cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of reduced protocols for carcinogenicity testing of chemicals: report of a joint EPA/NIEHS workshop.

Abstract The current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other national/international guidelines specify the use of two species and two sexes of rodents (usually the rat and the mouse) for carcinogenicity testing of chemicals. In view of the enormous number of chemicals to be tested, the high cost of testing, and the large number of animals used in the present protocol, many academic, industrial, and government authorities are examining the possibility of using a reduced protocol (less than two species and two sexes of rodents) for carcinogenicity testing of chemicals. The use of a reduced protocol offers many advantages as well as some disadvantages. To pursue further the potential implications and impacts of using a reduced protocol for carcinogenicity testing on the processes of hazard identification and risk assessment, a workshop entitled "Evaluation of Reduced Protocols for Carcinogenicity Testing of Chemicals" was held at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Alexandria, Virginia on September 22 and 23, 1992. It was cosponsored by EPA′s Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances (OPPTS) and the National Toxicology Program of the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NTP/NIEHS) and attended by more than 60 participants from government, industry, academia, and the general public. The Expert Consensus Panel and most of the participants supported the use of reduced protocols in carcinogenicity testing. However, it was recognized that reduced protocols may not be appropriate for the testing of all chemicals and that additional analyses/data may be needed for selection of the most appropriate reduced protocol for certain chemicals/chemical classes.
Cultural studies as a hidden discipline

• This article examines the issue of disciplinarity in cultural studies from the perspective of prospective students in the field. It argues that cultural studies as educational practice is a hidden discipline with little public profile outside the few universities where it is taught as a named subject area. The result of this lack of visibility is that cultural studies is in danger of becoming a discipline for insiders, for those already `in the know' and those who stumble across it. I argue that, in order to become politically engaged with disenfranchised groups, cultural studies must make more effort to be visible to those groups. Thus, paradoxically, for cultural studies to become more politically engaged as educational practice it must take on more of the trappings of institutional disciplinarity. •
Optimization of Controlled Jets in Crossflow

The controlled acoustical excitation of a round gas jet injected transversely into crossflow, is studied. Use of an open-loop, or feedforward, controller in the experiments allowed for straightforward comparisons to be made among jet responses to different conditions of acoustic excitation of jet fluid. It was found that, for a variety of excitation frequencies, optimal temporal pulse widths during square wave excitation produced clear and distinctly rolled-up vortical structures as well as increased jet penetration into the crossflow forjet-to-crossflow velocity ratios of 2.6 and 4.0. In some cases, application of forcing frequencies corresponding to subharmonics of the upstream shear layer mode for the unforced transverse jet also produced increased jet penetration, coincident with deeply penetrating, distinct vortical structures in the jet. In other instances, merely exciting at the optimal pulse width and at a low excitation frequency (in comparison to the unforced transverse jet shear layer frequency) yielded the best jet penetration and spread. These results on optimization may be interpreted in terms of a universal timescale associated with vortex ring formation and propagation.
Transport of water vapor from combustion gases into liquid-phase in unsteady methanol pool flames

Abstract Small-scale laboratory pool flames of methanol were studied experimentally to determine the liquid fuel depletion rates and the water transport between the gas-phase and the liquid-phase. All experimental observations were made in the unsteady burning mode covering the period from ignition to complete burnout. The pool diameters were 46.5, 97 and 138.5 mm. Five flame conditions with different pool diameters and various pool depths were investigated. Experimental results showed that the amount of water in the liquid-phase increased significantly as the burning progressed. It was shown that this was due to the transport of water in the gas-phase to the relatively cooler liquid surface. The physical mechanism that would produce the observed results was argued to be the following: water vapor condenses at the gas–liquid interface and dissolves into the pool liquid. The condensation heat release increases the enthalpy of the liquid-phase and hence can augment pool liquid evaporation. However, as the water fraction in the liquid-phase increases, so does the equilibrium saturation temperature of the water–methanol mixture. This means that a portion of the enthalpy contributed by water vapor condensation in the liquid-phase is spent to compensate for the increased saturation temperature. The vapor–liquid equilibrium compositions of methanol–water mixtures exhibit a nonlinear behavior such that the water vapor mole fraction above the liquid surface is smaller than the water mole fraction in liquid-phase resulting in an accumulation of water in the pool as the burning progresses.
Application of the wavelet-based Radon transform

The theory of the Radon transform forms the foundation for problems of reconstruction from projections. For example, in computerized tomography (CT), the raw data can be identified with the Radon transform of the image. The desired image is found by applying the inverse Radon transform to the projection data. In cases where it is desired to image a local region that is small in comparison to the entire image, there is a problem due to the nature of the global properties of the in verse Radon transform in 2D. From a practical point of view this means we must have projection data for regions that are not in the region of interest (ROI) in order to stabilize the inversion process that yields the ROI. Introduction of the wavelet transform as an intermediate part of the inversion leads to an important improvement in this procedure. It is possible to devise algorithms such that significantly less radiation exposure is required without causing a noticeable degradation of the image in the ROI. The key is to make use of wavelets with several vanishing moments and to do appropriate sparse sampling away from the ROI. A review of Radon transform inversion is discussed for three major inversion algorithms, and a brief summary of wavelets is given. The current situation on wavelet based Radon transform inversion is reviewed along with potential applications to CT, limited angle CT, and single photon emission computed tomography.
Speed of information processing in patients with multiple sclerosis

To determine the extent to which multiple sclerosis (MS) slows cognitive processes, speeded tasks were administered to 11 patients with MS and to 11 comparison subjects without MS. On all tasks, patients with MS responded more slowly than comparison subjects. More important, response times (RTs) for patients with MS increased systematically as a function of RTs for comparison subjects, and the increase was best described by a power function. These data are consistent with the view that MS produces a general slowing of cognitive processes, and with the view that the cognitive slowing associated with aging reflects neural noise.
Negative-coupling resonances in pump-coupled lasers

We consider coupled lasers, where the intensity deviations from the steady state modulate the pump of the other lasers. Most of our results are for two lasers where the coupling constants are of opposite sign. This leads to a Hopf bifurcation to periodic output for weak coupling. As the magnitude of the coupling constants is increased (negatively) we observe novel amplitude effects such as a weak coupling resonance peak and strong coupling subharmonic resonances and chaos. In the weak coupling regime the output is predicted by a set of slow evolution amplitude equations. Pulsating solutions in the strong coupling limit are described by a discrete map derived from the original model.
The antiterminator RNA of phage HK022

Abstract The put sites of phage HK022 increase the processivity of transcription and thereby promote the expression of viral genes that are located downstream of transcription terminators. RNA polymerase molecules that have traversed a put site are converted to a terminator-resistant form by the put transcript. We analyzed the structure and function of put transcripts by determining the effects of put mutations on terminator readthrough, and by probing wild-type and mutant put RNAs with structure-specific nucleases. The results support the prediction that the secondary structure of the active transcript consists of two hairpin stems that are separated by a single unpaired base. The identity of bases in certain bulges and internal loops is important for activity, while that of most bases in the terminal loops is not. Many bases in the stems can be replaced with little or no effect on activity provided that base-pairing is maintained.
Loss-of-function mutation of the SCN3B-encoded sodium channel β3 subunit associated with a case of idiopathic ventricular fibrillation

Aims Loss-of-function mutations in the SCN5A- encoded sodium channel SCN5A or Nav1.5 have been identified in idiopathic ventricular fibrillation (IVF) in the absence of Brugada syndrome phenotype. Nav1.5 is regulated by four sodium channel auxiliary β subunits. Here, we report a case with IVF and a novel mutation in the SCN3B- encoded sodium channel β subunit Navβ3 that causes a loss of function of Nav1.5 channels in vitro . Methods and results Comprehensive open reading frame mutational analysis of KCNQ1 , KCNH2 , SCN5A , KCNE1 , KCNE2 , GPD1L , four sodium channel β subunit genes ( SCN1-4B ), and targeted scan of RYR2 was performed. A novel missense mutation, Navβ3-V54G, was identified in a 20-year-old male following witnessed collapse and defibrillation from VF. The ECG exhibited epsilon waves, and imaging studies demonstrated a structurally normal heart. The mutated residue was highly conserved across species, localized to the Navβ3 extracellular domain, and absent in 800 reference alleles. We found that HEK-293 cells had endogenous Navβ3, but COS cells did not. Co-expression of Nav1.5 with Navβ3-V54G (with or without co-expression of the Navβ1 subunit) in both HEK-293 cells and COS cells revealed a significant decrease in peak sodium current and a positive shift of inactivation compared with WT. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments showed association of Navβ3 with Nav1.5, and immunocytochemistry demonstrated a dramatic decrease in trafficking to the plasma membrane when co-expressed with mutant Navβ3-V54G. Conclusion This study provides molecular and cellular evidence implicating mutations in Navβ3 as a cause of IVF.
Emerging travel trends, high-speed rail, and the public reinvention of U.S. transportation

By examining emerging travel trends and the resurgence of rail transport in the United States, this paper suggests that deploying high-speed rail (HSR) in the U.S. could help accelerate a transportation paradigm shift that is already underway, increase density, improve the service and sustainability of transportation, and accelerate economic activity. This shift is especially notable among young Americans who are driving less, buying fewer cars, and settling in urban areas where they can walk, bike, and use public transport. Meanwhile, baby boomers, though driving more than previous generations did at the same age, are joining this urbanizing trend and, as they grow older, seeking mobility alternatives to car dependence. Other trends, such as the transformation of society by mobile communication and digital technology, are also affecting change and forcing planners to re-think the current imbalance of the U.S. transport system. Using the success revealed by passenger rail services in the Northeast Corridor, this paper examines how high-speed rail and its station hubs could enhance urbanization and help to rebalance the three main passenger modes—road, air, and rail—so that each flourishes within its most sustainable niche. In these ways, the benefits of HSR extend beyond rail service itself to include this mode's ability to reinvent the transportation system in ways that better serve the needs of a changing society while urgently addressing livability and sustainability.
Sum Frequency Generation Vibrational Spectroscopy of Colloidal Platinum Nanoparticle Catalysts: Disordering versus Removal of Organic Capping

Recent work with nanoparticle catalysts shows that size and shape control on the nanometer scale influences reaction rate and selectivity. Sum frequency generation (SFG) vibrational spectroscopy is...
An Investigation of Habitual and Incidental Physical Activity Among Costa Rican and Costa Rican American Teenage Girls

A comparative survey design was used to examine habitual and incidental physical activity among native Costa Rican (CR) and Costa Rican American (CRA) adolescent girls. The purposive sample included 17 girls (ages 12-19 years) living in Limon, Costa Rica (n = 11), and the metropolitan New York/New Jersey area (n = 6). Participants in the CR group had significantly higher levels of habitual (p = .04), incidental (p = .02), and combined (p = .03) physical activity as compared with those on the CRA group. Dance was a preferred form of activity for both groups. The relationship between habitual and incidental physical activity was not significant, underscoring the need to address both variables in assessment of total physical activity. The findings suggest a need to prioritize the promotion of physical activity among immigrant teenage girls using culturally valued methods.
Deformation and fracture behavior of Cu and CuSi alloys under dynamic loading conditions

Abstract An exploding wire system for dynamic loading has been used to study the influence of stacking fault energy on the deformation and fracture behavior of CuSi alloys containing up to 3.3 wt.% Si. Transmission electron microscopy examination of the dynamically loaded alloys revealed substructures similar to those observed in plate impact loaded specimens of copper-base alloys of comparable stacking fault energy. The deformation structure and the corresponding hardness of the dynamically loaded alloys exhibited the most dramatic change when the stacking fault energy was varied over the range between 25 and 50 erg/cm 2 (2.5 × 10 −2 and 5.0 × 10 −2 J m −2 ). The results indicate that the hardness increase resulting from a given shock pressure and strain rate is much greater for the exploding wire configuration when compared with plate impact loading for specimens of comparable stacking fault energy. The implications of this observation are discussed.
A study of passive immunization against a transplanted G+ leukemia with specific antiserum.

SummaryAntiserum with high titers of cytotoxic antibody against G-f leukemia cells can be prepared in inbred rats by immunization with histocompatible rat leukemias induced in the same inbred strain by wild-type Gross virus. Under these conditions heteroantibody and isoantibody to normal tissue antigens are not formed. Passive immunization with this antiserum was successful against a G + transplanted mouse leukemia but not against a G— mouse leukemia of the same inbred strain. These results conform to the specificity of the antiserum for G+ cells, as shown by the cytotoxic test in vitro. Complete protection can be achieved in some mice by serum given as late as 3 days after intravenous inoculation of leukemia cells. Protected mice are not immune to rechallenge with minimal numbers of G + leukemia cells after the transferred G antibody has been cleared.
Internet resources in applied behavior analysis.

Internet communication is becoming an important tool for both academic and clinical areas in psychology and behavior analysis. The Internet, a confederation of thousands of computer systems covering the entire globe (Plaud, 1996b), can significantly enhance behavior analysis in at least three major areas: (a) information exchange and communication among behavior analysts through list servers, (b) dissemination of empirical data and commentary through on-line journals and information servers, and (c) promotion of programs and services in behavior analysis. This commentary provides specific examples in each of these areas and addresses the basics of connecting to the Internet.
Effect of anion exchange inhibitors and para-aminohippurate on the transport of urate in the rat proximal tubule

Effect of anion exchange inhibitors and para-aminohippurate on the transport of urate in the rat proximal tubule. The present studies were designed to examine the effect of some anion exchange inhibitors and para-aminohippurate (PAH) on urate transport in the proximal tubule of the rat utilizing microperfusion techniques. The addition of SITS, DIDS, or furosemide to the luminal perfusion solution resulted in a decreased rate of absorption of water and 2- 14 C-urate. In addition, the presence of PAH in the luminal microperfusion solution resulted in a lower rate of urate absorption. The absorptive flux of urate was significantly higher, however, when PAH was added to the solution microperfusing the capillaries. The capillary to lumen secretory flux of urate was significantly higher when PAH or unlabeled urate was added to the luminal perfusion solution and significantly lower when PAH was added to the capillary perfusion solution. The addition of SITS to either the capillary or luminal microperfusion solution resulted in lower secretory and absorptive fluxes of urate. These studies suggest that both the secretion and reabsorption of urate in the proximal convoluted tubule of the rat is influenced by some anion exchange inhibitors and PAH. The results are considered in conjunction with recent in vitro data suggesting that urate transport is mediated by a process of anion exchange. Effet des inhibiteurs de l'echange anionique et du para-aminohippurate sur le transport de l'urate dans le tubule proximal de rat. Cette etude a ete concue afin d'examiner l'effet de certains inhibiteurs de l'echange anionique et du para-aminohippurate (PAH) sur le transport d'urate dans le tubule proximal de rat en utilisant des techniques de microperfusion. L'addition de SITS, de DIDS ou de furosemide a la solution de perfusion luminale a entraine une diminution du taux d'absorption d'eau et de 2- 14 C-urate. En outre la presence de PAH dans la solution de microperfusion luminale a entraine un plus faible taux d'absorption de l'urate. Le flux d'absorption de l'urate etait toutefois significativement plus eleve lorsque le PAH etait ajoute a la solution perfusant les capillaires. Les flux secretoires du capillaire vers la lumiere de l'urate etaient significativement plus eleves lorsque le PAH ou de l'urate nonmarque etaient ajoutes a la solution de perfusion luminale, et significativement plus faibles lorsque le PAH etait ajoute a la solution de perfusion capillaire. L'addition de SITS aux solutions de microperfusions capillaire ou luminale a entraine des flux de secretion et d'absorption d'urate plus faibles. Ces etudes suggerent que la secretion et la reabsorption d'urate dans le tubule contourne proximal de rat sont influencees par certains inhibiteurs d'echanges anioniques et le PAH. Ces resultats sont etudies en fonction des donnees recentes obtenues in vitro suggerant que le transport de l'urate est medie par un processus d'echange anionique.
Orthodontic extrusion: Its use in restorative dentistry

The technique described in this study demonstrates that the use of orthodontic extrusion can provide an alternative to extraction and extensive periodontal surgery. Selection of patients is an important aspect when considering this type of treatment. The crown-root ratio, as well as the root anatomy, if inadequate, may render this type of treatment inappropriate. The concept of a biologic width is discussed, and its application to forced eruption is described.
Microstructure and mechanical behavior of nanocrystalline metals

Abstract The intrinsic mechanical properties of nanocrystalline metals are masked by imperfections introduced during synthesis or later heat treatment. These imperfections include gas-filled pores, flaws, spatially abrupt variations in grain size and recrystallized regions. Desorption studies show the presence of gases trapped in the pores at sufficient pressure to cause blistering during annealing. Larger flaws are associated with regions of imperfect bonding of the nanocrystalline clusters. TEM examination shows the presence of recrystallized grains, their volume fraction varying with sample exposure to elevated temperature. Tensile tests on miniature samples of nanocrystalline Cu showed yield stresses of 450–600 MPa and strains to failure of 2–3% in nanocrystalline Cu, but only elastic deformation in nanocrystalline Ni with fractures stresses of 1200 and 1500 MPa. This difference in plasticity may be attributed to the smaller volume fraction of recrystallized grains in the Ni samples.
A Chemical Genomics Study Identifies Snf1 as a Repressor of GCN4 Translation

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae Snf1 kinase plays a critical role in recalibrating cellular metabolism in response to glucose depletion. Hundreds of genes show changes in expression levels when the SNF1 gene is deleted. However, cells can adapt to the absence of a specific gene when grown in long term culture. Here we apply a chemical genetic method to rapidly and selectively inactivate a modified Snf1 kinase using a pyrazolopyrimidine inhibitor. By allowing cells to adjust to a change in carbon source prior to inhibition of the Snf1 kinase activity, we identified a set of genes whose expression increased when Snf1 was inhibited. Prominent in this set are genes that are activated by Gcn4, a transcriptional activator of amino acid biosynthetic genes. Deletion of Snf1 increased Gcn4 protein levels without affecting its mRNA levels. The increased Gcn4 protein levels required the Gcn2 kinase and Gcn20, regulators of GCN4 translation. These data indicate that Snf1 functions upstream of Gcn20 to regulate control of GCN4 translation in S. cerevisiae.
Effects of 1.9 MeV monoenergetic neutrons onVicia faba chromosomes: Microdosimetric considerations

AeratedVicia faba root meristems were irradiated with 1.9 MeV monoenergetic neutrons. This source of neutrons optimally provides one class of particles (recoil protons) with ranges able to traverse cell nuclei at moderate to high-LET. The volumes of theVicia faba nuclei were log-normally distributed with a mean of 1100 µm3. The yield of chromatid-type aberrations was linear against absorbed dose and near-constant over 5 collection periods (2–12 h), after irradiation. Energy deposition events (recoil protons) determined by microdosimetry were related to cytological changes with the finding that 19% of incident recoil protons initiate visible changes inVicia faba chromosomes. It is probable that a substantial fraction of recoil proton track length and deposited energy is in insensitive (non-DNA containing) portions of the nuclear volume.
Factors underlying the speech-recognition performance of elderly hearing-aid wearers

This paper reports the aided and unaided speech-recognition scores from a group of 171 elderly hearing-aid wearers. All hearing-aid wearers were fit with identical instruments (linear Class-D amplifiers with output-limiting compression) and evaluated with a standard protocol. In addition to including multiple measures of speech recognition, an extensive set of physiological and perceptual measures of auditory function, as well as general measures of cognitive function, were completed prior to the hearing-aid fitting. Comparison of the results from this study to available norms suggested that this group of participants was fairly typical or representative for their hearing loss and age. Approaches to the prediction of general speech-recognition performance that were examined included methods based on an acoustical index, the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII), and others based on linear-regression statistical analysis. The latter approach proved to be the most successful, accounting for about two-thirds of the variance in speech-recognition performance, with the primary predictive factors being measures of hearing loss and cognitive function.
Librations of Central Configurations and Braided Saturn Rings

We give a simple mathematical model for braided rings of a planet based on Maxwell's model for the rings of Saturn.
A Data Set of Human Endogenous Protein Ubiquitination Sites

Lysine ubiquitination is an important and versatile protein post-translational modification. Numerous cellular functions are regulated by ubiquitination, suggesting that extensive numbers of proteins, if not all, are modified with ubiquitin at certain times. However, proteome-wide profiling of ubiquitination sites in the mammalian system is technically challenging. We report the design and characterization of an engineered protein affinity reagent for the isolation of ubiquitinated proteins and the identification of ubiquitination sites with mass spectrometry. This recombinant protein consists of four tandem repeats of ubiquitin-associated domain from UBQLN1 fused to a GST tag. We used this GST-qUBA reagent to isolate polyubiquitinated proteins and identified 294 endogenous ubiquitination sites on 223 proteins from human 293T cells without proteasome inhibitors or overexpression of ubiquitin. Mitochondrial proteins constitute 14.7% of this data set, implicating ubiquitination in a wide range of mitochondrial functions.
Lifshitz theory of van der Waals pressure in dissipative media

We derive a first-principles method of determining the van der Waals or Casimir pressure in a dissipative and dispersive planar multilayered system by calculating the Maxwell stress tensor in a fictitious layer of vacuum, that is eventually made to vanish, introduced in the structure. This is illustrated by calculating the van der Waals pressure in a thin film with dissipative properties embedded between two semi-infinite media.
Knowledge integration for the post-genomic era: a progress report

Data heterogeneity, which manifests itself in multiple tiers of the biological information base, is a major barrier to progress in the fundamental understanding of biological processes. Biologists possess no unified search mechanism that can facilitate the discovery of genes, proteins, and pathways. A first step toward designing such a mechanism is proposed and its general requirements outlined.
Techniques for pre-pulse contrast improvement on the 0.5 ps, 80 J, “C” beamline of the Trident Laser

Non-linear pulse cleaning is used along with an OPA front end and improved stretcher designs to improve pre-pulse contrast on the high intensity short pulse beam line of the Trident Laser.
Strain Relaxation and Oxide Formation on Annealed W/C Multilayers

Tungsten-carbon (W/C) multilayer structures are used as X-ray mirrors and other optical elements. The optical properties of such elements are highly sensitive to changes in strain due to thermal processing. Sensitive curvature measurements were performed on 40A period W/C multilayer structures on Si substrates using a two beam laser reflection technique. A compressive stress of approximately 1530 MPa was measured in these sputtered multilayer films. Thermal annealing to 500 °C in air and under vacuum resulted in very little strain relaxation in the multilayers but X-ray diffraction data show a slight increase of the multilayer period. Significant strain relaxation, though, was observed when a 400A W buffer layer was included. Thermal annealing of these samples to 400–500°C resulted in large strain relaxation due to the formation of α-W crystals in the buffer layer. Moderate oxide formation on air annealed samples as measured by SIMS was shown not to be a dominant mechanism of strain relaxation.
A Time-Series Analysis of Corporate Payout Policies

I conduct a time-series analysis of corporate payout policies that accounts for the dynamic nature of these decisions and for the interaction among investment decisions and payout policies. The estimation is done with a VAR model of investments, earnings, total payout, and the split of the total payout between dividends and share repurchases. I control for changes in the legal treatment of share repurchases in 1982 and for changes in the relative taxation of dividends and capital gains. I find that: (i) an increase in the taxation of capital gains relative to dividends shifts the split of total payout away from share repurchase and toward dividends; (ii) corporate investment decisions lead payout policies and not the other way around; (iii) increases in corporate total payout are associated with long-term subsequent increases in earnings; (iv) changes in the composition of corporate payout away from share repurchases and toward dividends are associated with subsequent increases in earnings.
Wrong turn from right quadrant.

34 Question: A 35-yearold woman presented to the emergency department with a 1-day history of right lower quadrant pain. Her past medical historywasnotable foran omphalocele (requiring multiple abdominal surgeries as an infant) and antiphospholipid syndrome with multiple deep vein thromboses and pulmonary emboli. The patient described the abdominal pain as constant without radiation and unrelated to food intake. She denied any nausea, vomiting, fevers, chills, change in bowels, bleeding, or urinary symptoms. Laboratory data were unremarkable. Coronal and cross-sectional cuts from abdominal computed tomography (CT) are shown in Figures A and B, respectively. What is the diagnosis? Look on page 323 for the answer and see the Gastroenterology web site (www.gastrojournal.org) for more information on submitting your favorite image to Clinical Challenges and Images in GI.
Understanding symbol coding in schizophrenia.

At first glance, the article by Knowles et al. (1) could easily be dismissed as an obsessive treatise focusing on the semantics employed by psychologists and those who decline to ignore them. It is not. It is a thorough investigation of the component elements of mental functioning that determine performance on the most sensitive test for the detection of schizophreniarelated cognitive impairment available today. Additional context about symbol coding tests may be informative. To the surprise of many, the sophisticated and complex electrophysiologic, neuroimaging, genetic, and cognitive neuroscience measures that we apply to the problem of differentiating people with schizophrenia from healthy people all are less sensitive than a simple test that has been available in various forms for several decades (2). This finding has been discouraging to investigators who have spent years developing intricate methodologies for assessing specific components of perceptual and cognitive mechanisms that may explain the core impairments in schizophrenia. These newer methodologies certainly evaluate more specific cognitive and perceptual processes. However, the coding tests are more strongly correlated than any other measure with the things that are really meaningful to patients and their families: whether patients can work, maintain relationships with loved ones, and live independently (3). Neuropsychological tests were developed partially for this purpose—to measure the mental strengths and weaknesses of an individual in a standardized manner that would allow clinicians to understand how they are likely to fare in everyday life (4). Symbol coding tests, in various forms, involve matching numerical digits 1–9 with nine different symbols (Figure 1). Hundreds of articles have described various categorizations of symbol coding tests, including executive functions, working memory, incidental learning, perception, attention shifting, cognitive control, and visual search. Perhaps most often, these tests have been described as measures of processing speed, especially in schizophrenia. The Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia Neurocognition Subcommittee chose to place a symbol coding task within the processing speed domain, partly owing to tradition, but mostly owing to the fact that in factor analyses involving patients with schizophrenia, these tests load with other graphomotor speed tests more strongly than they do with tests in other domains (5). Although the prime element of performance of the test is speed, it is a more complex test than pure speed measures such as reaction time and finger tapping. Knowles et al. state in their article that in healthy people, “successful coding task performance is predominantly reliant on executive function, rather than processing-speed or memory abilities” (1). Is this semantics? Partly. Forcing tests into categories loses information and leads to misunderstandings.
A Remote Sensing-Assisted Risk Rating Study to Predict Oak Decline and Recovery in the Missouri Ozark Highlands, USA

Forests in the Ozark Highlands underwent widespread oak decline affected by severe droughts in 1999-2000. In this study, the differential normalized difference water index was calculated to detect crown dieback. A multi-factor risk rating system was built to map risk levels of stands. As a quick response to drought, decline in 2000 mostly occurred in stands at low to medium risk, which often recovered within a few years. Decline in 2003, as longer-term response to drought, dominated in stands at medium to high risk. This study demonstrates that remote sensing can be applied to predict oak decline and to mitigate damage before another stressor event occurs.
Recognition of poorly printed text by direct extraction of features from gray scale

Omnifont optical character recognition proceeds by computing features on the input image and then classifying the image. Past omnifont optical character recognition techniques that use features have always binarized the image by comparing the brightness of an input pixel with a threshold level and then labeling it as `black'' or `white'' and then computing the features for each character. However, for poorly printed text such binarization results into broken or merged characters and consequently incorrect features. We propose a method for the direct computation of geometrical features, such as strokes, directly from the gray scale image. To this aim we use a model of the image forming process, namely the convolution of the original binary image with the point spread function of the digitizer. We also estimate how printing distortions and noise affect the result so that we can deduce how different parts of a printed character should appear under those conditions. Detected features are then clustered for each set of samples of the training set. The clustering guides the selection of prototypes and the final classification is made by graph matching between prototypes and new (unknown) characters.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
How do we assign ourselves social status? A cross-cultural test of the cognitive averaging principle.

Subjective social status (SSS), or one’s perceived social standing, is linked robustly to mental and physical health and is thought to be determined in part by a cognitive average of one’s past, present and expected socioeconomic status. However, this averaging principle awaits a formal test. Further, cultures differ with regard to how they perceive and discount time. In this study, I draw upon cross-sectional data from the United States and Japan (2005 MIDUS non-Hispanic whites and 2008 MIDJA), which measured subjective status in terms of one’s perceived standing within a personally defined community. I compare equal and unequal cognitive averaging models for their goodness of fit relative to a traditional present-based model. Socioeconomic status is assessed broadly, in terms of past, present and expected overall work and financial situations. In the United States, averaging models do not fit the data consistently better than a present-based model of SSS. However, in Japan, averaging models do fit SSS consistently better. These fit conclusions are robust to controlling for negative affect.
Basolateral Amygdala Lesions Block the Memory-enhancing Effect of Glucocorticoid Administration in the Dorsal Hippocampus of Rats

These experiments examined the effects of bilateral amygdala nuclei lesions on modulation of memory storage induced by bilateral intrahippocampal microinfusions of glucocorticoids in male Sprague-Dawley rats. Post-training infusions of the glucocorticoid receptor (type II) agonist RU 28362 (3.0 or 10.0 ng) enhanced inhibitory avoidance retention, and infusions of the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist RU 38486 (3.0 or 10.0 ng) administered shortly before training in a water maze spatial task did not affect acquisition, but imparied retention. In both tasks, neurochemically induced lesions of the basolateral but not of the central amygdala blocked the memory-modulatory effects of the intrahippocampal infusions of the drugs affecting glucocorticoid receptors. Lesions of the central amygdala alone impaired inhibitory avoidance retention, but basolateral amygdala lesions alone did not affect acquisition or retention in either task. These findings are consistent with previous evidence indicating that lesions of the basolateral amygdala block the memory-modulatory effects of systemically administered glucocorticoids, and provide further evidence that the basolateral amygdala is a critical area involved in regulating glucocorticoid effects in other brain regions involved in memory storage.
Ileal Enterocystoplasty and B12 Deficiency in Pediatric Patients

Purpose: Vitamin B12 deficiency is a feared complication of enterocystoplasty but it has never been demonstrated in pediatric patients who have undergone ileal enterocystoplasty. We reviewed our series of more than 500 bladder augmentations in an attempt to define the timing and risk of vitamin B12 deficiency in pediatric patients after bladder augmentation.Materials and Methods: From October 2004 to present we obtained serum B12 values in patients who had undergone bladder augmentation at our institution. We looked at patients who had undergone ileal enterocystoplasty and who were 18 years or younger at the time of augmentation. Any B12 value that was obtained while on any form of B12 supplementation was excluded. These criteria resulted in 79 patients with 105 B12 values. B12 values of 200 pg/ml or less were considered “low,” and values between 201 and 300 pg/ml were considered “low-normal.”Results: There was a statistically significant correlation between followup time and serum B12 (p = 0.0001). The p...
Pseudo-Opinions on Public Affairs

This article reports on the often suspected but rarely researched tendency of survey respondents to give opinions on topics to which they have given little or no thought. The findings, based on a question about a fictitious public affairs issue, do show that the magnitude of the problem is substantial. But the data also demonstrate that this phenomenon does not represent simple random error, reflecting instead basic social-psychological dispositions which can be elicited, unwittingly, in the context of the interview. George F. Bishop is a Senior Research Associate, Robert W. Oldendick is a Research Associate, and Alfred J. Tuchfarber is Director, Behavioral Sciences Laboratory at the University of Cincinnati. Stephen E. Bennett is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Cincinnati. The research reported here was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (SOC78-07407). The authors want to thank Howard Schuman and Stanley Presser for their comments on a presentation of a previous version of this paper at the annual conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Buck Hill Falls, Pennsylvania, June 1979. Public Opinion Quarterly ? 1980 by The Trustees of Columbia University Published by Elsevier North Holland, Inc. 0033-362X/80/0044-198/$1.75 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.77 on Mon, 23 May 2016 05:43:50 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PSEUDO-OPINIONS ON PUBLIC AFFAIRS 199 American public (cf. Converse, 1970). For they found that a sizable majority (63 percent) of their respondents were quite willing to volunteer "don't know" when asked their opinion of the not-so-wellknown military government in Portugal. But impressive as this figure might seem, it was based on a real subject that had been covered in varying degrees by the mass media. A more direct approach would be simply to ask people whether they have an opinion about an issue or topic that theoretically does not exist. This, in fact, is what we did as part of a larger set of experiments on the effects of opinion filtering (Bishop et al., 1979). In this report we will look first at how extensive the nonattitude or "pseudo-opinion" problem may be in U.S. surveys. We will then try to identify the principal social and psychological sources of this disposition, including a partial assessment of the extent to which it reflects deliberate falsification. And finally, we will explore the probable consequences of excluding respondents who express such tendencies from analysis of other items within the same survey.
Les exigences d’essais pour une qualification matérielle des équipements classés sureté nucléaire

13.5% of the worldwide electricity is produced by 438 nuclear reactors in operation. 71 are under construction. In the nuclear world, the highest safety level has always constituted an absolute priority: safety of products, safety of the solutions developed for the benefit of the customers, and safety of operations. To achieve these objectives, a component, installed in a nuclear power plant, which contributes to a safety function, is safety classified and has to be qualified accordingly. The qualification consists in demonstrating whether by tests or by analysis that the equipment is able to work in the normal environment of the plant and in degraded conditions based on accidental event analyses. The tests sequence can include electrical tests, EMC tests, climatic/environment tests, mechanical tests, seismic tests, irradiation tests. As a matter of fact, a qualification lasts between 2 to 3 years including the different steps from the design to the final qualification documents. The aim of this presentation is to give an overview of the equipment qualification in the nuclear domain and related requirements to perform the test sequences. 3 topics will be shared: The activities of the qualification in the nuclear domain, the test requirements (test severities, test facilities…) and the quality requirements (traceability, IEC standards, documentation, accreditation…)
Avalanches and diffusion in bubble rafts

Energy dissipation distributions and particle displacement statistics are studied in the mean-field version of Durian's bubble model. A two-dimensional (2D) bi-disperse mixture is simulated at various strain rates, , and packing ratios, , above the rigidity onset at . Well above , and at sufficiently low , the system responds in a highly bursty way, reminiscent of other dynamically critical systems with a power-law distribution of energy dissipation. As one increases at fixed or tunes at fixed , the bursty behavior vanishes. Displacement distributions are non-Fickian at short times but cross to a Fickian regime at a universal strain, , independent of and . Despite the profound differences in short-time dynamics, at intermediate Δγ the systems exhibit qualitatively similar spatial patterns of deformation with lines of slip extending across large fractions of the simulation cell. These deformation patterns explain the observed diffusion constants and the universal crossover time to Fickian behavior.
Pregnancy in a patient with complete double uterus

Menses began at eleven years; the patient had had marked dysmenorrhea starting three days before each period and lasting until three days after the period was over. In 1929, when fifteen years old, she had several attacks of acute abdominal pain, usually starting on one side and crossing to the opposite side. There was no vomiting; the attacks lasted for about twenty-four hours and disappeared. There was. however, during this time an almost constant dull pain in the right side, which frequently became sharp -xhen rising from a sitting position. After an acute attack in July of this year, the patient was sent to the hospital and an appendectomy and right oophorectomy were performed. The pathologic 1abora;ory report states that the appendix was enlarged, with obliterated lumen, densely fibrotic walls, atrophied muscle and obliterated glands. The right ovary consisted mainly of a large luteal cyst filled with hyaloid material; the cyst walls and cortex were thin and sclerotic. A diagnosis of obliterative appendicitis and luteal cystic ovary was made and the patient was discharged on the seventeenth day in good general condition. The family was informed at this time that the girl’s genital organs were abnormal. In 1932, the patient came to the gynecological clinic for treatment of the dysmenorrhea which for the past three or four months had become increasingly severe and necessitated remaining in bed for several days of each month. The pain started just above the symphysis and radiated chiefly to the left side, left loin, and down t.he left leg. On physical examination the patient appeared to be a perfectly normal seventeenyear-old white female, but pelvic examination revealed a double introitus and llouble vagina, each side .aith a small buttonlike cervix. The uterus could not be easily palpated because of abdominal rigidity. The adnexa were not palpable. Dilatation of both cervices was advised as a palliative measure, and this was done May 3, 1932. At o,peration, a Rubin test showed the left tube patent at a pressure of 80 millimeters of mercury. The right tube was not patent. At attempt at lipiodol injection and x-ray was unsuccessful. The vaginal septum was removed at the request of the mother. After the operation there was partial relief from dysmenorrhea for several months, then the patient married as.d moved to another state. In a short time it was reported that the dysmenorrhea was becoming progressively more severe. On one occasion the patient became comatose just before onset of menses. At this point cervical dilatation was again resorted to and several of the subsequent periods were acco~npanied by greatly diminished dysmenorrhea.