cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Modified Elastic Dynamic Analysis (EDA) for Seismic Demand on In-Span Hinge Shear Keys in Multi-Frame Bridges:

Long concrete box-girder bridges are typically constructed in multiple frames that are separated by in-span hinges. Shear keys, located at the in-span hinges, help preserve the transverse integrity of the bridge frames. To date, no reliable method other than nonlinear time history analysis exists to estimate the seismic force demands on in-span shear keys. Methods such as pushover and elastic dynamic analysis (EDA) do not provide accurate estimations. In this study, a rational and reliable analysis method was developed for obtaining the seismic demand on in-span shear keys of multi-frame bridges. A large number of time history analyses were performed on two- to five-frame bridge models with single- and two-column bents that were designed according to California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Seismic Design Criteria. The results show that high-frequency modes of vibration of the superstructure significantly contribute to the shear key force demands. These modes may also cause transverse yielding i...
Hearing out Ultrasound Neuromodulation.

Many neuroscientists are excited regarding the potential of ultrasound to yield spatiotemporally precise and noninvasive modulation of arbitrary brain regions. Here, Guo et al. (2018) and Sato et al. (2018) show that applying ultrasound to rodent brains activates acoustic responses more prominently than eliciting neuromodulation directly, suggesting potential confounds of ultrasound neuromodulation experiments.
Evaluation Research and Institutional Pressures: Challenges in Public-Nonprofit Contracting

This article examines the connection between program evaluation research and decision-making by public managers. Drawing on neo-institutional theory, a framework is presented for diagnosing the pressures and conditions that lead alternatively toward or away the rational use of evaluation research. Three cases of public-nonprofit contracting for the delivery of major programs are presented to clarify the way coercive, mimetic, and normative pressures interfere with a sound connection being made between research and implementation. The article concludes by considering how public managers can respond to the isomorphic pressures in their environment that make it hard to act on data relating to program performance.
A Practitioner's Perspective of Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children

In this paper, the report by the Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children is discussed from a practitioner's perspective. The many and notable strengths are described, including the comprehensive review of the topic, the balanced manner of the report's conclusions, and the way in which the report was written. The weaknesses of the report also are presented.
An Embedding of Timed Transition Systems in HOL

The theory of Timed Transition Systems developed by Henzinger, Manna, and Pnueli provides a formal framework for specifying and reasoning about real-time systems. In this paper, we report on some preliminary investigations into the mechanization of this theory using the HOL theorem prover.
Intra-arterial Drug Delivery for Brain Diseases

This chapter describes the rationale for utilizing intra-arterial (IA) drugs in the treatment of brain tumors. The concepts presented hold true in general for the efficient delivery of agents that may treat a variety of other brain pathologies. We discuss novel insights into IA pharmacology and pharmacokinetic techniques that have emerged in the last decade. Theoretical and practical IA drug delivery optimization strategies for treating brain diseases are discussed in detail.
Advance Care Planning: Social Isolation Matters

Background Social isolation is a risk factor for poor health that influences the well-being older adults. Objective We compare advance care planning (ACP) engagement of older adults who were severely socially isolated, socially isolated, and not socially isolated. Design Cross-sectional analysis of the 2012 National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). Setting United States of America. Participants A total of 2015 older adults (aged ≥65 years) randomly selected from a representative sample of community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries to participate in an ACP module as part of an annual in-person interview. Measurements We classified participants in three groups: severely socially isolated, socially isolated, or not socially isolated. ACP refers to three (yes/no) questions regarding whether a participant had a: (1) prior discussion about care preferences in the case of serious illness (EOL Discussion); (2) durable power of attorney (DPOA); and (3) advance directive (AD). We performed logistic regression analyses to examine the association between social isolation and ACP. Results Approximately 23% of older adults were either severely socially isolated or socially isolated. Older adults who experienced social isolation were less likely to engage in ACP than those who were not socially isolated. In adjusted analysis, older adults who were socially isolated had lower odds of having an EOL discussion (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.65; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.49-0.87) or having a DPOA (AOR = 0.71; 95% CI = 0.53-0.96) compared to those who were not socially isolated. Conclusion Social isolation is associated with lower engagement in ACP. Clinicians should identify older adults who are at risk for or experience social isolation as they may benefit from targeted ACP efforts. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:841-846, 2020.
Brain deformation compensation for deep brain lead placement surgery: a comparison of simulations driven by surface vs deep brain sparse data

Accurate surgical placement of electrodes is essential to successful deep brain stimulation (DBS) for patients with neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. However, the accuracy of pre-operative images used for surgical planning and guidance is often degraded by brain shift during surgery. To predict such intra-operative target deviation due to brain shift, we have developed a finite-element biomechanical model with the assimilation of intraoperative sparse data to compute a whole brain displacement field that updates preoperative images. Previously, modeling with the incorporation of surface sparse data achieved promising results at deep brain structures. However, access to surface data may be limited during a burr hole-based procedure where the size of exposed cortex is too small to acquire adequate intraoperative imaging data. In this paper, our biomechanical brain model was driven by deep brain sparse data that was extracted from lateral ventricles using a Demon’s algorithm and the simulation result was compared against the one resulted from modeling with surface data. Two patient cases were explored in this study where preoperative CT (preCT) and postoperative CT (postCT) were used for the simulation. In patient case one of large symmetrical brain shift, results show that model driven by deep brain sparse data reduced the target registration error(TRE) of preCT from 3.53 to 1.36 and from 1.79 to 1.17 mm at AC and PC, respectively, whereas results from modeling with surface data produced even lower TREs at 0.58 and 0.69mm correspondingly; However, in patient case two of large asymmetrical brain shift, modeling with deep brain sparse data yielded the lowest TRE of 0.68 from 1.73 mm. Results in this study suggest that both surface and deep brain sparse data are capable of reducing the TRE of preoperative images at deep brain landmarks. The success of modeling with the assimilation of deep brain sparse data alone shows the potential of implementing such method in the OR because sparse data at lateral ventricle can be acquired using ultrasound imaging.
Trusting the Dependent Judiciary: Evidence From Ecuador

The literature on judicial politics has assumed that judicial independence and trust in the judiciary go hand in hand. Based on evidence from Ecuador, I show that citizens’ trust and support for the judiciary can increase despite decreasing levels of judicial independence, which I argue is largely driven by citizens’ approval of executive performance in office. Popular presidents send cues to their constituents regarding how and why the judiciary should be trusted, despite its institutional flaws. These results open the possibility to question whether public trust in the judiciary necessarily stems from the presence of independent judicial institutions.
Free-Expression Rationales, Truth, and the Marketplace of Ideas

The First Amendment makes no mention of truth. Assumptions about truth, however, have become the foundations for free-expression rationales, the very basis for such freedoms in democratic society. The Supreme Court gradually, over time, wedded Enlightenment assumptions about truth to the marketplace of ideas rationale for free expression. This paper examines, in light of massive, widespread adoption of networked technologies and AI, as well as Supreme Court decisions that have undermined the distinctive role of truth, whether truth should be removed or replaced as a crucial, justifying concept in freedom of expression. The paper examines the marketplace approach’s history and assumptions, as well as alternative, philosophical understandings of truth and how the Supreme Court has communicated understandings about truth in its opinions. The paper concludes by outlining how installing revised truth assumptions, those that align more with discursive and phenomenological understandings, will better protect these freedoms, as well as the flow of information, in the twenty-first century.
The impact of crystalloid versus colloid on coagulation as measured by thromboelastometry in term parturients: an in vitro study.

A pilot study to examine the impact of crystalloid versus albumin hemodilution in vitro on coagulation using thromboelastometry in pregnant patients.This prospective, observational pilot study incl...
Spatial-dependent geometric sensitivity of a room PET scanner

1496 Objectives: A room size PET scanner with head tracking will enable investigation of the brain function of active human subjects in a natural setting. The geometric sensitivity of such a scanner at the center of the field of view (FOV) has been previously studied. The purpose of this work is to characterize the geometric sensitivity of a room PET scanner throughout the entire FOV. Methods: An analytic expression for spatial-dependent geometric sensitivity was derived for the case of a rectangular room with PET detectors along each of the walls. The detectors are at the same distance above the floor and their height is the same, thus forming an open box configuration. For a point source at an arbitrary location in the PET FOV the probability of escape of one or both annihilation photons through the top or bottom bounding planes of the PET detector box is modeled. The sensitivity expression has 12 terms and uses formulae for the solid angle of right square pyramids. The derived expression will apply to any open box arrangement of PET detectors. As an application, sensitivity maps were calculated for a square room with dimensions 3 m on a side, and for detectors with heights of 1 and 2 m. Representative linear profiles through the FOV were generated and compared. Results: Geometric sensitivities from the derived equation agree with values from limiting cases, such as for points on the central axis of the PET FOV. In horizontal slices parallel to the floor, sensitivity in central planes is peaked at the center of the FOV. In horizontal slices closer to the top and bottom of the detectors, sensitivity decreases near the center of the FOV and increases toward the walls of the room. In vertical slices parallel to the walls the sensitivity profiles have a triangular shape at the center of the FOV and approximate a triangular shape closer to the walls. This is similar to the triangular sensitivity profile along the central axis of a conventional cylindrical PET scanner. Geometric sensitivity increases with the height of the detectors, as expected, and the sensitivity maps show similar features for different detector heights. Conclusions: An analytic expression was developed for the 3D spatial-dependent geometric sensitivity of a rectangular room PET scanner. The formula will apply to any open box arrangement of PET detectors. Application of the expression provides insight into the sensitivity function of a room PET system and is useful in system design.
Decontamination options for indoor surfaces contaminated with realistic fentanyl preparations.

Abstract The significant increase in illegal use of the synthetic opioid fentanyl is leading to unintentional overdose fatalities. Spills of fentanyl where it is abused or prepared for illegal distribution can result in persistent contamination of areas. Remediation can be attempted through physical removal but may benefit greatly from application of decontamination solutions that provide in-situ degradation of fentanyl. This work investigates the efficacy of decontamination technologies for degradation of fentanyl-HCl on indoor surfaces. Decontamination studies were conducted to evaluate the oxidative degradation of fentanyl based on percarbonate, hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid, and chlorine (bleach) chemistries. This study utilized an experimental design relevant to field operations to provide direct information to first or hazardous materials responders and providers of environmental fentanyl remediation services, who may otherwise rely on unverified approaches. Across a range of nonporous indoor surfaces, results suggest that water (with or without detergent) spraying alone can physically remove 70–90% of fentanyl (with all fentanyl recovered in runoff). In nearly all cases, the spray application of peracetic acid or acetified bleach oxidants resulted in statistically significant degradation of fentanyl (>95% reduction), with noticeably lower efficacy for other oxidants (e.g., pH neutral bleach and OxiClean™). The decontamination efficacy was significantly reduced upon the addition of cutting agents that competed for oxidant demand.
SU-E-T-701: Single Isocenter Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) With Or Without Field Overlap in the Treatment of Left Sided Breast and Regional Lymphatic Tissue: Impact On Surrounding OAR Doses

Purpose: To investigate the impact of field overlap on dosimetric outcomes for patients receiving radiation therapy to the whole breast as well as the supraclavicular and internal mammary nodal regions. Methods: Seven patients with left sided breast cancer were evaluated on this IRB approved study. Four 200° partial arcs were used to optimize single isocenter VMAT plans using 2 different techniques: Technique 1 utilized treatment plans with no field overlap (NFOL) and 30 or 330 degree collimation. Technique 2 utilized 2cm field overlap (FOL) and 30 degree collimation. A single physician contoured all PTV and contralateral breast volumes. The same PTV and OAR volumes were used for both treatment planning techniques. The prescription dose was 46Gy delivered in 23 fractions with a minimum of 95% of the volume receiving 95% of the dose. A two-sided paired t-test was used to compare evaluated dosimetric parameters. Results: The mean PTV volume was 923cc (range 589–1218cc). In general, use of FOL resulted in a reduction (though not statistically significant, unless otherwise stated) in OAR dosimetric parameters when compared to NFOL. For left lung, mean dose was 14.3 vs. 13.6Gy, the V20Gy was 23.4% vs. 20.8%, and V30Gy was 10.8% vs. 7.1% (p < 0.01), for NFOL and FOL, respectively. Similarly, for total lung, mean dose was 9.2 vs. 8.8Gy, V20Gy was 11.2% vs. 9.9%, and V30Gy was 5.1 vs. 3.4% (p < 0.01), for heart, mean dose was 4.9 vs. 4.6Gy, V5Gy was 29.7 vs. 27.9%, and the V10Gy was 4.7 vs. 4.0%. Right breast was least impacted with the use of FOL: mean dose 2.6Gy vs. 2.6Gy, D2% of 9.0Gy vs. 9.4Gy (p = 0.5). Conclusion: Use of a 2cm FOL with VMAT treatment plans resulted in reduced doses to the lung and heart with minimal increase in right breast dose.
32P-Postlabeling Assay in Mice of Transplacental DNA Damage Induced by the Environmental Carcinogens Safrole, 4-Aminobiphenyl, and Benzo(a)pyrene

Transplacental exposure of fetuses to carcinogens is known to induce tumors in the offspring, often with a high incidence and short latency. While covalent adduction of DNA appears to be essential for tumor initiation, little is known about the binding of carcinogens to the DNA of fetal tissues. A sensitive 32P-postlabeling method enabled us to study the binding of the environmental carcinogens safrole (600 mumol/kg p.o.), 4-aminobiphenyl (800 mumol/kg), and benzo(a)pyrene (200 mumol/kg) to the DNA of various maternal and fetal tissues after administration of test carcinogens to pregnant ICR mice on day 18 of gestation. The results show that these carcinogens bound to the DNA of maternal and fetal liver, lung, kidney, heart, brain, intestine, skin, maternal uterus, and placenta, with organ-specific quantitative and qualitative differences. It was possible for the first time to analyze DNA adduct patterns in minute amounts of tissue, for example those available from fetal heart. The covalent binding index (mumol adducted nucleotides per mol of DNA nucleotides/mumol carcinogen administered per g body weight) 24 h after safrole treatment was estimated for the different organs and ranged from 0.1 to 247 and 0.1 to 5.8 for maternal and fetal DNA, respectively. Covalent binding index values of 0.2 to 13 and 0.1 to 0.3 for maternal and fetal DNA, respectively, were found for 4-aminobiphenyl. Benzo(a)pyrene treatment yielded covalent binding index values of 0.6 to 6.5 and 0.3 to 0.7 for maternal and fetal DNA, respectively. In both maternal and fetal tissues, safrole exhibited preferential binding to liver DNA. 4-Aminobiphenyl bound preferentially to DNA of maternal liver and kidney but showed no preference among fetal tissues. Benzo(a)pyrene exhibited weak tissue preference in both maternal and fetal organs. For all of the compounds studied, the fetal adduct levels were generally lower than the corresponding maternal adduct levels, especially when the level of maternal adduction was high. The major finding was that several carcinogens of diverse structure or their metabolites readily crossed the placenta and gave rise to DNA adducts in fetal organs. The resulting DNA damage in rapidly proliferating tissues may play a critical role in transplacental carcinogenesis.
Big Posets of Participatings and Thematic Roles

The ways of participating in an event form a type hierarchy (poset) of relations between events and their participants. It may be specialized to arbitrary depth. A good mapping from natural language “cases” and prepositions into the correct deep participant roles is essential for serious NL processing tasks. We contrast conventional case-list and anti-thematic-role approaches with ordered role systems like the Cyc programme, Sowa's new system, and those of Somers and Parker-Rhodes. Then we: 1. derive a poset of roles by type-signature from the posets of event types and object types; and 2. apply the ‘Formal Concept Analysis’ of Wille's school to the means of immediate participation. Together these yield a principled poset of role types. We first discuss two foundational questions: How does an “event” differ from an “object”? — and: How is a relation related to its relata?
Use of Peripheral Nerve Blocks with Sedation for Total Knee Arthroplasty in a Patient with Contraindication for General Anesthesia

Although peripheral nerve blocks are commonly used to provide postoperative analgesia after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and other lower extremity procedures, these blocks are rarely used for intraoperative anesthesia. Most TKAs are performed under general anesthesia (GA) or neuraxial anesthesia (NA). The knee has a complex sensory innervation that makes surgical anesthesia difficult with peripheral nerve blocks alone. Rarely are both GA and NA relatively contraindicated and alternatives are considered. We present a patient who underwent TKA performed under peripheral nerve block and sedation alone.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith: A Student Introduction to Federal Tax Compliance and Documentation

ABSTRACT: In this case, students assume the role of new accounting staff tasked with the preparation of a personal income tax return and supporting documentation for a client of their firm. Students are provided prior year work papers and client communications, a copy of the prior year's tax return, as well as a letter and supporting documents from the client for the current year. To complete the case, students generate questions based on the initial information provided, meet face-to-face with the client, and roll forward a set of electronic work papers before submitting a complete current year engagement file for senior review. This case adds work papers and client interaction to the traditional tax compliance case to reinforce both the technical and communication skills valued in professional practice. The formulation of questions for the client also allows students to practice discussing technical topics in a non-technical manner and underscores the required balance between attitudes of client advocac...
Ethics, Science, and Environmental Regulation: Discussion Papers

Are important ethical and values questions distorted through the regulation of environmental problems to the language systems of technical "experts?" Does our growing faith in science often lead to confusion about important environmental issues? Many authors have written extensively about the impoverishment of human communication through the use of technology-laden language and the development of value-neutral sciences to analyze human value problems.
Health Reform and Child Health: Progress, Cautions, and Future Directions

— The Affordable Care Act (ACA) represents a historic legislative advance in social policy that will dramatically change Americans’ access to health insurance and health-care services. Although nonelderly adults stand to reap the greatest benefits in coverage and access to health care, children will also benefit from improvements in health insurance and health-care quality. The move to eliminate individual provisions or “repeal and replace” the ACA threatens this progress. Rather, this article argues that the benefits provided by the ACA lay the foundation for addressing the major issues facing children’s health: uninsurance, underinsurance, subpar health-care quality, and growing rates of obesity and chronic disease. It describes the major provisions in the ACA that will address these issues and highlights concerns for the law’s implementation and directions for future child health research and policy.
Measurements and models of the atmospheric Ar/N2 ratio

The Ar/N 2 ratio of air measured at 6 globally distributed sites shows annual cycles with amplitudes of 12 to 37 parts in 10 6 . Summertime maxima reflect the atmospheric Ar enrichment driven by seasonal warming and degassing of the oceans. Paired models of air-sea heat fluxes and atmospheric tracer transport predict seasonal cycles in the Ar/N 2 ratio that agree with observations, within uncertainties.
Improving retrieval accuracy of difficult queries through generalizing negative document language models

When a query topic is difficult and the search results are very poor, negative feedback is a very useful method to improve the retrieval accuracy and user experience. One challenge in negative feedback is that negative documents tend to be distracting in different ways, thus as training examples, negative examples are sparse. In this paper, we solve the problem of data sparseness in the language modeling framework. We propose an optimization framework, in which we learn from a few top-ranked non-relevant examples, and search in a large space of all language models to build a more general negative language model. This general negative language model has more power in pruning the non-relevant documents, thus potentially improving the performance for difficult queries. Experiment results on representative TREC collections show that the proposed optimization framework can improve negative feedback performance over the state-of-the-art negative feedback method through generalizing negative language models.
Growth Studies of Winter Flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus (Walbaum), in Rhode Island

Abstract Methods of age and growth analysis of winter flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus (Walbaum), in Rhode Island were investigated. The results indicated that age determinations from scale markings were unsatisfactory, and that fully reliable estimates from otoliths could be obtained only to age III. Modifications of Walford growth lines were used to describe growth in two populations of flounder. Estimates of total annual mortality were derived from age-frequency distributions for each sex and stock.
Job search with an external opportunity: an experimental exploration of the Todaro Paradox

In this paper we present an experiment designed to test whether results consistent with the predictions of the Harris–Todaro model of migration can be reproduced in an experimental setting. Data issues in the developing world and with migration data in general limit empirical testing of the model. In such a data environment, laboratory experiments can add insight to the theory. We introduce an external opportunity to a traditional labor market search experiment to see whether it extends search and unemployment in a primary market. Our results generally support the predictions of the model: an external opportunity increases search unemployment in a primary labor market.
Threshold voltage calculation in ultrathin-film SOI MOSFETs using the effective potential

The success of the effective potential method of including quantum confinement effects in simulations of MOSFETs is based on the ability to calculate ahead of time the extent of the Gaussian wave packet used to describe the electron. In the calculation of the Gaussian, the inversion layer is assumed to form in a triangular potential well, from which a suitable standard deviation can be obtained. The situation in an ultrathin silicon-on-insulator (SOI) MOSFET is slightly different, in that the potential well has a triangular bottom, but there is a significant contribution to the confinement from the rectangular barriers formed by the gate oxide and the buried oxide. For this more complex potential well, it is of interest to determine the range of applicability of the effective potential model with a constant standard deviation. In this paper, we include this effective potential model in Monte Carlo calculations of the threshold voltage of ultrathin SOI MOSFETs. We find that the effective potential recovers the expected trend in threshold voltage shift with decreasing silicon thickness, down to a thickness of approximately 3 nm.
Disposition of 3,3'-dichlorobenzidine in the rat.

The disposition of the carcinogen 3,3′-dichlorobenzidine (DCB) was studied in the male rat following oral administration. [14C]DCB was well absorbed by the rat with the maximum plasma radioactivity levels being found within 8 hr after dosing. The radioactivity was well distributed in the tissues 24 hr after administration with the highest levels found in the liver, followed by kidney, lung, and spleen. Repeated administration (six doses) of [14C]DCB to animals did not result in a substantial accumulation of 14C in the tissues. The elimination of radioactivity from the plasma, liver, kidney, and lung was biphasic showing an initial rapid decline (half-lives 1.68, 5.78, 7.14, and 3.85 hr, respectively) followed by a slower disappearance phase (half-lives 33.0, 77.0, 138.6, and 43.3 hr, respectively). Approximately half of the total 14C in the liver and kidney was covalently bound to cellular macromolecules 72 hr after dosing. [14C]DCB-derived radioactivity was extensively excreted by rats, mainly via the feces. Approximately 23–33% of the administered dose was recovered in the urine and 58–72% in the feces of rats within 96 hr. More than 65% of the administered 14C was eliminated in the bile of bile duct-cannulated rats within 24 hr after dosing. The radioactivity excreted in the urine and bile was primarily in the form of free (urine 71.2%, bile 25.5%) and conjugated (urine 19.6%, bile 57.9%) metabolites of DCB. Thus DCB is readily absorbed following oral administration, and then metabolized and excreted mainly via the feces.
Structural organization of the human PON1 gene.

Serum paraoxonase/arylesterase (PON) is an {open_quotes}A{close_quotes} esterase found in the HDL{sub 2} fraction of mammalian sera closely associated with apolipoproteins AI and J. This enzyme hydrolyzes the active metabolites (oxons) of several organophosphate (OP) insecticides as well as the P-F bond of the nerve agents soman and sarin. PON also destroys biologically active, multioxygenated phospholipids. Two factors result in large individual variations in PON serum levels, a substrate-dependent activity polymorphism and large individual differences in PON protein levels that are stable over time. Animal model studies indicate that PON activity levels are likely to play a major role in determining sensitivity to OPs. The arg{sub 192} PON isoform appears to be a risk factor in coronary artery disease. We report here the characterization of a 28-kb contig encompassing 300 bp of 5{prime} sequence, the entire coding region, and 2 kb of 3{prime}-flanking sequence of the PON gene. The structural portion of the paraoxonase protein in encoded by nine exons that form the primary transcript through the use of typical splice donor and acceptor sites. DNA sequences of the regions surrounding all the coding exons have been determined. A polymorphic CA repeat is located in intron 4. 19 refs., 2 figs.
Passivation of GaAs surface recombination with organic thiols

Exposure of GaAs crystals to solutions of organic thiols resulted in substantial reductions in nonradiative GaAs surface recombination rates. This process yielded improvements in steady state photoluminescence signals that were comparable to those obtained after a Na2S·9H2O (aqueous) treatment. Use of a series of thiols indicated that the chemically important surface electrical trap levels behaved as a polarizable, electron deficient center. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicated that the thiols did not remove excess As0 nor form detectable levels of As2S3-like phases, implying that neither of these factors is required for effective surface passivation chemistry.
THE BIOLOGY OF INFLUENZA VIRUSES

The influenza viruses are characterized by segmented, negative-strand RNA genomes requiring an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of viral origin for replication. The particular structure of the influenza virus genome and function of its viral proteins enable antigenic drift and antigenic shift. These processes result in viruses able to evade the long-term adaptive immune responses in many hosts.
Amino acid incorporation in a cell-free system from submerged tissue cultures of Zea mays L.

Summary An amino acid-incorporating system from maize endosperm tissue culture cells has been obtained and characterized. It exhibits the established requirements for protein synthesis and is sensitive to ribonuclease and puromycin but not to deoxyribonuclease or chloramphenicol. The system is dependent on a supernatant fraction from maize seedlings. The supernatant fraction from the tissue culture cells themselves is inhibitory to protein biosynthesis. A new method for the preparation of ribosomes from large amounts of starting material is described, which makes use of a Gaulin homogenizer for the homogenization of tissue and a Sephadex treatment to reduce the volume of the 30,000× g supernatant fraction.
New motivation for the depolymerization products derived from poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) waste: a review

Summary: Over the last several decades, the process of recycling polymer waste has been attracting the attention of many scientists working on this issue. Polymer recycling is very important for at least two main reasons: firstly, to reduce the ever increasing volumes of polymer waste coming from many sources: from daily life packaging materials and disposables and secondly, to generate value-added materials from low cost sources by converting them into valuable materials similar, to some extent, to virgin materials. Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) occupies the top of the list of polymers to be recycled due to its easy recycling by different ways, which, in accordance, give variable products that can be introduced as starting ingredients for the synthesis of many other polymers. PET can by recycled by hydrolysis, acidolysis, alkalolysis, aminolysis, alcoholysis and glycolysis. Glycolysis is the breakdown of the ester linkages by a glycol, resulting in oligomers or oligoester diols/polyols with hydroxyl terminal groups. Oligoesters coming from the glycolysis of PET waste have been well known for a number of decades to be utilized as a starting material in the manufacture of polyurethanes, unsaturated polyesters and saturated polyester plasticizers. But, as a current motivation, we are reporting on a new application for these oligoester diols/polyols by converting the hydroxyl terminals into acrylate/methacrylate groups. These new acrylated/methacrylated oligoesters have been tested as UV curable monomers and gave promising results from the point of view of their curability by UV and their mechanical properties. The new motivations open the potential for the market to apply the depolymerization products of PET waste for UV curable coatings, useful for wood surfaces, paints and other applications. Recycling of PET polymer by different chemical routes.
Salinity Tolerance of Kentucky Bluegrass Cultivars and Selections Using an Overhead Irrigated Screening Technique

An increasing amount of reclaimed water is being used in turfgrass management; however, reclaimed water is often high in total dissolved salts and can result in salt stress injury and poor turf quality. The objective of this study was to use an overhead irrigated greenhouse screening technique to identify Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) cultivars with increased salinity tolerance, using growth parameters and physiological measurements. Salt treatments were applied using an overhead sprinkler system. Twenty-four Kentucky bluegrasses and Texas bluegrass (Poa arachnifera Torr.) × Kentucky bluegrass hybrids were established in 100% sand tanks and evaluated at a control (1 dS m −1 ) and three salinity concentrations (3, 6, and 9 dS m −1 ) for a total of 10 wk. Plants were arranged in a split plot design with three replications. Percent green ratings and digital images were collected weekly and clipping weights were collected biweekly. Root and shoot weights were taken at the end of the study. Signifi cant differences were observed between salinity treatments and cultivars. The cultivars Eagleton, Moonshadow, Fairfax, Cabernet, and Liberator exhibited the most salt tolerance, having the least decrease in growth parameters compared to the control plants (1 dS m −1 ), while cultivars Baron, A0384, and A03-TB246 were the most salt sensitive when compared to control plants. Relative water content and photochemical effi ciency were useful to quantify physiological differences between tolerant and susceptible cultivars.
Recent Advances Toward the Clinical Application of PTH (1-34) in Fracture Healing

PTH 1-34, an active form of parathyroid hormone, has been shown to enhance osteoblastic bone formation when administered as a daily subcutaneous injection. The effect of the intermittent administration of PTH (1-34) is an uncoupling of bone turnover with an increase in bone mass and density and decrease in risk of vertebral and nonvertebral fractures. While PTH (1-34) has been used clinically to increase bone mass and reduce fracture risk in postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, there is increasing evidence that PTH (1-34) may promote fracture healing. Animal studies have demonstrated accelerated callus formation with enhanced remodeling and biomechanical properties of the healing fracture. Given these effects, PTH (1-34) will likely be used clinically to enhance fracture union in poor healing situations such as osteoporosis and recalcitrant nonunions.
Instantaneous videodensitometric radially dependent bulk blood flow measurement

Blood flow rate is an important parameter for functional evaluation of vascular disease. Instantaneous blood flow measurements from digital cerebral angiograms can be performed during endovascular interventional procedures providing radiologists with real-time minimally invasive flow measurements. Most published videodensitometric techniques assume a specific radial profile of velocity. Such assumptions can cause errors if the velocity profile differs from the model, changes during the heart cycle or if contrast concentration is not radially uniform. All of these conditions are typical in clinical practice. We propose to divide the vessel inside the region of interest into a number of narrow laminae and its X-ray image into corresponding narrow bands. Flow inside each lamina is assumed to be plug and parallel to the lamina. Blood flow velocities within each band are be computed using existing angiographic techniques and are used to compute flow velocities within each laminae and within the entire vessel. We evaluated the new approach on simulated and phantom angiograms. It improved accuracy of measurements of plug-flow algorithms from simulated angiograms. The results obtained during the evaluation of the technique on phantom angiograms are inconclusive. The proposed algorithm extends regular videodensitometric flow measurement techniques to allow for radially dependent flow profiles.
Detection of peripheral vascular stenosis by assessing skeletal muscle flow reserve

Objectives We sought to determine whether the severity of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) can be assessed by measuring blood flow reserve in limb skeletal muscle with contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEU). Background Noninvasive imaging of distal limb perfusion could improve management of patients with PAD by evaluating the impact of large and small vessel disease, and collateral flow. Methods In 12 dogs, blood flow in the quadriceps femoris was measured by CEU at rest and during either electrostimulated contractile exercise or adenosine infusion. Femoral artery blood flow was measured by Doppler ultrasound. Studies were performed in the absence and presence of either moderate or severe stenosis (pressure gradient of 10 to 20 mm Hg and >20 mm Hg, respectively). Results Resting femoral artery blood flow progressively decreased with stenosis severity, while resting skeletal muscle flow was reduced only with severe stenosis (52 ± 21% of baseline, p Conclusions Contrast-enhanced ultrasound of limb skeletal muscle can be used to assess the severity of PAD by measuring muscle flow reserve during either contractile exercise or pharmacologic vasodilation. Unlike currently used methods, this technique may provide a measure of the physiologic effects of large- and small-vessel PAD, and the influence of collateral perfusion.
Time course of recovery of “stunned” myocardium following variable periods of ischemia in conscious and anesthetized dogs

Abstract Persistence of regional contractile dysfunction after restoration of blood flow to transiently ischemic myocardium has been well described. To date, most studies have been performed in anesthetized animals. The present investigation compared the time course of recovery iof regional segment shortening (percentage of segment shortening) in anesthetized versus consclous dogs subjected to a brief period of total occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Periods of occlusion lasting 5, 10, and 15 minutes were followed by 3 hours of reperfusion. Dogs anesthetized with sodium pentobarbital (30 mg/kg intravenously) had a significantly higher heart rate and blood pressure and lower dP dt than conscious dogs. Coronary artery occlusion resulted in similar degrees of regional dyskinesis or akinesis, indicative of severe myocardial ischemia, in all experiments. During reperfusion, a gradual return of contractile function toward baseline was observed. At the end of the first 15 minutes of reflow, dogs subjected to 5 minutes of coronary occlusion demonstrated approximately 70% of control segment shortening in the previously ischemic zone. Animals subjected to 10- and 15-minute periods of coronary artery occlusion showed approximately 60% and 40% of control segment shortening at the same time point, respectively. The remainder of the 3-hour reperfusion period was characterized by a more gradual recovery of regional segment function. No differences were observed between anesthetized and conscious animals. It is concluded that the time course of functional recovery of postischemic reperfused myocardium is directly related to the duration of coronary occlusion and is similar in conscious and anesthetized dogs.
Computation of Common Normal Between Wheel and Rail Surface via Linearized Track

Computation of contact points between the wheel and rail is a fundamental problem in dynamic simulation of trains. To compute these contact points, one needs to locate common normals first. The objective of this study is to develop an efficient method to compute common normals between wheel and rail surface. This is done by devising a method to compute an estimate of location of common normals and then using them as the initial guess to compute them. To generate an estimate of the location of common normal, a local approximation of the rail is constructed. To achieve this, the intersection of the vertical mid-plane of the wheelset with a track curve of a rail is computed and the tangent line at this point is generated. The rail profile is place on the tangent line and is swept along it. The resulting rail is called linearized rail in this study. It is shown that the four nonlinear equations governing the location of the common normal can be reduced to one equation in one unknown. This equation is referred to as reduced equation. A bracketing algorithm is added to identify the intervals within which this reduced equation changes sign. These intervals contain the zero of the reduced function. The zeros of the reduced equation are used to compute an estimate of the common normals. These estimates are used as an initial guess for a Newton iterate to accurately locate all common normals. It is observed that the CPU time to compute all common normals is of the order of mili-second.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Experience with the pulmonary artery catheter in obstetrics and gynecology

Although traditionally the exclusive domain of other medical specialties, pulmonary artery catheterization may be of tremendous benefit to a variety of obstetric and gynecologic patients. Our experience with such invasive hemodynamic monitoring in 72 patients in an obstetrics and gynecology service is presented. In 86% of cases, catheter placement and primary management were carried out by residents in obstetrics and gynecology. Although many of the indications for pulmonary artery catheterization encountered are common to other areas of medicine, certain conditions such as severe preeclampsia or rheumatic heart disease in pregnancy involve pathophysiologic conditions unique to our specialty. On the basis of our experience, recommended indications for pulmonary artery catheterization in obstetric and gynecologic patients are presented. Insertion techniques, complications, and clinical outcome are discussed.
Advances in quantum and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) simulations for organic and enzymatic reactions.

Application of combined quantum and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) methods focuses on predicting activation barriers and the structures of stationary points for organic and enzymatic reactions. Characterization of the factors that stabilize transition structures in solution and in enzyme active sites provides a basis for design and optimization of catalysts. Continued technological advances allowed for expansion from prototypical cases to mechanistic studies featuring detailed enzyme and condensed-phase environments with full integration of the QM calculations and configurational sampling. This required improved algorithms featuring fast QM methods, advances in computing changes in free energies including free-energy perturbation (FEP) calculations, and enhanced configurational sampling. In particular, the present Account highlights development of the PDDG/PM3 semi-empirical QM method, computation of multi-dimensional potentials of mean force (PMF), incorporation of on-the-fly QM in Monte Carlo (MC) simulat...
Intense ionospheric electric and magnetic field pulses generated by lightning

Electric and magnetic field measurements have been made in the ionosphere over an active thunderstorm and an optical detector onboard the same rocket yielded an excellent time base for the study of waves radiated into space from the discharge. In addition to detection of intense, but generally well understood whistler mode waves, very unusual electric and magnetic field pulses preceded the 1-10 kHz component of the radiated signal. These pulses lasted several ms and had a significant electric field component parallel to the magnetic field. No known propagating wave mode has this polarization nor a signal propagation velocity as high as those measured here. This study investigated and rejected an explanation based on an anomalous skin depth effect. Although only a hypothesis at this time, a more promising explanation involving the generation of the pulse via a nonlinear decay of whistler mode waves in the frequency range 10-80 kHz is being investigated.
Soil Biotic and Abiotic Responses to Dimethyl Disulfide Spot Drip Fumigation in Established Grape Vines

Dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) is a soil fumigant used in agricultural systems as an alternative to methyl bromide (MeBr) for the control of soilborne pests and pathogens. However, fumigants including DMDS that have broad biocidal activity can affect both target and non-target organisms in soil. This study focused on the effects of DMDS on the recovery of ecologically important microbial communities and soil abiotic factors while affecting plant parasitic nematodes in both field and microplot trials. Phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis was used to characterize changes in microbial community structure over time. Total amount of PLFA as well as all major non-target soil microbial groups such as Gram positive bacteria, Gram negative bacteria, fungi, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and actinomycetes decreased significantly 15 d after fumigation in the untreated control as well as in all the rates of DMDS tested in a microplot trial. Fumigation had little effect on microbial biomass but at some time points some treatments did affect microbial community structure. Canonical multivariate analysis of variance indicated that soil microbial communities 45, 60, and 90 d after fumigation were similar to one another compared with 15 d after fumigation. The research showed that reduction and changes in microbial community biomass and structure were mainly due to environmental factors and therefore, it is concluded that DMDS fumigation did not impact the activity of beneficial microorganisms. Total N, C, and other abiotic factors were also not affected by DMDS fumigation. Plant parasitic nematodes were greatly affected by DMDS fumigation and this interaction could be related to its mode of action which affects nematode mitochondrial activity.