cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Antiradiation compounds. 24. Stability of copper (II) complexes of bis(methylthio) and methylthio amino derivatives of 1-methylpyridinium- and 1-methylquinolinium-2-dithioacetic acids in the presence of amino acids, simple peptides, and a protein

The radiation-protective bis(methylthio) and methylthio amino derivatives of 1-methylpyridinium- and 1-methylquinolinium-2-dithioacetic acids, a series of non-thiol sulfur-containing compounds, have been examined for their ability to complex Cu(II) ion and remain stable in the presence of α-amino acids, peptides, and a protein. Copper-binding stability constants were found that were considered sufficiently large to be capable of existence under cellular conditions, with log Ks values in the range of 13–15. Copper-binding constants for α-amino acids are comparable to those for the radioprotective ligands, but overall binding constants for simple peptides are usually 104–106 lower in magnitude. Essentially no change was found in the UV spectra of the Cu(II) complexes in the presence of α-amino acids and simple peptides, and the binding capacity to bovine serum albumin was quite low for two Cu(II) complexes of the best protective ligands, with values of 10−6–10−7 M. The possibility that these radioprotectors may act in vivo as copper complexes, possibly as superoxide dismutase mimics, is thus feasible. The magnitude of the copper-binding stability constants, the lack of copper exchange between the radioprotective ligands and amino acids or peptides, and the very low tendency of the copper complexes of the radioprotective ligands to bind to a protein indicate the potential of the complexes to contribute to the radioprotective ability of the ligands.
High-Resolution Crystallographic Analysis of the Kcsa Gating Cycle from Cysteine-Trapped Open Channels

The K+ channel pore domain contains all the elements necessary to catalyze the selective permeation of K+ ions, in addition to regulate events underlying activation and inactivation gating. In KcsA, an inactivation process related to C-type inactivation in eukaryotic channels has been attributed to putative conformational changes at the selectivity filter (SF)[1]. Previously, we have provided crystallographic evidence for the conformational changes associated to C-type inactivation, albeit at relatively low-resolution [2]. Here, we have taken advantage of a cysteine-bridged locked open KcsA-mutant to study the structural changes at the selectivity filter when the activation gate (AG) is open and the filter transitions between its conductive and non-conductive conformations. We report the structures of KcsA for the non-inactivating mutantE71A at 2.1 A; the fully inactivated mutant Y82A at 2.32 A; and the non-inactivating mutant F103A at 2.64 A, where the allosteric coupling between the two gates (AG and SF) has been impaired. This set of high-resolution structures for different KcsA kinetic states represent a sharp improvement over the resolution of non-cysteine trapped mutants and will be interpreted in relation to their complementary functional characterization.1. Cordero-Morales, J.F., et al., Molecular determinants of gating at the potassium-channel selectivity filter. Nat Struct Mol Biol, 2006. 13(4): p. 311-8.2. Cuello, L.G., et al. (2008). Structural basis of K+ channel C-type inactivation: Crystal structure of KcsA in the Open/C-type inactivated conformation. 52nd Annual meeting of the Biophysical Society. Mini-symposium
ECONOMIES OF SCALE IN THE US FOODSERVICE INDUSTRY

This paper measures the nature of long-term costs facing the foodservice industry as companies grow in size, focusing on whether they are associated with increasing, decreasing, or constant returns to scale. It identifies the major factors of capital and labor associated with changes in costs, based on a cross-sectional study of all publicly traded companies. The study found that scale economies are quite significant for this industry, but that they differ substantially, both in importance and in contributing factors, between groups of relatively large and relatively small companies.
Approach to Equilibrium in Quantal Systems: Magnetic Resonance

The present paper presents a derivation of the "master" or Boltzmann "gain-loss" equation from the Schr\"odinger equation, i.e., a derivation of the equation for the evolution in time of the probabilities of finding a physical system in its various states from the equation for the corresponding probability amplitudes. The "master" equation is derived for an, in effect completely self-enclosed, "supersystem," [$A+B$], consisting of a "system of interest," [$A$], and a "surroundings," [$B$], in relatively weak mutual interaction. A discussion is given of the range of validity of the "master" equation for [$A+B$] and it is shown that the random phase assumption is required for the state vector of [$A+B$] at the initial time only. The normally microcanonical character of the equilibrium statistical configuration of [$A+B$] is demonstrated and a treatment is given of exceptional, "extremely quantal-coherent," initial statistical distributions of [$A+B$] which may evolve away from equilibrium. Derivations are also presented of the "master" equation for [$A$] and of the "master" equation for an individual particle or quasi-particle [$q$], within [$A$]; a discussion of the range of validity of these "master" equations is given and the normally canonical character of the equilibrium statistical configuration of [$A$] is deduced. General solutions of the "master" equations for [$A+B$], [$A$], and [$q$] are worked out and the relation between the principles of "microscopic reversibility" and "detailed balance" and the nonoscillatory character of the approach to equilibrium are exhibited. A theorem is presented regarding the time variation of the entropy of [$A$].
Mutant HLA-A201 heavy chains with lowered affinity for β2m are transported after growth at reduced temperatures

Abstract Forty-five site-directed mutants bearing single amino acid substitutions in the α3 domain of the class I molecule HLA-A201 were previously transfected into CIR cells and screened for surface expression by antibody binding. Eight mutants are expressed at significantly reduced levels relative to HLA-A201, including two with substitutions at residues contacting β 2 m. One of the latter mutations, position 242 gln > lys (242K), is now shown to block assembly with β 2 m and prevent intracellular transport at 37°C. At temperatures ranging from 21°C to 30°C, 242K heavy chains and β 2 m from dimers that are exported to the cell surface. Surface expression at 26°C is not blocked by cycloheximide pretreatment, but is completely inhibited by Brefeldin A, suggesting that at 37°C preformed heavy chains accumulate in the ER. Glycans on the retained heavy chains are sensitive to digestion by Endo H, but become Endo H resistant after cells are grown at 26°C. Preincubation of 242K cells with synthetic peptides shown previously to bind HLA-A201 does not increase reactivity with anti-HLA-A2 antibodies, suggesting that the defective phenotype is not due to instability of cell surface mutant class I dimers, but derives instead from impaired assembly of 242K heavy chains with β 2 m inside the cell. This contrasts with mutant cells such as .174, T2 and RMA-S, which exhibit defects in internal peptide transporters, but assemble and export “empty” dimers to their surfaces that can be stabilized subsequently by exogenous peptides. 242K mutants may therefore be suited uniquely for studying assembly and peptide binding to class I molecules in the ER.
Low-Income Fathers' Access to Health Insurance

We examine the prevalence and correlates of health insurance status among low-income fathers, a group not previously studied in this context. In a sample of 1,653 low-income fathers from a national urban birth cohort study, 29% had private, 14% had public, and 58% had no insurance. Privately insured fathers had greater levels of human capital than did publicly insured fathers; the latter more closely resembled uninsured fathers than they did privately insured fathers. Multinomial logistic regression analysis indicates that being older, being employed, being married, and having a job offering health insurance all increase the likelihood of having private (vs. no) insurance, and that being disabled and married to or cohabiting with the child’s mother increase the likelihood of having public (vs. no) insurance. Public policy should focus on increasing access to health insurance among low-income men, which may improve their health, productivity, and ability to support themselves and their children.
A primer on the economics of re-importation of prescription drugs

Using the basic tools of intermediate microeconomic theory (such as taught at the level of undergraduate or first-year MBA courses), in this primer I present a framework that helps the reader gain an understanding of economic issues underlying the current political economy debates concerning the impacts on consumers (both US and ex-US) and on prescription pharmaceutical manufacturers of moving to a world with more uniform pricing across countries than is currently the case. The impact on global revenues and profitability of moving from differential to uniform global pricing is relatively modest if confined to the North American (US and Canadian) market, with only Canadians bearing the brunt of higher prices, a most unlikely political economy outcome. The impacts on global revenues and profitability from global uniform prices become considerably larger, however, when one incorporates the much larger entire ex-US market, including not only Canada, but also Europe, Asia and other countries. I conclude with some observations on likely longer term outcomes. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Energy and dose considerations for diffraction enhanced CT in small animal studies

Diffraction enhanced imaging (DEI) uses monochromatic x-rays coupled to an analyzer crystal to extract information about the refraction of x-rays within the object. Studies of excised biological tissues show that DEI has significant contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) advantages for soft tissue when compared to standard radiography. DEI differs from conventional CT in that its refraction contrast depends on x-ray energy as 1/E, thus the energy and dose considerations for conventional CT will be inappropriate. The goal of this study was to assess the optimal energy for in vivo CT imaging of a mouse head to obtain the largest soft tissue refraction CNR. Through a theoretical model, optimum refraction CNR for mouse brain imaging was found to be about 20 keV. The findings were tested experimentally using the DEI system at the X15A beamline of the National Synchrotron Light Source. Using the parameters for optimized refraction CNR (20 keV, silicon [333] reflection), large image artifacts were caused by DEI's scatter-rejection properties. By increasing the x-ray energy and using a lower order diffraction, silicon [111], soft tissue features within the brain, including the hippocampus, could be resolved.
The Crisis of Today Is the Joke of Tomorrow [Editor's Note]

Dear readers, welcome to the November 2008 issue of IEEE Network. Hopefully, the end of the year is finding you all in good health. This has been an interesting period in recent history. Acute convulsions in the financial sector will be felt for a while in the technology sector as well. As with most events of some significance, even words and expressions lose their meaning. (Think how secure you feel today when hearing the expression that something is as safe as ?money in the bank?!) But on a more hopeful note, we can remember how H. G. Wells put it: ?The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow.? So, let us wait for tomorrow then.
Optical dephasing of a near infrared dye in PMMA: photon echoes using the superconducting accelerator pumped free electron laser

Abstract A superconducting accelerator pumped free electron laser is used to perform picosecond photon echo experiments on the near infrared dye 1,1′,3,3,3′,3′-hexamethylindotricarbocyanine iodide (HITCI) in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). The temperature dependence of the optical dephasing is measured from 1.5 to 10 K. At the lowest temperatures a temperature dependence, T −1.4 , characteristic of two-level system glass dynamics is observed. Above 5 K, the optical dephasing is exponentially activated with an activation energy of 15 cm −1 . This is the same activation energy reported for rhodamine B in PMMA, demonstrating that 15 cm −1 corresponds to an intrinsic glass mode. These are the first photon echo experiments, and to our knowledge, the first nonlinear optical coherence experiments, performed using a FEL as a source.
Taming the exponential state space of the maximum lifetime sensor cover problem

A key problem in Wireless Sensor Networks is that of scheduling sensors into sleep-sense cycles that maximize the lifetime of the network while ensuring coverage of a set of targets. This is a known NP-complete problem, due to the exponential number of possible ways to select a subset of sensors to turn on. Our earlier work had presented a unique model for this problem by introducing a lifetime dependency (LD) graph in which these possible cover sets are nodes and edges represent shared sensors between them. Using the graph properties, we presented a range of effective distributed heuristics. Even though the local subgraphs are practically tractable, their theoretically exponential growth has remained a persistent issue. In this paper, we present a theoretical model for representing this exponential space of possible cover sets that groups related covers together, thereby reducing this exponential space virtually to a linear one. We then present an equivalence class (EC) graph as a model for this reduction. We use these underlying theoretical properties to develop a smart linear time sampling algorithm of this exponential space. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our sampling technique, we employ the sampled localized LD subgraph as input to our previous heuristics. Simulation studies show about twofold speedup while reducing solution quality (network lifetime) only by under 10% when compared to our previous heuristics that operate on the exponential space. We also compare our algorithms to two other state-of-art greedy algorithms and show that ours still manage to achieve improvements of around 8–10% over them.
Role of GAC63 in transcriptional activation mediated by β-catenin

β-Catenin is a key mediator in the canonical Wnt signaling pathway, which plays important roles in multiple developmental processes. Inappropriate activation of this pathway leads to developmental defects and development of certain cancers. Upon Wnt signaling, β-catenin binds TCF/LEF transcription factors. The TCF/LEF-β-catenin complex then recruits a variety of transcriptional coactivators to the promoter/enhancer region of Wnt-responsive genes and activates target gene transcription. In this article, we demonstrate that GRIP1-associated coactivator 63 (GAC63), a recently identified nuclear receptor (NR) coactivator, interacts with β-catenin. The N-terminus of GAC63 is the binding site for β-catenin, whereas a C-terminal fragment of β-catenin including armadillo repeats 10–12 binds to GAC63. Over-expression of GAC63 enhanced the transcriptional activity of β-catenin, and also greatly enhanced TCF/LEF-regulated reporter gene activity in a β-catenin-dependent manner. Endogenous GAC63 was recruited to TCF/LEF-responsive enhancer elements when β-catenin levels were induced by LiCl. In addition, reduction of endogenous GAC63 level by small interfering RNA (siRNA) inhibited TCF/LEF-mediated gene transcription. Our findings reveal a new function of GAC63 in transcriptional activation of Wnt-responsive genes.
Tenuous options: The career development process for undocumented students

Undocumented students face a variety of legal restraints in their efforts to enter higher education in the United States. These same legal restraints are just as formidable at the end of their academic career. Career development and other student affairs professionals need to understand these legal restraints so they can maximize the chances that undocumented students have to achieve their educational and career goals.
Nurturant needs of pregnancy: Sexual, psychological, and demographic correlates

A prospective investigation of the desire to be held or cuddled in 52 pregnant wives revealed high levels of desire before and during gestation. High levels of nurturant needs were statistically related to the white race; at least a high school education; happiness about being pregnant; the reporting of fear related of pregnancy, labor, or delivery; great sexual desire and enjoyment of sexual activity; and the pregnant woman's perception that her husband considered her less attractive than when not pregnant. These findings varied somewhat for the four testing periods (first, second, early third, and late third trimesters), the data analyses not necessarily showing statistical significance throughout pregnancy for each variable. The desire to be held was not related to parity, whether or not the pregnancy was planned, self-perception of physical attractiveness, physical well being, or frequency of coitus.
Gastrointestinal Helminths of Seven Species of Sphenomorphus (Squamata: Scincidae) from Papua New Guinea with Description of a New Species of Entomelas

ABSTRACT: One hundred thirty skinks representing 7 species of Sphenomorphus (Scincidae) from Papua New Guinea were examined for helminths: S. aruensis, S. cinereus, S. fragilis, S. nigriventris, S. pratti, S. maindroni, S. simus. Two species of Cestoda (Oochoristica javaensis, Ophiotaenia greeri), 1 species of Digenea (Saurokoilophilia kinsellai), and 13 species of Nematoda (gravid individuals of Abbreviata oligopapillata, Aplectana macintoshii, Aplectana novaeguineae, Cosmocerca zugi, Entomelas moraveci n. sp., Falcaustra papuensis, Meteterakis crombiei, Moaciria moraveci, Oswaldocruzia bakeri, Parapharyngodon maplestoni, Pseudorictularia disparilis, and larvae of both Abbreviata sp. and Riculariidae gen. sp.) were found. The new nematode species was described and 19 new host records are reported. Helminths of 17 species of Sphenomorphus from New Guinea Island are reviewed; 59% of identified helminth species were found to be endemic. Mean helminth species diversity per species of Sphenomorphus for the 17...
Construal Processes in Preference Assessment

Interpreting people’s preferences requires understanding how they have construed their tasks, interpreting the proposed alternatives in the context where the evaluation is being made. With stylized experimental or survey choices, researchers’ challenge is typically identifying the features that people add in order to make their task real enough to answer (i.e., how they read between the lines). With rich “real world” choices, researchers’ challenge is typically identifying the features that people neglect, as they reduce their task to manageable complexity (i.e., which lines they choose to read). In either case, if people misunderstand or mistrust the stated transaction, they may evaluate a different offer than the one that was proposed. Such misconstruals are a nuisance for investigators, insofar as dealing with them delays the measurements that motivated the research. However, they can also provide an opportunity, by focusing attention on how people give meaning to choice situations. This article describes procedures for studying construal processes, strategies for getting people to answer the questions that interest researchers, and options for interpreting responses when people construe questions differently than was intended.
Calcium Modulation of Acth and Cholera Toxin Stimulated Adrenal Steroid and Cyclic-AMP Biosynthesis

Monolayer cultures of mouse adrenal cortex tumors have been used to investigate the effects of Ca2+ on the binding of 125I-labelled s1-24-ACTH peptide to the cell, ACTH-stimulated cyclic-AMP and steroid biosynthesis. Stimulation with ACTH results in increased intracellular cyclic-AMP levels and release of cyclic-AMP into the medium. The specific activities of intracellular and extracellular cyclic-AMP produced by cells incubated with 3H-adenine are the same, suggesting that they are products of a common pool of ATP. ACTH-stimulated cyclic-AMP release continues after intracellular cyclic-AMP levels have decreased and reflects continuing cyclic-AMP biosynthesis. In incubations of two hours or less with 5.0 mM Ca2+, maximum steroidogenesis occurs with 0.1 milliunit/ml ACTH. Further increases in cyclic-AMP production are elicited with higher concentrations of ACTH. In the absence of Ca2+, both cyclic-AMP and steroid syntheses are attenuated, maximum steroidogenesis requiring > 10 milliunits/ml ACTH.The propor...
Heterodyne detection of the complete electric field of femtosecond four-wave mixing signals

A novel optimized heterodyne method that recovers the complete electric field of any four-wave mixing signal at its point of origin is demonstrated. A tracer pulse is sent along the signal path and characterized at the sample by frequency-resolved optical gating. Spectral interferometry is used to determine the phase difference between the tracer and a reference pulse, the absorptive change in tracer phase in the sample, and the reference-signal phase difference. Together, these measurements allow calculation of the signal phase at the sample. The phase of three pulse-scattering signals from solutions of the infrared dye IR 144 in methanol determines the absolute signal-emission time within 0.5 fs.
Parallel, scalable, memory-efficient backtracking for combinatoria modeling of large-scale biological systems

Data-driven modeling of biological systems such as protein- protein interaction networks is data-intensive and combinatorially challenging. Backtracking can constrain a combinatorial search space. Yet, its recursive nature, exacerbated by data-intensity, limits its applicability for large-scale systems. Parallel, scalable, and memory-efficient backtracking is a promising approach. Parallel backtracking suffers from unbalanced loads. Load rebalancing via synchronization and data movement is prohibitively expensive. Balancing these discrepancies, while minimizing end-to-end execution time and memory requirements, is desirable. This paper introduces such a framework. Its scalability and efficiency, demonstrated on the maximal clique enumeration problem, are attributed to the proposed: (a) representation of search tree decomposition to enable parallelization; (b) depth-first parallel search to minimize memory requirement; (c) least stringent synchronization to minimize data movement; and (d) on-demand work stealing with stack splitting to minimize processors' idle time. The applications of this framework to real biological problems related to bioethanol production are discussed.
Reduced energy expenditure and increased inflammation are early events in the development of ovariectomy-induced obesity.

Menopause, an age-related loss of ovarian hormone production, promotes increased adiposity and insulin resistance. However, the diet-independent mechanism by which loss of ovarian function promotes increased adipose tissue mass and associated metabolic pathologies remains unclear. To address this question, we monitored food intake and weight gain of ovariectomized (OVX) mice and sham OVX (SHM) mice for 12 wk. Although food intake was similar, OVX mice gained 25% more weight than SHM mice. Moreover, the OVX mice accumulated 4.7- and 4.4-fold more perigonadal and inguinal adipose tissue by weight, respectively, with 4.4-fold (perigonadal, P < 0.001) and 5.3-fold (inguinal, P < 0.01) larger adipocytes and no change in adipocyte cell number. OVX-induced adiposity was coincident with an 18% decrease in metabolic rate during the dark phase (P = 0.001) as well as an 11% decrease during the light phase (P = 0.03). In addition, ambulatory activity levels of OVX mice were decreased only during the dark phase (40%, P = 0.008). OVX mice displayed evidence of immune infiltration and inflammation in adipose tissue, because perigonadal and inguinal adipose depots from OVX mice had increased expression of TNFα, iNOS, CD11c, and other hallmarks of adipose tissue inflammation. In contrast, expression of the T cell marker CD3 (3.5-fold, P = 0.03) and Th1 cytokine interferon-γ (IFNγ) (2.6-fold, P = 0.02) were elevated in perigonadal but not sc fat. Finally, histology revealed OVX-specific liver hepatic steatosis, coincident with increased PPARγ gene expression and downstream lipogenic gene expression. In summary, OVX in mice decreases energy expenditure, without altering energy intake, resulting in adipocyte hypertrophy, adipose tissue inflammation, and hepatic steatosis.
Automatic 3-D grayscale volume matching and shape analysis

Recently, shape matching in three dimensions (3-D) has been gaining importance in a wide variety of fields such as computer graphics, computer vision, medicine, and biology, with applications such as object recognition, medical diagnosis, and quantitative morphological analysis of biological operations. Automatic shape matching techniques developed in the field of computer graphics handle object surfaces, but ignore intensities of inner voxels. In biology and medical imaging, voxel intensities obtained by computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imagery (MRI), and confocal microscopes are important to determine point correspondences. Nevertheless, most biomedical volume matching techniques require human interactions, and automatic methods assume matched objects to have very similar shapes so as to avoid combinatorial explosions of point. This article is aimed at decreasing the gap between the two fields. The proposed method automatically finds dense point correspondences between two grayscale volumes; i.e., finds a correspondent in the second volume for every voxel in the first volume, based on the voxel intensities. Mutiresolutional pyramids are introduced to reduce computational load and handle highly plastic objects. We calculate the average shape of a set of similar objects and give a measure of plasticity to compare them. Matching results can also be used to generate intermediate volumes for morphing. We use various data to validate the effectiveness of our method: we calculate the average shape and plasticity of a set of fly brain cells, and we also match a human skull and an orangutan skull
TSUNAMI: a light-weight on-chip structure for measuring timing uncertainty induced by noise during functional and test operations

Noise such as voltage drop and temperature in integrated circuits can cause significant performance variation and even functional failure in lower technology nodes. In this paper, we propose a light-weight on-chip sensor that measures timing uncertainty induced by noise during functional and test operations. The proposed on-chip structure facilitates speed characterization under various workloads and test conditions. Simulation results show that it offers very high sensitivity to noise even under variations. The structure requires negligible area in the chip.
Flow Properties of Tomato Concentrates: Effect of Serum Viscosity and Pulp Content

Shear rate-shear stress data were obtained on tomato serum samples at 5.6, 10, 15, and 20° Brix, and on 28 concentrates prepared from the serum samples and containing different amounts of pulp: +30%, +20%, +10%, normal, −10%, −20%, and −30%. Serum samples were Newtonian fluids while concentrates were shear-thinning non-Newtonian fluids. Apparent viscosities of concentrates increased linearly with pulp content expressed as weight %, volume %, or the weight ratio of pulp to serum. Apparent viscosity of the concentrates (η100 conc) was related to the viscosity of serum (η serum) and pulp content (P) by the expression: η100 cone =η serum + A * P ** B. The contribution of pulp content to η100 cone was much more than that of serum. η serum was well correlated with pectin content by the expression: η serum = A1+ B1 (Pectin) ** C1.
Crystal Structure and Biochemical Characterization of Human Kallikrein 6 Reveals That a Trypsin-like Kallikrein Is Expressed in the Central Nervous System

The human kallikreins are a large multigene family of closely related serine-type proteases. In this regard, they are similar to the multigene kallikrein families characterized in mice and rats. There is a much more extensive body of knowledge regarding the function of mouse and rat kallikreins in comparison with the human kallikreins. Human kallikrein 6 has been proposed as the homologue to rat myelencephalon-specific protease, an arginine-specific degradative-type protease abundantly expressed in the central nervous system and implicated in demyelinating disease. We present the x-ray crystal structure of mature, active recombinant human kallikrein 6 at 1.75-A resolution. This high resolution model provides the first three-dimensional view of one of the human kallikreins and one of only a few structures of serine proteases predominantly expressed in the central nervous system. Enzymatic data are presented that support the identification of human kallikrein 6 as the functional homologue of rat myelencephalon-specific protease and are corroborated by a molecular phylogenetic analysis. Furthermore, the x-ray data provide support for the characterization of human kallikrein 6 as a degradative protease with structural features more similar to trypsin than the regulatory kallikreins.
Correlates of suicidal ideation among rural adolescents.

This study examined potential predictors of suicidal ideation among a nonclinical, rural adolescent population. A sample of 76 male and female adolescents enrolled in a rural public high school completed a personal information form, a suicide information questionnaire, short forms of the Beck Depression Inventory and the Family Environment Scale, and the Life Events Checklist. A stepwise multiple regression suggested significant predictive relationships between magnitude of suicidal ideation and measures of family social climate (i.e., Organization, Conflict, Expressiveness, and Independence subscales from the Family Environment Scale--Short Form). Multivariate analyses of variance and a discriminant-function analysis revealed no significant sex differences.
Quadruply resonant optical parametric oscillation in a monolithic total-internal-reflection resonator

Monolithic total-internal-reflection resonators are low-loss broadband devices that permit variable input–output coupling. They are ideally suited as resonators for high-efficiency low-threshold widely tunable continuous-wave optical parametric oscillation. We demonstrate a continuous-wave quadruply resonant MgO:LiNbO3 optical parametric oscillator in which doubly resonant second-harmonic generation and doubly resonant optical parametric oscillation occur simultaneously. The threshold subharmonic power at 1.06 μm for oscillation near 1.06 μm is 0.4 mW. Stable single-frequency operation is achieved, and the tuning curve is measured.
Pancreatic resection without routine intraperitoneal drainage

Background Most surgeons routinely place intraperitoneal drains at the time of pancreatic resection but this practice has recently been challenged.
The Hadeninae (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, USA

Fifty-two species of Hadeninae are recorded from Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee and North Carolina, USA. Of the six hadenine tribes, five are present in the Park. They include 13 species of Orthosiini, one species of Tholerini, ten species of Hadenini, nine species of Leucaniini, and 19 species of Eriopygini. A total of 160 localities were collected across the Park. The three most diverse localities in the Park were Purchase Knob with 44 species, Big Cove Road with 32 species, and Foothills Parkway with 24 species. The most widespread species in the Park was Pseudorthodes vecors from 59 localities. The most abundant species was Polia detracta with 210 specimens. Images of adults, description/diagnosis, flight period, collected localities, abundance, elevational range, general distribution, and larval hosts are presented for each species.
Classification of Line and Character Pixels on Raster Maps Using Discrete Cosine Transformation Coefficients and Support Vector Machine

Raster maps are widely available on the Internet. Valuable information such as street lines and labels, however, are all hidden in the raster format. To utilize the information, it is important to recognize the line and character pixels for further processing. This paper presents a novel algorithm using 2-D Discrete Cosine Transformation (DCT) coefficients and Support Vector Machines (SVM) to classify the pixels of lines and characters on raster maps. The experiment results show that our algorithm achieves 98% precision and 85% recall in classifying the line pixels and 83% precision and 96% recall in classifying the character pixels on a variety of raster map sources.
Statistical timing analysis driven post-silicon-tunable clock-tree synthesis

Process variations cause significant timing uncertainty and yield degradation in deep sub-micron technologies. A solution to counter timing uncertainty is post-silicon clock tuning. Existing design approaches for post-silicon-tunable (PST) clock-tree synthesis usually insert a PST clock buffer for each flip-flop or put PST clock buffers across an entire level of a clock-tree. This can cause significant over-design and long tuning time. In this paper, we propose to insert PST clock buffers at both internal and leaf nodes of a clock-tree and use a bottom-up algorithm to reduce the number of candidate PST clock buffer locations. We then provide two statistical-timing-driven optimization algorithms to reduce the hardware cost of a PST clock-tree. Experimental results on ISCAS89 benchmark circuits show that our algorithms achieve up to a 90% area or a 90% number of tunable clock buffer reductions compared to existing design methods.
A north–south moisture dipole at multi-century scales in the Central and Southern Rocky Mountains, U.S.A., during the late Holocene

Lake-level changes since ca. 3.6 kilo-annum (ka) at Emerald Lake in the Upper Arkansas River Basin of west-central Colorado coincide in time with changes of the opposite direction at Lake of the Woods in northwestern Wyoming. The contrast provides evidence of a multi-centennial moisture dipole across the Southern and Central Rocky Mountains' region similar to one associated with the effects of the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on annual to decadal time scales today. Cores and ground penetrating radar (GPR) profiles from Emerald Lake show that deep-water muds accumulated as extensively across the lake basin as today at ca. 3.6–3.0 and 1.4–0.8 ka, and nearly as extensively at 2.5–1.9 ka. The extensive muds indicate episodes of high water at Emerald Lake and date to times when Lake of the Woods was low. Nearshore sand layers at Emerald Lake indicate that water levels fell during the intervening centuries, including when bristlecone pine chronologies have documented repeated multi-decadal droughts in the Upper Arkansas River Basin. Water levels were also low, based on the absence of nearshore mud accumulation, before ca. 3.6 ka, and dramatically lower (>2 m in the currently 4.5-m deep lake) before a sharp rise in water levels by ca. 5.7 ka. A basin-wide change in sediment accumulation patterns, consistent with an expansion and deepening of the lake at ca. 5.7 ka, correlates with regional cooling and similar evidence of increased effective moisture at Lake of the Woods and other sites throughout central North America. The step increase in moisture availability may relate to a global-scale reorganization of climatic patterns, which developed as the mid- and high-latitudes cooled in response to a decline in summer insolation.
Enhanced Electron-Phonon Coupling at Metal Surfaces

Recent advances in experimental techniques and theoretical capabilities associated with the study of surfaces show promise for producing in unprecedented detail a picture of electron– phonon coupling. These investigations on surfaces of relatively simple metals can be the platform for understanding functionality in complex materials associated with the coupling between charge and the lattice. In this article, we present an introduction to electron–phonon coupling, especially in systems with reduced dimensionality, and the recent experimental and theoretical achievements. Then, we try to anticipate the exciting future created by advances in surface physics. � 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Defoliation and Leaf Age Influence on Ergot Alkaloids in Tall Fescue

A controlled environment experiment was conducted to determine the influence of defoliation on the regrowth and development of two tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) host-endophyte (Neotyphodium coenophialum MorganJones and Gams (Glenn, Bacon, Price and Hanlin comb. noa.) associations (DN2 and DN11), known to dier in morphology and alkaloid production capacity. Defoliation treatments included an uncut control, and clipping to a 5- or 10-cm residue height. In a separate experiment, leaf age eects were determined on an uncut plant canopy. Ergot alkaloid concentration was greatest in pseudostem and least in harvested leaf. Non-infected plants were devoid of alkaloid. Alkaloid production (expressed as a function of dry matter) and yield were greater in uncut than clipped plants, and were greater in DN11 than DN2 plants. Alkaloid production increased with increasing N concentration in both associations; however, the rate of production was influenced by concentration of non-structural carbohydrate. Leaf age influenced leaf mass and alkaloid concentration and yield. Oldest leaves (" 6 weeks after appearance) of DN2 and DN11 had the lowest concentrations of ergot alkaloid, while leaves that were 2 to 4 weeks old had the greatest alkaloid concentration and yield (alkaloid concentration‹leaf mass). Repeated defoliation reduced the production of alkaloids, but did so as a function of non-structural carbohydrate. Our data suggest that alkaloid production can be modified by defoliation as well as by host-endophyte association. # 1997 Annals of Botany Company
Evolving Informational Credentials: The (Mis)Attribution of Believable Facts to Credible Sources

Three studies demonstrate that individuals often rely on a "belief force equals credible source" heuristic to make source judgments, wherein they assume that statements they believe originate from credible sources. In Study 1, participants who were exposed to a statement many times (and hence believed it) were more likely to attribute it to Consumer Reports than to the National Enquirer. In Study 2, participants read a murder investigation article containing evidence against two suspects from credible and noncredible sources. When participants believed a particular suspect to be guilty, they misattributed evidence incriminating that suspect to the high-credibility source. Study 3 demonstrated that this phenomenon occurs because individuals assume their beliefs are true and that true beliefs come from credible sources; when participants were given feedback that their beliefs were incorrect, the relationship between beliefs and source inferences did not occur.
Emulating low-priority transport at the application layer: a background transfer service

Low priority data transfer across the wide area is useful in several contexts, for example for the dissemination of large files such as OS updates, content distribution or prefetching. Although the design of such a service is reasonably easy when the underlying network supports service differentiation, it becomes more challenging without such network support. We describe an application level approach to designing a low priority service -- one that is 'lower than best-effort' in the context of the current Internet. We require neither network support nor changes to TCP. Instead, we use a receive window control to limit the transfer rate of the application, and the optimal rate is determined by detecting a change-point. We motivate this joint control-estimation problem by considering a fluid-based optimisation framework, and describe practical solutions, based on stochastic approximation and binary search techniques. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach.
The Singularity system

Safe, modern programming languages let Microsoft rethink the architectural trade-offs in its experimental operating system.
Diurnal Patterns of Rainfall in Northwestern South America. Part II: Model Simulations

Abstract This second paper of a three-part series documents the ability of the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University–NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5) to successfully replicate some known aspects of the rainfall of northwestern South America. The success of the control simulation justifies the use of the model in Part III for sensitivity experiments and more detailed diagnosis. The simulation is produced using multiply nested grids, with grid increments from 72 km down to 2 km. Three coarser-resolution grids are integrated for a period of 10 days, with the finest-resolution grid run for a 2-day subset of that period. Several features of the rainfall field are examined as metrics of the model's performance. On the largest scales, the model reasonably simulates easterly waves in the western Atlantic and Caribbean, although it tends to develop them into tropical cyclones too readily. Over the Amazon River basin, diurnally initiated rainbands are observed to propagate westward, crossing the basin in 2–3 day...
Highly-symmetric silicon dioxide shallow shell resonators with angstrom-level roughness

A highly-symmetric silicon dioxide shallow shell resonator with angstrom-level roughness (Ra=4.3A) is presented. Curvature discontinuities in shallow shells, at a controlled distance from the base anchor of the shell, provide acoustic decoupling and significantly reduce the anchor contribution to the frequency split in degenerate wineglass modes as well as their damping. The Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations, performed in COMSOL 4.4, show increasing strain energy density at the vicinity of curvature discontinuities, confirming acoustic decoupling. The fabricated resonant shells are symmetric structures with largely asymmetric supports to force the anchoring stem to be the main contributor to the frequency split. Conformal Imaging Vibrometer (CIV) measurement characterization indicate that the fabricated shallow shell resonators have as-born sub-Hz frequency splits (Δf/f∼60ppm), without any electrical frequency tuning, for the lowest elliptical mode shapes, while having asymmetric anchoring stems.
Market Mavens: Model Building for Measuring Consumer Expert Knowledge

It has proven difficult to define the concept of market mavens in a non-circular and meaningful manner. By contrast to behavioral models, it is here re-conceptualized as essentially relying on expert knowledge. The model builds on special skills in comprehension and makes self-reflectiveness in consumer knowledge the key defining criterion.
Platinum Group Metal Complexes of Macrocyclic Oxathiaethers. The Crystal Structures of 18S4O2, [Pt(9S2O)2](PF6)2·2CH3NO2, [Pt(18S4O2)](PF6)2, and [Pd(9S2O)2](PF6)2·2CH3CN

Improved syntheses of the mixed oxathia crown ligands 1-oxa-4,7-dithiacyclononane (9S2O) and 1,10-dioxa-4,7,13,16-tetrathiacyclooctadecane (18S4O2) are presented. The single-crystal X-ray structure of 18S4O2 has also been obtained. Crystal data for 18S4O2: C12H24O2S4; triclinic, space group P1; a = 7.188(3) A, b = 5.240(1) A, c = 10.743(3) A; α = 99.30(2)°, β = 98.09(3)°, γ = 92.19(3)°; V = 394.57 A3; Z = 1, R = 0.067, Rw = 0.103 for 2419 reflections. The ligand structure shows the two oxygen atoms point into the macrocycle cavity while the four sulfur atoms are oriented in an exodentate fashion. Therefore, this ligand is poorly preorganized for hexadentate complexation and will have to undergo substantial reorganization to be able to complex in a multidentate fashion using its sulfur atoms. The syntheses of homoleptic complexes for both of these macrocycles with the platinum group metal ions, Pd(II) and Pt(II), are also described. The single-crystal X-ray structures for three of the complexes have been...
Digital/cyber nephropathology, clinical and research application

Digital technology marked the first decade of the 21st century with the advent of whole slide imaging (WSI). Thanks to the invention of digital scanners, WSI technology enables the creation and permanent storage of high resolution images from traditional glass slides. The application of digital pathology has recently been explored within the subspecialty of renal pathology for teaching, pathology-based clinical trials, development of new classification systems, and in support to systems biology-based research in a setting of large consortia. Although an initial investment is required, several general advantages can be listed in support of its application, ultimately resulting in a more neutral budget: 1) enables the anywhere-anytime remote access model; 2) permanent storage of glass slides images, which otherwise with time may fade, get lost or broken; 3) allows annotation of specific structures for teaching, consultation, histology-based research or reproducibility studies; 4) archiving; 5) provide full transparency for regulatory agencies during clinical trials or for research protocols; 6) facilitate training of multiple students looking at the same annotated structures, whether in the classroom, during webinar sections or independent review. This presentation will highlight the current status of digital nephropathology applications in training, clinical and molecular research, and industry-sponsored clinical trials.
ACUTE VASCULAR INSUFFICIENCY OF THE OPTIC NERVE.

Sudden, temporary loss of vision in one or both eyes is often the first sign of a diffuse vascular disorder that may affect other organ systems in a short time. Persistent visual loss in a patient who has had episodes of temporary loss of vision is almost diagnostic of ischemic optic nerve disease and calls for urgent measures (within the first two hours). While arteriosclerosis is the most common underlying process, giant- cell arteritis may be responsible. The diagnosis is confirmed by biopsy of a temporal artery. Steroid therapy is given in an effort to halt progression.
Local Government in Missouri: The Crossroads Reached

This article addresses the perceived inadequacy of the State of Missouri’s statutory tools to modernize local government. Some of the more extreme examples of conflicting and obsolete provisions in the laws affecting local government in Missouri are discussed. In many instances these obsolete statutes severely restricted the operations of municipalities. The article also looks at laws relating to special benefit districts, problems in county government, and the issue of home rule. Many of the concerns addressed in this article have to do with the overlap that exists among political subdivisions within a given area, such as counties, cities, and special districts. The article suggests that a solution must take into account the complex inter-relationships among these subdivisions in order to achieve coordination while preserving a truly local and representative system of government.