cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A gum from rain lily, Cooperia pedunculata.

A heretofore undescribed plant principle was extracted from the bulbs of Cooperia pedunculata ; the principle was purified and characterized as a new gum with several physical properties similar to those of other pharmaceutical gums. A preliminary chemical investigation of the gum from C. pedunculata (commonly known as rain lily) revealed that the gum gave reactions common to many of the known gums. It was also found that the gum was a polysaccharide and the principal sugar was identified as mannose by chromatographic procedures and the melting point of its phenylhydrazone. The infrared spectrum of a dried film of the gum was grossly similar to the spectra of most other gums commonly used in pharmacy, yet specific enough that a rapid identification of the gum would be possible. Rain lily gum exhibited rheological properties usually associated with natural hydrophilic colloids. The effect of aging, temperature, and pH on the viscosity of rain lily gum was also investigated.
Modular microcomputer software to estimate fish population parameters, production rates and associated variance

Abstract– Microcomputer software to estimate fish population parameters, production rates, and associated variances was developed using established procedures. Pop/Pro Modular Statistical Software is a series of portable programs written in English that run on Macintosh(R) or IBM(R) (and compatible) computers. Population parameters can be estimated using either a single-census mark-recapture method or a removal method. Production and component parameters can be estimated with either the instantaneous growth rate method or the increment summation method. Output may be stratified by fish length, age or sampling interval and includes variance estimates for all parameters. The software was developed for use with fish data but may be applicable to other taxa.
Analysis of solids, liquids, and biological tissues using solids probe introduction at atmospheric pressure on commercial LC/MS instruments.

Direct analysis of samples using atmospheric pressure ionization (API) provides a more rapid method for analysis of volatile and semivolatile compounds than vacuum solids probe methods and can be accomplished on commercial API mass spectrometers. With only a simple modification to either an electrospray (ESI) or atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) source, solid as well as liquid samples can be analyzed in seconds. The method acts as a fast solids/liquid probe introduction as well as an alternative to the new direct analysis in real time (DART) and desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) methods for many compound types. Vaporization of materials occurs in the hot nitrogen gas stream flowing from an ESI or APCI probe. Ionization of the thermally induced vapors occurs by corona discharge under standard APCI conditions. Accurate mass and mass-selected fragmentation are demonstrated as is the ability to obtain ions from biological tissue, currency, and other objects placed in the path of the hot ...
Mechanism of acetic acid esterification over sulfonic acid-functionalized mesoporous silica

Abstract The kinetics of acetic acid esterification with methanol using a propylsulfonic acid-functionalized SBA-15 catalyst were investigated. To determine whether a different mechanism was applicable for heterogeneous or homogeneous catalyzed esterification, propane sulfonic acid was also examined as this homogeneous acid has the same structure as the functional groups tethered onto SBA-15. In isothermal experiments at 323 K, the apparent reaction orders using the heterogeneous catalyst were determined to be 0.72 for methanol and 0.87 for acetic acid. Reactant adsorption studies showed that pre-adsorption of acetic acid hindered the reaction rate, while pre-adsorption of methanol or acetic acid with methanol increased the reaction rate, indicating that acetic acid adsorbs more strongly than methanol over the heterogeneous acid catalyst. The experimental results demonstrated that acetic acid esterification with methanol followed a dual-site Langmuir–Hinshelwood type reaction mechanism, which required both the adsorption of acetic acid and methanol over propylsulfonic acid-functionalized SBA-15. In contrast, esterification reaction with the homogeneous catalyst followed an Eley–Rideal mechanism. The kinetic data were successfully fit with a model in which the surface reaction was the rate-limiting step.
Scattering of an Obliquely Incident Surface Plasmon Polariton from Sub-Micron Metal Grooves and Ridges

The reduced Rayleigh equation for the scattering of a surface plasmon polariton incident non-normally on a one-dimensional ridge or groove on an otherwise planar metal surface is solved by a purely numerical approach. The solution is used to calculate the transmission, reflection, and out-of-plane scattering coefficients of the surface plasmon polariton. The angular dependence of the out-of-plane scattering is found to have a conical nature.
A Dynamic Model of Man-Machine Interactions: Design and Application with an Audiographic Learning Facility.

A generalized conceptual dynamic model of man-machine interactions with its symbolic description is proposed. The model is intended to represent the man-machine interactive behaviors of interactive adaptive logic systems. A study of an online audiographic learning facility, with emphasis on a pre-selected set of interactive functions, is presented to illustrate the use of the model.
Analysis of Gossypol and Gossypol-Acetic Acid by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Gossypol, a bis-sesquiterpenoid cotton pigment, is of current interest as a male fertility-regulating agent. For the purposes of analyzing material to be studied biologically, a method is described for the analysis of gossypol by high-performance liquid chromatography. This has been used for examining the purity of gossypol-acetic acid using a UV-absorbance ratio technique.
Shifting patterns of natural variation in the nuclear genome of caenorhabditis elegans

Genome wide analysis of variation within a species can reveal the evolution of fundamental biological processes such as mutation, recombination, and natural selection. We compare genome wide sequence differences between two independent isolates of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans (CB4856 and CB4858) and the reference genome (N2). The base substitution pattern when comparing N2 against CB4858 reveals a transition over transversion bias (1.32:1) that is not present in CB4856. In CB4856, there is a significant bias in the direction of base substitution. The frequency of A or T bases in N2 that are G or C bases in CB4856 outnumber the opposite frequencies for transitions as well as transversions. These differences were not observed in the N2/CB4858 comparison. Similarly, we observed a strong bias for deletions over insertions in CB4856 (1.44: 1) that is not present in CB4858. In both CB4856 and CB4858, there is a significant correlation between SNP rate and recombination rate on the autosomes but not on the X chromosome. Furthermore, we identified numerous significant hotspots of variation in the CB4856-N2 comparison. In both CB4856 and CB4858, based on a measure of the strength of selection (ka/ks), all the chromosomes are under negative selection and in CB4856, there is no difference in the strength of natural selection in either the autosomes versus X or between any of the chromosomes. By contrast, in CB4858, ka/ks values are smaller in the autosomes than in the X chromosome. In addition, in CB4858, ka/ks values differ between chromosomes. The clear bias of deletions over insertions in CB4856 suggests that either the CB4856 genome is becoming smaller or the N2 genome is getting larger. We hypothesize the hotspots found represent alleles that are shared between CB4856 and CB4858 but not N2. Because the ka/ks ratio in the X chromosome is higher than the autosomes on average in CB4858, purifying selection is reduced on the X chromosome.
Long Distance Transport

A few years ago, I attended a 1-day symposium on long distance transport at a national meeting in a country abroad. Towards the end of the day, as the participants became tired and no general agreement was in sight, one observer from an allied discipline remarked, "Why can't you translocation workers make any progress, you still discuss the same miserable old models that were proposed 40 years ago." The basis of this accusation is the problem that translocation discussions are often preoccupied with mechanisms about which uncertainty still exists. This tends to obscure the real progress that has been made. Meetings are usually not held to review established facts, but rather to discuss unsolved problems. This symposium is an exception. For once, we can lean back in our chairs and ask ourselves what was known when our society was founded in 1924, and then we can let the progress of the past 50 years parade before our minds and see how much better informed we are today. A review of such an enormous field must necessarily be selective and it is rather natural that it will be a personal view.
Minimizing row displacement dispatch tables

Row displacement dispatch tables implement message dispatching for dynamically-typed languages with a run time overhead of one memory indirection plus an equality test. The technique is similar to virtual function table lookup, which is, however, restricted to statically typed languages like C++. We show how to reduce the space requirements of dispatch tables to approximately the same size as virtual function tables. The scheme is then generalized for multiple inheritance. Experiments on a number of class libraries from five different languages demonstrate that the technique is effective for a broad range of programs. Finally, we discuss optimizations of the row displacement algorithm that allow dispatch table construction of these large samples to take place in a few seconds.
PTEN is a protein tyrosine phosphatase for IRS1

The biological function of the PTEN tumor suppressor is mainly attributed to its lipid phosphatase activity. This study demonstrates that mammalian PTEN is a protein tyrosine phosphatase that selectively dephosphorylates insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS1), a mediator of insulin and IGF signals. IGF signaling was defective in cells lacking NEDD4, a PTEN ubiquitin ligase, whereas AKT activation triggered by EGF or serum was unimpaired. Defective IGF signaling caused by NEDD4 deletion, including phosphorylation of IRS1 and AKT, was rescued by PTEN ablation. We demonstrate the nature of PTEN as an IRS1 phosphatase by direct biochemical analysis and cellular reconstitution, showing that NEDD4 supports insulin-mediated glucose metabolism and is required for the proliferation of IGF1 receptor-dependent but not EGF receptor-dependent tumor cells. Thus, PTEN is a protein phosphatase for IRS1, and its antagonism by NEDD4 promotes signaling by IGF and insulin.
Circulatory effects of acute normovolaemic haemodilution in rats with healed myocardial infarction

This study evaluated the haemodynamic response to different degrees of acute normovolaemic haemodilution with hetastarch at rest and during preload and afterload stress in 123 anaesthetised Sprague-Dawley rats divided according to cardiac status (sham operated, n = 46; no myocardial infarction, n = 47; large myocardial infarction, n = 30). Histological infarct size was 41 (SEM 2)%. Cardiac output was recorded using an electromagnetic flow probe. The preload test was achieved by rapid infusion of blood adjusted for packed cell volume, while the afterload test was achieved by an aortic clamp technique. Prior to haemodilution, rats with large myocardial infarction had lower (p less than 0.05) cardiac index, stroke volume index, left ventricular dp/dt, and oxygen delivery, and higher left ventricular end diastolic pressure compared with sham operated rats and rats with no myocardial infarction. Haemodilution to a haematocrit of 30% in all three groups resulted in a similar significant (p less than 0.05) rise in cardiac index and stroke volume index such that blood pressure was maintained despite the decrease (p less than 0.05) in peripheral resistance. Compared with sham operated rats, rats with large myocardial infarcts haemodiluted to packed cell volume of 20% had a more limited rise in cardiac index of 14 (SEM 6) v 45(12)%, p less than 0.05, and a greater fall in oxygen delivery of 50(5) v 28(9)%, p less than 0.05 which was associated with a higher left ventricular end diastolic pressure of 6.6(1.0) v 3.7(0.4) mm Hg, p less than 0.05. Following preload and afterload stress, rats with large myocardial infarcts had lower (p less than 0.05) left ventricular developed pressure, peak cardiac index and peak stroke volume index compared with sham operated rats and rats with no myocardial infarction, independent of packed cell volume. The data suggest that large myocardial infarctions impaired the ability of the left ventricle to pump blood and generate pressure. This diminished left ventricular performance was most apparent in response to preload and afterload stress and at the lowest level of haemodilution employed (packed cell volume 20%).
An Improved Estimate of Tornado Occurrence in the Central Plains of the United States

Abstract Tornadoes are a rare event, with the period of reliable record-keeping for many locations small compared to the likelihood of occurrence. The total number of recorded tornadoes varies a great deal from year to year. However, the number of recorded tornadoes has steadily increased. The cause of the variability includes climate, remoteness of an event from populations centers and dectection equipment such as radars, lack of reports, and incorrect reports. It is found that there is a positive correlation with observed occurrence and population density and radar locations. This paper seeks to remove the temporal variability and the biases in space due to the underreporting of tornado occurrence in a midwestern region. The resulting probability density function suggests an approximately 60% increase in the total likely number of tornado occurrence for a given year, as reflected in the increase in the average spatial probability density function.
Three fast algorithms for four problems in stable marriage

The stable marriage problem is a well-known problem of matching n men to n women to achieve a certain type of “stability;” the $O(n^2 )$ time Gale-Shapley [GS] algorithm for finding two particular, but extreme, stable marriages (out of a possibly exponential number of stable marriages) is also well known. In this paper we consider four problems concerned with finding information about the set of all stable marriages, and with finding stable marriages other than those obtained by the Gale-Shapley algorithm. In particular, we give an $O(n^2 )$ time algorithm which, for any problem instance of n men and n women, finds every man–woman pair that is contained in at least one stable marriage; we show that the same algorithm finds all the “rotations” for the problem instance in $O(n^2 )$ time; we give an $O(n^2 + n|S|)$ time and $O(n^2 )$ space bounded algorithm (which is time and space optimal) to enumerate all stable marriages, where S is the set of them; and we give an $O(n^2 )$ time algorithm to find the mini...
Two methods of assessing narcissism: comparison of the Narcissism-Projective (N-P) and the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI).

Students in Introductory Psychology (N = 75) were administered the Narcissism-Projective (N-P), which asks subjects to describe two TAT cards and two early childhood memories. Protocols were scored using criteria adapted from the DSM-III section that describes the narcissistic personality disorder. On the basis of these ratings, the high and low narcissists (N = 16) were chosen for further study. These subjects were interviewed by an experienced clinician who was unaware of their performance on the N-P. The interviewer rated each subject as either a high or low narcissist. After the interview, the subject was administered the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI). Results indicate a statistically significant relationship between the interview assessment of narcissism and the N-P (p less than .01), the NPI (p less than .05), and the NPI factor of self-absorption/self-admiration (p less than .05). The limitations and implications of these data are discussed. It is concluded that both measures demonstrate promise as instruments useful in the rigorous scientific investigation of significant clinical and theoretical issues related to narcissism.
Traditional Role Performance and the Development of Modern Political Parties: The Indian Case

T HE INEFFECTIVENESS OF political parties has been an important factor in the collapse of many parliamentary regimes in the developing areas. In the immediate post-colonial era, nationalist movements in Asia and Africa were converted into political parties. Only in a few of these countries have parties proved capable of running relatively stable and effective governments in a competitive environment. More often, stability and order have been maintained at the price of eliminating competition; either one-party authoritarian states have been created or the governing party has been displaced by military rule. In still other countries, the failure of parties to maintain central authority has resulted in the near disintegration of the nation-state through civil war. Thus in the age-old attempt to balance stable authority and competitive politics, some countries such as Ghana and Guinea have moved toward stable authority without competitive politics or, as in the Congo, competitive politics without stable authority. Relatively few countries-Nigeria, India, Malaysia and the Philippines come to mind-have been able to provide both. An effective political party in a developing nation is not essential for the management of a government which can carry out the wide range and volume of decisions associated with the use of state power for maintaining national integration or stimulating economic development. But surely the existence of some cohesive national leadership with public support and coercive authority to carry out these self-imposed tasks is essential. A party organization is simply one means by which a leadership organizes itself for the dual purpose of controlling government and creating popular support. A successful party may perform many other important functions for a political system including recruiting personnel for government, political socialization, defining political issues, managing societal conflicts and
Who speaks for science? A response to the National Academy of Sciences Report on forensic science

This response focuses on the treatment of latent print identification by the recent National Academy of Science (NAS) Report on forensic science. It begins by situating the Report in the historical context of a decade of controversy over the validity of latent print identification. Stark disagreement between the academic and judicial communities over this issue created a situation in which the question of which of these two communities would ‘speak for science’ became contested. The Report's support of the academic position demonstrated the lack of support among non-practitioners for the claims of extreme discrimination and accuracy advanced on behalf of latent prints. The Report in some sense constitutes the response of institutionalized science to this issue. Nonetheless, it is still unclear whether the Report will function, as some may have hoped, as a ‘court of last resort’ on this issue or whether the courts themselves will again arbitrate it. The response then turns to the issue of how latent print conclusions can be reported in the wake of the NAS Report. The Report expresses clear disapproval of the reporting framework currently mandated by latent print professional organizations, creating a tension around the reporting of analyses. The response concludes that semantic resolutions to this tension are undesirable compared to resolutions based on empirical data.
Normal numbers of retinotectal synapses during the activity-sensitive period of optic regeneration in goldfish: HRP-EM evidence implicating synapse rearrangement and collateral elimination during map refinement

Optic and nonoptic fibers and synapses were counted in the primary optic innervation layer (S-SO-SFGS) in anteromedial tectum in normal goldfish and in fish 30, 60, and 240 d after the optic nerve was crushed. A newly developed “cold-fill” HRP-labeling protocol was used to label optic afferents for electron microscopy, and counts were then made on EM photomontages of columns through the HRP-labeled S-SO-SFGS. Normal numbers of retinotectal synapses were present at 30 d regeneration, at a time when activity-dependent refinement of the optic projection is incomplete. Normal numbers were also found at 60 and 240 d, when refinement is largely completed. In contrast to this constancy in optic synapse numbers, there was nearly 10 times the normal number of optic fibers in the SFGS at 30 d, and these were reduced by 50% at 60 d, remaining over 4 times normal at 240 d. These findings imply extensive rearrangement of optic synapses during map refinement. They also indicate that synapse rearrangement is associated with the elimination of optic collaterals.
Coordinated Regulation of Rap1 and Thyroid Differentiation by Cyclic AMP and Protein Kinase A

Originally identified as an antagonist of Ras action, Rap1 exhibits many Ras-independent effects, including a role in signaling pathways initiated by cyclic AMP (cAMP). Since cAMP is a critical mediator of the effects of thyrotropin (TSH) on cell proliferation and differentiation, we examined the regulation of Rap1 by TSH in a continuous line of rat thyroid-like cells. Both cAMP and protein kinase A (PKA) contribute to the regulation of Rap1 activity and signaling by TSH. TSH activates Rap1 through a cAMP-mediated and PKA-independent mechanism. TSH phosphorylates Rap1 in a PKA-dependent manner. Interference with PKA activity blocked phosphorylation but not the activation of Rap1. Rather, PKA inhibitors prolonged Rap1 activation, as did expression of a Rap1A mutant lacking a PKA phosphorylation site. These results indicate that PKA elicits negative feedback regulation on cAMP-stimulated Rap1 activity in some cells. The dual regulation of Rap1 by cAMP and PKA extends to downstream effectors. The ability of TSH to stimulate Akt phosphorylation was markedly enhanced by the expression of activated Rap1A and was repressed in cells expressing a putative dominant-negative Rap1A mutant. Although the expression of activated Rap1A was sufficient to stimulate wortmannin-sensitive Akt phosphorylation, TSH further increased Akt phosphorylation in a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase- and PKA-dependent manner. The ability of TSH to phosphorylate Akt was impaired in cells expressing a Rap1A mutant that could be activated but not phosphorylated. These findings indicate that dual signals, Rap1 activation and phosphorylation, contribute to TSH-stimulated Akt phosphorylation. Rap1 plays an essential role in cAMP-regulated differentiation. TSH effects on thyroid-specific gene expression, but not its effects on proliferation, were markedly enhanced in cells expressing activated Rap1A and repressed in cells expressing a dominant-negative Rap1A mutant. These findings reveal complex regulation of Rap1 by cAMP including PKA-independent activation and PKA-dependent negative feedback regulation. Both signals appear to be required for TSH signaling to Akt.
A framework for evolving fuzzy rule

This work presents a framework for genetic fuzzy rule based classifier. First, a classification problem is divided into several two-class problems following a fuzzy class binarization scheme; next, a fuzzy rule is evolved for each two-class problem using a Michigan iterative learning approach; finally, the evolved fuzzy rules are integrated using the fuzzy class binarization scheme. In particular, some encoding schemes are implemented following the proposed framework and their performance is compared. Experiments are conducted with different public available data sets.
Pathogenic Potential of Filoviruses: Role of Geographic Origin of Primate Host and Virus Strain

African filoviruses have caused outbreaks of fulminating hemorrhagic fever among humans. In 1989, related filoviruses were isolated from cynomolgus monkeys imported into the United States from the Philippines. The pathogenic potential of these new filoviruses was compared in 16 Asian monkeys (Macaca fascicularis-cynomolgus) and 16 African monkeys (Cercopithecus aethiops-African green) using African filoviruses from Zaire (Ebola virus) and Sudan or Asian filoviruses (Reston and Pennsylvania). African filovirus infections resulted in earlier death (P = .005), had a shorter duration of disease and median incubation period (3-4 vs. 7 days), and had earlier peak viremia (5-7 vs. 7-9 days). African green monkeys showed significantly higher survival than cynomolgus monkeys (P less than .01), and some were asymptomatic as have been humans accidentally infected with Asian filovirus. Rechallenge experiments showed that protection in survivors of filovirus infections against fatal challenge with Ebola (Zaire) virus is unpredictable. The minimal clinical disease observed in humans infected with the Reston strain is consistent with host- and virus-dependent pathogenicity.
Variable parameter Gaussian mixture hidden Markov modeling for speech recognition

To improve recognition, speech signals corrupted by a variety of noises can be used in speech model training. Published hidden Markov modeling of speech uses multiple Gaussian distributions to cover the spread of the speech distribution caused by the noises, which distracts the modeling of speech event itself and and possibly sacrifices the performance on clean speech. We extend GMHMM by allowing state emission parameters to change as function of an environment-dependent continuous variable. At the recognition time, a set of HMMs specific to the given the environment is instantiated and used for recognition. Variable parameter (VP) HMM with parameters modeled as a polynomial function of the environment variable is developed. Parameter estimation based on EM-algorithm is given. With the same number of mixtures, VPHMM reduces WER by 40% compared to conventional multi-condition training.
The Quadruple Bottom Line and Nonprofit Housing Organizations in the United States

The work of US nonprofit housing organizations can be viewed as involving a commitment to meet the Quadruple Bottom Line—the financial demands of developing and maintaining affordable housing while serving resident groups and neighborhoods, in an environmentally responsible manner. Nonprofit organizations may be categorized into three major groups, based on their primary areas of concern—‘people’, ‘places’ and ‘projects’. This article outlines the components and approximate size of the US social housing sector and presents examples of how housing nonprofits have, both historically and currently, evolved to incorporate multiple roles. With declines in federal funding for affordable housing, nonprofits have become increasingly hybrid in their operations. Examples are given regarding how nonprofits attempt to mediate the private market; how the various components of the Quadruple Bottom Line often compete with one another; and how hybridity of the nonprofit social housing sector creates additional challenges...
SOME MATHEMATICAL ASPECTS OF MASTICATION AND ITS SIMULATION BY MACHINES

If the deformation process of a specimen satisfies the condition: H(t) = g(Ho) ·f(t) (Eq. l), where H(t) is the deformed specimen length at time (t), g(Ho) is a function of the initial length (Ho) only and f(t) a function of time only, then the true strain e(t) and the strain rate e(t) are: e(t) = In f(t) (Eq. 2), and e(t) = [d In f(t)] /dt (Eq. 3). These imply that the stress-strain (or force-time) relationship of a homogeneous material is independent of the specimen length and is only determined by the rheological properties of the material and the selected function f(t). If the deformation histories produced in mastication satisfy the condition set by Eq (1) it would provide a partial mathematical explanation to why sensory textural-rheological properties are not affected by the specimen dimensions in contrast to instrumental parameters obtained by existing testing machines. The construction of machines that provide such straining histories is physically possible (they would not, however, be operated at a constant deformation rate), and there- fore it is theoretically possible to obtain instrumental parameters that are dimension independent. The concept is demonstrated with some simplified rheological models and its possible application to food testing evaluated.
Zinc-65 and Zirconium-95 in Food

Zinc-65 has been found in small amounts in muscle and liver samples obtained from cattle raised in Nevada, and also in commercial hamburger and beef liver from the southwestern area. Zirconium-95 and niobium-95 were found in the liver samples but not in the muscle or hamburger. A trace of zinc-65 was detected in milk buLt none in people.
Identification of ligands for two human bitter T2R receptors.

Earlier, a family of G protein-coupled receptors, termed T2Rs, was identified in the rodent and human genomes through data mining. It was suggested that these receptors mediate bitter taste perception. Analysis of the human genome revealed that the hT2R family is composed of 25 members. However, bitter ligands have been identified for only three human receptors so far. Here we report identification of two novel ligand–receptor pairs. hT2R61 is activated by 6-nitrosaccharin, a bitter derivative of saccharin. hT2R44 is activated by denatonium and 6-nitrosaccharin. Activation profiles for these receptors correlate with psychophysical data determined for the bitter compounds in human studies. Functional analysis of hT2R chimeras allowed us to identify residues in extracellular loops critical for receptor activation by ligands. The discovery of two novel bitter ligand– receptor pairs provides additional support for the hypothesis that hT2Rs mediate a bitter taste response in humans.
Oviposition and Larval Bionomics of Two Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) on Sunflower

Use of cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annum L.) as a host by two species of seed weevils, Smicronyx fulvus LeConte, the red sunflower seed weevil, and S. sordidus LeConte, the gray sunflower seed weevil, was compared using dissection of achenes from nat- urally and artificially infested plants. The gray seed weevil oviposits on the tips of unopened sunflower florets before anthesis. Larvae migrate through the corolla tube, penetrate the developing achene, and begin extensive feeding at the achene base. Achenes infested by the gray sunflower seed weevil are enlarged, lack an embryo, and appear to be a type of gall. The red sunflower seed weevil oviposits internally in more mature achenes after anthesis has begun, and these achenes have well-developed seed embryos.
A methodology for fast finite element modeling of electrostatically actuated MEMS

In this paper, a methodology is proposed for expediting the coupled electro-mechanical finite element modeling of electrostatically actuated MEMS. The proposed methodology eliminates the need for repeated finite element meshing and subsequent electrostatic modeling of the device during mechanical deformation. We achieve this by using an approximation of the charge density on the movable electrode in the deformed geometry in terms of the charge density in the non-deformed geometry and displacements of the movable electrode. The electrostatic problem has to be solved only once and thus this method speeds up the coupled electro-mechanical simulation process. The proposed methodology is demonstrated through its application to the modeling of four MEMS devices with varying length-to-gap ratios, multiple dielectrics and complicated geometries. Its accuracy is assessed through comparisons of its results with results obtained using both analytical solutions and finite element solutions obtained using ANSYS.
Residual-based estimation of peer and link lifetimes in P2P networks

Existing methods of measuring lifetimes in P2P systems usually rely on the so-called Create-Based Method (CBM), which divides a given observation window into two halves and samples users ldquocreatedrdquo in the first half every Delta time units until they die or the observation period ends. Despite its frequent use, this approach has no rigorous accuracy or overhead analysis in the literature. To shed more light on its performance, we first derive a model for CBM and show that small window size or large Delta may lead to highly inaccurate lifetime distributions. We then show that create-based sampling exhibits an inherent tradeoff between overhead and accuracy, which does not allow any fundamental improvement to the method. Instead, we propose a completely different approach for sampling user dynamics that keeps track of only residual lifetimes of peers and uses a simple renewal-process model to recover the actual lifetimes from the observed residuals. Our analysis indicates that for reasonably large systems, the proposed method can reduce bandwidth consumption by several orders of magnitude compared to prior approaches while simultaneously achieving higher accuracy. We finish the paper by implementing a two-tier Gnutella network crawler equipped with the proposed sampling method and obtain the distribution of ultrapeer lifetimes in a network of 6.4 million users and 60 million links. Our experimental results show that ultrapeer lifetimes are Pareto with shape alpha ap 1.1; however, link lifetimes exhibit much lighter tails with alpha ap 1.8.
An ecosystem perspective on grasshopper control: possible advantages to no treatment

Abstract It has been hypothesized that some herbivores may increase the cycling of nutrients in ecosystems, thereby increasing plant production even after herbivore consumption is considered. Such herbivory could maintain the productivity of ecosystems and should not be curtailed. This contrasts with the traditional view whereby herbivory always reduces plant production. Two grasshoppers (Melanoplus sanguinipes and Ageneotettix deorum), considered pest species in Western US rangelands, are experimentally shown to enhance plant production under certain conditions and to diminish it under others. Plant production increased when grasshoppers' consumption increased nitrogen cycling, nitrogen being the limiting resource for plants at the study sites. This happened when grasshoppers consumed plant species with slowly decomposing litter, favoring plants whose litter decomposed rapidly, such that their store of nitrogen was more rapidly released to the soil. However, feeding preferences change between sites and w...
How Aristotle gets by in Metaphysics Zeta, by Frank A. Lewis

Frank Lewis provides a clear overview of the two key themes in his new book on Aristotle's Metaphysics Zeta. First is the thesis (pressed by Myles Burnyeat and others) that Metaphysics Zeta operate...
Participatory Action Research

The goal of improving consumer welfare can subtly or dramatically shape the research process, the methods used, and the theories developed. This article introduces the participatory action research paradigm, which is based upon the goal of helping people and employs methodologies that are different from traditional consumer research. Exemplars of action research are analyzed to reveal applications for researchers who want to engage in transformative consumer research. The obstacles and opportunities for doing action research are examined.
A multi-group analysis of online survey respondent data quality: Comparing a regular USA consumer panel to MTurk samples.

With the exploding use of Internet surveys, research efforts and data quality are increasingly subject to the effects of respondents who do not give the required attention to survey questions and who speed through the survey, or who intentionally cheat with their answers. We investigate respondent integrity and data quality for samples drawn from a “Regular” online panel and from Amazon's MTurk. New metrics for assessing sample integrity and online data quality are introduced. Overall, MTurk respondents in both respondent groups took less time to answer questions. The non-USA MTurk group deviated most from correct answers in attention filter questions and had more duplicate IP addresses. In addition, the results from the three Internet sample sources are substantively different. The choice of an Internet survey sample vendor is critical, as it can impact sample composition, respondent integrity, data quality, data structure and substantive results.
Eric Davidson. A genomic control odyssey.

While writing this article, I came to realize that it is utterly impossible to capture the spirit, scientific contributions, or colorful personality of Eric Davidson in a few pages, or even a whole journal, and so I won't even try. I would nevertheless like to pay tribute to an enormously powerful mind and a great intellectual partner and friend, with whom I worked very closely over the last almost nine years, and I will do so in two ways. On the one hand, I will give a brief and entirely subjective account of what I would regard as the most profound expression of his scientific intellect, which is his lifelong journey to understand the genomic control of development. On the other hand, I will remember Eric's very expressive personality in the form of but a few examples of our interactions. What impressed me most about Eric's spirit, of which I am reminded by the photograph in Fig. 1, is that despite the incredible amount of his achievements, Eric never stopped until his very last day to think about what lays ahead, driven by immense curiosity and a deep desire to understand the natural world around us.
The Effect of Battle Simulation Characteristics on Command and Control Performance

The U.S. Army is rapidly expanding its use of computer simulations to provide command and control training for battalion through corps level command groups. However, little is known about the impact that the characteristics of these simulations have on the command group's performance. The purpose of this effort was to determine the effect of battle simulation system and scenario characteristics on measures of command group performance. Using a fractional factorial design, five battalion command groups were trained in four controlled, one-day, exercises. Each exercise included a particular combination of five system and scenario characteristics selected for investigation: weather, terrain, communication, mission, and combat ratio. Two frequently used types of command group performance measures were obtained: (1) observer ratings of how well command and control behaviors were performed (process), and (2) battlefield outcomes (product) generated by the interaction of the command group with the computer-simul...
A Molecular Model of Asperity Contact and Comparison to Continuum Based Models

Surface asperities can range widely in size. Therefore it is important to characterize the effect of size and scale on the contact mechanics. This work presents a molecular model of asperity contact in order to characterize small scale asperity contact. The model is also compared to existing continuum mechanics based models developed originally by Hertz for elastic contact and later expanded by others to include plasticity. It appears that the predictions can be related to each other and that the continuum material properties can be related to the properties describing the molecular forces.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
The Specificity of the Abderhalden Reaction with Vegetable Proteins the Biologic Reactions of the Vegetable Proteins, VIII

It is now generally assumed that when a protein is introduced parenterally into the animal organism, antibodies are elaborated within the latter which lead to the destruction of that protein. Vaughan1 believes this reaction to be universal enough to be incorporated into a biologic law. The nature of these antibodies, the seat of their formation, and the mode of their action are as yet unanswered questions. They are thought, however, to be able to cause cleavage of the protein molecule introduced, and the products of this cleavage may cause certain phenomena, which can be detected by the characteristic behavior of the animal employed. Anaphylaxis is an example of such phenomena. As early as 1910 Abderhalden attempted to establish the nature of the proteolytic ferments concerned in these reactions?protective ferments he called them. After adding some of the immunized animal's serum to the specific antigen in vitro, he noted as the result of protein digestion the appearance of dialyzable products, which he detected by various methods. He stated, moreover, that these ferments were specific and represented one of the responses of the animal body to the protein introduced. From these observations Abderhalden developed his reaction for the diagnosis of pregnancy. Abderhalden assumed that the complex cells of the chorionic villi enter the maternal blood stream during pregnancy and are there rendered innocuous by specific enzymes especially generated for that purpose. The presence of these so-called specific or protective ferments, just as in animal experimentation, could be demonstrated in vitro by adding a definite amount of the patient's serum to some of the specific protein assumed to be acting as antigen in this case, placenta. Specificity was likewise considered as demonstrated by the detection, by the same methods, of dialyzable products resulting from the interaction of serum and sub-
Increased Phagocytosis of Escherichia coli Pretreated with Subinhibitory Concentrations of Cyclacillin or Ampicillin

AbstractWhen incubated with subinhibitory concentrations of cyclacillin or ampicillin E. coli became more susceptible to subsequent phagocytosis by normal mouse monocytes (peritoneal exudate cells). Incubation for as little as 1 hr markedly increased the phagocytosis, which in turn was associated with increased intracellular killing of antibiotic-treated bacteria. Regardless of the length of time of incubation of the penicillin-resistant E. coli with potassium penicillin G there was no significant increase in phagocytosis.
The Demonstration and Developing Strategy of ″Planting Three to Produce Four ″ High-yielding Project on Super Hybrid Rice

The″Planting Three to Produce Four″ high-yielding project on super hybrid rice was conducted in twenty counties and cities of Hunan Province for two years in 2007 and 2008.Five planting models were applied in different ecological regions.Eleven super hybrids and nine items of agronomic technologies were used.Through the technical training,field demonstrations,locale meetings and good management,the project was successfully implemented.In 2007,the demonstrative area was 584.9 hm2 in twenty counties and cities,of which eighteen achieved the yield-increasing target.In 2008,the demonstrative area increased to 7 023.6 hm2,and nineteen reached the yield-increasing standard.The main issues in the project were discussed,and the developing strategy was put forward.
Evaluation of the in vivo efficacy of a new vaginal contraceptive agent in stumptailed macaques.

The effect of precoital vaginal placement of three spermicidal formulations on postcoitally recovered vaginal and cervical spermatozoa was compared. Periovulatory stumptailed macaque monkeys were administered intravaginally 1 ml of Ramses Contraceptive Vaginal Jelly (C. Schmid Products Company, Little Fall, NJ), or a pluronic gel formulation containing 0, 0.1, or 1.0% of a new spermicidal compound, RS-37367. All spermicide-containing formulations reduced the motility of both vaginal and cervical sperm, compared with the gel containing no spermicide. The 1.0% RS-37367 formulation was particularly effective. No motile spermatozoa were recovered from either location, and only 0.5% of the numbers of cervical spermatozoa recovered in control animals were recoverable from this treatment group (P
XMRV: Emerging Human Infection or False Alarm

Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) infection has been implicated in several diseases including prostate cancer (PC) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Initially, these studies raised several questions including virus association with disease, virus origin, virus mode of transmission, the role of virus in tumor development, and possible treatment. This putative discovery of XMRV occurred during analysis of certain RNaseL gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in PC. XMRV was apparently isolated and further molecular and immunological studies were performed. However, as work progressed, the relationship of XMRV with these diseases became doubtful due to evidence of laboratory and reagent contamination, potentially escaped laboratory viruses and plasmids, and nonreproducibility of the findings. Additional works have been done in this controversial field to examine the purported significance of XMRV.
Proximal tibia fracture in a patient with incomplete spinal cord injury associated with robotic treadmill training.

Proximal tibia fracture in a patient with incomplete spinal cord injury associated with robotic treadmill training
Parametric refregeration discussion and experimental verification of the removal of slow-wave noise

It was for some time believed that it is impossible to remove noise from the slow waves of an electron beam [1]. Since the operation of a large class of microwave amplifiers depends on the coupling of the negative energy slow wave to a circuit, this belief led to the statement of various minimum noise figure theorems [2]. As a result of these theorems, much effort has been expended on the development of amplifiers which use the fast beam waves [3]; these waves may, in principle, be stripped of all emission excited noise.
Sustainable Colonization: Tar Sands as Resource Colonialism

ABSTRACTCanada is one of the world’s largest petrostates, owing to large shale oil deposits, also known as tar sands, which can be found within its borders. In recent decades, as the price of crude oil has increased dramatically, corporations and the Canadian state have worked together to open the oil deposits in Northern Canada for extraction and transportation. Despite a stated commitment to environmental sustainability by the United States and Canadian governments, both have endorsed tar sands extraction and transport. Government and corporate entities have tried to reframe tar sands as “ethical oil,” yet all steps in the process involved pose tremendous ecological, social, economic, and cultural threats to First Nations communities in Canada, landowners in the Midwest and Texas, local ecosystems, and the global climate. This practice is part of a long-standing pattern of appropriating and using public and First Nations land for economic development. We argue that tar sands production on First Nations ...
Bacterial and Protozoal Diseases

Myriad microorganisms, including bacteria, mycobacteria and protozoa, infect the skin. The skin can be the primary target or secondarily infected as part of a systemic process. In many cases, special stains can be used to identify microorganisms. Other microorganisms can be identified based upon morphology observed with routine stains, although this is unusual with bacterial infections. Attention to the host reaction patterns can provide important clues as to the infecting microorganism.