cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Drainage area and incised valley fills in Texas rivers: A potential explanation

Abstract The largest rivers draining to the Gulf of Mexico in Texas are at more advanced stages of valley filling than rivers with smaller drainage areas, with corresponding differences in alluvial morphology and architecture, and avulsion style. This seems to imply that the larger fluvial systems either produce more sediment relative to the accommodation space in the alluvial valleys, or that they have undergone longer periods of valley aggradation. However, it is not clear that either of these is the case. This paper presents a theoretical analysis showing that fluvial systems with larger drainage areas can produce more advanced stages of infilling than those with smaller drainage areas (but with identical histories and sediment production per unit area) due to the nature of the scaling relationships between drainage basin area and incised valley size, and between basin area and sediment yield. Data for rivers in the region shows a strong linear relationship between valley width and drainage area. The nonlinear relationship between drainage area and proportion of the incised valley filled is somewhat weaker, but still significant, and major deviations are readily explained in terms of local inherited morphology or tectonic features. Results show that major differences in the degree or stage of valley filling could occur due to differences in drainage basin size alone. This indicates caution in interpreting incised valley fills of drainage basins of different sizes in terms of sediment supply.
Morphology and properties of Langmuir films containing tetrakis(cumylphenoxy) phthalocyanines

Abstract Tetrakis(cumylphenoxy) phthalocyanine, H 2 Pc(Cp) 4 , and the family of related compounds containing transition metal ions in the center of the macrocyclic ring, MPc(Cp) 4 , will spread from organic solvents to give pressure vs. area isotherms typical of monolayers, but classical monomolecular films are not formed. Mixed films containing a classical component as a transfer promoter, such as stearamide, produce Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) multilayers of better quality than the MPc(Cp) 4 compounds alone. As a structural model, a simple mixed film containing stacked, ordered MPc(Cp) 4 molecules was originally postulated, but more recent observations by transmission electron microscopy and by IR reflectance-absorbance spectroscopy have revealed a more complex and less well-ordered morphology than previously suspected. In mixed films transferred by the LB technique, a two-dimensional colloidal dispersion of MPc(Cp) 4 aggregates is formed. Disk-like aggregates more than one monomolecular layer thick are observed in single-component films and are also seen dispersed in the second component of mixed films. Differential scanning calorimetry also suggests a significant degree of phase separation in the two-component LB films. Small melting point depressions relative to the melting points of single-component monolayers indicate that the melting points of two-component films containing MPc(Cp) 4 are determined by the transfer promoters.
Optimized pulses for the control of uncertain qubits

Constructing high-fidelity control fields that are robust to control, system, and/or surrounding environment uncertainties is a crucial objective for quantum information processing. Using the two-state Landau-Zener model for illustrative simulations of a controlled qubit, we generate optimal controls for $\ensuremath{\pi}/2$ and $\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulses and investigate their inherent robustness to uncertainty in the magnitude of the drift Hamiltonian. Next, we construct a quantum-control protocol to improve system-drift robustness by combining environment-decoupling pulse criteria and optimal control theory for unitary operations. By perturbatively expanding the unitary time-evolution operator for an open quantum system, previous analysis of environment-decoupling control pulses has calculated explicit control-field criteria to suppress environment-induced errors up to (but not including) third order from $\ensuremath{\pi}/2$ and $\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulses. We systematically integrate this criteria with optimal control theory, incorporating an estimate of the uncertain parameter to produce improvements in gate fidelity and robustness, demonstrated via a numerical example based on double quantum dot qubits. For the qubit model used in this work, postfacto analysis of the resulting controls suggests that realistic control-field fluctuations and noise may contribute just as significantly to gate errors as system and environment fluctuations.
Peri-operative renal function and outcome after orthotopic heart transplantation.

Background Renal insufficiency is an established risk factor in patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery. We sought to evaluate the relationship between renal function and outcomes after orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT). Methods We conducted a retrospective review of 622 adults who underwent 628 consecutive OHTs between 1994 and 2001 at our institution. The recipients were divided into either normal (Group 1) or impaired (Group 2) pre-operative renal function. Impaired renal function was defined as creatinine clearance (CrCl) Results Early mortality was 7% (38/531) in Group 1 and 17% (16/96) in Group 2 ( p = 0.002). Similarly, the death rate per 100 patient-years was 4.8 and 8.1 for the groups, respectively ( p = 0.03). Nine percent of patients in Group 1 required post-operative dialysis (49/531), whereas 32% of recipients in Group 2 required this intervention (31/96) ( p p p = 0.2). Conclusions CrCl
Monolithically integrated HBT/MESFET circuit

The first circuit demonstrated using monolithically integrated GaAlAs/GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) and metal-semiconductor field effect transistors (MESFETs) is described. The fabrication technology is a natural extension to our baseline HBT technology. The planarity of the device fabrication process allows the MESFETs and HBTs to be closely spaced. The circuit, a CML-DCFL-CML convenor, is an important building block for the future integration of HBT and MESFET circuitry. This circuit consists of HBTs, and enhancement (E) and depletion (D) mode MESFETs. The circuit operated properly at 1 GHz.
A inclusão de crianças com Transtornos do Espectro do Autismo nas escolas públicas dos Estados Unidos

Legislation in the United States mandates that all children with disabilities (including those with autism spectrum disorder) have access to the general education curriculum in the least restrictive environment. Although a number of benefits associated with including children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in settings with their typically developing peers have been documented in the literature, skepticism remains regarding the ability of general education teachers to fully address the myriad of challenges experienced by children with ASD in these settings. This paper examines the current state of inclusion in United States Public Schools, reviews the research documenting the outcomes of the inclusion for learners with ASD, and explores arguments both supporting and questioning the role of inclusion when educating children with ASD. This paper also reviews research findings from programs that emphasize inclusion, and the educational methods that support the successful inclusion of children with ASD in general education settings.
Impossible to Disprove Yet Impossible to Believe: The Unforgiving Epistemology of Deep-Time Oral Tradition

This is not a real old time myth but it is what they say now, and it must have been like that.This man from Ulimang was highly skilled in the art of warfare—like Eisenhower.A Tahitian businessman who provides ‘Polynesian’ entertainment for tourists in Hawaii with a young Marquesan man whom he took to Samoa to be tattooed by their artists following designs recorded by early European visitors.… as for oral Traditions, what certainty can there be in them? What foundation of truth can be laid upon the breath of man? How do we see the reports vary, of those things which our eyes have seen done? How do they multiply in their passage, and either grow, or die upon hazards?Writing about American Indian reactions to their discovery of large fossil remains, Adrienne Mayor observes in passing that “[f]olklore scholars now generally accept that oral traditions about historical events endure for about a thousand years, although some oral myths about geological and astronomical events can be reliably dated to about seven thousand years.” Mayor's chosen task is to demonstrate that American Indian legends suggest that they rightly regarded fossils as the remains of long extinct megafauna populations. In aid of this, Mayor accepts these arguments in her own work. While this claim might seem extravagant prima facie, and while most folklorists would disown Mayor's claim, she is not without support from the work of a relatively small, but not uninfluential (and possibly growing), cadre of anthropologists, mythographers, geologists, and historians, whose efforts on behalf of deep-time oral tradition I address here.Some interesting—even intriguing—things have been happening recently in discussions of the carrying capacity of oral tradition—its long-term historicity, in particular. A la Mayor, the thrust of this is to credit tradition with being able to preserve “intact” various pieces of information for as long as tens of thousands of years. To the historian interested in the reality of the past in oral societies, this state of affairs is challenging, perplexing, and no doubt to some, highly promising. If, for instance, it can be demonstrated that certain information in oral data is thousands of years old and at the same time an accurate recollection, then reservations about much later (say, several centuries old) orally transmitted information might need to be reassessed, and with such rethinking would come new ways to approach great swaths of the past.
Regulation of Prothymosin α Gene Expression by Estrogen in Estrogen Receptor-Containing Breast Cancer Cells via Upstream Half-Palindromic Estrogen Response Element Motifs

Prothymosin α (PTα), a protein associated with cell proliferation and chromatin remodeling, and found to selectively enhance ER transcriptional activity by interacting with a repressor of ER activity, is shown to be a primary response gene to estrogen. Prothymosin α mRNA was rapidly increased by estrogen, followed by a 6-fold increase in prothymosin α protein content in ER-containing breast cancer cells. Analysis of the prothymosin α promoter and 5′-flanking region, and electrophoretic gel mobility shift studies showed the strong inducibility by the estradiol-ER complex to be mediated by two consensus half-palindromic estrogen response elements at −750 and −1051, which directly bind the ER. Estrogenic stimulation of prothymosin α required a DNA binding form of ER with a functional activation function-2 domain. The prothymosin α 5′-regulatory region also contains multiple Sp1 sites. Although addition of Sp1 did not further enhance estradiol-ER stimulated prothymosin α transcriptional activity in breast can...
Phosphonate- and Carboxylate-Based Chelating Agents that Solubilize (Hydr)oxide-Bound MnIII

Recent field studies suggest that dissolved MnIII should be ubiquitous at oxic/anoxic interfaces in all natural waters and may play important roles in biogeochemical redox processes. Here, we uncovered environmentally relevant synthetic phosphonate-based chelators that solubilize (hydr)oxide-bound MnIII via ligand-promoted dissolution at circum-neutral pHs and that their ability to release aqueous MnIII can be predicted based on the chemical structure. For two (hydr)oxides (manganite and birnessite) reacting with excess concentrations of pyrophosphoric acid (PP), methylenediphosphonic acid (MDP), and phosphonoacetic acid (PAA), ligand-promoted dissolution is predominant from pH 6--8, initial dissolution rates and plateau concentrations for dissolved MnIII decrease in the order PP > MDP > PAA, and at pH 5, MDP reacts equally well (with birnessite) or more efficiently (with manganite) than PP, and PAA remains the least reactive chelator. For manganite reacting with an excess concentration of aminophosphonate/carboxylate-based chelators, the aminophosphonate-containing iminodimethylenephosphonic acid and glyphosate yield appreciable amounts of dissolved MnIII, but the aminocarboxylate-based methyliminodiacetic acid yields solely dissolved MnII via MnIII reduction.
Shapes of Nonbuoyant Round Luminous Laminar-Jet Diffusion Flames in Coflowing Air

The shapes 0umtnous flame boundaries) of steady uonbuoyant round Insninom hydrocarbon-fueled inndna_Jot diffusion flames burning in teflowlng air were studied both experimentally and theoretical]}'. Flame shapes were mea._tred from photographs of flames burning at low pressure in order to minimize the effects of buoyancy. Test conditions involved acetylene-, prepylane- and 1,3-1mtadlene-fueled flt.m_ having initial reactant temperatures of 300 K, ambiant prtssmms of 19--.$0 kPa, jet.¢_dt Reynolds numbere of 18-121, mad initial air/fuel velocity rifle* of 0.22---32,45 to yield inmineus flame lengths of 21-108 ram. The present flames were dose to the laminar smage point but were not soot emitting. Simple expre_ions to estimate the shapes of Immbuoymat laminar-jet dlffusim Illumes _n coflew were fuuad by exteadlng an eorher analysis of Mshaliapm et aL (Mahaiingam, S. Fer2iger, J. E[. mxl CantwelL B. J, _lf-Slmi_r Diffmin. Flame*," Cm_,_n a_d ,t'7_we, Vol. _, No. 2, 1990, pp. 23J-234). These formulas provided a M comintion of present mensUremants exeept n_x the Imri_r exit where seIlr.simihu" approximat.com used in the M_mpfit_d mudyds _pe no gmager nppeoprin/e.
Data transmission from an implantable biotelemeter by load-shift keying using circuit configuration modulator

Using the reflected impedance property of an inductive couple (transformer), a modulation method, load-shift keying using circuit configuration modulator (LSK-CCM), was developed to perform data transmission from an implantable telemeter. With a very simple circuit, this method utilizes a radio-frequency electromagnetic field induced with a single pair of coils to transmit power into the implant and data out of it. >
Oakeshott and the New Crime Prevention

AbstractMany countries now have some kind of national crime prevention structure.This new crime prevention, unlike traditional criminology, extends the responsibility for preventing crime outside of criminal justice to households, neighbourhoods, and families. Drawing on the work of British political philosopher, Michael Oakeshott, the article discusses recent prevention trends in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. Specifically, the discussion applies four of Oakeshott's central themes — his attitude toward social science, his concept of a person, his theory of human association, and his description of the rule of law to four emerging rationales — evidence-based policy, situational crime prevention, social crime prevention and marketing prosocial values.
Augmenting CRFs with Boltzmann Machine Shape Priors for Image Labeling

Conditional random fields (CRFs) provide powerful tools for building models to label image segments. They are particularly well-suited to modeling local interactions among adjacent regions (e.g., super pixels). However, CRFs are limited in dealing with complex, global (long-range) interactions between regions. Complementary to this, restricted Boltzmann machines (RBMs) can be used to model global shapes produced by segmentation models. In this work, we present a new model that uses the combined power of these two network types to build a state-of-the-art labeler. Although the CRF is a good baseline labeler, we show how an RBM can be added to the architecture to provide a global shape bias that complements the local modeling provided by the CRF. We demonstrate its labeling performance for the parts of complex face images from the Labeled Faces in the Wild data set. This hybrid model produces results that are both quantitatively and qualitatively better than the CRF alone. In addition to high-quality labeling results, we demonstrate that the hidden units in the RBM portion of our model can be interpreted as face attributes that have been learned without any attribute-level supervision.
Acoustic detection of laser induced optical breakdown in dendrimer nanocomposites: implications for site targeted molecular diagnostics and therapeutics

Laser-induced optical breakdown (LIOB) attained at the focus of a femtosecond laser leads to nonlinear energy absorption and measurable secondary effects that include shock-wave emission, heat transfer, and bubble formation. A real-time acoustic technique has been developed to characterize LIOB thresholds in tissue-like materials regardless of their optical transparency. With LIOB, a bubble forms resulting in a high velocity shock-wave propagating spherically outward from the effective point source. This wave can be detected acoustically. In addition, the optical focal zone is actively probed with acoustic pulse-echo measurements to monitor formed bubbles. The power of 50-100 MHz acoustic waves reflected from the bubbles can quantify differences between non-breakdown and breakdown events. Using this technique, two dendrimer nanocomposites (DNC) have been evaluated as potential site targeted diagnostic/therapeutic agents. The LIOB threshold was 50 mW (200 nJ/pulse) for a bare DNC system and a reduced threshold of 4 mW (15 nJ/pulse) for an Ag-loaded DNC system. These results suggest that metal-loaded DNC systems may be efficient site targeted diagnostic/therapeutic agents. In addition, their action can be sensitively monitored using high frequency ultrasound imaging.
Large-signal characterization of millimeter-wave transistors using an active load-pull measurement system

An automated measurement system is described for obtaining the load-pull characteristics of high-speed transistors at millimeter-wave frequencies. The method uses 'active tuning' to vary the transistor output load impedance electronically. the large-scale characteristics of an 8-by-20- mu m permeable base transistor (PBT) have been measured with this method and applied to the design of 27-mW PBT amplifier at 40.1 GHz. >
Pay-to-bid auctions: To bid or not to bid

Abstract We propose an all-pay auction format with risk-loving bidders paying a constant fee each time they bid for an object whose monetary value is common knowledge among the bidders, and bidding fees are the only source of benefit for the seller. We characterize a unique symmetric sub-game perfect equilibrium, and further show that the expected revenue of the seller is independent of the number of bidders, decreasing in the sale price and bidding fee, and increasing in the value of the object.
Lithium Bis(1‐ethoxyvinyl)cuprate

[123206-02-0] C8H14CuLiO2 (MW 212.71) InChI = 1S/2C4H7O.Cu.Li/c2*1-3-5-4-2;;/h2*1,4H2,2H3;;/q;;-1;+1 InChIKey = AGGNVLCWVHNSCI-UHFFFAOYSA-N (vinylcuprate reagent and acyl anion equivalent which undergoes 1,4-addition reactions,3 1,2-addition reactions,4 and substitution reactions3) Physical Data: homogenous, red solution displaying some temperature sensitivity; dec. estimated between −35 and −25 °C.3 Solubility: sol THF. Preparative Methods: prepared under an inert atmosphere of argon by the rapid addition of 2 equiv of 1-Ethoxyvinyllithium5 in THF at −78 °C to a suspension of purified Copper(I) Iodide at −78 °C, which is stirred at −30 °C for 1 h to afford a deep red solution.3 Handling, Storage, and Precautions: air- and moisture-sensitive reagent prepared in situ. Use in a fume hood.
RhoA-Derived Peptide Dimers Share Mechanistic Properties with Other Polyanionic Inhibitors of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Including Disruption of Viral Attachment and Dependence on RSV G

Large polyanionic molecules, such as sulfated polysaccharides (including soluble heparin and dextran sulfate), synthetic polyanionic polymers, and negatively charged proteins, have been shown to broadly inhibit several enveloped viruses. We recently reported the antiviral activity of a peptide derived from amino acids 77 to 95 of a potential binding partner of respiratory syncytial virus F protein (RSV F), the GTPase RhoA. A subsequent study with a truncated peptide (amino acids 80 to 94) revealed that optimal antiviral activity required dimerization via intermolecular disulfide bonds. We report here that the net negative charge of this peptide is also a determining factor for its antiviral activity and that it, like other polyanions, inhibits virus attachment. In a flow cytometry-based binding assay, peptide 80-94, heparin, and dextran sulfate inhibited the attachment of virus to cells at 4°C at the same effective concentrations at which they prevent viral infectivity. Interestingly, time-of-addition experiments revealed that peptide 80-94 and soluble heparin were also able to inhibit the infectivity of a virus that had been prebound to cells at 4°C, as had previously been shown for dextran sulfate, suggesting a potential role for postattachment effects of polyanions on RSV entry. Neutralization experiments with recombinant viruses showed that the antiviral activities of peptide 80-94 and dextran sulfate were diminished in the absence of the RSV attachment glycoprotein (G). Taken together, these data indicate that the antiviral activity of RhoA-derived peptides is functionally similar to that of other polyanions, is dependent on RSV G, and does not specifically relate to a protein-protein interaction between F and RhoA.
Kin selection may contribute to lek evolution and trait introgression across an avian hybrid zone

Understanding the mechanism(s) that favour cooperation among individuals competing for the same resources provides direct insights into the evolution of grouping behaviour. In a hybrid zone between golden- ⁄yellow-collared (Manacus vitellinus) and whitecollared (Manacus candei) manakins, males form aggregations composed of white and yellow males solely to attract females (‘mixed leks’). Previous work shows that yellow males in these mixed leks experience a clear mating advantage over white males, resulting in the preferential introgression of yellow plumage allele(s) into the white species. However, the yellow male mating advantage only occurs in mixed leks with high frequencies of yellow males, and only a few of these males probably mate. Hence, it remains unclear why unsuccessful males join leks. Here, we used microsatellite markers to estimate pairwise relatedness among males within and between leks to test whether indirect genetic benefits of helping kin (‘kin selection’) can promote grouping. We found that yellow males are significantly more related to each other within than between leks, while relatedness among white males did not differ within and between leks. This suggests that yellow males may indirectly enhance their own reproductive success by preferentially lekking with relatives because yellow plumage is under positive frequency-dependent selection (positive FDS). Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that kin selection may promote grouping and facilitate positive FDS for yellow males, mediating the movement of yellow plumage across this hybrid zone.
Ionic Transference Numbers and Electrical Conduction in MgAl2O4 Spinel

Ionic transference numbers were obtained for T=1000 to 1700 K and for oxygen pressures 105 to 10−11 Pa by measuring potentials produced across samples having different oxygen partial pressures at the two faces. Alternating and direct current conductivities were also measured for the same samples over the same range of temperature and pressure. The results show that conduction in MgAl2O4 is almost purely ionic and that the conductivity is not greatly influenced by either ambient oxygen pressure or iron impurity up to 0.1%. It is proposed that the current carriers are cation vacancies that are present as a result of cation nonstoichiometry.
Error resilient LZ'77 scheme and its analysis

The devastating effect of errors in adaptive data compression is a long-standing open problem. In this paper LZ'77 is changed theoretically and experimentally observed, such that in a significant proportion of LZ'77 phrases, there is more than one copy of the longest prefix in the compressed file. Once the redundant bits of LZ'77 have been identified, it is exploited for channel coding. For error correction and detection RS (255,255-2e) Reed-Solomon codes are used.
Transgenic plant containment

The new technology using plant genetics to produce chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and therapeutics in a wide array of new plant forms requires sufficient testing to ensure that these new plant introductions are benign in the environment. A recent effort to provide necessary guidance to aid the selection of confinement conditions can be found on the internet as an Adobe pdf file or a print copy of the document can be requested. Details describing the handling of transgenic plants in greenhouses are relatively sparse. Existing NIH Guidelines specify facilities and practices for meeting containment standards appropriate for each of four biosafety levels; however, there is no single source of practical guidance on managing the containment of plant GMOs. A 60-page document offers simple and convenient guidance for selection of appropriate biosafety and containment levels for GMO research conducted in greenhouses. Clarification of containment level needs and the measures required to achieve the various biosafety levels should be helpful to researchers developing aspects of plant biotechnology. The public can learn of the measures undertaken to ensure the proper introduction of selected examples of this technology. (http://www.isb.vt.edu)
The Spectrum of the Billiard Laplacian of a Family of Random Billiards

Random billiards are billiard dynamical systems for which the reflection law giving the post-collision direction of a billiard particle as a function of the pre-collision direction is specified by a Markov (scattering) operator P. Billiards with microstructure are random billiards whose Markov operator is derived from a “microscopic surface structure” on the boundary of the billiard table. The microstructure in turn is defined in terms of what we call a billiard cellQ, the shape of which completely determines the operator P. This operator, defined on an appropriate Hilbert space, is bounded self-adjoint and, for the examples considered here, a Hilbert-Schmidt operator. A central problem in the statistical theory of such random billiards is to relate the geometric characteristics of Q and the spectrum of P. We show, for a particular family of billiard cell shapes parametrized by a scale invariant curvature K (Fig. 2), that the billiard Laplacian P−I is closely related to the ordinary spherical Laplacian, and indicate, by partly analytical and partly numerical means, how this provides asymptotic information about the spectrum of P for small values of K. It is shown, in particular, that the second moment of scattering about the incidence angle closely approximates the spectral gap of P.
Changes in contractile properties by androgen hormones in sexually dimorphic muscles of male frogs (Xenopus laevis).

1. Male frogs (Xenopus laevis) were castrated then given either empty or testosterone-filled implants to produce animals with low or high levels of circulating testosterone. Eight weeks later the contractile properties of an androgen-sensitive forelimb flexor, the flexor carpi radialis muscle (FCR), were measured in vitro. Another forelimb flexor muscle, the coracoradialis, and a hindlimb muscle, the iliofibularis, were analysed similarly. 2. Plasma testosterone levels were 0.9 +/- 0.3 ng/ml (+/- S.E.M.) in castrated frogs with blank implants (C) and 61.3 +/- 4.7 ng/ml in castrates with testosterone implants (CT). Unoperated males, sampled at various times of the year, ranged between 10.8 and 51.0 ng/ml. 3. With direct electrical stimulation of the FCR, contraction time of the isometric twitch was not affected by testosterone levels. Relaxation times were affected, however. Half- and 90% relaxation times were 27 and 42% longer, respectively, for CT compared to C muscles. 4. Testosterone also had no effect on the contraction time of twitches elicited by stimulation of the FCR nerve. Half- and 90% relaxation times were 51 and 76% longer, respectively, for CT compared to C muscles. 5. Tetanus tension, elicited by direct stimulation of the FCR at 50 Hz, was 86% greater in CT compared to C muscles. The average cross-sectional area of FCR muscle fibres was 84% greater in CT muscles. These results implied that testosterone treatment had no effect on specific muscle tension. 6. Stimulation of the FCR nerve at 50 Hz resulted in 53% less tension than the same stimulus applied directly to CT muscles. In C muscles the difference was only 14%. This suggested that testosterone treatment reduced synaptic efficacy. 7. In CT muscles, direct or nerve stimulation of fibres in the shoulder region of the FCR elicited twitches that contracted and relaxed more slowly than fibres in the elbow region. In C muscles there was no difference in contraction or relaxation time between fibres in the shoulder and elbow regions. 8. Testosterone treatment had little effect on contraction and relaxation times or tension levels of coracoradialis or iliofibularis muscles.
Docosahexaenoic acid selectively augments muscarinic stimulation of epithelial Cl- secretion.

Abstract Background. We investigated the effect of various fatty acids on electrogenic chloride secretion in T84 cells, a model for intestinal epithelium. Materials and methods. T84 intestinal epithelial cells grown on permeable supports were studied by conventional current-voltage clamping. Membrane lipids from T84 cells were extracted, transmethylated, and analyzed by gas chromatography. Lipid extracts were fractionated into nonpolar, free fatty acids, and phospholipids by amynopropil column chromatography. Results. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) but not eicosapentanoic acid or other fatty acids selectively enhanced the secretory response to the muscarinic agonist carbachol but not the response to other Ca 2+ agonists (histamine, thapsigargin, or ionomycin) or the response to the cAMP agonist forskolin. The ability of DHA to augment Cl − secretion appeared to correlate closer with free DHA levels than with membrane-bound DHA. Other effects of DHA on T84 cells included a reduction in transepithelial resistance (a measure of barrier function), actions that were dissociated from the effect on Cl − secretion. Conclusion. The results suggest that DHA, which has been shown to reverse organ pathology in experimental cystic fibrosis, may selectively affect agonist-regulated transport events and other fundamental properties of epithelial cells.
Decoding Ipsilateral Finger Movements from ECoG Signals in Humans

Several motor related Brain Computer Interfaces (BCIs) have been developed over the years that use activity decoded from the contralateral hemisphere to operate devices. Contralateral primary motor cortex is also the region most severely affected by hemispheric stroke. Recent studies have identified ipsilateral cortical activity in planning of motor movements and its potential implications for a stroke relevant BCI. The most fundamental functional loss after a hemispheric stroke is the loss of fine motor control of the hand. Thus, whether ipsilateral cortex encodes finger movements is critical to the potential feasibility of BCI approaches in the future. This study uses ipsilateral cortical signals from humans (using ECoG) to decode finger movements. We demonstrate, for the first time, successful finger movement detection using machine learning algorithms. Our results show high decoding accuracies in all cases which are always above chance. We also show that significant accuracies can be achieved with the use of only a fraction of all the features recorded and that these core features are consistent with previous physiological findings. The results of this study have substantial implications for advancing neuroprosthetic approaches to stroke populations not currently amenable to existing BCI techniques.
the etymology of excuses: aspects of rhetorical performance in Greece

Excuses often take strikingly similar rhetorical forms in widely divergent kinds of situation. These forms, according to 1. L. Austin, may work by evoking ideas about impersonal agencies such as fate through etymological allusion; their conventionality makes them socially acceptable as well as highly adaptable. Using the example of modern Greece, this essay explores some implications of Austin's insight for the study of blame attribution in particular cultures by examining parallels in rhetorical treatment of fate, the national bureaucracy, and the international superpowers as agents of disaster. Particular emphasis i s placed on the retrospective character of blame attribution in all three domains and on the consequent inadequacy of “fatalism” as a descriptive and analytical construct.[etymology, semiotics, symbolism, rhetoric, excuses, cultural construction of events, Greece]
Metronomic Dosing Enhances the Anti-Angiogenic Effect of Epothilone B

Background High doses (10 nM) of epothilone B, a microtubule stabilizer, will inhibit the development of human tumor-derived angiogenesis following short (14 d) drug exposure times. Metronomic dosing regimes use lower drug doses and prolonged drug exposure times in an attempt to decrease toxicity compared with standard dosing schedules. We hypothesized that epothilone B would be an effective anti-angiogenic agent when administered at very low doses over an extended period of time. Methods Fragments of four fresh human tumors were cultured in a fibrin-thrombin matrix and maintained in nutrient media plus 20% fetal bovine serum (FBS) for 56 d. Tumor fragments (n = 40–60 per group) were exposed to weekly doses of epothilone B at concentrations of 10, 5, 1, 0.5, or 0.1 nM. All of these concentrations are clinically achievable. Tumor angiogenesis was assessed weekly on d 14–56 using a validated visual grading system. This system rates neovessel growth, density, and length on a 0–16 scale [angiogenic index, (AI)]. The average change in AI between d 14 and 56 was calculated for all samples and used to evaluate the metronomic response. Results Epothilone B produced a dose-dependent anti-angiogenic response in all tumors. Two of the four tumors demonstrated a clear and significant metronomic anti-angiogenic effect over time. Conclusions Epothilone B, when dosed by a metronomic schedule may have a significant anti-angiogenic effect on human solid tumors. This study provides evidence for the potential use of epothilone B on a metronomic dosing schedule.
RESPONSIBILITIES FOR HATEFUL SPEECH

This essay consolidates some fragments of the contemporary theory of expressive freedoms, bringing together scattered conceptual distinctions (e.g., hurting and harming, tolerating and legitimating) and moves (e.g., the need to rectify hateful speech and to constrain harmful actions legally) into an account that is sensitive to the needs of abused groups but faithful to the libertarian tradition associated with Mill's harm principle. Accepting this principle as the fundamental condition warranting legal control of action, we explore legislative responsibilities for protecting expressive freedoms through three additional presumptions. The chief of them is an expectation of epistemic rationality that limits occasions of harm requiring legal action. A presumption of enablement over punishment shows that criminal sanctions for hateful speech are almost never appropriate. A presumption of multiple responsibilities accepts that social sanctions may be appropriate where political coercion is not.
Diphtheria Epidemic in the Republic of Georgia, 1993-1997

Epidemic diphtheria reemerged in the republic of Georgia in 1993. From 1993 to 1997, 1405 cases were reported (28 in 1993, 312 in 1994, 429 in 1995, 348 in 1996, and 288 in 1997), with a cumulative incidence of 25.8/100,000 and a case fatality ratio of 9.5%. During 1993-1997, 53% of the diphtheria cases occurred among persons >/=15 years of age. Unvaccinated patients were more likely to have toxic forms (relative risk=2.24; 95% confidence interval=1.69-2.96) or to die of diphtheria (relative risk=2.24; 95% confidence interval=1. 36-3.68) than those who had received at least one dose of diphtheria toxoid. Improvement in routine childhood vaccination coverage and implementation of mass adult vaccination campaigns have been critical to bringing the epidemic under control. By mid-1998, the overall diphtheria situation in Georgia appeared to have been controlled. Only 53 cases were reported from January to June 1998, representing a 64% decrease from the 148 cases during the corresponding period in 1997.
Silent Suicide in the Elderly

The suicide rate in the United States rises consistently with age. Silent suicide is defined as the intention, often masked, to kill oneself by nonviolent means through self-starvation or noncompliance with essential medical treatment. Silent suicide frequently goes unrecognized because of undiagnosed depression and the interjection of the personal belief systems of health-care providers and family members. Elderly individuals committing silent suicide are often thought to be making rational end of life decisions. However, the elderly committing silent suicide must be distinguished from terminally ill patients who refuse further treatment in order not to prolong the act of dying. The clinical/legal issues surrounding silent suicide will be discussed.
Noninvasive risk stratification after myocardial infarction: new evidence, new questions.

This issue of the Journal contains 2 important papers by Mahmarian et al. ([1,2][1]). The first describes a prospective observational registry study involving the early use of adenosine myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) for risk stratification after myocardial infarction (MI) ([1][1]). The entry
Burden Shifting in Software Licensing Agreements

Customer information is exchanged more frequently with each passing day. As consumers expect to purchase goods more easily in our electronic economy, they also increasingly rely on businesses to protect their personal information. Businesses protect personal information by installing encryption and data security software. But compared to many other contracts, software licensing agreements greatly favor vendors, and software vendors draft them in a way that virtually limits all of their liabilities. As state legislatures have enacted a panoply of statutes to protect consumers, the reporting costs and added liabilities imposed on companies have increased dramatically. This situation squeezes businesses that hold consumer information because they now experience more regulation on one hand, while continuing to face licensing agreements that remove the possibility of meaningful relief on the other. To account this risk shift, courts should adopt the minority position regarding the failure of essential purpose doctrine when reviewing these agreements. This position would allow courts to use the doctrine to render limitations of liability unenforceable if the remedy provisions frustrate the contract’s essential purpose.
Serodiagnosis of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay compared to cellular immunologic parameters in African AIDS patients and controls.

Abstract The sensitivity and specificity of an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), absolute numbers of T-helper cells, and T-helper: T-suppressor cell ratios were compared in asymptomatic controls and IgG Western blot-confirmed patients with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in Kinshasa, Zaire, between August 1984 and May 1985. Two hundred sixteen (97.7%) of 221 IgG western blot-positive AIDS patients and 4 of 97 (4%) controls were ELISA-positive, 3 of whom were Western blot-positive. The sensitivity and specificity of the ELISA was 97.7% and 99.0%, respectively, compared to Western blot results. Detection of the human immune deficiency virus using absolute number of T-helper cells (<400 cells/mm3) was as sensitive (98.2%), but less specific (90.7%). A T-helper: T-suppressor ratio of <0.9, had a sensitivity of 97.3%, and specificity of 94.8%. The ELISA test had the highest predictive value and greatest utility in an African clinical setting for detecting HIV infected patients were a wide range of other immunocompromising diseases are seen.
The Roles of Histidines and Charged Residues as Potential Triggers of a Conformational Change in the Fusion Loop of Ebola Virus Glycoprotein.

Ebola virus (EBOV) enters cells from late endosomes/lysosomes under mildly acidic conditions. Entry by fusion with the endosomal membrane requires the fusion loop (FL, residues 507–560) of the EBOV surface glycoprotein to undergo a pH-dependent conformational change. To find the pH trigger for this reaction we mutated multiple conserved histidines and charged and uncharged hydrophilic residues in the FL and measured their activity by liposome fusion and cell entry of virus-like particles. The FL location in the membrane was assessed by NMR using soluble and lipid-bound paramagnetic relaxation agents. While we could not identify a single residue to be alone responsible for pH triggering, we propose that a distributed pH effect over multiple residues induces the conformational change that enhances membrane insertion and triggers the fusion activity of the EBOV FL.
Internet Technology and Clinical Laboratory Science: The Role of the Laboratory Home Page

Now that many laboratories have access to the Internet, employees can use it in a variety of ways. Improved information transfer has an enormous potential for improving all areas of clinical laboratory science. It was with this goal in mind that we developed a Global Health Network for clinical laboratory science on the Internet ( ). The principles of the Global Health Network include connectivity, monitoring, global education and training, networking, and information servers. These principles, when applied, will improve the transfer of information among individuals, laboratories, and organizations.
Histology of the gastro-esophageal junction in certain microtine rodents.

The gastro-esophageal junction in four genera of microtine rodents (28 specimens) has been investigated from their gross and histological aspects. The cardiac sphincter is composed of both smooth and striated muscle and extends, by means of the corpopyloric fold, from above the cardiac orifice to well below it. The combination of longitudinal striated muscle, smooth circular muscle and striated circular muscle, produces a more extensive closing mechanism at the cardiac orifice than occurs in other mammals in which this junction has been studied. The sphincteric muscle action when coupled with the modifications of the cornified stratified squamous epithelium at the cardia, produces a tight seal at the cardiac orifice. The area of transition from the esophageal-type epithelium to the gastric mucosa in the pyloric portion of the stomach of the four genera is discussed.
Computational design of reconfigurables

A reconfigurable is an object or collection of objects whose transformation between various states defines its functionality or aesthetic appeal. For example, consider a mechanical assembly composed of interlocking pieces, a transforming folding bicycle, or a space-saving arrangement of apartment furniture. Unlike traditional computer-aided design of static objects, specialized tools are required to address problems unique to the computational design and revision of objects undergoing rigid transformations. Collisions and interpenetrations as objects transition from one configuration to another prevent the physical realization of a design. We present a software environment intended to support fluid interactive design of reconfigurables, featuring tools that identify, visualize, monitor and resolve infeasible configurations. We demonstrate the versatility of the environment on a number of examples spanning mechanical systems, urban dwelling, and interlocking puzzles, some of which we then realize via additive manufacturing. Spatial-temporal information about collisions between objects is presented to the designer according to a cascading order of precedence. A designer may quickly determine when, and then where, and then how objects are colliding. This precedence guides the design and implementation of our four-dimensional spacetime bounding volume hierarchy for interactive-rate collision detection. On screen, the designer experiences a suite of interactive visualization and monitoring tools during editing: timeline notifications of new collisions, picture-in-picture windows for tracking collisions and suggestive hints for contact resolution. Contacts too tedious to remove manually can be eliminated automatically via our proposed constrained numerical optimization and swept-volume carving.
Origin and heterogeneity of pore sizes in the Mount Simon Sandstone and Eau Claire Formation: Implications for multiphase fluid flow

The Mount Simon Sandstone and Eau Claire Formation represent a potential reservoir-caprock system for wastewater disposal, geologic CO 2 storage, and compressed air energy storage (CAES) in the Midwestern United States. A primary concern to site performance is heterogeneity in rock properties that could lead to nonideal injectivity and distribution of injected fluids (e.g., poor sweep efficiency). Using core samples from the Dallas Center domal structure, Iowa, we investigate pore characteristics that govern flow properties of ­major lithofacies of these formations. Methods include gas porosimetry and perme­ametry, mercury intrusion porosimetry, thin section petrography, and X-ray diffraction. The lithofacies exhibit highly variable intraformational and interformational distributions of pore throat and body sizes. Based on pore-throat size, there are four distinct sample groups. Micropore-throat–dominated samples are from the Eau Claire Formation, whereas the macropore-dominated, mesopore-dominated, and uniform-dominated samples are from the Mount Simon Sandstone. Complex paragenesis governs the high degree of pore and pore-throat size hetero­geneity, due to an interplay of precipitation, non­uniform compaction, and later dissolution of cements. The cement dissolution event probably accounts for much of the current porosity in the unit. Mercury intrusion porosimetry data demonstrate that the heterogeneous nature of the pore networks in the Mount Simon Sandstone results in a greater than normal opportunity for reservoir capillary trapping of nonwetting fluids, as quantified by CO 2 and air column heights that vary over three orders of magnitude, which should be taken into account when assessing the potential of the reservoir-caprock system for waste disposal (CO 2 or produced water) and resource storage (natural gas and compressed air). Our study quantitatively demonstrates the significant impact of millimeter-scale to micron-scale porosity heterogeneity on flow and transport in reservoir sandstones.
Diuretic Use and Risk of Vertebral Fracture in Women

Background Vertebral fracture is the most common type of osteoporotic fracture. While thiazide diuretics, which are commonly prescribed for the treatment of hypertension, decrease calciuria, they may also induce hyponatremia, which has been associated with increased vertebral fracture risk. Loop diuretics increase calciuria, which would reduce bone mineral density and increase vertebral fracture risk, but they rarely cause hyponatremia. Recent studies on diuretics and fractures did not include or specifically examine vertebral fracture. The few studies of diuretics and vertebral fracture have been limited by cases defined by self-report or administrative data, relatively small number of cases, study design that was not prospective, and lack of long-term follow-up with updated information on diuretic use.