cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exploring Self-Concept for Students with Emotional and/or Behavioral Disorders as They Transition from Elementary to Middle School and High School

Although significant research has been conducted around assessment and intervention for students with emotional and/or behavioral disorders (EBDs), few have investigated specifically how students with EBD self-report on their academic and social competence, or self-concept. Using a national longitudinal database, this study explored how students with EBD reported their self-concept in elementary school, how their reported self-concept changed as they transitioned to middle and high school, and, what factors influenced this change. Using latent growth modeling procedures, the study found that students with EBD reported high self-concept across time and that reported self-concept was most impacted by ethnicity (β=−.174) and urbanicity (β=−.113).
Adenocarcinoma of the duodenum: factors influencing long-term survival.

This single-institution retrospective analysis reviews the management and outcome of patients with surgically treated adenocarcinoma of the duodenum. Between February 1984 and August 1996, fifty-five patients with adenocarcinoma of the duodenum underwent surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Univariate analysis was performed to identify possible prognostic indicators. Curative resection was performed in 48 patients (87%): 35 of these patients (73%) underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD), whereas 27% (n = 13) underwent a pancreas-sparing duodenectomy (PSD). Patients undergoing PD were comparable to those undergoing PSD with respect to demographic factors, presenting symptoms, and tumor pathology. The remaining 13% of patients (n = 7) were deemed unresectable at the time of surgery and underwent biopsy and/or palliative bypass. PD was associated with an increase in postoperative complications when compared to PSD (57% vs. 30%), but this difference was not statistically significant. One perioperative death occurred following PD (mortality 2.9%), The overall 5-year survival rate for the 48 patients undergoing potentially curative resection was 53 %. Negative resection margins (P <0.001), PD (P <0.005), and tumors in the first and second portions of the duodenum (P <0.05) were favorable predictors of long-term survival by univariate analysis. Nodal status, tumor diameter, degree of differentiation, and the use of adjuvant chemoradiation therapy did not influence survival. These data support an aggressive role for resection in patients with adenocarcinoma of the duodenum
Can the Risk of Non-home Discharge After Resection of Gastric Adenocarcinoma Be Predicted: a Seven-Institution Study of the US Gastric Cancer Collaborative

There are no validated methods to preoperatively identify patients with increased risk of discharge to skilled nursing facilities following resection of gastric cancer. We sought to identify preoperative predictors of non-home discharge to optimize transition of care to skilled nursing facility. Patients who underwent resection of gastric cancer from 2000 to 2012 from seven participating institutions of the US Gastric Cancer Collaborative were analyzed. Fisher’s exact tests, Student t tests, and logistic regression analyses identified preoperative variables associated with non-home discharge. A prediction tool was created and validated through c-indices. Survival analysis was conducted according to the methods of Kaplan and Meier. Out of the 918 patients identified, 93 (10 %) were discharged to nonhome location. Univariate analysis identified advancing age, American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) score, hypertension, decreasing preoperative albumin, and lack of neoadjuvant chemotherapy as risk factors for non-home discharge (NHD). Multivariable analysis identified advanced age (odds ratio (OR) = 1.07, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 1.04–1.10, p < 0.0001), depressed preoperative albumin (OR = 2.17, 95 % CI = 1.47–3.19, p = 0.0001), and total gastrectomy (OR = 2.56, 95 % CI = 1.53–4.3, p = 0.0003) as risk factors for NHD. The c-index of the model and the validation population were 0.76 and 0.8, respectively. Additionally, there was an association of decreased overall survival in patients discharged to nonhome location (35.5 months, home discharge, vs 12 months, NHD, p < 0.0001). Older patients with compromised nutritional status have greater risk of NHD following resection of gastric cancer. The prediction tool can augment preoperative planning to optimize transition of care to skilled nursing facility.
Mutagens and potential mutagens in the biosphere II. Metals—Mercury, Lead, Cadmium and Tin☆

Abstract Comparative data (wherever available) have been presented on the amounts and residues in the environment of a small number of mutagenic and potentially mutagenic metals focussing on mercury, lead, cadmium and tin (and their principal derivatives). Primary consideration has been given to aspects of their production and/ or occurrence, reactivity, disposal, concentration, transfer, longevity, biochemical and toxicological nature of their residues in the various biosphere compartments.
Broadband CARS wavelength conversion in silicon

Broadband coherent antistokes Raman scattering (CARS) is observed experimentally in silicon, facilitated by self‐phase modulation induced spectral broadening of the pump. Numerical modeling reveals the strong influence of free carrier dynamics on the CARS process.
Cytokinins in tobacco crown gall tumors.

Abstract Bacteria-free tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum cv. Wisconsin #38) crown gall strains incited by Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58, 27, B6, CGIC, and AT4 have been analyzed for cytokinin content with the tobacco callus bioassay. All tumor strains contained high total levels of cytokinins ranging from 4–810 kinetin equivalents per kg fresh weight compared to 0.5 kinetin equivalents per kg for normal callus growing on medium with 0.1 μM N6-benzyladenine. Fractionation on a column of Sephadex LH-20 separated cytokinin activity from B6 tumors into a number of components among which ribosyl- trans -zeatin has been purified and characterized based on uv spectrum, biological activity and mass spectrum.
Vocabulary instruction and children's comprehension of basal stories.

THE PURPOSE of this research was to determine the effects of preteaching vocabulary of differing levels of importance to a text using two different methods of instruction on children's comprehension of basal stories. One hundred and twenty average and above-average fifthgrade readers participated in two group sessions. During the first session, small groups of subjects received a vocabulary lesson on one set of five words (central or noncentral), using one of two methods of instruction (dictionary or concept) for one of two stories. Twenty-four hours later the second session was held, and two comprehension measures (recall and questions) and two vocabulary measures (definition and example) were administered. The results of the word-level treatment indicated that preteaching unfamiliar vocabulary enhanced children's comprehension of story ideas that were related to the instructed vocabulary regardless of level of importance. The results of the instructional method treatment were unclear due to interactions with story. The results also suggested that comprehension questions designed to evaluate students' understanding of story ideas that were related to the instructed vocabulary provided a more sensitive measure of children's comprehension than a general recall measure.
Generation And Use Of Spontaneous X-Ray Emission From Laser-Heated Plasmas

Multimillion-degree plasmas are bright (intense, small, short-pulsed) sources of x-radiation. They can be heated by high-power electrical discharges or lasers. Plasmas generated by absorption of sub-microsecond laser pulses are intensely studied for scientific and technological reasons.
Semiclassical model for pion production by neutrons on nuclei

The semiclassical model for pion production by protons has been extended to neutron production. Calculations of the production by both neutrons and protons incident upon Al, Cu, and Pb agree well with experiment. The pion absorption cross sections in nuclear matter deduced from each of the six experiments are reasonably consistent with one another.
Effect of massive dosage of a new corticosteroid (triamcinolone) on the hard and soft tissues of the oral cavity in the normal rat.

Abstract The oral mucous membranes, jaws, and surrounding soft tissues of young rats to whom high dosages of a new potent corticosteroid, triamcinolone, had been administered for prolonged periods were studied histologically. All animals were in other respects “intact” and essentially normal. Comparison of the tissues obtained from triamcinolone-treated and control animals revealed no significant differences in any of the previously normal tissues examined.
Mitral valve aneurysm due to severe aortic valve regurgitation

A 33-year-old man presented to the hospital with shortness of breath and chest pain. He was subsequently diagnosed with Streptococcus mitis endocarditis involving the aortic valve. The initial echocardiogram revealed moderate aortic valve regurgitation and a normal mitral valve without regurgitation. The patient was treated with afterload reduction and antibiotics. Blood cultures were negative within 2 days after initiation of antibiotics. He returned to the hospital 1 month later with worsening …
Feasibility and optimization of the hollow optical fiber drawing process

The drawing process for the fabrication of a hollow optical fiber involves the flow of glass, which is largely heated by thermal radiation, in an inert gas environment. It is critical to maintain the central core, which can collapse if the thermal conditions are not properly imposed and controlled. This paper presents the analysis and simulation of this complicated process. A numerical model is developed, validated, and applied to simulate the hollow optical fiber drawing process under a wide range of boundary conditions, particularly draw speed, tension, and temperature. A feasible domain of the drawing process is identified to give the range of the drawing parameters for which the geometry of the fiber is maintained and collapse of the core and viscous rupture of the fiber are avoided. The effects of drawing temperature and feeding speed, which are crucial factors in determining the geometry and quality of the fiber, are investigated in detail. A multi-variable unconstrained optimal design problem is posed and considered in terms of the feasible domain. An appropriate objective function, comprised of the maximum velocity lag, thermally induced defect concentration and draw tension, is proposed to quantify the quality of the hollow fiber. The univariate search method is then applied to obtain the optimal drawing temperature and feeding speed. This study provides a basis for the optimization of hollow fiber drawing process and indicates that a substantial improvement in fiber quality can be achieved.
An integrated RF MEMS tunable filter

This paper reports on a high-performance MEMS lumped bandpass filter continuously tuned from 1 GHz to 0.6 GHz using 12 electrostatically actuated MEMS capacitors. To demonstrate the benefits of MEMS technologies, a reconfigurable filter array is implemented on a PCB using SMT components and its performance is compared to that of the MEMS filter. Besides the advantage in size, the MEMS filter also exhibits lower loss and greater rejection. To become a viable solution for RF applications, other performance specifications of MEMS filters such as tuning speed and reliability need to be improved.
Changing the Guard in American Cities: A Current Empirical Assessment of Integration in Twenty Municipal Police Departments

This paper provides a comparative empirical examination of integration in twenty major city police agencies over a 14-year time period. The data indicate that in these twenty agencies, obvious and ...
Relationship of chain transcription to poly(A) addition and processing of hnRNA in HeLa cells

Abstract Two pathways for addition of poly(A) to hnRNA can be identified by using very brief periods of exposure to radioactive nucleosides to label hnRNA. Poly(A)-containing molecules of various size classes have been analyzed from cells exposed for 2.5 min or less to 3 H-adenosine [which labels both the transcribed region of hnRNA and the poly(A) added after transcription] or to 3 H-uridine (which labels only the transcribed region). After labeling for 30 sec or 2.5 min with 3 H-U, more than 80% of the radioactivity that enters poly(A)-containing hnRNA is located in molecules sedimenting faster than 32S. Since incorporation of 3 H-U identifies newly synthesized molecules, poly(A) must be added to some large "new" transcripts within 30 sec of exposure to 3 H-U. Although only 10–15% of the poly(A)-containing molecules labeled with 3 H-U sediment at less than 32S, about 35% of the molecules labeled with 3 H-A for 30 sec are smaller than 32S. Most (up to 80%) of the label incorporated into small poly(A)-containing hnRNA molecules during a 1 min exposure to 3 H-A is located in the poly(A) region. Since few of the small molecules are labeled with 3 H-U, they must represent "old" transcripts not yet modified or fragments of originally larger transcripts to which poly(A) is added. Treatment with DMSO of hnRNA molecules sedimenting at less than 32S does not alter their properties. But DMSO treatment of hnRNA sedimenting faster than 45S appears to release small poly(A)-containing molecules. This suggests that some of the large hnRNA molecules may be partially processed, presumably maintained by secondary structure, so that on denaturation they release smaller molecules. There seems therefore to be no single program for hnRNA synthesis and processing; some (mostly large) molecules have poly(A) added immediately after synthesis, whereas other (mostly small) molecules undergo addition at a later time. It is likely also that some molecules are processed prior to addition of poly(A), whereas others are processed after addition of poly(A).
Graphite sublimation and hydrocarbon production due to intense energy deposition

The thermal response of Poco AXF5Q graphite to intense energy deposition was studied using the Electron Beam Test System at Sandia National Laboratories, The carbon sublimation caused by these heat loads was measured and the subsequent surface modifications showed preferential sublimation due to inhomogeneous regions in the graphite. Hydrocarbon production was monitored with an RGA system with the quantities of water, acetylene, methane and heavier hydrocarbons measured as a function of time during the energy deposition tests. Several samples were used for multiple tests, resulting in a study of hydrocarbon production as a function of number of thermal cycles. The hydrocarbon production did not diminish appreciably after 10 shots, suggesting that the observed hydrocarbon production comes from the bulk rather than the surface.
Electrical conduction effect on reliability of low-k dielectric in Cu interconnect

Copper and low-k dielectrics as interconnect materials for advanced microelectronic devices have reliability concerns due to their electrical and mechanical vulnerability. The leakage current of low-k dielectric was studied widely to understand the reliability property. Previous studies focused on intra level voltage bias and emphasized the effect and leakage conduction mechanism in the cap layer, but the role of low k dielectric was not clear [1]. Other low-k leakage study showed different conduction mechanism but not under practical interconnect environment [2]. The characteristic of carrier injection between metal and dielectric was not well addressed previously. Therefore, we study the leakage currents of intra and inter level low-k dielectric with different electron injection directions in practical IC environment, in order to have thorough understanding of the conduction effect on low-k dielectric reliability.
Human influence on the global mercury cycle: understanding the past and projecting the future

Humans have been releasing mercury (Hg) to the environment since antiquity. Due to the toxicity of Hg, the extent of anthropogenic enrichment is a global health concern. Here we use a global biogeochemical box model to quantify anthropogenic enrichment, investigate the timescales required to remove anthropogenic Hg from actively cycling reservoirs, and explore future anthropogenic emission scenarios and their impact on Hg accumulation. By considering the full history of anthropogenic emissions, we find that the global ocean has been substantially enriched by human activity, with implications for exposures of marine fish. Model simulations show anthropogenic Hg entering surface reservoirs is removed on the order of years. Future emission scenarios that achieve substantial reductions in global anthropogenic Hg emissions have the dual benefit of decreasing atmospheric deposition and decreasing the pool of legacy Hg actively cycling in terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems.
Understanding Urban Policy: A Critical Approach

Cochrane's Understanding Urban Policy is a welcome effort to theorize the past five decades of urban policy research and practice. While the majority of his references come out of the U.K. context,...
Measuring soil moisture with active microwave: effect of vegetation

An empirical algorithm for the retrieval of soil moisture content and surface root mean square (RMS) height from remotely sensed radar data over bare fields requiring two co-polarized channels at a frequency between 1.5 GHz and 11 GHz is presented. It gives best results for kh less than 2.5 where k is the wave number and h is the RMS height of the surface and for the local incidence angle greater than 30 degrees. Inversion results indicate that significant amounts of vegetation cause the algorithm to underestimate soil moisture and overestimate RMS height. To address this problem, a simple criteria based on the ratio of the cross-polarized return over the vv-polarized return is developed to select the areas where the inversion results are more reliable, i.e. where the vegetation is sparse enough. In order to assess the inversion accuracy, the derived soil moisture values are compared with in-situ measurements collected over a variety of scenes between 1989 and 1994. The experiments involved are Washita'92, Washita'94, EFEDA'91. Both spaceborne (SIR-C) and airborne (AIRSAR) data are used in the test. The studied areas include an agricultural area in the Mid-West (Washita) and an agricultural area in a semi-arid climate (EFEDA). Over this large sample of conditions, the RMS error in the soil moisture estimate is found to be 3.5% and the RMS error in the RMS height estimate is less than 0.35 cm absolute for bare or slightly vegetated surfaces. The algorithm accuracy over areas with intermediate vegetation cover are discussed.
SPASUR: Interactive Visualization of the Coupler Surfaces of the Spatial 4C Mechanism

This paper presents a software tool entitled SPASUR (SPAtial SURface) for the interactive visualization of the coupler surfaces of the spatial 4C mechanism. The 4C mechanism is a two degree of freedom spatial four-bar linkage. The path traced by a point attached to the coupler or floating link defines a surface in space. An interactive graphical user interface has been created and integrated with kinematic analysis routines to generate and display these coupler surfaces. The result is a user-friendly and efficient means of generating and visualizing the coupler surfaces of the spatial 4C four-bar mechanism.Copyright © 2002 by ASME
Minor Papilla Adenoma Management in Patients with Pancreas Divisum and Familial Adenomatous Polyposis

Several case reports on endoscopic resection of minor papilla adenomas exist in the literature. However, there are no reported cases of endoscopic resection in patients with minor papilla adenomas with associated familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) and pancreas divisum. We report a case of a minor papilla adenoma in a patient with FAP and pancreas divisum. The case demonstrates a new association between these disease processes. Defining pancreatic ductal anatomy prior to endoscopic intervention is essential. In addition, we demonstrate the safety and feasibility of endoscopic management of minor papilla tumors in patients with FAP and associated pancreas divisum.
Variations in water ingestion: the response to barbiturates.

Publisher Summary In this chapter, various findings with respect to barbiturate actions upon drinking are reviewed. It discusses a range of phenomena and classifies those phenomena in terms of variables and models that describe them. The first model is based upon the notion that hypnotic dosage or some function of it suffices to describe the barbiturate facilitation of drinking. A hypnotic dimension of barbiturate action is discussed in the chapter. An implication of simple additivity of effects of various barbiturates follows from the postulated dimension of action that appears to obtain among barbiturate antagonists but not among barbiturate synergists. The finding that various hypnotic barbiturates facilitated drinking to differing degrees necessitated the postulation of at least one dimension of action other than the hypnotic dimension. The chapter discusses the chronic effects and withdrawal after a chronic barbiturate course. When phenobarbital is given with ad lib , food and water intake rise for a very short time and fall rapidly to control levels. Pentobarbital has no effect under these conditions. The withdrawal of phenobarbital results in a marked hypodipsia and hypophagia. A few days after withdrawal, the animals return to a state comparable to controls in terms of food and water intake.
Rate Allocation for Noncollaborative Multiuser Speech Communication Systems Based on Bargaining Theory

We propose a novel rate allocation algorithm for multiuser speech communication systems based on bargaining theory. Specifically, we apply the generalized Kalai-Smorodinsky bargaining solution since it allows varying bargaining powers to match the dynamic nature of speech signals. We propose a novel method to derive bargaining powers based on the short-time energy of the input speech signals, and subsequently allocate rates accordingly to the users. An important merit of the proposed framework is that it is general and can be applicable for resource allocation across a variety of multirate speech coders, and it is robust to a variety of speech quality metrics. The proposed system is also shown to involve a quick and low-complexity training process. We generalize the algorithm to scenarios in which users have unequally weighted priorities. These scenarios might arise in emergency situations, in which certain users are more important than others. The proposed rate allocation system is shown to increase the utility measures for both the Itakura and segmental signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) functions relative to the baseline system that performs uniform rate allocation. Additionally, although the instantaneous bitrate resolution of the speech encoder is not changed, the proposed system is shown to increase the short-time average bitrate resolution, and therefore provides a greater number of operational rate modes for the network
Automated classification and recognition of bacterial particles in flow by multi-angle scatter measurement and a support-vector machine classifier

Biological microparticles scatter light in all directions when illuminated. The complex scatter pattern is dependent on particle size, shape, refraction index, density, and morphology. Commercial flow cytometers allow measurement at two nominal angles (2°≤ θ1 ≤ 20° and 70°≤ θ2 ≤ 110°) of scattered light intensity from individual microparticles with a speed varying from 10 to 10000 particles per second. The choice of angle is dictated by the fact that scattered light in the small-angle region is primarily influenced by cell size and refractive index, whereas side scatter intensity is related to the granularity of cellular structures. Obviously, these rudimentary measurements cannot be used to separate populations of cells of similar shape, size, or structure. Hence, there have been several attempts in flow cytometry to measure the entire scatter patterns. However, the published concepts required use of unique custom-built flow cytometers and could not be applied to existing instruments. It was also not clear how much information about patterns is really necessary to separate various populations of cells present in a given sample. The presented work demonstrates application of patternrecognition techniques to classify particles on the basis of their discrete scatter patterns collected at just five different angles, and accompanied by the measurement of axial light loss. Our approach can be used with existing instruments and requires only the addition of a compact custom-built scatter-detector. Our analytical model of scatter of laser beams by individual bacterial cells suspended in a fluid was used to determine the location for scatter sensors. Experimental results were used to train the SVM-based pattern recognition system. It has been shown that information provided just by six scatter-related parameters was sufficient to recognize various bacteria with 90-99% success rate.
Wafer-Scale Fabrication of Plasmonic Crystals from Patterned Silicon Templates Prepared by Nanosphere Lithography

By combining nanosphere lithography with template stripping, silicon wafers were patterned with hexagonal arrays of nanowells or pillars. These silicon masters were then replicated in gold by metal evaporation, resulting in wafer-scale hexagonal gratings for plasmonic applications. In the nanosphere lithography step, two-dimensional colloidal crystals of 510 nm diameter polystyrene spheres were assembled at the air–water interface and transferred to silicon wafers. The spheres were etched in oxygen plasma in order to define their size for masking of the silicon wafer. For fabrication of metallic nanopillar arrays, an alumina film was grown over the nanosphere layer and the spheres were then removed by bath sonication. The well pattern was defined in the silicon wafer by reactive ion etching in a chlorine plasma. For fabrication of metal nanowell arrays, the nanosphere monolayer was used directly as a mask and exposed areas of the silicon wafer were plasma-etched anisotropically in SF6/Ar. Both techniques ...
Geochemical evidence for widespread euxinia in the Later Cambrian ocean

It has been suggested that the Cambrian ocean was oxygen deficient, but physical evidence for widespread anoxia has been lacking. Gill et al. present sulphur isotope data from Cambrian rocks at six different locations around the world and find a positive sulphur isotope excursion in phase with a large excursion in the marine carbon isotope record, which is thought to be indicative of a global carbon cycle perturbation at the time. A prolonged period of anoxia during the Cambrian may explain the previously enigmatic peculiarities seen in the fossil record. It has been suggested that the Cambrian ocean was oxygen deficient, but physical evidence for widespread anoxia has been lacking. Now, sulphur isotope data from Cambrian rocks at six different locations around the world is presented, with the finding of a positive sulphur isotope excursion in phase with a large excursion in the marine carbon isotope record, which is thought to be indicative of a global carbon cycle perturbation at the time. With the help of a box model, these isotope shifts support the idea of large-scale anoxic and sulphidic conditions in the later Cambrian ocean. Widespread anoxia in the ocean is frequently invoked as a primary driver of mass extinction as well as a long-term inhibitor of evolutionary radiation on early Earth. In recent biogeochemical studies it has been hypothesized that oxygen deficiency was widespread in subsurface water masses of later Cambrian oceans1,2, possibly influencing evolutionary events during this time1,2,3. Physical evidence of widespread anoxia in Cambrian oceans has remained elusive and thus its potential relationship to the palaeontological record remains largely unexplored. Here we present sulphur isotope records from six globally distributed stratigraphic sections of later Cambrian marine rocks (about 499 million years old). We find a positive sulphur isotope excursion in phase with the Steptoean Positive Carbon Isotope Excursion (SPICE), a large and rapid excursion in the marine carbon isotope record, which is thought to be indicative of a global carbon cycle perturbation4,5. Numerical box modelling of the paired carbon sulphur isotope data indicates that these isotope shifts reflect transient increases in the burial of organic carbon and pyrite sulphur in sediments deposited under large-scale anoxic and sulphidic (euxinic) conditions. Independently, molybdenum abundances in a coeval black shale point convincingly to the transient spread of anoxia. These results identify the SPICE interval as the best characterized ocean anoxic event in the pre-Mesozoic ocean and an extreme example of oxygen deficiency in the later Cambrian ocean. Thus, a redox structure similar to those in Proterozoic oceans6,7,8 may have persisted or returned in the oceans of the early Phanerozoic eon. Indeed, the environmental challenges presented by widespread anoxia may have been a prevalent if not dominant influence on animal evolution in Cambrian oceans.
The use of chaotropic salts for separation of ribonucleic acids and proteins from yeast nucleoproteins

The effect of chaotropic salts on the dissociation of ribonucleic acid from yeast nucleoprotein complex was studied. The effectiveness of various salts on the dissociation of ribonucleic acid followed the chaotropic series; i.e., Cl(3)CCOONa = NaClO(4) > NaBr > NaCl. Treatment of the nucleoprotein complex with 0.5M Cl(3)CCOONa or NaClO(4) resulted in RNA removal of about 80%, whereas NaCl and NaBr removed only about 10 and 25%, respectively. Based on the results presented, a simple and novel method for industrial-scale preparation of single-cell proteins with low levels of nucleic acid is proposed.
Prevalence of methicillin-resistant staphylococci in northern Colorado shelter animals

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) have been recognized as significant pathogens in veterinary medicine. There have been documented cases ...
Burkholderia xenovorans RcoM(Bx)-1, a transcriptional regulator system for sensing low and persistent levels of carbon monoxide.

The single-component RcoM transcription factor couples an N-terminally bound heme cofactor with a C-terminal “LytTR” DNA-binding domain. Here the RcoMBx-1 protein from Burkholderia xenovorans LB400 was heterologously expressed and then purified in a form with minimal bound CO (∼10%) and was found to stably bind this effector with a nanomolar affinity. DNase I protection assays demonstrated that the CO-associated form binds with a micromolar affinity to two ∼60-bp DNA regions, each comprised of a novel set of three direct-repeat binding sites spaced 21 bp apart on center. Binding to each region was independent, while binding to the triplet binding sites within a region was cooperative, depended upon spacing and sequence, and was marked by phased DNase I hyperactivity and protection patterns consistent with considerable changes in the DNA conformation of the nucleoprotein complex. Each protected binding site spanned a conserved motif (5′-TTnnnG-3′) that was present, in triplicate, in putative RcoM-binding regions of more than a dozen organisms. In vivo screens confirmed the functional importance of the conserved “TTnnnG” motif residues and their triplet arrangement and were also used to determine an improved binding motif [5′-CnnC(C/A)(G/A)TTCAnG-3′] that more closely corresponds to canonical LytTR domain/DNA-binding sites. A low-affinity but CO-dependent binding of RcoMBx-1 to a variety of DNA probes was demonstrated in vitro. We posit that for the RcoMBx-1 protein, the high CO affinity combined with multiple low-affinity DNA-binding events constitutes a transcriptional “accumulating switch” that senses low but persistent CO levels.
Developing Linguistically Responsive Teachers: Learning through Latino/a Student Stories.

To develop dispositions essential to linguistically responsive teaching (Lucas & Villegas, 2011), preservice teachers need opportunities to engage in reflection and dialogue about the sociocultural and sociopolitical dimensions of identity, language and culture pertinent to Latino/a English language learners. In this article, we present two profiles of linguistically diverse students, highlighting linguistic and cultural elements present in their stories. These profiles of individual English language learners are useful because they personalize the experiences of students and they bring questions and themes relevant to linguistic diversity into the teacher education curriculum. We argue that profiles of students, either presented to preservice teachers in classes or developed as a result of field experiences can help preservice teachers to better understand linguistically diverse students and to develop orientations conducive to meeting the needs of these students.
A Framework for Querying Pedigree Data

Genealogy information is becoming increasingly abundant in light of modern genetics and the study of diseases and risk factors. As the volume of this structured pedigree data expands, there is a pressing need for better ways to manage, store, and efficiently query this data. Building on recent advances in semi-structured data management and proven relational database technology, we propose a general-purpose pedigree query language (PQL) and evaluation framework for elegantly expressing and efficiently evaluating queries on this data. In this paper, we describe how the problem of modeling and querying pedigree data differs from XML, present an overview of PQL, and present efficient evaluation for key parts of the language. Experimental results using real data show significant (>850%) performance improvement for complex queries over naive evaluation
Time course of linguistic information extraction from consecutive words during eye fixations in reading

Sequential attention shift models of reading predict that an attended (typically fixated) word must be recognized before useful linguistic information can be obtained from the following (parafoveal) word. These models also predict that linguistic information is obtained from a parafoveal word immediately prior to a saccade toward it. To test these assumptions, sentences were constructed with a critical pretarget-target word sequence, and the temporal availability of the (parafoveal) target preview was manipulated while the pretarget word was fixated. Target viewing effects, examined as a function of prior target visibility, revealed that extraction of linguistic target information began 70-140 ms after the onset of pretarget viewing. Critically, acquisition of useful linguistic information from a target was not confined to the ending period of pretarget viewing. These results favor theoretical conceptions in which there is some temporal overlap in the linguistic processing of a fixated and parafoveally visible word during reading.
Negative radiation-pressure response of a left-handed plasmonic metamaterial

We present the design, fabrication and opto-mechanical characterization of a left-handed plasmonic metamaterial which exhibits a negative photon-pressure response in the visible frequency range.
Cognitive Risk and Protective Factors for Suicidal Ideation: A Two Year Longitudinal Study in Adolescence

Adolescence is a developmental period associated with heightened risk for both the onset and escalation of suicidal ideation (SI). Given that SI is a potent predictor of suicidal behavior, it is important to develop models of vulnerability for and protection against SI, particularly among young adolescents. This study examined the relative impact of several cognitive vulnerabilities, as well as protective factors, for SI among young adolescents over a 2-year interval encompassing their transition to mid-adolescence. At baseline, 324 adolescents (M = 12.39 years; SD = 0.63; 52.5 % female) completed measures of depressive symptoms, self-referent information processing biases, negative inferential style, and responses to negative affect. Further, the adolescents and their mothers were administered a diagnostic interview to assess current and past depressive disorders and SI. Over follow-up, adolescents and their mothers were administered the diagnostic interview every 12 months and adolescents completed a self-report measure inquiring about SI every 6 months to assess interviewer-rated and self-reported SI. Logistic regressions indicated that preferential endorsement of negative adjectives as self-referent (only among girls), rumination in response to negative affect, and a negative inferential style prospectively predicted SI. Additionally, young adolescents' tendency to respond to negative affect with distraction and problem-solving buffered against their risk for exhibiting SI. When these factors were entered simultaneously, preferential endorsement of negative adjectives as self-referent and the use of distraction and problem-solving skills remained the only significant prospective predictors of SI. No previous studies have examined these variables as predictors of SI, thereby highlighting their potential utility in improving the predictive validity of extant models of suicide risk and resilience.
Retrieval of Archival Finding Aids Using World-Wide-Web Search Engines

This article describes a study of the retrieval of on-line archival finding aids using two Internet search engines. The study was conducted to assess the value of electronic full-text finding aids as tools for locating archival collections. Topical subject headings and personal name headings were chosen from on-line inventories produced by the Southern Historical Collection (SHC) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Keyword, phrase, and Boolean searches were developed using the topical subject headings; keyword and phrase searches were conducted for each personal name. The first one hundred documents retrieved by each search were examined to determine the number of SHC finding aids retrieved. The study found that searches often retrieved unmanageably large result sets and that the majority of SHC finding aids containing the search terms were not among the first one hundred documents retrieved. These results suggest that on-line archival descriptions are often not accessible through common m...
The Prediction of Adverse Outcomes in Antepartum Hypertension

A cohort of 180 women with antepartum hypertension were studied in order to develop a method of identifying those women most likely to experience adverse outcomes from hypertension early in pregnancy so that future work could be directed toward prevention. Women with known chronic hypertension delivered an excess of small for dates, low and very low birth weight infants with a high attributable perinatal mortality. They were prognostically distinct from the women with mild blood pressure elevations first documented early in pregnancy, who experienced excellent pregnancy outcomes. Second trimester mean arterial pressure was the only early predictor of subsequent severe hypertension (P<.001). Severe hypertension, in turn, was the only predictor of adverse infant outcomes (P<.001).Since chronic hypertension can be identified before conception and is associated with an excess of adverse outcomes, it presents a unique opportunity for prospective studies of early intervention(s) aimed at prevention. Future rese...
Thermal Conductance Engineering for High-Speed TES Microcalorimeters

Many current and future applications for superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeters require significantly faster pulse response than is currently available. X-ray spectroscopy experiments at next-generation synchrotron light sources need to successfully capture very large fluxes of photons, while detectors at free-electron laser facilities need pulse response fast enough to match repetition rates of the source. Additionally, neutrino endpoint experiments such as HOLMES need enormous statistics, yet are extremely sensitive to pile-up effects that can distort spectra. These issues can be mitigated only by fast rising and falling edges. To address these needs, we have designed high-speed TES detectors with novel geometric enhancements to increase the thermal conductance of pixels suspended on silicon nitride membranes. This paper shows that the thermal conductivity can be precisely engineered to values spanning over an order of magnitude to achieve fast thermal relaxation times tailored to the relevant applications. Using these pixel prototypes, we demonstrate decay time constants faster than 100 \(\mu \)s, while still maintaining spectral resolution of 3 eV FWHM at 1.5 keV. This paper also discusses the trade-offs inherent in reducing the pixel time constant, such as increased bias current leading to degradation in energy resolution, and potential modifications to improve performance.
On Nazi 'Honour' and the New European 'Dignity'

Commentators generally regard the contemporary European attachment to "human dignity" as the product of a reaction against fascist movements, and especially against Nazism. Yet the history of centrally important institutions of the European dignitary regime predate 1945. More disturbingly, some of those institutions date in significant measure to the fascist era, and in particular to the Nazi period in Germany. Focusing on issues of workplace dignity, this essay argues that the history of the development of "dignity" in European law should be seen a largely continuous history, one that includes developments during the Nazi period. The roots of many continental protections for dignity lie in the historic protection of personal honor. The Nazis made protection of personal honor a core commitment of their legal ideology. The result is that Nazi law included important forerunners of current European protections for "human dignity" - though of course the Nazis meant to extend those protections only to "Germans" as they defined them.
Learning to Teach and Teaching to Learn Mathematics: The Professional Development Program

Overview We believe that it is important for a mathematics department to be actively involved in the professional development of its faculty and graduate students. By professional development we mean the training, assessment, and improvement of teaching skills and practices. Professional development that comes from within the mathematics department, rather than through non-disciplinary channels, is more likely to be meaningful and credible to the instructors who are involved. For example, sensibilities about teaching mathematics are sometimes quite different from those in other disciplines. Compare what is meant by “read the textbook” in a mathematics class to what is meant by the same statement in a literature or history class. In addition, the types and standards of argumentation and precision are different in the mathematics department than they are elsewhere. Moreover, there are certain obstacles that are more prevalent in mathematics than elsewhere. For instance, innumeracy and mathematical illiteracy are far more socially acceptable, or even favored, than is an inability to read or write. For these and other reasons, we feel that the best place for training and supporting mathematics instructors is within the mathematics department. We believe that an effective way for a mathematics department to train its inexperienced instructors, and to support and develop its other faculty members and graduate students is through an integrated professional development program that includes four components.
Developing Professional Nursing in Singapore: A Case for Change

A new national action plan is needed to articulate the direction of healthcare in the new millennium and ameliorate the nursing shortage. Without a proper understanding of how labour statistics relate to these deeply entrenched barriers, current short term solutions will only serve to sabotage future efforts. In order to raise nursing professionalism, there is a need to replace top down management with participatory management. This must be done through a redefinition of the nurses role at the ward level through specialisation and autonomous decision making. It must be done at the policy making level by realising the full leadership potential of nurses at the very top of the hierarchy as well as fairer representation at the Board level. It must be done through developing better clinical practice and creating conducive environment for nurses to continue their nursing education.
Physiological Evidence for the Discrimination ofl-Arginine From Structural Analogues by the Zebrafish Olfactory System

Although it is generally assumed that fish are capable of discriminating amino acid odorants on the basis of differences in side-chain structure, less is known about their ability to discriminate a...
Eye Tracking Reveals Impaired Attentional Disengagement Associated with Sensory Response Patterns in Children with Autism

This study used a gap-overlap paradigm to examine the impact of distractor salience and temporal overlap on the ability to disengage and orient attention in 50 children (4-13 years) with ASD, DD and TD, and associations between attention and sensory response patterns. Results revealed impaired disengagement and orienting accuracy in ASD. Disengagement was impaired across all groups during temporal overlap for dynamic stimuli compared to static, but only ASD showed slower disengagement from multimodal relative to unimodal dynamic stimuli. Attentional disengagement had differential associations with distinct sensory response patterns in ASD and DD. Atypical sensory processing and temporal binding appear to be intertwined with development of disengagement in ASD, but longitudinal studies are needed to unravel causal pathways.
Using Paraffin with -10 deg C to 10 deg C Melting Point for Payload Thermal Energy Storage in SpaceX Dragon Trunk

A concept of using paraffin wax phase change material (PCM) with a melting point between -10 deg C and 10 deg C for payload thermal energy storage in a Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Dragon trunk is presented. It overcomes the problem of limited heater power available to a payload with significant radiators when the Dragon is berthed to the International Space Station (ISS). It stores adequate thermal energy to keep a payload warm without power for 6 hours during the transfer from the Dragon to an ExPRESS logistics carrier (ELC) on the ISS.
Job satisfaction and turnover intent among hospital social workers in the United States

Feelings of job satisfaction and turnover intentions among social workers affect work quality for both social workers and the people for whom they provide services. Existing literature on job satisfaction among hospital social workers is limited, and is overly focused on issues of compensation. There is job satisfaction research with hospital nurses available for comparison. Other informative social work research on job satisfaction and turnover exists in mental health and generally, across settings. Research on turnover intent in social work is primarily from child welfare settings and may not generalize. The literature notes gaps and contradictions about predictors of job satisfaction and turnover intent. Using a large national dataset of hospital social workers, this research clarifies and fills gaps regarding hospital social workers, and explores how Herzberg's theory of work can clarify the difference between sources of job dissatisfaction and job satisfaction. Findings include hospital social workers reporting high job satisfaction and that demographics do not contribute to the predictive models. The findings do support centralized social work departments and variety in the job functions of hospital social workers, and are consistent with the theoretical framework.