cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A device for automated direct sampling and quantitation from solid-phase sorbent extraction cards by electrospray tandem mass spectrometry.

A new solid-phase extraction (SPE) device in the 96-well format (SPE Card) has been employed for automated off-line sample preparation of low-volume urine samples. On-line automated analyte elution via SPE and direct quantitation by micro ion spray mass spectrometry is reported. This sample preparation device has the format of a microtiter plate and is molded in a plastic frame which houses 96 separate sandwiched 3M Empore sorbents (0.5-mm-thickness, 8-μm particles) covered on both sides by a microfiber support material. Ninety-six discrete SPE zones, each 7 mm in diameter, are imbedded into the sheet in the conventional 9-mm pitch (spacing) of a 96-well microtiter plate. In this study one-quarter of an SPE Card (24 individual zones) was used merely as a convenience. After automated off-line interference elution of applied human urine from 24 samples, a section of SPE Card is mounted vertically on a computer-controlled X, Y, Z positioner in front of a micro ion spray direct sampling tube equipped with a b...
Culture's Impact on Technology Mediated Learning: The Role of Horizontal and Vertical Individualism and Collectivism

The horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism and collectivism are an important characteristic of cultures. These dimensions have many implications for the ways in which individual learners use and respond to interactive technologies. This article reports on a study that investigated the impact of culture, specifically horizontal individualism (HI), vertical individualism (VI), horizontal collectivism (HC), and vertical collectivism (VC) on the effectiveness of technology mediated learning. Results indicate that the four dimensional patterns have differing effects on the use of TML communication capabilities, feelings of sense of community, satisfaction with the TML experience, perceived learning, and declarative knowledge acquisition.
Primary hepatic osteosarcoma.

Extraskeletal osteosarcoma (EOS) is a rare entity. Most human cases have been described in the soft tissues of the limb.1 Primary hepatic osteosarcoma is extremely uncommon with only seven cases reported in the world’s literature. Of these cases, no patient survived more than 8 weeks from the time of diagnosis. We describe a young patient with a symptomatic primary hepatic osteosarcoma that was successfully treated by surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy. She is alive and tumor free 3 years after surgery.
Endoarteritis inside a pulmonary artery band

aminidase assay, N. Engl. J. Med. 283: 15, 1970. 6. Padeh, B., and Navon, R.: Diagnosis of TaySachs disease by hexosaminidase activity in leukocytes and amniotic fluid cells, Israel J. Med. Sei. 7: 259, 1971. 7. Navon, R., and Padeh, B.: Prenatal diagnosis of Tay-Sachs genotypes, Br. Med. J. 4: 17, 1971. 8. Robinson, D., and Stirling, J. L.: N-aeetyl-Bglucosaminidases in human spleen, Biochem. J. 107: 321, 1968.
A comparison of the effects of sotalol and of the isomers of practolol on adrenergic nervous activity

Abstract Spontaneous activity was recorded from postganglionic cardioaccelerator fibers in cats anesthetized with α-chloralose. The effects of sotalol and the d(+)− and 1(−)− isomers of practolol were examined in these experiments. The 1(−)− isomer of practolol caused a dose- related depression of adrenergic nervous activity while d(+)− practolol had no effect. Sotalol had no influence on nervous discharge. The results suggest that 1(−)− practolol depresses adrenergic nervous activity and that this effect may be important in the antiarrhythmic action of this agent.
Accidental hydrofluoric acid burns of the hand

Prompt treatment with calcium gluconate and an anesthetic, plus removal of fingernails, kept disfigurement and paresthesia minimal. While completing a fabrication of a gold inlay, a dental student mistook a beaker of hydrofluoric acid for a beaker of water and burned his hand. Precautions that can be taken to avoid severe injuries and treatment procedures are included in the report.
Analysis of Intermolecular Coordinate Contributions to Third-Order Ultrafast Spectroscopy of Liquids in the Harmonic Oscillator Limit

The apparently-multicomponent subpicosecond intermolecular dynamics of carbon disulfide liquid are addressed in a unified manner in terms of an inhomogeneously broadened quantum mechanical harmonic oscillator model for a single vibrational coordinate. For an inhomogeneously broadened (Gaussian) distribution of oscillators, the model predicts naturally the bimodal character of the subpicosecond intermolecular dynamics of carbon disulfide liquid, and also the spectral evolution effects (spectral narrowing and saturation) that are observed for solutions of carbon disulfide in weakly interacting alkane solvents. The unique dynamical signature of these low-frequency vibrational coordinates is determined largely by the physical constraints on the coordinates (near equality of oscillator frequency, dephasing frequency, and inhomogeneous bandwidth), such that constructive and destructive interference effects play a dominant role in shaping the experimental observable.
Non-compact gaugings of N = 8 supergravity

A one-parameter family of gaugings of N = 8 supergravity is given. For positive values of the real parameter ξ, the SO(8) gauging is recovered, ξ = 0 gives the ISO(7) gauging, while for ξ < 0 a new SO(7,1) gauging is obtained. Despite the noncompact gauge symmetry for ξ ⩽ 0, the theory is ghost-free.
Modal Logics Between Propositional and First‐order

One can add the machinery of relation symbols and terms to a propositional modal logic without adding quantifiers. Ordinarily this is no extension beyond the propositional. But if terms are allowed to be non-rigid, a scoping mechanism (usually written using lambda abstraction) must also be introduced to avoid ambiguity. Since quantifiers are not present, this is not really a first-order logic, but it is not exactly propositional either. For propositional logics such as K, T and D, adding such machinery produces a decidable logic, but adding it to S5 produces an undecidable one. Further, if an equality symbol is in the language, and interpreted by the equality relation, logics from K4 to S5 yield undecidable versions. (Thus transitivity is the villain here.) The proof of undecidability consists in showing that classical first-order logic can be embedded.
Receptive-field properties of displaced starburst amacrine cells change following axotomy-induced degeneration of ganglion cells.

Starburst amacrine cells in the rabbit retina were labeled following an intraocular injection of the fluorescent dye, 4, 6, diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). From each eye a strip of retina was removed, mounted on a platform beneath an epifluorescence microscope, and superfused with a physiological solution. The tip of a tungsten microelectrode (for extracellular recording) was visually positioned near the cell body of a DAPI-labeled starburst amacrine cell that was located in the ganglion cell layer. Light-evoked responses from the displaced starburst amacrine cells were studied in normal retinas and in retinas that had received a small electrolytic lesion near the optic disk 5–9 months beforehand. In normal retinas, a small spot of light centered over the receptive field of a displaced starburst amacrine cell in nearly all cases evoked a brief burst of spikes only at light onset. When stimulated with a large spot or an annulus of light, many cells gave a small burst of spikes at light offset. In lesioned retinas, the light responses of displaced starburst amacrine cells were recorded in areas of the retina where ganglion cells had degenerated. All cells responded with a large burst of spikes at the onset and offset of a small, centered spot of light. Large spots and annuli of light also evoked robust ON/OFF responses from these cells. The results from this study show that the receptive-field properties of displaced starburst amacrine cells change following axotomy-induced degeneration of ganglion cells. This finding indicates that changes in either synaptic transmission or the membrane properties of neurons occur in the retina following degeneration of ganglion cells.
The Teddy-Bear Effect Does Having a Baby Face Benefit Black Chief Executive Officers?

Prior research suggests that having a baby face is negatively correlated with success among White males in high positions of leadership. However, we explored the positive role of such “babyfaceness” in the success of high-ranking Black executives. Two studies revealed that Black chief executive officers (CEOs) were significantly more baby-faced than White CEOs. Black CEOs were also judged as being warmer than White CEOs, even though ordinary Blacks were rated categorically as being less warm than ordinary Whites. In addition, baby-faced Black CEOs tended to lead more prestigious corporations and earned higher salaries than mature-faced Black CEOs; these patterns did not emerge for White CEOs. Taken together, these findings suggest that babyfaceness is a disarming mechanism that facilitates the success of Black leaders by attenuating stereotypical perceptions that Blacks are threatening. Theoretical and practical implications for research on race, gender, and leadership are discussed.
Subcellular localization of the adrenal desmolase active in the formation of dehydroepiandrosterone (3β-hydroxy-5-androsten-17-one)

Abstract The ability of guinea pig adrenal subcellular fractions to form dehydroepiandrosterone (33-hydroxy-5-androsten-17-one) from 17-hydroxypregnenolone 3β, 17-dihydroxy-5-pregnen-20-one) has been studied. Major enzyme activity resides in the microsomes from which little activity could be removed by washing. Mitochondria appear to inhibit microsomal desmolase activity in whole homogenate preparations.
Commentary on: browpexy through the upper lid (BUL): a new technique of lifting the brow with a standard blepharoplasty incision.

The need for upper lid blepharoplasty, combined in certain cases with a lax, unstable, or ptotic eyebrow, has produced a search for a brow-stabilizing procedure that can be performed through the upper blepharoplasty incision. This quest is a valuable one, since many patients are not candidates for traditional browlifting procedures that may require incisions in a more visible position or more extensive procedures in the scalp and forehead area. In this article, Dr. Cohen and his coauthors have described a technique for eyebrow fixation through a transblepharoplasty approach with the Endotine fixation device (Coapt Systems, Inc., Palo Alto, California), which has been on the market for several years. I have not had experience …
Origin and destination of the secondary visceral fibers in the guinea‐pig

CONTENTS Introductory 275 Literature 276 1. Degenerations resulting from the destruction of different parts of the nucleus tractus solitarii 278 Methods and technique 278 Descriptions of the lesions and resultant degenerations 279 Distribution of the degenerated lemniscus medialis fibers 288 Distribution of the degenerated corpus restiforme fibers 291 Secondary visceral tracts from the spinal cord 294 2. Chromatolysis experiments . 295 Microscopical technique 295 Lesions of the lemniscus medians 295 Lesions of the basal cerebellar nuclei 302 Summary and general considerations 304 Literature cited 307
A computational model for the transient analysis of flat heat pipes

A computational model is developed for the analysis of the transient operation of a flat heat pipe. The analysis involves the solution of the two-dimensional continuity, momentum and energy equations coupled with the state equation in the vapor core, the transport equations for a porous medium in the wick, and the two-dimensional heat conduction equation in the heat pipe wall. The equations are discretized and solved using a finite-difference approach. Variations in the temperature, pressure and velocity fields are obtained as a function of time. The effect of the axial conduction through the heat pipe wall and wick, which causes heat to flow into the interior in the externally adiabatic section, thus affecting the velocity distributions in the wick and vapor, is brought out in the present analysis. The heat removal capability of the heat pipe is contrasted to that of a solid copper block of the same overall dimensions as the heat pipe, and a copper plate with dimensions equivalent to those of the heat pipe wall.
CCAAT/Enhancer-binding Protein β Is an Accessory Factor for the Glucocorticoid Response from the cAMP Response Element in the Rat Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxykinase Gene Promoter

Abstract The cyclic AMP response element (CRE) of the rat phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) gene promoter is required for a complete glucocorticoid response. Proteins known to bind the PEPCK CRE include the CRE-binding protein (CREB) and members of the CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP) family. We took two different approaches to determine which of these proteins provides the accessory factor activity for the glucocorticoid response from the PEPCK CRE. The first strategy involved replacing the CRE of the PEPCK promoter/chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter plasmid (pPL32) with a consensus C/EBP-binding sequence. This construct, termed pΔcreC/EBP, binds C/EBPα and β but not CREB, yet it confers a nearly complete glucocorticoid response when transiently transfected into H4IIE rat hepatoma cells. These results suggest that one of the C/EBP family members may be the accessory factor. The second strategy involved co-transfecting H4IIE cells with a pPL32 mutant, in which the CRE was replaced with a GAL4-binding sequence (pΔcreGAL4), and various GAL4 DNA-binding domain (DBD) fusion protein expression vectors. Although chimeric proteins consisting of the GAL4 DBD fused to either CREB or C/EBPα are able to confer an increase in basal transcription, they do not facilitate the glucocorticoid response. In contrast, a fusion protein consisting of the GAL4 DBD and amino acids 1–118 of C/EBPβ provides a significant glucocorticoid response. Additional GAL4 fusion studies were done to map the minimal domain of C/EBPβ needed for accessory factor activity to the glucocorticoid response. Chimeric proteins containing amino acid regions 1–84, 52–118, or 85–118 of C/EBPβ fused to the GAL4 DBD do not mediate a glucocorticoid response. We conclude that the amino terminus of C/EBPβ contains a multicomponent domain necessary to confer accessory factor activity to the glucocorticoid response from the CRE of the PEPCK gene promoter.
A dynamic memory management unit for embedded real-time system-on-a-chip

with global on-chip memory allocation/de-allocation in a dynamic yet deterministic way is an important issue for upcoming billion transistor multiprocessor System-on-a-Chip (SoC) designs. To achieve this, we propose a new memory management hierarchy called Two-Level Memory Management. To implement this memory management scheme - which presents a paradigm shift in the way designers look at on-chip dynamic memory allocation - we present a System-on-a-Chip Dynamic Memory Management Unit (SoCDMMU) for allocation of the global on-chip memory, which we refer to as level two memory management (level one is the operating system management of memory allocated to a particular on-chip processor). In this way, heterogeneous processors in an SoC can request and be granted portions of the global memory in twenty clock cycles in the worst case for a four-processor SoC, which is at least an order of magnitude faster than software-based memory management. We present a sample implementation of the SoCDMMU and compare hardware and software implementations.
A locally coordinated scatternet scheduling algorithm

There is growing interest in wireless personal area networks built from portable devices equipped with short-range radio interfaces such as Bluetooth. These small networks (called piconets) can be internetworked to form larger scatternets by means of bridge nodes that participate in more than one piconet on a time division basis. How well this works depends to a large part on the mechanism used to schedule communication across piconets. In this paper, we present a novel online scatternet scheduling algorithm, LCS, that effectively coordinates one-hop neighbors to converge to an efficient scatternet-wide communication schedule. Unlike previous work, LCS is robust and responsive to network conditions, dynamically adjusting the schedule based on varying workload conditions. We demonstrate that LCS has good performance on throughput, end-to-end packet latency and energy usage under various traffic loads.
Calcineurin Links Ca2+ Dysregulation with Brain Aging

Brain aging is associated with altered Ca(2+) regulation. However, many Ca(2+) signal transduction mechanisms have not been explored in the aged brain. Here, we report that cytosolic expression and activity of the Ca(2+)-dependent protein phosphatase calcineurin (CaN) increases in the hippocampus during aging. CaN changes were paralleled by increased activation, but not expression, of CaN-regulated protein phosphatase 1 and a reduction in the phosphorylation state of CaN substrates involved in cell survival (i.e., Bcl-2-associated death protein and cAMP response element-binding protein). The age-related increase in CaN activity was not attributable to the inability of CaN to translocate to the membrane and was reduced by blocking L-type Ca(2+) channels. Finally, increased CaN activity correlated with memory function as measured with the Morris water escape task. The results suggest that altered regulation of CaN is one of the processes that could link Ca(2+) dyshomeostasis to age-related changes in neural function and cognition.
Interaction of the RNP1 Motif in PRT1 with HCR1 Promotes 40S Binding of Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 3 in Yeast

We found that mutating the RNP1 motif in the predicted RRM domain in yeast eukaryotic initiation factor 3 (eIF3) subunit b/PRT1 (prt1-rnp1) impairs its direct interactions in vitro with both eIF3a/TIF32 and eIF3j/HCR1. The rnp1 mutation in PRT1 confers temperature-sensitive translation initiation in vivo and reduces 40S-binding of eIF3 to native preinitiation complexes. Several findings indicate that the rnp1 lesion decreases recruitment of eIF3 to the 40S subunit by HCR1: (i) rnp1 strongly impairs the association of HCR1 with PRT1 without substantially disrupting the eIF3 complex; (ii) rnp1 impairs the 40S binding of eIF3 more so than the 40S binding of HCR1; (iii) overexpressing HCR1-R215I decreases the Ts− phenotype and increases 40S-bound eIF3 in rnp1 cells; (iv) the rnp1 Ts− phenotype is exacerbated by tif32-Δ6, which eliminates a binding determinant for HCR1 in TIF32; and (v) hcr1Δ impairs 40S binding of eIF3 in otherwise wild-type cells. Interestingly, rnp1 also reduces the levels of 40S-bound eIF5 and eIF1 and increases leaky scanning at the GCN4 uORF1. Thus, the PRT1 RNP1 motif coordinates the functions of HCR1 and TIF32 in 40S binding of eIF3 and is needed for optimal preinitiation complex assembly and AUG recognition in vivo.
Small RNA Database

The small RNA database is a compilation of all the small size RNA sequences available to date, including nuclear, nucleolar, cytoplasmic and mitochondrial small RNAs from eukaryotic organisms and small RNAs from prokaryotic cells as well as viruses. Currently, about 600 small RNA sequences are in our database. It also gives the sources of individual RNAs and their GenBank accession numbers. The small RNA database can be accessed through WWW(World Wide Web). Our WWW URL address is: http://mbcr.bcm.tmc.edu/smallRNA/smallrna. html . The new small RNA sequences published since our last compilation are listed in this paper.
Memory-Efficient Pipelined Architecture for Large-Scale String Matching

We propose a pipelined field-merge architecture for memory-efficient and high-throughput large-scale string matching (LSSM). Our proposed architecture partitions the (8-bit) character input into several bit-field inputs of smaller (usually 2-bit) widths. Each bit-field input is matched in a partial state machine (PSM) pipeline constructed from the respective bit-field patterns. The matching results from all the bit-fields in every pipeline stage are then merged with the help of an auxiliary table (ATB). This novel architecture essentially divides the LSSM problem with a continuous stream of input characters into two disjoint and simpler sub-problems: 1) O\left(\mathrm{character\_bitwidth}\right) number of pipeline traversals, and 2) O\left(\mathrm{pattern\_length}\right) number of table lookups. It is naturally suitable for implementation on FPGA or VLSI with on-chip memory. Compared to the bit-split approach, our field-merge implementation on FPGA requires 1/5 to 1/13 the total memory while achieving 25% to 54% higher clock frequencies.
RENAL CELL CARCINOMA IN A TRANSPLANTED KIDNEY

Cancer is more common in transplant recipients than in the general population, although tumors arising in allograft organs are relatively rare. A recent review of the Cincinnati Transplant Tumor Registry revealed that 275 of 8,091 tumors in 7,596 patients were of renal origin, including 24 in the allograft kidney. Treatment of these tumors is difficult, often necessitating allograft nephrectomy and hemodialysis or withdrawal of immunosuppression. We report a case of renal cell carcinoma in an allograft kidney 15 years after transplantation, which was treated with partial nephrectomy.
Developing a self-administered CKD symptom assessment instrument.

Background Current disease-centred therapies for CKD focus on preserving the GFR but often ignore patient-reported symptoms. This purpose of this report is to describe the development of an instrument to measure the presence and severity of a wide range of symptoms commonly attributable to CKD. Methods A 37-item questionnaire was administered along with the Kidney Disease Quality of Life instrument to 92 patients with CKD not on dialysis (24% black, 5% women, mean age 68 years, 68% with diabetes mellitus). To discover groups of symptoms, agglomerative cluster analysis followed by exploratory common factor analysis was performed. Construct validity, internal reliability, convergent and discriminant validity, test-retest reliability and finally the association of various symptom domains with objective measurements such as estimated GFR and haemoglobin were tested. Results The top five symptoms of at least moderate severity in decreasing order of prevalence were 'tire easily', limited physical activity, nocturia, joint pain and 'stop and rest often'. Four common factors emerged that could be broadly classified into neuropsychiatric, cardiovascular, uraemia and anaemia symptoms accounting for 73% of the total variance in the sample. The coefficient alpha for each of these factors approached 0.9. The test-retest reliability in 41 patients over 8 weeks was likewise high. There was good convergent and divergent validity. However, there was little relationship between estimated GFR and symptom scores. Conclusions The assessment of symptom burden among patients with CKD may be facilitated by incorporating this instrument in routine practice and clinical trials.
Utility of Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction in Leptospirosis Diagnosis: Association of Level of Leptospiremia and Clinical Manifestations in Sri Lanka

Background. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), despite cost and logistical challenges, has the potential to provide accurate and timely diagnosis for leptospirosis at the point-of-care in endemic areas. We studied optimal sample types for qPCR, timing of sampling, and clinical manifestations in relation to quantitative leptospiremia. Methods. A new qPCR assay using pathogenic Leptospira-specific 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene Taqman primers and an optimized temperature stepdown protocol was used to analyze patient blood samples. Serum was compared with whole blood as sample source. Quantitative leptospiremia was compared with clinical manifestations of leptospirosis and outcome. Results. The diagnostic sensitivity of qPCR of whole blood and serum was 18.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.97%‐31.4%) and 51.0% (95% CI: 37.5%‐64.4%) respectively. The qPCR on suspected cases confirmed infection in 58 of 381 cases (15.2%). Of these, 6 cases confirmed by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing were serologically negative using a standard but not regionally optimized microscopic agglutination test panel. The bacterial load in serum/blood ranged from 10 2 to 10 6 Leptospira/mL. Median leptospiral load for uncomplicated, renal failure, myocarditis, and multi-organ failure patients were 8616, 11007, 36100, and 15882 Leptospira/mL respectively. The qPCR window of positivity ranged from day 2 to day 15; sensitivity of qPCR was not affected by the length of the interval between the onset of symptoms and sample collection (P 5 .328). Conclusions. Quantitative PCR shows potential as a valid diagnostic test with a wider window of positivity than previously thought. Quantitative leptospiremia in serum/whole blood samples did not directly correlate with clinical manifestations of outcome in this patient population.
Design of the beam profile monitor system for the RHIC injection line

A video profile monitor (VPM) system will be used in the AGS-to-RHIC (ATR) transfer line to acquire single bunches transferred at 30 Hz. An array of 12 video cameras will be connected to 4 frame grabbers through a wide-band mux. Fast VME image processing boards will analyze a 120/spl times/120 subset of the image, generated by a 4/spl times/4 convolution or an ROI computation and sent over the network during the AGS recycle time. Details of the design, results of lab tests and studies with ion and proton beams are presented.
Effect of topical tropicamide on tear production as measured by Schirmer's tear test in normal dogs and cats.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of a single dose of topical 1% tropicamide on tear production as measured by the Schirmer tear test (STT) in the normal dog and cat. MATERIAL AND METHODS Twenty-eight dogs and 32 cats received 50 micro l : l of 1% tropicamide in one eye and the opposite eye served as the control. STTs were performed immediately before instillation of tropicamide and then at 1, 4, 8 and 24 h post drug instillation. STT results were compared between the control and treated eyes at the different times. RESULTS Aqueous tear production in dogs, measured by STT, was not significantly reduced. The mean +/- SEM STTs for the baseline time for control and tropicamide-treated eyes were 19.9 +/- 0.8 and 20.3 +/- 0.8 mm wetting/min, respectively. For the control eyes, the subsequent mean +/- SEM STT levels were 20.3 +/- 0.9 (1 h), 21.1 +/- 0.8 (4 h), 20.1 +/- 0.9 (8 h), and 18.7 +/- 0.7 (24 h). For the tropicamide-treated eyes, the subsequent mean +/- SEM STT levels were 19.4 +/- 0.9 (1 h), 19.3 +/- 0.9 (4 h), 20.0 +/- 0.9 (8 h), and 18.4 +/- 0.8 (24 h). Aqueous tear production of both eyes was significantly reduced in cats at 1 h but returned to baseline by 4 h post tropicamide instillation. The mean +/- SEM STT levels for the baseline time in cats for control and tropicamide-treated eyes were 14.9 +/- 0.8 and 14.7 +/- 0.8 mm wetting/min, respectively. Subsequent mean +/- SEM STT levels for the control eyes were 6.4 +/- 1.1 (1 h), 11.9 +/- 1.0 (4 h), 13.9 +/- 0.8 (8 h), and 16.4 +/- 1.0 (24 h). For the tropicamide-treated eyes, the subsequent mean +/- SEM STT levels were 5.3 +/- 0.8 (1 h), 10.2 +/- 0.8 (4 h), 14.7 +/- 1.0 (8 h), and 16.6 +/- 1.0 (24 h). CONCLUSION Single dose 1% tropicamide does not significantly lower tear production rates, as measured by the STT, in normal dogs. However, in normal cats single doses of 1% tropicamide in one eye cause significant reductions in tear production of both eyes at 1 h that recovered to baseline levels by 4 h.
Multicast based Middleware for Parallel Stream Processing

The paper presents the design and evaluation of ultimate stream: middleware that allows real-time delivery of streaming video data to all computers in a local multicast group. No special hardware or software support other than standard TCP/IP multicast over a local subnet is required. Frame level data shredding and reconstruction are used to provide consistency and synchronization without retransmission. A prototype scientific application (MouseCam) was implemented to evaluate our design in a practical context. The middleware layer is flexible enough to work with a number of different types of data, including sequential JPEG images, as used in this prototype. The MouseCam prototype demonstrates that our software can be effectively used as a backbone inside a private subnet to transfer large amounts of streaming data to multiple nodes in real-time for subsequent processing in parallel.
Earth Stations, Antennas and User Devices

Satellite engineers focus heavily on the design, launch, and safe operation of spacecraft. To satellite operators, the reliable deployment and uninterrupted provision of satellite signals and the successful maintenance of their TTC&M network and spacecraft control center represent their prime objectives. The truth of the matter, however, is that without Earth stations, antennas and various types of user transceivers and user devices, the satellite assets would be worthless. The entire goal of satellite systems design over the past half century has been to find ways to make the ground antennas lower in cost, smaller in size, more transportable and much easier to use. This is in part because Earth station costs dominate the total system costs in most satellite networks.
AFRICA, CENTRAL | Sudan, Nilotic

Today the central African landscape west of the Nile River is hyperarid, with <10 mm annual rainfall; the modern Saharan region generally lacks sufficient surface water to sustain nomadic pastoralism, and settlement is localized around permanent oases and wells. The prehistoric records discovered in the desert landscape are sparse, and sites are commonly associated with ancient sources of water, including streams, springs, and lakes relict from ‘pluvial’ time periods of enhanced rainfall. Palaeoenvironmental evidence suggests that the region has remained arid with occasional semi-arid periods when the region received around 300 mm annual rainfall, and the Sudano-Sahelian vegetation zone extended northward. The changing climatic conditions and ready availability of water resources were key factors in determining when this marginal region could sustain life and cultural activities. The geoarchaeological record informs the emerging spatial and temporal reconstruction of the alternate aridification and peopling of the Sahara since the Later Pleistocene, the period ∼250 000–10 000 years ago.
A spin on lower mantle mineralogy

Constraining the spin state of Fe in Earth’s lower mantle is critical to understanding the chemistry and dynamics of Earth’s interior. In the October 2015 issue of American Mineralogist , Dorfman et al. present an experimental study of the effect of iron concentration on the spin transition in bridgmanite. Their experiments involved two different bridgmanite compositions (38 and 74% FeSiO 3 ). Based on the total spin moment determined by synchrotron-based X-ray emission spectroscopy, they show that Fe 2+ in bridgmanite is in the high-spin state in the lower mantle but transition pressure decreases within highly enriched iron concentrations.
Using river distance and existing hydrography data can improve the geostatistical estimation of fish tissue mercury at unsampled locations.

Mercury in fish tissue is a major human health concern. Consumption of mercury-contaminated fish poses risks to the general population, including potentially serious developmental defects and neurological damage in young children. Therefore, it is important to accurately identify areas that have the potential for high levels of bioaccumulated mercury. However, due to time and resource constraints, it is difficult to adequately assess fish tissue mercury on a basin wide scale. We hypothesized that, given the nature of fish movement along streams, an analytical approach that takes into account distance traveled along these streams would improve the estimation accuracy for fish tissue mercury in unsampled streams. Therefore, we used a river-based Bayesian Maximum Entropy framework (river-BME) for modern space/time geostatistics to estimate fish tissue mercury at unsampled locations in the Cape Fear and Lumber Basins in eastern North Carolina. We also compared the space/time geostatistical estimation using ri...
Permeability and Structure of Resorcinol - Formaldehyde Gels

The permeability (D) of resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) gels was measured using a beam-bending technique. For gels made at various solids contents and with different catalyst contents, the permeabilities ranged over a factor of {approximately} 50; the pore radii inferred from D varied from {approximately}3 to 30 nm. Pore radii obtained on RF aerogels using nitrogen desorption were severely affected by compression of the aerogel by capillary forces (resulting from the surface tension of liquid nitrogen). After correction for that effect, the desorption data were found to be in very good agreement with the pore sizes calculated from D.
The Lady Tasting Tea, and Allied Topics

The well-known discussion of the principles of experimentation, illustrated by a taste-testing problem, in R. A. Fisher's Design of Experiments, is the basis of this expository paper. The notion of a hypothetical population of identical experiments is defended. It is argued that attention must be paid to non-null cases (in testing theory) if a satisfactory probabilistic model for sensory sorting tests is to be built, and if the efficiency of various experimental designs is to be considered. Finally, some remarks are made on the role of randomization, and on the problem of “inexact” acceptance regions in discrete distributions.
Visceral adipose tissue dysfunction and mortality among a population-based sample of males and females

Diabetes & Metabolism - In Press.Proof corrected by the author Available online since mardi 7 juin 2016
Patients' knowledge of health plan coverage and satisfaction with care.

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that patients' satisfaction with their healthcare is related to their knowledge of their managed care plan. STUDY DESIGN: A written survey was sent to beneficiaries of the military health system. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Respondents were active or retired military personnel and their nonmilitary, immediate family members enrolled in either TRICARE Prime, a voluntary, gatekeeper-based managed care program (enrollees), or other military managed care programs (nonenrollees). Responses to 5 questions that measured patients' understanding of their program served as independent variables; satisfaction with care was the dependent variable. Responses were stratified according to whether care was received in a military or a civilian healthcare organization. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis were used to determine the association between the variables. RESULTS: Enrollees differed from nonenrollees in certain sociodemographic characteristics, with nonenrollees being older (eta 2 = 0.035; P < .01), closer to retirement (eta 2 = 0.051; P < .01), and tending to receive healthcare in military healthcare organizations (HCO) (eta 2 = 0.009; P < .01). After controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, patients' understanding of their coverage served as a poor predictor (military HCO [R2 = 0.003; P < .01]; civilian HCO [R2 = 0.025; P < .01]) of satisfaction with their care. CONCLUSIONS: Patients' understanding of their coverage appears to be a statistically significant, but rather small, contributor to satisfaction with their care. The study suggests that health plan understanding is a poor predictor of patient satisfaction.
TDMA SLOT RESERVATION IN CLUSTER-BASED VANETS

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) are a form of Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs) in which vehicles on the road form the nodes of the network. VANETs provide several services to enhance the safety and comfort of drivers and passengers. These services can be obtained by the wireless exchange of information among the vehicles driving on the road. In particular, the transmission of two different types of messages, safety/update and non-safety messages. The transmission of safety/update message aims to inform the nearby vehicles about the sender's current status and/or a detected dangerous situation. This type of transmission is designed to help in accident and danger avoidance. Moreover, it requires high message generated rate and high reliability. On the other hand, the transmission of non-safety message aims to increase the comfort on vehicles by supporting several non-safety services, from notifications of traffic conditions to file sharing. Unfortunately, the transmission of non-safety message has less priority than safety messages, which may cause shutting down the comfort services. The goal of this dissertation is to design a MAC protocol in order to provide the ability of the transmission of non-safety message with little impact on the reliability of transmitting safety message even if the traffic and communication densities are high. VANET is a highly dynamic network. With lack of specialized hardware for infrastructure and the mobility to support network stability and channel utilization, acluster-based MAC protocol is needed to solve these overcomes. This dissertation makes the following contributions: 1. A multi-channel cluster-based TDMA MAC protocol to coordinate intracluster communications (TC-MAC) 2. A CH election and cluster formation algorithm based on the traffic flow and a cluster maintenance algorithm that benefits from our cluster formation algorithm 3. A multi-channel cluster-based CDNIA/TDMA hybrid MAC protocol to coordinate inter-cluster communications I will show that TC-MAC provides better performance than the current WAVE standard in terms of safety/update message reliability and non-safety message delivery. Additionally, I will show that my clustering and cluster maintenance protocol provides more stable clusters, which will reduce the overhead of clusterhead election and re-clustering and leads to an efficient hierarchical network topology.
Efficiency of energy and nitrogen loss and gain in mature cows

Our objective was to quantify the energy and nitrogen balances of mature cows fed a fixed amount of forage. Six cows were assigned to each of two treatments. At time 0, control cows received 83.55+/-.52 g of chopped brome hay x (BWkg)(-.75) x d(-1). Feed intake remained fixed (9,103+/-277 g/d) over the entire 224 d of the study. At time 0 treated cows received 82.10+/-1.26 g of chopped brome hay x (BWkg)(-.75) x d(-1) (9,083+/-113 g/d). After time 0, treated cows were offered 65% of the time-0 feed intake for the first 112 d (Phase 1) and 135% of the time-0 feed intake for the last 112 d (Phase 2). Treatments were designed so that the total amount of feed received during the 224 d was the same for each treatment. Additional balance measurements were made on d 28, 56, 84, 112, 140, 168, 189, and 224. Although treatment groups differed within phases for cumulative heat production, control cows did not differ from treated cows in total heat produced during the 224-d study (P = .60). Net retained energy over the entire 224-d period did not differ between treatments (P = .43). Treated animals retained more nitrogen than did control animals (P = .008). The increased efficiency of nutrient utilization during refeeding in cows allowed to fluctuate in weight offers the potential to develop feeding strategies that improve grazed forage utilization and reduce supplemental feed.
Voter Decision Making Models: Predetermined or Primed?

Political scientists generally assume that all voters use the same evaluative model to judge candidates on all issues. But I show that framing subjects’ conception of the “space” of the policy in question affects the models voters use to evaluate candidates. Specifically, if self-placement questions invoke a directional logic, respondents are more likely to respond as if their own preferences were directional. But if these questions are of a proximity logic, respondents appear to be proximity voters. This result has several implications: (1) instead of asking which theory better describes voting, the important behavioral question is when voters use each, and (2) the model that people use is affected by the way questions are asked; therefore, voters are susceptible to strategic manipulation by elites, who may frame issues in order to induce strategies that are maximally advantageous given their interests.
An Approach to Reconciling Competing Ethical Principles in Aggregating Heterogeneous Health Preferences.

Background. Health-related quality of life (HRQL) scores are used extensively to quantify the effectiveness of medical interventions. Societal preference-based HRQL scores aim to produce societal v...
Halogen, Chalcogen, and Pnicogen Bonding Involving Hypervalent Atoms

The additional substituents arising from hypervalency present a number of complicating issues for the formation of noncovalent bonds. The XF5 molecule (X=Cl, Br, I) was allowed to form a halogen bond with NH3 as the base. Hypervalent chalcogen bonding is examined by way of YF4 and YF6 (Y=S, Se, Te), and ZF5 (Z=P, As, Sb) is used to model pnicogen bonding. Pnicogen bonds are particularly strong, with interaction energies approaching 50 kcal mol-1 , and also involve wholesale rearrangement from trigonal bipyramidal in the monomer to square pyramidal in the complex, subject to a large deformation energy. YF4 chalcogen bonding is also strong, and like pnicogen bonding, is enhanced by a heavier central atom. XF5 halogen bond energies are roughly 9 kcal mol-1 , and display a unique sensitivity to the identity of the X atom. The crowded octahedral structure of YF6 permits only very weak interactions. As the F atoms of SeF6 are replaced progressively by H, a chalcogen bond appears in combination with SeH⋅⋅⋅N and NH⋅⋅⋅F H-bonds. The strongest such chalcogen bond appears in SeF3 H3 ⋅⋅⋅NH3 , with a binding energy of 7 kcal mol-1 , wherein the base is located in the H3 face of the Lewis acid. Results are discussed in the context of the way in which the positions and intensities of σ-holes are influenced by the locations of substituents and lone electron pairs.
Relationships between Style and Size of Statuary and the Availability of Marble at Cyrene

The statuary from Cyrene present an invaluable opportunity to examine questions about the supply of marble in antiquity. Lacking native marble deposits, it was necessary to import all the marble needed for the city’s statuary and architecture. This paper is part of an ongoing program to provide information about this important provincial city’s sculpture both as an art form and as a commercial commodity. It extends earlier analysis of the physico-chemical and stylistic data collected on marble sculpture from Cyrene, Libya. Previous work discussed not only the specific connections between Cyrenaica and certain white marble quarries of the Mediterranean (Herz et al., 1985), but also raised the question of whether the marble was imported in blocks or as finished works (Kane, 1988). The analyses of the statuary presented here seek to determine whether or not there is a link between the availability of certain size blocks and a previously noted frequency of certain size formats.
A transgenic model for studying islet development.

The regeneration of islet cells in a transgenic mouse strain harboring the interferon-γ gene (IFN-γ) linked to the insulin promoter DNA fragment (ins-IFN-γ) is described. The regeneration follows the loss of islets by an immune response provoked by IFN-γ and manifests in the proliferation of duct cells, the presence of progenitor cells, and the formation of buds and isletlike structures. All three types (A, B, and D) of four endocrine cells identified by immunolabeling are present. The progenitor cells express neuronal enzymes, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD), as revealed by specific antibodies. The results indicate that the islet regeneration closely resembles the embryonic islet differentiation and serves as a model for studying islet development. The expression of neuronal enzymes by islet progenitor cells signifies yet unknown relationships to the nervous tissue. GAD, recognized as an autoantigen in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) and stiff-man syndrome, may provide a clue to the mechanism of autoimmune disease.
Tales from the Net: Captive Audiences, Children and the Home

Recent decisions striking down laws regulating Internet content in order to protect children have drawn praise from civil libertarians. It's easy to understand why, given the Internet's extraordinary communicative potential and certain of its characteristics, such as its unlimited capacity, which obviate some rationales justifying regulation in the past. But certain other characteristics of the Internet - its very success in becoming a pervasive influence in our lives and its presence in the home - may suggest the possibility of regulation, especially regulation designed to protect children or to encourage wider use of the medium. This paper attempts, in a short space, to consider the argument for content-based Internet regulation in the service of child protection. It posits the intersection of the factors mentioned above to consider whether such regulation can be justified. In discussing the pervasiveness of the medium, the paper asks, in Part I, whether the Internet's character justifies application of a principle akin to the captive audience doctrine. It argues that a principle akin to the captive audience doctrine could theoretically be used to justify Internet regulation, although the breadth such a theory would need is enough to give one pause. Part II considers the special needs of children, and whether those needs can be accommodated in a regime of Internet regulation. It also considers the loss of benefits normally accruing from free speech when the lack of regulation leads individuals to keep their children away from the Internet. It concludes that while these losses may be real, and their minimization a legitimate government interest, a regime of content-based restrictions is worse than the disease.
The Markov Renewal Branching Process

We consider a finite Markov renewal process with an associated sequence of nonnegative random variables, having properties similar to the sizes of successive generations in a branching process. This process is called a Markov renewal branching process; it arises in the study of the busy period in several queueing models.
Variations in Hardness and Grain Size with Density for Fully Stabilized Zirconia Sintered Using Microwave Processing

Densification of ceramic materials with microwave energy is being considered as an alternative means to conventional methods. Using microwave processing for sintering ceramics, many researchers have observed higher densities at lower temperatures, as compared with conventional sintering methods. Microwave sintering technology is under investigation for fabricating inert matrix materials that would recycle fuel in proposed Generation IV nuclear reactors. This study examined the variation in hardness with density and the changes in microstructure with processing technique and temperature. The 8 mol% Y2O3-ZrO2 samples selected for this study were sintered using a conventional furnace, a multi-mode microwave furnace and a single-mode microwave furnace. Micro- structural results on 96% theoretically dense samples showed differences in grain size to processing technique (conventional = 1.58 μm, multi-mode microwave = 1.29 μm, and single-mode microwave = 8.86 μm). Vickers hardness tests were performed on select sample groups representative of each processing method. Similarly, dense samples sintered with a conventional furnace yielded a hardness of 5.37 GPa. Whereas, higher hardness values were observed in similarly dense samples that were processed in a multi-mode microwave (9.28 GPa) and single-mode microwave (7.77 GPa). The results obtained in this study favor microwave sintering at low temperature that could eventually find an application in fabricating inert matrix fuels for next generation reactors.