cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Interferon-alpha (INF) and gefitinib or imatinib in patients (pts) with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC)

14616 Background: Overexpression of EGFR is associated with aggressive clinical behavior in several solid tumors and is frequent in RCC. We recently found that the majority of RCCs express c-kit an...
Duration of Untreated Psychosis Correlates with Brain Connectivity and Morphology in Medication-Naïve Patients with First Episode Psychosis

Abstract Background In the United States, the average duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is 21 months, and it remains unknown how longer DUP may affect brain functioning in antipsychotic-naive patients with first-episode psychosis. The objective was to determine the effects of DUP on functional connectivity and brain morphology measured with resting-state functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging. Methods Medication-naive patients with first-episode psychosis were referred from various clinical settings. After accounting for exclusion criteria, attrition, and data quality, final analyses included 55 patients (35 male and 20 female; mean age, 24.18 years). Patients with first-episode psychosis were subjected to a 16-week trial of risperidone, a commonly used antipsychotic drug. Treatment response was calculated as change in the psychosis subscale of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale between baseline and 16 weeks. Resting-state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging and brain morphology (surface area and cortical thickness) were assessed. Results Longer DUP was associated with worse treatment response and reduced functional connectivity—more specifically in the default, salience, and executive networks. Moreover, longer DUP was associated with reduced surface area in the salience and executive networks and with increased cortical thickness in the default mode and salience networks. When the functional connectivity of the default mode network was added as a mediator, the relationship between DUP and treatment response was no longer significant. Conclusions These data suggest that several neurobiological alterations in the form of reduced functional connectivity and surface area and increased cortical thickness underpin the effect of prolonged DUP.
Teaching About Disability Discourse in the College Classroom

This chapter investigates methods for teaching effectively about linguistics research in an undergraduate classroom and for further disseminating my work on disability discourse. The motivational relevance (Candlin and Sarangi, Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1(1), 1–8, 2004) for participants with physical disabilities to take part in my research is their desire to raise awareness of their experiences among people without disabilities (Cochrane, Telling disability: Identity construction in personal and vicarious narratives. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, 2014). To evaluate how my teaching achieves this goal, I administered a questionnaire to (majority non-disabled) students before and after teaching the lesson plan. Key questions included how students defined the term “disability” and what new information they learned. The words most commonly used to define disability shifted from “ability/able”, “perform”, and “normal/normally” before the lesson to “people with disabilities”, “community”, and “individual” afterward. Almost half of the responses mentioned a specific aspect of disability discourse. The overall findings point toward bringing in more narratives from the disability community to connect to students’ own experiences through affective learning (Shephard, International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 9(1), 87–98, 2008). Evaluating a single lesson plan to understand what students thought beforehand and took away afterward has been illuminating in ways that general course evaluations are not. My findings suggest ways in which we can better share our linguistics research with undergraduates in the classroom.
Temporal Stability of Lipid-Shelled Microbubbles During Acoustically-Mediated Blood-Brain Barrier Opening

Non-invasive blood-brain barrier (BBB) opening using focused ultrasound (FUS) is being tested as a means to locally deliver drugs into the brain. Such FUS therapies require injection of preformed microbubbles, currently used as contrast agents in ultrasound imaging. Although their behavior during exposure to imaging sequences has been well described, our understanding of microbubble stability within a therapeutic field is still not complete. Here, we study the temporal stability of lipid-shelled microbubbles during therapeutic FUS exposure in two timescales: the short time scale (i.e., μs of low-frequency ultrasound exposure) and the long time scale (i.e., days post-activation). We first simulated the microbubble response to low-frequency sonication, and found a strong correlation between viscosity and fragmentation pressure. Activated microbubbles had a concentration decay constant of 0.02 d-1 but maintained a quasi-stable size distribution for up to 3 weeks (< 10% variation). Microbubbles flowing through a 4-mm vessel within a tissue-mimicking phantom (5% gelatin) were exposed to therapeutic pulses (fc: 0.5 MHz, peak-negative pressure: 300 kPa, pulse length: 1 ms, pulse repetition frequency: 1 Hz, n=10). We recorded and analyzed their acoustic emissions, focusing on emitted energy and its temporal evolution, alongside the frequency content. Measurements were repeated with concentration-matched samples (107 microbubbles/ml) on day 0, 7, 14, and 21 after activation. Temporal stability decreased while inertial cavitation response increased with storage time both in vitro and in vivo, possibly due to changes in the shell lipid content. Using the same parameters and timepoints, we performed BBB opening in a mouse model (n=3). BBB opening volume measured through T1-weighted contrast-enhanced MRI was equal to 19.1 ± 7.1 mm3, 21.8 ± 14 mm3, 29.3 ± 2.5 mm3, and 38 ± 20.1 mm3 on day 0, 7, 14, and 21, respectively, showing no significant difference over time (p-value: 0.49). Contrast enhancement was 24.9 ± 1.7 %, 23.7 ± 11.7 %, 28.9 ± 5.3 %, and 35 ± 13.4 %, respectively (p-value: 0.63). In conclusion, the in-house made microbubbles studied here maintain their capacity to produce similar therapeutic effects over a period of 3 weeks after activation, as long as the natural concentration decay is accounted for. Future work should focus on stability of commercially available microbubbles and tailoring microbubble shell properties towards therapeutic applications.
Effects of Germline Pathogenic Variants, Cancer Subtypes, Tumor-related Characteristics, and Pregnancy-associated Diagnosis on Outcomes.

Abstract Background While breast cancer (BC) is uncommon in women ≤ age 35, women in this age group may have more aggressive cancer subtypes and high-risk pathogenic variants (HRPV). Higher recurrence and mortality rates in young patients may be related to differences in tumor biology, pathologic mutation status, or treatment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate germline mutation status, and other factors that affect recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) in young women with BC. Materials/Methods This was a retrospective study of women diagnosed with BC at age ≤ 35 at Allina Health System from 2000 – 2017 (n= 306). Information was collected on germline mutation status, tumor characteristics (grade, hormone receptor and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 [HER2]), molecular subtype, pregnancy-associated cancers, and treatment. Survival analyses using Kaplan Meier curves were conducted for RFS and OS. Results With mean follow-up of 6.5 years, OS was 87.0% for invasive cancers, RFS was 84.7%; 69% obtained genetic testing, and 26.9% had (HRPV). There were no differences in RFS or OS between patients with HRPV versus unknown/low/moderate risk variants. Recurrence analysis showed increased recurrence rates in Luminal B-like cancers followed by triple negative and HER2 positive cancers (p = 0.041). Pregnancy-associated BC diagnoses, angiolymphatic invasion and tumor stage were associated with reduced OS. In spite of young age at diagnosis, nearly a third of patients did not receive germline genetic testing. Conclusions Similar survival patterns were found between women with HRPV versus no known mutations. Luminal B-like subtype, pregnancy-associated BC, angiolymphatic invasion and cancer stage were associated with reduced OS.
Integration of an Arm Kinematics Hot Patch Onboard the Curiosity Rover

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission has updated the Curiosity rover's flight software multiple times since landing on Mars on August 6, 2012. The most common patching method has been a hot patch, in which running flight software is modified after being copied into RAM from its persistent storage. The latest hot patch to be installed on Curiosity fixed an issue in the robotic arm software that computes generalized inverse kinematics. Additional unit testing performed since the start of the surface mission revealed that this software can sometimes produce erroneous solutions. The cause was identified as numerical instability in a quartic root finder. When the inputs to that solver are not well conditioned, floating-point numerical issues can cause erroneous roots to be reported. In theory, this could result in the robotic arm turret instruments being commanded to unintended positions, for example, below the terrain surface. Out of approximately 3.7 million unit test cases, 97.2 % of the position errors were below 5 mm. However, there were 16 test cases where the position error was greater than 20 cm, and the maximum position error was 1.2 meters. The patch was uploaded to Curiosity on sol 2642 (January 11, 2020) after the solution was developed, re-implemented as a hot patch, and validated and verified using Earth-based Curiosity testbeds. A checkout test of the patch was performed on Curiosity on sol 2657, and nominal use of the patch began on sol 2658. In this paper, we describe the steps that led to integrating the arm kinematic hot patch into Curiosity's flight software, from the discovery of the bug to the nominal use of the patch in flight.
(Invited) Fullertubes: Isolation of Isomerically Purified and Pristine Samples

Fullertube structures do indeed possess an elegant molecular architecture. Fullertubes also represent a new type of carbon allotrope that merges structural subunits of part fullerene and part nanotube. With fullerenyl endcaps and a nanotubyl belt region resembling a single layer of rolled graphene, fullertubes are highly anticipated to exhibit unique properties for use in multiple application areas (e.g., electronics, pharmaceuticals, etc). The first priority, however, is developing an approach to isolate large amounts of pristine, unfunctionalized samples of isomeric purity. This need for sample availability must be addressed before fundamental science and industrial research and development (R&D) can be effectively pursued. In this presentation, I will discuss separation strategies for purifying macroscopic quantities of isomerically purified fullertubes. We are making progress in expanding the fullertube length (i.e., increasing the aspect ratio) while maintaining a constant tubular diameter comparable to the diameter of C60. We will also discuss our latest results for chemically purifying new structural isomers of longer fullertubes......e.g., beyond C90-D5h(1) and C100-D5d(1) toward C120 isomers.
Risk Factors for Prolonged Opioid Use After Ankle Fracture Surgery.

BackgroundThe incidence of ankle fractures is increasing, and risk factors for prolonged opioid use after ankle fracture fixation are unknown. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to investig...
The Flag Burner

According to Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States, “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag—if they do, there must be consequences—perhaps loss of citizenship or (a) year in jail!”
Review of Capitalism by Gaslight (2016)

This review seeks to contextualize the volume Capitalism by Gaslight within the new literature on the history of capitalism.
Equity Crowdfunding in the U.S.

We assess the impact of the 2012 JOBS Act equity crowdfunding legislation that allows U.S.non-accredited investors to invest in private small businesses through online portals. The goals of new regulation were to spur small business growth and democratize investment in private startups by increasing access to capital. We find that the evidence is mixed:on the one hand, crowdfunding seems to expand access to finance to small business by targeting firms that are not usually served by institutional investors like angel and venture capital. Furthermore, having a successful crowdfunding campaign has a causal positive effect on future firm performance relative to a failed campaign. On the other hand, the equity crowdfunding market faces severe adverse selection that limit the expansion of this new form of business financing. Moreover, relative to angel-backed firms, successfully crowdfunded firms are less likely to progress through the financing funnel and thus provide exit to investors.
Are Nonprofits Efficient? A Test Using Hospital Market Values

While the theoretical literature hypothesizes that nonprofit hospitals are less efficient than for-profits, empirical cost comparisons have been confounded by difficult to measure controls like quality. We bypass this problem by comparing hospital market values measured by sales prices. We ask whether the market for corporate control views nonprofits as less efficient than for-profits? We also address concerns that nonprofit hospitals sell to for-profits at "too low" a price. We find that the market for hospitals is competitive and therefore nonprofit hospitals are not sold at "too low" a price, and that the market values nonprofits as efficiently as for-profits.
Design study of (2 x 2) core architecture for matrix multiplications via programmable graph architecture

This paper presents a 2 times 2 core architecture for matrix multiplications via the programmable graph architecture approach proposed earlier. A larger matrix-matrix multiplication can be carried out through sub-matrix decomposition. The iterative operation is completely performed with simple arithmetic operations and memory accesses. The core architecture is structurally described using Verilog and its functionality has been verified. Performance of the operation and factors influencing the execution are analyzed
Phosphorylation of dopamine transporters and rapid adaptation to cocaine.

Publisher Summary Dopamine transporter (DAT) is the primary site of action of cocaine and amphetamine and a mode of entry for the neurotoxins 6-hydroxydopamine and MPP + , implicating it in mechanisms of drug abuse and neurodegeneration. DAT is also a member of a class of neurotransmitter and amino acid transporters that drives re-uptake of transmitter by cotransport of Na + and Cl - down electrochemical gradients. Molecular cloning of DAT reveals consensus phosphorylation sites for numerous protein kinases (PKs). The DAT has been demonstrated to be a phosphoprotein based on the immunoprecipitation of a 32 P-labeled 80-kDa protein from rat striatal synaptosomes using a serum specific for DAT. It has been also demonstrated that DAT undergoes phosphorylation in synaptosomes and indicate that activation of PKC increases the phosphorylation level of DAT. The relationship of phosphorylation to transporter function currently remains obscure. While reduced dopamine uptake correlates exactly with conditions that increase DAT phosphorylation, the mechanisms underlying this effect remain to be elucidated. Other aspects of DAT function, such as ion flux or binding of uptake blockers such as cocaine, may also be affected by phosphorylation. The demonstration that DATs undergo endogenous phosphorylation in synaptosomes under conditions that alter dopamine transport provides direct evidence in support of the possibility that neurons may utilize DAT phosphorylation as a mechanism for fine temporal and spatial regulation of synaptic dopamine levels. Such functional regulation could have profound effects on the intensity and duration of dopaminergic synaptic transmission, actions of psychostimulant drugs, and mechanisms of neurotoxicity and neurodegeneration.
A Methodology Called ‘Mink’ for Study of Climate Change Impacts and Responses on the Regional Scale

Scientists engaged in research on the greenhouse effect differ considerably in their estimates of the extent of global warming and the rate at which it will occur for any particular scenario of continued greenhouse gas emissions. Indeed there is some disagreement as to whether warming will occur at all. About one aspect of the problem, however, there seems to be almost universal agreement and that is that our knowledge of climate dynamics, general circulation models, and paleoclimatic reconstructions do not yet allow reliable regional-scale forecasts of greenhouse-induced climate change.
Chapter 2 Regulation of skeletal muscle protein metabolism in growing animals

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the factors that influence muscle protein metabolism in the growing organism. The “heritable/congenital” component, namely the developmental aspects of muscle growth that principally determine fibre number and fibretype diversity, and the role of external influences that modulate muscle hypertrophy are addressed. The skeletal musculature is of great significance to the physiological function and long-term well-being of the growing animal, but, by virtue of its large mass, has tremendous impact on the overall rate of protein metabolism in the whole body. Protein deposition is very rapid during early life and this is largely driven by the high fractional rate of protein synthesis in skeletal muscle. A number of factors regulate the growth, development, and metabolic activity of the skeletal musculature, including the intrinsic or genetic factors that influence muscle differentiation as well as the extrinsic factors such as nutrients, hormones, and activity that influence muscle hypertrophy.
Research on Women in Policing: A Look at the Past, Present and Future

There are more women employed by police agencies today than ever before. Their role and workplace experiences have changed significantly from the time that they were first employed as police matrons in the late 1800s-early 1900s. This article covers the history of women in policing. It provides an overview of past and contemporary research focused on female police officers. A trend found in the contemporary research reveals that there are many similarities among male and female police officers. This trend is interesting as policing has traditionally been a male dominated profession in the United States.
Over-the-Counter Cough and Cold Medication Use and Risk of Stroke

To the Editor: I read with great interest the study by Cantu et al1 in Stroke that evaluated the association between over-the-counter cough and cold medications containing sympathomimetics and stroke risk. Their study covers an important topic—risk factor assessment of acute stroke and, in particular, drug-induced stroke. The authors use data from a stroke registry including 2500 patients with a diagnosis of acute stroke in Tlalpan, Mexico. The study related 22 cases of stroke with over-the-counter cough and cold medication use, when such medications were taken within 24 hours prior to the stroke and other known causes of stroke were excluded by appropriate diagnostic tests. There are several issues that should be taken into account when assessing the association between over-the-counter cough and cold medication use and stroke risk described in the study by Cantu et al. This study is technically a case series in which outcome and exposure were assessed at the same time. To evaluate an apparent association between over-the-counter cough and cold medication and stroke, a comparison group is essential to determine if the risk of stroke is increased or decreased when using such medications. The study, however, does not provide information regarding over-the-counter cough and cold medication use in the remaining patients from the stroke registry and, more important, in the general population. The use of a case-crossover design2 would allow a comparison of short-term exposures and stroke risk in a series of cases only and might have been applicable to the data of Cantu et al. Because over-the-counter drugs are available without prescriptions, they tend to be widely used in the general population. It is thus not entirely surprising that in a series of cases some individuals without obvious other reasons for stroke are using such medications even shortly before to a stroke. …
Comparison of chronic toxicities between brachytherapy-based accelerated partial breast irradiation and whole breast irradiation using intensity modulated radiotherapy

Abstract Purpose Brachytherapy-based APBI (bAPBI) shortens treatment duration and limits dose to normal tissue. While studies have demonstrated similar local control when comparing bAPBI and whole breast irradiation using intensity modulated radiotherapy (WBI-IMRT), comparison of late side effects is limited. Here, we report chronic toxicity profiles associated with these two treatment modalities. Methods 1034 patients with early stage breast cancer were treated at a single institution; 489 received standard-fractionation WBI-IMRT between 2000 and 2013 and 545 received bAPBI (interstitial 40%, applicator-based 60%) between 1993 and 2013. Chronic toxicity was evaluated ≥6 months utilizing CTCAE version 3.0; cosmesis was evaluated using the Harvard scale. Results Median follow-up was 4.6 years (range 0.1–13.4) for WBI-IMRT versus 6.7 years (range 0.1–20.1) for bAPBI (p Conclusion With 5-year follow-up, WBI-IMRT and bAPBI are associated with similar, acceptable rates of toxicity. These data further support the utilization of bAPBI as a modality to deliver adjuvant radiation in a safe and efficacious manner.
Osseous repair of an infrabony pocket without new attachment of connective tissue

This report describes the osseous repair of an infrabony pocket without new attachment of connective tissue between the new bone and root surface. While the width of the connective tissue between the new bone and root surface was of approximately normal dimensions, junctional epithelium was present on the root surface.
The application of cryptography to data base security

The application of cryptographic transformations for the purpose of enhancing the security in data base systems is discussed. These transformations have been recognized in the past as a valuable protection mechanism but their relation to data base security has not been identified. The major reason is the lack of a suitable data base model for investigating the questions of security and cryptography. A multi-level model of a data base is presented in this paper. This model helps to understand the connection between the data base structure and the cryptographic transformations applied to the data base. It is shown that cryptographic transformations can be applied between the different levels of the data base. Several types of these transformations are identified and the possible ways of using and controlling them are also discussed. The multi-level model can provide a useful framework for further research in the area of cryptography and data base security.
Alternate formulations for the manipulator inertia matrix

Four compact methods for computing the manipulator joint space inertia matrix are derived and compared. The derivation of the first, the Structurally Recursive Method, is based on the successive addition of single links to the free end of a serial manipulator. A general joint model allows multiple-degree-of-freedom joints to connect the links if desired, and the manipulator Jacobian matrix is a simultaneous result at no extra cost. the computational complexity of this new method is O(N{sup 3}) for an N-link manipulator with revolute and/or prismatic joints. Derivation of the other methods follows from expanding the equations obtained in the structural recursion and examining the resulting terms. The second method, the Inertia Projection Method, defines a finite summation for each matrix component that has a form similar to that found in other work. this method is also O(N{sup 3}), and once again, the Jacobian matrix is computed simultaneously. Through judicious use of the composite rigid body inertia concept, a third new and efficient algorithm, the Modified Composite Rigid Body Method, is developed with a computational complexity of O(N{sup 2}). Additional manipulation leads to the O(N{sup 2}) Spatial Composite Rigid Body Methods, which is the most efficient for all N {ge} 6more » but eliminates the simultaneous Jacobian computation. These four methods are compared with existing algorithms for computing the inertia matrix with respect to their computational complexities. The significance of the simultaneous Jacobian computation is demonstrated by a brief examination of the operational space inertia matrix.« less
Lowering corticosterone levels reinstates hippocampal brain-derived neurotropic factor and trkb expression without influencing deficits in hypothalamic brain-derived neurotropic factor expression in leptin receptor-deficient mice

Background/Aims: Changes in the glucocorticoid milieu contribute to alterations in neurotropic factor expression across multiple brain regions. Insulin-resistant diabetes is often accompanied by dysregulation of adrenal steroid production in humans and animal models. Leptin receptor-deficient mice (db/db) show reduced expression of brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) in the hippocampus and increases in circulating corticosterone levels, but the extent to which elevated corticosterone levels mediate deficits in BDNF expression has not been determined. Methods: Using in situ hybridization, we measured the expression of BDNF, its receptor TrkB, and neurotropin-3 (NT-3) in the hippocampus and hypothalamus of db/db mice and wild-type controls following adrenalectomy and low-dose corticosterone replacement (ADX+CORT) or sham operation. Results: Lowering corticosterone levels restored BDNF and TrkB expression in the hippocampus of db/db mice. However, deficits in hypothalamic BDNF expression were not reversed following ADX+CORT. There was no effect of genotype or adrenalectomy on NT-3 expression in any brain region examined. Conclusion: Leptin receptor-deficient mice exhibit reduced BDNF expression in the hippocampus and hypothalamus. In the db/db mouse hippocampus, suppression of BDNF occurs in a glucocorticoid-dependent fashion, while hypothalamic BDNF expression is reduced via glucocorticoid-independent mechanisms. Region-specific signals therefore play a role in the interaction between corticosteroids and neurotropic factor expression.
Electrons > 40 ke V and protons > 500 ke V of solar origin

Following many solar flares, electrons with kinetic energy > 40 keV appear in interplanetary space. There are two classes of such electrons: prompt electrons which arrive within an hour of the flare and delayed electrons which arrive about a day following the flare. The promptly arriving electrons are found to be of two types: Simple (S) events are associated with solar flares which occur in the absence of large area Type I radio noise storm and the complex (C) events resulting from flares beneath these large radio noise regions. The propagation of energetic solar flare electrons to the earth is best described in terms of cones of propagation. In the S-events the cones have about 30° opening angle whereas in the C-type events the cones open to about 90° full angle. Outside the boundaries of these cones the electron flux is much reduced. Within the cones there is a net streaming of the electrons away from the sun. Solar flare electron fluxes do not show filamentary structure even at times when protons from the same flare do. This suggests that the electrons are injected into the interplanetary field from regions distinct from the proton injection region. The delayed solar electron events are accompanied by large fluxes of protons > 500 keV. These events are sometimes closely related to a sudden commencement.
Extending morphisms from finite to algebraic groups

Keywords: extending morphisms ; finite groups of Lie type ; algebraic groups ; indecomposable representations ; maximal subgroups Reference CTG-ARTICLE-1990-001doi:10.1016/0021-8693(90)90195-T Record created on 2008-12-16, modified on 2017-05-12
Direct adaptive decoupling control for general stochastic multivariable systems

This paper presents a novel adaptive decoupling controller for general stochastic multivariable systems with arbitrary time delay structure. The decoupling controller is constructed using a diagonal dynamic precompensator to diagonalize the system interactor matrix and then combining the feedforward control strategy and the generalized minimum variance approach. It cannot only control unstable and'or non-minimum phase processes but also decouple the closed-loop systems both dynamically and in the static state. It is adaptively implemented in direct form. The global convergence properties and parameter estimate consistency for this adaptive decoupling algorithm are also discussed. It is shown that this adaptive controller not only has globally convergent properties but also generates strongly consistent parameter estimates. The results of simulations and an application are proposed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm.
Metabolic control mechanisms in human erythrocytes. The role of glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase.

Hemolyzates of human red cells have been utilized to evaluate the role of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase as a control enzyme in the glycolytic pathway. The kinetic data obtained at pH 7.3 indicate Km values of 21 μ m , 143 μ m , and 6.6m m , respectively, for glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate, NAD, and inorganic phosphate. NADH is a competitive inhibitor of NAD with a Ki of 9.1 μ m . At physiologic concentrations of substrates and NADH, glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase is operating at less than 1% of maximal velocity. Consequently, despite the relatively high activity reported for this enzyme in erythrocytes, it appears likely that it is a site of metabolic control. It is clearly the rate-limiting reaction when the pH of the cells is raised or when the phosphate concentration of the external medium is increased markedly.
Decision-making styles and vocational maturity: An alternative perspective

Abstract This study examined the relationship between decision-making styles and vocational maturity with a focus on the current discrepancy between research and theory regarding the utility of rational decision making. While rational decision making has been central to many theoretical formulations in career development, recent research findings have not unequivocally supported this proposition. Based on the assumption that rational decision making would be more important to those individuals who do not have access to many of the traditional sources of vocational maturity, this study attempted to account for the inconsistency between research and theory by systematically considering relevant population attributes. The results of this investigation were consistent across two independent samples of community college students, in that a reliance upon the rational style was the only significant decision-making style predictor of vocational maturity; the dependent and intuitive decision-making styles did not add significant increments to the regression equations. The discussion highlighted the advantages of viewing theory, research, and practice in career decision making from a perspective that explicitly incorporates relevant attributes of given populations.
Biogeochemical prospecting for gold-bearing quartz veins of the Piedmont, Great Falls, Maryland

Abstract A plant-soil chemistry exploration survey of gold-quartz mineralization in the Wissahickon Formation of the Appalachian Piedmont was done in the vicinity of the Ford Mine, near Great Falls, Maryland, USA. Leaf samples were collected from nine plant species available at 73 sites: Acer rubrum (red maple), Asimina triloba (pawpaw), Carpinus caroliniana (ironwood), Cornus florida (flowering dogwood), Fagus grandifolia (American beech), Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel), Nyssa sylvatica (black gum), Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern), and Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum). Soil samples from the B horizon ( In soils, high concentrations of Au (33 ppb), Sb (1.8 ppm), Zn (646 ppm), and a high K2O/Na2O value (9.6) were directly related spatially to a gold-quartz vein along one traverse. F. grandifolia had strong concentrations of Au (to 17 ppb) and Zn (to 104 ppm) and a high K2O/Na2O (to 136) value displaced downslope up to 140 m from the vein along this same traverse. Soil would be the best prospecting sample in these situations. Of the nine plants species analysed (n = 25), one specimen of N. sylvatica of three analysed had the highest Au content (66 ppb vs.
Thermal Expansion of Pb3O4

Thermal expansion of Pb3O4 was investigated by high-temperature X-ray diffraction. The coefficient in the a0 direction is 14.6×10−6/°C. Expansion in the c0 direction is 32% greater, with a coefficient of 19.3×10−6/°C. Coefficients of expansion are linear from 25° to 490°C and are comparable with those of tetragonal and orthorhombic PbO.
Rayleigh scattering measurements of mixture fraction in a turbulent nonreacting propane jet

Time- and space-resolved mixture fraction measurements have been made throughout a turbulent nonreacting propane jet issuing into coflowing air using laser Rayleigh scattering. The objective of the measurements has been to obtain a better understanding of the flow structure and mixing process in turbulent variable-density jets where turbulent mixing has been decoupled from the effects of chemical heat release found in highly exothermic reacting jets. The measurements yield probability density distributions of the mixture fraction, from which the means, higher moments, and intermittency are calculated. Time histories of the Rayleigh signal are analyzed to obtain the power spectra and autocorrelations. Comparisons are made with results for other constant and variable-density turbulent jets and the observed differences are discussed.
New Applications of Particle Accelerators in Medicine, Materials Science, and Industry

Recently, the application of particle accelerators to medicine, materials science, and other industrial uses has increased dramatically. A random sampling of some of these new programs is discussed, primarily to give the scope of these new applications. The three areas, medicine, materials science or solid-state physics, and industrial applications, are chosen for their diversity and are representative of new accelerator applications for the future.
Cultivation of Trypanosoma theileri at 37 C in partially defined media.

SYNOPSIS. Trypanosoma theileri has become the 1st mammalian trypanosome to be serially cultivated in a blood- and cell-free medium at 37 C. This was accomplished by progressive simplification of an initial culture medium containing whole bovine blood. Fifty-one subcultures in 4- to 5-ml quantities of monophasic liquid media were made over a period of 1 year. The final medium contained hemin and a defined modification of McCoy 5a tissueculture medium, supplemented with a peptone solution. Hemin was essential and T. theileri grew best with ∼1 mg/100 ml. Counts reached 8 × 106 organisms/ml in 3–4 days. Seventy-ml volumes of medium supported growth of T. theileri to 3-4 × 106 organisms/ml. Early in the study trypomastigotes were the predominant nondividing form, but they were absent when the medium was being rapidly modified. Trypomastigotes reappeared when the medium was stabilized at the end of the study. Elimination of serum antigens from the medium should greatly facilitate antigenic analysis of T. theileri.
Standardized Data Processing: When Is It Needed in the Mining of Private-Sector Probe-Based Traffic Data to Measure Highway Performance?

The newly enacted U.S. transportation act Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century requires the reporting of highway performance in terms of congestion and reliability. With unprecedented coverage and detail, private-sector probe-based traffic data are one of the most promising sources for the establishment of a highway performance monitoring system that can track congestion and reliability on a national scale. But the data alone are not enough; many variants in the data and the data-processing procedures can cause significantly different results even from the same set of data. As demonstrated in this paper, the space mean speed feature of the probe data, the referencing of the segment locations, the frequency of data archiving, the calculation procedures, and the difference between experienced travel time and instantaneous travel time could play a role in determining the values of certain performance measures. Standardized data elements and data processing procedures should be established in the eff...
Mutually exclusive versus co-occurring diagnostic categories: the challenge of diagnostic comorbidity.

Diagnostic comorbidity is the rule rather than the exception in both DSM-IV and ICD-10. Three types of comorbidity include true comorbidity (clinically distinct entities), artifactual comorbidity (a b
Determining the timing of willow shrub dieback using epicormic shoots

Riparian willows are declining throughout the Rocky Mountains, USA. Dendrochronological methods can be used to age dieback and disturbance dates in trees, however, these methods are not suitable for multi-stemmed shrub species. We present a new method for aging willow dieback using epicormic shoots and compare our findings with an aerial photo analysis of our riparian valley study site in Rocky Mountain National Park. Epicormic shoots initiate when stem wounding affects the apical meristem. We determined the date of stem death by comparing the age of the dead stem above a wound with the age of the live stem below a wound. Epicormic shoots initiated below wounds an average of 2 years prior to stem death, suggesting that it takes stems 2 years to die after being wounded. Aerial photo analysis demonstrated a sharp decline in willow canopy cover across the valley and we show a coinciding increase in epicormic shoots during the period of willow canopy decline. This was followed by a decrease in the number of epicormic shoots formed per year as the number of tall stems able to produce epicormic shoots has decreased. Age analysis of epicormic shoots is a promising new method for examining local scale willow dieback and decline.
The role of impact in the stability of bipedal locomotion

A mathematical model of a simple inverted double-pendulum locomotion system was developed. The stability of the nonlinear model was analysed. Periodic impact of the system with the ground plays a major role in the achievement of stable locomotion. Phase-plane portraits of the generalized coordinates and velocities were utilized to study the behaviour of the system.
Electron slowing-down spectra in aluminum metal

We have studied theoretically the energy distribution of electrons generated in solid aluminum by uniformly distributed electron sources of various energies. Inelastic cross sections for energy loss and secondary electron creation are inferred from the electron-gas model for those electrons which are in the conduction band. Inner-shell excitations are treated using atomic models. Slowing-down spectra are computed for several monoenergetic sources and for ..beta.. particles from the decay of radioactive /sup 198/Au. Comparison with experimental data is made.
Dynamical scaling of the surface of finite-density ballistic aggregation

We study the roughness of aggregates that are formed by ballistic deposition with nonzero flux density of incoming particles. The flux density is controlled by a parameter 0\ensuremath{\le}p\ensuremath{\le}1. The scaling behavior of the interfacial width \ensuremath{\xi} does not depend on p and is the same as \ensuremath{\xi} found in a variety of other, related models. For short times \ensuremath{\xi}\ensuremath{\propto}${t}^{1/3}$ for a one-dimensional substrate and \ensuremath{\xi}\ensuremath{\propto}${t}^{0.22}$ for two-dimensional ones. The latter is not consistent with various theoretical predictions. Rough numerical estimates for the long-time exponent are also presented. In addition, we derive a relation between the width of the geometrical boundary of the aggregate and the width of the active region of growth. This relation, true for models in which the active zone is asymptotically correlated to the surface of the aggregate, is verified by our simulations.
A field-theoretical approach to the extended Hubbard model

Abstract We transform the quartic Hubbard terms in the extended Hubbard model to a quadratic form by making the Hubbard–Stratonovich transformation for the electron operators. This transformation allows us to derive exact results for mass operator and charge–charge and spin–spin correlation functions for s-wave superconductivity. We discuss the application of the method to the d-wave superconductivity.
Preservation of 2-D Crystals of Tubulin for Electron Crystallography

Zinc-induced sheets of tubulin are two-dimensional crystalline polymers that constitute an ideal sample for high resolution studies of tubulin by electron crystallography. We show that these 2-dimensional tubulin crystals can be stabilized by taxol against low-temperature depolymerization and degradation with time, easing the way for the preparation of electron microscopy samples. The preservation of the crystals to high resolution has been tested with different embedding media. While glucose-embedded samples diffract poorly, samples embedded in tannin consistently diffract to a resolution of at least 3.5 A. Even better results are obtained by embedding with a combination of tannin and glucose, which improves the flatness of the crystals and allows the collection of isotropic high-resolution data from tilted specimens.
Solvated Electrons in Organic Chemistry Laboratory

A novel experiment is described in which solvated electrons in liquid ammonia reduce a benzyl alcohol carbon without affecting the aromatic ring. The reductive activity of solvated electrons can be partially or completely quenched through the addition of electron scavengers to the reaction mixture. The effectiveness of these scavengers was found to qualitatively correlate with their electron affinities obtained from first-principles electronic-structure calculations. The reaction completion is monitored using 13C NMR spectroscopic analysis of the whole reaction mixture, without separation and purification. This interesting, dynamic, and diverse experiment combines a classical synthetic procedure, NMR spectroscopy, and molecular modeling and is suitable for second-year through fourth-year chemistry and biochemistry majors.
Estimating Means via Multiple Matrix Sampling: A Note on the Effects of Selected Data Base Characteristics.

In this paper, Shoemaker's (1972, 1973b) conclusions related to the influence of various data base characteristics (reliability, variability of item difficulty indices, and degree of skewness in the normative distribution) on the standard error of a mean estimated via Multiple Matrix Sampling (MMS) procedures are examined. It is noted that these conclusions are true under fairly restrictive conditions. Also, it is shown that even under these conditions it is more reasonable to attribute changes in the standard error to changes in examinee variability rather than to changes in these other data base characteristics.
Tempo discrimination of musical patterns: Effects due to pitch and rhythmic structure

The purpose of this research was to investigate a set of factors that may influence the perceived rate of an auditory event. In a paired-comparison task, subjects were presented with a set of music-like patterns that differed in their relative number of contour changes and in the magnitude of pitch skips (Experiment 1) as well as in the compatibility of rhythmic accent structure with the arrangement of pitch relations (Experiment 2). Results indicated that, relative to their standard referents, comparison melodies were judged to unfold more slowly when they displayed more changes in pitch direction, greater pitch distances, and an incompatible rhythmic accent structure. These findings are suggested to stern from animputed velocity hypo thesis, in which people overgeneralize certain invariant relations that typically occur between melodic and temporal accent structure within Western music.
A sand surface element for efficient modeling of residual stress in castings

Abstract This article describes a method to efficiently predict residual stresses in foundry castings. We replace explicit modeling of the sand mold during stress analysis by using a locally applied boundary condition element. Methods are given for assigning appropriate values to the individual elements, and we present several example problems. In these test problems, we also evaluate several constitutive models for the sand. We find that plastic strains and displacements in the casting do not depend strongly on the sand constitutive model. Further, the stress states produced, when using the new surface elements, are generally in good agreement with those found using a full mold. The computational advantages of the new element are demonstrated.
Detection of a new trigonal bipyramidal copper species in Cu–CaX zeolite by electron spin resonance and electron spin echo modulation analysis

Electron spin resonance and electron spin echo modulation analysis are used to identify the location and coordination of Cu2+ in hydrated and dehydrated CaX zeolite. A new, trigonal bipyramidally coordinated Cu2+ is found to be the dominant copper center in this zeolite. It is located in a six ring window (site SII) and coordinated to three six ring oxygens and two hydroxyls, one in the α cage and the other in the β cage of the zeolite. This Cu(Oz)3(OH)2 species is found to be stable for dehydration up to 180 °C. At higher temperatures the Cu2+ species seems to be reduced irreversibly. However, a Cu2+ species can be regenerated by oxidation and hydration but most of it is only trigonally coordinated.
Parental Satisfaction in the Adoption of Children with Learning Disorders: The Role of Behavior Problems.

We sought to determine the extent to which children's behavior problems would mediate the relationship between children's learning disorders and adoption satisfaction using nationally representative data from 1,865 adoptive parents. We found that high levels of behavior problems, operationalized as internalizing and externalizing behaviors, occurred more frequently in children with learning disorders, supporting our mediational model. We concluded that it was the behavior problems, not the learning disorders, that were most problematic for parents. Implications for both pre- and postadoption services are highlighted.
Registration of Five Exotic Germplasm Lines of Cotton Derived from Multiple Crosses among Gossypium Tetraploid Species

Species polycross (SP) cotton germplasm was developed from multiple crosses among Gossypium tetraploid species. SP156 (Reg. No. GP-903, PI 654087), SP177 (Reg. No. GP-904, PI 654088), SP179 (Reg. No. GP-905, PI 654089), SP205 (Reg. No. GP-906, PI 654090), and SP225 (Reg. No. GP-907, PI 654091) were released by the USDA-ARS for their highly desirable combinations of yield, yield components, and fi ber properties. The SP lines were tested for yield and fi ber quality in 2005, 2006, and 2007 at six year-locations. SP179 and SP225 averaged 1221 and 1348 kg ha –1 , respectively, for yield in three years’ trials compared with 1359 kg ha –1 for ‘Deltapine 555BR’. Fiber bundle strength of these two lines is 233 and 228 kN m kg –1 , respectively, compared with 227 kN m kg –1 for ‘FiberMax 960B2R’ (FM960B2R). Yields of SP156, SP177, and SP205 are at least 7% higher than the average, 965 kg ha –1 , of FM960B2R and ‘Phytogen 72’ (PHY72). Strength of SP156, SP177, and SP205 is 241, 238, and 236 kN m kg –1 , respectively, compared with 241 kN m kg –1 , the average of FM960B 2 R and PHY72. Span length and short fi ber content in these lines are also comparable to FM960B2R and PHY72.