cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Carbon monoxide … the silent killer with an audible solution

Carbon monoxide (CO) is responsible for more poisoning fatalities each year than any other toxic agent. The often insidious nature of the symptom progression and its ability to imitate many common illnesses may result in the failure to diagnose a potentially fatal outcome. CO detectors equipped with an audible alarm can alert potential victims of CO poisoning before toxic sequelae develop. A study was conducted in which all calls to 911 concerning a CO detector in alarm or regarding possible CO poisoning were investigated by a paramedic crew; 101 possible CO exposures were investigated. CO detectors with audible alarms were the genesis of 59.4% of the calls. Detectable CO levels were found in 69.3% of the investigations, and 80% of the homes with detectors had verifiable CO concentrations. The mean CO concentration in homes with detectors was 18.6 ppm, compared with 96.6 ppm when no detector was available; 63.4% of the victims with no alarm were symptomatic, compared with 13.3% of victims with alarms. CO detectors with audible alarms were effective in alerting the potential victims of CO poisoning to its presence. Persons with CO detectors were less likely to become symptomatic from a CO exposure than those who did not have CO detectors.
Synthesis and Characterization of Polymer-Templated Mesoporous Silicas Containing Niobium

A series of niobium-containing mesoporous silicas (Nb−MS) with different pore diameters has been synthesized via an acid-mediated route by using different kinds of nonionic triblock copolymers. The effect of the chain length of poly(propylene oxide) (PO) and poly(ethylene oxide) (EO) units on the structure of Nb−MS materials has been studied. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen adsorption, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and temperature-programmed reduction (TPR). The pore diameter of Nb−MS increased with increasing the PO chain length in triblock copolymer. The microporosity was not affected by the type of the copolymer used.
Automatic analysis of voice fundamental frequency and intensity using a visi-pitch.

This research note describes a method for automatic analysis of voice fundamental frequency and intensity using a Visi-Pitch Model 6087 and an Apple II computer equipped with an analog-to-digital c...
Anxiety on the Watchtower: The Hospital Epidemiologist and Emerging Infectious Diseases.

As hospital epidemiologists confront the challenges from within their institutions and outside of that arena, they are understandably wary. They smile ruefully at the words attributed to then Surgeon General William Stewart in 1967: "The time has come to close the book on infectious diseases. We have basically wiped out infection in the United States." They also sense the need to redouble their vigilance and to develop new approaches and partnerships that adequately address the threats still posed by the microbial world.
Aging Research: Current and Future

The key events that lead to organismic senescence appear to occur in cells that have been genetically pro-grammed to arrest their own proliferation. After arrest, a variety of subcellular events occur, among the more important of which are the accumulation of waste product pigments, an increase in the fraction of inactive enzymes, and (probably of central importance) the loss of key genes, specifically those that code for rRNA. An understanding of the senescence of the epidermis and dermis would almost certainly provide answers to related problems in those organ systems whose sudden or slow failure leads to individual death.
Non-annealed graphene paper as a binder-free anode for lithium-ion batteries

Non-annealed graphene paper, prepared via reduction of prefabricated graphene oxide paper with hydrazine hydrate, was employed as the sole component of a binder-free lithium-ion battery anode, circumventing the polymer binders and other additives required for the fabrication of conventional electrodes. The binder-free anode fabricated from this non-annealed paper possessed excellent cyclability, while exhibiting a voltage versus capacity profile similar to that of a polymer-bound graphene powder anode. Kinetic barriers may exist for Li ion diffusion through the layered paper structure as decreasing the current rate from 50 to 10 mA·g−1 increased the reversible capacity by over 150%.
The effect of neutral salts on gelatin-gum arabic complexes

Abstract Swollen gelatin-gum arabic (GGA) complexes behave like typical polyelectrolyte gels in that observed swelling values are a strong function of pH and neutral salt concentration. At pH 3.5 and 24°C., GGA complexes swell very slowly in many salt solutions. True equilibrium swelling values are never obtained in many cases. Increasing concentrations of NaCl or Na2SO4 cause GGA swelling values to pass through a maximum, thereby giving swelling curves similar in shape to the typical salting-in and salting-out curves frequently encountered with proteins and polypeptides. CaCl2 concentrations as low as 0.25 M grossly weaken and appear to partially melt GGA complexes at 24°C., whereas higher CaCl2 concentrations (>0.75 M) rapidly destroy GGA complexes. Irreversible swelling changes observed when GGA complexes are subjected to cyclical swelling treatments in buffer and buffered NaCl solutions, are due to displacement of gum arabic (GA) from the complex as Bungenberg de Jong and Landsmeer concluded previously. Only 83% of the gum arabic initially present in the complex can be displaced under a variety of conditions, indicating that a substantial amount of GA is difficult to remove from a GGA gel. This may be due to physical entrapment of GA in the gel or may be a characteristic feature of GGA gels. The initial rate of GA displacement is a strong function of neutral salt concentration even though marked shrinkage of the gel occurs at higher salt concentrations. Chloride analyses show that diffusion of salt ions into the swollen complex is rapid and does not control the rate of GA displacement. In contrast, the large size of GA and the multiplicity of charged groups on each GA molecule suggest that its diffusion from the gel controls the over-all rate of displacement. Limited experiments at 17°C, suggest that decreasing the temperature from 25° to 17°C. does not noticeably affect the rate of GA displacement.
A New Expanded Scale A-C Voltmeter

IN MANY POWER SYSTEM voltage measurements the measurement problem consists of detecting and indicating accurately a variation of plus or minus one volt or less from a given reference voltage. The use of the conventional zero-left, a-c, moving-iron, or electrodynamic voltmeter does not provide enough of a deflection to read with any degree of certainty, since, for example, a one volt variation from 120 volts on a 250-degree-scale concentric-type switchboard voltmeter represents approximately 3/64 inch of arc. There is then a need for an expanded scale voltmeter that produces a scale length per volt within the range of normal voltage variation of at least four times that of the conventional voltmeter.
Band-offset ratio dependence on the effective-mass Hamiltonian based on a modified profile of the GaAs-AlxGa1-xAs quantum well.

This paper suggests a simple permutation scheme to construct the Hermitian Hamiltonian utilized in the effective-mass equation, introduces a smoothed profile to more accurately model heterojunctions, and illustrates the dependence of the band-offset ratio of a GaAs-${\mathrm{Al}}_{\mathit{x}}$${\mathrm{Ga}}_{1\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathit{x}}$As quantum well on the particular Hermitian Hamiltonian used in the calculation. The permutation scheme produces the BenDaniel and Duke Hamiltonian, the Bastard Hamiltonian, the Zhu and Kroemer Hamiltonian, and a Hamiltonian termed the redistributed Hamiltonian in this paper. The heterojunction is modeled by an error function rather than a step function to more accurately model the material transition region at the interface between the two materials. The 11 heavy-hole (HH) transition energy obtained by BenDaniel and Duke Hamiltonian with a particular band-offset ratio is reproduced by utilizing non-BenDaniel and Duke Hamiltonians with appropriate band-offset ratios. This process is repeated for BenDaniel and Duke Hamiltonian band-offset ratios varying from 0.5 to 0.8, and then proceeds to 11 light-hole (LH), 22 HH, and 22 LH transitions. It is found that the Hamiltonian dependence of the band-offset ratio is significant.
A Note on Assessing Stereotypes

Stereotypes of women and men who varied in their occupations were assessed by obtaining (a) judgments of prototypical individuals on trait-rating scales or (b) estimates of the percentage of group members who possess each trait. The absence of significant interactions between the method of assessing stereotypes and the sex or occupation of the target stimuli suggests that these two methods of stereotype measurement can be used interchangeably.
Parents' choices in banking boys' testicular tissue

Researchers are working to derive sperm from banked testicular tissue taken from pre-pubertal boys who face therapies or injuries that destroy sperm production. Success in deriving sperm from this tissue will help to preserve the option for these boys to have genetically related children later in life. For the twin moral reasons of preserving access and equity in regard to having such children, clinicians and researchers are justified in offering the option to the parents of all affected boys. However, some parents may wish to decline the option to bank tissue from their boys because the technique may seem too unfamiliar or unusual, but over time people may become more comfortable with the technique as they have done with other novel assisted reproductive treatments (ARTs). Other parents may wish to decline the option because of moral or religious reasons. A prominent natural law theory holds, for example, that the ARTs that would be involved in using sperm derived from banked tissue to produce a child are morally objectionable. Some parents might not want to bank tissue in order to shield their son from using ARTs they see as objectionable. Clinicians and researchers should respect parents who wish to decline banking tissue, but parents should ordinarily embrace choices that protect the possible interests their sons may have as adult men, including the wish to have genetically related children.
New concepts in orthopaedic thromboprophylaxis.

Sir, I read with interest the review article by Warwick[1][1] in the August 2004 issue entitled “New concepts in orthopaedic thromboprophylaxis”. This was certainly a heavily-researched and well-written review article on a difficult subject. However, the author’s recommendation for
Extension of Medicare immunosuppressive drug benefits: a "no brainer" that did not happen.

In addition to having the privilege of serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology , I necessarily have a day job. For the past 40 years, I have functioned clinically as a renal transplant physician. Currently there is little disagreement that patients who receive a renal transplant have superior outcomes in terms of length and quality of life compared with similar patients …
Fruit cuticle lipid composition during development in tomato ripening mutants

Recent studies suggest that fruit cuticle is an important contributing factor to tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) fruit shelf life and storability. Moreover, it has been hypothesized that variation in fruit cuticle composition may underlie differences in traits such as fruit resistance to desiccation and microbial infection. To gain a better understanding of cuticle lipid composition diversity during fruit ontogeny and to assess if there are common features that correlate with ripening, we examined developmental changes in fruit cuticle wax and cutin monomer composition of delayed-ripening tomato fruit mutants, ripening inhibitor (rin) and non-ripening (nor) and delayed-ripening landrace Alcobaca. Previous reports show that fruit ripening processes such as climacteric ethylene production, cell wall degradation and color change are significantly delayed, or do not occur, in these lines. In the study presented here, however, we show that fruits from rin, nor and Alcobaca have cuticle lipid compositions that differ significantly from normal fruits of Ailsa Craig (AC) even at very early stages in fruit development, with continuing impacts throughout ripening. Moreover, rin, nor and the Alcobaca lines show quite different wax profiles from AC and each other throughout fruit development. Although cutin monomer composition differed much less than wax composition among the genotypes, all delayed-ripening lines possessed higher relative amounts of C(18) monomers than AC. Together, these results reveal new genetic associations between cuticle and fruit development processes and define valuable genetic resources to further explore the importance of cuticle in fruit shelf life.
A productive user environment for generating progress notes

Describes the implementation methodology of an intelligent progress note system which is designed to support physicians in writing problem-oriented progress notes. The authors are currently developing their system on PCs in Microsoft Windows 3.0 by using Spinnaker Plus. The conversion of the system from a PC base to Macintosh or OS/2 has proven to be easy. The design applies cognitive models of memory as well as hypermedia to provide a creative and productive environment for the physician. The basis of the work is observation of practicing physicians writing progress notes in today's paper-driven world. The hope is to simulate some of the more routine parts of the thinking processes that physicians devote to producing the progress note, to save time, and to provide useful reminders, so that the users can concentrate on the more complex parts of the task. >
Soft lithography replica molding of critically coupled polymer microring resonators

We use soft lithography replica molding to fabricate unclad polystyrene (PS) and clad SU-8 microring resonator filters. The PS resonator has an intrinsic quality factor of 1.0/spl times/10/sup 4/ at /spl lambda/=1.55 /spl mu/m, while that of the SU-8 resonator is 7100. The extinction ratios of the PS and SU-8 microring filters are -12 and -20 dB, respectively, with net insertion losses of 6.7 and 9.9 dB. The good quality factors and high extinction ratios of the microring resonator filters show the practicality of soft-lithography replica molding for the fabrication of integrated optical devices.
Modeling boron diffusion in ultrathin nitrided oxide p/sup +/ Si gate technology

Based on a network defect model for the diffusion of B in SiO/sub 2/, we propose that B diffuses via a peroxy linkage defect (pld) whose concentration in the oxide changes under different processing conditions. We show that as N is added to the gate oxide (nitridation), N atoms compete with B atoms for activation through the diffusion-defect sites. The model predicts that nitridation is ineffective in stopping B penetration when BF/sub 2/ implants dope the polysilicon gate, as well as for the case of very thin gate dielectrics with B-implanted gates.
1.5-microm-band wavelength conversion based on difference-frequency generation in LiNbO3 waveguides with integrated coupling structures.

We report wavelength conversion within the 1.5?µm telecommunications band based on difference-frequency generation in periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides with integrated coupling structures. A conversion efficiency of -7 dB and a normalized efficiency of 260%/W are demonstrated. Static tests show that the conversion bandwidth is 72 nm and the conversion efficiency is constant over the 20-dB range of input powers tested.
A Survey of Glutamic Dehydrogenase Activity in Four Tissues of Normal and Starved Coturnix

Abstract INTRODUCTION WITH the recent findings that glutamic dehydrogenase (GDH) is inhibited by high levels of DPNH (Frieden, 1959a, b) which can be reversed by ADP (Tomkins et al., 1963), the possibility of a regulatory role for this enzyme must be considered. It has also been reported that this allosteric inhibition by DPNH as well as by other substances, such as diethylstilbestrol, GTP, Zn++, etc., causes an increase in alanine dehydrogenase activity concomitant with the loss in glutamic dehydrogenase activity (Tomkins et al., 1963; Bitensky et al., 1965). Although recent information indicates that the major pathway of glutamate metabolism is via transamination (Krebs and Bellamy, 1960; Jones and Gutfreund, 1961; Borst, 1962; Haslam and Krebs, 1963), it has also been shown that increasingly high glutamate concentrations cause the dehydrogenase pathway to become more and more important (Balazs, 1963). The further fact that natural metabolites such as DPNH and ADP can markedly …
Brightly Fluorescent Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes via an Oxygen-Excluding Surfactant Organization

Attaining high photoluminescence quantum yields for single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in order to broaden their optoelectronics and sensing applications has been a challenging task. Among various nonradiative pathways, sidewall chemisorption of oxygen provides a known defect for exciton quenching through nanotube hole doping. We found that an aliphatic (dodecyl) analog of flavin mononucleotide, FC12, leads to high dispersion of SWNTs, which tend to aggregate into bundles. Unlike other surfactants, the surface organization of FC12 is sufficiently tight to exclude oxygen from the SWNT surface, which led to quantum yields as high as 20%. Toluene-dispersed, FC12-wrapped nanotubes exhibited an absorption spectrum with ultrasharp peaks (widths of 12 to 25 milli-electron volts) devoid of the characteristic background absorption of most nanotube dispersions.
Partisan Reinforcement and the Poor: The Impact of Context on Explanations for Poverty*

Objective. Past research has demonstrated that Americans view poverty in racial terms, and that they often blame the poor for their situation. This article's objective is to determine if local contexts can influence these views. Methods. Synthesizing racial and political theories of contextual effects, I use two nationally representative surveys to explore Americans' explanations for poverty. Results. People living in areas where the poor are mostly white are less likely to attribute poverty to the failings of the poor themselves, as theories of racial threat would predict. However, a second finding is stronger: the percentage of the county that voted Republican in the last election consistently predicts less structural and more individualistic explanations of poverty. Conclusions. Local processes of partisan reinforcement play a key role in shaping explanations of poverty.
The Effects of Childhood Exposure to Drug Users and Religion on Drug Use in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Previous research finds drug-using peers and religiosity to be key predictors of drug use among youth, but the effects of childhood exposure to drug users and religion on later drug use have been understudied. The authors hypothesize a child's exposure to parental drug use and religious upbringing have a causal influence on drug use in youth primarily through drug-using peer association and religiosity during adolescence and young adulthood. To test this hypothesis, the authors analyze nationally representative three-wave panel data spanning ages 6 to 22. Results from estimating a structural equation model provide empirical support for the hypothesis, as the causal influence was found to be indirect via the proximate predictors of drug use among youths; that is, childhood risk and protective factors were positively associ- ated with their adolescent and young adulthood counterparts, which in turn had a causal effect on drug use by youth.
Selected Accountability and Assessment Issues.

This chapter provides an overview of strategies that can be used to demonstrate accountability in financial issues in student affairs.
B-Scan Based Acoustic Source Reconstruction for Magnetoacoustic Tomography With Magnetic Induction (MAT-MI)

We present in this study, an acoustic source reconstruction method using focused transducer with B-mode imaging for magnetoacoustic tomography with magnetic induction (MAT-MI). MAT-MI is an imaging modality proposed for noninvasive conductivity imaging with high spatial resolution. In MAT-MI, acoustic sources are generated in a conductive object by placing it in a static and a time-varying magnetic field. The acoustic waves from these sources propagate in all directions and are collected with transducers placed around the object. The collected signal is then used to reconstruct the acoustic source distribution and to further estimate the electrical conductivity distribution of the object. A flat piston transducer acting as a point receiver has been used in earlier MAT-MI systems to collect acoustic signals. In this study, we propose to use B-mode scan scheme with a focused transducer that gives a signal gain in its focus region and improves the MAT-MI signal quality. A simulation protocol that can take into account different transducer designs and scan schemes for MAT-MI imaging is developed and used in our evaluation of different MAT-MI system designs. It is shown in our computer simulations that as compared to the earlier approach, the MAT-MI system using B-scan with a focused transducer allows MAT-MI imaging at a closer distance and has improved system sensitivity. In addition, the B-scan imaging technique allows reconstruction of the MAT-MI acoustic sources with a discrete number of scanning locations, which greatly increases the applicability of the MAT-MI approach, especially when a continuous acoustic window is not available in real clinical applications. We have also conducted phantom experiments to evaluate the proposed method, and the reconstructed image shows a good agreement with the target phantom.
On the abundance, amino acid composition, and evolutionary dynamics of low-complexity regions in proteins.

Abstract Protein sequences frequently contain regions composed of a reduced number of amino acids. Despite their presence in about half of all proteins and their unusual prevalence in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, the function and evolution of such low-complexity regions (LCRs) remain unclear. Here we show that LCR abundance and amino acid composition depend largely, but not exclusively, on genomic A+T content and obey power–law growth dynamics. Further, our results indicate that LCRs are analogous to microsatellites in that DNA replication slippage and unequal crossover recombination are important molecular mechanisms for LCR expansion. We support this hypothesis by demonstrating that the size of LCR insertions/deletions among orthologous genes depends upon length. Moreover, we show that LCRs enable intra-exonic recombination in a key family of cell-surface antigens in P. falciparum and thus likely facilitate the generation of antigenic diversity. We conclude with a mechanistic model for LCR evolution that links the pattern of LCRs within P. falciparum to its high genomic A+T content and recombination rate.
Predicted 3-D Structures for Mouse I7 and Rat I7 Olfactory Receptors and Comparison of Predicted Odor Recognition Profiles with Experiment

The first step in the perception of an odor is the activation of one or more olfactory receptors (ORs) following binding of the odorant molecule to the OR. In order to initiate the process of determining how the molecular level receptor-odorant interactions are related to odor perception, we used the MembStruk computational method to predict the three-dimensional (3-D) structure of the I7 OR for both mouse and rat. We then used the HierDock ligand docking computational method to predict the binding site and binding energy for the library of 56 odorants to these receptors for which experiment response data are now available. We find that the predicted 3-D structures of the mouse and rat I7 OR lead to predictions of odorant binding that are in good agreement with the experimental results, thus validating the accuracy of both the 3-D structure and the predicted binding site. In particular we predict that heptanal and octanal both bind strongly to both mouse and rat I7 ORs, which conflicts with the older literature but agrees with recent experiments. To provide the basis of additional validations of our 3-D structures, we also report the odorant binding site for a new odorant (8-hydroxy-octanal) with a novel functionality designed to bind strongly to mouse I7. Such validated computational methods should be very useful in predicting the structure and function of many other ORs.
Maternal methadone treatment and neonatal abstinence syndrome.

Objective This article aims to describe neonatal outcomes, clinical correlates, and the rate for neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) for women on methadone maintenance therapy. Methods This study is a retrospective review, which includes 119 mothers and 120 live newborns. Results Methadone mothers tends to be white, single, on government insurance, with increased tobacco use (73%) and hepatitis C (11%). Prematurity increased (28%), and the term infant had a higher risk for admission for respiratory symptoms (22, 7%, p Conclusions Newborns are at higher risk for prematurity and admission for respiratory symptoms. Utilizing a 7-day observation period, 78% of newborns were diagnosed with NAS with a mean onset of symptoms of 4.3 days. There was no difference in methadone dosage between babies with and without NAS. Increasing gestational age increases the risk for NAS.
Vertical coordination in the Dutch pig industry

The terms of reference of the paper cover the commercial and organizational relations between pig producers on the one hand and mixed feed industries, slaughterers and meat processing industries on the other. The paper deals with those aspects of buying mixed feeds and selling breeding pigs, weaners and slaughter pigs, that can be looked upon as instruments of vertical coordination in addition to the traditional price mechanism viz. systems of discounts and surcharges, contractual arrangements, cooperative marketing and vertical integration. Except for vertical integration, these elements of active vertical coordination do occur on a large scale in the Dutch pig industry. They are intended to reach a better tuning of the economic activities in the successive stages of production and marketing. Negative aspects can be found in the field of market transparency and the bargaining position of the individual pig-keepers.
Middle School Students with Exceptional Learning Needs Investigate the Use of Visuals for Learning Science

A visual instructional tool that is theory-driven and supported by evidence-based research is used to support student learning and information-processing. The graphic organizer has enhanced learning in Science Education as well as Special Education, emphasizing the construction of knowledge with meaningful sequential relationships rather than memorizing isolated fragments of information. Students construct a visual schema that represents a system of interrelated concepts and icons created by the learner. This article provides a description of a qualitative application of how students with disabilities are able to represent their ideas by assimilating subject matter and their personal perceptions of content by drawing pictures connected to concepts within the visual graphic. Positive results were documented in this study.
Hormone receptors and proliferation in breast carcinomas of equivalent histologic grades in pre‐ and postmenopausal women

Breast cancers in younger, premenopausal women are more likely to exhibit an adverse prognostic profile (including negative steroid hormone receptors and a high rate of cellular proliferation) and poor outcome than breast cancers in postmenopausal women. It has been hypothesized that this adverse prognostic profile is a result of the higher histologic grade of breast cancers in pre- compared with post-menopausal women. To assess the association of expression of steroid hormone receptors and indicators of proliferation while controlling for histologic grade, we identified 100 infiltrating ductal carcinomas from premenopausal women 45 years of age or younger and 100 from postmenopausal women 65 years of age or older. The carcinomas were selected so that the histologic grades (low versus high) were distributed equally between the 2 groups. Estrogen receptors (ER), progesterone receptors (PR), p27(Kip1) and Ki-67 (to measure rate of proliferation) were assessed by immunohistochemistry and compared between groups. Clinical information and survival data were also analyzed. ER content was lower and proliferation was higher in carcinomas in premenopausal women (p = 0.048 and p = 0.005, respectively). By univariate analysis, p27(Kip1) and PR were not different between the groups; however, in multivariate analysis, p27(Kip1) was higher in postmenopausal women, but only in a subgroup with highly proliferative carcinomas. Overall survival was similar in the pre- and postmenopausal women. Furthermore, low p27(Kip1) and African-American ethnicity predicted a poorer overall survival in the premenopausal, but not in the postmenopausal, women in our study. After controlling for histologic grade, a lower expression of ER and a higher proliferative index were detected in breast carcinomas in premenopausal women. Therefore, some prognostic indicators, such as ER and proliferative rate, may be more closely associated with menopausal status than histologic grade. Our data also suggest that some prognostic factors are not equally effective as predictors of survival in pre- and postmenopausal women.
Characterization and expression pattern of zebrafish anti-Mullerian hormone (amh) relative to sox9a, sox9b, and cyp19a1a, during gonad development

The role of Anti-Mullerian hormone (Amh) during gonad development has been studied extensively in mammals, but is less well understood in other vertebrates. In male mammalian embryos, Sox9 activates expression of Amh, which initiates the regression of the Mullerian ducts and inhibits the expression of aromatase (Cyp19a1), the enzyme that converts androgens to estrogens. To better understand shared features of vertebrate gonadogenesis, we cloned amh cDNA from zebrafish, characterized its genomic structure, mapped it, analyzed conserved syntenies, studied its expression pattern in embryos, larvae, juveniles, and adults, and compared it to the expression patterns of sox9a, sox9b and cyp19a1a. We found that the onset of amh expression occurred while gonads were still undifferentiated and sox9a and cyp19a1a were already expressed. In differentiated gonads of juveniles, amh showed a sexually dimorphic expression pattern. In 31 days post-fertilization juveniles, testes expressed amh and sox9a, but not cyp19a1a, while ovaries expressed cyp19a1a and sox9b, but not amh. In adult testes, amh and sox9a were expressed in presumptive Sertoli cells. In adult ovaries, amh and cyp19a1a were expressed in granulosa cells surrounding the oocytes, and sox9b was expressed in a complementary fashion in the ooplasm of oocytes. The observed expression patterns of amh, sox9a, sox9b, and cyp19a1a in zebrafish correspond to the patterns expected if their regulatory interactions have been conserved with mammals. The finding that zebrafish sox9b and sox8 were not co-expressed with amh in oocytes excludes the possibility that amh expression in zebrafish granulosa cells is directly regulated by either of these two genes.
Parameter set estimation algorithms for time-varying systems

Parameter set estimation (PSE), a class of system identification schemes which aims at characterizing the uncertainty in the identification experiment, is philosophically different from traditional parameter estimation schemes which seek to identify a single point (model) in the parameter space. The literature has seen a good deal of attention paid to PSE techniques in recent years, primarily because it is projected that they will play a vital role in robust identification for control. An important step in current research along these lines is development of PSE algorithms for systems which are time varying in nature; this is particularly true if the identified model set is to be used in an adaptive setting, such as for gain scheduling or autotuning. In this paper, we extend an ellipsoid algorithm for PSE of time-invariant systems to time-varying systems. We show how knowledge of dependences in the parameter variations can be exploited to reduce the number of computations in the resulting algorithm. Finally, scalar bound inflation, a second strategy for PSE of time-varying systems, is optimized for volume, and a comparison of the two algorithms is made.
WIZER: Automated Model Improvement in Multi-Agent Social-Network Systems

There has been a significant increase in the use of multi-agent social-network models due to their ability to flexibly model emergent behaviors in complex socio-technical Systems while linking to real data. These models are growing in size and complexity which requires significant time and effort to calibrate, validate, improve the model, and gain insight into model behavior. In this paper, we present our knowledge-based simulation-aided approach for automating model-improvement and our tool implementing this approach (WIZER). WIZER is capable of calibrating and validating multi-agent social-network models, and facilitates model-improvement and understanding. By employing knowledge-based search, causal analysis, and simulation control and inference techniques, WIZER can reduce the number of simulation runs needed to calibrate, validate, and improve a model and improve the focus of these runs. WIZER automates reasoning and analysis of simulations, instead of being a multi-agent programming language or environment. We ran a preliminary version of WIZER on BioWar a city-scale social agent network Simulation of the effects of weaponized biological attacks on a demographically-realistic population within a background of naturally-occurring diseases. The results demonstrate the efficacy of WIZER.
A new Eocene-Oligocene snakefly from Florissant, Colorado (Raphidioptera: Raphidiidae)

Abstract A new species of raphidiid snakefly (Raphidioptera: Raphidiomorpha) is described and figured from the Eocene-Oligocene Florissant Formation of Colorado. Raphidia funerata, new species, is most similar to R. mortua Rohwer but can be distinguished by details of forewing venation.
Feasibility of a Wearable, Sensor-based Motion Tracking System

Abstract The objective of this study was to develop and evaluate the feasibility of a wearable, sensor-based motion tracking system that provides an economical and quantitative means of recording upper limb motion for physical rehabilitation. The tracking system is comprised of a wirelessly connected network of inertial measurement units (IMUs), each containing a gyroscope and an accelerometer. Two IMUs were rigidly attached to each subject's forearm and upper arm. A trajectorizing algorithm was developed to estimate the three dimensional upper limb motion based on the measurements of the IMUs. A major advantage of the algorithm is that it allows the IMUs to be attached with arbitrary orientation to each limb and no manual anthropomorphic measurements need to be performed. By recording specific, known motions, the sensors can be calibrated with respect to their orientation in space and with respect to their orientation relative to their respective body segments. During the experiment, healthy subjects performed elbow flexion-extension motions that were recorded using the IMUs. To validate the system including the accuracy of recorded data and the correctness of the trajectorizing algorithm, an optical motion capture system was also used to record the same motions. Results showed that the proposed motion tracking system measured the elbow joint angles of the flexion-extension motions with high consistency with the measurements obtained from the optical motion capture system. Statistical analysis showed that joint angles between two systems are highly correlated. The error of elbow joint angles measured by our system yielded small root mean square error (RMSE) and small median absolute deviation (MAD). These results suggest that an IMU-based (more specifically, a gyroscope-based) motion tracking system can be realistically used to accurately track a patient's motion without the need of numerous sensors or an overly complicated set-up.
Management of Ventilation During Resuscitation

The decision to control a patient’s airway during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is straightforward. Patients in cardiopulmonary arrest generally are totally unresponsive, and airway techniques can be used without the need for pharmacological adjuncts. Much of the decision making relates to timing and the type of ventilation method to use. These decisions are influenced by the patient’s oxygenation status, duration of arrest, expected difficulties with airway control, and operator experience and training.
Markets as Club-Goods Systems: The Role of Economic Reliance in Corporate Pro-Social Behavior

When firms decide to engage in the provision of collective goods that benefit social welfare (i.e., to behave pro-socially), they may consider the strategic relevance of such goods for their own ma...
Prenatal Gene Diagnosis and Synthetic Analysis in High Risk Phenylketonuria

Objective:To set up a methd of prenatal gene diagnosis for quick analyzing the high risk fetus of phenylketonuria(PKU).Methods:The methods used included polymerase chain reaction(PCR)with short tandem repeats(STR),single strand conformation polymorphism(SSCP),and restriction enzyme.Results:Six fetuses from 5 PKU families sucessfully received prenatal gene diagnosis.Two PKU fetuses were selected,and 2 heterozygote and 2 normal fetuses were reserved.Conclusion:The combining methods for diagnosing high risk PKU fetus can not only promote the acuracy of diagnosis,but also shorten the waiting time.It is very suitable and useful for quick prenatal gene diagnosis.
Cardiac valve replacement in children.

A review of the results of replacement of 59 cardiac valves in 56 patients who were less than 16 years old revealed that cardiac valve replacement in children involves serious risks. Such replacement should be avoided, if possible, by the use of proper valvuloplasty and reconstructive procedures. However, when valve replacement is required, improved operative techniques and the availability of satisfactory prosthetic valves currently yield an operative risk of 10 per cent and give excellent long-term results.
Pharmacological properties of (3H) dihydroergokryptine binding sites associated with alpha noradrenergic receptors in rat brain membranes.

[3H]Dihydroergokryptine, a mixed agonist-antagonist at alpha noradrenergic receptors, binds in saturable fashion and with high affinity to membranes of rat cerebral cortex. Saturation studies reveal a dissociation constant ( KD ) of 1.6 nM and a receptor density of 21 pmoles/g, similar to the sum of the maximal number of binding sites observed for the [3H] alpha agonist clonidine and the [3H] alpha antagonist WB-4101 alone. The relative affinities of a wide range of drugs indicate that binding to cerebral cortical membranes selectively involves alpha noradrenergic receptors. Dopamine and serotonin inhibit binding only weakly, indicating that labeling of receptors for these neurotransmitters is negligible. The regional distribution of [3H]dihydroergokryptine binding in rat brain coincides with that observed for alpha receptor binding of [3H]clonidine and [3H]WB-4101, except for disproportionately high levels in corpus striatum. This suggests that in striatal membranes [3H]dihydroergokryptine is able to bind to dopamine as well as alpha receptors. The slopes of logit-log plots for the inhibition of [3H]dihydroergokryptine binding by mixed agonist-antagonists are about 1.0, while pure agonists or antagonists display shallower inhibition curves. These data are consistent with a model of the alpha noradrenergic receptor in which agonists and antagonists bind selectively to discrete, noninterconverting sites, while mixed agonist-antagonists can bind to either site. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank Dr. David C. U'Prichard and Stephen J. Peroutka for their helpful advice, and Mr. Gregory Mack for his skillful assistance. Drs. N. J. M. Birdsall and D. Rodbard provided helpful suggestions concerning analysis of data.
Polyploidy: a missing link in the conversation about seed transfer of a commonly seeded native grass in western North America

The use of local, native plant materials is now common in restoration but testing for polyploidy in seed sources is not. Diversity in cytotypes across a landscape can pose special seed transfer challenges, because the methods used to determine genetically appropriate materials for seed transfer do not account for cytotypic variation. This lack of consideration may result in mixing cytotypes through revegetation, which could reduce long-term population viability. We surveyed nine populations of a native bunchgrass, Pseudoroegneria spicata, in three EPA Level III Ecoregions in the western United States to determine the frequency of polyploidy, whether there are differences in traits (phenotype, fecundity, and mortality) among plants of different cytotypes, and whether cytotype frequency varies among ecoregions. We assessed trait variation over 2 years in a common garden and determined ploidy using flow cytometry. Polyploidy and mixed cytotype populations were common, and polyploids occurred in all ecoregions. Four of the nine populations were diploid. The other five had tetraploids present: three had only tetraploid individuals whereas two had mixed diploid/tetraploid cytotypes. There was significant variation in traits among cytotypes: plants from tetraploid populations were larger than diploid or mixed populations. The frequency and distribution of cytotypes make it likely that seed transfer in the study area will inadvertently mix diploid and polyploid cytotypes in this species. The increasing availability of flow cytometry may allow ploidy to be incorporated into native plant materials sourcing and seed transfer.
Use of a Stochastic Regression Model GARCH for Wind Fluctuation Study

AbstractIn contrast to mechanical ventilation, natural ventilation’s performance is usually impacted by uncertain factors, including wind fluctuations, outside air temperature variations, and occupants’ behaviours. These factors require a stochastic evaluation process for natural ventilation at the design stage such as quantifying the effective ventilation rates and optimising control strategy. A stochastic regression method based on GARCH (generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity) model is used in this paper to capture natural wind’s dynamic fluctuating characteristics and verify the existence of heteroskedasticity of wind fluctuation. The stochastic regression result is thus applied to forecast wind speed under natural ventilation condition. By comparing the power spectrum and phase space reconstruction against a simple Gaussian model generated fluctuating wind speed, we find wind speed forecasted from the GARCH model with a small modification maintains more dynamic characteristics of n...
Controlling Lymphoid Development

Formation of lymphoid tissue involves complex cellular and molecular interactions. In this chapter we will review our recent work on the role of chemokines and TNFα in lymphoid organogenesis.
Rapid development of a castor cultivar with increased oil content

Castor seed oil contains 90% ricinoleic acid which has a wide range of industrial applications. Improvement in oil content would be of great benefit to castor growers and oil processers. Two cycles of phenotypic recurrent selection were conducted through screening for high oil content castor seeds using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). Selection increased mean oil content of a base population (Cycle 0) of cultivar Impala from 50.33% to 53.87% in Cycle 1 and 54.47% in Cycle 2. Gains from Cycle 1 and Cycle 2 were 3.54% and 0.6%, respectively. The small gain in the second cycle indicated a genetic ceiling of oil content or the genetic variability of the base population was extensively explored. Nevertheless, the 54.47% mean oil content of Cycle 2 ranks the selected material in the top 1% of the entire 1103 castor accessions maintained at United States of Department of Agriculture. As a result of the recurrent selection, we found average seed weight was also increased from 0.44 g in Cycle 0 to 0.50 g in Cycle 1 and 0.54 g in Cycle 2. Correlation between oil content and weight was moderate (r = 0.43, p < 0.0001) in Cycle 0, and strong in Cycle 1 (r = 0.63, p < 0.0001) and Cycle 2 (r = 0.77, p < 0.0001). To our knowledge, this is the first report of utilizing NMR and recurrent selection for improving oil content in castor.
Comparison of Forced-air Cooling with Static-air Cooling on the Microbiological Quality of Cooked Blue Crabs1

Microbiological analyses were made on samples of cooked blue crab taken immediately after debacking and either forced-air cooling or static-air cooling. Forced-air cooling had significantly lower (P<0.05) total coliform and fecal coliform counts, 2.51 and 2.30 log10 MPN/100 g, compared with those of static-air cooling, 2.83 and 2.60 log10 MPN/100 g. All treatments had less than 2.30 log10 MPN/100 g Escherichia coli . Staphylococcus aureus counts in the forced-air cooled crabs were approximately 4-fold lower than counts in static-air cooled crabs. The aerobic plate counts and psychrotrophic plate counts were significantly lower (P<0.01) by 1.04 and 0.81 log10 CFU/g, respectively, by forced-air cooling compared to static-air cooling. Thermocouple temperature readings were used to determine differences in cooling rates between forced-air and static-air cooling. After 1.5 h of cooling, the initial precooled crabmeat temperature of 34°C (93°F) was reduced by forced-air cooling and static-air cooling to 4°C (40°F) and 20°C (67°F), respectively. The rates of cooling using forced-air and static-air were significantly different (P<0.01).
Modified Motion Vector Searches for H.264/AVC

Motion Estimation is an important and essential part of video compression. In the encoding process motion estimation is the most computationally intensive part of the encoder. Different search patterns can be used to find the similar blocks between frames. The similarity between the frames is transmitted in the form of motion vectors. In this paper the JM 9.0 software is modified to implement different motion vector searches. This paper shows the effect of the different search patterns on the time taken for motion estimation, the total time taken for the encoding process and bitrate.
“Beauty cajoles”: Friedrich Schiller and the Aesthetic Education of Rhetoric

Friedrich Schiller may not be a household name among contemporary rhetoricians, yet since the 1960s Schiller’s critics have begun to take an interest in the rhetorical dimension of his aesthetic writings, particularly with respect to his Aesthetic Letters. These efforts, however, tend to focus on Schiller’s method of presentation rather than the possible rhetorical implications of the Letters’ key ideas and concepts. This essay proposes treating the Letters as an instance of implicit rhetorical theory, one that suggests an innovative model of rhetorical effectivity, according to which rhetoric enables people to experience the normative ideal of beauty as freedom.
Business retention and expansion (BRE) today – research, application, and evaluation: Introduction to the special issue

Business retention and expansion (BRE) has existed as a formal activity for economic development since the 1980s. BRE is one of the most prevalent activities within the field of economic developmen...