cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Process and utility water requirements for cellulosic ethanol production processes via fermentation pathway

In this study, the process and utility water requirements for cellulosic ethanol production via fermentation pathway were assessed on a volume-to-volume basis (i.e., gallons of water consumption per gallon of ethanol production) using the data reported in the literature. The water requirements were analyzed for a combination of three feedstocks (i.e., hardwood, corn stover, and switchgrass) and two pretreatment technologies (i.e., dilute acid and ammonia fiber expansion) under different water network configurations aiming for zero wastewater discharge. The results indicate that the process water requirement is significantly dependent on the selection of a pretreatment process and a feedstock, while the effective design and operation of a cooling tower offers an opportunity for saving utility water. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 32: 396-405, 2013
A model of intense downdrafts driven by the melting and evaporation of precipitation

Abstract A ono-dimensioral time-dependent model of a downdraft driven by the melting and evaporation of precipitation and precipitation loading is formulated. Equations for particle melting, particle evaporation, particle concentration, precipitation content, thermodynamic energy, and vertical air velocity are formulated and solved numerically. In the environment, the lapse rate of temperature and the relative humidity are prescribed. At the top of the downdraft column, the temperature, relative humidity, vertical air velocity, and the phase and size distribution of the precipitation particles are prescribed. Two types of particle size distribution are considered: a distribution consisting of a single exponential function of the negative of the particle diameter, and a distribution consisting of two exponential functions of different slopes joining continuously at a melted diameter of 3 mm. The effects of lapse rate of environmental temperature, precipitation content, its phase and size distribution on th...
Monoline Regulations to Control the Systemic Risk Created by Investment Banks and GSEs

The paper offers a framework and a specific proposal for the re-regulation of key components of the U.S. financial system in the aftermath of the subprime mortgage crisis. It begins with a review of those aspects of the subprime crisis that required the large, observed government interventions, namely the feared bankruptcy of individual banks, insurers, and government sponsored enterprises with the potential to create a meltdown of the entire financial system. The paper then develops legislative responses that would make future systemic failures and bailouts of this magnitude highly unlikely. The paper's key analytic device is to distinguish two financial firm activities: (1) risky investment activities (hedge fund" division) capable of causing firm bankruptcy, and (2) market-making and related activities (infrastructure" division), the failure of which would have systemic implications. The goal of the proposed regulatory change is to ensure that the infrastructure division is bankruptcy remote and can operate on a stand-alone basis if necessary even when losses from the hedge fund division threaten the holding company's solvency.
Probing the Monophyly of the Sphaeropleales (Chlorophyceae) Using Data From Five Genes

Molecular phylogenetic analyses have had a major impact on the classification of the green algal class Chlorophyceae, corroborating some previous evolutionary hypotheses, but primarily promoting new interpretations of morphological evolution. One set of morphological traits that feature prominently in green algal systematics is the absolute orientation of the flagellar apparatus in motile cells, which correlates strongly with taxonomic classes and orders. The order Sphaeropleales includes diverse green algae sharing the directly opposite (DO) flagellar apparatus orientation of their biflagellate motile cells. However, algae across sphaeroplealean families differ in specific components of the DO flagellar apparatus, and molecular phylogenetic studies often have failed to provide strong support for the monophyly of the order. To test the monophyly of Sphaeropleales and of taxa with the DO flagellar apparatus, we conducted a molecular phylogenetic study of 16 accessions representing all known families and diverse affiliated lineages within the order, with data from four plastid genes (psaA, psaB, psbC, rbcL) and one nuclear ribosomal gene (18S). Although single-gene analyses varied in topology and support values, analysis of combined data strongly supported a monophyletic Sphaeropleales. Our results also corroborated previous phylogenetic hypotheses that were based on chloroplast genome data from relatively few taxa. Specifically, our data resolved Volvocales, algae possessing predominantly biflagellate motile cells with clockwise (CW) flagellar orientation, as the monophyletic sister lineage to Sphaeropleales, and an alliance of Chaetopeltidales, Chaetophorales, and Oedogoniales, orders having multiflagellate motile cells with distinct flagellar orientations involving the DO and CW forms.
Foreign Policy in Transition? Human Rights, Democracy, and U.S. Arms Exports

During the Cold War, U.S. foreign policy was dominated by the strategic goal to contain Communism. Human rights and democracy were of secondary importance. In the post-Cold War period, the promotion of human rights and democracy as foreign policy concerns rose in prominence. In the spirit of Andrew Pierre, who once characterized arms transfers as “foreign policy writ large ,” this study questions whether the transfer of U.S. arms mirrors America's foreign policy goals. To what extent do U.S. arms transfers reflect a concern for human rights and democracy? As a foreign policy instrument, do U.S. arms transfer patterns mark a transition between Cold War and post-Cold War worlds? To address these questions, I examine the empirical linkage between U.S. foreign policy goals and arms export agreements with developing countries for the years 1981–2002. I use a two-stage model to evaluate the decision-making process. The first-stage addresses whether a country is eligible to receive U.S. arms. If a country successfully passes through the selection stage, it progresses to the second stage where a decision is made about the amount of arms transferred. I use a Heckman model to estimate empirically the determinants of arms at both the initial selection stage and the subsequent amount stage. The findings indicate that during the Cold War years, human rights were not a significant determinant of arms transfers—although democracy was positively linked to U.S. arms in the selection stage. In the post-Cold War period, both human rights and democracy had a meaningful impact in determining the eligibility of a country to receive arms.
A cross-job framework for MapReduce scheduling

In this paper, we present a novel cross-job framework for MapReduce scheduling, which aims to minimize the total processing time of a sequence of related jobs by combining reduce and map phases of two consecutive jobs and streaming data between them. The proposed framework has the following desirable properties: (1) It can accelerate the execution of a sequence of related MapReduce jobs by achieving a good tradeoff between data locality and parallelism. (2) It can support all the existing MapReduce applications with no changes to their source code. (3) It is a general framework, which can work with different scheduling algorithms. We built a new MapReduce runtime system called cross-job Hadoop by integrating the proposed cross-job framework into Hadoop. We conducted extensive experiments to evaluate its performance using PageRank and an Apache Pig application. Our experimental results show that the cross-job Hadoop can significantly reduce both the total processing time of a job sequence and the size of data transferred over the network.
Effects of persantin on several transport systems of murine leukemias.

Abstract The effect of persantin on several transport systems was studied using murine leukemia cells. Low concentrations of persantin inhibited inward transport of phosphate, fucose, deoxycytidine and adenosine. At higher concentrations, inhibition of exodus of these substances from pre-loaded cells could be shown. In contrast, persantin preferentially inhibited efflux of O- methylglucose , uridine, uracil, and cycloleucine at levels which did not significantly slow influx. As the persantin level was elevated, entry of the latter group of compounds was also inhibited. These data have implications concerning the multiplicity of transport sites on the cell membrane.
Modeling of the breakdown mechanisms for porous copper/low-k process flows

The lifetime of porous low-k dielectrics has been observed to degrade as a function of porosity. This paper demonstrates that pores disturb the electric field within a dielectric through finite element simulation. The disturbance of electric field extends beyond the pore itself. A model of charge transport has been developed to demonstrate the sensitivity of leakage currents in a dielectric to porosity.
Drowning the poor in excessive wages: the problems of the minimum wage law

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the minimum wage law is deleterious to the unskilled, to the young and to members of minority groups.Design/methodology/approach – The main method used in this paper is the logical application of basic supply and demand economic analysis.Findings – The authors found that when a minimum wage of any given level is imposed, those with productivities below that level are at great risk of unemployment. For example, with a minimum wage of $10 per hour, those who can only produce at the rate of $1‐$7, $8, or $9 per hour are likely to become unemployed. Similarly, if the level is raised to, say, $100, then even people with productivity levels of $8 or $90 per hour will lose their jobs.Research limitations/implications – More effort should be made to ascertain who it is that gains from this law, if it is not the poor and unskilled. Attention should be focused on labor unions in this regard.Practical implications – The practical implication of this research...
The contribution of lipogenesis in situ to the accumulation of fat by rat adipose tissue

Abstract The purpose of this study was to assess the contribution of lipogenesis in situ for the accumulation of fat by the adipose tissue of rats. [U-14C] Glucose was injected into animals that had been fed diets containing increasing amounts of corn oil. Under these conditions the recovery of labelled fatty acids from the adipose tissue of the animals fed diets containing 4 and 9% corn oil was significantly decreased. On the other hand, when the adipose tissue of these animals was incubated in vitro in the presence of [U-14C] glucose, the synthesis of labelled fatty acids was significantly increased. Increasing amounts of dietary fat did not alter the adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase activity. Under these conditions the uptake of labelled triglyceride fatty acids by the adipocytes of rats fed fat is probably very limited when compared with the uptake by the adipocytes of rats fed on a fat-free diet. In the liver of the animals fed fat the synthesis of labelled fatty acids was decreased both in vitro and in vivo. By reducing the in vivo lipogenesis by the liver the amount of labelled triglyceride fatty acids of hepatic origin secreted into the plasma was also reduced. It is argued, therefore, that in the animals fed on a fat-free diet the radioactivity recovered in the adipose tissue fatty acid fraction can probably be credited to synthesis in situ and uptake of plasma triglyceride fatty acids, while in the adipose tissue of the animals fed on a high-fat diet the radioactive fatty acids recovered in the adipose tissue can be credited mainly to synthesis in situ.
Genetic Studies of the Serine Mutant in Variety Nine of Tetrahymena pyriformis

SYNOPSIS. Crosses between serine requiring and non-requiring clones from natural habitats give rise to progeny that are numerically equally distributed between the two categories. Most of the progeny from crosses between two serine requiring parental clones require serine with a few segregating out that do not need the amino acid. These data indicate that the gene or genes controlling the serine non-requirement are recessive to the wild type which requires serine. Growth of the F1 progeny was highly variable. Some clones failed to survive on serine deficient media and were therefore tentatively assigned the genotype +/+. The remaining clones were of two classes: one grew slowly on serine deficient media and was given the genotype of the heterozygote, +/s; the other grew without serine, hence was given the double recessive genotype, s/s. The F2 progeny from matings of s/s and s/s need no serine whereas the cross of +/s and s/s gave equal numbers of serine requiring and serine non-requiring progeny. The cross of two heterozygotes, +/s and +/s, yield progeny approximating the 3:1 ratio in favor of serine requiring clones. Crosses at the F3 level produced non-viable offspring in all cases except one. Progeny from this cross with the genotype s/s were mated giving rise to F4 progeny all of which grew without serine. The data support an outbreeding economy for this organism with selection in favor of the heterozygote. Although the data seem to favor a single-gene hypothysis, suppressor genes may be involved. With selection favoring the heterzygote, distorted genetic ratios make the data difficult to analyze.
Feature Compensation Employing Multiple Environmental Models for Robust In-Vehicle Speech Recognition

An effective feature compensation method is developed for reliable speech recognition in real-life in-vehicle environments. The CU-Move corpus, used for evaluation, contains a range of speech and noise signals collected for a number of speakers under actual driving conditions. PCGMM-based feature compensation, considered in this paper, utilizes parallel model combination to generate noise-corrupted speech model by combining clean speech and the noise model. In order to address unknown time-varying background noise, an interpolation method of multiple environmental models is employed. To alleviate computational expenses due to multiple models, an Environment Transition Model is employed, which is motivated from Noise Language Model used in Environmental Sniffing. An environment dependent scheme of mixture sharing technique is proposed and shown to be more effective in reducing the computational complexity. A smaller environmental model set is determined by the environment transition model for mixture sharing. The proposed scheme is evaluated on the connected single digits portion of the CU-Move database using the Aurora2 evaluation toolkit. Experimental results indicate that our feature compensation method is effective for improving speech recognition in real-life in-vehicle conditions. A reduction of 73.10% of the computational requirements was obtained by employing the environment dependent mixture sharing scheme with only a slight change in recognition performance. This demonstrates that the proposed method is effective in maintaining the distinctive characteristics among the different environmental models, even when selecting a large number of Gaussian components for mixture sharing.
Effect of adjunctive benzodiazepines on clinical outcomes in lithium- or quetiapine-treated outpatients with bipolar I or II disorder: results from the Bipolar CHOICE trial.

Abstract Background Little is known about the longer-term effects of adjunctive benzodiazepines on symptom response during treatment in patients with bipolar disorders. Methods The study sample consisted of 482 patients with bipolar I or II disorder enrolled in a 6-month, randomized, multi-site comparison of lithium- and quetiapine-based treatment. Changes in clinical measures (BISS total and subscales, CGI-BP, and CGI-Efficacy Index) were compared between participants who did and did not receive benzodiazepine treatment at baseline or during follow-up. Selected outcomes were also compared between patients who did and did not initiate benzodiazepines during follow-up using stabilized inverse probability weighted analyses. Results Significant improvement in all outcome measures occurred within each benzodiazepine exposure group. Benzodiazepine users (at baseline or during follow-up) experienced significantly less improvement in BISS total, BISS irritability, and CGI-BP scores than did benzodiazepine non-users. There were no significant differences in these measures between patients who did and did not initiate benzodiazepines during follow-up in the weighted analyses. There was no significant effect of benzodiazepine use on any outcome measure in patients with comorbid anxiety or substance use disorders. Limitations This is a secondary analysis of data from a randomized effectiveness trial that was not designed to address differential treatment response according to benzodiazepine use. Conclusions Adjunctive benzodiazepines may not significantly affect clinical outcome in lithium- or quetiapine-treated patients with bipolar I or II disorder over 6 months, after controlling for potential confounding factors.
Attachment of an electron-hole droplet to a donor

Abstract The attachment of an electron-hole droplet to a donor in Ge is considered using the density-functional method. We find the heat of solution of a donor in a droplet to be about 7 meV, and the electron density at the donor to be 32 times the carrier density in the droplet far from the donor. Effects on droplet pinning and recombination are discussed.
Histochemical stability in freeze-desiccated tissue sections*

Summary Freeze-desiccation of fresh cryostat sections is carried out by briefly air-drying fresh cryostat sections on a coverslip and then placing serial sections in a 4-oz wide mouth jar containing 2 to 3 g of CaSO 4 , sealing the jars, and storing them in a freezer. Histochemical tests repeated on the stored cryostat sections showed that some enzymes are relatively stable, while others are almost totally lost. The reaction for a trypsin-like enzyme (naphthol AS) in mast cells was stable in over 300 freeze-desiccated specimens, some of which were in storage up to 5 years. Six dehydrogenase reactions in five specimens varied from total retention to almost complete loss of activity. Two hydrolytic enzymes showed moderate loss of activity. Slight morphological alteration of the tissue is produced by freeze-desiccation storage, especially if the jars are inadequately sealed. Freeze-desiccation storage is one method for maintaining a supply of cryostat sections which have not been subjected to any fixatives. This enables the investigator to attempt new histochemical procedures or repeat certain procedures previously carried out. Some of the conditions to be considered before employing this technique are: 1) availability of specific types of tissues; 2) availability of liquid nitrogen storage facilities; 3) satisfactory completion of tests for very labile enzymes or elements.
Influence of homologous recombinational repair on cell survival and chromosomal aberration induction during the cell cycle in γ-irradiated CHO cells

Abstract The repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) by homologous recombinational repair (HRR) underlies the high radioresistance and low mutability observed in S-phase mammalian cells. To evaluate the contributions of HRR and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) to overall DSB repair capacity throughout the cell cycle after γ-irradiation, we compared HRR-deficient RAD51D -knockout 51D1 to CgRAD51D -complemented 51D1 (51D1.3) CHO cells for survival and chromosomal aberrations (CAs). Asynchronous cultures were irradiated with 150 or 300 cGy and separated by cell size using centrifugal elutriation. Cell survival of each synchronous fraction (∼20 fractions total from early G1 to late G2/M) was measured by colony formation. 51D1.3 cells were most resistant in S, while 51D1 cells were most resistant in early G1 (with survival and chromosome-type CA levels similar to 51D1.3) and became progressively more sensitive throughout S and G2. Both cell lines experienced significantly reduced survival from late S into G2. Metaphases were collected from every third elutriation fraction at the first post-irradiation mitosis and scored for CAs. 51D1 cells irradiated in S and G2 had ∼2-fold higher chromatid-type CAs and a remarkable ∼25-fold higher level of complex chromatid-type exchanges compared to 51D1.3 cells. Complex exchanges in 51D1.3 cells were only observed in G2. These results show an essential role for HRR in preventing gross chromosomal rearrangements in proliferating cells and, with our previous report of reduced survival of G2-phase NHEJ-deficient prkdc CHO cells [Hinz et al., DNA Repair 4, 782–792, 2005], imply reduced activity/efficiency of both HRR and NHEJ as cells transition from S to G2.
Fringe Visibility for a Three-Particle Beam-Entanglement

Zeilinger et al. have recently proposed procedures for producing three-particle entanglements from two independent entangled pairs. Here I exhibit the quantum state behind one realization of this proposal and from this state calculate the visibility of the three-particle fringes.
Prostate Size as a Predictor of Gleason Score Upgrading in Patients With Low Risk Prostate Cancer

Purpose: Gleason score upgrading between biopsy and surgical pathological specimens occurs in 30% to 50% of cases. Predicting upgrading in men with low risk prostate cancer may be particularly important since high grade disease influences management decisions and impacts prognosis. We determined whether prostate size predicts Gleason score upgrading in patients with low risk prostate cancer.Materials and Methods: A total of 1,251 consecutive patients with D'Amico low risk disease and complete data available underwent radical prostatectomy at our institution between January 2000 and June 2008. Patients were divided into 3 groups by pathological Gleason score, including no, minor (3 + 4 = 7) and major (4 + 3 = 7 or greater) Gleason score upgrading. We developed bivariate and multivariate models to determine whether prostate size was an important predictor of upgrading while controlling for clinical and biopsy characteristics.Results: Of 1,251 cases 387 (31.0%) were upgraded, including 324 (26%) and 63 (5%) ...
Separation-Compliant, Optimal Routing and Control of Scheduled Arrivals in a Terminal Airspace

We address the problem of navigating a set (fleet) of aircraft in an aerial route network so as to bring each aircraft to its destination at a specified time and with minimal distance separation assured between all aircraft at all times. The speed range, initial position, required destination, and required time of arrival at destination for each aircraft are assumed provided. Each aircraft's movement is governed by a controlled differential equation (state equation). The problem consists in choosing for each aircraft a path in the route network and a control strategy so as to meet the constraints and reach the destination at the required time. The main contribution of the paper is a model that allows to recast this problem as a decoupled collection of problems in classical optimal control and is easily generalized to the case when inertia cannot be neglected. Some qualitative insight into solution behavior is obtained using the Pontryagin Maximum Principle. Sample numerical solutions are computed using a numerical optimal control solver. The proposed model is first step toward increasing the fidelity of continuous time control models of air traffic in a terminal airspace. The Pontryagin Maximum Principle implies the polygonal shape of those portions of the state trajectories away from those states in which one or more aircraft pair are at minimal separation. The model also confirms the intuition that, the narrower the allowed speed ranges of the aircraft, the smaller the space of optimal solutions, and that an instance of the optimal control problem may not have a solution at all (i.e., no control strategy that meets the separation requirement and other constraints).
CRYSTALLIZATION OF ‘POCKET’ BERTHIERINE FROM THE PULSIFER GRANITIC PEGMATITE, POLAND, MAINE, USA

A new occurrence of berthierine has been found in the Pulsifer granitic pegmatite, near Auburn, Maine. Berthierine was found in miarolitic cavities (‘pockets’) as aggregates of radial platy crystals with albite, as fracture-fillings in microcline and as fine-grained anhedral flakes with muscovite. Berthierine samples from all associations are depleted in Mg, but show variable enrichment in Mn. The textural relationships of the berthierine assemblage indicate that its formation is probably related to the dissolution of microcline in the presence of a low-temperature, neutral to alkaline, Fe-rich hydrothermal solution. This mode of occurrence is in direct contrast to the typical formation of berthierine in granitic pegmatites that is generally related to the alteration of cordierite-group minerals.
Energy level alignment at the anode of poly(3-hexylthiophene)/fullerene-based solar cells.

We have used ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy to investigate the energy-level and band alignment near the anode for poly(3-hexylthiophene)/[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT/PCBM)-based organic solar cells. Analysis of various batches of indium−tin oxide (ITO) revealed that the photoresist residues had a strong effect, reducing the work functions of ITO (ΦITO) by as much as 0.61 eV. The energy-level alignment of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/ITO (ΦPEDOT/ITO) interfaces obey the Mott−Schottky rule at values of ΦITO of less than 3.92 eV. In contrast, we observed Fermi-level pinning for the blend/PEDOT interfaces at values of ΦPEDOT/ITO greater than 4.26 eV; this finding is consistent with a previous report that the positive polaronic energy of P3HT is equal to 4.0 eV. Consequently, we suspect that the similar efficiency levels and open-circuit voltages of devices prepared from various ITO samples were due mainly to the constant interfacial energy barrier at the blend/PEDOT interface w...
RELPAC: a reliability & quality control software package

Abstract There are many procedures and programs that can be applied to the solution of reliability and quality control problems. Fitting probability distributions to data, solution of reliability diagrams, designing acceptance sampling plans, and constructing and using control charts are just some of the tasks that may be involved. RELPAC (RELiability PACkage) is a collection of PC tools that can be used to help solve many of these problems. It contains 34 different programs. The package has been used very successfully in a graduate course in Reliability and Quality Control taught by the Industrial Engineering Department at the University of Houston, and has also been utilized in an industrial short course on reliability.
Circadian rhythms: As time glows by in bacteria

Populations of cells can exhibit remarkably precise and stable circadian oscillations. But can single cells achieve such precision in the absence of intercellular communication? For cyanobacteria, it seems so.
Suspensions of Rodlike Particles: Literature Review and Data Correlations

Recent experimental work on the macroscopic rheological properties of suspensions of rodlike particles in Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids is reviewed. Correlations are proposed for the shear viscosity-shear rate relationship for semi-concentrated and concentrated suspensions. In the former case, shear thinning behavior is found with the slope of the power law region depending upon fiber aspect ratio. For the concen trated systems, the data are substantially independent of volume fraction and aspect ratio and show slight shear thinning.
Mean First-Passage Time Calculations for the Coil-to-Helix Transition: The Active Helix Ising Model†

The kinetics and thermodynamics of the coil-to-helix transition is studied using a one-dimensional “Zimm−Bragg” Ising model. The mean first-passage time for the coil-to-helix transition is estimated within the “mean sequence” approximation. A generalized mean first-passage time equation is derived where the transition rates may depend on the state of the system. The analytic expression for the mean first-passage time is evaluated, and the results are discussed as a function of energetic parameters, nucleation and propagation constants, peptide length, and the initial fraction of coil. The equilibrium thermodynamic properties of the model are shown to agree well with the Zimm−Bragg model, validating the mean sequence approximation. The time scales for helix formation are computed for a range of energetic parameters that determine the nucleation and propagation constants for the model. It is shown that, for a range of thermodynamically realistic parameters, the kinetic first-passage times are on the order o...
Preliminary Design and Investigation of Integrated Compressor with Composite Material Wheel

An integrated water vapor compressor with composite material wheel is developed and strength analysis using FEM is presented. The design of wound composite material allows for integrating all rotating parts of the drive that may simply reduce to only the rotor of the electrical motor, since no drive shaft is required anymore. This design can reduce the number of parts and mass, which is convenient for engineers to maintain the compressor. The electrical motors are brushless DC motors operating through a frequency drive and apply a torque on the wheels through the materials bonded in the wheel shrouds. This system allows a large amount of compression to be produced in a multi-stage compression setup. To determine the stress and vibration characteristics of this integrated compressor, numerical analysis is carried out using FEM. The simulation result shows that the integrated compressor with composite material wheel can be used in a chiller system where water as a refrigerant.
Mechanisms of Rose Bengal inhibition on SecA ATPase and ion channel activities

SecA is an essential protein possessing ATPase activity in bacterial protein translocation for which Rose Bengal (RB) is the first reported sub-micromolar inhibitor in ATPase activity and protein translocation. Here, we examined the mechanisms of inhibition on various forms of SecA ATPase by conventional enzymatic assays, and by monitoring the SecA-dependent channel activity in the semi-physiological system in cells. We build on the previous observation that SecA with liposomes form active protein-conducting channels in the oocytes. Such ion channel activity is enhanced by purified Escherichia coli SecYEG-SecDF·YajC liposome complexes. Inhibition by RB could be monitored, providing correlation of in vitro activity and intact cell functionality. In this work, we found the intrinsic SecA ATPase is inhibited by RB competitively at low ATP concentration, and non-competitively at high ATP concentrations while the translocation ATPase with precursors and SecYEG is inhibited non-competitively by RB. The Inhibition by RB on SecA channel activity in the oocytes with exogenous ATP-Mg(2+), mimicking translocation ATPase activity, is also non-competitive. The non-competitive inhibition on channel activity has also been observed with SecA from other bacteria which otherwise would be difficult to examine without the cognate precursors and membranes.
Soil fungal populations and soil respiration in habitats variously influenced by coal strip-mining

Abstract Strip-mining for coal in the eastern US results in severe environmental impacts to soil subsystems. Edaphic characters of soil collected from five habitats located in a coal strip-mining reclamation area in Perry County, Ohio revealed that strip-mined soils generally exhibited lower pH and higher levels of trace metals than did soils from habitats not influenced directly by strip-mining. The five habitats studied included: a non-vegetated strip-mined habitat; three vegetated strip-mined habitats, dominated either by Pinus resinosa, Robinia pseudoacacia or Populus grandidentata; and a control habitat dominated by Fagus grandifolia and unaffected by strip-mining. There were generally fewer fungal genera isolated from soils of strip-mined habitats than from soils of the unstripped habitats. Soil respiration data collected from soils of each habitat using manometric techniques revealed that respiration was generally higher in soils from the unstripped control habitat than from soils directly influenced by strip-mining. The environmental impact of coal strip-mining is evident in the soil microfloral diversity and activity, and may influence decomposition potential, cycling of trace elements and soil development, long after successful establishment of vegetation.
A Test of Three Alternative Hypotheses Regarding the Effects of Early Delinquency on Adolescent Psychosocial Functioning and Substance Involvement

This study compared alternative hypotheses (from general deviance, life course, and developmental psychopathology perspectives) regarding the effects of early adolescent delinquency on psychosocial functioning in family, school, and peer contexts, and on alcohol use. Analyses also examined parent-child negative affective quality, prosocial school orientation, and peer substance use as possible direct predictors of problem substance use. Participants in this longitudinal study, extending from age 11 to age 18, were 429 rural teens (222 girls) and their families. Path model comparisons supported the tenability of a partial mediation model that included mediating pathways and a direct effect of delinquency on alcohol use, as hypothesized by developmental psychopathology. A supplemental analysis controlling for the stability of the family, school, and peer variables revealed that delinquency had less pervasive direct effects on, and a nonsignificant indirect effect through, changes in the mediators over time. Results also showed that peer substance use was a direct positive predictor of problem use.
Genetic Identification of Hatchery Stocks of Brown Trout Using Mitochondrial DNA Polymorphism

Abstract Molecular genetics techniques provide an accurate and cost-effective way to identify hatchery strains and to measure genetic variation in fish populations. In this study, we sought to identify genetic differences at the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) level in two of the three hatchery strains of Michigan brown trout Salmo trutta by using restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) of segments of mtDNA amplified by polymerase chain reaction. We show that the RFLP approach can provide valuable information about the genetic composition of Michigan brown trout strains and a method of population analysis that can be used to enhance short- and long-term fisheries management studies.
Trochanteric cable migration through the perineum

This is a case report of a 85-year-old female who sustained an intertrochanteric femur fracture with comminution treated with a calcar-replacing endoprosthesis with trochanteric cables. Approximately 21 months post-operatively she presented with a prominence in her perineum and a sharp sensation within her labia which had essentially been ignored by the emergency room physician and her primary care provider. Radiographs revealed migration of her trochanteric cable which was removed with a local anesthetic.
Caging dynamics in a granular fluid.

We report an experimental investigation of the caging motion in a uniformly heated granular fluid for a wide range of filling fractions, $\ensuremath{\phi}$. At low $\ensuremath{\phi}$ the classic diffusive behavior of a fluid is observed. However, as $\ensuremath{\phi}$ is increased, temporary cages develop and particles become increasingly trapped by their neighbors. We statistically analyze particle trajectories and observe a number of robust features typically associated with dense molecular liquids and colloids. Even though our monodisperse and quasi-2D system is known to not exhibit a glass transition, we still observe many of the precursors usually associated with glassy dynamics. We speculate that this is due to a process of structural arrest provided, in our case, by the presence of crystallization.
New pseudorandom/natural code conversion method

A new pseudorandom/natural code conversion method is proposed. The new method is characterised by a reasonable cost/speed compromise between the known parallel- and sequential-type code conversion methods.
Role-limiting methods for automated knowledge acquisition: a problem-solving perspective

Abstract In this short paper we provide some complementary remarks on an excellent paper published earlier in this journal. The issues discussed here are concerned with similarities and differences between knowledge acquisition (KA) in expert systems on the one hand and requirement acquisition (RA) in other kinds of information systems (particularly decision support systems, or DSSs) on the other hand, We focus on role-limiting methods developed for automated knowledge acquisition, examining these methods and their integration from the problem solving perspective. We also suggest that a feasibility study on the potential of developing similar methods for the tasks of RA may benefit DSS and other kinds of information systems.
Spurious second transition in the heavy-fermion superconductor Ce Pt 3 Si

Specific heat studies have shown a distinct second transition at $T\ensuremath{\approx}0.48\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$ in some nominally single-phase samples of the heavy Fermion superconductor $\mathrm{Ce}{\mathrm{Pt}}_{3}\mathrm{Si}$, ${T}_{c}=0.75\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$, which in the current work is also seen as structure in penetration depth measurements. The double transition structure is accentuated by a Ce deficiency in ${\mathrm{Ce}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{\mathrm{Pt}}_{3}\mathrm{Si}$, becoming reproducible for $x\ensuremath{\geqslant}2%$. Electron microprobe, x-ray diffraction, and metallography studies of these Ce-deficient samples show only a minor amount of second phase which, by secondary electron backscattering, is similar in composition to ${\mathrm{Ce}}_{2}{\mathrm{Pt}}_{15}{\mathrm{Si}}_{7}$. This compound is an antiferromagnet with a peak in $C∕T$ at $0.4\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$ with a magnitude of $22000\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mJ}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}{(\mathrm{Ce}\text{\ensuremath{-}}\mathrm{mol}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{K}}^{2})}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. Thus, in the complexity of a the $\mathrm{Ce}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{Pt}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{Si}$ ternary phase diagram, the cause for the occasionally observed structure in the specific heat below the superconducting transition is a few tenths of a percent mass loss of Ce during arc-melting or annealing of the sample.
Control of morningglory species using Fusarium solani and its extracts

Abstract Natural products of an isolate of Fusarium solani App. & Wr. NRRL 18883 grown on rice medium were discovered to be phytotoxic to morningglory. This isolate was evaluated for biocontrol potential on morningglory species including ivyleaf [Ipomoea hederacea (L.) Jacq.], multicoloured (I. tricolor Cav.), paimleaf (I. wrightii Gray), pitted (I. lacunosa L.), purple moonflower (I. turbinata Lag.), red (I. coccinea L.), sharppod (I. cordatotriloba Dennstedt), smallflower (Jacquemontia tamnifolia (L.) Griseb], and tall [I. purpurea (L.) Roth] morningglory. When sprayed at a concentration of 10 g fungus‐infested rice per 50 ml of water, this isolate caused phytotoxic damage including necrosis, chlorosis, growth inhibition, and mortality. Deleterious effects were recorded in all species, ranging from necrotic spots to death, depending on the species. Mortality ranged from 0% at 3 weeks for purple moonflower to 89% for smallflower morningglory. Soil‐drench application (10–20 ml fungal material per 150 g so...
Comparison of analgetic activity of 67 arylalkamines with that of morphine and meperidine by the mouse hot plate method.

A total of 67 arylalkamines have been compared with morphine and meperidine activity by the hot plate method using mice. Out of the total number of arylalkamines investigated only iso-1,2-diphenylethanolamine hydrochloride produced a fair degree of depression to pain. Slight action was demonstrable with five of the others.
Logic Animation and Logic Animation Platform

Logic animation, a new style of animation, was first proposed in the application of dynamic geometry software. The concept, features, and possible application prospects of logic animation are further introduced in details in this paper, compared with the traditional style of animation—time-sequential animation. Based on the design ideas of dynamic geometry software, Flash and game engine, the design of a logic animation-making software is also proposed, and finally the resulting software is illustrated with several examples, demonstrating its merits.
The Player/Stage Project: Tools for Multi-Robot and Distributed Sensor Systems

This paper describes the Player/Stage software tools applied to multi-robot, distributed-robot and sensor network systems. Player is a robot device server that provides network transparent robot control. Player seeks to constrain controller design as little as possible; it is device independent, non-locking and language- and style-neutral. Stage is a lightweight, highly configurable robot simulator that supports large populations. Player/Stage is a community Free Software project. Current usage of Player and Stage is reviewed, and some interesting research opportunities opened up by this infrastructure are identified.
Web caching and Zipf-like distributions: evidence and implications

This paper addresses two unresolved issues about Web caching. The first issue is whether Web requests from a fixed user community are distributed according to Zipf's (1929) law. The second issue relates to a number of studies on the characteristics of Web proxy traces, which have shown that the hit-ratios and temporal locality of the traces exhibit certain asymptotic properties that are uniform across the different sets of the traces. In particular, the question is whether these properties are inherent to Web accesses or whether they are simply an artifact of the traces. An answer to these unresolved issues will facilitate both Web cache resource planning and cache hierarchy design. We show that the answers to the two questions are related. We first investigate the page request distribution seen by Web proxy caches using traces from a variety of sources. We find that the distribution does not follow Zipf's law precisely, but instead follows a Zipf-like distribution with the exponent varying from trace to trace. Furthermore, we find that there is only (i) a weak correlation between the access frequency of a Web page and its size and (ii) a weak correlation between access frequency and its rate of change. We then consider a simple model where the Web accesses are independent and the reference probability of the documents follows a Zipf-like distribution. We find that the model yields asymptotic behaviour that are consistent with the experimental observations, suggesting that the various observed properties of hit-ratios and temporal locality are indeed inherent to Web accesses observed by proxies. Finally, we revisit Web cache replacement algorithms and show that the algorithm that is suggested by this simple model performs best on real trace data. The results indicate that while page requests do indeed reveal short-term correlations and other structures, a simple model for an independent request stream following a Zipf-like distribution is sufficient to capture certain asymptotic properties observed at Web proxies.
Learning sparse representations for adaptive compressive sensing

Breakthrough results in compressive sensing (CS) have shown that high dimensional signals (vectors) can often be accurately recovered from a relatively small number of non-adaptive linear projection observations, provided that they possess a sparse representation in some basis. Subsequent efforts have established that the reconstruction performance of CS can be improved by employing additional prior signal knowledge, such as dependency in the location of the non-zero signal coefficients (structured sparsity) or by collecting measurements sequentially and adaptively, in order to focus measurements into the proper subspace where the unknown signal resides. In this paper, we examine a powerful hybrid of adaptivity and structure. We identify a particular form of structured sparsity that is amenable to adaptive sensing, and using concepts from sparse hierarchical dictionary learning we demonstrate that sparsifying dictionaries exhibiting the appropriate form of structured sparsity can be learned from a collection of training data. The combination of these techniques (structured dictionary learning and adaptive sensing) results in an effective and efficient adaptive compressive acquisition approach which we refer to as LASeR (Learning Adaptive Sensing Representations.)
Independent Vector Analysis using Non-Spherical Joint Densities for the Separation of Speech Signals

We propose a new blind source separation approach that models the inherent signal dependencies such as those observed in speech signals in order to solve the problem of separating convolved sources. The frequency domain methods for the convolved mixture problem require a solution to the well-known permutation problem. Our approach is based on assuming a vector representation of the source signal where its multidimensional joint densities are non-spherical. Spherical distributions may be adequate for signals that exhibit uniform dependencies across frequencies but in case of speech signals we can observe stronger dependencies for neighboring frequency bins and almost no dependency for frequency bins that are far apart. The non-spherical joint density model takes into account this phenomenon. For the separation of convolved sources, the proposed method demonstrates consistent performance over previous methods and improved performance over the spherical joint density representations.
Comparative study of parallel vs. distributed genetic algorithm implementation for ATM networking environment

The objectives of this effort are: (1) to provide a faster (parallel) implementation to a previously implemented ATM network design simulator, and (2) to compare two different parallel and distributed computing (PDC) architectures in order to select one to be the architecture for this new parallel version. To improve the performance of the previously implemented GA, two parallel versions are developed using two different approaches. The first uses message passing interface (MPI) function calls embedded in C++ programs on a network of workstations. The second version is developed for a multiprocessor system using a C/C++ parallel compiler. This paper describes the approaches used to develop the parallel versions, the design of parallel applications and the results of all the experiments that were done to study the effect of all the design parameters on system performance.