cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Postnatal maturation of total cell content and up‐regulated surface expression of Mac‐1 (CD11b/CD18) in polymorphonuclear leukocytes of human infants

Markedly deficient expression of mem- brane-activated complex 1 (Mac-1; CD11b/CD18) by polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) of hu- man neonates compared with adults is well docu- mented. To define postnatal maturation of Mac-1 expression of PMN, lysates of PMN from 21 in- fants, aged 1-14 months, and concurrent adult controls were assayed by ELISA for total cell con- tent of Mac-1 and LFA-1 (CD11a/CD18), and LFA-1 content was within the normal adult range at all ages tested. Mac-1 content was 50% of adult levels for infants 1-2 months of age and steadily increased to reach normal adult levels by 11-12 months of age. For a separate group of 25 infants, aged 0.5-11 months, measurement of surface ex- pression of Mac-1 and LFA-1 on activated PMN by immunofluorescence flow cytometry yielded re- sults that were similar to those obtained by ELISA. J. Leukoc. Biol. 84: 477-479; 2008.
Some recent developments in clinical neuropsychology

Abstract Three areas of current interest in clinical neuropsychology are reviewed; qualitative vs. quantitative assessment, the impact of Luria on clinical neuropsychology, and different approaches to rehabilitation of brain damaged patients. Major issues in these areas are reviewed with regard to their current status, their implications for professional practice, and the theoretical and methodological controversies that have arisen in these areas among neuropsychologists of differing orientations. Attempts are made to predict some future directions of clinical neuropsychology in the assessment and rehabilitation areas.
Some properties of bivariate Gumbel Type A distributions with proportional hazard rates

Abstract We call a set of univariate distributions with the same mathematical form but different parameter values a family J . Consider a bivariate Gumbel Type A survival distribution, S12(x1, x2), defined in (2.1), for which both marginal distributions, S1(x1), S2(x2), belong to the same family, J of distributions. It is proved in this paper that subject to weak conditions, the crude hazard rates, h1(t) and h2(t), are proportional if and only if the marginal hazard rates, λ1(t) and λ2(t), are proportional (Theorem 1). It is also shown that the survival functions of W = min(X1, X2), and of the identified minimum, Wi = Xi, for Xi J as do S1(x1), S2(x2) (Corollary 1). Counter-examples of distributions other than Gumbel Type A, for which these properties do not hold, are given. Some applications to the analysis of competing risks, using a family of Gompertz distributions, are discussed.
Taurine regulation of Ca2+ uptake and (Ca2+ + Mg2+)-ATPase in developing chick B-cells☆

1. 1. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of age and taurine on chick B cell calcium uptake and membrane (Ca2+ + Mg2+)-ATPase activity in 1–4-week-old chicks. 2. 2. The calcium uptake rate decreased with age (P < 0.05) and was further decreased by taurine (P < 0.05). 3. 3. (Ca2+ + Mg2+)-ATPase activity increased with age (P < 0.05) and was stimulated by taurine (P < 0.05). 4. 4. The data demonstrate that the flux of calcium across the B-cell membrane changes during early post-hatch development, and that taurine regulates both the influx and efflux of calcium in chick B-cells.
Differential activation of parts of the latissimus dorsi with various isometric shoulder exercises

As no study has examined whether the branches of the latissimus dorsi are activated differently in different exercises, we investigated intramuscular differences of components of the latissimus dorsi during various shoulder isometric exercises. Seventeen male subjects performed four isometric exercises: shoulder extension, adduction, internal rotation, and shoulder depression. Surface electromyography (sEMG) was used to collect data from the medial and lateral components of the latissimus dorsi during the isometric exercises. Two-way repeated analysis of variance with two within-subject factors (exercise condition and muscle branch) was used to determine the significance of differences between the branches, and which branch was activated more with the exercise variation. The root mean squared sEMG values for the muscles were normalized using the modified isolation equation (%Isolation) and maximum voluntary isometric contraction (%MVIC). Neither the %MVIC nor %Isolation data differed significantly between muscle branches, while there was a significant difference with exercise. %MVIC was significantly higher with shoulder extension, compared to the other isometric exercises. There was a significant correlation between exercise condition and muscle branch in the %Isolation data. Shoulder extension and adduction and internal rotation increased %Isolation of the medial latissimus dorsi more than shoulder depression. Shoulder depression had the highest value of %Isolation of the lateral latissimus dorsi compared to the other isometric exercises. Comparing the medial and lateral latissimus dorsi, the medial component was predominantly activated with shoulder extension, adduction, and internal rotation, and the lateral component with shoulder depression. Shoulder extension is effective for activating the latissimus dorsi regardless of the intramuscular branch.
Explanatory style and health

Explanatory style, the habitual way an individual explains the causes of bad and good events, is reliably associated with future health. In this article, we review evidence from three studies which demonstrate a significant relationship between pessimism (the belief that bad events are caused by internal, stable, and global factors and good events are caused by external, unstable, and specific factors) and an increased risk for infectious disease, poor health, and early mortality. We suggest two possible mechanisms which might mediate the link between pessimism and poor health. Finally, we propose that interventions aimed at changing a pessimistic outlook might lower the probability of future illness.
Microcomputers in Media Centers—Selecting Software

There is no computer topic today more widely discussed, that occupies more pages in the popular and academic journals than computer software. It is said to be sparse, nonexistent, ineffective, “junk,” inaccurate, incomprehensible, unsuitable, etc. Software is essential to the efficacy of any school computer operation, yet rarely purchased concomitant with the equipment itself. Originally, vendors gave away software with every hardware purchase. Today, school practitioners recommend that schools should budget twice the cost of the hardware for appropriate materials. The New York Times, in an article entitled “Computers: The Action's in Software,” reveals much about the economics of a field that is just beginning its rapid growth phase (November 8, 1981). Indeed, schools may come to the realization with this technology that equipment without software is a projector without a film, a phonograph without a record.
Free amino acid and dipeptide changes in the body fluids from Alzheimer's disease subjects.

Our aim was to determine changes in free amino acid (FAA) and dipeptide (DP) concentrations in probable Alzheimer’s disease (pAD) subjects compared with control (CT) subjects using liquid chromatography and electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LCMS2). We recruited gender- and age-matched study participants based on neurological and neuropsychological assessments. We measured FAAs and DPs in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), plasma and urine using LCMS2 with selected reaction monitoring (SRM). Imidazole-containing FAAs (histidine, methyl-histidine), catecholamines (L-DOPA and dopamine), citrulline, ornithine, glycine and antioxidant DPs (carnosine and anserine) accounted for the major changes between CT and pAD. Carnosine levels were significantly lower in pAD (328.4 ± 91.31 nmol/dl) than in CT plasma (654.23 ± 100.61 nmol/dl). In contrast, L-DOPA levels were higher in pAD (1400.84 ± 253.68) than CT (513.10 ± 121.61 nmol/dl) plasma. These data underscore the importance of FAA and DP metabolism in the pathogenesis of AD. Since our data show changes in antioxidants, neurotransmitters and their precursors, or FAA associated with urea metabolism in pAD compared with CT, we propose that manipulation of these metabolic pathways may be important in preventing AD progression.
The Organization and Utilization of the Shelter System in Philadelphia:: Estimating Length of Stay and Turnover

This paper describes the structure of the shelter system in the City of Philadelphia and the patterns by which homeless people utilize that system. The shelter system is found to be segregated by age, gender, family and disability status, with the young single men and families concentrated in the largest facilities (capacity more than 100). A majority of the city's shelters are run on a for-profit basis, many of which are small “board and care” facilities, although the plurality of shelter beds are in large, not-for profit shelters. Data are reported which reveal an annual rate of turnover in the shelter system of approximately 6 persons per bed, with an annual “average length of stay” of 60 days per client. However, repeat users are likely to account for as much as one-third of the shelter population at any given time. Considered together, these findings suggest that, for many people, the shelters serve primarily as a short-term supplement to a restricted range of housing opportunities in the community. ...
Particle Swarm Optimization for Routing and Wavelength Assignment in Optical Networks

In this paper, we demonstrate the use of particle swarm optimization (PSO) to obtain near-optimal solutions to the NP-complete routing and wavelength assignment (RWA) problem in optical networks. More specifically, our PSO algorithm solves the RWA problem to carry the given traffic demands so that the network wavelength requirement as well as the average path lengths for the traffic is minimized. We have developed a Java based network simulator that uses our PSO algorithm to do RWA and present results of our experiments on a variety of hand-crafted and real-world networks. We compare our results with well-known theoretical results for the lower bound on the number of required wavelengths and average path lengths, and show that we can achieve optimal results in some cases and near-optimal in others, thus demonstrating the usefulness of our PSO technique. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time PSO has been used to solve the RWA problem.
Sulphur flows on Io

Flows of liquid sulfur are discussed as the sources of the variegated color patterns observed on Io. The variation of the viscosity of liquid sulfur as it cools from black to red to orange to yellow are shown to explain the black and red-black colors of the calderas, where molten sulfur reaches the surface, the red sinuous deposits presumably formed by high-viscosity laminar flows, and the yellow and orange-yellow plains, a product of rapid, turbulent flows. The sulfur allotropes responsible for these colors are preserved in the rapid quenching of molten sulfur, with a characteristic decay time under Ionian conditions estimated to be greater than the lifetime of Io. Observations of an atmospheric pressure of 10 to the -6th bar indicate that only a small fraction of Io is molten at any one time, however the entire surface is renewed in color and albedo by sulfur flows every thousand years.
Secondary Product glucosyltransferase and putative glucosyltransferase expression during Citrus paradisi (c.v. Duncan) growth and development.

Flavonoids are secondary metabolites that have significant roles in plant defense and human nutrition. Glucosyltransferases (GTs) catalyze the transfer of sugars from high energy sugar donors to other substrates. Several different secondary product GTs exist in the tissues of grapefruit making it a model plant for studying their structure and function. The goal of this investigation was to determine the expression patterns of seven putative secondary product GTs during grapefruit growth and development by quantifying mRNA expression levels in the roots, stems, leaves, flowers, and mature fruit to establish whether the genes are expressed constitutively or if one or more could be expressed in a tissue specific manner and/or developmentally regulated. Six growth stages were defined from which RNA was extracted, and expression levels were quantified by standardized densitometry of gene-specific RT-PCR products. Results show that there were variable degrees of PGT expression in different tissues and at different developmental stages. These results add to the growing knowledge base of dynamics of expression and potential regulation of secondary metabolism in Citrus paradisi.
Evaluation of the displacement value as a method to detect reduced corn wet-milling quality

ABSTRACT A procedure based on the resistance and capacitance (RC) properties of corn to calculate a displacement value (DV) was evaluated for detection of corn that had reduced wet-milling quality. In 1991 and 1992, three hybrids were dried at air temperatures between ambient and 115°C in batch dryers. Additional samples, obtained from commercial elevators in 1992, had been dried with air temperatures ranging from 52 to 136°C. A baseline reference relationship was developed between log10-resistance and capacitance with data from ambient-dried samples. A DV was defined as the horizontal distance along the capacitance axis from a sample RC data point to the baseline reference. RC properties of samples dried at air temperatures >50°C were compared to the baseline and the DV determined. Selected drying treatments were wet-milled by a laboratory-scale procedure to verify milling quality and correlation with DV. The effects attributed to hybrid and harvest moisture content on the RC properties of ambient-dried ...
Structural Hair Abnormalities in Ectodermal Dysplasia

The hair of patients with three ectodermal dysplasias--ectrodactyly ectodermal dysplasia clefting syndrome (EEC); orofacial-digital syndrome (OFD) type I; and anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia syndrome (AED)--were studied by scanning electron microscopy. While no pathognomonic abnormalities were noted for each condition, hair shaft structural defects were evident in all patients studied. The EEC clefting syndrome and OFD I shared the most deforming defects, while AED had fewer.
Edge state propagation direction in the fractional quantum Hall regime: multi-terminal magnetocapacitance experiment

Abstract The propagation direction of fractional quantum Hall effect (FQHE) edge states has been investigated experimentally via the symmetry properties of the multi-terminal capacitances of a two-dimensional electron gas. Although strong asymmetries with respect to zero magnetic field appear, no asymmetries with respect to even denominator Landau level filling factor ν are seen. This indicates that current-carrying FQHE edge states propagate in the same direction as integer QHE edge states. In addition, anomalous capacitance features, indicative of enhanced bulk conduction, are observed at ν= 1 2 and 3 2 .
Random effects selection in linear mixed models.

Nous presentons le probleme pratique important de la selection des effets aleatoires dans un modele lineaire mixte. Un modele bayesien hierarchique est utilise pour identifier tout effet aleatoire devariance nulle. L'approche proposee reparametrise le modele mixte de telle sorte que les fonctions des parametres de covariance de la distribution des effets aleatoires soient incorporees comme des coefficients de regression pour des variables latentes normales. Nous permettons aux effets aleatoires de sortir du modele en choisissant des melanges d'a priori avec des masses ponctuelles en zero pour les variances des effets aleatoires. Du fait de la reparametrisation, le modele prend une structure lineaire conditionnelle qui facilite l'utilisation de lois a priori, conjuguees et normales. Nous demontrons que les calculs a posteriori peuvent etre effectues via un algorithme simple et efficace de Monte Carlo par chaine de Markov. Les methodes sont illustrees par des donnees simulees et par des donnees reelles d'exposition prenatale au polychlorobiphenile et des donnees sur le developpement psychomoteur des enfants.
Biological methanogenesis and the CO2 greenhouse effect

It is well established that plants tend to increase net photosynthesis under increased carbon dioxide. It is also well established that a large fraction of atmospheric methane is produced by microbial metabolism of organic sediments in paddies and freshwater wetlands, where a major source of organic debris is local plant growth. As CO2 increases, it may lead to increased methane production and a resulting enhancement of the expected greenhouse warming. A rough estimate of the present rate of this biologically mediated feedback on the climate system indicates that it might account for as much as 30 percent of the observed methane increase and speed up the greenhouse forcing by as much as 15 percent.
Semiconductor-diode light sources

Electroluminescence can occur as a result of the application of a direct current at a low voltage to a suitably doped crystal containing a p-n junction. It has become apparent in recent years that in certain materials (such as gallium arsenide) and under certain conditions, the efficiency of conversion of electric energy into light can be remarkably high. Since these semiconductor light sources operate at low voltages and low currents and can be made very small, they appear attractive for use in small optical displays. Because they can be switched very rapidly and have fairly monochromatic emission properties, their applications for data transmission are also promising.
Plane-strain crack tip field and a dual-parameter fracture-criterion for non-linear fracture mechanics

Abstract Hancock and Cowling measured the critical crack tip opening displacements, δf, at fracture initiation in HY-80 steel specimens of six different configurations. δf varied from 90 μm in a deeply double-edge-cracked tensile panel to 900 μm in a single-edge-cracked tensile panel. McMeeking and Parks, and Shih and German have shown by their finite element calculations that the characteristics of the plane strain crack tip fields in both large scale yielding and general yielding are strongly dependent on specimen geometry and load level. In this study, the plane strain crack tip fields in the specimens tested by Hancock and Cowling were calculated using the finite element method. The crack tip triaxial tensile stress field is strongly affected by specimen geometric constraint, and the state of the triaxial tensile stress in a crack tip region is monitored by the ratio between the local tensile stress and the effective stress, i.e., ( σ yy / σ ), at a distance x=2δ from the crack tip. The values of ( σ yy / σ ) vary from 3.1 for the double-edge-cracked tensile panel to 1.7 for the single-edge-cracked tensile panel. The δf measured by Hancock and Cowling correlates very well with the ratio ( σ yy / σ ). δf is a measure of the fracture ductility of the material ahead of the crack tip, and the ductility decreases with an increase in the triaxial tensile stress, i.e., the ratio ( σ yy / σ ).
An analysis of job dissatisfaction and turnover to reduce global supply chain risk: Evidence from China

Abstract Suppliers’ labor problems in developing countries have emerged as a key risk in global supply chains. In China's coastal industrial zones, where most Fortune 500 companies have established their manufacturing bases, local suppliers are facing serious labor turnover problems. High labor turnover rates have caused poor quality, low productivity, and unfilled orders in supply chains. Applying a combination of quantitative techniques to determine the reasons why workers leave China's export factories, this research tries to identify the root causes of job dissatisfaction leading to turnover and provides managerial implications that may assist managers in dealing with labor-related supply chain risks.
Expression and regulation of SPARC, fibronectin, and collagen IV by dexamethasone in lens epithelial cells.

Abstract Cataract formation is a deleterious side effect of some hormone therapies, thus, it is important to understand how hormones regulate lens basement structure and function. We have examined the effects of dexamethasone (DEX) on the regulation of Secreted Protein Acidic and Rich in Cysteines (SPARC), fibronectin (FN), and collagen IV (CN IV). To radiolabel newly synthesized proteins, cultured monolayers of bovine anterior lens capsule epithelial (ALCE) cells were pulsed with [3H] proline. To identify proteins, an immunofluorescent technique, immunoprecipitation with specific antibodies, and electrophoretic separation on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) were used. DEX increased production of total proteins, whereas it specifically decreased synthesis of FN and CN IV. A decrease in FN and CN IV synthesis by DEX in ALCE cells may decrease adhesion of lens epithelium to the basement membrane (BM), which may in turn cause pathogenesis. Messenger RNAs were identified by Northern blot analyses using specific DNA probes. Treatment of lens epithelial cells with DEX causes a 100–150% up-regulation of SPARC mRNA in a concentration-dependent fashion. The increase in the expression of FN mRNA by DEX was in a dose-response fashion and varied from 50–600%. A 24-hour treatment with DEX (10−6 M) increased CN IV mRNA levels to 386% over baseline levels. Thus showing a differential upregulation by DEX of mRNAs of SPARC, FN, and CN IV. Results of nuclear run-on transcription assays indicate that regulation of RNAs by DEX may occur, in part, at the transcriptional level. The aberrant expression of lens basement membrane proteins by DEX may contribute to abnormal lens cell function and ultimately to anterior subcapsular cataract.
Complications of wrist arthroscopy.

Abstract Purpose To determine the incidence and nature of complications after arthroscopy of the wrist joint. Methods The outpatient records and surgical reports of 211 patients who had wrist joint arthroscopy were reviewed to determine type of procedure, type of anesthetic, portals used, and incidence and nature of postsurgical complications. Results We identified a total of 11 complications in our patient group (5.2%). Of these, 2 patients (0.9%) developed major complications and 9 patients (4.3%) developed minor complications. Five complications 45% were identified in the immediate postsurgical period and 6 (55%) were delayed complications. All of the minor complications resolved at latest follow-up evaluation with conservative care. Conclusions Wrist arthroscopy is a safe procedure with a low rate of major and minor complications. In spite of its limitations wrist arthroscopy remains an invaluable tool in the diagnosis and treatment of wrist joint disorders.
Upscaling of reactive mass transport in fractured rocks with multimodal reactive mineral facies

[1] This paper presents a methodology for upscaling matrix‐material transport parameters in fractured‐flow dominated systems with multimodal reactive mineral facies. The upscaling method provides a theoretical and practical link between controlled experimental results at the laboratory/bench scale and multikilometer field scales at which contaminant remediation and risk assessment are actually conducted. As sorption reactions in matrix are in part determined by mineral properties, a new conceptual model is developed to reflect the hierarchical structure of reactive mineral facies at the microform, mesoform, and macroform scales. The conceptual model of hierarchical reactive matrix mineral facies is integrated with a dual‐porosity model for simulating diffusion of solutes out of fractures and sorption onto the matrix minerals. By assuming that sorption reactions primarily occur in the rock matrix, we develop a multimodal spatial random function for characterizing both the tortuosity (physical heterogeneity) and sorption coefficient (chemical heterogeneity) at different scales in the rock matrix. The effective tortuosity at the field scale is derived by volume averaging of mass transfer coefficient for a conservative species. Subsequently, using a sorbing species (e.g., uranium), we derive the equations for upscaling the sorption coefficients in a saturated, fractured‐rock system for field‐scale simulations. The effective field‐scale tortuosity and sorption coefficient are related to their mean, variance, integral scale, and domain size along a pathway through a three‐ dimensional flow field. The upscaled values increase with the integral scale and are larger than their geometric mean. Simulations conducted with upscaled sorption coefficients and tortuousities are compared very well with high‐resolution Monte Carlo simulations capturing the parameter spatial variations. Results of this study can be extended to explore scaledependenceofotherimportant transportparametersforfractured‐rocksolutetransport. Citation: Deng, H., Z. Dai, A. Wolfsberg, Z. Lu, M. Ye, and P. Reimus (2010), Upscaling of reactive mass transport in fractured rocks with multimodal reactive mineral facies, Water Resour. Res., 46, W06501, doi:10.1029/2009WR008363.
Relationship Between Obstetric Analgesia and time of Effective Breast Feeding

The Infant Breast-feeding Assessment Tool (IBFAT) was used to assess the time of effective breast feeding in 48 healthy term infants born to mothers having their first or second baby. Infants of mothers who received an analgesia (butorphanol or nalbuphine) in labor (n = 26) were compared with infants whose mothers did not receive any labor analgesia (n = 22). Timing of the administration of labor analgesia was also examined with infants whose mothers received no analgesia or analgesia within an hour of birth compared with infants whose mothers received analgesia more than one hour before birth. Infants of first-time breast-feeding mothers took longer to establish effective feeding compared with infants of second-time breast-feeding mothers. Male infants also took longer. Labor analgesia significantly affected mother-rated IBFAT scores when initiation time was considered. Infants who received analgesia within an hour of birth, or no analgesia, and who initiated breast feeding early, established effective feeding significantly earlier than infants with longer duration of analgesia and later initiation of breast feeding.
Convergence of dorsal, dpp, and egfr signaling pathways subdivides the drosophila neuroectoderm into three dorsal-ventral columns.

An important question in neurobiology is how different cell fates are established along the dorsoventral (DV) axis of the central nervous system (CNS). Here we investigate the origins of DV patterning within the Drosophila CNS. The earliest sign of neural DV patterning is the expression of three homeobox genes in the neuroectoderm—ventral nervous system defective (vnd), intermediate neuroblasts defective (ind), and muscle segment homeobox (msh)—which are expressed in ventral, intermediate, and dorsal columns of neuroectoderm, respectively. Previous studies have shown that the Dorsal, Decapentaplegic (Dpp), and EGF receptor (Egfr) signaling pathways regulate embryonic DV patterning, as well as aspects of CNS patterning. Here we describe the earliest expression of each DV column gene (vnd, ind, and msh), the regulatory relationships between all three DV column genes, and the role of the Dorsal, Dpp, and Egfr signaling pathways in defining vnd, ind, and msh expression domains. We confirm that the vnd domain is established by Dorsal and maintained by Egfr, but unlike a previous report we show that vnd is not regulated by Dpp signaling. We show that ind expression requires both Dorsal and Egfr signaling for activation and positioning of its dorsal border, and that abnormally high Dpp can repress ind expression. Finally, we show that the msh domain is defined by repression: it occurs only where Dpp, Vnd, and Ind activity is low. We conclude that the initial diversification of cell fates along the DV axis of the CNS is coordinately established by Dorsal, Dpp, and Egfr signaling pathways. Understanding the mechanisms involved in patterning vnd, ind, and msh expression is important, because DV columnar homeobox gene expression in the neuroectoderm is an early, essential, and evolutionarily conserved step in generating neuronal diversity along the DV axis of the CNS. © 2000 Academic Press
EFFECT OF TESTOSTERONE PROPIONATE UPON REPRODUCTION IN THE FEMALE

IN VIEW of the numerous contributions in the literature recommending the administration of androgenic substances for various gynecological disorders, it has seemed advisable to report observations of the effects of male sex hormone upon the reproductive ability of female animals after receiving repeated injections of testos terone propionate. Observations of the fecundity of the progeny of these animals will be reported herewith. A preliminary report concerning this work has been presented in a previous paper (I). Twenty five healthy adult female white rats, ages 4 ½to 6 months, were selected for this study. They were isolated in cool, darkened, well-aired, clean cages and fed a diet of Purina Checkers, lettuce, and beef heart, supplemented by cod-liver oil. Daily vaginal smears were made over a long enough period of time (approximately five weeks) for us to ascertain with certainty that regular estrous cycles occurred. Six of these animals were then segregated for controls. Each of the remaining 19 femal...
Superelastic shape memory alloy cables: Part I – Isothermal tension experiments

Abstract Cables (or wire ropes) made from NiTi shape memory alloy (SMA) wires are relatively new and unexplored structural elements that combine many of the advantages of conventional cables with the adaptive properties of SMAs (shape memory and superelasticity) and have a broad range of potential applications. In this two part series, an extensive set of uniaxial tension experiments was performed on two Nitinol cable constructions, a 7 × 7 right regular lay and a 1 × 27 alternating lay, to characterize their superelastic behavior in room temperature air. Details of the evolution of strain and temperature fields were captured by simultaneous stereo digital image correlation and infrared imaging, respectively. Here in Part I, the nearly isothermal, superelastic responses of the two cable designs are presented and compared. Overall, the 7 × 7 construction has a mechanical response similar to that of straight wires with propagating transformation fronts and distinct stress plateaus during stress-induced transformations. The 1 × 27 construction, however, exhibits a more compliant and stable mechanical response, trading a decreased force for additional elongation, and does not exhibit transformation fronts due to the deeper helix angles of the layers. In Part II that follows, selected subcomponents are dissected from the two cable’s hierarchical constructions to experimentally break down the cable’s responses.
When can dispersal synchronize populations

While spatial synchrony of oscillating populations has been observed in many ecological systems, the causes of this phenomenon are still not well understood. The most common explanations have been the Moran effect (synchronous external stochastic influences) and the effect of dispersal among populations. Since ecological systems are typically subject to large spatially varying perturbations which destroy synchrony, a plausible mechanism explaining synchrony must produce rapid convergence to synchrony. We analyze the dynamics through time of the synchronizing effects of dispersal and, consequently, determine whether dispersal can be the mechanism which produces synchrony. Specifically, using methods new to ecology, we analyze a two patch predator-prey model, with identical weak dispersal between the patches. We find that a difference in time scales (i.e. one population has dynamics occurring much faster than the other) between the predator and prey species is the most important requirement for fast convergence to synchrony.
Subclinical Lung Disease, Macrocytosis, and Premature Graying in Kindreds With Telomerase (TERT) Mutations

Background Mutations in the human gene encoding the protein component of telomerase ( TERT ) are the most common genetic defect in patients with familial idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The subclinical phenotypes of asymptomatic members of these families have not been evaluated with respect to TERT mutation status or telomere length. Methods We measured a variety of pulmonary, blood, skin, and bone parameters for 20 subjects with heterozygous TERT mutations (carriers) and 20 family members who had not inherited a TERT mutation (noncarriers) to identify the spectrum of phenotypes associated with mutations in this gene. The two groups were matched for sex, age, and cigarette smoking. Three TERT mutation carriers had IPF (IPF carriers). The rest of the carriers were apparently healthy (asymptomatic carriers) and were compared with the noncarriers. Results Asymptomatic carriers exhibited significantly lower diffusing capacity of lung for carbon monoxide (Dlco), impaired recruitment of Dlco with exercise, radiographic signs of lung fibrosis, and increased fractional lung tissue volume quantified by high-resolution chest CT scan than noncarriers. RBC and platelet counts were significantly lower, and the mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration were significantly higher in carriers than in noncarriers. Carriers reported significantly earlier graying of hair than noncarriers. TERT mutation status is more accurately predicted by short telomere lengths than any of these measured phenotypes. Conclusions TERT mutation carriers exhibit early preclinical signs of lung fibrosis, bone marrow dysfunction, and premature graying. These clinical features and short telomere lengths characterize patients with germline TERT mutations.
Landscape-genetic analysis of population structure in the Texas gray fox oral rabies vaccination zone.

In west-central Texas, USA, abatement efforts for the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) rabies epizootic illustrate the difficulties inherent in large-scale management of wildlife disease. The rabies epizootic has been managed through a cooperative oral rabies vaccination program (ORV) since 1996. Millions of edible baits containing a rabies vaccine have been distributed annually in a 16-km to 24-km zone around the perimeter of the epizootic, which encompasses a geographic area >4 × 105 km2. The ORV program successfully halted expansion of the epizootic into metropolitan areas but has not achieved the ultimate goal of eradication. Rabies activity in gray fox continues to occur periodically outside the ORV zone, preventing ORV zone contraction and dissipation of the epizootic. We employed a landscape-genetic approach to assess gray fox population structure and dispersal in the affected area, with the aim of assisting rabies management efforts. No unique genetic clusters or population boundaries were detected. Instead, foxes were weakly structured over the entire region in an isolation by distance pattern. Local subpopulations appeared to be genetically non-independent over distances >30 km, implying that long-distance movements or dispersal may have been common in the region. We concluded that gray foxes in west-central Texas have a high potential for long-distance rabies virus trafficking. Thus, a 16-km to 24-km ORV zone may be too narrow to contain the fox rabies epizootic. Continued expansion of the ORV zone, although costly, may be critical to the long-term goal of eliminating the Texas fox rabies virus variant from the United States.
Designing a programming system for children with a focus on usability

This research proposes the design of a new programming language and environment for children. Emphasis throughout the design will be on usability. I will apply prior results from empirical studies of programmers and the psychology of programming, as well as new empirical studies that investigate areas that have not yet been studied completely. My thesis is that this focus on usability will produce a system that is easier for children to learn and use than existing systems. I will evaluate this thesis through user studies comparing the new system to other programming systems for beginners.
A Monte Carlo Study to Evaluate the Performance of Selected Tests of Homogeneity in Sparse Contingency Tables

We address the problem of tests of homogeneity in two-way contingency tables in case-control studies when the case category is subdivided into k subcategories. In this situation, we have two cells with large frequencies and 2 X k cells with frequencies that become small as k increases. We propose two ad hoc statistics in which a statistic for the sparse cells is combined with a statistic for the cells with large frequencies. We will study these tests along with the Pearson test (using a chi-square approximation) in a Monte Carlo simulation study. Two sets of null hypothesis models and two sets of alternative hypothesis models are considered. The best test for the models considered is the usual Pearson test (using an approximate chi-square distribution) although the ad hoc models are more powerful under one alternative model considered.
Distributed Approaches for Determination of Reconfiguration Algorithm Termination

The automatic reconfiguration of electric shipboard power systems is an important step toward improved fight-through and self-healing capabilities of all-electric naval warships. The authors have presented a distributed algorithm for autonomous reconfiguration within an energy management framework using an agent based approach. In the previous work, a blackboard architecture was used as globally shared memory structure for detection of algorithm termination. This paper presents alternative schemes for the detection of global properties, and specifically, detection of algorithm termination.
ENERGY TRANSFER MECHANISMS AND THE MOLECULAR EXCITON MODEL FOR MOLECULAR AGGREGATES.

Energytransferphenomenacontinuetofascinatethebiologist, chemist, and physicist, and the literature contains numerous experiments designed to demonstrate the presence of excitation energy transfer. At the present stage of development of the theoryofsuchprocesses, thegoal oftheseresearchesmightwell be not merely the demonstration of the presence of energy transfer, but a more detailed investigation designed to establish which available mechanism of energy transfer is operative. The field of excitation energy transfer is replete with redundant and overlapping terms, whose multitude itself lends little order to the subject. Various authors quote, as energy transfer mechanisms, exciton transfer, resonance transfer, dipole-dipole transfer, inductive resonance, resonance force transfer, virtual photons, and diffuse excitation, among others. This paper will be devoted to the laying down of a further perspective for the discrimination and understanding of the main types of excitation energy transfer. A necessary
Testing the cultural identity model of the cultural transition cycle: sojourners return home

Abstract A new theoretical model, which explores the relationship between cultural identity and repatriation experience, was tested among 113 American teachers who sojourned to Japan. Results indicated, unexpectedly, that overseas adaptation and repatriation experiences are not directly associated. Rather, home culture identity strength inversely predicted repatriation distress with repatriates experiencing high distress reporting weak cultural identity. Preliminary findings also indicated that repatriation experience is related to shifts in cultural identity. As predicted by the Cultural Identity Model, ratings of increased estrangement from American culture (subtractive) or feeling “more” Japanese (additive) following a sojourn are correlated with the high repatriation distress. Further, the more the global identity shift, the higher the life satisfaction. An innovative methodology was utilized in this study through the use of internet for participant recruitment and data collection.
Microscale Bioengineering Inspired by Nature: From Widgets to Cell Biology

Nature has accomplished impressive functionality through evolution that far surpasses our ability to recreate similar functionality through engineered systems. While nature is limited to leveraging and adapting the physics of the natural world, engineers are free to imagine. With notable exceptions such as digital computing, the freedom to imagine has often led to "over engineered" solutions rather than the simple solutions nature often achieves. At the micro scale the dominate physical phenomena is often different than at the macro scale. For example, diffusive transport becomes increasingly important and surface tension can dominate over gravitational forces. The scaling of these natural phenomena lead to a very different physical world than the one we live in and presents opportunities for elegant harnessing of these forces in useful and interesting ways. Microscale forces can be leveraged to realize a variety of functions ranging from sensing and control to manipulation and processing to creating systems aimed at recapitulating in vivo cellular structure and function. The presentation will include a microscale tutorial, examples of bioinspired micro/cellular scale engineering and a discussion of the promise and challenges in mimicking cellular microenvironments in vivo.
Prevention and Recovery of Hibernating Myocardium by Microvascular Repair

> “From small things, big things one day come.” > > —Bruce Springsteen Coronary artery disease, ischemic cardiomyopathy, and congestive heart failure continue to confer significant morbidity and mortality despite advances in medical therapy, percutaneous coronary interventions, and surgical revascularization.1,2 This unmet clinical need is the rationale for novel therapeutic strategies like therapeutic angiogenesis. Unlike traditional revascularization, which focuses on macrovascular solutions, angiogenesis seeks to improve the microcirculation by stimulating new capillary and collateral arterial vessel formation. Recently, there has been significant discussion on traditional revascularization, in particular the benefit of revascularization with coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) in patients with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in the Surgical Treatment for Ischemic Heart Failure (STICH) Trial.3 As opposed to mechanical revascularization, whether by CABG or percutaneous coronary intervention, therapeutic angiogenesis has the advantage of improving coronary microcirculation by harnessing existing physiological processes to address a biological problem. Article see p 1059 A variety of strategies to promote therapeutic angiogenesis have been investigated, including delivery of proangiogenic genes, growth factors, and autologous stem cells aspirated or mobilized from the bone marrow or peripheral blood. These various approaches have demonstrated promising results in the treatment of organ-specific manifestations of systemic atherosclerosis, including peripheral artery disease, refractory angina, and ischemic cardiomyopathy, particularly in animal models and early human clinical trials of cell-based therapies. However, some of the larger therapeutic angiogenesis clinical trials using individual growth factors have not corroborated the exciting early results, indicating that additional work is necessary to determine the ideal agent(s) and delivery mechanism(s) to maximize efficacy and durability of the intervention while limiting off-target effects of angiogenesis. Additionally, thoughtful trial design and selection of end points that reflect the physiology of therapeutic angiogenesis and improvement in the coronary microcirculation such as measurement of coronary flow reserve will be critical …
Law, violence, and community in classical Athens

The theme of this book is the legal regulation of violence and the role of litigation in Athenian society. Using comparative anthropological and historical perspectives, David Cohen challenges traditional evolutionary and functionalist accounts of the development of legal process. Examining Athenian theories of social conflict and the rule of law, as well as actual litigation involving the regulation of violence, he emphasises the way in which the judicial process operates in an agonistic social field. This perspective illuminates the social dimensions of litigation and the legal regulation of violence, and helps to explain otherwise puzzling features of Athenian litigation.
The distributed interactive simulation (DIS) lethality communication server

A new approach to handling battle simulation lethality is presented. In this approach, a single server provides standard DIS damage states to entities fast enough for most real-time applications. Benefits include freeing DIS simulations from the burden of maintaining damage state tables, lower DIS pre-exercise preparation and easier scenario configuration as a whole. These benefits are realized primarily because efforts to prepare and maintain the vulnerability data pertaining to the exercise are not duplicated.
Measuring Shape and Surface Strain of Curved Objects Using Digital Speckle Photography and Gap Effect

There are many 3D shape measurement techniques[1–3]. One of the most commonly used techniques isperhaps the digital projection grating technique [1],whereby a computer-generated sinusoidal grating isprojected onto the surface of a 3D object. The mod-ulation of grating pitch as a result of the height var-iation is used to calculate the shape of the 3D object.Phase shifting is usually adopted to increase the res-olution of the method.The motivation of this study is somewhat different.A few years ago, two of the authors (FPC and IBK)extended the applicability of the digital speckle pho-tography (DSP) technique, that has been used by theﬁrst author for measuring strain in common engi-neering materials, to measuring strain in the myocar-dium, i.e. the heart muscle [4–11]. However, the DSPtechnique is essentially a plane technique, in that thesurfaceofthespecimenhastobeﬂat.Asaresult,onlyasmall region of the heart where it is relatively ﬂat canbe mapped by the DSP technique. Thus, in order tomeasure a larger area of the heart, the speckle tech-nique needs to be extended to a curved surface. Fur-thermore, astheheartmoves asawhole whilebeatingit is necessary to ﬁnd the effect of the rigid bodymovement on the speckle technique’s accuracy. Thisstudy is a ﬁrst attempt to answer these questions.
Distribution of control via automation networks using the producer/consumer model

Today users are demanding more from their control systems, and consequently, from the networks that connect the system together. They want more or better diagnostics, less downtime, and reduced installation and maintenance costs. At the same time, they are demanding improved throughput. With increased functionality comes increased traffic (data) on the control system network. Today's automation networks, most of which are source/destination based, cannot offer the required functionality and accommodate the increased traffic flow, thus restricting system capabilities and productivity improvements. Increased demands on automation networks have forced the evolution of a new network model-one that provides greater functionality, makes more efficient use of network bandwidth, and increases information flow, all while reducing traffic on the wire. Unfortunately, much of the discussion to date about networks has focused on baud rates, protocol efficiency, and physical characteristics (i.e. type of wire used). In reality, it's more complex than that. Available diagnostics, messaging types and throughput must all be considered when evaluating a control system network. The most important factor affecting these capabilities in the control environment is the network model. The source/destination model used for the past two decades can no longer meet today's network needs. The only model available today that can meet these demanding requirements and allows for future migration is the producer/consumer network model. This model is outlined.