cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Climatic and biotic controls on annual carbon storage in Amazonian ecosystems

1 The role of undisturbed tropical land ecosystems in the global carbon budget is not well understood. It has been suggested that interannual climate variability can affect the capacity of these ecosystems to store carbon in the short term. In this paper, we use a transient version of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (TEM) to estimate annual carbon storage in undisturbed Amazonian ecosystems during the period 1980–94, and to understand the underlying causes of the year-to-year variations in net carbon storage for this region. 2 We estimate that the total carbon storage in the undisturbed ecosystems of the Amazon Basin in 1980 was 127.6 Pg C, with about 94.3 Pg C in vegetation and 33.3 Pg C in the reactive pool of soil organic carbon. About 83% of the total carbon storage occurred in tropical evergreen forests. Based on our model’s results, we estimate that, over the past 15 years, the total carbon storage has increased by 3.1 Pg C (+ 2%), with a 1.9-Pg C (+2%) increase in vegetation carbon and a 1.2-Pg C (+4%) increase in reactive soil organic carbon. The modelled results indicate that the largest relative changes in net carbon storage have occurred in tropical deciduous forests, but that the largest absolute changes in net carbon storage have occurred in the moist and wet forests of the Basin. 3 Our results show that the strength of interannual variations in net carbon storage of undisturbed ecosystems in the Amazon Basin varies from a carbon source of 0.2 Pg C/year to a carbon sink of 0.7 Pg C/year. Precipitation, especially the amount received during the drier months, appears to be a major controller of annual net carbon storage in the Amazon Basin. Our analysis indicates further that changes in precipitation combine with changes in temperature to affect net carbon storage through influencing soil moisture and nutrient availability. 4 On average, our results suggest that the undisturbed Amazonian ecosystems accumulated 0.2 Pg C/year as a result of climate variability and increasing atmospheric CO2 over the study period. This amount is large enough to have compensated for most of the carbon losses associated with tropical deforestation in the Amazon during the same period. 5 Comparisons with empirical data indicate that climate variability and CO2 fertilization explain most of the variation in net carbon storage for the undisturbed ecosystems. Our analyses suggest that assessment of the regional carbon budget in the tropics should be made over at least one cycle of El Nino–Southern Oscillation because of interannual climate variability. Our analyses also suggest that proper scaling of the site-specific and subannual measurements of carbon fluxes to produce Basin-wide flux estimates must take into account seasonal and spatial variations in net carbon storage.
STRUCTURE OF LIGHT MESON MULTIPLETS AND A SEMIRELATIVISTIC MODEL

A semirelativistic model of light quark-antiquark pairs, which is an extension of the phenomenological model of De R\'ujula, Georgi, and Glashow, is presented. Our model incorporates significant new relativistic kinetic energy effects as well as important relativistic corrections to the potential energy. For definiteness, the potential of Gupta, Radford, and Repko is used to help define the mass parameters. In order to obtain good agreement between theory and experiment, we include quark-antiquark annihilation effects for the 1S mesons and higher-order spin-spin effects for the 2S mesons. We are also successful at identifying numerous meson states between about 900 and 2300 MeV as members of the 1P, 1D, and 1F multiplets. Predictions are given for the locations of 19 missing meson states between 1300 and 2300 MeV.
INFRARED SPECTRA OF 34S THIONOPHOSPHATE ESTERS

For some time we have been interested in the reaction kinetics of sulfur addition to trivalent organophosphorus compounds and have used IR spectroscopy to follow the progress of these reactions. Many spectral changes occur upon sulfur addition which are not specifically related to the addition of sulfur, but rather to a change in valence of phosphorus from three to five. These changes involve shifts of C-H stretches and skeletal vibrations to higher frequencies. Similar changes occur upon the addition of oxygen to trivalent phosphorus compounds. These many spectral changes sometimes make it difficult to decide which band(s), if any, can be assigned to the P=S (or P=O) vibration in these compounds. There was considerable disagreement in the early literature about the proper assignment of the P=S frequency. Hooge and Christen assigned bands in the region between 800 and 535 cm-1 to that vibration, but Nyquist and Muelder assigned bands in the region around 800 cm-1 to P-O-C vibrations with predominantly P-O character. A study of the literature suggests that bands due to P=S vibrations generally appear below 800 cm-1, although assignments as high as 865 cm-1 still appear in fairly recent literature? These bands are often doublets due, presumably, to the existence of rotational isomers. The presence of such isomers has been established by Nyquist and Muelder and by Mortimer, among others, through studies of the temperature dependence of the spectra of a number of compounds. The above references include compounds with both P=O and P=S bonds and studies of dilute solutions as well as neat liquids and the solid state. Examples of two plausible structures of methyl thionophosphate isomers are shown in Fig. 1.
EFFICIENCY CHANGE AND TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS IN THE U.S. CATFISH-PROCESSING SECTOR, 1986 TO 2005

Productivity growth of the catfish-processing sector in the United States was measured over the time period of 1986 through 2005. The analysis evaluated the efficiency with which products are produced by catfish processing plants. The Malmquist index is employed to decompose the total factor productivity into growth associated with technical efficiency change and technological progress. The relationship between Farrell's measure of technical efficiency and the Shepard's distance function provides the theoretical foundation for estimating the Malmquist production index using data envelopment analysis. The results indicate that, between 1986 and 2005, there was no technical progress or adoption of new techniques with significant impact on catfish processing. Technical efficiency change, which is associated with input use efficiency, varied with type of fish size processed. It decreased from 1985 to 1995 as the industry struggled to establish the most efficient fish size to process. Between 1995 and 2005 the...
"Golden standard" wafer design for optical stepper characterization

Design and implementation of a multifunctional 'golden standard' wafer which facilitates easy and rapid measurement of the most important optical stepper parameters using commercially available metrology tools and software are described. In this design a stepped array of reference marks is permanently etched into a silicon oxide film on a silicon wafer. The most important feature of this method is that a permanently etched pattern is used as a reference standard, which may be used to compare a number of steppers over a period of time. When it is required to perform a distortion measurement the wafer is simply coated with photoresist and a series of full-field exposures are exposed on the stepper to be measured. Using this method, the errors due to individual stepper stages are removed since each lens distortion measurement is made with respect to a common grid pattern. Furthermore this method provides useful information regarding the accuracy of the stepper alignment system. In addition the permanent alignment marks on the wafer permit the measurement of individual stepper stage matching, as well as stage orthogonality errors.
EUV emission from Titan's upper atmosphere: Voyager 1 encounter

Most of the observed emission short of Lyman-alpha is shown to be accounted for by electron impact on N2 above 3600 km, in an analysis of Titan's EUV emission spectra obtained at the Voyager 1 encounter. It is determined that N2 is the major component of Titan's upper atmosphere, with 3900-km upper limit mixing ratios of NeI, ArI, CO, H2, and HI of 0.01, 0.06, 0.05, 0.06 and 0.1, respectively. Magnetospheric electron precipitation produces an average dayside electron density of about 3000/cu cm between 3600 and 4000 km, which is the region of bright limb emission, and magnetospheric electron impact dissociation of N2 generates an N atom escape rate of 3 x 10 to the 26th/sec from Titan's exosphere when Titan is within Saturn's magnetosphere.
Ab Initio/DFT/GIAO−CCSD(T) Calculational Study of the t-Butyl Cation: Comparison of Experimental Data with Structures, Energetics, IR Vibrational Frequencies, and 13C NMR Chemical Shifts Indicating Preferred Cs Conformation

The Cs conformation of the tert-butyl cation 3 was established to be the preferred global energy minimum using a combination of ab initio, DFT, and CCSD(T) methodology with correlation-consistent basis sets. The potential energy surface of methyl rotation involving the C3v, Cs, and C3h forms, however, in accord with previous studies, is quite flat. The computed IR absorptions of 3 indicate that it has the greatest degree of electron donation from C−H bonds into the C+−C bonds. The experimental 13C NMR chemical shifts also agree very well with the experimental data.
Discriminative justice: Can discrimination be just?

Educators of urban adults should attempt to deconstruct the dynamics in the classroom that replicate the social, political, and economic discourse of the dominant group. We must work to surface the complexity of diverse experiences represented by multiple oppressed groups.
Inhibition of Autoprothrombin C Activity with Plasma

THE traditional enzyme considered in the literature on blood coagulation is thrombin. It has its origin in prothrombin, which is a plasma protein isolated from bovine plasma and characterized in terms of physical chemical properties1. When prothrombin activates, a stepwise degradation of the molecule occurs, and at least two of the intermediates, called autoprothrombin I and autoprothrombin II, can be involved in prothrombin activation2. When the prothrombin is fully activated the activation mixture contains another accelerator which is different from autoprothrombin I or autoprothrombin II. This accelerator was only recently discovered and called autoprothrombin C because there was prothrombin consumption when it was added to haemophilic plasma3. Autoprothrombin C has been separated from thrombin and is an enzyme4. A single molecule, prothrombin, is thus the source of two enzymes.
SU-FF-I-26: Performance Characterization of a New 41cm by 41cm A-Si Flat Panel X-Ray Detector

Purpose: To quantify and report the performance of an a‐Si flat panel X‐ray detector with a new generation electronics design in terms of electronic noise, dynamic range and linearity, as well as to quantify the imaging performance such as MTF and DQE. Method and Materials: The new detector was designed to provide low noise, wide dynamic range and programmable gain for a wide signal range. The signal readout chip has 128 channels, and each consists of a charge integration amplifier, followed by a correlated double sampling stage and a 128:1 multiplexer. The output voltage from the multiplexer is digitized by a 16‐bit analog‐to‐digital converter. The programmable gain can provide settings ranging from the most sensitive of ∼250 electrons per counts (e‐/c) to the least sensitive ∼4,000 (e‐/c). The detector uses a 41cm by 41cm a‐Si flat panel with 200μm pixel pitch and was coated with CsI(Tl). The MTF and DQE measurements were carried out in accordance with the IEC standard. Results: The total detector electronic noise is ∼3200 electrons (500 e‐/c), dynamic range was 78.3dB and the non‐linearity is +/−1.5% over 10–90% of full signal scale range. The MTF and DQE were measured both with and without the protective front cover. Conclusion: The detector with the new readout electronics has met all the major design goals and has raised detector performance to a higher level.
Effects of autoimmune antibodies anti-lipoprotein lipase, anti-low density lipoprotein, and anti-oxidized low density lipoprotein on lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis in systemic lupus erythematosus

INTRODUCAO: O desenvolvimento prematuro de aterosclerose em lupus eritematoso sistemico tem sido amplamente divulgado. Anticorpo antilipoproteina lipase pode ser uma das causas que contribuem para esta doenca. OBJETIVO: Avaliar o grau de risco coronariano devido a autoanticorpos em termos de placa carotidea em pacientes com lupus. PACIENTES E METODOS: Comparamos 114 pacientes com lupus documentado e 111 controles normais pareados por sexo e idade. Antilipoproteina lipase (A-LPL), antilipoproteinas de baixa densidade oxidada (A-OXLDL), e antilipoproteinas de baixa densidade (A-LDL) foram medidos pelo teste imunoenzimatico - ELISA. LDL-trigliceride (LDL-Trig) e HDL-Trig tambem foram dosados. A placa foi medida por ultrassom bilateral de carotida. RESULTADOS: 45,6% dos pacientes foram positivos para A-LDL e 34,4% para A-OXLDL; 44% dos controles foram positivos para A-LDL e 20% para A-OXLDL. O risco aumentou acentuadamente nos subgrupos com niveis elevados de anticorpos. Pacientes com A-LDL e A-OXLDL > 0,40 (n = 12) mostraram correlacoes de risco coronariano de: ALDL vs LDL-Trig = 0,7008, P = 0,0111; ultrassom bilateral vs colesterol = 0,62205, P = 0,0308; LDL-Trig vs infarto do miocardio (IM) = 0,76562, P =0,0037; triglicerideos totais vs IM = 0,78191, P = 0.0027); LDL-Trig/LDL-colesterol vs IM = 0,80493, P = 0,0016; A-OXLDL vs USBL = 0,71930, P = 0,0084. Correlacoes do SLEDAI com as variaveis de risco foram altamente significativas somente nos subgrupos com niveis elevados de anticorpos (SLEDAI x A-OXLDL = 0,70366, P = 0,0107). CONCLUSAO: A-LPL inicia o desenvolvimento de mutacoes de LDL, seguido pela producao de anticorpos, formacao da placa e do risco coronariano em alguns pacientes com lupus erimatoso sistemico (LES).
Geotechnical centrifuge under construction

Modifications are underway at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center in California to transform a centrifuge used in the Apollo space program to the largest geotechnical centrifuge in the free world. The centrifuge, to be finished in August and opened next January, following check out and tuning, will enable geoscientists to model stratigraphic features down to 275 m below the earth's surface. Scientists will be able to model processes that are coupled with body force loading, including earthquake response of earth structures and soil structure interaction; rubbled-bed behavior during in situ coal gasification or in oil shale in situ retorts; behavior of frozen soil; frost heave; behavior of offshore structures; wave-seabed interactions; explosive cratering; and blast-induced liquefaction. The centrifuge will have a load capacity of 900-g-tons (short); that is, it will be able to carry a net soil load of 3 short tons to a centripetal acceleration of 300 times the acceleration caused by gravity. Modified for a total cost of $2.4 million, the centrifuge will have an arm with a 7.6-m radius and a swinging platform or bucket at its end that will be able to carry a payload container measuring 2.1×2.1 m. An additional future input of $500,000 would enable the purchase of a larger bucket that could accommodate a load of up to 20 tons, according to Charles Babendreier, program director for geotechnical engineering at the National Science Foundation. Additional cooling for the motor would also be required. The centrifuge has the capability of accelerating the 20-ton load to 100 g.
on l-adic representations attached to modular forms II

Suppose that is a newform of weight k on Г1(N). Thus f is in particular a cusp form on Г1(N), satisfyingfor all n≥1. Associated with f is a Dirichlet charactersuch thatfor all, .
Perspectives of Analysis of Carcinogenic and Mutagenic Metals in Biological Samples

There is a continuing need to assess the status of exposure to humans of the carcinogenic and/or mutagenic metals in both biological and environmental samples to better ensure that current or past exposures do not entail unacceptable health risks or to detect potentially excessive exposure before the appearance of adverse health effects. In order to more readily evaluate both the extent of exposure and trends of human exposure as well as the bioavailability, bioaccumulation and transport of these elements and their compounds, sensitive analytical procedures are required for their determination of the various oxidative states (as well as their organic derivatives) in complex matrices such as those found in both environmental and biological samples. The major objective of this overview is to highlight the more recent trends and state-of-the-art methodologies for the determination and speciation of arsenic, selenium, cadmium, chromium and nickel in human and animal tissues while concomitantly noting germane aspects of their bioavailability and interactions. Aspects of biological monitoring of the above elements will be stressed due to their potential utility in augmenting diverse epidemiologic and occupational health studies.
Creating a story and message about information technology on your campus: the power of a technology profile

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) and the Center for Instruction, Research, and Technology (CIRT) at Indiana State University provides an annual Technology Profile to its user community to document the activities of the prior year and to share information about growth and progress in the area of technology with the campus community. In its fourth year the document has been recently aligned with the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) as a way to facilitate high quality information technology service delivery. The employees of OIT and CIRT are committed to providing the students, faculty, and staff of Indiana State with stable and robust state-of-the-art technology in support of their academic, research, administrative, and social activities. This paper focuses on the process of developing ITIL alignment and the construction of the Technology Profile which can be found online at: http://www.indstate.edu/cirt/comm/profile.htm.
Altered single cell force-velocity and power properties in exercise-trained rat myocardium.

Myocardial function is enhanced by endurance exercise training, but the cellular mechanisms underlying this improved function remain unclear. The ability of the myocardium to perform external work ...
The effects of ozone inhalation on the immunological response of selenium- and vitamin E-deprived rats.

Deficiencies in vitamin E (E) or Se result in immune alterations, possibly due to reduction of antioxidant activity. Such reductions might greatly compromise the ability of the immune system to deal with additional oxidant stress, as encountered during exposure to air pollutants such as ozone (O3). To study possible interactions of these oxidative stresses on immune function, male Long-Evans hooded rats were maintained 5 weeks on torula yeast-based diets, with or without the addition of E or Se. Each dietary group was subdivided into O3-exposed and nonexposed groups. Two different regimens of O3 exposure were used: continuous (1.0 ppm, 8 hr/day for 7 days) or intermittent (2.0 ppm, 8 hr/day for 4 days, 2–4 days in ambient air followed by 1 day of exposure prior to sacrifice). Exposure to O3 in either regimen resulted in increased numbers of cells recovered by pulmonary lavage. With continuous exposure this increase was due to macrophage influx and, with intermittent exposure, due to influx of both macrophages and neutrophils. Combined deficiency of E and Se led to an enhanced ability of spleen and lung cells to mediate antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCMC). In animals deficient in E, but not Se, O3 exposure depressed spleen cell ADCMC. Deficiencies of either E or Se also depressed lymphocyte response to mitogens. Although intermittent exposure to O3 caused no change in mitogen response, in animals exposed continuously to O3 there was a significant enhancement of this response.
Narcissus Reflects: Memory Distortion in Response to Ego-Relevant Feedback among High- and Low-Narcissistic Men

Memory distortion in response to ego-enhancing or ego-threatening feedback was investigated in 67 men selected for their responses on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) (Raskin & Hall, 1979). Participants underwent a telephone interview with a woman confederate posing as a potential dating partner. Immediately after the interview, participants reported their perceptions of the interview and recalled their histories of romantic relationships. One week later, participants learned that the woman had selected or rejected them as a partner. Participants again recalled the interview and reported their dating histories. Both high- and low-NPI men displayed significant outcome-congruent distortions in recall of the interview. Low-NPI men recalled more negative romantic histories in response to rejection and more positive romantic histories in response to selection. By contrast, high-NPI men recalled more positive romantic histories in response to rejection and more humble histories in response to selection. Mediation analyses indicated that self-aggrandizing memory distortions in response to rejection buffered self-esteem from the effects of rejection in narcissistic men. Discussion focuses on narcissism and the role of memory distortion as an automatic self-esteem regulation strategy.
A density functional theory and ab initio study of the hydrolysis of dinitrogen pentoxide

Abstract The density functional theory and ab initio methods are used to study two minimum energy pathways for the hydrolysis of N2O5 to form nitric acid, one involving a single water molecule and the other involving two water molecules. Both of the reactions are initiated by the nucleophilic attack on N2O5 by water while the additional water in the two-water reaction acts as a polar solvent to stabilize the ion pair resulted from the nucleophilic attack. The activation energy is 20 kcal/mol for the one-water reaction and it is reduced by half for the two-water reaction. The study suggests that the heterogeneous hydrolysis of N2O5 is likely more favorable than the homogeneous process.
PHYLOGENETIC DISTRIBUTION OF THE MAJOR DIATOM LIGHT-HARVESTING PIGMENT-PROTEIN DETERMINED BY IMMUNOLOGICAL METHODS

Monospecific, polyclonal antibodies raised against the apoprotein of the major light-harvesting pigment-protein of Phaeodactylum tricornutum Bohlin UTEX 646 were used to determine (1) whether this complex was common to the class Bacillariophyceae, whose members contain chlorophylls a and c and fucoxanlhin; (2) whether antigenically-related apoproteins were present in other chlorophyll c-containing groups, and (3) whether there was immunological homology with the light-hanvsting chlorophyll a/b protein of similar photosynthetic function in the Chlorophyta and vascular plants. We have used protein blotting techniques to show that antibodies against the two P. tricornutum light-harvesting complex polypeptides cross-reacted with one or two polypeptides of similar molecular weight (17–21 kD) in all ten diatom species examined, representing two orders and six families. No cross-reactivity was obtained with total membrane polypeptides from isolated representatives of three chromophyte algal divisions (Chrysophyta, Cryptophyta, Pyrrophyta), all of which contained chlorophyll c. No cross-reactivity was observed with membrane Polypeptides isolated from members of two classes of Chlorophte algae. These data suggest that the Bacillariophyceae may be monophyletic, and that the primary structure of the diatom light-harvesting complex is not closely related to pigment-protein complexes with similar function in other chlorophyll c-containing unicellular algal groups. Lastly, it may be possible to use the antibodies to the diatom light-harvesting polypeptides as specific markers for diatoms in natural phytoplankton assemblages.
In vivo strains in the femur of the nine‐banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus)

The capacity of limb bones to resist the locomotor loads they encounter depends on both the pattern of those loads and the material properties of the skeletal elements. Among mammals, understanding of the interplay between these two factors has been based primarily on evidence from locomotor behaviors in upright placentals, which show limb bones that are loaded predominantly in anteroposterior bending with minimal amounts of torsion. However, loading patterns from the femora of opossums, marsupials using crouched limb posture, show appreciable torsion while the bone experiences mediolateral (ML) bending. These data indicated greater loading diversity in mammals than was previously recognized, and suggested the pos- sibility that ancestral loading patterns found in sprawl- ing lineages (e.g., reptilian sauropsids) might have been retained among basal mammals. To further test this hypothesis, we recorded in vivo locomotor strains from the femur of the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), a member of the basal xenarthran clade of placental mammals that also uses crouched limb pos- ture. Orientations of principal strains and magnitudes of shear strains indicate that armadillo femora are exposed to only limited torsion; however, bending is essentially ML, placing the medial aspect of the femur in compression and the lateral aspect in tension. This orientation of bending is similar to that found in opos- sums, but planar strain analyses indicate much more of the armadillo femur experiences tension during bending, potentially due to muscles pulling on the large, laterally positioned third trochanter. Limb bone safety factors were estimated between 3.3 and 4.3 in bending, similar to other placental mammals, but lower than opossums and most sprawling taxa. Thus, femoral loading patterns in armadillos show a mixture of simi- larities to both opossums (ML bending) and other pla- centals (limited torsion and low safety factors), along with unique features (high axial tension) that likely relate to their distinctive hindlimb anatomy. J. Mor- phol. 000:000-000, 2015. V C 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Children referred for specialist care: a nationwide study in Dutch general practice

BACKGROUND: Insight into referral patterns provides general practitioners (GPs) and specialists with a frame of reference for their own work and enables assessment of the need for secondary care. Only approximate information is available. AIM: To determine how often, to which specialties and for what conditions children in different age groups are referred, as well as how often a condition is referred given the incidence in general practice. METHOD: From data of the Dutch National Survey of Morbidity and Interventions in General Practice, 63,753 new referrals (acute and non-acute) were analysed for children (0-14 years) from 103 participating practices (161 GPs) who registered. Practices were divided into four groups. Each group of practices participated for three consecutive months covering a whole year altogether. We calculated referral rates per 1000 children per year and referability rates per 100 episodes, which quantifies the a priori chance of a condition being referred for specialist care. RESULTS: The referral rate varied by age from 231 for children under 1 year old to 119 for those aged 10-14 years (mean 159). The specialties mainly involved were ENT, paediatrics, surgery, ophthalmology, dermatology and orthopaedics. Referrals in the first year of life were most frequently to paediatricians (123); among older children the referral rate to paediatricians decreased (mean 36). Referrals to ENT specialists were seen particularly in the age groups 1-4 (71) and 5-9 (53). For surgery, the referral rate increased by age from 19 to 34. Differences between boys and girls were small, except for surgery. The highest referral rates were for problems in the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC) chapters: respiratory (28); musculoskeletal (25); ear (24) and eye (21). Referability rates were, in general, low for conditions referred to paediatrics and dermatology and high for surgery and ophthalmology. The variation in problems presented to each specialty is indicated by the proportion of all referrals constituted by the 10 most frequently referred diagnoses: from 35% for paediatrics to 81% for ENT; for ophthalmology, five diagnoses accounted for 83% of all referrals. CONCLUSIONS: The need for specialist care in childhood is clarified with detailed information for different age categories, specialties involved and variation in morbidity presented to specialists, as well as the proneness of conditions to be referred.
Tunneling transport in devices with semiconducting leads

The present paper extends the modern theory of tunneling transport to finite temperatures and presents an application for molecular devices made of alkyl chains connected to silicon nanowires, mapping their transport characteristics as functions of temperature and alkyl chain's length. Based on these calculations and on the analytic theory, it is found that the tunneling decay constant is determined not by the Fermi level, but by the edge of the valence or conductance band, whichever is closer to the Fermi level. Further insight is provided by mapping the evanescent transport channels of the alkyl chains and few other physical quantities appearing in the analytic formula for conductance. A good qualitative agreement with the experimental data is obtained.
The Roles of the Skeleton and Phosphorus in the CKD Mineral Bone Disorder

The CKD mineral bone disorder is a new term coined to describe the multiorgan system failure that is a major component of the excess cardiovascular mortality and morbidity complicating decreased kidney function. This syndrome embodies new discoveries of organ-to-organ communication including the skeletal hormone fibroblast growth factor-23 (FGF-23), which signals the status of skeletal mineral deposition to the kidney. The CKD mineral bone disorder begins with mild decreases in kidney function (stage 2 CKD) affecting the skeleton, as marked by increased FGF-23 secretion. At this stage, the stimulation of cardiovascular risk has begun and the increases in FGF-23 levels are strongly predictive of cardiovascular events. Later in CKD, hyperphosphatemia ensues when FGF-23 and hyperparathyroidism are no longer sufficient to maintain phosphate excretion. Hyperphosphatemia has been shown to be a direct stimulus to several cell types including vascular smooth muscle cells migrating to the neointima of atherosclerotic plaques. Phosphorus stimulates FGF-23 secretion by osteocytes and expression of the osteoblastic transcriptome, thereby increasing extracellular matrix mineralization in atherosclerotic plaques, hypertrophic cartilage, and skeletal osteoblast surfaces. In CKD, the skeleton positively contributes to hyperphosphatemia through excess bone resorption and inhibition of matrix mineralization. Thus, through the action of phosphorus, FGF-23, and other newly discovered skeletal hormones, such as osteocalcin, the skeleton plays an important role in the occurrence of cardiovascular morbidity in CKD.
Efficient Elicitation of Annotations for Human Evaluation of Machine Translation

A main output of the annual Workshop on Statistical Machine Translation (WMT) is a ranking of the systems that participated in its shared translation tasks, produced by aggregating pairwise sentencelevel comparisons collected from human judges. Over the past few years, there have been a number of tweaks to the aggregation formula in attempts to address issues arising from the inherent ambiguity and subjectivity of the task, as well as weaknesses in the proposed models and the manner of model selection. We continue this line of work by adapting the TrueSkill TM algorithm — an online approach for modeling the relative skills of players in ongoing competitions, such as Microsoft’s Xbox Live — to the human evaluation of machine translation output. Our experimental results show that TrueSkill outperforms other recently proposed models on accuracy, and also can significantly reduce the number of pairwise annotations that need to be collected by sampling non-uniformly from the space of system competitions.
Storm time meridional wind perturbations in the equatorial upper thermosphere

[1] We present observations from the Coupled Ion Neutral Dynamics Investigation (CINDI) of storm time meridional winds in the neutral atmosphere near the magnetic equator at 400 km altitude. Observations near the magnetic equator in the southern geographic hemisphere are dominated by energy inputs from the southern Polar Regions that produce south to north (equatorward) wind perturbations to accompany perturbations in the neutral density and temperature. In one exceptional case, when observations are made near midnight and the north magnetic pole rotates through the midnight sector, north to south (poleward) meridional wind perturbations are observed just south of the magnetic equator. Accompanying perturbations in the neutral density on the dayside and the nightside are consistent with observed increases in the ion temperature and inferred increases in the neutral temperature in accord with hydrostatic equilibrium.
How a Cockpit Remembers Its Speeds

Cognitive science normally takes the individual agent as its unit of analysis. In many human endeavors, however, the outcomes of interest are not determined entirely by the information processing properties of individuals. Nor can they be inferred from the properties of the individual agents, alone, no matter how detailed the knowledge of the properties of those individuals may be. In commercial aviation, for example, the successful completion of a flight is produced by a system that typically includes two or more pilots interacting with each other and with a suite of technological devices. This article presents a theoretical framework that takes a distributed, socio-technical system rather than an individual mind as its primary unit of analysis. This framework is explicitly cognitive in that it is concerned with how information is represented and how representations are transformed and propagated in the performance of tasks. An analysis of a memory task in the cockpit of a commercial airliner shows how the cognitive properties of such distributed systems can differ radically from the cognitive properties of the individuals who inhabit them.
Abnormal corticomotor excitability assessed in biceps brachii preceding pronator contraction post-stroke.

Abstract Objective To assess corticomotor (CM) excitability of the antagonist biceps brachii (BB) post-stroke in preparation for pronator contraction. In healthy subjects, we previously demonstrated that prior to pronator contraction CM excitability of the antagonist BB was suppressed. Methods Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to assess pre-contraction changes in motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude of the BB, when BB was acting either as an antagonist or an agonist. TMS was applied 100–200 ms prior to rhythmic isometric BB or pronator contractions in chronic stroke survivors and age/gender matched healthy control subjects. Results Prior to pronator contraction, MEPs in BB were elicited in the stroke group but were absent in healthy controls indicating that CM excitability of the antagonist BB was increased post-stroke. The extent of the abnormal increase in excitability positively correlated with the extent of upper limb motor impairment. Conclusions Our results suggest that an alteration of cortical control mechanisms regulating motor excitability of the antagonist BB may contribute to the impairment of upper limb motor coordination post-stroke. Significance This study offers a unique approach to study the potential for a cortical origin of post-stroke motor discoordination.
Pattern Recognition of Two-Dimensional Fluorescence Data Using Cross-Correlation Analysis:

An algorithm for spectral matching of excitation-emission matrices (EEMs) is reported. The pattern-recognition method developed operates completely in the frequency domain after Fourier transformation of unknown and standard EEMs. Spectral matches are evaluated by correlation and intervector distances between Fourier spectra of EEMs. Application of this method to single-component EEMs demonstrates the utility of pattern recognition for the identification of spectrally similar anthracene derivatives. In a study of multicomponent EEMs, mixtures of polynuclear aromatics (PNAs) are identified by comparison to a standard set of mixtures, and eigenvector deconvolution is coupled with pattern recognition for the identification of individual components in two-component mixtures. In addition, the feasibility of applying automatic pattern recognition to the identification of bacteria based on their uptake of fluorescent dyes is explored.
Cutting Edge: Estrogen Drives Expansion of the CD4+CD25+ Regulatory T Cell Compartment

CD4 + CD25 + regulatory T cells are crucial to the maintenance of tolerance in normal individuals. However, the factors regulating this cell population and its function are largely unknown. Estrogen has been shown to protect against the development of autoimmune disease, yet the mechanism is not known. We demonstrate that estrogen (17-β-estradiol, E2) is capable of augmenting FoxP3 expression in vitro and in vivo. Treatment of naive mice with E2 increased both CD25 + cell number and FoxP3 expression level. Further, the ability of E2 to protect against autoimmune disease (experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis) correlated with its ability to up-regulate FoxP3, as both were reduced in estrogen receptor α-deficient animals. Finally, E2 treatment and pregnancy induced FoxP3 protein expression to a similar degree, suggesting that high estrogen levels during pregnancy may help to maintain fetal tolerance. In summary, our data suggest E2 promotes tolerance by expanding the regulatory T cell compartment.
Assessment of Carbon Storage and Biomass on Minelands Reclaimed to Grassland Environments Using Landsat Spectral Indices

This study investigated carbon (C) storage and biomass in grasslands of West Virginia reclaimed surface minesites. Mine-related disturbance and subsequent reclamation may be an important component of C cycling. Biomass and C storage generally increased for the first five years after reclamation, but then declined, suggesting a nonlinear pattern to vegetation recovery. Three 2007 Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper and Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus images were used to assess the potential to predict biomass from raw red and near infrared radiance, the tasseled cap transformation (TC), and four vegetation indices [normalized difference vegetation index, enhanced vegetation index (EVI), triangular vegetation index, and the soil adjusted vegetation index]. TC greenness and EVI were most strongly correlated with biomass and illustrate a modest potential for monitoring vegetation recovery in reclaimed minelands. Additionally, a number of regression models that included age since reclamation and spectral indices were statistically significant suggesting a temporal recovery pattern amongst minesites in this study.
Kinetic Analysis of the Specificity of Human Natural Cytotoxicity

Distribution-free analysis of kinetic data for cellular cytotoxicity reactions enables the precise determination of kinetic parameters for the lysis of target cells by individual lymphocyte preparations. This report presents results obtained when this method was used to quantitate the inhibition of human natural cytotoxicity by unlabelled (cold) target cells. In agreement with previous studies, we found that the natural cytotoxicity of a given target cell can be inhibited by heterologous as well as homologous unlabclled cells: however, the strongest inhibition was usually produced when the unlabelled inhibitor cells were homologous to the labelled target cells. The general pattern of inhibition observed for the target and inhibitor cells tested in these experiments was competitive, and when inhibitor cells were homologous to the labelled cells, the observed increase in Kmapp agreed with theoretical predictions based en equations derived previously. These results support earlier reports of limited but not absolute antigenic specificity by subsets of human NK cells. Moreover, while Kmapp values for cytotoxicity reactions are not simply related to antigen binding, quantitative analysis of the relative inhibition of cytotoxicity by heterologous versus homologous unlabclled cells provides useful estimates of the relative affinity of the effector cell subset(s) that kill a given target cell for various NK target cells.
Revitalizing Unions, Rebuilding Labor Studies:

Mobilizing Against Inequality: Unions, Immigrant Workers, and the Crisis of Capitalism is an edited volume that provides case studies of unions organizing immigrant workers in the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany. The book, edited by Lee H. Adler, Maite Tapia, and Lowell Turner, contains details of cases where unions have allied with community organizations and other social movement partners to expand union access or political rights to immigrant workers. The authors draw lessons from the best case scenarios. This book also serves as an example of the kind of work labor studies scholars and institutes are pursuing.
Rickettsia rickettsii infection of the EA.hy 926 endothelial cell line: morphological response to infection and evidence for oxidative injury.

EA.hy 926 is a permanent human cell line that expresses highly differentiated functions characteristic of human vascular endothelium. Rickettsia rickettsii can efficiently infect and cause a cytopathic effect in EA.hy 926 cells. R. rickettsii produced visible lytic plaques in EA.hy 926 cells at 10 d postinfection (p.i.) following application of a secondary agarose overlay containing 2 μg emetine ml-1 and 40 μg NaF ml-1 on day 2. Rickettsial growth in EA.hy 926 cells had a similar profile to that occurring in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and rickettsiae catalysed polymerization of actin tails. Intracellular multiplication of R. rickettsii resulted in significant changes in the internal morphology of EA.hy 926 cells, most notably extensive dilatation of the membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum and outer nuclear envelope by 72 h p.i. These events correlated with significant alterations in the host-cell antioxidant system, including decreased levels of intracellular reduced glutathione and glutathione peroxidase activity and increased amounts of intracellular peroxide through to 96 h of infection. These findings are similar to the changes described previously for R. rickettsii-infected HUVEC and suggest that common mechanisms associated with rickettsia-induced oxidative injury occur in the two cell lines. EA.hy 926 cells were also used to investigate the influence of the antioxidant α-lipoic acid on rickettsial infection. Overnight pretreatment with 1-500 μM α-lipoic acid did not prevent cells from being destroyed following infection with rickettsiae. Supplementation of the culture medium with 1 and 10 μM α-lipoic acid 2 h after rickettsial inoculation also did not provide any protective effect. However, 100, 200 and 500 μM α-lipoic acid increased the viability of infected cells at 96 h to 45, 51 and 70%, respectively compared with 26% for untreated, infected samples. Thiol levels and glutathione peroxidase activity in treated, infected cells increased and peroxide content decreased proportionally to increasing α-lipoic acid concentrations. Furthermore, treatment with 500 μM α-lipoic acid for 72 h p.i. completely prevented ultrastructural changes in infected cells. In conclusion, the permanent endothelial cell line EA.hy 926 is susceptible to injury induced by R. rickettsii infection. Although the cellular changes resulting from infection are not identical in all aspects to that demonstrated previously in HUVEC, the increased reproducibility and convenience of EA.hy 926 cells make them suitable for biochemical and morphological studies.
Chemical engineering: hybrid routes to biofuels.

Traditional methods for making fuels from biomass come in two forms — biological or chemical. The latest approach combines the best of both worlds, and heralds the advent of a second generation of biofuels. With petrol prices on the rise, biofuels are big news these days. For applications in the transportation sector, perhaps the best known liquid biofuel is biomass-derived ethanol. But ethanol has its limitations: it is highly volatile, absorbs water and has a low energy density. A team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed a two-step catalytic process that can convert fructose into a potentially better liquid biofuel, 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF). This has 40%-higher energy density and a higher boiling point than ethanol, and is not water soluble. Fructose can be made directly from biomass or from glucose and although there's some work needed before DMF production can be made commercially viable, this new catalytic process looks promising.
Annexin A5 Binds to Lipopolysaccharide and Reduces Its Endotoxin Activity

ABSTRACT Annexin A5 (AnxA5) has a high affinity for phosphatidylserine. The protein is widely used to detect apoptotic cells because phosphatidylserine, a phospholipid that is normally present in the inner leaflets of cytoplasmic membranes, becomes translocated to the outer leaflets during programmed cell death. Here we report the novel observation that AnxA5 binds to Gram-negative bacteria via the lipid A domain of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Binding of AnxA5 to bacteria was measured quantitatively, confirmed by fluorescence microscopy, and found to be inhibited by antibodies against lipid A. AnxA5 also bound to purified dot-blotted LPS and lipid A. Through ellipsometry, we found that the binding of AnxA5 to purified LPS was calcium dependent and rapid and showed a high affinity—characteristics similar to those of AnxA5 binding to phosphatidylserine. Initial functional studies indicated that AnxA5 can affect LPS activities. AnxA5 inhibited LPS-mediated gelation in the Limulus amebocyte lysate assay. Incubation of LPS with the protein reduced the quantity of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) released by cultured monocytes compared to that released upon incubation with LPS alone. Initial in vivo experiments indicated that injection of mice with LPS preincubated with AnxA5 produced serum TNF-α levels lower than those seen after injection of LPS alone. These data demonstrate that AnxA5 binds to LPS and open paths to investigation of the potential biological and therapeutic implications of this interaction. IMPORTANCE AnxA5 is highly expressed in cells that have a barrier function—including, among others, vascular endothelium, placental trophoblasts, and epithelial cells lining bile ducts, renal tubules, mammary ducts, and nasal epithelium. The protein has been well characterized for its binding to phospholipid bilayers that contain phosphatidylserine. This report of a previously unrecognized activity of AnxA5 opens the door to investigation of the possibility that this binding may have biological and therapeutic ramifications. In view of the tissue expression of the protein, the present results suggest the possibility that AnxA5 plays a role in modulating the host defense against lipopolysaccharide at these anatomic sites, where cells may interface with microorganisms. These results also raise the intriguing possibility that AnxA5 or analogous proteins or peptides could provide novel approaches to addressing the difficult clinical problem of Gram-negative sepsis.