cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The origins and future of Egypt's revolt

On 25 January 2011 the first in a series of protests rocked Egypt, and began a process that ended Hosni Mubarak's 29-year rule. For most Egyptians, the uprising was a joyous event that brought an e...
Ultrastructure of the pseudohermaphrodite rat testis.

The interstitial cells of the pseudohermaphrodite rat testis are both hypertrophic and hyperplastic. The cytoplasm is characterized by smooth endoplasmic reticulum which is abundant and variable in form. Mitochondria are numerous and large with tubular cristae and occasional inclusions. Structural features of the Leydig cells indicate potential for increased steroid synthesis. The presence of large numbers of mast cells in the intertubular area is confirmed.
Studies on the binding of the estradiol-receptor complex to rat DNA fragments

The activation by estradiol of a series of reactions in hormone target tissues provides a model for the study of gene regulation in eukaryotic cells. We have examined the interaction of the estradiol--receptor complex with the various frequency classes of rat DNA to determine whether specificity can be detected at this level of chromosome organization. Interaction of the 8S estradiol--receptor complex with DNA was assayed by a change in the sedimentation rate of the complex. The receptor was found to bind to high molecular weight rat DNA as well as to 450 nucleotide long fragments of rat DNA. When the sheared DNA was separated by denaturation and reassociation into three frequency classes, the unique and moderately repeated sequences bound the receptor almost as effectively as the total sheared DNA. The resulting DNA--receptor complexes were sensitive to pancreatic DNAase. The highly repeated class of sequences bound the receptor less effectively than the other fractions. This did not result from the presence in this fraction of an inhibitor of binding, since addition of unique DNA fragments resulted in formation of a normal DNA--receptor complex. Nor was nuclease activity responsible since intact DNA could be isolated from the incubation mixture. An increase in length of the highly repeated DNA to 800 nucleotide long fragments caused them to bind the receptor almost as effectively as the other DNA fractions. These studies suggest that there may be sequences in eukaryotic DNA that preferentially bind the estradiol--receptor complex.
Preventing febrile complications of suction curettage abortion

To identify risk factors for febrile complications after suction curettage abortion, we analyzed the data of 26,332 women who underwent suction curettage abortion at five participating centers in the Joint Program for the Study of Abortion, Part III, from 1975 to 1978. We defined febrile morbidity as an oral temperature of ≥38° C for 2 days or longer. The febrile morbidity rate was 0.34 per 100 abortions. We performed a multivariate analysis using a linear logistic regression model. Prophylactic antibiotics proved to be the most protective factor, reducing the rate of febrile complications to about one third that of women who received no prophylactic antibiotics (relative risk 0.36; 95% confidence interval 0.18 to 0.70). Patients who had had one or more previous births also had a significantly lower risk of febrile morbidity (relative risk 9.54; 95% confidence interval 0.33 to 0.88). Other factors did not significantly affect the febrile complication rate.
Evaluation of spin-Hamiltonian parameters from EPR data by the method of least-squares fitting

A quick, accurate procedure (LSF method) is developed, using Feynman's theorem, for application of a least-squares-fitting method to the analysis of electron paramagnetic resonance data. As it utilizes numerically computed eigen-values and their derivatives with respect to the spin-Hamiltonian parameters, the LSF method is not limited by the size of the off-diagonal matrix elements of the spin Hamiltonian. To accomplish orthogonal-axis consistency, the resonant magnetic field values corresponding to two, or more, directions of the magnetic field are simultaneously taken into account. The method is illustrated by analyzing the room-temperature X-band data for Gd3+ in SmCl3·6H2O, which is characterized by large off-diagonal matrix elements. The resulting parameters and chi-squared values of the fit (∼10−4 GHz2) compare quite well with those obtained using a recently developed “brute-force” method. Only one set of input data (the initially guessed values of large parameters) is required and computing time is reduced by a factor of ∼70. The method is immediately applicable to the analysis of other resonance data which depend upon the differences in eigenvalues, such as NMR, NQR, and molecular spectroscopy.
Patterns of pollen quantity and quality limitation of pre‐zygotic reproduction in Mimulus guttatus vary with co‐flowering community context

Pollen quantity limitation has been widely recognized as one of the main causes of plant reproductive failure in nature. However, its negative effects on fruit and seed production have been often confounded with those of low pollen quality (i.e. low conspecific pollen viability and/or slow pollen tube growth rate). The lack of differentiation between these two aspects of pollen limitation has resulted not only in a potential overestimation of the incidence of pollen quantity limitation but has led to a poor understanding of the factors and mechanisms that affect pollen quality limitation. Knowledge of the relative importance and underlying causes of both aspects of pollen limitation (quantity and quality) is required to fully understand the ecological and evolutionary consequences of pollen limitation in natural populations. Co-flowering community context (e.g. species richness and conspecific density), in particular, can be an important driver of overall pollen limitation. However, how pollen quantity and quality limitation vary separately with the community context has not previously been examined, even though they may vary differently as they arise from different mechanisms, e.g. insect visitation rate versus inbreeding depression. Here we evaluate the effect of co-flowering diversity and conspecific density on the relative importance of pollen quantity and quality limitation for Mimulus guttatus pre-zygotic reproduction (i.e. pollen tube success) at serpentine seeps in California over two years. We found overall pollen limitation of pre-zygotic reproductive success at all seeps regardless of the co-flowering context. However, plants in high-diversity/low- conspecific density communities were mostly limited by pollen quantity, whereas plants in low-diversity/high-conspecific density ones experienced stronger quality limitation – a pattern that was consistent across years. These results not only highlight the importance of conducting comprehensive studies on pollen limitation that evaluate both, its quantity and quality aspects, but are the first to show how their relative contribution to overall pollen limitation can vary with extrinsic factors such as the co-flowering community context.
Mill and milquetoast

(1989). Mill and milquetoast. Australasian Journal of Philosophy: Vol. 67, No. 2, pp. 152-171.
Impregnation Dynamics of Carbon Fiber Tows

Axial and normal (transverse) impregnation of fiber bundles are in vestigated. A slow curing epoxy system is used with the impregnation being driven solely by capillary forces. Axial impregnation rates are found to be faster than expected based on Lucas-Washburn type capillary wicking. For normal mode impregnation, geometric limi tations and the dependency of contact angles upon wetting speed give rise to rates which are an order of magnitude slower than axial wetting. Transverse impregnation is also strongly influenced by pores much smaller than the overall average porosity of fiber bun dles. These results indicate that incomplete wetting and void formation may result from: (1) (dynamic) contact angles larger than 45°, and (2) large differences in the rates of axial and normal impregnation.
Chimerism and central tolerance

With adequate depletion or inactivation of the pre-existing immune system and establishment of conditions permitting donor hematopoietic stem cell engraftment, a robust state of central deletional tolerance to allogeneic or xenogeneic donors can be induced. Advances have been made in the ability to achieve this permissive state without toxic, myeloablative conditioning, thus bringing this approach closer to clinical application.
O–H bond oxidation by a monomeric MnIII–OMe complex

Manganese-containing, mid-valent oxidants (MnIII–OR) that mediate proton-coupled electron-transfer (PCET) reactions are central to a variety of crucial enzymatic processes. The Mn-dependent enzyme lipoxygenase is such an example, where a MnIII–OH unit activates fatty acid substrates for peroxidation by an initial PCET. This present work describes the quantitative generation of the MnIII–OMe complex, [MnIII(OMe)(dpaq)]+ (dpaq = 2-[bis(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)]amino-N-quinolin-8-yl-acetamidate) via dioxygen activation by [MnII(dpaq)]+ in methanol at 25 °C. The X-ray diffraction structure of [MnIII(OMe)(dpaq)]+ exhibits a Mn–OMe group, with a Mn–O distance of 1.825(4) A, that is trans to the amide functionality of the dpaq ligand. The [MnIII(OMe)(dpaq)]+ complex is quite stable in solution, with a half-life of 26 days in MeCN at 25 °C. [MnIII(OMe)(dpaq)]+ can activate phenolic O–H bonds with bond dissociation free energies (BDFEs) of less than 79 kcal mol−1 and reacts with the weak O–H bond of TEMPOH (TEMPOH = 2,2′-6,6′-tetramethylpiperidine-1-ol) with a hydrogen/deuterium kinetic isotope effect (H/D KIE) of 1.8 in MeCN at 25 °C. This isotope effect, together with other experimental evidence, is suggestive of a concerted proton-electron transfer (CPET) mechanism for O–H bond oxidation by [MnIII(OMe)(dpaq)]+. A kinetic and thermodynamic comparison of the O–H bond oxidation reactivity of [MnIII(OMe)(dpaq)]+ to other MIII–OR oxidants is presented as an aid to gain more insight into the PCET reactivity of mid-valent oxidants. In contrast to high-valent counterparts, the limited examples of MIII–OR oxidants exhibit smaller H/D KIEs and show weaker dependence of their oxidation rates on the driving force of the PCET reaction with O–H bonds.
Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia: An Overview.

Childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS), particularly when diagnosed prior to the age of 13, is considered to be especially rare and severe. This article provides an in-depth look into its symptomatology, general course, long-term functioning, diagnostic criteria, and methods of assessing the disorder. It also includes discussions of the various treatments used with patients having COS, including psychopharmalogical treatments, cognitive therapy, family interventions, educational interventions, and environmental manipulations. Particular attention is paid to the educational implications of the disorder and the role of school psychologists in working with this population. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 41: 803–811, 2004.
Interpretation of distortion product otoacoustic emission measurements. I. Two stimulus tones.

The interpretation of common but poorly understood observed characteristics of distortion product emissions is assisted by the development of a simple model. This model essentially includes only saturation of the cochlear amplifier, with emissions arising naturally from the same nonlinear processes which cause the saturation. The model provides useful physical explanations of emission behavior, particularly considered as a function of the stimulus intensities of the two primaries, i.e., behavior with fixed stimulus frequencies. It is assumed that emission generation consists of two main components which are always present in the total emission, but which most often have approximately opposite, i.e., canceling, phases. One component arises in a small region centered about the peak of the emission generation function, while the other arises from the region basal to this peak. At low stimulus levels with normal cochlear amplifier operation, the peak of the emission generation function is sharp, so the emission from the peak region dominates the total emission. This “peak” emission has typically been characterized as the “active” emission. At high stimulus levels where saturation is important, or at all levels when the gain of the cochlear amplifier is reduced, the summed “basal” component dominates the total emission. The characteristics of this basal emission are similar to, and continuous with, the characteristics of the truly “passive” emission, i.e., the emission observed when the cochlear amplifier gain is identically zero. Under circumstances when the emissions from the peak and basal components are approximately equal, there is seen a sharp “notch” characteristic of phase cancellation. The simple model produces emission distributions as a function of independent variation of the two stimulus amplitudes which are in good agreement with observation. It is shown that the furosemide assay provides a good estimate of cochlear amplifier gain when a correction factor of about 10 dB is added. However, when using two stimulus tones, neither absolute emission amplitudes, or emission input–output functions, or the furosemide assay can adequately distinguish between cases of moderate versus poor cochlear amplifier dysfunction when the cochlear amplifier gains are in the range from about half normal to zero.
THE SENIOR SEMINAR: PREPARATION FOR LIFE AFTER COLLEGE*

ABSTRACT This article describes a one semester hour mathematics senior seminar course at Olivet Nazarene University. The course has four main requirements: a resume packet, a short article presentation, a poster, and a project presentation. We describe how these four assignments fit together to provide a development of the mathematical maturity of our students. Additionally we discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the course. * This paper is an invited paper from the Contributed Paper Session on The Undergraduate Seminar in Mathematics at the New Orleans Joint AMS/AMA Mathematics Meetings, 10–13 January 2001.
NMR and spin/charge fluctuations in intermediate-valent SmB6

Information on spin and charge fluctuations in the non‐metallic intermediate‐valent compound SmB6 has been obtained via 10B and 11B NMR between 2 and 300 K. Both the isotropic shift and the quadrupole coupling constant are temperature independent over this range, as expected if the fractional valence mixing is also temperature independent. Below 4.2 K the boron spin‐lattice relaxation rate T1−1 varies linearly with temperature, and yields a spin fluctuation rate τs−f1∼1013 sec−1, which corresponds to a spin fluctuation temperature Tsf∼ 50 K if characteristic of the stoichiometric compound. An increase of T1−1 above 20 K indicates the onset of Sm‐spin relaxation by thermal excitations. The results are also consistent with relaxation by impurity‐band states associated with vacancies, but the Korringa constant obtained on this assumption is unrealistically small. Comparison between data obtained from 10B and 11B resonances yields no indication of a contribution from electric field gradient fluctuations to th...
The relationship between Career Choice Attitudes and Career Choice Competencies of ninth-grade pupils

Abstract This paper presents the results of a study designed to determine whether or not Career Choice Attitudes and Career Choice Competencies are interrelated as hypothesized in the Crites' (1965, 1973a) model of career maturity. To test hypotheses derived from the Crites model, the Career Maturity Inventory was administered to 270 ninth-grade pupils. The Attitude Scale and Competence Test subscales and total score were intercorrelated. The resulting correlations appear to be mostly consistent with the model of career maturity, although the Career Choice Attitudes and Career Choice Competencies dimensions were found to be more highly correlated with each other than was hypothesized.
Cyclization/Hydrogermylation of Functionalized 1,6-Dienes Catalyzed by Cationic Palladium Complexes

A 1:1 mixture of the palladium phenanthroline complex (phen)Pd(Me)Cl and NaBAr4 (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline; Ar = 3,5-C6H3(CF3)2) catalyzed the reaction of 4,4-disubstituted 1,6-dienes with trialky...
Flexible reference-counting-based hardware acceleration for garbage collection

Languages featuring automatic memory management (garbage collection) are increasingly used to write all kinds of applications because they provide clear software engineering and security advantages. Unfortunately, garbage collection imposes a toll on performance and introduces pause times, making such languages less attractive for high-performance or real-time applications. Much progress has been made over the last five decades to reduce the overhead of garbage collection, but it remains significant.We propose a cooperative hardware-software technique to reduce the performance overhead of garbage collection. The key idea is to reduce the frequency of garbage collection by efficiently detecting and reusing dead memory space in hardware via hardware-implemented reference counting. Thus, even though software garbage collections are still eventually needed, they become much less frequent and have less impact on overall performance. Our technique is compatible with a variety of software garbage collection algorithms, does not break compatibility with existing software, and reduces garbage collection time by 31% on average on the Java DaCapo benchmarks running on the production build of the Jikes RVM, which uses a state-of-the-art generational garbage collector.
Analysis of nitrogen cycling in a forest stream during autumn using a 15N‐tracer addition

We added 15 NH4Cl over 6 weeks to Upper Ball Creek, a second-order deciduous forest stream in the Appalachian Mountains, to follow the uptake, spiraling, and fate of nitrogen in a stream food web during autumn. A priori predictions of N flow and retention were made using a simple food web mass balance model. Values of d 15 N were determined for stream water ammonium, nitrate, dissolved organic nitrogen, and various compartments of the food web over time and distance and then compared to model predictions. Ammonium uptake lengths were shortest at the beginning of the tracer addition (28 m) and increased through time (day 20 5 82 m, day 41 5 94 m), and ammonium residence time in stream water ranged from 4 min on day 0 to 15 min on day 41. Whole-stream ammonium uptake rates, determined from the decline in 15
Into the matrix: regulation of the iron regulatory hormone hepcidin by matriptase-2

Matriptase-2 is a recently identified membrane-bound, cell-surface serine protease expressed primarily in liver. Mutations in matriptase-2 in mice and humans cause iron-deficiency anemia that responds poorly to iron therapy. The poor response results from an inability to decrease hepcidin production during iron deficiency. Cell culture studies reveal that matriptase-2 inhibits hepcidin induction by cleaving membrane hemojuvelin, a potent activator of hepcidin transcription. As a novel suppressor of hepcidin expression, matriptase-2 emerges as a possible candidate for therapeutic interventions aimed at treating disorders of iron metabolism.
Implicit definability on finite structures and unambiguous computations

The expressive power and the computational strength of first-order implicit definability on finite structures are studied. It is shown that every fixpoint query is a member of an implicitly definable pair of queries on finite structures. This turns out to be an optimal result, since in addition it is proven that there are natural fixpoint queries that are not implicitly definable on finite structures. First-order implicit definability on ordered finite structures is also investigated, and logical characterization of the complexity class UP intersection coUP is obtained in terms of it, where UP is the class of NP languages accepted by unambiguous Turing machines. >
Cramer-Rao bound analysis of distributed positioning in sensor networks

In future applications of sensor networking technology, it is envisioned that nodes will be able to determine their geographical position by measuring the range differences between one another in a collaborative fashion. The aim of this letter is to provide quantitative expressions that can be used both to facilitate an understanding for why such distributed positioning works and to assess the ultimately achievable accuracy in practice. Specifically, we compute the Crame/spl acute/r-Rao bound on the positioning accuracy, under different assumptions on the network synchronization. Numerical examples illustrate our results.
Clozapine Treatment of Bipolar Disorder in a Young Adolescent

ABSTRACT A 13-year-old boy with a 4-year history of bipolar disorder and concomitant obsessive-compulsive disorder required four hospitalizations and two partial hospitalizations due to inadequate responses to combinations of neuroleptics and traditional treatments for bipolar disorder. The use of clozapine in combination with lithium and clomipramine facilitated successful discharge from the hospital and return to a structured school setting. Significant adverse affects from interactions between valproic acid and clozapine necessitated discontinuation of valproic acid.
Resistant starch and exercise independently attenuate weight regain on a high fat diet in a rat model of obesity

Long-term weight reduction remains elusive for many obese individuals. Resistant starch (RS) and exercise may be useful for weight maintenance. The effects of RS, with or without exercise, on weight regain was examined during relapse to obesity on a high carbohydrate, high fat (HC/HF) diet. Obesity-prone rats were fed ad libitum for 16 weeks then weight reduced on a low fat diet to induce a 17% body weight loss (weight reduced rats). Weight reduced rats were maintained on an energy-restricted low fat diet for 18 weeks, with or without a daily bout of treadmill exercise. Rats were then allowed free access to HC/HF diet containing low (0.3%) or high (5.9%) levels of RS. Weight regain, energy balance, body composition, adipocyte cellularity, and fuel utilization were monitored as rats relapsed to obesity and surpassed their original, obese weight. Both RS and exercise independently attenuated weight regain by reducing the energy gap between the drive to eat and suppressed energy requirements. Exercise attenuated the deposition of lean mass during relapse, whereas its combination with RS sustained lean mass accrual as body weight returned. Early in relapse, RS lowered insulin levels and reduced the deposition of fat in subcutaneous adipose tissue. Exercise cessation at five weeks of relapse led to increased weight gain, body fat, subcutaneous adipocytes, and decreased lean mass; all detrimental consequences to overall metabolic health. These data are the first to show the complimentary effects of dietary RS and regular exercise in countering the metabolic drive to regain weight following weight loss and suggest that exercise cessation, in the context of relapse on a HC/HF diet, may have dire metabolic consequences.
TRUST-TECH-Based Expectation Maximization for Learning Finite Mixture Models

The expectation maximization (EM) algorithm is widely used for learning finite mixture models despite its greedy nature. Most popular model-based clustering techniques might yield poor clusters if the parameters are not initialized properly. To reduce the sensitivity of initial points, a novel algorithm for learning mixture models from multivariate data is introduced in this paper. The proposed algorithm takes advantage of TRUST-TECH (TRansformation Under STability-reTaining Equilibria CHaracterization) to compute neighborhood local maxima on the likelihood surface using stability regions. Basically, our method coalesces the advantages of the traditional EM with that of the dynamic and geometric characteristics of the stability regions of the corresponding nonlinear dynamical system of the log-likelihood function. Two phases, namely, the EM phase and the stability region phase, are repeated alternatively in the parameter space to achieve local maxima with improved likelihood values. The EM phase obtains the local maximum of the likelihood function and the stability region phase helps to escape out of the local maximum by moving toward the neighboring stability regions. Though applied to Gaussian mixtures in this paper, our technique can be easily generalized to any other parametric finite mixture model. The algorithm has been tested on both synthetic and real data sets and the improvements in the performance compared to other approaches are demonstrated. The robustness with respect to initialization is also illustrated experimentally.
On-chip Bus Thermal Analysis and Optimization

As technology scales, increasing clock rates, decreasing interconnect pitch, and the introduction of low-k dielectrics have made self-heating of the global interconnects an important issue in VLSI design. In this paper, we study the self-heating of on-chip buses and show that the thermal impact due to self-heating of on-chip buses increases as technology scales, thus motivating the need of finding solutions to mitigate this effect. Based on the theoretical analysis, we propose an irredundant bus encoding scheme for on-chip buses to tackle the thermal issue. Simulation results show that our encoding scheme is very efficient to reduce the on-chip bus temperature rise over substrate temperature, with much less overhead compared to other low power encoding schemes.
Developing prospective elementary teachers’ abilities to identify evidence of student mathematical achievement

This study investigated the effects of a classroom intervention on prospective elementary teachers’ ability to evaluate evidence of student achievement of mathematical learning goals. The intervention was informed by a framework for teacher education which aims to provide prospective teachers (PTs) with the skills needed to systematically learn from their own teaching practice. Prospective teachers (N = 160) participated in an intervention aimed at addressing their misconceptions about evidence of student learning. Results revealed that after the intervention, PTs were less likely to consider teacher behaviors to be evidence of student learning and more likely to discount student responses that were irrelevant to a specified learning goal. However, PTs were still likely to take procedural fluency as evidence of conceptual understanding and may have become overly skeptical of student understanding. Implications of the study suggest new ways of developing prospective teachers’ ability to systematically study and improve their teaching.
Twig-Nesting Ants: The Hidden Predators of the Coffee Berry Borer in Chiapas, Mexico

Coffee is a globally important crop that is subject to numerous pest problems, many of which are partially controlled by predatory ants. Yet several studies have proposed that these ecosystem services may be reduced where agricultural systems are more intensively managed. Here we investigate the predatory ability of twignesting ants on the main pest of coffee, the coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei) under different management systems in southwest Chiapas, Mexico. We conducted both laboratory and field experiments to examine which twig-nesting ant species, if any, can prey on free-living borers or can remove borers embedded in coffee fruits and whether the effects of the twig-nesting ant community differ with habitat type. Results indicate that several species of twig-nesting ants are effective predators of both free-living borers and those embedded in coffee fruits. In the lab, Pseudomyrmex ejectus, Pseudomyrmex simplex, and Pseudomyrmex PSW-53 effectively removed free-living and embedded borers. In the field, abundance, but not diversity, of twig-nesting ant colonies was influenced by shade management techniques, with the highest colony abundance present in the sites where shade trees were recently pruned. However, borer removal rates in the field were significant only in the shadiest site, but not in more intensively managed sites. This study provides evidence that twig-nesting ants can act as predators of the coffee berry borer and that the presence of twig-nesting ants may not be strongly linked to shade management intensity, as has been suggested for other arthropod predators of the borer.
Pediatric Urologic Advanced Imaging: Techniques and Applications

Diagnostic imaging of pediatric urologic disorders is continuously changing as technological advances are made. Although the backbone of pediatric urologic imaging has been ultrasound (US), voiding cystourethrography (VCUG), and radionuclide scintigraphy, newer and advanced modalities are increasingly becoming important. The aim of this review is to discuss the techniques and clinical applications of 3 such imaging modalities as they pertain to pediatric urologic disorders: MR urography, advanced US (harmonic imaging, 3D, voiding urosonography), and CT angiography.
No Significant Endothelial Apoptosis in the Radiation-Induced Gastrointestinal Syndrome

Purpose: This report addresses the incidence of vascular endothelial cell apoptosis in the mouse small intestine in relation to the radiation-induced gastrointestinal (GI) syndrome. Methods and Materials: Nonanesthetized mice received whole-body irradiation at doses above and below the threshold for death from the GI syndrome with 250 kVp X-rays, 137 Cs gamma rays, epithermal neutrons alone, or a unique approach for selective vascular irradiation using epithermal neutrons in combination with boronated liposomes that are restricted to the blood. Both terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase biotin-dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining for apoptosis and dual-fluorescence staining for apoptosis and endothelial cells were carried out in jejunal cross-sections at 4 h postirradiation. Results: Most apoptotic cells were in the crypt epithelium. The number of TUNEL-positive nuclei per villus was low (1.62 ± 0.03, mean ± SEM) for all irradiation modalities and showed no dose–response as a function of blood vessel dose, even as the dose crossed the threshold for death from the GI syndrome. Dual-fluorescence staining for apoptosis and endothelial cells verified the TUNEL results and identified the apoptotic nuclei in the villi as CD45-positive leukocytes. Conclusion: These data do not support the hypothesis that vascular endothelial cell apoptosis is the cause of the GI syndrome.
Reliable categories of environmental policies

This paper synthesises and tests a categorisation of environmental policies. The literature review presented reveals that a number of different typologies have been used in the past, creating the potential for conceptual confusion. Based on the review and unstructured interviews with steel industry experts, we propose a three-category typology. A 41-item instrument was created to test the typology. Results from empirical testing in the steel industry indicate that the measures created for this typology are reliable.
The role of native species plantations in recovery of understory woody diversity in degraded pasturelands of Costa Rica.

Tropical timber plantations provide a variety of environmental services, including recovery of biodiversity on degraded lands. For example, plantations can speed forest successional processes by improving microsite conditions and attracting seed dispersers, thus promoting woody regeneration. Timber species have been hypothesized to differ in understory recruitment success. In the present research, understory regeneration of woody plants was compared for six native timber species on tropical plantations in the Atlantic humid lowlands of Costa Rica. Timber species compared were: Calophyllum brasiliense Cambess, Hieronyma alchorneoides Allemao, Terminalia amazonia (J.F. Gmel.) Exell, Virola koschnyi Warb., Vochysia ferruginea Mart., and Vochysia guatemalensis Sprague. The six species were present at each of the three sites: one experimental plantation and two small-scale plantations belonging to farmers of the region. All plantations were 9–10 years. The experimental plantation was 100 m from continuous forest (i.e., seed source), and the farmers’ plantations were 1.3 and 2.5 km from continuous forest. Four plots were sampled for each timber species at each site using a randomized block design. All understory woody species were counted, identified, and separated by height class. Canopy openness and leaf litter biomass on the plantation floor were also evaluated. All of the plantations studied showed significantly higher levels of understory regeneration than control plots on abandoned pastures ðP < 0:05Þ. In this study, plantation site was the most significant factor affecting understory woody species diversity ðP < 0:0001Þ. Different timber species were most successful at recruiting understory regeneration in each of the three sites. On the experimental plantations at site 1, V. guatemalensis and C. brasiliense had the greatest recruitment success, with 75,581 and 69,219 regenerating individuals/ha, respectively. In the commercial plantations, T. amazonia (16,250 regenerating individuals/ ha) had the greatest recruitment success at site 2, and V. ferruginea (29,219 regenerating individuals/ha) had the greatest recruitment success at site 3. Across sites, plots with intermediate canopy openness had greater abundance of understory regeneration than plots with low or high percentages of canopy openness ðP ¼ 0:02Þ. There was no relationship between understory regeneration and leaf litter biomass. Of the planted species most successful at restoring understory diversity, V. guatemalensis, T. amazonia, and V. ferruginea have demonstrated good form and growth for timber, making them important species for reforestation in the region. # 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Preclinical and Early Clinical Development of Keratinocyte Growth Factor, an Epithelial- Specific Tissue Growth Factor

Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) is a 28-kDa heparin-binding member of the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) family (alternative designation = FGF-7) that specifically binds to the KGF receptor, a splice variant of FGF receptor 2, which is expressed only in epithelial tissues. KGF has been identified as an important paracrine mediator of proliferation and differentiation in a wide variety of epithelial cells, including hepatocytes and gastrointestinal epithelial cells, type II pneumocytes, transitional urothelial cells, and keratinocytes in all stratified squamous epithelia. Systemic administration of recombinant human KGF (rHuKGF) provides significant cytoprotection to epithelial tissues in a number of different animal models of epithelial/mucosal damage, including models of injury to the gastrointestinal tract, lung, urinary bladder, and hair follicles. The results obtained with these preclinical models prompted an investigation of the use of rHuKGF as a cytoprotective agent against radiation- and/or chemo...
Parallel Simulation of Hybrid Network Traffic Models

We examine a parallel processing method for simulations of large-scale networks with a hybrid traffic representation combining both a time-stepped fluid model and a discrete-event packet-oriented model. This method benefits from the observation that the time it takes to propagate fluid characteristics along the path taken by the traffic flows has a lower bound equal to the minimum link delay as manifested by the governing ordinary differential equations (ODEs). A better lookahead can thus be used to allow parallel simulation of the hybrid model to run without more synchronization overhead than the corresponding discrete-event packet-oriented model. We derive an analytical model comparing the fluid model and the packet-oriented model both for sequential and parallel simulations. We demonstrate the benefit of the parallel hybrid model through a series of simulation experiments of a large-scale network consisting of over 170,000 hosts and 1.6 million traffic flows on a small parallel cluster.
Origins of the Cell Selection Theories of Antibody Formation

Publisher Summary This chapter describes origins of the cell selection theories. These theories are divided into three parts. The first part is a brief description of developments in immunology that preceded the concept of cell selection and made its proposal possible and even inevitable. The second part discusses the events in the broader fields of science and scientific philosophy that led to the explosion of immunological knowledge. The last part is a more personal statement of the factors that led to advance the concept of cell selection in 1956. The concept of cell selection is based on the rather simple notion that adaptation of the individual to environmental antigens requires selection of the individual's diverse components in the same way that adaptation of the species requires selection of its diverse components. The most important basic concepts on which cell selection draws are those of immunological memory and specificity. There are a large number of objective signs pointing to cell selection, and some of them are included in this chapter.
A Markov Random Field Model-Based Approach To Image Interpretation

In this paper, a Markov random field (MRF) model-based approach to automated image interpretation is described and demonstrated as a region-based scheme. In this approach, an image is first segmented into a collection of disjoint regions which form the nodes of an adjacency graph. Image interpretation is then achieved through assigning object labels, or interpretations, to the segmented regions, or nodes, using domain knowledge, extracted feature measurements and spatial relationships between the various regions. The interpretation labels are modeled as a MRF on the corresponding adjacency graph and the image interpretation problem is formulated as a maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation rule. Simulated annealing is used to find the best realization, or optimal MAP interpretation. Through the MRF model, this approach also provides a systematic method for organizing and representing domain knowledge through the clique functions of the pdf of the underlying MRF. Results of image interpretation experiments performed on synthetic and real-world images using this approach are described and appear promising.
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION FROM TEMPORAL VARIATIONS IN SPACE–TIME AND PROGENITORS OF GAMMA RAY BURST AND MILLISECOND PULSARS

A time varying space–time metric is shown to be a source of electromagnetic radiation even in the absence of charge sources. The post-Newtonian approximation is used as a realistic model of the connection between the space–time metric and a time-varying gravitational potential. Rapid temporal variations in the metric from the coalescence of relativistic stars are shown to be likely progenitors of gamma ray burst and millisecond pulsars.
Progress Toward Thin-Film LiNbO 3 Waveguides on GaAs

The availability of epitaxial ferroelectric films on semiconductor substrates would open up many options for integrated optics technology. There are significant materials issues involved in achieving this integration and we will report on progress toward optical waveguide fabrication on GaAs substrates. As a first step, we are investigating the fabrication of z-LiNbO 3 waveguides on A1 2 O 3-c . The films have been deposited by off-axis rf magnetron sputtering and characterized by x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and scanning electron microscopies. Prism coupling has been used to determine waveguide thickness, indices of refraction and propogation losses. Issues concerning crystallography, texture, composition, surface roughness and processing will be discussed.
The Formation of the Social Policy of the Federal Council of Churches

The Federal Council of Churches was a new phenomenon in American church history. The main stream of Protestantism in America in the nineteenth century ran to division. There was, of course, a counter-current but its intensity varied greatly. It was strong in the early part of the century in the formation of groups like the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and the American Bible Society. It was weak in the years just prior to the Civil War. It gained new momentum in 1867 with the establishment of the American branch of the Evangelical Alliance, again in 1895 with the organization of the Federation of Churches and Christian Workers of New York City, and still again in 1901 with the founding of the National Federation of Churches and Christian Workers. These impulses toward unity did not represent denominational interests directly but were groups of individuals, individual churches, and local church fed erations. The primary limitation of these groups and the source of crisis for most of them, except for those with a single function such as the American Bible Society, was a limitation of power. The men who organized the Federal Council were aware of the need to provide the new federation with power. They believed that it had to be able both to initiate and to effect cooperation among the churches. If it failed to do this, it would fail to make any advance toward genuine church cooperation over the several co operative groups which already existed. As a consequence, the men who organized the Council worked to make it a federation of the official denominational units, hoping thus to give it direct access to the very centers of ecclesiastical authority. The key to the way they accomplished this was their decision to orient
Dynamics and control of tethered formation flight spacecraft using the SPHERES testbed

This paper elaborates on the theory and experiment of controlling tethered spacecraft formation without depending on thrusters. In dealing with such underactuated systems, much emphasis is placed on complete decentralization of the control and estimation algorithms in order to reduce the dimensionality and complication. The nonlinear equations of motions of multi-vehicle tethered spacecraft are derived by Lagrange’s equations. Decentralization is then realized by the diagonalization technique and its stability is proven by contraction theory. The preliminary analysis predicts unstable dynamics depending on the direction of the tether motor. The controllability analysis indicates that both array resizing and spin-up are fully controllable only by the reaction wheels and the tether motor, thereby eliminating the need for thrusters. Based upon this analysis, gain-scheduling LQR controllers and nonlinear controllers by feedback linearization have been successfully implemented into the tethered SPHERES testbed, and tested at the NASA MSFCs flat floor facility using two and three SPHERES configurations. The relative sensing mechanism employing the ultrasound ranging system and the inertial gyro is also described.
On Education of College Students' Creative Abilities

Education of college studens' creative abilities in the 21st century has become the common trend and important choice of educational development all over the world, it is an important task for higher education. This papaer analyzes the connotation, character and the current state of college students' creative abilities.
Claudins and mineral metabolism.

Purpose of review The tight junction conductance made of the claudin-based paracellular channel is important in the regulation of calcium and magnesium reabsorption in the kidney. This review describes recent findings of the structure, the function, and the physiologic regulation of claudin-14, claudin-16, and claudin-19 channels that through protein interactions confer calcium and magnesium permeability to the tight junction. Recent findings Mutations in two tight junction genes - claudin-16 and claudin-19 - cause the inherited renal disorder familial hypomagnesemia with hypercalciuria and nephrocalcinosis. A recent genome-wide association study has identified claudin-14 as a major risk gene of hypercalciuric nephrolithiasis. The crystal structure of claudin-19 has recently been resolved allowing the reconstruction of a claudin assembly model from cis-dimers made of claudin-16 and claudin-19 interaction. MicroRNAs have been identified as novel regulators of the claudin-14 gene. The microRNA-claudin-14 operon is directly regulated by the Ca sensing receptor gene in response to hypercalcemia. Summary The paracellular pathway in the kidney is particularly important for mineral metabolism. Three claudin proteins - claudin-14, claudin-16, and claudin-19 - contribute to the structure and function of this paracellular pathway. Genetic mutations and gene expression changes in these claudins may lead to alteration of the paracellular permeability to calcium and magnesium, ultimately affecting renal mineral metabolism.
Facts and Fallacies in Evaluation of the Pancreas

The development of Grey Scale ultrasound image processing has provided a more reliable method of observing the normal as well as the diseased pancreas. The ability to delineate normal vascularity around the pancreas established guidelines for accurately locating this formerly elusive organ. The purpose here is not to discount the important relationships that have already been well documented but, to point out certain other relationships close to the pancreas. In studying more than 2500 patients we have been able to improve our accuracy by the use of other structures. It is policy in our institution to visualize the pancreas on each abdominal ultrasound examination performed. This practice has increased our ability to accurately identify the pancreas when it is the specific area of interest.
Level crossing time interval circuit for micro-power analog VLSI auditory processing

A low-power circuit for level crossing interval measurements on continuous-time auditory signals, as obtained from the outputs of an analog cochlear filter bank, has been designed and fabricated. Experimental results from a fabricated array of 9 level crossing transducers demonstrate frequency-to-voltage conversion over a range covering the audio band. The power consumption is less than 20 /spl mu/W per cell from a 5 V supply, for the speech frequency range.
Evaluation of Air Samplers for Recovery of Biological Aerosols in Dairy Processing Plants

An All Glass Impinger-30 (AGI-30), Andersen 6-stage Sieve Air Sampler (Andersen impactor), Reuter centrifugal air sampler (RCS sampler), and the Millipore open type membrane filter sampler (Filter sampler) were evaluated for viable particle recovery in three dairy processing plant environments. There were two size distribution peaks for viable particles, at stage 1 (>7.0 μm) and stage 3 (3.3-4.7 μm). About 10-12% of the particles were smaller than 2.1 μm in size and were mostly non-molds. During milk processing, the highest number of particles were >7.0 μm in size. But, during ice cream processing and in the idle ice cream room, the highest number of particles were 3.3-4.7 μm in size and were mostly molds. Mean viable particle recovery decreased in the order of AGI-30, Andersen impactor, RCS sampler, and Filter sampler for each of the three sampling environments. These results contrast to those obtained using laboratory-generated aerosols where both the AGI-30 and RCS sampler exhibited low recovery. The increased aerosol recovery by AGI-30 in processing plant compared to laboratory-generated aerosols indicates the presence of carrier and passenger type aerosol particles which disintegrate upon impingement. A comparison of the percent of non-mold cfu recovered by the RCS sampler vs. Andersen impactor indicates that the RCS sampler has a bias toward the detection of non-mold containing particles at all three of the locations tested. The Andersen impactor proved to be the most reliable sampler for recovering biological aerosols from dairy processing plant air.