cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Edge radial electric field structure in quiescent H-mode plasmas in the DIII-D tokamak

H-mode operation is the choice for next step tokamak devices based on either conventional or advanced tokamak physics. This choice, however, comes at a significant cost for both the conventional and advanced tokamaks because of the effects of edge localized modes (ELMs). ELMs can produce significant erosion in the divertor and can affect the ? limit and reduced core transport regions needed for advanced tokamak operation. Experimental results from DIII-D over the past four years have demonstrated a new operating regime, the quiescent H-mode (QH-mode) regime, that solves these problems. QH-mode plasmas have now been run for over 4?s (>30 energy confinement times). Utilizing the steady-state nature of the QH-mode edge allows us to obtain unprecedented spatial resolution of the edge ion profiles and the edge radial electric field, Er, by sweeping the edge plasma slowly past the view points of the charge exchange spectroscopy system. We have investigated the effects of direct edge ion orbit loss on the creation and sustainment of the QH-mode. Direct loss of ions injected into the velocity-space loss cone at the plasma edge is not necessary for creation or sustainment of the QH-mode. The direct ion orbit loss has little effect on the edge Er well. The Er at the bottom of the well in these cases is about ?100?kV?m?1 compared with ?20 to ?30?kV?m?1 in the standard H-mode. The well is about 1?cm wide, which is close to the diameter of the deuteron gyro-orbit. We also have investigated the effect of changing edge triangularity by changing the plasma shape from upwardly biased single null to magnetically balanced double null. We have now achieved the QH-mode in these double-null plasmas. The increased triangularity allows us to increase pedestal density in QH-mode plasmas by a factor of about 2.5 and overall pedestal pressure by a factor of 2. Pedestal ? and ?* values matching the values desired for ITER have been achieved. In these higher density plasmas, the Er well is significantly shallower and broader.
Effects of lysine substitution on stability of polyalanine alpha-helix.

We have studied the stability of polyalanine α-helices with lysine residues added at C- and N-termini in the gas phase and aqueous solution. Monte Carlo simulations with the fixed-charge OPLS-AA and our polarizable POSSIM force fields were carried out. The results of the simulations confirm previously observed phenomena of the helix being stable with the LYS residue on the C-terminus and losing its helical structure if the charged LYS residue is located at the N-terminus of the polypeptide in the gas phase. Both OPLS-AA and POSSIM force fields performed essentially similarly; thus the validity of both for reproducing and predicting structures of such polypeptides has been confirmed. We have also studied the effect of replacing the normal N- and C-termini with methyl capping (this approach is often used in computational studies). Our results have demonstrated that the structure and stability of the polypeptides do not depend significantly on such a substitution, although details of the resulting structure ...
Effects of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin on hepatic and uterine estrogen receptor levels in rats

Administration of a single dose of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD, 20 or 80 micrograms/kg) resulted in significantly decreased hepatic and uterine estrogen receptor (ER) levels in 25-day-old female Long-Evans rats. By contrast, estradiol (5 and 15 micrograms/kg) administration increased hepatic and uterine ER levels, while a combination of 2,3,7,8-TCDD plus estradiol resulted in uterine and hepatic ER levels which were similar or lower than those observed after treatment with only 2,3,7,8-TCDD. In addition, 2,3,7,8-TCDD significantly decreased the effects of estradiol on uterine wet weight increase. Competitive binding studies showed that estradiol did not bind to the aryl hydrocarbon (Ah) receptor and that 2,3,7,8-TCDD did not bind to the ER. The effects of structure on the activity of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin congeners on their activity to down-regulate hepatic and uterine ER levels were determined by using 2,3,7,8-TCDD, 1,2,3,7,8-pentachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (PeCDD), 1,3,7,8-TCDD, and 1,2,4,7,8-PeCDD. Both 2,3,7,8-TCDD and 1,2,3,7,8-PeCDD exhibit high affinities for the Ah receptor and at dose levels of 80 micrograms/kg the hepatic ER levels were decreased 42 and 41%, respectively, and uterine ER levels were decreased 53 and 49%, respectively. 1,3,7,8-TCDD and 1,2,4,7,8-PeCDD bind less avidly to the Ah receptor and at dose levels of 400 micrograms/kg these compounds decreased hepatic ER levels 36 and 40%, respectively, and uterine ER levels 21 and 24%, respectively. These results support a role for the Ah receptor in the down-regulation of uterine and hepatic ER levels in the female rat by 2,3,7,8-TCDD and this effect may be associated with the decrease in spontaneous mammary and uterine tumors observed in female rats treated with 2,3,7,8-TCDD.
Design of the annular suspension and pointing system (ASPS) through decoupling and pole placement

A decoupling and pole-placement technique has been developed for the Annular Suspension and Pointing System (ASPS) of the Space Shuttle which uses bandwidths as performance criteria. The dynamics of the continuous-data ASPS allows the three degrees of freedom to be totally decoupled by state feedback through constant gains, so that the bandwidth of each degree of freedom can be independently specified without interaction. Although it is found that the digital ASPS cannot be completely decoupled, the bandwidth requirements are satisfied by pole placement and a trial-and-error method based on approximate decoupling.
Water and Waste Water in Imperial Rome

: Rome is noted for its water and waste water systems which were constructed during ancient times. This paper is a discussion of the impact these systems had on living conditions in the imperial city. Rome's water system provided a constant supply to centrally located areas in contrast to modern systems which deliver water on demand to individual connections. For both water and waste water systems, access points were generally outside the household. Because of this lack of individual connections, Romans were forced to spend much of their time outside their tenements in the baths, latrines, arenas, streets, and shops of the imperial city.
Increasing the role of auditing in corporate governance

Abstract While critical accounting research has long been vitally interested in relationships between accounting, auditing and control of business organizations, mainstream research in accounting, finance and management has only recently displayed an increased interest in questions of corporate governance. The notion of corporate governance typically employed in mainstream research focus on enhancing benefits to shareholders. The structure and the functioning of boards of directors, and audit committees of such boards, are primary concerns within this line of research. This paper presents an alternative view of corporate governance and the role of auditing within corporate governance. We argue that the role of auditing should be increased in order to enhance the control of corporations for the benefit of all stakeholders and society generally.
Estimation And Segmentation Of Image Sequences

Two of the most important problems in scene analysis of image sequences is the segmentation of image frames into moving and non-moving components and the 2-D motion estimation of the moving parts of the scene. No work has been done on combining these two problems interactively for a noisy sequence of images. Our approach first models the image sequence including information about the position of the boundary of the target. The algorithm has two parts: segmentation and 2-D motion estimation. Both parts are interactively connected. The segmentation process is based on the estimation of the boundary of the target. It uses the motion prediction from the previous frame as a priori information. For the 2-D motion estimation some methods are indicated. Since the segmentation process precedes the motion estimation, the error in the motion estimate would be significantly reduced. This algorithm can be used in most of the image sequence applications like image sequence enhancement, 3-D motion estimation, target tracking, motion-compensated coding, biomedical imaging, etc.
Top-down modulation of attention by emotion

Due to their evolutionary salience, threat-related stimuli, such as snakes, spiders, and angry faces constitute a special class of stimuli believed to capture attention in an involuntary, bottom-up manner. Most research in affective neuroscience has focused on unraveling neural pathways that support this “automatic” capture of attention by emotional stimuli (Vuilleumier and Driver, 2007). However, it is well known that in addition to stimulus-driven bottom-up factors (Itti and Koch, 2001), attention is guided by goal-driven, top-down factors (Hopfinger et al., 2000) such as anticipated locations and features of upcoming targets (Moran and Desimone, 1985; Treue and Martinez Trujillo, 1999). In real life, we often utilize emotional information endogenously to guide our attention, for example, when looking for cars while crossing a street or for a restaurant when hungry. These anticipatory search behaviors, aimed at detecting sources of potential threat or reward are deployed in a wide range of habitats from the savannah to social gatherings. Below, we review behavioral and neural data that highlight the importance of emotional factors in top-down voluntary guidance of attention. Based on these findings, we espouse a shift in emphasis from examining emotional factors as primarily impacting attention in a bottom-up manner to examining them in an endogenous, voluntary role wherein emotional information is strategically utilized to guide perception and attention. Cognitive behavioral formulations of anxiety have proposed an important role for threat-related schemata in the development and maintenance of anxiety (Beck, 1976; Mogg et al., 1989). In light of this, research examining the role of expectation and anticipatory attention toward threat will contribute not only to a more comprehensive understanding of normal emotion-attention interactions but also to our understanding of the development and maintenance of anxiety.
The role of extensional instability in creating Ganymede grooved terrain: Insights from Galileo High‐Resolution Stereo Imaging

Galileo stereo images covering about 1500 km² of Uruk Sulcus on Ganymede have revealed two scales of ridges; (1) large-scale ridges and troughs spaced ∼6 km apart, corresponding to the “grooves” seen in Voyager images, and (2) small-scale ridges spaced hundreds of meters apart superimposed on the large-scale ridges. We interpret the small-scale ridges to be the result of tilt-block normal faulting of the surface brittle layer, while the large-scale ridges may be due to necking of the brittle layer over a ductile substrate. The geometry of the tilt blocks revealed in Galileo images leads to a minimum estimation of 51% to 58% extensional strain in the area. The strain estimate, when incorporated into a model for the formation of grooved terrain by necking of a brittle layer undergoing extension, leads us to estimate a thermal gradient of ∼20 K/km and a strain rate of ∼10−14 s−1 during groove formation.
Extremes of Nonlinear Vibration: Models Based on Moments, L-Moments, and Maximum Entropy

Nonlinear effects beset virtually all aspects of offshore structural loading and response. These nonlinearities cause non-Gaussian statistical effects, which are often most consequential in the extreme events—e.g., 100- to 10,000-year conditions—that govern structural reliability. Thus there is engineering interest in forming accurate non-Gaussian models of time-varying loads and responses, and calibrating them from the limited data at hand. We compare here a variety of non-Gaussian models. We first survey moment-based models; in particular, the 4-moment “Hermite” model, a cubic transformation often used in wind and wave applications. We then derive an “L-Hermite” model, an alternative cubic transformation calibrated by the response “L-moments” rather than its ordinary statistical moments. These L-moments have recently found increasing use, in part because they show less sensitivity to distribution tails than ordinary moments. We find here, however, that these L-moments may not convey sufficient information to accurately estimate extreme response statistics. Finally, we show that 4-moment maximum entropy models, also applied in the literature, may be inappropriate to model broader-than-Gaussian cases (e.g., responses to wind and wave loads).Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Data-parallel, volumerendering algorithms

In this presentation, we consider the image-composition scheme for parallel volume rendering in which each processor is assigned a portion of the volume. A processor renders its data by using any existing volume-rendering algorithm. We describe one such parallel algorithm that also takes advantage of vector-processing capabilities. The resulting images from all processors are then combined (composited) in visibility order to form the final image. The major advantage of this approach is that, as viewing and shading parameters change, only 2D partial images, and not 3D volume data, are communicated among processors. Through experimental results and performance analysis, we show that our parallel algorithm is amenable to extremely efficient implementations on distributed memory, multiple instruction-multiple data (MIMD), vector-processor architectures. This algorithm is also very suitable for hardware implementation based on image composition architectures. It supports various volume-rendering algorithms, and it can be extended to provide load-balanced execution.
MATERNAL WITHDRAWAL FROM HANDICAPPED TODDLERS

— Videotaped observations of the free-play interaction of mothers and (a) 12 physically handicapped, (b) 14 premature and (c) nine healthy 2-year-olds were evaluated. Mothers of handicapped toddlers were significantly more likely to ignore their children at 24 months than were mothers in other groups. Further, although children's Bayley scores had not differed when seen previously at 1 year, children of mothers who ignored at 2 years had lower concurrent 2-year IQ scores and experienced an average 30-point drop between the two evaluations. These results support clinical reports of maternal withdrawal from handicapped young children and suggest that the mother-child dyad in such cases may be at continuing risk throughout the early years.
Can we communicate gravidity and parity better

Communication of gravidity and parity is a typical part of any written or oral presentation related to an obstetric or gynecologic patient. The ostensible purpose of including this information at the beginning of a discussion of a woman's care is to provide a quick context of the patient from a reproductive standpoint. Unfortunately, the systems in use for describing gravidity, parity, and reproductive outcomes are without clear epidemiologic, biologic, or clinical basis. In description of parous events, births and abortions easily can be confused in the gray zone of 20 to 24 weeks, and terminology used often fails to take into account the clinical context. In this article, we discuss the pitfalls of current systems used for describing a woman's reproductive history and recommend new and simple nomenclature to enhance our ability to communicate properly.
Analysis of circuit dynamic behavior with timed ternary decision diagram

Modern logic optimization tools tend to optimize circuits in a balanced way so that all primary outputs (POs) have similar delay close to the cycle time. However, certain POs will be exercised more frequently than the rest. Among these critical primary outputs, some may be stabilized very quickly by input vectors, even if their topological delays from primary inputs are very long. Knowing the dynamic behavior of a circuit can help optimize the most commonly activated paths and help engineers understand how resilient a PO is against dynamic environmental variations such as voltage fluctuations. In this paper, we describe a tool to analyze the dynamic behavior of a circuit utilizing probabilistic information. The techniques exploit the use of timed ternary decision diagrams (tTDD) to encode stabilization conditions for POs. To compute probabilities based on a tTDD, we propose false assignment pruning and random variable compaction to preserve probability calculation accuracy. To deal with the scalability issue, this paper proposes a new circuit partitioning heuristic to reduce the inaccuracy introduced by partitioning. Compared to the timed simulation results, our tool has a mean absolute error of 2.5% and a root mean square error of 5.3% on average for ISCAS-85 benchmarks. Compared to a state-of-the-art dynamic behavior analysis tool, our tool is on average 40x faster and can handle circuits that the previous tool cannot.
Fools Crow Versus Gullett: A Critical Analysis of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act

Historically, American Indian religions have been repressed in the United States out of the conviction that traditional indigenous beliefs would hinder the Indian's “progress toward civilization.” While the First Amendment protects the freedom of religion, it has not done so for American Indian religions. In 1978, Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA), which was designed to protect and preserve for American Indians their inherent right to believe, express and exercise their traditional religions. This paper will analyze the effectiveness of AIRFA through an examination of one court case, Fools Crow v. Gullett, which involved a Cheyenne and Lakota sacred place, Bear Butte. It will conclude that AIRFA cannot prevent the desecration of a sacred place. It will also extend some arguments of legal scholar Ellen Sewell to the Fools Crow case, arguing that the courts misunderstand the unique nature of American Indian religions and disregard the trust relationship between American Indians and the federal government. It will conclude with further observations about liberalism, justice and property rights in the judicial system.
SIERA: A Multiprocessor System For Robotics

This paper describes SIERA (System for Implementing and Evaluating Robotic Algorithms), which has been developed at the Laboratory for Engineering Man/Machine Systems (LEMS) at Brown University. SIERA was created to satisfy the requirement for a multiprocessor-based development system flexible enough to be used for research into new robotic algorithms, especially those that utilize externally sensed information, such as vision and force. A multiprocessor architecture has been developed that incorporates a tightly coupled bus-based system for real-time servoing and a loosely coupled point-to-point network for less time-critical operations. SIERA is capable of controlling many types of commercially available robots since all input and output is done via general-purpose I/O boards. Suitably constructed robot interface boards are used to condition all feedback signals and to amplify the control outputs to the proper drive levels. We have constructed robot interface boards for the IBM 7565 and PUMA 560 manipulators in LEMS, and have controlled both robots using SIERA. The operating system used for SIERA has been designed to provide maximum flexibility in implementing new robotic algorithms. The concept of programming levels has been introduced to classify the different ways SIERA can be utilizedA¢â‚¬â€?for simple robot control, for robotics research, and for system enhancements. The main benefit of SIERA is that it is now possible to experimentally implement and evaluate a variety of algorithms in areas such as compliant control, visual servoing, and inverse kinematics.
Childhood Poverty, Chronic Stress, Self-Regulation, and Coping

Poverty is a powerful factor that can alter lifetime developmental trajectories in cognitive, socioemo- tional, and physical health outcomes. Most explanatory work on the underlying psychological processes of how poverty affects development has focused on parental investment and parenting practices, principally responsiveness. Our primary objective in this article was to describe a third, complemen- tary pathway—chronic stress and coping—that may also prove helpful in understanding the developmental impacts of early childhood poverty throughout life. Disadvantaged chil- dren are more likely than their wealthier peers to confront a wide array of physical stressors (e.g., substandard housing, chaotic environments) and psychosocial stressors (e.g., fam- ily turmoil, separation from adult caregivers). As exposure to stressors accumulates, physiological response systems that are designed to handle relatively infrequent, acute environ- mental demands are overwhelmed. Chronic cumulative stres- sors also disrupt the self-regulatory processes that help children cope with external demands.
Time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy in degenerate two-state systems: the role of complex stochastic processes

Abstract We examine the Haken-Reineker-Strobl model of relaxation processes for a class of two-site systems. We permit the stochastic processes used to simulate reservoir noise in the model to be complex Hermitean, instead of purely real. We demonstrate in a specific case that this can open the possibility of identifying the precise meaning of the decay rate constants obtained from fluorescence anisotropy measurements.
Analyzing credibility of arguments in a web-based intelligent argumentation system for collective decision support based on K-means clustering algorithm

We developed an intelligent argumentation and collaborative decision support system which allows stakeholders to exchange arguments and captures their rationale. Arguments with lack of credibility in an argumentation tree may negatively affect decisions in a collaborative decision making process if they are not identified collectively by the group. To address this issue, we perform clustering analysis on an argumentation tree using K-means clustering algorithm on credibility factors of arguments such as degree of an argument, and collective determination of an argument. Arguments are classified into multiple groups: from highly credible to lack of credibility. It helps capture rationale of selection of the most favorable solution alternative by the system. It helps decision makers identify arguments with high credibility based on collective determination. We perform an empirical study of the method and its results indicate that it is effective in supporting collective decision making using the system.
Evoked potential abnormalities in the various inherited ataxias

Visual (VEP), brainstem auditory (BAEP), and somatosensory (SEP) evoked potential tests were performed in 45 patients representing ten types of inherited disorders in which ataxia was the most prominent symptom. Comparable VEP abnormalities were present among all types of patients. Normal BAEP tests were recorded in most patients except those with olivopontocerebellar atrophy. SEP results were often more severely abnormal in patients with Friedreich's ataxia. The observations emphasize the similarity in expression of different metabolic-degenerative disorders. When these tests are used clinically, certain features of evoked potentials (especially left-right symmetry) are typical of the inherited ataxias as a group. Few distinguishing features differentiate the individual disorders.
High-Dose Hypofractionated Proton Beam Radiation Therapy Is Safe and Effective for Central and Peripheral Early-Stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: Results of a 12-Year Experience at Loma Linda University Medical Center

Purpose We update our previous reports on the use of hypofractionated proton beam radiation therapy for early-stage lung cancer patients. Methods and Materials Eligible subjects had biopsy-proven non-small cell carcinoma of the lung and were medically inoperable or refused surgery. Clinical workup required staging of T1 or T2, N0, M0. Subjects received hypofractionated proton beam therapy to the primary tumor only. The dose delivered was sequentially escalated from 51 to 60 Gy, then to 70 Gy in 10 fractions over 2 weeks. Endpoints included toxicity, pulmonary function, overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and local control (LC). Results One hundred eleven subjects were analyzed for treatment outcomes. The patient population had the following average characteristics; age 73.2 years, tumor size 3.6 cm, and 1.33 L forced expiratory volume in 1 second. The entire group showed improved OS with increasing dose level (51, 60, and 70 Gy) with a 4-year OS of 18%, 32%, and 51%, respectively ( P =.006). Peripheral T1 tumors exhibited LC of 96%, DSS of 88%, and OS of 60% at 4 years. Patients with T2 tumors showed a trend toward improved LC and survival with the 70-Gy dose level. On multivariate analysis, larger tumor size was strongly associated with increased local recurrence and decreased survival. Central versus peripheral location did not correlate with any outcome measures. Clinical radiation pneumonitis was not found to be a significant complication, and no patient required steroid therapy after treatment for radiation pneumonitis. Pulmonary function was well maintained 1 year after treatment. Conclusions High-dose hypofractionated proton therapy achieves excellent outcomes for lung carcinomas that are peripherally or centrally located. The 70-Gy regimen has been adopted as standard therapy for T1 tumors at our institution. Larger T2 tumors show a trend toward improved outcomes with higher doses, suggesting that better results could be seen with intensified treatment.
Conceptualizing Innovation Comprehensively

(1980). Conceptualizing Innovation Comprehensively. The Review of Education: Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 1-9.
Internal corporate joint ventures: Development processes and performance outcomes

Joint venture activity and internal corporate venturing represent two administrative innovations receiving increased attention in strategic management research. This study investigates a new hybrid form of administrative innovation: internal corporate joint ventures, which combine the equity involvement typically found in joint ventures with the internal staffing of a semiautonomous unit typical of internal corporate ventures. Drawing on both a process model and a variance model, the structuring, development and performance of 53 such ventures in an industry-specific setting is examined.
Slow collisions of H - and D - with Cs

Charge-transfer and electron-detachment cross sections for collisions of H/sup -/ and D/sup -/ with Cs atoms have been measured in the energy range from 3 to 300 eV.
The transition between real and complex superconducting order parameter phases in UPt3.

Order parameter symmetry is one of the basic characteristics of a superconductor. The heavy fermion compound UPt3 provides a rich system for studying the competition between superconductivity and other forms of electronic order and exhibits two distinct superconducting phases that are characterized by different symmetries. We fabricated a series of Josephson tunnel junctions on the as-grown surfaces of UPt3 single crystals spanning the a-b plane. By measuring their critical current, we mapped out the magnitude of the superconducting order parameter as a function of the momentum-space direction and temperature. In the high-temperature phase, we observed a sharp node in the superconducting gap at 45° with respect to the a axis; an out-of-phase component appeared in the low-temperature phase, creating a complex order parameter.
Morbillivirus and Toxoplasma exposure and association with hematological parameters for southern Beaufort Sea polar bears: potential response to infectious agents in a sentinel species.

Arctic temperatures are increasing in response to greenhouse gas forcing and polar bears have already responded to changing conditions. Declines in body stature and vital rates have been linked to warming-induced loss of sea-ice. As food webs change and human activities respond to a milder Arctic, exposure of polar bears and other arctic marine organisms to infectious agents may increase. Because of the polar bear’s status as arctic ecosystem sentinel, polar bear health could provide an index of changing pathogen occurrence throughout the Arctic, however, exposure and monitoring protocols have yet to be established. We examine prevalence of antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii, and four morbilliviruses (canine distemper [CDV], phocine distemper [PDV], dolphin morbillivirus [DMV], porpoise morbillivirus [PMV]) including risk factors for exposure. We also examine the relationships between antibody levels and hematologic values established in the previous companion article. Antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii and morbilliviruses were found in both sample years. We found a significant inverse relationship between CDV titer and total leukocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, and eosinophils, and a significant positive relationship between eosinophils and Toxoplasma gondii antibodies. Morbilliviral prevalence varied significantly among age cohorts, with 1–2 year olds least likely to be seropositive and bears aged 5–7 most likely. Data suggest that the presence of CDV and Toxoplasma gondii antibodies is associated with polar bear hematologic values. We conclude that exposure to CDV-like antigen is not randomly distributed among age classes and suggest that differing behaviors among life history stages may drive probability of specific antibody presence.
The mechanism of flow-induced dilation in human adipose arterioles involves hydrogen peroxide during CAD.

Flow-induced dilation (FID) is an important physiological stimulus that regulates tissue blood flow and is mediated by endothelium-derived factors that play a role in vascular integrity and the dev...
Fluid-powered rotary gears and micro-flow channels

Micromechanical rotary gear trains and single rotors have been made from polysilicon and silicon nitride using surface micromachining techniques. The gear diameters range from 60 to 1600 mu m. The movable structures have been integrated with selectively encapsulated surface-micromachined flow channels and on-wafer gaskets, making it possible to use fluidic actuation as the driving force for flowmeters and gear trains. This selective encapsulation is achieved in the course of microstructure fabrication and is not a subsequent capping or wafer bonding process. The authors have demonstrated long-term actuation of a single rotor operated at 3750 rpm, obtaining over 4 million continuous rotations in a 19-hour test. The rotor motion was detected optically, using an inexpensive phototransistor. Fluid actuation combined with optical detection results in a system useful for hazardous environments where high voltages or electrical leakages cannot be tolerated. >
Comparison of reflex modification procedures and auditory brainstem response in high-risk neonates

This study compared the results of reflex modification (RM)--an objective technique for assessing brainstem sensorineural processing--with those of auditory brainstem response (ABR) for a group of high-risk infants at comparable postconceptional ages. For the RM procedure, an eyeblink-eliciting tap to the glabella was presented either alone or accompanied by a brief 90dB SPL tone. 37 high-risk infants were tested with both RM and ABR at a mean postconceptional age of 37.3 weeks. Seven had an increased brainstem conduction time ('failed ABR') and eight did not exhibit significant reflex augmentation ('failed RM'), seven of whom also failed the ABR. These data provide evidence that sensory stimuli which affect the neural mechanisms responsible for the organization of the startle response and auditory processing share essential neural components.
The facilitative glucose transporter GLUT3: 20 years of distinction

Glucose metabolism is vital to most mammalian cells, and the passage of glucose across cell membranes is facilitated by a family of integral membrane transporter proteins, the GLUTs. There are currently 14 members of the SLC2 family of GLUTs, several of which have been the focus of this series of reviews. The subject of the present review is GLUT3, which, as implied by its name, was the third glucose transporter to be cloned (Kayano T, Fukumoto H, Eddy RL, Fan YS, Byers MG, Shows TB, Bell GI. J Biol Chem 263: 15245–15248, 1988) and was originally designated as the neuronal GLUT. The overriding question that drove the early work on GLUT3 was why would neurons need a separate glucose transporter isoform? What is it about GLUT3 that specifically suits the needs of the highly metabolic and oxidative neuron with its high glucose demand? More recently, GLUT3 has been studied in other cell types with quite specific requirements for glucose, including sperm, preimplantation embryos, circulating white blood cells, and an array of carcinoma cell lines. The last are sufficiently varied and numerous to warrant a review of their own and will not be discussed here. However, for each of these cases, the same questions apply. Thus, the objective of this review is to discuss the properties and tissue and cellular localization of GLUT3 as well as the features of expression, function, and regulation that distinguish it from the rest of its family and make it uniquely suited as the mediator of glucose delivery to these specific cells.
Cardiac IKr channels minimally comprise hERG 1a and 1b subunits.

Previous studies suggest native cardiac IKr channels are composed of alpha subunits encoded solely by the 1a transcript of the ERG1 gene. Using isoform-specific ERG1 antibodies, we have new evidence that subunits encoded by an alternate transcript, ERG1b, are also expressed in rat, canine, and human heart. The ERG1a and -1b subunits associate in vivo where they localize to the T tubules of ventricular myocytes. These data indicate native ventricular IKr channels are heteromers containing two α subunit types, ERG1a and -1b. The hERG1b-specific exon thus represents a novel target to screen for mutations causing type 2 long QT syndrome. These findings also suggest phenotypic analyses of existing type 2 long QT syndrome mutations, especially those exclusive to the hERG1a amino terminus, should be carried out in systems expressing both subunits.
Cannabinoid Inhibition of Adenylate Cyclase-mediated Signal Transduction and Interleukin 2 (IL-2) Expression in the Murine T-cell Line, EL4.IL-2

Cannabinoid receptors negatively regulate adenylate cyclase through a pertussis toxin-sensitive GTP-binding protein. In the present studies, signaling via the adenylate cyclase/cAMP pathway was investigated in the murine thymoma-derived T-cell line, EL4.IL-2. Northern analysis of EL4.IL-2 cells identified the presence of 4-kilobase CB2 but not CB1 receptor-subtype mRNA transcripts. Southern analysis of genomic DNA digests for the CB2 receptor demonstrated identical banding patterns for EL4.IL-2 cells and mouse-derived DNA, both of which were dissimilar to DNA isolated from rat. Treatment of EL4.IL-2 cells with either cannabinol or Δ9-THC disrupted the adenylate cyclase signaling cascade by inhibiting forskolin-stimulated cAMP accumulation which consequently led to a decrease in protein kinase A activity and the binding of transcription factors to a CRE consensus sequence. Likewise, an inhibition of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)/ionomycin-induced interleukin 2 (IL-2) protein secretion, which correlated to decreased IL-2 gene transcription, was induced by both cannabinol and Δ9-THC. Further, cannabinoid treatment also decreased PMA/ionomycin-induced nuclear factor binding to the AP-1 proximal site of the IL-2 promoter. Conversely, forskolin enhanced PMA/ionomycin-induced AP-1 binding. These findings suggest that inhibition of signal transduction via the adenylate cyclase/cAMP pathway induces T-cell dysfunction which leads to a diminution in IL-2 gene transcription.
Musicality: Instinct or Acquired Skill?

Is the human tendency toward musicality better thought of as the product of a specific, evolved instinct or an acquired skill? Developmental and evolutionary arguments are considered, along with issues of domain-specificity. The article also considers the question of why humans might be consistently and intensely drawn to music if musicality is not in fact the product of a specifically evolved instinct.
Using sequential and non-sequential patterns in predictive Web usage mining tasks

We describe an efficient framework for Web personalization based on sequential and non-sequential pattern discovery from usage data. Our experimental results performed on real usage data indicate that more restrictive patterns, such as contiguous sequential patterns (e.g., frequent navigational paths) are more suitable for predictive tasks, such as Web prefetching, (which involve predicting which item is accessed next by a user), while less constrained patterns, such as frequent item sets or general sequential patterns are more effective alternatives in the context of Web personalization and recommender systems.
Obesity and Diabetes in Vulnerable Populations: Reflection on Proximal and Distal Causes

Around the world obesity and diabetes are climbing to epidemic proportion, even in countries previously characterized by scarcity. Likewise, people from low-income and minority communities, as well as immigrants from the developing world, increasingly visit physicians in North America with obesity, metabolic syndrome, or diabetes. Explanations limited to lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise are inadequate to explain the universality of what can be called a syndemic, a complex and widespread phenomenon in population health produced by multiple reinforcing conditions. Underlying the problem are complex factors—genetic, physiological, psychological, familial, social, economic, and political—coalescing to overdetermine these conditions. These interacting factors include events occurring during fetal life, maternal physiology and life context, the thrifty genotype, the nutritional transition, health impact of urbanization and immigration, social attributions and cultural perceptions of increased weight, and changes in food costs and availability resulting from globalization. Better appreciation of the complexity of causation underlying the worldwide epidemic of obesity and diabetes can refocus the work of clinicians and researchers to work at multiple levels to address prevention and treatment for these conditions among vulnerable populations.
Postoperative hematoma following inguinal herniorrhaphy: patient characteristics leading to increased risk

Although relatively infrequent, groin hematoma following inguinal herniorrhaphy is a morbid complication with major ramifications of mesh infection and hernia recurrence. We have sensed an increasing frequency of this complication in our tertiary referral practice and sought to determine whether or not significant risk factors could be identified. In this matched case–control study (1995–2003), we identified 53 patients with groin hematomas and paired them with 106 age- and gender-matched controls. Patient and procedure characteristics were analyzed using chi-square and both univariate and multivariable, conditional logistic regression analysis. The 53 patients developing groin hematoma following inguinal hernia repair (mean age = 65, range 22–87, 90% male) were well matched with 106 controls (mean age = 65, range 22–87, 90% male). There was no significant difference in the location (left, right, bilateral), type (direct, indirect, pantaloon, first repair, or recurrent), or technique of hernia repair (Bassini, Lichtenstein, mesh plug, endoscopic, or McVay) between groups. While univariate analysis identified Coumadin usage (P < 0.001, hazard ratio 19.1), valvular disease (P < 0.001, hazard ratio 10.9), atrial fibrillation (P = 0.02, hazard ratio 4.2), vascular disease (P = 0.04, hazard ratio 2.2), blood abnormalities (P = 0.02, hazard ratio 3.2), and previous bleeding episodes (P = 0.02, hazard ratio 4.9) as significant factors, only preoperative Coumadin usage was important in multivariate analysis. The crucial risk factor for groin hematoma developing in patients undergoing inguinal hernia repair is preoperative need for Coumadin therapy. Although the perioperative management of anticoagulation in patients undergoing inguinal herniorrhaphy is not clearly defined, meticulous management of patients requiring Coumadin therapy seems prudent.
Computer architecture web page design projects

Team oriented, web page design projects were incorporated as a major component of an undergraduate course in computer architecture. The main goal of these projects was to give students an opportunity to perform research on a topic of interest in computer architecture. The students also gained valuable experience by working in teams, and they learned useful web page design skills. This paper gives an overview of the web page design projects, provides strategies and references for helping students to design their own web pages, and discusses lessons learned from these projects.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Mary Wollstonecraft on The Sexual Politics of Republican Motherhood

This essay contributes to the ongoing contemporary debate about the eighteenth century ideology of “Republican Motherhood,” a feminine ideal that gave new status to women as mothers but limited their participation as citizens. It examines critical distinctions between Rousseau and Wollstone-craft concerning women's place within the republic and their role as mothers within the family. At issue is whether the ideology of republican motherhood represented a compromise or a misstep on women's journey to full democratic citizenship. Wollstonecraft's emancipatory politics makes her association with the republican motherhood thesis problematic because as a feminist she rejected the separation of spheres that was the foundation of this gender ideology. She argued that women must have their own political identity and represent their interests in government. Her feminist political theory can be read as promoting a notion of “enlightened maternity” aimed at reconciling the natural rights of woman as citizen with her role as a nurturer within the family. Wollstonecraft concluded that the reciprocal nature of rights and duties demanded both men and women exercise the rights of citizenship and the duties of parents in order for the republic to be virtuous.
Multiple mechanisms underlie resistance of leukemia cells to Apo2 Ligand/TRAIL

Targeting death receptors with tumor necrosis factor–related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) has the remarkable potential to selectively kill malignant cells whereas normal cells are largely unaffected by this treatment. However, some tumor cells, including leukemia cells, exhibit resistance to this molecule. To investigate the basis for resistance of leukemia cells to the zinc-bound form of Apo2 ligand (Apo2L)/TRAIL, which is currently being evaluated in clinical trial, we isolated several resistant HL60 clones from parental HL60 cells by selection using the recombinant Apo2L/TRAIL. Differing resistance mechanisms were identified and characterized in these Apo2L/TRAIL-resistant clones. In one case, the level of the cell-surface death receptor DR4, but not DR5, was significantly decreased. However, these cells did undergo apoptosis in response to another form of recombinant TRAIL, histidine-tagged TRAIL, suggesting differing contributions of DR4 and DR5 in the response to these two forms of TRAIL. In the case of other clones, expression of procaspase-8 protein was lost and this was associated with a novel Leu22→Phe22 point mutation in CASP-8 gene. These results show that cells within a given tumor can have widely distinct mechanisms underlying resistance to Apo2L/TRAIL. [Mol Cancer Ther 2006;5(7):1844–53]
A training rule which guarantees finite-region stability for a class of closed-loop neural-network control systems

A training method for a class of neural network controllers is presented which guarantees closed-loop system stability. The controllers are assumed to be nonlinear, feedforward, sampled-data, full-state regulators implemented as single hidden-layer neural networks. The controlled systems must be locally hermitian and observable. Stability of the closed-loop system is demonstrated by determining a Lyapunov function, which can be used to identify a finite stability region about the regulator point.
Differential expression of circulating microRNAs according to severity of colorectal neoplasia

There is a need to develop a colorectal cancer (CRC) screening test that is noninvasive, cost effective, and sensitive enough to detect preneoplastic lesions. This case-control study examined the feasibility of using circulating extracellular microRNAs (miRNAs) to differentiate a spectrum of colorectal neoplasia of various severity and hence for early detection of colorectal neoplasia. Archived serum samples of 10 normal controls and 31 cases, including 10 with nonadvanced adenoma, 10 with advanced adenoma, and 11 with CRC, were profiled for circulating miRNAs using next-generation sequencing. Multiple linear regression, adjusting for age, gender, and smoking status, compared controls and the 3 case groups for levels of 175 miRNAs that met stringent criteria for miRNA sequencing analysis. Of the 175 miRNAs, 106 miRNAs were downregulated according to severity of neoplasia and showed a relative decrease in the expression from controls to nonadvanced adenoma to advanced adenoma to CRC (P trend
Disruption of T Cell Homeostasis in Mice Expressing a T Cell–Specific Dominant Negative Transforming Growth Factor β II Receptor

The immune system, despite its complexity, is maintained at a relative steady state. Mechanisms involved in maintaining lymphocyte homeostasis are poorly understood; however, recent availability of transgenic (Tg) and knockout mouse models with altered balance of lymphocyte cell populations suggest that cytokines play a major role in maintaining lymphocyte homeostasis. We show here that transforming growth factor (TGF)-β plays a critical role in maintaining CD8+ T cell homeostasis in a Tg mouse model that specifically overexpresses a dominant negative TGF-β II receptor (DNRII) on T cells. DNRII T cell Tg mice develop a CD8+ T cell lymphoproliferative disorder resulting in the massive expansion of the lymphoid organs. These CD8+ T cells are phenotypically “naive” except for the upregulation of the cell surface molecule CD44, a molecule usually associated with memory T cells. Despite their dominance in the peripheral lymphoid organs, CD8+ T cells appear to develop normally in the thymus, suggesting that TGF-β exerts its homeostatic control in the peripheral immune system.
Integrative Basic Sciences: Change in Mental Status

This case discussion is part of the Integrating Basic Science Into Clinical Teaching Initiative. It examines the presentation of altered mental status and describes the underlying physiology, which explains the basic laboratory findings in an attempt to reach a diagnosis. This article describes a 13-year-old boy who presented to the emergency department with altered mental status after being found unconscious and alone in an abandoned building. He was unresponsive to painful and verbal stimuli, with otherwise normal findings on physical examination. Basic laboratory studies, including arterial blood gas, electrolytes, and serum osmolality, were obtained. The case discussion uses fundamentals of anatomy to build a focused differential diagnosis. The laboratory studies are interpreted using basic physiologic principles, including acid-base balance, anion gap, and osmolar gap, to determine the most likely cause of this patient's altered mental status. Subsequent investigation confirms a diagnosis of ethanol toxic effects. An understanding of electrolyte and acid-base physiology allows the clinician to use basic laboratory studies to build a focused differential diagnosis for altered mental status. This case discussion demonstrates how basic science principles of anatomy and physiology can be applied in clinical settings.