cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Some chemical, enzymic, and physical properties of di-saccharides from beef-lung heparin

Abstract A study is reported of the reactivities of the disaccharides isolated after deamination of beef-lung heparin and reduction of the products by sodium borotritide: 2,5-anhydro-O-(α- l -idopyranosyluronic acid sulfate)- d -mannitol sulfate, SIMS; 2,5-anhydro-O-(α- l -idopyranosyluronic acid)- d -mannitol sulfate, IMS; 2,5-anhydro-O-(α- l -idopyranosyluronic acid sulfate)- d -mannitol, SIM; and 2,5-anhydro-O-(β- d -glucopyranosyluronic acid)- d -mannitol sulfate, GMS. Results for the non-sulfated disaccharides IM and GM, prepared by desulfation of SIMS and GMS, are also reported. SIMS and SIM were inert to purified α- l -iduronidase, showed unexpected resistance to periodate oxidation, and lost sulfate rapidly in 50m m hydrochloric acid at 100°. Hydrolysis of IM and of IMS was catalyzed by α- l -iduronidase, and of GM and GMS by β- d -glucuronidase; the radioactive products were identified as 2,5-anhydro- d -mannitol (aM) and its sulfate (aMS). The products SIM and IMS obtained by deamination of heparin and desulfation of SIMS (the major deamination product) are apparently identical. In heparin partially desulfated by methanolic hydrogen chloride, residual sulfate groups were mostly linked to l -iduronic acid residues. Chemical, chromatographic, and electrophoretic methods that are valuable for separation and characterization of the disaccharides are described.
A facile nitridation method to improve the rate capability of TiO2 for lithium-ion batteries

Abstract It is demonstrated that the rate capacities of TiO 2 anatase nanoparticles can be improved substantially by annealing in NH 3 at 450–500 °C. At a high nominal rate of 25C, the average discharge capacity of specimens annealed in NH 3 at 450 °C for 7 h is more than double of that of the controlled specimens annealed in dry air under the same heat treatment condition. A critical comparison with literature shows that this simple and cost-effective low-temperature nitridation process can achieve high-rate capacities that are better than those reported in prior comparable studies. The enhanced high-rate capacities are attributed to moderate surface nitridation with less-disordered nitridated regions, which may enhance the surface electronic conductivity without forming discrete, nanoscale, surface amorphous films to block the lithium transport. Surface nitridation was confirmed by XPS measurements.
Interdental discrimination of small thickness differences.

Abstract A psychophysical test of the ability to discriminate small thickness differences interdentally was developed and validated. That injected and topical lidocaine 2 per cent HCl reduced this ability was also shown. Ten subjects demonstrating suitable “edge-to-edge” incisal contact were presented each of four plastic strips (12.5, 25, 50, and 100 microns) 25 times in random order for a total of 100 presentations. The percentage of presentations judged “thicker” by the subject was plotted as a function of each strip thickness in log microns on normal probability paper. The slope of the line of best fit was interpreted as the subject's interdental discriminative “acuity.” To determine the contribution of the investing tissues of the teeth in this discrimination, the sequence was repeated after anesthesia with either injected lidocaine 2 per cent HCl with 1:100,000 epinephrine or an experimental topical film strip containing 4 mg. per square centimeter of lidocaine 2 per cent base. Following either form of local anesthesia, “acuity” was significantly impaired. The preanesthetic level of discrimination returned within 40 minutes after topical anesthesia but remained impaired after injected anesthetic for the duration of the testing of the session. Loss of discriminative “acuity” following the placement of topical anesthetic film strips on the oral mucosa overlying only the two opposing teeth involved in the thickness discrimination provided further evidence that sensory impulses from the dental investing tissues are essential for accurate interdental “microthickness” discrimination.
786-4 Cigarette Smoking Inhibits Basal but not Stimulated Release of Nitric Oxide from the Forearm Vasculature

To evaluate the effects of cigarette smoking on endothelial function, we examined forearm vascular responses to the intra-brachial infusion of methacholine (MC), NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA) and sodium nitroprusside (SN) in 36 smokers (S) and 11 non-smoking (NS) control subjects. Values are presented as means ± standard deviation. The mean age of S (42 ± 7 years) was similar to NS (43 ± 11 years). Blood glucose, total and HDLcholesterol and serum fibrinogen concentrations were not different between groups. S had elevated carboxyhemoglobin levels compared with NS (5.1 ± 2.5% vs, 1.1 ± 0.3%, P l 0.001). The incremental infusions of MC increased forearm blood flow (FBF) (ml/100 ml/min) from 3.6 ± 1.2 to 12.7 ± 8.9 in S and from 3.1 ± 0.8 to 14.7 ± 7.5 in NS (p = NS). SN increased FBF (ml/100 ml/min) ml/min) from 3.7 ± 1.4 to 9.0 ± 4.7 in S and from 2.8 ± 0.3 to 8.4 ± 47 in NS (p = NS). L-NMMA reduced FBF (m11100 mllmin) more (p = 0.03) in NS (3.9 ± 0.5 to 2.2 ± 0.7) than in S (4.1 ± 1.5 to 3.3 ± 1.2) but did not attenuate the dose response curves to MC infusion in either group. Conclusion Chronic cigarette smoking appears to impair basal but not stimulated release of endothelium-derived nitric oxide from the forearm vasculature.
The first patient: Reflections and stories about the anatomy cadaver

Dissecting a human cadaver is an important step in the professionalization of medical students, but its transformative aspects (e.g., the potential to teach detached concern, empathy, compassion, and peer accountability) are rarely considered in medical curricula. At SUNY Stony Brook we begin our 4‐year medical humanities curriculum by focusing on systematic reflection about dissection. For their first paper in the Medicine in Contemporary Society course, students write a three‐ to five‐page narrative, recounting either their personal response to dissection (essay) or an imagined life story of their cadaver (fiction). The assignment includes two sequential versions of the paper, each critiqued by faculty and peers, and ends with small‐group discussion. In the first 2 years, narratives were almost evenly split between essay and fiction. Seven themes categorized most student responses: initial apprehension; detachment; curiosity about the cadaver's person; the need for student‐cadaver connection; self‐quest...
Characterization of a soluble inorganic pyrophosphatase from chicken liver

Abstract 1. 1. Characteristics of the inorganic pyrophosphatase (pyrophosphate phosphohydrolase, EC 3.6.1.1) activity in the dialyzed cytosol fraction of homogenates from livers of 4-daychicks ( Gallus gallus ) have been determined. 2. 2. This soluble enzyme, which exhibits maximum activity between pH 7.5 and 8.0, is relatively specific for inorganic pyrophosphate (PP i ) as substrate and shows an absolute and specific requirement for magnesium ions. The magnesium ion concentration required for maximum activity varies with but always exceeds the pyrophosphate concentration. 3. 3. The enzyme resembles some previously studied pyrophosphatases in its apparent requirement for the MgPP i 2− complex as the true substrate and in its inhibition by free PP i . 4. 4. A possible second role for magnesium ion as an activator is suggested by several lines of evidence.
High-power narrow-band terahertz generation using multiple-pulse excitation of photoconductive antennas

Large-aperture biased photoconductive emitters which can generate high-power narrow-band terahertz (THz) radiation are developed. These emitters avoid saturation at high fluence excitation and achieve enhanced peak power spectral density by employing a thick layer of short lifetime low- temperature-grown GaAs (LT-GaAs) photoconductor and multiple-pulse excitation. THz waveforms are calculated from the saturation theory of large-aperture photoconductors, and a comparison is made between the theory and the measurement. A direct comparison of the multiple-phase saturation properties of terahertz emission from semi-insulating GaAs and LT-GaAs emitters with different carrier lifetimes reveals a strong dependence of the multiple pulse saturation properties of terahertz emission on the carrier lifetime. In particular, the data demonstrate that saturation is avoided only when the interpulse spacing is longer than the carrier lifetime.
Exact calculations for the repeated many-one test

Abstract When group sequential methods are applied to compare several treatments with a control, multiplicity from the repeated significance testing as well as from the multiple comparison has to be accounted for properly to control the overall type I error. This often involves a multidimensional integration procedure to compute group sequential boundaries. Liu (1996, J. Appl. Statist. 23 (4)) proposed some group sequential procedures for comparing several treatments with a control. The group sequential boundaries needed to apply these procedures were estimated by simulation to two decimal places for specified α-levels. In this paper, we describe an algorithm that allows efficient calculation of these boundaries by combining a newly developed software in Genz and Keister (1996, J. Comput Appl. Math 71 ) and the dynamic programming technique described, for example, in Cormen et al. (1990, Introduction to Algorithms, MIT Press, Cambridge). The algorithm is then implemented to successfully solve the computation problem which is previously stated by Liu (1996) as “no simple exact calculation method is available”.
A dedicated PIXE analysis laboratory based upon a 4 MV van de graaff accelerator

Abstract The Florida State University accelerator laboratory primarily dedicated to PIXE analyses is described, including modernization of a 4 MV Van de Graaff accelerator, beam handling and current integration, computer interface for data acquisition-analysis and typical operating parameters. The overall output and cost effectiveness compared to that of other methods such as XRF are discussed.
Interrelationship of Vitamins A and E

THE effect of vitamin E in preserving vitamin A in oil solution1 and increasing the store of vitamin A in the liver of the rat2 suggests that there is an interdependence of the two vitamins which should become apparent in other ways. The failure of Bacharach3 to confirm all Moore's work on liver storage may be due to differences in condition and relative quantities employed, Moore approximating and Bacharach missing the optimum effect. Using the United States Pharmacopeia vitamin A assay method (with olive oil as the specified “vegetable” oil in the basal diet) and fixed quantities of vitamin A, we have examined the effect of vitamin E over a wide range of dosage on the growth of young rats depleted of vitamin A. Some of the results are summarized in the accompanying graph.
Thinking Through Race and Racism

The candidacy of Barack Obama has led some commentators to proclaim that the United States is now a "post-racial" society. But recent survey data suggest another story. In late-June 2008, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that nearly half of all Amer icans thought that race relations were in "bad shape" and that 3 in 10 acknowledge feelings of racial prejudice (Cohen and Agriesta 2008). And the differences between black and white attitudes were stark and profound. In mid-July 2008, a New York Times/CBS News poll found that 4 in 10 blacks believed that no progress in eliminating racial discrimination had been made in recent years while fewer than 2 in 10 whites thought the same (Nagourney and Thee 2008). The present moment constitutes a bundle of contradictions in respect to racism. How is it possible to have persistent forms of racial inequality in a period in which colorblind ness is the hegemonic racial ideology and most whites claim that racism is no longer relevant? Both Feagin and Bonilla-Silva engage these contradictions by specifying the nature of contemporary racism in the U.S. Charac terized as systemic (Feagin) or structural (Bonilla-Silva), racism is seen by both authors as a fundamental social fact, a constitutive and highly resilient organizing principle that has shaped US society both historically and in the present. In their respective accounts racism is both flexible and enduring, both consistent and variable. In Systemic Racism, Feagin addresses racis m's comprehensive presence in US society and continues his qualitative emphasis on the lived reality of racism. The official ver sion of the nation's history goes to great lengths to deny or at least minimize racism's ineluctable presence. Feagin's approach is the direct opposite. He shows how racial injustice and oppression have pervaded Systemic Racism: A Theory of Oppression, by Joe R. Feagin. New York: Routledge, 2006. 368pp. $24.95 paper. ISBN: 9780415952781.
Partner or guardian? HR's challenge in balancing value and values

Will HR professionals continue on their journey to be business leaders, with full sway and equal influence in organizational decision making, or will they take the shortcut by sacrificing professional ethics and values for a “seat at the table”? The first challenge refers to value creation. Creating value in a global economy requires HR executives to clearly understand the confluence of economic, social, and technological forces that drive industry competition. The second challenge, value delivery, deals with the pressing need for HR to demonstrate its tangible impact by aligning with and driving the issues critical to the business. Finally, living values asks us to rediscover that we are the guardians of our organizations. We guard and preserve strategic capability, people, and values. These challenges are examined and a model is provided for understanding how the competing demands placed on HR create both organizational and professional conflict. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Novel benzoferrocenyl chiral ligands: Synthesis and evaluation of their suitability for asymmetric catalysis

Abstract Four benzoferrocenyl phosphorus chiral ligands were conveniently prepared in good overall yields. These ligands were found to be stable in solid form and in solution. Two of the four ligands were resolved by chiral HPLC. Unlike a reported bis(phosphino-η5-indenyl)iron(II) complex, in which the indenyl ligands undergo ring flipping through an η1-intermediate, these two ligands were found to be configurationally stable in solution and in solid state. The suitability of these ligands for enantioselective catalysis was assessed in studies on allylic alkylation reactions. When the two less sterically hindered ligands were used, excellent chemical yields were obtained, but the other two more sterically hindered ones gave lower yields. When the two enantiopure ligands were used, enantioselectivity of up to 51% ee was observed. These findings suggest that benzoferrocene derivatives may be used as chiral ligands for asymmetric catalysis.
Lagrangian Hydrodynamics, Entropy and Dissipation

The dynamics of dissipative fluids in Eulerian variables may be derived from an algebra of Leibniz brackets of observables, the metriplectic algebra, that extends the Poisson algebra of the frictionless limit of the sytem via a symmetric semidefinite component, that generates dissipative forces. The metriplectic algebra includes the conserved total Hamiltonian $H$, generating the non-dissipative part of dynamics, and the entropy S of those microscopic degrees of freedom draining energy irreversibly, that generates dissipation. This S is a Casimir invariant of the Poisson algebra to which the metriplectic algebra reduces in the frictionless limit. The role of S is as paramount as that of H, but this fact may be underestimated in the Eulerian formulation because S is not the only Casimir of the symplectic non-canonical part of the algebra. Instead, when the dynamics of the non-ideal fluid is written through the parcel variables of the Lagrangian formulation, the fact that entropy is symplectically invariant appears to be clearly related to its the microscopic degrees of freedom of the fluid, that do not participate at all to the symplectic canonical part of the algebra (which, indeed, involves and evolves only the macroscopic degrees of freedom of the fluid parcel).
Near-isometric linear embeddings of manifolds

We propose a new method for linear dimensionality reduction of manifold-modeled data. Given a training set X of Q points belonging to a manifoldM ⊂ R , we construct a linear operator P : R → R that approximately preserves the norms of all ` Q 2 pairwise difference vectors (or secants) of X . We design the matrix P via a trace-norm minimization that can be efficiently solved as a semi-definite program (SDP). When X comprises a sufficiently dense sampling of M, we prove that the optimal matrix P preserves all pairs of secants over M. We numerically demonstrate the considerable gains using our SDP-based approach over existing linear dimensionality reduction methods, such as principal components analysis (PCA) and random projections.
Photolysis of Recombinant Human Insulin in the Solid State: Formation of a Dithiohemiacetal Product at the C-Terminal Disulfide Bond

Exposure of protein pharmaceuticals to light can result in chemical and physical modifications, potentially leading to loss of potency, aggregation, and/or immunogenicity. To correlate these potential consequences with molecular changes, the nature of photoproducts and their mechanisms of formation must be characterized. The present study focuses on the photochemical degradation of insulin in the solid state. Solid insulin was characterized by solid-state NMR, polarized optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy; various insulin preparations were exposed to UV light prior to product analysis by mass spectrometry. UV-exposure of solid human insulin results in photodissociation of the C-terminal intrachain disulfide bond, leading to formation of a CysS• thiyl radical pair which ultimately disproportionates into thiol and thioaldehyde species. The high reactivity of the thioaldehyde and proximity to the thiol allow the formation of a dithiohemiacetal structure. Dithiohemiacetal is formed during the UV-exposure of both crystalline and amorphous insulin. Dithiohemiacetals represent novel structures generated through the photochemical modification of disulfide bonds. This is the first time that such structure is identified during the photolysis of a protein in the solid state.
Safety of the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band: 7-year data from a U.S. center of excellence

Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) has become one of the most common weight-loss procedures performed in the United States. The authors’ high-volume academic medical center has gathered a database of almost 3,000 patients who have undergone LAGB since January 2001. The goal of this series, the largest to date on LAGB outcomes at a single institution, was to assess complications associated with LAGB. A retrospective analysis was performed using longitudinal data from adult patients who underwent LAGB between 1 January 2001, and 29 February 2008. General and band-related complications were reported for all patients. Death and reoperation for weight gain (LAGB followed by either a second band insertion or a gastric bypass) also were reported. Of the 2,965 patients who received LAGB during the study period, 2,909 met the criteria for inclusion in this analysis, and 363 (12.2%) experienced one or more complications. The most common complications were band slip (4.5%) and port-related problems (3.3%). Other complications were rare. Only seven patients (0.2%) had band erosion. Eleven patients (0.4%) underwent reoperation for weight gain. A total of 10 deaths (0.34%) occurred during the study period. Three patients died within 30 days of surgery. Two of these deaths (0.06%) were related to surgery, and one resulted from a motor vehicle accident. Seven patients died of causes unrelated to surgery during the course of the study. The LAGB technique is a relatively safe procedure with few early or late complications. Few LAGB patients undergo reoperation for weight gain, and mortality is very rare.
TESTING FOR MEASUREMENT INVARIANCE IN THE SATISFACTION WITH LIFE SCALE: A COMPARISON OF RUSSIANS AND NORTH AMERICANS

This study examined the comparability of Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) [Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985, Social Indicators Research, 34: 7–32] scores across U.S. and Russian student and community groups. Criteria for weak measurement invariance were met when comparing U.S. and Russian groups (combining student and community samples). Criteria for weak and strong measurement invariance were met when comparing the U.S. and Russian student samples. However, when comparing the U.S. and Russian community samples, the results showed a significant statistic for a baseline model, indicating a lack of comparability across samples. The costs of failing to meet criteria for weak, strong, and strict measurement invariance are discussed.
Spiritual and Religious Discussions in Family Therapy: Activities To Promote Dialogue.

Spirituality and religion are valued constructs for a large population in America. Each person carries a set of values and beliefs that may aid in their well-being. Spiritual and religious discussions within therapy can be essential for treatment. As therapists, we are expected to provide a safe therapeutic atmosphere for our clients. Therefore the therapist has the responsibility to be aware of personal issues and to integrate spiritual/ religious discussions. In addition, levels of differentiation are important in understanding the self of the therapist. The authors propose that therapists must be aware of their personal level of differentiation in order to effectively integrate spiritual/religious discussions in therapy.
Maximum-likelihood laser radar range profiling with the expectation-maximization algorithm

Maximum-likelihood range profiling is considered for pulse-dimager operation of a coherent laser radar. In particular, the expectation-maximization algorithm is used to develop a computationally simple procedure for fitting a planar surface to laser radar range data. Basic analytic properties of the algorithm are reviewed and results based on simulated and real range data are presented.
Rehabilitation for paraplegics: Northeastern University Capstone Design Project 2013

Spinal cord injury (SCI) patients suffer from muscle atrophy, osteoporosis, diabetes, obesity, and heart disease due to the inability to exercise and use their lower extremities. Two systems to aid in helping SCI patients exercise have been developed: (1) An instrumented ergometer for monitoring cardiovascular health and (2) a bone-loading device for addressing osteoporosis. Instrumented Ergometer: Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Cambridge, MA uses a modified ergometer, in which electrodes stimulate the paralyzed muscles in order to flex and extend the legs during rowing. This therapy exercises big muscles, thereby increasing cardiac demand compared to arms-only exercises. However, current ergometers lack an effective means of providing biometric feedback to indicate performance and progression, thus a means of determining a method to develop maximum cardiovascular capacity. An ergometer was instrumented to measure forces exerted on the footplates, on the handle, and at the front and backstops of seat position and motion of the seat. This biometric feedback will help to characterize performance and monitor technique. Bone Loading Device: Bone loss occurs in SCI patients because they do not have mechanical load on their bones (disuse osteoporosis). A bone-loading device has been designed to apply axial load to the lower leg using a variable stroke mechanism and constraints, which allows for variable force and frequency. These two devices will hopefully aid in improving rehabilitation therapies to address cardiovascular and bone health in SCI patients.
The development of VAC chemotherapy in Rhabdomyosarcoma: What does one do for an encore?

The establishment of the Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study (IRS) Committee in 1972 by three extant American pediatric cooperative groups initiated five generations of studies in the multidisciplinary treatment of soft-tissue sarcomas. Taking the lead from the use of vincristine, actinomycin-D, and cyclophosphamide (VAC) by Dr. Ruth Heyn, Dr. Harold Mauer and colleagues developed a more robust VAC as well as three similar drug regimens with hematopoietic growth factor support, which, in the context of surgery with or without radiotherapy, achieved a 3-year failure-free survival rate of 83% (IRS-IV) in nonmetastatic embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma. This review documents the development of VAC and some of the new directions currently being pursued by the Children's Oncology Group Soft Tissue Committee.
The stability of spiral flow between coaxial cylinders

Abstract We investigate the hydrodynamic stability for the motion of a viscous incompressible fluid between two coaxial cylinders which move spirally along their common axis assuming that the gap between the cylinders is small and that the Reynolds number is small compared to the Taylor number. We use the variational method to derive a relation between the critical Taylor number and the Reynolds number.
A Diffusion-Based Approach for Nanobead Drag Forces

A central process of the Bead ARray Counter (BARC) biosensor involves propelling a dilute solution of streptavidin-coated micron-scale beads through water. It is desirable to downsize these beads, leading to a basic engineering problem: What is the drag force acting on a nanoscale bead having an unknown hydrodynamic boundary condition? We use molecular dynamics simulation to estimate the drag force acting on a hypothetical biosensor “nanobead” without assuming a no-slip condition or a user-supplied slip parameter.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
The phenomenological method in entrepreneurship

There is a lot of research on entrepreneurship but most of them focus on the external factors of entrepreneurship. Very few researches investigate the internal factors of an entrepreneur such as their own lived experiences. Understanding entrepreneurship means knowing deeper about their concept and meaning about it. The essence of entrepreneurship emerges from the real and true entrepreneurs, those who have their lived experiences. It is in line with the phenomenology, which tries to illuminate and identify through the people’s perception. The world and reality has its meaning through a person who experiences it. Every single person has his own concept about the world. It is applied also to entrepreneurship. The meaning itself will drive and motivate an entrepreneur to start a firm. Entrepreneurial activity has a purpose. To uncover the meaning, a researcher should emerge and go deeper to the lived experience of the entrepreneurs and use their stories as the main source of information without any influence and preconceptions of the researcher. In this paper, the writer is going to explain phenomenology as a research method and why it is suitable in doing research on entrepreneurship.
Dynamic Partitioned Global Address Spaces for power efficient DRAM virtualization

Dynamic Partitioned Global Address Spaces (DPGAS) is an abstraction that allows for quick and efficient remapping of physical memory addresses within a global address space, enabling more efficient sharing of remote DRAM. While past work has proposed several uses for DPGAS [1], the most pressing issue in today's data centers is reducing power. This work uses a detailed simulation infrastructure to study the effects of using DPGAS to reduce overall data center power through low-latency accesses to “virtual” DIMMs. Virtual DIMMs are remote DIMMs that can be mapped into a local node's address space using existing operating system abstractions and low-level hardware support to abstract the DIMM's location from the application using it. By using a simple spill-receive memory allocation model, we show that DPGAS can reduce memory power from 18% to 49% with a hardware latency of 1 to 2 µs in typical usage scenarios. Additionally, we demonstrate the range of scenarios where DPGAS can be realized over a shared 10 Gbps Ethernet link with normal network traffic.
On the weighted sensitivity minimization problem for delay systems

We consider the H∞-optimal sensitivity problem for delay systems. In particular, we consider computation of μ:= inf {|W-φq|∞ : q ϵ H∞(jR)} where W(s) is any function in RH∞(jR), and φ in H∞(jR) is any inner function. We derive a new explicit solution in the pure delay case where φ = e−sh, h > 0.
Rain-Harvesting by the Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake (Crotalus mitchellii pyrrhus)

Abstract Acquiring water is a challenge for desert animals, and organisms inhabiting arid regions have evolved morphological, physiological, and behavioral traits to maintain an appropriate water balance. On four occasions, I observed rain-harvesting or observed behaviors suggestive of rain harvesting in a population of speckled rattlesnakes (Crotalus mitchellii) in the Mojave Desert of southwestern North America. Snakes collected rainwater on the surface of their bodies and subsequently drank it. Speckled rattlesnakes also drank rainwater that accumulated in structural features of their habitat (e.g., surface of rocks). My observations suggest that C. mitchellii may engage in rain-harvesting when thermal conditions are not optimal (i.e., during cold temperatures). For instance, rattlesnakes presumably emerge from hibernation to take advantage of rainwater.
The Convergent Validities of Two Measures of Dating Behaviors Related to Risk for Sexual Victimization

The primary purpose of this investigation was to assess the convergent validities of two measures of dating behaviors related to risk for sexual victimization, the Dating Self-Protection Against Rape Scale (DSPARS) and the Dating Behavior Survey (DBS). Three hundred seventy-seven women responded to measures assessing self-protective dating behavior (DSPARS), risk-related dating behavior (DBS), risk perception in a sexual assault scenario, and history of sexual victimization. The results support the convergent validities of the DSPARS and the DBS. Specifically, the results indicate that scores on the DSPARS were negatively correlated with risk-related dating behavior, delayed risk perception, and history of sexual victimization. In addition, scores on the DBS were positively correlated with delayed risk perception and history of sexual victimization. Scores on the DBS were also negatively correlated with self-protective dating behavior.
On two proposals for on-line bankcard payments using open networks: problems and solutions

Recently, two major bankcard payment instrument operators VISA and MasterCard published specifications for securing bankcard payment transactions on open networks for open scrutiny. (VISA: Secure Transaction Technology, STT; MasterCard: Secure Electronic Payment Protocol, SEPP.) Based on their success in operating the existing on-line payment systems, both proposals use advanced cryptographic technologies to supply some security services that are well-understood to be inadequate in open networks, and otherwise specify systems similar to today's private-network versions. In this paper we reason that when an open network is used for underlying electronic commerce some subtle vulnerabilities will emerge and the two specifications are seen not in anticipation of them. A number of weaknesses are found as a result of missing and misuse of security services. Missing and misused services include: authentication, nonrepudiation, integrity, and timeliness, We identify problems and devise solutions while trying to keep, the current successful working style of financial institutions being respected.
Feminist Visions for Transforming Families Desire and Equality Then and Now

Using a social-historical perspective, the author provides a synthesis of key feminist ideas that have been influential in the lives of women and their families. The author addresses a variety of feminist theories and strategies for knowledge production. These ideas are illustrated with examples from her own life course as a way to demonstrate the transformative value of feminist insights for family studies.
Methcathinone: A russian designer amphetamine infiltrates the rural midwest

Four cases of methcathinone toxicity in the United States are presented and discussed. This drug is the latest in a series of "designer" amphetamines. Prominent findings of acute toxicity include hallucinations, fever, and tachycardia followed by periods of bradycardia and moderate hypotension as acute symptoms resolve. Chronic binge use may result in development of paranoid psychosis and brief periods of withdrawal tremors. Our current understanding of methcathinone effects and the Russian experience with it are discussed. Our recommendations for treatment of acute toxicity are based on well established guidelines for managing the toxicity of similar amphetamine-like drugs.
Direct digital control of environmentally isolated seafood manufacturing systems

Abstract The development of seafood (shrimp) manufacture in the United States is changing toward increased isolation of the growing-out facilities. Such a change minimizes a) overhead for discharge permits and pollution abatement costs, b) crop loss by disease and toxic substances from the environment c) and breaks the seashore umbilical cord. Isolation will require increased capital and operating expense. The increased costs must be balanced by reducing operating costs. Three large cost-based factors are operating labor, ration cost and energy cost for pumping and environmental control. A portion of the labor and ration costs can be reduced by using direct digital control the environmental and feeding subsystems. The shrimp ration must be optimized to provide the growing shrimp with the correct balance of nutrients at their current stage in life. It is necessary to deliver the ration in the correct amount to maintain optimum growth. These criteria require a detailed growth model that relates essential nutritional requirements to size of shrimp. The size and number of the shrimp may be determined by video remote sensing. The dissolved oxygen, salinity and pH are monitored and controlled at levels which will not inhibit growth nor inefficiently utilize ration nutrients. Critical metabolites are monitored and removed from the shrimp growout environment to a photosynthetic water recycle unit.
In-Order Packet Scheduling in Optical Switch With Wavelength Division Multiplexing and Electronic Buffer

Optical switches are widely considered the most promising candidate to provide ultra-high speed interconnections for future communication and computing systems. Due to the difficulty in implementing an all-optical buffer, optical switches with electronic buffers have been proposed recently. Among these switches, the optical cut-through (OpCut) switch has the capability to achieve low latency and minimize optical-electronic-optical (O/E/O) conversions. We studied the packet-scheduling problem in single-wavelength OpCut switches in our previous work. In this paper, we consider the wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) case. While WDM makes much higher bandwidth possible, it also increases the complexity of the switch architecture, as well as packet scheduling. Our goal is to schedule as many as possible packets to the switch output in each time slot and to maintain the packet order at the same time. While we prove that such an optimal scheduling problem is NP-hard and inapproximable in polynomial time within any constant factor by reducing the set packing problem to it, we present an approximation algorithm that maintains packet order and approximates the optimal scheduling within a factor of $\sqrt{2Nk}$ with regard to the number of packets transmitted, where $N$ is the switch size, and $k$ is the number of wavelengths multiplexed on each fiber. This result is in line with the best known approximation algorithm for set packing problem. Based on the approximation algorithm, we also give practical schedulers that can be implemented in the fast optical switches. Simulation results show that the schedulers achieve close performance to the ideal WDM output-queued switch in terms of packet delay under various traffic models.
Insight into Lactam Antibiotics and their Receptors from Computational Chemistry

Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed on two penicillin-recognizing proteins. One protein is an enzyme from Streptomyces R61 and has transpeptidase and carboxypeptidase activity on peptide substrates terminating in d-alanyl-d-alanine. The dd-peptidase is a model for penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) controlling bacterial peptidoglycan biosynthesis and is inhibited by various classes of natural and synthetic β-lactam antibiotics. The second protein is a β-lactamase from Bacillus licheniformis 749/C and deactivates penicillins and other β-lactam antibiotics by hydrolyzing them to inactive products. Crystallographic data for the two proteins have been refined by molecular mechanics energy mini mizations, and the conformation space available to the proteins immersed in an 8-A layer of water molecules has been explored by molecular dynamics simulations. The solid state model of the DD-peptidase is found to be much further from an energy-optimized structure than in the case of the β-lactamase. The dd-peptidase is discovered to have a flexible loop that can transiently close access to the active site serine. An overview of recent modeling studies of β-and γ-lactam antibiotics illustrate the type of information that can be obtained with modern methodologies of computational chemistry.
Murine Respiratory Mycoplasmosis in LEW and F344 Rats: Strain Differences in Lesion Severity

Pathogen-free weanling rats of the LEW and F344 strains were caged together for two months to eliminate microbial and environmental differences, and then infected intranasally with 10-fold dilutions of viable Mycoplasma pulmonis. At necropsy 28 days post- inoculation, F344 rats had no gross lung lesions, even those given the maximum dose of 1.4 x lo9 colony-forming units of M. pulmonis. LEW rats often had extensive gross lesions with a gross-pneumonia-dose5,, of 1.1 x lo7 colony-forming units/rat. Histological examination of the respiratory tract (nasal passages, larynges, tracheae, and lungs) and tympanic cavities showed both qualitative and quantitative differences in lesions between the two strains, particularly in the lungs. Hyperplasia of bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue occurred in both strains, but was more extensive in LEW rats. Atelectasis, alveolar consolidation (due primarily to mononuclear inflammatory cells), and suppurative bronchitis and bronchiolitis were seen only in LEW rats. Infiltrates of lymphoid cells into the lungs distal to bronchi and around blood vessels also were seen primarily in LEW rats. These differences between the two rat strains provide excellent model systems with which to dissect the role of cell responses in the pathogenesis of a naturally occurring chronic lung disease. With the exception of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, the lung lesions caused by mycoplasmas in mammals are remarkably similar (3,4, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18-20). Cell responses include peribronchial and perivascular infiltrates of lymphocytes, plasma cells, and macrophages, accompanied by alveolar infiltrates of mononuclear cells. Hyperplasia or metaplasia of epithelial cells, or both, are found in bronchi and bronchioles. In addition, the conducting airways usually contain a mixture of polymorphonuclear leukocytes and mononuclear cells in various amounts of mucoid exudate.
Maximizing the chance of winning in searching Go game trees

The current global selective search and decomposition search in Go typically back up territory scores. This approach is inherently flawed. We propose a new strategy of backing up ''chance of winning''. We show how an evaluation function on the chance of winning can be constructed. Also we develop a probabilistic combinatorial game model and an algorithm for decomposition search to work with probabilistic outcomes in maximizing the chance of winning.
A combined molecular dynamics and finite element method technique applied to laser induced pressure wave propagation

Analysis of a variety of dynamic phenomena requires simultaneous resolution at both atomistic and continuum length scales. A combined molecular dynamics and finite element method approach, which we discuss in this paper, allows us to find the balance between the necessary level of detail and computational cost. The combined method is applied to the propagation of a laser-induced pressure wave in a solid. We find good agreement of the wave profile in the molecular dynamics and finite element regions. This computational approach can be useful in cases where a detailed atomic-level analysis is necessary in localized spatially separated regions whereas continuum mechanics and thermodynamics is sufficient in the remainder of the system.
Estimating patient‐specific soft‐tissue properties in a TKA knee

Surgical technique is one factor that has been identified as critical to success of total knee arthroplasty. Researchers have shown that computer simulations can aid in determining how decisions in the operating room generally affect post-operative outcomes. However, to use simulations to make clinically relevant predictions about knee forces and motions for a specific total knee patient, patient-specific models are needed. This study introduces a methodology for estimating knee soft-tissue properties of an individual total knee patient. A custom surgical navigation system and stability device were used to measure the force-displacement relationship of the knee. Soft-tissue properties were estimated using a parameter optimization that matched simulated tibiofemoral kinematics with experimental tibiofemoral kinematics. Simulations using optimized ligament properties had an average root mean square error of 3.5° across all tests while simulations using generic ligament properties taken from literature had an average root mean square error of 8.4°. Specimens showed large variability among ligament properties regardless of similarities in prosthetic component alignment and measured knee laxity. These results demonstrate the importance of soft-tissue properties in determining knee stability, and suggest that to make clinically relevant predictions of post-operative knee motions and forces using computer simulations, patient-specific soft-tissue properties are needed.
Characterization of Pore Framework Structure in Monolithic Mesoporous Silica

Mesoporous silica materials have received much interest due to commercial applications in chemical separations and heterogeneous catalysis. Recent studies have reported via a sol-gel nanocasting technique, monolithic mesoporous silica with wormlike pore framework could be prepared by utilizing room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) as templates and solvents. Although previous reports have indicated that the wormlike pores would be formed in the silica, the detailed pore network structure still remained the crucial issues to be resolved. In the present study, we investigated the pore structure in the monolithic mesoporous silica, which was templated by RTIL (1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium-tetrafluoroborate). We revealed an open fractal pore network with a branched and self-similar appearance was formed by the aggregation of the individual spherical pores. Transmission electron microscopy micrographs displayed that the disordered wormlike pore framework was formed in the silica. Furthermore, the small angle X-ray scattering profile measured herein further exhibited three distinct regions of power-law scattering on the respective length scales. In the high-q region, the profile followed Power behavior and a power-law of -4 was observed for the surface fractal dimension of 2, manifesting the primary pore with a smooth surface and a spherical appearance. In the intermediate-q region, a power-law of -2.5 (mass fractal dimension of 2.5), indicating an open mass fractal network was formed by the aggregation of the individual primary pores. Moreover in the low-q region, the power-law of -4 was observed for mass-fractal agglomerates of aggregates. With the proceeding analysis of unified equation in terms of two structural levels, the radiuses of gyration of primary pore (Rg1)and its aggregates (Rg2) were fitted as ca. 0.9 nm and 5.5 nm, respectively. For a spherical-model pore, the radius of pore (R) was ca. 1.16 nm; thus, the averaged pore diameter (D) was 2.32 nm. The number of primary pores in a fractal aggregate (degree of aggregation, z) was calculated as ca. 67.
Technical Note: Correcting for signal attenuation from noisy proxy data in climate reconstructions

Abstract. Regression-based climate reconstructions scale one or more noisy proxy records against a (generally) short instrumental data series. Based on that relationship, the indirect information is then used to estimate that particular measure of climate back in time. A well-calibrated proxy record(s), if stationary in its relationship to the target, should faithfully preserve the mean amplitude of the climatic variable. However, it is well established in the statistical literature that traditional regression parameter estimation can lead to substantial amplitude attenuation if the predictors carry significant amounts of noise. This issue is known as "Measurement Error" (Fuller, 1987; Carroll et al., 2006). Climate proxies derived from tree-rings, ice cores, lake sediments, etc., are inherently noisy and thus all regression-based reconstructions could suffer from this problem. Some recent applications attempt to ward off amplitude attenuation, but implementations are often complex (Lee et al., 2008) or require additional information, e.g. from climate models (Hegerl et al., 2006, 2007). Here we explain the cause of the problem and propose an easy, generally applicable, data-driven strategy to effectively correct for attenuation (Fuller, 1987; Carroll et al., 2006), even at annual resolution. The impact is illustrated in the context of a Northern Hemisphere mean temperature reconstruction. An inescapable trade-off for achieving an unbiased reconstruction is an increase in variance, but for many climate applications the change in mean is a core interest.
Electrothermally actuated inline microfluidic valve

A normally open electrothermally actuated inline microvalve that has been developed, fabricated and tested with liquids is presented. These actuators use high volumetric expansion of a sealed patch of Paraffin heated above its melting point, providing large displacements and forces while using low power. The inline valve is surface micromachined on top of preformed flexible microfluidic channels using a low temperature fabrication process; therefore it is suitable for integration with microfluidic networks requiring actuation of a large number of independent valves under electrical control. Complete closure of sealed microchannels has been observed with power as low as 40 mW. Response times of 15 ms have been measured. Breakdown of the inline valve occurs at an upstream pressure of 23 psig.