cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On the Erdős Discrepancy Problem

According to the Erdős discrepancy conjecture, for any infinite ±1 sequence, there exists a homogeneous arithmetic progression of unbounded discrepancy. In other words, for any ±1 sequence (x 1,x 2,...) and a discrepancy C, there exist integers m and d such that \(|\sum_{i=1}^m x_{i \cdot d}| > C\). This is an 80-year-old open problem and recent development proved that this conjecture is true for discrepancies up to 2. Paul Erdős also conjectured that this property of unbounded discrepancy even holds for the restricted case of completely multiplicative sequences, namely sequences (x 1,x 2,...) where x a ·b = x a ·x b for any a,b ≥ 1. The longest such sequence of discrepancy 2 has been proven to be of size 246. In this paper, we prove that any completely multiplicative sequence of size 127,646 or more has discrepancy at least 4, proving the Erdős discrepancy conjecture for discrepancy up to 3. In addition, we prove that this bound is tight and increases the size of the longest known sequence of discrepancy 3 from 17,000 to 127,645. Finally, we provide inductive construction rules as well as streamlining methods to improve the lower bounds for sequences of higher discrepancies.
Selective Uptake Into Drug Resistant Mammalian Cancer by Cell Penetrating Peptide-Mediated Delivery.

Research over the past decade has identified several of the key limiting features of multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer therapy applications, such as evolving glycoprotein receptors at the surface of the cell that limit therapeutic uptake, metabolic changes that lead to protection from multidrug resistant mediators which enhance degradation or efflux of therapeutics, and difficulty ensuring retention of intact and functional drugs once endocytosed. Nanoparticles have been demonstrated to be effective delivery vehicles for a plethora of therapeutic agents, and in the case of nucleic acid based agents, they provide protective advantages. Functionalizing cell penetrating peptides, also known as protein transduction domains, onto the surface of fluorescent quantum dots creates a labeled delivery package to investigate the nuances and difficulties of drug transport in MDR cancer cells for potential future clinical applications of diverse nanoparticle-based therapeutic delivery strategies. In this study, eigh...
The state copyright conundrum: What’s your state government’s rule on copyright?

U .S. copyright law has a unique place in the world regarding federal works and copyright. Federal copyright law states that “Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government.” 1 This is a broad and clear statement that works of the federal government are in the public domain and are free for use by all.
Citrullination mediated by PPAD constrains biofilm formation in P. gingivalis strain 381

Porphyromonas gingivalis is the only known human-associated prokaryote that produces a peptidylarginine deiminase (PPAD), a protein-modifying enzyme that is secreted along with a number of virulence factors via a type IX secretion system (T9SS). While the function of PPAD in P. gingivalis physiology is not clear, human peptidylarginine deiminases are known to convert positively charged arginine residues within proteins to neutral citrulline and, thereby, impact protein conformation and function. Here, we report that the lack of citrullination in a PPAD deletion mutant (Δ8820) enhances biofilm formation. More Δ8820 cells attached to the surface than the parent strain during the early stages of biofilm development and, ultimately, mature Δ8820 biofilms were comprised of significantly more cell-cell aggregates and extracellular matrix. Imaging by electron microscopy discovered that Δ8820 biofilm cells secrete copious amounts of protein aggregates. Furthermore, gingipain-derived adhesin proteins, which are also secreted by the T9SS were predicted by mass spectrometry to be citrullinated and citrullination of these targets by wild-type strain 381 in vitro was confirmed. Lastly, Δ8820 biofilms contained more gingipain-derived adhesin proteins and more gingipain activity than 381 biofilms. Overall, our findings support the model that citrullination of T9SS cargo proteins known to play a key role in colonization, such as gingipain-derived adhesin proteins, is an underlying mechanism that modulates P. gingivalis biofilm development.
External validation and recalibration of the Brock model to predict probability of cancer in pulmonary nodules using NLST data.

Introduction We performed an external validation of the Brock model using the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) data set, following strict guidelines set forth by the Transparent Reporting of a multivariable prediction model for Individual Prognosis Or Diagnosis statement. We report how external validation results can be interpreted and highlight the role of recalibration and model updating. Materials and methods We assessed model discrimination and calibration using the NLST data set. Adhering to the inclusion/exclusion criteria reported by McWilliams et al , we identified 7879 non-calcified nodules discovered at the baseline low-dose CT screen with 2 years of follow-up. We characterised differences between Pan-Canadian Early Detection of Lung Cancer Study and NLST cohorts. We calculated the slope on the prognostic index and the intercept coefficient by fitting the original Brock model to NLST. We also assessed the impact of model recalibration and the addition of new covariates such as body mass index, smoking status, pack-years and asbestos. Results While the area under the curve (AUC) of the model was good, 0.905 (95% CI 0.882 to 0.928), a histogram plot showed that the model poorly differentiated between benign and malignant cases. The calibration plot showed that the model overestimated the probability of cancer. In recalibrating the model, the coefficients for emphysema, spiculation and nodule count were updated. The updated model had an improved calibration and achieved an optimism-corrected AUC of 0.912 (95% CI 0.891 to 0.932). Only pack-year history was found to be significant (p Conclusion While the Brock model achieved a high AUC when validated on the NLST data set, the model benefited from updating and recalibration. Nevertheless, covariates used in the model appear to be insufficient to adequately discriminate malignant cases.
Evolution of the Navua Valles region: Implications for Mars' paleoclimatic history

Abstract The Navua Valles are comprised of a system of channels and valleys on the inner Northeastern rim of Hellas Basin, which is a 1500-km-long sloping terrain. Drainage systems and regional geology in this unique setting were not previously mapped in detail. We mapped this region using CTX (6 m/px) as the base map and assessed surface unit ages resulting from our crater counting. We found that the timing of the deposit-forming episodes in this region during the Hesperian and Early to Middle Amazonian largely correlated to active phases of the Hadriacus Mons volcanic center. We found evidence for several episodes of fluvial activity Hesperian to the Amazonian with declining intensity, and transitioning to ice-dominated processes. The channels in the Navua Valles region erode into deposits dating from the Noachian to Early Amazonian, including the Noachian highlands, Noachian to early Amazonian crater ejecta, and likely volcanic plains formed from the Hesperian to the Hesperian–Amazonian transition. Channels directly originating from Hadriacus Mons are younger, while precipitation-fed channels at larger distance from the volcanic center are older, indicating different triggers for fluvial activity. Crater counting results indicate that almost all channel floors were at least partially resurfaced during the Amazonian and that several channel deposits formed during the last 0.5 Gyr. Water pathways likely included surface channels, lakes, and subsurface flow. The Navua Valles channel system is discontinuous, and the number of terminal deposits (sink locations) is almost as high as the number of channel sources, which is unusual for valley networks elsewhere on Mars. Interior channels formed only in the major Navua channels, they are even more fragmented than their parent channels, but occur along their entire length. Channels and valley systems within the Navua Valles are potential targets for in situ astrobiological studies, as they could have provided potential habitats at least periodically, from the Late Hesperian to the Late Amazonian.
High Temperature Reaction of MCrAlY Coating Compositions with CaO Deposits

The reactivity of β-NiAl + γ-Ni-based NiCoCrAlY alloys with and without CaO deposits was studied by means of isothermal exposures in air. Reaction with CaO at 1100 °C produced multi-layer scales of Al2O3 and calcium aluminates, and a mixture of liquid calcium chromate and nickel–cobalt oxide particles. Calcium chromate formation was a rapid, transient process, and the transition to a steady-state of slower Al2O3 growth was favored by increasing the alloy β fraction. The thermally-growing Al2O3 reacted with the deposit to form calcium aluminates in a solid-state diffusion process, which led to an increased oxidation rate. The analysis of Al2O3 growth kinetics in the production-destruction regime was used to account for the increased flux of aluminum entering the multi-layer scale. The effect of temperature on the ability to kinetically sustain an Al2O3 scale was then evaluated on the basis of Wagner’s criterion. Predicted results were consistent with the experimentally observed absence of passivation at 900 °C.
Evaluating Pedagogy and Practice of Universal Design for Learning in Public Schools

How can education change to meet the demands of effectively educating an increasingly diverse student population with the skills, knowledge, and abilities they need to be productive and successful citizens in the 21st century? One possible solution is to create classrooms, teachers, and schools that embrace the progressive and inclusive practices espoused by Universal Design for Learning (UDL). In addition to being rooted in UDL pedagogy, classrooms designed to meet the challenge of 21st century education need to substantially integrate and utilize advances in technology. The vanguard of literature to date in UDL could be characterized as rhetorical advocacy. That is, UDL literature is in the early stages of introducing and promoting UDL pedagogy, but to date there is not a research base strong enough to establish UDL as a scientifically validated intervention (Edyburn, 2010). UDL might sound like a good idea, but until the research base turns the corner from advocating to assessing and measuring UDL outcomes, the promise of this approach will not be realized. This article describes a study exploring effects and outcomes of a professional development program on the perceptions and practice of UDL principles in K–12 public school inclusive classrooms, and could be one step toward bridging the gap from a good idea to a solidified best practice. Specifically, this study investigated a professional development program’s effect on teachers’ perceptions, conceptualizations, and implementation of UDL principles and practice in their classrooms.
Radiographic measurements of the talus and calcaneus in the adult pes planus foot type.

Objective A distinctive feature of the modern human foot is the presence of a medial longitudinal arch when weight-bearing. Although the talus and calcaneus play a major role in the structure and function of the human foot, the association between the morphology of these bones and longitudinal arch height has not been fully investigated. A better understanding of this relationship may assist in the interpretation of pedal remains of fossil hominins, where features of the foot and ankle morphology have been described as providing evidence for the presence of a longitudinal arch. Methods For this study, weight-bearing radiographs of 103 patients from an urban US Level 1 trauma center, taken as part of a clinical examination for medical evaluation, were selected. These radiographs were classified as to foot type by arch height as defined using the calcaneal inclination angle. From this group, 68 radiographs were suitable for linear and angular measurements of the talus and 74 of the calcaneus. The relationships between these measurements and arch height were explored using least squared linear regression analysis. Results The results demonstrate that angular measurements of the calcaneus (particularly those that reflect the relationship of the talar articular facets to each other and the tilt of the calcaneocuboid joint to the longitudinal axis of the calcaneus) are predictive of arch height (r2 = .29-.44 p ≤ .001). All angular measurements of the talus and all examined linear measurements of both the talus and calcaneus were not predictive of arch height. Discussion These results suggest that certain angular measurements of the calcaneus are associated with arch height in the modern human foot. While this information is useful in the interpretation of hominin pedal remains, the relationship of the morphology of these bones, as well as other bones of the foot, to arch height is complex, requiring further investigation.
Comparison of Real-Time Fluorescence Confocal Digital Microscopy With Hematoxylin-Eosin-Stained Sections of Core-Needle Biopsy Specimens.

Importance Strategies to procure high-quality core-needle biopsy (CNB) specimens are critical for making basic tissue diagnoses and for ancillary testing. Objectives To investigate acquisition of fluorescence confocal microscopy (FCM) images of interventional radiology (IR)–guided CNB in real time in the radiology suite and to compare the accuracy of FCM diagnoses with those of hematoxylin-eosin (HE these diagnoses were compared with those made using HE mean [SD] age, 63 [13] years) underwent IR-guided CNBs in a mean (SD) of 7 (2) minutes each. The FCM images showed at least 20% of the tissue with optimal quality in 101 CNB specimens (96.2%). The FCM images were accurately interpreted by the 2 pathologists in 100 of 105 cases (95.2%) (2 false-positive and 3 false-negative) and 90 of 105 cases (85.7%) (6 false-positive and 9 false-negative). A reassessment of 14 discordant diagnoses resulted in consensus diagnoses that were accurate in 101 of 105 cases (96.2%) (1 false-positive and 3 false-negative). Conclusions and Relevance The ease of acquisition of FCM images of acceptable quality and the high accuracy of the diagnoses suggest that FCM may be useful for rapid evaluation of IR-guided CNBs. This approach warrants further investigation.
Protamine use in transfemoral carotid artery stenting is not associated with an increased risk of thromboembolic events.

Abstract Background Protamine use in carotid endarterectomy has been shown to be associated with fewer perioperative bleeding complications without higher rates of thromboembolic events. However, the effect of protamine use on complications following transfemoral carotid artery stenting is unclear and concerns remain regarding thromboembolic events. Methods A retrospective review was performed for patients undergoing transfemoral carotid artery stenting in the Vascular Quality Initiative from March 2005 to December 2018. We assessed in-hospital outcomes using propensity-score-matched cohorts of patients who did and did not receive protamine. The primary outcome was in-hospital stroke or death. Secondary outcomes included bleeding complications, stroke, death, transient ischemic attack, myocardial infarction, and congestive heart failure exacerbation. Bleeding complications were categorized as bleeding resulting in intervention or in blood transfusions. Results Of the 17,429 patients undergoing transfemoral carotid artery stenting, 2,697 (15%) patients received protamine. We created 2,300 propensity-matched pairs of patients who did and did not receive protamine. There were no statistically significant differences in stroke or death between the two cohorts (protamine 2.5% vs no protamine 2.9%, RR 0.85 [95%CI 0.60-1.21]; P = .37). Protamine use was not associated with statistically significant differences in perioperative bleeding complications resulting in interventional treatment (0.9% vs 0.5%, RR 2.10 [95%CI 0.99-4.46]; P = .05) or blood transfusion (1.2% vs 1.2%, RR 0.92 [95%CI 0.53-1.61]; P = .78). There were also no statistically significant differences for the individual outcomes of stroke (1.8% vs 2.3%, RR 0.78 [95%CI 0.52-1.16]; P = .22), death (0.9% vs 0.8%, RR 1.17 [95%CI 0.62-2.19]; P = .63), transient ischemic attack (1.4% vs 1.3%, RR 1.10 [95%CI 0.67-1.82]; P = .70), myocardial infarction (0.5% vs 0.4%, RR 1.20 [95%CI 0.52-2.78]; P = .67), or heart failure exacerbation (1.0% vs 0.9%, RR 1.05 [95%CI 0.58-1.90]; P = 0.88). Protamine use in patients presenting with symptomatic carotid stenosis was associated with lower risk of stroke or death (3.0% vs 4.3%; RR 0.69 [95%CI 0.47-0.998]; P = .048), whereas there were no statistically significant differences in stroke or death with protamine use in asymptomatic patients (1.6% vs 1.0%; RR 1.63 [95%CI 0.67-3.92]; P = .28). Conclusions Heparin-reversal with protamine following transfemoral carotid artery stenting is not associated with an increased risk of thromboembolic events and its use in symptomatic carotid disease is associated with a lower risk of stroke or death.
Disparities in Characteristics, Access to Care, and Oncologic Outcomes in Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer at a Safety-Net Hospital.

PURPOSE:Young-onset colorectal cancer is an emerging cause of significant morbidity and mortality globally. Despite this, limited data exist regarding clinical characteristics and outcomes, particu...
Which Principal is the Right Principal? Student Achievement, School Finances, and Community Stakeholders:

When a struggling high school may be placed on turnaround status during a bid for a school bond, the district considers replacing a beloved principal with a record of low test scores with an unpopu...
Role of Extradural Clinoidectomy and Optic Unroofing in Resection of an Anterior Clinoidal Meningioma with Encasement of the Internal Carotid Artery and Its Branches

Anterior clinoidal meningiomas (ACMs) remain a major neurosurgical challenge. The skull base techniques, including extradural clinoidectomy and optic unroofing performed at the early stage of surgery, provide advantages for improving the extent of resection, and thereby enhancing overall outcome, and particularly visual function. Additionally, when the anterior clinoidal meningiomas encase neurovascular structures, particularly the supraclinoid internal carotid artery and its branches, this further increases morbidity and decreases the extent of resection. Although it might be possible to remove the tumor from the artery wall despite complete encasement or narrowing, the decision of whether the tumor can be safely separated from the arterial wall ultimately must be made intraoperatively. The patient is a 75-year-old woman with right-sided progressive vision loss. In the neurological examination, she only had light perception in the right eye without any visual acuity or peripheral loss in the left eye. MRI showed a homogeneously enhancing right-sided anterior clinoidal mass with encasing and narrowing of the supraclinoid internal carotid artery (ICA). Computed tomography (CT) angiography showed a mild narrowing of the right supraclinoid ICA with associated a 360-degree encasement. The decision was made to proceed using a pterional approach with extradural anterior clinoidectomy and optic unroofing. The surgery and postoperative course were uneventful. MRI confirmed gross total resection ( Figs. 1 and 2 ). The histopathology was a meningothelial meningioma, World Health Organization (WHO) grade I. The patient continues to do well without any recurrence and has shown improved vision at 15-month follow-up. This video demonstrates important steps of the microsurgical skull base techniques for resection of these challenging tumors. The link to the video can be found at https://youtu.be/vt3o1c2o8Z0
Beyond Class-Level Privacy Leakage: Breaking Record-Level Privacy in Federated Learning

Federated learning (FL) enables multiple clients to collaboratively build a global learning model without sharing their own raw data for privacy protection. Unfortunately, recent research still found privacy leakage in FL, especially on image classification tasks, such as the reconstruction of class representatives. Nevertheless, such analysis on image classification tasks is not applicable to uncover the privacy threats against natural language processing (NLP) tasks, whose records composed of sequential texts cannot be grouped as class representatives. The finer (record-level) granularity in NLP tasks not only makes it more challenging to extract individual text records, but also exposes more serious threats. This paper presents the first attempt to explore the record-level privacy leakage against NLP tasks in FL. We propose a framework to investigate the exposure of the records of interest in federated aggregations by leveraging the perplexity of language modeling. Through monitoring the exposure patterns, we propose two correlation attacks to identify the corresponding clients when extracting their specific records. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed attacks. We have also examined several countermeasures and shown that they are ineffective to mitigate such attacks, and hence further research is expected.
Practical steps for an effective virtual reality course integration

Today’s virtual reality (VR) technologies enable students to traverse immersive learning environments populated with highly engaging course content that closely resembles real-world artifacts and s...
Building Quality from the Ground Up in a Cancer Center

The Institute of Medicine defines quality in healthcare as the degree to which health services for individuals and populations increase the likelihood of desired health outcomes and are consistent with current professional knowledge. This concept is highly relevant for cancer care that involves patients with complex diseases in the setting of rapidly evolving treatment landscape that requires provision of appropriate services in a patient-centric and technically competent manner. This chapter uses the Donabedian model to review the structural, process, and outcome-based quality domains that lay the foundation for a robust system to measure, monitor, and improve quality of care at cancer centers. The infrastructure and personnel, systems, and culture needed for ensuring provision of high-quality cancer care are reviewed.
Ubiquitination drives COPI priming and Golgi SNARE localization

Deciphering mechanisms controlling SNARE localization within the Golgi complex is crucial to understanding protein trafficking patterns within the secretory pathway. SNAREs are also thought to prime COPI assembly to ensure incorporation of these essential cargoes into vesicles but the regulation of these events is poorly understood. Here we report a roles for ubiquitin recognition by COPI in SNARE trafficking and in stabilizing interactions between Arf, COPI, and Golgi SNAREs. The ability of COPI to bind ubiquitin through its N-terminal WD repeat domain of {beta}COP or through an unrelated ubiquitin-binding domain (UBD) is essential for the proper localization of Golgi SNAREs Bet1 and Gos1. We find that COPI, the ArfGAP Glo3 and multiple Golgi SNAREs are ubiquitinated. Notably, the binding of Arf and COPI to Gos1 is markedly enhanced by ubiquitination of these components. Glo3 is thought to prime COPI-SNARE interactions; however, Glo3 is not enriched in the ubiquitin-stabilized SNARE-Arf-COPI complex but is instead enriched with COPI complexes that lack SNAREs. These results support a new model for how posttranslational modifications drive COPI priming events crucial for Golgi SNARE localization.
The Path-Integral Monte Carlo Method for Rotational Degrees of Freedom

Very recent progress in the path-integral simulation of quantum mechanical rotational degrees of freedom (RDOF) is reviewed. Unlike translational degrees of freedom, where the free particle kernel can be obtained by a Gaussian integral, the kernel for RDOF is not analytically accessible. However, it can be obtained numerically to high precision on a fine grid so that all systematic errors can be kept controllably small. The formulae to generate the kernel for RDOF are given explicitly for one, two, and three-dimensional rotation. In particular, we discuss the consequences of confining the rotational state of a rigid body to one representation for the sign problem and the correlation time. A linear rotor in a Devonshire potential and solid methane are considered as examples.
Relative proton affinities from kinetic energy release distributions for dissociation of proton-bound dimers: 2. Diamines as a test case

Abstract Dissociation of proton-bound dimers containing diamines is often characterized by a substantial entropy difference between the two competing reaction channels. Kinetic energy release distributions (KERDs) upon dissociation of diamine-containing dimers are utilized along with Finite Heat Bath theory analysis to obtain relative proton affinities of monomeric species composing the dimer. When dissociation of a proton-bound dimer is not associated with reverse activation barrier our method provides reliable relative energetics and dynamics. Results are reported for 1,3-propanediamine–diisopropylamine, and 1,4-butanediamine–triethylamine dimers, for which the dynamics approach provided accurate values of relative proton affinities and relative reaction entropies. We also show two examples, for which a substantial reverse activation barrier is found using KER measurements. These examples point to potential problems with utilizing aromatic reference bases in combination with bidentate molecules for thermochemical determinations using the kinetic method.
Controlled dissolution of surface layers for elemental analysis by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

Determining the composition of thin layers is increasingly important for a variety of industrial materials such as adhesives, coatings and microelectronics. Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy (GDOES), glow discharge mass spectrometry (GDMS), and laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) are some of the techniques that are currently employed for the direct analysis of the sample surface. Although these techniques do not suffer from the contamination problems that often plague sample dissolution studies, they do require matrix matched standards for quantification. Often, these standards are not readily available. Despite the costs of clean hoods, Teflon pipette tips and bottles, and pure acids, partial sample dissolution is the primary method used in the semiconductor industry to quantify surface impurities. Specifically, vapor phase decomposition (VPD) coupled to ICP-MS or total reflection x-ray fluorescence (TXRF) provides elemental information from the top most surface layers at detection sensitivities in the 10{sup 7}-10{sup 10}atoms/cm{sup 2} range. The ability to quantify with standard solutions is a main advantage of these techniques. Li and Houk applied a VPD-like technique to steel. The signal ratio of trace element to matrix element was used for quantification. Although controlled dissolution concentrations determined for some of the dissolved elements agreed with the certified values, concentrations determined for refractory elements (Ti, Nb and Ta) were too low. LA-ICP-MS and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) measurements indicated that carbide grains distributed throughout the matrix were high in these refractory elements. These elements dissolved at a slower rate than the matrix element, Fe. If the analyte element is not removed at a rate similar to the matrix element a true representation of the sample layer cannot be realized. Specifically, the ratio of analyte signal to matrix element signal does not equal the actual ratio in the bulk sample. The objective of this work was to investigate the controlled dissolution of other materials, simpler than steel. Matrices of copper, high copper alloy and NIST C1100 brass were investigated but the matrix that showed the best agreement between measured and certified values was NIST 612 glass. Further studies were conducted to limit the amount of surface layers removed for the NIST 612 matrix.
Isospin structure of penguin diagrams and their consequences in B meson physics.

Isospin structure of electroweak penguin diagrams is different from the gluon-mediated or strong penguin. Given the large top mass, these electroweak contributions are significant. This has the consequence that some previous analyses which relied on a simple isospin structure in charmless [ital B] meson decays become inapplicable. We present the general Hamiltonian in next-to-leading order QCD, and illustrate our conclusion quantitatively for [ital B][r arrow][pi][pi] and [ital B][r arrow][ital K][pi] decays in the factorization approximation. Some remarks on [ital CP] asymmetries in [ital B] meson decays are also made.
“What About Me? I'm Not Like Chinese But I'm Not Like American”: Heritage-Language Learning and Identity of Mixed-Heritage Adults

This study examines heritage-language (HL) experience and identity of 12 adults of mixed-heritage backgrounds through in-depth autobiographical interviews. Each participant has an English-speaking American parent and an HL (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, or Vietnamese)-speaking immigrant parent. The interviews explored each participant's experience in the HL while growing up, self-claimed proficiency in the HL, attitudes toward the HL, and self- and other-perceived identities. The findings suggest that HL proficiencies varied widely, tending to correspond with the extent of the participants' interaction in that language. Three participants had extensive HL experience while 9 had limited HL exposure. These 9 mainly attributed their lack of HL proficiency to their parents' and/or their own reluctance to use the HL, which arose from various societal and personal pressures to shift to English. This article discusses the implications of these findings on heritage-language education.
Population dynamics and interactions between plant parasitic and non-parasitic nematodes: An empirical analysis

Abstract Non-linear regression models were used to estimate the effect of own and other taxa previous population levels, nitrogen application, and crop rotation on population dynamics of Mononchidae, Dorylaimidae, microbivorous (Rhabditidae), lance ( Hoplolaimus galeatus ), spiral ( Helicotylencus dihystera ), stubby root ( Paratrichodorus minor ), lesion ( Pratylenchus zeae ), and cotton root-knot ( Meloigogyne incognita ) nematodes using data from the Cullars rotation, which is the oldest soil fertility experiment in the Southern United States. Because field experimental data was used, a spatial component was included as populations in one plot were proved to be related to the population level of their neighbors. Own previous levels were found to be very important for all eight groups of nematodes (all groups’ current population relied heavily on its own previous population value) and all the groups had an interaction effect with at least one other group. Lesion and cotton root-knot nematodes were found to be competitive while Mononchidae, Dorylaimidae, microbivorous and lance nematodes were non-competitive. All the populations showed high seasonality patterns having lower populations during winter, to then remain steady until September–October when there is a significant increase in the population of cotton root-knot, Dorylaimidae, microbivorous, and lesion nematodes. Nitrogen had a positive effect on Mononchidae, microbivorous, spiral, and cotton root-knot nematodes. The use of clover after cotton in the rotation crop program proved to be significantly better in reducing plant parasitic nematodes compared to other treatments.
Coronary artery disease in the geriatric population

The elderly represent an increasingly important and challenging subset of the population of patients with ischemic heart disease. They are more likely to have comorbid conditions, atypical presentations, and unfavorable outcomes than their younger counterparts. Some of these findings are undoubtedly related to the structural and functional changes in the cardiovascular system associated with aging. The available data suggest that standard pharmacologic, thrombolytic, and definitive revascularization techniques have important roles in the therapy of geriatric patients but have been underused.
Impedance modulation patterns for artificial-impedance-surface antennas

Artificial impedance surface antennas (AISAs) radiate by leaking surface waves from a spatially-modulated artificial impedance surface (AIS) whose modulation is designed to produce a preferred radiation pattern and polarization. Using the AISA radiation integral, a simple equation is obtained that quickly computes the modulation pattern for an AISA with arbitrary radiation angle and polarization. The versatility of that equation is demonstrated with examples that show how to design various linearly and circularly-polarized AISAs with tensor or scalar modulation.
Surface morphology of carbon-doped GaAs grown by MOVPE

Abstract The development of the surface structures of carbon-doped epitaxial GaAs layers grown by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy was investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Carbon-doped GaAs layers were grown using trimethyl gallium and a mixture of AsH 3 TMAs . The AFM micrographs were quantitatively analyzed through the determination of the height-height and height-difference correlation functions, which yields both the short and long range surface structures. The incorporation of carbon leads to the progressive roughening of the GaAs surface as well as an increase in surface correlation length. The high concentration of surface-adsorbed methyl radicals are suggested to lead to the diminution of growth rate and change in surface structure.
n-channel m.i.s.f.e.t.s in epitaxial HgCdTe/CdTe

M.I.S.F.E.T.s have been fabricated in HgCdTe epitaxially grown on CdTe substrates. These planar n-channel f.e.t.s use ZnS as the insulator and Be ion implantation for the source and drain regions. Surface mobilities of 7×103 cm3/Vs at 77 K are reported.
The diagnostic value of beta-catenin immunohistochemistry

beta-catenin is a 92-kDa protein that binds to the cytoplasmic tail of E-cadherin. It acts in the nucleus to stimulate cell proliferation and is degraded by complexing with the adenomatous polyposis coli gene. When it is mutated, it is ineffectively degraded and results in unchecked proliferative activity that plays a role in a subset of neoplasms. When there are alterations in beta-catenin degradation, it accumulates to a sufficient extent to be detected in the nuclei of tumor cells immunohistochemically, a feature that can be exploited in the differential diagnosis of selected neoplasms. Immunohistochemistry for beta-catenin may be useful in the differential diagnosis of selected tumors of soft tissue, the gastrointestinal tract, including the pancreas, lung, and female genital tract.
Pentobarbital inhibition of progesterone-induced behavioral estrus in ovariectomized guinea pigs.

Summary Administration of pentobarbital inhibits the facilitatory effects of progesterone on the release of gonadotropins. In this experiment facilitatory effects of progesterone on lordosis behavior in guinea pigs were examined with pentobarbital anesthesia. Two major animal groups were subjects: one was short-term ovariectomized (2 weeks) and the other was long-term ovariectomized (several months). All animals received estradiol benzoate (6.6 μg s.c.) followed by progesterone (0.4 mg s.c.) 40 h later. Lordosis behavior was induced by the manual stimulation method of Young et al. 29 . Sodium pentobarbital (30 mg/kg) was injected 8, 4 or 2 h before, simultaneously or 1, 2, 6, or 7 h after progesterone. Animals which recieved pentobarbital slept for 4.5–5 h with subsequent drowsiness for an additional 0.5–1 h. Pentobarbital injections given 8 h before progesterone had no effect on latency to the first lordosis or on other parameters of estrous behavior. However, pentobarbital delayed the onset of heat in estrogen treated ovariectomized guinea pigs when given 4 h before, 2 h before, or simultaneously with progesterone. The delay was directly related to the length of time the animals remained asleep after the progesterone injection, since estrous behavior was invariably displayed with the latency of controls after the animal awoke. Moreover, in animals which were awake for 1–2 h immediately after the progesterone injection before receiving pentobarbital, the latency of recovery from anesthesia to the first display of lordosis was about 1–1.5 h shorter than in the other pentobarbital groups. In contrast to the latency effects of pentobarbital, the duration of heat was unaffected by the anesthetic for all groups mentioned. In animals which received pentobarbital after they were already in heat, pentobarbital injection terminated heat and abolished it completely, since lordosis behavior was not displayed in the hours after recovery from anesthesia. Gross hypothalamic uptake of progesterone was not influenced by pentobarbital administration. Thus, it is tentatively concluded that an incubation period is necessary for progesterone to mediate the display of estrous behavior in the guinea pig in addition to the time necessary for neural uptake. The way in which pentobarbital interferes with the period of progesterone incubation is not currently known.
Anomalous ultrasonic attenuation near the compensation temperature of the ferrimagnet gadolinium iron garnet

Abstract An ultrasonic attenuation anomaly is seen near the compensation temperature of GdIG which may be due to a magnetic-reorientation phase transition rather than to an ordinary ferrimagnetic compensation point.
Maternal employment and adolescents' relations with parents, siblings, and peers

The association between maternal employment status and the relations that adolescents have with their parents, siblings, and peers was investigated. Three daily reports of conflicts with family members and time spent with parents, peers, and alone were obtained from 64 tenth-grade adolescents using a telephone interviewing technique. Males, but not females, had more arguments, which were of longer duration and greater intensity, with their mothers and siblings when their mothers worked than when they did not. Female conflict behavior was unrelated to the work status of the mother. Adolescents of both sexes spent less time with their parents when their mothers worked, especially when they worked full-time, than when they were nonemployed. Adolescents with employed mothers generally spent less free time with their parents than those with nonemployed mothers. Time spent with parents in the performance of household tasks was not affected by maternal employment status. The need to take a family system perspective in order to understand fully the relationship between maternal employment and adolescent development was emphasized.
Corrosion and Protection of thin Metallic Films

Well known principles governing metallic corrosion are summarized in this paper. Several electrochemical techniques that are suitable for evaluation of corrosion reactions and mechanisms are discussed. The challenge of minimizing metallic degradation in processing, in storage and during operation is discussed with examples drawn from thin films used in the electronics industry.
Plasmapheresis in immunologically mediated polyneuropathies.

: One of the most common uses of therapeutic plasmapheresis is for the treatment of immunologically mediated polyneuropathies. This paper discusses the use of plasmapheresis in Guillain-Barre syndrome, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, polyneuropathies associated with paraproteins, lower motor neuron syndromes, and polyneuropathies associated with HIV. As the pathogenesis of immunologically mediated polyneuropathies becomes better understood, newer therapies for these syndromes will evolve; however, therapeutic plasmapheresis is likely to continue to play a central role in the treatment of many of these diseases.
Effects of Methyllycaconitine and Related Analogues on Bovine Adrenal α3β4* Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors

Adrenal secretion and binding studies were performed using ring E analogues of methyllycaconitine to assess structural determinants affecting activity on bovine adrenal alpha3beta4* nicotinic receptors. The most potent analogues are as potent as many inhibitors of adrenal secretion. Our data support the potential use of methyllycaconitine analogues to generate nicotinic receptor subtype-specific compounds.
The performance of children with mental health disorders on the ADOS-G: A question of diagnostic utility

Abstract Over the past few decades, the reported number of children identified as having one of the Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has increased exponentially. One proposed reason for the dramatic increase in the prevalence of ASD is diagnostic substitution, whereby children with other disorders incorrectly receive a diagnosis of ASD. Little research has examined whether standardized diagnostic measures of ASD can appropriately distinguish high functioning children with ASD from children with mental health disorders. The present study evaluated the diagnostic utility of the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Generic (ADOS-G) Modules 3 and 4 in distinguishing ASD from mental health disorders in children and adolescents (aged 5–21 years) with at least average intellectual functioning. ADOS-G Modules 3 and 4 classifications were evaluated in 93 clinically referred children and adolescents with mental health disorders other than ASD. Fifteen percent of participants were misclassified as being in the Autism or Autism Spectrum category. This translates into a specificity score of 84.9%. Children and adolescents with a mood disorder had a higher likelihood of being misclassified than children and adolescents with other mental health disorders, while children and adolescents with a disruptive behavior disorder had a lower likelihood of being misclassified. Findings have implications for understanding the diagnostic usefulness of the ADOS-G and enhancing the diagnostic process for ASD.
The potential for recovery growth in stunted larvae of

High-density conditions often result in some individuals becoming stunted, when their growth and development are halted. When conditions improve such individuals may be capable of restarting these processes (recovery growth). Stage-specific recovery growth rates were studied in stunted larvae of Rana temporaria which were removed from high density laboratory cultures, reared individually and fed adequately. Tadpoles originated from two montane populations in southern Poland (Babia Gora range and the Tatra Mountains near Zakopane). During 14 days of rapid growth, the Babia Gora larvae fed at high-food level gained on average 167% of body mass; at lower food level the larvae which started recovery growth at Gosner's stages 34-35 had significantly lower daily relative growth rates than the larvae which started at earlier developmental stages (Gosner's 30-32). The Tatra Mountains larvae showed similar pattern: during the 4-day feeding period, larvae gained 44% of body mass, but individuals which were at the beginning at stage 37 grew at the rate 17% lower than those at stages 32-35. In a separate experiment on Rana sylvatica tadpoles from New England, U.S., the initially stunted larvae increased, on average, almost 6-fold in body mass during two weeks of intense growth following the removal from high density cultures. Developmental arrest preserves the potential of the stunted Rana larvae for very fast growth, allowing them to capitalize on transient improvement of living conditions. However, there is a steady decline in the potential for such growth spurt with increasing advancement of ontogenetic development.
Experiments and possibilities with super-intense Mössbauer sources

We have been able to prepare Mossbauer sources having intensities ranging from 10 to 100 Ci for several isotopes, using the Missouri University Research Reactor Facility, MURR. These sources offer rich opportunities for carrying out precision Mossbauer experiments as well as high collimation scattering experiments. Using such intense sources, we have been able to measure the interference parameter of the 46.5 keV Mossbauer transition to about 1% accuracy. We find it to be about 10% greater than predicted by theory, which may have significant implications for time reversal violation experiments. We have also been able to show that the Bragg scattered recoilless fraction scattered from (200) planes of sodium chloride crystals is 94% of that found for the (600) reflection, even though the integrated intensity of this reflection is more than a factor of 10 less than that of the (200) reflection. We highlight some of the experiments that we have carried out and discuss some of the enticing possibilities for the future with sources in the 10–1000 Ci range. One of these is the possibility of doing Mossbauer spectroscopy with a stationary source and absorber, moving only a monochromating crystal filter along the direction of the reciprocal lattice vector associated with the Bragg reflection being used.
Ultraviolet emission in doped α-nano-alumina

Ultraviolet emission properties of AI2O3 nanopowders with Mg, Cr, and Sc are investigated. We show that in Sc-doped alumina, efficient UV-C luminescence can be achieved by minimizing color center concentration and controlling the alumina phase.
No Association of Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-Related Viruses with Prostate Cancer

Background The association of the xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) with prostate cancer continues to receive heightened attention as studies report discrepant XMRV prevalences ranging from zero up to 23%. It is unclear if differences in the diagnostic testing, disease severity, geography, or other factors account for the discordant results. We report here the prevalence of XMRV in a population with well-defined prostate cancers and RNase L polymorphism. We used broadly reactive PCR and Western blot (WB) assays to detect infection with XMRV and related murine leukemia viruses (MLV). Methodology/Principal Findings We studied specimens from 162 US patients diagnosed with prostate cancer with a intermediate to advanced stage (Gleason Scores of 5–10; moderate (46%) poorly differentiated tumors (54%)). Prostate tissue DNA was tested by PCR assays that detect XMRV and MLV variants. To exclude contamination with mouse DNA, we also designed and used a mouse-specific DNA PCR test. Detailed phylogenetic analysis was used to infer evolutionary relationships. RNase L typing showed that 9.3% were homozygous (QQ) for the R462Q RNase L mutation, while 45.6% and 45.1% were homozygous or heterozygous, respectively. Serologic testing was performed by a WB test. Three of 162 (1.9%) prostate tissue DNA were PCR-positive for XMRV and had undetectable mouse DNA. None was homozygous for the QQ mutation. Plasma from all three persons was negative for viral RNA by RT-PCR. All 162 patients were WB negative. Phylogenetic analysis inferred a distinct XMRV. Conclusions and Their Significance We found a very low prevalence of XMRV in prostate cancer patients. Infection was confirmed by phylogenetic analysis and absence of contaminating mouse DNA. The finding of undetectable antibodies and viremia in all three patients may reflect latent infection. Our results do not support an association of XMRV or MLV variants with prostate cancer.