cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Antioxidant activity of phlorotannins from brown algae

Abstract: The antioxidant activity of the phlorotannins extracted from five marine algae species (Saccharina latissima, Alaria esculenta, Laminaria digitata, Fucus vesiculosus and Ascophyllum nodosum) was studied. Three phlorotannin groups, including soluble, membrane-bound, and extracted membrane-bound phlorotannins obtained by two solvent extraction methods were investigated for their DPPH radical scavenging activity. F. vesiculosus and A. nodosum showed the highest phlorotannin yield (14.83 mg-extract/g-algae and 12.80 mg-extract/g-algae, respectively) among the five algae species. Their soluble phlorophannin (SP), membrane-bound phlorotannin (MP) and extracted membrane-bound phlorotannin (eMP) extracts all showed equal or greater DPPH radical scavenging activity than the commercial antioxidants of butylated hydroxytoluene and ascorbic acid. The antioxidant potential that combines phlorotannin yield and antioxidant activity of the MP extracts of F. vesiculosus and A. nodosum (5890 mL/g and 5278 mL/g algae, respectively) were higher than those of SP and eMP, suggesting that the MPs of F. vesiculosus and A. nodosum had great potential to be used as antioxidants. Different extraction methods also showed significantly different effects on the antioxidant activity of the phlorotannin extracts. Keywords: brown algae, phlorotannin, antioxidant activity, antioxidant, bioseparation, polyphenol, solvent extraction methods DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20171006.2854 Citation: Liu X, Yuan W Q, Sharma-Shivappa R, van Zanten J. Antioxidant activity of phlorotannins from brown algae. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2017; 10(6): 184–191.
A Position Paper on Parallel Computation

The research of the past several years has produced a substantial body of knowledge concerning the design of parallel algorithms and their implementation on various architectures. In many ways the enterprise has been highly succesful: a number of fundamental principles of parallel algorithm design and parallel communication have emerged, and the foundations of a rich mathematical theory have been laid. Despite these successes, the theoretical work has had relatively little influence on developments in parallel computer architecture, or on the application of parallel computation techniques to fields such as computer vision, artificial intelligence, combinatorial optimization and scientific computing. We must continue to work on the development of models of parallel computation that are sufficiently abstract to support a theoretical investigation, and yet reflect the objectives, constraints and design considerations that arise in practice.
Tracking coherent structures in massively-separated and turbulent flows

Coherent vortex structures are tracked in simulations of massively-separated and turbulent flows using Lagrangian saddles found as intersections of positive and negative finite-time Lyapunov exponent ridges. This allows vortices to be tracked objectively in time and space in a variety of flows.
‘Enthusiasm, Experiment and Gallantry in Action’: Developing Light Entertainment on the Fledgling BBC, 1922–1932

ABSTRACTThis article explores the working culture of early BBC radio, programming decisions and the challenges faced in recruiting professional stage and music hall entertainers. These challenges led to the BBC’s reliance on amateur acts during the first decade of its existence. Early acts developed successful microphone techniques and content that appealed particularly to the domestic listening audience, and thus influenced radio and television entertainment for the rest of the century. Several of these early acts are discussed, with a primary focus on the works of two early pioneers of radio comedy, Norman Clapham (aka John Henry) and Mabel Constanduros.
Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde

In mid-2007 the chairman and CEO of Eurotunnel Group, having elected to file for bankruptcy under a newly-enacted French insolvency law, awaits the outcome of a vote by creditors and shareholders. At least 50% of the shareholders must approve the plan, however they face significant dilution of their ownership interests in Eurotunnel. If the vote fails to pass, the possibility that the company may have to be liquidated becomes increasingly likely.
Bonding of Dioxygen to Transition Metals

In this chapter I would like to provide the reader with an introduction to the nature of the bond between molecular oxygen and transition metals. As examples of these systems, I will focus on models for cobalt, iron and manganese porphyrins. 1,2 Before discussing these fairly complicated metal systems, I would like to briefly review some basic bonding models for small molecules.
Linear Air: Creating the Air Taxi Industry

Linear Air is an air taxi start-up established to take advantage of the emergence of Very Light Jets, which incorporate new technology that cuts jet operating costs by about 40%. Air taxis could make use of the 5400 smaller regional airports throughout the US, potentially revolutionizing air travel. But the nascent air taxi industry doesn't yet exist, and there are competing conceptions of what the industry should look like. The founder must evaluate what customer segments to target, what business model to utilize, how to encourage development of the industry ecosystem, and more broadly how to help shape the industry so that it does not develop a highly competitive structure akin to the existing airline industry.
Resilience and Self-Healing of Deep Convolutional Object Detectors

The enormous success and popularity of deep convolutional neural networks for object detection has prompted their deployment in various real world applications. However, their performance in the presence of hardware faults or damage that could occur in the field has not been studied. This paper explores the resiliency of three popular network architectures for object detection, AlexNet, VGG and ResNet50, when subjected to various degrees of failures. We introduce failures in a deep network by dropping a percentage of weights at each layer. We then assess the effects of these failures on classification performance. Finally, we determine the ability of the network to self-heal and recover its performance by retraining its healthy portions after partial damage. To our knowledge, this is the first time that this type of study has been conducted.
Emotional Coregulation in Mexican-Origin Parent–Adolescent Dyads: Associations with Adolescent Mental Health

Research on the health benefits and consequences of close relationships has suggested the linkage in daily emotions (i.e., coregulation) between close partners is an important relationship dynamic. While the coupling of daily emotions among family members (parent–child and marital dyads) has been widely documented, research examining emotional coregulation among ethnic minority youth during adolescence, a period marked by heightened emotion and risk for psychopathology, remains an important area in need of exploration. This study examined correlates of emotional coregulation in a sample of Mexican-origin adolescents (Mage = 15.02, SD = .83) and their parents (Mage = 41.93, SD = 6.70). Dyads reported on daily levels of distress and happiness for 14 consecutive days across two waves of data collection a year apart (nwave1 = 428 dyads, nwave2 = 336 dyads). Dyads who reported getting along were more likely to coregulate their daily happiness. Importantly, coregulation of distress was only present in older adolescents who reported above average levels of internalizing symptoms. The results suggest coregulation of distress may shape or be shaped by poor mental health during the later years of adolescence, a time when youth may be establishing a degree of emotional autonomy from parents.
Structural and Magnetic Ordering at Interfaces of Metallic Superlattices

We have grown a series of epitaxial Co/Pd (111) superlattices on single-crystal GaAs(110) substrates by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE). Simultaneously, we have deposited polycrystalline Co/Pd multilayers on Si substrates mounted alongside the GaAs for direct comparisons of epitaxial and non-epitaxial films produced under identical conditions. The structural properties of these multilayers as determined by low and high energy electron diffraction (LEED and RHEED), low and high-angle x-ray diffraction, and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) are discussed. Vibrating Sample Magnetometry (VSM) measurements reveal significant enhancement of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and coercivity in the epitaxial superlattices. Implications of the structural influences on the magnetic behavior are presented.
Arabic Named Entity Recognition: What Works and What's Next.

This paper presents the winning solution to the Arabic Named Entity Recognition challenge run by Topcoder.com. The proposed model integrates various tailored techniques together, including representation learning, feature engineering, sequence labeling, and ensemble learning. The final model achieves a test F_1 score of 75.82% on the AQMAR dataset and outperforms baselines by a large margin. Detailed analyses are conducted to reveal both its strengths and limitations. Specifically, we observe that (1) representation learning modules can significantly boost the performance but requires a proper pre-processing and (2) the resulting embedding can be further enhanced with feature engineering due to the limited size of the training data. All implementations and pre-trained models are made public.
Fluency Strategies of Spanish–English Bilinguals Who Stutter: A Thematic Analysis

Purpose Stuttering is multifaceted in that the frequency and types of behaviors vary across speakers, contexts, and languages. Similarly, bilingualism varies in language history, levels of proficie...
Tactile detection response task: Metrics for assessing drivers’ cognitive workload

Abstract The Tactile Detection Response Task (TDRT) has been used to assess the cognitive workload of driver distraction with response time and miss rate as metrics of cognitive workload. However, it is not clear which metric is more sensitive and whether sensitivity is maintained for visual tasks. The objective of this study was to assess the sensitivity of the TDRT to changes in cognitive workload and to examine whether the sensitivity depends on task modality. A driving simulator study was conducted with 24 participants. The study included restaurant selection tasks with three presentation modalities (auditory, visual, and hybrid) and two difficulty levels (low and high). The high difficulty level was designed to be more cognitively demanding than the low difficulty level. Mixed-effects models were applied to examine the TDRT metrics and task difficulty level. The model controlled for age group, gender, and included a random effect for participants. The high difficulty level of the auditory tasks significantly increased the likelihood of missing a TDRT stimulus. No statistically significant differences were observed for visual and hybrid tasks. TDRT response time was not significantly associated with the difficulty level, regardless of task modality. In this study, the binary outcome TDRT miss was thus considered a more sensitive metric of cognitive workload than TDRT response time. TDRT response time can still be used to measure cognitive workload when tasks are relatively easy and the TDRT miss rate is close to zero. In addition, the sensitivity of the TDRT miss diminished for tasks that involved a visual component. Researchers who use TDRT to measure the cognitive workload associated with visual tasks should be aware of this limitation.
Profile Analysis and Speech Perception

There is, unfortunately, a wide gulf between research in psychoacoustics and research on speech perception. These differences arise, in part, because of the different objectives of the investigators. Understanding how the auditory system functions and understanding the speech code are different and distinct goals. But there are some areas and topics where one might expect a communality of interest. The topics of auditory perception and the limits of certain basic auditory discrimination processes are both areas that should enjoy mutual interest and concern. But, even here, wide differences are apparent in the way these topics are approached by the speech scientist and by the psychoacoustican. These differences are especially evident in the choice of stimulus materials. The psychoacoustic stimuli are simple; the speech stimuli are complex. The just-noticeable-difference in the frequency or the amplitude of an isolated pure tone appears to have little to do with how we recognize differences between vowels or broadband consonants.
Gardening and Women's Maternal Care in the U.S. Capital: The Unacceptable Chasm

This article is a comment on Vaswani, Karter, Cosgrove, Peters, and Brodt's (2018) article “Depression Screening During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period: Enhancing Informed Consent Practices.” W...
Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Hospitalization of Pediatrics with Liver Disease from 2005 to 2015.

Adult liver-related hospitalizations have recently increased in the USA, but data are limited for the pediatric population. Utilizing the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development hospital claims database (covering > 98% of all California hospitalizations), we aimed to characterize the demographic, clinical, and socioeconomic factors of liver disease-associated admissions among children between 2005 and 2015. We used ICD-9 codes to identify admissions associated with liver disease in patients up to 21 years of age. Patient characteristics were described as percentages and evaluated using the χ2 test. We used linear regression to examine changes over time. We analyzed 37,372 eligible admissions. Overall, close to one-third (28%) and one-half (48.0%) of admissions occurred in the age group 0–5 years and 16–21 years, respectively, with the remaining 23.1% occurring in the age group between 5 and 15 years. Over half (54.9%) were in males. By race, blacks made up half of the admission (49.7%), while by ethnicity, Hispanic also accounted for half of the admission (49.7%). Medicaid and Medicare payors were also disproportionately represented (54.6%). The most common liver disease was Alagille syndrome (29.2%) in 2005. Between 2005 and 2015, both the number of pediatric liver-associated admissions and the proportion of pediatric liver admissions over total admissions increased from 3130 to 3429 and 1.2% to 1.6%, respectively (both p = 0.001). By 2015, while Alagille syndrome admissions decreased to 26.4% (p = 0.004), NAFLD admission increased to 19.7% (p < 0.001). Major disparities exist in inpatient liver disease burden for blacks and Hispanics with liver disease, while NAFLD emerged as a rapidly rising liver disease in pediatrics.
Initiative to improve student perceptions of relevance and value in a top 200 drugs course through improved curricular alignment and course modification

Abstract Problem description: When course evaluations and student feedback demonstrated a decline in student perceptions of a Top 200 Drugs course, proposed modification focused on curricular alignment to impact those perceptions in a positive manner. Quality improvement methods: Student course evaluations and feedback from student leaders were reviewed to determine elements of course structure and design for modification. The following areas were identified: quantity of assessment content, frequency of class meetings, in-person vs. online, and self-paced vs. instructor-guided learning. Changes in student perceptions were determined through comparison of subsequent course evaluations to those of the previous four years. Course evaluations focused on coordinator availability, course organization, exam management, and achievement of course objectives. Results of CQI inquiry: The review of course evaluations showed improvement in all focus areas following modifications to course structure and design. Student free-text comments provided further insight for descriptive analysis. Interpretation and discussion: The evaluation score improvement was consistent with student comments. Contributing factors included curricular alignment, frequency of examinations, examination content, and faculty-guided learning through lecture and active learning. Alignment to pharmacology courses highlighted the relevance and value through the union of pharmaceutical sciences, clinical sciences, and pharmacy practice instruction. Conclusions: The alignment versatility of Top Drugs makes it ideal for bridging pharmaceutical and clinical sciences to bring relevance and value to students. The instructors will continue to offer the Top Drugs course in this format. Further plans for research include additional layers of curricular alignment and innovative active learning.
La traducción en xinka de la Proclama a los Habitantes de Ultramar de 1812

El proposito de esta contribucion es presentar un analisis morfologico y filologico del manuscrito zeeje , un documento escrito a mano en xinka, una familia linguistica de Guatemala. Este manuscrito es una traduccion de una proclama espanola de 1812 disenado para reforzar el apoyo para el Imperio espanol durante la campana napoleonica y es una de las cinco traducciones en una lengua indigena de las Americas. No obstante, entre todas estas traducciones, la traduccion en xinka queda sin analisis y con poco estudio. El analisis presentado aqui demuestra que el manuscrito zeeje es una reflexion del paisaje linguistico y social complejo del territorio xinka en la epoca colonial.
COVID19 infection in a patient undergoing treatment for Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH) with Ravulizumab.

BACKGROUND: In the recent COVID19 pandemic, patients with hematological disorders were considered at high risk for severe disease. Limited data is available regarding the course of COVID19 infection in this subgroup. CASE PRESENTATION: We describe a case of a 32-year-old man with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) undergoing treatment with ravulizumab (Ultomiris) who presented with COVID19 infection. He experienced only mild symptoms and had a rapid recovery from COVID19 infection. CONCLUSION: This case may demonstrate the beneficial effects of ravulizumab on complement mediated inflammatory damage linked with COVID19 infection especially in PNH patients.
Case Report: Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus and Diabetic Keto-Acidosis in a Child With COVID-19

During the COVID pandemic, a surge in pediatric Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) cases appears to be occurring, potentially due to the presence of autoantibody-induced immune dysregulation triggered by COVID-19. We describe one such case in a previously healthy 7-year-old with asymptomatic COVID-19 presenting with a high nasopharyngeal SARS CoV-2 virus load, detectable COVID-19 IgG antibodies, diabetic keto-acidosis and islet cell autoantibodies. COVID-19 is not a trivial disease in children and adolescents and can lead to lifelong sequelae such as T1DM. Raising awareness about a possible association between COVID-19 and T1DM in children is critical.
Attitudinal changes in face-to-face and online statistical reasoning learning environments

Attitudes toward statistics play an important role in statistical understanding, postsecondary decisions, and a lifelong relationship with statistics. Unfortunately, the average undergraduate student tends to view statistics as less interesting and less valuable after completing an introductory statistics course. The product of several decades of statistics education reform, a statistical reasoning learning environment (SRLE) has shown some positive early results in cognitive domains and may impact attitudes as well. In this study, four classes of introductory undergraduate statistics (two fully online, two face-to-face) were designed as SRLEs. Students (n = 83) completed a pretest and posttest version of the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics-36©. Both online and face-to-face sections showed average gains in Interest and Value that were higher than those reported in a large reference group, and these gains were practically significant.
Analysis and correlations of metal-organic frameworks: applications and toxicity

Abstract Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), organic and inorganic crystalline hybrids have been used for a variety of applications from catalysis, to gas storage and drug delivery. Studies have shown that generally, while such frameworks are more biocompatible than similar aspect ratio nanostructures, they are also more prone to transformation and disintegration due to their flexible and fragile nature as resulted from the structure assembly and implemented structure–function relationships. With extensive previous literature showing that materials with dimension nano such as carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles or quantum dots, have unique physicochemical properties that lead to increased biosystems’ reactivity, and with increasing concerns regarding adverse health effects upon such nanomaterials implementation, there is a growing interest to now evaluate the toxicological profiles of MOFs and how their characteristics can be controlled to lead to effective risk assessment and mitigation prior to their implementation. The interest is also motivated by the assumption that reactivity could be controlled with safe-by-design strategies. In this review, we are first describing general aspects related to MOFs and their synthesis, then we present the main trends of MOFs integration in synthetic applications, with subsequent focus on specifics of interfacing such structures with biosystems. Evidence assessment from both in vitro and in vivo studies is also being introduced to help reveal their toxicological profiles. Moreover, through a critical analysis of main advantages of these frameworks’ integration, we further raise awareness of their possible risk profiles and we suggest how they could be considered when envisioning further implementation of such nanomaterials. Lastly, we emphasize that alongside their benefits evaluations, data relevant to low dose and chronic exposure needs to emerge to thus be able to not only exploit MOFs dynamic nature but to ensure that such structure is not deleterious to environment and biological systems.
Statistical literacy social media project for the masses

This article examines a social media assignment used to teach and practice statistical literacy with over 400 students each semester in large-lecture traditional, fully online, and flipped sections of an introductory-level statistics course. Following the social media assignment, students completed a survey on how they approached the assignment. Drawing from the authors’ experiences with the project and the survey results, this article offers recommendations for developing social media assignments in large courses that focus on the interplay between the social media tool and the implications of assignment prompts.
Nanoelectropulse-driven membrane perturbation and small molecule permeabilization

Nanosecond, megavolt-per-meter pulsed electric fields scramble membrane phospholipids, release intracellular calcium, and induce apoptosis. Flow cytometric and fluorescence microscopy evidence has associated phospholipid rearrangement directly with nanoelectropulse exposure and supports the hypothesis that the potential that develops across the lipid bilayer during an electric pulse drives phosphatidylserine (PS) externalization. In this work we extend observations of cells exposed to electric pulses with 30 ns and 7 ns durations to still narrower pulse widths, and we find that even 3 ns pulses are sufficient to produce responses similar to those reported previously. We show here that in contrast to unipolar pulses, which perturb membrane phospholipid order, tracked with FM1-43 fluorescence, only at the anode side of the cell, bipolar pulses redistribute phospholipids at both the anode and cathode poles, consistent with migration of the anionic PS head group in the transmembrane field. In addition, we demonstrate that, as predicted by the membrane charging hypothesis, a train of shorter pulses requires higher fields to produce phospholipid scrambling comparable to that produced by a time-equivalent train of longer pulses (for a given applied field, 30, 4 ns pulses produce a weaker response than 4, 30 ns pulses). Finally, we show that influx of YO-PRO-1, a fluorescent dye used to detect early apoptosis and activation of the purinergic P2X7 receptor channels, is observed after exposure of Jurkat T lymphoblasts to sufficiently large numbers of pulses, suggesting that membrane poration occurs even with nanosecond pulses when the electric field is high enough. Propidium iodide entry, a traditional indicator of electroporation, occurs with even higher pulse counts. Megavolt-per-meter electric pulses as short as 3 ns alter the structure of the plasma membrane and permeabilize the cell to small molecules. The dose responses of cells to unipolar and bipolar pulses ranging from 3 ns to 30 ns duration support the hypothesis that a field-driven charging of the membrane dielectric causes the formation of pores on a nanosecond time scale, and that the anionic phospholipid PS migrates electrophoretically along the wall of these pores to the external face of the membrane.
Resolution of enzymes catalyzing energy-linked transhydrogenation. IV. Reconstitution of adenosine triphosphate-driven transhydrogenation in depleted chromatophores of Rhodospirillum rubrum by the transhydrogenase factor and a soluble oligomycin-insensitive Mg ++ -adenosine triphosphatase.

Abstract The catalysis of the energy-linked transhydrogenation reaction of Rhodospirillum rubrum chromatophores is dependent upon a soluble protein, the transhydrogenase factor. This factor can be detached from the chromatophore membrane by the relatively mild procedures of extensive washing, passage of chromatophores through Sephadex G-200, or sedimentation of chromatophores through a dense sucrose solution. Fractionation of the crude factor preparation on DEAE-Sephadex yields a highly purified protein which is resolved on polyacrylamide gels into two bands of apparent equal concentration. The transhydrogenase factor has no noticeable flavin absorption, is heat-inactivated, trypsin-sensitive, and has a molecular weight of about 70,000. It contains sulfhydryl groups which are essential for its activity. A soluble, oligomycin-insensitive Mg++ - dependent ATPase protein isolated from R. rubrum chromatophores has been successfully used together with the transhydrogenase factor in reconstitution experiments with chromatophore particles resolved with respect to these two factors.
The Woods, Late April

She wanted to show me the stream where the land widens and the doe comes to drink with her fawns. As we climbed over a tree, ridged with the flesh of lichen, we saw the skunk farrowing in the belly of a deer, the carcass, a canopy, high-ribbed. One thing, all things, move among and intermingle without distinction. Dutchmen's Britches, Trillium, Spring Beauties, Bloodroot, spears of Mayapple, more, tufts of grass, things unnamed. In the arrangement of things in time, all of these and the wide-eyed doe among them, appear.
Compositional provinces of Mars from statistical analyses of TES, GRS, OMEGA and CRISM data

We identified 10 distinct classes of mineral assemblage on Mars through statistical analyses of mineral abundances derived from Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) data at a spatial resolution of 8 pixels per degree. Two classes are new regions in Sinus Meridiani and northern Hellas basin. Except for crystalline hematite abundance, Sinus Meridiani exhibits compositional characteristics similar to Meridiani Planum; these two regions may share part of a common history. The northern margin of Hellas basin lacks olivine and high-Ca pyroxene compared to terrains just outside the Hellas outer ring; this may reflect a difference in crustal compositions and/or aqueous alteration. Hesperian highland volcanic terrains are largely mapped into one class. These terrains exhibit low-to-intermediate potassium and thorium concentrations (from Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS) data) compared to older highland terrains, indicating differences in the complexity of processes affecting mantle melts between these different-aged terrains. A previously reported, locally observed trend toward decreasing proportions of low-calcium pyroxene relative to total pyroxene with time is also apparent over the larger scales of our study. Spatial trends in olivine and pyroxene abundance are consistent with those observed in near-infrared data sets. Generally, regions that are distinct in TES data also exhibit distinct elemental characteristics in GRS data, suggesting that surficial coatings are not the primary control on TES mineralogical variations, but rather reflect regional differences in igneous and large-scale sedimentary/glacial processes. Distinct compositions measured over large, low-dust regions from multiple data sets indicate that global homogenization of unconsolidated surface materials has not occurred.
Three Phase R.f. Systems for Superconducting Cyclotrons

This article describes and illustrates the three phase r.f. system for superconducting cyclotrons. It is discussed that the initial design of the MSU K500 cyclotron r.f. system has since been changed and these changes are reviewed. The author describes how, after several evolutions, there is now a successful moving short for the 6 dee stems. The stem current flowing on the 4-inch O.D. inner conductor is 2600 amps RMS, resulting in a linear current density of 206 amps per inch. Problems with the operation of the r.f. system are also reviewed.
The adsorption of nitric oxide and carbon monoxide on nickel oxide

Abstract Adsorption isotherms and rates for NO and CO chemisorption were measured on supported and unsupported nickel oxide samples in the 0–140 °C temperature range. The isotherms are of the Freundlich type in the pressure range from 1 to 125 Torr. Monolayer coverage is attained at 110 Torr for the NO adsorption and at 530 Torr for the CO adsorption. The uptake at monolayer coverage in CO adsorption is ~30% smaller than the corresponding NO amount, indicating that about 1 3 of the adsorbed CO molecules are present in the bridged form. Similarly to the previously studied oxide adsorbents, there is a 1:1 correspondence between adsorbed NO molecules and Ni atoms on the surface. The chemisorption rate of both adsorbates is described by the Elovich plots. These are more complex for CO than for NO. In the investigated temperature range, the rate of chemisorption and the heat of chemisorption are higher for NO than for CO. The rates of NO chemisorption for the transition metal oxides studied so far are in the order: iron oxide > chromium oxide > nickel oxide.
Mode scalability in bent optical fibers

This paper introduces a simple, analytical method for generalizing the behavior of bent, weakly-guided fibers and waveguides. It begins with a comprehensive study of the modes of the bent step-index fiber, which is later extended to encompass a wide range of more complicated waveguide geometries. The analysis is based on the introduction of a scaling parameter, analogous to the V-number for straight step-index fibers, for the bend radius. When this parameter remains constant, waveguides of different bend radii, numerical apertures and wavelengths will all propagate identical mode field distributions, except scaled in size. This allows the behavior of individual waveguides to be broadly extended, and is especially useful for generalizing the results of numerical simulations. The technique is applied to the bent step-index fiber in this paper to arrive at simple analytical formulae for the propagation constant and mode area, which are valid well beyond the transition to whispering-gallery modes. Animations illustrating mode deformation with respect to bending and curves describing polarization decoupling are also presented, which encompass the entire family of weakly-guided, step-index fibers.
A throughput-on-demand address-event transmitter for neuromorphic chips

The author presents a scalable 2D address-event transmitter interface designed to take advantage of the high integration densities available with advanced submicron technology. To sustain throughput, it exploits the linear increase in the number of active neurons per row with array size, instead of counting on a linear increase in the unit-current/unit-capacitance ratio, as existing designs do. The author synthesizes an asynchronous implementation starting from a high-level specification, and presents test results from a 104/spl times/96-neuron chip fabricated in a 1.2 /spl mu/m CMOS process. Reading out the state of all neurons in a selected row in parallel, and sending their spikes in a tight burst of events, yields cycle times between 40 to 70 ns-six to ten times shorter than the 420 ns minimum cycle time reported in earlier work.
The role of intestinal microflora in the metabolic activation of 6-nitrochrysene to DNA-binding derivatives in mice.

6-Nitrochrysene has previously been shown to be a potent lung and liver carcinogen following i.p. administration to newborn mice and to be metabolically activated to DNA-binding derivatives by nitro-reduction or a combination of nitro-reduction and ring oxidation. In this study, we have examined fecal metabolites and DNA-carcinogen adducts in 5-week-old conventional and germfree Balb/c mice treated with [3H]6-nitrochrysene in order to determine if the metabolic activation pathway(s) for this compound in these mice differs from that observed in preweanling mice. We further evaluated the role of the intestinal microflora on the metabolism and generation of DNA-reactive metabolites in this system. The amount of 6-aminochrysene excreted in the feces of germfree mice within 48 h after treatment with a single i.p. dose of [3H]6-nitrochrysene (0.03 mumol/5 microliters/g body wt) was approximately 25% of that excreted in identically treated conventional mice. However, the levels of carcinogen-DNA adducts in the lungs and livers of conventional and germfree Balb/c mice were similar at the 24 and 48 h time points examined. HPLC analysis of hydrolysates of liver and lung DNA indicated that adducts derived from both N-hydroxy-6-aminochrysene and trans-1,2-dihydroxy-1,2-dihydro-6-aminochrysene metabolites were formed in the liver whereas only the latter adduct was detected in the lung. This contrasts with previous findings in preweanling mice where the adduct derived from the trans-1,2-dihydroxy-1,2-dihydro-6-aminochrysene metabolite was the single major adduct detected in both liver and lung DNA. The proportion of adducts derived from N-hydroxy-6-aminochrysene was significantly greater in the liver DNA of germfree mice than in the liver DNA of conventional mice.
Uranian H Ly‐α emission: The interstellar wind source

IUE observation of Uranian emissions in hydrogen Lyman alpha (H Ly-alpha) over the past four years have recently been summarized by Clarke et al. (1985). Over this time period they find an average H Ly-alpha brightness of 1260 R which they estimate is composed of 200 R of solar scattered radiation and 1060 R from a collisional source. A third component, not considered by previous authors, is the reflection of H Ly-alpha emissions from the interstellar wind. Hydrogen in the interstellar wind forms an extended source of H Ly-alpha whose importance relative to the solar flux increases with distance from the sun. The present paper demonstrates that scattering of interstellar H Ly-alpha is more important than scattering of solar H Ly-alpha for reasonable values of H column abundance and, in fact, may make up 10-40 percent of the observed signal. Large H column abundances are still required to explain the H Ly-alpha brightness solely on the basis of resonant scattering; therefore it is likely that the emissions are due in part to collisional sources and in part to the scattering of interstellar H Ly-alpha with solar scattering playing a minor role.
High-Energy Gamma Rays from the BL Lacertae Object PKS 2155–304

We present the first detection of gamma-ray emission from the extragalactic source PKS 2155-304, which is often considered to be a prototype of X-ray-selected BL Lacertae objects. The 30 MeV-10 GeV photon spectrum derived from measurements taken with EGRET on the Compton Observatory during 1994 November 15-29 indicates a very hard spectrum with a power-law spectral index of 1.71 ± 0.24. This spectral hardness when combined with the proximity of the source (z = 0.116) makes it an excellent candidate for detection at TeV gamma-ray energies. We briefly discuss the implications of these gamma-ray measurements for models of BL Lac objects.
On the correspondence between creeping flows of viscous and viscoelastic fluids

Abstract From the wealth of exact solutions for Stokes flow of simple viscous fluids [C. Pozrikidis, Introduction to Theoretical and Computational Fluid Dynamics, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1997, pp. 222–311], the classical “viscous–viscoelastic correspondence” between creeping flows of viscous and linear viscoelastic materials yields exact viscoelastic creeping flow solutions. The correspondence is valid for an arbitrary prescribed source: of force, flow, displacement or stress; local or nonlocal; steady or oscillatory. Two special Stokes singularities, extended to viscoelasticity in this way, form the basis of modern microrheology [T.G. Mason, D.A. Weitz, Optical measurements of the linear viscoelastic moduli of complex fluids, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74 (1995) 1250–1253]: the Stokeslet (for a stationary point source of force) and the solution for a driven sphere. We amplify these viscoelastic creeping flow solutions with a detailed focus on experimentally measurable signatures: of elastic and viscous responses to steady and time-periodic driving forces; and of unsteady (inertial) effects. We also assess the point force approximation for micron-size driven beads. Finally, we illustrate the generality in source geometry by analyzing the linear response for a nonlocal, planar source of unsteady stress.
Effect of the use of instructional anatomy videos on student performance.

Medical schools have reduced the time allotted to anatomy instruction. Consequently, schools engage students in more independent settings using information and communication technologies (ICT). There has been limited research in the use of video aids, a type of ICT, to enhance anatomy examination performance. The objective of this study is to describe the design, usage, and effect on examination performance of eight locally developed instructional anatomy videos. First-year UCSF medical students (n = 141) had access to the videos. They reported their video usage, reason for usage, and satisfaction. The prior year students (n = 141) served as a historical control group. Anatomy and radiology examination performance was compared between groups while controlling for prior performance. The students with and without access to the videos did not differ in examination performance. Sixty-one (43%) students in the experimental group responded to the survey. Of these, 79% reported using at least one video, viewing an average of 4.75 of the eight videos. They watched 3.27 (SD = 1.57, range 1–5) of the five anatomy videos and 1.48 (SD = 1.35; range 0–3) of the three radiology videos. In a regression analysis controlling for age and MCAT scores, using the anatomy videos at least once improved anatomy examination performance by 3.4% (P-value = 0.007). There was no relationship between radiology video usage and radiology exam score. Video resource availability did not enhance student performance in anatomy and radiology. However, when analyzing performance for those whom we knew level of video use, there was a statistically different and higher anatomy achievement. Anat Sci Ed, 2008. © 2008 American Association of Anatomists.
Thinking in Education

In our increasingly complex world, the teaching of thinking has become imperative. Yet evidence shows that our children are not learning how to think. Matthew Lipman, a leading educational theorist, gets to the heart of our educational problems, in Thinking in Education and makes profound and workable suggestions for solving those problems. Thinking in Education describes procedures that must be put in place if students at all levels of education are to become more thoughtful, more reasonable, and more judicious. It recommends that the classroom be converted into a community of inquiry and that the discipline of philosophy be redesigned so as to provide the concepts and values now missing from the curriculum. These recommendations have now been carried out; the community of inquiry is a recognized pedagogical strategy, and traditional academic philosophy has been transformed into a discipline that offers a model of higher-order thinking and an image of what all education can be.
Resource and query aware, peer-to-peer-based multi-attribute Resource Discovery

Distributed, multi-attribute Resource Discovery (RD) is a fundamental requirement in collaborative Peer-to-Peer (P2P), grid, and cloud computing. We present an efficient and load balanced, P2P-based multi-attribute RD solution that consists of five heuristics, which can be executed independently and distributedly. First heuristic maintains a minimum number of nodes in a ring-like overlay consequently reducing the cost of resolving range queries. Second and third heuristics dynamically balance the key and query load by transferring keys to neighbors and by adding new neighbors when existing ones are insufficient. Last two heuristics, namely fragmentation and replication, form cliques of nodes that are placed orthogonal to the overlay ring to dynamically balance the highly skewed key and query loads while reducing the query cost. By applying these heuristics in the presented order, a RD solution that better responds to real-world resource and query characteristics is developed. Simulations using real workloads are used to demonstrate its efficacy.
Acceleration of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in interleukin-10-deficient mice: roles of interleukin-10 in disease progression and recovery.

Abstract Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) which is often used as an animal model for human multiple sclerosis (MS). The disease is mediated by autoreactive lymphocytes recognizing myelin self-antigens. The autoreactive lymphocytes elicit autoimmune inflammation in the CNS and lead to demyelination and loss of neurological functions. Although autoimmune encephalomyelitis can lead to irreversible nervous tissue injury and demise of animals, EAE is often characterized by spontaneous disease recovery or remission. It is not known how EAE progression is regulated, nor is it clear how autoimmune inflammation in the CNS can resolve while the myelin-specific lymphocytes and myelin self-antigens remain in the animals. Cytokines, especially TH2-type cytokines, have long been suggested to play a role in regulating EAE. However, experiments using recombinant cytokines or neutralizing antibodies to cytokines have generated conflicting results. To determine the roles of interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-10 in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, we have studied mice deficient in IL-4 or IL-10. We found that IL-10- but not IL-4-deficient mice had accelerated EAE following immunization with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG). Importantly, spontaneous recovery from EAE occurred in normal and IL-4-deficient mice, but not in mice deficient in IL-10. Furthermore, we established that the acceleration of EAE in IL-10-deficient mice was associated with a decrease in IL-4 and an increase in IFN-γ production in response to MOG antigen. These results strongly suggest that IL-10 plays a crucial role in the progression and recovery of autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
An optimal scheduling algorithm for testing interconnect using boundary scan

Systems will soon be built with ICs that conform with the IEEE 1149.1 boundary scan architecture. Due to the hierarchical nature of such systems, they may contain many boundary scan chains. These chains can be used to test the system, subsystem, and board interconnect. To reduce test time, the application of test vectors to these scan chains must be carefully scheduled. This article deals with problems related to finding an optimal schedule for testing interconnect. This problem is modeled using a directed graph. The following results are obtained: (1) upper and lower bounds on interconnect test time; (2) necessary and sufficient conditions for obtaining an optimal schedule when the graph is acyclic; (3) sufficient condition for obtaining an optimal schedule when the graph is cyclic; and (4) an algorithm for constructing an optimal schedule for any graph.
Piezoelectric thin films for a high frequency ultrasound transducer with integrated electronics

Lead zirconate titanate piezoelectric films were integrated into prototype one-dimensional array transducers. The geometry used for transducer arrays is a xylophone-bar type with a length:width aspect ratio greater than 5∶1 in order to isolate the desired resonance modes. The PZT and remaining films in the stack were patterned using ion-beam etching and partially released from the underlying silicon substrate by XeF 2 etching. Impedance measurements on the fabricated structures showed resonance frequencies between 3 and 70 MHz for fully and partially released structures depending on the transducer dimensions and vibration modes. In-water transmit and receive functionalities have been demonstrated. A bandwidth on receive of 66 % has been determined for partially released structures.
The Common Thread Of Induction

Early in the introduction of this book, the four authors rightly state that little progress has been made in understanding the processes of induction, even though it has been a central concern in philosophy, psychology and artificial intelligence. I was impressed reading through the opening chapters, since it seemed that significant strides forwards were really being made. By the end, though, I was disappointed as the early promise was left unfulfilled. However, this book has much to recommend it, and is certainly worth a read by anyone interested in induction and science.
Motivational game design patterns of 'ville games

The phenomenal growth of social network games in the last five years has left many game designers, game scholars, and long-time game players wondering how these games so effectively engage their audiences. Without a strong understanding of the sources of appeal of social network games, and how they relate to the appeal of past games and other human activities, it has proven difficult to interpret the phenomenon accurately or build upon its successes. In this paper we propose and employ a particular approach to this challenge, analyzing the motivational game design patterns in the popular 'Ville style of game using the lenses of behavioral economics and behavioral psychology, explaining ways these games engage and retain players. We show how such games employ strategies in central, visible ways that are also present (if perhaps harder to perceive) in games with very different mechanics and audiences. Our conclusions point to lessons for game design, game interpretation, and the design of engaging software of any type.
High Throughput Gene Expression Measurement with Real Time PCR in a Microfluidic Dynamic Array

We describe a high throughput gene expression platform based on microfluidic dynamic arrays. This system allows 2,304 simultaneous real time PCR gene expression measurements in a single chip, while requiring less pipetting than is required to set up a 96 well plate. We show that one can measure the expression of 45 different genes in 18 tissues with replicates in a single chip. The data have excellent concordance with conventional real time PCR and the microfluidic dynamic arrays show better reproducibility than commercial DNA microarrays.