cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Decadal variability of the NAO: Introducing an augmented NAO index

The wintertime NAO is traditionally defined as the first Empirical Orthogonal Function of monthly sea level pressure (SLP) anomalies for all winters and therefore remains fixed in space. The associated NAO index represents the projection of SLP onto the fixed NAO pattern. The NAO index is positive when the pressure contrast between the two centers of action is particularly strong; it is negative when the contrast is weak. This index represents an incomplete description of the wintertime NAO as the pattern is found to shift location on decadal timescales. This study investigates the movement of the centers of action (or nodes) of the NAO for winter in 20-yr running windows starting in 1871. A new climate index, the Angle index, is introduced. It is a measure of the asymmetry in location of the two nodes of the NAO defined in the partially overlapping 20-yr windows. The Angle index has a value of zero only when both nodes are located on the same meridian. It increases in positive value as the curve connecting the nodes tilts more to the northeast; it becomes negative when the tilt is to the northwest. The Angle index complements the smooth NAO index, which is the traditional NAO index averaged over the 20-yr window, especially when the Angle index is strongly negative as occurred during the Arctic warming of the early to mid 20th century. Regression analysis shows that the Angle index provides additional information about climate variability beyond that provided by the smooth NAO index.
The human dimensions of coastal ecosystem services: Managing for social values

Coastal management is driven by the values and priorities of society as expressed through social, political, and economic systems. Diverse resource management goals reflect what society wants from its surrounding environments as presented in enabling legislation and other resource laws. Today, coastal management encompasses decisions of what to regulate, what enterprises and initiatives to promote, and which ecosystem services are most important to citizens and businesses. Data based on the natural or physical sciences are important, but are just one input into this socially driven, value-based process. This paper offers an insight into why an ecosystem service approach using human dimensions as the major driver is becoming an increasing focus of coastal resource management.
Fringe sharpening and diffraction in nonlinear two-exposure holographic interferometry

Fringe sharpening occurs in the higher diffraction orders of nonlinear two-exposure holographic interferograms. The fringe functions in these various orders are modified by diffraction. At the Talbot distance the fringes replicate those near the plate, and a variety of fringe patterns can be obtained at different propagation distances.
Direct observation of padded slider tipping using the MRE cooling effect [HDDs]

The padded slider is a necessary design to extend the contact start-stop (CSS) solution to the regime of ultra-low head-disc spacing required for high areal density recording. In the design of a padded slider, the rear-most pads are recessed by an adequate amount from the slider trailing edge (TE), in order for the pads not to protrude below the read/write elements during flying. Such a geometry permits the head to rest on the disc in a tipped state, i.e., resting on its rear-most pads and the air-bearing surface TE. This may lead to stiction failure, as large high-pressure menisci may be formed underneath the nonpadded air-bearing surface near the TE. The occurrence of head tipping, while indirectly verified in earlier backward-forward disc rotation experiments, has never been directly observed. An elegant approach to directly monitor head tipping is to use the magneto-resistive element (MRE) cooling effect. The MRE is at a substantially higher temperature than the surrounding environment when a sensing current is passing through it. When a head with padded slider tips backward, its MRE is brought into close proximity to the disc surface, which leads to increased cooling of the MRE and, hence, a decrease in its resistance. Thus, by implementing a MRE resistance sensor, we have achieved the capability to determine the exact resting state of a padded slider, i.e., tipped or untipped, prior to each CSS cycle. Furthermore, by simultaneously monitoring the MRE resistance and stiction, we are able to conclusively establish the causal relationship between tipping and stiction failure of a padded slider interface.
HOPES AND FEARS: THE NEW WORLD TRADE NEGOTIATIONS AND SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE

Understanding the impacts of the Uruguay Round (UR) Agreement on southern commodities serves as a starting point to assess the potential impacts of the next global trade negotiations in terms of hope (expanding export markets) and fear (new competition). Key issues examined include whether or not the UR Agreement resulted in new markets or new competition for key southern commodities+ otton, poultry, tobacco, and rice. For new markets, export data were analyzed to determine if exports increased since the passage of the UR Agreement in 1994. Also, countries that are leading world importers of these southern commodities were identified and data analyzed to determine whether the U.S. is exporting to these top markets. Alternatively, to assess whether the UR Agreement resulted in new competition for southern commodities, countries that are leading world exporters were identified and data anal yzed to determine whether the U.S. is among them. Data analyses was supplemented with interviews of southern commodities experts who assess impacts of the GATT-UR and identify issues for the next round of global trade negotiations.
Escaping the Future: Affective Forecasting in Escapist Fantasy and Attempted Suicide

When people predict how they will feel in response to future events, they typically overestimate the intensity of both negative and positive affect. These affective forecasting errors influence decision making in the present, but the possibility that they serve an adaptive function has been largely overlooked, as has their potential role in psychopathology. In 2 studies, we examined whether the forecasting error for positive events may serve a self-regulatory function by protecting the individual against maladaptive escape behavior in the face of distress. Blunted affective forecasts for future positive events were associated with greater appeal of escape fantasies but not general fantasies (Study 1), and distinguished suicide attempters' view of the future from that of both healthy controls and individuals matched in depressive symptoms but lacking a history of a suicide attempt (Study 2). Overestimation of future positive affect in healthy individuals may play a role in adaptive cognitive and affective ...
Real time neural networks. III. Alternative neural networks for speech applications

For pt.II, see ibid., p.584-90 (1991). Waibel Sawai and Shikano (1989), have successfully used traditional neural networks (TNNs), in conjunction with a certain time-delay framework, to recognize phonemes in spoken Japanese syllables. In this paper, the authors first describe Waibel et. al.'s time delay neural network model. They then make several modifications to that model and indicate how procedures can be developed to automatically identify key variables and their cross products, within the structured conjunctoid neural net framework rather than the nonparametric TNN framework,. >
Recent Research on Vehicle Noise and Vibration

Vehicle noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) is usually among the top five attributes in terms of its priority in the design of automotive vehicles. Its priority in other types of vehicles (e.g., aerospace) is also important. Like other attributes of safety, performance, dynamics, fuel economy, NVH has to be considered closely in the design process. This manuscript presents a summary of recent research in the general area of NVH with an emphasis in the automotive field. It follows up on a previous review and classifies the phenomena by the main sources of NVH into powertrain, road and tyre, wind and other NVH. The last includes brake and chassis, squeak and rattle, electromechanical NVH, exterior (or drive-by) NVH and others. The paper provides a review of some of the recent literature in this field.
Vibration amplification by repetitive pulsing of rapidly heated cylinders

Abstract The fuel elements of a repetitively pulsed fast reactor are subjected to rapid heating in a time short with respect to their mechanical response time. As a result, vibration of the fuel elements occurs and, under certain conditions, these vibrations may be amplified considerably. This work is an experimental investigation of the amplification which occurs when a thin wall, hollow, stainless steel cylinder is repetitively heated internally by Joule heating. The results, which compare well with a theoretical analysis of this problem performed by another author, show that significant amplification of the vibrations can occur. The experimental technique is a variation of the resonance method for measuring natural frequency and internal damping. The apparatus could be adapted for use as a materials testing facility for high cycle, low stress fatigue studies since relatively large stresses could be induced with a rather small energy deposition per pulse.
Elevated aortic pulse wave velocity, a marker of arterial stiffness, predicts cardiovascular events in well-functioning older adults.

Background— Aging results in vascular stiffening and an increase in the velocity of the pressure wave as it travels down the aorta. Increased aortic pulse wave velocity (aPWV) has been associated with mortality in clinical but not general populations. The objective of this investigation was to determine whether aPWV is associated with total and cardiovascular (CV) mortality and CV events in a community-dwelling sample of older adults. Methods and Results— aPWV was measured at baseline in 2488 participants from the Health, Aging and Body Composition (Health ABC) study. Vital status, cause of death and coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, and congestive heart failure were determined from medical records. Over 4.6 years, 265 deaths occurred, 111 as a result of cardiovascular causes. There were 341 CHD events, 94 stroke events, and 181 cases of congestive heart failure. Results are presented by quartiles because of a threshold effect between the first and second aPWV quartiles. Higher aPWV was associated wit...
Pharmacokinetics and toxicity of bromide following high-dose oral potassium bromide administration in healthy Beagles

The pharmacokinetics of a multidose regimen of potassium bromide (KBr) administration in normal dogs was examined. KBr was administered at 30 mg/kg p.o. q 12 h for a period of 115 days. Serum, urine, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) bromide (BR) concentrations were measured at the onset of dosing, during the accumulation phase, at steady-state, and after a subsequent dose adjustment. Median elimination half-life and steady-state serum concentration were 15.2 days and 245 mg/dL, respectively. Apparent total body clearance was 16.4 mL/day/kg and volume of distribution was 0.40 L/kg. The CSF:serum BR ratio at steady-state was 0.77. Dogs showed no neurologic deficits during maintenance dosing but significant latency shifts in waves I and V of the brainstem auditory evoked response were evident. Following a subsequent dose adjustment, serum BR concentrations of approximately 400 mg/dL were associated with caudal paresis in two dogs. Estimated half-life during the accumulation phase was shorter than elimination half-lives reported in other studies and was likely related to dietary chloride content. The range of steady-state concentrations achieved suggests individual differences in clearance and bioavailability between dogs. The described protocol reliably produced serum BR concentrations that are required by many epileptic patients for satisfactory seizure control.
Electrical stimulation directs engineered cardiac tissue to an age-matched native phenotype

Quantifying structural features of native myocardium in engineered tissue is essential for creating functional tissue that can serve as a surrogate for in vitro testing or the eventual replacement of diseased or injured myocardium. We applied three-dimensional confocal imaging and image analysis to quantitatively describe the features of native and engineered cardiac tissue. Quantitative analysis methods were developed and applied to test the hypothesis that environmental cues direct engineered tissue toward a phenotype resembling that of age-matched native myocardium. The analytical approach was applied to engineered cardiac tissue with and without the application of electrical stimulation as well as to age-matched and adult native tissue. Individual myocytes were segmented from confocal image stacks and assigned a coordinate system from which measures of cell geometry and connexin-43 spatial distribution were calculated. The data were collected from 9 nonstimulated and 12 electrically stimulated engineered tissue constructs and 5 postnatal day 12 and 7 adult hearts. The myocyte volume fraction was nearly double in stimulated engineered tissue compared to nonstimulated engineered tissue (0.34 ± 0.14 vs 0.18 ± 0.06) but less than half of the native postnatal day 12 (0.90 ± 0.06) and adult (0.91 ± 0.04) myocardium. The myocytes under electrical stimulation were more elongated compared to nonstimulated myocytes and exhibited similar lengths, widths, and heights as in age-matched myocardium. Furthermore, the percentage of connexin-43-positive membrane staining was similar in the electrically stimulated, postnatal day 12, and adult myocytes, whereas it was significantly lower in the nonstimulated myocytes. Connexin-43 was found to be primarily located at cell ends for adult myocytes and irregularly but densely clustered over the membranes of nonstimulated, stimulated, and postnatal day 12 myocytes. These findings support our hypothesis and reveal that the application of environmental cues produces tissue with structural features more representative of age-matched native myocardium than adult myocardium. We suggest that the presented approach can be applied to quantitatively characterize developmental processes and mechanisms in engineered tissue.
Female swordtail fish use chemical cues to select well-fed mates

Selection favours females that attend to reliable information about male health or genetic quality. Male nutritional state can be an important indicator of mate quality since poor nutrition can be related to reduced sperm quality, low sperm quantity and sexually transmitted diseases. Here we show that female swordtail fish, Xiphophorus birchmanni, preferred the chemical cues of males that were well fed over those that had been food deprived. However, focal females did not discriminate among the odour of other females with respect to nutritional state, suggesting that they were responding to a sex-specific chemical cue, not simply to food excretions. It is therefore likely that nutritional condition is related to the production of sexual pheromones in males. Our results suggest that chemical cues convey information about male nutritional state, and that females attend to these cues during mate choice. By doing so, females are able to discriminate among males that may differ in important aspects of quality.
Multilinear algebra and parallel programming

The authors study the use of multilinear algebra in designing and implementing algorithms for linear computations. In particular, they discuss their experience in using these techniques on the Cray Y-MP and to implement Strassen's matrix multiplication algorithm on the Encore Multimax. It is concluded that the formulation of numerical algorithms in terms of the constructs of multilinear algebra, especially the tensor product, together with the coding methods presented, simplifies the writing of the programs for implementing these algorithms. By making the implementation process simpler and more mechanical, one can more easily experiment with and monitor the coding of these algorithms and thereby find better implementations. >
Changes in Elderly Disability Rates and the Implications for Health Care Utilization and Cost

Recent research indicates declining age-adjusted chronic disability among older Americans, which might moderate health care costs in the coming decades. This study examines the trend's underlying components using data from the 1984-1999 National Long-Term Care Surveys to better understand the reasons for the declines and potential implications for acute and long-term care. The reductions occurred primarily for activities like financial management and shopping. Assistance with personal care activities associated with greater frailty fell less, and independence with assistive devices rose. Institutional residence was stable. More needs to be known about the extent to which these declines reflect environmental improvements allowing greater independence at any level of health, rather than improvements in health, before concluding that the declines will mean lower costs.
Checkpointing Orchestration: Toward a Scalable HPC Fault-Tolerant Environment

Check pointing is widely used in technical computing. However, the overhead of check pointing is a subject of increasing in concern in recent years, especially for large-scale parallel computer systems. In these systems, check pointing generates a huge number of concurrent I/O writes. The burst of writes plus the worsening I/O-wall problem often leads to network and I/O congestion, and makes the overall system performance painfully slow. Recognizing contention as a dominant performance factor, in this paper we propose a systematic approach named check pointing orchestration to reduce write contention, which combines the marshaling of concurrent checkpoint requests and the adopting of vertical data access in coordination. A prototype of the proposed check pointing orchestration approach has been implemented at the system-level under Open MPI over the PVFS2 file system. Extensive experiments based on NPB benchmarks have been conducted to verify the design and implementation. Experimental results show that check pointing orchestration reduced the check pointing cost at a degree of more than 30%. Check pointing cost was halved for 4 out of 5 the C class NPB benchmarks.
Systemic Immunity and Mucosal Immunity Are Induced against Human Immunodeficiency Virus Gag Protein in Mice by a New Hyperattenuated Strain of Listeria monocytogenes

Vaccines designed to control chronic infections by intracellular agents such as human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) require the induction of cell-mediated immune responses to rid the host of pathogen-infected cells. Listeria monocytogenes has characteristics that make it an attractive vaccine vector for use against such infections. Here we show that parenteral immunization with a new highly attenuated strain of this organism provided complete protection against systemic and mucosal challenges with a recombinant vaccinia virus expressing HIV-1 gag. Immunization also generated a strong, long-term memory cytotoxic-T-lymphocyte (CTL) response in spleen, mesenteric lymph nodes, and Peyer's patches directed against the gag protein. Oral immunization with this attenuated strain also produced complete, long-lasting protection against the recombinant virus but only against mucosal virus challenge. Curiously, oral immunization was associated with a transient CTL response in the three lymphoid tissues examined.
Probabilities for a Period and Its Subperiods: Theoretical Relations for Forecasting

Abstract Consider an event definable in terms of two subevents as, for example, the occurrence of precipitation within a 24-h period is definable in terms of the occurrence of precipitation within each of the 12-h subperiods. A complete forecast must specify three probabilities; these may be marginal probabilities, one for the period and two for subperiods. Theoretical relations between these probabilities are investigated and solutions are presented to three problems encountered in operational forecasting: (i) guaranteeing that the marginal probabilities jointly obey the laws of probability, (ii) structuring admissible procedures for adjusting the initial (guidance) probabilities by forecasters, and (iii) formulating optimal estimators of the probability for period in terms of the probabilities for subperiods.
Inferior vena cava filter placement at bedside using computed tomography scan information: a new technique for accurate deployment.

Abstract Background An inferior vena cava filter (IVCF) is indicated for the prophylaxis of pulmonary embolism where anticoagulation is contraindicated. The majority of these filters are placed using fluoroscopy and venogram. We hypothesized that a computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen and pelvis provides sufficient information for successful deployment of an IVCF at bedside without the need for any further imaging during the procedure. Methods A retrospective review of prospectively collected data of a bedside IVCF placement technique using measurements from abdominal/pelvic CT scans without additional intraoperative imaging in 38 patients at a level 1 trauma center was conducted. Results The most common indication for IVCF placement was high-risk patients without deep venous thrombosis. All these procedures were performed at bedside. Nonretrievable (TrapEase) and retrievable (OptEase) type filters were used. All these IVCFs were placed below the renal veins without any complications. Conclusions IVCFs can be placed based on measurements from abdominal CT scans without the need for further imaging such as fluoroscopy or an inferior vena cava venogram. This technique is as simple as bedside femoral venous line placement.
The effects of adolescent cannabinoid exposure on seizure susceptibility and lethality in adult male rats

There is substantial evidence in rodent models that chronic exposure to cannabinoids during adolescence can alter the development of neurobiological systems that are implicated in regulating brain activity and seizure. The current study explored whether adolescent cannabinoid treatment affects subsequent, adult seizure susceptibility. Sixty male Wistar Kyoto rats were treated with either the synthetic cannabinoid, CP 55,940 (0.4mg/kg, one treatment per day), or vehicle between 35 and 45days old. Subjects were then allowed to mature to adulthood. At 68-69days of age, subjects were tested for seizure susceptibility using the pro-convulsant, pentylenetetrazol (PTZ). Subjects received an acute injection of either 35mg/kg or 50mg/kg PTZ immediately prior to a 30-min behavioral seizure test. PTZ doses were chosen to produce low-to-moderate levels of seizure activity in control subjects. There were no significant differences between treated and control subjects in: latency to first seizure, mean seizure severity, percentage who displayed any seizure activity, percentage who displayed clonic seizure, or percentage who displayed tonic-clonic seizure. However, CP 55,940-treated subjects had a higher mortality rate compared to controls at both PTZ doses, suggesting that adolescent cannabinoid exposure may increase the lethality of severe seizures experienced in adulthood.
ADPr-ChAP: Mapping ADP-Ribosylation onto the Genome

In this issue of Molecular Cell, Bartolomei et al. (2016) describe a chromatin affinity precipitation method using well-characterized ADP-ribose binding domains to provide the first genome-wide view of ADP-ribosylated chromatin. Here, we discuss its potential applications and the remaining challenges ahead.
The use of free and open source software in real-world capstone projects

This paper analyzes the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in 22 real-world graduate computer science projects mentored by industrial partners in the past 2.5 years. It serves as a case study on how FOSS is used in an academic setting as well as by the mentoring companies. A diverse list of FOSS was used, suggesting its ubiquity. The general recognized advantages of FOSS drove their adoption: no licensing cost, flexibility of modification, niche functionality, and perceived growing popularity. Our experience agrees with the perceived advantages of FOSS in engaging students with interesting technologies. It also agrees that the potential to communicate with software professionals was beneficial and sometime inspiring, provided that the students took the initiatives to do so. To provide a complete perspective, the paper also includes a section written from the students' point of view on their experience with FOSS in one project.
Freezing-induced changes in the heart rate of wood frogs (Rana sylvatica)

During the first few hours of freezing the cardiovascular system must distribute cryoprotectant throughout the body of freeze-tolerant frogs. This study presents initial documentation of the changes in heart rate of wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) during nonlethal freezing. Heart rate was determined by measuring the electrocardiogram of frogs. Within 1 min of the onset of freezing the heart rate nearly doubled to approximately 8.0 beats/min. The heart rate began to slow after the first hour of the freeze, and the heart completely stopped beating near the completion of ice formation approximately 20 h later. Recordings from a single frog revealed that the heart beat resumes within 1 h after thawing and near-normal function is achieved after only a few hours. The release of the latent heat of fusion caused a rise in body temperature (1.7 degrees C) for a few hours and was closely correlated with an increase in the heart rate. However, other factors such as reduction in blood volume, increase in blood viscosity, and progressive hypoxia may prominently influence cardiac function indirectly. Regardless, the heart functions long enough to distribute glucose throughout the body during the first few hours of the freeze.
Development of an integrated microfluidic solid-phase extraction and electrophoresis device

This study focuses on the design and fabrication of a microfluidic platform that integrates solid-phase extraction (SPE) and microchip electrophoresis (μCE) on a single device. The integrated chip is a multi-layer structure consisting of polydimethylsiloxane valves with a peristaltic pump, and a porous polymer monolith in a thermoplastic layer. The valves and pump are fabricated using soft lithography to enable pressure-based fluid actuation. A porous polymer monolith column is synthesized in the SPE unit using UV photopolymerization of a mixture consisting of monomer, cross-linker, photoinitiator, and porogens. The hydrophobic, porous structure of the monolith allows protein retention with good through flow. The functionality of the integrated device in terms of pressure-controlled flow, protein retention and elution, on-chip enrichment, and separation is evaluated using ferritin (Fer). Fluorescently labeled Fer is enriched ∼80-fold on a reversed-phase monolith from an initial concentration of 100 nM. A five-valve peristaltic pump produces higher flow rates and a narrower Fer elution peak than a three-valve pump operated under similar conditions. Moreover, the preconcentration capability of the SPE unit is demonstrated through μCE of enriched Fer and two model peptides in the integrated system. FA, GGYR, and Fer are concentrated 4-, 12-, and 50-fold, respectively. The loading capacity of the polymer monolith is 56 fmol (25 ng) for Fer. This device lays the foundation for integrated systems that can be used to analyze various disease biomarkers.
Abstract 524: Interaction of metastatic breast cancer cells with osteoblasts and osteoclasts in a 3Din-vitromodel

Breast cancer frequently metastasizes to bone where it causes osteolytic lesions. Although, the bone osteoclasts, not the cancer cells themselves, appear to be responsible for the bone resorbtion, we have evidence from 3D in vitro cell culture studies (bioreactor) that in the presence of breast cancer cells or their medium, the osteoblasts no longer make the proteins required for bone repair. Furthermore, they produce inflammatory cytokines, which in turn can stimulate osteoclasts. We have developed a bioreactor system that permits continuous growth of bone-accreting osteoblasts (MC3T3-E1) for > 10 months without subculture or perfusion. This results in a mineralizing, multiple-cell-layer tissue that strongly resembles normal bone. We have also shown that, by challenging this osteoblast tissue with human metastatic breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231GFP), important hallmarks of cancer metastasis including single cell filing of cancer cells, cancer-cell penetration of tissue and colonization can be observed. We hypothesize that addition of osteoclast to this 3D mineralizing osteoblast in the bioreactor would be a relevant in vitro bone surrogate for studying stages of breast-cancer metastasis. In standard tissue culture and in the bioreactor, we have been able to differentiate osteoclasts from hematopoietic progenitor cells isolated from murine bone marrow. The osteoclasts formed by exposure to RANKL and M-CSF were multi-nucleated, TRAP positive cells. The pre-osteoclast cells when introduced onto the osteoblast grown in the bioreactor, differentiated to form multinucleated resorbing osteoclast, also positive for TRAP and actin ring staining. To further improve the bone remodeling aspect, pre-osteoblasts will be re-infused into the system and allowed to ‘re-mineralize’ the matrix resorbed by osteoclasts. Once the system is established, breast cancer cells will be added to examine the three way cell interactions. This 3D in-vitro cell culture system containing both osteoblast and osteoclast will help to further understand the cellular and molecular events that lead to successful breast cancer colonization of bone. Positive outcomes of the work will help clarify the etiology of metastasis but also create a much-needed in vitro tool for study of cancer therapeutics. This work was supported by US Army Medical and Materiel Command Breast Cancer Idea Program (W81XWH-06-1-0432). Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 524.
Intestinal absorption of vitamin B12 in humans as studied by isotope technic.

SummaryThe scintillation measurements of the hepatic uptake of C060-B12 following its oral and parenteral administration to 20 normal humans, indicate that the efficiency of intestinal absorption of vit. B12 decreases sharply on increase of the intake. The peak of the absorption curve of vit. B12 was found at the oral dose of 0.5 μg, at which the hepatic uptake was found equivalent to 90.5 ± 5.8% of that observed following intramuscular injection of a similar dose of this vitamin. With the increase of the dose, a progressive decline in absorption followed a hyperbolic regression curve, so that at the oral dose of 50 μg B12 the hepatic uptake was equivalent to only 3.0 ± 0.7% of that found after intramuscular injection of a similar dose of this vitamin. The data obtained indicate that the increment in the oral dose of vit. B12 from 0.5 to 50.0 μg, results apparently in an increase of the amount absorbed of only 1.0 μg. It is suggested that in addition to Castle's gastric intrinsic factor, an intramural “in...
The Brain-Mind Relation, Religious Evolution, and Forms of Consciousness: An Exploratory Statement'

The major thesis of this paper is that Julian Jaynes' theory of the evolutionary transition from a bicameral mind to consciousness corresponds roughly to Robert Bellah's "historic" stage of religious evolution. This synthesis provides a perspective for relating the physiological level of brain organization, the subjective level of religious experience and consciousness, and large-scale patterns of social organization and change. Jaynes 'model of language and brain processes is compared briefly with our contemporary understanding (derived from Mead and others) of the internal conversations that are part of the subjective experience. As an alternative to evolutionism, it is suggested that both Jaynes' and Bellah 's theories can be applied to alternative forms of mentality that may exist in any historical stage with varying degrees of acceptance. A major distinction among different people in this regard is their need for external authority and their self-autonomy, especially in coping with stress. Briefly stated, the major purpose of this paper is to suggest a synthesis between Julian Jaynes' (1976) provocative thesis regarding the historic transition from a bicameral to a conscious mind and Robert Bellah's (1964) model of the stages of religious evolution. Like Bellah, Jaynes deals with the relationship between religious experience and patterns of social organization. But, unlike Bellah, Jaynes' theory of religious experience involves mental processes that, in the final analysis, reflect the physiopsychological organization of the brain. The effort to bridge several levels of analysis, ranging from the neurological organization of the brain to the social organization of total societies, is admittedly ambitious. While many sociologists have explored the relationship between consciousness and social organization, seldom do they consider the organization or physiological functioning of the brain, even though its neurological processes are the foundation for all forms of consciousness. Our
Mechanistic Insight to C–C Bond Formation and Predictive Models for Cascade Reactions among Alcohols on Ca- and Sr-Hydroxyapatites

Biomass-derived light alcohols (e.g., ethanol) may be upgraded via C–C bond formation to form larger alcohols and chemicals. The mechanism for coupling reactions among alcohols (i.e., Guerbet chemistry) is still debated, and the factors that determine the rates of subsequent, and inevitable, reactions among coupling products, and thus the product distributions, are not well understood. Here, the interpretation of the formation rates of products, in situ spectroscopy of surface intermediates, and evidence from isotope labeling experiments are combined to clarify the mechanism of the ethanol coupling over hydroxyapatite (HAP) catalysts. Initial C–C bonds are created by aldol condensation of acetaldehyde, derived in situ from ethanol, and involves a kinetically relevant deprotonation step to form the reactive enolate. In situ infrared spectra show that the coverage of ethanol-derived species far exceeds that of reactive aldehyde intermediates, which is consistent with C–C formation rates that inversely depen...
Two pregnancies and the loss of the 46,XX cell line in a 45,X/46,XX Turner mosaic patient *

Two successful pregnancies in a patient with a 45,X karyotype are reported. Twelve pregnancies have been reported in 9 monosomy X patients and 57 pregnancies in 24 patients with both a 45,X and a 46,XX cell line. The patient reported here was diagnosed at 10years of age as a Turner mosaic (45,X/46,XX), but showed no evidence of a normal cell line in any of the four tissues analyzed 15years later. The difficulty in detecting mosaicism as well as the stability of autosomal and sex chromosomal mosaicism are discussed. An argument is made for early cytogenetic evaluation, utilizing multiple tissues, and analyzing an adequate number of cells.
The Good, the Bad, and the Differences: Better Network Diagnostics with Differential Provenance

In this paper, we propose a new approach to diagnosing problems in complex distributed systems. Our approach is based on the insight that many of the trickiest problems are anomalies. For instance, in a network, problems often affect only a small fraction of the traffic (e.g., perhaps a certain subnet), or they only manifest infrequently. Thus, it is quite common for the operator to have “examples” of both working and non-working traffic readily available – perhaps a packet that was misrouted, and a similar packet that was routed correctly. In this case, the cause of the problem is likely to be wherever the two packets were treated differently by the network. We present the design of a debugger that can leverage this information using a novel concept that we call differential provenance. Differential provenance tracks the causal connections between network states and state changes, just like classical provenance, but it can additionally perform root-cause analysis by reasoning about the differences between two provenance trees. We have built a diagnostic tool that is based on differential provenance, and we have used our tool to debug a number of complex, realistic problems in two scenarios: software-defined networks and MapReduce jobs. Our results show that differential provenance can be maintained at relatively low cost, and that it can deliver very precise diagnostic information; in many cases, it can even identify the precise root cause of the problem.
Existence and uniqueness of measures

As was shown in Chapter 3, for any measurable space (X, S), the correspondence between the set of measures on (X, S) and the set of Lebesgue integrals on (X, S) is a bijection (Theorems 3.29 and 3.37). This knowledge is of small value, however, unless one has in hand a good supply of measures to be integrated with respect to. In this chapter we discuss some of the more important ways in which measures arise.
Stroke and Aids

The occurrence and causes of stroke in children with acquired inmunodeficiency syndrome are reported from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, NY.
Responsive Authoritarianism in China: Land, Protests, and Policy Making

How can protests influence policymaking in a repressive dictatorship? Responsive Authoritarianism in China sheds light on this important question through case studies of land takings and demolitions - two of the most explosive issues in contemporary China. In the early 2000s, landless farmers and evictees unleashed waves of disruptive protests. Surprisingly, the Chinese government responded by adopting wide-ranging policy changes that addressed many of the protesters' grievances. Heurlin traces policy changes from local protests in the provinces to the halls of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing. In doing so, he highlights the interplay between local protests, state institutions, and elite politics. He shows that the much-maligned petitioning system actually plays an important role in elevating protesters' concerns to the policymaking agenda. Delving deep into the policymaking process, the book illustrates how the State Council and NPC have become battlegrounds for conflicts between ministries and local governments over state policies.
Row-correlation function: A new approach to complementary code matrices

New tools are developed for testing Complementary Code Matrix (CCM) existence, first for binary CCMs and then for more general p-phase classes, by formulating a CCM in terms of its row-correlation function. It is shown that a result of Lam and Leung on vanishing sums of roots of unity is useful in this approach for developing p-phase CCM existence tests in terms of the prime factorization of p. In addition, other existence tests and properties are found by using the row-correlation function to derive new dot product and congruence relations between rows of a CCM.
The Boy Who Was Killed Twice

In “The Boy Who Was Killed Twice,” Hatem N. Akil deploys the image of Mohamed al-Durra, a fifth grader who was shot dead, on camera, at a crossroads in Gaza, and the ensuing attempts to reinterpret, recreate, falsify, and litigate the meaning of the images of his death in order to propagate certain political doxa. Akil relates the violence against the image, by the image, and despite the image, to a state of Pure War that is steeped in visuality and which transforms the act of seeing into an act of targeting. As such, the video of Mohamed al-Durra itself becomes questionable, not in what it visually communicates but in its very capacity to communicate any reality. Al-Durra becomes accused of staging his own death.
Data scheduling for large scale distributed applications

Current large scale distributed applications studied by large research communities result in new challenging problems in widely distributed environments. Especially, scientific experiments using geographically separated and heterogeneous resources necessitated transparently accessing distributed data and analyzing huge collection of information. We focus on data-intensive distributed computing and describe data scheduling approach to manage large scale scientific and commercial applications. We identify parameters affecting data transfer and also analyze different scenarios for possible use cases of data placement tasks to discover key attributes for performance optimization. We are planning to define crucial factors in data placement in widely distributed systems and develop a strategy to schedule data transfers according to characteristics of dynamically changing distributed environments.
Evaporative fractionation of H 2 18 O in the polar ocean and the invisibility of large changes of ice volume and sea level in the Saalian δ 18 O proxy records

Abstract. The oxygen isotope ratio, δ18O, as measured in skeletons of oceanic foraminifera, is a proxy for changes in world glacial ice volume and sea level and is of fundamental importance in the study of past climate change. However, in the Late Saalian glaciation the δ18O proxy reflects neither a large increase in glacial ice volume from 155 ka–142 ka nor the subsequent major deglaciation from 142 ka–136.5 ka in which sea level rose from about −140 m to +4 m at the end of the Drenthe sub stage. This deglaciation was caused by a large reduction in the ice sheet moisture supply due to storm path diversion associated with the loss of thermohaline circulation and the capping of the high latitude North Atlantic with melt water that passed through the Mediterranean Sea from the overflow of a giant ice-blocked Siberian lake. The δ18O proxy also fails to record the subsequent ice volume buildup of the Warthe substage in which sea level fell about 80 m. The explanation for the invisibility involves the fractionation and sequestration of large mounts of H218O in the effectively isolated and sea-ice-free polar ocean. The sequestration and subsequent release of polar water, enriched in H218O, distorted the fractionation record in the world ocean and destroyed the accuracy of the δ18O proxy. The proposed physical consequences of the ice-free polar ocean also include a sea-ice-free Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay and an oceanic circulation mode that drove the Drenthe substage glaciation to its maximum extent in Eurasia. The initial cause for the anomalous effects in the δ18O record was the known ice-flow blockage of all the Siberian rivers that discharge into the polar ocean west of the Lena River. Without adequate stratification by inflowing fresh river water, sea ice was unable to freeze on the deep polar ocean and the fractionation and the physical changes in the polar ocean that are proposed here followed.
Happy to Be Home: Place-Based Attachments, Family Ties, and Mobility among Rural Stayers

Migration research has traditionally centered on tracing movement; however, the experience of staying in place has begun to capture scholarly attention. Drawing on data from an online residential d...
Use of an Online Clinical Process Support System as an Aid to Identification and Management of Developmental and Mental Health Problems.

Purpose of Review The purpose of this review was to describe benefits and problems with screening and addressing developmental and behavioral problems in primary care and using an online clinical process support system as a solution.
Late-onset Alzheimer’s disease is associated with inherent changes in bioenergetics profiles

Body-wide changes in bioenergetics, i.e., energy metabolism, occur in normal aging and disturbed bioenergetics may be an important contributing mechanism underlying late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (LOAD). We investigated the bioenergetic profiles of fibroblasts from LOAD patients and healthy controls, as a function of age and disease. LOAD cells exhibited an impaired mitochondrial metabolic potential and an abnormal redox potential, associated with reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide metabolism and altered citric acid cycle activity, but not with disease-specific changes in mitochondrial mass, production of reactive oxygen species, transmembrane instability, or DNA deletions. LOAD fibroblasts demonstrated a shift in energy production to glycolysis, despite an inability to increase glucose uptake in response to IGF-1. The increase of glycolysis and the abnormal mitochondrial metabolic potential in LOAD appeared to be inherent, as they were disease- and not age-specific. Our findings support the hypothesis that impairment in multiple interacting components of bioenergetic metabolism may be a key mechanism contributing to the risk and pathophysiology of LOAD.
Characteristics of a PHD Finger Subtype

Although the plant homeodomain (PHD) finger superfamily is known for its site-specific readouts of histone tails, the origins of the mechanistic differences in histone H3 readout by different PHD subtypes remain less clear. We show that sequences containing the xCDxCDx motif in the PHD treble clef (xCDxCDx-PHD) constitute a distinct subtype, based on the following observations: (i) the amino acid composition of the binding site is strikingly different from other subtypes due to position-specific enrichment of negatively charged and bulky nonpolar residues, (ii) the binding site positions are mutually and positively correlated, and this correlation is absent in other subtypes, and (iii) there are only small structural deviations, despite low sequence similarity. The xCDxCDx-PHD constitutes ∼20% of the PHD family, and the double PHD fingers (DPFs) are 10% of the total number of xCDxCDx-PHDs. This subtype originated early in the evolution of eukaryotes but has diversified within the metazoan lineage. Despite...
Antimicrobial activity of LFchimera synthetic peptide against plant pathogenic bacteria

AbstractThe present study was designed to evaluate potential antibacterial activities of synthetic LFchimera against five plant pathogenic bacteria such as Ralstonia solanacearum, Erwinia amylovora...
The Future of Biomarker-Guided Therapy for Heart Failure After the Guiding Evidence-Based Therapy Using Biomarker Intensified Treatment in Heart Failure (GUIDE-IT) Study

Biomarker-guided management of patients with chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) remains controversial. Biomarkers have established roles for diagnosis and prognostication in HF. Pilot data suggested that use of natriuretic peptides might be helpful to guide HF care. The recent Guiding Evidence-Based Therapy Using Biomarker Intensified Treatment in Heart Failure (GUIDE-IT) randomized–controlled trial did not find therapy guided by NT-proBNP to be more effective than usual care in improving the primary endpoint of HF hospitalization or cardiovascular mortality amongst patients with chronic HFrEF. Patients in GUIDE-IT received similar care and had similar NT-proBNP lowering regardless of treatment allocation. Though biomarkers retain important standing for diagnosis and prognosis in HF, the GUIDE-IT trial results suggest carefully managed patients may not benefit from a biomarker-guided strategy. Future studies focusing this intervention on patients treated in a more real-world setting are needed.