cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
226Ra chronology of a coastal marine sediment

Abstract Unsupported 226 Ra ( t 12 = 1620years ) in marine sediments can provide a basis for measuring rates of accumulation of the order of centimeters per thousand years. The excess radium apparently enters the sediments incorporated in phytoplankton. The sensitivity of the method depends upon the initial value of the unsupported 226 Ra and of the value of 230 Th, a parent of 226 Ra, in the sedimentary components. 226 Ra dating was applied to a sediment taken from the slope of the San Clemente Basin in the Southern California coastal region. Rates of sedimentation over two half-lives of the nuclide were found to be either 5.2 or 5.3 cm/1000 years depending upon which of two models for the geochronology is used. One model assumes that the 230 Th brings to the deposit an amount of 226 Ra in equilibrium with it. The other is based upon the growth of the 226 Ra from the 230 Th in the sedimentary components. 238+239 Pu and 210 Pb levels in the upper strata indicated sedimentation rates of the order of 100–500 cm/1000 years, i.e. much faster accumulations. We suggest these derived rates are spurious and reflect bioturbative activities of surface-living organisms.
Canaliculops: clinicopathologic features and treatment with marsupialization.

Purpose To report the features of the rare and under-recognized condition of canaliculops (or canaliculocele) of the eyelid, which is a dilation of the canaliculus, and to evaluate treatment with marsupialization. Design Retrospective interventional case series. Methods The records of 2 patients with canaliculops from the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary were reviewed. Data collected included clinical history, surgical technique, histopathologic analysis, and comparative immunohistochemical analysis of a range of cytokeratins in normal conjunctival epithelium, normal canalicular epithelium, and canaliculops epithelium. Results Two women, 53 and 66 years of age, experienced chronic, noninflammatory, painless medial eyelid and eyelid margin fluctuant swelling after earlier trauma or eyelid surgery. The external mass was accompanied by a whitish opalescent or bluish discoloration of a palpebral surface bulge. Biopsy revealed multilaminar (up to 12 cells thick), nonkeratinizing, tightly packed small squamous epithelial cells that surmounted a highly regimented basal layer with a picket fence arrangement. No goblet cells or subepithelial inflammation were present. Immunohistochemistry revealed only superficial CK7 immunostaining and positive patchy suprabasilar CK17 staining in the canaliculops epithelium, contrasting with their full-thickness positivity and negativity, respectively, in normal conjunctival epithelium. Marsupialization achieved resolution of the condition in each patient. Conclusions An improved awareness of the normal canalicular epithelial structure and its immunohistochemical features can definitively separate canaliculops from conjunctival cysts. Previous treatment of canaliculops has involved complete excisions. Canaliculops may, however, be effectively treated with less invasive marsupialization while obtaining an adequate biopsy specimen for histopathologic diagnosis.
Outcome of Medicare patients with emphysema selected for, but denied, a lung volume reduction operation

Abstract Background. Lung volume reduction operation shows promise in relieving symptoms and improving function in highly selected patients with emphysema. Withdrawal of Medicare funding for patients selected for operation by standard criteria created a matched control group with which to compare lung volume reduction recipients. Methods. A retrospective study was done comparing 22 volume reduction candidates denied operation with 65 contemporaneous and comparable volume reduction recipients. Baseline physiologic characteristics were compared and longitudinal measures of pulmonary function were followed up for 24 months. Results. Patients denied operation were similar to volume reduction recipients in all baseline measurements. Patients denied operation experienced a progressive worsening of their function, whereas volume reduction patients experienced sustained improvements. Absolute survival to date is 82% for the surgical group and 64% for the medical group. Conclusions. The improvement seen in volume reduction patients cannot be attributed to the effects of patient selection or preoperative and postoperative rehabilitation.
A Comparative Analysis of Some Aspects of Educating Young Children in Tanzania and in North America: Tanzanian Parents’ Perspectives∗

Children moving from one country to another to continue their education at an early age, face serious adjustment challenges. Smooth transition from one education system to another depends on many factors, but parents play an important role. This paper is a comparative analysis of some aspects of educating young children in Tanzania on the one hand and in the United States and Canada on the other. Parents’ perspectives on their children's transition to the new education systems are examined and discussed. Data were collected through questionnaire and interviews. The data included demographic information, schooling and transfer information, presence or absence of educational aspirations ("dream") in both contexts, choice of school in the new education system, ratings on some school and home related factors, and parents’ specific observations and concerns about their children's educational development. Each set of data was analyzed separately using appropriate software and methods. Findings indicated that Ta...
Automated software-guided identification of new buspirone metabolites using capillary LC coupled to ion trap and TOF mass spectrometry

The identification and structure elucidation of drug metabolites is one of the main objectives in in vitro ADME studies. Typical modern methodologies involve incubation of the drug with subcellular fractions to simulate metabolism followed by LC-MS/MS or LC-MSn analysis and chemometric approaches for the extraction of the metabolites. The objective of this work was the software-guided identification and structure elucidation of major and minor buspirone metabolites using capillary LC as a separation technique and ion trap MSn as well as electrospray ionization orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight (ESI oaTOF) mass spectrometry as detection techniques. Buspirone mainly underwent hydroxylation, dihydroxylation and N-oxidation in S9 fractions in the presence of phase I co-factors and the corresponding glucuronides were detected in the presence of phase II co-factors. The use of automated ion trap MS/MS data-dependent acquisition combined with a chemometric tool allowed the detection of five small chromatographic peaks of unexpected metabolites that co-eluted with the larger chromatographic peaks of expected metabolites. Using automatic assignment of ion trap MS/MS fragments as well as accurate mass measurements from an ESI oaTOF mass spectrometer, possible structures were postulated for these metabolites that were previously not reported in the literature. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Swine trichinosis in mid-atlantic slaughterhouses: Possible relationship to hog marketing systems

Abstract Digests of diaphragms from 33 482 hogs slaughtered in the mid-atlantic states were examined for the presence of Trichinella spiralis larvae. The samples were obtained from 7 slaughterhouses, ranging in slaughter capacity from less than 50 per day to more than 4000 per day. The sources of the hogs varied from “backyard” operations, raising hogs for home use, to commercial farms. The means by which hogs were brought to the slaughterhouse also differed; the larger slaughterhouses often purchased directly from the producer while the smaller slaughterhouses (1000 hogs per day or less) usually purchased through dealers or brokers. Infected hogs were detected more frequently than was expected from previously-published prevalence studies; overall, 0.58% of samples examined contained T. spiralis larvae. All of the infected hogs were marketed through the smaller slaughterhouses (less than 1000 per day) and nearly all were marketed through brokers. The mean number of larvae per gram of diaphragm, determined by slaugterhouses type, ranged from 0.5 to 74.6; most infections were light although 5 had counts of 1000–2480. Most of the positive samples were obtained from one slaughterhouse, the data from which exhibited marked differences in the frequency of infection by day of the week; 128 positive samples of the total of 190 found were obtained on Fridays, although only 10% of all samples were obtained on that day. Analysis of the geographic origin of shipments containing infected hogs revealed that most originated in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, although the hogs shipped from the latter state might originated in New England or Maryland. Attempts to trace back infected hogs for further epidemiological investigation were largely futile, owing to the absence of an identification system.
Experimental Study of Axisymmetric Instability of Inverse-Dee and Square Tokamak Equilibria

Inverse-dee-- and square--shaped equilibria are observed by experimentally mapping the magnetic-flux plot as a function of time in a tokamak with a 4-null poloidal divertor. Inverse-dee equilibria are observed to be unstable to the vertical magnetohydrodynamic axisymmetric instability on a time scale approx. 1000 poloidal Alfven times. Square equilibria are stable on the time scale available for observation. Instability growth is apparently slowed by field-shaping hoop and wall passive stabilization.
Gorter-Mellink pulsed-source problem in cylindrical and spherical geometry

Abstract An exact solution to the Gorter-Mellink pulsed-source problem is known in plane geometry [Dresner, L. Advances in Cryogenic Engineering (1984) 29 323]. According to this solution, the central temperature (i.e., the temperature at the source location) falls as t − 3 2 , where t is the elapsed time after an instantaneous, plane pulse. No such exact solutions are known to the pulsed-source problem in cylindrical and spherical geometry. But in cylindrical geometry, it can be shown that if the initial condition is an instantaneous temperature rise ΔT inside a cylinder of radius R, the central temperature is bounded from above by a decreasing exponential function of time. The relaxation time of this exponential is related to ΔT and R. In spherical geometry, it can be shown that if the initial condition is an instantaneous temperature rise ΔT inside a sphere of radius R, the central temperature is bounded from above by a function proportional to ( t 0 -t) 9 2 . The extinction time t0 is related to ΔT and R. These predictions have not been tested by experiment, and the author recommends such experiments.
Delay faults in dual-rail, self-reset wave-pipelined circuits

This paper presents a method to detect delay faults in wave-pipeline high speed arithmetic circuits that are constructed of dual-rail self-reset logic gates with input-disable. For this category of circuits we develop a fault model and show that standard test pattern generation algorithm can be used after using a 9-valued logic set. Also, we demonstrate that as soon as a delay fault occurs at any stage of the pipeline, the fault is eventually manifested at the output of the circuit as if a stuck-at fault existed in the circuit for that wave.
Conditioned suppression/avoidance as a procedure for testing hearing in birds: The domestic pigeon (Columba livia)

Although the domestic pigeon is commonly used in learning experiments, it is a notoriously difficult subject in auditory psychophysical experiments, even those in which it need only respond when it detects a sound. This is because pigeons tend to respond in the absence of sound—that is, they have a high false-positive rate—which makes it difficult to determine a pigeon’s audiogram. However, false positives are easily controlled in the method of conditioned suppression/avoidance, in which a pigeon is trained to peck a key to obtain food and to stop pecking whenever it detects a sound that signals impending electric shock. Here, we describe how to determine psychophysical thresholds in pigeons using a method of conditioned suppression in which avoidable shock is delivered through a bead chain wrapped around the base of a pigeon’s wings. The resulting audiogram spans the range from 2 to 8000 Hz; it falls approximately in the middle of the distribution of previous pigeon audiograms and supports the finding of Kreithen and Quine (Journal of Comparative Physiology 129:1–4, 1979) that pigeons hear infrasound.
Still on their honeymoon: a five year case study of an American Hockey League team and the reasons for their continued success

Previous research has indicated that there is a 'honeymoon effect' for teams moving into a new stadium where substantial attendance gains are recognised during the first one to three years. Research also indicates that the same effect is realised for teams new to a city. This case study examines an American Hockey League (AHL) team that five years ago relocated to a new arena in a new city. Surveys totalling 4187 were administered over the five-year period and analysed along with in-depth interviews with senior management to define and characterise the fan base. Two major categories of fans, the hockey fan and entertainment seeker are introduced and analysed along with the 10 major points of relevance which have allowed the team to extend the honeymoon effect beyond the first three years of operation.
Chromatic mechanisms in striate cortex of macaque

We measured the responses of 305 neurons in striate cortex to moving sinusoidal gratings modulated in chromaticity and luminance about a fixed white point. Stimuli were represented in a 3-dimensional color space defined by 2 chromatic axes and a third along which luminance varied. With rare exceptions the chromatic properties of cortical neurons were well described by a linear model in which the response of a cell is proportional to the sum (for complex cells, the rectified sum) of the signals from the 3 classes of cones. For each cell there is a vector passing through the white point along which modulation gives rise to a maximal response. The elevation (theta m) and azimuth (phi m) of this vector fully describe the chromatic properties of the cell. The linear model also describes neurons in l.g.n. (Derrington et al., 1984), so most neurons in striate cortex have the same chromatic selectivity as do neurons in l.g.n. However, the distributions of preferred vectors differed in cortex and l.g.n.: Most cortical neurons preferred modulation along vectors lying close to the achromatic axis and those showing overt chromatic opponency did not fall into the clearly defined chromatic groups seen in l.g.n. The neurons most responsive to chromatic modulation (found mainly in layers IVA, IVC beta, and VI) had poor orientation selectivity, and responded to chromatic modulation of a spatially uniform field at least as well as they did to any grating. We encountered neurons with band-pass spatial selectivity for chromatically modulated stimuli in layers II/III and VI. Most had complex receptive fields. Neurons in layer II/III did not fall into distinct groups according to their chromatic sensitivities, and the chromatic properties of neurons known to lie within regions rich in cytochrome oxidase appeared no different from those of neurons in the interstices. Six neurons, all of which resembled simple cells, showed unusually sharp chromatic selectivity.
Lamb wave characterization by differential reassignment and non-linear anisotropic diffusion

This research develops an algorithm which provides excellent localization of Lamb wave dispersion curves while eliminating spurious components. This result is achieved by combining a differential reassignment procedure with non-linear anisotropic diffusion. This study examines the reassignment and diffusion components individually, before developing a combined algorithm. This combined algorithm is then applied to experimentally measured Lamb waves to develop an image of the dispersion curves of a plate with excellent clarity and definition. These dispersion curves are then used to increase the accuracy of a previously developed procedure to locate a notch.
Self-Reported Measurement of Heart Rate and Blood Pressure in Patients by Physical Therapy Clinical Instructors

Background and Purpose. The Guide to Physical Therapist Practice (Guide) recommends that heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) measurement be included in the examination of new patients. The purpose of this study was to survey physical therapy clinical instructors to determine the frequency of HR and BP measurement in new patients and in patients already on the physical therapists' caseload. The use of information obtained from HR and BP measures in decision making for patient care and the effects of practice setting and academic preparation on the measurement and use of HR and BP also were examined. Subjects and Methods. A sample of 597 subjects was selected from a list of 2,663 clinical instructors at the clinical education sites of the 2 participating universities. Clinical instructors from a variety of practice settings were surveyed. A 26-item survey questionnaire was mailed to the clinical instructors. Results. Usable survey questionnaires were received from 387 respondents (64.8%); 43.4% reported working in an outpatient facility. The majority of the respondents strongly agreed or agreed (59.5%) that measurement of HR and BP should be included in physical therapy screening. When asked if routinely measuring HR and BP during clinical practice is essential, opinions were nearly split (strongly agree or agree=45.0%, strongly disagree or disagree=43.7%, no opinion=11.3%). More than one third (38.0%) of the respondents reported never measuring HR in the week before the survey as part of their examination of new patients. A slightly larger percentage (43.0%) reported never measuring BP of new patients in the week before the survey. Conversely, 6.0% and 4.4% of the respondents reported always measuring HR and BP, respectively, of new patients in the week before the survey. When given a list of reasons why HR and BP were not routinely measured in their clinical practice, respondents most frequently chose “not important for my patient population” (52.3%). Relationships were found between practice setting and frequency of HR and BP measurement in new patients. Discussion and Conclusion. Practices related to HR and BP measurement reported by this sample of clinical instructors do not meet the recommendations for physical therapy care described in the Guide.
Surgical revascularization of acute (1 hour) coronary occlusion: blood versus crystalloid cardioplegia.

Abstract This study compares blood versus crystalloid cardioplegia in restoring contractile function, and high-energy phosphate and tissue water content in a myocardial segment after 1 hour of coronary artery occlusion. Anesthetized dogs underwent instrumentation with the chest open to measure left ventricular and aortic pressures, and systolic shortening in the myocardium perfused by the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) was measured with ultrasonic crystals. In 21 dogs, the LAD was occluded for an hour, thereby replacing systolic shortening with passive lengthening averaging −28.7 ± 6.2% of control shortening in both groups. The dogs were then placed on total bypass, and arrest was achieved with multidose crystalloid (N = 10) or blood cardioplegia (N = 11). The ligatures were released just prior to the second infusion of cardioplegic solution. Postischemic subendocardial levels of adenosine triphosphate were comparably depleted with crystalloid and blood cardioplegia (55.2% and 44.0%, respectively, of control). Subendocardial increases in water content were similar for crystalloid (3.62%) and blood (3.16%) cardioplegia. Recovery of segmental shortening was significantly greater with blood than crystalloid cardioplegia (31.5 ± 8.2% versus 4.9 ± 6.6% of control, respectively). We conclude that the composition and the delivery of blood cardioplegia used in this study restore greater postischemic function than crystalloid cardioplegia in acute evolving myocardial infarction.
ECONOMIC FEASIBILITY OF SHRIMP FARMING IN TEXAS: AN INVESTMENT ANALYSIS FOR SEMI‐INTENSIVE POND GROW‐OUT

A firm level simulation model (MARSIM) was developed to analyze the survival of different shrimp farm sizes in Texas. The model simulates the annual activities of a shrimp farm: production, finances, cash receipts, capital replacement and depreciation, cash flows, income taxes, balances, and growth. A firm is replicated 50 times over a 10-year planning horizon. Random values for shrimp growth and survival, temperature, hurricanes, and prices received in each of 10 years are generated from multivariate empirical probability density functions (pdf) for these variables. For the analysis summarized here, a shrimp farm was simulated using 3 different size systems and 4 different pond sizes. Results indicate that higher rates of return and faster payback are associated with larger total farm size and larger ponds. For large farms (400 surface hectares), pond size becomes less critical to obtaining an acceptable rate of return to investment. The amount of time taken to construct a facility significantly impacts the rate of return. Hurricanes, prices, production, and temperature variation are also critical factors affecting the firm's returns and survival.
Asbestos-induced Endothelial Cell Activation and Injury: Demonstration of Fiber Phagocytosis and Oxidant-dependent Toxicity

Vascular endothelial cell injury is important in the development of a variety of chronic interstitial lung disorders. However, the involvement of such injury in the inflammatory response associated with the inhalation of asbestos fibers is unclear and the mechanism of asbestos fiber cytotoxicity remains unknown. In the present study, human umbilical vein endothelial cells were challenged with amosite asbestos and several parameters of cellular function were examined. Electron microscopic examination revealed that endothelial cell exposure to asbestos resulted in active phagocytosis of these particulates. Biochemical evidence of dose-dependent asbestos-mediated endothelial cell activation was indicated by increased metabolism of arachidonic acid. For example, amosite asbestos (500 µg/ml) produced a ninefold increase in prostacyclin (PGI2) levels over those levels in non-exposed cells. Incubation of human endothelial cells with asbestos fibers induced specific 51Cr release in both a dose- and time-dependent...
Rural technology: Is there a need?

The author considers the creation of a program of study that provides technology appropriate to the needs of the reservations, a technology that addresses the needs of a rural lifestyle, in which many are without electricity, telephone, and running water in an area in which many roads are not paved. Math and science teachers at Native American high schools and community colleges, the director of the Northern Arizona University Native American Engineering program, and engineers and managers of companies closely associated with the Native American community were surveyed to obtain their viewpoints about appropriate technical education. It is found that the results of this pilot survey are not sufficient at this point for the definition of a new academic program in rural technology. However, there does seem to be a need to take a new look at the traditional engineering and technology degrees and consider some imaginative changes to better fit the environment, the culture, and the future vision of the Native American peoples. >
Multi-channel autoregressive modeling through orthogonal projection

A multi-channel autoregressive (MAR) modeling algorithm is introduced. The new method treats MAR modeling as a vector orthogonal projection, where the optimal MAR coefficient matrices lead to prediction error vectors whose linear dependency upon available measurement vectors is minimized. The standard Gram-Schmidt orthogonal transform was extended to multi-channel time series and utilized to calculate the MAR coefficient matrices. Simulation results show that multi-channel power spectra thus derived from the orthogonal projection method exhibit good frequency resolution, without line splitting and frequency bias, and the coherence was also accurately estimated.
Fluorescent labeling of tumor boundaries

We are developing a new method for labeling tumor boundaries using an enzyme involved in tumor growth.
Masers in starburst galaxies

Masers in starburst galaxies are outstanding probes of a range of phenomena related to galaxy and black hole evolution, and offer unique high brightness temperature illumination that can be used to probe small scales in the host galaxy and in our own. But we require a deeper understanding of the galaxy-scale maser phenomenon if we wish to employ starburst galaxy masers as probes using the next generation of radio telescopes. This review summarizes what is known about the different flavors of masers in starburst galaxies and the setting and structure of OH megamasers. The question of which galaxies produce megamasers and which do not is critical to our understanding of the megamaser phenomenon, and recent studies of HCN and H2 CO are particularly instructive. Constraints on the lifetime of OH megamasers and the predictability of OH megamaser line properties are critical issues to address in the near future. It is also time to begin the next wave of OH megamaser surveys at higher redshifts and to finally employ them as probes of starbursts, massive black holes, galaxy evolution, and intervening media.
Testosterone treatment enhances thromboxane A2 mimetic induced coronary artery vasoconstriction in guinea pigs

Thromboxane A2 (TXA2) has been implicated as an important mediator of cardiovascular diseases. There have been several clinical reports of acute myocardial infarctions occurring in young male athletes abusing anabolic steroids. The effects of treatment of male Guinea pigs with testosterone on the responses to U46619, a TXA2 receptor agonist, in the isolated perfused heart were determined. The maximum pressor responses of the isolated perfused Guinea pig heart to U46619 were significantly (P < 0.05) greater in the Guinea pigs treated with testosterone compared to the controls. These results indicate that testosterone can enhance coronary artery vascular reactivity to TXA2.
Dimensions Ofperson-Window Transactionsin the Hospital Environment

An empirical investigation focused on person-window transactions in the physical medicine and rehabilitation environment. Attributes of windows, view, daylight, and spaces perceived as insufficient in these respects were studied in six hospitals. Preference, environmental documentation, and behaviorsassociated with windows and windowless rooms were the subject of a two-part interview and questionnaire. The respondent group numbered 250 persons. Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (MDS) was utilized, yielding an array of 21 cognitive dimensions. From evaluations of 56 photographs that sampled a broad spectrum of spaces ranging from highly windowed to windowless, 8 visual dimensions were identified; and 13 nonvisual dimensions distilled from 89 written response items were identified that addressed degree of satisfaction and associated behaviors. Among the findings, ideal window and view conditions frequently contrasted the actual conditions in one's hospital setting; informative views of urban life and natur...
Cardiac operations in patients with hematologic malignancies.

Objectives: Patients with hematologic malignancies are frequently in need of major cardiac operations. Previous reports suggest an increased risk for perioperative complications in these immunodeficient patients. Methods: Patients diagnosed with any type of hematologic malignancy who underwent open-heart surgery at our institution between 7/1996 and 6/2002 were identified. Their hospital charts were reviewed; demographics, perioperative data and outcomes were recorded. Results: There were 24 patients (20 men, 4 women); mean age was 68 ± 13 years (range 31-84 years). Ten patients had chronic lymphocytic leukemia, seven non-Hodgkin lymphomas, three multiple myeloma and one Hodgkin's disease, chronic myelocytic leukemia, hairy cell leukemia and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma each. The mean preoperative duration of the hematologic disease was 6.6 years. Twenty-two patients underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (with valve replacement in three patients) and two patients had isolated valve replacement. There was one in-hospital death (4.1%). Twelve patients (50%) had a minor or major complication. Seven reoperations were required-five during the same admission (one for mediastinal bleeding, one for an expanding femoral pseudoaneurysm, one for acute cholecystitis and two for IACD/pacer insertion) and two within 30 days (one for deep sternal wound infection and one for leg wound infection). Mean post-operative stay was 8.2 ± 5.8 days and mean ICU stay was 1.6 ± 1.1 days. There were three late deaths-two were due to progression of the hematologic disease. The 3-year actuarial survival was 83%. Conclusions: Cardiac operations can be performed with acceptable mortality but significant morbidity rates in patients with hematologic malignancies. Bleeding and infectious complications are most frequently seen and usually lead to reoperations. These findings warrant caution during patient selection.
White matter pathology isolates the hippocampal formation in Alzheimer's disease

Prior work has demonstrated that the memory dysfunction of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is accompanied by marked cortical pathology in medial temporal lobe (MTL) gray matter. In contrast, changes in white matter (WM) of pathways associated with the MTL have rarely been studied. We used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to examine regional patterns of WM tissue changes in individuals with AD. Alterations of diffusion properties with AD were found in several regions including parahippocampal WM, and in regions with direct and secondary connections to the MTL. A portion of the changes measured, including effects in the parahippocampal WM, were independent of gray matter degeneration as measured by hippocampal volume. Examination of regional changes in unique diffusion parameters including anisotropy and axial and radial diffusivity demonstrated distinct zones of alterations, potentially stemming from differences in underlying pathology, with a potential myelin specific pathology in the parahippocampal WM. These results demonstrate that deterioration of neocortical connections to the hippocampal formation results in part from the degeneration of critical MTL and associated fiber pathways.
Silicon Liquid Crystal Light Valves: Status And Issues

The structure, operation, and performance of the silicon-based liquid crystal light valves--the photoactivated, CCD-addressed, and visible-to-IR converter--are described. The performance limitations of the readout structure, in particular those affecting resolution, sensitivity, contrast ratio, and speed, are discussed.
Scandinavian Local Income Taxation: Lessons for the United States?

This paper describes and analyzes the experiences of Norway. Sweden and Denmark with local income taxation in order to test the validity of comments made by numerous American economists about such taxes. Although local income taxes are their major source of locally raised revenue, it appears that the problems of revenue instability and tax base mobility are not serious in these countries. Fiscal disparities have been greatly reduced through consolidation of government units and heavy reliance on transfers from the national government, and these institutional arrangements may have reduced local autonomy in some important respects. The heavy reliance on income taxes by all levels of government is one reason for the extremely high marginal tax rales to which most workers are subject.
Maladjustments in the Wool Industry and Need for New Policy

ETWEEN the two world wars, world production and consumption of wool were kept in fairly close balance by relatively free movements in wool prices, but during World War II, the close alignment between supply and demand was disrupted, and as a consequence a five billion pound, grease basis, world stock pile of apparel wool, three times the normal prewar carry-over, existed at the beginning of the 1946-47 export season. The orderly liquidation of such a huge carry-over of wool has presented a problem in the principal wool-producing and wool-consuming countries of the world.
Effect of x-ray on radioactive phosphorus turnover and oxygen consumption of brain.

Conclusionirradiation with 500 to 800 r of X-rays did not impair the ability of adult mouse brain tissue to metabolize exogenous radiophosphate and did not alter the Qo2 of the minced tissue. Doses of 19,000 r produced no observable acute effect on the phosphorylation.
Bis(6-carboxypurine)-Cu2+: a possibly primitive metal-mediated nucleobase pair.

A metal-mediated self-pair is described that emulates Watson–Crick base pair properties in a DNA double helix.
Estimation and subcellular distribution of lecithinase activity in rat intestinal mucosa

A method for the quantitative estimation of lecithinase has been developed using rat intestinal mucosa as the lecithinase source. Optimal conditions for lecithinase preparation and assay involve the use of buffered glycerol media with cysteamine and EDTA to stabilize the activity. Lecithin hydrolysis proceeds with apparent first order reaction kinetics when sonicated lecithin-oleate suspensions are used : in these conditions the rate of hydrolysis is proportional to the lecithinase concentration. The method gives satisfactory results in suboellular distribution studies. Fractionation by differential centrifugation and by treatment with polymixin or pH change strongly suggest that the enzyme activity is bound to ribosomal structures.
More Than Just Test Scores Leading for Improvement With an Alternative Community-Driven Accountability Metric

In this case, Sharon Rowley, a veteran principal, volunteers to participate in a new community-driven accountability initiative and encounters dilemmas about what it means to be a “data-driven” ins...
Psalms of Solomon as Solomonic Discourse: The Nature and Function of Attribution to Solomon in a Pseudonymous Psalm Collection:

This article explores the significance of an author or later editor's decision to ascribe the psalms collected in Psalms of Solomon explicitly to Solomon. Drawing on the work of Hindy Najman, this ...
A Grammar-based Approach for Modeling User Interactions and Generating Suggestions During the Data Exploration Process

Despite the recent popularity of visual analytics focusing on big data, little is known about how to support users that use visualization techniques to explore multi-dimensional datasets and accomplish specific tasks. Our lack of models that can assist end-users during the data exploration process has made it challenging to learn from the user's interactive and analytical process. The ability to model how a user interacts with a specific visualization technique and what difficulties they face are paramount in supporting individuals with discovering new patterns within their complex datasets. This paper introduces the notion of visualization systems understanding and modeling user interactions with the intent of guiding a user through a task thereby enhancing visual data exploration. The challenges faced and the necessary future steps to take are discussed; and to provide a working example, a grammar-based model is presented that can learn from user interactions, determine the common patterns among a number of subjects using a K-Reversible algorithm, build a set of rules, and apply those rules in the form of suggestions to new users with the goal of guiding them along their visual analytic process. A formal evaluation study with 300 subjects was performed showing that our grammar-based model is effective at capturing the interactive process followed by users and that further research in this area has the potential to positively impact how users interact with a visualization system.
Measurements of absolute concentrations of NADH in cells using the phasor FLIM method

We propose a graphical method using the phasor representation of the fluorescence decay to derive the absolute concentration of NADH in cells. The method requires the measurement of a solution of NADH at a known concentration. The phasor representation of the fluorescence decay accounts for the differences in quantum yield of the free and bound form of NADH, pixel by pixel of an image. The concentration of NADH in every pixel in a cell is obtained after adding to each pixel in the phasor plot a given amount of unmodulated light which causes a shift of the phasor towards the origin by an amount that depends on the intensity at the pixel and the fluorescence lifetime at the pixel. The absolute concentration of NADH is obtained by comparison of the shift obtained at each pixel of an image with the shift of the calibrated solution.
If genetic variation could talk: What genomic data may teach us about the importance of gene expression regulation in the genetics of autism ☆

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has been long known to have substantial genetic etiology. Much research has attempted to identify specific genes contributing to ASD risk with the goal of tying gene function to a molecular pathological explanation for ASD. A unifying molecular pathology would potentially increase understanding of what is going wrong during development, and could lead to diagnostic biomarkers or targeted preventative or therapeutic directions. We review past and current genetic mapping approaches and discuss major results, leading to the hypothesis that global dysregulation of gene or protein expression may be implicated in ASD rather than disturbance of brain-specific functions. If substantiated, this hypothesis might indicate the need for novel experimental and analytical approaches in order to understand this neurodevelopmental disorder, develop biomarkers, or consider treatment approaches.
Dermal/transdermal delivery of small interfering RNA and antisense oligonucleotides- advances and hurdles

A diverse array of nucleic acids has been studied by several researchers for the management of several diseases. Among these compounds, small interfering RNA and antisense oligonucleotides have attracted considerable attention. Antisense oligonucleotides are synthetic single stranded strings of nucleic acids that bind to RNA and thereby alter or reduce expression of the target RNA while siRNAs, on the other hand, are double-stranded RNA molecules which can hybridize with a specific mRNA sequence and block the translation of numerous genes. One of the main obstacles in the dermal or transdermal delivery of these compounds is their low skin permeability. In this review, various techniques used to enhance the delivery of these molecules into or across the skin are described and in some cases, the correlation between enhanced dermal/transdermal delivery and therapeutic efficacy is highlighted.
Black Skin, White Coats: Nigerian Psychiatrists, Decolonization, and the Globalization of Psychiatry by M. M. Heaton (review)

Heaton, M. M. Black Skin, White Coats: Nigerian Psychiatrists, Decolonization, and the Globalization of Psychiatry . Athens, OH: University Press, 2013. Review by Paula Ugochukwu Ude.
Changes in cigarette smoking initiation, cessation, and relapse among U.S. adults: a comparison of two longitudinal samples.

The tobacco epidemic in the U.S. has matured in the past decade. However, due to rapidly changing social policy and commercial environments, tailored prevention and interventions are needed to support further reduction in smoking. Using Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (TUS-CPS) 2002–2003 and 2010–2011 longitudinal cohorts, five smoking states are defined including daily-heavy, daily-light, non-daily, former and non-smoker. We quantified the changes between smoking states for the two longitudinal cohorts, and used a series of multivariable logistic regression models to examine the association of socio-demographic attributes and initial smoking states on smoking initiation, cessation, and relapse between waves within each cohort. The prevalence of adult heavy smoking decreased from 9.9% (95% CI: 9.6%, 10.2%) in 2002 to 7.1% (95% CI: 6.9%, 7.4%) in 2010. Non-daily smokers were less likely to quit in the 2010–2011 cohort than the 2002–2003 cohort (37.0% vs. 44.9%). Gender, age group, smoker type, race and marital status exhibit similar patterns in terms of their association to the odds of initiation, cessation and relapse between the two cohorts, while education groups showed some inconsistent results between the two cohorts regarding the odds of cessation. Transitions between smoking states are complex and increasingly unstable, requiring a holistic, population-based perspective to understand the stocks and flows that ultimately dictate the public health impact of cigarette smoking behavior. This knowledge helps to identify groups in need of increased tobacco control prevention and intervention efforts.
Publishing case studies in health sciences librarianship

While most issues of the Journal of the Medical Library Association (JMLA) contain one or two case studies, the JMLA editorial team is pleased to note that the current issue contains six case studies, highlighting a wide range of library-driven initiatives to support health sciences research and education.
Neural processes underlying cultural differences in cognitive persistence

Self-improvement motivation, which occurs when individuals seek to improve upon their competence by gaining new knowledge and improving upon their skills, is critical for cognitive, social, and educational adjustment. While many studies have delineated the neural mechanisms supporting extrinsic motivation induced by monetary rewards, less work has examined the neural processes that support intrinsically motivated behaviors, such as self-improvement motivation. Because cultural groups traditionally vary in terms of their self-improvement motivation, we examined cultural differences in the behavioral and neural processes underlying motivated behaviors during cognitive persistence in the absence of extrinsic rewards. In Study 1, 71 American (47 females, M=19.68 years) and 68 Chinese (38 females, M=19.37 years) students completed a behavioral cognitive control task that required cognitive persistence across time. In Study 2, 14 American and 15 Chinese students completed the same cognitive persistence task during an fMRI scan. Across both studies, American students showed significant declines in cognitive performance across time, whereas Chinese participants demonstrated effective cognitive persistence. These behavioral effects were explained by cultural differences in self-improvement motivation and paralleled by increasing activation and functional coupling between the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and ventral striatum (VS) across the task among Chinese participants, neural activation and coupling that remained low in American participants. These findings suggest a potential neural mechanism by which the VS and IFG work in concert to promote cognitive persistence in the absence of extrinsic rewards. Thus, frontostriatal circuitry may be a neurobiological signal representing intrinsic motivation for self-improvement that serves an adaptive function, increasing Chinese students' motivation to engage in cognitive persistence.
Dietary habits and the state of the human oral cavity in the prehistoric age

This is an age-by-age summation of literature on over 100 sites (of more than 250 excavated prehistoric ruins on the Korean Peninsula: about 160 places in South Korea--Paleolithic Age 15, Neolithic Age 21, Bronze Age 90 and Iron Age 35--and about 90 places in North Korea) which produced dietary-habit-related devices such as hunting tools, fishing instruments, farming equipments, tools of daily life, and human bones and teeth. 1) Various dietary-habit-related Old Stone-Age tools, instruments and other items were found. Among them were stone axes, stone hand axes, fish spears and hooks made of bone or horn, stone blades, stone scrapers and stone drills believed to have been used in daily life, and charcoal and sites of furnaces used for cooking. Furthermore, it was found that there were severe dental abrasions and dental caries among the inhabitants of the Korean Peninsula in the Old Stone Age. 2) Some evidences were found which lead us to believe that hunting was practiced with stone arrowheads in the New Stone Age. Stone net sinkers, which is the evidence of the use of fish nets, were also found. In addition, farming stone tools and charred cereals, both of which date back to the latter part of this period, were unearthed. Millstones, which began to be used in this age, and livestock bones were found. Where these items were discovered, 23 maxillae and mandibles with teeth and a total of 231 separate teeth of Neolithic period human beings were reported. However, there are no records indicating dental caries, but some records describe severe abrasion.
THE IDIOSYNCRASY OF EAST AFRICAN ENGLISH

World Englishes is a topic of great significance since the English language is spoken by many populations around the world as a developed language that may be secondary to a native tongue. Given the spread of English worldwide, it seems that any discriminative views against speakers of English whose grammar, syntax, or pronunciation are unique, are regarded as feeble or even void nowadays. This article will investigate the idiomorphic character of phonological, lexicon, grammar, syntactic, and pragmatic features of East African English in comparison with Standard British English. In order for this linguistic analysis to be conducted, various examples from East African resources were extracted. Not only does this analysis shed light on the multi-faceted aspects of East African English that is the result of a marriage between the ‘’native’’ nature and the standard inventory lexicon, phonology, grammar and syntax of British English, but it also stresses the importance of treasuring one’s own culture. Keywords : language attitudes, idiomorphic features, phonology, lexicon, grammar, syntax, pragmatics, unique stylistic elements, nativisation
Phonon transmission at crystalline-amorphous interfaces studied using mode-resolved atomistic Green's functions

The transmission and reflection processes of THz phonons at solid interfaces are of fundamental interest and of importance to thermal conduction in nanocrystalline solids. The processes are challenging to investigate, however, because typical experiments and many computational approaches do not provide transmission coefficients resolved by phonon mode. Here, we examine the modal transmission and reflection processes of THz phonons across an amorphous Si region connected to two crystalline Si leads, a model interface for those that occur in nanocrystalline solids, using mode-resolved atomistic Green's functions. We find that the interface acts as a low-pass filter, reflecting modes of frequency greater than around 3 THz while transmitting those below this frequency, in agreement with a recent experimental report [C. Hua et al., Phys. Rev. B 95, 205423 (2017)]. Further, we find that these low frequency modes travel nearly unimpeded through the interface, maintaining their wave vectors on each side of the interface. Our work shows that even completely disordered regions may not be effective at reflecting THz phonons, with implications for efforts to alter thermal conductivity in nanocrystalline solids.
The History of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA)

This article offers an overview of the history of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA). The organization began with five members in the mid-1980s whose interests were in teaching voice...