cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
AN ANALYTICAL PROCEDURE FOR THE EQUIPERCENTILE METHOD OF EQUATING TESTS

Prior use of the equipercentile method of test equating was based on a graphic procedure which is tedious, subject to smoothing errors, and non-analytical. Recognition of the equipercentile method as a curve-fitting procedure for two cumulative percentage distributions leads to a proposed analytical solution to the problem through use of linear estimates for successive “missing” cumulative percentage points. A complete equipercentile procedure which uses the proposed method and provides linear and quadratic functions for goodness-of-fit and extrapolation is discussed and illustrated with data from a test equating project.
Simulation investigation of wind turbine imbalance faults

This paper investigates the use of simulations to study wind turbine imbalance faults. The dynamics of a model wind turbine generator (WTG) are simulated in a combined environment of TurbSim, FAST (Fatigue, Aerodynamics, Structures, Turbulence), and Simulink in three different scenarios, i.e., normal operating conditions, blade imbalance, and aerodynamic asymmetry. The blade imbalance is simulated by scaling the mass density of one blade, which creates an uneven distribution of mass with respect to the rotor. The aerodynamic asymmetry is simulated by adjusting the pitch of one blade, which creates an uneven torque across the rotor. The time-domain simulation results of the WTG output electric power are transformed into the frequency domain using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). A power spectrum density (PSD)-based method is then developed to compare two imbalance fault scenarios with the normal operating conditions in the frequency domain. Results clearly show that both the blade imbalance and the aerodynamic asymmetry generate an excitation in the output electric power with the characteristic frequencies the same as the rotating frequencies of the wind turbine. This work provides preliminary results that are useful for online detection of imbalance faults for wind turbines.
Physical and chemical changes in bovine saliva and rumen liquid with different hay-grain rations.

Summary Saliva and rumen liquid samples were collected from two cows that were fed 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100% hay rations. The viscosity of saliva (mean 99 c.p.) was greater 3 hr. after feeding than before feeding and the pH (mean 8.2) increased as the proportion of hay increased. The ash of saliva (mean 0.73%) was greater with the high-grain rations. Total salivary nitrogen was 20.1 mg. % for the 20% hay ration and averaged 14.9 mg. % for the 40 to 100% hay rations. Hexosamines (mean 4.3 mg. %) were higher on the high-grain rations. The rumen liquid samples were centrifuged at 25,000 × G. and the supernatant analyzed. The mean dry matter content was 1.71% and the ash content was 0.79%. Sodium (mean 234 mg. %) increased as the hay content increased and was higher for the cow which tended to bloat than for the one which did not. Hexosamines (mean 3.7 mg. %) were also greater for the bloaty cow, but tended to increase in both cows with increasing proportions of grain. The total nitrogen of rumen liquid (mean 37.1 mg %) was highest on the 20% hay rations, was higher after feeding than before, and was higher for the bloaty cow than for the one which did not bloat.
Laser Beam Induced Electron Emission

The emission of electrons by laser beam targets was investigated. A ruby laser was used with a carbon target while carbon and tungsten targets were used with a neodymium laser. The results indicate that the emission arises from the extremely rapid heating of the focus spot to very high temperature and that very high-current-density electron pulses of extremely short pulse width can be produced in this manner. (D.C.W.) ergy to preferentially excite higher levels or ionize the helium atom. (C.E.S.)
Reconciling Conflicting Gauss-Markov Conditions in the Classical Linear Regression Model

This article reconciles conflicting accounts of Gauss-Markov conditions, which specify when ordinary least squares (OLS) estimators are also best linear unbiased (BLU) estimators. We show that exogeneity constraints that are commonly assumed in econometric treatments of the Gauss-Markov theorem are unnecessary for OLS estimates of the classical linear regression model to be BLU. We also generalize a set of necessary and sufficient conditions first established by McElroy (1967, Journal of the American Statistical Association 62:1302 1304), but not yet generally recognized in the econometric literature, that are appropriate for many political science applications. McElroy's conditions relax the traditional Gauss-Markov restriction on autocorrelation in the errors to allow a type of correlation, exchangeability, that
A fixed-point iteration approach for multibody dynamics with contact and small friction

Acceleration–force setups for multi-rigid-body dynamics are known to be inconsistent for some configurations and sufficiently large friction coefficients (a Painleve paradox). This difficulty is circumvented by time-stepping methods using impulse-velocity approaches, which solve complementarity problems with possibly nonconvex solution sets. We show that very simple configurations involving two bodies may have a nonconvex solution set for any nonzero value of the friction coefficient. We construct two fixed-point iteration algorithms that solve convex subproblems and that are guaranteed, for sufficiently small friction coefficients, to retrieve, at a linear convergence rate, the unique velocity solution of the nonconvex linear complementarity problem whenever the frictionless configuration can be disassembled. In addition, we show that one step of one of the iterative algorithms provides an excellent approximation to the velocity solution of the original, possibly nonconvex, problem if for all contacts we have that either the friction coefficient is small or the slip velocity is small.
General anesthesia in an office-based plastic surgical facility: a report on more than 23,000 consecutive office-based procedures under general anesthesia with no significant anesthetic complications

The popularity of elective office-based plastic surgery has increased significantly over the past two decades. The continuing demand for improved aesthetic results has stimulated the development of ever more complex plastic surgical techniques. These techniques may require extended periods of operative time spent under anesthesia. Patients have come to expect an almost perfect anesthetic and surgical experience, with safety and comfort being their foremost concerns. Because of increasingly complex and lengthy operations, the authors believe that intravenous sedation, used for many years in their plastic surgery practice, is now suboptimal for most longer and complex surgical procedures. In their experience, under most circumstances, general anesthesia provides the optimal anesthetic experience for the patient, anesthesiologist, and surgeon. The authors present a consecutive 18-year study of general anesthesia in more than 23,000 procedures in an accredited, office-based plastic surgical facility that offers a very safe and uniformly pleasant anesthesia experience for patients. There were no intraoperative or postoperative deaths and no significant complications. The authors' experience differs from the common perception that general anesthesia is too risky for aesthetic surgery procedures.
Light Activation of Mg2+-dependent Adenosine 5′-Triphosphatase in Isolated Euglena Chloroplasts

Enhancement of Mg(2+)-dependent ATPase activity in Euglena gracilis chloroplasts by light in the presence of a sulfhydryl compound has been demonstrated. A number of uncouplers and energy transfer inhibitors were studied for their effects on the light enhancement of ATPase activity simultaneously with their effects on photophosphorylation. Results suggest that the light-enhanced ATPase activity in Euglena chloroplasts is an energy-initiated process and that the energy is supplied through electron flow upon illumination of the chloroplasts. However, by studying the difference in their response toward the various uncouplers and inhibitors, it seems that the two processes (photohydrolysis of ATP and photophosphorylation) share only the latter part of their energy-transferring pathway.
Flow-through electrodes. IV. Axial diffusion effects

Abstract The simple theory of flow-through electrodes was generalized by analysis of axial diffusion phenomena. The effect of axial diffusion coupled with forced convection on the electrochemical behaviour of flow-through electrodes was analyzed assuming laminar flow through a structurless medium (the analysis is thus applicable also to e.g. capillary bundle models with sufficiently small pores' radii). Diffusional effects involving both reactants and products were considered and the electrochemical kinetic equations allowed for both forward and backward reaction orders with respect to substrates and products. Axial ohmic effects were included. The effect of convection in the pre-electrode chamber was taken into account in establishing the boundary conditions at the electrode entrance. A system of differential equations and boundary conditions describing the model was formulated. The integration was carried out by means of Hamming's method with automatic step size adjustment. The effects of various parameters (flow-rate, exchange current density, conductivity of the electrolyte, etc.) were examined in terms of deviations from the simple model. The regions of large, negligible and small (within 10%) deviations were defined and interpreted.
The genomes of most animals have multiple members of the Tc1 family of transposable elements

A PCR assay was employed to detect sequences homologous to the transposase gene of the Tc1 family of transposable elements in a wide variety of animals. Amplification products of the appropriate size were obtained from most insects (92 of 108 examined; 85%), most other invertebrates (33 of 43; 77%), and many vertebrates (18 of 36; 50%). Sequencing a sample of cloned PCR products from eight insects, one hydra, and two frogs revealed that each had multiple distinct members of the family in their genomes. In the most extreme case, the horn fly Haematobia irritans yielded evidence of seventeen distinct types of Tc1 family elements. Most of the sequences obtained indicate that the elements are within the range of variation already known from fungi, nematodes, files, fish and frogs. Some, however, had novel length variants or divergent sequences, indicating that they represent new subfamilies of these transposons. These results indicate that this family of transposons is extremely common in animal genomes, with multiple representatives in most genomes.
Electrophoretic Changes in Plasma Proteins in Patients with Pneumococcic Infections

SummaryMultiple electrophoretic determinations of the plasma proteins of 23 patients with pneumococcic pneumonia or meningitis have been made in relation to the duration of the infection and the importance of antecedent factors. Hypoproteinemia, due largely to significant progressive hypoalbuminemia, together with early increases in alpha-globulins and fibrinogen have been observed. Malnutrition, chronic alcoholism, cirrhosis and chronic passive congestion of the liver were found associated with more severe degrees of hypoalbuminemia. Diminished plasma albumin levels were seldom restored to normal within a month from the onset of the infection. The effects of intramuscular injections of immune human gamma globulin were investigated, with inconclusive results.
Comparative utilization of selenite, selenomethionine, and selenized yeast by the laying hen

Abstract Inorganic and organically-bound forms of selenium (Se) may be differentiated by monitoring the accumulation and distribution of Se in egg yolk and white of supplemented laying hens. In this experiment, the utilization of Se from a commercial selenized yeast product was compared to that of inorganic and organically-bound sources. Initially, laying hens were fed a low Se diet and then were continued on the basal diet for 4 weeks or were repleted with 0.3 or 5.0 ppm Se as sodium selenite, selenomethionine, or selenized yeast. Both the level and chemical form of dietary Se affected tissue Se concentration. Animals fed 5.0 ppm Se deposited significantly more Se in egg than hens fed 0.3 ppm Se, regardless of source. At both 5.0 and 0.3 ppm, Se from selenomethionine and selenized yeast was concentrated more effectively in egg yolk and white than the Se of sodium selenite. Based on levels of selenium accumulation and differential partitioning of Se between egg yolk and white, utilization of Se from selenized yeast more closely resembled that of selenomethionine rather than that of selenite. This bioassay may be useful for rapid preliminary speciation of Se from various dietary sources.
Negative pseudo-relevance feedback in content-based video retrieval

Video information retrieval requires a system to find information relevant to a query which may be represented simultaneously in different ways through a text description, audio, still images and/or video sequences. We present a novel approach that uses pseudo-relevance feedback from retrieved items that are NOT similar to the query items without further inquiring user feedback. We provide insight into this approach using a statistical model and suggest a score combination scheme via posterior probability estimation. An evaluation on the 2002 TREC Video Track queries shows that this technique can improve video retrieval performance on a real collection. We believe that negative pseudo-relevance feedback shows great promise for very difficult multimedia retrieval tasks, especially when combined with other different retrieval algorithms.
Molecular architecture of the human Mediator-RNA polymerase II-TFIIF assembly

The macromolecular assembly required to initiate transcription of protein-coding genes, known as the Pre-Initiation Complex (PIC), consists of multiple protein complexes and is approximately 3.5 MDa in size. At the heart of this assembly is the Mediator complex, which helps regulate PIC activity and interacts with the RNA polymerase II (pol II) enzyme. The structure of the human Mediator–pol II interface is not well-characterized, whereas attempts to structurally define the Mediator–pol II interaction in yeast have relied on incomplete assemblies of Mediator and/or pol II and have yielded inconsistent interpretations. We have assembled the complete, 1.9 MDa human Mediator–pol II–TFIIF complex from purified components and have characterized its structural organization using cryo-electron microscopy and single-particle reconstruction techniques. The orientation of pol II within this assembly was determined by crystal structure docking and further validated with projection matching experiments, allowing the structural organization of the entire human PIC to be envisioned. Significantly, pol II orientation within the Mediator–pol II–TFIIF assembly can be reconciled with past studies that determined the location of other PIC components relative to pol II itself. Pol II surfaces required for interacting with TFIIB, TFIIE, and promoter DNA (i.e., the pol II cleft) are exposed within the Mediator–pol II–TFIIF structure; RNA exit is unhindered along the RPB4/7 subunits; upstream and downstream DNA is accessible for binding additional factors; and no major structural re-organization is necessary to accommodate the large, multi-subunit TFIIH or TFIID complexes. The data also reveal how pol II binding excludes Mediator–CDK8 subcomplex interactions and provide a structural basis for Mediator-dependent control of PIC assembly and function. Finally, parallel structural analysis of Mediator–pol II complexes lacking TFIIF reveal that TFIIF plays a key role in stabilizing pol II orientation within the assembly.
Circadian variations in biologically closed electrochemical circuits in Aloe vera and Mimosa pudica

The circadian clock regulates a wide range of electrophysiological and developmental processes in plants. This paper presents, for the first time, the direct influence of a circadian clock on biologically closed electrochemical circuits in vivo. Here we show circadian variation of the plant responses to electrical stimulation. The biologically closed electrochemical circuits in the leaves of Aloe vera and Mimosa pudica, which regulate their physiology, were analyzed using the charge stimulation method. The electrostimulation was provided with different timing and different voltages. Resistance between Ag/AgCl electrodes in the leaf of Aloe vera was higher during the day than at night. Discharge of the capacitor in Aloe vera at night was faster than during the day. Discharge of the capacitor in a pulvinus of Mimosa pudica was faster during the day. The biologically closed electrical circuits with voltage gated ion channels in Mimosa pudica are also activated the next day, even in the darkness. These results show that the circadian clock can be maintained endogenously and has electrochemical oscillators, which can activate ion channels in biologically closed electrochemical circuits. We present the equivalent electrical circuits in both plants and their circadian variation to explain the experimental data.
Who Should Perform Rapid or On-Site Assessment of Thyroid Fine-Needle Aspirations?

The reasons for performing on-site or immediate assessment of adequacy with fine-needle aspiration (FNA) include higher rates of adequacy, fewer patient complications (fewer passes and procedures may be needed), and conducting proper triage of specimens and patients. Less commonly addressed reasons include fellowship and residency training (our fellows and residents believe this to be one of the most important aspects of their cytology training) and interphysician communication (on-site interpretation of FNAs may allow some pathologists to become better acquainted with clinical colleagues and hospital staff in general, and provide them with helpful information for specific cases). A number of articles addressing the importance of on-site or rapid assessment of FNA specimens have been published and most attest to its usefulness.1–5 Some argue that the time required to obtain a greater number of adequate specimens may be extensive and poorly reimbursed though worthwhile in a more global sense of medical expense.2,6 Articles addressing its usefulness have been far from perfect, and even as an advocate of the procedure I do not find the literature overwhelmingly convincing. Often a number of uncontrolled factors may be playing a role in the final adequacy assessments in some studies, eg, the aspirates in one group have been performed at a different physical location or by different physicians or are of different anatomic sites or disease states, etc, than those of the other group. We interpret almost all FNAs performed …
Discussion of Nomy Arpaly’s Unprincipled Virtue for Philosophical studies

effectively against many central tenets of moral philosophy and action theory, and advances a new view of her own. The book is a joy to read—clearly written, clever throughout, and compelling in its descriptions and analyses of some imperfect agents who have been widely misunderstood. Arpaly argues for a view about moral worth, or praiseworthiness. Her central claim is that praiseworthiness is a matter of acting in response to the moral reasons: whatever features in fact make an action right, it is acting in response to those features that makes an agent praiseworthy. For example, consider Huckleberry Finn who believes that turning in the escaped slave Jim to the authorities is the right thing to do. Huck does not turn Jim in; he is surprised at himself and does not know why he acts this way. Arpaly argues that there is a version of this case (indeed, she claims it is the version Twain intended) in which Huck acts in response to the fact that Jim is a person, just like Huck, who deserves to be saved from slavery. Because this fact is what makes Huck’s action right, Huck is praiseworthy—even though Huck acts against his best judgment, thinks what he is doing is wrong, wishes he would act differently, and does not articulate to himself the reasons on which he acts. As Arpaly understands the case, it undermines the following commonly held claims: (i) an agent acts on reasons only if she articulates those reasons to herself and has them in mind as she acts, (ii) an agent is morally responsible only if she is agent-autonomous; for example, an agent who is moved to act by motives she wishes did not move her is not morally responsible, (iii) an agent acts irrationally if she acts against her best judgment. While Arpaly has much more to say against (i), (ii), and (iii), the case of Huck does nicely illustrate that they all fail. Of course, there is much of the book I will not be able to discuss. To give some of its overall flavor, I will list three of my favorite lines.
Targeting soluble guanylate cyclase for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension

Pulmonary arterial hypertension is a disease characterized by a sustained increase in pulmonary arterial pressure leading to right heart failure. Current treatments focus on endothelial dysfunction and an aberrant regulatory pathway for vascular tone. Unfortunately, a large proportion of patients are unresponsive to conventional vasodilator therapy. Investigations are ongoing into the effects of experimental therapies targeting the signal transduction pathway that mediates vasodilation. Here, we briefly discuss the pathophysiology of pulmonary hypertension and endothelial dysfunction, along with current treatments. We then present a focused review of recent animal studies and human trials examining the use of activators and stimulators of soluble guanylate cyclase for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.
A practical concurrent binary search tree

We propose a concurrent relaxed balance AVL tree algorithm that is fast, scales well, and tolerates contention. It is based on optimistic techniques adapted from software transactional memory, but takes advantage of specific knowledge of the the algorithm to reduce overheads and avoid unnecessary retries. We extend our algorithm with a fast linearizable clone operation, which can be used for consistent iteration of the tree. Experimental evidence shows that our algorithm outperforms a highly tuned concurrent skip list for many access patterns, with an average of 39% higher single-threaded throughput and 32% higher multi-threaded throughput over a range of contention levels and operation mixes.
Interhemispheric Exchange by Seasonal Modulation of the Hadley Circulation

Abstract Observations of long-lived tracers indicate that the time required to mix tropospheric air between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere extratropics is on the order of 1 yr. Mixing within the extratropical troposphere is known to be quite efficient, with timescales of a few months, in large part due to effective mixing by Rossby waves and extratropical cyclones. The mechanisms for transport through the Tropics, however, are not well understood, and general circulation models have reproduced the observed interhemispheric mixing time with varying degrees of success. A simple two-mode kinematic model of the zonally symmetric Hadley circulation is developed to investigate whether the seasonal oscillation of the Hadley cells could be responsible for a significant part of the interhemispheric mixing. The model explains 78% of the variance in the observed tropical climatological mean-meridional circulation. The flow has two adjustable parameters, α, which determines the strength of the time-mean part of...
Cryogenic microwave performance of 0.5- mu m InGaAs MESFET's

Microwave and DC properties of 0.5- mu m InGaAs MESFETs were measured at 300 and 125 K. The authors have measured approximately 30% increases in RF g/sub m mod ext/ and f/sub T/ when cooling from 300 to 125 K. The authors also observe a 0.06-V increase in gate built-in voltage at 125 K that results in smaller gate leakage currents. The improved gate characteristic at 125 K leads to better RF properties at higher gate bias. >
Molecular Analysis of Two Bacterioferritin Genes, bfrα and bfrβ, in the Model Rhizobacterium Pseudomonas putida KT2440

The model rhizobacterium Pseudomonas putida KT2440 and other fluorescent pseudomonads possess two bacterioferritins, Bfrα and Bfrβ. However, the regulatory systems controlling the expression of these genes and the roles of these proteins in iron homeostasis are ill defined. Our studies show that both bfrα and bfrβ were monocistronic: promoter motifs and transcriptional start sites were identified, and Fur boxes and σS-dependent regulatory motifs were absent. The expressions of bfrα and bfrβ were enhanced by iron exposure and were maximal in cells rapidly growing in a high-iron environment. Both bfrα and bfrβ were positively regulated by Fur, and both were expressed independently of adjoining, functionally related genes. The loss of Bfrα or Bfrβ individually resulted in a significant reduction (ca. 17%) in cellular iron levels, and the deletion of both bfrα and bfrβ reduced cellular iron levels by 38% relative to those of the wild type. The mutants varied in their abilities to grow in low-iron medium; while growths (rate and final cell density) of single mutants and the wild type were similar, that of the double mutant was reduced significantly. Mutants lacking Bfrα and/or Bfrβ showed no change relative to the wild type in sensitivity to reactive oxygen species toxicity. Collectively, the data show that while Bfrα and Bfrβ could function independently of each other, an interaction-dependent function cannot be ruled out. Furthermore, regardless of the mechanism, a primary benefit of the bacterioferritins to P. putida KT2440 appears to be the enhancement of its survival in the environment by strengthening its tolerance to iron starvation.
A modeling study of dynamic and thermodynamic mechanisms for summer drying in response to global warming

[1] Past studies have suggested that increasing atmospheric CO2 will lead to a significant reduction of soil moisture during summer in the extratropics. These studies showed an increase in wintertime rainfall over most mid-latitude continental regions when CO2 is doubled, an earlier snowmelt season and onset of springtime evaporation, and a higher ratio of evaporation to precipitation in summer. These factors led to large-scale increases in soil moisture in winter and decreases in summer. We find that the above processes are important in simulated summer drying in a newly developed climate model. In addition to these thermodynamic processes, we find that changes in atmospheric circulation play an important role in regional hydroclimatic changes. Additional experiments show that the atmospheric circulation changes are forced by the CO2-induced warming of the ocean, particularly the tropical ocean. These results highlight the importance of sea surface temperature changes for regional hydroclimatic changes.
Patterns on growing square domains via mode interactions

Numerical simulations of reaction-diffusion systems with Neumann boundary conditions (NBC) on growing square domains by Maini et al. exhibit square and stripe (or roll) patterns that are usually associated with bifurcations from a trivial equilibrium on a square lattice. However, these patterns change as the domain grows. In this article we discuss several of these transitions; namely, transitions between different types of squares and between squares and stripes (or rolls). We show that these transitions can be understood by tracing paths through the unfoldings of certain co-dimension two mode interactions. To understand these transitions, we need to discuss two issues: the speed at which the domain size changes and the relations between NBC and periodic boundary conditions (PBC) on a square. First, in the simulations, the domain growth takes place on a time scale that is longer than the one needed for pattern formation. Therefore, we can assume that the domain growth is identified with quasistatic varia...
A universal input and output RNS converter

The authors present a systolic architecture capable of both input and output conversion, with a throughput equal to that of the fast RNS (residue number system) processes of addition and multiplication. The architecture is extremely powerful, as both the number of moduli and their values can be chosen arbitrarily (up to the capacity of the hardware design) and programmed into the converter. The converter can be used with an arbitrary RNS (within certain realization-imposed limits). The authors describe an anticipated VLSI layout that will be programmable for RNSs with up to eight moduli of 6 b or less. This should provide an off-the-shelf solution for many RNS conversion requirements. >
Insulin-like growth factor II promoter expression in cultured rodent osteoblasts and adult rat bone.

Insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-II stimulates bone formation by increasing the replication of cells of the osteoblastic lineage and by enhancing the differentiated function of the osteoblast. Although IGF-II is synthesized by skeletal cells, little is known about the mechanisms involved and its regulation by growth factors. IGF-II expression is tissue specific and is developmentally regulated. In the present study, we examined the expression of IGF-II in fetal rat, newborn mouse and MC3T3-E1 osteoblastic (Ob) cells, and in adult rat calvariae. We also determined mechanisms involved in the regulation of IGF-II by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) BB, fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2), and transforming growth factor (TGF) β1. Northern analysis revealed IGF-II transcripts of 3.6 and 1.2 kb in osteoblastic cells and adult rat calvariae. Ribonuclease (RNase) protection assay using probes specific to the three known IGF-II promoters, P1, P2, and P3, demonstrated messenger RNA (mRNA) expression driven by P...
The DRAGON system--An overview

This paper briefly describes the major features of the DRAGON speech understanding system. DRAGON makes systematic use of a general abstract model to represent each of the knowledge sources necessary for automatic recognition of continuous speech. The model--that of a probabilistic function of a Markov process--is very flexible and leads to features which allow DRAGON to function despite high error rates from individual knowledge sources. Repeated use of a simple abstract model produces a system which is simple in structure, but powerful in capabilities.
Metabolic and physiologic improvements from consuming a paleolithic, hunter-gatherer type diet

Background: The contemporary American diet figures centrally in the pathogenesis of numerous chronic diseases—‘diseases of civilization’. We investigated in humans whether a diet similar to that consumed by our preagricultural hunter-gatherer ancestors (that is, a paleolithic type diet) confers health benefits. Methods: We performed an outpatient, metabolically controlled study, in nine nonobese sedentary healthy volunteers, ensuring no weight loss by daily weight. We compared the findings when the participants consumed their usual diet with those when they consumed a paleolithic type diet. The participants consumed their usual diet for 3 days, three ramp-up diets of increasing potassium and fiber for 7 days, then a paleolithic type diet comprising lean meat, fruits, vegetables and nuts, and excluding nonpaleolithic type foods, such as cereal grains, dairy or legumes, for 10 days. Outcomes included arterial blood pressure (BP); 24-h urine sodium and potassium excretion; plasma glucose and insulin areas under the curve (AUC) during a 2h oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT); insulin sensitivity; plasma lipid concentrations; and brachial artery reactivity in response to ischemia. Results: Compared with the baseline (usual) diet, we observed (a) significant reductions in BP associated with improved arterial distensibility (� 3.1±2.9, P ¼0.01 and þ0.19±0.23, P ¼0.05);(b) significant reduction in plasma insulin vs time AUC, during the OGTT (P ¼0.006); and (c) large significant reductions in total cholesterol, low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and triglycerides (� 0.8±0.6 (P ¼0.007), � 0.7±0.5 (P ¼0.003) and � 0.3±0.3 (P ¼0.01) mmol/l respectively). In all these measured variables, either eight or all nine participants had identical directional responses when switched to paleolithic type diet, that is, near consistently improved status of circulatory, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism/physiology.
Mixing Structure of High-Frequency Internal Waves in the Upper EasternEquatorial Pacific

Abstract A thermistor chain towed from 140° to 110°W along the equator revealed the presence of high-frequency internal waves in the upper 125 m having zonal wavelengths of 150–250 m. Turbulence dissipation rates, e, observed from a free-falling profiler were high when wave packets were present. Unfortunately, the frequency of the vertical profiles of e taken did not resolve the internal wave cycle, so a dynamical link between the waves and the mixing could not be directly observed with vertical profiler data. It is presumed that either wave-induced shear instability or advective instability destabilized the waves and led to increased e. The thermistor data, which were sampled at 20 Hz or approximately 12.5 cm horizontally, resolved part of the inertial subrange of turbulence and are used to determine the structure of turbulence within an internal wave cycle. A temperature gradient variance method for estimating e relies on a fully resolved Batchelor spectrum that, for this experiment, would have required...
Reconstructing the history of mining and remediation in the Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Mining District using lake sediments

Abstract Mining that began in the late 1800s intensified during World War II contaminating Lake Coeur d’Alene sediments with potentially toxic elements. We used 80 y of the sediment record to reconstruct metal(loid) loadings to the lake and quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of tailings management. Sediment core analysis for pollen, chronological markers, and metal(loid)s permitted stratigraphic reconstruction showing that contaminant loading decreased after tailings pond construction, but that most metal(loid) concentrations exceed recommended limits. Arsenic concentrations (250–450 mg kg−1) at the sediment–water interface are potentially toxic; however, low P concentrations in recent sediments (1.0–1.4 mg kg−1) inhibit eutrophication and the concomitant release of soluble As. Zinc (3 g kg−1), Cd (10 mg kg−1), Ag (10 mg kg−1), and Cu (90 mg kg−1) concentrations are now lower than in sediments deposited during active mining, but remain an environmental concern. Sedimentary Cr and Pb concentrations have not changed in the last 50 y, because tailings continue to enter the lake. Although modern Cr concentrations (40 mg kg−1) are unlikely to cause toxicity, current Pb concentrations (4 g kg−1) exceed acceptable limits, creating challenges for remediation. Strategies to manage other mining-contaminated watersheds should include consideration of elemental differences when evaluating remediation effectiveness.
The Significance of Cyanide-Resistant Respiration to Carbohydrate Metabolism in Higher Plants

Cyanide-resistant respiration was first described in plants over 60 years ago; however its significance to the general physiology of higher plants remains unknown. Biochemical studies carried out in a number of laboratories have established that this respiration is associated with a non-phosphorylating “alternative” electron transfer pathway to oxygen that is present, to some extent, in most plant mitochondria (Siedow and Berthold, 1986). At the level of the whole plant, the temperature increase that accompanies the marked rise in respiration rates during thermogenesis in aroid spadices is well characterized, but it provides the only clear example of a metabolic response directly linked to the operation of the alternative pathway (Laties, 1982). However, most plant tissues show neither the high overall respiration rates nor the extreme levels of cyanide resistance associated with the operation of the pathway during spadix thermogenesis. In an attempt to provide a general explanation for the presence of cyanide-resistant respiration in a wide range of higher plant tissues, Lambers (1980) suggested that the alternative pathway could serve an “energy overflow” function as a means of oxidizing cellular carbohydrate which exists in excess of that needed for growth, storage or to synthesize ATP. Evidence in support of this concept has been provided in several cases (Lambers, 1980; 1985).
Effect of Crosslink Density on the Critical Flaw Size of a Simple Elastomer

Abstract Tensile experiments have been carried out on a gum, amorphous EPDM elastomer. Samples with various crosslink densities and containing precuts of different lengths were tested. The energy, ...
Initial conditions for perturbations in R+ epsilon R2 cosmology.

In a classical inflationary cosmology based on the R+eR2 Lagrangian the parameters of the model (such as e and the initial conditions for inflationary trajectories) are constrained by the observational requirement that any perturbations be delivered small to the present horizon volume. Previous calculations of the evolution of these perturbations (and, hence, of the parameter constraints enforced by their evolution) have assumed that the modes begin in their ground state. In this paper, following the procedure of Halliwell and Hawking, the Wheeler-DeWitt equation is derived for this model’s inhomogeneous modes in perturbative superspace. Then, the two boundary-condition proposals of Hartle and Hawking ("no boundary") and Vilenkin ("tunneling from nothing") are implemented, verifying that both boundary conditions require the inhomogeneous modes to begin in their ground states.
A Microdosimetric Analysis of Absorbed Dose to Tumor as a Function of Number of Microspheres per Unit Volume in 90Y Radioembolization

Differences in maximum tolerable absorbed dose to normal liver between 90Y radioembolization and external-beam radiation therapy have been explained by citing differences in absorbed-dose heterogeneity at the microscopic level. We investigated microscopic absorbed-dose heterogeneity in radioembolization as a function of the number of microspheres per unit volume in tumor. The goal was to determine what effect the number of microspheres may have, if any, on tumor control in 90Y radioembolization. Methods:90Y PET/CT data were combined with microscopic probability-density functions describing microsphere clustering to provide realistic simulation using Monte Carlo modeling on both a macroscopic and a microscopic level. A complete microdosimetric analysis using 100-μm voxels was performed on the basis of 90Y PET/CT data from 19 tumors treated using radioembolization. Simulations were performed with average tumor microsphere-number densities from 200 to 70,000 spheres/mL. Monte Carlo simulations of each tumor and number density were repeated 20 times to establish SE. A 2-way balanced ANOVA was used to determine whether differences in microsphere-number density affected common tumor-dose metrics. Results: Decreasing the microsphere-number density resulted in a decrease in D70, the minimum dose to 70% of the tumor. The slope of the dose–volume histogram also decreased with decreasing microsphere-number density in all tumors. Compared with a density of 50,000 spheres/mL, decreases in D70 were statistically significant below 20,000 spheres/mL. However, these differences are unlikely to have clinical significance until the density decreases to below 5,000 spheres/mL. Although D70 was decreased at a low microsphere-number density, one can compensate for decreases by an increase in the average tumor-absorbed dose, that is, by increasing the radioembolization treatment dose. Conclusion: Differences in microsphere-number density may have an effect on microscopic tumor absorbed-dose inhomogeneity. These results begin to explain differences in treatment planning strategies between glass and resin radioembolization devices.
The Role of Low-Energy (≤ 20 eV) Electrons in Astrochemistry

Abstract UV photon-driven condensed phase cosmic ice reactions have been the main focus in understanding the extraterrestrial synthesis of complex organic molecules. Low-energy (≤ 20 eV) electron-induced reactions, on the other hand, have been largely ignored. In this article, we review studies employing surface science techniques to study low-energy electron-induced condensed phase reactions relevant to astrochemistry. In particular, we show that low-energy electron irradiation of methanol ices leads to the synthesis of many of the same complex molecules formed through UV irradiation. Moreover, our results are qualitatively consistent with the hypothesis that high-energy condensed phase radiolysis is mediated by low-energy electron-induced reactions. In addition, due to the numbers of available low-energy secondary electrons resulting from the interaction of high-energy radiation with matter as well as differences between electron- and photon-induced processes, low-energy electron-induced reactions are perhaps as, or even more, effective than photon-induced reactions in initiating condensed-phase chemical reactions in the interstellar medium. Consequently, we illustrate a need for astrochemical models to include the details of electron-induced reactions in addition to those driven by UV photons. Finally, we show that low-energy electron-induced reactions may lead to the production of unique molecular species that could serve as tracer molecules for electron-induced condensed phase reactions in the interstellar medium.
Exposure Model Analysis of Streptococcal Acquisitions

It is the purpose of this report to describe a new statistical approach, the exposure model, to the analysis of prospective epidemiological data. The model can be applied to any process which may be conceptualized in terms of susceptibility, risk, and exposure; it should be especially useful in coping with the problem of censored observations that arise from losses to followup. This exposure model was devised to facilitate the analysis of data collected during a long-term study of the natural occurrence of streptococci of various groups and types in a circumscribed population of families. Briefly, the study design was as follows. In 1958, families with at least 1 child in kindergarten through the third grade, and residing in Pioneer Homes, a low-cost housing development in Syracuse, New York, were invited to participate in a long-term study of bacterial and viral respiratory diseases. Bi-weekly throat swabbings were performed on each member of every participating family from November, 1958, until July, 1962, or until the family dropped out of the study. All cultures positive for streptococci were serologically grouped and typed.1 Only the data on group A, type 2, will be presented at this time. The principal analyses will be restricted further to the preschool age group. This will facilitate the presentation of
A failure to obtain disinhibition in fixed-interval operant conditioning

Rats were intermittently presented with novel auditory stimuli of different intensities after lever-press responding had stabilized under a FI 1-min reinforcement schedule. External inhibition of the FI scallop was directly related to stimulus intensity when the novel stimulus was presented for an entire interval or for only the second or last fifth of an interval. No evidence for disinhibition of the FI scallop was obtained.
Effects of epinephrine on toxicities of several local anesthetic agents.

SummaryWith only one agent (tetracaine) of the 5 studied, was addition of epinephrine accompanied by a highly significant reduction in systemic toxicity. With the 4 remaining agents toxicity was not altered appreciably under most conditions, although procaine containing 1:50,000 epinephrine seems more toxic than procaine alone.
Research on Method Retention of Corn Oil in the Sterol Bleaching

The bleaching time,bleaching temperature,decolorization clay dosage are researched by orthogonal test,to determine corn oil optimal decolorization process of the plant sterol maximum retention:the bleaching time temperature 95℃, reaction time 25 min,clay content 3%,the sterol content is 768×10~(-6),and compared to 1 152×10~(-6) of alkali refining sterols content,sterol loss rate is 33.3%,and the decoloration oil color is Y25 R2.5.
Using continuous lexical embeddings to improve symbolic-prosody prediction in a text-to-speech front-end

The prediction of symbolic prosodic categories from text is an important, but challenging, natural-language processing task given the various ways in which an input can be realized, and the fact that knowledge about what features determine this realization is incomplete or inaccessible to the model. In this work, we look at augmenting baseline features with lexical representations that are derived from text, providing continuous embeddings of the lexicon in a lower-dimensional space. Although learned in an unsupervised fashion, such features capture semantic and syntactic properties that make them amenable for prosody prediction. We deploy various embedding models on prominence- and phrase-break prediction tasks, showing substantial gains, particularly for prominence prediction.
"Validity" and "liceity" in conjugal acts: A reply to Stephen Napier on the HIV-condom debate.

Stephen Napier has argued against the soundness of what he calls the “Canon-Law argument” against the moral permissibility of a couple employing a condom for the sake of one spouse avoiding the con...
Social environment affects female preference for male body color during development in artificially selected varieties of Poecilia latipinna

This study provides evidence for an effect of social environment on color morph preference during development in two artificially selected varieties of the live-bearing fish Poecilia latipinna. Black-colored females reared exclusively in the presence of white-colored adults preferred to associate with white vs black males when tested using a standard dichotomous choice design. Similarly, white females reared exclusively in the presence of black adults showed a preference for black males in identical dichotomous choice tests. However, both black and white females when reared separately in the presence of a mix of black and white adults showed no preference for either male color variety. A second round of testing revealed that their preferences (or lack thereof), although significantly weaker, persisted for at least a week after the initial tests during which the model groups were altered; groups reared in the presence of opposite-colored adults were exposed to mixed-color adults, while groups reared in the...
Optimization of the Chromium Content of Powder Wires of the Fe–Cr–C and Fe–Cr–B Systems According to the Corrosion Resistance of Electric-Arc Coatings

We study electric-arc coatings of the Fe–Cr–C and Fe–Cr–B systems. It is shown that chromium content of 12 wt.% is insufficient to guarantee higher corrosion resistance of the coatings in neutral aqueous solutions (as compared with steels) caused by the formation of chromium-based oxides, carbides, and borides. Therefore, the indicated chromium content of the compounds should be taken into account and compensated in finding the chemical composition of powder wires. Its unjustified increase is not reasonable because powder wires are characterized by filling coefficients restricting the possibility of their filling with alloying elements. Therefore, the content of each alloying element in the charge of powder wires should be well justified and determined. For this purpose, we propose to use the relations taking into account the nonlinear distribution of chromium in the lamellas of the coatings caused by their high microheterogeneity and the depletion of their solid solution of the indicated element as a result of the formation of oxides, carbides, and borides on its base.