cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Collisional loss of electrostatically confined species in a magnetic mirror

The basic problem of particle end-loss in a magnetic mirror field with an electrostatic confining potential is considered. The analytic treatments of Pastukhov and Chernin and Rosenbluth have been generalized to apply to any electrostatically confined species in a multi-species plasma, and the Pastukhov analysis has been extended to apply to arbitrary magnetic-field profiles (instead of square-well). The analytic results are compared with results obtained from one-and two-dimensional Fokker-Planck codes. In particular the scaling with potential, mirror ratio, and effective charge is considered. The closest agreement (within 20%) is between the 2-D Fokker-Planck and generalized Pastukhov results.
Active static and seismic earth pressure for c–φ soils

Rankine classic earth pressure solution has been expanded to predict the seismic active earth pressure behind rigid walls supporting c–φ backfill considering both wall inclination and backfill slope. The proposed formulation is based on Rankine's conjugate stress concept, without employing any additional assumptions. The developed expressions can be used for the static and pseudo-static seismic analyses of c–φ backfill. The results based on the proposed formulations are found to be identical to those computed with the Mononobe–Okabe method for cohesionless soils, provided the same wall friction angle is employed. For c–φ soils, the formulation yields comparable results to available solutions for cases where a comparison is feasible. Design charts are presented for calculating the net active horizontal thrust behind a rigid wall for a variety of horizontal pseudo-static accelerations, values of cohesion, soil internal friction angles, wall inclinations, and backfill slope combinations. The effects of the vertical pseudo-static acceleration on the active earth pressure and the depth of tension cracks have also been explored. In addition, examples are provided to illustrate the application of the proposed method.
The sarcolemma and fibrous envelope of striated muscles in beef.

Abstract A Waring blendor with dulled knife and reduced speed was used for isolating muscle fibers and connective tissues from small samples of beef muscles. Significantly, the sarcolemma proper, a thin, homogeneous, non-fibrous membrane about 0.1 μ thick was found linking the ends of broken muscle fibers from raw unfixed tissue only. From cooked or/and chemically fixed samples, the isolated muscle fibers were “bare”, i.e. deprived of their membranes, the latter being found in the form of empty tubular envelopes either singly or in groups. The separation between the muscle fiber substance (actomyosin) and the surrounding membranes, so observed, is the result of a differential protein denaturation brought about by the cooking and fixing processes as evidenced by the structures of cooked muscle tissues seen in 10 μ celloidin sections. No structural details were obtained from the muscle fiber envelopes on account of the limited resolving power of the light microscope, but judging from their characteristic appearance of having numerous tiny interstices, they are probably fibrous, though not likely of the collagenous type in the light of the recent results obtained with electron microscopy. The results of this work have confirmed the bipartite nature of the muscle fiber membrane held by many investigators in this field, and have advanced reasons for believing that the true sarcolemma and the outer fibrous envelope are truly components of an intact muscle fiber membrane. It is suggested on these grounds that the term sarcolemma, when used alone, may refer to the composite membrane of a muscle fiber as a whole, whereas the two components should be known, respectively, as the sarcolemma proper (or true sarcolemma) and the sarcolemmous envelope.
Properties of the fuzzy expected value and the fuzzy expected interval

Abstract The evaluation of the fuzzy expected value (FEV) requires a complete knowledge about the domain of the evaluation, and the distribution of the population in that domain. Since it is not always possible to assume a complete knowledge about the domain, it is necessary to find some relaxations to the restrictions involving the evaluation of FEV. In this paper some solutions to this problem are proposed via the concept of the fuzzy expected interval (FEI).
LIM2X: Generating X-Parameters in the Time Domain Using the Latency Insertion Method

X-parameters, a formalism for describing the nonlinear relationship between power waves, has been shown to have a wide array of applications in the modeling of nonlinear devices and systems. In this paper, the polyharmonic distortion model and the latency insertion method (LIM) are combined to generate X-parameters from a time-domain simulation. This technique leverages the speed and convergence advantages of LIM to generate X-parameters, which are defined in the frequency domain. Both small- and large-signal X-parameter results are compared with those generated using harmonic balance.
New endemic species of Harpalyce (Leguminosae: Brongniartieae) from South-Central Brazil with a key to the Brazilian species

Harpalyce parvifolia andH. robusta, endemic species from the Serra do EspinhaCo, State of Minas Gerais, and Chapada dos Veadeiros, State of Goias, respectively, are described and included in a new key to the Brazilian members of the genus.
Non‐symmetric CG‐like schemes and the finite element solution of the advection–dispersion equation

Seven leading iterative methods for non-symmetric linear systems (GMRES, BCG, QMR, CGS, Bi-CGSTAB, TFQMR and CGNR) are compared in the specific context of solving the advection–dispersion equation by a classic approach: The space derivatives are approximated by linear finite elements while an implicit scheme is used to integrate the time derivatives. Convergence formulas that predict the behaviour of the iterative methods as a function of the discretization parameters are developed and validated by experiments. It is shown that all methods converge nicely when the coefficent matrix of the linear system is close to normal and the finite element approximation of the advection–dispersion equation yields accurate results.
Off-shell Ward identities and gauge symmetries in string theory☆

Abstract I describe a new method of obtaining gauge-symmetry transformation laws for the effective lagrangian of an arbitrary string theory. The method applies to exact as well as spontaneously broken gauge symmetries. The transformation laws, exact to all orders in α' are determined inductively in the number of fields by the corresponding off-shell Ward identities. The case of broken supersymmetry is examined in some detail.
Effects of chemoattractant pteridines upon speed of D. discoideum vegetative amoebae.

Movements of D. discoideum vegetative amoebae responding to pteridine chemoattractants, folate acid and pterin, were recorded. A vector analysis of these images was performed to partition the speed and orientation components of these motility patterns. This study demonstrates that in addition to orientation (chemotaxis), stimulated speed (chemokinesis) is an important component of the directed migration of these amoebae. Furthermore, the primary difference in their response to folate versus pterin is in speed rather than orientation. The data support a model of directed migration of these cells in which there are (1) separate signal translation pathways consequent from folate versus pterin reception and (2) specific pathways leading to increase in orientation versus speed. Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton, 2006. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Acoustic and thermographic evaluation of polymeric corrosion protective coatings on aluminum alloy airframe structures

The goal of this work is to develop a multi-sensor nondestructive evaluation (NDE) approach to characterize aluminum alloy airframe structures under polymeric corrosion protective coatings. Two main efforts are highly relevant: (1) studying different degradation processes in the polymers to estimate the coating performance in service; and (2) detecting and quantifying early stages of corrosion beneath an intact coating. To address these tasks we employed acoustic and thermographic NDE techniques, especially Scanning Acoustic Microscopy and Fan Thermography. SAM can be utilized to map either coating or interface properties (C-scans). The method revealed potential to determine the curing quality of the coatings. It was also possible to detect small corrosion pits under delaminated areas. Furthermore, we evaluated the reflections of surface waves, which are generated and detected by the same probe. This provided an additional tool to examine the substrate/coating interface. Thermography was applied to detect corrosion under the coatings and sites of delamination. Fan Thermography (hot air heating) made it possible, to observe sites of decreasing adhesion over longer time periods. Both acoustic and thermographic results were correlated to electrochemical mapping of corrosion activity which was obtained by Scanning Vibration Electrode Technique (SVET).
Nross Scatterometer An Instrument For Global Oceanic Wind Observations

One of the instruments - the NROSS scatterometer or SCATT - to be launched on the Navy Remote Ocean Sensing System spacecraft in 1989 is discussed. To determine wind speed and direction that SCATT will measure the ocean normalized radar cross section (NRCS) by illuminating the ocean's surface with microwave pulses and measuring the return signal power. A wind retrieval algorithm is used to compute the wind speed and direction from the measured NRCS. Winds over at least 90 percent of the global, ice-free ocean will be observed at least once every two days. For NASA users, the system will retrieve winds with an accuracy of plus or minus 2 m/s or 10 percent whichever is greater, for wind speeds ranging from 3 to 30 m/s.
Incidence of antiplatelet factor 4/heparin antibody induction in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary revascularization

The incidence of antiplatelet factor-4/heparin antibody formation in patients who receive contemporary doses of unfractionated heparin in the setting of percutaneous coronary revascularization is unknown. Also unknown is the ability of these antibodies to activate platelets or adversely affect clinical outcome in the absence of clinically recognized heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. To address these questions, we serially measured antiplatelet factor-4/heparin antibody levels and performed serotonin release assays in patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention. Correlations were then made across antibody induction, heparin exposure, and clinical outcome at 6 months.
p53 mutants induce transcription of NF-κB2 in H1299 cells through CBP and STAT binding on the NF-κB2 promoter and gain of function activity

Cancer cells with p53 mutations, in general, grow more aggressively than those with wild-type p53 and show "gain of function" (GOF) phenotypes such as increased growth rate, enhanced resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs, increased cell motility and tumorigenicity; although the mechanism for this function remains unknown. In this communication we report that p53-mediated NF-κB2 up-regulation significantly contributes to the aggressive oncogenic behavior of cancer cells. Lowering the level of mutant p53 in a number of cancer cell lines resulted in a loss of GOF phenotypes directly implicating p53 mutants in the process. RNAi against NF-κB2 in naturally occurring cancer cell lines also lowers GOF activities. In H1299 cells expressing mutant p53, chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays indicate that mutant p53 induces histone acetylation at specific sites on the regulatory regions of its target genes. ChIP assays using antibodies against transcription factors putatively capable of interacting with the NF-κB2 promoter show increased interaction of CBP and STAT2 in the presence of mutant p53. Thus, we propose that in H1299 cells, mutant p53 elevates expression of genes capable of enhancing cell proliferation, motility, and tumorigenicity by inducing acetylation of histones via recruitment of CBP and STAT2 on the promoters causing CBP-mediated histone acetylation.
High resolution transmission electron microscopy of metallic film/laser-irradiated alumina couples

A near-surface thin layer is melted when single crystal alumina (sapphire) is pulsed laser-irradiated in an Ar-4%H{sub 2} atmosphere. {gamma}-alumina grows epitaxially from the (0001) face of {alpha}-alumina (sapphire ) during the rapid solidification of this layer that occurs once the laser pulse is over. Cross sectional high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) reveals that the interface between unmelted sapphire and {gamma}-alumina is atomistically flat with steps of one to a few close-packed oxygen layers; however, pronounced lattice distortions exist in the resolidified {gamma}-alumina. HRTEM also is used to study the metal-ceramic interface of a copper film deposited on a laser-irradiated alumina substrate. The observed changes of the interfacial stricture relative to that of unexposed substrates are correlated with the strong enhancement of film-substrate bonding promoted by laser irradiation. HRTEM shows that a thin amorphous film is produced after irradiation of 99.6% polycrystalline alumina. Formation of a diffuse interface and atomic rearrangements that can take place in metastable phases contribute to enhance the bonding strength of copper to laser-irradiated alumina.
Place attachment among retirees in Greensburg, Kansas

On 4 May 2007 an ef-5 tornado leveled 95 percent of Greensburg, Kansas. Because city leaders encouraged everyone to use "green" building techniques as they rebuilt their homes and businesses, not only has the return to normalcy been exceedingly slow, but some of the town's older residents feel that officials have overlooked their needs. These minor episodes of discord enabled us to learn what features are most important to people in retirement. The features include identifiable landmarks, a space in which to socialize, and age-specific businesses. We assert that the lessons learned in Greensburg are applicable to other communities with a sizable older population. As baby boomers rapidly enter retirement they will seek places to live that are elder friendly and enable them to effectively bond with place. As previous research attests, people who have a strong attachment to place commonly have a good quality of life. Language: en
Failure of reserpine to modify the incidence of aortic ruptures induced in turkeys by diethylstilbestrol.

SummaryReserpine in the feed at the levels described herein did not reduce the incidence of aortic ruptures of turkeys induced by diethylstilbestrol. Reserpine had no effect on total plasma lipid or cholesterol levels, but did cause reduced weight gains and a slight lowering of the systolic blood pressure of older DES-dosed poults.
Smooth skinning decomposition with rigid bones

This paper introduces the Smooth Skinning Decomposition with Rigid Bones (SSDR), an automated algorithm to extract the linear blend skinning (LBS) from a set of example poses. The SSDR model can effectively approximate the skin deformation of nearly articulated models as well as highly deformable models by a low number of rigid bones and a sparse, convex bone-vertex weight map. Formulated as a constrained optimization problem where the least squared error of the reconstructed vertices by LBS is minimized, the SSDR model can be solved by a block coordinate descent-based algorithm to iteratively update the weight map and the bone transformations. By employing the sparseness and convex constraints on the weight map, the SSDR model can be used for traditional skinning decomposition tasks such as animation compression and hardware-accelerated rendering. Moreover, by imposing the orthogonal constraints on the bone rotation matrices (rigid bones), the SSDR model can also be applied in motion editing, skeleton extraction, and collision detection tasks. Through qualitative and quantitative evaluations, we show the SSDR model can measurably outperform the state-of-the-art skinning decomposition schemes in terms of accuracy and applicability.
Damage Mapping in Composites With Phase Gradient

Lamb wave based methods for structural health monitoring and non-destructive evaluation have shown promise in composite and laminated structure applications. Many methods have been considered, but exploitation of the phase of the propagating wave is a recent addition. Utilizing the phase alleviates the ambiguity of many amplitude and modal analysis approaches. This paper considered two-dimensional damage analogs in analytical simulations, numerical simulations and experimental studies. Additionally, this paper addresses the importance of proper filtering for successful spatial domain reconstruction. The phase gradient approach was successful in cases where modal filtering yielded good results. In the case where modal filtering did not successfully reconstruct the time-space domain wave, the phase gradient approach could not be employed, underscoring the need for robust modal filtering techniques.© 2014 ASME
Real-time low-bitrate multimedia communication for smart spaces and wireless sensor networks

Smart spaces is a scenario that is ideal for the application of wireless communication technology to benefit non-expert users. A prime example of such an application would be low-cost and real-time video surveillance of hallways or video conferencing. Traditional solutions for these scenarios use state-of-the-art video codecs like H.264/AVC in order to achieve the low bitrate which is essential in wireless communication. On the flip side, such encoders are computationally complex and need expensive hardware to run on thus making them inefficient choices for being deployed in clusters. Recent research has resulted in distributed video coding (DVC) being proposed as a solution for applications that have limited battery resources and low hardware complexity, thus necessitating a low-complexity encoder. It is now a popular topic in the research community and the past years have seen several implementations. However, current DVC solutions use iteratively decodable channel codes like low-density parity check – accumulate (LDPCA) codes or Turbo codes that have large latencies. In order to make real-time communication possible, the proposed architecture makes efficient use of skip blocks to reduce the bitrate, eliminates the iterative decoding nature of the Wyner-Ziv (WZ) channel and uses a simple data-hiding-based compression algorithm. This drastically cuts down on the time complexity of the decoding procedure while still maintaining a rate–distortion performance better than that of H.264/AVC intra-coding and other current DVC solutions.
Personal Exposure, Behavior, and Work Site Conditions as Determinants of Blood Lead Among Bridge Painters

Bridge painters are exposed to lead during several job tasks performed during the workday, such as sanding, scraping, and blasting. After the Occupational Safety and Health Administration standard was passed in 1993 to control lead exposures among construction workers including bridge painters, this study was conducted among 84 bridge painters in the New England area to determine the significant predictors of blood lead levels. Lead was measured in personal air and hand wipe samples that were collected during the 2-week study period and in blood samples that were collected at the beginning and at the end of the study period. The personal air and hand wipe data as well as personal behaviors (i.e., smoking, washing, wearing a respirator) and work site conditions were analyzed as potential determinants of blood lead levels using linear mixed effects models. Our results show that the mean air lead levels over the 2-week period were the most predictive exposure measure of blood lead levels. Other individual-le...
Slip in Entangled Polymer Melts. 1. General Features

Apparent violations of the no-slip boundary condition are studied using a series of narrow molecular-weight distribution polybutadiene melts (67300 ≤ Mn ≤ 650000), subjected to plane-Couette shearing over clean silica glass surfaces. Simultaneous measurements of slip velocity and shear stress reveal several new molecular characteristics of slip in entangled polymers. log−log plots of slip velocity versus shear stress display three distinct power-law regimes: (i) A weak slip regime at low shear stresses that is characterized by extrapolation/slip lengths b of the order of a few micrometers; (ii) A stick-slip regime at intermediate shear stresses marked by periodic oscillations in slip velocity and shear stress; (iii) A strong slip regime beyond a defined critical shear stress σ*. Slip violations in this last regime are characterized by large slip velocities and massive extrapolation lengths (b∞ ∼ 100−1500 μm). For all polymers studied the critical stress σ* for the weak-to-strong slip transition is found...
Statistical analysis of queueing systems

This paper provides an overview of the literature on statistical analysis of queueing systems. Topics discussed include: model identification, estimation, hypothesis testing and other related aspects. Not all of these statistical problems are covered in books on queueing theory or stochastic processes. The bibliography is not exhaustive, but comprehensive enough to provide sources from the literature.
Observation of doubly excited resonances in the H- ion.

Laser photodetachment on a relativistic H{sup {minus}} beam has revealed several series of resonances in which both electrons are excited. These bound states in the continuum'' appear as dips in the partial production cross sections of various excited states of neutral hydrogen. We present here a detailed account of the experimental observation of the resonances and the results of fits of the measured yields to sets of Fano profiles. A simple analytic formula for the energy-level spacing in this quantum-mechanical three-body system is verified.
A game-theoretic approach for deceiving Remote Operating System Fingerprinting

Remote Operating System (OS) Fingerprinting is a precursory step for launching attacks on the Internet. As a precaution against potential attacks, a remote machine can take a proactive counter-strategy to deceive fingerprinters. This is done by normalizing or mystifying the distinguishing behaviors in the packets. However, the unified modification causes significant performance degradation to benign clients. Using a game-theoretic approach, we propose a selective and dynamic mechanism for counter-fingerprinting. We first model and analyze the interaction between a fingerprinter and a target as a signaling game. We derive the Nash equilibrium strategy profiles based on the information gain analysis. Based on our game results, we design DeceiveGame, a mechanism to prevent or to significantly slow down fingerprinting attacks. Our game-theoretic approach appropriately distinguishes a fingerprinter from a benign client and mystifies packets to confuse the fingerprinter, while minimizing the side effects on benign clients. Our performance analysis shows that DeceiveGame can reduce the probability of success of the fingerprinter significantly, without deteriorating the overall performance of other clients.
A Taxonomy of Race Conditions

Parallel programs are frequently nondeterministic, meaning they can give different results even when using the same input. These different results arise because variations in the timing of the multiple threads cause the threads to access shared resources in different orders. The phenomena that cause the nondeterministic behavior have been (and continue to be) variously referred to as access anomalies, race conditions, or just races. In a 1992 paper, Netzer and Miller (Netzer, R. H. B., and Miller, B. P.ACM Lett. Programming Languages Systems(Mar. 1992), 74?88.) made an important contribution to formalizing and standardizing adjectives that can be applied to “races” (e.g., data race, actual race). In this paper, we continue this effort by presenting a refined taxonomy for races in parallel programs. The terminology we suggest is not always consistent with that used previously, and we describe why we believe our terminology is more descriptive. Appropriate terminology will facilitate discussion of races and improve the usefulness of messages reported by testing and debugging tools.
Chemometric Methods for the Quantification of Crystalline Tacrolimus in Solid Dispersion by Powder X-Ray Diffractrometry

The objective of this study was to develop powder X-ray diffraction (XRPD) chemometric model for quantifying crystalline tacrolimus from solid dispersion (SD). Three SDs (amorphous tacrolimus component) with varying drug to excipient ratios (24.4%, 6.7%, and 4.3% drug) were prepared. Placebo SDs were mixed with crystalline tacrolimus to make their composition equivalent to three SD (crystalline tacrolimus component). These two components were mixed to cover 0%-100% of crystalline drug. Uniformity of the sample mixtures was confirmed by near-infrared chemical imaging. XRPD showed three distinct peaks of crystalline drug at 8.5°, 10.3°, and 11.2° (2θ), which were nonoverlapping with the excipients. Principal component regressions (PCR) and partial least square (PLS) regression used in model development showed high R(2) (>0.99) for all the mixtures. Overall, the model showed low root mean square of standard error, standard error, and bias, which was smaller in PLS than PCR-based model. Furthermore, the model performance was evaluated on the formulations with known percentage of crystalline drug. Model-calculated crystalline drug percentage values were close to actual value. Therefore, these studies strongly suggest the application of chemometric-XRPD models as a quality control tool to quantitatively predict the crystalline drug in the formulation.
Elimination of coupling problems in multistage magnetic amplifiers

When two or more magnetic amplifiers are cascaded, it is generally found that the over-all characteristic cannot be accurately predicted from the individual stages. The cascaded gain is less than the product of the separate gains. There may be abrupt changes in the slope of the cascaded control characteristic, and sometimes ?snap-action? occurs. The over-all transfer function has a time constant lag term for each stage and perhaps additional time constants introduced by the interstage coupling network, for example, where filtering is employed.
The Fe8 molecular magnet: A proving ground for the semiclassical theory of spin

Tunnel splitting oscillations in the molecular magnet Fe8 are best interpreted in terms of interfering spin paths. However, this picture is incomplete and one must also consider discontinuous paths to explain the observations. This is one example of how the Fe8 system has motivated workers to better understand spin coherent state path integrals and the semiclassical limit for spin. As a second example, we discuss the recently derived Bohr-Sommerfeld rule for spin. (© 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)
Radiologic anatomy of the prostate gland: a clinical approach.

The prostate gland is the site of two common and important diseases in aging men: benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer. Efforts to reduce treatment morbidity associated with these conditions, such as erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence, are leading to more patient-specific and disease-targeted therapy. 7 Radiologists have an important role in the assessment of treatment efficacy and complications through the critical evaluation and interdisciplinary discussion of imaging anatomy before and after therapy. This article provides a synopsis of prostatic and periprostatic radiologic anatomy, with an emphasis on those aspects that are clinically relevant to current uroradiologic practice. A variety of imaging modalities are discussed, but particular attention is given to the use of MR imaging. MR imaging has several advantages over other available techniques, including high spatial resolution, superior contrast resolution, multiplanar capability, and large field of view. As a result, MR imaging is the current modality of choice for imaging prostate cancer.
Closing the Evaluation Gap in UbiHealth Research

Much is to be learned from working with health science research teams closely on longer-term projects to evaluate technology-enabled interventions that support health and wellness. The author's participation on a long-term randomized clinical trial, which has required substantial technical development and maintenance efforts, has provided valuable insight into difficult problems of ensuring long-term engagement and making long-term study administration manageable.
TIG3: a regulator of type I transglutaminase activity in epidermis

Keratinocytes undergo a process of terminal cell differentiation that results in the construction of a multilayered epithelium designed to produce a structure that functions to protect the body from dehydration, abrasion and infection. These protective properties are due to the production of a crosslinked layer of protein called the cornified envelope. Type I transglutaminase (TG1), an enzyme that catalyzes the formation of e-(γ-glutamyl)lysine bonds, is the key protein responsible for generation of the crosslinks. The mechanisms that lead to activation of transglutaminase during terminal differentiation are not well understood. We have identified a protein that interacts with TG1 and regulates its activity. This protein, tazarotene-induced gene 3 (TIG3), is expressed in the differentiated layers of the epidermis and its expression is associated with transglutaminase activation and cornified envelope formation. We describe a novel mechanism whereby TIG3 regulates TG1 activity.
Regular exercise prevents sleep deprivation associated impairment of long-term memory and synaptic plasticity in the CA1 area of the hippocampus.

Study objectives The present study aimed to investigate the effects of treadmill exercise on sleep deprivation (S-D)-induced impairment of hippocampal dependent long-term memory, late phase long-term potentiation (L-LTP) and its signaling cascade in the cornu ammonis 1 (CA1) area. Experimental design Animals were conditioned to run on treadmills for 4 weeks then deprived of sleep for 24 h using the columns-in-water method. We tested the effect of exercise and/or S-D on behavioral performance using a post-learning paradigm in the radial arm water maze (RAWM) and in vivo extracellular recording in the CA1 area. The levels of L-LTP-related molecules in the CA1 area were then assessed both before and after L-LTP induction. Measurements and results After 24 h of S-D, spatial long-term memory impairment in the RAWM and L-LTP suppression was prevented by 4 weeks of regular exercise. Regular exercise also restored the S-D-associated decreases in the basal levels of key signaling molecules such as: calcium/calmodulin kinase IV (CaMKIV), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK/ERK), phosphorylated cAMP response element-binding protein (P-CREB) and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), in the CA1 area. After L-LTP induction, regular exercise also prevented the S-D-induced down regulation of BDNF and P-CREB protein levels. Conclusions The results suggest that our exercise protocol may prevent 24-h S-D-induced impairments in long-term memory and LTP by preventing deleterious changes in the basal and post-stimulation levels of P-CREB and BDNF associated with S-D.
Efficient compilation of high-level data parallel algorithms

We present a high-level parallel calculus for nested sequences, NSC, offered as a possible theoretical “core” of an entire class of collection-oriented parallel languages. NSC is based on while-loops as opposed to general recursion. A formal, machine independent definition of the parallel time complexity and the work complexity of programs in NSC is given. Our main results are: (1) We give a translation method for a particular form of recursion, called map-recursion, into NSC, that preserves the time complexity and adds an arbitrarily small overhead to the work complexity, and (2) We give a compilation method for NSC into a very simple vector parallel machine, which preserves the time complexity and again adds an arbitrarily small overhead to the work complexity.
Fracture-dislocations of the cervical spine

Abstract 1. 1. A great number of spinal injuries is found in the cervical region, where the most vital part of the spinal cord is either affected or seriously threatened. The necessity, therefore, for prompt recognition and competent supervision of these injuries is urgent. 2. 2. Fracture dislocations of the cervical spine are often associated with severe cerebral trauma, which not only adds to the gravity of the patient's general condition, but makes recognition of the spinal injury more difficult. Unconsciousness, therefore, is a serious handicap and may be responsible for augmentation of spinal cord injury in many cases. 3. 3. The immediate and post-reduction management of patients with cervical cord injury of varying degree, has been discussed. 4. 4. Skeletal traction has been discussed somewhat in detail, inasmuch as we are of the opinion that this is the method of choice for the reduction of fracture dislocations of the cervical spine.
School performance of children with gestational cocaine exposure

Abstract Objective To document school performance (pass/fail, grade point average, reading level, standardized test scores, absences) of cocaine-exposed and control children. Design A total of 135 children (62 with gestational cocaine exposure and 73 without), who were enrolled at birth, followed prospectively and have completed the fourth grade, were evaluated using report card data, standardized test results, teacher and parent report, and natal and early childhood data. Successful grade progression was defined as completing grades 1 through 4 without being retained. Results Cocaine-exposed (cocaine-exposed presented first) and control children were similar in school performance: successful grade progression (71% vs. 84%), Grade Point Average (2.4±0.8 vs. 2.6±0.7), reading below grade level (30% vs. 28%) and standardized test scores below average (reading [32% vs. 35%], math [57% vs. 44%], science [39% vs. 36%]); all p ≥0.10. Children with successful progression, regardless of cocaine exposure, had higher Full Scale Intelligence Quotient and better home environments. Conclusion In this inner-city cohort, cocaine-exposed and control children had similar poor school performance. Better home environment and higher Intelligence Quotient conferred an advantage for successful grade progression, regardless of gestational cocaine exposure.
Pleistocene Diversification of the Odontophotopsis unicornis Species-Group (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae)

ABSTRACT Many recent studies have suggested that a majority of the species-level diversification in the arid-adapted North American biota was driven by mountain-building events that took place in the late Neogene (15-2 Ma). This assertion was tested with a phylogeographic analysis of the Odontophotopsis unicornis species-group by using the rDNA internal transcribed spacer regions internal transcribed spacer (ITS)1 and ITS2 and a Bayesian methodology. The validity of the two species in this species-group [Odontophotopsis unicornis Schuster and Odontophotopsis erebus (Melander) ] was tested both morphologically and molecularly. The female of O. unicornis was previously unknown and was associated with the male using molecular data. Here, O. unicornis is described and compared with that of its sister species O. erebus. Divergence dates for the O. unicornis species-group were estimated using the programs r8s and BEAST and calibrated with fossils from Dominican amber. These analyses resulted in a well supported...
NMR lineshapes in solid tritium and deuterium-tritium

We report on the NMR free induction decays (FID) from solid tritium (T2), deuterium-tritium (D-T), and H2, HD and D2 containing 2% tritium. The FID in pure components is typically a beat decay for spin concentrations >30%, an exponential for spin concentrations <10%, and a Gaussian or Gaussian-exponential for spin concentrations in between. In mixtures of DT or HD, the deuteron FID is a Gaussian-exponential while the T or H FID is typically a beat decay or Gaussian depending on temperature. The linewidth is shown to consist mostly of intermolecular and intramolecular contributions, with a small component resulting from unpaired hydrogen atoms created by the tritium radioactivity.
New Theory of Mid-latitude Sporadic E

Unified explanations have been derived for the main statistical and structural characteristics of sporadic E.
A pattern recognition approach in X-ray fluorescence analysis

Abstract In many applications of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis, quantitative information on the chemical components of the sample is not of primary concern. Instead, the XRF spectra are used to monitor changes in the composition among samples, or to select and classify samples with similar compositions. We propose in this paper that the use of pattern recognition technique in such applications may be more convenient than traditional quantitative analysis. The pattern recognition technique discussed here involves only one parameter, i.e., the normalized correlation coefficient and can be applied directly to raw data. Its computation is simple and fast, and can be easily carried out on a personal computer. The efficacy of this pattern recognition approach is illustrated with the analysis of experimental XRF spectra obtained from geological and alloy samples.
Motions of Vortices and Circulating Cylinder in Shear Flow with Friction

Abstract On including a frictional drag proportional and opposite to the velocity of a rotating cylinder or vortex placed in a shearing current, it is found that the combined influence of the drag and the rotor force resulting from the net pressure acting on the cylinder (vortex) is to make the cylinder or vortex move in a mean direction at an angle to the mean flow, toward the right if the circulation& Γ around the cylinder is positive, and toward the left if Γ is negative. In addition, the center of the cylinder also undergoes an oscillatory motion about its mean path, and the period of this oscillation and the shape of the path depend both on Γ and on the mean current. The analysis also shows that when the absolute vorticity of the basic flow is not uniform, another force in the direction of the vorticity gradient acts on the vortex, which tends to drive cyclonic vortices toward higher vorticity regions and anticyclonic vortices toward lower vorticity regions.
Exploring the Variety of Parental Talk during Shared Book Reading and Its Contributions to Preschool Language and Literacy: Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort.

Although many studies have explored shared book reading between preschoolers and their families, very few have examined this practice within a large, nationally representative sample. Using the ECLS-B dataset, this study investigated shared reading among nearly 700 families of diverse ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Coding of families’ book-related discussion focused on the variety of types of talk that parents used during reading. Results showed that parents focused primarily on the meaning of the story, with little attention to the code of the text. The range of talk techniques that parents used was largely independent of background factors such as child gender, ethnicity, or age, as well as family home language. A wider variety of meaning-related remarks by parents was linked to more advanced language skills among preschoolers. Findings provide a portrait of the nature of shared book reading discussion among American families, a profile of the background factors that are linked to this talk, and a precise account of the unique contributions of this talk to key emergent language and literacy competencies.
Cementing Acetabular Liners Into Secure Cementless Shells for Polyethylene Wear Provides Durable Mid-term Fixation

Background In a previous experiment studying cementation of liners into cementless acetabular shells, placing grooves in the liner in a spider-web configuration created the greatest construct strength. Scoring shells without screw holes or other texturing helped prevent failure at the shell-cement interface. However, it was unclear whether these practices caused durable constructs in patients.
Photothermal probe beam deflection monitoring of photochemical particulate production

Abstract The photothermal probe beam deflection method was applied to monitor photochemical particulation induced by a pulsed N 2 laser in a CS 2 vapor. The signal indicates a fast heat release due to collisional relaxation of excited CS 2 , and a slow heat release that can be ascribed to the aggregation of carbon monosulfide. The measured signal was modelled by solving the heat conduction equation for the geometry employed. This yields a value for the nucleation and growth time in the microsecond range when literature values for the collisional deactivation and the thermal diffusivity of CS 2 are used.
Effects of Large Deflection and Transverse Shear on Response of Rectangular Symmetric Composite Laminates Subjected to Acoustic Excitation

Nonlinear equations of motion of symmetrically laminated anisotropic plates are derived accounting for von Karman strains. The effect of transverse shear is included in the formulation. Using a single-mode Galerkin procedure, the nonlinear modal equation is obtained. The direct equivalent linearization method is employed for solution of this equation. The response to acoustic excitation of moderately thick composite panels is studied. Further, the effects of transverse shear on large deflection vibration of laminates under random excitation are studied. Mean-square deflections and mean-square inplane stresses are obtained for symmetric graphite-epoxy laminates. Using equilibrium equations and the continuity requirements, the mean-square transverse shear stresses are calculated. The results obtained will be useful in the sonic fatigue design of composite aircraft panels. The analysis is presented in detail for simply supported plates. The analogous equations for a clamped case are also obtained.
Results of needle localized breast biopsy in women under age 50

Background The use of screening mammography in women aged 40 to 50 years is controversial because of a relative lack of data demonstrating survival benefit for this segment of the population. Patients and methods The charts of 809 consecutive women who underwent needle localized breast biopsy over a 61/2-year period were reviewed to determine the effect of age on the biopsy results. Patient ages ranged from 27 to 91 years (mean 56). Results Two hundred nineteen (27%) of the 809 needle localized breast biopsies were malignant, with a mean tumor diameter of 1.46 cm. This procedure identified malignancy in 3 (5%) of 60 patients under age 40 , and in 32 (15%) of 207 patients aged 40 to 49 years. Malignancy was significantly more likely in patients 50 years of age or older and was found in 184 (34%) of the 542 ( P , 33% of all patients undergoing the procedure were under age 50. Conclusions Without screening mammography, the diagnosis of breast cancer would have been delayed in 32 women aged 40 to 50, bd15% of the total diagnosed with nonpalpable breast cancer in this study. We recommend the use of screening mammography in this age group.
Analysis of clonazepam in a tablet dosage form using smallbore HPLC.

A stability indicating, reversed phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method utilizing a smallbore HPLC column has been developed for the determination of clonazepam in a commercial tablet dosage form. The use of a small bore column results in a substantial solvent savings, as well as a greater mass sensitivity, especially in the identification of degradation peaks in a chromatogram. The method involves ultraviolet detection at 254 nm and utilized a 150 x 3.0 mm i.d. column packed with 3 microm octyldecylsilane particles with a mobile phase of water methanol acetonitrile (40:30:30, v/v/v) at a flow rate of 400 microl min(-1) at ambient temperature, with and without the use of 1,2-dichlorobenzene as the internal standard. The current USP method for the analysis of clonazepam using a 300 x 3.9 mm i.d. conventional octyldecylsilane column was utilized as a comparison to the smallbore method. The retention times for clonazepam and the internal standard on the 3.0 mm i.d. column were 4.0 and 12.5 min, respectively. The intra- and interday RSDs on the 3.0 mm i.d. column were < 0.55% (n =4) using the internal standard, and < 0.19% (n = 4) without the internal standard at the lower limit of the standard curve, 50 microg ml(-1) and had a limit of detection of 24 ng ml(-1). The assay using the 3.0 mm i.d. column was shown to be suitable for measuring clonazepam in a tablet dosage form.
Ultimate strength and morphological structure of eutectic bonds

Eutectic bonding is a technique commonly used in the electronics industry to fasten silicon chips to substrates coated with gold. The reverse process of bonding small gold tabs to large semiconductor substrates is also possible. Gold plated Kovar tabs have been bonded to a hot pressed silicon-germanium alloy (80 wt % Si) and to single crystals of silicon and germanium. The joining alloys used were gold-silicon (2 wt % Si) and gold-germanium (22 wt % Ge) which melt at 370‡C and 356‡C, respectively. Ultimate tensile loads have been measured and found to range from approximately 7.5 to l8 kilograms. Low tensile loads were associated with semiconductor surfaces which showed little evidence of dissolution, apparently protected by a surface oxide. A preliminary etch in 10% HF increased failure load considerably. Fracture then took place within the semiconductor material. Low strength bonds exhibit a lamellar eutectic structure, while high strength bonds exhibit lace-like grain boundary penetration of gold. Bonds on single crystals have considerable microstructural detail. Some show evidence of dendritic solidification, while others show evidence of eutectic solidification.
Cocaine use and its rheumatic manifestations: a case report and discussion

Cocaine use can be associated with a wide spectrum of rheumatic manifestations. It poses a diagnostic challenge as the patients usually withhold the information of cocaine use, and no serological tests are available to establish this diagnosis. We report a patient with vasculopathic syndrome secondary to cocaine use. Despite initial denial of drug abuse, skin biopsy suggested the diagnosis, which was subsequently confirmed by urine drug testing. Differentiating cocaine-associated pseudovasculitis from true vasculitis is necessary, as conventional treatment is usually ineffective without complete abstinence from cocaine use and may be associated with significant morbidity as well as mortality.
Rapid acoustic transmission loss prediction using an operationally adaptive system

New fusion methods for an operationally adaptive (OA) system for prediction of acoustic transmission loss (TL) in the atmosphere are developed in this paper. The OA system uses expert neural network predictors, each corresponding to a specific range of source elevation. The outputs of the expert predictors are combined using two new nonlinear fusion methods. Using this prediction methodology the computational intractability of traditional acoustic propagation models is eliminated. The proposed fusion methods are tested on a synthetically generated acoustic data set for a wide range of geometric, source, and environmental conditions.