cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Soil moisture effects on infectivity and persistence of the entomopathogenic nematodes Steinernema scarabaei, S. glaseri, Heterorhabditis zealandica, and H. bacteriophora

Abstract We tested the effect of soil moisture on the performance of four entomopathogenic nematodes species that have recently shown promise for the control of white grubs, i.e., Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, H. zealandica, Steinernema scarabaei, and S. glaseri. Experiments for all four nematodes were conducted in sandy loam, for S. scarabaei also in loamy sand and silt loam. Infectivity was tested by exposing third-instar Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica, to nematodes in laboratory experiments and determining nematode establishment in the larvae and larval mortality. Nematode infectivity was the highest at moderate soil moistures (−10 to −100 kPa), and tended to be lower in wet (−1 kPa) and moderately dry (−1000 kPa) soil. In dry soil (−3000 kPa), only S. scarabaei showed some activity. S. scarabaei was active from −1 to −3000 kPa in all soil types but the range of highest activity was wider in loamy sand (−1 to −1000 kPa) than in loamy sand and silt loam (−10 to −100 kPa). Persistence was determined in laboratory experiments by baiting nematode-inoculated soil with larvae of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella. For both Heterorhabditis spp. persistence was short at −10 kPa, improved slightly at −100 kPa, significantly at −1000 kPa, and was the highest at −3000 kPa. Both Steinernema spp. persisted very well at −10 kPa. However, S. glaseri persistence was the shortest at −10 kPa but did not differ significantly at −100 to −3000 kPa, whereas S. scarabaei persistence was not affected by soil moisture. Our observations concur with previous observations on the effect of soil moisture on entomopathogenic nematodes but also show that moisture ranges for infectivity and persistence vary among species. Differences among species may be based on differences in size and behavioral and physiological adaptations.
Church History and Secular History

The historical consciousness of modern Western man, a trait of the cultured mind of the last half-dozen generations, seems to be the legacy to a secular civilization from the historians of the Christian church.Since the creation of man, to be sure, rudimentary types of historical thought have doubtless existed nearly everywhere. With memory and moral freedom of choice was given to Adam the ethical situation in which historical thought appears, for history is the interpretation of social memory in relation to present decisions and hopes for the future. This absolute beginning of historical thought is forever shrouded in mystery, however, and the earliest records of such thought, ages and centuries later, bear little similarity to our patterns of history. These earliest histories are precisely what the modern historian pursues with puritan hatred, myth and legend. The first histories recount relatively little of what men have done; they tell of natural disasters, wars, and migrations primarily as the deeds of the gods. Modern secular history has sought to escape this religious aspect of its archetype, but if the thesis of this paper is correct, the attempt has been vain, the gods have been exorcised from history only by the power of other gods, and the ancient myths displaced only for a more extravagant mythology. And the vagaries of secular Western history are the recognizable corruptions of Christian church history.
Intracompany Systems Management

Research and Development on complex systems requires experimentation with the organizational form of the technical effort. Three levels of system design are distinguished?the set, the set of sets, and the set of sets of sets. The evolution of complex system design is described. Five organizational modes are examined and evaluated. The crossbar mode is suggested as best for large scale system projects and is described in detail.
Real-Time Adaptive Background Modeling for Multicore Embedded Systems

Current trends in microprocessor design integrate several autonomous processing cores onto the same die. These multicore architectures are particularly well-suited for computer vision applications, where it is typical to perform the same set of operations repeatedly over large datasets. These memory- and computation-intensive applications can reap tremendous performance and accuracy benefits from concurrent execution on multi-core processors. However, cost-sensitive embedded platforms place real-time performance and efficiency demands on techniques to accomplish this task. Furthermore, parallelization and partitioning techniques that allow the application to fully leverage the processing capabilities of each computing core are required for multi-core embedded vision systems. In this paper, we evaluate background modeling techniques on a multicore embedded platform, since this process dominates the execution and storage costs of common video analysis workloads. We introduce a new adaptive backgrounding technique, multimodal mean, which balances accuracy, performance, and efficiency to meet embedded system requirements. Our evaluation compares several pixel-level background modeling techniques in terms of their computation and storage requirements, and functional accuracy for three representative video sequences, across a range of processing and parallelization configurations. We show that the multimodal mean algorithm delivers comparable accuracy of the best alternative (Mixture of Gaussians) with a 3.4× improvement in execution time and a 50% reduction in required storage for optimal block processing on each core. In our analysis of several processing and parallelization configurations, we show how this algorithm can be optimized for embedded multicore performance, resulting in a 25% performance improvement over the baseline processing method.
Alternatives to allogeneic blood use in surgery: Acute normovolemic hemodilution and preoperative autologous donation

Acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH) is a common blood conservation strategy in elective surgical procedures. Moderate ANH is safe in patients > 60 years of age; ANH is not recommended for patients who have coronary artery disease, significant anemia, renal disease, severe hepatic disease, pulmonary emphysema, or obstructive lung disease. Preservation of oxygen delivery during ANH depends on the maintenance of normovolemia to avoid decompensation and falling cardiac output. Preoperative autologous donation (PAD) as a blood conservation strategy has the advantage of protecting the patient from risks associated with allogenic transfusion, but it is expensive and time consuming. No protocols have established a preference for either ANH or PAD; an early study suggested that ANH is less expensive and more effectively preserves blood components, but other researchers warn that the methodology for ANH remains unresolved.
Derivative Feedback Control for Singular Systems

A survey of derivative feedback control for singular systems is presented. Emphasis is put on the regularization of singular systems as well as eigenstructure assignment developed in recent years. Finally, some prospective topics are outlined.
Stable and Dynamic Properties of Category Structure Guide Imaginative Thought

Previous research has shown that category exemplars vary in how accessible they are within their categories, and that more accessible exemplars are more likely than less accessible ones to be used as starting points in creative idea generation. In the present study, specific exemplars of fruit and tools that varied in their baseline levels of unprimed accessibility were made more accessible by way of an initial rating task, which led to an increased likelihood of those primed exemplars being used in a subsequent creative generation task. At the same time, items with higher baseline levels of unprimed accessibility continued to be used more often than items with lower unprimed accessibility, providing evidence that long-term associative strengths and recent experiences with exemplars both play a role in creative generation. Explicit recall of primed items did not correlate with their use in imagination, consistent with the idea that reliance on recent experiences in generating novel ideas may be inadverten...
Comparison of cutoff wavelength measurements for single-mode waveguides.

The intrinsic cutoff wavelength of the LP11 mode is investigated using three different types of measurement for an ITT single-mode fiber. Characterization of the far-field pattern of the LP01 mode gives a cutoff value ~660 nm, a near-field transmission experiment gives ~690 nm, and a refracted power measurement gives ~830 nm. We conclude that the refracted power technique is the best experimental method for the determination of the intrinsic cutoff wavelength of a fiber sample. The effect of the loss of coupling efficiency into the LP11 mode as cutoff is approached on the transmission and refracted power experiments is noted.
A Surface Wave Model for Coupling with Numerical Ocean Circulation Models

Abstract A surface wave model is developed with the intention of coupling it to three-dimensional ocean circulation models. The model is based on a paper by Mellor wherein depth-dependent coupling terms were derived. To be compatible with circulation models and to be numerically economical, this model is simplified compared to popular third-generation models. However, the model does support depth and current refraction, deep and shallow water, and proper coupling with depth-variable currents. The model is demonstrated for several simple scenarios culminating in comparisons of model calculations with buoy data during Hurricane Katrina and with calculations from the model Simulating Waves Nearshore (SWAN); for these calculations, coupling with the ocean was not activated.
Initial Electrical Stimulation Frequency and Cramp Threshold Frequency and Force

Context: In the electrically induced cramp model, the tibial nerve is stimulated at an initial frequency of 4 Hz with increases in 2-Hz increments until the flexor hallucis brevis cramps. The freq...
A survey of reticence and communication apprehension treatment programs at U.S. colleges and universities

This survey represents the first systemmatic effort to determine exactly how many treatment programs for communication apprehension and reticence are in existence at the college and university level, what type or combination of treatment and evaluation methods are used, and how educators feel toward such programs. Fifty‐two treatment programs using a variety of formats, treatment methods and evaluation procedures were identified. The majority of respondents were favorable toward a need for more programs of this nature at the college and university level. In addition, many arguments opposing the proliferation of special treatment programs were identified
Probing the Local Chemical and Structural Ordering of Iron Oxyfluoride

Notice: This manuscript has been co-authored by employees of Brookhaven Science Associates, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-98CH10886 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The publisher by accepting the manuscript for publication acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes.
Progress in Practice: Exploring the Cooperative and Collaborative Dimensions of Group Learning

We all participate in a variety of groups as part of our daily lives, from families to social and work communities. As chemists, we are part of our college departments, our professional societies, our research groups, and so on. In graduate and undergraduate school, some of us formed peer study groups in response to the demands of those other groups that we were a part of: our formal courses. We know we are not unique in this. The popular culture, at least, is filled with portrayals of medical, law, and business students who must divide responsibility for learning a daunting amount of course material and who then teach one another as a part of their learning. Graduate research groups in chemistry are generally highly structured by their research directors where community issues are involved (group meetings and assignments, shared equipment, and representatives who obtain specialized skills such as crystallography or mass spectrometry), and move towards a less authoritative structure when developing individual initiative is the goal. Individuals depend on (and learn with) one another in all kinds of educational situations. In order to emphasize this idea, Bruffee [1] advocates the use of a phrase attributed to John Dewey: “living an associated life.” As Bruffee describes it, formal education in America has been based on a philosophy of associated learning since at least the time of Benjamin Franklin. We all live and learn in an associated way. Differences in interactions vary according to the nature of a group’s structure (and sometimes, although not as often, to an individual’s degree of dissociation from the group).
In Vitro Protein Synthesis by Plastids of Phaseolus vulgaris . I. Localization of Activity in the Chloroplasts of a Chloroplast Containing Fraction from Developing Leaves

The incorporation of uniformly labeled leucine-14C into protein by a chloroplast containing fraction from developing primary leaves of bean is reported. Chloroplasts, obtained from week old plants grown in darkness, and then illuminated with white light for 12 hours, were shown to be the principal sites of incorporating activity. Incorporation may continue for 2 hours. Rates of up to 50 μμmole leucine incorporated per mg protein per hour are observed when a 1 hour assay period is used. Incorporation is only partially sensitive to ribonuclease.
Distributed control for the networks of adaptive software components

As a result of technological advances, a typical type of software systems has emerged. A large number of distributed software components are networked together through a task flow structure, and each component may have alternative algorithms among which it can choose to process tasks. However, the increased complexity and vulnerability to adverse events of such systems give rise to the need for more sophisticated yet scalable control mechanisms. In this study a control mechanism is designed to meet the need. First, stress environments are implicitly modeled by quantifying the resource availability of the system through sensors. Second, a mathematical programming model is built with the resource availability incorporated and with the stability in system behavior assured. Third, a multi-tier auction market is designed to solve the programming model by distributing computation and communication overheads. By periodically opening the auction market, the system can achieve desirable performance adaptively to changing stress environment while assuring stability and scalability properties. The control mechanism devised in this paper contributes to the efforts of managing the ever-increasing complexity of modern software systems.
Heat transfer to a steady Couette flow with pressure gradient

The steady temperature distribution in an incompressible fluid flowing under a specified pressure gradient between a semi-infinite flat plate and a parallel moving belt, both of which are maintained at a temperature different from that of the entering fluid, is obtained. After separation of variables, the lower eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of the resulting Sturm-Liouville problem are found by numerical integration, and the asymptotic values by the Langer method for one transition point. Numerical results are presented for the dimensionless temperature field and heat fluxes.
Love in the Midst of Fascism: Gender and Sexuality in the Contemporary Indian Documentary

In recent years the Indian documentary has turned its attention to exploring sexuality, the construction of masculinity, and has also begun to experiment with form, moving away from the conventiona...
Gross hematuria after prostate brachytherapy.

Abstract Objectives To summarize the clinical course of postimplant gross hematuria occurring past the perioperative period. Methods From 1998 to 2000, 226 patients were treated for prostate carcinoma by implant alone or implant with supplemental external beam radiotherapy, using palladium-103 or iodine-125. Of these 226 patients, 9 had incomplete follow-up information and 2 died of causes other than prostate cancer. As a part of their routine follow-up, the remaining 215 patients were regularly mailed self-reporting questionnaires regarding urinary incontinence and hematuria. Postimplant computed tomography-based dosimetry was available for 211 (98%) of 215 patients. Dosimetric parameters were recorded for each patient using standardized methods. The rates of hematuria resolution were calculated using the product-limit (Kaplan-Meier) method. Statistical significance was determined using unpaired t testing. Results Twenty-seven patients (13%) reported at least one episode of gross hematuria occurring more than 1 week after prostate implantation. The onset and duration of bleeding varied widely. Eleven patients reported only a single, isolated episode, and 16 patients reported multiple episodes, ranging from isolated sporadic to multiple times per day. No patient required a blood transfusion. The median time from the first episode of hematuria to resolution was 3 months. Of the 27 patients who reported hematuria, 88% had resolved by 24 months from time of first bleeding. Hematuria was unrelated to the maximal or mean urethral dose. Conclusions Gross hematuria after brachytherapy resolves spontaneously in nearly all patients. Nonetheless, in patients without a recent workup for a genitourinary malignancy other than prostate cancer, a hematuria workup is reasonable. Because of the retrospective nature of this study and the highly variable presentation and clinical course of postimplant gross hematuria, we are unable to make firmer conclusions or recommendations regarding the role of follow-up urinalysis, urine cytology, anticoagulant medication, or supplemental beam radiation. Such an analysis will require a more controlled, prospective study of a large implant patient population.
Stoichiometries and interstitial site occupation in the hydrides of zrni and other isostructural intermetallic compounds

Abstract Criteria of interstitial hole size and H-H interatomic distance were used to predict the stoichiometries and the hydrogen-occupied sites in hydrides of the intermetallic compound ZrNi and other isostructural compounds. With only these simple considerations of geometry it was possible to rationalize most of the experimental observations available for such compounds. A number of neutron diffraction experiments are recommended to test some of the predictions presented.
Problematic Use of Energy Drinks by Adolescents

Energy drinks (EDs) are caffeine-based beverages that commonly contain large doses of sugar, carbohydrates, and a variety of legal stimulants and supplements, such as guarana, taurine, ginseng, and vitamin B complex. These drinks are marketed for young people as natural alternatives that increase fun and improve physical and cognitive performance such as concentration, attention, and alertness. There are commonly held false perceptions that the consumption of EDs can reverse alcohol-related impairment, including motor coordination and visual reaction time, which are crucial for driving safety. This article reviews the literature on EDs and examines problematic use and potential negative consequences in young people. Special emphasis is devoted to safety concerns following combination of EDs with alcohol, which gives the user a false sense of control.
On the approximation to the permittivity profile of an inhomogeneous dielectric slab

Scattering from a time-harmonic wave normally incident upon an inhomogeneous dielectric slab is considered. Based on the use of two Riccati equations derived from two different modeling procedures, an approximation to the unknown permittivity profile is derived. The approximation scheme is based upon constructing the Nth degree interpolation polynomial to approximate the reflection coefficient and the permittivity profile using Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto collocation points. An example is given to demonstrate the accuracy of the developed scheme.
Messenger RNA induction in cellular salt tolerance of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa).

A salt tolerant alfalfaMedicago sativa L. cell line (HG2-N1) has been selected for growth in 171 mM NaCl. The salt tolerance characteristic is stable and is retained after growth in absence of salt selection for two months.In vitro translation was used to compare mRNA composition from the salt tolerant HG2-N1 and parent salt sensitive HG2 cell lines grown in the presence and absence of 171 mM NaCl. The results suggest that the mRNA composition differs between HG2-N1 and HG2 in a number of RNA species. The salt tolerant HG2-N1 shows both increases and decreases in specific polypeptides as compared to HG2. Many of the enhanced polypeptide bands from mRNA in the salt tolerant HG2-N1 variant appear to be constitutively expressed, since they can be detected from HG2-N1 cells grown in presence and absence of NaCl, but the expression of a few bands may depend on the presence of added NaCl. Most enhanced polypeptides, which are detected from mRNA in the salt tolerant variant HG2-N1 (grown on NaCl) are different from polypeptide bands enhanced in the salt sensitive HG2 line as a result of 24 hour salt stress. Similar results were obtained from two dimensional analysis ofin vivo labeled polypeptides. At least one isolated cDNA clone shows selective expression of mRNA in salt tolerant cells grown in NaCl. These results indicate that adaptive mechanisms for salt tolerance may differ in some aspects from acute stress mechanisms.
On the Extraction of On-Chip Inductance

The efficient and accurate extraction of inductance is one of the primary bottlenecks that hinder incorporating on-chip inductance into integrated circuit design tools. To extract on-chip inductance, the return path of the current flowing in an interconnect line must be determined. Initial work has assumed the return path of the current to be within the substrate [46]-[49]. However, further investigation has provided evidence that the return path of the current is primarily within the power distribution network and other neighboring interconnect lines [50] -[53]. This characteristic of the return path severely complicates the process of accurately extracting the on-chip inductance since the value of the inductance of a wire not only depends on the wire characteristics but also on the characteristics of the other wires surrounding the line. This problem is further aggravated by the fact that the current return path can be distributed among many power and signal wires, some paths of which may be hundreds of micrometers away from the wire for which the inductance is being extracted [46], [50]-[57].
Synthetic cannabinoids: Epidemiology, pharmacodynamics, and clinical implications

Background Synthetic cannabinoids (SC) are a heterogeneous group of compounds developed to probe the endogenous cannabinoid system or as potential therapeutics. Clandestine laboratories subsequently utilized published data to develop SC variations marketed as abusable designer drugs. In the early 2000s, SC became popular as "legal highs" under brand names such as Spice and K2, in part due to their ability to escape detection by standard cannabinoid screening tests. The majority of SC detected in herbal products have greater binding affinity to the cannabinoid CB1 receptor than does Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive compound in the cannabis plant, and greater affinity at the CB1 than the CB2 receptor. In vitro and animal in vivo studies show SC pharmacological effects 2-100 times more potent than THC, including analgesic, anti-seizure, weight-loss, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer growth effects. SC produce physiological and psychoactive effects similar to THC, but with greater intensity, resulting in medical and psychiatric emergencies. Human adverse effects include nausea and vomiting, shortness of breath or depressed breathing, hypertension, tachycardia, chest pain, muscle twitches, acute renal failure, anxiety, agitation, psychosis, suicidal ideation, and cognitive impairment. Long-term or residual effects are unknown. Due to these public health consequences, many SC are classified as controlled substances. However, frequent structural modification by clandestine laboratories results in a stream of novel SC that may not be legally controlled or detectable by routine laboratory tests. Methods We present here a comprehensive review, based on a systematic electronic literature search, of SC epidemiology and pharmacology and their clinical implications.
A Simple Model Illustrating Problems of Phylogeny and Classification

A model consisting of 37 pieces of hardware, representing as many animal species in a single phylum, has been used successfully at several levels of undergraduate and postgraduate experience to teach problems of beta taxonomy and the arbitrariness, subjectivity, and limitations of higher classifications. Students find this model challenging, stimulating, and thoroughly engaging. The model is simple, durable, inexpensive, and easy to manipulate; it fits comfortably in one laboratory period; it involves a minimum of characters; and it presupposes no familiarity with the morphology and accompanying jargon of any particular group of organisms. Although my chief systematic interests lie at and around the species level, this paper reports a laboratory exercise concocted in January 1963 to illuminate major problems commonly encountered in the synthetic taxonomic process of delimiting higher categories. Students are often at best but dimly aware of problems at this level and, in particular, of the arbitrariness, subjectivity, and limitations of higher classifications. Classifications themselves are undeniably useful; unfortunately their utilization on the part of many students is virtually blind. I designed the following exercise for a single laboratory period of the introductory biology course at Wesleyan University, primarily to provide critical insight into various aspects of beta taxonomy but, secondarily, to offer some relief and mindexpansion in a largely cellular-molecular undergraduate curriculum. The exercise has been well received in five years of use in introductory biology. Moreover, it has provoked interest and enthusiasm at other levels of biological sophistication: from undergraduates in science courses for non-science majors at Wesleyan; from graduate students in a course in speciation at Mountain Lake Biological Station of the University of Virginia; and from college and university teachers in a summer institute for teachers of biology at Williams College. I usually preface the exercise with an exploratory lecture or discussion of relevant features of taxonomic theory and append a moderate reading assignment to assure an adequate background. Despite a few differences of opinion on specific points, I still favor the terse account of taxonomic principles on pages 1 to 24 in Simpson (Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., 85, 1945: 1-350). The exercise is in two parts, of which the first is by far the more important.
Criminal Justice Involvement and Service Need among Men on Methadone Who Have Perpetrated Intimate Partner Violence

Perpetrators of male-to-female intimate partner violence (IPV) may be likely to have multiple service needs, the extent of which may vary with respect to criminal justice involvement. The salience of the criminal justice system and the potential impact on service needs due to arrest and incarceration is underscored given the association between substance use and IPV. This study utilized a sample of men in methadone treatment who perpetrated male-to-female IPV in order to examine associations between criminal justice involvement and perceived additional service need(s). Results indicate that the likelihood of having a service need(s) significantly increased as time since most recent arrest or incarceration decreased. These findings highlight the need and potential benefit that can be derived from greater coordination amongst the criminal justice, IPV prevention, and drug treatment systems and service providers. Language: en
Strategies to Prepare Emergency Management Personnel to Integrate Geospatial Tools into Emergency Management

Emergency management is a diverse field. Effective disaster management involves knowledge of various subjects as well as work experience in all aspects related to mitigation, planning, response, and recovery efforts. One field not being fully exploited by disaster management is the use of geospatial tools in the form of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), cartography, and geovisualization. One reason for this is that many emergency managers are not fully aware of the assistance GIS can lend to effectively manage disaster situations. All functions of emergency management have a strong geographic component. Where is the earthquake epicenter? Where is the damage? Where does the dam inundation run and who/what is in that path? Where is the area of road closures? The questions asking "where" are endless in effective emergency management and range from the mitigation stage through to the recovery stage. For example, a tsunami may inundate only a certain portion of the region, therefore, it is important to have mitigation and planning efforts concentrated in those regions. It is also important to know what businesses, housing, and populations are in the affected areas. The integration of geospatial tools for risk assessment, mitigation, planning, response, and recovery efforts is emerging as an effective and potentially invaluable resource for answering such questions in regards to emergency management. Language: en
Electron microscopic observations on the thyroid glands of normal, hypophysectomized, cold-exposed and thiouracil-treated rats.

RECENT advances in fixation (Palade, 1951) embedding (Newman, Borysko and Swerdlow, 1949) and sectioning (Pease and Baker, 1948; Latta and Hartman, 1950; Dempsey and Lansing, 1953) have made it possible to prepare thin sections of almost any mammalian tissue for use in the electron microscope. With the current techniques and instruments, resolutions of 100 A are easily possible, so that approximated twenty times the definition available with the ordinary microscope can now be attained. We have initiated, in this laboratory, a program of electron microscopy of various tissues and organs the physiological activity of which can be controlled by experimental means, with the intent of correlating changes in function with whatever alteration occurs in the morphological elements of cells. The present investigation concerns the submicroscopic structure of the rat’s thyroid gland. In the following passages we shall describe the appearance of the thyroid follicular cells in states of inactivity and in stages during...
An enhanced mode shape identification algorithm

A mode shape identification algorithm is developed which is characterized by a low sensitivity to measurement noise and a high accuracy of mode identification. The algorithm proposed here is also capable of identifying the mode shapes of structures with significant damping. The combined results indicate that mode shape identification is much more dependent on measurement noise than identification of natural frequencies. Accurate detection of modal parameters and mode shapes is demonstrated for modes with damping ratios exceeding 15 percent.
Influence of reduced air pressure methods on dye penetration in standardized voids

Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of the moment when reduced pressure is applied on dye penetration patterns. Study design Nine hundred and sixty glass capillary tubes of different inner diameter (0.3 mm and 0.8 mm), divided into 48 groups, were submerged into dye in 3 different positions (horizontally, opening upwards, and opening downwards) under different vacuum conditions (passive, 5 kPa, 35 kPa, 70 kPa reduced pressure). When reduced pressure was applied half of the groups were submerged into dye before and half of the groups after the application of reduced pressure. Linear dye penetration was measured. Univariate analysis was performed with Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test to select variables to be included in the regression model. A multiple logistic regression analysis with backward elimination was performed to assess the influence of different covariates on linear dye penetration. Results The multivariate linear regression showed that the moment of vacuuming had the greatest positive effect on linear dye penetration value ( β = 10.6, P β = 0.2, P β = −1.01, P = .024) and the open end downside ( β = −1.05, P = .019). Diameter of the tubes ( P = .442) and immersion time ( P = .727) had no effect on the outcome of linear dye penetration. Conclusions Even minimum air pressure reduction applied before immersion of the specimens allowed the dye to extensively penetrate the voids.
Magnesium in Hypertension, Cardiovascular Disease, Metabolic Syndrome, and Other Conditions: A Review

Magnesium plays a role in a number of chronic, disease-related conditions. This article reviews current pertinent literature on magnesium, focusing on hypertension and cardiovascular diseases and implications for relationships with diabetes and metabolic syndrome. A major role for magnesium is in the regulation of blood pressure. While data are not entirely consistent, it does appear that an inverse relationship between magnesium intake and blood pressure is strongest for magnesium obtained from food rather than that obtained via supplements. Hypertension associated with preeclampsia appears to be alleviated when magnesium is administered; in addition, women with adequate intakes of magnesium are less likely to be affected by preeclampsia than those with an inadequate intake. A role for magnesium in other cardiovascular diseases has been noted in that increased magnesium intake may improve serum lipid profiles. Dietary magnesium is also recommended to aid in the prevention of stroke and is important for skeletal growth and development. Magnesium may also play a role in the development of diabetes mellitus, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. There are data from some studies, such as the DASH and PREMIER studies, that suggest that lifestyle changes (including adequate magnesium intake) can benefit blood pressure control, promote weight loss, and improve chronic disease risk.
Analytical Assessment of Performance, Handling Qualities, and Added Dynamics in Rotorcraft Flight Control

Data from a recent experimental study aimed at investigating the allowable errors in vehicle models for use in rotorcraft flight simulators are employed in the exercise of a pilot/vehicle analysis tool. It is demonstrated that a simplified multiaxis pilot model emulating pursuit tracking behavior can provide estimates of tracking performance and handling qualities. In an approximate manner, this model can accommodate the quality of visual cues. The experimental study also produced a limited but useful database for assessing current open-loop frequency-domain envelopes for maximum unnoticeable added dynamics. This database is employed to develop a closed-loop pilot/vehicle procedure for assessing maximum unnoticeable added dynamics with an ultimate goal of assessing the effects of ldquohigher orderrdquo vehicle dynamics on closed-loop pilot/vehicle control. The assessment of added dynamics is undertaken with a more detailed structural pilot model, emphasizing compensatory, as opposed to pursuit, tracking behavior.
The phosphorylated C-terminus of cAR1 plays a role in cell-type-specific gene expression and STATa tyrosine phosphorylation.

cAMP receptors mediate some signaling pathways via coupled heterotrimeric G proteins, while others are G-proteinindependent. This latter class includes the activation of the transcription factors GBF and STATa. Within the cellular mounds formed by aggregation of Dictyostelium, micromolar levels of cAMP activate GBF function, thereby inducing the transcription of postaggregative genes and initiating multicellular differentiation. Activation of STATa, a regulator of culmination and ecmB expression, results from cAMP receptor-dependent tyrosine phosphorylation and nuclear localization, also in mound-stage cells. During mound development, the cAMP receptor cAR1 is in a low-affinity state and is phosphorylated on multiple serine residues in its C-terminus. This paper addresses possible roles of cAMP receptor phosphorylation in the cAMP-mediated stimulation of GBF activity, STATa tyrosine phosphorylation, and cell-typespecific gene expression. To accomplish this, we have expressed cAR1 mutants in a strain in which the endogenous cAMP receptors that mediate postaggregative gene expression in vivo are deleted. We then examined the ability of these cells to undergo morphogenesis and induce postaggregative and cell-type-specific gene expression and STATa tyrosine phosphorylation. Analysis of cAR1 mutants in which the C-terminal tail is deleted or the ligand-mediated phosphorylation sites are mutated suggests that the cAR1 C-terminus is not essential for GBF-mediated postaggregative gene expression or STATa tyrosine phosphorylation, but may play a role in regulating cell-type-specific gene expression and morphogenesis. A mutant receptor, in which the C-terminal tail is constitutively phosphorylated, exhibits constitutive activation of STATa tyrosine phosphorylation in pulsed cells in suspension and a significantly impaired ability to induce cell-type-specific gene expression. The constitutively phosphorylated receptor also exerts a partial dominant negative effect on multicellular development when expressed in wild-type cells. These findings suggest that the phosphorylated C-terminus of cAR1 may be involved in regulating aspects of receptor-mediated processes, is not essential for GBF function, and may play a role in mediating subsequent development. © 2001 Academic Press
Stacked aperture‐coupled coplanar patch antenna

A new concept of aperture-coupled microstrip coplanar stacked patch antenna is investigated to obtain large bandwidth, reasonable front to back ratio using new techniques to overcome regular aperture-coupled disadvantages. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 1228–1230, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24290
Genomics, divination, “racecraft”

The new genomics has begun to play an increasing role in the arbitration of social identities. By facilitating the transcription of older notions that heritable substances determine identity and relatedness into a novel biotic idiom supposedly beyond social maneuver, this molecular–biological knowledge stakes out claims in the domain of the historical. Arguing from the highly publicized case of the genomic “resolution” of the question of Thomas Jefferson's paternity of his slave Sally Hemings's children and from the emergence of commercial personal genomic history services targeting African American consumers, I seek to expose the epistemological and methodological problems inherent in biotechnologically driven “ancestry projects” (however oppositional and empowering they may be in certain cases). I also aim to show how the divinatory logic of applications of genomic technologies of knowledge production to the validation of modes of social identification replicates racial essentialisms such as U.S. ideologies of hypodescent in a manner oddly reminiscent of the “invisible essences” that, according to classic ethnographic descriptions, underlie systems of witchcraft detection.
Validity of DSM-IV syndromes in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorders

Behavior and emotional problems are often present in very young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) but their nosology has been the object of scant empirical attention. The objective of this study was to assess the construct validity of select Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)—defined syndromes (ADHD, ODD, Mood disorder) in preschoolers with ASD (N = 229). Parents and teachers completed the Early Childhood Inventory—4, a behavior rating scale based on the DSM-IV, and ratings were submitted to confirmatory factor analysis. Results generally supported the DSM nosology in this population. There was some evidence that parent ratings were associated with better fit indices (e.g. RSMEA = .062) than teachers (e.g. RMSEA = .083). For both raters, fit indices appeared to improve when the ADHD factor was broken into its constituent parts. However, hyperactivity symptoms accounted for little unique additional variance in the model. Findings lend support to the DSM as a conceptual...
Practical issues using e-pot circuits

Analog VLSI circuits benefit greatly from tunable, on-chip reference voltages such as the electronic potentiometer (e-pot). This paper examines two vital features of the e-pot: the ability to hold a constant reference voltage and the capability to program it quickly. Empirical data is presented verifying long-term voltage storage, and measurements also show how quickly the e-pot may be programmed as a function of bias voltage.
Seasonal Variation in the Vulnerability Discovery Process

Vulnerability discovery rates need to be taken into account for evaluating security risks. Accurate projection of these rates is required to estimate the effort needed to develop patches for handling vulnerabilities discovered. Seasonal behaviors of the vulnerability discovery process for a multi-year life-cycle of software products are examined. A careful inspection of the data for several major operating systems, web servers and web browsers suggests presence of a seasonal behavior that is not considered by the vulnerability discovery models. This paper examines the statistical significance of the annual seasonal pattern in the vulnerability discovery rates using the seasonal index approach. The autocorrelation function is used to identify the periodicity. A time series analysis that combines thelonger term trends with cycles caused by seasonality may predict the future pattern more accurately. The analysis of the datasets for eight major operating systems and four web related software systems (Windows NT, XP, 2000, Server 2003, MAC OS X, HPUX, Solaris, Red Hat Linux, IIS, Apache, Internet Explorer and Firefox) shows that there is indeed anannual seasonal pattern. While all the programs exhibit a year-end peak, a higher incidence is also observed during the mid-year months for Microsoft products.
Cross comparison of EO-1 sensors and other Earth resources sensors to Landsat-7 ETM+ using Railroad Valley Playa

The Remote Sensing Group at the University of Arizona has used ground-based test sites for the vicarious calibration of airborne and satellite-based sensors, of which the Railroad Valley Playa in north central Nevada has played a key role. This work presents a cross comparison of five satellite-based sensors that all imaged this playa on July 16, 2001. These sensors include the Advanced Land Imager and Hyperion on the Earth Observer-1 platform, the Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Terra's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, and Space Imaging's Ikonos. The approach atmospherically corrects the ETM+ data to derive surface reflectance for a 1 km /spl times/ 1 km area of the playa and then uses these reflectances to determine a hyperspectral at-sensor radiance for each of the sensors taking into account the changes in solar zenith angle due to any temporal differences in the overpass times as well as differences in the view angles between the sensors. Results show that all of the sensors agree with ETM+ to within 10% in the solar reflective for bands not affected by atmospheric absorption. ETM+, MODIS, and ALI agree in all bands to better than 4.4% with better agreement in the visible and near infrared. Poorer agreement between Hyperion and other sensors appears to be due partially to poorer signal to noise ratio in the narrowband Hyperion datasets.
Immunohistochemical localization of serotonin in the brain during natural sex change in the hermaphroditic goby Lythrypnus dalli

The neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT) may play a central role in the inhibition of socially regulated sex change in fish because of its known modulation of both aggressive and reproductive behavior. This is the first study to use immunohistochemical techniques to examine the morphometry of serotonergic neurons at different times during sex change. Using a model species wherein sex change is socially regulated via agonistic social interactions (the bluebanded goby, Lythrypnus dalli), we sampled brains of males and females with different social status, and of females at different times during sex change. Consistent with previous studies on other teleosts, immunoreactive neurons were found in the posterior periventricular nucleus (NPPv), the nucleus of the lateral recess (NRL), the nucleus of the posterior recess (NRP) and in the raphe nucleus. We measured the total area of NPPv, NRL, NRP, and the number and mean cell area of serotonergic neurons in the raphe nucleus. There was no significant difference in any of the brain regions between males, females or sex changing fish, but there was a slight increase in the number of dorsal raphe neurons in the brain of sex changers 2 h after male removal. The results show that in L. dalli the serotonergic system does not present any morphological sex and status differences, nor any dramatic modifications during sex change. These data, together with previous results, do not support the hypothesis that serotonin inhibits socially regulated sex change.
A simple shape characteristic of protein–protein recognition

Motivation: Observation of co-crystallized protein–protein complexes and low-resolution protein–protein docking studies suggest the existence of a binding-related anisotropic shape characteristic of protein–protein complexes. Results: Our study systematically assessed the global shape of proteins in a non-redundant database of co-crystallized protein–protein complexes by measuring the distance of the surface residues to the protein's center of mass. The results show that on average the binding site residues are closer to the center of mass than the non-binding surface residues. Thus, the study directly detects an important and simple binding-related characteristic of protein shapes. The results provide an insight into one of the fundamental properties of protein structure and association. Contact: [email protected]
Viscoelastic properties of myofibrillar protein-polysaccharide composite gels

The influence of polysaccharide gums on thermal gelation of chicken salt-soluble protein (SSP) was studied by determining changes in dynamic: viscoelasticity and aggregation of the protein-gum composites in 0.6M NaCl at pH 6.0. Xanthan gum increased the storage modulus (G') of SSP up to 45°C, but decreased Cl'and inhibited the sol – gel transition at > 45°C. Alginate generally hindered SSP gelation. SSP-gum composite gels cooled to 23°C were weaker but held more water than gels made from SSP alone. Neither gum altered the SSP aggregation pattern, nor the SSP absorption spectra. The inhibition of SSP gelation by both gums appeared mainly due to physical entanglement rather than chemical interactions.