cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Isolation and characterization of an inhibitor-sensitive and a polycation-stimulated protein phosphatase from rat liver nuclei.

Abstract Two protein phosphatases were isolated from rat liver nuclei. The enzymes, solubilized from crude chromatin by 1 M NaCl, were resolved by column chromatography on Sephadex G-150, DEAE-Sepharose and heparin-Sepharose. The phosphorylase phosphatase activity of one of the enzymes (inhibitor-sensitive phosphatase) was inhibited by heat-stable phosphatase inhibitor proteins and also by histone H1. This phosphatase had a molecular weight of approx. 35 000 both before and after 4 M urea treatment. Its activity was specific for the β-subunit of phosphorylase kinase. Pretreatment with 0.1 mM ATP inhibited the enzyme only about 10%, and it did not require divalent cations for activity. On the basis of these properties, this nuclear enzyme was identified as the catalytic subunit of phosphatase 1. The other phosphatase (polycation-stimulated phosphatase) was insensitive to inhibition by inhibitor 1, and it was stimulated 10-fold by low concentrations of histone H1 (A0.5 = 0.6 μM). This enzyme had a molecular weight of approx. 70 000 which was reduced to approx. 35 000 after treatment with 4 M urea. It dephosphorylated both the α- and β-subunits of phosphorylase kinase. The enzyme was inhibited more than 90% by preincubation with 0.1 mM ATP and did not require divalent cations for activity. On the basis of these properties, this nuclear enzyme was identified as phosphatase 2A.
Optimization of waveguide structure for local evanescent field shift detection

The waveguide structure for the local evanescent array coupled (LEAC) biosensor is optimized theoretically with Beam Propagation Method (BPM) simulations. The LEAC biosensor has successfully demonstrated experimental results of a sensitivity of 16% /nm and a metrology limit of 14 pm. Considering the waveguide thickness detector position used in previous experiments are far from optimized values, the detection performance of the LEAC sensor can be significantly improved with the simulated optimal structure. With the optimized parameters, when the upper cladding is air the estimated metrology limit is 0.8 pm; with water as the upper cladding for real-time measurements in an intigrated microfluidic channel, the estimated metrology limit is 1.6 pm.
Pattern synthesis for a forward-fire/backward-fire linear array

Two pattern synthesis procedures have been developed for a traveling-wave linear array, fed at its center, with half the array forward-firing, the other half backward-firing, and the total array required to produce a squinted main beam and controlled sidelobes. The procedure is illustrated by the case of a 36-element slot array, designed to create a sum pattern with a -30-dB sidelobe level and the main beam tilted 2.25 degrees off broadside. Center-fed traveling-wave arrays offer the potential of increased bandwidth and a frequency-independent squint angle. >
T regulatory cells and transplantation tolerance

Despite the development of successful immunosuppression protocols and tremendous improvement in short-term graft survival rates, the problem of chronic graft loss remains the bane of clinical transplantation. The induction and maintenance of transplantation tolerance is the "Holy Grail" of transplantation. The recent identification and characterization of regulatory T cells has opened up exciting opportunities for tolerance induction, immunotherapy, and immunomodulation in transplantation. This review focuses on current understanding of regulatory T cells and their role in transplantation tolerance.
Invertebrate species with nonpelagic larvae have elevated levels of nonsynonymous substitutions and reduced nucleotide diversities.

Under a nearly neutral model in which most amino acid substitutions are slightly deleterious, variation in demography, population structure, and other ecological factors among closely related species can potentially modify the effective population size or the selective regime, leading to differences in the rate of nonsynonymous substitution. Ratios of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitutions (dN/dS) between species were analyzed in a sea star genus (Patiriella) and a molluscan genus (Littorina), each with diverse modes of reproduction, including multiple lineages with pelagic and nonpelagic larvae. In both genera, lineages with nonpelagic larvae had significantly higher dN/dS ratios than lineages with pelagic larvae. The hypothesis that the elevated dN/dS ratios in species with nonpelagic larvae was due to reduced effective population size was tested by comparing nucleotide diversities in three genera of gastropod mollusks (Littorina, Crepidula, and Hydrobia), each with several modes of reproduction. Overall, there was a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in nucleotide diversity in species with nonpelagic larvae compared to species with pelagic larvae.
Small scale aspects of warm dark matter : power spectra and acoustic oscillations.

We provide a semianalytic derivation of approximate evolution equations for density perturbations of warm dark matter candidates that decoupled while relativistic with arbitrary distribution functions, their solutions at small scales, and a simple numerical implementation that yields their transfer functions and power spectra. Density perturbations evolve through three stages: radiation domination when the particle is relativistic and nonrelativistic and matter domination. An early integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect during the first stage leads to an enhancement of density perturbations and a plateau in the transfer function for $k\ensuremath{\lesssim}{k}_{\mathrm{fs}}$, the free-streaming wave vector. An effective fluid description emerges at small scales which includes the effects of free streaming in initial conditions and inhomogeneities. The transfer function features warm dark matter acoustic oscillations at scales $k\ensuremath{\gtrsim}2{k}_{\mathrm{fs}}$. A simple analytic interpolation of the power spectra between large and small scales and a numerical implementation valid for arbitrary distribution functions is provided. As an application we study the power spectra for two models of sterile neutrinos with $m\ensuremath{\sim}\mathrm{keV}$ produced nonresonantly and compare our results to those obtained from Boltzmann codes.
In vivo detection and treatment of ischemia-induced cardiac apoptosis using an MRI-detectable molecular probe and an alpha-adrenergic receptor agonist

Summary A novel anti-apoptotic alpha-adrenergic agonist preserves left ventricular ejection fraction in mice following myocardial infarction. This therapeutic effect is able to be detected and quantified non-invasively, using T2* signal loss assessment of an Annexin-SPIO molecular apoptosis probe. Background Myocardial infarction (MI) leads to cardiomyopathy through a combination of programmed cell death (re: apoptosis) and necrotic cell death. The relative contribution of apoptosis to ischemic cardiomyopathy and the effect of targeting apoptosis specifically to prevent MIinduced damage is unknown. Our laboratory previously developed and validated an in vivo, MRI-detectable apoptosis probe. Annexin-V (ANX), which binds to cells in the earliest stages of apoptosis, was conjugated to superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles, allowing for the non-invasive detection of early apoptotic cell populations (ANX-SPIO r1: 8.6 ± 0.61 mM-1 s-1 and r2: 326 ± 16 mM-1 s-1). To test the effect of apoptosis reversal in an MI model, we employed A61603 (A6), an a1-adrenergic receptor agonist, which was previously shown to rescue cardiac cells from Doxorubicininduced cardiac apoptosis through activation of the cardio-protective ERK pathway. Our hypothesis is that A6 therapy will protect against MI-induced cardiomyopathy, and that cardiac MRI of systemic ANX-SPIO will detect and longitudinally monitor this therapeutic effect in vivo.
Pan-cancer stratification of solid human epithelial tumors and cancer cell lines reveals commonalities and tissue-specific features of the CpG island methylator phenotype

The term CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) has been used to describe widespread DNA hypermethylation at CpG-rich genomic regions affecting clinically distinct subsets of cancer patients. Even though there have been numerous studies of CIMP in individual cancer types, a uniform analysis across tissues is still lacking. We analyze genome-wide patterns of CpG island hypermethylation in 5,253 solid epithelial tumors from 15 cancer types from TCGA and 23 cancer cell lines from ENCODE. We identify differentially methylated loci that define CIMP+ and CIMP− samples, and we use unsupervised clustering to provide a robust molecular stratification of tumor methylomes for 12 cancer types and all cancer cell lines. With a minimal set of 89 discriminative loci, we demonstrate accurate pan-cancer separation of the 12 CIMP+/− subpopulations, based on their average levels of methylation. Tumor samples in different CIMP subclasses show distinctive correlations with gene expression profiles and recurrence of somatic mutations, copy number variations, and epigenetic silencing. Enrichment analyses indicate shared canonical pathways and upstream regulators for CIMP-targeted regions across cancer types. Furthermore, genomic alterations showing consistent associations with CIMP+/− status include genes involved in DNA repair, chromatin remodeling genes, and several histone methyltransferases. Associations of CIMP status with specific clinical features, including overall survival in several cancer types, highlight the importance of the CIMP+/− designation for individual tumor evaluation and personalized medicine. We present a comprehensive computational study of CIMP that reveals pan-cancer commonalities and tissue-specific differences underlying concurrent hypermethylation of CpG islands across tumors. Our stratification of solid tumors and cancer cell lines based on CIMP status is data-driven and agnostic to tumor type by design, which protects against known biases that have hindered classic methods previously used to define CIMP. The results that we provide can be used to refine existing molecular subtypes of cancer into more homogeneously behaving subgroups, potentially leading to more uniform responses in clinical trials.
Interdisciplinary Synergy: A Partnership Between Business and Library Faculty and Its Effects on Students’ Information Literacy

In today's information-rich environment, business faculty are challenged to teach students how to conduct effective business research and evaluate information critically. We describe collaboration between business professors and reference librarians in an introductory business course. Students were surveyed before and after completion of a Business Discovery Project requiring use of print and electronic sources in writing a research paper on a publicly traded company. Student perceptions indicated increased abilities in communication skills, research skills, use of business information sources, and composition skills; paired t tests showed these increases to be significant.
Production of single-cell protein by the cultivation of yeast in anaerobic digester supernatant supplemented with carbohydrates

A medium called basal medium (BM), which is suitable for the turbidimetric estimation of the growth of yeasts, was prepared from liquor obtained from the anaerobic digester of a waster treatment plant. BM was found to be rich in ammonia and contained a small amount of protein. The yeast,Canida utilis, grew well in this medium when a source of carbohydrate was added. Initial concentrations of 2.0% glucose (w/v) or 1.8% molasses (v/v) gave optimal growth. The yeast also utilized fructose and sucrose. Growth was accompanied by the removal of ammonia and a decrease in pH. From the data obtained it may be calculated that 100 g of sucrose would yield 34.4 g of dried yeast cells or approximately 17.2 g of protein. One hundred grams of molasses would yield 40.5 g of dried yeast cells and approximately 20.3 of protein. This process, in addition to producing protein, would also be of value in waste treatment in that it would ease the pollution of streams and rivers by ammonia and nitrate released from the waste treatment plants.
CNS activation maps in awake rats exposed to thermal stimuli to the dorsum of the hindpaw.

Abstract Imaging pain pathways in rats offers a tool to investigate CNS systems in acute and chronic rodent models of pain, neural plasticity associated with the latter, and the opportunity to evaluate pharmacological effects of analgesics on these systems. Furthermore, the evaluation of CNS circuits (e.g., sensory, emotional, endogenous analgesic) offers the potential for defining the complexity of circuit-based behaviors that are difficult to evaluate in current preclinical behavioral models of pain. In these studies, we performed functional MRI in trained, acclimated, awake rats to define neural systems activated by noxious thermal stimuli. Analysis revealed activation in response to a 48 °C stimuli in cortical, subcortical and brainstem areas, known to be substrates of the pain pathways. Our results demonstrate the ability to characterize CNS patterns of activation in response to pain in rodents while avoiding the potential complicating effects of anesthesia.
Computer analysis of the electroencephalographic activity of the Caiman olfactory bulb

Bipolar EEG records of olfactory activity of Caiman sclerops were computer analyzed and the derived power spectral density functions (PSD) were statistically compared by the method of Bendat and Piersol (1971) and Fails and Verlander (1977). These recordings included surface and underwater episodes. The Caiman olfactory EEG may legitimately be divided into four types of activity: a spindle form of high amplitude and long duration (1–3 sec), a spindle of lower amplitude, short duration (< 1 sec) and significantly lower power generation irregular surface background activity, and an irregular underwater activity. PSD analysis showed a great deal of moment-to-moment variability in both quantity of power generated and the frequency regions containing significant power generation during surface background activity. A statistical comparison of surface background and underwater background activity also showed significant differences.
Effects of the apical ectodermal ridge on growth of the versene-stripped chick limb bud.

1. 1. This investigation was undertaken to test whether deleterious effects of the exposure of limb-bud mesoderm to amniotic fluid during ectodermal healing are a significant factor in the suppression of limb outgrowth which occurs after removal of the apical ectoderm in the chick embryo. 2. 2. Isolated leg buds, stripped of ectoderm by Versene treatment, were grafted to the stump of a host wing bud in normal anteroposterior and proximodistal orientation. These grafts were poorly vascularized, became massively necrotic, and failed to differentiate terminal leg parts. 3. 3. Similarly grafted leg buds were supplied with the apical ectodermal ridge of the host wing bud, but with their dorsal and ventral surfaces exposed as before. These were vascularized rapidly, showed little or no necrosis, and differentiated typical parts of the shank, tarsometatarsus, and digits. 4. 4. It may be concluded that: (a) prolonged exposure of denuded limb mesoblast to the amniotic milieu does not, of itself, cause degenerative changes which suppress terminal outgrowth of the limb bud; (b) the apical ectodermal ridge, or material intimately associated with it and the subjacent mesoblast, can induce outgrowth in limb-bud mesoderm. 5. 5. These results and the conclusions drawn therefrom are discussed in the light of recent studies of ectoderm-mesoderm relationships in the developing limb bud, particularly those carried out in the laboratories of Amprino, Bell, Saunders, and Zwilling.
Complexity of trauma narratives as an index of fragmented memory in PTSD: a critical analysis

PTSD researchers and clinicians report observing fragmented and disorganized trauma memories (FDTM) in interviews with PTSD patients and more coherent, organized, and detailed trauma narratives as treatment progresses. Some hypothesize a causal role for FDTM in developing and/or maintaining PTSD symptoms. Operationally defining FDTM is difficult, but a recent study used Flesch reading formulas to gauge narrative complexity and articulation in FDTM. We evaluated the validity of this method by comparing written trauma narratives of 58 undergraduates with and without PTSD on word counts and articulation complexity. Additional narratives on unpleasant and pleasant experiences tested the specificity of group differences. Large initial effect sizes disappeared when writing skill and cognitive ability were controlled suggesting Flesch analyses may not be useful. Furthermore, trauma narrative lengths exceeded those of other memories for both groups, which is inconsistent with FDTM predictions. Most studies supporting FDTM have used oral accounts which we hypothesize may provoke more anxiety than written accounts and thereby produce more fragmented and disorganized narratives. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Fluid and Rock Interaction in Permeable Volcanic Rock: ABSTRACT

Four types of interrelated changes--geochemical, mineralogic, isotopic, and physical--occur in Oligocene volcanic units of the Mogollon-Datil volcanic field, New Mexico. These changes resulted from the operation of a geothermal system that, through fluid-rock interaction, affected 5 rhyolite ash-flow tuffs and an intercalated basaltic andesite lava flow causing a potassium metasomatism type of alteration. (1) Previous studies have shown enrichment of rocks in K2O as much as 130% of their original values at the expense of Na2O and CaO with an accompanying increase in Rb and decreases in MgO and Sr. (2) X-ray diffraction results of this study show that phenocrystic plagioclase and groundmass feldspar have been replaced with pure potassium feldspar and uartz in altered rock. Phenocrystic potassium feldspar, biotite, and quartz are unaffected. Pyroxene in basaltic andesite is replaced by iron oxide. (3) ^dgr18O increases for rhyolitic units from values of 8-10 permil, typical of unaltered rock, to 13-15 permil, typical of altered rock. Basaltic andesite, however, shows opposite behavior with a ^dgr18O of 9 permil in unaltered rock and 6 permil in altered. (4) Alteration results in a density decrease. SEM revealed that replacement of plagioclase by fine-grained quartz and potassium feldspar is not a volume for volume replacement. Secondary porosity is created in the volcanics by the chaotic arrangement of secondary crystals. End_of_Article - Last_Page 279------------
Comprehensive computational rollover sensitivity study, Part 1: influence of vehicle pre-crash parameters on crash kinematics and roof crush

In 2008, fatalities resulting from vehicle rollover events accounted for over one third of all fatalities resulting from motor vehicle crashes. This study describes the initial phase of a detailed computational study aimed at developing causal relationships between crash, occupant, and vehicle parameters and injury outcome using state-of-the-art computational methods. This initial phase examines the sensitivity of vehicle kinematics and structural deformation by isolating the roof-to-ground interaction phase of the rollover event using an LS-DYNA finite element full-vehicle model. Structural deformation is quantified by a measure of the maximum roof intrusion into the occupant space (average = 44 cm, range = 9–66 cm). Roll angle, pitch angle and drop height have a significant effect on structural deformation, while roll rate and yaw angle do not show significant effects. Drop height alone accounts for 70% of the variability in peak roof crush and vertical acceleration, metrics that are related to causal m...
Signal reconstruction in the presence of finite‐rate measurements: finite‐horizon control applications

In this paper, we study finite-length signal reconstruction over a finite-rate noiseless channel. We allow the class of signals to belong to a bounded ellipsoid and derive a universal lower bound on a worst-case reconstruction error. We then compute upper bounds on the error that arise from different coding schemes and under different causality assumptions. When the encoder and decoder are noncausal, we derive an upper bound that either achieves the universal lower bound or is comparable to it. When the decoder and encoder are both causal operators, we show that within a very broad class of causal coding schemes, memoryless coding prevails as optimal, imposing a hard limitation on reconstruction. Finally, we map our general reconstruction problem into two important control problems in which the plant and controller are local to each other, but are together driven by a remote reference signal that is transmitted through a finite-rate noiseless channel. The first problem is to minimize a finite-horizon weighted tracking error between the remote system output and a reference command. The second problem is to navigate the state of the remote system from a nonzero initial condition to as close to the origin as possible in finite-time. Our analysis enables us to quantify the tradeoff between time horizon and performance accuracy, which is not well studied in the area of control with limited information as most works address infinite-horizon control objectives (e.g. stability, disturbance rejection). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Testing and optimizing the performance of a floor-based task conditioning system

Abstract During recent years an increasing amount of attention has been paid to air distribution systems that individually condition the immediate environments of office workers within their workstations. As with task lighting systems, the controls for these ‘task conditioning’ systems are partially or entirely decentralized and under the control of the occupants. Among the primary types of task conditioning systems (floor-, desktop- and partition-based), floor-based designs are the most common, having been widely developed and used in South Africa and Europe, and are now gaining acceptance in the United States. This paper reports the results of recently completed laboratory measurements investigating the thermal performance of a floor-based task conditioning system. The experiments were performed in a controlled environment chamber configured to resemble a modern office space with modular workstation furniture and partitions. Tests were conducted to study the effects of supply volume, supply temperature, supply direction, and heat load levels in the space. In addition to detailed temperature and velocity measurements, a new skin-temperature-controlled thermal manikin was used to evaluate the non-uniform thermal environments produced by the floor-based system, in both sitting and standing positions. Under the low to intermediate supply volumes investigated in this study, the overall performance of the floor-based system resembled that of displacement ventilation systems. Primarily by controlling supply volume the floor-based system can be operated to maintain acceptable thermal comfort in the occupied zone of the building, while at the same time taking advantage of the temperature stratification inherent in displacement flow to achieve savings in space conditioning energy use.
Students' use of part-whole and direct comparison strategies for comparing partitioned rectangles

Thirty-six students, twelve each at the fourth-, sixth-, and eighth-grade levels, were asked to solve 21 comparison-of-area tasks during a clinical interview. The areas were partitioned and shaded so that the tasks could be solved by using rational number knowledge. The types of strategies students used to compare the areas were identified and classified into categories. Initially, fractional terms and symbols were not introduced into the tasks in order to compare the types of strategies students used without and with symbols introduced. Most students tended to ignore the part-whole relationships inherent in the tasks and used a Direct Comparison strategy when they compared the areas. The use of a Part-Whole strategy increased with the introduction of fractional terms and symbols, especially at the eighth-grade level.
Electrochemical detector for liquid chromatography based on a reticulated vitreous carbon electrode in a thin-layer cell

Abstract The use of a thin-layer cell with a reticulated vitreous carbon working electrode for detecting oxidizable compounds in high-performance liquid chromatography is described. High current peaks are obtained for low analyte concentrations owing to the relatively large electrode area. A comparison of this cell and a conventional thin-layer amperometric detector shows a three-fold improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio. The nature of the noise appears to be different from that of the amperometric cell. Mass transport properties, sensitivity, precision and linearity of response are reported. L -Dopa, acetaminophen, epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine and hexacyanoferrate(II) were used as test systems to give detection limits at the picogram level.
Distance-adaptive spectrum allocation in elastic optical path network (SLICE) with bit per symbol adjustment

We present a concept of spectrally-efficient optical networking with distance-adaptive spectral allocation by adjusting the number of modulation levels. We demonstrate it by routing 40 Gb/s optical paths using short-reach, narrow-spectrum 16APSK and long-reach QPSK.
Insulin-like, antilipolytic effect of 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol 13-acetate in rat white adipocytes.

Previous experimental data documenting an insulin like-effect of 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol 13-acetate (TPA), a specific activator of protein kinase C, on glucose transport in adipocytes prompted us to test the hypothesis that TPA might display another insulin-like effect, i.e., antagonize catecholamine-induce lipolysis. TPA (100 nM) led to a decrease of both free fatty acid (41%) and glycerol (58%) release due to 1 microM norepinephrine stimulation in isolated rat adipocytes. TPA also diminished the antilipolytic effect of insulin (5 ng.ml-1) in the presence of 1 microM norepinephrine. Thus, the residual lipolysis with insulin was 25% for free fatty acids and 24% for glycerol release. In the presence of TPA, these values increased to 50% and 45%, respectively. TPA (100 nM) addition to isolated adipocytes induced protein kinase C translocation from the cytosol to the membrane fraction. In control cells, 94.7 +/- 2.9% of the enzyme was found in the cytosol, with the rest found in the membrane. At 10 min after TPA (100 nM) addition, the corresponding value was 43.6 +/- 17.4%, with the rest in the membrane (n = 6, P less than 0.05). These findings indicate that protein kinase C might be involved not only in the insulin action on glucose transport, but also in the mechanism of insulin's antilipolytic action.
Loss and recovery of voluntary hand movements in the macaque following a cervical dorsal rhizotomy.

The recovery of manual dexterity was analyzed in the macaque following a cervical dorsal root section that abolished cutaneous feedback from selected digits of one hand. Monkeys were trained to retrieve a target object from a clamp using thumb and index finger opposition. Dorsal rootlets containing electrophysiologically identified axons projecting from the thumb and index finger were then cut in two monkeys (Group 1). In four others (Group 2), additional rootlets shown to innervate the middle finger and thenar eminence were also transected. Three performance parameters were analyzed before and following the rhizotomy: 1) percentage of successful retrievals; 2) digital stratagem (the pattern of digit opposition); and 3) contact time (duration of digit contact with the object before its retrieval). During the first postoperative week, hand function was severely impaired in all monkeys. Over the following weeks, Group 1 monkeys recovered the ability to retrieve the object by opposing the index finger and thumb in >80% of trials. Group 2 monkeys also regained some function in the impaired hand: each monkey adopted a stratagem for grasping the target, using digits that were incompletely deafferented. In the terminal experiment, hand representation in the contralateral somatosensory cortex was electrophysiologically mapped to define hand deafferentation and cortical reactivation further. There was a close correspondence between the cortical map and digit use. Our data imply that the recovery of precision grip using the thumb and index finger depends on the survival of afferents innervating these digits, as well as the proliferation of their central terminals. J. Comp. Neurol. 491:27–45, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Electromyographic signal changes during exercise in human chronic jaw-muscle pain

Abstract Twelve individuals (2 males, 10 females) with chronic masticatory muscle pain and 11 individuals (2 males, 9 females) without, had their bite force and surface electromyography from the right and left superficial masseter and anterior temporalis muscles recorded before, during and after a 30-s sustained submaximal clenching task. This task was performed at 50% of the force level of each subject's maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) for 30 s. Brief (3 s) 50% MVC efforts were recorded at 15-s intervals, three times before and six times after the sustained clench. Each subject performed this pattern of activities three times with a l5-min rest between each trial. The centre frequency (CF) of the electromyographic power spectrum was calculated by fast Fourier transformations. The mean CF at the end of the 30-s clench and the rate of change at the CF during the clenching task were analysed between groups, sides and muscles. The data indicated that the masseter CF decreased at a significantly faster rate for the first clenching trial in the muscle-pain group. Conversely, the rate of change in the temporalis CF did not significantly differ for the two groups during the three clenching trials. By the third trial the CF of the exercised masseter in the non-pain group exhibited a similar rate of change to that in the pain group. This suggests that both repeated exercise and the presence of chronic inflammation increase the rate of change of the electromyographic signal of the contracting masseter. The mechanism underlying this increased change is unknown.
Quadrupole effects on modeling piezoelectric and ferroelectric materials

Electromechanical coupling in ferroelectric materials is extended to include the electric quadrupole. Internal lattice displacements are coupled to strain to calculate both the polarization and the quadrupole and to provide general methods to describe both acoustic and optical material behavior. Electromechanical coupling of a monodomain is first analyzed and followed by finite element phase field simulations of a 180° domain wall. A comparison between explicit electrostrictive coupling and nonlinear geometric effects is given which illustrate that phenomenological electrostriction gives exactly the same electromechanical coupling as obtained from introducing an effective field within the electrostatic Lorentz force.
A model of voltage collapse in electric power systems

Voltage collapse dynamics were previously modeled by the movement of the system state along a particular trajectory at a saddle node bifurcation. The authors apply this voltage collapse model to a simple three-bus power system model which includes a dynamic induction motor model. Voltage collapse dynamics are demonstrated, showing that the model can be applied to a simple power system. Approximate calculations suggest that load reactive power balance is an important factor in this collapse. >
Untersuchungen zur quantitativen Auswertung von Papierchromatogrammen in der Spurenanalyse durch Röntgenfluorescenzspektroskopie

Papierchromatogramme von Spurenelementen wurden durch Rontgenfluorescenzmessungen quantitativ ausgewertet. Durch die chromatographische Trennung liesen sich Storeinflusse durch dritte Partner weitgehend ausschliesen. Es wurden zwei Bestimmungsmoglichkeiten untersucht: Die Analyse durch Auswerten von Impuls-Orts-Diagrammen und die Bestimmung der Impulsraten fur verschiedene Substanzmengen am stehenden Chromatogramm. Mit Meszeiten von 5–15 min ergaben sich bei wiederholten Messungen am gleichen, aber jeweils neu justierten Chromatogramm Varianzen, die innerhalb der Zahlstatistik liegen (um 1%), also durch langeres Zahlen noch weiter verkleinert werden konnen. Die Varianzen fur Messungen an verschiedenen Chromatogrammen mit gleichen Substanzmengen lagen um 3%. Bei diesen ersten Versuchen wurden z.B. fur Zink und Gallium schon Nachweisgrenzen unter 1 μg erreicht. Auch die Bestimmung mancher organischer Substanzen durch Rontgenfluorescenzanalyse gelingt indirekt dadurch, das man sie mit Verbindungen, die Elemente hoherer Ordnungszahlen enthalten, umsetzt oder sie gegen solche Verbindungen austauscht.
Connectivity on complete lattices: new results

The notion of connectivity is very important in image processing and analysis, and particularly in problems related to image segmentation. It is well understood, however, that classical notions of connectivity, including topological and graph-theoretic notions, are not compatible with each other. This motivated G. Matheron and J. Serra to develop a general framework of connectivity, which unifies most classical notions, circumvents incompatibility issues, and allows the construction of new types of connectivity for binary and grayscale images. In this paper, we enrich this theory of connectivity by providing several new theoretical results and examples that are useful in image processing and analysis. In particular, we provide new results on the semi-continuity behavior of connectivity openings, we study the reconstruction operator in a complete lattice framework, and we extend some known binary results regarding reconstruction to this framework. Moreover, we study connectivities constructed by expanding given connectivities by means of clustering operators and connectivities constructed by restricting given connectivities by means of contraction operators.
ThinSight: a thin form-factor interactive surface technology

ThinSight is a thin form-factor interactive surface technology based on optical sensors embedded inside a regular liquid crystal display (LCD). These augment the display with the ability to sense a variety of objects near the surface, including fingertips and hands, to enable multitouch interaction. Optical sensing also allows other physical items to be detected, allowing interactions using various tangible objects. A major advantage of ThinSight over existing camera and projector-based systems is its compact form-factor, making it easier to deploy in a variety of settings. We describe how the ThinSight hardware is embedded behind a regular LCD, allowing sensing without degradation of dis- play capability, and illustrate the capabilities of our system through a number of proof-of-concept hardware prototypes and applications.
Lymphokine Production by Peripheral Blood teucocytes: Quantitation of T-cell Growth Factor Activity for Assessment of Immune Response Capability*

: Mitogen stimulation of as few as 200,000 human peripheral blood leucocytes (PBL) in 0.2 ml volumes produces highly active lymphokine supernatants. The lymphokine activity measured is T-cell growth factor. Under optimum conditions of PHA-P concentration, serum source and concentration, and time, activity is detectable to a dilution of between 1/250 and 1/700 for lymphokine supernatants from PBL of normal donors. Lymphokine supernatants prepared from PBL of donors previously treated with the immuno-suppressive regimes of radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy had activities that were between 13% and 66% of normal controls. Lymphokine production as a quantitative measure of immune capability is discussed.
“You've Struck a Rock” Comparing Gender, Social Movements, and Transformation in the United States and South Africa

In the Montgomery bus boycott and the South African anti-pass campaign, women's autonomous organizations initiated actions that catalyzed the mass movements for racial justice and national liberation. The activism of women and their organizations sprang from their particular positioning within systems of multiple oppressions simultaneously experiencing racial/ethnic, class, and gender oppression. In both the United States and South Africa, the particular structural location and autonomous resistance of women of African descent was an important aspect of the political opportunity structure and served as a catalyst that catapulted their respective movements for racial justice and/or national liberation to higher levels. This study employs a gendered and comparative approach to these two resistance campaigns to understand better the effects of interactive and multiplicative inequalities on movement processes and the gendered nature of political opportunities.
Update on the Role of Interleukin 2 and Other Cytokines in the Treatment of Patients with Stage IV Renal Carcinoma

Immunoreactive cytokines have been the mainstay of treatment of renal cancer for the past 15 years. Most research has focused on interferon alpha (IFN-α) and interleukin 2 (IL-2). IFN-α has been shown in Phase III studies to produce a modest survival advantage over inactive or non-IFN-containing regimens. Its general tolerability, multiple proposed mechanisms of action, and familiarity have prompted IFN-α to be studied in combination with a variety of agents with potential activity against renal cell carcinoma. These various studies may justify an increased role for IFN-α in the treatment of renal cancer in the foreseeable future. High-dose bolus IL-2 remains the only treatment for stage IV renal cancer approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. Food and Drug Administration approval was granted in 1992 based on the ability of this agent to produce durable complete responses in a small number of patients. Unfortunately, the toxicity, expense, and restricted accessibility of high-dose IL-2 make it a poor standard. Regimens involving lower doses of IL-2 either alone or in combination with IFN-α have generally produced fewer tumor regressions of less overall quality. Recent efforts have focused on trying to identify factors predictive of response to IL-2 therapy so that this treatment could be limited to those most likely to benefit.
Can a combination of the conformal thin-sandwich and puncture methods yield binary black hole solutions in quasiequilibrium?

We consider combining two important methods for constructing quasiequilibrium initial data for binary black holes: the conformal thin-sandwich formalism and the puncture method. The former seeks to enforce stationarity in the conformal three-metric and the latter attempts to avoid internal boundaries, like minimal surfaces or apparent horizons. We show that these two methods make partially conflicting requirements on the boundary conditions that determine the time slices. In particular, it does not seem possible to construct slices that are quasistationary and that avoid physical singularities while simultaneously are connected by an everywhere positive lapse function, a condition which must be obtained if internal boundaries are to be avoided. Some relaxation of these conflicting requirements may yield a soluble system, but some of the advantages that were sought in combining these approaches will be lost.
Frequency of use and impact of coping strategies assessed by the COPE Inventory and their relationships to post-event health and well-being:

In dealing with a stressful event, 440 participants reported how frequently they used a variety of different coping strategies, rated their separate impacts on problems and the associated emotions, and reported their effects on subsequent health and well-being. Coping strategies did not generally impact problems or emotions differently. Use of planning led to increased self-efficacy, which along with positive reinterpretation, predicted growth. Emotional venting and behavioral disengagement predicted diminishment, which along with mental disengagement and self-injury, predicted illness. Social support buffered against diminishment. Use of acceptance coping and seeking advice from others had both positive and negative effects on well-being.
Darboux operators for linear first-order multi-component equations in arbitrary dimensions

We construct Darboux operators for linear, multi-component partial differential equations of first order. The number of variables and the dimension of the matrix coefficients in our equations are arbitrary. The Darboux operator and the transformed equation are worked out explicitly. We present an application of our formalism to the (1+2)-dimensional Weyl equation.
Vaccination with Recombinant N-Terminal Domain of Als1p Improves Survival during Murine Disseminated Candidiasis by Enhancing Cell-Mediated, Not Humoral, Immunity

Candida spp. are opportunistic fungal pathogens that are among the most common causes of nosocomial bloodstream infections. The mortality attributable to disseminated candidiasis is 40 to 50% despite antifungal therapy. Clearly, new strategies are needed to prevent this life-threatening infection. Because risk factors for disseminated candidiasis are well defined and frequently of limited duration, vaccination is an appealing prophylactic strategy. We have identified a cell surface protein, Als1p, that mediates adherence of Candida albicans to a variety of human substrates and plastic. Here we report that immunizing BALB/c mice with the recombinant N-terminal domain of Als1p (rAls1p-N) improved survival during a subsequent challenge with a lethal inoculum of C. albicans. The protective 20-μg dose of rAls1p-N significantly increased Candida stimulation of Th1 splenocytes and increased in vivo delayed-type hypersensitivity. In contrast, antibody titers did not correlate with protection. Finally, the vaccine was not protective in T-cell-deficient mice but was protective in B-cell-deficient mice. These data indicate that the mechanism of action of the rAls1p-N vaccine is stimulation of cell-mediated, rather than humoral, immunity against C. albicans. The majority of efforts to date have focused on the development of passive immunization strategies to prevent or treat disseminated candidiasis. In contrast, our results provide proof of principle for vaccination with an adhesin of C. albicans and emphasize the potential for cell-mediated immune modulation as a prophylactic or therapeutic strategy against disseminated candidiasis.
Simple generational garbage collection and fast allocation

Generational garbage collection algorithms achieve efficiency because newer records point to older records; the only way an older record can point to a newer record is by a store operation to a previously-created record, and such operations are rare in many languages. A garbage collector that concentrates just on recently allocated records can take advantage of this fact.
Enhanced adaptive playout scheduling and loss concealment techniques for Voice over IP networks

Voice over IP (VoIP) is already of commercial quality when traversing corporate, or other high-quality networks. Nevertheless, to make the final bridge to toll quality over standard internet connections, a few problems remains to be solved. These include packet loss, jitter control, and clock drift compensation. Previous research in adaptive playout mechanisms has significantly contributed towards that end. In this paper, we present a novel technique that enhances previous adaptive playout mechanisms, and virtually eliminate late losses. Additionally, enhanced stretching and loss concealment algorithms are also presented. These work in harmony with the proposed technique to alleviate network jitter and any clock drift.
Plasma-enhanced polymer deposition in ambient environment conditions using dielectric barrier discharge plasma jet

Summary form only given. In this work, a polymer film deposition system based on plasma-polymerization technique is developed by using an atmospheric pressure floating electrode dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) jet, as shown in Fig. 1. Helium with small admixtures of polymer precursors is used as the working gas in the DBD system to achieve plasma polymerization. A floating electrode configuration is used to allow for an active plasma region in the vicinity of the substrate rather than just an afterglow plasma region. Initially nitrogen was used as a background gas for deposition. In using air as a background gas additional concerns are oxidation and combustion of the monomer which may affect the conditions of both the deposition and plasma. Various precursor types, precursor concentrations, discharge powers, flow rates, and electrode configurations as well as substrate materials are utilized in the experiments. The polymer films with the different growth parameters are compared and discussed by a W/FM value, where W is the discharge power, F is the precursor flow rate (precursor concentration) and M is the molecular weight of the polymer precursor. Preliminary works are focused on the deposition of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) films. The surface morphology of the polymer films is characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) are used to investigate the chemical composition of the plasma-polymerized films.
Efficiently support concurrent queries in multiuser CBIR systems

Various techniques have been developed for different query types in content-based image retrieval systems such as sampling queries, constrained sampling queries, multiple constrained sampling queries, k-NN queries, constrained k-NN queries, and multiple localized k-NN queries. In this paper, we propose a generalized query model suitable for expressing queries of different types, and investigate efficient processing techniques for this new framework. We exploit sequential access and data sharing by developing new storage and query processing techniques to leverage inter-query concurrency. Our experimental results, based on the Corel dataset, indicate that the proposed optimization can significantly reduce average response time in a multiuser environment, and achieve better retrieval precision and recall compared to two recent techniques.
A race-free bandwidth reservation protocol for QoS routing in mobile ad hoc networks

Routing protocols are an essential part of the efficient design of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). Existing routing protocols such as DSR, AODV, and TORA are based on a best effort strategy (C.E. Perkins, 2001), However, in order for MANETs to be practical for more demanding real time applications such as multimedia, providing a certain needed level of quality of service becomes an essential component in the communication protocol design (S. Chakrabarti and A. Mishra, 2001), QoS routing protocols provide the capability of finding a path between two nodes which satisfies the application layer's minimum bandwidth requirements. Previous papers addressed this issue for different communication environments such as TDMA (time division multiple access) (I. Gerasimov and R. Simon, 2002) and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)-over-TDMA (S. Chen and K. Nahrstedt, 1999). While most of these models are generally more practical and less expensive, they impose on the designer the constraint of the hidden terminal and exposed terminal problems. The paper by Liao and Tseng (2002) addressed these issues and provided a TDMA-based bandwidth reservation protocol for QoS routing in MANETs. However, this protocol does not account for the race condition which can become more significant with increased node mobility, network density and higher traffic loads. This race condition is also a limitation of other QoS routing protocols, This paper addresses this issue and provides a protocol which enables the network to cope with this and other related problems such as parallel reservation. We also provide increased optimizations which significantly enhance the throughput and efficiency of the QoS routing protocol.
Securing the Future of the Social Security Disability Insurance Program

Testimony presented before the House Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Social Security on March 20, 2012.