cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Rational approach to long-term use of H2-antagonists.

Abstract Although the approved indications for long-term histamine (H 2 ) receptor-antagonists are limited to the management of hypersecretory states and prophylaxis against recurrent duodenal ulcer, these agents are often prescribed indiscriminately. Definitive guidelines concerning proper patient selection for prophylaxis against duodenal ulcer recurrence are lacking. Persons likely to benefit from maintenance therapy include those who smoke and those with a long duration of symptoms or prior history of an ulcer complication. Although not an approved indication, maintenance therapy to prevent recurrent gastric ulcer is appropriate for elderly persons receiving nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or in patients with poor cardiopulmonary status who may not tolerate surgery for an ulcer-related complication. The role of long-term H 2 -antagonist therapy in reflux esophagitis is not defined but may be appropriate in scleroderma and Barrett's esophagus. Finally, several miscellaneous conditions, including cystic fibrosis, Menetrier's disease, and pancreatic exocrine insufficiency, may benefit from longterm H 2 -antagonist therapy. Currently, clinical trials document the efficacy of maintenance therapy in duodenal ulcer for up to a three-year period; however, for gastric ulcer and chronic reflux esophagitis, the duration and benefit of long-term therapy is not established, and treatment regimens need to be individualized. Therapy may be required indefinitely in the miscellaneous states mentioned previously.
On the construction of the total accounts from the U.S. national income and product accounts: How sensitive are applied general equilibrium results to initial conditions?

Abstract The initial characterization of the economy, particularly with respect to the placement of taxes, can affect model results. This paper demonstrates a method for the construction of a set of accounts, called the Total Accounts, from the U.S. National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA), that facilitates the placement of taxes into appropriate markets. That initial conditions matter is demonstrated in an applied general equilibrium application where the distribution of the burden of taxation across households is shown to be sensitive to initial conditions in predictable ways.
Salvage craniospinal irradiation with an intensity modulated radiotherapy technique for patients with disseminated neuraxis disease

Abstract Purpose To report the use and results of a novel intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT)-based technique used for salvage craniospinal irradiation (CSI) in 6 patients who developed neuraxis disease after initial high-dose conformal radiotherapy (RT) to the brain. Methods and Materials After Institutional Review Board approval, all patients treated for disseminated leptomeningeal disease with salvage CSI using IMRT with conventional external beam radiotherapy were identified. The medical records and radiotherapy dosimetry were reviewed. Tolerance, morbidity, tumor control, and overall survival were evaluated. Results Six patients who received IMRT-based salvage CSI were identified. The median age was 6.5 years (range 2- 34 years) at initial RT and 7.7 years (range, 3-35 years) at salvage CSI. Disease progression necessitating salvage CSI was noted at a median of 10 months (range, 1-26 months) from the initial RT. The original disease site remained well controlled in all 6 patients. The median dose of the initial RT treatment was 52 Gy (range, 30.6-60 Gy). Salvage CSI dose was 36 Gy in 20 fractions in all 6 patients. IMRT was used to treat the cranial contents excluding the previously treated area. Five pediatric patients received electron beams to spine and 1 adult patient received photon beams to spine. IMRT allowed a conformal and uniform dose distribution to the target tissue while excluding previously treated areas. Salvage CSI dose of 36 Gy, delivered using IMRT and 36 Gy using electrons or photons to the spine, proved effective in providing good control of the disease. Conclusions This technique of salvage CSI was effective in this patient cohort for leptomeningeal dissemination occurring outside of an area of focal irradiation. The technique was well tolerated and thus far has not been associated with any significant toxicity. Salvage therapy has been effective in 4 of the 6 patients thus far.
Mechanistic implications from the substitution reactions with methyl fluoride of photochemically produced hot tritium atoms

Abstract The reactions with CH 3 F of photochemically produced tritium atoms from TBr have been studied at various wavelengths. The energy threshold is lower and the relative yield higher for F replacement than for H replacement in CH 3 F. These near-threshold substitution reactions are consistent with an inversion mechanism.
Evaluation of Conventional, Serial, and Chord Keyboard Options for Mail Encoding

The motivation for the experiment was the integration of a work station display component and a suitable data entry device. Keying performance with three candi- date keyboards was evaluated: (1) a one-handed conventional calculator keyboard, (2) a two-handed 10-key serial keyboard, and (3) a two-handed 10-key chord keyboard. Subjects were trained to criteria on a numerical data entry task and subsequently tested for performance in encoding five-digit strings. Measures of encoding response time and encoding errors showed a substantial advantage in training time for the calculator keyboard and two-handed serial keyboard over the two-handed chord keyboard.
Normalization of cellular zinc levels in patients with Down's syndrome does not always correct low thymulin levels

Retrospective analysis of five Down's syndrome (DS) patients who presented with recurrent infection revealed that all had initial low thymulin levels. Three patients had low cellular zinc levels that normalized after zinc replacement. Contrary to previous studies, thymulin levels were persistently low in four of five DS patients despite maintaining or achieving normal cellular zinc levels. A primary thymic epithelial defect may be responsible for the persistent thymulin deficiency in DS patients.
Charles Simeon and J. J. Gurney: A Chapter in Anglican-Quaker Relations

The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in England were a time of rapid change, of bitter tensions, and of great hopes. This was what the economic historians describe as the “classical period” of the Industrial Revolution. These were also years in which new vitality of faith and a spate of educational and reform movements issued from the Evangelical movement within British Protestantism. Indeed, the energetic hopefulness of Evangelicalism was the child of industrial and commercial expansion as well as of renewed Christian vision. Though England suffered no such violent overthrow of authority as France, yet both industrial progress and Evangelical sense of responsibility produced a critical attitude toward the status quo in state and Church.
A Reconfigurable Computing Platform for Plume Tracking with Mobile Sensor Networks

Much work has been undertaken recently toward the development of low-power, high-performance sensor networks. There are many static remote sensing applications for which this is appropriate. The focus of this development effort is applications that require higher performance computation, but still involve severe constraints on power and other resources. Toward that end, we are developing a reconfigurable computing platform for miniature robotic and human-deployed sensor systems composed of several mobile nodes. The system provides static and dynamic reconfigurability for both software and hardware by the combination of CPU (central processing unit) and FPGA (field-programmable gate array) allowing on-the-fly reprogrammability. Static reconfigurability of the hardware manifests itself in the form of a "morphing bus" architecture that permits the modular connection of various sensors with no bus interface logic. Dynamic hardware reconfigurability provides for the reallocation of hardware resources at run-time as the mobile, resource-constrained nodes encounter unknown environmental conditions that render various sensors ineffective. This computing platform will be described in the context of work on chemical/biological/radiological plume tracking using a distributed team of mobile sensors. The objective for a dispersed team of ground and/or aerial autonomous vehicles (or hand-carried sensors) is to acquire measurements of the concentration of the chemical agent from optimal locations and estimate its source and spread. This requires appropriate distribution, coordination and communication within the team members across a potentially unknown environment. The key problem is to determine the parameters of the distribution of the harmful agent so as to use these values for determining its source and predicting its spread. The accuracy and convergence rate of this estimation process depend not only on the number and accuracy of the sensor measurements but also on their spatial distribution over time (the sampling strategy). For the safety of a human-deployed distribution of sensors, optimized trajectories to minimize human exposure are also of importance. The systems described in this paper are currently being developed. Parts of the system are already in existence and some results from these are described.
Evaluation of a Canopy Reflectance Model for LAI Estimation through Its Inversion

A technique described earlier for estimating leaf area index (LAI) from bidirectional canopy reflectance (CR) data is applied and evaluated for three plant canopies-a naturally growing healthy soybean canopy and two orchardgrass canopies-one homogenous and the other spatially clumped or "tufted." This technique employs the inversion of a CR model which is chosen to be the SAIL model. The CR data were collected using a new ilstrument called the PARABOLA which is capable of acquiring the complete sky-and-ground looking hemisphere radiances in only 11 s. The model fit and LAI estimations for the soybean and uniform orchardgrass canopies are quite good. For the inhomogenous tufted orchardgrass canopy the LAI estimation is poor unless the maximum view zenith angle is restricted to 500. These results indicate that the biophysical parameter estimation from CR measurements may be applied with considerable confidence to homogenous herbaceous vegetation types but better CR models are needed to adequately represent discontinuous plant canopies.
Reduction of neurological damage by a peptide segment of the amyloid beta/A4 protein precursor in a rabbit spinal cord ischemia model.

Abstract Although found as a precursor of Alzheimer amyloid, substantial evidence suggests that β/A4 protein precursor (APP) is involved in regulation of neuronal growth and survival. Recently, we have obtained evidence that the trophic properties of APP are fully preserved in a 17-amino acid sequence. If APP is neurotrophic, then it would be anticipated that administration of the growth-promoting segment of the APP 17-mer peptide might attenuate the neuronal dysfunction or loss or behavioral deficits associated with neuronal injury, such as that accompanying central nervous system ischemia. We evaluated this 17-mer peptide in a rabbit spinal cord ischemia model and found that this peptide alleviates paraplegia resulting from ischemia/reperfusion. Ischemia of the distal lumbar cord was produced by temporary occlusion of the abdominal aorta. Saline, 17-mer APP peptide, or a control peptide (200, 500, or 1000 n M ) was administered intrathecally 20 min prior to ischemia and once daily for 3 days thereafter. The neurologic and morphologic outcomes were evaluated after 4 days. Durations of ischemia encompassing all grades of neurologic function were included. The 500 n M dose of 17-mer APP peptide significantly reduced neurologic damage. The average ischemia duration necessary to produce permanent neurologic damage increased from 27.9 ± 1.9 min in saline-injected controls and 27.7 ± 2.0 in scrambled sequence peptide-injected controls to 40.2 ± 4.0 min in the 500 n M 17-mer APP-injected group. The 200 n M dose produced a nonsignificant trend toward reduced neurologic damage. This effect to reduce the neurologic dysfunction was observed 4 days after ischemic insult, but not at 18 h after ischemia, suggesting a restorative rather than protective effect of the APP 17-mer peptide. Consistent with this hypothesis, increased synaptophysin-like immunoreactivity, a presynaptic marker, despite the neuronal loss, was observed in the APP-injected animals subjected to ischemia/reperfusion, suggesting synaptic sprouting. Our results demonstrate that this 17-mer peptide is capable of reducing neurologic damage in vivo in a model of central nervous system ischemia, possibly through its effect on synaptic plasticity.
Modeling queueing systems using hierarchical control flow graph models

Abstract The building of Hierarchical Control Flow Graph (HCFG) Models of queueing systems is described by developing different model elements of queueing subsystems and then combining them into HCFG Models. A brief overview of HCFG Models, which is a new modeling paradigm for discrete event simulation, is presented. Conceptually, HCFG Models consist of a set of independent, encapsulated, concurrently operating model components where each component has its own thread of control and the components interact with each other solely via message passing. HCFG Models have two complementary types of hierarchical model specification structures to specify models; one to specify components and their interconnections and the other to specify component behaviors.
The frozen zoo concept

Biologic material from exotic species is difficult to obtain for scientists. Yet much depends on the availability of such materials for a better understanding of evolutionary relationships and genetics of animals. Zoos have an obligation to participate in the safeguarding of some of these tissues by preserving cells, serum, and organs under optimal conditions. This paper describes the state of the frozen tissue-cell bank at San Diego Zoo and examines possible future directions for the collection of essential materials.
The Arab World: Reform or Stalemate

The Arab world is a region of considerable importance for world peace and the global economy. This region, however, is enduring slow development, political instability, extremism, and many ominous prospects of constant conflicts and turmoil. Pressures are mounting from within and from without for change and reform. This article reviews some of the most salient issues facing the region today and examines the opportunities for reform. Particular emphasis is on national development, governance, succession of authority, and Arab–American relations.
The role of capital accumulation in economic development

(1968). The role of capital accumulation in economic development. The Journal of Development Studies: Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 39-43.
Environmental Sensitivity Comparison of In-Line Sagnac and Polarimetric Type Current Sensors

We present experimental results from a comparison study of acoustic effects on in-line Sagnac and polarimetric type current sensors. Thermal transient response data of the in-line sensor is also presented.
Self-Helpingly Exchanging and Charging Batteries for EN-V

An idea of self-helpingly exchanging and charging batteries is proposed to solve some Battery Exchanging and Charging (BEC, for short) problems of Electric-Networked Vehicles (short for, EN-V). Large scale BEC stations occupy large working area and need high equipment cost; common charge piles have disadvantages of long charging time. As a result, a physical demonstration system, which encompasses intelligent vehicle system, BEC stake system and GPS (Global Positioning System) simulation system, is established to validate the feasibility of the idea.
Effect of Total Water Hardness and Chloride on Survival, Growth, and Feed Conversion of Juvenile Red Drum Sciaenops ocellatus

Juvenile red drum Sciaenops ocellatus were tank-reared in two, separate 30-d trials to assess effects of total water hardness and chloride concentratlon on growth, survival, and feed conversion. Two levels of total hardness and chloride were used in 2 × 2 factorial designs to obtain total hardness and chloride levels in trial one of 100 and 200mg/L CaCO3 and 125 and 250mg/L Cl−, and hardness and chloride levels of 100 and 400mg/L CaCO3 and 150 and 500mg/L Cl− in trial two. In trial one, average daily growth and feed conversion were significantly (P≤ 0.05) improved at 100mg/L hardness levels compared to 200mg/L at both chloride levels. Average daily growth was 0.11 ± 0.02g/d at 100mg/L hardness and 125mg/L Cl− compared to 0.06 ± 0.01g/d at 200 mg/L hardness and 125mg/L chlorides. No significant (P≥ 0.05) difference in survival could be attributed to levels of total hardness or chloride. In trial two, 500 mg/L Cl− treatments produced significantly (P≤ 0.01) better growth, survival and feed conversion than 150mg/L Cl− at either level of total hardness (100 and 400mg/L). Survival at 150mg/L chloride and 100mg/L hardness was 48.8 ± 18.7%, while at 500mg/L chloride and 400mg/L hardness survival increased to 96.6 ± 2.1%. Growth also increased from 0.14 ± 0.03 to 0.27 ± 0.01g/d and feed conversion improved from 5.77 ± 1.56 to 1.87 ± 0.06 at the same levels. No interactions between levels of hardness or chlorides were shown to affect red drum growth, survival, or feed conversion in either trial.
Immunological reactivity of the lung II. Cytotoxic effector function of pulmonary mononuclear cell subpopulations.

Abstract The cytotoxicity of guinea pig pulmonary mononuclear cell subpopulations was studied and compared to similar cell populations from the blood and spleen of the same animals. The cytotoxic effector function of these cells was assessed using both the antibody-dependent and the mitogen-induced cellular cytotoxicity assays against both chicken red blood cell and Chang cell targets. The present study demonstrates clear cut differences between the cytotoxic functional capabilities of macrophages and lymphocytes from the lung as compared to spleen and blood. The alveolar macrophage has been shown to possess a highly efficient capacity to kill chicken red blood cells and is much more efficient, in this regard, than monocytes from the blood or spleen. Phagocytic cells from each of these three tissues functioned poorly as effectors against Chang cell targets. Pulmonary lymphocytes possessed normal mitogen-induced cellular cytotoxicity against Chang cell targets but functioned poorly in antibody-dependent killing when compared to lymphocytes from the spleen and blood.
Comparison of intracorporeal versus extracorporeal anastomosis in laparoscopic-assisted hemicolectomy

Laparoscopic-assisted colon resection has been shown to result in earlier return of bowel function, decreased postoperative pain, decreased length of stay, and decreased morbidity when compared to open resection. Laparoscopic-assisted hemicolectomy often still involves externalization of the bowel for resection and anastomosis. The aim of this study was to determine short-term outcomes of performing intra- versus extracorporeal resection and anastomosis in laparoscopic-assisted hemicolectomy. Retrospective chart review of 105 consecutive patients who underwent laparoscopic-assisted hemicolectomy or colectomy by a single surgeon from January 2006 through August 2008 was performed. Pearson χ2 and Student’s t test were used to test for significance. There were 105 patients in total who underwent laparoscopic-assisted ileocolic resection (66), right hemicolectomy (29), left hemicolectomy (9), and subtotal colectomy (1). There were more males in the extracorporeal group, but patients in the two groups were otherwise demographically comparable. An intracorporeal anastomosis was performed in 54 patients and extracorporeal in 51 patients. The operation was longer in the intracorporeal group (p ≤ 0.001), but estimated blood loss was less (p = 0.014). Postoperatively, there was no significant difference in time to bowel movement between the intra- and extracorporeal anastomosis groups; however, there was earlier return of flatus (2 vs. 2.4 days, respectively; p = 0.017). Postoperative narcotic use (16 vs. 49 mg morphine equivalents; p = 0.001), length of stay (3.2 vs. 3.8 days; p = 0.012), and perioperative morbidity (6 vs. 15 patients; p = 0.019) were all decreased in the intra- versus extracorporeal group, respectively. There was no perioperative mortality. In comparison to the extracorporeal technique, resection and creation of the anastomosis intracorporeally produces superior results with earlier return of bowel function, decreased postoperative narcotic use, and decreased length of stay and morbidity. Further studies will be needed to verify our findings.
Adsorption of avidin on microfabricated surfaces for protein biochip applications

The adsorption of the protein avidin from hen egg white on patterns of silicon dioxide and platinum surfaces on a microchip and the use of fluorescent microscopy to detect binding of biotin are described. A silicon dioxide microchip was formed using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition while platinum was deposited using radiofrequency sputtering. After cleaning using a plasma arc, the chips were placed into solutions containing avidin or bovine serum albumin. The avidin was adsorbed onto the microchips from phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or from PBS to which ammonium sulfate had been added. Avidin was also adsorbed onto bovine serum albumin (BSA)-coated surfaces of oxide and platinum. Fluorescence microscopy was used to confirm adsorption of labeled protein, or the binding of fluorescently labeled biotin onto previously adsorbed, unlabeled avidin. When labeled biotin in PBS was presented to avidin adsorbed onto a BSA-coated microchip, the fluorescence signal was significantly higher than for avidin adsorbed onto the biochip alone. The results show that a simple, low-cost adsorption process can deposit active protein onto a chip in an approach that has potential application in the development of protein biochips for the detection of biological species.
Metropolitan Clerks and Venality in Qing China: The Great 1830 Forgery Case

This study of a forgery case in the Board of Revenue shows how the huge increase in the legal sale of offices and titles in early nineteenth-century China overstretched the bureaucratic structures that managed it and exposed the weakness of official control over subaltern clerical personnel. The case allows a glimpse into the mostly hidden world of metropolitan clerks and the operation of a little known department in the Board of Revenue, the Contribution Office. It also demonstrates how the illegal sale of fake official ranks allowed the clerks to participate in the legal purchase of offices and thus to free themselves from the predicament of their clerical position. While legal venality contributed to general corruption in the Qing bureaucracy, it also leveled to a certain extent the differences between a professional yet suppressed class of bureaucrats and their amateurish yet socially esteemed scholar-literati superiors.
Terminal residues of hog pancreatic amylase

Abstract Studies on the identification of the terminal residues in protease-free hog pancreatic α-amylase, prepared by glycogen precipitation, demonstrated the absence of free amino terminals when four different chemical procedures were used. These methods were based on reaction with fluorodinitrobenzene, trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid, dansyl chloride, and cyanate. In the search for the presence of a possible α-N-blocking group, an acetyl group was detected as acetic acid dinitrophenyl hydrazide after hydrazinolysis and dinitrophenylation. Quantitation of acetyl groups by a gas chromatographic or a specific enzymatic method yielded 0.7 mol of acetyl group per 51 000 g of protein. Other acyl groups, such as formyl or propionyl, were not found. Leucine was shown to be the carboxyl terminal residue by hydrazinolysis or by carboxypeptidase A digestion of acid denatured amylase. With either procedure, 0.8 mol of carboxyl terminal leucine was found per 51 000 g of protein. These findings are consistent with the proposal that hog pancreatic α-amylase is composed of a single, α-N-acetylated chain of molecular weight 50 000. Claims of other investigators for subunit and multichain structures for this enzyme are discussed in view of these end group data.
OSNR-enhancing pure-silica-core fiber with large effective area and low attenuation

Pure-silica-core fiber with large Aeff of 134μm2 is designed to enhance OSNR considering splice loss to SSMF, and realized by appropriate depressed cladding profile and soft primary coating. It also exhibits low attenuation of 0.169dB/km.
Creative Educational Dance and Children with Behavior Disorders: Encouraging a Spirit of Cooperation

Abstract Teachers in all disciplines strive to maximize time-on-tasks to enhance their students' learning. The purpose of this study was to compare the amount of time-on-task of children with behavior disorders during participation in a creative educational dance (CED) program with the time-on-task during participation in a small group gross motor (GM) activity program. The subjects, two males and one female, aged 8 to 11 years, were residents of a treatment home for children with behavior disorders located in southeastern U.S. A single subject, multi-treatment research design, was used. Baseline sessions consisted of the subjects' physical activity program provided by the resident staff. Intervention 1 consisted of CED and intervention 2 consisted of a GM activity program, both implemented by the first investigator. Data were collected during twenty-one, videotaped, 30-min sessions, for 12 weeks. Two investigators analyzed sessions by recording on-task and off-task behavior in 15-second intervals. Interr...
Banking automation and productivity change: The Brazilian experience

Abstract The extent of banking automation in Brazil, especially the integration of branch-level transactions into on-line systems, is possibly unparalleled in developing economies. High inflation, the geographic spread of bank branches, and the large financial resources of banks stimulated intensive development of information technology (IT) in the banking sector. Banks, moreover, took an active role in the development of the computer hardware and software sectors in Brazil. Measures of information technology diffusion for Brazilian banks are developed and correlated with productivity measures; results suggest that IT did enhance productivity. Also, the use of IT by the Central Bank dampened financial instability.
Temporal relationships between the generalist predator, Orius insidiosus, and its two major prey in soybean.

Abstract The generalist predator, Orius insidiosus (Say) is an important early-season predator of the soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura, a newly invasive pest of major concern in soybean crop management. We conducted a 3 year, multiple field study to characterize the dynamic relationships between the predator, the pest, and alternative prey in soybean. Using field sampling data, we showed that thrips were the only alternative prey to be well-established in fields prior to O. insidiosus arrival and were likely to promote predator colonization of soybean fields prior to the arrival of soybean aphid. The predator displayed a reproductive numerical response to thrips in one of the 3 years and a primarily aggregative response in another year. The predator did not respond numerically to soybean aphid in the majority of fields. Experimental manipulations of thrips populations in field plots temporarily reduced thrips densities but had a minimal effect on O. insidiosus densities, suggesting that the predator is resilient against temporary reductions in a major resource. In the 2 years O. insidiosus populations were well-established in fields prior to soybean aphid arrival, soybean aphid remained at low levels throughout the season. In the year soybean aphid arrived early with respect to the growing season and before O. insidiosus populations were established, soybean aphid reached outbreak levels in all fields. Future research efforts on the factors determining soybean aphid population dynamics need to address the relative importance of early-season soybean aphid colonization and generalist predator population dynamics on the potential for soybean aphid population outbreaks.
Degradation of 2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic Acid in Woody Plants

Woody plants were sprayed with an aqueous homogenate of the n-butyl ester of 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid. Leaf extracts were studied by gas-liquid chromatography, and 2,4,5-trichlorophenol was always present. The formation of 2,4,5-trichloroanisole apparently did not occur.
The prevalence of nontraditional risk factors for coronary heart disease in patients with chronic kidney disease.

In this cross-sectional study based on the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, patients with chronic kidney disease had lower levels of apolipoprotein A1 and higher levels of ho...
Using streamlines to simulate stochastic reactive transport in heterogeneous aquifers Kinetic metal release and transport in CO2 impacted drinking water aquifers

A Lagrangian streamline approach that stochastically represents uncertainty in spatial hydraulic conductivity distribution is coupled to kinetic reactive transport in a heterogeneous 3-D domain. This methodology is designed to efficiently account for uncertainties inherent in subsurface reactive transport while maintaining hydro-geochemical processes. A hypothetical CO2 leak from a geological carbon storage site into an overlying aquifer is used to simulate reactive transport where contamination may occur. Uncertainty in subsurface hydraulic conductivity is accounted for using correlated, Gaussian random fields in a Monte Carlo approach. In this approach 100 realizations of each ensemble were simulated with variances of the natural log of hydraulic conductivity (σ2lnK) of 1, 3.61, and 16. Peak ensemble lead concentrations were found at σ2lnK of 3.61, the middle of the variances simulated. σ2lnK within an aquifer was found to influence chemical residence time, which in turn determined the equilibrium state of the plume along the flow path and at the pumping well thus driving geochemical conditions. However, macrodispersion due to heterogeneous flow paths caused lower contaminant concentrations at the pumping well due to dilution with uncontaminated water. Furthermore, a strong link between σ2lnK and the probability of well-capture was found, suggesting that proper characterization of the σ2lnK within an aquifer will help to quantify the impact of uncertainty on risks of groundwater contamination.
A laboratory guide for generating DNA barcodes in grasses: a case study of Leptochloa s.l. (Poaceae: Chloridoideae)

There is no easy way to identify to species, a small, vegetative leaf or culm sample of a grass and there are more than 12,000 species in this large, important family. The long-range aim of our study is to produce a standard DNA barcode library available to the public for all grasses (±1960 species) in North America (includes all Canada, Mexico and USA) that will facilitate the easy identification of these morphologically cryptic species. We provide a detailed protocol of the laboratory procedures for DNA extraction in grasses and the DNA-specific primers used for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) enabling the laboratory work to be performed in any well-supplied molecular laboratory. In this paper we present a test of four barcodes [matK, rbcL, rpl32-trnL and internal transcribed spacer (ITS)] to discriminate among 50 taxa of grasses (55 samples), predominately in the subfamily Chloridoideae, and we used a tree-based method to identify relationships among species of Leptochloa sensu lato. The sequence d...
Listeners, not Leeches: What Virginia Tech Survivors Needed from Journalists

Journalists covering the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech aggravated the trauma felt by victims' families and survivors, raising ethical questions about the role of media at major news events in an Internet-enabled era of continuous coverage. Some journalists breached professional norms by knocking on doors at 6 a.m., claiming a hidden camera was a breast pump and bullying reluctant interviewees. Even conscientious journalists, however, exacerbated the ordeal through their overabundance. By forcing survivors to endure repetitious interviews and making mourners feel they were being stalked, journalists demonstrated they must embrace press pools to minimize harm in the future.
Platelet adhesive dynamics. Part I: characterization of platelet hydrodynamic collisions and wall effects.

Abnormally high shear stresses encountered in vivo induce spontaneous activation of blood platelets and formation of aggregates, even in the absence of vascular injury. A three-dimensional multiscale computational model—platelet adhesive dynamics—is developed and applied in Part I and Part II articles to elucidate key biophysical aspects of GPIbα-von-Willebrand-factor-mediated interplatelet binding that characterizes the onset of shear-induced platelet aggregation. In this article, the hydrodynamic effects of the oblate spheroidal shape of platelets and proximity of a plane wall on the nature of cell-cell collisions are systematically investigated. Physical quantities characterizing the adhesion probabilities between colliding platelet surfaces for the entire range of near-wall encounters between two platelets are obtained for application in platelet adhesive dynamics simulations of platelet aggregation explored in a companion article. The technique for matching simulation predictions of interplatelet binding efficiency to experimentally determined efficiencies is also described. Platelet collision behavior is found to be strikingly different from that of spheres, both close to and far from a bounding wall. Our results convey the significant effects that particle shape and presence of a bounding wall have on the particle trajectories and collision mechanisms, collision characteristics such as collision time and contact area, and collision frequency.
Adaptive spacecraft attitude control with reaction wheel actuation

We apply retrospective cost adaptive control (RCAC) to spacecraft attitude control using reaction-wheel actuators. The controller is applied to the motion-to-rest (M2R) maneuver, where the spacecraft has an arbitrary initial attitude and angular-velocity and the objective is to bring the body to rest at a specified inertial attitude. First, we show that RCAC can complete the M2R maneuver using full information of the mass properties of the spacecraft. Then, we remove the spacecraft and reaction-wheel inertia information from the controller and examine the closed-loop settling time for off-nominal spacecraft inertias. Thus, the controller uses limited knowledge of the system. Finally, the algorithm is tested in the presence of disturbances, unknown actuator misalignment, and noise and bias in the angular-velocity measurement.
Informal Work in Nonmetropolitan Pennsylvania.

It is well recognized that the informal economy—unregulated economic activities that generate real or in-kind income—features prominently in the day-to-day lives of many in the developing world. Researchers have begun to explore the informal economy in developed countries but this work has focussed primarily on urban areas to the neglect of rural areas. In this paper the nature and correlates of informal work in nonmetropolitan Pennsylvania are described through an analysis of survey data on 505 families. Results indicate that participation in informal activities is widespread, is not more typical of the poor, does not contribute greatly to family income on average but does help many poor families weather difficult economic times, is both economically and noneconomically motivated, and, net of other sociodemographic variables, is positively related to rurality of residence and formal labor supply.
Partial purification of centrosomes from Chinese hamster ovary cells

Abstract A method for the purification of centrosomes from cultured Chinese hamster ovary cells is described. The centrosomes produced by application of this method show good retention of their intracellular morphology: the centrioles are surrounded by an “osmiophilic halo” containing numerous pericentriolar or satellite bodies. The latter spherical structures are approx. 55 nm in diameter and possess a densely staining central core surrounded by an envelope of lighter material. The number of satellite bodies associated with the centrioles seems variable, as does their spatial disposition within the osmiophilic halo.
Formulation of the equations of the humid atmosphere in the context of variational inequalities

Abstract The equations of the humid atmosphere with saturation are considered in the case where the saturation concentration q s is not assumed to be constant and obeys the laws of thermodynamics [22] , [23] , [32] . This article starts from the observation that these equations are not correct in the extreme cases where the atmosphere is totally dry or totally wet, that is when the concentration q of water vapor is equal to 0 or 1. A new formulation of the equations is proposed to remedy this difficulty in the context of variational inequalities. Results of existence, maximum principle and regularity of solutions are derived for these new variational inequalities.
A system for model-based object recognition in perspective aerial images

Abstract Recognition of objects in complex, perspective aerial imagery is difficult because of occlusion, shadow, clutter and various forms of image degradation. This paper presents a system for aircraft recognition under real-world conditions. The particular approach is based on the use of a hierarchical database of object models and involves three key processes: (a) The qualitative object recognition process performs heterogeneous model-based symbolic feature extraction and generic object recognition; (b) The refocused matching and evaluation process refines the extracted features for more specific classification with input from (a); and (c) The primitive feature extraction process regulates the extracted features based on their saliency and interacts with (a) and (b). Experimental results showing the qualitative recognition of aircraft in perspective, aerial images are presented.
Further Associations of Plant Tannins and Human Cancer

(1972). Further Associations of Plant Tannins and Human Cancer. Quarterly Journal of Crude Drug Research: Vol. 12, No. 1, pp. 1829-1841.
Regulation of expression domains and effects of ectopic expression reveal gap gene-like properties of the linked pdm genes of Drosophila

Abstract The closely linked POU domain genes pdm-1 and pdm-2 are first expressed early during cellularization in the presumptive abdomen in a broad domain that soon resolves into two stripes. This expression pattern is regulated by the same mechanisms that define gap gene expression domains. The borders of pdm-1 expression are set by the terminal system genes torso and tailless, and the gradient morphogen encoded by hunchback. The resolution into two stripes is controlled by the gap gene knirps. Ectopic expression of pdm-1 at the cellular blastoderm stage leads to disruptions in pair rule gene expression and in anterior segmentation. The broad abdominal domain of pdm-1 protein is lacking in nanos− mutant embryos, and ectopic pdm-1 expression in nanos− embryos leads to a partial restoration of abdominal segmentation. These data suggest that the pdm genes may act in segmentation near the level of the zygotic gap genes.
Classification of N 13 Levels by Partial Wave Analysis of Proton Scattering from C 12

The nature of the excited levels in ${\mathrm{N}}^{13}$ between 2.24 and 5.64 Mev was investigated by analyzing the ${\mathrm{C}}^{12}(p,p){\mathrm{C}}^{12}$ data of Goldhaber and Williamson. To carry out the analysis, the partial wave phase shifts were related to the level parameters by means of one level dispersion theory. Then by successive approximations of the level parameters, the partial wave expansion of the differential cross section for elastic scattering was fitted to the experimental curve. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the lower scattering anomaly is due to an ${S}_{\frac{1}{2}}$ level at 2.379 Mev above the ground state, and that the higher scattering anomaly results from a ${P}_{\frac{3}{2}}$ level at 3.501 Mev and a ${D}_{\frac{5}{2}}$ level at 3.549 Mev. Neither experiment nor analysis indicates any other levels in the range considered. It is shown that no other simple level assignment can account for the observed scattering cross section. The appearance of levels with $j=l+\frac{1}{2}$ instead of $j=l\ensuremath{-}\frac{1}{2}$ supports Mayer's hypothesis of level inversion in nuclei. The widths and energies of the levels obtained from the present analysis are in partial agreement with the values obtained from the ($p,\ensuremath{\gamma}$) reaction.
The effect of peroxiredoxin 4 on fly physiology is a complex interplay of antioxidant and signaling functions

Peroxiredoxin 4 (Prx4) has been implicated in a wide variety of biological processes, including development, progression of cancer, inflammation, and antioxidant function. The purpose of this study was to provide further insight into its multiple roles at the whole-animal level, using Drosophila. Reduced expression of dPrx4 (up to 90%) resulted in greater sensitivity to oxidative stress, an elevated H2O2 flux, and increases in lipid peroxidation, but no effect on longevity. Overexpression at low levels ( 5-fold) had a dramatically reduced life span (by 20–80%) and increased apoptosis. Analysis of these overexpressors revealed an aberrant redistribution of the dPrx4 protein from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) to cytosol and hemolymph. In addition to the known proapoptotic effects of the cytosolic form of dPrx4, dPrx4 overexpression triggered an NF-κB-mediated proinflammatory response, similar to that observed in cells under ER stress or when microbially challenged. Finally, we provide the first evidence that dPrx4, on secretion into the hemolymph, elicits a JAK/STAT-mediated response. The effects on fly survival and homeostasis appear to represent a combination of differential effects dictated in large part by dPrx4 subcellular and tissue-specific localization.—Radyuk, S. N., Klichko, V. I., Michalak, K., Orr, W. C. The effect of peroxiredoxin 4 on fly physiology is a complex interplay of antioxidant and signaling functions.
Narrow Base Germanium Photodiodes

The operation of germanium photodiodes at room temperature both as reverse-biased and photovoltaic detectors is analyzed. This analysis takes into account generation of hole-electron pairs in the base as an exponentially decreasing function of distance from the surface. General expressions are derived for the steady-state and the time-varying detector signal components. The intrinsic frequency behavior (that associated with carrier diffusion from the point of generation to the p-n junction) is the same for reverse-biased and photovoltaic operation. The frequency-cutoff behavior is compared with that of a homogeneous base transistor and, for the case of small loss of photogenerated carriers by surface recombination, it is shown that the cutoff frequencies are essentially the same for identical base width. Photodiodes may be useful at modulating frequencies well above this cutoff frequency if the radiation is penetrating since for this type of radiation the intrinsic frequency response does not decrease rapidly above cutoff. The equivalent circuits for both reverse-biased and photovoltaic operation are obtained as is the noise-equivalent circuit for reverse-biased operation. It is shown that at frequencies where 1/f noise may be neglected, for most small-signal applications reverse-biased operation is greatly superior to photovoltaic operation. With a reduction in base width the intrinsic frequency cutoff will be increased, the bulk and surface recombination loss of photogenerated carriers decreased, and the diffusion capacitance associated with the p-n junction in photovoltaic operation reduced. Thus, improvements in both reverse-biased and photovoltaic operation are realized.
Device Modeling and Measurement for RF Systems

The trend to higher integration and higher speed challenges modeling engineers to develop accurate device models up to tens of Gigahertz. An absolute prerequisite for achieving this goal are accurate RF measurements, and correct de-embedding techniques. Without this, RF modelling can become quite time consuming, with a lot of guesswork and ad-hoc judgements. If, however, the underlying measurements are correct, and the models understood well, RF modelling can provide very accurate design kits.
Total hip arthroplasty after previous fracture surgery.

Abstract Total hip arthroplasty can be a very effective salvage treatment for both failed fracture surgery and hip arthritis that may occur after prior fracture surgery. The rate of complications is significantly increased including especially infection, dislocation, and loosening. Complications are more likely to occur after failed open reduction and internal fixation than after posttraumatic arthritis. Adequately ruling out infection before hip arthroplasty can be difficult. The best predictor of infection is a prior infection. Long-term outcomes can be comparable to outcomes in other conditions if complications are avoided.
A 0.18μm CMOS 1000 frames/sec, 138dB Dynamic Range Readout Circuit for 3D-IC IR Focal Plane Arrays

A prototype of a new high dynamic range readout scheme targeted for 3D-IC IR focal plane arrays is described. Dynamic range is extended using synchronous self-reset while high SNR is maintained using few non-uniformly spaced captures and least-squares fit to estimate pixel photocurrent. The prototype comprises of a 16times5 readout pixel array fabricated in a 0.18μmum CMOS process and achieves 138dB dynamic range and 60dB peak SNR at 1000 frames/sec with energy consumption of 25.5nJ per pixel readout.
Detection of terahertz pulses using optical second-harmonic generation

In this summary, we describe the first demonstration of an electric field induced optical second harmonic (EFISH) sampling technique that allows for the detection of freely propagating THz radiation. In contrast to electro-optic sampling, which typically relies on the use of non-centrosymmetric ionic crystals, the present second-harmonic (SH) sampling technique is also applicable to centrosymmetric media. This is particularly important, since it creates the possibility for using materials with better suited low-frequency characteristics.
Estimating expected completion times with probabilistic job routing

A common problem in production environments is the need to estimate the remaining time in system for work-in-progress jobs. Simulation can be used to obtain the estimates. However, when the future path of a job is uncertain (due to stochastic events such as rework), using simulation to estimate the remaining cycle time of a job at step k can be imprecise; traditional confidence intervals on the estimated remaining cycle times may be too large to be of practical significance. We propose a response surface methodology-based approach to estimating conditional confidence intervals on the remaining cycle times as jobs progress through the system and more information is obtained on them. This method will provide more useful and accurate estimates of remaining cycle times at various stages of the process flow. Further, we outline two different simulation approaches for estimating the response surfaces used to generate the confidence intervals.