cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A China Focus on the Arts and Human Understanding

Creative Arts Educ Ther (2015) 1(1):6–14DOI: 10.15534/CAET/2015/1/3 A China Focus on the Arts and Human Understanding 理解藝術與人:中國式聚焦 Shaun McNiff Lesley University, USA Abstract The author’s empirical observations of artistic expression as a force of nature are discussed in relation to classical Chinese thought. Correspondence to nature is fundamental to the Taoist and Confucian traditions, both grounded in the idea that qi/ch’i (氣, vital energy/life force) is the energetic basis of creative transformation. The principle of te (德), spontaneous and authentic expression, is explored in relation to practical approaches to helping people everywhere access their unique and natural creative powers. Thomas Berry’s call for “a deep cultural therapy” in restoring a healthy relationship with nature suggests a need for paradigm expansion informing how the creative process and artistic understanding are approached today. 摘要 本文討論了作者對藝術表達作為自然之力與經典的中國思想之間關係的經驗觀察。回應自然對於道家和儒家傳統非常重要，兩者堅信“氣”是創造性轉化的能量基礎。關於“德”在自發性和真實表達中的基本原則及其幫助人們隨時隨地獲得自己獨特和自然創造力的實際方法在文中被加以探索。Thomas Berry呼籲的“深層文化療愈”來恢復與自然的健康關係提出了對一種模範擴展的需要來説明我們瞭解創造性的進程與藝術性的理解在當今如何能夠結合。
Direct Democracy and the Executive Branch

The executive branch seems like a bystander in direct democracy. The main instruments of direct democracy—the initiative and the referendum—are legislative in nature, and the ultimate purpose of direct democracy is to break the legislature’s monopoly over law making. Not surprisingly, the study of how direct democracy impacts the legislature has been a staple of the literature for decades. Little, if any, research is available that focuses specifically on how direct democracy impacts the executive branch.1 Yet, in a system where government is fragmented between branches of government and constrained by a system of checks and balances, a reduction in the power of one branch might be expected to have repercussions on the power and functions of the other branches. The executive branch may stand to gain from a vigorous use of direct democracy Indeed, governors have been the driving force behind adoption of the initiative and the referendum from Hiram Johnson in California in 1911 to Kirk Fordice in Mississippi in 1992.
Chapter 27. Transcription of RNA in Isolated Nuclei

Publisher Summary This chapter describes a system that fulfills many of the requirements for the study of gene control in vitro. The system makes possible the study of the primary transcription event separate from later maturation and transport events in RNA synthesis. While the results in the chapter are described for myeloma cells, lines derived from the MPC-11 tumor, the preliminary results with chick embryos, and those of others with HeLa cells and other myeloma cells suggest that these methods may be generally applicable. There are many examples of systems of isolated nuclei where the RNA product is small. Moreover, the isolated nuclei synthesize a very small product, but the nuclear subfraction they isolate (nucleoli) synthesizes very large RNA. This chapter illustrates that crude homogenates and crude nuclei have minimal RNA synthetic activity but activity becomes evident on further purification. Thus, in each system careful evaluation of conditions for optimal activity is required and they may well vary extensively.
A direct look at halogen bonds.

The halogen group elements (F, Cl, Br, I, and At) are, in the words of the late Oliver Sacks, “the absolute opposite of the inert gases” ( 1 ). They are highly electronegative, that is, they strongly attract electrons, making them extremely reactive and even toxic. As a constituent atom in a molecule or complex, halogens therefore tend to be negatively charged. Yet, halogen atoms in molecules can attract other negatively charged species via a noncovalent interaction known as halogen bonding. Somewhat analogous to a hydrogen bond, the halogen bond ( 2 ) arises from an emergent electrophilic region on a molecule's constituent halogen atom, allowing it to attract a net negatively charged species on the same molecule or on a neighboring molecule ( 3 ). On page 206 of this issue, Han et al. report images of halogen bonding at atomic resolution ( 4 ).
Impact of Infant Supraglottoplasty on Quality of Life

Objectives The objective of the present study is to examine the impact of supraglottoplasty on the quality of life (QOL) of caregivers and infants with severe laryngomalacia and moderate laryngomalacia with feeding difficulties. Study Design Prospective cohort study. Setting Tertiary children's hospital. Subjects and Methods Thirty-nine infants who underwent supraglottoplasty were examined. The primary caregiver answered the 47-item short form of the Infant and Toddler Quality of Life Questionnaire-47 pre- and postoperatively; the subsection scores were compared. A 1-way analysis of variance was performed to analyze the effect of age and sex. A comparison was made between our cohort and a general population of healthy children. Results The average age at surgery was 4.0 months, and 53% of the patients were male. There was significant postoperative improvement in overall health, physical ability, growth and development, bodily pain, temperament, emotional impact on the caregiver, impact on caregiver's time, and family cohesion scores ( P < .05). The same subscale scores remained significantly improved postoperatively after age and sex were controlled. Preoperative QOL scores were significantly worse than those of the general population in nearly all categories. Postoperative physical ability ( P = .009) and temperament ( P = .011) QOL scores were higher than the those of the general population. Scores for growth and development ( P = .132), bodily pain ( P = .481), and family cohesion ( P = .717) were equivalent to those of the general population. Conclusion QOL was significantly improved after supraglottoplasty for infants with severe laryngomalacia and moderate laryngomalacia with feeding difficulties. After supraglottoplasty, QOL was similar to that of the general infant population in most categories.
The Lorentz Force Law Must be Modified to Satisfy the Principle of Relativity

Consideration of the relative motion of a bar magnet and a coil played a key role in Einstein's production of Special Relativity. In the frame where the bar magnet is moving and a coil is at rest, an EMF is generated in the coil as a consequence of the curl of E equation. In the frame where the bar magnet is at rest, an EMF is produced in the coil because its electrons are moving in a way such that the magnetic field is producing forces on them. We consider the complementary situation where instead of a bar magnet generating a magnetic field we have a point charge generating an electric field. We will see that in order to satisfy the Principle of Relativity changes must be made to the Lorentz force law.
The General Transcription Machinery and Preinitiation Complex Formation

Transcription of protein-coding genes in eukaryotes is regulated by RNA polymerase II (pol II). By itself, pol II is unable to direct site-specific initiation of transcription and requires a host of accessory proteins, termed general transcription factors (GTFs), to commence basal level transcription dictated by the core promoter elements. The GTFs for pol II-mediated transcription include TFIIA, TFIIB, TFIID, TFIIE, TFIIF, and TFIIH. The transcription cycle, whether basal or regulated transcription, can be divided into multiple stages: preinitiation complex (PIC) assembly, initiation, promoter clearance, elongation, termination, and reinitiation. Before initiation, TFIID binding to the core promoter marks the beginning for PIC assembly. This is followed by the entry of TFIIA, TFIIB, pol II/TFIIF, TFIIE, and TFIIH, either in a stepwise fashion or as a preassembled pol II holoenzyme complex, to form a stable PIC which is ready to make RNA when ribonucleoside triphosphates and an energy source are provided. Formation of the PIC is a critical and often rate-limiting step in transcriptional regulation. Here we discuss the properties of pol II and each GTF in relation to PIC assembly, which occurs prior to the formation of the first phosphodiester bond in transcription initiation.
Anisotropic Material with Arbitrarily Oriented Cracks and Elliptical Holes: Effective Elastic Moduli

Effective moduli of a 2-D anisotropic solid with elliptical holes of an arbitrary (non-random) orientational distribution are given in closed form. The results are derived in the non-interacting approximation - the basic building block for various approximate schemes. Proper tensorial parameters of defect density are identified.
Evaluating environmental permitting process duration: the case of clean water act Section 404 permits

Permits are a critical tool for ensuring that infrastructure projects provide the benefits they promise without harming nearby people or the environment. However, the environmental permitting proce...
Distal rectal skip segment Hirschsprung disease: Case report and review of literature

Background: Lack of ganglion cells on adequate suction rectal biopsy is the gold standard for diagnosis of neonatal Hirschsprung disease (HD), and the presence of ganglion cells precludes such a diagnosis. Case report: A 10-day old male neonate presented with clinical symptoms concerning for HD. However, suction rectal biopsies demonstrated submucosal ganglion cells on the distal suction rectal biopsies (2 cm from anal verge) and not on the proximal (3 cm from anal verge), with similar findings on repeat biopsies. Clinical suspicion remained high, and diagnostic laparoscopy with intraoperative biopsies confirmed aganglionosis with a sigmoid transition. A pull through resection confirmed the diagnosis of distal rectal skip segment HD (SSHD) with a ∼6 cm length of circumferential aganglionosis extending into the proximal sigmoid. Conclusions: Discordant results on suction rectal biopsies should raise the possibility of SSHD. Awareness of the entity can facilitate timely definitive management in neonatal period.
Online, cross-disciplinary team science training for health and medical professionals: Evaluation of COALESCE (teamscience.net).

Introduction The National Academies of Sciences (NAS) emphasize the need for interdisciplinary team science (TS) training, but few training resources are available. COALESCE, an open-access tool developed with National Institutes of Health support and located at teamscience.net, is considered a gold standard resource but has not previously been evaluated. COALESCE launched four learning modules in 2011. The Science of TS (SciTS) module, an interactive encyclopedia, introduces foundational concepts. Three scenario-based modules simulate TS challenges in behavioral, clinical, and basic biomedical sciences. This study examined user characteristics, usage patterns, and effects of completing the four modules on TS knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Methods Repeated measures ANOVA tested for pre-post changes in performance and compared learning by users with biomedical versus other disciplinary backgrounds. Results From 2011 through 2017, the site attracted 16,280 new users who engaged in 6461 sessions that lasted more than 1 min. The modal registrant identified as working in a biomedical field (47%), in an academic institution (72%), and expressed greater interest in the practice than the SciTS (67%). Those completing pre- and post-tests (n = 989) showed significant improvement in knowledge, attitudes, and skills after taking all scenario-based modules (p < 0.005); knowledge and attitudes were unchanged after the SciTS encyclopedia. Biomedical and other health professionals improved comparably. Conclusion Evaluation of the TS training tool at teamscience.net indicates broad dissemination and positive TS-related outcomes. Site upgrades implemented between 2018 and 2020, including adding five new modules, are expected to increase the robustness and accessibility of the COALESCE training resource.
Polar Codes for Simultaneous Information and Energy Transmission

We develop practical codes for achieving the capacity-energy function in simultaneously transmitting information and energy over a single noisy line. In particular, two polar coding techniques are developed for discrete memoryless channels. One technique involves concatenating nonlinear mappings with linear polar codes, whereas the other involves using randomized rounding to achieve the capacity-energy function. Further, capacity-energy achieving polar coding techniques for the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel with peak power constraint are also provided.
Cryoextraction of an Endobronchial Aspergilloma Through Rigid Bronchoscopy

In the past few decades, flexible bronchoscopy has largely replaced rigid bronchoscopy as the tool of choice for diagnosis and management of endobronchial disease.
How and Why to Analogize Socratic Questioning to Zen Buddhist Koan Practice

The nature and aim of Socrates’ philosophical method is a contested matter in ancient philosophy scholarship. Among scholars who believe that there is a coherent method in Plato’s dialogues, it is generally agreed that Socrates’ method is a practice that aims to elicit something by way of question and answer. I, among others, believe that something to be a transformation (in the sense of an awakening) on the part of the interlocutor to his own ignorance and conceit of knowledge. Instead of pointing to Plato’s dialogues for evidence in order to argue for this, I analogize the method and aim of Socratic Questioning to Zen Buddhist koan practice.
Associations Between Neighborhood Social Cohesion and Physical Activity in the United States, National Health Interview Survey, 2017.

BACKGROUND Individual social support is positively related to physical activity participation. However, less is known about how neighborhood-level social structures relate to physical activity participation. METHODS We analyzed 2017 National Health Interview Survey data for adult participants who completed all questions on physical activity and neighborhood cohesion (N = 23,006). Each cohesion question was binary coded (cohesion or not) and used as a predictor individually and for a composite score measuring total social cohesion. We used linear regression to estimate minutes of moderate aerobic activity, and we used logistic regression to estimate the odds of meeting aerobic guidelines (≥150 min/wk), strength guidelines (≥2 d/wk of muscle strengthening exercises), or both guidelines, predicted by the 5 definitions of cohesion (composite cohesion and the 4 questions separately). Models were adjusted for sex, age, race/ethnicity, family-income-to-poverty ratio, education, nativity, language, and neighborhood tenure. RESULTS Respondents who reported having more social cohesion had 45.0 more minutes of aerobic activity and increased odds of meeting aerobic, strength, and combined guidelines (odds ratio [OR] = 1.22, OR = 1.13, and OR = 1.14, respectively; P < .01 for all). Reporting having availability of help when needed, neighbors to count on, trustworthy neighbors, and close-knit neighbors all resulted in increased odds of meeting aerobic guidelines but not increased odds for meeting strength guidelines in the latter 3 components or combined guidelines for the latter 2 components. CONCLUSIONS Having neighborhood social cohesion or select individual components of neighborhood cohesion are positively related to meeting aerobic, strength, and combined guidelines.
Comparison of the Effect of Selenite on Drug-Resistant and -Sensitive Tumor Cells

The development of tumor cell drug resistance is considered a major cause for the failure of cancer therapy. In many cases drug resistant tumor cells have been shown to contain high levels of glutathione (GSH). Selenium compounds are known to act as anti-cancer agents and compounds such as selenite have been shown to induce cytotoxic effects in tumor cells. The available evidence suggests that for selenite, in contrast to most xenobiotics, a high level of intracellular GSH is correlated with a high degree of cytotoxicity. Based upon these observations, we hypothesized that tumor cells with high GSH levels, which are resistant to chemotherapeutic agents, will prove to be extremely sensitive to selenite. We examined this hypothesis in vitro by comparing the effects of selenite on drug resistant human ovarian tumor (NIH:OVCAR-3) cells, which have high GSH levels, and non-resistant human ovarian tumor (A2780) cells with low GSH levels. We employed three assays which measure different aspects of cytotoxicity in vitro: cell viability (ability of cells to exclude trypan blue), proliferation of viable cells, and attachment of cells to a solid matrix. In each of these assays the drug resistant cells proved to be significantly more sensitive to selenite than the drug sensitive cells. This study represents the first step in the evaluation of selenite as a treatment for drug-resistant tumors.
COVID-19: associated morbidity and mitigation strategies.

To the Editor, In a recent article in this journal, the disease progression of COVID-19 was described. Evident risk factors were older age and decreased lymphocyte count [1]. While significant mort...
Obtaining Imaging Cost and Quality Information in Femoroacetabular Impingement: The Patient Experience.

Background Recent changes in healthcare have placed increased emphasis on price transparency, quality measures, and improving the patient experience. However, limited information is available for patient cost of obtaining a hip MRI and factors associated with cost variability. For a patient with femoroacetabular impingement (FAI), this study sought to report (1) the availability of pricing and quality information for a hip magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the state of Iowa, (2) the time investment required to obtain pricing and quality information, and (3) factors that influence hip MRI cost, quality and the time investment required for patients to obtain cost and quality information. Methods Within the state of Iowa, 126 unique hospital institutions and 30 active, private orthopaedic practices were identified. All 156 providers were contacted via telephone using a standardized script of a hypothetical 25-year-old adult male patient with FAI requesting a quote for a hip MRI. Cost of the MRI and its components, availability of payment discounts, and MRI magnet tesla (T) were requested. A final bundled cost (FBC) was calculated for each MRI provider with all available services and discounts applied. The total amount of time needed to obtain a quote from each location was recorded. Results One hundred and thirty-six of the 156 institutions contacted provided hip MRI services (87%). Median call duration was 9.1 minutes (Range 2.3-25.6). Median FBC was $2,114.00 (Range $484.75-4,463.00) across all providers. Hospital median FBC was $2,261.70 (Range $909.62-4,463.00) versus $1,225.13 (Range $484.75-2,218.40) for independent imaging centers (P<0.0001). No difference in median cost was observed between nine available 3.0 T machines and eighty-nine 1.5 T machines (P=0.2655). Conclusions MRI cost varies widely across the state of Iowa and within individual metropolitan areas. Hip MRIs cost less at independent imaging centers compared to hospital locations. The amount of time required to obtain quality and cost data for a hip MRI presents a substantial time burden for patients with FAI. Surgeons, healthcare systems, and policy makers should be cognizant of the large price differences for a hip MRI and the time burden placed on patients with FAI to obtain this information.Level of Evidence: IV.
Remote Ischemic Post-Conditioning Therapy is Protective in Mouse Model of Traumatic Optic Neuropathy

Traumatic optic neuropathy (TON) is characterized by visual dysfunction after indirect or direct injury to the optic nerve following blunt head trauma. TON is associated with increased oxidative stress and inflammation resulting in retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death. Remote ischemic post-conditioning (RIC) has been shown to enhance endogenous protective mechanisms in diverse disease models including stroke, vascular cognitive impairment (VCI), retinal injury and optic nerve injury. However, the protective mechanisms underlying the improvement of retinal function and RGC survival after RIC treatment remain unclear. Here, we hypothesized that RIC therapy may be protective following TON by preventing RGC death, oxidative insult and inflammation in the mouse retina. To carry out the study, mice were divided in three different groups (Control, TON and TON + RIC). We harvested retinal tissue 5 days after TON induction for western blotting and histochemical analysis. We observed increased TON-induced retinal cell death compared with controls by cleaved caspase-3 immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, the TON cohort demonstrated increased TUNEL positive cells which were significantly attenuated by RIC. Immunofluorescence data showed that oxidative stress markers dihydroethidium (DHE), NOX-2 and nitrotyrosine expression were elevated in the TON group relative to controls and RIC therapy significantly reduced the expression level of these markers. Next, we found that the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α was increased and anti-inflammatory IL-10 was decreased in plasma of TON animals, and RIC therapy reversed this expression level. Interestingly, western blotting of retinal tissue showed that RGC marker Brn3a and tight junction proteins (ZO-1 and Occludin), and AMPKα1 expression were downregulated in the TON group compared to controls. However, RIC significantly increased the expression levels of these proteins. Together these data suggest that RIC therapy activates endogenous protective mechanisms which may attenuate TON-induced oxidative stress and inflammation, and improves BRB integrity.
Object Lessons: How Nineteenth-Century Americans Learned to Make Sense of the Material World: by Sarah Anne Carter, New York: Oxford University Press, 2018, Pp. 216, $39.95 (hbk), ISBN 9780190225032

Sarah Anne Carter, curator and director of research at the Chipstone Foundation in Milwaukee, begins her book by providing a twenty-first century definition of an object lesson: “an unexceptional m...
"It's Always among Us. I Can't Act Like It's Not.": Women College Students' Perceptions of Physicians' Implicit Bias.

Physicians have an opportunity to provide accurate and timely information about sexual behavior to individuals in their care. However, many young people, and in particular college women, are retice...
Experiments on Dielectronic Recombination — A Review

The attention given to the study of dielectronic recombination (DR) during the past three years seems matched only by the challenges to understanding which this intricate and fragile process has afforded. Good progress has been made in meeting these challenges, both experimentally and theoretically, and we focus here on experimental aspects. Since theoretical issues of DR are addressed in portions of the chapters in this volume by Hahn and by Pindzola et al., little attention will be paid here to theory or to complete referencing of such.
The reactivities of isomers of dichlorodiammine-platinum (II) with dehydrogenase enzymes: Evidence for inhibition via cross-linkage

Abstract The reversible inhibition of malate dehydrogenase ( l -malate:NAD+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.1.37), lactate dehydrogenase ( l -lactate:NAD+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.1.27) and horse liver alcohol dehydrogenase (alcohol:NAD+ oxidoreductase, EC 1.1.1.1) by both cis- and trans-dichlorodiammine-platinum (II) (Pt(NH3)2Cl2) were carried out at pH 7.1 and 25°C. Inhibition of both liver and yeast alcohol dehydrogenase were measured at 4°C due to the latter's instability at higher temperature for long periods of time under the experimental conditions used in this study. The equilibrium constant (Ke) was calculated for each enzyme-platinum complex system. It was shown that inhibition of both malate dehydrogenase and liver alcohol dehydrogenase was independent of the particular platinum isomer, while the trans isomer was a significantly better inhibitor than the cis form when either yeast alcohol dehydrogenase or lactate dehydrogenase was used. Thus, it has been proposed that the two former enzymes are being inhibited by a monodentate chelation with the platinum derivatives while the latter enzymes are being inhibited by a bidendate chelation. It has also been proposed that absolute differences in inhibition of various enzymes by a specific platinum inhibitor is due to different goemetries about the inhibitor site while similar inhibition values are caused by similar geometries.
FINDING OURSELVES IN EACH OTHER: BARNEY AND THE OTHER-DIRECTED CHILD

The currently popular children's television program, Barney and Friends, is utilized as a vehicle for illustrating what Riesman saw as a shift toward other-direction in American society. Barney programs and merchandise demonstrate that the emphasis on peer group socialization is occurring in the preschool marttet. Changes in parenting practices, education, and politics, demonstrate that Barney and Friends illustrates a larger social shift toward other-direction. It is argued that this shift leads to a packaging of friendships and emotions, and ultimately a loss of individuality and self-awareness.
Ultraproducts of Tannakian Categories and Generic Representation Theory of Unipotent Algebraic Groups

The principle of tannakian duality states that any neutral tannakian category is tensorially equivalent to the category Rep_k G of finite dimensional representations of some affine group scheme G and field k, and conversely. Originally motivated by an attempt to find a first-order explanation for generic cohomology of algebraic groups, we study neutral tannakian categories as abstract first-order structures and, in particular, ultraproducts of them. One of the main theorems of this dissertation is that certain naturally definable subcategories of these ultraproducts are themselves neutral tannakian categories, hence tensorially equivalent to Comod_A for some Hopf algebra A over a field k. We are able to give a fairly tidy description of the representing Hopf algebras of these categories, and explicitly compute them in several examples. For the second half of this dissertation we turn our attention to the representation theories of certain unipotent algebraic groups, namely the additive group G_a and the Heisenberg group H_1. The results we obtain for these groups in characteristic zero are not at all new or surprising, but in positive characteristic they perhaps are. In both cases we obtain that, for a given dimension n, if p is large enough with respect to n, all n-dimensional modules for these groups in characteristic p are given by commuting products of representations, with the constituent factors resembling representations of the same group in characteristic zero. We later use these results to extrapolate some generic cohomology results for these particular unipotent groups.
Analyzing financial sectors in transition : with special reference to the Former Soviet Union

One result of ignoring the true messiness of the transition from a command to a market economy is that governments are sometimes offered flawed policy recommendations and conclusions that are at odds with reality. Here is a framework for reflecting on certain features of bank behavior during the transition from a command to a market economy - and on public policy interventions for the sector often advocated by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and other donor agencies. The economic transition from a command to a market economy is a complex, messy process, during which the incentives of economic agents may be significantly different from incentives familiar to Western economies. As a result, attempts to transplant Western institutional and regulatory norms of good practice into transition economies may produce disappointing, even counterproductive, results. Roe, Siegelbaum, and King show some specific characteristics of transition economies that are likely to have an impact on bank behavior and safety. They argue that these characteristics do not inevitably fade away as the transition proceeds; indeed, they may endure for an extended period. This being so, Roe, Siegelbaum, and King propose a simple analytical framework designed to shed light on the characteristics of the banking sector during the transition. This framework relies on familiar theories of asymmetric information and the potential advantages banks have in mitigating both the adverse risk and moral hazard associated with imperfect information. This framework suggests that the safety of an individual bank (and by extension the system) depends on three factors that evolve significantly during the transition: The bank's own internal information and information processing capabilities. The sophistication of the banking products it tries to offer. ° The external operating environment the bank faces (an environment that is affected by almost all aspects of transition reform). Among their many conclusions: ° Bank safety is an elusive concept in transition economies, one not easily managed. ° A transitional banking system may be quite safe even though regulatory reform may have progressed only minimally. Their analysis helps to account for several paradoxes observed in transition banking systems, including the relatively long-term survival of banks which by any objective standard are insolvent. This paper is a product of Ukraine/Belarus Country Unit, Europe and Central Asia Region. The authors may be contacted at aroe@worldbank.org or psiegelbaum@worldbank.org.
Membrane Encapsulated Soil Layers

As a result of the development of durable inexpensive membrane, membrane encapsulated soil layers (MESL) construction is now economically competitive with conventional pavement construction. Tests have shown that soil layers can be effectively protected against intrusion of moisture with available materials and existing construction techniques. Comparison of computed deflections with measured deflections for MESL test sections loaded with simulated aircraft landing gears, and comparison of computed stresses with measured subgrade and encapsulated soil strength parameters for the same test sections indicate that neither an elastic layered model or a slab on a Winkler foundation model is adequate for describing the response of a MESL pavement system. It was concluded that the effects of residual stresses induced during construction and the densification of the encapsulated material during traffic resulted in a stiffer system, which was more effective in distributing the load, than was predicted by either model using soil parameters obtained from the as-construction conditions.
Vascular effects of acetazolamide on the choroid plexus.

Decreases in production of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) after administration of acetazolamide have been attributed in part to constriction of blood vessels of the choroid plexus. The first goal of the present study was to examine effects of acetazolamide on blood flow to the choroid plexus. We measured blood flow (microspheres) and the production of CSF (ventriculo-cisternal perfusion) in anesthetized rabbits. Under control conditions, blood flow to the choroid plexus was 466 +/- 34 (mean +/- S.E.) ml min-1 100 g-1 and CSF production was 9.4 +/- 0.9 microliters min-1. Acetazolamide (25 mg kg-1 i.v.) decreased production of CSF by 55 +/- 5% despite a 2-fold increase in blood flow to the choroid plexus. The second goal of this study was to examine the role of hypercapnia, which occurs after administration of acetazolamide, in producing increases in blood flow. In animals in which hypercapnia was prevented by increases in ventilation, acetazolamide produced a similar increase in blood flow to the choroid plexus. We conclude that acetazolamide decreases the production of CSF but, in contrast to predictions based on studies in vitro, acetazolamide produces a marked increase in blood flow to the choroid plexus. Thus, changes in blood flow to the choroid plexus and production of CSF are uncoupled after administration of acetazolamide.
Poor prognosis in multiple myeloma is associated only with partial or complete deletions of chromosome 13 or abnormalities involving 11q and not with other karyotype abnormalities

Chromosomal abnormalities have major biologic and prognostic implications in leukemias. Cytogenetic information in typically hypoproliferative multiple myeloma (MM) is limited because of difficulties in obtaining analyzable metaphases. In this study, karyotypes and other known prognostic factors were analyzed in 155 newly diagnosed MM patients, entered on an intensive treatment program with two autotransplants. Complete remission (CR), event-free (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were analyzed using standard statistical methods. Abnormal cytogenetics were found in 39% of patients and were associated with a significantly lower CR rate (27% v 48%; P = .008). EFS and OS were inferior in patients with either partial or complete deletion of chromosome 13 or 11q abnormalities ("unfavorable" karyotype) when compared with the remaining patients (P or = 3 mg/L) and age > 60 years. On multivariate regression analysis, the absence of an "unfavorable" karyotype was the most significant variable associated with prolonged EFS and OS (P = .0001 and .0002, respectively). Other independent favorable variables were age less than 60 years, C-reactive protein (CRP) < or = 0.4 mg/dL and bone marrow plasmacytosis < or = 50% before treatment. On a multivariate analysis without cytogenetics, these same three standard parameters were identified as the only favorable variables. Patients not having all three standard favorable variables had a significantly lower CR rate (P = .03), EFS (P = .0001), and OS (P = .002) if an unfavorable karyotype was detected. We conclude that, in this program of uniformly treated MM patients, a poor prognosis was associated predominantly with abnormalities of chromosomes 11 and 13.
Progression and reversal of coronary and mesenteric vascular dysfunction associated with obesity.

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine progression and reversal of microvascular complications when rats were fed a high fat diet. Methods Sprague-Dawley rats 10 weeks of age were fed a diet containing 45% kcal fat for up to 32 weeks. Blood pressure and heart rate was measured by telemetry. Vascular reactivity of aorta and small coronary and mesenteric vessels was determined after 8, 16, 24, and 32 weeks on diet. Results There was a modest increase in weight and blood pressure in high fat fed rats. Sodium nitroprusside (SNP)-induced relaxation of coronary arteries was potentiated after 8 weeks on high fat diet, however, this enhanced response was not observed after 16, 24, or 32 weeks of diet. Acetylcholine (Ach) mediated relaxation was attenuated after 16, 24, and 32 weeks of high fat diet in coronary arteries; however, in aorta and mesenteric arteries, Ach-mediated response was not altered until 32 weeks on high fat diet. Reversing the high fat diet for 8 weeks resulted in partial recovery of metabolic parameters; however endothelial function in coronary arteries remained impaired. Conclusions These studies indicate that high fat diet promotes progressive impairment of coronary vascular function that is difficult to reverse.
Analysis of complexity based EEG features for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease

As life expectancy increases, particularly in the developed world, so does the prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). AD is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by neu-rofibrillary plaques and tangles in the brain that leads to neu-ronal death and dementia. Early diagnosis of AD is still a major unresolved health concern: several biomarkers are being investigated, among which the electroencephalogram (EEG) provides the only option for an electrophysiological information. In this study, EEG signals obtained from 161 subjects — 79 with AD, and 82 age-matched controls (CN) — are analyzed using several nonlinear signal complexity measures. These measures include: Hi-guchi fractal dimension (HFD), spectral entropy (SE), spectral centroid (SC), spectral roll-off (SR), and zero-crossing rate (ZCR). HFD is a quantitative measure of time series complexity derived from fractal theory. Among spectral measures, SE measures the level of disorder in the spectrum, SC is a measure of spectral shape, and SR is frequency sample below which a specified percent of the spectral magnitude distribution is contained. Lastly, ZCR is simply the rate at which the signal changes signs. A t-test was first applied to determine those features that provide significant differences between the groups. Those features were then used to train a neural network. The classification accuracies ranged from 60–66%, suggesting they contain some discriminatory information; however, not enough to be clinically useful alone. Combining these features and training a support vector machine (SVM) resulted in a diagnostic accuracy of 78%, indicating that these feature carry complementary information.
Eigenvector Sensitivity: A Kharitonov Result

This study is motivated by a need to effectively determine the difference between a system fault and normal system operation under parametric uncertainty using eigenstructure analysis. This involves computational robustness of eigenvectors in linear state space systems dependent upon uncertain parameters. The work involves the development of practical algorithms which provide for computable robustness measures on the achievable set of eigenvectors associated with certain state space matrix constructions. To make connections to a class of systems for which eigenvalue and characteristic root robustness are well understood, the work begins by focusing on companion form matrices associated with a polynomial whose coefficients lie in specified intervals. The work uses an extension of the well known theories of Kharitonov that provides computational efficient tests for containment of the roots of the polynomial (and eigenvalues of the companion matrices) in “desirable” regions, such as the left half of the complex plane.
Rediscovering America: The FWP Legacy and Challenge

0 0 1 231 1317 Texas AM the rejection of strict divisions between high and low culture; and the bottom-up approach to history that had begun profoundly to influence the discipline of history by the 1970s, embracing previously excluded groups, and gave rise to new sub-disciplines of oral history and public history. Ends with reflections on key questions those of us hoping to see a version of FWP today, many of the very same questions challenges faced by FWP in its first iteration.
Porphyrin assembly formation on helical biopolymers

Studies on the interactions oftrans-bis(N-methylpyridinium-4-yl)diphenylporphine with DNA and polyglutamate lead to a model for binding in which the porphyrin, under appropriate conditions of concentration and ionic strength, forms long-range assemblies on the polymer template. Large, conservative induced circular dichroism signals are observed in the Soret region as a result of the assembly process. The phasing of the signal is a consequence of the helical sense of the porphyrin stacking, which, in turn, reflects the helicity of the polymer. The assembly organization can be inhibited by modifying solution conditions either to make porphyrin aggregation less favorable or to convert the polymer to a nonhelical conformation.
TapBeats: accessible and mobile casual gaming

Conventional video games today rely on visual cues to drive user interaction, and as a result, there are few games for blind and low-vision people. To address this gap, we created an accessible and mobile casual game for Android called TapBeats, a musical rhythm game based on audio cues. In addition, we developed a gesture system that utilizes text-to-speech and haptic feedback to allow blind and low-vision users to interact with the game's menu screens using a mobile phone touchscreen. A graphical user interface is also included to encourage sighted users to play as well. Through this game, we aimed to explore how both blind and sighted users can share a common game experience.
Structural analysis of smooth muscle tropomyosin alpha and beta isoforms

Abstract A large number of tropomyosin (Tm) isoforms function as gatekeepers of the actin filament, controlling the spatiotemporal access of actin-binding proteins to specialized actin networks. Residues ~40-80 vary significantly among Tm isoforms, but the impact of sequence variation on Tm structure and interactions with actin is poorly understood, since structural studies have focused on skeletal muscle Tm α. We describe structures of N-terminal fragments of smooth muscle Tmα and β (sm-Tmα and sm-Tmβ). The 2.0-A structure of sm-Tmα81 (81-aa) resembles that of skeletal Tmα, displaying a similar super-helical twist matching the contours of the actin filament. The 1.8-A structure of sm-Tmα98 (98-aa) unexpectedly reveals an anti-parallel coiled-coil, with the two chains staggered by only 4-aa and displaying hydrophobic core interactions similar to those of the parallel dimer. In contrast, the 2.5-A structure of sm-Tmβ98, containing Gly-Ala-Ser at the N-terminus to mimic acetylation, reveals a parallel coiled-coil. Overall, the results suggest that sequence variation among Tm isoforms has a limited effect on actin binding, but could determine its gatekeeper function. None of the structures contains coiled-coil stabilizing elements, favoring the formation of head-to-tail overlap complexes in four out of five crystallographically independent parallel dimers. These complexes show similarly arranged 4-helix bundles stabilized by hydrophobic interactions, but the extent of the overlap varies between sm-Tmβ98 and sm-Tmα 81 from 2 to 3 helical turns. The formation of overlap complexes thus appears to be an intrinsic property of the Tm coiled-coil, with the specific nature of hydrophobic contacts determining the extent of the overlap. Overall, the results suggest that sequence variation among Tm isoforms has a limited effect on actin binding, but could determine its gatekeeper function.
Prevalence and predictors of trichomonas infection in newly incarcerated women.

Trichomonas infection is common in the United States, with an estimated 7.4 million infections annually.1 Historically, it has been overlooked relative to other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) because of suboptimal diagnostic methods and underrecognition of the consequences of infection. However, novel testing methods such as nucleic acid amplification are more sensitive than routinely available tests used for diagnosis including saline wet mount and Trichomonas culture.2 Furthermore, Trichomonas infection has been associated with infertility, cervical dysplasia, and preterm delivery.3 Trichomoniasis may also cause increased HIV acquisition and transmission,4,5 emphasizing the public health implications for detection and treatment of this STI. Among reproductive-aged women in the general US population, regardless of symptoms and using nucleic acid amplification testing, the prevalence of Trichomonas infection is 3.1% to 8.7%.6,7 Certain subgroups have been reported to have much higher rates of disease, including black women who use drugs (38%),8 HIV-infected women (9%–30%),9 and women recruited from the Internet (10%).10 In a large multicenter cohort study, a history of incarceration was found to be independently associated with trichomoniasis (odds ratio [OR], 1.37; P = 0.04), after adjusting for multiple-risk factors for STIs.11 Another study found that age, black race, testing in the emergency department, sexually transmitted disease clinic, or jail were significant predictors of trichomoniasis on multivariate analysis.7 Although routine screening in incarcerated women in San Francisco detected 32% positive infections,12 no study has been performed to date in incarcerated women with both routine testing and collection of symptom and sociodemographic data. The current study seeks to determine the prevalence and predictors of Trichomonas infection among newly incarcerated women using APTIMA analyte-specific reagents (Gen-Probe, San Diego, CA) specific for transcription-mediated amplification (TMA) of Trichomonas vaginalis. Defining predictors of Trichomonas infection in this population not only will improve our understanding of the epidemiology of this STI but also may also help guide prevention, screening, and treatment efforts in the future.
The sensitivity and accuracy of fourth order finite-difference schemes on nonuniform grids in one dimension

Abstract We construct local fourth-order finite difference approximations of first and second derivatives, on nonuniform grids, in one dimension. The approximations are required to satisfy symmetry relationships that come from the analogous higher-dimensional fundamental operators: the divergence, the gradient, and the Laplacian. For example, we require that the discrete divergence and gradient be negative adjoint of each other, DIV∗ = − GRAD , and the discrete Laplacian is defined as LAP = DIVGRAD . The adjointness requirement on the divergence and gradient guarantees that the Laplacian is a symmetric negative operator. The discrete approximations we derive are fourth-order on smooth grids, but the approach can be extended to create approximations of arbitrarily high order. We analyze the loss of accuracy in the approximations when the grid is not smooth and include a numerical example demonstrating the effectiveness of the higher order methods on nonuniform grids.
Using SQUIDs to Detect Charge in Cryogenic Germanium Detectors

This paper describes an impedance matching network which allows charge impulses to be measured by a SQUID amplifier with an RMS charge noise of less than 100 e, assuming the SQUID amplifier has a current noise of 2 \(\mathrm{pA}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}\), and the current pulse has a duration of about 1 μs or shorter. The component values are provided for an example system which has an RMS charge noise of 91 e, assuming all dissipative circuit elements are cooled to a temperature of 100 mK.
Evaluation of Durability Conferred by an Oleothermic Treatment on Chestnut and Douglas fir through Laboratory and in Field Tests

The research evaluated two wood species, chestnut and Douglas fir, that are widespread in Tuscany, treated with an oleothermicprocess. Efficacy of this treatment against fungal decay was assessed through laboratory and field tests. The aim of this research was to investigate if an oleothermic process could add value to these natural resources when utilized in Use Class 4 (EN 335) for agricultural purposes such as vineyard poles. The treatment was effective on sapwood of both wood species in laboratory test, giving a protection similar to the untreated heartwood but in case of chestnut, it was easily washed away. In field test the leaching during the outdoor exposure reduced the resistance to fungal decay in both species.
Yeast two-hybrid systems and protein interaction mapping projects for yeast and worm.

The availability of complete genome sequences necessitates the development of standardized functional assays to analyse the tens of thousands of predicted gene products in high-throughput experimental settings. Such approaches are collectively referred to as 'functional genomics'. One approach to investigate the properties of a proteome of interest is by systematic analysis of protein-protein interactions. So far, the yeast two-hybrid system is the most commonly used method for large-scale, high-throughput identification of potential protein-protein interactions. Here, we discuss several technical features of variants of the two-hybrid systems in light of data recently obtained from different protein interaction mapping projects for the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.