cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Inferring hierarchical descriptions

We create a statistical model for inferring hierarchical term relationships about a topic, given only a small set of example web pages on the topic, without prior knowledge of any hierarchical information. The model can utilize either the full text of the pages in the cluster or the context of links to the pages. To support the model, we use "ground truth" data taken from the category labels in the Open Directory. We show that the model accurately separates terms in the following classes: self terms describing the cluster, parent terms describing more general concepts, and child terms describing specializations of the cluster. For example, for a set of biology pages, sample parent, self, and child terms are science, biology, and genetics respectively. We create an algorithm to predict parent, self, and child terms using the new model, and compare the predictions to the ground truth data. The algorithm accurately ranks a majority of the ground truth terms highly, and identifies additional complementary terms missing in the Open Directory.
Multiple Regulatory Elements Ensure Accurate Transcription of a Human Ribosomal Protein Gene

Previously we have shown that expression of a cloned human ribosomal protein gene,RPS14, depends upon regulatory sites located within the gene's proximal upstream DNA plus its first intron. In order to identifycis-active sequence motifs within theRPS14 promoter-enhancer complex, we transiently expressed a set of informative deletion clones in cultured Chinese hamster ovary cells. These experiments revealed three DNA sequence motifs that surround the S14 mRNA initiation site and are necessary for accurate transcription. Electrophoretic mobility shift, DNase I footprint, and methylation interference assays resolved two nuclear proteins, NFα-1 and NFβ-1, which bind specifically to these regulatory motifs. NF-α1 recognizes a pair of 6-bp target motifs (5′-TTCCGG-3′) that flank the 5′ end ofRPS14 exon I; and NF-β1 binds to a 10-bp target sequence (5′-CCGTGGGAAC-3′) within the gene's first intron. Site-directed deletion mutations within the NF-α1 and -β1 binding sites markedly inhibit S14 mRNA transcription.
Scaling apparent distance in natural indoor settings

Apparent distance was scaled by the method of magnitude estimation in two indoor viewing situations. The average exponent of a power function relating judged to real distance was 1.2; the exponent was not affected by a doubling of the distance range. Individual judgments were well described by power functions. The results are consistent with those of other studies in showing that apparent distance is an accelerating function of physical distance in indoor settings.
Atomic Layer Deposition of $\hbox{SiO}_{2}$ for AlGaN/GaN MOS-HFETs

This letter investigates the electrical properties of SiO2 gate dielectric on GaN heterostructures deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD). ALD SiO2 has a dielectric constant of 3.9 and a bandgap of 8.8 eV. ALD SiO2 provides a good interface to GaN and minimizes the interfacial layer growth. The threshold voltage of metal-oxide-semiconductor heterojunction field-effect transistors with ALD SiO2 dielectric is -1.5 V, owing to a fixed charge concentration of -1.6 × 1012 cm-2. It was also found that devices with ALD SiO2 dielectric exhibit three orders of magnitude reduction in gate leakage current compared to conventional Schottky gate HFETs.
A discrete region model of isotropic elasticity

A model of isotropic elastic materials is introduced that uses the positions of points within the material as the independent parameters. The energy of the material is defined as a function of these point positions. The gradient of this energy function provides the force at each point. From the point positions and the forces both stress and strain can be calculated as dependent parameters. This model is shown to reproduce the results of classical stress—strain, spring, and rubber elasticity models by changing the energy function and the equations defining stress and strain from the point positions. The discrete region model does this without large numbers of nodes, or being limited to modeling only deviatoric stress. The discrete region model also forms the basis of new elasticity models which are linear for large displacements and simultaneously rotationally invariant under rigid-body rotations. Finally a procedure is described for fitting the energy function for discrete region models to experimental data.
Biomechanics and wound healing in the cornea

The biomechanical and wound healing properties of the cornea undermine the predictability and stability of refractive surgery and contribute to discrepancies between attempted and achieved visual outcomes after LASIK, surface ablation and other keratorefractive procedures. Furthermore, patients predisposed to biomechanical failure or abnormal wound healing can experience serious complications such as keratectasia or clinically significant corneal haze, and more effective means for the identification of such patients prior to surgery are needed. In this review, we describe the cornea as a complex structural composite material with pronounced anisotropy and heterogeneity, summarize current understanding of major biomechanical and reparative pathways that contribute to the corneal response to laser vision correction, and review the role of these processes in ectasia, intraocular pressure measurement artifact, diffuse lamellar keratitis (DLK) and corneal haze. The current understanding of differences in the corneal response after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), LASIK and femtosecond-assisted LASIK are reviewed. Surgical and disease models that integrate corneal geometric data, substructural anatomy, elastic and viscoelastic material properties and wound healing behavior have the potential to improve clinical outcomes and minimize complications but depend on the identification of preoperative predictors of biomechanical and wound healing responses in individual patients.
Remarks on limit theorems for nonlinear functionals of Gaussian sequences

Limit theorems for sums of nonlinear functionals of Gaussian sequences typically obtain as limit distribution that of a single term in an expansion given by Dobrushin [1] for a process subordinate to a Gaussian process. Here we show how one can obtain limit theorems of this type where the limit distribution is that of a full expansion of Dobrushin's type.
Complications of Ablative Therapies in Lung Cancer

Two cases of complications secondary to the use of microwave ablation (MWA) in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are discussed herein. The first case involves a 62-year-old man with stage IB NSCLC who declined surgery and pursued MWA. Within 7 months, he had residual disease at the MWA treatment site, and surgery was performed. The patient was found to have pleural and chest wall involvement, making complete resection impossible. The second case involves an 86-year-old woman with a second local recurrence of NSCLC and previous treatment including surgery and chemoradiation therapy. She was initially a surgical candidate but declined surgery and pursued MWA. Within 6 months, she had residual disease at the MWA treatment site. A second MWA was performed, and she developed a large cavitary abscess at the MWA site and had subsequent clinical decline. Less invasive ablation therapies and stereotactic radiosurgery are being developed for patients with inoperable lung cancer. Because these modalities have recently been developed, trials that clearly show efficacy and survival benefit are yet to be completed. Ablation procedures can result in complications, including residual disease and cavitary lesions susceptible to infection. These cases highlight the caution that should still be observed when recommending lung ablation strategies and the importance of selecting appropriate patients.
Controlled redundancy in interpolation-based neural nets

In this paper, we deal with the problem of associative memory synthesis via multivariate interpolation. We present an abstract yet simple formalism to address the possibility of detecting and eliminating redundant input data from the set of exemplars. The remaining pairs are then stored in a way so as to introduce controlled redundancy by replication of the corresponding neurons. The redundancy is detected via orthogonalization carried out in a Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space setting.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
The employee health service and infection control in US hospitals, 1976-1977. I. Screening procedures.

To assess the extent to which US hospitals have established employee health services with infection control functions, we analyzed information obtained in the SENIC Project (Study on the Efficacy of Nosocomial Infection Control) from interviews with hospital officials and staff nurses in a representative sample of 433 hospitals. Sixty-eight percent of hospitals had a formal employee health service. The percentage routinely screening employees varied widely from the more common tests, such as the yearly chest roentgenogram (89%) and skin test (83%), to less common tests, including stool cultures (43%) and blood testing for hepatitis B (41%) and rubella (33%); 40% routinely obtained cultures of personnel. Although most hospitals appear to screen adequately, a sizeable minority either fail to employ recommended screening tests or continue unnecessary, expensive ones. (JAMA1981;246:844-847)
Pulmonary arterial hypertension: an overview

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) was first described over 100 years ago, but a thorough understanding of its patho-genesis and a successful approach to curing the disease remain elusive. Increased research activity has greatly enhanced our understanding of the disease and led to new therapies that retard disease progression and improve patient function and survival. The disease is rare, but effects people of all ages and is associated with several seemingly unconnected diseases. It is not clear whether all forms of PAH represent the same disease or the same pathologic endpoint of different pulmonary vascular disease processes. Recent attempts to classify different forms of pulmonary hyper-tension by the diseases with which they are associated has helped researchers organize data collected from patient registries and clinical trials. This overview discusses the history, epidemiology, and genetic basis of PAH, new recommendations for disease classification, and prognostic variables shown to adversely affect survival.
Bimodal Recognition of DNA Geometry by Human Topoisomerase IIα: Preferential Relaxation of Positively Supercoiled DNA Requires Elements in the C-Terminal Domain†

Human topoisomerase IIα, but not topoisomerase IIβ, can sense the geometry of DNA during relaxation and removes positive supercoils >10-fold faster than it does negative superhelical twists. In contrast, both isoforms maintain lower levels of DNA cleavage intermediates with positively supercoiled substrates. Since topoisomerase IIα and IIβ differ primarily in their C-terminal domains (CTD), this portion of the protein may play a role in sensing DNA geometry. Therefore, to more fully assess the importance of the topoisomerase IIα CTD in the recognition of DNA topology, hTop2αΔ1175, a mutant human enzyme that lacks its CTD, was examined. The mutant enzyme relaxed negative and positive supercoils at similar rates but still maintained lower levels of cleavage complexes with positively supercoiled DNA. Furthermore, when the CTD of topoisomerase IIβ was replaced with that of the α isoform, the resulting enzyme preferentially relaxed positively supercoiled substrates. In contrast, a chimeric topoisomerase IIα th...
Physical state and acidity of inorganic sulfate can regulate the production of secondary organic material from isoprene photooxidation products

The production of secondary organic material (SOM) by the reactive uptake of isoprene photooxidation products was investigated using partially to wholly neutralized sulfuric acid particles. The experiments were performed at a relative humidity (RH) of <5% and a temperature of 20 °C. The extent X of neutralization was adjusted from that of sulfuric acid (X = 0) to that of ammonium sulfate (X = 1). Significant SOM production was observed only for X < 0.7. The threshold of 0.7 corresponded to the transition point of the sulfate particles from aqueous to solid for <5% RH. The phase transition of inorganic sulfate therefore regulated the particle-phase reactions that produce isoprene SOM, at least for the investigated conditions. For aqueous particles, a decreasing extent of neutralization was associated with increasing production of SOM, including increased production of oligomers and organosulfates. These results can underpin treatments of phase-dependent SOM production within chemical transport models, thereby improving the accuracy of simulations of biogenic–anthropogenic interactions in the atmosphere and the associated impacts of aerosol particles on climate and air quality.
The role of panoramic radiography in determining an increased risk of cervical atheromas in patients treated with therapeutic irradiation

Abstract Purpose. Therapeutic irradiation of the neck is a common component of treatment for those with carcinoma of the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx. Such irradiation, however, has been implicated as the cause of accelerated atherosclerosis of the cervical carotid artery and subsequent stroke. Panoramic radiography, previously shown to be capable of identifying carotid artery atherosclerosis in non-irradiated individuals, was used to assess the carotid vasculature of patients who had been treated for cancer with therapeutic irradiation. Methods. The panoramic radiographs of 33 male subjects who had received therapeutic irradition (≥50 Gy) to the neck 30 or more months previously were assessed for the presence of calcified carotid artery atherosclerotic lesions. Age-matched controls, similarly liable for oropharyngeal malignancy and atherosclerosis by virtue of their medical and habitual risk factors (hypertension, smoking, obesity) were assessed in a like manner. Results. The panoramic radiographs of the irradiation-treated subjects (age range, 32 to 84 years; mean age, 66.1 years) showed that 21% (7 of 33 subjects) had calcified atherosclerotic lesions. The mean age of these seven subjects was 64.6 years; four had unilateral lesions and three had bilateral lesions. The radiographs of the control subjects showed that 4.7% (5 of 107 subjects) had calcified atherosclerotic lesions. The mean age of these five subjects was 67; three had unilateral lesions and two had bilateral lesions. The lesions seen in the two populations had similar morphologic appearances. The discrete radiopaque calcifications were located within the soft tissues of the neck, approximately 2.5 cm inferior-posterior to the angle of the mandible. Conclusions. Subjects who had received therapeutic irradiation of the neck had a statistically higher risk (p = 0.007, according to Fisher's Exact Test) of the development of calcified carotid artery atherosclerotic lesions than age-matched, risk-matched, non-irradiated control subjects. These lesions can be detected on routine panoramic radiographs.
A low cost method for testing offset and gain error for ADC BIST

As the Systems-on-Chips (SoCs) complexity increases, test cost contributes more in the total cost. Especially, test of deeply embedded analog and mixed signal blocks are the most costly test. Built-In Self-Test (BIST) is considered as a low cost substitution of traditional production test. This paper presents a low cost method for testing ADC's offset and gain error. This is a complement of previous published linearity and spectral performance test methods. The simulation results show the method has good accuracy.
Strain differences in eating and drinking evoked by electrical stimulation of the hypothalamus

Abstract Electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus (ESLH) has been shown to produce individual response differences that cannot be attributed to the neuroanatomical locus of the electrode. The purpose of the present experiment was to investigate strain differences in the incidence of eating and drinking evoked by ESLH. The responses of 49 Long-Evans and 51 Sprague-Dawley male rats implanted with bilateral hypothalamic electrodes were studied. Animals from these two strains do not differ in their normal food or water consumption. Analysis of the responses to ESLH demonstrated that a significantly greater number of Long-Evans rats ate food and/or drank water during ESLH than did the Sprague-Dawley rats. These results could not be attributed to differences in electrode placements, or rearing conditions. In addition to strain differences, the importance of individual differences within each strain was demonstrated by the fact that both electrodes in a given animal commonly evoked the same behavior. Hypotheses to explain these results are discussed.
Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground: Serials Vision and Common Sense

Each year the proceedings of the North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG) seem to grow in length in an attempt to address the increasing complexity of serials-related issues and trends. The 19...
Methylnaltrexone Bromide, Subcutaneous:

INDICATIONS Subcutaneous methylnaltrexone is indicated for the treatment of opioid-induced constipation when response to laxative therapy has not been sufficient in patients with advanced illness who are receiving palliative care. Constipation is a common adverse reaction associated with opiates and opioid compounds. It is one of the symptoms associated with opiate-induced bowel dysfunction. Other symptoms associated with opiate-induced bowel dysfunction are bloating, gas, hard stools, incomplete evacuation, increased gastrointestinal (GI) reflux, nausea, pain, secretions, and vomiting. For some patients, constipation can be a distressing symptom and can influence the patient’s quality of life. The mechanism for the delays in gastric emptying, oral-cecal, and colonic transit time and the inhibition of defecation associated with opiateinduced bowel dysfunction is the stimulation of the mu receptor.
On Overdetermined Boundary Value Problems for the Biharmonic Operator

Abstract We consider several overdetermined boundary value problems for the biharmonic operator and deduce that if a solution exists, then the domain must be a ball in N-space. When the auxiliary conditions are prescribed on the boundary, we reduce the problem to an equivalent second order overdetermined problem and use Rellich and Green identities and/or maximum principle arguments. When one or more auxiliary condition is specified on an interior surface, we use a particular solution of an associated problem to obtain the result.
Précis---An Operations Research Approach to the Management of Government Cost-Plus-Award-Fee Contracts

This paper, written by authors with experience as both government and contractor managers of CPAF contracts, sets out a simple quantitative model that serves to introduce some objective checkpoints to aid the project manager and government representative in achieving optimum performance under a subjective incentive system.
Applications of the microprocessor in the behavioral medicine laboratory

Applications of the microprocessor for use within a behavioral medicine laboratory are reviewed. Current uses include clinical assessment (test administration, scoring, and intepretation), patient data file creation, data storage and retrieval, word processing of manuscripts and reference lists, data reduction, statistical analysis, and computer-assisted therapy. Instrumentation and software in use and under development are described, as well as future prospects.
Some Factors Related to Architectural Creativity in Graduating Architecture Students

(1969). Some Factors Related to Architectural Creativity in Graduating Architecture Students. The Journal of General Psychology: Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 203-215.
A Class of Semiparametric Mixture Cure Survival Models With Dependent Censoring

Modern cancer treatments have substantially improved cure rates and have generated a great interest in and need for proper statistical tools to analyze survival data with nonnegligible cure fractions. Data with cure fractions often are complicated by dependent censoring, and the analysis of this type of data typically involves untestable parametric assumptions on the dependence of the censoring mechanism and the true survival times. Motivated by the analysis of prostate cancer survival trends, we propose a class of semiparametric transformation cure models that allows for dependent censoring without making parametric assumptions on the dependence relationship. The proposed class of models encompasses a number of common models for the latency survival function, including the proportional hazards model and the proportional odds model, and also allows for time-dependent covariates. An inverse censoring probability reweighting scheme is used to derive unbiased estimating equations. Small-sample properties wit...
Female-predominant rat hepatic P-450 forms j (IIE1) and 3 (IIA1) are under hormonal regulatory controls distinct from those of the sex-specific P-450 forms.

Hepatic expression of cytochrome P-450j (alcohol- inducible nitrosamine demethylase; P-450 gene IIE1) and P- 450 3 (testosterone 7α-hydroxylase; P-450 gene IIAl) is female predominant in adult rats [female/male = 1.5-2 (P-450j) or 3-4 (P-450 3)]. This sex difference emerges during the postsuckling period, when P-450 3 declines significantly (60-70% decrease) in male, but not female, rats, and P-450j declines in both sexes, but to a lower constitutive level in males than in females. The biochemical factors and regulatory events that control these developmental changes were investigated and found to be distinct from those that regulate expression of the female-specific hepatic enzymes P-450 2d (P-450 gene IIC12) and steroid 5α-reductase. Immunoquantitation of the changes in P-450j and P- 450 3 levels in hormonally altered rats established that both P- 450s are under gonadal control. However, while androgen and estrogen both suppress P-450j expression, estrogen stimulates and androgen suppresses the expressi...
An Automatic Approach to Generate XML Schemas from Relational Models

Data storage in enterprise information systems is usually performed in relational databases, and XML is a common standard for exchanging data within and among organizations. Automating databases update from data in XML format remains a challenge. In this paper, we propose a methodology to efficiently generate, from a relational model, an XML schema which can then be used by an XML middleware platform that performs the mediation management between the source and target XML representations. Our method is composed of two main steps, with the objective of both avoiding any data redundancy by performing a high level of nesting, and preserving the integrity constraints. The first step consists in an algorithm that stratifies all the relations of the database model in different levels depending on the existing functional dependencies and on the foreign keys degrees. The second step consists in an algorithm based on a set of generic XML Schema fragments templates that automatically creates an XML schema according to the classification performed by the previous step. Our methodology has been successfully tested in the eHealth domain between an XML representation of an open format ISO standard communications protocol embedding biosignals and related metadata and a European relational reference model including these data.
A Review of Loss, Trauma and Resilience: Therapeutic Work With Ambiguous Loss

Book reviewed in this article: Pauline Boss (2006). Loss, Trauma, and Resilience: Therapeutic Work With Ambiguous Loss.
Under DNA stress, gyrase makes the sign of the cross

In this issue, Nollmann and colleagues report single-molecule analyses of DNA gyrase action on supercoiled DNA under different levels of strain. Surprisingly, they found that gyrase changes its reaction mechanism in response to changes in DNA strain. This explains the role of ATP in a branching topoisomerase reaction pathway and revisits an old puzzle about gyrase reversibility.
A fully planarized 4H-SiC trench MOS barrier Schottky (TMBS) rectifier

A fully planarized 4H-SiC trench MOS barrier Schottky (TMBS) rectifier has been designed, fabricated and characterized for the first time. The use of a TMBS structure helps improve the reverse leakage current by more than three orders of magnitude compared to that of a planar Schottky rectifier. We have achieved a low reverse leakage current density of 6/spl times/10/sup -6/ A/cm/sup 2/ and a low forward voltage drop of 1.75 V at 60 A/cm/sup 2/ for the TMBS rectifier. The static current-voltage (I-V) and switching characteristics of the TMBS rectifier have been measured at various temperatures. A barrier height of 1.0 eV and an ideality factor of 1.8 were extracted from the forward characteristics. The switching characteristics do not change with temperature indicating the essential absence of stored charge.
Pyruvate dehydrogenase, the citrate condensing enzyme and the utilization of 14 C-labeled lactate, pyruvate and alanine by slices of lactating mammary gland and adenocarcinoma of mouse mammary gland.

SummaryThe utilization of 14C-labeled lactate, pyruvate and alanine by tissue slices of lactating mouse mammary gland and adenocarcinoma of the mouse mammary gland was investigated. In the absence of glucose, rates of 14CO2 formation and fatty acid synthesis from these substrates in the mammary adenocarcinoma were considerably lower than those in the lactating mammary gland, regardless of the position of the labeled carbon. In the lactating mammary gland, addition of glucose caused a considerable decline in 14CO2 formation from the second and third carbons of lactate, pyruvate and alanine, while it significantly stimulated their incorporation into fatty acids. Glucose also stimulated 14CO2 formation from the first carbon of these substrates. In the mammary adenocarcinoma, however, 14CO2 formation from the first carbon of lactate and pyruvate decreased upon glucose addition, while that from the second and third carbons was almost unaffected. The incorporation into fatty acids of the second and third carbon...
Multi-item, economic order quantity model with permissible delay in payments and a budget constraint

This paper investigates the optimal replenishment policy for multi-item ordering under the conditions of permissible delay in payment, a budget constraint and permissible partial payment at a penalty. Such conditions exist in the use of purchase cards to order merchandise directly from the supplier. The paper presents mathematical models and closed form solutions for three situations ? permissible delay is negative (payment made before receipt of good), is less than the replenishment interval and is greater than the replenishment interval. The analyses indicate that it is more economical for the purchaser to make entire payments even when the interest earned is greater than the interest charged. [Received 06 April 2007; Revised 02 December 2007; Accepted 23 January 2008]
Effect of consumer relationship proneness on perceived loyalty program attributes and resistance to change

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the interrelationships among consumer relationship proneness (CRP), three perceived loyalty program attributes (i.e. perceived complexity, advantage, and risk), and resistance to change with participants in apparel retailer's loyalty programs.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected using an online survey with the assistance of a marketing research company. Participants were 294 members of apparel retailers' loyalty programs. Participants indicated one apparel retailer's loyalty program in which they took part. After that, they completed a questionnaire making reference to the program they had identified. To reduce measurement artifacts, dependent variables were assessed prior to their predictors.Findings – CRP was found to have a significant effect on perceived advantage and resistance to change. In turn, perceived advantage revealed a significant positive effect on resistance to change. The results not only verify theoretical conceptions regardi...
Label-free optical detection of biomolecular reaction kinetics in microarray format for high-throughput screening applications

Using a combination of an oblique-incidence reflectivity difference (OI-RD) scanning microscope and a customized 8-chamber sample cartridge, we detect 300 surface-immobilized molecular targets reacting with up to 8 different analytes simultaneously on a single slide.
Expectations and Commodity Price Dynamics: The Overshooting Model

Monetary policy has important effects on agricultural commodity prices because, though they are flexible, other goods prices are sticky. This paper formalizes the argument by applying the Dornbusch overshooting model. A decline in the nominal money supply is a decline in the real money supply in the short run. It raises the real interest rate, which depresses real commodity prices. They overshoot their new equilibrium in order to generate an expectation of future appreciation sufficient to offset the higher interest rate. These real effects (which vanish in the long run) also result from a decline in the money growth rate.
Does Homeownership Affect Child Outcomes

We study the impact of homeowning on the cognitive and behavioral outcomes of children. Using four waves of a comprehensive national panel data set, we control for many social, demographic and economic variables previously found to influence child outcomes. The data are a panel, allowing us to control for unobserved household– and child–specific factors. We use a treatment effects model to address the issue of possible sample selection bias caused by unobserved variables that influence both the parent’s choice of whether to own or rent and whether to invest in their children. We find that owning a home compared with renting leads to a 13 to 23% higher quality home environment, greater cognitive ability and fewer child behavior problems. For children living in owned homes, math achievement is up to 9% higher, reading achievement is up to 7% higher, and children’s behavioral problems are 1 to 3% lower.
Cambrian Trilobites with Siberian Affinities, Southwestern Alaska: ABSTRACT

Cambian trilobites occur in two levels (about 7 m apart) in the core of a large, complex anticlinal structure in the area between the Taylor Mountains and the Hoholitna River in southwestern Alaska. The lower collection contains Erbia, Macannaia (a species close to Soviet forms described as Pagetia ferox Lermontova), two species of Kootenia (including one perhaps conspecific with forms from the central Brooks Range), and several species of ptychoparioid trilobites. It is clear that biogeographic affinities are with the transitional facies of the eastern Siberian platform and the south Siberian foldbelt. In Soviet terms, the age of the collection falls in a disputed interval called latest Early Cambrian (Tojonian) by some authors, and earliest Middle Cambrian (Amgan) by ot ers. In North American terms, Macannaia is known only from early Middle Cambrian beds. The younger collection contains abundant agnostids, a variety of conocoryphids, Paradoxides, and several species of ptychoparioid trilobites. This is an assemblage of undoubted late Middle Cambrian age, comparable to faunas described from the Maya Stage of the Siberian platform and the Paradoxides paradoxissimus Stage of the Baltic region. Both faunas are from ocean-facing or outer shelf environments. None of the key non-agnostid or non-pagetiid elements have been seen previously in deposits of Cambrian North America. End_of_Article - Last_Page 295------------
In Vitro Susceptibilities of Mycoplasma hominis to Six Fluoroquinolones as Determined by E Test

Twenty isolates of Mycoplasma hominis were tested for their susceptibility to six fluoroquinolones by the E test. The MICs at which 90% of the isolates were inhibited (in micrograms per milliliter) were as follows: sparfloxacin, 0.031; clinafloxacin, moxifloxacin, and trovafloxacin, 0.063; levofloxacin, 0.25; and ciprofloxacin, 0.5. Increasing the amount of inoculum or incubation in CO(2) elevated MICs by </=1 dilution. E tests produce fluoroquinolone MICs comparable to those obtained by agar and microbroth dilution for M. hominis.
The McbB component of microcin B17 synthetase is a zinc metalloprotein.

The microcin B17 synthetase converts glycine, serine, and cysteine residues in a polypeptide precursor into oxazoles and thiazoles during the maturation of the Escherichia coli antibiotic Microcin ...
An Ex Post Evaluation of Ohio’s Great Miami Water Quality Trading Program1

Newburn, David A. and Richard T. Woodward, 2011. An Ex Post Evaluation of Ohio’s Great Miami Water Quality Trading Program. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 48(1): 156-169. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2011.00601.x Abstract: Market-based approaches to address water quality problems have resulted in only limited success, especially in trading programs involving both point and nonpoint sources. We analyze one of the largest point-nonpoint trading programs – the Great Miami Trading Program in Ohio, administered by the Miami Conservancy District (MCD). Our evaluation focuses on the economic and institutional aspects of the program, including cost effectiveness, efficiency of bidding, transaction costs, trading ratios, and innovation. We use a unique dataset consisting of all bids from agricultural nonpoint sources and interviews of soil and water conservation district (SWCD) agents in the watershed. We find that the MCD’s reliance on county-level SWCD offices to recruit and advise farmers has been essential to achieve relatively high rates of farmer participation. Additionally, the MCD is able to partly free ride on the administrative costs that SWCD offices receive to assist federal conservation programs, which is helpful to lower costs for a fledgling trading program. However, the involvement of SWCD offices reduced the potential cost savings from the reverse auction structure because some agents were able to learn about the threshold price over the six rounds of bidding and help farmers bid strategically. Overall, the program structure serves as an effective model for future trading programs in other regions that seek to involve agricultural nonpoint sources.
Studies on the production of branched-chain alcohols in engineered Ralstonia eutropha

Wild-type Ralstonia eutropha H16 produces polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) as an intracellular carbon storage material during nutrient stress in the presence of excess carbon. In this study, the excess carbon was redirected in engineered strains from PHB storage to the production of isobutanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol (branched-chain higher alcohols). These branched-chain higher alcohols can directly substitute for fossil-based fuels and be employed within the current infrastructure. Various mutant strains of R. eutropha with isobutyraldehyde dehydrogenase activity, in combination with the overexpression of plasmid-borne, native branched-chain amino acid biosynthesis pathway genes and the overexpression of heterologous ketoisovalerate decarboxylase gene, were employed for the biosynthesis of isobutanol and 3-methyl-1-butanol. Production of these branched-chain alcohols was initiated during nitrogen or phosphorus limitation in the engineered R. eutropha. One mutant strain not only produced over 180 mg/L branched-chain alcohols in flask culture, but also was significantly more tolerant of isobutanol toxicity than wild-type R. eutropha. After the elimination of genes encoding three potential carbon sinks (ilvE, bkdAB, and aceE), the production titer improved to 270 mg/L isobutanol and 40 mg/L 3-methyl-1-butanol. Semicontinuous flask cultivation was utilized to minimize the toxicity caused by isobutanol while supplying cells with sufficient nutrients. Under this semicontinuous flask cultivation, the R. eutropha mutant grew and produced more than 14 g/L branched-chain alcohols over the duration of 50 days. These results demonstrate that R. eutropha carbon flux can be redirected from PHB to branched-chain alcohols and that engineered R. eutropha can be cultivated over prolonged periods of time for product biosynthesis.
Unisexual reproduction reverses Muller's ratchet.

Cryptococcus neoformans is a pathogenic basidiomycetous fungus that engages in outcrossing, inbreeding, and selfing forms of unisexual reproduction as well as canonical sexual reproduction between opposite mating types. Long thought to be clonal, >99% of sampled environmental and clinical isolates of C. neoformans are MATα, limiting the frequency of opposite mating-type sexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction allows eukaryotic organisms to exchange genetic information and shuffle their genomes to avoid the irreversible accumulation of deleterious changes that occur in asexual populations, known as Muller’s ratchet. We tested whether unisexual reproduction, which dispenses with the requirement for an opposite mating-type partner, is able to purge the genome of deleterious mutations. We report that the unisexual cycle can restore mutant strains of C. neoformans to wild-type genotype and phenotype, including prototrophy and growth rate. Furthermore, the unisexual cycle allows attenuated strains to purge deleterious mutations and produce progeny that are returned to wild-type virulence. Our results show that unisexual populations of C. neoformans are able to avoid Muller’s ratchet and loss of fitness through a unisexual reproduction cycle involving α-α cell fusion, nuclear fusion, and meiosis. Similar types of unisexual reproduction may operate in other pathogenic and saprobic eukaryotic taxa.
Performance analysis and control strategy for pixelated dynamic gain equalizers

Dynamic network reconfigurations change gain profiles of optical amplifiers employed for signal amplification. Fixed gain flattening filters cannot compensate for these changes. Dynamic gain equalizers (DGE) can substantially improve optic link performance and enable longer links without re-generation or higher transmission rates on the existing links. In a pixelated DGE, the input light is spectrally dispersed across a linear array of variable attenuators (pixels). Each pixel has an adjustable transmission or reflectivity, which can be adjusted independent of the settings of the other pixels, but which is approximately uniform across the width of the pixel. The dispersive optics are designed such that a monochromatic input beam has a width at the pixel plane which is greater than the pixel width.
CAPRI: prediction of compaction-adequacy for handling control-divergence in GPGPU architectures

Wide SIMD-based GPUs have evolved into a promising platform for running general purpose workloads. Current programmable GPUs allow even code with irregular control to execute well on their SIMD pipelines. To do this, each SIMD lane is considered to execute a logical thread where hardware ensures that control flow is accurate by automatically applying masked execution. The masked execution, however, often degrades performance because the issue slots of masked lanes are wasted. This degradation can be mitigated by dynamically compacting multiple unmasked threads into a single SIMD unit. This paper proposes a fundamentally new approach to branch compaction that avoids the unnecessary synchronization required by previous techniques and that only stalls threads that are likely to benefit from compaction. Our technique is based on the compaction-adequacy predictor (CAPRI). CAPRI dynamically identifies the compaction-effectiveness of a branch and only stalls threads that are predicted to benefit from compaction. We utilize a simple single-level branch-predictor inspired structure and show that this simple configuration attains a prediction accuracy of 99.8% and 86.6% for non-divergent and divergent workloads, respectively. Our performance evaluation demonstrates that CAPRI consistently outperforms both the baseline design that never attempts compaction and prior work that stalls upon all divergent branches.
Effect of electron beam irradiation on poultry meat safety and quality

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of electron beam irradiation at doses of 1.0 and 1.8 kGy on the elimination of bacteria from boneless, skinless chicken breasts without significantly altering product quality. Microbial testing was conducted in triplicate using a whole carcass rinse method with each nonirradiated control group and an irradiation treatment group consisting of 10 samples. Results indicated that mean counts for coliforms, generic Escherichia coli, and psychrotrophs were 3.13, 3.26, and 1.92 log10 cfu/200 mL rinsate, respectively, in the control samples. However, these populations were not detected after the samples were irradiated with 1.0 or 1.8 kGy. Mean count of 4.60 log10 cfu/200 mL rinsate was detected for aerobic bacteria in the control samples. Irradiation doses of 1.0 and 1.8 kGy reduced the levels to 2.23 and 1.62 log10 cfu/200 mL rinsate, respectively. Irradiation also rendered the fillets free of Salmonella and Campylobacter. Consumer taste panels (product stored for 0, 14, and 28 d at 0 C) indicated that, at Day 0, there were no differences among controls and treatment groups for any of the quality attributes tested. At Day 14, texture and flavor attributes were lower for the irradiated groups. At Day 28, samples irradiated with 1.0 and 1.8 kGy were less desirable with decreased texture, flavor, and overall acceptability. Degree of lipid oxidation also increased as storage time and level of irradiation increased. Irradiated samples also had higher a* values, indicating they were pinker in color.
See No Evil: When We Overlook Other People's Unethical Behavior

It is common for people to be more critical of others' ethical choices than of their own. This chapter explores those remarkable circumstances in which people see no evil in others' unethical behavior. Specifically, we explore 1) the motivated tendency to overlook the unethical behavior of others when we recognize the unethical behavior would harm us, 2) the tendency to ignore unethical behavior unless it is clear, immediate, and direct, 3) the tendency to ignore unethical behavior when ethicality erodes slowly over time, and 4) the tendency to assess unethical behaviors only after the unethical behavior has resulted in a bad outcome, but not during the decision process.
School Violence: The Bidirectional Conflict Flow Between Neighborhood and School

In this article we explore the interrelationship between school and neighborhood violence through an ethnographic study conducted over a two‐year period in a New York City middle school. This artic...
Effectiveness of the US Department of Agriculture 5-step multiple-pass method in assessing food intake in obese and nonobese women

Background: National surveys of food intake rely on the 24-h dietary recall method for assessing the nutrient intakes of Americans. Objectives: This observational validation study was conducted under controlled conditions to test the effectiveness of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) 5-step multiple-pass method for dietary recall; to test the ability of normal weight, overweight, and obese women to recall food intake; and to test the accuracy of macronutrient recall. Design: Women (n = 49) aged 21‐65 y with a body mass index (in kg/m 2 ) of 20‐45 selected all meals and snacks for 1 d from a wide variety of foods. A 24-h dietary recall with the use of the USDA 5-step multiple-pass method was administered by telephone the following day. Analysis of variance and covariance tested the overall accuracy of recall and the effect of BMI on dietary recall. Results: As a population, the women overestimated their energy and carbohydrate intakes by 8‐10%. No significant differences between mean actual and recalled intakes of energy and the macronutrients were observed in the obese women. Normalweight and overweight women significantly (P < 0.01) overestimated their energy, protein, and carbohydrate intakes. Recalled fat intake was not significantly different from actual intake in women across the BMI range studied. Conclusions: The USDA 5-step multiple-pass method effectively assessed mean energy intake within 10% of mean actual intake on the previous day. Obese women more accurately recalled food intake than did overweight and normal-weight women despite undereating on the day of the study. Am J Clin Nutr 2003;77:1171‐8.
Pressurization of isolated renal arteries increases inositol trisphosphate and diacylglycerol

Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3) and 1,2-diacylglycerol (DAG) concentrations were measured in isolated, cannulated dog renal arteries under control conditions (0 mmHg) and in response to step ele...
Scaling of High-Field Transport and Localized Heating in Graphene Transistors

We use infrared thermal imaging and electrothermal simulations to find that localized Joule heating in graphene field-effect transistors on SiO2 is primarily governed by device electrostatics. Hot spots become more localized (i.e., sharper) as the underlying oxide thickness is reduced, such that the average and peak device temperatures scale differently, with significant long-term reliability implications. The average temperature is proportional to oxide thickness, but the peak temperature is minimized at an oxide thickness of ∼90 nm due to competing electrostatic and thermal effects. We also find that careful comparison of high-field transport models with thermal imaging can be used to shed light on velocity saturation effects. The results shed light on optimizing heat dissipation and reliability of graphene devices and interconnects.
Fractionation of Organic Fuel Precursors from Electrolytes with Membranes

Efficient membrane fractionation of small, neutral organics from electrolytes could improve the sustainability of biofuel production from microorganisms, but the separations achieved are often insu...
On the Design of Vehicular Electrically Small Antennas for NVIS Communications

Design of low-profile vehicular on-the-move (OTM) wideband high-frequency (HF) antennas with 24-kHz instantaneous bandwidth for near-vertical communications is discussed. It is shown that multiarming significantly reduces the minimum antenna height, whereas the two-arm configuration is a tradeoff between antenna complexity and performance. A procedure for determining the minimum antenna height when the tuner loss is considered as a design parameter is introduced. The design evolves from a state-of-the-art magnetic dipole to a wire two-arm half-loop antenna (HLA). The profile for the amphibious assault vehicle (AAV) mounted antenna is 0.65 m ( $\lambda/230$ at 2 MHz) for the parabolic shape and 0.50 m ( $\lambda/300$ ) for the rectangular shape two-arm half-loop. The length of antenna base is 4.8 m ( $\lambda/31$ ) and the width is 3.3 m ( $\lambda/45$ ). A simple two-element tuner is considered in the scope of the results validation, along with the impedance and directivity patterns measurements on scaled 1/500 models.