cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Seasonal changes in neuronal turnover in a forebrain nucleus in adult songbirds

Neuronal death and replacement, or neuronal turnover, in the adult brain are one of many fundamental processes of neural plasticity. The adult avian song control circuit provides an excellent model for exploring mature neuronal death and replacement by new neurons. In the song control nucleus, HVC of adult male Gambel's white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys gambelli) nearly 68,000 neurons are added each breeding season and die during the subsequent nonbreeding season. To accommodate large seasonal differences in HVC neuron number, the balance between neuronal addition and death in HVC must differ between seasons. To determine whether maintenance of new HVC neurons changes within and between breeding and nonbreeding conditions, we pulse-labeled two different cohorts of new HVC neurons under both conditions and quantified their maintenance. We show that the maintenance of new HVC neurons, as well as new nonneuronal cells, was higher at the onset of breeding conditions than at the onset of nonbreeding conditions. Once a steady-state HVC volume and neuronal number were attained in either breeding or nonbreeding conditions, neuronal and nonneuronal maintenance were similarly low. We found that new neuronal number correlated with a new nonneuronal number within each cohort of new neurons. Together, these data suggest that sex steroids promote the survival of an initial population of new neurons and nonneuronal cells entering HVC. However, once HVC is fully grown or regressed, neuronal and nonneuronal cell turnover is regulated by a common mechanism likely independent of direct sex steroid signaling.
A genome-wide dsRNA library screen for Drosophila genes that regulate the GBP/phospholipase C signaling axis that links inflammation to aging.

Invertebrates are productive models for understanding how inflammation, metabolism and aging are intertwined. We have deployed a dsRNA library screen to search for genes in Drosophila melanogaster—and hence identify human orthologs—that encode participants in a G-protein coupled, Ca2+-signaling pathway that regulates inflammation, metabolism and lifespan. We analyzed receptor-dependent, phospholipase C/Ca2+ signaling responses to the growth-blocking peptide (GBP) cytokine in Drosophila S3 cells plated in 384-well plates containing dsRNAs that target approximately 14,000 Drosophila genes. We used Z-scores of + 3 to define gene hits. Filtering of ‘housekeeping’ genes from these hits yielded a total of 82 and 61 Drosophila genes that either down-regulate or up-regulate Ca2+-signaling, respectively; representatives from these two groups were validated. Human orthologs of our hits may be modulators of Ca2+ signaling in general, as well as being candidates for acting in molecular pathways that interconnect aging and inflammation.
Nonlinear Theory of Electroelasticity

In this chapter we develop the nonlinear theory of electroelasticity for large deformations and strong electric fields. Readers who are only interested in the linear theory of piezoelectricity may skip this chapter and begin with Chap. 2, Sect. 2.2. This chapter uses the two-point Cartesian tensor notation, the summation convention for repeated tensor indices, and the convention that a comma followed by an index denotes partial differentiation with respect to the coordinate associated with the index.
How Special Is the Solar System

Given the fact that Earth is so far the only place in the Milky Way galaxy known to harbor life, the question arises of whether the solar system is in any way special. To address this question, I compare the solar system to the many recently discovered exoplanetary systems. I identify two main features that appear to distinguish the solar system from the majority of other systems: (i) the lack of super-Earths, (ii) the absence of close-in planets. I examine models for the formation of super-Earths, as well as models for the evolution of asteroid belts, the rate of asteroid impacts on Earth, and of snow lines, all of which may have some implications for the emergence and evolution of life on a terrestrial planet. Finally, I revisit an argument by Brandon Carter on the rarity of intelligent civilizations, and I review a few of the criticisms of this argument.
Optimal Dynamic Spectrum Access Scheme for Utilizing White Space in LTE Systems

In this study, we design and implement an algorithm for optimal dynamic spectrum access (DSA) in a shared spectrum system where the primary user (PU) is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. The cumulative hazard function from survival analysis is used to predict the remaining idle time available in each channel for secondary user (SU) transmission subject to a probability of successful completion. Optimal allocation of physical resource blocks (PRBs) for the SU is shown to be a variation of the unbounded knapsack problem. We evaluate the algorithm performance using three data sets collected from real LTE systems. The algorithms achieve good white space utilization and have a measured probability of interference around the target threshold.
Chaste Value: Economic Crisis, Female Chastity and the Production of Social Difference on Shakespeare's Stage

Chaste Value reassesses chastity's significance in early modern drama, arguing that presentations of chastity inform the stage's production of early capitalist subjectivity and social difference.
How to survive Covid-19 even if the vaccine fails

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has created an emergency of epic proportions. While a vaccine may be forthcoming, this is not guaranteed, as discussed herein. The potential problems and ominous signs include (1) lung injury that developed in animals given an experimental vaccine for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-1; (2) a perversion of adaptive immune responses called antibody-dependent enhancement of infection that occurs in SARS-CoV-1 and that may occur in people vaccinated for COVID-19; (3) the frequent and recurrent infections that are caused by respiratory coronaviruses; and (4) the appearance of mutations in SARS-CoV-2 proteins, which raise the specter of vaccine escape mutants. Because success is uncertain, alternatives to vaccines need to be vigorously pursued during this critical moment in the pandemic. Alternatives include (1) engineered monoclonal antibodies that do not cause antibody-dependent enhancement; (2) cocktails of antiviral drugs and inhibitors of the cellular proteins required for SARS-CoV-2 replication; (3) interferons; and (4) anticoagulants, antioxidants, and immune modulators. To organize and coordinate the systematic investigation of existing therapies and new therapies (as they emerge), a Covid-19 clinical trials network is needed to provide (1) robust funding (on a par with vaccine funding) and administration; (2) an adaptive trial design committee to prioritize interventions and review results in real time; (3) a computer interface to facilitate patient enrollment, make data available to investigators, and present findings; (4) a practice guidelines study group; and (5) a mobile corps of COVID-19 experts available for rapid deployment, to assist local health care providers and enroll patients in trials as outbreaks occur. To combat the COVID-19 pandemic and future mass contagions, the network would be a cornerstone of a comprehensive infectious diseases research program.
The Growing Blessing of Unicorns: The Changing Nature of the Market for Privately Funded Companies

The past 15 years have seen the emergence of large infusions of private capital at levels previously accessible only in public markets. One direct effect of these non‐public fundraisings is the spawning of private entities with market valuations reaching $1 billion, thereby achieving the status of unicorns. As the authors reported in an earlier study, by the end of 2015, there were 142 unicorns with an aggregate value exceeding $500 billion. The conviction of many investors and managers at that time was that these companies could best create value by staying private, often by adopting governance structures focused on creating superior operating performance. It was also widely believed that unicorns would remain outside the public markets longer and succeed in attracting even more private capital, thereby enabling their investors to capture a greater share of the increase in company value. In this study, the authors examine how the characteristics and dynamics of “the blessing” have changed in the past five years. Despite the widespread view that the valuations and private financing trend fueling this market were not sustainable, the authors report that by March 2020, the “net” number of unicorns had grown from 142 to 464, a number that doesn't reflect the transformation of over half of the 2015 sample through acquisition or public offering and their replacement by new unicorns. Further, the cumulative market valuation of unicorns more than doubled from $500 billion to $1.37 trillion, representing growth far greater than that in the public equity markets (some 26% per annum, as compared to 9% for the S&P 500) over the same period—and the blessing has become more diversified, both in terms of industry and geographical location. The authors also consider what happens when unicorns “graduate” to a different organizational form by means of an IPO, private buyout, or business failure. Analyzing the 107 firms that departed the sample between 2015 and 2020, the authors report that the average lifespan of a unicorn from its founding date to its exit date has been 9.5 years, indicating that such firms indeed remain privately owned for a longer time than in the past. Additionally, the study finds that the founders and initial investors in unicorns have fared quite well, cashing out their initial investment at almost six times invested capital, on average. These private investment performance metrics have been significantly higher than the returns to public shareholders in the same firms during the post‐IPO period, signifying that unicorn investors have captured much more of the value created in the company's growth phase than public stockholders.
Multi-tissue Multi-omics Nutrigenomics Indicates Context-specific Effects of DHA on Rat Brain

Scope: We explored the influence of DHA on cardiometabolic and cognitive phenotypes, and multiomic alterations in the brain under two metabolic conditions to understand context-specific nutritional effects. Methods and Results: Rats were randomly assigned to a DHA-rich or a control chow diet while drinking water or high fructose solution, followed by profiling of metabolic and cognitive phenotypes and the transcriptome and DNA methylome of the hypothalamus and hippocampus. DHA reduced serum triglyceride and improved insulin resistance and memory exclusively in the fructose-consuming rats. In hippocampus, DHA affected genes related to synapse functions in the chow group but immune functions in the fructose group; in hypothalamus, DHA altered immune pathways in the chow group but metabolic pathways in the fructose group. Network modeling revealed context-specific regulators of DHA effects, including Klf4 and Dusp1 for chow condition and Lum, Fn1, and Col1a1 for fructose condition in hippocampus, as well as Cyr61, JunB, Ier2, and Pitx2 under chow condition and Hcar1, Cdh1, and Osr1 under fructose condition in hypothalamus. Conclusion: DHA exhibits differential influence on epigenetic loci, genes, pathways, and metabolic and cognitive phenotypes under different dietary contexts, supporting population stratification in DHA studies to achieve precision nutrition.
Indirect effect of family climate on adolescent depression through emotion regulatory processes.

Adolescent depression is a serious public health concern, warranting examination of its development. A negative family emotional climate (NFEC) is one risk factor for the development of depressive symptoms. The specific emotion regulatory processes linking NFEC and depression, however, remain unclear. Cognitive reappraisal, a strategy that entails shifting one's thoughts about an emotion eliciting situation before the emotion is generated, expressive suppression, an emotion regulation strategy where individuals push down their expressions of an emotion after it is generated, and emotional inertia, the process of remaining in a given emotional state for a longer period compared to other individuals, were tested as potential emotion processes through which NFEC might be indirectly related to depressive symptoms. Adolescents (N = 92; ages 11-18; 62% girls, 80% White) participated in a multimethod two-time-point study (∼6 months apart). NFEC was measured at Time 1; cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, emotional inertia, and depressive symptoms, at Time 2. Emotional inertia scores for negative affect (NA) and positive affect (PA) were obtained through continuous coding of affect during 2 parent-child interactions. Codes were analyzed second-by-second, and multilevel logistic regression was used to extract each participant's emotional inertia score. NFEC was directly related to depressive symptoms. NFEC was also indirectly related to depressive symptoms via cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression (for girls, not boys) but not emotional inertia (for either NA or PA). Results suggest that both emotion regulation and the family emotional climate should be considered as targets for intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Vertical head and eye movements in baseball batting.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe a method utilized to measure vertical head and eye movements and gaze positions of baseball batters and to report the initial findings generated with this method. Method Two former collegiate baseball players participated. Subjects batted balls from a pitching machine. Results Responses were similar for the two subjects. The head demonstrated a small upward rotation followed by a downward rotation. The eye was rotated opposite to the head throughout portions of the swing while gaze was directed below the ball (more for one subject than the other) for much of the pitch trajectory. Discussion These data align with previous assertions that in baseball batting, players attempt to keep pitched balls in a constant egocentric direction.
Rare and Common Genetic Variants, Smoking, and Body Mass Index: Progression and Earlier Age of Developing Advanced Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Purpose To determine behavioral and genetic factors associated with incidence and age of progression to advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD), geographic atrophy (GA), and neovascular disease (NV), and to quantify these effects. Methods Longitudinal analyses were conducted among 5421 eyes with nonadvanced AMD at baseline in 2976 participants in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (mean age of 68.8 (±5.0), 56.1% female). Progression was confirmed based on two consecutive visits on the AMD severity scale. Separate analyses for progression and age of progression were performed. All analyses adjusted for correlation between eyes, demographic and behavioral covariates, baseline severity scale, and genetic variants. Results A higher genetic risk score (GRS) including eight genetic variants was associated with a higher rate of progression to advanced AMD within each baseline severity scale, especially for the highest risk intermediate level AMD category, and smoking further increased this risk. When assessing age when progression to advanced disease occurred, smoking reduced age of onset by 3.9 years (P < 0.001), and higher body mass index (BMI) led to earlier onset by 1.7 years (P = 0.003), with similar results for GA and NV. Genetic variants associated with earlier age of progression were CFH R1201C (4.3 years), C3 K155Q (2.15 years), and ARMS2/HTRA1 (0.8 years per allele). Conclusions Rare variants in the complement pathway and a common risk allele in ARMS2/HTRA1, smoking, and higher BMI can lead to as much as 11.5 additional years of disease and treatment burden. Closer adherence to healthy lifestyles could reduce years of visual impairment.
Technical efficiency of Teff producer farmers in Raya Kobo district, Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia

Teff is among the most widely grown cereal crop in Ethiopia and important in national food security. The study aimed to measure technical efficiency and sources of inefficiencies of teff producer f...
Safety of reduced anti-thrombotic strategy in patients with HeartMate 3 left ventricular assist device.

There are limited safety data on reduced anti-thrombotic therapy (RT) in patients with HeartMate 3 (HM3) left ventricular assist device (LVAD). We conducted a single-center, retrospective study of patients with HM3 managed with RT from November 2014 through January 2020. We analyzed baseline characteristics, RT indications, and bleeding and thrombotic complications. We found that 50 of 161 patients with HM3 (31.1%) received RT starting at a median time of 90.5 days after LVAD implantation. Patients on RT were older and more likely to have ischemic heart failure than patients on standard anti-thrombotic therapy (ST). The most common indication for RT was gastrointestinal bleeding (29 patients [58.0%]). At 1-year follow-up, 5.0% of patients on RT developed a thrombotic event. Switching patients from ST to RT reduced the occurrence of major bleeding from 1.252 to 0.324 events per patient-year (p = 0.006). In our population of patients with HM3 LVAD, RT reduces bleeding without increasing the incidence of thrombosis. Our retrospective study suggests that an upfront RT strategy in patients with HM3 may be beneficial and should be prospectively studied.
Debunking Fringe Beliefs in Child Abuse Imaging: AJR Expert Panel Narrative Review.

Child abuse is a global public health concern. Injuries from physical abuse may be clinically occult and not appreciable on physical examination. Imaging is therefore critical in identifying and do...
Acoustic Emissions From Loaded and Unloaded Knees to Assess Joint Health in Patients With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis

Objective: We studied and compared joint acoustical emissions (JAEs) in loaded and unloaded knees as digital biomarkers for evaluating knee health status during the course of treatment in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). Methods: JAEs were recorded from 38 participants, performing 10 repetitions of unloaded flexion/extension (FE) and loaded squat exercises. A novel algorithm was developed to detect and exclude rubbing noise and loose microphone artifacts from the signals, and then 72 features were extracted. These features were down-selected based on different criteria to train three logistic regression classifiers. The classifiers were trained with healthy and pre-treatment data and were used to predict the knee health scores of post-treatment data for the same patients with JIA who had a follow-up recording. This knee health score represents the probability of having JIA in a subject (0 for healthy and 1 for arthritis). Results: Post-treatment knee health scores were lower than pre-treatment scores, agreeing with the clinical records of successful treatment. Regarding loaded versus unloaded knee scores, the squats achieved a higher score on average compared to FEs. Conclusion: In healthy subjects with smooth cartilage, the knee scores of squats and FEs were similar indicating that vibrations from the friction of articulating surfaces do not significantly change by the joint load. However, in subjects with JIA, the scores of squats were higher than the scores of FEs, revealing that these two exercises contain different, possibly clinically relevant, information that could be used to further improve this novel assessment modality in JIA.
Kinetics of Perovskite Degradation: Machine Learning with Physics and Chemistry Inspired Features

Understanding the rate of degradation of perovskite films is essential for achieving long-term stability and for developing predictions that can provide a basis for device performance warranties. We focus on understanding and predicting the rate of change of material level properties of absorbance (A), quantitative photoluminescence (PL), and carrier diffusion length (Ld) in perovskite films. An essential aspect of our recent progress hinges on the development of physics-inspired and chemistry-inspired features that are incorporated into machine learning models for A-T80, PL-T80, and Ld-T80 (the time elapsed for a property to degrade to 80% of its initial value), each as a function of temperature, oxygen, humidity, and illumination intensity. The models are based on over 100 degradation experiments where A, PL, and Ld are determined via in-situ measurements in an environmental chamber. Using "Good Ole-Fashioned Human Intelligence," we have developed a full kinetic rate equation (with rate orders, rate constants, and activation energies) for the degradation of MAPbI3 that accurately predict the initial rate of material transformation as a function of oxygen, humidity, illumination, and temperature. Machine learning methods are then developed that utilize these engineered features to carry-out accurate predictions for A-T80, PL-T80, and Ld-T80.
Changes in amniotic fluid glucose, β-hydroxy-butyrate, glycerol, and lactate concentration in diabetic pregnancy

Amniotic fluid glucose, beta OH butyrate, glycerol, and lactate concentrations were measured in 75 samples collected in the third trimester of pregnancy from 50 diabetic patients, all but four of whom required insulin. Increases in maternal fasting plasma sugar were accompanied by corresponding increases in amniotic fluid glucose and on occasion increases in amniotic fluid beta OH butyrate. These data correspond to previous reports of placental glucose transfer and in addition, provide statistically significant evidence of placental betaOH butyrate transfer since the hyperglycemic, hyperinsulinemic fetus of a diabetic mother would be a poor primary source for ketogenesis. Relatively poor correlation of elevated fluid levels of these solutes to fetal outcome probably reflects a low incidence of maternal hyperglycemia, ketogenesis. Relatively poor correlation of elevated fluid levels of these solutes to fetal outcome probably reflects a low incidence of maternal hyperglycemia, ketoacidosis, and over-all reduced neonatal morbidity-mortality rates in this group of metabolically well-controlled, predominantly insulin-requiring diabetic patients managed in a regional high-risk perinatal center.
Population-based, genetically informative sample for studies of physical frailty and aging: black elderly twin study.

In this article 1 describe efforts to build a genetically informative, population-based sample of black twins to study physical frailty and aging in the United States. This project involves the use of governmental registries combined with sampling techniques developed to overcome limitations in the registry data. Two analytical approaches to measures of disability are included to illustrate the types of questions that can be addressed with this sample. These results suggest that physical disability in late life has both genetic and environmental determinants. Only with a genetically informative sample can evidence be collected indicating that frailty may be driven by fixed processes (i.e., disability resulting from activation of senescence genes), fluid processes (i.e., disability resulting from changes in the features of the environment), or a combination of both.
China Struggles to Reform

The most important role of governments in the world today is to deal with the state of their national economies. Of the 200 or so countries in the world, perhaps half are in some form of serious economic dilemma, and most of the rest face major challenges to keep their economies up with burgeoning demands on them. After the fall of the U.S.S.R., the 15 nations that emerged from it and the countries of the former Soviet bloc in eastern Europe are all struggling to abandon their Soviet style governments and economies and accommodate to a “market tested economy” that few of them really understand. Most of the nations of Sub Saharan Africa have economies that are so weak that they are scarcely able to support even basic public services, especially when the country is in the hands of tyrannical and incompetent governments mired in wars, rebellions and the incursions of terrorist war lords. In the Far East, state socialist governments are also being forced to abandon much of their socialist economies and retreat slowly and reluctantly into some form of market economy. The countries of the Middle East deteriorate because of armed conflicts. Unfortunately, these realities come at a time when the more developed countries of the world are evolving into a complex new “globalization” world which widens the gap over the struggling less developed economies.
Constitutional 'Incidents': Interpretation in Real Time

In recent years, many scholars have suggested that constitutional scholarship pays too much attention to the United States Supreme Court, and too little attention to important constitutional issues that, because of justiciability issues, can never be the subject of Supreme Court opinions. We agree with this critique (which gains extra force from recent arguments over impeachment, Presidential pardons, and the war powers) and suggest a methodology for doing constitutional analysis in areas where the final "opinion" does not come from the Supreme Court. Borrowing a concept from international law, we argue that scholars and students can profitably study constitutional conflicts that occur outside the courts, and derive from the resolution of those conflicts constitutional principles that can be applied in the future. Not only will this illuminate some of the dark corners of the Constitution, where the Court has shed little or no light, but this approach also publicizes the ways other branches make constitutional law, and can make an evaluation of their work product possible. The incident method thus holds promise both as a tool for constitutional scholarship, and as a valuable pedagogical tool by encouraging students to look beyond the U.S. Reports to the dynamic interaction that occurs when constitutional claims come into conflict outside the context of Supreme Court litigation. In the article, we discuss the narrowness of present constitutional law scholarship and teaching; we describe the "incident" method and its suitability for constitutional law; we describe its methodology; and, finally, we offer an example of the incident method, using the irregular ratification of the Twenty-seventh Amendment, which was ratified in 1992, over two hundred years after James Madison first proposed it. Studying the Twenty-seventh Amendment in this manner sheds light on the constitutional amendment process, whose questions the Supreme Court has deemed nonjusticiable.
Heat Conduction in a Melting Slab

The behavior, after the initiation of melting, of a slab insulated on one side and subjected to a heat input varying arbitrarily with time on the other is studied. A method of successive approximations is developed which requires the solution of an ordinary nonlinear differential equation; this equation is readily solved numerically on a desk calculator. Since any heat input is permitted, solutions by this method may be used to match conditions resulting from the aerodynamic heating problem. Curves of melt-thickness versus time are presented for a constant heat input and for a typical heat input incurred by a body descending through the atmosphere.
Jason Palmeri, Remixing Composition: A History of Multimodal Writing Pedagogy

The premise of this excellent historical account of multimodal composing practices and pedagogies is simple: Composing texts, even alphabetic texts, has always already been multimodal. In his impressively sourced history, Jason Palmeri (Associate Professor of English, Director of Composition, and Co-Director of the Digital Writing Collaborative at Miami University of Ohio) offers a unique, nonlinear examination of the history of composition and its pedagogy. Although his book is written to address scholars in composition, it also offers useful insights to scholars in all areas of communication who are interested in, or work with, multimodal composing practices. Palmeri draws on scholarship from rhetoric, composition, psychology, education, film studies, and other disciplines to address the complex “borrowing” and interdisciplinary network of theories and methods that undergird pedagogical approaches to writing or composing. Truly, any reader interested in the multitude of contexts surrounding multimodal composing processes, be they political, cultural, semiotic, or otherwise, will find value in Palmeri’s account of the last four decades of writing pedagogy.
Nonlinear guiding center theory of perpendicular diffusion in dynamical turbulence

Recently, a nonlinear theory for perpendicular diffusion of charged particles was presented by Matthaeus and coworkers. This theory is called the Nonlinear Guiding Center (NLGC) theory and provides an integral equation for the perpendicular mean free path. In this paper we consider numerical results of this equation in the case of dynamical turbulence. We consider solutions for two prominent models for dynamical turbulence: the damping model of dynamical turbulence and the random sweeping model. For both models we also use a general power spectrum with an energy, inertial, and dissipation range. In the current paper we also examine the NLGC theory for two different plasma wave dispersion relations, shear Alfven waves and fast magnetosonic waves. We compare all these numerical results with observational results and with solutions of the magnetostatic dissipationless NLGC theory.
Laying the groundwork for a Christian theology for interprofessional care

The case of John, a chronically ill elderly patient, provides the context to identify a number of the issues which must be explored to develop a coherent and comprehensive Christian theology for interprofessional care. Six categories of theological thought and discourse provide a framework to illuminate a theology for interprofessional care. Anthropological questions provide a common understanding of human beings as both givers and receivers of care. Ideas about the nature of God and God's relationship to the world fall under the category of theology. A specifically Christian theology must also seek clarity about the concepts and ideas related to the figure of Jesus. The concept of salvation is central to Christian faith and tradition and is related in significant ways to patients and clients, especially those in chronic or terminal stages of illness. Concepts of time in Christian tradition become a critical dimension of human existence for patients near the end of life. Ethical decision-making is a criti...
Finite element simulation of material flow in friction stir welding

AbstractA brief summary of recent finite element simulation results for the friction stir welding process is presented. The focus of the present study is on the characterisation of material flow around the rotating tool pin. Material flow patterns predicted by finite element simulations are found to compare favourably with experimental observations. The simulation results also reveal that material particles tend to pass and move behind the rotating pin from the trailing side, rather than both sides, of the pin. Possible variations in the material flow pattern due to variations in process parameters are discussed.
Acid-base and electrolyte analysis in critically ill patients: are we ready for the new millennium?

Purpose of reviewDisorders of acid–base and electrolytes are commonly seen in critically ill patients. The presence of these disorders typically signals the development of an underlying pathology. These disturbances can be severe and are often associated with worse outcome. Indeed, metabolic acidosi
Femtomole level of analysis of biogenic amines and amino acids using functional group mass spectrometry

A general method for the determination of compounds possessing either the primary amine structure, R-CH2-NH2 (I), or the α-amino acid structure, RCHNH2COOH (II), has been devised using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Trimethylsilyl derivatives of the biogenic amines (phenylethylamines, indoleethylamines, or Ω-amino acids) produce an intense ion at me 174 upon fragmentation; TMS derivatives of α-amino acids produce an ion at me 218. For maximum sensitivity, chromatograms were obtained with the mass spectrometer tuned to detect a single ion fragment characteristic of a group of structurally related compounds (i.e., functional group GC-MS). At me 174 up to 14 compounds of Type I, including glycine, γ-aminobutyric acid, dopamine, and 5-hydroxytryptamine, could be determined in a single analysis. Detection limits range from 10–100 femtomoles (10−15 moles). At me 218, eight compounds of Type II, including isoleucine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and DOPA could be determined. This technique has been applied to the assay of these compounds in extracts containing 0.1 mg mouse brain or abdominal ganglia of the marine molluse, Aplysia californica.
Classification of juvenile flatfishes to estuarine and coastal habitats based on the elemental composition of otoliths

The elemental composition of otoliths from juvenile English sole Pleuronectes vetulus and speckled sanddab Citharichthys stigmaeus living in estuaries and sandy coastal habitats were compared to determine if a chemical habitat tag existed that could be used to differentiate fish living in the alternative juvenile habitats. Juveniles of both species were collected from seven estuaries and 11 coastal sites along 500 km of the central California coast. Collections occurred in three years: 1998, 1999 and 2000. The chemical composition of the otoliths was analyzed using solution-based inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The multi-elemental composition (Sr, Li, Ba, Mn) of otoliths from estuarine and coastal fish differed significantly for all models (global, region and years models) examined in this study. For each species, discriminant function analysis (DFA) for the global model, which pooled juveniles collected from three regions over multiple years, classified fish into estuarine and coastal groups with close to 80% accuracy. The two main elements in the discriminant models, Sr and Li, differed consistently between habitats; Sr was higher and Li was lower in estuarine fish. Classification success was modestly improved by generating separate discriminant functions for each region (regions model) because of some regional differences in Sr and Li concentrations. Classification success also was improved in some cases by generating separate discriminant functions for each year (years model) because Ba and Mn differed between habitats in only some years. Despite this variability in the concentration of elements in some regions and years, a chemical habitat tag was present in each species that could be used to discriminate coastal and estuarine juveniles over a large geographic area and over three years with very different oceanographic conditions (e.g., El Nino, La Nina). In addition, I found that English sole and speckled sanddab had striking similarities in their chemical habitat tags and that, in some cases, one species could be used as a proxy to classify juveniles of the other species without compromising the accuracy of the habitat tag. The ability to use a proxy classification model would significantly reduce the number of juvenile fish that would need to be collected and analyzed in order to classify members of an ecologically similar species. The chemical habitat tags found in this study appears to be promising tools for identifying fish that have lived in alternative juvenile habitats and, ultimately, the proportional contribution of estuarine and coastal habitats to the central California populations of English sole and speckled sanddab.
On an elastically induced splitting instability

Abstract We show that a morphological instability driven by deviatoric applied stresses can generate elastically induced particle splitting during diffusional phase transformations. The splitting instability occurs when the elastic fields are above some critical value. For subcritical elastic fields, one observes a small perturbation of the particle shape consistent with splitting, but this perturbation is stabilized by surface tension. Both the onset of the splitting instability and the nonlinear evolution of the particle towards splitting depend on the precise form of the applied stress, the elastic constants of the precipitate and matrix, and the initial shape of the precipitate. We also investigate whether non-dilatational misfit strains can generate splitting instabilities in the absence of an applied stress.
Neutrino transport in accretion disks

We test approximate approaches to solving a neutrino transport problem that presents itself in the analysis of some accretion-disk models. Approximation #1 consists of replacing the full, angular- dependent, distribution function by a two-stream simulation, where the streams are respectively outwardly and inwardly directed, with angles $\cos \theta=\pm 1/\sqrt{3}$ to the vertical. In this approximation the full energy dependence of the distribution function is retained, as are the energy and temperature dependences of the scattering rates. Approximation #2, used in recent works on the subject, replaces the distribution function by an intensity function and the scattering rates by temperature-energy-averaged quantities. We compare the approximations to the results of solving the full Boltzmann equation. Under some interesting conditions, approximation #1 passes the test; approximation #2 does not. We utilize the results of our analysis to construct a toy model of a disc at a temperature and density such that relativistic particles are more abundant than nucleons, and dominate both the opacity and pressure. The nucleons will still provide most of the energy density. In the toy model we take the rate of heat generation (which drives the radiative transfer problem) to be proportional to the nucleon density. The model allows the simultaneous solution of the neutrino transport and hydrostatic equilibrium problems in a disk in which the nucleon density decreases approximately linearly as one moves from the median plane of the disk upwards, reaching zero on the upper boundary.
The Health Archetype Language (HAL-42): interface considerations.

Abstract In this manuscript we report an evaluation of the reliability of clinical research rules creation by multiple clinicians using the Health Archetype Language (HAL-42) and user interface. HAL-42 is a language which allows real time epidemiological inquiry using automatically derived clinical encodings with any health Ontology. This evaluation used SNOMED CT as the underlying Ontology. The inquiries were performed on a population of 17,731 patients whose 50,000 clinical records have all been fully encoded in SNOMED CT. Four subject matter experts (SMEs) were asked independently to encode and run 10 rules/studies. The inter-rater agreement was 74.8% (p = 0.6526) with a Kappa statistic of 0.49217 (p = 0.5722). The ten rules were divided into three easy rules, four moderate and three complex rules. There was no significant difference in the SME’s agreement when representing easy and complex rules (p = 0.6243). We conclude that although the usability of the HAL-42 language is usable enough to achieve reasonable inter-rater reliability, some training will be necessary to reach high levels of reliability for ad hoc queries. We also conclude that SMEs are just as competent to perform complex queries as easy queries of ontologically indexed clinical data.
An equilibrium model of turnover with belated information

Abstract This paper treats matching and sequential job search when there is belated information on both sides of the market. The belated information gives rise to quits and firings. The main result is contained in Theorem 1 where Marshallian equilibrium quit and firing probabilities are derived. With these probabilities equilibrium unemployment rates are then calculated. Both the offer distribution and the productivity distribution are exogenous.
On the Perception of Interleaved Melodies

A recent result indicates a direct influence of musical anticipations on musical perception. Specifically, Dowling, Lung, and Herrbold (1987) reported that subjects listening to interleaved melodies have an easier time detecting small changes in a cue melody than they do in detecting larger changes, because the former are in accord with their anticipations, whereas the latter are not. However, we report a series of experiments that fail to replicate the result of Dowling et al.
Aromatic heteroannulation via ortho lithiation-cyclization of N-acyl-2-bromobenzamides

Abstract N-acyl-2-bromobenzamides participate in metal-halogen exchange with n -BuLi to form N-acyl-2-lithiobenzamides, which undergo cyclization to afford 3-alkylidenephthalimidines.
Preparation of dipeptidyl aminopeptidase IV for polypeptide sequencing.

Abstract Dipeptidyl aminopeptidase IV is a dipeptidylpeptide hydrolase (EC 3.4.14) which hydrolyzes bonds at the carboxyl group of proline releasing X-Pro dipeptides from the amino-terminus of polypeptides. The enzyme was purified 440-fold in 37% yield from swine kidney by ammonium sulfate fractionation, DEAE-cellulose chromatography, gel filtration and affinity chromatography with dipeptide-substituted Sepharose 4B. The enzyme released X-Pro from all X-Pro-β-naphthylamides and polypeptides tested. The released dipepeptides were not further degraded, and were readily identified in digests. The enzyme is suitable for use in the dipeptidyl aminopeptidase method for sequence analysis of polypeptides.
Late Palaeozoic palaeomagnetic data for Wrangellia: resolution of the polarity ambiguity

Wrangellia and the Alaska Peninsula terrane are two of the many allocthonous terranes making up southern Alaska today. Palaeomagnetic data from these areas clearly indicate low palaeolatitudes in the early Mesozoic. Because of local and regional rotations, the mean declination of the palaeomagnetic vectors is uncertain. This, in addition to incomplete temporal coverage, has led to an ambiguity in the polarity of the vector, and hence an ambiguity in whether the palaeolatitudes determined are in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere. The data considered here have resolved the ambiguity for Wrangellia, and by implication for the Alaska Pennisula terrane, and also allow the construction of a highly speculative apparent polar wander curve.
Fatigue and creep to leak tests of proton exchange membranes using pressure-loaded blisters

Abstract In this study, three commercially available proton exchange membranes (PEMs) are biaxially tested using pressure-loaded blisters to characterize their resistance to gas leakage under either static (creep) or cyclic fatigue loading. The pressurizing medium, air, is directly used for leak detection. These tests are believed to be more relevant to fuel cell applications than quasi-static uniaxial tensile-to-rupture tests because of the use of biaxial cyclic and sustained loading and the use of gas leakage as the failure criterion. They also have advantages over relative humidity cycling test, in which a bare PEM or catalyst coated membrane is clamped with gas diffusion media and flow field plates and subjected to cyclic changes in relative humidity, because of the flexibility in allowing controlled mechanical loading and accelerated testing. Nafion® NRE-211 membranes are tested at three different temperatures and the time–temperature superposition principle is used to construct stress-lifetime master curve. Tested at 90 °C, 2%RH extruded Ion Power® N111-IP membranes have a longer lifetime than Gore™-Select® 57 and Nafion® NRE-211 membranes.
Formation of Co-continuous Structures in Melt-Mixed Immiscible Polymer Blends

Abstract Co-continuous structures can be regarded as the coexistence of at least two continuous structures within the same volume. Blends with co-continuous structures may combine the properties of both components in a favorable way, for example, mechanical moduli. This review article deals with the identification, characterization, and properties of co-continuous structures as well as with the development of co-continuous structures during the melt blending process. Co-continuous structures usually can be formed within a composition region about the phase inversion composition, which mainly depends on the viscosity ratio. On the other hand, co-continuous structures can be found independent of composition as intermediate stages during the initial state of morphology development and during phase inversion process in blends in which the component finally forming the dispersed phase forms the matrix in early mixing states. In addition, even at low volume fractions of one component, stable co-continuous morph...
Inhibition of Weed Seed Germination by Microwaves

Irradiation with radiofrequency energy (RF), which includes microwaves, brings about dielectric heating of moist materials. Some agricultural applications of dielectric heating by RF have included insects control in stored grains and improved germination of seed stocks. The objective of the present research was to evaluate microwave heating of soils as a technique for weed control. approximately 800-g masses of soil of variable wetness (10-280 g H 2 O/kg soil) containing seeds of oat (Avena sativa L.) and indigenous weeds were heated in a microwave (2.45 GHz) oven for 15 to 240 s (...)
Conductive Conjugated Polyelectrolyte as Hole‐Transporting Layer for Organic Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) has been extensively used as the hole-transporting layer (HTL) in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells, however, its anisotropic electrical conduction and intrinsic acidic nature generally limit the device performance. Here we demonstrate the application of a water/alcohol soluble CPE (CPE-K) as HTLs in BHJ solar cells, achieving a PCE up to 8.2%. The more superior and uniform vertical electrical conductivity found in CPE-K reduces the series resistance and provides efficient hole extraction.
Central venous line dressings: can you stick it?

Abstract Aim The objective of this study is to investigate which central venous catheter dressing is most secure. Background Central venous catheter insertion is a common procedure. A secure dressing is essential to prevent early line displacement. Many different dressings are used, but there is no consensus in choosing an optimal dressing. Methods A sandwich, loop-line, or bridge technique was used to apply each of the dressings. Two mechanisms of displacement were tested: dressing adherence to skin and dressing adherence to line. Dressing to skin adherence was tested on a relatively hairless part of the upper arm. Weights were added sequentially until the dressing peeled off. Dressing to line adherence was tested by applying the dressing to a 7F Dual Lumen Bard Hickman line passing through a piece of foam (measuring 13 × 12 cm). Weights were attached to the line until the cuff was pulled through the foam. Results Dressing to skin adherence was poorest for the clear dressings, followed by Mefix and Sleek, and greatest for a combination of Tegaderm and Mefix. Dressing to line adherence was improved using a sandwich technique instead of a loop-line technique and most secure when a bridge technique was used to the thicker shaft of the line. Conclusions The dressings used for securing Hickman lines are not all equally secure. The least effective is the IV 3000 loop-line dressing. Tegaderm-Mefix bridge and Tegaderm-Mefix-Sleek combination dressings are the most secure and cost effective.