cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Theoretical Analysis of Pneumatically Driven Split-Cycle Cryogenic Refrigerators

The split-cycle cryogenic refrigerator has been under investigation for the last several years for use in infrared devices. This refrigerator, which uses a pneumatically driven remote cold head, offers the advantages of low production cost, remote cooling capability, and flexibility of packaging in both ground and aerial thermal devices. A cycle that has been exploited recently in this laboratory is one in which a pneumatic “spring” volume, located in the ambient end of the displacer, is sealed off from the working gas. This cycle offers a positive retarding force on the displacer to prevent displacer bounce and avoids the use of cold end dead volumes[1]. This cycle also employs no valves; hence, the device is able to recover most of the potential energy stored in the gas during the compression part of the cycle.
Genre Emergence in Amateur Flash

While genre emergence is a recurrent theme in research on digital media, studies of genre emergence tend to adopt approaches that do not clearly bring out role of the community in which the genres emerge. This chapter develops an approach in which a quantitative social network analysis informs our study of genre emergence in Flash animations posted to Newgrounds.com, a major web portal for amateur Flash. Results indicate that participants' social network positions are strongly associated with the genres of Flash they produce, and that social processes of support and competition are key to understanding genre emergence in the Newgrounds context. We argue from these findings that a social network approach can be crucial to understanding genre emergence.
Clonal Restrictions during Early Development of the Frog Embryo

I shall define clonal restriction as the restriction of developmental activities of cells determined by their origin from specified progenitors, and shared by all cells descended from the same progenitors. Three kinds of clonal restriction will be dealt with in this article: restriction of mingling in the embryo (Jacobson, 1982, 1983); restriction of mingling of embryonic cells in tissue culture (Jacobson and Klein, in preparation); restriction of formation of connections between neurons and their target cells (Moody and Jacobson, 1983).
Photocatalytic and Photographic Heterojunctions

The fields of photo-assisted heterogeneous catalysis and silver halide based photographic systems have a number of common features. They both utilize particulate semiconducting materials to absorb the incident radiation and produce photoelectrons and photoholes. Recombination of these charge carriers is counter productive, since they are the reagents relied upon for the initiation of subsequent events crucial to overall process efficiency. From this perspective, it is not unusual that progress in these seemingly diverse fields is proceeding in similar directions. In both fields heterojunction structures are employed to promote the separation of charge carriers on the supposition that this will increase efficiency — as measured by increased product yield in photocatalysis and increased Ag+ ion reduction in photographic systems. The determination of time resolved charge transport parameters has been recognized as essential for the achievement of a detailed understanding of the photophysics and chemistry of these systems. Their particulate nature places special demands on the techniques employed in the characterization of electronic transport properties and on the interaction of electronic and ionic charge carriers with other chemical species. In the field of silver halide imaging, the time resolved photocharge technique (TRPC) has been applied to the investigation of what have been termed photographic heterojunction diodes and transistors. Descriptions of the formulation and characterization of a number of these heterojunction systems will be given with the intent of illustrating similarities with approaches being taken in the field of photocatalysis. Recent TRPC measurements on TiO2 and Pt/TiO2 particulate systems will also be discussed.
Analytical methods for assessment of cyanotoxin contamination in drinking water sources

Abstract Contamination of drinking water sources by cyanotoxins, including microcystins (MCs), nodularins (NOD), cylindrospermopsin (CYN), anatoxin-a (ANA), homoanatoxin-a (HANA) and beta-N-methylamino- l -alanine (BMAA), produced during harmful algal blooms is a serious threat to human health. The detection, quantitation, and monitoring of cyanotoxins is essential to ensure public safety. A variety of indirect methods including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), antibody-based techniques, and molecular approaches are available for cyanotoxin detection. While robust and simple, the indirect methods often lack selectivity and sensitivity. Direct detection using chromatographic techniques coupled to a mass spectrometer provide excellent selectivity and sensitivity, but require costly equipment and skilled operation. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry coupled to a bioaccumulator, toxin chemical derivatization, electrochemical immunosensors, quantitative polymerase chain reaction of toxigenic genes, and specific aptamer recognition have also been demonstrated for cyanotoxin analysis.
Testimony of the Honorable Gail Heriot of the United States Commission on Civil Rights Before the House Committee on Natural Resources on H.R. 2314, The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009

In this testimony, the author discussed the views of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in opposition to H.R. 2314 (the proposed Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2009), June 11, 2009.
Crypt fenestration enamel defects and early life stress: Contextual explorations of growth and mortality in Colonial Peru.

OBJECTIVES This study provides a comprehensive analysis of crypt fenestration enamel defects (CFEDs) from the Eten and Morrope communities, Colonial period (A.D. 1,530-1,750), Lambayeque Valley, Peru. The goal is to help clarify the role of these lesions as reflections of early life environments as well as relationships growth and survival at future ages. MATERIALS AND METHODS CFED absence/presence was recorded in the mandibular canines of 105 individuals and 202 teeth. Defect prevalence was compared between the Eten and Morrope sites using a proportions test. Femoral growth residuals were compared between CFED present and absent samples. Mortality risk was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. RESULTS CFED frequencies at Eten and Morrope were similar to previous studies. Greater frequencies of CFEDs were found at Eten compared to Morrope. There was no association between skeletal growth and CFEDs. No differences in mortality were found between CFED present and absent individuals within each site. General survivorship at Eten was significantly greater than Morrope. However, individuals without CFEDs at Eten had greater survivorship than those with and without CFEDs at Morrope. Individuals with CFEDs at Eten had greater survivorship than those with CFEDs at Morrope. These differences begin around 1.7 years. CONCLUSIONS CFEDs may be associated with stress experience, but associations with growth and survivorship at later ages is context dependent. CFED prevalence is an ambiguous indicator of stress when used in the absence of mortality data, and even under those circumstances, appears limited by differences in local demography.
Visual Analysis of 3D Data by Isovalue Clustering

Visualization of volumetric data is ubiquitous in data analysis and has been widely used for exploration in scientific simulations and biomedical imaging. While direct and indirect visualization algorithms are employed extensively in applications, the visual exploration of features in the volumetric data is still a laborious task. We present an algorithm to extract exemplar isosurfaces from a 3D scalar field data set and provide the user with a representative visualization of the data. The presented approach provides an interactive tool that aids in visual analysis and exploration tasks. Our experiments on a number of benchmark data sets suggest that, compared to existing methods, the proposed approach provides a more distinct set of isosurfaces that are more representative of the complexity of the data sets.
Analytic Determination of Rectangular-Pinhole Sensitivity With Penetration

Modern small-animal SPECT systems use multiple pinhole collimators per detector to increase sensitivity while still maintaining high resolution. This resolution is a combination of aperture resolution combined with detector resolution, which is mitigated by magnification. Higher magnification results in better resolution, but fewer apertures per detector. When multiple pinhole collimators project onto the same detector, those with a rectangular field of view (FOV) can be packed more tightly than those with a circular FOV. In addition, a rectangular aperture can be used to obtain different resolution-sensitivity tradeoffs in the two orthogonal directions. Thus, these rectangular-pinhole collimators can have independent FOVs and independent resolution values in the two directions of the rectangular aperture. Previous work has determined the amount of penetration for circular pinholes (i.e., circular apertures with circular FOVs), where the pinhole walls were modeled as cones. In this work, a formula for the penetrative sensitivity for rectangular apertures with a rectangular FOV is determined. The formula was validated using numerical calculations for various combinations of acceptance angles, aperture sizes, linear attenuation coefficients, and incidence angles.
The positive allosteric modulator of α2/3-containing GABAA receptors, KRM-II-81, is active in pharmaco-resistant models of epilepsy and reduces hyperexcitability after traumatic brain injury

The imidizodiazepine, 5-(8-ethynyl-6-(pyridin-2-yl)-4H-benzo[f]imidazo[1,5-a][1,4]diazepin-3-yl)oxazole (KRM-II-81), is selective for α2/3-containing GABAA receptors. KRM-II-81 dampens seizure activity in rodent models with enhanced efficacy and reduced motor-impairment compared with diazepam. In the present study, KRM-II-81 was studied in assays designed to detect antiepileptics with improved chances of impacting pharmaco-resistant epilepsies. The potential for reducing neural hyperactivity weeks after traumatic brain injury was also studied. KRM-II-81 suppressed convulsions in corneal-kindled mice. Mice with kainate-induced mesial temporal lobe seizures exhibited spontaneous recurrent hippocampal paroxysmal discharges that were significantly reduced by KRM-II-81 (15 mg/kg, orally). KRM-II-81 also decreased convulsions in rats undergoing amygdala kindling in the presence of lamotrigine (lamotrigine-insensitive model) (ED50 = 19 mg/kg, i.p.). KRM-II-81 reduced focal and generalized seizures in a kainate-induced chronic epilepsy model in rats (20 mg/kg, i.p., three times per day). In mice with damage to the left cerebral cortex by controlled-cortical impact, enduring neuronal hyperactivity was dampened by KRM-II-81 (10 mg/kg, i.p.) as observed through in vivo two-photon imaging of layer II/III pyramidal neurons in GCaMP6-expressing transgenic mice. No notable side effects emerged up to doses of 300 mg/kg KRM-II-81. Molecular modeling studies were conducted: docking in the binding site of the α1β3γ2L GABAA receptor showed that replacing the C8 chlorine atom of alprazolam with the acetylene of KRM-II-81 led to loss of the key interaction with α1His102, providing a structural rationale for its low affinity for α1-containing GABAA receptors compared with benzodiazepines such as alprazolam. Overall, these findings predict that KRM-II-81 has improved therapeutic potential for epilepsy and post-traumatic epilepsy. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: We describe the effects of a relatively new orally bioavailable small molecule in rodent models of pharmaco-resistant epilepsy and traumatic brain injury. KRM-II-81 is more potent and generally more efficacious than standard-of-care antiepileptics. In silico docking experiments begin to describe the structural basis for the relative lack of motor impairment induced by KRM-II-81. KRM-II-81 has unique structural and anticonvulsant effects, predicting its potential as an improved antiepileptic drug and novel therapy for post-traumatic epilepsy.
Thermal analysis of an iodine rich binder for energetic material applications

Abstract Biological agent defeat formulations containing an iodinated binder offer a unique solution for sterilization and neutralization of the surrounding environment in the form of iodine gas generation. This study characterized the thermal reactivity of an iodinated binder: hexamethylene diamine (HMD) trimer (C20H30N4O2I4) when combined with aluminum and iron oxide (Al + Fe2O3) thermite. Laser ignition studies were performed to evaluate ignition time and energy, as well as in-situ monitoring of the reaction using a high-speed camera. Thermal analysis of HMD showed four stages of exothermic decomposition plus generation of gas phase iodine species released upon decomposition. Thermal analysis of HMD + Al + Fe2O3 is consistent with laser ignition studies that showed HMD aids ignition and reaction of the ternary mixture. Overall, HMD contributed to heating and ignition as well as provided a source for iodine gas in multiple stages of the thermal reaction.
Neural Machine Translation

Neural Machine Translation (NMT) is a simple new architecture for getting machines to learn to translate. Despite being relatively new (Kalchbrenner and Blunsom, 2013; Cho et al., 2014; Sutskever et al., 2014), NMT has already shown promising results, achieving state-of-the-art performances for various language pairs (Luong et al, 2015a; Jean et al, 2015; Luong et al, 2015b; Sennrich et al., 2016; Luong and Manning, 2016). While many of these NMT papers were presented to the ACL community, research and practice of NMT are only at their beginning stage. This tutorial would be a great opportunity for the whole community of machine translation and natural language processing to learn more about a very promising new approach to MT. This tutorial has four parts.In the first part, we start with an overview of MT approaches, including: (a) traditional methods that have been dominant over the past twenty years and (b) recent hybrid models with the use of neural network components. From these, we motivate why an end-to-end approach like neural machine translation is needed. The second part introduces a basic instance of NMT. We start out with a discussion of recurrent neural networks, including the back-propagation-through-time algorithm and stochastic gradient descent optimizers, as these are the foundation on which NMT builds. We then describe in detail the basic sequence-to-sequence architecture of NMT (Cho et al., 2014; Sutskever et al., 2014), the maximum likelihood training approach, and a simple beam-search decoder to produce translations.The third part of our tutorial describes techniques to build state-of-the-art NMT. We start with approaches to extend the vocabulary coverage of NMT (Luong et al., 2015a; Jean et al., 2015; Chitnis and DeNero, 2015). We then introduce the idea of jointly learning both translations and alignments through an attention mechanism (Bahdanau et al., 2015); other variants of attention (Luong et al., 2015b; Tu et al., 2016) are discussed too. We describe a recent trend in NMT, that is to translate at the sub-word level (Chung et al., 2016; Luong and Manning, 2016; Sennrich et al., 2016), so that language variations can be effectively handled. We then give tips on training and testing NMT systems such as batching and ensembling. In the final part of the tutorial, we briefly describe promising approaches, such as (a) how to combine multiple tasks to help translation (Dong et al., 2015; Luong et al., 2016; Firat et al., 2016; Zoph and Knight, 2016) and (b) how to utilize monolingual corpora (Sennrich et al., 2016). Lastly, we conclude with challenges remained to be solved for future NMT.PS: we would also like to acknowledge the very first paper by Forcada and Neco (1997) on sequence-to-sequence models for translation!
Multispecies justice in the wetlands

espanolEste ensayo analiza el ascenso de la “justicia” como concepto central sobre el que se han organizado el pensamiento y los debates medioambientales en los ultimos treinta anos, y localiza brevemente las nociones de justicia medioambiental y de justicia multiespecie dentro del contexto mas general de las teorias de justicia desde John Rawls. Utiliza el caso de la Reserva Ecologica de los Humedales Ballona en Los Angeles, cuyo futuro esta muy disputado por diferentes grupos medioambientalistas, como caso practico para ilustrar la compleja compensacion a la que se enfrenta actualmente la toma de decisiones medioambiental, y sugerir de que forma la invocacion de la justicia multiespecie cambia los participantes en la comunidad de justicia y la forma en que deberian sopesarse sus demandas sobre la consideracion moral de los humanos. EnglishThis essay discusses the rise of "justice" as a central concept around which environmental thought and debates have been organized over the last thirty years, and briefly places the notions of environmental justice and multispecies justice into the more general context of theories of justice since John Rawls. It uses the case of the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve in Los Angeles, whose future is hotly contested between different environmentalist groups, as a case study to illustrate the complex trade-offs that environmental decision-making currently confronts, and to suggest in what ways the invocation of multispecies justice changes the participants in the community of justice and the way in which their claims on humans' moral consideration should be weighed.
One Hundred Fifty Years of Land Values in Chicago: A Non- Parametric Approach

Locally weighted regression estimates are presented for Chicago using data from 1836 to 1990. The results demonstrate that nonparametric estimators are useful for hypothesis testing as well as prediction. Estimated regression surfaces for 1836-1928 demonstrate that the monocentric city model continues to adequately represent land values through the early nineteenth century, but only if the functional form is highly nonlinear. Estimates for 1960-90 indicate that Chicago is no longer a monocentric city: O'Hare airport is an important employment center and the blighted areas of the south and west sides have lower land values than the model predicts.
Art and Artifact in Austen and Print and Performance in the 1820s: Improvisation, Speculation, Identity: Art and Artifact in Austen, edited by Anna Battigelli, Newark, U of Delaware P, 2020, xi + 267 pp., 20 illustrations; Print and Performance in the 1820s: Improvisation, Speculation, Identity, by Angela Esterhammer, Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 2020, ix + 264 pp., 7 illustrations

Two new books offer strikingly different resources for scholars of late Romanticism. The collection Art and Artifact in Austen, edited by Anna Battigelli, and Angela Esterhammer’s Print and Perform...
Ultra-High-Resolution Coronary CT Angiography for Assessment of Patients with Severe Coronary Artery Calcification: Initial Experience.

This study's initial experience with coronary angiography using ultrahigh-resolution CT in patients suspected of having coronary stenoses demonstrates promise for high diagnostic accuracy even in t...
Housing and stock market wealth effects in developing economies

While there has been a copious emphasis on wealth effects in macroeconomic analysis in advanced economies, it has remained an underexplored subject for developing economies. This paper specifically examines the existence of stock and housing wealth effects in developing countries. Further, it examines the related question of how differently the consumption responds to changes in a specific type of wealth, and to what extent the degree of financial deepening alters the intensity of wealth effect. Empirical inquiry, using panel data of 20 large emerging market and developing countries over the period 1996:Q1 to 2019:Q4, reveals a strong housing wealth effect, which could be attributed to dispersed ownership and households’ belief in the durability of wealth gains. In contrast, there is a lack of ample evidence of any significant positive stock market wealth effect, rather we find the presence of a somewhat small negative stock wealth effect, which could be associated with skewed holdings of stock wealth and uncertainty in wealth gains. However, finding from the sample of countries characterized by a higher degree of financial deepening, reveals that the stock market wealth effect turns positive and significant when the financial sector crosses a threshold of development. Besides, the housing wealth effect turns stronger with greater financial deepening and dominates the stock market wealth effect. Thus, as developing countries attain higher financial development, the wealth effect channel may turn prominent in influencing business cycle behaviour, macroeconomic aggregates and policy responses.
Laminin switches terminal differentiation fate of human trophoblast stem cells under chemically defined culture conditions.

Human trophoblast stem cells (hTSCs) have emerged as a powerful tool to model early placental development in vitro. Analogous to the epithelial cytotrophoblast in the placenta, hTSCs can differentiate into cells of the extravillous trophoblast (EVT) lineage or the multinucleate syncytiotrophoblast (STB). Here we present a chemically defined culture system for STB and EVT differentiation of hTSCs. Notably, in contrast to current approaches, we do not utilize transforming growth factor-beta inhibitors or a passage step for EVT differentiation, or forskolin for STB formation. Strikingly, under these conditions, presence of a single additional extracellular cue - lam-inin-1 - switched the terminal differentiation of hTSCs from STB to the EVT lineage. Activation of the sphingosine-1 receptor 3 receptor (S1PR3) using a chemical agonist could drive EVT differentiation of hTSCs in the absence of exogenous laminin, albeit less efficiently. To illustrate the utility of a chemically defined culture system for mechanistic studies, we examined the role of protein kinase C (PKC) signaling during hTSC differentiation to the EVT lineage. Inhibition of PKC/{beta} signaling significantly reduced HLA-G expression and the formation of HLA-G+ mesen-chymal EVTs during hTSC differentiation mediated by laminin exposure; however, it did not prevent commitment to the EVT lineage or STB differentiation. The chemically defined culture system for hTSC differentiation established herein facilitates quantitative analysis of heterogeneity that arises during hTSC differentiation, and will enable mechanistic studies in vitro. SignificanceDespite its importance to a healthy pregnancy, early human placental development remains poorly understood. Mechanistic studies are impeded by restrictions on research with human embryos and fetal tissues, and significant differences in placentation between humans and commonly used animal models. In this context, human trophoblast stem cells (hTSCs) have emerged as attractive in vitro models for the epithelial cytotrophoblast of the early gestation human placenta. Here we describe chemically defined culture conditions for differentiation of hTSCs to the two major differentiated cell types - extravillous trophoblast and syncytiotrophoblast. These culture conditions enable in vitro studies to reveal molecular mechanisms regulating hTSC differentiation.
Dehydrated Human Amniotic-Chorionic Membrane Reduces Incisional Hernia Formation in an Animal Model.

ABSTRACT Background Currently there are no standard of care treatment strategies for IH prevention (IHP). Dehydrated human amnion-chorion (dHACM) is a healing adjunct that elutes growth factors including several that have reduced IH in animal models. We therefore performed a double-blinded, prospective randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test the hypothesis that dHACM significantly reduces IH formation in a well-studied animal model of acute IH. Material and Methods Forty 16-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized to one of four groups: No Treatment vs. dHACM Sheet (Group A), and Saline vs. dHACM Injection (Group B). Each animal underwent a 5-cm midline laparotomy which was incompletely closed with 5-0 plain gut sutures; this was performed by a surgeon blinded to treatment group (first blind). After 28 days, the primary endpoints of IH formation and hernia size were determined by study staff blinded to treatment (second blind). Secondary endpoints included healed fascia tensile strength as determined by tensiometry, systemic and local inflammatory markers as measured by ELISA, and fascial scar collagen I/III ratios per Western blotting. Results In Group A, No Treatment developed IH at 87.5% vs. 62.5% for Sheet (P = 0.28). Hernias that formed in the Sheet group were significantly smaller (P = 0.036). In Group B, Injection and Saline yielded identical IH rates of 77.8%. Molecular characterization of fascial scar demonstrated non-inferior tensile strength, collagen I/III ratios, and inflammatory markers in dHACM-treated animals. Conclusions dHACM sheets significantly reduced the size of IH following laparotomy when compared to no treatment.
La reforma de la educación científica en California

En 1990, en California se introdujo un nuevo plan general con el proposito de cambiar la ensenanza de las ciencias en todo el estado, denominado el Marco de referencia cientifico para las escuelas publicas, desde la educacion preescolar hasta la primaria.1 El estudio de caso para el proyecto Innovaciones educativas en Ciencia, Matematicas y Tecnologia (SMTE, en ingles), de la Organizacion para la Cooperacion.
Fab Chaperone-Assisted RNA Crystallography (Fab CARC)

Recent discovery of structured RNAs such as ribozymes and riboswitches shows that there is still much to learn about the structure and function of RNAs. Knowledge learned can be employed in both biochemical research and clinical applications. X-ray crystallography gives unparalleled atomic-level structural detail from which functional inferences can be deduced. However, the difficulty in obtaining high-quality crystals and their phasing information make it a very challenging task. RNA crystallography is particularly arduous due to several factors such as RNA's paucity of surface chemical diversity, lability, repetitive anionic backbone, and flexibility, all of which are counterproductive to crystal packing. Here we describe Fab chaperone assisted RNA crystallography (CARC), a systematic technique to increase RNA crystallography success by facilitating crystal packing as well as expediting phase determination through molecular replacement of conserved Fab domains. Major steps described in this chapter include selection of a synthetic Fab library displayed on M13 phage against a structured RNA crystallization target, ELISA for initial choice of binding Fabs, Fab expression followed by protein A affinity then cation exchange chromatography purification, final choice of Fab by binding specificity and affinity as determined by a dot blot assay, and lastly gel filtration purification of a large quantity of chosen Fabs for crystallization.
PIL: An Optimizable Functional Language for Data Intensive Applications

The Papyrus Interface Language (PIL) has the design goal of providing optimizable and parallelizable language features. Analogous to the design philosophy of RISC instruction sets, the design of PIL is motivated by the desire to exploit query optimization and parallelization techniques. In contrast, most proposals of database programming language provide features to directly match user needs irrespective of the implementation problems, analogous to the CISC instruction set proposals. We have combined a functional model of computation with data types suitable for data intensive applications. A functional model gives a declarative semantics to all expressions including “procedural” constructs such as if-then-else, while and function calls provided the expression is without side-effects. We also provide specialized constructs for iteration over bags and sequences in order to facilitate optimization. The semantics of data types and computational abstractions are carefully chosen to retain the capability to parallelize programs. We have chosen to only partially define the order of evaluation for programs. This opens up more opportunities for reordering and for parallel execution. Just as in RISC instruction sets — what is not included will be a factor in dictating the performance of the system — we argue the need to exclude features such as object identity, semantic types an d inheritance that are popularly included in most database programming languages.
Cerebral mechanisms of language: magnetoencephalographic studies

A series of studies involving the use of Magnetoencephalography and aiming to specify the cerebral mechanisms of language will be reviewed. The series consists, first, of studies establishing the reliably, validity, and the degree of spatiotemporal detail achievable through MEG-mapping; second of studies exploring the brain mechanisms of oral language comprehension, specifically the mechanisms mediating phonological and semantic processing of speech; third, those exploring the mechanisms mediating verbal and non-verbal memory and reading in normal children and adults. Finally, a fourth set of studies will be reviewed focusing on the gradual changes of these language-specific mechanisms during child development, on the discovery of aberrant spatiotemporal brain activation profiles associated with dyslexia, and on the restitution of normal brain activity patterns following successful remedial training in reading testifying to the enormous capacity of the brain for behaviorally-induced functional reorganization. from International Society on Brain and Behaviour: 2nd International Congress on Brain and Behaviour Thessaloniki, Greece. 17–20 November 2005
Spinal NMDA receptors contribute to neuronal processing of acute noxious and nonnoxious colorectal stimulation in the rat.

The present study investigated the role of NMDA receptors in the spinal processing of acute noxious and nonnoxious colorectal stimulation using extracellular single-unit recording in the rat. Fifty...
A technology-scalable composable architecture

Clock rate scaling can no longer sustain computer system performance scaling due to power and thermal constraints and diminishing performance returns of deep pipelining. Future performance improvements must therefore come from mining concurrency from applications. However, increasing global on-chip wire delays will limit the amount of state available in a single cycle, thereby hampering the ability to mine concurrency with conventional approaches. To address these technology challenges, the processor industry has migrated to chip multiprocessors (CMPs). The disadvantage of conventional CMP architectures, however, is their relative inflexibility to meet the wide range of application demands and operating targets that now exist. The granularity (e.g., issue width), the number of processors in a chip and memory hierarchies are fixed at design time based on the target workload mix, which result in suboptimal operation as the workload mix and operating targets change over time. In this dissertation, we explore the concept of composability to address both the increasing wire delay problem and the inflexibility of conventional CMP architectures. The basic concept of composability is the ability to dynamically adapt to diverse applications and operating targets, both in terms of granularity and functionality, by aggregating fine-grained processing units or memory units. First, we propose a composable on-chip memory substrate, called Non-Uniform Access Cache Architecture (NUCA) to address increasing on-chip wire delay for future large caches. The NUCA substrate breaks large on-chip memories into many fine-grained memory banks that are independently accessible, with a switched network embedded in the cache. Lines can be mapped into this array of memory banks with fixed mappings or dynamic mappings, where cache lines can move around within the cache to further reduce the average cache hit latency. Second, we evaluate a range of strategies to build a composable processor. Composable processors provide flexibility of adapting the granularity of processors to various application demands and operating targets, and thus choose the hardware configurations best suited to any given point. A composable processor consists of a large number of low-power, fine-grained processor cores that can be aggregated dynamically to form more powerful logical processors. We present architectural innovations to support composability in a power- and area-efficient manner.
Simulation study for estimating effective resistivity in heterogenenous neural tissues

Electromagnetic numerical methods, such as the finite element method (FEM), admittance method (AM), or finite-difference time-domain (FDTD), often use models that are discretized based on the dielectric properties of included materials. When studying neural tissue, the values typically originate from measurements taken across bulk tissue. These are then used to describe the materials in the model as lumped circuital elements, converting each voxel into a homogeneous resistance. While this approach can provide a good estimate of the resistance of the tissue at macro-scales, it may be questionable when voxel resolutions down to 1–5 um are considered. At these voxel resolutions, each voxel may contain different sections of cell bodies, axons, dendritic regions, etc., each having different resistive properties. There is an inherent heterogeneity that is disregarded in previous homogeneous model approximations.
Structural and functional evolution of isopropylmalate dehydrogenases in the leucine and glucosinolate pathways of Arabidopsis thaliana.

The methionine chain-elongation pathway is required for aliphatic glucosinolate biosynthesis in plants and evolved from leucine biosynthesis. In Arabidopsis thaliana, three 3-isopropylmalate dehydrogenases (AtIPMDHs) play key roles in methionine chain-elongation for the synthesis of aliphatic glucosinolates (e.g. AtIPMDH1) and leucine (e.g. AtIPMDH2 and AtIPMDH3). Here we elucidate the molecular basis underlying the metabolic specialization of these enzymes. The 2.25 Å resolution crystal structure of AtIPMDH2 was solved to provide the first detailed molecular architecture of a plant IPMDH. Modeling of 3-isopropylmalate binding in the AtIPMDH2 active site and sequence comparisons of prokaryotic and eukaryotic IPMDH suggest that substitution of one active site residue may lead to altered substrate specificity and metabolic function. Site-directed mutagenesis of Phe-137 to a leucine in AtIPMDH1 (AtIPMDH1-F137L) reduced activity toward 3-(2′-methylthio)ethylmalate by 200-fold, but enhanced catalytic efficiency with 3-isopropylmalate to levels observed with AtIPMDH2 and AtIPMDH3. Conversely, the AtIPMDH2-L134F and AtIPMDH3-L133F mutants enhanced catalytic efficiency with 3-(2′-methylthio)ethylmalate ∼100-fold and reduced activity for 3-isopropylmalate. Furthermore, the altered in vivo glucosinolate profile of an Arabidopsis ipmdh1 T-DNA knock-out mutant could be restored to wild-type levels by constructs expressing AtIPMDH1, AtIPMDH2-L134F, or AtIPMDH3-L133F, but not by AtIPMDH1-F137L. These results indicate that a single amino acid substitution results in functional divergence of IPMDH in planta to affect substrate specificity and contributes to the evolution of specialized glucosinolate biosynthesis from the ancestral leucine pathway.
Effect of matrix ductility and interface treatment on mechanical properties of glass fiber mat composites

The influence of matrix properties on randomly oriented glass fiber epoxy composites has been studied. It is shown that an increased ductility (flexibility) of the matrix does not result in greater elongation to failure of the composite under tensile and flexural loads. The tensile (and flexural) strength and the modulus of elasticity are decreased as the ductility of the resin is increased. It is concluded that since the matrix material is subjected to a triaxial state of stress when the composite specimen is subjected to uniaxial loads, the effect of matrix modulus, Poisson's ratio, and yield strength are more important than the matrix ductility measured under uniaxial stress. The effect on mechanical properties of various surface treatments applied to the fibers is also investigated. Finally, scanning electron micrographs are presented showing matrix cracks, fiber debonding, and fiber pull-out.
The difficulty of a test and its factor composition

A factor analysis of the ten sub-tests of the Seashore test of pitch discrimination revealed that more than one ability is involved. One factor, which accounted for the greater share of the variances, had loadings that decreased systematically with increasing difficulty. A second factor had strongest loadings among the more difficult items, particularly those with frequency differences of 2 to 5 cycles per second. A third had strongest loadings at differences of 5 to 12 cycles per second. No explanation for the three factors is apparent, but the hypothesis is accepted that they represent distinct abilities. In tests so homogeneous as to content and form, where a single common factor might well have been expected, the appearance of additional common factors emphasizes the importance of considering the difficulty level of test items, both in the attempt to interpret new factors and in the practice of testing. The same kind of item may measure different abilities according as it is easy or difficult for the individuals to whom it is applied.
Effects of Zidovudine (AZT) and dideoxyinosine (ddI) on human trophoblast cells

The anti-HIV agents AZT (zidovudine) and ddl (dideoxyinosine) are being used clinically during pregnancy. The toxicity of these agents to the fetus and placenta remains a concern because few human pregnancy exposure data are available, and pregnant rodent studies with AZT indicate increased embryonic resorptions and developmental arrest. The current study used a human choriocarcinoma cell line (JAr), which exhibits many characteristics of the early placenta, to assess the effects of a single 24 h exposure of 7.6 or 0.076 mM AZT, and the effects of a single 24 h exposure of 7.6 or 0.076 mM ddI upon cell proliferation and hormone production of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), estradiol (E2), and progesterone (P4). The higher concentration of AZT and ddI produced significant (P < 0.025) reductions in cell numbers and growth rate while producing significant increases in hormone production (hCG, E2, and P4). The lower concentration of AZT and ddI produced significant increases in E2 production, but no changes in cell numbers, hCG, or P4. Because placental cells require androgen precursor for E2 synthesis, exogenous androstenedione was added to confirm observations of increased estradiol synthesis after AZT or ddl exposure. These results demonstrate that single 24 h high dose exposures of AZT or ddI produce significant inhibition of cell proliferation and alterations in hormone production in this paradigm of human placental cells.
Phase space analysis of the spurt phenomenon for the giesekus viscoelastic fluid model

Abstract The spurt phenomenon is a flow instability which occurs in pressure-driven parallel shear flows of viscoelastic liquids. This phenomenon is characterized by an abrupt increase in the volumetric throughput at a critical value of the driving pressure gradient. Recently, non-monotone (steady shear response) constitutive equations have been proposed to model this phenomenon. We analyze the startup problem for the Giesekus model, both asymptotically and numerically, and compare the results to those obtained for other models.
Liver regeneration: Alternative epithelial pathways

Loss of hepatic tissue triggers a regenerative response in the whole organ. Under typical normal conditions, all hepatic cells (epithelial: hepatocytes and biliary epithelial cells; non-epithelial: stellate cells, macrophages and endothelial cells) undergo one to three rounds of replication to establish the original number of cells and restore organ size. The review summarizes the literature of regenerative patterns in situations in which proliferation of either hepatocytes or biliary epithelial cells is inhibited. The evidence strongly suggests that under these circumstances, hepatocytes or biliary epithelial cells can function as facultative stem cells for each other and replenish the inhibited cellular compartment by a process of transdifferentiation, involving complex signaling pathways. These pathways are activated under experimental conditions in rodents and in fulminant hepatitis associated with liver failure in humans. Mechanistic analysis of these pathways has implications for liver biology and for potential therapeutic modalities in human liver disease.
The effect of deracoxib and piroxicam on viability of canine osteosarcoma cells in vitro

Introduction: Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors are being used increasingly in cancer therapy. Although the effects of COX-2 inhibitors have been evaluated extensively in carcinomas, less is known about their effects in sarcomas. Since the majority of dogs with appendicular osteosarcoma (OSA) are treated for pain with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (some COX-2 selective) prior to definitive treatment, it is important to determine the effects that commonly used NSAIDS have on tumor cell growth. Methods: Established canine osteosarcoma (POS, HMPOS and COS31) and canine fibroblast cell lines were maintained in culture under standard conditions. Cells were incubated with either deracoxib (1 uM to 500 uM) or piroxicam (1 uM to 1000 uM). Cell viability was assessed at 72 hours by cell counts and the MTT assay. The DNA fragmentation analysis was utilized to assess for apoptosis induction. Results: Deracoxib concentrations ≥100 uM and piroxicam concentrations ≥500 uM significantly reduced mean cell viability of all three OSA cell lines (lowest cell viability percentages 20% and 32%, respectively). Deracoxib concentrations ≥250 uM and piroxicam concentrations ≥500 uM also reduced viability of fibroblasts; however, the cell viability percent was reduced to only 54% and 68%, respectively, of the control value. Exposure of OSA cells to cytotoxic concentrations of deracoxib and piroxicam did not result in DNA fragmentation. Conclusions: Deracoxib and piroxicam demonstrated a cytotoxic effect on canine osteosarcoma cells. There was no evidence of apoptosis induction at the concentrations evaluated. Further investigation will need to be performed to determine whether either drug exhibits anti-tumor effects in vivo.
Welfare effects on the United States of a significant multilateral tariff reduction

Abstract This paper summarizes an estimate of the impact of a 50 percent multilateral tariff reduction on U.S. trade, employment, capital utilization, and economic welfare. In addition to calculating conventional measures of consumer surplus and revenue effects, the paper quantifies the economic adjustment costs faced by labor and capital-owners who are displaced by trade liberalization. Account is taken of both direct and indirect effects through utilization of the 367- sector U.S. input-output table. Some of the more interesting and important welfare dislocation estimates are highlighted on an industry-by-industry basis. In the aggregate, the calculated gains from trade liberalization dwarf the measured adjustment costs by a ratio of almost 20 to 1.
Marriage, employment, and health insurance in adult survivors of childhood cancer

Introduction Adult survivors of childhood cancer are at risk for disease- and therapy-related morbidity, which can adversely impact marriage and employment status, the ability to obtain health insurance, and access to health care. Our aim was to identify factors associated with survivors’ attainment of these outcomes.
Light-Curve Study and Physical Properties of the Contact Binary EQ Tauri

New V, RC, and IC light curves of EQ Tau have been obtained in 2002 and 2003. These show the secondary minimum to be a total eclipse. These new light curves have been analyzed, together with the published radial velocity observations, using the Wilson-Devinney code. The binary has an overcontact configuration, with an orbital inclination of 85°, a difference in component temperature of 80 K, and an overcontact fill-out factor of 16%. Absolute parameters of the component stars have been determined: M1 = 1.28 M⊙, R1 = 1.17 R⊙, L1 = 1.39 L⊙, and M2 = 0.47 M⊙, R2 = 0.81 R⊙, L2 = 0.63 L⊙. The calculated distance is 180 ± 20 pc. A critical review of our new timings of minimum light together with previously published ones suggests a change from one constant period to another one around 1974 rather than a cyclical variation. When corrected for energy transfer in the common envelope, the physical parameters of the two components are in good agreement with those of unevolved single stars of similar masses.
STUDIES ON AN UNCOMPLICATED CORYZA OF THE DOMESTIC FOWL : VIII. THE INFECTIVITY OF FETAL MEMBRANE AND TISSUE CULTURE SUSPENSIONS OF THE COCCOBACILLIFORM BODIES.

Fetal membrane and tissue culture suspensions of the coccobacilliform bodies are infective for normal fowl. Intranasal injection is commonly followed by a coryza which is serially transmissible and communicable by direct contact. The specific bodies are generally demonstrable in the nasal exudate of birds infected either by injection or contact. Compared with the original strain of the coryza of slow onset the reaction produced by these suspensions is often less vigorous; the incidence of apparent cases, characterized by a nasal discharge, being 97 per cent and 53 per cent, respectively. The apparent cases are similarly characterized by a long incubation period and a tendency towards chronicity.
Self-modulated-laser wakefield acceleration

A new configuration of the laser wakefield accelerator is proposed in which enhanced acceleration is achieved via resonant self-modulation of the laser pulse. This requires laser power in excess of the critical power for relativistic guiding and a plasma wavelength short compared to the laser pulse-length. Relativistic and density wake effects strongly modulate the laser pulse at the plasma wavelength, resonantly exciting the plasma wave and leading to enhanced acceleration. >
Acute Hepatotoxin Exposure Effects Lymphoid and Accessory Cell Types in Inbred Mice

The effect of acute hepatotoxin exposure on in vivo and in vitro immune responses were investigated in inbred mice. Splenic anti-SRBC PFC responses were slightly enhanced by carbon tetrachloride or galactosamine administration 5 hr prior to immunization. Whereas splenic anti-SRBC PFC responses were slightly enhanced in euthymic mice exposed to carbon tetrachloride 5 hr prior to immunization, immune responses to the TI antigens, Fl-LPS, Fl-Ficoll, and TNP-LPS, were significantly suppressed. Athymic mice receiving similar hepatotoxin exposure elicited enhanced immune responses to the TI immunogens, thereby suggesting that the activities of B cells and macrophages are enhanced in treated animals and in euthymic mice, T suppressor cells are also activated. By admixture of purified B- and T-cell and macrophage populations from either carbon tetrachloride-treated or control animals, it was demonstrated that hepatotoxin exposure also induces suppressor T cells regulating immune responses to the T-dependent antigen, SRBC, and that macrophages from treated animals are more functional. Further, B-cell responsiveness is enhanced. In addition to these observations, an active factor could be demonstrated in sera from hepatotoxin-treated animals which augments immune responses to SRBC in normal mice and promotes immune responses to this antigen in athymic mice. These findings indicate that the effects of acute hepatotoxin exposure are multifocal, influencing the activity of lymphoid and accessory cells.