cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Analysis of airspace degradation and optimization of en-route traffic under degraded conditions

Weather is known to play an important role in the management of air traffic. Using an existing traffic flow optimization environment, the impacts of different weather perturbations on the airspace are analyzed. Simulations to optimize traffic flows using estimates of controller taskload in the degraded environment are run and their results are compared with ETMS data. They highlight the discrepancies between nominal and perturbed conditions, and point out further promising research topics.
Single Black Mothers’ Role Strain and Adaptation across the Life Course

This study examines how Black single mothers maintain resiliency, despite having family provider role strain (e.g., low income, joblessness, and underemployment). Guided by a strengths-based role strain and adaptation approach that addresses how ethnic-specific strengths facilitate resiliency across the life course, we extend Bowman and Sanders (Journal of Comparative Family Studies 29:39–56, 1998) work on Black unmarried fathers. We focus on the role of strong religious beliefs and extended family closeness in protecting psychological functioning, despite having family provider role difficulties. Multivariate analyses were conducted on a sub-sample of 617 single Black mothers using the National Survey of Black Americans, a national probability sample survey which includes data from 2,107 face-to-face interviews. The early postindustrial era of the late 1970s and 1980s created critical and unprecedented provider role challenges because both Black men and women faced the highest levels of joblessness and economic marginality since the Great Depression of the 1930s. As hypothesized, strong religious beliefs and extended family closeness operated as significant protective factors promoting more resilient outcomes—a sense of personal efficacy, self-esteem, and life satisfaction. These theory-driven findings can also guide future policy-relevant research on more complex provider role strain–adaptation processes among Black mothers facing chronic poverty during the 2007 Great Recession and beyond.
The evolution of damage and fracture in iron compacts with various initial porosities

Abstract This study evaluated the tensile and compressive mechanical properties of iron compacts of various initial porosities, and determined the effect of deformation on the evolution of porosity, pore size and pore shape. The loss in flow strength with porosity was considerably greater than predicted by Gurson's constitutive model for ductile porous materials, but it was in substantial agreement with recent modifications of that model. The modified models also give good agreement with observed porosity growth with increasing deformation. Pore growth in the tensile direction was somewhat less than that predicted from a model based on an isolated spherical pore and pore growth in the transverse direction was somewhat greater than that predicted from such a model. These discrepancies are probably a consequence of pore interactions during deformation. Observations on fracture behavior in the iron compacts showed that a localization model based on a band imperfection gave good predictions of ductility when the imperfection had a porosity about one and one-half to two times that of the bulk porosity. Dirichlet cell analyses give direct evidence that regions containing local area fractions of porosity up to 4–7 times the bulk porosity are present in the different iron compacts. These regions, however, are not in the form of bands of indefinite extent, and it is evident that further progress on the effect of pore distribution on fracture requires a more detailed theory.
Solar distillation of salt water in plastic tubes using a flowing air stream

Abstract Experiments on the solar distillation of salt water are described in which the blackened water partially fills long horizontal plastic tubes. Air is swept along the surface of the solar-heated water, and the water vapor is removed in a water-cooled condenser. The effect of one or two enclosing tubes and the effect of different types of plastics were studied. The efficiencies of solar distillation were about 20 to 40 per cent, based on hourly performance and on the area of water intercepting the radiation.
Microsurgical Anatomic Features and Nomenclature of the Paraclinoid Region

Objective We describe the detailed microsurgical anatomic features of the clinoid (C5) segment of the internal carotid artery (ICA) and surrounding structures, clarify the anatomic relationships of structures in this region, and emphasize the clinical relevance of these observations. Furthermore, because the nomenclature of the paraclinoid region is confusing and lacks standardization, this report provides a glossary of terms that are commonly used to descibe the anatomic features of the paraclinoid region. Methods The region surrounding the anterior clinoid process was observed in 70 specimens from 35 formalin-fixed cadaveric heads. Detailed microanatomic dissections were performed in 10 specimens. Histological sections of this region were obtained from the formalin-fixed cadaveric specimens. Results The clinoid segment of the ICA is the portion that abuts the clinoid process. This portion of the ICA can be directly observed only after removal of the clinoid process. The dura of the cavernous sinus roof separates to enclose the clinoid process. The clinoid segment of the ICA exists only where this separation of dural layers is present. Because the clinoid process does not completely enclose the ICA in most cases, the clinoid segment is shaped more like a wedge than a cylinder. The outer layer of the dura (dura propria) is a thick membrane that fuses with the adventitia of the ICA to form a competent ring that separates the intradural ICA from the extradural ICA. The thin inner membranous layer of the dura loosely surrounds the ICA throughout the entire length of its clinoid segment. The most proximal aspect of this membrane defines the proximal dural ring. The proximal ring is incompetent and admits a variable number of veins from the cavernous plexus that accompany the ICA throughout its clinoid segment. Conclusion The narrow space between the inner dural layer and the clinoid ICA is continuous with the cavernous sinus via an incompetent proximal dural ring. This space between the clinoid ICA and the inner dural layer contains a variable number of veins that directly communicate with the cavernous plexus. Given the inconstancy of the venous plexus surrounding the clinoid ICA, we think that categorical labeling of the clinoid ICA as intracavernous or extracavernous cannot be justified.
Renal Stone Risk in a Simulated Microgravity Environment: Impact of Treadmill Exercise With Lower Body Negative Pressure

Purpose: Prolonged exposure to microgravity during spaceflight causes metabolic changes that increase the risk of renal stone formation. Studies during the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Shuttle missions demonstrated alterations in renal function, fluid homeostasis and bone resorption that result in increased urinary supersaturation of calcium oxalate, brushite, sodium urate and uric acid. Developing countermeasures to increased urinary supersaturation is an important priority as the duration of space missions increases.Materials and Methods: A total of 11 sets of identical twins remained on 6-degree head down, tilt bed rest for 30 days to simulate prolonged microgravity. One twin per pair was randomly selected to exercise while supine in a lower body negative pressure chamber 6 days weekly for 40 minutes, followed by 5 minutes of resting lower body negative pressure at 50 mm Hg. The other twin served as a nonexercise control. Pressure in the exercise lower body negative pressure chamber (52 to 63 mm Hg) was ...
Inhibition of nucleic acid synthesis in leukemia 1210 cells by antimetabolites of coenzyme Q10.

Abstract Thirteen diversified antimetabolites of coenzyme Q10 which have antitumor activity in vivo were tested for inhibition of uptake of tritiated thymidine and uridine into DNA and RNA, respectively, of L1210 cells grown in tissue culture. Eight of these antimetabolites have inhibitory activities of the same order of magnitude as the used anticancer drugs, rubidazone and ellipticine. 5-ω-Phenylpropylmercapto-2,3-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone was particularly potent to inhibit nucleic acid synthesis; ED50 for DNA = 2.1 μM and ED50 for RNA = 4.0 μM.
Effects of 6-MBOA on reproductive function in ponies, mice, rats and mink

Abstract The effect on reproduction of the plant derivative 6-methoxybenzoxazolinone (6-MBOA), which stimulates reproductive function in voles, was tested in pony mares, laboratory mice and rats, and mink. There was not a significant effect of intravenous injections of 6-MBOA on the ovarian follicles during the transition between the anovulatory and ovulatory seasons in mares. No significant effect of intraperitoneal injections of 6-MBOA on the weight of uterus or ovaries was found in eight-week-old mice, failing to confirm the results of an earlier report. In immature white rats, 6-MBOA treatment resulted in an increase in uterine weight (P 25 118 ) than multiparous females ( 9 144 ) that lost one or more kits within 48 hours. These results, however, were not altered by 6-MBOA treatment.
The Sunyaev-Zeldovich Effect in Abell 370

We present interferometric measurements of the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect towards the galaxy cluster Abell 370. These measurements, which directly probe the pressure of the cluster's gas, show the gas is strongly aspherical, on agreement with the morphology revealed by x-ray and gravitational lensing observations. We calculate the cluster's gas mass fraction by comparing the gas mass derived from the SZ measurements to the lensing-derived gravitational mass near the critical lensing radius. We also calculate the gas mass fraction from the SZ data by deriving the total mass under the assumption that the gas is in hydrostatic equilibrium (HSE). We test the assumptions in the HSE method by comparing the total cluster mass implied by the two methods. The Hubble constant derived for this cluster, when the known systematic uncertainties are included, has a very wide range of values and therefore does not provide additional constraints on the validity of the assumptions. We examine carefully the possible systematic errors in the gas fraction measurement. The gas fraction is a lower limit to the cluster's baryon fraction and so we compare the gas mass fraction, calibrated by numerical simulations to approximately the virial radius, to measurements of the global mass fraction of baryonic matter, OMEGA(sub B)/OMEGA(sub matter). Our lower limit to the cluster baryon fraction is f(sub B) = (0.043 +/- 0.014)/h (sub 100). From this, we derive an upper limit to the universal matter density, OMEGA(sub matter) <= 0.72/h(sub 100), and a likely value of OMEGA(sub matter) <= (0.44(sup 0.15, sub -0.12)/h(sub 100).
Basic Conditioning Factors' Influences on Adolescents' Healthy Behaviors, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Care

This article reports a secondary statistical analysis of data from a study investigating the relationships among health-promoting self-care behaviors, self-care self-efficacy, and self-care agency in an adolescent population (Callaghan, 2005). The purpose of this study was to identify the influences of selected basic conditioning factors on the practice of healthy behaviors, self-efficacy beliefs, and ability for self-care in 256 adolescents. The research instruments used to collect data for this study include: Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II Scale; Self-Rated Abilities for Health Practices Scale; Exercise of Self-Care Agency Scale; demographic questionnaire assessing basic conditioning factors. The results of this analysis identified significant relationships between the following basic conditioning factors and adolescents' practice of healthy behaviors, self-efficacy of those behaviors, and self-care abilities: support system, adequate income, adequate living conditions, gender, routine practice of religion, and reported medical problems/disabilities. These findings can give adolescent health nurses direction in developing interventions that promote the self-care and health in this specific population.
Treating agrammatic aphasia within a linguistic framework: Treatment of Underlying Forms

Background : Formal linguistic properties of sentences—both lexical, i.e., argument structure, and syntactic, i.e., movement —as well as what is known about normal and disordered sentence processing and production, were considered in the development of Treatment of Underlying Forms (TUF), a linguistic approach to treatment of sentence deficits in patients with agrammatic aphasia. TUF is focused on complex, non-canonical sentence structures and operates on the premise that training underlying, abstract, properties of language will allow for effective generalisation to untrained structures that share similar linguistic properties, particularly those of lesser complexity. Aims : In this paper we summarise a series of studies focused on examining the effects of TUF. Methods & Procedures : In each study, sentences selected for treatment and for generalisation analysis were controlled for their lexical and syntactic properties, with some structures related and others unrelated along theoretical lines. We use si...
Preliminary Results from an Astrophysically Relevant Radiation Transfer Experiment

The results of a diffusive radiation transport experiment in a simple geometry are presented. The experiment depends primarily on two variables, the target density and the temperature drive, which are characterized well. The experiment is designed to verify and validate radiation transport in codes. The codes can then be used to model astrophysical systems. The results of the experiments are found to be in good agreement with simulation results.
A robust minimax approach to classification

When constructing a classifier, the probability of correct classification of future data points should be maximized. We consider a binary classification problem where the mean and covariance matrix of each class are assumed to be known. No further assumptions are made with respect to the class-conditional distributions. Misclassification probabilities are then controlled in a worst-case setting: that is, under all possible choices of class-conditional densities with given mean and covariance matrix, we minimize the worst-case (maximum) probability of misclassification of future data points. For a linear decision boundary, this desideratum is translated in a very direct way into a (convex) second order cone optimization problem, with complexity similar to a support vector machine problem. The minimax problem can be interpreted geometrically as minimizing the maximum of the Mahalanobis distances to the two classes. We address the issue of robustness with respect to estimation errors (in the means and covariances of the classes) via a simple modification of the input data. We also show how to exploit Mercer kernels in this setting to obtain nonlinear decision boundaries, yielding a classifier which proves to be competitive with current methods, including support vector machines. An important feature of this method is that a worst-case bound on the probability of misclassification of future data is always obtained explicitly.
(PS)-weak lower semicontinuity in one dimension: A necessary and sufficient condition

In this paper, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for a one-dimensional functional
Designing for scale and differentiation

Naive pictures of the Internet frequently portray a small collection of hosts or LAN's connected by a "cloud" of connectivity. The truth is more complex. The IP-level structure of the Internet is composed from a large number of constituent networks, each of which differs in some or all of transmission technologies, routing protocols, administrative models, security policies, QoS capabilities, pricing mechanisms, and similar attributes. On top of this, a whole new structure of application-layer overlays and content distribution networks, equally diverse in the sorts of ways mentioned above, is rapidly evolving. Virtually any horizontal slice through the current Internet structure reveals a loosely coupled federation of separately defined, operated, and managed entities, interconnected to varying degrees, and often differing drastically in internal requirements and implementation. Intuitively, it is natural to think of each of these entities as existing in a region of the network, with each region having coherent internal technology and policies, and each region managing its interactions with other regions of the net according to some defined set of rules and policies.In this paper, we propose that a key design element in an architecture for extremely large scale, wide distribution and heterogeneous networks is a grouping and partitioning mechanism we call the region. Furthermore we postulate that such a mechanism can provide increased functionality and management of existing unresolved problems in current networks. The paper both describes a proposed definition of the region concept and explores the utility of such a mechanism through a series of examples. We claim that there is significant added benefit to generalizing the idea of the region.
Screening for Ovarian Cancer: A Reality Check

Detection of stage I neoplastic disease has become the major goal for cancer prevention and reduction of cancer-associated mortality. Whereas this goal is realized in many human solid tumors, including carcinomas arising from breast, endometrium, prostate, and gastrointestinal tract, it has become a tantalizing objective in ovarian cancer. Several population-based clinical studies designed to screen for early stage ovarian cancer fail to provide a clinically satisfied positive predictive value and, as a result, lead to several unnecessary surgeries that are associated with higher morbidity and mortality. One of the reasons is that high-grade serous carcinoma—the most common and lethal ovarian cancer—may likely arise from fallopian tube epithelium and involve the ovary secondarily. Therefore, “ovarian” cancer is unlikely ever stage I at presentation. This commentary will briefly summarize the recent findings in ovarian cancer screening and discuss the challenges, promise, and reality for early detection of ovarian cancer.
Temperature variability and moisture synergistically interact to exacerbate an epizootic disease.

Climate change is altering global patterns of precipitation and temperature variability, with implications for parasitic diseases of humans and wildlife. A recent study confirmed predictions that increased temperature variability could exacerbate disease, because of lags in host acclimation following temperature shifts. However, the generality of these host acclimation effects and the potential for them to interact with other factors have yet to be tested. Here, we report similar effects of host thermal acclimation (constant versus shifted temperatures) on chytridiomycosis in red-spotted newts ( Notophthalmus viridescens ). Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd ) growth on newts was greater following a shift to a new temperature, relative to newts already acclimated to this temperature (15°C versus 25°C). However, these acclimation effects depended on soil moisture (10, 16 and 21% water) and were only observed at the highest moisture level, which induced greatly increased Bd growth and infection-induced mortality. Acclimation effects were also greater following a decrease rather than an increase in temperature. The results are consistent with previous findings that chytridiomycosis is associated with precipitation, lower temperatures and increased temperature variability. This study highlights host acclimation as a potentially general mediator of climate–disease interactions, and the need to account for context-dependencies when testing for acclimation effects on disease.
Soft News and Political Knowledge: Evidence of Absence or Absence of Evidence?

In "Any Good News in Soft News?" Markus Prior investigates whether, beyond enhancing their attentiveness to select political issues (Baum, 2002a), consumers also learn about politics from soft news. He presents evidence suggesting that the audience for soft news is much smaller than that for hard news, and that a self-expressed preference for soft news outlets is associated with at most sporadic gains in factual political knowledge. In this commentary, I argue that the audience for soft news outlets is, in fact, quite large, even rivaling that for hard news. I further argue that long-term retention of factual political knowledge--the focus of Prior's web-based survey--is an overly restrictive definition of learning. By broadening our definition--taking into account recent insights from cognitive and social psychology concerning human information processing--it becomes possible to understand how consuming soft news might indeed be associated with learning about politics, but not necessarily with an enhance...
Returning Anthropology to Its Roots

In Search of the Primitive. Stanley Diamond. New Brunswich, N.J.: Transaction Books (E. P. Dutton and Company), 1974.
Taking the Troubles across the Atlantic: Ireland's UN Initiatives and Irish–US Diplomatic Relations in the early years of the Conflict in Northern Ireland, 1969–72

When the Northern Ireland civil-rights movement turned violent in the summer of 1969 the Republic of Ireland had few options to attempt to influence the conflict. While the Fianna Fail government of Taoiseach Jack Lynch hoped to enter into direct negotiations with the British over the future of Northern Ireland, Dublin quickly decided to attempt to internationalise the crisis. Ireland made two attempts to directly involve the United Nations and also sought the help of the United States to put pressure on Britain to accept Irish proposals and advice. While these attempts failed to produce their stated goals, they did help to persuade an angry Irish public that Lynch's government was active in trying to end the violence in Northern Ireland. This facilitated the political survival of the Lynch government in the face of challenges from more extreme nationalists within Fianna Fail, and therefore helped to promote a moderate policy on Northern Ireland that became the standard of the Republic's response to the crisis.
Effect of human guidance and state space size on Interactive Reinforcement Learning

The Interactive Reinforcement Learning algorithm enables a human user to train a robot by providing rewards in response to past actions and anticipatory guidance to guide the selection of future actions. Past work with software agents has shown that incorporating user guidance into the policy learning process through Interactive Reinforcement Learning significantly improves the policy learning time by reducing the number of states the agent explores. We present the first study of Interactive Reinforcement Learning in real-world robotic systems. We report on four experiments that study the effects that teacher guidance and state space size have on policy learning performance. We discuss modifications made to apply Interactive Reinforcement Learning to a real-world system and show that guidance significantly reduces the learning rate, and that its positive effects increase with state space size.
Severe obesity: a growing health concern A.S.P.E.N. should not ignore.

The definition of malnutrition in the published standards of the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (A.S.P.E.N.) is any derangement in the normal nutrition status and includes overnutrition, commonly referred to as obesity. The incidence of obesity is increasing and reaching epidemic proportions in the United States and even worldwide. This has significant financial impact as our society spends billions of dollars on fad diets, commercial weight-loss programs, nutrition and dietary supplements, prescription and over-the-counter medications, and health clubs. Another approximately $100 billion are spent to treat the medical consequences of obesity. Currently, for those patients with intractable morbid obesity, defined as having a body mass index >40 kg/m2, surgery offers the only option for achieving meaningful and sustainable weight loss. The resultant weight loss dramatically improves health and decreases the cost of health care for these patients. Years of refinement in technology and ...
Frontal midline theta oscillations during working memory maintenance and episodic encoding and retrieval.

article i nfo Article history: Accepted 1 August 2013 Available online 8 August 2013 Neural oscillations in the theta band (4–8 Hz) are prominent in the human electroencephalogram (EEG), and many recent electrophysiological studies in animals and humans have implicated scalp-recorded frontal midline theta(FMT)inworkingmemoryandepisodicmemoryencodingandretrievalprocesses.However,thefunctional significanceof theta oscillations in human memory processes remains largely unknown. Here, we review studies in human and animals examining how scalp-recorded FMT relates to memory behaviors and also their possible neural generators. We also discuss models of the functional relevance of theta oscillations to memory processes and suggest promising directions for future research.
Cognitive-Motor Relationships in the Growing Years

Abstract Jerry R. Thomas describes the changes in information processing during childhood and adolescence and how these changes affect motor performance. Thomas reviews several of the processes in memory that change with development to produce increased performance, in particular, processing speed and control processes such as rehearsal. Children and adults are compared, and examples of practical applications in the area of motor development are presented. The second contribution to this section, by G. Lawrence Rarick, elaborates upon the impact of movement experiences on cognitive functions and academic achievement of the child, in particular the learning-disabled. Rarick discusses the cognitive processes involved in the acquisition of motor skills as well as intellectual abilities, and suggests that the nature of the processes may differ depending upon whether the task is primarily motor or intellectual.
Diazotrophic endophytes: progress and prospects for nitrogen fixation in monocots

The development of nitrogen fixation in maize can be considered the “holy grail” of nitrogen fixation research. As nitrogen fertilization is one of the highest costs of corn production, the development of a symbiosis between diazotrophic bacteria and corn would be of enormous economic value. Such a discovery would also improve human health as it would decrease the amount of nitrate in ground water as well as in corn cultured for human consumption. Several proposals have been made toward this end. These include: a) the transfer of root nodulation genes from a legume to maize; b) the expression of the bacterial nif regulon in maize organelles; and c) the development of corn lines with the ability to accept fixed nitrogen from diazotrophs in the rhizosphere. All of these proposals have enormous technical problems to overcome such that the development of nitrogen-fixing corn in the near term has been considered unlikely. An alternative and less-technically challenging approach may be a thorough study of non-pathogenic bacterial endophytes that already inhabit the corn plant.
Effect of Partial Proteolysis and Succinylation on Functionality of Corn Germ Protein Isolate

Corn germ protein isolate (CGPI) was partially hydrolyzed with trypsin and pepsin and succinylated at three levels. Various functional and electrophoretic properties of the native and modified protein were determined. Water absorption and foaming properties of CGPI were Improved by partial hydrolysis with trypsin; emulsifying capacity and nitrogen solubility were reduced; oil absorption was increased only slightly. CGPI pepsin hydrolyzate has decreased oil absorption, nitrogen solubility and emulsifying capacity but improved foaming properties; water absorption was unchanged. Treatment of CGPI with succinic anhydride improved water and oil absorption, nitrogen solubility and foaming capacity but decreased emulsifying capacity; foam stability was unchanged. Succinylation retarded electropohoretic mobility while hydrolysis altered band intensities.
Chromosome rearrangements, recombination suppression, and limited segregation distortion in hybrids between Yellowstone cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri) and rainbow trout (O. mykiss)

Background: Introgressive hybridization is an important evolutionary process that can lead to the creation of novel genome structures and thus potentially new genetic variation for selection to act upon. On the other hand, hybridization with introduced species can threaten native species, such as cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) following the introduction of rainbow trout (O. mykiss). Neither the evolutionary consequences nor conservation implications of rainbow trout introgression in cutthroat trout is well understood. Therefore, we generated a genetic linkage map for rainbow-Yellowstone cutthroat trout (O. clarkii bouvieri) hybrids to evaluate genome processes that may help explain how introgression affects hybrid genome evolution. Results: The hybrid map closely aligned with the rainbow trout map (a cutthroat trout map does not exist), sharing all but one linkage group. This linkage group (RYHyb20) represented a fusion between an acrocentric (Omy28) and a metacentric chromosome (Omy20) in rainbow trout. Additional mapping in Yellowstone cutthroat trout indicated the two rainbow trout homologues were fused in the Yellowstone genome. Variation in the number of hybrid linkage groups (28 or 29) likely depended on a Robertsonian rearrangement polymorphism within the rainbow trout stock. Comparison between the female-merged F1 map and a female consensus rainbow trout map revealed that introgression suppressed recombination across large genomic regions in 5 hybrid linkage groups. Two of these linkage groups (RYHyb20 and RYHyb25_29) contained confirmed chromosome rearrangements between rainbow and Yellowstone cutthroat trout indicating that rearrangements may suppress recombination. The frequency of allelic and genotypic segregation distortion varied among parents and families, suggesting few incompatibilities exist between rainbow and Yellowstone cutthroat trout genomes. Conclusions: Chromosome rearrangements suppressed recombination in the hybrids. This result supports several previous findings demonstrating that recombination suppression restricts gene flow between chromosomes that differ by arrangement. Conservation of synteny and map order between the hybrid and rainbow trout maps and minimal segregation distortion in the hybrids suggest rainbow and Yellowstone cutthroat trout genomes freely introgress across chromosomes with similar arrangement. Taken together, these results suggest that rearrangements impede introgression. Recombination suppression across rearrangements could enable large portions of non-recombined chromosomes to persist within admixed populations.
Technetium and Neptunium Reactions in Basalt/Groundwater Systems

Sorption isotherms and apparent concentration limits for Tc(VII) and Np(V) for a variety of groundwater/basalt systems were determined using Grande Ronde basalt samples representative of the Hanford Site candidate high-level waste repository. Under oxic redox conditions (air present), little or no sorption of technetium was observed; neptunium exhibited low to moderate sorption ratios. Under anoxic redox conditions (oxygen-free), low to moderate sorption of technetium was often observed, but the extent of sorption was highly dependent upon the groundwater composition and the method of pretreatment (if any) of the basalt. Sorption isotherms for technetium under reducing redox conditions (hydrazine added) indicate an apparent concentration limit of approximately 10/sup -6/ mol/l Tc. No apparent concentration limit was found for neptunium for concentrations in groundwater up to 10/sup -6/ mol/l and 8 x 10/sup -7/ mol/l under oxic and reducing (hydrazine added) redox conditions, respectively. Valence control and valence analysis experiments suggest that the sorption or precipitation of Tc and Np from groundwater in the presence of basalt may result from a heterogeneous reaction occurring on the surface of the basalt. One of the critical factors of this reduction reaction appears to be the accessibility of the reactive ferrous iron component of themore » basalt. The laboratory simulation of groundwater redox conditions representative of the repository environment through the use of solution phase redox reagents is of questionable validity, and information obtained by such experimental methods may not be defensible for site performance assessment calculations. Anoxic experiments conducted in an argon-filled glove box appear better suited for the laboratory simulation of in situ redox conditions. 15 references, 6 figures.« less
Maximum exercise as an outcome in COPD: minimal clinically important difference.

Limitation of physical activity occupies a central role in the symptom complex of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and improvement in exercise capacity is a key outcome of response to COPD therapy. Maximum exercise capacity testing facilitates assessment of physiologic mechanisms of exercise and allows quantitation of the degree of limitation. This manuscript utilizes published data from the National Emphysema Treatment Trial to investigate the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in maximum exercise capacity in patients with severe emphysema. Distribution- and opinion-based methods were used to estimate MCID. Expert clinician opinion yielded a value of 10 Watts as the MCID for change in maximum exercise capacity. Baseline standard deviation and error data yielded a one-half standard deviation-based estimate of 10.5 Watts and a standard error-based estimate of 4.2 Watts. In subjects randomized to medical therapy, the mean ( ± SD) 24-month change in maximum exercise cap...
Finite element modeling of slug tests in an aquifer with stratigraphical and structural heterogeneities.

Slug interference tests using an array of multilevel active and monitoring wells permit enhanced aquifer characterization. Analyses of these field test data rely on numerical inverse models. In order to provide synthetic data sets and to have a better understanding of the flow mechanisms, we used a three-dimensional finite element analysis (FEHM) to explore the effects of idealized, stratigraphical (strata) and structural (faults) heterogeneities with low permeability values on the transient head field that is associated with slug tests in an aquifer. Firstly, we tested our model on homogeneous aquifers and the effectiveness of our modeling strategies have been validated via the excellent agreement of our modeling results with those of the semi-analytical model of Liu & Butler (1995). In our heterogeneity investigations, we embedded vertical and horizontal zones of lower permeability into a homogenous, isotropic, and confined aquifer to represent low-permeability faults and strata respectively. A slugged interval is located at the center of the aquifer. Effects of strata thickness and permeability contrast as well as other effects associated with the offset of low-permeability strata were explored. In particular, modeling results are represented by contour maps of peak travel time and maximum head perturbation of generated hydraulic pulses. Furthermore, various phenomena, such as real-time matrix diffusion, intermittent matrix–fracture interactions, and faster pulse arrival through a longer flow trajectory, are concretely presented in the snapshots of head perturbations in the aquifer. Our finite element modeling provides useful information for understanding the behaviors of diffusive pressure propagation in an aquifer with stratigraphical and/or structural heterogeneities, and for designing hydraulic tomography to enhance aquifer characterization.
Switch-on shocks

It is argued that parallel propagating Alfven waves steepen to second order in the wave amplitude, rather than first order, as is the case for oblique MHD waves. An analytical solution for the structure of weak switch-on shocks is derived. The Rankine-Hugoniot relations for finite amplitude switch-on shocks are obtained in a compact form. The differential equation for resistive switch-on shocks is solved, and the resistive critical Mach number is obtained. The differential equation for resistive switch-on shocks with finite ion inertia is identical to the one obtained in the pure resistive case. It is argued that efficient electron heat conduction can significantly extend the range of upstream parameters for which switch-on shocks are expected.
Resolving Problems among Neighbors in Post-Soviet Russia: Uncovering the Norms of the Pod”ezd

The article presents findings from a qualitative study of how Russians deal with neighbors who have leaked water onto them. In the Russian context, this is neither an uncommon nor a small problem. Building on US-based studies of neighborhood relations, the article lays out three alternative strategies: avoidance, self-help, and third-party intervention. The Russian participants lived in close proximity to one another and had little opportunity for exit. The study documents a strong preference for self-help, confirming the potency of the relational distance hypothesis for Russia. In contrast to their US counterparts, the Russian participants’ lack of exit did not give rise to more intense and prolonged disputes. The findings suggest that there is a strong informal norm in favor of neighbors resolving disputes among themselves and that the residents who share common entryways (pod”ezdy) work out the parameters of acceptable behavior over time. These informal norms shape Russians’ legal consciousness.
Tensile Creep and Creep‐Recovery Behavior of a SiC‐Fiber─Si3N4‐Matrix Composite

The tensile creep and creep-recovery behavior of a hot-pressed unidirectional SiC-fiber/Si3N4-matrix composite was investigated at 1200 C in air, in order to determine how various sustained and cyclic creep loading histories would influence the creep rate, accumulated creep strain, and the amount of strain recovered upon specimen unloading. The data accumulated indicate that the fundamental damage mode for sustained tensile creep at stresses of 200 and 250 MPa was periodic fiber fracture and that the creep life and the failure mode at 250 MPa were strongly influenced by the rate at which the initial creep stress was applied. Cyclic loading significantly lowered the duration of primary creep and the overall creep-strain accumulation. The implications of the results for microstructural and component design are discussed.
Acceptance and suitability of novel trees for Orthotomicus erosus, an exotic bark beetle in North America

To predict whether an herbivorous pest insect will establish in a new area, the potential host plants must be known. For invading bark beetles, adults must recognize and accept trees suitable for larval development. The preference-performance hypothesis predicts that adults will select host species that maximize the fitness of their offspring. We tested five species of North American conifers and one angiosperm for adult acceptance and suitability for reproduction of the Mediterranean pine engraver, Orthotomicus erosus (Wollaston). Red pine, Pinus resinosa Aiton, and white spruce, Picea glauca (Moench) Voss, were accepted by adult beetles and suitable for reproduction to the extent of adult replacement. Others, such as balsam fir, Abies balsamea (L.) Mill., eastern hemlock, Tsuga canagensis (L.) Carriere, and tamarack, Larix laricina (Du Roi) Koch, were acceptable but unsuitable. The presence of tree species that are acceptable to adults but unsuitable for reproduction may affect the ability of O. erosus to establish across North America.
Neurologic Abnormalities in Mouse Models of the Lysosomal Storage Disorders Mucolipidosis II and Mucolipidosis III γ

UDP-GlcNAc:lysosomal enzyme N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphotransferase is an α2β2γ2 hexameric enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of the mannose 6-phosphate targeting signal on lysosomal hydrolases. Mutations in the α/β subunit precursor gene cause the severe lysosomal storage disorder mucolipidosis II (ML II) or the more moderate mucolipidosis III alpha/beta (ML III α/β), while mutations in the γ subunit gene cause the mildest disorder, mucolipidosis III gamma (ML III γ). Here we report neurologic consequences of mouse models of ML II and ML III γ. The ML II mice have a total loss of acid hydrolase phosphorylation, which results in depletion of acid hydrolases in mesenchymal-derived cells. The ML III γ mice retain partial phosphorylation. However, in both cases, total brain extracts have normal or near normal activity of many acid hydrolases reflecting mannose 6-phosphate-independent lysosomal targeting pathways. While behavioral deficits occur in both models, the onset of these changes occurs sooner and the severity is greater in the ML II mice. The ML II mice undergo progressive neurodegeneration with neuronal loss, astrocytosis, microgliosis and Purkinje cell depletion which was evident at 4 months whereas ML III γ mice have only mild to moderate astrocytosis and microgliosis at 12 months. Both models accumulate the ganglioside GM2, but only ML II mice accumulate fucosylated glycans. We conclude that in spite of active mannose 6-phosphate-independent targeting pathways in the brain, there are cell types that require at least partial phosphorylation function to avoid lysosomal dysfunction and the associated neurodegeneration and behavioral impairments.
An Experience-dependent Aspect of Human Visual Acuity

Visual acuity tests were conducted using letters arranged in horizontal or vertical arrays. A significantly higher error rate was found for column arrangements. This effect was not evident when acuities were determined for Landolt ring targets or, with another group of subjects, for Chinese characters. Furthermore, children who knew the alphabet but did not yet read showed no effect. These results are consistent with the notion that visual experience may influence the development of visual resolution.
Do Outside Options Matter Inside Marriage? Evidence from State Welfare Reforms

I analyze the impact of the early 1990s state waivers from Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) guidelines to understand how changes in options outside of marriage affect household expenditures. AFDC waivers decreased the public assistance available to impoverished divorced women and thereby reduced a woman's bargaining threat point in marriage. Using the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CEX) and an empirical synthetic control approach, I find that decreases in potential welfare benefits altered the expenditure patterns of two-parent families. Waivers were associated with increased expenditure on food at home relative to restaurant meals and decreased expenditure on child care and women's clothing, suggesting greater home production and decreased consumption by women. Such changes are evident only for households containing a woman with a reasonable probability of receiving welfare benefits if her marriage ended. The changes in expenditure patterns suggest that reductions in a wife's outside options cause her utility within marriage to decline.
Abstract 206: An Obesity Paradox in Acute Decompensated Heart Failure

Background: Prior studies on heart failure (HF) have shown that body mass index (BMI) is inversely associated with mortality. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of morbid obesity (BMI > 40 kg/m2) on in-hospital mortality in patients presenting with Acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF). Methods: The Nationwide Inpatient Sample of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project was analyzed for acute HF hospitalizations across the United States. A total number of 966,167 hospitalized patients with ADHF in 2009 were reviewed. Results: Morbidly obese patients constituted 13.4% of all patients with ADHF. Analysis of the unadjusted data revealed that morbidly obese patients compared with those not morbidly obese were less likely to die during hospitalization (OR 0.55, %95CI 0.53-0.57, P<0.0001). Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate the overall probability of in-hospital death with adjustments for age, sex, race, Elixhauser comorbidities, primary payer, hospital location, hospital teaching status, hospital bed-size, and total hospital admissions. The adjusted hazard of in-hospital death (HR 0.87, p< <.0001) indicates that there was statistically significant difference in the risk of in-hospital death associated with being morbidly obese. Conclusions: In this cohort of hospitalized patients with ADHF, higher BMI was associated with lower in-hospital mortality risk. The relationship between BMI and adverse outcomes in HF appears to be complex and consistent with the phenomenon of the “obesity paradox.” ![][1] [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif
The Temporal Range of Bundled Burials in the Lower Pecos Region of Southwest Texas

Eleven new radiocarbon assays generally support the consensus that bundled burial in dry rockshelter deposits was a Late Archaic mortuary practice in the Lower Pecos River region of Texas while also indicating that bundling may actually have begun in the Middle Archaic period, ca. 1000 years earlier than expected. Essentially, bundling consists of wrapping the flexed body of the deceased in a series of mats that are successively more coarsely woven. Grave goods, such as clothing, jewelry, tools, and basketry, may be included in the bundle which is tied together with cord or hair rope and buried in the deep ashy occupational debris left in the rockshelters over millennia. In this small sample, infants and adult males were more likely to be buried with grave goods, such as painted textiles, cradleboards, carrying baskets, and jewelry. The inclusion of both practical and ornamental artifacts suggests some belief in an afterlife where these objects would be used by the deceased.
Study of Hybrid Silicon Microring Lasers with Undercut Active Region

We report a study of hybrid silicon microring lasers with undercut active region, showing threshold reduction and output power enhancement due to better gain/optical mode overlap. Negative effects from excessive undercutting are also discussed.
Anaplastic papillary glioneuronal tumor with extraneural metastases.

Papillary glioneuronal tumor (PGNT) is a rare cerebral tumor that is most commonly found in the frontal lobe of young adults. It has been designated as a World Health Organization (WHO) grade I lesion because it usually shows low Ki-67 labeling indices of 1% to 2% and generally does not recur after resection (1). Here we report follow-up data on a patient with an unusual atypical PGNT with anaplastic histologic features. The case was first diagnosed by the late Dr. Allan J. Yates and was the subject of a case report in 2008 (2). A 19-year-old woman presented with a 5.0-cm left parietotemporal contrast-enhancing lesion (Fig. 1A). The gross total resection specimen showed typical PGNT histology, ie, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-immunoreactive papillary regions (Fig. 1B–D) and synaptophysin-positive solid regions containing scattered NeuN-immunoreactive ganglion-like cells (Fig. 1E–G). Neurofilament immunostain was negative. The tumor also demonstrated a high Ki-67 labeling index of 26%, mitotic activity, focal vascular proliferation (2), fibrin thrombi and necrosis (Fig. 1D). Postoperatively, the patient was treated with conformational radiation and low-dose temozolomide (TMZ) for 4 weeks; this was followed by standard-dose TMZ for 13 months (2). FIGURE 1 Imaging and histology of the intracranial tumor (A–G) , intracranial recurrence (H) , …