cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
One Piece at a Time: The Puzzle of Applicant Faking and a Call for Theory

The current work introduces the goals and purpose of this special issue of Human Performance, which is devoted to theoretical perspectives on applicant faking behavior. The absence of well-developed theoretical perspectives in the extant faking literature is highlighted, and potential explanations for this lack of theory are discussed. These explanations include an overemphasis on empirical questions (e.g., faking as a threat to criterion-related validity) and little focus on the underlying mechanisms that may explain the behavior and the conditions under which it does and does not influence personnel selection outcomes. Finally, the specific goals for the studies presented in the issue are discussed.
Contemplative practices in early childhood: implications for self-regulation skills and school readiness

This article examines the development of self-regulation skills in early childhood and the possibilities of children's contemplative practices as a viable tool to facilitate this development. Current research indicates that self-regulation skills in early childhood education make a significant contribution to school readiness, and long-term academic success. This link establishes the need to bridge the gap between scientific research and classroom practice to implement more programmes that facilitate this development in early childhood classrooms. The development of self-regulation skills are discussed and examined specifically in relation to being mindful, achieving focussed attention and increased awareness of social–emotional behaviours. The contemplative practices, an umbrella term for mindfulness and meditational-based practices, are viewed as potential vehicles to facilitate self-regulation skills in the early childhood classrooms. Additional research is recommended to determine whether children exp...
The Distribution of the Matricellular Protein Thrombospondin 2 in Tissues of Embryonic and Adult Mice

Mice that lack the matricellular protein thrombospondin 2 (TSP2) develop a pleiotropic phenotype characterized by morphological changes in connective tissues, an increase in vascular density, and a propensity for bleeding. Furthermore, dermal cells derived from TSP2-null mice display adhesion defects, a finding that implicates TSP2 in cell-matrix interactions. To gain a better understanding of the participation of TSP2 in the development and maturation of the mouse, we examined its distribution in embryonic and adult tissues. Special attention was paid to the presence of TSP2 in collagen fibers, because collagen fibrils in the TSP2-null mouse appear to be irregular in size and contour by electron microscopy. Immunohistochemical analysis of Day 15 and Day 18 embryos revealed TSP2 in areas of chondrogenesis, osteogenesis, and vasculogenesis, and in dermal and other connective tissue-forming cells. Distinctly different patterns of deposition of TSP2 were observed in areas of developing cartilage and bone at Days 15 and 18 of embryonic development. A survey of adult tissues revealed TSP2 in dermal fibroblasts, articular chondrocytes, Purkinje cells in the cerebellum, Leidig cells in the testis, and in the adrenal cortex. Dermal fibroblasts were also shown to synthesize TSP2 in vitro. The distribution of TSP2 during development is in keeping with its participation in the formation of a variety of connective tissues. In adult tissues, TSP2 is located in the pericellular environment, where it can potentially influence the cell-matrix interactions associated with cell movement and tissue repair.
Evaluation of WB Coatings by Scanned Imaging Microscopy

Organic thick coatings (epoxy, polyurethane, and acrylic-urethane) have been widely applied to high modulus substrates (e.g., steel) for anticorrosion protection. To improve performance, reinforced components (clay, bochmite, nanopaticles, etc.) are usually added to these coatings. However, the acoustic evaluation of these coatings is difficult due to their low acoustic velocities and high attenuation coefficients. In this paper, first, the scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) is used to image sub-surfaces, coating/substrate interfaces, and to measure acoustic velocities. Different phases can be observed on some coatings and defects can be found at some interfaces. Secondly, the atomic force microscope (AFM) is applied to image surfaces at high resolution (compared to SAM). These results agree with SAM images. Thirdly, a nano-indentation technique is utilized to measure the reduced Young’s modulus and absolute hardness of the coatings. The results show that epoxy has the highest Young’s modulus and acrylic-urethane has the lowest. Reinforced components can either increase or decrease Young’s modulus, and hardness depending on the coating material. Finally, results from the SAM, AFM and nano-indentation are compared and analyzed to optimize the evaluation.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Novel phenomena in very-low-frequency strong fields.

Atomic ionization by lasers of very low frequency, once thought to be a classical limit or a ``tunneling limit'', presents unique spectral features unlike any tunneling phenomenon. The identity of the atom is the controlling factor, leading to photoelectron spectra with well-defined peaks and valleys that persist over wide ranges of field parameters. Such a spectrum was observed 20 years ago in ionization of xenon at $10.6\text{ }\text{ }\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$.
Differential role of ventral tegmental area acetylcholine and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors in cocaine-seeking

Exposure to drug-associated cues evokes drug-seeking behavior and is regarded as a major cause of relapse. Cues evoke burst firing of ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine (DA) neurons and phasic DA release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Cholinergic and glutamatergic input to the VTA is suggested to gate phasic DA activity. However, the role of VTA cholinergic and glutamatergic receptors in regulating phasic dopamine release and cue-induced drug-seeking in cocaine experienced subjects is not known. In male Sprague-Dawley rats, we found that VTA inactivation strongly inhibited, while VTA stimulation promoted, cocaine-seeking behavior during early withdrawal. Blockade of phasic activated D1 receptors in the NAc core also strongly inhibited cue-induced cocaine-seeking - suggesting an important role of phasic DA activity in the VTA to NAc core circuit. Next, we examined the role of VTA acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) in regulating both NAc core phasic DA release and cue-induced cocaine-seeking. In cocaine naive subjects, VTA infusion of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) antagonist mecamylamine, the muscarinic AChR antagonist scopolamine, or the NMDAR antagonist AP-5, led to robust attenuation of phasic DA release in the NAc core. During early cocaine withdrawal, VTA infusion of AP-5 had limited effects on NAc phasic DA release and cue-induced cocaine-seeking while VTA infusion of mecamylamine or scopolamine robustly inhibited both phasic DA release and cocaine-seeking. The results demonstrate that VTA AChRs, but not NMDARs, strongly regulate cue-induced cocaine-seeking and phasic DA release during early cocaine withdrawal. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A Note on Tire Carcass Mechanical Properties

Abstract Uniaxial stress tests were conducted on composite specimens cut from two different locations on a bias tire carcass. These data together with cord data, the Halpin‐Tsai “micromechanics” equations, and the linear laminate constitutive equations are used to derive the in‐situ rubber modulus as a function of time and to check for consistency among the specimens tested. The main purpose of the first part of the study was to obtain constituent material properties for use in a finite element model of a tire. This model is then employed in the investigation of the influence of uniform rubber modulus on the shape of an inflated tire carcass, and it is concluded that the strain and time dependence of the rubber modulus will introduce some error in a tire structural analysis that uses linear elastic stress‐strain equations and permits geometric nonlinearity. It appears that the error will be minimal in a low strain region such as in the sidewall.
A detailed microkinetic model for diesel engine emissions oxidation on platinum based diesel oxidation catalysts (DOC)

Abstract In this work, a comprehensive 124-step (62 reversible) microkinetic model is developed for the oxidation of five major diesel engine emission components (carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, formaldehyde, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide) on Pt. Kinetic parameters for the detailed microkinetic model are extracted from ultra-high vacuum (UHV) temperature programmed desorption/reaction (TPD/TPR) experiments in literature. Starting with these kinetic parameters as initial estimates, the surface reaction mechanism is extensively tested against practically more relevant operating conditions, such as atmospheric pressure, dilute emissions concentrations, and short residence times, typically experienced by the Diesel Oxidation Catalysts (DOCs). In each of the five oxidation cases, mechanistic analysis is presented to uncover the most important reaction chemistry. The microkinetic model shows very good agreement with multiple experimental data sets on monolith and fixed bed reactor scale, for the oxidation of all five components. For practical implementation, the mechanism is further reduced to 94 steps (47 reversible) using preliminary model reduction.
Non-axisymmetric instability in thin discs

Thin discs of arbitrary specific angular momentum are shown to have unstable non-axisymmetric modes provided there is at least one good reflecting edge.
Material Transport in Oceanic Gyres. Part II: Hierarchy of Stochastic Models

A hierarchy of inhomogeneous, nonstationary stochastic models of material transport is formulated, and its properties are described. The transport models from the hierarchy sequence provide progressively more skillful simulations of the subgrid-scale transport by mesoscale eddies, which are typically not resolved in coarse-grid representations of the ocean circulation. The stochastic transport models yield random motion of individual passive particles, and the probability density function of the particle population can be interpreted as the concentration of a passive tracer. Performance of the models is evaluated by (a) estimating their parameters from Eulerian and Lagrangian statistics of a fluid-dynamic reference solution, (b) solving for the transport, and (c) comparing the stochastic and fluid-dynamic transports. The reference solution represents midlatitude oceanic gyres, and it is found by solving steadily forced, quasigeostrophic equations of motion at large Reynolds number. The gyres are characterized by abundant coherent structures, such as swift, meandering currents, strong vortices, eddies, and planetary waves. The common, nondiffusive spreading of material (i.e., single-particle dispersion that is a nonlinear function of time) is induced by all these structures on intermediate times and by inhomogeneity and lateral boundaries on longer times. The higher-order members of the hierarchy are developed specially for simulating nondiffusive transports by turbulence in the presence of organized fluid patterns. The simplest, but least skillful, member of the hierarchy is the commonly used diffusion model. In terms of the random particle motion, the diffusion is equivalent to the random walk (Markov-0) process for particle positions. The higher-order members of the hierarchy are the Markov-1 (a.k.a. Langevin or random acceleration), Markov-2, and Markov-3 models, which are jointly Markovian for particle position and its time derivatives. Each model in the hierarchy incorporates all features of the models below it. The Markov-1 model simulates short-time ballistic behavior associated with exponentially decaying Lagrangian velocity correlations, but on large times it is overly dispersive because it does not account for trapping of material by the coherent structures. The Markov-2 model brings in the capability to simulate intermediate-time, subdiffusive (slow) spreading associated with such trappings and with both decaying and oscillating Lagrangian velocity correlations. The Markov-3 model is also capable of simulating intermediate-time, superdiffusive (fast) spreading associated with sustained particle drifts combined with the trapping phenomenon and with the related asymmetry of the decaying and oscillating Lagrangian velocity correlations.
Towards a hardware fault-injection testbed to support reproducible resiliency experiments

As the largest computers in world continue to scale up, significant new problems emerge. Due to a number of different sources, hard and soft failures cause correctness failures and performance degradation in high component count machines that simply do not occur is smaller scale machines. This presents a serious problem to researchers interested in studying and countering the effects because effects are not reproducible smaller scale testbeds. The Reconfigurable Computing Cluster project is primarily interested in the feasibility of scaling a network of Platform FPGAs to a PetaFLOP. In this architecture, the FPGAs are basic compute node (not an accelerator to a microprocessor). Each FPGA node has a processor, bus, memory controller, network adapter, etc. configured into its programmable logic and runs a patched mainline Linux kernel. The cluster runs Open MPI and virtually any MPI application can be compiled and run. Since the hardware of the nodes are easily reconfigured, it was realized that this architecture offers an ideal platform for performing fault injections and Heisenberg-free monitoring of parallel programs. This work-in-progress demonstrates the addition of a "bus cycle stealer." It is a small piece of hardware that can be programmed to wake up periodically and execute a variable number bus transactions. The effect on performance (single node and 16 node systems) are reported.
Sensory transformations and the use of multiple reference frames for reach planning

The sensory signals that drive movement planning arrive in a variety of 'reference frames', and integrating or comparing them requires sensory transformations. We propose a model in which the statistical properties of sensory signals and their transformations determine how these signals are used. This model incorporates the patterns of gaze-dependent errors that we found in our human psychophysics experiment when the sensory signals available for reach planning were varied. These results challenge the widely held ideas that error patterns directly reflect the reference frame of the underlying neural representation and that it is preferable to use a single common reference frame for movement planning. We found that gaze-dependent error patterns, often cited as evidence for retinotopic reach planning, can be explained by a transformation bias and are not exclusively linked to retinotopic representations. Furthermore, the presence of multiple reference frames allows for optimal use of available sensory information and explains task-dependent reweighting of sensory signals.
Heart transplantation with and without prior sternotomy: analysis of the United Network for Organ Sharing database.

Introduction. Patients with history of prior sternotomy may have poorer outcomes after heart transplantation. Quantitation of risk from prior sternotomy has not been well established. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database was analyzed to assess early and late survival and predictors of outcome in adult heart transplant recipients with and without prior sternotomy. Methods. Of 11,266 adults with first hearteonly transplantation from 1997 to 2011, recipients were divided into 2 groups: those without prior sternotomy (first sternotomy group; n ¼ 6006 or 53.3%) and those with at least 1 prior sternotomy (redo sternotomy group; n ¼ 5260 or 46.7%). A multivariable Cox model was used to identify predictors of mortality. Results. Survival was lower in the redo group at 60 days (92.6% vs 95.9%; hazard ratio [HR] 1.83, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.56e2.15; P < .001). Conditional 5-year survival in 60-day survivors was similar in the 2 groups (HR ¼ 1.01, 95% CI 0.90e1.12, P ¼ .90). During the first 60 days post-transplant, the redo group had more cardiac reoperations (12.3% vs 8.8%, P ¼ .0008), a higher frequency of dialysis (8.9% vs 5.2%, P < .0001), a greater percentage of drug-treated infections (23.2% vs 19%, P ¼ .003), and a higher percentage of strokes (2.5% vs 1.4%, P ¼ .0001). A multivariable Cox proportional hazards model identified prior sternotomy as a significant independent predictor of mortality, in addition to age, female gender, congenital cardiomyopathy, need for ventilation, mechanical circulatory support, dialysis prior to transplant, pretransplant serum bilirubin (� 3 mg/dL), and preoperative serum creatinine (� 2 mg/dL). Conclusions. Prior sternotomy is associated with an excess 3.3% mortality and higher morbidity within the first 60 days after heart transplantation, as measured by frequency of dialysis, drug-treated infections, and strokes. Conditional 5-year survival after 60 days is unaffected by prior sternotomy. These findings should be taken into account for risk assessment of patients undergoing heart transplantation.
Hepatic metastasectomy in children

BACKGROUND. There are little data regarding the safety and efficacy of hepatic metastasectomy for solid tumors in childhood. We reviewed our institutional experience to assess operative mortality and morbidity, technique of resection, local control, and survival in pediatric patients undergoing liver resection for metastases. METHODS. All pediatric patients who underwent hepatic resection for metastatic disease from August 1988 to July 2005 were retrospectively identified and clinical data were collected. RESULTS. Fifteen patients were identified during this period and primary malignancies included neuroblastoma (7), Wilms tumor (3), osteogenic sarcoma (2), malignant gastric epithelial tumor (1), and desmoplastic small round cell tumor (2). Twelve patients underwent anatomical hepatic resections and 3 had wedge resections. There were no intraoperative or postoperative deaths. The 2 postoperative complications included 1 wound infection and 1 bile collection. The median follow-up after hepatic resection was 1.6 years (0.2–7 years). Three patients remain alive. Eleven patients died of progressive disease; 4 patients suffered local recurrence. One patient died from enterocolitis and sepsis and was without evidence of malignancy at the time of death. CONCLUSIONS. Hepatic metastasectomy in children is feasible and is associated with a low operative mortality and morbidity. In this small group of patients anatomic hepatectomy was associated with better local control compared with wedge resection. Overall prognosis in these patients remains poor and the decision to perform hepatic metastasectomy should be highly selective. Cancer 2007. © 2007 American Cancer Society.
Changes in the flocking behaviour of wintering English titmice with time, weather and supplementary food

Abstract Over the course of one winter, the food supply of birds living in a deciduous woodland in southern England was supplemented and unsupplemented during alternating periods. In the presence of substantial predation pressure from hawks, the sociality of blue tits, Parus caeruleus , and great tits, P. major , showed significant partial correlations with several weather and temporal factors when the woodland was unsupplemented. Such correlations between social behaviour and abiotic factors diminished significantly when the birds had access to extra food. Blue tits and great tits without access to supplemental food flocked significantly more often with other species while foraging than when they were food-supplemented. Long-tailed tits, Aegithalos caudatus , ignored the artificial food and foraged in mixed-species flocks to the same extent in both unsupplemented and food-supplemented periods. Results disprove the hypothesis that mixed-species foraging groups are caused by increased predation protection alone, and they support the hypotheses that mixed-species foraging groups are caused by increased foraging efficiency alone or by a combination of increased foraging efficiency and increased protection from predators.
Indentation Fatigue in Random and Textured Alumina Composites

The effect of grain orientation on contact fatigue behavior has been investigated by using alumina with elongated grains as a model system. Two kinds of composite microstructures, textured and random, were prepared by controlling the processing conditions. The textured material has the platelets aligned parallel to the surface, and the random material has the platelets randomly oriented. The Hertzian indentation results show that, although both materials exhibit damage accumulation with increasing number of cycles due to frictional degradation at the microstructural level, the damage evolution rate is much lower for the textured material. This suppression of fatigue damage in the textured material appears to result from the lower shear stress concentration along the textured weak interfaces between elongated alumina grains. The implication of the present results for structural design in improvement of contact-fatigue resistance is also addressed.
Social Attitudes and Political Party Preference Among Swedish Youth

Differences in social attitudes between youthful supporters of different Swedish political parties were studied within a cluster sample of 783 Swedish high school students. Analyses of variance disclosed that, overall, respondents with different political party preferences differed with respect to social attitude dimensions: Political-Economic Conservatism, Social Inequality, Punitiveness, Militarism, Pro-western Sentiments, Racism, Xenophobia and Religion in that order. Multivariate, logistic regression analysis disclosed, among other things, that (1) the issue of political-economic conservatism (i.e. ‘left-right’) was a highly salient one for all party supporters with the exception of fascists, and (2) with the exception of Political-Economic Conservatism, different combinations of social attitudes were shown to discriminate any given party from all other parties. The theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.
Kinetics study of the substitution reaction of fac-[FeII(CN)2(CO)3I]− with PPh3

Abstract Substitution reaction of fac -[Fe II (CN) 2 (CO) 3 I] − with triphenylphosphine (PPh 3 ) produced mono phosphine substituted complex cis - cis -[Fe II (CN) 2 (CO) 2 (PPh 3 )I] − . Crystal structure of the product showed that carbonyl positioned trans - to iodide was replaced by PPh 3 . The substitution reaction was monitored by quantitative infrared spectroscopic method, and the rate law for the substitution reaction was determined to be rate = k [[Fe II (CN) 2 (CO) 2 (PPh 3 )I] − ][PPh 3 ]. Transition state enthalpy and entropy changes were obtained from Eyring equation k = ( k B T / h )exp(−Δ H ≠ / RT + Δ S ≠ / R ) with Δ H ≠ = 119(4) kJ mol −1 and Δ S ≠ = 102(10) J mol −1 K −1 . Positive transition state entropy change suggests that the substitution reaction went through a dissociative pathway.
A novel method to look for the hysteresis thresholds for the Canny edge detector

In the last few years, several works have been proposed to solve the problem of determining the hysteresis thresholds in an unsupervised way. In this paper, a novel method to solve this problem is proposed. Given a set of candidates for hysteresis thresholds, the basic idea of the proposed method is to combine gradient information with information obtained when the linking process is applied to all candidates. Using the same dataset and the same evaluation methodology already proposed by other works, the results obtained by our method show a performance better than that of the previous methods. The results obtained by the proposed method have been validated only for the Canny edge detector, but there are no restrictions on applying the proposed method to any other edge detector whose strategy is based on the hysteresis mechanism.
Amplitude insensitive microwave phase measurement system

Microwave phase measurement system proportional only to phase and independent of amplitude fluctuations for determining lossy plasma phase change
Scope Economies in Banking: The Hybrid Box‐Cox Function

This paper provides evidence on scope economies in banking using the Box-Cox hybrid functional form on five products and two inputs. A factor demand equation augmented system of equations in estimated using the iterative Zellner technique. Strict Willig-type scope estimates indicate that there are scope diseconomies in the sample of banks in the Functional Cost Analysis (FCA) Program data for 1983.
Early Unfolding Response of a Stable Protein Domain to Environmental Changes

The X-ray crystal structure of γ-carboxyglutamic acid (Gla) domains is well-established. These domains are stable to long all-atom simulations in explicit solvent. Here we extend a prior simulation on the Gla domain of factor VIIa, an essential vitamin K-dependent protein involved in the initiation of blood coagulation, to ∼20 ns in order to establish a reference point. We also subject this domain to a set of rational environmental changes using molecular dynamics techniques that accommodate long-range electrostatics accurately: (a) we move the seven bound calcium ions to >17.5 A from any Gla residue and then simulate for 25 ns, and (b) in a separate calculation, we change all of the calcium ions to sodium ions and simulate for 20 ns. For both perturbed systems, the N-terminus chelation complex is initially greatly weakened, leading to increased motion of the ω loop (residues 1-11). In technique a, most calcium ions return to the preperturbation coordinating units within the time scale of the simulation. We track and display the sequence of calcium ion rebinding. The response of this complex, nonstandard system to the perturbations as estimated by accurate all-atom dynamics gives new details on the degree of sampling in early refolding events.
Pharmacodynamic profile of short-term readministration of abciximab in healthy subjects.

Abstract Objective The purpose of the study was to establish a rebolus regimen for abciximab that restores pharmacologic glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa receptor blockade within a short time frame (up to 48 hours) after completion of an initial treatment. Methods and Results The study was a single-center, nonrandomized, open-label dose escalation trial in healthy volunteers (n = 30). Each subject received a 0.25 mg/kg bolus and a 0.125 μg/kg per minute infusion of abciximab, followed by incremental bolus doses of the agent at 15-minute intervals up to 48 hours (10 per group) after completion of the infusion, (maximal cumulative rebolus dose of 0.25 mg/kg). Pharmacodynamic measurements (GP IIb/IIIa receptor blockade, turbidimetric and whole blood platelet aggregation with use of a rapid platelet function assay [RPFA]) were obtained at periodic intervals during and after administration of the abciximab bolus and infusion. At the time of the first rebolus, pharmacodynamic measurements were attained immediately before administration of each rebolus and 15 minutes after the last rebolus dose. In subjects who received reboluses 12 hours after infusion, a cumulative dose of 0.05 mg/kg restored >80% blockade of GP IIb/IIIa receptors and >80% inhibition of turbidimetric (5 and 20 μmol/L adenosine diphosphate) and RPFA aggregation in 10 of 10 subjects. At 24 hours after treatment, a cumulative abciximab bolus dose of 0.1 mg/kg restored >80% blockade of all 4 pharmacodynamic measurements in 10 of 10 subjects. At 48 hours after treatment, a cumulative bolus dose of 0.15 mg/kg restored >80% blockade of all 4 pharmacodynamic measurements in 10 of 10 subjects. Conclusions A fraction of the bolus of abciximab restored pharmacologic (>80%) GP IIb/IIIa receptor blockade when readministered at various postinfusion time points. These observations suggest that in the setting where acute readministration of abciximab is required less than a full bolus dose of the agent is warranted. (Am Heart J 2002;143:87-94.)
Anesthesia for the Emergency Small Animal Patient

Anesthesia for the debilitated or emergency patient requires a thorough knowledge of the pharmacologic and physiologic effects of the anesthetic agents available. Preoperative evaluation and preparation of the patient, intraoperative monitoring and prompt attention to potential crises, and postoperative monitoring and pain management are all critical to the success of dealing with these cases. Special attention is devoted to cases with cardiovascular, respiratory, or neurologic instability.
What Social Workers Need to Know about the Earned Income Tax Credit

Over the past decade, the federal earned income tax credit (EITC) has become the largest antipoverty program in the United States. For the 2002 tax year, working families with children can receive as much as $4,140 in EITC benefits. Although families may arrange to receive benefits throughout the year (through their paychecks), most receive a lump sum after filing federal income taxes. Research suggests that many families use the credit to purchase big-ticket items, to move, to pay for educational expenses, or to set aside savings. Thus, the credit may promote long-term household development as well as help families with basic expenses. Research also suggests that EITC encourages work among single-parent families, an outcome that is consistent with one goal of welfare reform. Social workers can be involved in outreach efforts that help low-income workers claim EITC benefits and inform them about advance-payment options. Social workers can also support efforts to increase EITC benefits for larger families and link tax refunds to saving programs.
Mineralization of sulphur in sulphoquinovose by forest soils

Abstract Surface soils from four watersheds located in the Coweeta Basin near Franklin, North Carolina were assayed for their capacity to mineralize sulphur in 6-sulphoquinovose. All soils rapidly converted S in this component of the plant sulpholipid to inorganic sulphate, a soluble (salt extractable) ester sulphate and an insoluble ester sulphate. Sulphur in this latter fraction was released by acidhydrolysis of soil residues at 121°C. Although maximum concentrations of S in each fraction varied with duration of incubation, rates of conversion of S into all fractions were highest during the first hour. Mineralization rates based upon sulphate release and total S released from sulphoquinovose are reported.
MGL1 promotes adipose tissue inflammation and insulin resistance by regulating 7/4hi monocytes in obesity

Adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) play a critical role in obesity-induced inflammation and insulin resistance. Distinct subtypes of ATMs have been identified that differentially express macrophage galactose-type C-type lectin 1 (MGL1/CD301), a marker of alternatively activated macrophages. To evaluate if MGL1 is required for the anti-inflammatory function of resident (type 2) MGL1+ ATMs, we examined the effects of diet-induced obesity (DIO) on inflammation and metabolism in Mgl1−/− mice. We found that Mgl1 is not required for the trafficking of type 2 ATMs to adipose tissue. Surprisingly, obese Mgl1−/− mice were protected from glucose intolerance, insulin resistance, and steatosis despite having more visceral fat. This protection was caused by a significant decrease in inflammatory (type 1) CD11c+ ATMs in the visceral adipose tissue of Mgl1−/− mice. MGL1 was expressed specifically in 7/4hi inflammatory monocytes in the blood and obese Mgl1−/− mice had lower levels of 7/4hi monocytes. Mgl1−/− monocytes had decreased half-life after adoptive transfer and demonstrated decreased adhesion to adipocytes indicating a role for MGL1 in the regulation of monocyte function. This study identifies MGL1 as a novel regulator of inflammatory monocyte trafficking to adipose tissue in response to DIO.
Immunization with Meningococcal Outer-Membrane Protein Vesicles Containing Lipooligosaccharide Protects Mice against Lethal Experimental Group B Neisseria meningitidis Infection and Septic Shock

Detergent-treated group B Neisseria meningitidis outer membrane vesicles (D-OMVs) from wild-type M986 and from nonencapsulated mutant M986-non-capsule variant (NCV) were compared as immunogens. Eight weeks after 3 consecutive immunizations with the immunogens, mice were challenged with a lethal dose of purified endotoxin or heat-killed or living N. meningitidis, plus d-galactosamine (400 mg/kg). D-OMVs from M986 induced bactericidal antibodies to both M986 (B : 2a : P1.5,2 : L3,7) and 6275 (B : 2a : P1.2,5 : L3) and protected the animals against both strains, whereas D-OMVs from M986-NCV did not protect the animals against infection with 6275 even when high serum bactericidal activity was induced. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha detected after bacterial infection was high in both protected and unprotected mice; interleukin (IL)-6 was high in mice that died but low in animals that survived. Exogenous administration of recombinant mouse IL-6 reversed the immunogens' protective effects. Protection against infection in mice does not necessarily correlate with the measured levels of serum bactericidal antibody alone, opsonic antibody alone, or cytokine profile alone. A comprehensive assessment of the preclinical efficacy of group B outer-membrane protein vaccines should include monitoring humoral antibodies, cytokine response, and protective effects against lethal infection.
A Bayesian method for robust tolerance control and parameter design

This paper proposes a Bayesian method to set tolerance or specification limits on one or more responses and obtain optimal values for a set of controllable factors. The existence of such controllable factors (or parameters) that can be manipulated by the process engineer and that affect the responses is assumed. The dependence between the controllable factors and the responses is assumed to be captured by a regression model fit from experimental data, where the data are assumed to be available. The proposed method finds the optimal setting of the control factors (parameter design) and the corresponding specification limits for the responses (tolerance control) in order to achieve a desired posterior probability of conformance of the responses to their specifications. Contrary to standard approaches in this area, the proposed Bayesian approach uses the complete posterior predictive distribution of the responses, thus the tolerances and settings obtained consider implicitly both the mean and variance of the...
Intrathoracic Kaposi’s Sarcoma in Women With AIDS

Study objective To describe the radiographic features of intrathoracic Kaposi's sarcoma in women with AIDS. Subjects and methods From 1987 to 1998, we identified seven women with biopsy-proven (n = 4) or autopsy-proven (n = 3) pulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma. Charts were reviewed for HIV risk factors, cutaneous and/or oropharyngeal Kaposi's sarcoma, CD4 cell count, and differential diagnosis of pulmonary disease prior to the diagnosis of pulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma. Chest radiographs (n = 6), chest CT scans (n = 3), and reports of unavailable chest radiograph (n = 1) closest to the time of diagnosis of pulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma were reviewed for the following: nodular and peribronchovascular opacities; thickened interlobular septa; pleural effusions; lymphadenopathy; and radiographic stage. Results Mean patient age was 33 years (range, 27 to 42 years). HIV risk factors were IV drug use (n = 2), heterosexual contact (n = 3), and both (n = 2). All patients had prior opportunistic infections. The median CD4 cell count was 18/μL (mean, 63/μL; range, 5 to 210/μL). Cutaneous Kaposi's sarcoma was diagnosed prior to pulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma in four patients, subsequently in two patients, and not identified in one patient. Oropharyngeal Kaposi's sarcoma was diagnosed prior to pulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma in three patients. Only infection was considered in the differential diagnosis of the patients' pulmonary disease in five patients. One patient presented with acute hemoptysis and died, and one patient recently received a diagnosis of pulmonary Karposi's sarcoma at another hospital. Chest radiographic findings were the following: nodular opacities in five of seven patients (71%); peribronchovascular opacities in six of seven patients (86%); thickened interlobular septa in two of seven patients (29%); pleural effusion in three of seven patients (43%); and lymphadenopathy in two of seven patients (29%). Five of seven patients (71%) were determined to be in radiographic stage 3, one patient in stage 1, and one patient in stage 2. CT demonstrated additional lymphadenopathy in three of three patients, thickened interlobular septa in two of three patients, and pleural effusion in one of three patients, but it did not change the staging of disease in any patient. Conclusion Pulmonary Kaposi's sarcoma can cause diffuse lung disease in women with AIDS. The disease is usually mistaken clinically for pulmonary infection.
Analysis method for measuring submicroscopic distances with blinking quantum dots.

A method is described that takes advantage of the intermittency (“blinking”) in the fluorescence of quantum dots (QDs) to measure absolute positions of closely spaced QDs. The concept is that even if two QDs are separated by only tens of nanometers, the position of each QD is resolvable if the point spread function of each can be imaged independently of the other. In the case of QDs, this is possible if each QD separately blinks completely on and off during a time-lapse sequence. To demonstrate the principle of this method, time-lapse sequences of single blinking QDs were acquired and the centroids of the point spread functions determined. Images of the blinking QDs were then overlapped in software, pixel by pixel, generating a range of submicroscopic distances between QD pairs. Methods were developed for analyzing the overlapped time sequences of the QD pairs so that the positions of the QDs and the distances between them could be determined without prior knowledge of the single QD positions. We subsequently used this method to measure the end-to-end length of a 122-basepair double-stranded DNA fragment.
Broadening the “Ports of Entry” for Speech-Language Pathologists: A Reflective Model of Supervision

The purpose of this article is to explore core concepts that are integral to developing a relationship-based and reflective model of supervision in speech-language pathology. Many of the concepts t...
“Traditional” women, “modern” water: Linking gender and commodification in Rajasthan, India

Abstract In this paper, I analyze the connections made between women and water in a Rajasthani drinking water supply project as a significant part of drinking water’s commodification. For development policy makers, water progressing from something free to something valued by price is inevitable when moving economies toward modernity and development. My findings indicate that water is not commodified simply by charging money for it, but through a series of discourses and acts that link it to other “modern” objects and give it value. One of these objects is “women”. I argue that through women’s participation activities that link gender and modernity to new responsibilities and increased mobility for village women involving the clean water supply, a “traditional” Rajasthani woman becomes “modern”. Water, in parallel, becomes “new”, “improved” and worth paying for. Women and water resources are further connected through project staff’s efforts to promote latrines by targeting women as their primary users. The research shows that villagers applied their own meanings to latrines, some of which precluded women using them. This paper fills a gap in feminist political ecology, which often overlooks how gender is created through natural resource interventions, by concerning itself with how new meanings of “water” and “women” are mutually constructed through struggles over water use and its commodification. It contributes to critical development geography literatures by demonstrating that women’s participation approaches to natural resource development act as both constraints and opportunities for village constituents. It examines an under-explored area of gender and water research by tracing village-level struggles over meanings of latrines.
Carbon mineralization is promoted by phosphorus and reduced by nitrogen addition in the organic horizon of northern hardwood forests

Abstract Limitations to the respiratory activity of heterotrophic soil microorganisms exert important controls of CO 2 efflux from soils. In the northeastern US, ecosystem nutrient status varies across the landscape and changes with forest succession following disturbance, likely impacting soil microbial processes regulating the transformation and emission of carbon (C). We tested whether nitrogen (N) or phosphorus (P) limit the mineralization of soil organic C (SOC) or that of added C sources in the Oe horizon of successional and mature northern hardwood forests in three locations in central New Hampshire, USA. Added N reduced mineralization of C from SOC and from added leaf litter and cellulose. Added P did not affect mineralization from SOC; however, it did enhance mineralization of litter- and cellulose- C in organic horizons from all forest locations. Added N increased microbial biomass N and K 2 SO 4 -extractable DON pools, but added P had no effect. Microbial biomass C increased with litter addition but did not respond to either nutrient. The direction of responses to added nutrients was consistent among sites and between forest ages. We conclude that in these organic horizons limitation by N promotes mineralization of C from SOC, whereas limitation by P constrains mineralization of C from new organic inputs. We also suggest that N suppresses respiration in these organic horizons either by relieving the N limitation of microbial biomass synthesis, or by slowing turnover of C through the microbial pool; concurrent measures of microbial growth and turnover are needed to resolve this question.
MATLAB/Simulink based hardware/software co-simulation for designing using FPGA configured soft processors

FPGA configured soft processors are an attractive choice for implementing many embedded systems. For application development using these soft processors, the users can execute portions of the applications as software programs and the other portions as customized hardware implementations. Being able to rapidly simulate various partitions of the applications on hardware and software is crucial to efficiently execute them on soft processors because (a) there are many possible configurations of soft processors, and (b) low-level simulation techniques are too time consuming for evaluating these different partitioning and configuration possibilities. While state-of-the-art design tools rely on low-level simulation and are unable to deliver such a fast simulation speed, we propose a high-level cycle-accurate hardware/software co-simulation environment based on MATLAB/Simulink for application development using soft processors. By utilizing the high-level cycle-accurate abstractions of the low-level hardware implementations and the arithmetic simulation capability provided by MATLAB/Simulink, our tool considerably accelerates the time for cycle-accurate functional simulation of both hardware and software portions of a given application running on soft processors. To illustrate our approach, we develop a CORDIC division application and a matrix multiplication application on a commercial soft processor. Up to 19.4x improvement in simulation time is achieved using our co-simulation environment compared with that of low-level simulation for various partitions of these applications and for various configurations of the soft processor.
STAR MR Angiography for Rapid Detection of Vascular Abnormalities in Patients With Acute Cerebrovascular Disease

Background and Purpose We undertook to investigate the usefulness of signal targeting with alternating radiofrequency magnetic resonance angiography (STAR MRA) in the diagnosis of acute cerebrovascular disease. The potential advantage of the technique is that angiographic images can be acquired in less than 1 minute. Methods We studied 19 patients (11 men and 8 women, ranging in age from 36 to 84 years [mean age, 66 years]) presenting with signs and symptoms of acute stroke. Patients underwent STAR MRA and three-dimensional fast imaging with steady-state precession (3D FISP) MRA. The MRAs were analyzed as to image quality and vascular abnormalities in the vascular territory of stroke as defined by diffusion-weighted imaging abnormalities and compared using a Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results STAR MRAs had slightly inferior image quality compared with 3D FISP MRA (P<.05). STAR MRA and 3D FISP MRA agreed in 18 of 19 cases regarding vascular abnormalities in the territory of the infarct (occlusion, n=8; ste...
Permanent On-The-Spot Job Creation—The Missing Keynes Plan for Full Employment and Economic Transformation

Abstract The paper rejects the conventional view that Keynes had an aggregate demand approach to full employment. Instead, it proposes that he advocated a very specific labor demand targeting approach that would be implemented both in recessions and expansions. Modern policies, which aim to “close the demand gap” between current and potential output are inconsistent with Keynes's work on theoretical and methodological grounds. There is considerable evidence to suggest that a permanent program for direct or (in his words) “on-the-spot” job creation is the missing Keynes Plan for full employment and economic transformation. The current crisis presents the social economist with a unique opportunity to set fiscal policy straight along the original Keynesian lines. The paper suggests what specific form such a policy might take.
Relationships between serum hormone levels and semen quality among men from an infertility clinic

Participation rates in epidemiologic studies on semen quality are generally very low, raising concerns as to the potential for selection bias. Since hormones both initiate and maintain spermatogenesis, they may serve as surrogates of semen quality in epidemiologic studies. For this reason, in the present study, we explored the influence and predictive ability of reproductive and thyroid hormones on semen quality among men who were partners in an infertile couple. Between 1999 and 2003, 388 men were recruited from Massachusetts General Hospital Andrology Laboratory for clinical evaluation of fertility status. Fresh semen samples were assessed for quality (concentration, motility and morphology) and the serum levels of hormones, including follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), inhibin B, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), testosterone, free androgen index, free T4, total T3, and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), were measured. Multiple logistic regression revealed increased odds for below-reference sperm concentration and morphology in men with increased FSH, and decreased odds for below-reference sperm concentration and motility in men with increased inhibin B. When FSH and inhibin B were divided into quintiles, the relationships with sperm concentration showed evidence of a threshold value. However, the ability of specific FSH (10 IU/L) and/or inhibin B (80 pg/mL) cutoff values to predict semen quality was lower than in previous reports. In multiple linear regression analysis, FSH and LH were inversely associated with sperm concentration, motility, and morphology. Inhibin B and free T4 were positively associated with sperm concentration, while there was a suggestive positive association between testosterone and sperm motility. In conclusion, we have found that FSH, LH, inhibin B, testosterone and free T4 levels are associated with human semen parameters. Additional consideration should be given to the utility of serum hormone levels as a surrogate for semen quality in epidemiologic studies in which the collection of semen is difficult due to logistical and/or volunteer rate constraints.