cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Criteria for the recognition of salt-pan evaporites

Layered evaporites can accumulate in: (1) ephemeral saline pans, (2) shallow perennial lagoons or lakes, and (3) deep perennial basins. Criteria for recognizing evaporites deposited in these settings have yet to be explicitly formulated. The characteristics of the ephemeral saline pan setting have been determined by examining eight. Holocene halite-dominated pans (salt pans) and their deposits (marine and non-marine) from the U.S., Mexico, Egypt and Bolivia. These salt pans are typified by alternating periods of flooding, resulting in a temporary brackish lake, evaporative concentration, when the lake becomes saline, and desiccation, which produces a dry pan fed only by groundwater. The resulting deposits consist of alternating layers (millimetres to decimetres) of halite and mud. The layers of halite are characterized by: (1) vertical and horizontal cavities, rounded crystal edges and horizontal truncation surfaces, due to dissolution during flooding; (2) vertical ‘chevrons’ and ‘cornets’ grown syntaxially on the bottom during the saline lake stage; (3) halite cements (overgrowths and euhedral cavity linings) and disruption of layering into metre-scale polygons, produced during the desiccation stage. The muddy interbeds are characterized by displacive growth of halite during the desiccation stage. Immediately below the surface of the pan the halite layers are ‘matured’ by repeated episodes of dissolution and diagenetic crystal growth. This results in porous crusts with patches of ‘chevron’ and ‘cornet’ crystals truncated by dissolution, clear diagenetic halite cement, and internal sediment. These layers of ‘mature’ halite closely resemble the patchy cloudy and clear textures of ancient halite deposits. Holocene salt-pans are known to cover thousands of square kilometres and cap halite deposits hundreds of metres thick, so they are realistic models for ancient evaporites in scale, e.g. Permian Salado Formation of New Mexico-Texas, which preserves many primary salt-pan features.
A comparison of the psychoticism scale of the EPQ and the EPQ--R.

(1988). A Comparison of the Psychoticism Scale of the EPQ and the EPQ-R. The Journal of Psychology: Vol. 122, No. 6, pp. 623-624.
Parametric study of buoyancy-induced flow and heat transfer from L-shaped corners with asymmetrically heated surfaces

Abstract In this concluding companion work to Angirasa et al. [Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 37 , 2439–2463 (1994)] a parametric numerical study of two-dimensional (2D) buoyancy-induced flow and heat transfer over L-shaped corners with asymmetric heating is reported. Both the horizontal and vertical surfaces are isothermal and are maintained at different temperatures above ambient temperature. The effect of changing horizontal surface temperature on flow and heat transfer over a square corner is discussed in detail. The influence of aspect ratio (length of horizontal surface: height of vertical surface) is examined. The Prandtl number is shown to have significant influence on flow and transport. For high Pr , unsteady flows result with multiple plume formations on the horizontal surface. Nusselt number data are presented for a wide range of parameters studied. Flow visualization using smoke demonstrate interesting flow characteristics revealed by the numerical simulations.
Protein Friction causes Molecular Wear in Kinesin-Powered Molecular Shuttles

During the operation of biological nanomachines, such as motor proteins, energy has to be dissipated to enable cycles of unbinding and rebinding leading to stepwise movement. Since the energy dissipation is, for low velocities, proportional to the velocity of movement, it can be conceptually understood as “protein friction”. At the same time, the forces generated during the unbinding steps can be expected to generate adhesive wear. Here, the degradation of microtubules gliding on surfaces covered by kinesin motor proteins is examined, a situation with relevance to biological systems as well as engineered hybrid systems, such as molecular shuttles powered by motor proteins. We find that the gliding motion leads to a detectable shortening of the microtubules that depends non-linearly on the kinesin density and the microtubule velocity. We interpret our data as a result of the sequential removal of the most weakly bound tubulin dimers from the end of the microtubule by the motors.
Trace- and norm-compatible extensions of finite fields

J. H. Conway suggested to use norm-compatible polynomials when constructing extension fields in order to get finite field embeddings, which are computationally easy to handle. Analogous to norm-compatibility for the multiplicative group of ¯Fq we exhibit the notion of trace-compatibility for its additive group. By this we get computationally simple embeddings in the case of normal basis representations of finite fields. We give an algorithm for computing tracecompatible polynomials and count the number of distinct compatible polynomials of a fixed degree of both kinds.
Structural Dynamics of C-domain of Cardiac Troponin I Protein in Reconstituted Thin Filament

The regulatory function of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) involves three important contiguous regions within its C-domain: the inhibitory region (IR), the regulatory region (RR), and the mobile domain (MD). Within these regions, the dynamics of regional structure and kinetics of transitions in dynamic state are believed to facilitate regulatory signaling. This study was designed to use fluorescence anisotropy techniques to acquire steady-state and kinetic information on the dynamic state of the C-domain of cTnI in the reconstituted thin filament. A series of single cysteine cTnI mutants was generated, labeled with the fluorophore tetramethylrhodamine, and subjected to various anisotropy experiments at the thin filament level. The structure of the IR was found to be less dynamic than that of the RR and the MD, and Ca2+ binding induced minimal changes in IR dynamics: the flexibility of the RR decreased, whereas the MD became more flexible. Anisotropy stopped-flow experiments showed that the kinetics describing the transition of the MD and RR from the Ca2+-bound to the Ca2+-free dynamic states were significantly faster (53.2–116.8 s−1) than that of the IR (14.1 s−1). Our results support the fly casting mechanism, implying that an unstructured MD with rapid dynamics and kinetics plays a critical role to initiate relaxation upon Ca2+ dissociation by rapidly interacting with actin to promote the dissociation of the RR from the N-domain of cTnC. In contrast, the IR responds to Ca2+ signals with slow structural dynamics and transition kinetics. The collective findings suggested a fourth state of activation.
Reforming the Short-Term Funding Markets

Traditionally, governments have established licensing requirements for the issuance of important classes of monetary instruments—namely, deposit obligations and bank notes. Their issuance has been a legal privilege. This article proposes a similar legal regime for other short-term IOUs, which present similar problems. The approach would be functional rather than formalistic. The article sketches a prototype of such a regulatory system. In addition, the article offers a critical analysis of current reform initiatives pertaining to the short-term funding markets. It finds reasons to doubt that they will be effective. It proposes an alternative, coordinated regulatory approach that could be implemented under current U.S. law.
Pathophysiology of Resistant Hypertension in Chronic Kidney Disease

Hypertension associated with chronic kidney diseases often is resistant to drug treatment. This review deals with two main aspects of the management of CKD patients with hypertension: the role of sodium/volume and the need for dietary salt restriction, as well as appropriate use of diuretics and what currently is called sequential nephron blockade; the second aspect that is addressed extensively in this review is the role of the sympathetic nervous system and the possible clinical use of renal denervation.
The trade-winds of the eastern Caribbean

Some of the earliest speculations concerning the general circulation of the atmosphere were associated with a restricted area in the North Atlantic characterized by unusually steady northeast winds. On account of their practical aid in navigation and their striking uniformity in direction and force they became known as “trade-winds” at an early period. Their origin and nature have long been objects of special investigation. Until recent years these winds were known mostly by their variations at sea-level. The rapid development of aerial navigation has directed renewed attention to them in their relations to tropical air-routes, and has made the investigation of conditions to great elevations above sea-level a matter of supreme practical importance.
Integration of 64-Detector Lower Extremity CT Angiography into Whole-Body Trauma Imaging: Feasibility and Early Experience

When lower extremity CT angiography was combined with whole-body CT imaging in a multiphasic protocol, important vascular injuries requiring surgical management were identified.
Mathematics, genetics and evolution

The importance of mathematics and statistics in genetics is well known. Perhaps less well known is the importance of these subjects in evolution. The main problem that Darwin saw in his theory of evolution by natural selection was solved by some simple mathematics. It is also not a coincidence that the re-writing of the Darwinian theory in Mendelian terms was carried largely by mathematical methods. In this article I discuss these historical matters and then consider more recent work showing how mathematical and statistical methods have been central to current genetical and evolutionary research.
HF wire antenna array design via FDTD and MOM techniques

In this study, wire antenna systems are analyzed via two well-known techniques: the finite-difference time-domain and method of moments. The advantages and disadvantages of the techniques and their parameter requirements are discussed on a canonical test case. Various antenna systems are designed and their performances are tested under different environmental conditions with variety of parameters. Different ground screens are modeled over a lossy ground and their effects on antenna gain and radiation patterns are investigated. Both broad-side and end-fire arrays are simulated and electronic beam steering is simulated.
Situation detection and control using spatio-temporal analysis of microblogs

Large volumes of spatio-temporal-thematic data being created using sites like Twitter and Jaiku, can potentially be combined to detect events, and understand various 'situations' as they are evolving at different spatio-temporal granularity across the world. Taking inspiration from traditional image pixels which represent aggregation of photon energies at a location, we consider aggregation of user interest levels at different geo-locations as social pixels. Combining such pixels spatio-temporally allows for creation of social images and video. Here, we describe how the use of relevant (media processing inspired) situation detection operators upon such 'images', and domain based rules can be used to decide relevant control actions. The ideas are showcased using a Swine flu monitoring application which uses Twitter data.
The effects of a physician-nurse patient care team on patient satisfaction in an academic ED.

The objectives were to investigate the effects of a RN/MD patient care team operational change on ED patient satisfaction. In period 1, RNs had standard room assignments and MDs evaluated patients based upon physician availability and perceived patient load. In period 2, RNs and MDs were organized into 2 patient care "teams" and patients were assigned to teams on an alternating basis. Patient satisfaction was rated using the standard ED Press, Ganey survey instrument. A total of 508 surveys were returned in period 1 and 454 in period 2. From period 1 to 2, overall ED patient satisfaction improved from 78.2 +/- 20.4% to 82.2 +/- 17.2% (improvement from 23rd to 59th percentile, P <or=.01). Patient satisfaction with waiting time to treatment area improved from the 33rd to 52nd percentile (73.6 +/- 30.0% v 77.4 +/- 27.0%, P <or=.05). Satisfaction with waiting time to see the physician also improved from the 25th to the 62nd percentile (67.6 +/- 32.2% v 73.4 +/- 28.5%, P <or=.01). Patients feelings that staff cared about them as a person improved from the 20th to the 65th percentile (77.3 +/- 28.3% v 83.0 +/- 22.4%, P <or=.01) Patients were more likely to recommend the ED following the operational change, improving from the 26th to 69th percentile (75.8 +/- 32.7% v 82.83 +/- 25.3%, P <or=.01). ED patient care using a RN/MD patient care team improved patients' overall waiting time and length of stay satisfaction and improved the patients' satisfaction with staff and their likelihood of recommending the ED to others.
Position/force control of a manipulator with unknown constraints

The control of force as well as position of the end-effector in a manipulator has become a common requirement in many applications. The force exerted by the end-effector is usually controlled in a direction normal to the constraint surface, while the position of the end-effector is maintained in the tangential direction. In this paper, the position/force control of a manipulator over unknown surfaces is studied. The position and force degrees of freedom are specified for unknown constraint surfaces depending on the type of contact. Three types of contact (point, line, and plane) are considered. The type of contact is determined based on the point of contact which is calculated from information received from a wrist force/torque sensor. The reduced order position/force control method is then applied to effectively control the manipulator in orthogonal directions considering the type of contact. An example is presented to demonstrate the technique. >
Bridging the Disciplinary Divide

the U.S. Economy." American Political Science Review 86 (September):597-611. Mayer, William G. 1992. The Changing American Mind: How and Why American Public Opinion Changed between 1960 and 1988. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Mondak, Jeffery J. 1994. "Cognitive Heuristics, Heuristic Processing, and Efficiency in Political Decision Making" in Research in Micropolitics. Vol 4: New Directions in Political Psychology, ed. Michael X. Delli Carpini, Leonie Huddy, Robert Y. Shapiro. Greenwich, CT: JAI, 117-42. Mutz, Diane C. 1994. "The Political Effects of Perception of Mass Opinion" in Research in Micropolitics. Vol 4: New Directions in Political Psychology, ed. Michael X. Delli Carpini, Leonie Huddy, Robert Y. Shapiro. Greenwich, CT: JAI, 143-67. Neuman, W. Russell, Marion R. Just, and Ann N. Crigler. 1992. Common Knowledge: News and the Construction of Political Meaning. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Noelle-Neumann, Elisabeth. 1984. The Spiral of Silence. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Page, Benjamin I., and Robert Y. Shapiro. 1992. The Rational Public. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Page, Benjamin I., Robert Y. Shapiro, and Glenn R. Dempsey. 1987. "What Moves Public Opinion." American Political Science Review 81 (March): 175-90. Patterson, Thomas. 1993. Out of Order. New York: Knopf. Putnam, Robert D. 1995. "Tuning In, Tuning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital in America." 1995. PS: Political Science & Politics 28 (December):664-83. Robinson, Michael J. 1976. "Public Affairs Television and the Growth of Political Malaise: The Case of 'The Selling of the Pentagon.' " American Political Science Review 70 (June):409-32. Sabato, Larry. 1993. Feeding Frenzy: How Attack Journalism Has Transformed American Politics. New York: Free Press.
Biographical Feature: Josephine Morello, Ph.D.

She was “a true pioneer in the profession and field of clinical microbiology” and “an incredible mentor for so many from young professionals in the field to medical students to nursing students—the list could go on and on.” These statements were only a few of the phrases that came to
Lead Hazards within the Range of the California Condor

The prevalence of lead in Golden Eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) occurring within the recent historical range of the California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus) was deter- mined by analyzing blood samples from 162 Golden Eagles captured between June 1985 and December 1986 at three sites. We found no significant differences between sex and age classes in blood lead levels nor were there differences between residents and migrants. Significant differences were found between months with the highest blood lead levels oc- curring during the fall/winter period. Approximately one-third (35.8%) of the Golden Eagle population sampled had elevated blood lead levels, values similar to those reported for free- flying California Condors. Given this rate of exposure, if the proposed releases of California Condors back to the wild are to succeed, whether in their former range or elsewhere, any potential for lead poisoning must be reduced. It is essential that we identify the sources of the lead, the seasonal and geographic distribution of these sources, and develop management strategies to reduce or eliminate the hazard.
Variational r-adaption in elastodynamics

We develop a variational r-adaptive finite element framework for solid dynamic applications and explore its conceptual links with the theory of dynamic configurational forces. The central idea underlying the proposed approach is to allow Hamilton’s principle of stationary action to determine jointly the evolution of the displacement field and the discretization of the reference configuration of the body. This is accomplished by rendering the action stationary with respect to the material and spatial nodal coordinates simultaneously. However, we find that a naive consistent Galerkin discretization of the action leads to intrinsically unstable solutions. Remarkably, we also find that this unstable behavior is eliminated when a mixed, multifield version of Hamilton’s principle is adopted. Additional features of the proposed numerical implementation include the use of uncoupled space and time discretizations; the use of independent space interpolations for velocities and deformations; the application of these interpolations over a continuously varying adaptive mesh; and the application of mixed variational integrators with independent time interpolations for velocities and nodal parameters. The accuracy, robustness and versatility of the approach are assessed and demonstrated by way of convergence tests and selected examples.
Workshop on Software Technologies for Ultra-Large Scale Systems

Given the inevitable trends towards increasing complexity of software-intensive systems, many future software-intensive systems will be ultra-large scale (ULS). Radical scale-up of systems will be manifested in many dimensions: implementation complexity, distribution, decentralization, networking, storage, and quality-of-service, dependability/security, size and structure of development organizations and methods, complexity of organizations surrounding deployed systems, and so forth. Radical increases in scale and complexity will demand new approaches to all aspects of system conception, definition, development, deployment, use, maintenance, evolution, and regulation. This workshop, the First ICSE Workshop on ULS systems, has several goals: to raise awareness of ULS systems in the ICSE community; to further our understanding of the characteristics of such systems; to explore the unique research problems of ULS systems; to help foster a community who study and build ULS systems; and to understand the role and the shortcomings of traditional software engineering concepts, methods, and tools relative to ULS systems.
Critique of p-values

Summary This paper generalizes the notion of p-value to obtain a system for assessing evidence in favor of an hypothesis. It is not quite a quantification in that evidence is a pair of numbers (the p-value and the p-value with null and alternative interchanged) with evidence for the alternative being claimed when the first number is small and the second is at least moderately large. Traditional significance tests present p-values as a measure of evidence against a theory. This usage is rarely called for since scientists usually wish to accept theories (for the time being) not just not reject them; they are more interested in evidence for a theory. P-values are not just good or bad for this purpose; their efficacy depends on specifics. We find that a single p-value does not measure evidence for a simple hypothesis relative to a simple alternative, but consideration of both p-values leads to a satisfactory theory. This consideration does not, in general, extend to composite hypotheses since there, best evidence calls for optimization of a bivariate objective function. But in some cases, notably one sided tests for the exponential family, the optimization can be solved, and a single p-value does provide an appealing measure of best evidence for a hypothesis. One possible extension of this theory is proposed and illustrated with a practical safety analysis problem involving the difference of two random variables. Resume Cet article generalise la notion de p-valeur pour obtenir un systeme d'evaluation des preuves en faveur d'une hypothese. Ce n'est pas tout a fait une quantification etant donne que la preuve est constituee d'une paire de nombres (la p-valeur et la p-valeur avec hypotheses nulle et alternative interchangees); l'hypothese alternative est consideree comme prouvee lorsque le premier nombre est petit et le second assez grand. Les tests traditionnels de signification pesentent les p-valeurs comme une mesure de la preuve contre une theorie. Cet usage s'impose rarement du fait que les scientifiques souhaitent habituellement accepter les theories (a l'heure actuelle) et pas seulement ne pas les rejeter. Ils sont plus ineresses par les preuves en faveur d'une theorie. Les p-valeurs ne sont pas seulement bonnes ou mauvaises dans cette optique; leur efficacie depend de details. Nous considerons qu'une seule p-valeur ne mesure pas la preuve d'une hypothese simple relative a une alternative simple, mais la prise en compte des deux p-valeurs conduit a une theorie satisfaisante. Ce raisonnement ne s'etend pas, en general, a des hypotheses composites car dans ce cas, les meilleures demonstrations font appel a l'optimisation d'une fonction objective bivariante. Mais dans certains cas, notamment les tests unidimensionnels pour la famille exponentielle, l'optimisation peut etre resolue et une seule p-valeur fournit une mesure convaincante de la meilleure preuve d'une hypothese. Un prolongement possible de cette theorie est propose et illustre par un probleme pratique d'analyse de securite prenant en compte la difference de deux variables aleatoires
Inhibition of NFκB Activity through Maintenance of IκBα Levels Contributes to Dihydrotestosterone-mediated Repression of the Interleukin-6 Promoter

Androgens repress expression of many genes, yet the mechanism of this activity has remained elusive. The cytokine, interleukin-6, is active in a variety of biological systems, and its expression is repressed by androgens. Accordingly we dissected the mechanism of androgen's ability to inhibit interleukin-6 expression at the molecular level. In a series of co-transfection assays, we found that 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone, through the androgen receptor, repressed activation of the interleukin-6 promoter, in part, by inhibiting NFkappaB activity. It did not appear that 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone inhibited NFkappaB by activating the androgen receptor to compete for the NFkappaB response element as we could not detect androgen receptor binding to the IL-6 promoter by DNase I footprinting assay. However, by electrophoretic mobility shift assay we found that 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone repressed formation of NFkappaB middle dotNFkappaB response element complex formation. In LNCaP prostate carcinoma cells, 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone achieved this effect through maintenance of IkappaBalpha protein levels in the face of phorbol ester, a stimulus that results in IkappaBalpha degradation. Finally, we confirmed that IkappaBalpha inhibits NFkappaB-mediated activation of the interleukin-6 promoter. These data suggest that maintenance of IkappaBalpha levels may represent the first identified mechanism for androgen-mediated repression of a natural androgen-regulated gene.
Chylothorax Caused by Paragonimus westermani in a Native Californian

Paragonimiasis is a parasitic infection endemic in Asia but uncommon in the United States. It presents most frequently with cough and hemoptysis. Pleural effusions are common and can manifest occasionally as a pseudochylothorax, but a true chylothorax has, to our knowledge, never been reported. We report a case of a chylothorax from infection with Paragonimus westermani. The case is also unique because it occurred in a native Californian who had not traveled to Asia and was infected by eating raw crabs at a local sushi restaurant. The freshwater crabs had been imported from Asia.
Defining the Acute Kidney Injury and Repair Transcriptome

Summary: The mammalian kidney has an intrinsic ability to repair after significant injury. However, this process is inefficient: patients are at high risk for the loss of kidney function in later life. No therapy exists to treat established acute kidney injury (AKI) per se: strategies to promote endogenous repair processes and retard associated fibrosis are a high priority. Whole-organ gene expression profiling has been used to identify repair responses initiated with AKI, and factors that may promote the transition from AKI to chronic kidney disease. Transcriptional profiling has shown molecular markers and potential regulatory pathways of renal repair. Activation of a few key developmental pathways has been reported during repair. Whether these are comparable networks with similar target genes with those in earlier nephrogenesis remains unclear. Altered microRNA profiles, persistent tubular injury responses, and distinct late inflammatory responses highlight continuing kidney pathology. Additional insights into injury and repair processes will be gained by study of the repair transcriptome and cell-specific translatome using high-resolution technologies such as RNA sequencing and translational profiling tailored to specific cellular compartments within the kidney. An enhanced understanding holds promise for both the identification of novel therapeutic targets and biomarker-based evaluation of the damage-repair process.
Polynomial-time algorithms for finding elements of prime order and sylow subgroups

Abstract Assume that generators are given for a subgroup G of the symmetric group Sn of degree n, and that r is a prime dividing |;G|;. Polynomial-time algorithms are given for finding an element of G of order r, and for finding a Sylow r-subgroup of G if G is simple.
The New Relevant Alternatives TheorY

A prominent theme in much recent epistemology is that the requirements for knowledge are limited and context-dependent. The Relevant Alternatives Theory (RAT) is a systematic articulation of this point of view. Since it was put forward by Fred Dretske and Alvin Goldman, the RAT has undergone significant evolution, and it now enjoys broad acceptance. But I will argue that the theory in its current form (the "New Relevant Alternatives Theory") is deeply defective. It fails as a response to skepticism, and is untenable as a positive account of what and how we know.
Loss-of-function GJA12/Connexin47 mutations cause Pelizaeus–Merzbacher-like disease

Abstract Recessive mutations in GJA12/Cx47 , the gene encoding the gap junction protein connexin47 (Cx47), cause Pelizaeus–Merzbacher-like disease (PMLD), which is characterized by severe CNS dysmyelination. Three missense PMLD mutations, P87S, Y269D and M283T, were expressed in communication-incompetent HeLa cells, and in each case the mutant proteins appeared to at least partially accumulate in the ER. Cells expressing each mutant did not pass Lucifer Yellow or neurobiotin in scrape loading assays, in contrast to robust transfer in cells expressing wild type Cx47. Dual whole-cell patch clamping of transfected Neuro2A cells demonstrated that none of the mutants formed functional channels, in contrast to wild type Cx47. Immunostaining sections of primate brains demonstrated that oligodendrocytes express Cx47, which is primarily localized to their cell bodies. Thus, the Cx47 mutants associated with PMLD likely disrupt the gap junction coupling between astrocytes and oligodendrocytes.
Membrane Effects in Biaxial Compression Tests

The effects of the confining membrane in laboratory tests on soil specimens have been the subject of numerous experimental, analytical, and numerical studies over the past half-century. This technical note expands the existing knowledge base by presenting a methodology and the associated results from an experimental study that has quantified the effect of the confining membrane in biaxial shear tests conducted on medium sand. The applicability of the method of biaxial tests on clay specimens is also presented. The results show that for both tests on sands and clays, the effect of the membrane on the shear stress on the failure plane are significant and should be accounted for in the interpretation of biaxial shear test results where localization occurs.
Transport of particulate and gaseous pollutants in the vicinity of a human body

Abstract A uniform pollutant concentration in indoor environments can be an inappropriate representation of breathing concentration. This is especially true when local airflow in the vicinity of an occupant is dominant in transporting pollutants. The present study investigates the airflow in the vicinity of a human body, effects of respiration on breathing concentration of particulate and gaseous pollutants, and inhalation exposure in relation to source position and overall airflow patterns. It is based on experiments with a human simulator in a full-scale environmental chamber. Airflow and pollutant concentrations in the vicinity of a thermal manikin are monitored, while varying parameters including breathing, arm/hand movements, and ventilation system. Results show that breathing of a sedentary manikin has a measurable influence on the airflow in breathing zone, whereas it has very small impacts on occupant thermal plume. Also, localized hand motions have insignificant effects on the thermal plume. The results indicate that overall airflow pattern affect the inhaled particle concentrations. With highly mixed airflow in the space, relatively uniform concentration patterns occur in the occupant vicinity. However, with stratified airflow patterns, non-uniform concentration patterns are observed due to the occupant thermal plume. With a particle source at floor level and in near proximity to an occupant, inhaled particle concentrations are up to four times higher than the ambient concentrations. This finding implies that occupant thermal plume may play a significant role in transporting pollutants from floor level to the breathing zone. The non-uniform concentration observed with stratified flow also suggests caution in estimating inhalation exposure using a “well-mixed” mass balance model.
mTor: A multipath Tor routing beyond bandwidth throttling

One of the main obstacles that impede further expansion of Tor, the most popular anonymous communication system, is its large performance variance. The problem becomes worse when bandwidth-intensive applications, such as video streaming, contend with latency-sensitive applications, such as web browsing, for the scarce resources. Most of the existing solutions involve circuit-scheduling techniques to prioritize interactive traffic over bulk traffic or to completely throttle traffic of bandwidth-intensive applications. However, these approaches not only rely on accurate detection of traffic types but also adopt detection strategies that are easy to game. In this paper, we propose a different approach by exploring new capabilities of Tor to support bulk data transfers without degrading the performance of interactive traffic. Based on our observations that a large portion of low-bandwidth relays are under-utilized, we develop a multi-path Tor (mTor) routing algorithm to cater to bandwidth-intensive applications by constructing multiple circuits across low-bandwidth Tor relays. We present a self-adaptive “pulling” scheduling technique to dynamically allocate cells across multiple circuits, and an active congestion detection scheme to prevent slow circuits from becoming a bottleneck of the entire tunnel. Based on the results from experiments on the live Tor network and simulations over the Shadow simulator [1], we conclude that mTor not only achieves a desirable performance for bandwidth-intensive applications by utilizing multiple low-bandwidth relays, but also benefits latency-sensitive applications by reducing the load on high-bandwidth relays.
THE QT INTERVAL IN THE DOG ECG: IMPORTANCE IN PRECLINICAL TOXICOLOGY AND RELATIONSHIP TO HEART RATE

The significance for toxicology of QT-interval changes, their relationship to heart rate (HR), and the formulas used to correct the QT interval for HR are discussed. A number of drugs belonging to different therapeutic classes produce increases in QT-interval duration, and this change has been associated with ventricular arrhythmias in humans and, on some occasions, in animals. Investigation of changes in QT intervals in toxicity studies in dogs is therefore of potential value. Changes in the QT interval are inversely correlated with changes in HR; that is, they are positively correlated with changes in the interval RR. This relationship results from complex interactions among physiological mechanisms regulating cardiovascular function. Because of this relationship, direct effects of compounds on the QT interval should be distinguished from indirect effects on HR. The direct effect can be assessed on the basis of QT values corrected for HR (QTc). Various equations have been proposed to describe the relati...
Repair of enterocele with preservation of the vagina.

Abstract A technique for the repair of a very large enterocele is presented. Illustrative cases are also presented.
Abstract 152: Oxidized Low-Density Lipoprotein Immune Complexes Generate an Inflammatory Immune Response by Signaling Through Multiple Receptors on Dendritic Cells

Antibodies to oxidized LDL (oxLDL) and resulting immune complexes (ICs) are a prominent feature of atherosclerosis and diseases associated with increased atherosclerosis including Type 2-diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. Although levels of oxLDL-ICs correlate with disease severity and associate with pro-inflammatory activation of macrophages in vitro , it is currently unclear whether these ICs are simply biomarkers or play an active role in disease pathogenesis. One possible mechanism by which oxLDL-ICs may regulate inflammation in atherosclerosis is by interacting with Fc gamma receptors (FcgRs) expressed on the surface of antigen presenting cells, such as dendritic cells (DCs). Not surprisingly, signaling through FcgRs is tightly regulated and dependent on their relative cell surface density. In addition, FcgR signaling has been shown to be linked to Toll like receptor-4 (TLR-4), a pattern recognition receptor. We hypothesize that oxLDL-ICs exacerbate atherosclerosis via signaling through FcgRs and TLR4 on DCs resulting in a pro-inflammatory T cell response. To test this hypothesis, bone marrow derived DCs (BMDCs) were treated with in vitro generated oxLDL ICs. Interestingly, BMDCs treated with oxLDL-ICs had increased expression of the activation markers MHC-II and CD40 and produced greater levels of the Th17 polarizing cytokines IL-1beta and IL-23 compared to cells treated with oxLDL alone. Secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines was significantly decreased by pre-treatment of BMDCs with a TLR4 inhibitor and by blocking FcgR signaling. This suggests that responses to oxLDL-ICs involve both TLR-4 and FcgRs. Furthermore, incubation of OT-II T cells with BMDCs treated with oxLDL-IC prior to incubation with ovalbumin peptide displayed increased pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion compared to incubation with oxLDL alone. In conclusion, our studies provide new evidence that oxLDL-ICs signal through multiple receptors on DCs resulting in increased inflammatory potential. Because of their critical function in shaping the T cell response, we believe that DC signaling via FcgRs and oxLDL-ICs represents an important link between innate and adaptive immunity in atherosclerosis.
The Critical Need for Increased Selectivity, Not Increased Water Permeability, for Desalination Membranes

Desalination membranes are essential for the treatment of unconventional water sources, such as seawater and wastewater, to alleviate water scarcity. Promising research efforts on novel membrane materials may yield significant performance gains over state-of-the-art thin-film composite (TFC) membranes, which are constrained by the permeability–selectivity trade-off. However, little guidance currently exists on the practical impact of such performance gains, namely enhanced water permeability or enhanced water–solute selectivity. In this critical review, we first discuss the performance of current TFC membranes. We then highlight and provide context for recent module-scale modeling studies that have found limited impact of increased water permeability on the efficiency of desalination processes. Next we cover several important examples of water treatment processes in which inadequate membrane selectivity hinders process efficacy. We conclude with a brief discussion of how the need for enhanced selectivity ...
Environmental tobacco smoke in an unrestricted smoking workplace: area and personal exposure monitoring.

The objective of this investigation was to determine the extent of areal and day-to-day variability of stationary environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) concentrations in a single large facility where smoking was both prevalent and unrestricted, and to determine the degree of daily variation in the personal exposure levels of ETS constituents in the same facility. The subject facility was a relatively new four-story office building with an approximate volume of 1.3 million ft3. The exchange of outside air in the building was determined to be between 0.6 and 0.7 air changes per hour. Eighty-seven area samples (excluding background) were collected at 29 locations over the course of 6 days of sampling. Locations included offices and cubicles occupied by smokers and nonsmokers, common areas, and the computer and mail rooms. Twenty-four nonsmoking subjects wore personal sampling systems to collect breathing zone air samples on each of 3 days in succession. This generated a total of seventy-two 8-h time-weighted average (TWA) personal exposure samples. In all samples, respirable suspended particulate matter, ultraviolet light-absorbing and fluorescing particulate matter, solanesol, nicotine, and 3-ethenyl pyridine were determined. With the exception of a few locations, tobacco-specific airborne constituents were determined in all samples. Not surprisingly, areas with the highest ETS constituent concentrations were offices and cubicles of smokers. Median and 95th percentile concentrations for all area samples, excluding background, were determined to be 1.5 and 8.7 μg/m3 for nicotine, and 8.2 and 59 μg/m3 for ETS-specific particles (as solanesol-related particulate matter, Sol-PM), respectively. Personal exposure concentrations of ETS components were similar to those levels found in the area samples (median nicotine and Sol-PM concentrations were 1.24 and 7.1 μg/m3, respectively), but the range of concentrations was somewhat smaller. For example, the 95th percentile 8-h TWA nicotine and ETS-specific particle (as Sol-PM) concentrations were 3.58 and 21.9 μg/m3, respectively. Intrasubject variation of daily concentrations ranged from 20% to 60%, depending on the component. Self-reported proximity to smokers was supported by higher ETS concentrations determined from the personal monitors, but only to a modest extent. Although smoking was completely unrestricted inside the main office areas of the facility, ETS levels, either areal or from personal exposure measurements, were lower than those estimated by Occupational Safety and Health Administration to be present in such facilities.
Radial bulk diffusion into heterogeneous tissue

An expression is derived which describes the transient distribution of solute diffusing into heterogeneous tissue from a fully-stirred cylindrical region in which there has been a step change in solute concentration. This is envisaged as a model for the uptake of drugs by vessel walls, although the same approach has been extended for estimating the mode of total uptake of substances by annular specimens of tissue. Tissue is regarded as effectively composed of two phases—an extracellular (continuous) phase, similar to water, and a dispersed phase comprising cells of irregular profile. In each phase the relevant mode of uptake is taken as bulk diffusion rather than the permeation of a surface membrane.
A new genus and species of predaceous mite in the parasitic family Macronyssidae (Acari: Mesostigmata)

Coprolactistus whitakeri Radovsky & Krantz, a new genus and species of Macronyssidae, is described in all stases. Unlike other macronyssids, all of which are vertebrate parasites, C. whitakeri is predaceous, feeding on other mites in bat guano. Its morphology confirms the family assignment, and it has the peculiar macronyssid life cycle in which a regressive, nonfeeding deutonymph follows a normal, feeding protonymph. The chelicerae are typically macronyssid despite the predatory diet. Available information indicates that C. whitakeri evolved from macronyssid parasites. C. whitakeri is a distinctive species that is not obviously close to any other described macronyssid. It occurs in the guano of the big brown bat, Eptesicus fuscus, in Indiana and in the guano of an unidentified bat in Brazil.
Measurements and modeling of recombination from nanoparticle TiO2 electrodes.

Electron-transfer reactions from nanoparticle TiO2 films to outer-sphere redox shuttles were investigated. Steady-state dark current density versus applied potential and open circuit voltage decay measurements were employed to determine the rates of recombination to cobalt(III) tris(4,4′-dimethyl-2,2′-bipyridyl), [Co(Me2bpy)3]3+, and ruthenium(III) bis(2,2′-bipyridyl)-bis(N-methylimidozole), [Ru(bpy)2(MeIm)2]3+. A striking difference in the magnitude as well as the shape of the electron lifetimes for TiO2 electrodes in contact with these two redox shuttles is observed. A model based on Marcus theory is developed to describe recombination, including contributions from conduction band electrons and surface states. Excellent agreement was found between the modeled and measured lifetimes. The model allows for identification of each contributing component of electron transfer to the measured lifetimes. Comparison of the different components of the modeled lifetimes to the measured lifetimes provides clear evid...
In vacuo elastodynamics of a flexible cantilever for wideband energy harvesting

We explore the potential for bandwidth enhancement by merely exploiting the hardening nonlinearity of a flexible cantilever. To date, this cubic hardening behavior has been minor due to dissipative effects, especially fluid drag. The goal here is to minimize the fluid damping and thereby achieve the jump phenomenon. A vacuum setup that is compatible with the armature of a long-stroke shaker is employed. Experiments are conducted for a range of air pressure and base excitation levels. The overall nonlinear non-conservative elastodynamics of the cantilever is also modeled and experimentally validated by empirically accounting for fluid damping.
Infective endocarditis. An analysis of 54 surgically treated patients.

One hundred seventy-seven patients were admitted to the New York University Medical Center from 1970 through 1975 with infective endocarditis. Fifty-four of these patients required surgical treatment. The over-all mortality rate was 28 per cent. Two thirds of the deaths were early (10 patients) and one third late (5 patients). The mortality rate was 90 per cent in 10 patients treated for 4 to 6 weeks in whom the infection was uncontrolled and the clinical condition was deteriorating. However, of the 12 patients with uncontrolled infection who were operated upon promptly within 10 days, 83 per cent survived. The fact that fungal and gram-negative infections responded poorly to medical therapy suggests the need for prompt, early surgical intervention. The mortality rate in the 32 patients operated upon in whom the infection was controlled was 12.5 per cent. It is our conclusion that all patients with infective endocarditis who develop progressive congestive failure, recurrent embolization, or progressive sepsis, despite treatment, should have prompt valve replacement within 7 days of the institution of appropriate antimicrobial therapy.
Active learning: an empirical study of common baselines

Most of the empirical evaluations of active learning approaches in the literature have focused on a single classifier and a single performance measure. We present an extensive empirical evaluation of common active learning baselines using two probabilistic classifiers and several performance measures on a number of large datasets. In addition to providing important practical advice, our findings highlight the importance of overlooked choices in active learning experiments in the literature. For example, one of our findings shows that model selection is as important as devising an active learning approach, and choosing one classifier and one performance measure can often lead to unexpected and unwarranted conclusions. Active learning should generally improve the model's capability to distinguish between instances of different classes, but our findings show that the improvements provided by active learning for one performance measure often came at the expense of another measure. We present several such results, raise questions, guide users and researchers to better alternatives, caution against unforeseen side effects of active learning, and suggest future research directions.
Effect of extracellular acidosis on 45Ca uptake in isolated hypoxic proximal tubules

Recent in vitro studies have suggested that the presence of extracellular acidosis is protective against the development of oxygen-deprivation injury in several tissues. Because cellular Ca accumulation after renal ischemia may represent a major pathogenic event leading to cellular damage, the purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of extracellular acidosis on 45Ca uptake and desaturation in normal and hypoxic isolated rat proximal tubules. At pH 7.4, an increase in 45Ca uptake was observed in proximal tubules after 30 min of hypoxia. In addition, 45Ca desaturation was increased significantly in hypoxic tubules at pH 7.4. The alterations in 45Ca uptake and desaturation in hypoxic tubules at pH 7.4 were accompanied by significant signs of cellular injury as assessed by the amount of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) released by the tubules at the end of the hypoxic period (22.5% above control tubules, P less than 0.01) as well as in morphological changes consistent with hypoxic cell injury. In contrast, when maintained at pH 6.9 throughout the study, no difference in 45Ca uptake or desaturation was observed between the control and hypoxic tubules; the hypoxic proximal tubules exhibited a smaller increase in LDH release (12.7% above control tubules) and did not develop the morphological changes observed at pH 7.4. Thus, during hypoxia and reoxygenation at pH 7.4, the increased 45Ca uptake may contribute in part to cellular injury in rat proximal tubules.