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Notes: Flows under the influences of environmental rotation and stable density stratification often exhibit an approximate force balance and a consequently slow rate of evolution at large Reynolds number. Such flows are typically anisotropic in their velocity field. This regime is relevant to large-scale motions in the Earth's atmosphere and ocean, as well as many other planetary and astrophysical systems. The Balance Equations are usually an accurate approximate model for this regime. However, they have solvability limits associated with a change of type in their time-integration operator. In this paper we derive these limiting conditions for the conservative Balance Equations in isentropic coordinates, show that the least familiar of these conditions coincides with loss of convexity of the streamfunction for horizontal velocity in the inertial reference frame, and identify these conditions with the general conditions for symmetric loss of stability for circular and parallel flows as well as for the three-dimensional loss of stability for elliptical flows. We then conjecture that the identified limits of balance coincide generally with the boundary between the distinctive nonlinear dynamical behaviors (i.e., their turbulent cascade and dissipation rates) associated with the large- and small-scale regimes in geophysical and astrophysical flows. © 1998 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Large-scale flows in the atmosphere and ocean are usually in a state of approximate momentum balance, the simplest form of which is geostrophy. Furthermore, balanced models have often been shown to be quite accurate in this regime, with the quasigeostrophic equations the simplest such model and the balance equations a more accurate one, even though such models exclude the rapidly oscillatory, unbalanced dynamics of acoustic, gravitational, and inertial oscillations. However, this behavior is not universal, and here we investigate the fluid dynamics on one of the margins of this regime. We solve for linearized, inviscid fluctuations about a horizontal shear flow with spatially uniform vorticity and strain rate in a rotating, stratified, incompressible fluid, without making any balanced approximations. In both parallel and elliptical shear flows, we find that a significant increase occurs in the growth of unbalanced fluctuations near the violation of a necessary condition for the time integrability of the balance equations. This condition is that the absolute vertical vorticity everywhere exceeds the modulus of the horizontal strain rate. Thus, we seemingly have found a new boundary to the regime of large-scale dynamics, with its approximate gradient-wind balance, anisotropic velocity field, and mostly "slow-manifold" evolutionary behavior. © 1998 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Abstract: Comparisons of the activity of the G protein-mediated phosphoinositide signal transduction system and of G protein levels were made in two regions of frontal cortex from eight schizophrenic, alcohol-dependent, and control subjects. G protein-mediated phosphoinositide hydrolysis was measured by stimulating cortical membranes incubated with [3H]phosphatidylinositol with 0.3–10 µM guanosine 5′-O-(3-thio)triphosphate (GTPγS). In frontal cortex areas 8/9, GTPγS-induced phosphoinositide hydrolysis was 50% greater in schizophrenic than control or alcohol-dependent subjects, whereas there were no differences among these groups of subjects in the response to GTPγS in frontal cortex area 10. Agonists for dopaminergic, cholinergic, purinergic, serotonergic, histaminergic, and glutamatergic receptors coupled to the phosphoinositide signaling system increased [3H]phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis in a GTPγS-dependent manner. Responses to most agonists were similar in all three subject groups in both cortical regions, with the largest difference being a 40% greater response to dopaminergic receptor stimulation in frontal cortex 8/9 from schizophrenic subjects. Measurements of the levels of phospholipase C-β, and of α-subunits of Gq, Go, Gi1, Gi2, and Gs, made by immunoblot analyses revealed no differences among the groups of subjects except for increased Gαo in schizophrenic subjects and increased Gαo and Gαi1 in alcohol-dependent subjects. These results demonstrate that schizophrenia is associated with increased activity of the phosphoinositide signal transduction system and increased levels of Gαo, whereas the phosphoinositide system was unaltered in alcohol dependence, but Gαo and Gαi1 were increased.

Notes: This work develops two techniques for optically probing the spatial profile of microwave frequency superconducting currents. As an application, we measured the effects of high microwave powers on the spatial distribution of current on coplanar superconducting transmission lines fabricated using YBa2Cu3O7−δ and Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8. For both techniques, a focused light-spot served as the spatial probe whose effect was measured through the change in transmitted microwave power. For resonant geometries, the change was due to the kinetic-inductance bolometric effect; for nonresonant geometries, the change was due to the resistive-transition bolometric effect. Kinetic-inductance photoresponse measurements were acquired by setting the microwave frequency on the shoulder of a resonance and measuring the change in the microwave power transmitted through the device that occurred when the absorption of light shifted the frequency of the resonance. These kinetic-inductance measurements were performed as a function of microwave power on a YBa2Cu3O7−δ coplanar device at 74 K and on a Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 coplanar device at 80 K. Because the photoresponse in this technique is proportional to the square of the local current density underneath the light spot (as opposed to directly proportional), this technique is sensitive to current redistribution on length scales much smaller than the ∼6 μm spatial resolution of our measurements. Extrinsic (defect and grain boundary associated) and intrinsic photoresponses were measured. Both coplanar samples showed no change in the intrinsic spatial distribution of the current as the microwave power was varied. At all temperatures the Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 sample exhibited substantial extrinsic spatial variations on a distance scale equal to the film's ∼5 μm grain size; these spatial variations became more dramatic as the temperature T approached the critical temperature Tc. The spatial variations for the finer-grained YBa2Cu3O7 sample were much less pronounced. Behavior consistent with Tc being several degrees lower at the film edges was observed as T approached Tc; the edge-current photoresponse started to narrow, increase faster than linearly with light power, and move away from the film edges toward the center of the strip; lowering the light power lessened these effects. Resistive-bolometric photoresponse measurements performed at temperatures within the resistive transition exhibited the same light power effects near Tc. The kinetic-inductance photoresponse can also be used as a probe of the local quality of unpatterned superconducting films; for this usage an unpatterned film serves as one wall of a resonant cavity and a focused light beam is scanned through the transparent substrate onto the underside of the superconducting film while monitoring the shift in the cavity resonance. © 1998 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Objectives: This study estimates factors associated with the prevalence of HIV-associated periodontal diseases (HIV-P) and the severity and extent of periodontitis in HIV-infected adults from North Carolina (NC). Methods: Data are derived from a cross-sectional study of HIV-infected adults (total n=326, dentate n=316) treated at the University of North Carolina Hospitals. Outcomes were a diagnosis of HIV-P and measures of probing pocket depth (PPD), recession (REC), and clinical attachment level (CAL). Immunosuppression was measured by peripheral blood CD4+ cells/mm3. Results: In addition to persons with HIV (non-AIDS), this study included 10 percent of the AIDS cases in North Carolina. Median age was 37 years (range=19–67); 78 percent were male and 60 percent were black. Sixty-two percent of persons had a probing pocket depth ≥5 mm; 46% had recession ≥3 mm, and 66 percent had attachment level ≥5 mm in one or more sites. Cases of HIV-P (n=15) were rare. Persons taking HIV-antiretroviral medication were one-fifth (OR=0.20; 95% Cl=0.07, 0.63) as likely to have HIV-P as those not taking those medications, controlling for CD4+ cell counts. Conclusion: HIV-infected persons in this study group from North Carolina exhibited severe and extensive measures of adult periodontitis. A small proportion experienced a severe form of HIV-P, which was attenuated by antiretroviral therapy.

Notes: Information matrices are often the output produced by a decision support system. These matrices are a common method for expressing a decision situation under different decision-making scenarios. The decisions involved in designing a decision support system to generate the information matrix are important and involve several cost and benefit components. A designer needs guidance in making effective design decisions in this context. Such guidance can be provided by considering the relationships among specific design decisions, costs, and benefits. The general objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive framework for this purpose. This study is the first to develop and present a comprehensive cost-benefit framework for evaluating design decisions for a variety of scenarios.The specific objective of this research is to provide guidance regarding the number of available information dimensions to incorporate in a computer-based decision aid. Simulation experiments are conducted with a completely specified model based on the cost-benefit framework (including needed assumptions) to evaluate how many information dimensions to include for a specific information matrix size to achieve a balance between information use costs and decision quality. Based upon extensive simulation analyses for a hypothetical decision maker, the practical guideline found for designers is to include only the top half of the relevant information dimensions in any specific decision support system. Over a large number of repeating choice decisions, the savings in cognitive effort and information gathering costs clearly offset relatively minor losses in decision quality.