cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Antisense oligodeoxynucleotide to a δ-opioid receptor messenger rna selectively blocks the antinociception induced by intracerebroventricularly administered δ-, but not μ-, ϵ-, or κ-opioid receptor agonists in the mouse

Abstract An antisense oligodeoxynucleotide to δ-opioid receptor messenger RNA was utilized to block the expression of mouse δ-opioid receptors for antinociception. The antinociception was measured by the tail-flick test in male ICR mice. Pretreatment with δ-antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (163 pmol) given intracerebroventricularly twice a day for one to four days produced a time-dependent inhibition of the tail-flick response induced by intracerebroventricularly administered [D-Ala2]deltorphin II (12.8 nmol). The [D-Ala2]deltorphin II-induced antinociception was significantly attenuated after three to four days of the δ-antisense oligodeoxynucleotide treatment, remained attenuated for two days and gradually recovered to the control level in four to 10 days after cessation of the pretreatment with δ-antisense oligodeoxynucleotide. Pretreatment with δ-antisense oligodeoxynucleotide (163 pmol) twice a day for four days markedly attenuated the antinociception induced by intracerebroventricularly administered [D-Ala2]deltorphin II and, to a lesser extent, by D-Pen2-D-Pen5-enkephalin and morphine, but not by [D-Ala2-MePhe4-Gly(ol)5]enkephalin, β-endorphin or U50,488H. Mismatched oligodeoxynucleotide (163 pmol) was ineffective against the antinociception induced by these opioids. Our results provide the evidence that the cloned δ-opioid receptor is related to the pharmacologically classified δ2-opioid receptor, and the antinociception induced by [D-Ala2]deltorphin II and, at least in part, by D-Pen2-D-Pen5-enkephalin and morphine given intracerebroventricularly is mediated by the stimulation of δ2-opioid receptors. However, δ2-opioid receptors are not involved in the antinociception induced by β-endorphin, [D-Ala2-MePhe4-Gly(ol)5]enkephalin or U50,488H given intracerebroventricularly.
Formal analysis of device authentication applications in ubiquitous computing

Authentication between mobile devices in ad-hoc computing environments is a challenging problem. Without pre-shared knowledge, existing applications rely on additional communication methods, such as out-of-band or location-limited channels for device authentication. However, no formal analysis has been conducted to determine whether out-of-band channels are actually necessary. We answer this question through formal analysis, and use BAN logic to show that device authentication using a single channel is not possible.
Coping and physical health outcomes: an overview

The past three decades have seen an explosion of research into how people cope with stress; over 33,000 articles have been published. Despite the initial theoretical justification for research into coping – that it would moderate the adverse effects of stress on physical health – relatively few published studies have actually examined this hypothesis. This special issue is an attempt to redirect researchers' attention to focusing on this issue. The results re-emphasize that there is no “magic bullet” in coping research; rather, the effects of coping are highly complex, and vary as a function of the type of stressor as well as the individual's characteristics. More complex theoretical and analytical models are needed to fully understand the impact of coping on physical health.
Sex differences in children's formation of exclusionary alliances under scarce resource conditions

Conclusions that human males behave more competitively than females have been tempered by recent findings that the two sexes use differing competitive strategies. Theoretically, mammalian males generally gain more than females from using riskier strategies, whereas females have more to lose. Females therefore should compete using less risky strategies. Research with humans suggests that one of these may involve alliance and coalition formation. These diminish risk yet exact a cost in terms of payoffs, suggesting that they may elicit sex-differentiated patterns of use. We examined the hypothesis that early sex-differentiated patterns would appear in which human females would form exclusionary alliances under scarce resource conditions more than males would, whereas males would use individualistic strategies more than females would. To test the hypothesis, 15 female and 14 male triads of 4-year-old children were observed under plentiful and scarce resource conditions. Under scarce resource conditions only, females formed more exclusionary alliances than males did, whereas males engaged in more individualistic competition than females did. Discussion focuses on factors that should predict sex differences in the use of coalitions.
Strategic Facilitation of Problem-Based Discussion for Teacher Professional Development

Engaging teachers in discussing and analyzing problems of practice has great potential for teacher professional development, yet little is known about how to facilitate such discussion. This study examined the strategies that experienced facilitators used to promote productive discussion among science teachers. Participants were 6 facilitators and 35 in-service teachers who participated in a professional development program that adopted a problem-based learning approach for teacher learning. Data analysis showed that experienced facilitators used a variety of strategies in their facilitation, including questioning, revoicing, making connections, clarifying, reframing, summarizing, role playing, meta-talk, and modeling. In particular, questioning and revoicing were the most important strategies in all sessions studied, accounting for about half of the facilitators' talk. Analysis further revealed both productive and disruptive characteristics of questioning and revoicing. In addition, analysis found that t...
Coalition type and voter support for parties: Grand coalitions in German elections

While scholars have generally acknowledged that coalition governments are less accountable to voters than single party majorities, surprisingly little differentiation is made among different types of coalition governments. In this paper, we examine voter support for two very different types of coalition governments: those with a single large party and a junior partner and grand coalitions—governing coalitions between two large but ideologically dissimilar parties. We argue that grand coalitions differ from the more typical senior–junior partners in terms of the ability of individual parties to respond to their constituencies. We test this argument using survey data from four German Election Studies (GES), before and after each of the two German grand coalitions (1965, 1969, 2005, and 2009), which provide a unique opportunity to compare voter support for grand coalitions to those of the more typical senior–junior party model. We find evidence that voters responded to grand coalitions by moving away from their traditional voting patterns, and increasing their support for parties outside of the grand coalition, although this effect varies by the number of alternative parties.
Institute activities: AIEE expansion provides increased member participation opportunities

SUPPOSE THAT AN ISSUE of one of the Jackson daily newspapers carried the following news item: The American Blank Company is one of the fastest growing industries in the Jackson, Mississippi, area. It is now the world's largest firm devoted exclusively to design and production of precision items and accessories for specific purposes. Mr. X, vice-president and general manager, attributes the impressive growth of his company to research, advanced design, precision manufacturing, and customer satisfaction.
Structural Insight into Methyl-Coenzyme M Reductase Chemistry Using Coenzyme B Analogues,

Methyl-coenzyme M reductase (MCR) catalyzes the final and rate-limiting step in methane biogenesis: the reduction of methyl-coenzyme M (methyl-SCoM) by coenzyme B (CoBSH) to methane and a heterodisulfide (CoBS-SCoM). Crystallographic studies show that the active site is deeply buried within the enzyme and contains a highly reduced nickel-tetrapyrrole, coenzyme F430. Methyl-SCoM must enter the active site prior to CoBSH, as species derived from methyl-SCoM are always observed bound to the F430 nickel in the deepest part of the 30 A long substrate channel that leads from the protein surface to the active site. The seven-carbon mercaptoalkanoyl chain of CoBSH binds within a 16 A predominantly hydrophobic part of the channel close to F430, with the CoBSH thiolate lying closest to the nickel at a distance of 8.8 A. It has previously been suggested that binding of CoBSH initiates catalysis by inducing a conformational change that moves methyl-SCoM closer to the nickel promoting cleavage of the C−S bond of methy...
Notes to the class--first day.

In the practice of medicine, the person you are is as important as what you know, writes Dr. Katharine Treadway. This is one of the extraordinary things about medicine: it is intensely intellectual, but it is also an endeavor of your heart.
Evaporation of Zinc and Zinc Oxide under Electron Bombardment

By use of a mass spectrographic method, the rate of evaporation of zinc and zinc oxide is measured as a function of temperature both with and without electron bombardment of the surface being evaporated. In the case of zinc metal no increase of evaporation could be detected as resulting from bombardment whereas a definite increase was observed in the evaporation of zinc oxide. The enhancement of the evaporation rate of zinc oxide increases slowly at first and then rapidly with increasing temperature.
As (III) and Sb(III) sulfide complexes: An evaluation of stoichiometry and stability from existing experimental data

Abstract Published experimental data on the solubility of Sb2S3 and As2S3 in sulfide solutions are used to determine the stoichiometry and stability constants of antimony and arsenic sulfide complexes at temperatures from 25 to 300°C. Least square fits and multicomponent equilibrium computations on selected solubility data indicate that the most probable stoichiometries of antimony and arsenic sulfide complexes are H2Sb2S4, HSb2S−4 and Sb2S24−, and H3As3S6, H2As3S6− and HAs3S26−. Stability constants evaluated for these complexes indicate that all three arsenic species, but only HSb2S−4, are stable within the pH range of typical geochemical systems. The determination of stability constants for the above species results from a critical evaluation of available experimental data. Many experimental studies are inconsistent with each other or, by themselves, lack sufficient quantitative information. However, when used together, the data from a few carefully selected studies yield coherent results. Newly derived stability constants for antimony hydroxide and arsenious acid indicate that, at the sulfide concentrations considered here, these species are generally unimportant relative to sulfide complexes, although they become the dominant arsenic and antimony species at high temperatures in most geothermal systems.
Metal Ion Incorporation Reactions of the Cluster [Fe3S4(LS3)]3-, Containing the Cuboidal [Fe3S4]0 Core

The frequent occurrence of the cuboidal cluster [Fe3S4(S·Cys)3] in a variety of proteins has prompted extensive investigation of its chemical and biological properties. The biological function remains in question, but the cluster is known to sustain two reactions: (i) electron transfer, and (ii) heterometal ion incorporation. The recent preparation of [Fe3S4(LS3)]3- (3) [Zhou, J.; Hu, Z.; Munck, E.; Holm, R. H. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1996, 118, 1966] has permitted detailed structural, electronic, and reactivity characterization of the cuboidal [Fe3S4]0 oxidation state (LS3 = 1,3,5-tris((4,6-dimethyl-3-mercaptophenyl)thio)-2,4,6-tris(p-tolylthio)benzene(3−). Redox properties (i) have been reported previously: here reaction type (ii), resulting in the formation of cubane-type MFe3S4 clusters, has been investigated. Reaction of 3 with [M(PPh3)4]1+ affords [(Ph3P)MFe3S4(LS3)]2- (M = Cu (6), Ag (8)) while [(NC)M(PPh3)3] leads to [(NC)MFe3S4(LS3)]3- (M = Cu (7), Ag (9)). Treatment of 3 with Tl(O3SCF3) yields [TlFe...
Polarized lidar reflectance measurements of vegetation at near-infrared and green wavelengths

There is growing interest in the use of lidar for remote sensing of vegetation owing to the emergence of reliable and rugged lasers and highly sensitive detectors. Lidar remote sensing has a distinct advantage over conventional techniques in vegetation remote sensing due to its capability for three-dimensional characterization of vegetative targets. The Multiwavelength Airborne Polarimetric Lidar (MAPL) system was developed primarily for vegetation remote sensing applications from an airborne platform of up to 1,000 -m altitude. The lidar system has full waveform capture and polarimetric measurement capability at two wavelengths in the near-infrared (1064 nm) and the green (532 nm) spectral regions. This study presents preliminary ground-based lidar reflectance measurements on a variety of deciduous and coniferous trees under fully foliated conditions with a view towards tree species discrimination. Variations in the reflectance characteristics of selected deciduous trees under unfoliated and fully foliated conditions were also investigated. Our study reveals distinct differences in the reflectance characteristics of various trees.
Tailoring the structure of S-PEEK/PDMS proton conductive membranes through applied electric fields

Composite membranes were formed composed of proton conductive sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (S-PEEK) particles dispersed in a non-proton conductive polymeric matrix, a cross-linked poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS). The structure of the composites was controlled by applying electric fields to suspensions of S-PEEK particles in the liquid PDMS precursor, followed by thermally initiated cross-linking polymerization to fix the field-induced structure. The effects of the electric field on membrane structure, proton conductivity, methanol permeability, and water swelling were examined. Under certain conditions, the applied electric field induced the S-PEEK particles to form long chains across the liquid PDMS prepolymers. The degree of particle chaining was a function of the electric field frequency, magnitude, and application time. The S-PEEK particle chaining resulted in an improvement of the membrane conductivity, water uptake ability, and dimensional stability in comparison to membranes containing randomly distributed particles. The particle chaining also increased the methanol permeation across the composite membranes, but the selectivity of the membranes for protons over methanol increased sharply because the increase in proton conductivity was much larger relative to the methanol permeability increase. The membranes also display anisotropic swelling behavior in water that may prove advantageous for enhancing mechanical stability in fuel cells undergoing humidity cycling. The present study demonstrates a novel fabrication approach that can be used to control the structure of a variety of types of composite membranes to enhance performance for fuel cell applications.
Math Male, Me Female, Therefore Math Me

College students, especially women, demonstrated negativity toward math and science relative to arts and language on implicit measures. Group membership (being female), group identity (self female), and gender stereotypes (math male) were related to attitudes and identification with mathematics. Stronger implicit math male stereotypes corresponded with more negative implicit and explicit math attitudes for women but more positive attitudes for men. Associating the self with female and math with male made it difficult for women, even women who had selected math-intensive majors, to associate math with the self. These results point to the opportunities and constraints on personal preferences that derive from membership in social groups. When the New York Times interviewed the three living female descendants of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the focus was not on the indisputable mark she had left on American society but rather the effect she had had on her own family (Bumiller, 1998). The accomplishments of this housewife who organized the historic 1848 Seneca Falls convention to demand the right of women to vote were visible even in the careers of her own daughters and their daughters. The youngest of the women interviewed, also named Elizabeth and 13 years old at the time, said that she would like to be an engineer or an architect, following in the footsteps of her grandmother and great-grandmother. Although she showed cognizance of the hurdles that stood in the way of her ancestor’s battle for a simple equality, she was optimistic about the present, remarking that now “anything’s possible for anyone” (p. B6). The idea that anything ought to be possible for anyone is the foundation of many proclamations of equality, such as the constitutions of nations and their legal codes. Yet, as even a superficial historical glance reveals, demarcations of humans into social groups and their unequal access to resources have been the primary impetus for theory and action to achieve social justice. As psychologists, we are interested in the mechanisms by which aspirations for equality are undermined—not by a lack of legal protection but in the more basic social and mental processes that determine individual preferences and choices. The operation of such processes can be subversive—they appear to reflect a free and individually determined choice when in fact they reflect group membership, the strength of identity with the group, and beliefs about the capability of the group. In this article, we focus on the fundamental dichotomy of gender as we investigate preferences for mathematics (and science) versus the arts (and language). The covariation between gender and orientation toward math and science is well known: Men are assumed to be and demonstrated to be more inclined to participate
ASSESSMENT OF MICROBIAL CONTAMINANTS PRESENT ON VACUUM LOADERS IN SHELL EGG PROCESSING FACILITIES

This study was conducted to determine the pathogen prevalence on vacuum loader cup surfaces. An off-line (birds housed off-site) and a mixed (birds housed on-site and eggs brought from outside production) operation shell egg processing facility were sampled three times each. Twenty vacuum loader cups were randomly rinsed with sterile saline per visit. Total aerobic microorganisms and Enterobacteriaceae were enumerated, and the prevalence of Salmonella, Campylobacter and Listeria was determined. Aerobic microorganisms were ∼5 log cfu/mL, with higher levels noted in the mixed operation. Enterobacteriaceae levels averaged 2.5 log cfu/mL but were higher in the off-line facility. Campylobacter was detected in 1.6% of the samples. Salmonella was detected in 3.3% of the samples with isolates serotyped as Salmonella anatum and Salmonella heidelberg. There was a high prevalence of Listeria (72%). Confirmed isolates were identified as Listeria innocua (98.8%) and Listeria monocytogenes (1.2%). Identification of the populations present on the cup surfaces will allow for the development of more effective cleaning and disinfection programs. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Vacuum loaders have previously been determined to be reservoirs for microorganisms in shell egg processing plants. Assessing the prevalence of prominent foodborne pathogens (Salmonella, Campylobacter and Listeria) on the vacuum loader cup surface would allow for more targeted approaches to cleaning and sanitation. High levels of aerobic organisms and Enterobacteriaceae were detected (∼5 and 2.5 log cfu/mL, respectively). Furthermore, Campylobacter and Salmonella were also found, but at low prevalence. Listeria was detected in 72% of the samples. Cleaning and sanitation programs currently utilized in shell egg processing facilities need to be reassessed, and new technologies need to be developed to address the presence of Salmonella, Campylobacter and Listeria.
Purification and fragmentation of nondenatured bone sialoprotein : evidence for a cryptic, RGD-resistant cell attachment domain

Bone sialoprotein (BSP), a small (approximately 80,000 M(r)) integrin binding, RGD-containing bone matrix glycoprotein, has been purified in milligram quantities from the serum-free medium of the rat osteosarcoma cell line UMR-106-BSP using nondenaturing conditions. Routine protein purification without serine protease inhibitors or reducing agents consistently resulted in three major fragments. The largest fragment (E1) started at amino acid 117 and did not bind to antibodies made to the RGD region of the protein. Furthermore, the smallest fragment (E3), was shown by sequencing to contain the RGD region of the protein. Digestion of intact BSP with highly purified chymotrypsin also resulted in a large fragment (C1) with properties nearly identical to those of E1. The large, non-RGD-containing fragments, E1 and C1, as well as the intact BSP, supported attachment by normal human bone cells and human skin fibroblasts in vitro. Attachment to the intact BSP was totally blocked by 0.4 mM GRGDS peptide. Both preparations of skin fibroblasts and approximately half of the preparations of normal human bone cells, however, also would not attach to the E1 and C1 fragments in the presence of 0.4 mM GRGDS peptide. In contrast, half of the bone cell preparations had significant attachment activity to E1 (> 50%) and C1 (> 25%) in the presence of 0.4 mM GRGDS peptide. These data suggest that cleavage of the BSP results in either (1) the exposure of a previously unavailable or cryptic cell attachment site or (2) a conformational change that increases the affinity of the complex between a non-RGD-encoded binding region of the E1 and C1 fragments and at least one receptor. The possible homology of the second, non-RGD-suppressible site of BSP with the second cell attachment site on the gamma chain of fibrinogen is discussed.
Role expectations among agency personnel

concerning the formulation of policy. The executive director, who serves as a liaison between staff and board, shares this information with the board of directors, which has the ultimate power to formulate policy. Although it is possible to identify the primary functions of the board of directors, the executive director, and the staff, the actual operation of a voluntary agency entails the overlap ping of functions. For example, the community's need for a new service may be known and discussed sepa rately by all three divisions. Each can engage in such related tasks as apprais ing the community's need, assessing the present capability of the agency to initiate a new service, and planning for the funding of a new program. The decision to begin a new service, however, is a question of policy that rests with the board of directors. Fig ure 2 portrays the overlap of functions among the board of directors, the exe cutive director, and the staff. The literature on the management of voluntary social agencies indicates that a failure to observe the primary functions of each division can create conflict in administration. Role theory provides a perspective from which to study the proper functioning within the different divisions. Role expecta tion is an individual's concept of how the rights and duties of a position should be performed.2 Ideally the role expectations of the board, the executive director, and the staff should be similar to the primary functions of these divisions. The primary functions of each division are generally made known through an administrative man ual that sets forth the functions of each division or through annual training sessions for board members. To pre vent role ambiguity, it is essential that the role functions of each division are made clear both to members of that
Preliminary evidence for a cognitive phenotype in Barth syndrome.

Barth syndrome (BTHS) is a rare, X-linked, recessive disorder that affects almost exclusively males. It is characterized by short stature, cardioskeletal myopathy, cyclic neutropenia, increased excretion of 3-methylglutaconic acid in the urine, and moderate hypocholesterolemia. The objective of the present study was to assess whether BTHS presents with a cognitive phenotype. Preliminary data were collected from five kindergarten or first-grade boys with BTHS. An abbreviated psychoeducational test battery was administered to each boy, and parents of each boy completed standardized behavior rating scales. Data from 120 boys of similar age or grade level were used for one comparison group; a subset of this sample comprised a comparison group that was individually matched on age and grade level to one of the five boys with BTHS. Preliminary data reflect a higher incidence of cognitive difficulties in boys with BTHS relative to both comparison groups. Boys with BTHS had significantly lower visual spatial skills, but comparable reading-related skills, when compared with either group. Although based on a small sample size, the preliminary data presented in this work are the first indication of a cognitive phenotype associated with BTHS.
Operation of a 4 ma Dynamitron as a Monoenergetic Neutron Source

The Cornell Dynamitron is being used as a source of monoenergetic neutrons in the range 30-500 keV, with fluxes up to 109 n/sr/s. Problems of generating and handling the 2 Mev, 4 ma beam are discussed. Analyzing magnet slit feedback is essential for accurate control of neutron energy. Contrary to other published data for these machines, we observe up to 3% drift in the energy when it is controlled by the voltage feedback system. Discrepancies between this and previously published data are discussed.
Balancing the Business of Family: Family Business Daughters' Tensions Between Motherhood and Work

This research merges approaches from communication and family business scholarship to examine work life gender issues. Using dialectical relationship theory, it explores how family business daughters experience the overlap between family and business that occurs in a family business. It specifically investigates the relational tensions that family business daughters experience at an external (social) level. This study suggests that the family business founder's values create a family business culture that provides flexible polices for family emergencies, but is less accommodating for family business daughters who are mothers. As a result, family business daughters experienced relational tensions regarding motherhood that reflect the separate spheres ideologies that privilege the division of domestic and business concerns.
A tracking approach to localization and synchronization in mobile ad-hoc sensor networks

Self localization is a term used to describe the ability of a network to automatically determine the location of its nodes, given little or no external information. Self localization is an enabling technology for many future capabilities; specifically those that rely on a large number of sensors that self organize to form a coherent system. Most prior work in this area focuses on centralized computation with stationary nodes and synchronized clocks. We report on preliminary results for a setting that is more general in three ways. First, nodes in the network are moving. This implies the pair-wise distances between nodes are not fixed and therefore an iterative tracking procedure is needed to estimate the time varying node positions. Second, we do not assume synchronization between clocks on different nodes. In fact, we allow the clocks to have both an unknown offset and to be running at differing rates (i.e., a drift). Third, our method is decentralized, so there is no need for a single entity with access to all measurements. In this setup, each node in the network is responsible for estimating its state. The method is based on repeated pair-wise communication between nodes. We focus on two types of observables in this paper. First, we use the time between when a message was sent from one node and when it was received by another node. In the case of synchronized clocks and stationary nodes, this observable provides information about the distance between the nodes. In the more general case with non-synchronized clocks, this observable is coupled to the clock offsets and drifts as well as the distance between nodes. Second, we use the Doppler stretch observed by the receiving node. In the case of synchronized clocks, this observable provides information about the line of sight velocity between the nodes. In the case of non-synchronized clocks, this observable is coupled to the clock drift as well as the line of sight velocity. We develop a sophisticated mathematical representation that allows all of these effects to be accounted for simultaneously. We approach the problem from a Bayesian viewpoint, where measurements are accumulated over time and used to form a probability density on the state, conditioned on the measurements. What results is a recursive filtering (or tracking) algorithm that optimally merges the measurements. We show by simulation and illustrative data collections that our method provides an efficient decentralized method for determining the location of a collection of moving nodes.
DNA Damage Response: Three Levels of DNA Repair Regulation

Genome integrity is challenged by DNA damage from both endogenous and environmental sources. This damage must be repaired to allow both RNA and DNA polymerases to accurately read and duplicate the information in the genome. Multiple repair enzymes scan the DNA for problems, remove the offending damage, and restore the DNA duplex. These repair mechanisms are regulated by DNA damage response kinases including DNA-PKcs, ATM, and ATR that are activated at DNA lesions. These kinases improve the efficiency of DNA repair by phosphorylating repair proteins to modify their activities, by initiating a complex series of changes in the local chromatin structure near the damage site, and by altering the overall cellular environment to make it more conducive to repair. In this review, we focus on these three levels of regulation to illustrate how the DNA damage kinases promote efficient repair to maintain genome integrity and prevent disease.
Premorbid Adjustment, Onset Types, and Prognostic Scaling: Still Informative?

Efforts emerged to describe, quantify, and predict prognosis once it became clear that the outcomes of Kraepelinian dementia praecox could vary. The concepts and scales that have evolved focus on types of premorbid adjustment and illness onset. Enduring highlights of this literature will be described, and its current and future utility will be discussed.
The discontinuous enrichment method for elastic wave propagation in the medium‐frequency regime

The discontinuous enrichment method (DEM) is specified and developed for the solution of two-dimensional elastic wave propagation problems in the frequency domain. The classical finite element polynomial approximation of the displacement field is enriched by the superposition of discontinuous pressure and shear wave functions. The continuity of the solution across the element interfaces is weakly enforced by suitable Lagrange multipliers. Higher-order rectangular DEM elements are constructed and benchmarked against the standard higher-order polynomial Galerkin elements for two-dimensional problems in the medium frequency regime. In general, it is found that for such applications, DEM can achieve the same accuracy as the p finite element method using a similar computational complexity but with about 10 times fewer degrees of freedom. This highlights the potential of this hybrid method for problems where the scale of vibrations is very small compared to the characteristic dimension of the physical medium. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The central role of Sertoli cells in spermatogenesis

Sertoli cells are the somatic cells of the testis that are essential for testis formation and spermatogenesis. Sertoli cells facilitate the progression of germ cells to spermatozoa via direct contact and by controlling the environment milieu within the seminiferous tubules. The regulation of spermatogenesis by FSH and testosterone occurs by the action of these hormones on the Sertoli cells. While the action of testosterone is necessary for spermatogenesis, the action of FSH minimally serves to promote spermatogenic output by increasing the number of Sertoli cells.
The evolution of network configuration: a tale of two campuses

Studying network configuration evolution can improve our understanding of the evolving complexity of networks and can be helpful in making network configuration less error-prone. Unfortunately, the nature of changes that operators make to network configuration is poorly understood. Towards improving our understanding, we examine and analyze five years of router, switch, and firewall configurations from two large campus networks using the logs from version control systems used to store the configurations. We study how network configuration is distributed across different network operations tasks and how the configuration for each task evolves over time, for different types of devices and for different locations in the network. To understand the trends of how configuration evolves over time, we study the extent to which configuration for various tasks are added, modified, or deleted. We also study whether certain devices experience configuration changes more frequently than others, as well as whether configuration changes tend to focus on specific portions of the configuration (or on specific tasks). We also investigate when network operators make configuration changes of various types. Our results concerning configuration changes can help the designers of configuration languages understand which aspects of configuration might be more automated or tested more rigorously and may ultimately help improve configuration languages.
OCCURRENCE AND TYPES OF THIOBACILLUS-LIKE BACTERIA IN THE SEA1

Offshore waters and sediments of the Atlantic Ocean and the Black Sea and inshore waters near Woods Hole, Massachusetts, were examined for bacteria resembling ThiobacilZus sp., and 136 isolates were obtained by enrichment culture with thiosulfate or elemental sulfur as the energy source. Enrichments for iron-oxidizing thiobacilli were unsuccessful. Under chemolithotrophic growth conditions, only 19% of the isolates oxidized more than 5% of the thiosulfate supplied in mineral medium, with an increase, moderate decrease, or no change in the pH of the medium., Strains that decreased the pH were proportionately most abundant in inshore water. Thirty-five percent of the isolates could be cultured on sulfide substrate with a greater yield than on thiosulfate. Seventy-four percent of the isolates could grow anoxically in thiosulfate mineral medium containing nitrate as the terminal acceptor; only 3 of these produced gas from nitrate. About 95% of all isolates could be grown on organic media. Heterotrophically grown cultures could easily be grown on thiosulfate mineral medium when transferred from organic medium. Apparently the “typical” obligately chemoautotrophic thiobacilli are rare in the marine environment and biological oxidation of reduced sulfur compounds in open ocean areas is largely carried out by facultatively autotrophic bacteria.
Atrial fibrillation: focal or reentrant or both?: a new autonomic lens to examine an old riddle.

Ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) is a genuinely viable and increasingly used option for improving quality of life in patients with symptomatic drug-refractory AF. What is remarkable about the limited success achieved with these procedures is that progress has occurred despite a near complete lack of knowledge about what causes or maintains AF. Focal origins for AF were first demonstrated decades ago1–4 with topical application of acetylcholine to junctional tissues and atrial sites triggering AF. More recently, there has been convincing documentation of rapid tachycardia arising from the pulmonary veins inciting AF, thus supporting the concept of “trigger elimination” contributing to the success of pulmonary vein isolation. However, studies also support the presence of multiple reentrant circuits maintaining and possibly initiating AF.5, 6 The ablation era has taught us7–9 that in persistent and chronic AF, trigger elimination alone is not enough and that substrate modification is probably necessary to decrease the likelihood of reentrant wavelet continuance and thereby increase success rates. Even the most ardent supporter of either hypothesis recognizes the limitations of each. How can a focal source exist in this milieu indefinitely, producing and maintaining chronic AF, and how do multiple reentrant wavelets arise spontaneously? Article see p 384 In this issue of Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology , Niu et al10 provide important, interesting, and novel insights into solving this age-old riddle using a previously unexplored angle-autonomic manipulation. Acetylcholine was used to induce AF in 31 canines. In 12 of the animal studies, propafenone was administered. They then ablated the ganglionated plexi (GP). Before ablation, AF could still be induced despite administration of propafenone. After ablation, there was a consistent pattern of electrogram organization and atrial synchronization. In addition, subsequent administration of propafenone resulted in the inability to induce atrial tachyarrhythmia. There are several …
Increasing Expertise in Earth Science Education through Master's Education.

ABSTRACT The processes of developing and the results of testing a master's degree program designed to increase the number and quality of secondary-level earth science teachers are described in this paper. The master's program is intended to serve practicing secondary-level science and math teachers who lack subject-area endorsement in earth science. There is need for programs such as this because there is a nationwide shortage of qualified earth science teachers. By targeting teachers who are already trained and certified in science or math, the program can focus solely on earth science content and pedagogical content knowledge. The program can be completed in 2 y via online academic-year instruction and on-campus or field-based training during summers. Completion of the master's program satisfies teachers' need for ongoing professional development. A group of teachers pilot-tested the master's curriculum and participated in qualitative and quantitative evaluation activities. The program is recognized by ...
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: part I.

This article is the first of a two-part clinical practice guideline on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It provides practical information for pediatric primary care providers dealing with children from preschool through adolescence who may have ADHD.
Glucocorticoid dose determines osteocyte cell fate

In response to cellular insult, several pathways can be activated, including necrosis, apoptosis, and autophagy. Because glucocorticoids (GCs) have been shown to induce both osteocyte apoptosis and autophagy, we sought to determine whether osteocyte cell fate in the presence of GCs was dose dependent by performing in vivo and in vitro studies. Male Swiss-Webster mice were treated with slow-release prednisolone pellets at 1.4, 2.8, and 5.6 mg/kg/d for 28 d. An osteocyte cell line, MLO-Y4 cells, was treated with various doses of dexamethasone. We found that GC treatments dose dependently decreased activation of antioxidant-, autophagy-, and antiapoptosis-focused RT-PCR gene pathways in mouse cortical bone. The activation of antioxidant genes was correlated with autophagy gene expression after the GC treatments. The presence of osteocyte autophagy, as detected by immunostaining for LC3, increased ∼50% at the distal femur cortical bone region but not at trabecular bone region at the 1.4 and 2.8 mg/kg/d GC dose levels. The number of apoptotic osteocytes was increased at the cortical bone region by ∼40% initially observed at the 2.8 mg/kg/d dose level. In addition, the presence of the osteocyte autophagy was associated with an increased protein level of cathepsin K in vitro after the GC treatments. In summary, we found that GC treatment dose-dependently decreased antioxidant gene expression, with lower GC doses activating autophagy, whereas a higher dose increased apoptosis. These data suggest that autophagy may provide a mechanism for osteocytes to survive the stress after GC exposure and provide further insight into how GCs alter bone cell fate.
Estimating ice particle scattering properties using a modified Rayleigh-Gans approximation

A modification to the Rayleigh-Gans approximation is made that includes self-interactions between different parts of an ice crystal, which both improves the accuracy of the Rayleigh-Gans approximation and extends its applicability to polarization-dependent parameters. This modified Rayleigh-Gans approximation is both efficient and reasonably accurate for particles with at least one dimension much smaller than the wavelength (e.g., dendrites at millimeter or longer wavelengths) or particles with sparse structures (e.g., low-density aggregates). Relative to the Generalized Multiparticle Mie method, backscattering reflectivities at horizontal transmit and receive polarization (HH) (ZHH) computed with this modified Rayleigh-Gans approach are about 3 dB more accurate than with the traditional Rayleigh-Gans approximation. For realistic particle size distributions and pristine ice crystals the modified Rayleigh-Gans approach agrees with the Generalized Multiparticle Mie method to within 0.5 dB for ZHH whereas for the polarimetric radar observables differential reflectivity (ZDR) and specific differential phase (KDP) agreement is generally within 0.7 dB and 13%, respectively. Compared to the A-DDA code, the modified Rayleigh-Gans approximation is several to tens of times faster if scattering properties for different incident angles and particle orientations are calculated. These accuracies and computational efficiencies are sufficient to make this modified Rayleigh-Gans approach a viable alternative to the Rayleigh-Gans approximation in some applications such as millimeter to centimeter wavelength radars and to other methods that assume simpler, less accurate shapes for ice crystals. This method should not be used on materials with dielectric properties much different from ice and on compact particles much larger than the wavelength.
Digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversion with metal oxide memristors for ultra-low power computing

The paper presents experimental demonstration of 6-bit digital-to-analog (DAC) and 4-bit analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) operations implemented with a hybrid circuit consisting of Pt/TiO2-x/Pt resistive switching devices (also known as ReRAMs or memristors) and a Si operational amplifier (op-amp). In particular, a binary-weighted implementation is demonstrated for DAC, while ADC is implemented with a Hopfield neural network circuit.
Individualized estimation of clearance following a loading dose and continuous intravenous infusion using a programmable calculator.

Abstract A program that calculates the apparent plasma clearance of an intravenously infused drug for an individual patient prior to reaching steady state using one, two or three plasma drug concentration determinations, is presented. The program is written for the Texas Instruments TI-59 calculator and may be used with or without the PC-100C printer. The program provides clinically useful information concerning projected plasma drug concentrations and will calculate the infusion rates necessary to achieve desired plasma concentrations. An iterative technique which would be impractical to use without calculator assistance is employed to make these determinations.
MC2: high-performance garbage collection for memory-constrained environments

Java is becoming an important platform for memory-constrained consumer devices such as PDAs and cellular phones, because it provides safety and portability. Since Java uses garbage collection, efficient garbage collectors that run in constrained memory are essential. Typical collection techniques used on these devices are mark-sweep and mark-compact. Mark-sweep collectors can provide good throughput and pause times but suffer from fragmentation. Mark-compact collectors prevent fragmentation, have low space overheads, and provide good throughput. However, they can suffer from long pause times. Copying collectors can provide higher throughput than either of these techniques, but because of their high space overhead, they previously were unsuitable for memory-constrained devices. This paper presents MC2 (Memory-Constrained Copying), a copying generational garbage collector that meets the needs of memory-constrained devices with soft real-time requirements. MC2 has low space over-head and tight space bounds, prevents fragmentation, provides good throughput, and yields short pause times. These qualities make MC2 attractive for other environments, including desktops and servers.
Combining the Opinions of Experts Who Partition Events Differently

This paper focuses on updating a client's beliefs about an event based on information about the different probabilities that various experts assess for that event. A substantial literature solves this problem when all experts assess their probabilities over the same partitioning of the possible outcomes of an event. But different experts often think about the same problem in quite different ways. This can lead to differences in how experts prefer to partition the possible outcomes of an event. Forcing the experts to use a common partition could lead to less informative probability assessments. Thus, this paper presents a new approach for combining probability assessments from different experts, which allows experts to assess their probability assessments across different partitionings.
Incidence and time trends of drug-induced parkinsonism: a population-based study over 30 years (1976 - 2005) (P1.200)

Objectives: To study the incidence, the causes, and time trends of drug-induced parkinsonism (DIP) in a geographically-defined population over 30 years. Design: We used the medical records-linkage system of the Rochester Epidemiology Project to identify all persons residing in Olmsted County, MN who received a diagnostic code of parkinsonism from 1991 trough 2005. A movement disorders specialist (RS) reviewed the complete medical records of each of these persons to confirm the diagnosis of parkisonism, and to distinguish DIP from other types of parkinsonism. We also combined the findings from this study with the findings from a previous study in the same population that used the same clinical criteria (from 1976-1991; Rocca et al, 2001 ). Overall, we collected time trend data from 1976 through 2005 (30 years). Results: Among 542 persons who experienced incident parkinsonism from 1991 to 2005, 36 persons had DIP (6.6[percnt]). The incidence rate of DIP was of 1.9 per 100,000 person-years. DIP was more frequent in women and in younger persons; the most common drugs associated with parkinsonism were typical antipsychotics. None of the DIP cases were associated with the use of atypical antipsychotics. When we combined the findings from the current study with those from the 1976-1991 study, DIP remained more frequent in women, and we observed a significant decrease in the incidence rate of DIP over time. Conclusions: DIP is more frequent at younger age and in women, and typical antipsychotic drugs remain the most common cause of DIP. The incidence of DIP decreased over 30 years Study Supported by: Mayo Foundation Disclosure: Dr. Savica has nothing to disclose. Dr. Grossardt has nothing to disclose. Dr. Bower has nothing to disclose. Dr. Ahlskog has nothing to disclose. Dr. Rocca has nothing to disclose.
Cub adoption by a translocated Louisiana black bear

Abstract We documented the adoption of a cub by a female Louisiana black bear (Ursus americanus luteolus) after the cub was apparently abandoned by its biological mother. The adoption and presumed abandonment took place in a reintroduced population and involved recently translocated bears. We are unaware of previous published descriptions of free ranging female black bears adopting cubs without human intervention.