cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Modulation by pregnenolone sulfate of filtering properties in the hippocampal trisynaptic circuit

Short-term synaptic plasticity alters synaptic efficacy on a timescale that is relevant to encoding information in spike trains. The dynamics of this plasticity, combined with that of the feedback and feedforward contributions of local interneurons, impose frequency-dependent properties on neuronal networks with implications for nervous system function. The trisynaptic network of the hippocampus is especially well suited to selectively filter components of frequency-dependent signals that are transmitted from the entorhinal cortex. We measured presynaptic [Ca(2+)](i) in perforant path, mossy fiber, or Schaffer collateral terminals while simultaneously measuring field potentials of principal cells of the dentate, CA3, or CA1 synaptic fields over a range of stimulus frequencies of 2 to 77 Hz. In all three synaptic fields, the average [Ca(2+)](i) during a 500 ms stimulus train rose monotonically with stimulus frequency. The average population spike amplitude during this stimulus train, however, exhibited a non-linear relationship to frequency that was distinct for each of the three synaptic fields. The dentate synaptic field exhibited the characteristics of a low pass filter, while both CA synaptic fields had bandpass filter characteristics with a gain that was greater than 1 in the passband frequencies. Importantly, alteration of the dynamic properties of this network could significantly impact information processing performed by the hippocampus. Pregnenolone sulfate (PregS), has frequency-dependent effects on paired- and multipulse plasticity in the dentate and CA1 synaptic fields of the hippocampal formation. We investigated the PregS-dependent modulation of the dynamic properties of transmission by the principal cells of the three hippocampal synaptic fields. Importantly, PregS is capable of altering the pattern separation capabilities that may underlie hippocampal information processing.
Anion binding to monotopic and ditopic macrocyclic amides.

Binding of fluoride anion as well as carboxylic acid tetraalkylammonium salts by macrocyclic compounds of different size was studied by NMR in DMSO-d6. It has been found that at least a 15-membered ring is necessary for successful recognition of fluoride. Larger macrocycles obtained in a [2 + 2] cyclization were shown to bind dicarboxylic acid salts. Effects of binding topicity are discussed.
Automated placement of retinal laser lesions in vivo

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin's Biomedical Engineering Laser Laboratory investigating the medical applications of lasers have worked toward the development of a retinal robotic laser system. The overall goal of the ongoing project is to precisely place and control the depth of laser lesions for the treatment of various retinal diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and retinal tears. Researchers at the USAF Academy's Department of Electrical Engineering and the Optical Radiation Division of Armstrong Laboratory have also become involved with this research due to similar related interests. Separate low speed prototype subsystems have been developed to control lesion depth using lesion reflectance feedback parameters and lesion placement using retinal vessels as tracking landmarks. Both subsystems have been successfully demonstrated in vivo on pigmented rabbits using an argon continuous wave laser. Work is ongoing to build a prototype system to simultaneously control lesion depth and placement. Following the dual-use concept, this system is being adapted for clinical use as a retinal treatment system as well as a research tool for military laser-tissue interaction studies. Specifically, the system is being adapted for use with an ultra-short pulse laser system at Armstrong Laboratory and Frank J. Seiler Research Laboratory to study the effects of ultra-short laser pulses on the human retina. The instrumentation aspects of the prototype subsystems were presented at SPIE Conference 1877 in January 1993. Since then our efforts have concentrated on combining the lesion depth control subsystem and the lesion placement subsystem into a single prototype capable of simultaneously controlling both parameters. We have designated this combined system CALOSOS for Computer Aided Laser Optics System for Ophthalmic Surgery. We have also investigated methods to improve system response time. Use of high speed nonstandard frame rate CCD cameras and high speed frame grabbers hosted on personal computers featuring the 32 bit, 33 MHz PCI bus have been investigated. Design details of an initial CALOSOS prototype design is provided in SPIE Conference proceedings 2396B-32 (Biomedical Optics Conference, Clinical Laser Delivery and Robotics Session). This paper will review in vivo testing to date and detail planned system upgrades.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Predictive Assessment for Phased Array Antenna Scheduling

In contrast to traditional parabolic dish antennas which must be mechanically steered to point at satellites, phased array antennas operate by electronically activating subarrays in configurations that can be maneuvered across the surface of the antenna without any physical movement. This leads to many benefits including an increase in capacity from the fact that multiple active areas can be enabled simultaneously on the same phased array. Under this concept, a single antenna can support multiple simultaneous contacts, although there are still constraints specific to any implementation. The phased array is made up of subarrays with Transmit and Receive modules, which present their own specific limitations. In one implementation, an individual Transmit / Receive module can simultaneously support two Receive beams from two distinct satellites, but only one Transmit beam. As the active areas for separate beams move across the surface of the antenna, the conditions where they overlap may overload specific modules in the overlapping area. Thus when constructing automated logic for allocating supports to antennas, a predictive compatibility assessment mechanism is required to determine if a trial allocation will lead to conditions that violate the constraints of the antenna hardware. When two or more supports will be active on the same phased array, a predictive assessment must consider their active areas and their paths across the surface over time to identify conflicts and then determine if such conflicts can be remedied. A phased array antenna allows active areas to be shifted away from their optimal positions, as long as they are also increased in size to compensate. This paper describes a central piece of the assessment mechanism implemented in conjunction with an automated scheduling algorithm, which predicts whether beam conflicts will occur, and whether they can be deconflicted with changes in position and size. A series of small experiments was conducted to determine boundary conditions for the deconfliction algorithm, such as a threshold number of iterations for incrementally separating beams, and impacts from the positions of active areas such as proximity to an edge of the antenna. These experiments also explored how the deconfliction thresholds change with different combinations of larger and smaller active areas. This paper summarizes the results of these experiments, and also related elements of the algorithm such as the information preserved from the deconfliction process to inform the logic for trying alternative allocations when necessary. Finally, this paper also presents results from a larger experiment conducted to compare performance in two scenarios – a baseline scenario with only parabolic antennas, and an alternate scenario with phased array antennas substituted at several ground stations. Using a sample set of satellite support requests over a 24 hour period, we compare overall performance in the phased array scenario with the baseline, in terms of the ability to satisfy requests in each case via the automated scheduling algorithm.
Synthesis of some highly silylated aminophosphines and their reactions with carbon tetrachloride

Abstract A series of aminophosphines containing the (Me3Si)2CH substituent have been prepared and their reactivity toward CCl4 investigated. Thus, treatment of the dichlorophosphine (Me3Si)2CHPCl2 with various lithium disilylamides afforded the amino(chloro)phosphines (Me3Si)2CHP(Cl)NR2 [NR2 = N(SiMe3)2] (1), NSiMe 2 CH 2 CH 2 S iMe2 (2), N(SiMe3)SiMe2(t-Bu) (3). Similarly, the P-phenyl derivative (Me3Si)2CHP(Ph)N(SiMe3)2 (4) was obtained from the reaction of LiN(SiMe3)2 with (Me3Si)2CHP(Ph)Cl. The reactions of the chlorophosphine 1 with LiAlH4, MeMgBr, Me3SiCH2MgCl, and H2CCHMgBr were used to prepare the other fully substituted derivatives (Me3Si)2CHP(R)N(SiMe3)2 (5, R = H; 6, R = Me; 7, R = CH2SiMe3; 8, R = CHCH2. Phosphines 4–8 are all reactive toward CCl4, producing a variety of products depending on the nature of the R group and the reaction conditions. The major reactions pathways involve elimination of Me3SiCCl3 and/or HCCl3 from the intermediate ion pair [(Me3Si)2CHP(R)(Cl)N(SiMe3)2]+(CCl3)− with the most complex product mixtures resulting when R = CH2SiMe3 or CHCH2. The CCl4 products were analyzed and, where possible, identified by 1H and 31P NMR, and GC-MS data.
On Optimality Conditions for Trusses with Nonuniform Stress Constraints

ABSTRACT The optimal design of a truss subjected to a single loading system and stress constraints, which are not necessarily the same in each bar, is considered. Sufficient conditions for global optimality are derived by variational methods. While these optimality criteria lead to a linear programming formulation of the problem, they show in a clear physical way how the optimal design is found, and that advantages accrue from incorporating the optimality criteria in a numerical scheme.
A General and Scalable Approach to Mixed Membership Clustering

Spectral clustering methods are elegant and effective graph-based node clustering methods, but they do not allow mixed membership clustering. We describe an approach that first transforms the data from a node-centric representation to an edge-centric one, and then use this representation to define a scalable and competitive mixed membership alternative to spectral clustering methods. Experimental results show the proposed approach improves substantially in mixed membership clustering tasks over node clustering methods.
Transforming medical records into a structured data base

The N.Y.U. Linguistic String Project (LSP) is presently engaged in applying its programs for natural language processing to medical records. The programs transform the free narrative input into a structured data base suitable for automatic information processing, such as question answering, editing of records, or statistical summaries of the data. In order to determine the appropriate structures for a given type of material we first perform a manual linguistic analysis on a sample of the texts prior to processing. From this we obtain a set of word classes and a tabular form (called an information format) for this type of material. We then apply the series of processing programs to the sentences of the texts. Each sentence is parsed with the Linguistic String Parser English grammar in order to obtain its grammatical structure; then certain standard English transformations are applied to regularize the grammatical form of the sentence. Finally a set of "formatting transformations" map the words of the sentence into the slots of the information format, or table, for this material in such a way that the sentence is reconstructible up to paraphrase from its representation in the table.
Strain C3H-A-vy-fB mice: ninety percent incidence of mammary tumors transmitted by either parent.

Mammary tumorigenesis in C3H-AvyfB female mice is not due to milk-borne mammary tumor virus but to factors transmitted at conception. Prominent among these is the Avy gene which may increase the virulence or transmissibility of a variant of mammary tumor virus vertically transmitted by either parent, or may increase the tumorigenic response of the mammary tissue. These factors together with the influence of hormones of pregnancy resulted in the high incidence observed.
Bounds for the annealed return probability on large finite percolation graphs

Bounds for the expected return probability of the delayed random walk on finite clusters of an invariant percolation on transitive unimodular graphs are derived. They are particularly suited for the case of critical Bernoulli percolation and the associated heavy-tailed cluster size distributions. The upper bound relies on the fact that cartesian products of finite graphs with cycles of a certain minimal size are Hamiltonian. For critical Bernoulli bond percolation on the homogeneous tree this bound is sharp. The asymptotic type of the expected return probability for large times $t$ in this case is of order $t^{-3/4}$.
Automated free fatty acid determination using flow injection analysis solvent extractions

A simplified, automated, colorimetric method is described for the determination of free fatty acids (FFA) in solution using solvent extraction flow injection analysis (SEFIA). A membrane separator utilizing a microporous Teflon membrane is used for a clean phase separation. A newly designed segmentor is used for segmenting the reagent and solvent streams. A linear relationship exists between normality and absorbance from 6×10−5 to greater than 3×10−2 N for oleic acid and from 4.4×10−5 to 6×10−3 N for stearic acid. The correlation between concentration and absorbance in this method is better than in previously advanced copper soap colorimetric methods. The sample throughput is 130 injections/hr.
Reflections on the first decade of the HIV/AIDS pandemic: opportunities and priorities for international behavioural research and interventions.

An enduring theme of symposia on acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) concerns the need to base prevention campaigns on behavioral adaptations within a cultural context. Such an approach requires the integration of natural social and behavioral sciences and consideration of the salience of topics such as the psychobiology of risk taking and the dynamics of addictive behavior. It is conceivable for example that high-risk behaviors have neuroanatomical and neurochemical substrates as well as a psychological component. Also relevant are the "folk adaptations" made in numerous cultures to contain sexually transmitted disease epidemics. A review of European history indicates that sexual morality reached its peak during times when the spread of syphilis was at its height. Problems arose when societies such as Hawaii were not equipped biologically historically or culturally to cope with new infectious diseases. The effectiveness of an intervention to modify risky sex behavior will depend on its grasp of the complexity of the underlying components.
Heat transfer and film-cooling for the endwall of a first stage turbine vane

Abstract Secondary flows that result in turbomachines from inherent pressure gradients in airfoil passages, are the main contributors to aerodynamic losses and high heat transfer to the airfoil endwalls. The endwalls present a challenge to durability engineers in maintaining the integrity of the airfoils. One means of preventing degradation in the turbine is to film-cool components whereby coolant is extracted from the compressor and injected through small cooling holes in the airfoil surfaces. In addition to film-cooling, leakage flows from component interfaces, such as the combustor and turbine, can provide cooling in localized areas but also provide a change to the inlet boundary condition to the passage. This paper presents measurements relevant to the endwall region of a vane, which indicate the importance of considering the inlet flow condition.
Acute Toxicity and Mutagenicity of Extract from Eriobotrta japonica

To study the acute toxicity and the mutagenicity of Eriobotrya japonica extract. The oral acute toxicity test in mice , Ames test , micronucleus test in bone marrow and sperm abnormality test were carried out. The reults shown that tolerated dose of 20g/kg body weight in mice could be regarded as virtually non-toxic. The micronucleus rates and sperm abnormality rates in all doses were not significantly different from the control group. No increase in the number of revertant colonies was found in the Ames test with and without S9 mixture.So acute toxicity and the mutagenicity of Eriobotrya japonica extract were not observed in this study.
Inhomogeneities in plastically deformed silicon single crystals. II. Deep-level transient spectroscopy investigations of p- and n-doped silicon.

The deep-level transient spectroscopy (DLTS) spectra of p- and n-type silicon samples, which were plastically deformed in the temperature range 390 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C\ensuremath{\le}${\mathit{T}}_{\mathit{d}}$\ensuremath{\le}800 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C with different resolved shear stresses 8\ensuremath{\le}\ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath{\le}200 MPa, can be quantitatively related to the deformation-induced ESR spectra. Deformation-induced point defects are inhomogeneously distributed and produce dominant energy levels in the lower half of the band gap. A smaller amount of dislocation-related defects causes energy levels in the upper part and in the middle of the band gap. The deformation-induced defects compensate p- and n-type material. The DLTS linewidths can be simulated by the introduction of a broadening parameter \ensuremath{\delta}, which describes deformation-induced disorder. From its dependence on the applied deformation stress (21.5 meV/GPa in n-type material) and the similarity of the value to the pressure derivative of the conduction-band edge, we conclude that part of the disorder is related to fluctuations of the band edges. Contributions of fluctuating Coulomb potentials and variations of the capture cross sections caused by compensation probably contribute to the broadening of the energy levels. Similarities to polycrystalline materials are discussed.
Separation of enzymatic activities in Dictyostelium discoideum by high-pressure gel permeation chromatography.

Abstract High-pressure gel permeation chromatography was used to separate the cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase and ATP pyrophosphohydrolase activities of Dictyostelium discoideum. Two types of column packings, with different functional groups on the silica-bonded carbon side chains, were used to separate the two activities in approximately the same amount of time and with the same elution pattern. Recovery of both activities was enhanced when acetate, rather than sulfate, was the mobile phase. This recovery of activity following chromatography at high pressure demonstrates that high-pressure gel permeation chromatography can be used for the purification of enzymes.
Sickle Cell Disease in Children

Early identification of infants with sickle cell disease (SCD) by newborn screening, now universal in all 50 states in the US, has improved survival, mainly by preventing overwhelming sepsis with the early use of prophylactic penicillin. Routine transcranial Doppler screening with the institution of chronic transfusion decreases the risk of stroke from 10% to 1% in paediatric SCD patients. Hydroxyurea decreases the number and frequency of painful crises, acute chest syndromes and number of blood transfusions in children with SCD. Genetic research continues to be driven toward the prevention and ultimate cure of SCD before adulthood. This review focuses on clinical manifestations and therapeutic strategies for paediatric SCD as well as the evolving topic of gene-focused prevention and therapy.
Seasonal population fluctuations of Filipjevimermis leipsandra and infectivity of juveniles on the banded cucumber beetle.

Studies of the biology, ecology, and potential of a nematode Filipjevimermis leipsandra Poinar and Welch as a biological control agent for the banded cucumber beetle Diabrotica balteata LeConte were initiated in 1978 at Charleston, SC. Parasitism of the beetle larvae by the nematode was obtained in the field as early as the 1st week in Mar. and as late as the 1st week in December. Most parasitism occurred during periods of high rainfall and high temperature; parasitism was highest in Sept. and early Oct. As many as 23 postparasitic nematodes were obtained from a single larva. Body lengths of post parasitic nematodes ranged from 15 to 62 mm; the number of eggs deposited correlated with the length. As many as 7000 eggs were obtained from one nematode. Parasitism of the insect was obtained in the laboratory by exposing 1st instars to field collected soil or to potting soil with F. leipsandra eggs. The amount of parasitism obtained from a given number of beetle larvae and nematode eggs varied considerably despite our attempt to control the conditions as precisely as possible. The most post parasitic nematodes were obtained from soil that received the highest levels of nematode eggs.
Orthographic Awareness, Phonemic Awareness, Syntactic Processing, and Working Memory Skill in Hyperlexic Children.

Children classified as hyperlexic learn to readwords spontaneously before age five, areimpaired in both reading and listeningcomprehension, and exhibit word recognitionskills above their linguistic and cognitiveabilities. Despite their strong wordrecognition skills, previous studies have shownthat the phonemic awareness skills ofhyperlexic children are low and notcommensurate with their word reading skill, inpart because of their limited comprehension of phonemic awareness tasks. Heretofore, a verylimited number of studies have investigateddirectly the orthographic processing, syntacticprocessing, and working memory skills ofchildren with hyperlexia. In the presentstudy, measures of orthographic processing,syntactic processing, and working memory skillwere administered to three hyperlexic childrenand three normally achieving readers; inaddition, measures of phonemic awareness,academic achievement, and cognitive abilitywere also administered. Results showed thatthe hyperlexic children performed aboveexpectations on the orthographic processingmeasures based on their cognitive andlinguistic abilities. The children withhyperlexia did not exhibit orthographic skillsthat were superior to the normally achievingreaders, although ceiling effects on theorthographic tasks may not have allowed them todemonstrate this skill. The three children withhyperlexia achieved lower scores than thenormally achieving readers on the syntacticprocessing measures and had great difficulty onthe phonemic awareness measures. Only one ofthe three hyperlexic children performed at alevel consistent with that of normallyachieving readers on the working memorymeasures. Findings suggest the hyperlexicchildren had levels of orthographic processingsimilar to that of normally achieving readers,read words using strategies similar to those ofnormal readers, and had phonemic awarenessskill that appears to be adequate for wordanalysis but could not be demonstrated ontraditional phonemic awareness measures.
Discrete Ordinates Algorithm for Domains with Embedded Boundaries

Embedded boundary methods model e uid e ows in complex geometries by treating boundaries as tracked interfaces in a regular mesh. Though often referred to as Cartesian grid methods, they are equally well-suited to axisymmetric problems. This paper describes a formulation of the discrete ordinates method for radiative transfer calculations with embedded boundaries. The method uses diamond-difference stencils in the interior with a conservative extension to boundary cells based on a volume-of-e uid approach. Numerical examples are presented in both two-dimensional Cartesian and axisymmetric geometries, including a model of the BERL 300-kW natural gas burner.
Parametric Characterization of Differential-Mode Transmission Line EMI Filter

Frequency-selective transmission line (TL) EMI filter can be used to attenuate the high frequency (HF) noise in power electronics systems. In order to understand the attenuation mechanism and to facilitate the design of the TL EMI filter, analysis of the differential mode (DM) TL EMI filter is given in this paper based on multi-conductor lossy transmission line model and finite element simulation using Ansoft 2D Extractor. The dependences of filter performance on dimensions and material properties are shown. Relative permittivity and thickness of the dielectric layer, conductivity and relative permeability of nickel layer are the dominating influencing factors on the filter performance.
Low‐cost technique for preparing n‐Sb2S3/p‐Si heterojunction solar cells

The first fabrication of low cost n‐Sb2S3/p‐Si heterojunction solar cells by chemical deposition method is reported. It is observed that in the case of n‐Sb2S3 films chemically deposited with silicotungstic acid on p‐Si and annealed, the photovoltaic properties of the n‐Sb2S3/p‐Si junctions are considerably improved. Under AM1 illumination, the improved junction exhibited an efficiency (η) of ∼5.19% on an active area of 0.05 cm2 without any antireflection coating whereas the n‐Sb2S3 films deposited without STA on p‐Si showed η=1.03%.
The Funnel Approach to the Precrystallization Production of Membrane Proteins

Challenges in the production of integral membrane proteins for structural studies include low expression levels, incorrect membrane insertion, aggregation and instability. In this report, we describe a “funnel approach” to overcoming these difficulties and demonstrate its efficacy in a case study of 36 prokaryotic P-type transporters. A diverse ensemble of modified constructs is generated and tested for expression in Escherichia coli, membrane localization, detergent extraction, and homogeneity. High-throughput methodologies are implemented throughout the process to facilitate identification of promising targets. We find that the choice of promoter, the choice of source organism providing the cloned gene, and, most importantly, the position of the affinity tag have a great effect on successful production. The latter had pronounced effects at all tested levels, from expression levels observed in whole cells to the extent of membrane insertion, and even on protein function. Following the initial streamlined screening, we were able to fine-tune and produce 9 of the 36 targets as materials suitable for crystallization or other structural studies.
Preparation of highly selective stationary phases for high-performance liquid chromatographic separation of enantiomers by direct copolymerization of monomers with single or twin chiral ligands

Uniformly sized macroporous polymer beads, which can be used as chiral stationary phase (CSP), have been prepared by the staged templated suspension polymerization process using chiral monomer as one of the copolymerization components. This approach enables the preparation of CSPs for which properties such as pore size, pore volume, surface area, chemistry, and chiral ligands can be tuned over a broad range. Several types of well-defined chiral monomers were prepared and allowed to assess synergistic effect of multiple selectors attached to a branched linker as well as the effect of the length and chemistry of the linker. Microscale batch screening was used for simple and rapid evaluation of selectivity. The most promising candidate CSPs were prepared on a larger scale and packed into HPLC columns. Their performance was demonstrated on the separation of racemic N-(3,5-dinitrobenzoyl)-alpha-amino acid alkylamides. The highest separation factors alpha of up to 27 were observed for CSPs prepared from monomers containing the branched spacer. These highly selective CSPs also enabled the separation of larger amounts of the target racemates upon column overload conditions.
Pulmonary Stenosis: Electrocardiographic, Vectorcardiographic, and Catheterization Data

The electrocardiographic, vectorcardiographic, and right heart catheterization data of 100 patients with isolated or complicated pulmonary stenosis were analyzed. All but two patients had normal sinus rhythm. One patient, age 62, had atrial fibrillation; the other, age 8, had the Wolff-Parkin-son-White syndrome. In isolated pulmonary stenosis, P-wave enlargement was far more frequently seen in those patients with right ventricular systolic pressures above 100 mm. Hg as compared to those with pressures less than 100 mm. Hg. This relationship was not observed in patients with complicated pulmonary stenosis. The incidence of rsR9 in V 1 , QRS widening, and the vectorcardiographic evidence of conduction delay was significantly lower in pulmonary stenosis, isolated or complicated, when compared to atrial septal defects alone. There was one instance of terminal conduction delay of the right bundle-branch block type and one diffuse slowing of the QRS sE loop in the present series. The correlation between the amplitude of the R wave in V 1 and right ventricular systolic pressure was better in the group of isolated pulmonary stenosis as compared to the groups complicated by interatrial communications or ventricular septal defects. The average right ventricular systolic pressures in patients with type 3 right ventricular hypertrophy was significantly higher than those with either type 1 or type 2 right ventricular hypertrophy on the basis of vectorcardiographic criteria discussed. In the presence of pulmonary stenosis, the electrocardiographic and vectorcardiographic evidence of left ventricular hypertrophy or combined ventricular hypertrophy suggests coexisting lesions such as ventricular septal defect with left-to-right shunts. However, it was not possible to differentiate between isolated pulmonary stenosis and pulmonary stenosis complicated by interatrial communication by either electrocardiograms or vectorcardiograms. The vectorcardiographic features of combined ventricular hypertrophy are discussed.
Recognition memory for pseudowords

Abstract Participants are more likely to give positive responses on a recognition test to pseudowords (pronounceable nonwords) than words. A series of experiments suggests that this difference reflects the greater overall familiarity of pseudowords than of words. Pseudowords receive higher ratings of similarity to a studied list than do words. Pseudowords receive more positive recognition responses than words even when pseudowords are remembered at least as well as words. This pseudoword effect is found on forced-choice recognition and on frequency judgments but not in associative recognition.
Removal of sugar colorants by granular activated carbons made from binders and agricultural by-products

Twenty-four granular activated carbons (GACs) made from mixtures of four binders (coal tar, sugarcane molasses, sugar beet molasses, corn syrup) and three agricultural by-products (rice hulls, rice straw, sugarcane bagasse) were evaluated for their ability to remove sugar colorants (molasses color removal, sugar decolorization). These properties were compared to the same properties of two commercial reference carbons. GACs made from sugarcane bagasse, in general, possessed the best ability to remove sugar colorants and were closest to the reference carbons in this regard. In fact, the four highest ranked GACs all used bagasse as a feedstock along with four different binders. Therefore, the ability to remove sugar colorants appears to be by-product dependent with the binder playing a minor role.
Juvenile Justice The Legacy of Punitive Policy

Although the future of juvenile justice policy is uncertain, the impact of policies from the 1990s is clear: Despite declining juvenile crime rates, the adultification of youth continues to include...
Increased levels of nerve growth factor in the urinary bladder and hypertrophy of dorsal root ganglion neurons in the diabetic rat

The level of nerve growth factor (NGF) in the streptozotocin (STZ)-diabetic rat was measured at approximately weekly intervals after STZ induction, using an ELISA assay technique. In addition, the area profiles of L6-S1, and L1-L2 dorsal root ganglion neurons (DRG), labelled by fast blue dye injected into the bladder, were measured at the same weekly intervals. Compared to control animals, the levels of NGF rose rapidly to a maximum at one week and then slowly declined over the next three weeks. The areas of the DRGs increased to a peak after which they also started to decline. The peak increase in DRG area profiles was delayed relative to the peak level of bladder NGF. The data suggest that bladder NGF is transported retrogradely to the DRG neurons where it transforms the cell economy to cause an increase in size.
The Anthropology of Exit: Bataille on Heidegger and Fascism*

OCTOBER 117, Summer 2006, pp. 3–24. © 2006 October Magazine, Ltd. and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. To critique Martin Heidegger is a difficult operation. It means that one accepts at least the bulk of Heidegger’s conception of Being and wants to push this conception further. To some extent it means that one wants to rethink Heidegger’s “ontological difference,” to radicalize his antisubjectivism, and to escape from the limitations of his worldview. And, politically, it can also mean that one wants to evade or go beyond Heidegger’s Nazism, beyond the philosophical anthropology that his political theology entailed, beyond the stigma associated with it. I want to demonstrate that in the mid-1930s, Georges Bataille did exactly this. At some point in the period 1934–37, Bataille scribbled some twenty 13.5 by 21 cm pages that he titled “La Critique de Heidegger: Critique d’une philosophie du fascisme.”1 He collated these pages onto larger, thinner sheets, corrected them, and marked them as an appendix, but did not attach them to another text.2 At stake in this draft is a number of issues paramount to our understanding of Bataille’s contribution to interwar thought. Here, Bataille joins a “spiritual exercise” aiming to undo social homogeneity with an ontological, anti-Hegelian appreciation of insufficiency and escape, and also with a theologico-political analysis of modernity and fascism. Seeking to grant “Cartesian rigor” to his search for emancipation from homogeneity, Bataille turns to a non-Hegelian, non-Heideggerian “Being outside,” which, not content with discrediting nonphenomenological interpretations of contemporary politics, moves to attack what he sees as phenomenology’s conformity with modern
Shoot regeneration of dwarf dogwood (Cornus canadensis L.) and morphological characterization of the regenerated plants

Dwarf dogwoods (or the bunchberries) are the only suffrutex in Cornaceae. They are attractive ground cover ornamentals with clusters of small flowers surrounded by petaloid bracts. Little has been reported on plant regeneration of dogwoods. As a step toward unraveling the molecular basis of inflorescence evolution in Cornus, we report an efficient regeneration system for a dwarf dogwood species C. canadensis through organogenesis from rejuvenated leaves, and characterize the development of the plantlets. We used the nodal stem segments of vegetative branches as explants. Micropropogated shoots were quickly induced from axillary buds of nodes on an induction medium consisting of basal MS medium supplemented with 4.44 μM BAP and 0.54 μM NAA. The new leaves of adventitious shoots were used as explants to induce calli on the same induction medium. Nearly 65% of leaf explants produced calli, 80% of which formed adventitious buds. Gibberellic acid (1.45 μM) added to the same induction medium efficiently promoted quick elongation of most adventitious buds, and 0.49 μM IBA added to the basal MS medium promoted root formation from nearly 50% of the elongated shoots. The growth of plantlets in pot soil was characterized by the development of functional woody rhizomes, which continuously developed new aboveground vegetative branches, but not flowering branches, within the past 12 months. Potential reasons causing the delay of flowering of the regenerated plants are discussed. The establishment of this regeneration system facilitates developing a genetic transformation system to test candidate genes involved in the developmental divergence of inflorescences in Cornus.
Effects of local changes in active layer and soil climate on seasonal foliar nitrogen concentrations of three boreal forest shrubs

Caribou Poker Creeks Research Watershed is a boreal forest watershed in Interior Alaska that is susceptible to regional warming and permafrost thaw. We measured seasonal foliar N concentrations of the black spruce understory shrubs, Vaccinium uliginosum L., Vaccinium vitis-idaea L., and Ledum palustre L. on north- and south-facing sides of the watershed. We predicted that the shrubs would respond to small-scale changes in active layer and soil climate, and we expected similar responses according to growth strategy (evergreen or deciduous). Overall, foliar N in shrubs was higher on warmer, drier soils with deep active layers: +7.9% N in V. uliginosum, +11.1% N in V. vitis-idaea, and +9.4% N in L. palustre. Each shrub had species-specific foliar N patterns that could not be categorized by growth strategy and were not well explained by soil climate or active layer. Leaf mineral nutrition is influenced by multiple processes, and foliar N was best explained by the combination of environmental variables operati...
Differential gene expression analysis using coexpression and RNA-Seq data

MOTIVATION RNA-Seq is increasingly being used for differential gene expression analysis, which was dominated by the microarray technology in the past decade. However, inferring differential gene expression based on the observed difference of RNA-Seq read counts has unique challenges that were not present in microarray-based analysis. The differential expression estimation may be biased against low read count values such that the differential expression of genes with high read counts is more easily detected. The estimation bias may further propagate in downstream analyses at the systems biology level if it is not corrected. RESULTS To obtain a better inference of differential gene expression, we propose a new efficient algorithm based on a Markov random field (MRF) model, called MRFSeq, that uses additional gene coexpression data to enhance the prediction power. Our main technical contribution is the careful selection of the clique potential functions in the MRF so its maximum a posteriori estimation can be reduced to the well-known maximum flow problem and thus solved in polynomial time. Our extensive experiments on simulated and real RNA-Seq datasets demonstrate that MRFSeq is more accurate and less biased against genes with low read counts than the existing methods based on RNA-Seq data alone. For example, on the well-studied MAQC dataset, MRFSeq improved the sensitivity from 11.6 to 38.8% for genes with low read counts. AVAILABILITY MRFSeq is implemented in C and available at http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~yyang027/mrfseq.htm
Obstetric dimensions of the true pelvis in a Medieval population from Sudanese Nubia

Functional analysis of the true pelvis (defined as that portion lying below and including the pelvic brim) was undertaken on a sample of 36 females from the Medieval site of Kulubnarti in Sudanese Nubia. Standard obstetric measurements were taken and compared to four additional prehistoric skeletal samples and to modern American standards for the same obstetric dimensions. Relative to the other prehistoric populations, the Kulubnarti pelves are smaller in most dimensions and, when compared to modern American standards, from one-third to one-half would be diagnosed as contracted in one or more planes. Given the meager, fluctuating resources of these Medieval Nubians' harsh desert environment, pelvic size reduction is a likely result of body size reduction as one biological response to nutritional stress (Mittler and Van Gerven, 1989; Moore et al., 1986; Van Gerven et al., 1981). It is argued, however, that size reduction created a high potential for either maternal-neonatal morbidity and mortality due to fetopelvic disproportion or neonatal loss due to low birth weight. In either case, it is suggested that the Kulubnarti population paid a significant biological price for this aspect of size reduction.
Use of antibiotics in a dairy herd and their effect on resistance determinants in enteric and environmental Escherichia coli.

Abstract The frequency of antimicrobially resistant Escherichia coli in a dairy herd and its immediate environment was studied. The herd was given doses of 1,000,000 units of penicillin and 1g of dihydrostreptomycin during a dry-cow mastitis treatment program. Over 1 yr, the incidence of E. coli resistant to dihydrostreptomycin (25 μg/ml) was determined for fecal and environmental samples. Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns and minimum inhibitory concentrations for dihydrostreptomycin were determined on E. coli isolates from these samples. Environmental samples were collected at 2-wk intervals from holding areas, and fecal samples were collected from cows before treatment and at 2 and 6 wk post-treatment. The entire herd was sampled initially and at the end of the test period. Peaks of resistant E. coli of 10% from both cow and environmental sources had a marked pattern of similarity, indicating an enteric flora-environmental flora interaction. The therapeutic use of antibiotics, including their use in large doses in a dry-cow mastitis treatment program, resulted in minimum effects on resistance and minimum inhibitory concentrations of E coli. The dairy herds represented the model situation where antibiotics are sued primarily parenterally for therapeutic purposes. Results contrast sharply as compared to drug resistance in the enteric flora of animal herds that conventionally have received antibiotics continuously in feed.
Active Preselection Filter Techniques for Adjacent Channel Interference Suppression at UHF

The development of a Q multiplier device which operates in the UHF region is described. With this device, preselection bandwidths representing a Q of approximately 7,000 were achieved at 300 MHz. The high Q values are obtained with a relatively compact device. Operational results illustrate the application of this device for improved filtering of closely spaced signals.
Self-Reconfigurable Analog Array Integrated Circuit Architecture for Space Applications

Development of analog electronics solutions for space avionics is expensive and time-consuming. Lack of flexible analog devices, counterparts to digital Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA), prevents analog designers from the benefits of rapid prototyping. This forces them to expensive and lengthy custom design, fabrication, and qualification of application specific integrated circuits (ASIC). The limitations come from two directions: first, commercial Field Programmable Analog Arrays (FPAA) have very limited variability in the building block components offered on-chip (practically only one type of operational amplifiers/ comparator per chip); and second, these are only qualified for best case scenarios for military grade (-55degC to +125degC). However, the analog circuitry required for sensing and control impose a larger component variability. Moreover, in order to avoid large overheads in mass, energy and wiring, there is a growing trend towards avoiding thermal and radiation protection by developing extreme environment electronics, i.e. electronics that maintain correct operation while directly exposed to temperature extremes e.g., on Moon (-180degC to +125degC). This paper describes a recent FPAA design, the Self-Reconfigurable Analog Array (SRAA) that was developed at JPL. It overcomes both limitations: a larger variety of analog building block components in the cells of the array and the possibility to operate over a wide range by compensating deviations due to temperature using a built in general purpose genetic algorithm (GA) engine as an IP core.
Thermal decay study of various magnetization patterns

Summary form only given. To date, most published measurements of the thermal stability of magnetic recordings on thin film media have been of single tone (ST, square wave or all-ones pattern) recordings. An all-ones pattern stores no information and by necessity, information is therefore stored in a magnetization pattern containing many different frequency components. A pattern containing information is not expected to decay as strongly as a single tone written at the frequency of the highest frequency component. A simple superposition of the demagnetizing fields associated with one transition shows that the average demagnetizing field is higher for an ST than for a pseudo-random sequence (PRS) pattern. The decay is accelerated by demagnetizing fields and therefore one expects ST signals to decay more quickly than PRS signals. To mimic application conditions more closely, we have investigated the decay of the components of a 15-tone PRS pattern and compare this with the decay of single tone patterns spanning the frequency range.
Interaction Appearance Theory: Changing Perceptions of Physical Attractiveness Through Social Interaction

Can the effectiveness of your social interaction with a prospective romantic partner make him or her see you as more physically attractive? If so, under what conditions does this process occur? These questions prompted the development of a theoretical perspective to explain this process. Interaction appearance theory (IAT) requires (a) a set of beliefs about the importance and interdependence of physical attractiveness and social interaction in a satisfactory romantic relationship; (b) an initial perception of the other's physical attractiveness that is not high enough to trigger the pursuit of a romantic relationship but is not low enough to preclude it; (c) social interaction that is eventually perceived as more desirable than the perception of the other's physical attractiveness; and (d) bringing the discrepant perceptions into alignment by actually seeing the other person as more physically attractive. While providing support for the theory, the interviews in Study 1 also provided insights into how the process can vary. Study 2, using a sample of new daters, provided quantitative support for the belief structure. Study 3, using diaries, found changes in perceptions of a partner's physical attractiveness to be a function of positive and negative interactions. These studies provided support for IAT and the idea that perceptions of physical attractiveness can be changed by social interaction.
Optimizing the use of power ultrasound to decrease turbidity in whey protein suspensions

This research employed power ultrasound (US) to decrease the turbidity of whey suspensions. US was applied using a 20 kHz generator and different power levels (3 and 15 W) for different application times (5 and 15 min) at different temperatures (20, 60 °C, and no temperature control [NTC]) to whey suspensions obtained at 4 different steps in a commercial process. The whey suspensions varied from 6.9 to 30.2% solids and 13.5 to 88% protein. This research shows an approximately 90% decrease in turbidity when US was applied to a whey suspension of 28.2% of solids containing 35.6% of protein on a dry basis. The greatest decrease in turbidity was observed when US was applied for 15 min using 15 W of electrical power at 60 °C and NTC conditions. Surprisingly, when US was used in whey suspensions containing 88.0% protein an increase in turbidity of samples was observed.
Overnutrition induces β-cell differentiation through prolonged activation of β-cells in zebrafish larvae

Insulin from islet β-cells maintains glucose homeostasis by stimulating peripheral tissues to remove glucose from circulation. Persistent elevation of insulin demand increases β-cell number through...