cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Similar individual-level responses to stressors have different population-level consequences among closely related species of trout

Abstract In this paper, we applied an individual-based model to study the population-level impacts of sub-lethal stressors affecting the metabolic pathways of three closely related trout species: Oncorhynchus mykiss (rainbow trout, RT), Salmo trutta (brown trout, BT) and Oncorhynchus calrki stomias (greenback cutthroat trout, GCT). Both RT and BT are well-studied species, and the former is widely used as a standard cold-water test species. These species are known to outcompete GCT, which is listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act. Our goal was to understand the extent to which stressor effects, which are often measured at the individual level, on taxonomically-related (i.e., surrogate) species can be informative of impacts on population dynamics in species that cannot be tested (e.g., listed species). When comparing stressor effects among species, we found that individual-level responses to each stressor were qualitatively comparable. Individual lengths and number of eggs decreased by similar percentages with respect to baseline, even if small quantitative differences were present depending on the physiological mode of action of the stressor. Individual-level effects in GCT were slightly greater when ingestion efficiency decreased, whereas effects in GCT and RT were greater when maintenance costs increased, and effects in BT were slightly greater when costs of growth increased. In contrast, results at the population level differed markedly among species with GCT the most impacted by sub-lethal stress effects on individual metabolism. Our findings suggest that using non-listed species to assess the risks of stressors to listed species populations may be misleading, even if the species are closely related and show similar individual-level responses. Mechanistic population models that incorporate species life history and ecology can improve inter-species extrapolation of stressor effects.
"Epistemología, ontología y el estudio de los regímenes internacionales", en Constructing The World Polity, Rouledge, Londres, 1998

Our discussion is organized as follows. The first section summarizes the immediate antecedents to the focus on international regimes, demonstrating their evolutionary pattern. Section two explores several core epistemological problems exhibited by the dominant theoretical approaches in international relations, from which the regimes literature is not exempt. The third section shows how these general problems affect regimes analysis specifically, and it makes some modest suggestions for how they might be dealts with.
An all-inorganic, fully dense, stretchable ceramic magnetic film

There is widespread interest in new materials-based approaches for introducing flexibility to electromagnetic devices, such as displays, human–machine interfaces, smart textiles, and biomedical implants. From fabrication to application, incorporating ceramic components is particularly challenging due to their extreme stiffness. Here, we introduce a new approach for designing flexible ceramic films and demonstrate it by fabricating fully dense, pre-wrinkled magnetic cobalt ferrite films composed of tiled nanoplatelets. The method relies on the colloidal engineering of metalized graphene nanosheets, which are cast and compressed into wrinkled composite films with accurate control of composition and morphology. Removal of the graphene template by thermal oxidation yields free-standing cobalt ferrite films that can be stretched up to 200% and bent to radii of 2.5 mm while maintaining their magnetic properties. Magnetization retention of 73% is documented after 150% linear mechanical stretching over 100 cycles. The significant stretchability and flexibility in this hard magnetic material is achieved at near full metal oxide crystal density without addition of significant void space or a polymeric elastomer matrix.
Elevated Calf Mortality and Long-Term Responses of Wild Bottlenose Dolphins to Extreme Climate Events: Impacts of Foraging Specialization and Provisioning

As demands for wildlife tourism increase, provisioning has become a popular means of providing up-close viewing to the public. At Monkey Mia, Shark Bay, Australia, up to five adult female Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) visit a 100 m stretch of beach daily to receive fish handouts. In 2011, a severe marine heatwave (MHW) devastated seagrass and fish populations in Shark Bay. Offspring survival declined precipitously among seagrass specialists (dolphins that forage disproportionately in seagrass habitat). As all provisioned dolphins at the site are seagrass specialists, we examined how provisioned and non-provisioned seagrass specialists responded to the MHW. Using 27 years of data we compare habitat use, home range size, calf mortality, and predation risk between provisioned and non-provisioned females and their offspring before and after the MHW. Our results show that provisioned females have extremely small home ranges compared to non-provisioned females, a pattern attributable to their efforts to remain near the site of fish handouts. However, weaned offspring (juveniles) born to provisioned females who are not provisioned themselves also had much smaller home ranges, suggesting a persistent maternal effect on their behavior. After the MHW, adult females increased their use of seagrass habitats, but not their home range size. Provisioned females had significantly lower calf mortality than non-provisioned females, a pattern most evident pre-MHW, and, in the first 5 years after the MHW (peri-MHW, 2011–2015), calf mortality did not significantly increase for either group. However, the ecosystem did not recover, and post-MHW (2016–2020), calf mortality was substantially higher, regardless of provisioning status. With few survivors, the impact of the MHW on juvenile mortality post-weaning is not known. However, over three decades, juvenile mortality among offspring of provisioned vs non-provisioned females did not statistically differ. Thus, the survival benefits accrued to calves in the provisioned group likely cease after weaning. Finally, although shark attack rates on seagrass specialists did not change over time, elevated predation on calves cannot be ruled out as a cause of death post-MHW. We discuss our results as they relate to anthropogenic influences on dolphin behavioral plasticity and responses to extreme climate events.
Causal Inference from Slowly Varying Nonstationary Processes.

Causal inference from observational data following the restricted structural causal model (SCM) framework hinges largely on the asymmetry between cause and effect from the data generating mechanisms, such as non-Gaussianity or nonlinearity. This methodology can be adapted to stationary time series, yet inferring causal relationships from nonstationary time series remains a challenging task. In this work, we propose a new class of restricted SCM, via a time-varying filter and stationary noise, and exploit the asymmetry from nonstationarity for causal identification in both bivariate and network settings. We propose efficient procedures by leveraging powerful estimates of the bivariate evolutionary spectra for slowly varying processes. Various synthetic and real datasets that involve high-order and non-smooth filters are evaluated to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed methodology.
Enthusiastic but Inconsistent: Graduate Teaching Assistants’ Perceptions of Their Role in the CURE Classroom

Expectancy-value theory was used to explore how graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) value for teaching a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) impacts their motivation and perceptio...
From Antitrust to Corporation Governance? The Corporation and the Law: 1959-1994

In this essay, I analyzed changes in the law's impact on the corporation during the past thirty-five years, what the underlying bases for these changes might have been, and how these changes affected corporate law. When the first Corporation and Modern Society symposium was held in 1959, today's issues, such as competitiveness, were hardly apparent, and the issue of colossal corporate power was paramount. Antitrust law in particular was seen to be a means to restrain the large corporation. Underlying the 1959 urge to tame the large corporation was the widespread existence (or at least perception) of industrial oligopoly. It was oligopoly (or perhaps really the superior efficiency of a few American manufacturing leaders) that gave the large firm slack and induced the widespread perception of its power. What erased that image of power in the ensuing decades is clear: the reconstruction of Europe and Japan forced the American manufacturing oligopolists to compete in the international arena; an accelerating pace of technological change made old structures obsolete and brought forth new domestic competitors. While many of the old industrial firms were, or became, fit to compete in the new international arena and to ride the waves of new technological change, some weren't. Even the fit ones have to sweat to survive and cannot relax as they did four decades ago, making competitiveness considerations overshadow those of corporate power. Globalization changed the 1959 attitudes and shifted the legal focus on the corporation. Antitrust attacks to break up the giants seemed politically sensible when the three oligopolists split the U.S., and sometimes the world, market. They made no sense when the three came to be embedded in a world-wide market of ten firms. Antitrust rules relaxed. The notion of using law to control corporate power faded, and the legal questions began to focus on whether law plays some role in hindering, or enhancing corporate competitiveness.
Design of 2-D IIR filters using a new digital spectral transformation

A Digital Spectral Transformation (DST) has been proposed for the design of 2-D IIR digital filters with a circular and an elliptical region for the passband region of the lowpass filter. This method guaranteed stability of the 2-D filter and did not resort to tedious optimization techniques. The same DST can be used to approximate the constant group delay response. In this paper, a new DST is proposed to design these filters using the same design procedure but it yields a significantly smaller value for the error in the approximation to the circular and elliptical contours in the /spl omega//sub 1/-/spl omega//sub 2/ plane. Some illustrative examples are included.
The role of third-parties in conflicts among Colombian preadolescents

Understanding the factors that contribute to the escalation or de-escalation of aggression in conflicts is crucial for any prevention strategy. This is particularly important in societies like Colombia, where the common use of violence during interpersonal conflicts has contributed to making it one of the most violent countries in the world1. One of the factors that have been associated with the escalation of aggression is the role played by third parties during interpersonal conflicts.
A variational approach to optimal nonholonomic motion planning

Nonholonomic motion planning (NMP) problems arise not only from the classical nonholonomic constraints, but also from symmetries and conservation laws of holonomic systems. In NMP problems an admissible configuration space path is constrained to a given nonholonomic distribution. Thus, NMP deals with the problem of (optimal) path finding subject to a nonholonomic distribution and possibly to additional holonomic constraints. The authors first study several representative NM systems and formulate the NMP problem. Variational principles are used to characterize optimal solutions to these problems. A simple algorithm solving an NMP problem is proposed, and simulation results are presented. >
Secret Ingredients: Race, Gender, and Class at the Dinner Table by Sherrie A. Inness: Book Reviews

Secret Ingredients: Race, Gender, and Class at the Dinner Table Sherrie A. Inness. New York: Palgrave, 2006. Sherrie A. Inness has emerged as a leading scholar in the areas of girls' culture and food culture. Her latest work, which explores the issues of race, gender, and class in American cooking, provides another substantive study in popular culture. Inness notes that cookbooks, although important to readers and booksellers, have been marginalized by scholars, in part because of their connection to women; however, they are anything but trivial. As Inness observes, "Cookbooks and other cooking literature are rich, complex texts that reveal a great deal about society and its changing mores, not just culinary ones" (2). In particular, cookbooks, which are primarily written by and used by women, contain important messages regarding gender roles. Given this, Inness begins her study in the 1950s, coinciding with changes in women's lives in post-World War II society. She explains the connection between Betty Friedan's ground-breaking work, The Feminine Mystique (1963), and Peg Bracken's two popular cookbooks, The I Hate to Cook Book (1960) and Peg Bracken's Appendix to The I Hate to Cook Book (1966). These books underscore women's dissatisfaction with domestic life and dominant social values, which Friedan called "the problem that has no name." In The I Hate to Cook Book Bracken expressed with humor the same sentiment: "This book is for those of us who want to fold our big dishwater hands around a dry martini instead of a wet flounder, come the end of a long day" (qtd. in Inness 67). Bracken cautioned homemakers that they did not have to spend all day cooking but could prepare good meals quickly, often using convenience foods, and still have time for themselves and their other interests. Inness also devotes an entire chapter to convenience foods, which changed the way Americans thought about cooking. Cooking literature encouraged women to use convenience foods so that they could be more modern, express their own creative desires, both in and out of the kitchen, and speed up preparation time so that they could do other things. According to Inness, "convenience food literature made it clear that women should develop their own interests; this was a small step toward second-wave feminism in the 1960s and 1970s, which emphasized that women had to cultivate themselves as individuals who possessed concerns other than purely domestic ones" (19). …
Against Secret Regulation: Why and How We Should End the Practical Obscurity of Injunctions and Consent Decrees

Every year, federal and state courts put in place orders that regulate the prospective operations of certainly hundreds and probably thousands of large government and private enterprises. Injunctions and injunction-like settlement agreements-whether styled consent decrees, settlements, conditional dismissals, or some other more creative title-bind the activities of employers, polluters, competitors, lenders, creditors, property holders, schools, housing authorities, police departments, jails, prisons, nursing homes, and many others. The types of law underlying these cases multiply just as readily: consumer lending, environmental, employment, anti-discrimination, education, constitutional, and so on. Injunctive orders, whether reached by litigation or on consent, suffuse the regulatory environment, instructing the covered entities not only what they may not do, but also what they must do and how they must do it. Moreover, the reach of injunctions can extend well past their explicit scope because injunctive orders can serve as models for broader regulation or legislation and can set the boundaries of a regulatory agency's enforcement efforts. But as this Article develops, notwithstanding the individual and collective importance of all these injunctions, they languish in practical obscurity, unavailable to all but the extraordinarily persevering researcher who joins inside information with abundant funds. For this Clifford Symposium on civil justice, I describe the problem, argue that
Developing a polysulfone-based alkaline anion exchange membrane for improved ionic conductivity

Abstract Alkaline anion exchange membranes of high ionic conductivities were made from polysulfone by adding a chloromethyl pendant group to the polysulfone at different reaction times and temperatures, followed by reacting the chloromethyl group with different amines to form different quaternary ammonium pendant groups which acted as the counterion for hydroxide anion. The effects of temperature and time on chloromethylation of the polymer were investigated and the chloromethylation was optimized. Furthermore, different approaches for quaternization of the synthesized chloromethylated polymer were studied. The results show that both temperature and time exhibited significant impacts on chloromethylation and gelation. It was also found that using an appropriate quaternization approach could significantly improve the ionic conductivity and also could optimize the conductivity of the membrane even though the accessible functional chloromethyl groups were limited. The developed AAEM showed the ionic conductivity up to 3.1 × 10 −2 S/cm at room temperature. Increasing temperature increased the ionic conductivity up to 7.33 × 10 −2 S/cm. The formed AAEM was stable in a concentrated base up to 8.0 M KOH at room temperature.
Room-temperature mercuric iodide spectrometry for low-energy x-rays

Abstract A discussion of the limits of energy resolution in different energy ranges is given. The energy resolution of a spectrometer is analyzed in terms of the parameters characterizing the crystal, the detector, and the amplification electronics. A high-resolution room-temperature HgI 2 spectrometry system was used to measure low-energy X-ray fluorescence spectra. For the Mg K α X-ray line the measured resolution was 245 eV (fwhm); the electronic noise linewidth of the system was 225 eV. Alpha-particles were used to excite X-ray fluorescence from low- Z elements separately or in combination. The shape of the photopeaks in the spectra is discussed.
Quality measurement and quality assurance in higher education

This paper discusses the notion of quality measurement and describes the role of an enterprise‐wide, technology‐based continuous Quality Measurement System (QMS2000) in the quality assurance program at the University of Louisville. QMS2000 is a relational, interactive information system that includes data from 273 student, alumni, faculty, staff, and employer satisfaction surveys that are linked to corresponding databases at the university. QMS2000 is on‐line, operating in a networked, client‐server environment that permits licensed users access to designated components of the system at any time from designated desktops at the university. QMS2000 users generate reports and perform advanced statistical analyses drawing from the databases. The data and reports are integrated into the accreditation, strategic planning, budgeting, outcomes assessment, and program review processes at the university. The paper closes with a discussion of the initial impacts of QMS2000 on the university’s efforts at quality assurance.
Transureteroureterostomy revisited: long-term surgical outcomes.

Purpose: Transureteroureterostomy is a treatment alternative for ureteral obstruction when more conventionally reconstructive techniques are not feasible. We report on long-term outcomes of patients treated with transureteroureterostomy.Materials and Methods: A retrospective chart review of all patients treated with transureteroureterostomy from January of 1985 to February of 2007 was performed.Results: We identified 63 patients who underwent transureteroureterostomy at our institution. Average treatment age was 31.5 years (range 1 to 83). Transureteroureterostomy was performed for 21 (33%) malignant and 42 (67%) benign indications. Reconstructions were 30 right-to-left (47.6%) and 33 left-to-right (52.4%) with 21 concurrent urinary diversions. There were 16 patients (25.4%) who received radiation before transureteroureterostomy. Postoperative complications occurred in 15 (23.8%) patients and were more common in those undergoing diversion for malignancy. Mean followup was 5.8 years (range 0.1 to 22.2) and...
Indomethacin potentiates PGE1 stimulated cyclic AMP accumulation in human synoviocytes.

PROSTAGLANDINS have both inhibitory and stimulatory effects on inflammatory and immune processes1. The capacity of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents, aspirin and indo-methacin (IM), to inhibit the synthesis of certain prostaglandins emphasises the potential importance of this hormone system in the pathogenesis and treatment of inflammatory arthritis2. Since the prostaglandins inhibit certain cellular functions involved in the production of some forms of arthritis3, suppress the inflammatory response of adjuvant arthritis4–7 and yet induce an acute inflammatory response when injected into the dog stifle joint8, there remain certain paradoxes with regard to the role of prostaglandins in inflammatory joint diseases.
Assessment of disseminated pancreatic cancer: A comparison of traditional exploratory laparotomy and radioimmunoguided surgery

Abstract Background. After curative resection for pancreatic cancer, only 10% of patients survive disease for 5 years. These dismal results suggest the presence of occult tumor at the time of initial operation. This phase I/II study was conducted to compare traditional exploratory laparotomy with radioimmunoguided surgery (RIGS) in the assessment of disseminated pancreatic cancer. Methods. Ten patients with the diagnosis of adenocarcinoma of the pancreas were injected intravenously with 1 mg CC49 monoclonal antibody radiolabeled with 2 mCi iodine 125. All patients were evaluated by a standard abdominal exploration followed by RIGS. Tumor identified by each technique was documented and categorized as neoplasm disseminated to viscera or lymphatics. Results. There were 25 visceral sites of disease that were traditionally discovered at the time of exploration including pancreas, omentum, small bowel, pelvis, liver, and other. All 25 sites of disease were positive by RIGS plus an additional four sites of visceral tumor for a total of 29 RIGS positive sites of disease. Six lymphatic sites of disease were discovered by traditional examination; however, 44 sites of lymphatic sites were documented by RIGS (p Conclusions. These data suggest that the RIGS technique detected significantly more foci of visceral spread of tumor than traditional exploratory laparotomy and significantly more sites of lymphatic dissemination were identified by RIGS than by standard exploration.
Modulation of canine lymphocyte blastogenesis via histamine.

The effect of histamine on in vitro T cell blastogenic responses of canine peripheral blood lymphocytes to phytohemagglutinin-P (PHA-P) was investigated. A dose dependent inhibition of blastogenesis was observed; an effect which could be blocked by cimetidine, a type II histamine receptor antagonist, but not by diphenhydramine, a type I receptor antagonist, suggesting that histamine's inhibitory effect is mediated through a type II histamine receptor. The inhibitory effect of histamine on blastogenesis was also reversible by indomethacin, a prostaglandin synthetase inhibitor, implicating prostaglandin involvement in histamine suppression. Histamine release at sites of inflammation may result in down regulation of local immune responses by activation of specific immunoregulatory cells. This could permit the escape of certain neoplasia from local immunosurveillance mechanisms. Cimetidine may block activation of histamine responsive regulatory cells bearing type II receptors, which may help explain the beneficial effect cimetidine therapy has on regression of certain human tumors (i.e., malignant melanomas).
Collision Broadening of Rotational Absorption Lines. I. Theoretical Formulation

An impact theory approach to the pressure broadening of microwave absorption lines is presented. A time‐development matrix is evaluated to yield expressions which are averaged over all internal quantum states of the colliding molecule and the velocity distribution function to give half‐width and frequency‐shift parameters. The half‐width parameter is then evaluated for dipole—dipole, dipole—quadrupole, quadrupole—quadrupole, and dispersion interactions. The dependence of the linewidths on the multipole moments, temperature, and the rotational state of the colliding molecule is discussed. The results are compared with previous theoretical treatments.
Nanoscale fluorescence microscopy using carbon nanotubes

We demonstrate the use of single-walled carbon nanotubes as nano-optical probes in apertureless near-field fluorescence microscopy. The carbon nanotubes strongly quench fluorescence leading to near-field contrast with spatial resolution of ~20 nm.
Natural Office Vacancy Rates: Some Additional Estimates

Excerpt] In our recent paper (Shilling et al. [2]), we examined the rent adjustment process for 17 U.S. office markets and provided the first estimates of the natural vacancy rates. In his comment, Voith [3] argues that our specification of the rent-vacancy relationship is biased since we introduced an interaction term to capture the effect of risks associated with higher vacancy levels. He suggests that an alternative specification would be to enter a vacancy squared term to capture this risk effect.
Diagnosis of Hepatic Fibrosis in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C

Chronic hepatitis C (HCV) infection leads to the development of hepatic fibrosis. No single test for diagnosing liver fibrosis is completely optimal. The ability to assess the extent and progression of fibrosis is important in the clinical setting, especially in the context of current treatments and therapeutic trials. More accurate and noninvasive methods to diagnose and monitor fibrosis are needed, because these trials will require serial evaluations of liver fibrosis to assess a compound's antifibrotic effect.
Left-right gauge symmetry breaking by radiative corrections in supergravity

Abstract A supersymmetric SU(2) L × SU(2) R × U (1) B − L gauge theory coupled to N = 1 supergravity is investigated. The scale of left-right gauge symmetry breaking is determined as M R ∼ M P e −1/ α by radiative corrections through the logarithmic evolution of soft supersymmetry breakings. SU(2) L × SU(2) R × U (1) B − L may be embedded in SO(10) grand unification. Cosmological implications intrinsic to the present model are also discussed, which may give a constraint M R ∼ 10 9−12 GeV .
Congruence of conventional and molecular studies to locate genes that control flavone synthesis in maize silks

The presence of maysin, a flavone glycoside, and its analogues in the silks of corn is an important defence against invasion of the ear by corn earworm in the southeastern USA. Three dent maize inbreds with high silk-maysin concentrations were evaluated for chromosomal location of major genes controlling synthesis of three antibiotic chemicals by crossing them to a series of waxy-marked chromosome 9 reciprocal translocations. The data indicated that genes for maysin and its analogues are probably present on the short arms of chromosomes 1 and 10, and long arms of chromosomes 5 and 8 for inbred line GT114, the short arms of chromosome 1 and 6, and the long arms of chromosome 5 and 8 for inbred line GE37, and the short arms of chromosomes 1 and 10, and the long arm of chromosome 4 for inbred line SC102. These results are in general agreement with other translocation studies on corn earworm injury to sweet corn inbreds and gene and restriction fragment length polymorphism marker studies to locate quantitative trait loci (QTL) for maysin synthesis, with the exception that QTL on chromosome 9 have been found to be strongly associated with flavone synthesis. The most significant concordance between conventional and molecular techniques for locating chromosome regions influencing synthesis of antibiotic chemicals from silks of high silk antibiosis sources is found for the short arm of chromosome 1. This region is the most likely one on which to place emphasis during the initial stages of transferring high-maysin silks to elite inbred lines. A chromosome 1 marker plus at least one more from any chosen high-maysin inbred source should be sufficient to transfer high maysin silks to other lines. Other markers may be needed for transfer of specific traits when recovering recurrent parent genome types in a backcrossing procedure.
Cyclosporin Increases Granulocyte/Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor (GM-CSF) Activity and Gene Expression in Murine Keratinocytes

Keratinocytes produce multiple cytokines in response to a variety of stimuli. The release of interleukin 1 (IL-1) from keratinocytes may be significant in initiation of cutaneous inflammation, and the presence of granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is thought to be important in the regulation of antigen-presenting function by epidermal Langerhans cells. Because cyclosporin inhibits interleukin 2 release from T cells, it has been suggested that cyclosporin may function as an anti-inflammatory agent within the epidermis through inhibition of keratinocyte cytokine release. This investigation examined the direct effect of cyclosporin on the production of GM-CSF by murine keratinocytes and the keratinocyte cell line PAM 212. GM-CSF bioactivity increased in cell supernatants from keratinocytes exposed in vitro to 1 microgram/ml cyclosporin for up to 24 h. GM-CSF and IL-1 mRNA levels in keratinocytes cultured under similar conditions or in the presence of lipopolysaccharide also increased. The lack of inhibition of GM-CSF expression following cyclosporin treatment is consistent with recent observations in T cells and is opposite to the effect of cyclosporin on interleukin 2.
A Novel Approach to Trajectory Analysis Using String Matching and Clustering

Clustering of sub-trajectories is a very useful method to extract important information from vast amounts of trajectory data. Existing trajectory clustering algorithms have focused on geometric properties and spatial features of trajectories and sub-trajectories. In contrast to the existing trajectory clustering algorithms, we propose a new framework to cluster sub-trajectories based on a combination of their spatial and non-spatial features. This algorithm combines techniques from grid based approaches, spatial geometry and string processing. First, we convert each trajectory into a representative sequence that captures the trajectory direction and location. We identify common sub-trajectories from all the sequences using a modified string matching algorithm. Then, we extract non-spatial features from the common sub-trajectories. Finally, we present a density based clustering algorithm to cluster the sub-trajectories. Experimental results show that our framework correctly discovers groups of similar sub-trajectories with their similar non-spatial features.
A study of non-linear tidal propagation in shallow inlet/estuarine systems Part II: Theory☆

Abstract The generation of tidal asymmetries is clarified via numerical integration of the one-dimensional equations for channel geometries characteristic of shallow estuaries. Channels without tidal flats develop a time asymmetry characterized by a longer falling than rising tide. This behavior is enhanced by strong friction and large channel cross-sectional area variability over a tidal cycle. Resulting tidal currents have a shorter, intense flood and a longer, weak ebb (flood-dominant). Addition of tidal flats to the channels can produce a longer rising tide and stronger ebb currents (ebb-dominant), if the area of tidal flats is large enough to overcome the effects of time-variable channel geometry. Weaker friction with flats can also produce this asymmetry. Despite the physical complexity of these systems, essential features of estuarine tidal response can be recovered from one-dimensional models. Shallow estuaries are shown to have a system response leading to stable, uniform senses of tidal asymmetry (either flood- or ebb-dominated, due to phase-locking of forced tidal constituents), with down-channel development in magnitude of asymmetry. These concepts are illustrated by modeling idealized representations of tidal channels at Nauset Inlet, MA, and Wachapreague Inlet, VA, which have flood- and ebb-dominance, respectively.
Factors Affecting Engorgement Behavior in the Salt Marsh Horse Fly, Tabanus nigrovittatus Macquart (Diptera: Tabanidae)

Female Tabanus nigrovittatus were field collected and used in laboratory experimentation to explore physiological and behavioral factors that affect engorgement. Previous studies showed sulfakinins act as feeding satiety factors in insects. This study demonstrates that sulfakinins have differing effects on engorgement that is dependent on the feeding technique used in the laboratory. The satiety effect of sulfakinin on flies engorging using the blood-soaked Kimwipe® feeding technique is not in agreement with previous experiments using an alternate feeding technique with artificial membranes. This study is the first to demonstrate that the temperature of blood is a significant factor for engorgement in this species. Also, the percentage of flies engorging is significantly different depending on the feeding technique used.
A Study into the Feasibility and Effects of Reading Extended Authentic Discourse in the Beginning German Language Classroom

Despite efforts to integrate all levels of foreign language instruction, reading remains on the periphery of beginning language study. Reading extended texts is outcast to an even greater degree. This article addresses this issue by presenting the design, results, and implications from a study involving beginning college-level language students who read a 142-page romance novel in their first semester of German. During the semester, the treatment group (N= 27) followed the same standard first-semester syllabus as the comparison group (N= 32), but replaced all standard reading assignments in the textbook with daily in-class readings of the romance novel. The effects of the treatment were assessed on the basis of the two groups’ results on (a) three departmental exams and (b) a pretest and posttest consisting of written recall protocols of 4 texts and vocabulary-related questions. A statistical analysis of these two measures yielded 2 central findings. First, students were able to read a full-length authentic text in the first semester. Second, the treatment group performed as well as the comparison group on the three department tests and the posttest, which runs counter to arguments that time spent reading in class adversely affects beginning language learners’ second language development. Curricular and pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed.
Excited stationary states of small polarons

Abstract The introduction of a ‘color’ quantum number σ enables us to reduce the polaron problem to the solution of a continued fraction. The theory developed for the large polaron case is extended to the small polaron case. The exact solution of such a modified model leads to the existence of excited stationary states within continuum, which might be observed experimentally.
Inverse spectral theory for Sturm-Liouville problems with finite spectrum

For any positive integer n and any given n distinct real numbers we construct a Sturm-Liouville problem whose spectrum is precisely the given set of n numbers. Such problems are of Atkinson type in the sense that the weight function or the reciprocal of the leading coefficient is identically zero on at least one subinterval.
Numerical Simulation of a Nanosecond Pulse Discharge in Mach 5 Flow

A physics-based model was developed for nanosecond-pulse discharges, including realistic air kinetics, electron energy transport, and compressible bulk gas flow. A reduced plasma kinetic model (23 species and 50 processes) was developed to capture the dominant species and reactions for energy storage and thermalization in the discharge. The kinetic model included electronically and vibrationally excited species, and several species of ions and ground state neutrals. The governing equations included the Poisson equation for the electric potential, diffusion equations for each neutral species, conservation equations for each charged species, and mass-averaged conservation equations for the bulk gas flow. The results of calculations with this model highlighted the path of energy transfer in the discharge. At breakdown, the input electrical energy was transformed over a timescale on the order of 1 ns into chemical energy of ions, dissociation products, and vibrationally and electronically excited particles. About 30% of this energy was subsequently thermalized over a timescale of 10 μs. Since the thermalization time scale was faster than the acoustic time scale, the heat release led to the formation of weak shock waves originating near the sheath edge, consistent with experimental observations.
Fundamental differences during Gram-positive versus Gram-negative sepsis become apparent during bacterial challenge of D-galactosamine-treated mice

Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria have been compared with respect to lethal effects when each is administered to normal and D-galactosamine-sensitized mice, both with and without concomitant dexamethasone treatment. In the case of Escherichia coli, the extent of sensitization by D-galactosamine treatment (10,000-fold) and the relative magnitude of the corresponding protection with dexamethasone (150-fold) are both consistent with an expected significant role of LPS in production of TNFα that then mediates lethal toxicity. With Staphylococcus aureus, however, marginal sensitization by D-galactosamine (5-fold) and a corresponding lack of dexamethasone protection indicate a reduced role for TNFα as a lethal mediator. In vitro comparisons of TNFα release from E. coli and S. aureus stimulated peritoneal macrophages (100-fold difference) add further support to this conclusion. Endotoxin hypo-responsive mice (C3H/HeJ) infected with E. coli are not protected by dexamethasone. Each of these comparisons indi...
Nested genes and increasing organizational complexity of metazoan genomes

The most common form of protein-coding gene overlap in eukaryotes is a simple nested structure, whereby one gene is embedded in an intron of another. Analysis of nested protein-coding genes in vertebrates, fruit flies and nematodes revealed substantially higher rates of evolutionary gains than losses. The accumulation of nested gene structures could not be attributed to any obvious functional relationships between the genes involved and represents an increase of the organizational complexity of animal genomes via a neutral process.
Melanin production in a medullary thyroid carcinoma

Melanin production by a medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is reported and discussed. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells contained calcitonin; by electron microscopy, they bore numerous, heterogeneous granules similar to those described previously in MTCs. One small focus of tumor was pigmented. Here, melanosomes in different stages of maturation were found in dendritic cells that ramified among granule-bearing cells. The remarkable phenotypic divergence in this solitary, nongerm cell neoplasm is unusual but not so surprising in light of the APUD nature and neural crest origin of both the melanocyte and the thyroid C cell, which gives rise to MTC. The authors view the calcitonin and melanosome phenotypes as closely related tumor clones evolving from a common precursor neoplastic cell. This unique "experiment of nature" adds to the set of rare human tumors that make melanin "ectopically."
Heavy-quark recombination in Z^0 decay

We briefly review the recent advances of heavy-quark recombination mechanism. This mechanism predicts a class of power-suppressed 3-jet events in $Z^0$ decay, such as $b\bar{b}q$ and $b\bar{b}\bar{q}$. Furthermore, heavy quark fragmentation function also receives a contribution from this mechanism. Some light can be shed on the scaling of the maximum of the fragmentation function for S-wave heavy hadrons. We finally comment on a new variant of this mechanism which has important impact on the precision electroweak physics.
The millennium bug--do we have the right antibiotics?

ABSTRACT This article introduces readers to the scope of the Year 2000 (Y2K) issue. In addition to describing how this problem came to be, the author examines the extent of the problem as defined by professionals in information technology. The author also explores what the cost of fixing the problem may be and what industry is doing to mitigate the effects the Y2K bug will have on patient care, supplies, and financial operations. The author expresses the need for caregivers to have a greater interest in the problem and to ask questions about what is being done at individual institutions. AORN J 69 (March 1999) 542–550.
Developmental expression of extracellular glutathione peroxidase suggests antioxidant roles in deciduum, visceral yolk sac, and skin

Extracellular glutathione peroxidase (EGPx) is a secreted selenium-dependent enzyme that reduces hydroperoxides and organic hydroperoxides. Selenium deficiency in females is associated with infertility and spontaneous abortion, suggesting a role for selenium-requiring proteins during embryonic development. To gain insight into functions of EGPx in vivo, we determined sites of murine EGPx synthesis by in situ hybridization during embryogenesis and in adult tissues. At E7.5 of development, high EGPx expression was found in the maternally derived deciduum, with lower levels of accumulation in the embryonic visceral endoderm. At E9.5, the major sites of expression were the yolk sac endoderm and heart musculature. By E16.5, EGPx mRNA expression persisted in yolk sac endoderm but also accumulated significantly in atrially derived myocytes, ossification centers, adipose tissue, intestinal epithelium, and in a ventral-to-dorsal gradient in developing skin. Glutathione peroxidase activity due to EGPx protein was identified in the fluids surrounding the developing mouse embryo at midgestation. The expression of EGPx in tissues at the maternal-fetal interface--deciduum, visceral yolk sac, and skin--suggests that EGPx may serve to protect the embryo from oxidant damage. In adult mice, we identified the S1 segment of the kidney proximal tubules as the primary site of EGPx mRNA accumulation, with lower EGPx levels in atrial cardiac muscle, intestine, skin, and adipose tissue. These findings suggest that EGPx may serve a wider antioxidant role than previously recognized in the interstitium of multiple localized tissues, particularly those associated with the active transport of lipids.
Hyaluronic acid oligosaccharides suppress TLR3-dependent cytokine expression in a TLR4-dependent manner.

The release of endogenous molecules from the skin after injury has been proposed to influence inflammation. Recent studies have found that pro-inflammatory signals can be generated by damaged endogenous self-RNA, and this event is detected by TLR3. Conversely, release of endogenous fragments of hyaluronic acid (HA) after injury has been proposed to inhibit LPS induced inflammation driven by TLR4. In this study we investigated if HA oligomers could also influence inflammation mediated by TLR3. A tetramer form of HA (oligo-HA) was added to MH-S cells (mouse alveolar macrophage cell line) that were then activated by poly(I:C). ELISA analysis of culture supernatants showed that the presence of oligo-HA suppressed the poly(I:C) induced release of IL-6 and TNFα. IL-6 mRNA expression was also suppressed as measured by quantitative RT-PCR. To determine the mechanism of action for oligo-HA to inhibit poly(I:C), macrophages derived from wild-type (WT), Tlr2−/− or Tlr4−/− mice were treated with oligo-HA and poly(I:C). Similar to WT cells, Tlr2−/− macrophages were inhibited by oligo-HA and retained suppression of cytokine release. In contrast, Tlr4−/− macrophages lost the capacity to be suppressed by oligo-HA. An increase in Traf1 (TLR negative regulator) mRNA was observed after oligo-HA treatment of WT but not in Tlr4−/− macrophages, and oligo-HA did not suppress cytokine responsiveness in Traf1−/− macrophages. These results show that oligo-HA acts through TLR4 and TRAF1 to inhibit TLR3-dependent inflammation. This observation illustrates the complex immunomodulatory action of endogenous products released after injury.
Loss of the Synaptic Vesicle Protein SV2B Results in Reduced Neurotransmission and Altered Synaptic Vesicle Protein Expression in the Retina

The Synaptic Vesicle Protein 2 (SV2) family of transporter-like proteins is expressed exclusively in vesicles that undergo calcium-regulated exocytosis. Of the three isoforms expressed in mammals, SV2B is the most divergent. Here we report studies of SV2B location and function in the retina. Immunolabeling studies revealed that SV2B is detected in rod photoreceptor synaptic terminals where it is the primary isoform. In mice lacking SV2B, synaptic transmission at the synapse between photoreceptors and bipolar neurons was decreased, as evidenced by a significant reduction in the amplitude of the b-wave in electroretinogram recordings. Quantitative immunoblot analyses of whole eyes revealed that loss of SV2B was associated with reduced levels of synaptic vesicle proteins including synaptotagmin, VAMP, synaptophysin and the vesicular glutamate transporter V-GLUT1. Immunolabeling studies revealed that SV2B is detected in rod photoreceptor synaptic terminals where it is the primary isoform. Thus, SV2B contributes to the modulation of synaptic vesicle exocytosis and plays a significant role in regulating synaptic protein content.
Influence of tillage on maize yield in soil with shallow fragipan

A genuine concern for landowners and other stake holders is whether conservation tillage contaminates shallow groundwater even though it greatly reduces erosion. A six-year continuous maize (Zea mays L.) study that compared yields from no-tillage (NT), reduced-tillage (RT), and conventional-tillage (CT) was conducted in the upland hills of northern Mississippi on 4–6% sloping soils overlying a shallow fragipan. The objective was to test the hypothesis that neither no-tillage nor reduced-tillage has the same effect on maize crop as conventional-tillage on soils with a shallow water restricted layer. The study showed conservation tillage had fewer detrimental effects on the water quality in runoff and shallow groundwater and promoted more soil water for crop use during the growing season than conventional tillage. With adequate weed control, NT produced higher yields than CT on these silt loam soils due to soil water conservation. However, inadequate weed control occurred in several years of the study along with above normal rain resulting in lower NT maize yields than CT yields. Significant differences in maize yield were found for type of tillage, year, and tillage-year interaction. These differences were explained by a tillage system's ability to conserve soil water and control weeds. Other results included low sediment amounts lost from NT maize plots and insignificant free water quantities at the fragipan's surface during the cropping season for all tillage systems. Maximum groundwater movement across the surface of the fragipan occurred during the non-cropping season under soil profile saturation. Amount, timing, and distribution of rainfall rather than tillage system primarily influenced agrichemical movement from maize systems in this study. Some form of conservation tillage that decreases or prevents erosion will be required on sloping lands with shallow fragipan to sustain long term continuous corn production. Information from this study provides additional guidance for making tillage and pesticide management recommendations to farmers.