cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Replicas, Shadowing, and Negative Staining

Contrast in transmission electron microscopic (TEM) specimens occurs when there are specimen areas that stop (scatter) electrons and also areas that let most of the electrons pass through. Thus, the image results from subtractive contrast. We impregnate tissues and sections with a variety of heavy metals to scatter electrons as discussed in Chapter 4, but we can also Surround particulates with heavy metals (negative staining) or cover particulates, cells, and tissues with thin metal films that have areas of differential beam-stopping capability (replicas produced by shadowing). This chapter will discuss these two added techniques for building subtractive contrast, pointing out the commonly used techniques and a few remedies to specific problems that may be encountered.
Chemotherapy and Sphingolipid Metabolism

It is well established that sphingolipids are crucial signal transducers regulating several cellular processes like growth, proliferation, response to stress, differentiation, senescence, autophagy and apoptosis. The critical role of sphingolipids in cancer initiation, progression, pathogenesis and metastasis has led to an expanding interest in developing treatment strategies that perturb native sphingolipid balance towards anti-proliferative and apoptotic signaling by elevating levels of intracellular ceramide. Research has revealed numerous intervention points in the sphingolipid pathway, primarily targeting enzymes of this pathway, that can be exploited alone or in conjunction with chemotherapeutic agents to enhance the effectiveness of current treatment modalities. A multitude of pre-clinical investigations have yielded promising results for treatment with sphingolipid analogs or modulators of sphingolipid metabolism alone or in combination with current cancer therapeutics. This chapter serves to review existing literature on chemotherapy and sphingolipid metabolism with the aim to discuss sphingolipid pathway in the context of cancer therapeutics. We focus on discussing sphingolipid-modulating effects of chemotherapeutic drugs and exploiting potential therapeutic targets in the sphingolipid pathway for effective cancer therapy.
THE USE OF DIRECT NUMERICAL SIMULATION IN THE STUDY OF TURBULENT, CHEMICALLY-REACTING FLOWS

At the present time the role of direct numerical simulation as applied to turbulent, chemically-reacting flows is twofold: to understand the physical processes involved, and to develop and test theories. In this paper we present and example of the former. We employ full turbulence simulations to study the effects of chemical heat release on the large-scale structures in turbulent mixing layers. This work not only aids in understanding this phenomena, but also gives insight into the strengths and limitations of the methodology.
Manoilow's Blood-test for Sex

IN NATURE of Nov. 5, Mr. Perkins makes a valuable contribution to the study of chemical manifestations associated with sex, but he gives an erroneous impression of Dr. Manoilow's work on sex-identification by blood-tests in two respects. (As I am in possession of a recent review of this work by Manoilow himself, which it is hoped to publish soon, I am able to correct these wrong impressions.) In the first place, the workers mentioned by Perkins are mostly disciples, who have merely either applied Manoilow's technique to some additional organisms, or have attempted to reduce the complicated reaction evolved by Manoilow to a simpler one. In the second place, Manoilow worked for some years on the serum of “cows and oxen, horses, cocks and hens,” as well as man, before he published (Wratchebnaia Gazeta (Medical Journal), 15, 21–22; 1923) the earlier accounts of his work on the identification of sex in man and other animals by a biological reaction of the blood.
On the north-south asymmetry in the solar wind

The orientations of tangential discontinuities seen by Mariner 4 are interpreted as implying a sector dependent asymmetry in the north-south component of the solar-wind flow. In two sectors, fast solar wind streams had a southward motion relative to slow streams, in one sector the reverse obtained, and in the remaining sector the asymmetry was not clearly defined. We interpret this as being due to greater pressure in the north hemisphere in two sectors and greater pressure in the south hemisphere in one. It is possible this asymmetry could produce a small average southward magnetic field component.
An Evaluation of the BKB-SIN, HINT, QuickSIN, and WIN Materials on Listeners With Normal Hearing and Listeners With Hearing Loss

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine in listeners with normal hearing and listeners with sensorineural hearing loss the within- and between-group differences obtained with 4 commonly av...
Angiogenesis-like activity of endothelial cells co-cultured with VEGF-producing smooth muscle cells.

A number of strategies have been investigated to improve therapeutic vascularization of ischemic and bioengineered tissues. In these studies, we genetically modified vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) to promote endothelial cell proliferation, migration, and formation of microvascular networks. VSMCs were virally transduced to produce vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which acts as a chemoattractant and mitogen of endothelial cells (EC). VSMCs transduced with VEGF165 cDNA produced significant levels of the protein (2–4 ng/105 cell/day). The proliferation of ECs increased after exposure to VEGF-transfected SMCs or their conditioned media. The chemotactic response of ECs to the VEGF-producing cells was explored in two in vitro systems, the modified Boyden chamber assay and a 2-D fence-style migration assay, and both demonstrated increased migration of ECs in response to VEGF-transfected cells. Furthermore, endothelial cells seeded on top of the VEGF-transfected SMCs formed capillary-like structure...
Contractualism's (not so) slippery slope

Familiar questions about whether or how far to impose risks of harm for social benefit present a fundamental dilemma for contractualist moral theories. If contractualism allows “ex post” objections by considering actual outcomes, it becomes difficult to justify the risks created by most public policy, leaving contractualism at odds with moral commonsense in much the way utilitarianism is. But if contractualism instead takes a fully “ex ante” form by considering only expected outcomes, it becomes unclear how it recommends something other than aggregative cost-benefit decision-making. Focusing on T.M. Scanlon's version, this paper develops this basic choice of interpretation and recommends the ex ante version. The paper explains how contractualism is inconsistent with John Harsanyi–style utilitarianism and how contractualism supplies a principled framework for walking a careful line between the “bad aggregation” characteristic of utilitarianism and the “good aggregation” that is both unavoidable and fully appropriate in public life.
Comparison of performance on the hearing in noise test using directional microphones and digital noise reduction algorithms.

Purpose Difficulty understanding speech in background noise is one of the most common complaints of hearing aid users. In modern hearing aids, directional microphones (d-mics) are considered the me...
Investigation of the Performance of Wireless Location Technology-Based Traffic Monitoring Systems

As transportation agencies seek to better manage and operate the transportation system, there is an increasing need for traffic condition data across the roadway network. Wireless location technology (WLT)-based traffic monitoring offers the opportunity to directly measure link travel times on a significantly larger portion of the roadway system than is currently monitored. In WLT-based monitoring, the locations of wireless devices (such as cellular phones) in vehicles are monitored. A series of these positions are then used to derive vehicle speeds on links, effectively making the wireless devices probes in the traffic stream. While this idea is conceptually appealing, previous field deployments have not been able to successfully implement this concept. This paper describes the results of a study that used simulation to examine the efficacy of WLT-based monitoring systems under various configurations. Two case studies were used to investigate how WLT system design and roadway network configuration impact the overall effectiveness of WLT-based monitoring systems. Conclusions on how these systems should be designed and where they are likely to function best are also included. The results of this paper show that while first-generation WLT-based monitoring systems can be used to monitor relatively simple networks, additional design refinements are needed before they can be used across a broad spectrum of roadway conditions.
Surgical Repair of Anomalous Coronary Arteries Arising from the Opposite Sinus of Valsalva in Infants and Children

BACKGROUND Unroofing of anomalous coronary artery originating from the opposite sinus of Valsalva has become the procedure of choice for this congenital lesion, with surgery performed in children as young as two years old. An increasing number of this anomaly is diagnosed in infancy with no clear indication whether surgical repair should be done in this age group. This paper reviews our experience with this anomaly, and focuses on its surgical management in infants. METHODS Between April 2002 and February 2007, eight patients underwent surgical repair of anomalous coronary artery arising from the opposite sinus of Valsalva and coursing between the aorta and pulmonary artery. Patients' age varied from two months to 28 years with a mean of 11.7 +/- 11.1 years. SURGICAL TECHNIQUE Surgical repair involved unroofing the intramural segment of the anomalous coronary artery using cardiopulmonary bypass. RESULTS Two patients were younger than one year (Group A), and six patients were older than one year (group B). The mean intensive care unit stay was 2.5 +/- 0.7 days for Group A and 2.8 +/- 1.9 for Group B. The mean hospital stay was 4 +/- 1.4 days for Group A and 4.3 +/- 2.4 days for Group B. There was no mortality and no complications. The mean follow-up period is 14 +/- 15.7 months with a range of one to 39 months. At the time of the last follow-up, all patients were asymptomatic in New York Heart Association class I and follow-up echocardiography on six of eight patients showed wide open coronary ostium. CONCLUSION Unroofing the anomalous coronary artery arising from the opposite sinus of valsalva can be done in infants with minimal morbidity and mortality. Longer follow-up is needed to assess long-term results.
Serendipitous Imaging of Space Objects With the Advanced Land Imager

Space based earth observation systems are commonly utilized to monitor the dynamic nature of the earth's temperature, bio-mass distribution, and atmosphere. We present an initial look at utilizing these same assets for monitoring of resident space object (RSO) ephemeris, optical cross section, and in some cases attitude. Our initial approach is a brute force geometric solution utilizing publicly available two-line element (TLE) sets to model both the observation platform sensor's instantaneous field of view and the target object's trajectory. We find the radiometric signature of RSO's observed with these platforms to be highly dependent on the observer's focal plane geometry and collection approach (pushbroom vs. whiskbroom), resulting in various levels of spectral misregistration artifacts that are visually exploited and confirmed by comparison to a simple spectral misregistration model. We also find that the commonly utilized anomaly detection algorithm Rx is excellent for finding the space objects in the pushbroom style collections. We find the collection style of the Advanced Land Imager (a testbed for the next generation LANDSAT platform) has an improved sensitivity to space objects relative to heritage LANDSAT whiskbroom style image collections.
Gender Role Expectations of Disgust: Men are Low and Women are High

Little is known about the gender-based stereotypes of the emotion of disgust. We hypothesized that when addressing core (gross-out) disgust specifically, men would be perceived as lower in disgust matching masculine roles and women would be perceived as higher in disgust consonant with feminine gender roles. In Study 1, we modified and validated the Gender Role Expectations of Pain graphical scale (GREP, Robinson et al. 2001) to address disgust and gave it and a disgust sensitivity scale to 136 (48 men) undergraduates from the northeastern United States. Rating disgust sensitivity of themselves and stereotypical men and women, both genders rated men low in disgust sensitivity compared to a typical woman and women high in disgust compared to a typical man. A significant trend for men higher in masculinity to be less willing to show their disgust was also seen. This exact pattern of significant results was found in an additional sample of 134 students (37 men) from the northeastern U.S. on an online version of the GREP. Study 2 examined gender role expectations for comparison emotions of anger and amusement in a different set of undergraduates from the northeastern U.S. Anger showed a trend toward an opposite pattern of ratings than for disgust; no gender biases were expected or seen for amusement, a control emotion. Thus, the stereotypical profile of high disgust reported for women did not merely reflect general overarching gender-based stereotypes of emotion, but gender-based expectations specific to core (gross-out) disgust. We suggest awareness of gender role expectations of disgust may play a role in observed gender differences reported for disgust.
Partial Purification and Characterization of Ribulose-1,5bisphosphate carboxylase from the Developing Endosperm Tissue of Zea mays L.

Summary Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase was present in the developing endosperm of maize (Zea mays L.). The enzyme was detected by the RuBP dependent fixation of NaHC03. A substantial portion of the enzymic activity was located in the proplastid fraction, as identified by the marker enzymes triosephosphate isomerase and triosephosphate dehydrogenase. The specific activity of Rubisco in crude extracts of endosperm 10 to 15 days postpollination was approximately 6 nmoles C02 fixed min- I mg-1 protein. The activity could be purified 20 fold by precipitation with ammonium sulfate followed by chromatography on Sepharose 4B and DEAE cellulose. The enzyme preparation had a major protein band on 7.5 % polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis which corresponded to that of crystalline tobacco Rubisco. After polyacrylamide disc gel electrophoresis in the presence of SDS, bands were seen at 5.5 x 104 and 1.2 x 104 daltons, suggesting that the enzyme has a quaternary structure identical to that of the enzyme from other higher plants. A metabolic function for this enzyme in this tissue is unlikely in light of its low specific activity and the high activity of PEP carboxylase.
Generation of transgenic Hydra by embryo microinjection.

As a member of the phylum Cnidaria, the sister group to all bilaterians, Hydra can shed light on fundamental biological processes shared among multicellular animals. Hydra is used as a model for the study of regeneration, pattern formation, and stem cells. However, research efforts have been hampered by lack of a reliable method for gene perturbations to study molecular function. The development of transgenic methods has revitalized the study of Hydra biology1. Transgenic Hydra allow for the tracking of live cells, sorting to yield pure cell populations for biochemical analysis, manipulation of gene function by knockdown and over-expression, and analysis of promoter function. Plasmid DNA injected into early stage embryos randomly integrates into the genome early in development. This results in hatchlings that express transgenes in patches of tissue in one or more of the three lineages (ectodermal epithelial, endodermal epithelial, or interstitial). The success rate of obtaining a hatchling with transgenic tissue is between 10% and 20%. Asexual propagation of the transgenic hatchling is used to establish a uniformly transgenic line in a particular lineage. Generating transgenic Hydra is surprisingly simple and robust, and here we describe a protocol that can be easily implemented at low cost.
Magnetic susceptibility and EPR spectra of titanium oxides: Correlation of magnetic parameters with transport properties and composition

Abstract Magnetic susceptibility and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) parameters have been correlated with electrical conductivity and X-ray structural data to elucidate some of the transport properties of a number of the Magne´li phases of the titanium-oxygen system. The concentrations of localized and delocalized electrons at both high and low temperatures are reported, as are estimates of the effective electronic mass. These results have been used to show that the low-temperature conductivity is consistent with a hopping model. For temperatures above the electronic transitions, the mobility and conductivity are reasonably described by assuming combined optical-modephonon and ionized-defect scattering effects. It is suggested that many of the characteristics of the oxides such as the transition temperatures are related to the magnetic exchange energyJ between[Ti3+VoTi4+]+1 centers and the [Ti3+-Ti3+] clusters (with constrained antiferromagnetism) and the composition of the oxides.
Relative Prices and Money: A Vector Autoregression on Brazilian Data

Recent data on Brazilian agricultural prices, industrial prices, and money supply are analyzed in a vector autoregression. The empirical findings show strong, one-way, Granger-type causality from money supply to agricultural prices; while feedback is observed between industrial prices and money supply. Under the usual monetarist ordering of contemporaneous innovation covariance, agricultural prices do not adjust faster than industrial prices to a shock in the money supply.
Plate and bone stresses for single- and double-plated femoral fractures☆

Abstract The lateral to medial distribution of axial stresses in the plate and bone of single- and double-plated femoral fractures was analyzed using composite beam theory and internal force methods. The loading conditions used were consistent with those derived by Rybicki et al. (1972) for the one-legged stance phase of gait. Three situations at the fracture site were examined: (1) no bone contact (e.g. bone defect or severely comminuted fracture), (2) bone contact with bone able to transmit only compressive stresses (e.g. simple transverse fracture), and (3) healed fracture with bone able to transmit tensile and compressive stresses. Results indicated that single plating with an ASIF broad plate on the lateral aspect without bone contact may lead to immediate plate failure. Single-plating with bone contact can cause a 46% reduction in maximum compressive stress in the medial cortex of the bone during gait. Double-plating with no bone contact results in low plate stresses. However, after healing the bone stresses in the double-plate femur are reduced by over 90% compared with the stresses in the unfractured femur.
Mutualism-parasitism paradigm synthesized from results of root-endophyte models.

Plant tissues host a variety of fungi. One important group is the dark septate endophytes (DSE) that colonize plant roots and form characteristic intracellular structures – melanized hyphae and microsclerotia. The DSE associations are common and frequently observed in various biomes and plant taxa. Reviews suggest that the proportion of plant species colonized by DSE equal that colonized by AM and microscopic studies show that the proportion of the root system colonized by fungi DSE can equal, or even exceed, the colonization by AM fungi. Despite the high frequency and suspected ecological importance, the effects of DSE colonization on plant growth and performance have remained unclear. Here, we draw from over a decade of experimentation with the obscure DSE symbiosis and synthesize across large bodies of published and unpublished data from Arabidopsis thaliana and Allium porrum model systems as well as from experiments that use native plants to better resolve the host responses to DSE colonization. The data indicate similar distribution of host responses in model and native plant studies, validating the use of model plants for tractable dissection of DSE symbioses. The available data also permit empirical testing of the environmental modulation of host responses to DSE colonization and refining the “mutualism-parasitism-continuum” paradigm for DSE symbioses. These data highlight the context dependency of the DSE symbioses: not only plant species but also ecotypes vary in their responses to populations of conspecific DSE fungi – environmental conditions further shift the host responses similar to those predicted based on the mutualism-parasitism-continuum paradigm. The model systems provide several established avenues of inquiry that permit more detailed molecular and functional dissection of fungal endophyte symbioses, identifying thus likely mechanisms that may underlie the observed host responses to endophyte colonization.
Degradation of Elastin in Experimental Elastase-Induced Emphysema Measured by a Radioimmunoassay for Desmosine

Experimental emphysema, produced by a single intratracheal injection of elastase in hamsters, progresses in severity over months. To investigate whether this progression is due to continuous elastolysis, we measured the urinary excretion of desmosine by radioimmunoassay (RIA) as a measure of elastin catabolism in vivo. Normal hamsters excreted 1.6 μg of desmosine, equivalent to a daily turnover of approximately 0.4 mg of elastin. During the first 24 hr after injection of 25 units of elastase, excretion of desmosine was increased threefold, rapidly returning to normal over several days. Desmosine excretion was normal after 6 days. Homogenates of lungs from elas-tase-injected hamsters were incubated in vitro, and the release of soluble desmosine was followed by RIA as a measure of the active elastase in the tissue. The method was sufficiently sensitive to detect 0.1 μg of enzyme bound to elastin. Desmosine solubilized in vitro from lungs removed at intervals after elastase injection was 10-fold that of cont...
Communist Moral Corruption and the Redemptive Power of Art in The Lives of Others

Abstract Widespread moral corruption, particularly of the sort fostered by their internal security agencies, was a key feature of communist regimes. The Lives of Others provides a dramatic portrayal of this phenomenon as it occurred in East Germany. The film can appear, given its central story of the moral redemption of a Stasi officer through his becoming intrigued by the lives of artists, to be an overly idealistic or audience-pleasing testament to the humanizing power of art. But the film also reveals the possible moral corruption of the artists. This essay provides a typology of the sorts of moral corruption exemplified by the situations of different characters in the film and shows that the main artist is actually saved from his impending corruption by the Stasi officer's actions. This reciprocal rescue is the key feature of the film's plot; it teaches that while art can undermine and resist totalitarian corruption, it is also susceptible to its snares—especially when it apolitically relies upon its ...
Secular trends of heart failure among US male physicians.

Background Heart failure (HF) remains a major public health issue. Data on long-term trends in the incidence of HF and survival after its onset are limited. Methods A prospective cohort study conducted between 1985 and 2004 in 21906 participants of the Physicians' Health Study I who were alive and free of HF on January 1, 1985. Results After an average follow-up of 16.8 years, a total of 909 incident cases of HF occurred in this cohort. There was no evidence for a substantial change in the incidence rate of HF across the 4 periods ( P for trend .29). From 1985 through 2004, there were 457 deaths among 909 subjects with HF. Compared with the period of 1985 to 1989, the age-adjusted hazard ratio of all-cause mortality after onset of HF was 0.61 (0.46-0.81), 0.37 (0.28-0.48), and 0.10 (0.07-0.15) in the second, third, and fourth period, respectively ( P for trend P for trend Conclusions Over the past 20 years, we observed a lower risk of all-cause mortality after onset of HF whereas no major change in the incidence of HF was seen among US male physicians.
The Underlying Event in Large Transverse Momentum Charged Jet and Z-Boson Production

The authors study the behavior of the underlying event in large transverse momentum charged jet and Z-boson production at 1.8 TeV and compare with the QCD Monte-Carlo models. The data indicate that neither ISAJET or HERWIG produce enough charged particles (with p{sub T} > 0.5 GeV/c) from the beam-beam remnant component and that ISAJET produces too many charged particle from initial-state radiation. PYTHIA which uses multiple parton scattering to enhance the underlying event does the best job describing the data.
The sea inside us: Narrating self, gender, place and history in South African memories of the Hajj

1 How do Muslims in South Africa recount the experience of pilgrimage? This paper considers the genre of oral and written South African hajj narratives and reflects on the insights they hold about Muslim subjectivity and history in South Africa. Pilgrimage is a complex theme, or, as Barbara Cooper (1999) phrases it, ‘the hajj presents an immensely complex “ethnoscope” of human movement of tremendous historical depth’ (p. 103). In this article, I take a literary and historical rather than sociological or quantitative approach to the topic of the hajj and examine one of the earliest published accounts of the hajj from the Cape – that of Hajji Mahmoud Mobarek Churchward, who performed the hajj in 1910, along with oral testimonies about pilgrimage by ship in the 1950s and recently published accounts of pilgrimage by Na’eem Jeenah and Shamima Shaikh (2000), Rayda Jacobs (2005) and Rashid Begg (2011). In my analysis I consider the nature of the self and the voice, the relation of the spiritual to the quotidian,...
Laser direct writing of micro- and nano-scale medical devices

Laser-based direct writing of materials has undergone significant development in recent years. The ability to modify a variety of materials at small length scales and using short production times provides laser direct writing with unique capabilities for fabrication of medical devices. In many laser-based rapid prototyping methods, microscale and submicroscale structuring of materials is controlled by computer-generated models. Various laser-based direct write methods, including selective laser sintering/melting, laser machining, matrix-assisted pulsed-laser evaporation direct write, stereolithography and two-photon polymerization, are described. Their use in fabrication of microstructured and nanostructured medical devices is discussed. Laser direct writing may be used for processing a wide variety of advanced medical devices, including patient-specific prostheses, drug delivery devices, biosensors, stents and tissue-engineering scaffolds.
Cross-linking poly[(vinyl acetate)-co-N-methylolacrylamide] latex adhesive performance part I: N-methylolacrylamide (NMA) distribution

Abstract Three poly[(vinyl acetate)-co-N-methylolacrylamide] (VAc–NMA) latex adhesives were synthesized, each containing the same total amount of NMA. In each of the three co-polymerizations, the NMA was fed into the reactor according to a unique feed profile. NMA distribution in the latexes, as determined via both 13C and 15N variable temperature solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, differed among the three adhesives. When NMA monomer was added via injections (latex I), predominantly surface-NMA (62.7%) was detected, with significant amounts of water-phase NMA (20.8%) and core NMA (16.5%). Delayed NMA injections (latex DI) led to a very high proportion of surface NMA (82.3%) with less core (10.6%) and water-phase NMA (7.1%). A continuous feed of NMA (latex C) gave predominantly core NMA (84.7%), some surface NMA (13.4%) and very little water-phase NMA (1.9%). NMA distribution findings from 15N-NMR and 13C-NMR analyses were consistent.
Promoter binding proteins of an active human L1 retrotransposon.

Abstract Human Long Interspersed elements (LINEs or L1 Hs elements) are a highly repetitive class of DNA sequences which are dispersed by retrotransposition. Full length L1 Hs transcripts and L1-encoded proteins have been shown by others to be present in NTera2Dl and other related teratocarcinoma cell lines. Using standard methods for the identification of DNA binding proteins we identified two proteins or complexes of proteins which specifically bind to the L1 Hs promoter region and are qualitatively different between NTera2D1 and HeLa cell nuclear extracts. These proteins represent candidates for the factors controlling the differential expression of L1 sequences.
A Fourier-transform infrared study of wheat starch gels

Etude de la retrogradation par sdf deconvolution. Variations des spectres avec le temps moins importantes qu'avec l'amidon de mais cireux, dues a la cristallinite moins importante de l'amidon de ble du fait de sa moindre teneur en amylopectine. Interet pour suivre les effets du sechage et la distribution en eau d'hydrates de carbone dans les produits alimentaires
Environmental embrittlement and other causes of brittle grain boundary fracture in Ni3Al

In this paper we review intrinsic and extrinsic sources of grain boundary brittleness in Ni 3 Al. Special attention is given to the recently discovered phenomenon of environmental embrittlement in Ni 3 Al, and how variables such as test enviromment, strain rate, temperature, grain boundary character, and microalloying additions affect ductility and fracture behavior. It is shown that environmental emhrittlement is a major reason for the low ductility of Ni 3 Al in air, consistent with this, ductility is found to increase at high strain rates, cryogenic temperatures, and in environments containing low levels of water vapor. When environmental effects are carefully suppressed, the tensile ductility of Ni 3 Al increases dramatically, indicating that Ni 3 Al is nut as intrinsically brittle as once thought. It is shown that the character of grain boundaries in Ni 3 Al depends strongly on the processing conditions. Some of these processing-related changes appear to be associated also with changes in ductility; however, additional research is needed to understand the detailed connection between the two. The ductilizing effect of boron in Ni 3 Al is shown to be related principally to its role in suppressing environmental embrittlement (partly by slowing down hydrogen diffusion). In addition, B enhances grain boundary strength and suppresses intergranular fracture. Much less is known about the way in which other alloying elements improve ductility. One possibility, which needs additional research, is that they alter the grain boundary character distributions in Ni 3 Al
Some fundamentals of price theory for computer services

Classical microeconomics focuses on the behavior of producers and consumers in a market setting. The behavior of producers is examined in terms of production functions (the relationship of factor inputs to product outputs) and positioning relative to the market. Of particular concern is the effect of firm size and organization on the production functions for its various products. There is a continuing change in the scale of production, differentiation of products, and integration of supply in the search for the most profitable overall strategy.
The ascending gustatory pathway: a Golgi analysis of the medial and lateral parabrachial complex in the adult hamster.

Abstract This study examined the somal areas, dendritic features and orientations of neurons within taste responsive regions of the parabrachial complex, including the “waist” area that spans the brachium conjunctivum. The data were compared with those of a Golgi study of the gustatory zone of the nucleus of the solitary tract. Both fusiform and multipolar neurons were identified. Fusiform neurons had elongated somata that average 205 μm 2 (range: 128–281 μm 2 ) and generally possessed bipolar primary dendrites. Multipolar neurons had a stellate appearance and somal areas that averaged 230 μm 2 (range: 109–443 μm 2 ). These multipolar neurons possessed significantly more primary dendrites than fusiform neurons (4.0 versus 2.9 primary dendrites). Fusiform neurons were uncommon in the medial and lateral regions of the parabrachial complex but predominated in the solitary nucleus. Parabrachial neurons were usually larger and possessed more complex higher-order dendritic arborizations than solitary neurons. Computer-generated three-dimensional rotational analyses failed to demonstrate the strong orientation specificity in parabrachial neurons that characterizes gustatory solitary neurons. These Golgi studies described for the first time the morphological features of pontine neurons that could possibly receive ascending gustatory projections, and the morphological differences between neurons that receive direct peripheral input from taste receptors and the pontine targets of such neurons.
Domain-specific Model Checking Using The Bogor Framework

Model checking has proven to be an effective technology for verification and debugging in hardware and more recently in software domains. We believe that recent trends in both the requirements for software systems and the processes by which systems are developed suggest that domainspecific model checking engines may be more effective than general purpose model checking tools. To overcome limitations of existing tools which tend to be monolithic and non-extensible, we have developed an extensible and customizable model checking framework called Bogor. In this tutorial, we give an overview of (a) Bogor?s direct support for modeling object-oriented designs and implementations, (b) its facilities for extending and customizing its modeling language and algorithms to create domain-specific model checking engines, and (c) pedagogical materials that we have developed to describe the construction of model checking tools built on top of the Bogor infrastructure.
The insignificance of second coordination sphere interactions in cobalt-59 NMR relaxation: A more precise assessment

Abstract Nuclear magnetic resonance longitudinal and transverse relaxation times are reported for the cobalt-59 in tris(ethylenediamine)cobalt(III) ion dissolved in several aqueous solutions of complex anions. For those anions known to form ion pairs with the metal complex, the electric field gradients produced at the cobalt nucleus by the anion in the second coordination sphere are shown to make little if any electrostatic contribution to the cobalt quadrupole relaxation.
Cutting Edge Issues in Goodpasture’s Disease

Goodpasture’s disease, or anti-glomerular basement membrane (anti-GBM) disease, is a systemic autoimmune disorder defined by anti-GBM antibody-mediated damage (mainly immunoglobulin G-1) resulting in progressive crescentic glomerulonephritis and, frequently, diffuse pulmonary alveolar hemorrhage. It may be regarded as a “conformeropathy” where the quaternary structure of the α345NC1 hexamer that constitutes GBM undergoes a conformational change, exposing pathogenic epitopes on the α3 and α5 chains, eliciting a pathogenic autoantibody anti-GBM response. Goodpasture’s disease accounts for 20% of all patients presenting with a pulmonary-renal syndrome and may be associated with detectable perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody positivity in up to a third of patients. Associated triggers may include tobacco smoking, hydrocarbon solvent exposure, and cocaine abuse. Cough, hemoptysis, and dyspnea with fatigue are the commonest presenting features. It is critical to rapidly distinguish Goodpasture’s disease from other causes of pulmonary-renal syndromes such as Wegener’s granulomatosis. Early and intensive treatment with plasmapheresis and immunosuppression with systemic corticosteroids pending results of diagnostic testing, and later cyclophosphamide, is often beneficial, with 90% of patients surviving the acute presentation of Goodpasture’s disease. The need for hemodialysis on initial presentation, a serum creatinine >5 mg/dL, and 50% to 100% crescents on renal biopsy, portend the necessity of long-term hemodialysis. Further elucidation of the molecular pathobiology of Goodpasture’s disease, particularly the regulation of involved antigen-specific T cells, may improve early diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes in this rare but potentially lethal autoimmune disorder.
Comparative analysis of survivin expression in untreated and relapsed canine lymphoma.

Background: Survivin, a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein family, has a dual role in tumor cell proliferative and antiapoptotic pathways. Survivin expression has been shown to be a negative prognostic factor in several cancers of humans, including B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Hypotheses: High survivin expression will be a negative prognostic factor in dogs with lymphoma (LSA) treated with chemotherapy. In addition, survivin expression will be upregulated in relapsed canine LSA when compared with patient-matched, pretreatment biopsies. Animals: Thirty-one client-owned dogs with stage IIIa or IVa LSA. Methods: Retrospective evaluation of survivin immunoreactivity was performed on pretreatment lymph node biopsies and patient-matched samples obtained from dogs at relapse after being treated with an abbreviated CHOP-based protocol. Results: In this population of dogs presenting with stage IIIa or IVa B-cell LSA, those dogs that had high survivin immunoreactivity scores had a significantly (P < .01, hazard ratio = 0.30) shorter median disease-free interval than did dogs with low survivin immunoreactivity scores (171 days versus 321 days, respectively). Survivin immunoreactivity was not significantly different in relapsed canine LSA when compared with patient-matched, pretreatment biopsies. Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Survivin expression is a negative prognostic factor that can predict early treatment failure of dogs that present with stage IIIa or IVa, B-cell LSA when treated with a CHOP-based protocol.
Studies on the specificity of protaminase

Abstract The action of protaminase liberates all C-terminal arginine and lysines from the tryptic digest of α-lactalbumin. Protaminase is inert toward the chymotryptic digest of α-lactalbumin as carboxypeptidase is nonreactive to the tryptic digest of this protein. In accordance with the specificity of carboxypeptidase, the addition of this enzyme to a chymotryptic digest of α-lactalbumin effected a rapid liberation of all the C-terminal tyrosine and phenylalanine together with other amino acids. Protaminase hydrolyzes peptides with C-terminal arginine, lysine, and S-(β-aminoethyl)cysteine, and its action is confined to the liberation of these amino acids. Protaminase and carboxypeptidase-B are identical enzymes.
THE EFFECTS OF PELAGIC HYDROCARBONS ON THE ROCKY INTERTIDAL FLORA AND FAUNA OF BERMUDA

ABSTRACT Over the past decade, the islands of Bermuda have been exposed to an increasing influx of floating pelagic hydrocarbons (“tar balls”). Large quantities of the pelagic tar become stranded on the rocks in the intertidal zone. Tar coverage on the rocks is controlled by the slope of the shore, with the maximum amount accumulating on gently sloping or flat shores. The tar is deposited almost exclusively in the splash zone, and, therefore, the only animals directly affected by the attached tar are those who inhabit and/or feed in this zone. Chemical analyses show that the snails, Nodilittorina tuberculatus and Tectarius muricatus, which live in the splash zone, have the highest hydrocarbon content in body tissue of all animals analyzed. In contrast, all animals sampled from immediately adjacent tide pools contained no petrogenic hydrocarbons. The most abundant life in the intertidal zone is concentrated below this splash zone area of tar accumulation. With few exceptions, the animals from this zone hav...
Understanding high-pressure gas-liquid interface phenomena in Diesel engines

Abstract Injection of liquid fuel (or oxidizer in the case of liquid rockets) in systems where the working fluid exceeds the thermodynamic critical condition of the liquid phase is not well understood. Under some conditions when operating pressures exceed the liquid phase critical pressure, surface tension forces become diminished so that the classical low-pressure gas-liquid interface is replaced by a diffusion dominated mixing layer. These two extremes have been well recognized in the liquid rocket community for years. In other systems, however, the significance of surface tension forces is not clear. Here we focus on this topic in the context of Diesel engine fuel injection processes. We derive a coupled model to obtain a theoretical analysis that quantifies under what conditions the interfacial dynamics transition between the classical non-continuum “jump” conditions associated with two phase flows and a continuous gas-liquid interfacial diffusion layer. We present high-speed imaging from the Sandia non-reacting n-dodecane experiment that provides corroborating evidence that continuous gas-liquid interfacial mixing dynamics occur at high-pressure Diesel engine conditions. At constant chamber density and supercritical fuel pressures, liquid structures affected by surface tension such as ligaments and drops develop at low ambient temperatures. But at engine-relevant high-temperature conditions, a different, more diffusive mixture preparation process without measurable fuel drops is found. These two conditions are studied using our model. It applies a real-fluid model that accounts for the relevant thermodynamic non-ideal multicomponent mixture states in the system and combines this with Linear Gradient Theory, which facilitates the calculation of the detailed vapor–liquid interfacial structure. At high ambient temperature, our model shows interfaces with substantially increased thicknesses in comparison to the low temperature condition. Our analysis reveals that gas-liquid interfacial diffusion layers develop, contrary to conventional wisdom, not necessarily because of vanishing surface tension forces, but because of the combination of a reduction in mean free molecular path and broadening interfaces, which then enter the continuum length scale regime. Then, instead of inter-molecular forces, transport processes dominate.
The Art and Science of Customer-Choice Modeling: Reflections, Advances, and Managerial Implications

Customer-choice models continue to improve, allowing hospitality companies to do an ever-improving job of dialing-in customer benefits for more profitable and sustainable operation.
Monitoring biological aerosols using UV fluorescence

An apparatus has been designed and constructed to continuously monitor the number density, size, and fluorescent emission of ambient aerosol particles. The application of fluorescence to biological particles suspended in the atmosphere requires laser excitation in the UV spectral region. In this study, a Nd:YAG laser is quadrupled to provide a 266 nm wavelength to excite emission from single micrometer-sized particles in air. Fluorescent emission is used to continuously identify aerosol particles of biological origin. For calibration, biological samples of Bacillus subtilis spores and vegetative cells, Esherichia coli, Bacillus thuringiensis and Erwinia herbicola vegetative cells were prepared as suspensions in water and nebulized to produce aerosols. Detection of single aerosol particles, provides elastic scattering response as well as fluorescent emission in two spectral bands simultaneously. Our efforts have focuses on empirical characterization of the emission and scattering characteristics of various bacterial samples to determine the feasibility of optical discrimination between different cell types. Preliminary spectroscopic evidence suggest that different samples can be distinguished as separate bio-aerosol groups. In addition to controlled sample results, we will also discuss the most recent result on the effectiveness of detection outdoor releases and variations in environmental backgrounds.
Sorting Out Frontotemporal Dementia

Mutations within the granulin (GRN) gene that encodes progranulin (PGRN) cause the neurodegenerative disease frontotemporal lobar degeneration with ubiquitin inclusions (FTLD-U). The receptor for PGRN in the CNS has not been previously identified. In this issue of Neuron, Hu and colleagues identify Sortilin (SORT1) as a key neuronal receptor for PGRN that facilitates its endocytosis and regulates PGRN levels in vitro and in vivo.
Prioritizing Zoonoses: A Proposed One Health Tool for Collaborative Decision-Making

Emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases pose a threat to both humans and animals. This common threat is an opportunity for human and animal health agencies to coordinate across sectors in a more effective response to zoonotic diseases. An initial step in the collaborative process is identification of diseases or pathogens of greatest concern so that limited financial and personnel resources can be effectively focused. Unfortunately, in many countries where zoonotic diseases pose the greatest risk, surveillance information that clearly defines burden of disease is not available. We have created a semi-quantitative tool for prioritizing zoonoses in the absence of comprehensive prevalence data. Our tool requires that human and animal health agency representatives jointly identify criteria (e.g., pandemic potential, human morbidity or mortality, economic impact) that are locally appropriate for defining a disease as being of concern. The outcome of this process is a ranked disease list that both human and animal sectors can support for collaborative surveillance, laboratory capacity enhancement, or other identified activities. The tool is described in a five-step process and its utility is demonstrated for the reader.
Extendible-energy synchrotrons

Abstract Synchrotron guide-field arrangements have been developed that provide for a convinient and economical later increase in energy by the addition of components omitted in the initial construction. Criteria for the design of such an accelerator include new considerations such as emphasis on small circumference to reduce initial costs and on magnet configurations for both stages that have similar orbit behavior and that require little realignment of replacement of the original magnets in the conversion. Space added for future components might also be useful to improve the accelerator in other directions. Thus, at modest cost, the initial layout would afford, in addition to specific provision for conversion to higher energy, a more general flexibility for response to future needs and exploitation of future technology.
The distribution of preferred orientations in the peripheral visual field.

Orientation discrimination was measured for line targets in the fovea and in locations along four meridians (vertical, horizontal, 45° and 135°) in the peripheral visual field. In all locations, the performance for vertical and horizontal contours was on average almost twice as good as for oblique ones. In addition, especially in peripheral locations along oblique meridians, thresholds tend to be better for radially-oriented contours compared to tangential ones. These effects are robust to length of the test lines and to small changes in position and cannot therefore be due to cortical singularities (pinwheels). The results suggest that the advantage of horizontal and vertical contours, as well as possibly of radial ones, is a manifestation of a characteristic structural property of the organization of the visual pathway.