cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
MMT Pointing And Tracking

The Multiple Mirror Telescope exhibits good tracking performance and excellent pointing accuracy. Considerable engineering effort has been expended over the past four years to investigate methods for improving accuracy, and to identify and understand the sources of the remaining errors. We can achieve tracking errors as low as 0.5 arcseconds peak-to-peak without autoguiding, and RMS pointing errors better than 1 arcsecond, but changes of approach may be needed to reach our tracking performance goals.
Inequalities forf-vectors of 4-polytopes

LetV, E, S andF be the number of vertices, edges, subfacets and facets, respectively, of a 4-dimensional convex polytope. In this paper we derive new upper and lower bounds forS in terms ofF andV.
Pancreatic islet isolation variables in non-human primates (rhesus macaques).

Background Non-human primates (NHPs) are important preclinical models for pancreatic islet transplantation (PIT) because of their close phylogenetic and immunological relationship with humans. However, low availability of NHP tissue, long learning curves and prohibitive expenses constrain the consistency of isolated NHP islets for PIT studies. To advance preclinical studies, we attempted to identify key variables that consistently influence the quantity and quality of NHP islets.
Casualties, regime type and the outcomes of wars of occupation:

Conventional wisdom has long held that conducting counterinsurgency wars overseas is an invitation for foreign policy difficulty, if not outright disaster for democracies. However, current research lacks systematic evidence to support such a claim, fostering uncertainty regarding the connection between regime type and the outcomes of such conflicts and leaving open the question if such a link even exists. I address these issues by linking the level of casualties suffered by an occupying force to its leadership’s decision to withdraw from the territory. Using a dataset of wars of occupation from 1800 to 2005, I find that, while democracies are no more likely to lose than their autocratic counterparts, they consistently abandon these conflicts at significantly lower levels of casualties.
Effect of supercritical carbon dioxide on PMMA/rubber and polystyrene/rubber blending: Visosity ratio and phase inversion

Supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO 2 ) was added during blending of polystyrene or poly(methyl-methacrylate) (PMMA) and a rubber impact modifier (SP 2207). The resulting blend morphologies were compared. The compounding took place in a Leistritz ZSE-27 twin-screw extruder at 100 RPM, at a temperature of 200°C, and with 2.0 wt% CO 2 injection. The viscosity reduction of PMMA, polystyrene, and SP 2207 was measured using a slit die rheometer attached to the twin-screw extruder. A viscosity reduction of up to 84% was seen with PMMA, 70% with polystyrene and 30% with SP 2207. The solubility of CO 2 in these polymers was measured in a high-pressure vessel at 200°C and 13.78 MPa (2000 psi). A solubility of 5.79 wt% CO 2 was seen with PMMA, 3.65 wt% with polystyrene, and 2.60 wt% with SP 2207. The injection of CO 2 reduced the size of the dispersed rubber phase in both polystyrene and PMMA. For both blends (polystyrene/SP 2207 and PMMA/SP 2207) with and without the injection of CO 2 , the extruder length for phase inversion was shortened by about L/D = 4, or 10% of the total extruder length. The impact strength, for a 70/30 polystyrene/SP 2207 blend was increased by 26% by the addition of CO 2 . The improvement in impact strength was not as large for blends of PMMA and SP 2207.
Alcohol effects on the orgasmic-ejaculatory response in human males.

Abstract Increasing levels of alcohol intoxication, as measured by blood‐alcohol concentration, produced significant degradation in male masturbatory effectiveness. Employing psychophysiological indices of orgasm and several subjective criteria, a progressive and systematic effect of alcohol on the orgasmic‐ejaculatory response was found. Results are discussed with implications for the etiology, treatment, and prevention of alcohol‐induced sexual dysfunction in males.
Flow cytometric immunofluorescence of rat anterior pituitary cells

A flow cytometric immunofluorescence technique was developed for the quantification of growth hormone, prolactin, and luteinizing hormone producing cells. The procedure is based on indirect-immunofluorescence of intracellular hormone using an EPICS V cell sorter and can objectively count 50,000 cells in about 3 minutes. It can be used to study the dynamics of pituitary cell populations under various physiological and pharmacological conditions.
An alternative approach to the optimal design of an LD50 bioassay

In this paper we propose an alternative approach to the optimal design of an LD50 bioassay. We adopt a Bayesian approach to make use of prior information about the location and scale parameters of the tolerance distribution function to select the design parameters (number of doses, total number of animals, centre of doses, space between doses), and we adopt a frequentist approach using the Spearman-Karber statistic to estimate the LD50. We define the optimal design as the one that produces the minimum expected mean squared error E(MSE) with respect to the joint prior distribution of the parameters of the tolerance distribution. For the design parameters investigated, we found: (i) the shape of the E(MSE) is relatively smooth and continuous, the magnitude of which is influenced by the underlying tolerance distribution; (ii) the amount of prior information about the location and scale parameters independently and jointly affect the optimal design; and (iii) as the amount of prior information decreases, one requires more doses and/or animals. Finally, we show the proposed method is robust for an incorrectly assumed tolerance distribution function.
Threshold Model of Feeding Territoriality and Test with a Hawaiian Honeycreeper

A model is proposed predicting that in nectarivorous birds territorial behavior will occur above a lower threshold of nectar productivity in a foraging area and disappear above an upper threshold. These thresholds are determined by the daily costs of living of territorial and of nonterritorial individuals and by the pressure of competing birds for the resource. Decline of efficiency of territorial exclusiveness is predicted as productivity increases from the lower to the upper threshold. Hawaiian honeycreepers (Vestiaria coccinea) supported the model.
Predicting Worker Performance In Inequitable Settings

Three mathematical models of psychological inequity can be deduced from the theoretical literature. Results available from four methodologically sound studies were utilized in a comparison of the relative superiority of the various equity models. The Anderson-Farkas mathematical representation of psychological inequity was found to be marginally superior to other models for predicting worker performance. An extension of the Anderson-Farkas model, which is sensitive to the dynamics of worker inequity, is proposed.
Comments on the Survey of Language Classes in the ASTP

Author's summary.— The pronounced excellence of the results is not based on satisfactory, objective proof, notably in the case of speaking. 2. The results obtained by the different categories of trainees are not clearly distinguished. 3. Anxious as we are to know what real beginners have accomplished, the category of trainees without any “previous recognizable experience in hearing or speaking” cannot serve as a criterion. 4. In reading, more is made of the role of transfer than of the fact that in a good many institutions there was considerable training in this aspect of language study. 5. There is nothing surprising in the fact that trainees who had previously studied the language achieved a rather good reading knowledge; we cannot, however, be sure that the true beginners learned to read “with considerable facility.” 6. The superiority of intensive practice over distributed practice is not an established fact.
An Improved Perturbation Technique for Electrical Impedance Imaging with Some Criticisms

An improved perturbation technique for electrical impedance tomography is proposed. This improvement is based on simultaneous corrections. Previously the perturbation technique limited corrections to a central region of the image model. When the whole model was allowed to vary, the perturbation technique diverged unless simultaneous corrections were used. The size of the perturbation matrix was minimized by using only unique measurements. Some problems associated with the perturbation matrix are discussed. Namely, it is a highly nonlinear function of the resistivity perturbation amount, and it does not hold for profiles other than the one for which it was calculated.
Off-line permutation routing on circuit-switched fixed-routing networks

Circuit-switched fixed routing (CSFR) is an increasingly popular communication model wherein there is between every source—destination pair a single path that is system-determined by a fixed-routing rule. This paper studies the new problem of off-line permutation scheduling on linear arrays, rings, hypercubes, and 2-dimensional arrays, assuming the CSFR model. Optimal permutation scheduling involves finding a minimum number of subsets of nonconflicting source—destination paths. Every subset of paths can be established to run in one pass. In this paper, optimal permutation scheduling on linear arrays is shown to be linear, and on rings, NP-complete. On hypercubes, the problem is NP-complete. However, we will give an O(N log N) algorithm that routes any permutation in two passes if the model is relaxed to allow for two routing rules, namely, the so-called e-cube rule and the e−1-cube rule. This complexity is reduced to O(N) hypercube-parallel time. Finally, an O(N log2N) bipartite-matching-based algorithm will be designed to schedule any permutation on p × q meshes/tori in q passes. © 1993 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
A probabilistic approach to the wiman—valiron theory for functions of several complex entire

The classical theorems of Wiman Valiron and Clunie on the relationship between the maximum modulus, maximum term and central index of an entire function of one complex variable are generalized to the case of several complex variables. The method of proof is based on the probabilistic approach of Rosenbloom along with some new results on exponential families. The ideas presented should also allow extensions of the theory to analytic functions defined on arbitrary domains and represented by power series, Dirichiet series or general Laplace transforms.
Estimating the effective clearance rate and refiltration by zebra mussels, Dreissena polymorpha, in a stratified reservoir

Summary 1. The grazing impact of zebra mussels, Dreissena polymorpha Pallas, is often evaluated by applying the individual filtration rate measured in the laboratory to the field abundance and then by comparing the total volume of water filtered with the whole lake volume. Since this approach overlooks refiltration, it overestimates the grazing impact of zebra mussels. To deal with this problem, the present authors developed an in situ method for collecting faeces and pseudofaeces to measure the actual volume of water that is cleared of suspended particles by Dreissena in a unit time under a given set of environmental conditions. This is termed the effective clearance rate (ECR). 2. The experiment was conducted in Hargus Lake, OH, U.S.A., a small thermally stratified reservoir, to test the effects of spatial aggregation, mussel density and the concentration of particulate inorganic matter (PIM) on the effective clearance rate of Dreissena. 3. Over 40 measurements, the ECR values ranged from 15.3 to 68.6 mL ind−−1 h−−1. Much of the variation can be explained by colony form, mussel density and seston concentration. The effects of these variables were all statistically significant. The average ECR for isolated individuals was higher than that for those in clumps (40.4 versus 32.8 mL ind−−1 h−−1), which is attributed to increased refiltration in the cores of the clumps. The ECR decreased with increased zebra mussel density because of intensified competition for food particles within the group. The ECR increased with increased PIM concentration in the lake water, which may be interpreted as a result of enhanced water mixing which ultimately caused increases in both sediment resuspension and particle delivery to the mussels. 4. Taking the filtration rates for a 20-mm mussel to be between 116 and 234 mL ind−−1 h−−1, based on data from the literature, the clumped mussels under the present experimental conditions would have a refiltration ratio between 3.4 and 6.9. 5. The present authors developed an areal clearance model which predicts that seston removal by the Dreissena population is limited by the particle delivery from the ambient water to the mussel bed and will reach a maximum value beyond which no further increase will occur with increased population density. 6. It is concluded that the direct grazing impact of zebra mussel on phytoplankton in thermally stratified lakes is much less effective than predicted from simple filtration rate estimation.
Medical Ethics in Religious Traditions: A Study of Judaism, Catholicism, and Islam

Multiculturalism and its associated plurality of value systems is rapidly becoming the norm in modern medical practice. Given this increasing diversity, greater emphasis upon cultural and ethical competence in physician training is necessary in order to provide culturally sensitive and ethically sound care. Religious values shape ethical codes and are expressed in the cultural norms of subcommunities in a society. Thus, an understanding of religious values that may influence the clinical encounter is important. This paper provides an overview of the ethical constructs of the sacred law traditions of Judaism, Catholicism, and Islam and will outline approaches taken by each faith regarding medical ethics. It is hoped that the insights gained will aid both clinicians and ethicists to better understand these religious paradigms of medical ethics and thereby positively affect patient care through increased tolerance and understanding. http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/38-3-5245
Two-phase (vapor-liquid) flow pattern transitions in ducts of non-circular cross-section and under diabatic conditions

Simple maps related to superficial velocities have been widely used for determination of cocurrent flow vapor-liquid flow patterns since their introduction by Baker (1954). One of the most recent of these is due to Weisman et al. (1979) and Weisman and Kang (1981). They recognized that the needed dimensionless correlating groups varied from transition to transition, and obtained separate correlations have been obtained for each significant transition. They found that the various transitions could be predicted by:
Side effects of brevital-aided desensitization: Some clinical impressions

The side effects encountered with the intravenous administration of methohexital sodium (Brevital), using a maximum of 60 mg during 1 hr treament sessions, are reported for 17 neurotic patients treated with Brevital-aided desensitization. It is concluded, that while side effects are moderately common, they are so mild as to pose no significant treatment obstacle. The drug is sufficiently safe, at low dosages, to allow in vivo treatment with rapid re-exposure to anxiety-eliciting stimuli without causing the patients undue distress.
Using Constrained Schrödinger Equations to Separate Resonant and Inductive Substituent Effects: A New Methodology for Parametrizing Simple Models in Chemistry

Simple models of chemical phenomena can provide both useful insights and predictive power. These models are parametrized using data on model systems, which are chosen to allow the effects of interest to be isolated. Ab initio calculations can provide a useful source of such data. This article explores the use of constrained Schrodinger equations to generate rich sets of ab initio data that can support parametrization of a more diverse set of models than is possible with existing methods. The constraints are used to control the electronic configuration of the model compounds, such that data can be generated on electronic structure−property relationships. The current investigation uses constraints to modulate resonance in substituted benzene compounds. The resulting resonant and nonresonant benzenes are used to parametrize a simple model of inductive and resonant electronic substituent effects, which is similar to the Swain-Lupton substituent-effect model. This parametrization is benchmarked against the sta...
Ion-Exchange and Chelation Resins Derived from Poly(t-butyl N-Vinyl Carbamate)

Abstract Cross-linked resins containing vinyl amine units spaced by cyclic urea units are obtained by pyrolysis of poly(t-butyl N-vinyl carbamate) at 200°C, followed by treatment of the pyrolysate with HBr/HOAc solution and subsequent neutralization. The resins are very stable and are suitable for chromatographic separation of acidic amino acids, peptides, and heavy metal ions. The selectivity of the resins for metal ions is in the order Cu−2 ≧ Zn+2 Ni+2 ∼ Co+2 ≧Na+ ∼ Mg+
Study of adsorption on radiation-damaged CaF2(111) surfaces

Abstract Thin CaF 2 (111) films (60–130 A) have been grown in ultra-high vacuum by vapor deposition on Si(111)-(7×7) surfaces. Damage by low-energy (50 eV) electrons and the subsequent adsorption of small molecules (O 2 , CO 2 , N 2 , C 2 H 6 , and C 2 H 4 ) have been examined using photoemission and electron energy loss spectroscopies. The damaged surface is highly reactive with O 2 and CO 2 . The initial rapid uptake of O saturates at exposures of ≤10 Langmuirs (L), leading to the attenuation of a damage-induced defect peak at 1.8 eV in the energy loss spectrum and the appearance of a feature indicating Ca–O bonding in the surface-sensitive Ca 3p photoemission spectrum. The O 1s and valence-band photoemission data indicate two distinct states of chemisorbed O differing in valence charge density. No chemisorption on the damaged surface is seen for ≤10 3 L of N 2 or ≤300 L of C 2 H 6 . For C 2 H 4 , deposition of C is shown by the appearance of the C 1s in photoemission and of the 6.6 eV energy loss peak characteristic of graphitic C.
Wavelet Entropy Algorithm to Allocate the Extreme Power Peaks in WiMax Systems

This work proposes a solution to overcome the effect for one of the main drawbacks of these days’ wireless systems, where Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO)-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) combinations has been used. High peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) arises after the OFDM stage and reduces the performance of the used nonlinear devices. Therefore, a new stage has been imposed between the MIMO and OFDM block. It is based on the entropy meaning of the wavelet transformation to trigger a proposed thresholding criterion and reconstruct the OFDM signal. As a result, the probability of high PAPR appearance will be limited and reduced; a promising result over our recently published work has been conducted; 15-25% extra reduction. This work could be denoted by MIMO-OFDM based on Entropy Wavelet Transform (MO-EWT) systems. The MO-EWT validity has been checked based on either numerical analysis or conducted simulation based on MATLAB; where 80% improvement of reducing the high PAPR has been achieved over the literature. These results have been reached using the same environment conditions and at additional cost and complexity of the transceivers structure.
Risk and Markers of Severe Acute Pancreatitis

Acute pancreatitis begins with pancreatic injury, elicits an acute inflammatory response, and encompasses a variety of potential complications in a subset of patients. Early determination of severity and risk of complications is crucial for instituting immediate interventions to improve outcome. The severity of acute pancreatitis is a function of the amount of pancreas that is injured and the intensity of the inflammatory response. Early death is mainly linked to an overwhelming inflammatory response leading to cardiovascular collapse or acute respiratory distress syndrome, whereas late death is associated with infected pancreatic necrosis and sepsis. This article reviews recent advancements in understanding the pathogenesis, immunology, and genetics of severe acute pancreatitis, and the literature on laboratory-based markers, which predict a severe clinical course and pancreatic necrosis.
Localization and characterization of a lipase in rat adipose tissue.

A lipolytic enzyme from rat adipose tissue has been studied in a cell-free system. Most of the activity toward triglyceride was recovered in a fraction that sedimented at 105,000 g for 18 hours. Properties of the high-speed sediment included: (a) a strong pH dependency, with optimum activity at pH 7.4; (b) instability, half-life of 2 1/2–3 days; (c) partially inactivated by heat; (d) activated by SH reagents; (e) stimulation by epinephrine was observed only in a preparation which had become partially or totally inactivated during storage; (f) neither the whole homogenate nor the fully active fractions were stimulated by epinephrine.
The Prevalence of Obesity in Ethnic Admixture Adults

Objective: To determine whether the prevalence of obesity in ethnic admixture adults varies systematically from the average of the prevalence estimates for the ethnic groups with whom they share a common ethnicity. Methods and Procedures: The sample included 215,000 adults who reported one or more ethnicities, height, weight, and other characteristics through a mailed survey. Results: The highest age-adjusted prevalence of overweight (BMI ≥ 25) was in Hawaiian/Latino men (88%; n = 41) and black/Latina women (74.5%; n = 79), and highest obesity (BMI ≥ 30) rates were in Hawaiian/Latino men (53.7%; n = 41) and Hawaiian women (39.2%, n = 1,247). The prevalence estimates for most admixed groups were similar to or higher than the average of the prevalences for the ethnic groups with whom they shared common ethnicities. For instance, the prevalence of overweight/obesity in five ethnic admixtures—Asian/white, Hawaiian/white, Hawaiian/Asian, Latina/white, and Hawaiian/Asian/white ethnic admixtures—was significantly higher (P < 0.0001) than the average of the prevalence estimates for their component ethnic groups. Discussion: The identification of individuals who have a high-risk ethnic admixture is important not only to the personal health and well-being of such individuals, but could also be important to future efforts in order to control the epidemic of obesity in the United States.
Short-term plume containment: multiobjective comparison

Multiobjective strategies and models for optimizing the short-term containment of a 2-D ground-water contaminant plume are compared. These are designed for cases in which an appropriate means of treating the contaminated water is unavailable or unauthorized, and the management goal is to prevent plume movement, without pumping contaminated water and without importing or exporting water. Because optimal unsteady strategies are usually more efficient than optimal steady strategies at achieving goals at a prespecified time, the models optimize the needed time-varying rates of extracting and injecting water. The objective function can use coefficients to consider, one at a time, the objectives of minimizing final hydraulic gradients between observation wells and the plume source, minimizing the cost of pumping, or minimizing the volume of pumping. Alternatively, the model can simultaneously consider the gradient objective and one of the other two objectives in developing a compromise strategy. If the plume must be contained only for the period of optimal unsteady pumping, either the minimizing cost or the minimizing pumping volume objective is most appropriate. For short periods, a minimum pumping strategy, which is the easiest to use, is almost the same as a least-cost strategy. If the plume must be contained for a longer period, the hydraulic objective becomes increasingly important because it causes a more horizontal potentiometric surface, and less additional pumping is needed to maintain that surface after the end of unsteady pumping.
A new sampler for stratified lagoon chemical and microbiological assessments

A sampler was needed for a spatial and temporal study of microbial and chemical stratification in a large swine manure lagoon that was known to contain zoonotic bacteria. Conventional samplers were limited to collections of surface water samples near the bank or required a manned boat. A new sampler was developed to allow simultaneous collection of multiple samples at different depths, up to 2.3 m, without a manned boat. The sampler was tethered for stability, used remote control (RC) for sample collection, and accommodated rapid replacement of sterile tubing modules and sample containers. The sampler comprised a PVC pontoon with acrylic deck and watertight enclosures, for a 12 VDC gearmotor, to operate the collection module, and vacuum system, to draw samples into reusable autoclavable tubing and 250-mL bottles. Although designed primarily for water samples, the sampler was easily modified to collect sludge. The sampler held a stable position during deployment, created minimal disturbance in the water column, and was readily cleaned and sanitized for transport. The sampler was field tested initially in a shallow fresh water lake and subsequently in a swine manure treatment lagoon. Analyses of water samples from the lagoon tests showed that chemical and bacterial levels, pH, and EC did not differ between 0.04, 0.47, and 1.0 m depths, but some chemical and bacterial levels differed between winter and spring collections. These results demonstrated the utility of the sampler and suggested that future manure lagoon studies employ fewer or different depths and more sampling dates.
Child Welfare Programs and Services A Comparison of the USA and Japan

This is a comparison of child welfare in the USA and Japan. It identi.es some of the major problems facing children in the two countries, presents policy and legislation relating to children, and explores services and programs available.
Ligand Metalation in Triisopropylphosphine−Platinum(II) Compounds†

The compound trans-(methyl)(trifluoromethanesulfonato)(bis(triisopropylphosphine))platinum(II) (1) is stable in solution at room temperature, but when treated with a catalytic amount of HCl, it undergoes rapid loss of methane and forms the metalated compound (triisopropylphosphine)(trifluoromethanesulfonato)(2,2-diisopropyl-3-methyl-1-platina-2-phosphacyclobutane) (2). The key intermediate is trans-chloro(trifluoromethanesulfonato)(bis(triisopropylphosphine))platinum(II) (3), which rapidly undergoes metalation with loss of trifluoromethanesulfonic acid.
Is nutrient availability related to plant nutrient use in humid tropical forests

Data on soil nutrient availability for humid tropical forests are often reported, but are rarely integrated in an ecologically meaningful way with other measures of nutrient cycling. In this paper, estimates of soil nutrient availability and the inverse of litterfall nutrient concentrations (as an index of plant nutrient use) were compared, using data from 36 sites throughout the humid tropics, to determine if relationships exist between commonly used indices of nutrient cycling for plants and soils. Measures of both extractable and total soil P were significantly and positively correlated with the ratio of litterfall mass/P, particularly for montane tropical forests. Extractable soil P was also significantly correlated with litterfall mass for lowland humid tropical forests, explaining 58% of the variability in litterfall mass. A weak, albeit significant correlation was found between exchangeable soil Ca and litterfall mass/Ca, even though soil extraction techniques vary greatly. No significant relationship was found for total soil N, the most commonly measured soil N pool, and the inverse of litterfall N concentrations. The results suggest that our indices of soil P are related to litterfall processes, but that other measures, particularly total soil N, may not be as relevant to nutrient cycling by the vegetation.
Estimating adult Chinook salmon exposure to dissolved gas supersaturation downstream of hydroelectric dams using telemetry and hydrodynamic models

Gas bubble disease (GBD) has been recognized as a potential problem for fishes in the Columbia River basin. GBD results from exposure to gas supersaturated water created by discharge over dam spillways. Spill creates a downstream plume of water with high total dissolved gas supersaturation (TDGS) that may be positioned along either shore or mid-channel, depending on dam operations. We obtained spatial data on fish migration paths and migration depths for adult spring and summer Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, during 2000. Migration paths were compared to output from a two-dimensional (2-dimensional) hydrodynamic and dissolved gas model to estimate the potential for GBD expression and to test for behavioural avoidance of the high TDGS plume. We observed salmon swam sufficiently deep in the water column to receive complete hydrostatic compensation 95.9% of the time spent in the Bonneville Dam tailrace and 88.1% of the time in the Ice Harbor Dam tailrace. The majority of depth uncompensated exposure occurred at TDGS levels >115%. Adult Chinook salmon tended to migrate near the shoreline and theytended to remain in relatively deep water. Adults moved into the high dissolved-gas plume as often as they moved out of it downstream of Bonneville Dam, providing no evidence that adults moved laterally to avoid areas with elevated dissolved gas levels. When water depths decreased due to reduced river discharge, adults tended to migrate in the deeper navigationchannel downstream from Ice Harbor Dam. The strong influence of dam operations on the position of the high-TDGS plume and shoreline-orientation behaviours of adults suggest that exposure of adult salmonids to high-TDGS conditions may be minimized using operational conditions that direct the spilled water mid-channel. Our approach illustrates the potential for combined field and modelling efforts to estimate the fine-scale environmental conditions encountered by fishes in natural and regulated rivers. Published in 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Characterization of High Ge Content SiGe Heterostructures and Graded Alloy Layers Using Spectroscopic Ellipsometry

Si(x)Ge(1-x)heterostructures on Si substrates have been widely studied due to the maturity of Si technology. However, work on Si(x)Ge)1-x) heterostructures on Ge substrates has not received much attention. A Si(x)Ge(1-x) layer on a Si substrate is under compressive strain while Si(x)Ge(1-x) on Ge is under tensile strain; thus the critical points will behave differently. In order to accurately characterize high Ge content Si(x)Ge(1-x) layers the energy shift algorithm used to calculate alloy compositions, has been modified. These results have been used along with variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (VASE) measurements to characterize Si(x)Ge(1-x)/Ge superlattices grown on Ge substrates. The results agree closely with high resolution x-ray diffraction measurements made on the same samples. The modified energy shift algorithm also allows the VASE analysis to be upgraded in order to characterize linearly graded layers. In this work VASE has been used to characterize graded Si(x)Ge(1-x) layers in terms of the total thickness, and the start and end alloy composition. Results are presented for a 1 micrometer Si(x)Ge(1-x) layer linearly graded in the range 0.5 less than or equal to x less than or equal to 1.0.
Expression optimization and synthetic gene networks in cell-free systems

Synthetic biology offers great promise to a variety of applications through the forward engineering of biological function. Most efforts in this field have focused on employing living cells, yet cell-free approaches offer simpler and more flexible contexts. Here, we evaluate cell-free regulatory systems based on T7 promoter-driven expression by characterizing variants of TetR and LacI repressible T7 promoters in a cell-free context and examining sequence elements that determine expression efficiency. Using the resulting constructs, we then explore different approaches for composing regulatory systems, leading to the implementation of inducible negative feedback in Escherichia coli extracts and in the minimal PURE system, which consists of purified proteins necessary for transcription and translation. Despite the fact that negative feedback motifs are common and essential to many natural and engineered systems, this simple building block has not previously been implemented in a cell-free context. As a final step, we then demonstrate that the feedback systems developed using our cell-free approach can be implemented in live E. coli as well, illustrating the potential for using cell-free expression to fast track the development of live cell systems in synthetic biology. Our quantitative cell-free component characterizations and demonstration of negative feedback embody important steps on the path to harnessing biological function in a bottom-up fashion.
Alternatives to gaskets in shielding an enclosure

It is well known that a properly placed conductive gasket can complete an enclosure to yield good shielding. But often there are reasons, e.g. control of mechanical dimensions that this cannot be achieved. For these cases, one may want to avoid using a gasket that requires contacts. This paper analyzes alternatives to continuously contacting gaskets such as overlap structures, overlapping structures with different lossy and nonlossy materials, and overlaps with grounding points. It compares structures by sufficient shielding for a typical class B product, high frequency (1-3 GHz) and low frequency (below 1 GHz) performance.
Screening Tools for Excessive Exercise in the Active Female

Excessive Exercise etiology and diagnosis has been deeply studied with inconclusive results. The criteria used for diagnosis are based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM) to diagnose addictive behaviors or substance abuse (alcohol, drugs, etc.). Moreover, the screening tools proposed by different authors have been subjective, inaccurate and co-assess other psychological and psychiatric disorders. Subjective screening tools (questionnaires, inventories, interviews, etc.) show information related to the psychological factors contributing to this behavior, and the information related to the characteristics of the exercise performed is scarce. Further, no validated cut-points exist to assess excessive exercise in different groups (children, adolescents, adults, elders, athletes, females, males, etc.). Therefore, the objective screening tools (accelerometers, pedometers, etc.) could add meaningful knowledge about the real characteristics of the activity performed by individuals.
Nonhomothetic Preferences and International Trade

roie_876 408..426 This study examines whether nonhomothetic preferences underlie the “missing trade” problem associated with factor content of trade models. We first find that per capita income goes a long way in explaining differences in goods consumption across countries. We then find a striking correlation between the factor content of consumption and per capita income, and show that accounting for this is a key part of resolving the case of the missing trade. However, nonhomothetic preferences over broad categories of expenditure play only a small role in this phenomenon. Rather, we find that as income grows, spending is directed towards the relatively capital-intensive version of a given good. Since recent research shows that capital intensity is correlated with quality (Schott, 2004), our results suggest that within-product quality differences are likely important for explaining the factor content of trade, whereas nonhomothetic preferences over broad categories of expenditure are much less so.
Reduced complexity wavelet-based predictive coding of hyperspectral images for FPGA implementation

This paper presents an algorithm for lossy compression of hyperspectral images for implementation on field programmable gate arrays (FPGA). To greatly reduce the bit rate required to code images, linear prediction is used between the bands to exploit the large amount of inter-band correlation. The prediction residual is compressed using the set partitioning in hierarchical trees algorithm. To reduce the complexity of the predictive encoder, this paper proposes a bit plane-synchronized closed loop predictor that does not require full decompression of a previous band at the encoder. The new technique achieves almost the same compression ratio as standard closed loop predictive coding and has a simpler on-board implementation.
Femtosecond Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy

Femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy (FSRS) is a new ul- trafast spectroscopic technique that provides vibrational structural information with high temporal (50-fs) and spectral (10-cm −1 ) reso- lution. As a result of these unique capabilities, FSRS studies of chem- ical and biochemical reaction dynamics are expected to grow rapidly, giving previously unattainable insight into the structural dynamics of reactively evolving systems with atomic spatial and femtosecond temporal resolution. This review discusses the experimental and the- oretical concepts behind FSRS, with an emphasis on the origins of its unique temporal and spectral capabilities. We illustrate these ca- pabilities with vibrational studies of ultrafast electronic dynamics, as well as the direct structural observation of nonstationary vibrational wave-packet motion in small molecules and in complex biochemical reaction dynamics.
Effects of the N-methyl-D-Aspartate receptor antagonist dextromethorphan on vibrotactile adaptation.

Background: Previous reports have demonstrated that short durations of vibrotactile stimuli (less than or equal to 2 sec) effectively and consistently modify both the perceptual response in humans as well as the neurophysiological response in somatosensory cortex. The change in cortical response with adaptation has been well established by a number of studies, and other reports have extended those findings in determining that both GABA- and NMDAR-mediated neurotransmission play a significant role in the dynamic response of somatosensory cortical neurons. In this study, we evaluated the impact that dextromethorphan (DXM), an NMDAR antagonist, had on two distinct vibrotactile adaptation tasks. Results: All subjects, both those that ingested 60 mg DXM and those that ingested placebo, were evaluated for their amplitude discriminative capacity between two simultaneously delivered vibrotactile stimuli both with and without 3 conditions of pre-exposure to adapting stimulation. The results demonstrated that the perceptual metrics of subjects who ingested 60 mg DXM were significantly altered from that of controls when the amplitude discrimination task followed one of the conditions of adapting stimulation. Without the condition of pre-exposure to an adapting stimulus (or stimuli), there was little difference between the observations obtained from the subjects that ingested DXM and controls. Peak impact on subject response occurred at 60 min post-ingestion, whereas the scores of controls who ingested placebo were not impacted. Conclusion: The results – that DXM blocks vibrotactile adaptation – is consistent with the suggestion that NMDAR-mediated neurotransmission plays a significant role in the perceptual adaptive response. This finding is also consistent with neurophysiological findings that report observations of the effects of NMDAR block on the SI cortical response to repetitive vibrotactile stimulation.
Theta and Riemann xi function representations from harmonic oscillator eigensolutions

Abstract From eigensolutions of the harmonic oscillator or Kepler–Coulomb Hamiltonian we extend the functional equation for the Riemann zeta function and develop integral representations for the Riemann xi function that is the completed classical zeta function. A key result provides a basis for generalizing the important Riemann–Siegel integral formula.
Ascribed Status, Lexical Diversity, and Accent: Determinants of Perceived Status, Solidarity, and Control of Speech Style

The effects of status ascriptions (high vs. low) and accent (standard American vs. Mexican-American) upon perceptions of speaker status and solidarity are examined. Consequences of the independent variables for a novel dependent variable, perceived control of speech style, are examined also. One hundred and twenty-two respondents rated one of eight message versions in a between-group design. Results indicated, among other things, that: (1) status ascriptions and accent combined additively to affect judgements of speaker status, as did status ascriptions and diversity; (2) lexical diversity and accent affected both solidarity judgements and status judgements interactively, although the nature of the interactive effect differed across measures; and (3) lexical diversity was an especially potent determinant of perceptions of control of speech style. It is suggested that a clear picture of linguistic and non-linguistic determinants of judgements of speaker status is emerging.
Space Application of Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring

Piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) are lightweight and inexpensive enablers for a large class of structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. This paper presents and discusses the challenges and opportunities related to the use of PWAS in the structures specific to space applications. The challenges posed by space structures are often different from those encountered in conventional structures. After a review of PWAS principles, the paper discusses the multi-physics power and energy transduction between structurally guided waves and PWAS; predictive modeling results using a simplified analytical approach are presented. Experimental results on space-like specimen structures are presented. Survivability of PWAS transducers under cryogenic space-like conditions is experimentally verified. The paper ends with conclusions and suggestions for further work.
The theory of heavy hadronic mesons

The theory of the so-called D-mesons of Goldhaberet al. and Peruzziet al. is presented in some detail in the context of the theory of the differential dispersion relations of one of the simplest gaugetheoretic formulations of the weak and electromagnetic interactions-namely, theSU2 ×U1 model of Salam, J. C. Ward and Weinberg. This latter model we take for its simplicity, for the changes which experiment may force into it are not expected to modify the results of this paper in any significant way. It appears that we may have a complete picture of the D’s without introducing a new auantum number. The main quantitative result of the investigation is the prediction that, in the ordinarySU3 symmetry limit,mD=mψ/J/√e, wheree is the base of the natural-logarithm function:e=2.7183. Withmψ/J=3.098 GeV, this formula givesmD=1.879 GeV, in reasonable agreement with the observationsmD0=1.865 GeV andmD+=1.876 GeV.
Genetically Targeted Binary Labeling of Retinal Neurons

A major stumbling block to understanding neural circuits is the extreme anatomical and functional diversity of interneurons. Subsets of interneurons can be targeted for manipulation using Cre mouse lines, but Cre expression is rarely confined to a single interneuron type. It is essential to have a strategy that further restricts labeling in Cre driver lines. We now describe an approach that combines Cre driver mice, recombinant adeno-associated virus, and rabies virus to produce sparse but binary labeling of select interneurons—frequently only a single cell in a large region. We used this approach to characterize the retinal amacrine and ganglion cell types in five GABAergic Cre mouse (Mus musculus) lines, and identified two new amacrine cell types: an asymmetric medium-field type and a wide-field type. We also labeled several wide-field amacrine cell types that have been previously identified based on morphology but whose connectivity and function had not been systematically studied due to lack of genetic markers. All Cre-expressing amacrine cells labeled with an antibody to GABA. Cre-expressing RGCs lacked GABA labeling and included classically defined as well as recently identified types. In addition to the retina, our technique leads to sparse labeling of neurons in the cortex, lateral geniculate nucleus, and superior colliculus, and can be used to express optogenetic tools such as channelrhodopsin and protein sensors such as GCaMP. The Cre drivers identified in this study provide genetic access to otherwise hard to access cell types for systematic analysis including anatomical characterization, physiological recording, optogenetic and/or chemical manipulation, and circuit mapping.
Examination of the effects of listening practice on synthesized speech comprehension

This study compared the ability of two groups of young adults to comprehend DECTalk™ synthesized speech using a sentence verification task. The experimental group received 8 days of practice listening to synthesized speech, whereas the control group did not. The experimental subjects' response latencies shortened significantly from the pretest to the post-test to synthesized false sentences. However, although their response latencies also shortened to synthesized true sentences, this difference approached, but did not reach, statistical significance. The control subjects' response latencies did not shorten significantly to either synthesized true or false sentences. Response latencies of both groups were significantly slower to DECTalk than to natural sentences during both the pre- and post-tests. Implications that these findings may have for the successful use of even highly intelligible synthesized speech are discussed.
Precision Measurements of Binary and Multicomponent Diffusion Coefficients in Protein Solutions Relevant to Crystal Growth: Lysozyme Chloride in Water and Aqueous NaCl at pH 4.5 and 25 °C ┴

Accurate models of protein diffusion are important in a number of applications, including liquid−liquid phase separation and growth of protein crystals for X-ray diffraction studies. In concentrated multicomponent protein systems, significant deviations from pseudobinary behavior can be expected. Rayleigh interferometry is used to measure the four elements (Dij)v of the ternary diffusion coefficient matrix for the extensively investigated protein, hen egg-white lysozyme (component 1) in aqueous NaCl (component 2) at pH 4.5 and 25 °C. These are the first multicomponent diffusion coefficients measured for any protein system at concentrations high enough to be relevant to modeling and prediction of crystal growth or other phase transitions, and the first for a system involving lysozyme at any concentration. The four ternary diffusion coefficients for the system lysozyme chloride/NaCl/water are reported for lysozyme chloride at 0.60 mM (8.6 mg/mL) and NaCl at concentrations of 0.25, 0.50, 0.65, 0.90, and 1.30...