cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Active Rap1-mediated inhibition of choroidal neovascularization requires interactions with IQGAP1 in choroidal endothelial cells

Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) is a leading cause of blindness. The pathophysiology involves activation of choroidal endothelial cells (CECs) to transmigrate the retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) monolayer and form choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in the neural retina. The multidomain GTPase binding protein, IQGAP1, binds active Rac1 and sustains activation of CECs, thereby enabling migration associated with vision-threatening CNV. IQGAP1 also binds the GTPase, Rap1, which when activated reduces Rac1 activation in CECs and CNV. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that active Rap1 binding to IQGAP1 is necessary and sufficient to reduce Rac1 activation in CECs, and CNV. We found that pharmacologic activation of Rap1 or adenoviral transduction of constitutively active Rap1a reduced VEGF-mediated Rac1 activation, migration, and tube formation in CECs. Following pharmacologic activation of Rap1, VEGF-mediated Rac1 activation was reduced in CECs transfected with an IQGAP1 construct that increased active Rap1-IQGAP1 binding but not in CECs transfected with an IQGAP1 construct lacking the Rap1 binding domain. Specific knockout of IQGAP1 in endothelial cells reduced laser-induced CNV and Rac1 activation in CNV lesions, but pharmacologic activation of Rap1 did not further reduce CNV compared to littermate controls. Taken together, our findings provide evidence that active Rap1 binding to the IQ domain of IQGAP1 is sufficient to interfere with active Rac1-mediated CEC activation and CNV formation.
Cartographic Humanism: The Making of Early Modern Europe

Katharina N. Piechocki is associate professor of comparative literature at Harvard. Thus Cartographic Humanism: The Making of Early Modern Europe is less a work of cartographic history than it is a...
Compressive Biomechanics of the Reptilian Intervertebral Joint

This study compared the pre-sacral intervertebral joints of the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) with those from specimens of Varanus. These two taxa were chosen because they have similar number of pre-sacral vertebrae and similar body weights; however, Varanus can move bipedally and has diarthrotic intervertebral joints, whereas Alligator has intervertebral discs and cannot move bipedally. This study consisted of three objectives: (1) to document the anatomy of the intervertebral joint, (2) to quantify the compressive biomechanics of the intervertebral joints and explore which features contributed to compression resistance, and (3) to quantify the impact of compression on the intervertebral foramen and spinal nerves in these two taxa. The experimental results revealed that the diarthrotic intervertebral joints of Varanus were significantly (4x) stiffer than the intervertebral disc of Alligator, and that a significant component of this increased stiffness arose from the facet joints. Compressing the intervertebral joints of the two taxa caused a reduction in foraminal area, but the magnitude of this reduction was not significantly different. We hypothesize that the main factor preventing spinal nerve impingement in Varanus during gravitational compression is the relatively small size of the spinal ganglion/ nerve relative to the foraminal area.
Metastatic Mature Teratoma and Growing Teratoma Syndrome in Patients with Testicular Non-Seminomatous Germ Cell Tumors

Metastatic mature teratoma is a common radiologic and histopathologic finding after chemotherapy for metastatic non-seminomatous germ cell tumors. The leading theory for these residual tumors is the selective chemotherapy resistance of teratomas versus the high chemotherapy sensitivity of the embryonal components. Growing teratoma syndrome is a relatively rare phenomenon defined as an enlarging residual mass histologically proven to be a mature teratoma in the setting of normal serum tumor markers. Metastatic mature teratomas should be resected because of their malignant potential and occasional progression to growing teratoma syndrome with the invasion of the surrounding structures. CT is the preferred imaging modality for post-chemotherapy surveillance and should cover all sites of potential metastatic disease. This article reviews the clinical, pathologic, and multimodality imaging features of metastatic mature teratomas in patients with primary testicular non-seminomatous germ cell tumors.
Biochemical Characterization of the Interaction Between Hsp70s and Lipids

Seventy-kilodalton heat shock proteins (Hsp70s) are molecular chaperones essential for maintaining cellular homeostasis and survival. Apart from their indispensable roles in protein homeostasis specific Hsp70s also localize at the plasma membrane and bind to specific lipids. The latter interaction has direct physiological outcomes including immune system activation, viral entry, lysosomal rescue, and promotion of apoptosis. Despite these essential functions the Hsp70-lipid interactions remain largely uncharacterized. In this study, we characterized the interaction between HspA1A and lipids to understand the molecular mechanism of this interaction. We first established that although the nucleotide-binding domain (NBD) of the protein is largely responsible for lipid-binding and the substrate-binding domain (SBD) does not directly bind to lipids, allosteric communication between the two domains is important for lipid-binding. We then determined that a conformational change caused by nucleotide-binding reduce...
The Alzheimer's disease risk factor CD2AP maintains blood–brain barrier integrity

CD2-associated protein (CD2AP) is a leading genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, but little is known about the function of CD2AP in the brain. We studied CD2AP(-/-) mice to address this question. Because CD2AP(-/-) mice normally die by 6 weeks from nephrotic syndrome, we used mice that also express a CD2AP transgene in the kidney, but not brain, to attenuate this phenotype. CD2AP-deficient mice had no behavioral abnormalities except for mild motor and anxiety deficits in a subset of CD2AP(-/-) mice exhibiting severe nephrotic syndrome, associated with systemic illness. Pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced seizures occurred with shorter latency in CD2AP(-/-) mice, but characteristics of these seizures on electroencephalography were not altered. As CD2AP is expressed in brain-adjacent endothelial cells, we hypothesized that the shorter latency to seizures without detectably different seizure characteristics may be due to increased penetration of PTZ related to compromised blood-brain barrier integrity. Using sodium fluorescein extravasation, we found that CD2AP(-/-) mice had reduced blood-brain barrier integrity. Neither seizure severity nor blood-brain barrier integrity was correlated with nephrotic syndrome, indicating that these effects are dissociable from the systemic illness associated with CD2AP deficiency. Confirming this dissociation, wild-type mice with induced nephrotic syndrome maintained an intact blood-brain barrier. Taken together, our results support a role of CD2AP in mediating blood-brain barrier integrity and suggest that cerebrovascular roles of CD2AP could contribute to its effects on Alzheimer's disease risk.
Mobile genetic elements and the evolution of new epidemic strains of Vibrio cholerae

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the mobile genetic elements and the evolution of new epidemic strains of Vibrio cholera . All epidemic strains of V. cholerae produce cholera toxin. The toxin, which consists of five copies of the B protein bound to a single copy of the A protein, is encoded by the genes, ctxA and ctxB. The B subunits bind to the surface of target cells and facilitate the entry of the A subunit into the cytoplasm. The A subunit catalyzes the ADP-ribosylation of the eukaryotic protein resulting in marked increases in cellular cyclic AMP levels. The ctxAB genes lie within a region on the V. cholerae chromosome, which is referred to as the “CTX element.” Adjacent to the structural genes for cholera toxin are two genes— ace and zot—which had been postulated to encode proteins with entertoxic activity. Many chromosomal elements contain two different RS elements, which are tandemly arranged and are not identical. Bacteriophage genomes that have been studied to date all contain the RS element, which is adjacent to the core genes present in the bacterial chromosome. It is found that RS1, which does not appear to be incorporated into the phage particle, contains rstR, rstA, and rstB genes that are quite similar to those in RS2 and an additional open reading frame, rstC.
Enzymatic studies on isolated nucleoli of rat liver.

Abstract Nucleoli were prepared from rat liver nuclei isolated in 2.2 m sucrose. Assays for glutamate dehydrogenase, adenylate kinase, catalase, acid phosphatase, 5'-nucleotidase, glucose 6-phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase, and pyruvate kinase as markers for cytoplasmic contamination revealed that the isolated nucleoli were in a high state of purity. Studies of the intranuclear distribution pattern of the enzymes and determination of the specific activities of nuclear enzymes showed that ribonucleic acid polymerase, ribonuclease, and, to a lesser extent, diphosphopyridine nucleotide pyrophosphorylase and adenosine triphosphatase A are localized to the nucleolus. Nuclear acid and alkaline deoxyribonuclease and adenosine triphosphatase B were not found to be localized to the nucleolus. The increased ribonuclease activity produced by sonic oscillation, Triton X-100, and p-chloromercuribenzoate, as well as the different response to these agents of nuclear fractions from normal rats and from rats treated with thioacetamide or actinomycin D, or both, shows that there may be more than one mechanism of latency of nuclear and nucleolar ribonucleases. The differences in substrate specificities of ribonuclease, adenosine triphosphatase A, and adenosine triphosphatase B of nuclear and of nucleolar origin point to qualitative differences between these nuclear and nucleolar enzymes. The existence of a polynucleotide phosphorylase activity was shown by the formation of nucleoside diphosphates from polyribonucleotides when the latter were incubated with nuclear subfractions.
Calculation of the sun's acoustic impulse response by multi-dimensional spectral factorization

Calculation of time-distance curves in helioseismology can be formulated as a blind-deconvolution (or system identification) problem. A classical solution in one-dimensional space is Kolmogorov’s Fourier domain spectral-factorization method. The helical coordinate system maps two-dimensions to one. Likewise a three-dimensional volume is representable as a concatenation of many one-dimensional signals. Thus concatenating a cube of helioseismic data into a very long 1-D signal and applying Kolmogorov’s factorization, we find we can construct the three-dimensional causal impulse response of the Sun by deconcatenating the Kolmogorov result. Time-distance curves calculated in this way have the same spatial and temporal bandwidth as the original data, rather than the decreased bandwidth obtained obtained by cross-correlating traces. Additionally, the spectral factorization impulse response is minimum phase, as opposed to the zero phase time-distance curves produced by cross-correlation.
Density of Gadolinium Nitrate Solutions for the High Flux Isotope Reactor

In late 1992, the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) was planning to switch the solution contained in the poison injection tank from cadmium nitrate to gadolinium nitrate. The poison injection system is an emergency system used to shut down the reactor by adding a neutron poison to the cooling water. This system must be able to supply a minimum of 69 pounds of gadolinium to the reactor coolant system in order to guarantee that the reactor would become subcritical. A graph of the density of gadolinium nitrate solutions over a concentration range of 5 to 30 wt% and a temperature range of 15 to 40{sup o}C was prepared. Routine density measurements of the solution in the poison injection tank are made by HFIR personnel, and an adaptation of the original graph is used to determine the gadolinium nitrate concentration. In late 2008, HFIR personnel decided that the heat tracing that was present on the piping for the poison injection system could be removed without any danger of freezing the solution; however, the gadolinium nitrate solution might get as cold as 5{sup o}C. This was outside the range of the current density-concentration correlation, so the range needed to be expanded. Thismore » report supplies a new density-concentration correlation that covers the extended temperature range. The correlation is given in new units, which greatly simplifies the calculation that is required to determine the pounds of gadolinium in the tank solution. The procedure for calculating the amount of gadolinium in the HFIR poison injection system is as follows: (1) Calculate the usable volume in the system; (2) Measure the density of the solution; (3) Calculate the gadolinium concentration using the following equation: Gd(lb/ft{sup 3}) = measured density (g/mL) x 34.681 - 34.785; (4) Calculate the amount of gadolinium in the system using the following equation: Amount of Gd(lb) = Gd concentration (lb/ft{sup 3}) x usable volume (ft{sup 3}). The equation in step 3 is exact for a temperature of 5{sup o}C, and overestimates the gadolinium concentration at all higher temperatures. This guarantees that the calculation is conservative, in that the actual concentration will be at least as high as that calculated. If an additional safety factor is desired, it is recommended that an administrative control limit be set that is higher than the required minimum amount of gadolinium.« less
Picking Up the Law

This essay is a contribution to a Miami Law Review symposium on the work of Professor Pierre Schlag. While Schlag's writing poses a profound intellectual challenge to the legal academic enterprise, it also leaves many pressing questions in its wake. One of these questions concerns where those who hold such views can locate themselves within the legal academy. Might one use Schlag's insights to develop a useful alternative pedagogy in the law school context and what might such a pedagogy look like? In this article, I explore the intellectual possibilities left open for a more authentic law school pedagogy than the one that Schlag caricatures and critiques. In particular, I focus on the law school clinic. Some of my past writing identifies the law school clinic as an alternative pedagogic site, but can it be counterpedagogic in Schlag's terms? Does studying law by doing law on behalf of indigent clients offer hope that law students will observe and analyze the disparity between law's ideal and its bureaucratic manifestations? Can we imagine a pedagogy that develops and cultivates such insights with clinic students? In other words, is a Pierre Schlag Postmodern Legal Clinic a thought experiment that produces anything intelligible?
Gas Exchange in the Lungs

The lungs contain about 3 × 108 alveoli (little sacs) in which air and blood are brought close together so that gas exchange can occur. The principal gases exchanged are O2, which is picked up by the blood, and CO2, which leaves the blood stream and enters the air spaces of the lung. These gases need to cross the thin alveolar-capillary membrane; this crossing occurs by diffusion. In normal circumstances, the alveolar-capillary membrane presents so slight a barrier to diffusion that the blood in the alveolar capillaries achieves equilibrium with the alveolar air before leaving the capillaries.
Evidence that opiate addiction is in part an immune response. Destruction of the immune system by irradiation-altered opiate withdrawal.

Abstract Experiments were performed to determine whether physical dependence on opiates (CNS phenomena) can be altered by destruction of the immune system. Irradiation, prior to or after chronic treatment with morphine significantly reduced the opiate-withdrawal syndrome as assessed by naloxoneinduced abstinence. This study supports the proposition that addiction to opiates is related, at least in part, to interaction between the central nervous system (CNS) and the immune system.
Mid-Gap Electronic States in Zn1-xMnxO.

Electronic absorption, magnetic circular dichroism (MCD), photoconductivity, and valence-band x-ray photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopic measurements were performed on epitaxial ${\text{Zn}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\text{Mn}}_{x}\text{O}$ films to investigate the origin of the mid-gap band that appears upon introduction of ${\text{Mn}}^{2+}$ into the ZnO lattice. Absorption and MCD spectroscopies reveal ${\text{Mn}}^{2+}$-related intensity at energies below the first excitonic transition of ZnO, tailing well into the visible energy region, with an onset at $\ensuremath{\sim}2.2\text{ }\text{eV}$. Photoconductivity measurements show that excitation into this visible band generates mobile charge carriers, consistent with assignment as a ${\text{Mn}}^{2+/3+}$ photoionization transition. XPS measurements reveal the presence of occupied ${\text{Mn}}^{2+}$ levels just above the valence-band edge, supporting this assignment. MCD measurements additionally show a change in sign and large increase in magnitude of the excitonic Zeeman splitting in ${\text{Zn}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\text{Mn}}_{x}\text{O}$ relative to ZnO, suggesting that $sp\text{\ensuremath{-}}d$ exchange in ${\text{Zn}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\text{Mn}}_{x}\text{O}$ is not as qualitatively different from those in other II-VI diluted magnetic semiconductors as has been suggested. The singular electronic structure feature of ${\text{Zn}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\text{Mn}}_{x}\text{O}$ is the presence of this ${\text{Mn}}^{2+/3+}$ ionization level within the gap, and the influence of this level on other physical properties of ${\text{Zn}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\text{Mn}}_{x}\text{O}$ is discussed.
Measuring the Effect of Napster on Recorded Music Sales: Difference-in-Differences Estimates Under Compositional Changes

SUMMARY This paper measures the effect of Napster on record sales. I treat the introduction of Napster as a technological event that only Internet users experienced, and use a difference-in-differences (DD) approach. Because of potential compositional changes in Internet users, I examine identifying assumptions for the DD estimator under compositional changes and develop a test for identifying restrictions. To address potential bias due to compositional changes, I extend DD matching estimators to the case of two-variate propensity scores. I find evidence suggesting that file sharing is likely to explain 20% of total sales decline, which is driven by households with children aged 6–17. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Evidence for Three Populations by Size in L5 Spinal Ganglion in Man

In recent morphometric studies of the cytons of lumbar motoneuron columns, it was possible to discriminate various populations by the criterion of size. It was felt that the use of celloidin embedding, optimal enlargement to increase the number of counting windows, and the use of improved morphometric analysis had been important to this discrimination. Employing the improved methods of histologic preparation and morphometry to a study of the L5 spinal ganglia of man, it has been possible to show tentatively that there are at least three populations of cytons by diameter. The average number of large, intermediate and small cytons were 11,429, 31,675, and 25,389 respectively. It should now be possible to test whether selective congenital absence or degeneration of any of these three populations of cell bodies is found in disorders affecting primary afferent neurons.
Online coordinate descent for adaptive estimation of sparse signals

Two low-complexity sparsity-aware recursive schemes are developed for real-time adaptive signal processing. Both rely on a novel online coordinate descent algorithm which minimizes a time-weighted least-squares cost penalized with the scaled l 1 norm of the unknown parameters. In addition to computational savings offered when processing time-invariant sparse parameter vectors, both schemes can be used for tracking slowly varying sparse signals. Analysis and preliminary simulations confirm that when the true signal is sparse the proposed estimators converge to a time-weighted least-absolute shrinkage and selection operator, and both outperform sparsity-agnostic recursive least-squares alternatives.
Tensile deformation behavior of aluminum alloys at warm forming temperatures

Abstract Uniaxial tensile deformation behavior of three aluminum sheet alloys, Al 5182+1% Mn, Al 5754 and Al 6111-T4, are studied in the warm forming temperature range of 200–350 °C and in the strain rate range of 0.015–1.5 s −1 . Approaches have been made to process the selected aluminum sheet alloys so that the microstructural change during warm forming provides adequate recovery favorable to formability but does not deteriorate the post-forming properties. The total elongation in uniaxial tension is found to increase with increasing temperature and to decrease with increasing strain rate. The enhanced ductility at elevated temperatures is contributed primarily from the post-uniform elongation which becomes dominant at elevated temperatures and/or at slow strain rates. The enhancement of strain rate sensitivity ( m value) with increasing temperature accounts for the ductility improvement at elevated temperatures. The uniaxial tensile test is identified to serve as a screening test for ranking relative formability among different sheet alloys. Based on this criterion, the strain hardened 5xxx alloys (Al 5182+Mn and Al 5754) have shown better formabilities than the precipitation hardened alloy (Al 6111-T4).
Education for the Teaching Profession: Upstart or Start‐up?

Robert Howsam prefaced his paper with the story of The Velveteen Rabbit, a very ordinary, cheap rabbit who was loved by his owner for only an hour on Christmas morning, and spurned by the other toys‐‐those which were expensive, mechanical, very modern, or exquisitely detailed‐‐until he felt very insignificant and commonplace. His only friend was the Skin Horse. The oldest inhabitant of the nursery, he was battered, bald and showed his seams, but he was also wise and experienced. "What is REAL?”, asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the Nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. “Does it mean having that buzz inside you and a stick‐out handle?" “Real isn't how you are made”, said the Skin Horse. “It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.” Rabbit also learned that becoming Real sometimes hurt, and that it takes a long time. “That's why it doesn't often happen to people who b...
On Fiedler- and Parter-vertices of acyclic matrices

Let A be a real symmetric matrix and let λ be a real number. The algebraic multiplicity of λ as an eigenvalue of A is denoted by mA(λ), and the principal submatrix of A obtained by deleting row and column i from A is denoted by A(i). If mA(i)(λ)⩾mA(λ) (resp. mA(i)(λ)>mA(λ)), then index i is said to be a Fiedler-vertex (resp. a Parter-vertex) of A for λ. In this paper we provide geometric characterizations of Fiedler- and Parter-vertices of acyclic matrices, and give a geometric proof for the Parter–Wiener theorem in [C.R. Johnson, A. Leal Duarte, C.M. Saiago, The Parter–Wiener theorem: refinement and generalization, SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 25 (2003) 352–361]. Furthermore, we describe a structure of an acyclic matrix in terms of Fiedler- and Parter-vertices which enables us to construct an acyclic matrix of a desired form according to the locations of Fiedler- and Parter-vertices.
The state of biomedical radiation research as demonstrated by publications, funding and manpower activity: An analytical example of utilizing on-line medical informatics

The biomedical radiation research community has important goals. Research, risk assessment, preventative health and safety are some of its responsibilities. It is surprising that radiation research is growing only at 70% of the yearly Medline database. Funding is predictably underfunded (89% of expected) given its high percentage of research with animals and cells (127% (Medline = 100%)) vs. radiation's lower percentage of human studies (60%). Manpower studies demonstrate 4500 Ph. D.'s since 1960. 50% are in physics, 17% chemistry, and 11% biology. Biochemistry, pharmacology, microbiology, genetics, pathology and psychology contribute less than 3%. These indicators show activity in radiation research, yet deficits.
Design concept for the international x-ray observatory Flight Mirror Assembly

The Flight Mirror Assembly (FMA) mechanical design for NASA's next major x-ray telescope mission, the International X-Ray Observatory (IXO), recently kicked off at NASA. The design presents some unique engineering challenges requiring a novel mirror design due to the high angular resolution and large effective area required to achieve the desired scientific objectives [1]. The Wolter-I x-ray telescope optical design requires about 14,000 0.4mm thick glass mirror segments to be densely packed into a 3.2m diameter FMA and supported with micron level accuracy and stability. Key challenges addressed by the FMA design concept include bonding the mirrors into the module without distortion, designing the segment support for glass survivability, keeping the structure light enough to launch, providing a large effective area, and preventing unacceptable thermal distortion. The thin mirror segments are mounted into intermediate wedge shaped structures called modules. Modules are kinematically mounted to the FMA primary structure which is being optimized for minimum mass and maximum projected area in the focal plane. The current design approach appears feasible without new technology development beyond that currently in process.
The health benefits of dietary fiber: Beyond the usual suspects of type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and colon cancer

Dietary fiber (DF) is deemed to be a key component in healthy eating. DF is not a static collection of undigestible plant materials that pass untouched or unencumbered through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract; instead, DFs are a vast array of complex saccharide-based molecules that can bind potential nutrients and nutrient precursors to prevent their absorption. Some DFs are fermentable, and the GI tract catabolism leads to the generation of various bioactive materials, such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), that can markedly augment the GI tract biomass and change the composition of the GI tract flora. The health benefits of DFs include the prevention and mitigation of type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and colon cancer. By modulating food ingestion, digestion, absorption and metabolism, DFs reduce the risk of hyperlipidemia, hypercholesterolemia and hyperglycemia. Emerging research has begun to investigate the role of DFs in immunomodulation. If substantiated, DFs could facilitate many biologic processes, including infection prevention and the improvement of mood and memory. This review describes the accepted physiologic functions of DFs and explores their new potential immune-based actions.
On large semi-linked graphs

Abstract Let H be a multigraph, possibly with loops, and consider a set S ⊆ V ( H ) . A (simple) graph G is ( H , S ) - semi-linked if, for every injective map f : S → V ( G ) , there exists an injective map g : V ( H ) ∖ S → V ( G ) ∖ f ( S ) and a set of | E ( H ) | internally disjoint paths in G connecting pairs of vertices of f ( S ) ∪ g ( V ( H ) ∖ S ) for every edge between the corresponding vertices of H . This new concept of ( H , S ) -semi-linkedness is a generalization of H - linkedness . We establish a sharp minimum degree condition for a sufficiently large graph G to be ( H , S ) -semi-linked.
Investigation of the Manufacturability of Smart Composite Piping Structures Using Life Cycle Cost Modeling and Uncertainty Analysis

FRP composites are finding increasing use in the civilian applications such as highways, bridges, pipes etc. This analysis focuses on the FRP piping systems used in the Petrochemical industries under extreme conditions. Due to the high operational and maintenance costs involved with pipes made from traditional materials, there is a need to develop a smart inspection system that replaces or eliminates the traditional inspection and maintenance techniques, providing continuous and reliable monitoring of the structure. Smart FRP pipes have an embedded smart sensor system incorporated in them, providing continuous and reliable monitoring of the pipe structure. This helps in preventing catastrophic failure of pipes thereby reducing the costs involved with the pipe failure. Smart FRP systems have a very high initial investment cost, and therefore a cost comparison model is needed in order to justify their use against traditionally used materials. A Life Cycle Cost (LCC) comparison model has been developed in this paper, which shows that despite high initial investment costs, large savings could be made in the operational and maintenance costs with the use of Smart FRP pipes. This cost model Calculates the life cycle costs of Steel, FRP and Smart FRP pipes, and determines the alternative with the lowest life cycle cost. To deal with an uncertainty associated with the cost factors, used in calculating the LCC of the three alternatives, an uncertainty analysis has been performed. An computer spreadsheet has been programmed in order to perform the LCC and Uncertainty Analysis. This analysis has laid down the basic foundations for a larger cost model, wherein; several other alternatives materials and factors could be included. This would further help in widening the scope of use of Smart Structures in various industries. Certain aspects of the data used in this analysis may be disputable, however for the purpose of modeling and procedural demonstration, the gathered and available information was used to perform our analysis. Therefore, use of this data outside of the scope and context of this report is not warranted.Copyright © 2002 by ASME
Antidepressant Treatment Does Not Improve Buprenorphine Retention Among Opioid-Dependent Persons

Our goal was to determine whether treatment of depressive symptoms with escitalopram during buprenorphine treatment for opioid dependence would improve treatment retention compared to placebo in a 12-week, randomized, double-blind trial. Treatment dropout was defined as missing seven consecutive buprenorphine dosing days. Participants were 76% male, 80% non-Hispanic Caucasian, and 64% heroin users. At baseline, the mean Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) score was 28.4 (+/-9.7). Sixty-one percent of participants completed the 12-week buprenorphine protocol. Dropout rates were 33.3% and 44.0% among those randomized to escitalopram or placebo, respectively (p = .19). Relative to baseline, mean BDI-II scores were significantly lower at all follow-up assessments, but the Treatment x Time interaction effect was not statistically significant (p = .18). Participants randomized to escitalopram also did not have a significantly lower likelihood of testing positive for either opiates or other drugs during follow-up. Depressive symptoms often resolved with buprenorphine treatment, and the immediate initiation of escitalopram does not improve treatment retention, depression outcomes, or illicit drug use. Clinicians should determine the need for antidepressant treatment later in buprenorphine care.
NOISE, MULTISTABILITY, AND DELAYED RECURRENT LOOPS

The multistability that arises in delayed feedback control mechanisms has applications for dynamic short term memory storage. Here we investigate the effects of multiplicative, Gaussian-distributed white noise on an integrate-and-fire model of a recurrent inhibitory neural loop: when the neuron fires an inhibitory pulse decreases the membrane potential by an amount \ensuremath{\Delta} at time \ensuremath{\tau} later. For appropriate choices of \ensuremath{\tau} and \ensuremath{\Delta}, multistability occurs in the form of qualitatively different neuron firing patterns. In the absence of noise, the number and nature of the coexistent attractors can be precisely determined. When noise is added to \ensuremath{\Delta}, noise-induced transitions occur between the attractors. The mechanism for these transitions is characterized and it is shown that the rate of transitions has a nonexponential dependence on the noise variance. An electronic circuit is constructed to assess the impact of noise on memory storage.
Evaluation of serial anaerobic/aerobic packed bed bioreactors for treatment of a superfund leachate

Abstract Serial anaerobic/aerobic packed-bed bioreactors were employed to biodegrade organic contaminants in leachate from a high priority Superfund site in the
Prevalence of Pediatric Aspiration-Associated Extraesophageal Reflux Disease

Importance The role of aspiration-associated extraesophageal reflux disease (AERD) in patients with chronic respiratory symptoms is not well defined. Identifying the frequency of AERD in these patients may provide guidance in their treatment. Objective To determine the prevalence of AERD in patients with chronic respiratory symptoms and to assess the utility of pepsin as a new marker for AERD. Design Case-control study performed from 2008 through 2012. Western blot analysis for pepsin and oil red O staining for lipid-laden macrophages (LLMs) was performed on bronchoalveolar lavage fluid specimens. Setting Tertiary referral center. Participants Sixty-five patients (aged 4.5 months to 24 years) with chronic pulmonary disease, with or without tracheostomy, were compared with controls undergoing elective surgery who had no history of pulmonary disease. Main Outcomes and Measures Presence of pepsin and LLMs and quantity of LLMs in specimens. Results Seventy-six total patients participated: 34 patients who underwent bronchoscopy, 31 patients with tracheostomy, and 11 controls. Pepsin-positive bronchoalveolar lavage fluid specimens were identified in 25 patients who underwent bronchoscopy (74%) and 22 patients with tracheostomy (71%). All specimens from controls were negative for pepsin. Presence of LLMs was identified in specimens from 31 patients in the bronchoscopy group (91%), 16 patients in the tracheostomy group (52%), and 7 controls (64%), with a similar distribution of the quantity of LLMs in each lavage fluid specimen among the groups. Conclusions and Relevance Patients with chronic pulmonary disease have a high prevalence of AERD, which may have important treatment implications. The presence of pepsin was a better predictor of AERD in patients with respiratory symptoms compared with controls than presence of LLMs. Detection of pepsin in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid specimens can serve as a biomarker for AERD and is potentially superior to the current method of measuring LLMs. Whereas there is a significant association between AERD and the presence of chronic respiratory symptoms, this study does not verify causation. Additional study investigating the mechanism of pepsin on the respiratory epithelium may further our understanding of the pathophysiologic characteristics of this association and provide additional management options for these patients.
The discovery and importance of multiple islands of most-parsimonious trees

The set of most-parsimonious trees for a data matrix may include several distinct classes (islands) of trees. An island is defined as a collection of trees, all less than a specified length, each tree connected to every other tree in the island through a series of trees, and each one differing from the next by a single rearrangement of branches. One advantage of this method of defining classes of trees is that islands are easily found by tree-searching programs. Multiple islands can be discovered by conducting many searches using a tree-searching program, each search beginning with a different tree. Among 37 data matrices examined, all 8 data matrices with two or more islands have retention indices less than 0.67. Trees are generally more similar within islands than among islands, as judged by analysis of partition metric distances between trees. As a consequence, trees in different islands may have different implications for character evolution, and for this reason should be sought. (Parsimony; phylogeny; tree searching; opti- mization; multiple optima; islands of trees; character evolution.)
Cholinesterase activity in the rat superior cervical ganglion: Effect of denervation and axotomy

Cholinesterase activity and its various forms in the superior cervical ganglion of the rat were studied after denervation, axotomy and double section. The response of this activity to various inhibitors was also studied. The specific activity of cholinesterase activity was 323 +/- 25 nmol/mg protein/min in homogenates of normal ganglia and the total enzyme activity was 78 +/- 5 nmol/ganglion/min. Axotomy produced approximately a 40% decrease in total activity in ganglia at 3 days compared to contralateral ganglia. Activity in the contralateral ganglia was also decreased by about 30% compared to normal ganglia. Decentralization alone for 3 days did not affect the specific or total cholinesterase activity. However, decentralization followed by axotomy 3 days later resulted in a greater loss in activity compared to axotomy and a significant change in the forms of cholinesterase. After chromatography on Sepharose 6B-100 columns, 3 forms (a, c, d) of cholinesterase activity could be separated from homogenates of single ganglia. The 3 forms had estimated molecular weights of 1,934,000, 129,000 and 59,000 daltons, respectively. A fourth form (b) presented as a shoulder and had an estimated molecular weight of 404,000 daltons. Decentralization or axotomy decreased forms a and d. A reduction in the proportion of form c was also observed in the axotomized ganglion. Decentralization followed by axomoty resulted in large decreases in forms a, b and c and complete loss of form d. Assay of the separated forms in the presence of the specific inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase, BW284C-51, indicated that the majority of the enzyme recovered after chromatography is acetylcholinesterase.
Glossy Subjects: G&L Magazine and `Tonghzi' Cultural Visibility in Taiwan:

The burgeoning cultural practices among gays and lesbians in Taiwan in the 1990s provide an important context for considering broader questions about what has been called `weak group' (ruoshi tuanti) identity politics, family life and modernity in Taiwan. This article examines the construction of gay and lesbian identities in Taiwan as expressed in their cultural consumption of an enormously popular magazine G&L (1996 - present). Through a qualitative, critical reading of the magazine, we explore the questions of consumption, family life and relationships, in the context of the practice of filial piety central to the Taiwanese sociocultural formation and individual subjectivity. We argue that `commodification' is an insufficient framework for understanding queer identity constructions in G&L, unless it recognizes the contradictory dynamics of new liberal democratic ideals and family politics negotiated in Taiwan's queer popular culture.
Narrow Band Imagery In The 8-14 Micron Spectral Region

The problem of deconvolution of the point source response function (PSF) for two-dimensional imaging infrared arrays is addressed. A variety of phenomena can lead to PSF degradation, ranging from atmospheric turbulence to the array itself. The maximum entropy algorithm is used to demonstrate that substantial image quality improvements are possible in the case of a PSF which is degraded by electronic rather than optical smearing. This result implies that IR arrays need not have perfect or even very good pixel-pixel crosstalk rejection ratios for use in astronomy.
Betaine can replace choline in diets for juvenile Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus.

Abstract An experiment was conducted to evaluate the ability of betaine to spare the choline requirement in juvenile tilapia. The basal diet contained 320 g crude protein/kg diet (101 g crude protein from casein and gelatin, and 219 g from a crystalline l -amino acid mixture). The total sulfur amino acid (TSAA) concentration of the basal diet was 5.0 g TSAA/kg diet, met:cys 89:11, the choline concentration was 3 g/kg dry diet and dietary phosphatidylcholine concentration was 15 g/kg dry diet. Varying concentrations of choline (3.0, 2.55, 2.10, 1.65, 1.20, 0.75, 0.30, or 0.0 g choline/kg dry diet) and betaine (0.0, 0.37, 0.75, 1.12, 1.49, 1.84, 2.24, or 2.49 g betaine/kg dry diet) were added to the basal diet resulting in eight experimental diets with choline:betaine ratio of 100:0, 85:15, 70:30, 55:45, 40:60, 25:75, 10:90 or 0:100, respectively. Feed consumption and weight gain were significantly affected by dietary choline:betaine ratios. Consumption of diets with a choline:betaine ratio of 40:60 was significantly higher than that of fish fed diets with a choline:betaine ratio of 100:0 and 85:15. Weight gain of fish fed diets with a choline:betaine ratio of 10:90 was significantly higher than fish fed diets with a choline:betaine ratio of 100:0 and 85:15, but not significantly different from fish fed the remaining diets. Feed efficiency and total liver lipid concentration were not significantly affected by dietary choline:betaine ratio. Based on these data, it appears that betaine spares the choline requirement in juvenile tilapia fed chemically defined diets and that dietary betaine substituted for choline increases feed consumption with no significant change in feed efficiency.
Effects of therapeutic amniocentesis on uterine and umbilical artery velocimetry in cases of severe symptomatic polyhydramnios.

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of removal of amniotic fluid in cases of symptomatic severe polyhydramnios on Doppler waveform indices of the uterine and umbilical arteries and flow velocities of the uterine arteries. Nine women underwent therapeutic amniocentesis during ten pregnancies for symptomatic polyhydramnios due to Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome (n = 1), esophageal atresia (n = 2), chorioangioma (n = 1), twin–twin transfusion syndrome (n = 3), a presumed autosomal recessive syndrome (n = 2), and an unbalanced double translocation (n = 1; partial dup 3q and partial del 9p syndrome). An average of 2.78 ± 0.9 (range 1–4) 1 of fluid were removed at each procedure between the gestational ages of 18 and 34 weeks (mean of 28 weeks). The systolic/diastolic (S/D) ratio, pulsitility index (PI), and resistance index (RI) of the uterine and umbilical arteries were obtained before and after the procedure using color and pulsed Doppler. After angle correction, the peak systolic velocity (...
A parallel/recursive algorithm

An algorithm is discussed for converting a class of recursive processes to a parallel system. It is argued that this algorithm can be superior to certain methods currently found in the literature for an important subset of problems. The cases of homogeneous and non-homogeneous two term recursions are treated. The basic cost factor of the algorithm over non-parallel operations is 2 if only the final values of the sequence is needed and 4 if all elements are required. In practice, these factors can be reduced considerably. Applications to three problems (finding the eigenvalues of a tri-diagonal matrix, the solution of a radial wave equation and the solution of a tri-diagonal matrix) are discussed.
Brillouin zone effect in cholesteric liquid crystals

Abstract Sound wave propagation is discussed in cholesterics using a simplified form of the Leslie theory. It is found that the damping constant depends on the angle between the propagation vector q and the helical axis, and its exhibits a band gap when the component of q along the helical axis equals the reciprocal lattice vector q 0 = π P where P is the pitch.
Fixed-point smoothing with a measurement process initiated a posteriori

For discrete linear stochastic systems, a fixed-point smoothing algorithm is given to obtain optimal estimates of the state of the system at time k = i ( i fixed) when noisy linear measurements of the state are not available until the time k = j(j > i) . An example is included to illustrate smoothing degradation as ( j - i ) increases.
A study of 26Al by the 25Mg(3He, d) reaction

Abstract In the 25 Mg( 3 He, d) 26 Al reaction, at a bombarding energy of 18.0 MeV, angular distributions were measured for 55 levels below 6.9 MeV in excitation, and l -assignments are made for 44 of them. Spectroscopic strengths are compared with theoretical ones from the Nilsson model and from a naive shell model. New J π information is given for many levels.
Studies of variability in dissolution testing with USP apparatus 2

In this study, gauge repeatability and reproducibility (gauge R&R) was used to analyze variability for USP apparatus 2 dissolution measurement systems. Experiments were designed to assess the variability due to apparatus, operator, and sample tablet. Since dissolution testing is a destructive test, a nested model was used for data analysis. Additionally, perturbation tests with both disintegrating and nondisintegrating tablets were performed to study the variability due to sample position within the dissolution vessel. For the gauge R&R study, two well-trained chemists used two mechanically calibrated USP apparatus 2 units. Six tests were performed by each operator on each apparatus. Evaluation of dissolution test results at 30 min using an internal DPA calibrator tablet NCDA#2 (10 mg prednisone) indicates that the main contribution to the total variance, approximately 70%, is due to the sample tablets, approximately 25% is from the apparatus and approximately 5% is due to the operators. There is no significant difference between operators and apparatuses as shown by the gauge R&R studies. In addition, dissolution results can be strongly affected by the position of the tablet within the vessel. Similarity (f1) and dissimilarity (f2) factors were calculated to statistically evaluate differences between perturbed and normal dissolution tests.
1H, 13C and 31P studies of cyclopentadienylruthenium complexes with cyclooctatetraene or cyclooctadiene ligands. X-ray structure of [(η5-C5H5)Ru(η4-C8H8)(P(OCH3)3)]PF6

Abstract The X-ray crystal structure of [(η 5 -C 5 H 5 )Ru(η 4 -COT)(P(OCH 3 ) 3 )]PF 6 (COT = cyclooctatetraene) (formula C 16 H 22 F 6 O 3 P 2 Ru) was determined. The compound crystallizes in the monoclinic space group no. 4 P 2 1 ( a 11.007(3), b 11.066(3), c 8.660(3) A, β 105.56(20)°, Z = 2). The structure consists of discrete disordered PF 6 − anions and [(η 5 -C 5 H 5 )Ru(η 4 -COT)(P(OCH 3 ) 3 )] + cations. The cation exhibits a planar, C 5 H 5 − unit. (RuC distances of 2.221(7) A), a P(OCH 3 ) 3 ligand (RuP distance of 2.306(2) A) and an η 4 -COT ligand in the tub conformation. The η 4 -COT ligand is bound to the Ru atom through two different Ru bond distances 2.298(5) and 2.223(6) A, the longer distance appropriate to the RuC bonds nearest the RuP bond. The 1 H, 13 C and 31 P NMR spectra of [(η 5 -C 5 H 5 )Ru(η 4 -COT) (P(OCH 3 ) 3 )]PF 6 ,[(η 5 -C 5 H 5 )Ru(η 4 -COT)(CO)PF 6 ,[(η 5 -C 5 H 5 )Ru(η 6 -COT)PF 6 and [(η 5 -C 5 H 5 )Ru(η 4 -COD)(P(OCH 3 ) 3 ]PF 6 (COD = 1,5-cyclooctadiene) were obtained. Comparison of the 1 H NMR and 13 C spectra of [(η 5 -C 5 H 5 )Ru(η 4 -COT)(P(OCH 3 ) 3 ]PF 6 and [(η 5 -C 5 H 5 )Ru(η 4 -COD)(P(OCH 3 ) 3 )]PF 6 confirm that the COT complex retains the solid state structure in solution. Through comparison and simulation of the 1 H and 1 H{ 31 P} NMR spectra of [(η 5 -C 5 H 5 )Ru(η 4 -COT)(P(OCH 3 ) 3 )]PF 6 all eight COT protons are found to exhibit 1 H– 31 P coupling. The allylic coupling constants that involve hydrogens bound to a coordinated carbon have small positive values, rather than the small negative values usually found in ‘pure’ organic systems.