cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ohm's Law Low-current Calibration System for Ionization Chambers

We describe our progress toward a system to calibrate electrometers that measure currents from ionization chambers. The calibration system uses a $1\ \mathrm{G}\Omega$ standard resistor in series with a stable voltage source to generate calibration currents from 1 pA to 20 nA, traceable to quantum voltage and resistance standards through an 8-1/2 digit digital multimeter and the standard resistor. Expanded uncertainties ( $k=2$ ) of $100\times 10^{-6}$ or better for the calibration of the electrometer are needed for the ionization chamber measurements. We show our preliminary results including our initial calibration correction.
Frozen Meat Against COVID-19 Misinformation: An Analysis of Steak-Umm and Positive Expectancy Violations

COVID-19 has forced many businesses to adjust their communication strategies to fit a new reality. One surprising example of this strategy adjustment came from the company Steak-umm, maker of froze...
Philippe Pinel and the foundations of modern psychiatric nosology

Philippe Pinel (1745–1826) played a major role in the foundation of modern psychiatric nosology. Much of his contribution, historically contextualized within the enlightenment generally and post-Revolutionary France more specifically, can be summarized through five themes in his background, education and writings. First, he applied an inductive, enlightenment-informed natural science approach to classification adapted from the biological sciences, which he had studied, and applied this to large samples of mentally ill individuals in Parisian asylums, frequently referring to ‘varieties’ and ‘species’ of insanity. Second, Pinel's classificatory approach rejected metaphysical and highly speculative etiologic theories in favor of a Baconian inductive approach utilizing observational data. Third, Pinel advocated repeated assessments of patients over time, feasible given long in-patient stays. Fourth, trained in philosophy, Pinel relied on philosophically informed models of the mind and of insanity. Fifth, Pinel extensively utilized faculty psychology to understand and classify mental illness. He anticipated further developments of nineteenth-century psychiatric nosology by challenging the then-dominant intellectualist models of insanity, adopting a humanistic-informed emphasis on the importance of symptoms alongside signs, arguing that passions could be the primary cause of mental illness, and trying to infer causal inter-relationships in psychiatric patients between disturbances in affect and understanding.
CORSAIR: Convolutional Object Retrieval and Symmetry-AIded Registration.

This paper considers online object-level mapping using partial point-cloud observations obtained online in an unknown environment. We develop and approach for fully Convolutional Object Retrieval and Symmetry-AIded Registration (CORSAIR). Our model extends the Fully Convolutional Geometric Features model to learn a global object-shape embedding in addition to local point-wise features from the point-cloud observations. The global feature is used to retrieve a similar object from a category database, and the local features are used for robust pose registration between the observed and the retrieved object. Our formulation also leverages symmetries, present in the object shapes, to obtain promising local-feature pairs from different symmetry classes for matching. We present results from synthetic and real-world datasets with different object categories to verify the robustness of our method.
Pain and Obesity in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease: A Post Hoc Analysis of the Halt Progression of Polycystic Kidney Disease (HALT-PKD) Studies.

Rationale & Objective Pain is a frequent complication of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) and includes back and abdominal pain. We hypothesized that in adults with early- and late-stage ADPKD, overweight and obesity are independently associated with greater self-reported back, abdominal, and radicular pain at baseline and that weight loss would be associated with decreased pain over a follow-up period. Study Design Post hoc analysis of pooled data from 2 randomized trials. Setting & Participants Participants in the HALT-PKD study A or B. 867 individuals were included in a cross-sectional analysis. 4,248 observations from 871 participants were included in a longitudinal analysis. Predictor Overweight and obesity (cross-sectional); annual change in weight as a time-varying predictor (longitudinal). Outcome Pain (Likert-scale responses; cross-sectional); annual change in pain (binary outcome of worsening pain or not worsening; longitudinal). Analytical Approach Multivariable ordinal logistic regression (cross-sectional); generalized estimating equation analysis (longitudinal). Results Participants were aged 42±10 years and baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate was 71±26mL/min/1.73m2. Back, abdominal, and radicular pain were reported more frequently in individuals with increasing body mass index category (all P Limitations Post hoc, associative analysis. Conclusions In early- and late-stage ADPKD, obesity was associated with greater back and radicular pain independent of total kidney/liver volume. Mild weight loss was associated with favorable effects on back pain.
Deoxyglucose treatment of non-small cell lung cancer

1596 Objectives: In recent years the success of PET imaging with the glucose analog fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) has demonstrated that markedly accelerated glucose use is a common feature of most malignant tumors. Therefore, glucose utilization appears to be an attractive therapeutic target in a variety of cancers. In the present study we performed experiments to determine the sensitivity of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to treatment with the glucose analog deoxyglucose (DG). Methods: We used the human NSCLC cell line HCC4006 as a tumor model. Cells were incubated in vitro with deoxyglucose at concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 1.2 mg/mL. The glucose concentration in the culture media was 2 mg/mL. Cell viability was assessed by trypan blue staining after 1/2/3/4 days of incubation. In addition exogenous glucose use of cancer cells was assessed by measuring FDG uptake of cells before and early during deoxyglucose treatment. In Vivo eight to ten weeks old severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice were co- injected with approximately 500mg/kg DG spiked with 300µCi [18F]FDG. Then 1h dynamic microPET scans were performed and the biodistribution of DG in various organs was determined. Results: The IC50 of DG for growth inhibition of HCC4006 cells was approximately 0.1 mg/mL. FDG-uptake of cells co-incubated with 2 mg/ml glucose and 0.1 mg/ml deoxyglucose was not significantly different from cells incubated with 2 mg/ml glucose alone. This indicates that at this concentration deoxyglucose had only minimal effects on tumor cell glucose utilization by competitive inhibition of glucose transport and phosphorylation. Therefore, the growth inhibitory effect of deoxyglucose is likely related to intracellular accumulation of deoxyglucose-6 phosphate. DG tissue concentrations were determined for liver, kidney, heart, brain and skeletal muscle. Between 5% and 9% of the injected dose of DG reached these organs, corresponding to tissue concentrations of 0.6-1.1 mg/ml DG. Treatment with 500 mg/kg DG twice/week was well tolerated by the animals. Conclusions: Deoxyglucose may inhibit tumor cell growth by other mechanisms than competitive inhibition of glucose transport and phosphorylation. This may facilitate the use of deoxyglucose for cancer treatment in patients, where competitive inhibition of cerebral glucose utilization is a major concern. Treatment of mice with 500 mg/kg DG does not cause significant side effects and achieves tissue concentrations of DG that can markedly inhibit growth of non-small cell lung cancer cells. These findings are promising for the use of DG for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.
THE LOCATION MARKET

Individual location decisions are not given much respect by local governments. Governments frequently use zoning and other regulatory rules to spread development across a city, claiming that the whole city, and not just one favored or disfavored part, should get the benefits and bear the costs of new development. Local governments also create incentives to encourage certain types of development to locate in certain areas—using policy tools that range from non-cumulative zoning to outright subsidies—in order to create particular mixes of industrial, commercial, and residential development. However, the arguments in favor of these policies frequently rely upon a specious depiction of the incentives of governmental decisionmakers on the one hand and private citizens on the other. That is, they fail to see the wisdom behind the old saying that the three most important factors in real estate are “location, location, location.” When justifying such policies, officials and interest groups rely on an assumption, frequently unstated, that property developers, businesses, and individuals just do not care very much (or do not have the right incentives to care) about where they locate inside a given city. And this assumption is surely wrong. Instead, locational decisions are motivated by specific benefits citizens and firms receive when they choose to reside in one specific area rather than in another. Moreover, locational decisions are frequently “sticky”—that is, they are resistant to governmental management and are resistant for good reasons. The fact that residents do in fact care about the identity and number of their neighbors for reasons other than their potential for creating nuisances
Shocking Intimacy: Techniques, Technologies, and Aesthetics of Amplification in Clara Iannotta’s “Intent on Resurrection”

“Certain sounds, even when they are loud or heard from close by, conjure small sources.” Small sounds, as Chion (2015) describes them in this quote, usually appear in intimate or contained settings, where their relatively low strength will not be spoiled by the masking effects of a noisy public sphere. What happens however when they are turned into musical sounds to be shared with an audience? In this article I explore the interactions of instruments, techniques, and processes through which the Italian composer Clara Iannotta (b. 1983) brings small sounds to the public, in spaces ranging from the concert hall to the auricular region delimited by a pair of headphones. In focusing on her composition Intent on Resurrection. Spring or Some Such Thing (2014), I privilege a distributive understanding of agency, and consider the writing, performative and instrumental technologies that occasion what are perceived as small sounds. Among these technologies is our listening organism. I argue that a new cognitive attitude is generated by the shock upon hearing the material traces of the instrumental and amplifying apparatus that generates small sounds. To hear small sounds is, first of all, to hear our own senses tuning in to a different perceptual wavelength, and thus become aware of our own bodily affordances. I conclude by suggesting that attending to the small sounds of Intent on Resurrection can become an “acoustemological” experience (Feld 1992) of the intimate.
Conformational Analysis of Sugars and Their Derivatives

Publisher Summary The chapter focuses on the methods for determination of conformation of sugars and their derivatives. The study of the conformations of organic molecules pointed out that six membered ring-systems can exist free from bond-angle strain, in two puckered forms, the flexible or asymmetric form, and the rigid or symmetric (chair) form. Boat or skew conformations are considered possible if the nonbonded interactions between the substituents in the chair conformation are too large. The conformational analysis of saturated five and six-membered heterocycles, presenting data relevant to the carbohydrate field, is also presented. The various techniques discussed in the chapter are X-ray crystallography andspectroscopic methods—namely infrared spectroscopy, microwave spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Methods based on optical activity and those that involve formation of complexes in cuprammonia, and dipole moments are also discussed. Several theoretical studies on the conformations of the aldopyranoses are also reported. By calculating the extent of atomic (Van der Waals) overlap of non-bonded atoms, the relative stabilities of the chair conformations of the aldopyranoses are estimated. The chapter also describes methods for conformations of acyclic sugars and their derivatives, pyranoid sugar derivatives, and furanoid sugar derivatives, in their crystalline state and in solution. The chapter also discusses anomeric effect and empirical approaches to predict favorable conformation.
Introducing the New and Improved Americans with Disabilities Act: Assessing the ADA Amendments Act of 2008

This essay summarizes the changes to the Americans with Disabilities made by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008. The Act represents the first substantive revision to the ADA since its inception and contains some dramatic changes. This essay summarizes those changes and makes some preliminary assessments as to how the new amendments are likely to alter the current interpretation of the ADA.
Geometric Measurement of Wear in Tibial Inserts Through an Autonomous Reconstruction of the Original Surface

Wear of the polyethylene tibial components in total knee replacements remains a limiting factor of implant life. Studies have used coordinate measuring machines (CMM) to estimate volumetric wear in retrieved components. This technique requires knowledge of the original pre-worn surfaces. Pre-worn surfaces have been successfully approximated in literature by nominal computer-aided design (CAD) models or, more commonly, size-matched unused inserts [1,2]. However, models and drawings of implants are proprietary, and many design parameters can have large tolerances. Unworn components are costly, often unattainable for obsolete implants and subject to deviation between batches.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Effects of Administration of N-Acetylneuraminic Acid (NANA) on Brain NANA Content and Behavior

Rat pups were malnourished during the first 3 weeks after birth. Experimental rats were injected intraperitoneally with 1 mg N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA) per 50 g body weight daily from 14 to 21 days postnatally. Control animals were similarly injected with 1 mg glucose per 50 g body weight. At 21 days of age, the rats were tested in an open field and their brains analyzed for protein, DNA, ganglioside NANA and glycoprotein NANA. The administration of NANA was associated with an increase in cerebral and cerebellar ganglioside and glycoprotein NANA concentrations. However, it had no effects on brain weight, cell size and number. There was also a reduction in the expected behavioral abnormalities secondary to malnutrition. At 21 days of age, similarly treated littermates of the experimental animals were weaned to a stock diet and tested in a Y maze at 6 months of age. Rats treated with NANA learned the maze quicker than controls and the previously noted changes in brain biochemistry were found to have persisted. Intraperitoneal injection of [14C]NANA into malnourished rats during the same period showed that it was readily incorporated into brain glycoproteins and gangliosides. The possibility that the brain concentration of NANA has an effect on behavior is discussed.
Mouse Genetic Background Is a Major Determinant of Isotype-Related Differences for Antibody-Mediated Protective Efficacy against Cryptococcus neoformans

The protective efficacy of mAbs to Cryptococcus neoformans glucuronoxylomannan depends on Ab isotype. Previous studies in A/JCr and C57BL/6J mice showed relative protective efficacy of IgG1, IgG2a >> IgG3. However, we now report that in C57BL/6J x 129/Sv mice, IgG3 is protective while IgG1 is not protective, with neither isotype being protective in 129/Sv mice. IgG1, IgG2a, and IgG3 had different effects on IFN-gamma expression in infected C57BL/6J x 129/Sv mice. IgG1-treated C57BL/6J x 129/Sv mice had significantly more pulmonary eosinophilia than IgG2a- and IgG3-treated C57BL/6J x 129/Sv mice. C. neoformans infection and Ab administration had different effects on FcgammaRI, FcgammaRII, and FcgammaRIII expression in C57BL/6J, 129/Sv, and C57BL/6J x 129/Sv mice. Our results indicate that the relative efficacy of Ab isotype function against C. neoformans is a function of the genetic background of the host and that IgG3-mediated protection in C57BL/6J x 129/Sv mice was associated with lower levels of IFN-gamma and fewer pulmonary eosinophils. The dependence of isotype efficacy on host genetics underscores a previously unsuspected complex relationship between the cellular and humoral arms of the adaptive immune response.
Principal Solutions Revisited

The main objective of this paper is to identify principal solutions associated with Sturm–Liouville operators on arbitrary open intervals \((a,b) \subseteq \mathbb{R}\), as introduced by Leighton and Morse in the scalar context in 1936 and by Hartman in the matrix-valued situation in 1957, with Weyl–Titchmarsh solutions, as long as the underlying Sturm–Liouville differential expression is nonoscillatory (resp., disconjugate or bounded from below near an endpoint) and in the limit point case at the endpoint in question. In addition, we derive an explicit formula for Weyl–Titchmarsh functions in this case (the latter appears to be new in the matrix-valued context).
The Ethics of Semantics: Do We Clarify or Obfuscate Reality to Influence Perceptions of Farm Animal Production?

According to linguists, the discourse of animal production uses metaphors, pronouns, and definitions that consistently represent animals as objects, machines, and resources instead of as distinct, unique individuals. Thus, it is argued that genuine concern for animal welfare is either obscured by financial concerns or circumvented entirely, which permits animals to be kept and treated in ways many people would otherwise find objectionable. Substituting euphemisms like crops, units, and harvest for herds, animals, and slaughter, respectively, which are more likely to evoke images of grape plucking than of killing animals for food, might indeed seem disingenuous, especially given the common industry refrain that the public needs to be better educated about food production. However, the implication that the animal industries deliberately use such techniques is debatable. What is clear is that the semantic obfuscations rampant in the language of modern farm animal production reflect underlying ambivalence about transparency relative to many standard industry practices. First, consumers are unlikely to want full disclosure of all aspects of animal production. Second, there is real risk that certain realities of animal production would be aversive to consumers, who might consequently refuse (as is their right) to purchase particular products, thus potentially causing significant short-term industry losses. Yet, the reluctance of animal industries to come clean in public education efforts raises another problem-that adopting innocuous terminology and withholding information deemed likely to be unpalatable to the public may be morally questionable in itself. Moreover, this provides an avenue for opponents of animal agriculture to exploit, because it may appear that the industry is hiding something. In truth, animal extremists are currently in a position to reveal facts about livestock production that might not only disturb consumers but also cause speculation about the failure of the industries to be forthcoming. As a matter of professional ethics and viability, animal industry members should objectively and aggressively evaluate the discourse of farm animal production to ensure that what is conveyed is accurate and intended.
Phase Retrieval Camera optical testing of the Advanced Mirror System Demonstrator (AMSD)

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will use image-based wavefront sensing to align the telescope optics and achieve diffraction-limited performance at 2 µm. The Phase Retrieval Camera (PRC) is a high-accuracy, image-based wavefront sensor that was built for the optical characterization of JWST technology-demonstrator mirrors. Recently, experiments with the PRC were performed at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center to measure the cryogenic surface figure of the beryllium Advanced Mirror System Demonstrator (AMSD). This paper describes the results of these experiments. Using the Modified Gerchberg-Saxton phase retrieval algorithm (JWST’s baseline method for fine-phasing), the PRC measured wavefront aberrations that were as large as 10 waves peak-to-valley (wavefront) in the optical system. A comparison between the PRC results and measurements acquired with an Instantaneous Phase Interferometer will also be presented.
Variants of basic black computer interfaces

An input interface for connecting psychological apparatus to a process-control computer is described. It permits connection ofresponse switches to eliminate contact bounce and to provide interrupts on ongoing transitions of any data bit.
Listening to President Obama: A Short Examination of Obama' s Communication Practices

This article brings three divergent fields of expertise together to take a closer look at President Barack H. Obama’s first 2 years in office. From a theoretical perspective, the changes in the understanding of communication and their impacts on international affairs are discussed. From a domestic politics perspective, Obama’s policy making and practices for communicating these policies to the public are assessed. Obama’s record in responding to the demands and challenges of the 21st century are introduced from a foreign politics standpoint. It is now known that the promises given and the practices employed during the election campaigns encourage government transparency, open communication, and grassroots movements. The authors argue that it is up to the Obama presidency to fulfill the expectations of not only American citizens but also of the global public and address current issues through the aforementioned practices.
Laboratory and field studies of the relative mobility of 239,240Pu and 241Am from lake sediments under oxic and anoxic conditions

Abstract Laboratory extraction experiments and field observations were employed to determine the relative mobility of 239,240pu and 241Am from lake sediments under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Laboratory investigations show that under aerobic conditions 241Am is more readily extracted from Lake Michigan sediments than is 239,240Pu. Under anaerobic conditions, the extractability of plutonium and americium does not increase significantly relative to aerobic conditions. Field studies indicate that neither element is recycled from the sediment to the overlying water column during anaerobic conditions attendant with thermal stratification. The adsorption of these elements onto sediments does not appear to be correlated with extractable iron, manganese, and organic compounds such as humic and fulvic acids.
A Theoretical Framework for Training Monolingual School Psychologists to Work with Multilingual/Multicultural Children: An Exploration of the Major Competencies.

With the continued increase of children from diverse backgrounds entering the United States school systems, it is imperative that school psychologists gain a working knowledge of how to best serve these children. This article suggests the major competencies for training school psychologists in working with culturally and linguistically diverse students. The suggestions offered were gathered from both practitioners in the field, published data, literature reviews, and personal observations. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Probabilistic L-systems can look like the branches of plants and trees

L-systems are extremely simple algorithms: Visualize a turtle moving a distance d straight forward. At the end of its journey it produces two offspring, one branching of slightly to the left and the second branching off slightly to the right, and both traveling a 10% shorter distance. Once the offspring reach their destination each creates two offspring which branch off slightly to the left and slightly to the right and move straight ahead a distance which is only 10% shorter than that of their parents. This process is repeated for 7 generations. Figure 1 shows the trails of the turtles. The trails form a ramified structure, a turtle graph, which resembles the branching structure of trees and weeds. Figure 2 is an example for the branching pattern of a weed. Compared to the branching patterns of plants, turtle graphs appear too regular. However if the length of the trails of the offspring is randomized by 50% and some turtles produce only one offspring or none, then the turtle graphs a surprisingly similar to plant structures. Figure 1 contains a turtle graph where offspring are produced with a 90% probability. To illustrate that the code is very short and simple, we show a MatLabTM version in Table 1.
Narrative, Literacy and Face in Interethnic Communication

DISCRIMINATION IN INTERETHNIC COMMUNICATION The Centrality of Communicative Style Athabaskan-English Interethnic Communication DISCOURSE AND REALITY SET IN INTERETHNIC COMMUNICATION The Modern Consciousness and Literacy The Literate Two-Year-Old: The Fictionalization of Self The Bush Consciousness and Oral Narrative Discourse Abstracting Themes: A Chipewyan Two-Year-Old FACE AND CULTURAL PLURALISM Discourse as Politeness Phenomena Cross-System Interaction, Ethnicity, and Communicative Pluralism Bibliography
Lavage administration of dilute surfactant in a piglet model of meconium aspiration.

Maldistribution of exogenous surfactant may preclude any clinical response in acute lung injury associated with surfactant dysfunction. Our previous studies have shown the effectiveness of surfactant lavage after homogenous lung injury. The present study utilizes a histologically confirmed non-homogeneous lung injury model induced by saline lung-lavage followed by meconium injected into a mainstem bronchus. Piglets were then treated with Infasurf® or Exosurf® by lavage (I-LAVAGE, n = 7; E-LAVAGE, n = 5) or bolus (I-BOLUS, n = 8; E-BOLUS, n = 5), or went untreated (CONTROL, n = 4). Lavage administration utilized a dilute surfactant (35 ml/kg; 4 mg phospholipid/ml) instilled into the lung, followed by gravity drainage. The retained doses of the respective surfactant in the lavage and bolus groups were similar. Results showed that the surfactant distribution was more uniform in the lavage groups compared to the bolus groups. Significant and consistent increases in PaO2 were observed in the lavage groups compared to the bolus groups and the controls. PaO2 (mmHg) at 240 min posttreatment: I-LAVAGE = 297 ± 54, E-LAVAGE = 280 ± 57; I-BOLUS = 139 ± 31; E-BOLUS = 152 ± 29; C = 119 ± 73 (mean ± SEM). Other improved pulmonary function parameters favored lavage administration. We conclude that better surfactant distribution achieved by lavage administration can be more effective than bolus administration in this type of non-homogeneous lung injury.
Knowledge Management and New Organization Forms: A Framework for Business Model Innovation

The concept of knowledge management is not new in information systems practice and research. However, radical changes in the business environment have suggested limitations of the traditional information-processing view of knowledge management. Specifically, it is being realized that the programmed nature of heuristics underlying such systems may be inadequate for coping with the demands imposed by the new business environments. New business environments are characterized not only by rapid pace of change but also discontinuous nature of such change. The new business environment, characterized by dynamically discontinuous change, requires a re-conceptualization of knowledge management as it has been understood in information systems practice and research. One such conceptualization is proposed in the form of a sense-making model of knowledge management for new business environments. Application of this framework will facilitate business model innovation necessary for sustainable competitive advantage in the new business environment characterized by dynamic, discontinuous and radical pace of change.
Kármán vortex street behind a circular cylinder by the series truncation method

Abstract Semianalytical solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations are presented for two-dimensional, viscous, and incompressible flow past a circular cylinder for Reynolds numbers 100, 200 and 500. The stream and vorticity functions are expanded in a finite Fourier series and then substituted in the Navier-Stokes equations. This leads to a system of coupled parabolic partial differential equations which are solved numerically. In order to excite the flow an asymmetric disturbance in the form of rotation at a constant angular velocity of a cylinder in clockwise and counterclockwise directions is introduced for a short time. This small disturbance very slowly triggers the start of vortex shedding. The flow pattern in the separated region, lift and separation angle oscillate with a definite pattern. The calculated drag, lift, pressure and vorticity distributions around the surface, separation angle and Strouhal number are compared with similar calculations and with available experimental data. Also, a comparison of the calculations has been made for Reynolds number 100 with N = 25 and N = 40.
The impact of local alcohol ordinances on official crime rates: The case of Tennessee

Past research has shown a strong link between alcohol and crime. In this study we examine the relationship between local alcohol ordinances and UCR crime rates for cities within the state of Tennessee. To assess adequately the actual relationship between crime and our alcohol availability measures, we included in the analysis a number of socioeconomic and demographic variables commonly associated with high crime rates. The results of this study suggest strongly that race, poverty, population size, and age composition provide the “best explanation” for variations in the level of criminal activity. Our findings support the hypothesis that social disorganization caused by numerous factors (especially racial and economic inequality) contribute strongly to a community's crime rate. The alcohol-related variables contribute to our understanding of the crime problem, but their impact is secondary and probably ancillary, once we have accounted for the influence of our demographic and socioeconomic variables.
Enhancement of Survival and Electricity Production in an Engineered Bacterium by Light-Driven Proton Pumping

Microorganisms can use complex photosystems or light-dependent proton pumps to generate membrane potential and/or reduce electron carriers to support growth. The discovery that proteorhodopsin is a light-dependent proton pump that can be expressed readily in recombinant bacteria enables development of new strategies to probe microbial physiology and to engineer microbes with new light-driven properties. Here, we describe functional expression of proteorhodopsin and light-induced changes in membrane potential in the bacterium Shewanella oneidensis strain MR-1. We report that there were significant increases in electrical current generation during illumination of electrochemical chambers containing S. oneidensis expressing proteorhodopsin. We present evidence that an engineered strain is able to consume lactate at an increased rate when it is illuminated, which is consistent with the hypothesis that proteorhodopsin activity enhances lactate uptake by increasing the proton motive force. Our results demonstrate that there is coupling of a light-driven process to electricity generation in a nonphotosynthetic engineered bacterium. Expression of proteorhodopsin also preserved the viability of the bacterium under nutrient-limited conditions, providing evidence that fulfillment of basic energy needs of organisms may explain the widespread distribution of proteorhodopsin in marine environments.
Forms of external capital and economic development in Latin America: 1820–1997

Abstract This paper examines the risks and constraints of different forms of capital inflows and costs of not honoring these obligations in Latin America from independence in the 1820s through 1997. The constraints and risks of inflows during each period are shown to depend on the maturity structure, nature of risk sharing and whether the inflow is from private or official sources. The penalties imposed depend on the linkages among creditors and among different financial contracts such as debt and equity. We show the importance of distinguishing between new forms of short-term portfolio debt and equity and different forms of portfolio equity inflows such as ADRs, closed and open-end country funds and domestic equity purchases by examining their behavior in the aftermath of the Mexican crisis. The policy recommendation is that portfolio equity and long-term portfolio debt inflows should be encouraged over short-term debt inflows, especially those with explicit or implicit government guarantees on the banking system and exchange rate policy.
Compound stimulus control of operant, but not adjunctive, behavior

Compound stimulus control of operant (barpress) and adjunctive (polydipsia) behaviors was investigated by training rats under a multiple schedule of food delivery. Four rats (operant group) were reinforced for barpressing during light (L+T) or tone (U+T). For half of the operant group, barpressing was not reinforced during no light and no tone (L+T), while the other half were not reinforced during light and tone (L+T). The four adjunctive behavior rats were each yoked to a rat in the operant group so that food pellets were delivered to the yoked rats at the same rate and during the same stimulus conditions. The adjunctive behavior recorded was the licking of a water bottle induced by the intermittent delivery of food. When a compound stimulus was presented that was composed exclusively of the light and tone elements that had been paired with food-pellet delivery and increased barpressing or licking, it controlled the highest response rate of all stimuli (additive summation) for the operant behavior but not for the adjunctive behavior.
The kinetics, stereochemistry, and deuterium isotope effects in the α-pinene pyrolysis. Evidence for incursion of multiple conformations of a diradical

Abstract Pyrolysis of optically active α-pinene gave 95% racemic limonene (dipentene), alloocimine, racemic α-pinene, α-pyronene. Activation parameters are reported. Pyrolysis of ( S ) syn -6-trideuteriomethyl α-pinene at 256.7°C for 2400 s gave dipentene with twice as much deuterium as hydrogen transfer with k H / k D =1.49 and alloocimine with a Z and E trideuteriomethyl ratio of ca. 5 with k H / k D =0.89. The isotope effect on loss of starting material was 1.16. Separation of the enantiomers of α-pinene from 3600 s pyrolyses at 256.7°C followed by NMR analysis revealed that the ratio of the R - syn to R - anti to S - anti isomers is 4.6:3.7:1 at roughly two half-lives. Kinetic analysis reveals that the previously proposed mechanism for all conversions involving slow interconversion of two diradicals with C s symmetry is not consistent with the distribution of the α-pinene isomers, particularly the formation of more suprafacial-retention product ( R - anti ) than bond-rotated isomer ( S - anti ). Inclusion of another C s species (ignoring the deuteriums) that would be intermediate between the originally proposed C s species, appears more consistent with the observations.
The Prevalence of Nuclear, Cortical, and Posterior SubcapsuIar Lens Opacities in a General Population Sample

Abstract Data from the 1973 to 1975 Framingham Eye Study were used to estimate the prevalence rates of nuclear, cortical, and posterior subcapsular lens opacities in persons between ages 52 and 85 years. The rates for each of the opacities increased rapidly with age, so that for the oldest age group, 75 years and over, nuclear, cortical, and posterior subcapsular opacities were found in 65.5%, 27.7% and 19.7% of persons, respectively. Nuclear opacities were the most commonly diagnosed lens change. Each of the opacities was found more often in women than in men. Among persons with senile lens changes, the proportion with more than one type of change increased from 26.5% for ages 52 to 64 years, to 47.1 % for ages 75 to 85 years. The high prevalence rates for senile lens opacities (over 75% for persons aged 75 to 85 years) and the frequent occurrence of opacities in combination create methodological problems for epidemiologic studies of lens opacities.
Recurrent carpal tunnel syndrome due to tuberculoid leprosy in an Asian immigrant

L eprosy affects approximately 10 to 15 million persons throughout the world and remains one of the most frequent causes of peripheral neuropathy.’ Endemic areas include South America, southern Africa, Indochina, China, and Korea.* The prevalence of leprosy in the United States is much lower, with approximately 5000 patients today.3 Leprosy has a predilection for cooler areas of the body; therefore it commonly appears as a peripheral neuropathy of the hands or feet. The ulnar nerve is most frequently affected, followed in descending order of frequency by the median nerve, the common peroneal nerve, the facial nerve, and the radial nerve.4 However, isolated median or radial nerve involvement without involvement of the ipsilateral ulnar nerve is rare.4 Neurologic manifestations of leprosy are commonly associated with anesthetic skin lesions.4 The case of a young Cambodian immigrant who, after surgical decompression for carpal tunnel syndrome, had recurrent isolated median nerve neuropathy without cutaneous manifestations of leprosy is discussed.
Nosogogy: when the learner is a patient with chronic renal failure.

Patient education approaches are currently derived from a biomedical ‘acute' model characterized by the sequence of health, disease, and recovery resulting from our professional intervention. Unfortunately, this model proves to be totally inadequate when applied to a chronic disease such as kidney failure. Our patients never fully regain their health and may continue to worsen under our care, even after many state-of-the-art treatments. The solution is represented in acquiring a new professional identity, shifting from the ‘biomedical' acute model to a ‘bio-psycho-social-educational model'. Within this model, a Therapeutic Education approach in predialysis has been proven to provide both short- and long-term positive results for renal patients. There is a tremendous difference between the learning processes in children and adults and two different sciences have already been described. ‘Pedagogy' deals with child learning and ‘Andragogy' with adult learning. Nevertheless, when the learner is a patient with a chronic disease, we believe that new considerations must be taken into account. We propose to create a novel science and to call it ‘Nosogogy', derived from the ancient Greek word ‘νοσοσ', meaning ‘disease'. Nosogogy could be defined as the science of teaching adults affected by chronic disease. The new educator is someone deeply involved in renal care who knows and understands the characteristic conflicts and dynamics that arise in the renal patient, and possesses adequate communication skills to deal with him. In our experience, we prefer to have educational sessions run by nephrologists and nurses who have great experience in the field.
A single-photon detector for high-speed telecom-band quantum communication applications

We present the design and construction of a high-speed telecom-band (1.5 μm) single-photon counting system based on an InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode (APD) operating in the gated Geiger mode. The detector can be gated at high speeds (we examine its performance up to 25 MHz) to maximize the counting rate in long-distance, telecom-band, fiber-optic quantum communication applications. Narrow gate pulses (250 ps full width at half maximum) are used to reduce the dark-count and the after-pulse probability. In order to count the avalanche events, we employ a high-speed comparator to sample the unfiltered and unamplified avalanche photocurrent. The APD and all the associated electronics are integrated onto a printed circuit board with a computer interface. In addition, we cool the APD to -27°C to reduce the dark-count probability.
Recentering the Middle School Classroom as a Vibrant Learning Community: Students, Literacy, and Technology Intersect

Technology reshapes our thinking about learning in multiple ways. This article proposes that middle school students can use asynchronous online discussions to improve their responses to literature, increase their engagement with the classroom community, and recenter the classroom around student voices. Working in small groups, students read the same novel. They are prompted to post their responses to the young adult literature in a closed, egalitarian online network. The authors examined online transcripts, interviewed students, and observed lesson sequences in eighth-grade humanities classrooms over three years. They found that threaded discussions helped these middle school students to • Engage with and learn new literacies • Examine literature through a more critical lens • Socially construct knowledge to create a more authentic community of learners The authors also found that the role of the teacher is transformed by technology to scaffold instruction through participation in online conversations.
Attenuation of blocking by a change in US locus

A classical conditioning procedure was instituted in which the locus of the US was changed coincidentally with the onset of the compound conditioning phase of the Kamin blocking design. The nictitating membrane of the rabbit served as the conditioning preparation. Three groups of nine rabbits each were employed: a conventional blocking group in which the US was unchanged during the simple and compound conditioning phases, a control group that received only the compound conditioning phase, and an experimental group given both simple and compound conditioning but in which the US was administered to the contralateral paraorbital region during the compound conditioning phase. Postconditioning presentations of the elements of the compound CS indicated that, relative to the control group, responding during the new element was markedly reduced in the conventional blocking group but was strongly conditioned in the group in which the US locus was changed. Implications of these findings for theoretical analyses of conditioning are discussed.
Anodic Formation of Ordered TiO2 Nanotube Arrays: Effects of Electrolyte Temperature and Anodization Potential

Highly ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays were fabricated via electrochemical anodization of high purity Ti foil and Ti thin film coated indium tin oxide (ITO) glass in fluorine containing electrolytes (both aqueous and nonaqueous). The formation of ordered TiO2 nanotube arrays was affected by the electrolyte temperature and the applied anodization potential. In aqueous electrolyte, the anodization potential exerted significant influence on the formation of TiO2 nanotube arrays, while little effect from the electrolyte temperature was observed. In nonaqueous electrolyte, the electrolyte temperature markedly affected the TiO2 nanotube dimensions, while the anodization potential exhibited slight influence in this regard. As a consequence, TiO2 nanotube arrays with tube diameters ranging from 20 to 90 nm and film thicknesses ranging from several hundred nanometers to several micrometers were obtained. The TiO2 nanostructures were examined by scanning electron microscopy. Thermal annealing on the anodized Ti induce...
Heterogeneous bubble nucleation in highly viscous silicate melts during instantaneous decompression from high pressure

Abstract The nucleation of H 2 O bubbles in magmas has been proposed as a trigger for volcanic eruptions. To determine how bubbles nucleate heterogeneously in silicate melts, experiments were carried out in which high-silica rhyolitic melts were hydrated at 800 °C and either 50 or 125 MPa, and then decompressed by 20–91 MPa at temperatures that ranged between 550 and 700 °C, and held at the lower pressures for 10–720 s before being quenched. Bubbles nucleated in number densities ( N B ) that vary between 3 × 10 7 and 2 × 10 8 cm − 3 . Blocky shaped magnetite or the ends of needle-shaped hematite acted as sites for nucleation, but only if a minimum super-saturation was exceeded, which increases with increasing melt viscosity. Bubbles did not nucleate along the lengths of hematite needles nor on plagioclase. Both the beginning and ending times of the nucleation event increases with increasing melt viscosity. Using nucleation theory predictions, neither the slower nucleation rates nor the changing activation of nucleation sites can be adequately explained by the differences in temperature, water diffusivity, or viscosity. Instead, the variations in nucleation kinetics are best explained by changes in surface tension between melt and vapor, resulting from the increasing polymerization of the melt at lower temperatures and water contents. Because only ∼ 10 8 bubbles cm − 3 nucleate on magnetite in the rhyolite melt used, almost regardless of experimental conditions, results from this study may not be directly comparable to vesicle numbers in volcanic pumice of different compositions.
Naloxone suppression of food and water intake and cholecystokinin reduction of feeding is attentuated in weanling rats with dorsomedial hypothalamic lesions

In Experiment 1, sham operated (SCON) and dorsomedial hypothalamic nuclei (DMN) lesioned (L) rats were given saline or naloxone (0.1, 1.0 or 2.0 mg/kg) just prior to the onset of the dark cycle, lights out. Compared to saline injections, naloxone at all doses suppressed the cumulative food intake of the SCON during the second and third hr of measurement. Naloxone was without significant effect on the food intake of DMNL rats. Similar results were obtained in Experiment 2, except that naloxone at 2.0 mg/kg significantly suppressed the DMNL rats' food intake by the fourth hr of measurement. Cumulative water intake of both groups was significantly suppressed by naloxone in both experiments but its effects appeared to be attenuated in the DMNL group. In a preliminary trial cholecystokinin octapeptide (3.0 and 6.0 micrograms/kg) given at the onset of the dark cycle significantly suppressed the food intake of the SCON group but had no significant effect on the DMNL rats. The possibility exists that the reduced food intake and lower body weight of DMNL rats may partially result from damage to an opioid system. The data also tentatively suggest that DMN may play a role in cholecystokinin-induced satiety.
Diffraction imaging of polygonal faults within a submarine volcanic terrain, Maverick Basin, south Texas

AbstractPolygonal fault systems are common structural features of intracratonic continental margins. The map-view geometry of these faults became apparent with the use of powerful fault-imaging seismic attributes, such as coherence and curvature. However, these attributes lack the amplitude information necessary for lithological evaluation. We developed a 3D diffraction volume that not only imaged faults but also contained amplitude information. From the unmigrated stack volume, we extracted diffractions that were transformed into amplitude envelope and root-mean-square amplitude volumes. These attributes, together with clay volume (Vclay) data, were extracted along interpreted horizons and fault planes. Crossplots between seismic attributes and Vclay enabled linear relationships between the attributes and Vclay, which were used to infer lithological composition within fault zones. Our results found that, although the fault zones were clay filled, some subvertically inclined clay-poor zones that could ser...