cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Manipulation of Ploidy in Caenorhabditis elegans

Mechanisms that involve whole genome polyploidy play important roles in development and evolution; also, an abnormal generation of tetraploid cells has been associated with both the progression of cancer and the development of drug resistance. Until now, it has not been feasible to easily manipulate the ploidy of a multicellular animal without generating mostly sterile progeny. Presented here is a simple and rapid protocol for generating tetraploid Caenorhabditis elegans animals from any diploid strain. This method allows the user to create a bias in chromosome segregation during meiosis, ultimately increasing ploidy in C. elegans. This strategy relies on the transient reduction of expression of the rec-8 gene to generate diploid gametes. A rec-8 mutant produces diploid gametes that can potentially produce tetraploids upon fertilization. This tractable scheme has been used to generate tetraploid strains carrying mutations and chromosome rearrangements to gain insight into chromosomal dynamics and interactions during pairing and synapsis in meiosis. This method is efficient for generating stable tetraploid strains without genetic markers, can be applied to any diploid strain, and can be used to derive triploid C. elegans. This straightforward method is useful for investigating other fundamental biological questions relevant to genome instability, gene dosage, biological scaling, extracellular signaling, adaptation to stress, development of resistance to drugs, and mechanisms of speciation.
Organizing the Content for the Audience

In The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner tells the same story behind three different brothers—one who is mentally disabled, another who is in despair, and yet another who is untrustworthy.
Simultaneous and stoichiometric purification of hundreds of oligonucleotides.

Purification of oligonucleotides has traditionally relied on mobility-based separation methods. However, these are imperfect, biased, and difficult to scale high multiplex. Here, we present a method for simultaneous purification of many oligonucleotides that also normalizes concentrations. The method uses a rationally designed randomer capture probe to enrich for oligos with perfect 5′ sequences, based on the observation that synthesis errors are correlated: product molecules with one or more deletions in one region are also more likely to have deletions in other regions. Next-generation sequencing analysis of 64-plex 70 nt purification products show a median 78% purity, a significant improvement over polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and high pressure liquid chromatography (60% median purity). Additionally, 89% of the oligo products are within a factor of 2 of the median concentration. Chemically synthesized DNA oligonucleotides (oligos) require purification to remove truncated species. Here, the authors developed a high-throughput method for oligo purification that also normalises the concentrations of the oligos in the final samples.
Learning graphical game models

Graphical games provide compact representation of a multiagent interaction when agents' payoffs depend only on actions of agents in their local neighborhood. We formally describe the problem of learning a graphical game model from limited observation of the payoff function, define three performance metrics for evaluating learned games, and investigate several learning algorithms based on minimizing empirical loss. Our first algorithm is a branch-and-bound search, which takes advantage of the structure of the empirical loss function to derive upper and lower bounds on loss at every node of the search tree. We also examine a greedy heuristic and local search algorithms. Our experiments with directed graphical games show that (i) when only a small sample of profile payoffs is available, branch-and-bound significantly outperforms other methods, and has competitive running time, but (ii) when many profiles are observed, greedy is nearly optimal and considerably better than other methods, at a fraction of branch-and-bound's running time. The results are comparable for undirected graphical games and when payoffs are sampled with noise.
Why We Need a Teaching Home Care Program.

Reports of abuse and financial exploitation have focused attention on home care for the elderly and infirm. A Teaching Home Care Program, featuring collaboration between schools of nursing and home care agencies, could improve the quality of home care and increase the amount of data available on this growing segment of the health care system.
Cerebral aspergillosis within new tumour site presents as incidental new brain lesion in patient receiving temozolomide for glioblastoma multiforme

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive tumour that can lead to lymphopaenia. Its standard treatment involves temozolomide (TMZ) chemotherapy with radiation, often with addition of corticosteroids for symptomatic management. Although TMZ is also immunosuppressive, patients receiving TMZ rarely develop disseminated opportunistic infections. Here, we report the case of a patient with GBM receiving TMZ, radiotherapy and corticosteroids, who develops an incidental new brain lesion that is found to be disseminated Aspergillus within a new GBM tumour site. The patient received successful early treatment of her central nervous system aspergillosis. This case illustrates the profound immunosuppressive potential of GBM in conjunction with TMZ and corticosteroids, which can lead to high-morbidity opportunistic infections concurrently with tumour progression. Future research is needed to elucidate GBM, TMZ and corticosteroids' compound immune effects and guide management that strikes a balance between treating high-morbidity infections and continuing with immunosuppressive chemotherapy.
Subsidiary Entities and the Innovator's Dilemma

An influential theory in the management literature (Christensen, 1997) argues that incumbent firms have difficulty commercializing innovations that are not initially useful to its existing customers, and recommends creating separate, autonomous units for the innovation. This paper explains why subsidiary entities, even when wholly-owned and formally controlled by their corporate parent, can assist in this process. I show that placing the innovation in a subsidiary creates more autonomy for the unit manager of the innovation than if the same project were held as a division inside the parent entity. The key difference between subsidiaries and divisions in my model is limited liability: unlike a division, the parent has the option to walk away from the subsidiary's obligations. Because of this implicit "put option", the parent invests less in developing internal uses for the innovation. This causes the unit manager to invest more in developing independent uses for the innovation, for two reasons. First, less investment by the parent means the unit manager must "sink or swim" on the product of his own effort. Second, less parent involvement means that the unit manager's desired actions are less subject to overrule. This increases the unit manager's initiative, as in Aghion and Tirole (1987).
Risk and Criticality: Trajectories of Regional Environmental Degradation

This article discusses major findings from an international project exploring the causes and consequences of growing environmental risks over a 50-70 year period in nine regions distributed throughout the world. The project centered at Clark University in the US studied the regions of Amazonia the Eastern Sundaland region of southeast Asia the Ukambani region of southeastern Kenya the Nepal Middle Mountains the Ordos Plateau of China the Aral Sea the southern High Plains of the US the Mexico City Region and the North Sea. The researchers considered the notion of criticality and developing definitions and a classification of environmentally threatened regions. In addition the development of concepts and methods used in the study as well as crosscutting findings that emerged is discussed. The authors of this article argue that a growing disjuncture exists in the regions between the rapid rates of environmental degradation and the slow pace of societal response. Subsequently this situation threatens environmental impoverishment and loss of options for future generations and escalating costs of substitution in resource use and risk mitigation efforts.
The rise of West Lake: a cultural landmark in the Song dynasty: by Xiaolin Duan, Seattle, University of Washington Press, 2020, 248 pp., US$95.00 (hardcover), ISBN 978-0-2957-4712-5, US$30.00 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-2957-4710-1

Emerging as a destination for pilgrimage, sightseeing, and leisure in the thirteenth century, the scenic West Lake in the city of Hangzhou has been an object of fascination for travellers ever sinc...
Toward High-Precision Control of Transformation Characteristics in VO2 through Dopant Modulation of Hysteresis

Metal–insulator transition materials such as VO2 have garnered much attention in the field of neuromorphic devices because of their nonlinear behavior and orders of magnitude scale property changes...
Nurse staffing and outcomes for pulmonary lobectomy: Cost and mortality trade-offs

Abstract Background Nurse staffing impacts patient outcomes, but little is known about the relationship between nurse staffing and outcomes for lung cancer patients undergoing pulmonary lobectomy. Objectives To examine the association between nurse staffing and outcomes following lobectomy for lung cancer. Methods Patients (N = 16,994) with lung cancer between who underwent lobectomy between 2008–2011 were identified in the National Inpatient Sample. Nurse staffing was quantified using registered nurse full-time equivalents per adjusted patient days. Multivariable models were used to estimate the effect of RN FTEs on mortality, length of stay, and costs, controlling for covariates. Results Patients treated at hospitals using 5.6 or more RN FTEs had shorter hospitals stays by 0.37 days (p = 0.008), had 36% lower odds of mortality (OR = 0.64, p = 0.014), but incurred $4,388 (p Conclusions Hospital administrators face a troubling trade-off between costs and outcomes in decisions about nurse staffing mix for pulmonary lobectomy.
Thermal and cutting dynamics of new and used glenoid reamers during total shoulder arthroplasty

Abstract Background Glenoid loosening is the most common complication of total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA) resulting in revision. Inaccurate reaming and thermal osteonecrosis from heat generated during the reaming process may contribute to TSA failure by creating a suboptimal bone-implant interface for osteointegration. This biomechanical study investigated the differences in depth penetration and heat generation of used community glenoid reamers in comparison to brand new reamers by using a clinically relevant force. Methods A MTS Servohydraulic machine was utilized to test new and used community glenoid reamers by applying the clinically relevant force of 54.7 N over a defined time. The depth of penetration was measured via the MTS machine and the thermal profile was obtained via an infrared camera. The used reamers were then set by the MTS machine to reach the same depth as the new reamers for all respective sizes while recording the force differential generated and capturing the thermal profile. Levene's F test for variance and a Welch t test for scale variables were performed via SPSS Statistics 24 software. Results At a constant force and time, the new reamers penetrated a greater depth (4.18 ± 2.17 mm) than the community used reamers (0.41 ± 0.22 mm), a difference of 3.80 mm ((95% CI, 2.23 to 5.31 mm), P Conclusion The sharpness of glenoid reamers varies in the community. In order to reach the necessary depth for adequate fixation of implants, orthopedic surgeons may be required to exert a substantially larger force when using dulled reamers in comparison to sharp reamers. As a consequence, the heat generated could increase the risk of thermal osteonecrosis resulting in glenoid loosening. To minimize these risks, strategies may be employed to measure reamer wear, track reamer usage for exchanges, or develop disposable reamer systems. Level of evidence Basic Science Study; Biomechanics
Laser-induced fluorescence thermometry of supercritical CO 2 flows inside a micro-channel

This work demonstrates a thermometric technique using laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) in supercritical carbon dioxide flows in a micro-channel. Rhodamine 6G was used as a temperature-sensitive fluorescent dye. The flow conditions were at a pressure of 7.9 MPa and temperature in the range of 23°–90°C. 2D spatial distributions and time-resolved temperature profiles were obtained at this high pressure. Measured LIF signals showed close relations to the temperatures obtained from resistance temperature detectors.
Non-degenerate parametric mixing and Q-enhancement in ALN Lamb wave resonator

In this Letter, we explore a non-degenerate phase independent parametric quality factor (Q)-enhancement technique for aluminum nitride (AlN) Lamb wave resonators. Unlike other active Q-enhancement techniques which require precise phase control of the electronic feedback loop, this technique is implemented by parametrically pumping AlN material stiffness to realize a negative resistance seen at the signal path. The negative resistance is dependent on the nonlinear material modulation and multi-resonance coupling in the device. A nonlinear circuit model is developed to simulate the parametric coupling of each resonance and extract the nonlinearity of AlN from experimental data. With proper pump frequency and pump power, the device quality factor is boosted in both simulation and experiment. The demonstrated Q-enhancement method is simple to implement and can be applied to other types of resonators that have nonlinear behavior and support multi-resonance operation.
Minimum Variance Estimation—How the Theory Fits

Other than intellectual curiosity, we can only think of two reasons why a scientist or engineer might study mathematics. The first is to obtain procedures or algorithms to solve a problem or class of problems. The second is to clearly and precisely conceptualize an idea; to capture its essence. At first glance, the former may appear to be the more important of the two. After all, aren’t solutions to problems what we are really after? Yes, indeed! But the two reasons above are not really dichotomous. Certainly, the history of probability and statistics shows that viable solutions to many problems were not forthcoming until people like Borel and Kolmororov laid the proper foundations so that others could technically formulate their problems and rigorously check them. For example, it is hard to imagine formulating and proving the Kalman theorem with the probability theory of 1850. It would be misleading, however, to suggest that the only reason for precisely formulating ideas is to obtain solutions to problems. There are other, very practical, reasons for doing so. Let us briefly explore this.
Ceteris Paribus — An Inadequate Representation for Biological Contingency

It has been claimed that ceteris paribus laws, rather than strict laws are the proper aim of the special sciences. This is so because the causal regularities found in these domains are exception-ridden, being contingent on the presence of the appropriate conditions and the absence of interfering factors. I argue that the ceteris paribus strategy obscures rather than illuminates the important similarities and differences between representations of causal regularities in the exact and inexact sciences. In particular, a detailed account of the types and degrees of contingency found in the domain of biology permits a more adequate understanding of the relations among the sciences.
Validation and comparison of contemporary prognostic models in primary myelofibrosis: analysis based on 334 patients from a single institution.

BACKGROUND. Survival in primary myelofibrosis (PMF) is predicted by several prognostic scoring systems (PSSs); the most widely recognized is that of Dupriez. Two other PSSs, Cervantes and Mayo, were recently reported as being more useful in younger patients. The current study compares these 3 PSSs among all age groups. METHODS. The Mayo Clinic PMF database was queried to identify a consecutive series of patients in whom pretreatment bone marrow and complete blood count (CBC), obtained within 6 months of diagnosis, were available for review. RESULTS. Among 334 study patients (median age, 57 years), median survival was 70 months. Multivariable analysis of all 6 adverse prognostic factors utilized in the aforementioned PSSs (ie, hemoglobin 30 × 109/L, constitutional symptoms, circulating blasts ≥1%, platelet count <100 × 109/L, absolute monocyte count ≥1 × 109/L) identified all but platelet count as being significant. The Mayo PSS, which is based on the 4 CBC-derived parameters (ie, hemoglobin, platelet, leukocyte, and monocyte counts), displayed a better hazard ratio profile compared with the other 2 PSSs in identifying long-lived patients as well as delineating intermediate-risk disease category. The latter effect was even more pronounced in patients younger than age 60 years. CONCLUSIONS. The Mayo PSS for survival in PMF is an objective CBC-derived prognostic model that might be superior in its performance over that of either the Dupriez and Cervantes PSSs. Cancer 2007. © 2007 American Cancer Society.
Obesity and assisted reproduction

Excess body weight impacts fertility during both natural and assisted reproduction (ART) cycles. In men, the immediate effect is hypoandrogenism through decreased testosterone levels and an increase in peripheral aromatization of androgens to estrogen, although this does not seem to cause significant change in conventional semen parameters. In women, the impact seems to be through various pathways, by both animal and human studies.
The Validity and Devolution of a Concept: Student Alienation.

This study examined the correspondence between conceptual and empirical dimensions of student alienation. Responses from 2,056 secondary school students were analyzed using a multivariate technique, smallest space analysis. Except for a few items, there was a basic correspondence between a multidimensional conceptualization of alienation and empirical dimensions articulated by students. Such a correspondence for both intermediate and high school students serves to strengthen confidence in the concept of multidimensional alienation specific to the school context.
Nonlinear Geometric Optics for Hyperbolic Systems of Conservation Laws

Here we give a detailed discussion of recent developments, both formal and rigorous, in the theory of weakly nonlinear geometric optics for constructing asymptotic solutions of quasi-linear hyperbolic systems in one and several space variables. This method is the main perturbation technique used in analyzing nonlinear wave motion for hyperbolic systems. The ideas for this method originated in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s in pioneering work of Landau [8], Lighthill [10], and Whitham [18]. However, it is only in very recent work [4], [5], [7], [1] that these methods have been developed through systematic self-consistent perturbation schemes for resonant and nonresonant wave problems in one and several space dimensions. Sections II and III of this paper give a detailed discussion and description of these formal perturbation methods applied to problems in 1-D and multi-D, respectively. The reader can consult the survey in [161 which reviews the literature on weakly nonlinear hyperbolic waves before 1981 and compare this treatment with the one described in sections II and III to see the recent progress in the field in constructing such formal perturbation expansions.
Protest, Exit, or Deviance: Adjunct University Faculty Reactions to Occupational Rank-Based Mistreatment1

University faculty hired for short-term contracts rated occupational rank-based mistreatment; as well as willingness to protest, leave their position, or engage in workplace deviance. How respondents reacted to mistreatment was shaped by identification with their occupational rank and source of mistreatment (administrators or colleagues). Administrative mistreatment increased willingness to protest and engage in workplace deviance for respondents who were less identified; faculty mistreatment decreased willingness to protest. Respondents who identified more with occupational rank were less sensitive to differences in mistreatment. These data suggest that if the mistreatment source “fits” the intergroup context, people will challenge the situation, but if it does not fit respondent expectations, collective challenge is less likely, particularly among people who identify less with their group.
Differentiating small bowel Crohn's disease from lymphoma. Role of rectal biopsy.

Abstract Crohn's disease and lymphoma limited to the small bowel may have similar clinical and radiologic features. This diagnostic dilemma was encountered in 5 adolescent patients with an eventual diagnosis of Crohn's disease, all of whom had normal sigmoidoscopic and radiographic evaluations of the colon. Rectal and colonic biopsies in 3 revealed granulomas and focal colitis supportive of the diagnosis of Crohn's disease and prevented laparotomy. A careful search for occult colonic involvement in similar patients with Crohn's disease may obviate the need for diagnostic surgery.
Concerning the source of the excess3He in the sea

Abstract A significant fraction, if not all, of the excess3He found by Clarke, Beg and Craig in the deep sea is attributed to decay of tritium.
Gonadal function during prolongation of life produced by constant light in hamsters with heart failure.

Abstract In a prior experiment, we showed that living in constant light prolonged the lives of cardiomyopathic (CM) hamsters dying of heart failure. One possible explanation for this therapeutic effect related to the physiological effects of living in short and long days. The control hamsters for our constant light experiment lived in light/dark 12:12, a short day regimen which produces inhibitory effects on the gonadal function of healthy hamsters. To see whether the CM hamster responded to short days like healthy hamsters, we (a) measured gonadal and seminal vesicle mass and plasma testosterone at 1 year of age in CM hamsters raised in the 2 light conditions and (b) assessed testicular size repeatedly over the lives in a second group of hamsters raised in the 2 light conditions. As in healthy hamsters, we found gonadal function in CM hamsters to be greatly inhibited by LD 12:12. Importantly, we replicated our finding that living in constant light prolongs the life of CM hamsters in heart failure. We also found that the stress and trauma inherent in our repeatedly using surgery to assess testicular size acted as an additional risk factor controlling the lifespan of these animals. Our findings suggest that a photoperiodic effect of day length should be considered as one possible explanation of the mechanism of prolongation of life produced in hamsters with heart failure by constant light.
T lymphocytes play a role in neuropathic pain following peripheral nerve injury in rats

A catastrophic consequence of peripheral nerve injury is the development of abnormal, chronic neuropathic pain. The inflammatory response at the injury site is believed to contribute to the generation and maintenance of such persistent pain. However, the physiological significance and potential contribution of T cells to neuropathic pain remains unclear. Here we show that T cells infiltrate injured sciatic nerves following chronic constriction injury (CCI), but not uninjured nerves. Congenitally athymic nude rats, which lack mature T cells, developed a significantly reduced mechanical allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia following CCI, compared with their heterozygous littermates. To understand further the role played by different T-cell subsets, we generated polarized populations of type 1 and type 2 T cells, with different cytokine secretion profiles, from spleens of sciatic nerve-injured heterozygous rats. Passive transfer of type 1 T cells, which produce proinflammatory cytokines, into nude rats enhanced the recipients' pain hypersensitivity to a level similar to that of heterozygous donor rats. In contrast, passive transfer of polarized type 2 T cells, which produce anti-inflammatory cytokines, into heterozygous rats modestly though significantly attenuated their pain hypersensitivity. Thus, injection of type 1 and type 2 T-cell subsets produces opposing effects on neuropathic pain. These findings suggest the modulation of the T-cell immune response as a potential target for the treatment of neuropathic pain.
PERSONAL IDENTITY AND THE COHERENCE OF Q-MEMORY

Brian Garrett constructs cases satisfying Andy Hamilton’s definition of weak q-memory. This does not establish that a peculiar kind of memory is at least conceptually coherent. Any ‘apparent memory experiences’ that satisfy the definition turn out not to involve remembering anything at all. This conclusion follows if we accept, as both Hamilton and Garrett do, a variety of first-person authority according to which memory judgements may be false, but not on the ground that someone other than the remembering subject had the remembered experience. Garrett’s brain-bisection illustration sounds convincing, but only because we retain the idea that the subjects created by implanting a hemisphere each in two different bodies are entitled to say that they remember experiences before the surgery in the ordinary sense. To that extent the illustration presents a case of ordinary memory, not q-memory.
Self-recovery in server programs

It is important that long running server programs retain availability amidst software failures. However, server programs do fail and one of the important causes of failures in server programs is due to memory errors. Software bugs in the server code like buffer overflows, integer overflows, etc. are exposed by certain user requests, leading to memory corruption, which can often result in crashes. One safe way of recovering from these crashes is to periodically checkpoint program state and rollback to the most recent checkpoint on a crash. However, checkpointing program state periodically can be quite expensive. Furthermore, since recovery can involve the rolling back of considerable state information in addition to replay of several benign user requests, the throughput and response time of the server can be reduced significantly during rollback recovery.In this paper, we first conducted a detailed study to see how memory corruption propagates in server programs. Our study shows that memory locations that are corrupted during the processing of an user request, generally do not propagate across user requests. On the contrary, the memory locations that are corrupted are generally cleansed automatically, as memory (stack or the heap) gets deallocated or when memory gets overwritten with uncorrupted values. This self cleansing property in server programs led us to believe that recovering from crashes does not necessarily require the expensive roll back of state for recovery. Motivated by this observation, we propose SRS, a technique for self recovery in server programs which takes advantage of self-cleansing to recover from crashes. Those memory locations that are not fully cleansed are restored in a demand driven fashion, which makes SRS very efficient. Thus in SRS, when a crash occurs instead of rolling back to a safe state, the crash is suppressed and the program is made to execute forwards past the crash; we employ a mechanism called crash suppression, to prevent further crashes from recurring as the execution proceeds forwards. Experiments conducted on real world server programs with real bugs, show that in each of the cases the server program could efficiently recover from the crash and the faulty user request was isolated from future benign user requests.
Spectral sensitivity in the blue and near ultraviolet for light-induced carotene synthesis inPhycomyces mycelia

Abstract A previous study of light-induced carotene synthesis (LICS) in Phycomyces provided evidence for dual control of the response, possibly by two separate photoreceptors. To test this hypothesis, we have determined the relative quantum effectiveness of 445-, 405-, and 365-nm light for both low- and high-fluence components of LICS. For the low-fluence component of LICS, the quantum effectiveness of 365 nm light is low relative to 445- and 405-nm light. These data favor β-carotene over riboflavin as the photoreceptor chromophore. When the screening by β-carotene produced in the mycelium over long-term irradiations is considered, it is probable that the same photoreceptor mediates both low- and high-fluence LICS. In addition, reciprocity data support the conclusion that irradiation of dark-grown cultures elicits the synthesis of a factor required for the high-fluence component of LICS.
A Study of Errors Induced by Decoupling Approximation in Damped Linear Vibratory Systems

It is well known that an undamped linear vibratory system can be decoupled through transformation to principal coordinates. In the presence of damping, coordinate decoupling occurs only if the system is classically damped. Upon modal transformation, the system generally remains coupled by the off-diagonal elements of its modal damping matrix. A common approximation in the analysis of nonclassically damped systems is to ignore the off-diagonal elements of the modal damping matrix, which is equivalent to neglecting coupling of the principal coordinates. This procedure is termed the decoupling approximation. Intuitively, the errors of decoupling approximation should be small if the off-diagonal elements of the modal damping matrix are small. Contrary to this widely accepted belief, an example is provided to demonstrate that this criterion is not sufficient for decoupling approximation. In fact, coupling effect can even increase as the off-diagonal elements of the modal damping matrix decrease in magnitude. Discussion and explanation are provided as to why the errors increase when the modal damping matrix becomes increasingly diagonal.© 2005 ASME
Magmatic, structural, and hydrothermal evolution of the Mineral Mountains intrusive complex, Utah

The Mineral Mountains intrusive complex records the interaction since Oligocene time between magmatic, structural, and hydrothermal processes. These processes continue to the present, as exemplified by the Roosevelt Hot Springs geothermal system, which is structurally controlled and driven by a pluton emplaced during the Pleistocene. The intrusive rocks of the complex show changes in composition from an early calc-alkaline suite (Oligocene) to a slightly alkaline main intrusive sequence (Miocene) that makes up most of the range. At about 9 Ma, the intrusive activity was associated with low-angle faulting. The oldest volcanic rocks are dated at ∼7 Ma. Volcanic activity continued in the region until ∼0.5 Ma and may be active still. Examples of the youngest volcanism include a sequence of rhyolite flows, domes, and pyroclastic deposits that were erupted along the crest of the range between 0.8 and 0.5 Ma. Minor basaltic flow and pyroclastic eruptions also were localized in the northern part of the range. A major low-angle detachment fault, containing as much as 200 m of cataclasite, is preserved in the southern Mineral Mountains. This fault separates lithologies of the Mineral Mountains intrusive complex from an overlying Paleozoic sedimentary sequence. We propose that this zone developed at the brittle-ductile transition and has been exposed because of the extreme uplift of the range. The range also preserves a series of listric faults which may sole into a major low-angle fault at depth. High-angle normal faults strike both north and east. Both sets have important controls on the flow of fluid in the Roosevelt Hot Springs geothermal field. The east-west structures are presently seismically active. Hydrothermal activity has been associated with all intrusive events in the Mineral Mountains. Base-metal mineralization accompanied the older events, whereas precious-metal mineralization accompanied the younger. We propose an evolution of the intrusive complex, involving the interaction of magmetic, structural, and hydrothermal components. From oldest to youngest, each phase of activity reflects emplacement of magma into progressively higher levels of the crust. Uplift reflected by this progression has been quite rapid at times, as shown by fission track dating. As a consequence, the Mineral Mountains constitute a profound structural high in the region. This extreme uplift probably was caused by diapiric rise of this area under the influence of repeated magmatic intrusion.
Resolution of 10 000 Compositionally Distinct Components in Polar Coal Extracts by Negative-Ion Electrospray Ionization Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry

Coal is one of the world's most chemically complex natural mixtures, whose composition varies with origin and age. Its combustion yields environmentally relevant “greenhouse” gases such as SOX and NOX. Here, for the first time, we apply electrospray ionization (ESI) Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) to the analysis of Illinois No. 6 and Pocahontas No. 3 pyridine coal extracts. With the aid of Kendrick mass scaling, the elemental compositions can be sorted into different homologous series according to compound “class” (number of various heteroatoms) and “type” (rings plus double bonds). Many more species and classes were detected in Illinois No. 6 coal than in Pocahontas No. 3 coal. Illinois No. 6 coal contains mainly oxygen- and sulfur-containing classes; conversely, Pocahontas No. 3 coal contains nitrogen-containing classes. Both coals share O2 and NO2 classes. Pocahontas coal exhibits much greater aromaticity (more rings plus double bonds) and less alkyl substitutio...
Transport studies of protonated emeraldine polymer: A granular polymeric metal system

An experimental study of the temperature- ($T$) dependent dc conductivity $\ensuremath{\sigma}$, the electric field ($E$) dependence of $\ensuremath{\sigma}$, and the $T$-dependent thermopower $S$ as a function of protonation level ($0.0lx\ensuremath{\equiv}\frac{[{\mathrm{H}}^{+}]}{[\mathrm{N}]}\ensuremath{\leqq}0.5$) of emeraldine polymer is presented. The conductivity $\ensuremath{\sigma}(300 \mathrm{K})$ varies from ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}10}$ to 10 ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Omega}}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ with increasing protonation, while $\ensuremath{\sigma}(T)\ensuremath{\propto}\mathrm{exp}[\ensuremath{-}{(\frac{{T}_{0}}{T})}^{\frac{1}{2}}]$, with ${T}_{0}$ decreasing with increasing $x$. Above a threshold field ${E}_{t}$, $\ensuremath{\sigma}\ensuremath{\propto}\mathrm{exp}(\ensuremath{-}\frac{{E}_{0}}{E})$, with ${E}_{0}$ constant. The thermopower $S$ changes sign with increasing $x$ and is proportional to $T$ for $x\ensuremath{\approx}0.5$. The transport properties are the first systematic evidence for the formation of a granular polymeric metal.
The olfactory circuit of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster

The olfactory circuit of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster has emerged in recent years as an excellent paradigm for studying the principles and mechanisms of information processing in neuronal circuits. We discuss here the organizational principles of the olfactory circuit that make it an attractive model for experimental manipulations, the lessons that have been learned, and future challenges.
Anonymous Procedures for Condorcet's Model: Robustness, Nonmonotonicity, and Optimality

In Condorcet's model of information aggregation, a group of people decides among two alternatives a and b , with each person getting an independent bit of evidence about which alternative is objectively superior. I consider anonymous procedures, in which the group's decision depends only on the number of people who report a or b , not their identities. A procedure is called incentive compatible for a person if she wants to report truthfully given that others report truthfully. I show that if an anonymous procedure is incentive compatible for both a person who is significantly biased toward a and a person who is significantly biased toward b , then it is incentive compatible for any person, regardless of his preferences and prior beliefs; also, if it is not trivial, it must be nonmonotonic, with an additional report for a sometimes decreasing the probability the group chooses a . I define the "supermajority penalty" (SP) procedure and show that when there are significant biases in both directions, the SP procedure is the optimal anonymous incentive compatible procedure from the point of view of an unbiased person.
Acute graft-versus-host disease: more than just alloreactivity.

In this issue of Blood , Sorror and coworkers report that pretransplant comorbidities predict the severity of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) and associated treatment-related mortality following hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). 1
Light emitting poly(para-phenylenevinylene-alt-3-tert butyl-meta-phenylenevinylenes)

Abstract Poly(para-phenylenevinylene-alt-3-tert-butyl-meta-phenylenevinylene) was synthesized by Wittig condensation with varying ratio of cis and trans olefin bonds. The luminescent properties of the unisomerized and trans-isomerized polymers (1 and 2, respectively) were compared. Nearly identical emission spectra were observed for both polymers in dilute solutions, but the emission intensity of 1 is lower. This is attributed to the cis vinylic moieties in 1, which favor nonradiative excited state decay processes by limiting formation of a planar excited state. Double layer LEDs with the configuration ITO/PPV/(1 or 2)/Ca–Al were fabricated. Substantially better efficiencies and luminances were observed for devices made with polymer 2 as the emissive layer, by comparison to 1. The results show that the elimination of cis olefin defects in these polymers is important for the optimization of LEDs.
On robust detection of discrete-time stochastic signals☆

Abstract The problem of designing robust systems for the detection of stochastic signals in noise is considered for the large-sample-size, small-signal case. By applying two previously-established models for the detection of stochastic signals, known results for the robust detection of deterministic signals are extended on a limited basis to the stochastic- signal case. The proposed detectors are seen to be robust over a class of possible noise statistics, based on a Huber-Tukey mixture model, which contains noises characterized by heavy-tailed probability density functions. In addition, numerical results are presented which verify the robustness property of the proposed detectors over wider classes of noise mixtures.
Stereo- and Regioselective Nucleophilic Addition to Dihapto-Coordinated Pyridine Complexes

A dihapto-coordinated pyridine ligand of a tungsten complex is readily alkylated or acylated at nitrogen, and the resulting pyridinium species undergoes regio- and stereoselective addition at C2 wi...
Expectancy and cued recall

A multitrial examination of cuing categorized lists showed that practice with cues was not necessary for cuing to increase retrieval of higher order category information relative to noncued category recall. There was a modest increase in within-category item recall over a series of cued lists. Reversed cuing conditions on the last trial showed that subjects who did not anticipate cues did increase in category recall but not within-category item recall. The subjects who had anticipated cues declined in number of categories recalled but not number of items recalled per category.
Combinatorial strategies for oncolytic herpes simplex virus therapy of brain tumors

Oncolytic viruses, such as the oncolytic herpes simplex virus (oHSV), are an exciting new therapeutic strategy for cancer as they are replication competent in tumor cells but not normal cells. In order to engender herpes simplex virus with oncolytic activity and make it safe for clinical application, mutations are engineered into the virus. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and deadly primary brain tumor in adults. Despite many advances in therapy, overall survival has not been substantially improved over the last several decades. A number of different oHSVs have been tested as monotherapy in early-phase clinical trials for GBM and have demonstrated safety and anecdotal evidence of efficacy. However, strategies to improve efficacy are likely to be necessary to successfully treat GBM. Cancer treatment usually involves multimodal approaches, so the standard of care for GBM includes surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. In preclinical GBM models, combinations of oHSV with other types of therapy have exhibited markedly improved activity over individual treatments alone. In this review, we will discuss the various combination strategies that have been employed with oHSV, including chemotherapy, small-molecule inhibitors, antiangiogenic agents, radiotherapy and expression of therapeutic transgenes. Effective combinations, especially synergistic ones, are clinically important not just for improved efficacy but also to permit lower and less-toxic doses and potentially overcome resistance.
Gene expression of endothelial cells under pulsatile non-reversing vs. steady shear stress; comparison of nitric oxide production.

Pulsations in arterial blood flow expose the endothelium to diverse mechanical forces that may differentially regulate endothelial cell (EC) phenotype. We postulated that pulsatile non-reversing shear stress (typical of the common carotid artery), would produce a more “athero-protective” gene expression pattern compared with steady shear stress of the same mean value. Transcriptional analysis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) subjected to 24 h of pulsatile shear stress (average = 13 dyne/cm2, range = 7–25 dyne/cm2; 1 Hz) or steady shear stress (13 dyne/cm2) identified ∼200 differentially expressed genes. Hierarchical cluster analysis indicated that HUVEC respond similarly to both types of shear stress (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.785). However, categorization of the differentially expressed genes with Ingenuity Pathways Analysis and with Expression Analysis Systematic Explorer revealed possible differences in nitric oxide (NO) production and signaling. Consistent with gene expression analysis, pulsatile shear stress significantly attenuated NO production relative to steady shear stress (0.77 ± 0.08, p < 0.01) in HUVEC without significantly altering the levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (0.95 ± 0.14, p = 0.65). These results demonstrate that the common carotid flow waveform elicits subtle changes in HUVEC responses to arterial levels of shear stress, which lead to differences in NO production.
Effect of glass transition on the concentration dependence of self-diffusion coefficients

The free-volume theory of diffusion is used to predict the effect of the glass transition on the concentration dependence of the solvent self-diffusion coefficient at constant temperature. The theoretical prediction is in agreement with experimental data. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 1682–1684, 2003
The Rotation of Janus and Epimetheus

Abstract Epimetheus, a small moon of Saturn, has a rotational libration (an oscillation about synchronous rotation) of 5.9 ° ± 1.2 ° , placing Epimetheus in the company of Earth’s Moon and Mars’ Phobos as the only natural satellites for which forced rotational libration has been detected. The forced libration is caused by the satellite’s slightly eccentric orbit and non-spherical shape. Detection of a moon’s forced libration allows us to probe its interior by comparing the measured amplitude to that predicted by a shape model assuming constant density. A discrepancy between the two would indicate internal density asymmetries. For Epimetheus, the uncertainties in the shape model are large enough to account for the measured libration amplitude. For Janus, on the other hand, although we cannot rule out synchronous rotation, a permanent offset of several degrees between Janus’ minimum moment of inertia (long axis) and the equilibrium sub-Saturn point may indicate that Janus does have modest internal density asymmetries. The rotation states of Janus and Epimetheus experience a perturbation every 4 years, as the two moons “swap” orbits. The sudden change in the orbital periods produces a free libration about synchronous rotation that is subsequently damped by internal friction. We calculate that this free libration is small in amplitude (
Osteochondral Interface Regeneration of Rabbit Mandibular Condyle With Bioactive Signal Gradients

Purpose Tissue engineering solutions focused on the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) have expanded in number and variety during the past decade to address the treatment of TMJ disorders. The existing data on approaches for healing small defects in the TMJ condylar cartilage and subchondral bone, however, are sparse. The purpose of the present study was thus to evaluate the performance of a novel gradient-based scaffolding approach to regenerate osteochondral defects in the rabbit mandibular condyle. Materials and Methods Miniature bioactive plugs for regeneration of small mandibular condylar defects in New Zealand white rabbits were fabricated. The plugs were constructed from poly( d , l -lactic-co-glycolic acid) microspheres with a gradient transition between cartilage-promoting and bone-promoting growth factors. Results At 6 weeks of healing, the results suggested that the implants provided support for the neosynthesized tissue as evidenced by the histologic and 9.4 T magnetic resonance imaging findings. Conclusion The inclusion of bioactive factors in a gradient-based scaffolding design is a promising new treatment strategy for focal defect repair in the TMJ.
The Role of Sulfur in the Porous Cermet Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Anode Microstructure

Sulfur poisoning can deactivate nickel catalysts in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), resulting in a significant drop in fuel cell performance. In this paper, a Ni/YSZ SOFC anode exposed to 100 ppm H2S was examined using x-ray absorption contrast imaging for its microstructure and x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy to probe and map Ni, S, and YSZ phases. It was observed that S was frequently found to be collocated with Ni, with higher concentrations being located on or near the surface of the Ni particles exposed to gas, while little S was found near the YSZ phase.Copyright © 2012 by ASME