cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Selective inactivation of redox-sensitive mitochondrial enzymes during cardiac reperfusion

Reperfusion of ischemic myocardial tissue results in an increase in mitochondrial free radical production and declines in respiratory activity. The effects of ischemia and reperfusion on the activities of Krebs cycle enzymes, as well as enzymes involved in electron transport, were evaluated to provide insight into whether free radical events are likely to affect enzymatic and mitochondrial function(s). An in vivo rat model was utilized in which ischemia is induced by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery. Reperfusion, initiated by release of the ligature, resulted in a significant decline in NADH-linked ADP-dependent mitochondrial respiration as assessed in isolated cardiac mitochondria. Assays of respiratory chain complexes revealed reduction in the activities of complex I and, to a lesser extent, complex IV exclusively during reperfusion, with no alterations in the activities of complexes II and III. Moreover, Krebs cycle enzymes α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase and aconitase were susceptible to reperfusion-induced inactivation with no decline in the activities of other Krebs cycle enzymes. The decline in α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase activity during reperfusion was associated with a loss in native lipoic acid on the E2 subunit, suggesting oxidative inactivation. Inhibition of complex I in vitro promotes free radical generation. α-Ketoglutarate dehydrogenase and aconitase are uniquely susceptible to in vitro oxidative inactivation. Thus, our results suggest a scenario in which inhibition of complex I promotes free radical production leading to oxidative inactivation of α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase and aconitase.
Multiple scale computational model for damage in composite materials

Abstract In this paper, a hierarchical multiple scale computational model is proposed to concurrently predict evolution of variables at the structural and microstructural scales, as well as to track the incidence and propagation of microstructural damage. The microscopic analysis is conducted with the Voronoi cell finite element model (VCFEM) while a conventional displacement based FEM code executes the macroscopic analysis. Adaptive schemes and mesh refinement strategies are developed to create a hierarchy of computational sub-domains with varying resolution. Such hierarchy allow for differentiation between non-critical and critical regions, and help in increasing the efficiency of computations through preferential ‘zoom in’ regions. Coupling between the scales for regions with periodic microstructure is accomplished through asymptotic homogenization, whereas regions of nonuniformity and non-periodicity are modeled by true microstructural analysis with VCFEM. Various numerical examples are executed for validating the effectiveness of the model for different microstructural configurations.
Impact of germination on phenolic content and antioxidant activity of 13 edible seed species

Abstract The aim of this work was to test 13 edible seeds for the levels of phenolic compounds and the antioxidant activity (TAC) at different germination states (dormant, imbibed and 7d sprouts). Selected seeds included mungbean, alfalfa, fava, fenugreek, mustard, wheat, broccoli, sunflower, soybean, radish, kale, lentil and onion. Accumulated phenolics (mg chlorogenic acid equivalent, CAE) and TAC (μg Trolox equivalent) on dry basis (DB) showed the general trend distribution of 7d sprouts > dormant seeds > imbibed seeds. In addition, the specific TAC (μg Trolox mg −1 CAE) increased only for imbibed seeds indicating a possible protection effect of the phenolic antioxidants to the emerging sprouts. Phenolic contents of 7d sprouts (DB) ranged from 490 (lentil) to 5676 (mustard) mg CAE 100 g −1 . Seven day sunflower sprouts had higher TAC on a DB (40202 μg Trolox g −1 ) compared to other seeds (1456–25991) and a blueberry reference (35232). Increases in phenolics (DB) from dormant seed to 7d sprout differ among seeds, ranging from 2010% (mungbean) to −11% (kale), while increases in TAC (DB) ranged from 1928% (mungbean) to 0% (lentil). This study shows that germinated edible seeds are an excellent source of dietary phenolic antioxidants.
Nontenured Assistant Professors as American Counseling Association Division Presidents: The New Look of Leadership in Counseling

This study explored the lived experiences of 6 nontenured assistant professors who were serving or had recently served as presidents-elect or presidents of American Counseling Association divisions. The participants described their motivation for serving in these capacities and shared the experiences of serving while faced with the traditional expectations of scholarship at their universities. Implications are provided for future research and training specific to leadership and professionalization in the counseling profession.
Zymogen-like factor Xa variants restore thrombin generation and effectively bypass the intrinsic pathway in vitro.

Inhibitory antibodies to factors VIII or IX represent a serious complication for hemophilia patients. Treatment involves products that bypass the intrinsic pathway and promote thrombin generation. Direct infusion of factor Xa should also restore hemostasis; however, it has a short half-life in plasma and could activate systemic coagulation in an uncontrolled fashion. Here we show that factor Xa mutants with zymogen-like properties (FXaI16L and FXaV17A) circumvent these limitations. In the absence of factor Va, the FXa variants are poor enzymes for a range of physiological ligands and are resistant to inactivation by antithrombin III and tissue factor pathway inhibitor. Notably, assembly of FXaI16L and FXaV17A on activated platelets with factor Va to form prothrombinase completely restores biologic activity. In hemophilic plasma, FXaI16L and FXaV17A have prolonged half-lives compared with wild-type factor Xa (approximately 60 minutes vs approximately 1 minute) and promote robust thrombin generation that bypasses the intrinsic pathway. The variants require factor Va generated in situ for procoagulant function, and cofactor inactivation by the protein C pathway regulates their activity. The efficacy, extended half-life, and mechanism of action suggest that novel zymogen-like forms of factor Xa might prove useful as new therapeutic procoagulants to treat deficiencies upstream of the common pathway.
A Multidimensional Scaling Approach to the Studies of Facial Perception

Twenty facial photos of Caucasian men were simultaneously presented to the subject. On each trial, one of the photos was chosen as a reference to be compared with the remaining 19. The subject was to place them on a 5-foot spatial scale based on the judged similarity between the reference and each of the remaining photos. Similarity distances were recorded. There were 20 trials per subject. Data from eight raters were then analyzed by the use of SINDSCAL. Of the 10 dimensions from the SINDSCAL analysis, four had significant correlations with mustache, hair length, hair shade and chin curve. The other five were substantially accounted for by subsets of the facial features. This technique is considered to be useful and complementary to the feature-oriented approach.
Tectonic and Climate Controls on Sedimentation of Upper Miocene Nonmarine Strata East of San Francisco Bay, California: ABSTRACT

Upper Miocene nonmarine and shallow-marine strata exposed east of San Francisco Bay record a change from convergent-margin to transform-margin tectonics. During the late Miocene, the East Bay area occupied the oceanward side of a shelved fore-arc basin which was progressively incorporated in the evolving San Andreas strike-slip orogene. Patterns of deposition in the broad fore-arc basin were relatively simple: andesitic arc-derived detritus was transported the full width of the fore-arc basin from the Sierras to the East Bay area. In contrast, the wrench-tectonic regime produced complex patterns of sedimentation displaying greater local variability. Based on stratigraphic data from D. Wagner and our observations, we infer that the west-facing slope of the fore-arc basin i the East Bay area was reversed about 13 m.y. ago, with uplift of the area between the eventual traces of the San Andreas and Hayward faults. A fluvial clastic wedge was shed eastward into the East Bay area from this uplifted terrane of Mesozoic subduction-complex and fore-arc basin rocks. Initial rupturing along a "proto-Hayward fault zone" followed the uplift about 10 m.y. ago. Loci of basaltic volcanism (10 to 7 m.y.) along these fractures interfinger with the clastic wedge. A similar pattern of uplift and drainage reversal apparently heralded the onset of wrenching along the Calaveras trend 6 to 8 m.y. ago. Expansion of the strike-slip orogene segmented the outer fore-arc basin into local basins, some characterized by periodic lacustrine deposition and probable internal drainage. By he end of the Miocene, Sierran arc volcanism waned at the latitude of San Francisco Bay, and arc-derived volcaniclastics were fully supplanted by recycled Coast Range-derived detritus in the East Bay area. Certain of these Coast Range sediment sources, particularly blueschist-bearing Franciscan terranes, serve to constrain estimates of strike-slip on the Hayward fault. Although tectonics provide the principal control on patterns and composition of Neogene sedimentation in the East Bay area, late Miocene climatic fluctuations left a marked overprint. Red beds, typical of the lower upper Miocene and suggestive of seasonal aridity, correlate with a relatively cold period along the northeast margin of the Pacific Ocean. In contrast, overlying middle upper Miocene fluvial-lacustrine beds are gray brown and contain abundant carbonaceous debris and faunas indicative of a marked decrease in aridity. These strata correspond to a period of warming in the later Miocene prior to latest Miocene refrigeration (Messinian). End_of_Article - Last_Page 1689------------
Implanting FFP trees in binary trees: An architectural proposal

The computer architecture described here was inspired by Mago's recently proposed cellular computer [1979] based on the Formal Functional Programming (FFP) languages introduced by Backus [1978]. Mago's machine is a binary tree of many simple processor/memory units, called cells. FFP programs are stored, one symbol per cell, in the leaf cells (“L” cells) of the machine. The machine fully exploits all the parallelism expressed in an FFP program, storage space permitting. It can, furthermore, execute many programs simultaneously, and it can perform in parallel many operations below the level expressed in the program, since a single “primitive” FFP operation may be composed of more basic machine operations that can be executed in parallel. Mago's work brings to light the interesting possibilities of a binary tree of processors operating on individual symbols of an FFP expression.
Planning and scheduling approaches to operate a particular FMS

Abstract This paper contains a detailed description of a thirteen machine COMAU FMS for a company in Torino, Italy. The monthly and daily problems that need to be addressed and the approaches that are suggested to operate this system efficiently are detailed. The trickier problems and constraints are those of tool management, especially tool loading. Detailed tooling data and their analysis are also presented. The complete spectrum of operational problems addressed range from aggregate planning to detailed scheduling, including fixture and inventory management. Breakdown situations are also addressed.
Free radical scavenging is involved in the protective effect of l-propionyl-carnitine against ischemia-reperfusion injury of the heart

Abstract l -Propionyl-carnitine is known to improve the recovery of myocardial function and metabolic parameters reduced in the course of ischemia-reperfusion of the heart. The mechanism of this protective effect of l -propionyl-carnitine is not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the effects of l -propionyl-carnitine in Langendorff perfused rat hearts subjected to 40 min of ischemia followed by 20 min of reperfusion. We tested the hypothesis that l -propionyl-carnitine suppresses generation of oxygen radicals and subsequent oxidative modification of myocardial proteins during reperfusion. Our data show that the protective effect of l -propionyl-carnitine in the course of ischemia-reperfusion is highly significant in terms both of mechanical properties of the heart (developed pressure) and of high-energy phosphates (ATP, creatine phosphate). Myocardial creatine phosphokinase (CPK) activity decreased in the course of the reperfusion period. The loss of CPK activity was partially prevented by l -propionyl-carnitine. Two other effects were observed when l -propionyl-carnitine was present in the perfusion solution: (i) the reperfusion-induced sharp increase in oxidative protein modification was completely prevented as detected by the formation of protein carbonyls, and (ii) generation of hydroxyl radicals was significantly inhibited as detected by the formation of the adducts with the spin trap 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline-1-oxide. We conclude that the protective effect of l -propionyl-carnitine against ischemia-reperfusion injury of the heart is at least due in part to its ability to suppress the development of oxidative stress and free radical damage.
Adaptive estimates for autoregressive processes

Let {Xt:t=0, ±1, ±2, ...} be a stationaryrth order autoregressive process whose generating disturbances are independent identically distributed random variables with marginal distribution functionF. Adaptive estimates for the parameters of {Xt} are constructed from the observed portion of a sample path. The asymptotic efficiency of these estimates relative to the least squares estimates is greater than or equal to one for all regularF. The nature of the adaptive estimates encourages stable behavior for moderate sample sizes. A similar approach can be taken to estimation problems in the general linear model.
The feminist phenomenology of excess: Ontological multiplicity, auto-jealousy, and suicide in Beauvoir’s L’Invitée

In this paper, I present a new reading of Simone de Beauvoir’s first major work, L’Invitee (She Came to Stay), in order to reveal the text as a vital place of origin for feminist phenomenological philosophy. My reading of L’Invitee departs from most scholarly interpretations of the text in three notable respects: (1) it is inclusive of the “two unpublished chapters” that were excised from the original manuscript at the publisher’s request, (2) it takes seriously Beauvoir’s claim that phenomenological philosophy is often better expressed in novels than essays or treatises, and (3) it views the novel’s main characters, Francoise and Xaviere, as one woman who has multiple, contradictory, excessive selves. Thus approached, L’Invitee provides us with a thick description of one woman’s embodied consciousness and thereby shows us with specificity what a consciousness whose underlying structures reflect sexual difference looks like. This consciousness not only experiences itself as being both gendered, categorized, disciplined, and defined and in excess of these genders, categories, disciplines, and definitions at the same time, but also experiences its own self-relation through the presence of multiple selves who are each simultaneously attracted to and negating of the other. As such, the defining features of this consciousness involve experiences that I have respectively labeled “ontological multiplicity” and “auto-jealousy.”
Relative Stability of Peptide Sequence Ions Generated by Tandem Mass Spectrometry

We report the use of unimolecular dissociation by infrared radiation for gaseous multiphoton energy transfer to determine relative activation energy (Ea,laser) for dissociation of peptide sequence ions. The sequence ions of interest are mass-isolated; the entire ion cloud is then irradiated with a continuous wave CO2 laser, and the first order rate constant, kd, is determined for each of a series of laser powers. Provided these conditions are met, a plot of the natural logarithm of kd versus the natural logarithm of laser power yields a straight line, whose slope provides a measure of Ea,laser. This method reproduces the Ea values from blackbody radiative dissociation (BIRD) for the comparatively large, singly and doubly protonated bradykinin ions (nominally y9 and y92+). The comparatively small sequence ion systems produce Ea,laser values that are systematic underestimates of theoretical barriers calculated with density functional theory (DFT). However, the relative Ea,laser values are in qualitative agreement with the mobile proton model and available theory. Additionally, novel protonated cyclic-dipeptide (diketopiperazine) fragmentation reactions are analyzed with DFT. FT-ICR MS provides access to sequence ions generated by electron capture dissociation, infrared multiphoton dissociation, and collisional activation methods (i.e., bn, ym, cn, zm• ions).
Thin film deposition of barium strontium titanate by metal organic decomposition technique

Abstract With increasing integration density and shrinking geometry DRAM fabrication technology has remained at the forefront of semiconductor industry. The basic unif of a DRAM is a single MOSFET with a storage capacitor. Although dimensions are being reduced there is hardly any room for reduction in the cell capacitance. This calls for methods to improve the charge storage in the miniature devices. The search for high dielectric constant materials has led to the use of ferroelectrics for charge storage. Barium strontium titanate (Ba1-xSrxTiO3) (BST) has thus found a very important place in the fabrication of DRAMs. The metal organic decomposition (MOD) proces is a techniquer for the worth of inorganic films without processing in vacuum or going through a powder step. It is a simple process that is both fast and economical, with very minimal investment. Thin films of BST were deposited on platinized silicon substrates by the spin-on method. The films were then pyrolyzed and annealed. The films obtained w...
Eradication of multidrug-resistant A. baumannii in burn wounds by antiseptic pulsed electric field

Emerging bacterial resistance to multiple drugs is an increasing problem in burn wound management. New non-pharmacologic interventions are needed for burn wound disinfection. Here we report on a novel physical method for disinfection: antiseptic pulsed electric field (PEF) applied externally to the infected burns. In a mice model, we show that PEF can reduce the load of multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii present in a full thickness burn wound by more than four orders of magnitude, as detected by bioluminescence imaging. Furthermore, using a finite element numerical model, we demonstrate that PEF provides non-thermal, homogeneous, full thickness treatment for the burn wound, thus, overcoming the limitation of treatment depth for many topical antimicrobials. These modeling tools and our in vivo results will be extremely useful for further translation of the PEF technology to the clinical setting, as they provide the essential elements for planning of electrode design and treatment protocol.
Two Generations of Italians in america: Their Fertility Experience.

The level of fertility characterizing specific ethnic groups in American so? ciety may well be a key indicator of integration into the mainstream of national life and its value systems. Currently members of two large groups?Negroes and Mexican-Americans?have notably more children than the average American family. If we accept the argument that an excessively large number of children born into poor families is one of the most important perpetuating causes of poverty1 then it is not coincidental that these two groups also are generally considered the principal disadvantaged minorities in the nation. Similarly, looking back over the past century in American history a striking fact emerges: ethnic newcomers who were viewed as social problem groups almost invariably were characterized by a relatively high level of fertility. By and large, immi? grants whose children "assimilated" most effectively were those where the level of births among the second-generation population tended to approach that of the native American. Perhaps the most remarkable illustration of this phenomenon in the twentieth century has been the Italian-American experience. In the present period of emphasis on minor ethnic differentials and general fall from favor of the "melting-pot theory", it may be particularly instructive to view the very dramatic pattern of fertility change that occurred among two generations of Italians in the United States.
Iraq's Burgeoning Judiciary: Current Issues and the Best Way Forward

Following the United States takeover of Iraq in 2003, the Department of Justice released an assessment of Iraq’s fractured judiciary. Corruption, public distrust of the courts, and other roadblocks provided a bleak outlook on the rebuilding of the Iraqi judiciary. Nevertheless, recent large-scale judicial reforms have been moderately successful, including the separation of executive and judicial power, guarantee of due process, and efforts to protect the system from corruption, bribery, and political pressure. Now, during a period of relative stability, the Iraqi government must focus the improvement of the judiciary on four major areas: judicial independence, the debate between transparency and national security, the ability to prosecute high-ranking officials, issues with Kurdish autonomy, and international assistance and training. While each of these issues is deeply complex, this research asserts that there are six crucial improvements that will best enhance the Iraqi judiciary going forward. These improvements include increased courthouse rehabilitation to provide security for judges, a policy of erring on the side of transparency instead of worry over national security, a focus on promoting judges by merit instead of removing them through review, the rolling back of the ministerial protection law, a movement toward the election of judges instead of appointment, and an initiative to educate the Iraqi people and judiciary on the rich history of Iraqi law, as Iraq was the birthplace of codified law. If these improvements begin to be implemented now, they will ensure solid and sustainable growth of the Iraqi society and economy in the long-term.
Retaining and Recovering Enzyme Activity During Degradation of TCE by Methanotrophs

To determine if compounds added during trichloroethylene (TCE) degradation could reduce the loss of enzyme activity or increase enzyme recovery, different compounds serving as energy and carbon sources, pH buffers, or free radical scavengers were tested. Formate and formic acid (reducing power and a carbon source), as well as ascorbic acid and citric acid (free radical scavengers) were added during TCE degradation at a concentration of 2 mM. A saturated solution of calcium carbonate was also tested to address pH concerns. In the presence of formate and methane, only calcium carbonate and formic acid had a beneficial effect on enzyme recovery. The calcium carbonate and formic acid both reduced the loss of enzyme activity and resulted in the highest levels of enzyme activity after recovery.
Investigation of the Effect of Metallic Fuselage Dents on Compressive Failure Loads

The effect of dents in metallic aircraft fuselage was examined on the compressive failure load using the finite element method. The study considered a single impact dent on two different fuselage panels at various locations and impact speeds. The material used for the finite element models was aluminum alloy 2024-T3, a typical material used for fuselages of old transport aircraft. The finite element model consisted of impact analysis followed by either linear eigenvalue analysis or postbuckling compression analysis. These analyses were performed on both stiffened and unstiffened aluminum panels. It was found that, depending on a dent status in an aluminum panel, the dent might increase or decrease the compressive failure load of the panel compared with that of the virgin panel without a dent. The compressive failure load of a panel after a low-velocity impact was generally lower than that of the virgin plate. As the impact velocity increased, the failure load of the dented panel increased, exceeding that of its virgin plate. In addition, the existence of a critical impact velocity was noticed, at which the failure load of the dented panel reached maximum and after which it started to decrease.
Direct measurement of electronic dephasing using anisotropy

Abstract In a recent theoretical treatment of coherence effects in the anisotropy of optical experiments, it was predicted that the decay of the anisotropy that exists for molecules with degenerate states prior to the onset of electronic dephasing could be utilized to measure electronic dephasing directly. The first experimental observation of this coherent anisotropy and its ultrafast decay are presented. The data were obtained by means of femtosecond pump—probe experiments on room temperature solutions of magnesium tetraphenylporphyrin in tetrahydrofuran. In this system, which has a doubly degenerate excited state due to the fourfold molecular symmetry, the anisotropy decays with time constants 210 fs and 1.6 ps.
Power implications of touch in male—Female relationships

Nancy Henley argues that nonreciprocal touch in male—female relations is used by men as a “status reminder” to keep women in their place. This study examines Henley's argument by exposing 60 observers to photographs of male—female interactions and asking them to rate the pictured actors on the degree to which each dominates the interaction. The interactions differ across two dimensions: status differences evident in the age and dress of the participants (female higher vs. equal vs. male higher) and who is touching whom (female toucher vs. no toucher vs. male toucher). Results of the study support but qualify the status reminder argument. Nonreciprocal touch reduces the perceived power of the person being touched whether the high-status or the low-status person is doing the touching and whether the man or the woman is being touched. Thus, nonreciprocal touch can be used by high-status men to remind lower-status women of their subordinate positions. But it can also be used by lower status women to undermine the status claims of higher status men. In the equal status interactions, nonreciprocal touch does not alter power perceptions as systematically. This finding suggests that without other status cues evident in the relationship, touch alone is insufficient to establish a power advantage for either party.
Stereo and Motion Cues in Preattentive Vision Processing—Some Experiments with Random-Dot Stereographic Image Sequences

Low-level preattentive vision processing is of special interest since it seems the logical starting point of all vision processing. Exploration of the human visual processing system at this level is, however, extremely difficult, but can be facilitated by the use of stroboscopic presentation of sequences of random-dot stereograms, which contain only local spatial and temporal information and therefore limit the processing of these images to the low level. Four experiments are described in which such sequences were used to explore the relationships between various cues (optical flow, stereo disparity, and accretion and deletion of image points) at the low level. To study these relationships in more depth, especially the resolution of conflicting information among the cues, some of the image sequences presented information not usually encountered in 'natural' scenes. The results indicate that the processing of these cues is undertaken as a set of cooperative processes.
Power spectral density specifications for high-power laser systems

This paper describes the use of Fourier techniques to characterize the transmitted and reflected wavefront of optical components. Specifically, a power spectral density (PSD), approach is used. High power solid-state lasers exhibit non-linear amplification of specific spatial frequencies. Thus, specifications that limit the amplitude of these spatial frequencies are necessary in the design of these systems. Further, NIF optical components have square, rectangular or irregularly shaped apertures with major dimensions up to 800 nm. Components with non-circular apertures can not be analyzed correctly with Zernicke polynomials since these functions are an orthogonal set for circular apertures only. A more complete and powerful representation of the optical wavefront can be obtained by Fourier analysis in 1 or 2 dimensions. The PSD is obtained from the amplitude of frequency components present in the Fourier spectrum. The shape of a resultant wavefront or the focal spot of a complex multi-component laser system can be calculated and optimize using PSDs of the individual optical components which comprise the system. Surface roughness can be calculated over a range of spatial scale-lengths by integrating the PSD. FInally, since the optical transfer function of the instruments used to measure the wavefront degrades at high spatial frequencies, the PSD of an optical component is underestimated. We can correct for this error by modifying the PSD function to restore high spatial frequency information. The strengths of PSD analysis are leading us to develop optical specifications incorporating this function for the planned National Ignition Facility.
The dissimilar nature of two forms of the major human erythrocyte membrane glycoprotein.

Abstract Human red blood cell membranes solubilized in sodium dodecylsulfate contain two major and one minor glycoprotein species. The major species demonstrate a dimer-monomer relationship that becomes apparent when the solubilization step is carried out at 100 °C. Treatment of the membranes of intact cells with trypsin yields two proteolyzed forms of the dimer and one proteolyzed form of the monomer. Results of chymotrypsin treatment are similar. A model is presented indicating that the glycoprotein may exist in two forms in situ. One (Type A) is tightly bound, not dissociated by sodium dodecylsulfate at room temperature, and extremely sensitive to trypsin. The other (Type B) is loosely bound, easily dissociated by sodium dodecyl-sulfate at room temperature, and highly resistant to trypsin. It is possible that the Type B form may slowly depolymerize and reform while in the intact membrane.
Motor performance changes in children testing positive for HIV over 2 years.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of HIV infection on the motor performance of children and preadolescents, the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP) was administered to see whether performance scores (raw and standard) would change with duration of the disease. METHOD Thirty-four children and preadolescents were tested on the BOTMP at initial diagnosis of HIV positive and again at 6-month intervals over a 2-year period for a total of five test sessions. The participants' scores on the Gross, Fine, and Battery Composites, as well as eight individual subtests, were compared with those of children who were developing typically. RESULTS Gross Composite and Battery Composite percentile scores were consistently 1 to 2 standard deviations below the means for the normal reference populations over the 2-year period. Fine Composite scores were closer than +.5 standard deviation to the mean for the normal reference population. CONCLUSION Gross motor function was more impaired than fine motor function in this sample of children and preadolescents who were HIV positive, and this pattern was unchanged after 2 years of infection. The BOTMP can be useful both to identify specific areas of motor deficits and to monitor changes in motor function over time after application of interventions.
The American Alligator Detects Food Chemicals in Aquatic and Terrestrial Environments

American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) were offered raw meat or animal carcasses under water or on land in experiments where only chemoreception could be used to discriminate between these and control materials. Alligators also were presented with aqueous extracts and airborne chemicals from meat. Juvenile alligators, tested in indoor tanks, opened more cheesecloth packets containing meat than control packets when these materials were placed under water and on platforms above the water surface. Adult alligators, tested in outdoor semi-natural enclosures, removed more cheesecloth-wrapped meat presented under water, and more of both meat and raccoon (Procyon lotor) carcasses placed under perforated baskets on land, than control materials. Juvenile alligators, tested in tanks partially filled with water, exhibited more lateral head movements and mouth-openings to an aqueous beef extract than to water alone. Juvenile alligators, tested in an olfactometer, exhibited more gular pumps to airborne chemicals from beef than to distilled water. These experiments indicate that alligators may use chemical cues to locate food both on land and under water, and that they detect both water- and airborne chemicals from meat.
Age of the eucrite “Caldera” from convergence of long-lived and short-lived chronometers

Abstract The long-lived 147 Sm 143Nd chronometer has been used in conjunction with the short-lived 146 Sm 142 Nd and 53 Mn 53 Cr chronometers to constrain the time of formation for the eucrite Caldera. The combination of these three chronometers has produced results that are consistent with one another and converge on a precise, high resolution age of 4537 ± 12 Ma (within 95% confidence limits). So far this is the youngest crystallization age that has been confirmed for a noncumulate eucrite. Thus, this basaltic meteorite formed relatively late as compared to other noncumulate eucrites on a differentiated asteroidal parent body, most likely between 17 and 41 million years after the formation of the first condensates in the early Solar System. From these age constraints it is evident that Caldera either formed within a magma body on a large (>500 km) asteroid or in an extensive impact melt on the crust of its parent body.
Use of Molecular Models for Active Learning in Biochemistry Lecture Courses

The pedagogical value of having biochemistry and organic chemistry students build and manipulate physical models of chemical species is well established in the literature. Nevertheless, for the most part, the use of molecular models is generally limited to several laboratory exercises or to demonstrations in the classroom setting. A simple methodology using Maruzen or Darling molecular models, transparent, ziplock plastic bags, and a carefully designed questioning strategy has been developed and used over many years. Student-constructed models were turned in on a daily or weekly basis in the lecture portion of an introductory biochemistry course and graded. The models ranged from simple amino acids to silk fibroin to one turn of a DNA double helix; construction of complex structures were small-group efforts. These activities were observed to actively engage students in understanding biochemical structures. The use of models in the ways described resulted in students providing more sophisticated answers on exams than in years when such model building exercises were not part of the instructional methods.
On the effect of drainage on free surface oscillations

There are two conflicting results for the effect of small uniform drainage of an inviscid fluid from a tank on free surface oscillations. Miles [1] found the effect of drainage to be one of positive damping while Saad and Oliver [2] found a negative damping effect. When the viscosity is set equal to zero in this paper the results found using a multiple time method agree with those of Miles.
Trace metal fluxes to nearshore Long Island Sound sediments

Abstract Sediments are very important as trace metal ‘sinks’ in coastal areas. In this paper we present data on the concentrations and calculated fluxes of the trace metals, Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd and Ag at nearshore sites in Long Island Sound. In both areas a percentage of the metal accumulation can be ascribed to local human activities with the highest anthropogenic metal fluxes occurring closest to their source.
A practical discrete-adjoint method for high-fidelity compressible turbulence simulations

Methods and computing hardware advances have enabled accurate predictions of complex compressible turbulence phenomena, such as the generation of jet noise that motivates the present effort. However, limited understanding of underlying physical mechanisms restricts the utility of such predictions since they do not, by themselves, indicate a route to design improvements. Gradient-based optimization using adjoints can circumvent the flow complexity to guide designs, though this is predicated on the availability of a sufficiently accurate solution of the forward and adjoint systems. These are challenging to obtain, since both the chaotic character of the turbulence and the typical use of discretizations near their resolution limits in order to efficiently represent its smaller scales will amplify any approximation errors made in the adjoint formulation. Formulating a practical exact adjoint that avoids such errors is especially challenging if it is to be compatible with state-of-the-art simulation methods used for the turbulent flow itself. Automatic differentiation (AD) can provide code to calculate a nominally exact adjoint, but existing general-purpose AD codes are inefficient to the point of being prohibitive for large-scale turbulence simulations. Here, we analyze the compressible flow equations as discretized using the same high-order workhorse methods used for many high-fidelity compressible turbulence simulations, and formulate a practical space-time discrete-adjoint method without changing the basic discretization. A key step is the definition of a particular discrete analog of the continuous norm that defines our cost functional; our selection leads directly to an efficient Runge-Kutta-like scheme, though it would be just first-order accurate if used outside the adjoint formulation for time integration, with finite-difference spatial operators for the adjoint system. Its computational cost only modestly exceeds that of the flow equations. We confirm that its accuracy is limited by computing precision, and we demonstrate it on the aeroacoustic control of a mixing layer with a challengingly broad range of turbulence scales. For comparison, the error from a corresponding discretization of the continuous-adjoint equations is quantified to potentially explain its limited success in past efforts to control jet noise. The differences are illuminating: the continuous-adjoint is shown to suffer from exponential error growth in (reverse) time even for the best-resolved largest turbulence scales. Implications for jet noise reduction and turbulence control in general are discussed.
The Residual Likelihood Ratio Test for the Variance Ratio in a Linear Model with Two Variance Components

Residual maximum likelihood has proved to be a successful approach to the estimation of variance components. In this paper, its counterpart in testing, the residual likelihood ratio test, is applied to testing the ratio of two variance components. The test is compared with the Wald test and the locally most powerful invariant test.
miRDeepFinder: a miRNA analysis tool for deep sequencing of plant small RNAs

miRDeepFinder is a software package developed to identify and functionally analyze plant microRNAs (miRNAs) and their targets from small RNA datasets obtained from deep sequencing. The functions available in miRDeepFinder include pre-processing of raw data, identifying conserved miRNAs, mining and classifying novel miRNAs, miRNA expression profiling, predicting miRNA targets, and gene pathway and gene network analysis involving miRNAs. The fundamental design of miRDeepFinder is based on miRNA biogenesis, miRNA-mediated gene regulation and target recognition, such as perfect or near perfect hairpin structures, different read abundances of miRNA and miRNA*, and targeting patterns of plant miRNAs. To test the accuracy and robustness of miRDeepFinder, we analyzed a small RNA deep sequencing dataset of Arabidopsis thaliana published in the GEO database of NCBI. Our test retrieved 128 of 131 (97.7%) known miRNAs that have a more than 3 read count in Arabidopsis. Because many known miRNAs are not associated with miRNA*s in small RNA datasets, miRDeepFinder was also designed to recover miRNA candidates without the presence of miRNA*. To mine as many miRNAs as possible, miRDeepFinder allows users to compare mature miRNAs and their miRNA*s with other small RNA datasets from the same species. Cleaveland software package was also incorporated into miRDeepFinder for miRNA target identification using degradome sequencing analysis. Using this new computational tool, we identified 13 novel miRNA candidates with miRNA*s from Arabidopsis and validated 12 of them experimentally. Interestingly, of the 12 verified novel miRNAs, a miRNA named AC1 spans the exons of two genes (UTG71C4 and UGT71C3). Both the mature AC1 miRNA and its miRNA* were also found in four other small RNA datasets. We also developed a tool, “miRNA primer designer” to design primers for any type of miRNAs. miRDeepFinder provides a powerful tool for analyzing small RNA datasets from all species, with or without the availability of genome information. miRDeepFinder and miRNA primer designer are freely available at http://www.leonxie.com/DeepFinder.php and at http://www.leonxie.com/miRNAprimerDesigner.php, respectively. A program (called RefFinder: http://www.leonxie.com/referencegene.php) was also developed for assessing the reliable reference genes for gene expression analysis, including miRNAs.
Role of ADP-ribose in 11,12-EET-induced activation of KCa channels in coronary arterial smooth muscle cells

We recently reported that cADP-ribose (cADPR) and ADP-ribose (ADPR) play an important role in the regulation of the Ca2+-activated K+ (KCa) channel activity in coronary arterial smooth muscle cells...
A Note on the Variance and Higher Central Moments of the Stopping Time of an SPRT

Abstract Results are obtained on the limiting distribution and corresponding moment convergence for the (normalized) stopping time of an SPRT, as the boundaries of the continuation region become infinite. These asymptotic results suggest a certain approximation for the variance of the stopping time, which is compared with some Monte Carlo results of Cox and Roseberry (1966) and an approximation due to Ghosh (1969), in the case of testing a normal mean with known variance. The approximation appears to be good provided that the mean of the log-likelihood ratio is not too close to zero.
The Use and Control of Grain Boundaries in Thin Films

Abstract Polycrystalline thin films are widely used in the electronics industry and in surface protection applications. For most cases, a single crystal film would be preferable but is too costly or simply impossible to achieve. Thus, the grain boundaries are regarded as a necessary evil. We discuss the behavior of grain boundaries during film formation, processing and utilization, illustrating beneficial as well as deleterious effects. Some potential strategies for the control of grain boundary behavior are derived by the application of basic interfacial science.
High fidelity adaptive vector quantization at very low bit rates for progressive transmission of radiographic images

An adaptive vector quantizer (VQ) using a clustering technique known as adaptive fuzzy leader clustering (AFLC) that is similar in concept to deterministic annealing (DA) for VQ codebook design has been developed. This vector quantizer, AFLC-VQ, has been designed to vector quantize wavelet decomposed sub images with optimal bit allocation. The high-resolution sub images at each level have been statistically analyzed to conform to generalized Gaussian probability distributions by selecting the optimal number of filter taps. The adaptive characteristics of AFLC-VQ result from AFLC, an algorithm that uses self-organizing neural networks with fuzzy membership values of the input samples for upgrading the cluster centroids based on well known optimization criteria. By gen- erating codebooks containing codewords of varying bits, AFLC-VQ is capable of compressing large color/monochrome medical images at extremely low bit rates (0.1 bpp and less) and yet yielding high fidelity reconstructed images. The quality of the reconstructed im- ages formed by AFLC-VQ has been compared with JPEG and EZW, the standard and the well known wavelet based compression tech- nique (using scalar quantization), respectively, in terms of statistical performance criteria as well as visual perception. AFLC-VQ exhibits much better performance than the above techniques. JPEG and EZW were chosen as comparative benchmarks since these have been used in radiographic image compression. The superior perfor- mance of AFLC-VQ over LBG-VQ has been reported in earlier pa- pers. © 1999 SPIE and IS&T. (S1017-9909(99)01301-X)
The emergence of sub-syllabic representations

In a variety of experimental paradigms speakers do not treat all sub-syllabic sequences equally. In languages like English, participants tend to group vowels and codas together to the exclusion of onsets (i.e., /bet/=/b/-/et/). Three possible accounts of these patterns are examined. A hierarchical account attributes these results to the presence of categorical sub-syllabic divisions (e.g., onset /b/ vs. rime /et/). In contrast, a non-hierarchical account attributes these findings to the strength with which particular consonants and vowels co-occur (e.g., the relative frequency of /be/ vs. /et/). A third emergentist alternative is articulated, where speakers’ knowledge is sensitive not just to the frequency with which particular segments co-occur but also to the general patterns of association within a language. These accounts are contrasted by examining sub-syllabic patterns in two languages: Korean and English. A statistical study shows distinctions in the general patterns of sub-syllabic associations in Korean and English. Consistent with the emergentist perspective, results of short-term memory experiments reveal that Korean and English speakers are sensitive not only to these general patterns but also to the strength with which particular segment sequences are associated. The implications of these results for theories of sub-syllabic patterns in languages are discussed.
Gas-liquid chromatography of resin acid esters

Abstract A number of alkyl esters of resin acids were prepared with dialkyl acetals of dimethylformamide, and their gas chromatographic characteristics evaluated with several packed columns. The cyanosilicone liquid phases allow for simultaneous determination of levopimaric and palustric acids, a determination previously unattainable by gas-liquid chromatography.
Real-time indoor scene understanding using Bayesian filtering with motion cues

We present a method whereby an embodied agent using visual perception can efficiently create a model of a local indoor environment from its experience of moving within it. Our method uses motion cues to compute likelihoods of indoor structure hypotheses, based on simple, generic geometric knowledge about points, lines, planes, and motion. We present a single-image analysis, not to attempt to identify a single accurate model, but to propose a set of plausible hypotheses about the structure of the environment from an initial frame. We then use data from subsequent frames to update a Bayesian posterior probability distribution over the set of hypotheses. The likelihood function is efficiently computable by comparing the predicted location of point features on the environment model to their actual tracked locations in the image stream. Our method runs in real-time, and it avoids the need of extensive prior training and the Manhattan-world assumption, which makes it more practical and efficient for an intelligent robot to understand its surroundings compared to most previous scene understanding methods. Experimental results on a collection of indoor videos suggest that our method is capable of an unprecedented combination of accuracy and efficiency.