cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Landscape of Whole-genome Alterations and Pathologic Features in Genitourinary Malignancies: An Analysis of the Cancer Genome Atlas.

Abstract Background The accumulation of somatic genetic alterations drives carcinogenesis. Little is known, however, about how the level of genetic alteration across an entire cancer genome affects tumor grade, stage or survival. Objective To investigate the influence of somatic mutation count (MC) and copy number variation (CNV) on pathologic and oncologic outcomes in patients with genitourinary malignancies in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Design, setting, and participants TCGA data sets for adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC), bladder urothelial carcinoma (BLCA), chromophobe renal cell carcinoma (RCC; KICH), clear cell RCC (KIRC), papillary RCC (KIRP), pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma (PCPG), prostate adenocarcinoma (PRAD), and testis germ cell tumor (TGCT) were accessed via cBioportal. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis Median MC and CNV were compared among and within each tumor type. Patients were stratified by grade and stage, and differences in MC and CNV were compared. Correlation of MC and CNV with overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) was analyzed when these data were available. Results and limitations Among the tumor types analyzed, BLCA had the highest MC at 167, followed by ACC (89), KIRP (71), TGCT (55), KIRC (45), PRAD (34), PCPG (14), and KICH (12). The tumor type with the highest fraction of the genome with CNV was KICH (0.94), followed by ACC (0.58), TGCT (0.41), BLCA (0.29), KIRP (0.15), PCPG (0.13), KIRC (0.12), and PRAD (0.06). MC was associated with higher T stage in ACC, N stage in KIRC, M stage in ACC, grade in BLCA, and primary Gleason score in PRAD, and was associated with OS and RFS in KICH. CNV was associated with higher N stage in PRAD, grade in KIRC, and Gleason grade in PRAD. In addition, higher CNV was independently associated with inferior RFS for KIRC, as well as inferior OS and RFS for KIRP. Conclusions MC and CNV vary greatly among tumor types. Patient summary Cancers with higher levels of genomic alterations are associated with worse pathologic features and survival. The degree of genomic alterations could serve as a useful marker of disease aggressiveness.
A depositional model for offshore deposits of the lower Blue Gate Member, Mancos Shale, Uinta Basin, Utah, USA

Depositional models that use heterogeneity in mud-dominated successions to distinguish and diagnose environments within the offshore realm are still in their infancy, despite significant recent advances in understanding the complex and dynamic processes of mud deposition. Six cored intervals of the main body of the Mancos Shale, the lower Blue Gate Member, Uinta Basin, were examined sedimentologically, stratigraphically and geochemically in order to evaluate facies heterogeneity and depositional mechanisms. Unique sedimentological and geochemical features are used to identify three offshore environments of deposition: the prodelta, the mudbelt and the sediment-starved shelf. Prodelta deposits consist of interlaminated siltstone and sandstone and exhibit variable and stressed trace fossil assemblages, and indicators of high sedimentation rates. The prodelta was dominated by river-fed hyperpycnal flow. Mudbelt deposits consist of interlaminated siltstone and sandstone and are characterized by higher bioturbation indices and more diverse trace fossil assemblages. Ripples, scours, truncations and normally graded laminations are abundant in prodelta and mudbelt deposits indicating dynamic current conditions. Mudbelt sediment dispersal was achieved by both combined flow above storm wave base and current-enhanced and wave-enhanced sediment gravity flows below storm wave base. Sediment-starved shelf deposits are dominantly siltstone to claystone with the highest calcite and organic content. Bioturbation is limited to absent. Sediment-starved shelf deposits were the result of a combination of shelfal currents and hypopycnal settling of sediment. Despite representing the smallest volume, sediment-starved shelf deposits are the most prospective for shale hydrocarbon resource development, due to elevated organic and carbonate content. Sediment-starved shelf deposits are found in either retrogradational to aggradational parasequence sets or early distal aggradational to progradational parasequence sets, bounding the maximum flooding surface. An improved framework classification of offshore mudstone depositional processes based on diagnostic sedimentary criteria advances our predictive ability in complex and dynamic mud-dominated environments and informs resource prospectivity.
Ways of Speaking about Social Relations

In this chapter, aspects of the speech code within the community studied that indicate culturally distinctive understandings of social relations are examined. The data builds a multifaceted picture of what the respondents had to say about the following areas of social relations: the different roles for science and industry in society at large, the different roles for basic and applied research, and the role of the media and education in public understanding about science.
Effects of external cathodal polarization on classical motor conditioning in dogs

The present study was designed to determine the effects of cathodal polarization on the establishment of motor conditional reflexes (CR's), with faradic shock as reinforcement. Ten dogs were used as controls and another seven as experimental subjects (ES's). In the ES's, stainless-steel electrodes were implanted on the face, infraorbitally, for chronic polarization. Four days later the ES's were trained in a soundproof room with classical conditioning procedures while they were co9nstantly polarized with direct current (1 to 2 ma). Control dogs showed strong (+3 and +4) motor CR's within the first 50reinforced trials, with differentiation after 50 trials. In contrast, the ES's showed poor motor conditioning: six ES's showed poor motor CR's in the first 50 reinforced trials. Only one ES showed prompt, good motor CR's. The fact that cathodal polarization interferes with theestablishment of motor CR's suggests an inhibitory effect on the acquisition of musculoskeletal CR's. It is possible that the inhibitory effects observed are related to the depression produced by cathodal polarization in humans.
Use of sulfonylurea agents in older diabetic patients.

The elderly patient with type II diabetes should be treated in much the same fashion as a younger person with the same disease, although emphasis needs to be placed on minimizing side effects, drug interactions, and hypoglycemia. Chlorpropamide should not be used in these patients, unless there is no other choice. The remaining agents--tolbutamide, acetohexamide, tolazamide, glyburide, and glipizide--should be started at low doses and gradually increased until optimal diabetic control is reached. The initial treatment goal is a FPG level of less than 180 mg/dl and a final goal is a 1- to 2-hour PPG concentration between 140 and 180 mg/dl. The glycosylated hemoglobin value should be no greater than 1.5% above the upper limit of normal, and should be lower, if possible. It must be kept in mind, however, that the closer diabetic patients are to achieving euglycemia, the more likely is hypoglycemia. Treatment goals therefore may have to be relaxed in someone at increased risk of hypoglycemia (e.g., patients with irregular eating habits or renal insufficiency) or when hypoglycemia may pose a greater hazard (e.g., patients with coronary artery or cerebral vascular disease). Patients on sulfonylurea agents should have blood glucose values measured once a month and glycosylated hemoglobin levels determined once every 3 months to alert the clinician to the possible need to adjust therapy. In this way, potential hypoglycemia can be avoided if blood glucose levels are drifting too low and chronic hyperglycemia can be identified and treated within a short period of time. When a patient's status changes--e.g., he is placed on new medication, becomes depressed and anorexic, or develops another medical problem--care must be taken to re-evaluate his diabetes management. Drugs such as sulfonamide antibiotics can potentiate the action of the sulfonylureas and cause hypoglycemia, renal insufficiency may necessitate changing the type of sulfonylurea agent or decreasing the dose, and malnutrition may obviate any need for therapy with an oral hypoglycemic agent. If these guidelines are kept in mind, the older diabetic patient can be managed on a sulfonylurea agent in conjunction with the appropriate diet. Should these measures prove to be ineffective, then insulin therapy should be instituted. Controlling chronic hyperglycemia will help improve the quality of life for patients with diabetes and decrease the probability of developing some of the devastating complications associated with this disease.
Discovering consumer health expressions from consumer-contributed content

It has long been recognized that health consumers and professionals use different vocabularies to express health related concepts. Consumers often find it difficult to understand medical terminologies. If consumers misinterpret the health information they received and rely on it for decision making, this language gap would cause severe consequences. Many efforts have been taken to build Consumer Health Vocabulary (CHV) to bridge the gap and facilitate health information consuming. Extracting vocabularies used by consumers to express health concepts is a significant as well as challenging subtask in developing CHV. However, few studies have focused on developing methods for extracting consumer health expressions. In this work, we proposed a semi-automatic method that employs Principal Components Analysis (PCA) and Logistic Regression for identifying consumer health expressions from consumer-contributed content in social media. The experiment results showed that the proposed method is effective in identifying consumer health expressions from consumer-contributed content. These identified expressions can help to extend CHV and to enhance the performance of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) signals detection.
Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology may not predict functional impairment in HIV: a report of two individuals

With aging of HIV populations, there is concern that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) may become prevalent and difficult to distinguish from HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders. To date, there are no reports documenting histologically verified Alzheimer’s neuropathology in individuals with HIV and dementia. Herein, we report two antiretroviral-treated, virally suppressed, HIV-infected individuals autopsied by the Manhattan HIV Brain Bank. Subject A presented to study at 52 years, already dependent in instrumental activities of daily living (ADLs), with severe cognitive impairment inclusive of learning and memory dysfunction. Her history was significant for educational disability and head trauma. She had rapid cognitive decline and, by death at age 59 years, was bed-bound, incontinent, and non-communicative. At autopsy, she exhibited severe AD neuropathologic change (NIA-AA score A3B3C3) and age-related tau astrogliopathy (ARTAG). She was homozygous for APOE e3/e3. No HIV DNA was detected in frontal lobe by nested polymerase chain reaction. Subject B was a community dwelling 81-year-old woman who experienced sudden death by pulmonary embolus. Prior to death, she was fully functional, living independently, and managing all ADLs. At autopsy, she displayed moderate amyloid and severe tau AD neuropathologic changes (A2B3C2), ARTAG, and cerebral congophilic angiopathy. She was an APOE e3/e4 heterozygote, and HIV DNA, but not RNA, was detected in frontal lobe, despite 20 years of therapy-induced viral suppression. We conclude that in the setting of HIV, AD neuropathology may occur with or without symptomatic cognitive dysfunction; as with seronegative individuals, there are likely to be complex factors in the generation of clinically relevant impairments.
Applying Usability and User Experience within Academic Contexts: Why Progress Remains Slow

In his 2013 article “Slow Ideas,” Harvard professor and MacArthur fellow Atul Gawande discusses two forms of disciplinary change. He describes two surgical innovations from the mid-19th century, an...
Selective capture and analysis of purgeable mercury species in high-activity tank waste at Savannah River Site

ABSTRACTA method has been developed and analytically validated for the analysis of purgeable mercury in caustic nuclear waste. Using multivariate optimization method, purge flow rate was determined to be highly correlated with increased response (p = 0.023). Total recovery of spiked purgeable mercury from deionized water was 99.4 ± 10.6% and 91.6 ± 14.9% from spiked high-activity tank waste samples. Calibration, by external calibration and standard addition calibration, maintained a mean accuracy of 101 ± 5% and 99.9 ± 1.7%, respectively. This method represents a decrease in sample handling and processing over currently standard methods and represents a more amenable method for purgeable mercury analysis in liquid nuclear waste. This validated method has been applied to liquid waste samples from high-activity waste tanks at Savannah River Site.
How Do We Get Our Energy Right Now

It is worthwhile, at this point, to restate what energy is, a question that we discussed in Chapter 1. We have already seen that, formally, energy is a force pushing through a distance, whereby we say “work is done.” We can feel the essence of motion (or kinetic energy) in the concept of the movement of a body, and in the push necessary to make it attain its velocity. We have also seen that bodies can have potential energy as a result of their position (e.g., a weight raised to a height above the floor), and that substances can have energy stored in the chemical bonds of the molecules which comprise them, energy which may be released as heat when the bond is broken.
The Transition Practices of One County's Rural Elementary School Districts and Their Receiving Independent School District.

The purpose of this study was to describe the transition implementation experienced by rural elementary school district students entering the ninth grade at an independent school district, and to describe the ties to the school that exist among these same ninth grade students. This qualitative research involved interviewing 11 ninth grade students, six rural elementary school district counselors and/or administrators, and one independent school district counselor. Conclusions of the study revealed that the independent school district in the study does not have a structured transition implementation program to assist rural elementary school district students. Despite literature that supports the success of transitional programs for students and the fact that the county in the study once had a transitional program, there is currently no program in place. The one thing every rural elementary and independent school district staff member agreed on was that the transition process for the rural elementary students needs drastic improvement. Suggestions were provided by all participants to assist with improving transition.
Simple and precise factorization of the Jarlskog invariant for neutrino oscillations in matter

For neutrino propagation in matter, we show that the Jarlskog invariant, which controls the size of true CP violation in neutrino oscillation appearance experiments, factorizes into three pieces: the vacuum Jarlskog invariant times two simple two-flavor matter resonance factors that control the matter effects for the solar and atmospheric resonances independently. If the solar effective matter potential and the atmospheric effective $\Delta m^2$ are chosen carefully for these two resonance factors, then the fractional corrections to this factorization are an impressive 0.04\% or smaller. We also show that the inverse of the square of the Jarlskog in matter ($1/\hat{J}^2$) is a fourth order polynomial in the matter potential which guarantees that it can be factored into two quadratics which immediately implies the functional form of our approximate, factorized expression.
Effect of Pot Lip Shape on Soil Surface Evaporative Losses

Small pots containing a loam soil were monitored in a growth chamber and wind tunnel to determine the effect of 13 different lip shapes on evaporation from the soil surface. In the growth chamber, ...
Simultaneity and the refusal to choose: The semiotics of Serbian youth identity on Facebook

Although the importance of linguistic simultaneity has long been recognized (Woolard 1998), the concept is underexamined in recent analyses of language use in globalized, digital contexts such as social media. Drawing from an analysis of everyday Facebook posts from youth in Belgrade, Serbia, the article proposes that recognizing four types of simultaneity—of linguistic features, indexical operations, effects, and scale—is key for making sense of social media utterances in political and historical context. On Facebook, Serbian youth mix languages and writing systems in complex ways, adhering to dominant ideologies of language and identity in some ways and flouting them in others. Using the Serbian case as a springboard, along with the four types of simultaneity proposed, I suggest a framework for analyzing language and identity on social media. (Serbia, indexicality, simultaneity, social media, superdiversity, bivalency, youth)*
An Interdisciplinary Sexual Health Rehabilitation Program for Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury: Case Reports

Despite the prominence of sexual health concerns in the spinal cord injury (SCI) population, education regarding sexual functioning and related matters is not well integrated into rehabilitation processes or ongoing care in SCI. Conceptual sexual health care frameworks encompass a range of biopsychosocial factors and recommend utilizing an interdisciplinary approach to meet the diverse needs of individuals with disabilities. Yet, it is rare to have a truly integrated treatment team dedicated to sexual health and functioning in SCI rehabilitative settings. The program described in this article attempts to align itself with proposed recommendations regarding sexual health assessment, intervention, education, and provision of resources for those living with SCI. The aim is to provide individualized and better-coordinated sexual health interventions specific to the cultural, religious, physical, emotional, cognitive, sexual orientation, and gender identity needs of the patients served. Three case reports illustrate how the interdisciplinary sexual health rehabilitation program operated. A review of program challenges and future directions are also discussed.
Incidence and fate of device-related left pulmonary artery stenosis and aortic coarctation in small infants undergoing transcatheter patent ductus arteriosus closure.

Objectives To evaluate short- and middle-term outcomes after transcatheter patent ductus arteriosus (TC-PDA) closure in small infants, specifically device-related left pulmonary artery (LPA) stenosis and aortic coarctation, risk factors, and changes over time. Background Recent studies have demonstrated successful transcatheter PDA (TC-PDA) closure in small infants. LPA stenosis and aortic coarctation have been seen after TC-PDA, but it is not clear whether device-related LPA/aortic obstruction persists. Methods A single-center retrospective study of infants ≤4 kg who underwent TC-PDA closure from February 1, 2007 to September 1, 2018 was performed, evaluating the incidence and risk factors for LPA stenosis and coarctation. Results Forty-four patients underwent successful TC-PDA with Amplatzer Vascular Plug II (AVPII; n = 30), Amplatzer Duct Occluder II-Additional Sizes (n = 10), Amplatzer Duct Occluder I (n = 3), and coil-filled AVPI (n = 1) devices, all via an antegrade approach. Median birthweight and procedural weight were 890 g (range: 490-3,250) and 2.8 kg (range: 1.2-4.0), respectively. Median follow-up was 0.7 years (range: 2 days-7 years). Thirty-eight patients had post-procedure echocardiograms assessing LPA/aortic obstruction. Of those, 17 had LPA flow acceleration/stenosis (≥1.5 m/s), which improved or resolved in all patients with available follow-up; 3 developed mild coarctation (>2 m/s), which improved in the two with more than short-term follow-up; 4 developed mild flow acceleration (1.5-2 m/s) in the descending aorta, which resolved in three and increased in one (2.4 m/s). Flow acceleration in the LPA was associated with younger procedural age, larger PDA minimal diameter, and placement of a device other than the AVPII. There was no device-related mortality or need for reintervention. Conclusion TC-PDA in small infants is effective, without significant complications. Device-related LPA/aortic obstruction can improve with time/growth.
Application-aware scheduling of networked applications over the low-power wireless bus

Recent successes of wireless networked systems in advancing industrial automation and in spawning the Internet of Things paradigm motivate the adoption of wireless networked systems in current and future safety-critical applications. As reliability is key in safety-critical applications, in this work we present NetDAG, a scheduler design and implementation suitable for real-time applications in the wireless setting. NetDAG is built upon the Low-Power Wireless Bus, a high-performant communication abstraction for wireless networked systems, and enables system designers to directly schedule applications under specified task-level real-time constraints. Access to real-time primitives in the scheduler permits efficient design exploration of tradeoffs between power consumption and latency. Furthermore, NetDAG provides support for weakly hard real-time applications with deterministic guarantees, in addition to heretofore considered soft real-time applications with probabilistic guarantees. We propose novel abstraction techniques for reasoning about conjunctions of weakly hard constraints and show how such abstractions can be used to handle the significant scheduling difficulties brought on by networked components with weakly hard behaviors.
Pregnancy and the Perinatal Period

Once thought to be a time of health protection and emotional well-being, pregnancy and the perinatal period is being recognized as a time of increased risk for recurrence of affective and psychotic illness. The factors contributing to this risk are numerous, and the clinical presentation can be confusing for both patient and clinician. Mental illness in the perinatal period and its risks are identifiable and predictable. Additionally, the impact of both conventional and integrative treatments on both mother and developing fetus are becoming better understood. Professionals in the field of perinatal psychiatry aim to develop and hone effective treatments of mental illness, with a focus on minimizing maternal distress and fetal risk, and preventing major adverse outcomes. We have come to understand that, in mental illness and medication treatments in pregnancy, there is no such thing as non-exposure. Our commitment is to minimize the risks of mothers’ and their offsprings’ exposure to acute episodes of illness, with a balanced understanding of the risks of conventional treatments. This chapter will outline current research and clinical guidelines in the treatment of mental illness during pregnancy and the perinatal period.
Trends and racial disparities in aggressive end-of-life care for a national sample of women with ovarian cancer.

Background The clinical landscape has moved toward less aggressive end-of-life care for women with ovarian cancer. However, whether there has been a decline in the use of aggressive end-of-life services is unknown. The authors evaluated current national trends and racial disparities in end-of-life care among women with ovarian cancer using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare-linked data set. Methods In total, 7756 Medicare beneficiaries aged >66 years with ovarian cancer who died between 2007 and 2016 were identified. The authors examined trends and racial disparities in late hospice or no hospice use, >1 emergency department (ED) visit, intensive care unit admission, >1 hospitalization, terminal hospitalization, chemotherapy, and invasive and/or life-extending procedures using multivariable logistic regression. Results The median hospice length of stay did not change over time; however, women were increasingly admitted to the intensive care unit and had multiple ED visits in the last month of life (P 1 ED visit (odds ratio, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.57-2.64) or life-extending procedures (odds ratio, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.45-2.48) compared with non-Hispanic White women. Conclusions Despite clinical guidelines and increasing emphasis on reducing aggressive end-of-life care, the use of aggressive end-of-life care for women with ovarian cancer persists, and care is most aggressive for non-White women.
What It Means to Claim Kamala Harris as “One of Us”

The historic election of Senator Kamala Harris as Vice President of the United States has been a bright spot in an otherwise tragic year. Celebrities and everyday South Asians happily claim that “o...
NOS: modulator, not mediator of cardiac performance.

The 'endothelial' isoform of nitric oxide synthase modulates (but is not obligatory for) cardiac muscle function; signaling by NO in different cellular compartments coordinates diverse effects within the cardiac myocyte (pages 331–334).
The English Levellers and American Public Administration

This article examines the ideas of the seventeenth-century English Levellers and the implications of these ideas for American public administration. The Levellers' ideas with respect to limited govern ment, democracy, and decentralization are discussed, as well as their use of the myth of the Norman yoke to undercut the legitimacy of government and administration. It is argued here that the Levellers presented a vision of limited and decentralized government and ad ministration that is similar to our own traditions of governance and administration. Furthermore, the Levellers arguably helped to estab lish a tradition within our discourse of questioning the legitimacy of governmental and administrative institutions. In the past fifteen years or so, an increasing number of scholars (Cooke 1996; Richardson, 1997, Rohr, 1986; Spicer, 1995; Wamsley et al., 1990) have sought to develop approaches to public administration that are rooted in the ideas of the founders. However, as is well-known, the founders did not invent the Constitution out of whole cloth. Rather, they drew their ideas from a tradition of political thought and practice that dated back, at the very least, to seventeenth century England. This period of English history was especially influential on American politi cal thinking for a number of reasons. During this time, the English be gan to colonize America in significant numbers, bringing along with them the ideas and practices of their homeland. These included, as Sa muel Huntingdon has observed, "the subordination of government to fundamental law, the intermingling of the legal and political realms, the balance of powers between Crown and Parliament,... [and] the vitality of local government authorities" (1968, p. 96). Also, the seventeenth century was a time of constitutional struggle between the king and his Parliament in which English ideas of liberal constitutionalism began to crystallize or take on a more well-defined shape, as expressed at the end of the century in the ideas of John Locke. Important among the political ideas of this period were those ex pressed by the Levellers, a group of radical English political reformers,
Summary Disclosure and the Efficiency of the OTC Market: Evidence from the Recent Pink Sheets Experiment

This paper uses a natural experiment to shed light on several key questions in securities law - the value of disclosure rules, the beneficiaries of disclosure, and the extent to which low-disclosure markets may deviate from semi-strong market efficiency. On November 6, 2006, the Pink Sheets announced that in May 2007, it would introduce a new classification system: each company would receive a simple sign, reflecting its level of disclosure (including “skull and bones” for firms investigated for fraud; a “stop” traffic sign for firms with no disclosures; a “premier” sign for highly-disclosing firms). The new system would not generate any new information - it would merely summarize already public information in one sign. In the event study of stock market returns, I find that the firms that in May 2007 were assigned into “low-disclosing” categories experienced significant negative returns (7% to 16% decline) following the November 2006 announcement of the upcoming classification, relative to OTC firms that received a “transparent” sign. I also analyze non-disclosure-based predictors of the Pink Sheets classification, and the extent to which investors may have relied on such indirect proxies in their trading. Overall, these results suggest that: (1) prominent summaries of public information can affect stock prices of OTC companies; (2) sophisticated investors predicted subsequent placement of firms into categories and thus were aware of existing levels of disclosure; (3) sophisticated investors expected the new summary disclosure system to affect decisions by unsophisticated investors; (4) sophisticated investors did not expect the new classification to significantly affect the behavior of firms’ insiders; and (5) disclosure by self-regulatory organizations can significantly affect financial markets. This evidence also indicates that prior to the new system, “dark” firms’ prices departed significantly from semi-strong efficiency.
Examining Flood Frequency Distributions in the Midwest U.S.1

Villarini, Gabriele, James A. Smith, Mary Lynn Baeck, and Witold F. Krajewski, 2011. Examining Flood Frequency Distributions in the Midwest U.S. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 47(3):447-463. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00540.x Abstract: Annual maximum peak discharge time series from 196 stream gage stations with a record of at least 75 years from the Midwest United States is examined to study flood peak distributions from a regional point of view. The focus of this study is to evaluate: (1) “mixtures” of flood peak distributions, (2) upper tail and scaling properties of the flood peak distributions, and (3) presence of temporal nonstationarities in the flood peak records. Warm season convective systems are responsible for some of the largest floods in the area, in particular in Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa. Spring events associated with snowmelt and rain-on-snow are common in the northern part of the study domain. Nonparametric tests are used to investigate the presence of abrupt and slowly varying changes. Change-points rather than monotonic trends are responsible for most violations of the stationarity assumption. The abrupt changes in flood peaks can be associated with anthropogenic changes, such as changes in land use/land cover, agricultural practice, and construction of dams. The trend analyses do not suggest an increase in the flood peak distribution due to anthropogenic climate change. Examination of the upper tail and scaling properties of the flood peak distributions are examined by means of the location, scale, and shape parameters of the Generalized Extreme Value distribution.
Strategic forum: Soviet seapower — a new kind of navy

The purpose of this article is to draw attention to a change in the trend of Soviet naval developments. This change stems from a combination of: (1) a sharp increase in the allocation of resources to naval shipbuilding; (2) a marked rise in the navy's political influence; and (3) a new approach to the role of seapower in Soviet policy. Professor MccGwire, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, USA, believes that both the nature and the significance of the change are being obscured by the fact that for the past decade naval leaders in the West have been talking of ‘a Soviet naval build-up’, and continue to use the same language to describe the very different present situation. There is no general awareness, even within naval circles, that we are now facing a significant change in established trends. This article draws on a longer and more general article.1
Lessons Learned From 30 Years of Long-Term Variable-Star Photometry

This paper recounts my 30-year involvement with long-term photometry of variable stars of different types. I have observed solo, collaboratively with over 200 other photometrists, both amateur and professional, and with two different automatic telescopes, a 10-inch and a 16-inch. The relative advantages and special problems associated with these different modes are discussed critically with respect to phase coverage, amount of data obtained, and resultant precision and accuracy. The last two sections touch on the questions of archiving of data and co-authorship of papers. The first has been a problem and the secong one has not.
A laminar boundary layer model of heat transfer due to a nonuniform planar jet impinging on a moving plate

A theoretical model is developed of planar jet impingement heat transfer on a moving plate. Boundary layer equations in their integral forms are used in order to include, both near and away from the stagnation line, the effects of surface motion directed perpendicular to the jet plane, an arbitrary surface temperature variation, and nonuniform jet discharge velocity profiles. The validity and accuracy of the approximate solution is assessed by comparison to an exact solution restricted to regions near the stagnation line. Results indicate that the influence of a nonuniform jet discharge velocity decreases with distance from the stagnation line. Surface motion affects heat transfer at regions away from the stagnation line, but has little influence near the stagnation line when the surface temperature is constant.
Fuzzy route choice: an enhancement to future automotive navigation systems

A fuzzy model of the route choice process was developed based on the present production Automap Navigation System and then simulated using the Cubicalc fuzzy simulator package. The simulation ranked the route alternatives in the same order as the production navigation system. This model was then greatly simplified and re-simulated, with performance equal to the original model. The route choice model was then extended to include additional input variables not present in the Automap System and a possible scenario was simulated. The project conclusion is that for present automotive navigation systems, the use of fuzzy set theory merely complicates the system without improving performance. However, future navigation systems which use more input data may benefit from fuzzy rules. >
Driving Across Campus: Assessing the Impact of Drivers' Race and Gender on Police Traffic Enforcement Actions

This study examined the effect of drivers' race and gender on officers' decision to search a driver/vehicle and invoke a legal sanction, controlling for legal and extralegal factors. Logistic regression analyses of 10,210 traffic stops on a university campus indicated that drivers' race and gender had a significant effect on officers' decision to search a driver/vehicle and invoke a legal sanction. Black male drivers were more likely than White drivers to be searched, but were less likely to receive a legal sanction. Unexpectedly, the results showed that Asian drivers were less likely to be searched, but more likely to receive legal sanctions than White drivers. Findings, however, indicated that legal and extralegal factors (i.e., types of traffic violation, time, officer type) were found to have significant effects on officers' decisions during traffic stops.
Sediment accumulation and radionuclide inventories (239,240Pu, 210Pb and 234Th) in the northern Gulf of Mexico, as influenced by organic matter and macrofaunal density

Six cores were collected from the Northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) as part of the ‘‘Deepwater Program: Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Slope Habitats and Benthic Ecology’’ (DGoMB). These cores were collected from water depths ranging fromc700 to 3500 m and processed for radiochemical assays to determine particle reworking (bioturbation) and sedimentation rates in these sediments, pursuant to the research objective to investigate biological, chemical, and physical processes that control the environmental setting for GOM benthic fauna. Bioturbation rates were quantitatively derived from 234 Thxs profiles, with 234 Thxs penetration depths ranging between 0.5 and 4 cm, and bioturbation coefficient values (Db), ranging from c 2t o 30 cm 2 /year. 234 Thxs data were also used to determine the shallow depth limit for particle mixing. Significant values of 239,240 Pu were found over the 3–15 cm depth range, without any pronounced peak activities suitable for sediment dating, indicating periodic and nonlocal mixing events. Sedimentation rates (S) were therefore calculated from 210 Pbxs profiles, assuming steady state conditions, and using the constant flux-constant sedimentation (CF-CS) model. However, only 210 Pbxs data below the 239,240 Pu penetration depth were used for the purpose of determining an upper limit of S. The range of apparent sedimentation rates determined by this approach for these stations is 0.04–0.44 cm/year, after approximately 1000 m depth, sedimentation becomes essentially constant at c0.08 cm/year. To the best of our knowledge, there are no other published sedimentation rates for the GOM outside the immediate area of the Mississippi River Delta region. However, estimates of sedimentation rates presented here fall in line with rates from similar continental margin marine settings. 239,240 Pu and 210 Pbxs inventories are positively correlated (r=0.91, p=0.01; r=0.80, p=0.05, respectively) with macrofauna density, which itself correlates well (r=0.94, p=0.005) to particulate organic carbon (POC) inventories over the top 5 cm, the approximate average particle mixing (bioturbation) depths of 234 Thxs at these GOM stations. However, these inventories did not correlate to benthic mixing intensities and depths. High macrofaunal densities and bioturbation intensities are a consequence of elevated rain rates of organic carbon, which is efficiently degraded at the sediment–water interface before incorporation into the sedimentary record. We hypothesize that relatively high densities of macrofauna in a given location on the sea floor, provide for a well mixed near surface sediment layer, wherein fallout radionuclides are more
Atmospheric Stability in a Generalized Barotropic Model

Abstract An empirical modification of conventional barotropic dynamics is implemented to study the low-frequency variability (LFV) of the upper troposphere. Using the conservation of potential vorticity, generalized spectral barotropic operators that apply at single isentropic levels are constructed. In initial value calculations the empirical model shows improvement in skill compared to the conventional barotropic model, but it does not do significantly better than persistence. For short times, however, the empirically modified model shows a much closer resemblance to the observed streamfunction tendency. Overall, it is a significantly more accurate representation of the atmosphere than the conventional barotropic model. Normal, optimal, and singular modes of the modified model are calculated. The modes of the empirically modified model are more stable and more difficult to excite than those of the barotropic model. These results are consistent with previous studies that found barotropic dynamics deficie...
A Second, Lower Affinity Growth Hormone-Binding Protein in Human Plasma*

In our previous description of the circulating GH-binding protein (GH-BP) we observed, in addition to the main GH-BP complex, a second macromolecular component designated peak I during gel filtration of [125I]GH-plasma mixtures. This component was not further characterized because of its small magnitude, seeming nonsaturability, and suspected artifactual nature. We have now characterized peak I as the complex of a low affinity BP with GH. To gain a better knowledge of the nature of peak I, whole plasma or plasma fractions containing isolated peak I-BP (ammonium sulfate precipitated or prepared by gel filtration of plasma) were incubated with monomeric [125I]GH and varying concentrations of unlabeled GH. The mixtures were then analyzed by Sephadex G-100 chromatography to separate free from protein-bound GH. Peak I-associated radioactivity was saturable at high concentrations of human GH, but not with animal GHs. Saturation/Scatchard analysis yielded an association constant of 105 M−1 and a maximum binding ...
Orthopyroxene thermobarometry in simple and complex systems

In the system FeO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 (FMAS), the equilibrium Al-content of orthopyroxene coexisting with olivine and spinel was reversed in 18 experiments at 1 340° C and 11 or 18 kbar, using graphite capsules and PbO flux. In the CFMAS system (+CaO), the Al-contents of ortho- and clinopyroxene coexisting with olivine and spinel were reversed in 5 experiments at 1 340° C and 18 kbar. The Al-content of clinopyroxene remains constant, while the Al-content of orthopyroxene increases with increasing Fe-content. The Ca-content of clinopyroxene is independent of the Al-content. The data were used to describe the Fe-Mg site distribution in the aluminous orthopyroxene. The Fe-Mg partitioning among orthopyroxene, olivine, spinel and garnet, combined with the Al-content of orthopyroxene, was used to calculate orthopyroxene based thermobarometers in the FMAS, CFMAS and NCFMAS (+Na2O) systems. The thermobarometers were applied to the Adirondack metagabbros, which gave equilibration temperatures of 700–800° C and pressures 7.4–10.3 kbar.
A survey of multimedia compression techniques and standards. Part I: JPEG standard

Abstract This paper is the first part of a comprehensive survey of compression techniques and standards for multimedia applications. It covers the JPEG compression algorithm which is primarily used for full-color still image applications. The paper describes all the components of the JPEG algorithm including discrete cosine transform, quantization, and entropy encoding. It also describes both encoder and decoder architectures. The main emphasis is given to the sequential mode of operation which is the most typical use of JPEG compression; however, the other three modes of operation, progressive, lossless, and hierarchical JPEG, are described as well. A number of experimental data for both grayscale and color image compression is provided in the paper.
New Fixed-Target Experiments to Search for Dark Gauge Forces

Fixed-target experiments are ideally suited for discovering new MeV--GeV mass $U(1)$ gauge bosons through their kinetic mixing with the photon. In this paper, we identify the production and decay properties of new light gauge bosons that dictate fixed-target search strategies. We summarize existing limits and suggest five new experimental approaches that we anticipate can cover most of the natural parameter space, using currently operating GeV-energy beams and well-established detection methods. Such experiments are particularly timely in light of recent terrestrial and astrophysical anomalies (PAMELA, Fermi, DAMA/LIBRA, etc.) consistent with dark matter charged under a new gauge force.
Cellular mechanisms regulating fuel metabolism in mammals: Role of adipose tissue and lipids during prolonged food deprivation

Food deprivation in mammals results in profound changes in fuel metabolism and substrate regulation. Among these changes are decreased reliance on the counter-regulatory dynamics by insulin-glucagon due to reduced glucose utilization, and increased concentrations of lipid substrates in plasma to meet the energetic demands of peripheral tissues. As the primary storage site of lipid substrates, adipose tissue must then be a primary contributor to the regulation of metabolism in food deprived states. Through its regulation of lipolysis, adipose tissue influences the availability of carbohydrate, lipid, and protein substrates. Additionally, lipid substrates can act as ligands to various nuclear receptors (retinoid x receptor (RXR), liver x receptor (LXR), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)) and exhibit prominent regulatory capabilities over the expression of genes involved in substrate metabolism within various tissues. Therefore, through its control of lipolysis, adipose tissue also indirectly regulates the utilization of metabolic substrates within peripheral tissues. In this review, these processes are described in greater detail and the extent to which adipose tissue and lipid substrates regulate metabolism in food deprived mammals is explored with comments on future directions to better assess the contribution of adipose tissue to metabolism.
The sonographic appearance of lesions of the spleen and pancreas in an infant with Langerhans' cell histiocytosis

Langerhans' cell histiocytosis (LCH), the term now used to describe the group of diseases known as histiocytosis X, is a rare disorder of the bone marrow-derived histiocytes that may involve the skin, bone, bone marrow, liver, spleen, lungs, lymph nodes, and rarely the pancreas. Sonographically demonstrable lesions of the spleen and pancreas have not been reported. We present a case of disseminated LCH in a 4-week-old infant to demonstrate the sonographic appearance of splenic and pancreatic lesions that occur with this disease.
Analysis of cell-cycle specific localization of the Rdi1p RhoGDI and the structural determinants required for Cdc42p membrane localization and clustering at sites of polarized growth.

The Cdc42p GTPase regulates multiple signal transduction pathways through its interactions with downstream effectors. Specific functional domains within Cdc42p are required for guanine-nucleotide binding, interactions with downstream effectors, and membrane localization. However, little is known about how Cdc42p is clustered at polarized growth sites or is extracted from membranes by Rho guanine-nucleotide dissociation inhibitors (RhoGDIs) at specific times in the cell cycle. To address these points, localization studies were performed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae using green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged Cdc42p and the RhoGDI Rdi1p. GFP-Rdi1p localized to polarized growth sites at specific times of the cell cycle but not to other sites of Cdc42p localization. Overexpression of Rdi1p led to loss of GFP-Cdc42p from internal and plasma membranes. This effect was mediated through the Cdc42p Rho-insert domain, which was also implicated in interactions with the Bni1p scaffold protein. These data suggested that Rdi1p functions in cell cycle-specific Cdc42p membrane detachment. Additional genetic and time-lapse microscopy analyses implicated nucleotide binding in the clustering of Cdc42p. Taken together, these results provide insight into the complicated nature of the relationships between Cdc42p localization, nucleotide binding, and protein–protein interactions.