cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cumulative Risk of Immigration Prison Conditions on Health Outcomes Among Detained Immigrants in California.

OBJECTIVES The USA maintains the world's largest immigration detention system. This study examines the mechanisms by which detention serves as a catalyst for worsening health. METHODS Using data from detained immigrants in California (n = 493) from 2013 to 2014, we assessed the prevalence of exposure to conditions of confinement hypothesized to negatively influence health; the extent to which conditions of confinement are associated with psychological stress, diagnosed mental health conditions, and/or declines in general health; and the cumulative impact of confinement conditions on these outcomes. RESULTS We found that each condition increased the likelihood of one or more negative health conditions, but there was also a cumulative effect: for each additional confinement condition, the odds of worsening general health rose by 39% and reporting good health decreased by 24%. CONCLUSIONS Confinement conditions are associated with poor physical and mental health outcomes among immigrants detained in immigration prisons. Policies that seek to improve specific conditions in detention centers may remove some risks of harm, but alternatives to detention are likely to be most effective.
Knowing and Not Knowing

In the legal and medical climate of today, patients are able to demand and expect as much information about their condition as is available. Whereas, in the past, secrecy and deception predominated (Radovsky, 1985), with the advent of more effective treatments, a more relaxed attitude about sharing information is evolving (Koocher, 1986).
Uniform Transformations at Turning Points: Formal Theory

The formal theory of Chapter II essentially dealt with global simplifying transformations of the given differential equation in regions from which all potential turning points were removed. In this chapter domains containing turning points will be considered, and the first question is: How far can the differential equation be simplified by formal transformations with well understood asymptotic properties in such regions. The essence of Langer’s method belongs here. His reduction of certain second-order equations with turning points led him to differential equations so simple as to be solvable by classical special functions ([36], [31], [38], [39] and other papers).
Ambulatory and diary methods can facilitate the measurement of patient-reported outcomes

Purpose Ambulatory and diary methods of self-reported symptoms and well-being have received increasing interest in recent years. These methods are a valuable addition to traditional strategies for the assessment of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in that they capture patients’ recent symptom experiences repeatedly in their natural environments. In this article, we review ways that incorporating diary methods into PRO measurement can facilitate research on quality of life.
Chapter 3 Properties of Epithelial Potassium Channels

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews some of the properties of potassium (K) channels in epithelial cells. The chapter focuses on one general feature of K channels, namely, diversity. This diversity of channel types creates the expectation that different cell functions (or responses) that involve alterations in cell membrane K permeability may be subserved by different populations of K channels that are activated or inactivated under a variety of circumstances. K-related cell functions or responses may be served by distinct populations of K channels, which can be differentiated according to their physical properties. The chapter discusses the general properties of ion channels and emphasizes the experimental strategies that can be employed to differentiate one type of K channel from another. The application of single-channel techniques offers the opportunity to explore the diversity of channel types which may be involved in epithelial cell function. In view of the diversity of K channels, it is necessary to develop experimental systems where it is possible to keep track of different K channels at various levels of organization—from the cell layer to the isolated membrane patch—to permit the ion translocation process at the single-channel level to be related back to the transport function of the epithelium.
Tesla Test Facility Alternate Cryostat Design

Collaborators on the design of a Tevatron Superconducting Linear Accelerator (TESLA) are working toward construction of a test cell consisting of four full length cryostats, 12 meters long, each consisting of eight, 9-cell superconducting RF cavities. The purpose of this facility is to test all aspects of the accelerator system design; vacuum, cryogenics, RF, and electron source, prior to initiating construction of the full linac. The design for these cryostats pose many interesting challenges to cryostat designers. The systems must be capable of supporting all eight cavity structures within tight alignment tolerances, impose very low thermal heat loads on the 1.8K cryogenic system, provide strength and stiffness to resist structural loads during fabrication, shipping, and installation, and be manufactured at low cost. Several design options are being explored, each of which attempt to address requirements imposed by the reference design guidelines. This paper describes the design and analysis of one design alternative.
Progress toward oligonucleotide therapeutics: pharmacodynamic properties.

Although many issues remain to be resolved, recent progress suggests that oligonucleotides may have therapeutic potential. The first therapeutic oligonucleotide, ISIS 2105, an oligonucleotide designed to treat genital warts, has completed Phase I clinical trials and is undergoing Phase II testing. Conceptually, oligonucleotides may interact with nucleic acid or nonnucleic acid receptors; however, rational design of oligonucleotide drugs to interact with nucleic acid receptors is significantly simpler because the factors that determine affinity and selectivity are better understood. Recent progress demonstrates that this information can be coupled to rapid advances in the medicinal chemistry of oligonucleotides to create new generations of oligonucleotide drugs with dramatically improved properties. The purposes of this review are to place oligonucleotide therapeutics in the context of modern molecular drug discovery and to summarize progress in understanding the pharmacodynamic properties of oligonucleoti...
Self-organizing multimedia and extremely distributed architectures

The Object-Based Media Group at the MIT Media Laboratory is developing robust, self-organizing programming models for dense ensembles of ultra-miniaturized computing nodes which are deployed by the thousands in bulk fashion, e.g. embedded into building materials. While such systems potentially offer almost unlimited computation for multimedia purposes, the individual devices contain tiny amounts of memory, lack explicit addresses, have wireless communication ranges only in the range of millimeters to centimeters, and are expected to fail at high rates. An unorthodox approach to handling of multimedia data is required in order to achieve useful, reliable work in such an environment. We describe the hardware and software strategies, and demonstrate several examples showing the processing of images and sound in such a system.
40nW subthreshold event detector chip for seismic sensors

Unattended ground sensors (UGS) are widely used for persistent, surveillance that detects potential threats from intruders without generating false alarms. Seismic sensors are used to catch vibrations produced by intruders. Battery life is the limiting factor for solutions using digital processing. Thus power management strategies need to be employed to ensure longevity of the sensor networks. A 40nW subthreshold analog CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) is fabricated and tested, that wakes up a threat classifying stage. The system architecture is proposed along with optimizations for the different stages of the system. Variations in the subthreshold system will be discussed resulting in different system responses.
Base-pair opening and closing reactions in the double helix. A stopped-flow hydrogen exchange study in poly(rA).poly(rU).

Abstract The hydrogen-deuterium exchange of AMP, uridine, poly(rA), and poly(rA) · poly(rU) was investigated by a spectral difference method using stopped-flow spectrophotometry. Proton exchange rates were measured as a function of pH, added catalysts, temperature and salt concentration. The results confirm and extend previous conclusions on the H-exchange chemistry of the bases, on the large equilibrium opening of the double helix, and on its slow opening and closing rates, but an alternative conformation for the major open state is considered. Two H-exchange rate classes are found in poly(rA) · poly(rU). The slower class represents the two exocyclic amino protons of A which exchange through a pre-equilibrium opening mechanism, therefore revealing the fraction of time the helix is open. Base-pairs are open 5% of the time at 25 °C. The faster class is assigned to the U-N-3 H proton, the rate of which is limited by helix opening. Both opening and reclosing of the duplex are slow, 2 s −1 and 40 s −1 , respectively, at 25 °C. Thermodynamic parameters for the equilibrium helix opening and for the rate of opening were determined. These properties may be consistent with a simple opening involving swinging out of the U base while retaining A more or less stacked within the duplex. The results demonstrate that no faster or more populated helix-open state occurs (when structure is stable). It appears that, unlike opening—closing reactions at a helix end or a helix-coil boundary, internal base opening and closing are innately slow. One implication of this is that any chemical or biological process requiring access to sequences in the interior of a closed stable DNA duplex may be constrained to proceed only on a time scale of seconds, and not in milliseconds or microseconds.
Magnetotail Structure and its Internal Particle Dynamics During Northward IMF

This study uses Global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations driven by solar wind data along with Geotail observations of the magnetotail to investigate the magnetotail's response to changes in the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF); observed events used in the study occurred on March 29, 1993 and February 9, 1995. For events from February 9, 1995, we also use the time-dependent MHD magnetic and electric fields and the large-scale kinetic (LSK) technique to examine changes in the Geotail ion velocity distributions. Our MHD simulation shows that on March 29, 1993, during a long period of steady northward IMF, the tail was strongly squeezed and twisted around the Sun-Earth axis in response to variations in the IMF B(sub y) component. The mixed (magnetotail and magnetosheath) plasma observed by Geotail results from the spacecraft's close proximity to the magnetopause and its frequent crossings of this boundary. In our second example (February 9, 1995) the IMF was also steady and northward, and in addition had a significant B(sub y) component. Again the magnetotail was twisted, but not as strongly as on March 29, 1993. The Geotail spacecraft, located approximately 30 R(sub E) downtail, observed highly structured ion distribution functions. Using the time-dependent LSK technique, we investigate the ion sources and acceleration mechanisms affecting the Geotail distribution functions during this interval. At 1325 UT most ions are found to enter the magnetosphere on the dusk side earthward of Geotail with a secondary source on the dawn side in the low latitude boundary layer (LLBL). A small percentage come from the ionosphere. By 1347 UT the majority of the ions come from the dawn side LLBL. The distribution functions measured during the later time interval are much warmer, mainly because particles reaching the spacecraft from the dawn side are affected by nonadiabatic scattering and acceleration in the neutral sheet.
One‐dimensional patterning of cells in silicone wells via compression‐induced fracture

We have adapted our existing compression-induced fracture technology to cell culture studies by generating linear patterns on a complex cell culture well structure rather than on simple solid constructs. We present a simple method to create one-dimensional (1D), submicron, and linear patterns of extracellular matrix on a multilayer silicone material. We identified critical design parameters necessary to optimize compression-induced fracture patterning on the wells, and applied stresses using compression Hoffman clamps. Finite-element analyses show that the incorporation of the well improves stress homogeneity (stress variation = 25%), and, thus, crack uniformity over the patterned region. Notably, a shallow well with a thick base (vs. deeper wells with thinner bases) reduces out-of-plane deflections by greater than a sixth in the cell culture region, improving clarity for optical imaging. The comparison of cellular and nuclear shape indices of a neuroblast line cultured on patterned 1D lines and unpatterned 2D surfaces reveals significant differences in cellular morphology, which could impact many cellular functions. Because 1D cell cultures recapitulate many important phenotypical traits of 3D cell cultures, our culture system offers a simple means to further study the relationship between 1D and 3D cell culture environments, without demanding expensive engineering techniques and expertise.
Changes in the end-to-end distance distribution in an oligonucleotide following hybridization

A 16-mer deoxy oligonucleotide was labeled at the 5' end with x- rhodamine and at the 3' end with fluorescein. The fluorescence lifetime of the donor, fluorescein, under conditions for resonance energy transfer, was studied using the SLM 4850 multiharmonic frequency phase fluorometer in order to obtain information on the end-to-end distance distribution P(R) in the oligomer. When this doubly labeled oligonucleotide was hybridized to its 16-mer complement, the fluorescein fluorescence decay could be very well described by a P(R) that was a symmetric shifted Gaussian with center at 68.4 angstrom and (sigma) equals6.4 angstrom. Simulations suggested that part of the width might be attributable to a distribution in (kappa) 2. In the single- stranded labeled oligomer, there was enhanced energy transfer from the fluorescein to the rhodamine and the best fitting symmetrical shifted Gaussian representation of P(R) was centered at 53.8 angstrom with (kappa) equals6.9 angstrom. There was significant lack of fit with this model, however. A model independent procedure was developed for extracting P(R) as a sum of weighted Hermite polynomials. This procedure gave a P(R) with a large negative region at R<20 angstrom, suggesting that rotational averaging for (kappa) 2 was not quite complete prior to significant decay of the donor excited state.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Social stress-associated depression in adult female cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis)

This paper describes a behavior pattern in adult female cynomolgus monkeys that has several behavioral and physiological characteristics in common with human depression including reduced body fat, low levels of activity, high heart rate, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis disturbances, and increased mortality. Under certain circumstances, this depressive behavior appears more common in socially stressed subordinate, than dominant, females. This is the first animal model of social stress-related depression in females and the first primate model of adult depression. It is important to have a female animal model of depression because women are more likely to experience a clinically significant depression than men, and depression in women is often associated with changes in reproductive system function. This model is particularly useful because these monkeys have menstrual cycles that are similar to those of women, and those that exhibit depressive behavior have relatively low levels of ovarian steroids. These monkeys may be a useful model of reproductive system-associated mood disorders in females.
Optical matrix elements in tight-binding models with overlap

We investigate the effect of orbital overlap on optical matrix elements in empirical tight-binding models. Empirical tight-binding models assume an orthogonal basis of (atomiclike) states and a diagonal coordinate operator which neglects the intra-atomic part. It is shown that, starting with an atomic basis which is not orthogonal, the orthogonalization process induces intra-atomic matrix elements of the coordinate operator and extends the range of the effective Hamiltonian. We analyze simple tight-binding models and show that non-orthogonality plays an important role in optical matrix elements. In addition, the procedure gives formal justification to the nearest-neighbor spin-orbit interaction introduced by Boykin [Phys. Rev \textbf{B} 57, 1620 (1998)] in order to describe the Dresselahaus term which is neglected in empirical tight-binding models.
Reliability-based optimal design of linear dynamical systems under stochastic stationary excitation and model uncertainty

The reliability-based design under stochastic stationary excitation of linear dynamical systems with higher-dimensional output is discussed in this paper. An analytical approximation is initially presented for the calculation of this reliability for applications for which the model parameters are treated as known. This approach is based on a computationally efficient approximation to the conditional out-crossing rate for higher-dimensional vectors. The extension to cases where the model parameters are treated as unknown and are characterized by probability models is then addressed. This requires the evaluation of a multidimensional probability integral over the uncertain model parameter space and a methodology based on a Taylor series expansion around the local maxima of the integrand, called design points, is considered for this purpose. A novel approach is developed for addressing cases with multiple design points. The estimation of this probability integral by Monte Carlo simulation with importance sampling is also considered. Implementation details for applications to reliability-based design problems are extensively discussed. In particular, the effect of the errors introduced by the various, numerical and asymptotic, approximations is addressed and methods for reducing their relative or absolute importance are presented. Also practical guidelines are provided for improvement of the computational efficiency for using the analytical reliability approximation within the algorithm that searches for the optimal system design configuration.
Violence: Incidence and Frequency of Physical and Psychological Assaults Affecting Mental Health Providers in Georgia

Threats to the physical safety and psychological well-being of mental health professionals present serious problems, according to 1,131 licensed mental health professionals in the state of Georgia. The professionals included clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, professional counselors, psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers. From a total of 6,431 surveys sent out, 1,131 (18%) were returned. The results revealed 2,696 separate accounts of 14,120 acts of physical or psychological assaults committed by 8,292 perpetrators. The results also showed that 61% of the respondents had been victimized in violent acts of a psychological or physical nature and that 29% had feared for their lives at least once during their professional careers. These data are consistent with other research that indicates that 6 out of 10 professionals will be assaulted during their professional careers.
Navier-Stokes flow field analysis of compressible flow in a high pressure safety relief valve

The objective of this study is to investigate the complex three-dimensional flowfield of an oxygen safety pressure relieve valve during an incident, with a computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis. Specifically, the analysis will provide a flow pattern that would lead to the expansion of the eventual erosion pattern of the hardware, so as to combine it with other findings to piece together a most likely scenario for the investigation. The CFD model is a pressure based solver. An adaptive upwind difference scheme is employed for the spatial discretization, and a predictor, multiple corrector method is used for the velocity-pressure coupling. The computational result indicated vortices formation near the opening of the valve which matched the erosion pattern of the damaged hardware.
High Hopes and Limited Prospects: Washington's Security and Nation-Building Aims in Afghanistan

Four years have passed since the United States and allied governments toppled the Taliban in Afghanistan and began security and nation-building operations. Despite the continuing deployment of thousands of Western troops and the expenditure of billions of dollars in foreign aid, current conditions in Afghanistan are perilous. Poverty is rampant, the drug trade has shown no sign of decline, warlords remain in power, and the Taliban continues to confront US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation forces. With the US preparing to reduce its troop presence in 2006 and NATO poised to deploy forces into Afghanistan's dangerous southern provinces, Western security and nation-building efforts are at risk of failure.
Towards a Semantic Web Approach for Disassembly Planning

Disassembly, as one of the core steps in the End of Life (EOL) activities, has been a popular topic of research in both industrial and academic areas. It not only reduces product lifecycle cost, but also substantially influences environmental impact. Although different methods have been proposed for tackling different aspects of the disassembly planning problems, certain gaps still exist. For example, in the case of the disassembly sequencing, traditional methods focus mainly on the geometry and topology constraints, but omit the important technical constraints like force (gravity), connector type, etc.; it makes these methods less efficient and realistic. Also, the determination of an optimal disassembly sequence requires an extensive exchange and sharing of the disassembly related knowledge among the different stakeholders like manufacturers, product designers, maintenance staffs and material engineers. A mechanism to support such information interoperability is important in the disassembly process. In order to address those research issues, this paper proposes a Semantic Web based Disassembly Planning Framework. In the framework, the proposed “Disassembly Core Ontology” (DCO) serves as a formal, explicit information core for different users like product designer and disassembler. By exploiting the rich semantic knowledge (like gravity, connector type, etc.) that has been explicitly embedded in the proposed DCO, it has been demonstrated that the semantic web approach has potentials to address both efficiency- and interoperability-related issues in disassembly planning problems.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
A Doctoral Program for the Working Psychologist

Summary.-The doctoral pmgram in School-Community Psychology at Hofstra University was designed to permit master's-level psychologists to enter a doctoral training program without giving up their Full-time employment. Classes within the program take place on Saturdays, evenings and during the summer. This pmgram helps to address the problem of the two-tier system of MAS and Ph.D. psychologists which is viewed as a highly controversial issue for the profession of psychology. The program has been enthusiastically supported by graduates who feel that they have benefited a great deal by obtaining their doctorates. The continuing debate among psychologists about the role of master's degree training in psychology reflects the inability of the APA to arrive at a solution to this issue. It is clear that the APA has addressed this problem in many different ways. In 1971 Woods gave a detailed description of a great number of conferences, committees and articles oriented toward subdoctoral training sponsored by the APA from 1947 through 1970. He ended his report by noting that despite all this effort a solution was not reached and "a cost accounting of these activities, both in terms of time and money, is too frightening to consider" (p. 707). Attempts to solve this problem have continued to the present day. Although the APA has urged psychologists to accept the fact that the Ph.D. is essential for one who is to be considered a psychologist and in 1976 decreed that the Ph.D. was to be the standard for private practice, master'slevel programs continue to flourish and students continue to graduate from these programs. The crux of the problem is that the APA does not have any control over the kind or number of psychology programs offered by universities and training institutions. For this reason it would appear that changes will occur only if psychologists and universities are willing to forego some of the advantages that accrue to running such programs, or through legislation in the states that will prohibit employment of psychologists who do not have a doctoral degree. Both of these solutions seem remote. A review of a number of published articles regarding master's-level training highlights the reasons it has been so difficult to solve this problem and the fact that psychologists have strongly divergent opinions on this issue. There are those such as Cummings (1979) and Albee (1977) who believe training in this area should be discontinued, particularly with respect to the Master's degree in clinical psychology. Those in favor of continuation
Linear combinations of signals from two lines of the same or different orientations

Abstract Whereas the influence on the elevation of visually perceived eye level (VPEL) by two bilaterally symmetric, long (64°-long), pitched-from-vertical lines in total darkness is only a little more than the average of the VPELs of the two lines measured separately [Matin & Li (1999). Vision Research , 39 , 307–329], in the present experiments with 49 2-line combinations of seven orientations (−30° to +30° pitch), the VPEL for two short (12°-long) lines equals the additive sum of the separate influences of the two lines. With one line at a fixed orientation, the slope of the VPEL-versus-pitch function with the second line variable equals the slope of the function when viewing one line alone, but is shifted from the 1-line-alone function by the magnitude of the VPEL of the fixed line. Both the near-averaging and the additivity are summarized by V ( θ l , θ r )= k 1 + k 2 [ V ( θ l )+ V ( θ r )], where V ( θ l ) and V ( θ r ) are the 1-line VPELs for the pitches of the left and right lines, and V (θ l , θ r ) is the 2-line VPEL; the slope constant k 2 equals 0.5 for averaging, and 1.00 for simple additivity of the separate visual influences. Measured values are k 2 =0.99 and k 2 =0.61 for short and long lines, respectively. The shift of slope constant is determined by line length and not orientation: parallel and nonparallel lines follow the same rules of combination for short lines as they do for long lines. As for long lines, the short-line results are clear in showing that the visual influence on VPEL is controlled by an opponent-process mechanism. Although ‘saturation-near-an-asymptote’ along with opponency are required components of the interpretation for the basis of the combination of lines of different orientations and different lengths, they are not by themselves sufficient: All results conform to a neurophysiologically-based model [Matin and Li (1997b). Society for Neuroscience , 23 , 175; Matin & Li, under review] that parallel processes feedforward signals from orientation-selective neural units in V1; the model accounts for the shift from additivity to near-averaging with increase in line length as a consequence of the increased contribution of shunting.
Transmission Blocks for Lower Neck and Inguinal Lymph Node Radiotherapy

We evaluate techniques for radiotherapy to low neck and inguinal lymph nodes. Partial transmission blocks (PTBs) simplify treatment planning, daily setup, and improve reproducibility and dose homogeneity. PTBs minimize the risk for dose misadministration to critical organs. Disadvantages include doses that are potentially lower to the medial cervical lymphatics and higher to the femur. PTBs can surmount common treatment planning problems.
Establishing transfusion needs in burn patients.

Abstract Background Despite blood-conservation techniques, hemorrhage during burn excision remains substantial. It is difficult to predict the blood loss that will occur per operation and how many units the patient will require during surgery. This may result in high cross-match-to-transfusion ratios (CMTRs). Methods A retrospective chart review from 2001 to 2003 was performed. All adult patients with >20% total body surface area burns who underwent surgery were included in the study. Variables examined were centimeters excised, estimated blood loss, packed red blood cells transfused during surgery, preoperative and postoperative hematocrit, and CMTR. Results There were 273 operations. The average estimated blood loss was 820 mL, and; the median posttransfusion hematocrit was 27. Based on the area excised and units transfused, a ratio of packed red blood cells/cm excised was determined. A total of 1.78 U blood were transfused/1000 cm 2 excised to keep hematocrit between 25 and 31; P = 0.02. Conclusions Estimation of excision area can predict transfusion need, which at our institution yields a low CMTR.
Real and virtual robot head for active vision research

In the emerging paradigm of animate vision, the visual processes are not thought of as being independent of cognitive or motor processing, but as an integrated system within the context of visual behavior. Intimate coupling of sensory and motor systems have found to improve significantly the performance of behavior based vision systems. In order to conduct research in animate vision one requires an active image acquisition platform. This platform should possess the capability to change vision geometrical and optical parameters of the sensors under the control of a computer. This has led to the development of several robotic sensory-motor systems with multiple degrees of freedoms (DOF). In this paper we describe the status of on going work in developing a sensory-motor robotic system, R2H, with ten degrees of freedoms (DOF) for research in active vision. A Graphical Simulation and Animation (GSA) environment is also presented. The objective of building the GSA system is to create an environment to aid the researchers in developing high performance and reliable software and hardware in a most effective manner. The GSA includes a complete kinematic simulation of the R2H system, it''s sensors and it''s workspace. GSA environment is not meant to be a substitute for performing real experiments but is to complement it. Thus, the GSA environment will be an integral part of the total research effort. With the aid of the GSA environment a Depth from Defocus (DFD), Depth from Vergence, and Depth from Stereo modules have been implemented and tested. The power and usefulness of the GSA system as a research tool is demonstrated by acquiring and analyzing stereo images in the virtual world.
Dietary supplementation with Echinacea and development of immunity to challenge infection with coccidia

An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of dietary supplementation with 0.1% and 0.5% ground root preparations of Echinacea purpurea (EP; common name: purple cone flower) on the development of immunity following live vaccination and subsequent challenge with multiple coccidia species in an experimental model using a commercial live vaccine preparation. Effects of immunization and EP supplementation on weight gains before challenge, and weight gains, lesion scores and plasma levels of carotenoids and NO2-+NO3- following challenge were determined. In this experiment, combined live vaccination and feed supplementation with 0.1% or 0.5% EP during the first 2 weeks of life provided significant weight gain advantage compared to live vaccination alone. This advantage persisted through 2 weeks of EP withdrawal and subsequent challenge infection. EP supplementation also significantly lowered total lesion scores but did not significantly modify the effects of vaccination and challenge on plasma carotenoids or NO2-+NO3-.
A remark on maximal functions for noncommutative martingales

Let \({\mathcal{M}}\) be a finite von Neumann algebra equipped with a normal tracial state τ. It is shown that if \({\{x_n\}_{n\geq1}}\) is a sequence of positive marginales that is bounded in \({L^1(\mathcal{M},\mathcal{T})}\), then for every 0 < p < 1, there exists \({y \in L^p(\mathcal{M},\mathcal{T})}\) satisfying the property that \({x_n \leq y}\) for all \({n\geq 1}\). Thus we obtain a noncommutative analogue of a maximal function theorem from classical martingale theory.
A FOSSIL PALM BRUCHID, CARYOBRUCHUS DOMINICANUS SP. N. (PACHYMERINI: BRUCHIDAE) IN DOMINICAN AMBER

Poinar Jr, G. O.: A fossil palm bruchid, Caryobruchus dominicanus sp. n. (Pachymerini: Bruchidae) in Dominican amber. Ent. scand. 30: 219-224. Copenhagen, Denmark. July 1999. ISSN 0013-8711. The first fossil palm bruchid, Caryobruchus dominicanus sp. n. (Coleoptera; Bruchidae) is described from Dominican Republic amber. This species is closely related to extant Central American-West Indian members of the genus, all of which develop in the seeds of palms. Aside from providing indirect evidence of fan palms, especially those of the genus Sabal, in the original Dominican amber forest, the present find shows that seed predation by Caryobruchus spp. was established in the West Indies some 15-45 million years ago.
Modeling Reader- and Text- Interactions During Narrative Comprehension: A Test of the Lexical Quality Hypothesis

The goal of this study was to examine predictions derived from the Lexical Quality Hypothesis regarding relations among word decoding, working-memory capacity, and the ability to integrate new concepts into a developing discourse representation. Hierarchical Linear Modeling was used to quantify the effects of three text properties (length, frequency, and number of new concepts) on reading times of focal and spillover sentences, with variance in those effects estimated as a function of individual difference factors (decoding, vocabulary, print exposure, and working-memory capacity). The analysis revealed complex, cross-level interactions that complement the Lexical Quality Hypothesis.
Addendum on the unique stability of CoAr6

Abstract The nature of the unique stability of CoAr 6 + is discussed. Beyond the coordination complex and the close-packed structure possibilities discussed earlier that of the stable dynamic equilibrium of the most probable positions of Ar atoms in the average field of interaction created by the central ion (Co + ) is introduced. This last possibility seems to explain the nature and leads to an octahedral dynamic structure of CoAr 6 + .
Is the engineer a professional

Socio-economic pressures are creating problems that require more than technical engineering competence for their solution. To meet the challenge, the engineer must achieve professional status. The nature of this status is discussed together with the efforts the engineer must exert to earn it.
TGFβ1 Regulates 25-Hydroxyvitamin D3 1α- and 24-Hydroxylase Activity in Cultured Growth Plate Chondrocytes in a Maturation-Dependent Manner

Chondrocytes metabolize 25-(OH)D3 to the two active dihydroxylated forms of the secosteroid, 1,25-(OH)2D3 and 24,25-(OH)2D3. The aim of the present study was to examine the activity of the enzymes responsible for this metabolism, 1alpha-hydroxylase and 24R-hydroxylase, and their regulation by TGFbeta1. Basal 1alpha- and 24R-hydroxylase activities were measured in homogenates of confluent, fourth passage rat costochondral resting zone and growth zone chondrocytes and mouse cortico-tubular cells (MCT) were used as a positive control. The cells were harvested and homogenized in buffer optimized to maintain the activity and stability of the hydroxylases. Homogenates were incubated for 90 minutes and 1alpha- and 24R-hydroxylase activities determined by measuring the conversion of [3H]-25-(OH)D3 to [3H]-1,25-(OH)2D3 and [3H]-24,25-(OH)2D3 using an HPLC with an inline radioisotope detector. Resting zone cells were also treated with various concentrations of recombinant human TGFbeta1 for 24 hours, and enzyme activity in total cell homogenates as well as 24-hydroxylase mRNA levels were determined. In addition, [3H]-1,25-(OH)2D3 and [3H]-24,25-(OH)2D3 released into the conditioned media by resting zone chondrocyte cultures in response to TGFbeta1 were measured. In culture, all three cell types were found to contain 1alpha- and 24R-hydroxylase activities. Basal 1alpha-hydroxylase specific activity was significantly higher than 24R-hydroxylase specific activity in all cells. RT-PCR confirmed that resting zone and growth zone cells expressed mRNA for 24R-hydroxylase. Treatment of resting zone cells with TGFbeta1 increased 24R-hydroxylase mRNA levels in a dose-dependent manner. TGFbeta1 also increased 24R-hydroxylase activity 2- to 5-fold and decreased 1alpha-hydroxylase activity by 20-30%. Similar changes were observed with MCT cells, but not growth zone cells. Production of [3H]-24,25-(OH)2D3 by resting zone cells increased with TGFbeta1 treatment, while [3H]-1,25-(OH)2D3 production decreased. The effect was time- and dose-dependent, correlating with hydroxylase activity and 24-hydroxylase gene expression. These results demonstrate that growth plate chondrocytes contain the necessary enzymes to produce 1, 25-(OH)2D3 and 24,25-(OH)2D3 from 25-(OH)D3. In addition, the activity of these enzymes in resting zone cells, but not growth zone cells, is regulated by TGFbeta1 by increasing gene transcription, indicating that cell maturation-dependent autocrine/paracrine pathways exist for regulating vitamin D metabolite production.
Asymptotic behavior of solutions of a nonlinear evolution equation

The purpose of this paper is to study the asymptotic behavior of the solutions of a certain nonlinear evolution equation in Banach spaces (see (1) below). This time-dependent initial value problem involves an accretive operator A and a function g: R + --f R +. It was first considered by Browder in [ 11, and was the basis of the iterative procedures for constructing zeros of accretive operators presented in [2] and [5]. These papers treat only the case when 0 E R(A). We begin with several results (e.g., Theorems 3 and 6) that are of interest when 0 & R(A). These results are, in some sense, analogs of known results for nonlinear semigroups and resolvents. (There is, however, a difference-see, for example, Corollary 4). Then we show that under certain mild restrictions, 0 E R(A) if and only if the solutions to (1) are bounded (Theorem 7). When an additional condition is imposed on g, we can shown that A is zero free if and only if lim,,, ] u(t)] = co for each solution of (1) (Theorem 8 and Proposition 9). In the last part of the paper we assume that 0 E R(A) and obtain several strong convergence results for solutions of (1) (e.g., Theorem 12). These results show that the asymptotic behavior of the solutions to (1) resembles the behavior of resolvents more than that of nonlinear semigroups. Theorem 12 yields improvements of the convergence results for the iterative procedure of [S], and leads to a geometric result concerning the fixed point set of a nonexpansive mapping (Corollary 13). We also mention that the sequence constructed from the iterative procedure of [5] imitates the behavior of the solutions of (1) not only when 0 E R(A), but also when A is zero free. Finally, we remark that many of our results are new even in Hilbert space. Let E be a real Banach space, and let I denote the identity operator. Recall that a subset A of E x E with domain D(A) and range R(A) is said to be accretive if lx, -x2) 0. We denote the closure of a subset D of E by cl(D), its closed convex hull by clco(D), and its distance from a point x in E by d(x, 0). We 43 0022-247X/81/090043-11$02.00/0
Concussion History and Postconcussion Neurocognitive Performance and Symptoms in Collegiate Athletes

Abstract Context: Athletes are at an inherent risk for sustaining concussions. Research examining the long-term consequences of sport-related concussion has been inconsistent in demonstrating lingering neurocognitive decrements that may be associated with a previous history of concussion. Objective: To determine the relationship between concussion history and postconcussion neurocognitive performance and symptoms in collegiate athletes. Design: Repeated-measures design. Setting: Multi-center analysis of collegiate athletes. Patients or Other Participants: Fifty-seven concussed collegiate athletes (36 without concussion history, 21 with a history of 2 or more concussions). Intervention(s): All subjects were administered an Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) neurocognitive test battery, which measures verbal memory, visual memory, reaction time, and visual processing speed and 22 concussion symptoms. Main Outcome Measure(s): Subjects who sustained a concussion were administe...
Long-distance soliton transmission with filtering

Filters spaced periodically along a transoceanic cable can affect soliton propagation by changing the random walk-off, the amplitude fluctuations, and the force of attraction and repulsion between solitons. The permissible power range for soliton transmission is significantly increased.
An ensemble approach for drug side effect prediction

In silico prediction of drug side-effects in early stage of drug development is becoming more popular now days, which not only reduces the time for drug design but also reduces the drug development costs. In this article we propose an ensemble approach to predict drug side-effects of drug molecules based on their chemical structure. Our idea originates from the observation that similar drugs have similar side-effects. Based on this observation we design an ensemble approach that combine the results from different classification models where each model is generated by a different set of similar drugs. We applied our approach to 1385 side-effects in the SIDER database for 888 drugs. Results show that our approach outperformed previously published approaches and standard classifiers. Furthermore, we applied our method to a number of uncharacterized drug molecules in DrugBank database and predict their side-effect profiles for future usage. Results from various sources confirm that our method is able to predict the side-effects for uncharacterized drugs and more importantly able to predict rare side-effects which are often ignored by other approaches. The method described in this article can be useful to predict side-effects in drug design in an early stage to reduce experimental cost and time.
Decoding Sequence-Ensemble Relationships of IDPS

Synthesis of various independent observations suggests that IDPs can be classified as globule vs. coil formers based on their net charge per residue. Closer scrutiny of the resultant classifications reveals considerable complexity and conformational richness that is masked by considerations of amino acid composition alone. I will present results from our recent work on polyampholytic IDPs, which show that conformational properties of at least a third of naturally occurring IDPs are governed by the linear sequence distribution of oppositely charged residues. This has implications for de novo design of sequence-ensemble relationships as a tool for modulating functions of IDPs. Preliminary results highlighting the utility of sequence design to afford tunability of IDP functions will be discussed. Finally, I will close with a discussion of recent advances that are allowing us to probe how being in cis to ordered domains modulates the sequence-encoded conformational properties of intrinsically disordered regions.
From Serendipity to Mitochondria-Targeted Nanocarriers

This review illustrates how a random observation at the laboratory bench has helped pave the way towards the development of organelle-targeted pharmaceutical nanocarriers. A fortuitous discovery in the mid 1990s involving the self-assembly of a molecule, known to accumulate inside mitochondria, has lead to the development of subcellular nanocarriers suited for the selective delivery of biologically active molecules to mitochondria inside living mammalian cells. Applications for mitochondria-specific drug and DNA delivery are described, the current state-of-the-art of mitochondrial drug targeting technology is reviewed, and its future perspectives are discussed.
Delayed onset of epidural anesthesia in patients with back pain

Onset and completeness of anesthesia were compared in 15 patients with back pain or sciatica and in 10 patients without back pain given lumbar epidural anesthesia with 20 to 25 ml of 1.5% mepivacaine, 80 mg of methylprednisolone, and 1:200,000 epinephrine. Sensory block was complete within 30 minutes in patients without back pain. Eleven of 15 (73%) patients with back pain had delayed onset of anesthesia ranging from 35 to 95 minutes. The difference between the two groups was statistically significant (p less than 0.001). When there was a delay, the affected nerve roots were blocked 10 to 70 minutes after the contralateral unaffected roots. Differences in time of onset between affected nerves and contralateral nerves were also significant (p less than 0.01). The nerve roots involved, as determined from the myelogram or the electromyogram, or those adjacent to them, were the roots with delayed onset of block. Any effect of the steroid on nerve blockade was ruled out as there was solid anesthesia in patients without back pain.
Optical neural networks for image analysis: imaging spectroscopy and production systems

An optical implementation of multispectral image data processing and production systems processing symbolic scene data using networks is described. A binary network is used for propositional logic and an analog network is used for reasoning with uncertainties. In the production system, the authors assign the 'trueness' of facts to the activities of the neurons and to encoding the rules as interconnection strengths. With binary neurons, this type of network operates on a knowledge base formulated in propositional calculus to make binary-valued decisions. When analog neurons are used, reasoning with uncertainty is possible. The authors details an optical matrix-vector multiplication architecture with nonlinear elements and feedback as implementation of the system. It allows new inferences on subsequent iterations, whereas other neural systems do not allow new rules to be learned. >
Broadband low-reflectivity coating for semiconductor power lasers by ion-beam and PECVD deposition

Abstract A new type of optical low-reflectivity coating based on a stepwise-graded-index multilayer has been designed and applied to GaAs/AlGaAs power laser mirrors. The coating design is based on a known principle of filter design theory (the Herpin principle) which enables an ideal graded-index film to be approximated by a much simpler combination of high and low index material layers. Only two materials are required (SiO2 and a-Si for instance) thus making it very easy to fabricate such coatings with standard deposition techniques such as ion beam sputtering or plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The low-reflectivity region of this coating extends over a broad wavelength range, therefore making the overall reflectivity much less sensitive to thickness variations than is the case for single-layer coatings. The good optical qualities of such a coating and the ease of fabrication make it a very promising alternative to single-layer low-reflectivity coating. In particular, optical output power density in excess of 10 MW /cm2 on power laser mirrors was measured, which corresponds to one of the highest reported values for coated mirrors.