength assessments.
Creep Design of Epoxy Bonded Anchor System

This article presents a systematic study on creep design of epoxy bonded anchor system. First, a theoretical model for prediction of long-term performance of an anchor system is suggested assuming epoxy layer following Maxwell visco-elastic behavior, which is then validated through an ABAQUS numerical model. A close match between the ABAQUS result and the theoretical model has been reached. Next, a general-purpose methodology for estimating creep capacity of an adhesive bonded anchor system is suggested following AC58 and two creep capacity equations are reached for Model Dry Epoxy and Model Wet Epoxy bonded anchor systems. The derived creep capacity is then used to re-examine the Boston D Tunnel anchor design and a safe design is reached through the suggested method considering the anchor system's long-term creep performance. Last, the ABAQUS model is extended to include the effect of curing temperatures, which shows significant influences of curing temperature on the capacity of an epoxy bonded anchor s...
OmpR and RcsB abolish temporal and spatial changes in expression of flhD in Escherichia coli Biofilm

Biofilms are communities of bacteria that are characterized by specific phenotypes, including an increased resistance towards anti-microbials and the host immune system. This calls for the development of novel biofilm prevention and treatment options to combat infectious disease. In Escherichia coli, numerous global regulators have been implicated in the control of biofilm associated cell surface organelles. These include the flagellar regulator FlhD/FlhC, the osmoregulator EnvZ/OmpR, and the colanic acid activator RcsCDB. Using flow cell technology and fluorescence microscopy, we determined the temporal expression from flhD::gfp, ompR::gfp, and rcsB::gfp in E. coli biofilm, as well as the impact of the negative regulation of flhD by OmpR and RcsB. Spatial gene expression was investigated from flhD::gfp. The temporal gene expression profile for flhD yielded an early peak at 12 h, a minimum of expression at 35 h, and a second increase in expression towards 51 h of biofilm development. In contrast, the ompR profile showed a peak at 35 h. A mutation in ompR abolished time dependence of flhD expression after the initial growth period of 12 h. Intriguingly, rcsB expression did not correlate inversely with flhD expression, yet a mutation in rcsB abolished time dependence of flhD expression as well. Spatially, expression of flhD was highest in the outermost layer of the biofilm in the parent strain. In ompR and rcsB mutants, flhD was expressed throughout the biofilm. Mutations in both, ompR and rcsB increased flhD expression throughout all temporal and spatial experiments. This increase was paralleled by reductions in biofilm amounts at four tested time points. Our data lead to the conclusion that FlhD/FlhC and its regulation by OmpR and RcsB may be our first target mechanism for the development of novel biofilm prevention and treatment techniques.
Critical cardiac transport: air versus ground?

The helicopter transport of acute cardiac patients has become increasingly common, although no study has examined solely the effect of such transport on outcome in this subset of patients. A combined air and ground critical care transport service provided the opportunity for a direct comparison of patients with acute cardiac conditions (myocardial infarction or unstable angina) transported either by our helicopter or by a specially equipped critical care ground vehicle. Both air and ground components were similarly equipped in terms of personnel and medical equipment. Seventy-eight (27 ground, 51 air) transport cases were studied. Both patient groups were comparable in terms of age, sex, Killip classification, and diagnosis. Serious untoward events, defined as arrhythmias, chest pain, hypotension, bradycardia, seizures, and cardiac arrest, occurred in 41% of air transports and 7.5% of ground transports (P < .002). The overall incidence of untoward events was also significantly greater with air transports (2551, or 49%) than with the ground vehicle (427, or 15%; P < .005). The reasons for these differences are unknown.
New Evidence on the Relationship between Mother's Education and Children's Cognitive Skills.

Abstract In a sample of low-income black families, the number of years of schooling completed by mothers is found to be positively related to the cognitive skills of their children. Moreover, this relationship at least partly reflects environmental influences such as the quality of care that mothers provide to their children. The data base for the analysis was generated by the Gary Negative Income Tax Experiment.
Potato haploid performance in 2x × 4x crosses

Nineteen haploids (2n = 2x = 24) extracted from four tetraploids ofSolanum tuberosum (2n = 4x = 48) with high 2n egg frequencies and known mode of 2n egg formation were evaluated via 4x progeny from 2x × 4x crosses (haploid × cultivar) for total tuber yield, tuber appearance and tuber set. Ninety-eight, 4x families (15-20 genotypes each) were planted in the randomized complete block design with two replications at two locations. Analyses of variance were conducted for all haploids over three common testers, and each of the four groups of haploids individually over a variable number of testers. The performance of haploids, based on general combining ability effects, was consistent for all traits, when tested with either three or more testers. Diploid clones can be evaluated in 2x × 4x crosses using three unrelated adapted 4x testers. Nonorthogonal comparisons indicated no significant differences for all traits among four groups of haploids, and between modes of 2n egg formation. Significant variation within each group of haploids indicates that selection at the haploid level should be carried out among haploids from either the same or different cultivars. Superior haploids can be utilized in 2x × 4x and 2x × 2x breeding schemes to generate 4x clones.
Differentiating paleowetland subenvironments using a multi-disciplinary approach: An example from the Morrison formation, South Central Wyoming, USA

Small lakes are excellent records of environmental changes and are sensitive to local climate fluctuations. Large lacustrine systems record larger-scale climate events. Wetland deposits also provide high-resolution paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental data. Although wetland deposits are typically associated with wet climatic conditions, they actually occur in a wide variety of climates. Whereas lakes and wetlands are very sensitive to changes in climate, high-resolution data in these archives are lost unless it is possible to differentiate these deposits from other “floodplain” deposits. Synthesis of micromorphological and geochemical data with facies relationships is critical to accurate interpretations of ancient wetland–lacustrine deposits. This study illustrates how micromorphology and geochemistry, combined with facies relationships, provide a viable method for differentiating complex, ancient wetland–lacustrine subenvironments. A hydrogeomorphological classification is proposed to provide appropriate genetic terminology that is useful in the rock record. Eight Morrison Formation subenvironments within lacustrine depositional successions from north central Wyoming were delineated using this interdisciplinary approach. Subenvironments include shallow-water wetlands, marsh, lacustrine fringe, and fen basin and fringe deposits. Synthesized data indicate that an overall basinal infilling succession was punctuated by 3 major lake contraction events, which were followed by extended periods of landscape stability. Initially balance-filled conditions dominated the shallowing-upward lacustrine deposits such that sediment and water supply, and accommodation space were relatively equal. As the lake basin filled, shallower water, underfilled lake conditions prevailed. The distribution of wetland pedotypes indicates that evapotranspiration remained high, suggesting that a stable, semi-arid to arid climate dominated in this area throughout Morrison time. Also supporting a semi-arid to arid climate are more positive carbon isotopes compared to values for disseminated organic material in the surrounding area, abundant barite nodules, gypsum pseudomorphs, and zeolites. Although major fluctuations in lake level may have resulted from punctuated wetter episodes, synthesized data suggest that overall the climate remained relatively arid to semiarid and the lake basin remained closed throughout most of Morrison time. Fluctuations in lake level likely resulted from a significant increase in recharge in the source area, possibly related to volcanic events rather than a change in climate.
The Aβ Peptide of Alzheimer's Disease Directly Produces Hydrogen Peroxide through Metal Ion Reduction†

Oxidative stress markers characterize the neuropathology both of Alzheimer's disease and of amyloid-bearing transgenic mice. The neurotoxicity of amyloid Aβ peptides has been linked to peroxide gen...
Construction and Validation of the Mealtime and Dysphagia Questionnaire: An Instrument Designed to Assess Nursing Staff Reasons for Noncompliance with SLP Dysphagia and Feeding Recommendations

The lack of compliance of nursing staff with SLP recommendations may be an important contribution to the swallowing and feeding problems of the elderly and the consequent elevated probability of aspiration pneumonia and other sequelae. There is a need to study the prevalence of noncompliance with SLP recommendations for swallowing and feeding and the reason for nursing staff noncompliance for dependent feeders. This researcher constructed and validated a 21-item instrument designed to assess the reasons for staff noncompliance with SLP recommendations using a sample of 180 nursing staffers in a nursing home. The instrument, entitled the Mealtime and Dysphagia Questionnaire (MDQ), was demonstrated to have adequate reliability and concurrent validity. In addition, analyses were conducted that suggested that RNs were less compliant than CNAs. RNs indicated that they had less knowledge and regarded feeding of patients as more of a nuisance than CNAs. The major reason for RNs' noncompliance was lack of knowledge and CNAs' noncompliance was disagreement with the SLP's recommendations. The implications for SLP and nursing practice were discussed.