cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The nectin-1α transmembrane domain, but not the cytoplasmic tail, influences cell fusion induced by HSV-1 glycoproteins

Abstract Nectin-1 is a receptor for herpes simplex virus (HSV), a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily, and a cellular adhesion molecule. To study domains of nectin-1α involved in cell fusion, we measured the ability of nectin-1α/nectin-2α chimeras, nectin-1α/CD4 chimeras, and transmembrane domain and cytoplasmic tail mutants of nectin-1α to promote cell fusion induced by HSV-1 glycoproteins. Our results demonstrate that only chimeras and mutants containing the entire V-like domain and a link to the plasma membrane conferred cell-fusion activity. The transmembrane domain and cytoplasmic tail of nectin-1 were not required for any viral receptor or cell adhesion function tested. Cellular cytoplasmic factors that bind to the nectin-1α cytoplasmic tail, therefore, did not influence virus entry or cell fusion. Interestingly, the efficiency of cell fusion was reduced when membrane-spanning domains of nectin-1α and gD were replaced by glycosylphosphatidylinositol tethers, indicating that transmembrane domains may play a modulatory role in the gD/nectin-1α interaction in fusion.
Dynamics of vapor bubbles and boiling heat transfer

Analytical expressions for bubble radii and growth rates derived by the authors are applied in an analysis of surface boiling at high heat transfer rates. It is shown that the product of bubble radius and radial velocity is a constant, independent of the bubble radius. This circumstance permits the formulation of a Reynolds number for the flow in the thin superheated liquid layer adjacent to the heating surface. The result of the analysis is then applied to maximal heat transfer rates in pool boiling.
EFFECTS OF NUMBER AND LOCATION OF BINS ON PLASTIC RECYCLING AT A UNIVERSITY

The proportion of plastic bottles that consumers placed in appropriate recycling receptacles rather than trash bins was examined across 3 buildings on a university campus. We extended previous research on interventions to increase recycling by controlling the number of recycling receptacles across conditions and by examining receptacle location without the use of posted signs. Manipulating the appearance or number of recycling bins in common areas did not increase recycling. Consumers recycled substantially more plastic bottles when the recycling bins were located in classrooms.
Mid-Infrared Imaging of Markarian 231 and ARP 220

High angular resolution observations of Arp 220 and Mrk 231 provide images of the nuclei and show that the source of the strong mid-IR emission is confined to regions less than about 0.5 arcsec or 400 pc in diameter in Mrk 231 and less than 1.5 arcsec x 0.9 arcsec or 320 x 530 pc in Arp 220. If much of the far-IR emission also derives from such a small region, the implied radiation densities are quite high, equivalent to one O star per cu pc. Although in normal galaxies the near-IR traces an older population of evolved, cool stars, such high radiation densities in the IR bright galaxies suggest the possibility that the spatial correlation observed between the near-IR, mid-IR, and radio may hold because emission in all three bands is associated with hot interstellar gas and dust.
Acid and isoproterenol cause serotonin release by acting on opposite surfaces of duodenal mucosa.

Although most bodily serotonin (5-HT) is stored in intestinal enterochromaffin (EC) cells, the mechanism of its release is only now being elucidated. It has previously been reported that such stimuli as luminal acidification or exposure of both sides of a rabbit duodenal mucosal sheet to certain autonomic agonists stimulate release from the mucosal surface in the Ussing chamber model. The hypothesis in the present study is that acid acts only on the mucosal surface, whereas neural receptor agonists and antagonists act specifically on the serosal surface, as would be predicted by the location of acid in the gut lumen and nerve terminals at the bases of the EC cells. 5-HT release was measured by radioimmunoassay from the mucosal surface bathing solution. Duodenal mucosal sheets were exposed separately on the mucosal or serosal surfaces to acid (citric phosphate buffer, pH 5) or to isoproterenol (10−5M). The effect of atropine (10−6M) and propranolol (10−6M) on acid-stimulated mucosal release was studied by combining luminal acid stimulation with one of these antagonists, on either the mucosal or serosal surface. The results demonstrate significant (P < 0.01) mucosal serotonin release (56 ± 9 ng cm−2 hr−1) only with mucosal acidification. On the other hand, isoproterenol causes significant (P < 0.05) serotonin release (12.4 ± 3 ng cm−2 hr−1) only when introduced onto the serosal surface. Finally, the antagonists, atropine and propranolol, blocked acid-stimulated serotonin release only when added to the serosal surface. Since acid-induced serotonin release has been shown to be partially mediated by cholinergic and β-adrenergic mechanisms, these findings suggest interconnection of mucosal acid receptors with submucosal neurons which mediate serotonin release by acting on the basal surface of the enterochromaffin cell.
Recommendations for intelligent bridge monitoring systems: architecture and temperature-compensated bootstrap analysis

A sizeable number of efforts have sought to instrument bridges for the purpose of structural monitoring and assessment. The outcomes of these efforts, as gaged by advances in the understanding of the definition of structural damage and their role in sensor selection as well as in the design of cost and data-effective monitoring systems, has itself been difficult to assess. The authors' experience with the design, construction, and operation of a monitoring system for the south-bound Kishwaukee Bridge has provided several lessons that bear upon these concerns. In this paper we describe certain aspects of the design of our Unix-based monitoring system. The system, patterned after similar systems developed for kick detection and well-control in the oil industry, has performed well in providing a continuous, low-cost monitoring platform for bridge engineers with immediately relevant information.
A peptide histidine isoleucine/peptide histidine methionine-like peptide in the rabbit retina: Colocalization with vasoactive intestinal peptide, synaptic relationships and activation of adenylate cyclase activity

Antisera against peptide histidine isoleucine and peptide histidine methionine were found to label a subpopulation of amacrine and displaced amacrine cells in the rabbit retina with processes ramifying in sublaminas 1, 3 and 5 of the inner plexiform layer. Preadsorption controls demonstrated that this immunoreactivity was specific for a peptide histidine isoleucine- or peptide histidine methionine-like (peptide histidine isoleucine/peptide histidine methionine-like) peptide, and was not caused by cross-reactivity of the peptide histidine isoleucine or peptide histidine methionine antibodies with vasoactive intestinal peptide vasoactive intestinal peptide. In double-label studies, vasoactive intestinal peptide and peptide histidine isoleucine/peptide histidine methionine-like immunoreactivity were colocalized in the same population of retinal neurons. Electron microscopic analysis revealed that the peptide histidine isoleucine/peptide histidine methionine-labelled cells interacted with processes of bipolar cells, amacrine cells and ganglion cells. Peptide histidine methionine and peptide histidine isoleucine were slightly less potent than vasoactive intestinal peptide in stimulating adenylate cyclase activity in the rabbit retina, while the related peptides secretin, glucagon, and the C-terminal vasoactive intestinal peptide fragment, vasoactive intestinal peptide (10-28), showed little or no stimulatory activity. Stimulation of adenylate cyclase by high concentrations of vasoactive intestinal peptide and peptide histidine methionine were non-additive. These results suggest that a peptide histidine isoleucine/peptide histidine methionine-like peptide may function as a neuroactive peptide in the mammalian retina, and that this peptide appears to be cosynthesized and colocalized with vasoactive intestinal peptide and to mimic the activity of vasoactive intestinal peptide through interaction with vasoactive intestinal peptide receptor-adenylate cyclase complexes.
Solution structure of Cobalt(III)Hexammine complexed to the GAAA tetraloop, and metal-ion binding to G·A mismatches

Abstract The solution structure of a 22 nt RNA hairpin and its complex with Co(NH3)63+ bound to the GAAA tetraloop has been determined by NMR spectroscopy. Co(NH3)63+ has a similar geometry to Mg(H2O)62+ and can be used as a probe for binding sites of completely solvated magnesium ions. The hairpin contains tandem G·A mismatches, similar to the P5abc region of a group I intron, and is closed by a GAAA tetraloop. The tandem G·A mismatches are imino hydrogen bonded in contrast with the sheared G·A mismatches found in a different context in the crystal structure of the P4-P6 domain. Chemical shift changes of the imino protons upon titration of the RNA hairpin with Mg2+ and with Co(NH3)63+ were used to identify ion-binding sites. Paramagnetic resonance broadening upon titration with Mn2+ was also used. The titration curves gave dissociation binding constants for the magnesium ions in the millimolar range, similar to the binding in the major groove of RNA at tandem G·U base-pairs. Although the largest chemical shift change occurred at an imino proton of one of the G·A base-pairs, no nuclear Overhauser enhancement cross-peaks between the cobalt ligand and neighboring RNA protons were seen, presumably due to the high mobility of the Co(NH3)63+ at this site. Nuclear Overhauser enhancement cross-peaks between Co(NH3)63+ and the GAAA tetraloop were observed, which allowed the determination of the structure of the tetraloop binding site. The Co(NH3)63+ is bound in the major groove of the GAAA tetraloop with hydrogen bonds to guanine base N7 and to phosphate oxygen atoms of the tetraloop.
Biology, Management, and Culture of Walleye, edited by Bruce A. Barton

Edited by Bruce A. Barton. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, Maryland. 2011. 600 pages. US$79.00Why would a group of fisheries scientists and managers take it upon themselves, under the auspice...
Optimum Channel Inclination for Gas Venting Under Countercurrent Flow Limitations

Countercurrent flow limitation (CCFL) in the pressurizer surge line of future Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR) with passive safety systems is an important phenomenon in reactor safety analysis. The pressurizer surge line is typically comprised of several sections with various inclination angles. Under certain accident conditions, countercurrent flow takes place in the surge line with liquid flowing down from the pressurizer and steam flowing up from the hot leg. The steam venting rate as well as the liquid draining rate may affect the Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) actuation. The objective herein is to develop a physics-based model for evaluating the effect of inclination angle on CCFL. For a given liquid superficial velocity in the countercurrent flow system of the pressurizer surge line, the gas superficial velocity should be as large as possible at the onset of flooding, so that the steam can vent as fast as possible without inhibiting the pressurizer drain rate. Thus the system could de-pressurize in a timely manner to initiate the ECCS actuation. As indicated by CCFL experiments, for a given liquid superficial velocity, the gas superficial velocity attains a greatest value at a certain channel inclination, which is defined as the optimum channel inclination. Inmore » the present work, an analytical model is proposed to predict the optimum channel inclination under simplified conditions. The model predictions compare favorably with experimental data. (authors)« less
Cavitation for incompressible anisotropic nonlinearly elastic spheres

In this paper, the effect ofmaterial anisotropy on void nucleation and growth inincompressible nonlinearly elastic solids is examined. A bifurcation problem is considered for a solid sphere composed of an incompressible homogeneous nonlinearly elastic material which is transversely isotropic about the radial direction. Under a uniform radial tensile dead-load, a branch of radially symmetric configurations involving a traction-free internal cavity bifurcates from the undeformed configuration at sufficiently large loads. Closed form analytic solutions are obtained for a specific material model, which may be viewed as a generalization of the classic neo-Hookean model to anisotropic materials. In contrast to the situation for a neo-Hookean sphere, bifurcation here may occur locally either to the right (supercritical) or to the left (subcritical), depending on the degree of anisotropy. In the latter case, the cavity has finite radius on first appearance. Such a discontinuous change in stable equilibrium configurations is reminiscent of the snap-through buckling phenomenon of structural mechanics. Such dramatic cavitational instabilities were previously encountered by Antman and Negron-Marrero [3] for anisotropiccompressible solids and by Horgan and Pence [17] forcomposite incompressible spheres.
Rhaconotus roslinensis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), a candidate for biological control of stalkboring sugarcane pests (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae): development, life tables, and intraspecific competition.

Biological studies of the external, gregarious braconid Rhaconotus roslinensis Lal were conducted using Texas sugarcane pests Diatraea saccharalis (F.) and Eoreuma loftini (Dyar) as hosts. Optimal temperature for immature development and survivorship was 26°C, with a total developmental time of 19.3 days and 15.8% mortality of eggs and immatures. Lower threshold for development was near 20°C, with only 13.4% survivorship at that temperature. Honey-fed females lived 41 days at 26°C. Life tables generated on the two host species indicated that although R. roslinensis successfully developed on both hosts, D. saccharalis was more suitable. Increasing numbers of parasite larvae developing on a host affected larval cocoon-spinning behavior and significantly reduced developmental time, survivorship, and the size of subsequent adults. However, there was an interaction between amount of food available to parasite larvae, parasite adult size, and total number of competing larvae, such that large clutches provided with a specific amount of food gave rise to larger adult parasites than did small clutches provided the same amount of food. This effect reduced the impact of intraspecific competition and was an adaptation to a gregarious feeding strategy. The mechanism for this effect was hypothesized to be the injection of predigestive enzymes into the host by feeding parasite larvae.
Path ideals of rooted trees and their graded Betti numbers

Let @C be a rooted (and directed) tree, and let t be a positive integer. The path ideal I"t(@C) is generated by monomials that correspond to directed paths of length (t-1) in @C. In this paper, we study algebraic properties and invariants of I"t(@C). We give a recursive formula to compute the graded Betti numbers of I"t(@C) in terms of path ideals of subtrees. We also give a general bound for the regularity, explicitly compute the linear strand, and investigate when I"t(@C) has a linear resolution.
IP-based protocols for mobile internetworking

We consider the problem of providing network access to hosts whose physical location changes with time. Such hosts cannot depend on traditional forms of network connectivity and routing because their location, and hence the route to reach them, cannot be deduced from their IP address. We present protocols that seamlessly integrate mobile hosts into the current IP networking infrastructure. They are primarily targeted at supporting a campus environment with mobile computers, but also extend gracefully to accomodate hosts moving between different networks. The key feature is the dependence on ancillary machines to track the location of the mobile hosts. Our protocols are designed to react quickly to changing topologies, to scale well, and not to place an overwhelming burden on the network.
Physical disturbance shapes vascular plant diversity more profoundly than fire in the sagebrush steppe of southeastern Idaho, U.S.A

Fire is thought to profoundly change the ecology of the sagebrush steppe. The Idaho National Laboratory provides an ideal setting to compare the effects of fire and physical disturbance on plant diversity in high-native-cover sagebrush steppe. Seventy-eight 1-hectare transects were established along paved, green-striped, gravel, and two-track roads, in overgrazed rangeland, and within sagebrush steppe involving different fire histories. Transects were sampled for the diversity and abundance of all vascular plants. Alpha, beta, and phylogenetic beta diversity were analyzed as a response to fire and physical disturbance. Postfire vegetation readily rebounds to prefire levels of alpha plant diversity. Physical disturbance, in contrast, strongly shapes patterns of alpha, beta, and especially phylogenetic beta diversity much more profoundly than fire disturbance. If fire is a concern in the sagebrush steppe then the degree of physical-disturbance should be more so. This finding is probably not specific to the study area but applicable to the northern and eastern portions of the sagebrush biome, which is characterized by a pulse of spring moisture and cold mean minimum winter temperatures. The distinction of sagebrush steppe from Great Basin sagebrush should be revised especially with regard to reseeding efforts and the control of annual grasses.
Measurements of total cross sections for electron scattering from helium and argon

Abstract A time-of-flight (TOF) electron spectrometer has been used to measure absolute total cross sections (TCS) scattered from helium and argon over the energy range from 1 to 50 eV. The TOF spectrometer and experimental procedure are described briefly, and experimental results are presented together with associated errors. The results are found to be in good agreement with other experimental and theoretical data.
A survey of the expectations of New Mexico emergency physicians regarding the services of the New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center.

Objective: Physicians have been surveyed concerning their satisfaction with poison center services but have never been questioned regarding their expectations. This study was conducted to clarify t...
Beta-thymosins from marine invertebrates: primary structure and interaction with actin

The beta-thymosins are distributed throughout the vertebrate phyla, and all known vertebrate beta-thymosins bind actin monomers. To determine whether beta-thymosin-like peptides function as actin-binding proteins in invertebrates, we fractionated perchloric acid extracts of the gonads of both the sea urchin, Arbacia punctulata, and the scallop, Argopecten irradians, and screened the fractions for proteins which could be crosslinked to actin. In each case a peptide was isolated which crosslinks to actin from both rabbit skeletal muscle and scallop cross-striated adductor muscle; both peptides were sequenced and each was found to consist of 40 amino acid residues, compared with 41-43 residues for the vertebrate beta-thymosins. The sequences of the scallop and sea urchin beta-thymosins are 80% identical to each other, 75% identical to residues 1-40 of thymosin beta4, and 72-80% identical to residues 1-40 of other vertebrate beta-thymosins. The sea urchin peptide was found to inhibit actin polymerization and nucleotide exchange. The affinity of the sea urchin peptide for rabbit muscle actin is apparently lower than that of thymosin beta4, since about twice the concentration of sea urchin peptide is required to give inhibition of actin polymerization or nucleotide exchange equivalent to thymosin beta4.
Parallel ICCG on a hierarchical memory multiprocessor - addressing the triangular solve bottleneck

The incomplete Cholesky conjugate gradient (ICCG) algorithm is a commonly used iterative method for solving large sparse systems of equations. In this paper, we study the parallel solution of sparse triangular systems of equations, the most difficult aspect of implementing the ICCG method on a multiprocessor. We focus on shared-memory multiprocessor architectures with deep memory hierarchies. On such architectures we find that previously proposed parallelization approaches result in little or no speedup. The reason is that these approaches cause significant increases in the amount of memory system traffic as compared to a sequential approach. Increases of as much as a factor of 10 on four processors were observed. In this paper we propose new techniques for limiting these increases, including data remappings to increase spatial locality, new processor synchronization techniques to decrease the use of auxiliary data structures, and data partitioning techniques to reduce the amount of interprocessor communication. With these techniques, memory system traffic is reduced to as little as one sixth of its previous volume. The resulting speedups are greatly improved as well, although they are still much less than linear. We discuss the factors that limit further speedups. We present both simulation results and results of experiments on an SGI 4D/340 multiprocessor.
Seismic detection of a subglacial lake near the South Pole, Antarctica

[1] Seismic reflection data are analyzed to verify radar identification of a subglaical lake near the geographic South Pole. The seismic amplitude variation with offset (AVO) technique is applied to confirm the presence of extensive free water, and seismic imaging of the subsurface constrains lake depth and deeper subglacial structure in the region. This lake is at least 4.2 km wide (and likely as much as 10 km in diameter), is up to 32 ± 10 m deep, and occupies a basin of thick sedimentary strata. These results imply that extensive water storage is occurring in the South Pole region. The proximity of this lake to the Amundsen - Scott South Pole Station makes research drilling to sample the lake and underlying sediments feasible and supportable.
Control relevant estimation of plant and disturbance dynamics

Estimating models for both plant and disturbance dynamics is important in control design applications that focus on disturbance rejection. Several methods for low-order approximate model estimation on the basis of closed-loop data exist in the literature, but fail to address the simultaneous estimation of low-order approximate models of both plant and disturbance dynamics. In this paper a new extended two-stage methodology is proposed that allows for low-order approximate disturbance model estimation. In the proposed extended two-stage method the first stage is used to estimate high-order models for filtering purposes. In the second stage, filtered signals are used to provide the means for low-order approximate model estimation of both plant and disturbance dynamics.
On the Threshold Region Mean-Squared Error Performance of Maximum-Likelihood Direction-of Arrival Estimation in the Presence of Signal Model Mismatch

The mean squared error (MSE) performance prediction of maximum-likelihood (ML) direction-of-arrival (DOA) angle estimation has been studied extensively. Previous analyses consider Cramer-Rao Bounds, sensitivity/asymptotic [in signal-to-colored noise ratio (SNR)] local error performance prediction that includes the impact of finite samples effects and additive signal modeling errors (mismatch), and prediction of the low SNR threshold region performance of ML DOA (without mismatch). Analysis of the adaptive array ML DOA (without mismatch) scenario has also been considered. The goals of this present analysis include the following: (i) to extend prediction of the asymptotic and threshold region MSE performance of ML to include a general form of deterministic signal model mismatch, and (ii) to begin looking at the threshold region performance of ML DOA estimation from an information-theoretic perspective, (iii) to determine if the classic work of Huber on model misspecification, although primarily asymptotic in nature, provide new insights into this finite sample problem. This initial work will focus on the DOA estimation of a single deterministic planewave signal in known colored noise and brief consideration will be given to the more complex scenario of an adaptive array in which the colored noise covariance must be estimated
Providing non-hierarchical security through interface mechanisms

Common security models provide protection in an hierarchical fashion (i.e. there is a trusted core with outer circles of less secure code and data). There is only one method of providing protection. This model makes it difficult to protect code and data with multiple types of non-hierarchical policies. It implies complete trust in the core requiring thorough evaluation each time modifications are made. This paper first describes a paradigm shift to non-hierarchical security. It then describes an interface mechanism with the potential for providing an efficient, configurable and non-hierarchical security mechanism more suitable for commercial requirements.
Effect of thermal history on the superplastic expansion of argon-filled pores in titanium: Part I kinetics and microstructure

Titanium was foamed at high temperature by expanding pressurized argon bubbles which had been trapped in the metal during prior hot-isostatic pressing. During foaming, transformation superplasticity was induced in the matrix by thermal cycling around the α/β allotropic temperature of titanium, thus accelerating pore growth and delaying cell wall fracture and pore opening to the surface, as compared to foaming performed exclusively under isothermal creep conditions in the β-Ti field. The relative importance of creep and superplastic deformation upon foaming rate, rate of porosity opening and maximum porosity was studied by changing the thermal cycling frequency and maximum temperature. Under superplastic conditions, porosity ceased to increase when reaching levels between 29% and 44%, principally because of the decrease of internal gas pressure due to pore expansion and, to a lesser extent, because of premature gas escape from the pores. Continued thermal cycling after the maximal porosity had been reached lead to pore coalescing and opening to the specimen surface by localized pore wall rupture, which resulted in large open pores with a jagged morphology.
Package and interconnect modeling of the HFA3624, a 2.4 GHz RF to IF converter

This paper demonstrates the use of three-dimensional electromagnetic field solvers to accurately model the interconnect for a 2.4 GHz RF to IF converter integrated circuit under development at Harris Semiconductor. Lumped element RLC models for the package leads, bondwires, die attach plane, and on-chip interconnect are shown to provide accurate simulation versus measurement and prove the importance of modeling the entire packaged IC.
Ethnography of the Ek-Static Experience: Poésie Auto-socioanalytique in the Work of Michel Leiris

Much work has been done in recent decades to emphasize the need in ethnographic writing to grapple with questions of authorship, perspective, aesthetics, emotional resonance, and style. Various forms of reflexive ethnographic writing, and especially autoethnography, have opened up new expressive avenues. In this article, I argue that a figure who is at present poorly known in English-language social scientific circles, the French ethnographer, poet, and writer Michel Leiris (1901–1990), pushes this kind of autobiographical ethnographic writing forward in powerful ways. In brief, Leiris offers a powerfully effective method (which I call poesie auto-socioanalytique) that ties subjective experience into a larger objective structural framework via a method that (1) focuses on cultural meaning in an autobiographical experiential framework, that is, from the inside, (2) is expressly concerned with the role that language itself plays in meaning and memory, and (3) examines extraordinary situations in which one s...
Millimeter wave reimaging optics for the 100 m Green Bank telescope

Large bolometer arrays capable of operating at millimeter wavelengths are being built for astronomical use. For optimal sensitivity, high-quality optics with wide fields of view are needed. We report on the design of reimaging optics for use on the 100-m Green Bank telescope with a 64-element bolometer array.
Climate change and health effects in Northwest Alaska.

This article provides examples of adverse health effects, including weather-related injury, food insecurity, mental health issues, and water infrastructure damage, and the responses to these effects that are currently being applied in two Northwest Alaska communities. Background: In Northwest Alaska, warming is resulting in a broad range of unusual weather and environmental conditions, including delayed freeze-up, earlier breakup, storm surge, coastal erosion, and thawing permafrost. These are just some of the climate impacts that are driving concerns about weatherrelated injury, the spread of disease, mental health issues, infrastructure damage, and food and water security. Local leaders are challenged to identify appropriate adaptation strategies to address climate impacts and related health effects. Implementation process: The tribal health system is combining local observations, traditional knowledge, and western science to perform community-specific climate change health impact assessments. Local leaders are applying this information to develop adaptation responses. Objective: The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium will describe relationships between climate impacts and health effects and provide examples of community-scaled adaptation actions currently being applied in Northwest Alaska. Findings: Climate change is increasing vulnerability to injury, disease, mental stress, food insecurity, and water insecurity. Northwest communities are applying adaptation approaches that are both specific and appropriate. Conclusion: The health impact assessment process is effective in raising awareness, encouraging discussion, engaging partners, and implementing adaptation planning. With community-specific information, local leaders are applying health protective adaptation measures. Keywords: climate change; health impact assessment; health effects; Arctic health (Published: 18 October 2011) Citation: Global Health Action 2011, 4 : 8445 - DOI: 10.3402/gha.v4i0.8445
Teaching computer‐aided mechanism design and analysis using a high‐level mechanism toolkit

A pedagogically effective teaching strategy that integrates computer-aided design and programming into a course on mechanism analysis and design is presented. Mechanism analysis is enhanced when coupled with computer programming that allows students to find solutions to more complex systems than would otherwise be possible. Web-based distance learning is part of the class and students also learn how to create these kinds of materials themselves. Students can better understand the course material through an integrated computing environment. By solving mechanism design problems in C/C++, the programming skills gained in the course are widely applicable in other areas of engineering. Ch, a C/C++ interpreter, is used to incorporate programming and mechanism design because of its high-level numerical and graphical plotting capabilities, scripting capability, and a mechanism toolkit with easy and quick animation. A student project is presented as an example to show how computer programming is integrated for effective learning. This teaching strategy has been actively used at the University of California, Davis for several years in an undergraduate course in computer-aided mechanism design and has been adopted by other universities as well. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 15: 277–288, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae.20156
Leaf gas exchange and nitrogen dynamics of N2‐fixing, field‐grown Alnus glutinosa under elevated atmospheric CO2

Few studies have investigated the effects of elevated CO2 on the physiology of symbiotic N2-fixing trees. Tree species grown in low N soils at elevated CO2 generally show a decline in photosyntheti c capacity over time relative to ambient CO2 controls. This negative adjustment may be due to a reallocation of leaf N away from the photosynthetic apparatus, allowing for more efficient use of limiting N. We investigated the effect of twice ambient CO2 on net CO2 assimilation (A), photosynthetic capacity, leaf dark respiration, and leaf N content of N2-fixing Alnus glutinosa (black alder) grown in field open top chambers in a low N soil for 160 d. At growth CO2, A was always greater in elevated compared to ambient CO2 plants. Late season A vs. internal leaf p(CO2) response curves indicated no negative adjustment of photosynthesi s in elevated CO2 plants. Rather, elevated CO2 plants had 16% greater maximum rate of CO2 fixation by Rubisco. Leaf dark respiration was greater at elevated CO2 on an area basis, but unaffected by CO2 on a mass or N basis. In elevated CO2 plants, leaf N content {)ig N cm"^) increased 50% between Julian Date 208 and 264. Leaf N content showed little seasonal change in ambient CO2 plants. A single point acetylene reduction assay of detached, nodulated root segments indicated a 46% increase in specific nitrogenase activity in elevated compared to ambient CO2 plants. Our results suggest that N2-fixing trees will be able to maintain high A with minimal negative adjustment of photosynthetic capacity following prolonged exposure to elevated CO2 on N-poor soils. Keyivords: Alnus glutinosa, elevated carbon dioxide, leaf respiration, capacity, photosynthetic rate.
Poultry, People, and Progress

Abstract Over the past 50 yr private enterprise companies have built today’s pre-eminent commercial poultry industry. Rugged pioneers of poultry production, and bankers of sound judgment founded and integrated the industry. Students, researchers, and extension workers from land-grant colleges were paramount in developing the industry. Genetic selection and improvements in poultry health, management, housing, and nutrition have brought unprecedented progress in growth rate and feed conversion of broilers between 1950 and 1980. During the year 1950 broilers reached 1.82 kg live body weight at 12 wk of age and utilized 3.25 kg feed/kg gain. In 1988, broilers averaged the same body weight at 6 wk 2 days on 1.95 kg feed/kg gain. Competition for the world market has intensified and brought into focus the interface between land-grant colleges and private industry. Care must be taken to preserve the assets of this past relationship and the academic freedoms necessary for comprehensive universities. Systems of education are being re-evaluated to meet the challenges of competition for world markets. In spite of great developments from the sciences, society remains under the duress of serious sociological and behavioral problems. A classification of the sciences illustrates the great difficulties in addressing social problems. A legitimate concern is that in our zest to meet the economic goals offered by the world market, we will neglect the humanities in education with attendant negative impacts on society. A classification of the arts and humanities is offered.
Multifactor dimensionality reduction for graphics processing units enables genome-wide testing of epistasis in sporadic ALS

Motivation: Epistasis, the presence of gene–gene interactions, has been hypothesized to be at the root of many common human diseases, but current genome-wide association studies largely ignore its role. Multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) is a powerful model-free method for detecting epistatic relationships between genes, but computational costs have made its application to genome-wide data difficult. Graphics processing units (GPUs), the hardware responsible for rendering computer games, are powerful parallel processors. Using GPUs to run MDR on a genome-wide dataset allows for statistically rigorous testing of epistasis. Results: The implementation of MDR for GPUs (MDRGPU) includes core features of the widely used Java software package, MDR. This GPU implementation allows for large-scale analysis of epistasis at a dramatically lower cost than the standard CPU-based implementations. As a proof-of-concept, we applied this software to a genome-wide study of sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We discovered a statistically significant two-SNP classifier and subsequently replicated the significance of these two SNPs in an independent study of ALS. MDRGPU makes the large-scale analysis of epistasis tractable and opens the door to statistically rigorous testing of interactions in genome-wide datasets. Availability: MDRGPU is open source and available free of charge from http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/mdr. Contact: jason.h.moore@dartmouth.edu Supplementary information:Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Inspiratory resistive load detection in children with life-threatening asthma

The detection of inspiratory resistive (R) loads was studied in nonasthmatic children (NA), asthmatic children (A), and children with a history of life-threatening asthma (LTA). It was hypothesized that the LTA children would have a reduced ability to detect added mechanical loads as measured by the Weber fraction, which assesses the resistive load detection threshold (ΔR50/R0). Subjects were separated from the investigator, were seated in a soundproofed room, and breathed through a nonrebreathing valve with the inspiratory port connected to the loading manifold. The subject's inspiratory baseline resistance (Raw) was measured by the interrupter method. Ten magnitudes of R loads and no-load were presented randomly 10 times each for a single inspiration. The loads were presented in three trials. Subjects pressed a button if they detected the presence of a load. The ΔR50 was determined from the % detection-ΔR curve. R0 was the sum of the subject's Raw and the minimal resistance of the apparatus. The ΔR50/R0 for children with life- threatening asthma was significantly greater than for asthmatic and nonasthmatic children. The increased ΔR50/R0 suggests that children with LTA are at risk of life-threatening asthma attacks, in part because it requires a greater change in resistance above their baseline resistance before they sense an increased mechanical load such as presented to them by bronchoconstriction during an asthmatic attack. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2001; 32:44–48. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
From Individual Decisions from Experience to Behavioral Game Theory: Lessons for Cybersecurity

This chapter discusses a central challenge arising from the success of modeling human behavior in making decisions from experience: our ability to scale these models up to explain non-cooperative team behavior in a dynamic cyber space. Computational models of human behavior based on the Instance-Based Learning Theory (IBLT) have been highly successful in representing and predicting individual’s behavior of decisions from experience. Recently, these IBL models have been also applied to represent a security analyst’s experience and cognitive characteristics that would result in accurate predictions of threat identification and cyber-attack detection. The IBL models derive predictions on the accuracy and timing of threat detection in a computer network (i.e., cyber situation awareness or cyberSA). This chapter summarizes the current state of models at the individual level, and it describes the challenges and potentials for extending them to address predictions in 2-player (i.e., defender and attacker) non-cooperative dynamic cybersecurity situations. The advancements that would potentially contribute to a more secure cyberspace are discussed.
HoxB2 binds mutant SOD1 and is altered in transgenic model of ALS

Mutations in Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) cause approximately 20% of familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis by a toxic gain of function; however, the precise mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we report the identification of HoxB2, a homeodomain-containing transcription factor, as a G93A mutant SOD1 interactive protein in a yeast two-hybrid screen. We show that HoxB2 co-precipitates and co-localizes with mutant SOD1 in neuronal cell lines, as well as in brain and spinal cord of G93A mutant SOD1 transgenic mice. Mutagenesis further shows that this interaction is mediated by the central homeodomain of HoxB2. In motor neuron-like NSC-34 cells, overexpression of HoxB2 or its homeodomain decreases the insolubility of mutant SOD1 and inhibits G93A or G86R mutant SOD1-induced neuronal cell death. In human and mouse tissues, we show that expression of HoxB2 persists in adult spinal cord and is primarily localized in nuclei of motor neurons. In G93A transgenic mice, HoxB2 co-localizes with mutant SOD1 and is redistributed to perikarya and proximal neurites of motor neurons. In addition, there is progressive accumulation of HoxB2 and mutant SOD1 as punctate inclusions in the neuropil surrounding motor neurons. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that interaction of HoxB2 with mutant SOD1 occurs in motor neurons of G93A mutant SOD1 transgenic mice and suggest that this interaction may modulate the neurotoxicity of mutant SOD1.
Characterizing uncertainty in tractography: parametric and nonparametric methods

White matter tractography is a noninvasive method for estimating the white matter connectivity pathways using diffusion tensor imaging. Experimental noise may induce errors in the measured fiber directions and affect the accuracy and precision of the estimated trajectories. Both model-based (parametric) and model-free (non-parametric) probabilistic tractography methods have been proposed to account for the uncertainty in the fiber direction estimation. The non-parametric methods give an unbiased estimation of the data variability but require long imaging times and are computationally intensive. In this study we evaluate the behavior of a parametric algorithm the random vector perturbation (RAVE) in comparison with the non-parametric bootstrap tractography (BOOT-TRAC) method. The RAVE algorithm appears to generate fiber distributions similar to the BOOT-TRAC algorithm for trajectories situated in homogeneous white matter regions and might be a feasible substitute for BOOT-TRAC in cases when multiple measurements of the diffusion-weighted images are not obtainable.
Magneto-Dielectric Antenna Designs using Material and Metallic Genetic Algorithm Optimization

This paper presents several antenna designs based on magneto-dielectric and metallic antenna optimization. This is done using genetic algorithms (GA) and various designs are considered for a set of dielectric, magnetic and metallic choices. The optimized final designs include very thin, single layer textured dielectric (~0.01 lambda) substrates for circular polarized (CP) conformal antennas with as much as 15% bandwidth (BW) and sizes of the order of 0.1 lambda to 0.3 lambda (always thin ~0.01 lambda) exhibit remarkable gain or bandwidth behavior. Multiple designs are presented demonstrating the easiness and originality of the present approach
Isolation for nested task parallelism

Isolation--the property that a task can access shared data without interference from other tasks--is one of the most basic concerns in parallel programming. Whilethere is a large body of past work on isolated task-parallelism, the integration of isolation, task-parallelism, and nesting of tasks has been a difficult and unresolved challenge. In this pa- per, we present a programming and execution model called Otello where isolation is extended to arbitrarily nested parallel tasks with irregular accesses to heap data. At the same time, no additional burden is imposed on the programmer, who only exposes parallelism by creating and synchronizing parallel tasks, leaving the job of ensuring isolation to the underlying compiler and runtime system.Otello extends our past work on Aida execution model and the delegated isolation mechanism [22] to the setting of nested parallelism. The basic runtime construct in Aida and Otello is an assembly: a task equipped with a region in the shared heap that it owns. When an assembly A conflicts with an assembly B, A transfers--or delegates--its code and owned region to a carefully selected assembly C in a way that will ensure isolation with B, leaving the responsibility of re-executing task A to C. The choice of C depends on the nesting relationship between A and B.We have implemented Otello on top of the Habanero Java (HJ) parallel programming language [8], and used this implementation to evaluate Otello on collections of nested task-parallel benchmarks and non-nested transactional benchmarks from past work. On the nested task-parallel benchmarks, Otello achieves scalability comparable to HJ programs without built-in isolation, and the relative overhead of Otello is lower than that of many published data-race detection algorithms that detect the isolation violations (but do not enforce isolation). For the transactional benchmarks, Otello incurs lower overhead than a state-of-the-art software transactional memory system (Deuce STM).
A robust low complexity algorithm for carrier-to-interference ratio estimation in GSM

The adaptive multi-rate (AMR) feature of GSM can offer significant capacity and speech quality improvements provided the speech coder rate can be precisely adapted to the changing channel conditions. To enable this link adaptation requires an estimation of a suitable link quality measure. This paper details a robust, low complexity algorithm for estimating a link independent measure-carrier-to-interference ratio (C/I)-in GSM over a wide dynamic range. The complexity of the algorithm is reduced by exploiting the structure of GMSK modulation. An algorithm for diversity combining the link quality estimates is also presented. Performance results are presented for TU, RA, and HT multipath propagation conditions for mobile speeds of 3, 50, and 100 km/h. It is shown that the algorithm meets the GSM 05.09 link adaptation specification with sufficient margin and with a reasonably low computational complexity.
A view from within: revisiting Harry Judge’s American Graduate Schools of Education: a view from abroad

Twenty‐five years ago when Harry Judge published American Graduate Schools of Education: a view from abroad, he referred to his subject as a ‘puzzle’. These institutions were in the midst of a transition from a focus upon the education of academically talented children mostly from affluent backgrounds to the schooling of children of disparate academic abilities often from non‐affluent backgrounds. Further, many were ambivalent toward schooling as a focus for their schools of education, preferring more expansive definitions of education which minimised issues of schooling. Finally, most were strengthening their research capacities with infusions of disciplinary traditions and methodologies. Policy was emerging as a new specialty. The present emphasis, barely evolving when Judge wrote his book, now has schooling (particularly for the poor), and improvement of the practice of education, at the forefront. These shifting emphases have pushed educational researchers to investigate different questions, and their...