cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The legacy of Ludwig von Bertalanffy and its relevance for our time

This paper provides a brief overview of Ludwig von Bertalanffy's contributions to the evolution of the fields of biology and systems theory and the significance of his work in relation to contemporary developments across a broad spectrum of disciplines. In documenting some of the ways in which his insights have remained relevant, inspiring scholars and practitioners in a variety of fields, it also addresses the philosophical and ethical implications inherent in Bertalanffy's work. Perhaps one of the most striking dimensions of his writing is his passionate critique of mechanistic science, which he sees as dehumanizing and as responsible for many of the challenges confronting humanity. In contrast, he emphasized the humanistic orientation of his conception of general systems theory as an approach that could provide guidelines and support for addressing these challenges.
Unequal Opportunity? Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities in the Returns to Internal U.S. Migration.

Internal U.S. migration plays an important role in increasing individuals’ access to economic and social opportunities. At the same time, race, ethnicity, and gender have frequently shaped the oppo...
The Role of Occupational Engagement in Health Beliefs of African American Male Elders

Date Presented 04/05/19 The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the health beliefs of community-dwelling African American male elders and the activities or behaviors associated with these beliefs. This research topic will advance the practice of OT through providing a client-centered perspective of the major influences on health behaviors and the role of engagement for a high-risk minority population. Primary Author and Speaker: Leslie Roundtree Additional Authors and Speakers: Farnaz Chaudhry, Rudi Holland, Katrina Morgan, Jacek Tomczak
Superconductivity by hidden spin fluctuations in electron-doped iron selenide

Berg, Metlitski, and Sachdev [Science 338, 1606 (2012)] have shown that the exchange of hidden spin fluctuations by conduction electrons with two orbitals can result in high-temperature superconductivity in copper-oxide materials. We introduce a similar model for high-temperature iron-selenide superconductors that are electron-doped. Conduction electrons carry the minimal $3{d}_{xz}$ and $3{d}_{yz}$ iron-atom orbitals. Low-energy hidden spin fluctuations at the checkerboard wave vector ${\mathbit{Q}}_{\mathrm{AF}}$ result from nested Fermi surfaces at the center and at the corner of the unfolded (one-iron) Brillouin zone. Magnetic frustration from superexchange interactions via the selenium atoms stabilize hidden spin fluctuations at ${\mathbit{Q}}_{\mathrm{AF}}$ versus true spin fluctuations. At half-filling, Eliashberg theory based purely on the exchange of hidden spin fluctuations reveals a Lifshitz transition to electron/hole Fermi-surface pockets at the corner of the folded (two-iron) Brillouin zone, but with vanishing spectral weights. The underlying hidden spin-density-wave ground state is therefore a Mott insulator. Upon electron doping, Eliashberg theory finds that the spectral weights of the hole Fermi-surface pockets remain vanishingly small, while the spectral weights of the larger electron Fermi-surface pockets become appreciable. This prediction is therefore consistent with the observation of electron Fermi-surface pockets alone in electron-doped iron selenide by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Eliashberg theory also finds an instability to ${S}^{+\ensuremath{-}}$ superconductivity at electron doping, with isotropic Cooper pairs that alternate in sign between the visible electron Fermi-surface pockets and the faint hole Fermi-surface pockets. Comparison with the isotropic energy gaps observed in electron-doped iron selenide by ARPES and by scanning tunneling microscopy is consistent with short-range hidden magnetic order.
"Asking Is Never Bad, I Would Venture on That": Patients' Perspectives on Routine Pain Screening in VA Primary Care.

Objective Screening for pain in routine care is one of the efforts that the Veterans Health Administration has adopted in its national pain management strategy. We aimed to understand patients' perspectives and preferences about the experience of being screened for pain in primary care. Design Semistructured interviews captured patient perceptions and preferences of pain screening, assessment, and management. Subjects We completed interviews with 36 patients: 29 males and seven females ranging in age from 28 to 94 years from three geographically distinct VA health care systems. Methods We evaluated transcripts using constant comparison and identified emergent themes. Results Theme 1: Pain screening can "determine the tone of the examination"; Theme 2: Screening can initiate communication about pain; Theme 3: Screening can facilitate patient recall and reflection; Theme 4: Screening for pain may help identify under-reported psychological pain, mental distress, and suicidality; Theme 5: Patient recommendations about how to improve screening for pain. Conclusion Our results indicate that patients perceive meaningful, positive impacts of routine pain screening that as yet have not been considered in the literature. Specifically, screening for pain may help capture mental health concerns that may otherwise not emerge.
Ball Hawks: The Arrival and Departure of the NBA in Iowa

Review of: "Ball Hawks: The Arrival and Departure of the NBA in Iowa," by Tim Harwood. Iowa
Reworking the SETI Paradox: METI's Place on the Continuum of Astrobiological Signaling.

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has heretofore been a largely passive exercise, reliant on the pursuit of technosignatures. Still, there are those that advocate a more active approach. Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI) has had a controversial history within the larger SETI project; it is claimed that the risks involved outweigh any potential benefits. These arguments are ultimately not compelling, result in absurd policy recommendations, and rest on a faulty appreciation of the nature of technosignatures, whose detectability implies intent to signal. Present technology is advancing quickly such that we will soon have great observational reach, to the point of reliably detecting such technosignatures and biosignatures: a capability that can be matched or exceeded elsewhere. To escape the SETI Paradox properly defined, at least one technological civilization must choose not to suppress its own continuum of astrobiological signals, of which METI is merely the most effective endmember. Passive SETI's low likelihood of success in the short-term is a serious obstacle to sustainable funding, alongside a 'giggle factor' enhanced by a pernicious fear of contact. The scientific community must integrate an active approach to better ensure both the continuity and eventual success of the SETI project.
Lightweight anonymous routing in NoC based SoCs

System-on-Chip (SoC) supply chain is widely acknowledged as a major source of security vulnerabilities. Potentially malicious third-party IPs integrated on the same Network-on-Chip (NoC) with the trusted components can lead to security and trust concerns. While secure communication is a well studied problem in computer networks domain, it is not feasible to implement those solutions on resource-constrained SoCs. In this paper, we present a lightweight anonymous routing protocol for communication between IP cores in NoC based SoCs. Our method eliminates the major overhead associated with traditional anonymous routing protocols while ensuring that the desired security goals are met. Experimental results demonstrate that existing security solutions on NoC can introduce significant (1.5X) performance degradation, whereas our approach provides the same security features with minor (4%) impact on performance.
Tetrahedal Geometry from Areas

We solve a very classical problem: providing a description of the geometry of a Euclidean tetrahedron from the initial data of the areas of the faces and the areas of the medial parallelograms of Y...
Athlete Workloads During Collegiate Women's Soccer Practice: Implications for Return to Play.

CONTEXT Athlete monitoring via wearable technology is often used in soccer athletes. Although researchers have tracked global outcomes across soccer seasons, little information exists on athlete loads during individual practice drills. Understanding these demands is important for athletic trainers in making decisions about return to play. OBJECTIVE To provide descriptive information on total distance, total player load (PL), total distance per minute, and PL per minute for practice drill structures and game play by player position among female soccer athletes across a competitive season. DESIGN Retrospective observational study. SETTING National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I university. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS A total of 32 female collegiate soccer players (age = 20 ± 1 years, height = 168.75 ± 4.28 cm). INTERVENTION(S) Athletes wore a single global positioning system and triaxial accelerometer unit during all practices and games in a single soccer season. Individual practice drills were labeled by the team's strength and conditioning coach and binned into physical, technical and tactical skills and large- and small-sided competition drill structures. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Descriptive analyses were used to assess the median total distance, total PL, total distance per minute, and PL per minute by drill structure and player position (defender, forward or striker, and midfielder) during practices and games. RESULTS Large- and small-sided competition drills imposed the greatest percentage of workload across all measures for each position (approximately 20% of total practice), followed by physical drills. When comparing technical and tactical skills drills, we found that technical skills drills required athletes to cover a greater distance (approximately 17% for technical skills and 15% for tactical skills), and tactical skills drills required higher play intensity during practices across all positions (approximately 18% for technical skills and 13% for tactical skills). Defenders had the highest median PL outcomes of all positions during practices. CONCLUSIONS Different practice drill types imposed various levels of demands, which simulated game play, on female soccer athletes. Athletic trainers and other clinicians may use this information in formulating objective return-to-play guidelines for injured collegiate women's soccer players.
Structuring a Team-Based Approach to Coding Qualitative Data:

Improvements to qualitative data analysis software (QDAS) have both facilitated and complicated the qualitative research process. This technology allows us to work with a greater volume of data tha...
Improving Adversarial Robustness in Weight-quantized Neural Networks.

Neural networks are getting deeper and more computation-intensive nowadays. Quantization is a useful technique in deploying neural networks on hardware platforms and saving computation costs with negligible performance loss. However, recent research reveals that neural network models, no matter full-precision or quantized, are vulnerable to adversarial attacks. In this work, we analyze both adversarial and quantization losses and then introduce criteria to evaluate them. We propose a boundary-based retraining method to mitigate adversarial and quantization losses together and adopt a nonlinear mapping method to defend against white-box gradient-based adversarial attacks. The evaluations demonstrate that our method can better restore accuracy after quantization than other baseline methods on both black-box and white-box adversarial attacks. The results also show that adversarial training suffers quantization loss and does not cooperate well with other training methods.
Spatial Graph Attention and Curiosity-driven Policy for Antiviral Drug Discovery

Author(s): Wu, Yulun; Choma, Nicholas; Chen, Andrew; Cashman, Mikaela; Prates, Erica T; Shah, Manesh; Vergara, Veronica G Melesse; Clyde, Austin; Brettin, Thomas S; Jong, Wibe A de; Kumar, Neeraj; Head, Martha S; Stevens, Rick L; Nugent, Peter; Jacobson, Daniel A; Brown, James B | Abstract: We developed Distilled Graph Attention Policy Networks (DGAPNs), a curiosity-driven reinforcement learning model to generate novel graph-structured chemical representations that optimize user-defined objectives by efficiently navigating a physically constrained domain. The framework is examined on the task of generating molecules that are designed to bind, noncovalently, to functional sites of SARS-CoV-2 proteins. We present a spatial Graph Attention Network (sGAT) that leverages self-attention over both node and edge attributes as well as encoding spatial structure -- this capability is of considerable interest in areas such as molecular and synthetic biology and drug discovery. An attentional policy network is then introduced to learn decision rules for a dynamic, fragment-based chemical environment, and state-of-the-art policy gradient techniques are employed to train the network with enhanced stability. Exploration is efficiently encouraged by incorporating innovation reward bonuses learned and proposed by random network distillation. In experiments, our framework achieved outstanding results compared to state-of-the-art algorithms, while increasing the diversity of proposed molecules and reducing the complexity of paths to chemical synthesis.
Cilium-autonomous regulation of tubulin transport by IFT.

Results GFP-tagged a-tubulin entered Chlamydomonas cilia as a cargo of IFT and by diffusion. IFT-based transport of GFP-tubulin occurred at a low frequency in full-length steady-state cilia and was strongly increased during ciliary growth when IFT trains carried more tubulin. Cells possessing both non-growing and growing cilia selectively targeted GFP-tubulin into the latter indicating that cells regulate tubulin influx individually for each cilium. The preferential delivery of tubulin boosted the concentration of soluble tubulin in the matrix of growing cilia. Cilia length mutants showed abnormal kinetics of tubulin transport, suggesting that ciliary length control involves a regulation of the occupancy of IFT trains by tubulin cargoes.
Mechanistic Diagnosis and Energy Transfer Studies by Benzene Photosensitization: Cyclic Ketones and Olefins [l]

Mechanism of photochemical reactions can be diagnosed as either a singlet process or a triplet process, if an appropriate use of the benzene photosensitization at 2537 A is made, since the relative population of the singlet and triplet benzenes can be controlled by the quantities of quenchers present in the photochemical system. At low pressures of the singlet acceptor, the triplet sensitization predominates, while the singlet sensitization predominates at higher pressures of the acceptor. The photoproduct analysis as well as the fluorescence quenching is used to identify the singlet products. The identification of the triplet products are made with the addition of an olefin as the competing quencher of the triplet benzene, since olefins reduce the triplet products. The relative efficiencies of energy transfer reactions as well as the energetics involved are measured and discussed.
Control Mechanisms of Gluconeogenesis and Ketogenesis I. EFFECTS OF OLEATE ON GLUCONEOGENESIS IN PERFUSED RAT LIVER

Abstract The effects of oleate (1.0 to 1.5 mm) were studied in livers from fasted rats perfused with alanine (5 to 10 mm), l(+)-lactate (8 to 12 mm), pyruvate (1.5 to 2.0 mm), or dihydroxyacetone (10 mm) as gluconeogenic precursors. Rates of glucose production in control livers perfused with alanine, lactate, or pyruvate were 60, 120, and 95 µmoles per 100 g, body weight, per hour, respectively. Oleate increased these rates to 132, 250, and 194 µmoles per 100 g, body weight, per hour with the three substrates. With lactate as substrate, glucose formation accounted for 60% and 78% of the lactate uptake in the absence and presence of oleate. With pyruvate as substrate, about half of the pyruvate taken up by the liver was converted to glucose, both in the presence and absence of oleate. With dihydroxyacetone as substrate, the rate of glucose production was 250 µmoles per 100 g, body weight, per hour, and was not increased further by oleate. This indicates that the rate-controlling step of gluconeogenesis is prior to the formation of triose phosphates. Oleate increased the state of reduction of the pyridine nucleotide systems in both mitochondrial and cytosolic spaces as shown by increases in the ratios of lactate to pyruvate, β-hydroxybutyrate to acetoacetate, and malate to oxalacetate. Total tissue levels of the reduced forms of the pyridine nucleotides also increased after oleate administration. Measurements of metabolic intermediates of the gluconeogenic pathway were made in order to identify sites of interaction in the enzyme sequence. The significance of these interactions was analyzed by the crossover theorem. Glyceraldehyde-3-P dehydrogenase appeared as a control site only with alanine as substrate. It is proposed that this reaction was stimulated by the elevated NADH:NAD+ ratio maintained in the cytosol during enhanced fatty acid oxidation. With lactate and pyruvate as substrates, control sites were observed at pyruvate carboxylase (activation) and phosphofructokinase (inhibition). These effects were interpreted as being caused by elevated levels of acetyl coenzyme A and citrate. The interaction between fructose-1,6-di-P and fructose-6-P is interpreted as indicating recycling of these intermediates, which is at least as rapid as the increased glucose flux observed after oleate addition. This results in a wasteful use of ATP, but probably represents no more than 10 to 20% of the oxygen consumption. Control of pyruvate carboxylation is considered to represent the most physiologically meaningful interaction between fatty acid oxidation and gluconeogenesis.
The Pursuit of Non-Gaussian Fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background

We present theoretical and observational studies of non-Gaussian fluctuations in CMB, by using the angular bispectrum and trispectrum. We predict the primary angular bispectrum from inflation, and forecast how well we can measure the primordial non-Gaussian signal. In addition to that, secondary anisotropy sources in the low-redshift universe also produce non-Gaussianity, so do foreground emissions from extragalactic or interstellar microwave sources. We study how well we can measure these non-Gaussian signals, including the primordial signal. We find that slow-roll inflation produces too small bispectrum to be detected by any experiments; thus, any detection strongly constrains this class of models. We also find that the secondary bispectrum from coupling between the SZ effect and the weak lensing effect, and the foreground bispectrum from extragalactic point sources, give detectable non-Gaussian signals on small angular scales. We test Gaussianity of the COBE DMR sky maps, by measuring all the modes of the angular bispectrum down to the DMR beam size. We find no significant signal of the bispectrum. We also find that the previously reported detection of the bispectrum is consistent with a statistical fluctuation. By fitting the theoretical prediction to the data for the primary bispectrum, we put a constraint on non-linearity in inflation. We conclude that the angular bispectrum finds no significant non-Gaussian signals in the DMR data. We present the first measurement of the angular trispectrum on the DMR sky maps, further testing Gaussianity of the DMR data. We find no significant non-Gaussian signals in the trispectrum. Therefore, the angular bispectrum and trispectrum show that the DMR sky map is comfortably consistent with Gaussianity.
Water permeation through electrically damaged polyethylene

The morphology of water trees has been related to their mechanism of formation by studying the permeability of aqueous salt solutions through treed polymeric membranes under the influence of electric fields. The permeation results do not support the hypothesis that channels open in the presence of electrical fields. However, supplementary data establish a correlation between water concentration and water tree damage and show that treed polyethylene has lower apparent diffusion rates than untreed controls. These results are in agreement with a growth mechanism involving discrete droplets of water. >
Prevalence and pricing of chain gyms in New York City

Objective: Rates of obesity in New York City (NYC) are extremely high. Research confirms that engagement in physical activity is a critical obesity prevention factor, yet many NYC adults do not meet current physical activity recommendations. Lack of access to indoor gym facilities remains a barrier to regular physical activity engagement. This study examined the prevalence and pricing of chain gyms across the two most and two least obese NYC boroughs. Setting: Ten chain gyms with 142 locations across four NYC boroughs were identified. Design: This descriptive study had a cross-sectional study design. Method: Data regarding monthly membership, enrollment fees, and annual/additional fees were collected online. Socioeconomic data were obtained via the most recent Census. Results: Significantly more chain gyms were observed in Manhattan, the borough with the lowest rates of obesity [X2 = 98.2, p < .001]. Manhattan has significantly higher membership prices (F = 21.9, p < .001). While the difference in gym mem...
773-4 Long Term Efficacy and Safety of Endovascular Low Dose Irradiation In a Swine Model of Restenosis After Angloplasty

Restenosis after balloon angioplasty is characterized by neointima formation. We have previously shown that ionizing radiation reduce neointima formation two weeks after angioplasty in a swine model of restenosis. To determine the durability of this effect and the long term safety after endovascular irradiation twenty one miniswine coronary arteries underwent overstretch balloon injury with a 3.5 mm angioplasty balloon in the LAD, LCX and RCA. High energy 192 1ridium source was introduced immediately by random assignment to deliver 700 or 1400 cGy in 14 injured coronary arteries (LAD and CX). Six months later an angiogram was performed, the animals were killed and the coronary arteries were perfusion fixed. Serial sections were stained with HaE, WG, MT then evaluated by histopathologic and morphometric techniques. Intimal area (IA) and area of intimal thickness corrected for the extent of injury (INFL) was measured in the irradiated and control arteries and compared with pigs that underwent the same treatment but were followed for 2 weeks only. Results All treated arteries were patent with normal angiographic appearance. Lumen diameters at baseline and follow-up were similar. There was no difference in fibrosis at the adventitia, media, perivascular space or adjacent segments of myocardium of the irradiated arteries compared with control. Control 700 cGy 1400 cGy IN/FL 2Weeks 0.59 ± 0.23 0.42 ± 0.15 ** 0.17 ± 0.16 **** IN/FL 6 Months 0.50 ± 0.2 0.35 ± 0.18 * 0.31 ± 0.16 ** IA 6 Months (mm) 1.25 ± 0.25 0.85 ± 0.47 *** 0.62 ± 0.45 ** P values: control versus treatment group: * P = 0.009 ** P l 0.001 *** P = 0.05. **** P l 0.0001 Conclusions Endovascular low dose irradiation in this model is safe andthe inhibitory effect of localized radiation on neointimal thickening (restenos is like) response to angioplasty is maintained at six months.
A low-cost fabrication route for silicon microchannels and microgratings with flow-enabled polymer self-assembly patterning and wet etching

Microchannels and microgratings on silicon (Si) are key components for microfluidic device, microelectromechanical system, Si photonics, micro-chemical reactor, micro-biomedical devices and other applications. In the fabrication flow of these microstructures, photolithography and dry etching are the two major steps. However, both of them incur high fabrication cost. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach for fabrication of Si microstructures. The approach uses flow-enabled polymer self-assembly (FESA) as a facile pattern formation method on Si surface; a novel wet etching method, named metal-assisted chemical etching, is employed for Si etching. These two consecutive steps show good compatibility with each other and capability of uniform microstructures fabrication on Si. The proposed approach, with combination of two low-cost yet high-performance novel technology, will serve as a promising route for microchannels and microgratings fabrication for various Si-related devices in high-volume production.
Study of photoelectron spectra of some XPY3 molecules (X = O, S and Y = Cl, Br) by the SCF-Xα-SW method

In this paper we extend our previous studies to investigate the ionization energies of some XPY3 molecules (X = O, S and Y = Cl, Br). The calculated orbital energies agree very well with reported experimental ionization energies. The molecular orbital orderings obtained coincide with recent experimental orbital assignments. The results are also compared with previous ab initio and semiempirical calculations for OPCl3, OPBr3, SPCl3, and SPBr3 molecules. The comparison indicates that the present results show improved agreement with experiment and clarify certain ambiguities in the earlier assignments.
Factors affecting children’s recognition memory for multidimensional stimuli

The recognition memory of kindergarten and second-grade children was compared with respect to two different types of stimuli and under two different conditions of pretraining. For half of the children in each age group, the recognition-test stimuli were unitary stimuli of the standard type used in multidimensional (form, size, color) discrimination problems. For the other half, the stimuli were partitioned in that the values on the dimensions were spatially separated. Half of the children in each of these groups were trained to name the values on the stimulus compounds (size, color, shape). In the memory test, one of the eight stimulus compounds, which differed from each other with respect to one, two, or all three of the dimensions, was exposed to the child for 5 sec. It was then removed, and after 10 to 15 sec the child was asked to find it among the complete set of eight compounds. The unitary stimuli were found to be more readily recognized than the partitioned stimuli by all children, the second-grade children recognized the partitioned stimuli, but not the unitary stimuli, better than did the kindergarten children, and the name training helped the kindergarten children in recognizing the partitioned stimuli. The memory data were discussed in terms of acquisition and retention differences.
Phase II trial of weekly ixabepilone in men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (E3803): a trial of the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group.

Abstract Purpose BMS-247550 (ixabepilone) is an epothilone B analogue with activity in taxane-resistant cancer cell lines. Here we report the activity and toxicity of ixabepilone, administered by using a weekly schedule, in men with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Experimental Design Patients with metastatic CRPC received ixabepilone at 20 mg/m 2 intravenous weekly x 3, in 4-week cycles. This noncomparative study stratified patients to either a chemotherapy naive (CN), prior taxane (Tax) only, or 2 prior cytotoxic (TCx) chemotherapy arm. The primary endpoint was prostate-specific antigen response by using PCWG (Prostate Cancer Working Group) 1 criteria. Secondary endpoints included radiographic response when using RECIST (Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors). Results In total, 124 patients were enrolled, of whom, 109 were eligible (35 CN, 42 Tax, and 32 TCx) for the primary response determination in this study. Prostate-specific antigen responses were seen in 12 (34.3%) of 35, 12 (28.6%) of 42, and 7 (21.9%) of 32 patients with the partial objective response in 5 (22.7%) of 22, 2 (8.0%) of 25, and 0 (0.0%) of 24 patients for the CN, Tax, and TCx arms, respectively. Significant (grade 3/4) neutropenia was seen in 6 (15.4%), 7 (14.6%), and 9 (25.0%); and grade 3/4 sensory neuropathy was seen in 8 (20.5%), 12 (25.0%), and 12 (33.3%) for CN, Tax, and TCx, respectively. Grade 3/4 thrombocytopenia was infrequent and seen in only one patient on the CN and the TCx arm. Conclusion Ixabepilone was found to have an acceptable toxicity profile when administered by using a weekly schedule with less myelosuppression compared with prior studies when using the every 3-week schedule. Single-agent activity was observed and met prespecified activity levels for the Tax treated arm.
Measurement of epididymal sperm motility as a test variable in the rat.

Several environmental contaminants, notably dibromochloropropane (Whorton et al. 1977) and kepone (Taylor et al. 1978; Cannon et al. 1978) have been implicated in sperm deficiencies among occupationally exposed males. These incidents emphasize the need for adequate testing of chemicals for effects on the male reproductive system. Although important in clinical diagnosis, the evaluation of sperm motility has not been used extensively as a tool in chemical toxicology, particularly in commonly used small laboratory species. Measurements of sperm motility parameters are complicated by several variables including sample manipulation, temperature, cell concentration, time factors and the method of quantitation. In the present study, a simple objective procedure to estimate the proportion of motile epididymal spermatozoa in the rat has been developed. Emphasis is given to details of handling the sperm sample to minimize intersample variation due to external factors. Quantitation of progressively motile spermatozoa is achieved simply by standard manual and electronic blood cell counting techniques. The difficulty in visual tracking of multiple motile spermatozoa is circumvented by counting only nonmotile cells. An index of motility is calculated from the difference in the nonmotile and total counts, each made on separate aliquots of a sperm suspension. The procedure described is an elaboration of a technique used by Mason and Thompson, 1977. The modified technique is demonstrated in rats given selected doses of dinoseb (2-sec___-butyl 4,6-dinitrophenol), a testicular toxicant in the rat (Linder et al. 1982) and ~-chlorohydrin (3-chloro-l,2-propanediol) whose antimotility effects have been documented in several species (Jones 1983).
Instabilities in the Aether

We investigate the stability of theories in which Lorentz invariance is spontaneously broken by fixed-norm vector “aether” fields. Models with generic kinetic terms are plagued either by ghosts or by tachyons, and are therefore physically unacceptable. There are precisely three kinetic terms that are not manifestly unstable: a sigma model (∂_µA_ν)^2, the Maxwell Lagrangian F_µνF^µν, and a scalar Lagrangian (∂_µA^µ)^2. The timelike sigma-model case is well defined and stable when the vector norm is fixed by a constraint; however, when it is determined by minimizing a potential there is necessarily a tachyonic ghost, and therefore an instability. In the Maxwell and scalar cases, the Hamiltonian is unbounded below, but at the level of perturbation theory there are fewer degrees of freedom and the models are stable. However, in these two theories there are obstacles to smooth evolution for certain choices of initial data.
Alveolar dehiscences and fenestrae in dried south african negro mandibles

The buccal and lingual roots of 1077 teeth from 100 mandibles of South African Negroes were examined for the presence of dehiscences and fenestrae. All specimens were obtained from cadavers of known sex, tribe, and stated age; 10.5% of teeth were affected. Canines and first premolars were the most common teeth associated with dehiscences and fenestrae. Dehiscences occurred more commonly than fenestrae (1:0.49). The defects were found exclusively in the buccal plate of the alveolar process.
Effect of Steam-Flaked or Steam-Rolled Corn with or Without Aspergillus oryzae in the Diet on Performance of Dairy Cows Fed During Hot Weather

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of steam-rolled versus steam-flaked corn in the diet with or without the addition of a culture of Aspergillus oryzae on the performance of high producing dairy cows during hot summer weather. Thirty-two Holstein cows averaging 92 (±60) d in milk were fed a pretreatment diet for 21 d followed by a 70-d experimental period in a completely randomized block design with a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. Diets were 1) steam-flaked corn plus 3 g/ d of A. oryzae, 2) steam-flaked corn, 3) steam-rolled corn plus 3 g/d of A. oryzae, and 4) steam-rolled corn. Intake was not affected significantly by grain processing or addition of A. oryzae. Compared with effects from steam-rolled corn in the diet, steam-flaked corn increased milk production; percentage of milk protein; yields of milk protein, lactose, and SNF; and the efficiency of conversion of dry matter to fat-corrected milk. Addition of A. oryzae tended to increase protein percentage and increased the percentage of SNF. Changes in body weight and body condition score tended to be higher, and somatic cell count tended to be lower, for cows fed the flaked corn than for cows fed the rolled corn. No interactions were significant. Treatments did not affect rectal temperatures or respiration rates; however, high mean values measured at 1400 h once weekly indicated thermal stress. These data show improved milk production from cows fed steam-flaked corn but not from those fed diets supplemented with A. oryzae.
Characterization of autosomal copy-number variation in African Americans: the HyperGEN Study

African Americans are a genetically diverse population with a high burden of many, common heritable diseases. However, our understanding of genetic variation in African Americans is substandard because of a lack of published population-based genetic studies. We report the distribution of copy-number variation (CNV) in African Americans collected as part of the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network (HyperGEN) using the Affymetrix 6.0 array and the CNV calling algorithms Birdsuite and PennCNV. We present population estimates of CNV from 446 unrelated African-American subjects randomly selected from the 451 families collected within HyperGEN. Although the majority of CNVs discovered were individually rare, we found the frequency of CNVs to be collectively high. We identified a total of 11 070 CNVs greater than 10 kb passing quality control criteria that were called by both algorithms – leading to an average of 24.8 CNVs per person covering 2214 kb (median). We identified 1541 unique copy-number variable regions, 309 of which did not overlap with the Database of Genomic Variants. These results provide further insight into the distribution of CNV in African Americans.
JUVENILE DELINQUENCY OR JUVENILE JUSTICE: WHICH CAME FIRST?*

Stanley Cohen (1985) maintains that the methods of control, whether exclusionary or inclusionary, are linked with the emergence of a bifurcated population of hard-core, intensely antisocial offenders and mildly deviant but more prosocial offenders. The latter basically is a quasi-normal population that was handled informally before the emergence of a formal criminal justice system and inclusionary programs. It tends to include dissipative, self-indulgent, mild offenders who in adulthood often become dependent on inclusionary programs and the society of other mild deviants for structure in their lives. When applied historically to juveniles in Massachusetts this formulation suggests a steady transformation of established inclusionary programs with rehabilitative goals into exclusionary programs with punitive, retributive goals. It also implies a gradual extension of the definition of delinquency to include more nearly normal populations as additional inclusionary programs are inaugurated.
Abstract 5460: Effects of ethanol exposure during involution on mouse mammary gland

Proceedings: AACR 103rd Annual Meeting 2012‐‐ Mar 31‐Apr 4, 2012; Chicago, IL Mammary gland involution represents a discrete developmental time point when the breast may be particularly susceptible to risk factors associated with mammary carcinogenesis. One dietary carcinogen which has been shown to affect breast cancer risk in women is ethanol; as little as one drink per day can increase breast cancer risk by 10%. The purpose of the current study was to determine if ethanol exposure during involution affects mammary tumor development or progression in the FVB-MMTV-Her2/Neu transgenic mouse. Dams were fed isocaloric liquid diets containing 0, 0.5, 1 or 2% ethanol from day 1 of involution (weaning at day 21 of lactation) until day 4, 9 or 14 post-weaning. Short-term effects of ethanol on the progression of involution were assessed. No significant difference in mouse weight, or organ weights (spleen, liver or kidney), was seen between groups. Lobular regression (decrease in ducts per lobule) occurred similarly in all dietary groups, in parallel with an increase in average adipocyte size. No difference in leukocyte infiltration was seen between dietary groups. Proteomic analysis and tumor studies are ongoing. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 103rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2012 Mar 31-Apr 4; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 5460. doi:1538-7445.AM2012-5460
Controlled Acceleration and Inhibition of Bergman Cyclization by Metal Chlorides

The Bergman cyclization has been the subject of renewed interest with the discovery of naturally occurring enediyne-based antitumor agents that cleave DNA by means of an aromatic diradical. These natural substrates have a means to trigger this cycloaromatization process. Control of this reaction by substrate modification would allow aromatic diradicals to be generated selectively. In the studies presented here it is disclosed that the Bergman cyclization of 1,2-bis(diphenyl phosphinoethynyl) benzene was accelerated by a factor of >30,000 by the addition of palladium(II) chloride or platinum(II) chloride and was inhibited by the addition of mercury(II) chloride.
Moving beyond the Reduction Stage in Debitage Analysis, with a Little Help from the Pot Sherd

The two central goals of identifying stages of reduction and type of tool industry limit the potential of debitage analysis. The vocabulary we typically use to answer these two central goals prevents us from asking questions beyond these two goals. Assemblages that do not readily answer these goals are determined to be mixed. The problem is that the mixture may, in some cases, actually be finer grades of variation than we are able to see because of our limited goals and typologies. In this article I discuss the concept of choice in archaeology and how its interpretation in the analysis of pottery might guide us in the development of more nuanced approaches to interpreting assemblages of debitage. These approaches might lead us beyond the ecological functionalism that typically shapes our interpretations of choice in lithic production. In this way, debitage, the most common artifact type at pre-Contact sites in the Northeast, may play a more important role in the creation of a richer understanding of the past.
The VProf Tutor: Teaching MD-11 Vertical Profile Navigation Using GT-ITACS:

The VProf Tutor is a computer-based intelligent tutoring system (ITS) that teaches the use and understanding of vertical profile navigation modes to MD-11 pilots. This ITS is a proof-of-concept implementation of GT-ITACS (Georgia Tech-Intelligent Tutoring Architecture for Complex Systems). GT-ITACS is a domain- and platform- independent intelligent tutoring system shell designed to train operators of complex-dynamic systems. This paper introduces the features of GT-ITACS, using the VProf Tutor to illustrate the capabilities of the system.
Assessing the Socioeconomic Impacts of Climate Change on Grazinglands

This paper begins with an introduction to human/grazingland interaction, including its history and a description of the general problems in analyzing and assessing human use of this vast resource. The second section provides a review and synopsis of the current state of modeling the socioeconomic aspects of grazinglands. Aspects of biophysical models which can provide useful information on grazingland ecology and variability in the associated resources and human habitat are discussed. Models assessing human activity in relation to grazinglands are reviewed and a few examples of linkage of biophysical and socioeconomic models into integrated assessments for policy analysis are discussed. Modeling the socioeconomic impacts of climate change is discussed in the last section of this report. Problems encountered in incorporating changes in technology and adaptation to such changes are delineated and a model (FLIPSIM) designed to incorporate technological change is discussed. Methods for incorporating technological change and natural adaptation after climate change are then explored with emphasis on use of macro models as a means of parameterizing region specific micro models. The degree of reliability and resolution needed for models to be useful to policy analysts are assessed and it is argued that coarser resolution models are more efficient. The paper ends with an illustration of one type of analysis of socioeconomic impacts of climate change on grasslands that can be conducted with the current data and methodology using a series of models and a ‘representative firm’ approach.
P-selectin Thr715Pro polymorphism predicts P-selectin levels but not risk of incident coronary heart disease or ischemic stroke in a cohort of 14 595 participants: The Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities Study

Abstract Objective Inflammation, characterized by the recruitment/adhesion of circulating leukocytes by cellular adhesion molecules, plays an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Genetic analyses of P-selectin, a key adhesion molecule in the progression of atherosclerosis, have provided conflicting results regarding the role of variation within the P-selectin gene and risk for heart disease. No studies have examined the association of this polymorphism with stroke. Therefore, we examined the association of the P-selectin Thr715Pro polymorphism with incident coronary heart disease (CHD) and ischemic stroke among 14595 participants in the prospective cohort of the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Methods and results Incidences of ischemic stroke and CHD were determined through annual telephone calls and hospital and death certificate surveillance. Four hundred fifty-six validated ischemic stroke and 1533 CHD events were identified. P-selectin Pro715 allele frequency was determined in whites and African–Americans, respectively, for CHD cases (0.11, 0.02), CHD non-cases (0.11, 0.02), ischemic stroke cases (0.11, 0.02) and stroke non-cases (0.11, 0.02). The P-selectin Pro715 allele was not associated with risk of CHD or stroke in whites or African–Americans. P-selectin levels, however, were associated with the P-selectin Thr715Pro variant in whites, but not in African–Americans. Conclusions Genotypes carrying the P-selectin Pro715 variant allele are associated with decreased P-selectin levels compared to the homozygous wild-type genotype in whites. The P-selectin Thr715Pro polymorphism is not associated with incident CHD or ischemic stroke in either whites or African–Americans.
Effects of domperidone therapy on symptoms and upper gastrointestinal motility in infants with gastroesophageal reflux.

We evaluated the effect of domperidone, a novel prokinetic agent, on symptoms and esophageal and gastric motility in 15 infants (six boys), mean age 7.9 months, with moderate to severe gastroesophageal reflux (GER) and upper gastrointestinal motility disturbances. Patients received domperidone orally for 6 weeks and underwent weekly assessment of five GER-associated symptoms, weight change, and side effects. Mean total symptom scores significantly improved after treatment (P
Sex Differences in Disease Severity Among Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Abstract Background Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a prototypical autoimmune disease, often results in comorbidities from exposure to medications as well as from chronic inflammation. Identification of gender-based differences in comorbidities and disease severity may assist health practitioners in providing optimum care for those living with SLE. Objective The purpose of this study, which utilized hospital discharge data collected during a 7-year period to garner a large SLE patient sample, was to determine the effect of gender on SLE comorbidities and disease severity. Methods Patients were hospitalized in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan statistical area between 1999 and 2005 and had a diagnosis of SLE. The sample consisted of 14,829 patients with SLE, 10% of which were male. ANOVAs were conducted to test for differences between males and females for disease severity, age, length of stay in the hospital, total hospital charges, and number of autoimmune diseases. Disease severity was measured with the SLE comorbidity index, which weights 14 conditions in SLE. We identified the top 30 comorbidities as well as the odds of experiencing the secondary illnesses by gender. Results Male patients had significantly greater disease severity compared with female patients. Additionally, female patients had more autoimmune diagnoses compared with male patients. Male patients were more likely to have cardiovascular and renal comorbidities compared with female patients. Female patients had significantly greater odds of diagnoses of urinary tract infection, hypothyroidism, depression, esophageal reflux, asthma, and fibromyalgia. Conclusions Although the prevalence of SLE among males is rare, male patients have the potential for greater disease severity and are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular and renal disease. Gender differences in disease severity should be further evaluated, but with the added recommendation to develop an index with conditions more indicative of active SLE.
High-Resolution Absorption Coefficient and Refractive Index Spectra of Common Pollutant Gases at Millimeter and THz Wavelengths

Dispersive Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DFTS) provides us with a very precise method of measuring the absorption and refractive index spectra of common pollutant gases. This paper presents the rotational transition lines of Sulfur Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide gas as a function of varying pressure using DFTS for the very first time as a combined study. The relationship between the variation of the pressure and the change in the absorption spectrum is examined and discussed in detail. Sulfur Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide gases are highly toxic, pollutant gases that are major contributors to global pollution and can potentially be used as a chemical threat. The relationship between pressure and rotational transmission lines is discussed in detail in the frequency range of 0.3 THz - 0.9 THz. These findings are crucial in characterizing these gases as well as identifying them in a blind test.