cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Efficient site-specific labeling of proteins via cysteines.

Methods for chemical modifications of proteins have been crucial for the advancement of proteomics. In particular, site-specific covalent labeling of proteins with fluorophores and other moieties has permitted the development of a multitude of assays for proteome analysis. A common approach for such a modification is solvent-accessible cysteine labeling using thiol-reactive dyes. Cysteine is very attractive for site-specific conjugation due to its relative rarity throughout the proteome and the ease of its introduction into a specific site along the protein’s amino acid chain. This is achieved by site-directed mutagenesis, most often without perturbing the protein’s function. Bottlenecks in this reaction, however, include the maintenance of reactive thiol groups without oxidation before the reaction, and the effective removal of unreacted molecules prior to fluorescence studies. Here, we describe an efficient, specific, and rapid procedure for cysteine labeling starting from well-reduced proteins in the s...
Expression and nucleotide excision repair of a UV-irradiated reporter gene in unirradiated human cells

It has been suggested that reactivation of damaged reporter genes introduced into cultured mammalian cells reflects transcription-coupled nucleotide excision repair. To evaluate this possibility directly, we introduced a UV-irradiated shuttle vector, pCMV beta, into unirradiated human cells and compared expression of the reporter gene (lacZ) with repair of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs). Expression of the irradiated reporter gene was more UV resistant in XPC cells, which are deficient in global genome repair, than in CSB cells, which are deficient in transcription-coupled repair. These results are consistent with the idea that repair of the reporter gene is primarily dependent upon transcription-coupled repair. However, when the plasmid DNA was analyzed for removal of CPDs, no clear evidence was obtained for transcription-coupled repair either in XPC cells or in cells with normal repair capacity.
Synthesis and characterization of silk fibroin microparticles for intra-articular drug delivery.

Objective To determine the utility of silk fibroin (SF) microparticles as sustained release vehicles for intra-articular delivery.
Growth of normal human amnion epithelial cells in serum-free medium.

Abstract The serum-free growth of primary cultures of normal human epithelial-like cells from amniotic membranes was accomplished. The synthetic medium consists of a 1 : 1 basal nutrient mixture of Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium (DMEM) and Ham's F-12 supplemented with 2.5 μg/ml insulin, 50 ng/ml epidermal growth factor (EGF), 5 μg/ml transferrin, and 0.1 ng/ml triiodothyronine (T3). EGF is the primary mitogen and is essential for cell proliferation in this system.
Numerical solutions of incompressible Navier–Stokes equations using modified Bernoulli's law

Simulations of incompressible flows are important for many practical applications in aeronautics and beyond, particularly in the high Reynolds number regime. The present formulation is based on Helmholtz velocity decomposition where the velocity is presented as the gradient of a potential plus a rotational component. Substituting in the continuity equation yields a Poisson equation for the potential which is solved with a zero normal derivative at solid surfaces. The momentum equation is used to update the rotational component with no slip/no penetration surface boundary conditions. The pressure is related to the potential function through a special relation which is a generalization of Bernoulli's law, with a viscous term included. Results of calculations for two- and three-dimensional problems prove that the present formulation is a valid approach, with some possible benefits compared to existing methods
Towards a more reliable and efficient electric distribution system

Distributed Generation (DG), Energy Storage (ES), and Demand Response (DR) are among the essential technologies proposed in the future electricity systems (Smart Grid) initiatives. To achieve increased levels of grid penetration by DG, ES, and DR, the current distribution systems in the United States will need to undergo significant changes in both infrastructure and regulatory policy. This paper reviews some of the important aspects of the network and operation of current distribution systems, and discusses changes that can support the broader deployment of DG, ES, and DR with increased levels of operational reliability and economic efficiency.
The near U.V. absorption spectra of dimethyl sulfide, diethyl sulfide and dimethyl disulfide at T=300 K

Abstract Absorption cross-sections are reported for dimethyl sulfide (CH3SCH3), diethyl sulfide (C2H5SC2H5), and dimethyl disulfide (CH3SSCH3) at wavelengths greater than 200 nm, a temperature of 300 K, and a nominal spectral resolution of 0.10 nm. In general, the results are in good agreement with previous measurements of the spectra of these molecules, but are of higher precision and resolution than past measurements. New features in the spectra, including a previously unobserved vibrational progression for diethyl sulfide, are discussed. Finally, the data are used to calculate a photodissociation lifetime for dimethyl disulfide, the only one of the three molecules that absorbs light in the actinic u.v. region of the spectrum. Loss of dimethyl disulfide by photodissociation is expected to be 5 – 10 times slower than loss due to reaction of the compound with OH under atmospheric conditions.
Self-checking properties of residue number error checkers based on mixed radix conversion

It has been shown previously that a mixed-radix converter can be modified to perform all the essential functions of an error checker for error detection and correction in residue number system hardware architectures. Since the computations in a mixed-radix converter are themselves done in residue arithmetic, error checking by means of mixed-radix conversion also checks for errors that occur in the hardware of the mixed-radix converter. The potentially useful properties of this self-checking error checker are examined. >
Iridium-Catalyzed Dehydrogenation of Substituted Amine Boranes: Kinetics, Thermodynamics, and Implications for Hydrogen Storage

Dehydrogenation of amine boranes is catalyzed efficiently by the iridium pincer complex (kappa (3)-1,3-(OP ( t )Bu 2) 2C 6H 3)Ir(H) 2 ( 1). With CH 3NH 2BH 3 (MeAB) and with AB/MeAB mixtures (AB = NH 3BH 3), the rapid release of 1 equiv of H 2 is observed to yield soluble oligomeric products at rates similar to those previously reported for the dehydrogenation of AB catalyzed by 1. Delta H for the dehydrogenation of AB, MeAB, and AB/MeAB mixtures has been determined by calorimetry. The experimental heats of reaction are compared to results from computational studies.
IP* Sets in Product Spaces

: An IP* set in a semigroup (S,·) is a set which meets every set of the form FP(〈xn〉∞n=1) = {∏neFxn: F is a finite nonempty subset of ℕ}, where the products are taken in increasing order of indices. We show here, using the Stone-Cech compactification of the product space S1×S2×…×Sl, that if each Si is commutative, then whenever C is an IP* set in S1×S2×…×Sl, and for each ie {1, 2, …, l}, 〈xi,n〉∞n=1 is a sequence in Si, C contains Cartesian products of arbitrarily large finite substructures of FP(〈x1,nln=1〉) ×FP(〈x2,nln=1〉) ×…×FP(〈xl,nln=1〉). (The notion of “substructure” is made precise in Definition 2.4.) We show further that C need not contain any product of infinite substructures and that the commutativity hypothesis may not be omitted. Similar results apply to arbitrary finite products of semigroups. By way of contrast, we show in Theorem 2.3 that a much stronger conclusion holds for some cell of any finite partition of S1×S2×…×Sl, without even any commutativity assumptions.
Measured and theoretical supersonic dynamic stability characteristics of a National Aero-Space Plane configuration

Wind-tunnel tests of a National Aero-Space Plane configuration were conducted in the NASA Langley Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (UPWT). The model used is a Langley designed blended body configuration. Dynamic stability characteristics were measured on this configuration at Mach numbers of 2.0, 2.5, 3.5, and 4.5. In addition to tests of the baseline configuration, component breakdown tests were conducted. The test results show that the baseline configuration generally has stable damping about all three axes, with only isolated exceptions. In addition, there was generally good agreement between the in-phase dynamic parameters and the corresponding static data which were measured during another series of tests in UPWT. Also included are comparisons of the experimental damping parameters with results from the engineering predictive code aerodynamic preliminary analysis system. These comparisons show good agreement at low angles of attack; however, the comparisons are generally not as good at the higher angles of attack.
Effectiveness of Hempa as a House Fly Chemosterilant

Hempa (hexamethylphosphoramide) holds promise as a chemosterilant of house flies ( Musca domestica L.). It effectively sterilized mixed and segregated sexes at concentrations as low as 0.25% in the diet, flies that were immersed as pupae in 50% solutions, and males but not females exposed to residues of 200 mg/ft2 in glass jars. It was less effective against females than against males. Hempa did not impair mating competitiveness of males of the motility of the sperm.
Channel adjustments to changing discharges, Powder River, Montana

Sixteen years of annual surveys reveal how Powder River responds to varying discharges. During 1978, the second largest recorded daily mean discharge occurred. Cutbank migration, bed degradation, net bank erosion, and overbank deposition all contributed to increase the channel area at 12 cross sections by an average of 62%. During the ensuing years, the channel area decreased as sediment was stored in low-lying benches adjacent to the active bed of the channel. The survey data indicate that the balance between bank erosion and deposition varies with discharge. In years when the annual maximum daily mean discharge is 3 /s (a flow of 60 m 3 /s has a recurrence interval of ∼1.1 yr), bank erosion and deposition are approximately equal. In years when the annual maximum daily mean discharge is between 60 and ∼150 m 3 /s (a discharge of 150 m 3 /s has a recurrence interval of ∼2.7 yr), bank deposition exceeds bank erosion, and the channel contracts, often by developing benches. In years with higher discharges, the channel expands through net bank erosion. These results demonstrate that the channel of Powder River is influenced by a wide variety of formative discharges. Powder River9s recent history of expansion and contraction and the development of prominent benches cannot be explained by equilibrium models based on a single, channel-forming discharge.
TSD and coding in STM

Ss were asked to listen to a list of words and to identify repeated words upon hearing them. Interspersed with the repetitions were words that were associatively or acoustically related to the repeated words. The intrusion errors were analyzed and the differences across word class found to be highly significant; application of signal-detection theory provided a means of quantifying this difference.
An objective classification of psychoactive drugs

Abstract 1. 1. Among the many classifications of psychoactive drugs, the quantitative EEG system is both objective and useful. 2. 2. The measurement of EEG frequency, amplitude, variability, and pattern provides a basis to classify established psychoactive drugs, to assess new drugs, and to estimate their pharmacodynamics. 3. 3. The EEG system is based on a theory of association of EEG and behavior after psychoactive drugs; it is reliable and reproducible; and numerous laboratories carry out the analyses. 4. 4. The relative independence of EEG systems from intuition makes it the most objective psycho-active drug classification system available.
Building a better system of care for children

Abstract Pediatric nurse practitioners and their pediatric and social work colleagues need to play a special role in children's advocacy, particularly in articulating the special health requirements of children and the need for a child-specific standard of care, as described in Health Care for Children: What's Right, What's Wrong, What's Next .
Closing the clinics: Would it close the teaching hospital?

To improve their overall financial position, many teaching hospitals have considered decreasing the size of their clinics. To assess the effect this would have on the inpatient service, the medical ward service of The New York Hospital was studied during the 1981 to 1982 academic year. In 50 percent of hospitalizations, patients were enrolled in the clinic system before admission. In an additional 19 percent of hospitalizations, patients had either been previously seen in the emergency room or hospitalized at this institution, but never seen in a clinic. In the remaining 31 percent of hospitalizations, the patient's admission was the first contact with the institution. This group of "new" patients simply replaced the patients who died (14 percent) or were lost to the system through transfer to chronic-care facilities (11 percent) or referral to community physicians (7 percent). Twenty percent of patients discharged to a clinic were readmitted during the study year as opposed to only 3 percent of patients who were transferred to chronic-care facilities or referred to community physicians. The clinic system is the principal source of referral into the ward service and the most effective mechanism for insuring that a patient needing rehospitalization returns to the hospital. It is concluded that major reduction of clinic size will result in severe contraction of the inpatient service.
Systematic Curriculum Evaluation: A Means and Methodology.

(1974). Systematic curriculum evaluation: A means and methodology. Theory Into Practice: Vol. 13, Evaluation and Program Development, pp. 41-45.
Practitioners' administration and scoring of the WISC—R: Evidence that we do err.

Abstract WISC-R protocols (n = 56) completed by one certified and eight licensed practitioners were analyzed to determine whether and to what degree administration and scoring mistakes occured. Numerous mistakes were observed, such as failure to record examinee responses, assigning too few or too many points to answers, inappropriate questioning, and failure to obtain correct basals or ceilings. Subtests and subtest items on which practitioners are prone to err were identified. Examiner errors, when corrected, resulted in changes in the Full Scale IQ that had the potential to influence labeling and placement decisions. The implications of these errors for professional practice are discussed and suggestions for minimizing examiner errors through better training are provided.
Local and Regional Components of Sensible Heat Advection

Abstract Detailed knowledge of the advection of sensible heat is necessary to understand the energy balance of the evaporating surface in many parts of the world. Sensible heat advection can result from regional and/or local sources. The local and regional components of sensible heat advection (Aloc and Areg, respectively) are identified and their magnitudes in a semi-arid to sub-humid zone are established in the work reported here. Measurements of dry- and wet-bulb air temperature, wind speed and net radiation were made above an irrigated alfalfa field with relatively dry surroundings upwind at Mead, NE. A modified Bowen ratio-energy balance method which incorporates horizontal gradients of air temperature and vapor pressure was used to compute evapotranspiration (ET) rates. Sensible heat advection at the furthest upwind location in the irrigated field contributed from 15 to 50% of the energy consumed in ET on a daily basis. Areg was greatest on days with strong winds; Aloc was independent of wind speed....
MRI of knee ligaments

The stability of the knee depends largely on the integrity of its ligaments. Pain, clinical history, and nonspecific physical findings may hinder clinical diagnosis of acute ligamentous injury. Most major knee ligaments have uniform low signal intensity on all imaging sequences, and diagnosis of injury is based on periligamentous soft tissue edema, increased signal within the ligament, or disrupted structures. Correlation of findings from routine sagittal, coronal, and axial MRI scans usually yields a definitive diagnosis of knee ligamentous injury. This article reviews normal anatomy, function, mechanism of injury, and normal and pathological MRI finrings of the major knee ligaments.
Complete trisomy 9: case report with ultrasound findings.

Abstract In a case of complete trisomy 9, ultrasound findings led to prenatal diagnosis. This case is reviewed in the context of previous case reports. A 29-year-old gravida III, para II was referred at 34 weeks because of abnormal ultrasound findings. The findings included intrauterine growth retardation, Dandy-Walker malformation, a single atrium, liver calcifications, a two-vessel cord, and abnormal Doppler studies. Percutaneous umbilical blood sampling revealed complete trisomy 9. Prenatal diagnosis led to a plan of no intervention for fetal indications. Autopsy revealed facial, cardiovascular, central nervous, and skeletal findings frequently seen in complete trisomy 9. Review of all cases showed that 12 of 15 (80%) occurred in mothers younger than 35 years, 11 of 13 cases (85%) delivering after 23 weeks' gestation were small for gestational age, and 7 of 12 liveborns (58%) had cesarean delivery. Only 3 of 12 liveborns (25%) lived beyond 7 days. Abnormal ultrasound findings can be seen in cases of complete trisomy 9. Prenatal diagnosis allows the parents to make an informed decision regarding fetal intervention, which may avoid unnecessary cesarean delivery.
Array Optimization and Preprocessing Techniques for Chemical Sensing Microsystems

Physical sensors, defined by their direct chemical interaction with the sensing environment, are a valuable and often essential contribution to the solution of stringent chemical sensing problems. Methods for conditioning signals from these sensors to optimize their presentation to subsequent decision-making models in the signal processing flow are presented. The assembly of sensors into an array and the preprocessing of these signals are the two primary techniques for conditioning a chemical image for concentration detection, chemical discrimination, and, in some cases, odor localization. Array optimization involves locating the point at which adding additional sensors to an array generates more noise than information and is highly dependent on the application and number of analytes to be sensed or differentiated. Signal preprocessing techniques include noise reduction, feature extraction, the reduction of array inputs, and the scaling of individual sensor signals and provide a means by which to reconstruct an array of chemical sensor signals into a subset of information that enables a decisionmaking model to do its job with greater efficiency and accuracy. In this chapter, surveys of methods are accompanied by representative examples employing a wide variety of sensors including ChemFETs, chemiresistors, acoustic wave devices, and surface plasmon resonance sensors.
Thermodynamic properties for 2, 5, 8, 11-tetraoxadodecane + n-dodecane mixtures at 298.15 K

Abstract Flow calorimetric measurements of the excess molar enthalpy and excess molar isobaric heat capacity, dilatometric measurement of the excess molar volume, and pulse-echo-overlap determinations of the speed of sound were carried out over the whole composition range for mixtures of 2,5,8,11-tetraoxadodecane with n -dodecane at 298.15 K. The excess molar enthalpy and excess molar volume are positive at all mole fractions. The speed of sound shows negative deviations from linearity on a mole fraction basis. The excess molar isobaric heat capacity exhibits a maximum and two minima.
Exploring the Dialect of the Franco-Americans of Manchester, New Hampshire

L'article presente une recherche sociolinguistique sur l'un des facteurs a l'origine de la diversite des langues parlees : l'exposition d'une langue a d'autres langues voisines. Cette recherche examine l'influence du francais sur l'anglais franco-americain de Manchester. Dans ce cadre, l'auteur se pose un certain nombre de questions : 1. la communaute franco-americaine de Manchester a-t-elle son propore dialecte anglais influence par le francais ?, 2. quels sont les facteurs sociolinguistiques qui influencent ce dialecte ?, 3. les locuteurs qui ont garde des liens culturels tres forts vis-a-vis de la communaute franco-americaine produisent-ils un anglais a plus grande sonorite francaise ?, enfin 4. l'immersion dans la culture franco-americaine peut-elle avoir une influence sur des locuteurs monolingues (anglais)? En repondant a toutes ces questions, l'auteur examine en fait le degre d'implication de l'activite ethnique sur les autres communautes
Pion reaction modes on nuclei

Abstract The status of the overall features of recent inclusive data on pion-induced reactions on nuclei is summarized. Simple features of absorption and inelastic scattering are discussed.
Characterization of neutral species observed in the electron bombardment of methane, silane and germane

Abstract A neutral fragment mass spectrometer has been used to investigate long-lived, excited state, neutral products of the electron impact ionization of methane, silane and germane. Rydberg states of H** are observed for all three gases, while Rydberg states of Si** and Ge** are observed for silane and germane. Evidence for Rydberg states of polyatomic species is presented for silane and germane.
Delivery of agricultural drought information via web services

Data, information, knowledge, and wisdom are four basic steps of human perception process of objects. In order to better understand agricultural drought and make proper decisions, it is necessary to extract drought information out of related data (e.g., remotely sensed data) and discover knowledge from the extracted information. This paper explores advantages of Web services in providing on-demand agricultural drought analysis and facilitating the perception process in agricultural drought management. Four Web services, drawROI, getVCIStats, getDroughtPercentageByStates, and getDroughtTimeSeries, are presented in details in this paper. These Web services demonstrate improved support to drought analysis and decision-making for the general public and illustrate the potential of Web services in automating geospatial knowledge discovery and dissemination in the Big Data era.
Priors and likelihoods that are arbitrarily sensitive to outlying observations

SUMMARY For location parameters the posterior can be extremely sensitive to the functional forms of the prior and likelihood when there is an extreme outlying observation. Conditions on the prior, likelihood and set are provided such that as one observation goes to infinity the posterior probability that a location parameter is contained in the set goes to zero. This is of particular interest when the set ranges over intervals with a finite upper bound. The conditions for this extreme reaction to an outlying observation cover all Box-Tiao densities with a shape parameter greater than one.
Heat acclimation in telemetry equipped rat

Abstract In rats with radio-telemetry units, core temperature (Tc), heart rate (HR), and blood pressure (BP) were measured during 2 weeks of heat acclimation and a subsequent heat stress test to differentiate between acclimation and handling effects. Heat acclimated telemetry equipped rats (THAC) had significantly lower HR, systolic BP, and Tc during heat stress than non-acclimated telemetry equipped rats (TCAC). THAC and TCAC rats had greater endurance times and lower water loss rates than comparable groups without telemetry. Differences in resting Tc previously attributed to acclimation may be due to a reduction in sensitivity to stress of handling and measurement of rectal temperature in heat acclimated animals.
Tethered Domains and Flexible Regions in tRNase ZL, the Long Form of tRNase Z

tRNase Z, a member of the metallo-β-lactamase family, endonucleolytically removes the pre-tRNA 3' trailer in a step central to tRNA maturation. The short form (tRNase Z(S)) is the only one found in bacteria and archaebacteria and is also present in some eukaryotes. The homologous long form (tRNase Z(L)), exclusively found in eukaryotes, consists of related amino- and carboxy-domains, suggesting that tRNase Z(L) arose from a tandem duplication of tRNase Z(S) followed by interdependent divergence of the domains. X-ray crystallographic structures of tRNase Z(S) reveal a flexible arm (FA) extruded from the body of tRNase Z remote from the active site that binds tRNA far from the scissile bond. No tRNase Z(L) structures have been solved; alternative biophysical studies are therefore needed to illuminate its functional characteristics. Structural analyses of tRNase Z(L) performed by limited proteolysis, two dimensional gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry establish stability of the amino and carboxy domains and flexibility of the FA and inter-domain tether, with implications for tRNase Z(L) function.
Policy pathways to vehicle automation: Industry perspectives on the role of public policy in autonomous vehicle development

Federal regulation of the automotive industry has traditionally sought to ensure public safety. Autonomous vehicles could greatly reduce crashes from human error, resulting in significant interest from federal transportation agencies. Autonomous vehicles present a new challenge to the regulation of safety-related technologies, due in part to the lack of clarity in how technology will evolve and affect traffic safety. The federal government has already invested significant effort in the study of connected vehicle technologies and their safety-related applications, some of which could be utilized for autonomous vehicle applications. Thus, federal mandates on the inclusion of connected vehicle technologies in future model vehicles offer one pathway for the federal government to provide regulatory guidance on the development of autonomous vehicles. However, it is also possible that such a mandate could stifle autonomous vehicle development, as it is still unclear what technologies are best suited for autonomous vehicle systems. For this research effort, the team interviewed representatives of automotive manufacturers and in-vehicle systems developers who are active in the development of autonomous and connected vehicle technologies to gain their perspective on the potential role of state and federal authorities in establishing public policy related to connected and automated vehicles. In general, the perspective of the industry is that more work needs to be done on resolving potential liability issues and any regulation of the industry needs to occur with a focus on maintaining an environment of innovation.
Effects of settlement density on spatial arrangement in four intertidal barnacles

Balanus amphitrite was studied in an estuary (Halifax River) in central Florida from October to November 1990, while three other barnacle species were studied on the central coast (Monterey Bay) of California from April 1988 to July 1989. Mean nearest-neighbor distances indicated that in the majority of cases the spatial arrangement of settlers was random for three different balanomorph barnacles-B. amphitrite, B. glandula, and Chthamalus dalli. In Pollicipes polymerus, a lepidomorph species, strong aggregation among settlers was almost always observed. In the three balanomorph species there was no apparent relationship between settler density and the degree of aggregation. In P. polymerus there was a significant positive correlation between settler density and the degree of aggregation. Morphological differences between balanomorph and lepidomorph barnacles may influence the evolution of settlement behavior.
Intramuscular rather than oral administration of replication-defective adenoviral vaccine vector induces specific CD8+ T cell responses in the gut.

Gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) is the primary replication site for HIV-1, resulting in a pronounced CD4+ T cell loss in this tissue during primary infection. A mucosal vaccine that generates HIV-specific CD8+ T cells in the gut could prevent the establishment of founder populations and broadcasting of virus. Here, we immunized mice orally and systemically with a chimpanzee derived adenoviral vector expressing HIV gag (AdC68gag) and measured frequencies of gag-specific interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) producing CD8+ T cells in the GALT. A single oral administration was inefficient at eliciting responses in the mesenteric lymph nodes and Peyer’s Patches, while a single intramuscular administration elicited strong systemic and detectable mucosal responses. The gag- specific CD8+ T cell responses were present in both acute and memory phases following intramuscular administration.
Radiofrequency Ablation of Pediatric AV Nodal Reentrant Tachycardia during the Ice Age: A Single Center Experience in the Cryoablation Era

Background:Radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) has proven to be an effective therapy in the pediatric population. However, concerns of inadvertent permanent AV nodal block have resulted in many pediatric programs adopting cryoablation as their primary ablation approach for AVNRT. Methods:A retrospective analysis of the results of pediatric radiofrequency catheter ablation at a single institution over the most recent 5 years (January 2004 through December 2008) was performed. Acute, intermediate, and long-term success, along with the incidence of AV block, were determined. Results:There were 65 patients with a mean age of 12.1 ± 5.2 years and weight of 46.5 ± 17.3 kg who underwent radiofrequency catheter ablation for AVNRT. There was 100% acute success with no recurrences at a mean follow up of 32.5 months. Although two patients had a brief second-degree AV block, there was no permanent AV block of any degree. Conclusions:The safety and efficacy of radiofrequency catheter ablation for pediatric AVNRT demonstrated in this study support its continued application and should not be abandoned as a method of treatment. (PACE 2010; 6–10)
A study of web usability for older adults seeking online health resources

The Web offers older adult users immediate access to health resources that might not otherwise be available. Older adult users, however, may encounter Web barriers associated with normal aging and lower education. The National Institute on Aging Web guidelines were used to assess the usability of 125 Web sites offering health resources. Performance, translation, and reading complexity were also assessed. Results showed that many of the sampled sites were not senior-friendly. Only 12p of the sites offered a Spanish version, many containing nontranslated text. Approximately a third of sampled sites required a college education to comprehend extracted health information.
Synthesis, Characterization, and Activation of Zirconium and Hafnium Dialkyl Complexes that Contain a C2-Symmetric Diaminobinaphthyl Dipyridine Ligand

The diamine rac-H2[MepyN] (rac-N,N‘-di(6-methylpyridin-2-yl)-2,2‘-diaminobinaphthalene) has been prepared in good yield through reductive amination of rac-2,2‘-diaminobinaphthalene with 6-methylpyridinecarboxaldehyde. The [MepyN]2- ligand has been employed to prepare a variety of zirconium and hafnium complexes, [MepyN]MX2 (M = Zr, X = NMe2, Cl, OSO2CF3, CH2CHMe2, CH2Ph; M = Hf, X = NMe2, OSO2CF3, CH2CHMe2). The solid state structures of [MepyN]Zr(CH2Ph)2, [MepyN]Zr(NMe2)Cl, [MepyN]Hf(CH2CHMe2)2, and [MepyN]Hf(OSO2CF3)2 have been determined by X-ray diffraction. Activation of [MepyN]Zr(CH2Ph)2 and [MepyN]Hf(CH2CHMe2)2 with various Lewis acids leads to observable cationic alkyls that are not active toward 1-hexene polymerization.
Alkaline Lipase in Rat Intestinal Mucosa: Physiological Parameters

The present studies describe an alkaline active lipase in the rat intestinal mucosa. Alkaline lipase activity was determined using a glyceryl tri[14C]oleate emulsion at pH 8.0. Subcellular fractions were prepared from mucosal homogenates by differential centrifugation. Cells from villus to crypt were sequentially released using citrate and EDTA buffer. The enzyme was found to be most active in the proximal quarter of the intestine and in villus tips. Most of the activity was found in the cytosolic fraction. Bile salts stimulated the enzyme activity threefold. The presence of both Ca2+ and taurocholate was essential for optimal activity. Mucosal activity was greatly reduced on intraduodenal glyceryl trioleate infusion. Activity was restored when phosphatidylcholine was added to the glyceryl trioleate infusion. The fact that mucosal lipase has its greatest activity in the villus tips of the proximal intestine and in cytosol suggests that it may play an important role in mucosal glyceryltrioleate metabolism.
Experimental investigation of combustion efficiency of air-augmentedrockets

This paper reports the results of an experimental study concerned with the mixing and combustion processes in air-augmented rockets. A combustor assembly consisting of the primary rocket and the secondary, constant-area combustion chamber were utilized to simulate a typical tactical missile. Several different configurations of the primary chamber rocket nozzles have been designed and tested in order to evaluate the mixing in the afterburning combustion chamber. On the basis of the experimental results, the secondary combustor using the subsonic primary nozzle with multiple jets has been shown to achieve the highest combustion efficiency, about 30% greater than that of the single-sonic or supersonic nozzles. Instrumentation was also provided for measurements of the pressures and velocities of the ducted flow. These measurements provide a basis for an understanding of the combustion process.
Visual analogue mood scales to measure internal mood state in neurologically impaired patients: Description and initial validity evidence

Abstract This report describes the development of seven visual analogue mood scales (VAMS), using vertical 100 mm lines and simple, schematic faces representing the following mood states: sad, afraid, angry, tired, energetic, happy, and confused. Two studies are described in which 311 normal volunteers completed the VAMS, as well as the Profile of Mood States (in both studies) and the Beck Depression Inventory (in one study). Using the multitrait—multimethod technique, the VAMS were found to have excellent discriminant and convergent validity. In one study a separate set of VAMS, in which all words were removed from the scales, was also used. Participants' ratings on these No-Word VAMS were highly correlated with their ratings on the VAMS with corresponding words, indicating that the VAMS have content validity and would be accurately completed by patients with impaired language comprehension. These brief mood scales may prove useful in both clinical and research settings in which valid assessment of inter...
Monotone iterative technique for differential equations in a Banach space

Iffis continuous, steps (i) and (iii) are standard and straightforward. It is step (ii) that deserves attention. This in turn leads to three possibilities, namely, to show that the sequence of approximate solutions is (a) a Cauchy sequence, (b) relatively compact so that one can appeal to Ascoli’s theorem, and (c) a monotone sequence in a cone. The first two possibilities are well known and are discussed in [2, 31. This paper is devoted to the investigation of (c) which leads to the development of a monotone iterative technique in an arbitrary cone.
Antibiotics—Why so many and when should we use them?

Antibiotic prophylaxis in vascular surgery has been proven beneficial to reduce surgical site infections after reconstruction of the aorta, procedures on the leg that involve a groin incision, any procedure that implants a vascular prosthesis or endoluminal stent, and lower extremity amputation for ischemia. Bactericidal antibiotics administered before induction—cefazolin or cefuroxime for 1 to 2 days alone or in combination with vancomycin if a hospital wound surveillance program indicates a high incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection—is recommended. If a patient is felt to be at increased risk for infection and require prosthetic grafting, the use of a rifampin-soaked (1 mg/mL) gelatin- or collagen-impregnated graft may decrease the incidence of wound and graft infection. Antibiotic treatment of established vascular graft infections should begin with broad-spectrum coverage for expected pathogens ( S aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis , Gram-negative bacteria) followed by culture-specific therapy based on antibiotic susceptibility testing. Specific antibiotic usage involves a decision regarding efficacy to expected or isolated pathogens versus its potential side effects and the drug costs. New applications for antibiotics in vascular surgery include the use of specific tetracyclines (doxycycline, azithromycin) as an inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases to retard aortic aneurysm growth or for their antiinflammatory properties to retard atherogenesis related to Chylamydia pneumoniae .
The effects of stress level on steady crack growth in an epoxy reinforced with long aligned glass fibers

Results are reported of fatigue crack propagation experiments on an epoxy reinforced with long aligned glass fibers. The composite was prepared in such a way that fiber spacing was approximately the same in each specimen and the reinforcing fibers were sufficiently stronger than the matrix. For a number of experiments with the same fiber spacing, fatigued under various stress levels, the crack speed as well as the rate of debonding reached steady values, i.e., independent of the crack length. In addition, the evolution of debonding followed a self-similar growth pattern. The data implied that the applied load was a controlling parameter of the steady growth. Within the resolution of observations, no fiber fracture was observed in the bridging zone. Fiber debonding seemed to be the dominant mechanism of energy dissipation. Moreover, the crack front was not straight. Instead, it consisted of two branches growing on the specimen's surfaces first and then through the thickness of the specimen with a highly curved front. Stress intensity factor calculations showed that when the fibers in the bridging zone were under a uniform load, the total stress intensity factor was proportional to √λ (where is the applied stress and λ is the fiber spacing) and constant within the regime of steady crack growth. The steady values of crack growth and rate of debonding were correlated with the stress level, spacing, and fiber radius. The resulting power equations were found to have the same exponent
Design of an Interconnect Architecture and Signaling Technology for Parallelism in Communication

The need for efficient interconnect architectures beyond the conventional time-division multiplexing (TDM) protocol-based interconnects has been brought on by the continued increase of required communication bandwidth and concurrency of small-scale digital systems. To improve the overall system performance without increasing communication resources and complexity, this paper presents a cost-effective interconnect architecture, communication protocol, and signaling technology that exploits parallelism in board-level communication, resulting in shorter latency and higher concurrency on a shared bus or link: the proposed source synchronous CDMA interconnect (SSCDMA-I) enables dual concurrent transactions on a single wire line as well as flexible input/output (I/O) reconfiguration. The SSCDMA-I utilizes 2-bit orthogonal CDMA coding and a variation of source synchronous clocking for multilevel superposition; a single 3-level SSCDMA-I line operates as if it consists of dual virtual time-multiplexed interconnects, which exploits communication parallelism with a reduced number of pins, wires, and complexity. The unique multiple access capability of the SSCDMA-I improves real-time communication between multiple semiconductor intellectual property (IP) blocks on a shared link or bus by reducing the bus contention interference from simultaneous traffic requests and by taking advantage of shorter request latency. The prototype transceiver chip is implemented in 0.18-m CMOS and the 10-cm test PC board system achieves an aggregate data rate of 2.5 Gb/s/pin between four off-chip (2Tx-to-2Rx) I/Os.
Real-time holographic video images with commodity PC hardware

The MIT second-generation holographic video system is a real-time electro-holographic display. The system produces a single-color horizontal parallax only (HPO) holographic image. To reconstruct a three-dimensional image, Holovideo uses a computed fringe pattern with an effective resolution of 256K samples wide by 144 lines high by 8 bits per sample. In this paper we first describe the implementation of a new computational subsystem for Holovideo, replacing custom computing hardware with commodity PC graphics chips, and using OpenGL. We also report the implementation of stereogram computing techniques that employ the PC hardware acceleration to generate and update holographic images at rates of up to two frames per second. These innovations shrink Holovideo’s physical footprint to fit on the table-top and mark the fastest rate at which full computation and update have been achieved on this system to date. Finally we present first results of implementing the Reconfigurable Image Plane (RIP) method of computing high-quality holograms on this new system.
Viscosity of Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids at Elevated Pressures: Cation and Anion Effects

The viscosity of imidazolium-based ionic liquids with four different cations and three different anions was measured to pressures of 126 MPa and at three temperatures (298.15 K, 323.15 K, and 343.15 K). The high-pressure viscosity of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ([EMIm]), 1-n-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium ([HMIm]), and 1-n-decyl-3-methylimidazolium ([DMIm]) cations with a common anion, bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([Tf2N]), was measured to determine the alkyl-chain length effect of the cation. An increase in the alkyl-chain length increased the viscosity at elevated pressures. [DMIm] exhibited a larger nonlinear increase with pressure over the shorter alkyl substituents. Anion effects were investigated with [HMIm] as a common cation and anions of [Tf2N], hexafluorophosphate ([PF6]), and tetrafluoroborate ([BF4]). [HMIm][PF6], with the highest viscosity, demonstrated a very nonlinear pressure dependence even at relatively moderate pressures (to 30 MPa), similar to the results for [BMIm][PF6]. A combined Litovitz and Tait equation was utilized to describe the viscosity of the ionic liquids with pressure and temperature and demonstrated good correlation with the experimental data.
Hypercube-Based Multipath Social Feature Routing in Human Contact Networks

Most routing protocols for delay tolerant networks resort to the sufficient state information, including trajectory and contact information, to ensure routing efficiency. However, state information tends to be dynamic and hard to obtain without a global and/or long-term collection process. In this paper, we use the internal social features of each node in the network to perform the routing process. In this way, feature-based routing converts a routing problem in a highly mobile and unstructured contact space to a static and structured feature space. This approach is motivated from several human contact networks, such as the Infocom 2006 trace and MIT reality mining data, where people contact each other more frequently if they have more social features in common. Our approach includes two unique processes: social feature extraction and multipath routing. In social feature extraction, we use entropy to extract the m most informative social features to create a feature space (F-space): (F1, F2,..., Fm), where Fi corresponds to a feature. The routing method then becomes a hypercube-based feature matching process, where the routing process is a step-by-step feature difference resolving process. We offer two special multipath routing schemes: node-disjoint-based routing and delegation-based routing. Extensive simulations on both real and synthetic traces are conducted in comparison with several existing approaches, including spray-and-wait routing, spray-and-focus routing, and social-aware routing based on betweenness centrality and similarity. In addition, the effectiveness of multipath routing is evaluated and compared to that of single-path routing.
How ice shelves melt

Nobody lives permanently in Antarctica. At first glance, studies of Antarctic climate might thus seem like a curiosity without obvious societal implications. Yet, if the entire West Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt, global sea level would rise by 4.8 m, with major effects on coastal populations. Two studies published earlier this year offered convincing evidence that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is indeed melting irrevocably ( 1 , 2 ). What are the processes behind this melting? On page 1227 of this issue, Schmidtko et al. ( 3 ) show that the water flowing under the ice shelves has warmed in recent decades and that upwelling winds at the continental shelf break may contribute to this process.
Successfully Promoting Volunteerism by Offering Extrinsic Rewards in a Personal Health Course: A Pilot Study

Abstract Service learning programs are becoming more common on college campuses with community service becoming a requirement at some schools while remaining a volunteer activity at others. The study reported here describes a volunteer community service program administered through the personal health course in the School of Health and Human Performance at a large comprehensive public university in the Southeast. The purpose of the study was to examine the role of providing an extrinsic reward (extra credit points) as an incentive for volunteering. The major findings were that the opportunity to earn extra credit points was a strong incentive for first time volunteers and that the frequency of repeat volunteer behavior was not significantly different regardless of the initial reasons for participation.
Attractive Nanocolloid−Polymer Mixtures: Comparison of a Modified Perturbed Lennard-Jones Equation of State to Monte Carlo Simulation

The development of predictive equations of state for nanoparticle-surfactant or -polymer mixtures is of extreme importance in nanotechnology and fabrication of advanced materials. Of particular interest is modeling the transitional regime between entropy-controlled (depletion, repulsive interactions) vs enthalpy-controlled physics (adsorption, attractive interactions). In this paper, the perturbed Lennard-Jones chain (PLJC) equation of state (EOS) 1 for polymer-solvent mixtures is modified and extended to calculate the chemical potentials in nanoparticle-polymer mixtures. The EOS predictions are compared to Monte Carlo simulations that use the same LJ molecular model over a wide range of polymer concentrations approaching the semidilute regime, 0.15 ∈ pp , where ∈ cp = colloid-polymer and ∈ pp = polymer-polymer. However, for LJ parameters leading to weak polymer adsorption or depletion, ∈ cp < ∈ pp , the PLJC could not predict simulation results without further modification. We introduced a semiempirical term that corrects for the polymer-colloid excluded volume. The correction introduces one additional adjustable parameter, but this parameter remained essentially unchanged for all particle compositions, sizes, and ∈ cp values studied. These results illustrate that a polymer equation of state, when corrected for the polymer-particle excluded volume, holds promise in modeling the effects of attractive polymeric modifiers on nanoparticle dispersions.
RIC for MDS: the glass is half full

Comment on Martino et al, page [836][1] In this issue of Blood , Martino and colleagues present a retrospective analysis showing that survival after RIC allogeneic SCT is similar to conventional myeloablative allogeneic SCT for patients with MDS and secondary AML despite treatment of higher risk