cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of food consistency and starvation on the diurnal cycle of the rat parotid gland.

Abstract The parotid glands of rats fed pelleted chow (Purina) were shown to demonstrate a diurnal cycle which is correlated with food intake. To determine the effect of mastication of food on the regulation of this cycle, rats were starved or fed liquid chow. The effects on the gland of starvation or of feeding liquid chow were similar. Without mastication the secretory products (e.g., amylase) which had accumulated in the gland during non-eating periods were not expelled during the eating cycle. Without expulsion further accumulation ceased. Within 4–6 days the gland became atrophic. If these atrophic glands were stimulated by iso proterenol, expulsion of the remaining stores occurred. This was then followed by a reaccumulation of secretory products. These results suggest that mastication of food stimulates expulsion of stored secretory products from the parotid gland and that such expulsion is a prime factor in the regulation of the diurnal secretory cycle.
Vulcanization of Rubber Compounds

Abstract 1. Rubber dissolves approximately one per cent of hydrogen sulfide when saturated at room temperature. 2. All types of commercial accelerators are retarded in rate of vulcanization as a result of treatment with hydrogen sulfide, and the retardation is directly proportional to the hydrogen sulfide content. 3. The physical properties of mercaptobenzothiazole types of accelerators and diphenylguanidine are not permanently affected by hydrogen sulfide, but dithiocarbamates, thiuram sulfides, aldehydeamines and litharge are permanently affected. 4. Rubber compounds containing mercaptobenzothiazole types of accelerators or diphenylguanidine, which have been treated with hydrogen sulfide and then degassed in a vacuum oven, show normal rate of vulcanization. Compounds containing aldehydeamines, litharge or carbon black show permanent retarding, even after degassing. 5. Increased zinc oxide or sulfur has no appreciable effect on the retardation. 6. Little or no zinc sulfide is formed as a result of treatm...
A nonlinear theory for a flexible unsteady wing

This paper extends the previous studies by Wu [Wu TY (2001) Adv Appl Mech 38:291–353; Wu TY (2005) Advances in engineering mechanics—reflections and outlooks. World Scientific; Wu TY (2006) Struct Control Health Monit 13:553–560] to present a fully nonlinear theory for the evaluation of the unsteady flow generated by a two-dimensional flexible lifting surface moving in an arbitrary manner through an incompressible and inviscid fluid for modeling bird/insect flight and fish swimming. The original physical concept founded by Theodore von Karman and William R. Sears [von Karman T, Sears WR (1938) J Aero Sci 5:379–390] in describing the complete vortex system of a wing and its wake in non-uniform motion for their linear theory is adapted and extended to a fully nonlinear consideration. The new theory employs a joint Eulerian and Lagrangian description of the wing motion to establish a fully nonlinear theory for a flexible wing moving with arbitrary variations in wing shape and trajectory, and obtain a fully nonlinear integral equation for the wake vorticity in generalizing Herbert Wagner’s [Wagner H (1925) ZAMM 5:17–35] linear version for an efficient determination of exact solutions in general.
Customizing Privacy Protection in Data Publishing

Distortion of data prior to publishing is one of the primary approaches to make sensitive data free of any illegal access or malicious use. Privacy customization has not been emphasized and well-studied in related literature. In this paper, data owners' preferences and data attributes' characteristics are taken into consideration. A privacy customization strategy is proposed and accomplished via a group distortion technique based on matrix decomposition. Several privacy and utility measures are studied. The performance of the proposed strategy is evaluated and compared to a conventional full distortion method. Our evaluation demonstrates that the proposed strategy has some attractive properties including an improved utility. In this way, a tradeoff between privacy and utility becomes more feasible.
Power cycling and stress variation in a multichip module

The effect of inelastic (creep and plastic) deformation of solder joints during power cycling of a specific multichip module is presented here. The utilized finite element technique allows one to account for the stress redistribution in the module as a function of time while the deformation/creep of the solder joints occur. It is shown that a nonuniform stress distribution exists in the module during power cycling, which affects and controls the inelastic deformation and fatigue life of solder joints. It is also shown that the choice of a suitable material and geometry for different components contained in the module plays a very important role in enhancing the fatigue life of solder joints. >
Picosecond Reaction Dynamics In Solution Illusion Or Reality

A rate theory and its application to liquid state chemical reactions on the picosecond timescale are outlined. A new feature of picosecond reaction dynamics in solution is the strong participation of solvent molecules. They mainly get in the way of an otherwise rapid combination of reactants. The displacement or reorganization of solvent molecules during a reaction may require hundreds or even thousands of picoseconds, particularly when the reactants contain electrical charges. The rate equations presented here include these solvent displacement rates. Solution of the rate equations for light induced reactions are obtained for continuously applied light and for light in the form of picosecond pulses. The former solutions provide quantum yields, while the latter give dynamical information. Numerical input to these solutions show that experiments should be quite sensitive to solvent displacement rates. Apparently overlooked by photochemists is the great sensitivity of quantum yield data to these rate parameters. Comparison of the theoretical results with a few experimental data will be made.© (1982) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
The priority tree, a HL/HSR approach for PHIGS

The Programmer's Hierarchical Interactive Grahics System (PHIGS) specifies an interface for programming device-independent computer graphics applications. PHIGS provides a powerful data grouping mechanism, called the PHIGS structure, that may be used to model the geometry of 3D objects. Hidden Line/Hidden Surface Removal (HL/HSR) is a required process to produce realistic solid views of the modeled objects. Modeling clip is an essential process for viewing a clipped portion of the modeled objects. A technique is presented that provides HL/HSR and modeling clip as added utilities to PHIGS. The technique is based on the Binary Space Partitioning (BSP) tree (sometimes called priority tree), and involves a back to front sorting of the primitives of a PHIGS structure network to another PHIGS structure. Modeling clip is achieved by limiting the sorting to those primitives in a specified clip ping region of the object space. The resulting structure when displayed on a raster device produces a realistic view of the possibly clipped object that was originally modeled by the PHIGS structure network.
Effect of heat on phycoerythrin fluorescence: Influence of thermal exposure on the fluorescence emission of R-phycoerythrin.

The goal of this work was to measure and model the effect of thermal exposure on the fluorescence emission of R-phycoerythrin (R-PE). The long-term objective of our work is to assess the feasibility of encapsulating R-PE for use as the critical component of a time-temperature integrator (TTI) for ascertaining the degree of inactivation of food pathogens such as Salmonella. In this article we present a study to measure and model the thermally induced fluorescence emission decay of R-PE in several isothermal experiments. We used the isothermal data to determine the kinetic parameters, based on a general n(th) order reaction, and evaluated the utility of the resulting model by using it to predict R-PE fluorescence emission decay for several nonisothermal experiments based on published USDA safe harbor guidelines for cooked beef products. The transient experiments were conducted over the same temperature range used in the isothermal study. Very good agreement was obtained between theory and experiment at temperatures of 62.8 degrees C and above, although the model slightly underpredicted the extent of fluorescence emission decay at 60 degrees C. Our results indicate that R-PE fluorescence emission decay kinetics is well behaved and that the protein is a strong candidate for use as a time-temperature integrator.
Parallel and distributed algorithms: laboratory assignments in Joyce/Linda

A NSF ILI grant funded development of parallel and distributed laboratories for an undergraduate course in parallel algorithms. The laboratory assignments explored various parallel and distributed architectures, and paradigms. These assignments were implemented using the Joyce/Linda[McDonald92] language. The Joyce/Linda software was also utilized to develop parallel and distributed laboratory assignments for courses in data structures, operating systems and computer networks. The parallel and distributed algorithms course examined both theoretical and practical areas of study.
A simple material model to generate epidermal and dermal layers in vitro for skin regeneration

There is an urgent need for a rationally-designed, cellularized skin graft capable of reproducing the micro-environmental cues necessary to promote skin healing and regeneration. To address this need, we developed a composite scaffold, namely, CA/C-PEG, composing of a porous chitosan-alginate (CA) structure impregnated with a thermally reversible chitosan-poly(ethylene glycol) (C-PEG) gel to incorporate skin cells as a bi-layered skin equivalent. Fibroblasts were encapsulated in C-PEG to simulate the dermal layer while the keratinocytes were seeded on the top of CA/C-PEG composite scaffold to mimic the epidermal layer. The CA scaffold provided mechanical support for the C-PEG gel and the C-PEG gel physically segregated the keratinocytes from fibroblasts in the construct. Three different tissue culture micro-environments were tested: CA scaffolds without C-PEG cultured in cell culture medium without air-liquid interface (-gel-interface), CA scaffolds impregnated with C-PEG and cultured in cell culture medium without air-liquid interface (-gel-interface), and CA scaffolds impregnated with C-PEG cultured in cell culture medium with air-liquid interface (-gel- interface). We found that the presence of C-PEG increased the cellular proliferation rates of both keratinocytes and fibroblasts, and the air-liquid interface induced keratinocyte maturation. This CA/C-PEG composite scaffold design is able to recapitulate micro-environments relevant to skin tissue engineering, and may be a useful tool for future skin tissue engineering applications.
Global Policies and the United Nations System: A Current Assessment*

Peacekeeping policies aimed at preventing or halting armed conflict and peace building aimed at eliminating the causes of war are both purported functions of the United Nations Organization and spe...
Event memory: A theory of memory for laboratory, autobiographical, and fictional events.

An event memory is a mental construction of a scene recalled as a single occurrence. It therefore requires the hippocampus and ventral visual stream needed for all scene construction. The construction need not come with a sense of reliving or be made by a participant in the event, and it can be a summary of occurrences from more than one encoding. The mental construction, or physical rendering, of any scene must be done from a specific location and time; this introduces a ‘self’ located in space and time, which is a necessary, but need not be a sufficient, condition for a sense of reliving. We base our theory on scene construction rather than reliving because this allows the integration of many literatures and because there is more accumulated knowledge about scene construction’s phenomenology, behavior, and neural basis. Event memory differs from episodic memory in that it does not conflate the independent dimensions of whether or not a memory is relived, is about the self, is recalled voluntarily, or is based on a single encoding with whether it is recalled as a single occurrence of a scene. Thus, we argue that event memory provides a clearer contrast to semantic memory, which also can be about the self, be recalled voluntarily, and be from a unique encoding; allows for a more comprehensive dimensional account of the structure of explicit memory; and better accounts for laboratory and real world behavioral and neural results, including those from neuropsychology and neuroimaging, than does episodic memory.
Implementing acute care surgery at a level I trauma center: 1-year prospective evaluation of the impact of this shift on trauma volumes and outcomes

Abstract Background The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the transition to acute care surgery (ACS) on trauma volumes and outcomes. Methods All admissions from 2 1-year periods from June 2008 to May 2010 (1 year before ACS and 1 year after ACS) to the LAC+USC Medical Center were prospectively collected. In anticipation of this change, trauma patient demographics, clinical data, and outcomes (trauma volume and preventable and potentially preventable deaths and complications) were prospectively collected. Results Before ACS, there were 5,378 trauma admissions. After ACS, there were 5,726 (66.5%) trauma and 2,886 (33.5%) nontrauma admissions. There were no demographic or clinical differences between trauma patients in the 2 groups. There was no significant difference in overall mortality (3.8% before ACS vs 3.3% after ACS, P = .292). Similarly, there were no differences in the rates of preventable and potentially preventable deaths or complications observed (1.2% vs 1.0%, P = .374) during the study period. Conclusions Despite a 60% increase in total patient volume and a 233% increase in operative volume over the study period, the addition of emergency surgery to a trauma service did not compromise trauma patient outcomes.
MSVM-RFE

Motivation: Given the thousands of genes and the small number of samples, gene selection has emerged as an important research problem in microarray data analysis. Support Vector Machine—Recursive Feature Elimination (SVM-RFE) is one of a group of recently described algorithms which represent the stat-of-the-art for gene selection. Just like SVM itself, SVM-RFE was originally designed to solve binary gene selection problems. Several groups have extended SVM-RFE to solve multiclass problems using one-versus-all techniques. However, the genes selected from one binary gene selection problem may reduce the classification performance in other binary problems. Results: In the present study, we propose a family of four extensions to SVM-RFE (called MSVM-RFE) to solve the multiclass gene selection problem, based on different frameworks of multiclass SVMs. By simultaneously considering all classes during the gene selection stages, our proposed extensions identify genes leading to more accurate classification. Contact: david.tuck@yale.edu Supplementary information: Supplementary materials, including a detailed review of both binary and multiclass SVMs, and complete experimental results, are available at Bioinformatics online.
The playful is political: The metapragmatics of internet rape-joke arguments

Rape jokes are a contentious topic on the internet; arguments over whether “rape is funny” unfold in a diverse range of forums, but they generally take the same predictable form. In this article, I analyze the text of a variety of disputes on American websites over the funniness of rape jokes. I show not only that both sides of these arguments are premised on the same underlying assumptions about the ways that humor and language function, but more importantly that these shared assumptions make it possible for rape humor (and humor more generally) to carry social and political valence—and that in order to understand the significance of the debate over rape jokes, we need to understand the identity work that people are doing when they tell rape jokes, laugh at them, or frown and shake their heads. (Humor, language ideologies, rape, joking)*
Typologies of Men Who Are Maritally Violent Scientific and Clinical Implications

Varying levels and types of husband violence may be conceptualized as typologies of maritally violent men. Across studies, batterer subtypes resembling those proposed by Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart (1994) have been identified and generally found to differ in predicted ways. Longitudinal data from this study suggests that the subgroups continued to differ over three years. Over time, however, the placement of individual men into some subtypes was not stable. Whether to best conceptualize the heterogeneity among maritally violent men as differing subtypes or as variability along dimensions is considered. Clinical issues regarding the typology are discussed, including concern that the use of absolute cut-off points to identify subtypes is premature and consideration of using the typology to predict treatment outcome and to match interventions to subtypes. Regarding future research ideas, it is time to consider more immediate, situational and dyadic, processes leading to violence perpetration within each subtype.
A framework for computation-memory algorithmic optimization for signal processing

The heterogeneity of today's computing environment means computation-intensive signal processing algorithms must be optimized for performance in a machine dependent fashion. In this paper, we present a dynamic memory model and associated optimization framework that finds a machine-dependent, near-optimal implementation of an algorithm by exploiting the computation-memory tradeoff. By optimal, we mean an implementation that has the fastest running time given the specification of the machine memory hierarchy. We discuss two instantiations of the framework: fast IP address lookup, and fast nonuniform scalar quantizer and unstructured vector quantizer encoding. Experiments show that both instantiations outperform techniques that ignore this computation-memory tradeoff.
Design tradeoffs in CMOS FIR filters

FIR filtering is one of the basic operations in digital signal processing. To cope with the increasing demands on the speed of DSP processors for real-time and mobile applications, it is important to identify design techniques which help us build very high speed, low power filters. In this paper, we first investigate the effects of multiplier recoding which is a popular technique to increase the speed of multipliers. Next, we propose a method for reducing the activity factor, and hence the power consumption, of multipliers by using gated clocks. Lastly, we look at pipelining issues in multi-hundred MHz filters. In pipelined systems a large fraction of the total power is consumed by the clock circuitry. We compare the power and speed of bit, half-bit and gate level pipelining techniques in multipliers.
Interference and facilitation for color naming with separate bilateral presentations of the word and color.

A new procedure was found to be effective for generation of interference to color naming. In this procedure, separate word and color stimuli are presented to the right and left of fixation. Incongruent names delayed color naming, and congruent combinations of words and colors produced a facilitation of color naming relative to a control condition in which Xs were presented opposite the color. This bilatefal presentation procedure makes it possible to study interference to dimension naming for dimensions that .cannot be integrally combined with words. The procedure also has potential for study of parallel processing, selective attention, and functional differences between the hemispheres. Naming the color of a color patch when the patch is shaped to spell a color name incongruent to the color takes considerably longer than naming of a nonword color patch (Stroop, 1935). Kamlet and Egeth (1969) presented white words on small rectangles of color and found a similar delay of background color naming when the words were incongruent color names. Using a modified individual stimulus procedure, Dyer and Severance (1973) presented the word denoting a color in black ink in a tachistoscope and followed it immediately, or after a short interval, by a color patch that was a series of Xs. Delays for color naming occurred for conditions where the black word was incongruent to the color of the Xs. Some speeding of color naming occurred when the black word was congruent to the color of the Xs. This delay and facilitation of color naming was relative to a control condition where the colored Xs were preceded by a series of black Vs. Although significant, the delay in color naming was less than that obtained in studies with the word and color physically combined. In the present study, black color names
Kinematic Synthesis of Planar, Shape-Changing Compliant Mechanisms Using Pseudo-Rigid-Body Models

This paper presents a procedure using Pseudo-Rigid-Body Models (PRBMs) to synthesize partially compliant mechanisms capable of approximating a shape change defined by a set of morphing curves in different positions. To generate a single-piece compliant mechanism, flexural pivots and flexible beams are both utilized in the mechanism. New topologies defined by compliant mechanism matrices are enumerated by modifying the components that make up a single degree-of-freedom (DOF) rigidbody mechanism. Because of the introduction of the PRBM for flexural pivots and the simplified PRBM for flexible beams, torsional springs are attached at the characteristic pivots of the 1DOF rigid-body mechanism in order to generate a corresponding pseudo-rigid-body mechanism. A multi-objective genetic algorithm is employed to find a group of viable compliant mechanisms in the form of candidate pseudo-rigid-body mechanisms that tradeoff minimizing shape matching error with minimizing actuator energy. Since the simplified beam model is not accurate, an optimization loop is established to find the position and shape of the flexible beam using a finite link beam model. The optimal flexible beams together with the pseudo-rigid-body mechanism define the solution mechanism. The procedure is demonstrated with an example in which a partially compliant mechanism approximating two closed-curve profiles is synthesized.
High quality factor 1D photonic crystal cavities in silicon

Using a tapered photonic crysal cavity approach we designed cavities with theoretical Quality factors Q=2 × 107 and measured experimental Q= 7.5 × 105. Non-linear broadening of the cavity resonance has also been observed.
Monitoring Driver States in an Adaptive Approach to In-Vehicle Risk-Level Communication

In recent years, the human-in-the-loop principle has been an emerging topic throughout the field of dynamic systems and control. Within this field, Human Assistance Systems (HAS) have become increasingly important and the driving environment, in particular, tends to play a distinctive role. Previous studies mainly aimed at making assistance systems as efficient as possible, reducing the possibility for errors (collisions) to a great extent. Due to this performance-oriented approach, however, former systems tend to take up the role of a strict supervisor, rather than that of a guide-like driver assistant. This research focuses on expanding the HAS' contribution to the control loop by incorporating both the driver state and an additional assistance level into the system's output behavior, thereby aiming to advance the systems in terms of user interaction and satisfaction. As a result, system efficiency will be maintained, while simultaneously sustaining the driver's perceived level of control.
Oil-Column Calculations in Stratigraphic Traps: ABSTRACT

Oil columns can be calculated for simple stratigraphic traps if the rock and fluid properties are known or can be estimated. Because oil migration is prevented by capillary pressure in small pores of the trap facies, direct measurements of capillary pressure allow oil columns to be calculated, but such measurements are rare. An alternative is to determine pore size from porosity and permeability data using an empirical equation, and then to compute the capillary pressure by an estimate of fluid properties. An example of oil-column calculation is from the Milbur field, Burleson County, Texas, a lower Wilcox stratigraphic trap. Using core analysis from a nearby well, an oil column of 40-80 ft would be expected for the trap, and this estimate agrees reasonably well with an actual oil column of 60-75 ft for the field. The most important part of such calculations is the realization that the trapping facies itself can have significant porosity and permeability and yet form an effective barrier to oil migration. The result is that the best reservoir may occur downdip from dry holes with porous water-bearing sandstone and oil shows, rather than updip at the pinchout. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1896------------
Renal insufficiency is an independent predictor of mortality after percutaneous coronary intervention

The present study was designed to evaluate whether the presence of renal disease during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is associated with worse outcomes at 1 year in a multicenter study. The incidence of death, myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass grafting, repeat PCI, and repeat revascularization were prospectively collected on 4,602 patients (6,542 lesions) in 2 waves of patients who underwent PCI in 17 centers between July 1997 and June 1999. Renal disease was defined as the presence of an increased creatinine level in a patient with a history or presence of renal failure treated with low protein diet or dialysis. Patients with renal disease (n = 192) were older and more likely to have diabetes, heart failure, reduced ejection fraction, known coronary disease, and multivessel disease than patients without renal disease (n = 4,410). Rates of stenting were equivalent (68.2% vs 73.0%, p = NS). Patients with renal disease had lower angiographic success (84.9% vs 92.8%, p <0.001) and higher mortality, both in-hospital (5.7% vs 1.2%, p <0.001) and at 1 year (19.7% vs 4.4%, p <0.0001). After adjusting for clinical, demographic, and angiographic differences, renal disease remained an independent predictor of in-hospital (odds ratio 3.81, 95% confidence interval 1.70 to 8.58) and 1-year (risk ratio 2.46, 95% confidence interval 1.64 to 3.68) mortality. Renal disease conferred additional mortality risk in established high-risk clinical subgroups. In conclusion, after adjusting for a higher frequency of co-morbidities, renal disease remains a strong and independent predictor of increased in-hospital and 1-year mortality after PCI and is additive to other clinical markers of worse outcome.
Some Empirical Results about the Nature of Concepts

Some Empirical Results About The Nature Of Concepts George Lakoﬂ&#39; University of California at Berkeley It is diﬂicult to write anything short about concepts once one has written a 600—page book on the subject (Lakoli, 1987). What I will try to do is try to set down as brieﬂy and succinctly as possible some of the basics of what has been learned from empirical studies in the various cog- nitive sciences. But before getting on to a substantive discussion, it should be noted that there are important negative results: —Concepts do not ‘mirror nature’; they are not mere internal representa- tions of external reality. —-Concepts are, for the most part, not deﬁned by necessary and sufficient conditions. — Natural kind concepts constitute an interesting special case: Biological natural kind concepts do not refer to sets of biological entities in the
On the Duality of Motion: Allocation and Valuation

The dynamical theory of valuation originally introduced by IRVING FISHER (1906, 35), depends on two simple principles. The first is the marginal principle of the classical theory of value; according to this principle a commodity is always valued at the margin, by the marginal benefit that an additional unit generates. The value of a commodity to a consumer, for example, is determined by its marginal utility, while the value of commodity to a firm is determined by the value of its marginal product. In the dynamical theory, however, an additional unit of a commodity generates a whole stream of marginal benefit over time.
Probing the Electronic Structures and Relative Stabilities of Monomagnesium Oxide Clusters MgOx-and MgOx(x= 1-4): A Combined Photoelectron Imaging and Theoretical Investigation

The electronic and structural properties of small monomagnesium oxide clusters, MgOx– and MgOx (x = 1–4), have been investigated using a synergistic approach combining photoelectron imaging spectroscopy and first principles electronic structure calculations. The adiabatic detachment energy (ADE) and vertical detachment energy (VDE) of MgOx– clusters along with the photoelectron angular distributions (PADs) are determined experimentally. The measured PADs of the clusters are dependent on both the orbital symmetry and electron kinetic energies. Density-functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to explore the optimized geometries of neutral and anionic MgOx clusters. The theoretical ADE and VDE values calculated according to the optimized geometries are in good agreement with our experimental measurements. In addition, MgO– and MgO4 clusters are found to have enhanced relative stability in the corresponding anionic and neutral series, based on both theoretical parameters and the experimental cluste...
MARASMIUS INAQUOSI SP. NOV. FROM SONORAN DESERT WOODRAT MIDDENS

Marasmius inaquosi sp. nov. was isolated from palo verde wood collected inside a woodrat midden in the Arizona Sonoran Desert and is described from basidiomata formed in vitro. The species belongs in sect. Sicci, has an amphithallic mating system, and is the only known Marasmius from desert environments. Woodrat middens are mesic microhabitats favorable for fungal growth in an otherwise xeric environment. Woodrats may play a role in dispersing M. inaquosi to suitable microhabitats. The species is illustrated and compared with phenetically similar taxa, and details on culture morphology are provided.
Soil organic matter content effects on dermal pesticide bioconcentration in American toads (Bufo americanus).

Pesticides have been implicated as a major factor in global amphibian declines and may pose great risk to terrestrial phase amphibians moving to and from breeding ponds on agricultural landscapes. Dermal uptake from soil is known to occur in amphibians, but predicting pesticide availability and bioconcentration across soil types is not well understood. The present study was designed to compare uptake of 5 current-use pesticides (imidacloprid, atrazine, triadimefon, fipronil, and pendimethalin) in American toads (Bufo americanus) from exposure on soils with significant organic matter content differences (14.1% = high organic matter and 3.1% = low organic matter). We placed toads on high- or low-organic matter soil after applying individual current-use pesticides on the soil surface for an 8-h exposure duration. Whole body tissue homogenates and soils were extracted and analyzed using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to determine pesticide tissue and soil concentration, as well as bioconcentration factor in toads. Tissue concentrations were greater on the low-organic matter soil than the high-organic matter soil across all pesticides (average ± standard error; 1.23 ± 0.35 ppm and 0.78 ± 0.23 ppm, respectively), and bioconcentration was significantly higher for toads on the low-organic matter soil (analysis of covariance p = 0.002). Soil organic matter is known to play a significant role in the mobility of pesticides and bioavailability to living organisms. Agricultural soils typically have relatively lower organic matter content and serve as a functional habitat for amphibians. The potential for pesticide accumulation in amphibians moving throughout agricultural landscapes may be greater and should be considered in conservation and policy efforts. Environ Toxicol Chem 2016;35:2734-2741. © 2016 SETAC.
Application of the High-Power TWT in ECM

The history and the basic theories of the TWT are introduced.Then, the applications and the notices of the high-power TWT in ECM System are presented.At last,the project of how to get an ultrahigh CW power of 4kW by power-combination is explained.
Bosnia and Kosovo: aeromedical evacuation in the initial stages of deployment.

Method: A comparative analysis of aeromedical evacuation (AE) from operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo during the first months of deployment was performed in order to determine how medical assets were utilized and to explore the potential for multi-national cooperation. Methods: Retrospective analysis of casualties evacuated and aircraft utilization during the first 4 mo of both operations and the first year of deployment to Operation Joint Endeavor (Bosnia-Herzegovina) was performed. Results: Categories of casualties evacuated (in accordance with international JCD codes) were compiled, and most frequent diagnoses of patients evacuated, average patient load, and frequency of critical care team transport were determined. Conclusions: To increase cooperation among multi-national forces deployed to the same operation, a database can be established with numbers and diagnoses of casualties evacuated. Trended data can then be used to tailor AE forces to meet both medical needs and multi-national operation requirements.
Energy efficient LED layout optimization for near-uniform illumination

In this paper, we consider the problem of designing energy efficient light emitting diodes (LEDs) layout while satisfying the illumination constraints. Towards this objective, we present a simple approach to the illumination design problem based on the concept of the virtual LED. We formulate a constrained optimization problem for minimizing the power consumption while maintaining a near-uniform illumination throughout the room. By solving the resulting constrained linear program, we obtain the number of required LEDs and the optimal output luminous intensities that achieve the desired illumination constraints.
Influenza infection modulates vesicular trafficking and induces Golgi complex disruption

Influenza A virus (IFV) replicates its genome in the nucleus of infected cells and uses the cellular protein transport system for genome trafficking from the nucleus to the plasma membrane. However, many details of the mechanism of this process, and its relationship to subsequent cytoplasmic virus trafficking, have not been elucidated. We examined the effect of nuclear transport inhibitors Leptomycin B (LB), 5,6 dichloro-1-β-d-ribofuranosyl-benzimidazole (DRB), the vesicular transport inhibitor Brefeldin A (BFA), the caspase inhibitor ZWEHD, and microtubule inhibitor Nocodazole (NOC) on virus replication and intracellular trafficking of viral nucleoprotein (NP) from the nucleus to the ER and Golgi. Also, we carried out complementary studies to determine the effect of IFV on intracellular membranes. Inhibition of the CRM1 and TAP-P15 nuclear transport pathways by DRB and LB blocked completely the export of virus. Inhibition of vesicular trafficking by BFA, NOC, and ZWEHD also affected influenza infection. Interestingly, IFV infection induced fragmentation of the Golgi complex resulting in diffuse distribution of large and small vesicles throughout the cytoplasm. Live-cell microscopy revealed expansion of Golgi localization signals indicating progressive dispersion of Golgi positive structures, resulting in the disassembly of the Golgi ribbon structure. Other vesicular components (Rab1b, ARF1 and GBF1) were also found to be required for IFV infection. Furthermore, the exact step at which IFV infection disrupts vesicle trafficking was identified as the ER-Golgi intermediate compartment. These findings suggest that IFV NP is trafficked from the nucleus via the CRM1 and TAP pathways. IFV modulates vesicular trafficking inducing disruption of the Golgi complex. These studies provide insight on the ways in which IFV affects intracellular trafficking of different host proteins and will facilitate identification of useful pharmaceutical targets to abrogate virus replication.
CdCl2 Treatment-Induced Enhanced Conductivity in CdTe Solar Cells Observed Using Conductive Atomic Force Microscopy

The rear surfaces of CdTe photovoltaic devices without back contacts, grown by close-spaced sublimation (CSS), were analyzed using conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM). As-deposited and CdCl2-treated CdTe samples were compared to clarify the effect of the treatment on charge flow through grains and grain boundaries. The CdCl2-treated samples exhibit a more homogeneous and enhanced current flow across the grains as compared to the as-deposited samples. The grain boundaries show variable current. Under high bias, grain boundaries dominate current flow when the main junction is reverse biased and with the conducting current in reverse breakdown. Under the opposite bias conditions, where the contact of the conductive tip to the surface is reverse biased and under breakdown conditions, the current flow is uniform with little contrast between grains and grain boundaries. The results are interpreted as resulting from the improved crystallinity of the CdTe with reduced p-type doping along the grain boundaries.
Provision of an Explicit Constraints Schema in the STEP Standard

The International Standard STEP (ISO 10303) is intended to facilitate the exchange of data between CAD systems. The first (1994) release of the standard allows the transfer of geometric product models in terms of geometry and topology plus configuration data (version numbers, etc). Since most CAD systems now allow the creation of variational models with parametrization, constraints and features, it is necessary to extend STEP to take into account these newer capabilities. This task is being addressed by the ISO Parametrics Group, working within ISO TC184/SC4. The paper discusses some of the considerations arising in the early stages of this work; in particular, it presents a requirements analysis for a STEP schema for the representation of explicit constraints.
Letter by Brown Regarding Article, "Genetic Risk Scores Predict Recurrence of Acute Coronary Syndrome".

Although the majority of studies focus on primary prevention, I read with great interest the article by Vaara et al.1 In this article, authors reported the association of a genetic risk score (GRS) composed of 47 susceptibility variants for coronary heart disease (CHD; GRS47) and a GRS composed of 32 variants (GRS32) with secondary CHD events, specifically acute coronary syndrome; a 153-variant GRS (GRS153) was not predictive. This is consistent with the association of a 27-variant GRS with the frequency of primary CHD events and clinical response to statin therapy2 and a 30-variant GRS with the …
Alcoholism and Schizophrenia

Clinical experience indicates that the concurrence of alcoholism and schizophrenia in the same individual is a far from unusual circumstance. Clinicians generally attribute a poor prognosis and stormy course to the combination and it is not uncommon to find alcohol treatment programs which reject patients with the stigmata of functional psychosis, or so-called schizophrenia treatment units which prematurely discharge or refuse to accept patients with a history of serious alcohol abuse.
Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase enzyme stability in filter paper dried blood spots

Abstract Objective Prior to initial distribution of Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) proficiency testing (PT) materials, we evaluated G6PD enzyme stability in dried blood spots (DBS) under various temperature and humidity environments to develop storage and usage guidelines for our new materials. Design & methods We prepared fresh G6PD-normal DBS materials and conducted stability evaluations of daily use and short and long-term storage under various temperature and humidity environments. Results G6PD DBS PT materials retained 92% of initial activity after 30 days of use at 4 °C. Materials stored at − 20 °C and 4 °C with desiccant for 30 days retained 95% and 90% of initial activity, respectively. When stored for one year at − 20 °C or six months at 4 °C specimens retained > 90% of initial activity. Specimens stored at 37 °C with desiccant lost 10% activity in three days. At the end of 30 days, specimens stored under ‘Extreme’—humidity > 50% without desiccant— conditions at 37 °C assayed below the NSQAP cut off for G6PD. Humidity exacerbated loss of enzyme activity with increasing temperature and time duration. Conclusion Data suggest that G6PD PT materials can be stored at 4 °C and used for up to one month and can be stored at − 20 °C for one year and yield > 90% enzyme activity. Exposure to warm temperatures, especially with elevated humidity, should be avoided. Desiccant should always be used to mitigate humidity effects.
A restricted nonlinear large eddy simulation model for high Reynolds number flows

ABSTRACTRecent numerical studies of the restricted nonlinear (RNL) model have demonstrated its ability to reproduce important features of wall turbulence despite a severe reduction in the number of degrees of freedom. In these prior studies, the RNL model included full resolution of the viscous term. In this work, we extend the RNL model to arbitrarily high Reynolds numbers by developing a RNL large eddy simulation (LES) framework along with a method to systematically identify an appropriate streamwise wavenumber support based on spectral properties of wall turbulence. This method leads to a band-limited RNL–LES system which is successful in reproducing some of the most important statistical features captured in previous low to moderate Reynolds number simulations, e.g. the mean velocity and second-order moment profiles. The RNL–LES framework offers a new approach to understanding the connection between coherent structures and the momentum transfer mechanisms of wall turbulence at arbitrarily high Reynold...
Lieutenant G. K. Warren's 1855 and 1856 Manuscript Maps of the Missouri River

Review of: "Lieutenant G. K. Warren’s 1855 and 1856 Manuscript Maps of the Missouri River," compiled and with an introduction by Graham A. Callaway and W. Raymond Wood.
The socioeconomic factors that facilitate or constrain restoration management: Watershed rehabilitation and wet meadow (bofedal) restoration in the Bolivian Andes.

Restoration ecology holds promise for addressing land degradation in impoverished rural environments, provided the approach is adapted to rural development settings. While there is a need for increased integration of social dynamics in land restoration, few systematic studies exist. We explored the socioeconomic factors that influence restoration management, including local motives and perceived benefits, incentives, land tenancy, institutional factors, conflict resolution, accessibility, off-farm labor, and outmigration. The study area is a successful watershed rehabilitation and wet meadow restoration project in the Bolivian Andes that began in 1992. We used household survey methods (n = 237) to compare the communities that had conducted the most restoration management with those that had conducted the least. Results suggest that several factors facilitate investments in land restoration, including aligning restoration objectives with local motives and perceived benefits, ensuring incentives are in place to stimulate long-term investments, conflict resolution, private land tenancy, and accessibility. However, higher levels of organization and active leadership can facilitate land restoration on communal lands. Increased livelihood benefits from land restoration helped slow the rate of rural to urban migration, with 24.5% outmigration in the highest restoration management communities compared to 62.1% in the lowest restoration management communities. Results suggest that land restoration projects that integrate community development into project planning and implementation will achieve greater success.
Characteristics of Interim Publications of Randomized Clinical Trials and Comparison With Final Publications.

This study describes the number of interim reports of ongoing randomized trials published between 2006 and 2015, the reasons for interim reporting, and differences in the abstract conclusions between interim and final publications.
Quantitative Assessment of Strabismus and Selected Vision Related Anomalies

Decreased vision, double vision, eye fatigue and strain associated with strabismus often require no-surgical or surgical options which may lead to overcorrection or under correction with a need for a follow up surgery. Therefore, quantitative assessment of the degree of strabismus can serve as very useful tool for deciding on therapeutic options and evaluation of their outcomes. Further, US focused statistics indicate that 4% of the population has strabismus while some global estimates attribute this anomaly only to 0.034% of world population. These contrasting statistics further lead to a necessity of having a uniform quantitative tool for a broader application to determine the scope and the degree of this anomaly in different populations. At this point variety of tests are used including Hirschberg test, Cover test, and Central Corneal Light Reflex Ratio. Therefore, the developed technique allows automatic quantitative detection of a presence of possible strabismus and calculation of linear and vertical deviations of eyes in digital images. In particular, the proposed algorithm was structured in seven stages: (1) face matching (2) face detection and alignment (3) extraction of region of interest (4) locating the iris of both eyes and their center positions (5) selection of reference points in the eyes (6) calculation of linear and vertical deviations (7) making prediction using pre-trained regression model. This methodology has 93% of accuracy, 84% of sensitivity and 30% of specificity as tested on 128 images. In particular, the outcome encompasses a methodology for two graphical user interfaces which have real time as well as local image processing capability; a bounding box approach to make the face of a person aligned; and determination of numerical linear and vertical deviations of the eyes in millimeters. While the deviation of normal eyes is close to zero, the higher numbers indicate pre-strabismus or strabismus conditions respectively.
Artificial Zinc Enzymes with Fine-Tuned Active Sites for Highly Selective Hydrolysis of Activated Esters

Zinc enzymes are ubiquitous in nature and are frequently used to catalyze the hydrolysis of carboxylic acid esters, phosphate esters, and amides. Although many models and mimics of zinc enzymes have been reported, it remains difficult to construct active sites with accurately positioned catalytic groups and tunable substrate selectivity. By imprinting a substrate-like amino template coordinated to a polymerizable zinc complex inside cross-linked micelles, we prepared water-soluble nanoparticles with well-defined active sites. The position of the zinc ion could be tuned systematically with respect to the ester bond to be cleaved in the substrate (p-nitrophenyl esters), as well as the rigidity of the active site. Our imprinted zinc catalysts were able to distinguish substrates that differed by the position of a single methyl group, chain length of the acyl chain, and substitution of the phenyl ring. The turnover number (>460 at pH 7) was 1 order of magnitude higher than those previously reported for artific...