cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Investigation of design characteristics and regulatory requirements for snowboarding helmets

Snowboarding has been on the increase, and with this increase has come increased injuries. Many of these injuries have occurred in participants who were not wearing snowboarding helmets. One reason for the lack of wear may be that the available helmets do not meet the needs of snowboarders. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to identify the design characteristics and regulatory requirements that could positively impact the use of snowboarding helmets. Utilising an adaptation of the functional, expressive and aesthetic consumer needs model, an online instrument was distributed to 391 snowboarders. Data were analysed using multiple mean comparisons to assess design characteristics and regulatory needs for the ideal helmet. The results showed that improvements needed to be made in functional, expressive, aesthetic and regulatory (FEAR) areas. Based on the results of this study, snowboarding helmets should be improved to meet the needs of snowboarders, and the application of FEAR needs could increase...
Calculated composition of a 'messenger' ribonucleic acid.

A SPECIAL type of ribonucleic acid, the ‘messenger’ RNA, has been postulated recently, which is assumed to specify the sequence of the amino-acid constituents of a given protein1. This RNA is said to be made under the control of deoxyribonucleic acid and to mirror the composition and the regularities (base-pairing, etc.)2 of the latter, with uracil substituting for thymine3–6. The existence, in DNA, of a nonoverlapping, ‘degenerate’ code, composed of nucleotide triplets that are ‘read’ from a fixed starting point, has also been put forward7. These advances have been paralleled by the equally recent elaboration of what would seem to be the complete amino-acid code in the form of a series of nucleotido triplets8–11.
Thermonuclear processes on accreting neutron stars - A systematic study

A series of model calculations for the evolution of the surface layers of an accreting neutron star is carried out. The neutron star mass, radius, core temperature, and surface magnetic field strength are systematically varied, as are the accretion rate onto the neutron star surface and the metallicity of the accreting matter, in order to determine the effects of these parameters on the properties of thermonuclear flashes in the surface layers and the emitted X-ray bursts that result from such flashes. The core temperatures required for thermal equilibrium are found to be approximately a factor of 2 lower than estimated in earlier work. Owing to the effects of the gravitational redshift, the emitted X-ray bursts have lower peak luminosities and longer durations than those calculated in the Newtonian approximation. The entrainment of hydrogen into helium flashes can cause the flashes to exhibit a rather wide range of observable effects and can decrease by a factor of more than 2 the ratio of persistent accretion-driven luminosity to time-averaged burst luminosity emitted by the neutron star.
Zombies and the Case of the Phenomenal Pickpocket

A prevailing view in contemporary philosophy of mind is that zombies are logically possible. I argue, via a thought experiment, that if this prevailing view is correct, then I could be transformed into a zombie. If I could be transformed into a zombie, then surprisingly, I am not certain that I am conscious. Regrettably, this is not just an idiosyncratic fact about my psychology; I think you are in the same position. This means that we must revise or replace some important positions in the philosophy of mind. We could embrace radical skepticism about our own consciousness, or maintain the complete and total infallibility of our beliefs about our own phenomenal experiences. I argue that we should actually reject the logical possibility of zombies.
Venus ionopause during solar miminum

Pioneer Venus ion composition measurements are used to study the Venus ionosphere during solar minimum. It is suggested that the topside electron density profile at Venus during solar minimum has two distinct regimes. One beween 140 and 180 km is dominated by O2(+) ions which are in photochemical equilibrium. The other regime is above 180 km and is dominated by O(+) ions which are disturbed by the solar wind induced plasma transport. For Pioneer Venus, Mariner 10, and Venera 9 and 10 data, it is found that Venus exhibits a photodynamical type of ionopause during solar minimum.
Synthesis and metabolism of long-chain fatty acids during late developmental stages of Heliothis zea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Abstract Fatty acids 10–20 carbons in chain-length were found by GLC analysis of 6th instar larvae, pharate pupae, pupae, and moths a day after emergence of the bollworm, Heliothis zea . The two largest acids in all stages examined were 16:0 and 18:1. Saturated and mono-unsaturated acids incorporated radioactivity in insects injected with 14 C-1-acetate. The principal acids that were synthesized had 16- and 18-carbon chains. Preparative GLC and analysis of various hydrogenated mixtures of fatty acids showed conclusively that poly-unsaturated 18-carbon acids are not synthesized by this insect. Radioactivity associated with 18:2 comes from tailing of 18:1, whereas that found with 18:3 comes from the synthesis of 20:0 which co-chromatographs with 18:3. Data reported in this paper and by other investigators suggest that Heliothis adults selectively utilize 16:0 fatty acid and conserve 18:1 and polyunsaturated acids. The data are evaluated, discussed, and compared with other observations.
Mutations at Pro67in the RecA Protein P-loop Motif Differentially Modify Coprotease Function and Separate Coprotease from Recombination Activities(*)

Abstract The functional significance of residues in the RecA protein P-loop motif was assessed by analyzing 100 unique mutants with single amino acid substitutions in this region. Comparison of the effects on the LexA coprotease and recombination activities shows that Pro67is unique among these residues because only at this position did we find substitutions that caused differential effects on these functions. One mutant, Pro67→ Trp, displays high constitutive coprotease activity and a moderate inhibitory effect on recombination functions. Glu and Asp substitutions result in low level constitutive coprotease activity but dramatically reduce recombination activity. The purified Pro67→ Trp protein shows a completely relaxed specificity for NTP cofactors in LexA cleavage assays and can use shorter length oligonucleotides as cofactors for cleavage of λ cI repressor than can wild type RecA. Interestingly, both the mutant protein and wild type RecA can use very short oligonucleotides, e.g. (dA)6and (dT)6, as cofactors for LexA cleavage. We have also found two mutations at position 67, which are completely defective for LexA coprotease activity in vivo but still maintain recombinational DNA repair (Pro67→ Lys) and homologous recombination (Pro67→ Lys and Pro67→ Arg) activities. These findings show that the recombination activities of RecA are mutationally separable from the coprotease function and that Pro67is located in a functionally important position in the RecA structure.
Neurotransmitter receptors in brain regions of acrylamide- treated rats. II: Effects of extended exposure to acrylamide.

A single oral dose of acrylamide (25 or 50 mg/kg) increased the level of striatal 3H-spiroperidol binding in six week old male rats. This enhanced dopamine receptor activity was specific since treatment caused no significant changes in glycine, serotonin, and muscarinic cholinergic binding. At the highest acrylamide dose tested (100 mg/kg), elevations of the medullary glycine and frontal cortical serotonin receptors were also found. Pretreatment of animals with a blocker of hepatic mixed function oxidase (SKF 525a) or a thiol blocker (methylmercuric chloride) prevented the acrylamide-induced elevation of striatal spiroperidol binding, indicating that the causative agent was a secondary metabolite of acrylamide. Apomorphine-induced motility was significantly attenuated by 24 hr predosing with acrylamide, suggesting a change in the sensitivity of the dopamine receptor. The behavioral relevance of observed biochemical changes was thus shown by the altered response of treated animals to apomorphine.
Induction chemoradiotherapy increases pleural and pericardial complications after esophagectomy for cancer.

Hypothesis Limited information is available on late complications of multimodality therapy for locally advanced esophageal cancer. This study focuses on postesophagectomy benign pleural and pericardial complications to determine their prevalence, temporal pattern, and treatment, and their association with induction chemoradiotherapy and influence on survival. Methods Between March 1987 and November 2001, 291 patients with clinical stage ≥IIA esophageal cancer underwent esophagectomy; 106 received induction chemoradiotherapy. A propensity score incorporating clinical stage and histopathology was used to identify 100 matched pairs of induction chemoradiotherapy and surgery-only patients. Among these, occurrence of pleural effusion, pericardial effusion, and pericarditis was ascertained by follow-up. Time-related occurrence, risk factors, and association with survival were assessed by repeated-events analyses. Results During follow-up, 61 induction chemoradiotherapy patients experienced at least one pleural or pericardial complication, as did 46 propensity-matched surgery-only patients. Most occurred within 1 year, with 1-year freedom from occurrence only 34% after induction chemoradiotherapy and 59% after surgery only ( p = 0.02). Risk of pleural effusion was nearly twice as great (hazard ratio 1.7, p = 0.0004) and pericardial complications 5 times greater (hazard ratio 5.3, p = 0.0005) after induction chemoradiotherapy than after surgery alone. Complications after induction chemoradiotherapy required intervention somewhat more frequently (58% versus 47%, p = 0.18), although they did not diminish subsequent survival ( p > 0.8). Conclusions Benign pleural and pericardial complications occur surprisingly frequently after esophagectomy, particularly when induction chemoradiotherapy is employed. This must be factored into discussions of morbidity for multimodality treatment strategies for locally advanced esophageal cancer and should be considered distinct from acute toxicity of induction chemoradiotherapy reported.
Hereditary Cancer Syndromes of the Gastrointestinal System

Gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies account for a large percentage of the cancer burden in the United States. Although the majority of cancer cases are sporadic, approximately 5% to 10% of cancer results from inherited genetic mutations. There are several hereditary cancer syndromes of the GI tract that have been identified. To date, the genetics of colorectal cancer and its associated hereditary cancer syndromes have been characterized in detail, and effective screening modalities and recommendations have been incorporated into standards of care. Today, scientists are beginning to understand the genetic basis of pancreatic and gastric cancer, and in some cases have identified a number of their associated inherited cancer syndromes. Information about cancer genetics and hereditary cancer syndromes not only will provide advanced practice nurses with knowledge of these diseases but also, more importantly, will provide opportunities to improve patient care by providing patients with treatment options and opportunities for the early detection and prevention of cancer.
Risk and protective factors for urban African-American youth

The present study investigated risk and resilience processes in a sample of urban African-American youth. Risk and protective factors were assessed across ecological levels including individual, family and community. Both externalizing and internalizing symptomatology were included as measures of child adjustment. Youth and parental reports as well as various methods, such as the Experience Sampling Method, were used to capture the daily experiences of the adolescents from different perspectives. Poverty, hassles, and exposure to violence predicted higher rates of externalizing and internalizing symptoms. Individual and family protective variables emerged as powerful sources of resilience. An inner sense of confidence and helpful family support were associated with reductions in the deleterious effects of community poverty. Two main patterns, protective-stabilizing and overwhelming-risk, seemed to characterize most of the risk by protective factor interactions. The present findings are important for understanding the complex experiences of urban youth and furthering the literature on sources of risk and protection for African-Americans.
AN EVALUATION OF GRE SENDER SCORES AS A MEASURE OF GRADUATE ADMISSIONS SELECTIVITY IN TWO FIELDS

The average GRE Aptitude Test scores of test-takers who had their scores sent to 57 history and 60 chemistry departments in 1972–73 (“score senders”) are compared with the average Aptitude Test scores of first-year students who enrolled in these departments in the fall of 1973 (“enrolled students” or “matriculants”). There is a positive correlation of .5 to .7 between the department mean sender and mean matriculant scores; however, about an equal number of departments in both fields were found to enroll students with average test scores that were relatively lower as well as relatively higher than their average sender scores. Results were similar for departments with high, moderate, and low reputational ratings. Though the self-selection of applicants appears to account for a large part of departmental “selectivity” as this is represented by average GRE Aptitude Test scores, the study concludes that average sender scores should not be used to describe the admissions selectivity of individual graduate departments in these two fields.
Inhibition of ptps by H2O2 regulates the activation of distinct MAPK pathways

It has been shown that endogenous production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during T cell activation regulates signaling events including MAPK activation. Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) have been regarded as targets of ROS which modify the catalytic cysteine residues of the enzymes. We have analyzed the interplay between the inhibition of PTPs and the activation of MAPK by H(2)O(2). Stimulation of Jurkat T cells with H(2)O(2) induces the phosphorylation of ERK, p38, and JNK members of MAPK family. H(2)O(2) stimulation of T cells was found to inhibit the PTP activity of CD45, SHP-1, and HePTP. Transfection of cells with wtSHP-1 decreased H(2)O(2)-induced ERK and JNK phosphorylation without affecting p38 phosphorylation. Transfection with wtHePTP inhibited H(2)O(2)-induced ERK and p38 phosphorylation without inhibiting JNK phosphorylation. The Src-family kinase inhibitor, PP2, inhibited the H(2)O(2)-induced phosphorylation of ERK, p38, and JNK. The phospholipase C (PLC) inhibitor, U73122, or the protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, Ro-31-8425, blocked H(2)O(2)-induced ERK phosphorylation, whereas the same treatment did not inhibit p38 or JNK phosphorylation. Taken together, these results suggest that inhibition of PTPs by H(2)O(2) contributes to the induction of distinct MAPK activation profiles via differential signaling pathways.
FURTHER STUDIES ON THE REGULATION OF PITUITARY ACTH IN RATS WITH HYPOTHALAMIC LESIONS1

“Acute” or “chronic” lesions in the median eminence, can block the adrenal ascorbic acid depletion normally occurring one or four hours following unilateral adrenalcctomy. Such lesions can induce adrenal atrophy in the presence of normal sized testes. Adrenal ascorbic acid depletion in rats with adrenal atrophy is variable, and some of them do not have diabetes insipidus. Pituitary ACTH content is within normal limits in rats with “acute” lesions but falls to 50‰ of normal in animals with “chronic” lesions.
A comparison of canine normal hepatic alkaline phosphatase and variant alkaline phosphatases of serum and liver

Abstract The isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase from normal liver, the corticosteroid induced isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase from serum and liver and a hepatocellular variant isoenzyme of alkaline phosphatase induced by lymphosarcoma have been partially purified and their enzymatic properties compared. The corticosteroid-induced isoenzymes, as well as the isoenzyme induced by neoplasia, appear to have identical properties based on the experiments performed, being distinctly different from the normal hepatic alkaline phosphatase.
Power is Always in Fashion: State‐Centric Realism and the European Security and Defence Policy

The European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) is in large part a product of the institutional development of the EU and the consolidation of its authority over internal issues. This parallels the development of the United States as a global actor shortly after the federal government consolidated power over domestic affairs in the 1890s.
THE LIVER AS THE SITE OF C-REACTIVE PROTEIN FORMATION

The site of formation of C-reactive protein (CxRP, CRP) has been studied with tissues from rabbits, monkeys, and human beings. Rabbits and monkeys were stimulated to produce the acute phase protein by injection of turpentine, croton oil, endotoxin, paratyphoid-typhoid vaccine, or pneumococci. C(14)-amino acid incorporation in vitro was demonstrated by means of autoradiography of immunoelectrophoretic patterns made with culture fluids. It was found that among many different tissues tested liver was the only tissue which incorporated C(14)-lysine and isoleucine into CxRP or CRP. Only livers taken 16 to 24 hr after various stimuli were active; livers from normal animals or from animals killed 3 to 9 hr after stimulation did not produce detectable amounts of CxRP. Inflamed muscle from the injection site did not show C(14)-amino acid incorporation into CxRP. Several human tissues were also cultured, and a few liver cultures found to contain labeled CRP. The formation of CxRP or CRP by the liver was always accompanied by enhanced C(14)-amino acid incorporation into other serum proteins, but the reverse was not always found.
The effect of analogues of thyroxine and 2,4-dinitrophenol on the swelling of mitochondria

Abstract Studies with analogues of thyroxine suggest that the ability of thyroxine to cause mitochondrial swelling is dependent upon the presence of the iodo-substituted diphenyl ether, but independent of the phenolic hydroxyl or the composition of the side chain. Three known “peripheral antagonists” of thyroxine have been shown to antagonize thyroxine-induced swelling. The ability of 2,4-dinitrophenol to prevent mitochondrial swelling appears to depend upon the free hydroxyl and the presence of appropriate electro-negative substituents in the ortho- and para-positions.
Alternating-color quantum dot nanocomposites for particle tracking

Because of their extraordinary brightness and photostability, quantum dots (QDs) have tremendous potential for long-term, particle tracking in heterogeneous systems (e.g., living cells, microfluidic flow). However, one of their major limitations is blinking, an intermittent loss of fluorescence, characteristic of individual and small clusters of QDs, that interrupts particle tracking. Recently, several research groups have reported "nonblinking QDs". However, blinking is the primary method used to confirm nanoparticle aggregation status in situ, and single or small clusters of nanoparticles with continuous fluorescence emission are difficult to discern from large aggregates. Here, we describe a new class of quantum dot-based composite nanoparticles that solve these two seemingly irreconcilable problems by exhibiting near-continuous, alternating-color fluorescence, which permits aggregation status discrimination by observable color changes even during motion across the focal plane. These materials will greatly enhance particle tracking in cell biology, biophysics, and fluid mechanics.
Laparoscopic versus open hernia repair: outcomes and sociodemographic utilization results from the nationwide inpatient sample

Introduction The differences and advantages of laparoscopic (LVHR) and open ventral hernia repair (OVHR) have been debated since laparoscopic hernia repair was first described. The purpose of this study is to compare LVHR and OVHR with mesh in the United States using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS).
Glutathione synthetase–deficient lymphocytes and acetaminophen toxicity

Toxic electrophilic metabolites of acetaminophen are detoxified by conjugation with glutathione. Cellular glutathione content of patients with glutathione synthetase deficiency (5-oxoprolinuria) is 10% to 20% of normal. These patients might be at increased risk for acetaminophen toxicity. The hypothesis was tested by challenging lymphocytes from normals and a patient with glutathione synthetase deficiency in vitro with acetaminophen metabolites generated by a mouse hepatic microsomal drug-metabolizing system. For toxicity to be manifested in normal cells, glutathione content had to be depleted to <20% of control values at high acetaminophen concentrations (500 and 1,500 µg/ml), concentrations similar to blood levels in massive overdose and associated with hepatotoxicity in vivo. The patient's cells had only 14% of normal glutathione content, and exhibited more toxicity at 12.5 µg/ml acetaminophen (within the therapeutic range) as normals at maximum concentrations. The in vitro system may be of value in screening drugs potentially hazardous for glutathione synthetase–deficient patients, for exploring the role of glutathione in the detoxification of xenobiotics, and for examining glutathione protective mechanisms in patients with idiosyncratic cytotoxic drug reactions. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (1981) 29, 51–55; doi:10.1038/clpt.1981.9
Cerebrovascular complications of cardiovascular interventions coronary artery bypass graft procedures

Abstract Coronary artery bypass surgery is a common surgical procedure. The objective of this article is to discuss the cerebrovascular complications of this surgery. Coronary artery bypass surgery can cause brain injury, typically from emboli or brain hypoperfusion. Ischemic strokes do occur after coronary artery bypass surgery. Techniques have been developed to lessen the chance of brain infarction, including performing the surgery without the use of a cardiopulmonary bypass machine. Neuropsychologic decline can also occur after surgery and is discussed. The clinical presentations of brain infarcts are discussed as well as the evaluation and treatment of these patients.
The efficacy of mitral valve surgery in children with dilated cardiomyopathy and severe mitral regurgitation.

Severe mitral regurgitation predicts poor outcomes in adults with left ventricular dysfunction. Frequently, adult patients now undergo initial mitral valve surgery instead of heart transplant. Pediatric data are limited. This study evaluates the efficacy of mitral valve surgery for severe mitral regurgitation in children with dilated cardiomyopathy. This is a single-institution experience in seven children (range, 0.5–10.9 years) with severe mitral regurgitation and dilated cardiomyopathy who underwent mitral valve surgery between January 1988 and February 2005, with follow-up to January 2006. Children with dilated cardiomyopathy had a depressed fractional shortening preoperatively (24.4% ± 6.1%) that remained depressed (22.9% ± 7.6%) 1.3 ± 1.2 years after surgery (p = 0.50). Left ventricular end-diastolic (6.5 ± 1.5 to 4.8 ± 1.8 z-scores, p < 0.01) and end-systolic (6.8 ± 1.5 to 5.5 ± 2.1 z-scores, p < 0.05) dimensions improved. Hospitalization frequency had a median decrease of 6.0 hospitalizations per year (p < 0.02). Three patients were transplanted 0.2, 2.4, and 3.5 years after surgery. There was no perioperative mortality. Mitral valve surgery in children with dilated cardiomyopathy was performed safely and improved symptoms, stabilizing ventricular dysfunction in most patients. Mitral valve surgery should be considered prior to heart transplant in children with dilated cardiomyopathy and severe mitral regurgitation.
MeCP2 Binds Cooperatively to Its Substrate and Competes with Histone H1 for Chromatin Binding Sites

Sporadic mutations in the hMeCP2 gene, coding for a protein that preferentially binds symmetrically methylated CpGs, result in the severe neurological disorder Rett syndrome (RTT). In the present work, employing a wide range of experimental approaches, we shed new light on the many levels of MeCP2 interaction with DNA and chromatin. We show that strong methylation-independent as well as methylation-dependent binding by MeCP2 is influenced by DNA length. Although MeCP2 is strictly monomeric in solution, its binding to DNA is cooperative, with dimeric binding strongly correlated with methylation density, and strengthened by nearby A/T repeats. Dimeric binding is abolished in the F155S and R294X severe RTT mutants. MeCP2 also binds chromatin in vitro, resulting in compaction-related changes in nucleosome architecture that resemble the classical zigzag motif induced by histone H1 and considered important for 30-nm-fiber formation. In vivo chromatin binding kinetics and in vitro steady-state nucleosome binding of both MeCP2 and H1 provide strong evidence for competition between MeCP2 and H1 for common binding sites. This suggests that chromatin binding by MeCP2 and H1 in vivo should be viewed in the context of competitive multifactorial regulation.
A subcarrier multiplexed CDM optical local area network, theory and experiment

A hybrid scheme is proposed for the purpose of suppressing the effects of external modulation and/or laser nonlinearities in subcarrier multiplexing (SCM) fiber optic communications systems. Hybrid CDMA/FDMA combines two schemes in such a way that the resulting hybrid network is robust against interference and is much more spectrally efficient than a CDMA system. Several possible architectures are introduced for the hybrid CDMA/FDMA subcarrier fiber optic local area network (LAN). The networks utilize CDMA and SCM, an asynchronous multiple access scheme. Direct sequence spread spectrum multiple access (DS/SSMA), the most common form of CDMA is employed. It is shown that by using the code sequence sets for which the shift-and-add property holds, intermodulation products (IMPs) and harmonics have a similar interference-like effect as nonmatching sequences do. Owing to the fact that the shift-and-add property holds for conventional spreading sequences, suppression of nonlinear distortions is examined. An average error probability performance evaluation of the selected configuration is presented for a transceiver pair. In analysis of the system, the authors assume the interference term arising from other users is Gaussian distributed. The results are compared to that obtained by exact evaluation of interference distribution using Gauss quadrature rule integration method. The authors compare the performance of this scheme for two different code sequence lengths. They also present some preliminary experimental results on the proposed LAN implementation as well as its measured transmission performance. >
Automatically generating metadata for digital photographs with geographic coordinates

Given location information on digital photographs, we can automatically generate an abundance of photo-related metadata using off-the-shelf and web-based data sources. These metadata can serve as additional memory cues and filters when browsing a personal or global collection of photos.
Morphological analysis of the bumpy profile of phocid vibrissae

Organisms rely on sensory systems to obtain information about their surroundings. The secondarily aquatic lifestyle required marine mammals to develop novel sensory modalities to operate in water. Phocid seals have three groups of vibrissae, mystacial, supraorbital, and rhinal, all of which occur only on the face of the animal (Ling 1977). All species of phocid seals except bearded (Erignathus barbatus) and monk (Monachus spp.) seals have bumps along hair shafts of their mystacial vibrissae (Ognev 1935, King 1983, Hyvarinen and Katajisto 1984, Dehnhardt and Kaminski 1995, Marshall et al. 2006). The vibrissae have an ellipsoidal cross-section with a regularly repeating sequence of crests and troughs to give a sinusoidal profile along their length. This morphology is not known to be present in the hairs of any other mammalian group. The presence of the bumps along the length of the vibrissae allude to three possible functions, including drag reduction, increased sensitivity, and reduced signal interference. These functions are not mutually exclusive. It has been hypothesized that the bumpy morphology of the vibrissae suggests potential hydrodynamic advantages for seals (Fish et al. 2008). The vibrissae vibrate at a frequency related to the flow of water over them as the seal swims (Hyvarinen and Katajisto 1984). The wavy profile of the vibrissae may passively modify the flow of water to reduce vibrations created by drag (Fish et al. 2008). A decrease in the vibrations due to ambient environmental noise could make the vibrissae more sensitive to other flow stimuli. The wavy profile may be an adaptation that aids seals foraging in low visibility environments by allowing them to follow the change in water flow from vortex trails left by swimming prey (Hyvarinen and Katajisto 1984, Dehnhardt et al. 1998, 2001, Schulte-Pelkum et al. 2007). Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) flippers possess tubercles that create a bumpy profile along the leading edge (Winn and Reichley 1985). This morphology has been shown to
Connected Letter Recognition with a Multi-State Time Delay Neural Network

The Multi-State Time Delay Neural Network (MS-TDNN) integrates a nonlinear time alignment procedure (DTW) and the high-accuracy phoneme spotting capabilities of a TDNN into a connectionist speech recognition system with word-level classification and error backpropagation. We present an MS-TDNN for recognizing continuously spelled letters, a task characterized by a small but highly confusable vocabulary. Our MS-TDNN achieves 98.5/92.0% word accuracy on speaker dependent/independent tasks, outperforming previously reported results on the same databases. We propose training techniques aimed at improving sentence level performance, including free alignment across word boundaries, word duration modeling and error backpropagation on the sentence rather than the word level. Architectures integrating submodules specialized on a subset of speakers achieved further improvements.
Who Has the Advantages in My Intended Career?: Engaging Students in the Identification of Gender and Racial Inequalities

This article describes and assesses two learning modules designed to make students aware of gender and racial inequalities present in their own intended careers. Students identify their intended occupation in respect to the Standard Occupational Classification system and then use that code to determine the composition and earnings in that occupation with data provided. Analysis of student papers shows that this assignment contributes not only to the awareness of inequalities, but also to the development of quantitative literacy skills. Panel survey methods reveal substantial c Conclusions consider directions for the development of additional strategies to advance
Active Gaseous Corrosion of Porous Silicon Carbide

In a reducing atmosphere, SiO[sub 2] as an impurity in SiC can react to form SiO and CO gases. Likewise, oxygen in the atmosphere can also lead to the same gaseous species. Experimental data are reported on the rate of weight loss in H[sub 2]-H[sub 2]O atmospheres of porous SiC containing residual SiO[sub 2]. The amount of residual SiO[sub 2] was varied by passive oxidation of the porous SiC prior to heating in the reducing atmosphere. The data are compared to a model of active corrosion to determine the mechanism of weight loss and to identify the gas species present in SiC with SiO[sub 2] as an impurity.
Text Design Patterns in the Writing of Urban African American Students: Teaching to the Cultural Strengths of Students in Multicultural Settings

This article focuses on the expository writing patterns of four academically successful African American high school students. Through detailed text analyses, the research examines subtle and often overlooked culturally influenced text design patterns that these academically successful bidialectal students bring into the classroom. Although the research looks specifically at literacy practices of urban African American writers, the findings have implications for a broad range of culturally diverse students and demonstrate writing strategies that composition teachers can call upon in their attempts to design more effective writing instruction for diverse groups of students.
The effect of the ionosphere on remote sensing of sea surface salinity from space: absorption and emission at L band

The purpose of this work is to examine the effects of Faraday rotation and attenuation/emission in the ionosphere in the context of a future remote sensing system in space to measure salinity. Sea surface salinity is important for understanding ocean circulation and for modeling energy exchange with the atmosphere. A passive microwave sensor in space operating near 1.4 GHz (L-band) could provide global coverage and complement in situ arrays being planned to provide subsurface profiles. However, the salinity signal is relatively small and changes along the propagation path can be important sources of error. It is shown that errors due to the ionosphere can be as large as several psu. The dominant source of error is Faraday rotation but emission can be important.
Structure-Activity Relationship of Fenamates as Slo2.1 Channel Activators

Niflumic acid, 2-{[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]amino}pyridine-3-carboxylic acid (NFA), a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug that blocks cyclooxygenase (COX), was shown previously to activate [Na+]i-regulated Slo2.1 channels. In this study, we report that other fenamates, including flufenamic acid, mefenamic acid, tolfenamic acid, meclofenamic acid, and a phenyl acetic acid derivative, diclofenac, also are low-potency (EC50 = 80 μM to 2.1 mM), partial agonists of human Slo2.1 channels heterologously expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Substituent analysis determined that N-phenylanthranilic acid was the minimal pharmacophore for fenamate activation of Slo2.1 channels. The effects of fenamates were biphasic, with an initial rapid activation phase followed by a slow phase of current inhibition. Ibuprofen, a structurally dissimilar COX inhibitor, did not activate Slo2.1. Preincubation of oocytes with ibuprofen did not significantly alter the effects of NFA, suggesting that neither channel activation nor inhibition is associated with COX activity. A point mutation (A278R) in the pore-lining S6 segment of Slo2.1 increased the sensitivity to activation and reduced the inhibition induced by NFA. Together, our results suggest that fenamates bind to two sites on Slo2.1 channels: an extracellular accessible site to activate and a cytoplasmic accessible site in the pore to inhibit currents.
Theories of Competitive Cloud Droplet Growth and Their Application to Cloud Physics Studies

Abstract In a rising cloud parcel, a small droplet establishes quasi-steady-state fields of vapor density ρ and temperature T around it, approximately satisfying the common relationship, ∇2ρ=∇2T=0, where ∇2 is the Laplacian operator. The fields at this stage merely transfer vapor and heat between the droplet surface and the infinite environment without changing their distributions in space; lowering of ρ and T fields is primarily due to cloud parcel lifting and not by the droplet growth. As the growth continues, the fields begin to compete with others of adjacent droplets and limit their expanse within each territory referred to as “cell.” The supersaturation reaches the maximum shortly thereafter, and the growth mode becomes totally competitive. Under this cell boundary-controlled competitive kinetics, the fields establish a new steady state and transfer properties between the droplet surface and the space inside the cell where ∇2ρ and ∇2T take nonzero constant values. Under this condition, the ρ and T f...
Light Emitting Diode Fluorescence Microscopy increased the detection of smear-positives during follow-up of Tuberculosis patients in India: program implications.

Background In India, since July 2012, at designated Microscopy Centers (DMCs) in 200 medical colleges, sputum smear examination for tuberculosis bacilli changed from Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) method to auramine based Light Emitting Diode Fluorescent Microscopy (LED-FM) method. We assessed the additional yield of smear positives among patients undergoing follow-up sputum examination during TB treatment before and after deploying LED-FM.
Absorption and Clearance of Pharmaceutical Aerosols in the Human Nose: Effects of Nasal Spray Suspension Particle Size and Properties

Purpose The objective of this study was to use a recently developed nasal dissolution, absorption, and clearance (DAC) model to evaluate the extent to which suspended drug particle size influences nasal epithelial drug absorption for a spray product.
The Sub-Prime Lending Debacle in a Word: Capital Politicians and Regulators Depleted It, Causing a Systemic Financial Crisis

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (F&F) funded "conforming" mortgages with cheap debt no matter how little capital they had or how risky the loans due to their public “agency” status. Private label securitizers (PLSers) were able to compete during the last decade due to public deposit insurance and regulation that allowed them to do the same thing. Implicit F&F and PLS capital subsidies totaling about $10 billion per trillion dollars - cumulatively about $800 billion for the decade - "pulled" both F&F and PLS into sub-prime lending, while government housing policy "pushed" unqualified borrowers into the market to share the subsidy. F&F competed with PLSers by increasing both leverage and loan risk, but also cooperated by meeting F&F housing goals with AAA PLS backed by pools of sub-prime loans. This high risk strategy was reportedly profitable during the first half of the decade so long as house prices continued rising rapidly, the rise fueled by this competition. PLSers and F&F competed first to "go for broke" funding unprofitable pools of sub-prime loans likely to default, and eventually to "go broke" while looting their firms and taxpayers, causing the lending bubble of 2005-2007 to inflate to systemic proportions.
The Language-Game View of Religion and Religious Certainty

There is a certain view of religion, deriving from Wittgenstein's thought, that might be called the language-game view of religion. It has many parts, but in essence it holds in its own terms-that religion is a language-game (or cluster of languagegames) in fact engaged in by men; or, what seems to be an alternative way of saying the same thing, or very nearly the same thing, religion is a form of life participated in by men. As such it is in order. Although one needs to enter into the form of lite and engage in the language-game to learn its grammar or logic and to see the order that it has. For its order has internal criteria: what count as, e.g., rational and meaningful within religion are determined not by criteria appropriate to physics or chess playing but by criteria appropriate to religion as it is lived by the religious. This view, it seems to me, captures something true and important about religion. It is impossible to understand what it is to have religious belief without appreciating how such beliefs are held, and gaining such an appreciation requires some familiarity with what goes on in religion. From the outside it looks like fantastic science without apparatus or metaphysics without the reasoned basis of argument. (Thus the great philosophical concern with the arguments for God's existence, a concern very different from Anselm's, who addressed his argument to God as a prayer, and from Aquinas' whose arguments came after his belief.) But the language-game view of religion says a lot more than that some familiarity with the religious life is required for an
Adrenergic receptors in human and experimental pheochromocytoma.

Radioligand binding to adrenergic receptors has become an important technique for identification and quantitation of these receptors. In this article we review our recent findings using subtype-selective radioligands for studying alpha 1 (e.g., [3H]prazosin) and alpha 2 (e.g. [3H]yohimbine) receptors in human platelets and rat renal cortical membranes, and we report new results on changes in adrenergic receptors of patients and animals with pheochromocytoma. Five patients with pheochromocytoma were tested prior to surgery. The number of alpha 2-adrenergic receptors on platelets from these patients and the affinity of these receptors for [3H]yohimbine were similar to values for control subjects. In rats with a transplantable pheochromocytoma we found a 50-fold increase in plasma norepinephrine levels. The number of renal cortical beta-adrenergic receptors (identified using [125I]iodohydroxybenzylpindolol) and alpha 1-adrenergic receptors were decreased while the number of alpha 2-adrenergic receptors did not change. Receptor affinities for radioligands were unaltered in animals with pheochromocytoma. These findings indicate that pheochromocytoma is associated with selective decreases in the number of renal beta- and alpha 1-adrenergic receptors without changing alpha 2-adrenergic receptor number or affinity. Furthermore, the number and affinity of alpha 2-adrenergic receptors are not altered in platelets of patients with pheochromocytoma. We conclude that down regulation (an agonist-mediated decrease in receptor number) occurs in vivo for some, but not all, types of adrenergic receptors.
A Statistical Mechanical Model of Cholesterol/Phospholipid Mixtures: Linking Condensed Complexes, Superlattices, and the Phase Diagram

Despite extensive studies for nearly three decades, lateral distribution of molecules in cholesterol/phospholipid bilayers remains elusive. Here we present a statistical mechanical model of cholesterol/phospholipid mixtures that is able to rationalize almost every critical mole fraction (X(cr)) value previously reported for sterol superlattice formation as well as the observed biphasic changes in membrane properties at X(cr). This model is able to explain how cholesterol superlattices and cholesterol/phospholipid condensed complexes are interrelated. It gives a more detailed characterization of the LG(I)region (a broader region than the liquid disordered-liquid ordered mixed-phase region), which is considered to be a sludgelike mixture of fluid phase and aggregates of rigid clusters. A rigid cluster is formed by a cholesterol molecule and phospholipid molecules that are condensed to the cholesterol. Rigid clusters of similar size tend to form aggregates, in which cholesterol molecules are regularly distributed into superlattices. According to this model, the extent and type of sterol superlattices, thus the lateral distribution of the entire membrane, should vary with cholesterol mole fraction in a delicate, predictable, and nonmonotonic manner, which should have profound functional implications.
Refractive-Index Profiling of Optical Fibers by Microinterferometric Optical Phase Tomography

Transverse cross-sectional refractive-index profiling is demonstrated using a new technique, microinterferometric optical phase tomography (MIOPT). MIOPT allows measurement of fiber profiles containing small and azimuthally asymmetric index variations. Several measured fiber profiles are presented.
Boiling temperature as a scaling parameter for the microscopic relaxation dynamics in molecular liquids.

At sufficiently high temperatures, the center-of-mass microscopic diffusion dynamics of liquids is characterized by a single component, often with weak temperature dependence. In this regime, the effective cage made by the neighbor particles cannot be sustained and readily breaks down, enabling long-range diffusion. As the temperature is decreased, the cage relaxation becomes impeded, leading to a higher viscosity with more pronounced temperature dependence. On the microscopic scale, the sustained caging effect leads to a separation between a faster in-cage relaxation component and a slower cage-breaking relaxation component. The evidence for the separate dynamic components, as opposed to a single stretched component, is provided by quasielastic neutron scattering experiments. We use a simple method to evaluate the extent of the dynamic components separation as a function of temperature in a group of related aromatic molecular liquids. We find that, regardless of the glass-forming capabilities or lack the...
Pet Ownership and the Risk of Dying from Cardiovascular Disease Among Adults Without Major Chronic Medical Conditions

In a recent statement, the American Heart Association stated “There are scant data on pet ownership and survival in people without established cardiovascular disease (CVD)”. This study sought to fill this gap. We analyzed nationally representative data of 3964 adults aged ≥50 who were free from major physical illnesses. Pet ownership was assessed at baseline between 1988 and 1994. Vital status was followed through December 31st 2006. With dogs being most popular pets owned by 22.0 (standard error 0.34) % of the participants, 34.6 % of the study population owned a pet. Pet ownership was associated with low rates of CVD deaths [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.69 (95 % CI 0.45–1.07)] and stroke [0.54 (0.28–1.01)] at borderline significant levels among women. These associations were adjusted for physical activity and largely attributed to having a cat rather than a dog. Among cat owners, the HR of all CVD deaths was 0.62 (0.36–1.05) and the HR of dying from stroke was 0.22 (0.07–0.68) compared with non-cat owners. The corresponding HRs among dog owners were 0.82 (0.51–1.34) and 0.76 (0.34–1.71) respectively. No similar associations were observed among men. The hazard of dying from hypertension was not associated with pet ownership for both men and women. Owning a cat rather than a dog was significantly associated with a reduced hazard of dying from CVD events, in particular, stroke. The protection pets confer may not be from physical activities, but possibly due to personality of the pet owners or stress-relieving effects of animal companionship.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy in College Counseling Centers: Current Trends and Barriers to Implementation

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to examine trends and barriers in implementation of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) programs in college counseling centers (CCCs). Participants were 107 CCC employees who participated in an electronic survey. One third of respondents endorsed use or planned use of DBT at their centers. The most prevalent primary mode of DBT offered was group skills training. Highly endorsed barriers to implementation included productivity demands and lack of individual therapists, time for team consultation, and willingness to offer phone coaching. Suggested implementation strategies include developing community partnerships, use of virtual teams, supporting programs with campus data, and adapting DBT strategically.