cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
FISCAL RULES, FISCAL COUNCILS AND ALL THAT: COMMITMENT DEVICES, SIGNALING TOOLS OR SMOKESCREENS?

Xavier Debrun and Manmohan S. Kumar deal with the impact of institutions on fiscal discipline, first discussing the point in principle: (i) fiscal institutions can work as commitment devices (i.e. tie policymakers’ hands); (ii) they can work as signalling devices (i.e. reduce the information asymmetry between the electorate and policymakers); and (iii) they can be smokescreens. The second part of the paper develops an empirical analysis to test these three hypotheses, referring to descriptive evidence and estimating a multivariate panel model for a large sample of EU countries over the period 1990-2004. The authors use time-varying indices of fiscal rule restrictiveness and coverage. The analysis finds significant support for both commitment and signalling, little for the smokescreen hypothesis.
A Relaying Graph and Special Strong Product for Zero-Error Problems in Primitive Relay Channels

A primitive relay channel (PRC) has one source (S) communicating a message to one destination (D) with the help of a relay (R). The link between R and D is considered to be noiseless, of finite capacity, and parallel to the link between S and (R,D). Prior work has established, for any fixed number of channel uses, the minimal R-D link rate needed so that the overall S-D message rate equals the zero-error single-input multiple output outer bound (Problem 1). The zero-error relaying scheme was expressed as a coloring of a carefully defined “relaying compression graph”. It is shown here that this relaying compression graph for $n$ channel uses is not obtained as a strong product from its $n$ = 1 instance. Here we define a new graph, the “primitive relaying graph” and a new “special strong product” such that the n-channel use primitive relaying graph corresponds to the n-fold special strong product of the $n$ = 1 graph. We show how the solution to Problem 1 can be obtained from this new primitive relaying graph directly. Further study of this primitive relaying graph has the potential to highlight the structure of optimal codes for zero-error relaying.
An Integrated Warpage Prediction Model Based on Chemical Shrinkage and Viscoelasticity for Molded Underfill

The molded underfill (MUF) offers many unique advantages, including lower material costs, higher throughput, and excellent reliability for flip-chip chip scale packages (fcCSP) and fan-out packages. The assembly process yield and reliability of these packages are significantly influenced by the warpage behaviors of MUF. We develop an integrated process modeling approach incorporated with real-time chemical shrinkage and cure-dependent viscoelastic constitutive model for warpage prediction. The cure-dependent chemical shrinkage, kinetics and viscoelasticity are measured using pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) method, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The integrated model is applied to fcCSP and fan-out packages with different designs, and the simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental data. A simplified model is also constructed for MUF with a fast corss-linking rate. In addition to warpage prediction, we successfully demonstrate that the model is useful to select suitable MUF baseline materials.
Religion, spirituality, coping, and resilience among African Americans with diabetes

Study aims were to explore how religion and spirituality impacted attitudes about self-management practices among African Americans with homelessness histories and to understand resilience in diabetes care practices. Qualitative semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with 42 African Americans older than 18 years. All audio-taped interviews lasted between 1-1.5 hr, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using ATLAS.ti (version 7.0). Five resilience themes emerged. While participants recognized diabetes as an illness requiring professional treatment, the context of balancing treatment with religion and spiritual practices mattered. The study findings highlight the importance of spirituality, religious beliefs, and coping strategies in diabetes self-care activities.
PRESEASON JUMP AND HOP MEASURES IN MALE COLLEGIATE BASKETBALL PLAYERS: AN EPIDEMIOLOGIC REPORT.

BACKGROUND Injuries are inherent in basketball with lower extremity (LE) injury rates reported as high as 11.6 per 1000 athletic exposures (AEs); many of these injuries result in time loss from sport participation. A recent trend in sports medicine research has been the attempt to identify athletes who may be at risk for injury based on measures of preseason fitness. HYPOTHESIS/PURPOSE The purpose of this prospective cohort study was to determine if the standing long jump (SLJ) and/or the single-leg hop (SLH) for distance functional performance tests (FPT) are associated with non-contact time loss lower quadrant (LQ, defined as lower extremities or low back) injury in collegiate male basketball players. It was hypothesized that basketball players with shorter SLJ or SLH measures would be at an increased risk for LQ injury. METHODS Seventy-one male collegiate basketball players from five teams completed a demographic questionnaire and performed three SLJ and six SLH (three per lower extremity) tests. Team athletic trainers tracked non-contact LQ time loss injuries during the season. STUDY DESIGN Prospective cohort. RESULTS Mean SLJ distance (normalized to height) was 0.99 (± 0.11) and mean SLH distances for the right and left were 0.85 ± 0.11 and 0.87 ± 0.10, respectively. A total of 29 (18 initial, 11 subsequent) non-contact time loss LQ injuries occurred during the study. At risk athletes (e.g., those with shorter SLJ and/or SLH) were no more likely to experience a non-contact time loss injury than their counterparts [OR associated with each FPT below cut scores = 0.9 (95% CI: 0.2, 4.9)]. The results from this study indicate that preseason performance of the SLJ and the SLH were not associated with future risk of LQ injury in this population. CONCLUSIONS Preseason SLJ and SLH measures were not associated with non-contact time loss injuries in male collegiate basketball players. However, the descriptive data presented in this study can help sports medicine professionals evaluate athletic readiness prior to discharging an athlete back to sport after a LQ injury. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 2.
NanMTh6F30: A Large Family of Quaternary Thorium Fluorides

Recently we reported the synthesis, crystal structures, and magnetic properties of compounds in the NanMU6F30 series, where n = 4, 3 and where M is a divalent or trivalent metal cation, respectively. In this article we advance our investigation of this structure type by expanding it to the thorium-containing compounds NanMTh6F30, where n = 3 in the case of MIII = Al, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Fe, Ga, In, n = 4 when MII = Mg, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, and n varies from 3.87 to 4.39 when the M site is partially occupied by a trivalent rare-earth element. Magnetic properties of the compounds containing magnetic ions M = Ti3+, V3+, Cr3+, Mn2+, Fe3+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+ were studied to demonstrate that the substitution of Th(IV) for U(IV) prevents the magnetic ions from coupling magnetically and, therefore, they exhibit simple paramagnetic behavior.
LEFT VENTRICULAR EJECTION FRACTION TRAJECTORIES IN ACUTE DECOMPENSATED SYSTOLIC HEART FAILURE IS ASSOCIATED WITH ADVERSE OUTCOMES

Left ventricular function (LVEF) is used to classify heart failure (HF). The implication of LVEF trajectories among patients with acute decompensated systolic HF is not well studied. HF patients hospitalized between 2014-2018, with LVEF < 50%, and at least two echocardiograms for LVEF were
The association of short-chain fatty acids and leptin metabolism: a systematic review.

The purpose of this systematic review is to analyze the available evidence linking short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) to leptin's levels and production. We performed a systematic review using the PubMed/Medline database including primary articles written in English that measured leptin production or levels as well as SCFA used as an intervention, mechanism or outcome. The search yielded a total of 573 citations; 36 studies were included in the final analysis. The quality of the studies was analyzed through two validated tools based on objective criteria. Overall, the studies presented low risk of bias to construct and statistical validity. However, the majority presented a high risk of attrition and detection bias. In vitro studies (n = 8) consistently demonstrated that SCFA stimulate leptin expression in adipocytes through activation of free fatty acid receptor 3 (FFAR3). In animal studies (n = 24), interventions to modulate high-fat diet outcomes predominantly caused a decrease in circulating leptin levels and increased SCFA, associated with suppressed weight gain. Control of dysbiosis through administration of prebiotics and probiotics also played a role in leptin synthesis in animal studies. In human studies (n = 4) leptin was mainly correlated with adiposity but dysbiosis interfered with this relationship. We conclude that the association between SCFA and leptin remains incompletely understood but occurs mainly through the activation of FFAR3 in adipocytes. However, body fat rather than SCFA remains the main driver for leptin synthesis in vivo. Future studies should aim to better clarify the role of SCFA in regulating leptin production in vivo.
Association of radiomic features from prostate bi-parametric MRI with Decipher risk categories to predict risk for biochemical recurrence post-prostatectomy.

e16561Background: Decipher test examines expression levels of 22 metastasis-related RNA sequences and provides a risk score (DS) for assessing metastasis risk within 5 years after radical prostatec...
Weight Gain, Conditioning and Metabolic Syndrome: A Sled Dog Model

Type II Diabetes (T2D) and insulin resistance are growing national health concerns. Obesity is a risk factor for developing T2D and is associated with chronic and systemic inflammation. Exercise on the other hand has been shown to improve glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity. We investigated the effects of conditioning and weight gain on adiponectin, tumor necrosis factor and glycosylated hemoglobin, three biomarkers of T2D. We measured the levels of these three biomarkers in racing, sedentary and overweight sled dogs. Exercise did not have a significant impact on the levels of the biomarkers, whereas weight gain had a negative effect. Using a sled dog model, we conclude that weight management is important to reduce the risk of T2D and its consequences.
Legal Briefs: Venous Catheter Tips Need to Stay Out of the Heart

EDITOR’S NOTE The Legal Briefs feature is based on actual malpractice cases with opinions of the plaintiff and defense physician experts interspersed throughout the case. The format of this feature does not provide evidence that supports or refutes each of these opinions. A 1,190-g male infant who was one of triplets was born at 27 3/7 weeks’ gestation to a 35-year-old gravida 3, para 3 woman. The pregnancy was notable for conception by in vitro fertilization, hospitalization for premature rupture of membranes, and administration of a complete course of antenatal steroids. Because of a prolapsed cord, the triplets were delivered by emergent cesarean section with rupture of membranes 31 hours before birth. The infant had Apgar scores of 6 and 8 at 1 and 5 minutes, respectively. He needed positive pressure ventilation briefly, and was placed on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for mild respiratory distress. Evaluation after birth included a complete blood cell (CBC) count, which was unremarkable, and a blood culture that was negative. The neonatology team placed umbilical arterial and venous catheters. Antibiotic treatment was not started. On day 2, gavage feedings were initiated; on day 3, cranial ultrasonography was performed, the result of which was unremarkable; on day 4, the umbilical arterial catheter was removed; and on day 10, the umbilical venous catheter (UVC) was discontinued. Over the course of the following 6 weeks, the infant had intermittent abdominal distention with occasional emesis; abdominal radiography was inconclusive for necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) or bowel obstruction. Because of feeding intolerance, parenteral nutrition was started at 5 weeks via a percutaneous intravascular central catheter (PICC) placed in the right femoral vein. Radiography showed that the tip of the PICC was deep in the right atrium and it remained there. The plaintiff neonatologist was critical of the catheter not being …
Voluntary Approaches to Environmental Protection

This talk summarizes the results of a series of papers that John Maxwell and I (along with colleagues at other universities) have been working on for some time. Our goals are to understand why companies voluntarily engage in environmental protection, and to understand the implications of these actions for social welfare and for government policy.1
Valuing the Option to Delay in Engineering Management: A Case Study

An option to delay can increase a project's value by providing the flexibility of choosing various decision alternatives after an uncertainty has been revealed. Therefore, options are valuable in settings with high uncertainty and high upfront investments. This paper presents an engineering management decision and determines the corresponding value of the option to delay using a decision analytic approach. The case study and sensitivity analyses show that the option value attains its maximum at the parameter setting that makes the decision maker without the option to delay indifferent between alternatives, indicating the close relationship between the value of perfect information and option value. The insights provide rules of thumb and provide an upper limit to how much should be spent on attaining an option to delay.
Expanding the Scope of Reproducibility Research Through Data Analysis Replications

In recent years, researchers in several scientific disciplines have become concerned with published studies replicating less often than expected. A positive side effect of this concern is an increased appreciation for replicating other researchers’ work as a vital part of the scientific process. To date, many such efforts have come from the experimental sciences, where replication entails running new experiments, generating new data, and analyzing it. In this article, we emphasize not experimental replication but data analysis replication. We do so for three reasons. First, experimental replication excludes entire classes of publications that do not run experiments or even collect original data (for example, papers that make use of economic data, census data, municipal data, and the like). Second, experimental replication may in some cases be a needlessly high bar: there is great value in replicating the data analyses of published experimental work. As analytical replications require a lower investment of time and money than experimental replications, their adoption should expand the number and variety of scientific reproducibility studies undertaken. Third, we propose educating undergraduate students to perform data analysis replications, which has scalable benefits for both the students themselves and the broader research community. In our talk we will provide details of a pilot program we created to teach undergraduates the skills necessary to conduct data analysis replications, and include a case study of the first set of students who completed this program and attempted to replicate a widely-cited social science paper on policing.
Certified quantum gates

High quality, fully programmable quantum processors are available with small numbers ($l1000$) of qubits, and the scientific potential of these near-term machines is not well understood. If the small number of physical qubits precludes practical quantum error correction, how can these error-susceptible processors be used to perform useful tasks? We present a strategy for developing quantum error detection for certain gate imperfections that utilizes additional internal states and does not require additional physical qubits. Examples for adding error detection are provided for a universal gate set in the trapped-ion platform. Error detection can be used to certify individual gate operations against certain errors, and the irreversible nature of the detection allows a result of a complex computation to be checked at the end for error flags.
Prophylactic colectomy for children with familial adenomatous polyposis: resource utilization and outcomes for open and laparoscopic surgery.

Background Laparoscopic approach for the surgical management of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) has become increasingly common for pediatric patients. The purpose of this study was to compare short-term outcomes and resource utilization between open and laparoscopic surgery for prophylactic colectomy in children with FAP. Methods The Kids' Inpatient Database (2009 and 2012) was analyzed for children (age ≤20 years) with FAP that underwent prophylactic total colectomy or proctocolectomy. Patient demographics, treating hospital characteristics, hospital charges, and short-term outcomes were compared according to the surgical technique utilized (open versus laparoscopic). Results Overall, we identified 216 patients with FAP that underwent elective total colectomy, of which 95 cases were performed by open surgery and 121 were done laparoscopically. The majority of patients were treated at large, not-for-profit, urban teaching hospitals, and the median age was equal (16 years) in both groups. Complications that were more common for open procedures included accidental perforation or hemorrhage (4% vs. 0%, P=0.023), reopening of surgical site (3% vs. 0%, P=0.049), and pneumonia (3% vs. 0%, P=0.049). Simultaneous proctectomy was performed more commonly in the open cohort (91% vs. 71%, P<0.001) as well as ileostomy creation (74% vs. 49%, P<0.001). The median length of stay was similar in the open and laparoscopic groups (7 vs. 6 days, P=0.712). Median total hospital charges were also similar ($67,334 vs. $68,717, P=0.080). Conclusions A laparoscopic approach for prophylactic colectomy can be safely performed in children with FAP, and total hospital charges are equivalent compared to open surgery. However, simultaneous proctectomy was performed less often with laparoscopic surgery.
Variation in Colorectal Cancer Stage and Mortality across Large Community-Based Populations: PORTAL Colorectal Cancer Cohort.

INTRODUCTION Colorectal cancer (CRC) incidence and mortality can be reduced by effective screening and/or treatment. However, the influence of health care systems on disparities among insured patients is largely unexplored. METHODS To evaluate insured patients with CRC diagnosed between 2010 and 2014 across 6 diverse US health care systems in the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Patient Outcomes Research To Advance Learning (PORTAL) CRC cohort, we contrasted CRC stage; CRC mortality; all-cause mortality; and influences of demographics, stage, comorbidities, and treatment between health systems. RESULTS Among 16,211 patients with CRC, there were significant differences between health care systems in CRC stage at diagnosis, CRC-specific mortality, and all-cause mortality. The unadjusted risk of CRC mortality varied from 27% lower to 21% higher than the reference system (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.73, 95% confidence interval = 0.66-0.80 to HR = 1.21, 95% confidence interval = 1.05-1.40; p < 0.01 across systems). Significant differences persisted after adjustment for demographics and comorbidities (p < 0.01); however, adjustment for stage eliminated significant differences (p = 0.24). All-cause mortality among patients with CRC differed approximately 30% between health care systems (HR = 0.89-1.17; p < 0.01). Adjustment for age eliminated significant differences (p = 0.48). DISCUSSION Differences in CRC survival between health care systems were largely explained by stage at diagnosis, not demographics, comorbidity, or treatment. Given that stage is strongly related to early detection, these results suggest that variation in CRC screening systems represents a modifiable systems-level factor for reducing disparities in CRC survival.
Observational constraint on cloud feedbacks suggests moderate climate sensitivity

Global climate models predict warming in response to increasing GHG concentrations, partly due to decreased tropical low-level cloud cover and reflectance. We use satellite observations that discriminate stratocumulus from shallow cumulus clouds to separately evaluate their sensitivity to warming and constrain the tropical contribution to low-cloud feedback. We find an observationally inferred low-level cloud feedback two times smaller than a previous estimate. Shallow cumulus clouds are insensitive to warming, whereas global climate models exhibit a large positive cloud feedback in shallow cumulus regions. In contrast, stratocumulus clouds show sensitivity to warming and the tropical inversion layer strength, controlled by the tropical Pacific sea surface temperature gradient. Models fail to reproduce the historical sea surface temperature gradient trends and therefore changes in inversion strength, generating an overestimate of the positive stratocumulus cloud feedback. Continued weak east Pacific warming would therefore produce a weaker low-cloud feedback and imply a more moderate climate sensitivity (3.47 ± 0.33 K) than many models predict. The response of low clouds to warming is uncertain among climate models and dominates spread in their projections. Satellite estimates of tropical cumulus and stratocumulus cloud feedbacks, derived using surface warming trends, suggest a more moderate climate sensitivity than many models predict.
Anti-parasitic use of sericea lespedeza and copper oxide wire particles in small ruminants

Management of gastrointestinal parasitism in sheep and goats is a major challenge in many parts of the world, particularly in the current age of multi-drug anthelmintic resistance. Haemonchus contortus has gained substantial notoriety for its pathogenicity, as well as for its ability to develop resistance to all currently available classes of anthelmintics. As conventional pharmaceuticals continue to lose efficacy, alternative anti-parasitic strategies, such as feeding sericea lespedeza, a plant rich in condensed tannins, and administration of copper oxide wire particles, are gaining popularity in the United States.
Comparing relations of ethnic-racial public regard, centrality, and intergroup contact attitudes among ethno-racially diverse adolescents:

The current cross-sectional study examined how adolescents’ appraisal of how positively others viewed their ethnic-racial group (i.e., public regard) and how integral their ethnic-racial background...
Myogenic autoregulation in bone marrow arterioles and in vivo intramedullary pressure in femora of conscious, female Long Evans rats.

OBJECTIVES The ability to regulate skeletal blood flow is critical for the maintenance of bone. The myogenic response is essential for regulating tissue blood flow. Myogenic responsiveness in bone marrow arterioles has not yet been determined. Furthermore, the literature is disparate regarding intramedullary pressures (IMP) within bone. The purposes of this study were to (1) determine whether bone marrow arterioles have myogenic activity and (2) assess if the autoregulatory zone corresponds with IMP. Also, this study provides detailed methodology on dissecting and isolating bone marrow arterioles for functional assessment. METHODS Experiment 1: Femoral shafts of female Long Evans rats were catheterized to assess in vivo IMP. Experiment 2: Bone marrow arterioles from female Long Evans rats were cannulated. Active and passive myogenic responses were determined. RESULTS In vivo intramedullary pressure averaged 32 ± 3 mmHg, intramedullary pulse pressure averaged 5.28 ± 0.03 mmHg, and the mean maximal diameter and wall thickness of the bone marrow arterioles were 96 ± 7 µm and 18 ± 2 µm, respectively. An active myogenic response was observed and differed (p < .001) from the passive curve. CONCLUSION Bone marrow arterioles have myogenic responsiveness and the autoregulatory zone corresponded with the range of IMP (15-51 mmHg) within the femoral diaphysis of conscious animals.
Hip Capsular Plication With Crossed Mattress Stitch Configuration for a Revision Hip Arthroscopy in the Setting of Capsular Insufficiency.

Abstract The hip capsule is an important static stabilizer of the hip joint. Perioperative capsular management during hip-preservation surgery is critical to maintain hip stability. Many biomechanical and clinical studies have demonstrated the importance of performing a comprehensive capsular closure to restore normal hip kinematics. For this reason, capsular closure or plication is now routine practice for many hip arthroscopists. The purpose of the technique is to describe a capsular plication technique using a mattress stitch configuration performed in the revision setting.
Ribosome as a Translocase and Helicase.

During protein synthesis, ribosome moves along mRNA to decode one codon after the other. Ribosome translocation is induced by a universally conserved protein, elongation factor G (EF-G) in bacteria and elongation factor 2 (EF-2) in eukaryotes. EF-G-induced translocation results in unwinding of the intramolecular secondary structures of mRNA by three base pairs at a time that renders the translating ribosome a processive helicase. Professor Alexander Sergeevich Spirin has made numerous seminal contributions to understanding the molecular mechanism of translocation. Here, we review Spirin’s insights into the ribosomal translocation and recent advances in the field that stemmed from Spirin’s pioneering work. We also discuss key remaining challenges in studies of translocase and helicase activities of the ribosome.
Metabolic engineering of the oleaginous yeast Yarrowia lipolytica PO1f for production of erythritol from glycerol.

Sugar alcohols are widely used as low-calorie sweeteners in the food and pharmaceutical industries. They can also be transformed into platform chemicals. Yarrowia lipolytica, an oleaginous yeast, is a promising host for producing many sugar alcohols. In this work, we tested whether heterologous expression of a recently identified sugar alcohol phosphatase (PYP) from Saccharomyces cerevisiae would increase sugar alcohol production in Y. lipolytica. Y. lipolytica was found natively to produce erythritol, mannitol, and arabitol during growth on glucose, fructose, mannose, and glycerol. Osmotic stress is known to increase sugar alcohol production, and was found to significantly increase erythritol production during growth on glycerol. To better understand erythritol production from glycerol, since it was the most promising sugar alcohol, we measured the expression of key genes and intracellular metabolites. Osmotic stress increased the expression of several key genes in the glycerol catabolic pathway and the pentose phosphate pathway. Analysis of intracellular metabolites revealed that amino acids, sugar alcohols, and polyamines are produced at higher levels in response to osmotic stress. Heterologous overexpression of the sugar alcohol phosphatase increased erythritol production and glycerol utilization in Y. lipolytica. We further increased erythritol production by increasing the expression of native glycerol kinase (GK), and transketolase (TKL). This strain was able to produce 27.5 ± 0.7 g/L erythritol from glycerol during batch growth and 58.8 ± 1.68 g/L erythritol during fed-batch growth in shake-flasks experiments. In addition, the glycerol utilization was increased by 2.5-fold. We were also able to demonstrate that this strain efficiently produces erythritol from crude glycerol, a major byproduct of the biodiesel production. We demonstrated the application of a promising enzyme for increasing erythritol production in Y. lipolytica. We were further able to boost production by combining the expression of this enzyme with other approaches known to increase erythritol production in Y. lipolytica. This suggest that this new enzyme provides an orthogonal route for boosting production and can be stacked with existing designs known to increase sugar alcohol production in yeast such as Y. lipolytica. Collectively, this work establishes a new route for increasing sugar alcohol production and further develops Y. lipolytica as a promising host for erythritol production from cheap substrates such as glycerol.
DEEP: DEnoising Entity Pre-training for Neural Machine Translation.

It has been shown that machine translation models usually generate poor translations for named entities that are infrequent in the training corpus. Earlier named entity translation methods mainly focus on phonetic transliteration, which ignores the sentence context for translation and is limited in domain and language coverage. To address this limitation, we propose DEEP, a DEnoising Entity Pre-training method that leverages large amounts of monolingual data and a knowledge base to improve named entity translation accuracy within sentences. Besides, we investigate a multi-task learning strategy that finetunes a pre-trained neural machine translation model on both entity-augmented monolingual data and parallel data to further improve entity translation. Experimental results on three language pairs demonstrate that \method results in significant improvements over strong denoising auto-encoding baselines, with a gain of up to 1.3 BLEU and up to 9.2 entity accuracy points for English-Russian translation.
Multiple Aperture-Based Antihydrogen Parallel Plate Gravity Experiment

Abstract An experiment is described that could be carried out at the CERN Antiproton Decelerator facility to determine the direction of acceleration of antihydrogen in the earth's gravitational field. The experiment would use two plates separated by a small distance and oriented parallel with the earth's surface. Multiple cylindrical barriers would be used with gaps that allow the antihydrogen to pass through. Shadow regions are created where, with linear motion, the antihydrogen cannot annihilate. However, with parabolic paths, such as those of objects under the influence of gravity, antihydrogen can annihilate within a shadow region. The probability of an atom annihilating in one of the shadow regions is determined. For simplicity the model considers the antihydrogen source as a point and at a temperature of 4 K.
What’s the Question? Ask That and You Will Follow the Path of Discovery

My first week of graduate school in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland in September 1992 was quite memorable. In 1 week, Charles Wellford had us delve into the classic American Bar Foundation Survey on criminal justice as well as Packer’s two models of the criminal process, Denise Gottfredson had us think about research design, and Doug Smith, well, he had us shaking in our pants as we started “introductory” to graduate statistics in criminology. But there was nothing “introductory” about that class. Why you may ask? Well, we didn’t have the option of point and clicking anything. We used a statistical program called GAUSS, with its nonexistent help function and its user-driven code to make it do what you wanted it to do. It was in that first week of graduate school and the remaining 4 years of my graduate school career and the constant presence of Doug Smith that taught me the craft of research, one that was focused on (1) asking very specific and original research questions that could be answered (as best as possible) in a yes/no fashion and (2) whose findings were interesting regardless of how they came out. That training and subsequent research experiences with faculty and colleagues alike are what taught me that research is not an outcome but a process, one that takes time, care, and attention. But to understand how I see research as a process of discovery, I need to take the reader through a brief, longitudinal journey about how I got to where I am, what I have learned in the process, and my hope for what my students will take away and improve upon in their own careers.
Biophotonics for assessing breast cancer

Abstract Biophotonic imaging is rapidly emerging as a tool for clinical assessment of breast cancer at the microscopic and macroscopic scale. Optical biopsy uses near-infrared (NIR) light to analyze tumor margins and lymph nodes with micron-scale resolution intraoperatively. Optical mammography uses NIR light to gain spectroscopic information and three-dimensional images of whole breast tissues noninvasively. The following chapter will review the current research in the application of biophotonic imaging methods such as optical coherence tomography, multiphoton microscopy, vibrational imaging, near-infrared spectroscopy, diffuse optical tomography, and multimodal macroscale imaging for noninvasive diagnosis and intraoperative imaging of breast tumors and lymph nodes.
Culturally Competent Solution-Focused Conversations With Caribbean American Youth: A Case Example

The aim of this article is to expand on the ideas presented in Kim (2014) to include the Caribbean American population in the description of how cultural awareness can be important in therapy, and how—especially in solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT)—a general understanding of, or personal access to, the client’s cultural context may be helpful. Cultural awareness may help to initiate joining and conversation, and often can help the therapist more easily follow the client’s hints about their personal possibilities and solutions. We will describe some of the specific issues and differences from mainstream American culture that Caribbean American youth can face. We will also describe some of the strengths and protective factors that stem from this same background. To illustrate our ideas of how to hold a culturally competent SFBT conversation, we present the case example of Nadine, who sees her therapist Jamie-Lyn to get help to get back on the right track in school. When Jamie-Lyn sees her supervisor, Giselle, she gets some new ideas based on the common cultural background of her client and supervisor. Since this common background will not always be present, therapists should take notice of how Jamie-Lyn with the help of Giselle became more open and curious about her client’s different life experience.
This is not Dr. Conn's aldosterone anymore.

In 1955, Dr. Jerome Conn described a patient with severe hypertension and hypokalemia and an aldosterone-secreting adenoma. The prevalence of hyperaldosteronism is increased among patients with obesity or resistant hypertension. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers reduce the secretion of aldosterone, but with chronic treatment aldosterone concentrations “escape” back to baseline values. Mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonism reduces mortality in patients with heart disease who are already taking an ACE inhibitor and diuretic. In addition to affecting sodium and potassium homeostasis via classical MR-dependent pathways, aldosterone induces inflammation and causes cardiovascular remodeling and renal injury. Some of these effects involve MR-independent pathways. At the same time, ligands other than aldosterone can activate the MR. This paper reviews mechanism(s) for the proinflammatory and profibrotic effects of aldosterone and presents data indicating that endogenous aldosterone, acting at the MR, contributes to many of the pro-inflammatory and pro-fibrotic effects of angiotensin II in vivo.
Biological mechanisms involved in the formation of deoxy sugars. VII. Biosynthesis of 6-deoxy-L-talose.

Several microorganisms have been reported to contain the unusual sugar 6-deoxy- l -talose as a cell wall component. It is the objective of this paper to present experimental evidence for the biosynthesis of this sugar in a cell-free extract of Escherichia coli 045 according to the following reaction sequence: [see PDF for equation] [see PDF for equation] [see PDF for equation] The over-all reaction yielding thymidine diphospho (TDP)-6-deoxy- l -talose was first established using crude enzyme preparations catalyzing Reactions 1, 2, and 3. Unambiguous proof for the formation of the l isomer of 6-deoxytalose was provided by radioisotope dilution experiments. Purification of sonic extracts of E. coli 045 into fractions catalyzing individual steps of the above scheme revealed intermediary formation of TDP-6-deoxy- d -xylo-4-hexosulose. This intermediate was used as substrate to study Reactions 2 and 3. As indicated by brackets, TDP-6-deoxy- l -lyxo-4-hexosulose is a postulated enzyme-bound intermediate. TDP-4-Keto- l -rhamhose-3,5-epimerase (3,5-epimerase) and TDP-6-deoxy- l -talose dehydrogenase (4-reductase) were separated by conventional methods. Neither fraction alone was capable of 6-deoxyhexose biosynthesis, only when combined TDP-6-deoxy- l -talose was formed. When 3,5-epimerase and 4-reductase isolated from Pseudomonas aeruginosa were examined, the reaction sequence proceeded as outlined above except that TDP-6-deoxy- l -mannose ( l -rhamnose) was the end product. Mixing of 3,5-epimerase from E. coli 045 and 4-reductase from P. aeruginosa resulted in net 6-deoxyhexose biosynthesis with TDP- l -rhamnose as the only product. Conversely, when 3,5-epimerase from P. aeruginosa was mixed with 4-reductase of E. coli 045, TDP-6-deoxy- l -talose was the sole product of the reaction sequence. Thus, it appears that 3,5-epimerase and 4-reductase isolated from different sources can work together, but the product of the reaction sequence is determined by the stereospecificity of 4-reductase. Unique properties concerning the stability of TDP-6-deoxy- l -talose which are quite different from other sugar nucleotides are reported. Exposure to mild alkaline conditions results in quantitative degradation to thymidine monophosphate and 6-deoxy- l -talose-1,2-monophosphate. A specific degradation procedure to establish the structure of the cyclic sugar monophosphate is presented.
Thermodynamic and Quantum Thermodynamic Analyses of Brownian Movement

Thermodynamic and quantum thermodynamic analyses of Brownian movement of a solvent and a colloid passing through neutral thermodynamic equilibrium states only. It is shown that Brownian motors and E. coli do not represent Brownian movement.
Specificity, Induction, and Absorption of Pesticin

Abstract Irradiation of pesticinogenic (Pst+) cells of Yersinia pestis with ultraviolet light resulted in a five- to eightfold increase in titer of intracellular pesticin. Extracellular activity in irradiated or control cultures never approached that found within the bacteria. Upon chromatography of crude extracts of Pst+ cells on columns of diethylaminoethyl-cellulose, Sephadex G200, and calcium hydroxyapatite, fractions were recovered which inhibited the growth of indicator cells of Escherichia coli, Y. pseudotuberculosis, Y. enterocolitica, and Pst−Y. pestis. By means of these methods, in conjuntion with fractional precipitation with ammonium sulfate, the antibacterial activity was purified to homogeneity (as judged by disc gel electrophoresis and analysis by double diffusion in agar). The relative sensitivity of each cell type was constant and not affected by the state of purification. These findings indicate that the pesticin molecule alone accounts for lethality. Cells of E. coli and Y. pseudotuberculosis were about 100 and 10 times more sensitive to pesticin, respectively, than were those of Pst−Y. pestis. Activity directed against sensitive cells of these three species was enhanced by 0.1% ethylenediaminetetraacetate (EDTA) and completely inhibited by 0.01 m hemin or 0.001 m Fe3+. The response of Y. enterocolitica to pesticin was variable in the presence of EDTA and was not influenced by Fe3+. Attempts to detect common surface structures responsible for absorption of pesticin by the four cell types were not successful.
Performance and representation of Euclidian Distance Ideal Point Mapping (EDIPM) using a third dimension

Euclidian Distance Ideal Point Mapping (EDIPM) is a simple preference mapping method that allows the identification of consumer ideal points. To date, its implementation has been limited to the first two preference dimensions (2D). The objectives of this study were to (1) implement the method using a third preference dimension, (2) compare results with 2D EDIPM to determine if the individual consumer was significantly improved, and (3) determine if the ideal point solutions yielded by the 2D and 3D EDIPM are meaningfully different. Results showed consumer ideals were better assessed using a third preference dimension and that the ideal points sensory profiles differed significantly between 2D and 3D.
Exact semiclassical solution for the time evolution of a quantum-mechanical system in a circularly polarized monochromatic driving field

Abstract A closed-form exact solution is presented for the time evolution operator of a nonrelativistic hydrogen atom driven by a circularly polarized monochromatic light beam. The solution has the form U ( t , 0) = exp(−i tF )exp(−i tG ), where F and G are time independent operators. All temporal effects of the oscillating field are included. Extension to other systems is easily made. A generalization of the rotating wave approximation to multilevel systems is also presented.
Factors associated with success and failure in the behavioral and cognitive treatment of sexual offenders

A retrospective review of 4381 heterosexual and homosexual pedophiles treated in a community-based program produced preliminary evidence of factors associated with success or failure in treatment. Records of these offenders revealed a number of factors of importance in predicting treatment outcome, including victim and offender characteristics, offending behavior characteristics, and penile plethysmographic findings of deviant and normal sexual arousal. Results indicated that success in treatment was often associated with a minimum number of victims, familiarity and cohabitation with victims, an absence of force or threats employed in the crimes, admission of some responsibility for the offending incidents, and a stable history of employment and relationships with others. Plethysmograph findings confirmed the general impression that low pre-treatment deviant arousal was correlated with improvement. Surprisingly, duration and frequency of offending behaviors were not consistent predictors of treatment response. Limitations of the present study are noted and caution is advised in accepting these findings until corroborated by controlled research.
A descriptive study of speech, language, and hearing characteristics of school-aged stutterers

Abstract Stutterers and nonstutterers, grades 1–12, were chosen randomly from a data pool of nearly 39,000 school children from a National Speech and Hearing Survey (NSHS). One group of stutterers had moderate communicative deviations and another had severe deviations. Nonstuttering, correctly articulating, control subjects were also selected. NSHS data sheets and audiotaped speech and language samples for the three groups were compared with respect to disfluency, articulation, language, voice, hearing, and other characteristics. In addition, stutterers in grades 1–6 were compared with comparable stutterers from a previous study who were selected to have normal articulation and hearing. The results indicate clearly that young stutterers are likely to manifest other communicative impairments, most notably in articulation, voice, and language. It is hypothesized that the coexistence of articulation disorders with stuttering may be a useful criterion for subgrouping stutterers in future investigations.
The light dependent uptake of N-methylphenazinium cations by the thylakoids of isolated chloroplasts.

Abstract The absorption of N -methylphenazinium methylsulfate (MP + methylsulfate) in suspensions of envelope-free chloroplasts is reversibly lowered in the light. When the electron transport system of the chloroplasts is inhibited by 3-(3′,4′-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU), the photobleaching reflects an uptake of MP + into the thylakoids. Its magnitude is a function of the composition and of the pH of the suspension medium and, most importantly, is controlled by the availability of permeant anions which apparently accompany MP + into the thylakoid as counterions. Consequently, the rate of the bleaching is strongly dependent on the permeability of the thylakoid to the available anion. At pH 7.5, the thylakoids of DCMU poisoned pokeweed chloroplasts are able to hold at least 6 MP + /chlorophyll. It is proposed that, in the presence of MP + , the light reaction of Photosystem I in DCMU-inhibited chloroplasts causes a conformational change of the membranes which exposes nucleophilic sites inside the thylakoids. These sites appear to have a high affinity for MP + , but may bind protons or other cations under certain experimental conditions. The uptake of MP + has a hypochromic effect on its absorption band in the near ultraviolet due to the resulting heterogeneous distribution of the dye cation between medium and chloroplast grana.
Viral and Mycoplasmal Pneumonias: Prevention and Treatment

SUMMARY The discovery of many filtrable microbes that cause acute minor respiratory tract infections and their component pneumonias solved many diagnostic and epidemiologic problems, but raised others in regard to prevention and treatment. The separation of mycoplasmal, bedsonial and coxiellar pneumonias from those of viral origin placed antimicrobic therapy on a logical basis for these infections. Hopefully, vaccines eventually will serve to control acute respiratory tract infections, but the multiplicity of causal microbes and other difficulties do not simplify the matter.
Development and in vitro validation of a targeted delivery vehicle for DNA vaccines

Usage of DNA vaccination has been limited by inefficient cellular expression of plasmid constructs used in DNA vaccines. We describe a novel system for enhancing delivery of DNA vaccine plasmids into cells and their nuclei. This delivery system uses recombinant reovirus type 3 sigma1 attachment protein genetically modified with a nuclear localization sequence (sigma1-NLS) as a targeting ligand. Purified sigma1-NLS was covalently conjugated to the polycation polyethyleneimine (PEI) using a carboxyl-reactive cross-linking agent and complexed with plasmid DNA. The benefit of the NLS in enhancement of protein delivery into the nucleus was demonstrated by liposome-mediated loading of cells with sigma1 or sigma1-NLS. In L929 fibroblasts loaded with sigma1-NLS, 69% of the internalized protein was recovered in the nuclear fraction after 6 h compared to just 10% when using unmodified sigma1. Transfection of L929 cells with sigma1-NLS-conjugated PEI complexed with a luciferase expression plasmid resulted in a mean 16-fold increase in luciferase activity over complexes made with unmodified PEI, compared to a mean 3-fold boost obtained using sigma1-conjugated PEI. These results suggest that sigma1-NLS is a useful bifunctional targeting ligand suitable for enhancing DNA delivery and subsequent gene expression for both DNA vaccine applications and nonviral gene therapy.
Electrolyte interactions in cervical mucus and their relationship to circulating hormone levels

The changes in electrolyte composition of cervical mucus (CM) were monitored during the menstrual cycle, using scanning electronc microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). Correlations were sought between the electrolytes present in CM, the physical characteristics of the CM, and circulating levels of gonadal steroids and protein hormones. The results suggest that there is a definite relationship between circulating estrogen levels and electrolyte composition of CM, and also provide information on the secretion of electrolytes during the human menstrual cycle. This information will be of use in development of methods for fertility control directed to the uterine cervix.