cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Neuroinflammatory gene expression in chronic prostatitis/ chronic pelvic pain syndrome patients: insights into etiology and phenotype biology

Background Chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) has diverse clinical phenotypes and its etiology is multifactorial. Studies to date of gene expression in humans have been limited to small numbers of target genes. NanoString can simultaneously measure hundreds of genes. We wished to study gene expression in blood and urine of CP/CPPS patients compared to controls for neuroinflammatory genes and characterize the results by patient phenotype. Methods Blood and urine were collected from 10 men with CP/CPPS and 7 asymptomatic controls. RNA was isolated from urine pellets using Qiagen RNeasy kits. Whole blood was collected and RNA isolated. 100 ng of RNA was used for gene expression analysis with the 770-gene NanoString Human Neuroinflammation gene panel. Data was imported into Rosalind (OnRamp Bioinformatics) for normalization, calculation of fold-changes and P values, and identification of enriched pathways. Gene expression was considered significantly different if there was a greater than 1.5× change compared to controls and corrected P was Results Mean patient age was 42.2 years, median symptom duration was 15.5 months, median UPOINT domains was 3 and mean total National Institute of Health-Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index Score was 28.8. In blood, there were 5 genes with significantly different expression to controls, the largest differences found in FOS1 (neuropathic pain control), PROS1 (blood clotting) and DDX58 (antiviral innate immunity). Gene set analysis showed differences in inflammation, angiogenesis and cytokine signaling. In urine there were 48 genes with significantly different expression including SLAMF8 (lymphocyte activation) and LAIR1 (inhibits B and T cell function). Gene set analysis showed differences in carbohydrate metabolism, neurons and neurotransmission, adaptive immunity and inflammatory signaling. Subgroup analysis by UPOINT domain showed unique gene expression in the Organ Specific and Neurologic/Systemic domains in both blood and urine for neurogenic pain and cytokine signaling associated genes. Conclusions Men with CP/CPPS have a diverse set of neuroinflammatory genes with differential expression compared to controls. Clinical phenotypes have distinct patterns of gene expression. These findings could lead to novel biomarker development, emphasize the importance of multimodal therapy targeting diverse pathways and further validate the biologic basic of clinical phenotyping.
Comparative Study of Speech Analysis Methods to Predict Parkinson's Disease

One of the symptoms observed in the early stages of Parkinson's Disease (PD) is speech impairment. Speech disorders can be used to detect this disease before it degenerates. This work analyzes speech features and machine learning approaches to predict PD. Acoustic features such as shimmer and jitter variants, and Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) are extracted from speech signals. We use two datasets in this work: the MDVR-KCL and the Italian Parkinson's Voice and Speech database. To separate PD and non-PD speech signals, seven classification models were implemented: K-Nearest Neighbor, Decision Trees, Support Vector Machines, Naive Bayes, Logistic Regression, Gradient Boosting, Random Forests. Three feature sets were used for each of the models: (a) Acoustic features only, (b) All the acoustic features and MFCC, (c) Selected subset of features from acoustic features and MFCC. Using all the acoustic features and MFCC, together with SVM produced the highest performance with an accuracy of 98% and F1-Score of 99%. When compared with prior art, this shows a better performance. Our code and related documentation is available in a public domain repository.
Sentence similarity analysis with applications in automatic short answer grading

In this dissertation, I explore unsupervised techniques for the task of automatic short answer grading. I compare a number of knowledge-based and corpus-based measures of text similarity, evaluate the effect of domain and size on the corpus-based measures, and also introduce a novel technique to improve the performance of the system by integrating automatic feedback from the student answers. I continue to combine graph alignment features with lexical semantic similarity measures and employ machine learning techniques to show that grade assignment error can be reduced compared to a system that considers only lexical semantic measures of similarity. I also detail a preliminary attempt to align the dependency graphs of student and instructor answers in order to utilize a structural component that is necessary to simulate human-level grading of student answers. I further explore the utility of these techniques to several related tasks in natural language processing including the detection of text similarity, paraphrase, and textual entailment.
Effects of ungulate disturbance and weather variation on Pediocactus winkleri: insights from long-term monitoring

Abstract. Population dynamics and effects of large ungulate disturbances on Winkler cactus (Pediocactus winkleri K.D. Heil) were documented annually over a 20-year time span at one plot within Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. This cactus species was federally listed as threatened in 1998. The study began in 1995 to gain a better understanding of life history aspects and threats to this species. Data were collected annually in early spring and included diameter, condition, reproductive structures, mortality, recruitment, and disturbance by large ungulates. We used odds ratio and probability model analyses to determine effects of large ungulate trampling and weather on these cacti. During the study, plot population declined by 18%, with trampling of cactus, low precipitation, and cold spring temperatures implicated as causal factors. Precipitation and temperature affected flowering, mortality, and recruitment. Large ungulate disturbances increased mortality and reduced the probability of flowering. These r...
Chapter 6 Chloride Channels in Skeletal Muscle and Cerebral Cortical Neurons

Publisher Summary The advent of single-channel methods has led to the discovery of many different types of Cl channels in excitable tissues, such as nerve and muscle. Ion channels selective for Cl have been found in a variety of mammalian tissues, including muscle, nerve, endocrine, exocrine gland, and epithelium. Several types of mammalian Cl channels have been cloned and their primary sequences determined. This chapter discusses the properties of Cl channels that have been identified at the single-channel level in cells from two excitable mammalian tissues, skeletal muscle, and cerebral cortical neurons. Two Cl-selective ion channels have been discovered in tissue-cultured rat skeletal muscle that potentially could contribute to the resting Cl conductance. Both these channels are selective for Cl and could be active at normal negative membrane potentials. Single channel current traces, obtained with the patch-clamp technique, for both these channels, this is discussed in the chapter. One channel is “slow Cl channel” and the other is “fast Cl channel.” Cl channels, with properties, very similar to those of the fast Cl channels found in tissue-cultured skeletal muscle have been reported in acutely dissociated rat cerebral cortical neurons. The ion selectivity, voltage dependence, and kinetic activity of these neuronal fast Cl channels are nearly identical to their muscle counterparts. The stability of the gating of neuronal fast Cl channels makes them ideal objects for the study of single-channel kinetics. The way is now clear for the application of the techniques of molecular biology that have led to molecular models for cation channels to be applied to anion channels as well.
Enhancing Surveillance of Suicide Ideation and Suicide Attempt Through Integration of Data from Multiple Systems.

In 2012, the U.S. surgeon general and National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention released an update to the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (U.S. Department of Health and Human Service...
Simulation of the space charge effect in RHIC

Space charge forces, representing the weak-strong case, are simulated by kicks from a line charge having a 2D-Gaussian transverse charge distribution. A series of particles having initial coordinates consistent with the dimensions of the injected beam are tracked sequentially, and tunes are obtained from analysis of the coordinates, x, x', y, and y', at the end of each turn. Stability is tested using 30 K turn tracking runs during which the momentum error /spl delta/ varies as /spl delta/=/spl delta//spl circ/sin(2/spl pi/Q/sub st/).
Flaw Detection in Railroad Wheels Using Rayleigh-Wave EMATS

Early work at the University of Houston [1] showed the efficacy of Rayleigh waves for detecting cracks in the tread of railroad wheels. Development work has been going on at the Fraunhofer Institute in Saarbrucken (IzfP) on an automated system using EMATs that could be installed in a railyard and used in a roll-by mode [2]. A prototype of their system is now operational in Luxembourg.
Experimental evidence for the formation of liquid saline water on Mars

Evidence for deliquescence of perchlorate salts has been discovered in the Martian polar region while possible brine flows have been observed in the equatorial region. This appears to contradict the idea that bulk deliquescence is too slow to occur during the short periods of the Martian diurnal cycle during which conditions are favorable for it. We conduct laboratory experiments to study the formation of liquid brines at Mars environmental conditions. We find that when water vapor is the only source of water, bulk deliquescence of perchlorates is not rapid enough to occur during the short periods of the day during which the temperature is above the salts' eutectic value, and the humidity is above the salts' deliquescence value. However, when the salts are in contact with water ice, liquid brine forms in minutes, indicating that aqueous solutions could form temporarily where salts and ice coexist on the Martian surface and in the shallow subsurface.
An iterative detector for asynchronous spread-spectrum multiple-access systems

Proposes and analyzes an iterative multiuser detector for coherent demodulation in an asynchronous spread spectrum multiple access (SSMA) system. This detector processes the sufficient statistics using an iterative algorithm which is based on a multiple access interference annihilation strategy. An efficient real-time implementation of the iterative algorithm with a fixed decoding delay is obtained. This implementation requires a computational complexity per symbol which is linear in the number of users. An exact probability of error analysis shows that even the two-stage detector is particularly well suited for near-far situations. Its performance approaches that of single-user communications as the interfering signals become stronger. It is shown that significant performance gains over the conventional detector are obtained for relatively high bandwidth efficiency situations. >
Spatial release from masking in children with bilateral cochlear implants and with normal hearing: Effect of target-interferer similarity

In complex auditory environments, it is often difficult to separate a target talker from interfering speech. For normal hearing (NH) adult listeners, similarity between the target and interfering speech leads to increased difficulty in separating them; that is, informational masking occurs due to confusability of the target and interferers. This study investigated performance of children with bilateral cochlear implants (BiCIs) when target and interferers were either same-sex (male) talkers, or different-sex talkers (male target, female interferer). Comparisons between children with BiCIs and NH, when matched for age, were also conducted. Speech intelligibility was measured for target and interferers spatially co-located, or spatially separated with the interferers positioned symmetrically (+90° and −90°) or asymmetrically (both at +90°, right). Spatial release from masking (SRM) was computed as the difference between co-located and separated conditions. Within group BiCI comparisons revealed that in the co-located condition speech intelligibility was worse with the same-sex vs different-sex stimuli. There was also a trend for more SRM with the same-sex vs different-sex stimuli. When comparing BiCI to NH listeners, SRM was larger for the NH groups, suggesting that NH children are better able to make use of spatial cues to improve speech understanding in noise.
Exploiting online human knowledge in Requirements Engineering

Data-driven Natural Language Processing (NLP) methods have noticeably advanced in the past few years. These advances can be tied to the drastic growth of the quality of collaborative knowledge bases (KB) available on the World Wide Web. Such KBs contain vast amounts of up-to-date structured human knowledge and common sense data that can be exploited by NLP methods to discover otherwise-unseen semantic dimensions in text, aiding in tasks related to natural language understanding, classification, and retrieval. Motivated by these observations, we describe our research agenda for exploiting online human knowledge in Requirements Engineering (RE). The underlying assumption is that requirements are a product of the human domain knowledge that is expressed mainly in natural language. In particular, our research is focused on methods that exploit the online encyclopedia Wikipedia as a textual corpus. Wikipedia provides access to a massive number of real-world concepts organized in hierarchical semantic structures. Such knowledge can be analyzed to provide automated support for several exhaustive RE activities including requirements elicitation, understanding, modeling, traceability, and reuse, across multiple application domains. This paper describes our preliminary findings in this domain, current state of research, and prospects of our future work.
Similarities and Differences Between Primary Biliary Cirrhosis and Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis

Primary Biliary Cirrhosis (PBC) and Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) are hepatic diseases of unknown etiology[l,2]. They both affect the liver primarily but are associated also with a wide range of nonhepatic organ dysfunctions that are commonly considered to be “autoimmune“ in origin. Moreover, they are quite similar in terms of their clinical presentation and course. Thus, they both usually present relatively early in life during the third or early fourth decade and are slowly but steadily progressive thereafter. Initial complaints are usually rather nonspecific and include fatigue, malaise, right upper quadrant abdominal discomfort, pruritus and arthralgia. Initial laboratory abnormalities include elevations in the serum levels of alkaline phosphatase, aminotransferases, gamma glutamyl transpeptidase and total as well as direct reacting bilirubin. Table 1 demonstrates the frequency with which these various signs and symptoms were present in patients with the two conditions seen at the University of Pittsburgh during the last decade.
Conformation of the metastasis-inhibiting laminin pentapeptide.

The binding of cancer cells to the basement membrane glycoprotein laminin appears to be a critical step in the metastatic process. This binding can be inhibited competitively by a specific pentapeptide sequence (Tyr-Ile-Gly-Ser-Arg) of the laminin B1 chain, and this peptide can prevent metastasis formationin vivo. However, other similar pentapeptide sequences (e.g., Tyr-Ile-Gly-Ser-Glu) have been found to be much less active in metastasis inhibition, raising the possibility that such amino acid substitutions produce structural changes responsible for altering binding to the laminin receptor. In this study, conformational energy analysis has been used to determine the three-dimensional structures of these peptides. The results indicate that the substitution of Glu for the terminal Arg produces a significant conformational change in the peptide backbone at the middle Gly residue. These results have important implications for the design of drugs that may be useful in preventing metastasis formation and tumor spread.
Comparison of Structural and Electrical Characteristics of Solid-Phase Epitaxial Films Recrystallized by Rapid Thermal Annealing and Furnace Annealing

Solid-phase epitaxial regrowth of polysilicon films. amorphized by a room-temperature silicon implant. has been achieved using a (low temperature) furnace anneal or a (high temperature) rapid thermal anneal. Lateral extension of the growth onto an oxide layer, 4 μm wide, has also been observed. The electrical properties of the films were examined by building MO2S devices in them. Average electron mobilities of 520 cm 2 /v-sec and 200 cm 2 /v-sec have been measured for films regrown on top of silicon and oxide respectively.
Ordinal‐level evolution in the Blastoidea

Review of the phylogeny of the blastoids suggests that the spiraculate condition is an evolutionary grade rather than a clade. Fissiculate blastoids evolved into spiraculates in at least five separate lineages. Four origins are given ordinal status based on thecal shapes and spiracular, deltoidal, and ambulacral morphologies. The fifth order is recognized, but remains unnamed pending taxonomic revision of the taxa involved. We herein recognize the Troosticrinida (a Silurian transition), Nucleocrinida, Granatocrinida, and the Pentremitida (all Devonian transitions), and an unnamed order based on‘Pentrernoblastus’ ovalis that evolved in the earliest part of the Lower Carboniferous. □Echinodermata, Blastoidea, phylogeny, evolution.
Divergent responses of leaf herbivory to simulated hurricane effects in a rainforest understory

Abstract Hurricanes are major disturbances in many forests, but studies showing effects of natural hurricanes on herbivory rates have yielded mixed results. Forest managers could benefit from a better understanding of the effects of disturbances on herbivory to manage for particular recovery or restoration goals after anthropogenic or natural disturbances, such as logging and windstorms. I measured herbivory on eight understory plant species that are common pioneer and non-pioneer species in a rainforest in Puerto Rico, following experimental manipulation of forest plots to simulate the two major effects of a hurricane (canopy opening and a detrital pulse). I expected that greater leaf production and leaf quality would result from canopy trimming and detritus (debris) addition to the forest floor, respectively, and that both treatments would enhance herbivory rates independently and especially in combination. I found a significant interaction of trim and debris treatments that affected plant species within pioneer and non-pioneer plant groups differently: a debris pulse or canopy trimming alone stimulated understory herbivory over time on non-pioneer and pioneer plants, respectively, but the combination of these two treatments had no effect on herbivory rates. Specifically, herbivory was higher on pioneer plants in plots where the canopy was trimmed but debris had not been added, whereas herbivory was higher on non-pioneer plants in plots where debris was added to the forest floor under intact canopy conditions. Therefore, different mechanisms apparently controlled herbivory of pioneer and non-pioneer species. Pioneer plants likely experienced enhanced herbivory in trimmed plots in part because of the increased densities of pioneer plants responding to canopy trimming; pioneer plants were temporarily less abundant in debris addition plots. Non-pioneer species may have experienced greater herbivory in debris addition plots in part because of increased foliar quality resulting from enhanced nutrient availability associated with the debris pulse. Future, complementary greenhouse and field mesocosm experiments that manipulate the factors likely contributing to these results would help to reconcile results from previous studies that have documented both increases and decreases in herbivory or certain herbivore taxonomic groups resulting from natural hurricanes. Understanding the mechanisms that affect herbivory after hurricanes is important because herbivory can affect nutrient cycling, plant community structure, and ultimately forest recovery after disturbance.
Simulating Spatial Memory Challenges Confronting Astronauts

We tested 3D spatial memory for 59 college students in a 50-cm x 50-cm x 50-cm cube. An aperture in the center of each of the cube's six surfaces revealed a picture on a computer monitor. The pictures' locations and orientations changed to simulate multiple perspectives. A pre-trial icon indicated the simulated body orientation, entrance hatch (the picture behind the head), and the target. A trial began with no pictures, and the trainee pressed a key to indicate the target's remembered position. A trail concluded with pictures, and the trainee pressed a key to indicate the target's actual position. Visual orientation illusions suggested that supine trainees should perform better. Memory errors did not support this prediction. Groups who started erect and switch to supine were similar to groups that did the opposite, except for the first 12 trials in which the Erect-Supine Group was better.
Pavement distress detection and classification using a Genetic Algorithm

Over the years, Automated Image Analysis Systems (AIAS) have been developed for pavement surface analysis and management. Pavement distress segmentation is a key issue throughout the entire process of analyses. In this paper, an adaptive approach for pavement distress segmentation based on Genetic Algorithms is proposed. After the pavement images are captured, an objective function is defined and maximized by applying information theory to choose the optimal threshold for segmentation. Regions corresponding to distresses are represented by a matrix of square tiles. The vertical and horizontal distress measures along with the total number of distress tiles are then calculated providing input into a three-layer feed-forward neural network for a type classification. The proposed analysis algorithm is capable of enhancing the pavement image, extracting the distress from the background, and analyzing its type. To validate the system, actual pavement pictures were taken from both highway and local road pavements. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model works well for pavement distress detection and classification.
Getting engineering students involved: The Dartmouth/Tuskegee program

In a pilot program of cooperative innovation in engineering education between Dartmouth College and Tuskegee Institute, several Dartmouth undergraduates, while resident at Tuskegee, taught and coached freshman engineers at the Institute in the fundamentals of engineering. The Dartmouth student-coaches also took courses in pursuit of their own degrees. Results of the program are presented and Tuskegee Institute student responses are assayed. Goals and future plans and their implementation are discussed.
Tetrameric ZBRK1 DNA binding domain has affinity towards cognate DNA in absence of zinc ions.

Abstract Zinc finger transcription regulatory proteins play crucial roles in cell-cycle regulation, DNA damage response and tumor genesis. Human ZBRK1 is a zinc-finger transcription repressor protein, which recognizes double helical DNA containing consensus sequences of 5′GGGXXXCAGXXXTTT3′. In the present study, we have purified recombinant DNA binding domain of ZBRK1, and studied binding with zinc ions and DNA, using biophysical techniques. The elution profile of the purified protein suggests that this ZBRK1 forms a homotetramer in solution. Dissociation and pull down assays also suggest that this domain forms a higher order oligomer. The ZBRK1-DNA binding domain acquires higher stability in the presence of zinc ions and DNA. The secondary structure of the ZBRK1-DNA complex is found to be significantly altered from the standard B-DNA conformation.
Development of a Coroner-Based Surveillance System for Drug-Related Deaths in Los Angeles County

Existing data sources do not provide comprehensive and timely information to adequately monitor drug-related mortality in Los Angeles County. To fill this gap, a surveillance system using coroner data was developed to examine patterns in drug-related deaths. The coroner provided data on all injury deaths in Los Angeles County. A list of keywords that indicate a death was caused by drug use was developed. The cause of death variables in the coroner data were searched for mentions of one of the keywords; if a keyword was detected, that death was classified as drug related. The effectiveness of the keyword list in classifying drug-related deaths was evaluated by matching records in the coroner death data to records in the state death files. Then, the drug-related deaths identified using the keywords were compared to drug-related deaths in the state mortality files identified using International Classification of Death codes. Toxicological test results were used to categorize drug-related deaths based on the type and legality of the drug(s) ingested. Mortality rates were calculated for each category of drug and legal status and for different demographic groups. Compared to the gold standard state mortality files, the coroner data had a sensitivity of 95.6% for identifying drug-related deaths. Over three quarters of all drug-related deaths tested positive for opiates and/or stimulants. Males, Whites, and 35–54-year-olds each accounted for more than half of all drug-related deaths. The surveillance of drug-related deaths using coroner data has several advantages: data are available in a timely fashion, the data include information about the specific substances each victim ingested, and the data can be broken down to compare mortality among specific subpopulations.
Pigment dispersion syndrome and pigmentary glaucoma

Background Pigmentary glaucoma is a common secondary glaucoma that results from pigment being liberated from the posterior iris with subsequent buildup in the trabecular mesh-work. Following this, there is a decrease in aqueous outflow and resultant rise in intraocular pressure. Purpose While this presentation typically occurs in white myopic males, there is a distinct subtype that occurs in patients of African descent. While there are similarities between the races, there are also significant differences in the clinical presentation of pigmentary glaucoma in white patients and patients of African descent. Iris transillumination defects, corneal endothelial pigment accumulation, and a concave iris—common in whites—are typically absent in patients of African descent. Method The literature is reviewed in order to summarize pigment dispersion syndrome and pigmentary glaucoma.
Is there a link between gynecologic surgeries and Alzheimer disease

In 2001, an Institute of Medicine report concluded that “being male or female is an important fundamental variable that should be considered when designing and analyzing basic and clinical research.”1 The extent to which gender- and sex-specific factors influence the risk of Alzheimer disease (AD) is a matter of profound importance.2 Sex refers to biological characteristics of men and women such as chromosomal differences (e.g., XX vs XY chromosomes), hormonal differences (e.g., effects of estrogen), or reproductive differences (e.g., pregnancy or breastfeeding). By contrast, gender refers to social, political, and cultural differences (e.g., access to education or to certain jobs). The burden of AD is particularly great in women, and gender-associated differences in educational attainment may explain part of the differences in AD risk. In addition, exposures to gonadal steroids are linked to differences in Alzheimer-related pathology in animal models, although implications for human disease remain controversial.3
Chiral ansa-Titanocene Imido Complexes: Novel Synthesis and Effective Initiator for Syndiospecific Polymerization of MMA

Reaction of Me2Si(η5-Me4C5)(tBuN)TiCl2 with lithium indenide and methyllithium in a one-pot fashion produces a chiral ansa-titanocene imido complex, which is an effective initiator for syndiospecif...
Self- and Spouse-Reported Work–Family Conflict and Dual-Earners’ Job Satisfaction

We add to the literature on job satisfaction by examining the role played by self-reported and spouse-reported work–family conflict for dual-earner husbands and wives (N = 156 couples, 312 individuals), a contagion model of work and family. Two path models of job satisfaction were tested: a spillover model, including the respondent's work-to-family conflict and family-to-work conflict, and a crossover model, including the spouse's perception of the respondent's work-to-family conflict. Workplace and family/respondent characteristics were also included in the models. For wives, job satisfaction is associated with family-to-work conflict (spillover). For husbands, job satisfaction is associated with his spouse's perception of his work-to-family conflict (crossover). For both husbands and wives, coworker support is both directly and indirectly associated with job satisfaction.
Blended Rationality and Democracy An Elusive Synthesis for Environmental Policy Reform

Environmental policy reform has proceeded along two parallel tracks: a rationalizing perspective and a democratizing one. Efforts to blend the two (including the attempt by “environmentalist-in-chief” Al Gore in his book Earth in the Balance) have often been awkward and unpersuasive. As the new century dawns, Science Communication might help pursue a reconciliation.
Flow and sediment regimes at tributary junctions on a regulated river: impact on sediment residence time and benthic macroinvertebrate communities

Tributaries may either ameliorate or exacerbate the geomorphic and ecologic impacts of flow regulation by altering the flux of water and sediment into the flow-regulated mainstem. To capture the effects of tributary influences on a flow regulated river, long-term discharge and cross-sectional data are used to assess the geomorphic and hydrologic impacts of impoundment. In addition, the use of the short-lived cosmogenic radioisotope 7Be (half-life 53·4 days) to link sediment transport dynamics to benthic macroinvertebrate community structure is evaluated. It is found that the 7Be activity of transitional bed load sediment is highly seasonal and reflects both variations in activity of sediment sources and limited sediment residence time within the junction. Benthic communities also exhibit a strong seasonal variability. In the spring, neither the 7Be activity of the sediment, nor benthic communities exhibit clear relationships with sample site location. In contrast, during the late summer the ratio of Ephemeroptera (mayflies)/Trichoptera (caddisflies) decreased significantly below tributary junctions. This decrease in benthic community ratio was driven by increases in caddisfly abundance and was strongly correlated with the presence of recently 7Be tagged transitional bedload sediment. These observations are probably associated with the presence of coarse, stable, and unembedded substrate downstream of tributaries and the rapid turnover of sediment that may also be associated with a rapid flux in nutrients or seston. The results show that tributaries are impacting the flow-regulated mainstem and that these impacts are reflected in the benthic community structure and in the 7Be activity of transitional bed load sediment. Moreover, the observed reduction in competence and capacity of the mainstem following flood control suggests that these spatial discontinuities may be a consequence of impoundment. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Framing of Elite Corruption and Rhetorical Containment of Reform in the Boeing-Air Force Tanker Controversy

Controversy surrounding a proposed lease deal between Boeing and the Air Force for one hundred 767 aircraft tankers unveiled the most serious case of crime at the Pentagon in recent history. After emerging publicly in 2003, the 23 billion-dollar plan led to the imprisonment of two top officials. Through an institutionally grounded rhetorical approach to news framing of the ordeal from 2003–2008, this essay confronts the tragic impulse of issue containment rhetoric, placing emphasis on Burke's (1969a) “scapegoat mechanism.” I critique the popular convention of episodically constructing temporary, isolated, and accessible causes for elite corruption and American greed. Moreover, I show that historical and systemic distortions prevent recognition of the limits of liberal ideology on collective social change under the hegemony of capitalism. In addition to offering a novel framework for future study, the investigation calls for further inquiry on the contested nature of discourses of nonpolitical consensus th...
A therapist's use of verbal response categories in engagement and nonengagement interviews

Client return for post-intake therapy is one indication of client engagement in the therapy process. A therapist's verbal responses from seven engagement and four nonengagement interviews were classified using the 12-category Hill Therapist Verbal Response Category System (Hill, 1993). In engagement interviews, the therapist provided the client with more information than in nonengagement interviews. Therapist information utterances increased and therapist use of questions decreased throughout engagement sessions. In nonengagement interviews, therapist information declined and therapist questions increased during the sessions. Results suggest that clients returned for further therapy after intake when their problems had been clarified through the use of questions and work on the problems had begun with the therapist providing information.
Effect of normalization on statistical and biological interpretation of gene expression profiles

An under-appreciated aspect of the genetic analysis of gene expression is the impact of post-probe level normalization on biological inference. Here we contrast nine different methods for normalization of an Illumina bead-array gene expression profiling dataset consisting of peripheral blood samples from 189 individual participants in the Center for Health Discovery and Well Being study in Atlanta, quantifying differences in the inference of global variance components and covariance of gene expression, as well as the detection of variants that affect transcript abundance (eSNPs). The normalization strategies, all relative to raw log2 measures, include simple mean centering, two modes of transcript-level linear adjustment for technical factors, and for differential immune cell counts, variance normalization by interquartile range and by quantile, fitting the first 16 Principal Components, and supervised normalization using the SNM procedure with adjustment for cell counts. Robustness of genetic associations as a consequence of Pearson and Spearman rank correlation is also reported for each method, and it is shown that the normalization strategy has a far greater impact than correlation method. We describe similarities among methods, discuss the impact on biological interpretation, and make recommendations regarding appropriate strategies.
Ion injection and shock acceleration in the outer heliosphere

Voyager 2 data from 47 AU shows a delay of about 6 days between the arrival of interplanetary shock fronts and the peaks in the 0.52–1.45 MeV energetic proton flux. Similar data recorded when Voyager 2 was at 5 AU shows that the shock fronts and the peaks in the energetic proton flux are virtually coincident. If injection and acceleration is taking place at the shock fronts one would expect the peaks in the energetic proton flux and the shocks to coincide. We show that the delay observed at 47 AU can be understood if the injection and acceleration of energetic protons becomes negligibly small some time before the shocks are observed.
The Morel-Lavallée lesion: pathophysiology, clinical presentation, imaging features, and treatment options

Morel-Lavallee lesions are posttraumatic hemolymphatic collections related to shearing injury and disruption of interfascial planes between subcutaneous soft tissue and muscle. We review the pathophysiology of Morel-Lavallee lesions, clinical presentation, and potential sites of involvement. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the modality of choice for characterization. We present the MRI classification and highlight the key imaging features that distinguish the different types, focusing on the three most common: seroma, subacute hematoma, and chronic organizing hematoma. Potential mimics of Morel-Lavallee lesions, such as soft tissue sarcoma and hemorrhagic prepatellar bursitis, are compared and contrasted. Treatment options and a management algorithm are also briefly discussed.
Surface‐runoff and infiltration

The terms, “surface runoff” and “infiltration,” which form the title of this paper, are usually associated with a piece of land and the precipitation falling upon it. They suggest that this ground is porous, that part of the water will infiltrate into it while the rest runs off along the surface or evaporates. The ratio according to which the precipitation is divided into surface and subsurface water is of primary importance to plants, since only the subsurface water is available to them, whereas the surface runoff is often detrimental, because it erodes the very topsoil in which they grow. Furthermore, the surface runoff supplies the engineer with most of his problems of flood-control and water-utilization; whereas, infiltration-water is effectively eliminated from such problems as long as it stays underground or is evaporated or transpired. For these reasons, agriculture is constantly endeavoring to increase the percentage of infiltration, and a continuous program of research aims to find agricultural practices which favor Infiltration and reduce surface runoff. In dry areas this increased infiltration often may mean the difference between success and failure of a crop.
Using dependency/association rules to find indications for computed tomography in a head trauma dataset

Analysis of a clinical head trauma dataset was aided by the use of a new, binary-based data mining technique, termed Boolean analyzer (BA), which finds dependency/association rules. With initial guidance from a domain user or domain expert, the BA algorithm is given one or more metrics to partition the entire dataset. The weighted rules are in the form of Boolean expressions. To augment the analysis of the rules produced, we applied a probabilistic interestingness measure (PIM) to order the generated rules based on event dependency, where events are combinations of primed and unprimed variables. Interpretation of the dependency rules generated on the clinical head trauma data resulted in a set of criteria that identified minor head trauma patients needing computed tomography (CT) scans. The BA criteria contained fewer variables than were found using recursive partitioning of Chi-square values (five variables versus seven variables, respectively). The BA five-variable criteria set was more sensitive but less specific than the seven-variable Chi-square criteria set. We believe that the BA method has broad applicability in the medical domain, and hope that this paper will stimulate other creative applications of the technique.
Interferon for Hepatitis B: Which Populations Benefit the Most

There are a number of antiviral treatments for chronic hepatitis B currently available, and these include both interferon and a variety of nucleoside and nucleotide analogues. Interferon has been shown in numerous trials to be superior to the nucleoside analogues in inducing virologic, biochemical, histologic, and serologic responses. However, this response is not universal among patients and the side effects of interferon can be dose limiting. It is thus important to consider interferon in select populations, who are most likely to respond. In this review, we aim to identify the patient population in which interferon therapy will yield the most benefit while minimizing its use in those who may be better served using the nucleoside or nucleotide analogues.
Randomized parallel algorithms for the multidimensional assignment problem

The multidimensional assignment problem (MAP) is a combinatorial optimization problem arising in diverse applications such as computer vision and motion tracking. In the MAP, the objective is to match tuples of objects with minimum total cost. Randomized parallel algorithms are proposed to solve MAPs appearing in multi-sensor multi-target applications. A parallel construction heuristic is described, together with some variations, as well as a parallel local search heuristic. Experimental results using the proposed algorithms are discussed.
The influence of laminar flow on the dielectric constant of dilute polymer solutions

In laminar flow the linear polymer chain as a whole as well as each of its segments becomes progressively oriented parallel to the flow vector with increasing gradient. The applied electric field is assumed to be perpendicular to the flow direction. Then the segment orientation enhances the orientational polarization if the monomer dipoles are 90° to the chain axis. The increase in dielectric constant is proportional to the square of the gradient for low gradients. With increasing gradients the dielectric constant approaches a saturation limit of 50% above the value for the random coil, i. e., in the solution at rest. No effect is expected, however, if the monomer dipole is in the chain direction. The calculation of the effect in this paper is based onRouse's necklace model with infinitely deformable elastic links, perfectly flexible joints, and no hydrodynamic interaction. Hence the obtained results are applicable to small gradients only. The comparison with experimental data on nitrocellulose solutions is hampered by the fact that due to high concentrations neither the orientational effects as measured by streaming birefringence or dielectric constant nor the hydrodynamic effects, i. e., the gradient dependence of specific viscosity, are proportional to the concentration.
The suffix effect: how many positions are involved?

Three experiments tested the effect of the availability of the last item on the recall performance for earlier list items in a stimulus suffix paradigm. A decrement due to the suffix occurred for preterminal positions even when the last item was made available. This preterminal suffix effect was found to be more extensive in a condition in which subjects were free to recall the end items first than in a condition in which subjects were forced to recall in a strict left-to-right fashion.
Older people with impaired mobility have specific loci of periventricular abnormality on MRI

Background: Recent investigations using MRI suggest that older persons with mobility impairment have a greater volume of abnormal cerebral white matter compared with persons with normal mobility, thus raising the possibility that those with impairment have lesions in areas critical for the control of mobility. Objective: To utilize automated image analysis methods to localize the specific regions of abnormal white matter that distinguish subjects with lower mobility from subjects with higher mobility. Methods: Tissue classification was performed on subjects’ dual-echo long repetition time spin-echo MRI using computer algorithms operating on intensity criteria integrated with anatomic information. Statistical analysis of group differences was obtained after spatially normalizing each brain to a standard reference brain. Results: Four discrete periventricular regions, including bilaterally symmetric frontal and bilateral occipitoparietal regions, were identified as being sensitive (frontal) or specific (occipitoparietal) in discriminating the subjects with lower mobility from subjects with higher mobility. The symmetry of these lesions in individual subjects suggested pathology other than arteriolar infarction. Conclusions: These results suggest that damage to discrete frontal and occipitoparietal periventricular white matter locations may be associated with a mobility disorder of aging.
An optical fiber transducer for single myofibril force measurement

A force transducer has been developed for use in force measurement of skeletal muscle myofibrils. The transducer is suitable for measurement of passive and contractile forces in a range up to 200 mu g, with 1 mu g resolution. It is based upon the operating principle of the deflection of an optical fiber of known compliance, sensed by the differential illumination of two phototransistors. Attractive features include ease of operation and specimen mounting, high bandwidth, adaptability for different force ranges, and simple and inexpensive construction. >
Microreactors for Syngas Conversion to Higher Alkanes: Characterization of Sol−Gel-Encapsulated Nanoscale Fe−Co Catalysts in the Microchannels

Silicon microreactors have been coated with mixed-metal Fe−Co Fischer−Tropsch catalysts in alumina sol−gel for conversion of syngas (CO + H2) to higher alkanes. Characterization of the nanocatalysts using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray, atomic force microscopy, and Brunauer−Emmett−Teller surface area measurements, packaging, and the reaction results from a mass spectrometer at controlled temperatures (200−260 °C) and pressure (1 atm) with varying H2:CO ratios from 1:1 to 10:1 are described. The catalyst does not adequately infiltrate the 5-μm channels; it coats nicely the 25-μm channels. The initial results are consistent with a lower conversion of CO (∼32%) in a 5-μm-channel reactor and a higher conversion (∼52%) in a 25-μm-channel reactor. The selectivity to propane (∼80%) is not affected by the width of the microchannels. The activity of the sol−gel-encapsulated catalyst before and after the reactions is estimated from its magnetic properties using a vibrating sample magnetometer.
Ibuprofen augments bradykinin-induced glycoconjugate secretion by human nasal mucosa in vivo☆

Abstract Bradykinin (BK) stimulates vascular permeability and glycoconjugate secretion in human nasal mucosa. Since some of the effects of BK may be mediated by autocrine generation of arachidonic acid metabolites, the influence of ibuprofen, a cyclooxygenase inhibitor, on BK-induced nasal secretion was studied. Six normal male subjects had nasal provocations with 0, 10, 100, and 1000 nmol of BK before and after treatment with 400 mg of ibuprofen. Secretions were collected by nasal lavage. Total protein (marker of protein secretion), glycoconjugate (mucous cell marker), lysozyme (serous cell marker), and albumin (marker of vascular permeability) were measured. Basal glycoconjugate secretion was higher after ibuprofen (219 ± 32 μ/ml) than before (81 ± 56 μ/ml; p p p p
Social Integration and Severe Disabilities A Longitudinal Analysis of Child Outcomes

The goal of social integration is shared across disciplines and espoused as a universal value in today's society; however, considerable controversy exists regarding the process most likely to result in the attainment of this goal for persons with severe disabilities. Proponents of traditional rehabilitation-remedial models propose delivery of intensive services in segregated environments specially designed to meet individual needs. Conversely, proponents of full-inclusion models maintain that services be provided in the mainstream of school and society. In the current study, the effects of integrated versus segregated schooling upon the educational and social competence of children with severe developmental disabilities were examined across a 2-year time period, using both classroom observation and standardized child-assessment measures. Children in integrated learning environments spent less time with therapists, equal time with special education teachers, more time with teaching assistants, more time wi...