cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mexican American Identities and Histories in Children’s Picture Storybooks: Thinking Critically, Thinking Diversely

Latinos are the largest and fastest growing ethnic minority in the United States, and Mexicanheritage people are by far the largest portion of the US Latino population. Each day, thousands of schoolteachers face Mexican heritage students with little knowledge nor understanding of these students’ backgrounds and identities. This article provides teachers with a critical primer on how to evaluate and use children’s literature to reach out to Mexican American students and build understanding among nonLatinos. This analysis, from cultural, historical, and political perspectives, of a variety of high-quality, contemporary picture storybooks featuring Mexican heritage characters maps the diversity of Mexican American experiences and identities in a way that is both accessible to teachers and well grounded in theory and research.
Manual pressure distribution patterns of knuckle-walking apes.

Differences in how the hands of gorillas and chimpanzees contact the ground while knuckle walking have been noted but generally not quantified. It is widely believed that gorillas maintain a pronated arm and contact the ground with digits 2–5 consistently, while chimpanzees have variable arm position and digit contact. To further test these generalizations, distribution of pressure across the manus, peak digital pressures, and hand position were quantified using a pressure mat in eight captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and seven gorillas (Gorilla gorilla). Chimpanzees and gorillas make initial ground contact with the ulnar aspect of the hand and pressure moves radially. They differ in which digit usually makes final contact and receives maximum pressure, and hand position during contact. Gorillas regularly use a palm-back hand position and touch-off with digit 2. They show less variation in pressure application across the digits. Chimpanzees are more variable in hand position and pressure application. In both, hand position plays a key role in determining which digit acts as the final touch-off element. Am J Phys Anthropol 152:44–50, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Structural Effects on Dienes and Polyenes

1 Dienes and Polyenes 2 The Nature of Structural Effects 3 Electrical Effects 4 Steric Effects 5 Intermolecular Forces 6 Applications 7 Conclusion 8 Appendix (Glossary) Keywords: diene and polyene structural effects; dienes and polyenes; structural effects nature; Structure Property Quantitative Relationships (SPQR); intermolecular forces; dienyl and polyenyl substituents and electrical effects; conjugated alternating dienes and polyenes; directed nature of steric effects
Stress and Coping Strategies among Premedical and Undergraduate Basic Science Medical Students in a Caribbean Medical School

Introduction : Sources of stress and coping strategies have not been previously studied at Xavier University School of Medicine, Aruba. Objective: Hence the present study was carried out to obtain information about sources of stress and coping strategies among different groups of students and note differences, if any, among subgroups of respondents. Method : Sources of student stress and coping strategies were studied using the medical student stressor questionnaire (MSSQ) and the brief COPE. The present study was carried out among premedical and basic science undergraduate medical students during June 2014. Demographic characteristics like gender, semester of study, age and nationality were noted. Mean scores of different groups of stressors and coping strategies were calculated and compared among various subgroups of respondents using appropriate statistical tests (p<0.05). Result : Ninety-two of the 108 students (85.2%) participated. Cronbach’s alpha values for various categories of stressor scores were high. The major categories of stressors were academic related and group activity related. Certain stress scores were higher among female respondents and undergraduate medical (MD) students especially those studying in the fourth and fifth semester. The main coping strategies employed were planning, active coping, positive reframing, and acceptance. There were differences in use of certain coping strategies among subgroups of respondents. Conclusion : Academic related stressors were high especially among fourth and fifth semester students. Longitudinal studies following students over their basic science years are required. Studies among students doing their clinical rotations in the United States are required. Studies among students in other Caribbean medical schools are needed.
First year's operating experience with new control equipment on 100 New York City subway cars

THE OPERATION of multiple-unit electric trains in modern high-speed rapid-transit service demands an extremely high degree of equipment reliability. This performance must be achieved with a minimum of time and labor for maintenance. Efforts to achieve these objectives have, in recent years, produced notable advances in the design of both propulsion and control equipment.
Direct STM mapping of the superconducting energy gap in single crystal BI2SR2CACU2O8+x

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy applied to BiO cleavage planes of 90 KTc BSCCO 2212 at 4.2 K simultaneously provides topography and localdI/dV spectra (superconducting DOS). The spectra, which are similar to recent photoemission spectra, confirm a large gap parameter Δ(x, y) associated with an apparently gapless DOS on the uppermost layer. Transverse spatial variations of Δ on a 100 A scale are attributed to variations in BiO metallicity, presumably originating in oxygen stoichiometry variations in an unannealed crystal. We identify two characteristicdI/dV spectral shapes with regions of metallic and nonmetallic BiO layers, and can relate these by the McMillan model of the superconducting proximity effect. A sharply peaked spectral shape, similar to that observed in photoemission, is predicted for the metallic BiO layer induced superconducting by its proximity to the underlying CuO2 planes. The short mean free path and short coherence length imply that both tunneling and photoemission spectra are heavily weighted toward contributions from the BiO layer in fully metallic 2212. The present results and analysis thus suggest that the superconducting proximity effect influences the lineshapes seen by both techniques.
TimeLine and visualization of multiple-data sets and the visualization querying challenge

Data in its raw form can potentially contain valuable information, but much of that value is lost if it cannot be presented to a user in a way that is useful and meaningful. Data visualization techniques offer a solution to this issue. Such methods are especially useful in spatial data domains such as medical scan data and geophysical data. However, to properly see trends in data or to relate data from multiple sources, multiple-data set visualization techniques must be used. In research with the time-line paradigm, we have integrated multiple streaming data sources into a single visual interface. Data visualization takes place on several levels, from the visualization of query results in a time-line fashion to using multiple visualization techniques to view, analyze, and compare the data from the results. A significant contribution of this research effort is the extension and combination of existing research efforts into the visualization of multiple-data sets to create new and more flexible techniques. We specifically address visualization issues regarding clarity, speed, and interactivity. The developed visualization tools have also led recently to the visualization querying paradigm and challenge highlighted herein.
Mining Customer Feedbacks for Actionable Intelligence

Mining consumer-generated text can provide business intelligence to organizations by extracting important knowledge trapped in the form of opinions, thoughts, and ideas expressed by their employees and customers on various aspects relevant to business. The key challenge here is to extract and organize relevant information from noisy text in order to effectively transform it to actionable intelligence. However, there is no formal framework to guide this analytical task. In this work, we present a system that is suitable for purpose-driven mining of free-text customer feedback to convert the knowledge gained to actionable intelligence.
Pattern Discovery in High Dimensional Binary Data

High dimensional binary datasets arise in many areas of applications and pose significant challenges in data analysis. Pattern discovery is a key technique for analyzing these datasets. This paper presents algorithms for binary matrix factorization (BMF), which compresses large datasets into a much smaller set of dominant patterns for subsequent applications. BMF refers to the problem of finding two binary matrices of low rank such that the difference between their matrix product and a given binary matrix is minimal. One approximate matrix factor finds the dominant patterns, and the other shows how the original patterns are represented by the dominant ones. The problem of determining the exact optimal solution is NP-hard. We show that BMF is closely related with k-means clustering and propose a clustering approach for BMF. We prove that our approach has approximation ratio of 2. We further propose a randomized clustering algorithm that chooses k cluster centroids randomly based on preassigned probabilities to each point. The randomized clustering algorithm works well for large k. We experimentally demonstrate the nice theoretical properties of BMF on applications in pattern extraction and association rule mining.
Acquired Retinal Arteriovenous Communications in Occlusive Disease of the Carotid Artery

Retinal arteriovenous communications proximal to extensive areas of complete vascular closure developed in three patients with occlusive disease of the carotid arteries. In one case, the authors document the development of the arteriovenous communications through successive enlargement of small retinal vessels after progressive signs of retinal ischemia in the form of narrowed retinal arteries, venous dilation and beading, microaneurysms, retinal dot and blot hemorrhages, cotton-wool spots, and capillary nonperfusion. The development of arteriovenous communications in carotid occlusive disease has not been described previously.
Pleistocene succession of the central interior United States

The Quaternary of the continental interior of the United States is characterized by deposits from glacial ice, with associated outwash and eolian deposits, and by alluvial deposits produced by the same climatic pulses. Erosional incision of valleys occurred early in the glacial pulse, outwash deposition during the waning phase of the pulse, and soil formation during times of relative stability between the glacial pulses. These features of deposition, erosion, and soil formation are presented in a series of curves. One way the marine record could be correlated with that of the continental interior is to compare and match the physical records of both environments.
Regulation of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Breast Cancer Cells by Cell Contact and Adhesion

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a physiological program that is activated during cancer cell invasion and metastasis. We show here that EMT-related processes are linked to a broad and conserved program of transcriptional alterations that are influenced by cell contact and adhesion. Using cultured human breast cancer and mouse mammary epithelial cells, we find that reduced cell density, conditions under which cell contact is reduced, leads to reduced expression of genes associated with mammary epithelial cell differentiation and increased expression of genes associated with breast cancer. We further find that treatment of cells with matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3), an inducer of EMT, interrupts a defined subset of cell contact-regulated genes, including genes encoding a variety of RNA splicing proteins known to regulate the expression of Rac1b, an activated splice isoform of Rac1 known to be a key mediator of MMP-3-induced EMT in breast, lung, and pancreas. These results provide new insights into how MMPs act in cancer progression and how loss of cell–cell interactions is a key step in the earliest stages of cancer development.
Virtual Organizations By the Rules

Increasingly, collaborative activities in science are using the concept of virtual organization as an organizing principle. One benefit of viewing these collaborations from an organizational perspective is that there is a long history of studying how organizations can be structured to function effectively. Many of these organizational principles have been reflected in the design of enterprise architectures and the use of service oriented architecture concepts as an implementation vehicle for capturing these organizational constructs. One approach to meeting organizational requirements in systems architecture has been to express organizational structure in terms of business roles, business processes and business rules. To date however, this type of analysis and associated infrastructure tools has not been applied in any consistent way to the concept of virtual organizations and their associated scientific applications. In this talk, the author explores these established approaches to business IT systems and their applicability to the virtual organizations that are being created to support scientific endeavors. As an example, I will describes how data management policies for virtual organization can be expressed as business rules, and implemented via existing business rules engines.
Response to Cognitive Rehabilitation in Older Versus Younger Persons with Severe Mental Illness

Cognitive rehabilitation programs have been developed in an effort to overcome the effects of cognitive impairment on psychosocial functioning in persons with severe mental illness. Multiple studies have demonstrated the benefits of cognitive training for patients with SMI, but these studies have focused on younger patients. Our study evaluated the relationship between age and benefit from cognitive rehabilitation. We predicted that age would be associated with greater baseline impairments and diminished benefits from cognitive rehabilitation. Patients were drawn from two randomized controlled studies comparing cognitive training integrated with vocational rehabilitation and vocational rehabilitation alone. Cognitive training consisted of 24 hours of computerized exercises practicing a broad range of cognitive functions. Subjects were assessed on cognitive functioning and symptoms at baseline and 3 months later. Study participants included 34 clients aged 45 or older, and 42 clients under the age of 45. T...
Low cost flex substrates for miniaturized electronic assemblies

Abstract Electronic power converters have been designed, produced, and disseminated to the market in mass quantities utilizing a number of fabrication techniques; ranging from standard printed circuit board (PCB) technologies for low cost applications, to conventional thick film on ceramic, to direct bond copper (DBC) approaches for high power, higher cost applications. Each of these approaches holds a share of the power packaging market, but they all demonstrate a limitation to conventional two dimensional “flat board” strategy. PCBs, thick films, and DBCs are all technologies which restrict, for the most part, circuit and package designs to two dimensional boards. The one potential pathway into the third dimension is through the use of multilayers; an approach, which becomes increasingly difficult with each additional layer added beyond the first, and with the exception of high performance solutions is typically cost prohibitive for the majority of applications. This paper will demonstrate the feasibility and viability of flexible polymer substrates. Flex technology employs industry standard PCB and/or thick film processes, offers the lower cost, higher performance solutions inherent with the majority of polymer plastics, and as a final bonus, essentially frees the designer to more efficiently utilize all three dimensions of space. The researchers have demonstrated the feasibility of this low cost alternative solution through the fabrication and testing of integrated power modules, which utilize flexible polymer substrates in conjunction with both surface mount and bare dice. These DC/DC power converters transform 120 V/240 V inputs to 9 V, 7-W outputs, and illustrate through their unique geometrical design the miniaturization advantages of fully utilizing the three dimensional space offered by flex circuitry.
Cryopreserved lymphocytes: decreased response in immune assays of a population of sarcoma patients.

In vitro assays of cellular immunity in cancer patients are hampered by a number of variables because of the required cell culture and isotope counting. One method of overcoming some of these technical difficulties is to store test and reference materials. Cryopreservation of lymphocytes from normal volunteers and certain cancer patients has been shown to preserve normal cell function in these in vitro assays for up to 1 year (25, 27, 28). Frozen immunocompetent cells have also been used to identify significant changes in lymphocyte function associated with BCG therapy 65). Our studies of patients with cancer have demonstrated a population of cancer patients, those undergoing radiation therapy, in whom frozen cells do not react in stimulation assays in the same way as fresh cells from the same patient. These patients are often the same ones for whom FicollHypaque gradient separation of mononuclear cells is difficult. To evaluate this phenomenon, simultaneous cultures and stimulations with PHA were performed using both fresh and frozen mononuclear cells from three groups of patients with sarcoma, and one normal volunteer population. These results were compared.
Sulfur oxidation genes in diverse deep-sea viruses

Viruses are the most abundant biological entities in the oceans and a pervasive cause of mortality of microorganisms that drive biogeochemical cycles. Although the ecological and evolutionary effects of viruses on marine phototrophs are well recognized, little is known about their impact on ubiquitous marine lithotrophs. Here, we report 18 genome sequences of double-stranded DNA viruses that putatively infect widespread sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. Fifteen of these viral genomes contain auxiliary metabolic genes for the α and γ subunits of reverse dissimilatory sulfite reductase (rdsr). This enzyme oxidizes elemental sulfur, which is abundant in the hydrothermal plumes studied here. Our findings implicate viruses as a key agent in the sulfur cycle and as a reservoir of genetic diversity for bacterial enzymes that underpin chemosynthesis in the deep oceans.
Periodic boundary conditions in a 3D hydro code

We have modified a 3D hydrodynamics code so that it has the capability to impose periodic boundary conditions on the problem being considered. This capability allows it to treat only a basic symmetry unit of the problem when translational or rotational periodic symmetries are present. The code has been run successfully for two test problems involving rotational symmetries.
On judgments obtained from a commercial search engine

In information retrieval, relevance judgments play an important role as they are required both for evaluating the quality of retrieval systems and for training learning to rank algorithms. In recent years, numerous papers have been published using judgments obtained from a commercial search engine by researchers in industry. As typically no information is provided about the quality of these judgments, their reliability for evaluating/training retrieval systems remains questionable. In this paper, we analyze the reliability of such judgments for evaluating the quality of retrieval systems by comparing them to judgments by NIST judges at TREC.
Guest Editorial Instrumentation in Vision

When I was first contacted about the possibility of developing a special issue devoted to vision, I was left in a quandary as to what elements to discuss and emphasize. The task has proved to be easier than I had thought, due to the help of the authors and the editor John DeVelis.
An adaptive on-chip voltage regulation technique for low-power applications

In this paper we present a completely on-chip voltage regulation technique which promises to adjust the degree of voltage regulation in a digital logic chip in the face of process induced delay variations so as to minimize energy dissipation while always guaranteeing the target operating frequency. For this purpose the delay of a critical path replica of the circuit being regulated is constantly compared with the target delay to provide the regulator with the information needed to select the optimum voltage levels. The proposed solution is even move attractive in that no external components are required. Based on this scheme, a completely on-chip voltage regulator has been fabricated in a commercial 0.5 /spl mu/m CMOS process and used to generate the inner rail voltages for a DSP multiplier-accumulator (MAC) implemented in mixed swing QuadRail. Measured results indicate that the voltages generated by the regulator offer a very high degree of load regulation thus verifying the fast response time of the on-chip output buffer.
A measure of standing for citation networks within a wider environment

Abstract Given a journal-to-journal citation matrix, it is straight-forward to construct measures of relative standing for the journals in the citation network. The methodology is completely portable and can be used for citation networks where the units are national scientific communities. The new application points to the need to have a measure of standing that takes a wider citation environment into account. A new measure of standing that does this is proposed. The new measure imposes no additional computational burden, making it prudent to use the measure for any citation matrix.
Does Online Q&A Activity Vary Based on Topic: A Comparison of Technical and Non-technical Stack Exchange Forums

With the increasing demand on knowledge sharing and problem solving, there is a growing participation on online Question & Answer (Q&A) forums in the recent past. We classify the online community participation on Stack Exchange into two different genres, one is technical and another is non-technical. Though several studies have measured community activity, studies that compare activity across forums within different topic areas are limited. In this work we examine the effect of incentives on contributions by exploring the differences between technical and non-technical communities in terms of user's participation. Given the increased attention on discussion forums as part of online learning, especially MOOCs, we believe that our findings can assist with providing better support for learners across different content areas.
Restricted simplicial decomposition for convex constrained problems

The strategy of Restricted Simplicial Decomposition is extended to convex programs with convex constraints. The resulting algorithm can also be viewed as an extension of the (scaled) Topkis—Veinott method of feasible directions in which the master problem involves optimization over a simplex rather than the usual line search. Global convergence of the method is proven and conditions are given under which the master problem will be solved a finite number of times. Computational testing with dense quadratic problems confirms that the method dramatically improves the Topkis—Veinott algorithm and that it is competitive with the generalized reduced gradient method.
Reactive oxygen metabolites in endotoxin-induced acute renal failure in rats

Reactive oxygen metabolites in endotoxin-induced acute renal failure in rats. Based on recent reports that reactive oxygen metabolites may play a role in endotoxin-induced injury in other tissues, we postulated that reactive oxygen metabolites may be important mediators of endotoxin-induced acute renal failure. Superoxide dismutase, a scavenger of superoxide, or catalase, which destroys hydrogen peroxide, did not protect against endotoxin-induced renal failure. Similarly, neither the hydroxyl radical scavenger dimethylthiourea nor the iron chelator deferoxamine (which presumably would act by preventing the generation of hydroxyl radical via the iron-catalyzed Haber-Weiss reaction) prevented the endotoxin-induced fall in renal function. In separate experiments, we found no increase in renal cortical lipid peroxidation (a marker of reactive oxygen metabolite-mediated tissue injury) in endo-toxin-treated rats, providing further evidence against a role for reactive oxygen metabolites in endotoxin-induced renal injury. Finally, using the aminotriazole-induced inhibition of catalase (a measure of in vivo changes in the hydrogen peroxide generation) we found no evidence of enhanced hydrogen peroxide generation in the renal cortex in endotox-in-treated rats. Taken together, the data from these three separate experimental approaches suggest that reactive oxygen metabolites are not important mediators of endotoxin-induced acute renal failure.
SU-E-T-217: Automated Data Mining of Lung SBRT Cases for Predicting Dosimetric Indices in Prospective Plans.

Purpose: To develop an automated technique for evaluating lung stereotactic body radiotherapy(SBRT) plan quality and predicting achievable lungdose constraints. Methods: We examined the workflow scripting capabilities of a radiationoncologysoftware package (MIM Software Inc) for automatically generating mean dose gradients and overlap volume histograms (OVHs) for lungSBRT plans. Mean dose gradients were created to assess plan quality by quantifying the dose fall‐off from the planning target volume (PTV) into the ipsilateral lung. OVHs were created to evaluate potential predictors of achievable lungdose constraints by measuring the amount of ipsilateral lung volume overlapping the uniformly expanded PTV. Based on the knowledge that OVHs will depend on the size and spatial relationship of the lung and PTV structures, we hypothesize that OVH‐derived indices will therefore serve as predictors of achievable lungdose. The workflow scripts were evaluated in a pilot study of 10 lungSBRT plans (50 Gy in 5 fractions) with varying PTV sizes and locations. Results: The scripted workflows were successful in automatically generating mean dose gradients and OVHs for the PTV and ipsilateral lung. The workflows were able to produce the aforementioned data in a matter of seconds (per patient), which would have otherwise been excessively time consuming and labor intensive. From the pilot study, the average mean dose gradient was ‐ 4.1 ± 0.6, indicating that all evaluated patients had similar and acceptable plan quality. Furthermore, the OVH data indicated that a 0 mm PTV expansion and a 10 mm PTV expansion correlated with the mean lungdose (correlation coefficients of 0.71 and 0.56, respectively). Conclusions: Our current data demonstrate that mean lungdose correlates to multiple OVH indices. These results indicate that automated large‐scale mining of retrospective data is a highly promising approach for predicting dosimetric indices in prospective lungSBRT plans.
Performance Analysis of Optical Receivers by the Saddlepoint Approximation

Determining the minimum error probability of a binary communication receiver embodying a photoelectric detector requires calculating both the probability p k that k output electrons are counted and the cumulative probability that the number k exceeds a certain decision level. A saddlepoint method is described for both setting the decision level and approximating the error probability on the basis of the probability generating function of the p k 's. The method is applied to the avalanche photodiode. The cumulative probabilities so calculated are compared with the Chernoff bound, which in typical cases is found to be too high by an order of magnitude or more. The error probabilities of a class of avalanche diodes having the same mean gain are compared with that of a receiver with no amplification at all.
Promoting physician preventive practices: needs assessment for CME in breast cancer detection.

Needs assessment for a continuing medical education (CME) intervention directed at increasing breast cancer screening of women 50 years of age and older included a survey of target primary care physicians (n = 370) to explore areas of interest for CME in breast cancer detection and to establish baseline screening practices. The survey was completed at community hospital department meetings or by mail with a response rate of 87% (n = 323). Strategies for enhancing response rate and participation in planning included involvement of local physician organizations, use of a focus group of physicians, and attendance at community hospital department meetings. Survey results indicated that the topics of greatest interest for CME included improving patient compliance, risk factors, and patient education. A total of 48% of physician respondents reported referring all their asymptomatic female patients 50 years of age and older for regular screening mammograms; 63% indicated that they perform breast examinations on all such women regularly. Physician concerns that were reported to influence physical breast examination or referral for mammography are discussed, as well as current use of related office systems (e.g., for recall reminders and/or breast self-examination instruction). The results of a survey of women in the target age group residing in the same community are also reviewed in terms of mammography utilization (e.g., the proportion who had a screening mammogram within the last year was 19%) and specific concerns about mammography. The lack of a doctor's recommendation was the most common reason given (45%) for never having had a mammogram. The uses of the data from both surveys for CME program planning are discussed, including the content and design of the programs, along with organizational aspects and strategies for enhancing attendance.
On the ideological foundations of environmental policy

Abstract This paper is an investigation into the philosophies of science inherent in the development of two schools of thought in environmental economics: neoclassical and steady-state analysis. It attempts to gain clearer insight into the direction of inquiry and the policy options of each by contrasting their perspective metaeconomic structures - the sets of first principles shaping theoretical development. The ontology of steady-state analysis, while accepting the general principle of rationality, differs from neoclassicism by including the ecological interaction of people with nature as an element of spicies being. The cosmology of the two schools differs in the steady-statists take the laws of thermodynamics and the principle of biospheric assimilation of first principles. Questions of absolute scarcity take primacy over the neoclassical focus on problems of relative scarcity in policy analysis. Consequently, steady-state theorists view the environment problem in its global dimensions over a longer time continuum. The result is that steady-state policy prescriptions are not necessarily ‘market bound’ and may transcend the intstitutional arrangements common in western capitalist societies.
Dissociation of buprenorphine-induced locomotor sensitization and conditioned place preference in rats.

Abstract The locomotor and rewarding effects of the opioid mixed agonist-antagonist buprenorphine were assessed in a conditioned place preference (CPP) experiment. Separate groups of rats were given one of three doses of buprenorphine (0.3, 1.0, or 3.0 mg/kg) or saline paired with the white compartment of a CPP apparatus. The following day, all rats received saline paired with the black compartment. After six conditioning trials, rats were given free access to all compartments of the CPP apparatus. Horizontal activity data obtained during conditioning revealed increased activity (i.e., behavioral sensitization) for the three doses on trial 6. Vertical activity data revealed significant increases on trial 6 for the 1.0 and 3.0 mg/kg doses only. Signifacant CPP was obtained with the 0.3 mg/kg and 1.0 mg/kg doses of buprenorphine, but not with the 3.0 mg/kg dose. These data indicate that buprenorphine elicits locomotor sensitization after repeated exposures that follows a linear dose-response relationship. In contrast, these data suggest that the rewarding effects of buprenorphine follow an inverted U-shaped dose-response curve.
Calcium dynamics at a plastic synapse in APLYSIA

Abstract Because certain primitive behavioral responses in the large sea snail Aplysia have recently been linked to neurophysiological events at a synaptic level, special interest attaches to the role played by calcium ions at such synapses. Using an extended version of the model applied earlier to trace the flow of energy and information through a ganglion of the medicinal leech (Triffet & Green, 1980), the authors investigate the electropotential effects of small transient localized changes in the calcium concentration near the inner membrane surface of a neuron in the resting state. When this state is well below the firing threshold, changes in Ca 2+ concentration less than 10 −8 M are shown to result only in low-level harmonic background oscillations. When the potential of the neurons is closer to threshold, however, and/or the Ca 2+ concentration is of the order of 10 −8 M, easily recognizable graded potentials appear, and these grow into firing peaks when the calcium concentration is increased still further. Though no attempt is made to deal with the amplification effects dependent on calcium-vesicle interactions and the related release of transmitter molecules, a unified mechanism for the underlying calcium ion dynamics is proposed. Graded potentials of increasing size are associated with a progressive localized thickening of the inner and outer Debye layers. Moreover, the transverse and longitudinal calcium currents set up in such regions prove adequate to account for both the depletion of Ca 2+ ions necessary to achieve habituation, and the increase in their concentration required for sensitization.
Nonlinear lumped-circuit model for s.c.r.

A nonlinear s.c.r. circuit model made up of 6 lumped-circuit elements (3 nonlinear capacitors and 3 nonlinear voltage-controlled current sources) is presented. The model can be used for simulating arbitrary s.c.r. circuits under all operating conditions. In particular, it is capable of predicting all important dynamic effects such as turn-on and turn-off transients, dV/dt triggering, and the minimum commutation-time phenomenon. Computer-simulation results show that the model will correctly simulate all well-known triggering modes and turn-off mechanisms. The model is based entirely upon the device's physical operating principles. Each element in the circuit model corresponds to an actual current component. In particular, carrier currents due to both diffusion and generation-recombination are included, in addition to the usual displacementcurrent components across the 3 depletion layers
Hierarchical Tropical Cloud Systems in an Analog Shallow-Water Model.

Abstract Recent observations have revealed an hierarchy of cloud clusters and superclusters within the Madden-Julian oscillation of the equatorial troposphere. The authors here report on the results of simulations with a model based on a simple nonlinear analog of the shallow-water equations. The model consists of a troposphere represented by single values of vertical velocity and temperature and in which the horizontal motions are assumed always to represent the first baroclinic mode. The troposphere overlies a subcloud layer of fixed depth in which the evolution of moist entropy is predicted. The model is driven by specified values of radiative cooling and sea surface temperature, and a Newtonian relaxation of the surface wind toward a specified value. The system is horizontally homogeneous except for an anisotropy owing to the equatorial β effect. An eastward-propagating low-wavenumber disturbance containing an hierarchy of superclusters and cloud clusters is spontaneously generated from a random initi...
Application of Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy to School Settings

Alternatives for Families: A Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (AF-CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for families with children aged 5 to 15 years who have been affected by verbal and physical aggression in the family. AF-CBT was designed to address risks for exposure to emotional and physical aggression as well as common clinical consequences of exposure to aggression by taking a family-systems approach to strengthening individual and family functioning. Given the target population, AF-CBT also integrates monitoring of and content related to family safety. This article provides an overview of AF-CBT including a discussion of appropriate populations and modalities, AF-CBT principles, and the theoretical basis of AF-CBT. The treatment is divided into three phases: (a) engagement and psychoeducation, (b) individual skill building, and (c) family applications and routines. The authors review each of these phases, the specific components and content of AF-CBT, and its empirical support. AF-CBT was one of the fir...
Selection of spirometric measurements in a clinical trial, the Lung Health Study.

Although current recommendations for spirometry require that the largest value of FEV1 and FVC should be taken from the largest values of different maneuvers, the validity of this approach was recently questioned. It has been suggested that selection of the maneuver with the largest peak flow or the maneuver with the largest FVC should be used for measurement of spirometric indices. The present analysis was therefore undertaken to determine which method of selection of spirometric maneuvers would give the least short-term variability in a clinical trial population. We examined the spirometry test sessions from 5,885 individuals with mild to moderate chronic airflow obstruction who were screened at two visits 24.9 +/- 17.1 d apart for entry into a multi-center clinical trial, the Lung Health Study. We compared eight potential selection methods for FEV1 and FVC. Using these different selection methods, the coefficient of variation ranged from 4.1 to 4.9% for FEV1 and from 3.5 to 5.7% for FVC. The average ab...
Estimation of Landfill Gas Generation Rate and Gas Permeability Field of Refuse Using Inverse Modeling

Landfill methane must be captured to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases; moreover it can be used as an alternative energy source. However, despite the widespread use of landfill gas (LFG) collection systems for over three decades, little information about their capture efficiency is available, because LFG generation rates usually remain unknown. Therefore, to assess the efficiency of greenhouse gas capture and to estimate the amount of fugitive emissions, LFG generation rates should be properly determined. In addition, to improve the capture efficiency of methane while minimizing air intrusion from the atmosphere, it is important to quantify gas flow patterns within landfills. In this study, a methodology to quantify methane generation rates and to estimate the gas permeability field was examined using inverse modeling. To account for the heterogeneous, but spatially correlated structure of refuse, the pilot point method involving geostatistical techniques and optimization algorithms was used. Synthetic observation data were generated from forward simulations for a pumping test and a baro-pneumatic test, and these data were used to test the inversion procedure. The inverse model was able to reproduce the spatial permeability distribution using the transient pressure changes in response to the withdrawal of LFG during the pumping test. The LFG generation rate was also successfully estimated using the data from the baro-pneumatic test with errors less than 2%. While this methodology was developed and successfully tested using synthetic data, it will be investigated in the future using field data from the bioreactor test cells at the Yolo County Central Landfill, CA.
Regional surface flux of CO2 inferred from changes in the advected CO2 column density

Abstract A Lagrangian experiment was conducted over Iowa during the daytime (9:00–17:30 LT) on June 19, 2007 as part of the North American Carbon Program's Mid-Continent Intensive using a light-weight and operationally flexible aircraft to measure a net drawdown of CO2 concentration within the boundary layer. The drawdown can be related to net ecosystem exchange when anthropogenic emissions are estimated using a combination of the Vulcan fossil fuel emissions inventory coupled with a source contribution analysis using HYSPLIT. Results show a temporally and spatially averaged net CO2 flux of −9.0 ± 2.4 μmol m−2 s−1 measured from the aircraft data. The average flux from anthropogenic emissions over the measurement area was 0.3 ± 0.1 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1. Large-scale subsidence occurred during the experiment, entraining 1.0 ± 0.2 μmol CO2 m−2 s−1 into the boundary layer. Thus, the CO2 flux attributable to the vegetation and soils is −10.3 ± 2.4 μmol m−2 s−1. The magnitude of the calculated daytime biospheric flux is consistent with tower-based eddy covariance fluxes over corn and soybeans given existing land-use estimates for this agricultural region. Flux values are relatively insensitive to the choice of integration height above the boundary layer and emission footprint area. Flux uncertainties are relatively small compared to the biospheric fluxes, though the measurements were conducted at the height of the growing season.
The 1954 Salk poliomyelitis vaccine field trial.

On April 12, 1955, Thomas Francis, Jr., Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan, held a press conference in Ann Arbor to announce the results of a ‘field trial’ of an experimental poliomyelitis vaccine. ‘Some of the best educated persons in American journalism’ elbowed each other aside to get their hands on a copy of the press release. The journalists’ ardor was not surprising: more Americans knew about the vaccine trial ‘than knew the full name of the President of the United States’ [1]. The ‘biggest public health experiment ever’ had enrolled 1,022,684 school children in 44 states. 300,000 school teachers, ‘classroom mothers’ and ‘clubwomen,’ nurses, physical therapists, doctors, and public health officials had volunteered to organize the immunizations and track polio cases [2,3]. Around the country, vaccine supplies were stockpiled, as families, physicians, and government officials waited to hear whether the new vaccine had worked. Francis’ announcement that the vaccine was ‘80 to 90 per cent effective against paralytic poliomyelitis’ did not satisfy Jonas Salk, the vaccine’s inventor, who promised future results of ‘100 per cent’ effectiveness [1,4]. No medical study, before or since, approaches the 1954 Salk vaccine field trial in size, complexity, or the extent of public involvement. The trial was initiated not by the federal government but by a private organization, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP), which raised its money from millions of small donations. Ordinary citizens paid for the study, recruited the children who took the vaccine and the volunteers who helped administer it. It is a small wonder that trialists and vaccine researchers look back admiringly, even longingly, at the study [5–8]. Yet, the most remarkable fact about the 1954 field trial may not be the massive organizational effort involved, or the rigorous methodological design ultimately imposed. Given repeated controversies about the vaccine’s safety and the field trial’s design, it is remarkable that the trial was ever begun, much less successfully completed. The sciences of vaccine testing and of clinical trials are complex. Add parents, physicians, school, and health officials from 3100þ communities and the process grows even messier, little resembling the orderly procedure the textbooks prescribe. In Pittsburgh, Jonas Salk continued modifying the test vaccine until a few months before the study was launched. The field trial itself was shaped by decisions taken not only in New York at the NFIP’s headquarters, or in Francis’ Ann Arbor, but also in places like Montgomery, Alabama, where local health and school officials decided to go ahead with the trial, and Arlington, Virginia, where the community decided against participation. In this article I will try to capture the difficulties trial organizers faced, the contingencies they encountered along the way and the actions taken to overcome these obstacles.
Liquidity planning in a small bank

Abstract Given a forecast of supply and demand for cash in each period of an infinite planning horizon, and with a known current portfolio, a policy is chosen to invest these cash supplies in securities of different maturities so that the demand in every future period can be satisfied by securities maturing in that period. The objective is to maximize the minimum of the excess over the planning horizon so that any illiquidity in one period is spread out over the entire planning horizon. Analytical solutions are obtained for single maturity and barbell investment policies. Feasibility and optimality conditions are determined for these policies.
Perinuclear localization of Na-K-Cl-cotransporter protein after human cytomegalovirus infection

We (41) previously reported that Na-K-Cl-cotransporter (NKCC) function and microsomal protein expression are both dramatically reduced late in human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection of a human fibr...
Variables affecting length of psychiatric inpatient treatment

To discover whether variables such as gender; ethnicity, pay code, and diagnostic category affect length of psychiatric inpatient treatment, patient records for a recent 18-month period (January 1988 to June 1989) in a Midwestern teaching hospital setting were exmained and statistically analyzed. Variables that emerged as related to length of stay are ethnicity, Axis I diagnosis of adjustment disorder, and presence of any Axis II diagnosis. Comparisons with length of stay statistics from an earlier period (1981) lead to conclusions about inpatient psychiatric services since the implementation of diagnosis related groups. Further, implications of this study's findings are discussed in relation to mental health service delivery.
A model for pomeranchukon couplings

We present a model for the Pomeranchukon which relates its couplings to those of the $f$ and ${f}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ trajectories. We successfully explain several features of total---cross-section data, and discuss $s$-channel helicity conservation at high energies in $\ensuremath{\pi}N$ scattering and $\ensuremath{\rho}$ photoproduction, but we do not expect it to be a feature of all diffractive processes.
On-chip titration of an anticoagulant argatroban and determination of the clotting time within whole blood or plasma using a plug-based microfluidic system

This paper describes extending plug-based microfluidics to handling complex biological fluids such as blood, solving the problem of injecting additional reagents into plugs, and applying this system to measuring of clotting time in small volumes of whole blood and plasma. Plugs are droplets transported through microchannels by fluorocarbon fluids. A plug-based microfluidic system was developed to titrate an anticoagulant (argatroban) into blood samples and to measure the clotting time using the activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) test. To carry out these experiments, the following techniques were developed for a plug-based system: (i) using Teflon AF coating on the microchannel wall to enable formation of plugs containing blood and transport of the solid fibrin clots within plugs, (ii) using a hydrophilic glass capillary to enable reliable merging of a reagent from an aqueous stream into plugs, (iii) using bright-field microscopy to detect the formation of a fibrin clot within plugs and using fl...