cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Novel Approach for Deriving LAI of Salt Marsh Vegetation Using Structure From Motion and Multiangular Spectra

The leaf area index (LAI) is a structural parameter that plays a major role in modeling the exchange of energy, carbon dioxide, water, and other matter between plants and their surrounding environment. Direct means of measuring LAI are time-intensive and laborious, making indirect LAI retrieval methods desirable. In this study, we developed a method for retrieving structural metrics of erectophile plants that relies on open-source structure from motion software. We achieved this using a novel goniometer system to simultaneously retrieve high-resolution digital imagery and bidirectional spectroscopy measurements of Spartina alterniflora in a laboratory environment during both ${{ peak}}$ and ${{ late}}$ growing season. Retrieved LAI metrics correlated well with directional measurements of the Modified Chlorophyll Absorption Ratio Index 2 (MCARI2). Across all planting densities, the magnitude of the MCARI2 exhibited a high degree of variance, which depended on sensor viewing angle. MCARI2 values in the peak growing season were significantly higher. This result suggests that the MCARI2 metric is sensitive to seasonal changes in plant growth and senescence. We observed a high correlation between the $\text{LAI}_{\text{contact}}$ values and the Total MCARI2 metric for the ${{ peak}}$ growth state plantings of $R^2 = 0.9$ , suggesting that summing multiple directional measurements of MCARI2 potentially provides a more accurate assessment of LAI and compensates for observed variance in MCARI2 as a function of sensor orientation. Future work will focus on validating the observed effects across a broader range of plant species.
Reality Bites: Rhetoric and the Circulation of Truth Claims in U.S. Political Culture

When legacy media, panicked politicians, political commentators, and scholars expressed shock, outrage, and disbelief that Donald J. Trump had emerged victorious in 2016’s presidential contest, the...
Precision Medicine and Complexity

The term “magic bullet” was introduced in 1900 by Paul Ehrlich who formed an idea that it could be possible to kill specific microbes (such as bacteria) that cause diseases without harming the body itself – chemical specificity – and his work led to the first antibiotic treatment of syphilis. Hope for chemically specific magic bullets would triumph again in the Precision Medicine Initiative launched in 2015. It is based on the dominant model of carcinogenesis – somatic mutation theory. It is a reductionist approach focused on the individual cell(s) and while progress has been made, this narrow approach has faced difficulties such as tumor heterogeneity and plasticity and development of tumor cell resistance. Similar problems have been observed in the field of synthetic biology where there have been ‘inexplicable” failures of molecular and genetic devices to function as designed when tested in vivo, i.e., a new context. What is missing is the intervention x context interaction where the abnormal (or synthetic) gene is the “intervention.” Conceptualizing cancer as a dynamic complex system that emerges from the microenvironment in which it is embedded can help explain these observations. If correct, this raises questions about the possibility of precision medicine for cancer and other conditions as well because the behavior of a complex system is not entirely predictable. Moreover, the dynamic nature of the systems makes for moving targets and sets limits to the degree of precision we can hope for. Understanding the patient’s context is as much precision medicine as it should be practiced by physicians as anything molecular and maybe more so. To truly appreciate the context requires heart as well as head. This is the complexity of patient care and as long as humans need care, we will need doctors. The term silver or magic bullet continues to be used today and a sense of optimism demands that we must recognize that magic comes in different forms and bullets can vary in caliber.
Post-endodontic Flare-ups after a Single-visit Treatment Using the FUI Scoring Method and Associated Factors: A Clinical Prospective Study.

AIM Flare-ups following a root canal treatment are still a major problem both to the patient and to the clinician. Its definition, etiology, incidence, and risk factors have been the subject of long-standing debate. We conducted this study to investigate the incidence of flare-ups after a single-visit treatment and to identify the factors associated with the flare-up index (FUI). MATERIALS AND METHODS All patients treated by postgraduate residents in endodontic specialty at Saint Joseph University of Beirut from June 2018 to January 2019 were invited to participate in the study. After a routine root canal treatment, patients were given a questionnaire to fill after 24 hours-48 hours-7 days, covering a postoperative assessment of symptoms using the visual analogue scale (VAS) and FUI. Patients who experienced a severe postoperative pain and/or swelling were identified and categorized as having a flare-up. RESULTS A total of 423 patients (age: 39.76 ± 12.428 years) were included in the study. The incidence of flare-up was 1.9%. The mean FUI was 5.94 ± 5.646 and was highly correlated with the VAS score (p 24 hours) before treatment (p < 0.001), and tooth type (p = 0.013). CONCLUSION FUI should be used in further studies to confirm our results since it is a valid quantitative method to assess this clinical phenomenon. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Endodontists should take into consideration the diagnosis and the history of preoperative symptoms since it plays an important role in predicting the occurrence of flare-ups and the success of the treatment.
Effect of COVID-19 on Surgical Training Across the United States: A National Survey of General Surgery Residents.

Introduction COVID-19 emerged as a global pandemic in 2020 and has affected millions of lives. Surgical training has also been significantly affected by this pandemic, but the exact effect remains unknown. We sought to perform a national survey of general surgery residents in the United States to assess the effect of COVID-19 on surgical resident training, education, and burnout. Methods An anonymous online survey was created and distributed to general surgery residents across the United States. The survey aimed to assess changes to surgical residents’ clinical schedules, operative volume, and educational curricula as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we sought to assess the impact of COVID-19 on resident burnout. Results One thousand one hundred and two general surgery residents completed the survey. Residents reported a significant decline in the number of cases performed during the pandemic. Educational curricula were largely shifted toward online didactics. The majority of residents reported spending more time on educational didactics than before the pandemic. The majority of residents feared contracting COVID-19 or transmitting it to their family during the pandemic. Conclusions COVID-19 has had significant impact on surgical training and education. One positive consequence of the pandemic is increased educational didactics. Online didactics should continue to be a part of surgical education in the post-COVID-19 era. Steps need to be taken to ensure that graduating surgical residents are adequately prepared for fellowship and independent practice despite the significantly decreased case volumes during this pandemic. Surgery training programs should focus on providing nontechnical clinical training and professional development during this time.
Knowledge sharing in hospitality organizations: A meta-analysis

Abstract Knowledge sharing plays a crucial role in how hospitality organizations gain a sustainable competitive advantage. Using meta-analytic examinations based on 275 relationships from 54 primary studies, the current study proposes an integrative framework at both an employee and organizational level. Accordingly, this study comprehensively investigates the relations of knowledge sharing with its antecedents and consequences at both levels by synthesizing effect size estimates. Also, this study supplementarily conducts full-information meta-analytic structural equation modeling to examine the causality of proposed relationships. This study further examines the moderating roles of certain sub-dimensions of knowledge sharing and regions in each relationship of knowledge sharing with its predictors and outcomes. Based on findings derived from robust meta-analytic procedures, the authors identify several important patterns of findings. This study provides an advanced understanding of the nomological network of knowledge sharing in the hospitality organizational context.
Distance-based Reconstruction of Protein Quaternary Structures from Inter-Chain Contacts

Predicting the quaternary structure of a protein complex is an important and challenging problem. Inter-chain residue-residue contact prediction can provide useful information to guide the ab initio reconstruction of quaternary structures of protein complexes. However, few methods have been developed to build quaternary structures from predicted inter-chain contacts. Here, we introduce a new gradient descent optimization algorithm (GD) to build quaternary structures of protein dimers utilizing inter-chain contacts as distance restraints. We evaluate GD on several datasets of homodimers and heterodimers using true or predicted contacts. GD consistently performs better than a simulated annealing method and a Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation method. Using true inter-chain contacts as input, GD can reconstruct high-quality structural models for homodimers and heterodimers with average TM-score ranging from 0.92 to 0.99 and average interface root mean square distance (I-RMSD) from 0.72 [A] to 1.64 [A]. On a dataset of 115 homodimers, using predicted inter-chain contacts as input, the average TM-score of the structural models built by GD is 0.76. For 46% of the homodimers, high-quality structural models with TM-score >= 0.9 are reconstructed from predicted contacts. There is a strong correlation between the quality of the reconstructed models and the precision and recall of predicted contacts. If the precision or recall of predicted contacts is >20%, GD can reconstruct good models for most homodimers, indicating only a moderate precision or recall of inter-chain contact prediction is needed to build good structural models for most homodimers. Moreover, the accuracy of reconstructed models positively correlates with the contact density in dimers and depends on the initial model and the probability threshold of selecting predicted contacts for the distance-based structure optimization.
High Temporal and Spatial Nitrate Variability on an Alaskan Hillslope Dominated by Alder Shrubs

Abstract. In Arctic ecosystems, increasing temperatures are driving the expansion of nitrogen (N) fixing shrubs across tundra landscapes. The implications of this expansion to the biogeochemistry of Arctic ecosystems is of critical importance, yet many details about the form, location, and availability of N from these shrubs remain unknown. To address this knowledge gap, the spatiotemporal variability of nitrate (NO3−) and its environmental and edaphic controls were investigated at an alder (Alnus viridis spp. fruticosa) dominated permafrost tundra landscape in the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, USA. Soil pore water was collected from locations within alder shrubland growing along a well-drained hillslope and compared to soil pore water collected from locations outside (upslope, downslope, and between) the alder shrubland. δ15N and δ18O of soil pore water were consistent with the predicted range of NO3− produced through microbial degradation of N-rich alder shrub organic matter. Soil pore water collected within alder shrubland had an average NO3− concentration of (4.27 ± 8.02 mg L−1) and differed significantly from locations outside alder shrubland (0.23 ± 0.83 mg L−1; p
PLANC: Parallel Low-rank Approximation with Nonnegativity Constraints

We consider the problem of low-rank approximation of massive dense nonnegative tensor data, for example, to discover latent patterns in video and imaging applications. As the size of data sets grows, single workstations are hitting bottlenecks in both computation time and available memory. We propose a distributed-memory parallel computing solution to handle massive data sets, loading the input data across the memories of multiple nodes, and performing efficient and scalable parallel algorithms to compute the low-rank approximation. We present a software package called Parallel Low-rank Approximation with Nonnegativity Constraints, which implements our solution and allows for extension in terms of data (dense or sparse, matrices or tensors of any order), algorithm (e.g., from multiplicative updating techniques to alternating direction method of multipliers), and architecture (we exploit GPUs to accelerate the computation in this work). We describe our parallel distributions and algorithms, which are careful to avoid unnecessary communication and computation, show how to extend the software to include new algorithms and/or constraints, and report efficiency and scalability results for both synthetic and real-world data sets.
Practical Model Checking on FPGAs

Software verification is an important stage of the software development process, particularly for mission-critical systems. As the traditional methodology of using unit tests falls short of verifying complex software, developers are increasingly relying on formal verification methods, such as explicit state model checking, to automatically verify that the software functions properly. However, due to the ever-increasing complexity of software designs, model checking cannot be performed in a reasonable amount of time when running on general-purpose cores, leading to the exploration of hardware-accelerated model checking. FPGAs have been demonstrated to be promising verification accelerators, exhibiting nearly three orders of magnitude speedup over software. Unfortunately, the “FPGA programmability wall,” particularly the long synthesis and place-and-route times, block the general adoption of FPGAs for model checking. To address this problem, we designed a runtime-programmable pipeline specifically for model checkers on FPGAs to minimize the “preparation time” before a model can be checked. Our design of the successor state generator and the state validator modules enables FPGA-acceleration of model checking without incurring the time-consuming FPGA implementation stages, reducing the preparation time before checking a model from hours to less than a minute, while incurring only a 26% execution time overhead compared to model-specific implementations.
An artificial molecular pump

When supplied with redox energy, a dumbbell-shaped molecule can take small charged molecules from solution and thread them around an oligomethylene chain.
The iconoclasm of Oliver Cromwell Cox and the critique of white supremacy

Oliver Cox was a towering, radical, historical, and economic sociologist. He dared to criticize Robert Park, the doyen of race relations in the American academy of his day, at a time when it was not politic to do so. He was unfazed by the unpopularity of Marxism, claiming a commitment to socialism and a radical orientation at the height of the McCarthy purges of radical intellectuals and communists. These acts of intellectual defiance placed Cox firmly on the margins of American sociology and sealed his fate in the academy as an outsider. The marginalization of Cox was not simply confined to the United States, but extended to his native Trinidad, and for that matter the wider Caribbean. Despite his incredible contribution to the discipline of sociology, he is largely unknown in Caribbean intellectual circles. This article focuses on Cox’s path-breaking work in the area of race relations. The essay ends with a discussion of Cox’s legacy and what Caribbean academics, intellectuals, and students could learn ...
A Sociolinguistic Assessment Model for Bilingual Education: A Case Study

This study focuses on the testing of a sociolinguistic assessment model in a bilingual community in north-central Colorado. The model illustrates a collaborative effort between the school and community in the formulation of language policy, and selection of a bilingual education program. The model assesses the sociolinguistic parameters of the bilingual community, identifies the maintenance or transfer status of Spanish in the community, and evaluates the degree of ethnic homogeneity between parents and teachers.
Fourteen polymorphic microsatellite DNA markers for the human malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax

We have optimized a set of 14 polymorphic microsatellite markers for the human malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax, all of them consisting of either tri- or tetranucleotide repeats. These markers, whose polymerase chain reaction amplification conditions are identical, were used to screen 25 parasite isolates from malaria-endemic areas in Sri Lanka. The total number of alleles per locus ranged between 6 and 13 (average, 7.8), and expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.627 to 0.913 (average, 0.790). These markers are now being used to characterize the population structure of P. vivax in other endemic areas.
Vacancy-driven orbital and magnetic order in (K,Tl,Cs) y Fe 2 − x Se 2

We investigate the effects of the $\sqrt{5}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\sqrt{5}$ Fe vacancy ordering on the orbital and magnetic order in (K,Tl,Cs)${}_{y}$Fe${}_{2\ensuremath{-}x}$Se${}_{2}$ using a three-orbital (${t}_{2g}$) tight-binding Hamiltonian with generalized Hubbard interactions. We find that vacancy order enhances electron correlations, resulting in the onset of a block antiferromagnetic phase with large moments at smaller interaction strengths. In addition, vacancy ordering modulates the kinetic energy differently for the three ${t}_{2g}$ orbitals. This results in a breaking of the degeneracy between the ${d}_{xz}$ and ${d}_{yz}$ orbitals on each Fe site, and the onset of orbital order. Consequently, we obtain a novel inverse relation between orbital polarization and the magnetic moment. We predict that a transition from high-spin to low-spin states accompanied by a crossover from orbitally-disordered to orbitally-ordered states will be driven by doping the parent compound with electrons, which can be verified by neutron scattering and soft x-ray measurements.
Chapter 25 – Indian blood group system

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the Indian (IN) blood group system. The history, terminology, expression, database accession numbers, and the carrier molecule related to the IN blood group system are reviewed. The function and disease association of the IN blood group system is also discussed. CD44 is an adhesion molecule in lymphocytes, monocytes and other tumor cells. It is involved in immune stimulation and signaling between cells. Joint fluid from patients with inflammatory synovitis has higher than normal levels of soluble CD442. Serum CD44 is elevated in some patients with lymphoma.
Measurement of the 12C(n, gamma 0)13C cross section in the giant dipole resonance region.

The $^{12}\mathrm{C}$(n,${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{0}$${)\mathrm{}}^{13}$C excitation function at 90\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} has been measured for neutron energies from 6.5 to 18.5 MeV. Whereas previous measurements disagreed at the lower energies with a direct-semidirect capture calculation based on $^{12}\mathrm{C}$(p,${\ensuremath{\gamma}}_{0}$${)\mathrm{}}^{13}$N data, the present results, especially when the uncertainty in absolute cross section is considered, indicate reasonable qualitative agreement with the calculation.
Parity Mixing in 16 O

It was pointed out about ten years ago1 that a very sensitive way to search for parity nonconservation in rryyuclei is to look for an alpha branch from the 8.88-MeV sate in 16O in the delayed alpha spectrum following the s decay of 16N. Figure 1 shows the energy level diagram. Previous attempts2–4 to detect this decay mode found Γ ≤ 10−8 eV, which implies an upper limit F2 ≲ 2 × 10−12 for the intensity of the opposite-parity component in the wave function. We have repeated this experiment, using new techniques which have improved the sensitivity by at least an order of magnitude.
Racial Resentment and Vote Choice in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election

The victory of Barack Obama over John McCain in the 2008 presidential election marked a historic and pivotal moment in American politics. Many observers interpreted the election as heralding a new “post racial” politics. However, others noted that even though short-term forces were overwhelmingly pro-Democratic in 2008, Obama's overall vote among white voters barely increased on the share received by John Kerry in 2004. This study uses data from the American National Election Study to examine the effect of the racial attitudes—specifically racial resentment—of whites on vote choice in the 2008 presidential election. Findings show that racial resentment exerted a large influence on vote choice, one that was only exceeded by party identification. Furthermore, the effect of racial resentment was greater than in any prior election for which data on racial resentment is available. La victoria de Barack Obama sobre John McCain en las elecciones presidenciales del2008 marco un momento historico y sustancial en la politica americana. Muchos observadores interpretaron el resultado de la eleccion como el inicio de una nueva etapa “post-racial” en la politica. Sin embargo, hay quienes senalan que aunque hubo fuerzas a favor de los democratas durante el 2008, la popularidad de Obama entre los votantes blancos aumento ligeramente con respecto a la proporcion recibida por John Kerry en el 2004. Este articulo usa datos tomados del American National Election Study para examinar los efectos de la actitud racial-especificamente el resentimiento racial- de votantes blancos en la eleccion presidencial del 2008. Los resultados muestran que el resentimiento racial ejercio un efecto significativo en la eleccion electoral, siendo superado solo por la afiliacion partidaria. Ademas, el impacto del resentimiento racial fue mayor que cualquier otra eleccion para la cual se tiene informacion al respecto.
Representation of African Easterly Waves in CMIP5 Models

AbstractAfrican easterly waves (AEWs) can act as seed disturbances for tropical cyclones (TCs) in the Atlantic, and changes in future AEW activity may have important consequences for development of TCs. The simulation of AEWs was investigated using output from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) suite of experiments, including coupled historical and future simulations and atmosphere only (AMIP) simulations. Large biases exist in the simulation of low- (850 hPa) and midlevel (700 hPa) eddy kinetic energy (EKE, a proxy for AEW activity) in AMIP and historical simulations. CMIP5 models simulate excessive EKE and deficient rainfall south of 17°N. The same biases exist in historical and AMIP models and are not a consequence of errors in sea surface temperatures. The models also struggle to accurately couple AEWs and rainfall, with little improvement from CMIP3 models. CMIP5 models are unable to propagate AEWs across the coast and into the Atlantic, which is shown to be related to the r...
Structure and Reaction Pathways of Methyl Pyruvate on Pd(111)

The surface chemistry of methyl pyruvate is studied on a clean Pd(111) surface by using a combination of temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and reflection−absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS). It is found that methyl pyruvate adsorbs molecularly at low temperatures with an orientation that changes depending on coverage. At low coverages, it adsorbs with its molecular plane parallel to the surface, while as the coverage increases it bonds perpendicular to the surface in a trans conformation. The perpendicular form desorbs molecularly at ∼205 K, while a portion of the flat-lying form desorbs at between 270 and 300 K, and the reminder thermally decomposes. This appears to take place via an initial C−OCH3 bond scission to form adsorbed pyruvate species that decompose at higher temperature to form acetyl and acyl species along with ethylidyne.
Treatment of polycystic kidney disease with a novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor

Treatment of polycystic kidney disease with a novel tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Background We have previously demonstrated an essential role for increased epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activity in mediating renal cyst formation and biliary epithelial hyperplasia in murine models of autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD). This study was designed to determine whether or not treatment with a newly developed inhibitor of EGFR tyrosine kinase activity (EKI-785) would reduce renal and biliary abnormalities in murine ARPKD. Methods Balb/c-bpk/bpk (BPK) litters were treated with EKI-785, an EGFR-specific tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Animals were treated by intraperitoneal injection beginning at postnatal day 7 and were treated until postnatal day 24 or 48. EKI-785's effectiveness was measured by a reduction in the renal cystic index, an increased life span, and maintenance of normal renal function. Results Treatment of BPK mice with EKI-785 resulted in a marked reduction of collecting tubule (CT) cystic lesions, improved renal function, decreased biliary epithelial abnormalities, and an increased life span. Untreated cystic animals died of renal failure at postnatal day 24 (P-24) with a CT cystic index of 4.8, a maximal urine osmolarity of 361 mOsm, and moderate to severe biliary abnormalities. Cystic animals treated with EKI-785 to postnatal day 48 (P-48) were alive and well with normal renal function, a reduced CT cystic index of 2.0 ( P P P Conclusion This study demonstrates that EKI-785 has therapeutic effectiveness in improving histopathologic abnormalities and decreasing mortality in murine ARPKD.
Skill development and cognitive approaches to educating young children

Abstract A variety of early childhood education programs have been established in the last decade that differ markedly in their philosophical and theoretical foundations. This article illustrates how distinct foundations are reflected in all program variables in a unified program. Two unified early childhood education programs are contrasted: a skill development program based upon behaviorist theory, and a cognitive growth program based upon cognitive developmental theory. Implications of unified programs for classroom behavior and the school psychologist are discussed.
Infectious nucleic acid from a transmissible agent causing gastroenteritis in pigs.

Abstract Infectious nucleic acid has been isolated from two stock TGE virus preparations. Infectivity of the nucleic acid for pigs and cell culture was inactivated by ribonuclease, but not by deoxyribonuclease. Phenol extraction procedures removed a myxo-like virus associated with both TGE virus isolates. However, a cytopathogenic agent has been isolated from the nucleic acid preparations, from faeces of nucleic acid infected pig and brains of infected mice. The agent is common to both TGE isolates, but serologically different from the myxo-like agent associated with untreated TGE virus isolates. Pigs that are infected with this agent do not have the severe signs associated with transmissible gastroenteritis. Preliminary evidence indicates that such pigs are protected against a challenge with TGE virus. These experiments proved that the cytopathogenic TGE virus isolates used in these experiments were mixed virus populations.
Response speeds and response times of urban police patrol cars in Ottawa, Canada

When planning or simulating the operations of radio patrol cars, it is necessary to know the response time and response speed. In the present work the response speed was measured for downtown and surburban cars in order to facilitate computer simulations of patrol operations. Recorders were installed in the cars and records of dispatch delay, travel time, distance, response time, service time, and percentage of time per shift answering calls, were kept. Curves (which may be of general application) were fitted to the data for each parameter. The most probable average speed of the downtown car was 16 mph and of the suburban cars, 25 mph and 27 mph. Because of different average distances, however, the response times were comparable. Good agreement was found berween average travel times calculated from a formula given by R.C. Larson and travel times found experimentally in the present work.
An Evaluation of Acoustic Doppler Velocimeters as Sensors to Obtain the Concentration of Suspended Mass in Water

During the last two decades, acoustic Doppler velocimeters (ADVs) and other acoustic sensors have been used by researchers in the ocean science community to acquire information on current velocity and turbulence. More recently, acoustic backscatter systems (ABS) and acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) have been investigated for their use in determining sediment concentrations and particle sizes. Acoustic systems tend to be less prone to biofouling than optical turbidity sensors, and the high-frequency velocity measurements allow for a direct estimation of turbulence by the flux of particulate materials. This work investigates the responses of two commercially available ADVs to changes in mass concentrations of particles. A careful laboratory characterization of each sensor’s response to concentrations of three different size classes of polymer beads is evaluated and compared with the predicted response from acoustic scattering theory. Within uncertainties, experimental results are shown to agree with theory and these results demonstrate that, if the basic acoustic properties of the scatterers are known or if a local, vicarious calibration is performed, then ADV-type sensors can provide a robust estimate of particle concentrations from the measured acoustic return.
Relation Between Symptom Duration Before Thrombolytic Therapy and Final Myocardial Infarct Size

Background Myocardial salvage is most likely to occur when thrombolytic therapy is administered within 4 to 6 hours of the onset of symptoms of myocardial infarction. The impact of delays within this early time period on final myocardial infarct size are unknown. The purpose of this study was to quantitate the relation between final myocardial infarct size and duration of symptoms before initiation of thrombolytic therapy in patients treated within 6 hours of symptom onset. Methods and Results The findings from patients in four prospective randomized trials of thrombolytic therapy were combined for analysis. The study population consisted of 432 patients presenting within 6 hours of onset of symptoms of first acute myocardial infarction who met ECG criteria that allowed estimation of myocardial area at risk before treatment with thrombolytic therapy and who had thallium-201 myocardial infarct–size measurements performed several weeks after infarction. ECG analysis revealed no difference in myocardium at risk for infarction as a function of duration of symptoms before initiation of thrombolytic therapy. In contrast, univariate and multivariate analysis showed that final infarct size was highly dependent on duration of symptoms before initiation of therapy. Each 30-minute increase in symptom duration before thrombolytic therapy was associated with an increase in infarct size of 1% of the myocardium. Final infarct size in patients treated 4 to 6 hours after symptom onset was indistinguishable from patients who did not receive thrombolytic therapy. Conclusions These findings suggest that for patients treated within 4 to 6 hours of the onset of symptoms, there is a progressive decline in the extent of myocardium salvaged as the duration of symptoms before therapy increases. These results support efforts to minimize the time delay between symptom onset and initiation of reperfusion therapy in all eligible patients.
Neurologic Complications and Considerations in HIV-Infected Persons

Neurologic complications for HIV-infected persons retain significant prevalence despite an increasingly global use of antiretroviral therapies. Such complications are often ascribed to advanced immunosuppression; however, the most common neurologic problems for HIV-infected persons, distal sensory polyneuropathy and HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders, affect a significant proportion of patients who have successfully achieved immunologic restoration with normal or near-normal CD4 count levels and undetectable HIV RNA in the periphery. Understanding specific considerations for HIV-associated complications, including the epidemiology, risk factors, medication-adverse effects, and benefits of appropriate management, is vital for all providers caring for those with HIV. This review will describe such considerations, as well as providing a more detailed review of the most common neurologic complications of HIV infection, and will highlight some of the challenges involved with diagnosis, management, and long-term effects.
Systematics of the autoicous species of Ditrichum subg. Ditrichum

The taxonomy of six species of the moss genusDitrichum subgenusDitrichum, comprising all of the known species from North America, has been reviewed. Specific characters have been reevaluated, distributional patterns were studied, and a key included which emphasizes diagnostic characters not previously stressed. Two species,D. rufescens, andD. montanum have tropical American affinities. In addition two species-pairs are recognized, each pair consisting of a diploid and tetraploid species with haploid chromosome numbers of 13 and 26 respectively.D. schimperi, a West Coast tetraploid species, appears to be more closely related toD. henryi, a diploid species which is restricted essentially to the Appalachian and Alleghanian Uplands.D. pallidum, a widespread species of the east, is a tetraploid and has a Coastal Plain counterpart inD. curritucki, a closely related diploid species. Cytological, geographical, and morphological observations are discussed.
Stress corrosion cracking of sensitized Type 304 stainless steel in thiosulfate solution: I. Fate of the coupling current

This work explores the fate of the coupling current generated during stress corrosion cracking of sensitized Type 304 stainless steel (304SS) in thiosulfate solution at ambient temperature. The coupling current, which is generated inside the crack, may be consumed (as required by charge conservation) by cathodic reactions at two different locations: inside the crack (e.g., on the crack flanks) and on the external surfaces. Experiments were conducted using sensitized Type 304SS compact tension specimens C(T) modified to provide external surfaces isolated from the specimen itself, so that the coupling current flowing between the crack and the external cathode could be directly monitored using a zero-resistance ammeter. The results demonstrate that significant coupling current flows from the crack to the external surface, consistent with the differential aeration hypothesis for localized corrosion. Coupling current data from specimens heat treated at 650 °C for 4, 14, and 24 h show that 4 h of sensitizing heat treatment apparently does not induce significant sensitization, while 14 h of heat treatment is sufficient to produce a fully sensitized microstructure, equivalent to that obtained after 24 h of heating. Finally, the crack was determined to grow via discrete microfracture events at the crack front with a dimension of the order of the grain size. The observations are more consistent with crack growth being due to a hydrogen induced fracture mechanism rather than slip/dissolution.
ICOS is essential for the development of experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis

Lymphocyte costimulation via the inducible costimulatory molecule (ICOS) is required for effective humoral immunity development. Following immunization with Torpedo acetylcholine receptor (AChR), ICOS gene knockout (KO) mice were highly resistant to clinical experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis (EAMG) development, had less serum AChR-specific immunoglobulins (Igs), and exhibited a diminutive germinal center (GC) reaction in secondary lymphoid tissues. Lymphocyte proliferation and both Th1 and Th2 differentiation in response to AChR and the AChR dominant alpha146-162 peptide were inhibited by the ICOS gene deficiency. ICOS-mediated lymphocyte costimulation is thus vital to the induction of T cell-mediated humoral immunity to AChR and the development of clinical EAMG.
User Presence and Antenna Efficiency Effects on MIMO Link Performance

We discuss in this paper the effects of antenna efficiency in the presence of a user and on the performance of a multiple-input multiple-output system. The investigation is carried out in different usage scenarios where the antenna efficiency changes significantly from one scenario to another. The propagation channel is defined to include the 3D antenna electromagnetic properties with the 3GPP spatial channel model. We then investigate at a link level using a Long Term Evolution (LTE) link simulator where the antenna and the user are integrated into the link. The analyses are based on channel correlation, channel power transfer factor, and the link throughput. We show the importance of accurately accounting for the antenna efficiency for realistic MIMO link performance. We also show that accounting for the antenna efficiency is a weighted factor defined by the antenna pattern behavior.
Poly(fluorenevinylene) Copolymers Containing Bis(phenyl)oxadiazole and Triphenylamine Moieties: Synthesis, Photophysics, and Redox and Electroluminescent Properties

New fluorescent fluorenevinylene copolymers incorporating bis(phenyl)oxadiazole, triphenylamine, or both moieties were synthesized, characterized, and used as the emissive materials in efficient electroluminescent diodes. In dilute solutions, the copolymers had blue-green fluorescence with high quantum yields of 0.76−0.87. All the copolymers had high glass transition temperatures (Tg = 147−160 °C) and outstanding thermal stability. Light emitting diodes based on the neat copolymer thin films showed bright greenish-yellow electroluminescence, with luminances of up to 1360 cd/m2, originating mostly from intramolecular charge-transfer excited states due to the presence of the donor/acceptor moieties in the copolymers. However, dilute (approximately 5 wt %) binary blends of the copolymers with poly(vinyl carbazole) gave stable blue electroluminescence (CIE = 0.17, 0.16) with higher luminances (1770−3400 cd/m2) and luminous efficiencies of up to 1.34 cd/A.
Developing fibrolipoma of the free gingiva.

Abstract The lipoma, or one of its variants, is a fairly common tumor. However, it is of uncommon occurrence in the oral cavity, and it is exceptionally rare in the gingiva. Such a lesion of the free gingiva has been presented and discussed in detail. Although the uniqueness of this lesion makes its classification difficult, it is identified as a developing fibrolipoma.
Cardiovascular effects of potential occupational hazards

Cardiovascular effects of potential occupational hazards have received relatively little attention. The major inhalant occupational exposures of concern are carbon disulfide, nitrates, halogenated hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide. Occupational exposure to certain trace metals may also be associated with adverse cardiovascular effects. Of concern is potential toxicity from cobalt, antimony, lead, cadmium and arsenic. Potential physical hazards exist in association with noise, heat and radiofrequency radiation. In most instances, the data are suggestive rather than conclusive. Further epidemiologic studies with careful control for potentially complicating factors, such as baseline differences in blood pressure, cigarette smoking habits and age, are needed. In some areas where epidemiologic studies have provided clues, the mechanisms of action of potential occupational hazards require further basic scientific investigation.
Effects of prey species on development and reproduction of the predator Lyctocoris campestris (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae).

The effects of selected prey species on life history characteristics of Lyctocoris campestris (F.), a predator of stored-product insects, were examined in the laboratory at 30 ± 1°C, 70 ± 5% RH, and 16:8 (L:D) h. Newly emerged nymphs (n = 40) were reared singly on each of eight prey species and followed through all life stages until the predator died. Prey consisted of final instars of test species that were killed by freezing. Life table statistics were used to compare the predator's potential dynamics on different prey regimes. Developmental period of nymphs was the longest (27.8 d) on Trichoplusia ni (Hubner), a nonstored-product pest, followed by Trogoderma variabile Ballion (25.7 d), Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) (25.3 d), Oryzaephilus surinamensis (L.) (24.8 d), Lasioderma serricorne (F.) (24.3 d), Plodia interpunctella (Hubner) (22.6 d), Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (21.8 d), and the shortest on Cadra cautella (Walker) (21.6 d), all stored-product pests. The proportion of nymphs surviving to adulthood was also affected by prey species. Prey species significantly affected the preoviposition period of the adult females. The preoviposition period was shortest on P. interpunctella (9.0 d), and longest on T. variabile (16.9 d). Oviposition period did not differ among the eight prey species tested. Total fecundity was higher on C. cautella , P. interpunctella , and T. variabile than on L. serricorne , T. castaneum , R. dominica , and O. surinamensis ; and lowest on T. ni . There was a strong correlation (r = 0.753) between oviposition period and fecundity across all species. Oviposition rate (number of eggs per female/d) was highest on P. interpunctella (4.3), and lowest on T. ni (1.99), giving finite rates of increase (λ) of 1.0757 and 1.0379, respectively. Life table statistics showed that P. interpunctella , T. castaneum , C. cautella , and L. serricorne were the most suitable prey for L. campestris , followed by T. variabile , O. surinamensis , and R. dominica , with T. ni least suitable.
Advanced sine wave modulation of continuous wave laser system for atmospheric CO 2 differential absorption measurements

In this theoretical study, modulation techniques are developed to support the Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) mission. A continuous wave (CW) lidar system using sine waves modulated by maximum length (ML) pseudo-noise (PN) codes is described for making simultaneous online/offline differential absorption measurements. Amplitude and phase-shift keying (PSK) modulated intensity modulation (IM) carriers, in addition to a hybrid-pulse technique are investigated, which exhibit optimal autocorrelation properties. A method is presented to bandwidth limit the ML sequence based on a filter implemented in terms of Jacobi theta functions, which does not significantly degrade the resolution or introduce sidelobes as a means of reducing aliasing and IM carrier bandwidth.
Effect of Surfactant Concentration on Particle Nucleation in Emulsion Polymerization of n-Butyl Methacrylate

The effect of surfactant concentration on particle nucleation in emulsion polymerization of n-butyl methacrylate has been studied using sodium dodecyl sulfate as the surfactant and potassium persulfate as the initiator. The rates of reaction as a function of time were determined for surfactant concentrations above and below critical micelle concentration of the surfactant. The order of dependence of the particle number on the surfactant concentration was found to be different in different ranges of surfactant concentration. This has been explained on the basis of the predominant phenomenon that affects particle nucleation in each range of surfactant concentration. In the range where the end of particle nucleation is determined by a critical surfactant coverage necessary for colloidal stability, the particle number is expected to increase in proportion to the third power of the surfactant concentration. It has been shown how a size-dependent volumetric growth-rate of particles can result in different expon...
The role of child-centered perspectives in a model of parenting

Abstract The mediating role of mothers’ child-centered perspectives was examined in a longitudinal study of 323 children. The conceptual model of parenting was tested to determine whether maternal perspectives mediated the relations between the parenting resources of social support, child-rearing history, and self-esteem and the child's developmental level with parenting behavior. This conceptual model was compared to alternative models using structural equation modeling. Results indicate that mothers’ perspectives directly related to parenting behavior in two different contexts as well as mediated the relations between maternal resources and behavior. Maternal self-esteem also mediated the relation between social support and child-rearing history with child-centered perspectives. Results support the importance of examining child-centered perspectives as an influence on parental competence as well as the importance of examining how parenting resources interrelate with one another to impact parenting behavior.
Dipeptide forms of glycine support mouse preimplantation embryo development in vitro and provide protection against high media osmolality

To examine potential benefits of dipeptide forms of amino acids for embryo culture by determining ability of dipeptide glycine forms to support embryo development, act as osmolytes, and reduce ammonia production. Frozen thawed 1-cell mouse embryos were cultured in media with varying osmolality with glycine and dipeptide forms of glycine and development assessed. Ammonia levels were measured in various media. Dipeptide forms of glycine, alanyl- and glycyl-glycine, can support mouse embryo development in vitro. Additionally, dipeptide glycine can act as an organic osmolyte in developing embryos, permitting blastocyst formation in high osmolality media. Interestingly, as evidenced by decreased embryo development, dipeptides are not as efficient as osmolytes as their constituent individual amino acids. Dipeptide glycine produced less ammonia than glycine. Though dipeptides can provide osmoregulation in preimplantation embryos, efficacy may be lower than individual amino acids. The mechanism by which embryos transport and utilize dipeptide amino acids remains to be identified.
Spitzer Orbit Determination During In-orbit Checkout Phase

The Spitzer Space Telescope was injected into heliocentric orbit on August 25, 2003 to observe and study astrophysical phenomena in the infrared range of frequencies. The initial 60 days was dedicated to Spitzer's "In-Orbit Checkout (IOC)" efforts. During this time high levels of Helium venting were used to cool down the telescope. Attitude control was done using reaction wheels, which in turn were de-saturated using cold gas Nitrogen thrusting. Dense tracking data (nearly continuous) by the Deep Space network (DSN) were used to perform orbit determination and to assess any possible venting imbalance. Only Doppler data were available for navigation. This paper deals with navigation efforts during the IOC phase. It includes Dust Cover Ejection (DCE) monitoring, orbit determination strategy validation and results and assessment of non-gravitational accelerations acting on Spitzer including that due to possible imbalance in Helium venting.