cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development and Validation of the School Achievement Motivation Rating Scale

This article describes the development and validation of the School Achievement Motivation Rating Scale (SAMRS). A group of 30 teachers participated in the construction and selection of behavioral ...
Bamboo: an architecture modeling and code generation framework for configuration management systems

We describe an architecture modeling and code generation framework called Bamboo. Using Bamboo, engineers design SCM repository and feature models, and then generate a running SCM system from the models.
Hydrolysis of cell surface inositol phospholipid leads to the delayed stimulation of phosphatidylinositol synthesis in bovine aortic endothelial cells

Abstract In order to address the issue of how inositol phospholipid synthesis is controlled in a resting cell we looked for enhanced [ 3 H]phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) labelling in response to the hydrolysis of cell surface PtdIns. Bacillus thuringiensis PtdIns-PLC when added to intact bovine aortic endothelial (BAE) cells rapidly hydrolysed 9.1 ± 1% of the total cellular PtdIns. This result suggests that BAE cells have a cell surface pool of PtdIns. Hydrolysis of cell surface PtdIns, in contrast to the agonist-stimulated hydrolysis of inner leaflet PtdIns, did not lead to a rapid (minutes) stimulation of PtdIns resynthesis. Prolonged incubation of BAE cells with PtdIns-PLC led to further hydrolysis of PtdIns (up to 20% of total cellular PtdIns). This second phase of PtdIns-PLC induced hydrolysis was inhibited by the addition of brefeldin A suggesting that it was dependent on vesicular traffic to the plasma membrane from the endoplasmic reticulum. Furthermore, the above result suggests that prolonged incubation of intact cells with PtdIns-PLC leads to the slow depletion of intracellular PtdIns stores. This second phase of PtdIns-PLC induced hydrolysis was associated with PtdIns resynthesis since prolonged incubation with PtdIns-PLC, but not B. cereus PtdCho-PLC (which does not hydrolyse PtdIns), led to enhanced PtdIns labelling. The results indicate that extracellular PtdIns-PLC induced PtdIns resynthesis may occur due to PtdIns-PLC induced intracellular PtdIns depletion.
Implications of Racial Diversity in the Supervisor-Subordinate Relationship

This study addresses the impact of race on the supervisor-subordinate relationship. The purpose is to examine this relationship with minority subordinates reporting to both majority and minority group members. Using the subordinates needs framework identified by Baird and Kram (1983), 5 areas were addressed: supervisory support, developmental opportunities, procedural justice, acceptance or assimilation, and discrimination. The results indicated that African American subordinates with White supervisors experience less supervisory support, developmental opportunities, procedural justice, assimilation, and more discrimination than African American subordinates with African American supervisors.
A haplotype of angiotensinogen gene that is associated with essential hypertension increases its promoter activity in adipocytes.

Abstract Obesity is associated with hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases especially in the African-American population. Human angiotensinogen ( AGT ) gene has seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 1.2 kb region of its promoter. Recent studies have shown that variant − 217A is associated with hypertension in African-American and Chinese population. Nucleotide sequence of the hAGT gene has shown that variant − 217A almost always occurs with variants − 532T, − 793A and − 1074T (forming haplotype AAT) and variant − 217G almost always occurs with variants − 532C, − 793G and − 1074G (forming haplotype GGG). Since hAGT gene is expressed in the adipose tissue and its expression in this tissue may play a role in hypertension, we have analyzed the role of haplotypes AAT and GGG on the expression of this gene in adipocytes. We show here that a reporter construct with haplotype AAT of the hAGT gene has increased promoter activity on transient transfection in pre-adipocytes and differentiated adipocytes as compared to the reporter construct containing GCGG haplotype. Increased expression of the AGT gene containing haplotype AAT in the liver and adipocytes may be a contributing factor for hypertension.
Evaluation of a Functional Life Test Model for Power Transformers

A power transformer life model and its related, test procedure have been evaluated and found to provide more meaningful information on retained operational capability of the winding insulation than can be derived from simple material tests. Both paper and enamel conductor insulation demonstrated retained functional ity after aging for time periods in excess of 5 times the life defined in industry loading guides. In addition, valuable knowledge was revealed about the behavior of conductor turn insulation with free gas entrapment, where the gas source was either oil supersaturation with dissolved gas or thermal evolution from overheated cellulose.
The cultural part of cognition

This paper discusses the role of cultural anthropology in Cognitive Science. Culture is described as a very large pool of information passed along from generation to generation, composed of learned “programs” for action and understanding. These cultural programs differ in important ways from computer programs. Cultural programs tend to be unspecified and inexplicit rather than clearly stated algorithms learned through a slow process of guided discovery, and involve the manipulation of content based rather than formal symbol systems. Cultural symbol systems often have affective as well as objective referents, giving them a strong directive effect. The argument is made that in the process of repeated social transmission and use, cultural programs come to take forms which have a good “fit” to the natural capacities and constraints of the human information processing system.
“All who nurse for hire”: Nursing and the mixed legacy of legislative victories

Sustained support of policy initiatives by nursing has resulted in significant legislative victories. One victory, the passage of the 1938 New York State Todd-Feld Act, which underwent legislative debate at a time when the nurse labor market was in disarray, during an economic depression, and before U.S. entry into World War II, reinforces our understanding that nursing must be a strong shepherd for policies beneficial for health care delivery. Designed to correct serious deficiencies in the nursing workforce, the act successfully required licensing for those working as registered and practical nurses. Yet, its provisions failed to stop all unlicensed nurse workers from practicing. Rapid changes occurring in the nurse labor market against the backdrop of growing hospital power over the employment of all nurse workers minimized the act's effectiveness. Policy implications include the need to focus on the complex nature of health care policy initiatives, flexibility in the face of changing circumstances, and acceptance of political realities.
Distributed intelligence for user-oriented computing

The primitives used by the computer designer have blossomed from the single logical connectives of two decades ago, into chips containing thousands of circuits and bits. Yet the quantitative aspect of the achievement, imposing as it is, signifies less than the qualitative injection of machine intelligence down to the chip level. With the consequent freedom to distribute computing power, machine design enters a new era.
In and out of this world: digital video and the aesthetics of realism in the new hybrid documentary

AbstractDigital technology, often perceived as complicating evidential claims about documentary representations, has been playing a significant role lately in formulating new aesthetic grounds for the long-lasting hybridity formed between fact and fiction in the genre. It has been doing so by cultivating a style of constructed camcorder realism, utilizing the technology's immediacy and intimacy predicated upon the digital look in its various connotations of authenticity and credibility. This article discusses the ways by which digital cinematography contributes to the challenging interplay between reality and fiction in the new hybrid documentary form. Focusing on several unclassifiable blends of document and story shot on digital video (DV) and other hand-held cameras—Michael Winterbottom's In This World (2002), Abbas Kiarostami's Ten (2002), and Hany Abu-Assad's Ford Transit (2002)—it accounts for how technologically oriented aesthetic variations become signifiers of an artificial generic distinction, a...
Decreased requirement for 4.5S RNA in 16S and 23S rRNA mutants of Escherichia coli

4.5S RNA is the bacterial homolog of the mammalian signal recognition particle (SRP) RNA that targets ribosome-bound nascent peptides to the endoplasmic reticulum. To explore the interaction of bacterial SRP with the ribosome, we have isolated rRNA suppressor mutations in Escherichia coli that decrease the requirement for 4.5S RNA. Mutations at C732 in 16S rRNA and at A1668 and G1423 in 23S rRNA altered the cellular responses to decreases in both Ffh (the bacterial homolog of SRP54) and 4.5S RNA levels, while the C1066U mutation in 16S rRNA and G424A mutation in 23S rRNA affected the requirement for 4.5S RNA only. These data are consistent with a dual role for 4.5S RNA, one involving co-translational protein secretion by a 4.5S–Ffh complex, the other involving free 4.5S RNA.
NORMATIVE ITEM STATISTICS FOR THE GROUP FORM OF THE HOLTZMAN INKBLOT TECHNIQUE

To assist investigators who wish to use the group form of the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT) in innovative ways, normative item statistics were obtained from 350 adults for all 90 HIT inkblots (Forms A and B) on the 20 variables that are hand-scored on the standard group version of the technique.
The impact of the approval of riluzole

The approval of riluzole as the first agent to treat ALS has raised a number of important questions and brought the treatment of ALS into a new era. In addition to patients with classic ALS in whom a modest improvement in life expectancy was shown compared with placebo, what other patients might benefit from riluzole? Should patients with progressive muscular atrophy (PMA) be given the drug? Benign focal amyotrophy? At-risk patients with familial disease in whom the SOD1 gene defect has been identified? What about healthy patients from families with autosomal dominant ALS without identifiable gene defects? Because each treatment trial has used different outcome measures, when insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) or the next agent is approved, how will we decide which agent or agents to use? Recognizing that no data currently exist to …
A quality function deployment approach to task organization in peacekeeping force design

Abstract This article presents a model for determining the composition of a United States peacekeeping force deployed to Bosnia. The model, which is loosely based on Quality Function Deployment (QFD), uses three matrices in series to relate the interests of stakeholders involved in the conflict to the composition of the US force deployed in Bosnia. In addition, we have used AHP to determine the weighted importance of various stakeholders and the intensity of the relationship between the variables involved in the model. The recommendations of the model are more or less validated by the actual force composition currently deployed in Bosnia. The advantage of the model is to add “fine tuning” and precision to an otherwise ad hoc decision making process concerning the deployment of armed forces. The model can be used in other force composition planning scenarios.
ATP hydrolysis stimulates binding and release of single stranded DNA from alternating subunits of the dimeric E. coli Rep helicase: implications for ATP-driven helicase translocation.

Abstract DNA helicases are motor proteins that unwind duplex DNA during DNA replication, recombination and repair in reactions that are coupled to ATP binding and hydrolysis. In the process of unwinding duplex DNA processively, DNA helicases must also translocate along the DNA filament. To probe the mechanism of ATP-driven translocation by the dimeric E. coli Rep helicase along single stranded (ss) DNA, we examined the effects of ATP on the dissociation kinetics of ssDNA from the Rep dimer. Stopped-flow experiments show that the dissociation rate of a fluorescent ss oligodeoxynucleotide bound to one subunit of the dimeric Rep helicase is stimulated by ssDNA binding to the other subunit, and that the rate of this ssDNA exchange reaction is further stimulated ∼60-fold upon ATP hydrolysis. This ssDNA exchange process occurs via an intermediate in which ssDNA is transiently bound to both subunits of the Rep dimer. These results suggest a rolling or subunit switching mechanism for processive ATP-driven translocation of the dimeric Rep helicase along ssDNA. Such a mechanism requires the extreme negative cooperativity for DNA binding to the second subunit of the Rep dimer, which insures that the doubly DNA-ligated Rep (P 2 S 2 ) dimer is formed only transiently and relaxes back to the singly ligated Rep (P 2 S) dimer. The fact that other oligomeric DNA helicases share many functional features with the dimeric Rep helicase suggests that similar mechanisms for translocation and DNA unwinding may apply to other dimeric as well as hexameric DNA helicases.
Fantastick Associations and Addictive General Rules: A Fundamental Difference between Hutcheson and Hume

Francis Hutcheson is often taken to be the most important positive influence on Hume. And there can be no doubt that Hume does take on board several crucial Hutchesonian elements. But Hutcheson's moral theory, like that of most of his contemporaries, is grounded in a theological conception of human nature to which Hume is adamantly opposed.2 In this paper I will examine how Hume's disagreements with Hutcheson embody the anti-theological purpose that defines Hume's work as a whole. I will look, in particular, at Hume's and Hutcheson's different positions on the principles of association. I hope to show how Hume's use of these principles in the Treatise advances his larger goal of placing "the science of man" on "a foundation almost entirely new" (T xvi). I will proceed, first, by explaining Hutcheson's conception of human nature and his use of the principles of association; second, by sketching in broad outline how Hume's accounts of the origins of justice and natural virtue undermine crucial components of Hutcheson's conception of human nature; and third, by elucidating in more detail an aspect of Hume's associationism that is particularly revealing of his distance from Hutcheson.
Rapid Assessment of Storm-Surge Inundation After Hurricane Katrina Utilizing a Modified Distance Interpolation Approach

This study developed a method to rapidly assess, during early mitigation planning and recovery efforts, both the flood extent and the water depth of Hurricane Katrina's storm surge. Over a hundred high water marks were collected within the Mississippi Gulf Coast study area utilizing survey equipment and GPS measurements. In order to account for the many inlets and estuaries along the coast, an interpolation approach was tested that allowed the interpolation algorithm to calculate distance around such barrier features rather than directly through them, thus more appropriately modeling the physical process of water distribution during the storm surge event. This technique was implemented operationally using a "cost surface" algorithm, available in most GIS software packages. A binary impedance surface (travel is either possible or not) was utilized as input to the cost surface algorithm. The impedance surface was generated using modified hydrologic operations on an existing lidar-derived DEM. This technique...
Dipole moments and near field potentials

Expressions are derived for the moments of electric and magnetic dipoles whose far field is equivalent to the Rayleigh term in the far field of a given radiating electromagnetic field. The equivalent dipole moments are expressed as integrals over an arbitrary closed surface of the near electromagnetic fields and simplification is achieved by rewriting these expressions in terms of the static potentials from which the near fields are derived. The results are valid regardless of the complexity of the field and the medium within the integration surface as long as the exterior is homogeneous, isotropic and source-free.
The text‐encoding initiative:Part 2

Purpose – To present a summary of the Proceedings of the 4th Annual Text‐Encoding Initiative (TEI) Consortium Members’ Meeting, October 2004, and an introduction to P5, the recently revised version of the TEI.Design/methodology/approach – Presents the TEI from a literature‐based, chronological perspective.Findings – TEI P5 brings the text‐encoding initiative better internal consistency and seamless integration with other digital library encoding standards.Practical implications – Expressed in an XML Schema language, TEI P5 facilitates greater interoperability with other metadata and markup schemata. P5 also introduces changes that directly affect encoding such as simpler linking mechanisms and easier to encode standoff annotation.Originality/value – This, the second part of a two‐part column, informs digital library developers of increased flexibility and interoperability of TEI P5, the revised version of the Text Encoding Initiative.
Pins and Plaster vs External Fixation in the Treatment of Unstable Distal Radial Fractures: A randomized prospective study

90 unstable fractures of the distal radius were studied in a randomized, prospective manner. Follow-up consisted of patient questionnaire, medical record review, therapist evaluation and radiography at 4 months, 1 year and 2 years post-operatively. Overall results were good or excellent in 94%. No significant differences were found between treatment groups (external fixation and pins and plaster) in final results, range of motion, intrinsic tightness, grip strength, or the presence of arthritis. The complication rate was high for both groups (45%), and half of the complications were major. External fixation maintained radial length more effectively (significantly in those patients followed for 2 years) but was associated with higher initial costs (20 times) and a greater number of minor complications.
Investigating how and what prospective teachers learn through microteaching lesson study

Abstract Microteaching Lesson Study [MLS] combines elements of Japanese lesson study and microteaching. A case study of MLS was conducted with 18 prospective teachers in an initial course on learning to teach. Various data sources (i.e., pre- and post-lesson plans, MLS lesson plans, videotaped lessons, transcripts of group discussions, observation field notes, MLS group written reflective reports and feedback surveys) were triangulated. The pre- and post-lesson plans demonstrated growth in participants' knowledge of teaching aligned with an overarching student-learning process goal (i.e., mathematics reasoning). Active learning involving meaningful discussion, planning, and practice, support from a knowledgeable advisor, collaborative deliberation-in-process, and opportunity to trial, analyse and revise were aspects of MLS revealed as centrally important for prospective teacher learning through MLS.
What Will Chemistry Do in the Next Twenty Years

The path of chemistry in the future will be determined both by its participation in solving large-scale societal problems and by its generation of new ideas through basic research. This article sketches four of the areas of societal “pull” in which chemistry will play a role in solving applied problems—national security, health care, the environment, and energy—and four areas in which basic research will be especially fruitful—materials chemistry, biological chemistry, computational chemistry, and chemistry exploring the limits of size and speed in chemical phenomena.
Radical Agent-Based Approach for Intelligence Analysis

This paper presents a novel agent-based framework as a decision aid tool for intelligence analysis. This technology extends net-centric information processing and abstraction as well as fusion and multi-source integration strategies. Our information agents traverse and mediate disparate ontologies in different formats providing a foundation for semantic interoperability. The presented system provides knowledge discovery by accessing a large number of information sources in a particular domain and organizing them into a network of information agents. Each agent provides expertise on a specific topic by drawing on relevant information from other information agents in related knowledge domains. Unique advantages include net-centric scalability, principled information assurance, as well as ground breaking knowledge discovery in service of intelligence analysis.
High-risk sexual behaviours and genital infections during pregnancy.

This article describes the sexual behaviours of some pregnant women that contribute to vaginal and cervical infections, and describes their lack of awareness about the dangers associated with sexually transmitted infections during pregnancy. It presents a subanalysis of data from a principal epidemiological study of the association between preterm delivery and genital hygiene habits and sexual behaviour during pregnancy. One-hundred and nine postpartum women were questioned about high-risk sexual behaviours during their pregnancies, their partner’s sexually transmitted disease status and their knowledge about the effect of sexually transmitted infections on their pregnancy. Global concerns about the prevalence, diagnosis and treatment of cervical and vaginal infection from sexually transmitted diseases are discussed. The dangers associated with high-risk sexual behaviours during pregnancy, and recommendations for clinicians, are included.
Geometric surface processing via normal maps

We propose that the generalization of signal and image processing to surfaces entails filtering the normals of the surface, rather than filtering the positions of points on a mesh. Using a variational strategy, penalty functions on the surface geometry can be formulated as penalty functions on the surface normals, which are computed using geometry-based shape metrics and minimized using fourth-order gradient descent partial differential equations (PDEs). In this paper, we introduce a two-step approach to implementing geometric processing tools for surfaces: (i) operating on the normal map of a surface, and (ii) manipulating the surface to fit the processed normals. Iterating this two-step process, we efficiently can implement geometric fourth-order flows by solving a set of coupled second-order PDEs. The computational approach uses level set surface models; therefore, the processing does not depend on any underlying parameterization. This paper will demonstrate that the proposed strategy provides for a wide range of surface processing operations, including edge-preserving smoothing and high-boost filtering. Furthermore, the generality of the implementation makes it appropriate for very complex surface models, for example, those constructed directly from measured data.
THE INHIBITION OF PLASMIN, PLASMA KALLIKREIN, PLASMA PERMEABILITY FACTOR, AND THE C'1r SUBCOMPONENT OF THE FIRST COMPONENT OF COMPLEMENT BY SERUM C'1 ESTERASE INHIBITOR

The fraction of human serum designated as C'1 esterase inhibitor is known to inhibit the action of C'1 esterase, a plasma kallikrein, and PF/Dil, an enzyme in plasma enhancing cutaneous vascular permeability. In the present study, C'1 esterase inhibitor has been found to block the actions of plasmin and the C'1r subcomponent of the first component of complement, and to retard the generation of PF/Dil. No inhibition of blood clotting or of the generation of plasmin was demonstrable.
Housing and Community Development

Researchers in housing and community develop, design, and evaluate policies to improve access to attractive, affordable, and sustainable housing and to support the social, physical, and economic infrastructure of communities. Practitioners in this field confront political considerations, administrative guidelines, and limited funding. Operations research and management science can increase the efficiency and effectiveness of policy responses to issues such as affordable housing, residential segregation, and inequalities in economic and social opportunities. This research spans systems modeling, urban economics, multicriteria decision modeling, stochastic models, and decision support systems and is often interdisciplinary and applied in nature. A common thread in this work is the need to explicitly address the needs of multiple stakeholders, to capture the public and private nature of housing, and to incorporate best-available evidence regarding markets, policies, and impacts of housing and community development. In this article, we describe the policy context for decision modeling in housing and community development, review previous research through the lens of descriptive, prescriptive, and decision support analysis, and identify important limitations to this research. We then describe diverse opportunities to address current policy concerns such as sustainable development, post-disaster reconstruction, and individual and group decision support. Keywords: affordable housing; community development; decision models; sustainable development; urban affairs
Traditional and Nontraditional Gender Roles and Work-Family Interface for Men and Women.

In this article, we examine traditional and nontraditional gender roles and work—family interface for men and women. Recent empirical literature is reviewed and implications for career counselors are discussed. We discuss changing gender roles in career, marriage, and parenting and provide strategies for helping clients to cope with work—family role strain and to find a satisfying balance between life roles. Directions for future research are also discussed.
Postsettlement patterns of habitat use by sciaenid fishes in subtropical seagrass meadows

Spatial and temporal patterns of distribution and abundance were examined for postsettlement sciaenids collected from seagrass meadows in the Aransas Estuary, Texas. Overall, 5443 sciaenid larvae and early juveniles were identified from biweekly epibenthic sled collections taken from August 1994 to August 1995. Eight species were present in seagrass meadows, with five accounting for over 99.9% of sciaenids collected: silver perch (Bairdiella chrysoura), spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), spot (Leiostomus xanthurus), Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus), and red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). Settlement to seagrass meadows was partitioned temporally with little overlap among the five species. Postsettlers from inshore spawners (B. chrysoura, C. nebulosus, S. ocellatus) inhabited seagrass meadows during the spring and summer, while individuals from offshore spawners (L. xanthurus, M. undulatus) were present in the late fall and winter. Densities ofB. chrysoura, C. nebulosus, S. ocellatus were highest for small individuals (4–8 mm SL) and these taxa remained in seagrass sites through the early juvenile stage. Conversely,L. xanthurus andM. undulatus maintained longer pelagic periods and generally entered seagrass meadows at larger sizes (10–14 mm SL). Moreover, these taxa were only temporary residents of selected seagrass meadows, apparently migrating to alternative habitats shortly after arrival. During peak settlement, mean and maximum densities among species ranged from 0.1 m−2 to 0.8 m−2 and 0.7 m−2 to 23.8 m−2, respectively. Density and mean size of possettlement sciaenids differed significantly between seagrass species (Halodule wrightii, Thalassia testudinum) and among sites within the estuary.
Hippocampal Surface Analysis Using Spherical Harmonic Function Applied to Surface Conformal Mapping

Using spherical harmonics of an inverse conformal map, we compared hippocampal surfaces of sixteen Alzheimer (AD) and fourteen control subjects. Hippocampal surfaces were conformally mapped to a sphere. Maps were regularly sampled and exact, high-degree spherical harmonic transforms of the inverse maps were computed. Using the transforms shape descriptors corresponding to the degree of the harmonics and invariant to translation, rotation, and scale were obtained and normalized against sample mean. Two-dimensional visualizations of the shape descriptors were indicative of global as well as local shape features of hippocampal surfaces. These descriptors are potentially Useful for visual detection of global patterns and creation of population-based, probabilistic, disease-specific digital atlases, especially for comparison of global shape features
Elevated plasma concentrations of protease inhibitors and nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors in patients coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis B or C: case series and literature review.

Study Objective. To evaluate antiretroviral pharmacokinetics in patients who are coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B and/or C virus. Specifically, we sought to determine whether coinfection results in higher than expected concentrations of protease inhibitors and nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs). Design. Case series. Setting. Human immunodeficiency virus clinic. Patients. Twenty-six patients infected with HIV and hepatitis B and/or C virus. Measurements and Main Results. Patients' plasma trough concentrations (C m e a s u r e d ) of protease inhibitors and NNRTIs were compared with population average trough concentrations reported in the literature (C p r e d i c t e d ). Trough concentrations were obtained irrespective of the patients' liver function. A concentration ratio of C m e a s u r e d :C p r e d i c t e d was determined for each patient. The mean concentration ratio of the 26 patients was 1.43 (95% confidence interval 1.08-1.78). For the six patients taking nelfinavir, the ratio of nelfinavir's active metabolite (M8):parent drug was calculated. The median M8:nelfinavir ratio for these six patients was 69% lower than what has been reported in a general HIV population. Conclusion. These preliminary findings suggest that trough concentrations of protease inhibitors and NNRTIs may be elevated in patients with HIV infection who are coinfected with hepatitis B and/or C, compared with a general population of patients with HIV infection. Until further investigation defines the relationship between coinfection, metabolic dysfunction, and increased antiretroviral exposure, therapeutic drug monitoring may be helpful to identify coinfected patients at risk for antiretroviral toxicity secondary to elevated plasma drug concentrations.
Relationship between obesity and health-related quality of life in men.

YANCY, WILLIAM S. JR, MAREN K. OLSEN, ERIC C. WESTMAN, HAYDEN B. BOSWORTH, AND DAVID EDELMAN. Relationship between obesity and healthrelated quality of life in men. Obes Res. 2002;10: 1057–1064. Objective: Few studies examining the relationship between obesity and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) have used a medical outpatient population or demonstrated a relationship in men. Furthermore, most studies have not adequately considered comorbid illness. The goal of this study was to examine the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and HRQOL in male outpatients while considering comorbid illness. Research Methods and Procedures: This cross-sectional study examined 1168 male outpatients from Durham Veterans’ Affairs Medical Center. Multiple linear regression was used to examine the relationship of BMI with each subscale from the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 while adjusting for age, race, comorbid illness, depression, and physical activity. Results: Participants had a mean age of 54.7 5.6 years; 69% were white and 29% were African American. The distribution for BMI was as follows: 18.5 to 25 kg/m 2 (21%), 25 to 30 kg/m 2 (43%), 30 to 35 kg/m 2 (25%), 35 to 40 kg/m 2 (8%), and 40 kg/m 2 (3%). Mean Short Form 36 subscale scores were lower than U.S. norms by an average of 27%. Individuals with BMI 40 kg/m 2 had significantly lower scores compared with normal weight individuals on the Role-Physical and Vitality subscales. On the Physical Functioning and Physical Component subscales, lower scores were observed at BMI 35 kg/m 2 .O n the Bodily Pain subscale, lower scores were observed at BMI 25 kg/m 2 . Discussion: An inverse relationship between BMI and physical aspects of HRQOL exists in a population of male outpatients. Increased BMI was most prominently associated with bodily pain; this relationship should receive more attention in clinical care and research.
A NEW LOOK AT STANDARD SCALE TRANSFORMATION

A rigorous approach to standard scale transformation was devised and implemented for a certification examination with a modified-essay format. The procedure utilizes 3 to 6 readers' means and standard deviations where inter-reader reliability exceeds .85. The rationale and the process are delineated.
Surgical reinterventions following the Fontan procedure

Objective: The Fontan procedure is utilized as a final reconstructive procedure for patients with functional single ventricle. Short- and long-term outcomes have improved significantly, however, some patients require Additional cardiac procedures following the Fontan operation. The outcomes for these reinterventions are not known. Methods: Cardiac Surgery and Cardiac Intensive Care Unit databases at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia were reviewed to identify all patients who underwent cardiac surgery after a previous Fontan operation between January 1, 1995 and December 31, 2001. Results: During the study period, 123 procedures were performed in 71 patients. The median time from Fontan to reoperation was 3.6 years (range 0.1-20 years). Indications for reintervention included arrhythmia. cyanosis, 'failing' Fontan circulation or exercise intolerance, protein losing eateropathy, atrioventricular valve (AVV) regurgitation, and other indications. Procedures included pacemaker insertion or revision (n = 59, 48%), reinclusion of previously excluded hepatic veins (n = 16, 13%), revision to either a lateral tunnel or extra-cardiac conduit Fontan (n = 13, 11%), cardiac transplantation (n = 9, 7%). enlargement or creation of a baffle fenestration (n = 6. 5% ), isolated AVV repair or replacement (n = 2, 2%), and other procedures (n = 18, 14%). There were five early and five late deaths. Hospital mortality was greatest for patients undergoing cardiac transplantation (4/9, 44%), accounting for 80% of the early deaths. Conclusions: Surgical reinterventions following the Fontan procedure may be necessary for multiple indications which result in impairment of the Fontan circulation, Most reinterventions can be performed with minimal morbidity and mortality. Survival for patients requiring cardiac transplantation following the Fontan procedure retrains poor.
THE RUMEN IN WINTER: COLD SHOCKS IN NATURALLY FEEDING MUSKOXEN (OVIBOS MOSCHATUS)

Arctic ruminants consume cold water and food that increase costs of thermoregulation and potentially impair the bacterial fermentation on which these animals rely for digestion. We fed castrated adult muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) a consistent diet throughout winter to correlate changes in ambient temperature with water flux, ingestive behavior, rumen temperature, and bacterial counts in the rumen. Ambient temperatures declined to � 408C but average ruminal temperatures were þ398C in muskoxen fed grass hay throughout winter. Rumen temperatures were not static but were punctuated by cold shocks to þ268C in each month. Water turnover rates were high in October (11.1 kg/day � 1 ) and low in January and March (9.8‐7.7 kg/day � 1 ), which indicated a concomitant decline in food intake. Numbers of bacteria in rumen fluid decreased with water turnover and thus food intake from October (18.0 � 10 9 /ml) to January and March (9.4 and 8.8 � 10 9 /ml, respectively). The cost of warming ingesta was estimated at 25, 79, and 57 kJ/kg 0.75 in October, January, and March, respectively, and was 3‐14% of the predicted intake of digestible energy. Muskoxen spent more time consuming water as snow than as free water, which may reduce the cold shock of water ingestion in winter. Concerted ingestion of food and water may also allow muskoxen to substitute heat increment of feeding for the cost of warming ingesta.
Detrital zircon ages in Palaeozoic and Mesozoic basement assemblages of the Peninsular Ranges batholith, Baja California, Mexico: constraints for depositional ages and provenance

The origin and continuity of Phanerozoic lithostratigraphic terranes in southern and Baja California remain an unsolved issue in Cordilleran tectonics. We present data from eight detrital zircon samples collected across the southern extent of the Peninsular Ranges that help constrain the provenance of detritus and the depositional ages of these basement units. Detrital zircon signatures from units in the eastern Peninsular Ranges correlate with Palaeozoic passive margin assemblages in the southwestern North American Cordillera. Units in the central belt, which consists of Triassic–Jurassic metasedimentary turbidite assemblages that probably deformed in an accretionary prism setting, and Cretaceous metasedimentary and metavolcanic units that represent the remnants of a continental margin arc, were derived from both proximal and more distal sources. The westernmost units, which are locally structurally interleaved with the Triassic through Cretaceous units of the central belt, are Cretaceous deposits that r...
Was Barth a pro-Nicene theologian? Reflections on Nicaea and its legacy

If this very weighty and important book did nothing else than establish the fact for modern systematic theology that the trinitarian theology of the fourth century cannot be understood properly by dividing Eastern from Western theology with the usual statement that the former begins with the three persons and moves towards the divine unity while the latter begins with the divine unity and moves towards the three persons, then something truly significant would have been accomplished ( Nicaea , pp. 52, 384). Why? Because then one would not be able to trace a supposed modalist tendency directly from Augustine through much Western theology to contemporary theologians such as Barth in order to argue for a view of God's triunity which actually could undermine the full divinity of each of the persons of the Trinity who in reality exist eternally as three persons, one being. Consider, for instance, the remark made by Ted Peters that ‘There is no inherent reason for assuming that the three persons have to be identical or equal in nature.’ If one studies the development of fourth-century trinitarian theology, I think one would find many reasons to insist that the three persons are in fact equal in nature, among which are that any other assertion would undermine the divinity of the Son, lead to some sort of subordinationism or adoptionism (what Barth called Ebionite christology), and would ultimately strip the Gospel of its saving power.
Initial CRAM aerosol retrievals from CALIPSO and supporting airborne HSRL measurements

The successful launch of the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) and Cloud-Satellite (CloudSAT) satellites on April 28, 2006, placing two new active remote sensing systems (lidar and radar) in space, heralded a new era in spaceborne earth observations. Not only will they provide new information unique to active sensing satellites, but by positioning them in orbit with the A-Train constellation of satellites, joining the passive sensing satellites AURA, PARASOL and AQUA, this will enable myriad synergistic active-passive sensing opportunities. CALIPSO and CloudSAT have both successfully completed their payload checkouts and initial validations; some six months of data have already been collected and data are now beginning to be distributed to the scientific community (e.g., CALIPSO Level 1 and 2a data released on Dec. 8, 2006). Thus there are sufficient data, with more arriving daily, to fuel years of scientific studies addressing questions critical to more fully understanding the earth-atmosphere system and assessing weather-climate change issues. The Constrained Ratio Aerosol Model-fit (CRAM) technique for aerosol retrieval is examined in the context of CALIPSO data, and temporally/spatially coincident High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL) data is studied with respect to its potential to provide external context to the retrievals and to verify aerosol models upon which the CRAM technique relies.
Accommodation measurements in a prepresbyopic and presbyopic population.

Abstract Purpose : To study the efficacy of several subjective and objective methods of accommodation measurement in normal prepresbyopic and presbyopic populations to identify appropriate methods for measuring the outcome of accommodative restorative procedures. Setting : University of Houston, College of Optometry, Houston, Texas, USA. Methods : Thirty-one normal subjects with a mean age of 43.7 years (range 31 to 53 years) participated. Accommodation was measured monocularly using 3 subjective approaches—the push-up test, minus lenses to blur, and a focometer—and 2 approaches measured with a Hartinger coincidence refractometer, in which accommodation was stimulated with minus lenses to blur and topical pilocarpine 6%. Results : The push-up method overestimated accommodative amplitude relative to objective measures in 28 subjects. Two subjective methods, minus lenses to blur and the focometer, produced comparable results, but with lower amplitudes in younger subjects and higher amplitudes in older subjects compared with objective methods. Comparable results were obtained when accommodation was stimulated in 1 of 2 ways and measured with the Hartinger. Pilocarpine elicited stronger accommodative responses than distance blur for subjects with low accommodative amplitudes. Pilocarpine 6% produced stronger responses in subjects with light irides than in those with dark irides. Conclusions : Hartinger-measured accommodation provides more realistic measurement of accommodative amplitude than the subjective methods tested, especially in the presbyopic population. In presbyopic subjects, the subjective tests resulted in accommodative amplitudes up to 4.0 diopters greater than those measured with objective tests. Measurements of accommodative amplitude are best achieved with objective methods to stimulate and measure accommodation.
Resource Partitioning among Parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) of Phoracantha semipunctata in Their Native Range

Abstract The Eucalyptus longhorned borer, Phoracantha semipunctata (F.), is native to Australia, but it has been introduced without its natural enemies into many parts of the world in which its Eucalyptus spp. host has been planted. The beetle has developed large populations in these novel habitats and has been responsible for the mortality of large numbers of trees. Although there is a considerable catalogue of the parasitoids of the beetle in Australia, limited ecological information on the assemblage of parasitoids attacking P. semipunctata is available. We removed bark from 40 felled trees, recorded gallery width and bark thickness over parasitized larvae, and removed all parasitoids. Adult size, sex, and species were recorded when the parasitoid pupae eclosed. Syngaster lepidus Brulle, Jarra phoracantha Austin, Quicke, and Marsh, J. maculipennis Austin, Quicke, and Marsh, and J. painei Austin and Dangerfield were most commonly collected. The solitary parasitoid S. lepidus preferred smaller larvae than did the gregarious Jarra spp. The two species with shorter ovipositors, J. maculipennis and J. painei, parasitized larvae under thinner bark than did the other two species with longer ovipositors. There was a significant positive correlation between host larval size and number of parasitoid pupae of the gregarious species. Also, there was a significant positive correlation between host larval size and parasitoid adult size. The ecological relationships between this assemblage of parasitoids and their beetle host may be useful in establishing an effective biological control program.
Artificial manipulation of voice in the human by an implanted stimulator

Objectives/Hypothesis: Traditional approaches influencing voice quality (e.g., anatomical and chemical denervation for spasmodic dysphonia, surgical medialization for paralysis) have ignored the dynamic nature of the larynx. Study Design: We report here the first attempt to manipulate voice using an implanted stimulator to systematically control vocal fold adduction. Methods: Devices placed for aspiration in three subjects retaining speech after stroke, cerebral palsy, and multiple sclerosis were used to stimulate recurrent laryngeal nerves with 42 Hz, 52 to 200 microsecond pulses of incremental amplitudes during phonation with the tracheostomy tube occluded. Vocal fold adduction increased with stimulation strength (P <.05). Speech was analyzed with the Vox Metria program. Results: We found highly significant differences for fundamental frequency (P <.007), jitter (P <.004), and shimmer (P <.005), between natural and stimulated voice (aah and eeh) when using higher charges. Conclusions: Dynamic vocal fold manipulation seems promising in terms of versatility lacking with static approaches to voice control.
Summer Surface Flow Characteristics over Northeast Colorado

Abstract Surface wind data from the program for Regional Observing and Forecasting Services (PROFS) have been analyzed to investigate the diurnal wind flow pattern over the broad drainage are of the South Platte River in northeast Colorado. A consistent diurnal pattern appears in monthly averages as well as on most undisturbed individual days, and is similar to the classic descriptions of mountain-valley wind flows. It is observed that rather than occurring simultaneously at all elevations, downslope-to-upslope and upslope-to-downslope surface flow transitions along the Front Range of northeast Colorado begin near the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and propagate eastward across the plains. During the summer months, local confluence is found at midday along major east-west ridges in the region (e.g., Cheyenne Ridge and Palmer Lake Divide). Consequently, in addition to the north–south Continental Divide, these east–west ridges are preferred regions for initial afternoon thunderstorm development The late a...
Shaking Table Earthquake Response of Steel Frame

Earthquake responses of a 17-ft 4-in. (5.29-m) tall three-story steel frame structure were produced in two series of shaking table tests: (1) Yielding initiated in the panel zones of joints; and (2) yielding occurred exclusively at column and girder ends of the structure. The test data are used in the development and verification of analytical proedures. Mathematical models are formulated by first defining the element properties and then assembling them to obtain the system properties. Panel zone deformability, bi-linear strain-hardening plastic hinges, and foundation flexibility are considered in modeling. The model with its parameters rationally determined either analytically or experimentally proves to be adequate in predicting both global and local response histories of the structure undergoing elastic and inelastic seismic responses. Since the predicted local deformations are found to be very sensitive to the specified yield mechanisms, it is concluded that the prediction of damage level in typical seismic response analyses of structures cannot generally be exact.