cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cytochemical localization on non-specific esterase and acid phosphatase in spermatozoa of the mouse (Mus musculus).

This paper describes methods for the cytochemical demonstration of non-specific esterase and acid phosphatase activities in spermatozoa of the mouse. The acetate and phosphate esters of 1-naphthol were used as substrates, and hexazonium pararosanilin was used as coupler in both techniques. Specificity was assured by the use of appropriate positive and negative controls. Best results were obtained with unfixed smears which had been stored at room temperature for a few days prior to use. Chemical fixation, especially with formol-calcium solutions, is not recommended for use with rodent spermatozoa. According to our investigations the murine acrosome contains very low levels of non-specific esterase and acid phosphatase which are not amenable to detection by the “standard” methods employing short incubations and/or with material fixed in a formalin-containing fixative.
Web Assurance Seals: How and Why They Influence Consumers' Decisions

Internet commerce is exploding and predicted to continue growing at a rapid rate for several more years. Online businesses that have a desire to tap into this Internet commerce explosion are seeking ways to convince online browsers to become online purchasers. To achieve this goal, businesses need to find ways to alleviate consumers' fears and concerns about making online purchases. This paper reports on a series of three studies focused on (1) determining the fears and concerns that online consumers have, (2) examining whether the leading brands of web assurance seals (Verisign®, TRUSTe, Good House Keeping, and CPA WebTrust) can help alleviate those fears and concerns, and (3) gaining insights into the process by which web assurance seals can influence consumers' online purchase decisions. This study identified seven distinct concerns that consumers had with purchasing goods/services online. Factor analysis revealed that these concerns were along two dimensions: concerns about the firm and concerns about...
Fall prevention in our healthiest patients: Assessing risk and preventing injury for moms and babies

Attention is needed in preventing patient falls in newborns and in obstetric units of hospitals. The majority of prenatal, postpartum, and newborn falls are preventable. Little effort has been made to address fall risk during the prenatal period, during labor, and after delivery in the postpartum period for moms and babies. Risk factors for falls in these populations have been identified, and targeted risk assessments and fall prevention interventions have been developed to eliminate these falls. Evidence demonstrates success in reducing falls with a variety of low-cost but high-return initiatives, comprising prenatal education, patient and family engagement, implementation of unique fall risk assessment tools, postpartum mobility assessments, and changes in patient rounding frequency.
Sudoku: a little lesson in OOP

Paying only lip service to the principles of object-oriented programming rarely results in the expected benefits. This paper presents a series of designs for a Sudoku application that will lead introductory students through the all-important process of trial and error. They will see examples of design analysis, criticism, and improvement. The paper concludes with some general pointers why and how the initial mistakes could have been avoided.
A skeptical note on the use of attitude scales toward war in 1946.

(1942). A Skeptical Note on the Use of Attitude Scales toward War: I. In 1940, 1941. The Journal of Social Psychology: Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 229-242.
Intrinsic enzyme activity associated with tropoelastin

Abstract The presence of an enzyme(s) associated with purified tropoelastin has been established. Results indicate that the enzyme(s) remains closely associated with the soluble elastin throughout the entire purification procedure suggesting that it is very tightly bound. Enzymatic activity is optimum through the pH range 7–9 (37 °C) and can be inhibited by disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate, N-ethylmaleimide, sulfite, soybean trypsin inhibitor and human α-l-antitrypsin. The fragmentation pattern appears to be specific and reproducible.
Fatal fat embolism in a patient with sickle-β+ thalassemia

We describe a case of an adolescent with sickle-β+ thalassemia who developed fatal fat embolism syndrome. After presenting with bone pain, the patient developed mental status changes, hypoxemia, and died following cardiorespiratory arrest.
The Dropout Problem: Can Schools Meet the Challenge?.

Have the states truly been successful in reducing the number of high school dropouts? Or has an apparent decrease in the dropout rate been caused by a different method of calculation?
Fate of contaminants during treatment of H-coal process wastewaters

The results of a treatability study of H-Coal liquefaction process waste water provides details of a treatment train capable of significantly improving the quality of waste waters by reducing contaminant concentrations to low levels. The treatment train reflects the conclusion from earlier studies that no single treatment operation can reduce all of the contaminants to acceptable levels. Treatment operations included dissolved-gas stripping, solvent extraction, biochemical oxidation, activated-carbon adsorption, and wet-air oxidation. The results allow a determination of the degree of treatment needed to meet plant-specific design criteria by comparing water quality requirements with the detailed analysis of the waste water after each step in the treatment train. 8 references, 3 figures, 7 tables.
Dobutamine increases heart rate more than epinephrine in patients recovering from aortocoronary bypass surgery

To determine whether epinephrine might prove to be a cost-effective substitute for dobutamine, two 8-minute infusions of either epinephrine (10 and 30 ng/kg/min, n = 28) or dobutamine (2.5 and 5 micrograms/kg/min, n = 24) were administered to 52 patients recovering in the intensive care unit (ICU) after aortocoronary bypass (CABG) surgery. At the higher dose, both drugs significantly (P < .05) increased cardiac index (CI), epinephrine from 2.8 +/- 0.1 at baseline to 3.3 +/- 0.1 L/min/m2, and dobutamine from 3.2 +/- 0.1 at baseline to 4.1 +/- 0.2 L/min/m2. Epinephrine increased CI significantly less than dobutamine. Both drugs significantly increased stroke volume index (SVI), epinephrine from 32 +/- 1 at baseline to 36 +/- 1 mL/beat/m2, and dobutamine from 36 +/- 1 at baseline to 40 +/- 2 mL/beat/m2. At the higher dose, the effects of the two drugs on SVI were indistinguishable. On the other hand, while the higher dose of both drugs significantly increased heart rate (HR), epinephrine from 88 +/- 2 at baseline to 90 +/- 2 beats/min and dobutamine from 89 +/- 2 at baseline to 105 +/- 3 beats/min, the increase following the higher dose of dobutamine was significantly greater than that seen after epinephrine. Effects of the two drugs on mean arterial pressure, central venous pressure, pulmonary artery occlusion pressure, systemic vascular resistance, pulmonary vascular resistance, and left-ventricular stroke work did not significantly differ. Similar results were obtained in the subset of patients with baseline CI less than 3 L/min/m2 who more closely resembled patients who might acutely require inotropic drug administration.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
FGF signaling is required for β-catenin-mediated induction of the zebrafish organizer

We have used the maternal effect mutant ichabod, which is deficient in maternal beta-catenin signaling, to test for the epistatic relationship between beta-catenin activation, FGF signaling and bozozok, squint and chordin expression. Injection of beta-catenin RNA into ichabod embryos can completely rescue normal development. By contrast, when FGF signaling is inhibited, beta-catenin did not induce goosecoid and chordin, repress bmp4 expression or induce a dorsal axis. These results demonstrate that FGF signaling is necessary for beta-catenin induction of the zebrafish organizer. We show that FGFs function downstream of squint and bozozok to turn on chordin expression. Full rescue of ichabod by Squint is dependent on FGF signaling, and partial rescue by FGFs is completely dependent on chordin. By contrast, Bozozok can rescue the complete anteroposterior axis, but not notochord, in embryos blocked in FGF signaling. Surprisingly, accumulation of bozozok transcript in beta-catenin RNA-injected ichabod embryos is also dependent on FGF signaling, indicating a role of FGFs in maintenance of bozozok RNA. These experiments show that FGF-dependent organizer function operates through both bozozok RNA accumulation and a pathway consisting of beta-catenin-->Squint-->FGF-->Chordin, in which each component is sufficient for expression of the downstream factors of the pathway, and in which Nodal signaling is required for FGF gene expression and FGF signaling is required for Squint induction of chordin.
Is counter‐productive policy creating serious consequences? The case of highway maintenance

While regional development is seen by some as necessary for the growth of a town or city, the impact of such development may not have been carefully considered. The effect on local infrastructure, and in particular roadway conditions, can have varying economic impacts on a region. This same regional development has unintended consequences for small towns, creating damage to the infrastructure, increased pressure on existing budgets and, in some cases, vehicular accidents, which could have been avoided. The model, extracted from a larger study, is used to evaluate the effect of road conditions on accident development. A review of the literature revealed possible errors in some of the research upon which road maintenance policy is based. Specifically, where accidents are concerned, conflicting studies have made the development of policy difficult. A system dynamics model was developed to evaluate alternative views and their consequence on policy. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Altered motility causes the early gastrointestinal toxicity of irradiation

Abstract Purpose: Total abdominal radiation produces symptoms of nausea, vomiting abdominal cramping and diarrhea. Each of these symptoms is associated with disordered intestinal motility. This article reviews studies of large and small intestinal contractile activity following radiation exposure. Methods and Materials: Studies of motility utilize strain gauge transducers surgically implanted on the seromuscular layer of the small intestine. All studies were performed in mixed breed dogs to record the occurrence of normal contractions, giant migrating contractions (GMCs) and retrograde giant contractions (RGCs) before, during and after irradiation (22.5 Gy in 9 fractions at 3 fractions/week). Giant migrating contractions and retrograde giant contractions are infrequent in the healthy state. However, in diseased states, GMCs are associated with abdominal cramps and diarrhea, and RGCs precede vomiting. Results: In fasted animals, fractionated abdominal irradiation dramatically increased the frequency of GMCs, with the incidence peaking after the second dose. The increased frequency of GMCS occurred as early as a few hours after the first radiation fraction, and returned to normal within days of cessation of radiation. RGCs were also significantly increased after abdominal irradiation. The frequency of RGCs was greatest on the first and sixth dose of radiation. Clinically, the dogs developed nausea, vomiting and diarrhea as early as the first day of irradiation. In dogs studied in the fed state, decreased amplitude, duration, and frequency of postprandial contractions occurred. These changes may slow intestinal transit during irradiation. Radiation also produced a striking increase in the frequency of colonic GMCs; these changes in colonic motor activity were associated with diarrhea as early as the second irradiation. Conclusion: Changes in GI motility during fractionated irradiation precede the appearance of histopathological lesions in the GI tract. Thus, the symptoms of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea experienced during radiotherapy (particularly those within the first week) are directly related to changes in bowel motility. It is hoped that further understanding of the etiology of these distressing symptoms will help to guide their treatment.
Formulation and analytic calculation for the spin angular momentum of a moonlet due to inelastic collisions of ring particles

Small moonlets embedded in planetary rings acquire spin angular momentum by inelastic collisions of a number of ring particles. We obtain analytic expressions for the mean and mean square spin angular momenta delivered to a moonlet in the high-velocity case where mutual gravity between the moonlet and particles can be neglected. We find that the mean angular momentum brought by a large number of small impacts would result in an equilibrium rotation of a moonlet in the prograde direction that is slower than the synchronous rotation, while large impacts would significantly affect the rotation when the mass of largest impactors is comparable to the moonlet’s mass and/or the velocity dispersion of particles is larger than the Kepler shear across the moonlet’s radius. We present a new formulation that allows a unified analysis of these two components of moonlet rotation, and confirmed the validity of this formulation and the above analytic calculations using N-body simulation.
Thermochemistry and dissociative photoionization of Si(CH3)4, BrSi(CH3)3, ISi(CH3)3, and Si2(CH3)6 studied by threshold photoelectron-photoion coincidence spectroscopy.

Threshold photoelectron−photoion coincidence spectroscopy (TPEPICO) has been used to study the dissociation kinetics and thermochemistry of Me4Si, Me6Si2, and Me3SiX, (X = Br, I) molecules. Accurate 0 K dissociative photoionization onsets for these species have been measured from the breakdown diagram and the ion time-of-flight distribution, both of them analyzed and simulated in terms of the statistical RRKM theory and DFT calculations. The average enthalpy of formation of trimethylsilyl ion, (Me3Si+) = 617.3 ± 2.3 kJ/mol, has been determined from the measured onsets for methyl loss (10.243 ± 0.010 eV) from Me4Si, and Br and I loss from Me3SiBr (10.624 ± 0.010 eV) and Me3SiI (9.773 ± 0.015 eV), respectively. The methyl loss onsets for the trimethyl halo silanes lead to (Me2SiBr+) = 590.3 ± 4.4 kJ/mol and (Me5Si2+) = 487.6 ± 6.2 kJ/mol. The dissociative photoionization of Me3SiSiMe3 proceeds by a very slow Si−Si bond breaking step, whose rate constants were measured as a function of the ion internal energ...
Dynamic surface grasping with directional adhesion

Dynamic surface grasping is applicable to landing of micro air vehicles (MAVs) and to grappling objects in space. In both applications, the grasper must absorb the kinetic energy of a moving object and provide secure attachment to a surface using, for example, gecko-inspired directional adhesives. Functional principles of dynamic surface grasping are presented, and two prototype grasper designs are discussed. Computer simulation and physical testing confirms the expected relationships concerning (i) the alignment of the grasper at initial contact, (ii) the absorption of energy during collision and rebound, and (iii) the force limits of synthetic directional adhesives.
An investigation of the comparative impact of degree of implementation of IFRS upon the public and private information quality of East and West European firms

Abstract This research investigates the comparative quality of public and private information environments between firms domiciled in European countries characterized as being West European or East European for 29 European countries, 12 of which are characterized as being East European. Our empirical analyses examine the comparative quality of public and private information components of equity securities analysts' earnings forecasts for West European and East European firms while controlling for (1) firms cross-listing on U.S. equity securities exchanges, and (2) country of domicile degree of implementation of IFRS. Our results indicate that (1) the quality of private information is higher for East European compared with West European countries of domicile, and (2) the quality of public information is higher for West European compared with East European countries of domicile. Furthermore, particularly noteworthy is that our results indicate that (1) country of domicile degree of implementation of IFRS increases the quality of public information and decreases the quality of private information for both East European and West European countries of domicile, and (2) that the decrease in the quality of private and increase in the quality of public information associated with degree of implementation of IFRS are significantly more pronounced for East European relative to West European countries of domicile. We believe our results suggest that the IFRS are on the margin more beneficial for East European countries than for West European countries in the sense of reducing information asymmetry by moving important information regarding prospective firm performance from the private into the public domain.
Video summagator: an interface for video summarization and navigation

This paper presents Video Summagator (VS), a volume-based interface for video summarization and navigation. VS models a video as a space-time cube and visualizes the video cube using real-time volume rendering techniques. VS empowers a user to interactively manipulate the video cube. We show that VS can quickly summarize both the static and dynamic video content by visualizing the space-time information in 3D. We demonstrate that VS enables a user to quickly look into the video cube, understand the content, and navigate to the content of interest.
Monte Carlo Simulations of the White Dwarf Population and Luminosity Function

The white dwarf luminosity function has been used in recent years as an independent probe of the age and evolution of the local Galactic disk. A long-standing uncertainty of the technique is that the reality of the reported downturn in the luminosity function hinges on just a handful of stars and on statistical arguments that fainter (older) objects would have been observed were they present. Using a Monte Carlo approach, I explore the uncertainties in the derived ages and star formation rates resulting from the small-number statistics of the lowest-luminosity bin. The results suggest that (i) Schmidt’s 1/V max technique underestimates by typically 25 to 50% the true space density of white dwarf stars in surveys with proper motion limits μ lim ” ≲ 1.“0 yr-1, and (ii) there is ~ 1 Gyr statistical uncertainty in the age inferred from a sample with N ≲ 5 objects in the lowest-luminosity bin, confirming the conservative error estimates adopted by LDM and OSWH.
Ethics and mental illness research

There are many tasks ahead in the area of ethics and mental illness research. We face unknown challenges in psychiatric genetics projects, studies of psychopharmacological interventions in children, controversial scientific designs (e.g., symptom challenge, medication-free interval), and cross-disciplinary research incorporating goals and methods of health services, epidemiology, and social and behavioral science endeavors. Boundaries between innovative clinical practices and research-related experimentation will become increasingly difficult to distinguish, as will the roles between clinicians, clinical researchers, and basic scientists. Moreover, the institutions and systems in which research occurs are being rapidly and radically revised, raising new questions about oversight responsibilities and standards. Our ability to identify and respond to the ethical questions arising in this uncharted territory will depend on our willingness to self-reflect, to integrate the observations and insights of the past century, to think with great clarity, and to anticipate novel ethical problems that keep company with scientific advancements. It will also depend on data. Empirical study of ethical dimensions of human research is essential to anchor and attune the intuitions and theoretical constructs that we develop. Science and ethics have changed over the past 100 years, as they will over the next century. It is ironic that the ethical acceptability of psychiatric research is so much in question at this time, when it holds so much promise for advancing our understanding of mental illness and its treatment. The tension between the duty to protect vulnerable individuals and the duty to perform human science will continue to grow, as long as ethics and science are seen as separable, opposing forces with different aims championed by different heroes. The profession of psychiatry is poised to move toward a new, more coherent research ethics paradigm in which scientific and ethical issues are recognized as inextricably linked: science as a human activity carries complex ethical meanings and responsibilities, and ethics itself is subject to scrutiny and amenable to scientific inquiry. Building a broader, more versatile, and more effective repertoire of safeguards will be increasingly important, and safeguards, in this view, represent a modest price for the privilege of studying serious illnesses--diseases that cause grave suffering and yet are a source of both vulnerability and strength. In this paradigm, attention to ethics safeguards is no longer understood as a barrier to scientific advancement, but rather as the means by which psychiatric research may be conducted with broad societal support, honorably and, ultimately, with the expectation of bringing benefit to millions of people with mental illness.
Five-Year Mortality for Patients With End-Stage Renal Disease Who Undergo Upper Extremity Amputation

Purpose To compare the 5-year survival rate of patients on dialysis requiring an upper extremity amputation with those who did not require such surgery and to analyze whether such an amputation was prognostic for mortality. Methods The medical records of 20 consecutive patients with end-stage renal disease who received upper extremity amputations were reviewed. Control patients (n = 40) were matched based on age, sex, and duration of dialysis treatment. A Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed. Results The mean survival time after the index surgery for the surgical group was 4.95 years ± 0.90 years, and the mean survival for the control group was 8.40 years ± 0.61 years. The probability of death (the event) was statistically greater in the surgical group. The overall 5-year survival rates for the surgical and the nonsurgical groups were 35% (7 of 20) and 70% (28 of 40), respectively. Patients with diabetes in the surgical group had a significantly lower 5-year survival rate, a greater number of amputations, and a greater number of wound-healing failures. Conclusions The 5-year survival rate from the index surgery of the surgical group was half that of the nonsurgical group. Increased mortality may be partially attributed to the poor vascular health of the patient. This analysis may help the hand surgeon to more effectively counsel patients with end-stage renal disease about the prognosis associated with an upper extremity amputation and, more importantly, supports the goal of timely intervention by the multidisciplinary team to optimize care planning and to improve surgical outcomes and quality of life. Type of study/level of evidence Prognostic III.
Defeating Denial-of-Service Attacks on the Internet

Network Denial-of-Service (N-DoS) attacks are one of the fastest growing types of attack on the Internet. This paper addresses the vulnerabilities in Internet protocols, as well as deficiencies in flow-control in the Internet, both of which contribute to the loss of resource availability when networks suffer N-DoS attacks. Furthermore, an AFFC (Anti-flooding Flow-Control) model is presented to defend against flooding N-DoS attacks. AFFC policies regulate unresponsive elastic traffic and aggressive best-effort traffic for specific flow classes. Experiments have demonstrated that the deployment of this model can thwart harmful flows and prevent congestion collapse by flooding N-DoS attacks.
The problem of therapeutic evaluation in rheumatoid arthritis.

The difficulties encountered in the evaluation of therapy for rheumatoid arthritis are reviewed. The authors stress the necessity for controlled studies, blind comparisons of untested agents, appropriate methods for measurement of therapeutic response and statistical evaluation of results. Le difficultates incontrate in le evalutation de therapias pro arthritis rheumatoide es delineate. Le autores sublinea le necessitate de studios a controlo, de comparationes “occultate” de nove agentes, de appropriate methodos pro le mesuration del responsa therapeutic, e del evalutation statistic del resultatos.
Lexical and Post-Lexical Phonological Representations in Spoken Production.

Theories of spoken word production generally assume a distinction between at least two types of phonological processes and representations: lexical phonological processes that recover relatively arbitrary aspects of word forms from long-term memory and post-lexical phonological processes that specify the predictable aspects of phonological representations. In this work we examine the spoken production of two brain-damaged individuals. We use their differential patterns of accuracy across the tasks of spoken naming and repetition to establish that they suffer from distinct deficits originating fairly selectively within lexical or post-lexical processes. Independent and detailed analyses of their spoken productions reveal contrasting patterns that provide clear support for a distinction between two types of phonological representations: those that lack syllabic and featural information and are sensitive to lexical factors such as lexical frequency and neighborhood density, and those that include syllabic and featural information and are sensitive to detailed properties of phonological structure such as phoneme frequency and syllabic constituency.
Iron-carbon composite microspheres prepared through a facile aerosol-based process for the simultaneous adsorption and reduction of chlorinated hydrocarbons

Iron-carbon (Fe-C) composite microspheres prepared through a facile aerosol-based process are effective remediation agents for the simultaneous adsorption and reduction of chlorinated hydrocarbons. Complete dechlorination was achieved for the class of chlorinated ethenes that include tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE), cis- and trans-1,2-dicloroethylene (c-DCE, t-DCE), 1,1-dichloroethylene (1,1-DCE) and, vinyl chloride (VC). The Fe-C particles potentially provides multi-functionality with requisite characteristics of adsorption, reaction, and transport for the effective in situ remediation of chlorinated hydrocarbons. The carbon support immobilizes the ferromagnetic iron nanoparticles onto its surface, thereby inhibiting aggregation. The adsorptive nature of the carbon support prevents the release of toxic intermediates such as the dichloroethylenes and vinyl chloride. The adsorption of chlorinated ethenes on the Fe-C composites is higher (>80%) than that of humic acid ( 90%). The aerosol-based process is an efficient method to prepare adsorptivereactive composite particles in the optimal size range for transport through the porous media and as effective targeted delivery agents for the in situ remediation of soil and groundwater contaminants.
Performance analysis of the UCA-ESPRIT algorithm for circular ring arrays

Statistical performance analysis of the UCA (uniform circular array)-ESPRIT algorithm is the subject of the present paper. The UCA-ESPRIT arrival angle estimates are shown to be asymptotically unbiased, and expressions for the asymptotic estimator variances have been obtained. Simulation results that verify the analysis are presented. >
Novel Photoinitiated Nitric Oxide Releasing Compounds for More Biocompatible Coatings on Blood and Tissue Contacting Medical Devices

Biomedical devices that contact blood and tissue universally inspire a host response that often compromises the function of the device (i.e., intravascular sensors become coated with thrombi, artificial vascular grafts become occluded with thrombus formation and neointimal hyperplasia). Nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to be a potent inhibitor of platelet adhesion and activation and has been implicated in mediating the inflammatory response and promoting wound healing. We are currently developing NO-releasing compounds based on S-nitrosothiols derived from substituted aromatic compounds that utilize light as an external on/off trigger capable of releasing precisely controlled surface fluxes of NO. The level of NO generated is dependent on the wavelength and intensity of light shown on the compounds. Data will be presented that show the synthesis and NO-release properties of three novel compounds, S-nitroso-2-methoxybenzene, S-nitroso-3-methoxybenzene and S-nitroso-2-chlorobenzene. Ultimately, these compounds will be tethered to the surface of polymer fillers that will then be blended into hydrophobic polymers and used as coatings on biomedical devices. A model system that will be used to demonstrate the utility of this approach will be a multi-element fiber optic sensors that will contain sensing elements capable of measuring blood gases and NO-releasing fibers that locally generate enough NO to inhibit clot formation on the sensor surface, thus allowing the sensor to function reliably in vivo.
Abiotic stress, the field environment and stress combination

Farmers and breeders have long known that often it is the simultaneous occurrence of several abiotic stresses, rather than a particular stress condition, that is most lethal to crops. Surprisingly, the co-occurrence of different stresses is rarely addressed by molecular biologists that study plant acclimation. Recent studies have revealed that the response of plants to a combination of two different abiotic stresses is unique and cannot be directly extrapolated from the response of plants to each of the different stresses applied individually. Tolerance to a combination of different stress conditions, particularly those that mimic the field environment, should be the focus of future research programs aimed at developing transgenic crops and plants with enhanced tolerance to naturally occurring environmental conditions.
Sexual Harassment and Masculinity The Power and Meaning of “Girl Watching”

That women tend to see harassment where men see harmless fun or normal gendered interaction is one of the more robust findings in sexual harassment research. Using in-depth interviews with employed men and women, this article argues that these differences may be partially explained by the performative requirements of masculinity. The ambiguous practice of “girl watching” is centered, and the production of its meaning analyzed. The data suggest that men's refusal to see their behavior as harassing may be partially explained through the objectification and attenuated empathy that the production of masculine identities may require. Thus, some forms of harassment and their interpretations may more accurately be seen as acts of ignoring than states of ignorance (of the effects of the behavior or the law). Implications for anti-sexual harassment policies and training are explored.
Using composite correlation filters for biometric verification

Biometric verification refers to the process of matching an input biometric to stored biometric information. In particular, biometric verification refers to matching the live biometric input from an individual to the stored biometric template of that individual. Examples of biometrics include face images, fingerprint images, iris images, retinal scans, etc. Thus, image processing techniques prove useful in biometric recognition. In particular, composite correlation filters have proven to be effective. In this paper, we will discuss the application of composite correlation filters to biometric verification.
A neurocomputational system for relational reasoning

The representation and manipulation of structured relations is central to human reasoning. Recent work in computational modeling and neuroscience has set the stage for developing more detailed neurocomputational models of these abilities. Several key neural findings appear to dovetail with computational constraints derived from a model of analogical processing, ‘Learning and Inference with Schemas and Analogies’ (LISA). These include evidence that (i) coherent oscillatory activity in the gamma and theta bands enables long-distance communication between the prefrontal cortex and posterior brain regions where information is stored; (ii) neurons in prefrontal cortex can rapidly learn to represent abstract concepts; (iii) a rostral-caudal abstraction gradient exists in the PFC; and (iv) the inferior frontal gyrus exerts inhibitory control over task-irrelevant information. How is thinking realized in the human brain?
Sexual abuse in eating disorder subtypes and control women: The role of comorbid substance dependence in bulimia nervosa

Objective The relationship between sexual abuse and eating disorders remains uncertain. Recent data have raised the possibility of differential rates of sexual abuse among subtypes of eating disorders. Methods We studied women with three subtypes of eating disorders: (1) 26 anorexia nervosa subjects (AN); (2) 20 bulimia nervosa subjects with comorbid substance dependence (BN+SDD); and (3) 27 bulimia nervosa subjects without substance dependence (BN−SDD). We compared women with these eating disorder subtypes to 44 control women (CW). Sexual abuse rates and diagnoses were assessed through direct structured interviews. Results We found an order effect for sexual abuse which was most common (65%) in BN+SDD subjects, followed by a rate of 37% in BN−SDD subjects and 23% in AN subjects. Subjects of all eating disorder subtypes had significantly higher rates of sexual abuse compared to a rate of 7% in CW subjects. Discussion Women with BN+SDD had the highest frequency and the most severe history of sexual abuse. However, the causal relationship between eating disorders and sexual abuse remains to be elucidated. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 25:1–10, 1999.
Stability of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens VirB10 Protein Is Modulated by Growth Temperature and Periplasmic Osmoadaption

Export of oncogenic T-DNA from the phytopathogen Agrobacterium tumefaciens is mediated by the products of the virB operon. It has recently been reported (K. J. Fullner and E. W. Nester, J. Bacteriol. 178:1498-1504, 1996) that DNA transfer does not occur at elevated temperatures; these observations correlate well with much earlier studies on the temperature sensitivity of crown gall tumor development on plants. In testing the hypothesis that this loss of DNA movement reflects a defect in assembly or maintenance of a stable DNA transfer machinery at high temperature, we have found that steady-state levels of VirB10 are sensitive to growth temperature while levels of several other VirB proteins are considerably less affected. This temperature-dependent failure to accumulate VirB10 is exacerbated in an attachment-deficient mutant strain (chvB) which exhibits pleiotropic defects in periplasmic osmoadaption, and virulence of a chvB mutant can be partially restored by lowering the temperature at which the bacteria and the plant tissue are cocultivated. Furthermore, the stability of VirB10 is diminished in cells lacking functional VirB9, but only under conditions of low osmolarity. We propose that newly synthesized VirB10 is inherently labile in the presence of a large osmotic gradient across the inner membrane and is rapidly degraded unless it is stabilized by VirB9-dependent assembly into oligomeric complexes. The possibility that VirB10-containing complexes are not assembled properly at elevated temperatures suggests an explanation for the decades-old observation that tumor formation is exquisitely sensitive to ambient temperature.
Assessing the net effect of anthropogenic disturbance on aquatic communities in wetlands: community structure relative to distance from canals

Anthropogenic alterations of natural hydrology are common in wetlands and often increase water permanence, converting ephemeral habitats into permanent ones. Since aquatic organisms segregate strongly along hydroperiod gradients, added water permanence caused by canals can dramatically change the structure of aquatic communities. We examined the impact of canals on the abundance and structure of wetland communities in South Florida, USA. We sampled fishes and macroinvertebrates from marsh transects originating at canals in the central and southern Everglades. Density of all aquatic organisms sampled increased in the immediate proximity of canals, but was accompanied by few compositional changes based on analysis of relative abundance. Large fish ( >8 cm), small fish ( 5 mm) increased in density within 5 m of canals. This pattern was most pronounced in the dry season, suggesting that canals may serve as dry-down refugia. Increases in aquatic animal density closely matched gradients of phosphorus enrichment that decreased with distance from canals. Thus, the most apparent impact of canals on adjacent marsh communities was as conduits for nutrients that stimulated local productivity; any impact of their role as sources of increased sources of predators was not apparent. The effect of predation close to canals was overcompensated by increased secondary productivity and/or immigration toward areas adjacent to canals in the dry season. Alternatively, the consumptive effect of predatory fishes using canals as dry-season refuges is very small or spread over the expanse of marshes with open access to canals.
Role of Environmental Interventions in Injury Control and Prevention

Injuries result from transfer of energy to a human host. In the epidemiologic model of infectious disease, microbes are the “agents” of infection. Similarly, in the epidemiologic model of traumatic injury, energy is the “agent” of injury (figure 1). This model provides a good basis for understanding the role of the environment in the causal pathway for injuries.
Millisecond flashes of light phase delay the human circadian clock during sleep.

The human circadian timing system is most sensitive to the phase-shifting effects of light during the biological nighttime, a time at which humans are most typically asleep. The overlap of sleep with peak sensitivity to the phase-shifting effects of light minimizes the effectiveness of using light as a countermeasure to circadian misalignment in humans. Most current light exposure treatments for such misalignment are mostly ineffective due to poor compliance and secondary changes that cause sleep deprivation. Using a 16-day, parallel group design, we examined whether a novel sequence of light flashes delivered during sleep could evoke phase changes in the circadian system without disrupting sleep. Healthy volunteers participated in a 2-week circadian stabilization protocol followed by a 2-night laboratory stay. During the laboratory session, they were exposed during sleep to either darkness (n = 7) or a sequence of 2-msec light flashes given every 30 sec (n = 6) from hours 2 to 3 after habitual bedtime. Changes in circadian timing (phase) and micro- and macroarchitecture of sleep were assessed. Subjects exposed to the flash sequence during sleep exhibited a delay in the timing of their circadian salivary melatonin rhythm compared with the control dark condition (p 0.30) during the flash stimulus. Exposing sleeping individuals to 0.24 sec of light spread over an hour shifted the timing of the circadian clock and did so without major alterations to sleep itself. While a greater number of matched subjects and more research will be necessary to ascertain whether these light flashes affect sleep, our data suggest that this type of passive phototherapy might be developed as a useful treatment for circadian misalignment in humans.
Affect of the Game Player Short-Term Effects of Highly and Mildly Aggressive Video Games

Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of playing different types of video games on players' short-term affective states. In the first experiment, college student subjects played 11 different video games and rated them on a number of characteristics. From these ratings, two games were selected for use in Experiment 2. These games differed only in the level of aggression displayed. One was highly aggressive; the other was only mildly aggressive. In Experiment 2, each subject played one of the games or was assigned to a no-game control condition. Hostility, anxiety, and depression subsequently were assessed by the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist. Hostility was increased in both game conditions, relative to the control group. The high-aggression game led to higher hostility than the mild-aggression game, but the difference was not significant. However, those who had played the high-aggression game were significantly more anxious than either those who played the mild-aggression game or thos...
What Have I Learned

Peter Caswell had always viewed the families bottling business as his birthright. He was stunned when his father sold the business while he was still in college. After becoming a successful personal injury lawyer with a bright future, he learns of the Brustlin Bottling Company that was for sale. In the case Peter reviews with Alan Dawes, his long time friend, information he has developed on five successful companies in the boutique soft drink bottling business. He is trying to decide his next steps a strategy to employ in the business.
Structure, function, and regulation of cellular tight junctions

The tight junction (TJ) is a dynamic structure that is controlled, in part, by the activity of the cytoskeleton. It has become abundantly clear that, in the presence of Ca2+, assembly of the TJ is the result of cellular interactions that trigger a complex cascade of biochemical events that ultimately lead to the formation of an organized network of TJ elements, the composition of which remains unknown. The TJ functions both as a barrier between two fluid compartments and, to a lesser extent, as a fence between apical and basolateral membrane domains. To meet the many physiological and pathological challenges to which epithelia and endothelia are subjected, the TJ must be capable of a rapid and coordinated response, which depends on complex regulatory mechanisms. The precise characterization of the mechanisms involved in the assembly and regulation of the TJ is an area of current active investigation. However, until the biochemical composition of this structure has been defined and its gene identified, the TJ will continue to be an elusive yet tantalizing challenge to the cell biologist.
New vs. Old Antipsychotics: The Texas Experience

A study was conducted in Texas state psychiatric facilities of 299 patients with schizophrenia who were taking clozapine, comparing them with 223 matched controls taking traditional neuroleptics. From 12 months before until 54 months after clozapine was begun, hospital bed days and the associated costs were determined for both groups. The clozapine group had appreciably fewer hospital bed days throughout the study period. Substantially fewer clozapine-treated patients than neuroleptic-treated patients required 180 continuous days of hospitalization during the study. By 48 months after initiation of clozapine, hospital inpatient costs were $27,850/patient/year lower in the clozapine group than in the traditional neuroleptic group. Agranulocytosis occurred in < 1% of patients taking clozapine; all recovered quickly. In a separate study, clozapine therapy was shown to produce a 5-fold decrease in the rate of suicide among patients with schizophrenia. Administration of clozapine appears to lower the overall cost of treating schizophrenia by reducing the costs associated with hospitalizations.
Ionizing radiation inhibits tumor neovascularization by inducing ineffective angiogenesis

Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 46, 2005 3032 Ionizing radiation (IR) is thought to control tumor growth by damaging tumor cell DNA, causing their death and/or reducing clonagenic survival. Recent genetic evidence suggests that damage to endothelial cells (EC) from IR plays a major role in tissue damage and antitumor efficacy. In this study, we examined the effects of IR (12Gy single fraction) on K1735 murine melanoma tumor growth, physiology and vasculature in syngeneic C3H/HeN mice. Irradiation arrested growth of these tumors for about a week, after which they resumed more rapid growth. The histology of tumors that had grown more than 10-fold in volume following irradiation revealed regions of necrosis along with evidence of thrombosis and hemorrhage. Doppler ultrasound was used to assess tumor blood flow noninvasively and revealed marked defects in vascular perfusion and tumor vascularity in the previously irradiated tumors. Neither these histologic nor the vascular findings were seen in size-matched, unirradiated tumors. These changes were accompanied by substantial alterations in the K1735 tumor microenvironment including the appearance of prominent regions of tumor hypoxia detected by EF5 labeling and HIF-1α and VEGF immunostaining. The decrease in tumor perfusion and increase in tumor hypoxia was attributable to a significant decrease in microvessel density in tumors that had grown after irradiation (14.7 ± 3.6 vessels/hpf in irradiated tumors versus 24.2 ± 4.9 vessels/hpf in size-matched, unirradiated tumors; P < 0.01, t test). Confocal microscopy revealed that vessels in the previously irradiated tumors were also larger in caliber, which is a sign of angiogenesis inhibition in K1735 tumors. The cause of this reduction in tumor vascularity was investigated by examining EC death and proliferation following tumor irradiation. EC death, detected by TUNEL staining, increased significantly the day following IR but was not significantly increased 3, 7, and ≥14 days after IR. EC proliferation, detected by Ki-67 staining, was significantly increased in previously irradiated growing tumors compared to unirradiated tumors growing at a comparable rate. This finding, coupled with evidence of inadequate neovascularization in K1735 tumors growing after irradiation (reduced microvesel density, decreased perfusion and increased hypoxia) suggests that EC proliferative activity is producing fewer functional vessels after irradiation and that impaired or ineffective angiogenesis results from IR. Furthermore, these results suggest that impact of IR on tumor vasculature extends beyond near-term induction of endothelial cell apoptosis to more prolonged effects on the ability of endothelial cells to support angiogenesis and tumor neovascularization.
Analytic calculation of physiological acid-base parameters in plasma

Analytic expressions for plasma total titratable base, base excess (ΔCB), strong-ion difference, change in strong-ion difference (ΔSID), change in Van Slyke standard bicarbonate (ΔVSSB), anion gap,...
Remarks on Euclidean Geometry

You have studied geometry in high school, a version of what was assembled from knowledge of the ancient Greeks (around 300 BCE) by the Greek-speaking textbook writer Euclid, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt.