cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Regulation and Plasticity of Catalysis in Enzymes: Insights from Analysis of Mechanochemical Coupling in Myosin

The mechanism of ATP hydrolysis in the myosin motor domain is analyzed using a combination of DFTB3/CHARMM simulations and enhanced sampling techniques. The motor domain is modeled in the pre-powerstroke state, in the post-rigor state, and as a hybrid based on the post-rigor state with a closed nucleotide-binding pocket. The ATP hydrolysis activity is found to depend on the positioning of nearby water molecules, and a network of polar residues facilitates proton transfer and charge redistribution during hydrolysis. Comparison of the observed hydrolysis pathways and the corresponding free energy profiles leads to detailed models for the mechanism of ATP hydrolysis in the pre-powerstroke state and proposes factors that regulate the hydrolysis activity in different conformational states. In the pre-powerstroke state, the scissile Pγ–O3β bond breaks early in the reaction. Proton transfer from the lytic water to the γ-phosphate through active site residues is an important part of the kinetic bottleneck; severa...
Rapid conceptus elongation in the pig: An interleukin 1 beta 2 and estrogen-regulated phenomenon

Establishment and maintenance of pregnancy in the pig involves activating many physiological, cellular, and molecular signaling pathways between the developing conceptus and hormonally regulated maternal endometrium. Rapid elongation of the pig trophoblast allows for the establishment of sufficient placental surface area for the transport of nutrients to the fetus throughout pregnancy. Estrogens secreted by the conceptus during elongation act on uterine epithelia to induce secretion of uterine factors required for conceptus development and for preventing endocrine secretion of prostaglandin F2α, which would cause luteolysis. Thus, trophoblast expansion within the uterine lumen during early gestation is an essential process for implantation and maintenance of pregnancy in species with an epitheliochorial form of placentation. In the pig, rapid conceptus elongation involves the unique expression of interleukin-1 beta 2 (IL1B2), which establishes pro-inflammatory effects that may be tempered by the spatiotemporal secretion of estrogen from the conceptuses. The present review provides current information on pig conceptus remodeling and signaling via estrogen and IL1B2 pathways, as well as endometrial responses to those conceptus factors leading to establishment of pregnancy.
The influence of familiar characters and other appealing images on young children's preference for low-quality objects.

This study examines the factors underlying young children's preference for products bearing a familiar character's image. Three-year-olds (N = 92) chose between low-quality objects with images on or near the objects and high-quality objects without images. Children showed stronger preferences for damaged objects bearing images of a preferred familiar character than for objects bearing images of a preferred colour star, and they showed weak preferences for damaged objects with the character near, but not on, the object. The results suggest that children's preference for low-quality products bearing character images is driven by prior exposure to characters, and not only by the act of identifying a favourite. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Children are exposed to characters in the media and on products such as clothing and school supplies. Products featuring familiar characters appeal to preschool children, even if they are of low quality. What does this study add? Three-year-olds prefer damaged objects with an image of a favourite character over plain undamaged objects. Children's preference is not solely a function of having identified a favourite image or of attentional cues.
El Quijote en la trilogía de la frontera de Cormac Mccarthy: Neobarroco del southwest

Leemos a Cormac McCarthy como novelista del Barroco de Indias: cuidado exquisito de la sintaxis y el vocabulario, citas y referencias a otros autores, capas de significados que se superponen y deconstruccion de los generos literarios. Debido al hecho de que el grueso de la critica literaria sobre McCarthy es anglocentrica, esta no ha estudiado la intertextalidad de Cervantes en la Trilogia de la frontera. Tras una panoramica general este estudio se centra en tres aspectos concretos: la violacion del joven, las duenas y el personaje Quijana/Quesada. DON QUIJOTE IN CORMAC MCCARTHY’S BORDER TRILOGY: NEOBAROQUE OF THE SOUTHWEST Abstract: We read Cormac McCarthy as a novelist of the Baroque of the Southwest paying special attention to syntax, vocabulary, and intertextuality. The bulk of the critical attention on McCarthy is anglocentric. We cover the influence of Spanish literature, mainly Cervantes, in the Border Trilogy. This study focuses on three aspects: the rape of the young man, the duenas, and the character Quijana/Quesada. Keywords: European Literature, North American literature, form and literary genre, literary analysis and novel.
Prototype Experiments with the {\text {LG}}_{33} Mode

Following the largely positive results of the table-top LG mode experiments, we were afforded a fortuitous opportunity to work in collaboration with members of the Glasgow interferometry group towards testing the LG mode technology on the 10 m suspended cavity in Glasgow. Progression from table-top experiments to a prototype experiment with suspended mirrors is a standard feature of the development of new technologies for gravitational wave detectors, in order to ensure compatibility with realistic interferometer subsystems and requirements.
Abstract 20402: Does Experience Matter? Implications for Community Consultation for Research in Emergency Settings

Introduction: Community consultation (CC) is required for clinical studies in emergency settings using an exception from informed consent (EFIC) in the US, but uncertainty persists regarding how to...
Democratic Teacher Education: Preserving Public Education as a Public Good in an Era of Neoliberalism.

AbstractWe currently live in an era of neoliberalism where privatization and profit are held up as political ideals. The ascendency of this ideology threatens the notion that public schools can serve not only as institutions that supply credentials but also as institutions that lay the building blocks for American democracy. This essay argues that teacher educators play an essential role in preserving public education as a public good.
Non-stationary model of oblique x-ray incidence in amorphous selenium detectors: I. Point spread function.

PURPOSE In previous work, a theoretical model of the point spread function (PSF) for oblique x-ray incidence in amorphous selenium (a-Se) detectors was proposed. The purpose of this paper is to develop a complementary model that includes two additional features. First, the incidence angle and the directionality of ray incidence are calculated at each position, assuming a divergent x-ray beam geometry. This approach allows the non-stationarity of the PSF to be modeled. Second, this paper develops a framework that is applicable to a digital system, unlike previous work which did not model the presence of a thin-film transistor (TFT) array. METHODS At each point on the detector, the incidence angle and the ray incidence direction are determined using ray tracing. Based on these calculations, an existing model for the PSF of the x-ray converter (Med Phys. 1995;22:365-374) is generalized to a non-stationary model. The PSF is convolved with the product of two rectangle functions, which model the sampling of the TFT array. The rectangle functions match the detector element (del) size in two dimensions. RESULTS It is shown that the PSF can be calculated in closed form. This solution is used to simulate a digital mammography (DM) system at two x-ray energies (20 and 40 keV). Based on the divergence of the x-ray beam, the direction of ray incidence varies with position. Along this direction, the PSF is broader than the reference rect function matching the del size. The broadening is more pronounced with increasing obliquity. At high energy, the PSF deviates more strongly from the reference rect function, indicating that there is more blurring. In addition, the PSF is calculated along the polar angle perpendicular to the ray incidence direction. For this polar angle, the shape of the PSF is dependent upon whether the ray incidence direction is parallel with the sides of the detector. If the ray incidence direction is parallel with either dimension, the PSF is a perfect rectangle function, matching the del size. However, if the ray incidence direction is at an oblique angle relative to the sides of the detector, the PSF is not rectangular. These results illustrate the non-stationarity of the PSF. CONCLUSIONS This paper demonstrates that an existing model of the PSF of a-Se detectors can be generalized to include the effects of non-stationarity and digitization. The PSF is determined in closed form. This solution offers the advantage of shorter computation time relative to approaches that use numerical methods. This model is a tool for simulating a-Se detectors in future work, such as in virtual clinical trials with computational phantoms.
Research Advancements in Expansive Soil Characterization, Stabilization and Geoinfrastructure Monitoring

This keynote paper focuses on the recent research advances made in topics related to expansive soils, which are located in most of the countries in the world. Most of the research came from the studies conducted at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) that are funded by many government agencies. First two topics of the paper focuses on expansive soil characterization and ground improvement topics. New characterization methods utilize pore fabric and distribution details along with clay mineralogy and unsaturated soil mechanics principles. Soil stabilization section describe novel and sustainable additives including Geopolymers and Biopolymers and how they affect shrink and swell properties. Among these, Geopolymers show promise in mitigating swell and shrinkage properties. The final section describes a unique challenge of health monitoring of transportation pavement infrastructure built on stabilized expansive soils. Current methods offer some limitations as they do not capture shrink-swell related pavement surface deformations. A methodology comprising of unmanned aerial vehicles with photogrammetry is proven to provide pavement monitoring results and this method is proven to be inexpensive, safe and reliable. Digital elevations of pavement infrastructure provide the effectiveness of chemical additives in modifying subsoils with and without sulfates.
Biocultural Approaches to Conservation: Water Sovereignty in the Kayapó Lands

This chapter engages with biocultural approaches to conservation to affirm the growing need and application of frameworks to address power, rights, and indigenous perspectives in local to global environmental problems. Through a case study that focuses on Mẽbengokre-Kayapo peoples’ projects for water sovereignty, I describe the sociopolitical and institutional contexts and cultural perspectives that shape Kayapo engagements with aquatic environment. While river and riparian habitats are central to Kayapo livelihoods and political goals, Kayapo understandings of aquatic landscapes are not central to national and international visions of sustainable Amazonian futures. These visions fashion the Amazon as a conservation-development mosaic instead of a bioculturally diverse homeland. I argue that bicultural approaches are particularly well-suited to highlight these different perspectives on policy and practice and to shift conversation paradigms in a way that can accommodate Kayapo Peoples’ and other Indigenous Peoples’ strategies to retain a good or mejkumrej life.
Principal Components of the North American Summer Temperature Field and the Antecedent Oceanic and Atmospheric Conditions

The North American summer temperature field is evaluated in terms of the preceding patterns of the ocean and atmosphere. It is found that the planetary scale circulation associated with the thermal field over the western tropical Pacific and the ocean-atmosphere interaction over the central North Pacific-Aleutian region are important in determining the summer surface temperature pattern over North America. Also, evidence is presented for the possible impact of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation on the summer circulation pattern. It is suggested that by using the principal components, the predictability of regional circulation can be evaluated as a linear combination of independent sources of variability.
The concept of Zero Waste

Abstract Numerous institutions, municipalities, and governances have set ambitious Zero Waste (ZW) goals with many specifically targeting food waste (FW). Grounded in ecological theory, ZW means designing and managing products and processes to systematically avoid and eliminate the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them; eliminating all discharges to land, water or air that are a threat to planetary, human, animal, or plant health; and calls upon humans to emulate natural cycles, where all discarded materials are designed to become resources for others to use. Perishable organic materials, such as food, present unique considerations and challenges for ZW thinking, which was originally conceived for the management of chemicals and other materials that can be stored for long periods of time without changing form. The majority of environmental and human health impacts attributable to FW, are incurred during agricultural production and food processing, thus it is important to consider the entire food supply chain when targeting the ambitious goals of ZW. This chapter provides an introduction to the concepts of ZW and life cycle assessment; an overview of the challenges presented by the United States agricultural system as it is today; and, a discussion on the FW management options included in the Environmental Protection Agency’s Food Recovery Hierarchy. In general, a growing body of research on the environmental impacts of FW management agrees with the Food Recovery Hierarchy order of Source Reduction as the primary objective, followed by Feeding Humans then Animals, followed by Industrial Uses such as Anaerobic Digestion, then Composting, and finally, Landfilling. In nearly all cases there are many challenges associated with facilitating individual and institutional behavior and culture to pursue ZW in the food sector.
A mean field view of the landscape of two-layer neural networks.

Multilayer neural networks are among the most powerful models in machine learning, yet the fundamental reasons for this success defy mathematical understanding. Learning a neural network requires optimizing a nonconvex high-dimensional objective (risk function), a problem that is usually attacked using stochastic gradient descent (SGD). Does SGD converge to a global optimum of the risk or only to a local optimum? In the former case, does this happen because local minima are absent or because SGD somehow avoids them? In the latter, why do local minima reached by SGD have good generalization properties? In this paper, we consider a simple case, namely two-layer neural networks, and prove that—in a suitable scaling limit—SGD dynamics is captured by a certain nonlinear partial differential equation (PDE) that we call distributional dynamics (DD). We then consider several specific examples and show how DD can be used to prove convergence of SGD to networks with nearly ideal generalization error. This description allows for “averaging out” some of the complexities of the landscape of neural networks and can be used to prove a general convergence result for noisy SGD.
Ring of Power: A Band of Peptidergic Midbrain Neurons that Binds Motivation

A recent Cell paper identifies a novel population of neurons within the ventral tegmental area producing the endogenous opioid nociceptin that regulates dopamine neuron firing and acts uniquely to gate motivation in reward seeking. These results highlight neuropeptidergic signaling as a critical component of functional heterogeneity in the midbrain.
58 Cases' Herpes Zoster Treated by Acupuncture Combined with Moxibustion by Cotton Hair

Most of herpes zoster were the type of stagnant fire in the liver meridian and the type of endoretention of damp heat in the spleen meridian.They were treated by the method of clearing and purging fire for removing toxin.Acupuncture-therapy was the most satisfied.Ququan,Hangjian and the others were adopted to treat the type of stagnant fire in the liver meridian.Yinlingquan,Gongsun and the others were adopted to treat the type of endoretention of damp heat in the spleen meridian.Moxibustion by cotton hair was given after the acupuncture.
The effect of itraconazole on the pharmacokinetics of lorlatinib: results of a phase I, open-label, crossover study in healthy participants.

Background The third-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor lorlatinib is approved for the treatment of ALK-positive metastatic NSCLC. CYP3A plays a major role in lorlatinib metabolism; therefore, a drug-drug interaction study was warranted to evaluate the impact of the strong CYP3A inhibitor, itraconazole, on lorlatinib plasma exposure. Methods This phase 1, open-label, 2-period, crossover study estimated the effects of itraconazole on the plasma pharmacokinetics and safety of lorlatinib in healthy participants (NCT02838264). Single-dose lorlatinib 50 mg (n = 2), 75 mg (n = 2) and 100 mg (n = 12) was administered in Period 1. In Period 2, itraconazole oral solution 200 mg/day was administered on Days 1−11, and single-dose lorlatinib on Day 5. Blood samples were collected up to 168 h after lorlatinib dosing. Results During daily dosing with itraconazole (Period 2), the ratios of the adjusted geometric means for area under the plasma concentration-time profile extrapolated to infinity (AUCinf) and maximum plasma concentration (Cmax) of single-dose lorlatinib 100 mg were 141.79% (90% confidence interval, 128.71%, 156.21%) and 124.39% (110.20%, 140.41%), respectively, compared with Period 1 (lorlatinib alone). Lorlatinib was well tolerated alone and with itraconazole. No serious adverse events or withdrawals were reported. Conclusions Co-administration of itraconazole and lorlatinib increased the plasma exposure of lorlatinib relative to lorlatinib alone in healthy participants. Therefore, concomitant use of lorlatinib with strong CYP3A inhibitors should be avoided. If this combination is unavoidable, the starting dose of lorlatinib should be reduced from 100 mg to 75 mg.
Three-Dimensional Thermal Modeling and Management of System on Package with Gold and Nano Based Material

Abstract A detailed computational fluid dynamic based thermal model and simulation of exposed pad SOIC package on PCB is developed with Nano and gold-based material to characterize the thermal beha...
Benchmarking the Accuracy of Polygenic Risk Scores and their Generative Methods

ABSTRACT Risk prediction models provide empirical recommendations that ultimately aim to deliver optimal patient outcomes. Genetic information, in the form of a polygenic risk score (PRS), may be included in these models to significantly increase their accuracy. Several analyses of PRS accuracy have been completed, nearly all focus on only a few diseases and report limited statistics. This narrow approach has limited our ability to assess as a whole whether PRSs can provide actionable disease predictions. This investigation aims to address this uncertainty by comprehensively analyzing 23 diseases within the UK Biobank. Our results show that including the PRS to a base model containing age, sex and the top ten genetic principal components significantly improves prediction accuracy, as measured by ROC curves, in a majority 21 of 23 diseases and reclassifies on average 68% of the individuals in the top 5% risk group. For heart failure, breast cancer, prostate cancer and gout, decision curve analyses using the 5% risk threshold determined that including the PRS in the base model would correctly identity at least 60 more individuals who develop the disease for every 1000 individuals screened, without making any incorrect predictions. Analyses that included disease-specific risk factors, such as Body-Mass Index, and consider time of disease onset found similar PRS benefits. The improved prediction accuracy was translated to 10 instances in which medications/supplements and 94 instances in which lifestyle modifications lead to significantly greater reduction in disease risk for individuals in the top PRS quintile compared to the bottom PRS quintile. Finally we provide guidance for tailored, future PRS generation by comprehensively ranking methods that generate PRS weights and identifying genome wide association study characteristics that influence PRS predictions. The unification of significantly enhanced disease predictions, novel risk mitigation opportunities and improved methodological clarity indicate that PRSs carry far greater clinical impact than previously known.
Characterization and Miniaturization of Silver-Nanoparticle Microcoil via Aerosol Jet Printing Techniques for Micromagnetic Cochlear Stimulation

According to the National Institute of Deafness and other Communication Disorders 2012 report, the number of cochlear implant (CI) users is steadily increasing from 324,000 CI users worldwide. The cochlea, located in the inner ear, is a snail-like structure that exhibits a tonotopic geometry where acoustic waves are filtered spatially according to frequency. Throughout the cochlea, there exist hair cells that transduce sensed acoustic waves into an electrical signal that is carried by the auditory nerve to ultimately reach the auditory cortex of the brain. A cochlear implant bridges the gap if non-functional hair cells are present. Conventional CIs directly inject an electrical current into surrounding tissue via an implanted electrode array and exploit the frequency-to-place mapping of the cochlea. However, the current is dispersed in perilymph, a conductive bodily fluid within the cochlea, causing a spread of excitation. Magnetic fields are more impervious to the effects of the cochlear environment due to the material properties of perilymph and surrounding tissue, demonstrating potential to improve precision. As an alternative to conventional CI electrodes, the development and miniaturization of microcoils intended for micromagnetic stimulation of intracochlear neural elements is described. As a step toward realizing a microcoil array sized for cochlear implantation, human-sized coils were prototyped via aerosol jet printing. The batch reproducible aerosol jet printed microcoils have a diameter of 1800 μm, trace width and trace spacing of 112.5 μm, 12 μm thickness, and inductance values of approximately 15.5 nH. Modelling results indicate that the coils have a combined depolarization-hyperpolarization region that spans 1.5 mm and produce a more restrictive spread of activation when compared with conventional CI.
Survival After Norwood Procedure in High Risk Patients

Purpose: Historical studies have identified multiple single ventricle populations at increased risk for mortality following the Norwood Procedure. These pre-operative risk factors include low birth weight (LBW), restrictive or intact atrial septum or obstructed pulmonary veins, ventricular dysfunction and atrioventricular (AV) valve regurgitation. Data is lacking on longer term outcomes for these high risk populations and it remains unclear whether contemporary survival in these groups has improved along with overall Norwood survival. We sought to report outcomes of the Norwood procedure in high risk patients …
Understanding Motivations and Barriers to Exercise Among People with Blindness in India

People with vision impairments (PVIs) have inferior physical fitness compared to sighted individuals. Several studies have been conducted to understand concerns, motivations, barriers, and experiences with exercise in the blind population. However, these studies have been limited to the developed regions. India is home to one-third of the world’s blind population and hence it is crucial to understand exercise patterns among PVIs in India. In this work, we interviewed 24 Indian PVIs to uncover novel insights, including minimal use of exercise technology, crucial role of blind schools, and infrastructural and social barriers. We conclude the paper with design recommendations, such as exploiting the design space of restricted walking, emphasizing on schools for the blind, and forming support groups to promote exercises among PVIs.
Synaptic dynamics convey differential sensitivity to input pattern changes in two muscles innervated by the same motor neurons

Postsynaptic responses depend on input patterns as well as short-term synaptic plasticity, summation, and postsynaptic membrane properties, but the interactions of those dynamics with realistic input patterns are not well understood. We recorded the responses of the two pyloric dilator muscles, cpv2a and cpv2b, that are innervated by and receive identical periodic bursting input from the same two motor neurons in the lobster Homarus americanus. Cpv2a and cpv2b showed quantitative differences in membrane nonlinearities and synaptic summation. At a short timescale, responses in both muscles were dominated by facilitation, albeit with different frequency- and time-dependence. Realistic burst stimulations revealed more substantial differences. Across bursts, cpv2a showed transient depression, whereas cpv2b showed transient facilitation. Steady-state responses to bursting input also differed substantially. Neither muscle had a monotonic dependence on frequency, but cpv2b showed particularly pronounced band-pass filtering. Cpv2a was sensitive to changes in both burst frequency and intra-burst spike frequency, whereas, despite its much slower responses, cpv2b was largely insensitive to changes in burst frequency. Cpv2a was sensitive to both burst duration and number of spikes per burst, whereas cpv2b was sensitive only to the former parameter. Neither muscle showed consistent sensitivity to changes in the overall spike interval structure, but cpv2b was surprisingly sensitive to changes in the first intervals in each burst, a parameter known to be regulated by dopamine modulation of spike propagation of the presynaptic axon. These findings highlight how seemingly minor circuit output changes mediated by neuromodulation could be read out differentially at the two synapses. Significance statement Studies of neural coding have focused mainly on patterns of activity, and less on how postsynaptic targets read out these inputs, which is dependent on short-term synaptic plasticity and postsynaptic membrane properties. We show that subthreshold postsynaptic responses at two crustacean neuromuscular junctions formed by the same motor neuron increase in strength with repeated activation. However, stimulation with more complex bursting patterns that mimicked different circuit states revealed very different sensitivities to specific pattern attributes. Consequently, pre- and postsynaptic dynamics enabled differential readout of input changes arising from circuit modulation. Such differential readout may play an important role in neural processing in general, as different pathways may pay attention to different information encoded in the same activity patterns.
New and Conventional Engineering Uses of Fly Ash

Successful uses of pozzolanic fly ash for modification of a highly plastic clay, and of natural and stabilized fly ashes to effect economy in road construction, are described. Three fly ashes collected in dry, moist, and sludge states were investigated in detail for modification of a highly plastic clay. Laboratory investigations were conducted to determine suitability of natural fly ash for structural fill, and lime and cement stabilized fly ashes for base course construction. Field trial sections were constructed and performance tests made to evaluate technical and economic feasibility. Laboratory and performance data on trial sections indicate that: (1) It is possible to modify a highly plastic clay with a pozzolanic fly ash to provide stable subgrades; (2) structural fills of compacted pozzolanic fly ashes gain strength with time and are lighter and stronger than clay or sand fills; and (3) base courses of cement stabilized fly ashes can be constructed with available equipment.
Further Properties and Applications

Suppose we recall the function in statement (1.11), namely, $$ u(t - {t_0}) = \left\{ \begin{gathered} 1,\;t \geqslant {t_0} \hfill \\ 0,\;t < {t_0}, \hfill \\\end{gathered} \right. $$ (2.1) to be referred to as the unit step function (Figure 2.1).
Discrete, Place-Defined Macrocolumns in Somatosensory Cortex: Lessons for Modular Organization of the Cerebral Cortex

In 1957 Mountcastle introduced the concept of the cortical column as the vertical processing unit of the cerebral cortex. This idea, the “columnar hypothesis,” was based on the then prevailing view that the cortex is most richly interconnected in its vertical dimension (Lorente de No 1949) and on Mountcastle’s demonstration in single-unit recording experiments in cat (and later monkey; Powell and Mountcastle 1959) primary somatosensory cortex (SI) that neurons in ~0.5 mm wide vertical columns are activated by peripheral stimuli of the same submodality and have similar receptive fields (RFs). Mountcastle (1957) and Powell and Mountcastle (1959) also showed that their cortical columns – later named “macrocolumns” to distinguish them from single-cell-wide “minicolumns” (Mountcastle 1978) – can be separated from each other by abrupt boundaries, on the opposite sides of which neurons respond to stimuli of different submodalities and/or have prominently different RFs.
The deaf and online comprehension texts, how can technology help?

This paper focuses on metacognition and reading comprehension processes in hearing impaired students, as deafness causes a number of linguistic difficulties, affecting the comprehension and production of written text and reducing interest in reading. Then a web tool called Gym2Learn is described and the results of a single-subject-design are discussed. In conclusion, the effects of this system on deaf students' learning performance are highlighted.
Food neophobia and food preference concordance among parent-child dyads and parents' offering of new foods (252.1)

Our aim was to describe parent/child neophobia, parent offering of new foods, and concordance in food preferences between parent-child dyads. University email listservs were used to recruit parents of preschoolers (2-5 y) to complete an online REDCap survey about picky eating. Scales were selected from The Child Feeding Questionnaire+ (offering new foods and pressure to eat), the Child Food Neophobia Scale and 80 items to determine parent-child food preferences. Concordance (% agreement) and Pearson correlations were calculated in SAS 9.4. The significance level was set at alpha = .05. Respondents (n=258) included mothers (86%), were white (83%), and college educated (65%). Most children (mean age = 40.6 mo ±13.8), were perceived to be of healthy weight (80%) and “good eaters” (60%). Parent (22.0 ± 7.3) and child neophobia (30.0 ± 9.2) correlated significantly (r=.41,p<.01). Offering new foods to children was inversely associated with child (r=-.52, p<.01) and parent neophobia (r=-.40, p<.01) and pressure...
Formation of a bar through cold collapse of a stellar system

The stability of self-gravitating, collisionless stellar systems has not been well explored until recently. Since the pioneering work by Henon (1973), significant progress has been made by Soviet investigators. These Soviet works are summarized in a monograph by Fridman and Polyachenko (1977). An extensive study of various kinds of dynamical instabilities of spherical stellar systems in equilibrium models has been recently made by Barnes, Goodman and Hut (1986) for a wide range of generalized stellar dynamic polytropes. One of the main results of these works is that stellar systems having predominantly radial orbits are unstable against the developement of strongly triaxial configuration (called the nonradial instability of the first kind by Barnes et. al.). Large portions of the works on this subject are based on the N-body calculations because of the difficulty in doing analytic approach for selfgravitating systems.
Frequency modulation properties of erbium doped DFB fiber lasers using cavity strain

Frequency modulation of a DFB fiber laser below 50 kHz is demonstrated using cavity strain applied by a piezoelectric element. Uses of this technique are discussed along with the likely cause of associated intensity modulation induced by the cavity strain.
Non-Blazar Gamma-Ray Variables in The Galactic Plane: A New Class of Gamma-Ray Sources

We discuss recent detections of time-variable gamma-ray sources near the Galactic plane. A new bright gamma-ray transient was detected by EGRET in June 1995 near the Galactic center (GRO J1838-04). Also one of the most interesting unidentified gamma-ray sources in the plane, 2CG 135+1, was recently shown to be variable. Both GRO J1838-04 and 2CG 135+1 share many characteristics: variability of the gamma-ray flux within days/weeks, occasional peak gamma-ray emission of comparable flux (~ 4 x 10-6 phcm-2s-1), absence of radio-loud spectrally-flat AGNs or prominent radio pulsars within their error boxes, lack of strong X-ray and/or hard X-ray counterparts. These characteristics do not match those of either gamma-ray blazars or isolated pulsars. Therefore, GRO J1838-04 and 2CG 135+1 provide strong evidence for the existence of a new class of variable gamma-ray sources.
The Edible Microchip: A Hands On Overview of the Semiconductor Manufacturing Process

The Edible Microchip is a hands on workshop where participants fabricate on wafer (sugar wafers, that is) transistors. The transistors may not have cutting edge gate lengths. They may not have the industry standard for oxide thickness. Technically, they won’t even work. However, they will be the tastiest microchips ever made, guaranteed! The “fabrication” of the edible microchip will be used to step through semiconductor manufacturing using the medium of decorating cookies to explain each process step. The main steps that are covered in the demonstration are doping, deposition, and photolithography. By actively replicating these steps on cookies, the participants gain a good overview of the semiconductor process sequence regardless of their technical background. The scope of technical information in the Edible Microchip program can be tailored for a range of ages and technical backgrounds. It can be used as a materials engineering recruitment tool for grades 6-12 audiences and lower division college students. The workshop can also be used to give an educational and entertaining introduction to semiconductor manufacturing for engineering students of varying disciplines.
Sick Healers: Chronic Affliction and the Authority of Experience at an Ethiopian Hospital

At fistula hospitals in Ethiopia, patients who are not cured of their incontinence are hired as “nurse aides” to perform essential nursing duties in the ward and operating theater. An array of tensions surrounds the work of these women, tensions that are emblematic of their chronic—but secret—patient status. If accidentally disclosed, the women's ongoing illness episodes sabotage their ability to administer treatment, such as injections. In contrast to classic anthropological accounts of wounded healers and therapeutic narratives about the virtues of experience-based care, I argue in this article that illness experience can also have a profoundly delegitimizing effect. Rather than attributing these dynamics to the alleged stigma that surrounds obstetric fistula sufferers, I delineate the various challenges to clinical authority that are epitomized by the figure of the sick healer. Nurse aides’ experiences with obstetric fistula proved to be a liability precisely because these experiences had not been resolved. Their chronic injuries raised questions both about their medical training and the efficacy of surgery. Attending to these Ethiopian health practitioners can hone our grasp of the professional dilemmas posed by chronic afflictions and contribute to our understanding of available ideologies at play in the global practice of biomedicine. [chronic illness, experience, healing, obstetric fistula, Ethiopia]
LPV control design for precision motion systems

Motion control for optical and manufacturing applications is becoming evermore demanding due to the constant drive to increase speed and precision. Linear system theory alone is often inadequate to meet the demanding requirements. Gain scheduling control design addresses system nonlinearity by using a family of linear time invariant (LTI) systems parameterized by the operating point. Instead of switching between local controllers, this paper proposes a method to construct a multi-input/multi-output (MIMO) controller with a Linear Parameter Varying (LPV) formulation around multiple operating points. The goal is to preserve good closed-loop performance in local linear neighborhood while tackling the nonlinear dynamics by suitably interpolating the local LTI controllers. The proposed approach is applied to the simulation and experiment of a two-degree-of-freedom fast steering mirrors. The system response matches well with the nonlinear system response in simulation for both small and large motion ranges. The closed-loop performance is further improved by input trajectory optimization for large-motion FSM steering, demonstrating the advantage of establishing such a global LPV controller.
Nuclear medium corrections and chiral cancellation in the pion-nucleus optical potential

Abstract The near cancellation of the pi-nuclear contributions from the lowest order non-linear terms in the Weinberg chiral lagrangian for pion-nucleon systems is re-examined in the presence of nuclear medium polarization in a popular model for these corrections. It is demonstrated that this near cancellation persists to all orders in isobar-hole pairs in spite of the further enhancement of the already large individual contributions to the S-wave pion-nucleus optical potential.
Attenuation of metal oxide ions in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with hydrogen in a hexapole collision cell

Some strongly bound metal oxide ions (MO+) can be attenuated in a hexapole collision cell with a mixture of helium and hydrogen gas. Various metal oxide ions with different dissociation energies, such as ZrO+, CeO+, LaO+, SmO+, HoO+, YbO+ and WO+, have been chosen to study the attenuation effect. By adjusting the collision conditions, especially the composition and flow rate of the collision gas and the hexapole dc bias voltage, the MO+/M+ signal ratio can be suppressed by a factor of up to 60 for CeO+ and LaO+ while maintaining ≈20% of the original signal for atomic analyte ions (M+). For the species studied, collisions with H2 improve the MO+/M+ signal ratio more extensively for oxide ions with higher dissociation energies. The same collision conditions also serve to remove most of the ArO+, ArN+ and Ar2+ from the background spectrum.
Role of Insulation Effectiveness on Fire Resistance of Steel Structures under Extreme Loading Events

Fire performance of steel structures is highly dependent on the effectiveness of applied fire insulation. However, insulation materials are susceptible to damage under extreme loading events. A state-of-the-art review on the role of insulation damage on fire resistance of steel structures is presented. Parametric studies on a six-story steel-framed building were carried out to illustrate the effect of insulation damage on fire response of a steel structure. In the analysis, realistic fire scenarios, loading, and failure criteria were taken into consideration. Analysis results indicate that the fire resistance of a steel-framed structure is significantly influenced by the extent of insulation loss, type of fire scenario, and level of lateral load. Insulation damage causes faster deterioration in the structural response of framed buildings under the combined effect of fire and lateral loading. The need for accounting for any insulation damage, arising under extreme loading events, in fire design of steel-fr...
An Analysis of Grasp Force Degradation with Commercially Available Gloves

Excessive force has been indicated as a causal factor in repetitive motion related occupational diseases such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, and tenosynovitis. When gloves are worn, grasp capabilities may be compromised causing more force to be exerted. The objective of this research was to evaluate several brands and styles of gloves. Specifically, this evaluation determined the degradation of maximum grasping force for each of the gloves tested versus a bare-handed grasp. The results of this study indicate how much each glove inhibits grasp and a hierarchy of gloves is formed using the percentage of grasp degradation for each glove when it is compared with a bare-handed grasp.
Thrombospondins 1 and 2 are necessary for synaptic plasticity and functional recovery after stroke

Thrombospondins 1 and 2 (TSP-1/2) belong to a family of extracellular glycoproteins with angiostatic and synaptogenic properties. Although TSP-1/2 have been postulated to drive the resolution of postischemic angiogenesis, their role in synaptic and functional recovery is unknown. We investigated whether TSP-1/2 are necessary for synaptic and motor recovery after stroke. Focal ischemia was induced in 8- to 12-week-old wild-type (WT) and TSP-1/2 knockout (KO) mice by unilateral occlusion of the distal middle cerebral artery and the common carotid artery (CCA). Thrombospondins 1 and 2 increased after stroke, with both TSP-1 and TSP-2 colocalizing mostly to astrocytes. Wild-type and TSP-1/2 KO mice were compared in angiogenesis, synaptic density, axonal sprouting, infarct size, and functional recovery at different time points after stroke. Using the tongue protrusion test of motor function, we observed that TSP-1/2 KO mice exhibited significant deficit in their ability to recover function (P<0.05) compared with WT mice. No differences were found in infarct size and blood vessel density between the two groups after stroke. However, TSP-1/2 KO mice exhibited significant synaptic density and axonal sprouting deficits. Deficiency of TSP-1/2 leads to impaired recovery after stroke mainly due to the role of these proteins in synapse formation and axonal outgrowth.
Functional recovery after facial nerve crush is delayed in severe combined immunodeficient mice

Abstract The goal of the current study was to determine if T and B lymphocytes play a role in functional recovery after peripheral nerve injury. The time course of behavioral recovery following facial nerve crush injury at the stylomastoid foramen was established in scid mice which lack functional T and B cells and reconstituted scid mice as compared to wild-type mice. The average time necessary for recovery of full eye blink reflex and vibrissae movements in wild-type mice was 10.3 ± 0.2 and 9.9 ± 0.34 days, respectively. In contrast, recovery of full eye blink reflex and vibrissae movements took 14.8 ± 0.54 and 12.3 ± 0.41 days, respectively, in scid mice. Reconstitution of scid mice with whole splenocytes resulted in functional recovery times similar to wild-type, with eye blink reflex recovery and vibrissae movement being 10.5 ± 0.3 and 10.0 ± 0.0 days, respectively. These results suggest that the delayed behavioral recovery time observed in scid mice may be due to the absence of T and B lymphocytes.
Frequency effects in fretting wear

Abstract The effect of frequency of vibration on fretting wear has been investigated in the 10 – 1000 Hz range with additional experiments at 20 000 Hz. Fretting tests were performed with two materials, a low carbon steel (AISI 1018) and an austenitic stainless steel (AISI 304). The experiments showed that two cases of fretting contact can be distinguished and related to the displacement amplitude. If the amplitude is low, the contact situation is characterized by partial stick at the interface. At these conditions the wear rate (measured as the volume of material removed per cycle) is little affected by frequency. However, in low amplitude fretting material damage by surface degradation and fatigue crack initiation is usually of more concern than the actual wear itself. Both of these parameters are found to be greatly accelerated by an increase in frequency. In high amplitude fretting, in contrast, gross slip occurs at the interface and wear becomes the dominant damage mode. At these conditions variations in frequency appear to have little effect on fretting wear and related mechanisms. Therefore, in the case of fretting at high displacement amplitudes, it may be possible to apply high frequency fretting to obtain accelerated testing conditions.
Chemical and biological sensing needs for health effects studies

Exposure assessment is an integral component of occupational and environmental epidemiology, risk assessment and management, as well as regulatory compliance. For the most part, air sampling and analysis tools used in occupational and environmental exposure assessments are based on technologies that have changed little since the 1970s. In many cases the lack of simple, inexpensive, exposure assessment technologies has limited epidemiologists' and risk assessors' ability to evaluate the environmental and occupational causes of disease. While there have been tremendous investments and advances in medical diagnostic and biomonitoring technologies (e.g., glucose testing, human genetics), there has been less effort invested in advancing the science of exposure assessment. Recent developments in sensor technology have focused on medical and homeland security applications. Developing and applying new sensors to health effects studies can revolutionize the way epidemiologic studies are conducted. Time-series studies that investigate short-term (hours to days) changes in exposure that are linked to changes in health care encounters, symptoms, and biological markers of preclinical disease and/or susceptibility are needed to more fully evaluate the impact of chemicals and other agents on health. Current sampling technology limits our ability to assess time-varying concentrations. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the current state of air sampling and health assessment and the potential application of novel sensor technology for use in health effects studies.
Autocrine Phosphorylation of p70S6k in Response to Acute Stretch in Myotubes

Phosphorylation of 70-KDa S6 kinase (p70S6k) is correlated with in vivo skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Experiments tested whether mechanical stretch is sufficient to increase p70S6k phosphorylation in skeletal myotubes. Immediately following stretch, there was a small increase in p70S6k phosphorylation (63.2 ± 8.5%) with maximal phosphorylation at 3 h (129.5 ± 22.2%) and it remained elevated through 24 h (46.0 ± 17.2%). To test whether an autocrine mechanism is involved, unstretched myotubes were incubated with medium from the stretch group for 10 min. Conditioned medium resulted in the phosphorylation of p70S6k in unstretched myotubes (92.8 ± 28.9%) to levels comparable to the 3-h stretch group. These data indicate that p70S6k is phosphorylated in stretched myotubes via a mechanism that most likely involves an autocrine signaling pathway.
A stable nonuniform sampling expansion involving derivatives

The work of D.A. Linden and N.M. Abramson (Inf. Control, vol.3, p.26-31, 1960, and vol.4, p.95-6, 1961) is completed in the sense that a full investigation of the convergence properties of the expansion is made. By adapting the work of N. Levinson (Am. Math. Soc. Colloq. Pub. vol.26, 1940) on nonharmonic Fourier series and general results from the theory of B-splines, the author extends the result to the case of sampling with uniformly spaced samples. A stability property is proved. >