cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Making subsequent references: syntatic and rhetorical constrants

Unlike the case of an initial reference, where the choice of description is solely a matter of the speaker's intentions and his/her model of the audience, deciding how to make subsequent references to an object is a hybrid process wherein syntactic context and grammatical convention play a dominant part. This is because the expression of co-reference in discourse is highly grammaticsed. Very specialized phrases can (and often must) be used: personal, reflexive, and possessive pronouns, special determiners - "this", "my", class nouns like "thing" and "one" and so on. We would like to know the conditions that govern the appropriate use of these phrases - how do grammatical constraints interact with a speaker's goals?
The mind's 'I': children's conception of the mind as an active agent

1 hypothesis about children's developing conception of the mind is that preschoolers are limited to an understanding that persons have internal, mental contents like thoughts and beliefs, whereas older children and adults conceive of the mind itself as an independent, active structure or processor. Adults' conception of the mind in this independent active fashion seems evident in their use of personified mental metaphor (e.g., "My mind tricked me"). 3 studies examined the development and consolidation of this active, personified view. Study 1 provided an analysis of natural language data regarding 1 child's uses of vision words such as see and look from age 2 1/2 to 8 years. We examined the child's use of such words to refer literally to perception (e.g., "I see the TV") and also to refer nonliterally to active mental processes such as comprehension and inference (e.g., "I see what you mean"). Studies 2 and 3 examined 6-, 8-, and 10-year-olds' comprehension and production of mental metaphors. In a metaphor comprehension task, we asked children to interpret personified metaphoric statements about the mind (e.g., "My mind wandered") and 3 comparison domains, mechanics (e.g., "The car is dead"), nature (e.g., "The wind is howling"), and emotion (e.g., "Her heart was smiling"). In an explanation task, we asked children to explain the processes underlying the making of both instant photos and mental images. The findings reveal a developing ability to interpret and produce statements personifying the mind and provide considerable evidence about children's movement toward a conception of the mind as an independent entity deserving reference and conceptualization in its own right.
How Serious is the Global Warming Threat

Despite the media’s and politicians’ insistence that the science of global warming is “settled”, there are good reasons to distrust climate model projections of future global warming. While the supposed scientific consensus is that mankind is very likely to blame for recent global warmth, this is mostly a statement of faith made from a position of relative ignorance about natural variability in the climate system. Since we do not understand what causes decadal- to century-scale natural climate variability, it has simply been assumed to either not exist, or to be relatively small. But even if predictions of catastrophic warming are accurate, the worldwide demand for energy is so large that there is little mankind can do without radically new energy technologies. Since it is only the wealthy countries of the world that can afford the R&D efforts to develop those technologies, punishing the use of fossil fuels, and the resulting negative impact on economies, might well delay the development of cost effective carbon-free energy sources that so many people are now calling for.
Measuring the Cost of Obsolescence

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has provided the capability for irradiation testing of nuclear fuels and materials since 1967, and is expected to operate for several more years. Within the scope of extending the life of a nuclear plant is dealing with aging and obsolescence issues. A component can be considered obsolete if the manufacturer no longer supports the component, or if the manufacturer does not even exist anymore. Though these components can be considered obsolete, the cost of obsolescence may or may not be significant; it may be more cost-effective to leave and/or repair the component rather than to replace it. The project at hand is to develop a tool that will not only identify these components, series of components, or entire systems that are obsolete, but to quantify the cost of obsolescence. This engineering tool will be based on empirical formulas created from data collected from factors that deal with obsolescence. These factors are primarily, the cost of item replacement, current cost of maintenance, cost of maintenance of the replacement, cost of failure, risk of failure, safety, increase in performance/efficiency, length of manufacturer’s support, and so forth. The objective is to be able to look at the outcome of this engineering tool and clearly see what needs to be replaced, be it a component, series of components, or an entire system. If there are several such replacements needed, which one(s) have the greatest priority for replacement. Therefore the engineering tool will identify, quantify, and prioritize the cost of obsolescence in the plant. An engineering tool of this type should find application in a number of nuclear and non-nuclear facilities. While the engineering tool is being developed, the first stage of development will be on system components. Once the foundation is set it will be used to evaluate other systems and eventually expand and develop the engineering tool for the entire plant.Copyright © 2006 by ASME
An Introduction to XBRL through the Use of Research and Technical Assignments

This project is designed to facilitate an understanding of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL). The materials are structured so that each can be used independently of the other components. The materials consist of a reading, research assignments, and two technical assignments. The reading is written to provide a background on XBRL. After obtaining a basic understanding of XBRL, research and technical assignments are used to increase the student's skill‐set. The research assignments look at the evolution of XBRL. The first technical assignment modifies and styles eXtensible Markup Language (XML) tagged data. In the second technical assignment an industry extension is developed to the promulgated Commercial and Industrial (C‐I) taxonomy. The second technical assignment concludes with the creation of an instance document and viewing of the instance document with a style sheet. Through an understanding of XBRL, students will possess an important basic skill‐set for a technology that will likely play...
Excited triplet state polarizabilities in laser induced repractive index transients

Abstract Laser-induced refractive index transients in low temperature solutions are shown to be dominated by the polarizability changes due to excitation of metastable excited electronic states of solute molecules. The time-dependence of the thermal transient is worked out for the general case (intermediate between pulsed and cw thermal sources), and the thermal transient is found to be small relative to the polrizability transient if the exited state lifetime is larger than the thermal relaxation time of the solution. Estimates of the magnitudes of these effects are given for benzene in its lowest triplet state in a rigid hydrocarbon solution. Methods are given for minimizing thermal and excited state absorption effects. Application of photoselection analysis provides a method of measuring all three diagonal elements of the change in the polarization tensor upon excitation.
Conference investigates formation and preservation of the continental margin stratigraphic record

The seismically observed stratigraphic record on continental margins around the world is the combined product of a variety of depositional and erosional processes that operate at a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. Understanding the nature of this record and how it is produced is becoming more important. It is not only a repository of significant hydrocarbon resources, but also, perhaps, Earth's longest and most reliable record of past climate change.
Differences in bioavailability between cocaine and cocaethylene and their implications for drug-reward studies

Cocaethylene, a psychoactive metabolite resulting from combined ethanol/cocaine consumption, is of interest because its psychostimulant properties may partially underlie combined cocaine/ethanol use, and because it has the potential for use as a probe of drug reward mechanisms due to its enhanced selectivity at monoamine uptake sites compared to cocaine. To determine the relative systemic bioavailabilities of cocaine and cocaethylene, sequential plasma samples were obtained from awake rats following drug administration. Following intravenous administration of 3 µmol/kg (molar equivalent of 1 mg/kg cocaine-HCl), both drugs achieved similar time courses and areas under the plasma concentration versus time curve. In contrast, intraperitoneal administration of 44 µmol/kg (molar equivalent of 15 mg/kg cocaine HCl) showed peak plasma levels, and the area under the plasma concentration vs time curve for cocaine to be approximately twice that for cocaethylene. Comparison of dose corrected areas under the curve of the two routes of administration for each drug indicated that relative systemic bioavailability of cocaethylene following intraperitoneal administration is only 58% that of cocaine. In addition, the elimination of both cocaine and cocaethylene was found to be slower following intraperitoneal administration compared to the intravenous route. The implications of these results are discussed with respect to the relative potency of these two compounds, as inferred from behavioral, drug reward, and lethality studies. Also, the differences noted will need to be taken into account when making mechanistic interpretations from comparative drug reward studies.
Endmember Variability in Hyperspectral Analysis: Addressing Spectral Variability During Spectral Unmixing

Variable illumination and environmental, atmospheric, and temporal conditions cause the measured spectral signature for a material to vary within hyperspectral imagery. By ignoring these variations, errors are introduced and propagated throughout hyperspectral image analysis. To develop accurate spectral unmixing and endmember estimation methods, a number of approaches that account for spectral variability have been developed. This article motivates and provides a review for methods that account for spectral variability during hyperspectral unmixing and endmember estimation and a discussion on topics for future work in this area.
Electrical restitution and cardiac fibrillation

Combined experimental and theoretical work has shown that restitution properties of the cardiac action potential duration and conduction velocity contribute to breakup of reentrant wavefronts during cardiac fibrillation independent of preexisting electrophysiologic heterogeneities in the tissue. Developing therapies that favorably alter these cardiac electrical restitution properties are a promising new approach to preventing fibrillation.
Convective instability when the temperature gradient and rotation vector are oblique to gravity. II. Real fluids with effects of diffusion

The linear stability analysis of Hathaway et al. (1979) is repeated for Boussinesq fluids with viscous and thermal diffusion. The fluid is confined between plane parallel boundaries and the rotation vector is oblique to gravity; this tilted rotation vector introduces a preference for roll-like disturbances whose axes are oriented north-south. The presence of a latitudinal temperature gradient produces a thermal wind shear which favors axisymmetric convective rolls if the gradient exceeds some critical value. The axisymmetric rolls are similar in many respects to the cloud bands on Jupiter provided they extend to a depth of about 15,000 km.
Coarsening of a quiescent electrorheological fluid I: Experiment

We report a real-time, two-dimensional light scattering study of the evolution of structure in a concentrated electrorheological fluid during the 'liquid-solid' phase transition. We find that after particle chaining along the electric field lines, strong light scattering lobes appear at a finite scattering wavevector q orthogonal to the field lines, and then brighten as they move to q=O. This indicates the existence of an unstable concentration fluctuation that signifies the segregation of chains into columns. In fact, the observed growth kinetics of the characteristic length, as well as the form of the structure factor, are qualitatively similar to two-dimensional spinodal decomposition in a system with a conserved order parameter.
Biological activity of Luteinizing Hormone (LH) during the estrous cycle of mares

Abstract Equine luteinizing hormone (LH) contains a high proportion of carbohydrate (27%) and large compliment of sialic acid residues (6%), and anterior pituitary stores exhibit high physiochemical polymorphism. We initiated studies to determine whether polymorphism in the pituitary was reflected in secretory forms of LH as divergence between biopotency and immunoreactivity. Serum samples were collected daily from mares throughout the estrous cycle. In addition, the dynamics of LH secretion was monitored during intensive collection periods during estrus and the mid-luteal phase. Immunoreactive LH (iLH) was evaluated using conventional radioimmunoassay procedures. The biological activity of LH (bLH) was determined using a mouse interstitial cell-testosterone bioassay. The relative biopotency of equine LH (bLH/iLH,B/I) is significantly (P
Parsing Trait and State Effects of Depression Severity on Neurocognition: Evidence From a 26-Year Longitudinal Study

Cognitive dysfunction in mood disorders falls along a continuum, such that more severe current depression is associated with greater cognitive impairment. It is not clear whether this association reflects transient state effects of current symptoms on cognitive performance, or persistent, trait-like differences in cognition that are related to overall disorder severity. We addressed this question in 42 unipolar and 47 bipolar participants drawn from a 26-year longitudinal study of psychopathology, using measures of attention/psychomotor processing speed, cognitive flexibility, verbal fluency, and verbal memory. We assessed (a) the extent to which current symptom severity and past average disorder severity predicted unique variance in cognitive performance; (b) whether cognitive performance covaried with within-individual changes in symptom severity; and (c) the stability of neurocognitive measures over six years. We also tested for differences among unipolar and bipolar groups and published norms. Past average depression severity predicted performance on attention/psychomotor processing speed in both groups, and in cognitive flexibility among unipolar participants, even after controlling for current symptom severity, which did not independently predict cognition. Within-participant state changes in depressive symptoms did not predict change in any cognitive domain. All domains were stable over the course of six years. Both groups showed generalized impairment relative to published norms, and bipolar participants performed more poorly than unipolar participants on attention/psychomotor processing speed. The results suggest a stable relationship between mood disorder severity and cognitive deficits.
Operational estimates of reference evapotranspiration

Many forms of the Penman combination equation have been proffered for estimating daily evapotranspiration (ET) by the agricultural reference crops grass and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). This study was conducted to evaluate popular forms of the Penman equation, and to develop and evaluate general relationships for estimating daily average values of canopy and aerodynamic resistance parameters required by the Penman-Monteith equation. For simplicity and ease of use, resistance relationships were expressed as linear and logarithmic functions of mean plant height. The Penman-Monteith and other forms of the Penman equation were compared at 11 international lysimeter sites, with the Penman-Monteith method and a Penman equation with variable wind function developed at Kimberly, ID providing the best estimates of reference ET across the sites. Ratios of computed alfalfa to grass reference ET during peak months at various locations averaged 1.32, and ranged from 1.12 to 1.43. Values of computed ratios were related to local wind and humidity conditions. The development of relationships for canopy and aerodynamic resistances as functions of reference crop height allowed use of the Penman-Monteith equation in an operational mode, and improved transferability of this resistance form of the Penman equation to a wide variety of climates.
On the commutative class of linear time-varying systems

A new approach using the decomposition of A(t) to study the commutative class of linear time-varying systems is presented. A simpler and computer-implemental criterion of checking the commutativity of A(t) with its integral is given. More transparent results on solution, stability, decoupling, the controlability and observability are obtained. With the new approach, a commutative linear time-varying system can be studied in the same manner as that of a linear time-invariant system.
Assessment of MEDLINE search strategies for randomized controlled trials in prosthodontics.

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, and precision of MEDLINE search strategies for detecting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in prosthodontics. Materials and Methods A list of RCTs was obtained by hand-searching the International Journal of Prosthodontics, Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, and Journal of Prosthodontics published between 1988 and 1997. RCTs identified served as the “gold standard” with which different MEDLINE search strategies were compared. Subject headings, keywords, MEDLINE checktags, publication types, and combinations thereof were used, and their results were compared with the “gold standard.” Results Sensitivity ranged from 9% to 67%, specificity was at least 96% for all searches, and precision ranged from 22% to 59%. The most productive searches were by publication type clinical trial and publication type randomized controlled trial. Combining search terms did not improve sensitivity for detecting RCTs published in prosthodontic journals (p > .10). Conclusions These findings support the need for more detailed reporting of trial methodologies to facilitate accurate indexing of prosthodontic articles in MEDLINE.
Preadolescent girls with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: I. Background characteristics, comorbidity, cognitive and social functioning, and parenting practices

This study investigated a diverse sample of girls (6-12 years of age) with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), combined type (n = 93) and inattentive type (n = 47), plus age- and ethnicity-matched comparison girls (n = 88), who participated in research summer programs. Speech and language problems, grade retention, and adoption characterized the ADHD sample; documented abuse characterized the combined type. Girls with ADHD showed dysfunction in terms of externalizing and internalizing behaviors and comorbidities, cognitive and academic performance, authoritarian parenting, and peer status. The inattentive type was more socially isolated but less rejected by peers than the combined type. ADHD-related impairment was independent of age and disruptive comorbidity. Further examination of processes related to psychopathology and competencies in girls with ADHD is needed.
Program Equity and Adequacy: Issues from the Field.

The latest wave of school finance litigation has raised issues of educational adequacy as well as issues of funding equity in many states. This article explores the following philosophical, conceptual, technical, and political questions that state policymakers face as they struggle to address issues of adequacy and equity simultaneously. Do traditional equity issues go away if some equality of outcomes is achieved? What ought standards of adequacy look like? How does one design a school finance system based on adequacy? Can we define the production function(s) that will yield the desired outcomes? Is the political system ready to accept the additional costs (and possible redistributive effects) of a funding system linked to educational adequacy?
Mie potentials for phase equilibria calculations: application to alkanes and perfluoroalkanes.

Transferable united-atom force fields, based on n − 6 Lennard-Jones potentials, are presented for normal alkanes and perfluorocarbons. It is shown that by varying the repulsive exponent the range of the potential can be altered, leading to improved predictions of vapor pressures while also reproducing saturated liquid densities to high accuracy. Histogram-reweighting Monte Carlo simulations in the grand canonical ensemble are used to determine the vapor liquid coexistence curves, vapor pressures, heats of vaporization, and critical points for normal alkanes methane through tetradecane, and perfluorocarbons perfluoromethane through perfluorooctane. For all molecules studied, saturated liquid densities are reproduced to within 1% of experiment. Vapor pressures for normal alkanes and perfluorocarbons were predicted to within 3% and 6% of experiment, respectively. Calculations performed for binary mixture vapor−liquid equilibria for propane + pentane show excellent agreement with experiment, while slight devi...
A Relationship between Lotka's Law, Bradford's Law, and Zipf's Law.

A common functional relationship among Lotka's law, Bradford's law, and Zipf's law is derived. The proof takes explicit account of the sequences of observed values of the variables by means of an index. This approach results in a more realistic and precise formulation of each law. © 1986 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Influence of age-specific lung function on survival after coronary bypass

Abstract Background . Respiratory complications after successful coronary artery bypass grafting influence the immediate recovery of a patient; however, whether they influence the longevity of a patient is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of preoperative pulmonary risk factors in younger patients and older patients on outcome after coronary artery bypass grafting. Methods . A retrospective chart review was performed on 939 patients who underwent primary coronary artery bypass grafting between July 1987 and November 1996. For better comparison, they were arbitrarily divided by age into two groups: group 1, less than 70 years old (n = 710), and group 2, 70 years old or older (n = 229). The variables collected for each patient included history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, active smoking, forced expiratory volume, and ventilatory support for more than 48 hours. These variables were compared with postoperative length of stay in the intensive care unit, length of stay in the hospital, and the midterm survival up to 5 years. The data were analyzed by the use of univariate/multivariate log-rank tests and the method of Kaplan-Meier survival estimates. Results . The presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was associated with increased length of stay in the intensive care unit and in the hospital for both groups. Preoperative forced expiratory volume in 1 second, significantly affected length of stay in the hospital only in the patients less than 70 years old ( p = 0.0001). Delayed extubation beyond 48 hours of ventilatory support resulted in prolonged length of stay in the intensive care unit and in the hospital for patients less than 70 years old ( p = 0.0001, p = 0.0001, respectively) and patients 70 years old or older ( p = 0.0001, p = 0.0001, respectively). The 5-year survival after coronary artery bypass grafting for both groups was significantly influenced by the level of preoperative forced expiratory volume in 1 second ( p = 0.0004, p = 0.0282, respectively). Conclusions . Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, irrespective of age, stay in the intensive care unit and in the hospital longer after coronary artery bypass grafting. In addition, preoperative forced expiratory volume in 1 second is a significant predictor of 5-year survival in the young and aged individuals undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.
The Prevalence of Meniscal Tears in Young Athletes Undergoing Revision Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of meniscal injury, specifically medial meniscal injury, in US Army soldiers undergoing revision anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction. Methods A retrospective review was performed of all patients who underwent revision ACL reconstruction from 2002 to 2011 at our institution. A complete chart review was performed to identify the prevalence of meniscal pathology identified at the time of revision ACL surgery. Patient demographic data and meniscal injury patterns were analyzed. Results Sixty-seven patients were identified, with a mean age of 28 years. The mean time to revision reconstruction was 67 months. Most patients (64.1%) reported a distinct reinjury. Reinjury was reported as the cause for revision ACL reconstruction in 43 patients. In this subgroup the mean time from reinjury to revision surgery was 13.9 months. Meniscal pathology was identified in 50 patients (74.6%). Medial meniscal tears were noted in 38 patients (56.7%), a rate significantly greater than that previously described ( P = .008). Lateral meniscal tears were noted in 26 patients (38.8%), which was similar to previously published data ( P = .52). Conclusions The prevalence of meniscal injury at the time of revision ACL reconstruction in active-duty US Army soldiers is nearly identical to that of previously published data looking at a civilian population (74.6% v 74%) in the Multicenter ACL Revision Study (MARS) cohort. However, the incidence of medial meniscal injury was greater in the active-duty population than in the civilian population (56.7% v 40%). The observed increase in the prevalence of medial meniscal pathology is likely multifactorial, relating to the unique demands on young military athletes in both combat and training environments, rate of reinjury, and various delays to treatment after reinjury. Level of Evidence Level IV, therapeutic case series.
Neoplastic Lesions of the Skin

Written by Jose A. Plaza, MD, and Victor G. Prieto, MD, PhD 362 pages. New York, NY: Demos Medical Publishing. $90.00. ISBN: 9781933864860. This attractive volume is a new addition to a series of brief books being produced under the general editorship of Saul Suster, MD, and is intended to achieve an intermediate level of detail between general surgical-pathology tomes and subspecialty textbooks. This particular book aims to be a comprehensive review of the most commonly encountered cutaneous tumors and, in particular, to clarify the immunohistochemical profile when helpful. The authors …
Rates of Persons with Disabilities in Alcohol/Other Drug Treatment in Canada

This study assessed the presence of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in a nationally representative sample of substance abuse treatment facilities in Canada. A stratified sample of 43 treatment centers in each of the 13 provinces and territories provided details of the number of PWDs in their caseloads during the year prior to survey. Findings indicate that, as a group, PWDs represented only 10.23% of all clients served during the prior year. PWD participation in treatment was unrelated to either the location or the primary type of service offered by the responding facilities. Given the size of the PWD population in Canada and the likely substance abuse rates by such individuals, this was less than anticipated. Implications for future research are provided.
Comment on “Changes in Climatic Water Balance Drive Downhill Shifts in Plant Species’ Optimum Elevations”

Crimmins et al. (Reports, 21 January 2011, p. 324) attributed an apparent downward elevational shift of California plant species to a precipitation-induced decline in climatic water deficit. We show that the authors miscalculated deficit, that the apparent decline in species' elevations is likely a consequence of geographic biases, and that unlike temperature changes, precipitation changes should not be expected to cause coordinated directional shifts in species' elevations.
Chronic Opioid Therapy for Nonmalignant Pain: The Patient's Perspective. Part II—Barriers to Chronic Opioid Therapy

Opioid therapy has been shown to decrease pain intensity, restore levels of function, and improve quality of life for adults with chronic pain. Even so, opioids are rarely used as a long-term treatment option, and the prescription of opioid analgesics for managing chronic nonmalignant pain has remained a highly debated treatment modality. This ongoing debate has resulted in a stigma being associated with both the treatment modality and those individuals receiving it. As a result of these stigmas, a multitude of barriers have arisen for those individuals using opioids to control their chronic nonmalignant pain. Limited qualitative research exists that reflects patients' perspectives regarding the stigmatization and barriers that they encounter when using this treatment option. This paper reports part II of the results of a phenomenologic study that investigated the experience of 22 adults receiving opioid therapy for chronic nonmalignant pain, with a focus on associated stigmas and barriers to treatment. Overall, the data reflected that these individuals encounter much stigma surrounding their pain management regimen, and that the routine course of maintaining that regimen is fraught with barriers. These barriers arise from family, the health care system, and society at large. Awareness of the life-enhancing benefits of opioid therapy in adults with chronic nonmalignant pain, as well as the stigma and barriers that they encounter, will enable clinicians to intervene appropriately and to act as advocates on behalf of adults using chronic opioid therapy.
Fluoroscopic placement of jejunal feeding tubes

Over a two-and-one-half year period, 50 children underwent placements of jejunal tubes through a nasal route (NJ,n=47) or through an existing gastrostomy site (GJ,n=119). There were four attempted placements (98% success rate). The NJ tubes remained in place an average of 13 days, and the GJ tubes remained in place an average of 37 days. Fluoroscopic time for placement of an NJ tube averaged 6 min (29 cases), and for a GJ tube 8 minutes (91 cases). In spite of the limited retention time, fluoroscopic time, and availability of alternative methods, fluoroscopically placed jejunal feeding tubes are still playing an active role in this institution.
Investigations of Low-Temperature Epitaxy, Ion Damage, and Reactive-Ion Cleaning Utilizing Ion Beam Deposition

The technique of ion beam deposition (IBD) is utilized to investigate low-energy, ion-induced damage on Si and Ge; to study reactive ion cleaning of Si and Ge; to fabricate amorphous isotopic heterostructures; and to fabricate and study the low-temperature epitaxial deposition of 74Ge on Ge(100), 30Si on Si(100), and 74Ge on Si(100). The techniques of ion scattering/channeling and cross-sectional TEM are combined to characterize the deposits.
Different effects of oleate vs. palmitate on mitochondrial function, apoptosis, and insulin signaling in L6 skeletal muscle cells: role of oxidative stress

The type of free fatty acids (FFAs), saturated or unsaturated, is critical in the development of insulin resistance (IR), since the degree of saturation correlates with IR. We compared the effects ...
Evaluation of the Kidney Stone Patient

Kidney stones are one of the most common chronic disorders in industrialized countries. In patients with kidney stones, the goal of medical therapy is to prevent the formation of new kidney stones and to reduce growth of existing stones. The evaluation of the patient with kidney stones should identify dietary, environmental, and genetic factors that contribute to stone risk. Radiologic studies are required to identify the stone burden at the time of the initial evaluation and to follow up the patient over time to monitor success of the treatment program. For patients with a single stone an abbreviated laboratory evaluation to identify systemic disorders usually is sufficient. For patients with multiple kidney stones 24-hour urine chemistries need to be measured to identify abnormalities that predispose to kidney stones, which guides dietary and pharmacologic therapy to prevent future stone events.
A heteroassociative memory using current-mode MOS analog VLSI circuits

A description is given of a scalable architecture for the implementation of neural networks that produces regular and dense designs. A combination of low power consumption and enhanced performance is achieved by using analog current-mode MOS circuits operating in subthreshold conduction. The authors have designed and fabricated a bidirectional associative memory in 3- mu m bulk CMOS. The chip has 46 neurons arranged in three layers, namely, a hidden layer and two input/output layers. There are 448 repeatedly programmable connections. This chip performs two-way associative search for stored vector pairs and has optimal storage efficiency of one hardware bit per information bit. The synaptic elements have bipolar current outputs. These currents are integrated using the interconnect capacitance to determine the activation of the thresholding neurons. The unit synaptic current I/sub u/ is externally programmable. Recall rates of 100000 vectors per second have been obtained with I/sub u/=0.5 mu A. >
HIV Wasting Syndrome: Treatment Update

OBJECTIVE:To review the pathophysiology and treatment of HIV wasting syndrome.DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SELECTION:MEDLINE searches (January 1987–September 1997) of the English-language medical literature were conducted. Bibliographies were also selected during a manual review.DATA SYNTHESIS:HIV-related weight loss, often referred to as HIV wasting syndrome, is a common manifestation of advanced HIV infection. Wasting in HIV involves the preferential loss of lean body mass with a paradoxical preservation of body fat. The etiology of wasting appears to be the result of many factors, which may include decreased caloric intake, malabsorption, alterations in energy expenditure and metabolism, cytokine effects, and endocrine dysfunction. Pharmacologic treatment options include appetite stimulants (e.g., dronabinol, megestrol acetate), cytokine inhibitors (e.g., thalidomide, cyproheptadine, ketotifen, pentoxifylline, fish oil, N-acetylcysteine), and anabolic agents (e.g., testosterone, nandrolone, oxandrolone, reco...
Importance of active-site reactivity and reaction conditions in the preparation of hyperbranched polymers by self-condensing vinyl polymerization: Highly branched vs. linear poly[4-(chloromethyl)styrene] by metal-catalyzed “living” radical polymerization

The self-condensing vinyl polymerization of 4-(chloromethyl)styrene using metal-catalyzed living radical polymerization catalyzed by the complex CuCl/2,2′-bipyridyl has been attempted. Given the unequal reactivity of the two potential propagating species in this system, a variety of polymerization conditions were tested to optimize the extent of branching in the products. Typical reaction conditions included polymerization in the bulk, or preferably in chlorobenzene solution, with catalyst to monomer ratios in the range 0.01–0.30, temperatures of 100–130°C, and reaction times from 0.1 to 32 h. Polymers with weight average molecular weights between 3 × 103 and 1.6 × 105 and different extents of branching are formed as evidenced by size-exclusion chromatography, light scattering, and NMR analysis of the reaction products. The influence of reaction conditions on the molecular weight and branching of the resulting polymers is discussed in detail. In sharp contrast to an earlier report, the weight of evidence suggests that, at a catalyst to monomer ratio of 0.01, an almost linear polymer is obtained, while a high catalyst to monomer ratio favors the formation of a branched structure. As a result of the unequal reactivity of the primary and secondary benzylic halide reactive sites, growth occurs by a modified self-condensing vinyl polymerization mechanism that involves incorporation of the largely linear vinyl-terminated fragments formed early on in the polymerization into the vinyl polymer, to afford an irregularly branched structure. Chemical transformations involving the numerous benzylic halide functionalities of the highly branched polymer have been investigated. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 36: 955–970, 1998
Neural network diagnosis of IC faults

The authors present experimental results which show that feedforward neural networks are well suited for analog IC fault diagnosis. Their results suggest that feedforward networks provide a cost efficient method for IC fault diagnosis in a large scale production environment. They specifically compare the diagnostic accuracy and the computational requirements of a simple feedforward network against that of Gaussian maximum likelihood and K-nearest neighbors classifiers. The feedforward network is found to provide an order-of-magnitude improvement in diagnostic speed while consistently performing as well as or better than any of the other classifiers in terms of accuracy. This makes the feedforward network classifier an excellent candidate for production line diagnosis of IC faults, where circuit verification time greatly influences total cost per part. >
Family violence, bullying, fighting, and substance use among adolescents: A longitudinal mediational model.

Social interaction learning theory provides a framework for understanding the potential overlap among adolescent problem behaviors such as family violence, aggression, and substance use. The current study assessed the longitudinal, reciprocal relations among family violence, bullying perpetration, fighting perpetration, and adolescent substance use using a sample of 1,232 students from four Midwestern middle schools. Students completed measures on family dynamics, bullying and fighting behaviors, and alcohol and drug use three times over 18 months. Structural equation modeling results indicated that bullying and fighting perpetration mediated the link between family violence and substance use only for males, but not for females. For females, family violence at Wave 1 was related to greater substance use at Wave 3.
Mechanisms for Aldosterone and Spironolactone-Induced Positive Inotropic Actions in the Rat Heart

Previously, we reported that aldosterone and spironolactone have inotropic effects in the isolated perfused heart. To address the mechanisms underlying these inotropic effects, we examined the effe...
The Governance of the Metropolis as a Problem in Diplomacy

This paper results from an effort to make explicit the theoretical and research consequences of the insight which compares metropolitics and international politics., It undertakes three specific tasks in this connection: (1) to indicate the relationships in terms of which these two political realms may be analytically comparable; (2) to define some gross categories for the collection of data; and (3) to indicate some elements of international relations theory which may provide slightly better clues than we should otherwise have for the interpretation of these data, chiefly in relation to the goal of consensus formation through intergovernmental consultation.
Statistics of fracture for an elastic notched composite lamina containing weibull fibers—Part II. Probability models of crack growth

Abstract Analytical probability models and useful approximations are developed to study the effects of statistical variation in fiber strength on the statistics of the fracture process, fracture resistance, and overall strength distribution for an elastic composite lamina with a transverse notch of N contiguous broken fibers (0 ≤ N ≤ 51). In Part I, we generated representative fracture strength distributions with the aid of Monte-Carlo simulation, coupling realistic micromechanical stress transfer and Weibull fiber strength. We also examined various statistical aspects of composite failure, and showed that variability in fiber strength can manifest in a nonlinear failure mechanism in an otherwise elastically deforming composite. Inaccurate estimates obtained from using both a unique fiber strength fracture criteria and a weakest fiber model pointed to the need for statistical approaches that account for crack plane microcracking and stable crack growth. Mechanisms responsible for flaw tolerance in the short notch regime and for toughness in the long notch regime, were identified as being important in modeling. Based on the probabilities of simple sequences of failure events, we develop here probability models for crack growth, including one for microcracking and one for fracture resistance, which capture the various statistical features of failure modes and composite fracture strength. We employ these methods to determine practical upper and lower bounds on composite failure probability, to model R -curve behavior observed for low fiber Weibull modulus values γ and large N , and to predict the unnotched composite strength distribution. In particular we find that fracture toughness grows slowly with N , scaling as ( ln N) 1 7 . Analytical approximations allow for fracture strength calculations and estimates of the amount of crack growth prior to failure at all probability levels, especially in the region of high reliability. Both the models and analytical approximations compare very favorably with the Monte-Carlo results. Distinct differences in the statistics of the fracture process emerge when γ is reduced from the range γ ≥ 5 to γ = 3. Analytical calculations suggest that an important transition in behavior occurs at γ = 2, where damage at the crack tip becomes much more distributed.
A study of best practices in training transfer and proposed model of transfer

Data were gathered from a sample of training professionals of an American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) chapter in the southern United States regarding best practices for supporting training transfer. Content analysis techniques, based on a rigorous methodology proposed by Insch, Moore, & Murphy (1997), were used to analyze the rich data. Findings suggest that interventions for bolstering training transfer are best carried out in the work context and design and delivery phase, take place after training or during, and involve trainers and supervisors. Activities garnering top attention from trainers as best practices include (starting with most frequently reported) supervisory support activities, coaching, opportunities to perform, interactive training activities, transfer measurement, and job-relevant training. Several new transfer variables also emerged from the data, indicating existing transfer models can be further refined. Ultimately, we propose a refined model of transfer to extend human resource development (HRD) theory in the area of transfer. As organizations strive to enhance performance through their human capital, workplace learning professionals and trainers are increasingly expected to deliver results. Formal learning interventions in the contemporary workplace are designed and delivered with the expectation of improving organizational and employee performance. Ensuring trained skills are used in the workplace, or transferred to the job, remains of critical importance for HRD researchers and practitioners. However, there is still limited literature on data-grounded best practices advocated by experienced training professionals that can bolster the use of trained skills from formal learning interventions.
Analyzing soft errors in leakage optimized SRAM design

Reducing leakage power and improving the reliability of data stored in the memory cells are both becoming challenging as technology scales down. While the smaller threshold voltages cause increased leakage, smaller supply voltages and node capacitances can be a problem for soft errors. This work compares the soft error rates of some recently proposed SRAM leakage optimization approaches. Our results using designs in 70 nm technology show that many of these approaches may increase the soft error rates as compared to a standard 6T SRAM. Further, we demonstrate that there is a tradeoff between optimizing the leakage power and improving the immunity to soft error.
SubTenon Injection of Gentamicin for Bacterial Infections of the Eye

Bacterial infection of the eye presents unique problems. Protease-producing bacteria such as Pseudomonas may cause perforation of the globe in less than a day. With intraocular infections, it is very difficult to obtain adequately high levels of antibiotics so that minimal inhibitory concentrations are reached within the ocular tissues. Measurements are presented for the free, microbiologically active gentamicin administered by subTenon or intramuscular injections, or by both routes, in inflamed and noninflamed eyes. In rabbits' eyes, adequate levels of gentamicin may be obtained with the subTenon administration of 20 mg of the drug every 24 hr. The level of intraocular antibiotics is raised by the simultaneous subTenon and intramuscular administration of gentamicin.
Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3 cathodes for low-temperature SOFCs

The electrochemical properties of the interfaces between an Sm0.2Ce0.8O1.9 (samaria-doped ceria, SDC) electrolyte and porous composite cathodes consisting of Sm0.5Sr0.5CoO3 (SSC) and SDC have been investigated in anode-supported single cells at low temperatures (400–600 °C). The bilayer structures of the SDC electrolyte films (25 μm thick) and the NiO–SDC anode supports were formed by co-pressing and subsequent co-firing at 1350 °C for 5 h. The effect of composition, firing temperature, and microstructure of the composite cathodes on the electrochemical properties is systematically studied. Results indicate that the optimum firing temperature is about 950 °C, whereas the optimum content of SDC electrolyte in the composite cathodes is about 30 wt.%. It is noted that the addition of the proper amount of SDC to SSC dramatically improved the catalytic properties of the interfaces; reducing the interfacial resistance by more than one order of magnitude compared with an SSC cathode without SDC.