cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Uncertainties in altimetry-based velocity estimates

[1] Three methods to estimate ocean geostrophic surface currents from satellite altimetry measurements are evaluated for several single- and multiple-satellite configurations, with specific emphasis on resulting uncertainties. Altimetric sea surface height measurements are simulated by sampling along satellite ground tracks the surface pressure output from the 1/10° North Atlantic run of the Los Alamos Parallel Ocean Program model and by subsequently adding realistic instrument and orbit errors. The effects of both sampling and data errors on the velocity estimates are discussed. The satellite orbit configurations considered represent current missions or candidates for future coordinated tandem missions. Data error budgets are based on those of existing missions and on estimates for new altimetric technology currently under development. In midlatitude regions characterized by strong variability, such as the Gulf Stream region, velocities estimated at crossovers of interleaved tracks, and along a virtual ground track between two parallel tracks with a 0.75° zonal offset, are found to be comparable in accuracy and more accurate than velocities estimated from optimally interpolated sea surface height maps. Error variances as low as 15-25% of the local signal variance can be obtained from all three methods near the Gulf Stream core. Larger relative errors are found almost everywhere else with the exact details of the error in the two velocity components depending on data error, orbit configuration, latitude, estimation method, and smoothing. Several scientific applications of the configurations and methods are discussed, including the estimation of Reynolds stresses, momentum fluxes, velocity spectra, and covariance functions. Accuracy and applicability suggest that the newly proposed parallel track configuration is a viable option for future tandem missions.
Feminine sexual behavior in rats enhanced by prenatal inhibition of androgen aromatization

Abstract Male and female rats were exposed to the aromatization inhibitor 1,4,6-androstatriene-3, 17-dione (ATD) in utero via prenatal injections to the pregnant mother. In adulthood, lordosis behavior was measured in response to ovarian hormones. Males and females exposed prenatally to ATD showed enhanced lordosis behavior in response to estrogen alone and in response to estrogen plus progesterone when compared to controls. These data lend further support to the idea of a prenatal, androgen-sensitive phase of sexual differentiation in which defeminization normally occurs in both male and female rats. Further, these data support the concept that androgen aromatization is an important process in this defeminization.
Production and harvesting of microalgae for wastewater treatment, biofuels, and bioproducts

The integration of microalgae-based biofuel and bioproducts production with wastewater treatment has major advantages for both industries. However, major challenges to the implementation of an integrated system include the large-scale production of algae and the harvesting of microalgae in a way that allows for downstream processing to produce biofuels and other bioproducts of value. Although the majority of algal production systems use suspended cultures in either open ponds or closed reactors, the use of attached cultures may offer several advantages. With regard to harvesting methods, better understanding and control of autoflocculation and bioflocculation could improve performance and reduce chemical addition requirements for conventional mechanical methods that include centrifugation, tangential filtration, gravity sedimentation, and dissolved air flotation. There are many approaches currently used by companies and industries using clean water at laboratory, bench, and pilot scale; however, large-scale systems for controlled algae production and/or harvesting for wastewater treatment and subsequent processing for bioproducts are lacking. Further investigation and development of large-scale production and harvesting methods for biofuels and bioproducts are necessary, particularly with less studied but promising approaches such as those involving attached algal biofilm cultures.
Historical effects of temperature and precipitation on California crop yields

For the 1980–2003 period, we analyzed the relationship between crop yield and three climatic variables (minimum temperature, maximum temperature, and precipitation) for 12 major Californian crops: wine grapes, lettuce, almonds, strawberries, table grapes, hay, oranges, cotton, tomatoes, walnuts, avocados, and pistachios. The months and climatic variables of greatest importance to each crop were used to develop regressions relating yield to climatic conditions. For most crops, fairly simple equations using only 2–3 variables explained more than two-thirds of observed yield variance. The types of variables and months identified suggest that relatively poorly understood processes such as crop infection, pollination, and dormancy may be important mechanisms by which climate influences crop yield. Recent climatic trends have had mixed effects on crop yields, with orange and walnut yields aided, avocado yields hurt, and most crops little affected by recent climatic trends. Yield-climate relationships can provide a foundation for forecasting crop production within a year and for projecting the impact of future climate changes.
Measurement of long-range steric repulsions between microspheres due to an adsorbed polymer.

We have measured the interparticle potential between pairs of micron-sized silica spheres induced by adsorbed polyethylene oxide polymer using a line-scanned optical tweezer. We found this long-range steric repulsion to be exponential over the range of energies (0.1kBT–5kBT) and polymer molecular weights (452 000–1 580 000) studied, and that the potential scaled with the polymer’s radius of gyration RG. The potential’s exponential decay length was about 0.6RG and its range was about 4RG, although both parameters varied significantly from one pair of spheres to another. The potential’s exponential prefactor was greater than mean-field predictions.
Using social media to report financial results

Abstract The growing influence of social media on financial performance reporting creates opportunities and challenges for both executives and corporate communications teams. This Accounting Matters feature provides background on current business reporting practices (including new SEC regulations) and insights from recent research on communication of financial results. The conclusion discusses future trends and provides recommendations for executives to consider when designing, implementing, and evaluating media and investor relations communication initiatives.
Hemoglobin covalently bridged across the polyphosphate binding site

Abstract Hemoglobin has been cross-linked covalently by reaction with 2-nor-2-formylpyridoxal 5′-phosphate followed by reduction with sodium borohydride. It is shown that a bridge is formed across the polyphosphate binding site between the two β chains. The modified hemoglobin binds oxygen cooperatively with a greatly decreased affinity demonstrating that the cross-link stabilizes the deoxy conformation but does not prevent the conformational change associated with oxygenation.
The Food and Drug Administration Medical Device Review Process Clearance of a Clot Retriever for Use in Ischemic Stroke

Section Editors: Marc Fisher MD Antoni Davalos MD The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety and effectiveness of a variety of medical products, including drugs, devices, and biological products, and for advancing public health by helping to speed innovations that make treatments more effective, safer, and more affordable. The Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) in the FDA is responsible for premarket and postmarket regulation of medical devices. On August 11, 2004 the FDA gave market authorization to the first medical device specifically indicated to retrieve blood clots from the brain in ischemic stroke for patients who fail or are ineligible for intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). This article summarizes the FDA regulatory process for marketing medical devices in general and provides background on the FDA clearance of a clot retriever for ischemic stroke. There are several types of marketing applications that a medical device manufacturer may submit to CDRH. Most medical devices reach the market through either the premarket approval (PMA) process or the premarket notification process (510(k). In fiscal year 2003, the FDA gave market authorization to 4132 devices through the 510(k) program and 31 devices through the PMA program. Medical device manufacturers submit PMAs for novel devices, also referred to as Class III. These devices tend to be higher risk or raise new types of safety and effectiveness questions that must be answered before approval for marketing. Data in a PMA application must demonstrate a “reasonable assurance” of safety and effectiveness. Manufacturers submit 510(k)s for devices similar to those already on the market. Data in a 510(k) submission must demonstrate that the new device is substantially equivalent in safety and effectiveness to a Class II device already on the market. Based on the incremental nature of …
Address standardization with latent semantic association

Address standardization is a very challenging task in data cleansing. To provide better customer relationship management and business intelligence for customer-oriented cooperates, millions of free-text addresses need to be converted to a standard format for data integration, de-duplication and householding. Existing commercial tools usually employ lots of hand-craft, domain-specific rules and reference data dictionary of cities, states etc. These rules work better for the region they are designed. However, rule-based methods usually require more human efforts to rewrite these rules for each new domain since address data are very irregular and varied with countries and regions. Supervised learning methods usually are more adaptable than rule-based approaches. However, supervised methods need large-scale labeled training data. It is a labor-intensive and time-consuming task to build a large-scale annotated corpus for each target domain. For minimizing human efforts and the size of labeled training data set, we present a free-text address standardization method with latent semantic association (LaSA). LaSA model is constructed to capture latent semantic association among words from the unlabeled corpus. The original term space of the target domain is projected to a concept space using LaSA model at first, then the address standardization model is active learned from LaSA features and informative samples. The proposed method effectively captures the data distribution of the domain. Experimental results on large-scale English and Chinese corpus show that the proposed method significantly enhances the performance of standardization with less efforts and training data.
(De)Constructing the Praxis of Memory-Keeping: Late Nineteenth-Century Autograph Albums as Sites of Rhetorical Invention

Deconstructing the praxis involved in the collecting of discourse in late nineteenth-century American autograph albums, this essay links the socially based practices involved in middle-class young women's (re)inscription of messages of friendship within such spaces to Jacques Derrida's theory of differance. While the commonplace language contained within such objects often has a conservative orientation, its circulation within communities through customary practices of exchange opened up opportunities for rhetorical invention. The opportunity to write in these locations also represented access to new discursive arenas, participation which likely played a part in women's gradually increasing access to the public sphere.
Evidence for Linear Extrapolations of Baryon-Exchange Trajectories through Particle Mass Spectra

The ${N}_{\ensuremath{\alpha}}$ and ${\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{\ensuremath{\delta}}$ Regge-trajectory functions in the scattering region are obtained from analysis of new data on backward ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}p$ elastic scattering. At small $|u|$, the intercepts and slopes of both trajectories agree with straight-line extrapolations $\ensuremath{\alpha}=a+bu$ through the baryon masses. In the large $|u|$ region, the trajectories appear to be leveling off.
Transpiration cooling of a rotating disk: An experimental study

Heat-transfer coefficients were experimentally determined for a transpiration-cooled rotating disk. A theoretical analysis by previous investigators, based on an assumption of constant properties, was inadequate for predicting results in the present study of air injected into an air environment. However, a simple density ratio was sufficient to realign predicted and experimental results. The range of experiments included injection rates of 0·35–1·04 lb/min ft2 and rotation Reynolds numbers of 19 000 – 51 000. The ratio of hh0 (h0 = coefficient for impermeable disk) varied from 0·69 to 0·21. Over the range studied, a semi-logarithmic equation correlates the data within 10 per cent.
High-Risk Mitral Valve Surgery: Perioperative Hemodynamic Optimization with Nesiritide (BNP)

Background Nesiritide is a recombinant brain-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), which decreases pulmonary arterial (PA) pressures and myocardial oxygen consumption while increasing coronary flow and urine output. Mitral valve (MV) surgery in patients with severe mitral regurgitation (MR), impaired left ventricular function, and pulmonary hypertension is associated with a high operative mortality. We hypothesized that the perioperative use of Nesiritide is safe, and may improve surgical outcomes. Methods From May 2003 to August 2004, 14 patients (11 male, 3 female; mean age, 64 years [23–87 years]; mean systolic PA, 63 mm Hg [48–94 mm Hg]; mean ejection fraction, 36% [10–50%]), undergoing MV surgery (10 repairs, 2 replacements, and 2 rereplacements) for severe MR, were treated for a median of 24 hours (13–55 hours) preoperatively with intravenous Nesiritide. Expected mortality by EuroSCORE was 26% (7.8–59%) (5 reoperations). Concomitant procedures included tricuspid valve repair (n = 7), coronary artery bypass grafting (n = 5), and left atrial maze procedure (n = 3). Eleven patients received Nesiritide postoperatively during a mean duration of 22 hours (2–80 hours). Results Operative mortality was 0%. Prior to surgery after BNP treatment, mean systolic PA pressure dropped to 39 mm Hg ( p = 0.0003), pulmonary capillary wedge pressure to 15 mm Hg ( p = 0.001), central venous pressure to 6 mm Hg ( p = 0.002), and weight by 3.7 kg ( p = 0.006). Postoperative median ventilation time was 14 hours (4–48 hours). All other major hemodynamic parameters (systemic blood pressure, heart rate, and cardiac output) remained constant. The treatment was well-tolerated in all patients. Conclusions Perioperative use of Nesiritide is safe, and may contribute to improved early outcomes in high-risk patients undergoing MV surgery. This may be due to improved ventricular loading conditions (decreased PA pressures, more effective diuresis) and/or a direct myocardial effect of BNP. Further prospective evaluation of the role of BNP in cardiac surgery is warranted.
Thermal-Mechanical Analysis of Annular Target Design for High Volume Production of Molybdenum-99 Using Low-Enriched Uranium

Techenetium-99m is a diagnostic radioactive medical isotope that is currently used 30,000 times a day in the United States. All supplies of techenetium-99m’s parent isotope molybdenum-99 currently originate from nuclear reactor facilities located in foreign countries and use highly enriched uranium (HEU). In accordance with the Global Threat Reduction Initiative all uranium used in future molybdenum-99 production will use low enriched uranium (LEU). A design approach to using LEU in a cost-effective manner is to use a target that is based on LEU foil. A potential failure mode for the LEU foil based target is temperature excursion during irradiation due to poor thermal contact between the foil and the target cladding. The purpose of this study is to establish the theoretical basis for experimentally measuring the thermal contact resistance. Replicating in service heating conditions is nearly impossible when testing the thermal contact resistance as part of a study to establish LEU foil warpage tolerances, thus it is necessary to establish an alternate heating configuration that will allow a conservative estimate of the contact resistance. Thermal and mechanical analysis suggests that external heating of an annular target will place the interface into a state that will over-estimate the contact resistance relative to use conditions. Further, the magnitude of the heat load used for testing can be adjusted to control the degree of overestimation.
The Framing Safety Project Photographs and Narratives by Battered Women

This article describes the Framing Safety Project that the author developed to do collaborative, community action/education research with battered women about the meaning of safety in their lives. The project is built on the use of participant-generated photographs and photo-elicitation interviews as methods for exploring with women, in support group settings, the meanings of violence in their lives and their approaches to creating safer spaces. Although visual sociologists have used variations of these methods, particularly to study the experiences of children, the author combines them in a uniquely feminist approach that leads from the women's photography and interviews to a community education and action component. The author describes the process of developing and implementing this project with Mexican and South Asian immigrant women and discusses the ways in which its methodological approach serves to amplify the voices of silenced women, and to offer opportunities for community education and social action.
Epigenetic Control of Ccr7 Expression in Distinct Lineages of Lung Dendritic Cells

Adaptive immune responses to inhaled allergens are induced following CCR7-dependent migration of precursor of dendritic cell (pre-DC)–derived conventional DCs (cDCs) from the lung to regional lymph nodes. However, monocyte-derived (moDCs) in the lung express very low levels of Ccr7 and consequently do not migrate efficiently to LN. To investigate the molecular mechanisms that underlie this dichotomy, we studied epigenetic modifications at the Ccr7 locus of murine cDCs and moDCs. When expanded from bone marrow precursors, moDCs were enriched at the Ccr7 locus for trimethylation of histone 3 lysine 27 (H3K27me3), a modification associated with transcriptional repression. Similarly, moDCs prepared from the lung also displayed increased levels of H3K27me3 at the Ccr7 promoter compared with migratory cDCs from that organ. Analysis of DC progenitors revealed that epigenetic modification of Ccr7 does not occur early during DC lineage commitment because monocytes and pre-DCs both had low levels of Ccr7 -associated H3K27me3. Rather, Ccr7 is gradually silenced during the differentiation of monocytes to moDCs. Thus, epigenetic modifications of the Ccr7 locus control the migration and therefore the function of DCs in vivo. These findings suggest that manipulating epigenetic mechanisms might be a novel approach to control DC migration and thereby improve DC-based vaccines and treat inflammatory diseases of the lung.
Majority-logic-like vector symbol decoding with alternative symbol value lists

Majority-logic-like decoding is an outer concatenated code decoding technique using the structure of a binary majority logic code. It is shown that it is easy to adapt such a technique to handle the case where the decoder is given an ordered list of two or more prospective candidates for each inner code symbol. Large reductions in failure probability can be achieved. Simulation results are shown for both block and convolutional codes. Punctured convolutional codes allow a convenient flexibility of rate while retaining high decoding power. For example, a (856, 500) terminated convolutional code with an average of 180 random first-choice symbol errors can correct all the errors in a simple manner about 97% of the time, with the aid of second-choice values. A (856, 500) maximum-distance block code could correct only up to 178 errors based on guaranteed correction capability and would be extremely complex.
Mitochondrial targeted coenzyme Q, superoxide, and fuel selectivity in endothelial cells.

Background: Previously, we reported that the ‘‘antioxidant’’ compound ‘‘mitoQ’’ (mitochondrial-targeted ubiquinol/ ubiquinone) actually increased superoxide production by bovine aortic endothelial (BAE) cell mitochondria incubated with complex I but not complex II substrates. Methods and Results:To further define the site ofaction ofthe targeted coenzyme Q compound, weextendedthese studies to include different substrate and inhibitor conditions. In addition, we assessed the effects of mitoquinone on mitochondrial respiration, measured respiration and mitochondrial membrane potential in intact cells, and tested the intriguing hypothesis that mitoquinone might impart fuel selectivity in intact BAE cells. In mitochondria respiring on differing concentrations of complex I substrates, mitoquinone and rotenone had interactive effects on ROS consistent with redox cycling at multiple sites within complex I. Mitoquinone increased respiration in isolated mitochondria respiring on complex I but not complex II substrates. Mitoquinone also increased oxygen consumption by intact BAE cells. Moreover, when added to intact cells at 50 to 1000 nM, mitoquinone increased glucose oxidation and reduced fat oxidation, at doses that did not alter membrane potential or induce cell toxicity. Although high dose mitoquinone reduced mitochondrial membrane potential, the positively charged mitochondrial-targeted cation, decyltriphenylphosphonium (mitoquinone without the coenzyme Q moiety), decreased membrane potential more than mitoquinone, but did not alter fuel selectivity. Therefore, non-specific effects of the positive charge were not responsible and the quinone moiety is required for altered nutrient selectivity. Conclusions: In summary, the interactive effects of mitoquinone and rotenone are consistent with redox cycling at more than one site within complex I. In addition, mitoquinone has substrate dependent effects on mitochondrial respiration, increases repiration by intact cells, and alters fuel selectivity favoring glucose over fatty acid oxidation at the intact cell level.
Outcomes of children exposed in utero to chemotherapy for breast cancer.

Introduction The incidence of breast cancer diagnosed during pregnancy is expected to increase as more women delay childbearing in the United States. Treatment of cancer in pregnant women requires prudent judgment to balance the benefit to the cancer patient and the risks to the fetus. Prospective data on the outcomes of children exposed to chemotherapy in utero are limited for the breast cancer population.
Curriculum design for inquiry: Preservice elementary teachers' mobilization and adaptation of science curriculum materials

Curriculum materials are crucial tools with which teachers engage students in science as inquiry. In order to use curriculum materials effectively, however, teachers must develop a robust capacity for pedagogical design, or the ability to mobilize a variety of personal and curricular resources to promote student learning. The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of the ways in which preservice elementary teachers mobilize and adapt existing science curriculum materials to plan inquiry-oriented science lessons. Using quantitative methods, we investigated preservice teachers' curriculum design decision-making and how their decisions influenced the inquiry orientations of their planned science lessons. Findings indicate that preservice elementary teachers were able to accurately assess how inquiry-based existing curriculum materials are and to adapt them to make them more inquiry-based. However, the inquiry orientations of their planned lessons were in large part determined by how inquiry-oriented curriculum materials they used to plan their lessons were to begin with. These findings have important implications for the design of teacher education experiences that foster preservice elementary teachers' pedagogical design capacities for inquiry, as well as the development of inquiry-based science curriculum materials that support preservice and beginning elementary teachers to engage in effective science teaching practice. 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 47: 820-839, 2010
Distributed embedded systems for low power: a case study

Summary form only given. A multiple-processor system can potentially achieve higher energy savings than a single processor, because the reduced workload on each processor creates new opportunities for dynamic voltage scaling (DVS). However, as the cost of communication starts to match or surpass that of computation, many new challenges arise in making DVS effective in a distributed system under communication-intensive workload. We discuss implementation issues for supporting DVS on distributed embedded processors. We implemented and evaluated four distributed schemes: (1) DVS during I/O, (2) partitioning, (3) power-failure recovery, and (4) node rotation. We validated the results on a distributed embedded system with the Itsy pocket computers connected by serial links. Our experiments confirmed that a distributed system can create new DVS opportunities and achieve further energy savings. However, a surprising result was that aggregate energy savings do not translate directly into a longer battery life. In fact, the best partitioning scheme, which distributed the workload onto two nodes and enabled the most power-efficient CPU speeds at 30-50%, resulted in only 15% improvement in battery lifetime. Of the four techniques evaluated, node rotation showed the most measurable improvement to battery lifetime at 45% by balancing the discharge rates among the nodes.
How Mothers Encourage and Discourage Infants' Motor Actions

The content of mothers' emotional, verbal, and gestural communication to their infants was examined under conditions of potential physical risk in a laboratory motor task. Mothers encouraged and discouraged their 12- and 18-month-old infants to crawl or walk down a sloping walkway. Mothers expressed positive affect on nearly every trial. They rarely expressed purely negative affect in their faces and voices, even when discouraging. Instead, they discouraged infants with a mixture of positive and negative expressions. In both encourage and discourage conditions, mothers coupled their emotional messages with rich verbal and gestural information to elicit infants' attention, regulate their location, guide their actions, and describe the situation and potential consequences of their actions. The content of mothers' communication was attuned to infants' age and locomotor experience.
Fabrication, characterization and index profile modeling of high-damage resistance Zn-diffused waveguides in congruent and MgO:lithium niobate

A study of the fabrication and optical properties of planar waveguides fabricated in MgO:LiNbO/sub 3/ and LiNbO/sub 3/ substrates by diffusion of a ZnO film is presented. Transmission electron microscopy was used to show that using ZnO instead of metallic zinc as a source, and maintaining the ZnO film thickness below a prescribed value, greatly reduces second phase precipitation and produces usable waveguides. Dopant and refractive index profiles were characterized by electron microprobe analysis and interference microscopy, respectively. The dependence of the Zn diffusion coefficient on temperature and the dependence of the refractive-index change on Zn concentration are inferred from these measurements. A simple model is also reported which predicts the index profile of the waveguide given the film thickness, diffusion time and temperature. The validity of the model is demonstrated by comparison between calculated profiles and profiles measured by prism coupling and IWKB analysis. >
Potentiation of glucocorticoid receptor-mediated gene expression by heat and chemical shock.

We have examined the effects of heat shock on glucocorticoid receptor (GR)-mediated gene transcription in an L929 cell line derivative (LMCAT2) stably transfected with the mouse mammary tumor virus-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (MMTV-CAT) reporter plasmid. Exposure of the LMCAT2 cells to heat or chemical shock resulted in a large increase in dexamethasone (Dex)-induced expression of CAT enzyme activity. This potentiation of hormone-induced MMTV-CAT expression was dependent on the magnitude of the stress event and on the Dex concentration, with maximal increases observed for 1 microM Dex after 2 h at 43 C or 2 h at 200 microM sodium arsenite. Heat shock potentiation of MMTV-CAT expression was not seen in an L929 cell derivative devoid of GR or in LMCAT2 cells treated with RU486 antagonist, suggesting that this effect of stress on CAT gene expression was mediated by the GR. Using a quantitative Western blot procedure, the amount of GR protein in the nucleus of cells subjected to combined heat shock and ...
Pi: a path identification mechanism to defend against DDoS attacks

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks continue to plague the Internet. Defense against these attacks is complicated by spoofed source IP addresses, which make it difficult to determine a packet's true origin. We propose Pi (short for path identifier), a new packet marking approach in which a path fingerprint is embedded in each packet, enabling a victim to identify packets traversing the same paths through the Internet on a per packet basis, regardless of source IP address spoofing. Pi features many unique properties. It is a per-packet deterministic mechanism: each packet traveling along the same path carries the same identifier This allows the victim to take a proactive role in defending against a DDoS attack by using the Pi mark to filter out packets matching the attackers' identifiers on a per packet basis. The Pi scheme performs well under large-scale DDoS attacks consisting of thousands of attackers, and is effective even when only half the routers in the Internet participate in packet marking. Pi marking and filtering are both extremely lightweight and require negligible state. We use traceroute maps of real Internet topologies (e.g. CAIDA's Skitter (2000) and Burch and Cheswick's Internet Map (1999, 2002)) to simulate DDoS attacks and validate our design.
Orthogonal Frequency Coding for Use in Ultra Wide Band Communications and Correlators

This paper presents the development of surface acoustic wave (SAW) correlators using orthogonal frequency coding (OFC) for use in ultra-wideband (UWB) spread spectrum communication systems. The use of ultra-short pulses, producing very wide bandwidths and low spectral power density, are the widely accepted approach for UWB communication systems. This approach is simple and can be implemented with current DSP technologies. However, SAW devices have the capability of producing wide bandwidths and relatively high frequency operation. As an example, Brocato, et al., has recently shown the numerous advantages of utilizing SAW correlators in UWB communication transceivers at center frequencies up to 5.6 GHz and fractional bandwidths up to 50% (Brocato, 2004). Their approach was to use a PN coded SAW transducer which produces a PN code sequence on an RF carrier. Information is encoded by pulse-phase-modulation used to excite the SAW which can be amplified and then transmitted. Reception is achieved by correlation of the matched filter received response and base-band envelope detection to extract the pulse phase. This approach, using SAW correlators, eliminates many of the costly components that are needed in the IF block in the transmitter and receiver, and reduces much of the signal processing requirements. This paper introduces OFC SAW transducers which can be used in UWB communication transceivers. OFC and PN coding provides a means for UWB spreading of data. The use of OFC spectrally spreads a PN sequence beyond that of CDMA because of the increased bandwidth. The transceiver approach is still very similar to that of the CDMA approach but provides greater code diversity. Experimental results of a SAW filter designed with OFC transducers are presented. The SAW correlation filter was designed using seven contiguous chip frequencies within the transducer. SAW correlators with 29% fractional bandwidth were fabricated on lithium niobate (LiNbO3) having a center frequency of 250 MHz. A coupling of modes (COM) model is used to predict the SAW filter response experimentally and is compared to the measured data. Good correlation between the predicted COM responses and the measured device data is obtained. Discussion of the design, analysis and measurements are presented. The results show that OFC SAW devices can be used for UWB communication transceivers
Counterpoint: minor injuries may not be all that minor

I agree with many of the points that Molcho and Pickett1 make in their commentary published in Injury Prevention ( see page 147 ); I like their table outlining acceptable and non-acceptable injuries to children. I have long ignored injuries that do not make it to medical attention. Injuries requiring a band-aid and a mother's kiss are a part of growing up. It is important that we are very careful what we call ‘non-severe’, to use the author's terminology. What was not viewed as severe last year may, in fact, carry the risk of significant disability, especially if recurrent. Concussion is an important case in point. Youth playing American-style football, ice hockey, rugby, soccer and basketball can and do sustain concussions during practice and play.2 In the past, getting ‘dinged’ or ‘getting your bell rung’ was viewed as a normal part of the game, something to be ‘sucked up’ and treated at the most by sitting out for a few plays. Recent data have changed both the medical profession's and public's …
Outcome of Elderly Patients With Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer Treated With Cisplatin-Based Chemotherapy

Purpose To evaluate the outcome of elderly patients with head and neck cancer undergoing palliative chemotherapy. Patients and Methods We analyzed combined data from two mature phase III randomized trials conducted by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG; trial E1393, which compared cisplatin plus paclitaxel at two dose levels, and trial E1395, which compared cisplatin plus fluorouracil to cisplatin plus paclitaxel) to evaluate the toxicity, objective response rates, and survival of patients 70 years or older versus their younger counterparts. All patients had previously untreated recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck and ECOG performance status 0 or 1. Results Fifty-three elderly patients were enrolled from a total of 399 eligible participants (13%). Elderly patients had similar objective response rates (28% v 33%) and median time to progression (5.25 v 4.8 months) compared with younger patients. The median survival was 5.3 v 8 months (Wilcoxon P = .06; log-rank P =...
Fault Tolerant Parallel Processor Architecture Overview

The authors address issues central to the design and operation of a Byzantine resilient parallel computer. Interprocessor connectivity requirements are met by treating connectivity as a resource which is shared among many processing elements, allowing flexibility in their configuration and reducing complexity. Reliability analysis results are presented which demonstrate the reduced failure probability of such a system. Redundant groups are synchronized solely by message transmissions and receptions, which also provide input data consistency and output voting. Performance analysis results are presented which quantify the temporal overhead involved in executing such fault tolerance-specific operations. >
Neutralization of endotoxin in vitro and in vivo by a human lactoferrin-derived peptide.

Endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide [LPS]) is the major pathogenic factor of gram-negative septic shock, and endotoxin-induced death is associated with the host overproduction of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). In the search for new antiendotoxin molecules, we studied the endotoxin-neutralizing capacity of a human lactoferrin-derived 33-mer synthetic peptide (GRRRRSVQWCAVSQPEATKCFQWQRNMRKVRGP; designated LF-33) representing the minimal sequence for lactoferrin binding to glycosaminoglycans. LF-33 inhibited the coagulation of the Limulus amebocyte lysate and the secretion of TNF-α by RAW 264.7 cells induced by lipid A and four different endotoxins with a potency comparable to that of polymyxin B. The first six residues at the N terminus of LF-33 were critical for its antiendotoxin activity. The endotoxin-neutralizing capacity of LF-33 and polymyxin B was attenuated by human serum. Coinjection of Escherichia coli LPS (125 ng) with LF-33 (2.5 μg) dramatically reduced the lethality of LPS in the galactosamine-sensitized mouse model. Significant protection of the mice against the lethal LPS challenge was also observed when LF-33 (100 μg) was given intravenously after intraperitoneal injection of LPS. Protection was correlated with a reduction in TNF-α levels in the mouse serum. These results demonstrate the endotoxin-neutralizing capability of LF-33 in vitro and in vivo and its potential use for the treatment of endotoxin-induced septic shock.
Could media reports include a standardized scale for quality of evidence

While some media reports offer accurate interpretations of clinical research, other reports are misleading. The uneven accuracy of medical reporting may act in concert with its sheer volume to confuse the lay public about which health messages are most important and evidence-based. I outline one possible step towards a solution: medical journals can embed quality of evidence ratings in article summaries and create incentives for inclusion of these ratings in lay media reports.
In vitro comparison of protease activities in preparations from free-living (Panagrellus redivivus) and plant-parasitic (Meloidogyne incognita) nematodes using FMRFa and FMRFa-like peptides as substrates

Extracts prepared from the microbivorous nematode Panagrellus redivivus and the plant-parasitic nematode Meloidogyne incognita were used to provide general protease activities for peptide substrate screening and species comparisons. Each extract was evaluated for its ability to degrade a broad range of nematode FMRFamide-like peptides (FLPs), key regulatory messengers governing nematode growth and development. Clear quantitative differences between the two extracts were observed using FMRFamide as a substrate. Extract potency assessed at EC50 (μg/μ l extract protein for 50% substrate digestion) was 1.8-fold greater for P. redivivus than for M. incognita, and potency assessed at EC90 was 2.5-fold greater. An overall potency difference was also present when screening the digestion of 17 nematode FLPs, but it was not universal. The mean percentage digestion of eight of the 17 FLPs was greater (P < 0.02) with P. redivivus extract (76.3 ± 8.2) than with M. incognita extract (38.1 ± 8.7), but the means for the other nine FLPs were not different. Three FLPs (KPSFVRFa, AQTFVRFa, RNKFEFIRFa) were degraded extensively by the extracts of both species, and two FLPs (SAPYDPNFLRFa, SAEPFGTMRFa) were degraded 2.9-fold and 5.3-fold greater, respectively, with M. incognita extract than with P. redivivus extract. The ability of each extract to degrade FMRFa and KSAYMRFa was significantly reduced by using peptide analogues containing single d-amino acid substitutions, and the substitution effects were positional. Both FMRFa and KSAYMRFa were competitive substrates for aminopeptidases in each extract, but only the competitive ability of FMRFa was reduced by d-amino acid substitution. The variety and complexity of nematode FLP degradation by preparations representing phylogenetically and developmentally different nematode sources are discussed.
Model-based reasoning to foster environmental and socio-scientific literacy in higher education

The American public’s environmental, scientific, and civic literacies are generally low. While environmental science courses often recognize the human dimensions of environmental problems and solutions, they typically treat such phenomena as matters of opinion and rarely engage with social scientific ways of knowing. Recently, there has been a push in higher education to advance broader scientific literacy, but little attention has been paid to helping students gain an understanding of how socio-scientific evidence and claims are generated. Our work here aims to develop the knowledge framework that facilitates the integration of knowledge across biophysical and social science domains. In this research brief, we report on a project in which an interdisciplinary team developed a model of climate adaptation and mitigation to help teach undergraduates about the coupled human-climate system. The research team found this process to be integral to both thinking and learning about a system with biophysical and social variables. This project is unique in that we then used this model to develop not just curricula but also a framework that can be used to guide and assess interdisciplinary instruction at the collegiate level. This framework allows learners to make sense of complex socio-environmental issues and reason with scientific information from the social and biophysical sciences.
How to Encircle Value? Bracelets, Long-Distance Trade, and the Multiple Aspirations of Inland Ruvuma Societies of Southern Tanzania, c. 1500-1700 C.E.

Popular in scholarship on the 18th and 19th century histories of Eastern Africa is the notion that inland societies’ shared demands for consumer goods popular on the East African coast – predominantly cloth and beads – were a major force behind the expansion of long-distance trade. We might assume that similar material desires were at play for inland societies, like those of Southern Tanzania, which forged much earlier coastal connections. However, this paper argues that for the key period of 1500-1700 C.E., Southern Tanzanian societies did not evenly align themselves to coastal prestige norms. Exploring the multiple economic, social, and political uses and meanings of a popular trade good and currency – that of bracelets – located in the intersections and divergences between linguistic, documentary and archaeological records reveals the multiple understandings of wealth of this period. I argue that the lack of local consensus and limits of elite control over the circulation, value, and social uses of such key commodities pushes us to rethink conventional assumptions about uniform alignment of commercial desires and the centrality of coastal prestige norms for pre-18th century trade. The very plurality of these aspirations played a key role in the wider formation of long-distance trade networks.
Boron in human and animal nutrition

This review describes the findings from human and animal studies indicating that B is a dynamic trace element which, in physiological amounts, can affect the metabolism or utilisation of numerous other substances involved in life processes including macrominerals, energy substrates such as triglycerides and glucose, nitrogen containing substances such as amino acids and proteins, reactive oxygen species, and estrogen. Through these effects, B can affect the function or composition of several body systems, including the brain, skeleton and immune system, generally in a beneficial fashion. Moreover, homeostatic mechanisms apparently exist for B because it is rapidly excreted in the urine, does not accumulate in tissues, and is maintained in a relatively narrow range of concentrations in blood of healthy individuals. Thus, even though B has not been conclusively established as essential because a biochemical function for it has not been identified, its beneficial actions suggest that an intake of over 1 mg day-1 (but probably not more than 13 mg day-1) is desirable; diets low in fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts may not provide this amount of B. Boron may be of more practical nutritional importance than currently acknowledged.
On the Number of Good Simultaneous Approximations to Algebraic Numbers

The present work is a continuation of [2] by J. Mueller and the author, where approximations to a single number had been considered. Again it will be convenient to begin with approximations to real numbers in general.
Analysis of cytokinin-induced maize leaf developmental changes and interacting genetic modifiers

iii CHAPTER I GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1 Thesis organization 5 References 6 CHAPTER II EXOGENOUS CYTOKININ PRODUCES SIMILAR LEAF 9 GROWTH PHENOTYPES AS THE MAIZE HAIRY SHEATH FRAYED1 MUTANT Abstract 9 Introduction 10 Materials and methods 13 Results 15 Discussion 28 Figure legends 36 Tables 39 References 40 Figures 43 CHAPTER III ANALYSIS OF ENHANCERS OF HAIRY SHEATH 52 FRAYED1 LEAF PATTERNING DEFECTS Abstract 52 Introduction 53 Materials and methods 58 Results 59 Discussion 74 Figure legends 81 Tables 84 References 85 Figures 89 CHAPTER IV GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 98 References 101 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 103
Citrus Blackflies: Greenhouse Culture on Hydroponic Citrus Plants

Aleurocanthus woglumi Ashby was reared successfully on citrus plants grown hydroponically in the greenhouse. Adult females introduced into cages that contained the citrus seedlings reproduced themselves at a mean rate of 38:1. A complete life cycle averaged 62 days, and the mean rate that survived from egg to adult was 64%.
Security and Today's Aquatic Facility: What Do You Really Know About Your Employees?

What do you really know about your aquatic-employee candidates? With the security and liability issues facing aquatic facilities today, managers must verify and document current and future employees’ backgrounds. Do not guess about your aquatic employees’ backgrounds and abilities. This article provides some ideas and procedures for preemployment screening to ascertain the veracity of the qualifications, skills, and backgrounds of potential aquatic employees. These systematic steps should be included in your hiring process as part of an overall risk-management system. You must discuss policies and procedures with your legal or risk-management departments. The policies and procedures discussed in the article are suggested practices used by some organizations; legal requirements can vary from state to state.
Study on Control Methods of Battery Energy Storage Technology

This paper,introduces 6 kinds of commonly used control methods,and discusses their working principles and the advantages and disadvantages.Based on a real example,it designs the DC/DC and DC/AC of both energy and power energy storage system,and builds a wind-storage system simulation mode on the basis of the Matlab/Simulink simulation platform.According to the result of simulation,the control strategy design as described can smooth wind power output fluctuations and meet the requirements for interconnec-tion.Two different types of storage batteries with complementary advantages help to extend the life of batteries.