cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Flow forecasting for a Hawaii stream using rating curves and neural networks

This paper illustrates the applications of feedforward back propagation and radial basis function neural networks for flow prediction of a Hawaii stream and one of its tributaries that render flash flood behavior. Stream flow is estimated from stream stage, width, cross-sectional area, and mean velocity at the gaging station. Since measurement of mean velocity is time-consuming, expensive, and dangerous during high flows, alternative methods of flow forecasting are needed. Traditionally, hydrologists use rating curves for flow estimates. The United States Geological Survey has been estimating stream discharge using conventional rating curves for Hawaii streams. The rating curves are developed from records of measured stream stage and discharge. Clearly, the rating curves are set up for cases in which stream stage is the only input and discharge is the output. However, major limitations of using a rating curve are that the effects of hysteresis (i.e. loop-rating) are not taken into account, and as a result the prediction accuracy is lost when the stream changes its flow behavior. As an alternative method, artificial neural networks are proposed. The performances of artificial neural networks are examined for two input data sets: one set with and the other set without mean velocity, but both including stream stage, width, and cross-sectional area for two gaging stations on the stream. The results show that for both input data sets, well-optimized neural networks can outperform rating curves for discharge forecasting. Additionally, it is worth noting that neural networks are capable of predicting the loop-rating curve, which is impossible to predict using conventional rating curves.
Renal failure in diabetes after intravenous urography

A review of the literature reveals that patients with juvenile onset diabetes with azotemia, associated vascular disease, and proteinuria, are at great risk of sustaining acute renal failure following intravenous pyelography. Predisposing factors are identified, but the exact mechanism of acute renal failure remains obscure. Since no prophylactic measures or effective treatment exist, the benefits and risk must be weighed prior to the procedure.
Observations on the life history of a fingernail shell of the genus Sphaerium

By statistical analysis and microscopical examination of a series of monthly quantitative collections, an attempt has been made to interpret the life history and reproductive habits of Sphaerium solidulum, one of the numerous species of the genus Sphaerium. Individuals of the species under observation have a distinctly limited life span of approximately one year. The period of maximum reproduction of this species does not occur in the summer months, as previously believed, but in the winter months. Seasonal growth rings are not present on this shell, although concentric lines are characteristic. No individuals of maximum size were present during the months from August to February. Maximum-size adults are apparently sterile. The analysis of distribution curves of each quantitative sample indicates two size groups in each collection as shown by the bimodal character of each graph. Distribution curves of embryos feature the bimodal character of the young and adult. The conclusions are founded on data secured from twelve monthly collections made from the same habitat totaling 7022 individuals.
Emerging patent issues in genomic diagnostics

The maturation of new technologies and the bundling of diagnostic tests and drugs poses new challenges for the intellectual property system.
Hydraulic Jump due to Jet Impingement on Micro-Patterned Surfaces Exhibiting Ribs and Cavities

This paper reports experimental results characterizing the hydraulic jumps that form due to liquid jet impingement on micro-patterned surfaces with alternating micro-ribs and cavities. The surfaces are characterized by the cavity fraction, which is defined as the width of a cavity divided by the combined width of a cavity and an adjoining rib. The surfaces are all hydrophilic and thus the cavity regions are wetted during the impingement process. Four different surface designs were studied, with respective cavity fractions of 0 (smooth surface), 0.5, 0.8, and 0.93. The experimental data spans a Weber number range (based on the jet velocity and diameter) of 600 to 2100 and a corresponding Reynolds number range of 11500 to 21400. As with jet impingement on a smooth surface, when a liquid jet strikes a ribbed surface it then moves radially outward in a thin film and eventually experiences a hydraulic jump, where the thickness of the film increases by an order of magnitude, and the velocity decreases accordingly. However, the anisotropy of the patterned surface causes a disparity in frictional resistance dependent upon the direction of the flow relative to the orientation of the ribs. This results in a hydraulic jump which is elliptical rather than circular in shape, where the major axis of the ellipse is aligned parallel to the ribs, concomitant with the frictional resistance being smallest parallel to the ribs and greatest perpendicular to the ribs. When the water depth downstream of the jump was imposed at a predetermined value, the major and minor axis of the jump decreased with increasing water depth, following classical hydraulic jump behavior. The experimental results indicate that for a given cavity fraction and downstream depth, the radius of the jump increases with increasing Reynolds number. At a specified Reynolds number and downstream depth, the hydraulic jump radius in the direction parallel to the ribs of a patterned surface is nominally equal to the jump radius for a smooth surface, regardless of cavity fraction. The jump radius perpendicular to the ribs is notably less than that for a smooth surface, and this radius decreases with increasing cavity fraction.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Reestablishing an intragastric ethanol self-infusion model in rats.

Background: There is a scarcity of behavioral models that will reliably produce ethanol intakes in rodents at levels that induce or maintain dependence. The present experiments were designed to reestablish a model that uses passive intragastric (IG) infusion of ethanol to induce tolerance/dependence/withdrawal before allowing rats to self-infuse ethanol intragastrically. Methods: Sprague–Dawley rats were surgically implanted with IG catheters and allowed to recover. During the passive infusion phase (3–6 days), rats in the experimental group were passively infused with 10% (v/v) ethanol (3.3–12.2 g/kg/d). Rats in the control group were not infused. During the self-infusion phase (5–6 days), all rats had access to 2 flavored solutions. Licks on 1 solution were paired with ethanol infusions (20%, v/v) whereas licks on the other solution were unpaired. Experiments differed in the specific passive infusion parameters and in the ethanol intake limit during self-infusion. Results: Rats in the experimental groups self-infused more ethanol per day (means of 4–7 g/kg/d) than did rats in the control group (means of 0–2.6 g/kg/d). Across all 3 studies, individual total daily intakes exceeded 5 g/kg on 35% of the self-infusion days in ethanol-preexposed rats compared with 1.5 g/kg) compared with control rats (<10%). The addition of a daily 6-hour ethanol-free period during the passive infusion phase (in Experiments 2 and 3) led to higher ethanol intakes than in Experiment 1. Results of a control experiment showed that differences between experimental and control groups in Experiments 1 to 3 were a result of ethanol experience and not a general effect of differential infusion experience. Conclusions: Relatively short periods of passive IG infusion of ethanol induced levels of ethanol self-infusion in genetically heterogeneous rats that were comparable with drinking intakes previously reported in rats selectively bred for ethanol intake/preference. Although the induction of dependence/withdrawal may have played a role in this outcome, an alternative interpretation is that experimental rats self-infused more ethanol because passive exposure produced tolerance to aversive pharmacological effects that would otherwise limit intake of the paired flavor because of development of conditioned taste aversion. The current findings provide a strong basis for future work designed to identify parametric determinants of this form of self-administration, its sensitivity to genetic influences, and its neurobiological substrates.
Novel materials based on self-assembly of organophosphonic acids

Abstract We have identified two distinct types of molecular building blocks based on organophosphonic acids for the design of polymeric crown ether assemblies and three-dimensional open structures. The phosphorylated crown ethers, N-(phosphonomethyl)-aza-18-crown-6 (1H2N) and N-(phosphonomethyl)-aza-15-crown-5 (2H2N) form one-dimensional polymeric arrays like ‘leaflets’ through hydrogen bonded and coordination bonded self-assembly. Nitrilotri(methylphosphonic acid) (3H6N) forms unique three-dimensional hexagonal structures when reacted with amines, 1,7-phenanthroline, 1,10-phenanthroline, acridine and tripropylamine in 1:1 molar ratio. Monodeprotonation of 3H6N in these complexes triggers a prototypal self-complementary 3D hexagonal architecture. The structural features of 1:1 and 1:1.5 complexes of acid 3H6N with acridine reveal the importance of template effects in stabilizing the three-dimensionally hydrogen bonded open structures.
Two origins of replication in composite R plasmid DNA.

Electron microscopic examination of a composite R plasmid made up of an RTF component and an r-determinants component shows that replication may originate from either the RTF origin or the r-determinants origin of replication.
Incidence of Head Injury: Lasting Effects among College Students and Working Adults in the General Population:

224 (21%) of 1067 persons in a nonclinical population surveyed had one or more head injuries resulting in unconsciousness. They had a total of 306 head injuries with 113 (31%) of them resulting in lasting neurological effects. Both in a pilot project and in the main study, headache was the most commonly reported of an array of symptoms that are essentially a postconcussion syndrome. Language: en
Examining classroom influences on student perceptions of school climate: The role of classroom management and exclusionary discipline strategies

There is growing emphasis on the use of positive behavior supports rather than exclusionary discipline strategies to promote a positive classroom environment. Yet, there has been limited research examining the association between these two different approaches to classroom management and students' perceptions of school climate. Data from 1902 students within 93 classrooms that were nested within 37 elementary schools were examined using multilevel structural equation modeling procedures to investigate the association between two different classroom management strategies (i.e., exclusionary discipline strategies and the use of positive behavior supports) and student ratings of school climate (i.e., fairness, order and discipline, student-teacher relationship, and academic motivation). The analyses indicated that greater use of exclusionary discipline strategies was associated with lower order and discipline scores, whereas greater use of classroom-based positive behavior supports was associated with higher scores on order and discipline, fairness, and student-teacher relationship. These findings suggest that pre-service training and professional development activities should promote teachers' use of positive behavior support strategies and encourage reduced reliance on exclusionary discipline strategies in order to enhance the school climate and conditions for learning.
Soluble and cell-bound forms of steel factor activity play distinct roles in melanocyte precursor dispersal and survival on the lateral neural crest migration pathway

Trunk neural crest cells segregate from the neuroepithelium and enter a 'migration staging area' lateral to the embryonic neural tube. After some crest cells in the migration staging area have begun to migrate on a medial pathway, a subpopulation of crest-derived cells remaining in the migration staging area expresses mRNAs for the receptor tyrosine kinase, c-kit, and tyrosinase-related protein-2, both of which are characteristic of melanocyte precursors. These putative melanocyte precursors are subsequently observed on the lateral crest migration pathway between the dermatome and overlying epithelium, and then dispersed in nascent dermal mesenchyme. Melanocyte precursors transiently require the c-kit ligand, Steel factor for survival. Although Steel factor mRNA is transiently expressed in the dorsal dermatome before the onset of trunk neural crest cell dispersal on the lateral pathway, it is no longer produced by dermatomal cells when melanocyte precursors have dispersed in the dermal mesenchyme. To assess the role of Steel factor in migration of melanocyte precursors on the lateral pathway, we analyzed melanocyte precursor dispersal and fate on the lateral pathway of two different Sl mutants, Sl, a null allele, and Sld, which lacks cell surface-associated Steel factor but produces a soluble form. No melanocyte precursors were detected in the dermatome of embryos homozygous for the Sl allele or in W mutants that lack functional c-kit. In contrast, in embryos homozygous for the Sld allele, melanocyte precursors appeared on the lateral pathway, but subsequently disappear from the dermis. These results suggest that soluble Steel factor is required for melanocyte precursor dispersal on the lateral pathway, or for their initial survival in the migration staging area. In contrast, membrane-bound Steel factor appears to promote melanocyte precursor survival in the dermis.
Living density and psychopathology: a re-examination of the negative model.

Most density-pathology research has assumed that dense living conditions have ‘ pathological’ effects on urban dwellers. This study considers the possibility that both low and high density may be problematic and that in-unit and out-unit density may have interacting effects. The data included all first admissions from Chicago to 44 in-patient psychiatric facilities in Illinois during 1960–61. After controlling for socioeconomic status (SES) and race, living alone, which defines low in-unit density, was associated with high admission rates, but only when the outside density was low. Among those not living alone, the contribution of density to admissions was agelinked, with interactions between in–unit and out-unit density observed in the older ages. The results lead to the general conclusions that the negative model guiding earlier research is inadequate and that in-unit and out-unit density have interacting effects on the risk of psychopathology.
CUDA acceleration of P7Viterbi algorithm in HMMER 3.0

Dynamic programming matrices and the P7Viterbi algorithm of HMMER 3.0 show high parallelism in its code. Within the code, every query can have its score calculated in parallel with one thread per query. In this paper, these parallel features were exploited through the use of CUDA and a GPGPU. The CUDA implementation of this algorithm being performed on the Tesla C1060 enabled a 10–15x speedup depending on the number of queries. Without concurrent kernel execution and memory transfers a speedup of over 4x was achieved in terms of the total execution time. With a wide range of data sizes where the CPU has greater performance, it would be important that CUDA enabled programs properly select when to and not utilize the GPU for acceleration.
ALS-associated mutant SOD1G93A causes mitochondrial vacuolation by expansion of the intermembrane space and by involvement of SOD1 aggregation and peroxisomes.

Background Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an age-dependent neurodegenerative disease that causes motor neuron degeneration, paralysis and death. Mutations in Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) are one cause for the familial form of this disease. Transgenic mice expressing mutant SOD1 develop age-dependent motor neuron degeneration, skeletal muscle weakness, paralysis and death similar to humans. The mechanism whereby mutant SOD1 induces motor neuron degeneration is not understood but widespread mitochondrial vacuolation has been observed during early phases of motor neuron degeneration. How this vacuolation develops is not clear, but could involve autophagic vacuolation, mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT) or uncharacterized mechanisms. To determine which of these possibilities are true, we examined the vacuolar patterns in detail in transgenic mice expressing mutant SOD1G93A.
Aspects of the patient intake process in a psychotherapy clinic.

Recent interest in psychotherapy services in the National Health Service has raised questions regarding the availability of existing psychotherapy facilities. In attempting to answer some of these questions, a study was made of aspects of the referral and assessment segments of the intake process of 180 patients referred in 1975 to the Paddington Centre for Psychotherapy Adult Out-patient Department. Of this group, 137 were referred for individual psychoanalytically orientated psychotherapy, 82 of whom were offered assessment interviews, 45 offered treatment and 40 actually began treatment during the study period. An additional seven patients originally assessed for group therapy were offered and began individual treatment. Some characteristics of the referral population, the referring agencies, the effects of a waiting list, and the phenomenon of dropouts are discussed and compared with findings from other Centres.
Cerebral microbleeds: overview and implications in cognitive impairment

Cerebral microbleeds (MBs) are small chronic brain hemorrhages which are likely caused by structural abnormalities of the small vessels of the brain. Owing to the paramagnetic properties of blood degradation products, MBs can be detected in vivo by using specific magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences. Over the last decades, the implementation of these MRI sequences in both epidemiological and clinical studies has revealed MBs as a common finding in many different populations, including healthy individuals. Also, the topographic distribution of these MBs has been shown to be potentially associated with specific underlying vasculopathies. However, the clinical and prognostic significance of these small hemorrhages is still a matter of debate as well as a focus of extensive research. In this article, we aim to review the current knowledge on the pathophysiology and clinical implications of MBs, with special emphasis on the links between lobar MBs, cerebral amyloid angiopathy, and Alzheimer’s disease.
An Evaluation of a Self-Management Intervention to Increase On-Task Behavior with Individuals Diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of the most prevalent disorders in school-age children. Children with ADHD often have difficulty at school and at home. Medication is a common...
Sepsis stimulates calpain activity in skeletal muscle by decreasing calpastatin activity but does not activate caspase-3.

We examined the influence of sepsis on the expression and activity of the calpain and caspase systems in skeletal muscle. Sepsis was induced in rats by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Control rats were sham operated. Calpain activity was determined by measuring the calcium-dependent hydrolysis of casein and by casein zymography. The activity of the endogenous calpain inhibitor calpastatin was measured by determining the inhibitory effect on calpain activity in muscle extracts. Protein levels of μ- and m-calpain and calpastatin were determined by Western blotting, and calpastatin mRNA was measured by real-time PCR. Caspase-3 activity was determined by measuring the hydrolysis of the fluorogenic caspase-3 substrate Ac-DEVD-AMC and by determining protein and mRNA expression for caspase-3 by Western blotting and real-time PCR, respectively. In addition, the role of calpains and caspase-3 in sepsis-induced muscle protein breakdown was determined by measuring protein breakdown rates in the presence of specific inhibitors. Sepsis resulted in increased muscle calpain activity caused by reduced calpastatin activity. In contrast, caspase-3 activity, mRNA levels, and activated caspase-3 29-kDa fragment were not altered in muscle from septic rats. Sepsis-induced muscle proteolysis was blocked by the calpain inhibitor calpeptin but was not influenced by the caspase-3 inhibitor Ac-DEVD-CHO. The results suggest that sepsis-induced muscle wasting is associated with increased calpain activity, secondary to reduced calpastatin activity, and that caspase-3 activity is not involved in the catabolic response to sepsis.
Searching for ‘analysis’ in the southwest: AM vs. PM newspapers in four ‘fire zones’

Abstract Never in the history of newspapering has our Fourth Estate been so unsure of what its premiere medium should be doing as we approach the 21st century. Because daily newspaper circulation and readership have been declining since 1987, every newspaper consultant in America has an opinion about what papers must do. This exploratory study focuses on what Southwest media managers think newspapers must do—provide analysis and context in local news coverage. Context is defined and eight competing southwestern newspapers in Alburquerque, El Paso, Phoenix, and Tucson are content analyzed for “analysis” by investigating 200 seperate 1994 editions in this non-probability, purposive benchmark sample.
Linear and Nonlinear Approaches to Control of Single Joint Motion by Functional Electrical Stimulation

One of the problems facing systems which restore function to paralyzed muscles by artificial electrical stimulation is control of the stimulated muscle. This paper reviews experimental and simulation work in control of a single joint acted on by electrically stimulated muscle. Results for experimental work in control of the free-swinging human shank are presented for open-loop and PD closed-loop controllers as well as for a novel controller which makes use of a controllable friction brake which acted on the joint in combination with the electrical stimulation. Simulation results are presented for computed torque, sliding mode, and adaptive sliding mode controllers. The simulations used a muscle model with a time-varying muscle gain to a approximate effects of muscle fatigue. The paper concludes that open-loop and fixed-parameter closed-loop controllers are inadequate for precision control of FES systems.
The AIDS pandemic in historic perspective.

Potent antiretroviral drugs (ART) have changed the nature of AIDS, a once deadly disease, into a manageable illness and offer the promise of reducing the spread of HIV. But the pandemic continues to expand and cause significant morbidity and devastation to families and nations as ART cannot be distributed worldwide to all who need the drugs to treat their infections, prevent HIV transmission, or serve as prophylaxis. Furthermore, conventional behavioral prevention efforts based on theories that individuals can be taught to modify risky behaviors if they have the knowledge to do so have been ineffective. Noting behavioral strategies targeting individuals fail to address broader social and political structures that create environments vulnerable to HIV spread, social scientists and public health officials insist that HIV policies must be comprehensive and also target a variety of structures at the population and environmental level. Nineteenth-century public health programs that targeted environmental susceptibility are the historical analogues to today’s comprehensive biomedical and structural strategies to handle AIDS. Current AIDS policies underscore that those fighting HIV using scientific advances in virology and molecular biology cannot isolate HIV from its broader environment and social context any more than their nineteenth-century predecessors who were driven by the filth theory of disease.
Cognitive Deficits in Unaffected First-Degree Relatives of Schizophrenia Patients: A Meta-analytic Review of Putative Endophenotypes

Cognitive deficits may index genetic liability for schizophrenia and are candidate endophenotypes for the illness. In order to compare the degree of sensitivity among cognitive tasks to group differences between healthy relatives and controls and the influence of moderator variables, this review reports mean effect sizes for 43 cognitive test scores from 58 studies of cognitive performance in the unaffected adult relatives of schizophrenia patients. Results indicate reliable relative-control differences, in the small to medium effect size range, over a diverse array of tasks, with the largest effect sizes seen in complex versions of continuous performance tasks, auditory verbal learning, design copy tests, and category fluency. Three study design features were found to have significant effects on overall effect size magnitude: groups unmatched on education, groups unmatched on age, and asymmetric psychiatric exclusion criteria. After excluding studies with the latter 2 design features, reliable performance differences were still observed over a smaller subset of cognitive test variables, with the largest effect sizes seen in Trails B (d = 0.50) and performance measures from both simple (d = 0.56) and complex (d = 0.60-0.66) versions of continuous performance tasks. Four of the 6 largest effect sizes reflect tasks with high executive control demands in common, such as working memory demands, set shifting, and inhibition of prepotent responses. Cognitive deficits, particularly those tapping such executive control functions, should continue to prove valuable as endophenotypes of interest in the search for specific genetic factors related to schizophrenia.
Intercellular communication of cellular stress monitored by γ-H2AX induction

When cells are exposed to ionizing radiation (IR), unexposed cells that share media with damaged cells exhibit similar effects to irradiated cells including increased levels of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). Hypothesizing that this effect, known as the radiation-induced bystander effect, may be a specific instance of communication between damaged and undamaged cells regardless of damage source, we demonstrated that exposure of target cells to non-IR induces bystander damage in non-targeted cells as measured by gamma-H2AX and 53BP1 focal formation. Initially, bystander damage was found primarily in S-phase cells, but at later times, non-S-phase cells were also affected. In addition, media from undamaged malignant and senescent cells also was found to induce DSBs in primary cultures. Media conditioned on cells targeted with either ionizing or non-IR as well as on undamaged malignant and senescent cells contained elevated levels of several cytokines. One of these, transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta), and nitric oxide (NO) were found to elevate numbers of gamma-H2AX/53BP1 foci in normal cell cultures similar to levels found in bystander cells, and this elevation was abrogated by NO synthase inhibitors, TGF-beta blocking antibody and antioxidants. These findings support the hypothesis that damage in bystander cells results from their exposure to cytokines or reactive compounds released from stressed cells, regardless of damage source. These results have implications for oncogenesis in that they indicate that damaged normal cells or undamaged tumor cells may induce genomic instability, leading to an increased risk of oncogenic transformation in other cells with which they share media or contact directly.
Making connections: service-learning in introductory cell and molecular biology.

This report describes service-learning in a first-year majors biology course in which students serve throughout the semester with community partners for an average of 25 hours/student. All of the partnerships are based on providing engaging hands-on biology activities for youth in underserved urban areas surrounding the campus. Students in the course have designed new lessons and activities, supported biology labs, mentored younger students, and facilitated afterschool science clubs. Throughout the course, integration between the students’ service experience in the community and their learning in the course is emphasized. This is accomplished in multiple ways including class discussion, group activities, feedback from the instructor and teaching assistant, and weekly blogs. A three-year average of anonymous university-wide course evaluations suggested that students in this service-learning course considered their biology course to be highly rigorous. In both blogs and anonymous surveys students reported that their service and its integration with the course not only advanced their professional skills and sense of community engagement, but also enhanced their learning in biology.
The mechanism of H171T resistance reveals the importance of Nδ-protonated His171 for the binding of allosteric inhibitor BI-D to HIV-1 integrase

Allosteric HIV-1 integrase (IN) inhibitors (ALLINIs) are an important new class of anti-HIV-1 agents. ALLINIs bind at the IN catalytic core domain (CCD) dimer interface occupying the principal binding pocket of its cellular cofactor LEDGF/p75. Consequently, ALLINIs inhibit HIV-1 IN interaction with LEDGF/p75 as well as promote aberrant IN multimerization. Selection of viral strains emerging under the inhibitor pressure has revealed mutations at the IN dimer interface near the inhibitor binding site. We have investigated the effects of one of the most prevalent substitutions, H171T IN, selected under increasing pressure of ALLINI BI-D. Virus containing the H171T IN substitution exhibited an ~68-fold resistance to BI-D treatment in infected cells. These results correlated with ~84-fold reduced affinity for BI-D binding to recombinant H171T IN CCD protein compared to its wild type (WT) counterpart. However, the H171T IN substitution only modestly affected IN-LEDGF/p75 binding and allowed HIV-1 containing this substitution to replicate at near WT levels. The x-ray crystal structures of BI-D binding to WT and H171T IN CCD dimers coupled with binding free energy calculations revealed the importance of the Nδ- protonated imidazole group of His171 for hydrogen bonding to the BI-D tert-butoxy ether oxygen and establishing electrostatic interactions with the inhibitor carboxylic acid, whereas these interactions were compromised upon substitution to Thr171. Our findings reveal a distinct mechanism of resistance for the H171T IN mutation to ALLINI BI-D and indicate a previously undescribed role of the His171 side chain for binding the inhibitor.
Comparison of Three Wheelchair Cushions for Effectiveness of Pressure Relief

Objective Previous studies have suggested that no single wheelchair pressure-relieving cushion material was optimal for all persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the short-term pressure-relieving ability of the three most commonly prescribed wheelchair cushions (Roho, Jay, Pindot) for a person with SCI. Method The number of pressure sensors registering at the buttock-cushion interface during wheelchair sitting was measured by the Xsensor Pressure Mapping System after 5 min of sitting. An alternating treatments research design, with an initial baseline and a final treatment phase ending with the most effective cushion for relieving pressure, was used for the clinical evaluation. Measurements were compared using visual inspection and a Wilcoxon signed ranks test. Results Data analyses indicated that the number of pressure sensors that registered potential harmful levels of pressure at the buttock-cushion interface for the Roho cushion was significantly less than those of the Jay and Pindot cushions. Conclusion The Roho cushion was more effective in relieving pressure at the seating surface than the Jay and Pindot cushions.
Stoichiometric adsorption complexes in H-ZSM-5, H-ZSM-12, and H-mordenite zeolites

In order to understand the chemical properties of acid sites in zeolites, the authors have been examining the adsorption of simple molecules which can undergo classical acid-catalyzed chemistry in high-silica H-ZSM-5. For many molecules, including a series of alcohols, toluene, 2-propanamine, and 2-propanone, the authors have found that, following adsorption and evacuation, a well-defined adsorption complex corresponding to one molecule per Al site could be obtained. Furthermore, the unimolecular reactivities of the molecules in these 1 : 1 adsorption complexes were consistent with solution-phase, Bronsted acid-catalyzed chemistry and were unaffected by the Al concentration for SiO{sub 2}/Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} ratios from 38 to 520. These results imply that the active acid sites in H-ZSM-5 are identical and are present in a concentration of one/Al atom. This is consistent with conclusions reached from n-hexane cracking studies on H-ZSM-5. In order to examine the effect of solid-state structure on these acid sites, the authors extended their previous work to two other zeolites. H-ZSM-12 and H-mordenite. The adsorption of 2-propanol and 2-propanamine were chosen for study since the 1 : 1 complexes formed by these two molecules were the most distinctive in our previous adsorption studies. The authors show in this paper thatmore » 2-propanol and 2-propanamine also form clearly defined, 1 : 1 adsorption complexes with the Al site in H-ZSM-12 and H-mordenite. The reactivity of these adsorption complexes is identical to the reactivity of the 1 : 1 adsorption complexes formed by these molecules in H-ZSM-5. The complexes decompose at the same temperatures and form the same products on all three zeolites. This is strong evidence that the acid sites formed by isolated Al atoms in a zeolite lattice are chemically equivalent, independent of the structure of the lattice.« less
Comparison of Functional Reach in Fallers and Nonfallers in an Independent Retirement Community

The older population in America is steadily increasing. Additionally, falls increase dramatically with age. Balance disorders and postural control changes have been found to contribute to falls sustained by the elderly. Functional Reach (FR) has been proposed as a simple balance assessment tool which is valid, reliable, and sensitive to changes in balance. The aim of this study was to compare the FR of fallers and nonfallers living independently in a retirement community. Fifty-two subjects were divided into three age groups and categorized by fall status. The first three correctly performed FR trials were measured and recorded. After the age of 84 years, FR significantly decreases. There were no significant differences in the FR between fallers and nonfallers among community dwelling seniors. A simple standardized balance assessment tool needs to be developed to identify those older people at risk for falling. Functional Reach has the potential to be such a tool. However, FR needs to be standardized acco...
Characterization of Pre-Kallikrein Activity in Developing Transplanted Mammalian Tumors

Mechanisms by which tumor vasculature develops and is maintained are under stood only limitedly. Factors affecting tumor vascular space and the regulation of blood flow through tumors have been described recently (1). The sequential development of the tumor vasculature also has been studied extensively (2, 3), and the subject of a recent review (4). Sarcomas transplanted into Algire chambers develop an exceedingly rich vascular pattern with capillary proliferation beginning three days post-transplant. These newly-formed vessels are of wide diameter with many arterial-venous anastamoses, resulting in reduced tumor blood flow.
Palliative balloon dilation of pulmonic stenosis in a dog with tetralogy of Fallot.

A 6-month-old Beagle with tetralogy of Fallot underwent balloon valvuloplasty of the pulmonary valve. Balloon valvuloplasty was successful and resulted in palliation of clinical signs and an improved quality of life for approximately 9 months. After 9 months, the dog became symptomatic and a modified Blalock-Taussig shunt procedure was successfully performed. Based on this report, balloon valvuloplasty in dogs with tetralogy of Fallot appears to be a feasible technique that may result in improvement of clinical signs. In addition, it may allow for the delay of the more invasive surgical palliation and provide time for weight gain and development of the pulmonary vascular bed for greater ease of surgical shunt creation.
Verbal R-S strength following S-R extinction

Retroactive inhibition (RI) of R-S associations was investigated by comparing B-A recall following A-B, A-C learning with B-A recall following A-B learning and an interpolated rest activity. Highly integrated and available sequences of A units were employed to avoid greater A unit availability in the experimental group at the time of recall. The results indicated significant RI of R-S associations following A-B, A-C learning
Shared Decision Making--Finding the Sweet Spot

The patient's role in medical decision making is often not matched to the clinical circumstances: rather than making strong recommendations when there's greater certainty and allowing patients to decide when there's greater uncertainty, we should do the opposite.
Distribution of fullerene nanomaterials between water and model biological membranes.

Biological membranes are one of the important interfaces between cells and pollutants. Many polar and hydrophobic chemicals can accumulate within these membranes. For this reason, artificial biological membranes are appealing surrogates to complex organisms for assessing the bioaccumulation potential of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs). To our knowledge, this work presents the first quantitative study on the distribution of fullerene ENMs between lipid bilayers, used as model biological membranes, and water. We evaluated the lipid bilayer–water association coefficients (Klipw) of aqueous fullerene aggregates (nC60) and fullerol (C60(ONa)x(OH)y, x + y = 24). Kinetic studies indicated that fullerol reached apparent equilibrium more rapidly than nC60 (2 h versus >9 h). Nonlinear isotherms can describe the distribution behavior of nC60 and fullerol. The lipid bilayer–water distributions of both nC60 and fullerol were pH-dependent with the accumulation in lipid bilayers increasing systematically as the pH decre...
Parenting: a genetic-epidemiologic perspective.

Objective : To understand the relation between parenting and later psychopathology, it is important to clarify the role of genetic and environmental factors in both the elicitation and the provision of parenting behavior. Method : A 16-item version of the Parental Bonding Instrument was administered to 1) 606 fathers and 848 mothers of an epidemiologic sample of adult female-female twin pairs, who reported on their parenting of their twins ; 2) the twins (both members of 546 monozygotic and 390 dizygotic pairs), who reported on the parenting they had received from their father and mother ; 3) co-twins from these pairs, who reported on the parenting provided by their father and mother to their twin sister ; and 4) members of the adult twin pairs (145 monozygotic and 117 dizygotic) who both had children, who reported on the parenting they provided to their offspring. The data were subjected to model fitting decomposing three sources of variance : additive genetic factors ; family, or common, environment ; and an individual's unique environment. Results : Responses to the Parental Bonding Instrument produced three factors : parental warmth, protectiveness, and authoritarianism. According to parents, these factors were largely a common environmental experience for their children. Responses from twins, however, indicated that genetic factors played a substantial role in the elicitation of warmth from parents and a more modest role in influencing parental protectiveness and authoritarianism. While reports of twins and co-twins on protectiveness and authoritarianism yielded similar results, analysis of responses from co-twins indicated a degree of importance of genetic factors in eliciting parental warmth which was midway between that from parents' reports and twins' reports. Answers from twins as parents indicated that provision of warmth was substantially heritable, while resemblance between twins in providing protectiveness and authoritarianism was due to family environment. Conclusions: The provision of parenting is influenced by attitudes derived from the parent's family of origin as well as by genetically influenced parental temperamental characteristics. The elicitation of parenting is influenced by temperamental traits of the offspring that are, in turn, under partial genetic control. Genetic factors in both parent and child are more important for warmth than for protectiveness or authoritarianism.
A Distributed Components Management Module of Network Management System Based on SOA

As the fast development of network technology,network size is larger and larger,the equipments which run on the internet are more and more,more and more complex,it is going to be a serious puzzling problem on how to manage these diverse network equipments so as to manage the scalable heterogeneous network.Traditional centralized network management architecture can only manage the specific network equipment;it is useless for traditional centralized network management to manage the new equipments.As the development of design ideology,to some extent however,the traditional Object-Oriented-Design is going to be out of date,which can not meet the demand of network development.The paper proposed a network management architecture based on SOA(Service-Oriented Architecture),which is distributed and designed by components,breaks through the disadvantages of traditional design pattern based on multi-hieratical as well as significantly reduces the interaction among software components.Network management architecture based on SOA will be the future trend.
Influence of Lowered High-temperature Allowable Stress on Application of Steel CASE 2180

The high-temperature allowable stress of Steel CASE 2180 regulated in American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME)and Ministry of Economy,Trade and Industry(METI)of Japan has been reduced.The minimum wall thickness of CASE 2180 tube is re-checked afterwards,so as to illustrate the influence of lowered high-temperature allowable stress on Steel CASE 2180 and existing problems.
Fallibility’s Ultimate Epistemic Consequence

We now turn to the most controversial argument of Hume’s “Of Scepticism with Regard to Reason”, which I shall call the “iterative probability argument”. The conclusion of Hume’s argument seems to render a wide-ranging negative epistemic verdict: “… [w]hen I reflect on the natural fallibility of my judgment…all the rules of logic require a continual diminution, and at last a total extinction of belief and evidence” (T1.4.1.6, 183). If there is indeed a total extinction of evidence for any belief, then no belief has any epistemic merit. All beliefs are on a par, epistemically speaking. On the face of it, this conclusion seems to be a simple but significant statement of epistemic egalitarianism. Moreover, even those who do not interpret Hume as a sceptic recognize the overall importance of this argument for all Hume interpreters (see Morris 1989, 58). So it is easy to see why this passage is so vital for developing a clear view of Hume’s thoughts on scepticism.
Effects of range spread and aspect angle on radar fall detection

Single-sensor Doppler radar faces many challenges in elderly fall detection. The similarities of the Doppler signatures between falls and other motions of fast time transitions render CW-based EM sensing insufficient for proper motion discriminator. Further, motion articulations in the directions of a small or zero projections along the line-of-sight generate noisy Doppler signatures and greatly contribute to the confusion matrix. In this paper, the benefit from the range information is used to distinguish between fall and non-fall motions with similar Doppler features. We also examine the effects of the aspect angle on fall detection. Simulation results using Kinect-based radar simulator and 24 GHz UWB radar sensing system, demonstrate the merits of the proposed platform for indoor motion monitoring serving assisted living applications.
A life in comparative politics: Chasing questions in five continents:

Why, as a comparativist, did I find it compelling to carry out field research in over 20 countries on five different continents? Because comparative politics should be question-driven, not driven b...
Gamma-Globin Gene Expression in Adult Human Erythroblasts Is Associated with Concurrent Changes in the Nuclear Protein Levels of at Least Seven Transcription Factors.

Alterations of globin-gene cluster expression mediated through cytokine signal transduction have been previously established. In adult erythroblasts, ex vivo combinatorial signaling from cytokines such as erythropoietin (EPO), stem cell factor (SCF), and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-B) causes a robust reactivation of fetal hemoglobin. To determine if cytokine-activated expression of fetal hemoglobin significantly alters the transcript and protein abundance of nuclear transcription factors, profiling studies of transcription factor expression were performed. Primary CD34+ cells were cultured as donor-matched pairs using cytokine combinations that produced low vs. high levels of gamma-globin mRNA and fetal hemoglobin (Bhanu et al. Blood, 2005). To identify candidate genes, total RNA from 15 separate healthy volunteer donors was collected and combined into 5 pools. The pooled RNA was labeled and hybridized to Affymetrix HG-U133 Plus 2.0 GeneChips. Informatics strategies were aimed toward identifying differential expression of those transcription factors with binding motif on any of the 10 human globin gene promoter regions (553 transcription factors; 115 binding motif families), versus all transcription factors demonstrating robust expression with changes of at least 3-fold. Combining both strategies, 11 candidate transcription factors were identified (BCL11A, CBFB, EGR-1, ELK-1, HHEX, ID2, MAFF, MNDA, SOX-6, TCF3, and THRB). RNA-based descriptions of gene activity do not necessarily reflect changes in protein levels; therefore, Western analyses were performed. GATA-1 was utilized as a control, since no significant change in GATA-1 mRNA was detected by expression array profiling. Nuclear protein extracts were obtained from 3 additional donors’ CD34+ cells cultured under conditions of low vs. high gamma-globin mRNA synthesis (1.6E+06 ± 3.8E+05 and 1.5E+07 ± 6.3E+06 copies/ng total RNA, respectively). Western blot analysis revealed reproducible and robust differences in protein expression levels for 7 of the 11 candidate transcription factors (EGR-1, ELK-1, HHEX, ID2, MAFF, MNDA, and SOX-6). Two other candidates were expressed below the protein detection limit. GATA-1 and the remaining 2 candidates demonstrated no change in the nuclear protein levels. Among the group with confirmed changes in gene expression, ELK-1 and EGR-1 are downstream targets of the MAP kinase signal transduction cascade. MAFF, ID2, and SOX-6 are known regulators of globin gene expression. The differential expression of HHEX and MNDA warrants further investigation. These data demonstrate that cytokine signal transduction causes changes in the intranuclear levels of at least 7 transcription factors concurrently with activation of gamma-globin gene expression.