cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Super-Resolution Reconstruction of Diffusion-Weighted Images Using 4D Low-Rank and Total Variation

Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) provides invaluable information in white matter microstructure and is widely applied in neurological applications. However, DWI is largely limited by its relatively low spatial resolution. In this paper, we propose an image post-processing method, referred to as super-resolution reconstruction, to estimate a high spatial resolution DWI from the input low-resolution DWI, e.g., at a factor of 2. Instead of requiring specially designed DWI acquisition of multiple shifted or orthogonal scans, our method needs only a single DWI scan. To do that, we propose to model both the blurring and downsampling effects in the image degradation process where the low-resolution image is observed from the latent high-resolution image, and recover the latent high-resolution image with the help of two regularizations. The first regularization is four-dimensional (4D) low-rank, proposed to gather self-similarity information from both the spatial domain and the diffusion domain of 4D DWI. The second regularization is total variation, proposed to depress noise and preserve local structures such as edges in the image recovery process. Extensive experiments were performed on 20 subjects, and results show that the proposed method is able to recover the fine details of white matter structures, and outperform other approaches such as interpolation methods, non-local means based upsampling, and total variation based upsampling.
NGO Presence and Activity in Afghanistan, 2000–2014: A Provincial-Level Dataset

This article introduces a new provincial-level dataset on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Afghanistan. The data—which are freely available for download—provide information on the locations and sectors of activity of 891 international and local (Afghan) NGOs that operated in the country between 2000 and 2014. A summary and visualization of the data is presented in the article following a brief historical overview of NGOs in Afghanistan. Links to download the full dataset are provided in the conclusion.
Current Status of Efforts to Restore Northern Leopard Frogs to the Flathead Reservation in Northwest Montana

Climate-warming is uncoupling plant-pollinator interactions by causing species-specific shifts in seasonal flowering periods and pollinator activity times (i.e. phenologies). The mechanisms mediating pollinator responses to warming are poorly understood, preventing conservation professionals from identifying the most at-risk species and limiting our understanding of the potential effects of climate warming on plant-pollinator communities. The goal of this study was to experimentally investigate whether solitary bee (Hymenoptera spp.) overwintering life stages influence phenological responses to climate-warming. Climate-controlled growth chambers where used to manipulate the temperature bees experienced while developing and overwintering. Results suggest that different physiological constraints associated with overwintering in the prepupal life stage compared to the adult life stage may influence how solitary bees respond to climate-warming in predictable ways. Bees that overwinter as adults may be more prone to phenological mismatches in the spring, while bees that overwinter as prepupae may be more prone to phenological mismatches in mid summer. In addition, the phenologies of bees that overwinter as adults may be converging with the phenologies of bees that overwinter as prepupae, causing reduced pollinator abundance during late summer and altering competition among bees for nectar and pollen during early summer. This work demonstrates that life history traits of bees may mediate their responses to climate-warming. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the effects of climate warming on pollinator species, with implications for preserving pollination services in Montana, as well as informing future studies investigating the effects of climate warming on plants and pollinators.
Ethical Concerns of Budgetary Slack Creation

The ethical concerns of budgetary slack are numerous. Within the context of this paper we discuss and research certain factors that cause and occur with slack creation. We also evaluate and analyze many of the theories that surround organizational behavior, ethical judgment, the agency theory, participative budgeting, the psychological contract period, and information asymmetry. We also evaluate similarities and differences of the cultural and ethical effects on budgeting of three different societies – United States, Japan, and China. Within this paper we show that the further a society moves away from morality and face, the more likely they are to move towards opportunistic self-interest, with a lapse in reputation and ethics. Lastly, we discuss the happiness and motivation in budget setting and how psychological capital is an important attribute to keeping employees motivated with pre-determined budgetary goals when they are involved with the process.
Anxiolytic effects of steroid hormones during the estrous cycle. Interactions with ethanol.

Behavioral differences in anxiety have been observed between both males and females and across the ovarian cycle in females. However, the data are not entirely consistent and the mechanisms of this potential interaction are largely unexplored. It appears that the GABA/BZ receptor complex is a site of action for steroids as well as for many anxiolytic drugs. Both natural steroids, such as progesterone and its metabolites, and synthetic steroids, such as alphaxalone, reduce anxiety-like behavior in rats. Alphaxalone also reverses the behavioral effects of potent anxiogenic agents in the conflict test of anxiety. Studies reported here found that ethanol administered to rats in different phases of the estrous cycle was more effective as an anxiolytic when hormone levels were high. The anticonflict response to chlordiazepoxide also was examined in ovariectomized and steroid-replaced female rats. Insight into the mechanisms and sites of action for these steroids can be gained from such an approach.
A Model with Age Dependence and an Open Population

The models in the previous sections assumed a constant, closed total population or, from another point of view, birth, death, and migration were in exact balance. In this section a special case of a model of F. Hoppensteadt is described in which these factors are allowed to vary and a further complication is permitted in the model in that age dependent rates of exposure, virility, etc., are also allowed. In fact, two types of age dependence will be introduced, dependence on chronological age and on class age. The first of these allows the disease to selectively infect a particular age group while the second allows the important rate constants to vary with the length of time individuals have been in a given class; for example, allowing the probability of transmitting the disease to decrease when the individual has been infective for a long period of time. The pair (a,c) (chronological age, class age) will be referred to as the age of the individual.
Infections in the alcoholic

Serious infections appear to occur more frequently in alcoholic patients. However, whether this is due to the effects of alcohol per se or to the other frequent complications of alcoholism--nutritional deficiencies, cirrhosis, and poor hygiene--has not been determined. The host factors that may underlie an increased frequency of infection in alcoholics and the clinical infectious syndromes associated with alcoholism are described.
Stephen Ross’s Contribution to Ex Post Conditioning and Survival Bias in Empirical Research

One of Stephen A. Ross’s least-cited papers led to a rich vein of research on conditioning biases in financial economics. According to the authors—one a doctoral student of Professor Ross and both colleagues and coauthors of Professor Ross at the Yale School of Management—“Regression to the Max” has been cited 35 times in 30 years, and yet its insights into empirical research on such important topics as market bubbles and performance evaluation are highly relevant today. It developed the analytical methods Ross and his coauthors used in subsequent papers about the broader challenges of survivorship and look-back biases in empirical research and investment practice. The authors review this 1987 paper and discuss its influence and applications.
Networking across boundaries: enabling wireless communication through the water-air interface

We consider the problem of wireless communication across medium boundaries, specifically across the water-air interface. In particular, we are interested in enabling a submerged underwater sensor to directly communicate with an airborne node. Today's communication technologies cannot enable such a communication link. This is because no single type of wireless signal can operate well across different media and most wireless signals reflect back at media boundaries. We present a new communication technology, translational acoustic-RF communication (TARF). TARF enables underwater nodes to directly communicate with airborne nodes by transmitting standard acoustic signals. TARF exploits the fact that underwater acoustic signals travel as pressure waves, and that these waves cause displacements of the water surface when they impinge on the water-air boundary. To decode the transmitted signals, TARF leverages an airborne radar which measures and decodes these surface displacements. We built a prototype of TARF that incorporates algorithms for dealing with the constraints of this new communication modality. We evaluated TARF in controlled and uncontrolled environments and demonstrated that it enables the first practical communication link across the water-air interface. Our results show that TARF can achieve standard underwater bitrates up to 400bps, and that it can operate correctly in the presence of surface waves with amplitudes up to 16 cm peak-to-peak, i.e., 100,000X larger than the surface perturbations caused by TARF's underwater acoustic transmitter.
The Role of the Phosphoinositide Pathway in Hormonal Regulation of the Epithelial Sodium Channel

In summary, insulin and aldosterone stimulate phosphatidylinositol phosphorylation, thus indicating the existence of a regulated protein at or before the PI3-kinase step. Aldosterone induces the synthesis of sgk, a downstream element of the PI pathway. Sgk is necessary, but not rate-limiting, for aldosterone- and insulin-stimulated Na+ transport. However, the enzyme appears to be rate-limiting for the natriferic action of ADH. Insulin-stimulated Na+ transport, an acute response, is dependent on PI3-kinase activity but the magnitude of the response is not altered by a cellular excess of sgk. ADH-stimulated transport is not dependent on PI3-kinase but is potentiated by an excess of sgk. The foregoing data indicate that the PI pathway is involved in several steps of the natriferic action of hormones and intersects with other pathways which regulate ENaC. Furthermore, the data are consistent with the hypothesis that activation of PI3-kinase may ultimately stimulate channel insertion as well as regulate channel endocytosis. Both of these phenomena can result in an increase of ENaC-mediated Na+ transport.
Controlling and Expanding the Selectivity of Filtration Membranes

Chemical separations account for about 50% of costs and energy use associated with chemical and petrochemical manufacturing, corresponding to about 10% of all energy use in the U.S. Membrane separations are highly energy efficient, simple to operate, scalable, and portable. Broader use of membranes is limited by the selectivity of available membranes, mostly confined to the separation of species about an order of magnitude or more different in size in the liquid phase. This perspective focuses on new approaches for creating liquid filtration membranes that can perform more challenging separations. We first discuss the selectivity mechanisms of currently available membranes and compare them with the operation of biological systems that exhibit enhanced selectivity. Then, we review some approaches for creating isoporous membranes with narrow pore size distributions for enhanced size-based selectivity. We discuss biological systems that exhibit selectivity based on factors beyond size and how they can inspir...
Sound of Hunger: One German family's chronicle of the chivalry, politics, lies, murder and aftermath of war

Among the tsunami of publications commemorating the centennial of the First World War, Chris Heal's broadly conceived reconstruction of the lives of two of the Kaiser's U-boat commanders, the broth...
Creating Our Chromatopia

“FIND STRENGTH IN THE SMALL PLACES,” my yoga instructor said, as I stood crouched on one foot with my other leg laying across my knee. I could see the tendons in my foot moving, working to stay bal...
Using a theoretical approach to predict college students' non-medical use of prescription drugs - a survival analysis

This study assesses students’ non-medical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD) from college entrance to graduation, and examines factors that predict NMUPD. Participants: The study was conducted betwe...
Effect of Metformin on Microvascular Endothelial Function in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Abstract Objective To investigate the factors that are associated with the effect of metformin on endothelial dysfunction in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Patients and Methods From March 24, 2014, to November 18, 2016, 48 women with PCOS were randomly assigned to 1500 mg/d of metformin (N=29) or no treatment (N=13) for 3 months; 42 patients (29 in the initial treatment group and 13 in the no treatment group) completed the study. Study variables were measured at baseline and after 3 months. Participants who did not receive metformin initially were then treated with metformin for another 3 months, and study variables were measured again. Endothelial function was measured as reactive hyperemia–peripheral arterial tonometry (RH-PAT) from the index finger. Results The age and baseline endothelial function (mean ± SD) of the participants were 32.7±6.9 years and 1.8±0.5, respectively. No notable change was observed in endothelial function after 3 months with metformin compared with no treatment. However, after stratifying participants who received metformin based on baseline endothelial function, there was a significant improvement following metformin treatment in participants with abnormal baseline endothelial function (1.3±0.3 vs 1.7±0.3; P Conclusion Metformin improves endothelial function in women with PCOS and endothelial dysfunction independent of changes in glucose metabolism, dyslipidemia, or presence of prediabetes. Metformin has a direct effect on endothelial function in PCOS, and measurement of endothelial function can stratify and follow response to metformin treatment in PCOS. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT02086526.
Characterizing reticulation in online social networks during disasters

Online social network has become a new form of infrastructure for communities in spreading situational information in disasters. Developing effective interventions to improve the network performance of information diffusion is essential for people to rapidly retrieve information in coping with disasters and subsequent disruptions. Existing studies have investigated multiple aspects of online social networks in stationary situations and a separate manner. However, the networks are dynamic and different properties of the networks are co-related in the evolving disaster situations. In particular, disaster events motivate people to communicate online, create and reinforce their connections, and lead to a dynamic reticulation of the online social networks. To understand the relationship among these elements, we proposed an Online Network Reticulation (ONR) framework to examine four modalities (i.e., enactment, activation, reticulation, and network performance) in the evolution of online social networks to analyze the interplays among disruptive events in disasters, user activities, and information diffusion performance on social media. Accordingly, we examine the temporal changes in four elements for characterization of reticulation: activity timing, activity types (post, share, reply), reticulation mechanism (creation of new links versus reinforcement of existing links), and structure of communication instances (self-loop, converging, and reciprocal). Finally, the aggregated effects of network reticulation, using attributed network-embedding approach, are examined in the average latent distance among users as a measure of network performance for information propagation. The application of the proposed framework is demonstrated in a study of network reticulation on Twitter for a built environment disruption event during 2017 Hurricane Harvey in Houston. The results show that the main underlying mechanism of network reticulation in evolving situations was the creation of new links by regular users. The main structure for communication instances was converging, indicating communication instances driven by information-seeking behaviors in the wake of a disruptive event. With the evolution of the network, the proportion of converging structures to self-loop and reciprocal structures did not change significantly, indicating the existence of a scale-invariance property for network structures. The findings demonstrate the capability of the proposed online network reticulation framework for characterizing the complex relationships between events, activities, and network performance in online social networks during disasters.
State of Energy Prediction in Renewable Energy-driven Mobile Edge Computing using CNN-LSTM Networks

Renewable energy (RE) is a promising solution to save grid power in mobile edge computing (MEC) systems and thus reducing the carbon footprints. However, to effectively operate the RE-based MEC system, a method for predicting the state of energy (SoE) in the battery is essential, not only to prevent the battery from over-charging or over-discharging, but also allowing the MEC applications to adjust their loads in advance based on the energy availability. In this work, we consider RE-powered MEC systems at the Road-side Unit (RSU) and focus on predicting its battery's SoE by using machine learning technique. We developed a real-world RE-powered RSU testbed consisting of edge computing devices, small cell base station, and solar as well as wind power generators. By operating RE-powered RSU for serving real-world computation task offloading demands, we collect the corresponding data sequences of battery's SoE and other observable parameters of the MEC systems that impact the SoE. Using a variant of Long Short-term Memory (LSTM) model with additional convolutional layers, we form a CNN-LSTM model which can predict the SoE accurately with very low prediction error. Our results show that CNN-LSTM outperforms other Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) based models for predicting intra-hour and hour-ahead SoE.
Engaging contested community issues: Community dialogue in one US American community

Abstract This article presents an analysis of dialogue as an alternative to debate and argument for engaging contested community issues. Treating dialogue as a communication practice, I draw on ethnography of communication, cultural communication theory, and cultural discourse analysis to describe and interpret how participants practiced community dialogue as a communication event comprised of sequences of listening and verbally responding. When topics and identities were elaborated upon and socially negotiated through personal communication in the form of narratives and emotional responses, participants reported effective dialogue. These sequences were dialogic moments partially due to the dialectical tension between Americans’ once predictable civic routine of public expression of individual’s beliefs and the process of dialogue featured in our War and Peace dialogue workshop.
New Trends in Managing Anesthesia in Infants with Pyloric Stenosis

Necrotizing enterocolitis is one of the most common gastrointestinal emergencies in neonatal intensive care units and one of the most serious diseases because of its associated long-term morbidity and significant mortality. In this chapter, we describe the pathophysiology and epidemiology along with the anesthesia management and care challenges of patients with necrotizing enterocolitis and short bowel syndrome.
A novel sound localization design using arrayed integrate and fire neuron circuits

A novel sound localization design using arrayed integrate and fire neuron circuits is discussed in this paper. This method is inspired from barn owl's unique method of locating prey. Unlike most of the existing techniques, it is computation free. System structure, experiment and simulation results, and analysis are described. A three-level hierarchical design is used to improve accuracy for a large amount without significant increase of area.
Effective‐Porosity and Dual‐Porosity Approaches to Solute Transport in the Saturated Zone at Yucca Mountain: Implications for Repository Performance Assessment

The effective-porosity approach and the dual-porosity approach are examined as two alternative conceptual models of radionuclide migration in fractured media of the saturated zone at Yucca Mountain. Numerical simulations of one-dimensional radionuclide transport are performed for the domain relevant to repository performance assessment using the two alternative conceptual approaches. Dual-porosity solute transport modeling produces similar results to effective-porosity modeling for fracture spacing of less than approximately 1 m and greater than about 200 m, which corresponds to values of effective porosity equal to the matrix porosity and the fracture porosity, respectively. For intermediate values of fracture spacing, the dual-porosity approach results in concentration breakthrough curves that differ significantly from the effective-porosity approach and are characterized by earlier first arrival, greater apparent dispersion, and lower concentrations at later times. The effective-porosity approach, as implemented in recent performance assessment analyses of saturated zone transport at Yucca Mountain, is conservative compared to the dual-porosity approach in terms of both radionuclide concentrations and, generally, travel times.
Macro-energy transport

There are three forms of energy transport: conduction (diffusive transport), convection (heat transmitted by the mechanical motion of the fluid) and/or radiation (through space). All three are active during solidification of a casting. Energy diffusion and convection occurs within the casting, at the metal/mold interface, and within the mold. Energy is transported by radiation from the mold to its environment, which is typically the air.
Latent trait analysis for risk management of complex information technology projects

Recent years have seen a major increase in the application of predictive analytics to the service delivery domain as more and more service providers rely on such analytics for proactive risk management. At the pre-contract stage, identifying potential project risks accurately is of vital importance since it allows service providers to avoid profit erosion through proactive risk management. This paper describes a data-driven approach to project failure prediction of complex information technology (IT) projects. We introduce a novel theoretical framework of Latent Trait Analysis (LTA), whose original form was first developed in psychometrics. We take as the input questionnaire data of risk assessment reviews in the quality assurance (QA) process of IT projects before contract signing, and attempt to predict the project health in the delivery phase after contract signing. The idea is to explicitly capture the human cognitive process through LTA, and estimate the latent project failure tendency hidden behind the questionnaire answers collected by QA experts. Using real QA data of an IT service provider, we demonstrate that our approach outperforms existing approaches in project failure prediction while providing practical information on the usefulness of individual question items.
γ-Ray Astronomy Balloon Results

The significance of high energy (≳30 MeV) γ-ray astronomy and its relationship to cosmic rays and many of the high energy processes of the universe has been realized for over a decade. Through the last six to eight years, searches for point sources, mostly from balloon experiments, but also Explorers 11 and OSO-3, have been unsuccessful in clearly establishing the existence of any point source. Recently on OSO-3, Clark et al. (1968) have obtained positive evidence for a celestial γ-ray flux which is anisotropic with a higher intensity in the direction of the galactic center region. In this talk, I wish to summarize our balloon results relating to both of these questions and indicate what we hope to accomplish with our new large γ-ray detector over the coming months.
Timing of Vitrectomy after Penetrating Ocular Injuries

The visual outcome, as well as the preoperative sensory and anatomic status, of 49 eyes undergoing vitrectomy within 72 hours after a penetrating injury, was compared to 54 eyes with penetrating injury operated on by vitrectomy at longer intervals. The eyes operated on within 72 hours of the injury had a better visual outcome than those operated on later, but this difference was not statistically significant. However, there were important differences between the two patient groups. Eyes undergoing vitrectomy within 72 hours had a better initial visual acuity after injury, a greater percentage of anteriorly located lacerations, fewer cases of severe vitreous hemorrhage, and a higher proportion of cases with an intraocular foreign body. Each of these factors had been shown previously to be associated with a comparatively favorable visual prognosis in eyes treated by conventional means of wound repair without vitrectomy. Therefore, the visual acuity differences among the two main groups in this study are probably due to differences in the types of cases selected for early versus later vitrectomy, rather than to the difference in the timing of surgery.
AN APPROXIMATION TO THE PRODUCT OF DISCRETE FUNCTIONS

Abstract If one regards a discrete function as a vector, the “best” approximation to the product of two discrete functions (defined for the same set of values of the argument) is not necessarily the ordinary scalar product. The “best” approximation is shown to be an approximation-in-the-mean to the product of the trigonometric interpolation polynomials (cardinal functions) which correspond to the given discrete functions. This approximation arises naturally when the product is taken in the spectral domain. However, it can be approached by the ordinary scalar product provided the input functions are smoothed. The smoothing operator is linear and easily computed; it results in the suppression of all harmonics of wave length less than four times the mesh length.
Identification of symmetry: Effects of stimulus orientation and head position

It has been argued that the perceptual advantage of symmetry depends upon the essentially symmetrical properties of the visual system. According to this explanation, the ease of identifi­ cation of symmetries about different axes of orientation should decrease with increasing dis­ tance from the vertical: Reaction times to vertical symmetry should be faster than those to diagonal symmetry, which in turn should be faster than those to horizontal symmetry. Previ­ ous research demonstrating this pattern of responding employed stimuli with linear axes. In the present study, the subjects viewed tachistoscopically presented symmetrical and asymmetrical dot patterns (which had no explicit axes) in one of three head positions: upright, 45 deg left, and 45 deg right. The subjects' performance failed to support the structural explanation: Identifi­ cation of symmetry is equivalently fast for vertical and horizontal; vertical and horizontal show strong advantages over obliques, and this general advantage follows retinal coordinates. Find­ ings are discussed in light of alternative theories of symmetry processing. Experimental investigators since Mach (1897) have repeatedly observed that, in visual perception, sym­ metrical patterns hold advantages over asymmetrical ones: They are preferred, they are detected, discrim­ nated, and identified more easily, and they are re­ membered better (e.g., Arnheim, 1974; Attneave, 1955; Garner & Sutliff, 1974; Julesz, 1971). Mach and, more recently, Corballis and Roldan (1975) argued that these advantages for processing sym­ metry reflect the fact that, structurally, the visual system is itself essentially symmetrical and therefore that visual sensitivity to symmetry reflects either sym­ metrical projection to a more or less symmetrical vi­ sual system or symmetrical representation leading to homotopic mapping in the brain. Three predictions for symmetry perception follow from this structural position. The first is that sym­ metries along the vertical should be most easily per­ ceived, because they are congruent with the bilateral symmetry of the visual system. In fact, in measures of preference, detection, and recognition, vertical symmetry has typically been found to have a per
Generating properly weighted ensemble of conformations of proteins from sparse or indirect distance constraints

Inferring three-dimensional structural information of biomacromolecules such as proteins from limited experimental data is an important and challenging task. Nuclear Overhauser effect measurements based on nucleic magnetic resonance, disulfide linking, and electron paramagnetic resonance labeling studies can all provide useful partial distance constraint characteristic of the conformations of proteins. In this study, we describe a general approach for reconstructing conformations of biomolecules that are consistent with given distance constraints. Such constraints can be in the form of upper bounds and lower bounds of distances between residue pairs, contact maps based on specific contact distance cutoff values, or indirect distance constraints such as experimental -value measurement. Our approach is based on the framework of sequential Monte Carlo method, a chain growth-based method. We have developed a novel growth potential function to guide the generation of conformations that satisfy given distance constraints. This potential function incorporates not only the distance information of current residue during growth but also the distance information of future residues by introducing global distance upper bounds between residue pairs and the placement of reference points. To obtain protein conformations from indirect distance constraints in the form of experimental -values, we first generate properly weighted contact maps satisfying -value constraints, we then generate conformations from these contact maps. We show that our approach can faithfully generate conformations that satisfy the given constraints, which approach the native structures when distance constraints for all residue pairs are given. © 2008 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.2968605
Effects of developmental manganese, stress, and the combination of both on monoamines, growth, and corticosterone.

Abstract Developmental exposure to manganese (Mn) or stress can each be detrimental to brain development. Here, Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to two housing conditions and Mn from postnatal day (P)4–28. Within each litter two males and two females were assigned to the following groups: 0 (vehicle), 50, or 100 mg/kg Mn by gavage every other day. Half the litters were reared in cages with standard bedding and half with no bedding. One pair/group in each litter had an acute shallow water stressor before tissue collection (i.e., standing in shallow water). Separate litters were assessed at P11, 19, or 29. Mn-treated rats raised in standard cages showed no change in baseline corticosterone but following acute stress increased more than controls on P19; no Mn effects were seen on P11 or P29. Mn increased neostriatal dopamine in females at P19 and norepinephrine at P11 and P29. Mn increased hippocampal dopamine at P11 and P29 and 5-HT at P29 regardless of housing or sex. Mn had no effect on hypothalamic dopamine, but increased norepinephrine in males at P29 and 5-HT in males at all ages irrespective of rearing condition. Barren reared rats showed no or opposite effects of Mn, i.e., barren rearing + Mn attenuated corticosterone increases to acute stress. Barren rearing also altered the Mn-induced changes in dopamine and norepinephrine in the neostriatum, but not in the hippocampus. Barren rearing caused a Mn-associated increase in hypothalamic dopamine at P19 and P29 not seen in standard reared Mn-treated groups. Developmental Mn alters monoamines and corticosterone as a function of age, stress (acute and chronic), and sex.
Pathophysiology of myeloma bone disease

Multiple myeloma is a tumor of terminally differentiated plasma cells that home to and expand in the bone marrow. It is the second most common hematologic malignancy, with approximately 16,000 new cases per year, and accounts for an estimated 11,000 deaths in the USA. It is the most common cancer to metastasize to bone, with up to 90% of patients developing bone lesions. The bone lesions are purely osteolytic in nature, and up to 60% of patients develop a pathologic fracture over the course of their disease. Bone disease is a hallmark of multiple myeloma, and the bone disease differs from other bone metastasis caused by other tumors. Although both myeloma and other osteolytic metastasis induce increased osteoclastic bone resorption, in contrast to other tumors, osteoblast activity in myeloma is either severely decreased or absent. The basis for this severe imbalance between increased osteoclastic bone resorption and decreased bone formation resulting from suppressed osteoblastic activity has been a topic of extensive investigation during the last several years. The clinical consequences of this extensive accelerated and imbalanced bone destruction process include bone pain, pathologic fractures, hypercalcemia and spinal cord compression syndromes, which can be devastating for patients and significantly impact overall quality of life and expected survival. In this chapter, we will discuss the pathophysiology underlying bone disease in myeloma. This results from the uncoupling of bone remodeling and is characterized by markedly increased activity of osteoclasts and profound decreased activity of osteoblasts. In addition, we also review the emerging data on novel targeted therapies aimed at ameliorating myeloma bone disease.
Restoring ecosystem health and integrity during a human population increase to ten billion

Human population growth and the improving condition of human populations in developing countries affect ecological health and integrity. Agricultural development co-opts increasing amounts of global primary production, degrading lands, and reducing species richness. The development of human populations and associated increasing demands for energy assures disposal for increasing amounts of waste, further damaging local ecosystems. Global climate change resulting from diffuse pollutants will affect even the most pristine ecosystems. The human challenge is to maintain ecological integrity and restore ecosystems in the face of accelerating development. The present level of ecosystem protection in not sufficient. Only integrated means of assessing recovery potential and acting to restore ecological productivity can assure continued availability of ecosystem services ranging from free production of food and fiber by plants and animals to final waste assimilation. Restoring ecosystems presumes that species sources are available and that adequate management is in place to monitor and manage recovery. Today, even in the most advanced societies, management is fragmented by non-integrative thinking and the failure to realize that the human scale of political decision-making and management is inappropriate to assure ecosystem restoration. Only by adopting radically new ideas integrating management and ecosystem science can ecological integrity be maintained.
Should We Tell Parents When We’ve Made an Error?

One of the most difficult experiences for any doctor or nurse is when they realize that they have made a mistake that has harmed a patient. In the past, mistakes were seldom disclosed to patients. The prevailing ethos was one of professional silence, secrecy, and shame. That has begun to change. Many professional organizations in both medicine and health law recommend full disclosure of mistakes and apologies for the harm that is caused. An atmosphere of openness and honesty leads to a culture of quality and safety. In this Ethics Rounds, we analyze the complex emotional and ethical issues that arise when doctors recognize that an error has occurred.
Oxidation of SiC‐Containing Composites

Silicon carbide in various forms is being considered as a primary high-temperature reinforcing phase in ceramic-ceramic composites. The oxidation resistance of the reinforcement phase may depend on the type of matrix phase used. Calculations of the oxidation rate constants have been made utilizing literature data on grain boundary and bulk diffusion in the matrix material. Predicted oxidation rates compare favorably with experimental observations.
Transport and reaction in evolving, disordered composites. II: Coke deposition in a catalytic pellet

Abstract We present a model for transient diffusion and reaction occurring in a single, spherical pellet undergoing deactivation by coke deposition. The assumption and limitations are similar to those of Part I. The solid morphology is assumed to be completely disordered throughout the process and is represented by a site-percolation model. The emphasis of this work is on the pore-plugging phenomenon, although the active-site poisoning is accounted for in conventional terms. We study the influence of process parameters, such as Damkohler number and selectivity, on the pore plugging process for both the parallel and series mechanisms. Special attention is paid to the effect, on the same process, of various morphological parameters such as accessible void area fraction, accessible void volume fraction, accessible intermaterial area density and the effective diffusivity factor. Some of these morphological features are critical in the modeling of catalyst deactivation under diffusion control.
Archaeology and Environment–Behavior Studies

This chapter clarifies my position vis-a-vis both the “New Archaeology” and current approaches. It briefly describes environment–behavior studies (EBS) and discusses the mutual relevance of the two fields, emphasizing the role EBS can play in archaeological inference. Examples, mainly from the post-1990s archaeological literature, are used to support the argument.
Fair Use or Not Fair Use: That Is the Electronic Reserves Question

ABSTRACT The copyright law provides libraries and faculty in educational institutions certain rights and exemptions under fair use. One of these rights is establishing reserve-reading services in support of the curriculum. While libraries have been able to provide reserve services within the confines of the law and fair use, the implementation of electronic reserves systems has raised a lot of issues for publishers and librarians. When establishing an electronic reserve service, libraries must make decisions regarding fair use, such as whether to fully maintain their rights or use a more conservative approach when ensuring copyright compliance. Decisions made by the library will determine the level of compliance for the institution and have a direct impact on the policies, procedures, and workflow required to implement an electronic reserves system.
Factors influencing shear-induced platelet alterations: platelet lysis is independent of platelet aggregation and release☆

Abstract To gain further insight into the mechanisms involved in fluid shear-induced platelet alterations, we examined conditions and factors that might affect shear-induced platelet reactions in human citrated platelet-rich plasma (C-PRP) under well-defined laminar flow conditions at shear stresses between 0 and 160 dyn/cm 2 using a Couette rotational viscometer. Prevention of excessive alkalinization of C-PRP during shear due to CO 2 loss did not appreciably affect shear-induced platelet aggregation (PAG), adenine nucleotide (AN) release or platelet lysis. Shear-induced PAG and AN release were significantly greater in C-PRP stored and sheared at 24°C as compared to C-PRP stored at 24°C or 37°C and sheared at 37°C whereas platelet lysis was not affected by temperature. When C-PRP was sheared in the presence of EDTA or EGTA, shear-induced PAG up to shear stresses of 80 dyn/cm 2 was almost completely suppressed whereas AN release and lysis were unaffected. Exposure of C-PRP to PGE 1 and theophylline before shear virtually abolished shear-induced PAG and AN release at shear stresses up to 80 dyn/cm 2 but had no demonstrable effect on shear-induced platelet lysis. These findings seem to indicate that ADP released from platelets by shear and extracellular Ca ++ or in the presence of PGE 1 and theophylline. These findings seem to indicate that the structural and biochemical changes associated with shear-induced PAG and release in our system do not predispose platelets to shear-induced lysis.
Eulerian formulation of transport equations for three-dimensional shock waves in simple elastic solids

The propagation of a three-dimensional shock wave in an elastic solid is studied. The material is assumed to be a simple elastic solid in which the Cauchy stress depends on the deformation gradient only. It is shown that the growth or decay of a discontinuity ψ depends on (i) an unknown quantity φ− behind the shock wave, (ii) the two principal curvatures of the shock surface, (iii) the gradient on the shock surface of the shock wave speeds and (iv) the inhomogeneous term which depends on the motion ahead of the shock surface and vanishes when the motion ahead of the shock surface is uniform. If a proper choice is made of the propagation vectorb along which the growth or decay of the discontinuity is measured, the dependence on item (iii) can be avoided. However,b assumes different directions depending on the choice of discontinuity ψ with which one is concerned and the unknown quantity φ− behind the shock wave on which one chooses to depend. As in the case of one-dimensional shock waves, the growth (or decay) of one discontinuity may not be accompanied by the growth (or decay) of other discontinuities. A universal equation relating the growth or decay of discontinuities in the normal stress, normal velocity and specific volume is also presented.
Viewing-time differences for film versus monitor viewing of radiographs: what eye position reveals

The goal was to determine why viewing times are generally longer for images displayed on a monitor than on film for reading radiographic images. Eye-position of six readers was recorded as they searched 27 bone images on film or a monitor. Overall viewing time was longer with the monitor. Time to first fixate a lesion after search began and true negative dwell times were significantly longer for the monitor than film. Absolute number of clusters and dwell times were greater on diagnostic image areas on the monitor than on film, suggesting that more perceptual processing was taking place. This contrasts with the finding that the readers spent a greater percentage of their overall viewing time searching diagnostic areas on film than on the monitor. Twenty percent of the clusters for monitor viewing were on the image processing menu. The information that is processed during search of images on a monitor is different than on film. Additionally, the monitor has less spatial resolution and lower brightness than does film. These factors could lead to significant differences in the ways that readers search images and distribute their attentional and perceptual resources during search, which adversely influences monitor viewing time.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
COMPARISON OF THE LIFE CYCLE OF LEPTOMONAS ONCOPELTI AND PHYTOMONAS ELMASSIANI.

SYNOPSIS. After several years of field work devoted primarily to determining the incidence of infection of the common milkweed Asclepias syriaca with the trypanosomatid Phytomonas elmassiani, the life cycle of this parasite was determined under controlled conditions. Upon ingestion of phytomonads by the bug Oncopeltus fasciatus, reproduction apparently ceases but growth of individual phytomonads continues until they assume relatively giant proportions. Ten days after ingestion, giant forms are found in the hemocoel of the bug and by 12 days similar forms are present in the salivary glands. In this latter organ, unequal fission takes place with the ultimate formation of numerous forms similar to those found in the plant. Within 2 weeks after these infected bugs had fed on milkweeds, parasites were detected in the latex of formerly non-parasitized plants. The lack of reproduction in the alimentary tract, the formation of giant forms, and the migration through the hemocoel to the salivary glands contrast markedly with the development of Leptomonas oncoptlti in the same bug. In the latter organism, budding leads to the formation of leishmaniform organisms which pass out with feces and are presumably the infective stage of the leptomonad.
Effect of Water Stress and Foliar Boron Application on Seed Protein, Oil, Fatty Acids, and Nitrogen Metabolism in Soybean

Effects of water stress and foliar boron (FB) application on soybean (Glycine max (L) Merr.) seed composition and nitrogen metabolism have not been well investigated. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of water stress and FB on seed protein, oil, fatty acids, nitrate reductase activity (NRA), and nitrogenase activity (NA). A repeated greenhouse experiment was conducted where one set of soybean plants were subjected to water stress (WS), and the other set was watered (W). Foliar boron (B) was applied at rate of 0.45 kg·ha-1. Treatments were watered-plants with no FB (W), watered-plants with FB (WB), water-stress plants with no FB (WS), and water-stress plants with FB (WSB). The results showed that seed protein and oil percentage were significantly (P 15N/ 14N and 13C/12C natural abundance were altered between watered-and watered-stressed plants. These results suggest that water stress and FB can influence seed composition, and nitrogen metabolism, and 15N/14N and 13C/12C ratios, reflecting environmental and metabolic changes in carbon and nitrogen fixation pathways. Lack of B translocation from leaves to seed under water stress may suggest a possible mechanism of limited B translocation under water stress. These findings may be beneficial to breeders to select for B translocation efficiency under drought conditions. Altered 15N/14N and 13C/12C under water stress can be used as a tool to select for drought tolerance using N and C isotopes in the breeding programs.
Light-Powered Bionanoelectronic Devices with Biologically-Tunable Performance Characteristics

Bacteriorhodopsin (bR) is a well-characterized photoactivated proton pump capable of creating a proton gradient using the energy of absorbed light. We are developing a bioelectronic platform that couples bacteriorhodopsin activity with the electronic response of a nanowire field-effect transistor. To accomplish this task we use hierarchical assembly of lipids and membrane proteins into a 1-D lipid bilayer structure covering the channel region of the transistor device. This presentation discusses the device preparation, characterization, and overall performance. In addition, we present results showing how other ion channels and ionophores, co-assembled with the protein embedded bilayer, can be used to change various performance characteristics of the device, independent of one-another. The ability to use components of the biological "toolkit" to fine-tune bioelectronic devices could have important implications for design of next generation biointerfaces.