cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Emotion dysregulation mediates the relationship between traumatic exposure and aggression in healthy young women

Research has linked trauma-sequelae, such as posttraumatic stress disorder, to aggression. However, not all who experience a trauma become violent, suggesting non-trauma factors, such as emotion dysregulation, influence aggression expression and if confirmed, may influence treatment approaches. Aggression can be considered a multifaceted construct with Impulsive Aggression (IA) as emotional, reactive, and uncontrolled and Premeditated Aggression (PA) as deliberate, planned, and instrumental. We hypothesized that parceling apart IA and PA may further refine predictors of aggression in the context of trauma exposure. We tested this hypothesis in undergraduate women (N = 208) who completed trauma, emotion, and aggression measures. Path analysis indicated that Borderline Features, including emotion dysregulation, mediated the relationship between trauma exposure and IA and PA. The finding extends clinical literature by providing evidence that emotion dysregulation influences both IA and PA in a non-clinical sample, while clinical sample research shows emotion dysregulation more specifically mediated the relationship between trauma and IA. Factors responsible for these differences are discussed.
Hormonal control of receptivity in female quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica)

Abstract The effects of time in continuous dark and dose of estradiol benzoate (EB) on copulatory behavior and reproductive morphology of female Japanese quail were studied. Fifty-four females were tested three times for copulatory behavior while housed in 16 hr light:8 hr dark. These females were then placed in continuous dark and tested weekly for 4–6 wk. Thirty of these females with inactive ovaries were injected daily with 0.1 ml oil or oil + 1 μg, 5 μg, 10 μg, or 50 μg EB, and tested on Days -1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, and 24 of treatment while housed in continuous dark. Housing in continuous dark eliminated egg laying and squatting in 90% of S s, and subsequently increased avoidance behavior. Estrogen treatment produced a dose-dependent increase in squatting, oviduct weight, and cloacal diameter. All doses of EB reduced vigorous avoidance behavior. Ten micrograms or 50 μg of EB resulted in behavior similar to the behavior of egg-laying females.
Role of cervical ultrasound in detecting thyroid pathology in primary hyperparathyroidism

Abstract Background Minimally invasive parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism is made possible with accurate preoperative imaging. In addition to the detection of parathyroid adenomas, cervical ultrasound also provides concomitant assessment of the thyroid gland, and many surgeons believe that it is essential. However, the incidental identification of thyroid nodules may then subject patients to further workup and potentially invasive thyroid procedures. We sought to determine the long-term consequence of omitting preoperative ultrasound on the development of thyroid pathology and cancer. Methods At our institution, 222 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism underwent parathyroidectomy without preoperative cervical ultrasound from 1990–2001. Thyroid pathology discovered by follow-up after parathyroidectomy, subsequent biopsy, and surgical interventions were analyzed. Results Of the 222 patients who underwent parathyroidectomy, the mean age was 55 ± 1 y and 149 were female (67%). In the course of their follow-up after parathyroidectomy, 13 patients (6%) received a cervical ultrasound, and seven of 13 (3%) underwent fine needle aspiration of a thyroid nodule. Only one of seven (0.4% of all patients) was ultimately diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Four additional patients were discovered to have thyroid malignancies as a result of intraoperative decision making. All five patients are currently alive with an average follow-up time of 14.9 ± 1.6 y. No patients in this series had an unnecessary thyroid intervention. Conclusions In patients who underwent parathyroidectomy without a preoperative ultrasound, only a small number (0.4%) were subsequently diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Furthermore, omission of ultrasound during the localization of parathyroid glands does not have a negative impact on the diagnosis of thyroid pathology as all patients who had thyroid cancer had good outcomes, and in fact, may prevent unnecessary thyroid interventions. Therefore, the use of cervical ultrasound for parathyroid localization should be considered optional rather than essential.
New Losses, New Opportunities: (Soviet) Women in the Shuttle Trade, 1987–1998

When Mikhail Gorbachev initiated economic reforms in the mid-1980s, many people in the USSR found international peddling more profitable than anything else they could do. At first, tens of thousands of Soviet citizens poured into ‘socialist’ Poland, Hungary, or China, but by the mid-1990s the trade expanded to include thirty million people and a wide range of countries and became the backbone of Russian consumer trade. Even though scholarly works have begun to acknowledge the unique role of this shuttle business in the post-Soviet Russian economy, this study analyzes the role of gender in the business based on extensive oral history fieldwork. The research demonstrates that even though the shuttle business gave women new opportunities for financial advancement, their prolonged absence from home and the specificity of this semi-legal trade also brought high rates of divorce and rising health problems for these women as well as lack of parental control for their children. These women-traders facilitated the transition to a free market economy in Russia but their shared experiences demonstrated the gap between the rhetoric of free market economy and the actual market practices of the 1990s.
The constancy of object orientation: Compensation for ocular rotation

When a thin horizontal line is displaced, either left or right of straight ahead, or when a vertical line is displaced up or down, systematic changes occur in the binocular disparity associated with the target. In threeexperiments, Ss matched the orientation of displaced targets with a variable comparison line. Estimates of apparent displacement with a pointing technique were also made. Since head position was fixed, apparent displacement was mediated by the angle of ocular rotation. Near perfect matches were made with vertical targets, but horizontal targets produced errors suggestive of underestimation of apparent displacement. However, the pointing data did not yield clear evidence for this view. Control data denien the possible role of the induced effect (IE) in matching the horizontal targets, and the result were discussed in the context of orientation constancy based upon compensation for displacement.
Lexical access in bilinguals

Spanish-English bilinguals were asked to determine whether a string of letters formed a word in their languages. Three separate conditions were used: two conditions blocked by language and a mixed-language condition. Some of the words were cognates, words with the same spelling and meaning in the two languages. There were no differences between blocked and mixed conditions; cognates were responded to with equal facility in all conditions, and there was an interaction of Cognates and Noncognates by Weak and Strong Language. These results were interpreted as supporting a direct graphemic lexical access model.
Seasonal Changes in Moisture Contents of Gymnosperm Cones

MOISTURE contents of growing plant tissues, which are usually expressed as a percentage of the oven dry weight, are influenced by variations in rates of water uptake or loss, dry weight, or both1. The relative rates of change in actual water content and dry weight often vary in different kinds of tissues and at different stages of development of a given tissue. For example, seasonal increases in the percentage moisture of buds of several species of angiosperms and gymnosperms were traceable to the rapid translocation of moisture into the buds. During the same period the buds also increased in dry weight but at a lower rate than that at which water moved into them. In contrast to the pattern in buds, the percentage moisture of angiosperm leaves decreased rapidly in the early part of the growing season and slowly after mid-summer. These decreases were traceable to the relatively greater increase in dry weight rather than to any decrease in actual water content. The seasonal trend in moisture content of gymnosperm foliage varied with age. The moisture content of needles which had grown in the current year declined seasonally, while in one-year-old needles it increased first and then showed little change. These differences in patterns of different aged needles were largely caused by changes in dry weight resulting from rapid carbohydrate translocation into the new, rapidly growing needles as well as translocation out of the older needles2.
Linguistic correlates of asymmetric motor symptom severity in Parkinson’s Disease

Asymmetric motor severity is common in Parkinson's Disease (PD) and provides a method for examining the neurobiologic mechanisms underlying cognitive and linguistic deficits associated with the disorder. In the present research, PD participants (N=31) were assessed in terms of the asymmetry of their motor symptoms. Interviews with the participants were analyzed with the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) program. Three measures of linguistic complexity - the proportion of verbs, proportion of function words, and sentence length - were found to be affected by symptom asymmetry. Greater left-side motor severity (and hence greater right-hemisphere dysfunction) was associated with the production of significantly fewer verbs, function words, and shorter sentences. Hence, the production of linguistic complexity in a natural language context was associated with relatively greater right hemisphere involvement. The potential neurobiological mechanisms underlying this effect are discussed.
Epidemiology of acute myelomonocytic leukemia in children.

Acute myelomonocytic leukemia was diagnosed in 73 children at the Children's Cancer Research Foundation and the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston, 1949–1971. Although the disorder may occur within the first year of life, no association was found with inherited disorders or with prenatal exposure to potential carcinogens. Three patients had a well-documented history of antecedent aplastic anemia, suggesting that prolonged myelodepression is an etiologic factor or precursor state in myelomonocytic leukemia. In addition, eight others appeared to have antecedent anemia, thrombocytopenia, or pancytopenia for months to years, a finding previously described in adults with myelomonocytic leukemia.
Divided Government and the Risks of Constitutional Reform

Government in the United States is deadlocked, so we are told, incapable of responding to domestic challenges or fulfilling international responsibilities. A growing number of thoughtful commentators have described American government as gridlocked, stalled, incoherent, without resolve, bankrupt, rudderless, and in trouble. Divided government is the most frequently specified cause of this predicament. Constitutional reform, dedicated to bridging the separation of powers and revitalizing American political parties, is a frequently mentioned solution. ' What is the United States to do? What can it do? A nation so firmly committed to the proposition that political institutions matter has little choice but to seriously consider the possibility of changing its political institutions. The failure of American political institutions to adapt to changing exigencies leads many a would-be reformer to commend the necessity of constitutional reform. "A government is an organism with work to do," observed Donald Robinson (1986: 40). "It must be judged according to its fitness to perform the tasks we assign it. A horse is fit to pull a carriage, but it cannot take a man to the moon." In other words, America is struggling to cope with late 20th century political and policy problems with antiquated, 18th century institutions. Given Robinson's analogy, we might say the Constitution has remained a horse, when what America needs is a rocket. The Constitution, so the reformers would have us believe, is at best outmoded and at worst irrelevant to most of the big problems we face as a nation (see Miller, 1978: 744). Even if accurate, the divided government critique of American politics is hardly unique. It has been made before, perhaps with the greatest authority and rigor by James Bryce in 1889. In The American Commonwealth, Bryce (1889: 293-95) provided the following assessment of interbranch relations (edited for brevity):
Matrix elements for the 1d32-1f72 interaction and the 37Cl(d, p)38Cl and 39K(d, p)40K reactions☆

Abstract Differential cross sections have been measured for the 37 Cl(d, p) 38 Cl and the 39 K(d, p) 40 K reaction at 12 MeV using a magnetic spectrograph. Spectroscopic factors were obtained for states in 38 Cl and 40 K. In addition, two-body matrix elements were obtained for 38 Cl and 40 K and compared to the two-body matrix elements found from 34 Cl and 34 S. The matrix elements obtained from 38 Cl and 40 K are now in good agreement with the 34 Cl and 34 S results but the resulting Pandya transformation between 38 Cl and 40 K is now satisfied less well.
Physician Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behavior Related to Reporting Adverse Drug Events

• Voluntary physician reporting of adverse drug events (ADEs) in their patients remains the single most important source of information on serious and rare ADEs. Yet, substantial underreporting exists and the factors producing it are unclear. We surveyed 3000 randomly chosen physicians by mailed questionnaire to determine their knowledge about the reporting system, attitudes toward reporting, and their past behavior in reporting the ADEs they had detected. Responses numbered 1121. Only 57% were aware of the Food and Drug Administration's reporting system. While 418 physicians had detected an ADE in their practices during the previous year, only 21 physicians reported these events directly to the Food and Drug Administration. The physicians appear to appreciate the safety issues involved in prescription drug use and view reporting as a professional obligation; however, the current reporting system is considered inconvenient. ( Arch Intern Med 1988;148:1596-1600)
Pathways to Interleukin-6 in Healthy Males and Serious Leisure Male Athletes: Physical Activity, Body Composition and Age

Physical activity (PA) is beneficial to overall health, in part due to physiological changes that lower risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including reduced inflammation. However, the mechanism by which PA reduces inflammation is unclear. One possible pathway is that PA improves body composition which in turn reduces inflammation. To test this hypothesis, we used structural equation modeling (SEM) to assess PA-body composition –inflammation pathways, as well as influences of age. In a sample of 72 healthy males with a range of PA profiles (age 18–65, mean ±sd = ), we measured PA as metabolic equivalent tasks (as per the International PA Questionnaire), body composition as percent body fat, lean mass, and fat mass, and inflammation as plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6). We treated body composition in the SEM analysis as a latent variable indicated by the three measures. We performed statistical corrections for missing values and one outlier. The model demonstrated significant effects of PA on IL-6 both directly and through body composition. Percent body fat, fat mass, and lean mass were significant indicators of the body composition latent variable. Additionally, age showed an indirect effect on IL-6 through body composition, but no direct effect. The findings suggest that PA does improve inflammatory profile through improving body composition, but that other pathways also exist.
7.1.2 Architecting as a Means of Bounding Risk in the Future

Traditional architecture development efforts have deferred most risk considerations until after the functional architecture has been established and the imbedded concepts are being turned into operational solutions. This paper discusses a framework that moves Risk Management “upstream” and integrates it into the architecture development process. Including risk management at the architectural development stage provides early insight into the delicate balancing act between the benefits anticipated vs. risks incurred in selecting (or not selecting) features of candidate architectures to address stakeholder needs driving the scope and context of the architectural choices. Thus, application of risk management during architectural development provides a proper balance between risk and opportunity, avoids potential unacceptable risks where appropriate, and takes a proactive and well-planned role in anticipating and responding to risks prior to implementation.
Estimating vertical velocity and radial flow from Doppler radar observations of tropical cyclones

The mesoscale vorticity method (MVM) is used in conjunction with the ground-based velocity track display (GBVTD) to derive the inner-core vertical velocity from Doppler radar observations of tropical cyclone (TC) Danny (1997). MVM derives the vertical velocity from vorticity variations in space and in time based on the mesoscale vorticity equation. The use of MVM and GBVTD allows us to derive good correlations among the eye-wall maximum wind, bow-shaped updraught and echo east of the eye-wall in Danny. Furthermore, we demonstrate the dynamically consistent radial flow can be derived from the vertical velocity obtained from MVM using the wind decomposition technique that solves the Poisson equations over a limited-area domain. With the wind decomposition, we combine the rotational wind which is obtained from Doppler radar wind observations and the divergent wind which is inferred dynamically from the rotational wind to form the balanced horizontal wind in TC inner cores, where rotational wind dominates the divergent wind. In this study, we show a realistic horizontal and vertical structure of the vertical velocity and the induced radial flow in Danny's inner core. In the horizontal, the main eye-wall updraught draws in significant surrounding air, converging at the strongest echo where the maximum updraught is located. In the vertical, the main updraught tilts vertically outwards, corresponding very well with the outward-tilting eye-wall. The maximum updraught is located at the inner edge of the eye-wall clouds, while downward motions are found at the outer edge. This study demonstrates that the mesoscale vorticity method can use high-temporal-resolution data observed by Doppler radars to derive realistic vertical velocity and the radial flow of TCs. The vorticity temporal variations crucial to the accuracy of the vorticity method have to be derived from a high-temporal-frequency observing system such as state-of-the-art Doppler radars. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society
Stump sprout dynamics in response to reductions in stand density for nine upland hardwood species in the southern Appalachian Mountains

Abstract Much about stump sprout dynamics of upland hardwood trees species has been obtained in clearcuts. Information on the response of stump sprouts to alternative silvicultural treatments, including treatments that manipulate stand density and stand structure is lacking. In this study we examined the influence of harvest season and levels of basal area reduction on the probability of sprouting and subsequent sprout growth in the southern Appalachian Mountains. In 2009, 24 – 0.1 ha plots were established in fully-stocked mixed-hardwood forests near Asheville, North Carolina, USA. Basal area was mechanically reduced from below by 10%, 20%, 30%, or 40% between January and February, 2009 (dormant season) and again between July and August, 2010 (growing season), with each harvest season and level of basal area reduction combination randomly applied to three plots. For each stump, we recorded: (1) presence of live sprouts (yes/no); (2) height (m) of the dominant (i.e., tallest) sprout, and (3) area (m2) occupied by individual sprout clumps. All measurements were conducted one, two, and three years post-harvest. We used logistic regression and ANOVA to analyze the probability that a stump sprouts one year post-harvest and annual stump survival (i.e., the presence of at least one live sprout), sprout height, and area. Probability of sprouting was independent of dbh for red maple, dogwood, sourwood, hickory spp., chestnut oak, yellow-poplar, and sweet birch. For sweet birch the probability of sprouting was affected by harvest season, with 54% and 93% of stumps producing sprouts one year following growing and dormant season harvests, respectively. For blackgum and white oak, dbh was negatively correlated with the probability of sprouting. Stump survival varied by species and year. Third year stump survival was 38% lower for oak and hickory than sourwood and 32% lower than red maple. Dominant sprout height was significantly greater for red maple and sourwood than for oak and hickory, with the greatest height achieved under the 40% reduction in basal area treatment. By year three, dominant sprout height for both red maple and sourwood was 40% greater than for oak and hickory and 58% greater than other shade-tolerant midstory species. Our results suggest planning harvests to occur during a particular point in the year with the idea it will limit sprouting and subsequent sprout growth is ineffective and should not be considered a viable means of reducing the production or growth of stump sprouts.
Potential effects of herbal medicinals on perioperative care

T HIS REVIEW summarizes many of the potential adverse effects and interactions of herbal medicinals, as garnered from major texts, reviews, web sites, and articles. The effects of more common medicinals are summarized in this article and in Table 1. A more complete listing of medicinals with potential perioperative impact is provided in Table 2. A listing of some of the many alternative names is provided in Table 3.
Design of a polarized head-mounted projection display using FLCOS microdisplays

Head-mounted projection display (HMPD) technology, as an alternative to conventional head mounted displays (HMD), offers the potential of designing wide field-of-view (FOV) optical see-through HMDs. Due to multiple passes through a beamsplitter, however, existing HMPD designs suffer from low luminance efficiency and thus the displayed image is lack of brightness and contrast. The design of a polarized head-mounted projection display (p-HMPD) was recently proposed. The major departure of a p-HMPD design from other existing HMPD systems is the usage of polarization management to minimize light loss through beamsplitting. A p-HMPD consists of a pair of projections lenses, microdisplays, polarization control elements, and retroreflective sheeting material as a projection screen. In this paper, we explore the usage of a ferroelectric liquid-crystal-on-silicon (FLCOS) microdisplay as the image source and present a compact design of an illumination unit with double telecentric optics to achieve highly bright and uniform illumination on the FLCOS microdisplay. The key contribution of this design lies in the compactness which is a critical factor in HMD systems. The first-order optics and the transformation of polarization in the design will be described in detail. The simulation of the illumination unit will be shown and its luminous efficiency and uniformity will be discussed. Based on this illumination engine, we will further describe the design of a compact projection lens and discuss the overall performance of the optics.
Partial characterization of urine protein with insulin-like activity.

SummaryThe insulin-like activity found in urine protein from obese subjects during fasting was characterized by benzoic acid precipitate and Sephadex column chromatography. The major portion of the urine insulin-like activity was found in a single protein peak which was homogeneous by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and its electrophoretic mobility was identical to human serum albumin. This active fraction was significantly neutralized by rabbit antiserum to human serum albumin. These results suggest that the insulin-like activity in urine of obese subjects is more closely associated with albumin than with unmodified insulin.
Male search behavior of the stonefly,Pteronarcella badia (hagen) (Plecoptera: Pteronarcyidae), in relation to drumming

The mating system of many northern hemisphere stoneflies involves vibrational duetting, yet searching behavior in relation to the percussive communication has remained unreported. The communication-search system of a Colorado population of the ubiquitous western stonefly Pteronarcella badiain an experimental arena entails (1) a ranging search by calling virgin or polygynous males until duet establishment with virgin females, (2) continued intermittent duetting while the male engages in a local search and the female remains stationary, and (3) a tactile-based find of the female, followed by immediate mounting and mating. The average 234-s find time for pairs engaging in strong, continuous duets was significantly shorter than those for nonduetting or anomalously duetting pairs. Males of strongly duetting pairs made significantly more turns toward the female during search than in anomalously duetting pairs, and their local search pattern appears to be a triangulation aided by resource-specific (female) vibrational cues. Males displayed a wide range of fitness, based on searching time, and an increased number of duets significantly reduced finding time. Potential female selection and possible extrapolation of these experimental results to natural field conditions are discussed.
Relative Deprivation and Perception of Financial Adequacy among the Aged.

This paper presents a conceptual framework that incorporates the notion of relative deprivation to explain the perceived financial adequacy among the elderly. The model not only provides a more heuristic interpretation of older people's financial satisfaction but also further clarifies the role of actual income. The relative deprivation model was evaluated by using data from the General Social Survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Ctr. from 1972 through 1977. The findings support the predictions derived from the model and were replicated with high consistency across these six data sets. According to the findings, financial satisfaction is directly related to relative deprivation while income only indirectly affects one's sense of financial well-being. Social status, income, and labor force participation have been demonstrated to be either directly or indirectly related to feelings of deprivation.
Systematics of light deformed nuclei in relativistic mean-field models.

Ground-state properties of even-even nuclei in the s-d shell are calculated using relativistic mean-field models of baryon-meson dynamics that include scalar meson self couplings. Axial symmetry is assumed. The systematics of intrinsic quadrupole moments are studied for a variety of parameter sets that are fitted to the same nuclear matter saturation properties. The size of the moment is strongly correlated with the nucleon effective mass M/sup */ and the spin-orbit strength, but is only weakly affected by the compressibility or the surface energy. If parameter sets with accurate spin-orbit strengths are used, the trends for s-d nuclei reproduce experimental systematics and are quantitatively similar to those obtained in nonrelativistic Skyrme-Hartree-Fock calculations. The implications for quantum hadrodynamics in the mean-field (Hartree) and one-loop approximations are discussed.
Quadratic mappings of spheres

Abstract In this paper we obtain a basis-free method for determining the general form of quadratic maps over R between spheres. We show that all quadratic maps (over certain R -lattices) between spheres are Hopf maps, and that the classical Hopf fibrations, S 2 m −1 → S m , for m =2, 4, 8, are the unique nontrivial maps over Z , up to action by the orthogonal group.
Diversity of muscle fibers in the abdominal dorsal superficial muscles of the hermit crab,Pagurus pollicarus

The dorsal superficial abdominal muscles of the hermit crab,Pagurus pollicarus, are divided into three subregions of muscle fibers with different properties: a lateral group of tonic muscle fibers and two groups of medial muscle fibers, a superficial layer with intermediate properties and a central layer of twitch fibers. Fast muscles like those in the central medial region are not found in homologous muscles of crayfish and lobster. The number of muscle fibers (74) is the same on the two sides, but there is a tendency for there to be larger fibers on the left side. Length-tension measurements in these muscles resemble results obtained from other crustacean muscles despite their modification as part of a hydrostatic skeletal system. It is concluded that muscle fibers in homologous muscles of different species may vary in their contractile properties, the degree of their segregation into discrete sub-regions, laterality, and number.
Study of Impact of Access Resistance on High-Frequency Performance of AlGaN/GaN HEMTs by Measurements at Low Temperatures

This letter studies the effect of access resistance on the high-frequency performance of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors. To systematically reduce the sheet access resistance, the transistors were measured at different temperatures. The increase of mobility at lower temperatures allowed more than four-fold reduction in the sheet access resistances. Both the current- and power-gain cutoff frequencies are observed to increase at low temperatures. Also, the intrinsic effective velocity has been estimated in these devices, as well as the parasitic delays involved in the final performance. Channel charging delay, which was expected to be most sensitive to parasitics, is observed to decrease at low temperatures. However, the drain delay, intrinsic delay, and effective electron velocity remain unaffected by temperature
Aero-optical interactions along laser beam propagation paths in compressible turbulence

Aero-optical interactions along laser beam propagation paths in turbulent compressible separated shear layers are examined on the basis of experiments on direct imaging of the refractive-index field. Imaging of the index-of-refraction field is performed using digital photography techniques with laser-induced fluorescence. A pulsed ultraviolet laser sheet is directed through the shear layer to generate the fluorescence by exciting acetone vapor molecularly mixed with air in the freestream, resulting in light in the visible spectrum that is recorded with a high-resolution digital camera system. We introduce the idea of the interaction optical path difference and its associated rms value (IOPD rms ), and we investigate these quantities as functions of propagation distance along the laser beam direction as well as functions of the laser aperture size. Evidence of nonmonotonic behavior of the IOPD rms as a function of propagation distance in the flow is observed for individual realizations. The relative magnitude of this nonmonotonic behavior depends on the laser aperture size in relation to the large scales of the flow. These observations of nonmonotonic behavior suggest the presence of a turbulence-induced mechanism for partial reductions in the beam aberrations, which is related to physical and geometrical properties of high-gradient refractive-index turbulent interfaces.
Short-pulse fiber lasers for Raman microscopies

Recent developments in femtosecond and picosecond fiber sources for application to coherent Raman microscopies are reviewed.
Lie algebras with few centralizer dimensions

Abstract It is known that a finite group with just two different sizes of conjugacy classes must be nilpotent and it has recently been shown that its nilpotence class is at most 3. In this paper we study the analogs of these results for Lie algebras and some related questions.
Regional Distribution of Wave- and Fluvial-Dominated Deltaic Deposits of Olmos Formation (Upper Cretaceous) in Maverick Basin, Southwest Texas: ABSTRACT

Regional subsurface analysis in southwest Texas indicates that the Olmos Formation (Gulfian) was deposited by a complex of wave- and fluvial-dominated delta systems in two depocenters. Sediment influx was from the north and northwest. Five deltaic subunits, A through E, were deposited in the western depocenter. Three other deltaic wedges (F, G, H) formed the second depocenter farther east in present-day Frio and LaSalle Counties. Subsidence was greater in the western half of the Maverick basin where thickest (1,300 ft; 395 m) deltaic sediments were deposited. Lower Olmos strata represent a succession from wave-reworked, strike-elongate deltas of subunit A, similar to those of the underlying San Miguel Formation, to fluvial-dominated, dip-elongate deltas of subunits B and . Extensive (1,200 mi2 or 3,100 km2 in Texas) aggradational floodplain deposits of B and C are characterized by diverse electric-log patterns; variation in log character is a response to complex depositional facies on the delta platform. Downdip, toward the Cretaceous shelf edge, delta-plain facies merge with upward-coarsening delta-front sandstones. Uppermost subunits D and E were deposited by a prograding barrier-island system in an interdeltaic embayment marginal to high constructive deltas of the eastern depocenter. Lagoonal and fluvial-channel deposits are recognized from cores. Eastward migration of deposition was accompanied by an abrupt change of depositional style in the western depocenter from deltaic to coastal-interdeltaic. End_of_Article - Last_Page 448------------
Consolidative radiation therapy for extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.

Abstract: Despite the use of systemic therapy and prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI), outcomes for patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC) remain poor. Consolidative radiation therapy (RT) to the chest may improve outcomes by improving local control. In a recently completed multi-institutional phase III clinical trial, investigators randomized patients with ES-SCLC and response to chemotherapy to PCI with or without consolidative RT. Two-year overall survival (OS) and 6-month progression-free survival (PFS) were improved with the use of consolidative RT; however, the prognosis for ES-SCLC in the experimental arm was still poor and there was no statistically significantly difference in 1-year OS, the trial’s primary endpoint. In this editorial, the results of this trial are discussed and the methods are compared to those used in other trials of consolidative RT in ES-SCLC. More research is needed to identify the optimal RT dose and fractionation and to clarify the role of consolidative RT in ES-SCLC.
Combination conformal radiotherapy and radioimmunoguided transperineal 103Pd implantation for patients with intermediate and unfavorable risk prostate adenocarcinoma

Abstract Purpose To report outcomes for prostate cancer patients treated with external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) and permanent prostate brachytherapy utilizing radioimmunoguided targeting of biological tumor volumes (BTVs). Methods and materials Between February 1997 and October 2001, 66 patients with intermediate- to high-risk prostate cancer underwent EBRT and ProstaScint®-guided transperineal brachytherapy. Thirty patients received neoadjuvant hormonal manipulation, while 36 patients did not. Median patient age was 66 years (range, 49–78 years). The median follow-up was 41 months (range, 24–78 months). No patients were lost to follow-up. Risk factors (RF) used for risk stratification included PSA >10 ng/ml (35 patients), Stage T2b or greater (22 patients), and Gleason score ⩾7 (55 patients). Results for biochemical disease free survival (bDFS) were reported using the ASTRO consensus definition for biochemical failure, PSA ⩽1.0 ng/mL or PSA ⩽0.5 ng/mL. Survival was estimated by the Kaplan–Meier method. Results Five-year overall survival was 93.1% and 5-year bDFS by the ASTRO definition was 89.3% with a median follow up of 41 months. Patients with intermediate- (1 RF) and high-risk (2–3 RF) prostate cancer exhibited 5-year ASTRO-defined bDFS of 100% and 81.9%, respectively. There was no significant difference in bDFS between the patients treated with or without hormone therapy (HT). The 5-year ASTRO-defined bDFS was 89.8% for the 30 patients treated with HT and 88.9% for the 36 patients who did not receive HT (p = 0.843). For the patients without HT the median PSA nadir was 0.11 ng/mL. The median time to nadir was 23 months (range, 6–66 months). Conclusions With limited follow-up, the results of EBRT plus radioimmunoguided brachytherapy for intermediate- to high-risk prostate cancer appear favorable. The addition of HT did not appear to affect bDFS significantly, but interpretation is confounded by possible selection bias and the limited power of this study.
Information Transmission in Finance

Because theories in finance rely critically on what agents know, designing powerful tests of these theories requires measuring information transmission. In this review, I characterize the rapidly growing subfield directly analyzing information in financial markets. Its three hallmarks are the examination of (a) a wide array of informative events, (b) different mechanisms for transmitting information, and (c) measures of information content based on nonnumeric information. Recent research directly measures flows of information to shed light on diverse phenomena in asset pricing, such as market reactions to news and nonnews, investors’ portfolio choices, and mutual fund flows and returns, and in corporate finance, such as mergers and acquisitions, initial public offering (IPO) underpricing, and executive compensation. Continued improvements in access to data and computing power are likely to propel this line of research for years to come.
An electric field sensor utilizing a piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVF 2 ) film in a single-mode fiber interferometer

A polyvinylidene fluoride (PVF 2 ) phase shifter is characterized in terms of amplitude response linearity, frequency response uniformity, and ultimate sensitivity to electric field. Phase-drift compensation with this PVF 2 device is demonstrated in a Mach-Zehnder fiber interferometer. The compensator can be operated at the \pi/2 -phase mode for maximum sensitivity in detection applications, or the π-phase mode for maximum frequency mixing efficiency.
The Hanson Formation: a new stratigraphical unit in the Transantarctic Mountains, Antarctica

The stratigraphy of the upper part of the Upper Palaeozoic–Lower Mesozoic Victoria Group in the central Transantarctic Mountains is reviewed. Marked lithologic contrasts exist in the Falla Formation between the lower volcanic-poor part and the upper volcaniclastic part. The name Falla Formation is here restricted to the lower volcanic-poor part of the sequence making it the youngest formation in the Victoria Group. The upper volcaniclastic part, a tuffaceous sequence, is named the Hanson Formation.
On the Throughput of Secure Hybrid-ARQ Protocols for Gaussian Block-Fading Channels

The focus of this paper is an information-theoretic study of retransmission protocols for reliable packet communication under a secrecy constraint. The hybrid automatic retransmission request (HARQ) protocol is revisited for a block-fading wiretap channel. Here, two legitimate users communicate over a block-fading channel in the presence of a passive eavesdropper who intercepts the transmissions through an independent block-fading channel. In this model, the transmitter obtains a 1-bit ACK/NACK feedback from the legitimate receiver via an error-free public channel. Both reliability and confidentiality of secure HARQ protocols are studied through the joint consideration of channel coding, secrecy coding, and retransmission protocols. In particular, the error and secrecy performance of repetition time diversity (RTD) and incremental redundancy (INR) protocols are investigated based on Wyner code sequences. These protocols ensure that the confidential message is decoded successfully by the legitimate receiver and is kept completely secret from the eavesdropper for a set of channel realizations. This paper illustrates that there exists a rate-compatible Wyner code family which ensures a secure INR protocol. Further, it defines the connection outage and secrecy outage probabilities to characterize the tradeoff between the reliability of the legitimate communication link and the confidentiality with respect to the eavesdropper's link. For a given connection/secrecy outage probability pair, an achievable throughput of secure HARQ protocols is derived for block-fading channels. Finally, both asymptotic analysis and numerical calculations demonstrate the benefits of HARQ protocols to throughput and secrecy.
Potentials of Organic Agriculture in Nepal

Increasing use of agro-chemicals, higher production cost and deteriorating ecosystem health have advocated the need to change traditional and external input use agriculture towards safe and sustainable organic production. Current research focuses on the constraints and opportunities of organic agriculture and consumers' awareness and willingness to pay more for organic vegetables by selecting producers from Lalitpur and Bhaktpur districts using spatial sampling and consumers from Kathmandu valley randomly. Data obtained from structured questionnaire were subjected to descriptive and econometric analysis and willingness to pay analysis. Most of the farmers interviewed are aware about the negative repercussion of the indiscriminate use of agro-chemicals. Organic vegetables are either home delivered and/or sold to the specialized niche markets. All domestic organic products reach to consumers without labeling. Most of the organic consumers are willing to pay eight rupees more for labeled organic vegetables. Currently organic farmers rely only on consumers' willingness to pay more to obtain a compensation for lower yields. Family income, education, profession etc are key attributes of the consumers shaping their decision to buy organic vegetables. Organic industry is too small and a long way to go in Nepal. Political commitments such as avoiding conflicting drive to maximize production, hammering proactive policy, initiating organic technology research, providing market incentives and institutionalization of Nepalese organic movement are imperative to further enhance organic sector in Nepal. Key words: Awareness; Consumers; Marketing; Organic vegetables; Regression; Willingness to pay The Journal of Agriculture and Environment Vol:10, Jun.2009 Page: 14
Efficient top-k algorithms for fuzzy search in string collections

An approximate search query on a collection of strings finds those strings in the collection that are similar to a given query string, where similarity is defined using a given similarity function such as Jaccard, cosine, and edit distance. Answering approximate queries efficiently is important in many applications such as search engines, data cleaning, query relaxation, and spell checking, where inconsistencies and errors exist in user queries as well as data. In this paper, we study the problem of efficiently computing the best answers to an approximate string query, where the quality of a string is based on both its importance and its similarity to the query string. We first develop a progressive algorithm that answers a ranking query by using the results of several approximate range queries, leveraging existing search techniques. We then develop efficient algorithms for answering ranking queries using indexing structures of gram-based inverted lists. We answer a ranking query by traversing the inverted lists, pruning and skipping irrelevant string ids, iteratively increasing the pruning and skipping power, and doing early termination. We have conducted extensive experiments on real datasets to evaluate the proposed algorithms and report our findings.
Renin in Rats with Spontaneous Hypertension

An age-dependent study of plasma renin activity (PRA), kidney renin activity (KRA), and plasma renin substrate was carried out in rats with spontaneous hypertension during the prehypertensive, the early hypertensive, and the established hypertensive phases of their disease. PRA and KRA were both significantly elevated before and during the initial phase of hypertension and normal or subnormal during the established phase. In normal controls, neither KRA nor PRA was significantly different during the entire growth period. Plasma renin substrate was elevated throughout the growth period in rats with hypertension. This relationship between renin and blood pressure suggests that renin may play a primary role, possibly along with other factors, in the initiation of hypertension in rats with spontaneous hypertension.
Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Variant III Contributes to Cancer Stem Cell Phenotypes in Invasive Breast Carcinoma

EGFRvIII is a tumor-specific variant of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Although EGFRvIII is most commonly found in glioblastoma, its expression in other tumor types remains controversial. In this study, we investigated EGFRvIII expression and amplification in primary breast carcinoma. Our analyses confirmed the presence of EGFRvIII, but in the absence of amplification or rearrangement of the EGFR locus. Nested reverse transcriptase PCR and flow cytometry were used to detect a higher percentage of positive cases. EGFRvIII-positive cells showed increased expression of genes associated with self-renewal and epithelial-mesenchymal transition along with a higher percentage of stem-like cells. EGFRvIII also increased in vitro sphere formation and in vivo tumor formation. Mechanistically, EGFRvIII mediated its effects through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, leading to increased β-catenin target gene expression. Inhibition of this pathway reversed the observed effects on cancer stem cell (CSC) phenotypes. Together, our findings show that EGFRvIII is expressed in primary breast tumors and contributes to CSC phenotypes in breast cancer cell lines through the Wnt pathway. These data suggest a novel function for EGFRvIII in breast tumorigenesis.
Trellis coding with multidimensional QAM signal sets

Trellis coding using multidimensional quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal sets is investigated. Finite-size 2D signal sets are presented that have minimum average energy, are 90 degrees rotationally symmetric, and have from 16 to 1024 points. The best trellis codes using the finite 16-QAM signal set with two, four, six, and eight dimensions are found by computer search (the multidimensional (multi-D) signal set is constructed from the 2-D signal set). The best moderate complexity trellis codes for infinite lattices with two, four six, and eight dimensions are also found. The minimum free squared Euclidean distance and number of nearest neighbors for these codes were used as the selection criteria. Many of the multi-D codes are fully rotationally invariant and give asymptotic coding gains up to 6.0 dB. From the infinite lattice codes, the best codes for transmitting J, J+1/4, J+1/3, J+1/2, J+2/3, and J+3/4 b/sym (J an integer) are presented. >
The etiology of psychopathy: A neuropsychological perspective

While there is no universally accepted cause of psychopathy, there are basic biological patterns in brain dysfunction observed in individuals who display psychopathic tendencies. These individuals show significant impairment in specific regions of the brain, particularly the orbital frontal cortex (OFC). Such abnormalities exist in brain areas most involved in impulse control and behavior inhibition. There are also significant environmental factors that the majority of these individuals have in common. For example, a strong correlation exists between attachment disorder and anti-social personality disorder (ASPD). Finally, the differences between ASPD, psychopathy, and sociopathy are considered. While these terms are often used interchangeably, there are clear differences between these psychopathologies.