cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Weather Warning Uncertainty: High Severity Influences Judgment Bias

AbstractInformation about hurricanes changes as the storm approaches land. Additionally, people tend to think that severe events are more likely to occur even if the probability of that event occurring is the same as a less severe event. Thus, holding probability constant, this research tested the influence of severity on storm judgments in the context of updates about the approaching storm’s severity. In two studies, participants watched one of four (experiment 1) or one of five (experiment 2) sequences of updating hurricane warnings. The position of category 1 and category 5 hurricane warnings in the sequences varied (e.g., category 1 first and category 5 last, or category 5 first and category 1 last). After the videos, participants made judgments about the approaching storm. In experiment 1, participants generally overestimated the threat of the storm if they saw a category 5 hurricane warning in any position. Experiment 2, designed to test whether experiment 1 results were due to a contrast effect, re...
Novel Annonaceous acetogenins from Graviola ( Annona muricata) fruits with strong anti-proliferative activity

Five bioactive Annonaceous acetogenins, including three new compounds, annonamuricins A (1), B (2), and C (3), one registered but no spectral data reported compounds, annonamuricin D (4), and one known compound annonacin (5) were isolated from Graviola fruit (Annona muricata) and further determined through bioassay-guided fractionation. All five compounds are C35 Anonnonaceous acetogenins with a mono-tetrahydrofuran ring and four hydroxyls. Their structures were elucidated using spectral methods as well as chemical modification after isolation via chromatographic techniques and HPLC purification. These acetogenins demonstrated potent anti-proliferative activities against human prostate cancer PC-3 cells.
Burning mouth syndrome: results of screening tests for vitamin and mineral deficiencies, thyroid hormone, and glucose levels-experience at Mayo Clinic over a decade.

Background Burning mouth syndrome (BMS) is a disorder characterized by chronic mouth pain in the absence of objective clinical abnormalities. Vitamin or mineral deficiencies may have a role in BMS, but data regarding the prevalence and relevance of hematinic deficiencies are conflicting. We aimed to determine the frequency of specific laboratory abnormalities in patients with BMS. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the results of screening blood tests in patients with BMS at our institution between January 2003 and December 2013. Results Among 659 patients with BMS, the most common decreased values or deficiencies were vitamin D3 (15%), vitamin B2 (15%), vitamin B6 (5.7%), zinc (5.7%), vitamin B1 (5.3%), thyrotropin (TSH) (3.2%), vitamin B12 (0.8%), and folic acid (0.7%). Laboratory values for fasting blood glucose and TSH were increased in 23.7% and 5.2%, respectively. Conclusions In patients with symptoms of BMS, our results suggest it is reasonable to screen for fasting blood glucose, vitamin D (D2 and D3), vitamin B6, zinc, vitamin B1, and TSH. Deficiencies of vitamin B12 and folic acid were rare (<1% abnormal).
Lack of negative autocorrelations of daily food intake on successive days challenges the concept of the regulation of body weight in humans.

Abstract According to most theories, the amount of food consumed on one day should be negatively related to intake on subsequent days. Several studies have observed such a negative correlation between the amount consumed on one day and the amount consumed two to four days later. The present study attempted to replicate this observation by re-examining data from a previous study where all food ingested over a 30-day observation period was measured. Nine male and seven female participants received a vegan diet prepared, dispensed, and measured in a metabolic unit. Autocorrelations were performed on total food intake consume on one day and that consumed one to five days later. A significant positive correlation was detected between the weight of food eaten on one day and on the amount consumed on the following day (r = 0.29, 95% CI [0.37, 0.20]). No correlation was found between weights of food consumed on one day and up to twelve days later (r = 0.09, 95% CI [0.24, −0.06]), (r = 0.11, 95% CI [0.26, −0.0.26]) (r = 0.02, 95% CI [0.15, −0.7]) (r = −0.08, 95% CI [0.11, −0.09]). The same positive correlation with the previous day's intake was observed at the succeeding breakfast but not at either lunch or dinner. However, the participants underestimated their daily energy need resulting in a small, but statistically significant weight loss. Daily food intake increased slightly (13 g/day), but significantly, across the 30-day period. An analysis of the previous studies revealed that the negative correlations observed by others was caused by a statistical artifact resulting from normalizing data before testing for the correlations. These results, when combined with the published literature, indicate that there is little evidence that humans precisely compensate for the previous day's intake by altering the amount consumed on subsequent days. Moreover, the small but persistent increase in food intake suggests that physiological mechanisms that affect food intake operate more subtly and over much longer periods of time than the meal or even total daily intake.
Distributed Neural Processing Predictors of Multi-dimensional Properties of Affect

Recent evidence suggests that emotions have a distributed neural representation, which has significant implications for our understanding of the mechanisms underlying emotion regulation and dysregulation as well as the potential targets available for neuromodulation-based emotion therapeutics. This work adds to this evidence by testing the distribution of neural representations underlying the affective dimensions of valence and arousal using representational models that vary in both the degree and the nature of their distribution. We used multi-voxel pattern classification (MVPC) to identify whole-brain patterns of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-derived neural activations that reliably predicted dimensional properties of affect (valence and arousal) for visual stimuli viewed by a normative sample (n=32) of demographically diverse, healthy adults. Inter-subject leave-one-out cross-validation showed whole-brain MVPC significantly predicted (p<0.001) binarized normative ratings of valence (positive vs. negative, 59% accuracy) and arousal (high vs. low, 56% accuracy). We also conducted group-level univariate general linear modeling (GLM) analyses to identify brain regions whose response significantly differed for the contrasts of positive versus negative valence or high versus low arousal. Multivoxel pattern classifiers using voxels drawn from all identified regions of interest (all-ROIs) exhibited mixed performance; arousal was predicted significantly better than chance but worse than the whole-brain classifier, whereas valence was not predicted significantly better than chance. Multivoxel classifiers derived using individual ROIs generally performed no better than chance, and stepwise removal of single ROIs from the all-ROI classifier did not significantly diminish classification performance. Although performance of the all-ROI classifier improved with larger ROIs (generated by relaxing the clustering threshold), performance was still poorer than the whole-brain classifier. These findings support a highly distributed model of neural processing for the affective dimensions of valence and arousal. Finally, joint error analyses of the MVPC hyperplanes encoding valence and arousal identified regions within the dimensional affect space where multivoxel classifiers exhibited the greatest difficulty encoding brain states – specifically, stimuli of moderate arousal and high or low valence. In conclusion, we highlight new directions for characterizing affective processing for mechanistic and therapeutic applications in affective neuroscience.
A roadmap toward airport demand and capacity management

Abstract This paper synthesizes the major interventions available to manage airport demand and capacity, the analytical tools that may support the underlying policy, managerial and operational decisions, and guidelines for policy and practice obtained from recent research. The resulting insights fall into three broad categories. First, airport throughput exhibits significant variability, and airport capacity depends on the available infrastructure and operating procedures. Second, airport on-time performance is highly non-linear, and thus sensitive to variations in demand and capacity. Third, airport demand management involves a trade-off between mitigating congestion and maximizing capacity utilization, and scheduling mechanisms can support and enhance existing practices. The implications for the development and management of airport systems worldwide are discussed.
Coercive diplomacy and the Donbas: Explaining Russian strategy in Eastern Ukraine

What were Russia’s objectives in Eastern Ukraine, and why was it seemingly unable to achieve a successful or decisive outcome? In contrast to Russia’s seizure of Crimea, the uprising in Eastern Ukr...
Opioid Prescription Rates And Child Removals: Evidence From Florida.

A critical aspect of the opioid epidemic is its effect on the ability of opioid-dependent parents to care for their children. In this article we investigate the association between the rate of removals of children from their homes and the opioid prescription rate in Florida counties during 2012–15. We performed a panel data analysis of opioid prescriptions that also controlled for the prescription rates of benzodiazepines and stimulants and for other risk factors for child removal. We found that a one-standard-deviation increase in the opioid prescription rate was associated with a 32 percent increase in the removal rate for parental neglect. When we obtained subset samples by percentage of white residents, the estimated relationships were approximately twice as large in the counties with the highest concentration of whites than in the counties with the lowest. Policy makers should consider the opioid epidemic’s effects on child welfare when determining the appropriate public health response.
Origin, Evolution, Domestication, and Improvement of Vegetables

As recently as the mid-1800s relatively little was known about the origin of our important economic crops. For many scientists at that time, their origin was thought to be an “impenetrable secret.” Alphonse de Candolle’s classic work, Origin of Cultivated Plants, published in 1886 and more recent studies of the Russian botanist/geneticist Nikolai Vavilov and the many efforts of other scientists contributed to identifying likely centers of origin, diversity, and/or domestication of most of the world’s important crops. Also deserving recognition are the early plant explorers and observers such as von Humboldt and Captain James Cook, and more recent scientists Carl Sauer, Jack Harlan, and Jack Hawkes for their theories and studies concerning crop evolution and domestication of many useful plants. Although full agreement about the theories proposed is lacking, the contributions of these people were essential for our knowledge about many plant species. Continuing studies using new technologies should reveal further information and possibly close some existing gaps about the origin and development of certain crop plants.
Changes in Winter Squash Fruit Exocarp Structure Associated with Age-Related Resistance to Phytophthora capsici .

Phytophthora capsici is a destructive pathogen of cucurbits that causes root, crown, and fruit rot. Winter squash (Cucurbita spp.) production is limited by this pathogen in Michigan and other U.S. ...
Efficient dimension reduction and surrogate-based sensitivity analysis for expensive models with high-dimensional outputs

Abstract Sensitivity analysis has been widely used to gain more insights on complex system behavior, to facilitate model reduction, system design and decision making. Typically, sensitivity analysis entails many evaluations of the system model. For expensive system models with high-dimensional outputs, direct adoption of such models for sensitivity analysis poses significant challenges in computational effort and memory requirements. To address these challenges, this paper proposes an efficient sensitivity analysis approach. The proposed method uses surrogate model to replace the expensive model for sensitivity analysis, and tackle the problem of building surrogate models for high-dimensional outputs through surrogate model integrated with dimension reduction. More specifically, the proposed method first uses surrogate models in low-dimensional latent output space to efficiently calculate the relevant covariance matrices for the low-dimensional latent outputs, and then directly establishes the sensitivity indices for the original high-dimensional output based on these covariance matrices and the derived transformation. Two examples are presented to demonstrate the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed method.
The Tear Film: Anatomy and Physiology

This chapter explores the normal structure and function of the tear film. Normal properties and composition of tears as well as the structure of the aqueous, mucin, and meibomian layers are discussed. The role of supporting structures such as the eyelids, meibomian glands, and goblet cells in the lacrimal functional unit (LFU) is also reviewed. Finally, the physiologic roles of the tear film, including lubrication and nutrition of the ocular surface, visual function, anti-inflammatory and healing properties, and its role in ocular surface nerve modulation are all examined.
PREDICTORS OF REVASCULARIZATION IN WOMEN WITH ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION AND SPONTANEOUS CORONARY ARTERY DISSECTION

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a unique cause of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) that predominantly affects younger women. Little is known about the predictors of treatment strategies for SCAD. Female patients aged ≤60 years with AMI and SCAD who underwent coronary angiography
Seasonal Fluctuations in Body Fat and Activity Levels in a Rain-Forest Species of Mouse Lemur, Microcebus rufus

Seasonal fattening in preparation for the dry season followed by torpor characterizes some members of the family Cheirogaleidae, a group of < 600-g nocturnal Malagasy primates. These behaviors are associated with extreme seasonality in dry forests, where most studies have been conducted. I aimed to determine if the brown mouse lemur (Microcebus rufus), a rain-forest species of cheirogaleid, exhibited similar changes. Between January 1993 and May 1994 I conducted a mark-recapture study on Microcebus rufus in the rain forest of Ranomafana National Park. I monitored body weight and tail circumference for body fat fluctuations and inferred changes in activity levels from presence or absence in the traps. Some individuals of both sexes increased body fat and entered torpor as suggested by their absence from traps for at least 1 month of the dry season. Activity was resumed with body weight reduced by 5–35 g, and tail circumference by 0.4–1.2 cm. Population-level analysis supports these results; highest weight and tail circumference values occurred just before and at the onset of the dry season. Other individuals, predominantly male, exhibited no change in body fat or activity level, and some mouse lemurs increased their body fat over the course of the dry season. Age, social status, and individual response may influence seasonal behavioral strategies. Dry and rain-forest species of mouse lemur adopt similar behaviors to cope with environmental stresses. Mouse lemurs resemble nonprimate, small-bodied mammals, in which behavioral changes related to maintaining energy balance occur during seasonally unfavorable conditions.
Ultrafast excited state dynamics of provitamin D 3 and analogs in solution and in lipid bilayers

The photochemical ring-opening reaction of 7-dehydrocholesterol (DHC, provitamin D3) is responsible for the light-initiated formation of vitamin D3 in mammalian skin membranes. Visible transient absorption spectroscopy was used to explore the excited state dynamics of DHC and two analogs: ergosterol (provitamin D2) and DHC acetate free in solution and confined to lipid bilayers chosen to model the biological cell membrane. In solution, the excited state dynamics of the three compounds are nearly identical. However, when confined to lipid bilayers, the heterogeneity of the lipid membrane and packing forces imposed on the molecule by the lipid alter the excited state dynamics of these compounds. When confined to lipid bilayers in liposomes formed using DPPC, two solvation environments are identified. The excited state dynamics for DHC and analogs in fluid-like regions of the liposome membrane undergo internal conversion and ring-opening on 1 ps-2 ps time scales, similar to those observed in isotropic solution. In contrast, the excited state lifetime of a subpopulation in regions of lower fluidity is 7 ps-12 ps. The long decay component is unique to these liposomes and results from the structural properties of the lipid bilayer. Additional measurements in liposomes prepared with lipids having slightly longer or shorter alkane tails support this conclusion. In the lipid environments studied, the longest lifetimes are observed for DHC. The unsaturated sterol tail of ergosterol and the acetate group of DHC acetate disrupt the packing around the molecule and permit faster internal conversion and relaxation back to the ground state.
A General Framework for Time-Changed Markov Processes and Applications

In this paper, we propose a general approximation framework for the valuation of (path-dependent) options under time-changed Markov processes. The underlying background process is assumed to be a general Markov process, and we consider the case when the stochastic time change is constructed from either discrete or continuous additive functionals of another independent Markov process. We first approximate the underlying Markov process by a continuous time Markov chain (CTMC) and derive the functional equation characterizing the double transforms of the transition matrix of the resulting time-changed CTMC. Then we develop a two-layer approximation scheme by further approximating the driving process in constructing the time change using an independent CTMC. We obtain a single Laplace transform expression. Our framework incorporates existing time-changed Markov models in the literature as special cases, such as the time-changed diffusion process and the time-changed Levy process. Numerical experiments illustrate the accuracy of our method.
Association of Medication-Assisted Treatment and Age With Treatment Completion Among Veterans Seeking Non-VA Treatment for Opioid use Disorder at Non-Veterans Health Administration Facilities.

BACKGROUND Medication-assisted treatment has been shown to be effective in treating opioid use disorder among both older adults and veterans of U.S. Armed Forces. However, limited evidence exists on MAT's differential effect on treatment completion across age groups. This study aims to ascertain the role of MAT and age in treatment completion among veterans seeking treatment in non-Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare facilities for opioid use disorder. METHODS We used the Treatment Episode Data Set-Discharges (TEDS-D; 2006-2017) to examine trends in treatment and MAT usage over time and TEDS-2017 to determine the role of age and MAT in treatment completion. We examined a subset of those who self-identified as veterans and who sought treatment for an opioid use disorder. RESULTS Veterans presented in treatment more often as heroin users than prescription opioid users, and older veterans were more likely to get MAT than younger veterans. We found that before propensity score matching, MAT initially appeared to be associated with a lower likelihood of treatment completion in inpatient ($\beta $ = -1.47, 95% CI -1.56 to -1.39) and outpatient ($\beta $ = -1.40, 95% CI -2.21 to -0.58) settings, and age (50+ years) appeared to mediate the effect of MAT on treatment completion ($\beta $ = -0.54, 95% CI -0.87 to -0.21). After matching, older veterans were more likely to complete substance use disorder treatment ($\beta $ = 0.21, 95% CI 0.01-0.42), while age no longer mediated the effect of MAT, and MAT had a significant positive impact on treatment completion in detox settings ($\beta $ = 1.36, 95% CI 1.15-1.50) and inpatient settings ($\beta $ = 1.54, 95% CI 1.37 -1.71). CONCLUSION The results show that age plays an important role in outpatient treatment completion, while MAT plays an important role in inpatient treatment completion. Implications for veterans are discussed.
Multi-task Learning to Enable Location Mention Identification in the Early Hours of a Crisis Event

Training a robust and reliable deep learning model requires a large amount of data. In the crisis domain, building deep learning models to identify actionable information from the huge influx of data posted by eyewitnesses of crisis events on social media, in a time-critical manner, is central for fast response and relief operations. However, building a large, annotated dataset to train deep learning models is not always feasible in a crisis situation. In this paper, we investigate a multi-task learning approach to concurrently leverage available annotated data for several related tasks from the crisis domain to improve the performance on a main task with limited annotated data. Specifically, we focus on using multi-task learning to improve the performance on the task of identifying location mentions in crisis tweets.
The struggle over gendered meanings in India: How Indian women's networks, the Hindu nationalist hegemonic project, and transnational feminists address gender violence

Abstract In this article, I argue the struggle over strategy-making regarding gender violence is also a struggle over the meanings of gender, nation, and state. I show how transnational and Indian women's networks and Hindu nationalists mobilize around the issue of gender violence, and how their different worldviews on gender and postcolonialism create different approaches and sources of appeal for women. I address the critical question of who owns strategy-making. I also use critical transnational feminism to negotiate the issue of belonging within gendered meanings.
Cardiovascular effects of methylphenidate in humans are associated with increases of dopamine in brain and of epinephrine in plasma

Rationale The cardiovascular effects of psychostimulant drugs (methylphenidate, amphetamine, cocaine) have been mostly associated with their noradrenergic effects. However, there is some evidence that dopaminergic effects are involved in the cardiovascular actions of these drugs. Here, we evaluated this association in humans.
Two-Transitive Parallelisms

In this article, the parallelisms which admit doubly transitive groups are completely classified as the two regular parallelisms in PG(3,2).
Asymptotic Solutions of Bandit Problems

Some recent results on asymptotically optimal solutions of bandit problems are reviewed and discussed herein. The problems considered include (a) the classical “closed bandit problem” of adaptive allocation involving k statistical populations, and (b) the “open bandit problem” of priority scheduling in a queueing network. Making use of the interconnections between the discounted and finite-horizon formulations of these problems, we also suggest certain heuristic arguments that lead to simple asymptotic solutions.
Scanning electron microscopy of epidermal adherence and cavitation in murine candidiasis: a role for Candida acid proteinase

Adherence of blastoconidia to epidermal corneocytes is an early event in Candida colonization and infection of the skin. Pathogenic species adhere more avidly than nonpathogenic species, transform to hyphal growth, and invade the stratum corneum of the skin. Adherence was studied by scanning electron microscopy of experimental murine cutaneous Candida infections, using six species of Candida. Candida albicans and C. stellatoidea blastoconidia, applied to newborn mouse skin, adhered to the stratum corneum in greater numbers than other species tested, acquired fibrils and strands of amorphous mucinlike material ("cohesin") between spores and the corneocyte cell surface, formed cavitations in the corneocyte surface, and invaded the corneocyte envelope by hyphal growth at sites distant to the point of blastoconidia attachment. Other species showed little or no adherence, colonization, or cavitation of the corneocyte surface, except C. tropicalis, which showed intermediate results. Pepstatin, an inhibitor of Candida acid proteinase, did not alter adherence or cohesion formation, but inhibited formation of corneocyte cavitations about adherent blastoconidia, suggesting that this enzyme may facilitate adherence/invasion events on skin. Depletion of surface lipids did not alter the formation of cohesin material or the adherence process. Adherence and invasion of epithelium by pathogenic Candida species include the interaction of blastoconidia with an epithelial surface cohesin material that participates in the adherence process. Candida acid proteinase, a keratinolytic enzyme, may participate in the cavitation process of the corneocyte surface by C. albicans.
Nontroglobitic Fishes in Bruffey-Hills Creek Cave, West Virginia, and other Caves Worldwide

Six species of fishes were tagged and released in September and November 1995 and on five dates between November 1998 and October 1999 inside Bruffey-Hills Creek Cave. Most of the tagged fishes were creek chub, Semotilus atromaculatus, and green sunfish, Lepomis cyanellus. The overall recapture rate was 2.6% as only three of 117 fishes were recaptured. Forty-nine days was the longest time of residence by two L. cyanellus and one S. atromaculatus, and movement of 83.4 m was observed only for the creek chub. Tag loss was confirmed as one factor in the low recapture rate. Nine species of fishes were collected in the cave, including Phoxinus oreas and Pimephales promelas, two species never collected in a cave. Most of the fishes were pigmented normally, but many creek chubs were depigmented and appeared white or pigmentless when first observed in the cave stream. Four species, Phoxinus oreas, Pimephales promelas, Ameiurus nebulosus, and Lepomis macrochirus, were collected for the first time in Bruffey-Hills Creek Cave and in the Bruffey and Hills creeks drainage. Although data from this study did not shed light on residence time of fishes in the cave, the consistent occurrence of epigean fishes in this cave was shown. A list of epigean fishes from caves worldwide was included along vith a discussion of aspects of the ecology of epigean fishes in caves and of evolution of troglobitic fishes.
Evolutionary autonomous agent-based target tracking system

In this paper, we present an evolutionary technique for an agent-based surveillance and target tracking system. The proposed system is composed of two stages. The first stage is the optimization of a network of ultrasonic sensors within a pre-specified coverage area. In phase two, the target tracking phase, sensors are activated based on need according to the tracking requirement of the moving object. Unneeded sensors are kept in a low-power stand-by state to optimize power usage and hence minimize human intervention for maintenance purpose. A centralized server communicates with sensor agents to power-up those needed for proper tracking of the moving object.
Cost-effectiveness of a disease management program for early childhood caries.

Objectives To assess the cost-effectiveness of a pilot disease management (DM) program aimed at preventing early childhood caries among children younger than 5 years. Methods The DM program was implemented in the Boston Children's Hospital-based dental practice in 2008. Health care costs were obtained from the hospital finance department and non-health care costs were estimated through a parent survey. The measure of effectiveness was avoided hospital-based visits for restorative treatment or extractions. Incremental costs (2011 US$) and effectiveness were estimated from a health care system, societal, and public payer perspectives over 3, 6, and 12 months, by comparing DM participants (n = 395) to a historical comparison group (n = 123) using generalized linear models. Bootstrapping and other sensitivity analyses were used to incorporate uncertainty in the analyses. Results The DM program was associated with a reduction in societal costs of $20 (p = 0.85), $215 (p = 0.24), and $669 (p < 0.01) per patient and a reduction in the number of hospital-based visits for restorative treatment or extractions by 0.44 (p < 0.01), 0.42 (p < 0.01), and 0.45 (p < 0.01) per patient over 3, 6, and 12 months, respectively. The probability of it being less costly and more effective was 61.5 percent, 81.9 percent, and 98.6 percent over 3, 6, and 12 months, respectively. Consistent results were observed from a health care system and public payer perspectives. Conclusions The DM program appears cost-effective and has the potential to reduce health care costs. Our results justify a multicenter trial to evaluate the DM program on a larger scale.
Influence of Hormones on Respiratory Metabolism of Healthy & Rust-Affected Tissues.

Although the basic mechanism of action of plant hormones is not known, there is some evidence that indole-acetic acid (IAA) exerts an effect on pathways as well as rates of respiratory metabolism (7, 9,10,15). The influence of plant hormones on metabolism may be critically important to understanding obligate parasitism. There is evidence that IAA increases as a consequence of infection by rust fungi (3, 14). Applications of growth regulators alter the degree of susceptibility of wheat to stem rust (16, 17). Daly and Sayre suggested that hormonal imbalance in the early stages of infection could act as a stimulus to increase host metabolism moderately (5). Subsequent increases in respiration during sporulation of rust fungi were postulated to arise from parasite metabolism. The large increases observed at sporulation are characterized by low C6/C1 ratios indicating different pathways of sugar catabolism (2, 5). The demonstration by Humphreys and Duggar (9, 10) that hormonal treatments induce low C,6/C1 ratios in roots raises the question as to whether the Iow C61C1 ratio in disease might occur in host cells by hormonal induction. Although preliminary data in this laboratory indicated that hormones did not influence C6/C1 ratios with bean tissue, Shaw et al. (15) reported that brief exposure (1? hr) of normal wheat leaf sections to 5.0, 8.3, and 16.6 ppm of IAA resulted in C6/C1 ratios approximating those obtained by rust infections. They noted, however, that hormonal treatments induced low ratios by reducing C6 recovery while, in their experience, rust-affected leaves had enhanced C1 recovery. For this reason they did not definitely implicate IAA as a triggering agent for the metabolic alteration of diseased tissue. It has been shown recently (2) that the decline in C6/C1 ratios in disease tissue can be effected either by low C6 or by high C1 recovery when compared to control tissue. At the time lower C6/C1 ratios first were apparent, the effect was due to lower percentage of recoveries from the sixth carbon of gluoose. If infections were heavy, greater recovery from the Cl carbon occurred in the later stages of disease development. Further, the data of Humphrey and Duggar indicate that hormonal treatments do not produce a consistent effect on C1 or C6 recovery. Consequently, the existing data do not eliminate hormonal imbalance as a causal factor in the establishment of pathological deviations in metabolism. Although a decline in C1/C, ratios with infection occurs under a range of environmental conditions and tissue types (2), the influence of hormones on growth and metabolism often is dependent on specific environmental conditioning of responsive tissues. Our data were obtained in an effort to establish whether or not hormones consistently alter metabolic pathways in healthy and rust affected tissues of several species.
The comparative effects of isoprinosine, levamisole, muramyl dipeptide and SM1213 on lymphocyte and macrophage proliferation and activation in vitro.

Abstract Four immunopotentiators, levamisole, isoprinosine, muramyl dipeptide (MDP) and SM1213 were analysed in vitro on phytohemagglutinin-induced lymphocyte proliferation and lymphokine-induced macrophage proliferation and activation to kill Listeria monocytogenes . Levamisole and isoprinosine augmented all three functions. MDP and SM1213 induced macrophage activation directly. The effects of these agents on these cells at concentrations relevant to in vivo therapy supports their immunopharmacologic capacity to modify cellular immunity.
IN VIVO ASSAY OF FUNCTION OF MOUSE OVARIES FOLLOWING CULTURE IN HORMONE ENRICHED MEDIUM.

Abstract Ovaries of 4–6-week-old C57 mice were explanted by the organ culture technique. One group of ovaries was cultured in a basal medium, while a second group was cultured in a similar medium to which APL and prolactin were added. After 6 days in vitro the ovaries were implanted into castrate isologous female recipients. The hosts were sacrificed 26–42 days following the ovarian graft implantation. Examination of the uterine weight and the uterine and vaginal histology of the assay mice indicated that the group bearing grafts which had been cultured in the hormone-enriched medium had a significantly higher frequency of mice with functional ovarian tissue than did the group bearing grafts which had been cultured in the basal medium.
Performance evaluation of constructed wetlands in a tropical region.

Abstract Five emergent plant species were compared for their effectiveness in treating contaminants in a wetland system constructed on a military base in El Salvador. The system consisted of the subsurface flow (SSF), open water (OW) and free surface flow (SF) wetlands with a combined flow capacity of up to 151.4 m3 d−1. Reliability and consistent performance in extreme conditions, such as those occurring during the tropical dry or wet seasons were important evaluation criteria. The discontinuous flow patterns typical of tropical climates necessitated the use of water balance calculations using climatic data such as rainfall and evapotranspiration. System characterization was achieved by computation of daily input and output mass loading rates for each individual constituent. Results suggest that Phragmites and Brachiaria were the most effective plants in SSF wetland. Brachiaria provided the added benefit of serving as a source of fodder and proved proficient, with N and P uptakes of 1.5–3.14% and 0.17–0.25% per dry plants’ biomass, respectively. Typha yielded the highest dry season removal efficiency within the SF (BOD5: 80.78 ± 9.35%, COD: 65.18 ± 19.6%, TN: 58.59 ± 19.3%, oil and grease: 78.34 ± 10.55%, total dissolved phosphorus: 66.5 ± 20.7%). Phragmites–Typha treatment subset performed better year-round than either Thalia–Thalia or Brachiaria–Cyperus. Evaluated plants were capable of surviving and proliferating in extreme tropical climates.
Remarks on Dyons

Some issues in dyon theory are discussed: retention of the charge $\frac{e\ensuremath{\theta}}{2\ensuremath{\pi}}$ in the chiral limit, the spin-statistics connection, and the indefiniteness of anomalous charges.
Treponemal Antigens as Related to Identification and Syphilis Serology

Summary1. The antigens of intact T.p., the R.t., T.m. and the free-living mud organism, T.z., are compared. 2. An antigen appearing to be identical to the Reiter Protein antigen was found to be a common or shared component in all of the treponemes studied. 3. By means of absorption or blocking procedures and employing FA methods, all treponemes could be identified. 4. It is suggested that FA methods can play an important part in future taxonomic studies of treponemes and that the FTA test can be modified so as to increase both sensitivity and specificity.
Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) enhances thromboxane A2 synthesis by platelets, but lysolecithin as a product of LDL oxidation has an inhibitory effect

Oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) by copper sulfate led to a significant increase in lysophosphatidylcholine (lyso PC) at the expense of phosphatidylcholine. Incubation of different concentrations of oxidized LDL (oxLDL) (32-650 microg protein/ml) with platelets for 1 h at 37 degrees C increased lyso PC content. The increase was dependent on oxLDL concentration. Incubation of platelets with various concentrations of lyso PC in solution for 5 or 15 min showed that lyso PC percentage was increased in the platelet membrane and the increase was dose dependent. Platelets incubated with various concentrations of lyso PC (2-100 microM) for 5 or 15 min and then triggered with thrombin also showed a significant decrease of thromboxane A(2) (TXA(2)) release as lyso PC concentration reached 10 microM or 6 microM, respectively. The decrease of TXA(2) release was more significant as lyso PC concentration was increased. The present study showed that this inhibition of TXA(2) release by lyso PC was due to 1) inhibition of phospholipase A(2) and the decrease of free arachidonic acid liberation from platelet phospholipid and 2) inhibition of cyclooxygenase. These inhibitory effects of lyso PC were discussed in relation to its effect on membrane fluidity. Lyso PC at concentrations of 30, 50, and 100 microM caused a sudden drop in TXA(2) release and a sudden increase of lactic dehydrogenase loss from the platelets due to their lysis and inhibition of cyclooxygenase enzyme. The present study shows that oxLDL contains high levels of lyso PC that are transferable to the platelets and can weaken their responsiveness to thrombin and decrease TXA(2) release. In our previous study, we found that oxLDL also contained high levels of oxysterols and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), which enhanced platelet reactivity to thrombin and increased TXA(2) release. We conclude that the net effect of oxLDL on platelets will depend on its degree of oxidation and the ratio between oxysterols plus TBARS/lyso PC. Variations in this ratio may explain some of the contradictions cited in the literature concerning the effect of oxLDL on platelet activation.
The impact of government structure on local public expenditures

Though the relationship between local government structure and expenditure has received considerable attention, there is little consensus as to how the features of representative government affect local expenditure. An exception is city council size, which has consistently been found to be positively related to spending. Previous results rely on cross-sectional estimation which may be subject to omitted variable bias. This paper analyzes three components of municipal governments—the form of government, the size of the city council, and the election method of city councilors. Once fixed effects estimation is employed, the positive relationship between city council size and expenditure disappears.
Auxiliary retention for complete crowns provided by cement keys

1. Cement keys were an effective means of increasing the retention of complete cast gold crowns to preparations in extracted teeth. 2. Single grooves placed in either the dentin or in the crown alone were not effective in increasing retention in 30-degree crowns. In 7-degree crowns, a single groove in the crown gave better retention than a single groove in the dentin. 3. Crowns with a 7-degree taper had greater retentive strengths than 30-degree crowns treated identically. The retentive strength of 7-degree crowns with cement keys approached the tensile strength of zinc phosphate cement.
Spin polarized photoemission studies of the Gd(0001) surface

Abstract The surface magnetic properties of the rare earth Lanthanide, gadolinium (Gd) have been the subject of a number of different experimental and theoretical studies in recent years. These studies have suggested that the surface of Gd exhibits a variety of unusual magnetic properties including imperfect ferromagnetic coupling between the surface and bulk, canted magnetic moments and some form of phase transition. Also the temperature dependent behavior appears to be quite controversial with both a Stoner-like and spin-mixing behavior invoked to describe the loss of magnetization. With new angle- and spin-resolved studies carried out at room and low temperatures, we re-examine this temperature dependence and confirm that both types of behavior are evident. We further provide direct evidence that at the temperature of liquid nitrogen, it is possible to observe a canting of the surface moments out of the surface plane.
Characterization of localized surface plasmon resonance transducers produced from Au25 nanoparticle multilayers

Abstract This article reports the preparation of gold plasmonic transducers using a nanoparticle self-assembly/heating method and the characterization of the films using scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM). Nanoparticle-polymer multilayer films were prepared by the layer-by-layer assembly on glass slides by alternating exposures to monodisperse Au25 nanoparticles and ionic polymer linkers. Thermal evaporation of organic matters from the nanoparticle-polymer multilayer films at 600 °C allowed the nanoparticles to coalescence and form nanostructured films. Characterization of the nanostructured films generated from Au25 nanoparticles using atomic force microscopy (AFM) showed that the films have rounded, small, island-like morphologies (d: 30–50 nm) with a pit in the center of many islands. However, further characterizations with s-SNOM revealed that the produced nanoislands contain a single gold cluster in a pit surrounded by donut-shaped dielectric species. Formation of such a structure is thought to be resulted from the embedding of gold clusters under the reorganized polysiloxane binder coatings and glass surfaces during heat treatment of the Au25 nanoparticle multilayer films. The nanostructured films displayed strong surface plasmon resonance bands in UV–vis spectra with a peak absorbance occurring at ∼545–550 nm. The optical sensing capability of the films was examined using d -glucose-functionalized gold island films with the interaction of Concanavalin A (ConA). The result showed that the adsorption of ConA on island films causes a large change in the LSPR band intensity.
A Kind of Optimal Incentive Strategy for Leader-Follower Games

In this paper, we present a kind of optimal incentive strategy for leader-follower games. Using this strategy, the leader will suffer the least losses in punishing deviation of the follower. We in details discuss a special class of static and dynamic leader-follower games in which the follower's decision is scalar and the cost functions of both leader and follower are quadratic and give the method of determining optimal incentive strategy. The sufficient conditions under which optimal incentive strategy exists are given and the optimal incentive strategies are derived. In order to illustrate the ideas and methods of the paper, a example is given.
Spherical vapor bubble growth in uniformly superheated liquids

A numerical procedure is presented for the solution of vapor bubble growth with radial symmetry from the thermodynamic critical size in an initially uniformly superheated liquid, which includes the influences of surface tension, liquid inertia and heat diffusion. Results are presented in the form of time varying interface radius, velocity, acceleration and temperature, with particular emphasis on how circumstances during the very early growth periods affect the later growth. The effect on the solution of the disturbance required to initiate the growth is examined in some detail. Comprehensive comparisons are made with previous experiments, analyses and numerical results.
Metabolism of Decoquinate in Chickens and Japanese Quail

Abstract Thirty mature chicken hens and 40 mature Japanese quail hens were used in an experiment to compare pathways of decoquinate (DQ) excretion. Labelled DQ was injected into chickens (.5 μCi via wing vein puncture) and quail (.25 μCi via cardiac puncture) on Day 0. Blood was sampled at 0, 1.5, 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, and 48 h postinjectdon. Eggs and excreta of chickens and quail were collected for 28 and 14 days, respectively, and analyzed for 14 C. Six chickens and eight quail were sacrificed prior to 14 C-DQ injection and also on Days 1, 7, 14, and 34 or 32 postinjection. Samples of liver, heart, kidney, bile, skin, fat, and muscle were analyzed for 14 C. Blood rapidly cleared 14 C in both species, and the half-time of 14 C excretion via excreta was more rapid in quail (.37 day) than in chickens (.92 day). Little 14 C was found in the eggs of quail (.32% of dose) and chickens (.17% of dose). Quail appeared to excrete peak amounts of detectable 14 C 1 day earlier (Day 4) than chickens (Day 5). Liver contained the greatest concentration of 14 C on Day 1 in both species. By the end of the experiment, less than 1% of the dose remained in liver or other organs. Results indicate that chickens and quail metabolize 14 C-DQ at comparable rates and by similar pathways.
Wave Propagation in the Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar

Elastic wave propagation in the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) is discussed with an emphasis on the origin and nature of the oscillations that often trail the leading edge of the pressure wave. The authors show that in the conditions of the SHPB test the pressure bars vibrate in the fundamental mode and that elastic wave progapation can be fully described mathematically. Excellent agreement is found between experimental results and predictions of the mathematical treatment. This suggests that dispersion effects in the pressure bars can be removed from the strain gage records, which reduces the magnitude of the oscillations in the resulting stress strain curve. 12 references, 11 figures, 1 table.
Left-right perceptions, partisan preferences, electoral participation, and partisan choice in France

An analysis based on survey data shows that electoral participation at the second ballot in France can be accounted for by partisan preferences but not by left-right perceptions of party locations. This finding runs counter to the work of Rosenthal and Sen (1973), who validated a spatial model of participation at the second ballot employing left-right perceptions and partisan preferences interchangeably. Because they use aggregate data, Rosenthal and Sen (1973) are restricted in two ways that, operating interactively, lead them to an unwarranted conclusion concerning the power of left-right perceptions. Later work by Rosenthal and Sen (1977) indicating that left-right perceptions can account for shifts in partisan choice between the two ballots by voters who have decided to participate is confirmed, but partisan preferences account even better for second-ballot choices. Left-right perceptions and partisan sympathies are related, but discrete partisan attitudes are a more powerful factor than left-right perceptions in French second-ballot electoral behavior.