cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Inertial acceleration as a measure of linear vection: an alternative to magnitude estimation.

The present study focused on the development of a procedure to assess perceived self-motion induced by visual surround motion - vection. Using an apparatus that permitted independent control of visual and inertial stimuli, prone observers were translated along their head x-axis (fore/aft). The observers' task was to report the direction of self-motion during passive forward and backward translations of their bodies coupled with exposure to various visual surround conditions. The proportion of 'forward' responses was used to calculate each observer's point of subjective equality (PSE) for each surround condition. The results showed that the moving visual stimulus produced a significant shift in the PSE when data from the moving surround condition were compared with the stationary surround and no-vision condition. Further, the results indicated that vection increased monotonically with surround velocities between 4 and 40/s. It was concluded that linear vection can be measured in terms of changes in the amplitude of whole-body inertial acceleration required to elicit equivalent numbers of 'forward' and 'backward' self-motion reports.
Protective effect of HSV‐mediated gene transfer of nerve growth factor in pyridoxine neuropathy demonstrates functional activity of trkA receptors in large sensory neurons of adult animals

The distinct distribution of trkA receptors on small neurons and trkC receptors on large neurons in the dorsal root ganglion correlates with the dependence of these two classes of neurons on nerve growth factor and neurotrophin-3, respectively, for survival during development. In adult animals, the distribution of high affinity neurotrophin (trk) is complex and overlapping; neurotrophins are not required for cell survival, but may influence cell phenotype and the response to injury. In order to test the functional activity of trkA receptors in the sensory ganglia of adult animals in vivo, we examined the ability of a nerve growth factor-expressing recombinant replication-defective herpes simplex virus-based vector to prevent the selective degeneration of large sensory fibres caused by intoxication with pyridoxine. Transduction of dorsal root ganglion neurons in vivo by subcutaneous inoculation of the nerve growth factor-expressing vector prevented the development of pyridoxine-induced neuropathy measured by electrophysiological, morphological and behavioural measures. These results demonstrate a functional activity of trkA receptors expressed on large neurons in the dorsal root ganglion in mature animals; this observation has important implications for the choice of neurotrophic factors for treatment of peripheral nerve disease.
Resonance prediction for closed and open wind tunnel by the finite-element method

This research was performed under NASA Grant NGL-05- 020-243. The author wishes to express his appreciation to Professor H. Ashley for valuable discussions with him.
Nanocrystal Templating of Silica Mesopores with Tunable Pore Sizes

Metallic nanoparticles (platinum and gold) encapsulated in mesoporous silica (SBA-15) were prepared in the same solution by a novel two-step method. Characterization by X-ray scattering and electron microscopy consistently shows that the metal nanoparticles were homogeneously incorporated in the mesopores (retaining their size and morphology), even when the nanocrystal diameter exceeds the normal mesopore diameter. The nanoparticles nucleated the expansion of the mesopore channels in the 92−116 A range so they could accommodate the metal particles. This expansion occurs in the concentration range of 1−103 nanoparticles per 103 mesopore channels. This effect can be used to tune the pore size.
Neg-Raising and Polarity

The representation of Neg-Raising in the grammar is a matter of controversy. I provide evidence for representing Neg-Raising as a kind of presupposition associated with certain predicates by providing a detailed analysis of NPI-licensing in Neg-Raising contexts. Specific features of presupposition projection are used to explain the licensing of strict NPIs under Neg-Raising predicates. Discussion centers around the analysis of a licensing asymmetry noted in Horn (1971, Negative transportation: Unsafe at any speed? In CLS 7 (pp. 120–133)).Having provided this analysis, I go on to discuss its implications for the theory of NPI-licensing more generally. In particular, I discuss how the present proposal reflects on von Fintel’s (1999, Journal of Semantics, 16, 97–148) proposal to use Strawson downward entailment in the statement of NPI-licensing principles.
Cauchy and polar-sampling theorems

Some bibliographic comments are made concerning the genesis of sampling expansions for periodic signals that have only a finite number of terms (harmonic-limited) in their Fourier series developments; such expansions have been used recently by Stark [ J. Opt. Soc. Am.69, 1519 ( 1979)] to simplify image restoration in computerized tomography applications. The results normally attributed to Cahn [in BlackH. S., Modulation Theory ( Van Nostrand, New York, 1953)] and Maeda [ J. Inst. Electron. Commun. Eng. Jpn.50, 1472 ( 1967)] for uniformly and nonuniformly spaced samples, respectively, taken over one period of the signal are shown to have been derived by Cauchy [ C. R. Acad. Sci.12, 283 ( 1841)] in an 1841 paper. A simple proof is then given for a generalized class of harmonic-limited signals for which the finite number of samples is nonuniformly spaced; this more general result contains the results of Cahn, of Maeda, and of Stark as special cases.
Bending of a simply supported circular cylindrical shell subjected to uniform line load along a generator

Abstract The complex differential equation of cylindrical shells, given by Novozhilov [1], is used to obtain the state of stress for a simply supported closed thin circular cylindrical shell acted upon by a uniform inward radial line load along a generator. The problem is solved by obtaining a closed form particular integral of the differential equation, and satisfying the edge conditions with the aid of complementary solutions in the form of a single Fourier series which converges very rapidly for the region near the middle of the shell. For comparatively long shells an approximate expression, in closed form, is derived for the region far away from the edges. A mathematical proof of the convergence of the series is given, and numerical results for several ratios of length to radius are presented.
Predictors of Health-Related Quality of Life and Adherence in Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis: Implications for Clinical Management

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with impaired health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and adherence. Our aim was to identify demographic, clinical, and psychosocial predictors of impaired HRQOL and non-adherence to provider recommendations. Adults with Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) residing within the USA were recruited from online IBD support groups for participation in this cross-sectional study. Data were collected online through standardized instruments, including the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire and the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) general adherence scale. Bivariate analyses and multivariate linear regression were used to assess predictors of HRQOL and adherence. We recruited 136 individuals, among whom median age was 35 years (range 18–75), and 82 % were female. 57 % had CD, and 43 % had UC. Predictors of lower HRQOL among CD patients were perceived stress (p < 0.0001), number of CD relapses (p < 0.0001), and female gender (p = 0.0015), while among UC patients they were perceived stress (p < 0.0001) and number of UC relapses (p = 0.0017). Predictors of lower adherence to provider recommendations in CD were perceived stress (p = 0.0007) and older age (p = 0.041), while in UC, perceived stress was the only predictor of lower adherence (p = 0.022). Among patients with IBD, a higher level of perceived stress is a strong predictor of lower HRQOL and lower adherence to provider recommendations. Additionally, females with CD and patients with higher number of IBD relapses may be at risk of lower HRQOL. Psychological interventions, including physician-facilitated conversations, psychological screeners, and a multidisciplinary approach, may help address impaired HRQOL and adherence and merit further study.
CONTRIBUTION OF AMMONIUM TO STIMULATION OF SMOOTH PIGWEED (AMARANTHUS HYBRIDUS L.) GERMINATION BY EXTRACTS OF HAIRY VETCH (VICIA VILLOSA ROTH) RESIDUE

Hairy vetch is a leguminous winter annual cover crop that provides a significant contribution toward meeting the nitrogen requirement of succeeding crops. Hairy vetch residue is capable of suppressing weeds, but low levels of residue can intermittently stimulate the emergence of weeds, particularly smooth pigweed. This research was conducted to assess the inhibitory and stimulatory effects of hairy vetch extracts on two smooth pigweed lots with differing dormancy conditions under differing germination conditions (25 or 35 deg C in light or dark). Fullstrength extracts inhibited germination of both lots under all conditions, a result explained by the inhibitory osmotic potential of the full-strength extract. At <, 0.1X proportions of the hairy vetch extract, there was a slight stimulation of germination above that of the control (average = 11%) of both lots of pigweed under all germination conditions, except for a large stimulation (87%) by the more dormant lot at 25 deg C in light. A similar response to ammonium hydroxide solutions was observed, in which germination stimulation averaged 7% for all conditions except for germination of the dormant pigweed lot that was stimulated 115% by 15 p.p.m. of ammonium (NH**4+) at 25 deg C in light. As the NH**4+ concentration in the hairy vetch extract was similar to that in the ammonium hydroxide solutions that promoted the largest stimulation of germination, and because there was a high correlation between the degree of germination stimulation by hairy vetch extracts and by ammonium hydroxide, NH**4+ appears to be the principle ingredient in the extract responsible for stimulation of smooth pigweed germination.
Drops that pull themselves up

Abstract We relate different existing literature experimental findings of drop retraction in evaporating or in coffee ring systems as a unique physical phenomenon that is not related to evaporation, but rather to the presence of surfactant molecules in the drops. The retraction is induced by fluctuations of the drop's triple line that result in a net leakage of the surfactant molecules onto the solid-air interface right across the triple line. This net leakage can be induced by either nucleation and growth of a surface defect at the triple line or random triple line fluctuations analogous to spinodal process. Using this understanding, we can set a lower limit to the value of the, otherwise un-measurable, solid-vapor interfacial energy.
Quantifying the effects of fisheries on threatened species: the impact of pelagic longlines on loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles

The depletion of fish stocks from global fisheries has been a long-standing concern. More recently, incidental catch of non-target (termed bycatch) vertebrates also has been proposed as a serious conservation issue. Here we present a bycatch assessment for loggerhead and leatherback sea turtles that are incidentally caught by global pelagic longlines. We integrate catch data from over 40 nations and bycatch data from 13 international observer programmes. Despite infrequent rates of encounter, our analyses show that more than 200 000 loggerheads and 50 000 leatherbacks were likely taken as pelagic longline bycatch in 2000. Our analyses suggest that thousands of these turtles die each year from longline gear in the Pacific Ocean alone. Given 80‐95% declines for Pacific loggerhead and leatherback populations over the last 20 years, this bycatch level is not sustainable. Adopting a large-scale, synthetic approach is critical to accurately characterize the influence of global fisheries bycatch on globally distributed and imperilled pelagic vertebrates.
Testimony on the State of the Securitization Markets

In this May 18, 2011 testimony before the Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, I suggest certain regulatory responses to improve securitization. Certain of securitization’s problems are typical of problems we must face in any innovative financial market: that increasing complexity, coupled with human complacency (among other factors), will make failures virtually inevitable. Regulation must respond to this reality by putting into place, before these failures occur, responses that supplement regulatory restrictions intended to prevent failures.
Predicting Failure Behavior of Polymeric Composites Using a Unified Constitutive Model

This study predicts the failure behavior of an IM7/977-2 carbon epoxy composite material through a unified constitutive model. The traction-separation response and damage initiation and evolution behavior were studied by modeling a composite double cantilever beam subjected to a Mode I delamination. Damage within the composite panels was also taken into consideration through the use of the disturbed state concept (DSC). The finite element modeling software Abaqus was used to model the failure behavior of the composite using a unified constitutive modeling approach. The finite element model was validated by comparing the model results to referenced laboratory testing performed on IM7/977-2 carbon epoxy composite. The results of the finite element modeling performed in this study are in good agreement with the referenced laboratory testing. The damaged states associated with various stages of loading are presented in this study.
Ethics and Confrontation: The Politics of Decision Making

This case study explores the politics and ethics surrounding a likely breach of school policy and possible breach of law. Students will be asked to identify key legal, ethical, and political issues in a unique scenario involving complex community issues, a split board, and unknown levels of support from superiors. At stake are employment status of administrators, community harmony, school climate, and potentially, student achievement.
Reliability of clinical measurements of lumbar lordosis taken with a flexible rule.

The purpose of this study was to examine the intratester and intertester reliability of lumbar lordosis measurements taken with a flexible rule. Two physical therapists (Tester 1 and Tester 2) took measurements on 40 subjects without low back pain (LBP) and on 40 subjects with LBP. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to determine the degree of agreement between repeated measurements taken by the same therapist and between measurements taken by the two therapists. The ICC values for intratester reliability of Tester 1 were .84 for subjects without LBP and .94 for subjects with LBP. The ICC values of Tester 2 were .73 for subjects without LBP and .83 for subjects with LBP. Intertester reliability generally was poor, with ICC values of .41 for subjects without LBP and .50 for subjects with LBP. The results suggest that measurements of lumbar lordosis with a flexible rule may be reliable if taken by the same physical therapist. The degree of reliability, however, may vary from therapist to therapist. The intertester reliability of these measurements appears to be poor, but these conclusions must be interpreted carefully because of the limited number of therapists participating in this study.
A VLIW Processor With Hardware Functions: Increasing Performance While Reducing Power

This brief presents a heterogeneous multicore embedded processor architecture designed to exceed performance of traditional embedded processors while reducing the power consumed compared to low-power embedded processors. At the heart of this architecture is a multicore very large instruction word (VLIW) containing homogeneous execution cores/functional units. Additionally, heterogeneous combinational hardware function cores are tightly integrated to the VLIW core providing an opportunity for improved performance and reduced energy consumption. Our processor has been synthesized for both a 90-nm Stratix II field-programmable gate array and a 160-nm cell-based application-specific integrated circuit from Oki each operating at a core frequency of 167 MHz. For selected multimedia and signal processing benchmarks, we show how this processor provides kernel performance improvements averaging 179X over an Intel StrongARM and 36X over an Intel XScale leading to application speedups averaging 30X over StrongARM and 10X over XScale
A 5 GHz Digitally Controlled Synthesizer in 90 nm CMOS

A digitally controlled synthesizer (DCS) using a delay accumulator and a frequency divider is presented. The system operates with an output tuning range of 2.44 MHz to 2.5 GHz using a 5 GHz reference clock with a power consumption of 125 mW. It is designed in the IBM 90 nm CMOS process. The mostly digital design has no jitter accumulation, high tolerance to device and process variations, and a small form factor. The novel delay accumulator prevents the need of propagating carries reducing power dissipation and area. The design is tolerant to total ionizing dose radiation and single-event upsets.
Gender, Class, and Nation: Mercè Rodoreda and the Subjects of Modernism

CHRISTINE R. ARKINSTALL, Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press/London: Associated University Presses. 2004. 256 pp. ‘Modernism’, as term and concept, does not travel as well as many of its proponent...
King Rail (Rallus elegans) Occupancy and Abundance in Fire Managed Coastal Marshes in North Carolina and Virginia

Abstract. Curbing the declining trends of King Rails (Rallus elegans) that occupy freshwater emergent marshes requires an understanding of their ecology and response to management practices. King Rails were surveyed during the breeding season (March-June) at Back Bay and Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuges, Virginia and North Carolina, in 2009 and 2010. Twenty-two plots were surveyed in 2009 and 41 in 2010. Annual occupancy estimates were based on pooled data encompassing both refuges. In 2010, occupancy and abundance of King Rails were also estimated for each refuge and assessed with respect to fire management. Plots in 2010 were classified as recently burned (0–1 years-since-burn [YSB]) or ≥ 2 YSB. Occupancy probability was similar between 2009 (0.68 ± 0.14) and 2010 (0.62 ± 0.08). In 2010, occupancy probability was higher at Mackay Island (0.95 ± 0.06) than Back Bay (0.69 ± 0.13). Mean plot abundance (Mackay Island = 1.47 ± 0.38; Back Bay = 0.66 ± 0.22) was also higher. The probability of occupying...
Repetitive exposures to a surrogate nipple providing nutritive and non-nutritive fluids: effects on suckling behavior of the newborn rat.

Responsiveness to a surrogate nipple providing water, 0.1% saccharin, 10% sucrose, pedialyte, or milk was tested in naive-to-suckling newborn rats during six 10-min exposures, one every 1.5 h over a 7.5 h period. Across a succession of exposures, newborn rats repeatedly attached to and ingested milk from a surrogate nipple, yielding significant body weight gain and increased concentration of blood plasma glucose. Initially, pups ingested considerable amounts of saccharin and sucrose, but then dramatically decreased their consumption of these fluids across the experimental sessions. Intake of milk was significantly higher than that of all other substances. Blood glucose concentration in pups treated with water, saccharin, sucrose, and pedialyte did not differ significantly from that of non-treated pups. The present data suggest a potential contribution of a fluid's palatability and nutritive value in the persistence and efficacy of diet intake for neonatal rats in the context of suckling behavior.
Limnological characteristics of selected lakes in the Nebraska sandhills, U.S.A., and their relation to chemical characteristics of adjacent ground water

Abstract Limnological characteristics of Crane, Hackberry, Island and Roundup Lakes, and chemical characteristics of shallow ground water, within the Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge, western Nebraska, were determined during a preliminary investigation of the interaction between lakes and ground water in this study area between 1980 and 1984. When ice cover was absent, the lakes were well-mixed vertically, regardless of season. Depth to which 1% of surface illumination penetrated was commonly less than 1m. Variability in light penetration, as measured by Secchidisk transparency, appeared to be unrelated to changes in algal biomass, even though algal biomass, measured as chlorophyll a , varied seasonally within a two-order-of-magnitude range. Blue-green algae were the most abundant phytoplankton; this condition occurred most often when the ratio of total nitrogen to total phosphorus in the lakes' water was less than 29. Although rotifers and copepod naupli commonly were the most abundant zooplankton in the lakes, cladocerans were dominant occasionally. Either sodium or calcium was the most abundant cation, and bicarbonate was the most abundant anion, in water from water-table wells and lakes sampled during the study. The second most abundant cation in the ground water was related to the location of the sampled well within the ground-water system. The lakes were a source of dissolved organic carbon seeping to ground water. Chemical and hydrologic data indicate there is interaction between lakes and ground water in the study area.
BB-GC: Basic-Block Level Garbage Collection

Memory space limitation is a serious problem for many embedded systems from diverse application domains. While circuit/packaging techniques are definitely important to squeeze large quantities of data/ instruction into small size memories typically employed by embedded systems, software can also play a crucial role in reducing memory space demands of embedded applications. This paper focuses on a software-managed two-level memory hierarchy and instruction accesses. Our goal is to reduce on-chip memory requirements of a given application as much as possible, so that the memory space saved can be used by other simultaneously-executing applications. The proposed approach achieves this by tracking the lifetime of instructions. Specifically, when an instruction is dead (i.e., it could not be visited again in the rest of execution), we deallocate the on-chip memory space allocated to it. Working on the control flow graph representation of an embedded application, our approach performs basic block-level garbage collection for on-chip memories.
Using Small Molecules to Dissect Mechanisms of Microbial Pathogenesis

Understanding the ways in which pathogens invade and neutralize their hosts is of great interest from both an academic and a clinical perspective. However, in many cases genetic tools are unavailable or insufficient to fully characterize the detailed mechanisms of pathogenesis. Small molecule approaches are particularly powerful due to their ability to modulate specific biological functions in a highly controlled manner and their potential to broadly target conserved processes across species. Recently, two approaches that make use of small molecules, activity-based protein profiling and high-throughput phenotypic screening, have begun to find applications in the study of pathways involved in pathogenesis. In this Review we highlight ways in which these techniques have been applied to examine bacterial and parasitic pathogenesis and discuss possible ways in which these efforts can be expanded in the near future.
The effects of patch-potentials on the gravity probe B gyroscopes

Gravity probe B (GP-B) was designed to measure the geodetic and frame dragging precessions of gyroscopes in the near field of the Earth using a drag-free satellite in a 642 km polar orbit. Four electrostatically suspended cryogenic gyroscopes were designed to measure the precession of the local inertial frame of reference with a disturbance drift of about 0.1 marc sec/yr-0.2 marc sec/yr. A number of unexpected gyro disturbance effects were observed during the mission: spin-speed and polhode damping, misalignment and roll-polhode resonance torques, forces acting on the gyroscopes, and anomalies in the measurement of the gyro potentials. We show that all these effects except possibly polhode damping can be accounted for by electrostatic patch potentials on both the gyro rotors and the gyro housing suspension and ground-plane electrodes. We express the rotor and housing patch potentials as expansions in spherical harmonics Y(l,m)(θ,φ). Our analysis demonstrates that these disturbance effects are approximated by a power spectrum for the coefficients of the spherical harmonics of the form V(0)(2)/l(r) with V(0) ≈ 100 mV and r ≈ 1.7.
Implementation of IEEE single precision floating point addition and multiplication on FPGAs

Floating point operations are hard to implement on FPGAs because of the complexity of their algorithms. On the other hand, many scientific problems require floating point arithmetic with high levels of accuracy in their calculations. Therefore, we have explored FPGA implementations of addition and multiplication for IEEE single precision floating-point numbers. Customizations were performed where this was possible in order to save chip area, or get the most out of our prototype board. The implementations tradeoff area and speed for accuracy. The adder is a bit-parallel adder, and the multiplier is a digit-serial multiplier. Prototypes have been implemented on Altera FLEX8000s, and peak rates of 7 MFlops for 32-bit addition and 2.3 MFlops for 32-bit multiplication have been obtained.
IMU-based localization and slip estimation for skid-steered mobile robots

Localization and wheel slip estimation of a skid- steered mobile robot is challenging because of the complex wheel/ground interactions and kinematics constraints. In this paper, we present a localization and slip estimation scheme for a skid-steered mobile robot using low-cost inertial measurement units (IMU). We first analyze the kinematics of the skid-steered mobile robot and present a nonlinear Kalman filter (KF)- based simultaneous localization and slip estimation scheme. The KF-based localization design incorporates the wheel slip estimation and utilizes robot velocity constraints and estimates to overcome the large drift resulting from the integration of the IMU acceleration measurements. The estimation methodology is tested and validated experimentally with a computer vision- based localization system.
Continuum modeling of myxobacteria clustering

In this paper we develop a continuum theory of clustering in ensembles of self-propelled inelastically colliding rods with applications to collective dynamics of common gliding bacteria Myxococcus xanthus. A multi-phase hydrodynamic model that couples densities of oriented and isotropic phases is described. This model is used for the analysis of an instability that leads to spontaneous formation of directionally moving dense clusters within initially dilute isotropic ‘gas’ of myxobacteria. Numerical simulations of this model confirm the existence of stationary dense moving clusters and also elucidate the properties of their collisions. The results are shown to be in a qualitative agreement with experiments.
Recommendations for specimen collection for NBOMe analysis in clinical toxicology.

Sir,Since 2012, dimethoxyphenyl-N-[(2-methoxyphenyl)methyl]ethanamine (NBOMe) derivatives, a new class of designer hallucinogens, have become a threat to public health and safety.[1,2] The most com...
Australian medical response to a rural Pakistan town following the flood crisis of 2010

Following the devastating floods affecting Pakistan in 2010 an Australian Medical Task Force comprising of civilian and military members was deployed to the Pakistani town of Kot Addu to assist with the overwhelmed local health care facilities. Civilian doctors, nurses and paramedics were drawn from across Australia to participate in the mission. Support staff included Australian scientists trained in microbiology. The clinic and a basic laboratory facility were constructed on a sports field using inflatable tent structures. Over 11 000 consultations were completed during the 48 days that the clinic operated. Common conditions encountered included malaria, malnutrition, tuberculosis and diarrhoeal illness. The skills contributed by microbiologist staff allowed for rapid and definitive diagnosis being provided to patients attending the clinic. The laboratory confirmed diagnoses from deployment were provided to the local health ministry and World Health Organization (WHO) on a daily basis. Eighteen months on, the basic accommodation, nutritional and economic needs of the population need ongoing attention.
Pertussis antibody level in healthy population, Shijiazhuang City

Objective To understand the pertussis antibody level in healthy population in Shijiazhuang City, and to provide scientific basis for pertussis prevention and control. Methods Questionnaire survey and serological detection were conducted among 1634 people of Shijiazhuang City by multistage random sampling method in 2013. Pertussis antibody was detected by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results Positive rate of pertussis antibody levels was 50.18%, and the average antibody concentration was 52.88IU/ml. Positive rate of the group between different age had obvious difference(χ~2=79.756, P0.01). The positive rate was 45.04% below 1 years old. With the growth of age, the positive rate of antibody decreased and maintained at a low level, but increased above 15 years old. The positive rate was highest above 40 years old(68.57%). The positive rate of the group between different region had obvious difference. Plain county is higher than that of a mountainous area county. The positive rate of the group between different gender had no obvious difference(χ~2=1.120, P=0.290; t=0.053, P=0.819). The positive rate and the average concentration reached the minimum from 1 to 5 years after inoculation. The positive rate and the average concentration of the group between basic and strengthen immunity had no obvious difference(χ~2=2.738, P=0.098; t=0.302, P=0.583). Conclusion In DPT, the effect of pertussis vaccine was poor. We should strengthen monitor and control sources of infection.
Effect of opiate agonists and antagonists on lipid bilayer fluidity.

To determine whether opiates increase the fluidity of lipid bilayers that contain opiate-binding lipids, multilamellar bilayers composed of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and 1 mol % cerebroside sulfate, phosphatidylserine, 1-phosphatidylinositol, or 1-phosphatidyl 4,5-bisphosphate were formed. The effect of morphine, naloxone, levorphanol, and dextrophan on the main phase transition temperature was determined by measuring the partition of the spin label, 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-l-oxyl, between the aqueous and fluid hydrophobic phases. Although the addition of 1 mol % cerebroside sulfate rendered the bilayers sensitive to the fluidizing effects of drugs, no correlation was observed between the fluidizing and analgesic effects. To show that this lack of correlation was not dependent on the lipid concentration, the experiments with cerebroside sulfate were repeated by measuring the main phase transition temperature with the fluorescence depolarization of 1,6-diphenylhexatriene incorporated into the bilayers. The results of these experiments also showed no correlation between fluidizing and analgesic effects. Hosein et al. (Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 78:194-201, 1977), using differential scanning calorimetry, showed that opiates specifically affected a phase transition in brain lipid bilayers and that this effect required an ether precipitate rich in cerebroside sulfate. Since we found no specificity in the ability of opiates to increase lipid fluidity of bilayers that contained cerebroside sulfate, the work of Hosein et al. was repeated by monitoring fluidity with 1,6-diphenylhexatriene incorporated into the bilayers. Even 1 mM morphine failed to alter the polarization of 1,6-diphenylhexatriene, indicating that there were no alterations in bulk hydrocarbon fluidity. Because the depolarization of 1,6-diphenylhexatriene monitors the bulk hydrocarbon region and differential scanning calorimetry monitors the whole system, our results suggest that the alterations in the phase transition observed with differential scanning calorimetry do not occur because of "melting" of the bulk hydrocarbon regions of lipids.
GM Ignition Switch Recall: Too Little Too Late? [Ethical Dilemmas]

Discusses the case of someone dying due to GM's faulty ignition switch. In this case, a woman died in a car crash while driving her 2005 GM Cobalt. While driving the ignition switch suddently moved from run to accessory. This had the unfortunate effects of killing the engine, disabling the power steering, and turning off the airbags. The sudden loss of power caused Melton to cross into oncoming traffic. The Cobalt crashed into another car at 58 mph and wound up in a creek, killing the woman and starting a chain of events that revealed the true cause of more than a dozen similar crashes going back more than half a decade. Reports on the legal case that ensued, the actions of GM, and the implications for companies to deal with known equipment and/or system problems.
Woman and man in gendered space: submitting

At present, most discussions of Islamic law, women, and gender gravitate toward a set of issues assumed to lie at the heart of gendered Islamic discourse: gender segregation and/or female seclusion and veiling, and strict rules and sanctions for sexual behavior are the hot topics of the day, the emblems of Islamic discrimination against, and oppression of, women. I want to emphasize at the outset, however, that this basket of issues was not much featured in traditional legal discourse and premodern legal practices. Jurists, and many Muslim societies, did hold some definite ideas about the gendering of social space, dress requirements, and the gravity of sexual transgressions, but by and large these are ideas developed on the margins of the legal discourse and judges and courts do not seem particularly active in their enforcement. This is an area where modern concerns – perhaps we could say obsessions – threaten to skew our understanding of Islamic law, and therefore I proceed to discuss these issues with the caveat that I will be paying them, relatively speaking, far more attention than did the jurists and courts of premodern Islam. In addition, any discussion of space and sexuality in Islamic law is complicated by the problem of concepts and terms. Feminist historians and legal thinkers in the West, beginning in the 1960s, worked with the rich analytical approach of public and private domains, where the concept of “separate spheres” for men and women ruled, as essential to our understanding of the ways women were restricted and controlled.
MicroRNA target Fc receptors to regulate Ab-dependent Ag uptake in primary macrophages and dendritic cells

Phagocytosis commences with particle internalization and culminates with the activation of innate and adaptive immune responses. However, the role of miRNAs in phagocytosis remains largely unknown. In this study, we examined the role of miR-24, miR-30b and miR-142-3p in Ab Fc receptor (FcR)-mediated phagocytosis by macrophages (MΦ) and dendritic cells (DC). The expression of these miRNAs was reduced following phagocytosis of both IgG-opsonized beads and Escherichia coli, indicating their regulatory role in the process. Further, overexpression of these miRNAs impaired the uptake of IgG-coated latex beads, which corroborated the reduced secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-8 and down-regulation of PKC-α, as well as superoxide-generating enzyme NADPH oxidase 2 expression level. Mechanistically, MΦ and DC transfected with miRNA mimics show marked reduction in expression of FcRs including FCGR2A, FcɛR1G and FCER2. We show that FcɛR1G expression is not affected at the transcription level, ra...
Replies to my commentators

I thank Earl Conee, Jack Lyons and Matt McGrath for their insightful comments on my paper.In Theorizing about the Epistemic (TAE), I argue there is no way to specify the meaning of ‘epistemic’ that...
Cascaded network analysis of a wideband RF self-interference cancellation (RF-SIC) filter for STAR systems

In simultaneous transmit and receive (STAR) systems, multi-tap RF self-interference cancellation (RF-SIC) filters are employed to prevent receiver saturation and achieve STAR communication. Specifically, RF-SIC filters aim to reproduce the frequency response of the interference channel between the transmit and receive antennas. In this paper, we apply ABCD-parameters, Y-parameters, and S-parameters to analyze the performance of a wideband RF-SIC filter design incorporating variable delays and coefficients. Numerical MATLAB calculations demonstrate strong agreement (< 2% error) with Advanced Design System (ADS) circuit simulations for a three-tap filter from 2 GHz–8 GHz.
Optimizing ITO for incorporation into multilayer thin film stacks for visible and NIR applications

Indium Tin Oxide, ITO, is the industry standard for transparent conductive coatings. As such, the common metrics for characterizing ITO performance are its transmission and conductivity/resistivity (or sheet resistance). In spite of its recurrent use in a broad range of technological applications, the performance of ITO itself is highly variable, depending on the method of deposition and chamber conditions, and a single well defined set of properties does not exist. This poses particular challenges for the incorporation of ITO in complex optical multilayer stacks while trying to maintain electronic performance. Complicating matters further, ITO suffers increased absorption losses in the NIR – making the ability to incorporate ITO into anti-reflective stacks crucial to optimizing overall optical performance when ITO is used in real world applications. In this work, we discuss the use of ITO in multilayer thin film stacks for applications from the visible to the NIR. In the NIR, we discuss methods to analyze and fine tune the film properties to account for, and minimize, losses due to absorption and to optimize the overall transmission of the multilayer stacks. The ability to obtain high transmission while maintaining good electrical properties, specifically low resistivity, is demonstrated. Trade-offs between transmission and conductivity with variation of process parameters are discussed in light of optimizing the performance of the final optical stack and not just with consideration to the ITO film itself.
Analytical modeling of a double-sided flux concentrating E-Core Transverse Flux Machine with pole windings

In this paper, a nonlinear analytical model based on the Magnetic Equivalent Circuit (MEC) method is developed for a double-sided E-Core Transverse Flux Machine (TFM). The proposed TFM has a cylindrical rotor, sandwiched between E-core stators on both sides. Ferrite magnets are used in the rotor with flux concentrating design to attain high airgap flux density, better magnet utilization, and higher torque density. The MEC model was developed using a series-parallel combination of flux tubes to estimate the reluctance network for different parts of the machine including air gaps, permanent magnets, and the stator and rotor ferromagnetic materials, in a two-dimensional (2-D) frame. An iterative Gauss-Siedel method is integrated with the MEC model to capture the effects of magnetic saturation. A single phase, 1 kW, 400 rpm E-Core TFM is analytically modeled and its results for flux linkage, no-load EMF, and generated torque, are verified with Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The analytical model significantly reduces the computation time while estimating results with less than 10 percent error.
Twist-coupled Kirigami cells and mechanisms

Abstract Manipulation of thin sheets by folding and cutting offers opportunity to engineer structures with novel mechanical properties, and to prescribe complex force–displacement relationships via material elasticity in combination with the trajectory imposed by the fold pattern. Here we study the mechanics of a cellular Kirigami that rotates and buckles upon compression, presenting an example of a design strategy that we call ”flexigami”. The addition of diagonal cuts to an equivalent closed cell permits the cell to collapse reversibly without incurring significant tensile strains in its panels. Using finite-element modeling and experiments we show how the mechanical behavior of the cell is governed by the coupled rigidity of the panels and hinges and we design cells to achieve reversible force response ranging from smooth mono-stability to sharp bi-stability. We then demonstrate the cell-based construction of laminates with multi-stable behavior and a rotary-linear boom actuator, as well as self-deploying cells with shape memory alloy hinges. Advanced digital fabrication methods can enable the realization of this and other so-called flexigami designs that derive their overall mechanics from fold and panel elasticity, for applications including deployable structures, soft robotics and medical devices.
A simple technique to design microfluidic devices for system integration

We present a robust method to fabricate a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic device with critical channel features located near the periphery. The fabricated device has a window cutout, allowing close placement and integration of the channel with solid state circuits and devices. The flow characteristics of the fabricated device are shown to closely follow that of theoretical behavior, making it an appropriate alternative to a monolithic, cast-molded device. As an illustration of the use of this method, a novel integrated microfluidic-electronic system is demonstrated with the microfluidic channel bonded directly onto the surface of an integrated circuit while leaving access to probe pads on the chip's surface. This fabrication process has important implications in furthering the development of next generation microfluidic-based lab on chip systems.
Colony size and turbulent flow speed modulate the calcification response of the coral Pocillopora verrucosa to temperature

For poikilothermic organisms in aquatic environment, temperature strongly affects metabolism and modulates the extent to which it is mass transfer limited. The effects of temperature on metabolism are translated into organism performance depending on the organism size, morphology, and the flow regime to which they are exposed. Environmental forcing of metabolism is particularly germane to tropical reef corals, because they increasingly are exposed to upward temperature perturbations to which they display variable responses that remain incompletely understood. In this study, we tested the effects of colony size and seawater turbulence on the response of the common Indo-Pacific branching coral, Pocillopora verrucosa, to different seawater temperatures. Using whole-colony calcification as a response variable, 12 tanks (each 150 l) were used in two trials lasting 14 days to contrast the effects of seawater turbulence (two levels) and temperature (25.5 vs 29.5 °C) on colonies varying in size from ~ 4 to 13-cm diameter. Turbulence in the tanks was measured as the root mean square (rms) turbulent flow speed (q rms), which quantified the variation in speed of complex and non-linear flow, regardless of direction. Treatments contrasted low (q rms = 0.63 cm s−1) and high (q rms = 2.07 cm s−1) turbulence that were ecologically relevant for shallow coral reefs. The effects of turbulent flow speed and temperature on calcification (mg day−1) differed among colony sizes: at 25.5 °C, calcification increased with tissue surface area at a slower rate under high, compared to low turbulent flow speeds; at low turbulent flow speeds, calcification increased with tissue surface area more slowly at 29.5 versus 25.5 °C. These results show that the response of branching corals to temperatures depends on colony size and turbulent flow speed. This outcome suggests that spatial heterogeneity in turbulent flow regimes across a coral reef may provide opportunities for branching corals to exploit colony size to modulate susceptibility to rising temperature.
Exciton-polarons in doped semiconductors in a strong magnetic field

In previous work, we have argued that the optical properties of moderately doped two-dimensional semiconductors can be described in terms of excitons dressed by their interactions with a degenerate Fermi sea of additional charge carriers. These interactions split the bare exciton into attractive and repulsive exciton-polaron branches. The collective excitations of the coupled system are many-body generalizations of the bound trion and unbound states of a single electron interacting with an exciton. In this paper, we consider exciton-polarons in the presence of an external magnetic field that quantizes the kinetic energy of the electrons in the Fermi sea. Our theoretical approach is based on a transformation to a new basis that respects the underlaying symmetry of magnetic translations. We find that the attractive exciton-polaron branch is only weakly influenced by the magnetic field, whereas the repulsive branch exhibits magnetic oscillations and splits into discrete peaks that reflect combined exciton-cyclotron resonance.
An information-theoretic approach to study fluid-structure interactions

The question of causality is pervasive to fluid–structure interactions, where it finds its most alluring instance in the study of fish swimming in coordination. How and why fish align their bodies, synchronize their motion, and position in crystallized formations are yet to be fully understood. Here, we posit a model-free approach to infer causality in fluid–structure interactions through the information-theoretic notion of transfer entropy. Given two dynamical units, transfer entropy quantifies the reduction of uncertainty in predicting the future state of one of them due to additional knowledge about the past of the other. We demonstrate our approach on a system of two tandem airfoils in a uniform flow, where the pitch angle of one airfoil is actively controlled while the other is allowed to passively rotate. Through transfer entropy, we seek to unveil causal relationships between the airfoils from information transfer conducted by the fluid medium.
How Has the Global Fund Affected the Fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria?

H2H2H2 Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.
Winner of the 1999 best medical student paper in preventive medicine. Don't hold your breath: personal exposures to volatile organic compounds and other toxins in indoor air and what's (not) being done about it.

Abstract Background. Since the inception of the environmental movement early in the 1970s, the majority of regulation, laws, and standards regarding pollutants have focused on the release of pollutants into our air and water rather than on the extent of exposure. As a consequence, the actual amounts of toxic pollutants to which humans are continually exposed have long been ignored. Moreover, regulation and assessment of pollution have focused primarily on ambient environmental levels. This fails to adequately examine the state of indoor air. This is of particular concern and deserving of more attention, considering that a majority of people spend the majority of their time at home, Results. Studies on indoor air quality suggest that, within the home, people are exposed to high levels of numerous pollutants. Of particular concern are the levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and volatile organic compounds because many of these are known carcinogens. While the need for further study is clear, what evidence there is already warrants the establishment of indoor air regulation and the implementation of preventive measures. For such measures to be effective, a great deal of education and outreach will be necessary. Also, health care providers must play an active role.