cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Association between Intended Mode of Delivery and Maternal Morbidity in Twin Pregnancies

Objective To compare maternal morbidity between women undergoing delivery of twins who intend to labor with those women who do not intend to labor. Study Design This was a retrospective cohort study of women undergoing delivery of twins in a single maternal–fetal medicine practice between January 2005 and February 2018. We identified women with a twin delivery at gestational age ≥24 weeks and determined if they intended or did not intend to labor. Maternal outcomes were compared between the groups. Results A total of 788 patients were included, of whom 404 (51.3%) intended to labor and 384 (48.7%) did not intend to labor. Women who intended to labor had a high rate of vaginal delivery (VD; 79.7%). Overall, 45 (5.7%) women required blood transfusion; this was not significantly different between the groups (6.2 vs. 5.2%, p = 0.54). Women who intended to labor had a shorter hospital stay and lower blood loss. There were no significant differences for all other maternal outcomes. Conclusion In patients undergoing twin delivery, women who intend to labor have similar maternal morbidity compared with women who do not intend to labor. This supports current guidelines recommending providers offer a trial of VD for twin pregnancies.
Who Endorses Amnesty? An Original Survey from Morocco's Casablanca Region Assessing Citizen Support for Regularizing Clandestine Migrants

To deal with the growing migrant crisis in North Africa, several states have considered granting amnesty to foreign displaced persons (both economic migrants and potential refugees) who have entered their territories clandestinely. Morocco has taken the lead in this policy approach, launching two successful amnesty campaigns in 2014 and 2017 that regularized the status of approximately 40,000 displaced persons in total. While policymakers in many North African states increasingly see this policy as a viable solution, it is less understood how ordinary citizens view such regularization policies. Hence, this article inquires: under what conditions do ordinary native citizens support regularizing clandestine migrants and refugees? Further, what factors correlate with either higher or lower levels of public support for (or opposition to) regularization campaigns? Drawing on an original representative public opinion poll from Morocco's Casablanca-Settat region completed in 2017, this article finds that more than 59 percent of native citizens of Morocco support these regularization campaigns. Particularly, Moroccans who were wealthier, female, and ethnic minorities (black Moroccans) endorsed regularization more strongly. By contrast, Moroccans opposed regularization when they had concerns about whether displaced persons hurt the economy, undermine cultural traditions, and reduce stability.
Affirming the Status Quo - Mourning the Twin Towers

Political mourning may be mobilized to contract the boundaries of belonging. September 11, 2001, is one such instance. American political leaders responded to the events of that day by seeking to return America to an idealized (and unattainable) state of invulnerability by perpetrating a Global War on Terror. The result was a focus on the spectral vulnerability of American bodies that made seeing the vulnerability of other bodies outside American borders almost impossible. This refusal enabled an American foreign policy that continues to prioritize narrowly defined American interests in two ways. First, America continued its willful ignorance of the substantial cost of maintaining American hegemony in terms of suffering and loss experienced by those outside its borders. Instead of accepting an invitation to consider how American policies enabled the rise of shadow networks like al-Qaeda, Americans disavowed the possibility that American foreign interventions played a role in September 11 by instituting a fantastic Manichean vision of good and evil. Second, this vision also constricted domestic conceptions of belonging, as the fear of losing whiteness and masculinity reinstated and hardened conservative racial and gender identities. The end result was a mourning that refused to recognize the condition of bodily vulnerability as one that defines politics. As a result, the political mourning that followed September 11 affirmed a limiting and exclusionary vision of belonging that perpetuated American narcissism as leaders invoked mourning to disavow any American responsibility for the conditions that led to the event and instead constructed phantasmatic ‘Arab, Middle-Eastern, and Islamic’ terrorists who live in our midst and must be policed or lived in distant lands that must be democratized by force. Rather than a watershed moment of rupture, then, I argue that mourning reinvigorated conservative conceptions of belonging that centered on white masculinity.
σ-Holes and Si···N intramolecular interactions

We report a computational study of two series of molecules, one having the Si–O–N linkage and the other with the Si–(CH2)n–N linkage, where n = 1–4. The silicons have various substituents—combinations of H, CH3, F, Cl and CF3. Many of these compounds have been prepared and characterized experimentally. The Si···N distances were found to be relatively short, which may denote a noncovalent interaction or may simply be dictated by the molecular structures. This and the nature of the interaction (if any) were the subjects of our study. We addressed these issues computationally, determining optimized geometries, energies and electrostatic potentials at the density functional M06-2X/6–31 + G(d,p) level. We conclude that there is an attractive Coulombic Si···N interaction in each case, although it is sometimes quite weak. It involves the lone pair of the nitrogen and the positive σ-hole potential produced on the silicon by the bonding from the substituent that is anti to the nitrogen. This accounts for the key features of these molecules, such as the dependence of the Si···N distances upon the electron-withdrawing power of the anti substituent and the effects of gauche chlorines in weakening the interactions. When the Si···N interactions are disrupted by rotation of the N(CH3)2 group or by conversion of the molecules to open-chain conformers, the Si···N distances lengthen and are essentially the same regardless of the substituent in the anti position. These observations confirm the presence of Si···N interactions in the original molecules.
QCM-D characterization of time-dependence of bacterial adhesion

Quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) is becoming an increasingly popular technique that can be employed as part of experimental and modeling investigations of bacterial adhesion. The usefulness of QCM-D derives from this technique's ability to probe binding and interactions under dynamic conditions, in real time. Bacterial adhesion is an important first step in the formation of biofilms, the control of which is relevant to industries that include shipping, water purification, packaging, and biomedical devices. However, many questions remain unanswered in the bacterial adhesion process, despite extensive research in this area. With QCM-D, multiple variables affecting bacterial adhesion can be studied, including the roles of substrate composition, chemical modification, solution ionic strength, environmental temperature, shear conditions, and time. Recent studies demonstrate the utility of QCM-D in developing new bacterial adhesion models and studying different stages of biofilm formation. We provide a review of how QCM-D has been used to study bacterial adhesion at stages ranging from the first step of bacterial adhesion to mature biofilms, and how QCM-D studies are being used to promote the development of solutions to biofilm formation.
Flux crystal growth of uranium(V) containing oxyfluoride perovskites

The novel phases Rb4NaU3O12−xFx (1), K4NaU3O12−xFx (2), and Rb2.1K1.9KU3O12−xFx (3) were synthesized by molten flux methods using mixed alkali fluoride melts. The oxyfluorides crystallize in the cubic space group Imm with a lattice parameters of 8.7472(2) A, 8.6264(2) A, and 8.8390(3) A, respectively. All three structures crystallize in a cubic perovskite structure, ABO3 (A4BB′3O12), where the A site is fully occupied by an alkali cation, and the B site is shared by the remaining smaller alkali cation and uranium in an ordered fashion such that the alkali cation on the B site is surrounded by square uranyl bipyramids. The structures were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, magnetic susceptibility measurements, DFT calculations, thermogravimetric analysis, and UV-vis spectroscopy, all of which support the presence of U(V) in the three new materials.
The Effect of a Lifestyle Intervention on Weight Loss for University Employees.

ABSTRACTObesity is a major health issue. A community-based intervention was implemented on a college campus to help employees lose body weight and fat. Participants were scanned using the InBody de...
Monitoring results of human brucellosis in Qinghai Province in 2014

Objective We analyzed the epidemiological survey results of brucellosis in Qinghai Province to study the distribution of area, population and occupation of brucellosis in human. Methods In accordance with "The Project of Central Tansfer Local Public Health Funds-Detailed Rules for Human Brucellosis Control in Qinghai Province" in 2014, one city and 9 counties were chosen to carry out the human brucellosis investigation which focused on the people closely contacted with animals and their produces in Qinghai Province; then serological test was done with the methods of Rose Bengal plate agglutination test (RBPT) and standard tube agglutination test (SAT); diagnosis was based on "Diagnostic Criteria for Brucellosis" (WS 269-2007). Results A total of 3 083 people in the 9 counties and 1 city were investigated; totally infected people was 96, the infection rate was 3.11%; the number of patients was 46, and the prevalence rate was 1.49%. Forty-six new cases were confirmed. The gender, age distributions of the infection rate and prevalence rate were not significantly different (χ2= 1.766, 2.236, 11.053, 10.160, all P > 0.05). The occupational distribution: pastoralist was the highest, accounting for 73.91% (34/46); ethnic distribution: Tibetan was the highest, accounting for 73.91% (34/46). In addition to Maqin, other counties had brucellosis patients. Conclusions Prevalence of human brucellosis in Qinghai Province is active in some local areas. We should strengthen health education and professional intervention in occupational populations; to improve people's ability in prevention and control of the disease, further investigation and analysis of the source of infection and risk factors in areas where infected persons and patients on the rise are needed, and make progress in control of human brucellosis outbreaks in Qinghai Province. Key words: Brucellosis; Monitoring; Analysis
Reconsidering Self-Moderation: the Role of Research in Supporting Community-Based Models for Online Content Moderation

Research in online content moderation has a long history of exploring different forms that moderation can take, including both user-driven moderation models on community-based platforms like Wikipedia, Facebook Groups, and Reddit, and centralized corporate moderation models on platforms like Twitter and Instagram. In this work I review different approaches to moderation research with the goal of providing a roadmap for researchers studying community self-moderation. I contrast community-based moderation research with platforms and policies-focused moderation research, and argue that the former has an important role to play in shaping discussions about the future of online moderation. I provide six guiding questions for future research that, if answered, can support the development of a form of user-driven moderation that is widely implementable across a variety of social spaces online, offering an alternative to the corporate moderation models that dominate public debate and discussion.
One-rate models outperform two-rate models in site-specific dN/dS estimation

Methods that infer site-specific dN/dS, the ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substi- tution rates, from coding data have been developed primarily to identify positively selected sites (dN/dS > 1). As a consequence, it is largely unknown how well different inference methods can infer dN/dS point estimates at individual sites. In particular, dN/dS may be estimated using either a one-rate approach, where dN/dS is parameterized as a single parameter, or a two-rate approach, in which dN and dS are estimated separately. While some have suggested that the two-rate paradigm may be preferred for positive-selection inference, the relative merits of these two paradigms for site-specific dN/dS estimation remain largely untested. Here, we systematically assess how accurately several popular inference frameworks infer site-specific dN/dS values using alignments simulated within a mutation-selection framework rather than within a dN/dS-based framework. As mutation-selection models describe long-term evolutionary constraints, our simulation approach further allows us to study under what conditions inferred dN/dS captures the underlying equilibrium evolutionary process. We find that one-rate inference models universally outperform two-rate models. Surprisingly, we recover this result even for data simulated with codon bias (i.e., dS varies among sites). Therefore, even when extensive dS variation exists, modeling this variation substantially reduces accuracy. We additionally find that high levels of divergence among sequences, rather than the number of sequences in the alignment, are more critical for obtaining precise point estimates. We conclude that inference methods which model dN/dS with a single parameter are the preferred choice for estimating reliable site-specific dN/dS ratios.
Preoptic BRS3 neurons increase body temperature and heart rate via multiple pathways

Abstract The preoptic area (POA) is a key region controlling body temperature (Tb), dictating thermogenic, cardiovascular, and behavioral responses to regulate Tb. Known POA neuronal populations reduce Tb when activated; a population that increases Tb upon activation has not yet been reported. We now identify bombesin-like receptor 3 (BRS3)-expressing POA (POABRS3) neurons as having this missing functionality. BRS3 is an orphan receptor that regulates energy and cardiovascular homeostasis, but the relevant neural circuits are incompletely understood. In mice, we demonstrate that POABRS3 neuronal activation increases Tb, heart rate, and blood pressure sympathetically, via projections to the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and dorsomedial hypothalamus. Acute POABRS3 inhibition reduces Tb. Long-term inactivation of POABRS3 neurons increased Tb variability with exaggerated Tb changes, overshooting both increases and decreases in Tb set point. BRS3 marks preoptic populations that regulate Tb and heart rate, contribute to cold-defense and fine-tune feedback control of Tb. These findings advance understanding of homeothermy, a defining feature of mammalian biology.
Role of Decomposition Product Ions in Hysteretic Behavior of Metal Halide Perovskite.

Ion migration is one of the most debated mechanisms and credited with multiple observed phenomena and performance in metal halide perovskites (MHPs) semiconductor devices. However, to date, the mig...
Pediatric P-ANCA vasculitis following COVID-19.

Background Perinuclear anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (P-ANCA) are associated with a multisystem vasculitis affecting small blood vessels in the body. A handful of adult patients who developed vasculitis post-COVID-19 have been reported. Although SARS-CoV-2 has been shown to drive an exaggerated immune response in the pediatric population, such as in Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C), only one case of vasculitis following COVID-19 has been reported previously in children. Case presentation Seventeen-year-old male with a past medical history of COVID-19 pneumonia two months prior presented with acute kidney injury and diffuse alveolar hemorrhage. Rheumatologic workup revealed P-ANCA and Myeloperoxidase (MPO) positivity. Kidney biopsy showed necrotizing glomerulonephritis with limited immune complex deposition. Subsequently, he was treated with steroids and plasmapheresis, and ultimately started on cyclophosphamide. Conclusions To our knowledge, this report presents the second reported pediatric case of P-ANCA/MPO vasculitis following COVID-19.
The Implications of Neuralink and Brain Machine Interface Technologies

Brain machine interfaces (BMI) have traditionally been considered for medical prosthetics. They are now being presented as a means to “merge with the AI”. Entrepreneur Elon Musk has begun trialing his Neuralink technology on pigs, and hopes to incorporate human subjects into his clinical trials of a “breakthrough technology” before year end. Independent of the technology’s success to continue through the medical innovation process via the US Food and Drug Administration, it is time to be pondering the social implications of this novel technology. This paper points to some of the questions philosophers and practitioners alike are asking about the potential for BMI.
Environmental Activism, Social Media, and Protest in China: Becoming Activists Over Wild Public Networks: Elizabeth Brunner. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2019, 200 pp., ISBN No. 978-1-7936-0612-9 (hardcover).

Little scholarly attention has been paid to the intersection of social media and environmental activism in China. Elizabeth Brunner contributes to this underexplored area in Environmental Activism,...
DNA binding to TLR9 expressed by red blood cells promotes innate immune activation and anemia.

Red blood cells (RBCs) are essential for aerobic respiration through delivery of oxygen to distant tissues. However, RBCs are currently considered immunologically inert, and few, if any, secondary ...
Multidimensional Green’s Functions: Formalism

The extensive study of Green’s functions in one dimension in the last chapter has no doubt exhibited the power and elegance of their use in solving inhomogeneous differential equations. If the differential equation has a (unique) solution, the GF exists and contains all the information necessary to build it up. The solution results from operating on the inhomogeneous term with an integral operator whose kernel is the appropriate Green’s function.
Endpoint detection in noisy environment using a Poincare recurrence metric

Speech endpoint detection continues to be a challenging problem particularly for speech recognition in noisy environments. We address this problem from the point of view of fractals and chaos. By studying recurrence time statistics for chaotic systems, we find the nonstationarity and transience in a time series are due to non-recurrence and lack of fractal structure in the signal. A Poincare recurrence metric is designed to determine the stationarity change for endpoint detection. We consider the small area of beginning and ending of an utterance as transient. For nonstationary and transient time series, we expect the average number of Poincare recurrence points for each given small block will be different for different blocks of data subsets. However, the average number of recurrence points will stay nearly constant. The resulting recurrence point variability algorithm is shown to be well suited for the detection of state transitions in a time series and is very robust for different types of noise, especially for low SNR.
Oral care provided by certified nursing assistants in nursing homes

The purpose of this study was to describe the actual daily oral care provided by certified nursing assistants (CNAs) for dentate elderly nursing home (NH) residents who required assistance with oral care. The study was conducted in five nonrandomly selected NHs in upstate New York using real-time observations of CNAs providing morning care to residents, retrospective chart review, and CNA screening interviews. Oral care standards developed and validated by a panel of 10 experts (dentists, dental hygienists, registered nurses) to be appropriate for dentate NH residents were used to evaluate the oral care provided by 47 primary dayshift CNAs to a convenience sample of 67 residents. CNAs were blinded to the study's specific focus on oral care. Adherence to individual standards was low, ranging from a high of 16% to a low of 0%. Teeth were brushed and mouths rinsed with water in 16% of resident observations. One resident had her tongue brushed. Standards never met were brushing teeth at least 2 minutes, flossing, oral assessment, rinsing with mouthwash, and wearing clean gloves during oral care. Most residents (63%) who received oral care assistance were resistive to CNA approaches. For most observations, oral care supplies were not evident. Actual oral care provided to residents contrasts sharply with CNAs' self-reported practices in the literature and suggests that NH residents who need assistance receive inadequate oral health care.
The selection bias in court records: settlement and trial in eighteenth‐century Ottoman Kastamonu

Court records are used extensively in historical research. Preserved as summaries of daily legal proceedings, they give historians a unique opportunity to access information about the names, characteristics, and socio-economic status of individuals and the laws, local customs, and legal institutions of societies. Although researchers have noted various limitations of these records, the problem of selection bias has not been systematically studied. Since litigants would probably settle disputes in which one side is likely to be a clear winner, the cases that go to trial are more likely to be the difficult and uncertain ones that comprise a non-random subset of all disputes. This article presents a study of selection bias in Ottoman courts in the town of Kastamonu in northern Anatolia, from the late seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. Disputes are categorized by type and the distribution of court participants is studied according to composition, gender, and socio-religious status. A regression analysis is run to determine the factors affecting the likelihood of cases being tried in court. The results indicate that the cases that ended up in court were selected systematically. If the selection bias is ignored, research based on Ottoman court records may be seriously flawed in its ability to yield general conclusions.
Curvelet-based classification of prostate cancer histological images of critical Gleason scores

This paper is aimed at the development of an approach of applying the curvelet transform to images of prostatectomy pathological specimens of critical Gleason grades for computer-aided classification. A set of Tissue MicroArray (TMA) images from the Johns Hopkins University have been used as the data base. We utilize a moving window to sample multiple patches of a given image leading to a majority decision by the patches for image class assignment. The curvelet-based feature extraction may capture both textural and, implicitly, structural information in an image patch. A tree-structured classifier consisting of three Gaussian-kernel support vector machines each with an embedded voting mechanism has been successfully trained and tested yielding high accuracy to classify tissue images of four critical Gleason scores (GS) 3+3, 3+4, 4+3 and 4+4. The experimental result has demonstrated an enhanced performance as compared to other reported works.
Sex in Rotrou’s Theater Performance and Disorder

Sexual desire is ubiquitous in all theater. It follows that virtually all theatrical traditions struggle with the issue of the representation of that desire onstage. The French stage of the 1630s and Jean Rotrou’s theater of that period in particular constitute an unusual moment of relative freedom before the imposition of the bienseances banished sexual activity from the stage. What I propose is a theatrical reading of sex in Rotrou’s plays, a tripartite examination of dramatic strategy: how Rotrou foregrounds the scandalous by direct depiction of sexuality onstage; how at other moments he moves to attenuate its prurient force by opting instead for innuendo or suggestive situations. Rotrou’s most striking originality lies in his third strategy: presenting sexuality as a theatrical performance, generally with the assistance of cross-dressing and other forms of disguise.
Hyperfine Structure of Nine Levels in Two Configurations of V 51 . II. Theoretical

The experimental data of the preceding paper on the hfs of nine low levels in two configurations of ${\mathrm{V}}^{51}$ are analyzed and compared with the theory. The effects of intermediate coupling, configuration interaction, and relativity are considered. Corrections for $J$ mixing within each multiplet are made. The measured $J$ dependence of the hyperfine-interaction constants and electronic $g$ factors of the nine levels is in rather good agreement with the theory. The ground-state nuclear electric-quadrupole moment is evaluated independently in each of the two configurations. Since the two values are the same to within 3%, the differential Sternheimer effect is apparently small. Although the new value of the quadrupole moment is now in good agreement with the theoretical prediction, the absolute value of any Sternheimer shielding is still unknown.
Simulating realistic predator signatures in quantitative fatty acid signature analysis

Abstract Diet estimation is an important field within quantitative ecology, providing critical insights into many aspects of ecology and community dynamics. Quantitative fatty acid signature analysis (QFASA) is a prominent method of diet estimation, particularly for marine mammal and bird species. Investigators using QFASA commonly use computer simulation to evaluate statistical characteristics of diet estimators for the populations they study. Similar computer simulations have been used to explore and compare the performance of different variations of the original QFASA diet estimator. In both cases, computer simulations involve bootstrap sampling prey signature data to construct pseudo-predator signatures with known properties. However, bootstrap sample sizes have been selected arbitrarily and pseudo-predator signatures therefore may not have realistic properties. I develop an algorithm to objectively establish bootstrap sample sizes that generates pseudo-predator signatures with realistic properties, thereby enhancing the utility of computer simulation for assessing QFASA estimator performance. The algorithm also appears to be computationally efficient, resulting in bootstrap sample sizes that are smaller than those commonly used. I illustrate the algorithm with an example using data from Chukchi Sea polar bears ( Ursus maritimus ) and their marine mammal prey. The concepts underlying the approach may have value in other areas of quantitative ecology in which bootstrap samples are post-processed prior to their use.
Evidence against the presence of circulating immune complexes in chronic inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract Several investigators have reported the presence of circulating immune complexes in serum from patients with Crohn's disease and chronic ulcerative colitis. Because previous assays employed conditions which might have caused immunoglobulin aggregates to form in vitro, thus falsely suggesting the presence of immune complexes in vivo, we tested inflammatory bowel disease sera for immune complexes using four assays designed to minimize in vitro immunoglobulin aggregation. In three assays immune complexes were not detectable, while in a fourth, the Clq precipitin test, positive reactions occurred. These precipitin reactions did not have characteristics of immune complexes. Our data suggest that circulating immune complexes are either not present in patients with inflammatory bowel disease or that they occur infrequently or in low concentration.
Algorithms for ocean-bottom albedo determination from in-water natural-light measurements

A method for determining ocean bottom optical albedo, R-sub b, from in-water upward and downward irradiance measurements at a shallow site is presented, tested, and compared with a more familiar approach that requires additional measurements at a nearby deep-water site. Also presented are two new algorithms for the estimation of R-sub b from measurements of the downward irradiance and vertically upward radiance.
Development and growth of potato tubers in microgravity

Abstract A potato explant consisting of a leaf, its axillary bud, and a small segment of stem will develop a tuber in 10–14 days when grown on earth. The tubers develop from the axillary buds and accumulate starch derived from sugars produced through photosynthesis and/or mobilized from leaf tissue. Potato expiants were harvested and maintained in the Astroculture ™ unit, a plant growth chamber designed for spaceflight. The unit provides an environment with controlled temperature, humidity, CO 2 level, light intensity, and a nutrient delivery system. The hardware was loaded onto the space shuttle Columbia 24 hours prior to the launch of the STS-73 mission. Expiant leaf tissue appeared turgid and green for the first 11 days of flight, but then became chlorotic and eventually necrotic by the end of the mission. The same events occurred to ground control expiants with approximately the same timing. At the end of the 16-day mission, tubers were present on each expiant. The size and shape of the space-grown tubers were similar to the ground-control tubers. The arrangement of cells in the tuber interior and at the exterior in the periderm was similar in both environments. Starch and protein were present in the tubers grown in space and on the ground. The range in starch grain size was similar in tubers from both environments, but the distribution of grains into size classes differed somewhat, with the space-grown tubers having more small grains than the ground control tubers. Proteinaceous crystals were found in tubers formed in each condition.
The interaction of tubulin and other proteins with structure-stabilizing solvents☆

Abstract A study has been carried out of the interactions with proteins of solvent systems which are commonly used to stabilize proteins in solution or to crystallize proteins out of solution. The first class consisted of water-sucrose and water-glycerol, which are frequently added to enzyme solutions in order to maintain their activity; the second class contained sodium and ammonium sulfates and 2-methyl-2,4-pentanediol (MPD) as solvent components. Densimetry and differential refractometry experiments with the application of multicomponent thermodynamic theory, showed that, in all four systems, proteins are preferentially hydrated, i.e., addition of these cosolvents results in an unfavorable free energy change. Detailed analysis of the thermodynamics of protein transitions in the presence of sucrose showed that its stabilizing action can be accounted for to a great extent in terms of the surface energy of this solvent system.
Emission Spectrum and Resistivity of Low Power Plasma Weld Arcs

Abstract Emission spectra from plasma arc welds were observed under a variety of current, voltage, polarity, and standoffs. If reverse polarity (welding torch positive) welds are struck below 50 amperes most of the power is deposited at the electrode rather than the workpiece because of low carrier density within the arc. Straight polarity, on the other hand, suffers no such limitation because of electrons created in the pilot arc used to start the weld process.
Measurement requirements for the advanced tokamak operation of a burning plasma experiment

The optimization of a tokamak towards steady state and high performance has been the focus of advanced tokamak (AT) research for the past decade. A central theme of AT research line is plasma control: control of the plasma shape; of the profiles of current, pressure, and rotation; of transport; and of MHD stability. To optimize the performance, measurements of crucial parameters such as the current density and the plasma pressure are required with appropriate spatial coverage and resolution. In addition, measurements of other parameters will be necessary to develop a fundamental understanding of the complex nonlinear interactions amongst the current density profile, the pressure profile and transport (e.g. turbulence) in high β AT plasmas. Present day experiments are providing physics insight into what a burning plasma experiment (BPX) will require as measurements. Recent research has focused on MHD stability aspects such as the neoclassical tearing mode and resistive wall mode stabilization and control of the current profile. However, in burning plasmas, new factors such as alpha particles, with their heating contribution and their relationship to transport barriers, will be increasingly important. The close relationship between measurements and active control, and the resultant impact on the requirements, will be discussed.
Single Molecule Recordings of Lysozyme Activity

Single molecule bioelectronic circuits provide an opportunity to study chemical kinetics and kinetic variability with bond-by-bond resolution. To demonstrate this approach, we examined the catalytic activity of T4 lysozyme processing peptidoglycan substrates. Monitoring a single lysozyme molecule through changes in a circuit’s conductance helped elucidate unexplored and previously invisible aspects of lysozyme’s catalytic mechanism and demonstrated lysozyme to be a processive enzyme governed by 9 independent time constants. The variation of each time constant with pH or substrate crosslinking provided different insights into catalytic activity and dynamic disorder. Overall, ten lysozyme variants were synthesized and tested in single molecule circuits to dissect the transduction of chemical activity into electronic signals. Measurements show that a single amino acid with the appropriate properties is sufficient for good signal generation, proving that the single molecule circuit technique can be easily extended to other proteins.
Variation in the effects of government spending shocks with methods of financing: Evidence from the U.S.

Using annual data for the United States, the paper investigates the evidence of variation in the fiscal multiplier with the method of financing government spending. The fiscal multiplier varies in the face of positive and negative shocks and across methods of financing. In general, fiscal expansion appears insignificant on aggregate demand and economic activity. In contrast, the evidence presents a number of significant negative multipliers in the face of fiscal contraction. The combined evidence challenges the effectiveness of fiscal policy and supports arguments to restrain fiscal expansion in an effort to stimulate the economy.
Preventing day-care—related illnesses

Abstract The number of children enrolled in out-of-home day care has increased dramatically. One of the concerns expressed about the use of day care is the contribution of group settings to childhood morbidity. Children who are placed in groups of other children experience more illnesses than their peers who remain at home. However, disease transmission can be minimized by infection control behaviors. Unfortunately, day-care staff and parents are often inadequately prepared in such behaviors. Consequently, by becoming involved in day care, nurses can play a role in reducing the number of day-care-related illnesses.
Electronic structure of AlN

The self-consistent electronic structure of AlN has been calculated using a first-principles linear-combination-of-atomic-orbitals method. Theoretical values for the lattice constant, internal parameter, bulk modulus, and cohesive energy were determined as well as the pressure-dependent frequency of the A/sub 1/ TO phonon. The charge density has also been calculated and is in good agreement with results from x-ray diffraction experiments which indicate the lack of a distinct bond charge.
Transport of intensity imaging applied to quantitative optical phase tomography

A bulk phase object is imaged tomographically and reconstructed using transport of intensity principles. The resulting object reconstruction shows good agreement with the actual object.
SNOW COVER CHARACTERIZATION USING MULTIBAND FMCW RADARS

The use of radars to characterize the physical properties of a snow cover offers an attractive alternative to manual snow pit measurements. Radar techniques are non-invasive and have the potential to cover large areas of a snow-covered terrain. A promising radar technique for snow cover studies is the frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar. The use of a multiband radar approach for snow cover studies was investigated in order to fully exploit the capabilities of FMCW radars. FMCW radars operating at and near the C-, X- and K a -bands were used to obtain radar profiles over a wide range of snow cover conditions. These frequency-dependent radar signatures were used to identify important snow cover features such as ice and depth hoar layers. Snow grain size information was also obtained from the frequency-dependent scattering losses that were observed in the snow cover. Several case studies of FMCW radar profiles are presented in order to demonstrate the advantages of a multiband radar approach for monitoring the spatial and temporal variability of snow cover properties and/or processes over an extended area.
Large Pyoderma Gangrenosum-Like Ulcers: A Rare Presentation of Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis

Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), formerly known as Wegener's granulomatosis (WG), is a rare systemic vasculitis that classically manifests as necrotizing granulomas of the upper and lower respiratory tract, kidneys, and blood vessels; however, it may affect any organ system, including the skin. Cutaneous manifestations occur in up to 45% of patients during the disease course, and are the presenting feature in 9% to 14% of patients. The most common skin lesion specific to GPA is palpable purpura, with the histopathologic correlate of leukocytoclastic vasculitis. However, a wide range of clinical and histologic features may be seen. We herein report a case of a previously healthy 52-year-old Caucasian man who presented with multiple progressively enlarging painful ulcers on his face, upper extremities, back, and abdomen over a two-month period. Skin biopsies revealed pyoderma gangrenosum-like features. Serological tests were positive for PR3/c-ANCA. Six months later, the patient developed recurrent episodes of sinusitis associated with nasal bleeds and eventually nasal septum perforation. Despite aggressive treatment with Cyclophosphamide and steroids over one year, the patient had persistent nonhealing large ulcers and developed multiple lung nodules with cavitary lesions.
Formulation of a Model for the Management of International Co‐Financing

International co‐financing for development has been a recent innovation of the international banking industry. The World Bank has pioneered the role of “development agency” replacing the more traditional role of “bank” and mobilising other private capital for the development of Third World nations. It is an efficient way of diverting more capital from developed to developing nations, stimulating and accelerating development. A new model based on local, cultural and management attitudes is proposed using the co‐financing formula as the central part of the international funding activity for the development of Third World nations. The goal of this model is not that it should replace all kinds of international projects but stimulate and increase those activities which are more consistent with economic growth. In this way the trend towards development will show real improvement for those countries which already have a socio‐economic infrastructure capable of taking advantage of international financing.
Immunology of xenograft rejection

I N T R O D U C T I O N The term xenograft refers to a transplant of tissue between animals of different species. The first serious attempts to utilize xenografts clinically were reported in the early 1960s [ 1,2] and involved the transplantation of kidneys from subhuman primates to humans. Although some of the grafts functioned for several months, the advent of tissue typing techniques and the success of cadaver aUografts led to a decline in interest in the xenograft. However, recent successes in the fields of heart, liver, and kidney allografts have led to a marked increase in the number of transplants performed and a consequent shortage of donor organs. Predictions of an increasing shortage of donor organs for the future has led to a resurgence of interest in xenotransplantation. In addition, recent advances in our understanding of the basic immunologic mechanisms involved in the immune response to tissue grafts has permitted a more detailed analysis of the individual reactions involved in xenograft rejection. Contrary to the expectation that all immunologic responses to xenografts would be stronger than corresponding responses to allografts, it appears that some aspects of immune reactivity may actually be weaker for more disparate tissues. In this paper we shall attempt to review aspects of both the humoral and cellular response to xenografts, as well as some current approaches in our laboratories directed toward induction of tolerance across species barriers.
The Effect of Response-Contingent Neutral Stimuli on Normal Speech Disfluency

Several stimuli were made contingent on the speech disfluencies of normal adult speakers. The first four subjects were unselected volunteers. For three of them, response-contingent presentation of ...
Peripherally administered insulin-like growth factor-I preserves hindlimb reflex and spinal cord noradrenergic circuitry following a central nervous system lesion in rats.

Abstract The blood-central nervous system-barrier (B-CNS-B) is widely considered a significant impediment to the use of protein neurotrophic factors for the treatment of brain diseases and disorders. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that systemic administration of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) can ameliorate functional damage to the central nervous system. Intracisternal injection of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) normally results in loss of both the descending spinal cord noradrenergic (NA) fibers and the hindlimb withdrawal reflex. Ten minutes after 6-OHDA or solvent injection, 1 week duration osmotic minipumps containing IGF-I or vehicle were implanted subcutaneously in the mid-back of adult rats. Three weeks post-surgery, the maximum stimulus-evoked withdrawal force of the hindlimb was measured. This withdrawal reflex was significantly reduced in 6-OHDA lesioned vs. nonlesioned rats (P
Dysmegakaryocytopoiesis and maintaining platelet count in patients with plasma cell neoplasm.

Background: Dysmegakaryocytopoiesis in patients with the plasma cell neoplasm (PCN) is rarely discussed in the literature. The puzzling phenomenon, which PCN patients maintaining normal platelet count even when the marrow is mostly replaced by plasma cells, is hardly explored. Aim: This study was aimed to determine the frequency of dysmegakaryocytopoiesis in PCN and the relationships between bone marrow (BM) plasma cell percentage, plasma cell immunomarkers, the severity of dysmegakaryocytopoiesis, and peripheral blood platelet count in PCN. Materials and Methods: We randomly selected 16 cases of PCN, among which 4 were with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance and 12 were with plasma cell myeloma. Results: Our study showed that: (1) Dysmegakaryocytopoiesis was present in all the selected cases of PCN and its severity was not correlated with the percentage of the plasma cells in BM; (2) almost all patients maintained normal platelet count even when BM was mostly replaced by plasma cells; (3) immunomarkers of the neoplastic plasma cells were not associated with dysmegakaryocytopoiesis or maintaining of platelet count. The possible mechanisms behind dysmegakaryocytopoiesis and maintaining of platelet count were also discussed. Conclusion: Despite the universal presence of dysmegakaryocytopoiesis in PCN, the platelet count is maintained at normal range.
Solution structure of a duplex DNA with an abasic site in a dA tract.

The presence of dA tracts in DNA can lead to stable curvature of the DNA, and this curvature can be important in gene regulation, DNA packaging, and other processes. Since damage to DNA may elimina...
Subjective Organization, Verbal Learning, and Forgetting Across the Life Span: From 5 to 89

Background/Study Context: Previous tests of the relationship between subjective organization during encoding, aging, and recall have produced inconsistent findings. The present study investigates subjective organization and the acquisition and recall of verbal material across the life span (from 5 to 89 years of age) using two measures, the intertrial repetition paired frequency (PF) measure and the unidirectional subjective organization (SO) measure. Methods: Participants (N = 2656) were administered a version of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, including a delayed recall trial. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were performed to examine the relationship between age and subjective organization and between age and recall. Mediation and growth curve analyses were performed to further examine the relationship between age, verbal acquisition, and subjective organization. Results: Subjective organization was not predictive of verbal forgetting. Deficits in verbal acquisition and subjective organization were...
Mutational Analysis of Basic Residues in the Rat Vesicular Acetylcholine Transporter: IDENTIFICATION OF A TRANSMEMBRANE ION PAIR AND EVIDENCE THAT HISTIDINE IS NOT INVOLVED IN PROTON TRANSLOCATION

The function of positively charged residues and the interaction of positively and negatively charged residues of the rat vesicular acetylcholine transporter (rVAChT) were studied. Changing Lys-131 in transmembrane domain helix 2 (TM2) to Ala or Leu eliminated transport activity, with no effect on vesamicol binding. However, replacement by His or Arg retained transport activity, suggesting a positive charge in this position is critical. Mutation of His-444 in TM12 or His-413 in the cytoplasmic loop between TM10 and TM11 was without effect on ACh transport, but vesamicol binding was reduced with His-413 mutants. Changing His-338 in TM8 to Ala or Lys did not effect ACh transport, however replacement with Cys or Arg abolished activity. Mutation of both of the transmembrane histidines or all three of the luminal loop histidines showed no change in acetylcholine transport. The mutant H338A/D398N between oppositely charged residues in transmembrane domains showed no vesamicol binding, however the charge reversal mutant H338D/D398H restored binding. This suggests that His-338 forms an ion pair with Asp-398. The charge neutralizing mutant K131A/D425N or the charge exchanged mutant K131D/D425K did not restore ACh transport. Taken together these results provide new insights into the tertiary structure in VAChT.
A workstation for tactile graphics

Abstract Blind students have not had adequate access to tangible representations of pictures and diagrams. As more blind students enter the technical disciplines the absolute need for such material increases. There have been many different methods developed for the generation of tangible graphics displays, and a brief review of most of these is presented. Current efforts to design and develop a workstation based upon the methods first implemented by Dr John Gill are described. Both hardware and software are being assembled, and integrated with the needs of sighted braillists who would be the users of the workstation. The current state of development is described, and indications of future needs are stated.