cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparison of oligonucleotides produced by RNase T1 digestion of 7 S RNA from avian and murine oncornaviruses and from uninfected cells.

Abstract The 7 S RNA molecules isolated from Rous sarcoma virus (RSV), avian myeloblastosis virus (AMV), mouse sarcoma virus (MSV), and L cell virion (LCV) were treated with RNase T1, and the oligonucleotides produced were fractionated by two-dimensional electrophoresis. The 7 S RNAs from RSV and AMV yield identical fingerprints. Thirty-five oligonucleotides are observed in yields greater than 0.5 mole per mole RNA, and the molecules consist of about 280 nucleotides. LCV and MSV 7 S RNAs show a difference of two oligonucleotides of a total of 37. Comparison of avian and murine 7 S RNAs also shows a large number of similarities, including the 3′ terminus (U 4 C 2 )X OH . The results indicate that large portions of the sequence of 7 S oncornavirus RNAs have been conserved among viruses that replicate in different hosts. Analysis of 7 S RNA from uninfected chick fibroblasts demonstrates that they contain the same molecule as that found in AMV and RSV.
Halo sampling, local bias, and loop corrections

We develop a new test of local bias, by constructing a locally biased halo density field from sampling the dark matter-halo distribution. Our test differs from conventional tests in that it preserves the full scatter in the bias relation and it does not rely on perturbation theory. We put forward that bias parameters obtained using a smoothing scale R can only be applied to computing the halo power spectrum at scales k ~ 1/R. Our calculations can automatically include the running of bias parameters and give vanishingly small loop corrections at low-k. Our proposal results in much better agreement of the sampling and perturbation theory results with simulations. In particular, unlike the standard interpretation of local bias in the literature, our treatment of local bias does not generate a constant power in the low-k limit. We search for extra noise in the Poisson corrected halo power spectrum at wavenumbers below its turn-over and find no evidence of significant positive noise (as predicted by the standard interpretation) while we find evidence of negative noise coming from halo exclusion for very massive halos. Using perturbation theory and our non-perturbative sampling technique we also demonstrate that nonlocal bias effects discovered recently in simulations impact the power spectrum only at the few percent level in the weakly nonlinear regime.
Fatigue crack growth in a coarse-grained iron-silicon alloy

Abstract The fatigue crack growth in a coarse-grained Fe-2 wt% Si alloy is investigated in considerable detail. At room temperature, the material is quasi-brittle and the failure mode is mixed cleavage. Under a mode-I cyclic loading, the crack can overcome the barrier effect of grain boundaries, which dominates the overall damage evolution. Associated with the geometrically necessary crack front branching, there are two possible break-through modes for a fatigue crack to propagate across a high-angle grain boundary.
Examples of High Resolution Obtainable by Double Passing a High Quality Grating

Critical resolution tests were made near limiting geometric incidence angles on a 7.25-in. wide 300-grooves per mm Bausch & Lomb grating. The importance of double passing a grating to increase the available resolving power is discussed and exhibited by reproductions of the hyperfine structure of Hg λ4358, λ5461, λ15 295. A photograph of a reversal in Hg λ4358 presents a resolving power well in excess of 1 000 000 which far exceeds the grazing incidence resolving power of the grating used single pass. An analysis of the hyperfine structure of Hg λ15 295 is given. A discussion of ghost intensities in going from single pass to double pass is also presented. Maximal performance at 4 widely separated wavelengths is given.
A generating functionology approach to a problem of Wilf

Wilf posed the following problem: determine asymptotically as n → ∞ the probability that a randomly chosen part size in a randomly chosen composition of n has multiplicity m. One solution of this problem has been given by two of the authors . In this paper, we study this question using the techniques of generating functions and singularity analysis.
Evolution of Integrated Causal Structures in Animats Exposed to Environments of Increasing Complexity

Natural selection favors the evolution of brains that can capture fitness-relevant features of the environment's causal structure. We investigated the evolution of small, adaptive logic-gate networks (“animats”) in task environments where falling blocks of different sizes have to be caught or avoided in a ‘Tetris-like’ game. Solving these tasks requires the integration of sensor inputs and memory. Evolved networks were evaluated using measures of information integration, including the number of evolved concepts and the total amount of integrated conceptual information. The results show that, over the course of the animats' adaptation, i) the number of concepts grows; ii) integrated conceptual information increases; iii) this increase depends on the complexity of the environment, especially on the requirement for sequential memory. These results suggest that the need to capture the causal structure of a rich environment, given limited sensors and internal mechanisms, is an important driving force for organisms to develop highly integrated networks (“brains”) with many concepts, leading to an increase in their internal complexity.
Lactose Hydrolysis of Raw and Pasteurized Milks by Saccharomyces lactis lactase

Abstract A new commercial Saccharomyces lactis lactase introduced into raw and pasteurized whole milk demonstrated a high potential for converting lactose to monosugars. An enzyme concentration of 25 mg/ liter, in pasteurized milk incubated 48 hours at 4C, hydrolyzed 80% of the lactose, in raw milk 75%. An enzyme concentration of 100 mg/liter in pasteurized milk under the same conditions hydrolyzed 95% of the lactose and in raw milk 90%. Flavor quality, pH, color, and sedimentation were not adversely affected in milks treated with Saccharomyces lactis lactase. Sweetness intensity was raised considerably by increasing lactase preparation.
Restructuring parallel loops to curb false sharing on multicore architectures

The memory hierarchy of most multicore systems contains one or more levels of cache that is shared among multiple cores. The shared-cache architecture presents many opportunities for performance gains for multi-threaded applications. However, when not handled carefully, contention for the shared-cache can lead to performance degradation. This paper addresses the issue of cache interference that occurs when concurrent threads access data that reside on a shared cache block. We propose a new compiler technique that takes advantage of hardware prefetching and thread affinity features to ameliorate performance loss due to this type of interference. Preliminary evaluation on a dual-core and a quad-core platform shows that our strategy can be effective in reducing cache interference for multi-threaded applications that exhibit inter-core spatial locality.
Sex Differential Item Functioning in the Inventory of Early Development III Social-Emotional Skills

Social-emotional (SE) skills in the early developmental years of children influence outcomes in psychological, behavioral, and learning domains. The adult ratings of a child’s SE skills can be influenced by sex stereotypes. These rating differences could lead to differential conclusions about developmental progress or risk. To ensure that differences between boys and girls in SE skills are accurate, validity evidence should support that differences are not based on such issues as stereotypes influencing ratings. Differential item functioning (DIF) analysis allows for the assessment of group differences in item responses while controlling for ability. This study utilized a new multilevel Mantel–Haenszel (MMH) DIF procedure to examine sex differences in item responses for examiner ratings of children’s SE skills on the Brigance Inventory of Early Development III SE scale. Of 50 items examined, 4 were identified as large DIF items. The scores do not appear to be influenced by item-level rating distortions ba...
Rapid quantitative spotting of submicroliter volumes for thin-layer chromatography

Simple, inexpensive applicators for thin-layer chromatography can be easily constructed to reproducibly deliver 40 nl or less. They are appropriate for quantitative work in the 10−10 molar range with a coefficient of variation of less than 5%. Although on calibration the variability appears to be much greater, in incremental spotting the deviations from the mean are additive and the pluses and minuses cancel out. Two spotter designs are described one of which is made from Nichrome wire and the other from ordinary sewing needles.
The Effect of Methotrexate on the Expression of a Cysteine Protease Inhibitor (Type 2 Cystatin) in Rat Sebaceous Glands

The purpose of this study was to assess whether rat cystatin S, a cysteine proteinase inhibitor, is present in rat sebaceous glands, and to measure the effects of methotrexate on the expression of cystatin in these glands. With methotrexate treatment, the number of skin sebaceous cells expressing cystatin increased from 13.9% to 34.3% (P < .05). A smaller increase (from 15.3% to 23.9%; P = .1) was observed in Zymbal sebaceous glands. Type 2 cystatin could not be detected in the major salivary glands, nor in trachea, lung, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, spleen, liver, kidney, or pancreas, in any of the rats given either saline or methotrexate. Our results suggest that type 2 cystatin is a constituent of normal sebaceous glands, and that the amount of cystatin present in these glands increases with methotrexate administration. We speculate that, in addition to the protective functions ascribed to sebaceous lipids, sebum may augment the physical barrier of skin through secretion of cysteine proteinases that may be pharmacologically modulated.
Monitoring exocytosis with laser-induced native fluorescence: capillary electrophoresis and imaging microscopy

The complex temporal evolution of exocytotic release of serotonin and proteins from individual rat peritoneal mast cells was monitored. Laser-induced native fluorescence with 275- and 305-nm excitation was used to detect the Polymyxin-B sulfate (Pmx) stimulated exocytosis in capillary electrophoresis (CE) and imaging microscopy, respectively. Events are observed that are consistent with released serotonin from single granules (250 aL each). With CE, a detection limit of 1.7 amol (S/N equals 3; rms) was obtained for serotonin. Following the injection of a cell into the capillary, electromigration of Pmx toward and past the cell induced degranulation and release of serotonin. The time course of release was registered in the electropherograms with sub-second resolution. The average amount of serotonin observed per cell was 1.6 +/- 0.6 fmol; the average percentage of serotonin released was 28 +/- 14%. In complementary experiments, exocytosis was monitored temporally and spatially using native fluorescence imagery microscopy. Real time chemical images of serotonin and protein released from individual cells are obtained. The images show that the amount of material released and the time delay of the event varied from cell to cell, and that different regions of a cell behave asynchronously in releasing material.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Tail Positions of Cercopithecus aethiops

The range of elevated positions in which captive Cercopithecus aethiops monkeys held their tails is apparently a continuum of display behavior. Different positions correlated with different behavior: Any might be adopted during a great diversity of activities, but with the more anterad positions a monkey might forego non-agonistic behavior to attack, and with the more posterad to withdraw. When the tail was held straight upright locomotion for any end was momentarily improbable.
Abstract B23: Further defining reactive stroma in prostate cancer

Quiescent fibroblasts and smooth muscle make up the mesenchymally-derived component of normal human stroma and function to maintain tissue homeostasis by forming a reactive stroma phenotype in the presence of injury. Reactive stroma initiates early during the evolution of human prostate cancer, with foci being observed during premalignant prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN). This microenvironment response is characterized by an accumulation of vimentin positive cells that co-express several reactive stroma markers. Reactive stroma co-evolves with development of cancer foci and is typified by accumulation of myofibroblasts that express tenascin-C and pro-collagen I. Our previous studies have shown that the degree of reactive stroma is a significant predictor of biochemical recurrent disease (elevation of PSA) using either archival prostatectomy specimens or pre-operative needle biopsy material. Patients with grade 3 exhibit a significantly reduced time to biochemical recurrent disease. Moreover, we have shown significant differences in gene expression profiles in human reactive stroma grade 3 relative to normal human prostate stroma. Our previous studies have shown that reactive stroma is tumor-promoting in prostate cancer models. TGF-β has emerged as a key factor in mediating the microenvironment perturbations in a variety of cancers, however its corresponding role in reactive stroma initiation has not been examined. It is our hypothesis that prostate cancer reactive stroma is composed of myofibroblasts / CAFs and is induced from tissue-fixed and/or bone marrow derived cells (BMDCs) in a TGF-β dependent manner. Our data shows that foci of reactive stroma in human prostate cancer consist of CD34+/vimentin+ progenitor cells that are juxtaposed to the sub basal lamina surface at the stromal-epithelial junction. Bone marrow transplants with CFP reporter donors into athymic mice containing LNCaP xenografts shows a time dependent increase in recruited fibroblast-like cells of marrow origin. Mechanistic studies using a transgenic mouse overexpressing TGF-β in prostatic epithelium demonstrate foci of inflammation in nerve ganglia and vessel structures. These mice also display distinct stromal proliferative lesions reminiscent of changes seen in a subtype of human prostate cancer. These histopathological changes occur in an age-dependent manner and seem to become more prevalent after a year of age in transgenic mice. Further mechanistic studies examining TGF-β signaling and the role of BMDCs are underway to examine reactive stroma induction and progression in prostate cancer. We propose a model of reactive stroma potential, affected by activation of local progenitors and subsequent recruitment of circulating progenitors to initiate and sustain a reactive microenvironment adjacent to cancer foci. We also propose that this microenvironment is selective for more aggressive cancer phenotypes and therefore is a potential target of opportunity for more advanced prognostics and novel therapeutics. Citation Information: Clin Cancer Res 2010;16(7 Suppl):B23
Realization of a Strongly Nonlinear Vibration-Mitigation Device Using Elastomeric Bumpers

AbstractRecent research has shown the viability of using nonlinear energy-sink (NES) devices for vibration mitigation in mechanical and structural systems. When attached to a primary structure, these lightweight passive devices can effectively reduce the structural vibration response through their nonlinear stiffness properties. In this research, a two-degree-of-freedom NES device is designed using innovative elastomeric bumpers as the critical components providing nonlinear restoring forces. A number of elastomeric bumper configurations are evaluated experimentally, and the effect of geometric bumper parameters is investigated with a focus on their influence on the stiffness properties of the bumper. A NES device employing different bumpers is then implemented on a 6-story model building and tested using impulse-like base motion. Nonlinear system identification of the NES device shows that nonlinear stiffness properties are achieved using the elastomeric bumpers. Shake-table testing of the building equip...
Force-tracking impedance control for manipulators mounted on compliant bases

The paper presents a control law for interaction tasks with environments of unknown geometrical and mechanical properties by manipulators mounted on compliant bases. Based on force-tracking impedance controls, the control strategy allows the execution of such class of tasks using the estimation of base position as a feedback in the control loop, requiring at the same time the on-line estimation of the environment stiffness. The properties of the control using non co-located sensors and the dynamic configuration of the coupled baserobot-environment system are studied. An Extended Kalman Filter is used for the estimation of the environment because of measurement uncertainties and errors in compound interaction model. The base is modelled as a second-order physical system with known parameters (offline identification before the task execution) and the base position is estimated from the measure of interaction forces. The grounding position estimation and the defined control law are validated in simulation and with experiments, especially dedicated to an insertion-assembly task. Control laws with and without the base compensation in the feedback loop are compared, verifying the effectiveness of the developed control law.
Overview of high K gate dielectric research

The replacement of SiO/sub 2/ by an alternative dielectric is a formidable task and one must consider the task as an integrated task involving not only the gate dielectric but the equally important areas of gate dielectric-silicon interface, gate contact material and the interface between the gate contact material and the gate dielectric. Especially important is the dielectric-silicon interface as this has very essential influences on the MOS channel mobility and current drive of CMOS devices.
Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation Lowers Serum FSH in Normal Weight But Not Obese Women.

Context: Dietary omega-3 fatty acids delay ovarian aging and promote oocyte quality in mice. Objective: To test whether dietary supplementation with omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) modulates reproductive hormones in reproductive-age women. Design: Prospective interventional study. Setting: Academic center. Participants: Fifteen obese and 12 normal-weight (NW) eumenorrheic women, ages 28–34 years. Intervention: Two frequent blood-sampling studies were performed before and after 1 month of omega-3 PUFA supplementation with 4 g of eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid daily. Main Outcome Measures: Serum LH and FSH (basal and after GnRH stimulation). Results: The ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 PUFA was significantly reduced in plasma and red blood cell components for both groups after treatment (both P < .01). Omega-3 PUFA supplementation resulted in reduction of FSH and FSH response to GnRH by 17% on average (P = .06 and P = .03, respectively) in NW but not obese women. Serum levels of IL-1β...
Visual cues for perceiving distances from objects to surfaces

An accurate perception of the distance between an object and a nearby surface can increase a viewer's sense of presence in an immersive environment, particularly when a user is performing actions that affect or are affected by this distance. Two experiments were conducted examining the effectiveness of stereoscopic viewing, shadows, and interreflections at conveying this distance information. Subjects performed simple tasks based on the perception of the distance between a fixed virtual table and an approaching block in a virtual environment. In the first experiment, Subjects lowered a virtual block to a virtual table. For this task both stereoscopic viewing and shadows had statistically significant effects on subject performance. In the second experiment, subjects mechanically reported the perceived distance between a virtual block and virtual table. For this task, viewing condition, shadows, and interreflections were shown to be statistically significant distance cues.
Enterprise information management for global manufacturers

New information technologies such as distributed computing systems and the National Information Infrastructure have brought the integration for global enterprises closer to being a reality. These technologies and standards alone, however, are not sufficient to effect scalability, adaptability, and usability of integrated enterprise information systems, without which the integration can collapse of its own weight. The authors present a metadatabase model to address these issues in the context of global manufacturing enterprises. The problem, the model and an application solution are described for this domain. >
California Physicians' Professional Image of Physical Therapists

The purpose of this study was to identify the attitudes of California physicians toward the professional image of physical therapists and to determine the influence of several independent variables on that image. A three-part questionnaire was used to survey the sample of physicians. The first two sections contained attitudinal statements based on criteria representing degrees of professionalism; the third section contained questions on demographic variables. The results indicated that, although the majority of responding physicians viewed physical therapists as possessing all of the criteria denoting professionalism, there was relatively less agreement with the two criteria representing the highest degrees of professionalism-evaluative skills and autonomy of judgment. None of the independent variables influenced physicians' professional image of physical therapists except physician specialty area, in which family practitioners held a significantly higher professional image of physical therapists than did neurosurgeons and orthopedists. The authors suggest further study of other factors that may affect physicians' professional image of physical therapists as well as recommend steps that may be taken to improve the professional image of physical therapists.
The transition between the Sheba Ridge and Owen Basin: rifting of old oceanic lithosphere

Summary Magnetic quiet zones are present along the margins of the entire length of the Gulf of Aden to the Owen fracture zone. This includes the easternmost 300 km between the eastern edges of Arabia and Africa to the Owen fracture zone where old oceanic lithosphere was rifted to form the Sheba Ridge. Within this easternmost region the boundary between the quiet zone and the old oceanic lithosphere is marked by ridge complexes, the Sharbithat Ridge Complex to the north and the Error Ridge Complex to the south. These ridge complexes, which lack a magnetic signature, occupy a structural position similar to the hinge zones at the continental margins to the west. They appear to have formed early in the opening of the Gulf of Aden or perhaps to have been pre-existing features. The boundary between Sheba Ridge and the northern magnetic quiet zone is often marked by an abrupt end of the Sheba Ridge seafloor spreading magnetic anomaly pattern and a sharp basement deepening to the north. The boundary between the East Sheba Ridge and northern magnetic quiet zone becomes less distinct near the Owen fracture zone. This is also accompanied by changes in the East Sheba Ridge, specifically a decrease in magnetic anomaly amplitudes, increase in ridge flank depths and a loss of the ’cooling-curve’ ridge flank shape. This may be the result of lower mantle temperatures in the vicinity of the Owen fracture zone. The sediments within the magnetic quiet zone can be divided into a lower disturbed unit and an upper unit consisting of flat-lying reflectors. The disturbance of the lower sediments may have resulted from a period of diffuse extension in the magnetic quiet zone prior to the establishment of the Sheba Ridge spreading centre. The similarity of the easternmost quiet zone to quiet zones at rifted continental margins leads to the suggestion that these regions were formed by diffuse extension of old oceanic lithosphere. Using a two-layer lithospheric attenuation model and assuming extension during a period of 15 Myr followed by 10 Myr of cooling, the basement depths and heat flow measurements can be adequately matched. The modelling implies 45 per cent crustal extension in the quiet zone. The amount of extension calculated is compatible with documented motion between Arabia and Africa. The old oceanic lithosphere thus must have been substantially thinned to a thickness similar to 10-14 Myr old ocean before seafloor spreading was initiated at the Sheba Ridge.
Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibition Alters the Fibrinolytic Response to Cardiopulmonary Bypass

Background—Increased plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) concentrations after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) are associated with increased risk of vein graft occlusion. Because angiotensin II stimulates PAI-1 expression, we tested the hypothesis that preoperative angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition decreases PAI-1 expression after CABG. Methods and Results—We measured the effects of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) on PAI-1 antigen and tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) antigen and activity in 31 patients taking an ACE inhibitor (ACEI) who were randomized to continue ACEI until the morning of surgery (ACEI group, n19) or to discontinue it 48 hours before surgery (No-ACEI group, n12). Arterial blood samples were taken at baseline before CPB, twice during CPB, after separation from CPB, and on postoperative day 1 (POD1). CPB caused an early decrease in PAI-1 antigen, followed by an increase in PAI-1 antigen on POD1 (P0.001 for effect of time). ACE inhibition attenuated the increase in PAI-1 antigen such that both PAI-1 antigen on POD1 (P0.013) and the change in PAI-1 antigen from baseline to POD1 (P0.009) were higher in the No-ACEI group (from 17.05.0 to 48.78.8 ng/mL) versus the ACEI group (from 19.93.4 to 33.16.2 ng/mL). There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in intraoperative tPA activity (P0.259); however, the increase in tPA activity was significantly greater in the ACEI group than in the No-ACEI group (P0.030). Conclusions—Preoperative ACEI attenuates the increase in PAI-1 after CABG, suggesting a role for ACE inhibition in reducing the risk of acute graft thrombosis. (Circulation. 2003;108:3079-3083.)
F-Seq

Summary: Tag sequencing using high-throughput sequencing technologies are now regularly employed to identify specific sequence features, such as transcription factor binding sites (ChIP-seq) or regions of open chromatin (DNase-seq). To intuitively summarize and display individual sequence data as an accurate and interpretable signal, we developed F-Seq, a software package that generates a continuous tag sequence density estimation allowing identification of biologically meaningful sites whose output can be displayed directly in the UCSC Genome Browser. Availability: The software is written in the Java language and is available on all major computing platforms for download at http://www.genome.duke.edu/labs/furey/software/fseq. Contact: terry.furey@duke.edu
Team design and stress: A multilevel analysis

Using a sample of 1708 team members in 292 team-based establishments, we examine the relationship between team member stress, and team autonomy in the form of team decision making, team leader appointment, and team responsibility. We also examine the relationship between stress, and intrateam interdependence in the form of team member interdependency and team-based job rotation. We further examine whether the relationships between team design and stress are mediated by team member job demands and job control. We find that an increase in job demands indirectly mediates the positive relationships between team decision making and team responsibility, and stress. We also find that a decrease in job demands indirectly mediates the negative relationship between team-based job rotation and stress. Our results suggest that the optimal design of a team, with respect to stress, is a team that has a low degree of autonomy and a high degree of intrateam interdependence.
EMI/EMC modeling of packaged electronics: Challenges and opportunities

The complexity of EMI/EMC modeling at the package, board and system level of multifunctional electronic designs necessitates the use of approximations in the development of a manageable computer model. Such approximations can be interpreted in terms of geometric, material, and layout variability. This variability, which is also relevant to uncertainties in floor-planning, layout and operating conditions, calls for methodologies and tools for predictive component and system EM performance and functionality assessment in the presence of uncertainty. Such modeling capability is not available today. This paper explores the opportunities for and potential benefits from the development of such modeling capability in support of EMI/EMC modeling for noise-aware computer-aided integration of multi-functional electronic systems.
Asynchronous Algorithms in MapReduce

Asynchronous algorithms have been demonstrated to improve scalability of a variety of applications in parallel environments. Their distributed adaptations have received relatively less attention, particularly in the context of conventional execution environments and associated overheads. One such framework, MapReduce, has emerged as a commonly used programming framework for large-scale distributed environments. While the MapReduce programming model has proved to be effective for data-parallel applications, significant questions relating to its performance and application scope remain unresolved. The strict synchronization between map and reduce phases limits expression of asynchrony and hence, does not readily support asynchronous algorithms. This paper investigates the notion of partial synchronizations in iterative MapReduce applications to overcome global synchronization overheads. The proposed approach applies a locality-enhancing partition on the computation. Map tasks execute local computations with (relatively) frequent local synchronizations, with less frequent global synchronizations. This approach yields significant performance gains in distributed environments, even though their serial operation counts are higher. We demonstrate these performance gains on asynchronous algorithms for diverse applications, including pagerank, shortestpath, and kmeans. We make the following specific contributions in the paper(i) we motivate the need to extend MapReduce with constructs for asynchrony, (ii) we propose an API to facilitate partial synchronizations combined with eager scheduling and locality enhancing techniques, and (iii) demonstrate performance improvements from our proposed extensions through a variety of applications from different domains.
Refinement of Irradiation and Analysis Techniques for Radiation-Induced Segregation

Radiation-induced segregation (RIS) has been implicated as a potential contributor to irradiation assisted stress corrosion cracking in light water reactor core components. To better understand changes to grain boundary chemistry during irradiation, RIS was measured in ultra-high purity (UHP) 304 stainless steel using Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). Variations in measured grain boundary concentration, both within a sample and between samples, are reduced by refinements in both the radiation and the AES techniques. These refinements include improvements in temperature control, uniformity of sample-to-sample dose, grain boundary acceptance criteria, amount of intergranular fracture, and amount of beam current used in analysis. AES measurements on samples irradiated at 400°C to 1.0 dpa show how implementing the technique refinements reduces the variability in the measured concentrations. Additionally, measurements from regions of ductile tearing in samples irradiated to 0.1 and 1.0 dpa at 400°C, to 1.0 dpa at 200°C, and from unirradiated samples show that sensitivity factors must be determined to obtain the most accurate measurement of grain boundary composition.
REMOTE INFRARED OBSERVATIONS OF PARENT VOLATILES IN COMETS: A WINDOW ON THE EARLY SOLAR SYSTEM

Abstract Organic volatiles and water in Oort Cloud comets were investigated at infrared wavelengths. The detected species include H 2 O, CO, CH 3 OH, CH 4 , C 2 H 2 , C 2 H 6 , OCS, HCN, NH 3 , and H 2 CO. Several daughter fragments (CN, OH, NH 2 , etc.) are also measured, and OH prompt emission provides a proxy for water. Long-slit spectra are taken at high spectral dispersion and high spatial resolution, eliminating several sources of systematic error. The resulting parent volatile production rates are highly robust, permitting a sensitive search for compositional diversity among comets. Here, seven OC comets are compared. Six (including Halley) exhibit similar compositions (excepting CO and CH 4 ). Their low formation temperatures (∼30 K) suggest this group probably formed beyond 30 AU from the young sun. However, C/1999 S4 is severely depleted in hypervolatiles and also in methanol, and it likely formed near 5–10 AU. C/2001 A2 is discussed briefly to illustrate future prospects.
Caspase-Mediated Specific Cleavage of BubR1 Is a Determinant of Mitotic Progression

The fidelity of chromosomal duplication is monitored by cell cycle checkpoints operational during mitosis. One such cell cycle delay is invoked by microtubule-targeting agents such as nocodazole or paclitaxel (Taxol) and is mediated by mitotic checkpoint proteins that include BubR1. Relatively little is known about the regulation of expression and stability of BubR1 (or other checkpoint proteins) and how these factors dictate the durability of the cell cycle delay. We report here that treatment of HeLa cells with spindle-disrupting agents resulted in caspase activation and precipitated the cleavage of BubR1. This mechanism ultimately leads to reduced levels of full-length protein, which are accompanied by abrogation of the mitotic block; the checkpoint abrogation is substantially accelerated by inhibition of de novo protein synthesis. In contrast, inhibition of caspase activity blocked BubR1 degradation and prolonged mitosis. To confirm a direct link between caspase activity and BubR1 protein expression, we identified by site-directed mutagenesis the specific caspase cleavage sites cleaved after exposure to paclitaxel. Surprisingly, BubR1 has two sites of cleavage: primarily at Asp607/Asp610 and secondarily at Asp576/Asp579. BubR1 mutated at both locations (BubR1Delta579Delta610) was resistant to paclitaxel-induced degradation. Expression of BubR1Delta579Delta610 augmented the mitotic delay induced by spindle disruption in transfected cells as well as in clones engineered to inducibly express the mutant protein upon exposure to doxycycline and ultimately led to increased aneuploidy. Underscoring the importance of these caspase cleavage sites, both tetrapeptide motifs are identified in the amino acid sequences of human, mouse, chicken, and Xenopus BubR1. These results are potentially the first to link the control of the stability of a key mitotic checkpoint protein to caspase activation, a regulatory pathway that may be involved in killing defective cells and that has been evolutionarily conserved.
Chronic intermittent hypoxia enhances ventilatory long-term facilitation in awake rats.

This study examined the effect of chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH: 5 min 11-12% O2/5 min air, 12 h/night, 7 nights) on ventilatory long-term facilitation (LTF) and determined the persistence peri...
Margarines with linseed oil: nutritional interests, specificities and development

The last national study on individual food consumption confirmed that French consumers have a very low intake of omega 3 alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), as well as an inadequate balance between omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids, that should be compensated with a more important intake in omega 3. Certain types of margarines and spreads offer the possibility to increase the intake in this nutriment, in particular margarines containing linseed oil. Their high content of ALA allows, on the basis of a daily consumption of 20 g, to counterbalance, partially or totally, the low intake in omega 3. However, these spreads require a quite particular attention in their development and their production, mostly because of the relative instability of the linseed oil in the oxidation process and the need to avoid developing of off tastes until the end of shelf life.
Relations between group size and composition and feeding competition in mountain gorilla groups

Abstract The intensity and patterning of interference competition for food within mountain gorilla (Pan gorilla beringei) social groups is influenced in several ways by group size and composition and varies within and across age/sex classes. Data on 251 spatial displacemtnts associated with feeding, collected during a 17-month study of mountain gorilla feeding ecology, show that overall displacement rates and displacement rates for individuals were positively correlated with social group size. Silverback males were responsible for a disproportionately high number of displacements. Adult females also were involved in competitive interactions over food more often than expected from their representation in groups, and had feeding bouts interrupted disproportionately often, principally by other females and by silverbacks. Competitive relationships between females varied in association with female dominance rank and age, but were not clearly associated with relatedness between females. The results support the argument that social foraging entails a cost which is proportional to group size and which falls particularly on adult females. The comparatively low rates of competitive interactions, however, suggest that this cost is relatively low, and that female mountain gorillas sacrifice little in terms of feeding efficiency by living in social groups.
The effect of viral inoculum level and host age on disease incidence, disease severity, and mortality in a murine model of ocular HSV-1 infection

It has been previously shown that the strain of virus, immune competence of the host, and innate resistance of the host have an effect on the severity of ocular disease induced by topical infection with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). This study has expanded on earlier work by examining the effect of virus inoculum and host age on mortality, incidence of ocular disease, and severity of ocular disease. BALB/c mice were infected with inocula ranging from 2 × 103 to 1 × 106 pfu of HSV-1 strain CJ394. The most significant effect of variation in the inoculum was on the percent of mice developing disease. Increasing the inoculum resulted in significantly increased disease incidence, but at 5 × 103 pfu/mouse or higher, there was little difference in disease severity in those animals exhibiting symptoms. Decreasing host age also resulted in a significant increase in the incidence of ocular disease, but the dependence of disease severity on host age varied with the symptom being scored. In animals exhibiting ...
Formation of mRNA 3′ Ends in Eukaryotes: Mechanism, Regulation, and Interrelationships with Other Steps in mRNA Synthesis

Formation of mRNA 3′ ends in eukaryotes requires the interaction of transacting factors with cis-acting signal elements on the RNA precursor by two distinct mechanisms, one for the cleavage of most replication-dependent histone transcripts and the other for cleavage and polyadenylation of the majority of eukaryotic mRNAs. Most of the basic factors have now been identified, as well as some of the key protein-protein and RNA-protein interactions. This processing can be regulated by changing the levels or activity of basic factors or by using activators and repressors, many of which are components of the splicing machinery. These regulatory mechanisms act during differentiation, progression through the cell cycle, or viral infections. Recent findings suggest that the association of cleavage/polyadenylation factors with the transcriptional complex via the carboxyl-terminal domain of the RNA polymerase II (Pol II) large subunit is the means by which the cell restricts polyadenylation to Pol II transcripts. The processing of 3′ ends is also important for transcription termination downstream of cleavage sites and for assembly of an export-competent mRNA. The progress of the last few years points to a remarkable coordination and cooperativity in the steps leading to the appearance of translatable mRNA in the cytoplasm.
The single machine early/tardy problem

We examine the problem of scheduling a given set of jobs on a single machine to minimize total early and tardy costs. Two dispatch priority rules are proposed and tested for this NP-complete problem. These were found to perform far better than known heuristics that ignored early costs. For situations where the potential cost savings are sufficiently high to justify more sophisticated techniques, we propose a variation of the Beam Search method developed by researchers in artificial intelligence. This variant, called Filtered Beam Search, is able to use priority functions to search a number of solution paths in parallel. A computational study showed that this search method was not only efficient but also consistent in providing near-optimal solutions with a relatively small search tree. The study also includes an investigation of the impacts of Beam Search parameters on three variations of Beam Search for this problem.
Joint Production and Pricing Decisions with Setup Costs and Capacity Constraints

We consider the problem of setting prices and choosing production quantities for a single product over a finite horizon for a capacity-constrained manufacturer facing price-sensitive demands. There is a fixed cost per production run and a variable cost per unit produced, both of which may vary by period. We characterize properties of the optimal solution, considering cases with constant and time-varying capacity, and with and without speculative motive for holding inventory. We show that, counter to intuition, optimal prices may increase as the capacity increases, even when capacity is constant over the horizon. We also show that increases in capacity do not always exhibit diminishing marginal returns. Our procedure produces solutions with much higher profits than can be obtained from a sophisticated sequential procedure in which a well-informed and optimum-seeking marketing department makes pricing decisions and the manufacturing department seeks to satisfy the resulting demands at minimum cost. Our results also suggest that firms with seasonal demand and tight capacity constraints should be more aggressive in setting prices to manage their demands than what is typically done in practice. Finally, we discuss how a decision maker can use our procedure as an aid in solving multiproduct versions of the problem.
Volutoderminae (Gastropoda: Volutidae) of Coniacian Through Maastrichtian Age from the North American Pacific Slope

Specimens of the large, shallow-marine, volutid gastropod Volutoderma Gabb, 1877, herein recognized only from strata of Late Cretaceous (Coniacian through early Maastrichtian) age in British Columbia, Washington, California, and Baja California have commonly been identified as Volutoderma averillii (Gabb, 1864). This review of available specimens assigns them to two genera: Volutoderma and Longoconcha Stephenson, 1941.Twelve species, nine of them new, comprise three morphologic lineages of Volutoderma, i.e., 1) “Typical” includes V. querna n. sp., V. averillii (Gabb), V. blakei n. sp., V. jalama n. sp., V. perissa n. sp., and possibly Volutoderma? n. sp.; 2) “Angelica” includes V. angelica n. sp., V. elderi n. sp., and V. ynezae n. sp.; and 3) “Magna” includes V. santana Packard, V. magna Packard, and perhaps V.? antherena n. sp. A new species of Longoconcha, L. eumeka, is the first Pacific Slope record of this genus, which has a Gulf Coast and Tethyan Old World distribution. A smaller volutid, Retipirula Dall, 1907 is endemic to the study area and was formerly known only from its type species R. crassitesta (Gabb, 1869) of Paleocene age. Two new Retipirula are reported: R. calidula of latest Maastrichtian age and R. pinguis of Paleocene age.Only the Volutoderma lineage containing V. averillii has been found north of San Francisco. Recovery of rudist bivalves from formations yielding Volutoderma suggests that these volutes were warm-temperate to subtropical gastropods. Co-occurrences of these gastropods and rudistids may aid in placing the warm-temperate/subtropical boundary during the Late Cretaceous.
GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION IN THE MORPHOLOGY OF CROTALUS HORRIDUS (SERPENTES: VIPERIDAE)

The timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) occurs in discontinuous populations across the eastern and central United States. The species exhibits high levels of polymorphism in morphological traits, especially in coloration and pattern. Previous studies recognized either distinct northern and southern subspecies or three regional morphs (northern, southern, and western), but the conflicting data sets and limited geographic sampling of previous studies have left the relationships among those regional variants unclear. In this study, univariate and multivariate statistics, analyzed in conjunction with a geographic information system, were used to examine geographic variation in 36 morphological characters recorded from 2420 specimens of C. horridus across its range.Univariate analyses detected substantial geographic variation in all meristic characters. Scutellation exhibited a general north–south pattern of variation, and most scale counts averaged higher in southern regions. Pattern characters differentiated the northeastern, central-eastern, and north-central regions from the southern and western regions. Coloration displayed a pattern of strong clinal variation among three broad areas consisting of the combined northeastern, central-eastern, and southern Appalachian regions, the northwestern regions, and the southern regions. Morphometric characters exhibited a general north–south pattern of geographic variation, with larger head and body sizes in southern regions. Sexual dimorphism was strong in ventral and subcaudal scales, and weak to moderate in band length and band spacing.Principal component analysis indicated that band length was the most important variable for characterizing geographic variation. The northeastern regions remained moderately distinct in all multivariate cluster analyses. The northwestern regions appeared very distinct in most cluster analyses for females. However, the clusters in all models showed extensive geographic overlap. Maps of the clusters revealed two north–south patterns of clinal variation across the northeastern, northwestern, and southern regions. The discordant patterns of variation among individual characters, overlapping patterns of coloration, and extensive overlap among the multivariate clusters collectively indicate that the putative zones of intergradation among recognized subpopulations of C. horridus are much broader than previously thought. Furthermore, because the general patterns of geographic variation are strongly clinal, our results support the conclusion that C. horridus is a single widespread species with variation too extensive and complex to be reflected by formal subspecific designations.