cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Locality-based computing

Summary form only given. The shift to multi-core processors is having a dramatic effect on the way we design systems and the software that runs on them. It is true that the vast majority of software is not multi-threaded and thus does not take full advantage of the new platform. It is also true that there is a gap in software development skills, techniques, and tools to exploit the multicore platform. So whatpsilas there to talk about? The short-term focus is on using virtualization to get the most out of the platform. Up to now this has meant workload consolidation, especially for development and QA. Some but not all workloads have been candidates. 2009 appears to the year this changes. Technologies like Nehalem/QuickPath, Montreal/HT3, PCI Express gen2 (x8/x16), SR-IOV/Multi-Queue NICs, and SSD/Flash will show-up in the scale-out server market next year. This talk will focus on how these will be combined and the impact the resultant platform will have on computational finance.
Buried interface modification using supercritical carbon dioxide

Chemical modification of the buried interfaces between silicon wafers and either polystyrene or poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) with the reagent (tridecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrooctyl)dimethylchlorosilane (FDCS) was studied using liquid and supercritical carbon dioxide as the solvent and infusing agent. Above the critical point of CO2, FDCS reacts with surface silanols at the SiO2/polystyrene interface to form a monolayer, which was analyzed after removal of the polystyrene film. This is not the case below the critical point, and likely the lower diffusivity and solvent properties of the CO2-swollen film are the causes. The reaction was much less successful at the SiO2/PMMA interface. We suspect that because of strong hydrogen bonding between PMMA and the silicon substrate, modification of the SiO2/PMMA interface is achieved to only a limited extent.
Condensed-matter physics: Superfluidity in the picture

Strongly interacting atomic Fermi gases — useful models for many other exotic forms of matter — enter a superfluid state at low temperatures. The first direct observation of that transition has been made.
Partners in imprinting: noncoding RNA and polycomb group proteins.

Establishment of genomic imprints during early development involves concerted epigenetic mechanisms. Two recent studies by Terranova et al. (in this issue of Developmental Cell ) and Pandey et al. (in a recent issue of Molecular Cell ) have demonstrated that Polycomb group proteins (PcG) and the Kcnq1ot1 regulatory RNA, respectively, are indispensable for gene- and lineage-specific chromatin modification and compaction of the paternally imprinted Kcnq1 cluster.
Nonrobustness in one-sample Z and t tests: A large-scale sampling study

For each of the N-values 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, and 1,024, 50,000 samples of size N were drawn from an L-shaped population, and for each sample the Z and t statistics were calculated. The resulting distributions of 50,000 Z or t values at each sample size were then used to study the robustness of left-tailed, right-tailed, and two-tailed Z and t tests at α levels of.05,.01, and.001 (and, for Z only,.0001). The actually obtained proportion, ρ, of Type I errors was often far greater or far smaller than the nominal proportion, α. Furthermore, although α is the expected value of ρ at infinite N, no N-value below 512 ever brought the deviation of p from α to within 10% of α for any t tests or one-tailed Z tests.
Clinical characteristics of patients with exercise-induced ST-segment elevation without prior myocardial infarction.

Background Exercise-induced ST-segment elevation is a relatively uncommon problem and occurs more frequently in patients who have had a myocardial infarction. Data is limited on the characteristics of Taiwanese patients without prior myocardial infarction who develop exercise-induced ST-segment elevation. Methods and Results Exercise-induced ST-segment elevation developed in 9 of 6,147 consecutive patients without myocardial infarction who underwent treadmill exercise testing at out institution over a 4-year period. The clinical and angiographic characteristics of these patients were studied. Angiographically normal coronary arteries with coronary vasospasm were found in 5 patients, hemodynamically significant coronary stenosis was found in 3 patients, and coexisting spasm in angiographically normal coronary arteries combined with hemodynamically significant coronary stenosis in the different vessel was found in 1 patient. During a median follow-up of 71 months, 2 patients with coronary vasospasm developed recurrent angina after self-discontinuation of calcium antagonists and 2 patients (1 with coronary vasospasm and 1 with hemodynamically significant coronary stenosis) died of cardiac causes before arrival at the emergency department. Conclusion Coronary vasospasm was a more common underlying pathology of exercise-induced ST-segment elevation in this Taiwanese cohort. Coronary angiography ± intracoronary ergonovine provocation testing is necessary in these patients to identify the underlying pathology and appropriate treatment. (Circ J 2006; 70: 254 - 261)
Rapid point-of-care detection of the tuberculosis pathogen using a BlaC-specific fluorogenic probe

Early diagnosis of tuberculosis can dramatically reduce both its transmission and the associated death rate. The extremely slow growth rate of the causative pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), however, makes this challenging at the point of care, particularly in resource-limited settings. Here we report the use of BlaC (an enzyme naturally expressed/secreted by tubercle bacilli) as a marker and the design of BlaC-specific fluorogenic substrates as probes for Mtb detection. These probes showed an enhancement by 100-200 times in fluorescence emission on BlaC activation and a greater than 1,000-fold selectivity for BlaC over TEM-1 β-lactamase, an important factor in reducing false-positive diagnoses. Insight into the BlaC specificity was revealed by successful co-crystallization of the probe/enzyme mutant complex. A refined green fluorescent probe (CDG-OMe) enabled the successful detection of live pathogen in less than ten minutes, even in unprocessed human sputum. This system offers the opportunity for the rapid, accurate detection of very low numbers of Mtb for the clinical diagnosis of tuberculosis in sputum and other specimens.
Some influences on the realization of for and four in American English

Words in fluent speech frequently differ from their citation forms. This paper investigates some factors influencing the realization of the preposition for and the number four. Realizations of these words in read and spontaneous speech show that instead of viewing function words as having discrete weak, strong, or even intermediate allomorphs, a continuum resulting from gestural interaction better represents the facts. In the speech examined here, numerous factors influence different aspects of the realization of for and four. The duration of the onset /f/ is affected by the preceding prosodic boundary while the duration and composition of the rime is affected by foot structure and segmental content. The preposition exhibits extreme reduction possibilities not seen in the number. In even this small set of studies, the read and spontaneous speech highlight different generalizations, pointing out the need to examine both kinds of speech. While this paper cannot locate all factors responsible for the variation in these words, it begins to unravel some of them and their effects on different portions of function words.
Economic and psychologic costs for maternal caregivers of gastrostomy-dependent children

Objective To examine the economic and psychologic costs of care provided by maternal caregivers to children with gastrostomy tube (GT) feedings. Study design We conducted a 3-site study of primary maternal caregivers of 101 chronically ill children, with (n = 50) and without (n = 51) enteral nutrition support by GT to determine the time spent providing technical care, nontechnical care, and health care management and to assess depressive mood and quality of life. Associated costs were determined. Results Caregivers spent 339.7 ± 34.1 (SEM) min/d to provide all care. Children with a GT required more than twice as much care time as children without a GT: 484.5 ± 54.6 versus 197.8 ± 30.6 min/d (P Conclusions Use of a GT for enteral nutrition support is associated with significant increased care time by the primary caregiver but not at additional psychologic cost compared with caring for chronically ill children.
Spectroscopic determination of the phase composition and temperature of nitrogen ice on Triton

Laboratory spectra of the first overtone band (2.1480 microns, 4655.4 reciprocal cm) of solid nitrogen show additional structure at 2.1618 microns (4625.8 reciprocal cm) over a limited temperature range. The spectrum of Neptune's satellite Triton shows the nitrogen overtone band as well as the temperature-sensitive component. The temperature dependence of this band may be used in conjunction with ground-based observations of Triton as an independent means of determining the temperature of surface deposits of nitrogen ice. The surface temperature of Triton is found to be 38.0 +2.0 or -1.0 K, in agreement with previous temperature estimates and measurements. There is no spectral evidence for the presence of alpha-nitrogen on Triton's surface, indicating that there is less than 10 percent carbon monoxide in solid solution with the nitrogen on the surface.
Failure analysis of an EDC incinerator quench nozzle

Abstract The quench nozzles (Hastelloy C-276) installed in the firebox of an incinerator in the EDC unit of a Saudi petrochemical plant experienced frequent premature failures. One damaged quench nozzle (male and female parts), therefore, was investigated by chemical analysis, optical microscopy, and EDS techniques in order to find out the cause and preventive solutions. The study indicates that the quench nozzle was corroded likely due to hydrochloric acid (HCl) formed in the hot service following the failure of the refractory lining. The presence of both moisture and chloride (from EDC) made HCl formation possible. Upgrading the construction material to Alloy C-59 is recommended. Alternatively, ceramic coatings of SiC can be applied.
Mitochondrial disorders and the eye

Purpose of review Mitochondrial disease is a heterogeneous group of energy metabolism disorders that present across all ages with a wide range of ocular or multisystemic manifestations. This review focuses on recent progress made toward understanding the various ophthalmologic manifestations of primary mitochondrial diseases and discusses the implications of mitochondrial dysfunction, placing particular emphasis on recent investigations into the pathogenesis and emerging therapies for mitochondrial-based ophthalmologic disorders. Recent findings Novel pathogenic mitochondrial DNA mutations continue to be detected in diverse ethnic populations for primary mitochondrial ophthalmologic disorders that commonly affect the optic nerve, retina, and extraocular muscles. Promising antioxidant and gene therapy approaches are being actively investigated to treat these ophthalmologic manifestations, as in Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy. Mitochondrial dysfunction is also increasingly implicated in common ophthalmologic disorders of aging, including diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, and glaucoma. Several proteins recently recognized to play a role in the mitochondrial oxidative stress response within retinal cells, such as prohibitin and MMP2, may serve as novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for common ophthalmologic disorders. Therapies that inhibit mitochondrial function and induce apoptosis within tumor cells, such as EDL-155 and curcumin, may offer novel therapeutic agents for ocular neoplasms such as retinoblastoma and uveal melanoma. Summary Primary mitochondrial genetic disease manifestations can involve almost all aspects of the eye. Mitochondrial dysfunction is increasingly recognized as playing a causative role in the common ophthalmologic disorders in aging. This understanding has unleashed a range of emerging therapeutic approaches for mitochondrial-based ophthalmologic disorders directed at optimizing mitochondrial function.
Visibility curves at 10 um wavelength for stars with dust shells

With the Infrared Spatial Interferometer, a two-element heterodyne interferometer operating at Mt. Wilson, California, in the atmospheric window near 10 microns, a total of 19 infrared sources have been observed. Visibility curves of about 5 percent fractional accuracy and a preliminary analysis of the data for the late-type stars Alpha Orionis, IRC + 10216, and O micron Ceti. For IRC + 10216, the data imply that the dust must be closer to the star (not farther than 2.5 stellar radii) and hotter (about 1400 K) than previously thought. Also observed are changes as large as about 60 percent in the visibility of IRC + 10216 with the phase of the stellar pulsation cycle, which imply that, as the star cools, the dust at larger radii cools off and could be as close to the star as about 1.7 stellar radii. The optical depth of the dust at 11 microns must be close to unity. The data for Omicron Ceti show similar behavior implying the presence of dust also at approximately 2.5 stellar radii and as hot as 1770 K, with an optical depth of 0.05. The visibility curve for Alpha Orionis is much simpler and is consistent with the 63 percent of the flux coming from the star, with very little dust inside a radius of 0.8 arcsec.
Distributed area coverage using robot flocks

We consider the problem of distributed, autonomous area coverage using a team of mobile mini-robots that have limited sensing and computation capabilities. Specifically, we investigate the following hypothesis - can mini-robots organized in small teams improve the efficiency of area coverage as compared to area coverage using robots that are not organized as teams? We envisage that team formation for mini-robots can be realized through simple, nature-inspired formation control algorithms such as flocking. We provide coordination mechanisms between robots that allow the robots forming a team to dynamically correct their relative position and move in formation, as well as, to dynamically adapt their position and orientation on encountering an obstacle. We have extensively tested our formation control mechanism and area coverage algorithm using accurate models of e-puck robots within the Webots robot simulator, as well as on physical e-puck robots. Our results indicate that our team-based area coverage technique achieves comparable coverage with lower overhead with respect to other distributed area coverage mechanisms for mini-robots.
Raman spectroscopy and vibrational analyses of albite: From 25 °C through the melting temperature

Raman spectra were collected for crystalline albite from 25 °C to above the 1118 °C melting temperature, where vibrational assignments for the crystal spectra were determined by lattice dynamics (LD). The Raman spectra and associated vibrational assignments are reported for triclinic albite (NaAlSi3O8) at 25 °C and monoclinic albite at 1060 °C. The 25 °C calculations determined that localized T-O stretch and O-T-O bend modes are above 900 cm –1 (where T = Si,Al), while motions from the aluminosilicate tetrahedral cage mixed with Na displacements occur in modes as high as 814 cm –1 . Vibrational modes for the most prominent peaks in the spectrum, between 350 and 550 cm –1 , are dominated by four-membered tetrahedral ring deformations. For completeness, calculated infrared mode frequencies and their atomic displacements are reported for the 25 °C structure and compared with normal mode calculation results and observed infrared mode frequencies presented by von Stengel (1977). At higher temperatures, modes above 550 cm –1 broaden and shift to lower frequencies by 15 to 27 cm –1 ; modes below 550 cm –1 broaden, but experience little, if any frequency shifts. Albite melted sluggishly, was completely liquid at 1320 °C, and remained amorphous upon cooling to room temperature. At frequencies above 550 cm –1 , the crystalline albite peaks, and possibly their vibrational assignments, can be correlated to Raman bands for albite glass. Spectral differences below 550 cm –1 between crystal and glass correspond to changes of average tetrahedral ring type upon melting, as shown by Taylor and Brown (1979).
Political periodicals in policy formation

This is an ethnographic report on a conference entitled “The Politics of Publishing” which featured editors and writers from leading magazines and journals of political opinion. The aim of the conference was to articulate the intellectual ground on which each publication is predicated. A further goal of these observations was to seek out a common ground, a consensual series of assumptions, that permits such journals and their leading participants to flourish amidst conflict and opposing viewpoints. The article is less a study of the relationship of knowledge and policy, as such, as much as it is a study of the weaker forms of these terms, namely, information and ideology. These remarks are thus intended as a contribution to the elite impact on mass public opinion at one level, and the cornucopia of political ideas at a somewhat more abstract level.
Assessing the public health impact of state health benefit mandates.

Objective To document the process used in assessing the public health impact of proposed health insurance benefit mandates in California as part of the California Health Benefits Review Program (CHBRP) to serve as a guide for other states interested in incorporating a public health impact analysis into their state mandated benefit review process.
Selective dual nuclear scanning in low-risk patients with chest pain to reliably identify and exclude acute coronary syndromes

Abstract Study Objective: We sought to determine the use in routine clinical practice of selective dual nuclear cardiac scanning (rest and stress) in low-risk patients with chest pain for identifying and excluding acute coronary syndromes (ACSs) during the initial emergency department evaluation. Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted over 13 months in 1,775 low-risk patients with chest pain who had intermediate- and high-risk ACSs ruled out by means of our 2-hour protocol, which consists of automated serial 12-lead ECG monitoring in conjunction with baseline and 2-hour creatine kinase (CK) MB and troponin I (cTnI) measurements. At the completion of the 2-hour evaluation period, low-risk patients were stratified by means of physician judgment into 1 of 2 categories: category III, possible ACS; and category IV, probable non-ACS chest pain. Level III patients underwent immediate dual nuclear scanning (rest thallium and stress sestamibi scanning), and level IV patients were discharged directly from the ED unless another serious non-ACS medical condition was thought to exist. Rest and stress scans were interpreted by a board-certified radiologist contemporaneous with patient evaluation. All patients were followed up for 30-day ACS, which was defined as acute myocardial infarction, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty/coronary artery bypass grafting, coronary arteriography revealing stenosis of the major coronary artery of 70% or greater not amenable to percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty/coronary artery bypass grafting, life-threatening complication, or cardiac death within 30 days of ED presentation. Results: A total of 2,206 ED patients with chest pain were evaluated for ACS during the study period. Four hundred thirty-one patients were excluded for having 1 or more of the following findings: initial ECG diagnostic of injury; baseline CK-MB level, cTnI level, or both diagnostic of acute myocardial infarction; 2-hour ΔCK-MB level of +1.5 ng/mL or greater; 2-hour ΔcTnI level of +0.2 ng/mL or greater; injury or new or evolving ischemia on serial 12-lead ECG monitoring; or clinical diagnosis of ACS. Of the 1,775 study patients, 805 (45.4%) underwent immediate dual nuclear scanning. A positive stress nuclear scan result was more sensitive (97.3% versus 71.2%, P P Conclusion: Stress nuclear scanning is more sensitive and specific than resting nuclear scanning for identification of ACS in low-risk patients with chest pain. A strategy of using selective dual nuclear scanning once high- and intermediate-risk ACS has been ruled out with our 2-hour evaluation both reliably identifies and reliably excludes 30-day ACS. [Fesmire FM, Hughes AD, Stout PK, Wojcik JF, Wharton DR. Selective dual nuclear scanning in low-risk patients with chest pain to reliably identify and exclude acute coronary syndromes. Ann Emerg Med. September 2001;38:207-215.]
FATIGUE UNDER OUT‐OF‐PHASE BENDING AND TORSION

Test data on fatigue under out-of-phase bending and torsion has been reanalysed. For the materials tested failure has been found to be consistent with the plane of maximum range of maximum range of maximum principal stress, as for the in-phase case. The critical shear planes are assumed to be those associated with this principal stress plane. A multiaxial fatigue damage parameter based on the maximum range of shear stress on the critical shear plane allowing for the effect of the range of normal stress occurring on this plane has been used to develop a proposed set of design curves for in-phase bending and torsion which are conservative for the long life out-of-phase case.
Identification and characterization of CRG-L2, a new marker for liver tumor development

Liver cancer is very common worldwide and the rates of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have increased by over 70% in the last 2 decades in the US. Late diagnosis, because of the lack of clinical symptoms, and decreased hepatic function, because of underlying hepatic disease, lead to the extremely high mortality rates associated with HCC. Clearly, the identification of markers that are expressed early in the development of HCC and that are easily detected in high-risk patients would aid in early diagnosis and increased survival. We present the cloning and characterization of a novel gene, CRG-L2 (Cancer related gene-Liver 2), which displays high expression in murine and human hepatocellular carcinomas. Using in situ hybridization, we show that CRG-L2 mRNA levels are increased early during the development of liver tumors in C3H/HeJ mice, and that in normal tissues CRG-L2 mRNA is restricted to the murine testis and human placenta. Its restricted expression in normal tissues and unique early upregulation during tumor development make CRG-L2 an excellent candidate as a new clinical marker of HCC.
The Rental Market in Early Imperial Rome

In Rome of the early empire, most of the residential population lived in rented apartments (cenacula). Only the privileged few could afford single-family dwellings; the character of this minority is vividly illustrated in Juvenal's famous line on Nero's persecutions: ‘rarus venit in cenacula miles’ (10. 18). Almost all of the non-privileged many, if they could afford accommodation, were obliged to dwell in buildings that they did not own, in exchange for rent that our sources agree was exorbitantly high.However, not everyone in the tenant class was on equal footing, despite recent suggestions to the contrary. The range of accommodation regularly available to the urban masses was, as will be shown below, quite varied, though this range was often effectively limited by the wealth and other social characteristics of the prospective tenant. The rental market of Rome can be reconstructed from three kinds of sources: literary references to rental; the types of rental situations described in legal texts; and the archaeological remains of apartment houses, particularly those in Ostia. These sources converge to suggest a model of the urban rental market that is rather more complex than the one which has appeared in recent scholarship. It must be stressed, however, that the new model suggested below is still just a model, and that variations from it must have been numerous. For instance, no ancient authority conclusively demonstrates that a lease like the typical modern American lease (an apartment taken on a year term for exclusive occupancy of the tenant and his dependants, with monthly payment in advance and many services supplied by the landlord) was legally impossible in antiquity, or was not in fact developed; but the Roman leases actually described in the extant sources are markedly different, and the ruins of Ostian apartment houses seem to accord well with the leases to which these sources refer.
Toward a System for Automatic Extraction of Low-Order Models for Magnetic Devices

A system for automatic extraction of low-order models for magnetic devices, such as inductors, transformers and electric machines, is presented. The physics-based models, derived by mathematical approaches starting from established physical principles, are constructed without ad-hoc assumption. Then, low-order models are mathematically extracted by using order-reduction techniques with quantifiable error bounds. Simple, rapid-to-simulate mathematical models are achieved and ready to be integrated into system-level simulation circuits
The Behavior of Normality when Iteratively Finding the Normal to a Line in an lp Geometry

The normal direction to the normal direction to a line in Minkowski geometries generally does not give the original line. We show that in lp geometries with p>1 repeatedly finding the normal line through the origin gives sequences of lines that monotonically approach specific lines of symmetry of the unit circle. Which lines of symmetry that are approached depends upon the value of p and the slope of the initial line.
THE PHOTOCHEMICAL QUANTUM YIELD FOR THE SELF‐SENSITIZED PHOTOOXIDATION OF BILIRUBIN. EVIDENCE FOR OXYGEN‐INDUCED INTERSYSTEM CROSSING AT HIGH OXYGEN CONCENTRATIONS

— The in vitro self-sensitized photooxygenation of bilirubin has been studied as a function of oxygen and bilirubin concentrations in a variety of solvents. The results which have been interpreted in terms of a singlet oxygen reaction indicate bilirubin triplet yields of 0.05–0.08 and further show that oxygen induced intersystem crossing is appreciable at high oxygen concentrations. The results also show that the quantum efficiency of the photochemical reaction would be of the order of 1% at the bilirubin and oxygen concentrations typical for the in vivo treatment of neonatal jaundice.
In Vitro Studies of the gam Gene Product of Bacteriophage λ

About six years have elapsed since it was established that the recB and recC genes of Escherichia coli specify a complex DNase-ATPase, the RecBC enzyme. Although this enzyme has been extensively purified, and a great deal is known of its catalytic properties and its preference for certain forms of DNA in vitro, its biochemical activity in vivo is still unknown. However, considerable evidence has accumulated indicating that this enzyme is antagonistic to the normal pathway for phage λ DNA replication, and that as a consequence, phage λ has evolved a means to regulate the RecBC enzyme.
The impact of NMOSFET hot-carrier degradation on CMOS analog subcircuit performance

This study presents some of the first experimental data on the impact of NMOSFET hot-carrier-induced degradation on CMOS analog subcircuit performance. Because of circuit design requirements, most NMOSFET's used for analog applications are biased in the saturation region with a low gate-to-source voltage. Under such operating conditions, in addition to interface states, significant numbers of hole traps are also generated inside the gate oxide. Because acceptor-type interface states are mostly unoccupied in the saturation region, hole traps are found to have a much more significant impact on analog NMOSFET device performance. The hot-carrier-induced degradation of analog subcircuit performance is also found to be quite sensitive to the particular circuit design and operating conditions. Circuit performance and reliability tradeoffs are examined. >
Informational property: Logorights

Abstract This article was originally my half of a November, 1983 debate, at a supper club meeting of Los Angeles-area libertarians, on the question “Is Copyright A Natural Right?” I revised my debate presentation for publication as a booklet published on December 2, 1983, under the title Toward a Natural Rights Theory of Logoright and, on March 16, 1989, for on-line publication through the Connected Education Library,1 but it is still helpful to understand that these arguments are largely directed to libertarians who already agree with the fundamental concepts of natural rights, or at the very least presume a sympathy with libertarian and natural rights philosophy and philosophers. It is generally thought that discussion of rights is a political or ethical issue. In fact, the argument must begin at the level of basic epistemological and metaphysical premises and proceed from there. Antebellum debates on slavery hinged on the question of whether Blacks were People, thereby having rights, or whether Blacks were only animals, and therefore could be the property of People. Political analyses were being made by Southerners in which they attempted to demonstrate that, economically, slavery was good because it benefited the Southern economy. And even moral debates hinged on the metaphysical question: if slaves weren't people, but were animals, then what could be morally wrong in owning them? It did no good to discuss the morality or economics of slavery until one had arrived at the simple metaphysical fact that skin color does not definitively answer the question: What is a Human Being? Moral and political questions often hinge on such differing perceptions of reality. This is one reason such discussions are often so heated: differing premises at these levels will make one question the sanity and logical faculties of someone who disagrees with one's own obvious conclusions. The feeling for someone who has a divergent vision of reality is: “He must be blind or crazy if he can't see something as clear as daylight!” So it is that on an issue involving “rights,” one feels an opponent is not merely wrong, but unbelievably wrong. Even among professed advocates (and practitioners, one hopes) of reason, it makes it hard to understand how one who disagrees can be so obstinate on so easy a question. That there are disagreements about natural rights even among strict advocates of them proves that the question is harder than we might have originally thought. Therefore, let advocates of human rights not trade insults, but get down to the business at hand, which is establishing the premises from which we're arguing. Then one can either see whether our views are fundamentally incommunicable to another, or find basic agreements and proceed from there.
SYNTHESIS OF POLYPEPTIDE MODELS OF COLLAGEN

The synthesis of several sequential oligomer models of collagen is reported. Polytripeptides H(-Pro-Gly-Leu-)n OH, H(-Pro-Gly-Phe-)n OH, H(-Pro-Sar-Gly-)n OH, H-(-Sar-Pro-Gly-)n-OH, H(-Pro-Gly-Val-)n OH and H(-Gly-Val-Pro-)n OH were synthesized by the active ester method. Preliminary fractionation and mol.wt. determination showed typical gaussian distributions. Good yields were obtained in the mol.wt. range of 4,000–6,000, except in the case of H(-Pro-Sar-Gly-)n OH which yielded molecular weights over 20,000.
Rate-pressure product correlates poorly with myocardial oxygen consumption during anaesthesia in coronary patients

In 26 patients having coronary grafts, haemodynamics, coronary sinus blood flow and the arterio-coronary, sinus difference of oxygen content were determined, awake and at four intervals during morphine-oxygen or halothane-oxygen anaesthesia. Rate-pressure product (RPP), triple product (TP) and myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2) were calculated. The correlation of the two indirect indices to MVO2 were tested by repeated measures and regression analyses. No significant correlations were seen at four of five study times, when outlying data points were appropriately excluded. A pitfall of using more than one data point from each patient in the linear regression analysis is pointed out. In addition to the lack of correlation of RPP to MVO2, RPP was an imprecise predictor of myocardial lactate production and of postoperative infarction.
Genome-wide views of chromatin structure

Eukaryotic genomes are packaged into a nucleoprotein complex known as chromatin, which affects most processes that occur on DNA. Along with genetic and biochemical studies of resident chromatin proteins and their modifying enzymes, mapping of chromatin structure in vivo is one of the main pillars in our understanding of how chromatin relates to cellular processes. In this review, we discuss the use of genomic technologies to characterize chromatin structure in vivo, with a focus on data from budding yeast and humans. The picture emerging from these studies is the detailed chromatin structure of a typical gene, where the typical behavior gives insight into the mechanisms and deep rules that establish chromatin structure. Important deviation from the archetype is also observed, usually as a consequence of unique regulatory mechanisms at special genomic loci. Chromatin structure shows substantial conservation from yeast to humans, but mammalian chromatin has additional layers of complexity that likely relate to the requirements of multicellularity such as the need to establish faithful gene regulatory mechanisms for cell differentiation.
AM-FM Image Analysis Using the Hilbert Huang Transform

This paper explores the incorporation of the two dimensional (2D) empirical mode decomposition, which is used in the Hilbert-Huang Transform, into a meaningful AM-FM image model framework. A virtue of the empirical mode decomposition is that it decomposes a non-stationary signal into stationary intrinsic mode functions and a residue signal. The empirical mode decomposition attempts to produce intrinsic mode functions that are stationary and a residue function that is dominated by piecewise monotonic functions. When considering image pixel values as produced from a non-stationary process, the 2D empirical mode decomposition shows promise as a precursor step in determining AM-FM components where stationarity is needed.
Paleozoic (Cambrian through Devonian) anoxitropic biotopes

Berry, W. B. N., Wilde, P. and Quinby-Hunt, M.S., 1989. Paleozoic (Cambrian through Devonian) anoxitropic biotopes. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 74:3 13. The oxygen-poor to denitrified waters of modern oceans provide an analog for open ocean conditions which contained the Early Paleozoic "graptolite" biotope. Certain euphausiids, other zooplankton and fish, as demonstrated in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, are found concentrated in and about denitrified waters. The boundary zone between oxic and denitrified waters show intense organismal growth due to the increased chemical availability of nutrients as reduced nitrogen compounds. Such waters are areally limited in the present cold and well-ventilated modern ocean. The distribution patterns showing attraction to low or oxygen-depleted waters (anoxitropy) in these modern open marine faunas suggest that Early Paleozoic plankton and nekton, preserved in lithofacies formed under low oxygen or anoxic coditions, could have been similarly attracted to the more extensive ancient denitrified and anoxic waters. The major Paleozoic faunal groups, in order of their occupation of the niche, include agnostid and olenid trilobites, graptoloid graptolites, styliolinids, thin-shelled bivalves, small orthocone nautiloids, and early ammonoids. The expansion of low-oxygen to anoxic waters across the shelves during warm climates in the Early Paleozoic may be correlated with major evolutionary radiations in the graptolites and possibly in the early ammonites.
A Comparison of the New U.S. Expatriation Tax and the Canadian Departure Tax

ABSTRACT: The Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008 amended the anti‐avoidance provisions of the Internal Revenue Code for an expatriating taxpayer. The new law requires expatriating taxpayers to report a deemed taxable sale and repurchase of assets at the time that they expatriate. This is a change from the prior law where an expatriating taxpayer could be taxed by the U.S. for ten years after expatriation. The new U.S. rules are similar to rules that have been used by Canada to tax expatriating Canadian residents. This paper sets out the new U.S. rules and compares them to the Canadian departure tax. As can be seen, there are a number of similarities between the two countries' laws. However, there are also some major differences. The U.S. rules are more limited in application than the Canadian rules. As well as income tax, the U.S. legislators are concerned with estate and gift taxes, whereas the Canadian legislators are not.
Benthic Invertebrates as Indicators of Marine Pollution: 35 Years of Study

Los Angeles-Long Beach Harbors were a grossly polluted body of water at the time of initiation of benthic invertebrate studies in 1951. Waste discharges included industrial, domestic and storm waters which received little or no treatment. The inner harbor water mass contained little or no dissolved oxygen, but the outer harbor was well oxygenated. Benthic conditions were characterized by four different associations of animals plus an azoic zone. A pollution abatement program was initiated in 1968 and has continued to this day. Waste discharges were either eliminated or diverted to treatment plants. The effects of this abatement program were noted shortly thereafter and had a dramatic effect on the benthic fauna. The azoic and polluted zones were repopulated and are now characterized by a rich, varied benthic fauna. Benthic species known only previously from offshore areas are now resident inhabitants of the outer harbor. The usefulness of benthic monitoring over the past 35 years has demonstrated the rapidity of the improvement of ecological conditions as a result of pollution abatement. Furthermore, the knowledge gained from 35 years of study has provided a valuable data base as future changes in the harbor are contemplated.
Looking for Locals: Voter Information Demands and Personal Vote‐Earning Attributes of Legislators under Proportional Representation

Proportional representation systems affect the extent to which elected legislators exhibit various attributes that allow them to earn a personal vote. The sources of variation in personal vote-earning attributes (PVEA) lie in informational shortcuts voters use under different electoral rules. List type (closed or open) and district magnitude (the number of legislators elected from a district) affect the types of shortcuts voters employ. When lists are closed, legislators' PVEA are of decreasing usefulness to voters as magnitude (and hence the number of candidates on a list) increases. When lists are open, legislators' PVEA are increasingly useful to voters as magnitude increases, because the number of candidates from which voters must choose whom to give a preference vote increases. As predicted by the theory, the probability that a legislator will exhibit PVEA—operationalized as local birthplace or lower-level electoral experience—declines with magnitude when lists are closed, but rises with magnitude when lists are open.
Energy Balance, Obesity and Type‐2 Diabetes

Energy balance is determined by caloric intake versus caloric expenditure. Complex control systems promote energy storage (primarily as adipose tissue fat) during periods of food surplus and mobilization of energy stores when food is scarce. These regulatory systems operate both locally within cells and between different body tissues and are mediated by circulating hormones and direct neural connection from the central nervous system to peripheral tissues. In modern society where lifestyles have shifted towards the excessive consumption of palatable ‘high energy’ foods and a sedentary life, these control mechanisms can be circumvented and in so doing lead to obesity and its pathological consequences. Prominent among these consequences are insulin resistance, i.e. the inability of cells to respond normally to insulin, and Type-2 diabetes. Approximately 30% of the inhabitants of the United States meet the criteria for obesity. Key concepts Animals possess complex control systems with which to regulate energy storage and expenditure. The concept of energy balance. How is blood glucose level regulated? How do changes in blood glucose level alter the secretion of hormones that regulate energy metabolism? What are the major physiological fuels that provide energy for different cell types and how do changes in hormone level affect fuel production and utilization? Nature of interplay between tissues/organs through the production and utilization of circulating physiological fuels. What is insulin resistance and what are its consequences? What constitutes the obese state and how does obesity lead to insulin resistance and Type-2 diabetes? how adipocytes develop from stem cells and the consequences of adipocyte hyperplasia. How does persistent obesity lead to failure of the insulin-secreting pancreatic β-cell and the diabetic state? Keywords: fat; insulin; glucagons; body mass index; β-cell
Polarization instability in a twisted birefringent optical fiber

The fast-axis polarization instability arises in a weakly birefringent fiber as a result of competition between the natural fiber birefringence and the nonlinear ellipse rotation. Direct observation of the fast-axis polarization instability is reported. A full theoretical development of the polarization instability in a twisted, birefringent optical fiber is presented. The theory includes the derivation of and full solutions for the evolution of light in a twisted fiber as well as stability analysis and phase-plane representation of the solutions. The experiment is described in detail; good agreement is obtained between theory and experiment. As a result of the instability, very small variations in either the input power or the input polarization to the fiber result in large changes in the output polarization. A crossed polarizer at the fiber end converts the polarization variation into intensity information. Thus the modulation depth of an input pulse has been increased from 15% to 100%. Modulation gains of as much as 10 times are theoretically possible.
Dynamic mechanical properties of straight titanium alloy arch wires

Abstract Eight straight-wire materials were studied: an orthodontic titanium-molybdenum (Ti-Mo) product, TMA™; three orthodontic nickel-titanium (Ni-Ti) products, Nitinol™, Titanal™, and Orthonol™; three prototype alloys, a martensitic, an austenitic, and a biphasic alloy; and a hybrid shape-memory-effect product, Biometal™. Each wire was prepared with a length-to-cross-sectional area of at least 3600 cm −1 . With an Autovibron Model DDV-II-C used in the tensile mode, each sample was scanned from −120 to +200°C at 2°C/min. From the data base, plots of the log storage modulus, log tan delta, and percent change in length vs. temperature were generated. Results showed that the dynamic mechanical properties of the alloys within this Ti system are quite different. The Ti-Mo alloy, TMA™, was invariant with temperature, having a modulus of 7.30 × 10 11 dyne/cm 2 (10.6 × 10 6 psi). The three cold-worked alloys — Nitinol™, Titanal™, and Orthonol™ — appeared to be similar, having a modulus of 5.74 × 10 11 dyne/cm 2 (8.32 × 10 6 psi). The biphasic shape-memory alloy displayed a phase transformation near ambient temperature; whereas the hybrid shape-memory product, Biometal™, underwent a 3–5% change in length during its transformation between 95 and 125°C. Among the Ni-Ti wires tested, several different types of alloys were represented by this intermetallic material.
Ab Initio Molecular Dynamics and Time-Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Electronically Excited Uracil and Thymine

The reaction dynamics of excited electronic states in nucleic acid bases is a key process in DNA photodamage. Recent ultrafast spectroscopy experiments have shown multicomponent decays of excited uracil and thymine, tentatively assigned to nonadiabatic transitions involving multiple electronic states. Using both quantum chemistry and first principles quantum molecular dynamics methods we show that a true minimum on the bright S2 electronic state is responsible for the first step that occurs on a femtosecond time scale. Thus the observed femtosecond decay does not correspond to surface crossing as previously thought. We suggest that subsequent barrier crossing to the minimal energy S2/S1 conical intersection is responsible for the picosecond decay.
Isolation of an autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing marine archaeon

For years, microbiologists characterized the Archaea as obligate extremophiles that thrive in environments too harsh for other organisms. The limited physiological diversity among cultivated Archaea suggested that these organisms were metabolically constrained to a few environmental niches. For instance, all Crenarchaeota that are currently cultivated are sulphur-metabolizing thermophiles. However, landmark studies using cultivation-independent methods uncovered vast numbers of Crenarchaeota in cold oxic ocean waters. Subsequent molecular surveys demonstrated the ubiquity of these low-temperature Crenarchaeota in aquatic and terrestrial environments. The numerical dominance of marine Crenarchaeota--estimated at 10(28) cells in the world's oceans--suggests that they have a major role in global biogeochemical cycles. Indeed, isotopic analyses of marine crenarchaeal lipids suggest that these planktonic Archaea fix inorganic carbon. Here we report the isolation of a marine crenarchaeote that grows chemolithoautotrophically by aerobically oxidizing ammonia to nitrite--the first observation of nitrification in the Archaea. The autotrophic metabolism of this isolate, and its close phylogenetic relationship to environmental marine crenarchaeal sequences, suggests that nitrifying marine Crenarchaeota may be important to global carbon and nitrogen cycles.
High temperature annealed Ge=Ag=Ni ohmic contact for InAlAs=InGaAs HEMTs

Ge/Ag/Ni metallisation with an overlay of Ti/Pt/Au was investigated as ohmic contact on an InAlAs/InGaAs/InP high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) structure. Its electrical characteristics were measured after annealing and compared with those of AuGe/Ni/Au and AuGe/Ni ohmic contacts. It was found to have ohmic contact resistance as low as those for AuGe/Ni/Au and AuGe/Ni metallisations but with much higher annealing temperatures and larger processing latitude.
Calcium, Neuronal Hyperexcitability, and Ischemic Neuronal Injury

In the last decade a wealth of information has emerged regarding the pivotal role of Ca2+ in neuronal function. It is also apparent that abnormal calcium metabolism will initiate pathophysiological states leading to neuronal injury. Considering that extracellular calcium concentration is approximately 10−3 versus an intracellular concentration of 10−7, subtle alterations in membrane permeability to calcium can have profound effects on neuronal function. Although there are expert analyses on the detrimental role of calcium in various pathophysiological states [40, 63, 66], the goal of this article is to offer a new perspective on one potential role of abnormal calcium influx — the precipitation of neuronal hyperexcitability. After briefly reviewing evidence which indicates that calcium is critical for seizure initiation and discharge, two hypotheses are offered for consideration: first, an integrative mechanism which integrates calcium metabolism with epileptic phenomena, and second, that calcium influx during ischemia precipitates neuronal hyperexcitability which escalates ischemic neuronal injury.