cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Tetrathiatriarylmethyl radical with a single aromatic hydrogen as a highly sensitive and specific superoxide probe.

Superoxide (O(2)(•-)) plays crucial roles in normal physiology and disease; however, its measurement remains challenging because of the limited sensitivity and/or specificity of prior detection methods. We demonstrate that a tetrathiatriarylmethyl (TAM) radical with a single aromatic hydrogen (CT02-H) can serve as a highly sensitive and specific O(2)(•-) probe. CT02-H is an analogue of the fully substituted TAM radical CT-03 (Finland trityl) with an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) doublet signal due to its aromatic hydrogen. Owing to the neutral nature and negligible steric hindrance of the hydrogen, O(2)(•-) preferentially reacts with CT02-H at this site with production of the diamagnetic quinone methide via oxidative dehydrogenation. Upon reaction with O(2)(•-), CT02-H loses its EPR signal and this EPR signal decay can be used to quantitatively measure O(2)(•-). This is accompanied by a change in color from green to purple, with the quinone methide product exhibiting a unique UV-Vis absorbance (e=15,900 M(-1) cm(-1)) at 540 nm, providing an additional O(2)(•-) detection method. More than five-fold higher reactivity of CT02-H for O(2)(•-) relative to CT-03 was demonstrated, with a second-order rate constant of 1.7×10(4) M(-1) s(-1) compared to 3.1×10(3) M(-1) s(-1) for CT-03. CT02-H exhibited high specificity for O(2)(•-) as evidenced by its inertness to other oxidoreductants. The O(2)(•-) generation rates detected by CT02-H from xanthine/xanthine oxidase were consistent with those measured by cytochrome c reduction but detection sensitivity was 10- to 100-fold higher. EPR detection of CT02-H enabled measurement of very low O(2)(•-) flux with a detection limit of 0.34 nM/min over 120 min. HPLC in tandem with electrochemical detection was used to quantitatively detect the stable quinone methide product and is a highly sensitive and specific method for measurement of O(2)(•-), with a sensitivity limit of ~2×10(-13) mol (10 nM with 20-μl injection volume). Based on the O(2)-dependent linewidth broadening of its EPR spectrum, CT02-H also enables simultaneous measurement of O(2) concentration and O(2)(•-) generation and was shown to provide sensitive detection of extracellular O(2)(•-) generation in endothelial cells stimulated either by menadione or with anoxia/reoxygenation. Thus, CT02-H is a unique probe that provides very high sensitivity and specificity for measurement of O(2)(•-) by either EPR or HPLC methods.
The production of entrepreneurial opportunity: a constructivist perspective

This article presents a conceptual model of entrepreneurial opportunity production from a constructivist perspective. The model assumes that opportunity production proceeds through several stages, including conceptualization of an opportunity idea by an entrepreneur, objectification of that idea, and enactment of the opportunity into a new venture. However, not all opportunity ideas survive this full process. Between the conceptualization stage and the objectification stage, some ideas are abandoned due to inadequate objectification. Also, between the objectification stage and the enactment stage, some objectified opportunities are abandoned due to insufficient resource support. We identify variables that influence the likelihood that opportunity ideas will be objectified and other variables that influence the likelihood that objectified opportunities will be enacted, and these variables are incorporated into empirically testable propositions. In the discussion section, we describe several boundary conditions for our theory, contrast the theory with objectivist (discovery) theory, and derive implications for future research. Copyright © 2010 Strategic Management Society.
Further evidence that lucigenin-derived chemiluminescence monitors mitochondrial superoxide generation in rat alveolar macrophages

Abstract Lucigenin is well recognized for its ability to react with superoxide, yielding a product that emits chemiluminescence. Accordingly, lucigenin-derived chemiluminescence (LDCL) has been widely used to assess the generation of superoxide by the NADPH oxidase of leukocytes. Previously, we suggested that lucigenin could interact with mitochondrial-derived superoxide in alveolar macrophages. The purpose of this study was to further demonstrate that LDCL is in fact a probe of mitochondrial superoxide generation. Using fluorescence microscopy, we have observed that lucigenin accumulates at the mitochondria of alveolar macrophages and exhibits a localization similar to that of rhodamine 123, a fluorescent indicator of mitochondrial membrane potential. We have also compared the effects of a spectrum of agents known to modulate mitochondrial respiration on both LDCL and cellular oxygen consumption. The agents examined included a Complex I inhibitor, rotenone; a Complex III inhibitor, antimycin a; and a Complex IV inhibitor, KCN. While these compound all inhibited oxygen consumption, only those that exert an effect prior to (rotenone) or at (antimycin a) the point of mitochondrial superoxide formation inhibited LDCL. KCN exhibits effects that are concetration dependent. At low concentrations (1–100 μM), a slight enhancement of LDCL is observed, while at higher concentrations (1–10 mM) both LDCL and oxygen consumption are inhibited. The ATP synthase inhibitor, oligomycin, was also observed to correspondingly inhibit oxygen consumption and LDCL. These inhibitor studies, taken together with the observation that lucigenin localizes to the mitochondria of alveolar macrophages, provides strong evidence that LDCL can be used to qualitatively asses the modulation of mitochondrial superoxide generation in mononuclear cells.
Alkanes in fungal spores.

Gas chromatographic and mass spectrometric analysis of chlamydospores of Ustilago maydis, U. nuda and Sphacelotheca reiliana for hydrocarbon content
Energy scaling of quasi-monoenergetic electron beams from laser wakefields driven by 40-TW ultra-short pulses

By focusing 40-TW, 30-fs laser pulses to the peak intensity of 1019 W/cm2 onto a supersonic He gas jet, we generate quasi-monoenergetic electron beams for plasma density in the specific range 1.5×1019 cm-3≤ne≤3.5×1019 cm-3. We show that the energy, charge, divergence and pointing stability of the beam can be controlled by changing ne, and that higher electron energies and more stable beams are produced for lower densities. The observed variations are explained physically by the interplay among pump depletion and dephasing between accelerated electrons and plasma wave. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations support the explanation by showing the evolution of the laser pulse in plasma and the specifics of electron injection and acceleration. An optimized quasi-monoenergetic beam of over 300 MeV and 10 mrad angular divergence is demonstrated at a plasma density of ne≃1.5×1019 cm-3.
Effect of phosphorus flame retardants on thermo-oxidative decomposition of cotton

The effect of six organophosphorus compounds, including Pyrovatex CP (PCP), diammonium phosphate (DAP), phosphoric acid (PA), tributyl phosphate (TBP), triallyl phosphate (TAP) and triallyl phosphoric triamide (TPT) on the flame retardancy of cotton cellulose was studied. PCP, PA, and DAP are more efficient compared with the other three compounds in improving the limiting oxygen index (LOI) of cotton. The effectiveness of these compounds was investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of char formed after LOI tests, char content, activation energy of decomposition and heat of combustion data. SEM images showed that DAP, PCP and PA chars maintain the surface morphology during the burning process, which might be due to the formation of a protective layer or crosslinking effect. PA, PCP, and DAP treated fabrics have a higher activation energy of decomposition, higher char content and lower heat of combustion.
Assortative mating in mice. I. Female mating preference.

Females of two inbred strains ofMus musculus domesticus, C57BL/Ibg and DBA/Ibg, were allowed to choose between two males, one of each strain, who were restrained within their cages. Females of both strains preferred to spend more time with, and to mate with, the males of the opposite strain rather than with males of their own strain. No major strain difference for the degree of preference was found. Preference was also unchanged between trials. There is a general lack of correlation between trials which is explained in terms of the nature of the variance in inbred strains. Female mating preference may have an evolutionary significance in reducing inbreeding.
Developing an Interpretation of Item Parameters for Personality Items: Content Correlates of Parameter Estimates.

The research in this article attempted to relate content features of personality items to item parameter estimates from Muraki’s partial credit model. Goldberg’s Adjective Checklist was administered to 329 participants to calibrate item parameters. These parameters were then related to item ratings of social desirability, item subtlety, frequency of misunderstanding, and word usage frequency indexes. Subtle items tended to have lower discrimination parameter estimates. There was also an interaction between subtlety and social desirability such that items low in subtlety and high in social desirability had lower location parameters. Implications for future psychometric research in the personality domain are discussed.
Biomedical applications of plasma polymerization and plasma treatment of polymer surfaces

Thin polymer films obtained by plasma polymerization usually show good biocompatibility when compared to classical biomaterials such as Silastic. The thickness of these films (from several hundreds of A to several micrometers) make them suitable for the purpose of changing the surface properties of the substrate without altering its bulk properties. Both the above features together indicate the possible biomedical use of plasma polymerization as well as plasma treatment of polymer surfaces processes. The purpose of this review is to present the most significant efforts to develop such applications with the specification of particular fields where these efforts are directed.
Recidivism among Juvenile Offenders following Release from Residential Placements: Multivariate Predictors and Gender Differences.

ABSTRACT Using a sample of 580 juvenile offenders released from out-of-home placements, this study regressed 18-month recidivism on 33 possible predictors. Over 52 percent of juveniles had new adjudications. Only gender, age, victimization history, and presence of special education needs significantly predicted recidivism. When separate models were estimated for males and females, most of these variables remained significant for males, but none were predictive of female recidivism; the only variable predictive of the latter was previous out-of-home placements. Points of consistency and inconsistency with previous research are discussed, as are implications of the findings for aftercare programming and future research.
Effects of chronic dietary aluminum on local cerebral glucose utilization in rats

Abstract Beginning at 4 weeks of age normal, male, Sprague-Dawley rats were reared on Purina Laboratory Chow and drinking water containing 100 μM AlCl 3 . After 2 years, local rates of cerebral glucose utilization were determined with the autoradiographic [ 14 C] deoxyglucose method in the brain as a whole and in 25 brain regions in 6 treated rats and 4 age-matched controls. The results indicate that any effects of chronic aluminum in the diet on rates of cerebral glucose utilization are small. In the brain as a whole, the mean rate of glucose utilization in the aluminum-treated rats was 6% lower than that of the controls ( p = 0.09). In 21 of the 25 brain regions examined mean rates of glucose utilization were generally lower in the aluminum-treated rats but in none of the regions were the effects statistically significant.
Parents' use of information and communications technologies for family communication: differences by age of children

Despite widespread adoption of information and communications technologies (ICTs) by families in the United States, little is known about parents' use of ICTs specifically for family communication. Using a national sample of parents (N = 1322), this study examined parents' use of four widely used ICTs (text message, email, social networking sites, and Skype) to communicate with family including differences in use by child's age. Results show parents' use of various ICTs is dynamic, reflecting developmental differences in the child and relational differences in the family system. Findings revealed that the use of ICTs for parent–child communication increased with child's age, communication with co-parent via text message was more likely among parents of school-aged children, and parents of adolescent children were less likely to use text or email to communicate with non-resident family than parents of school-aged children. Examining how parents are using specific ICTs to communicate with particular family ...
Adaptive confidence level assignment to segmented human face regions for improved face recognition

Improving the existing face recognition technology to a higher level and to make it useful for many areas of applications including homeland security is a major challenge. Face images are prone to variations that are caused due to expressions, partial occlusions and lighting. These facial variations are responsible for the low accuracy rates of the existing face recognition techniques especially the ones that are based on linear subspace methods. A methodology to improve the accuracies of the face recognition techniques in the presence of facial variations is presented in this paper. An optical-flow method based on 'Lucas and Kanade' technique has been implemented to obtain the flow-field between the neutral face template and the test image to identify the variations. Face recognition is performed on the modularized face images rather than the whole image. A confidence level is associated with each module of the test image based on the measured amount of variation in that module. It is observed that the amount of variations within a module is proportional to the sum of the magnitudes of the optical-flow vectors within those modules. Least confidence is attached to those modules, which has the maximum sum of magnitudes of the optical-flow vectors. A K-nearest neighbor distance measure is implemented to classify each module of the test image individually after projecting it into the corresponding subspace. The confidence associated with each module is taken into consideration to calculate the total score for each training class for the classification of the test image. Analysis of the algorithm is performed with respect to two linear subspaces - PCA and LDA. A high percentage of increase in accuracy is recorded with the implementation of the proposed algorithm on available face databases when compared with other conventional methods
In Vitro Double and Triple Synergistic Activities of Polymyxin B, Imipenem, and Rifampin against Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii

Eight unrelated clinical Acinetobacter baumannii isolates resistant to all commonly used antibiotics were subjected to three-dimensional checkerboard microtiter plate dilution and time-kill studies at one-fourth of their MICs of polymyxin B, imipenem, and rifampin. Synergy was demonstrated with combinations of polymyxin B and imipenem, polymyxin B and rifampin, and polymyxin B, imipenem, and rifampin. Double combinations of polymyxin B and imipenem and of polymyxin B and rifampin were bactericidal for seven of eight isolates, and triple combinations were bactericidal for all isolates within 24 h. Future clinical studies using double and triple therapy with these antibacterials may provide an effective option against potentially lethal infection due to multiresistant Acinetobacter baumannii.
The robust covariation-based MUSIC (ROC-MUSIC) algorithm for bearing estimation in impulsive noise environments

This paper presents a new subspace-based method for bearing estimation in the presence of impulsive noise which can be modeled as a complex symmetric alpha-stable (S/spl alpha/S) process. We define the covariation matrix of the array sensor outputs and show that eigendecomposition-based methods, such as the MUSIC algorithm, can be applied to the sample covariation matrix to extract the bearing information from the measurements. A consistent estimator for the marginals of the covariation matrix is presented and its asymptotic performance is studied. The improved performance of the proposed source localization method in the presence of a wide range of impulsive noise environments is demonstrated via Monte Carlo experiments.
Parkinson's law and the New Public Management? Contracting determinants and service-quality consequences in public education

Why is contracting used more frequently under some circumstances than others? What is its impact on spending for core mission and on service quality? These questions are explored with data from more than 1,000 Texas school districts. The evidence for a recent three-year period shows that contracting is negatively related to spending on school districts' central task and is not positively associated with district performance. Why, then, do districts contract? While several variables are associated with the degree of contracting, the most interesting is the relative size of a district's bureaucratic staff. Furthermore, the relationship between contracting and bureaucracy is reciprocal: Each is associated with subsequent growth in the other. The dynamic suggests an updated version of Parkinson's law. These findings indicate the need for researchers to probe the causes and consequences of contracting more thoroughly to help public managers assess this important option.
Yielding and deformation behavior of the single crystal superalloy PWA 1480

Interrupted tensile tests were conducted to fixed plastic strain levels in 100 ordered single crystals of the nickel based superalloy PWA 1480. Testing was done in the range of 20 to 1093 C, at strain rate of 0.5 and 50 percent/min. The yield strength was constant from 20 to 760 C, above which the strength dropped rapidly and became a strong function of strain rate. The high temperature data were represented very well by an Arrhenius type equation, which resulted in three distinct temperature regimes. The deformation substructures were grouped in the same three regimes, indicating that there was a fundamental relationship between the deformation mechanisms and activation energies. Models of the yielding process were considered, and it was found that no currently available model was fully applicable to this alloy. It was also demonstrated that the initial deformation mechanism (during yielding) was frequently different from that which would be inferred by examining specimens which were tested to failure.
Modeling of multimaterial interfaces in the finite difference method

This work develops a procedure for representing multimaterial interfaces in finite difference models. The boundary separating the two materials can be on or between a row of nodes. The development is validated by embedding the boundary between two regions in a single, larger region and comparing the results. The development is facilitated by the use of a physically based notation that represents the displacement approximations in terms of rigid-body rotations and strain gradient quantities that produce the displacements. Four example problems are presented.
First Report of Botryosphaeria dothidea and B. obtusa on Apple in Bolivia.

Gala and Winter Banana apples are important commercial crops in Azurduy and Lima Bamba, which are located in the Department (state) of Chuquisaca, Bolivia. White or bot rot (causal agent Botryosphaeria dothidea (Moug.:Fr.) Ces. De. Not. [anamorph Fusicoccum aesculi Corda]) and black rot (causal agent B. obtusa (Schwein.) Shoemaker [anamorph Sphaeropsis malorum Berk.]) have not been reported previously from Bolivia. Both fungi were isolated from apple fruit and branch cankers in Azurduy, but only B. dothidea was isolated from rotted fruit and limb cankers in Lima Bamba. Both fungi also were isolated from rotted Gala and Winter Banana fruit purchased in the markets in Sucre, Bolivia. Symptoms on fruit consisted of light-to-dark brown lesions that ranged from 3- to 8-cm in diameter. Cankers on limbs were sunken and reddish brown and ranged from 2 to 25+ cm in length and 0.5 to 3 cm in diameter. Neither pathogen produced pycnidia in lesions on rotted fruit, but they often developed in branch cankers. Pseudoth...
The 2009 IBM GALE Mandarin broadcast transcription system

This paper gives an up-to-date description of the IBM Mandarin broadcast transcription system developed under the DARPA GALE program. Technical advances over our previous system include a novel acoustic modeling approach using subspace Gaussian mixture models, a speaking rate adaptation method using frame rate normalization, and an effective recipe for lattice combination. We present results on three consortium-defined test sets. It is shown that with these advances, the new system attains a 9% relative reduction in character error rate compared to our previous GALE evaluation system. The reported 9.1% error rate on the phase three evaluation set represents the state of the art in Mandarin broadcast speech transcription.
Formal and Informal Measures on the Effectiveness of the TEACCH Programme

Demonstrating the effectiveness of a large and complex programme such as Division TEACCH is difficult. The problem is compounded by the organic basis of autism and the focus of Division TEACCH on lifelong adaptations, which do not lend themselves to superficial cures or clearly defined milestones. Several different measures have been used to address the evaluation questions: research studies on the effectiveness of specific techniques, outcome data, and anecdotal and statistical information about the impact of Division TEACCH. These measures have been collected and described in response to the many people who contact Division TEACCH inquiring how we know we are having a positive impact on people with autism and their families. The combination of empirical data and informal measures is included to provide a comprehensive perspective.
Auditory processing of vocal sounds in birds

The avian auditory system has become a model system to investigate how vocalizations are memorized and processed by the brain in order to mediate behavioral discrimination and recognition. Recent studies have shown that most of the avian auditory system responds preferentially and efficiently to sounds that have natural spectro-temporal statistics. In addition, neurons in secondary auditory forebrain areas have plastic response properties and are the most active when processing behaviorally relevant vocalizations. Physiological measurements show differential responses for vocalizations that were recently learned in discrimination tasks, and for the tutor song, a longer-term auditory memory that is used to guide vocal learning in male songbirds.
Expanding the frontiers of computer science education: invited talk

It is well known that there have been large swings in Computer Science enrollments in the last two decades. Many factors have been cited for these enrollment changes, including changes in the economy in the high-tech sector and the general image of computing. In this talk, we begin by examining some of the factors affecting enrollments in CS, analyzing both historical and current trends. In light of this analysis, we then turn our attention to significant changes made in Stanford's undergraduate CS program, which aim to expand the scope of education in computer science and highlight the diversity of options available in the field. We discuss the results of these changes--a near doubling in undergraduate CS enrollments in just two years--and analyze some of the reasons why. We finally look at CS curriculum development at the international level, discussing the effort to define a new ACM/IEEE-CS Computing Curricula volume on Computer Science by the year 2013, known as CS2013.
Active Temperature Programming for Metal-Oxide Chemoresistors

Modulating the operating temperature of metal-oxide (MOX) chemical sensors gives rise to gas-specific signatures that provide a wealth of analytical information. In most cases, the operating temperature is modulated according to a standard waveform (e.g., ramp, sine wave). A few studies have approached the optimization of temperature profiles systematically, but these optimizations are performed offline and cannot adapt to changes in the environment. Here, we present an ?active perception? strategy based on Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDP) that allows the temperature program to be optimized in real time, as the sensor reacts to its environment. We characterize the method on a ternary classification problem using a simulated sensor model subjected to additive Gaussian noise, and compare it against two ?passive? approaches, a nai?ve Bayes classifier and a nearest neighbor classifier. Finally, we validate the method in real time using a Taguchi sensor exposed to three volatile compounds. Our results show that the POMDP outperforms both passive approaches and provides a strategy to balance classification performance and sensing costs.
GPU accelerated real time polarimetric image processing through the use of CUDA

Recent advancements in semi-conductor fabrication has led to a dramatic increase in the size of data sets of advanced imaging sensors. While increased pixel counts leads to greater area coverage and higher resolution, it also results in higher image processing time. If real-time image processing is required, power and size requirements go up as large data processing computers are required to keep pace with the data. In this paper, we propose using desktop Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to shrink the Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) pyramid. We have developed a novel approach to computing polarimetric data using GPUs. The GPU is inherently designed to perform parallel floating point operations quickly. Image processing is very well suited to the GPU architecture, where every pixel can be represented as a thread and all threads executed concurrently on the GPU. The processing of polarized imagery requires calculating the Stokes parameters and Degree of Linear Polarization (DoLP) of each pixel in the Focal Plane Array (FPA) of a sensor. In addition, dead pixel replacement is also desired in order to achieve better image contrast and create a higher quality image. Processing this data for large FPAs in Matlab takes as much as 30 seconds per frame, even after optimizing through vectorization. The Matlab code to process the polarized imagery was re-coded in NVidia's C API named CUDA and functions were run on an NVidia 9400 GS GPU with 64 cores. Massive speedup was attained, reducing the time to process a frame from 30 seconds in Matlab to 50 ms in CUDA, a speedup of 600x. In this paper we show that through use of the GPU we are able to accomplish real-time image processing using advanced algorithms, while at the same time reducing system SWaP requirements.
Active Inference in Concept Learning

People are active experimenters, not just passive observers, constantly seeking new information relevant to their goals. A reasonable approach to active information gathering is to ask questions and conduct experiments that maximize the expected information gain, given current beliefs (Fedorov 1972, MacKay 1992, Oaksford & Chater 1994). In this paper we present results on an exploratory experiment designed to study people's active information gathering behavior on a concept learning task (Tenenbaum 2000). The results of the experiment are analyzed in terms of the expected information gain of the questions asked by subjects.
Secure communications in the smart grid

This paper focuses on deployment of smart meters in the power distribution systems to enhance the operation infrastructure. An important challenge in establishing a communication paradigm between the utilities and the customers is that customers are susceptible to privacy concerns. In this paper, we present a model to ensure the privacy and integrity of communicating parties within the smart grid by using smart meters as a gateway between intra- and inter-network communications. In particular, we utilize the smart meter as a firewall to manage incoming and outgoing traffic and mediate household devices based on the instructions from the electric utility. Moreover, third parties are introduced in our model such as service providers so that they can monitor and manage the contracted customers by using the existing communication infrastructure.
A split data cache for superscalar processors

Superscalar implementations of RISC architectures are emerging as the dominant high-performance microprocessor technology for the mid-1990's. This paper proposes and evaluates a split data cache memory design, a new memory system ehancement for superscalar processor architectures. This design allows floating-point and integer memory access to be executed in parallel. The configuration is well matched to the dual-path execution hardware of many current superscalar processors. It doubles peak bandwidth without the expense or complexity of multi-ported memory, and increases the processor's ability to exploit fine-grained parallelism. The reported simulation results show that by using this enhancement, a speedup of more than 1.5 over the traditional unified cache model can be achieved on some standard benchmarks. The speedup is not uniform among all programs. Several hypotheses are presented and experimentally validated to explain these results. >
Connectionist Models for Auditory Scene Analysis

Although the visual and auditory systems share the same basic tasks of informing an organism about its environment, most connectionist work on hearing to date has been devoted to the very different problem of speech recognition. We believe that the most fundamental task of the auditory system is the analysis of acoustic signals into components corresponding to individual sound sources, which Bregman has called auditory scene analysis. Computational and connectionist work on auditory scene analysis is reviewed, and the outline of a general model that includes these approaches is described.
A new species of the weevil genus Ceutorhynchus Germar from eastern mediterranean Turkey (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).

Ceutorhynchus doganlari sp. n. is described from Eastern Mediterranean Turkish region. Ceutorhynchus doganlari is closely related to C. karamani G. Muller and lives on Alyssum murale Waldst. et Kit.
Lasers: the first 50 years: Scope: review, general interest. Level: general readership, teacher, undergraduate.

Stimulated emission was postulated by Einstein (1916) in his derivation of the Planck spectrum. He assumed that an excited atom can make a transition ‘associated with a liberation of radiation ener...
Automated Sample Preparation System for Rapid Biological Threat Detection

Rapid, automated sample preparation of bacterial cells and spores is required for threat analysis by remotely deployed chemical and biological warning systems. Sandia is designing, building, and testing an automated front-end sample preparation system based on miniature and microfluidic components, with the goal of concentrating bacterial species collected from the air, harvesting and solubilizing proteins from them, and delivering them to Sandia’s MicroChemLab capillary gel electrophoresis system1,2 for analysis (Fig. 1). Miniature, motorized valves and pumps control flow between system components connected by fused silica capillaries (Fig. 4). Sample processing modules include concentration by dielectrophoresis in an array of insulating posts or by mechanical filtration; heat-activated chemical lysis; mechanical filtration; removal of chemical lysis agents by size exclusion chromatography (SEC); and in-capillary fluorescent labeling.© 2005 ASME
Coagulation/Flocculation Treatments for Flue-Gas-Derived Water from Oxyfuel Power Production with CO2 Capture

Capturing CO2 from fossil fuel combustion provides an opportunity for tapping a significant water source that can be used as service water for a capture-ready power plant and its peripherals: more ...
Mammary Lobulo-Alveolar Growth Induced by Anterior Pituitary Hormones in Adreno-Ovariectomized and Adreno-Ovariectomized-Hypophysectomized Rats.

Summary1. Mature virgin female Car-worth rats of the CFN strain were adreno-ovariectomized and were then injected thrice daily for 10 days with saline, 2 mg bovine STH, 30 I.U. ovine prolactin, 20 mg bovine anterior pituitary powder, or with a combination of 1.33 mg bovine STH and 20 I.U. ovine prolactin. Treatment with STH and prolactin together or with anterior pituitary powder induced moderate to extensive mammary duct and lobulo-alveolar growth, while treatment with prolactin and STH alone induced mainly duct and end bud development. 2. Two groups of rats were hypophysectomized and 3 days later were adreno-ovariectomized. They were then injected thrice daily for 10 days with saline or with a combination of 1.33 mg STH and 20 I.U. prolactin for 10 days. The latter treatment induced extensive duct and moderate lobulo-alveolar growth. Completeness of ovariectomy, adrenalectomy and hypophysectomy was checked in all rats upon autopsy. Sixteen additional adreno-ovariectomized rats which were given tap water...
Metabolic Effects of m-Dinitrobenzene in Aspergillus niger.

SummaryData suggest that major pathway of glucose oxidation in growing cultures of A. niger was via gluconate. The citric acid cycle played a minor role in young mycelium and inhibitory action of DNB appeared to involve further depression of formation of citric acid cycle intermediates with consequent decrease in rate of amino acid biosynthesis.
High Risk and High Stakes: Health Professionals, Politics, and Policy

Foreword Professional Societies and Policy Issues Organizations, Theory, and Health Policy Risk Notification: Concept and Policy The High Risk Legislation: 1985-88 The Focal Actors: Descriptions, Linkages, and Analysis Case Narratives: Four Who Played Case Narratives: Three Who Passed Summary and Conclusions References Index Index
Design of Semiconducting Tetrahedral Mn 1 − x Zn x O Alloys and Their Application to Solar Water Splitting

Both structure-property and composition-structure relationships are exploited to design and realize novel wurtzite-structure Mn1-xZnxO alloys. A proof of principle is provided that corroborates, in particular, the predicted favorable hole-transport properties of these alloys.
Flavored Wu Bei Scattered Random Parallel Control Study Combined Western Medicine Treatment of Gastric Ulcer

[Objective]To observe the flavored black combined western medicine curative effect on gastric ulcer.[Methods]Using random parallel control method,70 patients in the hospital/clinic patients into two groups according to random number table. Control group of 35 cases of pan tora azole capsule,40 mg/tablets,2 times/d,oral. Clarithromycin tablets,500 mg/times,2 times/d,oral. Amoxicillin,1 g/times,2times/d,oral. Treatment group 35 examples flavored wubei powder(cuttlefish bone 1000g,150g notoginseng powder,yanhusuo300g,200g,amomumzhejiang fritillary,withered alum,combination of each 500g). Hybrid research,at the end of the 80 mesh sieve,repackaging into 6g/bag. Half an hour before meal with warm boiled water a blunt,6g/time,3times/d. Western medicine treatment with the control group. 00 d continuous treatment for 1 course of treatment. Observation of clinical symptoms and adverse reactions. 00 continuous treatment course,judge curative effect.[Results]The treatment group 16 cases healed completely,basic healing in 5cases,3 cases ineffective in 1 case,and the total effective rate was 96.00%. Control group 12 cases were cured,5 cases were markedly effective,effective in 5 cases,8 no effect,the total effective rate was 77.14%. The treatment group curative effect is better than that of control group(P0.05). The treatment group recurrence rate is lower than the control group(P0.05).[Conclusion]Flavored wubei powder combined western medicine treatment of gastric ulcer effect is significant,worthy of promotion of use.
Color gradient background oriented schlieren imaging

Background-oriented schlieren is a method of visualizing refractive disturbances by comparing digital images with and without a refractive disturbance distorting a background pattern. Traditionally, backgrounds consist of random distributions of high-contrast color transitions or speckle patterns. To image a refractive disturbance, a digital image correlation algorithm is used to identify the location and magnitude of apparent pixel shifts in the background pattern between the two images. Here, a novel method of using color gradient backgrounds is explored as an alternative that eliminates the need to perform a complex image correlation between the digital images. A simple image subtraction can be used instead to identify the location, magnitude, and direction of the image distortions. Gradient backgrounds are demonstrated to provide quantitative data only limited by the camera’s pixel resolution, whereas speckle backgrounds limit resolution to the size of the random pattern features and image correlation window size. Quantitative measurement of density in a thermal boundary layer is presented. Two-dimensional gradient backgrounds using multiple colors are demonstrated to allow measurement of two-dimensional refractions. A computer screen is used as the background, which allows for rapid modification of the gradient to tune sensitivity for a particular application.
Fatty acid composition of subcutaneous adipose tissue from male calves at different stages of growth.

The objective of this investigation was to compare fatty acid composition of calves from Bos taurus and Bos indicus cows across different stages of growth. Hereford ( H ) and Brahman ( B ) embryos were transferred to H or B cows (n = 58) to produce purebred Brahman (BB), purebred Hereford (HH), Hereford × Brahman (HB), and Brahman × Hereford (BH) offspring. Calves were castrated at 2 to 3 wk of age. Before weaning (210 d of age), calves were fed native grasses. After weaning, calves were fed a concentrate diet in dry-lot pens. Adipose tissue was obtained by biopsy at two times: at weaning during forage feeding and 3 mo after weaning when placed on feed. A third sample was collected from the fed steers at slaughter (approximately 430 d of age). Samples obtained by biopsy and after death were collected from the perianal region. Fatty acid composition for each sample was determined as the normalized percentage area means from the duplicate measures. Generally, BB calves grew slowest and BH steers grew fastest ( P < .05). The BH steers exhibited 15 and 20% heavier ( P < .05) carcasses per day of age than H-sired steers and BB steers, respectively. Adipose tissue samples from calves from Brahman sires or dams were less saturated ( P < .05) than samples from calves from Hereford sires or dams. Differences in degree of unsaturation primarily were due to the percentages of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA). As calves became older, MUFA increased markedly, polyunsatu- rated fatty acids increased slightly (due to inverse, nearly proportional changes in 18:2 and 18:3), and saturated fatty acids decreased by 10 percentage units ( P < .001). Thus, adipose tissue from Brahman and Hereford purebred and crossbred calves became mar- kedly more unsaturated early postweaning; this change was less dramatic in the purebred Hereford calves.
Effects of adenosine A1-receptor activation on torsade de pointes in rabbits.

Purpose: We tested whether the adenosine A1 receptor agonist, R-PIA, suppressed torsade de pointes (TdP) induced by the delayed rectifier potassium channel blocker clofilium. Furthermore, we studied the underlying mechanism: β-adrenergic antagonism or ATP-sensitive K+ channel (IK-ATP) opening. Methods: In anesthetized rabbits, TdP was induced by simultaneous infusion of clofilium and the α1-adrenoceptor agonist methoxamine. Four groups were studied: (1) saline infusion after TdP induction; (2) R-PIA (1.3 mg/kg) infusion; (3) R-PIA infusion after propranolol (2 µmol/kg) pretreatment; (4) R-PIA infusion after glibenclamide (10 µmol/kg) pretreatment. Results: TdP suppression rate was 0% in group 1, 78% in group 2 (p < 0.01 vs group 1), 67% in group 3 (p < 0.05 vs group 1, p = NS vs group 2), 33% in group 4 (p = NS vs group 1, p = 0.08 vs group 2). TdP induction coincided with increased QT/QTc duration and QT dispersion. TdP suppression coincided with reduced QT dispersion, but further QT/QTc lengthening. Conclusions: R-PIA suppressed TdP, not by β-adrenergic antagonism, but mostly by IK-ATP opening. QT dispersion correlated better with TdP induction/suppression than QT/QTc duration.
A preliminary evaluation of active millimeter-wave radiometry at W-band for enhancement of material contrasts

this paper introduces active radiometry, an mm-wave imaging technique where thermal excitation is exploited to enhance the contrast attained from radiometric measurements at mm-wave frequencies. By combining an off-the-shelf W-band radiometer with a digitally modulated IR laser source, the attainable contrast between various materials to both transient and continuously modulated thermal excitations is evaluated. Initial laboratory measurements of the active radiometer concept are presented and discussed.
SedFoam: A multi-dimensional Eulerian two-phase model for sediment transport and its application to momentary bed failure

Abstract A multi-dimensional Eulerian two-phase model for sediment transport, called SedFoam, is presented. The model was developed under the open-source framework via the CFD toolbox OpenFOAM. With closures of particle stresses and fluid-particle interactions, the model is able to resolve processes in the concentrated region of sediment transport and hence does not require conventional bedload/suspended load assumptions. A modified k − ϵ closure was adopted for the carrier flow turbulence. The model was validated for Reynolds-averaged steady and oscillatory sheet flows and verified with empirical formulae for scour downstream of an apron. The model was used to study momentary bed failure (or plug flow) under sheet flow conditions. Model results revealed the existence of instabilities of the near-bed transport layer when momentary bed failure criteria was exceeded. These instabilities evolved into 5–10 cm billows and were responsible for the large transport rate. The instabilities were associated with a large erosion depth, which was triggered by the combination of large bed shear stresses and large horizontal pressure gradients. Further numerical experiments confirmed the conjecture by previous studies that a criterion for onset of momentary bed failure in oscillatory sheet flow was a function of both the Shields parameter and Sleath parameter.
The Surface Brightness Fluctuations and Globular Cluster Population of NGC 4478

We calculate the distance to NGC 4478, a neighbor of the giant Virgo elliptical M87, using the surface brightness fluctuations method on parallel data from the HST WFPC2 camera. The exposures considered were taken through the F814W filter, which approximates the Johnson I, and through the F606W filter, which is effectively a broad V filter. We describe the use of Fourier methods for separation of the fluctuations due to statistical variations in the projected number of stars per pixel (used to determine the distance) from fluctuations from other sources, which include photon noise, foreground stars, cosmic rays, and the variations due to the overall structure of the galaxy. The mean apparent magnitude of stars responsible for the measured fluctuations is ${u{m}{"7016}}$ --> -->I=29.78 ± 0.03, with an additional systematic uncertainty of 0.05 mag. Using the latest calibration of Tonry (1997), we obtain a distance of 15.6 ± 1.0 Mpc, which is consistent with the distance determined through the use of this method in the infrared K band by Pahre & Mould (1994). We discuss the globular cluster (GC) luminosity function and color distribution, based on the ~130 candidates identified in the field. We find a roughly Gaussian luminosity function centered at mV = 23.82 ± 0.38 with σ = 1.16 ± 0.21. The GC color distribution is also roughly Gaussian, centered at V-I = 0.91 ± 0.03, with σ = 0.20 ± 0.03, and it is coincident to within the error bars with the blue peak of the bimodal color distribution found in M87. Comparing our data with recent evaluations of the GC color distribution at two different locations in M87 we find a trend of the red peak disappearing with radial distance. We speculate that this could be understood if the blue portion of the M87 GC population were acquired from its smaller companions. The specific frequency of globular clusters is among the lowest for elliptical galaxies, comparable only to the value found in M32. In both cases this may be a result of tidal truncation by a giant neighbor. This further indicates that clusters have been stripped from NGC 4478 by M87 and likely now are part of its globular cluster population.
Effects of the Maillard Reaction on the Immunoreactivity of Amandin in Food Matrices

Amandin is the major storage protein and allergen in almond seeds. Foods, containing almonds, subjected to thermal processing typically experience Maillard browning reaction. The resulting destruction of amino groups, protein glycation, and/or denaturation may alter amandin immunoreactivity. Amandin immunoreactivity of variously processed almond containing foods was therefore the focus of the current investigation. Commercial and laboratory prepared foods, including those likely to have been subjected to Maillard browning, were objectively assessed by determining Hunter L*, a*, b*values. The L*values for the tested samples were in the range of 31.75 to 85.28 consistent with Maillard browning. Three murine monoclonal antibodies, 4C10, 4F10, and 2A3, were used to determine the immunoreactivity of the targeted samples using immunoassays (ELISA, Western blot, dot blot). The tested foods did not exhibit cross‐reactivity indicating that the immunoassays were amandin specific. For sandwich ELISAs, ratio (R) of sample immunoreactivity to reference immunoreactivity was calculated. The ranges of Rvalues were 0.67 to 15.19 (4C10), 1.00 to 11.83 (4F10), and 0.77 to 23.30 (2A3). The results of dot blot and Western blot were consistent with those of ELISAs. Results of these investigations demonstrate that amandin is a stable marker protein for almond detection regardless of the degree of amandin denaturation and/or destruction as a consequence of Maillard reaction encountered under the tested processing conditions. Foods containing almond are often subjected to processing prior to consumption. Amandin, the major allergen in almond, may experience Maillard reaction. Understanding the change in amandin immunoreactivity as a result of Maillard reaction is important for amandin detection and production of hypoallergenic food products.