cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Recent advances in surface processing with metal plasma and ion beams

Abstract Surface processing by metal plasma and ion beams can be effected using the dense metal plasma formed in a vacuum arc discharge embodied either in a “metal plasma immersion” configuration or as a vacuum arc ion source, as well as by many other well-established methods. In the former case the substrate is immersed in the plasma and repetitively pulse-biased to accelerate the ions across the sheath and allow controlled ion energy implantation+deposition, and in the latter case a high energy metal ion beam is formed and ion implantation is done in a more-or-less conventional way. These methods have been used widely; here we limit consideration to work carried out at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. A number of advances have been made both in the plasma technology and in the surface modification procedures that enhance the effectiveness and versatility of the methods. Recent improvements in plasma technology include dual-source plasma mixing, ion charge state enhancement, and some scale-up of the hardware. We have made and explored some novel kinds of surface films and modified layers, including for example doped diamond-like carbon (DLC), novel multilayers, alumina and more complex ceramic materials such as mullite (3Al 2 O 3 .2SiO 2 ), high temperature superconducting films, and others. Recent research has included investigations of these and other surface materials for many different basic and applied applications, such as for high temperature tolerant protective coatings, biomedical compatibility, surface resistivity tailoring of ceramics, novel catalytic surfaces, corrosion resistance of battery electrodes, and more. Here we briefly review the fundamentals of the techniques, and describe some of the applications to which the methods have been put at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
A Figure of Merit Comparison between Bremsstrahlung and Monoenergetic X-Ray Sources for Angiography

A figure of merit (FOM) has been developed which embodies parameters related to image quality in the numerator and radiation integral dose to the patient in the denominator. In this manner, maximizing image quality and minimizing radiation dose amounts to maximizing the FOM. Furthermore, the FOM is designed to be independent of x-ray exposure (number of photons used), and this eliminates one important parameter in an optimization scenario. Monoenergetic x-ray beams (0% bandwidth) are compared with conventional Bremsstrahlung x-ray sources from a tungsten target, for angiographic imaging systems using 144 mg/cm2 Csl image intensifiers as the detector. Thus the results are applicable to both digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and digital fluoroscopic procedures involving iodine-based contrast (e.g., roadmapping). The results demonstrate improvement factors (the ratio of the best FOM of the monoenergetic beam over the best FOM of the polyenergetic beam) ranging from 2.3 to 1.4. The improvement factors averaged over four iodine contrast thicknesses (50, 100, 500, and 1000 mg/cm2) were 1.61 (σ = 0.159) for the 10 cm thick patient, 1.68 (σ= 0.172) for the 20 cm thick patient, and 1.82 (σ= 0.186) for the 30 cm thick patient. The conclusions are that monoenergetic x-ray beams are capable of delivering the same image quality at about half the radiation dose to the patient compared to conventional X-ray tubes.
Career Aspiration and Gender Role Development in Young Girls

Career aspirations of 66 middle-class girls (aged 8 to 13) were examined in terms of the dichotomy between a pioneering career choice (a career in a currently male-dominated field) and a traditional choice (a career in a currently female-dominated field). Of the girls, 32 had been exposed in utero to various amounts of exogenous estrogens/progesterone and/or thyroid hormones administered to their mothers for minor pregnancy complications; the remaining subjects were controls. While the treatment group did not differ significantly from the control group in type of career choice, prenatal hormone administration was associated with less persistent tomboyism in childhood. Therefore, results are presented for the two groups separately and combined. We asssessed career aspiration as it may relate to age, IQ, other aspects of gender role development, and various family characteristics. We found that pioneers differed from traditionals in several ways: (1) Pioneers tended to have higher IQ scores than traditionals; (2) pioneers more often were persistent tomboys throughout childhood; (3) pioneers were several months older than traditionals; (4) parents of pioneers were more highly educated than parents of traditionals. While pioneers were more often persistent tomboys, they did not differ in other aspects of gender role development, as in the sex of their friends or anticipation of marriage and motherhood. Since prenatal hormone treatment was associated with a lower incidence of persistent tomboyism and tomboyism was related to pioneering career choice, an indirect effect of estrogen/progesterone treatment during pregnancy on career choice is suggested. However, since the relationships between individual or family characteristics and career choice were the same within both the treatment and control groups, we feel confident that we have identified replicable factors that facilitate nontraditional career choices in young girls of middle-class background.
Brown Tide blooms in Long Island’s coastal waters linked to interannual variability in groundwater flow

There has been a widespread increase in the reporting of harmful and ‘nuisance’ algal blooms in the coastal ocean over the past few decades. On the global scale this is suspected to be a consequence of coastal eutrophication, however, on a case-by-case basis there is usually insufficient evidence to discriminate between the effects of human and natural causal factors. Intense blooms of the ‘Brown Tide’ unicellular algae (Aureococcus anophagefferens) have occurred sporadically since 1985 in coastal waters of Eastern Long Island and have devastated the local commercial scallop fishery. Analysis of an 11-year time-series dataset from this region indicates that bloom intensity is correlated with higher salinities and inversely correlated with the discharge of groundwater. Laboratory and field studies suggest that whereas salinity is unlikely to represent a direct physiological control on Brown Tide blooms, the addition of inorganic nitrogen tends to inhibit Brown Tide blooms. Budget calculations indicate that the inorganic nitrogen supply from groundwater is 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than any other external source of nitrogen for this ecosystem. Biweekly time series data collected in 1995 demonstrate that Brown Tide blooms utilize dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) for growth, as evidenced by a large decrease in DON parallel with an increase in cell abundance. On an interannual basis, bloom intensity was also positively correlated with mean DON concentrations. We hypothesize that bloom initiation is regulated by the relative supply of inorganic and organic nitrogen, determined to a large extent by temporal variability in groundwater flow. The 1980s and 1990s were characterized by exceptionally high and interannually variable groundwater discharge, associated with a large-scale climate shift over the North Atlantic. This, coupled with the time-lagged discharge of groundwater with high nitrate concentrations resulting from increased fertilizer use and population increase during the 1960s and 1970s, may have been a key factor in the initiation of Brown Tide blooms in 1985
Magnetic resonance imaging of fetal urinoma

Extrarenal collections of urine have long been associated with obstructive uropathy and may preserve renal function by acting as a "popoff" valve. Although urinary extravasation manifested as urinary ascites carries a favorable prognosis, perinephric urinomas occurring prenatally are associated with poor renal function in most cases. We report the case of a baby girl with a urinoma diagnosed by fetal magnetic resonance imaging and discuss the significance of this radiologic finding.
Do readers mentally represent characters' emotional states?

Abstract Subjects read stories that described concrete actions, such as a main character stealing money from a store where his best friend worked and later learning that his friend had been fired. Following each story, subjects read a target sentence that contained an emotion word that either matched the emotional state implied by the story (e.g. guilt) or mismatched that emotional state. In Experiment 1, target sentences were read more slowly when the mismatched emotion words were the perceived opposites of the emotional states implied by the stories (e.g. pride). In Experiment 2, target sentences were read more slowly when the mismatched emotion words shared the affective valence of the implied emotional state; therefore, readers must represent more than simply the affective valence of the emotional states. Instead of reading target sentences that contained matching versus mismatching emotion words, subjects in Experiment 3 simply pronounced matching versus mismatching emotion words. Mismatching emotion...
Factors controlling the magnesium weld morphology in deep penetration welding by a CO2 laser

In laser welding with power density beyond 104 W · mm−2, the formation of plasma cavities, commonly referred to as keyholes, leads to deep penetration welds with high aspect ratios. In this paper, the morphologies of keyhole welds produced with a 6 kW CW CO2 laser on two die-cast magnesium alloys, AZ91 and AM50, are compared. It was found that the two magnesium alloys responded differently to laser welding. Though irregular weld cross-section profiles were consistently observed on each materials, bead dimensions often varied with the welding variables in contrasting ways. For both alloys, important characteristics of the weld beads such as depth, width, crown height (hump), and surface ripples were analyzed as a function of the welding parameters, most particularly the heat input. Results show that the use of heat input, a variable grouping two welding parameters into one, was often inadequate in characterizing the bead morphology. Several explanations are given, including base metal vaporization, but the process of bremsstralung absorption explains it well and rationalizes many observed characteristics of laser weld morphology.
α-Enolase is restricted to basal cells of stratified squamous epithelium

Abstract We have developed a monoclonal antibody against a 50-kDa protein that binds preferentially to basal cells in the limbus of rat, rabbit, and human corneas (J. D. Zieske, G. Bukusoglu, and M. A. Yankauckas, Invest. Ophthalmol. Visual Sci. 33, 143–152, 1992). Here we we report on the purification and identification of the antigen. The 50-kDa antigen was purified from rabbit limbal and corneal epithelium using HPLC methodology including anion exchange (DEAE) followed by reverse-phase (C18) chromatography. The purified 50-kDa protein was then digested with endoproteinase Lys-C, and a reproducible profile comprising approximately 20 peptides was observed by reverse-phase HPLC of the digest. Sequence analysis of five peptides ranging in length from 4 to 20 residues revealed that the 50-kDa protein was α-enolase, a glycolytic enzyme. Overall, 57 amino acids were identified with a 95% sequence homology. Localization of α-enolase in rat epithelium by immunofluorescence microscopy demonstrated that simple epithelium contained low or undetectable levels of the enzyme. Stratified squamous epithelium, however, showed high levels of α-enolase, which was localized specifically to cells of the basal layer. Epidermal, corneal limbal, oral mucosal, vaginal, and laryngeal epithelium all showed cytoplasmic binding specific to the basal cells. These data indicate that the glycolytic enzyme α-enolase is preferentially localized in the basal cell layer of stratified squamous epithelium and suggest that glycolytic activity is concentrated in these cells. The localization pattern suggests that a major change in metabolism occurs as cells leave the mitotically active basal cell layer and migrate toward terminal differentiation in the suprabasal cell layers.
Four-year clinical evaluation of a pit and fissure sealant

The single application of a pit and fissure sealant was fully retained on 50%of all paired permanent teeth at the 48-month examination. When a sealant is completely retained at the 50% level and for each child an average of 2.7 teeth is saved, pit and fissure sealants must be considered an essential preventive dentistry measure for children. The actual number of teeth estimated to be saved from caries was 23 per 100 with a positive treatment benefit for 69% of the children in the four-year study. Results of examinations at 12, 36, and 48 months showed sealant retention on first premolars and molars was superior to that on second premolars and molars.
Acceleration by stress of dopamine synthesis and metabolism in prefrontal cortex: antagonism by diazepam.

Using liquid chromatography and electrochemical detection (LCEC), we have measured the accumulation of 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) (after L-aromatic amino acid decarboxylase inhibition), dopamine (DA) and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) in the frontal cortex and in the corpus striatum of the rat. Mild-footschock stress increased frontal cortex DOPA accumulation, as well as DA and DOPAC, without changing the concentration of these substances in the corpus striatum. The increases in cortical DA synthesis and metabolism were antagonized by diazepam which, given alone, tended to decrease DOPA accumulation to a small degree. In addition, we have measured the indoles serotonin (5-HT) and its metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA), and the noradrenergic metabolite MHPG, none of which were altered by stress. The accumulation of 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) was also unaffected by stress but, like DOPA accumulation, was reduced to a small degree by diazepam. This study directly demonstrates a selective activation of frontal cortex catechol synthesis (in vivo tyrosine hydroxylation) by a mild stress, which did not significantly alter cortical noradrenergic or serotonergic metabolism.
Coincidence Measurements of Electron Capture and Ionization in Low-Energy Ar +q + (He, Ne, Ar, Xe) Collisions

We have used a secondary ion recoil source to study electron capture and ionization in collisions of ${\mathrm{Ar}}^{+q}$ with He, Ne, Ar, and Xe at projectile energies between 250 and 660 eV per charge. By analyzing outgoing projectiles and target ions in coincidence we have measured cross sections for ionization of the system with and without simultaneous electron capture, as well as for normal electron capture only. Cross sections for direct ionization (no electron capture) are found to be small, whereas those for ionization accompanied by electron capture are often quite important.
Fleeing The Storm(s): An Examination of Evacuation Behavior During Florida’s 2004 Hurricane Season

The 2004 hurricane season was the worst in Florida’s history, with four hurricanes causing at least 47 deaths and some $45 billion in damages. To collect information on the demographic impact of those hurricanes, we surveyed households throughout the state and in the local areas that sustained the greatest damage. We estimate that one-quarter of Florida’s population evacuated prior to at least one hurricane; in some areas, well over one-half of the residents evacuated at least once, and many evacuated several times. Most evacuees stayed with family or friends and were away from home for only a few days. Using logistic regression analysis, we found that the strength of the hurricane and the vulnerability of the housing unit had the greatest impact on evacuation behavior; additionally, several demographic variables had significant effects on the probability of evacuating and the choice of evacuation lodging (family/friends, public shelters, or hotels/motels). With continued population growth in coastal areas and the apparent increase in hurricane activity caused by global warming, threats posed by hurricanes are rising in the United States and throughout the world. We believe the present study will help government officials plan more effectively for future hurricane evacuations.
Rapid regulation of microtubule-associated protein 2 in dendrites of nucleus laminaris of the chick following deprivation of afferent activity

Differential innervation of segregated dendritic domains in the chick nucleus laminaris (NL), composed of third-order auditory neurons, provides a unique model to study synaptic regulation of dendritic structure. Altering the synaptic input to one dendritic domain affects the structure and length of the manipulated dendrites while leaving the other set of unmanipulated dendrites largely unchanged. Little is known about the effects of neuronal input on the cytoskeletal structure of NL dendrites and whether changes in the cytoskeleton are responsible for dendritic remodeling following manipulations of synaptic input. In this study, we investigate changes in the immunoreactivity of high-molecular weight microtubule associated protein 2 (MAP2) in NL dendrites following two different manipulations of their afferent input. Unilateral cochlea removal eliminates excitatory synaptic input to the ventral dendrites of the contralateral NL and the dorsal dendrites of the ipsilateral NL. This manipulation produced a dramatic decrease in MAP2 immunoreactivity in the deafferented dendrites. This decrease was detected as early as 3 h following the surgery, well before any degeneration of afferent axons. A similar decrease in MAP2 immunoreactivity in deafferented NL dendrites was detected following a midline transection that silences the excitatory synaptic input to the ventral dendrites on both sides of the brain. These changes were most distinct in the caudal portion of the nucleus where individual deafferented dendritic branches contained less immunoreactivity than intact dendrites. Our results suggest that the cytoskeletal protein MAP2, which is distributed in dendrites, perikarya, and postsynaptic densities, may play a role in deafferentation-induced dendritic remodeling.
Unsupervised co-segmentation based on a new global GMM constraint in MRF

This paper proposes a new Markov Random Fields (MRF) optimization model for co-segmentation. The co-saliency model is incorporated into our model to make it fully unsupervised and work well for images with similar backgrounds. The Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) based dissimilarity between foregrounds in each image and the common objects in the set is involved as a new global constraint (i.e., energy term) in our model. Finally, we introduce an alternative approximation to represent the energy function, which could be minimized by Graph Cuts iteratively. The experimental results on two datasets show that our algorithm achieves better or comparable accuracy when comparing with state-of-the-art algorithms.
The Importance of XY-8 Phase Cycling in the Rotational-Echo Double-Resonance Experiment with Total Sideband Suppression

This paper describes a theoretical study of the XY-8 phase cycling method used in many solid-state NMR experiments. It has been found that XY-8 phase cycling can compensate errors up to the second order in the expansion of the average Hamiltonian. The result has been used to discuss the REDORTOSS experiment. A general method to overcome problems due to chemical-shift anisotropy in the REDOR experiment is also discussed. It is recommended that nuclei with large chemical-shift anisotropies should be detected with the observable channel and the REDORTOSS method used to eliminate the sidebands.
Rate of evolution slowed by a dormant propagule pool

Theoretical models of plant seed banks and common sense suggest that stores of dormant propagules must slow down the rate of genetic change1,2 because they sequester a substantial fraction of the gene pool from the influence of microevolutionary processes in each generation. The magnitude of the effect must represent a balance between the extent of selection and the fraction of the dormant pool that returns to the active population in each generation (and the other microevolutionary processes of migration, drift and mutation). For most populations, in which to observe the action of selection is difficult in itself, detecting the added influence of a dormant propagule pool will be more difficult still. Here we report the effect of hatching of diapausing eggs from lake sediments on the rate of phenotypic change in two populations of the freshwater copepod, Diaptomus sanguineus. When the input of new eggs to the sediments was eliminated by a brief but intense two-year appearance of predators, the role of dormant stages in slowing evolution was clearly seen.
The White Privilege Attitudes Scale: Development and initial validation.

In this article, the authors describe 3 interrelated investigations among White undergraduate and graduatestudents that document the development and initial validation of the White Privilege Attitudes Scale(WPAS). The WPAS assesses the multidimensional nature of White privilege attitudes, reflectingaffective, cognitive, and behavioral dimensions. In Study 1 ( n 250), exploratory factor analysissuggested a 28-item scale with 4 factors as follows: (a) Willingness to Confront White Privilege, (b)Anticipated Costs of Addressing White Privilege, (c) White Privilege Awareness, and (d) White PrivilegeRemorse. In Study 2 ( n 251), confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the 4-factor model was abetter fit of the data compared with competing models. The authors also found support for convergentvalidity between scores on the WPAS factors and theoretically related measures. Study 3 ( n 40)documented testretest reliability of each of the WPAS factors and nonsignificant associations withsocially desirable responding. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.Keywords: white privilege, racism, Whites, scale construction, race relations
On the near-optimality of the shortest-latency-time-first drum scheduling discipline

For computer systems in which it is practical to determine the instantaneous drum position, a popular discipline for determining the sequence in which the records are to be accessed is the so-called shortest-latency-time-first, SLTF, discipline. When a collection of varying-length records is to be accessed from specified drum positions, it is known that the SLTF discipline does not necessarily minimize the drum latency time. However, we show that the total time to access the entire collection for any SLTF schedule is never as much as a drum revolution longer than a minimum latency schedule.
Dynamic response analysis of geometrically non‐liner structures subjected to high impact

Description of an efficient digital computer method for the determination of the propagation of elastic stresses and deformations in certain geometrically nonlinear structures subjected to high impact loading. The finite-element matrix displacement approach utilizing curved quadrilateral shell elements in conjunction with a nodewise predictor-corrector method employing Runge-Kutta extrapolation techniques has been adopted for the present solution. The related computer program written in FORTRAN V for the UNIVAC 1108 computer has proved to be effective for the solution of a range of practical problems including rectangular and cylindrical panels. Numerical results are presented for a relevant structure, the cell container, and the negative electrode of an impact-resistant battery subjected to high impact, simulating its free landing on a planetary surface.
Representation of time-varying stimuli by a network exhibiting oscillations on a faster time scale.

Sensory processing is associated with gamma frequency oscillations (30–80 Hz) in sensory cortices. This raises the question whether gamma oscillations can be directly involved in the representation of time-varying stimuli, including stimuli whose time scale is longer than a gamma cycle. We are interested in the ability of the system to reliably distinguish different stimuli while being robust to stimulus variations such as uniform time-warp. We address this issue with a dynamical model of spiking neurons and study the response to an asymmetric sawtooth input current over a range of shape parameters. These parameters describe how fast the input current rises and falls in time. Our network consists of inhibitory and excitatory populations that are sufficient for generating oscillations in the gamma range. The oscillations period is about one-third of the stimulus duration. Embedded in this network is a subpopulation of excitatory cells that respond to the sawtooth stimulus and a subpopulation of cells that respond to an onset cue. The intrinsic gamma oscillations generate a temporally sparse code for the external stimuli. In this code, an excitatory cell may fire a single spike during a gamma cycle, depending on its tuning properties and on the temporal structure of the specific input; the identity of the stimulus is coded by the list of excitatory cells that fire during each cycle. We quantify the properties of this representation in a series of simulations and show that the sparseness of the code makes it robust to uniform warping of the time scale. We find that resetting of the oscillation phase at stimulus onset is important for a reliable representation of the stimulus and that there is a tradeoff between the resolution of the neural representation of the stimulus and robustness to time-warp.
Immunocytochemical evidence for the involvement of glycine in sensory centers of the rat brain.

Abstract Glycine-like immunoreactivity was localized to a number of sites in the rat brain which are involved in processing sensory information. In the auditory and vestibular systems, glycine immunoreactivity was seen in dorsal and ventral cochlear nuclei, superior olive, trapezoid body, medial and lateral vestibular nuclei, and inferior colliculus. Staining in the visual system was seen in retina, dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus, and superior colliculus. The olfactory system exhibited staining in the olfactory bulb and accessory olfactory formation. Somatosensory centers with glycine immunoreactivity included the dorsal column nuclei, spinal trigeminal nucleus, principal sensory nucleus of V, reticular formation, and periaqueductal gray. Glycine-immunoreactive neurons were also seen in cerebellar cortex, deep cerebellar nuclei, hippocampus, cerebral cortex, and striatum. The distribution of staining indicates that glycine plays a major role in sensory centers with actions at both strychnine-sensitive and strychnine-insensitive receptors.
Protons Crossing Triple Phase Boundaries based on Pd and Barium Zirconate: A Density Functional Theory Study

Density functional theory calculations are used to address the energetics of protons crossing “triple phase boundaries” based on Pd and barium zirconate. Our calculations show that the proton transfer reaction at these triple phase boundaries is controlled by the terminal layer of the electrolyte in contact with the metallic catalyst and gas phase. Hydrogen spilling onto the electrolyte surface is energetically favored at peripherical sites of the metal-electrolyte interface, and proton incorporation into the sub-surface region of the electrolyte involves energies of the order of 1 eV. At the triple phase boundary, the energy cost associated with the proton transfer reaction is controlled by both the nature of chemical contact and the Schottky barrier at the metal-electrolyte interface.
Unification and anti-unification in the calculus of constructions

Algorithms for unification and anti-unification in the calculus of constructions, where occurrences of free variables (the variables subject to instantiation) are restricted to higher-order patterns, are presented. Most general unifiers and least common anti-instances are shown to exist and are unique up to a simple equivalence. The unification algorithm is used for logic program execution and type and term reconstruction in the current implementation of Elf and has shown itself to be practical. >
Incorporating Path Dependency into Decision-Analytic Methods: An Application to Global Climate-Change Policy

Climate policy decisions are necessarily sequential decisions over time under uncertainty, given the magnitude of uncertainty in both economic and scientific processes, the decades-to-centuries time scale of the phenomenon, and the ability to reduce uncertainty and revise decisions along the way. Thus, an appropriate choice of analytical method is decision analysis. However, applying decision analysis in the context of idealized government decision makers over a century raises the question of how to deal with the fact that political systems tend to exhibit path dependency, a force that makes large policy shifts difficult and rare, and limits most decisions to small incremental changes. This paper explores the effect of considering path dependency in an application of decision analysis to climate-change policy decisions, presenting two alternative methods for modeling path dependency. I demonstrate that consideration of path dependence in the context of climate policy justifies greater near-term emissions reductions. The more general result of path-dependency is to shift the near-term strategy towards a more moderate hedging strategy, because drastic shifts later will be difficult.
Regulatory Fit and Persuasion: Basic Principles and Remaining Questions

How can researchers and practitioners use regulatory fit theory to increase the effectiveness of their attempts to change attitudes and behavior? In this article, we extract from the literature a set of basic processes by which fit can influence persuasion and describe different methods for inducing fit. Regulatory fit can influence persuasion by: (i) making message recipients feel right during message reception; (ii) increasing recipients’ strength of engagement with the message, which contributes to processing fluency; and (iii) influencing elaboration likelihood. Integral methods induce fit within the persuasion situation (as with framing of message arguments, source delivery style, and decision means), whereas incidental methods induce fit independent of the persuasion situation. We discuss common difficulties researchers may encounter with these techniques, and clarify existing confusions about regulatory fit and regulatory focus theory. Throughout, we highlight important questions that must be addressed to attain a complete understanding of regulatory fit.
Perspectives in the Behavioral Treatment of Depression

In this article we critically consider the efficacy of psychotherapeutic strategies for the treatment of depressed outpatients. Problems with the design of each of the recent major studies are identified; suggestions for improved methodologies are offered. Comments on the current "status of the art" by leading experts in the field are considered. Finally, advances in the social skills treatment of depression are discussed. Factors requiring further research attention in the next decade are identified.
Counterexamples to Strichartz estimates for the wave equation in domains

We consider the wave equation inside a strictly convex domain of dimension 2 and provide counterexamples to optimal Strichartz estimates. Such estimates inside convex domains lose regularity when compared to the flat case (at least for a subset of the usual range of indices), mainly due to microlocal phenomena such as caustics which are generated in arbitrarily small time near the boundary.
Stimulation of adipogenesis, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ), and thyrotropin receptor by PPARγ agonist in human orbital preadipocyte fibroblasts

The symptoms and signs of Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) result from both an accumulation of hydrated hyaluronan in the orbital muscles and connective tissues and an expansion of the orbital adipose tissues. Recent studies have suggested a link between the stimulation of adipogenesis within the orbit in GO and the expression in these tissues of TSH receptor (TSHR), the putative orbital autoantigen. To further investigate this association, we treated orbital fibroblasts from patients with GO with rosiglitazone, a thiazolidinedione agonist of the PPARgamma receptor that stimulates adipocyte differentiation. We found this compound to be a potent stimulator of functional TSHR expression as well as TSHR and PPARgamma mRNA levels in differentiated cultures. In addition, rosiglitazone treatment stimulated recruitment and differentiation of a subset of cells within these cultures into mature lipid-laden adipocytes. These results suggest that TSHR expression in GO orbital preadipocyte fibroblasts is linked to adipogenesis, and that ligation of the PPARgamma receptor results in differentiation of these cells. It is possible that endogenous PPARgamma ligands play a role in stimulating orbital adipogenesis in GO, and that future treatments may be aimed at antagonism of various components of the PPARgamma signaling system.
Fate of lindane in the aquatic environment: Rate constants of physical and chemical processes

Water solubility, hydrolysis and photolysis rate constants, and sorption-desorption partition coefficients were determined for lindane in three different natural water-sediment systems, as well as in a Milli-Q water and montmorillonite clay system. The aqueous solubility of lindane in surface waters at 25 ± 1°C ranged from 7.9 to 8.4 mg/L. In Milli-Q water, lindane solubility was 9.2 mg/L. At α = 0.05, no significant difference was found between the values in different natural waters; however, the Milli-Q water solubility did differ statistically. Lindane hydrolysis was found to be catalyzed by hydroxide and hydrogen ions. Neutral hydrolysis was relatively unimportant. Hydrolysis data followed first-order kinetics with kh values of 74 × 10−4 h−1 at pH 9 and 7.4 × 10−1 h−1 at pH 5. Experimental hydrolysis half-life (t1/2) in natural waters of pH 9.3 was comparable to the calculated value (92 h). Other natural water systems of pH 7.3 and 7.8 had t1/2 values greater than calculated values. Adjusted mid-winter photolysis half-life of lindane in Milli-Q water was 1.56 × 103 h. Photolysis rate enhancement was noted in natural water of pH 9.3, possibly due to the alkaline hydrolysis side reaction. Photolysis rate retardation was noted in natural water of pH 7.3 and 7.8. Sorption-desorption coefficient in Milli-Q water-montmorillonite clay was 1,259. Sorption coefficients for the natural systems ranged from 56 to 2,238. Results of the sorption-desorption experiments indicate that the wide diversity of the characteristics of the natural water sediment systems considerably affect the lindane sorption-desorption behavior.
Discrimination of near-native protein structures from misfolded models by empirical free energy functions

Free energy potentials, combining molecular mechanics with empirical solvation and entropic terms, are used to discriminate native and near-native protein conformations from slightly mis- folded decoys. Since the functional forms of these potentials vary within the field, it is of interest to determine the contributions of individual free en- ergy terms and their combinations to the discrimina- tive power of the potential. This is achieved in terms of quantitative measures of discrimination that in- clude the correlation coefficient between RMSD and free energy, and a new measure labeled the mini- mum discriminatory slope (MDS). In terms of these criteria, the internal energy is shown to be a good discriminator on its own, which implies that even well-constructed decoys are substantially more strained than the native protein structure. The discrimination improves if, in addition to the inter- nal energy, the free energy expression includes the electrostatic energy, calculated by assuming non- ionized side chains, and an empirical solvation term, with the classical atomic solvation parameter model providing slightly better discrimination than a struc- ture-based atomic contact potential. Finally, the inclusion of a term representing the side chain entropy change, and calculated by an established empirical scale, is so inaccurate that it makes the discrimination worse. It is shown that both the correlation coefficient and the MDS value (or its dimensionless form) are needed for an objective assessment of a potential, and that together they provide much more information on the origins of discrimination than simple inspection of the RMSD- free energy plots. Proteins 2000;41:518 -534.
Mechanisms of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Migration

Smooth muscle cell migration occurs during vascular development, in response to vascular injury, and during atherogenesis. Many proximal signals and signal transduction pathways activated during migration have been identified, as well as components of the cellular machinery that affect cell movement. In this review, a summary of promigratory and antimigratory molecules belonging to diverse chemical and functional families is presented, along with a summary of key signaling events mediating migration. Extracellular molecules that modulate migration include small biogenic amines, peptide growth factors, cytokines, extracellular matrix components, and drugs used in cardiovascular medicine. Promigratory stimuli activate signal transduction cascades that trigger remodeling of the cytoskeleton, change the adhesiveness of the cell to the matrix, and activate motor proteins. This review focuses on the signaling pathways and effector proteins regulated by promigratory and antimigratory molecules. Prominent pathways include phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases, calcium-dependent protein kinases, Rho-activated protein kinase, p21-activated protein kinases, LIM kinase, and mitogen-activated protein kinases. Important downstream targets include myosin II motors, actin capping and severing proteins, formins, profilin, cofilin, and the actin-related protein-2/3 complex. Actin filament remodeling, focal contact remodeling, and molecular motors are coordinated to cause cells to migrate along gradients of chemical cues, matrix adhesiveness, or matrix stiffness. The result is recruitment of cells to areas where the vessel wall is being remodeled. Vessel wall remodeling can be antagonized by common cardiovascular drugs that act in part by inhibiting vascular smooth muscle cell migration. Several therapeutically important drugs act by inhibiting cell cycle progression, which may reduce the population of migrating cells.
Using Intramolecular Disulfide Bonds in Tau Protein to Deduce Structural Features of Aggregation-resistant Conformations

Because tau aggregation likely plays a role in a number of neurodegenerative diseases, understanding the processes that affect tau aggregation is of considerable importance. One factor that has been shown to influence the aggregation propensity is the oxidation state of the protein itself. Tau protein, which contains two naturally occurring cysteine residues, can form both intermolecular disulfide bonds and intramolecular disulfide bonds. Several studies suggest that intermolecular disulfide bonds can promote tau aggregation in vitro. By contrast, although there are data to suggest that intramolecular disulfide bond formation retards tau aggregation in vitro, the precise mechanism underlying this observation remains unclear. While it has been hypothesized that a single intramolecular disulfide bond in tau leads to compact conformations that cannot form extended structure consistent with tau fibrils, there are few data to support this conjecture. In the present study we generate oxidized forms of the truncation mutant, K18, which contains all four microtubule binding repeats, and isolate the monomeric fraction, which corresponds to K18 monomers that have a single intramolecular disulfide bond. We study the aggregation propensity of the oxidized monomeric fraction and relate these data to an atomistic model of the K18 unfolded ensemble. Our results argue that the main effect of intramolecular disulfide bond formation is to preferentially stabilize conformers within the unfolded ensemble that place the aggregation-prone tau subsequences, PHF6* and PHF6, in conformations that are inconsistent with the formation of cross-β-structure. These data further our understanding of the precise structural features that retard tau aggregation.
Coexistence of Competitors in Spatially and Temporally Varying Environments: A Look at the Combined Effects of Different Sorts of Variability

A stochastic model is developed for competition among organisms living in a patchy and varying environment. The model is designed to be suitable for species with sedentary adults and widely dispersing larvae or propagules, and applies best to marine systems but may also be adequate for some terrestrial systems. Three kinds of environmental variation are incorporated simultaneously in the model. These are pure spatial variation, pure temporal variation, and the space x time interaction. All three kinds of variation can promote coexistence, and when variation is restricted to immigration rates, all three kinds act very similarly. Moreover, for long-lived organisms their action is nearly identical, and their effects, when present together, combine equivalently. For short-lived organisms, however, pure temporal variation is a less effective promoter of coexistence. Variation in death rates acts quite differently from variation in birth rates for it may demote coexistence in some circumstances, while promoting coexistence in other circumstances. Furthermore, pure spatial variation in death rates has quite different effects than other kinds of death-rate variation. In addition to conditions for coexistence, information is given on population fluctuations, convergence to stationary distributions, and asymptotic distributions for long-lived organisms. While the model is presented as an ecological model, a genetical interpretation is also possible. This leads to new suggested mechanisms for the maintenance of polymorphisms in populations.
Functional indices of vitamin D status and ramifications of vitamin D deficiency

Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 [25(OH)D3] concentrations are currently recognized as the functional status indicator for vitamin D. Evidence is reviewed that shows that serum 25(OH)D3 concentrations of < 80 nmol/L are associated with reduced calcium absorption, osteoporosis, and increased fracture risk. For typical older individuals, supplemental oral intakes of approximately 1300 IU/d are required to reach the lower end of the optimal range. Evidence of substantial problems in routine clinical measurement of serum 25(OH)D3 concentrations among patients is cited. There is great need for standardization and improved reproducibility and sensitivity of measurements of serum 25(OH)D3 concentrations.
Trusting in the Future: The Distinct Advantage of Nonprofit HMOs

Managed care's success in improving the health status of communities can be directly attributed to the not-for-profits. Three of the major organizations—Harvard Community Health Plan, Kaiser Permanente, and Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound—in this category have participated in the critical public policy debates of the past 30 years, have conducted and funded data-based research, and have trained numerous U.S. primary care physicians for practice. An emphasis on health, rather than profits, has led them to favor community rating. Not-for-profits have created an environment that encourages good relationships between patients and professional caregivers. They have discovered that delivering superior care is the most effective way to control costs, and they have done this while fostering partnerships with organized labor. It is critical for the not-for-profits to communicate their obvious advantages to the general public in order to ensure their survival.
The effect of rain on retrieval of C- and Ku-band scatterometer surface winds during Hurricanes Lili (2002) and Isabel (2003)

The Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler (IWRAP) and Simultaneous Frequency Microwave Radiometer have been flown aboard the NOAA WP-3D "Hurricane Hunter" aircraft for the past five (2002-2006) hurricane seasons. IWRAP is a conically scanning, high resolution C- and Ku-band Doppler radar that profiles from the aircraft to ocean at four incidence angles. The microwave return from the ocean is used to infer ocean surface vector winds via scatterometry. The UMass Simultaneous Frequency Microwave Radiometer (USFMR) is a C- band radiometer that measures integrated rainfall rate and ocean surface wind speed. The combination of these two instruments allows for the determination of the effect of rain on scatterometer derived surface vector winds. Our focus is on scatterometer retrievals at an incidence angle of 50deg during Hurricanes Lili (2002) and Isabel (2003). The measurements were carried out under the Coupled Boundary Layers and Air-Sea Transfer (CBLAST) program and are the highest resolution radar measurements of the lower atmospheric boundary layer in powerful hurricanes. The retrievals at C- band use the CMOD5 geophysical model function (GMF) while those at Ku-band use one which is a synthesis of the QSCAT- 1 GMF and one developed using IWRAP data. As has been reported, the effect of rain at Ku-band is a dramatic decrease, even for wind speeds greater than 20 m s-1 The atmospheric attenuation dominates these results. At C-band the primary effect is a decrease in azimuthal modulation which is especially important at high wind speeds where this modulation decreases in the absence of rain.
Factors influencing the cathartic activity of senna in mice

A summary of several years' experience with the mouse test for senna catharsis is presented. Among the factors considered are tolerance, deterioration, sex, weight, age, diet, temperature, and color. After long periods of feeding high dietary levels of senna, only a slight tolerance developed in males, none in females. Deterioration of fluid senna preparations may be rapid and is an important factor. Females are more sensitive than males. Within limits other factors are not significant in the method.
A decomposition result for a class of polling models

Boxma and Groenendijk have shown that the workload in polling models decomposes into two independent variables. This paper demonstrates a different type of decomposition that has an explicit multi-dimensional form. This decomposition does not apply to all polling models, but does, for example, apply to models with constant switch-over times and either exhaustive or gated service disciplines. For such models, we show that the population of customers present in the system (represented by a vector indicating the number of customers at each queue) at key time points breaks into two independent subpopulations: (1) the population of customers present in the related model with zero switch-over times; (2) another population, which is particularly easy to analyze. This result has a number of theoretical and applied implications.
Associated effects of sodium butyrate on histone acetylation and estrogen receptor in the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7

Sodium butyrate at a concentration of 5mM causes significant hyperacetylation of the core histones in the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7. Histone hyperacetylation was achieved in rapidly-growing cells at 40% confluency after 24 hours in 5mM sodium butyrate. More nearly confluent cells did not reach as high a level of histone hyperacetylation. Upon assaying the estrogen receptors, both cytosolic and KCl-extractable nuclear, we found that butyrate treatment had lowered the estrogen receptor levels in both compartments. To our knowledge this is the first report of an effect of sodium butyrate on estrogen receptor levels.
The Euler equations and nonlocal conservative Riccati equations

The solutions we present have infinite kinetic energy and blow up in finite time. Blow up of other similar infinite energy solutions of Euler equations has been proved before ([1], [2]). The particular type of solution we will describe was proposed in ([3]). The Eulerian-Lagrangian approach we take ([4]) is not restricted to this particular case, but exact integration of the equations is. We will consider a two dimensional basic square Q of side L. The particular form of the solutions ([3]) is