cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dedon Kamathi: Making the Airwaves Safe for Revolution at High Noon

I first met Brother Dedon in 1990. I had just joined the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (AAPRP). Dedon seemed preoccupied and aloof, but also gregarious, with an easy smile and a ready laugh. Those of us who were new members looked upon veterans like Dedon with awe. We had no idea of the amount of hard work the cadre had put into becoming community and political organizers. They were the realization of Ahmed Seku Ture’s analysis “History teaches us that [revolutionary consciousness] is created and developed through ideological education and revolutionary practice. We can equally affirm that without ideological training and without revolutionary action there can be no revolutionary consciousness.” Brother Dedon lived out this maxim.
Salt Rejection using Conically Shaped Pores with Patterned Surface Charges

In light of global potable water scarcity, whether it be due to increasing agricultural demands, higher standards of living, or overdrawing from underground sources, the need for efficient desalination techniques is of high importance. Reverse osmosis membranes offer excellent rejection of salt but the throughput of the technology is very low due to the sub-1nm effective size of the membrane voids. We propose a different approach to achieve desalination using membranes containing pores with opening diameter of few nm, and walls with high density of surface charges and surface charge patterns. We found that even 5 nm in diameter nanopores and containing a junction between a zone with positive surface charges and a zone with negative surface charges could offer rejection of salt up to 80% from 100 mM KCl. Increasing the pore diameter can increase the flux of water even two orders of magnitude compared to fluxes achievable with reverse osmosis membranes. Experiments were performed with track-etch membranes with densities of pores up 109 per cm2. Membranes in polyethylene terephthalate and polyimide were tested. Experimental observations were supported by the numerical modeling performed by solving Poisson-Nernst-Planck and Navier-Stokes equations. Dependence of salt rejection on salt concentration, applied pressure and surface charge pattern is investigated in detail. Discussion on the range of electrostatic interactions in aqueous solutions as a function of surface charge density and surface charge arrangement will also be provided.
Sulfate Reduction in Sediments Produces High Levels of Chromophoric Dissolved Organic Matter.

Sulfate reduction plays an important role in altering dissolved organic matter (DOM) in estuarine and coastal sediments, although its role in the production of optically active chromophoric DOM (CDOM) and a subset of fluorescent DOM (FDOM) has not been previously investigated in detail. Freshwater sediment slurries were incubated anaerobically with added sulfate and acetate to promote sulfate-reducing bacteria. Ultraviolet visible (UV-Vis) absorbance and 3-dimensional excitation emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectra were measured over a five weeks anaerobic dark incubation period. Parallel Factor Analysis (PARAFAC) of FDOM determined components that increased significantly during dark and anaerobic incubation matching three components previously considered of terrestrially-derived or humic-like origin published in the OpenFluor database. The observed FDOM increase was strongly correlated (R2 = 0.96) with the reduction of sulfate. These results show a direct experimental link between sulfate reduction and FDOM production, which impacts our understanding of coastal FDOM sources and early sediment diagenesis. As 3D fluorescence techniques are commonly applied to diverse systems, these results provide increasing support that FDOM can have many diverse sources not consistently captured by common classifications such as “humic-like” fluorescence.
Entangled trajectories Hamiltonian dynamics for treating quantum nuclear effects

A simple and robust methodology, dubbed Entangled Trajectories Hamiltonian Dynamics (ETHD), is developed to capture quantum nuclear effects such as tunneling and zero-point energy through the coupling of multiple classical trajectories. The approach reformulates the classically mapped second-order Quantized Hamiltonian Dynamics (QHD-2) in terms of coupled classical trajectories. The method partially enforces the uncertainty principle and facilitates tunneling. The applicability of the method is demonstrated by studying the dynamics in symmetric double well and cubic metastable state potentials. The methodology is validated using exact quantum simulations and is compared to QHD-2. We illustrate its relationship to the rigorous Bohmian quantum potential approach, from which ETHD can be derived. Our simulations show a remarkable agreement of the ETHD calculation with the quantum results, suggesting that ETHD may be a simple and inexpensive way of including quantum nuclear effects in molecular dynamics simula...
ShareBoost: boosting for multi-view learning with performance guarantees

Algorithms combining multi-view information are known to exponentially quicken classification, and have been applied to many fields. However, they lack the ability to mine most discriminant information sources (or data types) for making predictions. In this paper, we propose an algorithm based on boosting to address these problems. The proposed algorithm builds base classifiers independently from each data type (view) that provides a partial view about an object of interest. Different from AdaBoost, where each view has its own re-sampling weight, our algorithm uses a single re-sampling distribution for all views at each boosting round. This distribution is determined by the view whose training error is minimal. This shared sampling mechanism restricts noise to individual views, thereby reducing sensitivity to noise. Furthermore, in order to establish performance guarantees, we introduce a randomized version of the algorithm, where a winning view is chosen probabilistically. As a result, it can be cast within a multi-armed bandit framework, which allows us to show that with high probability the algorithm seeks out most discriminant views of data for making predictions. We provide experimental results that show its performance against noise and competing techniques.
Techniques in Tissue Transfer: Plastic Surgery for the Urologist

The art and science of tissue transfer has evolved over centuries. Management options for reconstructing tissue defects, in degree of complexity, range from secondary intention to primary repair, to graft reconstruction, to flap reconstruction. Graft success id dependent on a well-vascularized host bed, rapid onset of imbibition, good apposition and immobilization, and rapid onset of inosculation. Flaps are primarily categorized by both their blood supply and their method of transfer. Random flaps do not have a defined or named blood supply. Axial flaps rely on a specific and defined vessel. Axial flaps are further divided by the course of the vascular pedicle that supplies the overlying tissue — namely musculocutaneous, fascio-cutaneous or neurocutaneous. Penile skin island flaps are fas-cio-cutaneous flaps, based on a pedicle of Dartos and anterior lamina of Bucks fascia. Flaps are also defined by the method of transfer — advancement, rotation, interpolation. Penile skin flaps are island and axial flap type. Flaps can be further categorized as local or distant flaps based on their proximity to the recipient site. Other flap techniques utilized for urologic reconstruction include: sliding advancement flap, rotation/transposition flap, tubed flap, pedicled muscle flap, and free flaps.
Protein Intake during the First Two Years of Life and Its Association with Growth and Risk of Overweight

Growth patterns early in life could exert a long-term impact on overweight and obesity development. Among all potential manipulative factors, infant diet is one of the most influential and could affect growth and subsequent health status during adolescence and adulthood. Dietary protein, as an important macronutrient in infants' diet, has been of special interest to researchers. Compared with human milk, infant formula tends to have a higher protein content and is associated with greater weight gain and later-in-life obesity risk. However, the effect of protein from other sources on infant growth trajectories during complementary feeding is not clear. Emerging research suggests that meat protein during early complementary feeding promotes linear growth while not increasing risk of overweight compared with dairy protein; and the gut microbiota might be a mediator between protein quality and growth trajectories. This review addresses the current knowledge of protein intake from birth to 24 months and its relationship with growth and risk of overweight.
The Shape Activity: Social Constructivism in the Psychology Classroom.

Social constructivist principles and ideas are among those most cited in both educational and psychological circles today, and many current scholars and reformers ground their work in social constr...
Salivary Cortisol Concentrations, Grit, and the Effect of Time.

Background Stress is a common experience in the emergency department (ED) and is a balance of personal capabilities versus demands. Residency training is meant to improve individuals' capabilities and therefore may attenuate an individual's stress response. Grit is a personality trait that may attenuate stress in individuals. In this study we explore the relationship between time of year, postshift salivary cortisol concentrations, and the influence of grit among attendings and residents in an academic ED. Methods Thirty-nine residents and 17 attendings were enrolled and followed for two academic years at an urban academic medical center. Postwork salivary cortisol samples were collected quarterly, and Duckworth 12-point Grit Scales were administered annually. Data from the relative quarters of the first and second years were combined, and the results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and generalized estimating equations. Results We analyzed 216 cortisol samples and 87 grit scores over 2 academic years. Between the first and fourth quarters of the academic year, the percentage of subjects with a detectable postshift cortisol sample decreased from 47.6% (30 of 62) to 18.4% (9 of 49). In the fourth academic quarter compared to the first, the odds that an individual had a detectable cortisol were significantly lower overall (odds ratio [OR] = 0.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.10 to 0.59, p = 0.01), including the subset of only trainees (OR = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.07 to 0.88, p = 0.01), and adjusting for grit did not meaningfully change the ORs. Conclusion Over the course of the academic year, the odds that an individual's postshift salivary cortisol concentration will be above detectable concentration significantly decrease over time, and this relationship is not confounded by grit.
Polarization-Dependent Optical Binding of Plasmonic Nanoparticles

Plasmonic metal nanoparticles can self-assemble into anisotropic chains in a linearly polarized optical field and ordered hexagonal arrays in a circularly polarized optical field. Negativc optical toraue can be observed in the arrays. © 2019 The Author(s)
Evidence for Neuronal Dysfunction in a Mouse Model of Early Stages of Huntington’s Disease

Huntington’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease due to the presence of an expanded CAG repeat in the gene encoding huntingtin, a widely distributed protein of unknown function (Huntington Disease Collaborative Research Group, 1993). As a result of the mutation, huntingtin contains an expanded stretch of glutamines in its N-terminal region (Aronin et al. 1995; Trottier et al. 1995). It is now considered that expansions greater than 40 repeats always lead to disease, whereas expansions between 36 and 39 have incomplete penetrance. In the most common form of the disease, patients begin to exhibit symptoms in the third or fourth decade of life (Harper, 1991). The disease is dominated by the presence of irrepressible dance-like movements of the extremities, evolving towards dystonic contractions in the course of the disease, including severe swallowing problems. Psychiatric and cognitive symptoms are frequent. Patients experience severe weight loss and the disease is usually fatal in 10–15 years. Juvenile forms of the disease are due to extreme CAG repeat expansions (usually greater than 60) and are characterized by onset before age 20. The symptoms are predominantly dystonic and include seizures.
No Risk No Trust: Investigating Perceived Risk in Highly Automated Driving

When evaluating drivers' trust in automated systems, perceived risk is an inevitable, yet underestimated component, especially during initial interaction. We designed two experimental studies focusing on how people assess risk in different driving environments and how introductory information about automation reliability influences trust and risk perception. First, we designed nine driving scenarios to determine which factors influence Perceived Situational Risk (PSR) and Perceived Relational Risk (PRR). Results showed that participants identified levels of risk based on traffic type and vehicles' abnormal behaviors. We then evaluated how introductory information and situational risk influence trust and PRR. Results showed that participants reported the highest level of trust, perceived automation reliability, and the lowest level of PRR when presented with information about a highly reliable system, and when driving in a low-risk situation. These results highlight the importance of incorporating perceived risk and introductory information to support the trust calibration in automated vehicles.
An Exploratory Study of Early Auditory Evoked Potentials in Cannabis Smokers.

Purpose Cannabis is widely used for medicinal and recreational purposes. Studies have evaluated its health benefits and consequences, although there is limited work on its effects on the auditory s...
Quantifying heavy quark transport coefficients with an improved transport model

Abstract The heavy-flavor transport coefficients contain important information on the strong interaction at finite temperatures. The extraction of these numbers from experimental data requires dynamical modeling of heavy-flavor transport that is coupled to realistic medium evolution. Furthermore, meaningful extractions necessitate both a faithful implementation of the physical inputs to be tested and the quantification of model uncertainty. For these purposes, we have developed a partonic transport model LIDO [1, 2]. It has an improved treatment of in-medium parton bremsstrahlung, which has been calibrated to theoretical calculations in a simple medium to reduce modeling uncertainty. Regarding the interaction between heavy quark and the medium, few-body perturbative scatterings are applied to large-momentum transfer (q) processes, while a diffusion equation models the dynamics of small-q processes. Such a separation restricts the explicit use of medium quasi-particles to large-q processes only. Another advantage is that deviations from the leading-order probe-medium coupling can be parametrized as an additional contribution to the diffusion constant. The heavy quark transport coefficients are then extracted with uncertainty estimation from a Bayesian analysis including both the RHIC and the LHC data. The results are found to be consistent with earlier extraction of the light-quark transport coefficients at high momentum and be comparable with lattice calculations of the heavy-flavor diffusion constant in the static limit at low momentum.
Elionor of Sicily as a Wartime Leader

The chapter focuses on Elionor’s crucial role in the War of the Two Pedros (1356–1366), a ten-year conflict between Aragon and Castile, which pushed Pere III to his military and financial limits, and might have seen the loss of large parts of Aragon and Valencia to his enemy, Pedro I of Castile. With this background set, the author focuses on the Aragonese queen’s importance as a money raiser to serve her husband’s military needs by diverting her own funds, pressuring her vassals to do the same, selling and pawning her general, and acting as an unflinching royal voice to her own people and to her diplomatic contacts. In this role, the queen reached her most important administrative function by serving as her husband’s representative when he was absent on campaign who took it on herself to ready galleys to relieve Pere’s naval campaigns. This increased role proved much easier when the king, who had already bestowed his wife with the largely unheard of honor of coronation, with the office of lieutenant general, which allowed Elionor to act as if she were king.
Saving the Freedom of Information Act

Enacted in 1966, The Freedom of Information Act (or FOIA) was designed to promote oversight of governmental activities, under the notion that most users would be journalists. Today, however, FOIA is largely used for purposes other than fostering democratic accountability. Instead, most requesters are either individuals seeking their own files, businesses using FOIA as part of commercial enterprises, or others with idiosyncratic purposes like political opposition research. In this sweeping, empirical study, Margaret Kwoka documents how agencies have responded to the large volume of non-oversight requesters by creating new processes, systems, and specialists, which in turn has had a deleterious impact on journalists and the media. To address this problem, Kwoka proposes a series of structural solutions aimed at shrinking FOIA to re-center its oversight purposes.
Evaluating survival in patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma and lung metastasis.

e16237Background: Pancreatic adenocarcinoma most commonly metastasizes to the liver and peritoneum, yet can occasionally metastasize to the lungs in an isolated fashion. Anecdotal evidence suggests...
Can a Single Measure Estimate Protocol Adherence for Two Psychosocial Treatments for Youth Anxiety Delivered in Community Mental Health Settings

Abstract Treatment adherence measurement can be time and resource-intensive in clinical trials, so the ability to measure protocol adherence for two distinct treatment programs with a single measure may benefit the field. The present study sought to determine if the Therapy Process Observational Coding System – Revised Strategies Scale (TPOCS-RS) could assess protocol adherence to two youth treatment programs. Treatment sessions (N = 796) from 55 youth (M age = 9.89 years, SD = 1.71; range 7–15 years; 55.0% White; 46.0% female) with primary anxiety problems treatment by 39 clinicians (M age = 40.54 years, SD = 9.56; 50.0% White; 80.0% female) were independently scored by coders using observational treatment adherence and alliance measures. The youth received one of three treatments: (a) Standard (i.e., cognitive-behavioral treatment program), (b) Modular (i.e., a program with cognitive-behavioral and parent training components), or (c) Usual Care. Consultants filled out a self-report measure of protocol adherence within the Standard and Modular conditions. Interrater reliability, ICC(2,2) for the various items for the full sample ranged from .17 to .92 (M ICC = .67; SD = .17). Scores from a TPOCS-RS subscale that mapped onto the specific content of the treatment protocols used in the Standard and Modular conditions evidenced convergent validity with the consultant-report adherence measure and discriminant validity with the alliance measure. The model-specific TPOCS-RS subscales also discriminated between the Standard and Modular treatments and Usual Care. This study provides initial evidence that (a) the TPOCS-RS has utility in estimating protocol adherence in different treatment programs and (b) support the score validity of the self-report consultation records.
The Intersection of Behavioral Economics and the General Medicine Literature.

Abstract Judgment and decision-making influence health-related behavior and clinical decision-making and, ultimately, health. It has been estimated that more than half of health disorders derive from behavioral consequences of unhealthy choices. We considered the question of how to better understand and improve decision-making in health and medicine through a narrative review of use and examples of concepts from Behavioral Economics, a field of study that combines insights from behavioral science and economic decision-making, in the 3 highest-impact general medicine journals.
“Wait—it’s a math problem, right?”: negotiating school frames in out-of-school places

Designers in out-of-school spaces often negotiate the meaning of mathematics as part of the design process, determining what to include in classes and exhibits both implicitly and explicitly. This analysis suggests that instead of keeping these conversations behind the scenes, we should foreground them for participants. In doing so, we may actually be helping to expand their sense of what counts as mathematics as they participate in legitimate communal activity. The focal analysis examines the case of one participant in a knitting summer camp as she encounters the mathematics that the facilitator deemed necessary to move the knitting project forward. Together they negotiate whether their work counts as knitting or as mathematics, and what the consequences for that designation are for how they make sense of the activity. I argue that this kind of encounter has the potential to build bridges between everyday and school mathematics and thus to broaden participation.
Aura: Distraction-Free Ubiquitous Computing

Technological trends are leading to a world in which computing is all around us – in our cars, our kitchens, our offices, our phones, and even our clothes. In this world we can expect to see an explosion of computational devices, services, and information at our disposal. While this is an undeniable opportunity, currently we are ill-prepared to deal with its implications.
The social meaning of money and intimacy: Review of Viviana A. Zelizer, The Purchase of Intimacy

There has always been fear that the market's penetration into every aspect of people's daily lives will corrupt the ethical and moral foundation of our society. However, Viviana A. Zelizer in her latest book, The Purchase of Intimacy, reassures us that economic activities and intimate relations can be well mingled. Such mixing only becomes dangerous when third-party organizations are involved and lead to the abuse of power. To some extent, The Purchase of Intimacy continues the same theme from the author's earlier book, The Social Meaning of Money: Pin Money, Paychecks, Poor Relief and Other Currencies (1994, New York, NY: Basic Books), that society is not transformed into a commodity market, and economic transactions are filled with social meanings designated by people involved in them. The book starts with a legal case dating from the 1840s in which the heirs of a land owner, Samuel Miller, sued his emancipated slave and sexual partner, Patsy, for the possession of promissory notes given to her by the deceased. The case pivoted on the definition of Patsy's relationship to Miller at the time of the gift: whether she was a slave, a concubine, or a wife (though the Catahoula jury, applying the more liberal laws of Missouri, declared the gift legal, the Supreme Court of Louisiana repealed the initial verdict, and ruled in favor of the heirs in condemnation of interracial concubinage). Zelizer goes on to consider more recent cases of compensation disputes among relatives of the victims in the 9/11 tragedy, revealing that the legal system constantly gets involved in situations where economic transactions and intimate relations intersect. She then poses three sets of questions that the book attempts to answer: when and how do people intertwine economic transactions with intimate relations and with what consequences for third parties; why and how do they create elaborate stories and
Sparse quadratic regulator

We consider a control design problem aimed at balancing quadratic performance of linear systems with additional requirements on the control signal. These are introduced in order to obtain controls that are either sparse or infrequently changing in time. To achieve this objective, we augment a standard quadratic performance index with an additional term that penalizes either the l1 norm or the total variation of the control signal. We show that the minimizer of this convex optimization problem can be found by solving a two point boundary value problem (TPBVP) with non-differentiable nonlinearities. Furthermore, we employ alternating direction method of multipliers to determine the optimal controller iteratively from a sequence of linear TPBVPs. Examples are provided to illustrate the developed method.
Diterpenes from rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis): Defining their potential for anti-cancer activity

Recently, rosemary extracts standardized to diterpenes (e.g. carnosic acid and carnosol) have been approved by the European Union (EU) and given a GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Incorporation of rosemary into our food system and through dietary selection (e.g. Mediterranean Diet) has increased the likelihood of exposure to diterpenes in rosemary. In consideration of this, a more thorough understanding of rosemary diterpenes is needed to understand its potential for a positive impact on human health. Three agents in particular have received the most attention that includes carnosic acid, carnosol, and rosmanol with promising results of anti-cancer activity. These studies have provided evidence of diterpenes to modulate deregulated signaling pathways in different solid and blood cancers. Rosemary extracts and the phytochemicals therein appear to be well tolerated in different animal models as evidenced by the extensive studies performed for approval by the EU and the FDA as an antioxidant food preservative. This mini-review reports on the pre-clinical studies performed with carnosic acid, carnosol, and rosmanol describing their mechanism of action in different cancers.
Signal Processing for Particle Detectors

This document is part of Part 1 'Principles and Methods' of Subvolume B 'Detectors for Particles and Radiation' of Volume 21 'Elementary Particles' of Landolt-Bornstein - Group I 'Elementary Particles, Nuclei and Atoms'. It contains the Section '3.6 Signal Processing for Particle Detectors' of Chapter '3 Particle Detectors and Detector Systems' with the content:
A Cross‐Calibration between Tycho‐2 Photometry and Hubble Space Telescope Spectrophotometry

By analyzing a well‐calibrated sample of 256 stars observed with both Hipparcos and HST, I show that Tycho‐2 photometry and HST spectrophotometry are accurate and stable enough to obtain a precise cross‐calibration. Based on this analysis, I obtain the following photometric zero points with respect to Vega for Tycho‐2: 0.020 ± 0.001 (BT - VT), 0.078 ± 0.009 (BT), and 0.058 ± 0.009 (VT).
Ethnography in Colonial Mexico

Utopia and History in Mexico: Tfie First Chronicles of Mexican Civilization, 1520-1569. Georges Baudot. Bernard R. Ortiz de Monte llano and Thelma Ortiz de Montellano, trans. Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1995.566 pp. His toria cronologira de la noble ciudad de Tlaxcala: Transcripcion paleogr´fica, traduccion presentacion. notas. Juan Buenaventura Zapata. Mendoza. Luis Reyes
Dihydro‐2(3H)‐thiophenimine Hydrochloride

[4781-83-3] C4H8ClNS (MW 137.63) InChI = 1S/C4H7NS.ClH/c5-4-2-1-3-6-4;/h5H,1-3H2;1H InChIKey = ATGUDZODTABURZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N (reagent used for thiolation of primary amines) Alternate Names: 2-iminothiolane hydrochloride; Traut's reagent. Physical Data: mp 202–203 °C.1 Solubility: water, methanol, dimethyl sulfoxide. Form Supplied in: white crystalline powder; commercially available. Analysis of Reagent Purity: 1H NMR (TFA) δ 10.07 (2H, br), 3.63 (2H, t), 3.30 (2H, t), 2.48 (2H, quint); IR (KBr) 2400–3300, 1600, 609 cm−1; UV (0.1 mM in 0.1 M HCl or acetonitrile) ɛ248 = 8840 M−1cm−1; titration with 5,5′-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoic acid).2 Purification: recrystallization from a methanol–acetone saturated solution upon refrigeration; recrystallization from a dimethyl sulfoxide–ethyl acetate mixture; sublimation. Handling, Storage, and Precautions: desiccate; storage temperature 2–8 °C; may cause eye irritation.
Agenesis of Azygos Vein in a Case of Esophageal Atresia and Tracheoesophageal Fistula

A 2-day-old female neonate, weighing 2.7kg, presented with salivation, frothing, and choking at feeding attempts. There was a history of polyhydramnios in mother. The baby was a product of non-consanguineous marriage and delivered at term by normal vaginal delivery in a private hospital. General physical examination was unremarkable. There were no visible associated anomalies in the baby. Chest and upper abdominal radiograph showed feeding tube curled just beyond thoracic inlet and a big gastric shadow. Laboratory investigations were within normal limits. Patient underwent right thoracotomy which revealed agenesis of azygos vein (Fig. 1). Primary esophageal repair was done with mild anastomotic tension. Postoperative recovery was uneventful. Echocardiogram done postoperatively showed structurally and functionally normal heart. Patient was discharged in good general condition.
LaRCTM-ITPI/Arylene Ether Copolymers

As part of an effort to develop high performance structural resins for aerospace applications, work has continued on block copolymers containing imide and arylene ether segments. The arylene ether block used in this study contains a bulky fluorene group in the polymer backbone while the imide block contains an arylene ketone segment similar to that in the arylene ether block and has been named LaRC-ITPI. A series of imide/arylene ether block and segmented copolymers were prepared and characterized. Films were prepared from these copolymers and mechanical properties were measured.
Partitioning Work Centers for Group Technology: Insights from an Analytical Model*

This paper develops analytical approximations based on an M/M/c queuing model, for the operating characteristics of job shop work centers. The model is used to analyze the effects of partitioning a work center and introducing setup reduction into the cell components. The results using this model are shown to be consistent with the results of prior simulation-based studies of group technology under certain parameter ranges. A simulation experiment was conducted to verify the effects with multi-item, non-Markovian assumptions, and the general effects predicted by the model were found to apply.
Human RNase H1 Uses One Tryptophan and Two Lysines to Position the Enzyme at the 3′-DNA/5′-RNA Terminus of the Heteroduplex Substrate

In a previous study, we showed that the RNA-binding domain of human RNase H1 is responsible for the positional preference for cleavage exhibited by the enzyme (Wu, H., Lima, W. F., and Crooke, S. T. (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276, 23547–23553). Here, we identify the substituents on the heteroduplex substrate and the amino acid residues within the RNA-binding domain of human RNase H1 involved in positioning of the enzyme. The human RNase H1 cleavage patterns observed for heteroduplexes with various 3′-DNA/5′-RNA and 5′-DNA/3′-RNA termini indicate that the 5′-most cleavage site on the oligoribonucleotide is positioned 7 bp from the first 3′-DNA/5′-RNA base pair. The presence or absence of phosphate or hydroxyl groups at either the 3′-DNA or 5′-RNA terminus had no effect on the human RNase H1 cleavage pattern. Substitution of the 3′-deoxynucleotide with a ribonucleotide, 2′-methoxyethyl nucleotide, or mismatched deoxyribonucleotide resulted in the ablation of the 5′-most cleavage site on the oligoribonucleotide. Mutants in which Trp43 and Lys59-Lys60 of the RNA-binding domain were substituted with alanine showed a loss of the positional preference for cleavage. Comparison of the kcat, Km, and Kd for the alanine-substituted mutants with those for human RNase H1 suggests that Lys59 and Lys60 are involved in binding to the heteroduplex and that Trp43 is responsible for properly positioning the enzyme on the substrate for catalysis. These data suggest that Trp43, Lys59, and Lys60 constitute an extended nucleic binding surface for the RNA-binding domain of human RNase H1, with the entire interaction taking place at the 3′-DNA/5′-RNA pole of the heteroduplex. These results offer further insights into the interaction between human RNase H1 and the heteroduplex substrate as well as approaches to enhance the design of effective antisense oligonucleotides.
Line-profile considerations of resonant multiphoton ionization

It is shown that the interpretation of the line profile of resonant multiphoton ionization in terms of a Fano profile with a constant background can lead to difficulties. These difficulties are related to the fact that the nonresonant background may exhibit considerable structure as a function of photon frequency.
Structural and compositional transformations of biomass chars during combustion

Abstract In an investigation of the physical and chemical transformations of biomass chars during combustion, we have subjected two chars, produced from the pyrolysis of pine and switchgrass, to combustion at 1600 K in a laminar flow reactor. In order to obtain time-resolved data on the structural and compositional transformations of the biomass chars. samples are extracted from the reactor at different residence times and subjected to a variety of analytical techniques: elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction analysis, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The results point to several changes in both the organic and inorganic constituents of the chars. The early stages of conversion are characterized by devolatilization, which leads to the removal of amorphous material and the release of oxygen- and hydrogen-rich gases. After devolatilization, combustion is accompanied by: vaporization of some metals (particularly Na and K), surface migration and coalescence of inorganic material, and the incorporation of metals (particularly Ca) into silicate structures. The latest stages of combustion reveal the transformation of inorganic constituents from amorphous phases to crystalline forms. Some short-range order appears in the carbon-rich portions of the chars as combustion proceeds, but the high levels of oxygen originally present in these chars foster cross-linking, which limits the extent of order ultimately attained. The transformations of the biomass chars are compared with those of coal chars, and the implications of these observations—with respect to reactivity and ash behavior—are discussed.
Some effects of acidic growing conditions on three emergent macrophytes: Zizania aquatica, Leersia oryzoides and Peltandra virginica.

Abstract Transplants of Zizania aquatica L., Leersia oryzoides (L.) Shwartz, and Peltandra virginica (L.) Schott and Endl. were grown for ten weeks in simulated marsh conditions under acidic (pH 3·0, pH 4·0) treatment regimes and compared with controls (pH 5·6). Mortality was low in all treatments and nearly all plants of Z. aquatica and L. oryzoides flowered. Under acidic conditions, transplant height and root biomass of Z. aquatica were significantly reduced, with greater culm numbers and total lenghts of inflorescences per flowering plant compared to controls. Shoot biomass of L. oryzoides transplants was significantly greater in the most acidic treatment (pH 3·0). Transplants of P. virginica grew slowly and did not flower during the experiment; heights and shoot biomass of P. virginica were significantly reduced with increased leaf chlorosis in acidic conditions.
La recherche des échos de diffusion en échographie à haute résolution peut détecter les modifications mécaniques de la paroi des pontages artériels périphériques en veine

Nous rapportons l'utilisation de la recherche des echos de diffusion en echographie a haute resolution et sensible a la phase pour mesurer la contrainte parietale vasculaire locale chez deux patients ayant un pontage arteriel en veine. En outre, nous avons combine cette technique avec une procedure d'egalisation de pression en mode main libre pour elucider les effets non lineaires de la pression arterielle sur la compliance de la paroi vasculaire. Alors que l'imagerie ultrasonore conventionnelle peut etre employee pour analyser les proprietes mecaniques des tissus dans le corps, elle est limitee par une resolution comparativement plus faible et des mesures plutot deductives que directes de la compliance, et par la contrainte faible normalement produite sous pression physiologique dans des structures fortement non lineaires telles que les arteres. Un des deux patients a ete examine avant et apres la survenue d'une stenose 3 mois apres la chirurgie. Les valeurs de la contrainte pour ce patient se sont averees significativement moindres, indiquant une paroi plus rigide au niveau de la stenose qu'en une zone non stenosee sous une pression physiologique ou egalisee. Ces resultats suggerent la possibilite de detection non invasive de l'hyperplasie neointimale avant les stenoses anastomotiques.
Thiol-dependent redox modulation of soluble guanylyl cyclase

Background Following prolonged exposure to NO, soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) becomes desensitized and fails to respond to additional NO stimulation. We showed that sGC is desensitized by S-nitrosylation in vitro, in primary smooth muscle cells (SMC) and in tissues and identified two cysteines (Cys) targeted by this post-translational modification that are involved in sGC desensitization [1]. We recently discovered that nitroglycerin (GTN) induces Snitrosylation of sGC. We also showed that chronic treatment with GTN or acute treatment with S-nitroso-cysteine (CSNO), which lead to impaired relaxation in vivo, were accompanied by decreased GTNor NO-stimulated cGMP production and characterized by strong S-nitrosylation of sGC. These observations suggested that desensitization of sGC by S-nitrosylation could be a mechanism of tolerance [2]. Based on observations by others that chronic GTN treatment increases ROS species and that oxidants exposure of cells impaired sGC response to NO, we hypothesize that desensitization of sGC by redox-dependent modification of its Cys is a mechanism underlying the loss of vascular reactivity in some oxidative vascular diseases.
CC and CH bond activation of 1,2-propanedioxy by atomic oxygen on Ag(110): Effects of CO-adsorbed oxygen on reaction mechanism

The stability of adsorbed 1,2-propanedioxy OCH(CH3)CH2O, generated via OH bond activation of 1,2-propanediol by oxygen adatoms on Ag(110), has been shown to be sensitive to the relative concentrations of 1,2-propanedioxy and O(a). When the concentration of O(a) is sufficiently large, OCH(CH3)CH2O(a) is formed via OH bond activation upon the adsorption of 1,2-propanediol at 175 K. CH bond activation, nucleophilic attack by O(a) and CC bond scission subsequently occur to yield formaldehyde, water, formate and acetate by 275 K. Acetol CH3C(O)CH2OH evolves at 335 K, driven from the surface either by the onset of the conversion of CH3COO(a) to HCOO(a) and CO2(g) or by through-surface interactions. CO2(g), H2O(g), acetol, lactaldehyde CH3CH(OH)CHO and 1,2-propanediol evolve at 360 K. Production of pyruvaldehyde CH3C(O)CHO, acetol, and lactaldehyde occurs at 415 K and is accompanied by the evolution of additional CO2(g) and H2)O(g) due to formate decomposition in the presence of O(a)(OH(a)). No H2(g) evolves. Residual acetate decomposes to yield CO2(g), CH3COOH(g), and CH2CO(g) in the absence of O(a) near 580–620 K. The evolution of H2CO(g) and H2)O(g) at 275 K and the production of acetol at 335 K suggest that initial CH bond activation occurs preferentially at the central carbon of 1,2-propanedioxy. The production of lactaldehyde at both 360 and 415 K and pyruvaldehyde at 415 K indicates that with heating subsequent CH bond activation occurs at carbon-1. Furthermore, these results demonstrate that OH and CH bond activation and CC bond scission are characteristic oxidation mechanisms for diols on oxygen-activated Ag(110).
Temporary threshold shift reduction as a function of contralateral noise level.

Seven male and seven female subjects were exposed to a monaurally presented 1000-Hz continuous tone at 110 dB SPL for three minutes. During the exposure pulsed wide-band noise (one second on / one ...
Long-term results of infragenicular bypasses with autogenous vein originating from the distal superficial femoral and popliteal arteries

Abstract Forty-nine bypasses originating from the distal superficial femoral artery or popliteal artery in 46 patients were reviewed to examine late patency, limb salvage, and factors leading to graft failure. Operations were performed because of tissue loss in 86%, rest pain in 12%, and limiting claudication in 2% of limbs. Proximal anastomosis was from the distal superficial femoral artery in 12% and the popliteal artery in 88%. Distal anastomosis was to the below-knee popliteal artery or proximal tibial vessels in 20% and the distal tibial vessels in 80%. Life-table analysis showed a primary patency rate of 83%, 62%, and 41%, at 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively. The rate of limb salvage at 6 years for all grafts was 69%. Cox proportional hazards analysis determined that stenosis of 20% or greater in the proximal superficial femoral artery before bypass was a significant risk factor for graft failure (p = 0.02) despite the presence of normal intra-arterial pressure at the site of the proximal anastomosis at the time of bypass. Long-term survival in these patients was low, with a 6-year survival rate of only 24%. Infragenicular bypass originating from the distal superficial femoral artery or the popliteal artery can be performed with patency and limb salvage rates comparable to bypasses originating from the common femoral artery. These bypasses are more likely to fail when performed in the presence of a stenosis 20% or greater in the superficial femoral or popliteal artery proximal to the graft origin. (J VASC SURG 1988;7:691-6.)
Reconstruction of the posterior bundle of the medial collateral ligament: a solution for posteromedial olecranon deficiency—a case report

It is now well recognized that excessive resection of the osteophyte at the medial corner of the olecranon for extension overload impingement will cause an increased strain of the medial collateral ligament and, ultimately, medial collateral ligament deficiency. 3 Studies have shown that removal of as little as 3 mm of normal bone will result in measurable increased strain in the anterior bundle of the medial collateral ligament. 2 It is also accepted that instability during throwing, which occurs from excessive removal of the medial corner of the olecranon, is extremely difficult if not impossible to correct surgically. Surprisingly, to date, there has been no information in the orthopedic literature that describes successful treatment of symptomatic instability from deficiency of the medial corner of the olecranon process, even after the anterior bundle of the medial collateral ligament has been
Small-scale laser ignition of a transparent liquid propellant

The ignition of the liquid gun propellant (LGP) 1846 or XM46 by 1-μm neodymium (Nd):glass laser light has been explored under conditions of confinement. Variation in ignition delay with energy and initial pressure are explored. Good repeatability, millisecond delay times, and reasonable pulse energy requirements characterize the observations.
Evaluation of the BD Phoenix Automated Microbiology System for Identification and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing of Staphylococci and Enterococci

We evaluated the Phoenix automated microbiology system (BD Diagnostic Systems, Sparks, MD) for the identification (ID) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of challenge and clinical staphylococci and enterococci recovered from patients in a tertiary-care medical center. In total, 424 isolates were tested: 90 enterococci; 232 Staphylococcus aureus isolates, including 14 vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus isolates; and 102 staphylococci other than S. aureus (non-S. aureus). The Phoenix panels were inoculated according to the manufacturer's instructions. The reference methods for ID comparisons were conventional biochemicals and cell wall fatty acid analysis with the Sherlock microbial identification system (v 3.1; MIDI, Inc. Newark, DE). Agar dilution was the reference AST method. The overall rates of agreement for identification to the genus and the species levels were 99.7% and 99.3%, respectively. All S. aureus isolates and enterococci were correctly identified by the Phoenix panels. For the non-S. aureus staphylococci, there was 98.0% agreement for the ID of 16 different species. The AST results were stratified by organism group. For S. aureus, the categorical agreement (CA) and essential agreement (EA) were 98.2% and 98.8%, respectively. Three of three very major errors (VMEs; 1.7%) were with oxacillin. For non-S. aureus staphylococci, the CA, EA, VME, major errors, and minor error rates were 95.7%, 96.8%, 0.7%, 1.7%, and 2.9%, respectively. The two VMEs were with oxacillin. For the enterococci, there was 100% CA and 99.3% EA. All 36 vancomycin-resistant enterococci were detected by the Phoenix system. The Phoenix system compares favorably to traditional methods for the ID and AST of staphylococci and enterococci.
Achieving Diameter-Selective Separation of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes by Using Polymer Conformation-Confined Helical Cavity

A water-soluble poly[(m-phenylenevinylene)-alt-(p-phenylenevinylene)] (PmPV) 2 has been synthesized, which exhibits an unsymmetrical substitution pattern on the para-phenylene unit. With one substituent being hydrophilic while the other being hydrophobic, the polymer chain has a higher tendency to fold in aqueous solution, thereby promoting helical conformation. The polymer is found to selectively disperse the single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) of small diameters (d = 0.75–0.84 nm), in sharp contrast to PmPV 1 with a symmetrical substitution pattern. The intriguing diameter-based selectivity is believed to be associated with the confined helical conformation, which provides a suitable cavity to host the SWNT of proper sizes. The study thus provides a useful demonstration that the polymer conformation can have a profound impact on the SWNT sorting.
Regulation of cell proliferation: the negative control perspective.

Nothing in Biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. Theodosius Dobzhansky
On the optimal selection of interpolation points for use in Monte Carlo simulations

Abstract Ahlfeld and Pinder recently proposed a method for reducing the enormous computational burden associated with Monte Carlo simulations. It was suggested that the solution be evaluated at only a few select points (a knot sequence) over the parameter space of the random quantity and the solution elsewhere be obtained through interpolation. This paper addresses the issue of the choice of points in the knot sequence. The main thesis of the present work is that these points need to be chosen appropriately to maximize their utility and yield the fewest interpolation errors for the Monte Carlo procedure. An optimal choice of interpolation points should be based on the underlying probability distribution of the random variable(s). This is illustrated through an example for which analytical solutions are available. The statistical quantities of interest considered in this paper are the mean, variance, and probability densities of the state variable.