cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
High Performance Milling Torque Sensor

Machine tool supervision and control algorithms require reliable and effective sensor signals to operate properly. In effort to satisfy this need, a high stiffness, wide bandwidth torque sensor for use in milling has been developed which directly measures the torque applied to a milling cutter during operation. The sensor is designed to fit between the tool and holder on conventional tooling with very little effect on the cutting process. The sensor is strain gage based and provides a virtually distortionless torque measurement over a bandwidth from DC to 2000 Hz when using a 100 mm diameter face mill on a commercial machining center. High torsional stiffness was achieved to provide a wide measurement bandwidth while allowing enough material strain, in the sensing element, to provide sufficient resolution of the milling torque. The radial stiffness of the sensor was also designed to be large enough not to compromise the stability and accuracy of the machine tool. The sensor is designed to house the critical electronic components which amplify the small voltage strain gage signal and convert the measurement into digital samples. These samples are continuously transmitted from the rotating spindle, in all positions, to a stationary receiver. Because the sensor is part of a structural system which also includes the spindle, tool holder and tool, the frequency response has distortions associated with- the vibrational modes of the system. In order to obtain a wide undistorted bandwidth, a compensation filter having the reciprocal response of the sensor has been designed and implemented on a digital signal processor (DSP). The combined system of the sensor cascaded with the DSP provides a flat magnitude and linear phase frequency response.
Hematopoietic stem cell function requires 12/15-lipoxygenase–dependent fatty acid metabolism

Fatty acid metabolism governs multiple intracellular signaling pathways in many cell types, but its role in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) is largely unknown. Herein, we establish a critical role for 12/15-lipoxygenase (12/15-LOX)–mediated unsaturated fatty acid metabolism in HSC function. HSCs from 12/15-LOX–deficient mice are severely compromised in their capacity to reconstitute the hematopoietic compartment in competitive and serial reconstitution assays. Furthermore, we demonstrate that 12/15-LOX is required for the maintenance of long-term HSC quiescence and number. The defect in HSCs is cell-autonomous and associated with a selective reduction in 12/15-LOX–mediated generation of bioactive lipid mediators and reactive oxygen species and with a decrease in canonical Wnt signaling as measured by nuclear β-catenin staining. These results have implications for development, aging, and transformation of the hematopoietic compartment.
Development and Validation of the Situational Self-Awareness Scale

Abstract This article discusses the manipulation and measurement of levels of situational self-focus, which is generally labeled “self-awareness.” A new scale was developed to quantify levels of public and private self-awareness. Five studies were conducted to assess the psychometric properties, reliability, and validity of the Situational Self-Awareness Scale (SSAS). The SSAS was found to have a reliable factor structure, to detect differences in public and private self-awareness produced by laboratory manipulations, and to be sensitive to changes in self-awareness within individuals over time and across situations. The SSAS can be used as a manipulation check of laboratory self-awareness manipulations and as a means of assessing naturally occurring fluctuations in public and private self-awareness in order to clarify the relation between self-awareness and other variables (e.g., mood and memory).
Applying economic principles to outcomes analysis.

This paper presents an introduction to economic outcomes for the plastic surgeon investigator. The types of economic outcomes are introduced and the matter of perspective is discussed. Examples from the plastic surgery literature are presented. The current and future importance of economic outcome measures is emphasized.
Control of glutamine synthesis in Lactobacillus arabinosus

Abstract Glutamine synthetase which catalyzes the conversion of l -glutamate to glutamylhydroxamate in the presence of hydroxylamine and to l -glutamine in the presence of ammonia was purified 20-fold from extracts of Lactobacillus arabinosus . The properties of the enzyme were found to differ in several respects from the glutamine synthetases derived from other sources. The glutamine synthetase of L. arabinosus does not utilize d -glutamate and does not catalyze a glutamyl transfer reaction. The production of glutamine synthetase in L. arabinosus is decreased more than 6-fold when the cells are grown in the presence of l -glutamine. In addition, the activity of the glutamine synthetase is inhibited in vitro by l -glutamine, and the inhibition appears to be competitive with all of the substrates, l -glutamate, hydroxylamine, ammonia, and ATP. The K i value for l -glutamine is 10- and 20-fold lower than the K m values for l -glutamate and ammonia, respectively, indicating the l -glutamine is more tightly bound to the enzyme than either l -glutamate or ammonia.
Effects of substrates and phosphate on INT (2-(4-iodophenyl)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)-5-phenyl tetrazolium chloride) and CTC (5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride) reduction in Escherichia coli

The effects of substrates of primary aerobic dehydrogenases, and inorganic phosphate on aerobic INT and CTC reduction in Escherichia coli were examined. In general, INT produced less formazan than CTC, but INT (+) cell counts remained near values of CTC (+) cells. INT and CTC (+) cell numbers were higher than plate counts on R2A medium using succinate, formate, lactate, casamino acids, glucose, glycerol (INT only) and no substrate. Formate resulted in the greatest amount of INT and CTC formazan. Reduction of both INT and CTC was inhibited above 10 mmol l-1 phosphate, and this appeared to be related to decreased rates of O2 consumption. Formation of fluorescent CTC (+), but not INT (+) cells was also inhibited in a concentration dependent manner by phosphate above 10 mmol l-1. From light microscopic observations it appeared CTC formed increasing amounts of poorly or non-fluorescent formazan with increasing phosphate. Therefore, use of phosphate buffer in excess of 10 mmol l-1 may not be appropriate in CTC and INT reduction assays.
A 25-nm gate-length FinFET transistor module for 32nm node

FinFET is the most promising double-gate transistor architecture [1] to extend scaling over planar device. We present a high-performance and low-power FinFET module at 25 nm gate length. When normalized to the actual fin perimeter, N-FinFET and P-FinFET have 1200 and 915 µA/µm drive current respectively at 100nA/µm leakage under 1V. To our knowledge this is the best FinFET drive current at such scaled gate length. This scaled gate length enables this FinFET transistor for 32nm node insertion. With aggressive fin pitch scaling, the effective transistor width is approximately 1.9X and 2.7X over planar for typical logic and SRAM on the same layout area (i.e., silicon real estate). Due to superior electrostatics and reduced random dopant fluctuation, this high drive current can be readily traded with V DD scaling for low power.
Parallelization of NAS benchmarks for shared memory multiprocessors

Abstract This paper presents our experiences of parallelizing the sequential implementation of NAS benchmarks using compiler directives on SGI Origin2000 distributed shared memory (DSM) system. Porting existing applications to new high performance parallel and distributed computing platforms is a challenging task. Ideally, a user develops a sequential version of the application, leaving the task of porting the code to parallelization tools and compilers. Due to the simplicity of programming shared-memory multiprocessors, compiler developers have provided various facilities to allow the users to exploit parallelism. Native compilers on SGI Origin2000 support multiprocessing directives to allow users to exploit loop-level parallelism in their programs. Additionally, supporting tools can accomplish this process automatically. We experimented with these compiler directives and supporting tools by parallelizing sequential implementation of NAS benchmarks. Results reported in this paper indicate that with minimal effort, the performance gain is comparable with the hand-parallelized, carefully optimized, message-passing implementations of the same benchmarks.
Microwave NDT of cement-based materials using far-field reflection coefficients

Periodic assessment of ageing civil structures is important for structural integrity and public safety. Numerous destructive and non-destructive techniques employing different energy sources have been proposed for structural health monitoring. Amongst the non-destructive evaluation techniques proposed for monitoring material strength and contents of concrete structures, techniques employing microwaves offer distinct advantages in that they are non-radioactive and provide good penetration, excellent contrast between steel reinforcement bar and concrete, and insensitivity to ambient temperature. In this paper, the feasibility of a far-field microwave NDE technique for concrete imaging is investigated via numerical simulations and experiments on cement based samples using far-field microwave reflection coefficients.
Probing turbid medium structure using ultra low coherence enhanced backscattering spectroscopy

We report on experimental results and theoretical investigation on probing the structure of turbid medium using ultra low coherence enhanced backscattering spectroscopy where the spatial coherence length of the incident line light is not greater than 25 μm. The periodic structure contained in the low coherence enhanced backscattering spectroscopy is found to decrease with the dominant scatterer size. A theoretical model is proposed to explain the observations and is verified by Monte Carlo simulations.
Gingival augmentation for osseointegrated implant prostheses.

Abstract A method of solving some problems inherent with osseointegrated implant prosthesis has been; presented. A removable flange can reestablish lip support or block escape of unwanted air while allowing the access necessary for competent hygiene: procedures. Overdentures may be indicated to provide the prosthetic gingival surface necessary for adequate food control or speech. t;∗∗
Chaotic inflation driven by a minimally coupled scalar field in Brans-Dicke models

We consider inflation driven by the energy density of a conventional scalar field minimally coupled to gravity, which has an initial vacuum expectation value which is large compared with the value at the minimum of its potential ("chaotic inflation"), in the context of Brans-Dicke-type models with a time-dependent Newton's constant. The equations of motion for the scalar field driving inflation and the Brans-Dicke scalar are solved in the slow-rolling approximation for the case of a lambda-sigma-4 potential driving inflation, and the magnitude and spectrum of density perturbations produced during inflation are calculated. Sufficient inflation to account for the observed homogeneity and isotropy of the Universe is found to occur only if the coupling epsilon between the Brans-Dicke scalar and the Ricci scalar is smaller than 1. It is shown that only in the case where the initial value of the scalar field driving inflation is large compared with the initial value of the Brans-Dicke scalar can epsilon be larger than 10(-3), and that in this case the self-coupling lambda is constrained to be much smaller than in the case of conventional chaotic inflation models. It is shown also that the spectrum of density perturbations is sufficiently flat to explain galaxy formation only if epsilon <0.04.
Transport Properties of Intestinal Basolateral Membranes

Techniques for the isolation and study of basolateral membrane vesicles from the intestinal epithelium have afforded new insights into the mechanisms of intestinal absorption. First, we have confirmed the hypothesis that the second stage of glucose transport involves facilitated diffusion. Second, we have shown that the major system for translocation of neutral amino acids across the basolateral membrane is the classical "L" system. Third, we have established that basolateral membranes contain sodium-dependent transport systems that may be useful in the supply of essential amino acids to the epithelium from the blood. And, finally, our studies of the basolateral (Na + K)-ATPase have clarified the role of this enzyme in sodium absorption.
Effectiveness of single fault tests to detect multiple faults in parity trees

Abstract A simulation study to assess the effectiveness of single stuck-at fault test sets in detecting multiple stuck-at faults is described. The experiment is carried out on a parity checker tree of 2-input exclusive-OR (XOR) gates. A minimal 4-pattern test set detects all single stuck-at faults. For double stuck-at faults, it is shown that the fault coverage of this test set decreases to approx. 83.33% as the size of the parity tree increases.
Some effects of electron-phonon interaction on donor-acceptor pair spectra☆

Abstract Intensities and shapes of zero-phonon pair spectra and their phonon replicas were measured for GaP as a function of temperature. Lines are Gaussian, with intensities dependent on two activated, nonradiative processes; bands are quenched at higher temperatures, with redistribution of intensities among pairs and replicas. Effects of hydrostatic pressure are predicted.
The Art of Memory: Islamic Education and its Social Reproduction

The study of education can be to complex societies what the study of religion has been to societies variously characterized by anthropologists as ‘simple,’ ‘cold’ or ‘elementary.’ Recognizing this potential, sociologists and social anthropologists have recently indicated a renewed interest in the study of how schooling, especially higher education, implicitly defines and transmits a culturally valued cognitive style, ‘a set of basic, deeply interiorized master-patterns’ of language and thought on the basis of which other patterns are subsequently acquired (Bourdieu 1967: 343; see also Cole, Gay, Glick and Sharp 1971).
Abiotic/biotic degradation and mineralization of N‐nitrosodimethylamine in aquifer sediments

The N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) degradation rate and mineralization rate were measured in two aquifer sediments that received treatments to create oxic, reducing, and sequential reducing/oxic environments. Chemically reduced sediments rapidly abiotically degraded NDMA to nontoxic dimethylamine (DMA) to parts per trillion levels, then degraded to further products. NDMA was partially mineralized in reduced sediments (6 to 28 percent) at a slow rate (half-life 3,460 h) by an unknown abiotic/biotic pathway. In contrast, NDMA was mineralized more rapidly (half-life 342 h) and to a greater extent (30 to 81 percent) in oxic sediments with propane addition, likely by a propane monooxygenase pathway. NDMA mineralization in sequential reduced sediment followed by oxic sediment treatment did result in slightly more rapid mineralization and a greater mineralization extent relative to reduced systems. These increases were minor, so aerobic NDMA mineralization with oxygen and propane addition was the most viable in situ NDMA mineralization strategy.
Interaction between hydrogen peroxide and ferrous sulfate as a basis for glucose determinations

The interaction between hydrogen peroxide and ferrous sulfate (Fenton's reaction) results in an increase in absorbance between the wavelengths of 240–400 nm. The greatest increase in absorbance occurs at 260 nm. Addition of glucose to a solution of glucose oxidase and ferrous sulfate results in an instantaneous increase in absorbance at 260 nm which is dependent upon glucose concentration and pH, with greatest increase occurring at pH 4.0. A solution of glucose oxidase and ferrous sulfate could be used as a reagent for manual glucose determinations.
Protein crystals as a model for mitochondrial matrix proteins

Abstract Information on the structure of protein crystals and the activity of crystalline enzymes may be used to help understand the structure of the mitochondrial matrix and the activity of the proteins therein.
Continued Survival of Older Hemodialysis Patients: Investigation of Psychosocial Predictors

This study investigated whether social and/or psychologic factors help to predict older dialysis patients' continued survival. A stratified (by race and sex) random sample of patients aged 60+ years was selected from the ESRD Network census of all patients in that age category residing in a single southeastern state (Georgia) and receiving chronic dialysis as of November 1987; personal interviews with patients were completed in 1988. This analysis includes 287 patients (mean age, 69 years) receiving outpatient hemodialysis for whom primary cause of renal failure and functional status data were complete. Patient tracking and vital statistics data determined that 49% of the sample survived as of October 31, 1990. Study variables included demographic, dialysis, health status, social situation, and psychologic outlook variables reported at the patients' 1988 interviews. Log rank tests showed univariate associations between patients' continued survival and race/gender, recovery time following dialysis treatments, cardiovascular co-morbidity, exercise activity score, freedom from health limitation of daily activity, functional status, leisure activity score, selfrated health status, overall life satisfaction, depression, and public religiosity. The Cox proportional hazards model was fit to the data, with continued survival from the time of the 1988 interview as the dependent variable. There was a significantly increased mortality risk for white men relative to the other race/gender groups and for patients reporting severely impaired functional status at the 1988 interview. With functional status in the model, no other social or psychologic variables were significant predictors of mortality. When patients' vital status as of October 1993 were determined, serum albumin values in the ESRD Network database were significantly related to survival of older black patients, and functional status as of the 1988 interview was significantly related to survival of both blacks and whites. This study, consistent with other research, suggests that continued monitoring of dialysis patients' functional status might help to identify patients who warrant close clinical evaluation.
Type III and IV thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair: Results of a trifurcated/two-graft technique

Objective: Thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (TAA) repair continues to present a surgical challenge because of obligate intraoperative visceral, renal, and spinal cord ischemia. A novel two-graft technique with a trifurcated graft for sequential visceral revascularization followed by a second graft for inline aneurysm reconstruction minimizes this endorgan ischemia. We herein present our updated experience with this approach for repair of type III and type IV TAAs. Methods: Thirty-two patients (mean age, 70 years) underwent nonemergent repair of extent III (12 patients) and IV (20 patients) TAAs between March 1996 and October 2001. Repair was achieved with a trifurcated graft for uninvolved descending thoracic aorta-to-celiac/superior mesenteric/renal artery bypass with an additional tube or bifurcated graft for inline aneurysm reconstruction. Adjunctive cerebrospinal fluid drainage was used in the last six patients. Six patients had a solitary kidney, and six had previous infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm repair. Results: Mean visceral ischemia times were as follows: celiac artery, 12 minutes; superior mesenteric artery, 12 minutes; left renal artery, 10 minutes; and right renal artery, 33 minutes. The creatinine level at discharge was not significantly different from the preoperative level (1.7 versus 1.3; P = .10). Two patients (6.3%) had transient renal failure; however, the permanent renal failure rate was zero. No patient with a solitary kidney had renal dysfunction develop. Paraplegia occurred in two patients (6.3%), one of whom had prior abdominal aortic aneurysm repair and neither of whom had cerebrospinal fluid drainage. Prolonged ventilatory support (>2 days) was necessitated in six patients (19%). The perioperative mortality rate was 6.3% (two patients). The mean follow-up period was 22 months, with a life-table survival rate of 76% at 36 months. Maintenance of preoperative functional status was achieved in 92% (23/25 patients) of long-term survivors. Conclusion: Type III and IVTAA repair with a trifurcated graft for sequential visceral revascularization followed by a second graft for inline aneurysm reconstruction provides short visceral, renal, and spinal cord ischemia times and leads to low rates of endorgan ischemic damage and paraplegia. Preoperative functional status is maintained in most survivors. These results compare favorably with other methods of TAA repair, and this technique presents a useful option in thoracoabdominal aortic reconstruction. (J Vasc Surg 2002;36:211-6.)
Web usage mining based on probabilistic latent semantic analysis

The primary goal of Web usage mining is the discovery of patterns in the navigational behavior of Web users. Standard approaches, such as clustering of user sessions and discovering association rules or frequent navigational paths, do not generally provide the ability to automatically characterize or quantify the unobservable factors that lead to common navigational patterns. It is, therefore, necessary to develop techniques that can automatically discover hidden semantic relationships among users as well as between users and Web objects. Probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis (PLSA) is particularly useful in this context, since it can uncover latent semantic associations among users and pages based on the co-occurrence patterns of these pages in user sessions. In this paper, we develop a unified framework for the discovery and analysis of Web navigational patterns based on PLSA. We show the flexibility of this framework in characterizing various relationships among users and Web objects. Since these relationships are measured in terms of probabilities, we are able to use probabilistic inference to perform a variety of analysis tasks such as user segmentation, page classification, as well as predictive tasks such as collaborative recommendations. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach through experiments performed on real-world data sets.
Minimum multiple message broadcast graphs

Multiple message broadcasting is the process of multiple message dissemination in a communication network in which m messages, originated by one vertex, are transmitted to all vertices of the network. A graph G with n vertices is called a m-message broadcast graph if its broadcast time is the theoretical minimum. Bm(n) is the minimum number of edges in any m-message broadcast graph on n vertices. An m-message minimum broadcast graph is a broadcast graph G on n vertices having Bm(n) edges. This article presents several lower and upper bounds on Bm(n). In particular, it is shown that modified Knodel graphs are m-message broadcast graphs for m ≤ min⌊log n⌋,n - 2⌊log n⌋. From the Cartesian product of some broadcast graphs we obtain better upper bounds on Bm(n), and in some cases we can prove that Bm(n) = O(n). The exact value of B2(2k) is also established. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 47(4), 218–224 2006
Reactive oxygen species and acute renal failure

Acute renal failure is commonly due to acute tubular necrosis (ATN), the latter representing an acute, usually reversible loss of renal function incurred from ischemic or nephrotoxic insults occurring singly or in combination. Such insults instigate a number of processes-hemodynamic alterations, aberrant vascular responses, sublethal and lethal cell damage, inflammatory responses, and nephron obstruction-that initiate and maintain ATN. Eventually, reparative and regenerative processes facilitate the resolution of renal injury and the recovery of renal function. Focusing mainly on ischemic ATN, this article reviews evidence indicating that the inordinate or aberrant generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) may contribute to the initiation and maintenance of ATN. This review also discusses the possibility that ROS may instigate adaptive as well as maladaptive responses in the kidney with ATN, and raises the possibility that ROS may participate in the recovery phase of ATN.
Detection of unexpected tones with short and long durations

The detectability of short and long unexpected tones masked by a continuous wideband noise was assessed using a probe‐signal method. This method leads the listener to expect a target frequency by presenting the signal most often at that frequency, and only occasionally at other unexpected probe frequencies. The probe‐signal contour (percent correct as a function of probe frequency) was considerably broader with 5‐ms than with 295‐ms signals. However, auditory filter shapes measured using the notched‐noise technique were very similar for those two signal durations, indicating that the results obtained in the probe‐signal conditions do not simply reflect peripheral frequency selectivity. Further supporting this interpretation, probe tones having the same frequency but a different duration from the target were poorly detected. It is proposed that the subject listens through a time‐frequency window whose location and shape in the time‐frequency plane is determined by the duration and frequency of the target.
What should animal models of depression model

In this article, we discuss what animal models of depression should be attempting to 'model'. One must first determine if the goal is to model the regulatory mechanisms by which antidepressant treatments alleviate the various symptoms of depression, or to model the dysregulatory mechanisms underlying the etiology of those symptoms. When modeling the mechanisms of antidepressant effects, a key feature that is often overlooked is the time course required for behavioral efficacy. Even in the clinical literature, there is considerable confusion and inconsistency in defining and identifying 'time of onset' of clinical effect. Although the 'therapeutic lag' may not be as long as has been commonly believed, it does occur. Observable improvement in either global symptomatology or specific symptoms becomes evident after 7-14 days of treatment, and more complete recovery takes considerably longer. Thus, any model addressing potential mechanisms of antidepressant action should exhibit a similar time-dependency. Second, whether attempting to address mechanisms underlying behavioral effects of antidepressants, or the neurobiological substrates underlying the development and manifestation of depression, it is essential to recognize that the syndrome of depression is a diagnostic construct that includes a variety of disparate symptoms, some of which may be related mechanistically, and others that may not be specific to depression, but may cut across categorical diagnostic schemes. Further, it is critical to recognize the close relationship of depression and anxiety. Psychological studies have suggested that the myriad symptoms of depression and anxiety may be subsumed within a more limited number of distinct behavioral dimensions, such as negative affect (neuroticism), positive affect, or physiologic hyperarousal. These dimensions may be related to the functioning of specific neurobiological systems. Thus, rather than trying to recreate or mimic the entire spectrum of symptoms comprising the syndrome of depression, it may be more informative to develop animal models for these behavioral dimensions. Such models may then provide access not only to the neural regulatory mechanisms underlying effective antidepressant treatment, but may also provide clues to the processes underlying the development and manifestation of depression.
Topical dose justification: benzoyl peroxide concentrations

Abstract Background: Benzoyl peroxide (BPO) is widely utilized in acne treatment as an alternative to antibiotics against which Propionibacterium acnes becomes more resistant. Objective: This overview examines BPO dose justification. Methods: PubMed, Embase® and Science Citation Index searches were conducted using the keywords “benzoyl peroxide” and “acne vulgaris”. Results: Limited experimental data are available. However, there appears no significant difference in the efficacy of concentrations from 2.5% to 10%. Discussion: The extent of free fatty acids and the percutaneous penetration of BPO may not play a critical role in acne vulgaris.
Copper(II) Catalysis of Water Oxidation

Copper leads to a breakup: simple Cu(II) salts are shown to be highly reactive as water oxidation electrocatalysts in neutral to weakly basic aqueous buffer solutions of CO(2)/HCO(3)(-)/CO(3)(2-) or HPO(4)(2-)/PO(4)(3-). Coordination to the buffer anions under these conditions prevents the precipitation of Cu(OH)(2), CuCO(3), or Cu(3)(PO(4))(2) and appears to stabilize higher oxidation states of copper.
Probing Ferroelectrics Using Optical Second Harmonic Generation

Nonlinear optics is an essential component of modern laser systems and optoelectronic devices. It has also emerged as an important tool in probing the electronic, vibrational, magnetic, and crystallographic structure of materials ranging from oxides and metals, to polymers and biological samples. This review focuses on the specific technique of optical second harmonic generation (SHG), and its application in probing ferroelectric complex oxide crystals and thin films. As the dominant SHG interaction mechanism exists only in materials that lack inversion symmetry, SHG is a sensitive probe of broken inversion symmetry, and thus also of bulk polar phenomena in materials. By performing in-situSHG polarimetry experiments in different experimental conditions such as sample orientation, applied electric field, and temperature, one can probe ferroelectric hysteresis loops and phase transitions. Careful modeling of the polarimetry data allows for the determination of the point group symmetry of the crystal. In epitaxial thin films with a two-dimensional arrangement of well-defined domain orientations, one can extract information about intrinsic material properties such as nonlinear coefficients, as well as microstructural information such as the local statistics of the different domain variants being probed. This review presents several detailed examples of ferroelectric systems where such measurements and modeling are performed. The use of SHG microscopic imaging is discussed, and its ability to reveal domain structures and phases not normally visible with linear optics is illustrated.
Minimally invasive management of biliary tract injury following percutaneous nephrolithotomy.

Introduction: Percutaneous nephrolithotomy is generally considered a safe option for the management of large complex or infectious upper urinary tract calculi. Biliary tract injury is a rare and potentially serious complication of percutaneous nephrolithotomy that can even lead to mortality, especially in cases where biliary peritonitis develops. All reported cases of biliary tract injury have been managed by either open or laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Case Presentation: Herein for the first time, we report a 39-year old woman with biliary tract injury following percutaneous nephrolithotomy who was managed less invasively by insertion of a percutaneous cholecystostomy tube. The patient was discharged home shortly thereafter, and the tube was later removed at a follow up visit after a normal cholangiogram. Conclusions: Biliary tract injury is a rare and potentially serious complication of percutaneous nephrolithotomy that can even lead to mortality. If a biliary tract injury is suspected during percutaneous renal procedures, diverting the bile away from the leak may resolve the problem without the need for a cholecystectomy. Ideally this can be done with ERCP and a stent, but in cases where this is not technically feasible; a percutaneous cholecystostomy can be successful at accomplishing the same result.
A CD4 domain important for HIV-mediated syncytium formation lies outside the virus binding site

HIV infection of chimpanzees results in a chronic viremia unaccompanied by the ultimately fatal immunodeficiency that marks HIV infection in man. We show here that expression of HIV envelope proteins allows syncytium formation between cells expressing human but not chimpanzee or macaque CD4. We find that the CD4 sequences regulating cell fusion lie outside the recognized virus binding site; in the simplest exchange, chimpanzee CD4 bearing human residue 87 supports syncytium formation, while human CD4 bearing chimpanzee residue 87 does not. Neither the equilibrium nor the forward rate constants for HIV-CD4 association are affected by substitution at position 87. Infection of human cells expressing chimpanzee CD4 is insensitive to lysosomotropic agents, suggesting that viral penetration under these circumstances does not require endocytosis. The benign course of HIV infection in chimpanzees may reflect the failure of the host to support direct cell to cell transmission of the virus.
Extension of the target cascading formulation to the design of product families

The target cascading methodology for optimal product development is extended to product families with predefined platforms. The single-product formulation is modified to accommodate the presence of shared systems, subsystems, and/or components and locally introduced targets. Hierarchical optimization problems associated with each product variant are combined to formulate the product family multicriteria design problem, and common subproblems are identified based on the shared elements (i.e. the platform). The solution of the overall design problem is coordinated so that the shared elements are consistent with the performance and behaviour of the product variants. A simple automotive design example is used to demonstrate the proposed methodology.
Determination of new phosphorylation sites within natriuretic peptide receptors using mass spectrometric methods

Background While it has long been know that phosphorylation of the kinase homology domain is a key regulatory mechanism of natriuretic peptide receptors, no biochemical proof for individual phosphorylation sites has been reported. Here, we describe biochemical verification of previously identified phosphorylation sites in both natriuretic peptide receptor A (NPR-A) and natriuretic peptide receptor B (NPR-B) as well as the identification of novel phosphorylation sites in both receptors.
BONE- AND NON-BONE-DERIVED GROWTH FACTORS AND EFFECTS ON BONE HEALING

The role that growth factors play in bone healing is fascinating. Growth factors help direct the recruitment, differentiation, proliferation, and function of cells at the fracture site. Research is providing many answers regarding the roles of growth factors in bone healing, and some growth factors, such as the bone morphogenetic proteins, may have clinical applications in the future to enhance fracture healing in humans. The area of bone and growth factor research is dynamic, advancing rapidly, and will provide veterinarians with information regarding healing in dogs and cats, and clinically useful treatments to enhance fracture healing in patients.
Reversible Tailoring of Mechanical Properties of Carbon Nanotube Forests by Immersing in Solvents

Abstract The mechanical behavior of carbon nanotube (CNT) forests soaked in three solvents – toluene, acetonitrile, and isopropanol – is examined. Effective stiffness of the structure is evaluated in the dry and wet condition by micro-indentation using a 100 μm flat punch. With soaking of CNT forests in solvents, the stiffness decreases and deformation mechanism changes from buckling concentrated close to the bottom of the CNT forest to a distribution of local buckles along the height and global buckling of the entire length of CNTs. We use molecular dynamics simulations to relate the experimental observations to the reduced mechanical support from neighbor CNTs due to a decreased magnitude of van der Waals (vdW) interactions in the presence of solvents. Toluene, which produces the lowest average measured stiffness between the three solvents, produces the lowest vdW forces between individual CNTs. Furthermore, wet–dry cycling of CNT forests shows the reversibility and repeatability of change of stiffness by immersing in solvents. The results show that soaking CNT forests in solvents could be useful for applications such as interface materials where lower stiffness of CNT forests are needed and applications such as energy absorbing materials in which re-setting of stiffness is required.
The Proton-Translocating ATPase of Escherichia Coli

The purpose of this review is to provide an up-to-date summary of E. coli proton-translocating F1F0ATPase. From work on this enzyme, new insights have been gained in the areas of bacterial physiology and energy metabolism, mechanism of enzyme action, mechanism of ion transport through membranes, structure of membrane proteins, mechanism of energy coupling, and regulation of complex enzyme expression and assembly. An important and pressing need is for more structural information. High-resolution structural analyses of F1F0 have not progressed far, and this is likely to present a road block unless overcome. One possibility is to crystallize or apply nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to isolated subunits available in native form from E. coli F1F0. In this way, one might incrementally build a structure of the F1F0 complex. Static views, however, are unlikely to provide a complete picture of a dynamic enzyme such as this, in which long-range interactions between F0 and F1 and cooperative interactions between nucleotide-binding sites play such an important role in catalysis. Mutagenesis and reversion analysis are two powerful techniques, which, combined with direct enzymological measurements, can be exploited in the immediate future to study the intriguing dynamic aspects of F1F0 function. Many questions remain to challenge us. Regulation of enzyme activity in the cell is not understood. The role of the noncatalytic nucleotide sites is unknown. The assembly pathway and regulation of expression are not established. The mechanisms of H+ translocation and catalysis seem to be proving amenable to analysis, and further advances in these areas can be expected. Long-range conformational interaction between the H+ conduction machinery in F0 and the catalytic sites in F1 seems basic to energy coupling; a major future goal is to provide a realistic physical explanation to validate this concept.
James Clerk Maxwell: Life and science

Abstract Maxwell׳s life and science are presented with an account of the progression of Maxwell׳s research on electromagnetic theory. This is appropriate for the International Year of Light and Light-based Technologies, 2015. Maxwell׳s own confidence in his 1865 electromagnetic theory of light is examined, along with some of the difficulties he faced and the difficulties faced by some of his followers. Maxwell׳s interest in radiation pressure and electromagnetic stress is addressed, as well as subsequent developments. Some of Maxwell׳s other contributions to physics are discussed with an emphasis on the kinetic and molecular theory of gases. Maxwell׳s theistic perspective on science is illustrated, accompanied by examples of perspectives on Maxwell and his science provided by his peers and accounts of his interactions with those peers. Appendices examine the peer review of Maxwell׳s 1865 electromagnetic theory paper and the naming of the Maxwell Garnett effective media approximation and provide various supplemental perspectives. From Maxwell׳s publications and correspondence there is evidence he had a high regard for Michael Faraday. Examples of Maxwell׳s contributions to electromagnetic terminology are noted.
Variation In Rural Health Information Technology Adoption And Use

While rural hospitals and physicians have adopted health information technology at the same, or greater, rates as their urban counterparts, meaningful-use attestation varies dramatically among rural providers. Also, rural providers are more likely to skip a year of declaring that they have met meaningful-use requirements, putting them at a financial disadvantage compared to urban providers.
Magnetic Anisotropy and Spin Reorientations in HoxTb1−xFe2, DyxTb1−xFe2, and HoxTbyDy1−x−yFe2

The properties of ternary and quaternary rare earth-iron Laves phase intermetallic compounds have been the subject of extensive investigation in recent years, in part because for certain compositions they exhibit both very high magnetostrictive strains and relatively low magnetic anisotropy at room temperature — characteristics which are desirable for magnetostrictive device applications. They also exhibit a complex set of spin reorientations as a function of composition and temperature.
How well would modern-day oceanic property distributions be known with paleoceanographic-like observations?

Author(s): Gebbie, G; Streletz, GJ; Spero, HJ | Abstract: Compilations of paleoceanographic observations for the deep sea now contain a few hundred points along the oceanic margins, mid-ocean ridges, and bathymetric highs, where seawater conditions are indirectly recorded in the chemistry of buried benthic foraminiferal shells. Here we design an idealized experiment to test our predictive ability to reconstruct modern-day seawater properties by considering paleoceanographic-like data. We attempt to reconstruct the known, modern-day global distributions by using a state estimation method that combines a kinematic tracer transport model with observations that have paleoceanographic characteristics. When a modern-like suite of observations (Θ, practical salinity, seawater δ18O, δ13CDIC, PO4, NO3, and O2) is used from the sparse paleolocations, the state estimate is consistent with the withheld data at all depths below 1500 m, suggesting that the observational sparsity can be overcome. Physical features, such as the interbasin gradients in deep δ13CDIC and the vertical structure of Atlantic δ13CDIC, are accurately reconstructed. The state estimation method extracts useful information from the pointwise observations to infer distributions at the largest oceanic scales (at least 10,000 km horizontally and 1500 m vertically) and outperforms a standard optimal interpolation technique even though neither dynamical constraints nor constraints from surface boundary fluxes are used. When the sparse observations are more realistically restricted to the paleoceanographic proxy observations of δ13C, δ18O, and Cd/Ca, however, the large-scale property distributions are no longer recovered coherently. At least three more water mass tracers are likely needed at the core sites in order to accurately reconstruct the large-scale property distributions of the Last Glacial Maximum.
A Novel Cellulose Nanocrystals-Based Approach To Improve the Mechanical Properties of Recycled Paper

The ability to introduce cellulose nanocrystals (CNs) into any of a number of single-component or composite applications is currently limited because they are difficult to efficiently isolate and in certain cases difficult to maintain homogeneously disperse. The current research introduces a novel purification technique and composite application for modified cellulose nanocrystal derivatives by using them as an additive for dry strength in recycled paper OCC (old corrugated containerboard). More specifically, the present work illustrates a way to easily isolate CNs by extracting them through a traditional mineral acid hydrolysis followed up by washing them several times with ethanol. The extracted cellulose nanocrystals did not flocculate and were completely homogeneously dispersed in water. Additionally, it was found that the incorporation of carboxylic acid functionalities onto the CNs by reaction with diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) followed by cross-linking with chitosan and introduction in...
High-dose hook effect in a two-site IRMA for measuring thyrotropin.

The 'high-dose hook effect' in sandwich immunoassays has been recognized and studied for more than a decade."? Assays in which both antibodies to the analyte are added at the same time (rather than sequentially), and thus have no 'wash' step or equivalent in between to remove unbound analyte, are particularly susceptible. When the hook occurs at concentrations far beyond those usually encountered in clinical practice, there is little risk of erroneous test results. However, for some tests, such as those determining tumour marker concentrations where homeostatic mechanisms are not involved, the range encountered can be broad enough. to include the region of the hook. Extremely high hormone concentrations also occur and may fall in the range of the hook effect, although this would be quite unusual in the case of thyrotropin (TSH). A description of the hook effect in a two-site monoclonal immunometric assay for TSH has not been published. We have recently encountered a patient with thyroid hormone resistance associated with very high serum TSH concentrations. Following stimulation with thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH), TSH concentration reached a peak of 1600mIU/L. Initial results, when neat serum was used, fell between 50 and 100mIU/L as determined by extrapolation (by our data reduction program). Considerable dilution was necessary to bring the response on to the standard curve (0-50) and revealed the much higher concentrations. We had, then, the assay response in a number of neat samples with very high TSH concentrations. We also knew the actual TSH concentrations in these specimens, based on dilutions assayed subsequently. Putting these data together we had an opportunity to examine the
Automated Scheduling of Science Activities for Titan Encounters by Cassini

In an effort to demonstrate the efficacy of automated planning and scheduling techniques for large missions, we have adapted ASPEN (Activity Scheduling and Planning Environment) [1] and CLASP (Compressed Large-scale Activity Scheduling and Planning) [2] to the domain of scheduling high-level science goals into conflict-free operations plans for Titan encounters by the Cassini spacecraft.
Doing Right by Our Animal Companions

The philosophical literature on the moral status of nonhuman animals, which is bounteous, diverse, and sophisticated, contains a glaring omission. There is little discussion of human responsibilities to companion animals, such as dogs and cats. The assumption seems to be that animals are an undifferentiated mass – that whatever responsibilities one has to any animal are had to all animals. It is significant that we do not think this way about humans. Most of us (all but extreme impartialists) acknowledge the existence of special responsibilities to humans. We believe, for instance, that our children, friends, and compatriots have special claims on our attention, time, energy, and resources. This is not at all incompatible (although it is sometimes thought to be) with the view that we have obligations to strangers. My aim in this essay is to fill the lacuna in the literature. I argue that the act of taking an animal into one's life or home, through purchase, gift, or adoption, generates responsibilities to it, the main one being to provide for its needs, which, in the case of dogs (for example), are many and varied. Since this thesis is shrouded in misconception, I devote part of the essay to clarifying it. I then diagnose its philosophical neglect, which stems from both practical concerns and theoretical commitments. I argue that the practical concerns are groundless and that the theoretical commitments do not have the implications they are thought to have.
Review: concomitant aspirin use does not reduce the effectiveness of ACE inhibitors.

Source Citation Teo KK, Yusuf S, Pfeffer M, et al. Effects of long-term treatment with angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibitors in the presence or absence of aspirin: a systematic review. Lancet. 2...