cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The role of air-sea coupling in the downscaled hydroclimate projection over Peninsular Florida and the West Florida Shelf

A comparative analysis of two sets of downscaled simulations of the current climate and the future climate projections over Peninsular Florida (PF) and the West Florida Shelf (WFS) is presented to isolate the role of high-resolution air-sea coupling. In addition, the downscaled integrations are also compared with the much coarser, driving global model projection to examine the impact of grid resolution of the models. The WFS region is habitat for significant marine resources, which has both commercial and recreational value. Additionally, the hydroclimatic features of the WFS and PF contrast each other. For example, the seasonal cycle of surface evaporation in these two regions are opposite in phase to one another. In this study, we downscale the Community Climate System Model version 4 (CCSM4) simulations of the late twentieth century and the mid-twenty-first century (with reference concentration pathway 8.5 emission scenario) using an atmosphere only Regional Spectral Model (RSM) at 10 km grid resolution. In another set, we downscale the same set of CCSM4 simulations using the coupled RSM-Regional Ocean Model System (RSMROMS) at 10 km grid resolution. The comparison of the twentieth century simulations suggest significant changes to the SST simulation over WFS from RSMROMS relative to CCSM4, with the former reducing the systematic errors of the seasonal mean SST over all seasons except in the boreal summer season. It may be noted that owing to the coarse resolution of CCSM4, the comparatively shallow bathymetry of the WFS and the sharp coastline along PF is poorly defined, which is significantly rectified at 10 km grid spacing in RSMROMS. The seasonal hydroclimate over PF and the WFS in the twentieth century simulation show significant bias in all three models with CCSM4 showing the least for a majority of the seasons, except in the wet June-July-August (JJA) season. In the JJA season, the errors of the surface hydroclimate over PF is the least in RSMROMS. The systematic errors of surface precipitation and evaporation are more comparable between the simulations of CCSM4 and RSMROMS, while they differ the most in moisture flux convergence. However, there is considerable improvement in RSMROMS compared to RSM simulations in terms of the seasonal bias of the hydroclimate over WFS and PF in all seasons of the year. This suggests the potential rectification impact of air-sea coupling on dynamic downscaling of CCSM4 twentieth century simulations. In terms of the climate projection in the decades of 2041–2060, the RSMROMS simulation indicate significant drying of the wet season over PF compared to moderate drying in CCSM4 and insignificant changes in the RSM projection. This contrasting projection is also associated with projected warming of SSTs along the WFS in RSMROMS as opposed to warming patterns of SST that is more zonal and across the WFS in CCSM4.
No Such Thing as Trash: A 3D-Printable Polymer Composite Composed of Oil-Extracted Spent Coffee Grounds and Polylactic Acid with Enhanced Impact Toughness

As one of the most popular beverages in the world, a large amount of coffee wastes known as the spent coffee grounds (SCGs) is generated daily. In this study, we report a polylactic acid (PLA) comp...
Pediatric diabetes patients infrequently access outpatient psychology services following screening and referral: Implications for practice

Youth with diabetes are at risk for suboptimal psychological functioning. This study evaluated the prevalence of concerns and proportion of outpatient referrals provided and completed at follow-up....
Association of Imaging-Based Body Fat Distribution and Mammographic Density in the Multiethnic Cohort Adiposity Phenotype Study

Background: As the stronger association of obesity with postmenopausal breast cancer in Asian than white women may be due to body fat distribution, we examined the relation of adiposity measures with percent mammographic density (PMD), a strong predictor of breast cancer incidence. Methods: A total of 938 women from five ethnic groups (69.1 ± 2.7 years) in the Adiposity Phenotype Study (APS) underwent DXA and MRI imaging. PMD was assessed in routine mammograms using a computer-assisted method. Spearman correlation coefficients were computed and general linear models were applied to estimate regression coefficients (β) for PMD per 0.5 SD units of adiposity measures while adjusting for known confounders, including DXA total body fat. Results: For 701 (75%) of the participants (69.1 ± 2.7 years), valid mammograms were obtained. Whereas total body fat, the trunk-to-periphery fat ratio (TPFR), visceral fat (VAT), and subcutaneous fat (SAT) were inversely correlated with PMD (P Conclusions: This is the first study to show an association of a high VAT/SAT ratio with greater PMD, a marker of breast cancer risk after taking into account total body fat. Impact: The results indicate a link between the propensity to accumulate VAT and the amount of fat in the breast (1-PMD), which may influence the relation of obesity with breast cancer incidence.
Taking Action: Writing To End White Supremacy

The subject of monuments and their historical value in the present, a topic of great debate both politically and culturally in recent years, has brought to the forefront how prevalent white supremacy is in contemporary society. This subject hit close to home for me and my students as the toppling of confederate statues in downtown Durham and Silent Sam on the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill's campus—both results of protests against the rise of white nationalism—occurred just two hours north from our campus, the University of North Carolina-Pembroke. Known as the most diverse campus in the UNC system with nearly 60% of its undergraduate student population identifying as non-White, UNC-P has a rich history steeped in American Indian culture (its school was created by and for American Indians), and it was difficult to ignore how these two local events along with national news coverage of hate crimes and blackface rehashed racial divisions not only in the South, but across the country.
CEO Characteristics and Tone at the Top Inconsistency

Abstract This paper provides evidence that different corporate disclosures have different roles and that Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO) characteristics influence language choices. We document that relative to the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A), CEO letters to shareholders have more positive tone when describing the same firm performance. While the MD&A provides incremental information to the numerical data in the financial statements, the language in the CEO letter is largely inconsistent with current firm performance and is influenced predominantly by the level of positive words. This inconsistency is attributed to overconfident CEOs, who tend to have an overly positive view of their ability and firm prospects while underestimating firm risk. Further analysis indicates that CEO gender also affects CEO letter language style, with female CEOs using more neutral tone. Taken together, our evidence suggests that CEO letters are an important source of corporate disclosures, which is shaped by CEO characteristics.
Technology-Enacted Abusive Supervision and Its Effect on Work and Family

This study examines the effects of technology-enacted abusive supervision, defined as subordinate perceptions of supervisor’s use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to engage in h...
Connecting Context-specific Adaptation in Humans to Meta-learning

Cognitive control, the ability of a system to adapt to the demands of a task, is an integral part of cognition. A widely accepted fact about cognitive control is that it is context-sensitive: Adults and children alike infer information about a task's demands from contextual cues and use these inferences to learn from ambiguous cues. However, the precise way in which people use contextual cues to guide adaptation to a new task remains poorly understood. This work connects the context-sensitive nature of cognitive control to a method for meta-learning with context-conditioned adaptation. We begin by identifying an essential difference between human learning and current approaches to meta-learning: In contrast to humans, existing meta-learning algorithms do not make use of task-specific contextual cues but instead rely exclusively on online feedback in the form of task-specific labels or rewards. To remedy this, we introduce a framework for using contextual information about a task to guide the initialization of task-specific models before adaptation to online feedback. We show how context-conditioned meta-learning can capture human behavior in a cognitive task and how it can be scaled to improve the speed of learning in various settings, including few-shot classification and low-sample reinforcement learning. Our work demonstrates that guiding meta-learning with task information can capture complex, human-like behavior, thereby deepening our understanding of cognitive control.
Health Psychology: From Theory to Practice: (A Practical Guide for Applied Health Psychologists and Students)

The integration between research, theory and practice is integral in the field of Health Psychology. The ability to conduct and understand research, to be able to test hypotheses, evaluate approaches and theoretical models and then apply these findings to clinical practice is as essential as it is challenging for both professionals and trainees. The current book aims to provide some useful guidelines on how to conduct evidence based practice in different settings and through different means. It also discusses the biopsychosocial model, which lies at the heart of Health Psychology, and its role in health and illness. The book delves in issues such as stress and pain management and focuses on important contemporary issues in health today, such as stigma and the role of the health care professionals in promoting public health. Health psychology is a relatively new field and health psychologists can work in a wide range of settings; it is our hope that this book can provide students, trainees and professionals with a clear insight in the field of health psychology and with helpful guidance on how to develop, implement and evaluate health behaviour change interventions.
The use of gold nanoparticles in improving ACL graft performance in an ovine model.

Surgical repair of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) can involve autograft or allograft materials. Allografts are typically chosen to avoid donor site morbidity associated with autografts harves...
The Utility of Therapeutic Hypothermia for Post-Cardiac Arrest Syndrome Patients With an Initial Nonshockable Rhythm.

Background—Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) attenuates reperfusion injury in comatose survivors of cardiac arrest. The utility of TH in patients with nonshockable initial rhythms has not been widely ac...
The Roman Inquisition on the Stage of Italy, c. 1590–1640

This meticulously researched volume by Thomas Mayer continues the work he began in The Roman Inquisition: A Papal Bureaucracy. In the first volume, he focused on the role of the pope and the actual...
The Relationship Among Market-Making Revenue, Payment for Order Flow, and Trading Costs for Market Orders

We study the division of market-making revenue among dealer, broker, and trader. When Knight Securities, a major Nasdaq dealer, interacts with market orders in actively traded stocks during the fourth quarter of 1996, we estimate that its revenue is $0.057 per share. Knight pays brokers at least $0.025 per share (44% of revenue) for orders. To examine whether brokers appear to share these payments with traders, we compare net trading costs (trade price net of commissions) for traders using brokers routing Knight orders with estimated net trading costs for traders using the only discount broker we can determine did not directly receive market-making revenue. We find that the net trading cost of the broker refusing order-flow payments does not dominate the net trading cost of all brokers selling order flow to Knight. This finding suggests that order-flow payments do not unambiguously harm traders and challenges the conclusions of extant studies using only trade prices to assess market quality.
Commentary on Prinz

Publisher Summary The fundamental premise of the chapter is that the dominant view of human performance ignores the role of intention and the formation of goals—a situation that has its roots in the seminal work of Donders. Prinz, in his study, accordingly, seeks to broaden the dominant theoretical framework by moving from a couple of stages that are specified in terms of their computational achievements to a consideration of how intentions and action goals are formed and how these representations in turn are involved in the triggering of the reaction to the stimulus. Few researchers are likely to disagree with one main point of the chapter that stimuli alone cannot trigger overt responses. The two faces of the goal that drives action in Prinz's framework bear a striking resemblance to motor programming views of action control in which recall and recognition schemas drive action control, due to Schmidt.
Three Size-Classes of Intracellular Adenovirus Deoxyribonucleic Acid

When human adenovirus type 2 or 12 infects cells, either productively or non-productively, three classes of viral deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) are found within the cells: (i) viral DNA which cosediments with DNA extracted from infectious adenovirions at 31.3S for adenovirus type 2 and at 29.0S for adenovirus type 12, (ii) viral DNA which sediments at about 18S, and (iii) viral DNA which sediments at >45S and is apparently integrated into the cellular DNA. A precursor-product relationship is suggested as a working hypothesis; the intact viral DNA is hydrolyzed to slowly sedimenting DNA and the slowly sedimenting DNA is integrated into the cellular DNA. Both the parental and the newly synthesized viral DNA are altered by this route. The intact viral DNA within the cells apparently is cleaved into the slowly sedimenting DNA by a preformed enzyme.
Efficiency optimization of LLC resonant converters operating in wide input- and/or output-voltage range by on-the-fly topology-morphing control

This paper presents a control method for efficiency improvement of the LLC resonant converter operating with a wide input-voltage and/or output-voltage range by means of topology morphing, i.e., changing of power converter's topology to that which is the most optimal for given input-voltage and/or output-voltage conditions. The proposed on-the-fly topology-morphing control maintains a tight regulation of the output during the topology transitions, i.e., topology transitions are made without inducing noticeable output-voltage transients. The performance of the proposed topology morphing method is verified experimentally on an 800-W LLC dc/dc converter prototype designed for a 100-V to 400-V input-voltage range.
Mass determinations from far-infrared observations

The estimation of dust masses, and inferred gas masses, from observations of far-infrared emission is reviewed. Special attention is given to the uncertainties resulting from lack of knowledge of (a) dust emissivities; and (b) dust temperature distributions. To illustrate the uncertainties two examples are considered: far-infrared emission from Galactic diffuse clouds, and far-infrared emission from the starburst galaxy NGC6240. The importance of observations at λ ≳ µm is emphasized.
Optimizing the Use of High Performance Software Libraries

This paper describes how the use of software libraries, which is prevalent in high performance computing, can benefit from compiler optimizations in much the same way that conventional programming languages do. We explain how the compilation of these informal languages differs from the compilation of more conventional languages. In particular, such compilation requires precise pointer analysis, domain-specific information about the library's semantics, and a configurable compilation scheme. We describe a solution that combines dataflow analysis and pattern matching to perform configurable optimizations.
Circulating Ki-67 protein as a biomarker and prognostic indicator of acute lymphoblastic leukemia

B36 Ki-67 plays an important role in solid tumors and hematological malignancies, and the Ki-67 proliferation index is often correlated with the clinical course of cancer. The prognostic significance of plasma levels of circulating Ki-67 (cKi-67) in patients with cancer remains unknown. We developed a method to measure plasma levels of cKi-67 using a Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) system and demonstrate the assay is highly reproducible and sensitive in detecting low levels in normal individuals. We measured cKi-67 in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and then correlated levels with laboratory findings and clinical behavior. All expected quantitative changes in cell lysates were seen; high levels of cKi-67 were detected in cell lysates from cells in cycling stages (G1, S, G2, and mitosis) but not in lysates from cells in the G0 stage after serum starvation. We also show that low levels of cKi-67 can be detected by Immunoblot and by MSD in the plasma of normal controls, confirming the presence of intact Ki-67 protein in plasma. Significantly higher levels of cKi-67 (median, 762 ; range, 0-4574 U/100 µL) were found in newly diagnosed ALL patients (n=27) as compared with normal controls (median, 399; range, 36-2830 U/100 µL) (n=114). Patients with higher plasma levels of cKI-67 had significantly shorter survival that patients with low levels (P=0.05, Figure). Two of the 27 ALL cases were classified as Burkitt’s and showed high levels of cKi-67 (999 and 1623 U/100 µL of plasma). Patient older than 70 years of age with ALL had significantly higher cKi-67 levels (P=0.05). These findings suggest that measuring cKI-67 protein levels in plasma may have a prognostic value in patients with ALL.The value of this biomarker in other diseases will also be discussed.
Effect of Membrane Cholesterol on the Structure of Alzheimer's Amyloid β Peptide in Lipid Bilayers

A hallmark feature of Alzheimer's disease is formation of extracellular plaques of the amyloid β (Aβ) peptide. There is evidence that the Aβ peptide inserts into the membranes of surrounding neuronal cells, causing membrane permeabilization or rupture. The level of cholesterol in membranes has been shown to affect the extent and toxicity of Aβ plaques, as well as the mode of membrane insertion of Aβ and its structure. Here we analyze the effect of cholesterol on the secondary structure of the 40-residue Aβ peptide in artificial lipid bilayers. Multilayers composed of 0.3 mol fraction of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylglycerol, (0.7 - Xchol) mol fraction of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine, and Xchol mol fraction of cholesterol were deposited on a germanium plate, with Xchol = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4, containing Aβ at a 1:15 peptide/lipid molar ratio. Fourier transform infrared spectra were collected on lipid-peptide samples under three conditions, i) dry multilayers, ii) humidified with D2O vapors, and iii) in the presence of a bulk D2O-based buffer. In all cases, the amide I bands of the peptide indicated comparable fractions of α-helical and β-sheet structures. Increase of Xchol from 0 to 0.2 resulted in a significant decrease in the β-sheet structure and a slight increase in α-helix content. Further increase in Xchol to 0.4 reversed the β-sheet content and increased the α-helical structure; the latter effect was much stronger in hydrated samples. Considering that cholesterol at Xchol > 0.2 causes a fluid-disordered to fluid-ordered transition in membranes, the observed structural effects may reflect either conformational changes in membrane-bound Aβ peptide or a squeezing-out effect. These possibilities, as well as the effect of cholesterol on membrane permeabilization will elucidate the role of cholesterol in Aβ structure and function.
Glutaraldehyde-Ammoniacal Silver Carbonate-Formaldehyde Staining of Histones of Mitotic Chromosomes

Cells from monolayer culture of Chinese hamster line Don were treated by Colcemid (0.1 μg/ml) for 2 hr, trypsinized and spun; resuspended in 0.5% sodium citrate solution for 10 min, respun, and then resuspended in a small volume of the supernatant. Slide preparations were made by smearing, followed by air drying for 1 min at room temperature. They were fixed and stained by the following sequence: 2.5% glutaraldehyde in Millonig's buffer, 30 min; distilled water, 6 min, 5 changes; ammoniacal silver at 18-26 C, 10 sec; distilled water, 30 min, 5 changes; 2.5% formalin, 2 min; and distilled water, 3 changes during 15 min. Staining solution: add 225 ml of 5% Na2CO3 to 75 ml of 10% AgNO3, then add concentrated NH4OH slowly, drop by drop, until the solution is transparent. Finally add 300 ml of dstilled water. Cells treated with cold 0.25 N HCl before fixation were not stained. Sequence modifications show that chromatin does not reduce silver by itself. This method stains the sites of high histone concentration...
A Report on Bone Conduction Thresholds at the Mastoid and Forehead in Normals

Mastoid and forehead bone conduction thresholds were determined on 20 subjects with normal hearing in a test-retest study at frequencies 500, 1 000, 2 000 and 4 000 Hz. Contralateral ear masking was used for all tests. None of the test-retest differences was statistically significant. The thresholds at the mastoid agreed well with past research. The thresholds measured from the forehead agreed more closely with the data of Studebaker. Forehead-mastoid differences in threshold were in reasonably good agreement with the data of Whittle, and also with the mean differences of five studies as computed by him.ResumeLes seuils par conduction osseuse ont ete obtenus au niveau de la mastoide et du front a l'aide d'un vibrateur Radioear B 70-A. Pour Ja mastoide un bandeau audiologique ordinaire a ete utilise. Les mesures au niveau du front ont ete obtenues avec une force d'application de 590 g, graˇce a un appareil special. Toutes les mesures ont ete etudiees sur des traces de Bekesy d'une minute avec sons intermit...
Refractory Supraventricular Tachycardias

This essay is designed to review some of the basic and more recent contributions to our understanding of supraventricular tachyarrhythmias, their mechanisms, pertinent points in diagnosis, and treatment. Supraventricular tachycardia is discussed under the concept of reentrant mechanisms versus accelerated ectopic pacemakers. Atrial fibrillation and flutter, multifocal atrial tachycardia, supraventricular tachyarrhythmias associated with brady-tachy syndrome, and supra-ventricular tachycardias in ventricular preexcitation are likewise discussed. An outline of the different forms of therapy for refractory supraventricular tachyarrhythmias is provided.
The Influence of Mobile Dislocation Density on the Fracture Toughness of B2-Based Ni-Fe-Al Alloys

The deformation and fracture behaviors of two directionally solidified multi-phase Ni-Fe-Al ordered alloys were investigated. One alloy consisted of continuous β+γ lamellae with fine γ precipitates within the γ phase. The NiAl-based β phase of this alloy exhibited slip even when deformed parallel to the [001] growth direction. This material exhibited an initiation fracture toughness of ∼ 30 MPa √m and tensile ductility of 10%. The second alloy consisted of aligned but discontinuous γ lamellae within a continuous β phase. Again, the γ phase contained γ precipitates, but unlike the previous alloy, the β phase also contained a fine dispersion of bcc precipitates due to spinodal decomposition. The β phase of this alloy deformed by slip. This four-phase alloy exhibited a fracture toughness of ∼ 21 MPa √m and tensile ductility of 2%. Observations of the plastic zone in both alloys indicated significant plasticity in the β phase due to easy slip transfer from the ductile second phase. The enhanced fracture resistance of these multiphase materials compared to single phase β alloys is attributed in large part to intrinsic toughening of the β phase by an increased mobile dislocation density due to efficient dislocation generation from the β/γ interfaces.
Specificity of CEO human capital and compensation

Much research on top management compensation has focused on the relationship between pay and firm performance. Firms, however, may compensate executives for inputs such as skills, as well as for outputs such as firm performance. This study refocuses attention on the links between managerial abilities and compensation by examining pay differences between types of CEO successors who have differential skills—namely, internal and external successors. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Covalent binding of acrylonitrile to specific rat liver glutathione S-transferases in vivo.

Acrylonitrile (AN) is an industrial vinyl monomer that is acutely toxic. When administered to rats, AN covalently binds to tissue proteins in a dose-dependent but nonlinear manner [Benz, F. W., Nerland, D. E., Li, J., and Corbett, D. (1997) Fundam. Appl. Toxicol. 36, 149−156]. The nonlinearity in covalent binding stems from the fact that AN rapidly depletes liver glutathione after which the covalent binding to tissue proteins increases disproportionately. The identity of the tissue proteins to which AN covalently binds is unknown. The experiments described here were conducted to begin to answer this question. Male Sprague−Dawley rats were injected subcutaneously with 115 mg/kg (2.2 mmol/kg) [2,3-14C]AN. Two hours later, the livers were removed, homogenized, and fractionated into subcellular components, and the radioactively labeled proteins were separated on SDS−PAGE. One set of labeled proteins was found to be glutathione S-transferase (GST). Specific labeling of the μ over the α class was observed. Sepa...
Contributions off Sociological and Psychological Theory to Casework Practice

formulations of theory in other disciplines is surpassed only by its skills in adapting these formulations to practice. The call for interdisciplinary work can be heard in many quarters. It is usually confined, how ever, to programmatic pronouncements without serious implementation. Appar ently, it is only in social work that sociology and dynamic psychology have been put, creatively, into operation by pro fessional persons who do not belong to these disciplines. Adaptation to prac tice was possible, however, only because sociology and psychology deal with the same phenomena and are also approaching one another in terms of the numbers of
Musca domestica inspired machine vision system with hyperacuity

Musca domestica, the common house fly, has a simple yet powerful and accessible vision system. Cajal indicated in 1885 the fly's vision system is the same as in the human retina. The house fly has some intriguing vision system features such as fast, analog, parallel operation. Furthermore, it has the ability to detect movement and objects at far better resolution than predicted by photoreceptor spacing, termed hyperacuity. We are investigating the mechanisms behind these features and incorporating them into next generation vision systems. We have developed a prototype sensor that employs a fly inspired arrangement of photodetectors sharing a common lens. The Gaussian shaped acceptance profile of each sensor coupled with overlapped sensor field of views provide the necessary configuration for obtaining hyperacuity data. The sensor is able to detect object movement with far greater resolution than that predicted by photoreceptor spacing. We have exhaustively tested and characterized the sensor to determine its practical resolution limit. Our tests coupled with theory from Bucklew and Saleh (1985) indicate that the limit to the hyperacuity response may only be related to target contrast. We have also implemented an array of these prototype sensors which will allow for two - dimensional position location. These high resolution, low contrast capable sensors are being developed for use as a vision system for an autonomous robot and the next generation of smart wheel chairs. However, they are easily adapted for biological endoscopy, downhole monitoring in oil wells, and other applications.
An ab initio study of solvent polarity and hydrogen bonding effects on the nitrogen NMR shieldings of N,N‐dimethylacetamidine

Density functional theory combined with the polarizable continuum model (PCM) and continuous set of gauge transformations method is applied to investigate the effects of solvent polarity on the nitrogen NMR shieldings of N, N-dimethylacetamidine. Hydrogen bonding effects on shielding are likewise calculated using a supermolecule approach, where the imino group of the solute is hydrogen bonded with solvent. Theoretical results are compared with published experimental data. The PCM shielding calculations utilizing PCM-optimized solute geometries yield results comparable to those obtained with the supermolecule approach. Geometry optimization of the solute appears to be more important in PCM shielding calculations than in the supermolecule approach. The large solvent shifts observed in water can only be reproduced when the N·H distance used in the calculation indicates full proton transfer from water to the imino nitrogen of the solute. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The relations between phonological processing abilities and emerging individual differences in mathematical computation skills : A longitudinal study from second to fifth grades

The primary purpose of this longitudinal correlational study was to examine relations between phonological processing abilities and emerging individual differences in math computation skills and also to investigate the source of covariation between reading and math computation skills in a random sample (n = 201). Phonological memory, rate of access to phonological codes in long-term memory, and phonological awareness were uniquely associated with growth in estimated total number of computation procedures mastered (general computation skills) from 92.5 to 134.8 months in age, although the contributions of the first two abilities were developmentally limited. Phonological processing almost completely accounted for the associations between reading and general computation skills. Evidence of bidirectional relations between general computation skills and simple arithmetic problem solving speed was found.
Shear-induced volumetric strain in CuZr metallic glass

Abstract The shear-induced volumetric strain (SIS) of a set of model CuZr metallic glasses is studied for various deformation conditions characterized by different strain rates, temperatures and applied hydrostatic stress states. The various systems considered are obtained by quenching from the melt at different cooling rates. During shear deformation at constant pressure, the material reaches a steady state in which the sample volume remains constant. It is observed that the density of the glass during steady state deformation depends on temperature, pressure and shear strain rate, and is independent of the initial state of the sample. The SIS vanishes as the temperature of the shear test reaches the glass transition temperature. The SIS can become negative under compressive pressure since the instantaneous bulk modulus is lowered by the shear flow. The results suggest that the magnitude of the SIS is related to the difference in density between samples quenched with given finite rate and a fictitious sample quenched infinitely fast.
Mental Health Need, Awareness, and Use of Counseling Services Among International Graduate Students

Objective and Participants: The authors examined the prevalence of mental health needs in international graduate students, their knowledge of mental health services, and their use of on-campus and off-campus counseling services. Methods: All registered graduate students in the Spring 2004 semester received an e-mail invitation to participate in a Web survey. Of the 3,121 completed surveys, 551 completed surveys were from international graduate students. Results: Approximately 44% of international graduate students responded that they had had an emotional or stress-related problem that significantly affected their well-being or academic performance within the past year. International students who reported a more functional relationship with their advisors were less likely to report having an emotional or stress-related problem in the past year and using counseling services. International students who reported higher financial confidence were also less likely to use counseling services. Conclusions: There i...
Large deformation of a thin disk by a cylindrical punch

Abstract By using the finite element code ABAQUS for large deformation, the behavior of a thin disk clamped at the circumference and loaded at the center by a rigid flat-end cylindrical punch was studied. The contact between the punch and the disk is assumed frictionless. The load/displacement relation is compared with analytical results for a point load and they seem to differ by a constant factor for large deformation. This factor depends on the size of the punch and the internal stress in the disk.
Spatial analysis of hind cover patterns and corresponding remotely-sensed image brightness

Abstract Existing land use and cover maps and the aerial photographs they were derived from were studied for a number of different landscape settings using spatial analysis techniques. The purpose of this study was to (1) determine if spatial variations in land use and cover could be quantified and characterized, (2) investigate the spatial scale relationships between land use and cover parcels and their image brightness composition on remotely-sensed images and (3) assess the relevance of these findings to the selection of appropriate remote sensor spatial resolution for image classification of land use and cover types. Analysis of land use and cover parcel size data indicated that the mode and the ‘85 per cent cumulative frequency’ statistics were useful measures for characterizing and comparing surface cover variability for different landscape types. Results of Kolmogorov-Smirnoff tests showed that differences in parcel sizes between urban and rural landscapes could be quantified and that the size of u...
Human decidual and placental relaxins

The human placenta and decidua are intrauterine production sites for a range of polypeptide hormones. Relaxin is one of these hormones, its production having been demonstrated by immunocytochemistry and Northern analysis. There are two relaxin genes in the human genome, termed H1 and H2; only the latter is expressed in cyclic and pregnant corpus luteum. However, it has recently been shown that both genes are expressed in the decidua and placenta. It is not known whether both are translated. These hormone(s) may act in a paracrine fashion and be partly responsible for the control of enzymes and inhibitors involved in collagen remodelling in the fetal membranes in the last weeks of pregnancy. An autocrine role of decidual relaxin and a possible decidual-cell/macrophage/extracellular-matrix interaction is described; this may act as a unit in the elaboration of a range of hormones.
REFOLDING AND OXIDATION OF RECOMBINANT HUMAN STEM CELL FACTOR PRODUCED IN ESCHERICHIA COLI

Oxidative folding of recombinant human stem cell factor (rhSCF) produced in Escherichia coli was investigated in vitro. Folding of denatured and reduced rhSCF involves at least five intermediate forms, I-1 to I-5, detectable by their differences in hydrophobicity using reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography. Both I-1 and I-2 contain a native-like disulfide bond, Cys4-Cys89 and Cys43-Cys138, respectively, and I-3 forms a mispaired disulfide, Cys43-Cys89. These forms appear to reach steady state equilibrium and are important folding intermediates. I-1 was found to be the prominent intermediate that directly folds into native rhSCF (N); and the thermodynamically less stable I-2 favors rearrangment into I-1. I-3 may serve as an intermediate for disulfide rearrangment between I-1 and I-2. I-4 and I-5, which are disulfide-linked dimers, are in equilibrium with reduced rhSCF and other intermediates and may not play an important role in rhSCF folding. Both trifluoroacetic acid-trapped I-1 and I-2, after isolation by high performance liquid chromatography, proceed with the remaining oxidative folding process after reconstitution. Iodoacetate-trapped I-1 and I-2 contain low alpha-helical content and some tertiary structure, while I-3 and reduced rhSCF have little ordered structure. Gel filtration/light-scattering experiments indicate that reduced rhSCF and iodoacetate-trapped I-1, I-2, and I-3 exist as dimeric forms, indicating that rhSCF dimerization precedes formation of disulfide bonds. I-1, I-2, I-3, and the C43,138A analog lacking Cys43-Cys138 bond are not biologically active or exhibit significantly lower activity. The two disulfide bonds in rhSCF seem to be essential for the molecule to maintain an active conformation required for its receptor binding and biological activities.
Transparent sharing and interoperation of heterogeneous single-user applications

Multi-user applications generally lag behind in features or compatibility with single-user applications. As a result, users are often not motivated to abandon their favorite single-user applications for groupware features that are less frequently used. A well-accepted approach, collaboration transparency, is able to convert off-the-shelf single-user applications into groupware without modifying the source code. However, existing systems have been largely striving to develop generic application-sharing mechanisms and undesirably force users to share the same application in cooperative work. In this paper we analyze this problem and present a novel approach (called intelligent collaboration transparency) to addressing this problem. Our approach allows for heterogeneous application sharing by considering the particular semantics of the applications and the collaboration task in question.
Pyridine Derivatives and Other Compounds as Growth-Promoting Substances for Dysentery Bacilli.

SummaryVitamin B6, nicotinamide methiodide, pyrazine monocarboxylic acid and pyrazine 2,3-dicarboxylic acid showed no growth-promoting effect for dysentery bacilli when added to a basal synthetic medium. Thiazole 5-carboxylic acid and its amide exerted a low order of growth-promoting activity. The use of purified quinolinic acid in 1 × 10-4 molar concentration was uniformly followed by culture development. This may have been due to gradual conversion to nicotinic acid. Heating the quinolinic acid solution greatly increased its activity. The efficacy of quinolinic acid in curing pellagra may be due to contamination with small amounts of nicotinic acid.
Surface Waves Guided by a Slit in an Elastic Solid

Abstract : Wave propagation in an isotropic elastic solid containing a slit is studied. The slit is viewed as an open crack of finite width and infinite length. In particular, the propagation of surface waves on the faces of the slit is considered. Making use of a reflection law for the oblique reflection of a Rayleigh wave from the tip of an open half plane crack, surface waves are superimposed to form guided surface waves in the slit. In order to carry out the construction of dispersion relations, an assumption on the rate of decay of body wave modes localized in the vicinity of the edges of the guide is made, and the range of validity of the assumption is discussed. The dispersion relations are obtained by geometrical construction, and representative dispersion curves are shown.
Plasticity between Neuronal Pairs in Layer 4 of Visual Cortex Varies with Synapse State

In neocortex, the induction and expression of long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) vary depending on cortical area and laminae of presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons. Layer 4 (L4) is the initial site of sensory afference in barrel cortex and primary visual cortex (V1) in which excitatory inputs from thalamus, L6, and neighboring L4 cells are integrated. However, little is known about plasticity within L4. We studied plasticity at excitatory synaptic connections between pairs and triplets of interconnected L4 neurons in guinea pig V1 using a fixed delay pairing protocol. Plasticity outcomes were heterogeneous, with some connections undergoing LTP (n = 7 of 42), some LTD (n = 19 of 42), and some not changing (n = 16 of 42). Although quantal analysis revealed both presynaptic and postsynaptic plasticity expression components, reduction in quantal size (a postsynaptic property) contributing to LTD was ubiquitous, whereas in some cell pairs, this change was overridden by an increase in the probability of neurotransmitter release (a presynaptic property) resulting in LTP. These changes depended on the initial reliability of the connections: highly reliable connections depressed with contributions from presynaptic and postsynaptic effects, and unreliable connections potentiated as a result of the predominance of presynaptic enhancement. Interestingly, very strong, reliable pairs of connected cells showed little plasticity. Pairs of connected cells with a common presynaptic or postsynaptic L4 cell behaved independently, undergoing plasticity of different or opposite signs. Release probability of a connection with initial 100% failure rate was enhanced after pairing, potentially avoiding silencing of the presynaptic terminal and maintaining L4–L4 synapses in a broader dynamic range.
Scattering of Internal Waves at Finite Topography in Two Dimensions. Part I: Theory and Case Studies

Abstract The scattering of internal gravity waves at finite topography in two dimensions is studied theoretically and numerically for a finite depth ocean. A formal solution is derived using a mapping function based on ray tracing. The solution satisfies radiation conditions. Energy is conserved. The incoming energy flux is redistributed in physical and modenumber space. Numerical solutions are calculated for a single plane wave propagating from the ocean side onto slope–shelf configurations where a flat shallow shelf is connected to a flat deep ocean by linear slopes, staircases, convex or concave parabolic profiles, and half-cosine slopes. The fraction of the incoming energy flux transmitted onto the shelf and reflected back to the deep ocean and the distribution of these fluxes in modenumber space are calculated. The results depend on the parameters of the incident wave and of the topography. Especially important is the distinction between supercritical topography, where the slope of the topography exc...
Transpetrosal surgery techniques

The complex anatomy of the region necessitates thorough study if transpetrosal surgery is to be performed with minimal patient morbidity. Furthermore, by using flexibility, a team approach, and preoperative planning, the surgical procedure can be tailored to the patient, rather than fitting the patient to a fixed surgical procedure. Finally, minimizing patient morbidity is equivalent to preservation of cranial nerves and crucial vascular structures. Close surveillance and judicious postoperative radiotherapy following cytoreductive surgery provides improved patient outcomes compared with radical surgery that results in cranial nerve deficits.
Swami Vivekananda and Indian Nationalism

ARENDRANATH Datta, better known to the world as Swami Vivekananda, was concerned with Indian nationalism for a brief five years but left his impress on almost half a century. In 1892 he was a little known sannyasi when Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the "Father of Indian Unrest," met him on a Poona-bound train.' Five years later he was hailed all over the country as a conquering hero. He "thundered from Cape Comorin on the southern tip of India to the Himalayas" delivering his message of nationalism which "came as a tonic to the depressed and demoralized Hindu mind."2 For five years he played the role of an itinerant prophet of a renascent India that had discovered its lost soul and was getting ready not only to recapture its past glories but also to save the world. Admiring audiences avidly heard all he had to say and seemed to welcome eagerly his message, which became the basis of a revitalized Hinduism.
Number densities of atomic oxygen and molecular nitrogen in the thermosphere

Abstract The absorption by the Earth's atmosphere of the solar ultraviolet lines at 625 A (Mg X), 630 A(O V), 770 A (Ne VIII) and 765 A(N IV) was observed by instruments on the satellite OSO-IV. We calculate the absorption curves using a static diffusion model of the atmosphere (Jacchia, 1965) and determine the number densities of atomic oxygen and molecular nitrogen at 120 km by fitting to the observations. We demonstrate that virtually the same theoretical absorption curves can arise from two models in which the number densities of the individual species differ substantially. Comparison of absorption curves at a common wave-length indicates that the response of the exospheric temperature to a change in geomagnetic activity exceeds 8 hr, and that the sunset to sunrise change in exospheric temperature exceeds that derived by Jacchia. The number densities of atomic oxygen obtained from the 625 A and 630 A line absorptions agree with either the 1965 or the most recent static diffusion model, depending on which of the published cross sections is adopted, whereas those derived from 765 A and 770 A agree with neither model. The derived number densities of molecular nitrogen contradict the old model but seem consistent with the recent model.
A self-control approach to reducing smoking.

A self-control program for reducing smoking which emphasized the use of record-keeping, positive reinforcement, punishment, stimulus control, breaking up the chain of behaviors, and other behavior ...
Diagnostic, functional, and therapeutic roles of microRNA in allergic diseases

Allergic inflammation is accompanied by the coordinated expression of a myriad of genes and proteins that initiate, sustain, and propagate immune responses and tissue remodeling. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of short single-stranded RNA molecules that posttranscriptionally silence gene expression and have been shown to fine-tune gene transcriptional networks because single miRNAs can target hundreds of genes. Considerable attention has been focused on the key role of miRNAs in regulating homeostatic immune architecture and acquired immunity. Recent studies have identified miRNA profiles in multiple allergic inflammatory diseases, including asthma, eosinophilic esophagitis, allergic rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis. Specific miRNAs have been found to have critical roles in regulating key pathogenic mechanisms in allergic inflammation, including polarization of adaptive immune responses and activation of T cells (eg, miR-21 and miR-146), regulation of eosinophil development (eg, miR-21 and miR-223), and modulation of IL-13–driven epithelial responses (eg, miR-375). This review discusses recent advances in our understanding of the expression and function of miRNAs in patients with allergic inflammation, their role as disease biomarkers, and perspectives for future investigation and clinical utility.
"Proteotyping": population proteomics of human leukocytes using top down mass spectrometry.

Characterizing combinations of coding polymorphisms (cSNPs), alternative splicing and post-translational modifications (PTMs) on a single protein by standard peptide-based proteomics is challenging owing to 10−20 residues apart. Because top down MS measures the whole protein, combinations of all the variations affecting primary sequence can be detected as they occur in combination. The protein form generated by all types of variation is here termed the “proteotype”, akin to a haplotype at the DNA level. Analysis of proteins from human primary leukocytes harvested from leukoreduction filters using a dual on-line/off-line top down MS strategy produced >600 unique intact masses, 133 of which were identified from 67 unique genes. Utilizing a two-dimensional platform, termed multidimensional protein characterization by automated top down (MudCAT), 108 of the above protein forms were subsequently identified in the absence of MS...