cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Sequence Analyses and Phylogenetic Characterization of the ZIP Family of Metal Ion Transport Proteins

Several novel but similar heavy metal ion transporters, Zrt1, Zrt2, Zip1-4 and Irt1, have recently been characterized. Zrt1, Zrt2 and Zip1-4 are probably zinc transporters in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Arabidopsis thaliana whereas Irt1 appears to play a role in iron uptake in A. thaliana. The family of proteins including these functionally characterized transporters has been designated the Zrt- and Irt-related protein (ZIP) family. In this report, ZIP family proteins in the current databases were identified and multiply aligned, and a phylogenetic tree for the family was constructed. A family specific signature sequence was derived, and the available sequences were analyzed for residues of potential functional significance. A fully conserved intramembranous histidyl residue, present within a putative amphipathic, alpha-helical, transmembrane spanning segment, was identified which may serve as a part of an intrachannel heavy metal ion binding site. The occurrence of a proposed extramembranal metal binding motif (H X H X H) was examined in order to evaluate its potential functional significance for various members of the family. The computational analyses reported in this topical review should serve as a guide to future researchers interested in the structure-function relationships of ZIP family proteins.
Quantification of neurosteroids during pregnancy using selective ion monitoring mass spectrometry

Analytical techniques used to quantify neurosteroids in biological samples are often compromised by non-specificity and limited dynamic range which can result in erroneous results. A relatively rapid and inexpensive gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed to simultaneously measure nine neurosteroids, including allopregnanolone, estradiol, and progesterone, as well as 25-hydroxy-vitamin D3 in plasma samples collected from adult women subjects during and after pregnancy. Sample preparation involved solid-phase extraction and derivatization, followed by automated injection on a GC equipped with a mass selective detector (MSD) operated in single ion monitoring (SIM) mode to yield a run time of less than 11min. Method detection limits for all neurosteroids ranged from 30 to 200pg/mL (parts per trillion), with coefficients of variation that ranged from 3% to 5% based on intra-assay comparisons run in triplicate. Although concentrations of estradiol measured by chemiluminescent immunoassay (CIA) were consistent with values determined by GC-MS values, CIA yielded considerable higher values of progesterone, suggesting antibody cross reactions resulting from low specificity. Mean neurosteroid levels and representative time-course data demonstrate the ability of the method to quantify changes in multiple neurosteroids during pregnancy, including rapid declines in neurosteroid levels associated with delivery. This simplified GC-MS method holds particular promise for research and clinical laboratories that require simultaneous quantification of multiple neurosteroids, but lack the resources and expertise to support advanced liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry facilities.
Effect of Purine and Pyrimidine Analogues on Growth and RNA Metabolism in the Soybean Hypocotyl-the Selective Action of 5-Fluorouracil

The effects of several base analogues and cycloheximide on RNA synthesis, protein synthesis, and cell elongation were studied in excised soybean hypocotyl. None of the pyrimidine analogues tested affected growth or protein synthesis; only 5-fluorouracil appreciably inhibited RNA synthesis. 8-Azaguanine and 6-methylpurine markedly inhibited RNA and protein synthesis and cell elongation. Cycloheximide effectively inhibited both cell elongation and protein synthesis. The results show that 5-fluorouracil selectively inhibited ribosomal and soluble RNA synthesis without affecting the synthesis of D-RNA. These results indicate that the requirement for RNA synthesis to support continued protein synthesis and cell elongation is restricted to the synthesis of D-RNA.5-Fluorouracil was incorporated into all classes of RNA in a form believed to be 5-fluorouridylic acid. Cycloheximide markedly inhibited the accumulation of ribosomal RNA, but the results indicate that CH did not inhibit, per se, the synthesis of ribosomal RNA. The accumulation of newly synthesized D-RNA was only slightly affected by cycloheximide. These results show that the inhibition of cell elongation by cycloheximide correlates with the inhibition of protein synthesis, but not with the effect on RNA metabolism.
Juglone disrupts root plasma membrane H+-ATPase activity and impairs water uptake, root respiration, and growth in soybean (Glycine max) and corn (Zea mays)

Juglone is phytotoxic, but the mechanisms of growth inhibition have not been fully explained. Previous studies have proposed that disruption of electron transport functions in mitochondria and chloroplasts contribute to observed growth reduction in species exposed to juglone. In studies reported here, corn and soybean seedlings grown in nutrient solution amended with 10, 50, or 100 μM juglone showed significant decreases in root and shoot dry weights and lengths with increasing concentrations. However, no significant differences in leaf chlorophyll fluorescence or CO2-dependent leaf oxygen evolution were observed, even in seedlings that were visibly affected. Disruption of root oxygen uptake was positively correlated with increasing concentrations of juglone, suggesting that juglone may reach mitochondria in root cells. Water uptake and acid efflux also decreased for corn and soybean seedlings treated with juglone, suggesting that juglone may affect metabolism of root cells by disrupting root plasma membrane function. Therefore, the effect of juglone on H+-ATPase activity in corn and soybean root microsomes was tested. Juglone treatments from 10 to 1000 μM significantly reduced H+-ATPase activity compared to controls. This inhibition of H+-ATPase activity and observed reduction of water uptake offers a logical explanation for previously documented phytotoxicity of juglone. Impairment of this enzyme's activity could affect plant growth in a number of ways because proton-pumping in root cells drives essential plant processes such as solute uptake and, hence, water uptake.
Pheochromocytoma of the urinary bladder: a systematic review of the contemporary literature.

Pheochromocytoma (paraganglioma) of the urinary bladder is a rare tumor. Herein we sought to review the contemporary literature on pheochromocytomas of the urinary bladder in order to further illustrate the presentation, treatment options and outcomes of patients diagnosed with these tumors. A comprehensive review of the current literature was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines by accessing the NCBI PubMed database and using the search terms “paraganglioma, pheochromocytoma, bladder.” This search resulted in the identification of 186 articles published between January 1980 and April 2012 of which 80 articles were ultimately included in our analysis. Pheochromocytomas usually occurred in young adult Caucasians (mean age, 43.3 years; range,11–84 years). According to the literature, the most common symptoms and signs of pheochromocytomas of the urinary bladder were hypertension, headache, and hematuria. Of the 77 cases that commented on catecholamine production, 65 patients had biochemically functional tumors. Approximately 20% of patients were treated by transurethral resection alone, 70% by partial cystectomy and 10% by radical cystectomy. The 75 patients with follow-up information had a mean follow-up of 35 months. At the time of last follow-up, 15 (14.2%) had disease recurrence, 10 (9.4%) had metastasis, and 65 (61.3%) were alive. Pheochromocytomas of the urinary bladder tend to be functional and occur mostly in young adult Caucasians. Patients with localized tumors have an extremely favorable prognosis and may be managed by less aggressive modalities, whereas patients with metastatic disease have a significant reduction in survival rates despite aggressive treatment.
Immunologic reconstitution of a patient with combined immunodeficiency disease

Transplantation of bone marrow cells from a matched sibling donor to a 4-month-old Negro boy with a severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome resulted in immunologic reconstitution. Severe GVH disease was avoided by grafting a small number of carefully aspirated marrow cells from an HL-A-identical female sibling. A mild GVH reaction appeared 12 days after transplantation but subsequently subsided. The patient was discharged 53 days after transplantation; at this time the quantitative serum immunoglobulins and the in vitro responses to PHA stimulation showed clear evidence of immunologic reconstitution. The patient remains well and has granulocytes with drumsticks in the peripheral blood, clearly indicating the presence of donor-derived cells.
Biological precursors of glycine.

Abstract Compounds that could be considered to be precursors of glycine were tested by determining the excretion of labeled hippuric acid after administration of the isotopically-labeled compound together with sodium benzoate. Compounds that yielded glycine in considerable amount were DL-threonine, DL-allothreonine and glycolic acid. Only traces of glycine were derived from lactic acid, fructose and the β-carbon of serine. The labeling of the glycine in hippuric acid following injection of glycine- 14 C- 15 N showed that the amino acid was used intact in the animal. A precursor of glycine for the animal must, therefore, supply the molecule of glycine as a whole and the amino acids serine, threonine, and dietary glycine, appear to be the only known natural metabolites that can fulfil this requirement.
Robust speech recognition by normalization of the acoustic space

Several algorithms are presented that increase the robustness of SPHINX, the CMU (Carnegie Mellon University) continuous-speech speaker-independent recognition systems, by normalizing the acoustic space via minimization of the overall VQ distortion. The authors propose an affine transformation of the cepstrum in which a matrix multiplication perform frequency normalization and a vector addition attempts environment normalization. The algorithms for environment normalization are efficient and improve the recognition accuracy when the system is tested on a microphone other than the one on which it was trained. The frequency normalization algorithm applies a different warping on the frequency axis to different speakers and it achieves a 10% decrease in error rate. >
We Begin Our Conversation: Let's Talk About Education for Reference Librarians

In future issues, this column will explore new directions in the teaching of reference. In the summer of 1987, I taught a graduate reference course for the first time, then a requirement in the Gra...
WE-E-134-11: Ultrasound Cardiac Strain Imaging of Left Ventricle Using Lagrangian Tracking

Purpose: Lagrangian description of myocardial tissue deformation is essential for accurate regional strain estimation of left ventricular wall over time. Failure to couple the estimated displacement and strain information with the correct myocardial tissue structure will lead to erroneous displacement and strain estimation. Methods: In this study, a method to obtain Lagrangian based deformation tracking is presented. Myocardial tissue is divided into a fixed number of pixels whose deformation is tracked over the cardiac cycle. An algorithm that utilizes a polar‐grid generated between the estimated endocardial and epicardial contours for the left ventricle in cardiac short axis images is proposed to ensure Lagrangian description. Displacement estimations from consecutive radiofrequency frames were then mapped onto the polar grid to obtain a distribution of the cumulated displacement that is mapped to the polar grid over time. Results: This method was validated against a finite element analysis (FEA) based canine heart model coupled to an ultrasound simulation program. Segmental analysis of the accumulated displacement and strain over cardiac cycles show excellent agreement between the ideal Results obtained directly from the FEA model and our Lagrangian approach for deformation mapping. Eulerian based estimation results on the other hand, show significant deviation from the ideal Results. A comparison of the displacement and strain estimated on parasternal short axis view on a healthy volunteer is also presented. Conclusion: Lagrangian deformation tracking using a polar grid demonstrates accurate results when validated against finite element cardiac model. In addition to the cardiac application, this approach can also be applied to transverse scans of arteries.
Heats of adsorption and site-energy distributions for Ar and N2 on sublimated NaCl

Abstract A sodium chloride particulate has been studied which possesses only residual surface heterogeneities. Freshly prepared particles are nearly spherical in shape and exist in a metastable glassy state. Subsequent to double heat treatment at 300°C under anhydrous conditions, particles are shown to have changed into the normal crystalline state. This change is accompanied by a 16% reduction in surface area, a reduction in heterogeneity, and minor modifications in particle morphology. Extensive adsorption measurements with Ar and N2 at four temperatures between 72.0–90.1°K permitted determination of isosteric heats of adsorption and site-energy distributions. Experimental zero-coverage heats for Ar and N2 were found to be 1.64 ± 0.08 and 3.04 ± 0.13 kcal/mole, respectively. Revised theoretical limiting heats were obtained from potential-energy curves utilizing more plausible estimates for the dispersion coefficients than those provided by the Kirkwood-Muller approximation. The values of 1.08 and 2.72 kcal/mole for Ar and N2 lie below the experimental heats. The problem of predicting limiting heats is only partially solved.
US Mortality in an International Context: Age Variations

Compared to other developed countries, the United States ranks poorly in terms of life expectancy at age 50. We seek to shed light on the US's low life expectancy ranking by comparing the age-specific death rates of 18 developed countries at older ages. A striking pattern emerges: between ages 40 and 75, US all-cause mortality rates are among the poorest in the set of comparison countries. The US position improves dramatically after age 75 for both males and females. We consider four possible explanations of the age patterns revealed by this analysis: (1) access to health insurance; (2) international differences in patterns of smoking; (3) age patterns of health care system performance; and (4) selection processes. We find that health insurance and smoking are not plausible sources of this age pattern. While we cannot rule out selection, we present suggestive evidence that an unusually vigorous deployment of life-saving technologies by the US health care system at very old ages is contributing to the age-pattern of US mortality rankings. Differences in obesity distributions are likely to be making a moderate contribution to the pattern but uncertainty about the risks associated with obesity prevents a precise assessment.
Population Distribution and Spatial Structure in Transitional Chinese Cities: A Study of Nanjing

Two geographers use population surface model techniques to analyze the distribution of population in Chinese cities. Focusing on Nanjing, they utilize detailed urban land use and building distribution data to develop a productive alternative method to reveal spatial variations in the distribution of inhabitants. The findings indicate that despite suburbanization, Nanjing remains a compact city with a population density that declines rapidly as distance from its central business district increases. Also, suburbanization has been limited to an inner area where population is densely distributed while commercial and office development is less prominent. Lastly, commercial activities influence the distribution of urban inhabitants and suburbanization more significantly than industrial development in suburbia. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: O15, O18, R12, R14. 9 figures, 3 tables, 37 references.
The US National Park Service's partnership parks: collaborative responses to middle landscapes

Abstract Historically, the US National Park Service (NPS) has been an uneasy, often unwelcome, presence in rural communities. Broader recent acceptance of non-traditional types of national park units has opened the door to more positive collaborative relationships between the NPS and rural communities. I present three case studies of ‘partnership parks’ that vary from extensive federal land ownership while retaining traditional land uses to virtually no federal land ownership where achievement of unit goals rests on developing locally collaborative relationships. Reasons for the change are presented, and lessons for new partnership park units are explored.
The Wireless Control Network: Synthesis and robustness

We consider the problem of stabilizing a plant with a network of resource constrained wireless nodes. Traditional networked control schemes are designed with one of the nodes in the network acting as a dedicated controller, while the other nodes simply route information to and from the controller and the plant. We introduce the concept of a Wireless Control Network (WCN) where the entire network itself acts as the controller. Specifically, at each time-step, each node updates its internal state to be a linear combination of the states of the nodes in its neighborhood. We show that this causes the entire network to behave as a linear dynamical system, with sparsity constraints imposed by the network topology. We then provide a numerical design procedure to determine the appropriate linear combinations to be applied by each node so that the transmissions of the nodes closest to the actuators will stabilize the plant. We also show how our design procedure can be modified to maintain mean square stability under packet drops in the network.
Modeling breast cancer in the rat: a method to produce knockout rats

The rat is an important murine model for biomedical research. It is a key model for many diseases including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, neurological diseases, and certain cancers such as breast cancer. Through much work the rat genomic toolbox is almost full and includes dense genetic maps, an approximately sevenfold genomic sequence and transgenic technologies. A key missing tool was the ability to produce knockout rats. This was in part due to the fact that despite over a decade of work embryonic stem cells could not be made to go germline. In order to approach this problem we developed a unique technology that combined the use of germline mutagenesis with a yeast truncation gap repair assay to select gene-specific knockout rats. We first developed the protocols to efficiently mutagenize the rat genome with ethyl nitroso urea. In order to establish knockout rats for specifically chosen genes, we bred ethyl nitroso urea mutagenized males with untreated females to produce F1 pups. These pre-weanling pups were screened for functional mutations (e.g. nonsense mutations, out of frame-shifts mutations, etc.). This was accomplished using a highly efficient and economical yeast gap-repair truncation assay. For this assay either genomic DNA or cDNA is produced from tail clips of rat pups. This DNA is then used as a PCR template to amplify the targeted gene sequence. This unpurified PCR product together with our reporter vector is cotransformed into yeast that does not express ADE2. The yeast through homologous recombination clones the PCR product into the non-integrated ADE2 reporter plasmid. In scoring the yeast plates, a negative plate has mostly white large colonies and a plate positive for a knockout allele has one-half red colonies (rat) and one-half white colonies. We have used this technology to knockout two breast cancer suppressor genes, Brca1 and Brca2. The technology described can be applied to most rapidly breeding species ranging from zebra fish to mice.
Collective (Team) Learning Process Models: A Conceptual Review

Teams have become a key resource for learning and accomplishing work in organizations. The development of collective learning in specific contexts is not well understood, yet has become critical to organizational success. The purpose of this conceptual review is to inform human resource development (HRD) practice about specific team behaviors and processes affecting team learning and to stimulate further research about team learning in specific contexts. This article is conceptually structured around a guiding theory of learning as a sociocognitive process explored by four competing theoretical models at the mezzo-level of collective learning, teams. Constructs common to each of the proposed models are discussed to determine if a common language for collective learning is feasible. A synthesis of existing ideas is developed in the hopes of creating a new formulation on the topic of team learning, resulting in a new theoretical model.
Fiber Composition and Oxidative Capacity of Hamster Skeletal Muscle

SUMMARY The hamster is a valuable biological model for physiological investigation. Despite the obvious importance of the integration of cardiorespiratory and muscular system function, little information is available regarding hamster muscle fiber type and oxidative capacity, both of which are key determinants of muscle function. The purpose of this investigation was to measure immunohistochemically the relative composition and size of muscle fibers composed of types I, IIA, IIX, and IIB fibers in hamster skeletal muscle. The oxidative capacity of each muscle was also assessed by measuring citrate synthase activity. Twenty-eight hindlimb, respiratory, and facial muscles or muscle parts from adult (144‐ 147 g bw) male Syrian golden hamsters ( n � 3) were dissected bilaterally, weighed, and frozen for immunohistochemical and biochemical analysis. Combining data from all 28 muscles analyzed, type I fibers made up 5% of the muscle mass, type IIA fibers 16%, type IIX fibers 39%, and type IIB fibers 40%. Mean fiber cross-sectional area across muscles was 1665 � 328 � m 2 for type I fibers, 1900 � 417 � m 2 for type IIA fibers, 3230 � 784 � m 2 for type IIX fibers, and 4171 � 864 � m 2 for type IIB fibers. Citrate synthase activity was most closely related to the population of type IIA fibers ( r � 0.68, p � 0.0001) and was in the rank order of
Quantitative density fluctuation measurements utilizing quadrature reflectometers on DIII-D

Fixed-frequency reflectometers utilizing quadrature phase detection are employed on DIII-D to study both coherent and turbulent density fluctuations. For coherent fluctuations, the reconstructed phase information successfully identifies MHD/coherent mode activity, e.g. tearing modes, compressional Alfven eigenmodes, etc. For an m = 3/n = 2 tearing mode, a basic 1D phase screen model is applied to infer fluctuation levels, and the result is consistent with the beam emission spectroscopy (BES) measurement. For turbulent fluctuation studies, a 2D full-wave code (Valeo E.J., Kramer G.J. and Nazikian R. 2002 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 44 L1) is applied to interpret reflectometry data obtained in the H-mode edge pedestal region to deduce density fluctuation levels. The measurement is simulated using realistic geometry, plasma conditions and antenna patterns. Comparison of the fluctuation level deduced from the 2D code with BES measurement shows reasonable agreement.
Living with Uncertainty after March 11, 2011

One year has passed since the earthquake and tsunami in Tōhoku. How should we as scholars approach, think about, and teach about the disaster? In generations hence, will 2011 be treated as a historical turning point on a par with 1945? Will it appear more significant than the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923, despite the far greater loss of life in that event? We have a long process of analysis and contextualization ahead before the traumatic events of March 2011 have sedimented into history. Meanwhile, the nuclear disaster continues. When the Japanese government announced in December that complete decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi reactors would take forty years, it became clear that even in the most optimistic scenario the world would be living with this disaster for a long time to come.
Catecholaminergic cell lines from the brain and adrenal glands of tyrosine hydroxylase-SV40 T antigen transgenic mice

Brain (CATH.a) and adrenal (PATH.1 and PATH.2) cell lines have been established that synthesize abundant dopamine and norepinephrine and express the appropriate catecholaminergic biosynthetic enzymes, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and dopamine beta-hydroxylase. The lines were derived from TH-positive tumors in transgenic mice carrying the SV40 T antigen oncogene under the transcriptional control of 773 base pairs of 5' flanking sequences from the rat TH gene. Although the lines continue to express T antigen, they exhibit neuronal properties such as neurofilaments and synaptophysin and lack glial intermediate filaments. Although in vivo TH is only expressed in postmitotic neurons in the CNS, the CATH.a line demonstrates that TH expression and continued cell division are not incompatible after oncogenic transformation.
PRICE COMPETITION IN U.S. BREWING

This study utilizes a brand-level dataset that captures a unique natural experiment, a 100% increase in the excise tax, to evaluate different pricing models in the U.S. beer industry. To assess the plausibility of different models, the increase in marginal cost resulting from the tax increase is exploited: observed prices in the post-increase period are compared to the prices that should be observed under various pricing models. Three types of models are analyzed: Bertrand-Nash, leadership, and collusion. Results indicate that extreme cases of collusion can be confidently ruled out while several models may explain the observed prices equally well.
Potential impacts of climate change on reservoir services and management approaches.

Reservoirs are important resources for supporting economic growth and provide numerous cultural and ecological services. Currently, loss of storage capacity due to sedimentation, water quality degradation, and toxins from blue-green algal blooms are issues that threaten reservoir services. Climate change is hypothesized to exacerbate these problems by increasing sediment and nutrient export from the surrounding watersheds, changing flow regimes, and increasing summer water temperatures. This report adds to the reservoir management literature by synthesizing the disparate literature on potential impacts of climate change to reservoir services and reviewing both watershed and in-reservoir management strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change. In addition, this study can serve as a resource for managers who seek to study the impacts of climate change on reservoirs by compiling tools and data sources that have been successfully used to study the impacts of climate change on reservoir systems.
Making inclusive education happen: the impact of initial teacher education in remote Aboriginal communities

This paper discusses the Growing Our Own initial teacher education (ITE) pilot programme which allowed Indigenous assistant teachers in their own communities to study to become a teacher with the support of a non-Indigenous teacher. There are five sections in this paper, including: (1) the underpinning theory and philosophy of one Australian university's Inclusive Education paper in their ITE course; (2) how these principles informed the Growing Our Own pilot which has made ITE accessible to Indigenous Australians in remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, Australia; (3) elements of the programme which have led to it becoming systemically sustainable; (4) how it has enhanced the provision of authentic education for Aboriginal children, making it accessible to them; and (5) the unforeseen positive outcome of non-Indigenous initial preservice teachers being provided with opportunities to complete professional experience in remote Aboriginal communities.
Modulation of ecdysis in the moth Manduca sexta: the roles of the suboesophageal and thoracic ganglia.

The sequential behaviours shown by insects at ecdysis are due to the sequential release of various hormones, but the transition from one phase to the next can be fine-tuned by inhibitory influences. The ecdysis sequence in the moth Manduca sexta was initiated by injecting sensitive animals with the neuropeptide ecdysis-triggering hormone (ETH). Exposure to ETH stimulates the release of eclosion hormone (EH) which, in turn, activates a set of neurons containing crustacean cardioactive peptide (CCAP) by elevating their levels of intracellular cyclic GMP. We characterized a set of non-CCAP containing neurons that also appear to be EH targets because of their response to cyclic GMP at ecdysis. The neurons did not display leucokinin-, diuretic-hormone- or FMRFamide-like immunoreactivity. They are probably the bursicon-containing cells described previously. After release of EH, there is a transient inhibition of the abdominal centers responsible for ecdysis. Transection experiments suggested that this suppression is via descending inhibitory units from the suboesophageal and thoracic ganglia. The duration of this inhibition appears to depend on the levels of cyclic GMP and can be extended by pharmacologically suppressing cyclic GMP breakdown. We further found that brief exposure to CO2 caused premature ecdysis. Since the CO2 treatment was effective only after EH release, it probably acts by suppressing descending inhibition. Studies on adult eclosion suggest that CO2, given at the appropriate time, can uncouple the basic larval motor program from modulatory influences provided by the adult pterothoracic ganglion. CO2 therefore appears to be a novel and non-invasive tool for studies of ecdysis behavior in insects.
Numerical modeling of stress corrosion cracking of polymers

Abstract A unified chemo-mechanical model is developed to simulate stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of high density polyethylene (HDPE) in a chlorinated environment. The model consists of three components, each of which captures a critical aspect of SCC. A chemical kinetics–diffusion model is used to simulate the reactions and migration of chemical substances. The fracture behavior of HDPE is captured by a cohesive crack model, in which the cohesive properties are considered to be dependent on the extent of the chemical degradations. The time-dependent creep behavior of the bulk HDPE material is described by an elastic–viscoplastic constitutive model. This chemo-mechanical model is numerically implemented for finite element (FE) analysis of SCC of HDPE structures. The simulations show two different failure mechanisms depending on the applied stress level: at high stresses, the failure is primarily due to the excessive plastic deformation whereas at low stresses the chemical reactions and diffusion are the dominant factors leading to failure. In addition, examination of detailed crack growth kinetics reveals that at low stress levels the disinfectant concentration has a significant effect on the crack growth behavior through the relative dominance between the chemical reaction and diffusion processes.
Pheromone production by male Anastrepha suspensa (Diptera: Tephritidae) under natural light cycles in greenhouse studies

Collections of volatiles were obtained from calling males of the Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa (Loew), under natural light cycles in tests conducted in a greenhouse and compared with collections from males tested under standard laboratory conditions. There was no effect on total amount of pheromone or in amounts of individual components released between 0400 and 2100 hours (EST); i.e., from 2 h before until 2 h after a 12-h photophase. Pheromone periodicity under either regime was fit best by a bimodal distribution, but there were shifts in times of peak production. Under laboratory conditions, there was a small early morning peak at the start of photophase (0600 hours) and a broad afternoon peak ≍4 h before the end of photophase. Under greenhouse conditions, there was a small, broad early morning peak at 0700 hours and a sharp afternoon peak at ≍1700 hours. Flies in the laboratory released significantly higher amounts of volatiles from 1230 to 1630 hours, whereas those in the greenhouse produced Significantly higher levels from 1700 to 2100 hours. Under greenhouse conditions, pheromone production was positively correlated with relative humidity and negatively correlated with light intensity, as indicated by overall light levels measured in lux. It is speculated that high light intensities and low relative humidity, to which males under natural light cycles are exposed, inhibit pheromone production during the middle part of the day, and that environmental variables work in concert with circadian rhythm to control periodicity of pheromone release.
Thermal classification of an epoxy integral insulation

Epoxy integral insulation applied in powdered form by means of a spray or fluidized bed process to fractional and integral H.P. electric motors is replacing conventional ground insulation at a rapid rate. Since many of these motors with integral insulation are destined for the appliance market, the Underwriters' Laboratories, Incorporated responded to requests for U.L. listing of such appliances by instituting: 1. A test program for determining the suitability and thermal classification of the epoxy integral insulations — to be carried out by the epoxy resin vendor, and 2. a rigid inspection program of the motor manufacturer's insulating process and finished motors.
Real-time radar signal processing using GPGPU (general-purpose graphic processing unit)

This study introduces a practical approach to develop real-time signal processing chain for general phased array radar on NVIDIA GPUs(Graphical Processing Units) using CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) libraries such as cuBlas and cuFFT, which are adopted from open source libraries and optimized for the NVIDIA GPUs. The processed results are rigorously verified against those from the CPUs. Performance benchmarked in computation time with various input data cube sizes are compared across GPUs and CPUs. Through the analysis, it will be demonstrated that GPGPUs (General Purpose GPU) real-time processing of the array radar data is possible with relatively low-cost commercial GPUs.
The Benefits of Faculty Development Span Far Beyond Teaching Skills.

To the Editor: I am writing to commend Sicat and colleagues for their innovative interprofessional Faculty Learning Community (FLC) model.1 This article highlights a unique approach to faculty development that integrates various health care professionals with diverse levels of teaching experience and training backgrounds. As a pharmacy resident involved in an interprofessional faculty development fellowship, I feel there should push to have more residents involved in this type of training. After all, residents are positioned in a prime transitional phase between learner and teacher. Many of us are interested in careers in academia, and the fellowship allows us to learn basic faculty development principles in an interprofessional environment. Our fellowship consists of pharmacy residents, geriatric, family medicine faculty development, and internal medicine medical education fellows. The time we spend together allows us to break down communication barriers, present learning objectives that appeal to a multidisciplinary group, and collaborate in scholarly activity. The potential returns of interdisciplinary and interprofessional collaboration to both teacher and learner are endless, and the root benefits lie in the relationships established as a result of such models. Learners who partake in interdisciplinary training not only learn about other health care disciplines, but also embrace this environment in the workplace.2 The early integration facilitated by models like the FLC allows student and resident pharmacists to develop communication skills that can be used for the rest of their careers. More importantly, a collaborative and comprehensive team approach to health care will ultimately improve patient outcomes. The other aspect of the FLC that strongly resonated with me was the coordination of campus-wide events to include faculty members of various training backgrounds. This can be particularly beneficial to pharmacy faculty members who have significantly more training in clinical pharmacy than in teaching.
Medical fictions: the case of the cursing marquise and the (re)construction of Gilles de la Tourette's Syndrome.

Les neurologues Gilles de la Tourette et J.M. Charcot ont selectionne l'exemple de la marquise de Dampierre pour decrire son affection nerveuse caracterisee par une incoordination motrice
Equilibration of a quantum field in de Sitter space-time

We address the following question: To what extent can a quantum field tell if it has been placed in de Sitter space? Our approach is to use the techniques of nonequilibrium quantum field theory to compute the time evolution of a state which starts off in flat space for (conformal) times $\ensuremath{\eta}l{\ensuremath{\eta}}_{0}$ and then evolves in a de Sitter background turned on instantaneously at $\ensuremath{\eta}={\ensuremath{\eta}}_{0}$. We find that the answer depends on what quantities one examines. We study a range of them, all based on two-point correlation functions, and analyze which ones approach the standard Bunch--Davies values over time. The outcome of this analysis suggests that the nature of the equilibration process in this system is similar to that in more familiar systems.
Insertion of cytoplasmic tyrosine sequences into the nonphagocytic receptor Fc gamma RIIB establishes phagocytic function

Receptors for the Fc domain of IgG on cells of hematopoietic lineage perform important functions, including stimulation of the ingestion of IgG-coated cells. In examining the function of Fc gamma receptor isoforms by transfection into COS-1 cells, we have observed that Fc gamma RIIA induces the binding and phagocytosis of IgG-sensitized RBCs (EA) and that transfected COS-1 cells can serve as a model for examining the molecular structures involved in mediating a phagocytic signal. We now report that COS-1 cell transfectants expressing the isoforms Fc gamma RIIB1 and Fc gamma RIIB2 and a Fc gamma RIIA mutant without a cytoplasmic tail efficiently bind EA but do not mediate their phagocytosis. Furthermore, wild-type Fc gamma RIIA, but not Fc gamma RIIB1 or Fc gamma RBII2, was phosphorylated on tyrosine upon receptor activation. Tyrphostin 23, which alters tyrosine kinase activity, inhibited the phagocytosis of EA and reduced the phosphorylation of Fc gamma RIIA on tyrosine. Fc gamma RIIB1 and Fc gamma RIIB2 contain one copy of the cytoplasmic sequence YXXL/I implicated in signal transduction, whereas Fc gamma RIIA contains two copies. We therefore inserted YXXL/I sequences at different sites in Fc gamma RIIB2. Low levels of phagocytosis were observed in a Fc gamma RIIB2 mutant bearing the Fc gamma RIIA sequence YMTL and higher levels of phagocytosis were observed in a second Fc gamma RIIB2 mutant that contained both the upstream YMTL and an additional downstream tyrosine-containing motif. Activation of this mutant receptor also induced receptor tyrosine phosphorylation. Thus, these studies indicate that both the number and placement of YXXL sequences in the cytoplasmic domain of the Fc gamma RII receptor family affect both receptor tyrosine phosphorylation and phagocytic competence.
Genetic Animal Models of Depression

Depression, as part of a larger class of affective disorders, is one of the world’s most deleterious and widespread neurobehavioral diseases. However, much remains to be discovered concerning depression, due to the daunting complexity of its pathological mechanisms and etiology. Various animal models have been proposed over the years, some of which have come into widespread use, particularly in the area of pharmacological screening. By combining behavioral and physiological analyses with mutant and transgenic animal models, researchers are able to determine the role of specific genes and proteins in the pathogenesis of depression. Discussing several behavioral and transgenic/mutant rodent models, this chapter briefly summarizes the current progress in this area of psychiatric research.
Assessment of x-ray scatter for the micro-CT subsystem of the FLEX Triumph™ preclinical PET-CT scanner

This work aims at assessing x-ray scatter and more specifically the scatter to primary ratio (SPR) for the micro-CT subsystem of the FLEX Triumph™ preclinical PET-CT scanner. Two approaches were used: the experimental single blocker method and Monte Carlo (MC) simulations using the MCNP4C code. For the experimental setup, five cylindrical blockers with diameters ranging between 3.0 and 11.65 mm were used to assess the SPR using a polyethylene phantom (d=50mm). The beams energy influence was studied by scanning the phantom at 30, 50 and 80 kV (mag=1.3). Likewise, additional acquisitions at 50 kV were performed with a magnification of 2.0 to evaluate the impact of geometrical magnification and using a Plexiglas phantom (d=25mm) filled with water at 50 kV (mag=1.3) to assess the influence of the size and composition of the phantom. For each condition, the five blocker SPR results were linearly interpolated to obtain the SPR without the blocker. Central and peripheral SPR values were obtained by rotating the source and detector and were fitted with a Gaussian function. MC simulations were carried out using the MCNP4C code where the estimates were also fitted with a Gaussian function. The comparison showed that MC simulations can reproduce well the experimental results, at least in the region inside the phantom. The highest difference was obtained with the small phantom in the peripheral regions. The maximum SPR (0.562) was obtained at 30kV and magnification of 1.3 using the large phantom. The full SPR profile was calculated using MC simulations and used to express its dependency on beam energy and phantom diameter (quadratic), and air gap (asymptotic). The obtained results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions. MC is a very good alternative to experimental measurements of x-ray scatter in micro-CT imaging and can be used to validate novel scatter correction techniques. This will also improve the accuracy of CTAC on preclinical PET-CT systems.
Enhancing reproducibility: Failures from Reproducibility Initiatives underline core challenges.

Abstract Efforts to address reproducibility concerns in biomedical research include: initiatives to improve journal publication standards and peer review; increased attention to publishing methodological details that enable experiments to be reconstructed; guidelines on standards for study design, implementation, analysis and execution; meta-analyses of multiple studies within a field to synthesize a common conclusion and; the formation of consortia to adopt uniform protocols and internally reproduce data. Another approach to addressing reproducibility are Reproducibility Initiatives (RIs), well-intended, high-profile, systematically peer-vetted initiatives that are intended to replace the traditional process of scientific self-correction. Outcomes from the RIs reported to date have questioned the usefulness of this approach, particularly when the RI outcome differs from other independent self-correction studies that have reproduced the original finding. As a failed RI attempt is a single outcome distinct from the original study, it cannot provide any definitive conclusions necessitating additional studies that the RI approach has neither the ability nor intent of conducting making it a questionable replacement for self-correction. A failed RI attempt also has the potential to damage the reputation of the author of the original finding. Reproduction is frequently confused with replication, an issue that is more than semantic with the former denoting “similarity” and the latter an “exact copy” – an impossible outcome in research because of known and unknown technical, environmental and motivational differences between the original and reproduction studies. To date, the RI framework has negatively impacted efforts to improve reproducibility, confounding attempts to determine whether a research finding is real.
Wide-Temperature Electrolytes for Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Formulating electrolytes with solvents of low freezing points and high dielectric constants is a direct approach to extend the service-temperature range of lithium (Li)-ion batteries (LIBs). In this study, we report such wide-temperature electrolyte formulations by optimizing the ethylene carbonate (EC) content in the ternary solvent system of EC, propylene carbonate (PC), and ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC) with LiPF6 salt and CsPF6 additive. An extended service-temperature range from −40 to 60 °C was obtained in LIBs with lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (LiNi0.80Co0.15Al0.05O2, NCA) as cathode and graphite as anode. The discharge capacities at low temperatures and the cycle life at room temperature and elevated temperatures were systematically investigated together with the ionic conductivity and phase-transition behaviors. The most promising electrolyte formulation was identified as 1.0 M LiPF6 in EC–PC–EMC (1:1:8 by wt) with 0.05 M CsPF6, which was demonstrated in both coin cells of graphite∥NCA and...
Establishment Survivorship in U.S. Manufacturing, 1987–1992

In this paper the survivor technique is employed to study American manufacturing establishments in four-digit SIC industries. A major finding is that “down-sizing” during the late 1980s is more than anecdotal. Survivor estimates of economies of scale using the 1987 and 1992 Censuses of Manufactures clearly illustrate a general movement toward smaller scales. Moving beyond prior survivor studies, the sources of changes in scale are investigated. However, increases in either number of establishments or value added had a statistically significant effect on the occurrence of a change in scale, respectively decreasing or increasing the likelihood of change. The HHI of the industry also had a significant positive effect on the likelihood of a significant change in scale of output.