cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
SHOULD PREMARITAL COUNSELING BE MANDATORY AS A REQUISITE TO OBTAINING A MARRIAGE LICENSE

Despite the fundamental importance of marriage in forming the foundation of family and society, divorce in the United States has become a common occurrence with disruptive consequences immediately affecting the children, the family, and society at large. The state therefore has a strong and legitimate interest in strengthening marriage by mandating premarital counseling for all couples contemplating marriage. Premarital counseling is a program that offers the necessary guidance to assist couples in evaluating their readiness to enter marriage, and allows couples to enter marriage with greater understanding and certainty. As a result, mandatory premarital counseling will promote stability in the marital and family relationship and help to reduce marital discord.
Brevundimonas diminuta keratitis.

Purpose To report the first documented case of keratitis secondary to the gram-negative bacillus Brevundimonas diminuta. Methods A 66-year-old woman with an ocular history of bilateral soft contact lens wear presented with a large, 6×9-mm, culture-positive Pseudomonas aeruginosa-induced corneal ulcer. After weeks of therapy, she developed secondary keratitis. Repeat cultures grew a rare, gram-negative bacillus, B. diminuta. Results Targeted therapy followed by adjustments based on repeat bacterial cultures with sensitivities resulted in slow resolution of the ulcer. After months of therapy, the cornea recovered leaving only a minimal corneal scar. Visual acuity improved from a low of Hand Motions to a final 20/40. Conclusions This is the first reported case of ocular infection with B. diminuta. This case demonstrates the need to be aware of potential rare secondary infections in corneas compromised by an initial infection and to adjust pharmacotherapy based on sensitivities and clinical signs.
A long-term cohort study of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and disease activity in outpatients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Background and Aims: We examined whether use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in outpatients with inflammatory bowel disease was associated with increased severity of disease activity. Methods: Outpatients with Crohn's disease (CD; n = 426) and with ulcerative colitis (UC; n = 203) were seen between November 1997 and April 2002. Patients were questioned at each visit regarding use of prescription or over-the counter NSAIDs and a clinical disease activity index (modified Harvey Bradshaw [MHB] or Lichtiger score) was obtained. Results: For the Crohn's patients, for 1315 visits no NSAIDs were used, on 215 visits low-dose NSAIDs were used, and for 139 visits high-dose NSAIDs were taken. For UC patient visits, 495 used no NSAIDs, 112 low-dose NSAIDs, and 49 high-dose NSAIDs. Average MHB score was 4.07 for the no-NSAID group, 4.24 for low-dose NSAIDs (P = 0.46), and 4.78 for high-dose (P = 0.0072 versus no NSAIDs). For the ulcerative colitis patients corresponding scores were 5.64, 5.46, and 6.20, respectively (P = not significant). The probability of moderately active disease as defined by crossing a threshold MHB or Lichtiger score, however, was not significantly affected by NSAID use. Subgroup analysis indicated the increase in disease activity among CD patients taking high-dose NSAIDs was limited to patients with colonic involvement. Conclusions: Use of low-dose NSAIDs was not associated with an increase in disease activity for these outpatients with either CD or UC. Use of high-doses of NSAIDs was associated with a higher numerical disease activity index score among CD patients with colonic involvement, but this was not reflected by an increase in significant disease flares.
Abortion from a crosscultural perspective: an introduction.

This article introduces a collection of papers which provides an anthropological perspective upon abortion from various parts of the world. The countries considered Greece Turkey China Nigeria Jamaica and Romania vary in their policies and laws as well as the historical context concerning abortion in the extent to which the state supports or restricts access to abortion and contraceptives and in prevailing cultural ideologies concerning these and related issues of sexuality fertility family and gender roles. In each of these countries however women are concerned about unplanned pregnancies and how they affect their social and familial roles economic resources and work the welfare of their children their social relationships and their social status. Women act upon those concerns by regulating their fertility through various means including either legal or illegal abortion. This article places the various papers in the collection into a broader context by presenting a brief selective overview of past research on abortion from a crosscultural perspective.
Importance of subsegmental pulmonary embolism.

In this issue of Blood , den Exter et al highlight the importance of subsegmental pulmonary emboli.[1][1] Pulmonary embolism (PE) causes 100 000 or more deaths each year in the United States[2][2] and is the primary diagnosis or a complicating condition in more than 300 000 patient
Yellow Skin, White Masks

Ethnic studies scholars have long bemoaned the near absence of Asians on the big and small screens and popular music charts in the United States, rendering them as outsiders vis-a-vis the American public sphere. In the last few years, however, Asians have sprung up on shows like “Glee” and “America's Best Dance Crew” in disproportionately large numbers, challenging entrenched stereotypes and creating new audiovisual associations with Asianness. This essay considers how emerging Asian American hiphop dancers and musicians negotiate their self-representation in different contexts and what their strategies reveal about the postmillennial Asian youth's relationship to American and transpacific culture and the outer limits of American music.
Marine Station of the University of Southern California

The major program of our Station has consisted of routine work in the direction of trawling and dredging, and classifying marine specimens. Some progress has been made in the direction of research-investigation, especially on the behavior of certain marine fishes to environmental conditions, and this work will continue for the balance of the year. In this work we have made an attempt to determine factors that contribute to the activity of fishes, such as volume of water, homogeneous groupings as contrasted to heterogeneous groupings, etc. A preliminary report of some of this work will shortly appear in “Science,” and we hope by the end of the year to have considerable data which will furnish some basis for concrete deductions. It will be possible perhaps later to describe more explicitly some features of this work.
Class, ethnicity, and residence in metropolitan America

The data indicate that the SES levels of all nativity and ethnic groups are higher in metropolitan than in nonmetropolitan areas. The only exception appears to be that the socioeconomic levels of the 16 percent of all native whites of native parentage and of the 12 percent of all nonwhites in small towns and cities, which are not located within SMSA's but which are urban, are higher than they are in the rural part of the ring of SMSA's.
Ion-Etched Gratings For Laser Applications

Ion beam sputter etching has proven to be a superior technique for producing grating sampling mirrors for large optical systems. The patterns to be etched are defined by a photoresist masking film on the mirror surface. Grating patterns have been produced on laser mirrors by replication of diamond-scribed master patterns, while holographic construction has been used to produce linear and nonlinear gratings. The microscopic details of ion etched grating profiles show that the process is capable of high resolution pattern delineation and large area device fabrication.© (1981) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Pneumonia in the elderly (geriatric) population.

Purpose of reviewReview of recent studies (2003 and 2004) concerning pneumonia in the very old.Recent findingsHospitalisation for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in the elderly is associated with a high mortality and with a high rate of readmission within the following year. Functional status, al
Energy conservation and sleep

Phylogenetic and ontogenetic associations between sleep and endothermy are consistent with the hypothesis that sleep evolved in conjunction with endothermy to offset the high energetic cost of endothermy. The electrophysiological and thermoregulatory continuum of slow wave sleep, circadian torpor and hibernation substantiates a primordial link between sleep and energy conservation. Sleep constitutes a circadian and circannual rhythm of hypometabolic adaptation to biospheric energy cycles that is usually entrained through light-mediated suppression of melatonin secretion. When energy stores decline, energy is conserved by lowering Tb proportionally during sleep or by increasing the daily duration of sleep.
Interrelationships among Public Assistance Expenditures: An Empirical Analysis of the Welfare System:

This article uses vector autoregression techniques with a panel data set to test for interdependencies between spending on the Aid to Families With Dependent Children AFDC) program and expenditures on three other major public assistance programs: Medicaid, food stamps, and Supplemental Security Income. Tests of Granger causality reveal that there are spillover effects in both directions among these programs, suggesting that substantial feedback effects are likely. The author uses the estimated model to simulate the effects of one-time spending decreases on either side. The simulation, which includes both direct and indirect effects, shows that these spending cuts result in long-term decreases in expenditures on the affected program. However, changes in AFDC spending are likely to be at least partially offset by changes in one or more of the other programs. Similarly, budget cuts in the other programs can result in increased AFDC spending. This suggests that the new welfare law may not produce the budgetar...
Political Esperanto: Rhetorical Resources and Limitations of The Christian Right in the United States

This study analyzes a paradox in the rhetorical strategies of the Christian Right in the United States: How can doctrinally conservative political activists justify legislating morality in a culture in which individual autonomy is a central value? This essay is based on the assumption that, although there exist competing values and religious frameworks in the United States, the language of liberal individualism is the lingua franca for distinctively public discourse. Such activists attempt to advance a socially conservative agenda in an individualist culture by emphasizing the existence of competing rights, invoking the special status of children, utilizing the language of the natural sciences, and identifying powerful alien forces.
Cocaine and the Concept of Addiction: Environmental Factors in Drug Compulsions

Addiction is an evocative psychological and medical term whose meaning has changed significantly over time. For most of this century it has been described in terms of an abstinence syndrome (dependence and withdrawal) and associated with heroin use. In the 1980s, however, cocaine replaced heroin as the prototypical drug of abuse. Cocaine had heretofore not been considered to produce “physical dependence.” Nonetheless, for both cocaine and heroin, current models of addiction — models widely propagated by the media —reduce drug use patterns to the properties of drugs and biological characteristics of the user. In creating this model, scientific and clinical debates along with public debates rely on the supposedly typical, inevitably addicting results of repeated cocaine consumption. Yet naturalistic human drug use and drug taking by animals in the laboratory instead reinforce the picture that use of all drugs depends on the user's environment-Indeed, even the most severe examples of compulsive drug use can ...
Robust image transmission using a new joint source channel coding algorithm and dual adaptive OFDM

In this paper we consider the problem of robust image coding and packetization for the purpose of communications over slow fading frequency selective channels and channels with a shaped spectrum like those of digital subscribe lines (DSL). Towards this end, a novel and analytically based joint source channel coding (JSCC) algorithm to assign unequal error protection is presented. Under a block budget constraint, the image bitstream is de-multiplexed into two classes with different error responses. The algorithm assigns unequal error protection (UEP) in a way to minimize the expected mean square error (MSE) at the receiver while minimizing the probability of catastrophic failure. In order to minimize the expected mean square error at the receiver, the algorithm assigns unequal protection to the value bit class (VBC) stream. In order to minimizes the probability of catastrophic error which is a characteristic of progressive image coders, the algorithm assigns more protection to the location bit class (LBC) stream than the VBC stream. Besides having the advantage of being analytical and also numerically solvable, the algorithm is based on a new formula developed to estimate the distortion rate (D-R) curve for the VBC portion of SPIHT. The major advantage of our technique is that the worst case instantaneous minimum peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) does not differ greatly from the averge MSE while this is not the case for the optimal single stream (UEP) system. Although both average PSNR of our method and the optimal single stream UEP are about the same, our scheme does not suffer erratic behavior because we have made the probability of catastrophic error arbitarily small. The coded image is sent via orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) which is a known and increasing popular modulation scheme to combat ISI (Inter Symbol Interference) and impulsive noise. Using dual adaptive energy OFDM, we use the minimum energy necessary to send each bit stream at a particular probability of bit error. An added benefit of OFDM over serial transmission schemes is that some degree of progressiveness of SPIHT is preserved by transmitting both the VBC and LBC streams in parallel.
Caspase-3 dependent cleavage and activation of skeletal muscle phosphorylase b kinase.

Phosphorylase b kinase (PhK) is a key enzyme involved in the conversion of glycogen to glucose in skeletal muscle and ultimately an increase in intracellular ATP. Since apoptosis is an ATP-dependent event, we investigated the regulation of skeletal muscle PhK during apoptosis. Incubation of PhK with purified caspase-3 in vitro resulted in the highly selective cleavage of the regulatory α subunit and resulted in a 2-fold increase in PhK activity. Edman protein sequencing of a stable 72 kD amino-terminal fragment and a 66 kD carboxy-terminal fragment revealed a specific caspase-3 cleavage site within the α subunit at residue 646 (DWMD↓G). Treatment of differentiated C2C12 mouse muscle myoblasts with the inducers of apoptosis staurosporine, TPEN, doxorubicin, or UV irradiation resulted in the disappearance of the α subunit of PhK as determined by immunoblotting, as well as a concurrent increase in caspase-3 activity. Moreover, induction of apoptosis by TPEN resulted in increased phosphorylase activity and sustained ATP levels throughout a 7 h time course. However, induction of apoptosis with staurosporine, also a potent PhK inhibitor, led to a rapid loss in phosphorylase activity and intracellular ATP, suggesting that PhK inhibition by staurosporine impairs the ability of apoptotic muscle cells to generate ATP. Thus, these studies indicate that PhK may be a substrate for caspase regulation during apoptosis and suggest that activation of this enzyme may be important for the generation of ATP during programmed cell death.
A linked risk group model for investigating the spread of HIV

This paper describes a model that simulates the spread of HIV and progression to AIDS. The model is based on classical models of disease transmission. It consists of six linked risk groups and tracks the numbers of infectives, AIDS cases, AIDS related deaths, and other deaths of infected persons in each risk group. Parametric functions are used to represent risk-group-specific and time-dependent average contact rates. Contacts are needle sharing, sexual contacts, or blood product transfers. An important feature of the model is that the contact rate parameters are estimated by minimizing differences between AIDS incidence and reported AIDS cases adjusted for undercounting biases. This feature results in an HIV epidemic curve that is analogous to one estimated by backcalculation models but whose dynamics are determined by simulating disease transmission. The model exhibits characteristics of both the disease transmission and the backcalculation approaches, i.e., the model: *reconstructs the historical behavior patterns of the different risk groups, *includes separate effects of treatment and changes in average contact rates, *accounts for other mortality risks for persons infected with HIV, *calculates short-term projections of AIDS incidence, HIV incidence, and HIV prevalence, *calculates cumulative HIV infections (the quantity calculated by backcalculation approaches) and HIV prevalence (the quantity measured by seroprevalence and sentinel surveys). This latter feature permits the validation of the estimates generated by two distinct approaches. We demonstrate the use of the model with an application to U.S. AIDS data through 1991.
G protein βγ subunits interact with αβ‐ and γ‐tubulin and play a role in microtubule assembly in PC12 cells

The betagamma subunit of G proteins (Gbetagamma) is known to transfer signals from cell surface receptors to intracellular effector molecules. Recent results suggest that Gbetagamma also interacts with microtubules and is involved in the regulation of the mitotic spindle. In the current study, the anti-microtubular drug nocodazole was employed to investigate the mechanism by which Gbetagamma interacts with tubulin and its possible implications in microtubule assembly in cultured PC12 cells. Nocodazole-induced depolymerization of microtubules drastically inhibited the interaction between Gbetagamma and tubulin. Gbetagamma was preferentially bound to microtubules and treatment with nocodazole suggested that the dissociation of Gbetagamma from microtubules is an early step in the depolymerization process. When microtubules were allowed to recover after removal of nocodazole, the tubulin-Gbetagamma interaction was restored. Unlike Gbetagamma, however, the interaction between tubulin and the alpha subunit of the Gs protein (Gsalpha) was not inhibited by nocodazole, indicating that the inhibition of tubulin-Gbetagamma interactions during microtubule depolymerization is selective. We found that Gbetagamma also interacts with gamma-tubulin, colocalizes with gamma-tubulin in centrosomes, and co-sediments in centrosomal fractions. The interaction between Gbetagamma and gamma-tubulin was unaffected by nocodazole, suggesting that the Gbetagamma-gamma-tubulin interaction is not dependent on assembled microtubules. Taken together, our results suggest that Gbetagamma may play an important and definitive role in microtubule assembly and/or stability. We propose that betagamma-microtubule interaction is an important step for G protein-mediated cell activation. These results may also provide new insights into the mechanism of action of anti-microtubule drugs.
Fabrication of ultralow-loss Si/SiO(2) waveguides by roughness reduction.

We demonstrate 0.8-dB/cm transmission loss for a single-mode, strip Si/SiO(2) waveguide with submicrometer cross-sectional dimensions. We compare the conventional waveguide-fabrication method with two smoothing technologies that we have developed, oxidation smoothing and anisotropic etching. We observe significant reduction of sidewall roughness with our smoothing technologies, which directly results in reduced scattering losses. The rapid increase in the scattering losses as the waveguide dimension is miniaturized, as seen in conventionally fabricated waveguides, is effectively suppressed in the waveguides made with our smoothing technologies. In the oxidation smoothing case, the loss is reduced from 32 dB/cm for the conventional fabrication method to 0.8 dB/cm for the single-mode waveguide width of 0.5 microm . This is to our knowledge the smallest reported loss for a high-index-difference system such as a Si/SiO(2) strip waveguide.
Maximum deviation of light in a transparent wedge

The maximum is found for the deviation of light passing through a transparent wedge of refractive index n and wedge angle α. The methods are conceptual and geometric, and they require very little calculation. There turn out to be two qualitatively different ray path candidates for maximum deviation, and the geometric approach leads naturally to a criterion involving n and α that decides between the two candidates. Finding the maximum deviation is equivalent to finding the outer radius of a circular halo.
STAT 1 binds to the LPL promoter in vitro

Abstract Interferon-γ (IFNγ) has been shown to decrease the expression and activity of lipoprotein lipase (LPL). Hence, we searched for IFNγ sensitive binding sites within the murine LPL promoter. A region of the LPL promoter was identified that specifically binds nuclear, but not cytosolic, extracts isolated from IFNγ-treated 3T3-L1 adipocytes. EMSA analysis revealed that two protein complexes bind to this site within the LPL promoter and supershift analysis demonstrated that both of these complexes contained STAT 1 proteins. In addition, we have shown that this effect is specific for IFNγ, since LIF treatment, which also induces STAT 1, did not confer binding to this site. Interestingly, binding to this site within the LPL promoter could be effectively competed with a STAT 1 binding site that we previously identified in the PPARγ2 promoter. Also, IFNγ treatment resulted in decreased levels of LPL protein. In summary, we have identified a STAT 1 binding site within the murine LPL promoter which likely plays a role in the IFNγ induced decrease of LPL expression.
Calculations of the relative energies of the 2B1g and 2A2u states of cyclobutanetetraone radical cation and radical anion provide further evidence of a 3B2u ground state for the neutral molecule: a proposed experimental test of the prediction of a triplet ground state for (CO)4.

B3LYP, CCSD(T), and CASPT2 calculations with the 6-311+G(2df) basis set have been performed on the radical anion and radical cation of cyclobutanetetraone (1). The very similar energies computed for the 2B1g and 2A2u states of both 1·+ and 1·− indicate that the singly occupied b1g and a2u MOs in these two states of the radical cation and anion have nearly the same energies, thus supporting the previously made prediction that neutral 1 has a 3B2u ground state. Reaction of squaric acid with O·−, followed by negative ion photoelectron spectroscopy (NIPES) on the 1·−thus formed, is proposed as an experimental test of the startling prediction that tetraketone (1), a molecule that would be expected to be a closed-shell singlet, actually has a triplet ground state.
Fluctuations in the phase-field model of solidification

Abstract We develop two analytical solutions for thermodynamic fluctuations that are present in the phase-field model of solidification. One solution deals with fluctuations in an isothermal single phase system. The other deals with fluctuations in a two-phase isothermal system having a planar diffuse interface. Explicit formulae are obtained in one, two and three dimensions. In the case of two-phase system, fluctuations of the phase field are somewhat suppressed in the interface region. These solutions provide targets for testing numerical solutions.
Effect of salinity and rock type on sorption behavior of surfactants as applied in cleaning of petroleum contaminants

Abstract Surfactants are of potential importance in the development of new techniques for enhanced oil recovery as well as for remediation of petroleum contaminated soils. With surfactant washing, 95% of the petroleum contaminants can be removed. As sorption dictates the reactions between a liquid and a solid, it is a decisive factor for the success of a remediation technique and for understanding the mechanisms which dictate transport and fate characteristics of contaminants in soils. The adsorption of surfactants from solution at the solid/liquid interface is a complex and imperfectly understood phenomenon. To investigate the nature of adsorption and desorption at the solid/liquid interface, a detailed experimental study was conducted using silica sand packs and clayey sand packs. Also, over twenty numerical simulation runs were conducted to model the phenomenon of surfactant adsorption and desorption. A simulation model based on surface excess concept was developed in this study. Numerical simulation results show excellent agreement with experimental results. This study showed that both salinity and clay can increase the adsorption level of surfactants. The role of surfactant concentration was studied. A higher concentration led to earlier surfactant breakthrough.
Inhalation toxicity of dehydrothio-p-toluidine

Abstract The acute inhalation toxicity of dehydrothio-p-toluidine (DHPT; CAS Registry No. 92-36-4) was determined by exposing groups of young adult Crl CD® rats for single 4-hr periods. Death resulted when the DHPT concentration reached 3.00 mg/litre. The subchronic effects of DHPT were studied by exposing male rats to 0.6 mg/litre for ten 6-hr periods (five exposure days, two rest days, five exposure days). Body-weight loss during the exposures was followed by normal weight gain during a 14-day recovery period. Salivation, lachrymation, pawing and chewing motions, rapid respiration and red nasal discharge occurred during exposure and continued into the recovery period, although they generally abated as the recovery period progressed. Clinical laboratory measurements on blood from exposed rats suggested a haemolytic anaemia with injury to the liver and kidneys. Liver changes were characterized by hepatocyte hypertrophy and proliferation of bile-duct epithelial cells. A mild degree of renal tubular degeneration was seen and the spleen showed congestion of red pulp with excessive amounts of haemosiderin. These effects persisted throughout the 2-wk recovery period.
Incremental Learning of Concept Drift from Streaming Imbalanced Data

Learning in nonstationary environments, also known as learning concept drift, is concerned with learning from data whose statistical characteristics change over time. Concept drift is further complicated if the data set is class imbalanced. While these two issues have been independently addressed, their joint treatment has been mostly underexplored. We describe two ensemble-based approaches for learning concept drift from imbalanced data. Our first approach is a logical combination of our previously introduced Learn++.NSE algorithm for concept drift, with the well-established SMOTE for learning from imbalanced data. Our second approach makes two major modifications to Learn++.NSE-SMOTE integration by replacing SMOTE with a subensemble that makes strategic use of minority class data; and replacing Learn++.NSE and its class-independent error weighting mechanism with a penalty constraint that forces the algorithm to balance accuracy on all classes. The primary novelty of this approach is in determining the voting weights for combining ensemble members, based on each classifier's time and imbalance-adjusted accuracy on current and past environments. Favorable results in comparison to other approaches indicate that both approaches are able to address this challenging problem, each with its own specific areas of strength. We also release all experimental data as a resource and benchmark for future research.
Fuel-Supply-limited Stellar Relaxation Oscillations: Application to Multiple Rings around Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars and Planetary Nebulae

We describe a new mechanism for pulsations in evolved stars: relaxation oscillations driven by a coupling between the luminosity-dependent mass-loss rate and the H fuel abundance in a nuclear-burning shell. When mass loss is included, the outward flow of matter can modulate the flow of fuel into the shell when the stellar luminosity is close to the Eddington luminosity LEdd. When the luminosity drops below LEdd, the mass outflow declines and the shell is resupplied with fuel. This process can be repetitive. We demonstrate the existence of such oscillations and discuss the dependence of the results on the stellar parameters. In particular, we show that the oscillation period scales specifically with the mass of the H-burning relaxation shell (HBRS), defined as the part of the H-burning shell above the minimum radius at which the luminosity from below first exceeds the Eddington threshold at the onset of the mass-loss phase. For a stellar mass M* ~ 0.7 M☉, luminosity L* ~ 104 L☉, and mass-loss rate || ~ 10-5 M☉ yr-1, the oscillations have a recurrence time of ~1400 yr ~ 57τfsm, where τfsm is the timescale for modulation of the fuel-supply in the HBRS by the varying mass-loss rate. This period agrees very well with the ~1400 yr period inferred for the spacings between the shells surrounding some planetary nebulae. We also find the half-width of the luminosity peak to be ~0.39 times the oscillation period; for comparison, the observational shell thickness of ~1000 AU corresponds to ~0.36 of the spacing between pulses. We find oscillations only for models in which the luminosity of the relaxation shell is ~10%-15% of the total stellar luminosity and for which energy generation occurs through the p-p chain. We suggest this mechanism as a natural explanation for the circumnebular shells surrounding some planetary nebulae, which appear only at the end of the AGB phase.
Dietary Assessment in the California Teachers Study: Reproducibility and Validity

Objective To evaluate the reproducibility and validity of the food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) used in the California Teachers Study (CTS) cohort and to use this data to quantify the effects of correcting nutrient-breast cancer relative risks for measurement error.
EQUITY-EFFICIENCY PREFERENCES IN Poland AND THE SOVIET UNION: ORDER-REVERSALS UNDER THE ATKINSON INDEX

In this paper, the relation between inequality and welfare index “reversals” is characterized. By the identification of these reversals, upper and lower bounds are established for Atkinson's parameter of inequality aversion. This exercise shows that a level of inequality aversion high enough to show welfare improving over the “egalitarian decline” of 1978–81 in Poland is too high to show improvement over the “elitist growth” of 1981–86 in the Soviet Union. However, even if the lower bound of inequality aversion is assumed, plausible projections on Soviet growth and distribution still show social welfare declining.
High spatial-resolution cavitation imaging of laser-triggered PFP droplets

Indocyanine green (ICG)-loaded droplets developed for photoacoustic imaging and drug delivery have been tested for cavitation imaging in vitro. Perfluoropentane mixed with ICG was vaporized with a short pulse laser and expanded to 3–5 times the initial diameter of 2–5 micron and generated a strong broadband photoacoustic signal. It was found these vaporized droplets could be cavitated and ruptured by a short ultrasound pulses. To test the feasibility of cavitation imaging of laser-triggered droplets, broadband cavitation imaging algorithms were implemented on a commercial ultrasound open platform with a linear array transducer, centered at 5 MHz. Less than 3 cycles ultrasound excitation pulse with a MI of 0.7 was used to insonify a polyethylene tube of 580 µm inner diameter containing droplets to induce inertial cavitation activity. The cavitation imaging was performed before and after vaporizing droplets by laser pulses. Broadband emissions of 5–10 MHz were observed only after droplets were vaporized. These preliminary results demonstrate the feasibility of high resolution cavitation imaging of vaporized droplets using a short ultrasound excitation pulse and could lead to further in vivo experiments.
Model-based dynamic positioning of underwater robotic vehicles: theory and experiment

This paper addresses the trajectory tracking problem for the low-speed maneuvering of fully actuated underwater vehicles. It is organized as follows. First, a brief review of previously reported control studies and plant models is presented. Second, an experimentally validated plant model for The Johns Hopkins University Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (JHUROV) is reviewed. Third, the stability of linear proportional-derivative (PD) control and a family of fixed and adaptive model-based controllers is examined analytically and demonstrated with numerical simulations. Finally, we report results from experimental trials comparing the performance of these controllers over a wide range of operating conditions. The experimental results corroborate the analytical predictions that the model-based controllers outperform PD control over a wide range of operating conditions. The exactly linearizing model-based controller is outperformed by its nonexactly linearizing counterpart. The adaptive controllers are shown to provide reasonable online plant parameter estimates, as well as velocity and position tracking consistent with theoretical predictions-providing good velocity tracking and, with the appropriate parameter update law, position tracking. The effects of reference trajectory, "bad" model parameters, feedback gains, adaptation gains, and thruster saturation are experimentally evaluated. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported comparative experimental study of this class of model-based controllers for underwater vehicles.
Psychiatric medication use among Manhattan residents following the World Trade Center disaster

To assess medication use in New York after the September 11th attacks, a telephone survey was conducted in October 2001 (N = 1,008). The prevalence of psychiatric medication use 30 days before the disaster was 8.9 and 11.6% 30 days after, a small but significant increase. The most important factor predicting postdisaster use was predisaster use—92% of those who used medications postdisaster used them predisaster. In addition, 3.3% used psychiatric medications 30 days postdisaster, but not 30 days before. Those who had panic attacks, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and insurance coverage, were the most likely medicated (26.5%). However, among those who used postdisaster medications (n = 129), new users tended to be those with panic attacks (44.1%) and those with panic attacks and PTSD (69.2%).
Circle based community detection

The connection patterns among individuals or objects in complex (social) networks possess rich information that can be useful for conducting effecient network analysis. In particular we consider the task of community detection in social networks. Nowadays social networking sites allow users to categorize their friends into different lists. Some of the examples being 'circles' on Google +, 'lists' on Twitter and Facebook. This information captures the reason of friendship between two users. In this paper we explore how this information can lead to detecting better community structures. We pose this task as a community detection problem where the algorithm does not have the information about the underlying edges. Experiments are conducted on 3 real world social networks - Google +, Twitter and Facebook. The experiment shows that results obtained are better than the results obtained by community detection over the original graph.
Signal transduction by reactive oxygen species

Although historically viewed as purely harmful, recent evidence suggests that reactive oxygen species (ROS) function as important physiological regulators of intracellular signaling pathways. The specific effects of ROS are modulated in large part through the covalent modification of specific cysteine residues found within redox-sensitive target proteins. Oxidation of these specific and reactive cysteine residues in turn can lead to the reversible modification of enzymatic activity. Emerging evidence suggests that ROS regulate diverse physiological parameters ranging from the response to growth factor stimulation to the generation of the inflammatory response, and that dysregulated ROS signaling may contribute to a host of human diseases.
Personal technologies: memory and intimacy through physical computing

In this paper, I present an overview of personal and intimate technologies within a pedagogical context. I describe two courses that I have developed for Computation Arts at Concordia University: “Tangible Media and Physical Computing” and “Second Skin and Soft Wear.” Each course deals with different aspects of physical computing and tangible media in a Fine Arts context. In both courses, I introduce concepts of soft computation and intimate reactive artifacts as artworks. I emphasize the concept of memory (contrasting computer memory and personal, interpretive memory), and explore how responsive or interactive objects can create a new medium for annotating architectural space and objects, for leaving traces of presence, and for recording personal histories. At the core of this pedagogical practice is a strong emphasis on engaging a vulnerable, personal approach to working with electronics and physical computation. To contextualize the teaching practice, I begin by presenting some of my own research projects developed at Extra Soft Labs (also known as XS Labs), then segue into a detailed discussion of these two classes, and conclude with a discussion of some student work.
Impact of western coal mining—II. Microbiological studies

Abstract The occurrence and activity of certain groups of sulfur cycle bacteria associated with waters, sediments, and the coal bearing strata of a coal strip mine at Decker, Montana, were studied. Mining areas in northeastern Wyoming were also examined. Thiobacillus ferooxidans , one of the major contributors to acid mine drainage, was consistently detected in the mining environment. Physiological studies of T. ferrooxidans isolates indicated that these acidophilic iron and sulfur oxidizing organisms were typical of the species in their preference for low pH and ability to oxidize pyrite. Since (i) acidic conditions were not observed at Decker, (ii) the organisms did not multiply in mine water environments and (iii) no acid could be formed from coal samples inoculated with a T. ferrooxidans isolate, it was thought that their activity was limited to microzones in the coal bearing strata where they oxidized sulfuritic material. Any acid formed was quickly neutralized by mineral carbonates associated with the groundwaters and overburden. Sulfate reducing bacteria also were common in the mine waters and sediments. These organisms were particularly active in the sedimentation pond sediments as was evidenced by the rapid rate of conversion of radio-labeled sulfate to sulfide. The hydrogen sulfide produced by these organisms contributed to heavy metal precipitation in the sedimentation pond.
Tetrahymena Tubulins and In Vitro Translation of Tetrahymena RNA

Tetrahymena outer doublet tubulin was compared with neurotubulin and Chlamydomonas flagellar tubulin on SDS-polyacrylamide gels. Tetrahymena alpha tubulin did not comigrate with either brain or flagellar alpha tubulins, although brain, flagellar, and ciliary beta tubulins all comigrated. Axonemal tubulin from Tetrahymena strain ST was compared with this tubulin from strains W, S, HSM, and E, and all were found to have the same mobilities. Poly-A containing RNA was separated from whole cell Tetrahymena RNA by oligo-dT cellulose chromatography. Poly-A+ RNA from 24-h cultures (early exponential growth) stimulated greater incorporation of amino acids into polypeptides in the wheat germ cell-free translation system than did poly-A+ RNA from 36-h and 49-h cultures. When separated on SDS-polyacrylamide gels, the translation products of the 24-h poly-A+ RNA had 2 prominent protein bands which comigrated with alpha and beta tubulin isolated from Tetrahymena cilia. These bands were not found in the translation products of poly-A+ RNA isolated from 49-h cultures or in the translation products of poly-A- RNA.
The use of neuroimaging studies and neurological consultation to evaluate dizzy patients in the emergency department.

Background and Purpose: Dizziness is a frequent reason for neuroimaging and neurological consultation, but little is known about the utility of either practice. We sought to characterize the patter...
A four neuron circuit accounts for change sensitive inhibition in salamander retina

In salamander retina, the response of On-Off ganglion cells to a central flash is reduced by movement in the receptive field surround. Through computer simulation of a 2-D model which takes into account their anatomical and physiological properties, we show that interactions between four neuron types (two bipolar and two amacrine) may be responsible for the generation and lateral conductance of this change sensitive inhibition. The model shows that the four neuron circuit can account for previously observed movement sensitive reductions in ganglion cell sensitivity and allows visualization and prediction of the spatio-temporal pattern of activity in change sensitive retinal cells.
Infanticide, sexual selection and task specialization in a biparental burying beetle

Burying beetles (Nicrophorus spp.) compete for access to small vertebrate carrion, a highly valued resource. Intruders that take over a carcass will kill young of residents and use the carcass for a replacement brood. To examine whether sexual selection alters interactions with intruders, I staged encounters in which resource competition was the only important motivator for infanticide and then compared outcomes to those in which both sexual selection and resource competition might operate. On carcasses with first-instar larvae, a single resident male or female N. orbicollis was confronted with either a heterospecific or conspecific intruder of either sex (at this stage, a carcass retains 44–75% of its original value if used for a replacement brood). Single males defended their brood significantly better than did single females. Males appear to be efficient task specialists, having both a greater tendency and greater ability to guard the brood. When intruders were heterospecifics, there was no interaction between the two independent experimental variables of sex of defender and sex of intruder. When intruders were conspecifics, however, there was a significant interaction such that infanticide was more common when a defender confronted an intruder of the opposite sex. That is, when a defender had the opportunity to recoup some of its losses from infanticide by participating in a replacement brood with the intruder (opportunity for sexual selection), the probability of infanticide increased. A follow-up experiment staged at the second and early third instar indicated that infanticidal take-overs are quite common when single females defend second instars, but are infrequent when single females defend third instars, or when pairs defend second or third instars. Other measures of reproductive success (number and mass of broods in trials not including take-overs) were similar for single females and pairs. I hypothesize that the threat of infanticide and the inability of a parent to fully compensate for the absence of a partner that is a task specialist promote extended biparental care in burying beetles.
Transition from dripping to jetting

We consider the critical Weber number (Wec V 2 0D=) at which the transition from dripping to jetting occurs when a Newtonian liquid of density and surface tension is injected with a velocity V0 through a tube of diameter D downward into stagnant air, under gravity g. We extend Taylor’s (1959) model for the recession speed of a free edge, and obtain in the inviscid limit an exact solution which includes gravity and inertia eects. This solution provides a criterion for the transition which is shown to occur at a critical Weber number Wec =4 Boo Bo h 1+ KBooBo ((1 +KBooBo) 2 1) 1=2 i2 ; where Bo and Boo are the Bond numbers Bo [gD 2 =(2)] 1=2 , respectively based on the inside and outside diameter of the tube, and K is a constant equal to 0:37 for the case of water injected in air. This critical Weber number is shown to be in good agreement with existing experimental values as well as with new measurements performed over a wide range of Bond numbers.
Performance of Receivers and Detection Algorithms for Modal Multiplexing in Multimode Fiber Systems

We consider a multimode fiber system exploiting modal multiplexing using various direct-detection photoreceiver structures with zero-forcing detection algorithm. We show in theory how the squaring operation of the receivers and multimode excitations by a bit stream introduce bit detection errors even in the absence of noise. Numerical examples are provided to illustrate their impacts on system performance measured in terms of the bit-error ratio.
ASSESSMENT CENTERS AND SUBORDINATE APPRAISALS OF MANAGERS: A SEVEN-YEAR EXAMINATION OF PREDICTIVE VALIDITY

Assessment center ratings of 52 state law enforcement agency managers predicted both a contaminated promotions criterion and two uncontaminated ratings criteria, but they did significantly better in predicting the former. Criteria data were gathered two, four, and seven years after the assessment center, and a modest upward trend in validity coefficients was observed. Ratings by subordinates demonstrated promise as a near term predictor, outperforming the assessment center on uncontaminated criteria in the two- and four-year time frames. Last, regression analyses using Year 7 criteria revealed unique predictive power for both ratings by subordinates and assessment centers above and beyond that provided by supervisor ratings. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Academy of Management meeting, Anaheim, California, August 7-10, 1988.
Bandwidth allocation in a dynamic environment using a variable pricing policy

We present a variable pricing policy for the dynamic allocation of bandwidth capacity. Simulation studies using different scenarios illustrate the different features of a dynamic and scalable service delivery policy that provides an improved level of bandwidth utilization. The recommended policy generates an increased revenue stream without sacrificing quality of service (QoS) demanded by the users. The proposed policy is based on a scalable pricing model that extends previous work done with a concentration on video on demand (VOD) applications. The proposed dynamic resource planning approach encourages the users to request a wider range of bandwidth as a scalable part of the bandwidth resource. Users, in our model, decide what on a desired service start time (t/sub s/) and end time (t/sub e/), and on the low and the high level of bandwidth for an acceptable level of quality. Our results show that, by selecting an appropriate bandwidth allocation policy and a corresponding pricing mechanism, it is possible to maintain specified levels of QoS and achieve increased revenue, reduce the number of blocked users, and improve resource utilization.
Lessons From Japan

We argue that Japan’s experience with fiscal policy over the period 1990-2009 confirms the rational expectations and new classical position that fiscal policy, particularly when it is not accompanied by an accommodating monetary policy, is ineffective. We show that Japan’s combination of a loose fiscal policy, together with a tight monetary policy has given them the worst of all possible worlds over the past twenty years; i.e. slow growth, deflation, rising unemployment, and a huge increase in their national debt burden. We argue that the Obama administration should be careful not to fall into the same trap the Japanese have been floundering in for the past twenty years.