cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Particle Lifetimes in Strong Diffusion.

The mean lifetime τ of a particle distribution, driven to isotropy by intense pitch-angle diffusion, is calculated by analytical means for conditions applicable to the Earth's magnetosphere. The resulting algebraic expressions reduce to τ≈[64La/35vα c 2 (1−η)] in the limit of a small equatorial loss cone (half-angle α c ), wherev is the particle speed,L is the magnetic shell parameter,a is the radius of the Earth, and η is the particle albedo from the atmosphere at either foot of the field line. Distinction is made in the full expressions for τ between complete isotropy (caused by strong pitch-angle diffusion all along the field line) and incomplete isotropy (caused by strong diffusion that is localized at the magnetic equator) over the upward hemisphere in velocity space.
Differential regulation of dendrite complexity by AMPA receptor subunits GluR1 and GluR2 in motor neurons.

Activity-dependent developmental mechanisms in many regions of the central nervous system are thought to be responsible for shaping dendritic architecture and connectivity, although the molecular mechanisms underlying these events remain obscure. Since AMPA glutamate receptors are developmentally regulated in spinal motor neurons, we have investigated the role of activation of AMPA receptors in dendritic outgrowth of spinal motor neurons by overexpression of two subunits, GluR1 and GluR2, and find that dendrite outgrowth is differentially controlled by expression of these subunits. Overexpression of GluR1 was associated with greater numbers of filopodia, and an increase in the length and complexity of dendritic arbor. In contrast, GluR2 expression did not alter dendritic complexity, but was associated with a moderate increase in length of arbor, and decreased numbers of filopodia. Neither GluR1 nor GluR2 had any effect on the motility of filopodia. In addition, GluR1 but not GluR2 expression increased the density of dendritic puncta incorporating a GFP-labeled PSD95, suggesting that GluR1 may mediate its effect in part by augmenting the number of excitatory synapses within motor neuron dendrites. Together these results suggest that in spinal motor neurons, AMPA receptors composed of GluR1 subunits may facilitate neurotrophic mechanisms in these neurons, permitting sustained dendrite outgrowth and synaptogenesis, whereas expression of AMPA receptors containing GluR2 acts to preserve existing dendritic arbor. Thus, the observed downregulation of GluR1 in motor neurons during postnatal development may limit the formation of new dendrite segments and synapses, promoting stabilized synaptic connectivity. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol, 2008
Exactly alternating silarylene‐siloxane polymers. 4. Step‐growth polymerization reactions with dichlorosilane monomers

A series of alternating silarylene-siloxane polymers of moderate molecular weights was prepared by the step-growth polymerization reactions of 1,4-bis(dimethylhydroxysilyl) benzene and three different dichlorosilanes: methylphenyldichlorosilane, dimethyldichlorosilane, and methylvinyldichlorosilane. The reactions were monitored by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The polymers were characterized by 1H-and 13C-NMR spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermogravimetric analysis. Polymers with number-average degrees of polymerization ranging from 90 to 350, based on the use of polystyrene standards in GPC analysis, were obtained. For the two homopolymers and a series of copolymers that contained either or both dimethylsiloxyl and methylphenylsiloxyl units, the glass temperatures and thermal stabilities increased substantially with increasing methylphenylsiloxyl unit content.
StealthTest: Low Overhead Online Software Testing Using Transactional Memory

Software testing is hard. The emergence of multicore architectures and the proliferation of bugprone multithreaded software makes testing even harder. To this end, researchers have proposed methods to continue testing software after deployment, e.g., in vivo (IV) testing and Delta Execution (DE) patch testing. These on-line techniques typically fork new processes to hide the functional impact of testing. Unfortunately, the high overhead of fork() significantly degrades performance. To reduce the performance overhead of online testing, we adapt transactional memory (TM) to isolate the functional effects of tests with minimal impact on system performance. We propose StealthTest, an interface that exposes TM transactions as the key mechanism for executing tests. It allows online tests to work on a consistent view of memory without the overhead of creating new processes. Moreover, explicitly aborting the test transaction after it is done guarantees that its changes are invisible to the rest of the system. Thus, StealthTest promises transparent online testing. We demonstrate two test frameworks utilizing StealthTest — StealthIV and StealthDE — that improve on previously proposed fork-based in vivo testing and Delta Execution frameworks respectively. Implementing StealthTest on top of three software TM (STM) systems — TL2 STM, Intel STM and a Pin-based STM— we demonstrate that StealthTest-based frameworks can (a) run a wide range of online tests and (b) execute many more tests with low overhead. StealthTest provides another motivation for efficient TM implementations by extending TM’s applicability to a critical software engineering challenge.
Clear-Air Turbulence and Sporadic E Activity

Pilots' reports of clear-air turbulence correlate inferentially with sporadic E activity observed by backscatter radar. A cursory survey was made of 19 reports of turbulence between 1 and 20 August 1964 over the western United States; all but three correlate with sporadic E patches.
Performance of a polarization isolation enhancement method in the presence of errors

A radar measurement system designed to obtain complete backscatter polarization matrix data requires an antenna with feed structures that excite two orthogonal polarizations (or two orthogonally polarized antennas for quasi-backscatter measurement). Unfortunately, due to construction tolerances and the laws of electromagnetics, there will be coupling between the polarization excitation ports. The result is that the actual polarizations produced are really not orthogonal. However, it is possible to characterize the coupling in such a way that it can be cancelled to a degree through a calibration procedure. Such a procedure has been developed for a linearly polarized system. The author examines the effect of measurement error on the successful application of that method. The results show that while the technique will certainly provide degraded performance in the presence of errors, useful improvement in polarization isolation can be obtained under practical measurement conditions. >
Transport-theory based multispectral imaging with PDE-constrained optimization

We introduce here a transport-theory-based PDE-constrained multispectral imaging algorithm for direct reconstruction of the spatial distribution of chromophores in tissue. The method solves the forward and inverse problems simultaneously in the framework of a reduced Hessian sequential quadratic programming method. The performance of the new algorithm is evaluated using numerical and experimental studies involving tumor bearing mice. The results show that the PDE-constrained multispectral method leads to 15-fold acceleration in the image reconstruction of tissue chromophores when compared to the unconstrained multispectral approach and also gives more accurate results when compared to the traditional two-step method.
Energy-conscious, deterministic I/O device scheduling in hard real-time systems

Energy consumption is an important design parameter for embedded and portable systems. Software-controlled (or dynamic) power management (DPM) has emerged as an attractive alternative to inflexible hardware solutions. However, DPM via I/O device scheduling for real-time systems has not been considered before. We present an online I/O device scheduler, which we call low-energy device scheduler (LEDES), for hard real-time systems that reduces the energy consumption of I/O devices. LEDES takes as inputs a predetermined task schedule and a device-usage list for each task and it generates a sequence of sleep/working states for each device such that the energy consumption of the device is minimized. It also guarantees that real-time constraints are not violated. We then present a more general I/O device scheduler, which we call multistate constrained low-energy scheduler (MUSCLES), for handling I/O devices with multiple power states. MUSCLES generates a sequence of power states for each I/O device while guaranteeing that real-time constraints are not violated. We present several realistic case studies to show that LEDES and MUSCLES reduce energy consumption significantly for hard real-time systems.
Latency of uncrossed and of crossed reaction in callosal agenesis.

Abstract A patient with callosal agenesis manifested no pathological delay in crossed reaction time to unilateral stimulation. This is most readily explicable if cerebral hemisphere control of movement were bilateral in this case.
Awareness, perceptions and use of snus among young adults from the upper Midwest region of the USA

Background Since its introduction in 2006, snus has been aggressively marketed by tobacco companies. However, little is known about the awareness, perceptions and use of snus among young adults after Camel and Marlboro snus were sold nationwide in 2010. Methods Data were collected from 2607 young adults (ages 20–28) who participated in the Minnesota Adolescent Community Cohort Study in 2010–2011. Data include awareness of snus, ever and past 30-day use, perceived potential of snus as a quit aid, and perceived harmfulness and addictiveness of snus relative to cigarettes. The authors assessed the associations between these outcome variables and socio-demographic characteristics. Results Overall, 64.8% of participants were aware of snus, 14.5% ever used snus and 3.2% used snus in the past 30 days. Men and participants who smoked >100 cigarettes in their lifetime were associated with these three outcomes (p Conclusions In this regional sample of US young adults, the majority of young adults were aware of snus, and over one in 10 had used snus. More young adults in the sample than the overall US adult population believed that snus is less harmful than cigarettes. Perceptions of snus are associated with snus use. Strategic health communication interventions targeting young adults to confront the positive perceptions associated with snus may be needed to curb the interest in snus.
Oreonax- Not a Genus

Abstract We summarize our re-examination and extension of the Groves (2001) parsimony analysis of Woolly monkeys, genus Lagothrix, which led him to conclude that the species flavicauda is not most closely related to lagotricha but to Ateles, the Spider monkeys. As a consequence, Groves further proposed that the Yellow-tailed woolly monkey should be assigned to a separate genus, Oreonax, previously erected by Oldfield Thomas (1927). Our analysis, while closely following his methods, samples a greater diversity of species and sub-species representing all the living ateline genera and makes minor revisions in Groves' data matrix of craniodental characteristics. With this broader analysis we show that Groves' cladistic results cannot be replicated except by duplicating his study using only a restricted range of taxa. A more wide ranging taxonomic sampling fails to link consistently flavicauda and other ateline species, in any particular cladogram topology, while the overall craniodental morphology of flavicau...
Impact of network activity levels on the performance of passive network service dependency discovery

Network services often depend on other services distributed throughout a network to function correctly. If a service fails, is disrupted, or is degraded, it is likely to impair other services. The web of dependencies can be surprisingly complex—especially within a large enterprise network—and evolve over time. Acquiring, maintaining, and understanding dependency knowledge is critical for many network management and cyber defense activities, such as cyber mission mapping. While automation can improve situation awareness for network operators and cyber practitioners, poor detection performance reduces their confidence and can complicate their roles. In this paper, we study the effects of network activity levels on the detection performance of passive network-based service dependency discovery methods. The performance of all methods except for one were inconsistent with respect to network activity levels. Our proposed cross-correlation method was particularly robust to the influence of network activity. The proposed experimental treatment will further advance a more scientific evaluation of methods and provide a foundation to determine their operational boundaries.
Introduction to TMLE

This is the second chapter in our text to deal with estimation.We started by defining the research question. This included our data, model for the probability distribution that generated the data, and the target parameter of the probability distribution of the data. We then presented the estimation of prediction functions using super learning. This leads us to the estimation of causal effects using the TMLE. This chapter introduces TMLE, and a deeper understanding of this methodology is provided in Chap. 5. Note that we use the abbreviation TMLE for targeted maximum likelihood estimation and the targeted maximum likelihood estimator. Later in this text, we discuss targeted minimum loss-based estimation, which can also be abbreviated TMLE.
Perspectives on Spoken and Written Language: Evidence from English Speaking Children

In this chapter, we consider the relations between spoken and written language in American English, and how they change across the school-age years as children develop linguistic literacy. Our approach is to investigate monolingual English speaking children’s spoken and written language using two different types of language tasks: standardized language tests assessing phonology, vocabulary, morphology and syntax; and written and spoken personal narratives that are analyzed for language structure (morphology and syntax) and language use (narrative structure). These data provide a better understanding of: (1) the relations between spoken and written language at different levels of linguistic complexity both in isolation and within naturalistic language environments; (2) the relations between performance on standardized tests and language as it is used in more natural settings; and (3) across all settings, how these relations change over the school-age period.
Pulse-Echo Imaging With X Wave

Limited diffraction beams have a large depth of field. They could have applications in medical imaging,1,2 tissue characterization,3 nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of materials,4 Doppler velocity measurement,5 as well as other areas such as optics6 and electromagnetics.7
Political regimes and the future of the First Amendment

Fifty years ago the political scientist Robert Dahl concluded that courts are usually in sync with “the policy views dominant among the lawmaking majorities” and thus offer little help to aggrieved minorities (Dahl, 1957, p. 285). In recent years, Dahl's classic formulation has received renewed attention. This chapter uses the example of the Rehnquist Court's First Amendment decisions to analyze “regime politics” theory. On religion cases the Rehnquist Court was generally in sync with the socially conservative strain in the Republican Party, but in other First Amendment areas the pattern is far more complex, raising questions about the relationship between conservative judges and the political movements that brought them to office.
Stacking Fault Energies, Crystal Elasticity and Their Relation to the Mechanical Properties of L12-Ordered Alloys

First-principles calculations of the stacking fault energies of Ni3Al, and the linear elastic constants of Ni3Al and Pt3Al are presented. The anomalous (positive) temperature dependence of flow stress in Ni3Al and its absence in Pt3Al are fully rationalized in terms of the present results and cross-slip pinning mechanism. It is found that the elastic shear anisotropy factor plays an equally (or even more) important role than the anisotropy of antiphase-phase boundary energy in determining the plastic flow behavior of L12-ordered alloys.
PleaseTM: Enabling transaction conflict management in requester-wins hardware transactional memory

With recent commercial offerings, hardware transactional memory (HTM) has finally become an important tool in writing multithreaded applications. However, current offerings are commonly implemented in a way that keep the coherence protocol unmodified. Data conflicts are recognized by coherence messages sent by the requester to sharers of the cache block (e.g., a write to a speculatively read line), who are then aborted. This tends to abort transactions that have done more work, leading to suboptimal performance. Even worse, this can lead to live-lock situations where transactions repeatedly abort each other. In this paper, we present PleaseTM, a mechanism that allows more freedom in deciding which transaction to abort, while leaving the coherence protocol design unchanged. In PleaseTM, transactions insert plea bits into their responses to coherence requests as a simple payload, and use these bits to inform conflict management decisions. Coherence permission changes are then achieved with normal coherence requests. Our experiments show that this additional freedom can provide on average 43% speedup, with a maximum of 7-fold speedup, on STAMP benchmarks running at 32 threads compared to requester-wins HTM.
Peripheral Venous Platelet Aggregates in Patients With Unstable Angina Pectoris and Acute Myocardial Infarction

In vivo peripheral venous platelet aggregates (PVPA) have been demon strated in patients with myocardial infarction (MI), transient cerebral ischemic attacks (TIAs), and acute arterial insufficiency by the platelet count ratio (PCR) method. But PVPA determinations have not been reported in patients with unstable angina pectoris (UA), controls have not been specified as acutely ill in earlier studies using this technique, and variability of the method has not been presented in detail. Because platelet aggregation has been mentioned as a possible mechanism for perpetuating myocardial ischemia, we studied 21 acutely ill noncardiac control (NC) patients, 17 UA patients, and 13 MI patients for PVPA.PCR represents ratio of platelet counts obtained when identical aliquots of blood were drawn into two syringes containing formalin-EDTA and EDTA respectively. Free flow was demonstrated before blood was drawn. Mean PCR was 0.90 ± 0.01 (SE) in NC, 0.85 ± 0.02 in UA, and 0.85 ± 0.02 in MI. In the subset of 7 patients ...
Desing Optimization for the Housing of Screw Compressor

In the process of products′ development,the housing is analyzed and optimized using ANSYS and SYSNOISE,so the vibration control,noise reduction and stable operation can be realized efficiently.It was presents the simulation and optimization method for the housing's strength,stiffness,dynamic response and acoustic radiation of a screw compressor.
Influences of age and exercise on glucose metabolism: implications for management of older diabetics

The well-characterized decline in glucose tolerance during aging is due primarily to impaired insulin-mediated glucose uptake in peripheral tissues. Elderly persons with reduced insulin sensitivity are predisposed to the development of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), which is common in the geriatric population. Numerous studies suggest that exercise and physical training increase insulin sensitivity in young adult and middle-aged nondiabetics, older subjects with impaired glucose tolerance, and middle-aged persons with NIDDM. These investigations provide presumptive evidence that elderly persons with NIDDM may benefit from exercise training, although no published studies have specifically addressed the effects of exercise in older diabetics. Physical activity may also be effective in preventing the development of NIDDM. In addition, exercise training improves several cardiovascular risk factors, such as plasma lipid abnormalities, hypertension, and obesity. The risks of exercise in older diabetics include hypoglycemia in insulin-treated patients, exacerbation of preexisting cardiovascular disease, and worsening of long-term diabetic complications. Any exercise prescription in the older diabetic must be individualized to the patient's physical capabilities, limitations, and preferences.
Parameters for abolishing conditioned place preference for cocaine from running and environmental enrichment in male C57BL/6J mice

Rationale Evidence suggests that 4 weeks of voluntary wheel running abolishes conditioned place preference (CPP) for cocaine in male C57BL/6J mice. Objectives To determine the duration and timing of exposure to running wheels necessary to reduce CPP, and the extent to which the running per se influences CPP as compared to environmental enrichment without running. Methods A total of 239 males were conditioned for 4 days twice daily with cocaine (10 mg/kg) and then split into 7 intervention groups prior to 4 days of CPP testing. Experiment 1 consisted of two groups housed as follows: short sedentary group (SS; n = 20) in normal cages for 1 week; the short running group (SR; n = 20) with running wheels for 1 week. Experiment 2 consisted of five groups housed as follows; short 1 week of running followed by a 3 week sedentary period (SRS; n = 20); a 3 week sedentary period followed by 1 week of running (SSR; n = 20); long sedentary group (LS; n = 66) in normal cages for 4 weeks; long running group (LR; n = 66) with running wheels for 4 weeks; and long environmental enrichment group (EE; n = 27) with toys for 4 weeks. Results Levels of running were similar in all running groups. Both running and environmental enrichment reduced CPP relative to sedentary groups. Conclusions Results suggest that the abolishment of cocaine CPP from running is robust and occurs with as low as 1 week of intervention but may be related to enrichment component of running rather than physical activity.
Limits to policy-led innovation and industry development in US biofuels

ABSTRACTRenewable energy industries that replace fossil fuels with biomass-based alternatives are at the forefront of a shift to and an advanced bioeconomy. In the United States, government policies promote second-generation liquid biofuels that use non-food feedstocks like switchgrass to foster industry development. Although government policies and related industry activity created a market niche for switchgrass biofuels, geographic, technical, and institutional barriers limit industry development and regional branching. Policy alone has not been enough to disrupt an industry path dominated by corn-based production. Formation of a switchgrass-based biofuel industry depends on stabilisation of production around a series of inter-related process innovations. Unlike corn-based biofuels, switchgrass and other cellulosic biofuels have no single existing related industry value chain to use to resolve coordination problems. The experience with switchgrass sheds light on the innovation process in general by draw...
Intra-individual changes in Stroop-related activations linked to cigarette abstinence in adolescent tobacco smokers: Preliminary findings.

Abstract Background Adolescence is a crucial time for initiation of tobacco-smoking. Developing more effective treatment interventions for tobacco-smoking in youth is therefore critical to reduce smoking rates in both adolescent and adult populations. Elucidation of the neural mechanisms of successful behavioral change (abstinence) will allow for improvement of therapies based on known brain mechanisms. Methods Twenty-one adolescent tobacco-smokers (14–19 years) participated in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during performance of a cognitive control (Stroop) task prior to randomization to smoking cessation treatment (trial of combined nicotine replacement therapy/placebo and contingency management for attendance/abstinence; NCT01145001). Fourteen adolescents also participated in fMRI scanning following completion of the six-week trial. fMRI data were analyzed using random-effects models in SPM12. Paired t-tests were used to identify group-level changes (main effect of treatment exposure) in neural functional responses. Regression models were used to identify individual-level changes associated with treatment-outcomes (percent days abstinent, maximum days of consecutive abstinence). Results Main effects of Stroop task performance (contrast of incongruent versus congruent trials) were seen across a priori ROIs at both pre- and post-treatment (pFWE Conclusions Abstinence from tobacco during smoking cessation treatment among adolescents is associated with cognitive-control related reductions in neural activity within specific regions (anterior cingulate, insula), suggesting that increases in cognitive efficiency may underlie optimal treatment responses in this population.
Sexuality Education in the Context of Mass Incarceration: Interruptions and Entanglements

What meaningful and efficacious teaching and learning are possible within the context of racialized and gendered mass incarceration? We explore the possibilities for interrupting the inequalities and injustices that thread through sexuality education available to those most affected by mass incarceration. Our discussion focuses on a broad experience of court-involvement that spans multiple settings and institutions—prisons, jails, parole, probation, and the streets. We explore examples that include peer HIV education, street-based outreach, participatory models of teaching and learning. While sexuality education gained through jails, prisons, and street outreach is an opportunity to learn and to support agentic claims to one’s own sexuality, such teaching and learning are always encumbered with the demands of the carceral institution.
Abstract 3249: Recurrent 3p21 deletion in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma identifies SEMA3F as an anti-lymphangiogenic metastasis suppressor gene

Proceedings: AACR 106th Annual Meeting 2015; April 18-22, 2015; Philadelphia, PA Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) often metastasize to locoregional lymph nodes, and lymph node involvement represents one of the most important prognostic factors of poor clinical outcome. HNSCC are remarkably lymphangiogenic and represent a clear example of a cancer that utilizes the lymphatic vasculature for malignant dissemination; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying lymphangiogenesis in HNSCC is still poorly understood. Of interest, we found that an axon guidance molecule, Semaphorin 3F (SEMA3F), is among the top 1% underexpressed genes in HNSCC, and that genomic loss of SEMA3F correlates with increased metastasis and decreased survival. SEMA3F acts on its co-receptors, plexins and neuropilins, among which neuropilin-2 (NRP2) is highly expressed in lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) but not in oral epithelium and most HNSCCs. We show that recombinant SEMA3F promotes LEC collapse and potently inhibits lymphangiogenesis in vivo. By reconstituting all possible plexin and neuropilin combinations, we found that SEMA3F acts through multiple receptors, but predominantly requires NRP2 to signal in LECs. Using orthotopic HNSCC metastasis mouse models, we provide direct evidence that SEMA3F re-expression diminishes lymphangiogenesis and lymph node metastasis. Furthermore, analysis of a large tissue collection revealed that SEMA3F is progressively lost during HNSCC progression, concomitant with increased tumor lymphangiogenesis. SEMA3F is localized to 3p21, an early and frequently deleted locus in HNSCC and many other prevalent human malignancies. Thus, SEMA3F may represent an antilymphangiogenic metastasis suppressor gene widely lost during cancer progression, hence serving as a prognostic biomarker and an attractive target for therapeutic intervention to halt metastasis. Citation Format: Colleen L. Doci, Constantinos M. Mikelis, Michail S. Lionakis, Alfredo A. Molinolo, J Silvio Gutkind. Recurrent 3p21 deletion in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma identifies SEMA3F as an anti-lymphangiogenic metastasis suppressor gene. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3249. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3249
Water structuring above solutes with planar hydrophobic surfaces

Many important biological solutes possess not only polar and hydrogen bonding functionalities, but also weakly-hydrating, or hydrophobic, surfaces. Theories of the hydration of such surfaces predict that their solvent interactions will change from a wetting type interaction to a dewetting regime as a function of the solute size, with a gradual transition in behavior taking place around characteristic lengths of ∼1 nm. Aggregations of non-polar species over this size range will undergo a transition from being dominated by entropy to being dominated by enthalpy. These transitions can be understood in part in terms of the geometries required of the solvating water molecules. We report here a series of simulations in aqueous solution of organic molecules with planar faces of increasing size, ranging from cyclopropane to circumcircumcoronene, in order to explore the transition in behavior for such solutes as their size increases. For this series, the dewetting transition occurred gradually, converging asymptotically to a limiting separation value for first layer water molecules of around 3.3 A, while the transition in hydrogen bonding orientational structure occurred between cyclopropane and cyclopentadene. Water immediately adjacent to the largest planar hydrophobic surfaces oriented in ways that resembled on average the structural organization of the basal planes of ice.
Responses of Nucleus Basalis of Meynert Neurons in Behaving Monkeys

Cholinergic systems have long been implicated in memory processes since anticholinergic drugs disrupt performance on memory tasks in both human (Drachman, 1977; Mewaldt and Ghoneim, 1979) and nonhuman primates (Bartus, 1978; Ridley et al., 1984) and other species (Buresova et al., 1964; Deutsch, 1971; Squire et al., 1971). The source of cholinergic afferents to cerebral cortex has recently been found to lie primarily in the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM) (Lehman et al., 1980; Johnston et al., 1981; Mesulam et al., 1983; Pearson et al., 1983). Moreover, both the number of neurons in the NBM (Whitehouse et al., 1982; Arendt et al., 1983; Rogers et al., 1985) and the levels of cholinergic markers in cortex (Davies and Maloney, 1976; Perry et al., 1977; White et al., 1977) have consistently been found to be reduced in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. These findings have led to the hypothesis that the NBM may play an important role in learning and memory.
The “Positive Argument” for Constructive Empiricism and Inference to the Best Explanation

In this paper, I argue that the “positive argument” for Constructive Empiricism (CE), according to which CE “makes better sense of science, and of scientific activity, than realism does” (van Fraassen in The scientific image, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1980, 73), is an Inference to the Best Explanation (IBE). But constructive empiricists are critical of IBE, and thus they have to be critical of their own “positive argument” for CE. If my argument is sound, then constructive empiricists are in the awkward position of having to reject their own “positive argument” for CE by their own lights.
Factors affecting pH change in alkaline waste water treatment—III: A dynamic simulation

Abstract A description is presented of a simulation model enabling the calculation on a digital computor of pH in an activated sludge reactor operating under dynamic conditions. The pH is considered to be a function of the relative quantities of carbon dioxide and hydroxyl ions in the mixed liquor, both free and combined as bicarbonate and carbonate. This function is calculated for the conditions of temperature and ionic strength prevailing in the experimental reactor used. The simulation program is based on the mass balances of carbon dioxide and hydroxyl ions. The separate factors influencing these mass balances were discussed in earlier work. A new element under dynamic conditions is the behaviour of sludge towards pH changes. Both the buffering capacity and the rate of buffering were measured and approximated by a mathematical description. Experimental results affirming the validity of the model for shock discharges of alkali are presented.
Evidenced-Based Teaching Strategies that Facilitate Transfer of Knowledge Between Theory and Practice: What are Nursing Faculty Using?

Abstract The purpose of this mixed-method descriptive study was to explore prelicensure nursing faculty knowledge, beliefs in effectiveness, and use of evidence-based teaching strategies that facilitate transfer of knowledge between theory and practice and facilitators and obstacles to their use. Findings revealed that the top 5 strategies used were (a) reflection, (b) simulation, (c) small groups, (d) case-based learning, and (e) problem-based learning. Implications for nursing education practice are discussed.
Perceptual organization as a basis for visual recognition

Evidence is presented showing that bottom-up grouping of image features is usually prerequisite to the recognition and interpretation of images. We describe three functions of these groupings: 1) segmentation, 2) three-dimensional interpretation, and 3) stable descriptions for accessing object models. Several principles are hypothesized for determining which image relations should he formed: relations are significant to the extent that they are unlikely to have arisen by accident from the surrounding distribution of features, relations can only be formed where there are few alternatives within the same proximity, and relations must be based on properties which are invariant over a range of imaging conditions. Using these principles we develop an algorithm for curve segmentation which detects significant structure at multiple resolutions, including the linking of segments on the basis of curvilinearity. The algorithm is able to detect structures which no single-resolution algorithm could detect. Its performance is demonstrated on synthetic and natural image data.
Exploring the Birthday Problem with Spreadsheets.

The "birthday problem" is one of several exam ples (Shaughnessy 1977,1992) that illustrate students' tendency to underestimate the prob ability of an event's occurring at least once. Moore and McCabe (1993, 297) give the real-life example of "at least one false positive AIDS test result" when all persons tested are actually free of AIDS. Lesser (1997) discusses the event that at least one of six lotto numbers drawn without replacement was also drawn in the previous drawing. Mathematical probability theory itself was triggered in the mid seventeenth century by examining the probability of at least one "double six" in twenty-four rolls of two dice (Katz 1993,411). The birthday-problem question, posed by Richard von Mises in 1939, is typically stated as "How many people must be in a room before the probability that some share a birthday, ignoring the year and ignoring leap days, becomes at least 50 percent?" A less common version is "Since a 100 percent chance of a match exists with 366 people even if the first 365 people in the room had differ ent birthdays, the pigeonhole principle forces the 366th person to match one of them?how many peo ple are needed for a 99 percent chance of at least one match?" Take a moment to guess answers to these two questions before reading further,
The Utility of Potassium Monitoring in Gender-Diverse Adolescents Taking Spironolactone.

Context Current guidelines recommend close monitoring of electrolytes in transgender patients using spironolactone given the risk of hyperkalemia from mineralocorticoid antagonism. In patients taking spironolactone for other conditions, the rate of hyperkalemia is low, and the utility of frequent monitoring has been questioned. Objective We hypothesized that the rate of hyperkalemia in gender-diverse adolescents taking spironolactone is low and, when present, clinically insignificant. Design and Outcomes A retrospective chart review of adolescents seen in a specialty gender clinic at a tertiary care pediatric hospital over 10 years identified patients prescribed spironolactone for gender transition. Study outcomes were the incidence of hyperkalemia, defined as serum potassium concentration >5.0 mmol/L, and the relationship between potassium levels and spironolactone dose and duration. Results Records were reviewed for 85 subjects with a mean ± SD age of 16.6 ± 1.7 years. There were a total of 269 potassium measurements (80 prior to spironolactone initiation and 189 during spironolactone treatment). Six potassium measurements in five subjects were >5.0 mmol/L, indicating a rate of hyperkalemia of 2.2%. None of the subjects had symptoms of hyperkalemia, and all elevated measurements were normal when repeated. Only one subject discontinued spironolactone after an elevated potassium measurement. There was no relationship between hyperkalemia and spironolactone dose. Potassium measurements decreased with increasing treatment duration. Conclusions Hyperkalemia in patients taking spironolactone for gender transition is rare and when present is transient and asymptomatic. In the absence of other medical comorbidities, routine electrolyte monitoring in this population may be unnecessary.
Direct in Vivo Electrochemical Detection of Resting Dopamine Using Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/Carbon Nanotube Functionalized Microelectrodes.

Dopamine (DA) is a monoamine neurotransmitter responsible for the maintenance of a variety of vital life functions. In vivo DA signaling occurs over multiple time scales, from subsecond phasic rele...
"In Vivo" Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Rat Vocal Folds after Systemic Dehydration and Rehydration.

Objective Consuming less water (systemic dehydration) has long been thought to dehydrate the vocal folds. An in vivo, repeated measures study tested the assumption that systemic dehydration causes vocal fold dehydration. Proton density (PD)-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of rat vocal folds was employed to investigate (a) whether varying magnitudes of systemic dehydration would dehydrate the vocal folds and (b) whether systemic rehydration would rehydrate the vocal folds. Method Male (n = 25) and female (n = 14) Sprague Dawley rats were imaged with 7T MRI, and normalized PD-weighted signal intensities were obtained at predehydration, following dehydration, and following rehydration. Animals were dehydrated to 1 of 3 levels by water withholding to induce body weight loss: mild ( 10% body weight loss). Results There was a significant decrease in vocal fold signal intensities after moderate and marked dehydration (p .05). Conclusion This study provides evidence supporting clinical voice recommendations for rehydration by increasing water intake after an acute, moderate systemic dehydration event. However, acute systemic dehydration of mild levels did not dehydrate the vocal folds as observed by PD-weighted MRI. Future programmatic research will focus on chronic, recurring systemic dehydration.
Puréed Foods and Fiber

People with swallowing problems who require a pureed diet may not meet their recommended intake of fiber. But pureed diets can be planned to achieve fiber recommendations by choosing higher-fiber pureed foods often. And a variety of fiber ingredients are available that can be added to pureed foods. This 4-page fact sheet was written by Wendy J. Dahl and published by the UF Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, January 2013. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fs209
Modeling the temperature profile of an extrudate in material extrusion additive manufacturing

Abstract A simple model is developed to find the temperature profile of an extrudate in material extrusion (MatEx) additive manufacturing. This model predicts that the temperature has Bessel distribution over the extrudate’s cross-section. For a considered case, the maximum temperature variation over the cross-section is found to be 20 °C, with a diminishing rate of 20 °C/s, and it appears when the extrudate just leaves its extruder.
Design and qualification of an unsteady low-speed wind tunnel with an upstream louver system

The design and qualification of a longitudinal gust generator in a low-speed, blow-down, open-return wind tunnel was conducted. Flow-impeding louvers were used to rapidly change the blockage ratio at the inlet, effectively reducing test section flow speeds up to $$60\%$$ and $$52\%$$ for the closed and open test section configurations of the wind tunnel, respectively. The wind tunnel responds more quickly for higher fan speeds, shorter tunnel lengths, and during louver closing motions (deceleration). A mathematical model developed to predict the wind tunnel’s response shows these same trends and agrees with the experimental data to within 0.03 in amplitude ratio and $$4.3^\circ$$ in phase lag, for all cases studied. Comparison of the closed to open test section configurations reveals that flow disturbances propagate nearly instantaneously, or in a globally unsteady manner, within the closed configuration, while they convect at speeds similar to that of the mean flow when testing in the open configuration.
Cisplatin combined with laser‑activated nanotherapy as an adjuvant therapy for head and neck cancer

Head and neck cancers (HNCs), in general, have a poor prognosis with a worldwide 5‑year survival rate of <50%. Numerous HNC patients with locoregionally advanced, difficult‑to‑treat, inoperable, recurrent and drug‑resistant tumors may require additional treatment options when the standard of care surgery, chemotherapy and radiation are not viable. The poor outcomes justify exploring strategies to increase the efficacy of lower doses of drugs, such as cisplatin, by combining these drugs with other treatment modalities and manipulating the dosing schedule. Cisplatin is a standard and effective anticancer drug; however, some patients cannot tolerate the side‑effects or exhibit drug resistance. Adjuvant therapies may lower the effective dose, decrease side‑effects, address drug resistance and improve overall survival outcomes, particularly for patients with difficult‑to‑treat tumors. The present study focuses on combining cisplatin with laser‑activated nanotherapy (LANT), as an adjuvant HNC therapy, with the aim of enhancing the therapeutic efficacy of lower doses of cisplatin and decreasing treatment times. The results demonstrate the potential of cisplatin and LANT co‑therapy as a possible addition to the adjuvant therapy options for HNC using 3 cell lines: Detroit 562, FaDu and CAL 27 cells. Combining cisplatin with LANT demonstrated up to a 5.4‑fold greater therapeutic efficacy than with cisplatin monotreatment. The most effective combination in the present study was 1 µM Cis + 5 nM LANT, which demonstrated cell death comparable to 5.9, 4.2 and 5.3 µM of Cis monotreatment, in Detroit 562, FaDu and CAL 27 cells, respectively. This result suggests that a lower cisplatin dose may be combined with LANT to achieve the same therapeutic efficacy as that obtained with higher doses of cisplatin monotreatment. The combination of LANT and cisplatin suggests that LANT may enhance the therapeutic efficiency of low doses of cisplatin, decrease treatment times and improve patient outcomes.
Journal Writing by Families of Critically Ill Patients: An Integrative Review.

Background Families experience high levels of stress during a loved one's critical illness. Objective To provide an overview of current evidence on the use of journal writing as a coping mechanism for family members during a loved one's critical illness in a neonatal, pediatric, or adult intensive care unit. Methods Five databases (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, APA PsycArticles, and Health Source: Nursing/Academic Edition) were searched to identify studies examining the benefits of journal writing for family members of critically ill patients. Eight eligible studies reported data from 426 relatives of critically ill patients. Results Regarding quality assessment, the quantitative studies met 73.1% of relevant quality criteria, whereas qualitative studies met 81.3%. Mixed-methods studies met 82.4% of quantitative and 55% of qualitative criteria. Various key themes were identified: communication and understanding, connection to the patient, emotional expression, creating something meaningful, and the importance of pictures and staff entries. Overall, writing in a diary seems to be beneficial for reducing psychological distress and posttraumatic stress disorder, but none of the studies found that it significantly decreased anxiety or depression. Conclusions The findings of this review suggest that having family members of critically ill patients write in a diary is a simple and cost-effective intervention that may improve their psychological outcomes. Critical care nurses are in a position to educate families about the potential benefits of writing in a diary. Future research would be valuable regarding the benefits of using a diary and an optimal approach for doing so in this population.
Twitter Fingers and Echo Chambers: Exploring Expressions and Experiences of Online Racism Using Twitter

Social media sites, such as Twitter, represent a growing setting in which racism and related stress may manifest. The aims of this exploratory qualitative study were to (1) understand the essence of Twitter users’ lived experience with and response to content about race and racism on the platform, and (2) explore their perceptions of how discussions about race and racism on Twitter may impact health and well-being. We conducted six focus groups and four interviews with adult Twitter users (n = 27) from Berkeley, California, and Greenville, South Carolina. We managed the data with NVivo and conducted an interpretative phenomenological analysis to identify themes. Participants described Twitter content as displaying both overt and subtle expressions of racism, particularly for Black and Latinx people, and serving as an echo chamber where similar viewpoints are amplified. Participants described how Twitter users may feel emboldened to type offensive tweets based on the perception of anonymity, and that these tweets were sometimes met with community disapproval used to provide a collective calibration to restore the social norms of the online space. Participants perceived harmful mental, emotional, and physical health impacts of exposure to racist content on Twitter. Our participants responded to harmful race-related content through blocking users and following others in order to curate their Twitter feeds, actively engaging in addressing content, and reducing Twitter use. Twitter users reported witnessing racism on the platform and have found ways to protect their mental health and cope with discussions of race and racism in this social media environment.
Paleoclimate Studies from Midwestern Caves

Caves of the Midwestern U.S.A. have a history of paleoclimate studies going back more than 50 years. The most valued paleoclimate archives are speleothems, especially stalagmites, which commonly contain a straightforward internal stratigraphy, grow over many thousands of years in some cases, and can be readily dated using uranium-series techniques. Some of the more unique contributions that have come from Midwestern caves include: using speleothem carbon isotopes as a vegetation proxy, reconstructing the episodic nature of cave flooding from detrital layers in speleothems, and using broken speleothems and altered speleothem growth to identify the timing of past seismic events. Because speleothems contain high-quality paleoclimate information, the pace of cave paleoclimate studies has intensified in recent years. This increased demand on a fragile resource highlights the need for a strong conservation ethic among scientists working in caves.