cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Impact of a Dedicated Teaching Attending Experience on a Required Emergency Medicine Clerkship.

Introduction: One published strategy for improving educational experiences for medical students in the emergency department (ED) while maintaining patient care has been the implementation of dedicated teaching attending shifts. To leverage the advantages of the ED as an exceptional clinical educational environment and to address the challenges posed by the rapid pace and high volume of the ED, our institution developed a clerkship curriculum that incorporates a dedicated clinical educator role – the teaching attending – to deliver quality bedside teaching experiences for students in a required third-year clerkship. The purpose of this educational innovation was to determine whether a dedicated teaching attending experience on a third-year required emergency medicine (EM) clerkship would improve student-reported clinical teaching evaluations and student-reported satisfaction with the overall quality of the EM clerkship.Methods: Using a five-point Likert-type scale (1 - poor to 5 - excellent), student-reported evaluation ratings and the numbers of graduating students matching into EM were trended for 10 years retrospectively from the inception of the clerkship for the graduating class of 2009 through and including the graduating class of 2019. We used multinomial logistic regression to evaluate whether the presence of a teaching attending during the EM clerkship improved student-reported evaluation ratings for the EM clerkship. We used sample proportion tests to assess the differences between top-box (4 or 5 rating) proportions between years when the teaching attending experience was present and when it was not. Results: For clinical teaching quality, when the teaching attending is present the estimated odds of receiving a rating of 5 is 77.2 times greater (p <0.001) than when the teaching attending is not present and a rating of 4 is 27.5 times greater (p =0.0017). For overall clerkship quality, when the teaching attending is present, the estimated odds of receiving a rating of 5 is 13 times greater (p <0.001) and a rating of 4 is 5.2 times greater (p=0.0086) than when the teaching attending is not present.Conclusion: The use of a dedicated teaching attending shift is a successful educational innovation for improving student self-reported evaluation items in a third-year required EM clerkship.
Electromagnetic & Weak Probes: Experimental Overview

Abstract Electromagnetic and electroweak probes are the most versatile probes in the study of heavy-ion collisions. Produced at every stage in the evolution of QCD matter, its messengers are practically inert to the strongly interacting medium they travel through. In this contribution, I will discuss a selection of new results from experiments at the LHC, RHIC, and SIS facilities, spanning almost four orders of magnitude in beam energy. I will conclude with a brief overview of the experimental landscape in the near future.
Neurologic and Immunologic Complications of COVID-19: Potential Long-Term Risk Factors for Alzheimer's Disease

The COVID-19 pandemic has been met with studies on risk factors, characteristics, and clinical course. Among these characteristics are neurologic symptoms, which may provide improved insight into the mechanisms of this novel virus and the brain's susceptibility to infectious diseases. This article aims to discuss 1) findings related to neurologic complications, 2) how they connect to and are bidirectionally impacted by bioimmunology, 3) how this combination of biological mechanisms impact and are impacted by psychosocial stressors, and 4) the importance of considering potential neurodegenerative consequences of COVID-19. Longitudinal studies on neuropathology and cognition are critical to avoiding premature conclusions related to long-term neurologic effects.
Political Socialization of International Students: Public-Issue Discourse and Discussion on the College Campus

This study examined international students’ interests in public issues in the U.S. and motivational factors behind their discourse or avoidance of such issues. In-depth interviews with internationa...
Gender-Specific Outcomes In Patients With Heart Failure And Sepsis Who Received Aggressive Intravenous Fluid Resuscitation

Background Limited data exist about the impact of gender-specific outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF) who develop concomitant sepsis. Methods This is a retrospective cohort study of patients with HF who developed sepsis. Clinical outcomes, including in-hospital mortality, development of cardiogenic shock (CS), volume overload requiring urgent intravenous diuretics (IVD), acute kidney injury (AKI), length of stay (LOS), and 30-day HF-related readmission were evaluated amongst men vs. women. Results This cohort of 618 patients includes 272 (44%) women with a mean age of 75±14 years. Coronary artery disease (p Conclusion Women with HF who developed sepsis receive a more aggressive implementation of the surviving sepsis campaign than men, leading to more volume overload events in women with HFpEF and more cardiogenic shock in women with HFrEF. A cautiously tailored approach is desperately needed for patients with HF who develop sepsis.
Quantum Teichmüller space and Kashaev algebra

A quantization of the Teichmuller space T(S) of a punctured surface S was developed by Chekhov and Fock [6, 7, 8] and, independently, by Kashaev [9, 10, 11, 12]. This is a deformation of the C–algebra of functions on Teichmuller space T(S). The quantization was expressed in terms of self-adjoint operators on Hilbert spaces and the quantum dilogarithm function. Although these two approaches of quantization use the same ingredients, the relationship between them is still mysterious. Chekhov and Fock worked with shear coordinates of Teichmuller space while Kashaev worked with a new coordinate.
Introduction. The Lake Charr: Biology, Ecology, Distribution, and Management

This volume represents the first synthesis of the biology, ecology, distribution, and management of the lake charr Salvelinus namaycush (commonly known as lake trout in North America) in more than 40 years. An updated distribution for the species precedes complete syntheses of the paleoecology, ecological and genetic diversity, habitat, movement and behavior, life history and population dynamics, trophic and reproductive ecology, contaminants and ecotoxicology, and management. Finally, a standardized terminology for lake charr early life history is presented in an attempt to correct historical inaccuracies. Our intent is that this volume will serve the next half-century of biologists, ecologists, and fishery managers as the reference for the species—a great icon of the glaciated regions of North America.
In Search of the Decent Society: Isaiah Berlin and Raymond Aron on Liberty

Jeremy Waldron has argued that Berlin ignored the importance of institutions and constitutions and worked with an impoverished conception of social and political design. Political structures, legal...
Screening Channel Design Alternatives Using Ship Simulation

Abstract The USACE is responsible for the design and maintenance of commercially navigated federal waterways in rivers and coastal ports. Since the 1980s, the USACE Engineer Research and Developmen...
Priority-Based Downlink Wireless Resource Provisioning for Radio Access Network Slicing

This paper examines network slicing within the radio access network which employs an orthogonal frequency division multiple access system for downlink communications. Its radio resources are allocated among slices configured for specific 5G use cases as well as other non-5G services. This work sets out to achieve optimal resource provisioning and power allocation within the context of priority slicing where slices are assigned priority levels by the base station. A mixed-integer non-linear programming problem is formulated to maximize the throughput of a best effort slice while satisfying the constraints of the high priority 5G slices. The problem is simplified and relaxed into a convex optimization problem. Three scenarios under various conditions are presented to serve as benchmarks. The impact of the chosen schedulers on the allocations, intra-slice, and inter-slice contentions is also examined. The results highlight that the wireless network can satisfy the quality-of-service requirements of opposing levels of priorities of traffic while simultaneously mitigating both inter-slice and intra-slice contentions under conditions mirroring that of practical wireless network deployments. Furthermore, it is proven that the convex approximation problem serves as a reasonable approximation of the original MINLP problem.
Structural Comparisons between the Class I Fructose Diphosphate Aldolases from Micrococcus aerogenes and Rabbit

It has been previously shown that the fructose-P2 aldolase isolated from Micrococcus aerogenes is a Class I (Schiff base) enzyme. All other prokaryotic organisms so far studied contain Class II (metallo) aldolases. Studies were undertaken to investigate whether or not this bacterial aldolase is structurally related to the Class I aldolases of higher organisms. 1. A comparison of amino acid compositions gives no indication of homology between M. aerogenes and mammalian aldolases. 2. The NH2-terminal residue of this enzyme was found to be methionine in contrast to proline which is found at the NH2 terminus of the rabbit enzymes. 3. The M. aerogenes enzyme contains lysine rather than tyrosine at the COOH terminus. 4. The tryptic peptide containing the active site lysyl residue of M. aerogenes aldolase was isolated and partially characterized. The peptide contains 28 amino acids as do the peptides of rabbit aldolases A and B. The amino acids of the M. aerogenes peptide may be aligned to obtain the maximum of 48% homology with the corresponding rabbit aldolase peptides. 5. Several of the structural distinctions between M. aerogenes and rabbit aldolases are discussed in relation to the proposed functions of tyrosine, and cysteine in the catalytic process of Class I fructose-P2 aldolases. Our results suggest extensive and perhaps fundamental differences between the M. aerogenes enzyme and the Class I aldolases of mammals. The extent of relationship between this prokaryotic enzyme and the fructose-P2 aldolases of higher organisms must await more thorough structural analyses.
Management of advanced endometrial adenocarcinoma with medroxyprogesterone acetate

Abstract A basis for progestin therapy for patients with advanced endometrial adenocarcinoma is presented. The criteria for selection of patients for hormone therapy and the schedule of administration of medroxyprogesterone (Provera) is discussed. Evaluation of patients for objective changes only, i.e., by visual, palpable, histologic, or roentgenologic means, revealed complete or partial remission with significant palliation in 8 of 20 patients (40 per cent). Response to medroxyprogesterone therapy is apparently related to degree of differentiation of the primary neoplasm, the well-differentiated lesions being more responsive. Documentation of tumor effect by serial biopsies during treatment provides an index to the histologic changes this progestin produces in susceptible cases. The effects of therapy upon serial urinary hormone excretion rates is documented in several patients. On the basis of our experience, the treatment of patients with advanced endometrial adenocarcinoma with the potent progestin medroxyprogesterone seems justified.
Development of β-Sl3N4 for Self-Reinforced Composites

β-Si3N4 was obtained by the doping of a high-purity, commercial Si3N4 powder with 2 wt.% Y2O3. With additional processing the B-Si3N4 was used as seed material for the development of self-reinforcing microstructures in a Si3N4 composite, containing Al2O3 and Y2O3 sintering aids.
What Do Taxpayers Want? Evidence from Online Client Reviews

Although research indicates that tax clients value technical quality, e.g., return accuracy, less is known about the importance of functional (e.g., listening skills) and environmental (e.g., building location) qualities to tax preparation service quality. This study uses a social analytic method and a unique data source, clients’ online reviews of tax preparers, to identify and measure the influences of client’s perceptions of service quality. Results from 4,063 online reviews indicate that functional quality influences service quality more than does technical quality (explaining 12.6% versus 1.7% of the variance in service quality, respectively). The results suggest that, consistent with credence goods theory, tax clients’ may lack the expertise to judge technical quality and rely instead on observable cues of functional quality to infer service quality. This study contributes by studying a unique sample (online tax reviews), with an emerging method (social analytics), to investigate clients’ perceptions of tax preparer service quality.
Exploring Student Conceptions of Modeling and Modeling Uses in Engineering Design

Background Modeling is a pervasive feature of engineering that is rarely taught explicitly to engineering students. The implicit inclusion of modeling often results in conceptions held by students of models based on the everyday use of the term that neglects important predictive types of models. Purpose We studied the effectiveness of an explicit modeling module designed to broaden student understandings of various approaches to and applications of modeling. Design/Method A two-phase analysis of student conceptions was undertaken. Phase I analyzed the conceptions of an experimental group before and after they were taught an explicit modeling module. Phase II added a comparison group at a second institution. Results A significant shift was observed for engineering students who were explicitly taught a modeling module. Student-held conceptions were predominantly descriptive-centric (e.g., physical models) throughout the investigation with an added focus on predictive (e.g., mathematical) modeling after completing the modeling module. These results were consistent for a comparison group. Conclusions Explicit learning experiences about models and the modeling process need to be embedded into the engineering curriculum, specifically in the teaching of engineering design. Teaching modeling will improve student use and understanding of modeling as an important and pervasive engineering tool.
Greater than 2-bits/cell MLC storage for ultra high density phase change memory using a novel sensing scheme

Multi-level-cell (MLC) is a critical technology to achieve low bit cost for phase change memory. However, resistance drift is an intrinsic material property that kills memory window and imposes formidable challenges for MLC. In this work, we report a radically different sensing concept that exploits the non-linear R-V characteristics of PCM that can easily accommodate 8 resistance levels in three independent 10X sensing windows (100KΩ∼1MΩ × 3) all on same read speed. Each sensing window only needs to store 2∼3 resistance levels instead of 8 levels needed in conventional MLC method, thus can tolerate resistance drift without closing the memory windows. A maximum of 16 levels of MLC is demonstrated on a 256Mb chip that is suitable for 4-bits/cell application.
Sexual Abuse of Boys

To determine factors in the sexual abuse of boys, we reviewed medical records of 140 boys who were seen for evaluation at the Children's Hospital and Health Center in San Diego from 1979 to March 1984. Many of the boys were seen by one of the authors. Boys represented 9% of the 1,748 sexual abuse victims. The incidence in males increased from 7% in 1979 to 1980 to 11% in 1983. The boys were from 1 to 17 years of age. The majority of boys gave a clear, consistent, and credible history of sexual abuse. Eighty-five percent of the boys were abused by a relative or acquaintance. Physical evidence of sexual abuse was present in 95 (68%) of the victims. This paper emphasizes that boys, too, are at considerable risk for sexual abuse and that subtle physical findings of molestation are common when the child is examined by a trained, experienced physician.
Rethinking Maternal Gatekeeping

This article offers a new definition and an expanded conceptual model of maternal gatekeeping derived from the extant literature and critiques offered by scholars and applied to fathering. Typically, maternal gatekeeping is conceptualized as the mothers' ability to restrict fathers' involvement with children. We redefine maternal gatekeeping as a set of complex behavioral interactions between parents, where mothers influence father involvement through their use of controlling, facilitative, and restrictive behaviors directed at father's childrearing and interaction with children on a regular and consistent basis. We propose a three-dimensional model (control, encouragement, and discouragement) in which each dimension operates along continua and intersects to result in 8 types of gatekeeping. We explain these types and describe examples of behaviors in terms of their influence on father involvement. We end with suggestions for developing a measure of maternal gatekeeping and for applying the model to better understand how gatekeeping influences and is influenced by family patterns and characteristics.
Erg cooperates with TGF-β to control mesenchymal differentiation.

Abstract Transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) signaling plays an integral role in skeletal development. Conditional deletion of the TGF-β type II receptor (Tgfbr2) from type II Collagen (Col2a) expressing cells results in defects in development of the annulus fibrosus (AF) of the intervertebral disc (IVD). We previously used microarray analysis to search for marker genes of AF as well as transcription factors regulated by TGF-β during AF development. The transcription factor avian erythroblastosis virus E-26 (v-ets) oncogene related (Erg) was identified in the microarray screen as a candidate regulator of AF development. To study the effects of TGF-β on AF differentiation and the role of Erg in this process, we used mouse sclerotome grown in micromass cultures. At 0.5 ng TGF-β/ml, sclerotome cells started to express markers of AF. Regulation of Erg by TGF-β was confirmed in these cells. In addition, TGF-β soaked Affi-gel beads implanted into the axial skeleton of stage HH 25 chick embryos showed that TGF-β could induce expression of Erg mRNA in vivo. Next, an adenovirus to over-express Erg in primary sclerotome micromass cultures was generated. Over-expression of Erg led to a change in cell morphology and inhibition of differentiation into hyaline cartilage as seen by reduced Alcian blue staining and decreased Sox9 and c-Maf expression. Erg was not sufficient to induce expression of AF markers and expression of Sca1, a marker of pluripotent progenitor cells, was up-regulated in Erg expressing cells. When cells that ectopically expressed Erg were treated with TGF-β, enhanced expression of specific differentiation markers was observed suggesting Erg can cooperate with TGF-β to regulate differentiation of the sclerotome. Furthermore, we showed using co-immunopreciptiation that Erg and Smad3 bind to each other suggesting a mechanism for their functional interaction.
Assessing and Meeting the Needs of Preservice Teachers: A Programmatic Perspective

Abstract This investigation offers a programmatic perspective into how a certain group of elementary preservice teachers experienced and evaluated their teacher education program by periodically assessing progress with regard to needs being met. A Likert-scale survey including open-ended responses was administered to 123 elementary preservice teachers at three different points in their program, and in-depth interviews with 10 focus group members were conducted. Survey results indicate that all identified needs were met by the end of the program. Qualitative analyses provide insights into how several aspects of the teacher education program might be further enhanced, leading to four recommendations for teacher education programs in general: (1) require observation in a variety of grade levels, (2) offer a mainstreaming course earlier in the program, (3) provide specific instruction on parent conferences and preparing for the first day of school, and (4) create additional opportunities to have preservice te...
Viscous drag force effect on transportation of submicron particle contaminants during dry and steam laser cleaning

Viscous air drag and diffusive Brownian motion result in unfavorable re-deposition of sub-micron spherical particle contaminants after their dry laser-assisted detachment from critical surfaces. Theoretical modeling and experimental results on particle transportation in air and thin variable liquid layers point out particle size and lift-off velocity as the most important parameters for efficient particle removal from critical substrates, while for smaller particles with lower inertia, lower lift-off distances and higher diffusion rates dry laser cleaning is less effective due to their fast diffusive redeposition back on these substrates. Under these circumstances one excellent option is the steam laser cleaning technique, when contaminating particles lift-off together with explosively boiling pre-deposited layer or separate micronsized droplets of a low-boiling liquid energy transfer medium and travel in the hydro- and gas-dynamic flow produced to much higher distances from the substrate irrespectively on particle size. Mechanical coupling of particles to the lifting-off liquid layer or separate droplets occurs via the known "inertial" mechanism and/or new mechanism of "dragging" contaminating particles off the substrate by the liquid environment, demonstrated for the first time in this work. Nearly 100% cleaning efficiencies and no any indication of re-deposition were observed for different particles in single-shot steam laser cleaning experiments. Another disadvantageous aspect of DLC is nearly linear increase of cleaning laser fluence with increasing inverse radius of contaminating particles. This circumstance may result in damage (melt-ing, ripples, ablation) of the critical surface at high laser fluences necessary for removal of smaller (nanometer-size) particles and, thus, imposes serious limitation on the operation range of DLC. Fortunately, SLC technique may be applied in such instances, providing cleaning at quite low cleaning laser fluences, which are shown to be universal over broad particle size range.
Signal-transduction cascades as targets for therapeutic intervention by natural products

Many bacteria and fungi produce natural products that are toxic to other microorganisms and have a variety of physiological effects in animals. Recent studies have revealed that, in several cases, the targets of these agents are components of conserved signal-transduction cascades. This article looks at the mechanisms of action of five natural products--the immunosuppressants cyclosporin A, FK506 and rapamycin, and the antiproliferative agents wortmannin and geldanamycin. These mechanisms reveal the importance of signal-transduction cascades as targets for therapeutic intervention and the enormous utility of studies of natural-product action in simple model genetic systems.
The writings of James Graves and their historical significance

The writings of Graves contain such a variety of significant information, concerned with personal and social as well as technical history that is easy to become distracted and unfocussed. He was an early member of the society of telegraph engineers and contributed many papers to its proceedings. Graves' contributions have received little attention since his death. As a first step towards rectifying this situation, a comprehensive list of the writings and publications that are located up to now is given in the appendix to this paper. Graves' own record shows 23 papers, which does not quite tally with what is listed here as published work. We now have a challenge to find any missing papers and undertake a long overdue technological reassessment.
Aperiodic Sequences With Uniformly Decaying Correlations With Applications to Compressed Sensing and System Identification

In this paper, we present a new family of discrete aperiodic sequences having “random like” uniformly decaying autocorrelation properties. The new class of infinite length aperiodic sequences are higher order chirps based on algebraic irrational numbers. We show the uniformly decaying autocorrelation property by exploiting results from the theory of continued fractions and diophantine approximations. Specifically, we demonstrate that every finite n-length truncation of a higher order chirp has a worst case autocorrelation that decays as $O(n^{-1/4})$ . Construction of aperiodic sequences with good autocorrelation properties is motivated by the problem of system identification of finite dimensional linear systems with unmodeled dynamics. We also utilize the uniformly decaying autocorrelation property to bound the singular values for finite Toeplitz structured matrices formed from n-length higher order chirp sequences. These singular value bounds imply restricted isometry property (RIP) and lead to deterministic Toeplitz matrix constructions with RIP property.
Non-ideal collection characteristics of inertial impactors—II. Cascade impactors

Abstract Calibration of the four-stage Lundgren impactor and the six-stage Andersen sampler with oil particles, and particle bounce in the Andersen sampler with solid particles are described. Collection characteristics of oil-coated steel plates, uncoated steel plates, glass fiber filters and Whatman filters in the Andersen sampler were determined using monodisperse polystyrene latex and methylene blue aerosols. For the Lundgren impactor, whose design and operation satisfy the assumptions of impactor theory, the calibration curves are in good agreement with the theoretical curves. However, the calibration curves of the Andersen sampler are less steep and are shifted towards higher aerodynamic dia. With oil-coated steel plates, the collection efficiency curves rise monotonically from zero to 100% efficiency. However, with uncoated steel plates, the efficiency curves rise up to 20 or 50% and then drop. The peak efficiency of stages is very sensitive to jet velocity and to some extent to particle size. The use of glass fiber filters as collection surface minimizes bounce, but modifies the collection characteristics. Some Whatman filter papers are unsatisfactory as collection surfaces.
Sonar signal feature extraction for target recognition in range-dependent environments

In previous work, we have given a method for obtaining propagation invariant features for classification of underwater objects from their sonar backscatter in dispersive but rangG'-independent environments. In this paper we consider the derivation of invariant features for classification in range­ dependent environments, based on the parabolic equation.
Using a chlorophyll meter to predict nitrogen fertilizer needs of winter wheat

Abstract Although it has been shown that the nitrogen (N) concentration of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L. em Thell) at Feeke's growth stage 5 (GS 5) can be used to assist in making more accurate spring N fertilizer recommendations, the need remains to find a more convenient and accurate means for predicting N fertilizer needs of wheat. We conducted seven N fertilizer response experiments over two years in central and southeastern Pennsylvania to determine if chlorophyll meter readings of wheat leaves at GS 5 could predict whether a significant, positive grain yield response to N fertilizer would be obtained. The chlorophyll meter readings at GS 5 were more accurate (correctly predicting response to N fertilizer in 24 of 25 treatments for a 4% error rate) than GS 5 plant N concentration (20% error rate). There were too few treatments with a positive response to N fertilizer to be able to determine if chlorophyll meter readings could be used to accurately predict N fertilizer rates needed for economic o...
Airborne infrared astronomical observations by Fourier transform spectroscopy

Infrared spectroscopic observations from NASA-operated aircraft constitute a rapidly maturing application of FTS methods initially developed for ground-based telescopes. Coupled to airborne telescopes up to 36 in. in diameter, these experiments are now producing new astronomical results as exciting and unexpected as those derived from Connes's first high resolution planetary observations at mountain-top observatories. This review examines the special problems of the ir spectral region that led to aircraft observatories and includes a brief survey of the facilities themselves and their modes of operation. The special problems of operating FTS devices on aircraft and the scientific results achieved with current capabilities are discussed. Finally, airborne observations are compared to the ultimate in high-altitude observing platforms: earth-orbiting cooled and uncooled telescopes carried by the space shuttle vehicle.
Laser photoionization of triacetone triperoxide (TATP) by femtosecond and nanosecond laser pulses

Abstract Laser ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry has been applied to the study of triacetone triperoxide (TATP), an improvised explosive. Wavelength dependent mass spectra in two time regimes were acquired using nanosecond (5 ns) and femtosecond (130 fs) laser pulses. We find the major difference between the two time regimes to be the detection of the parent molecular ion when femtosecond laser pulses are employed.
Octreotide differentially modulates human Caco-2 intestinal epithelial cell proliferation and differentiation by decreasing intracellular cAMP

Abstract Somatostatin modulates gastrointestinal mucosal growth and differentiation indirectly via inhibition of bioactive peptides and directly by less well understood mechanisms. We studied the direct effects of the somatostatin analog octreotide on proliferation, brush-border enzyme activity, cell-matrix interactions and intracellular cAMP in Caco-2 human intestinal epithelial cells. Proliferation was assessed by cell counting and [3H]thymidine uptake. The brush-border enzymes alkaline phosphatase (AP) and dipeptidyl dipeptidase (DP) were quantitated by synthetic substrate digestion. Adhesion and migration on purified matrix proteins were also measured. Octreotide (10−9–10−5 M) shortened doubling time (46.5 ± 6.2% at 10−5 M, n = 20, P 7, P
Electrical conductivity and thermal stability of polypropylene containing well-dispersed multi-walled carbon nanotubes disentangled with exfoliated nanoplatelets

Abstract The morphology, crystallization behavior, electrical conductivity, and thermal stability of polypropylene (PP) modified with disentangled multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) is reported. Slightly oxidized MWCNT clusters were disentangled in solution by mild sonication in the presence of exfoliated α-zirconium phosphate nanoplatelets. The disentangled MWCNTs were isolated using acid-induced coagulation to precipitate the nanoplatelets, and were subsequently reacted with octadecylamine. The recovered functionalized MWCNTs (F-MWCNTs) are disentangled and easily dispersed in a commercial PP matrix, and serve as more efficient nucleating agents than the untreated MWCNTs. The PP/F-MWCNT composites exhibit an extremely low percolation-like transition in electrical conductivity, which is attributed to the preservation of a random dispersion of disentangled F-MWCNTs upon cooling from the melt. The thermal stability of PP in air is also substantially enhanced at loadings below the percolation threshold due to the tremendous interfacial area between the polymer chains and the free radical scavenging F-MWCNTs. The present approach provides an efficient and potentially scalable route for commercial production of conductive semi-crystalline thermoplastics. The method may be adapted to uniformly disperse MWCNTs in other polymer matrices by appropriate selection of surface functionality.
Mass transfer and reaction rates in a ducted propane-air diffusion flame

With the objective of providing a data set for evaluation of models of turbulent diffusion flames, a co-axial, ducted, turbulent, diffusion flame was mapped in terms of static pressure, impact pressure, and chemical composition. From these data velocity components, densities, turbulent exchange coefficients, and reaction rates of O 2 , C 3 H 8 , CO, CO 2 , H 2 O, H 2 , CH 4 , and C 2 H x were computed. The overall fuel equivalence ratio of the flame was 0.615; the fuel and air entrance velocities were approximately equal at 13 m/s; and the overall heat release rate in the region studied was 50×10 6 j/(m 3 s). Soot formation was found to be negligible, and the mixing similarity principle of Browne and Powell was used in obtaining results. The maximum rate of oxygen consumption was found to be in regions of the flame where the equivalent unburned composition was either fuel rich or near stoichiometric. The rates of oxygen consumption are markedly less than for comparable premixed propane-air flames or hydrogen-air diffusion flames. It was found that the mol fraction of water and the sum of the mol fractions of CO and CO 2 were correlated with the mol fraction of oxygen. Only the principal results are summarized herein. The full data set is available elsewhere.
A dye laser-based amplifier for a CW mode-locked titanium sapphire laser and its use in the production of tunable ultraviolet light pulses

Abstract A multi-staged dye amplifier pumped by the second harmonic of a Q -switched Nd:YAG laser is used to amplify the output pulses from a commercial cw mode-locked titanium sapphire laser. The amplified light is frequency-doubled and the resulting blue pulses pass through a second dye amplifier pumped by the third harmonic of the Q -switched laser. The blue and red light beams are then frequency summed to produce tunable ultraviolet light. Their cross-correlation indicates that the temporal width of the uv pulses is about five picoseconds.
The Effects of Bullying and Peer Victimization on Sexual-Minority and Heterosexual Youths: A Quantitative Meta-Analysis of the Literature

This study is a comprehensive, quantitative synthesis of the literature examining the effects of homophobic bullying on both sexual-minority and heterosexual youths’ psychological outcomes. The final analysis included 16 published and 2 unpublished studies from around the world, totaling 81 effect sizes. Various study characteristics were coded to assess moderator effects, but only age of youth was found to play a significant role between bullying and detrimental outcomes for youths. Results demonstrated that sexual-minority youths experience significantly more bullying and victimization than do heterosexual peers and that these hostile experiences contribute to a number of negative outcomes for sexual-minority youths.
Editorial code of conduct.

1 Molyneux EM, Nizami SQ, Saha S, et al, for the CSF 5 Study Group. 5 versus 10 days of treatment with ceftriaxone for bacterial meningitis in children: a double-blind randomised equivalence study. Lancet 2011; 377: 1837–45. 2 Visintin C, Mugglestone MA, Fields EJ, et al. Management of bacterial meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia in children and young people: summary of NICE guidance. BMJ 2010; 340: c3209.
Sol hydrolysis and condensation reaction time influence the sensitivity of class II xerogel-based sensing materials

Simplicity of preparation, a wide variety of precursors, and numerous processing variables (e.g., pH, time, temperature) are often described as attractive aspects of sol–gel derived materials. In the current work we create a series of O2-responsive xerogel-based sensor films by simultaneously co-hydrolyzing and co-condensing tetramethylorthosilane and n-octyltriethoxysilane. Tris(4,7′-diphenyl-1,10′-phenanthroline) ruthenium(II) ([Ru(dpp)3]2+) is used as the O2-responsive luminophore. We determine the effects of [Ru(dpp)3]2+ addition time to the sol and the sol hydrolysis and condensation reaction time (HC H&C effects the O2 sensitivity. The highest O2 sensitivity is seen at early H&C (0.5 h). This behavior arises because TMOS and C8-TMOS react at different rates to form sols. At early H&C the co-hydrolysis and co-condensation reactions are not complete and the so formed sols are rich in C8-TMOS in comparison to their composition at longer H&C. At longer H&C, the TMOS and C8-TMOS co-hydrolyze and co-condense more completely. SEM images show that xerogel films formed at early H&C is more porous in comparison to those formed a longer H&C. The results of these experiments: (a) highlight the importance of documenting how sols are processed and xerogels formed and (b) demonstrate the use of a single sol formulation and H&C to create suites of sensor materials with different responses.
Ropinirole therapy for Parkinson’s disease

Ropinirole (Requip, GlaxoSmithKline) is a novel nonergoline dopamine D2 agonist indicated for the treatment of early and advanced Parkinson's disease. It is mainly metabolized by the liver and its elimination half-life is approximately 5.8 h. When used as monotherapy in early Parkinson's disease, ropinirole improves signs and symptoms of the disorder. When used as an adjunct to levodopa in advanced Parkinson's disease patients with motor fluctuations, ropinirole reduces off time and allows a reduction of levodopa dose. The initial use of ropinirole in early Parkinson's disease to which levodopa is added when necessary, has been demonstrated to lead to a lower incidence of dyskinesias compared with treatment with levodopa alone. An 18F-dihydroxyphenylalanine positron emission tomography study suggested the possibility that ropinirole could slow the progression of loss of dopamine neurons compared with treatment with levodopa but this remains to be proven. Side effects of ropinirole include nausea, somnolence, edema, orthostatic hypotension, hallucinations and dyskinesia. A once-daily formulation of ropinirole is currently in development that has the potential for greater convenience, improved tolerability and greater efficacy.
How to integrate the upper convected Maxwell (UCM) stresses near a singularity (and maybe elsewhere, too)

Abstract I propose a scheme to integrate the stresses of the upper convected Maxwell (UCM) fluid which avoids the down-stream instability near a reentrant corner. The scheme is based on representing the stress in a natural basis which is aligned with the streamlines.
The effect of myosin RLC phosphorylation in normal and cardiomyopathic mouse hearts.

Phosphorylation of the myosin regulatory light chain (RLC) by Ca2+-calmodulin–activated myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) is known to be essential for the inotropic function of the heart. In this study, we have examined the effects of MLCK-phosphorylation of transgenic (Tg) mouse cardiac muscle preparations expressing the D166V (aspartic acid to valine)–RLC mutation, identified to cause familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with malignant outcomes. Our previous work with Tg-D166V mice demonstrated a large increase in the Ca2+ sensitivity of contraction, reduced maximal ATPase and force and a decreased level of endogenous RLC phosphorylation. Based on studies demonstrating the beneficial and/or protective effects of cardiac myosin phosphorylation for heart function, we hypothesized that an ex vivo phosphorylation of Tg-D166V cardiac muscle may rescue the detrimental contractile phenotypes observed earlier at the level of single myosin molecules and in Tg-D166V papillary muscle fibres. We showed that MLCK-induced phosphorylation of Tg-D166V cardiac myofibrils and muscle fibres was able to increase the reduced myofibrillar ATPase and reverse an abnormally increased Ca2+ sensitivity of force to the level observed for Tg-wild-type (WT) muscle. However, in contrast to Tg-WT, which displayed a phosphorylation-induced increase in steady-state force, the maximal tension in Tg-D166V papillary muscle fibres decreased upon phosphorylation. With the exception of force generation data, our results support the notion that RLC phosphorylation works as a rescue mechanism alleviating detrimental functional effects of a disease causing mutation. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the mechanism of this unexpected phosphorylation-induced decrease in maximal tension in Tg-D166V–skinned muscle fibres.
Statistical Methods for the Analysis of Repeated Measurements

(2003). Statistical Methods for the Analysis of Repeated Measurements. Journal of the American Statistical Association: Vol. 98, No. 461, pp. 248-249.
Optimism/pessimism and information-processing styles: can their influences be distinguished in predicting psychological adjustment?

Abstract This study examined the extent to which optimism and pessimism predicted variance in depressive symptoms and life satisfaction beyond what was accounted for by individual differences in perceived information-processing styles ( Burns, L. R., & D'Zurilla, T. J. (1999). Individual differences in perceived information-processing styles in stress and coping situations: development and validation of the Perceived Modes of Processing Inventory. Cognitive Therapy and Research , 23 , 345–371 ) in a sample of 402 college students. Consistent with expectations, results indicated that modes of information processing accounted for a significant amount of the variance in both adjustment measures. Moreover, optimism and pessimism accounted for a significant amount of additional unique variance in adjustment. Taken together, these findings indicate that optimism and pessimism reflect cognitive processes that are not redundant with information-processing styles.
Fractional-flux Little-Parks resistance oscillations in disordered superconducting Au0.7In0.3 cylinders

The resistance of disordered superconducting Au0.7In0.3 cylindrical films was measured as a function of applied magnetic field. In the high-temperature part of the superconducting transition regime, the resistance oscillated with a period of h/2e in units of the enclosed magnetic flux. However, at lower temperatures, the resistance peaks split. We argue that this splitting is due to the emergence of an oscillation with a period of h/4e, half of the flux quantum for paired electrons. The possible physical origin of the h/4e resistance oscillation is discussed in the context of new minima in the free energy of a disordered superconducting cylinder.
Optimizing the assembly-processing-distribution system of processed and further-processed chicken in Pennsylvania.

The economic efficiency of the assembly—processing—distribution system for chicken in Pennsylvania was analyzed to determine the impact of changes in processing capacities, unit processing costs, transportation costs, the location of processing facilities, and the location of producing areas on total system cost. The system was analyzed using a capacitated network flow algorithm. It was found that while processing costs are relatively more important than transportation costs, processing plants must be properly located with respect to both production and consumption points for the system to operate with maximum efficiency.© 1992 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Human Growth: A Practitioner's Guide

A continuing problem for anthropologists is how to respond to the well-intentioned, nevertheless naive, question, "… and what do you do for a living?" My usual response these days is, "I pinch children." This rejoinder rivets the questioner in place while I explain that I measure the height, weight, and body composition (this is where the "pinching" of skinfolds comes into play) of school children and youth in Guatemala and in the United States. Most people even stay long enough to hear that I do this in order to evaluate the quality of the social, economic, and political environment of these two countries.
Adaptive remeshing method for finite-element thermal analysis

A finite element remeshing approach that makes use of quadrilateral and triangular elements is described. The approach uses the solution on a previous mesh to create a new mesh. Meshes are completely unstructured with highly refined elements in regions of steep gradients and larger elements where gradients are smaller. Studies of convergence rates for heat conduction problems with exact solutions show that for problems with highly localized solution variations, the remeshing approach gives smaller solution errors with fewer unknowns than refinement of uniform, structured meshes.
Synthesis and evaluation of organic pigments. 4. New monoarylide and diarylide pigments

Abstract The synthesis, characterization and mutagenicity of a series of diarylide pigments prepared using highly twisted nonmutagenic 2,2′-dimethyl-5,5′-dipropoxybenzidine and 2,2′-dimethoxy-5,5′-dipropoxybenzidine, and their monoarylide counterparts are reported. Five pigments in which nitro groups were incorporated into either the 3- or 4- position of the acetoacetanilide coupling component were mutagenic in either the standard Salmonella mutagenicity assay (Ames test) or the Prival modification. The presence of 3-trifluoromethyl or 3-acetyl groups in the acetoacetanilide moiety led to nonmutagenic pigments. Despite the high dihedral angle across the biphenyl linkage, the λ max of the highly twisted diarylide pigments was significantly bathochromic relative to the corresponding monoarylide pigments.
EFFECTS OF DROUGHT ON WATER RELATIONS AND NONSTRUCTURAL CARBOHYDRATES IN CLADODES OF OPUNTIA FICUS-INDICA

Nocturnal acid accumulation, water content, osmotic pressure (π), and nonstructural carbohydrates were determined in the chlorenchyma and the water-storage parenchyma of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Miller for well-watered plants and those subjected to drought for 15 weeks. During the 15-week drought, total cladode water content decreased by 57%, the water-storage parenchyma losing a greater fraction of water than the chlorenchyma, which most likely helped maintain nocturnal acid accumulation in the latter tissue. Despite the preferential water loss from the water-storage parenchyma, it had a lower π than the chlorenchyma over the 15 weeks of drought, suggesting a substantial decrease in osmotically active solutes in the water-storage parenchyma. Also, the measured π increases of both tissues were much less than those predicted based on the loss of water during drought and the initial content of osmotically active solutes under well-watered conditions. A decrease in the amount of soluble sugars (glucose. fructose and sucrose) occurred in plants subjected to drought. accounting for 46% and 81% of the difference between the measured and the predicted increases in π of the chlorenchyma and the water-storage parenchyma. respectively. The decrease in soluble sugars was associated with an equivalenl increase in polysaccharides, presumably starch, in the water-storage parenchyma. but not in the chlorenchyma.
On two-sided modules which are left projective

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to study an analogue for non-commutative rings R of projective modules. We consider R-bimodules of the form M = V P , where V = Rn is the module of row-vectors and P is any two-sided submodule of V. These are finitely generated central R-bimodules. Our main results (1.11), (1.12) are these: Let Ik denote the ideal generated by the k × k minors of matrices with rows in P. Then P is projective and of rank d as left module if In − d = R and In − d + 1 = 0. The converse holds if every primitive ideal of R is maximal. Thus the familiar criterion of commutative algebra carries over directly to this class of rings, and left projectivity is equivalent with right projectivity for central bimodules (1.13). Some related questions are discussed in Sections 2 and 3.