cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
BROWNIAN MOTION IN A TWO-DIMENSIONAL POTENTIAL: A NEW NUMERICAL SOLUTION METHOD

Studying the Brownian motion of a particle in a two-dimensional potential with two saddle-point passages connecting two wells, we compute the activation rate of the particle from one well into the other and illustrate a new technique for obtaining numerical solution to the Langevin equation for transition probability. By virtue of a Langevin equation with negative friction, this new method directly traces the active part of an activation event, without having to simulate the long period of small fluctuations in a well between two successful events, and computes the statistical weight for each successful activation. It makes feasible for us to numerically integrate the Langevin equation for transition probability even when the activation energy barrier (i.e. the potential difference between the saddle point and the well) is much greater than thermal energy kBT where other methods fail to be tractable.
Electrophysiological and behavioral effects of electrical stimulation of the raphe nuclei in cats

Abstract Electrical stimulation of n. raphe dorsalis in adult cats produced the following effects: (1) suppression of ponto-geniculate-occipital cortex (PGO) waves during REM sleep; (2) mild arousal and orienting responses; and, (3) suppression of feeding in an animal deprived of food for three days. Contrary to these effects, stimulation of n. raphe pontis and magnus triggered the occurrence of PGO waves, produced no arousal and failed to suppress the feeding of food deprived animals. No synchronogenic or sleep-inducing effects were produced by stimulation of any of these raphe nuclei. Stimulation of the midbrain reticular formation produced responses similar to those seen following dorsalis stimulation.
Chandra Observations of the QSO Pair Q2345+007: Binary or Massive Dark Lens?

The components of the wide (73) separation quasar pair Q2345+007A,B (z = 2.15) have the most strikingly similar optical spectra seen to date (Steidel & Sargent) yet no detected lensing mass, making this system the best candidate known for a massive (~1014 M?) dark matter lens system. Here we present results from a 65 ks Chandra observation designed to investigate whether it is a binary quasar or a gravitational lens. We find no X-ray evidence for a lensing cluster to a (0.5-2 keV) flux limit of 2 ? 10-15 ergs cm-2 s-1, which is consistent with lensing only for a reduced baryon fraction. Using the Chandra X-ray observations of the quasars themselves, together with new and published optical measurements, we use the observed emission properties of the quasars for further tests between the lens and binary hypotheses. Assuming similar line-of-sight absorption to the images, we find that their X-ray continuum slopes are inconsistent (?A = 2.30 and ?B = 0.83) as are their X-ray-to-optical flux ratios. The probability that B suffers intrinsic absorption sufficient to account for these spectral differences is negligible. We present new optical evidence that the flux ratio of the pair is variable, so the time delay in a lens scenario could cause some of the discrepancies. However, adequately large variations in overall spectral energy distribution are rare in individual QSOs. All new evidence here weighs strongly toward the binary interpretation. Q2345+007 thus may represent the highest redshift example known of an interaction-triggered but as-yet unmerged luminous active galactic nucleus.
Electrical properties of eolian sand and silt

Abstract A review of observed and theoretically expected electrical properties of eolian sand, silt and dust reveals that little attention has been directed by geologists and geophysicists toward sand and silt even though much research on dust has demonstrated the importance of electrical charging. Potential mechanisms for non-uniform charging and/or polarization of sand and silt particles include (1) polarization by Earth's atmospheric electric field, (2) triboelectrification, (3) contact electrification, (4) cleavage/fractoelectrification, (5) radiation (X-rays, gamma rays, UV and visible) and charged particle bombardment electrification, (6) pyroelectrification and (7) piezoelectrification. Electrical charges may have significant effects upon sand and silt behavior during transport, deposition and, subsequently, at rest. These effects include greater mobility during particle repulsion, aggregation and greater stability after particle deposition. Charged particles in Earth's electromagnetic field also may add or subtract from the effect of Earth's gravitational field, depending on net sign of charge. Electric charge retention among grains at rest may be much greater than intuitive inference suggests and may be a major factor in explaining larger angles of repose in ancient sediments compared to present sediments. Although light and acoustical emissions during sand and silt transport have long been recognized and at times inferred to be due to electric discharging of grains, no scientific models or explanations have been proposed which adequately explain these phenomena. Charges on individual grains are expected to range from 10 −1 to 10 2 pC, but never have been measured under field conditions. During a sand storm, field strength arising from the cumulative effect of grain charges can be expected to range from 10–30 kV/m. Many additional data need to be accumulated and more detailed research performed before an adequate electrical model for sand behavior during transport and deposition, as well as at rest, can be formulated. All major empirical observations, including relative contributions by various charging mechanisms and associated light and acoustical emissions, should be predicted accurately by an acceptable model for electrical charging of eolian sand and silt.
Differential effects of grape powder and its extract on glucose tolerance and chronic inflammation in high-fat-fed obese mice.

The objective of this study was to determine the anti-inflammatory properties of grape powder (GP) or GP extract (GE) and examine (1) which polyphenol metabolites in GE were bioavailable, (2) the impact of GP and GE on glucose tolerance and inflammation in obese mice, and (3) if bioavailable polyphenols in GE decrease markers of inflammation in primary adipocytes. In experiment 1, C57BL/6J mice were gavaged with GE and serum polyphenols were measured. In experiment 2, mice were fed high-fat diets supplemented with 3% GP or 0.02% GE for 18 weeks and markers of inflammation were measured. In experiment 3, human adipocytes were treated with the bioavailable polyphenols quercetin 3-O-glucoside (Q3G) or quercetin 3-O-glucuronide (Q3GN) and markers of inflammation were measured. Serum Q3G and Q3GN increased at 1 h post-GE gavage and decreased thereafter. GP supplementation improved glucose tolerance at 5 weeks and decreased markers of inflammation ∼20–50% in serum and adipose tissue at 18 weeks. Q3G, but not Q3...
Highly reliable high-power broad area laser diodes

We report results of multi-cell life tests performed on nearly (500) laser diodes representing our new generation of very efficient high power broad area 9xx nm lasers. The acceleration model showed a steep power dependence of the failure rate with an exponent of nearly 6. Improvement in the facet passivation process resulted in significantly less power acceleration of failures. Analysis of the life test on upgraded lasers showed median lifetime of 1,500,000 hours at operating conditions of 8W and 350°C. Optical powers as high as 17.8W for thermally limited CW operation and 32W for 20 μs pulsed operation were recorded. The CW life test was complemented by a life test performed at power cycling conditions (1Hz repetition rate, 50% duty cycle).
Use of soybean cyst nematode inbreds to determine genetic diversity among resistant soybeans

Abstract Soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines Ichinohe, inbreds were developed by 10 successive single cyst transfers, with concurrent selection on the resistant soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) lines PI 88788 and PI 90763. Five of the SCN inbreds developed on each soybean line were evaluated for numbers of cysts (white females) per plant of 17 other lines reported to be resistant to one population of race 3, to determine if they had some of the same or different genes for resistance compared with PI 88788 and PI 90763. The cv. Lee 74 was included to standardize the results. Five of the lines may have some of the same genes for resistance as PI 88788 whereas five may be similar to PI 90763. The sampling effect of inbreeding indicated that the lines within these two groups may not be genetically identical. Peking and Pickett 71 tended to have intermediate to high numbers of cysts with both sets of inbreds; frequently Peking is similar to PI 90763 and Pickett 71, but this does not imply genetic similarity. These results suggest that some of the PI lines may have resistance genes differing from those of the other PI lines. These PI should provide additional germplasm to broaden genetic diversity for SCN resistance in cultivar development. Some other gross genetic similarities based on other data are discussed.
Testosterone has opposite effects on male growth in lizards (Sceloporus spp.) with opposite patterns of sexual size dimorphism.

SUMMARY Sexual size dimorphism (SSD) has received considerable attention from evolutionary biologists, but relatively little is known about the physiological mechanisms underlying sex differences in growth that lead to SSD. Testosterone (T) stimulates growth in many male-larger vertebrates, but inhibits growth in the female-larger lizard Sceloporus undulatus . Thus, opposite patterns of SSD may develop in part because of underlying differences in the hormonal regulation of male growth. In the present study, we examined the effects of T on male growth in two sympatric congeners with opposite patterns of SSD ( S. virgatus : female-larger; S. jarrovii : male-larger). During the mating season, yearling males of both species have higher plasma T levels than females, but whereas yearling males of S. virgatus grow only half as fast as females, yearling males of S. jarrovii grow more quickly than females. Thus, we hypothesized that T inhibits growth in yearling S. virgatus males, but promotes growth in yearling S. jarrovii males. In support of this hypothesis, we found that castrated (CAST) males of S. virgatus grew faster than castrated males given T implants (TEST). In contrast, TEST males of S. jarrovii grew faster than CAST males. Our results provide the first direct evidence for opposite effects of T on male growth in closely related species with opposite patterns of SSD. We speculate that growth inhibition by T reflects an energetic trade-off between growth and reproductive investment, and propose that such `costs9 of male reproduction may help explain the evolution of female-larger SSD in Sceloporus .
The effect of erosion on the solar wind stand-off distance at Mercury

Measurements of the effect of dayside magnetic reconnection on the position of the earth's forward magnetopause have been scaled to Mercury in order to predict the mean solar wind stand-off distance for average conditions of solar wind dynamic pressure. It is found that for a significant portion of the time Mercury's magnetopause will be eroded and/or compressed to within 0.2 Mercury radii of the planet's surface. Solar wind stand-off distances and solar wind dynamic pressures are also calculated for the two Mariner 10 encounters with Mercury's magnetosphere. Values of the solar wind stand-off distance range from 1.3 to 2.1 Mercury radii.
Geographical imaginaries of the ‘New Europe’ and the ‘East’ in a business context: the case of Italian investors in Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine1

A large literature in cultural geography, history, and sociology has discussed the different, constantly shifting, and mutually defining constructions of ‘Europe,’ ‘Eastern Europe,’ and more recently the ‘New Europe,’ focusing mostly on examples from the media, politics, and sometimes the arts. However, the literature has done little to analyze the construction of notions of Europe, and the role they play, in the realm of business. This paper begins to explore the connection between cultural understandings of Europe and investment decisions. Specifically, it follows a group of investors from Italy, showing the ‘cultural clashes’ they encountered in setting up business operations in Slovakia, Romania, and Ukraine. The paper is developed in three steps. First, the relevant cultural and economic geographical literatures are reviewed. Second, the historical progression of Italian investment since the 1990s is discussed in relation to broader economic changes in Italy and the New Europe. Third, investors' chan...
Timescale for isospin equilibration in projectile breakup

Isospin transport within a nuclear system is influenced by the density dependence of the symmetry energy. Studying isospin transport over relatively long times can therefore be a powerful tool to learn about the symmetry energy. The transiently deformed PLF* formed in an intermediate energy heavy-ion collision presents an opportunity to study isospin transport for a variety of initial configurations. Isospin transport is found to persist over several hundred fm/c , establishing the timescale for isospin equilibration.
Identification of Methylated Proteins in the Yeast Small Ribosomal Subunit: A Role for SPOUT Methyltransferases in Protein Arginine Methylation

We have characterized the posttranslational methylation of Rps2, Rps3, and Rps27a, three small ribosomal subunit proteins in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, using mass spectrometry and amino acid analysis. We found that Rps2 is substoichiometrically modified at arginine-10 by the Rmt1 methyltransferase. We demonstrated that Rps3 is stoichiometrically modified by ω-monomethylation at arginine-146 by mass spectrometric and site-directed mutagenic analyses. Substitution of alanine for arginine at position 146 is associated with slow cell growth, suggesting that the amino acid identity at this site may influence ribosomal function and/or biogenesis. Analysis of the three-dimensional structure of Rps3 in S. cerevisiae shows that arginine-146 makes contacts with the small subunit rRNA. Screening of deletion mutants encoding potential yeast methyltransferases revealed that the loss of the YOR021C gene results in the absence of methylation of Rps3. We demonstrated that recombinant Yor021c catalyzes ω-monometh...
The effect of adrenal steroids on peripheral fat mobilization in the rat.

The fasting adrenalectomized rat moved more fat out of the epididymal fat depot during a 12-hour fast than did the normal animal. Restoration of cortical hormone (hydrocortisone) at both high and low dose levels elicited a marked inhibition of fat movement out of this depot. The administration of hydrocortisone to intact animals also produced this inhibition. The procedure of sham adrenalectomy caused a significant diminution of fat mobilization from the epididymal depot for at least six days following the laparotomy. This response to trauma has now been observed in another laboratory following a burn stress. There are probably factors other than the release of cortical steroids which mediate this response but an increase in steroid titer appears to alter fat mobilization in this direction. The hypophysectomized animal behaves differently from the adrenalectomized animal in this regard. The amount of fat moved out of the epididymal depot by the hypophysectomized animal during a 12-hour fast was much small...
Instrumental variables II: instrumental variable application-in 25 variations, the physician prescribing preference generally was strong and reduced covariate imbalance

Objective An instrumental variable (IV) is an unconfounded proxy for a study exposure that can be used to estimate a causal effect in the presence of unmeasured confounding. To provide reliably consistent estimates of effect, IVs should be both valid and reasonably strong. Physician prescribing preference (PPP) is an IV that uses variation in doctors' prescribing to predict drug treatment. As reduction in covariate imbalance may suggest increased IV validity, we sought to examine the covariate balance and instrument strength in 25 formulations of the PPP IV in two cohort studies.
Spurious nature of ultraviolet divergences

It is possible to remove ultraviolet divergences from Feynman diagrams by first differentiating them with respect to their external momenta, then integrating with respect to the internal momenta, and finally integrating back with respect to the external momenta. The last (indefinite) integrals involve arbitrary integration constants, which have to be fixed by further prescriptions,e.g. by requiring that there should be neither mass nor charge renormalization. The whole procedure is consistent with the requirements of covariance, unitarity, and causality, so that the ultraviolet divergences should be considered as entirely spurious. The results obtained by the present method are identical to those of renormalized quantum field theory, whenever renormalization is possible, but are reached here with less computational labor. Moreover, this method can also be applied, with the same ease, to nonrenormalizable interactions. Finally, the present method displays very clearly the arbitrariness involved at each stage of the perturbation procedure, which is quite parallel to the semi-phenomenological approach of dispersion theory.
Hierophany and History

discontinuity in the religious life of mankind. Whether it be a hierophany in a stone or in a person as in the case with Jesus Christ, the same dialetic of the sacred must be operative. Accordingly, Eliade insists that History of Religions as a discipline must be "a total hermeneutics, being called to decipher and explicate every kind of encounter of man with the sacred, from prehistory to our day."1 And yet many practicing historians of religions feel constrained. They feel constrained because they fear that there is a fundamental methodological cleavage in the discipline of History of Religions. They are confronted with a methodological disjuncture which prevents them from seeing the essential continuity in the religious life of mankind under the aegis of the same dialectic of the sacred. Here I am not
Fitting a Curve to a Confidence Interval

Three curves are fit to a confidence interval and its estimate. These curves allow a data user to incorporate the variability of the estimation method into further calculations.
Extracorporeal circulation for port-access cardiac surgery

Minimally invasive techniques for cardiac surgery are a new approach in performing some cardiac operations. Minimally invasive surgery may minimize patient discomfort, length of stay in the hospital and postoperative rehabilitation. These procedures utilize a small thoracotomy for direct visualization of the heart. However, without the use of cardiopulmonary bypass, this approach is limited to some epicardial procedures such as coronary bypass grafting, where the heart rate is pharmacologically reduced. Port-access cardiac surgery is a new approach which provides all the benefits of minimally invasive surgery without sacrificing the advantages of cardiopulmonary bypass and myocardial preservation. Port-access cardiac surgery uses an anterior mediastinotomy and thoracic ports in conjunction with a specially designed set of endovascular catheters. These catheters provide a mode to arrest, preserve and vent the heart through an endoaortic occlusion balloon positioned in the ascending aorta. A pulmonary artery vent and coronary sinus cardioplegia catheter can also be used. These endovascular catheters, integrated with a modified heart-lung machine, provide complete cardiopulmonary support through extrathoracic cannulae inserted in a femoral artery and vein. Maintenance and monitoring of this endovascular cardiopulmonary bypass system requires the use of a kinetic pump in the venous drainage line to augment return to the heart-lung machine. Special guidelines and management parameters exist to optimize bypass with this catheter system. Using this system, port-access, minimally invasive surgery can be applied to a wider range of both epicardial and intracardiac procedures.
A proactive health plan: taking action on tobacco control

It is no secret that the health of most Americans is not as good as it could be. Quality of care is poor, health equity is low, and our health system is in crisis. For health organisations, this myriad of challenges and the massive scope of the problem makes it difficult to prioritise health improvement initiatives. At HealthPartners, a Minnesota based health care organisation with 800 000 members, we have defined our initiatives by looking at the health of our members and our community and what we want the future to reflect in terms of good health and organisational values. At the heart of one of our key initiatives is tobacco control. Our mission at HealthPartners is to improve the health of our members and the community. To achieve this, we must be competent not only in managing disease, but also in managing the major risk factors for disease. In 1993, we began thinking about how to best identify and affect these risk factors. Our first step was to survey our population for risk factors for illness such as tobacco use, dietary indiscretion, and inactivity. This drew attention to the fact that these risk factors were a problem for HealthPartners' enrolled population. Next we established a model that illustrated the linkage of risk factors to disease and emphasised the opportunities for intervention. For example, for a person with high blood pressure, a low sodium diet and increased exercise could be an early intervention point. If high blood pressure is not dealt with effectively, heart disease may result, and so on. The objective of this model was to show that we must have interventions and programs along the whole spectrum from being well, to …
Modular scheduling of guarded atomic actions

A modular synthesis flow is essential for a scalable and hierarchical design methodology. This paper considers a particular modular flow where each module has interface methods and the internal behavior of the module is described in terms of a set of guarded atomic actions on the state elements of the module. A module can also read and update the state of other modules but only by invoking the interface methods of those modules. This paper extends the past work on hardware synthesis of a set of guarded atomic actions by Hoe and Arvind to modules of such actions.: It presents an algorithm that, given the scheduling constraints on the interface methods of the called modules, derives the "glue logic" and the scheduling constraints for the interface methods of the calling module such that the atomicity of the guarded actions is preserved across module boundaries. Such modules provide reusable 1P which facilitates "correctness by construction" design methodology. It also reduces compile-times dramati$ally in comparison to the compilation that flattens all the modules first.
Comprehensive characterization of MHC class II haplotypes in Mauritian cynomolgus macaques

There are currently no nonhuman primate models with fully defined major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II genetics. We recently showed that six common MHC haplotypes account for essentially all MHC diversity in cynomolgus macaques (Macaca fascicularis) from the island of Mauritius. In this study, we employ complementary DNA cloning and sequencing to comprehensively characterize full length MHC class II alleles expressed at the Mafa-DPA, -DPB, -DQA, -DQB, -DRA, and -DRB loci on the six common haplotypes. We describe 34 full-length MHC class II alleles, 12 of which are completely novel. Polymorphism was evident at all six loci including DPA, a locus thought to be monomorphic in rhesus macaques. Similar to other Old World monkeys, Mauritian cynomolgus macaques (MCM) share MHC class II allelic lineages with humans at the DQ and DR loci, but not at the DP loci. Additionally, we identified extensive sharing of MHC class II alleles between MCM and other nonhuman primates. The characterization of these full-length-expressed MHC class II alleles will enable researchers to generate MHC class II transferent cell lines, tetramers, and other molecular reagents that can be used to explore CD4+ T lymphocyte responses in MCM.
Research.js: Evaluating Research Tool Usability on the Web

Many research projects are publicly available but rarely used due to the difficulty of building and installing them. We propose that researchers compile their projects to JavaScript and put them online to make them more accessible to new users and thus facilitate large-scale online usability studies.
Exhausting Formal Quantization Procedures

In paper [1] the author introduced stable formality quasi-isomorphisms and described the set of its homotopy classes. This result can be interpreted as a complete description of formal quantization procedures. In this note we give a brief exposition of stable formality quasi-isomorphisms and prove that every homotopy class of stable formality quasi-isomorphisms contains a representative which admits globalization. This note is loosely based on the talk given by the author at XXX Workshop on Geometric Methods in Physics in Bialowieza, Poland.
Chapter 22 Corporate financial structure, incentives and optimal contracting

Publisher Summary The dominant paradigm in modern corporate finance views the firm as a nexus of contracts between various economic agents, particularly managers and investors. This chapter discusses optimal corporate financial structure within this basic framework. The observation is divided into two groups: those (security design) that derive optimal financial contracts as optimal mechanisms for overcoming various frictions between agents, and those (capital structure) that take certain contracts such as debt and equity as given and analyze the optimal mix of these contracts that firms should issue in the face of frictions between agents. Although the survey focuses on the design of optimal financial contracts, the distinction between the two groups is not always clear cut: some papers on security design make assumptions that immediately guarantee the use of specific contract types, while some papers on capital structure model the optimal choice of specific features of debt or equity securities. .
Benchmarking the efficacy of team decisions using a game theoretic approach

In a consensus team decision-making process involving the allocation of resources, decision-makers arrive at a mutually beneficial and satisfying solution or strategy by unanimous agreement. However, this consensus agreement is often masked by behind-the-scene manoeuvres involving the consensus (or coalition) of subgroups, which then exert their influence (or threats) to advance the total team towards the masked consensus decision the subgroups had sought to institute. Finding the actual roles and motivations of parties in these behind-the-scene manoeuvres is difficult. However, the question we seek to answer is as follows: was it a true consensus decision that was arrived at? We answer the question by developing algebraic models of the decision-making problem within a game theoretic framework, for n decision-makers and m (pure) strategies involving resource apportioning. Using the Nash equilibrium as the basis for the coalition of subgroups, we identify the continuum cases of ‘win-win’, ‘win-lose’, ‘lose...
Constraining the efficiency of turbidity current generation from submarine debris flows and slides using laboratory experiments

Abstract Results from a small set of laboratory experiments are presented here that help further constrain the processes governing the production of turbidity currents from impulsive failures of continental shelf and slope deposits. Three mechanisms by which sediment can be transferred from a parent debris flow to a less-dense turbidity current were observed and quantified. These mechanisms are grain-by-grain erosion of sediment from the leading edge of the parent flow, detachment of thin layers of shearing material from the head of the parent flow, and turbulent mixing at the head of the parent flow. Which transfer process dominates an experimental run depends on whether the large dynamic stresses focused on the head of the debris flow are sufficient to overcome a effective yield strength for the parent sediment+water mixture and on whether the dynamic stresses are sufficient to induce the turbulent flow of the parent mixture. Analysis of data from Marr et al. [Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 113 (2001) 1377] and Mohrig et al. [Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 110 (1998) 387] support the use of a shear strength to dynamic stress ratio in constraining necessary critical values for occurrence of the different production mechanisms. Direct sampling of turbidity currents using racks of vertically stacked siphons was used to measure both the quantity of sediment eroded from the heads of non-mixing parent flows and the distribution of particle sizes transported by the developing turbidity currents. Acoustic backscatter imaging was used to better resolve the internal boundary separating any turbulent mixing zone near the front of a flow from unmodified parent material.
WHOLE BLOOD SEROTONIN IN AUTISTIC AND NORMAL SUBJECTS

Abstract Whole blood serotonin and tryptophan were measured in 87 normal subjects and in 40 autistic subjects. Whole blood serotonin concentration (mean ± SE) were significantly higher in drug-free (N= 21) autistics (205 ± 16 ng/ml) that in normal (136 ± 5.4 ng/ml) The Gaussian distribution of serotonin level of the unmidicated autistic group suggests the elevation was not due to a subgroup of autistic subject Autistics medicated with medicated with anticonvulsants or neuroleptics had significantly lower serortonin levels than did drug-free autistic subjects Whole blood trytophan levels and platelet counts were similar in the autistic and normal groups. The possible cause of the hyerserotonemia of autism are discussed
TEAM RACIAL COMPOSITION AND SPORTS ATTENDANCE

The premise that the racial composition of professional sports teams is a significant factor in explaining paid attendance variability is tested in this article. A model of the general determinants of sports attendance, including the percentage of black players on each team, is developed and applied to longitudinal samples of National Basketball Association teams from 1969 to 1983. This pooled cross-sectional panel model is analyzed within a generalized least-squares framework. While the empirical results are generally consistent with previous estimates for spectator attendance models, team racial composition has no discernible impact upon the level of attendance. Several interaction hypotheses are considered, but when these more complex propositions are evaluated, player race still has no noticeable effect upon attendance. Some implications of these results for race relations and for the structure of salary determination within professional basketball are discussed.
Multiple modulators act on the cardiac ganglion of the crab, Cancer borealis

SUMMARY Neuromodulators can change the output of neural circuits. The crustacean cardiac ganglion (CG) drives the contractions of the heart. The CG is a direct target for neurohormones that are released from the pericardial organs and other neuroendocrine sites. In this study, we have characterized for the first time the physiological actions of the peptides red pigment concentrating hormone (RPCH), Cancer borealis tachykinin-related peptide Ia (CabTRP Ia) and allatostatin III type A (AST-3) on the isolated CG of the crab, Cancer borealis . RPCH and CabTRP Ia excited the CG while AST-3 strongly inhibited its motor output. We also studied the actions of other peptides and small molecule transmitters known to be present in C. borealis . Dopamine, serotonin, proctolin, crustacean cardioactive peptide (CCAP), a number of extended FLRFamide peptides, and cholinergic agonists increased the activity of the CG, GABA inhibited the CG, while other substances had little or no significant effect on the CG motor pattern. These results demonstrate, in one species, that the CG is multiply modulated. We suggest that multiple modulators may be important to regulate and coordinate the activity of the heart and other organs in response to external stimuli or the endogenous physiological state.
Systematic objective-driven computer architecture optimization

Computer designers now have more transistors and architectural alternatives than at any time. Computer-aided design tools automate much of the physical design process. However, few tools have been developed to help the computer architect specify near-optimal microarchitectural configurations in the early design stages. Such tools are needed to systematically guide the early design specifications subject to multiple objectives such as cost, performance, and power consumption. This paper illustrates an objective-driven microarchitectural design methodology that couples the specification design phase with an optimization technique. The design of a memory hierarchy with multiple performance objectives is used as a case study. This is a directed search problem with a high dimensionality. We show that the genetic algorithm, a global optimization technique based on the metaphor of natural selection and survival of the fittest, is an ideal candidate for such an objective-driven search in a high dimensional space. The paper concludes that search techniques such as genetic algorithms are necessary to systematically and efficiently drive architectural optimizations for multiple objectives such as dynamic power, and performance in the early, high-impact stages of the design process.
Regulation of Hemostasis and Thrombosis Insights from Murine Models

This issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology contains the first of a series of articles describing the use of murine models to explore the regulation of hemostasis and thrombosis. See page 454 Thrombotic complications of atherosclerosis, such as myocardial infarction and stroke, remain the leading cause of mortality in the Western world. Despite advances in therapies such as statins, which retard the progression of atherosclerosis and reduce vascular complications, myocardial infarction and stroke continue to dominate the healthcare system. Thus there is an urgent need to develop effective chronic therapeutic interventions for prevention of these thrombotic vascular complications. Current treatment is limited in part because of insufficient knowledge regarding the important regulatory factors in atherothrombosis and also because therapies targeting this process …
Matrix-Isolated Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS): The Role of the Supporting Matrix

The influence of a supporting matrix in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) has been investigated. The support matrices were conventional TLC plates onto which Ag colloidal hydrosols mixed with the dye pararosaniline had been deposited. The protocol of preparation of the Ag sol as well as the type of TLC plate had a profound effect upon the intensity of the SERS signals of pararosaniline. The Ag sol and the TLC plate that resulted, in the maximum SERS intensities yielded a detection limit of ~ 108 femtomols (33 pg) of dye deposited onto the TLC plate. Deposition of the dye/sol mixture onto the supporting matrix also resulted in stable SERS signals for extended periods of time, in contrast to the solution-phase case, where the signal is only transient in nature. In order to obtain the SERS spectra, a remote sensing Raman spectrometer was constructed and is described.
Human small intestine facilitative fructose/glucose transporter (GLUT5) is also present in insulin-responsive tissues and brain. Investigation of biochemical characteristics and translocation.

A recent study by C.F. Burant et al. (13) demonstrates that GLUT5 is a high-affinity fructose transporter with a much lower capacity to transport glucose. To characterize the potential role of GLUT5 in fructose and glucose transport in insulin-sensitive tissues, we investigated the distribution and insulin-stimulated translocation of the GLUT5 protein in human tissues by immunoblotting with an antibody to the COOH-terminus of the human GLUT5 sequence. GLUT5 was detected in postnuclear membranes from the small intestine, kidney, heart, four different skeletal muscle groups, and the brain, and in plasma membranes from adipocytes. Cytochalasin-B photolabeled a 53,000-M(r) protein in small intestine membranes that was immunoprecipitated by the GLUT5 antibody; labeling was inhibited by D- but not L-glucose. N-glycanase treatment resulted in a band of 45,000 M(r) in all tissues. Plasma membranes were prepared from isolated adipocytes from 5 nonobese and 4 obese subjects. Incubation of adipocytes from either group with 7 nM insulin did not recruit GLUT5 to the plasma membrane, in spite of a 54% insulin-stimulated increase in GLUT4 in nonobese subjects. Thus, GLUT5 appears to be a constitutive sugar transporter that is expressed in many tissues. Further studies are needed to define its overall contribution to fructose and glucose transport in insulin-responsive tissues and brain.
Scientific Reasoning and Methods in Urban Planning

In all of his numerous publications, Andy Isserman has consistently advocated the development of new and suitable theories and methods for planning for the future. The purpose of this brief article is to reflect Andy Isserman's scientific contributions to Urban and Regional Planning and to reaffirm the need to search for and develop appropriate scientific reasoning and methods to solve urban and regional issues in the Information Age. Language: en
Analysis of a stirling-cycle power convertor for domestic combined heat and power

Use of a Stirling-cycle convertor is analyzed with respect to domestic application to micro Combined Heat and Power. An engine that can convert heat into electric power has the potential to extract more availability from fuel consumption than combustion for space heating alone. A specific conceptual design is presented, illustrating that the technical aspects are manageable. A dynamic analysis shows that such a system could be integrated with line power without expensive tie-in electronics. A cost analysis indicates an installed-system target price for practical consumer adoption.
Effect of thermal radiation on the propagation of plane acoustic waves

A study is made of the propagation of acoustic waves in a semi-infinite expanse of radiating gas on one side of an infinite, plane, radiating wall. A solution is found, in particular, for the case of sinusoidal oscillations in both position and temperature of the wall. The solution is based on a single linear integro-differential equation that plays the same role here as does the classical wave equation in equilibrium acoustic theory. The solution is applicable throughout the range from a completely transparent to a completely opaque gas and from very low to very high temperatures. The solution appears, in general, as the sum of two types of travelling waves: (1) an essentially classical sound-wave, but with a slightly altered speed and a small amount of damping and (2) a radiation-induced wave whose speed and damping may be either large or small, depending on the temperature and absorptivity of the gas. Since the waves are coupled, both types will usually be present together, even in the special cases of pure motion or pure temperature variation of the wall.
Intronization, de-intronization and intron sliding are rare in Cryptococcus.

Eukaryotic pre-mRNA gene transcripts are processed by the spliceosome to remove portions of the transcript, called spliceosomal introns. The spliceosome recognizes intron boundaries by the presence of sequence signals (motifs) contained in the actual transcript, thus sequence changes in the genome that affect existing splicing signals or create new signals may lead to changes in transcript splicing patterns. Such changes may lead to previously excluded (intronic) transcript regions being included (exonic) or vice versa. Such changes can affect the encoded protein sequence and/or post-transcriptional regulation, and are thus a potentially important source of genomic and phenotypic novelty. Two recent papers suggest that such changes may be a major force in remodeling of eukaryotic gene structures, however the rate of occurrence of such changes has not been assessed at the genomic level. I studied four closely related species of Cryptoccocus fungi. Among 28,256 studied introns, canonical GT/C...AG boundaries are nearly universally conserved across all four species. Among only 40 observed cases of cDNA-confirmed non-conserved intron boundaries, most are likely to involve alternative splicing. I find only five cases of "intronization," intron creation from an internal exonic region by de novo emergence of new splicing boundaries, and no cases of the reverse process, "de-intronization." I find no more than ten clear cases of true movement of an intron boundary of a possibly constitutively spliced intron, and no clear cases of true "intron sliding," in which changes in the positions of both intron boundaries could lead to a movement of the intron position along the coding sequence. These results suggest that intronization, de-intronization, and intron boundary movement are rare events in evolution.
Experimental evaluation of the surface specificity of sum-frequency vibrational spectroscopy

Summary form only given. Surface vibrational spectroscopy via infrared-visible sum-frequency generation (SFG) has been developed into a powerful tool to study the structures of surfaces and interfaces. It is based on the principle that SFG is forbidden under electric-dipole approximation in a medium with inversion symmetry, but necessarily allowed at a surface or interface where the inversion symmetry is broken. However, there is always the question whether the bulk quadrupole contribution to the reflected surface SFG spectrum is indeed negligible. To answer this question, we need to measure the quadrupole bulk contribution separately. This can be done with SFG in transmission. Because of the longer-coherence length for phase matching in transmission, the quadrupole bulk contribution could dominate over the dipole-allowed surface contribution. Although the transmission measurement cannot determine all the independent tensor elements of the quadrupole nonlinear susceptibility of the bulk, it provides at least an order-of-magnitude estimate of the bulk contribution to surface SFG. We have carried out quantitative measurements and comparison of reflected and transmitted SFG spectra for a number of samples and learned whether their reflected SFG spectra are surface-dominated.
The Flow of News: Tanjug, the Pool, and the National Agencies

National news services, along with the Non-Aligned Pool, can assist in improving the amount and presentation of news from developing nations in the Western press.
Average min-sum decoding of LDPC codes

Simulations have shown that the outputs of min-sum (MS) decoding generally behave in one of two ways: either the output vector eventually stabilizes at a codeword or it eventually cycles through a finite set of vectors that may include both codewords and non-codewords. The latter behavior has significantly contributed to the difficulty in studying the performance of this decoder. To overcome this problem, a new decoder, average min-sum (AMS), is proposed; this decoder outputs the average of the MS output vectors over a finite set of iterations. Simulations comparing MS, AMS, linear programming (LP) decoding, and maximum likelihood (ML) decoding are presented, illustrating the relative performances of each of these decoders. In general, MS and AMS have comparable word error rates; however, in the simulation of a code with large block length, AMS has a significantly lower bit error rate. Finally, AMS pseudocodewords are introduced and their relationship to graph cover and LP pseudocodewords is explored, with particular focus on the AMS pseudocodewords of regular LDPC codes and cycle codes.
Effect of the interfacial viscosities upon displacement

A capillary rise technique was developed for measuring the effect of the surface viscosities upon the displacement of air by liquids in glass capillaries. Measurements were made in two tubes with optically measured radii of 37.5 and 48.6 μm. No surface viscous effects were observed with doubly distilled water or with octane, in good agreement with the Washburn equation. The behavior of a dilute aqueous solution of dodecyl sodium sulfate was easily distinguished from that corresponding to zero surface viscosities. The surface dilatational viscosity was found to be two orders of magnitude greater than the surface shear viscosity. Previous qualitative (Slattery, 1974, 1979) and quantitative (Giordano and Slattery, 1983) theories for the effect of the interfacial viscosities upon displacement are fully supported by this experimental study.
Effects of Produced Water on Settlement of Larvae: Field Tests using Red Abalone

Field studies of biological effects arising from the chronic discharge of produced water into the marine environment have emphasized potential impacts to the benthos, and have not addressed directly possible effects on organisms in the water column (Neff, 1987; Payne et al., 1987; Spies, 1987). In part this arises because harmful components of produced water, such as petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals, have relatively short residence times in the water column (e.g. Armstrong et al., 1979; Grahl-Nielsen et al., 1979), but can accumulate in surficial sediments near the point of discharge (e.g. Armstrong et al., 1979; Wheeler et al., 1980; Mittleditch, 1981a). Water soluble contaminants are thought to be diluted rapidly to levels well below those suspected to cause meaningful biological responses based on acute (lethal) laboratory tests (e.g. Montalvo and Brady, 1979; Middleditch, 1981b, 1984; Rose and Ward, 1981; Payne et al., 1987), and produced water typically is only mildly toxic (Neff, 1987). If effects of produced water on planktonic forms occur anywhere, they are thought to be most likely in embayments or other shallow, low-energy environments where the turnover rate of the receiving water is low relative to the discharge volume (e.g. Armstrong et al., 1979; Neff, 1987; Payne et al., 1987; Spies, 1987). However, limited data on petroleum hydrocarbon contamination suggest that effects on planktonic organisms can occur in open waters (e.g. Howarth 1989), although there have not been explicit field evaluations for discharges of produced water (Neff, 1987).
Patterns in Recommendation Changes, Investor Perceptions, and the Structure of Analysts’ Research Portfolios

We study whether analysts’ recommendations and the market’s reactions to recommendation changes are influenced by the structure of analysts’ research portfolios. We find that analysts maintain more positive recommendations for stocks that belong to the “core industry” in their research portfolios, and are more likely to upgrade these core stocks. Consequently, diversified analysts, who cover stocks from industries other than their core industry, make less optimistic recommendations and are less likely to upgrade their recommendations. We also find that the market’s reactions, captured by announcement returns, are stronger for recommendation changes for non-core stocks and recommendation changes made by diversified analysts. Finally, all these patterns are significantly less pronounced after the passage of Regulation Fair Disclosure, suggesting that the bias in recommendations is the result of strategic considerations and not self-selection.