cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of grain size and precipitate size on the fatigue crack growth behavior of alloy 718 at 427 °C

The fatigue crack growth rates of four Alloy 718 microstructures comprising a two-by-two matrix of grain size and γ" precipitate size were determined in air at 427 °C and 0.33 Hz. For a stress ratio of 0.05, slower Region II rates were obtained for coarse-grained microstructures, independent of γ" size, and microstructures with large γ", independent of grain size. In the near-threshold regime, the coarse-grained microstructures again showed slower growth rates (higher ΔKth), whereas the effect of γ" size was mixed. Deformation modes were studied using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Fatigue deformation resulted in the formation of slip bands which were longer for coarse-grained microstructures and typically spaced farther apart and more planar for large γ micro-structures. The concepts of dislocation reversibility and slip band strain localization were used to explain the microstructural effects. Fatigue morphologies and cyclic constitutive behavior were con-sistent with the observed deformation modes. For a stress ratio of 0.75, the effects of grain size and γ" size were essentially identical to those observed for a stress ratio of 0.05. This indicated that roughness-induced closure had a minimal influence on the differences that were observed in fatigue crack growth behavior.
Phase retrieval of H2-functions

This paper concerns the problem of determining an H2-function f when |f(x)| is known for almost all x. It is shown that the conditions (*)|g(x)|=|f(x)| and (**)|g(x+b)−g(x)|=|f(x+b)−f(x)| together imply that either g=Vf or g=Vf¯, where V has period b. Under certain restrictions on f and g the function V takes the form V=ei(αx+β)B1B¯2, where B1, and B2, are Blaschke products. If the conditions (*) and (**) hold for three incommensurable b's, then g is constant multiple of f. Analogous results for the problem of magnitude retrieval of H2-functions are discussed briefly.
Recovery characteristics of three anaesthetic techniques for outpatient orthopaedic surgery

The goals of this study are to observe prospectively the perioperative recovery characteristics associated with general anaesthesia (GA), spinal anaesthesia (SAB), and epidural anaesthesia (EPID) in 200 patients scheduled for outpatient knee arthroscopy. Patients were observed from the time they entered the recovery room until they were discharged. Patients were contacted on postoperative days (POD) 1, 3, and 5. The EPID group had the quickest recovery times (125 f 37 min, mean f SD, ANOVA P < 0.01) compared with the GA group (165 f 57 min) and SAB group (167 51 min). Comparing the side effects of the three anaesthetic techniques, GA was associated with the highest incidence of nausea (27%) and vomiting (16%) on the day of surgery that persisted into the first postoperative day (nausea 41% and vomiting 22%). There was no difference in the incidence of headache overall; however, SAB was associated with a 13% incidence of postdural puncture (PDP) headache that became apparent on POD 3. All the PDP headaches resolved with conservative therapy by the first postoperative week, except for two patients who required an epidural blood patch. The EPID group followed by the SAB and GA groups, had the highest incidence of backaches on POD 1 (respectively, 63%, 41% and 17%). By POD 3, the incidence of backache was not statistically different between groups. No specific treatment for backache was required. The ideal anaesthetic has not been developed, but our data suggests that an epidural technique is advantageous for knee arthroscopy in terms of a quick recovery and minimal adverse effects.
The future of (psychiatric) nursing.

Abstract The Institute of Medicine's (IOM) recent report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, describes a number of problems in nursing practice, education, and leadership-as well as recommendations to address them. However, these problems are not really new; they were discussed in earlier publications and addressed in the 1970s by the National Joint Practice Commission (NJPC). In this article, I review these early publications and the work of the NJPC as background for the IOM report. I also outline each recommendation in the report, raising questions about the "how to" and sustainability of these suggestions. To move psychiatric-mental health nursing forward, the best first step would be to find out more about the specialty and the nurses who practice it, so the IOM recommendations can begin to be achieved.
The national pediatric trauma registry: a legacy of commitment to control of childhood injury

The National Pediatric Trauma Registry represents almost 15 years of effective collaboration among hospitals committed to improving care for the injured child. Its design of providing a "physiologic snapshot" of the injured child on presentation has supported numerous studies that have helped define the epidemiology of childhood injury and refine principles of management. Global analysis of the 103,434 records included in this database suggest that mortality is significantly higher in the very young, that vehicular injury remains a major pediatric public health challenge, and that shock is just as devastating in the child as the adult. Based on this foundation of collaborative commitment, future versions of a pediatric trauma database must harness the emerging internet technology that combines information accrual with human thought, and must extend this effort to include all the children of our world.
Obstacle Avoidance Behavior for a Biologically-inspired Mobile Robot Using Binaural Ultrasonic Sensors

Many untethered mobile robots require an operator's vision and intelligence for guidance and navigation. Animals and insects, however, use sensory systems such as hearing, and tactile inputs to move autonomously through their environment. This paper discusses the implementation of a simple binaural sensory pod using an ultrasonic emitter and two receivers on a mobile robot that employs legged-style locomotion. A series of obstacle avoidance behaviors programmed onto a microcontroller allow the robot is to successfully navigate a cluttered environment both semi-autonomously and autonomously.
The Design of Boronic Acid Spectroscopic Reporter Compounds by Taking Advantage of the pKa-Lowering Effect of Diol Binding: Nitrophenol-Based Color Reporters for Diols

The complex that forms between a boronic acid and a diol is often much more acidic than the starting boronic acid. In conditions where the solution pH is between the two pK(a) values, the boron atom will convert from a neutral trigonal form to an anionic tetrahedral form upon complexation. Such a change is likely to dramatically alter the electron density of neighboring groups. Utilizing this effect, we have designed and synthesized two nitrophenol-based boronic acid reporter compounds that change ionization states and therefore spectroscopic properties upon diol binding. Both compounds show significant UV changes upon addition of saccharides. For example, a blue shift of the absorption max from 373 to 332 nm was observed with the addition of D-fructose to 2-hydroxy-5-nitrophenylboronic acid at neutral pH. Such a reporter compound can be used as a recognition and signaling unit for the construction of polyboronic acid sensors for the selective and specific recognitions of saccharides of biological significance.
Embodying the Romantic Collector in Post-Romantic Writing

A paradox from Walter Benjamin’s 1937 essay “Eduard Fuchs: Der Sammler und der Historiker” provides the coordinates for this study of the Romantic collector in nineteenth-century literature. Following Benjamin, the paradox turns on the notion that the figure of the Romantic collector is a product not, as might be expected, of Romantic literature but rather of literary realism. Precisely because collecting and museum making were integral to Romantic endeavours and ideas, Benjamin’s assertion begs to be explored on the terrain of Romantic literature and the ways Romantic concerns are imagined and transformed in post-Romantic writing. Before I analyze pertinent Romantic and post-Romantic literary texts in these terms, I will first discuss Benjamin’s claims against the backdrop of his thinking about collecting and Romanticism. After reading Benjamin’s writing to sharpen the Romantic stakes of his thinking about the collector, I will turn to the trope of the Galeriegesprach in two of its earliest instantiations, Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder and Ludwig Tieck’s Herzensergiesungen eines kunstliebenden Klosterbruders and August Wilhelm and Caroline Schlegel’s Die Gemalde. Ein Gesprach. In these key articulations of early Romantic aesthetics, I want to pay particular attention to the Galeriegesprach for the way it figures collecting not as a literal practice of acquisition, preservation, and display of physical artifacts but rather as a notional and literary process. With this approach, I attend to the relationship of collecting to imagination, memory, and dialogic literary form, elements that prove essential to Romantic attempts to grapple with the problems of individual and collective identity, social cohesion, and medial specificity (visual arts, literature, music) in emergent modernity. Beyond suggesting new ways of thinking about early Romantic aesthetics, this analysis also helps to map the transformations in Romantic thinking that take place with the realist invention of the Romantic, i.e. passionate, collector. For as I will show using analyses of Honore de Balzac’s Cousin Pons and Theodor Fontane’s Vor dem Sturm, the figure of the post-Romantic collector works to locate passionate collecting as a key feature of Romantic cultural undertakings, even as that act of representation fundamentally diminishes the collector’s very nature, in no small part by labelling and making him visible as such. It is easy to overlook that Benjamin’s Fuchs essay offers insight into the life and afterlife of European literary Romanticism. Its stated focus on an understudied
Functional Decline Associated With Polypharmacy and Potentially Inappropriate Medications in Community-Dwelling Older Adults With Dementia

This study provides empirical evidence on whether polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate prescription medications (PIRx, as defined by the 2003 Beers criteria) increase the likelihood of functional decline among community-dwelling older adults with dementia. Data were from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center, Uniform Data Set (9/2005–9/2009). Study sample included 1994 community-dwelling participants aged ≥65 with dementia at baseline. Results showed that participants having ≥5 medications were more likely to have functional decline than participants having <5 medications. However, the increased likelihood was only apparent in participants who did not have PIRx. Instead of magnifying the associated risk as hypothesized, PIRx appeared to have a protective effect albeit marginally statistically significant. Therefore, increased medication burden may be associated with functional decline in community-dwelling older adults with dementia who are not prescribed with PIRx. More research is needed to understand which classes of medications have the most deleterious effect on this population.
Suppression of ammonia-induced astrocyte swelling by cyclosporin A

Brain edema is a serious complication of hepatic encephalopathy associated with fulminant hepatic failure (FHF). A major component of the edema seems to be cytotoxic, involving astrocyte swelling. Although the mechanism of brain edema in FHF is incompletely understood, it is generally believed that ammonia is involved critically in this process. Recent studies have shown that exposure of cultured astrocytes to ammonia results in the mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT), a phenomenon associated with mitochondrial failure and subsequent cellular dysfunction. The present study examined the potential role of the MPT in the astrocyte swelling associated with ammonia toxicity. Treatment of cultured astrocytes with ammonia (5 mM) caused a time-dependent increase in astrocyte cell volume (swelling), which was completely inhibited by the MPT inhibitor cyclosporin A (CsA). In this study, CsA also inhibited the ammonia-induced aquaporin 4 (AQP4) upregulation, which had been shown previously to be increased in cultured astrocytes by ammonia treatment. These findings suggest that the MPT plays a significant role in the ammonia-induced astrocyte swelling and may contribute to the brain edema associated with FHF.
Pattern of unequal cell division and development in Caulobacter crescentus.

Abstract The pattern of asymmetric division has been examined in Caulobacter crescentus (gram-negative aquatic bacteria) by determining the position of the “division site” on cells of different ages. Measurements of cell width and length at this site, which corresponds to the point of eventual cell separation, were made on electron micrographs of cells stained with phosphotungstic acid. The results show that (i) the division site is formed early in the cell cycle and it constitutes the first visible feature on the growing stalked cell to differentiate the incipient swarmer cell, (ii) the division site is located asymmetrically (closer to the swarmer pole than the stalked pole) on the dividing cell, (iii) its position relative to the stalked and swarmer poles does not change during the cell cycle, and (iv) division is consequently unequal, with the swarmer cell always smaller than the stalked cell. The implications of these findings for general models of unequal cell division and stem cell development are discussed.
Epa Clean Air Requirements And Employee Commuting In Baltimore

: The Federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 require that states with severely or extremely polluted urban areas adopt regulations to reduce the number of work-related vehicle trips and miles commuted to the work site by employees. This legislation departed from previous policy by focusing on behavioral rather than technological aspects of air pollution control. In addition, the so-called employee commute option shifts regulations from drivers to employers. The authors examine the development of the employee commute regulations in Maryland. They discuss the difficulties posed when the preconditions for effective policy implementation are not met.
Farming alone? What’s up with the “C” in community supported agriculture

This study reconsiders the purported benefits of community found in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Using an online survey of members who belong to CSAs in New York, between November and December 2010, we assess members’ reasons for joining a CSA, and their perceptions of community within their CSA and beyond. A total of 565 CSA members responded to the survey. Results show an overwhelming majority of members joined their CSA for fresh, local, organic produce, while few respondents joined their CSA to build community, meet like-minded individuals or share financial risk with farmers. Members reported that they do not derive a strong sense of community from either their CSA or other forms of community, yet they volunteered at their CSA and appear to be engaged in activities within their communities, though the frequency of the latter is unknown. These data suggest New York CSAs are oriented toward the instrumental and functional models, which emphasize the economic aspects of farming rather than collaborative models, which foster community (Feagan and Henderson 2009).
Identification of coating deposition mechanisms in the solution-precursor plasma-spray process using model spray experiments

Abstract In an effort to understand the deposition mechanisms in solution-precursor plasma-spray (SPPS)—a promising method for the deposition of highly-durable thermal barrier coatings (TBCs)—some model spray experiments were performed. In the SPPS process an aqueous chemical precursor feedstock, that results in ZrO2–7 wt.% Y2O3 (7YSZ) ceramic solid solution coating, is injected into the plasma jet and the coating is deposited on a metal substrate. The model experiments performed here entailed holding the plasma-torch stationary and arranging the substrates in two different ways: (i) substrate placed at an offset below the plasma-torch center-axis and (ii) window-shielded substrate placed along the plasma-torch center-axis. These experiments allowed us to collect deposits from different regions of the plasma jet, which were then characterized, in an effort to identify the deposition mechanisms. The operative deposition mechanisms were found to depend critically on the trajectories of the precursor droplets in the plasma jet. Actual coatings deposited using scanning plasma-torch experiments were also characterized. Striking resemblance was found between the morphologies of the microstructural features in the deposits from the stationary and the scanning plasma-torch experiments. This is used to elucidate the coatings deposition mechanisms in the scanning plasma-torch SPPS process.
Structure-toxicity relationships of 1-substituted-4-alkyl-2,6,7-trioxabicyclo[2.2.2.]octanes

Abstract Many trioxabicyclooctanes [X(OCH 2 ) 3 CY] at low doses administered ip produce tonic-clonic convulsions and death in mice. When X is P, OP, SP, HC, alkyl-C, and C 6 H 5 C, the optimal Y substituent is t C 4 H 9 among alkyl groups examined. In ortho carboxylic acid esters, the optimal X substituent is either small (potency decreases in the order HC > CH 3 C) or large (C 6 H 5 C > n C 4 H 9  > n C 3 H 7 C) while intermediate-sized substituents (C 2 H 5 C and i C 3 H 7 C) reduce or negate the toxic properties. Limited literature data on the toxicity of silatranes [X(OCH 2 CH 2 ) 3 N] suggest that they may fit a similar pattern for the optimal X substituent (C 6 H 5 Si > HSi > alkylSi). These findings and particularly the discontinuous sizeactivity relationships of X indicate that the ortho carboxylic acid esters include compounds that may act at two different nerve receptors: one receptor accepts HC(OCH 2 ) 3 CY and CH 3 C(OCH 2 ) 3 CY, which mimic P(OCH 2 ) 3 CY, OP(OCH 2 ) 3 CY, SP(OCH 2 ) 3 CY, and possibly HSi(OCH 2 CH 2 ) 3 N; the other accepts n C 3 H 7 C(OCH 2 ) 3 CY, n C 4 H 9 C(OCH 2 ) 3 CY, and C 6 H 5 C(OCH 2 ) 3 CY, which may mimic C 6 H 5 Si(OCH 2 CH 2 ) 3 N.
Investigations of the role of cavitation in low‐frequency sonophoresis using acoustic spectroscopy

Abstract Application of low‐frequency ultrasound significantly enhances skin permeability. The enhancement of skin permeability is mediated by cavitation, oscillation, and collapse of gaseous cavities. In this article, we report detailed investigations of the occurrence of cavitation during low‐frequency sonophoresis. Cavitation was monitored by recording pressure amplitudes of subharmonic emission and broadband noise at four different ultrasound frequencies in the range of 20–100 kHz and at various intensities in the range of 0–2.6 W/cm 2 . Enhancement of skin conductivity, in the presence of sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), was also measured under the same ultrasound conditions. Enhancement of skin conductivity correlated well with the amplitude of broadband noise, which suggests the role of transient cavitation in low‐frequency sonophoresis. No correlation was found between the subharmonic pressure amplitude and conductivity enhancement.
Making Sense of the Traditional Long Division Algorithm.

Abstract This classroom scholarship report presents a group of elementary students’ experiences learning the traditional long division algorithm. The traditional long division algorithm is often taught mechanically, resulting in the student's performance of step-by-step procedures with no or weak understanding of the concept. While noting some initial difficulties, the class episodes in this article provide examples of internalization that highlight the active role of the learner in transforming concrete representations into an abstract algorithm. Several factors encouraged students to be deeply engaged in making sense of the long division algorithm: meaningful tasks based on a theoretically well-articulated curriculum, effective pedagogical measures, and dynamic class discussions.
Orientational dynamics of liquids confined in nanoporous sol-gel glasses studied by optical kerr effect spectroscopy.

When a liquid is restricted to volumes on a molecular distance scale, its orientational and translational dynamics are perturbed strongly by the confinement. Nanoporous sol−gel glasses are an excellent model system for studying the effects of confinement on the behavior of liquids, and in this Account we review experiments in which ultrafast optical Kerr effect spectroscopy has been used to study the orientational dynamics of liquids confined in these media. We contrast the effects of confinement on the orientational dynamics of weakly wetting, strongly wetting, and networked liquids, and we discuss the influence of factors such as pore size, molecular shape, and surface chemistry.
An Analysis of Moisture Fluxes into the Gulf of California

This study examines the nature of episodes of enhanced warm-season moisture flux into the Gulf of California. Both spatial structure and primary time scales of the fluxes are examined using the 40-yr ECMWF Re-Analysis data for the period 1980-2001. The analysis approach consists of a compositing technique that is keyed on the low-level moisture fluxes into the Gulf of California. The results show that the fluxes have a rich spectrum of temporal variability, with periods of enhanced transport over the gulf linked to African easterly waves on subweekly (3-8 day) time scales, the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) at intraseasonal time scales (20-90 day), and intermediate (10-15 day) time-scale disturbances that appear to originate primarily in the Caribbean Sea-western Atlantic Ocean. In the case of the MJO, enhanced low-level westerlies and large-scale rising motion provide an environment that favors large-scale cyclonic development near the west coast of Central America that, over the course of about 2 weeks, expands northward along the coast eventually reaching the mouth of the Gulf of California where it acts to enhance the southerly moisture flux in that region. On a larger scale, the development includes a northward shift in the eastern Pacific ITCZ, enhanced precipitation over much of Mexico and the southwestern United States, and enhanced southerly/southeasterly fluxes from the Gulf of Mexico into Mexico and the southwestern and central United States. In the case of the easterly waves, the systems that reach Mexico appear to redevelop/reorganize on the Pacific coast and then move rapidly to the northwest to contribute to the moisture flux into the Gulf of California. The most intense fluxes into the gulf on these time scales appear to be synchronized with a midlatitude short-wave trough over the U.S. West Coast and enhanced low-level southerly fluxes over the U.S. Great Plains. The intermediate (10-15 day) time-scale systems have zonal wavelengths roughly twice that of the easterly waves, and their initiation appears to be linked to an extratropical U.S. East Coast ridge and associated northeasterly winds that extend well into the Caribbean Sea during their development phase. The short (3-8 day) and, to a lesser extent, the intermediate (10-15 day) time-scale fluxes tend to be enhanced when the convectively active phase of the MJO is situated over the Americas.
Exposure to rodents and rodent-borne viruses among persons with elevated occupational risk.

Persons who have frequent contact with rodents as part of their occupation may be at increased risk of exposure to rodent-borne viruses such as Sin Nombre virus (SNV), the agent of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, and Whitewater Arroyo virus (WWA), a New World arena-virus. Eighty-one persons with possible occupational exposure to rodents completed questionnaires and provided specimens for serologic testing. Seventy-two participants reported handling rodents as part of their job. The mean total number of rodents handled during participants' careers was approximately 2200. IgG antibody to lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus was detected in serum from one (1.2%) participant. IgG antibody to SNV, WWA, and Amapari viruses was not detected in any of the serum specimens. Despite considerable exposure to rodents, participants did not have significant serological evidence of exposure to rodent-borne viruses.
Physics (and technique) of gas jet experiments

Abstract Recently gas jet targets have been used for the study of small momentum transfer p-p and p-d elastic and inelastic scattering. In these experiments, which were performed at Serpukhov in the USSR and at the Fermilab in the USA, the gas jet is introduced in the main ring of the accelerator. We review the techniques associated with these measurements and summarize the published results which cover 4-momentum transfers 0.001 t | c ) −2 and incident energies 8 E
Percutaneous Absorption and Adrenal Suppressive Potency of Tipredane, a New Topical Corticosteroid

AbstractThe percutaneous absorption and the adrenal suppressive potency of tipredane, a new corticosteroid, were studied in eight healthy subjects and six psoriatic patients, respectively. In the percutaneous absorption study, 1 g of cream containing 0.1% 3H-tipredane (95 μCi) was applied to stripped or intact skin of the volar surface of the forearm for 24 hr according to arandomized scheme. Application sites were occluded (four subjects) or left unoccluded (four subjects). After 24 hr, all of the drug-containing cream that could be recovered was removed from the skin. Blood, urine, and fecal samples were collected over the 96 hr after the steroid was applied. Recovery of the radioactive dose averaged 92–96% from the application site at 24 hr, and 0.3–1.3% in urine and 0.02–0.08% in feces in 0–96 hr. Little or no radioactivity was detected in serum or the distillates of urine, which indicated that the 3H label in tipredane did not exchange with body water. The percutaneous absorption could therefore be r...
Electrical, optical and fluidic through-silicon vias for silicon interposer applications

Modern high-performance computing systems and data centers are implemented as many-core server systems. Current state of the art data centers have server racks with pluggable boards where each board has many multi-core processors and memory units. These boards are connected via electrical or optical cables. In such systems, communication bandwidth between the high-speed microprocessor cores and the memory is limited. To leverage full performance of these powerful chips, it is required to provide high memory bandwidth as well as effective power delivery and heat removal solutions. To address these challenges in high performance computing systems, we present a 3D packaging solution that includes a novel silicon interposer with electrical, optical, and fluidic (trimodal) interconnects and through-silicon vias (TSVs). The electrical TSVs in the silicon interposer enable power and signal delivery from motherboard to chips stacked on top of the interposer. The optical TSVs in the silicon interposer can provide ultra-high bandwidth communication between chips on different silicon interposers through motherboard level optical links. The fluidic TSVs enable a coolant to be routed from the motherboard to the chips on the silicon interposer. We have fabricated and characterized polymer-clad electrical TSVs (for low stress) with diameter that meets ITRS projections for high-performance computing systems. Using the same polymer used for the cladding of electrical TSVs, we have fabricated and characterized optical TSVs adjacent to electrical TSVs. Spin coating of the photodefinable polymer for electrical and optical TSVs is done in single step. Fabrication of fluidic TSVs can be done using the same cladding as that of the polymer-clad electrical TSVs without electroplating the copper. This leaves behind an empty polymer-clad via which can be used as a fluidic TSV.
Resource Allocation via Message Passing

We propose a message-passing paradigm for resource allocation problems. This serves to connect ideas from the message-passing literature, which has primarily grown out of the communications, statistical physics, and artificial intelligence communities, with a problem central to operations research. This also provides a new framework for decentralized management that generalizes price-based systems by allowing incentives to vary across activities and consumption levels. We demonstrate that message-based incentives, which are characterized by a new equilibrium concept, lead to system-optimal behavior for convex resource allocation problems yet yield allocations superior to those from price-based incentives for nonconvex problems. We describe a distributed and asynchronous message-passing algorithm for computing equilibrium messages and allocations, and we demonstrate its merits in the context of a network resource allocation problem.
Tetrapyrrole Biosynthesis in Rhodobacter capsulatus Is Transcriptionally Regulated by the Heme-Binding Regulatory Protein, HbrL

We demonstrate that the expression of hem genes in Rhodobacter capsulatus is transcriptionally repressed in response to the exogenous addition of heme. A high-copy suppressor screen for regulators of hem gene expression resulted in the identification of an LysR-type transcriptional regulator, called HbrL, that regulates hem promoters in response to the availability of heme. HbrL is shown to activate the expression of hemA and hemZ in the absence of exogenous hemin and repress hemB expression in the presence of exogenous hemin. Heterologously expressed HbrL apoprotein binds heme b and is purified with bound heme b when expressed in the presence of 5-aminolevulinic acid. Electrophoretic gel shift analysis demonstrated that HbrL binds the promoter region of hemA, hemB, and hemZ as well as its own promoter and that the presence of heme increases the binding affinity of HbrL to hemB.
Effects of a Drinkable Drench in Primiparous Holstein Cows1

decreased acute serum nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA; P 0.34) during the first 10 d after administration. Administration of DDP or PG after parturition was equally effective in decreasing serum NEFA and BHBA and increasing serum glucose concentrations within hours after drenching; however, the effects were not maintained during the first 10 d postpartum. Because of the greater incidence of metabolic disorders in multiparous cows, administration of a DDP might be expected to produce additional benefits beyond those reported here for primiparous cows.
Responses of Neurons in the Middle Temporal Visual Area After Long-Standing Lesions of the Primary Visual Cortex in Adult New World Monkeys

The retinotopic organization of the middle temporal visual area (MT) was determined in six adult owl monkeys and one adult marmoset 69 d to 10 months after lesions of the dorsolateral primary visual cortex (V1). The lesions removed were limited to extensive parts of the representation of the lower visual quadrant in V1. Microelectrodes were used to record from neurons at numerous sites in MT to determine whether parts of MT normally devoted to the lower visual quadrant (1) were unresponsive to visual stimuli, (2) acquired responsiveness to inputs from intact portions of V1, or (3) became responsive to some other visually driven input such as a relay from the superior colliculus via the pulvinar to MT. All monkeys (n = 6) with moderate to moderately large lesions had unresponsive portions of MT even after 10 months of recovery. These unresponsive regions were retinotopically equivalent to the removed parts of V1 in normal animals. Thus, there was no evidence for an alternative source of activation. In addition, these results indicate that any retinotopic reorganization of MT based on inputs from intact portions of V1 was not extensive, yet neurons near the margins of responsive cortex may have acquired new receptive fields, and the smallest 5 degrees lesion of V1 failed to produce an unresponsive zone. Deprived portions of MT were not remarkably changed in histological appearance in cytochrome oxidase, Nissl, and Wisteria floribunda agglutinin preparations. Nevertheless, some reduction in myelin staining and other histological changes were suggested. We conclude that MT is highly dependent on V1 for activation in these monkeys, and alternative sources do not become effective over months when normal activation is absent. Additionally, remaining V1 inputs have only a limited capacity to expand their activation territory into deprived portions of MT.
Effects of acute and repeated methamphetamine treatment on the ultrasonic vocalizations of postnatal rats.

Abstract Repeated exposure to cocaine (COC) has been reported to both increase ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) of postnatal rats and enhance the crying of human infants. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether acute or repeated treatment with another commonly abused psychostimulant, methamphetamine (MAP), would affect the USV production of postnatal rats. In the first experiment, USVs were measured 30 min after rats were given an acute injection of saline or MAP (1, 2, 4, or 8 mg/kg ip) on postnatal day (PD) 10. In the second experiment, rats were exposed to MAP (0, 1, or 4 mg/kg/day ip) on PD 2–8 or PD 2–9. On PD 10, rats were given an acute injection of saline or MAP (1 or 4 mg/kg ip) 30 min prior to behavioral assessment. Results showed that acute treatment with MAP (4 or 8 mg/kg) decreased the USVs of rats on PD 10, while repeated exposure to MAP did not affect the USV emissions of rats subsequently treated with saline or MAP. The reason why acute MAP treatment decreased USV production is uncertain, but it is possible that MAP alleviates isolation distress by stimulating reward processes. Alternatively, MAP increases heart rate and blood pressure, so acute treatment with this drug may decrease USV emissions through peripheral physiological mechanisms (i.e., by reducing abdominal compression reactions).
Topographic performance evaluation of the RADARSAT-2/3 tandem mission

The Canadian Space Agency and MacDonald Dettwiler are jointly defining the mission capabilities and the operational performance of a RADARSAT-2/3 tandem interferometric mission. This paper evaluates the expected topographic performance of the mission. This includes a description of the interferometric beam mode, an analysis of suitable baselines and how to achieve them in orbit, and a presentation of relative height accuracy results based on these orbits. Both bistatic and monostatic operation are considered.
Adaptive and sophisticated learning in normal form games

Abstract In a class of games including some Cournot and Bertrand games, a sequence of plays converges to the unique Nash equilibrium if and only if the sequence is “consistent with adaptive learning” according to the new definition we propose. In the Arrow-Debreu model with gross substitutes, a sequence of prices converges to the competitive equilibrium if and only if the sequence is consistent with adaptive learning by price-setting market makers for the individual goods. Similar results are obtained for “sophisticated” learning. All the familiar learning algorithms generate play that is consistent with adaptive learning. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: 026, 021.
Electrical Tuning of Semiconductor Interferometric Laser

A semiconductor laser with a Michelson interferometer type cavity was electrically tuned by pumping each of its two branches separately. Two tuning modes were observed, small continuous tuning over 2.5 to 3 A and step tuning with a total shift of 34 A.
Sequence Requirements for the Assembly of Simian Virus 40 T Antigen and the T-Antigen Origin Binding Domain on the Viral Core Origin of Replication

The regions of the simian virus 40 (SV40) core origin that are required for stable assembly of virally encoded T antigen (T-ag) and the T-ag origin binding domain (T-ag-obd(131-260)) have been determined. Binding of the purified T-ag-obd(131-260) is mediated by interactions with the central region of the core origin, site II. In contrast, T-ag binding and hexamer assembly requires a larger region of the core origin that includes both site II and an additional fragment of DNA that may be positioned on either side of site II. These studies indicate that in the context of T-ag, the origin binding domain can engage the pentanucleotides in site II only if a second region of T-ag interacts with one of the flanking sequences. The requirements for T-ag double-hexamer assembly are complex; the nucleotide cofactor present in the reaction modulates the sequence requirements for oligomerization. Nevertheless, these experiments provide additional evidence that only a subset of the SV40 core origin is required for assembly of T-ag double hexamers.
Emerging Input Technologies for Always-Available Mobile Interaction

Miniaturizing our computers so we can carry them in our pockets has drastically changed the way we use technology. However, mobile computing is often peripheral to the act of operating in the real world, and the form factor of today's mobile devices limits their seamless integration into real-world tasks. Interacting with a mobile phone, for example, demands both visual and manual focus. We describe our goal of creating always-available interaction, which allows us to transition between mobile computing and real-world tasks as efficiently as we can shift our visual attention. We assert that this could have the same magnitude of impact that mobile computing had on enabling tasks that were not possible with traditional desktop computers. In this review, we survey and characterize the properties of sensors and input systems that may enable this shift to always-available computing. Following this, we briefly explore emerging output technologies, both visual and non-visual. We close with a discussion of the challenges that span various technologies, such as ambiguity, sensor fusion, gesture design, and cognitive interference, as well as the opportunities for high-impact research those challenges offer.
Ritmo e modo da evolução microbiana pré-cambriana

Over the past quarter-century, detailed genus - and species-level similarities in cellular morphology between described taxa of Precambrian microfossils have been noted and regarded as biologically and taxonomically significant by numerous workers worldwide. Such similarities are particularly well-documented for members of the Oscillatoriaceae and Chroococcaceae, the two most abundant and widespread Precambrian cyanobacterial families.For species of two additional families, the Entophysalidaceae and Pleurocapsaceae, species-level morphologic similarities are supported by in-depth fossil-modern comparisons of environment, taphonomy, development, and behavior. Morphologically and probably physiologically as well, such cyanobacterial living fossils have exhibited an extraordinarily slow (hypobradytelic) rate of evolutionary change, evidently a result of the broad ecologic tolerance characteristic of many members of the group (and a striking example of Simpson's "rule of the survival of the relatively unspecialized"). In both tempo and mode of evolution, much of the Precambrian history of life - that dominated by microscopic cyanobacteria and related prokaryotes - appears to have differed markedly from the more recent Phanerozoic evolution of megascopic, horotelic, adaptationally specialized eukaryotes.
Nutrition in hepatic encephalopathy.

Protein calorie malnutrition (PCM) is a well-known complication of chronic liver disease (CLD). A major contribution to PCM in CLD is restriction of dietary protein intake. After many decades of injudicious reduction in dietary protein, cirrhotic patients are now prescribed appropriate amounts of protein. PCM in CLD is known to be associated with life-threatening complications. In the general approach to these patients, the initial and most important step for the clinician is to recognize the extent of malnutrition. Most patients tolerate a normal amount of dietary protein without developing hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Oral branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) have a limited role in HE. Patients who exhibit dietary protein intolerance originally were thought to be best treated with BCAA formulations. Mixed evidence has been reported in multiple studies. In keeping with other reports, this article shows that in animal protein–intolerant patients, even those with advanced cirrhosis, vegetable protein–based d...
Ethnic differences in hepatic lipase and HDL in Japanese, black, and white Americans role of central obesity and LIPC polymorphisms

Hepatic lipase activity (HLA) is a determinant of HDL levels, and a polymorphism in the hepatic lipase gene (LIPC) promoter (C-514T) has been hypothesized to account for higher HDL in blacks and Japanese compared with whites. To determine whether the polymorphism contributes to ethnic differences in HDL, we compared LIPC allele frequencies and HLA in Japanese American (JA; n = 84), black American (BA; n = 94), and white American (WA; n = 110) men and women. The LIPC polymorphism was associated with HLA in all cohorts (BA, P = 0.012; JA, P = 0.008; WA, P = 0.009). WA men had 49% and 58% higher HLA than BA and JA men, respectively (both P < 0.05), yet no differences in HLA were found between the women. The higher HLA in the WA men remained after adjustment for the LIPC polymorphism's effect on HLA (P = 0.037) but was erased after adjustment for waist-to-hip-ratio (P = 0.46). Although the WA men had lower HDL and HDL 3 than the JA and BA men (all P < 0.05 ), there were no differences in HDL 2 , implying that variance in HLA may not underlie the ethnic differences in HDL levels. These results suggest that 1) the LIPC promoter polymorphism contributes to variation in HLA and HDL 2 in the three ethnic groups; 2) WA men had higher HLA than BA and JA men, related to ethnic differences in central adiposity but not LIPC allele frequency; and 3) the higher HLA in WA men did not contribute to the ethnic differences in HDL, as the differences in HDL were made up entirely of differences in HDL 3 and not HDL 2 .
Fiber Optic Intermodulation Distortion

In analog frequency-division multiplexed fiber optic systems, laser nonlinearities transfer energy between the different carriers, resulting in intermodulation distortion and interference. A third-order polynomial without memory is used to model the nonlinearity. The FM frequency-division multiplexed (FM/FDM) signal consists of a set of FM carriers at frequencies. N_{\omega 0} , where N = L, L + 1, L +2, ... , M . The video distortion introduced by the nonlinearity is determined for various types of second- and third-order intermodulation terms. The intermodulation distortion frequency spectrum is determined for FM signals with assumed Gaussian spectra.
Recent Advances in Polarimetry and Polarimetric Interferometry

Radar polarimetry radar Interferometry and polarimetric SAR interferometry represent the current culmination in 'microwave remote sensing' technology, but we still need to progress very considerably in order to reach the limits of physical realizability. Whereas with radar polarimetry the textural fine-structure, target orientation, symmetries and material constituents can be recovered with considerable improvement above that of standard 'amplitude-only' radar; by implementing 'radar interferometry' the spatial (in depth) structure can be explored. With polarimetric interferometric synthetic aperture radar (POL-IN-SAR) imaging, it is possible to recover such co-registered textural and spatial information from POL-IN-SAR digital image data sets simultaneously, including the extraction of digital elevation maps (DEM) from either polarimetric (scattering matrix) or interferometric (dual antenna) SAR systems. Simultaneous polarimetric-plus-interferometric SAR imaging offers the additional benefit of obtaining co-registered textural-plus-spatial three-dimensional POL-IN-DEM information, which when applied to repeat-pass image-overlay interferometry provides differential background validation and environmental stress-change information with highly improved accuracy. Then, by either designing multiple dual polarization antenna POL-IN-SAR systems or by applying advanced POL-IN-SAR image compression techniques, will result in 'POL-arimetric TOMO-graphic' (multi-interferometric) SAR or POL-TOMO-SAR imaging. By advancing these EWB-D-POL-IN/TOMO-SAR imaging modes, we are slowly but steadily approaching the ultimate goal of eventually realizing airborne and spaceborne 'geo-environmental background validation, stress assessment, and stress-change monitoring and wide-area military surveillance of the terrestrial and planetary covers'.
Police officer characteristics and internal affairs investigations for use of force allegations

The purpose of the study was to investigate whether there was a relationship between police officer characteristics (e.g., experience, race, gender, age) and internal affairs investigations for allegations of use of force. Cumulative logistic regression models were fitted to data extracted from personnel files of officers employed by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department for the years 1996 through 2000. Analysis showed that officers with less than five years experience working in the Sheriff's Department had odds of being investigated for allegations of using force that were nearly 4.4 times the odds among officers with twenty or more years of experience. Officers with five to nine years experience were eight times more likely to be investigated for use of force allegations than those with twenty or more years of experience. In general, the lower the departmental experience, the higher the odds of being investigated. No significant racial disparities were observed in investigations for allegations of use of force. Officers with a history of allegations of use of force investigations were considerably more likely to be subsequently investigated for alleged uses of force. It was concluded that investigations for allegations of use of force by officers might be reduced considerably if more attention were paid to training and mentoring of new and younger officers.
Is Local Infiltration Analgesia Superior to Peripheral Nerve Blockade for Pain Management After THA: A Network Meta-analysis.

Background Local infiltration analgesia and peripheral nerve blocks are common methods for pain management in patients after THA but direct head-to-head, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have not been performed. A network meta-analysis allows indirect comparison of individual treatments relative to a common comparator; in this case placebo (or no intervention), epidural analgesia, and intrathecal morphine, yielding an estimate of comparative efficacy.
Global IT Outsourcing: Current Trends, Risks, and Cultural Issues

Enterprises inside and outside the IT industry have long used offshore developments and outsourcing methods to reduce information system development and maintenance costs and as a source of specialized, low-wage workers. In the last decade, there has been a spur of activities in offshore outsourcing, which is driven by the e-business revolution and a worldwide demand for IT skills. This contributed to the growth of IT-related industries in countries such as Ireland and India. Meanwhile, vendors from the Philippines, Russia, Hungary, China, Taiwan, Mexico, and other countries entered the market; and in some cases, adapted business models established by Indian firms that have dominated the services sector in the past decade. The emergence of new offshore centers has been marked by new approaches and skill sets, adding to the services and value propositions that define the offshore sector today. In this paper, we will identify the main risk factors and best practices in global IT outsourcing. In addition, we will delve into some important issues on IT outsourcing, particularly the challenges as well as the benefits. Finally, we will present case studies of two Global 200 organizations and validate some of the claims made by previous researchers on IT outsourcing. This study will help management to identify risk factors and take the necessary remedial steps.