cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Radiocarbon ages on late pleistocene loess stratigraphy of Nebraska and Kansas, Central Great Plains, U.S.A.

In the central Great Plains of the United States, radiocarbon dating of loess and buried soils is clarifying the late Quaternary loess chronology for the period 25,000 to 10,000 BP. Along Harland Lake, Nebraska, a soil developed in the Gilman Canyon Formation and overlain by Peoria Loess has radiocarbon ages on soil humates of 30,700 to 21,500 BP. At one site, two Picea charcoal bands in the lower meter of Peoria Loess have radiocarbon ages of 21,250 and 19,730 BP. Therefore, in the vicinity of Harlan Lake, deposition of Peoria Loess apparently began around 21,000 BP. Peoria Loess deposition appears to have been interrupted by an episode of river entrenchment prior to 12,600 BP. Spring activity shortly thereafter suggests that incision was coeval to an increase in effective moisture. The termination of Peoria Loess deposition is marked by the Brady Soil, which in the Harlan Lake area has radiocarbon ages on soil humates of 11,800 to 10,200 BP. Comparison of the Harlan Lake chronology with chronologies completed elsewhere in the central Great Plains reveals general synchrony among periods of pedogenesis and Peoria Loess deposition. Little is known, however, about vegetation conditions in the region when loess was accumulating. Charcoal has been noted chiefly in the basal Peoria Loess, suggesting that some trees were present during initial Peoria Loess deposition. The extent of this tree cover is unknown, however. Charcoal is rare in the middle and upper Peoria Loess.
Changes in Flexed Posture, Musculoskeletal Impairments, and Physical Performance After Group Exercise in Community-Dwelling Older Women

Abstract Katzman WB, Sellmeyer DE, Stewart AL, Wanek L, Hamel KA. Changes in flexed posture, musculoskeletal impairments, and physical performance after group exercise in community-dwelling older women. Objective To determine whether improvements in flexed posture, strength, range of motion (ROM), and physical performance would be observed after 12 weeks of group exercise in older women who because of age are prone to flexed posture and impaired physical function. Design Pretest-posttest of outcome measures. Setting Outpatient academic medical center. Participants Twenty-one women with thoracic kyphosis of 50° or greater. Intervention Multidimensional group exercise performed 2 times a week for 12 weeks. Main Outcome Measures Primary dependent measures of flexed posture included kyphosis, forward head, and height. Other dependent measures included spinal extensor muscle strength; shoulder, hip, and knee ROM; balance; modified Physical Performance Test (PPT); jug test; and gait speed. Results Baseline kyphosis was 57°±5.0°, and age was 72.0±4.2 years. There were significant improvements in usual (−6°±3°) and best kyphosis (−5°±3°) ( P P P P P r =0.5, P =.02; r =.42, P =.055, respectively). Conclusions Multidimensional group exercise reduced measured kyphosis and improved strength, ROM, and physical performance. This study provides a promising exercise intervention that may improve posture and physical performance in older women with flexed posture.
Streptococcal pyomyositis : Case report and review

Pyomyositis is most often associated with Staphylococcus aureus infections after trauma. We describe an unusual presentation of pyomyositis of the chest wall secondary to group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus infection in a 15-month-old child with acute abdominal symptoms. In addition, the patient had no history or evidence of trauma to the affected area. Pyomyositis presenting in this manner secondary to group A beta-hemolytic streptococcus infection in the absence of a primary varicella infection has not been previously reported.
Endogenous Reactivation of Epstein-Barr Virus Infections

In a prior systematic community survey, 20 adults were found to have antibodies to viral capsid antigen (VCA) and early antigen (EA) OF Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in serum. The presence of the latter antibody suggested a recent response to EBV. In the present study the significance of antibody to EA was more extensively evaluated by examination of the sera of these adults for the presence of EBV-specific IgM antibodies (EBV-IgM) and antibodies to EBV nuclear antigen (EBVNA). Sera of a matched group of adults with antibodies to VCA but without antibodies to EA were compared with those of the 20 adults with antibodies to EA (anti-EA-positive). In the anti-EA-positive group, 19 specimens of serum contained EBV-IgM, 16 contained elevated titers of antibodies to VCA, and 20 contained antibodies to EBVNA. The sera of the matched group had neither detectable EBV-IgM nor elevated titers of antibodies to VCA; however, all sera had antibodies to EBVNA. None of the individuals gave a history of an infectious mononucleosis-like illness. It was suggested that the majority, if not all, of the anti-EA-positive group were manifesting a host immune response to endogenous reactivation of latent EBV. It is of interest that the presence of EBV-IgM was part of this response.
Two-tiered universal newborn screening strategy for severe combined immunodeficiency

Outcomes for infants with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) would be improved by universal newborn screening, but there are not yet screening tests of sufficient accuracy for the disorder. In a pilot study, we assessed the ability of a two-tiered strategy to improve accuracy. Dried blood samples from patients were assessed with two tests for lymphopenia: interleukin-7, a T-cell growth cytokine, and TRECs, a byproduct of T-cell receptor recombination. IL-7 screening has a specificity of 96.1% and TRECs have a specificity of 92.3%. Combining these tests in a two-tiered strategy increases specificity to 100% (97-100% CI). Sensitivity was 85% for IL-7 screening and 100% for TREC screening. A two-tiered strategy may be of sufficient accuracy to enable universal SCID screening, and should be assessed in a prospective trial.
An automatic beam positioning system for low energy ion beams

Abstract A system is described for automatically translating and deflecting ion beams by feedback-controlled electrostatic deflectors to fix the beam position independent of accelerator and quadrupole focusing conditions.
MSE template size analysis for MSTAR data

Analysis of statistical pattern recognition algorithms is typically performed using stationary, gaussian noise to simplify the analysis. An example is the excellent paper titled, `Effects of Sample Size in Classifier Design', which was written by Keinosuke Fukunaga and Raymond Hayes and published in the August 1989 issue of IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. One of the main conclusions of this paper is that more training samples will improve the estimation of classifier design parameters and classifier performance. This conclusion is valid when the observed signatures are stationary. However, when the observed signatures are non-stationary, as is the case for the synthetic aperture radar data collected for the Moving and Stationary Target Acquisition and Recognition program, more samples can actually corrupt the design parameter estimation process and lead to degraded performance. This fact has been known for some time, which explains the standard practice of designing templates at various pose angles. However, no theory currently exists to determine the optimum number of signatures to use in the template design process. This paper presents some initial work to determine the optimum number of samples to use.
Electrostatic component of self-focusing electron streams

Relativistic electron streams are shown to be both electrostatically and magnetically self-focusing; the electrostatic component can dominate. Moreover, steady-state reverse currents exist allowing steady-state stream currents in excess of the Alfv\'en limit. Many diverse phenomena (ion acceleration, stepped beam head and net current behavior, strong microwave generation) can be quantitatively understood as simultaneous-pinch phenomena. Limiting energies for axial acceleration of ions are given. Stream radius, focal length, limiting current, stream particle temperature, and plasma particle densities are calculated from initial conditions and are in agreement with experimental data. Conditions for target-implosion fusion studies are specified.
Ageing: Genetic rejuvenation of old muscle

In advanced age, the stem cells responsible for muscle regeneration switch from reversible quiescence to irreversible senescence. Targeting a driver of senescence revives muscle stem cells and restores regeneration. See Article p.316 One of the properties crucial to the function of adult mammalian stem cells is the capacity to remain in a quiescent state for prolonged periods — and to respond when the need to regenerate arises. Loss of skeletal muscle mass and function are common features of advanced ageing in humans, associated with a loss of regenerative capacity of the skeletal muscle stem cells, known as satellite cells. Pura Munoz-Canoves and colleagues show that ageing satellite cells undergo an irreversible transition from quiescence to a pre-senescence state associated with increased expression of p16INK4a, a tumour-suppressor protein that has been identified as a marker for senescence. Repression of p16INK4a during adult life is shown to maintain satellite cells in a reversible quiescence state that allows muscle regeneration; p16INK4a is dysregulated in human geriatric satellite cells and the potential for muscle regeneration is lost.
Isolation of enterotoxin structural gene deletion mutations in Vibrio cholerae induced by two mutagenic vibriophages.

Abstract Phenotypically nontoxinogenic mutants of Vibrio cholerae were isolated after infection with either of two mutagenic vibriophages, VcAI and VcA2ctsl. DNA isolated from these mutants was analyzed for toxin gene sequences by the Southern blotting method with 32P-labeled probes derived from the cloned A and B subunit genes for the heat-labile enterotoxin of Escherichia coli, designated LT. Several of the mutant isolates were shown by this method to have lost all sequences hybridizing to the LT probes, indicating that these clones contain deletion mutations that removed the structural gene(s) for cholera toxin. The mutants were prototrophic and grew normally, in vitro, demonstrating that the toxin is not essential for the growth and viability of V. cholerae. Moreover, the toxin gene deletion mutants multiplied well in vivo in ligated rabbit intestine. Because of these growth properties and the stability of deletion mutations, these strains are promising candidates for testing as live oral vaccine strains for protection against cholera.
An improved unified network protocol framework for large-scale wireless sensor networks

Rapid technological advances in wireless communication have made it possible for networking sensor devices. Given the low computation and battery power capacities of these sensor nodes, the key design factors of network protocols are self-configuring, energy-efficient, adaptive, and scalable. We presented the multi-hop infrastructure network architecture (MINA) for a wireless sensor network consisting of a few hundred sensors that communicate data to a base station (BS) . 1 We designed a Unified Network Protocol Framework for MINA that encompasses network organization, medium access control (MAC) and routing protocols. In this paper, we improve it by adaptively varying transmission range to maintain network connectivity. It is a derivative-free optimization algorithm. The BS periodically evaluates the objective function, chooses the appropriate transmission range and broadcasts it to the sensor nodes that then update the transmission range. The advantages are: (i) Avoids the disconnectivity; (ii) Maximizes the number of nodes that can be connected to the BS, (iii) Minimizes the energy x delay metric and (iv) Avoids the hot-spot nodes in the network. The performance in terms of delay, throughput, energy consumption and network lifetimes, is studied in detail using discrete-event simulation compared with other protocol. The results show that the it is energy efficient in a large scale network.
Physical mapping of the trp endpoint in the n-tL segment of phage lambda trpE-A.

Abstract In the transducing phage λ trp E-A, the region between the att site and gene N is replaced by the trp operon. The right terminus of the trp 60-3 substitution is within the imm 21 region just to the left of gene N at 71.8 %λ units, measured from the left terminus of the mature λpapa genome. These measurements are consistent with the notion that it is the deletion of the t L terminator which permits the p L -promoted transcription to extend from the λ genome into the trp operon, even when synthesis of the N product is blocked by chloramphenicol. The t L site must therefore be located within an area between the 71.1 %λ ( imm 21) and 71.8 %λ ( trp 60-3) boundaries.
Optically and Magnetically Doped Organically Modified Silica Nanoparticles as Efficient Magnetically Guided Biomarkers for Two-Photon Imaging of Live Cancer Cells†

We report here solution-phase synthesis of multifunctional nanoprobes for imaging live cancer cells. More specifically, quantum dots (QDs) and magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles were coencapsulated wi...
Development and characterization of a neutron detector based on a lithium glass-polymer composite

Abstract We report on the fabrication and characterization of a neutron scintillation detector based on a Li-glass–polymer composite that utilizes a combination of pulse height and pulse shape discrimination (PSD) to achieve high gamma rejection. In contrast to fast neutron detection in a PSD medium, we combine two scintillating materials that do not possess inherent neutron/gamma PSD properties to achieve effective PSD/pulse height discrimination in a composite material . Unlike recoil-based fast neutron detection, neutron/gamma discrimination can be robust even at low neutron energies due to the high Q-value neutron capture on 6Li. A cylindrical detector with a 5.05 cm diameter and 5.08 cm height was fabricated from scintillating 1 mm diameter Li-glass rods and scintillating polyvinyltoluene. The intrinsic efficiency for incident fission neutrons from 252Cf and gamma rejection of the detector were measured to be 0.33% and less than 10−8 , respectively. These results demonstrate the high selectivity of the detector for neutrons and provide motivation for prototyping larger detectors optimized for specific applications, such as detection and event-by-event spectrometry of neutrons produced by fission.
“The Power that Beautifies and Destroys”: Sabina Spielrein and “Destruction as a Cause of Coming into Being”

Sabina Spielrein has mostly been known, if at all, as the patient with whom Carl Jung became romantically involved and who then turned to Freud for advice. While the boundary violation alarmed Freud and became the catalyst for his technical papers on transference, Spielrein’s own intellectual contributions have seldom been acknowledged. It is as if this early trauma in the history of psychoanalysis and analytic psychology created a dissociative erasure of Spielrein’s story and her work. This article offers a look into Spielrein’s own work as an analyst and theorist, with particular emphasis on her 1911 paper “Destruction as a Cause of Coming into Being,” which she read shortly after her admission to Freud’s circle—the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society—around the time of the “great divorce” between Jung and Freud. Included here is a summary of the paper, situating it in Spielrein’s biography, as well as a discussion of the reception of the paper in her own time and more recently. Spielrein’s little-known works—including an early conceptualization of the so-called “death instinct” later formulated by Freud—give evidence for Spielrein’s rightful place as a pioneer of psychoanalysis. The article ends with an exploration of how Spielrein’s fearless theoretical, religious, and mythological ideas enriched her creative work but at the same time may have blinded her to the deadly reality of the Holocaust, which cost Spielrein her life.
Complex motor stereotypies: an evolving neurobiological concept

Complex motor stereotypies are repetitive arm and/or hand flapping, waving and wiggling movements that begin before the age of 3 years, occur repeatedly throughout the day and stop with distraction. These movements are commonly seen in children with autism, but also appear in otherwise normally developing individuals labelled as primary. Although proposed to have a psychological and neurobiological mechanism, evidence suggests that there is an abnormality within the corticostriatal–thalamocortical circuitry or its connecting structures. Animal models include both drug-induced (i.e., via stimulants or cocaine) and spontaneously appearing prototypes. Neurochemical investigations, primarily in rodents, have identified a variety of neurotransmitter alterations, with an emphasis on dopamine or glutamate; however, findings are inconsistent. We hypothesize that, based on its various roles in controlling and modulating movements, the frontal cortex will ultimately be shown to be the prime site of abnormality in t...
The effect of protein synthesis inhibitors on the glycosylation site occupancy of recombinant human prolactin

The relationship between synthesis and N-linked glycosylation site occupancy of recombinant human prolactin produced from C127 cells was studied with the aid of a battery of protein synthesis inhibitors. Non-lethal concentrations of sodium fluoride, gougerotin, puromycin, anisomycin, and emetine did not alter site occupancy, but low concentrations (<10μg ml-1) of cycloheximide increased the fraction of secreted prolactin bearing oligosaccharide from 20% to 80% of the total. Cycloheximide is an inhibitor of the elongation step of protein synthesis. The observed increase in glycosylation site occupancy upon addition of cycloheximide is consistent with the current opinion that the initial glycosylation event occurs cotranslationally during a limited time period. Cycloheximide may extend this time period by reducing elongation rate. However, the absence of any effect from treatment with other inhibitors of elongation suggests that cycloheximide is unique in its behavior on this system.
A numerical study of rotating annulus flows using a modified Galerkin method

Physical phenomena fundamental to rotating, baroclinically driven flows are studied with reference to results of numerical simulation of rotating annulus flows, using a modified Galerkin Model. Both local and global effects of sources, sinks, and transports of heat and momentum are discussed. A convenient ‘energy exchange” diagram reveals detailed information that is used to analyze nonlinear equilibration and amplitude vacillation of quasi-geostrophic baroclinic eddies. Transient inertial oscillations, sidewall boundary layers, and internal boundary layers are also discussed. A detailed study of symmetric flows is made, eleven of which are tested numerically for stability with respect to three-dimensional disturbances of a given zonal wave number. Two of the four unstable cases are integrated to a numerical steady state with finite-amplitude, quasi-geostrophic baroclinic waves. With the ‘rigid-lid’ geometry assumed, the average zonal velocity is zero, resulting in zero phase velocity of the waves. The structure of the thermal wave is nearly coherent in the vertical. These numerical results are consistent with laboratory observations. The eddy flow is quasi-geostrophic except in horizontal boundary layers, where the flow is driven toward low pressure. A small cross-isotherm advection is sufficient to maintain the temperature wave against diffusion and vertical advection. The eddy flow adjusts spontaneously toward the form of the fastest growing or slowest decaying disturbance representable by the truncated space resolution. The eddy flow feeds energy into the mean zonal flow in ‘barotropic-type’ interactions reflected mainly by the familiar ‘tilted trough’. During equilibration, the eddy flow alters the mean zonal flow in such a way that eddy energy sources are reduced relative to energy sinks. However, this adjustment is small compared to the change of total flow, which reflects a relatively large change of eddy amplitude. This suggests that small errors in the mean zonal flow representation can lead to relatively large errors in total flow representation. In most flows studied the kinetic energy dissipation is concentrated in thin boundary layers. In spite of this thinness, the basically laminar character of these dissipative boundary layers allows accurate and economical numerical simulation through the use of characteristic functions, which is a natural refinernent of the basic Galerkin method used. (In this prototype study, only “moderately characteristic’ functions are used, thus sacrificing numerical economy while simplifying the programming.) Similarly, the generation of potential energy, which is transformed into the kinetic energy of the flow, is accurately simulated. In most cases studied, this generation is also concentrated in thin boundary layers where thermal energy is extracted from cold fluid and added to warm fluid.
Modification of metal surfaces by the laser melt-particle injection process☆

Abstract The laser melt-particle injection process was used to accomplish diverse modifications in the structure and chemistry of metal surfaces. This process consists in melting a shallow pool on the surface of a metal with a high power laser beam and injecting fine particles into the melt. In this paper we discuss wear-resisting surfaces produced by injecting TiC particles into the surfaces of 5052 aluminum and by surface alloying the same base metal with silicon. The operating conditions employed in the surface-alloying experiments were very similar to those used for carbide injection, but nearly complete dissolution of the injected silicon particles occurred during alloying while the injected carbide particles did not dissolve to any detectable degree. Previous experiments with this process have all been conducted at reduced pressure in an inert gas. The surface alloying and some of the carbide injection work described here were done at atmospheric pressure using a powder injection nozzle with inert gas shielding.
EFFECTS OF MECHANICAL AGITATION AND OF TEMPERATURE UPON COMPLEMENT

1. Under certain conditions, mechanical agitation destroys the complementary activity of guinea pig serum. It is most injurious when carried out constantly at a temperature of 37 degrees C., but it is extremely insignificant at 10 degrees C. After the first few hours at 37 degrees C., the destruction of complement proceeded much more rapidly, and after six hours it was almost complete. On the other hand, within one hour shaking had almost no destructive effect on complement, even at 37 degrees C. From this we may conclude that the several shakings which are necessary for fixation experiments during incubation do not modify perceptibly the outcome of the reactions. 2. The rate of destruction of the complement of guinea pig serum at temperatures above 45 degrees C. is progressively greater as it approaches 55 degrees C., at which temperature the activity is reduced in thirty minutes to one-thirtieth to one-fortieth of the original strength of the unheated serum; but it is not completely destroyed, as is commonly assumed. The velocity of destruction of guinea pig complement when exposed to 55 degrees C. for various lengths of time is found to be quite irregular, and not proportional to the length of time. This irregularity, however, presents a certain rhythm, a period of greater destruction alternating with one of less destruction.
Phenology-Based Assessment of Perennial Energy Crops in North American Tallgrass Prairie

Biomass is the largest source of renewable energy in the United States, and corn ethanol currently constitutes the vast majority of the country's biofuel. Extended plantation of annual crops for bi...
Shape-preserving, multiscale interpolation by bi- and multivariate cubic L1 splines

We introduce a class of bi- and multivariate cubic L"1 interpolating splines, the coefficients of which are calculated by minimizing the sum of the L"1 norms of second derivatives. The focus is mainly on bivariate cubic L"1 splines for C^1 interpolation of data located at the nodes of a tensor-product grid. These L"1 splines preserve the shape of data even when the data have abrupt changes in magnitude or spacing. Extensions to interpolation of regularly spaced and scattered bi- and multivariate data by cubic and higher-degree surfaces/hypersurfaces on regular and irregular rectangular/quadrilateral/hexahedral and triangular/tetrahedral grids are outlined.
Recurrence rates for loosely Markov dynamical systems

The concept of loosely Markov dynamical systems is introduced. We show that for these systems the recurrence rates and pointwise dimensions coincide. The systems generated by hyperbolic exponential maps, arbitrary rational functions of the Riemann sphere, and measurable dynamical systems generated by infinite conformal iterated function systems are all checked to be loosely Markov. 2000 Mathematics subject classification: primary 37C45; secondary 37C40, 37F35, 37A25.
Foam Finishing Treatment of Cotton Fabrics with Formaldehyde Part II: Formaldehyde Properties

A fractional factorial design of experiments was used in studying the formaldehyde release and bound formaldehyde content of cotton printcloth treated with formaldehyde (HCHO). Foam application of the HCHO with Zn(NO3)2.6H2 O catalysis was used at wet pickups (WPU) up to 40%. Statistical analysis of the formaldehyde property data by multiple stepwise regression indicated that interactions of processing variables were responsible for (or correlated with) a substantial portion of the variability in the formaldehyde release and bound formaldehyde properties. The multiple regression model equation for bound formaldehyde did not contain the reaction time variable.
The Male Homosexual: Age-Related Variations in Social and Psychological Characteristics

The folk view of age and the male homosexual is that the older the homosexual the less his sociosexual contact with other homosexuals due to a premium on youth in the homosexual world; and that the “old” homosexual is lower in psychological well being as a result of this sociosexual situation. The data reported in this paper support the social, but not the psychological, folk description. An explanation for this discrepancy between the folk view and the research data is given with regard to the perspective of the persons who provide the folk view and to the adjustments which seem to be associated with the aging process in general. The social and psychological situation of the “young” homosexual is also given special attention.
Interpretation of Resistance Changes During Interconnect Reliability Testing

Accelerated reliability testing of VLSI layered metallizations involves monitoring the resistance of interconnect test structures under the assumption that changes in the resistance are due to processes (i.e., damage) which are induced by the test conditions (current and/or temperature.) “Failure” of the interconnect is defined as a somewhat arbitrary increase in fractional resistance ΔR/R0 ≈ +10% to +30%, where R0 is the initial resistance. However interpretation of the measured AR/R0 (both positive and negative) is complicated by other processes, the test conditions, and the test structure itself which all contribute to AR/Ro. We estimate the magnitude of intrinsic factors, such as vacancies and solute effects, as well as extrinsic factors, such as interconnect strain and voiding, on measured on AR/Ro. We also show that localized joule heating at voids (a mixed intrinsic + extrinsic effect) principally accounts for the large AR/Ro measured during electromigration (i.e., high current) testing. These results suggest improved methods for the detection of interconnect voids induced by the stresses of passivation confinement. We outline the considerations which allow for more rigorous failure criteria which are scalable to any metallization layer scheme, interconnect length and test condition. Finally, we discuss the interpretation of resistance changes at interlevel via structures.
Modeling DCT coefficients for fast video encoding

Digital video coding standards such as H.263 and MPEG are becoming more and more important for multimedia applications. Due to the huge amount of computations required, there are significant efforts to speed up the processing of video encoders. Previously, the efforts were mainly focused on the fast motion-estimation algorithm. However, as the motion-estimation algorithm becomes optimized, to speed up the video encoders further we also need to optimize other functions such as the discrete cosine transform (DCT) and inverse DCT (IDCT). In this paper, we propose a theoretical model for DCT coefficients. Based on the model, we develop an adaptive algorithm to reduce the computations of DCT, IDCT, quantization, and inverse quantization. We also present a fast DCT algorithm to speed up the calculations of DCT further when the quantization step size is large. We show, by simulations, that significant improvement in the processing speed can be achieved with negligible video-quality degradation, We also implement the algorithm in a real-time PC-based platform to show that it is effective and practical.
What forecasts (seem to) mean

A forecast is just the set of probabilities attached to a set of future events. In order to understand a forecast, all one needs to do is to interpret those two bits of information. Unfortunately, there are pitfalls to communicating each element, so that the user of a forecast understands what its producer means. One source of potential problems is ambiguity regarding the event being predicted and what exactly is being said about it. Another is the difficulty of determining the relevance of the problem that the forecaster has solved for the problem that the user is facing. Problems can also arise out of epistemological and sociological issues of trust and context. A simple framework is offered for considering these communication problems and is then illustrated with a mixture of systematic data and anecdotal observation. The criticality of these different problems is considered, along with procedures that might reduce them.
20-HETE mediates ozone-induced, neutrophil-independent airway hyper-responsiveness in mice.

BACKGROUND Ozone, a pollutant known to induce airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR), increases morbidity and mortality in patients with obstructive airway diseases and asthma. We postulate oxidized lipids mediate in vivo ozone-induced AHR in murine airways. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Male BALB/c mice were exposed to ozone (3 or 6 ppm) or filtered air (controls) for 2 h. Precision cut lung slices (PCLS; 250 microm thickness) containing an intrapulmonary airway ( approximately 0.01 mm(2) lumen area) were prepared immediately after exposure or 16 h later. After 24 h, airways were contracted to carbachol (CCh). Log EC(50) and E(max) values were then calculated by measuring the airway lumen area with respect to baseline. In parallel studies, dexamethasone (2.5 mg/kg), or 1-aminobenzotriazol (ABT) (50 mg/kg) were given intraperitoneal injection to naive mice 18 h prior to ozone exposure. Indomethacin (10 mg/kg) was administered 2 h prior. Cell counts, cytokine levels and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) for lipid analysis were assessed in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid from ozone exposed and control mice. Ozone acutely induced AHR to CCh. Dexamethasone or indomethacin had little effect on the ozone-induced AHR; while, ABT, a cytochrome P450 inhibitor, markedly attenuated airway sensitivity. BAL fluid from ozone exposed animals, which did not contain an increase in neutrophils or interleukin (IL)-6 levels, increased airway sensitivity following in vitro incubation with a naive PCLS. In parallel, significant increases in oxidized lipids were also identified using LC-MS with increases of 20-HETE that were decreased following ABT treatment. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE These data show that ozone acutely induces AHR to CCh independent of inflammation and is insensitive to steroid treatment or cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibition. BAL fluid from ozone exposed mice mimicked the effects of in vivo ozone exposure that were associated with marked increases in oxidized lipids. 20-HETE plays a pivotal role in mediating acute ozone-induced AHR.
Textural and viscoelastic changes of canned biscuit dough during microwave and conventional baking

Textural changes of canned biscuit wheat dough during microwave and conventional baking were described and contrasted using empirical methods. Drastic increases of specific volume and modulus of elasticity were observed in the beginning and the ending periods of both baking processes. Weight loss showed a significantly (p < 0.001) linear relationship with baking time forboth baking methods, but the weight loss rate constant for microwave baking was 0.36%/s significantly (p < 0.01) higher than conventional baking. Multi-dimensional Scaling showed that microwave baking for 50 s best resembles the textural characteristics of wheat dough under conventional baking for 10 min. Stress relaxation modeling indicated that microwave baking produced higher viscosity and modulus of elasticity values which translates into baked biscuits with undesirable tougher texture.
A Non-Poissonian Element in the Seismicity of the Northeastern United States

Earthquakes of M ≥ 2.7 (1975-2000) in the accreted-terranes region of the northeastern United States are more temporally clustered than expected from a random process. This clustering is evident even when aftershocks have been removed from the earthquake catalog. The distances between clustered event pairs are uniformly distributed between 20 km and over 400 km. It is not clear why this clustering is occurring. Curiously, statistically significant temporal clustering was not found for earthquakes from nearby Quebec on the North American craton. Manuscript received 24 July 2001.
Disciple Cognitive Agents: Learning, Problem Solving Assistance, and Tutoring

Over the years we have researched a computational theory and technology that allows regular computer users who are not knowledge engineers to develop intelligent agents that incorporate their problem solving expertise [1--7]. This resulted in a series of increasingly more powerful Disciple cognitive agents that integrate several complementary capabilities. They are able to learn, directly from their users, their subject matter expertise, which currently takes years to establish, is lost when experts separate from service, and is costly to replace. They can assist their users in solving complex problems in uncertain and dynamic environments, and they can tutor students in expert problem solving. Disciple agents have been developed for a wide variety of domains, including manufacturing [1], education [2], course of action critiquing [3], center of gravity determination [4, 5], and intelligence analysis [6]. The most recent Disciple agents incorporate a significant amount of generic knowledge from the Science of Evidence, allowing them to teach and help their users in discovering and evaluating evidence and hypotheses, through the development of Wigmorean probabilistic inference networks that link evidence to hypotheses in argumentation structures that establish the relevance, believability and inferential force of evidence [7].
The System Sodium Fluoride—Alumina Investigated by Quenching Methods

Alumina was found to react with sodium fluoride on fusion to produce sodium aluminate and cryolite according to the reaction 6NaF + 2Al22c3= 3NaA102+ Na3A1F6. An insoluble sodium aluminate phase was observed under the polarizing microscope in samples quenched from as high as 1400°C. The equilibrium crystallization temperature of sodium fluoride in the presence of solid sodium aluminate was found to be slightly depressed with added alumina. A maximum lowering of 6°C was found for a starting alumina content of 5.4%. Further alumina additions resulted in the secondary precipitation of β-Al2O3. The shallow depression of the sodium fluoride crystallization temperature and the observed limited alumina solubility are attributed to the formation of cryolite. The composition of the liquid in equilibrium with sodium aluminate and sodium fluoride or sodium aluminate and β-alumina is represented in terms of the pseudo-ternary system NaF-Al2O3-Na3A1F6.
Somatic Cell Mutants Resistant to Retrovirus Replication: Intracellular Blocks during the Early Stages of Infection

To identify cellular functions involved in the early phase of the retroviral life cycle, somatic cell mutants were isolated after selection for resistance to infection. Rat2 fibroblasts were treated with chemical mutagens, and individual virus-resistant clones were recovered after selection for resistance to infection. Two clones were characterized in detail. Both mutant lines were resistant to infection by both ecotropic and amphotropic murine viruses, as well as by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 pseudotypes. One clone showed a strong block to reverse transcription of the retroviral RNA, including formation of the earliest DNA products. The second clone showed normal levels of viral DNA synthesis but did not allow formation of the circular DNAs normally found in the nucleus. Cell fractionation showed that the viral preintegration complex was present in a form that could not be extracted under conditions that readily extracted the complex from wild-type cells. The results suggest that the DNA was trapped in a nonproductive state and excluded from the nucleus of the infected cell. The properties of these two mutant lines suggest that host gene products play important roles both before and after reverse transcription.
An Analysis of Near-Surface Winds, Air Temperature, and Cyclone Activity in Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica, from 1993 to 2009

Abstract In September 2009, the first unmanned aerial vehicles were flown over Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica, to collect information regarding air–sea interactions. Prior to the field season, wind and temperature data from a local automatic weather station (AWS) were collected from 1993 to 2007 and compared with an August–October 2006–08 satellite cyclone analysis to place the September 2009 observations into a broader context. AWS wind data revealed a strong tendency toward downslope flow in the region regardless of season, as the majority (55%) of winds were from the west to northwesterly directions. Most winds observed at the site were less than 20 m s−1, but 83% of the stronger winds were associated with downslope flow. Of 15 strong wind events (greater than 20 m s−1 for more than 10 h) evaluated during the cyclone analysis period, 100% occurred in the presence of a cyclone in the adjacent Ross Sea. Winter experienced the greatest number of strong wind events (68%), and summer had the least (4%). Most te...
Beyond Self and Other

Today there is a tendency to do ethics on the basis of what I should like to call the “self-other model.” On this view, an action has no moral worth unless it benefits others–and not even then, unless it is motivated by altruism rather than selfishness. This radical rift between self-interest and virtue traces back at least to Philo of Alexandria (c. 20 b.c.–50 a.d.), according to whom, “lovers of self, when they have stripped and prepared for conflict with those who value virtue, keep up the boxing and wrestling until they have either forced their opponents to give in, or have completely destroyed them.” More recently, the distinction between those who value themselves and those who “value virtue” has been drawn sharply by Bernard Williams: “[I]n moral theory … it is not the Kantian leap from the particular and the affective to the rational and universal that makes all the difference; it is rather the Humean step–that is to say, the first Humean step–from the self to someone else.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention definition of mucosal barrier injury-associated bloodstream infection improves accurate detection of preventable bacteremia rates at a pediatric cancer center in a low- to middle-income country.

Background The US National Healthcare Safety Network has provided a definition of mucosal barrier injury-associated, laboratory-confirmed bloodstream infection (MBI-LCBI) to improve infection surveillance. To date there is little information about its influence in pediatric oncology centers in low- to middle-income countries. Objectives To determine the influence of the definition on the rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and compare the clinical characteristics of MBI versus non-MBI LCBI cases. Methods We retrospectively applied the National Healthcare Safety Network definition to all CLABSIs recorded at a pediatric oncology center in Tijuana, Mexico, from January 2011 through December 2014. CLABSI events were reclassified according to the MBI-LCBI definition. Clinical characteristics and outcomes of MBI and non-MBI CLABSIs were compared. Results Of 55 CLABSI events, 44% (24 out of 55) qualified as MBI-LCBIs; all were MBI-LCBI subcategory 1 (intestinal flora pathogens). After the number of MBI-LCBI cases was removed from the numerator, the CLABSI rate during the study period decreased from 5.72-3.22 infections per 1,000 central line days. Patients with MBI-LCBI were significantly younger than non-MBI-LCBI patients ( P = .029) and had a significantly greater frequency of neutropenia (100% vs 39%; P = .001) and chemotherapy exposure (87% vs 58%; P = .020) and significantly longer median hospitalization (34 vs 23 days; P = .008). Conclusion A substantial proportion of CLABSI events at our pediatric cancer center met the MBI-LCBI criteria. Our results support separate monitoring and reporting of MBI and non-MBI-LCBIs in low- to middle-income countries to allow accurate detection and tracking of preventable (non-MBI) bloodstream infections.
Nonlinear Analysis of Morphological Interactions between Flow and Interface Shape in the Directional Solidification of a Binary Alloy

A Finite-element Newton algorithm is used to solve the coupled equations for thermosolutal convection and morphological structure for a two-dimensional model for binary alloy solidification. The calculations of the states that evolve from the convective branch demonstrate the development of large amplitude deflections in the melt/solid interface that are similar to the cellular interface shapes caused by morphological instability.
Nerve Entrapments: An Update

Since neurapraxia and axonotmesis may be differentiated by electrodiagnostic techniques, these will be reviewed briefly
The Economic Origins of the Territorial State

This paper challenges the long-standing belief that changes in patterns of war and war making caused the emergence of large territorial states. Using new data describing the universe of European states between 1100 and 1790, I find that small political units continued to thrive well into the “age of the territorial state.” Some scholars have argued that changes in the production of violence led to the dominance of geographically large political units during this era. In contrast, I find evidence that variation in patterns of economic development and urban growth caused fragmented political authority in some places and the construction of geographically large territorial states in others. Exploiting random climatic deviations in the propensity of certain geographical areas to support large populations, I show via an instrumental-variables approach that the emergence of towns and cities caused the formation of small and independent states.
A longitudinal, observational study with many repeated measures demonstrated improved precision of individual survival curves using Bayesian joint modeling of disability and survival.

Background/Study Context: It has not been previously demonstrated whether Bayesian joint modeling (BJM) of disability and survival can, under certain conditions, improve precision of individual survival curves.Methods: A longitudinal, observational study wherein 754 initially nondisabled community-dwelling adults in greater New Haven, Connecticut, were observed on a monthly basis for over 10 years.Results: In this study, BJM exploited many monthly observations to demonstrate, relative to a separate survival model with adjustment, improved precision of individual survival curves, permitting detection of significant differences between survival curves of two similar individuals. The gain in precision was lost when using only those observations from intervals of 6, 9, or 12 months.Conclusion: When there are many repeated measures, BJM of longitudinal functional disability and interval-censored survival can potentially increase the precision of individual survival curves relative to those from a separate surv...
Pathologic Quiz Case A 49-Year-Old Woman With a Left Axillary Mass

The patient was a 49-year-old African American woman with an unremarkable medical history who noted a left axillary mass that had been slowly enlarging for the past year. The mass was uncomfortable but painless. Multiple imaging studies were performed; magnetic resonance imaging studies of the left axilla revealed a large, well-circumscribed, 15 3 15 3 12-cm lobulated mass located between the latissimus dorsi and the pectoralis major muscles (Figure 1). The mass was heterogeneous as demonstrated by the irregular enhancement following contrast material. Also, a left subclavian angiography showed the well-vascularized nature of this neoplasm. A diagnostic biopsy was performed following embolization. A wide surgical excision was performed 2 months later.
The Prozone Effect Accounts for the Paradoxical Function of the Cdk-Binding Protein Suc1/Cks

Previous work has shown that Suc1/Cks proteins can promote the hyperphosphorylation of primed Cdk1 substrates through the formation of ternary Cdk1-Cks-phosphosubstrate complexes. This raises the possibility that Cks proteins might be able to both facilitate and interfere with hyperphosphorylation through a mechanism analogous to the prozone effect in antigen-antibody interactions, with substoichiometric Cks promoting the formation of Cdk1-Cks-phosphosubstrate complexes and suprastoichiometric Cks instead promoting the formation of Cdk1-Cks and Cks-phosphosubstrate complexes. We tested this hypothesis through a combination of theory, proof-of-principle experiments with oligonucleotide annealing, and experiments on the interaction of Xenopus cyclin B1-Cdk1-Cks2 with Wee1A in vitro and in Xenopus extracts. Our findings help explain why both Cks under-expression and overexpression interfere with cell-cycle progression and provide insight into the regulation of the Cdk1 system.