cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ensemble and single-molecule fluorescence-based assays to monitor DNA binding, translocation, and unwinding by iron-sulfur cluster containing helicases

Many quantitative approaches for analysis of helicase-nucleic acid interactions require a robust and specific signal, which reports on the presence of the helicase and its position on a nucleic acid lattice. Since 2006, iron-sulfur (FeS) clusters have been found in a number of helicases. They serve as endogenous quenchers of Cy3 and Cy5 fluorescence which can be exploited to characterize FeS containing helicases both in ensemble-based assays and at the single-molecule level. Synthetic oligonucleotides site-specifically labeled with either Cy3 or Cy5 can be used to create a variety of DNA substrates that can be used to characterized DNA binding, as well as helicase translocation and unwinding. Equilibrium binding affinities for ssDNA, duplex and branched DNA substrates can be determined using bulk assays. Identification of preferred cognate substrates, and the orientation and position of the helicase when bound to DNA can also be determined by taking advantage of the intrinsic quencher in the helicase. At the single-molecule level, real-time observation of the helicase translocating along DNA either towards the dye or away from the dye can be used to determine the rate of translocation by the helicase on ssDNA and its orientation when bound to DNA. The use of duplex substrates can reveal the rate of unwinding and processivity of the helicase. Finally, the FeS cluster can be used to visualize protein-protein interactions, and to examine the interplay between helicases and other DNA binding proteins on the same DNA substrate.
Wave dynamics in two-layer Couette flow

Abstract We study the longwave dynamics of two-layer Couette flow with high viscosity ratio by rigorously deriving a depth-averaged integral momentum equation for the internal flow dynamics beyond criticality and a modified Kuramoto–Sivashinsky (mKS) equation for near-critical longwave interfacial dynamics. For large viscosity stratification, the primary long-wave instability is triggered by an inertia-delayed lubrication pressure that is generated when the waves introduce a Poiseuille component to the flat-film Couette flow. These primary waves can then undergo secondary modulation, due to a coupling between nonlinear wave dispersion and mean-flow gradient, to form longer waves. The secondary modulation only occurs if the plate speed exceeds a critical value that scales as ( l − l c ) −1/4 near criticality where l is the thickness of the less viscous inner fluid and l c is the critical thickness for the onset of the primary waves. Both primary and secondary wave transition scenarios are favorably compared to experimental data.
Some Observations of the Effects of Radium Irradiation on Tissue Cultures

Introduction The aim of the experiments about to be described has been (1) to study the effect of radium irradiation on normal chicken fibroblasts, particularly from the standpoint of morphology and (2) to compare the effects of irradiation on tumor cells with its effects on macrophages in the same cultures, using chiefly the change in number of mitotic figures in the first twenty-four hours following irradiation as a basis for such comparisons. No effort will be made here to review the literature on this subject, as a number of good summaries have already been made, as, for example those of Laser and Halberstaedter (1929), Kemp and Juul (1930), Love (1931), and Cox (1931). The fibroblasts from the subcutaneous tissue of six- and seven-day chick embryos were cultivated in Locke-Lewis solution, i.e. , 85 c.c. Locke solution, 15 c.c. chicken bouillon, and 0.5 gm. dextrose. Cultures of varying ages were irradiated, although it was found that twenty-four to forty-eight hour cultures were the most suitable. No second transplants were used.
Spin Splitting, Fermi Energy Changes, and Anomalous g Shifts in Single-Crystal and Pyrolytic Graphite

This Letter reports the first observation of spin-split Landau levels in graphite. These are observed in both natural single crystals and in pyrolytic samples. Experimental splittings are compared with the theory of McClure and Yafet. Discrepancy between theory and experiment is partially accounted for by large shifts in the Fermi energy with field.
The effects of pro-opiomelanocortin peptides on cyclic AMP and tyrosinase in melanoma cells

Abstract Des-, mono-, and diacetylated melanotropin (des-, mono-, and di-Ac MSH, respectively) were compared for their dose-related effects on content of adenosine 3′:5′-monophosphate (cAMP) and tyrosinase activity in the Cloudman S91 mouse melanoma tumor. Des-Ac MSH was more potent than the acetylated forms of MSH at increasing cellular levels of cAMP; mono- and di-Ac MSHs, however, were more potent than des-Ac MSH at elevating the activity of the enzyme, tyrosinase. Lysine-gamma1 MSH, a melanotropin from the amino terminus of pro-opiomelanocortin, exhibited slight stimulatory effects on tyrosinase and these actions were less than additive to those of mono-Ac MSH. Unlike their action on amphibian skin-darkening or in mammalian behavior, neither β-endorphin1–31 nor its derivatives, N-Ac-β-endorphin1–27 or β-endorphin30–31 (glycyl-glutamine), exhibited any influence on tyrosinase activity evoked by mono-Ac MSH in the tumor cells.
A DC Arc Model for Series Faults in Low Voltage Microgrids

This paper presents a dc arc model to simplify the study of a critical issue in dc microgrids: series faults. The model is derived from a hyperbolic approximation of observed arc voltage and current patterns, which permit analyzing the arc in terms of its resistance, power, energy, and quenching condition. Recent faults staged by the authors on a dc microgrid yielded enough data to develop an arc model for three fault types: constant-gap speed, fixed-gap distance, and accelerated gap. The results in this paper compare experimental and simulation results for the three fault types. It is concluded that because the instantaneous voltage, current, power, and energy waveforms produced by the model agree well with experimental results, the model is suitable for transient simulations.
Textile Futures: Fashion, Design and Technology, by Bradley Quinn

(2012). Textile Futures: Fashion, Design and Technology, by Bradley Quinn. Design and Culture: Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 116-118.
Aircraft observations of aerosol, cloud, precipitation, and boundary layer properties in pockets of open cells over the southeast Pacific

Abstract. Five pockets of open cells (POCs) are studied using aircraft flights from the VOCALS Regional Experiment (VOCALS-REx), conducted in October and November 2008 over the southeast Pacific Ocean. Satellite imagery from the geostationary satellite GOES-10 is used to distinguish POC areas, and measurements from the aircraft flights are used to compare aerosol, cloud, precipitation, and boundary layer conditions inside and outside of POCs. Conditions observed across individual POC cases are also compared. POCs are observed in boundary layers with a wide range of inversion heights (1250 to 1600 m) and surface wind speeds (5 to 11 m s−1) and show no remarkable difference from the observed surface and free-tropospheric conditions during the two months of the field campaign. In all cases, compared to the surrounding overcast region the POC boundary layer is more decoupled, supporting both thin stratiform and deeper cumulus clouds. Although cloud-base precipitation rates are higher in the POC than the overcast region in each case, a threshold precipitation rate that differentiates POC precipitation from overcast precipitation does not exist. Mean cloud-base precipitation rates in POCs can range from 1.7 to 5.8 mm d−1 across different POC cases. The occurrence of heavy drizzle (> 0 dBZ) lower in the boundary layer better differentiates POC precipitation from overcast precipitation, likely leading to the more active cold pool formation in POCs. Cloud droplet number concentration is at least a factor of 8 smaller in the POC clouds, and the ratio of drizzle water to cloud water in POC clouds is over an order of magnitude larger than that in overcast clouds, indicating an enhancement of collision–coalescence processes in POC clouds. Despite large variations in the accumulation-mode aerosol concentrations observed in the surrounding overcast region (65 to 324 cm−3), the accumulation-mode aerosol concentrations observed in the subcloud layer of all five POCs exhibit a much narrower range (24 to 40 cm−3), and cloud droplet concentrations within the cumulus updrafts originating in this layer reflect this limited variability. Above the POC subcloud layer exists an ultraclean layer with accumulation-mode aerosol concentrations
Depression and death in diabetes; 10-year follow-up of all-cause and cause-specific mortality in a diabetic cohort.

Background When depression co-occurs with type 2 diabetes, adverse bidirectional interactions increase the burden of both illnesses. In addition to affecting patient's health, functioning, and quality of life, this relationship also results in increased mortality compared with those with depression or diabetes alone. Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between depression and all-cause as well as cause-specific mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes by extending findings from our 5-year mortality study. Specifically, we re-examined the risk of depression and all-cause, cardiovascular, cancer, and non-cardiovascular, non-cancer related deaths. Method We used an ICD-10 algorithm combined with death certificate data to classify mortality types among type 2 diabetic patients who participated in the Pathways Epidemiologic Study. Cox proportional hazard modeling was used to examine the relationships between depression status and mortality over a 10-year period. Results We found a significant positive relationship between depression and all-cause as well as non-cardiovascular, non-cancer mortality in this sample (n = 4128). Cardiovascular mortality failed to reach significance in fully adjusted models and, in contrast to the 5-year data, no trend or significant relationship was observed between depression status and cancer related deaths. Conclusions Our study confirmed a significant positive relationship between depression and mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes. Major depression demonstrated a stronger relationship than did minor depression, and among cause-specific groups, non-cardiovascular, non-cancer death types demonstrated the largest magnitude of association with depression status.
Cannabinoid receptors and immunity

Abstract Marijuana cannabinoids are both psychoactive and immunoactive. Here, we will review evidence that cannabinoids modulate immunity and that cannabinoid receptors and endogenous ligands are expressed in immune tissues. Clues will also be presented concerning the role of the cannabinoid system in immune regulation and the possible molecular mechanisms involved.
Animal models of scleroderma: fresh insights.

Purpose of reviewRecent years have seen the advent and progress in our understanding of fibrosis and vasculopathy in systemic sclerosis, scleroderma (SSc) largely mediated through the development and study of novel animal models. The most well studied animal models of SSc involve the bleomycin model
Comparative ultrastructure of cardiac cell membrane specializations. A review.

Abstract Among animal hearts, there are many differences in the anatomic features of various myocardial cells, the occurrence of junctional complexes joining adjacent cells, the geometry of apposition of cells forming bundles of fibers, and the form and extent of specializations of intracellular membrane systems. The working fibers of chicken and frog hearts, which have no transverse tubules, are considerably smaller in diameter than those of their mammalian counterparts, which do have such tubules. Purkinje fibers in the hearts of small mammals differ in structure and appositional geometry from those of the larger mammals, and again from those of the chicken. All Purkinje fibers lack transverse tubules. Focal specializations of the sarcoplasmic reticulum, the junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum, are prominent in chicken and mammalian, but not in frog cardiac muscle. Gap junctions are frequent in mammalian hearts, but seem to be rare, small or absent altogether in both frog and chicken hearts.
LEED, Auger, and work function studies of clean and Na-covered surfaces of GaAs

Abstract Clean and Na-covered (111), (111) and (110) surfaces of GaAs have been studied with LEED, Auger spectroscopy and work function measurement. It is found that, after argon ion bombradment and annealing, the (111) and the (110) surfaces give a (2 × 2) and a (1 × 1) structure respectively, but the (111) surface is always facetted. The annealed (111) surface is found to be rich in Ga but the (111) surface is not rich in As; and the work function of the (111) surface is lower than that of both (111) and (110). These findings are interpreted as a floating up of Ga on (111) with annealing. It is found that Na atoms form a disordered layer on (111) but they form a c (2 × 6) structure on the (110) surface as well as the facet planes of (111).
Amalgamations of Domains

Abstract The question of whether the amalgamated free product of two domains is itself a domain is considered. Some results analogous to group-theoretic approaches to the zero-divisor conjecture are proved. A condition is introduced that guarantees that the amalgam will be a domain. If, for example, R is a polynomial ring over the domain T , then only minimal restrictions on how T embeds in S guarantee that R ∗ T S is a domain.
Ideology and microbiology: Ebola, science, and deliberative democracy.

It now seems a lifetime ago. The first case of Ebola had come to the Western hemisphere and taken the life of Thomas Eric Duncan at a Dallas, Texas hospital. His death, and other cases in the “deve...
Sonography of uterine abnormalities in postpartum and postabortion patients: a potential pitfall of interpretation.

Objective The interpretation of postpartum and postabortion uterine abnormalities on sonography can be challenging. The purpose of this study was to identify misleading imaging features that lead to inclusion of a uterine arteriovenous malformation (AVM) in the differential diagnosis of a uterine abnormality because consideration of this diagnosis can potentially alter patient treatment. Methods The sonographic examinations of 29 pathologically proven cases of uterine abnormalities in postpartum and postabortion patients were retrospectively reviewed. Two radiologists independently evaluated several features: the presence of a uterine mass, myometrial involvement, and the presence of an associated vascular abnormality. Percent agreement and the relationship between imaging features and inclusion of a uterine AVM in the differential diagnosis were determined. Results Interobserver agreement was as follows: the presence of a uterine mass, 90%; myometrial involvement, 83%; the presence of an associated vascular abnormality, 72%; and inclusion of a uterine AVM in the differential diagnosis, 86%. Myometrial involvement showed a statistically significant relationship to inclusion of a uterine AVM in the differential diagnosis (P Conclusions Despite high interobserver agreement in characterizing uterine abnormalities on sonography, readers still include uterine AVMs in the differential diagnosis of uterine masses that are ultimately proven to be RPOC. A myometrial location of a uterine mass is a particularly misleading imaging feature of RPOC.
TESTICULAR RESPONSE TO ANDROGEN IN THE LIGHT-STIMULATED STARLING12

THE EFFECTS of androgens on the male reproductive system of a variety of vertebrates have been summarized by Moore and Morgan (1942). Most of the studies on warm-blooded animals have been made on those which reproduce continuously throughout the year. Recently, Wells (1943) has investigated the ground squirrel, and Pfeiffer (1944) the house sparrow. These animals have a more restricted breeding season than do most laboratory animals. For a number of years the sexual cycle of the adult male starling has been intensively studied, principally in regards to the relation of the external environment to this cycle (cf. Bissonnette, 1937; Burger, 1940, 1943; Burger, Bissonnette, and Doolittle, 1942, for summaries). During the fall and winter sperm can be precociously induced by duplicating with artificial light the lengthening of the days which occurs during the winter and spring.
Per-pixel and object-oriented classification methods for mapping urban features using Ikonos satellite data

Abstract Urban planning requires timely acquisition and analysis of spatial and temporal information for making informed decisions. Whilst spectral analysis of images has yielded satisfactory results, they may not be enough to extract urban features from very high resolution (VHR) satellite data such as Ikonos. A combined spectral and spatial approach may be useful to map urban features particularly those with low spectral separability. The paper describes an approach using both per-pixel and object-based classification methods for mapping urban features from VHR satellite data. We tested the suitability of Ikonos satellite data for mapping urban features at a planning scale in near-real time. Parametric per-pixel supervised (maximum likelihood) classification methods are used in combination with object-based classification methods to map urban features over New York City. We employed a combination of spectral, spatial attributes and membership functions for mapping urban features. Accuracy assessment was carried out using ground truth data acquired from field surveys and from other reliable secondary data sources. Whilst the per-pixel approach produced reasonable overall accuracy, specific classes such as white roof and vegetation registered low user's accuracy (79.82 and 70.07) respectively. We were able to improve the accuracy of these two classes by using an object-oriented classification method further to 89% and 97%. The combined approach using per-pixel and object-oriented classification methods may prove useful in the analysis of VHR satellite data like Ikonos, Quickbird, since it results in higher per class accuracy. In this study different urban classes were extracted that can be exported into GIS for further analysis and modeling. Mapping output generated in this study may be beneficial to planning, environmental and emergency services that depend on current geospatial information either for mapping land use changes, or for rapid updating of current maps and spatial information, and management of resources in near real-time. Given the high spatial accuracy, but limited spectral resolution of Ikonos data, we recommend a combined classification approach for extracting sub-pixel urban features.
Constant-Weight Counters and Decoding Trees

A class of counters is described in which the number of 1's in the flip-flops or register stages composing the counter remains constant as the counter advances from state to state. Simple digital circuit arrangements are described for the design of such counters, which may be used with a particular type of decoding tree as economical ring-type counters, to provide a separate output lead for each state. Some interesting theoretical questions concerning the minimization of these decoding trees are raised and partially answered. Finally, the costs of these counters are compared with one another, and with those of other types of counters, over a continuous range of values of the flip-flop/gate-input cost ratio.
Performance and Nutrient Utilization of Steers Consuming Broiler Litter with or without Aluminum Sulfate

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of adding alum (aluminum sulfate) to broiler litter on nutrient digestibility and utilization and animal BW gains when fed to steers. To determine nutrient digestibility and utilization, 12 steers were housed in individual metabolism crates and fed one of three diets: 1) 1:1 corn:broiler litter treated with alum (ALUM); 2) 1:1 corn:untreated traditional broiler litter (TRAD); 3) a commercially available diet (CON). Dry matter intake did not differ (P>0.05) among treatments. Digestibility of DM and OM was greater (P 0.05) were observed in ADF, CP, or energy digestibility. Apparent protein retention was greater (P<0.05) in steers fed ALUM and TRAD than in those fed CON. To determine the effect of broiler litter on steer BW gains, a 28-d grazing trial was conducted with 20 steers randomly allotted to the same two broiler litter dietary treatments (n=10) used in the digestibility trial. Steers receiving ALUM gained faster (P<0.05) than those receiving TRAD. Addition of aluminum sulfate to broiler litter fed to cattle did not inhibit nutrient digestibility or utilization.
Distributed electrode Mach-Zehnder modulator with double-pass phase shifters and integrated inductors

A novel high-speed Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) fully integrated into a 90 nm CMOS process is presented. The MZM features ‘double-pass’ optical phase shifter segments, and the first use of integrated inductors in a ‘velocity-matched’ distributed-electrode configuration.
More radar for space shuttle imaging mission

NASA's space shuttle is to enhance its third space-borne imaging radar mission (SIR-C) under the terms of an agreement signed October 6, 1987, between NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and the science ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). The agreement provides for the joint FRG and Italian development of an X band synthetic aperture radar (X-SAR) system to be flown on at least two o f the shuttle's imaging radar missions. NASA also has plans to fly an advanced X-SAR system on a polar platform with its Earth Observation System.
Etoposide in prostate cancer.

Hormone refractory prostate cancer is a disease that kills approximately 39,000 people per year. No single chemotherapeutic agent or regimen has been demonstrated to provide a survival advantage in this disease. Etoposide as a single agent, both in iv. and oral formulations has not proven to be effective. In the 1990s, however, etoposide has been combined with several agents to create novel treatment regimens for patients with hormone refractory disease. Several of these regimens, all involving oral etoposide, have demonstrated promising results in Phase II trials and early results suggest that they may increase survival for hormone refractory patients, although this remains to be tested in a Phase III trial setting.
Opportunities with Drell-Yan scattering: Probing sea quarks in the nucleon and nuclei

The large \( \bar d(x)/\bar u(x) \) ratio observed by Fermilab E866/NuSea convincingly demonstrated that the sea is not simply a result of pQCD. Moreover, meson cloud models also failed to explain fully the observed kinematic dependence. The Drell-Yan mechanism offers a unique, selective probe of antiquarks in the nucleon. Fermilab has approved a new Drell-Yan experiment, E906, that will exploit this feature to probe \( \bar d(x)/\bar u(x) \) by measuring the ratio of cross-sections for the proton-induced Drell-Yan process on hydrogen to deuterium. When the nucleon is contained in a nucleus, the nucleon’s parton distributions should to be modified; although this effect was not seen in the sea quark distributions obtained by Fermilab E772 with Drell-Yan scattering. The upcoming E906 Drell-Yan experiment will provide much more precise measurements over a wider kinematic range in order to guide and challenge the theoretical models.
Dung beetle (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) diversity and community structure across three disturbance regimes in eastern Amazonia

Anthropogenic disturbance in Amazonian forests has increased dramatically since the early 1980s and forest disturbance is expected to continue in the early twenty-first century. Logging and conversion to pasture for cattle are two of the largest causes of forest disturbance and destruction. This study examined the distribution and diversity of dung beetles (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in intact forest and under three disturbance regimes (selective logging, clear-cutting and pasture) in a forest tract in southern Para state, Brazil. Dung beetles were collected using faeces-baited pitfall traps, then identified, measured and weighed. Principal Components Analyses and the Sorensen's Index indicated that the intact and selectively logged areas were similar in terms of species composition but that the pasture areas and clear-cut areas had substantially different groups of species. Beetle size and diversity (as measured by species richness, Shannon index and Simpson's index) were lower in clear-cuts and pasture than in intact forest. The selectively logged forest was no less diverse than intact forest, and beetles were the same size or larger than those in intact forest. Total beetle biomass, however, was highest in the pasture due to the abundance of small-bodied beetles in this habitat. While the fact that selective logging has a relatively minor impact on the dung beetle community is heartening, the projected increase in the amount of highly disturbed landscape in Amazonia is expected to have a severe impact on dung beetle biodiversity in the region.
Broadband changes in the cortical surface potential track activation of functionally diverse neuronal populations

We illustrate a general principal of electrical potential measurements from the surface of the cerebral cortex, by revisiting and reanalyzing experimental work from the visual, language and motor systems. A naive decomposition technique of electrocorticographic power spectral measurements reveals that broadband spectral changes reliably track task engagement. These broadband changes are shown to be a generic correlate of local cortical function across a variety of brain areas and behavioral tasks. Furthermore, they fit a power-law form that is consistent with simple models of the dendritic integration of asynchronous local population firing. Because broadband spectral changes covary with diverse perceptual and behavioral states on the timescale of 20-50 ms, they provide a powerful and widely applicable experimental tool.
A nonconforming Morley finite element method for the fully nonlinear Monge-Ampère equation

In this paper, we study finite element approximations of the viscosity solution of the fully nonlinear Monge-Ampere equation, det(D 2 u) = f (> 0) using the well-known nonconforming Morley element. Our approach is based on the vanishing moment method, which was recently proposed as a constructive way to approximate fully nonlinear second order equations by the author and Feng (J Sci Comput 38(1):74–98, 2009). The vanishing moment method approximates the Monge-Ampere equation by the fourth order quasilinear equation $${-\epsilon\Delta^2u^\epsilon + {\rm det}(D^2u^\epsilon) = f}$$with appropriate boundary conditions. We develop a finite element scheme using the n-dimensional Morley element introduced in Wang and Xu (Numer Math 103:155–169, 2006) to approximate the regularized fourth order problem in two and three dimensions, and then derive optimal order error estimates.
Adventism, Apocalyptic, and the Cause of Liberty

“I have felt like working three times as hard as ever since I came to understand that my Lord was coming back again,” reported revivalist Dwight L. Moody, the most prominent of nineteenth-century premillennialists. Moody's testimony to the motivating power of premillennialism points to the crucial role of that eschatology in conservative Protestantism since the late nineteenth century—a role delineated by several studies within the past twenty-five years. As a comprehensive interpretation of history which gives meaning and pattern to past, present, and future, and a role for the believer in the outworking of the divine program, premillennialism has been a driving force in the fundamentalistand evangelical movements.
Regulatory T cells and the immune pathogenesis of prenatal infection

Pregnancy in placental mammals offers exceptional comprehensive benefits of in utero protection, nutrition, and metabolic waste elimination for the developing fetus. However, these benefits also require durable strategies to mitigate maternal rejection of fetal tissues expressing foreign paternal antigens. Since the initial postulate of expanded maternal immune tolerance by Sir Peter Medawar 60 years ago, an amazingly elaborate assortment of molecular and cellular modifications acting both locally at the maternal-placental interface and systemically have been shown to silence potentially detrimental maternal immune responses. In turn, simultaneously maintaining host defense against the infinite array of potential pathogens during pregnancy is equally important. Fortunately, resistance against most infections is preserved seamlessly throughout gestation. On the other hand, recent studies on pathogens with unique predisposition for prenatal infections have uncovered distinctive holes in host defense associated with the reproductive process. Using these infections to probe the response during pregnancy, the immune suppressive regulatory subset of maternal CD4 T cells has been increasingly shown to dictate the inter-workings between prenatal infection susceptibility and pathogenesis of ensuing pregnancy complications. Herein, the recent literature suggesting a necessity for maternal regulatory T cells (Tregs) in pregnancy-induced immunological shifts that sustain fetal tolerance is reviewed. Additional discussion is focused on how expansion of maternal Treg suppression may become exploited by pathogens that cause prenatal infections and the perilous potential of infection-induced immune activation that may mitigate fetal tolerance and inadvertently inject hostility into the protective in utero environment.
Distributed approaches for solving constraint-based multiagent scheduling problems

This research focuses on building foundational algorithms for scheduling agents that assist people in managing their activities in environments in which tempo and complexity outstrip people's cognitive capacity. The critical challenge is that, as individuals decide how to act on their scheduling goals, scheduling agents should answer queries regarding the events in their interacting schedules while respecting individual privacy and autonomy to the extent possible. I formally define both the Multiagent Simple Temporal Problem (MaSTP) and Multiagent Disjunctive Temporal Problem (MaDTP) for naturally capturing and reasoning over the distributed but interconnected scheduling problems of multiple individuals. My hypothesis is that combining a bottom-up approach—where an agent externalizes constraints that compactly summarize how its local subproblem affects other agents' subproblems, with a top-down approach—where an agent proactively constructs and internalizes new local constraints that decouple its subproblem from others', will lead to effective solution techniques. I confirm that my hypothesized approach leads to distributed algorithms that calculate summaries of the joint solution space for multiagent scheduling problems, without centralizing or otherwise redistributing the problems. In both the MaSTP and MaDTP domains, the distributed algorithms permit concurrent execution for significant speedup over current art, and also increase the level of privacy and independence in individual agent reasoning. These algorithms are most advantageous for problems where interactions between the agents are sparse compared to the complexity of agents' individual scheduling problems. Moreover, despite the combinatorially-large and unwieldy nature of the MaDTP solution space, I show that agents can use influence spaces, which compactly capture the impact of agents' interacting schedules, to tractably converge on distributed summaries of the joint solution space. Finally, I apply the same basic principle to the Hybrid Scheduling Problem, which combines constraint-based scheduling with a rudimentary level of planning, and show that my Hybrid Constraint Tightening precompilation algorithm can improve the propagation of information between planning and scheduling subproblems, leading to significant search space pruning and execution time reduction.
Cellular hypercalcemia is an early event in deoxycholate injury of rabbit gastric mucosal cells

Ca2+ entry into the cell may be an early event in the pathophysiology of bile salt-induced gastric mucosal injury. The aim of this study was to characterize the rise in cytosolic free Ca2+ associated with bile salt injury and its association with cell injury and death. Rabbit gastric mucosal cells were preloaded with the Ca2+ indicator fura 2-acetoxymethyl ester (fura 2-AM) for 20 min at 37 degrees C and then exposed to graded concentrations of the bile salt deoxycholate (DC). Cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) was estimated by spectrofluorometry. The resting [Ca2+]i in gastric cells was 177 +/- 15 nM (n = 6). When cells were subjected to 0.5 mM DC, there was a time-dependent rise in [Ca2+]i. An increase in [Ca2+]i was observed within 2 min, at which time [Ca2+]i rose from 177 +/- 15 to 480 +/- 30 nM. The maximal increase in [Ca2+]i was observed after 20 min of exposure to 0.5 mM DC (639 +/- 49 nM), and [Ca2+]i remained unchanged for at least 2 h. The increase in [Ca2+]i depended on the concentration of DC. The minimum effective dose of DC was 0.2 mM, with which [Ca2+]i was increased by 1.6-fold (from 177 to 285 nM). At 0.5 mM DC also caused a rise in 45Ca2+ influx into the cells and reduced the viability of gastric cells from 96% to 58% at 2 h. The DC-induced rise in cytosolic free Ca2+ depended on the presence of extracellular Ca2+. In the absence of extracellular Ca2+ there was no rise in cytosolic Ca2+ and gastric cells were protected from cell death caused by DC. The DC-induced cell death was reduced from 26% to 10% and from 37% to 16% at 60 and 90 min, respectively, by removal of extracellular Ca2+. The association of DC with gastric cells was not altered by removing extracellular Ca2+. This suggests decreased DC-induced injury in the absence of extracellular Ca2+ is due to the protection from cellular hypercalcemia rather than some other mechanism related to reduced binding and/or association of DC to gastric cells. These experiments show that rising [Ca2+]i appears to be an early pathophysiological event in bile salt-induced cellular injury and that extracellular Ca2+ is critical to produce this effect.
The Professionalization of Indigeneity in the Carib Territory of Dominica

The origin of enduring stereotypes of Native peoples conjured by Christopher Columbus in the late-fifteenth century, the Kalinago people of today live in Dominica, an island with a unique, complicated history of settlement and resistance. Kalinagos dedicated to raising "cultural consciousness" participate in Dominican museum and heritage projects as well as in international indigenous meetings abroad. This article suggests the concept of "the professionalization of indigeneity" to consider how some Native people are experts at representation itself: producers of representations of their communities both on their communities' behalf and for the public abroad, yet always with attention to state relations at home.
Bright Roofs, Big City: Keeping L.A. Cool Through an Aggressive Cool-Roof Program

Los Angeles is one of the best places in the country for a relatively easy and cost-effective measure to improve public health, combat climate change, reduce energy demand, and save money: installing cool roofs. This Pritzker Brief makes a case for accelerating the adoption of cool roofs in L.A. and recommends law and policy strategies for achieving that goal. Using a dataset of L.A. rooftops and some conservative estimates of energy savings, Cara Horowitz shows that L.A. residents could save $30 million a year if the city significantly improved its adoption of cool roofs on new and existing buildings. Other benefits would include improved air quality, lower urban temperatures, and a reduction in global warming equivalent to removing millions of cars from the road for a year.
QuickRNASeq lifts large-scale RNA-seq data analyses to the next level of automation and interactive visualization

RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), a next-generation sequencing technique for transcriptome profiling, is being increasingly used, in part driven by the decreasing cost of sequencing. Nevertheless, the analysis of the massive amounts of data generated by large-scale RNA-seq remains a challenge. Multiple algorithms pertinent to basic analyses have been developed, and there is an increasing need to automate the use of these tools so as to obtain results in an efficient and user friendly manner. Increased automation and improved visualization of the results will help make the results and findings of the analyses readily available to experimental scientists. By combing the best open source tools developed for RNA-seq data analyses and the most advanced web 2.0 technologies, we have implemented QuickRNASeq, a pipeline for large-scale RNA-seq data analyses and visualization. The QuickRNASeq workflow consists of three main steps. In Step #1, each individual sample is processed, including mapping RNA-seq reads to a reference genome, counting the numbers of mapped reads, quality control of the aligned reads, and SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) calling. Step #1 is computationally intensive, and can be processed in parallel. In Step #2, the results from individual samples are merged, and an integrated and interactive project report is generated. All analyses results in the report are accessible via a single HTML entry webpage. Step #3 is the data interpretation and presentation step. The rich visualization features implemented here allow end users to interactively explore the results of RNA-seq data analyses, and to gain more insights into RNA-seq datasets. In addition, we used a real world dataset to demonstrate the simplicity and efficiency of QuickRNASeq in RNA-seq data analyses and interactive visualizations. The seamless integration of automated capabilites with interactive visualizations in QuickRNASeq is not available in other published RNA-seq pipelines. The high degree of automation and interactivity in QuickRNASeq leads to a substantial reduction in the time and effort required prior to further downstream analyses and interpretation of the analyses findings. QuickRNASeq advances primary RNA-seq data analyses to the next level of automation, and is mature for public release and adoption.
Jaffe's Law: Reflections on a Generation of Administrative Law Scholarship

Administrative law scholars and practitioners take largely for granted the development of judicial review of agency action as essentially a process of federal common law. Agencies are held responsible to comply not only with statutory and constitutional commands, but also to a more amorphous set of legal doctrines and principles which represent standards of procedural regularity and substantive "reasonableness." In his treatise, Judicial Control of Administrative Action, Professor Louis Jaffe described this independent, trans-statutory scrutiny as "one of the rooms in the magnificent mansion of the law." In this paper, I look closely at the "Judicial Control" text in order to explore the key conceptual move toward independent review in the administrative law scholarship of the 1950's and 60s. A study of the elements of Jaffe's reformulations of the subject of federal administrative law sheds light on current controversies regarding judicial review and its proper scope.
A pore way to heal and regenerate: 21st century thinking on biocompatibility.

This article raises central questions about the definition of biocompatibility, and also about how we assess biocompatibility. We start with the observation that a porous polymer where every pore is spherical, ∼40 microns in diameter and interconnected, can heal into vascularized tissues with little or no fibrosis and good restoration of vascularity (i.e., little or no foreign body reaction). The same polymer in solid form will trigger the classic foreign body reaction characterized by a dense, collagenous foreign body capsule and low vascularity. A widely used definition of biocompatibility is ‘the ability of a material to perform with an appropriate host response in a specific application’. With precision-porous polymers, in direct comparison with the same polymer in solid form, we have the same material, in the same application, with two entirely different biological reactions. Can both reactions be ‘biocompatible?’ This conundrum will be elaborated upon and proposals will be made for future considerations and measurement of biocompatibility.
Redox-active on-surface assembly of metal-organic chains with single-site Pt(II).

The formation and stabilization of well-defined transition-metal single sites at surfaces may open new routes to achieve higher selectivity in heterogeneous catalysts. Organic ligand coordination to produce a well-defined oxidation state in weakly reducing metal sites at surfaces, desirable for selective catalysis, has not been achieved. Here, we address this using metallic platinum interacting with a dipyridyl tetrazine ligand on a single crystal gold surface. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements demonstrate the metal–ligand redox activity and are paired with molecular-resolution scanning probe microscopy to elucidate the structure of the metal–organic network. Comparison to the redox-inactive diphenyl tetrazine ligand as a control experiment illustrates that the redox activity and molecular-level ordering at the surface rely on two key elements of the metal complexes: (i) bidentate binding sites providing a suitable square-planar coordination geometry when paired around each Pt, and (ii) redox-...
Thermochemistry and Structure of Model Waste Glass Compositions

Enthalpies of mixing of major oxide and waste components of proposed DWPF glasses are estimated. Several proposed glass compositions have very similar molar proportions of major structure-related components. Heats of mixing of major components are predicted to be small (glassy reference states), but may be endothermic or exothermic. Lanthanides are likely to form regions in the glasses rich in R–O–Si bonds but relatively depleted in Si–O–Si bonds. Measured enthalpies of solution of simple lanthanide-bearing glasses resemble those of mechanical mixtures of these end-members, with near-zero enthalpies of mixing for fairly large variations in lanthanide concentrations. DWPF glasses have alkalis in excess of those needed to charge-balance all T3+ cations in tetrahedral coordination. Electropositive +4, +5, and +6 cations are expected to use these excess alkalis to stabilize their own coordination polyhedra, forming complexes with effectively constant macroscopic stoichiometric ratios which contribute to enthalpies of solution in direct proportion to their concentration. Therefore, variations in the concentrations of high-valence cations in DWPF waste containment glasses are also predicted to result in near-zero enthalpies of mixing.
Digestive Efficiency of Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens) Tadpoles during Development, Reared on a Laboratory Diet

Abstract: In rasping aquatic feeders, like many tadpoles, it is challenging to measure both the food consumed and excreta produced and thereby calculate digestive efficiency. The goals of this study were to measure the apparent digestive efficiency of Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens) tadpoles on an artificial laboratory diet and test the use of putative inert markers to calculate digestibility. The diet used was commercial ground rabbit chow (primary ingredient: alfalfa meal) suspended in agar and gelatin. If dietary ash (8.35% of diet dry mass) were a perfect inert marker, then its concentration in digesta, excreta, or both, should increase as organic matter is absorbed from the food, making the ratio of ash in food to ash in digesta or excreta an index of how much of the food mass is indigestible. Ash content in digesta dissected from the distalmost portion of the tadpoles’ intestine was about twice as concentrated as in food, indicating a 50% dry matter digestibility (DMD). This compared wel...
Evaluation of camelina meal as a feedstuff for growing dairy heifers

The objective of this research was to compare the growth performance, metabolic profile, and nutrient utilization of dairy heifers fed camelina meal (CAM), linseed meal (LIN), or distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS). A 12-wk randomized complete block design study was conducted using 33 Holstein and 9 Brown Swiss heifers (144.8±22d of age) with 3 treatments. Treatments were 10% of the diet as CAM, LIN, or DDGS (dry matter basis). All diets contained 60% grass hay and 40% concentrate mix. Diets were balanced with corn and soybean meal to be isonitrogenous and comparable in energy content. Diets were individually limit-fed to 2.65% of body weight using a Calan gate feeding system. Frame sizes, body weights, and body condition scores were measured on 2 consecutive days during wk 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. Jugular blood samples were taken at the beginning of the study and then every 4wk throughout at 3.5h postfeeding for analysis of blood metabolites and metabolic hormones. Rumen fluid samples were taken at the same time as blood sampling via an esophageal tube during wk 8 and 12. Over the duration of the study, dry matter intake and average daily gain were similar among treatments. Body weights tended to be less for heifers fed CAM and greatest for LIN. Gain to feed was similar for the CAM and DDGS and greatest for the LIN. Overall, most frame measurements were similar among treatments. Body length had a tendency to be greater for CAM compared with LIN with DDGS similar to both. Body condition scores were greater for CAM and DDGS compared with LIN. Rumen total volatile fatty acids, acetate:propionate, and pH were similar among treatments. Butyrate was less in the CAM treatment, intermediate for LIN, and greatest for DDGS. Rumen ammonia was less in DDGS compared with CAM and LIN, which were similar. Blood concentrations of glucose, triglycerides, plasma urea N, and cholesterol were similar among treatments. Metabolic hormones, including insulin-like growth factor-1 and thyroid hormones triiodothyronine and free thyroxine, were similar among treatments. Heifers fed CAM had lesser insulin concentration than other treatments. Total-tract digestion of nutrients were similar among treatments, but CAM tended to have greater digestion of organic matter compared with LIN, with DDGS similar to both. Feeding CAM maintained growth performance compared with DDGS and LIN. This study demonstrates that CAM can be used as a protein source for growing dairy heifers.
UWB gesture detection for visually impaired remote control

Recently, RSS based gesture detection using Wi-Fi signal has attracted considerable attention. UWB technology offers more features for gesture detection in indoor environments, which can be applied to medical applications to enhance its accuracy, agility and functionality. In this paper, we compare the gesture detection using Wi-Fi signal RSS and gesture detection using various characteristics of UWB signals, including time of arrival, first peak power, total power and the RMS delay spread.