cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Preparation of detergents from formaldehyde

A process was developed for condensing different mol ratios of dodecanol, formaldehyde and ethylene oxide to form a series of adducts with useful detergent properties. These products are analogous to the commercially important class of nonionic surfactants produced by treating fatty alcohols with ethylene oxide to produce a homologous series of adducts. The structures were shown to be represented by RO[(CH2O)x(CH2CH2O)y]R where R is either dodecyl or hydrogen, x and y are integers (including zero), and it is understood that the oxymethylene and oxyethylene groups are intermingled in the ether chains. Unfortunately, we were unable to produce commercially viable detergent compositions. For these, our calculations indicate that a dodecanol:HCHO:EO mol ratio between 1:3:4 and 1:5:2 would be necessary both for good detergency and good economics. With acidic catalysts such as BF3, the condensation is facile and product with desired overall mol ratios can be produced. However, much of the formaldehyde and ethylene oxide are incorporated into by-products that either detract from the detergency properties (e.g., terminal ethers where both R groups are dodecyl) or make the mixtures unacceptable as detergents (e.g., 1,4-dioxane). Because of the presence of terminal ethers, the detergent properties are similar to those of propylene oxide adducts rather than ethylene oxide adducts. With selected basic catalysts most of the harmful by-products can be eliminated, but the reaction rates and conversions are unsatisfactory. Basic catalysts that give high reaction rates convert most of the formaldehyde fed to methyl formate.
Microfilter Paper Method for 17α-Hydroxyprogesterone Radioimmunoassay: Its Application for Rapid Screening for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia

A new micromethod for measuring a steroid in blood collected on filter paper has been developed. The method is easy and rapid and has the specificity, accuracy and precision of RIA in whole plasma. Less than 20 μl of blood is required, and, therefore, samples may be obtained with heel prick. This method has been applied to the determination of 17α-hydroxyprogesterone (17α-OH-P) for screening patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency. There was excellent correlation (r = .94) between the values of 17α-OH-P obtained by microfilter paper method and those from plasma samples of cord (40 ± 13 ng/ml) and neonatal blood (<3.6 ng/ml) in normal infants. In six neonates at risk for CAH the diagnosis was made utilizing the microfilter paper method. 17α-OH-P concentrations were highly elevated in both filter paper eluates of whole blood (67–360 ng/ml of plasma) and simultaneously obtained plasma concentration (74–395 ng/ml) in affected infants. The concentrations of 17α-OH-P ...
HLA-Dw/LD directed cytotoxic T cell clones.

Abstract T lymphocyte clones were derived by micromanipulation from an MLC between a stimulator and responder matched for class I but mismatched for class II HLA antigens; among the possible stimulating antigens were DR4 and Dw4. Two of the clones, when tested for cytotoxicity on a panel of DR4 positive and negative targets, appeared to recognize a determinant closely associated with Dw4, but did not lyse, with one exception, targets expressing other DR4 associated Dw specificities or DR4 negative targets. Blocking studies, using monoclonal antibodies directed against monomorphic epitopes on class I or class II molecules, revealed that the cytotoxic activity of these clones was strongly inhibited by an anti-class II (L-243) but not by an anti-class I (w6/32) monoclonal antibody. Both clones were T3 + , T4 + , T8 − . These findings show that cytotoxic T cell clones, (directed against class II antigens), may have specificity that correlates with a T lymphocyte-defined LD/Dw determinant. The blocking experiments using monoclonal antibodies give further support to the idea that these clones recognize determinant(s) on a class II molecule. The cell surface phenotyping results are in agreement with previous reports that most anti-class II cytotoxic clones have a T4 + T8 − phenotype.
Action spectrum and characteristics of the light activated disappearance of phytochrome in oat seedlings.

The action spectrum for the light-activated destruction of phytochrome in etiolated Avena seedlings has been determined. There are 2 broad maxima, one between 380 and 440 mμ, the other between 600 and 700 mμ. peaking at about 660 mμ. On an incident energy basis, the red region of the spectrum is more efficient than the blue by about one order of magnitude in activating phytochrome disappearance. Both the red absorbing as well as the far-red absorbing forms of phytochrome are destroyed after exposure of Avena seedling to either red or blue light. From the action spectrum and photoreversibility of pigment loss, we conclude that phytochrome acts as a photoreceptor for the photoactivation of its metabolically-based destruction. We suggest that another pigment might also be associated with the disappearance of phytochrome in oat seedlings exposed to blue light.
A global-timestamp-based approach to construct a real-time distributed tiled display system

Tiled display systems have emerged as a means to visualize complex scientific data sets, while reducing the need to subsample potentially critical information. This paper presents a global-timestamp-based approach for the development and the control of real-time distributed tiled display systems. Two different techniques are presented that enable the development of multi-tile configurations in combination with distributed render clusters. A single-display-multiple-renderer approach is presented that fuses visuals generated by multiple render nodes into one composite image, which can be assigned to one specific display tile. This approach is subsequently extend to a multiple-display-multiple-rendered approach that facilitates the creation of scalable display systems consisting of multiple display tiles and render clusters. This paper investigates challenges that have to be addressed by these systems and describes a proof-of-concept system based on a high-level object-oriented real-time programming scheme called TMO.
Time and Energy Saving through Computation Offloading with Bandwidth Consideration for Mobile Cloud Computing

Smartphone applications are gaining popularity and with time many complex and computation/resource intensive applications are coming to market. These applications require more resources and consume lot of battery power, but the improvisation in battery capacity has been lagged far behind as compared to other components of mobile devices. On other hand, clouds are rich in resources and computational power. Therefore, by utilizing cloud resources for application execution we can reduce battery consumption and in turn increases battery charging intervals. This all is known as cyber foreign or computation offloading in Moble Cloud Computing. There are various factors affecting computation offloading like bandwidth. So, we had considered bandwidth as major factor in proposed offloading decision making algorithm. Our algorithm is based on divide and conquer strategy. This system focuses on time and energy saving.
On the buckling of rotating rods

Abstract The critical rotating speed causing buckling of an axially prestressed rotating rod attached to the rim of a ring is investigated by using the extended Galerkin procedure with shape functions represented by a complete set of Legendre polynomials. The study accounts for the effect of the bar setting angle, and the stability boundary is established based on a two term approximation.
Tuning the Sensitivity of a Foldamer-Based Mercury Sensor by Its Folding Energy

A fluorescent sensor for Hg2+ was obtained by incorporation of two methionine units into a cholate hexamer and by attaching a Dansyl group at the chain end. Folding could be made highly favorable or unfavorable in different solvents. Because folding was required to bring the sulfur groups together to chelate the mercury ion, binding affinity of the foldamer and, thus, its sensitivity as a sensor, could be tuned over broad ranges (at least 5 orders of magnitude) by solvent changes.
Democracy, gender and US foreign assistance: Guidelines and lessons

This article takes the form of a case study, based on the experience of preparing a practical guide on gender and democracy for the United States Agency for International Development. It documents the organizational context at the time of preparation and the nature of the document thought to be most appropriate to that context: the sources of relevant ideas including literature on women and the state and women and the law; some key preliminary questions such as a justification for attention to gender in democracy and issues of local culture and religion; an illustration of how the material was dealt with; and a concluding section on lessons, comparisons and focus areas for future attention.
The Landsat ETM+ spectral mixing space

Spectral mixture analysis (SMA) uses linear mixture models to provide physical representations of land surface reflectance as continuous fields of spectral endmember abundances. While most spectral mixture analyses are site-specific and use local image endmembers to model abundance of specific materials, the linear mixture model can also provide a physical basis for a more general representation of land surface reflectance as mixtures of generic endmembers. A spectral mixture analysis of a global composite of 30 spectrally diverse Landsat ETM+ subscenes indicates that a wide variety of ETM+ reflectance spectra can be accurately represented as linear combinations of soil and rock substrate, green vegetation, and dark surface reflectance spectra. The global analysis indicates that >98% of ETM+ image spectral variance can be represented within a three-dimensional spectral mixing space and that >90% of the variance can be described with a two-dimensional projection of the mixing space. A wide variety of individual subscene and composite mixing spaces consistently show similar triangular distributions of mixed reflectances bounded by linear mixtures of the substrate, vegetation, and dark surface endmembers. Distinct binary mixing spurs representing ice/snow and submarine/reef reflectance are also linear but separate from the primary triangular mixing space. While the three-endmember substrate, vegetation, dark surface (SVD) linear mixing model does not accommodate some significant characteristics of the three-dimensional mixing space, it is able to represent more than 95% of the 30 million observed ETM+ image spectra with misfits of less than 0.04 reflectance units. Linear binary mixing continua between the dark surface endmember and both the substrate and vegetation endmembers indicate the extent to which shadowing and nonreflective surfaces combine with illuminated substrate and vegetation at subpixel scales to modulate spectrally mixed ETM+ reflectances in a wide variety of land cover types. SVD fractions estimated with a standard set of generic endmember spectra could offer many of the benefits of standard metrics like vegetation indices (e.g. NDVI) and linear transformations (e.g. Kauth-Thomas Tasseled Cap), while retaining the unique benefits of physically based fraction estimates. These benefits include good agreement with ground based measurements and output units corresponding to physical properties of land cover that can be used directly as input to land surface process models.
Nonlinear photoemission for viewing guided or evanescent waves

Photoelectrons generated by multiphoton absorption can be used to form images of evanescent waves or modes in optical waveguide surface structures. With high resolution electron optics, it is possible to observe detail in the photoelectron image that is much smaller than the light wavelength. This technique therefore may be useful in revealing submicron waveguide defects and in visualizing evanescent wave phenomena. In this paper the chatacteristics of this method are discussed, and preliminary experiments in which nonlinear photoemission images of GaAs and LiNbO 3 were obtained are described.
Role of mitochondrial dysfunction in S-(1,2-dichlorovinyl)-l-cysteine-induced apoptosis.

Abstract The nephrotoxicity of trichloroethylene and dichloroacetylene has previously been linked to mitochondrial dysfunction induced by the metabolite S-(1,2-dichlorovinyl)- l -cysteine (DCVC). In this study, we examined whether key biochemical steps associated with mitochondria occur in DCVC-induced apoptosis in cultured porcine proximal tubular LLC-PK1 cells. DCVC caused a decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential (mtΔΨ) beginning at 4 h and a release of cytochrome c into the cytoplasm at 6 h. Caspase-3-like activity was detected at 6 h and extensive DNA fragmentation was observed at 8 h. Decreases in cellular ATP were not evident until 8 h and later, even though electron microscopy showed that the mitochondria were extensively swollen. Aminooxyacetic acid (AOAA), an inhibitor of cysteine-conjugate β-lyase, protected against mitochondrial changes and apoptosis. Overexpression of the antiapoptotic Bcl-2 protein desensitized LLC-PK1 cells to DCVC-induced apoptosis. These results support the interpretation that mitochondrial release of cyt c and cyt c-dependent activation of caspase-3 could have a central role in nephrotoxicity due to haloalkene-derived cysteine S-conjugates.
On the propagation of cosmic rays in the Galaxy

Cosmic ray propagation in the Galaxy is examined within the framework of the leaky-box model, whereby phenomenological aspects of diffusion and propagation are related to the physical properties of the interstellar medium. The model is parameterized by data on composition, spectra, spectral change as a function of energy, and cosmic ray particle lifetime. It is assumed that electrons and nucleons have a common source within the Galaxy (probably associated with supernova remnants). Lifetime data and leakage length are compared with radio synchrotron and gamma-ray data to establish a place of origin for cosmic rays observed at earth, i.e., at a radius of 0.5-1.0 kpc from earth. It is noted that if the escape length becomes energy independent, all nuclear spectra will flatten, while the electron spectrum remains unchanged.
Are Self-Efficacy Instruments Comparable to Knowledge and Skills Tests in Training Evaluation Settings?.

Researchers have linked self-efficacy to performance, but they have not investigated the relationship between self-efficacy and knowledge and skills tests within a training evaluation setting, which is the main purpose of this study. Additionally, researchers have acknowledged self-efficacy scores may be distorted as a result of assessors inaccurately perceiving task complexities. Pretraining self-efficacy assessments, then, may be less effective when collected at the beginning of training because the trainees may perceive the performance objectives inaccurately. As such, this study also investigates the relationship between preself-efficacy administered at the start of training to preself-efficacy collected at the end of training. The results uncover midlevel correlations between self-efficacy and knowledge, and low correlations between self-efficacy to skills as well as high correlations between preself-efficacy scores administered at the beginning of training and preself-efficacy scores collected at the end. These results suggest evaluators can distribute self-efficacy assessments at the end of training to gather both pre and post data simultaneously.
Web Publishing and Educational Scholarship: where issues of form and content meet

Abstract This essay explores new forms of publication that are gaining wider and wider use within scholarly communities across a range of disciplines. The most important of these include: on‐line journals; publication (of a sort) within listservs or other on‐line discussion groups; self‐publishing. Each of these can take a variety of forms. My primary concern here is with how these new forms of publication are influencing the kinds of scholarship that are taking shape in on‐line contexts and how these new types of scholarship, in turn, raise new questions about credibility, authorship and intellectual ownership and the criteria used for academic evaluation.
Entorhinal cortex modules of the human brain

Much is known about modular organization in the cerebral cortex, but this knowledge is skewed markedly toward primary sensory areas, and in fact, it has been difficult to demonstrate elsewhere. In this report, we test the hypothesis that a unique form of modules exists in the entorhinal area of the human cortex (Brodmann's area 28). We examined this issue using classic cyto- and myeloarchitectonic stains, immunolabeling for various neurochemicals, and histochemistry for certain enzymes. The findings reveal that the entorhinal cortex in the human is formed by a mosaic of cellular aggregates whose most conspicuous elements are the cell islands of layer II and myelinated fibers around the cell islands, the disposition of glutamic acid decarboxylase-positive neurons and processes, cytochrome oxidase staining, and the pattern of cholinergic afferent fibers. The neuropathology of Alzheimer's disease cases highlights the modules, but inversely so, by destroying their features. The findings are of interest because 1) anatomically defined modules are shown to be present in areas other than the sensory and motor cortices, 2) the modules are morphological entities likely to reflect functions of the entorhinal cortex, and 3) the destruction of entorhinal cortex modules may account disproportionately for the severity of memory impairments in Alzheimer's disease.
Pathologic processes associated with the use of scleral buckling in humans

Scleral buckling or indentation over a retinal tear or detachment was popularized by Ernst Custodis in 1953. Since then it has become one of the most popular and effective retinal reattachment surgical procedures. Although a few biologic materials such as fascia lata, lyophilized sclera and gelatin are used sometimes as scleral buckles, the most common material for buckles currently used is derivatives of medical grade silicone rubber or MAI. When the scleral buckling material is of foreign origin, the body reacts with acute and chronic inflammation, extrusion, and intrusion. The author has studied five eneucleated globes, with scleral buckles in place for periods of 3 to 48 months. The globes were removed for "painful blind eyes". The author's studies consisted of histomorphological analyses. The author observed foreign body granulomatous reaction and extensive fibrosis of Tenon's capsule and the sclera. The precise mechanism by which scleral buckling works remain uncertain at this time.
The stress response in the abundance of circulating leucocytes in the killifish, Fundulus heteroclitus. II. The role of catecholamines.

Intraperitoneal injections of distilled water at 5 μ1/g, but not at 1 μ1/g, elicit transitory leucopenia at three minutes post-injection in intact Fundulus heteroclitus. Later phases of the stress sequence (Pickford et al., '71) are not elicited. Intraperitoneal injections of epinephrine (0.025 μg/g in 5 μ1/g H2O) completely simulate the cold-shock leucocyte sequence. Hypophysectomy abolishes the two hour leucocytic phase, as in the cold-shock response. Norepinephrine is ineffective at 0.1 μg/g but simulates the epinephrine response at a high dose (1.0 μg/g). Isoprenaline (1.0 or 0.1 μg/g) elicits the leucopenic but not the leucocytic phases. Pretreatment with phenoxybenzamine (2.5 mg/liter aquarium water) abolishes both three minute and 45–60 minute cold-shock leucopenia; two hour leucocytosis is unimpaired but the 15 minute response is reversed. Pretreatment with propranolol (1 μg/liter aquarium water) has no effect on the two leucopenic phases; two hour leucocytosis is delayed or, at higher doses, abolished; 15 minute leucocytosis is either unaffected, or reversed. It is not possible to interpret these results in terms of classical mammalian alpha- and beta-adrenergic mechanisms.
Absorption of Organic Anions from the Rat Small Intestine

Abstract1. Hippuric acid, sulphanilic acid, p-aminohippuric acid, and phenol red, highly ionized compounds of very low lipoid solubilities, were absorbed from the rat small intestine at rates which varied over a 25-fold range.2. Absorption rates ranked in the same order as the chloroform-to-water partition coefficients of the compounds but not in the order of the molecular weights or degrees of ionization.3. The results suggested that these anions are absorbed mainly by simple diffusion through lipoid regions of the intestinal boundary.
Dynamic control of maximal ventricular elastance in conscious dogs before and after pacing-induced heart failure

We identified the transfer functions relating beat-to-beat fluctuations in arterial blood pressure to maximal ventricular elastance (ABP→E max ) and beat-to-beat fluctuations in heart rate to E max (HR→E max ) to characterize the dynamic properties of the arterial ventricular contractility baroreflex and force-frequency relation, respectively, in three conscious dogs before and after pacing-induced heart failure. During the control condition, the average gain value, dominant time constant, and time delay were respectively -0.0374 ml-1, 12.8 sec, and 2 sec for the ABP→E max transfer function and 0.0137 mmHg/ml-bpm, 1.77 sec, and 0 sec for the HR→E max transfer function. During the heart failure condition, both transfer functions were markedly depressed. These results are consistent with known physiology and previous studies and provide perhaps the first quantitative information on the dynamic control of E max during normal closed-loop operation.
Waste and Potency: Making Men with Minerals in Guanajuato and Tucson

In the mines of Guanajuato, Mexico, when miners drill and dynamite for metallic ore, they dislodge other substances. Among these are elements and compounds known as â€œminerals,â€ sold and collected in their own right as scientific specimens or aesthetic collectibles. These minerals often fetch thousands of dollars at mineral shows and collector showrooms in Tucson, Arizona and other mineral collecting hubs. In this process, minerals move from byproducts and even waste to highly valued commodities in their own right.
The Molecular Perspective: Estrogen Sulfotransferase

Correspondence: David S. Goodsell, Ph.D., Associate Professor, The Scripps Research Institute, Department of Molecular Biology, 10550 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, California 92037, USA. Telephone: 858-784-2839; Fax: 858-784-2860; e-mail: goodsell@scripps.edu Web site: http://www.scripps.edu/pub/goodsell Received February 28, 2006; accepted for publication February 28, 2006. ©AlphaMed Press 1083-7159/2006/$12.00/0 Many hormones, drugs, and toxins are small, carbon-rich molecules and are thus insoluble in water. This poses a physiological problem: how do you move these molecules from place to place since the major pipeline of transport is the watery circulatory system? This applies to molecules such as steroid hormones, which must be delivered from glands to target tissues, and toxins, which need to be solubilized so they can be excreted. One method to make a molecule more soluble is to add a charged chemical group to it. Sulfotransferases use this approach. They attach a negatively-charged sulfonate group to convenient hydroxyl or amine groups on insoluble molecules. Sulfotransferases, like many other enzymes that modify and detoxify small, carbon-rich molecules, tend to be rather non-specific, adding sulfate groups to many different molecules of approximately the same shape and size. Despite this broad specificity, cells make dozens of different sulfotransferases, each acting on a slightly different collection of molecules. Sulfonation can have widely different effects, depending on the molecule. In the case of the painkiller acetaminophen, adding a sulfate detoxifies the molecule, making it easier to excrete. In the case of minoxidil, which is used to promote hair growth, the addition of a sulfate activates the molecule as a drug. In the case of some polycyclic aromatic compounds, the addition of a sulfate turns molecules into Access and take the CME test online and receive 1 AMA PRA category 1 credit at CME.TheOncologist.com CME
HOW DENSITY AND MIXED USES AT THE WORKPLACE AFFECT PERSONAL COMMERCIAL TRAVEL AND COMMUTE MODE CHOICE

A high density of shops and services near the workplace may make it easier to carry out personal commercial activities on foot before, during, and after work, enabling reduced vehicle use during the rest of the day. Investigating this question is an important addition to the current research, which has focused on residential neighborhoods. Data from the 1995 Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey are used to investigate the influence of workplace employment density and share of retail employment on commute mode choice and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to access personal commercial activities. The analysis controls for socioeconomic characteristics and accounts for the endogeneity of commute mode choice and personal commercial VMT by employing a joint logit-Tobit model. Employment density at the workplace is found to be associated with a lower likelihood of automobile commuting and reduced personal commercial VMT, while the presence of employment in the retail category does not play a significant role. Workplace density is more clearly related to reduced VMT and automobile commuting than to characteristics of workers' residential neighborhoods and could have significant influences on personal commercial VMT and automobile commuting when increasing over a large area. The results suggest that land use planners should focus on encouraging employment density to a greater extent than is the current practice, although further research is needed on the role played by correlated factors such as higher parking costs, increased road congestion, and better transit service.
Phosphorylation reaction in cAPK protein kinase-free energy quantum mechanical/molecular mechanics simulations.

We present results of a theoretical analysis of the phosphorylation reaction in cAMP-dependent protein kinase using a combined quantum mechanical and molecular mechanics (QM/MM) approach. Detailed analysis of the reaction pathway is provided using a novel QM/MM implementation of the nudged elastic band method, finite temperature fluctuations of the protein environment are taken into account using free energy calculations, and an analysis of hydrogen bond interactions is performed on the basis of calculated frequency shifts. The late transfer of the substrate proton to the conserved aspartate (D166), the activation free energy of 15 kcal/mol, and the slight exothermic (−3 kcal/mol) character of the reaction are all consistent with the experimental data. The near attack conformation of D166 in the reactant state is maintained by interactions with threonine-201, asparagine-177, and most notably by a conserved water molecule serving as a strong structural link between the primary metal ion and the D166. The s...
Health: A Personal Commitment

Health as a personal commitment is a view that evolves from Parse's theory of man-living-health. This article describes different models of human nature and explains health from the perspectives of each, describes a view of health from the man-living-health theory supported by other contemporary works, and posits some implications for nursing practice and research related to this view of health. The author elaborates on ways human beings move beyond the moment to change patterns of health through creative imagining, affirming self, and spontaneous glimpsing of the paradoxical. The meaning of true presence is discussed as well as some basic suggestions for the study of phenomena using the Parse research methodology.
Synthesis and Characterization of Nanocrystalline Diamond and Its Biomedical Application

Diamond is known as the material that has excellent mechanical, electrical and chemical properties. Diamond is also an ideal interface that is compatible with microelectronics process and biological environments to work as a biosensor platform with excellent selectivity and stability. In our study, nanocrystalline diamond (NCD) films were grown on Si substrates by the microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MPECVD) method. Parameters such as gas composition, temperature and pressure are investigated to get the best film quality. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the NCD films. Then the NCD films were treated by hydrogen plasma in the CVD chamber to obtain the hydrogen terminated surface. This hydrogenated NCD film is ready for bio-modification and can work as the platform of the biosensors. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to confirm the surface hydrogenation.
A stochastic FDTD method for statistically varying biological tissues

An approximate method for determining the statistical properties of an FDTD Analysis has been derived, allowing the determination of the mean and the variance of an FDTD simulation. This stochastic simulator progresses in the same fashion as an FDTD simulation progresses. The variance-wave builds and propagates with reflections occurring at dielectric boundaries. Computer overhead is reduced, i.e. memory and runtime are substantially reduced. Permitting the statistics, i.e. mean and variance to be determined without spending allot of time and computer resources for performing Monte Carlo analysis. This would allow the industry to look at statistical analysis in large 3D model spaces using FDTD, which currently is not being done.
TimeTrial: A low-impact performance profiler for streaming data applications

Finding performance bottlenecks in application-specific systems is becoming increasingly labor-intensive as the capabilities of these systems improve. The complex platforms required to meet today's high application performance demands put pressure on developers to sustain current design cycles. Application developers need better tools to diagnose performance issues that arise when utilizing real-world application-specific platforms, from embedded applications to high-performance computational science applications. In this paper, we present TimeTrial, a runtime performance monitoring system that profiles streaming data applications deployed on architecturally diverse computers. TimeTrial is designed to operate with minimal impact on the executing application, exploiting user directives to aggressively perform lossy compression on performance meta-data. We present the design of the TimeTrial performance monitor and demonstrate its use in discovering performance bottlenecks in a production computational biology application.
Photonic crystal microcavities for cavity quantum electrodynamics

We have measured quality factors as high as 4000 for cavity resonances at 1.3 eV in photonic crystal microcavities formed by removing seven holes. In this paper, we discuss the prospect of coupling a single optical mode of a photonic crystal microcavity to the single-exciton (1X) level of a semiconductor quantum dot.
Computational prediction of proteotypic peptides.

Evaluation of: Mallick P, Schirle M, Chen SS et al. Computational prediction of proteotypic peptides for quantitative proteomics. Nat. Biotechnol. 25(1), 125–131 (2007).Mass spectrometry, the driving analytical force behind proteomics, is primarily used to identify and quantify as many proteins in a complex biological mixture as possible. While there are many ways to prepare samples, one aspect that is common to a vast majority of bottom-up proteomic studies is the digestion of proteins into tryptic peptides prior to their analysis by mass spectrometry. As correctly highlighted by Mallick and colleagues, only a few peptides are repeatedly and consistently identified for any given protein within a complex mixture. While the existence of these proteotypic peptides (to borrow the authors’ terminology) is well known in the proteomics community, there has never been an empirical method to recognize which peptides may be proteotypic for a given protein. In this study, the investigators discovered over 16,000 pr...
The Playwright's Muse. Edited by Joan Herrington. New York and London: Routledge, 2002. pp. ix + 310. $24.95 paper.

This anthology of essays and interviews brings together the eleven playwrights who won the Pulitzer Prize in the years 1989–2000. Generally, the playwrights were awarded the prize on the basis of a specific play from the prior year, although in some instances the prize appears to be a recognition for a career. Moreover, there is considerable variety in the playwrights selected by the Pulitzer Committee. Some are very successful commercially, others very experimental; some have been prolific, whereas others are known only for one or two major works. A common bond among them all is their dedication to the stage. Some may have written television or film scripts, and even narrative fiction and poetry, but they all see the stage as their preferred creative ground.
María Jacoba, la niña del maíz

En este numero, el modulo Dibujos Animados, recoge las experiencias del primer curso realizado por el CIESPAL con apoyo de la UNICEF sobre la produccion de programas educativos y culturales que utilizan este recurso como una opcion comunicacional. Se trata de nuevas tecnologias aprovechadas en Cuba y que pueden ser aplicadas en nuestros paises. El modulo relativo al medio ambiente habla del periodismo ecologico con importante desarrollo en America Latina, tema de actualidad que requiere preocupacion por parte de los medios de comunicacion. Incluye entrevistas a Gunter Grass y Jesus Polanco. Gabriel Alba adentra a los lectores en una novedosa forma de usar las computadoras. En el modulo Debate se trata la Economia, cultura y comunicacion; La publicidad via television, La evolucion del merchandising en las novelas brasilenas ?Exigir Etica solo al periodista?
Virtual Averaging Making Nonframe-Averaged Optical Coherence Tomography Images Comparable to Frame-Averaged Images.

PURPOSE Developing a novel image enhancement method so that nonframe-averaged optical coherence tomography (OCT) images become comparable to active eye-tracking frame-averaged OCT images. METHODS Twenty-one eyes of 21 healthy volunteers were scanned with noneye-tracking nonframe-averaged OCT device and active eye-tracking frame-averaged OCT device. Virtual averaging was applied to nonframe-averaged images with voxel resampling and adding amplitude deviation with 15-time repetitions. Signal-to-noise (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR), and the distance between the end of visible nasal retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and the foveola were assessed to evaluate the image enhancement effect and retinal layer visibility. Retinal thicknesses before and after processing were also measured. RESULTS All virtual-averaged nonframe-averaged images showed notable improvement and clear resemblance to active eye-tracking frame-averaged images. Signal-to-noise and CNR were significantly improved (SNR: 30.5 vs. 47.6 dB, CNR: 4.4 vs. 6.4 dB, original versus processed, P < 0.0001, paired t-test). The distance between the end of visible nasal RNFL and the foveola was significantly different before (681.4 vs. 446.5 μm, Cirrus versus Spectralis, P < 0.0001) but not after processing (442.9 vs. 446.5 μm, P = 0.76). Sectoral macular total retinal and circumpapillary RNFL thicknesses showed systematic differences between Cirrus and Spectralis that became not significant after processing. CONCLUSION The virtual averaging method successfully improved nontracking nonframe-averaged OCT image quality and made the images comparable to active eye-tracking frame-averaged OCT images. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE Virtual averaging may enable detailed retinal structure studies on images acquired using a mixture of nonframe-averaged and frame-averaged OCT devices without concerning about systematic differences in both qualitative and quantitative aspects.
Linear Algebra and Affine Planar Transformations

(1993). Linear Algebra and Affine Planar Transformations. The College Mathematics Journal: Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 47-51.
Room-Temperature Synthesis of Mesoporous Sn/SnO2 Composite as Anode for Sodium-Ion Batteries

A mesoporous Sn/SnO2 composite has been synthesized by a self-templating pore formation process at room temperature without any external templates. When evaluated as an anode for sodium-ion batteries, the composite material exhibited stable performance and high Coulombic efficiency, in addition to excellent rate performance.
Radiation Enhanced Diffusion in Ion-Implanted Glasses and Glass/Metal Couples

Ion implantation causes alkali migration to the surface in alkali silicate glasses. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry was used to follow this depletion. Room temperature implantations of 5×1016 250 keV Xe/cm2 in 12M20·88SiO2 (M = Li,Na,K,Rb,Cs) removes approximately equal numbers (within a factor of 2) of alkali from the glass. Low temperature (77K) implants significantly reduce the alkali loss. These results imply a radiation-enhanced diffusion mechanism in which the alkali interchanges with the products of the collision cascade, with the kinetics being limited by the radiation damage components. The results for mixed-alkali glasses ((12−x)M2O·xCs20·88Si02) give further evidence for this process. In glass/’metal couples, radiation enhanced diffusion allows the interchange of glass network components with deposited metals. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry was used to follow the interchange of silicate and phosphate glass components with metal ions near the heavy-ion implanted interface between glass substrate and metal (Al,Zr) films.
Warfare in Asia Minor

T HE brief discussion of warfare in Asia Minor which here follows will be limited to the Hittite period (about I800-I 200 B.C.). It is the only period of Anatolian history illuminated by written sources which are indispensable for deeper penetration into life, motivations and thinking of the ancient. I have to forewarn you that nothing much can be said that has not been said before. No doubt warfare in Asia Minor goes back to the very beginnings when the land was first settled. But what could be said about warfare in prehistoric times? Only the fortifications of the prehistoric settlements have survived, the weapons found in them; the tombs of their warriors and that which accompanied them into the beyond. These relics acquire significance beyond the antiquarian interest they command as soon as they can be fitted into a comprehensive picture of historical development; as soon as states, archaic and primitive as they may seem, city-states, kingdoms etc., emerge. This is the case in Asia Minor with the beginning of the second millennium B.C. Archaeologically speaking the Hittite period in its entirety falls into the Bronze Age, more precisely into its middle and late phases. The catastrophe which marks its end-observable almost everywhere in the Near East-ushers in the Iron Age. This is an incision which means more than merely the introduction of a new material, incidentally important for the history of warfare. Development in the centuries comprising Hittite growth, greatness and downfall does not by any means move in an evenly rising and then suddenly broken curve. The middle part of the span is occupied by the so-called ' Dark Age'; the length we assign to it depends on our views on the vexed and often discussed problem of chronology. Fortunately, it need not be taken up here again; may I be pardoned for re-affirming my conviction that it actually existed and cannot be erased from history by manipulating some figures. What is important for us here is the role played in the Dark Age by the TIurrians and by the thin layer of Indians which revitalized them from about I650 on. For to them can be traced a fundamental change in the technique of warfare which is recognizable everywhere in the Near East at that time and characterizes the period as nothing else. It is the introduction of the light horse-drawn chariot. The impact of the new machine-this it may be called with full right-on warfare generally and also on the structure of society can be observed nowhere better than among the Hittites. Chariots in action are
Microvascular circulation of the descending colon in horses.

Microvascular circulation of the ascending colon in healthy horses was studied using microangiography, light microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. The pelvic flexure with 30 cm of ventral and dorsal colon attached was removed from 14 adult horses immediately after horses were euthanatized. The lumen was flushed with warm water, and this section of the ascending colon was placed in a 37-C bath of isotonic NaCl. In sections from 8 horses, colic vessels were perfused with a radio-opaque medium for microangiography. After angiographic evaluation, tissue sections were prepared for light microscopic observation, using standard histologic methods. In sections from 6 horses, injection replicas were made by perfusing the vessels with 2 types of plastics. The results of microangiography, light microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy of vascular replicas were correlated, providing a comprehensive documentation of the microvasculature of the ascending colon at the pelvic flexure. Arteries branched from mesenteric colic vessels approximately every 2 cm toward the colonic tissue. Immediately after branching, arterial vessels formed an anastomotic plexus, the colonic rete. However, each branch from the colic vessel eventually continued into the colonic tissue. A second set of vessels originated from the colonic tissue. A second set of vessels originated from the colonic rete and supplied the mesenteric lymph nodes. Arterial vessels penetrated the tunica muscularis into the submucosa 3 to 4 cm toward the antimesenteric border forming a submucosal vascular network. From the submucosal arterioles, branching took place at right angles to supply the mucosal capillaries. Capillaries surrounded the colonic glands and anastomosed at the luminal surface, forming a superficial luminal honeycomb-appearing vascular plexus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A Modified Reverse One-Hybrid Screen Identifies Transcriptional Activation Domains in PHYTOCHROME-INTERACTING FACTOR 3

Transcriptional activation domains (TADs) are difficult to predict and identify, since they are not conserved and have little consensus. Here, we describe a yeast-based screening method that is able to identify individual amino acid residues involved in transcriptional activation in a high throughput manner. A plant transcriptional activator, PIF3 (phytochrome interacting factor 3), was fused to the yeast GAL4-DNA-binding Domain (BD), driving expression of the URA3 (Orotidine 5'-phosphate decarboxylase) reporter, and used for negative selection on 5-fluroorotic acid (5FOA). Randomly mutagenized variants of PIF3 were then selected for a loss or reduction in transcriptional activation activity by survival on FOA. In the process, we developed a strategy to eliminate false positives from negative selection that can be used for both reverse-1- and 2-hybrid screens. With this method we were able to identify two distinct regions in PIF3 with transcriptional activation activity, both of which are functionally conserved in PIF1, PIF4, and PIF5. Both are collectively necessary for full PIF3 transcriptional activity, but neither is sufficient to induce transcription autonomously. We also found that the TAD appear to overlap physically with other PIF3 functions, such as phyB binding activity and consequent phosphorylation. Our protocol should provide a valuable tool for identifying, analyzing and characterizing novel TADs in eukaryotic transcription factors, and thus potentially contribute to the unraveling of the mechanism underlying transcriptional activation.
Excited Hole Photochemistry of CdSe/CdS Quantum Dots

One-photon excitation of CdSe/CdS quantum dots (QDs) in room-temperature chloroform results in a delayed and reversible photodarkening of the sample. There is little or no prompt loss of photoluminescence intensity and the subsequent photodarkening takes place on the tens of minutes time scale. The photodarkening kinetics have been studied as a function of the solvent, particle ligation, concentration, and shell thickness. The results indicate that the photochemistry is the result of a “hot” hole being transferred to a surface ligand, followed by dissociation to a QD–/L+ ion pair. The hot hole is generated by a trion Auger process through a surface charging mechanism. In this mechanism, the presence of unpassivated chalcogenide surface atoms in II–VI semiconductor QDs results in electrons that are in an equilibrium between the valence band and chalcogenide surface orbitals, that is, a surface cadmium vacancy has resulted in a p-type QD. The latter state corresponds to a surface-charged QD. Photoexcitation...
Strengths and Weaknesses of Treating the Manager as a Stock Character

MacIntyre identifies the manager as a stock character in the social drama of the present age. What are the strengths and weaknesses of conceiving of the manager in these terms? Stock characters are distinguished from other sorts of characters, especially protagonists with more complexity that undergo a transformation. MacIntyre treats the manager as a stock character in order to sound an alarm: he wants to awaken his reader to a Faustian bargain where one trades increased pay, power, and prestige that managers typically receive in exchange for a life that is morally hollow, lacking virtue, and without purpose when considered in terms of the human quest for an integrated and meaningful life. MacIntyre’s social criticism is subjected to several objections.
Spatial Mechanisms within the Dorsal Visual Pathway Contribute to the Configural Processing of Faces

Human face recognition is often attributed to configural processing; namely, processing the spatial relationships among the features of a face. If configural processing depends on fine-grained spatial information, do visuospatial mechanisms within the dorsal visual pathway contribute to this process? We explored this question in human adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in a same-different face detection task. Within localized, spatial-processing regions of the posterior parietal cortex, configural face differences led to significantly stronger activation compared to featural face differences, and the magnitude of this activation correlated with behavioral performance. In addition, detection of configural relative to featural face differences led to significantly stronger functional connectivity between the right FFA and the spatial processing regions of the dorsal stream, whereas detection of featural relative to configural face differences led to stronger functional connectivity between the right FFA and left FFA. Critically, TMS centered on these parietal regions impaired performance on configural but not featural face difference detections. We conclude that spatial mechanisms within the dorsal visual pathway contribute to the configural processing of facial features and, more broadly, that the dorsal stream may contribute to the veridical perception of faces.