cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Characteristics of Anorectal Malformations in Children at the United States-Mexico Border: A 3-Year Study.

BACKGROUND Anorectal malformations (ARMs) are a group of congenital malformations affecting the lower gastrointestinal, urogenital, and/or gynecological systems. They occur in approximately 1 in 5000 live births, with a slight male predominance. ARMs can appear in isolation or in association with other anomalies. The literature contains little information about the characteristics of ARMs in United States Hispanic populations. METHODS An institutional review board-approved chart review was conducted in all patients with ARMs seen at a single institution in El Paso, Texas, from January 2012 to December 2015. Data regarding demographics, types of ARMs, associated syndromes, and long-term complications were recorded using the Krickenbeck classification system. RESULTS Of the 37 patients included in the study, 20 were boys and 17 were girls. The most common ARMs were rectoperineal fistula (46%), rectourethral fistula, and cloacal malformation. Constipation was the most common long-term complication, especially in patients with recto-perineal fistula. CONCLUSION Children in the Borderland community may have a higher percentage of recto-perineal fistula than previously reported. Postoperative complications in Hispanic children with ARM were comparable to those reported in other populations.
SketchGraphs: A Large-Scale Dataset for Modeling Relational Geometry in Computer-Aided Design

Parametric computer-aided design (CAD) is the dominant paradigm in mechanical engineering for physical design. Distinguished by relational geometry, parametric CAD models begin as two-dimensional sketches consisting of geometric primitives (e.g., line segments, arcs) and explicit constraints between them (e.g., coincidence, perpendicularity) that form the basis for three-dimensional construction operations. Training machine learning models to reason about and synthesize parametric CAD designs has the potential to reduce design time and enable new design workflows. Additionally, parametric CAD designs can be viewed as instances of constraint programming and they offer a well-scoped test bed for exploring ideas in program synthesis and induction. To facilitate this research, we introduce SketchGraphs, a collection of 15 million sketches extracted from real-world CAD models coupled with an open-source data processing pipeline. Each sketch is represented as a geometric constraint graph where edges denote designer-imposed geometric relationships between primitives, the nodes of the graph. We demonstrate and establish benchmarks for two use cases of the dataset: generative modeling of sketches and conditional generation of likely constraints given unconstrained geometry.
Differences in how spouses influence each other's alcohol use in same- and different-sex marriages: A daily diary study.

Abstract Rationale Different-sex spouses influence each other's alcohol consumption, with women having more influence on their spouses than men. Because women drink less than men, this long-term influence partly explains why married men and women consume less alcohol than their unmarried peers. However, much less is known about possible gender differences in the ways spouses influence each other's alcohol use on a day-to-day basis in same-compared to different-sex marriages. Because sexual minority people are at higher risk for alcohol use disorders compared to their heterosexual counterparts, such knowledge could shed light on ways to reduce this risk and alcohol use disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual people. Method We use 10 days of diary data collected in 2014–2015 in the United States from 157 female same-sex, 106 male same-sex, and 115 different-sex married couples in midlife (ages 35–65) to examine how one spouse's drinking influences how much the other spouse drinks on the following day. Results Men reported higher levels of daily drinking than women; after including covariates, men in different-sex marriages reported drinking at the highest levels. Results from actor-partner interdependence models show that men in same- and different-sex marriages drink more, and women in different-sex marriages drink less when their spouse drinks more the previous day. Female same-sex spouses did not change their drinking behaviors in response to their spouse's drinking. Conclusions Overall higher rates of drinking among men in same-sex marriages suggest an accumulation effect of drinking that may contribute to sexual minority health disparities. Women and men in different-sex marriages may be engaging in social control or navigating masculinity norms. Women in same-sex marriages may not feel the need to adjust to low levels of drinking by their spouses. Findings suggest that spousal influence over alcohol consumption unfolds differently in same-sex compared to different-sex marriages.
Training Parents and Staff to Implement Interventions to Improve the Adaptive Behavior of Their Children with Intellectual and Developmental Disability

Adaptive skills are practical, everyday skills that are necessary to live independently in society. Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) may be at risk to fail to develop critical skills, and thus fail to be successful in natural environments. Natural change agents like parents, teachers, and staff can be instrumental in teaching and maintaining adaptive skills for individuals with IDD because they are readily present in the natural environment. Despite the effectiveness of instruction in the natural environment, parents and staff are often not trained to provide effective instruction or assess the effectiveness of their interventions. This chapter examines the relatively sparse available literature on parent and staff training for individuals with IDD on adaptive skills, and common training modalities and methods. Suggestions for implementation of high-quality staff training, utility for parents, staff, and individuals with IDD and future directions for research and practice are provided.
Demystifying the op-ed. A novel group writing workshop to improve upon existing pediatric advocacy training.

Background Pediatricians are uniquely qualified to advocate for public health solutions to problems affecting children 1 . The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires pediatric residency programs include child advocacy in their curriculum. 2 An “Op-ed”, short for opposite-the-editorial (page), is a form of media advocacy in which the author publishes a commentary in lay press to communicate evidence directly to the public. Well written op-eds can influence policy by swaying public opinion, knowledge, and behaviors. 3 , 4 Although some residency programs have included op-ed writing as a topic within their broader advocacy curriculum, 5 , 6 how to teach op-ed writing in pediatric training has not been described. We developed an op-ed writing workshop to improve self-reported comfort with writing op-eds, demonstrate writing feasibility with hands on practice and produce a publishable op-ed at workshop conclusion.
Students Experience Cognitive and Emotional Responses to Academic Library Spaces

A Review of: Mei, X. Y., Aas, E., & Eide, O. (2020). Applying the servicescape model to understand student experiences of a Norwegian academic library. Library & Information Science Research, 42(4), Article 101051. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2020.101051 Abstract Objective – To understand how the physical environment of an academic library influences user behaviour. Design – Qualitative explorative. Setting – An academic library at a large university in Norway. Subjects – Twelve bachelor’s and master’s students at a business school. Methods – The researchers used a two-step approach, with the servicescape model from the marketing discipline serving as a theoretical framework. Subjects completed several tasks involving drawing and elaborating on their usage of the library space, utilizing a bird’s-eye floor plan. This was followed by semi-structured interviews to explore how subjects use and experience the library facilities. Main Results – Students found it important to be physically comfortable and to have enough room for the items they need while studying. The library in this study was seen more as a place for studying than for social interactions, and while some subjects reported being motivated by seeing students around them studying, others said they are distracted by having other students in their sightline. The time of the semester appeared to influence user experience and satisfaction with the library space, with spaces conducive to group work desired at some points in the semester and with single seating preferred when individual exams are taking place. Conclusion – The library’s physical environment triggers cognitive and emotional responses in users. These responses influence how frequently they visit the library and how well they are able to concentrate while there. Because academic library spaces have an impact on student learning, it is important to design libraries with user comfort in mind. Libraries should accommodate the different ways students work throughout the semester by providing flexible study space configurations.
PEAK-HOUR TRANSIT ROUTING

Transit routes radiating from the CBD are typical of most city bus operations. This type of routing has existed since the late 1920’s with major changes primarily in the form of longer and more routes as the city grows. The major innovations away from this trend, the demand responsive systems, have met with varying degrees of success and in general have two undesirable characteristics, high cost and low ridership. The research reported here describes an alternative which incorporates both the advantages of the fixed route system and some of the advantages of demand responsive systems. The concept requires a residential clustering of employees who work at or near a single location. In this regard the six largest employers in Cedar Rapids, Iowa were analyzed. The 10 largest employee residence zones of each firm (99 total metropolitan area zones) accounted for 37.5% - 52.7% of the total number of employees of each firm. The firms analyzed were dissimilar in location (CBD to fringe), and in employee characteristics (white to blue collar employees).
Hormonal Control in Larval Development and Evolution—Insects

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the hormonal control of larval development and evolution in insects. The hormonally controlled developmental events in insects are enormously diverse, ranging from the molting cycle, to the complex transformations of metamorphosis, to the diversity of alternative phenotypic forms a given individual can develop into, such as, the castes of ants, bees, and termites and the distinctive seasonal forms of many species. The control points for these diverse developmental events occur almost entirely during the larval life of insects. The endocrine system that manages this diversity of developmental transformations is, by contrast, very simple and involves not more than a handful of hormones, of which two, the ecdysteroids and juvenile hormones (JH), are responsible for virtually the entire series of events. The role of hormones in insect development is very different from their role in metabolic and physiological regulation. Rather than acting in a quantitative manner in which the magnitude of their effect is proportional to their concentration, the insect developmental hormones act in an all-or-none fashion, during discrete windows of tissue sensitivity. The timing and pattern of tissue sensitivity and the timing of hormone secretion are regulated independently and form an interactive system of great flexibility.
Code Breaking for Automatic Speech Recognition

Practical automatic speech recognition is of necessity a (near) real time activity performed by a system whose structure is fixed and whose parameters once trained may be adapted on the basis of the speech that the system observed during recognition. However, in specially important situations (e.g., recovery of out-of-vocabulary words) the recognition task could be viewed as an activity akin to code-breaking to whose accomplishment can be devoted an essentially infinite amount effort. In such a case everything would be fair, including, for instance, the retraining of a language and/or acoustic model on the basis of newly acquired data (from the Internet!) or even a complete change of the recognizer paradigm. An obvious way to proceed is to use the basic recognizer to produce a lattice or confusion network and then do the utmost to eliminate ambiguity. Another possibility is to create a list of frequent confusions (for instance the pair IN and AND) and prepare a appropriate individual decision processes to resolve each when it occurs in test data. We will report on our initial code breaking effort.
Infections Requiring Hospitalization as Predictors of Pediatric-Onset Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.

Objectives. To assess the relationship between infections and the risk of pediatric-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods. We conducted a nested case-control study of 501 incident cases aged ≤17 years and 9,442 controls who were members of Kaiser Permanente Northern California for at least one consecutive year between 1996 and 2006. IBD was confirmed and the incidence date was adjudicated by pediatric gastroenterologists. Hospitalized infections were identified from the principal diagnosis code of electronic inpatient records. Medications to treat infections were identified during the hospitalization. Conditional logistic regression was used to assess the associations between hospitalized infections, medications, and Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Results. In the year prior to diagnosis, both hospitalized infection of any system (OR 6.3; 95% CI 1.6–23.9) and hospitalized intestinal infection (OR 19.4; 95% CI 2.6–143.2) were associated with CD. Hospitalized infections of any system were inversely associated with UC after excluding the year prior to diagnosis (OR 0.4; 95% CI 0.2–0.9). No UC case had a hospitalized gastrointestinal infection prior to diagnosis. Conclusion. Infections appear to play opposite roles prior to the diagnosis of CD and UC. Infections may be associated with an increased risk of CD and a decreased risk of UC.
A Robust and Scalable Library for Parallel Adaptive Mesh Refinement on Unstructured Meshes

The design and implementation of a software library for parallel adaptive mesh refinement in unstructured computations on multiprocessor systems are described. This software tool can be used in parallel finite element or parallel finite volume applications on triangular and tetrahedral meshes. It contains a suite of well-designed and efficiently implemented modules that perform operations in a typical P-AMR process. This includes mesh quality control during successive parallel adaptive mesh refinement, typically guided by a local-error estimator, and parallel load-balancing. Our P-AMR tool is implemented in Fortran 90 with a Message-Passing Interface (MPI) library, supporting code efficiency, modularity and portability. The AMR schemes, Fortran 90 data structures, and our parallel implementation strategies are discussed in the paper. Test results of our software, as applied to a few selected engineering finite element applications, will be demonstrated. Performance results of our code on Cray T3E, HP/Convex Exemplar systems, and on a PC cluster (a Beowulf-class system) will also be reported.
Purity, Balance and Wellness Among the Swahili of Lamu, Kenya

The Swahili of Lamu Island, Kenya, are part of a larger Swahili nation that extends along the East African coast, from northern Mozambique to southern Somalia, and includes archipelagos (Lamu, Zanzibar, Comoros) in the adjacent Indian Ocean. As the Swahili established themselves into an important economic niche as the middlemen of trade between East Africans and visitors from across the Indian Ocean over the centuries, the Swahili language became the primary trade language of East Africa. Since hundreds of African ethnic groups reside in this region, each with a unique native language, speaking Swahili as a first language is both a distinguishing and unifying feature. Through close commercial interaction, intermarriage with newcomers—be they Africans or immigrants from overseas—and conversion to Islam, the Swahili have continuously integrated new philosophies and practices into their existing cosmology. Swahili concepts of health and illness exist within a complex framework constantly re-shaped by intersecting and competing notions of the physical body and the mind, the capacity to engage the supernatural and by traditional Islamic beliefs. Here we illustrate some of the ways in which the Swahili of Lamu seek purity, balance and wellness, particularly in their method of achieving psychological well-being. We share insights based on ethnographic research that Gearhart, a cultural anthropologist, has conducted in Lamu over the past decade and experiences that Abdulrehman, a Lamu native and nurse practitioner, has had with fellow residents and patients. Our hope is that these insights will promote the delivery of culturally appropriate, effective healthcare by medical professionals interested in working with the Swahili of Lamu and peoples similar to them.
Measuring School Efficiency Using Cost Functions

United States public schools in the first decade of the twenty-first century are faced with increasing demands for improving performance; simultaneously, government budgets are stagnant or shrinking. Thus it is particularly important to consider ways in which schools and school districts can use their resources effectively. Although much of the research linking resources and performance focuses on estimating a production function for education, using a cost-function framework holds considerable appeal for the investigation of school performance and efficiency. Perhaps most important is that cost functions can be specified to include multiple-output measures simultaneously, allowing us to estimate the efficiency of schools without having to assume that a single test score or other measure, fully captures the product of a school, as production functions typically require. This chapter develops and explores the estimation of school efficiency using school-level cost functions. The aim is to identify ways to minimize the cost of schools, which implies identifying schools that can achieve their performance levels at lower costs.
Dynamic Fracture Toughness Measurement Methods for Brittle and Ductile Materials

ABSTRACT After a brief review of several current test methods for measuring dynamic fracture toughness, two methods are described in greater detail, namely, stress wave loading of a circumferentially notched round bar (fatigued precracked) and the dynamically loaded three-point-bend bar. The time to fracture, measured from the the instant of the arrival of the stress wave at the crack front, is about 20 to 25μs for the notched round bar and ranges from 300μs to milliseconds for the three-point-bend bar. Full field finite element simulation of both experiments have been carried out. The computational investigation showed that the measurements made in both experiments can be interpreted within the framework of fracture mechanics. These studies have also provided information on the test conditions and the specimen size requirements which ensure that the J–integral properly characterizes the near tip state at the onset of fracture. These aspects and procedures for the determination of the dynamic fracture toughness JIC using the measured load-displacement record are discussed.
Youth peers put the “invent” into NutriBee’s online intervention

Early adolescents perceive peers as credible and relatable. Peers therefore have a unique conduit to engage early adolescents in positive health behaviors through nutrition learning such as that recommended by the U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM). We developed an online, peer leader component to an existing in-person preventive nutrition intervention called NutriBee. We reasoned that youth ages 13–18 could create intervention materials that could remain engaging, credible and relatable to younger peers ages 10–12 online. Peer leaders could potentially derive health benefits from their service-learning experience. From 2013–2014 youth could apply online to relate a personal interest to nutrition, an opportunity promoted at NutriBee pilot sites and through social media. The peer leaders with diverse backgrounds honed original ideas into tangible projects with the support of adult subject-matter experts chosen by the youth. Nutrition expertise was provided by NutriBee staff who then also converted the youth-invented projects from various media into an online curriculum. 19 of 27 (70%) of selected youth from 12 states and diverse backgrounds, created an online curriculum comprising 10% of NutriBee’s 20-hour intervention. All 19 online projects modeled 1 or more of NutriBee’s 10 positive health behaviors; 8 evoked the chemosenses; 6 conveyed food texture; and 13 provided social context. Peer leaders perceived career advancement and service learning benefits. The dose, pedagogic approach, and project content align with the IOM recommendation. Youth created intervention materials which communicate positive health behaviors online in ways peers can adopt. In a customarily sight-sound digital platform, youth leveraged the senses of smell, taste and touch and social context important for food selection. Peer leaders derived health benefit, as indirectly assessed by IOM criteria.
Repeated vapor ethanol exposure induces transient histone modifications in the brain that are modified by genotype and brain region.

Background: Emerging research implicates ethanol (EtOH)-induced epigenetic modifications in regulating gene expression and EtOH consumption. However, consensus on specific epigenetic modifications induced by EtOH has not yet emerged, making it challenging to identify mechanisms and develop targeted treatments. We hypothesized that chronic intermittent EtOH (CIE) induces persistent changes in histone modifications across the cerebral cortex (CCx), nucleus accumbens (NAc), and prefrontal cortex (PFC), and that these histone modifications are altered in a knock-in mouse strain with altered sensitivity to EtOH. Methods: C57BL/6J (B6) mice and α1SHLA knockin mice on a B6 background were exposed to 16 hours of vapor EtOH or room air followed by 8 hours of room air for four consecutive days and sacrificed at multiple time points up to 72 hours following exposure. Histone modifications were assessed using Western blot and dot blot. RT-qPCR was used to study expression of chromatin modifying enzymes in NAc and PFC. Results: In NAc, CIE significantly increased acetylation of histone subunit H3 at lysine 9 (H3K9ac) but not lysine 14 (H3K14ac) or lysine 27 (H3K27ac). In PFC, CIE significantly increased H3K9ac but not H3K14ac or H3K27ac. There were no significant changes at 8 or 72 hours after EtOH exposure in either NAc or PFC. CIE was also associated with increased expression of Kat2b, Kat5, and Tet1 in NAc but not PFC. In CCx, CIE had a significant effect on levels of H3K18ac; there was also a significant effect of genotype on levels of H3K27me3, H3K14ac, and H3K18ac. Conclusions: The EtOH-induced histone modifications observed were transient and varied significantly between brain regions. A genetic mutation that altered sensitivity to EtOH was associated with altered induction of histone modifications during CIE. These results have implications for studying EtOH-induced histone modifications and EtOH sensitivity.
Buckypaper's Fabrication and Application to Passive Vibration Control

In recent years, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) attract intense research duo to their novel mechanical and electronic properties and their tremendous potential for future technological applications. In this paper, a CVD synthesis method of well aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes using iron(II) phthalocyanine as raw material and catalyst was introduced, then the fabrication of carbon nanotubes thin sheets (buckypapers) using vacuum filtration was detailed demonstrated. Scanning electron microscopy(SEM) characterization was used to investigate the nanotubes' alignment and buckypapers' surface character. Finally, Finite element analysis of glass silicone with attached buckypapers using ABAQUS indicated that the first 7 natural vibration modes increase 28% to 103% with minimal structural weight increase. Experiments show that the power spectral density decreases when a piece of buckypaper was attached to the substrate.
Lateralization of learned taste aversion by cortical spreading depression

Abstract Male Sprague-Dawley rats which were taught a strong aversion to ingestion of lithium chloride under unilateral cortical spreading depression failed to show this aversion when spreading depression was changed to the opposite hemisphere. Control rats which learned the aversion with both hemispheres functional show a very strong aversion to LiCl in subsequent tests with either both hemispheres functional or one hemisphere under spreading depression. These results indicate that cortical participation is important for learning of a taste aversion.
Prediction of rate and severity of adverse perioperative outcomes: "normal accidents" revisited.

The American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status classification system has been shown to predict the frequency of perioperative morbidity and mortality despite known subjectivity, inconsistent application, and exclusion of many perioperative confounding variables. The authors examined the relationship between the American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status and both the frequency and the severity of adverse events over a 10-year period in an academic anesthesiology practice. The American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status is predictive of not only the frequency of adverse perioperative events, but also the severity of adverse events. These nonlinear mathematical relationships can provide meaningful information on performance and risk. Calculated odds ratios allow discussion about individualized anesthesia risks based on the American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status because the added complexity of the surgical or diagnostic procedure, and other perioperative confounding variables, is indirectly factored into the Physical Status classification. The ability of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status to predict adverse outcome frequency and severity in a nonlinear relationship can be fully explained by applying the Normal Accident Theory, a well-known theory of system failure that relates the interactive complexity of system components to the frequency and the severity of system failures or adverse events. Mt Sinai J Med 79:46–55, 2012.© 2012 Mount Sinai School of Medicine
The future of RF technology for established wireless markets and emerging wireless applications

As the wireless market expands from voice to data networks, advances in radio architecture, circuit implementation and semiconductor device technology all contribute to significant increases in integration, functionality, and reductions in cost for wireless consumer products. A description of these advances, basic RFIC building block functionality, and the criteria used to evaluate semiconductor process technologies for optimal fit to those requirements is presented.
The Effect of Minor Nutrient Mineral Elements in the Diet of Chickens on Feather Pulling and Cannibalism

Abstract FEATHER pulling, feather eating, and cannibalism are phases of a vice in chickens of all ages that is a serious problem in many poultry flocks. This vice detracts from the market appearance and tends to reduce the quality of broilers. In layers the loss of feather covering undoubtedly increases energy requirements for maintenance and egg production. Studies including both managemant and nutrition have been made in an attempt to find means for the prevention and control of this vice. While some reduction in feather pulling and cannibalism has been observed following certain changes in management and nutrition, a dependable solution for the problem has been lacking. Carver (1931) reported a reduction in feather picking among chickens in battery brooders and fattening batteries through the use of ruby-colored lights. Miller and Bearse (1937) reported a marked reduction in feather picking and cannibalism in birds to 40 weeks of age where whole . . .
The calculus of nonuniformly spaced variables

IN the conventional calculus of finite differences the n sets of k independent variables xa (1), xa (2) …. xa (k) are assumed uniformly spaced along each of the k axes of a rectangular frame. Occasionally nonuniform spacings are also assumed, but only along one dimension.
Neuropharmacological Modification of Central Catecholamines: Effects on Pinealectomy‐Induced Convulsions

Removal of the pineal gland produces stereotyped tonic convulsions in parathyroidectomized rats. Inasmuch as central levels of norepinephrine (NE) are decreased in these animals, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of alterations in central catecholamine function on convulsions produced by pinealectomy in parathyroidectomized rats. The treatment of rats with alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine or FLA-63 produced large reductions in forebrain levels of both NE and dopamine or NE alone, respectively, which were not associated with facilitation of convulsions. However, the incidence of convulsions was increased by FLA-63 in rats pretreated with the catecholamine precursor L-dihydroxyphenylalanine. Reserpine, a monoamine depleter, had no effect on either the incidence or severity of convulsions. An acute injection of desipramine, an inhibitor of the reuptake of NE, however, significantly lowered the incidence of convulsions. Timolol, a beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist, reduced, in a dose-dependent manner, the average latency to onset of convulsions and increased the average number of convulsions each rat experienced. Clonidine, an alpha 2-adrenergic agonist, did not significantly alter convulsions. Thus presynaptic mechanisms such as synthesis and storage of both NE and DA appear to have little, if any, effect on pinealectomy-induced convulsions, whereas enhancing synaptic levels of NE by blocking its reuptake into adrenergic axons had an anticonvulsant effect. Further evidence suggesting a role for NE in modulating these convulsions is provided by the proconvulsant effect of blocking central beta-adrenergic receptors.
A User's Guide to State Revenue Forecasting

One of the most difficult tasks in preparing a state budget is forecasting available revenues. An overly optimistic forecast may subsequently require unpopular budget cuts, tax increases, or both. A pessimistic forecast may trigger a political controversy over the size of the budget surplus, or may encourage additional spending that cannot be sustained in the future. Forecasters have always informally shared their experience with each other. Only in recent years, however have scholars begun to document those experiences. A forecast user is an elected official, program manager, reporter or private citizen involved in the budget process who uses a forecast prepared by someone else as a basis for making or influencing policy decisions about state taxes and spending levels. __ While the objectives of these forecast users may vary depending on their role in the budget process, they all share one need in common: a sound forecast which provides them with the information they need to participate in the budget process. The first part of this article briefly reviews the status of revenue forecasting in the states. The second part reviews five specific forecasting issues. The third section, discusses limits of revenue forecasting. The concluding section is a summary and checklist of good revenue forecasting practices.
A study of the effect of cone shielding in intraoperative radiotherapy

The primary goal of intraoperative radiation therapy is to irradiate the intraoperatively determined tumor target volume with a single fraction of tumoroidal dose while minimizing the dose to all adjacent healthy tissues. To reduce dose outside the treatment volume, lead sheets are often used to cover the external surface of the cone tip thus providing a shielding for the tissues outside the field. In this paper, the effect of the shielding on the depth dose distributions and dose profiles at different depths is studied based on experimental data. The results were also compared against an EGS4 Monte Carlo code for the same geometry as the measurements. The cones varied in size having diameters of 5 cm, 7 cm, and 9 cm, and the electron energies ranged from 6 MeV to 22 MeV. The depth dose curves and dose profiles (at two different depths in the phantom) were measured and computed with and without the lead shielding for the various combinations of cone sizes and electron energies using a water phantom to simulate the patient. It was found that the presence of lead increases on average across the treatment area the dose to the tumor from 2% up to 5%, while the dose outside the cone was reduced by as much as 75%. Both measurements and calculations were found to be in agreement.
Topological approaches to terrain in ecological landscape mapping

With contemporary emphasis on sustainability and ecosystem-oriented natural resources management, ecological mapping at landscape scales is becoming increasingly important as a framework for environmental planning, monitoring and assessment. This is especially so when the terrain has substantial variability in elevation and steep slopes. Recognizing the importance of hydrology in landscape dynamics, we base an ecological mapping approach on topological features of terrain from a hydrologic and habitat perspective. This approach emphasizes convexities and concavities of topography as caplands and confluent cuplands, respectively. A concept of coherent convex contours provides an operational basis for determining capland components, with cupland components being predominantly concave contributing areas for higher-order streams. Scaling sequences of subdivisions give progressive partitioning down to sizes of units that serve practical purposes of natural resource management. An innovation of dome domains and...
Static multipole polarisabilities and second-order Stark shift in francium

The multipole polarizability of the ground state of francium is calculated by utilizing both the variational technique of Davison and the quantum defect theory underlying the Bates-Damgaard method. This approach is also shown to yield reasonable results for other alkali atoms. Second-order Stark shift for the ground state of francium is presented as a function of field strength for possible future experimental comparison.
Synthesis of free and ruthenium coordinated 5,6-diamino-1,10-phenanthroline

Abstract A new preparative route to 5,6-diamino-1,10-phenanthroline is described which triples the isolated yields found in existing syntheses (67% vs. 22% from 1,10-phenanthroline) and utilizes mild reaction conditions. The method is general and can even be used on chiral metal complexes containing the appropriate starting material/ligand, 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-dione, with retention of stereochemistry.
Pesticide, PCB, and lead residues and necropsy data for bald eagles from 32 states - 1978-81

In 1978–81, 293 bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) from 32 states were necropsied and analyzed for organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), and lead residues. DDE was found in all carcasses; PCB, DDD, trans-nonachlor, dieldrin and oxychlordane were next in order of percent frequency of detection. The median levels of DDE and PCB have declined when compared with previous collections. Five specimens contained high levels of dieldrin in their brains which may have contributed to their deaths. Seventeen eagles contained liver lead residues greater than 10 ppm and probably died of lead poisoning. Trauma and shooting are the most common causes of death.
Does irradiance influence the tolerance of marine phytoplankton to high pH

Abstract The effect of irradiance on the tolerance to high pH of the two marine protists Heterocapsa triquetra and Nitzschia navis-varingica were investigated by conducting a series of pH drift experiments. In order to select appropriate levels of irradiance for the pH drift experiments, the photosynthetic activity and the growth rates of the two species were investigated at irradiances from 5 to 250 µmol photons m−2 s−1. Irradiances of 20, 35, 80 and 250 µmol photons m−2 s−1 were subsequently selected for further studies, because they represented conditions from severely light limited to fully light saturated with respect to photosynthesis and growth. At all four light levels, the pH limits for growth were 9.29–9.42 for H. triquetra and 9.54–9.77 for N. navis-varingica. The pH limit for growth was not positively correlated to irradiance in either of the species. We therefore conclude that low light does not reduce the pH tolerance of the protists studied.
Gestational Diabetes is Associated with Depressed Adiponectin Levels

Adiponectin is a 29-kd adipocyte-secreted protein that has been linked to insulin resistance in obesity and diabetes. The aim of the present study was to evaluate adiponectin levels in the insulin-resistant state of diabetes in gestation. Term, gravid subjects with diabetes (n = 31; age, 30.0 ± 0.9 years; weight, 98.8 ±4.6 kg) and healthy, term, gravid subjects (n = 27; age, 26.1 ± 1.1 years; weight, 91.2 ± 3.78 kg) were examined. The diabetes group consisted of 11 class A1, 11 class A2, and nine class B subjects. Plasma insulin, glucose, adiponectin, and leptin were measured on samples obtained immediately before Cesarean or vaginal delivery. Data were presented as means ± SE, and significance is set at P ≤. 05. We observed decreased adiponectin levels in class A2 (4.93 ± 0.58 μg/mL; P =.013) and class B diabetics (3.33 ± 0.56 μg/mL; P =.001) as compared to controls (8.17 ± 0.82 μg/mL), while a nonsignificant decrease was also observed in class Al (6.58 ± 1.13 μg/mL; P =.213). When grouping all gravid subjects, we observed that non-Caucasian subjects (n = 42) (5.51 ± 0.51 μg/mL; P =.003) had lower adiponectin levels than Caucasian subjects (n = 16) (8.88 ± 1.11 μg/mL). Within the non-Caucasian group, we found significantly lower adiponectin levels in diabetic gravid subjects (class A2: 4.24 ± 0.75 μg/mL; P =.044; and class B: 3.33 ± 0.56 μg/mL; P =.005) compared with nondiabetic gravid subjects (7.05 ± 0.80 μg/mL). Class A2 and B gestational diabetes are associated with suppressed levels of adiponectin, similar to that found in other insulin-resistant states (type II diabetes and obesity).
A comparative study of oxidative enzymatic potential of Spermophilus lateralis and Spermophilus tereticaudus.

Abstract 1. 1. Adult Spermophilus lateralis and Spermophilus tereticaudus were examined for possible differences in cellular metabolic potential as indicated by oxidative enzyme levels. 2. 2. The body weight of S. tereticaudus was 38% smaller than S. lateralis. The body to organ weight ratios of the two species were not significantly different except for the kidney which was higher in S. tereticaudus. 3. 3. The specific and total activity of succinoxidase in the heart, brown adipose tissue (BAT), muscle and kidney was greater (P ⩽ 0.05) in S. lateralis. 4. 4. The specific and total activity of glutamic acid oxidase was greater (P ⩽ 0.05) in kidney, muscle and liver of S. lateralis, but no differences were observed in BAT or heart. 5. 5. The total cytochrome oxidase activity of BAT was higher in S. lateralis; but there were no differences in the α-glycerophosphate dehydrogenase activity. 6. 6. These results indicate potential metabolic differences exist in two closely related but ecologically diversified scuirids.
The Effect of Participant Sex, Victim Dress, and Traditional Attitudes on Causal Judgments for Marital Rape Victims

This study investigated the effects of participant sex, victim dress, and attitudes influencing the tendency to blame a marital rape victim. College undergraduates completed the Attitudes toward Marriage Scale, an intervening cognitive task, and a read fictitious scenario of a marital rape incident where the victim was dressed somberly or seductively. Participants then completed a brief questionnaire. As predicted, males rated the victim more deserving of the attack than females. As predicted, the suggestively dressed victim was rated more responsible and deserving than the somberly dressed victim. As predicted, participants holding more traditional attitudes toward marriage were more likely to assign more victim responsibility and deservingness than participants with more egalitarian attitudes. These findings are discussed within an attitudinal framework.
Effects of methiothepin on changes in brain serotonin release induced by repeated administration of high doses of anorectic serotoninergic drugs

We previously observed, using in vivo microdialysis, that the potassium-evoked release of frontocortical serotonin (5-HT) is suppressed after rats receive high doses (30 mg/kg, i.p., daily for 3 days) of fluoxetine, a selective blocker of 5-HT reuptake. We now describe similar impairments in 5-HT release after repeated administration of two other 5-HT uptake blockers, zimelidine and sertraline (both at 20 mg/kg, i.p. for 3 days) as well as after dexfenfluramine (7.5 mg/kg, i.p. daily for 3 days), a drug which both releases 5-HT and blocks its reuptake. Doses of these indirect serotonin agonists were about 4-6 times the drug's ED50 in producing anorexia, a serotonin-related behavior. In addition, methiothepin (20 microM), a non-selective receptor antagonist, locally perfused through the dialysis probe 24 h after the last drug injection, enhanced K(+)-evoked release of 5-HT at serotoninergic nerve terminals markedly in control rats and slightly in rats treated with high doses of dexfenfluramine or fluoxetine. On the other hand, pretreatment with methiothepin (10 mg/kg, i.p.) one hour before each of the daily doses of fluoxetine or dexfenfluramine given for 3 days, totally prevented the decrease in basal and K(+)-evoked release of 5-HT. Finally, when methiothepin was injected systemically the day before the first of 3 daily injections of dexfenfluramine, it partially attenuated the long-term depletion of brain 5-HT and 5-HIAA levels induced by repeated administration of high doses of dexfenfluramine. These data suggest that drugs which bring about the prolonged blockade of 5-HT reuptake - such as dexfenfluramine and fluoxetine - can, by causing prolonged increases in intrasynaptic 5-HT levels as measured by in vivo microdialysis, produce receptor-mediated long-term changes in the processes controlling serotonin levels and dynamics.
An energy-efficient spike encoding circuit for speech edge detection

In speech processing applications, the instantaneous bandwidth of speech can be used to adaptively control the performance of an audio sensor's analog front end. Extracting the instantaneous bandwidth of speech depends on the detection of speech edges in the time---frequency plane. In this paper, we propose a spike encoding circuit for real-time and low-power speech edge detection. The circuit can directly encode the signal's envelope information--an important feature to identify the speech edge--by temporal spike density without additional envelope extraction. Furthermore, the spike encoding circuit automatically adapts its resolution to the amplitude of the input signal, which improves the encoding resolution for small signal without increasing the power consumption. We use the nonlinear dynamical approach to design this circuit and analyze its stability. We also develop a linearized model for this circuit to provide the design intuition and to explain its adaptive resolution. Fabricated in 0.5-μm CMOS process, the spike encoding circuit consumes 0.3-μW power and the experimental results are presented.
ADHD: topic update

The purpose of this review is to give child neurologists an update on the topic of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Because child neurologists are often consulted about whether or not a child has the syndrome of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the fact that their colleagues in psychiatry have taken the lead in naming the syndrome and developing criteria for the diagnosis means that the child neurologist has to go to the pages of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV [1] in order to answer the question, “Does this child have combined/full, primarily inattentive, or primarily hyperactive/impulsive type Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?” The child neurologist can go beyond the formality of adhering to the diagnosis set forth in the DSM-IV [1] and add to that some of the specifics of confirmatory diagnosis; this is because there are so many comorbidities and confounds (producing pseudoADHD) that the real value added by the child neurologist is to reframe the question. Beyond simply establishing whether the child meets criteria for ADHD as a diagnosis, the child neurologist can provide empirical evidence for the child’s status neurobiologically, characterizing what is implied by the diagnosis and explaining that there is some brain basis to the phenomenon. Dealing with the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder puts the child neurologist in the position of acknowledging that he or she is frequently applying the term ‘diagnosis’ to a neurobiological situation that may well be that of an extreme position on a bell-shaped curve rather than a traditional ‘disease’ or even ‘disorder’. Sometimes the syndrome of ADHD will be symptomatic, meaning that it can be traced to some established genetic etiology or connected with high probability to some perinatal risk factor, but what is always asked of the child neurologist is that he or she render an opinion as to whether brain function is fundamentally implicated by the diagnosis. We thus have a clinical consultation in which there is a very common ‘superficial’ diagnosis for which the traditional neurological strengths of physical examination do not officially make any contribution, yet we are also asked to make sense of the confounding conditions presenting often as ‘comorbidities’. The child neurologist may also well inquire as to whether there is sufficient reason for involvement with this very common yet not-very-severe neuropsychiatric diagnosis; prognostic issues abound, indicating that in spite of high prevalence/low severity in the traditional neurological context, the morbid complications of ADHD across the life span are considerable [2]. The prevalence of ADHD is accepted to be between 3 and 7.5% of school-age children [2,3]. With increasing diagnosis by pediatricians, there are concerns about the use of stimulant medication, increasingly being prescribed to younger children than has been traditionally sanctioned, so that neurobiological validation falls to the child neurologist.
The 40 m general purpose small-angle neutron scattering instrument at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

A series of upgrades have been undertaken at the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, including the installation of a supercritical hydrogen moderator (T ≃ 20 K), which has boosted the flux of long-wavelength neutrons by over two orders of magnitude. In order to take advantage of the new capabilities, a 40 m-long small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) instrument has been constructed, which utilizes a mechanical velocity selector, pinhole collimation and a high-count-rate (>105 Hz) large-area (1 m2) two-dimensional position-sensitive detector. The incident wavelength (λ), resolution (Δλ/λ), incident collimation and sample-to-detector distance are independently variable under computer control. The detector can be moved up to 45 cm off-axis to increase the overall Q range [<0.001 < Q = (4π/λ)sinθ < 1 A−1, where 2θ is the angle of scatter]. The design and characteristics of this instrument are described, along with examples of scattering data to illustrate the performance.