cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
THE NUTRITION OF DIPLOCARPON ROSAE

THE NUTRITIONAL REQUIREMENTS of Diplocarpon ro,sae (Lib.) Wolf, the pathogen causing black spot of roses, have received little attention from workers in the field of phytopathology or fungus physiology. Wolf (1912) described the life cycle of the fungus and Aronescu (1934) made a detailed study from spore germination to haustorium development. Neither reported any attempts at cultural studies. Extensive work in relation to the control of the disease offers little information on the growth requirements in culture of this slow-growing fungus. Frick (1943) studied the growth habit of D. rosae in culture using malt agar as a substrate. The essence of her cultural work was to determine any differences in the rates of growth, growth patterns and color changes among the isolates obtained from many species of infected roses. She did not establish cultural differences as a means of identifying races of this pathogen. The rates of growth were based on colony diameters. The growth habit of this fungus on an agar medium is such that the bulk of mycelium produced ramifies deep into the agar rather than forming a surface mat. Surface measurements neglect the thickness of the colony and also the mycelium buried deeply in the agar. Determinations of the rate of growth by such measurements tend to be inconsistent and relatively unreliable. The need for a quantitative cultural study using synthetic media instigated the present work. The points considered during the course of this investigation were the most readily utilized carbohydrate source, the utilization of various nitrogen compounds, the vitamin requirements, and growth and sporulation. MATERIALS AND METHODS.-Three cultures of D. rosae were obtained from Dr. J. A. Jump, University of Notre Dame. The first two of these had been originally supplied by Dr. E. W. Lyle of the Texas Rose Research Foundation and Dr. W. W. Dimock, Cornell University, whereas the culture from the middle west was isolated from the rose plot at the University of Notre Dame. The cultures were designated respectively (T) , (I) and (ND) . The basal-synthetic culture medium was the glucose-asparagine medium of Lilly and Barnett (1951) adjusted to pH 6.0. Fifty-ml. aliquots were pipetted into 300-ml. Erlenmeyer flasks which were then stoppered with gauze-covered cotton plugs and auto-
Modeling of optical bending losses in multimode waveguides by ray tracing

Existing numerical methods of optical waveguide modeling are generally not applicable to the multimode regime because of the enormous computing power required. We have found that a ray tracing algorithm can be useful in modeling multimode waveguides. To test the method, a commercial ray tracing software package was used. Two sets of numerical data from literature on multimode waveguide bending losses were compared with predictions of the ray tracing models; results agree well with the data. This technique can be applied in multimode waveguide design where previous methods were too computing-intensive.
Reaction of certain isocyanates with azomethines. Evidence for a new heterocyclic adduct

The preparation of triazinone (I) from certain isocyanates and N-alkyl azomethines was found to proceed easily without catalyst, particularly in refluxing chlorobenzene. The physical and chemical properties, including n.m.r. spectra of the oily triazinones, are contrasted with the newly discovered solid adducts arising from low temperature reaction of azomethine and chlorophenyl isocyanates. From stoichiometry of the reaction, elemental analysis, molecular weight of the products, and spectral analyses, the new materials (II) were found to incorporate two isocyanate and three azomethine moieties in their molecular make-up. The relative merits are considered for assigning II a molecular structure arising from a complex between a four and six-membered ring (III, IV) versus a ten-membered ring system (V, VI, VIa).
Learning from external environments using Soar

Soar, like the previous PRODIGY and Theo, is a problem-solving architecture that attempts to learn from experience; unlike them, it takes a more uniform approach, using a single forward-chaining architecture for planning and execution. Its single learning mechanism, designated 'chunking', is domain-independent. Two developmental approaches have been employed with Soar: the first of these allows the architecture to attempt a problem on its own, while the second involves a degree of external guidance. This learning through guidance is integrated with general problem-solving and autonomous learning, leading to an avoidance of human interaction for simple problems that Soar can solve on its own.
Intuition on boundaries, shocks and smoothing with PDEs

When drawing or painting, many artists capture visual appearance with a coarse-to-fine sequence of boundaries and shadings. Many begin with a sketch of large, important scene features and then gradually add finer, more subtle details. Initial sketches of a painting may hold sharply defined boundaries around large, smoothly shaded regions for the largest, highest contrast and most important scene features. The artist then adds more shadings and boundaries to build up fine details, to fill in the visually empty regions and to capture rich detail everywhere. Such a procedure implicitly defines a hierarchical or coarse-to-fine scene decomposition, and we can use edge preserving filter operations such as the bilateral filters and PDEs to construct a similar decomposition for detail-preserving contrast reduction. This detail hierarchy is based on scene boundaries and shadings, an approach markedly different from the bandpass linear filter decompositions (e.g. image pyramids) that may suffer from halo artifacts. A suitable method for contrast reduction will produce no such halos.
Terahertz microfluidics for on-chip detection and identification of biomolecular compositions and conformations

In this paper, the authors demonstrated that microfluidic devices can be used to perform on-chip THz spectroscopy of biomolecules and chemical agents with high signal-to-noise ratios.
Towards a logic for wide-area Internet routing

Interdomain routing is a massive distributed computing task that propagates topological information for global reachability. Today's interdomain routing protocol, BGP4, is exceedingly complex because the wide variety of goals that it must meet---including fast convergence, failure resilience, scalability, policy expression, and global reachability---are accomplished by mechanisms that have complicated interactions and unintended side effects. The complexity of wide-area routing configuration and protocol dynamics requires mechanisms for expressing wide-area routing that adhere to a set of logical rules. We propose a set of rules, called the routing logic, which can be used to determine whether a routing protocol satisfies various properties. We demonstrate how this logic can aid in analyzing the behavior of BGP4 under various configurations. We also speculate on how the logic can be used to analyze existing configuration in real-world networks, synthesize network-wide router configuration from a high-level policy language, and assist protocol designers in reasoning about new routing protocols.
In situ determination of the quantum yield of phytoplankton chlorophyll a fluorescence: A simple algorithm, observations, and a model

Vertical profiles of the in situ quantum yield of fluorescence of chlorophyll a, ff, were derived with an algorithm from spectral underwater radiometer measurements. Select inherent optical properties were obtained from an initial radiance reflectance inversion that was optimized by comparing retrieved estimates of phytoplankton absorption with independent measurements. The comparison of chlorophyll concentrations produced by the algorithm to measured values allowed validation of the inversion. Fluorescence quantum yield values were calculated from the retrieved phytoplankton absorption and the upwelling radiance corrected for elastic and inelastic scattering. Raman scattered light was found to be a significant component of the upwelling light field at wavelengths of Chla fluorescence. Values of ff determined using the algorithm, and therefore derived solely from the radiometer measurements, were not significantly different from those estimated using independent measurements of absorption by phytoplankton (r 2 5 0.86). The profiles of ff were characterized by an initial increase with depth to a subsurface maximum followed by a subsequent decrease. The irradiances of the subsurface maxima and ff at high irradiances appeared to be well conserved. An irradiance-based model including photochemical and nonphotochemical quenching was developed to explain variations in the quantum yield.
Emergency Neurological Life Support: Intracranial Hypertension and Herniation

Sustained intracranial hypertension and acute brain herniation are "brain codes," signifying catastrophic neurological events that require immediate recognition and treatment to prevent irreversible injury and death. As in cardiac arrest, a brain code mandates the organized implementation of a stepwise management algorithm. The goal of this emergency neurological life support protocol is to implement an evidence-based, standardized approach to the evaluation and management of patients with intracranial hypertension and/or herniation.
Monitoring and Adjusting System to Prevent Compartment Syndrome

In the U.S. 7.9 million people suffer from fractures and require casts. Development of compartment syndrome (CS) may compromise blood flow to muscles and nerves with resultant tissue damage. There is a clinical need for a CS prevention system that seeks to continuously monitor and adjust cast size and to provide room for swelling of an extremity fracture. This CS prevention system is intended to provide a safe, economical, and less distressing method to monitor and control swelling related problems associated with casting of extremity fractures, decreasing the $1.4 billion annual cost of invasive surgeries.
Locating uniform-colored text in video frames

In this paper a method is proposed for locating horizontal, uniform-colored text in video frames. It was observed that when a row of pixels across such a text region is clustered in perceptually uniform L*a*b* color space, the pixels of one of these clusters would belong to the text strokes. These pixels would appeal as a line of short streaks on the row since a typical text region has many vertical and diagonal strokes. The proposed method examines every third row of the the image and checks whether this row passes through a horizontal text region. For a given row R, the pixels of R are hierarchically clustered in L*a*b* space and each cluster is tested whether similar-colored pixels in R's vicinity are possibly part of a text region. Candidate text blocks are marked by heuristics using information about the cluster's line of shell streaks. The detected text blocks are fused with the text regions. The method was tested on key frames of several video sequences and was able to locate a wide variety of text.
Retrospective case series of primary and secondary microvascular free tissue transfer reconstruction of midfacial defects.

Abstract Statement of Problem. Midfacial defects arising from tumor extirpation or trauma may involve any portion of the central area of the face, including the palate, maxilla, orbit, lip, and/or nose. Speech, mastication, swallowing, and cosmesis are significantly impaired and present a unique challenge to the reconstructive surgeon. Purpose. This study evaluated the functional and cosmetic success of both soft tissue and osteocutaneous free flap reconstruction of the midface. Material and Methods. A retrospective chart review of 34 patients who underwent primary and secondary free flap reconstruction of the midface was conducted. The main outcome measures were perioperative complications, diet, speech intelligibility, type of dental restoration, and cosmetic result. Results. Fifteen patients underwent soft tissue free flap reconstruction of the midface. Six of these patients also had additional nonvascularized free cranial bone grafts to improve restoration of the orbitozygomatic region. Nineteen patients who might have required osseointegrated implants to anchor a dental prosthesis underwent osteocutaneous free flap reconstruction. Thirty-three of 34 free flaps survived, and wound complications were minimal. After surgery, 20 patients were able to eat a regular diet and 14 a soft diet. All patients had intelligible speech over the telephone. Ten patients used a dental prosthesis (5 conventional and 5 implant-borne). Cosmesis was judged to be excellent in 12 patients, good in 15 patients, fair in 5 patients, and poor in 2 patients. Conclusion. In the patients reviewed, free flap reconstruction of the midface was completed in a single stage and created a reproducible, permanent separation of the oral and sinonasal cavities with adequate speech and swallowing. (J Prosthet Dent 2001;86:369-76.)
Sad to say: is it time for sorrow management theory?

Terror Management Theory (TMT) research often asks respondents to describe their personal death. This exposure enables the testing of hypotheses regarding defenses (“buffers”) against the anxious awareness of death. Curiously, though, the respondents' narratives are not analyzed or reported. The present study offers a qualitative analysis of 209 college student narrative responses provided for this purpose by TMT researchers Jeff Greenberg and Nathan Heflick. The narratives are reviewed with attention to affect (adjectives), semantic structure, and theme. Many responses are marked by anxiety, but sorrow is also pervasive. Individual differences in response substance and structure invite further exploration. It is suggested that our understanding of the response to personal death threat could be enhanced by encompassing sorrow as well as anxiety within the same conceptual framework. Several specific hypotheses and suggestions are offered.
B69-1 Digital Computer System Principles

There seem to be two kinds of computer scientists: those who hate software and those who hate hardware. This dichotomy in our field has generated many problems, such as unprogrammable computers, ridiculous software fixes for essentially hardware problems, and the development of hardware devices for which no sane programmer has any conceivable need. Similarly, the textbooks in our field display this same problem: each discusses either hardware or software, but rarely does it adequately cover both.
Toxoplasma gondii infection specifically increases the levels of key host microRNAs.

BACKGROUND The apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii can infect and replicate in virtually any nucleated cell in many species of warm-blooded animals; thus, it has evolved the ability to exploit well-conserved biological processes common to its diverse hosts. Here we have investigated whether Toxoplasma modulates the levels of host microRNAs (miRNAs) during infection. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Using microarray profiling and a combination of conventional molecular approaches we report that Toxoplasma specifically modulates the expression of important host microRNAs during infection. We show that both the primary transcripts for miR-17 approximately 92 and miR-106b approximately 25 and the pivotal miRNAs that are derived from miR-17 approximately 92 display increased abundance in Toxoplasma-infected primary human cells; a Toxoplasma-dependent up-regulation of the miR-17 approximately 92 promoter is at least partly responsible for this increase. The abundance of mature miR-17 family members, which are derived from these two miRNA clusters, remains unchanged in host cells infected with the closely related apicomplexan Neospora caninum; thus, the Toxoplasma-induced increase in their abundance is a highly directed process rather than a general host response to infection. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE Altered levels of miR-17 approximately 92 and miR-106b approximately 25 are known to play crucial roles in mammalian cell regulation and have been implicated in numerous hyperproliferative diseases although the mechanisms driving their altered expression are unknown. Hence, in addition to the implications of these findings on the host-pathogen interaction, Toxoplasma may represent a powerful probe for understanding the normal mechanisms that regulate the levels of key host miRNAs.
Amino acid residue specific stable isotope labeling for quantitative proteomics

Various stable isotope labeling (SIL) techniques have recently emerged to improve the efficiency and accuracy of protein quantitation by mass spectrometry (MS). We have developed a mass-tagging strategy to incorporate stable isotope tagged amino acids into cellular proteins in a residue-specific manner during cell growth. In this study, we further extend this residue-specific SIL approach to the accurate quantitation of protein abundances in different cell populations. For proteins whose expression levels are the same in cells grown in the normal and labeled media, the relative areas of the normal (light) and labeled (heavy) isotopic peaks are linearly correlated with the cells mixing ratios. This approach was first used to determine the effect of the zinc-responsive transcription factor Zap1 on the yeast proteome. Ten protein spots from a PAGE gel were chosen randomly and their differential protein expression levels in wild-type and zap1Δ cells were readily determined by the isotopic ratio. Methionine synthase (Met6) was identified to be up-regulated more than four times in the zap1Δ mutant strain whereas the expression level of other nine proteins remained unchanged. Further, we applied this strategy to study the cellular response to radiation in human skin fibroblast cells. Analyzing one protein band randomly selected from SDS-PAGE, the expression level of a novel protein was found to increase two-fold in response to radiation whereas the expression level of a control protein remained unchanged. This strategy is generally applicable using any particular type of amino acid as the labeling precursors for accurate quantitation of protein relative abundances. Published in 2002 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Analysis of a denial of service attack on TCP

The paper analyzes a network based denial of service attack for IP (Internet Protocol) based networks. It is popularly called SYN flooding. It works by an attacker sending many TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) connection requests with spoofed source addresses to a victim's machine. Each request causes the targeted host to instantiate data structures out of a limited pool of resources. Once the target host's resources are exhausted, no more incoming TCP connections can be established, thus denying further legitimate access. The paper contributes a detailed analysis of the SYN flooding attack and a discussion of existing and proposed countermeasures. Furthermore, we introduce a new solution approach, explain its design, and evaluate its performance. Our approach offers protection against SYN flooding for all hosts connected to the same local area network, independent of their operating system or networking stack implementation. It is highly portable, configurable, extensible, and requires neither special hardware, nor modifications in routers or protected end systems.
Sizes and interfacial free energies of crystallites formed from fractionated linear polyethylene

Replicas of fracture surfaces of fractions of linear polyethylene, which were crystallized at elevated temperatures for extended time periods, were examined by electron microscopy. Striated. lamella-type crystallites were observed for all molecular weights over the range 3.2 × 103−5.7 × 105. In agreement with Anderson's previous report, for molecular weights of 12,000 or less, the crystallite thicknesses were comparable to the extended chain length. As the molecular weight increased above this level, however, the crystallite sizes increased only slightly and hence at high molecular weights were very much smaller than the extended chain length. From the measured melting temperatures, crystallite interfacial free energies were calculated from the theory for the melting of finite size crystals comprised of chains of finite length. The crystallite interfacial free energy was found to increase with molecular weight. Based on these results, a crystallization process is outlined which allows for the formation of either extended chain crystallites, or crystallites whose size is much smaller than the extended chain length without any change in nucleation mechanism or arbitrary adjustment in growth mechanism with molecular weight.
The Validity Argument of a Web-Based Spanish Listening Exam: Test Usefulness Evaluation

This study describes research used for supporting a validity argument for a new Spanish Listening Exam, whose scores are intended to place examinees into appropriate levels of university Spanish classes. This study contributes to the field of argument-based approaches to language assessment by implementing Bachman's (2005) assessment use argument framework. The validity argument is supported by research providing backing for three warrants pertaining to the quality of inference that can be made on the basis of examinees' performance. These warrants, based on three qualities of test usefulness (Bachman & Palmer, 1996), guided test development and research toward a placement test with the purpose of grouping students according to their levels of language ability within the framework of the communicative approach for learning Spanish.
Capnography outside the operating rooms.

ISTORICALLY, anesthesiologists seem to be the forerunners in implementing tools and standards for safety in the medical fraternity. In the United States, since 1985, there has been a dramatic decrease in the malpractice insurance premiums of anesthesiologists. Such a decrease has not been seen in other medical or surgical specialties over this time frame. Thanks to the foresight of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF), Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI), and the Association of Anesthesiologists in Holland, capnography was embraced and incorporated into the standards of monitoring during anesthesia to enhance patient safety. Currently, anesthesiologists in many developing countries follow these recommendations (India, Government of Andhra Pradesh Order, AST/775/F25/dated September 2011. Capnography is mandatory for laparo
Hierarchical State Estimation Applied to Wide-Area Power Systems

This paper discusses the application of the hierarchical state estimation technique to wide-area monitoring. A wide-area network comprised of a large number of interconnections between various utilities requires monitoring of the entire system. Hierarchical state estimation can be modified to consolidate the state outputs from the existing state estimators of the individual entities in a wide area. This type of estimation is faster than an integrated state estimate of a wide area. However, problems such as delay of state output arrival, loss of state output of an area, overlap of areas and asynchronism of state estimate cycle occur. These problems are addressed in this research through the modification of the traditional hierarchical state estimation. Specifically, synchronized phasors are used in the hierarchical state estimation structure to improve the performance of the overall state estimation. The state estimator is run on the IEEE 118 bus system with phasor measurements in a selected number of buses. The results of the use of phasor measurements in various levels of the hierarchical state estimation are presented here.
Image error resilient and video error concealment codes for wavelet compression and noisy channel communication

Video compression strategy consists of a tacit tradeoff of the spatial redundancy, whose spatial singularities are captured ef- ficiently in terms of zero-phase symmetric wavelet transform (WT) subband coefficients, with their temporal redundancy. On the other hand, the redundancy is robust under noisy channel, and further- more, an over reduction spatially may hurt the temporal correspon- dence principle yielding a large frame rate reduction. The video error resilient codes are built upon the single frame error resilient codes, which must have known positions partitioned carefully in order to protect against wireless channel errors during transmission of the discrete WT coefficients. These coefficients have been compressed based on the traditional compression scheme using scalar quanti- zation, runlength, and Huffman coding. The discrete WT biorthogo- nal (7, 9) wavelet is used. The code is illustrated with relatively good performance for (480348038 bits) forward-looking infrared images, compressed at up to 0.09 bits per pixel, and bit error rates at about
Exposing Color Blindness/Grounding Color Consciousness Challenges for Teacher Education

As teacher educators we have been struck by the consistency, urgency, and frequency in which students employ color-blind perspectives. This orientation has negative consequences in K-12 settings. I...
Design and evaluation of prosodically-sensitive concatenative units for a Korean TTS system

This paper describes the design and evaluation of prosodically-sensitive concatenative units for a Korean text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis system. The diphones used are prosodically conditioned in the sense that a single conventional diphone is stored as different versions taken directly from the different prosodic domains of the prosodically labeled, read sentences. The four levels of the Korean prosodic hierarchy were observed in the diphone selection process, thereby selecting four different versions of each diphone: three edge diphones from the prosodic domains of the intonational phrase (IP), accentual phrase (AP) and prosodic word (PW), and a non-edge diphone from the domain of the prosodic word. Due to the size of the corpus that we employed, our system covers only 36.4% of the 6503 possible diphones. A listening experiment designed to evaluate the quality of the diphone database showed that listeners preferred stimuli composed of prosodically appropriate diphones. We interpret this as supporting the view that segments carry prosodic domain information.
Patterns of beta-blocker intensification in ambulatory heart failure patients and short-term association with hospitalization

In response to the short-term negative inotropic and chronotropic effects of β-blockers, heart failure (HF) guidelines recommend initiating β-blockers at low dose with gradual uptitration as tolerated to doses used in clinical trials. However, patterns and safety of β-blocker intensification in routine practice are poorly described. We described β-blocker intensification among Kaiser Colorado enrollees with a primary discharge diagnosis of HF between 2001–2009. We then assessed β-blocker intensification in the 30 days prior to first hospital readmission for cases compared to the same time period following index hospitalization for non-rehospitalized matched controls. In separate analysis of the subgroup initiated on β-blocker after index hospital discharge, we compared adjusted rates of 30-day hospitalization following initiation of high versus low dose β-blocker. Among 3,227 patients, median age was 76 years and 37% had ejection fraction ≤40% (LVSD). During a median follow up of 669 days, 14% were never on β-blocker, 21% were initiated on β-blocker, 43% were discharged on β-blocker but never uptitrated, and 22% had discharge β-blocker uptitrated; 63% were readmitted and 49% died. β-blocker intensification occurred in the 30 days preceding readmission for 39 of 1,674 (2.3%) readmitted cases compared to 27 (1.6%) of matched controls (adjusted OR 1.36, 95% CI 0.81-2.27). Among patients initiated on therapy, readmission over the subsequent 30 days occurred in 6 of 155 (3.9%) prescribed high dose and 9 of 513 (1.8%) prescribed low dose β-blocker (adjusted OR 3.10, 95% CI 1.02-9.40). For the subgroup with LVSD, findings were not significantly different. While β-blockers were intensified in nearly half of patients following hospital discharge and high starting dose was associated with increased readmission risk, the prevailing finding was that readmission events were rarely preceded by β-blocker intensification. These data suggest that β-blocker intensification is not a major precipitant of hospitalization, provided recommended dosing is followed.
Association of human apolipoprotein E with lipoproteins secreted by transfected McA RH7777 cells.

To examine the association of apolipoprotein (apo) E with nascent hepatic lipoproteins we have prepared stable transfectants of the rat hepatoma cell line McA RH7777 expressing the human apoE3 cDNA. When the na- scent lipoproteins secreted from control cells were sepa- rated on fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) col- umns, rat apoE was detected in the very low density (VLDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) fractions, while rat apoA-I was found in the HDL and lipoprotein free frac- tions. Human apoE was also associated with the VLDL and HDL particles secreted from the transfected McA RH7777 cells. Expression of human apoE resulted in a significant decrease in the amount of rat apoA-I associated with the lip- oprotein particles. Rat apoE was also displaced, but to a lesser extent. Infection of McA RH7777 cells at different multiplicities of infection with recombinant adenoviral vec- tor containing the human apoE cDNA indicated that rat apoA-I was decreased in the HDL fractions at lower levels of expression of human apoE than was rat apoE. The HDL particles were further examined by immunoblotting of non- denaturing gradient gels and by non-denaturing immuno- precipitation. The results indicate that the high density lipoprotein (HDL) particles are heterogeneous in size and apolipoprotein composition with the majority of the rat and human apolipoproteins being located on different particles. These results suggest that the profile and concentration of HDL apolipoproteins produced in hepatocytes influences the assembly of the various subsets of secreted HDL.— Reardon, C. A., L. Blachowicz, K. M. Watson, E. Barr, and G. S. Getz. Association of human apolipoprotein E with lip- oproteins secreted by transfected McA RH7777 cells. J. Lipid Res. 1998. 39: 1372-1381.
Verifying Small Sample Bootstrap Estimates of Species Interactions

Qualms about bootstrap confidence intervals have led to the development of new techniques with the added complexities of bias estimation and acceleration constants. These complications make the current theory appear almost Ptolemaic to the uninformed. Furthermore, bootstrap estimates based on small samples must be interpreted with caution. It seems prudent and advisable to look at other analyses to, at least partially, verify bootstrap results in small samples. Here, we analyze using the bootstrap and traditional nonparametric and parametric tests the results of a small scale perturbation experiment in ecological research to assess the importance of the interspecific interactions of competition, predation, and mutualism.
Intraerythrocyte and plasma lactate concentrations during exercise in humans

The purpose of this study was to examine plasma and intraerythrocyte lactate concentrations during graded exercise in humans. Seven adult volunteers performed a maximum O2 uptake ( $$\dot V_{O_{_2 max} } $$ ) test on a cycle ergometer. Plasma and intraerythrocyte lactate concentrations (mmol · L−1 of plasma or cell water) were determined at rest, during exercise, and at 15-min post-exercise. The results show that plasma and intraerythrocyte lactate concentrations were not significantly different from each other at rest or moderate (⩽50% $$\dot V_{O_{_2 max} } $$ ) exercise. However, the plasma concentrations were significantly increased over the intraerythrocyte levels at 75% and 100% $$\dot V_{O_{_2 max} } $$ . The plasma to red cell lactate gradient reached a mean (±SE) 1.7±0.4 mmol · L−1 of H2O at exhaustion, and was linearly (r=0.84) related to the plasma lactate concentration during exercise. Interestingly, at 15-min post-exercise the direction of the lactate gradient was reversed, with the mean intraerythrocyte concentration now being significantly increased over that found in the plasma. These results suggest that the erythrocyte membrane provides a barrier to the flux of lactate between plasma and red cells during rapidly changing blood lactate levels. Furthermore, these data add to the growing body of research that indicates that lactate is not evenly distributed in the various water compartments of the body during non-steady state exercise.
Mechanics of relative and absolute displacements across normal faults, and implications for uplift and subsidence along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, California

The magnitude of late Cenozoic rock uplift of the Sierra Nevada (California, USA) remains unresolved despite more than a century of investigation, with estimates ranging from essentially zero to ∼3 km of uplift at the range crest. Two sets of two-dimensional end-member mechanical models bracket how normal faulting along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada contributed to uplift of the range over a time span of millions of years. The short-term models are based on dislocations in an elastic half-space. The long-term models involve thin elastic beams resting on an inviscid fluid. Both sets of models predict that if the regional topography were entirely a response to faulting along the eastern escarpment, then the bedrock floors immediately east of the range should consistently lie thousands of meters below sea level, instead of thousands of meters above sea level as they generally do. Both sets of analyses indicate that although faulting would lift the range crest, it would drop the rock east of the range-front faults at least as much, and perhaps much more; model results suggest that ∼66%–85% of the current escarpment relief stems from subsidence of the grabens east of the Sierra Nevada, with only ∼15%–34% resulting from crestal uplift. Our results strongly indicate that range-front faulting in the last 3–10 m.y. uplifted rock at the Sierra Nevada crest by hundreds of meters to as much as 1 km, and that this uplift was superposed on high topography that predated the origin of the eastern escarpment. These conclusions are compatible with diverse geologic observations and measurements.
Prefrontal Cortical Opioids and Dysregulated Motivation: A Network Hypothesis

Loss of inhibitory control over appetitively motivated behavior occurs in multiple psychiatric disorders, including drug abuse, behavioral addictions, and eating disorders with binge features. In this opinion article, novel actions of μ-opioid peptides in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) that could contribute to inhibitory control deficits will be discussed. Evidence has accrued to suggest that excessive intra-PFC μ-opioid receptor (μ-OR) signaling alters the PFC response to excitatory drive, resulting in supernormal and incoherent recruitment of multiple PFC output pathways. Affected pathways include functionally opposed PFC→hypothalamus 'appetitive driver' and PFC→striatum 'appetitive limiter' projections. This network perturbation engenders disorganized, impulsive appetitive responses. Evidence supporting this hypothesis from human imaging and animal studies will be discussed, and combinatorial drug treatments targeting μ-ORs and specific PFC subcortical targets will be explored.
Bilateral Spontaneous Reanastomosis of the Ductus Deferens

A case report of spontaneous reanastomosis of the ductus deferens with a sperm granuloma in a 33-year old man 6 years after vasectomy is presented. The subjects wife became pregnant several months before the man sought a fertility investigation. The pregnancy terminated in a spontaneous miscarriage and the couple wished to avoid another such experience. A semen ogram showed after 30 days of continence a volume of .8 ml normal liquefaction a count of 45 million per ml viability of 65% (35% abnormal forms) and fair sperm motility. Bilateral exploration of the scrotal contents revealed a small scarred nodule approximately .5 cm in diameter on the right side; the nodule and a segment of the ductus deferens on either side of the nodule were removed. On the left no nodule could be found and a 5 cm segment of the duct was removed. Radiographs of the specimens showed continuity of both ducts that on the right having sperm granuloma. It is emphasized that the vasectomist must explain the possibility of spontaneous reanastomosis of the surgically interrupted ductus deferens to the patient. Both the husband and wife should sign a statement acknowledging this complication in order to avoid some of the marital discord that might occurr if the couple is unaware of the possibility of reanastomosis.
Etiology of Acquired Colorectal Disease: Constipation

There are many causes of acquired constipation, and unfortunately, many patients have constipation due to a combination of these. A careful patient history and evaluation is necessary in order to determine the etiology, which is outlined in succeeding chapters. It is wise to begin with the least invasive and safest treatment and then proceed with further treatment, only if this initial treatment fails. The next few years will likely see the development of more effective pharmacotherapy for slow-transit colonic constipation, and thereby greatly facilitate the treatment of affected individuals.
Global Chronic Disease: The Role of the American College of Cardiology.

Highlights As a global advocate of cardiovascular health, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) seeks to transform cardiovascular care and improve heart health worldwide. The ACC can assist with global advocacy efforts in reducing the burden of chronic diseases through our 38 international chapters, our U.S. Board of Governors, and through outreach to the U.S. government on global policy priorities. In an increasingly connected world, interorganizational collaboration is vital to solve global problems and to successfully address the challenge of promoting global cardiovascular health in the 21st century. With 52,000 global members who counsel and treat patients every day, the ACC remains steadfastly committed to achieving this goal in collaboration with like-minded partners worldwide.
The Shock-Wave Theory of Sonoluminescence

When driven into violent pulsation by a sufficiently strong source of sound, a bubble of air in water emits light, a phenomenon known as ‘sonoluminescence’. The reasons for this are not yet fully understood. The most popular explanation at this time is the shock-wave theory of sonoluminescence. This supposes that, because the bubble surface moves inwards supersonically with respect to the air in the bubble during the compressive parts of the acoustic cycle, it launches an imploding spherical shock wave that becomes so strong, as it focuses at the center of the bubble, that it ionizes the air, the observed light being emitted from the resulting plasma ball. We discuss here the structure and stability of spherical shocks in ideal and van der Waals gases, paying particular attention to similarity shocks of the Guderley type and their relevance to sonoluminescence. We discuss the status of the shock-wave theory of sonoluminescence and alternative explanations. We pose a number of theoretical challenges.
Gene expression effects of glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid receptor agonists and antagonists on normal human skeletal muscle

Mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptors are closely related steroid hormone receptors that regulate gene expression through many of the same hormone response elements. However, their transcriptional activities and effects in skeletal muscles are largely unknown. We recently identified mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) in skeletal muscles after finding that combined treatment with the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor lisinopril and MR antagonist spironolactone was therapeutic in Duchenne muscular dystrophy mouse models. The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) agonist prednisolone is the current standard-of-care treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy because it prolongs ambulation, likely due to its anti-inflammatory effects. However, data on whether glucocorticoids have a beneficial or detrimental direct effect on skeletal muscle are controversial. Here, we begin to define the gene expression profiles in normal differentiated human skeletal muscle myotubes treated with MR and GR agonists and antagonists. The MR agonist aldosterone and GR agonist prednisolone had highly overlapping gene expression profiles, supporting the notion that prednisolone acts as both a GR and MR agonist that may have detrimental effects on skeletal muscles. Co-incubations with aldosterone plus either nonspecific or selective MR antagonists, spironolactone or eplerenone, resulted in similar numbers of gene expression changes, suggesting that both drugs can block MR activation to a similar extent. Eplerenone treatment alone decreased a number of important muscle-specific genes. This information may be used to develop biomarkers to monitor clinical efficacy of MR antagonists or GR agonists in muscular dystrophy, develop a temporally coordinated treatment with both drugs, or identify novel therapeutics with more specific downstream targets.
Diverging Destinies Revisited: The Threat to Child Development and Social Mobility

Constantly increasing family social and economic inequality has a large tangible cost—that of diverging destinies for children as witnessed by trends toward lower social mobility and less equal life chances for children. In a society that prides itself on equality of opportunity, this is indeed an unfortunate development. In this commentary, I begin with a simple socioeconomic dichotomy of how babies are brought into the world depending on parents’ life course . I then discuss recent inequality-related trends that are producing different outcomes for families at the bottom and the top of the economic and social hierarchy, as well as what these patterns mean for intergenerational mobility (IGM). The commentary closes with some reflections on parenting, opportunity, mobility, policy, and diverging destinies.
Colonization and Panspermia

UFO reports cannot be regarded as establishing that extraterrestrials have visited the earth. On the other hand, if other biospheres exist in the galaxy, it is conceivable that life forms might migrate from one star to another even though the distances between stars are more immense than is realized by most people.
The Measure of Damages for Corporate Directors: International Experience (Размер ответственности членов органов управления общества: международный опыт)

In this article we research and compare the law and practice of the number of foreign countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Korea, UK and USA) with regard to the amount of damages for which the members of a company’s management organs are liable. The article focuses on the definition of “damages” to the company and judicial application and interpretation of this definition. This article is a revised, updated, and shortened version of Chapter 1.7 of the Report to Russian Center for Capital Market Development: Comparative Analysis on Legal Regulation of the Liability of Members of the Executive Organs of Companies, http://ssrn.com/abstract=1001990 (Russian version at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1001991 Краткое описание. В настоящей статье авторы попытались проанализировать законодательство и опыт различных зарубежных стран (Канада, Франция, Германия, Италия, Корея, Великобритания и США), касающийся определения размера ответственности членов органов управления акционерных обществ. Особое внимание уделено раскрытию значимых критериев, принимаемых во внимание судами, и понятия «убытков, подлежащих возмещению». Настоящая статья является сокращенной и обновленной версией главы 1.7 Отчета «О результатах сравнительного анализа правового регулирования ответственности членов органов управления хозяйственных обществ», http://ssrn.com/abstract=1001991.
Introduction: New Approaches to the Study of the Viking Age Settlement across the North Atlantic

This volume presents the results of a symposium focused on a project of archaeological research concerned with the colonization of the North Atlantic using new methods of analysis. This introduction to the volume discusses the historical and archaeological background of the study and the major questions involved. The larger issues concern the settlement of a number of the islands of the North Atlantic by Vikings during the last quarter of the first millennium AD. Questions about the timing of this settlement and the place of origin of the settlers are still subject to debate and are important components in constructing the archaeology of the Vikings. More specifically, because these methods involve human remains, the study focuses primarily on Iceland and Greenland where Norse settlements contain substantial numbers of burials, in contrast to some other locations in the North Atlantic.
Medical Treatment of Thoracic Aortic Pathologies

Thoracic aortic aneurysm disease is an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Recognizing the specific disorder responsible for the condition informs management, including screening of first-degree relatives, imaging strategies, and determining the timing of prophylactic surgery or endovascular repair. Pharmacologic therapy typically involves beta adrenergic blocking agents, which slow the heart rate and lower blood pressure. Hemodynamic benefits of beta blockers may lessen stress on the aortic wall and are beneficial in Marfan syndrome and aortic dissection. Angiotensin receptor blockers have demonstrated benefit in patients with Marfan syndrome, and ongoing trials worldwide using these agents hold the promise of additional therapy to potentially retard aortic growth. Research into underlying mechanisms of disease utilizing animal models may translate into therapies which target various signaling pathways involved in these disorders. Lifestyle modification impacting intensity of physical activity, employment, and pregnancy are important aspects of medical management of thoracic aortic diseases. Long-term imaging surveillance, before surgery and after repair, is necessary to detect aortic developing pathology.
Conformational analysis of the disaccharide methyl α-D-mannopyranosyl-(1→3)-2-O-acetyl-β-D-mannopyranoside monohydrate.

The crystal structure of methyl α-d-manno­pyranosyl-(1→3)-2-O-acetyl-β-d-manno­pyran­oside monohydrate, C15H26O12·H2O, (II), has been determined and the structural parameters for its constituent α-d-manno­pyranosyl residue compared with those for methyl α-d-manno­pyran­oside. Mono-O-acetyl­ation appears to promote the crystallization of (II), inferred from the difficulty in crystallizing methyl α-d-manno­pyranosyl-(1→3)-β-d-manno­pyran­oside despite repeated attempts. The conformational properties of the O-acetyl side chain in (II) are similar to those observed in recent studies of peracetyl­ated mannose-containing oligosaccharides, having a preferred geometry in which the C2—H2 bond eclipses the C=O bond of the acetyl group. The C2—O2 bond in (II) elongates by ∼0.02 A upon O-acetyl­ation. The phi (φ) and psi (ψ) torsion angles that dictate the conformation of the inter­nal O-glycosidic linkage in (II) are similar to those determined recently in aqueous solution by NMR spectroscopy for unacetyl­ated (II) using the statistical program MA′AT, with a greater dis­parity found for ψ (Δ = ∼16°) than for φ (Δ = ∼6°).