cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Trends and Contemporary Racial/Ethnic and Socioeconomic Disparities in US Childhood Obesity

Abstract Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in obesity and overweight prevalence among US children aged 6–17 years are examined by using the 2011–12 National Survey of Children's Health and the 1999–2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Between 1976 and 2014, the obesity prevalence among US children aged 6–17 increased by 242%. In 2011–14, 20% of male children and 19% of female children were obese. Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native children have three to four times higher odds of obesity and overweight than Asian children. Almost 1 in 4 Black, Hispanic, or American Indian/Alaska Native children are obese, compared with 1 in 15 Asian American children. The overweight prevalence for Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native children currently exceeds 40%. Children from low-income and low-education households have three times higher prevalence and nearly four times higher odds of obesity than children from high socioeconomic groups. Nearly half of all children in the low socioeconomic group are overweight, compared with one in five children in the high socioeconomic group. Marked racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities indicate the potential for considerable reduction in childhood obesity in the United States. We discuss implications of our findings for obesity prevention and reducing health inequalities.
Structure elucidation with lanthanide-induced shifts 5. Evaluation of the binding ability of various functional groups

The equilibrium binding constants have been evaluated for the association in CCl4 of the lanthanide shift reagent. Eu(fod)3, with a series of adamantane derivatives containing a variety of different functional groups. It is shown that if steric effects are held constant the binding abilities of the adamantane derivatives exhibit a good correlation with the proton affinities of the methyl analogs containing the same functional groups. The results permit the prediction of binding strength of other functional groups with Eu(dpm)3 as well as with Eu(fod)3 and thus can be of great assistance in planning and interpreting the results of experiments with lanthanide shift reagents.
Computers: Their Genesis, Use and Potential:

A general description of the history, contributors, and functions of computers is given. The paper touches on innovations for operations by visually impaired users and the overall relationship betw...
Evaluation and Treatment Patterns of New Low Back Pain Episodes for Elderly Adults in the United States, 2011-2014.

Introduction New low back pain (LBP) is a common outpatient complaint. Little is known about how care is delivered over the course of a year to patients who develop new LBP and whether such care patterns are guideline-concordant. Methods This retrospective analysis included Medicare claims of 162,238 opioid-naive beneficiaries with new LBP from January 1, 2011, through December 31, 2014. Simple rates of modality use [computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (advanced imaging), physical therapy (PT), opioid and nonopioid medications] and percentiles (5th percentile, 25th percentile, median, 75th percentile, and 95th percentile) were reported. Results Within the first year, 29.4% [95% confidence interval (CI), 29.1-29.8] of patients with ≥2 visits for new LBP received advanced imaging, and 48.4% (95% CI, 47.7-49.0) of these patients received advanced imaging within 6 weeks of the first visit; 17.3% (95% CI, 17.1-17.6) of patients with ≥2 visits received PT; 42.2% (95% CI, 41.8-42.5) of patients with ≥2 visits received non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), 16.9% (95% CI, 16.6-17.1) received a muscle relaxant, and 26.2% (95% CI, 25.9-26.6) received tramadol; 32.3% (95% CI, 31.9-32.6) of patients with ≥2 visits received opioids; 52.4% (95% CI, 51.7-53.0) of these patients had not received a prescription NSAID, and 82.2% (95% CI, 81.7-82.7) of these patients had not received PT. Conclusions Many patients who develop new LBP receive guideline nonconcordant care such as early advanced imaging and opioids before other modalities like PT and prescription NSAIDs.
Visualizing cancer extravasation: from mechanistic studies to drug development

Metastasis is a multistep process that accounts for the majority of cancer-related death. By the end of metastasize dissemination, circulating tumor cells (CTC) need to extravasate the blood vessels at metastatic sites to form new colonization. Although cancer cell extravasation is a crucial step in cancer metastasis, it has not been successfully targeted by current anti-metastasis strategies due to the lack of a thorough understanding of the molecular mechanisms that regulate this process. This review focuses on recent progress in cancer extravasation visualization techniques, including the development of both in vitro and in vivo cancer extravasation models, that shed light on the underlying mechanisms. Specifically, multiple cancer extravasation stages, such as the adhesion to the endothelium and transendothelial migration, are successfully probed using these technologies. Moreover, the roles of different cell adhesive molecules, chemokines, and growth factors, as well as the mechanical factors in these stages are well illustrated. Deeper understandings of cancer extravasation mechanisms offer us new opportunities to escalate the discovery of anti-extravasation drugs and therapies and improve the prognosis of cancer patients.
Heterogeneity in Asian American Home-ownership: The Impact of Household Endowments and Immigrant Status

Recently, research has begun to investigate the reasons for differences in homeownership rates between Asians and Whites. This paper extends this research by examining the heterogeneity that exists across Asian groups in the US. We find that there are important differences across geographical area, across time and across groups in the importance of various factors that influence the likelihood of owning a home. After controlling for household mobility and other socioeconomic characteristics, we find that most Asian groups have home-ownership rates similar to those of Whites, but that Chinese households have home-ownership rates 20 percentage points higher than their household characteristics would predict. In part, this may be due to differences in support unmeasured in the data, but future research is needed to fully understand the source of this differential.
Inferring Beliefs from Selected Samples: Evidence from Civil Litigation

In many applications it is standard to assume that economic agents have complete knowledge about the distributions of uncertain outcomes. Often, the most likely source of information that agents will use to infer their beliefs about a particular distribution is the set of observed past realizations. In the case of civil litigation, litigants may base expectations of outcomes at trial on observed jury verdict awards in similar cases. However, economic models of settlement predict that the set of cases going to trial is nonrandom, so using these cases to estimate distributional parameters may cause litigants to make systematic mistakes. I show that when litigants base expectations about the variability of jury awards on observations of completed trials they systematically underestimate the true variability of awards. The model predicts that when litigants settle cases based on biased expectations, the observed variability in cases resolved at trial will be negatively autocorrelated from year to year; otherwise, it follows a random walk. I confirm the autoregressive pattern in award variability empirically using historical data on jury verdicts. These results suggest that economic agents use available information to formulate beliefs even if the information is faulty, and as a result likely make systematic errors in formulating beliefs.
Oil-coated bubble formation from submerged coaxial orifices

Dispersions of bubbles with a compound interface in liquids are ubiquitous in nature and various industrial processes. Here, we experimentally investigate the formation of oil-coated bubbles at submerged coaxial orifices in quiescent liquids. A force balance model is developed to accurately predict the bubble size, which is determined by the revised Bond number, size ratio of the coaxial orifices, and the interfacial tension ratio of oil-water and oil-air interfaces. The results may be useful in estimating the size distribution of oil-coated bubbles as an input to characterize the transport and dynamics of bubbly flows where compound interfaces are present.
Online Dynamic Window (ODW) Assisted 2-Stage LSTM Indoor Localization for Smart Phones

There has been a recent surge of interest on smart phone-based indoor localization due to the urgent need for real-time, accurate, and scalable indoor positioning solutions independent of any proprietary sensors/modules. Existing Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU)-based approaches, typically, use statistical and error prone heading and step length estimation techniques rendering them impractical for robust, real-time and accurate indoor positioning. In this regard, the paper takes one step forward to transfer offline IMU-based models to online positioning frameworks. More specifically, inspired by prominent advances in sequential Signal Processing (SP) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, two near real-time dynamic windowing mechanisms are proposed based on a two stage Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) localization architecture. The two underlying LSTM architectures are trained with 2100 Action Units (AU). Compared to the traditional LSTM-based positioning approaches suffering from either high tensor computation requirements or low accuracy preventing them for real-time deployment, the proposed Online Dynamic Windowing (ODW) assisted two stage LSTM models can perform localization in a real-time fashion. Performance evaluations based on a real Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) dataset shows that the proposed model can achieve exceptional classification accuracy of 97.9% and 95.5% for the two underlying LSTMs.
Adolescent Emotionality and Emotion Regulation in the Context of Parent Emotion Socialization Among Adolescents with Neurodevelopmental Disorders: A Call to Action with Pilot Data

To date, only three studies have examined the role of emotion socialization in the emotional functioning of youth with neurodevelopmental disorders. As such, this review article with pilot data sought to provide a call to action and first step in addressing this limited research body. Pilot data was collected with 18 adolescents (Mage = 13.5, SD = 1.6; 70% male) with a neurodevelopmental disorder and their primary caregiver. All adolescents were diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and displayed a range of comorbid disorders: autism spectrum disorder (27.8%), anxiety (66.7%), depression (44.4%), and disruptive behavior disorders (50%). Adolescents and caregivers completed a conflict discussion task while physiological, observational, and self-report measures of emotion socialization and emotional functioning were measured. Observed supportive parent emotion socialization behaviors were significantly associated with more observed adaptive emotion regulation strategies, and decreased observed and adolescent-reported negative affect, whereas non-supportive emotion socialization behaviors were associated with more observed negative affect and less observed adaptive emotion regulation strategies. Our pilot findings support growing research suggesting that adaptive parent emotion socialization practices can help foster less negative emotionality and better emotion regulation in youth with neurodevelopment disorders. We make a call to action for more emotion socialization research focused on youth with neurodevelopmental disorders, and propose four important directions for future research: 1) Research examining emotion socialization behaviors during daily life, 2) Understanding the nuanced role of emotion socialization practices, 3) Considering diversity in emotion socialization practices with clinical populations, and 4) Longitudinal and intervention research studies.
Engineering cancer microenvironments for in vitro 3-D tumor models

The natural microenvironment of tumors is composed of extracellular matrix (ECM), blood vasculature, and supporting stromal cells. The physical characteristics of ECM as well as the cellular components play a vital role in controlling cancer cell proliferation, apoptosis, metabolism, and differentiation. To mimic the tumor microenvironment outside the human body for drug testing, two-dimensional (2-D) and murine tumor models are routinely used. Although these conventional approaches are employed in preclinical studies, they still present challenges. For example, murine tumor models are expensive and difficult to adopt for routine drug screening. On the other hand, 2-D in vitro models are simple to perform, but they do not recapitulate natural tumor microenvironment, because they do not capture important three-dimensional (3-D) cell–cell, cell–matrix signaling pathways, and multi-cellular heterogeneous components of the tumor microenvironment such as stromal and immune cells. The three-dimensional (3-D) in vitro tumor models aim to closely mimic cancer microenvironments and have emerged as an alternative to routinely used methods for drug screening. Herein, we review recent advances in 3-D tumor model generation and highlight directions for future applications in drug testing.
Biomolecular Crowding Arising from Small Molecules, Molecular Constraints, Surface Packing, and Nano-Confinement

The effect of macromolecular crowding on the structure, dynamics, and reactivity of biomolecules is well established and the relevant research has been extensively reviewed. Herein, we focus our discussion on crowding effects arising from small cosolvent molecules and densely packed surface conditions. In addition, we highlight recent efforts that capitalize on the excluded volume effect for various tailored biochemical and biophysical applications. Specifically, we discuss how a targeted increase in local mass density can be exploited to gain insight into the folding dynamics of the protein of interest and how confinement via reverse micelles can be used to study a range of biophysical questions, from protein hydration dynamics to amyloid formation.
Role and Clinical Consequences of Human UDP-Glucuronosyltransferases

Uridine 5′-diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferases (UGT) are a family of enzymes that catalyze the conjugation of various drugs and endogenous substances. UGTs contribute to multiple important physiologic functions in the body and serve as an important detoxification pathway for certain drugs. In addition to their abundance in the liver and kidneys, UGTs are also expressed in several other organs including the GI tract. Given their importance in the disposition of drugs and their ubiquitous nature, they have the potential to influence the pharmacokinetics and biological effects of drugs. In addition to detoxification, UGTs are also responsible in metabolically activating compounds to reactive metabolites such as the acyl glucuronides that have the potential to covalently bind to macromolecules and elicit deleterious effects. As the cytochrome P450s (CYPs), UGTs are also subject to genetic polymorphisms and drug-drug interactions (DDIs), which can impact the clinical development of drugs. This chapter presents an overview of the role and clinical consequences of metabolism of drugs by UGT. Keywords: UGT; human; metabolism; polymporphism; drug interactions
Evaluation of the Asymptotic Field at Interfaces of Ductile Materials

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the application of the Finite Element Iterative Method (FEIM) for the evaluation of the asymptotic fields at interfaces of dissimilar materials with power law hardening materials.
GBI: A Generalized R-Tree Bulk-Insertion Strategy

A lot of recent work has studied strategies related to bulk loading of large data sets into multidimensional index structures. In this paper, we address the problem of bulk insertions into existing index structures with particular focus on R-trees - which are an important class of index structures used widely in commercial database systems. We propose a new technique, which as opposed to the current technique of inserting data one by one, bulk inserts entire new incoming datasets into an active R-tree. This technique, called GBI (for Generalized Bulk Insertion), partitions the new datasets into sets of clusters and outliers, constructs an R-tree (small tree) from each cluster, identifies and prepares suitable locations in the original R-tree (large tree) for insertion, and lastly performs the insertions of the small trees and the outliers into the large tree in bulk. Our experimental studies demonstrate that GBI does especially well (over 200% better than the existing technique) for randomly located data as well as for real datasets that contain few natural clusters, while also consistently outperforming the alternate technique in all other circumstances.
Study of Parylene penetration into microchannel

This study reports the penetration properties of various Parylenes (i.e., C, N and HT) inside long microchannels. The work broadly covers the effects of the dimer type, loaded dimer mass, substrate temperature and channel size on the penetration length, i.e., the length that Parylene can be deposited into the microchannel from the inlet. Understanding the mechanism of Parylene penetration into microchannel helps to develop mass-producible inner surface protection design and process for microfluidic devices.
Electron optics properties on EB stepper

Nikon has been developing electron projection lithography (EPL), which is eminently suitable for 65nm node technologies and beyond. The electron optics (EO) sub-system, which has been collaborated with IBM and Nikon's original stage/body, have been integrated into the "EB Stepper". We discuss the following EO properties:- 1. Resolution (deflected sub field and on axis sub fleld) 2. Distortion including sub field distortion (within 250μm square area) and main fleld distortion and 3. Stitching (between subfields).
The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale Lacks Validity in Chronic Hemiparetic Stroke.

Background The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) is purported to be associated with long-term outcomes. This study determined the concurrent validity of the NIHSS with the Stroke Impact Scale (SIS), a previously validated measure of health status in chronic stroke survivors. Methods The NIHSS and the SIS were administered to 147 subjects before participation in a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial. A Spearman's rho was used to determine correlations between NIHSS total score and (1) SIS physical dimension scores, (2) SIS overall perception of recovery scores, and (3) the SIS activities and independent activities of daily living (ADL/IADL) scores. SIS score variation and medians between subjects who scored a zero versus a nonzero on the NIHSS was also assessed. Results There was no association between total NIHSS scores and SIS physical dimension scores, SIS overall perception of recovery scores, and SIS ADL/IADL scores ( P = −.036, P = .782; P = −.039, P = .640; P = −.054, P = .520; respectively). Lastly, significant variation and similar median scores on the SIS were found between those scoring a zero on the NIHSS versus those who did not score a zero. Conclusions The NIHSS has no association with health status in chronic stroke and lacks association with measures of impairment and functional limitation. From these findings, we conclude that the NIHSS has poor validity to discern long-term poststroke outcomes and is not associated with health status. Because of possible limitation in the NIHSS's ability to accurately determine outcomes in this population, we recommend restriction of its use to the acute stage of recovery.
Persistent Sexual Side Effects of Finasteride for Male Pattern Hair Loss

ABSTRACT Introduction Finasteride has been associated with reversible adverse sexual side effects in multiple randomized, controlled trials for the treatment of male pattern hair loss (MPHL). The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency of the United Kingdom and the Swedish Medical Products Agency have both updated their patient information leaflets to include a statement that “persistence of erectile dysfunction after discontinuation of treatment with Propecia has been reported in post-marketing use.” Aim We sought to characterize the types and duration of persistent sexual side effects in otherwise healthy men who took finasteride for MPHL. Methods We conducted standardized interviews with 71 otherwise healthy men aged 21–46 years who reported the new onset of sexual side effects associated with the temporal use of finasteride, in which the symptoms persisted for at least 3 months despite the discontinuation of finasteride. Main Outcome Measures The types and duration of sexual dysfunction and the changes in perceived sexual frequency and sexual dysfunction score between pre- and post-finasteride use. Results Subjects reported new-onset persistent sexual dysfunction associated with the use of finasteride: 94% developed low libido, 92% developed erectile dysfunction, 92% developed decreased arousal, and 69% developed problems with orgasm. The mean number of sexual episodes per month dropped and the total sexual dysfunction score increased for before and after finasteride use according to the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale ( P Conclusion Physicians treating MPHL should discuss the potential risk of persistent sexual side effects associated with finasteride. Irwig MS and Kolukula S. Persistent sexual side effects of finasteride for male pattern hair loss.
First Results from the CHARA Array. I. An Interferometric and Spectroscopic Study of the Fast Rotator α Leonis (Regulus)

We report on K-band interferometric observations of the bright, rapidly rotating star Regulus (type B7 V) made with the CHARA Array on Mount Wilson, California. Through a combination of interferometric and spectroscopic measurements, we have determined for Regulus the equatorial and polar diameters and temperatures, the rotational velocity and period, the inclination and position angle of the spin axis, and the gravity darkening coefficient. These first results from the CHARA Array provide the first interferometric measurement of gravity darkening in a rapidly rotating star and represent the first detection of gravity darkening in a star that is not a member of an eclipsing binary system.
Analysis of a viral metagenomic library from 200 m depth in Monterey Bay, California constructed by direct shotgun cloning.

Viruses have a profound influence on both the ecology and evolution of marine plankton, but the genetic diversity of viral assemblages, particularly those in deeper ocean waters, remains poorly described. Here we report on the construction and analysis of a viral metagenome prepared from below the euphotic zone in a temperate, eutrophic bay of coastal California. We purified viruses from approximately one cubic meter of seawater collected from 200m depth in Monterey Bay, CA. DNA was extracted from the virus fraction, sheared, and cloned with no prior amplification into a plasmid vector and propagated in E. coli to produce the MBv200m library. Random clones were sequenced by the Sanger method. Sequences were assembled then compared to sequences in GenBank and to other viral metagenomic libraries using BLAST analyses. Only 26% of the 881 sequences remaining after assembly had significant (E ≤ 0.001) BLAST hits to sequences in the GenBank nr database, with most being matches to bacteria (15%) and viruses (8%). When BLAST analysis included environmental sequences, 74% of sequences in the MBv200m library had a significant match. Most of these hits (70%) were to microbial metagenome sequences and only 0.7% were to sequences from viral metagenomes. Of the 121 sequences with a significant hit to a known virus, 94% matched bacteriophages (Families Podo-, Sipho-, and Myoviridae) and 6% matched viruses of eukaryotes in the Family Phycodnaviridae (5 sequences) or the Mimivirus (2 sequences). The largest percentages of hits to viral genes of known function were to those involved in DNA modification (25%) or structural genes (17%). Based on reciprocal BLAST analyses, the MBv200m library appeared to be most similar to viral metagenomes from two other bays and least similar to a viral metagenome from the Arctic Ocean. Direct cloning of DNA from diverse marine viruses was feasible and resulted in a distribution of virus types and functional genes at depth that differed in detail, but were broadly similar to those found in surface marine waters. Targeted viral analyses are useful for identifying those components of the greater marine metagenome that circulate in the subcellular size fraction.
Synthesis of 4-Diphosphocytidyl-2-C-methyl-d-erythritol and 2-C-Methyl-d-erythritol-4-phosphate

2-C-Methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP, 2) and 4-diphosphocytidyl-2-C-methyl-D-erythritol (CDPME, 3) are metabolites in the MEP pathway for biosynthesis of isoprenoid compounds in bacteria, plant chloroplasts, and algae. The free phosphoacid of 2 was prepared from benzyloxyacetone in five steps with an overall yield of 27% and an enantiomeric ratio (er) of 75:25. Following titration to the corresponding tributylammonium salt, 2 was coupled to cytidine 5'-monophosphate using a protocol originally developed for synthesis of base-sensitive nucleoside diphosphate sugars to give 3 in 40% yield, following purification by size exclusion chromatography.
LAMININ SIKVAV PEPTIDE INDUCTION OF MONOCYTE/MACROPHAGE PROSTAGLANDIN E2 AND MATRIX METALLOPROTEINASES

The laminin-derived synthetic peptide containing the SIKVAV (Ser-Ile-Lys-Val-Ala-Val) amino acid sequence has been previously shown to regulate tumor invasion, metastasis, and angiogenesis. Here, we demonstate that this peptide also modulates human monocyte responses. Moreover, the monocytic responses elicited by this peptide are influenced by the culture conditions. When elutriated monocytes were cultured on SIKVAV substrate or in suspension with this peptide, the synthesis of prostaglandin E2, interstitial collagenase, and gelatinase B was induced and was further enhanced in the presence of concanavalin A (ConA). However, when monocytes were adhered before adding soluble SIKVAV, the peptide alone failed to induce the production of prostaglandin E2 or matrix metalloproteinases. If adherent monocytes were exposed to SIKVAV in the presence of ConA, this peptide enhanced the ConA induced production of these mediators. In contrast to SIKVAV, the intact laminin molecule failed to influence these monocyte responses. This is the first demonstration that a laminin derived peptide is capable of inducing or enhancing monocyte inflammatory responses that may influence a number of biological activities such as wound healing or excessive connective tissue destruction associated with chronic inflammation.
EDUCATIONAL PERFORMANCE STANDARDS: IMAGE OR SUBSTANCE?

competencies of students. Most noticeably, many states and local school districts are in the process of considering or implementing competency standards that students must meet to be eligible for high school graduation. At the classroom level such standards also have been imposed for satisfying certain educational requirements, particularly those set out under the framework of mastery learning. On the surface these developments appear to be a response to several factors including the preoccupation with accountability, concern with declining academic standards, and the rapid diffusion of criterion-based testing techniques. These developments raise a number of rather profound questions, however, with respect to both educational and social policy. On what basis will such standards be constructed, and how will they be assessed? How will they affect the functioning of schools? What is the long-term effect of using educational performance standards on the distribution of occupational attainments and earnings? These are not new questions, but they have surely been left in the shadows of the more ambitious discussions of measurement issues. In this presentation I wish to focus primarily on the basis by which performance standards are set rather than on measures of their attainment. I also wish to review some of the social and economic implications of utilizing such standards. In order to address these issues, I will provide a brief philosophical perspective for the later discussion. Second, I will discuss the nature of the standards themselves and their implications. Finally, I will suggest an interpretation of the recent preoccupation with performance standards and criterion-referenced testing which suggests that their importance might be much less substantive than symbolic. Before proceeding, I should note that educational performance standards can be employed at two different levels. They can be used to ascertain student proficiencies for purposes of setting out individualized programs of instruction at the classroom level, that is, to assist in the process of instruction. Alternatively, they can be used to determine whether students have met minimal levels of competency for obtaining such educational certificates as high school diplomas, or for access to subsequent educational opportunities and to career openings. I will focus only on the latter use of educational performance standards, that is, to certify that students have the competencies or that
Does active mantle upwelling help drive plate motions

Abstract Earth's lithospheric plates are driven partly by shear tractions exerted on their base by viscous coupling to convective mantle flow. While downwelling flow associated with descent of subducted lithosphere has been well established as a driver of plate motions, the plate-driving role of upwelling flow is more controversial. We used a numerical mantle flow model to predict present-day plate motions driven by various combinations of upwelling and downwelling flow. We obtain a good fit to observed plate motions using flow driven only by downgoing mantle slabs, whose densities can be inferred either from the tectonic history of subduction or from positive velocity anomalies extracted from mantle tomography. Introducing upwelling flow (driven by negative density anomalies inferred from slow seismic velocity anomalies) to this slab-driven flow field generally degrades the fit to plate motions, and an acceptable fit that includes active upwelling requires amplitudes of mantle density heterogeneity that are at the low end of the accepted range (tomography to density conversion factor = 0.05 g cm−3 km−1 s). Because such small amplitudes lead to a deficit of slab material in the mantle, we infer that downwelling flow is a more significant driver of plate motions than upwelling flow. This conclusion can be reconciled with the presence of low-velocity anomalies in the lower mantle if upwelling flow does not couple effectively to plate motions, or if these low-velocity anomalies represent chemical differentiation of the lower mantle and thus do not drive upwelling flow.
Comparison of Fish Meal and Soybean Meal in the Prevention of Fatty Liver-Hemorrhagic Syndrome in Caged Layers

Abstract TWO experiments, of five weeks each, were designed to study the effect of protein source and level of dietary protein on hepatic and plasma lipids and incidence of liver hemorrhagein caged laying hens. Experiment 1 compared equicaloric (3.1 kcal/g) and isonitrogenous (12.5%) corn-fish meal and corn-soybean diets. An equicaloric 16.5% protein corn-soybean diet was included to assess the effect of dietary protein level. Fatty Iiver-hemorrhagic syndrome was induced under ad libitum feeding in birds fed the corn-soybean diet. The corn-fish meal diet reduced (P Influence of dietary protein source was reevaluated in Experiment 2 and the effect of adding selenium (0.3 mg/kg as Na2 SeO3) or a combination of trace elements (As, Br, Cr, F, Mo, Ni, Sn, V) to the corn-soybean diet on liver lipid accumulation examined. Results with respect to dietary protein source were similar to the previous experiment. Neither selenium nor the combination of trace elements had a significant effect on hepatic and plasma lipids. Adding selenium to the corn-soybean diet reduced incidence of liver hemorrhage to the same level as that observed with the corn-fish meal diet.
Scanning tunneling microscopy of the organic conductors (TMTSF)2X (X = ClO4-, ReO4-)

Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images of the (001) face (ab face) of the organic conductors (TMTSF){sub 2}X (TMTSF = tetramethyltetraselenafulvalene; X = ClO{sub 4}{sup {minus}}), ReO{sub 4}{sup {minus}} reflect the surface molecular corrugation and anisotropic stacking of TMTSF molecules along the [100] direction. The lattice constants of the (001) face determined from STM for (TMTSF){sub 2}ClO{sub 4} are a = 7.3 {plus_minus} 0.2 {Angstrom}, b = 7.8 {plus_minus} 0.2 {Angstrom}, and {gamma} = 69.5 {plus_minus} 2{degrees}, and for (TMTSF){sub 2}ReO{sub 4} they are a = 7.5 {plus_minus} 0.2 {Angstrom}, b = 8.1 {plus_minus} 0.2 {Angstrom}, and {gamma} = 70 {plus_minus} 2{degrees}, in excellent agreement with the known crystal structure. Height profile analysis of the tunneling current assigned to localized TMTSF electronic states is in agreement with the angle between the (001) face and the direction of the short axis of the TMTSF molecules. The STM images also are consistent with the high degree of electronic anisotropy of (TMTSF){sub 2}ClO{sub 4}, with a broad electronic state density associated with the pseudo-one-dimensional TMTSF stacks and a highly localized state density associated with Se-Se contacts between stacks along the [110] direction. The results are corroborated by STM of isomorphous (TMTSF){sub 2}ReO{sub 4} whichmore » exhibits negligible tunneling current associated with the Se-Se states, in agreement with the slightly larger Se-Se interstack distances in this compound. The lack of tunneling current in the interstack region of (TMTSF){sub 2}ReO{sub 4} signifies reduced electronic interaction transverse to the stacking direction, consistent with previously reported electronic properties of (TMTSF){sub 2}ReO{sub 4}. The results indicate that STM of a crystal plane can detect subtle differences in electronic structure that are responsible for bulk electronic properties in these materials. 39 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab.« less
Nonreconstruction approach for road following

This paper presents a new approach for vision-based autonomous road following. By building on a recently developed optical-flow-based theory, we suggest that motion commands can be generated directly from a visual feature, or cue, consisting of the projection into the image of the tangent point on the edge of the road, along with the optical flow of this point. Using this visual cue, there is no need to reconstruct the 3-D scene, and the related computations are relatively simple. We suggest some vision-based partial control algorithms for both circular and non-circular roads.
Kinematics of the knee at high flexion angles: An in vitro investigation

Restoration of knee function after total knee, meniscus, or cruciate ligament surgery requires an understanding of knee behavior throughout the entire range of knee motion. However, little data are available regarding knee kinematics and kinetics at flexion angles greater than 120 degrees (high flexion). In this study, 13 cadaveric human knee specimens were tested using an in vitro robotic experimental setup. Tibial anteroposterior translation and internal-external rotation were measured along the passive path and under simulated muscle loading from full extension to 150 degrees of flexion. Anterior tibial translation was observed in the unloaded passive path throughout, with a peak of 31.2+/-13.2 mm at 150 degrees. Internal tibial rotation increased with flexion to 150 degrees on the passive path to a maximum of 11.1+/-6.7 degrees. The simulated muscle loads affected tibial translation and rotation between full extension and 120 degrees of knee flexion. Interestingly, at high flexion, the application of muscle loads had little effect on tibial translation and rotation when compared to values at 120 degrees. The kinematic behavior of the knee at 150 degrees was markedly different from that measured at other flexion angles. Muscle loads appear to play a minimal role in influencing tibial translation and rotation at maximal flexion. The results imply that the knee is highly constrained at high flexion, which could be due in part to compression of the posterior soft tissues (posterior capsule, menisci, muscle, fat, and skin) between the tibia and the femur.
The effect of parental interaction on learning from television

This study investigates the relationship between the amount of learning which occurs in children during normal home television viewing and the presence of parental interaction during viewing situations. It was found that when parents interacted with their child about the content of prime time TV programs, incidental learning from television was significantly enhanced. In addition, television was found to be a significant source of information about social roles for which children have no real‐life knowledge.
Applications of robots in rehabilitation

Abstract The ability to manipulate objects in our environments is an important human characteristic. The use of a single multipurpose device, such as a robot, offers significant advantages over a variety of assistive devices and tools. This article supports the use of robots by disabled persons and rehabilitation applications of robots. Vocational applications and independent living applications are featured. Independent living uses of robots which have actually been implemented cover a wide variety of daily living tasks. Although most uses of robots in rehabilitation environments consists of robots designed for other uses (e.g. industrial, educational), some development projects have been undertaken and are also presented here. The technological issues (e.g. sensors, end effectors, and alternative human control of robots) and nontechnological issues (e.g. cost effectiveness, acceptance, and safety) which affect the design, development, modification, and use of robots in rehabilitation are also reviewed.
Metal-insulator transition in highly disordered carbon fibers

The electronic transition from localized to delocalized states of carriers in a disordered carbon material is investigated by photoconductivity measurements. Phenol-derived activated carbon fibers, where the carriers are strongly localized due to disorder, are heat treated in the range 300–2500 °C to give rise to the insulator-metal transition. Dark conductivity, Raman spectra, and x-ray diffraction patterns are also measured to characterize their structural changes. As a result, the transition temperature was determined to be rather low, around 1000 °C, considering the rapid decrease in the photoconductivity above this temperature. This decrease was ascribed to a fast recombination between the photoexcited carriers and the delocalized carriers generated by heat treatment.
A Novel Protein Kinase C (PKCϵ) Is Required for fMet-Leu-Phe-induced Activation of NF-κB in Human Peripheral Blood Monocytes

Abstract We have reported that the chemoattractant, fMet-Leu-Phe (fMLP), induces the activation of NF-κB in human peripheral blood monocytes and that this requires the activity of small GTPase, RhoA (Huang, S., Chen, L.-Y., Zuraw, B. L., Ye, R. D., and Pan, Z. K. (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276, 40977-40981). Here we showed that the novel protein kinase C isozyme, PKCϵ, associates functionally with RhoA in fMLP-stimulated monocytes and that PKCϵ acted as a signaling component downstream of the GTPase RhoA during fMLP-induced activation of NF-κB. Stimulation of monocytes with fMLP resulted in activation of both PKCϵ and NF-κB. This latter activation was largely blocked by specific inhibitors of PKCϵ by transient expression of a dominant-negative form of PKCϵ and by PKCϵ-specific short interfering RNA. These findings demonstrate, for the first time, that fMLP-induced activation of NF-κB utilizes a signaling pathway, which requires activity of PKCϵ, and that PKCϵ acts as a signaling component downstream of RhoA in cytokine gene transcription stimulated by a chemoattractant. The specificity of this response suggests an important role for the Rho GTPase-PKCϵ-NF-κB pathway in host defense and represents a novel and potentially important mechanism through which fMLP not only attracts leukocytes but may also contribute directly to inflammation.
An Immersed Boundary and Material Point Methodology for Moving/Compliant Surfaces With Heat Transfer

Simulations of flow and heat transfer in complex geometries with flow-structure-interaction (FSI) require special treatment. In this paper, an approach that combines the immersed boundary method (IBM) for handling complex moving boundaries and the material point method (MPM) for resolving structural stresses and movement is presented as an approach for solving FSI problems. In the IBM, a Cartesian grid is generally defined, and the variable values at grid points adjacent to a non-Cartesian boundary are forced or interpolated to satisfy the boundary conditions. MPM is used to solve equations of solid structure (stresses and deflection) and communicates with the fluid through appropriate interface-boundary conditions. Several examples of using this combination of IBM&MPM are presented and the advantages and disadvantages of this approach are outlined.Copyright © 2006 by ASME
Near-Field Characteristics of a Jet With a Coil-Insert Injector

Simultaneous time resolved measurements of two components of turbulent velocity and their cross moments are made at the exit and downstream of an axisymmetric jet with a coil-insert injector. The coil-insert injector is a coil shaped tube with ratios of coil diameter, pitch spacing and length to the jet inside diameter of 0.1, 1.0, and 1.5 respectively. The coil had three round holes of 0.2 mm diameter at the middle of each pitch for radial injection. The volume flow ratios of the radial blowing to the axial flow were 0.075, 0.10, 0.125, and 0.15. Results indicate that the radial blowing enhances asymmetry and increased generation of turbulence intensities at the jet outlet. However, increased entrainment and mixing between the injected flow and the axial flow reduces the asymmetry downstream, resulting in relatively constant intensities in the region with high axial momentum.Copyright © 2006 by ASME
Bayesian Extensions to a Basic Model of Software Reliability

A Bayesian analysis of the software reliability model of Jelinski and Moranda is given, based upon Meinhold and Singpurwalla. Important extensions are provided to the stopping rule and prior distribution of the number of defects, as well as permitting uncertainty in the failure rate. It is easy to calculate the predictive distribution of unfound errors at the end of software testing, and to see the relative effects of uncertainty in the number of errors and in the detection efficiency. The behavior of the predictive mode and mean over time are examined as possible point estimators, but are clearly inferior to calculating the full predictive distribution.
Structural, electronic, and magnetic properties of 3d transition-metal aluminides with equiatomic composition.

First-principles calculations have been performed to study the chemical bonding trends and the phase stability of 3[ital d] transition-metal (TM) aluminides with equiatomic composition. The physical mechanisms for ordering in both the [ital L]1[sub 0] and [ital B]2-type aluminides are presented. It is shown that the dominant factor for early TM aluminides is the directional bonding between the [ital d] orbitals of TM atoms, whereas for late TM aluminides, charge transfer and hybridization between Al [ital s] and [ital p] states, and TM [ital d] states play more important roles in the bonding mechanism and the properties of lattice defects. Our calculations also show the existence of a ferromagnetic phase for MnAl in the [ital L]1[sub 0] structure, which is stabilized by the formation of a magnetic moment on the Mn sites (with a value of 2.0 [mu][sub [ital B]]). The chemical trends in the structural stability and heats of formation of 3[ital d] TM aluminides are found to correlate well with the densities of states at the Fermi level.
Optical flow using spatiotemporal filters

A model is presented, consonant with current views regarding the neurophysiology and psychophysics of motion perception, that combines the outputs of a set of spatiotemporal motion-energy filters to estimate image velocity. A parallel implementation computes a distributed representation of image velocity. A measure of image-flow uncertainty is formulated; preliminary results indicate that this uncertainty measure may be used to recognize ambiguity due to the aperture problem. The model appears to deal with the aperture problem as well as the human visual system since it extracts the correct velocity for some patterns that have large differences in contrast at different spatial orientations.
Social acceptance of psychiatric illness and psychiatric treatment

Successful re-integration of former psychiatric patients into the community rests upon social acceptance of such persons. A set of empirical studies is widely interpreted as supporting a high degree of indigenous community rejection of the mentally ill. An examination of the conceptual structure underlying these studies indicates bias in favor of a rejection interpretation; the same data can be interpreted as reflecting a high degree of indigenous acceptance. Analysis of new evidence on social acceptance of the mentally ill within a community dominated by the presence of a state mental hospital indicates that social acceptance of the mentally ill is positively related to exposure to psychiatric processing systems. When differences in measurement within the research design are considered, it appears that exposure to inpatient treatment systems may also lead to greater community optimism about the effectiveness of such systems. The analyses support an incremental pattern of community acceptance of psychiatric patients with the accumulation of exposure over time.
The equilibrium composition of hydroxyapatite and fluorapatite—water interfaces

Abstract Chemical models describing the composition of the aqueous phase in equilibrium with hydroxy-apatite and fluorapatite solids have been established. The effect of atmospheric CO 2 contamination on the composition of these interfaces has been demonstrated. From these models, the amount of acid or base needed to maintain a given pH, the potential determining ions, and the points of zero net charge could be determined. Thus, the point of zero net charge for hydroxyapatite in water at equilibrium is at pH 8.65, which shifts to pH 7.05 if the system is allowed to contact atmospheric carbon dioxide. For fluorapatite the point of zero net charge is at pH 6.45 when air is present. Various aspects of apatite dissolution are also discussed.
Collaborative services for infants and toddlers with disabilities: perspectives from professionals in an urban setting

This study describes issues and challenges faced by 10 Early Head Start (EHS) programs in collaborating with their early intervention (EI) partners serving young children with disabilities and their families in an urban setting. It examined the perspectives of direct service providers and directors from 10 EHS programs regarding the process of developing Individualized Family Service Plans. It was evident that scheduling difficulties, getting everyone together and the use of at least two sets of documents for goal‐setting across programs were the major challenges in coordinating services for children and families dually enrolled in EHS and EI. EHS staff felt it critical not to overwhelm families with multiple meetings, personnel and requirements. EHS directors need to collaborate with their EI counterparts to develop consistent and family‐friendly policies and practices to promote partnerships among EHS, EI and families, thereby promoting and enhancing positive child and family outcomes.