cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Purification of an active species of recombinant K-bungarotoxin

The expression of kappa-bungarotoxin in Escherichia coli from a synthetic gene results in the production of multiple species of polypeptide. These include not only biologically active kappa-bungarotoxin but also a variety of inactive species, which include inactive monomers as well as disulfide-linked polymeric species. Identification of these species and their separation from the biologically active recombinant toxin is necessary for the use of the toxin in physiological and biochemical studies. This has been accomplished by a combination of ion-exchange and reverse-phase chromatography which results in a homogeneous toxin preparation. The active material produced is sufficient for many types of biological studies and for mutagenesis experiments directed at determining the structure function relationships of toxin interactions with the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. In addition, the kappa-bungarotoxin produced in this manner has the distinct advantage over venom-purified kappa-bungarotoxin of not being contaminated with other venom components which could potentially affect experimental observations.
Cardiac-somatic changes during a simple reaction time task: a developmental study.

Abstract The relationship during a simple reaction time task between heart rate and four measures of task irrelevant somatic activity was evaluated in four age groups of children, i.e., 4-, 5-, 8-, and 10-year-olds and young adults, in order to evaluate further a hypothesized coupling of cardiac and somatic activity. At all age levels, phasic decreases in both heart rate and somatic activity coincident with performance were found with the magnitude of the effect increasing with age only on three somatic measures. However, tonic levels of both heart rate and somatic activity decreased with age. Performance on the reaction task was found to be inversely related to the age-related phasic somatic effects as well as age-related tonic heart rate and somatic activity.
Fuel Economy Improvement Potential of a PFI Gasoline Engine Using VVT/VCR

It is desired to optimize a spark ignition PFI (port fuel injected) engine for various regimes within the operating ranges of a vehicle. The goal of this work is to identify the set of technologies that complement each other and offer the optimum performance and fuel economy. For an ideal powertrain system, the engine should be optimized for best fuel economy during the typical drive cycles and best performance during high load acceleration. A typical PFI 1.8L four-cylinder engine is baselined at cycle representative speed/load points. The engine is supercharged and intercooled to later quantify the efficiency benefits from replacing a larger engine with a smaller boosted engine that offers similar performance. Then the effects of different operating regimes and the effect of different proposed technologies are studied. The fuel economy enablers considered include variable valve timing (VVT) and variable compression ratios (VCR). The effects of VVT was studied to see which valve event scenarios afford the best operating efficiency and fuel economy during part load operation. VVT can also be a source of performance improvement if implemented appropriately. VCR operation is studied to see if the efficiency gains from VCR are additive with VVT or if they overlap to some degree. Typically, the fuel efficiency potential of a production engine is limited by spark knock. The engine studied here uses the geometrical and virtual compression ratio reductions offered by the VVT and VCR systems to give knock limit relief and allows the knock-limited BMEP curve to be pushed up. The results showed that the fuel economy gain with the above mentioned technologies is somewhat additive throughout the typical driving cycle but is highly dependent on proper optimization of the many system variables.Copyright © 2004 by ASME
Law of Corresponding States for fcc and d-hcp La

The specific heats of fcc and d-hcp La have been measured from 1.0-10.0\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}K. There is a striking similarity between these two metals, and a law of corresponding states is obeyed for both the superconducting- and normal-state specific heats. An energy-gap parameter determined from both the temperature-dependent electronic specific heat and from the free-energy difference is $3.7k{T}_{c}$, in good agreement with the BCS value. No evidence is found for an $f$-band contribution to the superconducting characteristics.
Advanced Practice Quality Improvement: Beyond the Radiology Department

Substantial opportunity exists for radiologists to lead practice quality improvement initiatives that extend beyond the boundaries of the radiology department, especially regarding the appropriate, evidence-based utilization of radiological services by clinical colleagues. Radiologists are uniquely positioned to lead these types of interdisciplinary quality projects. An example of one such project is reviewed, with a reflection on lessons learned; specific, practical recommendations derived from past efforts are made.
Investigating further preservice teachers’ conceptions of multidigit whole numbers: refining a framework

This study was designed to investigate preservice elementary school teachers’ (PSTs’) responses to written standard place-value-operation tasks (addition and subtraction). Previous research established that PSTs can often perform but not explain algorithms and provided a four-category framework for PSTs’ conceptions, two correct and two incorrect. Previous findings are replicated for PSTs toward the end of their college careers, and two conceptions are further analyzed to yield three categories of incorrect views of regrouped digits: (a) consistently as 1 value (all as 1 or all as 10), (b) consistently within but not across contexts (i.e., all as 10 in addition but all as 1 in subtraction), and (c) inconsistently (depending on the task).
Bedtime Rituals and Their Relationship to Childhood Sleep Disturbance

This study reopens the construct of a bedtime ritual using an ethnographic approach. The only previous descriptive work on the bedtime ritual, that of Albert and colleagues, consists of 5 families. This study expands the sample size to 16. The expanded sample size provides an opportunityfor greater exploration of diversity of the ritual and also greater disparity of sleep disturbance across participants. This study takes the descriptive analysis of the earlier study a step further by looking at recognizable differences in sleep disturbance and searching for a possible association with components of the bedtime rituaL Sleep distress indicators used in this study include reported nightmares, requests for water as a way in which to delay sleep, searching the roomfor "monsters," using night lights, protesting bedtime, and reports that the child cannot sleep.
The Cell and Molecular Biology of Glaucoma: Axonopathy and the Brain

Many ophthalmologists and members of the lay public alike view glaucoma in its historical context—that is, as exclusively a disease of the eye. This view has been (and remains) overwhelmingly pervasive because the etiology of the disease involves so many factors associated with the eye: intraocular pressure (IOP), corneal thickness, optic disc morphology, and so on. Glaucoma is associated with sensitivity to IOP, and lowering IOP through either topical application of hypotensive drugs or surgery is the only form of treatment. Studies of animal models of glaucoma generally incorporate elevations in IOP as a way of mimicking the sort of injury that seems relevant to the human disease. However, although managing IOP can slow disease progression, it is not a cure, and vision loss in glaucoma often continues despite hypotensive regimens. 1 What is most damaging about glaucoma occurs outside of the eye, with degeneration of the optic nerve and its connections to the brain. This process involves the progressive loss of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) axons, some 1.5 million of which comprise the optic nerve in humans. Smaller eyes in experimental models have correspondingly fewer axons. Axon loss is followed eventually by apoptotic elimination of the RGC soma population in the retina. The rate at which degeneration progresses depends on many factors, including treatment efficacy. In the worst case, the loss of RGC neurons and their connections in the optic projection represents a substantial injury to the brain. Some 50% to 60% of the cerebral cortex spread over 40 to 45 distinct visual areas processes information from the retina via the optic nerve. In this sense, glaucoma is the premier age-related optic neuropathy and is becoming more prevalent as the population ages. Since the retina and optic nerve are part of the central nervous system, they lack the limited but intrinsic capacity of peripheral nervous system neurons for self-repair. Thus, identifying new neurocentric therapies for glaucoma is important, not only for preserving vision as the population ages, but also for translation to new treatments for other age-related brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Much of what we learn in glaucoma research from a neurobiological standpoint is now informing research for these other devastating conditions. 2
Double isotope derivative assay for angiotensin. I. Use for renin measurement.

ABSTRACT Human renin has been quantitated in an in vitro system which employs a newly developed double isotope derivative assay to measure the nanogram amounts of angiotensin I (decapeptide) generated by the action of the enzyme on an excess of hog renin substrate. The generated peptide is isolated by adsorption to Dowex 50, eluted, and concentrated. Derivative formation employs [3H]-fluorodinitrobenzene and yields tetra-substituted dinitrophenyl (DNP) angiotensin I. Addition of [14C]-DNP-angiotensin I as indicator serves to correct for losses during the thin-layer chromatographic purification of the DNP-peptide. Preliminary experiments indicate that this approach is practical for the measurement of renin in human plasma.
Urothelial tumorigenesis: a tale of divergent pathways

Urothelial carcinoma of the bladder is unique among epithelial carcinomas in its divergent pathways of tumorigenesis. Low-grade papillary tumours rarely become muscle-invasive and they frequently harbour gene mutations that constitutively activate the receptor tyrosine kinase-Ras pathway. By contrast, most high-grade invasive tumours progress to life-threatening metastases and have defects in the p53 and the retinoblastoma protein pathways. Correcting pathway-specific defects represents an attractive strategy for the molecular therapy of urothelial carcinomas.
Anesthetic considerations of the older equine

This article briefly reviews physiologic changes that may occur with aging in equine patients. It summarizes anesthetic protocols and problems encountered in a group of older horses (> 20 years old) anesthetized over the previous 10 years in the teaching hospital and makes recommendations for appropriate management of these patients.
Fast Track-Finding Trigger Processor for the SLAC/LBL Mark II Detector

The SLAC/LBL Mark II Magnetic Detector consists of various particle detectors arranged in cylindrical symmetry located in and around an axial magnetic field. A versatile, programmable secondary trigger processor has been designed and built to find curved tracks in the detector. The system operates at a 10 MHz clock rate with a total processing time of 34?sec, and is used to "trigger" the data processing computer, thereby rejecting background and greatly improving the data acquisition aspects of the detector-computer combination.
Challienges for visual analytics

Visual analytics has seen unprecedented growth in its first 5 years of mainstream existence. Great progress has been made in a short time, yet significant challenges must be met in the next decade to provide new technologies that will be widely accepted throughout the world. This article explains some of those challenges in an effort to provide a stimulus for research, both basic and applied, that can realize or even exceed the potential envisioned for visual analytics technologies. We start with a brief summary of the initial challenges, followed by a discussion of the initial driving domains and applications. These are followed by a selection of additional applications and domains that have been a part of recent rapid expansion of visual analytics usage. We then look at the common characteristics of several tools illustrating emerging visual analytics technologies and conclude with the top 10 challenges for the field of study. We encourage feedback and continued participation by members of the research community, the wide array of user communities and private industry.
AlGaAs-GaAs multiple-quantum-well spectrally tunable photoconductors

AlGaAs-GaAs multiple-quantum-well (MQW) photoconductors were fabricated and compared to bulk GaAs-based photoconductors. Dark and illuminated responses were measured to investigate the effectiveness of the AlGaAs window and AlGaAs buffer layers. The spectral response of the MQW photoconductors shows 40 nm of absorption edge shift (material tunability) to shorter wavelengths than those of bulk photoconductors and an excellent spectral rejection near the absorption edge (23 dB). The feasibility of the electrical tunability of MQW photoconductors via the quantum confined Stark effect (QCSE) was also investigated. A very small amount of electrical tunability was obtained with this structure, but the effect of the built-in electric field must be reduced in order to achieve the full spectral shift that is possible with the QCSE. >
Conformationally restricted analogs of CP-99,994: synthesis of a spirocyclic amine

Abstract A short, stereoselective synthesis of a conformationally restricted spirocyclic analog 2 of the potent substance P antagonist (±4)-CP-99,994, utilizing the versatile chemistry of the nitro group is described. The key features of the synthesis are the contributions of the nitro group to the success of Knoevenagl and Michael reactions, and its innate ability to be the source of a nitrogen atom.
A convective flux limiter for non-lagrangian computational fluid dynamics

Abstract The rezoning phase of the ALE method models the advection terms in the Navier-Stokes equations. Consequently, this method suffers from all the numerical difficulties associated with these terms, except when it is used for pure Lagrangian calculations. In particular, the use of any of the differencing options presently available in the CONCHAS-SPRAY computer program other than pure donor cell can create artificial oscillations in the solution through the dispersive truncation errors. This paper describes a flux-limiting procedure that suppresses these oscillations by locally adding enough donor-cell differencing to prevent nonphysical growth of local maxima and minima. Numerical solutions from CONCHAS-SPRAY illustrate the effectiveness of this algorithm.
Electron affinities and C60 anion clusters of certain bowl-shaped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

The kinetic method is applied to the determination of the electron affinities (EAs) of the bowl-shaped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) dibenzo[a,g]corannulene (C28H14) 1 and diindenochrysene (C26H12) 2 using electron attachment desorption chemical ionization mass spectrometry (DCI-MS) and triple-quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry. The estimated EAs of 1 and 2 are 1.00±0.20 and 1.16±0.20 eV respectively. In an analogous experiment, loosely bound dimeric radical anions comprising C60 with 1 and C60 with 2 were generated in the gas phase by electron attachment desorption chemical ionization. The collision-induced dissociation of each of these cluster ions yields both the monomeric radical anions as products and yields calculated electron affinities of C60 of 1.20±0.20 eV (C60/1 dimer) and 1.24±0.20 eV (C60/2 dimer). These values are significantly different from the known electron affinity of C60 (2.65 eV) and support previous studies on electron-bound dimers comprising C6O and coronene [G. Chen, R. G. Cooks, E. Corpuz and L. T. Scott, J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom. 7, 619 (1996)] in showing that the dissociation of electron-bound dimers comprising C60 and reference PAHs is controlled by the electron affinity of a portion of the C60 surface, i.e. that a ‘local’ electron affinity of C60 is measured. The ‘local’ electron affinity value corresponds approximately to the electron affinity of the reference PAHs, C60 exhibiting an affinity for the ‘extra’ electron in the cluster which approximately matches that of its PAH partner. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Orthopaedics in the pediatric office.

Introduction The purpose of this article is to review the most common orthopaedic conditions that are seen in a general pediatric practice. Two classic textbooks frequently consulted by pediatric orthopaedic surgeons are recommended. ‘1’ Topics have been arranged first by age group and secondarily by anatomic location. The description of each clinical entity focuses primarily on the presenting complaints and physical findings and outlines a plan for laboratory and x-ray evaluation. Natural history, key to understanding the need for either reassurance or active treatment, differential diagnosis, and treatment are also discussed.
Allele-dependent transcriptional regulation of the human integrin α2 gene

Genetically controlled variation in α2β1 expression by human blood platelets was previously described. Sixty-two haplotype sequences corresponding to the proximal 5′ regulatory region (−1096 to +1) of the α2 gene were compared, and a dimorphic sequence −52C>T was identified that is located precisely between 2 tandem Sp1/Sp3 binding elements previously shown to be absolutely required for transcriptional activity of this gene in epithelial cell lines and the erythroleukemic cell line K562. The gene frequency of −52T in a random Caucasian population is approximately 0.35, and the expression of −52T correlates directly with reduced densities of platelet α2β1. In mobility shift analyses, the −52T substitution attenuates complex formation with both Sp1 and Sp3. When transfected into the erythroleukemia cell line Dami, promoter-luciferase constructs bearing the −52T sequence exhibit a 5-fold decrease in activity relative to the −52C construct. In transfected CHRF-288-11 megakaryocytic cells, the corresponding activity decreases by 10-fold. The −52T sequence appears to be in linkage disequilibrium with the previously defined allele A3 (807C; HPA-5b), known to be associated with diminished expression of platelet α2β1. In summary, a natural dimorphism has been identified within the proximal 5′ regulatory region of the human integrin α2 gene that is responsible for decreased expression levels of the integrin α2β1 on blood platelets through a mechanism that is probably mediated by the nuclear regulatory proteins Sp1 and Sp3.
[2+2+2] Cycloadditions of Siloxy Alkynes with 1,2‐Diazines: From Reaction Discovery to Identification of an Antiglycolytic Chemotype

A newly uncovered Bronsted acid-promoted [2+2+2] cycloaddition between siloxy alkynes and 1,2-diazines produces novel polycyclic compounds with high efficiency and excellent diastereoselectivity under exceedingly mild conditions. A small-molecule library synthesized using this reaction yielded a novel chemotype, which inhibited glycolytic ATP production by blocking glucose uptake in CHO-K1 cells.
Fish remains from the Formative Period (1000 BC–AD 400) of Lake Titicaca, Bolivia: Zooarchaeology and taphonomy

Abstract This paper presents a detailed zooarchaeological study of fish remains from the site of Kala Uyuni, Bolivia. The fish remains of 31 flotation samples from different archaeological contexts and dated to the Formative Period (1000 BC–AD 400) are described in terms of frequency, weight, taxa distribution, sizes, skeletal representations, and exposure to heat. The results confirm the importance of fish in the diet of the inhabitants of the site and provide insights about the particularities of their exploitation, consumption, and differential discard across the site throughout time. A strong decline in the procurement and consumption of fish is observed for the Late Formative which seems to be a consequence of both environmental and social processes.
A low-technology approach toward fabrication of Laminated Bamboo Lumber

Abstract Depletion of natural resources has become a major concern in today’s modern industrialized world centering much attention on sustainability of the built environment and sustainable alternatives to current development and construction practices. In the green building community, strong interest lies in natural and renewable building materials that can be used in structural applications. Just such a natural and renewable building material, called Laminated Bamboo Lumber (LBL), has recently been developed. This product, however, typically requires sophisticated fabrication equipment and energy intensive pressing processes that generally limit the possibility of local product fabrication. In an effort to foster local and thus more sustainable production of the product, this paper proposes a simple, practical and low-technology approach for LBL fabrication that could be carried out in any part of the world in which bamboo currently grows. Twelve 4-ply LBL specimens were fabricated using the proposed approach and the mechanical properties of the resulting LBL indicate that the end product is mechanically suitable for use in structural applications. The key contribution of this paper, therefore, is the conclusion that structurally reliable LBL can be fabricated using hand tools, screw-driven mechanical presses, and widely available, economical adhesives.
LINKING FOR THE GENERAL DIAGNOSTIC MODEL

Three strategies for linking two consecutive assessments are investigated and compared by analyzing reading data for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) using the general diagnostic model. These strategies are compared in terms of marginal and joint expectations of skills, joint probabilities of skill patterns, and item parameter estimates. The results indicate that fixing item parameter values at their previously calibrated values is sufficient to establish a comparable scale for the subsequent year.
STAT: Speech Transcription Analysis Tool

The Speech Transcription Analysis Tool (STAT) is an open source tool for aligning and comparing two phonetically transcribed texts of human speech. The output analysis is a parameterized set of phonological differences. These differences are based upon a selectable set of binary phonetic features such as [voice], [continuant], [high], etc. STAT was initially designed to provide sets of phonological speech patterns in the comparisons of various English accents found in the Speech Accent Archive http://accent.gmu.edu, but its scope and utility expand to matters of language assessment, phonetic training, forensic linguistics, and speech recognition.
Mutual Fund Performance And Seemingly Unrelated Assets

Estimates of standard performance measures can be improved by using returns on assets not used to de?ne those measures. Alpha, the intercept in a regression of a fund's return on passive benchmark returns, can be estimated more precisely by using information in returns on non-benchmark passive assets, whether or not one believes those assets are priced by the benchmarks. A fund's Sharpe ratio can be estimated more precisely by using returns on other assets as well as the fund. New estimates of these performance measures for a large universe of equity mutual funds exhibit substantial dierences from the usual estimates.
Chemistry of softwood lignin degradation byStreptomyces viridosporus

Polymeric lignin isolated from ground spruce phloem/bark tissue following decay by the actinomyceteStreptomyces viridosporus (T7A) was characterized chemically and compared to undergraded lignin from the same source. The chemical transformations resulting from degradation were compared to those that result from fungal degradation of softwood lignins by brown- and white-rot fungi. Degradative chemical analyses showed thatS. viridosporus-degraded lignin was significantly altered in structure. Much of the integrity of the basic 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenylpropane subunit structure was lost. Actinomycete-decayed lignin was decreased in carbon and enriched in oxygen and hydrogen contents. It also had been extensively demethylated. Chemical analysed indicated that phenylpropanoid side-chains had been oxidized by introduction of α-carbonyls and by side-chain shortening reactions. Although the degraded lignin remained polymeric, it was significantly dearomatized. These changes are similar to those previously reported for white-rotted lignins, except for the increased hydrogen content. The evidence indicated that lignin degradation byS. viridosporus is oxidative and involves demethylations, ring cleavage reactions, and oxidative attack on phenylpropanoid side-chains. Also, some reduced structures accumulate in the polymer and some low molecular weight intermediates are released into the growth medium.
Estrogen replacement therapy: An overview

Levels of circulating estrogen fall during the perimenopausal period, resulting in changes in the postmenopausal woman's genitourinary tract, central nervous and cardiovascular systems, skin, and bone. Exogenous estrogen minimizes the benign symptoms and prevents the increased incidence of osteoporosis and atherosclerotic heart disease that accompany estrogen deficiency. Thus to avoid the recognized problems of estrogen deficiency, nearly all women should begin a lifelong course of estrogen replacement therapy during the perimenopausal period.
A quantitative determination of surface temperatures using an infrared camera

A method is presented to determine the surface-temperature distribution at each point in an infrared picture. To handle the surface reflection problem, three cases are considered that include the use of black coatings, radiation shields, and band-pass filters. For uniform irradiation on the test surface, the irradiation can be measured using a cooled, convex mirror. Equations are derived to show that this surrounding irradiation effect can be subtracted out from the scanned radiation, thereby relating the net radiation only to emission from the surface. To provide for temperature measurements over a large field, the image-processing technique is used to digitize the infrared data. The paper spells out procedures that involve the use of a computer for making point-by-point temperature calculations. Finally, a sample case is given to illustrate applications of the method.
Is DSM-IV criterion A2 associated with PTSD diagnosis and symptom severity?

The diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have received significant scrutiny. Several studies have investigated the utility of Criterion A2, the subjective emotional response to a traumatic event. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has proposed elimination of A2 from the PTSD diagnostic criteria for DSM-5; however, there is mixed support for this recommendation and few studies have examined A2 in samples at high risk for PTSD such as veterans. In the current study of 908 veterans who screened positive for a traumatic event, A2 was not significantly associated with having been told by a doctor that the veteran had PTSD. Those who endorsed A2, however, reported greater PTSD symptom severity in the 3 DSM-IV symptom clusters of reexperiencing (d = 0.45), avoidance (d = 0.61), and hyperarousal (d = 0.44), and A2 was significantly associated with PTSD symptom severity for all 3 clusters (R(2) = .25, .25, and .27, respectively) even with trauma exposure in the model. Thus, although A2 may not be a necessary criterion for PTSD diagnosis, its association with PTSD symptom severity warrants further exploration of its utility.
Helminth parasites of the bufflehead duck, Bucephala albeola, wintering in the Chihuahua Desert with a checklist of helminth parasites reported from this host

The bufflehead duck (Bucephala albeola) (Mergini) ranges from Alaska and Canada to the United States and Mexico. Buffleheads ingest invertebrates as a major component of their food throughout life. Puddle ducks (Anatinae) change mainly to vegetable foods at an early age. Loss of helminth parasite species and abundance in the fall migration has been reported for puddle ducks. This change in food has been hypothesized to cause some of the parasite loss. Nothing was known about helminth community dynamics in wintering buffleheads, including possible loss of helminths evident in puddle ducks. Helminth communities of the buffleheads were compared between wintering localities in the Chihuahua Desert of Texas and Mexico and to results from a nesting locality in Manitoba, Canada. There were no significant differences for average helminth species richness, prevalence, or abundance between the nesting and wintering grounds. Replenishment of helminths occurred in wintering buffleheads, and abundance of some helminth species increased significantly over time. The majority of helminth life cycles were indirect. These results were mostly related to the bufflehead's continued ingestion of invertebrate foods. Seven of the 41 helminth species present in buffleheads were in common to the 3 localities. Helminth community similarities between Manitoba and Texas and Manitoba and Mexico were much lower than similarity between Texas and Mexico. The dissimilarities were mostly attributable to differences in habitats but may also indicate loss of helminth species with subsequent infections with other species. The component community of the bufflehead from the Chihuahua Desert in Texas (n = 41) consisted of 23 species of helminths (10 species of cestodes, 7 trematodes, 4 nematodes, and 2 acanthocephalans) for a total of 4,008 individual specimens. Cestodes accounted for 69% of the total abundance. The component community of B. albeola from the Chihuahua Desert in Mexico (n = 26) consisted of 18 species of helminths (7 species of cestodes, 5 trematodes, 4 nematodes, and 2 acanthocephalans) for a total of 4,345 individual specimens. Cestodes accounted for 83% of the total abundance. The bufflehead shared 10 helminth species with other species of waterfowl utilizing habitats in the Chihuahua Desert. A checklist of all helminth parasites reported for buffleheads includes 27 identified to genera, 40 to species, and 12 species from buffleheads from the Chihuahua Desert in common with buffleheads from other localities.
Increases in α-adrenergic receptors in the hypothalamus of the genetically obese mouse (ob/ob)

Abstract Despite significantly elevated hypothalamic norepinephrine levels, genetically obese mice ( ob/ob ) had more hypothalamic α-adrenergic receptors than their lean littermates. This receptor increase appeared to be specific to the α-receptors in the hypothalamus since no change was found in the number of α-receptors in the cortex or in the dopamine and muscarinic receptors in the cortex and striatum.
Plasmon Line Widths of Single Silver Nanoprisms as a Function of Particle Size and Plasmon Peak Position

We study the homogeneous line width of the plasmon resonance scattering peaks of anisotropic silver nanoparticles using single particle darkfield scattering spectroscopy. We correlate the scattering spectra with scanning electron microscopy images of the particles to investigate the effects of nanoparticle size on the plasmon line width. We observe that the scattering line widths of silver nanoprisms increase both as the particle volume increases and as the plasmon resonance energy increases. We attribute the size dependence to radiation damping and compare our data both to simple dipole-limit approximations for the radiative and nonradiative decay rates and with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) calculations of the scattering line width. We find the data and calculations in good agreement for an appropriate choice of the bulk optical constants of silver and find that the dipole-limit approximations capture the observed size and energy-dependence of the plasmon line widths.
Links for Academic Learning (LAL): A Conceptual Model for Investigating Alignment of Alternate Assessments Based on Alternate Achievement Standards

This article describes an alignment procedure, called Links for Academic Learning (LAL), for examining the degree of alignment of alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS) to grade-level content standards and instruction. Although some of the alignment criteria are similar to those used in general education assessments, modifications to these criteria as well as additional unique criteria are incorporated because of the needs of the students with significant cognitive disabilities. This article addresses the alignment challenges that are specific to AA-AAS, the rationale for the LAL alignment criteria, and a description of how the criteria are measured.
Factors associated with increased felt stigma among individuals with epilepsy.

Abstract Purpose The aim of the study is to determine whether certain demographic, clinical, and psychosocial traits are associated with higher levels of felt stigma among persons with epilepsy (PWE) patients followed at a level 4 epilepsy center. Methods We performed a direct survey of 182 consenting patients that included the Epilepsy Stigma Scale. Results On univariate analysis, higher levels of perceived stigma were associated with age, marital status, race, driving, work status, seizure etiology, Quality of Life in Epilepsy-10 (QOLIE-10) scores, and health literacy. Among coping reactions, the use of denial, behavioral disengagement and venting were also associated with higher degrees of felt stigma. Using multiple linear regression, being single, poorer QOLIE-10 scores, difficulties understanding written information, and the use of behavioral disengagement were independently associated with poorer scores on the Epilepsy Stigma Scale. Conclusion Our study paints a compelling profile of a PWE who has greater perceived stigma. Programs that increase the level of social support, improve health literacy, and enhance quality of life may also help decrease the amount of felt stigma among PWE.
Intentional injury and the behavioral syndrome

Injuries are currently classified as intentional or unintentional. Worldwide, intentional injury accounts for about 4400 deaths per day, and 1.6 million people were estimated to have died from violence in 2000. However, in epidemiologic studies of intentional injury, the injurer is typically unavailable or ignored in the data collection process, and actual intentions are rarely known or investigated. In practice, injurious intent is inferred when an injury is inflicted. While all allegedly intentional injuries are inflicted by the self or others, a review of the literature indicates that few inflicted injuries are intentional. The thesis of this paper is that the concept of intentional injury perpetuates an oversimplified view of both injurer and injured. Many injury victims are former perpetrators and vice versa; many have experienced multiple injuries, including self-inflicted injury; and many have histories of substance abuse, alcoholism, criminality, and other characteristics that form what can be described as a behavioral syndrome, of which susceptibility to injury (as perpetrator and/or victim) is one manifestation. The behavioral syndrome is hypothesized to represent a generalized, tropism-like tendency to seek varying intensities of sensory stimulation.
Robust Forward Simulations of Recurrent Hitchhiking

Evolutionary forces shape patterns of genetic diversity within populations and contribute to phenotypic variation. In particular, recurrent positive selection has attracted significant interest in both theoretical and empirical studies. However, most existing theoretical models of recurrent positive selection cannot easily incorporate realistic confounding effects such as interference between selected sites, arbitrary selection schemes, and complicated demographic processes. It is possible to quantify the effects of arbitrarily complex evolutionary models by performing forward population genetic simulations, but forward simulations can be computationally prohibitive for large population sizes (>105). A common approach for overcoming these computational limitations is rescaling of the most computationally expensive parameters, especially population size. Here, we show that ad hoc approaches to parameter rescaling under the recurrent hitchhiking model do not always provide sufficiently accurate dynamics, potentially skewing patterns of diversity in simulated DNA sequences. We derive an extension of the recurrent hitchhiking model that is appropriate for strong selection in small population sizes and use it to develop a method for parameter rescaling that provides the best possible computational performance for a given error tolerance. We perform a detailed theoretical analysis of the robustness of rescaling across the parameter space. Finally, we apply our rescaling algorithms to parameters that were previously inferred for Drosophila and discuss practical considerations such as interference between selected sites.
Aerobic fitness predicts relational memory but not item memory performance in healthy young adults

Health factors such as an active lifestyle and aerobic fitness have long been linked to decreased risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke, and other adverse health outcomes. Only more recently have researchers begun to investigate the relationship between aerobic fitness and memory function. Based on recent findings in behavioral and cognitive neuroscience showing that the hippocampus might be especially sensitive to the effects of exercise and fitness, the current study assessed hippocampal-dependent relational memory and non-hippocampal-dependent item memory in young adults across a range of aerobic fitness levels. Aerobic fitness was assessed using a graded exercise test to measure oxygen consumption during maximal exercise (VO2max), and relational and item memory were assessed using behavioral and eye movement measures. Behavioral results indicated that aerobic fitness was positively correlated with relational memory performance but not item memory performance, suggesting that the beneficial effects of aerobic fitness selectively affect hippocampal function and not that of the surrounding medial temporal lobe cortex. Eye movement results further supported the specificity of this fitness effect to hippocampal function, in that aerobic fitness predicted disproportionate preferential viewing of previously studied relational associations but not of previously viewed items. Potential mechanisms underlying this pattern of results, including neurogenesis, are discussed.
Integrated optics waveguide modulator based on surface plasmon resonance

A modulator with micron dimensions, capable of optical modulation and switching in an integrated waveguide, is proposed. The proposed modulator uses surface plasmon resonance and an electro-optic polymer to modulate light which is guided in an integrated waveguide. Theoretical analysis of the modulator is presented for wavelengths of light in the visible and near infrared. Design criteria and dimensions of the modulator are discussed. >
Beethoven's Unfinished Piano Trio in F Minor from 1816: A Study of Its Genesis and Significance

During 1816, Beethoven worked on a Piano Trio in F minor, which he offered to British publisher Robert Birchall on October 1 of that year. This unfinished work has received almost no previous scholarly attention, yet the manuscript sources for the F minor Trio are extensive and revealing. Study of the Scheide Sketchbook at Princeton, New Jersey, and the draft for the first movement of the trio in the Staatsbibliothek preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, MS Grasnick 29, shows the originality of Beethoven's plans for the trio. The draft for the movement is transcribed and is shown to be intimately related to entries in the Scheide Sketchbook, a circumstance supporting the proposal of a new chronology for Beethoven's use of the book. In its style and structure, the F minor Trio bears comparison with several of Beethoven's earlier works in this key, such as the “Appassionata” Sonata and the F minor Quartet, Op. 95. At the same time, the unfinished trio displays affinities with some of his later pieces, such as ...
‘The black hole in astrophysics: the origin of the concept and its role’ (1974) by S. Chandrasekhar

What a wonderful paper for Contemporary Physics readers to see in the first issue in 1974! We have here probably the most uniquely qualified person in the world at that time to write about the role...
A comparative study of modelling at different levels of abstraction in system on chip designs: a case study

Abstraction is s powerful technique for the design and implementation of complex systems. A model developed at a higher level of abstraction allows one to tackle complexity by initially hiding the details and elaborating them later. A higher level of abstraction typically has a positive effect on the simulation speed and ease of development of the model, but could affect the accuracy of the model developed. In this paper, we study the effect of model abstraction of a peripheral device developed at a higher level of abstraction using SystemC, and at the register transfer level using Verilog. The parameters compared are accuracy, simulation speed, flexibility, time to develop, code length and ease of verification. In our study to show that by raising the level of abstraction, one not only achieves better simulation speed, flexibility, ease of verification but also reduces time to develop and shorten code length. All this is achieved while being able to maintain almost the same accuracy.
Enhanced directionality of bio-hybrid mobile microrobots using non-spherical body geometries

Mobile microrobots are envisioned to be employed for several applications including drug delivery, diagnostic imaging and environmental monitoring. In the bio-hybrid microrobot that is presented here, microparticles are used as the body of the microrobot and bacterial cells are utilized to realize on-board actuation. In this work, the importance of body shape on the dynamics of bacteria-propelled swimming microrobots (BacteriaBots) is investigated. We have shown that, with the use of non-spherical microparticles, average directionality of the BacteriaBots is enhanced compared with the spherical BacteriaBots.
U.S. technological enthusiasm and British technological skepticism in the age of the analog brain

This article is a comparative analysis of the British and U.S. differential analyzers from 1930 to 1945. The author examines the development of the Vannevar Bush and D.R. Hartree analyzers in the context of the U.S. Engineering community and British scientific community, respectively. He argues that this practical machine was more readily and enthusiastically adopted by U.S. Engineers, while British scientists remained skeptical of the differential analyzer due to their theoretical professional style. As a result, Hartree was a "voice in the wilderness" in Britain, while Bush received extensive funding and had the support of an enthusiastic engineering environment.
Interannual variability of smoke and warm cloud relationships in the Amazon as inferred from MODIS retrievals

Abstract Aerosol and cloud data from the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Earth Observing System (EOS) Aqua are used to investigate interannual variability of smoke and warm cloud relationships during the dry-to-wet transition season (August–October) over the Amazon for two years and its association with meteorological conditions. In one year (2003), smoke aerosols are associated with an increase of cloud fraction and a decrease of cloud effective radius. These effects amplify the cooling at the surface and at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) caused by the aerosol extinction. However, in another year (2002) the cloud fraction decreases with increasing aerosol optical depth. Such a decrease of cloud fraction could offset the effect of increased reflection of solar radiation by the aerosols both at the surface and at TOA. The changes in radiative fluxes between these years would contribute to interannual changes of surface energy fluxes and radiative balance at the top of the atmosphere and influence variability of the wet season onset in the basin. In 2003, the atmosphere was more humid and less stable. These conditions may be relatively favorable for the activation of aerosol particles into cloud condensation nuclei and hence cloud droplets. In 2002, the clouds were less extensive and thinner in a relatively dry atmosphere and presumably dissipated more easily. This study suggests that the aerosol-cloud relation can be influenced by atmospheric structure and convective motions, in addition to changes in aerosols properties. An adequate characterization of aerosol-cloud relationship would require a longer time series of data that includes a variety of climate conditions. The caveat of this analysis is that differences in aerosol absorption and its vertical distribution may have contributed to the observed interannual change of smoke-cloud relationship but could not be determined due to lack of adequate measurements.
Deriving Kripke structures from time series segmentation results

Kripke structures are important modeling formalisms to understand the behavior of reactive systems. We present an approach to automatically infer Kripke structures from time series datasets. Our algorithm bridges the continuous world of time profiles and the discrete symbols of Kripke structures by incorporating a segmentation algorithm as an intermediate step. This approach identifies, in an unsupervised manner, the states of the Kripke structure, the transition relation, and the properties (propositions) that hold true in each state. We demonstrate experimental results of our approach to understanding the interplay between key biological processes.
Germination and Amplification of Anthrax Spores by Soil-Dwelling Amoebas

While anthrax is typically associated with bioterrorism, in many parts of the world the anthrax bacillus (Bacillus anthracis) is endemic in soils, where it causes sporadic disease in livestock. These soils are typically rich in organic matter and calcium that promote survival of resilient B. anthracis spores. Outbreaks of anthrax tend to occur in warm weather following rains that are believed to concentrate spores in low-lying areas where runoff collects. It has been concluded that elevated spore concentrations are not the result of vegetative growth as B. anthracis competes poorly against indigenous bacteria. Here, we test an alternative hypothesis in which amoebas, common in moist soils and pools of standing water, serve as amplifiers of B. anthracis spores by enabling germination and intracellular multiplication. Under simulated environmental conditions, we show that B. anthracis germinates and multiplies within Acanthamoeba castellanii. The growth kinetics of a fully virulent B. anthracis Ames strain (containing both the pX01 and pX02 virulence plasmids) and vaccine strain Sterne (containing only pX01) inoculated as spores in coculture with A. castellanii showed a nearly 50-fold increase in spore numbers after 72 h. In contrast, the plasmidless strain 9131 showed little growth, demonstrating that plasmid pX01 is essential for growth within A. castellanii. Electron and time-lapse fluorescence microscopy revealed that spores germinate within amoebal phagosomes, vegetative bacilli undergo multiplication, and, following demise of the amoebas, bacilli sporulate in the extracellular milieu. This analysis supports our hypothesis that amoebas contribute to the persistence and amplification of B. anthracis in natural environments.