cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Leveraging cognitive factors in securing WWW with CAPTCHA

Human Interactive Proofs systems using CAPTCHA help protect services on the World Wide Web (WWW) from widespread abuse by verifying that a human, not an automated program, is making a request. To authenticate a user as human, a test must be passable by virtually all humans, but not by computer programs. For a CAPTCHA to be useful online, it must be easy to interpret by humans. In this paper, we present a new method to combine handwritten CAPTCHAs with a random tree structure and random test questions to create a novel and more robust implementation that leverages unique features of human cognition, including the superior ability over machines in recognizing graphics and reading unconstrained handwriting text that has been transformed in precise ways. This combined CAPTCHA protects against advances in recognition systems to ensure it remains viable in the future without causing additional difficulties for humans. We present motivation for our approach, algorithm development, and experimental results that support our CAPTCHA in protecting web services while providing important insights into human cognitive factors at play during human-computer interaction.
Supplemental silicon increases plasma and milk silicon concentrations in horses

The primary objective of this research was to determine the effect of supplemental dietary silicon (Si) on plasma and milk Si concentrations of lactating mares and the subsequent effect on plasma Si concentrations in nursing foals. Additionally, the role of Si on altering biochemical markers of bone turnover was investigated, because supplemental Si may be advantageous in enhancing bone health. Twelve Arabian mare/foal units were pair-matched by foaling date and randomly assigned to two groups, Si-supplemented (Supplemented) or control (Control). Blood and milk samples were taken on d 0, 15, 30, and 45, d 0 being the 1st d after parturition. Plasma and milk (or colostrum) Si concentrations were determined and serum was analyzed for osteocalcin, carboxy-terminal pyridinoline cross-linked telopeptide region of type I collagen, and pyridinoline and deoxypyridinoline crosslinks. All Supplemented mares had higher (P 0.36) bone metabolism in foals; however, trends (P < 0.10) for altered bone metabolism were observed in postpartum mares. Results indicate that supplemental Si increases plasma and milk Si concentrations. Further research is required to determine whether Si has a role in altering serum biochemical markers of bone and collagen activity.
Privileging bilingualism: Using biliterate writing outcomes to understand emerging bilingual learners’ literacy achievement

ABSTRACTLanguage planning and policy with regard to bilingual education are greatly influenced by the ideologies outlined by Richard Ruiz. In this article, we demonstrate that Ruiz’s language-as-resource orientation requires that we use two-language assessments to study how program models are both developing and conserving the languages that students bring to school. We demonstrate through a study of students’ writing how scholars might use such assessments to privilege bilingualism and present a more complete understanding of students’ biliteracy development that counters the use of bilingualism in service to the hegemony of English, even when the same study includes a comparison of English outcomes of students in paired literacy as compared to students in English-only models. Findings reveal that students in paired literacy are becoming comparably literate in the domain of writing in Spanish and English as measured by a Biliteracy Writing Rubric. Furthermore, when their English language outcomes are com...
Clausewitz and Small Wars: The Conceptual Origins of the ‘Remarkable Trinity’

Carl von Clausewitz’s life and career were marked by modest achievement and great frustration. Despite serving three quarters of his life in the Prussian and (briefly) Russian armies, he was denied...
Attention to Local and Global Complexity in Television Messages

(1987). Attention to Local and Global Complexity in Television Messages. Annals of the International Communication Association: Vol. 10, Communication Yearbook 10, pp. 366-383.
Associating metrics of hydrologic variability with benthic macroinvertebrate communities in regulated and unregulated snowmelt-dominated rivers

Dams and diversions in rivers often alter flow regimes, which in turn can affect stream biota, particularly when the novel conditions are dramatically different from those under which native species evolved. Management of regulated rivers can include development of environmental flows that seek to restore ecological integrity. However, designing a flow regime that adequately supports aquatic biodiversity requires quantifiable metrics of hydrologic variability that directly relate to aquatic species diversity. This study examined both regulated and unregulated montane rivers over 3 years within the marked seasonality of California's Mediterranean climate to determine which quantifiable elements of a flow regime were most correlated with changes in the biologic community, using stream invertebrates during the summer low flow period as an indicator. Boosted regression trees were used to assess relationships between quantifiable metrics of flow regimes and the invertebrate community. Non-metric multidimensional scaling and a multi-response permutation procedure were used to analyze general trends in invertebrate assemblage patterns between rivers and years. Results indicated that hydrologic alteration corresponded to differences in invertebrate community composition, and that metrics related to the spring snowmelt recession and variability in summer water temperature had the greatest relative influence on invertebrate community diversity. Rivers exhibiting longer duration spring recessions, lower daily rates of change during the spring recession, and stable water temperatures during summer supported relatively higher invertebrate community diversity. These relationships suggest that quantifiable metrics associated with seasonal flow variability and predictability should be an integral part of environmental flow design and monitoring.
A note on the multivariate miser for balancing experiments

The MISER criterion for pre-experiment balancing of experiments that will be analyzed by the analysis of covariance was proposed by Press (1987). The idea was to minimize, over all designs, the inflation produced by design imbalance (inequality of cell covariate vectors) , of the average standard errors of contrasts. In this note we consider the balancing problem in the case of multiple response experiments, and we show that under certain reasonable assumptions, the multivariate result is analogous to that in the univariate case.
The Regulation of Drugs and Biological Products by the Food and Drug Administration

Abstract The mission of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is to protect and enhance the public health through the regulation of medical products, food, and tobacco and to spur innovation to address unmet medical and public health needs. There are seven product review centers with oversight authority over specific types of products that account for approximately 25% of spending by American consumers each year. This chapter provides an overview of the regulation of human drug and biological products, primarily in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research and the Center for Biologics Research and Evaluation. FDA regulatory authority over clinical trials for drug and biologic products is to in part ensure human subject protections and data integrity, the cornerstones of good clinical practice. Moreover, the substantial evidence standard required for demonstration of effectiveness in marketing applications greatly impacts the clinical trial design and conduct.
Non-isolated drop impact on surfaces

Upon impact on a solid surface, a drop expands into a sheet, a corona, which can rebound, stick or splash and fragment into secondary droplets. Previously, focus has been placed on impacts of single drops on surfaces to understand their splash, rebound or spreading. This is important for spraying, printing, and environmental and health processes such as contamination by pathogen-bearing droplets. However, sessile drops are ubiquitous on most surfaces and their interaction with the impacting drop is largely unknown. We report on the regimes of interactions between an impacting drop and a sessile drop. Combining experiments and theory, we derive the existence conditions for the four regimes of drop–drop interaction identified, and report that a subtle combination of geometry and momentum transfer determines a critical impact force governing their physics. Crescent-moon fragmentation is most efficient at producing and projecting secondary droplets, even when the impacting drop Weber number would not allow for splash to occur on the surface considered if the drop were isolated. We introduce a critical horizontal impact Weber number that governs the formation of a sheet from the sessile drop upon collision with the expanding corona of the impacting drop. We also predict and validate important properties of the crescent-moon fragmentation: the extension of its sheet base and the ligaments surrounding its base. Finally, our results suggest a new paradigm: impacts on most surfaces can make a splash of a new kind – a crescent-moon – for any impact velocity when neighbouring sessile drops are present.
Food policy councils in the mid-Atlantic: Working toward justice

Moral political action within a food system is vital to human health and survival in the Anthropocene. Over the last 20 years, the alternative food move­ment has unpacked what that moral food system looks like, and how people either participate or are marginalized in various food systems. Largely overlooked in the alternative food discourse is the role of food policy councils (FPCs) in promoting, plan­ning, and advocating for a regional food system that serves and supports its people. Researchers at Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future put the number of FPCs in North America at 282 in 2015, a more than 650 percent increase over the previous decade (Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, 2015). While the basic design of an FPC is often standard—a locally minded group of stakeholders recommending changes to food policy—the groups are often structured in different ways. This paper uses a mixed-methods approach, including participant interviews and website analysis, to study FPCs from the mid-Atlantic region of the United States and look at how their structure affects their emphasis on food justice. In an age of crippling food insecurity, diet-related diseases, corporate hegemony, and food injustice, communities are looking for greater control of their regional food system; local FPCs can serve as a central hub for people to engage in food politics and enact change.
b-Quark Physics

Many physicists had anticipated that the three u, d, s quarks would have to be supplemented by a fourth, before the evidence for the charmed quark actually appeared with the discovery of the Ψ. The c quark was needed to account for the absence of strangeness changing neutral week currents 2, as well as the high value of R = σ(e+ e- →hadrons)/σ(e+ e−→μ+ μ−). To most of us the fifth “bottom” quark came as a surprise when the Υ was seen in lepton pair production at Fermilab.4 But now that we have the b, it is proving to be useful. First, because the b is so massive, the bb bound system serves as an convenient laboratory for the study of QCD. And second, the weak decays of b-flavored mesons can help us to solve longstanding problems in the weak interactions. Six quarks may provide the natural explanation for CP violation.
Similarities Between Tinnitus and Pain

1. Both pain and tinnitus have many different forms. 2. Tinnitus and central neuropathic pain are phantom sensations similar to the phantom limb symptoms that occur without any physical stimulation of sensory receptors. 3. Tinnitus and neuropathic pain are typical examples of “plasticity disorders” where the symptoms are caused by plastic changes that are not beneficial to an individual person. 4. Central neuropathic pain and tinnitus have no physical signs. 5. The severity of pain and tinnitus are difficult to assess quantitatively even under laboratory circumstances. Only the patients’ own perception is a true measure of the severity of central pain and subjective tinnitus. 6. The perception of pain and tinnitus is affected by many factors such as actual circumstances, expectation, stress, and a person’s emotional state. 7. Many forms of pain are best described as suffering; the same is the case for severe subjective tinnitus. 8. Pain and tinnitus can have strong emotional components, it often prevents or disturbs sleep, and it can interfere with or prevent intellectual work. 9. It is difficult to get reliable data on epidemiology of tinnitus and central neuropathic pain because of their subjective nature and large variability. 10. Activation of neural plasticity is involved in causing and maintaining central neuropathic pain and many forms of subjective tinnitus. 11. The nervous system is the site of the anomalies that cause central neuropathic pain and many forms of tinnitus. Both tinnitus and pain involve a cascade of neural structures. 12. The pathology of the nervous system in some forms of central neuropathic pain is stable in the pathologic state. It may be similar for some forms of tinnitus. 13. Pain that is perceived as escapable uses a different part of the periaquaductal gray than pain that is perceived as inescapable. It is not known if tinnitus also has such distinctions. 14. Severe tinnitus is often accompanied by hyperacusis (lowered tolerance to sounds); pain may be accompanied by allodynia (pain from normally innocuous touch of the skin) hyperpathia (exaggerated reaction to acute pain), and hypersensitivity (lowered threshold for painful stimulation). 15. Some forms of tinnitus and pain can be modulated by electrical stimulation of the skin. 16. Electrical stimulation of several cortical structures can modulate both pain and tinnitus. 17. The sympathetic nervous system can modulate pain and some forms of tinnitus.
Chemical Modification of the Inner and Outer Surfaces of Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV)

Viral nanoparticles derived from tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) find applications in various fields. We report the purification and chemical modification of TMV which is a hollow rod-shaped plant viral nanoparticle with modifiable interior and exterior surfaces. We describe methods to isolate TMV from its tobacco plant host for spatially controlled interior and exterior chemical modification and to characterize the resulting TMV hybrid materials.
Identification of the Novel Nup188-brr7 Allele in a Screen for Cold-Sensitive mRNA Export Mutants in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The maturation and export of mRNA from the nucleus through the nuclear pore complex is critical for maintaining an appropriate proteome in all eukaryotic cells. Here we summarize a previously unpublished screen in S. cerevisiae that utilized an established dT50 in situ hybridization assay to identify cold-sensitive mutants that accumulated bulk poly A RNA in the nucleus. The screen identified seven mutants in six complementation groups, including the brr6-1 strain that we described previously. In addition to brr6-1, we identified novel alleles of the key transport gene GLE1 and NUP188, a component of the Nic96 nucleoporin complex. Notably, we show that the nup188-brr7 allele causes defects in select protein import pathways as well as mRNA export. Given recent structural and functional evidence linking the Nic96 complex to transport components, this mutant may be particularly useful to the transport community.
Endobronchial forceps-assisted complex retrieval of inferior vena cava filters.

Abstract Objective The objective of this study was to assess the safety, feasibility, and effectiveness of endobronchial forceps-assisted retrieval of inferior vena cava (IVC) filters when standard retrieval techniques fail. Methods An Institutional Review Board-approved single-center retrospective review during a 6-year period identified 60 consecutive patients (23 men and 37 women; mean age, 49.3 years; range, 19-77 years) in whom rigid endobronchial forceps were required for IVC filter retrieval after standard techniques failed. Factors affecting retrieval success, including an embedded or tilted filter, overall dwell time, filter fracture, and caval penetration, were recorded, as were success rates, procedural details, and complications. Results Mean dwell time between filter placement and removal was 565 days (range, 15-7366 days). Various IVC filters were encountered: 33 Option (Argon Medical, Frisco, Tex), 8 Celect (Cook Medical, Bloomington, Ind), 9 Gunther Tulip (Cook Medical), 4 G2 and 3 Eclipse (Bard, Murray Hill, NJ), 2 OptEase (Cordis, Bridgewater, NJ), and 1 Simon Nitinol (Bard). Imaging before retrieval showed grade 1 (3/60), grade 2 (44/60), and grade 3 (13/60) filter interaction with IVC wall. The degree of secondary tilt as assessed on images acquired before attempted retrieval was 20 degrees (n = 12; 20%), with an average tilt of 13.8 degrees (range, 0-48.9 degrees). Of the 60 filters, 58 were retrieved successfully (96.7%). Two of these required a second attempt (one because of migration into the right atrium and the other because of extreme discomfort of the patient requiring subsequent general anesthesia). Five of 60 procedures were forceps-assisted loop snare retrievals in which the forceps were used to dissect the embedded hook free from surrounding hyperplastic caval venous endothelium. Mean fluoroscopy retrieval time was 33.2 minutes (range, 10-76.9 minutes). Intraprocedural inconsequential filter fracture was observed in 10 patients. There were four complications: one retroperitoneal hemorrhage, one IVC dissection flap, and two filter fractures with subsequent migration of filter components to the right side of the heart and to the right pulmonary artery. The first two complications required hospital admission and conservative management; in the last two, the fractured and migrated filter limbs were retrieved successfully using a snare device. Conclusions Rigid endobronchial forceps can be safely and reliably used to remove embedded, fractured, or tilted retrievable IVC filters from patients in whom standard retrieval techniques are unsuccessful. There is a high success rate and minimal complications. We propose that the degree of filter tilt, caval penetration, and filter fracture are predictive of the need for the use of forceps as a first-line retrieval technique.
Predicting diabetes-related hospitalizations based on electronic health records.

Objective: To derive a predictive model to identify patients likely to be hospitalized during the following year due to complications attributed to Type II diabetes. Methods: A variety of supervise...
Options for Interbody Grafting

While cervical pathology should adjudicate the approach to the spinal column, appropriate fusion constructs among anterior cervical diseases remain a point of contention in the literature. Although the role of the cervical interbody grafting remains a time-honored tool in fusion operations, the surgical armamentarium for stabilization of the anterior and middle column in the cervical spine has expanded to a myriad of materials and techniques. Cervical grafts/spacers alone have evolved exponentially over the decades as surgeons attempt to strike a perfect balance between the structural and biological roles of the interbody graft.
Fiscal Crisis as Failure of Progressivist Democracy

The American system of political economy surely faces a fiscal crisis illustrated by but not limited to a trend of growing deficits and debt that cannot continue. What can’t continue won’t continue. In what fashion change occurs will be governed by forthcoming interactions between power and ideology. The present crisis has been building for nearly a century, and it resides in the morphing of a constitutional system of limited democracy into one of progressivist or oligarchic democracy. The clear and present danger is that the present crisis will end up strengthening the conservative forces of progressivist democracy and its program of continually extending the reach of politics into society. The avoidance of that danger requires some bold reconstitution of the American civil order in tune with its foundation in a constitution of liberty. Pursuit of this alternative path requires recognition that the progressivist century has done much to eviscerate the exceptional qualities of the American political heritage. That evisceration, however, can be transcended by a muscular liberalism that overcomes the soft power-based sentimentality that is the hallmark of the oligarchic form of democracy.
Analysis of the effect of salt water on time domain electromagnetic induction sensing of submerged metallic objects

Relative to free-space or non-responsive media, salt water (SW) alters both primary and secondary electromagnetic induction (EMI) fields that pass through it. Effects appear distinctly in the frequency domain (FD), depending on both frequency and sensor-target distance, and may be distinctly quantified. Target signatures are distorted particularly over roughly the upper half log-space of the frequency range where distinctive response patterns may appear. This paper pursues the implications of those distortions when they are translated mathematically to the time domain (TD). Effects of sensor-target standoff, target composition and orientation are pursued. Within configurations of potential interest, SW effects appear strongly in very early time (< 0.1 ms); we investigate the extent to which these effects may spill over further into the early time (ET) range (~ 0.1 ms – 1 ms), which has been important for signal interpretation in sensing on land. Lastly, computations compare the relative magnitude of these SW effects in the secondary field (SF) with those from the SW background itself.
Searching for Fiction for Pleasure Reading: Current Research and Recommendations:

One of the major tasks library patrons are faced with is searching for a good book to read, particularly when they have no specific book in mind. As such, people faced with this task search in plac...
Schmitt’s democratic dialectic: On the limits of democracy as a value:

In this essay, I attempt to measure various prevailing democratic theories against an argument that Carl Schmitt advances in the first chapter of his ‘Crisis of Parliamentary Democracy’. In practic...
13 The epidemiology of police-reported pedestrian injuries treated in North Carolina emergency departments: a focus on health disparities and serious injuries

Statement of Purpose Older adults, people of color, and residents of lower-income communities are disproportionately represented in pedestrian fatalities. Fatalities, however, represent a small proportion of all pedestrian traffic-related injuries. We linked crash, emergency department (ED) visit, and American Community Survey (ACS) data to examine the socio-demographic and crash characteristics of pedestrian injuries and their association with serious injuries in North Carolina (NC). Methods/Approach We linked information for pedestrians from 2017 NC police-reported crashes to population-based ED visit and ACS data using hierarchical deterministic linkage methods. We used descriptive epidemiologic methods to calculate injury incidence rates and to examine the relationships among patient, socio-demographic, and crash characteristics and serious injuries, defined using an adapted definition of ‘serious injury’ developed by the National Transportation Safety Board. Results We linked 45% percent of police-reported pedestrian injuries to NC ED visit data (N=1,398). The 2017 rate of police-reported pedestrian injuries treated in NC EDs was 13.6 visits per 100,000 person-years. Rates per 100,000 person-years (in parentheses) were highest among adults 20–29 years of age (19.2), higher among men (15.5) than women (10.6), and higher among blacks (22.7) than whites (8.2). Patient and socio-demographic characteristics associated with serious injuries included age, sex, race/Hispanic ethnicity, expected source of payment, and county poverty level. Crash characteristics associated with serious injuries included posted speed limit, ambient light, number of lanes, and striking vehicle type. Conclusion Pedestrian injuries are not distributed evenly across the NC population. Communities of color and counties with high levels of poverty are disproportionately impacted. Key crash characteristics are associated with rates of serious injury. Significance/Contribution to Injury and Violence Prevention Science Policies, interventions, and other countermeasures designed to prevent pedestrian injuries should recognize and address social disparities and promote health equity.
Soil microbial EPS resiliency is influenced by carbon source accessibility

Abstract The adaptability of soil microbial communities to prolonged periods of drought is influenced by their ability to produce extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) with sufficient water retention properties. Microbial EPS have been extensively investigated as water reservoirs during drought, but it remains unknown how carbon substrate accessibility to soil microbial communities will affect the chemical properties of the EPS they generate, and whether this in turn will alter their water retention characteristics. In this work, we observed that the accessibility of carbon substrates influenced microbial community structure and, consequently, the chemical properties of EPS produced by the microbial communities. Our results demonstrated that an insoluble carbon substrate (i.e., chitin), stimulated microbial communities to produce EPS with measurably better water retention properties in emulated soil microenvironments in comparison to a soluble carbon substrate (i.e., N-acetylglucosamine; NAG). In all, this study demonstrates the importance of carbon substrate accessibility by soil microorganisms in regulating the community structure and consequently, the EPS carbon chemistry, which in turn can greatly influence the adaptability of soil microbial communities to drought.
Targeting the SHP2 phosphatase promotes vascular damage and inhibition of tumor growth

Abstract The tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 is oncogenic in cancers driven by receptor-tyrosine-kinases, and SHP2 inhibition reduces tumor growth. Here, we report that SHP2 is an essential promoter of endothelial cell survival and growth in the remodeling tumor vasculature. Using genetic and chemical approaches to inhibit SHP2 activity in endothelial cells, we show that SHP2 inhibits pro-apoptotic STAT3 and stimulates proliferative ERK1/2 signaling. Systemic SHP2 inhibition in mice bearing tumors selected for SHP2-independent tumor-cell growth, promotes degeneration of the tumor vasculature and blood extravasation; reduces tumor vascularity and blood perfusion; and increases tumor hypoxia and necrosis. Reduction of tumor growth ensues, independent of SHP2 targeting in the tumor cells, blocking immune checkpoints or recruiting anti-tumor macrophages. We also show that inhibiting the Angiopoietin/TIE2/AKT cascade magnifies the vascular and anti-tumor effects of SHP2 inhibition by blocking tumor endothelial AKT signaling, not a target of SHP2. Since the SHP2 and Ang2/TIE2 pathways are active in vascular endothelial cells of human melanoma and colon carcinoma, SHP2 inhibitors alone or with Ang2/Tie2 inhibitors hold promise to effectively target the tumor endothelium.
Later Meal and Sleep Timing Predicts Higher Percent Body Fat

Accumulating evidence suggests that later timing of energy intake (EI) is associated with increased risk of obesity. In this study, 83 individuals with overweight and obesity underwent assessment of a 7-day period of data collection, including measures of body weight and body composition (DXA) and 24-h measures of EI (photographic food records), sleep (actigraphy), and physical activity (PA, activity monitors) for 7 days. Relationships between body mass index (BMI) and percent body fat (DXA) with meal timing, sleep, and PA were examined. For every 1 h later start of eating, there was a 1.25 (95% CI: 0.60, 1.91) unit increase in percent body fat (False Discovery Rate (FDR) adjusted p value = 0.010). For every 1 h later midpoint of the eating window, there was a 1.35 (95% CI: 0.51, 2.19) unit increase in percent body fat (FDR p value = 0.029). For every 1 h increase in the end of the sleep period, there was a 1.64 (95% CI: 0.56, 2.72) unit increase in percent body fat (FDR p value = 0.044). Later meal and sleep timing were also associated with lower PA levels. In summary, later timing of EI and sleep are associated with higher body fat and lower levels of PA in people with overweight and obesity.
The Time Varying Volatility of Macroeconomic Fluctuations

In this paper we investigate the sources of the important shifts in the volatility of U.S. macroeconomic variables in the postwar period. To this end, we propose the estimation of DSGE models allowing for time variation in the volatility of the structural innovations. We apply our estimation strategy to a large-scale model of the business cycle and find that investment specific technology shocks account for most of the sharp decline in volatility of the last two decades.
“It is easy making a lie; the contradicting of which the next day will make another paragraph”: The Travels of Hildebrand Bowman and the Critique of the British Colonial Print Matrix

Counterposing The Travels of Hildebrand Bowman (1778) with John Hawkesworth's “official” account of Pacific encounter (1773), this essay examines the potential of fiction to critique British explor...
The relationship between airborne ascospores, cladosporium and rainfall events

Abstract Rationale Ascospores are traditionally associated with rainfall events and Cladosporium spores are associated with the following periods of dry weather. To examine this relationship of airborne ascospores and periods of wet weather we conducted the following studies. Methods Airborne spores were collected during the months of March thru October from 1998 to 2002 in Kansas City. Spores were collected on silicon grease coated glass slides using an Allergenco MK-3 or Burkard spore trap device. Slides were stained and preserved with Calberlas stain in glycerin jelly and counted microscopically at 1000x. Counts were generated to represent airborne spore concentrations at 4-hour intervals. Spore numbers were entered into an Access database and counts were displayed as spores per cubic meter of air. Weather data was obtained from an Automated Weather Source weather station located adjacent to the urban collector. Results During this 5 year period, there were74 days when Ascospore counts exceeded 20000 per cubic meter of air and Cladosporium counts did not. There were 43 days when Cladosporium counts exceeded 20000 per cubic meter of air and Ascospore counts did not. And there were 10 days when both Ascospore counts and Cladosporium counts exceeded 20000. During these 5 years there were 16 occasions when rainfall was associated with high Ascospore levels that were directly succeeded by high Cladosporium events. Conclusion Data collected over these 5 years support the conclusion that Ascospore releases are associated with rainfall events and that Cladosporium releases were high in the succeeding dry period.
Dental health services research utilizing comprehensive clinical databases and information technology

Marketplace pressures for accountability in dentistry have made clear dental delivery systems9 weaknesses in information generation, management, and analysis methods. Without this type of information, dentistry is unable to quantify and document the outcomes of the dental care services it provides. The Pew Health Professions Commission and the Institute of Medicine both suggest that dental schools should be among the leaders in the development and teaching of dental information capabilities, as well as the source of fundamental dental health services research. This paper argues that dental schools are the logical location for the development of valid, reliable, and acceptable health services research methods and databases. It describes the development of an insurance claims database to demonstrate the types of investigations possible, as well as the weaknesses and shortcomings of pure administrative data.
Ocular motor stability of foveation periods: Required conditions for suppression of oscillopsia

Individuals with congenital nystagmus (CN) usually do not experience oscillopsia. We hypothesized that the ability to suppress oscillopsia in CN is the result of perceptual mechanisms that differentiate retinal image motion caused by the oscillation itself from that of real target motion. In previous studies we showed that: (1) by inducing oscillopsia in CN subjects who did not experience it under normal conditions, retinal image stability was insufficient to suppress oscillopsia in the presence of nystagmus; (2) the presence of repeatable, well-developed (retinal error position ≤ 0.5° and error velocity ≤ 4°/sec) foveation periods was necessary for visual constancy. The present study is of a subject with diagonal CN whose direction of perceived oscillopsia varied with the eye used for fixation; the oscillopsia corresponded to the absence of well-developed foveation periods in either (horizontal or vertical) or both planes. Thus, poorly developed foveation periods in the horizontal, vertical or both plane...
A Discourse Analytic Approach to Video Analysis of Teaching: Aligning Desired Identities With Practice

The authors present findings from a qualitative study of an experience that supports teacher candidates to use discourse analysis and positioning theory to analyze videos of their practice during student teaching. The research relies on the theoretical concept that learning to teach is an identity process. In particular, teachers construct and enact their identities during moment-to-moment interactions with students, colleagues, and parents. Using case study methods for data generation and analysis, the authors demonstrate how one participant used the analytic tools to trace whether and how she enacted her preferred teacher identities (facilitator and advocate) during student teaching. Implications suggest that using discourse analytic frameworks to analyze videos of instruction is a generative strategy for developing candidates’ interactional awareness that impacts student learning and the nature of classroom talk. Overall, these tools support novice teachers with the difficult task of becoming the teach...
The Pastor and Bioethics

This essay presents bioethics or ethics in health care as a challenge to pastors. Common professional struggles are experienced by pastoral and health professionals. Thus, first, we need to consider the meaning of being a professional especially as pastors. Second, pastors might explore at least four specific medical issues: namely physician-assisted death or euthanasia, complementary or alternative treatments, the exercise of consent to medical procedures by patients or parishioners and families, and the crucial need for the donation of vital organs to save lives. Embedded within all four issues, there is a significant religious concern which requires the pastor's expertise.
Devising a Study on Religion and the Latina Experience

The author looks at Latina women in the United States and their contributions to the mosaic of religious social patterns. The underlying assumption here is that Latinas/os, like other ethnic groups...
Ball Courts and Political Centralization in the Casas Grandes Region

Ball courts are well-known features of Mesoamerican societies and of the Hohokam culture of the American Southwest. In both cases, the courts are argued to have served a range of ritual, economic, and political purposes. Ball courts have long been known to exist in the northwestern Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora as well as in the adjacent portion of New Mexico, although they have never been extensively described or interpreted. This paper presents a large, new set of ball court data for the area around the great Prehispanic center of Paquime (or Casas Grandes), Chihuahua. These data suggest that the region around Paquime may have been characterized by a relatively low level of political centralization, regardless of the social and economic alliances that existed among neighboring communities.
XPA-Mediated Regulation of Global Nucleotide Excision Repair by ATR Is p53-Dependent and Occurs Primarily in S-Phase

Cell cycle checkpoints play an important role in regulation of DNA repair pathways. However, how the regulation occurs throughout the cell cycle remains largely unknown. Here we demonstrate that nucleotide excision repair (NER) is regulated by the ATR/p53 checkpoint via modulation of XPA nuclear import and that this regulation occurs in a cell cycle-dependent manner. We show that depletion of p53 abrogated the UV-induced nuclear translocation of XPA, while silencing of Chk1 or MAPKAP Kinase-2 (MK2) had no effect. Inhibition of p53 transcriptional activities and silencing of p53-Ser15 phosphorylation also reduced the damage-induced XPA nuclear import. Furthermore, in G1-phase cells the majority of XPA remained in the cytoplasm even after UV treatment. By contrast, while most of the XPA in S-phase cells was initially located in the cytoplasm before DNA damage, UV irradiation stimulated bulk import of XPA into the nucleus. Interestingly, the majority of XPA molecules always were located in the nucleus in G2-phase cells no matter whether the DNA was damaged or not. Consistently, the UV-induced Ser15 phosphorylation of p53 occurred mainly in S-phase cells, and removal of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) was much more efficient in S-phase cells than in G1-phase cells. Our results suggest that upon DNA damage in S phase, NER could be regulated by the ATR/p53-dependent checkpoint via modulation of the XPA nuclear import process. In contrast, the nuclear import of XPA in G1 or G2 phase appears to be largely independent of DNA damage and p53.
Effect of Methylprednisolone on Experimental Cerebral Infarction in the Mongolian Gerbil

In a double-blind study, the effect of high doses of methylprednisolone on the cerebral edema induced by cerebral infarction was evaluated in 76 Mongolian gerbils. The incidence of experimentally induced cerebral infarction following carotid artery ligation is high in these animals because they lack a posterior communicating artery. One hour after the left common carotid artery had been ligated, 34 animals were given 30 mg per kilogram of the adrenocorticosteroid and the dose was repeated 24 and 48 hours later. Thirty-four animals were given normal saline on the same treatment schedule. Eight animals with sham operations were not treated. The animals were observed for ten days for signs of stroke. Surviving animals were killed on the tenth day and all brains were examined macroscopically and microscopically. Stroke developed in 41% of all animals; 31% died within ten days. Of the steroid-treated animals, stroke developed in 38% and 26% died. Of the saline-treated animals, stroke developed in 44% and 35.5%...
Thickness dependence of the microstructures and magnetic properties of electroplated Co nanowires.

The correlation between the crystal structure and the magnetic properties of Co nanowires of diameter 65 and 200?nm fabricated by electroplating Co into the pores of anodic aluminum oxide membranes has been investigated. Strikingly different microstructures have been observed in these Co nanowires by means of x-ray diffraction and selected area electron diffraction measurements. The 65?nm thick Co nanowires are composed of long and ordered hexagonal close-packed Co grains (>5??m), while the 200?nm thick Co nanowires are composed of submicron-long hexagonal close-packed and face-centered cubic Co grains. Correspondingly, different magnetic properties have been observed for these Co nanowires. Magnetization measurements have found that the 65?nm thick Co nanowires have a magnetic hysteresis that is significantly larger than that of the 200?nm thick Co nanowires. Spontaneous magnetic moments of the nanowires are parallel to the nanowires in the 65?nm thick Co nanowires, but they are transverse to the nanowires in the 200?nm thick Co nanowires, as observed by the magnetic force microscopy. The correlation between their different magnetic properties and microstructures is discussed.
Some future social repercussions of computers

The prehistory and history of computers and programs are briefly reviewed and are used as a basis for predicting the future. Computers are classified into thirteen generations of which the last five have not yet arrived. A previously published argument is mentioned suggesting that an ultra‐intelligent machine will be built within a few decades and its promise and dangers are emphasized. It is suggested that an association for dealing with the dangers should be started. A proposal for press‐button peace is mentioned, based on computerized international cooperation. Numerous future applications for computers are briefly discussed, some being natural extrapolations from what has already begun.
Modeling the Effect of pH and Temperature for Cellulases Immobilized on Enzymogel Nanoparticles

Production costs of cellulosic biofuels can be lowered if cellulases are recovered and reused using particulate carriers that can be extracted after biomass hydrolysis. Such enzyme recovery was recently demonstrated using enzymogel nanoparticles with grafted polymer brushes loaded with cellulases. In this work, cellulase (NS50013) and β-glucosidase (Novozyme 188) were immobilized on enzymogels made of poly(acrylic acid) polymer brushes grafted to the surface of silica nanoparticles. Response surface methodology was used to model effects of pH and temperature on hydrolysis and recovery of free and attached enzymes. Hydrolysis yields using both enzymogels and free cellulase and β-glucosidase were highest at the maximum temperature tested, 50 °C. The optimal pH for cellulase enzymogels and free enzyme was 5.0 and 4.4, respectively, while both free β-glucosidase and enzymogels had an optimal pH near 4.4. Highest hydrolysis sugar concentrations with cellulase and β-glucosidase enzymogels were 69 and 53 % of those with free enzymes, respectively. Enzyme recovery using enzymogels decreased with increasing pH, but cellulase recovery remained greater than 88 % throughout the operating range of pH values less than 5.0 and was greater than 95 % at pH values below 4.3. Recovery of β-glucosidase enzymogels was not affected by temperature and had little impact on cellulase recovery.
Predicting the availability of contiguous memory

In a memory allocation algorithm with variable-size segments, checkerboarding (external fragmentation) distributes the unused memory space into a number of relatively small fragments, so that the largest fragment is considerably smaller than the total. For some computer architectures, garbage collection is impossible or unfeasible at an arbitrary memory allocation decision. Hence it is necessary to consider the individual sizes of fragments (and, in particular, the largest one) rather than the sum total available. A simulation model is used to develop empirical probability distributions for the size of the largest fragment of available memory at a given instant, conditional only on the number of allocated blocks. A predictor developed from such distributions is presented, and example distributions for a job scheduling system are presented and discussed.
Molecular dynamics of a crystal-crystal phase transition in an alternating copolymer of ethylene and chlorotrifluoroethylene using the Raman active longitudinal acoustical mode (LAM)

Abstract A low frequency Raman band assignable to the longitudinal acoustical mode (LAM) in an alternating copolymer of ethylene and chlorotrifluoroethylene (E/CTFE) has been observed. The anisotropic scattering properties of an oriented filament have been determined by polarized Raman measurements and the results confirm this assignment. The frequency-chain length variation characteristic of the LAM has also been observed and studied through carefully-controlled annealing experiments. The dynamics of the 150°C crystal-crystal phase transition was investigated using the bandwidth and frequency position of the LAM as a molecular probe. It was found that its shift to lower frequency upon crossing the phase boundary reflected a decrease in the c-axis Young's modulus consistent with a deviation of the backbone conformation away from a planar structure.
The Effects of Acute Psychological Stress on Lymphocyte Adhesion Molecule Expression and Density in Cardiac versus Vascular Reactors

Abstract This study examined the effects of acute psychological stress on lymphocyte subsets and their differential changes according to their cell adhesion molecule expression in cardiac versus vascular reactors. We classified 49 subjects into cardiac or vascular reactors based on the participants' cardiac output or total peripheral resistance reactivity to a speech presentation task. Analysis demonstrated that there were no significant differences in lymphocyte counts or adhesion molecule expression between cardiac and vascular reactors at rest. Cardiac reactors showed a significant decrease of surface density of CD62L on mixed lymphocytes (p − T cells compared to CD62L + T cells only in cardiac reactors (p
Deletion of the KV1.1 Potassium Channel Causes Epilepsy in Mice

Abstract Mice lacking the voltage-gated potassium channel α subunit, K V 1.1, display frequent spontaneous seizures throughout adult life. In hippocampal slices from homozygous K V 1.1 null animals, intrinsic passive properties of CA3 pyramidal cells are normal. However, antidromic action potentials are recruited at lower thresholds in K V 1.1 null slices. Furthermore, in a subset of slices, mossy fiber stimulation triggers synaptically mediated long-latency epileptiform burst discharges. These data indicate that loss of K V 1.1 from its normal localization in axons and terminals of the CA3 region results in increased excitability in the CA3 recurrent axon collateral system, perhaps contributing to the limbic and tonic–clonic components of the observed epileptic phenotype. Axonal action potential conduction was altered as well in the sciatic nerve—a deficit potentially related to the pathophysiology of episodic ataxia/myokymia, a disease associated with missense mutations of the human K V 1.1 gene.
Sustainable Forests and Sustainable Forestry

The defining virtues of the sustainable forest vary tremendously among people. Parks or preserves, habitat or watershed mosaics, multiple-use or industrial forests, short-rotation farm plantations are all sustainable from some point of view if the conditions in which they grow balance inflows and outflows over time. Definitions of sustainable forest depend on what people want. They depend on the area and the length of time over which people assess the inflow-outflow balance. Sustainable forestry is a different matter. Forestry is the regime of actions by which people conserve and modify features of the forest to perpetuate its desired qualities, whatever these may be. It is a social process rather than a forest condition. Sustainable forestry augments this regime with processes for rapid adaptation to changes in what people need, want, and can do.