cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cryopreservation and Infusion of Peripheral Blood Stem Cells

Peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) may be obtained by apheresis, processed to reduce the volume and the mature blood cell contamination, cryopreserved, and then thawed for autologous infusion [1–3]. Eligible patients include those whose marrow is likely to be contaminated with malignant cells or who have received prior radiation therapy involving the iliac crests traditionally used for marrow harvest [4–6]. This paper describes the methods for processing, cryopreservation, storage, and infusion of thawed PBSC at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Alterations in levels of mRNAs coding for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and vimentin genes in the central nervous system of hens treated with diisopropyl phosphorofluoridate (DFP).

Diisopropyl phophorofluoridate (DFP) produces organophosphorus-ester induced delayed neurotoxicity (OPIDN) in the hen, human and other sensitive species. We studied the effect of DFP admimistration (1.7 mg/kg/s.c.) on the expression of Intermediate Filament (IF) proteins: Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) and vimentin which are known indicators of neurotoxicity and astroglial pathology. The hens were sacrificed at different time points i.e. 1,2,5,10 and 20 days. Total RNA was extracted from the following brain regions: cerebrum, cerebellum, and brainstem as well as spinal cord. Northern blots prepared using standard protocols were hybridized with GFAP and vimentin as well as β-actin and 18S RNA cDNA (controls) probes. The results indicate a differential/spatial/temporal regulation of GFAP and vimentin levels which may be due to the result of disruption of glial-neuronal network. The GFAP transcript levels reached near control levels (88% and 95%) at 20 days post DFP treatment after an initial down-regulation (60% and 73%) in highly susceptible tissues like spinal cord and brainstem respectively. However vimentin transcript levels remained down-regulated (61% and 53%) at 20 days after an early reduced levels(47% and 55%) for spinal cord and brainstem respectively. This may be due to the astroglial pathology resulting in neuronal alterations or vice-versa. In cerebellum (less susceptile tissue) GFAP levels were moderately down-regulated at 1,2 and 5 days and reached near control values at 10 and 20 days. Vimentin was rapidly reinduced (128%) in cerebellum at 5 days and remained at the same level at 10 days and then returned to control values at 20 days after an initial down-regulation at 1 and 2 days. Thus these alterations were less drastic in cerebellum as indicated by initial susceptibility followed by rapid recovery. On the other hand both GFAP and vimentin levels were upregulated from 2 days onwards in the non-susceptible tissue cerebrum, implying protective mechanisms from the beginning. Hence the DFP induced astroglial pathology as indicated by the complex expression profile of GFAP and vimentin mRNA levels may be playing an important role in the delayed degeneration of axons or is the result of progressive degeneration of axons in OPIDN.
Effects of Particle Size on the Morphology and Water- and Thermo-Resistance of Washed Cottonseed Meal-Based Wood Adhesives

Water washing of cottonseed meal is more cost-efficient and environmentally friendly than protein isolation by means of alkaline extraction and acidic precipitation. Thus, water-washed cottonseed meal (WCSM) is more promising as biobased wood adhesives. In this work, we examined the effects of the particle size on the morphology and adhesive performance of WCSM. Pilot-scale produced and dried WCSM was treated by three grinding methods: (1) ground by a hammer mill and passed through a 0.5-mm screen, (2) further ground by a cyclone mill and passed through a 0.5-mm screen, or (3) further ground by a ball mill and passed through a 0.18-mm screen. Micro-morphological examination revealed two types of particles. The filament-like particles were mainly fibrous materials from residual linters. Chunk-like particles were more like aggregates or accumulations of small particles, with proteins as the major component. Further grinding of the 0.5-mm Hammer product with the Cyclone and Ball mill led to more fine (smaller) particles in the WCSM products. The impact of further grinding on the dry and soaked adhesive strengths was minimal. However, the decrease of the hot and wet strengths of WCSM products by the additional grinding was significant (p ≤ 0.05). Data presented in this work is useful in developing the industrial standards of WCSM products used in wood bonding.
Autonomous models of self-crossing pinched hystereses for mem-elements

This paper discusses autonomous implicit models yielding self-crossing trajectories (hystereses with odd symmetry), typical for mem-elements. In particular, the lemniscates of Gerono and Devil result in two systems of differential implicit equations having both a folded saddle at the origin and a pair of equilibria (centers), each located on the opposite sides of singularity (fold curve). The folded saddle at the origin allows a self-crossing pinched hysteretic dynamics. Also, two dual circuits for the Gerono case are presented with the pinched hystereses for inductive (flux versus current) and capacitive (charge versus voltage) mem-elements. When parameters of the circuits change to yield an increased frequency, then the area enclosed by the hysteresis decreases. The time zero-crossing property of the mem-circuits’ signals is also discussed. The Devil’s lemniscate case is linked to Duffing’s equation. The autonomous models are differentiable, and the use of the sign and abs terms, typical in modeling of hystereses, is avoided.
Differential Geometry in the Large. By Heinz Hopf

(1986). Differential Geometry in the Large. By Heinz Hopf. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 93, No. 1, pp. 71-74.
From transects to transcripts: Teasing apart the architecture of reproductive isolation.

Understanding the processes underlying speciation has long been a challenge to evolutionary biologists. This spurs from difficulties teasing apart the various mechanisms that contribute to the evolution of barriers to reproduction. The study by Rafati et al. () in this issue of Molecular Ecology combines spatially explicit whole-genome resequencing with evaluation of differential gene expression across individuals with mixed ancestry to associate the genomic architecture of reproductive barriers with expression of reproductive incompatibilities. In a natural hybrid zone between rabbit subspecies, Oryctolagus cuniculus cuniculus and O. c. algirus (Figure ), Rafati et al. () use landscape-level patterns of allele frequency variation to identify potential candidate regions of the genome associated with reproductive isolation. These candidate regions are used to test predictions associated with the genomic architecture of reproductive barriers, including the role of structural rearrangements, enrichment of functional categories associated with incompatibilities, and the contribution of protein-coding versus regulatory changes. A lack of structural rearrangements and limited protein-coding changes in candidate regions point towards the importance of regulatory variation as major contributors to genetic incompatibilities, while functional enrichments indicate overrepresentation of genes associated with male infertility. To quantify phenotypic expression of proposed incompatibilities, the authors assess gene expression of experimental crosses. Extensive misregulation of gene expression within the testes of backcross hybrids relative to F1 and parental individuals provides an important link between genotype and phenotype, validating hypotheses developed from assessment of genomic architectures. Together, this work shows how pairing natural hybrid zones with experimental crosses can be used to link observations in nature to mechanistic underpinnings that may be tested experimentally.
Measures of aesthetic dimensions and reactions in advertising

Advertising increasingly uses discrepant imagery featuring unsettling portrayals rather than traditional imagery featuring aspirational models, products, and settings. Thus, the need for more valid...
Intravesical Formalin for the Control of Intractable Bladder Hemorrhage Secondary to Cystitis or Cancer

Between November 1971 and December 1973, 10 patients with intractable urinary bleeding secondary to radiation or cyclophosphamide cystitis, or to primary or secondary bladder cancer were treated with intravesical formalin. Good results were obtained in 8 of the 10 patients, with control of bleeding for 3 to more than 36 months. There were 2 failures, both with cancer.
Life Space Interviewing: It can be Effective, but Don't…:

This article examines the pros and cons of life space interviewing (LSI) from a behavioral viewpoint. The ability of professionals to use successfully LSI is discussed. In addition, the role of fee...
Determination of Protein Folds and Conformational Dynamics Using Spin-Labeling EPR Spectroscopy

The near completion of a large number of genome sequencing projects is ushering in a new perspective on how research in biological and biomedical sciences will be conducted in the future, both at the conceptual and experimental levels. The rush is on to transform the molecular blueprints of life into global views of the biochemical and physiological circuitry that interconnect to form entire organisms. The evolutionary histories, now available as multiple sequence alignments, will be complemented with pictures of evolving structures. In this post genomic era, the process of scientific discovery will be the result of large-scale parallel measurements to answer questions formulated from a genomic perspective.
Do Chiefs Matter? Village leadership and harvests since 1982

Chiefs in Nigeria have no ocially mandated specic duties in the constitution. However, there is still a widely held belief by Nigerians and people who study Nigeria that they are very important members of local government. In this paper I use satellite data to show that the exogenous replacement of a chief leads to a change in the agricultural productivity of their home area. Furthermore, I show that initial evidence points away from this eect being driven purely by chiefs having dierential abilities to capture state and national level resources for their home districts.
Morphometric analysis of spinal cord termination in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.

BACKGROUND There is an association between Chiari malformations, syringomyelia (CMSM) and tethered cord syndrome (TCS) in people, suggesting Cavalier King Charles Spaniels (CKCS) with CMSM could also have TCS. Currently there are no data on the position of the caudal spinal cord structures in CKCS. OBJECTIVE To describe and compare location of spinal cord termination in CKCS with weight-matched controls and to examine the relationship between SM and spinal cord termination. ANIMALS Thirty-nine CKCS and 33 controls with thoracolumbar MRIs; 34 of 39 CKCS also had cervical MRIs. METHODS Blinded retrospective study. Spinal cord and dural sac termination were determined from T2-weighted sagittal and transverse images and half-Fourier acquisition single-shot turbo spin echo sequences. Intra-observer reliability was determined using kappa analysis. Presence of SM was compared with location of spinal cord and dural sac termination. RESULTS Intra-observer reliability was moderate for identifying spinal cord termination (Kappa = 0.6) and good for dural sac termination (Kappa = 0.8). The spinal cord terminated at lumbar vertebra 6 (L6) in 1, 7 (L7) in 22, and sacrum in 16 CKCS versus 9 at L6, 23 at L7, 1 at sacrum in controls. Spinal cord (P < .001) and dural sac (P = .002) termination were significantly more caudal in CKCS compared to controls. The presence of thoracolumbar SM was associated with more caudal dural sac termination in CKCS (P = .03). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE The relationship between TL SM and possible spinal cord tethering because of a more caudal dural sac termination should be investigated.
When is it co-evolution? A reply to Steen and co-authors

David Steen and co-authors in this journal offer a philosophical argument to support an “Evolutionary Community Concept” to identify what they call “evolutionary communities.” They describe these as “unique collections of species that interact and have co-evolved in a given geographic area” and that include “co-evolved dependencies between different parts of a community.” Steen et al. refer to the coevolution of assemblages, collections, communities, dependencies, interspecific and abiotic interactions, and traits, but they do not define “co-evolution” or provide an example in which co-evolution (as distinct from interaction) has been demonstrated. There may be as many ways to explain interactions among species as these interactions themselves; they may result, for example, from ecological fitting and phenotypic plasticity. In this paper, I argue that standard Darwinian Theory explains intraspecific microevolution or descent with modification within an interbreeding and potentially continuous population. The power, mechanism, or force that causes interspecific co-evolution, especially at the community scale, requires further explanation.
Characterization of IoT Workloads

Workload characterization is a fundamental step in carrying out performance and Quality of Service engineering studies. The workload of a system is defined as the set of all inputs received by the system from its environment during one or more time windows. The characterization of the workload entails determining the nature of its basic components as well as a quantitative and probabilistic description of the workload components in terms of both the arrival process, event counts, and service demands. Several workload characterization studies were presented for a variety of domains, except for IoT workloads. This is precisely the main contribution of this paper, which also presents a capacity planning study based on one of the workload characterizations presented here.
The Archaeology of Food: Identity, Politics, and Ideology in the Prehistoric and Historic Past

The Archaeology of Food explains how archaeologists reconstruct what people ate, and how such reconstructions reveal ancient political struggles, religious practices, ethnic identities, gender norms, and more. Balancing deep research with accessible writing, Katheryn Twiss familiarizes readers with archaeological data, methods, and intellectual approaches as they explore topics ranging from urban commerce to military provisioning to ritual feasting. Along the way, Twiss examines a range of primary evidence, including Roman bars, Aztec statues, Philistine pig remains, Nubian cooking pots, Mississippian squash seeds, and the bones of a medieval king. Her book introduces both archaeologists and non-archaeologists to the study of prehistoric and historic foodways, and illuminates how those foodways shaped and were shaped by past cultures.
EFFECTIVENESS OF A HOME BASED CARDIAC REHABILITATION PROGRAM IN VETERANS

Despite evidence for the effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) for patients with cardiovascular disease, utilization remains low. Within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), most medical centers do not offer on-site CR services. Veterans can receive care through local community CR
Superficial Acral Fibromyxoma with Ossification on the Fingertip

Superficial acral fibromyxoma is a rare mesenchymal tumor that arises in the distal extremities and favors the periungual and subungual regions of the digits. Superficial acral fibromyxoma are benign, however excision may be warranted due to the presence of complications and potential for extension and damage of nearby structures. Here we present a rare case of ossified superficial acral fibromyxoma.
Illuminating the exposome with high-resolution accurate-mass mass spectrometry and nontargeted analysis

Abstract Exposomics seeks a comprehensive understanding of the links between human health and environmental chemical exposures. Analytical chemistry tools capable of identifying low-level organic contaminants in complex environmental samples are needed to meet the demands of exposomics studies. High-resolution accurate-mass mass spectrometry (HR/AM MS) and nontargeted analysis currently provide the only framework capable of achieving the sensitivity, specificity, and throughput required by large-scale exposomics studies. However, practical tools for the automated and reproducible structure annotation of small molecules by HR/AM MS remain underdeveloped. Herein, we review the principles of and recent advances in HR/AM MS–enabled nontargeted analysis with an emphasis on approaches to assigning chemical information to HR/AM MS data.
Development of a novel medical physics patient consult program

Purpose: To develop a new patient consult program, where patients are invited to meet directly with a clinical medical physicist to learn and ask questions about the technical aspects of their care. Methods: Patients are invited to meet voluntarily with a clinical medical physicist directly after the treatment planning CT appointment, and then again after treatment starts. Each consult starts with an overview of the clinical medical physicist9s role in patient care. This is followed by a detailed explanation of the treatment planning CT, treatment planning, and treatment delivery processes. Data are collected after each patient encounter, including: age, gender, treatment intent, treatment site, consult duration, discussion points, overall impression, and a summary of the questions asked. Qualitative data analysis focused on understanding the number and types of questions asked during the physics consults. Additional analyses focused on evaluating the encounter notes for interesting insights regarding meeting tone, number of meeting attendees, and other non-clinical discussion points. Results: Sixty three patients were seen between August 2016 and December 2017, accounting for 29% of the total department patient load. The average physics consult duration was 24 minutes. When evaluating the patient encounter notes for overall tone, 55 patients (87%) had positive descriptors such as "pleasant conversation". Thirty three patients (52%) brought at least one other person into the consult, and 27 patients (43%) contributed personal stories or professional background information to the conversation. When the collection of patient questions was grouped into question types, the data show that the majority of the consult discussion addresses questions related to treatment delivery, treatment planning, and other technical questions. Conclusions: Incorporation of a medical physics patient consult program into clinical practice requires modest time commitment, and has the benefits of increasing medical physics engagement with patient care and improving patient satisfaction through better education.
Minjian: the Rise of China’s Grassroots Intellectuals

Sebastian Veg’s Minjian: the Rise of China’s Grassroots Intellectuals is different from traditional intellectual history that focuses on either prominent individuals, such as Timothy Cheek’s study ...
Educating a ‘Creative Class’: Anti-Disciplinary School Architecture in the Early 1970s

In 1970, Sim Van der Ryn, professor of architecture at the University of California in Berkeley, together with a group of collaborators, who included the schoolchildren themselves, embarked on a se...
Bridging the siloed fields to address shared risk for violence: Building an integrated intervention model to prevent bullying and teen dating violence

Abstract The aim of this theoretical review is to integrate bullying and teen dating violence (TDV) prevention research to answer two questions: 1) Why is an integrated intervention approach necessary for TDV and bullying prevention? and 2) Can a common intervention approach build from the existing research to prevent bullying and TDV concurrently? We propose an integrated intervention model using common program components to target risk factors (hypothesized proximal effects) at different levels of social influence (e.g. school, parents, and individuals), leading to hypothesized distal prevention effects on TDV and bullying perpetration and victimization. Broadly, the model includes the programmatic components posited to have the following proximal effects on risk factors for bullying and TDV: 1) school-level strategies establish norms of nonviolence, increase bystander prosocial behavior, and decrease the likelihood of peer violence; 2) parent strategies minimize risk associated with family conflict and maximize protective effects of parental monitoring, healthy relationships and family cohesion; 3) individual-level skills-based strategies promote proactive strategies to manage anger and cope with previous perpetration and victimization experiences. This theoretical intervention model needs to be evaluated in practice, but has the potential to increase the dosage, scope and effectiveness of violence prevention programming.
Availability of portable capnometers in children with tracheostomy

BACKGROUND A capnometer is a noninvasive monitor that is used to assess patients' respiratory status. This study was performed to evaluate the availability of a portable capnometer in children with tracheostomy. METHODS This retrospective study included children with tracheostomy who were treated at the Osaka Women's and Children's Hospital Osaka, Japan, from 1 September 2018 to 31 October 2019. We assessed the correlation between the partial pressure of venous carbon dioxide (PvCO2 ) and end-tidal carbon dioxide tension (EtCO2 ) using a portable capnometer (EMMA; Masimo, Irvine, CA, USA). RESULTS Nine infants and 43 simultaneous PvCO2 -EtCO2 pairs were analyzed. The correlation coefficient of these pairs was 0.87 (95% confidence interval, 0.77-0.93; P < 0.001). The Bland-Altman plot showed that EtCO2 was on average 10.0 mmHg lower than its paired PvCO2 value (95% limits of agreement, 1.0-19.1). The difference between PvCO2 and EtCO2 was significantly greater in patients on ventilators. CONCLUSIONS The portable capnometer evaluated in this study (EMMA) was readily available and useful for assessment of the respiratory condition in children with tracheostomy.
1.6 Tbps Silicon Photonics Integrated Circuit and 800 Gbps Photonic Engine for Switch Co-Packaging Demonstration

We describe the performance of high bandwidth-density silicon photonic based integrated circuits (SiPh ICs) that enable the first fully functional photonic engine (PE) module co-packaged with an Ethernet switch. We demonstrate the 1.6 Tbps SiPh transmitter (Tx) IC that integrates on-die all the lasers, micro ring modulators, monitor photodetectors, spot size converters, and V-grooves that are needed to support sixteen 106.25 Gbps PAM4 optical transmit channels. This SiPh Tx, together with discrete receiver (Rx) SiPh ICs, enabled an 800 Gbps PE. The PE is designed to allow up to sixteen modules to be co-packaged around a high-bandwidth switch ASIC. The PE test results described in this article were obtained using sixteen 53.125 Gbps electrical channels that were multiplexed to drive eight simultaneously operating 106.25 Gbps optical channels. We report DR4 IEEE standards compliant high-speed optical eye performance as well as full link operation. Post-FEC error-free operation over temperature and over extended time duration is demonstrated on all channels.
Automatic Extraction of Joint Orientations in Rock Mass Using PointNet and DBSCAN

Measurement of joint orientation is an essential task for rock mass discontinuity characterization. This work presents a methodology for automatic extraction of joint orientations in a rock mass from 3D point cloud data generated using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and photogrammetry. Our algorithm first automatically classifies joints on 3D rock surface using state-of-the-art deep network architecture PointNet. It then identifies individual joints by the Density-Based Scan with Noise (DBSCAN) clustering and computes their orientations by fitting least-square planes using Random Sample Consensus. A major case study has been developed to evaluate the performance of the entire methodology. Our results showed the proposed approach outperforms similar approaches in the literature both in terms of accuracy and time complexity. Our experiments show the great potential in the application of 3D deep learning techniques for discontinuity characterization which might be used for the estimation of other parameters as well.
Physician-Patient Communication and Satisfaction in Spanish-Language Primary Care Visits.

Language discordance poses a barrier to effective physician-patient communication, and health care outcomes, such as patient satisfaction, can be associated with language barriers experienced by Sp...
Comparison of Dural Venous Sinus Volumes Before and After Flight in Astronauts With and Without Spaceflight-Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome.

Importance Spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS) occurs in 40% to 60% of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) International Space Station (ISS) astronauts who present postflight with ophthalmological findings and elevated intracranial pressure. The etiology of SANS is unknown; it is hypothesized that venous outflow congestion from the head and neck occurs because of microgravity, which is supported by the finding of internal jugular vein stagnant flow and thrombosis in some astronauts, but the impact on intracranial dural venous sinus structures remains unknown. Objectives To clarify the potential risk of retrograde extension of clot intracranially among astronauts with internal jugular venous thrombosis by evaluating intracranial venous structures following spaceflight and to assess for any association between intracranial venous congestion and SANS. Design, Setting, and Participants This retrospective cohort study of all NASA astronauts who had undergone magnetic resonance (MR) venography at the time of the study included quantitative and qualitative assessments of the intracranial venous system on preflight and postflight MR venograms. Data were collected a mean (SD) of 525.8 (187.5) days before spaceflight and 2.0 (1.5) days after return to Earth. A semiautomated segmentation of the venogram images was used, which was then compared with a neuroradiologist’s assessment. Exposures A mean (SD) 184.3 (66.0) days of ISS spaceflight missions. Main Outcomes and Measures Dural venous sinus volumes before and after spaceflight. Results A total of 12 astronauts (2 [16.67%] women; 10 [83.33%] men), with a mean (SD) age of 47.8 (5.8) years, were included. Overall, 4 astronauts (33.33%) met the diagnostic criteria for SANS. No dural venous sinus thrombosis was detected for any astronaut. Astronauts with SANS had significantly greater median (range) preflight to postflight increases in volume vs astronauts without SANS for all 3 venous sinus structures: superior sagittal sinus (13.40% [8.70% to 17.47%] vs −2.66% [−15.84% to 5.31%,];P = .004), right transverse/sigmoid sinus (17.15% [7.63% to 30.08%] vs 0.77% [−14.98% to 15.12%];P = .02), and left transverse/sigmoid sinus (9.40% [5.20% to 15.50%] vs −1.40% [−14.20% to 12.50%];P = .03). There was a positive correlation between the neuroradiologist’s evaluation and the semiautomated method for the superior sagittal sinus (rpb = 0.64;P = .02) and the right transverse/sigmoid sinus (rpb = 0.58;P = .050). Conclusions and Relevance These findings, in conjunction with the growing body of evidence of abnormal blood flow dynamics during spaceflight, suggest an association between intracranial venous congestion and SANS. Thus, there is an implication that individuals with increased venous sinus compliance may be at increased risk of developing SANS. These findings should be confirmed in a larger astronaut population and may contribute to understanding disorders of intracranial venous outflow on Earth.
Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) Genes and Aging in Drosophila

Since their discovery by McCord and Fridovich the superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzymes have been of particular interest to the field of aging. The Drosophila SOD genes are required for normal oxidative stress resistance and life span, and have been targets for investigation of mechanisms of aging. The ability of SOD genes to affect Drosophila life span is dependent upon the genetic background, including the sex of the animal, as well as the dietary environment. There is increasing understanding of the role of the SODs in signaling pathways that modulate aging. The Cu/ZnSOD is important in linking diet to life span, and MnSOD can activate the mitochondrial unfolded protein response and increase life span. The SOD genes also modulate survival in Drosophila models of human disease. The conservation of SOD genes and functions in Drosophila combined with the availability of powerful genetic and transgenic technologies promises to keep Drosophila at the forefront of research on aging and the role of SOD.
Octahedral metal carbonyls: LXV. Olefin isomerization in (2-allylphenyldiphenylphosphine)tetracarbonyltungsten(0)

Abstract The stepwise displacement of pip (= piperidine) from cis-(pip)2W(CO)4 by 2-allylphenyldiphenylphosphine (adpp) affords cis-(η3-adpp)W(CO)4 (4) when the cis-(pip)(η1-adpp)W(CO)4 intermediate (2; adpp is P-bonded) is isolated and purified; directly, this reaction affords a 85/15 ratio of 1 to cis-(η3-pdpp)W(CO)4 (3; pdpp = 2-propenylphenyldiphenylphosphine). In contrast, it had been reported that displacement of norbornadiene (= NBD) from (η4-NBD)M(CO)4 by adpp affords primarily 3. It is concluded that olefin bond-migration takes place in a η3-allylmetal hydride intermediate produced from a [(η2-adpp)W(CO)4] precursor in which adpp is coordinated cis to a vacant coordination site through the olefinic linkage.
Fabrication and simulation of random and periodic macrostructures

Shock wave propagation during an impact event can nucleate and grow strength limiting defects in an armor material before the penetration process. By limiting shock wave propagation before the penetration process an improvement in armor performance may be realized. Recent studies on phononic band gap structures have shown it is possible to create stop bands in which wave propagation is forbidden. This study will address the feasibility of applying concepts of phononic band gap structures to shock wave propagation during an impact event. Macrostructures comprised of an Al 2 O 3 matrix containing discrete WC-Co inclusions have been fabricated using tape casting and lamination. The millimeter scale WC-Co inclusions were placed in the Al 2 O 3 matrix in either a random or periodic fashion. After binder removal and sintering, samples were characterized using optical and electron microscopy. Vickers indentation was used to determine the hardness of, as well as the bond quality between the two materials. Through transmission acoustic characterization evaluated low amplitude wave propagation. Results show that the Al 2 O 3 I WC-Co system is feasible for the fabrication of macrostructures. A series of 2D finite element simulations were used to study high amplitude shock wave propagation. The effect of WC-Co inclusion size, volume percentage and structure were studied under various loading conditions. Simulations indicate that shock wave propagation in the macrostructures can be significantly altered when compared with either of the monolithic parent materials.
Conformal Fluctuations of the Interior Schwarzschild Solution

The basic formalism for conformal fluctuations of the gravitational field is presented. After developing a master propagator for the interior Schwarzschild solution, the time development of the gravitational wave function is considered. The effect of the two classical singularities (resp. pseudo-singularities) of the Schwarzschild solution on the quantum wave function for the gravitational field is studied using a wave function initially localized on the classical solution. While the true singularity at r = 0 imparts consequences on the wave function that cannot be ignored, the pseudo-singularity at the event horizon does not seem to cause any divergences on the interior fluctuations of the Schwarzschild solution.
Designing Instructional Computing Systems for Meaningful Learning

The design of instructional computing systems is discussed within the context of current psychological theories of meaningful learning and teaching. It is suggested that twelve “learning functions” must be engaged by either the instructional agent or the student if effective learning is to occur and that each function can be elicited in a number of equally effective ways. Examples are provided of ways in which these learning functions can be incorporated into an instructional computing system, and the instructional design process as it relates to instructional computing is discussed.
Pancitopenia por anemia de Fanconi: presentación de un caso clínico.

La anemia de Fanconi es una patologia genetica caracterizada por una alteracion en la reparacion del ADN que se expresa con alteraciones fisicas y hematologicas. Es una enfermedad congenita rara y corresponde a la primera causa de anemia aplasica en la infancia. Tiene un curso desfavorable tanto por el deterioro de sus parametros sanguineos, asi como tambien por el riesgo aumentado de malignizacion hematologica. Su unico tratamiento curativo es el trasplante de medula osea. Se presenta el caso de un nino de 3 anos, hijo de padres judios, portador de malformaciones mayores y menores, que presento un cuadro infeccioso por Mycoplasma pneumoniae que evoluciono a una pancitopenia severa. En el estudio del caso se buscaron etiologias que abarcaron desde las infecciosas e inmunologicas hasta las que involucraban a la medula osea Una vez que los examenes realizados descartaron patologias linfoproliferativas, la clinica y la persistencia del cuadro orientaron a buscar alguna condicion genetica que explicara esta situacion.
Le suivi par le Conseil de L’Europe du conflit en Tchétchénie (The Council of Europe's Monitoring of the Chechnya Conflict)

Le conflit arme en Tchetchenie a mis a l’epreuve les mecanismes de suivi du Conseil de l’Europe. Le droit materiel du Conseil releve des droits de l’homme alors que le droit humanitaire est plus pertinent en l’espece. Plus grave est l’inadequation procedurale des mecanismes de suivi. Les organes judiciaires sont incapables d’apprehender le caractere generalise des violations. La plupart des organes echouent a repondre au caractere irreversible de nombreuses violations. Aucun organe ne resiste au pouvoir politique de la Russie. Le suivi souffre de quatre defauts fondamentaux : (1) protection des droits des victimes plutot que des victimes elles-memes, (2) pas de presence continue sur le terrain, (3) perspective civile plutot que penale, (4) responsabilite etatique plutot qu’individuelle.The armed conflict in Chechnya has severely tested the monitoring mechanisms of the Council of Europe. The Council’s substantive law is human rights, whereas humanitarian law is more suitable. Worse, the procedural mechanisms are poorly suited to deal with such a conflict. The judicial organs are unable to apprehend the generalized nature of the violations. Most organs fail to address the irreversible nature of many violations. No organ is capable of resisting Russia’s political might. The monitoring system suffers from four fundamental problems: (1) it protects the rights of victims rather than the victims themselves, (2) it includes no continuous presence on the ground, (3) its approach is civil rather than criminal, and (4) it is based on state, rather than individual, liability.
A grid based system for closure computation and online service

Record linkage deals with finding records that identify the same real world entity, such as an individual or a business, from a given file or set of files and has many applications. This problem is also referred to as the entity resolution or record recognition problem. To locate those records identifying the same real world entity, in principle, pairwise record analyses have to be performed among all records. Analytical operations are complex and take a lot of time. The number of such analyses is quadratic in terms of the number of records given and therefore is very time consuming. To reduce the number of pairwise record comparisons, blocking techniques are introduced to partition the records into blocks and records in each block are analyzed against one and another. One of the effective blocking methods is the closure approach. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of a parallel and distributed closure prototype system running in an enterprise grid. The system can either produce all closures to a file in a batch fashion or run as a service where upon receiving a record it returns the closure of that record. Preliminary experiment indicates the approach is efficient and scalable.
Partial outlet obstruction in rabbits: Duration versus severity

Objectives Oxidative stress is a major etiology of obstructed bladder dysfunction. The major goal of the current study was to correlate the level of oxidative stress with both the severity and duration of obstruction. Methods A total of 32 New Zealand White rabbits were divided into four equal groups. Groups 1–3 received partial bladder outlet obstructions by standard methods and survived for 4, 8 or 12 weeks. Group 4 received sham surgery at the end of each time period, isolated strips were taken for contractility studies and the balance of the bladder was frozen as muscle and mucosa for quantification of nitrotyrosine and carbonyl-oxidized proteins derivatized into dinitrophenyl. For each duration, the eight rabbits were divided into three severity groups: mild, intermediate or severe decompensation. Results Contractile responses decreased in proportion to both severity and duration. The level of both oxidative products correlated to a much higher degree with the level of severity than the duration. There were significant decreases in the contractile responses in the mild decompensation group, whereas the level of derivatized into dinitrophenyl and nitrotyrosine of the muscle remained at control levels. This was not the case for the 4 weeks obstructed group. Conclusions These findings suggest that the etiology for the mechanism of contractile dysfunction is not an oxidative stress.
DETERMINATION OF STABILOGRAM DIFFUSION ANALYSIS COEFFICIENTS AND INVARIANT DENSITY ANALYSIS PARAMETERS TO UNDERSTAND POSTURAL STABILITY ASSOCIATED WITH STANDING ON ANTI-FATIGUE MATS

Prolonged standing has been associated with loss of balance, onset of low back pain symptoms and development of fatigue in lower extremity muscles in working populations. Although so far, it is unknown how individuals postural stability is affected by standing on rigid versus cushioned platform but many industries are opting for anti-fatigue mats at workstations to reduce fall and injury related socio-economic cost. The goal of this study is to test SATECH's anti-fatigue mat for its effects on postural stability. A pilot test with seven healthy subjects (2535 years old) has been conducted with a force plate to obtain kinetics of body when standing on two different platforms. The centers of pressure (COP) position of subjects were determined on rigid and anti-fatigue mats for quiet stance (each trial 60 seconds). In order to understand postural control along with dynamic or stochastic characteristics of the COP, stabilogram diffusion analysis (SDA) and Invariant density analysis methods are used. Subject specific patterns were seen in stabilogram diffusion plots and associated parameters in both conditions. We also found differences in some postural sway SDA parameters with anti-fatigue mats compared to rigid vinyl floor standing with open eyes condition. But no significant differences were found in sway IDA parameters. This work further provides insights whether anti fatigue mats can be helpful to workers involved with prolonged standing tasks. Language: en
Spot-diffusing and fly-eye receivers for indoor infrared wireless communications

A new configuration featured as using spot-diffusing, multiple line-of-sights and fly-eye receivers is proposed for indoor optical wireless communications. Design issues such as suitable light sources, power budget, ambient light interference and fly-eye design are discussed based on simple geometric models. An experiment is conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of the spot diffusing concept. >
Involvement of recA and exr genes in the in vivo inhibition of the recBC nuclease.

When Escherichia coli cells are gamma irradiated they degrade their deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The DNA of previously gamma-irradiated T4 phage is also degraded in infected cells. The amount of degradation is not only dependent on the dose but also on the genotype of the cell. The amount of degradation is less in cells carrying a recB or a recC mutation, suggesting that most of the DNA degradation is due to the recB+ and recC+ gene product (exonuclease V). In some strains a previous dose of ultraviolet (UV) light followed by incubation renders the cells resistant to DNA degradation after gamma irradiation. We have shown this inhibition to take place for infecting T4 phage also. By using six strains of E. coli selected for mutations in the genes recA, exr (or lex), and uvrB, we have been able to show that the preliminary UV treatment produces no change in recA and exr cells for both endogenous DNA degradation and the degradation of infecting irradiated T4 phage DNA, i.e., inhibition was not detected in these strains. On the other hand, wild-type cells and strains carrying mutations of uvrB show inhibition in both types of experiments. Because the recA gene product and the exr+ (lex+) gene product are necessary for the induction of prophage, it is possible that the phenomenon of inducible inhibition requires recA+ and exr+ presence. One interpretation of these results is that an inducible inhibitor may be controlled by the exr gene.
Enhanced macromolecular refinement by simulated annealing

The analysis of X-diffraction data generally requires sophisticated computational procedures that culminate in refinement and structure validation. The refinement procedure can be formulated as the chemically constrained or restrained nonlinear optimization of a target function, which usually measures the agreement between observed diffraction data and data computed from an atomic model. The ultimate goal of refinement is to simultaneously optimize the agreement of an atomic model with observed diffraction data and with a priori chemical information. Simulated annealing is an optimization technique particularly well suited to overcoming the multiple minima problem. Unlike gradient-descent methods, simulated annealing can cross barriers between minima and thus can explore a greater volume of the parameter space to find better models (deeper minima). Following its introduction to crystallographic refinement, there have been major improvements of the original method in four principal areas: the measure of model quality, the search of the parameter space, the target function and the modelling of conformational variability. These developments are discussed in this chapter. Keywords: cross validation; molecular dynamics; multistart refinement; refinement; simulated annealing; structure-factor averaging; target functions; temperature
A neural network-based text independent voice recognition system

A text-independent voice recognition experiment was conducted using an artificial neural network. The speech data were collected from three different speakers uttering thirteen different words. Each word was repeated ten times. The speech data were then pre-processed for signal conditioning. A total of 12 feature parameters were obtained from Cepstral coefficients via a linear predictive coding (LPC). These feature parameters then served as inputs to the neural network for speaker classification. A standard two-layer feedforward neural network was trained to identify different feature sets associated with the corresponding speakers. The network was tested for the remaining unseen words in text-independent mode. The results were very promising with a voice recognition accuracy of more than 90%. The success rate could be increased by adding more utterances from each speaker. >
Global Set of Quadrupole Deformation Parameters for Even-Even Nuclei

We have completed a compilation of experimental results for the reduced electric quadrupole transition probability [B(E2)↑] between the 0+ ground state and the first 2+ state in even-even nuclei. This compilation together with certain simple relationships noted by other authors can be used to make reasonable predictions of unmeasured B(E2)↑ values. The quadrupole deformation parameter β 2 immediately follows, because β 2 is proportional to [B(E2)↑]1/2.
Differentiation of vasoactive renal sympathetic nerve fibres

Activation of renal sympathetic nerves produces marked changes in renal haemodynamics, tubular ion and water transport and renin secretion. This review examines information indicating that these effects are mediated by functionally specific groups of renal sympathetic nerve fibres separately innervating the renal vessels, tubules and juxtaglomerular granular cells.
The Dynamic Nature of Protistan Ingestion Response to Prey Abundance

. Ingestion rate of Paraphysomonas imperforata was found to be a hyperbolic function of prey density. But the same flagellate clone had multiple ingestion responses to prey density, depending on its physiological state and physical stress it suffers. The flagellates in a physiological state of higher growth tended to have higher maximum ingestion and clearance rates than ones in a physiological state of lower growth. The same trend was observed for volume-specific maximum ingestion and volume-specific clearance rate. In response to changing prey density, the growth rate did not change as quickly as the ingestion rate, suggesting imbalance between the two. The tested physical stresses, including shaking, centrifugation, and filtration, also resulted in reduction of ingestion parameters of the flagellates. But half-saturation constants did not show any trend in response to either physiological state or physical stress. In light of the dynamic nature of protistan ingestion response to prey abundance, short incubation, which minimizes the physiological change, and careful handling, which prevents the possible physical stress, should be employed in order to avoid underestimation of in situ ingestion rates. Previously reported ingestion parameters of lab-cultured protists, which are thought to be unrealistic in natural conditions, may represent only one of multiple ingestion responses, probably prey-rich condition.
Dose calibrator manufacturer-dependent bias in assays of 123I

Calibration factors for commercial ionization chambers (i.e. dose calibrators) were determined for a solution of 123I; the activity was based on the 1976 NBS standard. A link between the NIST standard and the International Reference System (SIR) was established. The two major U.S. dose calibrator manufacturers recommend oppositely biased calibration factors, giving a spread of 11.3% in measured activities. With modern quantitative imaging techniques capable of ≤10% accuracy, this bias for a SPECT nuclide is highly significant.
FREPS - A forced response prediction system for turbomachinery blade rows

FREPS (Forced REsponse Predicition System) is a software system that integrates structural dynamic, steady and unsteady aerodynamic analyses to efficiently predict the forced dynamic stresses of turbomachinery blades to aerodynamic and mechanical excitations. The program performs flutter analysis also. The FREPS system uses a modal approach for aeroelastic analysis. The structural dynamic analysis is based on MSC/NASTRAN, the steady aerodynamic analysis is based on potential theory and the unsteady aerodynamic analysis is based on a linearization of the non-uniform potential mean flow. The capabilities of the program are described and illustrated by application to the High Pressure Oxygen Turbopump turbine of the Space Shuttle Main Engine.