cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A stress-enhanced model for discovery of disease-modifying gene: Ece1-suppresses the toxicity of α-synuclein A30P

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive motor neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by a selective loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. The complexity of disease etiology includes both genetic and environmental factors. No effective drug that can modify disease progression and protect dopamine neurons from degeneration is presently available. Human α-Synuclein A30P (A30P) is a mutant gene identified in early onset PD and showed to result selective dopamine neuron loss in transgenic A30P flies and mice. Paraquat (PQ) is an herbicide and an oxidative stress generator, linked to sporadic PD. We hypothesized that vital PD modifier genes are conserved across species and would show unique transcriptional changes to oxidative stress in animals expressing a PD-associated gene, such as A30P. We also hypothesized that manipulation of PD modifier genes would provide neuroprotection across species. To identify disease modifier genes, we performed two independently-duplicated experiments of microarray, capturing genome-wide transcriptional changes in A30P flies, chronically fed with PQ-contaminated food. We hypothesized that the best time point of identifying a disease modifier gene is at time when flies showed maximal combined toxicity of A30P transgene and PQ treatment during an early stage of disease and that effective disease modifiers gene are those showing transcriptional changes to oxidative stress in A30P expressing and not in wild type animals. Fly Neprilysin3 (Nep3) is one identified gene that is highly conserved. Its mouse and human homolog is endothelin-converting enzyme-1 (Ece1). To investigate the neuroprotective effect of Ece1, we used NS1 cells and mouse midbrain neurons expressing A30P, treated with or without PQ. We found that ECE1 expression protected against A30P toxicity on cell viability, on neurite outgrowth and ameliorated A30P accumulation in vitro. Expression of ECE1 in vivo suppressed dopamine neuron loss and alleviated the corresponding motor deficits in mice with A30P-expression. Our study leverages a new approach to identify disease modifier genes using a stress-enhanced PD animal model.
Imaging Homelessness and Homeless People: Visions and Strategies Within the Movement(s)

The “deserving versus undeserving” distinctions typically applied to poor people are examined as applied to homeless people. When these labels are applied by others, three categories—Lackers, Slackers, and Unwilling Victims—appear rather than a binary division. Further, the role these images play within antihomelessness movements is examined. Images shape strategies, and strategies shape images, both consciously and unconsciously. Three “clusters” of image and strategy are examined, and the implications for the antihomelessness movement discussed.
Assessment of primary health care access status: an analytic technique for decision making.

Access to health care is an issue that has caught the attention of health care providers, policy formulators, and policy analysts, with particular emphasis on access to primary care, which affords all people a viable portal into the health care system.
Opportunities to Participate (OtP) in Science: Examining Differences Longitudinally and Across Socioeconomically Diverse Schools

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a survey of opportunities to participate (OtP) in science that will allow educators and researchers to closely approximate the types of learning opportunities students have in science classrooms. Additionally, we examined whether and how opportunity gaps in science learning may exist across schools with different socioeconomic levels. The OtP in science survey consists of four dimensions that include acquiring foundational knowledge, planning an investigation, conducting an investigation, and using evidence to communicate findings. A total of 1214 middle school students across 8 diverse school districts completed the survey. Tests of reliability, construct validity, measurement invariance, and external validity were conducted using data collected at the beginning and end of the school year. Results showed evidence that the OtP in science survey scores were internally reliable, invariant across school socioeconomic groups across and time points (i.e., lacking systematic biases in responses by group or time point), and externally valid. Given that scores from the survey were reliable and valid indicators of the four dimensions of interest, structural invariance tests were conducted to examine possible differences in OtP in science across schools from high, middle, and low socioeconomic backgrounds. Findings demonstrate specific ways opportunity gaps to learn science manifest in lower income schools. We discuss the implications of these gaps for science instruction, professional development, policy, and diverse students’ interest and achievement in science, and propose several lines of future study.
The Retributive Knight

Harvey Dent’s death in The Dark Knight marks the key turning point of Christopher Nolan’s popular trilogy. It is a death with substantial consequences for Gotham, as the already fragile relationship between the city and its vigilante further deteriorates when Batman intentionally, but falsely, takes responsibility for Dent’s demise. As a result, Batman retires, not to be seen for nearly eight years, and even his resurfacing in The Dark Knight Rises is intended to be brief as he battles his inner guilt, fears, and their further exploitation by Bane and the League of Shadows.
Writing towards Death: William James and Sigmund Freud and Sustaining Objects/Practices

This article addresses how the practice of writing for William James and Sigmund Freud served as a sustaining object/practice and a testament of faith when they faced illness and death. More particularly, their practice of writing reveals not only their attitudes and beliefs about death and life but also the core ideas in which they put their trust and their fidelity.
seq2graph: Discovering Dynamic Non-linear Dependencies from Multivariate Time Series

Discovering temporal lagged and inter-dependencies in multivariate time series data is an important task. However, in many real-world applications with big data, such as commercial cloud management or predictive maintenance in manufacturing, such dependencies can be time-variant and non-linear, which makes it more challenging to extract such dependencies through traditional methods like Granger causality or statistical models. In this work, we present a novel deep learning model that uses multiple layers of adapted gated recurrent units (GRUs) for discovering both time lagged behaviors and inter-timeseries dependencies, representing them in the form of directed weighted graphs. Each individual time series is first analyzed by a pair of encoding-decoding GRUs in order to discover the time lagged dependencies and representing its samples as high dimensional vectors. Such vectors collected from all component time series are then analyzed by a decoding network component to discover inter-dependencies across all time series while forecasting their next values in the multivariate time series. Though the discovery of two types of dependencies are separated at two levels of our neural network, they are tightly connected and jointly trained in an end-to-end manner. With this joint training, improvement in learning of one type of dependency immediately impacts the learning process of the other one, leading to the overall highly accurate dependencies discovery. We empirically test our model on synthetic time series data in which the exact form of dependencies are known. We also practically evaluate its performance on two real-world applications, (i) dynamic multivariate performance monitoring data with high volatility from a commercial cloud provider and, (ii) multivariate time series generated by sensors for a manufacturing plant. We show how our approach is capable of capturing these dependency behaviors via intuitive and interpretable dependency graphs and use them to generate forecasting values.
Unbounded territoriality: territorial control, settler colonialism, and Israel/Palestine

Settler colonialism is premised on the replacement of an indigenous population with an exogenous one on the land. Therefore, territoriality, or territorial control, is its irreducible element.1 As ...
The Double-edged Sword of Oppositional Category Positioning: A Study of the U.S. E-cigarette Category, 2007–2017:

To gain attention and build support for new categories, market entrepreneurs often define a new category through its contrast with related, established offerings. Existing research has largely focu...
Dirichlet series of integers with missing digits

Abstract For certain sequences A of positive integers with missing g-adic digits, the Dirichlet series F A ( s ) = ∑ a ∈ A a − s has abscissa of convergence σ c 1 . The number σ c is computed. This generalizes and strengthens a classical theorem of Kempner on the convergence of the sum of the reciprocals of a sequence of integers with missing decimal digits.
Married by the Revolution: Forced Marriage as a Strategy of Control in Khmer Rouge Cambodia

This article asks how genocidal regimes select policies of social control and why they vary in implementation within a revolutionary movement. Using the case of forced marriage under the Khmer Roug...
Efficacy of PARP inhibition combined with EZH2 inhibition depends on BRCA mutation status and microenvironment in breast cancer

The efficacy of the combination of a PARP inhibitor (PARPi) and an EZH2 inhibitor has been investigated in breast cancer cells with either BRCA1 mutation or BRCA2 mutation. However, earlier studies focused on the efficacy of this combination against BRCA-mutated but not BRCA-proficient breast cancer. Yang et al. observed that PARP1 depletion combined with EZH2 depletion via PRC2 depletion did not affect the growth of BRCA1/2 wild-type breast cancer cells in vitro. Moreover, Yang et al. reported that this combination stimulated synthetic viability of BRCA1/2-proficient breast cancer cells in vivo by regulating the tumor microenvironment to induce angiogenesis and differentiation of M2-type macrophages. The findings of Yang et al. provided evidence that both in vitro and animal models should be employed in the studies of PARPi combination therapies in order to involve the alteration of the tumor microenvironment in these investigations. These studies of PARP inhibition combined with EZH2 inhibition in breast cancer showed that this combination may benefit breast cancer patients carrying BRCA1-mutated tumor, but the combination may also enhance recurrence of BRCA2-mutated tumor and may even promote BRCA-proficient cancer cell survival. Therefore, BRCA1 mutation status should be used to select breast cancer patients for PARPi and EZH2 inhibitor combination treatment in clinical trials in the future.
Identifying Disparities in Health Outcomes and Mortality for American Indian and Alaska Native Populations Using Tribally Disaggregated Vital Statistics and Health Survey Data

Objectives. To determine the impact of disaggregated mortality and health surveillance data on the ability to identify health disparities for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) subpopulation...
The Legal Framework

This chapter discusses the broad array of federal, state, and local legislation that promotes the recognition of important districts, sites, and objects. It also assesses the administrative actions and court decisions that have continued to provide legal guidance to the preservation movement.
Patient Safety Standards in the Neuro-ICU

As a result of both foundational and recent work, a call to action to urgently redesign global care systems to enhance quality and improve patient safety has become a priority. This chapter will overview the structure, process, and outcome measures that can be applied to NeuroCritical Care to enhance patient safety and optimize quality of care.
Human interferon-inducible protein-10 induces mononuclear cell infiltration in mice and promotes the migration of human T lymphocytes into the peripheral tissues and human peripheral blood lymphocytes-SCID mice.

The human cytokine, interferon-inducible protein-10 (IP-10), is a small glycoprotein secreted by activated monocytes, T cells, keratinocytes, astrocytes, and endothelial cells and is structurally related to the alpha subfamily of chemotactic cytokines called chemokines (Taub and Oppenheim, Cytokine 5:175, 1993). However, in contrast to other alpha chemokines that induce neutrophil migration, IP-10 has been shown to chemoattract monocytes and T lymphocytes in vitro, suggesting a role in T-cell-mediated immune responses. We therefore examined the effects of human IP-10 after in vivo administration. IP-10 induces significant mononuclear cell infiltration after subcutaneous injections in normal mice. In an effort to study the in vivo effects of IP-10 on human leukocyte migration, we then examined the ability of recombinant human IP-10 (rhIP-10) to induce human-T-cell infiltration using a human/severe combined immune deficiency (SCID) mouse model. SCID mice received an intraperitoneal injection of human peripheral blood lymphocytes (10(8) cells), followed by a subcutaneous injection of rhIP- 10 (1 micrograms/injection) in the hind flank for 4 hours or sequential injections for 3 days. The skin and underlying tissue from the rhIP-10 injection site were then biopsied and examined for the extent of mononuclear cell infiltration. rhIP-10 again induced significant mononuclear cell accumulation 72 hours after injection. Immunohistologic evaluation determined that a significant number of human CD3+ T cells were recruited in response to rhIP-10 injections. These results show that rhIP-10 is capable of inducing human T-cell migration in vivo and may play an important role in monocyte and lymphocyte recruitment into inflammatory sites.
The Main Events in the History of Diabetes Mellitus

A medical condition producing excessive thirst, continuous urination, and severe weight loss has interested medical authors for over three millennia. Unfortunately, until the early part of twentieth century the prognosis for a patient with this condition was no better than it was over 3000 years ago. Since the ancient physicians described almost exclusively cases of what is today known as type 1 diabetes mellitus, the outcome was invariably fatal.
Practical C++ Programming

From the Publisher: Fast becoming the standard language of commercial software development, C++ is an update of the C programming language, adding object-oriented features that are very helpful for today's larger graphical applications. Practical C++ Programming is a complete introduction to the C++ language for the beginning programmer, and also for C programmers transitioning to C++. Unlike most other C++ books, this book emphasizes a practical, real-world approach, including how to debug, how to make your code understandable to others, and how to understand other people's code. Almost as important, this book is written in the readable style that has made Nutshell Handbooks(R) famous. Topics covered include: Good programming style C++ syntax, what to use and what not to use C++ class design Debugging and optimization Common programming mistakes At the end of each chapter are a number of exercises you can use to make sure you've grasped the concepts. Solutions to most are provided. Practical C++ Programming describes standard C++ features that are supported by all UNIX C++ compilers (including gcc) and DOS/Windows and NT compilers (including Microsoft Visual C++). Comparison: Practical C++ Programming vs. C++: The Core Language O'Reilly's policy is not to publish two books on the same topic for the same audience. We'd rather spend twice the time on making one book the industry's best. So why do we have two C++ tutorials? Which one should you get? The answer is they're very different. Steve Oualline, author of the successful book Practical C Programming, came to us with the idea of doing a C++ edition. Thus was born Practical C++ Programming. It's a comprehensive tutorial to C++, starting from the ground up. It also covers the programming process, style, and other important real-world issues. By providing exercises and problems with answers, the book helps you make sure you understand before you move on. While that book was under development, we received the proposal for C++: The Core Language. Its innovative approach is to cover only a subset of the language -- the part that's most important to learn first -- and to assume readers already know C. The idea is that C++ is just too complicated to learn all at once. Instead, you learn the basics solidly from this short book, which prepares you to start programming and to understand some of the other C++ books you'll need for reference. These two books are based on different philosophies and are for different audiences. But there is one way in which they work together. If you are a C programmer, we recommend you start with C++: The Core Language, then read about advanced topics and real-world problems in Practical C++ Programming.
The Role of the Privacy Officer

ABSTRACT Along with the new federal regulations for health care providers within the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) come new job opportunities created by the demand for compliance. Achieving compliance in the area of privacy in health information will require an individual in each health care facility to take on the role of Privacy Officer. This role is consistent with many of the skills already practiced by Health Sciences Librarians and may provide a new career opportunity for health information entrepreneurs.
Minimizing the Social Cost of an Epidemic

In this paper we quantify the total cost of an epidemic spreading through a social network, accounting for both the immunization and disease costs. Previous research has typically focused on determining the optimal strategy to limit the lifetime of a disease, without considering the cost of such strategies. In the large graph limit, we calculate the exact expected disease cost for a general random graph, and we illustrate it for the specific example of an Erdos-Renyi network. We also give an upper bound on the expected disease cost for finite-size graphs, and show through simulation that the upper bound is tight for Erdos-Renyi networks and graphs with exponential degree distributions. Finally, we study how to optimally perform a one-shot immunization to minimize the social cost of a disease, including both the cost of the disease and the cost of immunization.
A PIC-Fluid Hybrid Algorithm for Multiscale Simulations of Laser-Plasma Interactions

A recently introduced algorithm for performing integrated kinetic simulations of the fast ignition approach to laser fusion is reviewed. The integrated algorithm uses a conventional fully electromagnetic relativistic particle-in-cell algorithm in vacuum and plasma up to a density well above cutoff for the incident laser, above which density the plasma is sufficiently collisional so that light waves and electron plasma waves are unimportant and a simplified physics model is justified that leads to improved computational efficiencies. Integrated comprehensive kinetic simulation of fast ignition is rendered more practical with this two-region algorithm. Professor C. K. Birdsall was a pioneer in computational plasma physics and enthusiastically championed the expansion of its use for discovery science and to simulate plasma phenomena in a wall-to-wall manner.
External Validity and Evaluation Research: A Codification of Problems

This paper delimits and explicates threats to external validity particularly problematic in evaluation research. Five categories of factors are discussed: selection effects, measurement effects, confounded treatment effects, situational effects, and effects due to differential mortality. The paper focuses on pointing up specific ways in which each of the factors threaten generalizability and possible solutions to the methodological problems presented.
Computerized pectoral muscle identification on MLO-view mammograms for CAD applications

Automatic identification of the pectoral muscle on MLO view is an essential step for computerized analysis of mammograms. It can reduce the bias of mammographic density estimation, will enable region-specific processing in lesion detection programs, and also may be used as a reference in image registration algorithms. We are developing a computerized method for the identification of pectoral muscle on mammograms. The upper portion of the pectoral edges was first detected to estimate the direction of the pectoral muscle boundary. A gradient-based directional (GD) filter was used to enhance the linear texture structures, and then a gradient-based texture analysis was designed to extract a texture orientation image that represented the dominant texture orientation at each pixel. The texture orientation image was enhanced by a second GD filter. An edge flow propagation method was developed to extract edges around the pectoral boundary using geometric features and anatomic constraints. The pectoral boundary was finally generated by a second-order curve fitting. 118 MLO view mammograms were used in this study. The pectoral muscle boundary identified on each image by an experienced radiologist was used as the gold standard. The accuracy of pectoral boundary detection was evaluated by two performance metrics. One is the overlap percentage between the computer-identified area and the gold standard, and the other is the root-mean-square (RMS) distance between the computer and manually identified pectoral boundary. For 118 MLO view mammograms, 99.2% (117/118) of the pectoral muscles could be identified. The average of the overlap percentage is 94.8% with a standard deviation of 20.9%, and the average of the RMS distance is 4.3 mm with a standard deviation of 5.9 mm. These results indicate that the pectoral muscle on mammograms can be detected accurately by our automated method.
Energy Distribution of External Photoelectrons from F-Centers in RbI

Energy distributions of the external photoelectrons from $F$-centers in RbI were determined by retarding-potential techniques. Precautions were taken to secure electrically uniform surfaces. The photoelectrons then emerged in two separable groups. The first, termed the $f$-group, was composed of relatively fast electrons that were attributed to direct photon ionization of $F$-centers. Photoelectron energies were distributed in a band, roughly gaussian in form, that was treated according to a theory given by Herring. The Franck-Condon principle was taken into account; scattering of excited electrons was neglected. The second group of photoelectrons, termed the $s$-group, was comparatively slow. The energy distribution had an unusual form and peaked at the surprisingly low value of 0.3 or 0.4 ev, independent of $h\ensuremath{\nu}$. Exciton-enhanced emission was almost entirely of this type. Three factors that may influence the $s$-type distribution are mentioned: Hebb's calculations indicate that lattice scattering of exciton-induced emission may be important because of the relatively large depth of origin of these photoelectrons. As suggested by Seitz, degradation of exciton energy prior to $F$-center stimulation may be involved. Finally, some of the photoelectrons in the $s$-group may arise in other types of centers.
RTsynchronizer: language support for real-time specifications in distributed systems

We argue that the specification of an object's functional behavior and the timing constraints imposed on it may be separated. Specifically, we describe RTsynchronizer, a high-level programming language construct for specifying real-time constraints between objects in a distributed concurrent system. During program execution, RTsynchronizers affect the scheduling of distributed objects to enforce real-time relations between events. Objects in our system are defined in terms of the actor model extended with timing assumptions. Separation of the functional behaviors of actors and the timing constraints on patterns of actor invocation provides at least three important advantages. First, it simplifies code development by separating design concerns. Second, multiple timing constraints can be independently specified and composed. And finally, a specification of timing constraints can be reused even if the representation of the functional behavior of actors has changed, and conversely.A number of examples are given to illustrate the use of RTsynchronizers. These examples illustrate how real-time constraints for periodic events, simultaneous events, exception handling, and producer-consumer may be specified.
Invisibility, Difference, and Disparity: Alcohol and Substance Abuse on Two-Year College Campuses

The impact of alcohol and substance abuse on college students’ behavior has become a ripe area of focus and research. However, interest and research has primarily been focused on traditional four- year college students. Thus, the four-year college experience is taken as the default against which two-year colleges are compared. Nearly 12 million students comprising some 45% of the collegiate population in the United States are in two-year colleges, with enrollment outpacing that of four-year schools. Given this reality, wherein two-year students represent an increasingly significant population, both numerically and in terms of their contribution to the economy, their invisibility in the literature on collegiate alcohol and substance use is remarkable. This paper addresses and highlights the deficiencies, disparities, and differences in alcohol and substance use on two-year and four-year college campuses as depicted by currently available research. Because the prevailing research specifically examines the e...
Layer VII and the gray matter trajectories of corticocortical axons in rats

The trajectory of long distance intrahemispheric corticocortical axons has been investigated using the anterograde fluorescent axonal tracer fluororuby. Most axons of this kind were found to travel through the gray matter of layers VI and VII rather than in the white matter. The cell-sparse zone immediately superficial to layer VII contains a dense aggregate of longitudinally directed axons. Corticocortical axons traveling in the mediolateral plane also utilize the deep gray matter predominately. Layer VII neurons are persistent remnants of the subplate in rats. Based on our retrograde labeling results, they are involved in long distance as well as local corticocortical connections. Layer VII neurons are often labeled in a more continuous pattern after cortical injections of retrograde tracers than neurons of layers II, III and V, which are labeled in a patchy manner.
Some equations for relating wear in thermoplastic conveyor chain

Abstract Equations are developed for relating linear wear to volumetric wear in bearings of articulating thermoplastic clevis-type chain joints.
Similarities in glow peak positions and kinetics parameters of oxyorthosilicates: evidence for unique intrinsic trapping sites

Abstract Thermally stimulated luminescence measurements on cerium-doped M 2 SiO 5 (M=Lu, Y, Yb, Er) and undoped Lu 2 SiO 5 , each possessing monoclinic C2/c crystal symmetry, reveal common glow peaks with the principal one occurring near 375 K. In contrast, cerium-doped Gd 2 SiO 5 , characterized by the monoclinic P2 1 /c structure, exhibits a different glow curve with the principal peak occurring near 425 K. Although undoped Lu 2 SiO 5 shares the characteristic Ce-doped M 2 SiO 5 glow curve, emission spectra data show that it emits weak line-emission, whereas the cerium-doped materials are characterized by the intense Ce 3+ band spectrum. This suggests a common and unique trapping site whose formation does not require the presence of cerium. Application of peak-shape glow curve analysis shows that the characteristic peak near 375 K in each sample obeys first-order kinetics with thermal activation energy approx. 1 eV and frequency factor ∼10 14 s −1 . Based on these results, we suggest that the characteristic glow peak is intrinsic and independent of cerium doping. This unique defect is common to the C2/c-structured oxyorthosilicates and is related to the host metal–ion–ligand configuration.
Two epidermal cytoplasmic immunofluorescent patterns detected by indirect immunofluorescence.

Two distinct and separate patterns of epidermal cytoplasmic fluorescence were seen with indirect immunofluorescence on human normal skin cyrostat sections. 1. Upper epidermal cytoplasmic (UEC) . This fluorescence was seen only in the upper and middle epidermis. The epidermal cytoplasm fluoresced brightly except for that of the basal cell layer which was negative and contrasted sharply with the rest of the epidermal cytoplasm. No cytoplasmic fluorescence was seen in the dermis. This pattern was found with sera from patients with bullous and nonbuflous diseases. 2. General epidermal cytoptasmic (GEC) . This pattern differed from UEC in that the entire epidermis fluoresced equally intensely. Furthermore, strong cytoplasmic fluorescence was noted in the dermis. This pattern was seen in live patients with nonbullous diseases and in one patient with bullous pemphigoid. Cytoplasmic fluorescence was seen on human spleen touch imprints with sera producing both these patterns, but no cytoplasmic fluorescence occurred on human huffy coat peripheral blood smears.
Plasma fractionation in the United States. A review for clinicians.

The Cohn cold ethanol plasma fractionation system, developed in the late 1940s, is still the basis for plasma fractionation practices in the United States today. Plasma is obtained by plasmapheresis, salvaged from fresh or outdated whole blood, or is extracted from human placentas to produce five types of clinical products of proven efficacy and safety. Despite the recognized advantages and current entrenchment of the Cohn fractionation system and its partial solution of the hepatitis problem, new developments could improve the present practice. Improved salvage of useful proteins from fractions that are currently discarded must be strongly supported. (JAMA230:247-250, 1974)
Child survival in India

About 2.1 million Indian children under 5 years of age die each year. In spite of reductions in child mortality rate over the past two decades, the rate remains high at 87 per 1000 live births. The main causes are diarrhoea, pneumonia, and for deaths among the neonates asphyxia, pre-term delivery, sepsis and tetanus. The major underlying cause of death is undernutrition. Child survival interventions of proven impact, feasible for use at high coverage in India were identified, and their effect on child mortality was calculated if high coverage were to be achieved. Exclusive breastfeeding, oral rehydration therapy, and adequate complementary feeding were among the most effective interventions. If these interventions would be applied universally 57% of mortality among pre-schoolers could be prevented. No cause specific mortality data were available from individual Indian states. Nevertheless, the range of child mortality, as well as the proportion of neo-natal deaths, occurring across the states, suggests that at state level 50-70% of deaths can be prevented. The results show that the targets set in the millennium development goals as well as in the Tenth Five Year plan can be reached.
Arytenoid sparing during irradiation of early stage vocal cord cancer.

Purpose : Optimal position of the posterior field border when irradiating early stage vocal cord cancer is controversial. Several experts recommend moving the posterior field border 5-15 mm anteriorly after 50-60 Gy to decrease the chance of arytenoid edema. This article will evaluate the effect of field position on arytenoid dose. Methods and Materials : 5 x 5 cm opposed lateral fields centered on the glottis were set up on a patient with typical anatomy. Isodose profiles were obtained with equally weighted 6 MV photon beams attenuated with 15° wedge filters using contours from an axial CT scan. Profiles with the posterior field border overlaying, 5, and 10 mm posterior to the posterior edge of the thyroid cartilage are presented. Results : With the posterior field border 10 mm posterior to the thyroid cartilage, the arytenoids are included in the 95% isodose volume. Reducing the field by 5 mm has no significant effect on the position of the 95 and 90% isodose lines relative to the arytenoids. A field reduction of 10 mm places the arytenoids in the beam penumbra and leaves approximately 10 mm between the 95% isodose line and the midpoint of the true vocal cord. Conclusion : To achieve a significant dose differential between the arytenoids and the anterior portion of the vocal cord when using opposed lateral 6 MV photon beams the posterior field border must be at, or anterior to, the posterior edge of the thyroid cartilage. In view of the excellent results reported from institutions that include the arytenoids in the high-dose volume throughout treatment, it would seem appropriate to limit the use of arytenoid-sparing techniques to patients in whom there is no ambiguity about tumor location and in whom the treatment setup is very reproducible.
Density-functional studies of metal surfaces and metal-adsorbate systems

Abstract A historically organized review is given of theoretical work done by the author and co-workers on metal surfaces, metal-adatom systems and scanning tunneling microscopy. The calculations described are all based on the density-functional formalism for the inhomogeneous electron gas. Studies of the electron density distribution, work function and surface energy calculated using the uniform-background (jellium) model of a metal surface are described. The ground-state properties of an atom adsorbed on such a surface are analyzed, and the extension to a study of core holes in these adatoms is presented. Based on the adsorption studies, a theoretical account is given of a variety of results obtained in scanning tunneling microscopy.
Enthalpy of Frozen Foods Determined by Differential Compensated Calorimetry

Frozen samples were placed in one of two insulated vessels at room temperature. Enthalpy was measured by the electrical energy required to reverse the temperature differential that developed. Tests with pure ice agreed to within 0.3% of expected values. Measurements on beef, bread, egg white, and applesauce were similar to published values. The change in average enthalpy during freezing was examined and agreed with an enthalpy-based freezing model. Differential compensated calorimetry affords several advantages and was particularly useful for rapid measurement of enthalpy in commercial freezer conditions.
Compact system for measurement of optical surfaces having a large radius of curvature

A new method for measuring the radius of curvature (ROC) of an optical surface having a large radius is proposed. The method combines a Fizeau interferometer and a specially designed zoom lens to form a compact and convenient test setup, so that measurement of the curvatures for both concave and convex surfaces having a large ROC can be done in a simple and quick way. The design of the zoom lenses for this application, principle of the measurement, and calibration of the zoom lenses are discussed. By means of the proposed method, radii of 1.5 m to infinity, concave or convex surfaces, can be measured in compact setups efficiently. The accuracy of the measurements can reach up to 0.04% for a surface having a radius of 10 m.
Doubly differential cross section for electron detachment from 0.5-MeV H − in collision with He

We calculate the energy spectrum of electrons detached from 0.5-MeV negative hydrogen ions in collision with helium targets using the plane-wave Born approximation. Three different models for continuum states of ${\mathrm{H}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ are used to calculate electron-detachment doubly differential cross sections. The first model uses a single exponential function for the loosely bound electron of ${\mathrm{H}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ and a plane wave for the detached electron. The second model is similar to the first one, but the final state is Gram-Schmidt orthogonalized. The third model includes the $s$-wave phase shifts obtained from Schwinger's variational principle. These phase shifts incorporate the radial correlations which are essential for the study of such low-energy continuum electrons. The doubly differential cross section obtained by the second and third models have a double-peak structure. These peaks are at energies different from the ones measured by Menendez and Duncan. Based on this calculation we observe that the ejected electrons are sensitive to the $s$-wave phase shifts and electron-electron correlations. This observation rejects the use of plane-wave models for the detached electrons and indicates the need for more accurate wave functions which incorporate radial and angular correlations.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS IN THE US: A STUDY OF STATE SULFUR DIOXIDE STANDARDS

What determines the environmental regulatory regime of a country or region? This paper addresses the question in detail, using the US and its widely varying environmental policies as the case study. What factors lead some US states to pass strict environmental regulations, while others are content with the baseline standards required at the national level? This work outlines the state environmental choice as a trade-off between the desires of consumers (who want better environmental quality) and of producers (who want less restrictive environmental standards). A rational state legislator maximises her chances of being re-elected by balancing these two competing forces when setting environmental policy. I test this model by directly analysing the state decision to adopt more restrictive sulfur dioxide regulations than those required by the federal government under the Environmental Protection Agency's "National Ambient Air Quality Standards" program. The statistical results suggest that legislators weigh the relative influence of consumer and producer groups when setting sulfur dioxide standards, in addition to accounting for meteorological influences that affect the cost of compliance with stricter environmental regulations. Limited evidence is also provided to support an inverted-U shaped relationship between income levels and environmental regulations.
Stieltjes-Moment-Theory Technique for Calculating Resonance Widths

Resonant autoionizing states of molecules and autodetaching states of molecular negative ions play important roles in many collision phenomena involving low energy electrons, e.g. dissociative attachment, associative and Penning ionization, dissociative recombination, etc.1,2 Although the formal theory3 of resonant scattering of electrons from molecules has been developed during the past 15 years, there have been very few quantitive studies of resonant phenomena even in diatomic molecules. The main reason for this has been the lack of practical methods for calculating the width of molecular resonances within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation.4 This situation has prevailed for quite some time, even though methods for calculating the resonance parameters of atoms5 and the potential energy curves of molecular resonances6 have been available.
Changes in Cytoplasmic pH and in Membrane Potential in Thrombin-Stimulated Human Platelets

The response of human platelets to stimulation by a specific aggregant such as thrombin has been postulated to proceed sequentially via induction of response at the membrance, followed by execution of shape change, secretion, and aggregation of the platelets. We have shown earlier that the platelet response includes a depolarization of the membrane which starts within less than 5s and is thrombin-dose-dependent up to 4.5 nM α-thrombin, This depolarization may be measured by the distribution of either a fluorescent or a tritium-labeled lipophilic cation. We present here an adaptation of techniques for intracellular pH measurements to the humanj platelet. These show that stimulation with thrombin also induces a rapid change in the platelet trans-membrane pH gradient as measured using either a weak base or a fluorescein derivative as a probe. The pH gradient undergoes a time-dependent and thrombin-dose-dependent change which parallels that eshibited by the membrane potential and by serotonin secretion.
Volar Capitate Dislocation: A Case Report

We present a rare injury involving a volar dislocation of the distal capitate with secondary median nerve compression. The injury was not recognized on the initial radiographs resulting in a delayed diagnosis and treatment. A satisfactory outcome was achieved following open reduction and internal fixation via dorsal and palmar approaches. This case illustrates the importance of careful review of radiographs for evidence of intercarpal injuries.
Mutations in p53 as potential molecular markers for human breast cancer

Based on the high incidence of loss of heterozygosity for loci on chromosome 17p in the vicinity of the p53 locus in human breast tumors, we investigated the frequency and effects of mutations in the p53 tumor suppressor gene in mammary neoplasia. We examined the p53 gene in 20 breast cancer cell lines and 59 primary breast tumors. Northern blot analysis, immunoprecipitation, and nucleotide sequencing analysis revealed aberrant mRNA expression, over-expression of protein, and point mutations in the p53 gene in 50% of the cell lines tested. A multiplex PCR assay was developed to search for deletions in the p53 genomic locus. Multiplex PCR of genomic DNA showed that up to 36% of primary tumors contained aberrations in the p53 locus. Mutations in exons 5-9 of the p53 gene were found in 10 out of 59 (17%) of the primary tumors studies by single-stranded conformation polymorphism analysis. We conclude that, compared to amplification of HER2/NEU, MYC, or INT2 oncogene loci, p53 gene mutations and deletions are the most frequently observed genetic change in breast cancer related to a single gene. Correlated to disease status, p53 gene mutations could prove to be a valuable marker for diagnosis and/or prognosis of breast neoplasia.
The influence of prey communities on fish species assemblages on artificial reefs in Puget Sound, Washington

Research on eleven artificial reefs in Puget Sound, Washington examined the relative importance of reef-produced prey items to recreationally important reef fish species assemblages. The colonization of potential prey items, and fish species assemblages to ten artificial reefs were examined for the reefs first two to five years, and observations were conducted on an eleventh reef during its forty-ninth productive year. Fish species became more abundant, or were seen more frequently on reef habitats whose substrates had successionally developed from barnalces to algal mats. Fish species most affected by this successional change foraged heavily on organisms which were associated with reef algae. Starfish and nudibranchs. who preyed on the barnacles, were identified as the ‘keystone’ predators of these subtidal reef habitats.
Evaluating the Clinical Quality of Restorations

A new method for rating the quality of restorations has been developed and field tested. It involves the same operational procedures that a dentist uses to evaluate restorations in a new patient. The two designations, “satisfactory” and “not acceptable,” are each broken into two categories that are rated on the basis of surface and color, anatomic form, and marginal integrity. If a restoration does not meet all standards, the reason is included in the evaluation. In a field test of the system, two examiners agreed on the final ratings of about 1,000 restorations in 92% of the instances, and with their first rating in a reexamination of the same restoration in 89% of the instances.
Distribution Kinetics for Temperature-Programmed Pyrolysis

Understanding pyrolysis is vital for characterizing materials, such as coal, petroleum, plastics, and biomass, for their stability and as fuel sources. Pyrolysis is usually modeled with nth-order or sigmoidal (nucleation or autocatalytic) kinetics and with parallel reactions having distributed activation energies. The underlying chemistry, however, consists of thermolytic bond cleavage, recombination reactions, and volatilization of low molecular weight (MW) products. A new approach is based on a dynamic population-balance equation for the molecular weight distribution of a pyrolyzing macromolecular material in a temperature-programmed thermogravimetric process. Random chain scission, repolymerization, chain-end scission yielding gas products, and loss of low-MW matter by vaporization are included in the model. Zeroth and first moments of the balance equation provide coupled differential equations for the time dependence of moles, n(t), and mass, m(t), of the sample. Separate changes in n and m account for the changes in the average molecular weight during pyrolysis. The activation energy for random chain scission is relatively larger than that for chain-end scission or repolymerization. The model simulates observations for temperature-programmed pyrolysis, including nth-order and acceleratory (nucleation) behavior.
Islands uncovered by melting polar ice

Thawing glaciers north of Norway's Svalbard archipelago have revealed at least two unmapped and unclaimed islands, one roughly the size of a basketball court, according to a 20 August Reuters report. In addition, information released in August by the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center indicated that with one month left in the melting season, Arctic sea ice is already below the record minimum. “Reductions of snow and ice are happening at an alarming rate,” said Norwegian Environment Minister Helen Bjoernoy. She suggested that these observations may indicate that the loss of sea ice is perhaps accelerating faster than predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which warned in February that summer sea ice could almost vanish by the end of this century.
Infection-permissive immunization with influenza virus neuraminidase prevents weight loss in infected mice

In studies of infection of young Balb/c mice with a mouse virulent strain of X-31 (H3N2) influenza A virus we have shown a profound virus dose-related effect of infection on body weight. Most of this effect is prevented by prior administration of either inactivated whole virus vaccine, which prevents infection, or purified influenza virus neuraminidase, which is infection-permissive, but reduces pulmonary virus replication by 1.5 to 3 orders of magnitude. These studies support the concept of infection-permissive immunization and suggest that levels of virus replication previously shown to be antigenic can be sustained without significant systemic effects.
MATERNAL PHENYLKETONURIA AND HYPERPHENYLALANINEMIA. A PROSPECTIVE STUDY

The possible effects of increased blood phenylalanine concentrations on the fetus are of considerable importance, particularly since many girls successfully treated for phenylketonuria (PKU) will shortly become of childbearing age. We have studied prospectively 17 offspring of 8 women who have had varying degrees of hyperphenylalaninemia (HPHE). These women have been discovered as a result of routine screening of an offspring, either of cord blood or of newborn blood. None has received any dietary therapy. Group I includes 3 women with mild HPHE (blood Phe 3-6 mg%) and Group II includes 2 women with intermediate HPHE (blood Phe >6-12 mg%; occasional mild phenylpyruvic aciduria). All 11 offspring are normal. Group III includes one woman with “atypical” PKU (blood Phe >12-15 mg%; moderate phenylpyruvic aciduria). Though she has a slightly higher IQ than her non-PKU sister (78 vs. 71), her 3 offspring have consistently lower IQs than her sister's 3 offspring. Group IV includes two women with “classical” PKU. In one, who is retarded (IQ 56), twin offspring are mentally retarded at age 4 yr. (IQs 67 and 61). In the other, who is dull normal, the infant offspring is developmentally slow at age 1 year. Neither microcephaly nor congenital anomalies has been noted. It would seem that the degree of fetal brain damage from maternal PKU and HPHE may be proportional to the maternal blood Phe level beginning at >12 mg/100 ml.