cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Social History for Beginners: A "Young Scholar" Looks at His New Profession

Our nearly youthful protagonist entered graduate school in the mid-1990s to pursue a Ph.D. in history. Wide-eyed and nearly entirely unprepared for the tides and vicissitudes of the scholarly debates that had, unknown to him, swirled through the profession for decades, our hero discovers that he is part of a cusp generation of historians, standing between the roar of the 1960s and the unknown that lies beyond. He can only perceive that whatever the operative paradigm is, it has been profoundly shaped by the successes of the agenda of the social historians of the 1960s. But as that generation begins to pass, the outlines of whatever is to follow are still unclear; all he knows is that, having completed his degree in May of 2002, his search for a job had already begun.
Influence of light on plant allelochemicals: a synergistic defense in higher plants

Plant phototoxins are broad-spectrum biocides which adversely affect an array of potential plant enemies, including among others disease-causing pathogens, nematodes, insect herbivores, and competing plant species. Thus far, plants which contain these broad-spectrum allelochemicals have been found to occur in open habitats (i.e., in full sunlight) where a defensive mechanism mediated by light would seem to operate most effectively. The levels of available light in shaded environments, although considerably lower than full sun (1–10% of full sun), are equivalent to the intensities of light used to kill phototoxin-treated insects in laboratory studies. This suggests that phototoxic reactions might mediate important organismal interactions in shaded environments as well. In this study, more than 230 Costa Rican rainforest plants were bioassayed for phototoxic metabolites in an effort to ascertain their prevalence among plants growing in moderate to extreme shade. Microbial bioassays, employing Bacillus cereus (a gram positive bacterium), Escherichia coli (a gram negative bacterium), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (a yeast) were used to rapidly and sensitively indicate phototoxic action and potential for insecticidal action. Tissue extracts from 12 plant families tested positive for phototoxins. This is the first report of phototoxins occurring in eight of those families (Acanthaceae, Campanulaceae, Gesnariaceae, Loganiaceae, Malpigaceae, Phytolaccaceae, Piperaceae, and Sapotaceae). The presence of phototoxins in rainforest plants suggests that phototoxic plant allelochemicals may function as important defenses in low-light, as well as high-light, environments.
The effects of cell membrane alteration on glucocorticoid uptake by the AtT-20/D-1 target cell

Abstract The glucocorticoid-sensitive AtT-20/D-1 cell line was used to study cellular uptake of glucocorticoids. A previous observation that glucocorticoid uptake by these cells was temperature dependent had prompted us to postulate that glucocorticoids entered the cell by a temperature-sensitive transport process located in the cell membrane. Attempts were then made to perturb the membrane mechanism. In some of these experiments, intact cells were treated with neuraminidase or pronase. The release of sialic acid in the case of neuraminidase treatmentand of sialic acid and cell surface peptides in the case of pronase treatment demonstrated that the enzymes were effective. Approx. 60% of total cellular sialic acid was released by a 15 min incubation with 20 μg/ml neuraminidase at 25°C. The treated cells appeared to be viable, in that they continued to produce corticotropin at a normal rate, yet intact cell glucocorticoid binding at both 4 and 25°C was only 20–30% of that of untreated cells. Treatment with pronase also caused steroid uptake at 4 and 25°C to be reduced, although the extent of reduction was less than that seen following neuraminidase treatment. In other experiments, the effect of exposure of AtT-20/D-1 cells to ethanol or dimethyl sulfoxide was determined. The solvent concentrations used (0.5–10%) did not alter cell viability significantly, and the ability of the cytosol receptor to bind steroid in a cell-free preparation was unimpaired. However, incubation of intact cells with 10% (v/v) dimethyl sulfoxide or ethanol resulted in an 80–90% decrease in steroid uptake at 25°C. We conclude that steroid uptake by the intact cell can be perturbed by treatments which do not affect the cytosol receptor or alter cell viability. These results support the postulate that glucocorticoids enter the AtT-20/D-1 cell by a specific membrane-associated mechanism.
Asymptotic Behavior of Parabolic Equations Arising from One-Dimensional Null-Recurrent Diffusions

Abstract This work is concerned with the asymptotic behavior of homogeneous and nonhomogeneous parabolic equations arising from one-dimensional null-recurrent diffusion processes. First, we review the concepts of regularity, recurrence, and positive recurrence of Markov processes and recall the connections of these concepts with properties of solutions of the corresponding differential equations. Next, we examine the rate of convergence of the solutions of both homogeneous and nonhomogeneous parabolic equations when the initial function and the forcing function are integrable with respect to the invariant measure. Weaker and verifiable conditions compared with the existing work in the literature are obtained. Then the corresponding problems when the initial and forcing functions are not integrable with respect to the invariant measure are dealt with. Convergence under suitable scaling for the solutions of the parabolic equations is proved, and the explicit limit is obtained.
Ribulose bisphosphate oxygenase activity from freshly ruptured spinach chloroplasts.

Abstract Suspensions of freshly lysed spinach chloroplasts, in which ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase displays an in vivo K m [CO], exhibited a ribulose bisphosphate-dependent uptake of oxygen. The kinetic properties of this oxygenase activity were examined at air levels of CO 2 (10 μ m ) and O 2 (240 μ m ). The pH optimum was 8.6–8.8 and the K M [ribulose bisphosphate] was 45 μ m . At 240 μ m O 2 , the oxygenase activity is inhibited one-half by 25 μ m CO 2 . The apparent K m (O 2 ) is large, somewhere between 1 and 2 atm. The phosphoglycolate phosphatase activity of the chloroplasts was in great excess, suggesting that phosphoglycolate formed by the oxygenase would be quickly hydrolyzed to glycolate for possible metabolism by photorespiration. A comparison of the pH dependence of both the carboxylase and oxygenase activities at air levels of CO 2 and O 2 suggests that the pH of the chloroplast stroma could regulate their relative activities and that the oxygenase activity is sufficient to account for glycolate production during photosynthesis. It is predicted that at pH 7.8, about 40% of the carbon assimilated by the Calvin cycle would go through glycolate.
The lexicon in the background

Analyse semantique du «Roger's International thesaurus» en vue de son transfert sur systeme automatise; et modele mathematique pour transposer les synonymes dans ce systeme
Mycophenolate mofetil-based salvage as acute GVHD prophylaxis after early discontinuation of tacrolimus and/or sirolimus.

Mycophenolate mofetil-based salvage as acute GVHD prophylaxis after early discontinuation of tacrolimus and/or sirolimus
Magnetic susceptibility of polycrystalline terbium in the neighborhood of the Néel temperature

The magnetic susceptibility of polycrystalline terbium has been measured near its Neel temperature T N . It has been found that below T N the susceptibility diverges logarithmically in |T N −T| in good agreement with previous studies by Boyarskii and Starikov. Above T N no logarithmic divergence is observed.
On smoothed probability density estimation for stationary processes

Abstract Aspects of estimation of the (marginal) probability density for a stationary sequence or continuous parameter process, are considered in this paper. Consistency and asymptotic distributional results are obtained using a class of smoothed function estimators including those of kernel type, under various decay of dependence conditions for the process. Some of the consistency results contain convergence rates which appear to be more delicate than those previously available, even for i.i.d. sequences.
Pheromone Trap Index System for Predicting Need for Overwintered Boll Weevil Control

Studies were conducted during 1977–79 to determine if grandlure baited traps could be used to predict the need to treat for overwintered Anthonomus grandis grandis Boheman. A positive relationship was established between the mean number of overwintered weevils captured per trap per field just prior to the appearance of squares suitable for oviposition and the percent oviposition damaged squares during the early 1/3-grown square period. A trap index threshold was developed and applied to actual field situations. The accuracy of the trap index system in determining the need for overwintered boll weevil control was compared to conventional field sampling. The trap index method was more accurate than field scouting in providing a warning of overwintered weevil infestation before squares of a suitable size for oviposition were present. The system was equally effective in indicating when overwintered weevil control was unnecessary.
Effects of Bovine Somatotropin on Physiologic Responses of Lactating Holstein and Jersey Cows During Hot, Humid Weather

Thirty-one lactating Holstein and Jersey cows were used to determine the effects of daily injections of 0 or 20 mg of recombinant bST on physiologic responses during hot, humid weather. Body temperature was determined by measuring milk temperature at each milking. Jugular blood was sampled for serum analysis of selected hormones, blood metabolites, and fatty acids, and arterial blood was sampled for blood pH and blood gas analysis. Milk was characterized for fatty acid composition. Blood pH was unchanged, but partial pressure of blood CO2, blood bicarbonate, base excess, and total CO2 declined with administration of bST. Serum triglycerides increased 89% in cows receiving bST. Blood urea nitrogen tended to decline in cows receiving bST. Serum cortisol, triiodothyronine, and thyroxine did not change, but insulin-like growth factor-1 increased 128% with bST use. Reduced milk short-chain fatty acids, increased milk long-chain fatty acids, and increased blood serum C18:1 fatty acid content occurred in cows administered bST and probably reflected tissue mobilization. Cows administered bST in hot weather had higher milk temperatures. Alterations in physiologic and metabolic measures in association with higher milk temperature suggest an interaction of bST use with hot, humid weather and reflect the need to minimize the effects of heat stress.
Effect of clay charge on Cr(bpy)33+ reaction mechanism at clay-modified electrodes

Abstract Multisweep cyclic voltammograms (MSCVS) of different clay-modified electrodes exposed to Cr(bpy) 3 3+ are obtained. The MSCVs of these fully swollen films depend upon the cation exchange capacity of the clay, as predicted from two-step kinetic theory. Furthermore, the electrolyte anion can interfere with a simple diffusion ion exchange process. The influx of material is consistent with porosity changes in the films. These porosity changes do not conform to simple double-layer predictions for the spacing between two charged platelets. Following the ingress of an electroactive species into a fully swollen film (low Na + content) by MSCV provides a useful tool for tracking the diffusive transport of organic compounds through a clay film. The effects of the electrolyte or electroactive cation and of the anion (electrolyte or provided by the complex salt) on clay porosity can readily be observed in the MSCV patterns.
Changes in Performance in Workload with Training

The effects of practice on accuracy, speed, and resource load are briefly discussed. Procedures for measuring resource load and training of high performance skills are illustrated. Analysis of task consistency and procedures for establishing the marginal utility of various training options are described. The alternatives of time-line analysis, subjective measures and multiple resource theory are commented on.
Mixed Dimers of Insulin-degrading Enzyme Reveal a Cis Activation Mechanism

Insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE) exists primarily as a dimer being unique among the zinc metalloproteases in that it exhibits allosteric kinetics with small synthetic peptide substrates. In addition the IDE reaction rate is increased by small peptides that bind to a distal site within the substrate binding site. We have generated mixed dimers of IDE in which one or both subunits contain mutations that affect activity. The mutation Y609F in the distal part of the substrate binding site of the active subunit blocks allosteric activation regardless of the activity of the other subunit. This effect shows that substrate or small peptide activation occurs through a cis effect. A mixed dimer composed of one wild-type subunit and the other subunit containing a mutation that neither permits substrate binding nor catalysis (H112Q) exhibits the same turnover number per active subunit as wild-type IDE. In contrast, a mixed dimer in which one subunit contains the wild-type sequence and the other contains a mutation that permits substrate binding, but not catalysis (E111F), exhibits a decrease in turnover number. This indicates a negative trans effect of substrate binding at the active site. On the other hand, activation in trans is observed with extended substrates that occupy both the active and distal sites. Comparison of the binding of an amyloid β peptide analog to wild-type IDE and to the Y609F mutant showed no difference in affinity, indicating that Y609 does not play a significant role in substrate binding at the distal site.
Structural Basis for DNA Damage–Dependent Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation by Human PARP-1

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase–1 (PARP-1) (ADP, adenosine diphosphate) has a modular domain architecture that couples DNA damage detection to poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation activity through a poorly understood mechanism. Here, we report the crystal structure of a DNA double-strand break in complex with human PARP-1 domains essential for activation (Zn1, Zn3, WGR-CAT). PARP-1 engages DNA as a monomer, and the interaction with DNA damage organizes PARP-1 domains into a collapsed conformation that can explain the strong preference for automodification. The Zn1, Zn3, and WGR domains collectively bind to DNA, forming a network of interdomain contacts that links the DNA damage interface to the catalytic domain (CAT). The DNA damage–induced conformation of PARP-1 results in structural distortions that destabilize the CAT. Our results suggest that an increase in CAT protein dynamics underlies the DNA-dependent activation mechanism of PARP-1.
Age-related changes in human bone proteoglycan structure. Impact of osteogenesis imperfecta.

Abstract Proteoglycans (PGs) are a family of molecules that undergo extensive post-translational modifications that include addition of glycosaminoglycan (GAG) chains as well as N- and O-linked oligosaccharides to the protein core. PG composition and structure have been reported to alter with age. To test whether the post-translational modifications to PGs can serve asin vitro surrogate end point markers for chronological age, the extent of GAG modifications was determined for PGs derived from normal human bone cells of 14 donors (age range, fetal to 60 years). Isolated cells were steady state radiolabeled with35SO and [3H]GlcN. For biglycan and decorin, iduronate content was linearly correlated with age (increased 1.5× between fetal and age 60 years). For the syndecan-like heparan sulfate PG, theN-sulfation of post-natal cells increased over 3.5-fold until reaching a plateau during the 4th decade of life. The amount ofO-linked oligosaccharides was also found to decrease as a function of increasing normal donor age, whereas the specific activity of the metabolic precursor pool remained constant regardless of donor age. These age-related changes in post-translational modifications were then used to demonstrate that osteoblasts derived from patients with osteogenesis imperfecta did not exhibit facets of a pre-mature aging, but rather were arrested in a fetal-like phenotypic state. A growth matrix rich in thrombospondin altered PG metabolism in osteoblastic cells, resulting in the production and secretion of the fetal-like (rich inO-linked oligosaccharides) forms of decorin and biglycan. This effect was qualitatively different from the effect of transforming growth factor-β, which predominantly altered GAGs rather thanO-linked oligosaccharides. No other Arg-Gly-Asp protein (fibronectin, vitronectin, type I collagen, osteopontin, and bone sialoprotein) showed any detectable effect on PG metabolism in bone cells. These results indicate that a proper matrix stoichiometry is critical for metabolism of PGs.
Simultaneous Coefficient Penalization and Model Selection in Geographically Weighted Regression: The Geographically Weighted Lasso:

In the field of spatial analysis, the interest of some researchers in modeling relationships between variables locally has led to the development of regression models with spatially varying coeffic...
Commonsense reasoning about causality: deriving behavior from structure

Abstract This paper presents a qualitative-reasoning method for predicting the behavior of mechanisms characterized by continuous, time-varying parameters. The structure of a mechanism is described in terms of a set of parameters and the constraints that hold among them: essentially a ‘qualitative differential equation’. The qualitative-behavior description consists of a discrete set of time-points, at which the values of the parameters are described in terms of ordinal relations and directions of change. The behavioral description, or envisionment, is derived by two sets of rules: propagation rules which elaborate the description of the current time-point, and prediction rules which determine what is known about the next qualitatively distinct state of the mechanism. A detailed example shows how the envisionment method can detect a previously unsuspected landmark point at which the system is in stable equilibrium.
Patient Exam Data Reconciliation Tool

Since the introduction of Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS) into the medical radiology community, the efficiency and workflow of radiology departments adopting this technology has been improved to a degree much greater than initially anticipated. Although technological advances fuel efficiency and improve workflow, medical mistakes become prevalent as a result. This observation underscores the need for active measures by PACS quality assurance personnel to prevent human and machine errors from contributing to the total of avoidable medical errors, particularly in the area of diagnostic imaging.
The response of mouse neurons to mouse sarcomas 37 and 180.

Summary1) Dramatic responses to a tumor-produced substance occur in cells from mouse as well as chick ganglia. The knowledge that these responses are not unique to the chick adds to the interest which this phenomenon already had for the neuro-embryologist. 2) After conclusion of these experiments, the responsiveness of mouse and rat ganglia to the much more potent snake venom and salivary gland factors was reported (8,9).
Color Superconducting Matter in a Magnetic Field

We investigate the effect of a magnetic field on cold dense quark matter using an effective model with four-Fermi interactions. We find that the gap parameters representing the predominant pairing between the different quark flavors show oscillatory behavior as a function of the magnetic field. We point out that due to electric and color neutrality constraints the magnetic fields as strong as presumably existing inside magnetars might induce significant deviations from the gap structure at a zero magnetic field.
Graphite/Epoxy [ 45]s Tubes. Their Static Axial and Shear Properties and Their Fatigue Behavior under Completely Reversed Load Controlled Loading

Fixtures are described which are appropriate for static and fatigue testing of thin-walled composite tubes of 25.4 mm outer diameter and for use in an MTS servohydraulic tension-torsion system. The room temperature static ax ial and shear properties of tubes consisting of four layers of [ ± 45]s graphite epoxy were determined using axial and axial/shear clip-on extensometers where appropriate. Elastic moduli are equal in tension/compression (tor sion/reversed torsion). Ultimate tensile and compressive strengths are nearly equal. The torsional strength depends strongly on the direction of twist. Beyond the relatively small elastic range time-dependent deformation is observed which is also felt as a frequency effect on fatigue life under com pletely reversed axial load controlled loading. The room temperature axial fatigue strength amplitude at 105 cycles is approximately thirty percent of the ultimate strength.
Management and Long-Term Follow-Up of Patients With Positive Cholangiograms During Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy

Background With a goal of minimal invasion during laparoscopic cholecystectomy, the surgeon confronts a judgement decision if the intraoperative cholangiography (IOC) is positive for common bile duct (CBD) stones. The options are postoperative endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) with endoscopic papillotomy (EP), transcystic laparoscopic techniques (LAP), open CBD exploration, or clinical observation. Patients and methods To gather this information, we reviewed the clinical course and IOC of 55 patients with positive IOC during laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Long-term follow-up (1.8 years) was obtained in 50 patients. Results After review, 48 patients were felt to have CBD stones, and a LAP without choledochoscopy was the initial management in 32 (67%) patients. The remaining patients underwent EP (n = 10), CBD exploration (n = 1), or observation (n = 5). By discharge, 19 (59%) of the 32 LAP patients were successful and had avoided EP while the success rate at follow-up was 48% (14/29). There were no complications after LAP, but we observed a 9.5% (2/21) post-EP pancreatitis rate that required readmission. The success rate for CBD stone clearance with LAP was associated with single stones (87%) and surgeon experience (100% in the last year). The average hospital stay was 1.7 days for LAP and 3.3 days for EP. Conclusions LAP is safe and eliminates the need for EP in the majority of cases. Although EP is more often successful, it results in a longer hospital stay with an increased risk of complication. We recommend LAP as the initial procedure of choice for a positive IOC.
PID controller design for disturbed multivariable systems

A linear-quadratic-regulator-based (LQ-regulator-based) design methodology is proposed to design proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controllers for multivariable systems with load disturbances. Except for a few parameters that are preliminarily selected, most of the PID parameters are systematically tuned using the developed plant state-feedback and controller state-feedforward LQR approach, such that satisfactory performance with guaranteed closed-loop stability is achieved. In order to access the plant state variables and carry out disturbance rejection, an observer-based disturbance rejection technique is proposed, which through an 'equivalent disturbance' concept, retains the observation error to be used for disturbance compensation. This makes disturbance measurement unnecessary and the disturbance rejection tuning independent of the set-point response adjustment. A robust stability analysis is also included for the modelling error. An illustrative example is given for comparison with alternative techniques.
Electron-impact excitation-autoionization in the cadmium isoelectronic sequence: A case of target term dependence in scattering theory

Excitation-autoionization contributions to electron-impact ionization are calculated for several atomic ions in the cadmium isoelectronic sequence. We calculate excitation cross sections in the distorted-wave approximation and compare them in one case to a calculation in the close-coupling approximation. We focus attention on the $4{d}^{10}5{s}^{2}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}4{d}^{9}5{s}^{2}\mathrm{nf}$ innershell excitations in ${\mathrm{In}}^{+}$, ${\mathrm{Sb}}^{3+}$, and ${\mathrm{Xe}}^{6+}$. Hartree-Fock atomic structure calculations for the $4{d}^{9}5{s}^{2}\mathrm{nf}$ configurations are found to be highly term dependent. Thus our predictions for the total ionization cross section from the $5s$ subshell for these ions exhibit strong target term dependence. Our ${\mathrm{Xe}}^{6+}$ results are found to be in excellent agreement with the recent experimental crossed-beam measurements of Gregory and Crandall.
Cycloaddition studies directed toward the strychnos alkaloid minfiensine

The thermolysis of several imidofuranyl carbamates delivers products derived from an intramolecular [4+2]-cycloaddition reaction. In the case of the ortho-azido aryl carbamate 13, the preferred path proceeds by an electrocyclization of a nitrene intermediate to produce a 3-substituted indole. Attempts to reduce the azido group resulted in a novel intramolecular aza-Wittig reaction with the neighboring imido group.
Conformational transitions of calmodulin as studied by vacuum-uv CD.

CD measurements were made for calmodulin and its calcium (Ca2+) complexes at different ionic strengths and Ca2+ concentrations. Calmodulin at an ionic strength of 0.00M and in the absence of Ca2+ exists as an α-helical protein with a negligible amount of β-sheet. An increase in ionic strength, whether or not Ca2+ is present, increases α-helix at the expense of “other” (coil) structure. The changes in β-sheet and β-turns are insignificant. Binding of Ca2+ at low ionic strength occurs in stages with at least one folding intermediate before attaining the final stable state. Binding of Ca2+ at an ionic strength of 0.165M causes only a slight increase in α-helix, so that the secondary structure of the protein depends on ionic strength and is insensitive to the nature of the cation (i.e., Ca2+). Thus, the activation of calmodulin by Ca2+ must be due to a structural reorientation rather than to a major secondary structural alteration. The CD estimation of secondary structure with 4 mol Ca2+/calmodulin (61% α-helix, 2% antiparallel β-sheet, 2% parallel β-sheet, 21% β-turns, and 14% other) is in excellent agreement with the x-ray results.
Seizure failure of journal-bearing conformal contacts

Seizure of contact elements is a serious failure of tribological systems. Investigating seizure processes and understanding seizure mechanisms are important for failure prevention. Research on seizure failure can provide directions to improve designs of tribological elements for longer life and higher load capacity. This paper reviews the studies on seizure failure of journal-bearing conformal contacts. Some related research work on the failure of non-conformal contacts is also reviewed for comparison.
Angular momentum and spin within a self-consistent, Poincaré-invariant and unitary three-particle scattering theory

The self-consistent, Poincare-invariant and unitary three-particle scattering theory developed in a previous paper is extended to include angular momentum conservation and individual particle spin. The treatment closely follows that of the scalar case, with the complete set of angular momentum states for three free particles developed by Wick used in place of scalar plane-wave states.
Determinants of Urban House Prices: A Methodological Comment:

In this paper we have commented on some of the methodological issues in the original paper. We have attempted to clear up confusion relating to the use of factor analysis as an analytical tool for ...
Clock jitter in sampling and reconstruction

Clock jitter plays an important role in A/D and D/A conversions. Various aspects of this problem have been extensively studied. We consider here the effect of clock jitters in the basic system of digital filtering of analog signals. The system consists of an A/D, followed by a digital filter, and then followed by a hold circuit for D/A reconstruction. Thus the readout jitter affects both the leading edge and the trailing edge of the rectangular pulse in the reconstruction. This system includes the familiar sampling of an analog signal and subsequent reconstruction from its samples. Expressions are derived for the mean squared error caused by the sampling clock jitter and readout clock jitters. Expressions are also derived showing how the signal spectra are modified by clock jitters.
Peyronie's disease among men who have sex with men: characteristics, treatment, and psychosocial factors.

Abstract Introduction We describe the characteristics of Peyronie's disease (PD) and its associated psychosocial implications in men who have sex with men (MSM). Aim The aims of this article are to identify presenting characteristics and treatment for MSM with PD, compare these findings to non‐MSM PD patients, and determine the psychosocial impact of PD among MSM. Main Outcome Measures Subjective and objective presenting characteristics, MSM psychosocial factors. Methods We identified 27 MSM with PD presenting from 2000 to 2012 through a retrospective chart review. A random selection of 200 non‐MSM PD patients was identified, who presented during the same time period. A prospective nonvalidated questionnaire was given to MSM PD patients for evaluation of psychosocial constructs. Results A traumatic event leading to activation of PD was identified equally among MSM and non‐MSM ( P = 0.815). Most common recognized activators of PD among MSM were: penetrative sexual intercourse (22.2%), self‐stimulation (11.1%). More MSM presented with the primary complaint of penile deformity, including narrowing, indentation, hourglass, and hinge (11.1% MSM vs. 1.0% non‐MSM, P = 0.01). No differences in total curvature, erection grade were found ( P > 0.05). PD had a negative effect on emotional status (89.0% MSM, 80.5% non‐MSM, P > 0.05) and intimate relationships (45.0% MSM, 64.0% non‐MSM, P > 0.05). Nonsurgical treatment was given to 88.9% MSM and 76.5% non‐MSM ( P > 0.05), and corrective surgery in 29.6% MSM and 25.0% non‐MSM ( P > 0.05). Of the 75.0% of MSM engaging in anal sex, 41.7% reported penetrative anal intercourse as the activator of PD. Among MSM, 31.3% experienced decreased libido, 50.0% decreased frequency of sexual activity, 92.9% were self‐conscious about the appearance of their penis, and 92.9% were dissatisfied with the size of their penis. Conclusions Few differences exist in the clinical presentation and treatments used between MSM and non‐MSM PD patients. There was evidence of emotional distress in both groups. As a result, psychosexual assessment and treatment, when indicated, should be considered essential to the patient presenting with PD. Farrell MR, Corder CJ, and Levine LA. Peyronie's disease among men who have sex with men: Characteristics, treatment, and psychosocial factors. J Sex Med 2013;10:2077–2083.
Predicting dynamic range and intensity discrimination for electrical pulse-train stimuli using a stochastic auditory nerve model: the effects of stimulus noise

This work investigates dynamic range and intensity discrimination for electrical pulse-train stimuli that are modulated by noise using a stochastic auditory nerve model. Based on a hypothesized monotonic relationship between loudness and the number of spikes elicited by a stimulus, theoretical prediction of the uncomfortable level has previously been determined by comparing spike counts to a fixed threshold, N/sub ucl/. However, no specific rule for determining N/sub ucl/ has been suggested. Our work determines the uncomfortable level based on the excitation pattern of the neural response in a normal ear. The number of fibers corresponding to the portion of the basilar membrane driven by a stimulus at an uncomfortable level in a normal ear is related to N/sub ucl/ at an uncomfortable level of the electrical stimulus. Intensity discrimination limens are predicted using signal detection theory via the probability mass function of the neural response and via experimental simulations. The results show that the uncomfortable level for pulse-train stimuli increases slightly as noise level increases. Combining this with our previous threshold predictions, we hypothesize that the dynamic range for noise-modulated pulse-train stimuli should increase with additive noise. However, since our predictions indicate that intensity discrimination under noise degrades, overall intensity coding performance may not improve significantly.
"You stopped too soon" : Second language children composing and revising

This article reports a 6-month observational study of 4 Southeast Asian children as they wrote and revised various pieces in English, their second language. Transcripts of peer response sessions, weekly compositions, and twice-weekly dialogue journals show a surprising amount of cognitive, social, and linguistic skill. Through the process of writing and revising with trusted peers, the children appear to have developed three areas of writing skill: (a) a sense of audience, (b) a sense of voice, and (c) a sense of power in language. The means by which development in these areas took place appear to be the same ones which native English-speaking children find effective, including regular and frequent writing, expectation of revision, peer response, and confidence in oneself as a writer.
Experiential Learning Through a Physical Activity Program for Children With Disabilities

Service-learning has become a popular pedagogical tool to promote academic and civic learning. One form of service-learning provides physical activity for underrepresented community groups, including children with disabilities. Using experiential learning theory, the purpose of this descriptive case study was to evaluate college students’ experiences in a physical activity-based service learning program for children with disabilities. Through convenience sampling, 97 program participants (82 female, 15 male), most of whom were White (N = 85), were recruited for participation. Data included a pre- and postsurvey of civic learning, participant interviews, reflective journaling, and program observations. Qualitative data were analyzed using constant comparison and inductive analysis, and quantitative data were analyzed using Mixed ANOVAs. Results revealed that the program resulted in enhanced civic and academic learning. Themes included making a difference, academic and career connections, emotional and pers...
A new power-conditioning system for superconducting magnetic energy storage

A power conditioning system concept for superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES), which can independently regulate the active and reactive power of the utility network, is presented. The system is composed of ten 100 MW modules connected in parallel. Each 100 MW module consists of a tap changing transformer and a 12 pulse, force commutated power converter. This system offers a significant reduction of the system rating by reducing the reactive power demand in the converter with control of the tap changing ratio and the converter firing angle. The operational concept of this system is verified through mathematical analysis and computer simulation. The dynamic system interaction between the SMES coil and the AC network is analyzed using a simulation model with EMTP. The analysis results prove that the concept is feasible. This system can be built with commercially available components and proven technologies. >
Relationship between patients' perceptions of disadvantage and discrimination and listing for kidney transplantation.

Objectives. This study explored wait-listing decisions among African American and White men and women eligible for kidney transplants, focusing on lifetime experiences of race and sex discrimination as a possible influence.Methods. Patient records from 3 Baltimore-area hemodialysis units were reviewed, and semistructured face-to-face interviews were conducted with transplant-eligible patients and with unit staff members.Results. African American patients reported more racial discrimination, and women reported more sex discrimination. Women and older patients were less likely to be placed on the waiting list, as were patients with previous experiences of racial discrimination. Discrimination measures predicted list access more strongly than patient race.Conclusions. Lifetime experience of and response to discrimination may contribute to race and sex differences in access to care and should be included in research on health care disparities.
Application of the Conservation Element and Solution Element Method in Numerical Modeling of Three-Dimensional Heat Conduction With Melting and/or Freezing

The conservation element and solution element (CE/SE) method, an accurate and efficient explicit numerical method for resolving moving discontinuities in fluid mechanics problems, is used to solve three-dimensional phase-change problems. Several isothermal phase-change cases are studied and comparisons are made to existing analytical solutions
Learning Path Distributions Using Nonequilibrium Diffusion Networks

We propose diffusion networks, a type of recurrent neural network with probabilistic dynamics, as models for learning natural signals that are continuous in time and space. We give a formula for the gradient of the log-likelihood of a path with respect to the drift parameters for a diffusion network. This gradient can be used to optimize diffusion networks in the nonequilibrium regime for a wide variety of problems paralleling techniques which have succeeded in engineering fields such as system identification, state estimation and signal filtering. An aspect of this work which is of particular interest to computational neuroscience and hardware design is that with a suitable choice of activation function, e.g., quasi-linear sigmoidal, the gradient formula is local in space and time.
Amino acid assay of vestibular nuclei 10 months after unilateral labyrinthectomy in squirrel monkeys.

Amino acids were assayed by HPLC in bilateral vestibular nuclei from normal squirrel monkeys (n=3) and those 10-month post-unilateral labyrinthectomy (n=4). Findings of vestibulo-spinal and vestibulo-oculomotor functions were identical for both groups. No left-right asymmetry of amino acids was found within either group, nor between groups with the exception of GABA: GABA was significantly reduced in the bilateral vestibular nuclei of the 10-month post-lesion animals. This may be indicative of a reduction of cerebello-vestibular inhibitory control which could be secondary to the reduction of excitatory inputs to the system.
Effect of N-methyl-d,l-aspartate on luteinizing hormone secretion in ovariectomized ewes in the absence and presence of estradiol.

N-methyl-d,l-aspartate (NMA), a potent agonist of the neuroexcitatory amino acids aspartate and glutamate, stimulates release of luteinizing hormone (LH) in rats and nonhuman primates. The objective of the experiments described here was to determine the effect of NMA on LH secretion in ovariectomized ewes, in both the absence and presence of estradiol. In Experiment 1, blood samples were collected from 16 ewes every 12 min for 4 h. At Hour 2, ewes received i.v. injections of either 0, 6, 12, or 24 mg NMA/kg body weight dissolved in 0.9% saline (n = 4 per treatment). Mean LH concentrations were unaltered by any dose of NMA (p greater than 0.3). Immediately after completion of Experiment 1, each ewe received an s.c. Silastic implant designed to maintain circulating concentrations of estradiol of approximately 1 pg/ml. Three weeks later, Experiment 2 was conducted, using the same blood sampling regimen and doses of NMA as Experiment 1. The estradiol implants decreased serum LH concentrations in all animals. Treatment with saline failed to alter mean LH concentrations (p greater than 0.3). In contrast, 6, 12, and 24 mg NMA/kg body weight increased mean LH concentrations by 326% (p less than 0.03), 1125% (p less than 0.02), and 441% (p less than 0.0001), respectively. These results demonstrate that exogenous estradiol suppresses LH release in sheep in a manner antagonized by NMA.
Generating multi-sensor precipitation estimates over radar gap areas

Generating a multi-sensor precipitation product over radar gap area is the objective of the present study. A merging approach is developed to improve Satellite-based Precipitation Estimates (SPE) by merging with ground-based Radar Rainfall (RR) estimates because remote satellites are the only source that can collect information from areas where are inaccessible by ground-based radar and/or rain gauge networks. The merging algorithm is capable of extending radar information from pixels with available RR to their neighboring pixels with no radar information by merging RR with SPE, which is, usually, available for all pixels. SPE is combined with RR using the weighting-based approach of Successive Correction Method (SCM) after local bias correction of SPE with respect to RR. High resolution satellite infrared-based rainfall estimates from the NESDIS Hydro Estimator algorithm (HE), at hourly 4 km × 4 km basis, is selected to be merged with radar-based NEXRAD Stage IV rainfall measurements to generate rainfall product for the radar gap areas. To be able to validate the generated rainfall against NEXRAD, different size areas with available radar rainfall are selected as radar gap regions. The developed merging technique is evaluated for several study cases in summer 2003 and 2004. The results show that generated rainfall for the radar gap areas are more correlated with RR (average 0.67) than original HE with RR (average 0.36) and the RMSE between merged and radar rainfall (average 2.8 mm) is less than the RMSE between satellite and radar rainfall (average 4.48 mm). And also, the pattern and intensity of the generated rainfall for radar gap area became more similar to the pattern and value of RR. In addition, the enhancement of the generated rainfall with respect to RR is more significant for high rainfall amounts.
Distributed controllers for flexible structures using piezo-electric actuator/sensors

A natural control synthesis for distributed parameter systems (DPS) consists of distributed controllers which can adequately manipulate and force every point of the spatial domain to conform to the desired function. The traditional actuators and sensors such as shakers and accelerometers are localized (point-wise) devices. New sensors/actuators made of smart materials such as piezoelectric ceramic or PVDF have been proposed as alternatives for traditional controllers. In this paper a theoretical approach is introduced to establish the shape design for these materials to make them to perform as distributed controllers in active damping and stabilization of flexible structures. Based on the dissipativity of energy functional, a criteria for the design of the shape of piezoelectric material or electrode, which can achieve the task of distributed control, is derived. Unlike previous efforts, which could find piezoelectric shape for dissipativity of one mode, it is proved that the suggested shape guarantees the dissipativity of energy function for all modes of the system. >
Brain shape characterization from deformation

The characterization of shape in the brain is of great importance for understanding differences in structure and the relationship to function. Structural differences have been associated with, for example, age, sex, handedness, cognitive abilities and many neurologic and psychiatric conditions. Nonrigid registration methods enable the characterization of shape differences between images based on the transformation that relates them. Unlike methods which characterize shape in terms of geometric features computed from individual structures, transformation-based deformation description characterizes the entire space and therefore may better reflect the interrelationships between structures, as well as changes within and near structure. The transformation, as characterized by the local Jacobian, can yield an expressive description of local shape differences.
Key respiratory genes elucidate bacterial community respiration in a seasonally anoxic estuary.

Summary Intense annual spring phytoplankton blooms and thermohaline stratification lead to anoxia in Chesapeake Bay bottom waters. Once oxygen becomes depleted in the system, microbial communities use energetically favourable alternative electron acceptors for respiration. The extent to which changes in respiration are reflected in community gene expression have only recently been investigated. Metatranscriptomes prepared from near-bottom water plankton over a 4-month time series in central Chesapeake Bay demonstrated changes consistent with terminal electron acceptor availability. The frequency of respiration-related genes in metatranscriptomes was examined by BLASTx against curated databases of genes intimately and exclusively involved in specific electron acceptor utilization pathways. The relative expression of genes involved in denitrification and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium were coincident with changes in nitrate, nitrite and ammonium concentrations. Dissimilatory iron and manganese reduction transcript ratios increase during anoxic conditions and corresponded with the highest soluble reactive phosphate and manganese concentrations. The sulfide concentration peaked in late July and early August and also matched dissimilatory sulfate reduction transcript ratios. We show that rather than abrupt transitions between terminal electron acceptors, there is substantial overlap in time and space of these various anaerobic respiratory processes in Chesapeake Bay.
Self-similarity: Theory and applications in hydrology

There is a range of spatial and temporal scales over which measurements are difficult to make and interpret. Understanding, modeling, and prediction of hydrologic processes are needed for this broad range. Questions concerning quantitative interscale relationships of atmospheric, surface, and subsurface processes are at the heart of hydrologic research and are expected to play a key role in understanding large-scale behavior of hydrologic fluxes and processes. A special session, “Self-Similarity in Hydrologic Processes: Identification, Estimation, and Use in Modeling/Measurement/Prediction,” was held at the AGU 1991 Fall Meeting to address scaling issues in hydrologic phenomena.