cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Botanophiles Confront Deforestation

One of the most prominent of the ordinances prepared by the indefatigable Colbert related to Waters and Forests, given by the king at Saint-Germain-en-Laye in August 1669. Colbert was no botanophile. But his every effort was meant to conserve and extend the wealth of the state, and he knew a very elementary truth: to despoil the forests was to erode, not to increase, that wealth.
An Efficient Scores Test for Comparing Several Measuring Devices

We develop an omnibus test for the equality of biases and variances in several measuring devices, assuming Grubbs' model. The omnibus test statistic is based on the method of efficient scores, and ...
Leptin Therapy in People with a Normal Leptin Gene

Two decades have passed since the paradigm-changing discovery in 1994 that mutations in the ob gene (aka lep) lead to murine morbid obesity. The OB receptor (aka lepr) and natural ligand, leptin, were identified the following year. Early proof-of-concept studies in rodents and humans with homozygous ob mutations subsequently heralded the possibility that exogenously administered leptin might prove a useful therapeutic in obese humans with a normal leptin gene. Unlike the low or absent leptin blood levels observed in the presence of ob mutations, most obese subjects have relatively high circulating leptin levels, a finding suggesting that the majority of people with excess adiposity are insensitive to the hormone’s actions in vivo. Two forms of leptin were developed for proof-of-concept human studies, recombinant methionyl leptin (metreleptin), and pegylated recombinant human leptin (PEG-OB). Both the pivotal metreleptin and PEG-OB randomized double-blind placebo-controlled studies showed modest but statistically significant weight loss in overweight and obese subjects at relatively high subcutaneously administered doses. A wide range of secondary outcomes were evaluated, although most reported studies were post-hoc analyses and not designed to specifically test a selective leptin effect. While exogenously administered leptin safely promotes weight loss in obese humans with a normal leptin gene, efficacy is modest and thus little clinical value can be ascribed to this treatment approach across the population as a whole. Strategies for overcoming the insensitivity to leptin’s actions in the presence of excess adiposity are needed for this hormonal mechanism to prove useful as a clinical therapeutic.
Ex vivo transduction of corneal epithelial progenitor cells using a retroviral vector.

Purpose To transduce corneal epithelial progenitor cells with a reporter gene using a retroviral vector and follow their progeny in vitro and in vivo. Methods Using a lacZ-producing retroviral vector, rabbit keratolimbal explants were transduced ex vivo, autografted onto their original sites, and assessed for lacZ-producing cells in the cornea throughout a 6-month period. Four autografts served as control samples, having received no vector. Experimental and control rabbits were euthanized and corneas with scleral rims harvested, weekly for 4 weeks and then monthly for 6 months. The corneas were first stained with 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl galactopyranoside (X-gal) as wholemounts and then sectioned for histology and immunohistochemistry to examine lacZ-positive cell outgrowth. Three additional transduced explants were observed in culture. These explants were transferred to new culture dishes every week for 9 weeks. The previously occupied culture dish was stained for lacZ to detect transduced epithelial cells, and the number of lacZ-positive cells was quantitated. Results LacZ-positive cells were found in the corneas of 18 of 20 eyes in which virally transduced keratolimbal autografts had been implanted. The cells were epithelial in nature, originated from the limbus, and were found in colonies throughout the epithelial layer of the cornea. The appearance of lacZ-positive cells in four of five corneas harvested after 6 months showed long-term transgene expression consistent with transduction of corneal epithelial stem cells. In vitro, the number of lacZ-positive cells migrating from the keratolimbal autografts decreased rapidly during the first 4 weeks and then remained stable through week 9. Conclusions This study shows that a retroviral vector can effectively transduce corneal epithelial progenitor cells, shown by the long-term appearance of transduced cells on the cornea in vivo and the stable production of lacZ-positive cells in vitro. The appearance and disappearance of labeled cells is consistent with the initial transduction of stem cells and transient amplifying cells.
Sequential antimicrobial therapy: a realistic approach to cost containment?

Practitioners have long considered the treatment of serious infections using routes of antimicrobial administration other than the intravenous route or with agents exhibiting prolonged dosage intervals with a healthy degree of scepticism. Such prescribing patterns in all likelihood stem from the early era of antibiotherapy in which agents with unfavourable phannaco[ogical properties such as penicillin and cephalothin predominated. Unfortunately, this approach to antimicrobial prescribing results in substantial hidden costs such as those involved in augmented labour (nursing, pharmacy, intravenous therapist time) and materials (needles, intravenous solutions, administration sets, infusion pumps). Decisions surrounding antimicrobial administration in the treatment of serious hospital-associated infections present important cost-containment considerations for the practitioner. There tend to be 3 distinct stages of therapy for such infections and, especially in the latter 2 stages, cost containment is achievable through close monitoring of the mode, level and frequency of antimicrobial administration (Quintiliani et al. 1987; table I).
Commodity RGB-D Sensors: Data Acquisition

Over the past 10 years, we have seen a democratization of range sensing technology. While previously range sensors have been highly expensive and only accessible to a few domain experts, such sensors are nowadays ubiquitous and can even be found in the latest generation of mobile devices, e.g., current smartphones. This democratization of range sensing technology was started with the release of the Microsoft Kinect, and since then many different commodity range sensors followed its lead, such as the Primesense Carmine, Asus Xtion Pro, and the Structure Sensor from Occipital. The availability of cheap range sensing technology led to a big leap in research, especially in the context of more powerful static and dynamic reconstruction techniques, starting from 3D scanning applications, such as KinectFusion, to highly accurate face and body tracking approaches. In this chapter, we have a detailed look into the different types of existing range sensors. We discuss the two fundamental types of commodity range sensing techniques in detail, namely passive and active sensing, and we explore the principles these technologies are based on. Our focus is on modern active commodity range sensors based on time of flight and structured light. We conclude by discussing the noise characteristics, working ranges, and types of errors made by the different sensing modalities.
On the use and misuse of climate change projections in international development

Climate resilience is increasingly prioritized by international development agencies and national governments. However, current approaches to informing communities of future climate risk are problematic. The predominant focus on end‐of‐century projections neglects more pressing development concerns, which relate to the management of shorter‐term risks and climate variability, and constitutes a substantial opportunity cost for the limited financial and human resources available to tackle development challenges. When a long‐term view genuinely is relevant to decision‐making, much of the information available is not fit for purpose. Climate model projections are able to capture many aspects of the climate system and so can be relied upon to guide mitigation plans and broad adaptation strategies, but the use of these models to guide local, practical adaptation actions is unwarranted. Climate models are unable to represent future conditions at the degree of spatial, temporal, and probabilistic precision with which projections are often provided, which gives a false impression of confidence to users of climate change information. In this article, we outline these issues, review their history, and provide a set of practical steps for both the development and climate scientist communities to consider. Solutions to mobilize the best available science include a focus on decision‐relevant timescales, an increased role for model evaluation and expert judgment and the integration of climate variability into climate change services. This article is categorized under: Climate and Development > Knowledge and Action in Development
Prevalence of twenty-four hour urine testing in Veterans with urinary stone disease.

Objective The American Urological Association guidelines recommend 24-hour urine testing in patients with urinary stone disease to decrease the risk of stone recurrence; however, national practice patterns for 24-hour urine testing are not well characterized. Our objective is to determine the prevalence of 24-hour urine testing in patients with urinary stone disease in the Veterans Health Administration and examine patient-specific and facility-level factors associated with 24-hour urine testing. Identifying variations in clinical practice can inform future quality improvement efforts in the management of urinary stone disease in integrated healthcare systems. Materials and methods We accessed national Veterans Health Administration data through the Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW), hosted by the Veterans Affairs Informatics and Computing Infrastructure (VINCI), to identify patients with urinary stone disease. We defined stone formers as Veterans with one inpatient ICD-9 code for kidney or ureteral stones, two or more outpatient ICD-9 codes for kidney or ureteral stones, or one or more CPT codes for kidney or ureteral stone procedures from 2007 through 2013. We defined a 24-hour urine test as a 24-hour collection for calcium, oxalate, citrate or sulfate. We used multivariable regression to assess demographic, geographic, and selected clinical factors associated with 24-hour urine testing. Results We identified 130,489 Veterans with urinary stone disease; 19,288 (14.8%) underwent 24-hour urine testing. Patients who completed 24-hour urine testing were younger, had fewer comorbidities, and were more likely to be White. Utilization of 24-hour urine testing varied widely by geography and facility, the latter ranging from 1 to 40%. Conclusions Fewer than one in six patients with urinary stone disease complete 24-hour urine testing in the Veterans Health Administration. In addition, utilization of 24-hour urine testing varies widely by facility identifying a target area for improvement in the care of patients with urinary stone disease. Future efforts to increase utilization of 24-hour urine testing and improve clinician awareness of targeted approaches to stone prevention may be warranted to reduce the morbidity and cost of urinary stone disease.
Group O plasma as a media supplement for CAR-T cells and other adoptive T-cell therapies.

Background Most chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells and other adoptive T-cell therapies (ACTs) are currently manufactured by ex vivo expansion of patient lymphocytes in culture media supplemented with human plasma from group AB donors. As lymphocytes do not express A or B antigens, the isoagglutinins of non-AB plasmas are unlikely to cause deleterious effects on lymphocytes in culture. Study design and methods Seeding cultures with peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMNC) concentrates from group A1 donors and using a CAR-T culture protocol, parallel cultures were performed, each with unique donor plasmas as media supplements (including group O plasmas with high-titer anti-A and group AB plasmas as control). An additional variable, a 3% group A1 red blood cell (RBC) spike, was added to simulate a RBC-contaminated PBMNC collection. Cultures were monitored by cell count, viability, flow cytometric phenotype, gene expression analysis, and supernatant chemokine analysis. Results There was no difference in lymphocyte expansion or phenotype when cultured with AB plasma or O plasma with high-titer anti-A. Compared to controls, the presence of contaminating RBCs in lymphocyte culture led to poor lymphocyte expansion and a less desirable phenotype-irrespective of the isoagglutinin titer of the plasma supplement used. Conclusions This study suggests that ABO incompatible plasma may be used as a media supplement when culturing cell types that do not express ABO antigens-such as lymphocytes for CAR-T or other ACT. The presence of contaminating RBCs in culture was disadvantageous independent of isoagglutinin titer.
Serendipity: Reflections on Being Mentored by Dr. Peter Doherty

This is a semiautobiographical and scientific account of my time in the Doherty Laboratory from 1994 to 1999. It includes personal vignettes as well as discussion of how our work has impacted the fields of influenza, respiratory infections and immunity. I also point out the long-term impacts on my career.
Lower Corneal Haze and Aberrations in Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty Versus Descemet Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty in Fellow Eyes for Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy.

Purpose To investigate the long-term corneal changes in patients with Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy contributing to superior postoperative visual outcomes after Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) compared with Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK). Methods Using retrospective analysis, we evaluated 9 patients with Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy who underwent DSAEK in 1 eye and DMEK in the fellow eye. Patients were genotyped for the triplet repeat expansion in the TCF4 gene and imaged using optical coherence tomography, Scheimpflug imaging, and in vivo confocal microscopy through focusing. Results Eight of 9 subjects were genotyped, and all were found to harbor the triplet repeat expansion. The average time between endothelial keratoplasty and imaging was 76 ± 22 and 37 ± 9 months after DSAEK and DMEK, respectively. The mean best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (logMAR) was 0.04 ± 0.05 and 0.11 ± 0.03 in the DMEK eyes versus DSAEK eyes (P = 0.02), respectively. Posterior corneal higher order aberrations were less in the DMEK eyes compared with fellow DSAEK eyes (0.25 ± 0.06 and 0.66 ± 0.25, respectively, P ≤ 0.01). Using confocal microscopy through focusing, we found that the persistent anterior stromal haze was correlated between the right and left eyes (R = 0.73, P ≤ 0.05), but total stromal backscattering was higher for the DSAEK eyes (P ≤ 0.05). Conclusions DSAEK inherently results in higher total stromal backscattering (haze) compared with DMEK because of the addition of stromal tissue. Lower higher order aberrations of the posterior cornea and lower total stromal backscattering (haze) may both contribute to superior visual outcomes after DMEK compared with DSAEK.
Exploring tablet design options for tailoring drug release and dose via fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing

Abstract The aim of this paper was to explore tablet design options for FDM 3D printing for simultaneous tailoring of drug release and dose. The drug, griseofulvin (GF), the polymer, hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC), and processing temperatures were selected to avoid confounding effects arising from drug-polymer interactions. Filaments containing 0–30 wt% GF were prepared using a twin-screw extruder. Five tablet designs were printed using combinations of fixed or varying drug-concentration filaments, fixed or varying tablet sizes, or placebo and drug-rich regions. Two of five options met the main objective; varying drug-concentration filaments for fixed tablet size or printing fixed size duo-tablet having internal placebo regions of varying sizes. Analysis of the drug dissolution profiles revealed that the tablet surface area to volume (SA/V) ratio was the dominant factor, a higher SA/V ratio resulted in a faster release rate, mostly independent of the drug amount or its placement within the tablet. Use of HPC led to near zero-order release for most cases. For duo-tablets, long lag times proportional to placebo shell-thickness were observed. These results suggest that design options other than varying the tablet size would be needed to achieve desired drug release from FDM-based 3D printed personalized dosages.
Results of a multicenter, phase 2 study of nivolumab and ipilimumab for patients with advanced rare genitourinary malignancies

Background In this multicenter, single-arm, multicohort, phase 2 trial, the efficacy of nivolumab and ipilimumab was evaluated in patients with advanced rare genitourinary cancers, including bladder and upper tract carcinoma of variant histology (BUTCVH), adrenal tumors, platinum-refractory germ cell tumors, penile carcinoma, and prostate cancer of variant histology (NCT03333616). Methods Patients with rare genitourinary malignancies and no prior immune checkpoint inhibitor exposure were enrolled. Patients received nivolumab at 3 mg/kg and ipilimumab at 1 mg/kg intravenously every 3 weeks for 4 doses, and this was followed by 480 mg of nivolumab intravenously every 4 weeks. The primary endpoint was the objective response rate (ORR) by the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (version 1.1). Results Fifty-five patients were enrolled at 6 institutions between April 2018 and July 2019 in 3 cohorts: BUTCVH (n = 19), adrenal tumors (n = 18), and other tumors (n = 18). The median follow-up was 9.9 months (range, 1 to 21 months). Twenty-eight patients (51%) received 4 doses of nivolumab and ipilimumab; 25 patients received nivolumab maintenance for a median of 4 cycles (range, 1-18 cycles). The ORR for the entire study was 16% (80% confidence interval, 10%-25%); the ORR in the BUTCVH cohort, including 2 complete responses, was 37%, and it was 6% in the other 2 cohorts. Twenty-two patients (40%) developed treatment-related grade 3 or higher toxicities; 24% (n = 13) required high-dose steroids (≥40 mg of prednisone or the equivalent). Grade 5 events occurred in 3 patients; 1 death was treatment related. Conclusions Nivolumab and ipilimumab resulted in objective responses in a subset of patients with rare genitourinary malignancies, especially those with BUTCVH. An additional cohort exploring their activity in genitourinary tumors with neuroendocrine differentiation is ongoing. Lay summary Patients with rare cancers are often excluded from studies and have limited treatment options. Fifty-five patients with rare tumors of the genitourinary system were enrolled from multiple sites and were treated with nivolumab and ipilimumab, a regimen used for kidney cancer. The regimen showed activity in some patients, particularly those with bladder or upper tract cancers of unusual or variant histology; 37% of those patients responded to therapy. Additional studies are ongoing to better determine who benefits the most from this combination.
Dying to Live: Stories from Refugees on the Road to Freedom: by Danielle Vella, Lanham, MD, Rowman & Littlefield, 2020, xii + 198 pp., US$26.95 (hardback), ISBN 978 1 5381 1845 0

Dying to Live is filled with stories of suffering, dignity, despair, and hope. Hussein was an Afghani university student home on break when he called police to inform them about a bomb the Taliban ...
Using decades of spawning data and hydraulic models to construct a temperature dependent resource selection function for management of an endangered salmonid

In North America, impassable, man-made barriers block access to salmonid spawning habitat and require costly restoration efforts in the remaining habitats. Evaluating restored spawning habitat qual...
Hashing A Face

Face recognition methods have made great progress in the recent years. These methods most of the time represent a face image as a high-dimensional real-valued feature, often obtained using a deep network. However, comparisons of this high-dimensional feature can be computationally expensive. Furthermore, when dealing with large face images database this representation can lead to prohibitive storage requirements. Also, in a context where the capture of the face image is performed on a mobile device or in a separate location from the face verification or search process, the amount of data that needs to be transmitted over the network should be minimized.
Improved techniques for predicting spacecraft power

Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) are going to supply power for the NASA Galileo and Ulysses spacecraft now scheduled to be launched in 1989 and 1990. The duration of the Galileo mission is expected to be over 8 years. This brings the total RTG lifetime to 13 years. In 13 years, the RTG power drops more than 20 percent leaving a very small power margin over what is consumed by the spacecraft. Thus it is very important to accurately predict the RTG performance and be able to assess the magnitude of errors involved. The paper lists all the error sources involved in the RTG power predictions and describes a statistical method for calculating the tolerance.
Development of a Highly Efficient and Accurate Wind-Wave Simulation Framework for Operational Data Assimilation

Abstract : This research aims at developing a highly efficient yet accurate computation framework for simulation and prediction of wave and wind coupled motions with wave phases being resolved, which will lead to an advanced data assimilation tool to provide more comprehensive environmental input for naval applications. Our ultimate goal is to pave the way for developing an operational tool for the Navy to use for ocean-wave-atmosphere battlespace sensing and prediction with high resolution.
Studies on Mutarotases III. ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF A MUTAROTASE FROM BOVINE KIDNEY CORTEX

Abstract Mutarotase (aldose 1-epimerase) was isolated from bovine kidney cortex in a 10-stage procedure with conventional techniques. The final product which appears homogeneous in gel diffusion patterns and in sedimentation patterns on sucrose density gradients has a molecular weight of approximately 40,000. Turnover numbers and Km values for the five substrate sugars were d-glucose (1.1 x 106 min-1, 25.2 mm), d-galactose (1.3 x 106 min-1, 6.5 mm), d-xylose (1.3 x 106 min-1, 13.2 mm), l-arabinose (2.0 x 106 min-1, 8.3 mm), and d-fucose (0.35 x 106 min-1, 2.0 mm). Dialysis against water inactivated the enzyme while 10-5 m NaCl restored 50% activity. The preparation is completely stable at 4° but loses activity when stored frozen. It is reversibly inactivated by traces of organic solvents. The enzyme is sulfhydryl-dependent and was completely inactivated by mercuric ions or p-chloromercuribenzoate. The sulfhydryl content measured by titration with p-chloromercuribenzoate was 8 moles of cysteine per mole of enzyme and preliminary amino acid analyses indicated the presence of approximately 18 moles of histidine. Structural requirements for substrates are a pyranose ring with free hydroxyl groups on C-2 and C-3 in the equatorial-equatorial (trans) configuration. Many sugars, including enantiomorphs of the substrates, are good competitive inhibitors. The steric requirements indicate that a three-point attachment to the enzyme is required for substrate activity but that a two-point attachment at C-2 or C-3 or the ring oxygen (or both) is sufficient for inhibition.
Conditional, probabilistic planning: a unifying algorithm and effective search control mechanisms

Several recent papers describe algorithms for generating conditional and/or probabilistic plans. In this paper, we synthesize this work, and present a unifying algorithm that incorporates and clarifies the main techniques that have been developed in the previous literature. Our algorithm decouples the search-control strategy for conditional and/or probabilistic planning from the underlying plan-refinement process. A similar decoupling has proven to be very useful in the analysis of classical planning algorithms, and we show that it can be at least as useful here, where the search-control decisions are even more crucial. Previous probabilistic/ conditional planners have been severely limited by the fact that they do not know how to handle failure points to advantage. We show how a principled selection of failure points can be performed within the framework our algorithm. We also describe and show the effectiveness of additional heuristics. We describe our implemented system called Mahinur and experimentally demonstrate that our methods produce efficiency improvements of several orders of magnitude.
Robotic-assisted Abdominal Cerclage Placement During Pregnancy and Its Challenges

Abstract Study Objective To demonstrate a surgical video of 2 cases, in which the steps of robotic-assisted abdominal cerclage placement were delineated in one and a uterine vessel injury was repaired in the other. Design Step-by-step explanation of the technique using a surgical video (Canadian Task Force classification III). Setting The procedures were performed at a teaching hospital. The first patient was a 25-year-old gravida 4 para 0, with a history of cervical incompetence, who was 13 weeks pregnant at the time of surgery. She had failed McDonald cerclage and was referred for abdominal cerclage placement. The second patient was a 32-year-old gravida 6 para 0 who was 15 weeks pregnant. She had a history of 3 second-trimester miscarriages with painless cervical dilation and had failed McDonald cerclage during her previous pregnancy. Both patients were taken to the operating room for robotic-assisted abdominal cerclage placement early in the second trimester. Interventions Robotic-assisted abdominal cerclage placement was performed with ultrasound guidance. The procedure was begun with formation of the bladder flap [1]. An avascular space between the ascending and descending branches of uterine artery, at the level of the cervicoisthmic junction, was subsequently developed. The Mersilene tape was passed through this space in a posterior-to-anterior direction and pulled taut until it was laid flat along the posterior uterine wall. Six knots were then placed with the Mersilene tape on the anterior aspect of the uterus. The free ends of the tape were trimmed and approximated with a nonabsorbable suture to prevent knot slippage. The vesicouterine reflection was then reapproximated, and correct cerclage placement was confirmed with transvaginal ultrasound. In the second case, an incidental uterine vessel injury occurred during development of the avascular space. Hemostasis was attained immediately by clamping the vessel with the fenestrated graspers. Permanent hemostasis required application of the vascular clips, proximally and distally on the lacerated arterial site. Conclusion A robotic approach was chosen for our patients requiring transabdominal cerclage placement during pregnancy, in an attempt to decrease the surgical morbidity associated with laparotomy [2,3]. Despite the challenges introduced by the enlarged gravid uterus, both procedures were successfully completed, and the patients delivered at term via cesarean section.
Quantitative Trait Loci Affecting Methamphetamine Responses in BXD Recombinant Inbred Mouse Strains

Individual differences in most behavioral and pharmacological responses to abused drugs are dependent on both genetic and environmental factors. The genetic influences on the complex phenotypes related to drug abuse have been difficult to study using classical genetic analyses. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping is a method that has been used successfully to examine genetic contributions to some of these traits by correlating allelic variation in polymorphic genetic markers of known chromosomal location with variation in drug-response phenotypes. We evaluated several behavioral responses to multiple doses of methamphetamine (METH) in C57BL/6J (B6), DBA/2J (D2), and 25 of their recombinant inbred (BXD RI) strains. Stereotyped chewing, horizontal home cage activity, and changes in body temperature after 0, 4, 8, or 16 mg/kg METH, as well as stereotyped climbing behavior after 16 mg/kg METH, were examined. Associations ( p < 0.01) between METH sensitivity and allelic status at multiple microsatellite genetic markers were subsequently determined for each response. QTLs were provisionally identified for each phenotype, some unique to a particular behavior and others that appeared to influence multiple phenotypes. Candidate genes suggested by these analyses included several that mapped near genes relevant for the neurotransmitters acetylcholine and glutamate. The locations of QTLs provisionally identified by this analysis were compared with QTLs hypothesized in other studies to influence methamphetamine- and cocaine-related phenotypes. In several instances, QTLs appeared to overlap, which is consistent with idea that common neural substrates underlie some responses to psychostimulants.
Economics and Optimal Frequency of Wyoming Big Sagebrush Control With Tebuthiuron

Abstract The optimal frequency of tebuthiuron ( N -[5-(dimetylethyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2yl]- N,N ′-dimethylurea) treatments was investigated for Wyoming big sagebrush ( Artemisia tridentata Nutt. ssp. wyomingensis Beetle and Young) when added forage for livestock and wildlife are considered to be the economic benefit of the treatment. Data collected at 8 northwest New Mexico study sites were used to define key relationships for the economic analysis. This long-lived sagebrush control practice was found to be a viable investment for landowners who participate in available cost-share programs. At productive sites, where average herbaceous production increased to over 700 kg/ha following big sagebrush control, the economic value of added forage justified the total cost of the herbicide treatment. Tebuthiuron rates higher than 0.5 kg active ingredient/ha lengthened the expected life of the brush control treatment, but the extended life did not justify the added cost. The threshold abundance of sagebrush needed for economical control was found to be variable, depending on treatment cost, study site, and the economic value of forage. With a 50:50 cost-share arrangement and with forage valued at $7/AUM, the economic sagebrush canopy threshold from the livestock grazing perspective was estimated to range between 6% and 14%, depending on site productivity. A second brush control treatment would optimally be implemented before forage production was fully depleted by the recovering brush canopy. Because some native fauna are closely tied to big sagebrush plant communities and benefit from the shrubs’ presence, the trade-off in the desired abundance of big sagebrush must be weighed between economic considerations and other resource values of interest.
The initiation of DNA excision-repair.

Publisher Summary The excision-repair of Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is an enzymatically mediated process by which modified bases or fragments of bases are removed from cellular DNA together with adjoining normal nucleotides. This segment of excised DNA is then resynthesized through the action of a DNA polymerase using the opposite strand as a template. The last phosphodiester bond is sealed through the action of DNA ligase. The importance of this process to human well being through the prevention of cancer was emphasized by the demonstration that in contrast to normal cells, cells of individuals with xeroderma pigmentosum (XP)—a hereditary disease—did not remove ultraviolet (UV) radiation-induced pyrimidine dimers from their nuclear DNA. The importance of the DNA repair system is emphasized by the demonstration that alkylating agents caused the onset of DNA repair synthesis when applied to human (HeLa) cells in culture. Subsequently it became evident that the DNA repair system could affect the removal of many types of modified bases in addition to pyrimidine dimmers and that DNA repair constituted a general defense mechanism against a wide variety of potentially mutagenic and/or carcinogenic DNA modifications.
Prediction of vortex-induced vibration response by employing controlled motion

In order to predict response and wake modes for elastically mounted circular cylinders in a fluid flow, we employ controlled-vibration experiments, comprised of prescribed transverse vibration of a cylinder in the flow, over a wide regime of amplitude and frequency. A key to this study is the compilation of high-resolution contour plots of fluid force, in the plane of normalized amplitude and wavelength. With such resolution, we are able to discover discontinuities in the force and phase contours, which enable us to clearly identify boundaries separating different fluid-forcing regimes. These appear remarkably similar to boundaries separating different vortex-formation modes in the map of regimes by Williamson & Roshko (J. Fluids Struct., vol. 2, 1988, pp. 355–381). Vorticity measurements exhibit the 2S, 2P and P + S vortex modes, as well as a regime in which the vortex formation is not synchronized with the body vibration. By employing such fine-resolution data, we discover a high-amplitude regime in which two vortex-formation modes overlap. Associated with this overlap regime, we identify a new distinct mode of vortex formation comprised of two pairs of vortices formed per cycle, where the secondary vortex in each pair is much weaker than the primary vortex. This vortex mode, which we define as the 2POVERLAP mode (2PO), is significant because it is responsible for generating the peak resonant response of the body. We find that the wake can switch intermittently between the 2P and 2PO modes, even as the cylinder is vibrating with constant amplitude and frequency. By examining the energy transfer from fluid to body motion, we predict a free-vibration response which agrees closely with measurements for an elastically mounted cylinder. In this work, we introduce the concept of an ‘energy portrait’, which is a plot of the energy transfer into the body motion and the energy dissipated by damping, as a function of normalized amplitude. Such a plot allows us to identify stable and unstable amplitude-response solutions, dependent on the rate of change of net energy transfer with amplitude (the sign of dE*/dA*). Our energy portraits show how the vibration system may exhibit a hysteretic mode transition or intermittent mode switching, both of which correspond with such phenomena measured from free vibration. Finally, we define the complete regime in the amplitude–wavelength plane in which free vibration may exist, which requires not only a periodic component of positive excitation but also stability of the equilibrium solutions.
A remark on sets having the Steinhaus property

A point set satisfies the Steinhaus property if no matter how it is placed on a plane, it covers exactly one integer lattice point. Whether or not such a set exists, is an open problem. Beck has proved [1] that any bounded set satisfying the Steinhaus property is not Lebesgue measurable. We show that any such set (bounded or not) must have empty interior. As a corollary, we deduce that closed sets do not have the Steinhaus property, fact noted by Sierpinski [3] under the additional assumption of boundedness.
The elastic free energy and the elastic equation of state: Elongation and swelling of polydimethylsiloxane networks

The elastic free energy for a tetrafunctional network is here expressed as where λ1, etc., are the principal extension ratios relative to the state of reference (wherein 〈r2〉 = 〈r2〉0), and C1, C2, and m are arbitrary parameters. The free energy of a swollen system is taken to be the sum G = Gmix + Gel of Gel and the free energy of mixing . Stress-strain relations and the chemical potential μ1 are derived from G as functions of the elasticity parameters C1, C2, and m, and of the thermodynamic interaction parameter χ or of . The dilation of the semi-open system subject to deformation when exposed to diluent at fixed activity is derived as the sum of the dilation at fixed composition and the dilation due to absorption of diluent. Experiments are reported on the dependence of the equilibrium retractive force on elongation for cross-linked polydimethylsiloxanes (PDMS) exposed to benzene or hexamethyldisiloxane vapor at regulated activities. Volume fractions of samples covered the range v2 = 1.00 to v2 ≈ 0.30. With the choice of m = ½ the elastic behavior of a given polymer is well represented by one combination of values for C1 and C2 at all dilutions by either diluent. The dependence of the Mooney-Rivlin (C2) term on volume is thus established, at least for PDMS, and the scope of the semi-empirical free energy expression and its consequents is greatly enlarged. Values of χ deduced from the equilibrium swelling of the unstrained networks exposed to benzene at various activities are in excellent agreement with those obtained previously from vapor pressures and osmotic pressures on linear PDMS. The results of Allen, Kirkham, Padget, and Price on the elastic behavior of natural rubber are discussed, with particular reference to the coefficients of dilation with elongation which they determined at fixed composition. The present results lend strong support to the principle of additivity of the free energies attributable to the network and to the bulk liquid system, respectively. This principle is fundamental to the analysis of rubber elasticity.
High‐throughput plant genomics

A meeting report on the Keystone Symposium “Systems Approach to Plant Biology”, Big Sky, Montana, 26‐31 January, 2001. This symposium, sponsored by several plant biotech companies, brought together both industrial and academic researchers to plot bolder strategies for high‐throughput plant biological research. Broad‐ranging discussions covered historical discoveries, recent developments and exciting new trends that are emerging in this highly dynamic field. Participants from around the world appeared to be energized by the exciting possibilities for determining and, ultimately, controlling metabolic pathways and processes while recognizing that there is still much to do in order to understand the biological systems of all known genes.
Efficiency of Sampling to Determine Population Size of Cyrtobagous salviniae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

Abstract Salvinia molesta D. S. Mitchell (Salviniales: Salviniaceae), a small floating fern introduced from South America, is causing an increasing number of problems in the US. Increased reliance on the biocontrol agent, Cyrtobagous salviniae, in the US is becoming more commonplace and several mass-rearing facilities have been developed. Because of differences in sampling protocols including sample size, reporting parameters, and numbers released, an investigation into sampling efficiency was initiated. A small pond in southern Louisiana was sampled in an effort to understand what constitutes an adequate sample size and methodologies needed to estimate numbers of weevils. A clumped distribution in the pond was identified, which required a large number of samples to be taken to minimize differences in means and variation. When randomly selecting 10 sets of samples where n = 5 for Sep, means varied from a high of 280 weevils/m2 to a low of only 50 weevils /m2, a difference of nearly 6-fold. However, when r...
Application of Inverse Substrates to Trypsin-Catalyzed Peptide Synthesis

Abstract Trypsin-catalyzed peptide synthesis has been studied by using “inverse substrate,” i.e., p -amidinophenyl ester derived from α-amino acid derivative as an acyl donor component. Inverse substrate can afford acyl trypsin in a very specific manner, liberating the site-specific p -amidinophenyl moiety as the leaving group. Thus a variety of α-amino acid residues which are a part of p -amidinophenyl ester can be involved in the trypsin-catalyzed coupling reaction. The method has been shown to be successful as expected. In conclusion, the method was proposed as a new procedure which overcomes the disadvantage of enzymatic peptide synthesis.
Variation in budding and flowering-time of commercial cultivars of Antirrhinum majus

Abstract Seven F1 hybrids of Antirrhinum majus were grown in a range of environments and measurements were made of the time from sowing to budding and of the time from budding to flowering. The time to budding of all cultivars varied with environment, but was always longer for late-flowering types. The time from budding to flowering changed with environment in the early-flowering cultivars. This period was shorter and apparently independent of environment in the late-flowering types. The possibility of selecting types which combine the short vegetative phase of the early-flowering cultivars with the lower time for inflorescence development of the late ones is discussed.
A revised kinematic model for the relative motion between Pacific oceanic plates and North America since the Late Cretaceous

[1] The convergence between the Pacific, Farallon, and Kula oceanic plates and the North American plate has provided a driving force for tectonic processes that have shaped the western margin of North America. Yet reconstructions of plate motion in the Pacific basin have traditionally relied on the assumption of fixed hot spots. In the last decade, substantial Cretaceous to Paleogene motion between the Pacific and Atlantic hot spots has been recognized, providing motivation to reevaluate the history of relative motion between Pacific oceanic plates and North America by means of plate circuit reconstructions. This paper presents new kinematic models based on two alternative plate circuits linking the Pacific plate to North America since Late Cretaceous time. When compared to models relying on fixity of Pacific and Indo-Atlantic hot spots, our reconstructions suggest that the Pacific-Kula and Pacific-Farallon ridges were ∼600–1000 km closer to the western margin of North America and hence that the Farallon and Kula plates were smaller in Late Cretaceous to middle Eocene time. These findings cast significant doubt on the viability of a configuration of the Farallon-Kula ridge that juxtaposes the Kula plate with the southern part of the paleo-North American margin during this time interval. The results of our new reconstructions also suggest more oblique convergence between the Farallon (or Kula) plate and North America from the Late Cretaceous to the middle Eocene related to the combination of dominantly northwest motion of the Pacific plate and steady southwest motion of North America. This provides an efficient mechanism for the coast-parallel translation of some accreted terranes of North America. It may also explain the structure of geological units in western North America, such as the Central Belt of the Franciscan Complex, which show a dominant coast-parallel fabric formed during an interval coeval with the episode of oblique convergence.
Six-jet signals of highly colored fermions

Abstract We discuss detection at the LHC and the SSC of hadronically-decaying heavy fermions belonging to higher representations of SU (3)color.
Left ventricular compliance pumping and arterial system wave reflection

The effects of wave reflection alone on aortic pressure and flow were studied using an arterial system model coupled to a time-varying compliance model of the left ventricle. A reflectionless system was obtained while retaining the dc characteristics of the system. This allowed for the qualitative study of the effects of wave reflections on aortic pressure and flow. We find that in a system with reflections, diastolic pressure is decreased, allowing earlier ejection and higher peak flow. For the reflectionless case, the flow pulse is broader but stroke volume and mean aortic pressure remain the same.
Measurements of gate lag in high-quality nearly lattice matched InAlN/AlN/GaN HFET structures

The promise of InAlN-based HFET devices stems from the relatively large band and spontaneous polarization discontinuities and at the interface and the lack of misfit strain when grown lattice matched to GaN. However, there still exists some question as to what the true lattice matching condition of InAlN to GaN is due to discrepancies in the literature values of lattice parameters of the InN binary, and of the InAlN bowing parameters. We used the gate lag measurement as a supplementary technique to verify lattice matching to the underlying GaN, as we expect the strain in layers one source of lag, associated with piezoelectric charge at the surface. We observe very low lag for nearly lattice matched barrier and barriers under tensile strain, and a marked increase as the composition deviates from the lattice matched condition toward compressively strained layers. Additionally, FETs fabricated on a nearly lattice matched InAlN layer boasted a maximum drain current of over 1.5A/mm and ~2.0A/mm and transconductances of ~275mS/mm and ~300mS/mm at DC and in pulsed modes, respectively, and a cutoff frequency of 15.9GHz (an f T *L G product of 10.3) for a gate length of 0.65μm.
Space–wavenumber and time–frequency analysis for damage inspection of thin-walled structures:

This article presents a dynamics-based methodology for accurate damage inspection of thin-walled structures by combining a boundary effect evaluation method (BEEM) for space–wavenumber analysis of measured operational deflection shapes (ODSs) and a conjugate-pair decomposition (CPD) method for time–frequency analysis of time traces of measured points. BEEM is for locating and estimating small structural damages by processing ODSs measured by a full-field measurement system (e.g. a scanning laser vibrometer or a camera-based motion measurement system). BEEM is a nondestructive spatial domain method based on sliding-window processing of ODSs, and it works without using any structural model or historical data for comparison. Similar to the short-time Fourier transform and wavelet transform, CPD uses adaptive windowed regular harmonics and function orthogonality to perform time–frequency analysis of time traces by extracting time-localized regular and/or distorted harmonics. Both BEEM and CPD are local spectr...
Estimate of Contribution of Jet Aircraft Operations To Trace Element Concentration at or near Airports

Samples of ASTM type A jet fuel were analyzed for trace element content by instrumental neutron activation techniques. Forty-nine elements were sought. Only ten, aluminum, gold, indium, lanthanum, titanium, vanadium, barium, dysprosium, tellurium, and uranium, were observed at levels above the detection limits encountered; of these only aluminum, titanium, and barium were present at concentrations greater than 0.1 ppm. Estimates of exhaust gas concentrations are made, and the ambient contribution at or near airports is calculated by using the Los Angeles International Airport dispersion model. It is shown that the ambient contribution is about an order of magnitude below typical urban levels for virtually all elements sought.
Ground and excited states of spinor fermi gases in tight waveguides and the Lieb-Liniger-Heisenberg model.

The ground and excited states of a one-dimensional (1D) spin-(1/2) Fermi gas (SFG) with both attractive zero-range odd-wave interactions and repulsive zero-range even-wave interactions are mapped exactly to a 1D Lieb-Liniger-Heisenberg (LLH) model with delta-function repulsions depending on isotropic Heisenberg spin-spin interactions, such that the complete SFG and LLH energy spectra are identical. The ground state in the ferromagnetic phase is given exactly by the Lieb-Liniger (LL) Bethe ansatz, and that in the antiferromagnetic phase by a variational method combining Bethe ansatz solutions of the LL and 1D Heisenberg models. There are excitation branches corresponding to LL type I and II phonons and spin waves, the latter behaving quadratically for small wave numbers in the ferromagnetic phase and linearly in the antiferromagnetic phase.