cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Multiresolution molecular mechanics: Surface effects in nanoscale materials

Abstract Surface effects have been observed to contribute significantly to the mechanical response of nanoscale structures. The newly proposed energy-based coarse-grained atomistic method Multiresolution Molecular Mechanics (MMM) (Yang, To (2015), [57] ) is applied to capture surface effect for nanosized structures by designing a surface summation rule SR S within the framework of MMM. Combined with previously proposed bulk summation rule SR B , the MMM summation rule SR MMM is completed. SR S and SR B are consistently formed within SR MMM for general finite element shape functions. Analogous to quadrature rules in finite element method (FEM), the key idea to the good performance of SR MMM lies in that the order or distribution of energy for coarse-grained atomistic model is mathematically derived such that the number, position and weight of quadrature-type (sampling) atoms can be determined. Mathematically, the derived energy distribution of surface area is different from that of bulk region. Physically, the difference is due to the fact that surface atoms lack neighboring bonding. As such, SR S and SR B are employed for surface and bulk domains, respectively. Two- and three-dimensional numerical examples using the respective 4-node bilinear quadrilateral, 8-node quadratic quadrilateral and 8-node hexahedral meshes are employed to verify and validate the proposed approach. It is shown that MMM with SR MMM accurately captures corner, edge and surface effects with less 0.3% degrees of freedom of the original atomistic system, compared against full atomistic simulation. The effectiveness of SR MMM with respect to high order element is also demonstrated by employing the 8-node quadratic quadrilateral to solve a beam bending problem considering surface effect. In addition, the introduced sampling error with SR MMM that is analogous to numerical integration error with quadrature rule in FEM is very small.
Rhythmic Modulation of Entrained Auditory Oscillations by Visual Inputs

Temporal structure is ubiquitous in sensory signals, and the brain has been shown to robustly represent information about temporal structure in the phase of low frequency neural oscillations. In a related construct, the integration of information across the different senses has been proposed to be at least partly due to the phase resetting of these low frequency oscillations. As a consequence, oscillations represent a potential contributor to the encoding of complex multisensory signals with informative temporal structures. Here we investigated these interactions using electroencephalography (EEG). We entrained low frequency (3 Hz) delta oscillations using a repetitive auditory stimulus—broadband amplitude modulated noise. Following entrainment, we presented auditory and audiovisual stimuli at variable delays. We examined whether the power of oscillations at the entrained frequency was dependent on the delay (and thus, potentially, phase) at which subsequent stimulation was delivered, and whether this relationship was different for subsequent multisensory (i.e., audiovisual) stimuli when compared with auditory stimuli alone. Our findings demonstrate that, when the subsequent stimuli are solely auditory, the power of oscillations at the entrained frequency is rhythmically modulated by when the stimulus was delivered. For audiovisual stimuli, however, no such dependency is present, yielding consistent power modulations. These effects indicate that reciprocal oscillatory mechanisms may be involved in the continuous encoding of complex temporally structured multisensory inputs such as speech.
Mitigating Malicious Envy: Why Successful Individuals Should Reveal Their Failures

People often feel malicious envy, a destructive interpersonal emotion, when they compare themselves to successful peers. Across 3 online experiments and a field experiment of entrepreneurs, we identify an interpersonal strategy that can mitigate feelings of malicious envy in observers: revealing one's failures. Despite a general reluctance to reveal one's failures-as they are happening and after they have occurred-across four experiments, we find that revealing both successes and failures encountered on the path to success (compared to revealing only successes) decreases observers' malicious envy. This effect holds regardless of the discloser's status and cannot be explained by a decrease in perceived status of the individual. Then, in a field experiment at an entrepreneurial pitch competition, where pride displays are common and stakes are high, we find suggestive evidence that learning about the failures of a successful entrepreneur decreases observers' malicious envy while increasing their benign envy and decreasing their perceptions of the entrepreneur's hubristic pride (i.e., arrogance) while increasing their perceptions of the entrepreneur's authentic pride (i.e., confidence). These findings align with previous work on the social-functional relation of envy and pride. Taken together, our results highlight how revealing failures encountered on the way to success can be a counterintuitive yet effective interpersonal emotion regulation strategy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Serum homocysteine, arsenic methylation, and arsenic-induced skin lesion incidence in Bangladesh: A one-carbon metabolism candidate gene study.

Abstract Background Inorganic arsenic (As) is methylated via one carbon metabolism (OCM) to mono- and dimethylated arsenicals (MMA and DMA), facilitating urinary excretion. Hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcys), a marker of impaired OCM, is a risk factor for As-induced skin lesions, but the influences of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in OCM genes on Hcys, As metabolism and skin lesion risk is unclear. Objectives To (i) explore genetic sources of Hcys and the causal role of HHcys in As-induced skin lesion development using OCM genetic proxies for HHcys and (ii) identify OCM SNPs associated with urinary As metabolite proportions and/or skin lesion incidence. Methods We conducted a case-control study nested in the Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study (HEALS) in Bangladesh which 876 incident skin lesion cases were matched to controls on sex, age, and follow-up time. We measured serum Hcys, urinary As metabolites, and 26 SNPs in 13 OCM genes. Results Serum Hcys and urinary %DMA were independently associated with increased and decreased odds of skin lesions, respectively. The T allele of MTHFR 677 C ➔ T (rs1801133) was associated with HHcys, higher %MMA, and lower %DMA, but not with skin lesions. Interactions between SNPs and water As on skin lesion risk were suggestive for three variants: the G allele of MTRR rs1801394 and T allele of FOLR1 rs1540087 were associated with lower odds of skin lesions with lower As (≤50 μg/L), and the T allele of TYMS rs1001761 was associated with higher odds of skin lesions with higher As. Conclusions While HHcys and decreased %DMA were associated with increased risk for skin lesions, and MTHFR 677 C ➔ T was a strong predictor of HHcys, MTHFR 677 C ➔ T was not associated with skin lesion risk. Future studies should explore (i) non-OCM and non-genetic determinants of Hcys and (ii) if genetic findings are replicated in other As-exposed populations, mechanisms by which OCM SNPs may influence the dose-dependent effects of As on skin lesion risk.
Anomeric O-Functionalization of Carbohydrates for Chemical Conjugation to Vaccine Constructs

Carbohydrates mediate a wide range of biological interactions, and understanding these processes benefits the development of new therapeutics. Isolating sufficient quantities of glycoconjugates from biological samples remains a significant challenge. With advances in chemical and enzymatic carbohydrate synthesis, the availability of complex carbohydrates is increasing and developing methods for stereoselective conjugation these polar head groups to proteins and lipids is critically important for pharmaceutical applications. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of commonly employed strategies for installing a functionalized linker at the anomeric position as well as examples of further transformations that have successfully led to glycoconjugation to vaccine constructs for biological evaluation as carbohydrate-based therapeutics.
Carotid body neurotransmission

The most profound dependence that a higher organism has is its dependence on oxygen. The system mediating the tissue needs of the higher organism for oxygen and the presence of oxygen in the environment is the cardiopulmonary system. The neural control of the anatomical structures of that system includes the carotid body as a receptor. When the organism is challenged by a decrease in the amount of oxygen available to it, which manifests itself in a decrease in the partial pressure of oxygen in the arterial blood, neural activity in the carotid body increases. Among the reflex effects of the carotid body’s increase in neural activity is the increase in tidal volume, breathing frequency, cardiac output, cardiac contractility, and a less precipitous drop in the total peripheral resistance. The carotid body is the essential receptor in the cardiopulmonary system’s response to hypoxia. The question is: “How does it transduce a decrease in low oxygen into increased neural activity? Current speculation postulates that hypoxia somehow depolarizes the neurotransmitter-containing Type I cell, calcium rises in the cytosol from external and perhaps internal sources, promoting the release of one or more excitatory neurotransmitters. The neurotransmitter proceeds to the apposed dendrite, depolarizes it, and the action potential proceeds central to the nucleus tractus solitarius. Subsequently, the cardiopulmonary reflex responses develop.
Labeling and Analyzing Historical Phenomena: Some Preliminary Challenges

A serious obstacle to the search for a more scientific history is that humans label themselves and their actions. These labels can be extremely sticky and often obscure the categories which might be most useful for seeking regularities. Another, related, problem is a focus on dramatic events that seem to be relatively rare and are commonly recognized as landmarks, e.g. political and industrial revolutions. Having formed several of these major events into a class, scientifically-minded historians have then often searched for a very small set of discrete variables that could predict the occurrence or non-occurrence of these very special events. By contrast, I would argue that we are likely to be better off by looking at more general processes that may include but are not limited to these dramatic events, and looking for clusters of variables which interact with each other; the hoped-for result would usually be not to explain the categorical presence or absence of some process (e.g., “economic development”) but to group many cases into families, seeking to explain both within-group and between-group variation by means of systematic comparison.
Recht und Corporate Governance

Eine der grosen intellektuellen Trennlinien in den modernen Sozialwissenschaften verlauft zwischen Okonomie und Soziologie. Okonomen glaubten den Ursprung der modernen Gesellschaft klassischerweise in der Ablosung von Staat und rent seeking Akteuren (privilegierten Interessengruppen) durch profitorientierte Marktakteure zu erkennen (Smith 1904). Indem die „unsichtbare Hand des Marktes“ die Produzenten dazu zwang, miteinander zu konkurrieren, wurde fur eine effiziente Allokation der gesellschaftlichen Ressourcen gesorgt, und so wurden sie zur Quelle des „Wohlstands der Nationen“. Wahrend der Ursprung der modernen Gesellschaft von der klassischen Soziologie zwar ebenfalls eng mit der Entstehung von Markten verknupft wurde, behielten darin gesellschaftliche Systeme und Teilbereiche wie das Rechtssystem, Normen, Religion, soziale Klassen und das politische System weiterhin die entscheidende Rolle bei der Herausbildung von Firmen und Markten (25|Durkheim 1997; Marx 1977; Weber 1978, 2001). Marx wie auch Weber haben viele der potentiellen Probleme, die Markte erzeugen, wie beispielsweise okonomische Instabilitat durch ruinosen Wettbewerb, staatlich gestutzte Monopolbildungen sowie die Gefahr, dass Regierungen ihre Staatsgewalt zum eigenen Vorteil missbrauchen, vorhergesehen.
Wave Propagation in a Rippled Plasma

Recently there has been a renewed interest in the study of the propagation of high frequency plasma waves in the presence of ion acoustic fluctuations. In the corona of a laser fusion pellet ion fluctuations can arise from several sources. First, the stimulated Brillouin scattering instability can generate fairly large amplitude, n1/n0 ~ 10%, ion waves with a wavenumber twice that of the incident electromagnetic wave1. SBS can occur from very low densities, all the way up to the critical density nc. Second, large amplitude ion waves with a wide spectrum in k space have been seen near nc/4 and are thought to be associated with the 2ωp decay instability2. Finally, ion acoustic turbulence driven by the return current can occur near the critical density3. Ion fluctuations can influence the laser light absorption4 and may affect the high frequency instabilities which are capable of producing high energy electrons in laser fusion pellets. Early theoretical work in this field was carried out by Kaw et al.5. They studied the energy transfer between the primary plasma wave and its spatial harmonics which were coupled to the primary wave via the ion fluctuation. Later, Nicholson6 studied the problem of parametric instabilities in underdense plasmas with sinusoidal density modulations. He found that the density modulations tended to reduce the spatial and temporal parametric instability growth rates.
Mycofactocin Biosynthesis Proceeds through 3-Amino-5-[(p-hydroxyphenyl)methyl]-4,4-dimethyl-2-pyrrolidinone (AHDP); Direct Observation of MftE Specificity toward MftA*

The structure of the ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptide product mycofactocin is unknown. Recently, the first step in mycofactocin biosynthesis was shown to be catalyzed by MftC in two S-adenosylmethionine-dependent steps. In the first step, MftC catalyzes the oxidative decarboxylation of the MftA peptide to produce the styrene-containing intermediate MftA**, followed by a subsequent C-C bond formation to yield the lactam-containing MftA*. Here, we demonstrate the subsequent biosynthetic step catalyzed by MftE is specific for MftA*. The hydrolysis of MftA* leads to the formation of MftA(1-28) and 3-amino-5-[( p-hydroxyphenyl)methyl]-4,4-dimethyl-2-pyrrolidinone (AHDP). The hydrolysis reaction is Fe2+-dependent, and addition of the metal to the reaction mixture leads to a kobs of ∼0.2 min-1. Lastly, we validate the structure of AHDP by 1H, 13C, and COSY nuclear magnetic resonance techniques as well as mass spectrometry.
Improving CNN-Based Viseme Recognition Using Synthetic Data

Recently, Deep Learning-based methods have obtained high accuracy for the problem of Visual Speech Recognition. However, while good results have been reported for words and sentences, recognizing shorter segments of speech, like phones, has proven to be much more challenging due to the lack of temporal and contextual information. In this work, we address the problem of recognizing visemes, that are the visual equivalent of phonemes-the smallest distinguishable sound unit in a spoken word. Viseme recognition has application in tasks such as lip synchronization, but acquiring and labeling a viseme dataset is complex and time-consuming. We tackle this problem by creating a large-scale synthetic 2D dataset based on realistic 3D facial models, automatically labelled. Then, we extract real viseme images from the GRID corpus-using audio data to locate phonemes via forced phonetic alignment and the registered video to extract the corresponding visemes-and evaluate the applicability of the synthetic dataset for recognizing real-world data.
Laboratory Hybridization Between the Green Lacewings Chrysoperla comanche (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) and Chrysoperla rufilabris, Predators of the Asian Citrus Psyllid

Chrysoperla comanche (Banks) and its sibling species Chrysoperla rufilabris (Burmeister) are voracious predators of the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Liviidae), an invasive pest that vectors a bacterium responsible for the lethal and incurable citrus greening disease. The Comanche lacewing naturally occurs in Southern California, whereas C. rufilabris is currently one of only two commercially available green lacewing in the United States. These sister species can be separated by larval morphological traits, by differences in courtship songs, and possibly by three nuclear genes wingless, PepCK, ATPase, yet they are not distinguishable based on the mitochondrial barcode gene (COI). Releasing in a new area a biological control agent capable of hybridizing with a resident species may pose risks that range from local displacement to irreversible loss of genetic identity. Therefore, we performed no-choice laboratory crosses to assess pre- and postzygotic isolation. We show that fertile and viable hybrid progeny could be readily obtained in interspecific crosses and backcrosses and, although there is a trend toward lower hybrid fitness, postzygotic isolation is overall weak and might not prevent loss of genetic identity under natural conditions. It remains to be determined if differences in courtship songs will prevent hybridization in the wild, as shown for other green lacewings. We also report a low prevalence of Rickettsia infection in both species.
Don’t reinvent the wheel: possibilities for and limits to building capacity of grassroots international NGOs

How can support organisations build the capacity of volunteer-driven non-governmental organisations (NGOs)? Citizen aid for relief and development has expanded rapidly in the twenty-first century, ...
A new algorithm design technique for hard problems

Abstract Heuristic algorithms have been used for a long time to tackle problems that are known or conjectured intractable. A heuristic algorithm is one that provides a correct decision for most inputs, but may fail on some. We focus on the case when failure means that the algorithm does not return any answer, rather than returning a wrong result. These algorithms are called errorless heuristics. A reasonable quality measure for heuristics is the failure rate over the set of n-bit instances. When no efficient exact algorithm is available for a problem, then, ideally, we would like one with vanishing failure rate. We show, however, that this is hard to achieve: unless a complexity theoretic hypothesis fails, some NP-complete problems cannot have a polynomial-time errorless heuristic algorithm with any vanishing failure rate. On the other hand, we prove that vanishing, even exponentially small, failure rate is achievable, if we use a somewhat different accounting scheme to count the failures. This is based on special sets, that we call α-spheres, which are the images of the n-bit strings under a bijective, polynomial-time computable and polynomial-time invertible encoding function α. Our main result is that polynomial-time errorless heuristic algorithms exist, with exponentially low failure rates on the α-spheres, for a large class of decision problems. This class includes, surprisingly, all known intuitively natural NP-complete problems. We also explore some connections to the theory of average case complexity.
External Beam Radiotherapy for Medullary Thyroid Cancer Following Total or Near-Total Thyroidectomy.

ObjectivesMedullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) often presents with advanced disease and takes an aggressive course as compared with more well-differentiated thyroid cancers. The role of adjuvant thera...
Is there a gender bias in milestones evaluations in general surgery residency training

Abstract Background Studies of gender disparity in surgical training have yielded conflicting results. We hypothesize that there is no influence of gender on resident self-evaluation Milestone (SEM) scores and those assigned by the Clinical Competency Committee (CCC). Methods 42 residents (25 male & 17 female) and faculty completed 300 Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Milestone evaluations over a 4-year period. Two-way ANOVA, intraclass correlations coefficients, and general linear mixed models were used for analysis. Results CCC Milestone scores from 150 evaluations, 51 (34%) for female residents and 99 (66%) for male residents, were compared to corresponding SEM scores. There is a high interrater reliability (self vs. CCC). There was a significant increase in scores with advancing PGY levels (p 0.05) was noted. Conclusions We found no significant differences in Milestones scores between male and female residents as determined by the CCC. Both scores improved significantly as residents progressed in training.
Epidemiology of Patients with Dance-Related Injuries Presenting to Emergency Departments in the United States, 2014-2018:

Background:Updated rates and patterns associated with patients with dance-related injuries reporting to US emergency departments (EDs) is needed.Hypothesis:Between the years 2014 and 2018, there wi...
Ministry Amidst the Refugee Crisis in Europe: Understanding Missionary-Refugee Relationships:

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of an investigation into missionary-refugee relationships in Europe. The main research question guiding this study was: How do missionaries unde...
Partial Fraction Decomposition

The partial fraction decomposition typically arises as a technique of integration. Some students see the technique again when inverting Laplace transforms. Nevertheless, the manipulations are algebraic, not analytic. Hence, we present partial fraction decomposition as an algebraic operation, divorced from its use in the applications.
Chapter 6. Agents Affecting Gastrointestinal Functions

Publisher Summary This chapter analyzes agents that affect gastrointestinal functions. Digestive diseases include disorders of the stomach, intestine, biliary passages, liver, and pancreas. Development work in the chemistry of the hormonal substances occurring in the mucosa of various parts of the gastrointestinal tract was reviewed. The structures of the gastrim and of secretin were elucidated and confirmed by synthesis. Cholecystokinin (CCK) and pancreozymin (PZ), long considered to be separate entities, were reported to be a single polypeptide containing 33 amino acids. The partial structure was determined and the C-terminal pentapeptide sequence found to be identical with that of gastrin. CCK-PZ bears a close structural resemblance to the decapeptide caerulein, in a study, were isolated from the skin of the Australian amphibian Hyla caerulea. Various biological activities of gastrin, as well as the mechanisms by which it is released, were reviewed. Endogenously released gastrin stimulates not only gastric acid and pepsin secretion but also pancreatic flow, bicarbonate and enzyme secretion, and hepatic biliary flow. In other studies, evidences were obtained favoring the hypothesis that histamine is the physiological mediator of the effects of gastrin and other stimulants of gastric secretion. Effects of prostaglandins on gastric secretion and gastrointestinal motility were also analyzed.
Production of High Quality Die Steels from Large ESR Slab Ingots

With the rapid development of manufacture industry in China, die steels are in great need of large slab ingot of high quality and large tonnage, such as P20, WSM718R and so on. Solidification structure and size of large slab ingots produced with conventional methods are not satisfied. However, large slab ingots manufactured by ESR process have a good solidification structure and enough section size. In the present research, the new slab ESR process was used to produce the die steels large slab ingots with the maximum size of 980×2000×3200mm. The compact and sound ingot can be manufactured by the slab ESR process. The ultra-heavy plates with the maximum thickness of 410 mm can be obtained after rolling the 49 tons ingots. Due to reducing the cogging and forging process, the ESR for large slab ingots process can increase greatly the yield and production efficiency, and evidently cut off product costs.
Initial conditions for brane inflation

String theory gives rise to various mechanisms to generate primordial inflation, of which ``brane inflation'' is one of the most widely considered. In this scenario, inflation takes place while two branes are approaching each other, and the modulus field representing the separation between the branes plays the role of the inflaton field. We study the phase space of initial conditions which can lead to a sufficiently long period of cosmological inflation, and find that taking into account the possibility of nonvanishing initial momentum can significantly change the degree of fine-tuning of the required initial conditions.
Polyphenols and Bionanoparticle Combinations as Neuroprotective and Anticarcinogenic Agents: A Potential Neuropharmacological Solution to Combat Cerebral Stroke and Cancer

Polyphenols are naturally occurring organic materials that can be leveraged to develop extremely efficient drug agents for prevention in cerebral stroke related injuries and for chemotherapeutic purposes. Ongoing research on clinically important polyphenolic materials such as resveratrol and flavanols has indicated an immense potential for new drug design for treatment and prevention of cerebral ischemic stroke and other novel chemotherapeutic applications. In this short review, we have highlighted recent developments in this area to facilitate further research on this important class of organic materials for new biomedical applications that include nanoparticles based drug delivery systems.
Effects of Alloying in Near-Eutectic Tin-Silver-Copper Solder Joints

This study included a comparison of the baseline Sn–3.5Ag eutectic to one near-eutectic ternary alloy, Sn–3.6Ag–1.0Cu and two quaternary alloys, Sn–3.6Ag–1.0Cu–0.15Co and Sn–3.6Ag–1.0Cu–0.45Co, to increase understanding of the effects of Co on Sn–Ag–Cu solder joints cooled at 1–3 ◦ C/s., typical of reflow assembly practice. The results revealed joint microstructure refinement due to Co-enhanced nucleation of the Cu6Sn5 phase in the solder matrix, as suggested by Auger elemental mapping and calorimetric measurements. The Co also reduced intermetallic interface faceting and improved the ability of the solder joint samples to maintain their shear strength after aging for 72 h at 150 ◦ C. Some recent additional results with Co and Fe additions are consistent with this catalysis effect, where a reduced total solute level was tested. The baseline Sn–3.5Ag joints exhibited significantly reduced strength retention and coarser microstructures.
The SPMD Model: Past, Present and Future

I proposed the SPMD (Single Program Multiple Data) model, in January 19841, as a means for enabling parallel execution of applications on multiprocessors, and in particular for highly parallel machines like the RP3 (the IBM Research Parallel Processor Prototype2). This talk will provide a review of the origins of the SPMD, it’s early use in enabling parallel execution of scientific applications and it’s implementation in one of the first3 parallel programming environments. In fact [3] was the first programming environment that implemented the SPMD model; other environments in the 1985 timeframe were based on the fork-and-join (F&J) model.
Polarization phenomena in few-body systems

Recent polarization studies in N--N scattering at and below 50 MeV have provided specific and significant improvements in the phase-shift parameters. High energy investigations with both polarized proton beams and targets have shown unexpectedly large spin effects, and this provides a challenge for theoretical effort to explain these results. Experimental and theoretical work on the three-nucleon problem continues to yield new and interesting results, with the emphasis now shifting to polarization studies in the breakup reaction. On- going work on several-nucleon systems continues to provide polarization data for general analyses, nuclear structure information, or specific resonance effects. Finally, the basic interaction symmetries continue to have unique and important consequences for polarization observables. 17 figures. (auth)
Philip II of Macedonia: Greater than Alexander – By Richard A. Gabriel

Studies on Philip II have been appearing steadily ever since Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos unearthed what he claimed to be the burial site of the kings of Macedonia in Vergina. No study ye...
The Historical Foundations of Party Politics in Post-Communist East Central Europe

This article gauges how plausible deep historical explanations are in accounting for the emergence of particular types of parties in post-communist Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Generati...
Blind Separation of Noncircular Correlated Sources Using Gaussian Entropy Rate

We introduce a new blind source separation (BSS) algorithm for correlated noncircular sources that uses only second-order statistics and fully takes the correlation structure into account. We propose a parametric entropy rate estimator that uses a widely linear autoregressive (AR) model for the sources, and derive the BSS algorithm by minimizing the mutual information of separated time series. We compare the performance of the new algorithm with competing algorithms and demonstrate its superior separation performance as well as its effectiveness in separation of non-Gaussian sources when the identification conditions are met.
Rubber production of salt-stressed guayule at various plant populations

The hypothesis that increasing the plant population of guayule (Parthenium argentatum) to compensate for the reduced plant canopy size caused by soil salinity coupled with an anticipated enchancement of rubber production under the moderate environmental stress imposed by salinity was tested in a field plot experiment in the Imperial Valley of California. Irrigation waters having electrical conductivities (EG i ) of 1.2, 3.2, 6.5, and 9.4 dS/m were applied for 4 years to plots having plant populations of 28,000, 56,000, and 84,000 plants per hectare. The influence of salinity on rubber and resin production was independent of plant population. The salt tolerance threshold, maximum average salinity level of the root zone measured as the electrical conductivity of saturated soil extracts (\(\overline{\overline {{\text{EC}}}} _e \)) without yield reduction, was 7.5 dS/m; beyond this threshold, rubber production was reduced 6.1% per unit increase of soil salinity. The salinity values were averaged through the root zone from planting to harvest. The average rubber content — 7.9% — was altered little by treatment or harvest age for 2- to 4-year-old plants. Resin content averaged 8.4% but increased salinity and increased plant population increased the resin content slightly in some cases. Dry matter production of shoots for the nonsaline treatment was 259 kg/ha/month for pollarded (clipped) shoots after 31 months, 203 kg/ha/month for shoots harvested after 43 months, and 401 kg/ha/month for the 24-month period after pollarding. Combining the shoot mass after 31 and 55 months gave an average growth rate of 321 kg/ha, supporting the recommendation for pollarding. Monthly growth rates for the lowest salt treatment (3.2 dS/m) were about 10% less than for the nonsaline treatment (1.2 dS/m). The hypothesis tested was proven to be false because neither increased salinity nor increased plant population increased rubber production.
Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase in the isolated human erythrocyte membrane: Selective displacement by bilirubin

Abstract When unsealed erythrocyte ghosts in 6 m m phosphate buffer (pH 8.0, 4 °C) were incubated with bilirubin in excess of 0.1 m m and washed with buffer, a single polypeptide component (band 6 in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis) diminished and was recovered in the supernatant fraction. Release of this component was virtually complete at 1 m m initial bile pigment. Since band 6 was believed to be the protomer of membrane-bound glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PD), assays for this enzyme in bilirubin-treated ghosts were carried out. These revealed that enzymatic activity decreased concurrently with the disappearance of band 6. The molecular weight of the eluted polypeptide was found to be 36,000, in agreement with the known value for the G3PD protomer. When Mg 2+ -resealed ghosts were washed after exposure to 1 m m bilirubin, less than 20% of the G3PD was eluted, which is consistent with the fact that the enzyme is attached to the cytoplasmic face of the membrane. NAD + in concentrations up to 2 m m displaced no more than 15% of the G3PD from unsealed ghosts. However, after preincubation with NAD + (1 m m ) followed by bilirubin (1 M m ) and washing, loss of G3PD was similar to that observed in the absence of cofactor. Since NAD + did not attenuate release of the enzyme, it appears unlikely that such release is attributable to binding of bilirubin at the active site. Protoporphyrin acted similarly to bilirubin on unsealed ghosts, whereas rose bengal had a more pronounced effect, removing all enzymatic activity when the dye concentration reached 0.2 m m . Electrophoretic analysis of ghosts after rose bengal treatment, however, revealed a diminution not only of band 6 but bands 1, 2, and 5 as well.
Metacarpal fracture fixation with interosseous nylon suture in a patient with metal allergies

The successful repair of two oblique metacarpal shaft fractures with interosseous nylon sutures is reported. The technique was devised for the treatment of a 54-year-old woman with severe asthma and metal allergies that precluded the use of more conventional methods. Allergic reactions to mental implants and alternative stabilization techniques are discussed. The method is suggested not as a routine procedure, but rather as an option to standard means of fracture fixation in similar unusual circumstances.
Elastic-plastic fracture mechanics and wear

Abstract Analysis of the mechanism of sliding wear reveals several similarities to the mechanism of elastic-plastic fracture. Common features include the presence of steep strain gradients and the existence of a region very near the wear surface (or crack tip) where material separation takes place and where the analysis must take microstructural processes into account. The wear mechanism considered is the formation of flakes by the separation of dislocation cell boundaries. The analysis results in a sliding wear analog to Archard's relation; the hardness is replaced by the product of the elastic modulus and the critical strain to convert a cell wall into a microcrack.
Tuberculosis of the talus in the child

Authors report an exceptional localization of tuberculosis in children. Tuberculosis became a pathology of high incidence in the last 20 years, even in industrialized countries. Localization in the talus is rarely reported (less than 100 pediatric cases worldwide). The authors report on observation of isolated bone tuberculosis of talus in a 20-month old boy. Isolated infection of the talus by Koch's bacillus (KB) is extremely rare; only a few rare cases in the child and at the adult have been reported in the literature. In our observation, a delay of 6 week was necessary to make diagnosis of bone tuberculosis. Reasons for this delay, and some diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of this disease, are discussed here. Tuberculosis of the talus must be considered before any other inflammatory ankle disease.
Human cell hybrids: analysis of transformation and tumorigenicity

Intraspecific human-human cell hybrids provide a stable model system with which to investigate the genetic control of transformed and tumorigenic phenotypes. Using this system it has been shown that these phenotypes are under separate genetic control. Furthermore, the tumorigenic phenotype can be complemented by fusion of different tumorigenic cells, resulting in nontumorigenic hybrids. This system also provides information on the control of differentiated function. Molecular cytogenetic techniques should reveal the nature of the chromosomal control of neoplastic transformation.
Comparison of usefulness of echocardiographic Doppler variables to left ventricular end-diastolic pressure in predicting future heart failure events

We sought to determine whether the echocardiographic Doppler parameters of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction predict future heart failure (HF) events and, if so, which parameters best predict HF. We also examined whether the predictive ability of echocardiographic Doppler parameters was related to their prediction of left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP). We studied patients who underwent cardiac catheterization and echocardiography performed within a 30-day period. The end point was HF, defined as new-onset or recurrent HF diagnosed by a physician and requiring the initiation or modification of treatment of HF. We identified 289 patients (mean age 63.5 +/- 12.6 years) with a mean follow-up of 10.9 +/- 10.2 months. A total of 24 HF events occurred. LVEDP was a significant predictor of HF univariately and independently in multiple regression models after adjustment for ejection fraction. In Cox models adjusted for age, gender, LVEDP, and ejection fraction, only the left atrial volume index and early mitral inflow to early diastolic tissue velocity (E/e') ratio remained predictive of HF. A multiple regression model, including all echocardiographic variables, showed a persistent, although attenuated, relation of early to late mitral inflow velocity (E/A) ratio and E/e' with LVEDP (p = 0.06 and p = 0.002, respectively). The addition of E/e' or the left atrial volume indexed to body surface area, but not E/A, to the clinical history and left ventricular ejection fraction provided incremental prognostic information. A LVEDP of > or =20 mm Hg, E/e' ratio of > or =15, and left atrial volume index of > or =23 ml/m(2) identified those with a higher risk of HF. In conclusion, invasively determined LVEDP is an independent predictor of future HF events. E/e' and the left atrial volume indexed to body surface area are the best independent predictors of future HF and provide prognostic information incremental to the clinical history and left ventricular ejection fraction.
Algorithm to determine matrix-effect crossover points for overcoming interferences in inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry

An algorithm is described for automated identification of matrix-effect-free crossover points, which is the observation height at which no apparent matrix effect exists, in ICP-AES. The first priority of the algorithm is to ensure that all effects from experimental artifacts are filtered out and that all analytical results reported by the algorithm are accurate. The backbone of the algorithm consists of applying segmented polynomial regressions to the vertical determined-concentrations profiles of the analyte; the crossover point is then found by solving the root of the algebraic difference between the two polynomials. Three additional features were incorporated into the algorithm to improve its accuracy. First, the residual of the segmented polynomial regression, which gauges the level of noise in the vertical determined-concentration profile, was limited to a threshold value of 0.01 (i.e., 1%); residuals due to the fitting process could be made negligible by an appropriate choice of polynomial order. Second, the total number of samples was increased from two to three (the three samples are the undiluted original sample and two diluted aliquots of the original sample with different dilution factors) for determination of the crossover point, which in turn results in three statistically equivalent crossover points. Third, the dispersion of the three determined crossover points provides an estimate of how accurate the final result is. The ability of the algorithm to avoid misidentification of the interference-free crossover points was evaluated under different experimental situations (e.g., noisy vertical emission profiles caused by low analyte concentrations, and the presence of non-plasma-related interferences). With this algorithm, it was found that the analyte needs to be present at a concentration roughly 100 to 200 times its detection limit for accurate results to be obtained.
Letter identification processes in reading: Distractor interference reveals an automatically engaged, domain-specific mechanism

Recent neuroimaging studies have revealed that letters activate both the left and the right fusiform areas, but that only the left fusiform responds to letters more than to control stimuli (Cohen et al., 2003). Though these findings suggest that the left fusiform is specialized in its function of identifying letters, it does not rule out the possibility that the right fusiform contributes critically to letter identification processes. We used a behavioural word identification task in which we compared bilateral and unilateral displays to determine the cost of engaging the right hemisphere with a distractor stimulus. We found that while engaging the left hemisphere led to a robust interference effect, engaging the right hemisphere had no effect at all. We were able to rule out an attentional bias to the right visual field as a possible explanation of the asymmetrical interference effect. We conclude that while the right hemisphere may be able to assume letter identification processing responsibilities in some patients with brain damage, the right hemisphere does not contribute critically to abstract letter identification processes in healthy right-handed individuals.
Disruption of Gi/o protein signaling in the nucleus accumbens results in a D1 dopamine receptor-mediated hyperactivity

Intra-accumbens infusion of pertussis toxin (PTX) results in a progressive and persistent locomotor hyperactivity and sensitizes rats to the locomotor-activating effects of cocaine. The present study further defined the hyperactivity resulting from inactivation of accumbens Gi/Go proteins and tested the hypothesis that PTX-induced hyperactivity is mediated by dopamine D1 receptors. PTX (0.15 microg/side) infused bilaterally into the nucleus accumbens of rats resulted in a progressive increase in locomotor activity that peaked at 218% of preinjection activity levels 15 days after injection and persisted for greater than 5 weeks postinjection. Administration of the D1 receptor antagonist SCH23390 16 and 23 days after PTX injections dose dependently attenuated PTX-induced hyperactivity. D1 receptor blockade did not significantly alter activity in sham-injected animals. These findings support the hypothesis that the hyperactivity resulting from PTX-mediated inactivation of G(i/o) proteins reflects increased nucleus accumbens D1 receptor activation and suggest that striatal D1 receptors are important mediators of activity-related behavior, such as cocaine-induced hyperactivity.
Integrating feminist and sociological thought: The life and work of helena Znaniecka Lopata

This work is a biographical essay on the academic career of Helena Znaniecka Lopata, a noted sociologist in her own right and the daughter of Florian Znaniecki, a principal contributor to qualitative and humanistic sociology. Lopata’s story documents the difficulties of establishing a career in a social climate that did not place high value on women beyond their wife and mothering roles. Once she defied her cultural expectations, she also had to overcome the shadow of her father’s legacy and, finally, she had to find acceptance for doing research on women’s everyday life experiences. Lopata’s work provides important insights into the sociological study of social roles and of gender as a structural component of stratified social systems.
COMBS: A Biosurveillance Ecosystem (BSVE) Prototype

The goal of DTRA's Biosurveillance Ecosystem (BSVE) program is to significantly reduce the time required to identify threats to human health, whether of malicious or natural origin, and respond appropriately. Draper Laboratory is leading a team to develop the Collaborative Overarching Multi-feed Biosurveillance System (COMBS) for BSVE to revolutionize biosurveillance capabilities. USG analysts whose jobs are to reduce risks to national security will benefit from rapid and thorough information access, as will local public health authorities and individual citizens. This poster will provide an overview of the COMBS project and current progress towards meeting the goals of the BSVE.
Heat Transfer Enhancement for Turbulent Flow Through Blockages With Round and Elongated Holes in a Rectangular Channel

Experiments were conducted to determine the average heat transfer coefficients on three wall segments between blockages with holes in a wide rectangular channel. Eight different configurations of the holes in the blockages-two diameters and four aspect ratios of the holes-were examined. The pressure drops across the blockages were also measured. The results showed that the elongated holes in the blockages in this study enhanced more heat transfer than the round holes, but they also caused larger pressure drops across the blockages.
Feeding skill performance in premature infants during the first year.

Abstract Background Little is known about premature infants' feeding skill development and the contribution to it of biologic and environmental conditions. Aims Explore the level and variation in feeding skill performance through the first post-term year and examine the contribution to performance of infant neonatal condition and rate of weight gain per day, maternal feeding behavior, and its interaction with neonatal condition. Study design and subjects: In this longitudinal, descriptive study, data sources included observed and videotaped in-home feeding for 45 infants Outcome measure Feeding skill performance ( fdgskill ): total number of expected skills at 1, 4, 8, and 12 months, post-term age (PTA). Results Feeding skill performance varied widely among infants at all four assessments. At 8 and 12 months, fdgskill indicated, for a minority of infants, delay and lack of opportunity to engage in skills associated with new foods and new feeding modalities. Neonatal medical condition contributed significantly to fdgskill at 1 and 4 months, but in the predicted (negative) direction only at four months. Rate of weight gain per day contributed significantly to fdgskill at 1 and 8 months, but in the predicted direction (positive) only at one month. Maternal feeding behavior did not contribute to fdgskill , nor did it interact with infant neonatal conditions to affect fdgskill . Conclusions Although infant neonatal medical status and rate of weight gain per day, before or within the span of time between assessments, accounted for some variance in feeding skill performance within the first three assessments (1, 4, and 8 months), much remains to be explained, including neuro- and oral–motor capacities to manage new foods and feeding modalities and opportunities to practice feeding skills during the last half of the first year.