cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pictorial review: Imaging of traumatic aortic injury

Traumatic aortic injury is a leading cause of death in patients with blunt trauma of the thorax. More than 120 patients with traumatic aortic injury have been admitted to our institution. This institutional experience is the source of the material that is presented in this pictorial review. The appearance of traumatic aortic injury on chest radiography, thoracic aortography and CT scan is demonstrated.
Ultrafast semiconductor-based all-optical logic for 100-Gbit/s OTDM networks

Ultrafast optical time-division multiplexing (OTDM) networks have the potential to provide truly flexible bandwidth-on-demand at burst rates in excess of 100 Gbit/s for high-end users, high-speed video servers, terabyte media banks, supercomputers, and aggregates of lower speed users. Because 100 Gbit/s channel rates exceed the current speed available from electronics, functions such as slot or packet synchronization, header address comparison, and data rate conversion at OTDM packet routers or network receiver nodes must be achieved using all-optical techniques. Interferometric logic gates based on gain and index nonlinearities in semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) are of particular interest due to their compact size, low latency, low required switching pulse energies, and potential for large-scale integration. One challenge for SOA-based optical switching is gain saturation that leads to pattern-dependent amplitude modulation at the switch output. We demonstrate pulse-position modulation as a viable means for mitigating carrier-induced amplitude patterning and use this data format to implement optical switches capable of stable operation at 100 Gbit/s data rates with low switching energies. We also show that semiconductor-based optical logic gates can be cascaded together to achieve advanced functionality for ultrafast system applications. As an example, we will present our recent implementation of a synchronous OTDM network testbed capable of fully loaded packet transmission. We demonstrate receiver functionality with multi-layered independent all-optical logic to achieve packet self-synchronization, multiple-bit address comparison, and data demultiplexing at channel speeds exceeding 100 Gbit/s.
Ferroelectric domains and the condensed soft mode in gadolinium molybdate

Abstract Results of lattice dynamical calculations of the high temperature phase of gadolinium molybdate (GMO) support the view that the phase transition in GMO arises from a softening of a doubly degenerate zone edge mode. We find a close correlation between the displacements associated with these soft modes and the difference in the structure of the two phases, suggesting that, at the transition one or other set of soft mode displacements is ‘condensed’, or ‘frozen in’ to the structure. On this basis we can explain the ferroelectric switching.
A novel anticancer agent ARC antagonizes HIV-1 and HCV.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) pose major public health concerns worldwide. HCV is clearly associated with the occurrence of hepatocellular carcinoma, and recently HIV infection has also been linked to the development of a multitude of cancers. Previously, we identified a novel nucleoside analog transcriptional inhibitor ARC (4-amino-6-hydrazino-7-β-D-ribofuranosyl-7H-pyrrolo[2,3-d]-pyrimidine-5-carboxamide) that exhibited proapoptotic and antiangiogenic properties in vitro. Here, we evaluated the effect of ARC on HIV-1 transcription and HCV replication. Using reporter assays, we found that ARC inhibited HIV-1 Tat-based transactivation in different cell systems. Also, using hepatoma cells that harbor subgenomic and full-length replicons of HCV, we found that ARC inhibited HCV replication. Together, our data indicate that ARC could be a promising candidate for the development of antiviral therapeutics against HIV and HCV.
Evolutionary timing of the origins of mesophilic sulphate reduction and oxygenic photosynthesis: a phylogenomic dating approach

Until recently, the deep-branching relationships in the bacterial domain have been unresolved. A new phylogenetic approach (termed compartmentalization) was able to resolve these deep-branching relationships successfully by using a large number of genes from whole genome sequences and by reducing long branch attraction artefacts. This new, well-resolved phylogenetic tree reveals the evolutionary relationships between diverse bacterial groups that leave important traces in the geological record. It shows that mesophilic sulphate reducers originated before the Cyanobacteria, followed by the origination of sulphur- and pyrite-oxidizing bacteria after oxygen became available in the biosphere. This evolutionary pattern mirrors a similar pattern in the Palaeoproterozoic geological record. Sulphur isotopic fractionation records indicate that large-scale bacterial sulphate reduction began in marine environments around 2.45 billion years ago (Ga), followed by rapid oxygenation of the atmosphere about 2.3 or 2.2 Ga. Oxygenation was then followed by increasing oceanic sulphate concentrations (probably owing to pyrite oxidation and continental weathering), which then resulted in the disappearance of banded iron formations by 1.8 Ga. The similarity between the phylogenetic and geological records suggests that the geochemical changes observed on the Palaeoproterozoic Earth were caused by major origination events in the mesophilic bacteria, and that these geochemical changes then caused additional origination events, such as aerobic respiration. If so, then constraints on divergence dates can be established for many microbial groups, including the Cyanobacteria, mesophilic bacteria, mesophilic sulphate reducers, methanotrophs, several anoxygenic phototrophs, as well as for mitochondrial endosymbiosis. These dates may also help to explain a large number of other changes in the geological record of the Neoarchean and Palaeoproterozoic Earth. This hypothesis, however, does not agree with the finding of cyanobacterial and eukaryote lipids at 2.7 Ga, and suggests that further work needs to be done to elucidate the discrepancies in both these areas.
The Adoption of Prepaid Tuition and Savings Plans in the American States: An Event History Analysis

The past two decades have been a period of far-reaching policy experimen- tation in state financing of higher education. Between 1986 and 1999, 21 states adopted prepaid college tuition plans. Thirty-one states adopted some form of college savings plan. Both kinds of policies were designed to enhance the affordability of higher education during a time of growing concern about college costs. Using event history analysis, we explore various factors leading to the programs' adoption, paying particular to the role of policy privatization, electoral competition and timing, and certain system characteristics of higher education. We find that more liberal governments were more likely to adopt prepaid tuition plans, that states with more competitive elections were less likely to adopt any type of prepaid or savings plan, and that states with decentralized governance were more likely to adopt one of these kinds of policies.
Stationary Clouds in Interstellar Space

THE late Prof. J. H. Poynting, in 1903, directed attention to a singular consequence of radiation or light pressure, namely, that a locomotive radiating body must experience a minute retarding force, simulating etherial friction, because of the Doppler-crowding of the waves in front relatively to those behind, so that there was a balance of retarding reaction.
Aureomycin Concentration in Milk Following Intramammary Infusion and its Effect on Starter Activity

Summary The aureomycin content in the samples collected up to 48 hr. after infusion seriously interfered with the starter activity when the inoculated milk was held at 21° C. for 16 hr., even though the milk was autoclaved. The antibiotic level in the samples collected up to 24 hr. after infusion suppressed the starter when the inoculated sample was held for 3.5 hr. at 37.5° C, although the sample had been autoclaved prior to inoculation. Marked inhibitory effect was obtained up to 72 hr. after infusion when the raw milk was inoculated directly and held for 3.5 hr. at 37.5° C.
Tales of the ineffable: crafting concepts in aesthetic experience

Lehrer has argued that in having an aesthetic experience of an art work we come to have ineffable knowledge of what the art object is like. This knowledge is made possible by our ability to conceptualize the art object by means of a process Lehrer calls, “exemplarization”, that involves using an experience to craft a general representation of that very experience. I suggest that exemplar concepts function as vehicles of ineffable representation only if they have two features: (i) they are directly referential concepts; and (ii) they are what I call, “lucid concepts.”
Effects of 11-ketotestosterone and fishmeal in the feed on growth of juvenile tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus)

article The effects of 11-ketotestosterone (11KT) and dietary fishmeal on growth of tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) were examined. Juvenile tilapia, weighing about 8 g, were reared for 50 days with isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets containing fishmeal or all plant proteins, each with or without supplementation of 11KT. Fish fed fishmeal-based (FM) diets grew significantly faster than those fed soybean meal-based (SM) diets. Addition of 11KT (10 mg/kg) to the FM diet significantly augmented growth, whereas no significant effect of 11KT was observed in fish fed SM diet. In accord with the accelerated growth, specific growth rates of fish fed FM diets were significantly greater than those of fish fed SM diets, although addition of 11KT to FM or SM diet had no effect on this parameter. Males showed significantly higher plasma levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) than did females; however, there was no consistent effect of fishmeal or 11KT on plasma IGF-I levels within each sex. Plasma levels of 11KT were significantly higher in males than in females. In males, plasma 11KT levels were significantly higher in fish fed FM diets than in those fed SM diet. No significant effect of fishmeal or 11KT was observed on plasma levels of 11KT or 17β- estradiol (E2) in females. Low but significant levels of vitellogenin (Vg) were found in male plasma. Plasma Vg levels were significantly lower in fish fed SM diets than in fish fed FM diets in both males and females. These results indicate that addition of 11KT to the fishmeal-based diet stimulated growth, minimally affecting plasma levels of IGF-I, 11KT, E2 and Vg. The absence of effect of 11KT in fish fed the soybean meal- based diet may indicate that the estrogenic activities or some components in the SM diet are likely to interfere with the growth-promoting effects of 11KT.
Stopped-Flow Kinetic Study of the Reaction of Ascorbic Acid with Peroxynitrite

Abstract A new mechanism is presented for the oxidation of ascorbate by peroxynitrite. Our mechanism involves the reaction of ascorbate both with ground-state peroxynitrous acid (HOONO) and with a reactive intermediate (HOONO*); the reactive intermediate is postulated to be formed in the decay of HOONO to form nitrate. At physiological pH, the ascorbate monoanion (AH − ) is the predominant ascorbate species. The plot of the observed rate constant for peroxynitrite decay ( k obs ) vs AH − for the reaction of peroxynitrite with AH − shows two regions, one linear and one curved. In the linear region, which involves high AH − concentrations, the reaction is dominated by the bimolecular reaction between HOONO and AH − . At lower AH − concentrations, this bimolecular reaction slows and reactions with both HOONO and HOONO* produce the observed curvature. Analysis of the data leads to the estimation of the ratio of rate constants for the reaction of AH − with HOONO* ( k * 2 ) and the decay of HOONO to nitrate ( k N ), giving the value of k * 2 / k N = 3158 ± 505 M −1 ; and of the rate constant ( k 2 ) for the reaction between AH − and HOONO, k 2 = 236 ± 14 M −1 s −1 . Ascorbate displays higher selectivity for HOONO* than does methionine or 2-keto-4-thiomethylbutanoic acid, two substrates whose reactivity toward HOONO and HOONO* has previously been reported. The biological relevance of the reaction of ascorbate with peroxynitrite is discussed in terms of the rate constants and the concentrations of AH − typically found in biological systems; ascorbate may react with HOONO*, although the reaction with ground-state HOONO probably is too slow to occur in vivo .
Single-channel and whole-cell analysis of ethanol inhibition of NMDA-activated currents in cultured mouse cortical and hippocampal neurons

Abstract The effects of 0.1 to 500 mM ethanol on NMDA-activated currents were studied in primary cultures of mouse cortical and hippocampal neurons. In whole-cell recordings the IC50S for inhibition of NMDA-activated currents by ethanol were 129 mM ± 20 mM in hippocampal neurons and 126 ± 18 mM in cortical neurons. In single-channel recordings from excised outside-out patches of cortical neurons, ethanol inhibited total charge per minute with an IC50 of 174 ± 23 mM, which was not significantly different from the IC50S for inhibition of whole-cell current. The reduction in mean open channel lifetime by ethanol was fit by the logistic equation with an apparent IC50 of 340 ± 28 mM. Analysis of single-channel data indicated that ethanol inhibition of NMDA currents did not involve substantial changes in fast closed state kinetics, changes in open channel conductance, or block of the open channel. At the whole-cell IC50, of ethanol, mean open channel lifetime would decrease by 28% and frequency of opening would decline by 31% to account for the reduction in current. Single-channel data were consistent with ethanol being an allosteric modulator of gating which reduces agonist efficacy.
New topologies from old via ideals

(1990). New Topologies from Old via Ideals. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 97, No. 4, pp. 295-310.
Effects of Positive and Negative Image Polarity VDT Screens

Eight experienced typists worked two full days in a VDT workstation using either a hard copy-screen or split screen data presentation and a light or dark character CRT display. Each of the four con...
Comparative public adminstration: The United States view in international perspective

In the study of comparative public administration in the United States, there are currently four directions of development associated with bureaucratic and policy models, case and component approaches, the comparative study of organizations, and application. The characteristics of these developments are outlined in this article, recent publications surveyed and future trends discussed. The extent to which there is a peculiarly American or Western tradition in the comparative study of administration is considered and issue is taken with the argument presented by Dwivedi and Nef (1982) for greater autonomy.
Repetitively pulsed high power stacked Blumlein generators

Abstract The stacked Blumlein pulse generators developed at the University of Texas at Dallas consist of several triaxial Blumleins stacked in series at one end. The lines are charged in parallel and synchronously commuted with a single switching element at the other end. In this way, relatively low charging voltages are multiplied to give the desired discharge voltage across an arbitrary load. Described here is the progress in development and characterization of these novel pulse-power generators capable of discharging at high repetition rates. The introduction of a tapered transmission line concept to the stacked Blumlein design provided fine tuning of output waveforms.
Osteopontin expression in human cyclosporine toxicity.

Osteopontin expression in human cyclosporine toxicity . Background Osteopontin is a secreted phosphoprotein that has a number of diverse biological functions, including cell signaling, mediation of cell adhesion, migration, and chemoattraction of monocytes/macrophages. Up-regulation of osteopontin expression by proximal tubular epithelium has been demonstrated in both human and rodent models of renal injury in association with macrophage influx. Methods We studied the expression of osteopontin protein and mRNA in renal donor biopsies ( N = 7) and renal transplant biopsies with cyclosporine A toxicity ( N = 23) by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. Serial tissue sections were immunostained with a monocyte/macrophage marker, CD68, to demonstrate the pattern of macrophage infiltration. Results Strong osteopontin expression was observed in the majority of pretransplant donor biopsies in the absence of any macrophage infiltration. In the biopsies with cyclosporine toxicity, osteopontin expression was widespread and demonstrated moderate immunohistochemical signal intensity that did not correlate with the number of interstitial macrophages present. Conclusions Strong osteopontin protein and mRNA expression by tubular epithelium was observed in pretransplant donor biopsies and in biopsies with cyclosporine toxicity without an inflammatory cell infiltration. Therefore, osteopontin expression alone is insufficient to serve as the principal mediator of intrarenal monocyte/macrophage influx in the transplant setting.
Proton Availability at the Air/Water Interface

The acidity of the water surface sensed by a colliding gas is determined in experiments in which the protonation of gaseous trimethylamine (TMA) on aqueous microjets is monitored by online electrospray mass spectrometry as a function of the pH of the bulk liquid (pH_(BLK)). TMAH^+ signal intensities describe a titration curve whose equivalence point at pH_(BLK) 3.8 is dramatically smaller than the acidity constant of trimethylammonium in bulk solution, pK_A(TMAH^+) = 9.8. Notably, the degree of TMA protonation above pH_(BLK) 4 is enhanced hundred-fold by submillimolar LiCl or NaCl and weakly inhibited at larger concentrations. Protonation enhancements are associated with the onset of significant direct kinetic solvent hydrogen isotope effects. Since TMA(g) can be protonated by H_2O itself only upon extensive solvent participation, we infer that H3O^+ emerges at the surface of neat water below pH_(BLK) 4.
Cytokine deregulation in cancer

Endogenous cytokines are aberrantly produced in many cancers, and serve as autocrine growth factors or indicators in immune response to the tumors. Hence, cytokine deregulation is likely to participate in the development or evolution of the malignant process. Over the last few years, endogenous cytokine levels have been correlated with phenotypic manifestations of cancer and with prognosis. For instance, serum IL-6 levels are elevated in both relapsed and newly-diagnosed Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and these levels correlate with established prognostic features. Furthermore, in diffuse large cell lymphoma, serum IL-6 level is an independent prognostic variable for both complete remission and failure-free survival. Serum IL-10 levels are also elevated in lymphoid malignancies and predict outcome. In some cases, it may be that the balance between endogenous cytokine agonists and antagonists is disrupted. For instance, in chronic myelogenous leukemia, high cellular (leukocyte) levels of IL-1 beta and low levels of IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) are seen in advanced disease and correlate with reduced survival. The molecular mechanisms underlying cytokine deregulation are now being investigated, with preliminary data suggesting heterogeneous genetic driving forces, including oncogene aberrations and viral infection.
Reduced clinical and postmortem measures of cardiac pathology in subjects with advanced Alzheimer's Disease

Epidemiological studies indicate a statistical linkage between atherosclerotic vascular disease (ATH) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Autopsy studies of cardiac disease in AD have been few and inconclusive. In this report, clinical and gross anatomic measures of cardiac disease were compared in deceased human subjects with and without AD. Clinically documented cardiovascular conditions from AD (n = 35) and elderly non-demented control subjects (n = 22) were obtained by review of medical records. Coronary artery stenosis and other gross anatomical measures, including heart weight, ventricular wall thickness, valvular circumferences, valvular calcifications and myocardial infarct number and volume were determined at autopsy. Compared to non-demented age-similar control subjects, those with AD had significantly fewer total diagnosed clinical conditions (2.91 vs 4.18), decreased coronary artery stenosis (70.8 vs 74.8%), heart weight (402 vs 489 g for males; 319 vs 412 g for females) and valvular circumferences. Carriage of the Apolipoprotein E-e4 allele did not influence the degree of coronary stenosis. Group differences in heart weight remained significant after adjustment for age, gender, body mass index and apolipoprotein E genotype while differences in coronary artery stenosis were significantly associated with body mass index alone. The results are in agreement with an emerging understanding that, while midlife risk factors for ATH increase the risk for the later development of AD, once dementia begins, both risk factors and manifest disease diminish, possibly due to progressive weight loss with increasing dementia as well as disease involvement of the brain's vasomotor centers.
Using graph-based program characterization for predictive modeling

Using machine learning has proven effective at choosing the right set of optimizations for a particular program. For machine learning techniques to be most effective, compiler writers have to develop expressive means of characterizing the program being optimized. The current state-of-the-art techniques for characterizing programs include using a fixed-length feature vector of either source code features extracted during compile time or performance counters collected when running the program. For the problem of identifying optimizations to apply, models constructed using performance counter characterizations of a program have been shown to outperform models constructed using source code features. However, collecting performance counters requires running the program multiple times, and this "dynamic" method of characterizing programs can be specific to inputs of the program. It would be preferable to have a method of characterizing programs that is as expressive as performance counter features, but that is "static" like source code features and therefore does not require running the program.In this paper, we introduce a novel way of characterizing programs using a graph-based characterization, which uses the program's intermediate representation and an adapted learning algorithm to predict good optimization sequences. To evaluate different characterization techniques, we focus on loop-intensive programs and construct prediction models that drive polyhedral optimizations, such as auto-parallelism and various loop transformation.We show that our graph-based characterization technique outperforms three current state-of-the-art characterization techniques found in the literature. By using the sequences predicted to be the best by our graph-based model, we achieved up to 73% of the speedup achievable in our search space for a particular platform, whereas we could only achieve up to 59% by other state-of-the-art techniques we evaluated.
Pilot study demonstrating effectiveness of targeted education to improve informed consent understanding in AIDS clinical trials

Assessing and improving informed consent understanding is equally important as obtaining consent from participants in clinical trial research, but developing interventions to target gaps in participants' informed consent understanding remains a challenge. We used a randomized controlled study design to pilot test an educational intervention to improve actual informed consent understanding of new enrollees in the Adult AIDS Clinical Trial Group (AACTG). Questionnaires were administered to 24 enrollees to assess their baseline understanding on eight elements of informed consent associated with AIDS clinical trials. Enrollees who scored 18/21(85%) or less were randomly assigned to in-person, targeted education (intervention), or delayed education (control). Two follow-up assessments were administered. Repeated measures ANOVA was performed to determine intervention effectiveness in improving actual informed consent understanding over time. Actual understanding improved at the immediate post-intervention time point with a significant score difference of 2.5 when comparing the intervention and delayed groups. In addition, there was a significant score difference of 3.2 when comparing baseline to three-month follow-up for the two groups, suggesting a statistically significant intervention effect to improve actual understanding of the basic elements of informed consent. The findings demonstrated that one-time targeted education can improve actual informed consent understanding one week after the intervention, but retention of these concepts may require periodic monitoring to ensure comprehension throughout the course of a clinical trial.
A Comparison of Two Explicit Time Integration Schemes Applied to the Transient Heat Equation

Abstract The forward-central (forward in time, central differencing in space) scheme and the Dufort-Frankel scheme applied to the transient heat equation are discussed here. The Dufort-Frankel scheme is shown to be unable to damp the oscillation of the high oscillatory 2Δx wave. It can even become unstable for this wave which may be produced by the initial conditions, nonlinear interactions, or other forcing. On the other hand, the forward-central scheme works well if μ<0.5. Examples of the applications of these schemes in fluid dynamics are also presented in this paper. It is also noted that none of the schemes are accurate for the high-frequency short wave.
Talking/Not Talking about Race: The Enregisterments of Culture in Higher Education Discourses

In higher education “diversity” discourses, culture routinely stands in for race, but its use is unevenly enregistered. Examination of three web pages at one college shows contrasting entextualizations of culture: in promotional discourse, culture is loosely associated with diversity; in describing student organizations, culture is variously associated with race, ethnicity, nationality, language, and gender; for multicultural programs, culture is most tightly associated with racial markedness. Culture is most complexly enregistered in spoken discourse among students of color, indexing racial markedness experienced as subjectivity, family, class, and location. Framing all these usages is a neoliberalization of racial markedness, as in the idea of “educating the community.” [enregisterment, indexicality, higher education, culture, diversity]
Observations on void nucleation and growth in α/β Ti-Mn alloys

Void nucleation and growth was studied in three binary equiaxed α-β Ti-Mn alloys containing 1.8 wt pct Mn (alloy 2), 3.9 wt pct Mn (alloy 3), and 5.8 wt pct Mn (alloy 4) given heat treatments to vary the alpha size at constant volume fraction of alpha. Void nucleation rates expressed as number of voids per unit volume,Nv, increased exponentially with true strain, e. WhenNv was normalized with respect to the number of alpha particles or grains per unit volume, NαT,Nv/NαT was found to be largest for the largest alpha size in each alloy series. Void size distributions as a function of strain for one alloy containing 3.9 wt pct Mn (alloy 3 given heat treatment B,3B) were presented and, as expected, the largest number of voids occurred at the smallest void sizes. Void growth rates for alloys 3 and 4 were found to increase with increasing particle size and this was ascribed to decreasing constraints to slip with increasing particle size. For alloy 2C with the largestα grain size void growth rates were smallest and this behavior was attributed to the growth inhibiting effects of multiple twinning. Evidence was adduced to show that nucleating voids grow more rapidly than established voids.
Teaching the engineering aspects of membrane process technology

Abstract The effective teaching of membrane process engineering is an important issue that should be addressed by the academic community. Educational initiatives are crucial to the continued technical growth and wide-scale commercialization of membrane processes. Subject matter that is process-oriented can be incorporated at various levels in the chemical engineering curriculum. Lower level courses could mention membrane processes when chemical separations are discussed. Upper level undergraduate courses might focus more on applications and systems engineering. Laboratory experiments provide the greatest opportunity to acquaint students with membrane principles, design and applications without significant curriculum modification. There are many approaches to membrane technology instruction at the graduate level. Courses in advanced separation processes or those that just address membranes can be structured to include system design and applications. Course development should also acknowledge the need to transfer lessons learned to real world situations.
Specht Series for Column-Convex Diagrams

Abstract We give a Specht series for the Specht module S D associated to a diagram D in two cases: (1) when D is column-convex, (2) when D is the complement of a column-convex diagram within a rectangular box.
“Extending the Light and Blessings of Our Purer Faith”: Anti‐Catholic Sentiment among American Soldiers in the U.S.‐Mexican War

La guerre de 1846-1848 entre le Mexique et les Etats-Unis fut consideree par beaucoup d'Americains comme un conflit religieux. La destinee manifeste des Etats-Unis signifiait non seulement l'expansion de la culture anglo-saxonne et de ses institutions republicaines, mais egalement de la religion protestante. Inspires par des representations pejoratives et racistes vehiculees par des recits de voyage et des recits historiques sur le Mexique, beaucoup d'Americains voyaient dans cette guerre l'occasion de civiliser et d'evangeliser le Mexique. Les soldats americains combattant au Mexique partagaient cette croyance et leurs ecrits et actions illustrent la relation entre anticatholicisme, destinee manifeste, et la guerre mexicaine. Les journaux, les lettres, et les memoires de ces soldats, mettent en evidence l'influence de la litterature anticatholique sur le Mexique, tout en y contribuant. Le conflit entre les Etats-Unis majoritairement protestants et le Mexique catholique a contribue a affiner le concept du republicanisme americain en tant qu'ideologie integrant l'anglo-saxonisme et l'anticatholicisme, sous la doctrine englobante de la destinee manifeste.
Transient mean square response of randomly damped linear systems

Transient responses of a randomly damped one-degree-of-freedom linear system subjected to white noise excitation is discussed. The time varying damping coefficient is considered either as Gaussian white noise or filtered white noise. Perturbation approximations for mean square responses are obtained. The approximation for the white noise damping case is compared with the exact solution obtained by the moment method. It is found that they agree well within the requirement of engineering analysis. Transient responses for both the random damping cases are compared through an example.
Effects of QD surface coverage in solid-state PbS quantum dot-sensitized solar cells

Lead sulfide quantum dots (QDs) were grown in situ on nanoporous TiO2 by successive ion layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) and by atomic layer deposition (ALD), to fabricate solid-state quantum-dot sensitized solar cells (QDSSCs). With the ultimate goal of increasing QD surface coverage, this work compares the impact of these two synthetic routes on the light absorption and electrical properties of devices. A higher current density was observed in the SILAR-grown QD devices under reverse bias, as compared to ALD-grown QD devices, attributed to injection problems of the lower-band-gap QDs present in the SILAR-grown QD device. To understand the effects of QD surface coverage on device performance, particularly interfacial recombination, electron lifetimes were measured for varying QD deposition cycles. Electron lifetimes were found to decrease with increasing SILAR cycles, indicating that the expected decrease in recombination between electrons in the TiO2 and holes in the hole-transport material, due to increased QD surface coverage, is not the dominant effect of increased deposition cycles.
Venous thromboembolism in cirrhosis.

The cirrhosis population represents a unique subset of patients who are at risk for both bleeding and developing venous thrombotic embolic events (VTE). It has been commonly misunderstood that these patients are naturally protected from thrombosis by deficiencies in coagulation factors. As a result, the cirrhosis population is often falsely perceived to be ‘autoanticoagulated’. However, the concept of ‘autoanticoagulation’ conferring protection from thrombosis is a misnomer. While patients with cirrhosis may have a bleeding predisposition, not uncommonly they also experience thrombotic events. The concern for this increased bleeding risk often makes anticoagulation a difficult choice. Prophylactic and therapeutic management of VTE in patients with cirrhosis is a difficult clinical problem with the lack of clear established guidelines. The elucidation of laboratory and/or clinical predictors of VTE will be useful in this setting. This review serves to examine VTE, and the use of anticoagulation in the cirrhosis population.
A New Inverse Reliability Analysis Method Using MPP-Based Dimension Reduction Method (DRM)

There are two commonly used reliability analysis methods of analytical methods: linear approximation - First Order Reliability Method (FORM), and quadratic approximation - Second Order Reliability Method (SORM), of the performance functions. The reliability analysis using FORM could be acceptable for mildly nonlinear performance functions, whereas the reliability analysis using SORM is usually necessary for highly nonlinear performance functions of multi-variables. Even though the reliability analysis using SORM may be accurate, it is not desirable to use SORM for probability of failure calculation since SORM requires the second-order sensitivities. Moreover, the SORM-based inverse reliability analysis is very difficult to develop. This paper proposes a method that can be used for multi-dimensional highly nonlinear systems to yield very accurate probability of failure calculation without requiring the second order sensitivities. For this purpose, the univariate dimension reduction method (DRM) is used. A three-step computational process is proposed to carry out the inverse reliability analysis: constraint shift, reliability index (β) update, and the most probable point (MPP) approximation method. Using the three steps, a new DRM-based MPP is obtained, which computes the probability of failure of the performance function more accurately than FORM and more efficiently than SORM.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Agenda Setting in Organizational Behavior: A Theory-Focused Approach

Theory-focused research, portrayed as an exercise in sense making that is driven by curiosity rather than compassion, outsider rather than insider views, divergent rather than convergent thinking, ...
Soil Morphology of Canopy and Intercanopy Sites in a Piñon-Juniper Woodland

Pinon-juniper woodlands in the semiarid western USA have expanded as much as fivefold during the last 150 yr, often accompanied by losses of understory vegetation and increasing soil erosion. We conducted this study to determine the differences in soil morphology between canopy and intercanopy locations within a pinon (Pinus edulis Engelm.)-juniper [Juniperus monosperma (Engelm.) Sarg.] woodland with uniform parent material, topography, and climate. The woodland studied, located near Los Alamos, NM, has a mean tree age of 135 yr. We examined soil morphology by augering 135 profiles in a square grid pattern and comparing soils under pinon and juniper canopies with intercanopy soils. Only two of the 17 morphological properties compared showed significant differences. The B horizons make up a slightly greater proportion of total profile thickness in intercanopy soils, and there are higher percentages of coarse fragments in the lower portions of canopy soil profiles. Canopy soils have lower mean pH and higher mean organic C than intercanopy soils. Regression analysis showed that most soil properties did not closely correspond with tree size, but total soil thickness and B horizon thickness are significantly greater under the largest pinon trees, and soil reaction is lower under the largest juniper trees. Our findings suggest that during the period in which pinon-juniper woodlands have been expanding, the trees have had only minor effects on soil morphology.
The significance of a previous stillbirth

Among 7052 patients studied between 1976 and 1982 in a collaborative project on antepartum fetal heart rate monitoring, 337 patients had a previous stillbirth as a reason for testing. Overall a previous stillbirth history significantly increased the risk of having a positive result on a contraction stress test, primarily among hypertensive patients. Patients with a previous stillbirth also had a significantly higher incidence of respiratory distress syndrome in their neonates attributable to premature intervention for maternal indications (primarily among hypertensive women and patients with clinical intrauterine growth retardation). Low Apgar scores were found to be significantly increased in diabetics with previous stillbirths primarily due to neonates with congenital malformations. Premature intervention by labor induction or cesarean section was more common among patients with a previous stillbirth for both maternal indications and abnormal antepartum fetal heart rate studies. Previous stillbirth would appear therefore to be a significant risk factor primarily when associated with a diagnosis of hypertension or clinical intrauterine growth retardation.
The Inclination Distribution of the Kuiper Belt

We develop a general method for determining the unbiased inclination distribution of the Kuiper belt using only the inclination and latitude of discovery of known Kuiper belt objects (KBOs). These two parameters are well determined for each discovered object, so we can use all 379 known KBOs (as of 2001 January 1)—without knowing the object's precise orbit, area, detection efficiency, or the latitudinal coverage of the survey that found the object—to determine the inclination distribution. We find that a natural analytic form for the inclination distribution is a sine of the inclination multiplied by a Gaussian. The inclination distribution of all KBOs is well fitted by sin i multiplied by a sum of two Gaussians with widths 2°.6^(+.8)_(-.2) and 15° ± 1°. For this inclination distribution, the Kuiper belt has an effective area of 8100^(+1500)-(-1100) deg^2 and a FWHM of 12.5° ± 3.5° in latitude. The inclination distribution of the different dynamical classes appear different. The Plutinos are well fit by sin i mulitplied by a single Gaussian of width 10°.2^(+2.5)_(-1.8), the classical KBOs cannot be fit to a single Gaussian but are well fit by sin i multiplied by the sum of two Gaussians of widths 2°.2^(+.2)_(-.6) and 17° ± 3°, and the scattered KBOs are poorly fit by sin i multiplied by a single Gaussian of width 20° ± 4°. The poor fit of the scattered objects is possibly a result of limitations of the method in dealing with large eccentricities. The effective areas of the Plutinos, classical KBOs, and scattered KBOs are 9300 ± 1800, 6100 ± 2100, and 17000 ± 3000 deg^2, respectively. The FWHMs are 23° ± 5°, 6°.8^(+2.0)_(-3.6), and 44° ± 10°, respectively. In all cases, the inclinations of the Kuiper belt objects appear larger than expected from dynamical simulations of possible perturbations.
The J-curve and NAFTA: evidence from commodity trade between the US and Mexico

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was predicted to have a substantial impact on the US–Mexico trade, especially on specific importing and exporting industries. In this article, we use annual industry-level export and import data from 1962 to 2004 to discern both the short- and long-run effects of real exchange-rate depreciation on the Mexico–US trade balance, as well as the effects of NAFTA on this trade. We find that peso depreciation has a positive long-run effect on 24 of 102 Mexican industries and a negative short-run effect on 19 of 102 industries. Only a small fraction (7 of 102 industries) show any support for the J-curve hypothesis. NAFTA has had a significant effect on a significant number of the industries, however.
Prevalence of prediabetes in England from 2003 to 2011: population-based, cross-sectional study

Objective: Prediabetes is a high-risk state for developing diabetes and associated complications. The purpose of this paper was to report trends in prevalence of prediabetes for individuals aged 16 and older in England without previously diagnosed diabetes.
Expression of hGSTP1 alleles in human lung and catalytic activity of the native protein variants towards 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, 4-vinylpyridine and (+)-anti benzo[a]pyrene-7,8-diol-9,10-oxide.

Abstract The human glutathione S -transferase (GST) P1 alleles coding for Val 105 ( hGSTP1*B and/or P1*C ) are over- represented in lung cancer patients. However, the corresponding recombinant Val 105 protein variants tend to show higher catalytic activity than the Ile 105 variants towards bay-region diol epoxides that are thought to be etiological agents in lung cancer. We have examined 29 normal human lung samples with respect to several factors that could confound relationships between hGSTP1 allele type and cancer susceptibility, namely, inter-individual and allele-specific variation of hGSTP1 expression, and differences between the catalytic properties of the native and recombinant hGSTP1-1 variant protein products. hGSTP1 expression varied 7-fold among individuals but was independent of hGSTP1*A, P1*B or P1*C allele type. hGST subunits A1, A2, M1 and M3 were minor components, similarly variable in expression. Despite this variability of expression, the levels of hGSTP1 expression linearly correlated with those of the next most highly expressed GST, hGSTM3, even though the genes for these GSTs are on different chromosomes. Differences between the native protein variants, using 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene and (+)-anti-benzo[ a ]pyrene diolepoxide as substrates, were more marked than those between the recombinant variants. However, the order of differential catalytic specificity was the same for native and recombinant variants. Neither the expression of the hGSTP1 alleles nor the catalytic properties of the protein variants appears to provide a simple mechanistic rationale for the observed over-representation of the hGSTP1*B and/or 1*C alleles in lung cancer.
Inertia and Neighboring Effects in Local Tax Policy: Illinois' Experience with a Local Option Tax on Telecommunications

Illinois reconfigured the legal basis and constraints for municipal telecommunications taxes in 2003. We use data on municipalities' initial (assigned) tax rate, fiscal condition, population, changes in tax rates of neighboring municipalities and neighbors' initial (assigned) tax rates to explain changes in telecommunications tax rates between 2003 and 2008. We find clear evidence of an important and statistically significant inertia effect—municipalities initially assigned a zero tax rate continued to stay tax free—and important and statistically significant neighboring effects—municipalities whose neighbors changed tax rates did the same, and municipalities whose neighbors were assigned relatively high initial rates increased their own rates faster.
The characterization of sputtered polycrystalline aluminum nitride on silicon by surface acoustic wave measurements

Polycrystalline aluminum nitride films were deposited on Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ coated [100] silicon substrates by the reactive sputtering method. We have carried out experiments to evaluate the effect of AlN material parameters on the SAW characteristics. The SAW transducers were fabricated by forming interdigitated Al electrodes on top of the AlN films and transmission measurements made over the frequency range from 50 MHz to 1.5 GHz. The SAW characteristics were correlated with material parameters of crystallite orientation, grain size, surface morphology and oxygen concentration. A key material parameter affecting the SAW characteristics was found to be the preferred degree of crystallite orientation with the c-axis normal to the plane of the substrate. The better oriented the AlN grains, the stronger the SAW response, the higher the SAW phase velocity, and the lower the insertion and propagation losses over the entire frequency range of measurement. Above 500 MHz the propagation losses of the well oriented films followed a frequency squared dependence only slightly higher than the reported values for the best epitaxial films. The coupling factors deduced from the transducer characteristics are in the upper range of values reported by Tsubouchi for epitaxial AlN films deposited on the basal plane of sapphire. There was a strong correlation between the X-ray diffraction intensity from the (002) planes and the oxygen content in the films. >
Comparison in the Work of Reinhard Bendix

Discussions of modes of analysis, as well as the received wisdom about which categories to place scholars in, often obscure the breadth and nature of inquiry a particular figure engaged in. This article provides an examination of Reinhard Bendix's various uses of comparison. The author suggests that, beyond the sociohistorical comparison Bendix was known for, one should also consider his reflexive works, his work on the role of social science and claims for knowledge, and his reflections on the history of ideas, the need for conceptual clarification of terms, and the search for regularities and universals.
Extensions of Stochastic Optimization Results to Problems with System Failure Probability Functions

We derive an implementable algorithm for solving nonlinear stochastic optimization problems with failure probability constraints using sample average approximations. The paper extends prior results dealing with a failure probability expressed by a single measure to the case of failure probability expressed in terms of multiple performance measures. We also present a new formula for the failure probability gradient. A numerical example addressing the optimal design of a reinforced concrete highway bridge illustrates the algorithm.
Analysis of feedforward networks

Feedforward networks are used extensively in practice to learn static mappings between related sets of variables. These networks are difficult to analyze, however, both because of their nonlinearity and their complex interconnection structure. In the absence of the nonlinearity, linear algebra could provide considerable insight into the behavior of these networks, significantly beyond that possible from a detailed analysis of individual neurons. Such insights would be extremely valuable since the power of neural networks arises from their large-scale connectivity, rather than the inherent computational capacity of the individual neurons. This paper proposes algebraic category theory as the basis for obtaining such global insights for feedforward networks in spite of their nonlinearity.