cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
RF silicon photonics for wideband, high dynamic range microwave and millimeter-wave signal processing

We review the potential of RF photonics for microwave and millimeter-wave communication systems. The integration of photonic components in silicon CMOS processes introduces new potential for realizing RF beamforming systems with substantial signal processing and relatively low-power remote antennas. This paper reviews RF photonic link operation and reveals fundamental device challenges to wide-band high dynamic range photonic links. We demonstrate the potential for spur-free dynamic range of more than 110 dBc Hz2/3 is possible in silicon processes in microwave bands. We also present measurements of a silicon photonic MZM that reaches 102.8 dBcHz23 at 1 GHz.
Multi-wavelength analytical ultracentrifugation of human serum albumin complexed with porphyrin.

The new Beckman Coulter Optima AUC instrument, which features multi-wavelength detection that couples the hydrodynamic separation of colloidal mixtures to spectral deconvolution of interacting and non-interacting solutes present in a mixture, was used to analyze the composition of human serum albumin (HSA) bound to metallo-protoporphyrin. We present new methods implemented in UltraScan that permit Optima AUC-derived multi-wavelength data to be spectrally decomposed in the same fashion as has been made possible for the Colfen detector earlier. We demonstrate this approach by spectrally separating sedimentation velocity experimental data from mixtures of apo-HSA and HSA complexed to different metallo-protoporphyrins. We further demonstrate how multi-wavelength AUC can accurately recover percentages of metallo-protoporphyrin-bound HSA and apo-HSA from mixtures and how multi-wavelength AUC permits the calculation of molar extinction coefficients for porphyrins bound to HSA. The presented method has broad applicability to other complex systems where mixtures of molecules with different spectral properties need to be characterized.
Pearson to Gosset to Fisher

A double play in baseball is a beautiful thing to behold, and an infield that can turn the double play is much to be valued. The most common double play is short-stop to second baseman to first baseman. In the early 1900s in baseball the most famous combination was Tinker to Evers to Chance for the Chicago Cubs. Our next episode in statistical methods has the heroic quality of the double play. Our team has one putout on the opposition up to now (1908). A spectacular double play is about to happen which gets us out of the inning and ready to go on the offensive. We call the play Pearson to Gosset to Fisher.
Stresses and Dislocation Density During Growth of Single III-V Semiconductor Crystals from the Melt

Summary Finite element techniques are used in order to calculate the thermal stresses and dislocation densities ({111} slip systems) during the Czochralski growth of single semiconductor crystals of III-V compounds with cubic symmetry (such as GaAs or InP.) It is shown that the effect of elastic anisotropy can not be neglected, and that it leads to higher stresses and dislocation densities than modelling of the growing crystal as elastically isotropic. Nevertheless, it is shown that, for crystals growing along the , or directions, it is possible to reduce the numerical problem of calculating the thermal stresses from 3-D (independent variables r, θ, and z; dependent variables the radial, circumferential and axial displacements u, v, and w) to 2-D (independent variables r,z) by properly modifying the dependence of the elastic stiffness matrix on the circumferential coordinate θ.
Academic success and resiliency factors: A case study of unaccompanied immigrant children

The purpose of this study was to identify resiliency factors that led to the academic success of three unaccompanied immigrant students in a Texas high school. We used case study methodology to examine the real life context of a phenomenon with data collected from three student participants in their natural settings using interviews, participant observations at school, and photo-elicitation. The findings indicated that internal and external protective factors attributed to the resiliency and school success of the three students who were unaccompanied immigrant children. This study is essential in understanding how resiliency factors impact the academic success of students who are dealing with the challenges of being unaccompanied immigrant children with limited immediate family support and who are English Language Learners (ELLs).
Pragmatics for Language Educators : A Sociolinguistic Perspective

Making pragmatics accessible to a wide range of students and instructors without dumbing down the content of the field, this text for language professionals: raises awareness and increases knowledge and understanding of how human beings use language in real situations to engage in social action fosters the ability to think critically about language data and use helps readers develop the ability to "do pragmatics" The book features careful explanations of topics and concepts that are often difficult for uninitiated readers, a wealth of examples, mostly of natural speech from collected data sources, and attention to the needs of readers who are non-native speakers of English, with non-Western perspectives offered when possible. Suggested Readings, Tasks, Discussion Questions, and Data Analysis sections involve readers in extending and applying what they are reading. The exercises push readers to recall and synthesize the content, elicit relevant personal experiences and other sources of information, and engage in changing their own interactional strategies. The activities go beyond a predictable framework to invite readers to carry out real life observations and experiment to make doing pragmatics a nonjudgmental everyday practice.
Association of antenatal depression with oxidative stress and impact on spontaneous preterm birth.

To determine whether antenatal depression is associated with oxidative stress and inflammation, and secondarily, whether the association between antenatal depression and spontaneous preterm birth (SPTB) is mediated by these biomarkers. The primary outcome included urine oxidative stress biomarkers 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and 8-isoprostane and plasma inflammatory biomarkers measured at 10, 18, and 26 weeks and averaged within individual. Linear and logistic regression models were used, adjusting for age, race, parity, and pre-pregnancy body mass index. Among 462 women, 8-isoprostane was higher among depressed women (geometric mean: 299.96 pg/mL vs. 237.01 pg/mL; p = 0.001). In multivariable analyses, antenatal depression was significantly associated with an increase in average 8-isoprostane (β: 0.25; 95% CI: 0.05–0.44; p = 0.01). The association of antenatal depression with SPTB was partially mediated by 8-isoprostane. Antenatal depression was not associated with 8-OHdG or inflammatory biomarkers. Antenatal depression was associated with higher oxidative stress across pregnancy, namely 8-isoprostane, and may impact SPTB via oxidative stress.
A Bayesian Damage Prognosis Approach Applied to Bearing Failure

Bearings are one of the most important components in rotating machinery, and their failure can cause catastrophic consequences. Conventional damage detection technologies have been successfully applied to make early warning of defect occurrence, mostly via vibration-related quantities due to damage-induced rattling. However, when the operational environment is highly variable and the online data suffer large uncertainties, robust early detection becomes challenging. Beyond simple detection, however, in-situ prognosis is even of greater interest, since it seeks to determine the remaining useful life (RUL), given condition monitoring data. Under realistic conditions, the nominal operation life, usually in terms of L10, is not practical when the prognosis is subject to the aforementioned uncertainties. This paper aims at updating the most plausible model parameters to obtain an accurate failure curve. From this Bayesian model updating process, the prediction of RUL is therefore made, associated with posterior probability. Vibration data are collected from the SpectraQuest machinery fault simulator, with gradually deteriorating bearings subject to fine foreign particles in the lubrication.
Deep reinforcement learning for six degree-of-freedom planetary landing

Abstract This work develops a deep reinforcement learning based approach for Six Degree-of-Freedom (DOF) planetary powered descent and landing. Future Mars missions will require advanced guidance, navigation, and control algorithms for the powered descent phase to target specific surface locations and achieve pinpoint accuracy (landing error ellipse
15 – Domain Interactions

Publisher Summary It is noted that the decisions made locally in one domain can have impacts on system-level requirements and other domain specific requirements. Rosetta defines an interaction as a collection of mechanisms for describing how information flows between modeling domains. Each interaction defines three kinds of information transfer. Translators define how information is transformed as it flows through a parameter shared by two facets. Translators handle both information translation and coordination of the communication process. Functors define transformations of facets from one domain to another. Because facets are simply Rosetta values, these transformations take the form of functions whose domain and range include facet types. Furthermore, algebra combinators, or simply combinators define mechanisms for combining two facets to produce a new facet. The primary use for combinator is to provide a capability for composing and refining or abstracting two facets in a single step. Moreover, combinators are like functors, except that the domain of a combinator must include two facets that can be composed into a single facet.
Cell-based therapy to reduce mortality from COVID-19: Systematic review and meta-analysis of human studies on acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Severe cases of COVID-19 infection, often leading to death, have been associated with variants of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Cell therapy with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) is a potential treatment for COVID-19 ARDS based on preclinical and clinical studies supporting the concept that MSCs modulate the inflammatory and remodeling processes and restore alveolo-capillary barriers. The authors performed a systematic literature review and random-effects meta-analysis to determine the potential value of MSC therapy for treating COVID-19-infected patients with ARDS. Publications in all languages from 1990 to March 31, 2020 were reviewed, yielding 2691 studies, of which nine were included. MSCs were intravenously or intratracheally administered in 117 participants, who were followed for 14 days to 5 years. All MSCs were allogeneic from bone marrow, umbilical cord, menstrual blood, adipose tissue, or unreported sources. Combined mortality showed a favorable trend but did not reach statistical significance. No related serious adverse events were reported and mild adverse events resolved spontaneously. A trend was found of improved radiographic findings, pulmonary function (lung compliance, tidal volumes, PaO2 /FiO2 ratio, alveolo-capillary injury), and inflammatory biomarker levels. No comparisons were made between MSCs of different sources.
Science, scholarship, and intellectual virtues: A guide to what higher education should be like

Many thinkers are accustomed to separating facts and values—knowledge and morality. They believe that morality enters into the choices scientists and scholars make about what is worth studying, but...
A Novel "Google Classroom"-Based Pathology Education Tool for Trainees During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Impactful Learning While Social Distancing

The Breast Cases Challenge (BCC) classroom uses the Google Classroom software, a free web service created by Google (Google, LLC, Mountain View, California) to help improve education via the internet and accessed via a web browser or through classroom app The collaborating institutions include Montefiore Medical Center (Bronx, New York), Weill Cornell Medicine (New York City, New York), Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut), Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Danbury Hospital (Danbury, Connecticut), Women and Infants Hospital (Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island), University of Tennessee Health Science Center (Memphis, Tennessee), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (New Delhi, India), and Hospital Alemao Oswaldo Cruz (Sao Paulo, Brazil) Ridin Balakrishnan, MD1;Kamaljeet Singh, MD2;Malini Harigopal, MD3;Susan Fineberg, MD1 1 Department of Pathology, Montefiore Medical Center and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York;2 Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Women and Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, Providence, Rhode Island;3 Department of Pathology, Yale University Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut The authors thank the residents and fellows in our classroom who responded to our survey and without whom this study could not have been possible:
Dealing with inappropriate-, low-quality-, and other forms of challenging peer review, including hostile referees and inflammatory or confusing critiques: Prevention and treatment

Within the context of journal peer review, when high-quality referee input is coupled with appropriate editorial oversight from a journal’s leadership, the result can be the selection and publicati...
Connectionism and the Notion of Levels

The growing popularity of connectionism has sparked a great deal of discussion and research in the cognitive science community. To a large extent, the focus has been on the theoretical and empirical adequacy of connectionist systems as models of cognitive processes. The goal has been to determine the computational capacities of connectionist networks and to explore how such networks might be used to model the psychological processes that control behavior. Not all of the discussion about connectionism has focused on such issues, however. Indeed, a substantial literature addresses far loftier concerns about the nature of connectionism, such as whether connectionism can, in principle, provide adequate accounts of psychological phenomena, whether connectionism represents a theoretical revolution (or “paradigm shift”), and what the relationship is between connectionist and neural models on the one hand, and connectionist and symbol processing models on the other.
Tumor Epigenetic Signature and Survival in Resected Gastric Cancer Patients.

Background Precision oncology can identify patient-specific molecular signatures to better inform the prognosis and management of surgical cancer patients. Specifically, microRNAs (miRs) hold promise as prognostic biomarkers because dysregulation of individual miRs is implicated in tumorigenesis, progression, and metastases of various malignancies, including gastric adenocarcinoma (GC). Study design To identify miRs prognostic of survival after radical gastrectomy, we studied GC patients within The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) who had undergone R0 or R1 resection and had data on clinical characteristics, overall survival (OS), and tumor miR expression. The miRs expressed by at least 15% of tumors were eligible for study. From 10 replicate samples, each with 80% of patients, miRs were selected using age-adjusted proportional hazards regression with stepwise selection. Cross-validated miRs (selected by multiple replicates) were retained if they optimized an accelerated failure-time model of OS using all patients. Results In this GC cohort (n = 270), half (916/1,870) of miRs screened met our criteria for evaluation. Cross-validation identified 20 miRs as prognostic, of which 14 (miR-129-1, miR-373, miR-490, miR-597, miR-1185-2, miR-3943, miR-4756, miR-5683, miR-6510, miR-6733, miR-6808, miR-6855, miR-6882, miR-8072) were independently informative. The age-adjusted 14-miRNA panel remained significantly associated with OS after adjustment for pathologic prognostic factors (number of lymph nodes examined, number of positive lymph nodes) and other clinical covariates (TNM stage, residual tumor, tumor microsatellite instability, targeted molecular therapy, sex, race, ethnicity). Panel-predicted survival estimates below the upper tertile cut-off were associated with worse outcome (30% vs 74% OS at 3 years, p Conclusions In surgically resected GC patients, an epigenetic signature of miRs associated with survival has the potential to improve prognostication.
Postural mechanisms in moderate-to-severe cerebral palsy

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common cause of motor disability in children. People with moderate-to-severe CP are typically nonambulatory and have major impairments in trunk postural control. We ...
Adaptations to Acupuncture and Pain Counseling Implementation in a Multisite Pragmatic Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objectives: As part of a pragmatic effectiveness trial of integrative pain management among inpatients with cancer, the authors sought to understand the clinical context and adaptations to implemen...
Common membership across SIGs

Conferences allow for sharing of knowledge in a particular domain, computing education for us. Many of us tend to participate in different conferences. CS Educators, after all, teach CS covering al...
Global distribution and coincidence of pollution, climate impacts, and health risk in the Anthropocene

Previous research demonstrates that low-income countries face higher risks than high-income countries from toxic pollution and climate change. However, the relationship between these two risks is little explored or tested, and efforts to address the risks are often independent and uncoordinated. We argue that the global risks from toxic pollution and climate change are highly correlated and should be jointly analyzed in order to inform and better target efforts to reduce or mitigate both risks. We provide such analysis for 176 countries and found a strong (rs = -0.798;95%CI -0.852, -0.727) and significant (p<0.0001) relationship between the distribution of climate risk and toxic pollution. We also found that inequities in pollution production, economic status, and institutional readiness are interconnected and exacerbate risk for countries already in the highest risk categories for both toxic and non-toxic (greenhouse gas) pollution. The findings have policy implications, including the use of the proposed Target assessment to decide where best to address toxic and non-toxic pollution simultaneously, based on the need to minimize human suffering and maximize return on effort.
Abstract P3-07-11: Trends in clinicopathologic features and systemic therapy use in breast cancer patients: Findings from the National Cancer Database

Introduction: Breast cancer remains the most common malignancy affecting women in the United States. We sought to identify temporal trends in the clinicopathologic features of breast cancer over the last 13 years, along with changes in systemic therapy usage to treat this disease. Methods: The National Cancer Database is a national resource maintained by the CoC and the American Cancer Society that captures 70% of the newly diagnosed breast cancers in the US. We utilized the beta-PUF file of the NCDB, which included 1,669,679 patients with invasive breast cancer patients from 1998 to 2010, and analyzed trends in clinicopathologic features as well as use of systemic chemo- and hormonal therapy. Results: Over the 13 years of the study, a significant trend was noted to older age, lower grade and fewer positive lymph nodes (all p Conclusions: These data demonstrate that while early detection may be increasing the number of low grade node-negative tumors in older patients, our use of systemic therapy has become more liberal. Increasing use of hormonal therapy may be due to more aggressive guidelines and a lower threshold for ER-positivity; increasing use of chemotherapy may be the result of more efficacious drugs with lower toxicity being available to treat limited disease. Nonetheless, implications in terms of cost vs. benefit of our more aggressive approach may warrant further evaluation. Citation Format: Anees B Chagpar, Sarah Mougalian, Donald Lannin, Maysa Abu-Khalaf, Brigid Killelea, Tara Sanft, Lajos Pusztai. Trends in clinicopathologic features and systemic therapy use in breast cancer patients: Findings from the National Cancer Database [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-07-11.
The Practice: The Supreme Court Takes on Class Actions Again

Commentary and analysis of two pending cases on the Supreme Court’s 2012-13 docket, Amgen v. Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds, and Comcast Corp. v. Behrend. Both cases present the Court with unanswered questions concerning class certification procedure and present the Court with fresh opportunities to tighten class certification requirements. Amgen focuses on the issue whether a plaintiff seeking class certification in a securities fraud class action who invokes the fraud-on-the-market presumption must provide evidence that the alleged misstatements were material to the impact on a company’ stock price. The court also will consider whether a defendant must be afforded the opportunity to present rebuttal evidence to the alleged misstatements during certification proceedings. The Amgen appeal follows one year after the Court’s decision in Erica F. John Fund Inc. v. Halliburton, 131 S. Ct. 2179 (2011), in which a defendant similarly asked the court to tighten the fraud-on-the-market presumption. In a unanimous opinion, the Court rejected this and held that a plaintiff in a Rule 10b-5 securities class action does not need to prove loss causation to obtain class certification.The appeal in Comcast v. Behrend potentially raises a question left open by the Court’s decision in Wal-Mart v. Dukes (S. Ct. 2011): the appropriate judicial role in evaluating expert-witness testimony at class certification. The Comcast appeal raises several issues: (1) whether the Court should decide the appeal when the parties have settled the underlying dispute; (2) whether the courts properly preserved the issue of the court’s role in resolving the admissibility of expert witness testimony; and (3) whether, if the Court agrees to decide the case, whether the court appropriately resolved the admissibility of expert-witness testimony on classwide damages at class certification.
The Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST).

The Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) is under study by NASA as a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and the infrared missions SIRTF (Space Infrared Telescope Facility), SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy), and ISO (Infrared Space Observatory). It would have an aperture > 4 m, optimized for 1–5 μm, with a goal of 8 m and 0.5 – 20 µm. It would be radiatively cooled and would be launched on an Atlas HAS to the Lagrange Point L2 around 2006. At wavelengths longer than a few µm, it offers a speed advantage of the order of 106 over a large ground based telescope.
Reactions of Cyclic Amino Acid Derivatives with the Pyridoxal Phosphate of Cystathionase

Abstract Cystathionase, an enzyme requiring pyridoxal phosphate as a cofactor, reacts with several cyclic derivatives of α-aminobutyric acid to form complexes. The reaction depends on the presence of the pyridoxal phosphate moiety of the enzyme and is specific for the l form of the cyclic derivatives. Homocysteine thiolactone, α-aminobutyrolactone, α-aminobutyro-γ-selenolactone, and cycloserine competitively inhibit cystathionase activity. Conversely, the substrates homoserine and cystathionine competitively inhibit complex formation. An enzymic group with a pK of 8.6 participates in complex formation, whereas another more acidic group (pK 7.3) does not, but is ionized in the complex. This group apparently does not affect the absorption characteristics of the enzyme. These observations suggest a mechanism for transaldimination, based on a nucleophilic attack of the cyclic compounds on a protonated aldimine situated on the enzyme. Cystathionase normally has an absorption maximum at 420 mµ. When it was combined with α-aminobutyrolactone, homocysteine thiolactone, α-aminobutyro-γ-selenolactone, or cycloserine, the absorption maxima appeared in the range 495 mµ to 530 mµ. The shift to the longer wave lengths apparently corresponds to decreasing electronegativity of the heteroatoms in the cyclic derivatives. Stable enzyme-inhibitor intermediates are possible because of increased resonance energy in the complexes.
Effect of Process Variables During the Head-End Treatment of Spent Oxide Fuel

The development of a head-end processing step for spent oxide fuel that applies to both aqueous and pyrometallurgical technologies is being performed by the Idaho National Laboratory, the Oak Ridge...
Studies on the native and reduced alkylated renal glomerular basement membrane. Solubility, subunit size, and reaction with cyanogen bromide.

Abstract The solubility of the bovine glomerular basement membrane was assessed in a variety of reagents, including salt, urea, and detergent solutions, and found to be negligible except in urea and in sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), where a limited solubilization of about 20% was effected. The material so solubilized differed in composition from the whole membrane, containing fewer of the amino acids characteristic of collagens, and was primarily of very high molecular weight, failing to penetrate 5% polyacrylamide gels on electrophoresis. Extraction of the basement membrane with urea or SDS in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol resulted in a rapid solubilization of the membrane. Moreover, the S-carboxymethylated basement membrane formed by the alkylation of the reduced membrane demonstrated a markedly enhanced solubility over that of the native membrane in all of the reagents. About 80% of the reduced alkylated membrane could be extracted into 5% SDS, and polyacrylamide electrophoresis in SDS revealed the presence of at least 11 components ranging in molecular weight from 30,000 to 220,000, as well as some material which failed to penetrate the 5% gel. No free sulfhydryl groups could be detected in the basement membrane, indicating that all of the cysteine residues occur in disulfide linkage. A number of different amino acids were found in NH2-terminal and COOH-terminal positions in this membrane. On the basis of the total NH2-terminal residues, an average molecular weight of 134,000 was calculated for the peptide chains. Cyanogen bromide treatment of the basement membrane resulted in a maximum of 70% conversion of methionine to homoserine. The incomplete action of the cyanogen bromide was shown to be due to the presence in the membrane of 30% of the methionine residues in the sulfoxide form. Reduction of the methionine sulfoxide permitted almost complete reaction with the cyanogen bromide to take place. Gel filtration on Sephadex G-75 of these cyanogen bromide products revealed the presence of peptide components which spanned a wide range of molecular weights. Examination of a number of other proteins indicated that most contain only insignificant amounts of methionine sulfoxide. However, the anterior lens capsule of the calf, another basement membrane, was found to have about 30% of its methionine in this oxidized form, which led in the case of this protein also to an incomplete reaction with cyanogen bromide.
Numerical Predictions of the Sensitivity of Grain Size and Channel Slope to an Increase in Precipitation

Well-known correlations between sediment yield and climate properties have inspired the widespread view that climate-driven variation in sediment supply is often the cause of fluctuations in sedimentation rate over geologic time. Yet, we know surprisingly little at a quantitative level about the nature and relative importance of climate controls. For example, while Zhang et al. (2001) argue that late-Cenozoic global cooling drove enhanced rates of erosion and deposition worldwide; some studies have shown a negligible correlation between climate and millennial-scale or longer denudation rates (e.g. Riebe et al., 2001; Burbank et al., 2003; von Blanckenburg, 2005). This uncertainty underscores
Optimization for LSI techniques and applications

An optimization version of a network analysis program for IC design will be offered. Qualitative aspects of the program, its modification by confrontation with applications, and a tentative outlook for the future, will be discussed.
Holy Women and Hagiography in Colonial Spanish America

Holy women and hagiography (autobiographies and biographies of saints and holy persons) were defining features of the “spiritual renaissance” that flourished in Spanish American cities during the 17th and 18th centuries. Recently, scholars have expanded their traditional focus upon nuns and convent literature to consider hagiographical texts about pious laywomen, or beatas, among them non-elite, native, African, and mixed-race holy women. This article considers recent approaches to holy women and hagiography, which rethink the “marginal” or “subversive” position of beatas and non-Europeans within colonial Spanish Catholicism. These studies also challenge historiographical narratives about the uniformly repressive nature of Counter Reformation Catholicism and illustrate how priests diversely responded to the intersection of Universal Catholicism and local religion in colonial Spanish America. The scholarship under review suggests that the evangelizing spirit of the Counter Reformation and enthusiastic lay female religiosity, which crossed racial and class lines, fostered more flexible ideals of feminine and non-European piety than previously imagined. More broadly, these studies rethink approaches to religion that emphasize paradigms of domination versus resistance, dichotomize official and popular Catholicism, and isolate religious experience and practice from broader and more complex colonial contexts.
Seasonal and interannual variability of the budgets of N2O and CCl3F

The 6-year wind archives from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies/Global Climate-Middle Atmosphere Model (GISS/GCMAM) were input to the GISS/Harvard/Irvine Chemical Transport Model (G/H/I CTM) to study the seasonal and interannual variability of the budgets and distributions of nitrous oxide (N2O) and trichlorofluoromethane (CCl3F), with the corresponding chemical loss frequencies recycled and boundary conditions kept unchanged from year to year. The effects of ozone feedback and quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) were not included. However, the role of circulation variation in driving the lifetime variability is investigated. It was found that the global loss rates of these tracers are related to the extratropical planetary wave activity, which drives the tropical upward mass flux. For N2O a semiannual signal in the loss rate variation is associated with the interhemispheric asymmetry in the upper stratospheric wave activity. For CCl3F the semiannual signal is weaker, associated with the comparatively uniform wave episodes in the lower stratosphere. The loss rates lag behind the wave activity by about 1–2 months. The interannual variation of the general circulation model generated winds drives the interannual variation of the annually averaged lifetime. The year-to-year variations of the annually averaged lifetimes can be about 3% for N2O and 4% for CCl3F.
Virtual collaborative control to improve intelligent robotic system efficiency and quality

Virtual collaborative environments allow designers to interact over a network to discuss technical issues and solve problems in shared virtual scenes. This paper describes applications of this concept in virtual collaborative engineering (VCE) and virtual collaborative visualization (VCV). It then introduces virtual collaborative control (VCC), a new systems approach that uses virtual collaborative environments to improve equipment utilization in unstructured and dynamic environments. A working VCC system, developed by Sandia National Laboratories and the Pennsylvania State University that extends the techniques of collaborative design and visualization to accomplish collaborative control of robots and machines, is described. New VCC utilization and quality-improving system design principals are proposed. The new principles are verified through a series of pilot tests conducted on four VCC configurations. A factor of two and better utilization improvements and better decision-making quality are achieved. The new VCC capability will enable geographically dispersed experts to participate more fully in custom operations such as in manufacturing, hazardous waste remediation, and space telerobotics.
Micromachined probes for on-wafer characterization of terahertz and submillimeter-wave components

A micromachined coplanar waveguide probe for performing on-wafer measurements of planar devices in the WR-1.5 waveguide band (500–750 GHz) is described. The probe is fabricated using a silicon-on-insulator process and is scalable to terahertz frequencies.
Studies on the annual reproductive cycle of the female cobra, naja naja—I. Seasonal variation in plasma cholesterol

Abstract 1. Total plasma cholesterol was measured in monthly samples of female cobras over a period of 3 years. 2. Cholesterol levels ranged between 155 and 550 mg% but were generally between 200 and 300 mg%. 3. Significant seasonal differences were noted with a sharp drop in plasma cholesterol in May, an increase in September, and a second decrease in November. 4. The decrease in plasma cholesterol in May was strongly correlated with maximum ovarian development, and the decrease in November appeared to be associated with fat body deposition.
Quantum Langevin model for exoergic ion-molecule reactions and inelastic processes

We present a fully quantal version of the Langevin model for the total rate of exoergic ion-molecule reactions or inelastic processes. The model, which is derived from a rigorous multichannel quantum-defect formulation of bimolecular processes, agrees with the classical Langevin model at sufficiently high temperatures. It also gives an analytic description of ion-molecule reactions and inelastic processes in the ultracold regime where the quantum nature of the relative motion between the reactants becomes important.
Genome-to-function characterization of novel fungal P450 monooxygenases oxidizing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)

Fungi, particularly the white rot basidiomycetes, have an extraordinary capability to degrade and/or mineralize (to CO(2)) the recalcitrant fused-ring high molecular weight (4 aromatic-rings) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HMW PAHs). Despite over 30years of research demonstrating involvement of P450 monooxygenation reactions in fungal metabolism of HMW PAHs, specific P450 monooxygenases responsible for oxidation of these compounds are not yet known. Here we report the first comprehensive identification and functional characterization of P450 monooxygenases capable of oxidizing different ring-size PAHs in the model white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium using a successful genome-to-function strategy. In a genome-wide P450 microarray screen, we identified six PAH-responsive P450 genes (Pc-pah1-Pc-pah6) inducible by PAHs of varying ring size, namely naphthalene, phenanthrene, pyrene, and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP). Using a co-expression strategy, cDNAs of the six Pc-Pah P450s were cloned and expressed in Pichia pastoris in conjunction with the homologous P450 oxidoreductase (Pc-POR). Each of the six recombinant P450 monooxygenases showed PAH-oxidizing activity albeit with varying substrate specificity towards PAHs (3-5 rings). All six P450s oxidized pyrene (4-ring) into two monohydroxylated products. Pc-Pah1 and Pc-Pah3 oxidized BaP (5-ring) to 3-hydroxyBaP whereas Pc-Pah4 and Pc-Pah6 oxidized phenanthrene (3-ring) to 3-, 4-, and 9-phenanthrol. These PAH-oxidizing P450s (493-547 aa) are structurally diverse and novel considering their low overall homology (12-23%) to mammalian counterparts. To our knowledge, this is the first report on specific fungal P450 monooxygenases with catalytic activity toward environmentally persistent and highly toxic HMW PAHs.
The Bimodality of Unique Green Revisited

Unique green measurements were obtained from 50 females and 50 males under eight different experimental conditions. Combinations of two different test sizes (0.25 and 1.0 deg) and four different background fields (none, 62.5, 250, and 1000 td) comprised the experimental conditions under which unique green measurements were made. Group and gender frequency distributions of the unique green loci were examined for the eight experimental conditions. Differences in the shape of the frequency distributions were noted for the different test sizes and backgrounds as well as for gender, but none of the experimental parameters appeared to elicit a statistically significant bimodal distribution.
High Aspect Ratio SU-8 Structures for 3-D Culturing of Neurons

This paper presents a simplified fabrication method for high aspect ratio micromachined towers for culturing 3-D networks of neurons. The photosensitive epoxy SU-8 was used as both the tower material and the substrate. This material was particularly suitable because of its mechanical stability, biocompatibility, and potential for high aspect ratio fabrication. Fabrication is effectively simplified by a double exposure technique, allowing tower structures and an integral SU-8 substrate to be formed from the same epoxy deposition, thereby addressing column-to-substrate adhesion issues that have traditionally limited the aspect ratios achieved with conventional fabrication techniques. Aspect ratios up to 35:1 have been achieved, and successful cell culturing has been demonstrated.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
A demonstration of INPUFF with the MATS data base

Abstract An integrated puff model, INPUFF, is evaluated using the MATS data base. A brief description of the model is provided outlining the salient characteristics. A description of the MATS data base, which consists of 14 SF 6 tracer releases with associated meteorology, is also provided. INPUFF slightly overestimated peak concentrations. Since the SF 6 puffs were well mixed for every tracer release, model performance is very sensitive to estimates of the mixing heights. The absolute mean fractional error between two techniques for estimating the mixing height is 0.87, which indicates a large uncertainty in this very important input parameter.
Life After GWAS Functional Genomics in Vascular Biology

The genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of recent years have provided the first unbiased views of genes contributing to cardiovascular disorders in European and some Asian and African populations. In addition to extending these studies using techniques such as deep sequencing, the major challenge at present is to understand how the novel genes contribute to disease. The goal of this series of essays is to provide some perspective on how this might be accomplished. The essay by Seraya Maouche and Heribert Schunkert summarizes the recent findings from GWAS for atherosclerosis and discusses their functional, biological, …
Do tree ring chronologies have missing rings that distort volcanic cooling signal?: Fixing tree ring chronologies yields closer agreement with models

Climate models generally show that when a massive volcano erupts, scattering reflective aerosols across the globe, the planet's temperature declines for up to a few years. However, when researchers look at reconstructed temperature records built on annual tree ring measurements, this volcanic cooling often appeared much weaker than expected or was nonexistent. In a new study reanalyzing regional tree ring growth records, Mann et al. provide a possible explanation for the absence of the cooling effect.
Comparison of earthworm- and fish-derived chemicals eliciting prey attack by garter snakes (Thamnophis)

Materials eliciting increased tongue flicking and prey attack in garter snakes were isolated from both earthworm and fish prey. New extraction methods based on chloroform-methanol mixtures are valuable adjuncts to the more typical aqueous preparations. Both high- and low-molecular weight components from earthworms and fish were active. The similarity between the active chemicals in these two classes of prey was established using several methods of analysis. These included chromatography, carbohydrate and amino acid analyses, and nuclear magnetic resonance.
革命, Cách Mạng, Révolution: The early history of ‘revolution’ in Việt Nam

This article traces the etymology of the term ‘revolution’ as it developed in Vieṭ Nam between the second half of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. It argues that the term was slow to catch on, and that activists who used it did so in often contradictory ways. The term’s historical development complicated efforts to fix its meaning, and it was not until the later part of the 1920s that it came to be consolidated, in part through Ho Chi Minh’s publication of a short book entitled Đu o ng Kach Meṇh (The road to revolution).
Microfluidic PCR Combined with Pyrosequencing for Identification of Allelic Variants with Phenotypic Associations among Targeted Salmonella Genes

A novel targeted massive parallel sequencing approach identified genetic variation in eight known or predicted fimbrial adhesins for 46 Salmonella strains. The results highlight associations between specific adhesin alleles, host species, and antimicrobial resistance. The differentiation of allelic variants has potential applications for diagnostic microbiology and epidemiological investigations.
Nicastrin Functions as a γ-Secretase-Substrate Receptor

Summary γ-secretase catalyzes the intramembrane cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) and Notch after their extracellular domains are shed by site-specific proteolysis. Nicastrin is an essential glycoprotein component of the γ-secretase complex but has no known function. We now show that the ectodomain of nicastrin binds the new amino terminus that is generated upon proteolysis of the extracellular APP and Notch domains, thereby recruiting the APP and Notch substrates into the γ-secretase complex. Chemical- or antibody-mediated blocking of the free amino terminus, addition of purified nicastrin ectodomain, or mutations in the ectodomain markedly reduce the binding and cleavage of substrate by γ-secretase. These results indicate that nicastrin is a receptor for the amino-terminal stubs that are generated by ectodomain shedding of type I transmembrane proteins. Our data are consistent with a model where nicastrin presents these substrates to γ-secretase and thereby facilitates their cleavage via intramembrane proteolysis.
Stratospheric controlled perturbation experiment: a small-scale experiment to improve understanding of the risks of solar geoengineering

Although solar radiation management (SRM) through stratospheric aerosol methods has the potential to mitigate impacts of climate change, our current knowledge of stratospheric processes suggests that these methods may entail significant risks. In addition to the risks associated with current knowledge, the possibility of ‘unknown unknowns’ exists that could significantly alter the risk assessment relative to our current understanding. While laboratory experimentation can improve the current state of knowledge and atmospheric models can assess large-scale climate response, they cannot capture possible unknown chemistry or represent the full range of interactive atmospheric chemical physics. Small-scale, in situ experimentation under well-regulated circumstances can begin to remove some of these uncertainties. This experiment—provisionally titled the stratospheric controlled perturbation experiment—is under development and will only proceed with transparent and predominantly governmental funding and independent risk assessment. We describe the scientific and technical foundation for performing, under external oversight, small-scale experiments to quantify the risks posed by SRM to activation of halogen species and subsequent erosion of stratospheric ozone. The paper's scope includes selection of the measurement platform, relevant aspects of stratospheric meteorology, operational considerations and instrument design and engineering.
On Rayleigh's Problem in Magnetohydrodynamics

A comparison is made of three flow fields that may be described as Rayleigh's problem in magnetohydrodynamics and that differ only in the state of motion of the magnetic field. Deviation of approximate expressions for the velocity from the more exact relations are also presented when the ratio of the viscous and magnetic Reynolds numbers is unity.
Dual Nature of Physiography

Physiography may be viewed from two distinct angles, the one dynamic, the other passive. The processes hold the fascination inherent in energy and force; the products exhibit all the beauty and diversity of form in the composition of landscapes. The tacit adoption of a particular view-point not only will avoid confusion but will also simplify to a great extent both oral and written presentation of physiographic subjects, especially to beginners. We ought, perhaps, to discriminate clearly between process and product. In a restricted fashion geodynamics studies the process, force or activity, simply acknowledging the form as a passive result. Geomorphology considers that form to be a detailed expression of the influence of rock and structure and acknowledges the process as a cause chiefly in relation to the gross lineaments of the ensemble. In a large fashion geodynamics is intimately associated with certain branches of geology, as sedimentation, while geomorphology connects physiography with geography. The dynamic interlude representing the active phase of physiography weaves the basic threads of geologic history.
Probability density of the radial gradient of aperture-averaged isotropic-speckle intensity

The probability-density function governing the radial gradient of the aperture-integrated isotropic-speckle intensity is obtained by inverting the Abel integral equation between the above probability density and the known probability-density function of the corresponding spatial derivative. The final result is that the sought-for probability density is expressible in terms of modified Bessel functions of the second kind.
Injuries in preschool classrooms

Purpose – The primary purpose of this paper is to examine the kinds of injuries that preschool teachers working in Indiana, USA, believed to be the most common in their preschool (3‐6 year olds) classrooms, the causes of such injuries, and the most important precautions they take to prevent them. Also examined are the measures the teachers take when an injury occurs.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 155 preschool teachers take part in the research by completing a questionnaire. The data are analyzed using basic descriptive statistics.Findings – On the question of what constituted the most important classroom injury prevention measure, 26 percent of the respondents report “close supervision of children”, 24 percent select “ensuring classroom safety”, 23 percent pick “cautioning children”, 17 percent choose “setting and enforcing rules” in the classroom, 7 percent select “modeling for social behavior” and 3 percent “safe gross motor activities”. With respect to action taken when an injured occurs, 36...