cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Usefulness of Antemortem Fecal Samples as an Alternative Diagnostic Specimen for the Etiological Diagnosis of Neonatal Calf Scours

Practitioners commonly face a "diagnostic dilemma" when dealing with neonatal calf scours outbreaks. Most are aware that an ideal specimen for investigating an enteritis problem is an acutely ill, untreated, sacrificed, and immediately necropsied animal. Unfortunately in a diagnostic sense but understandably, the cattle producer does not see this as a very palatable approach. This reluctance is in part due to the fact that one calf represents a significant economic unit to the producer and because many times the animal can be saved with treatment. Therefore, many times the diagnostic lab does not receive acute cases to perform diagnostic tests upon and primary pathogens may be long gone due to chronicity. Postmortem autolysis is another important hindrance to diagnostic success. When calves are treated until they die, the window of opportunity to collect "fresh" tissue is no longer under the veterinarians control when compared to sacrificing the animal and immediately doing a necropsy and properly collecting specimens. In contrast, swine producers are ready and willing to sacrifice live acutely ill piglets to determine a specific etiological diagnosis and subsequently enjoy a much higher diagnostic success rate (90% or greater). However, when traditional neonatal calf scour submissions (bodies and tissues) are utilized, the diagnostic success rate suffers greatly due to the submission of chronic and/or autolyzed specimens (success less than 70%). One solution to this "diagnostic dilemma" was to analyze and evaluate alternative diagnostic specimens. This South Dakota Animal Disease Research and Diagnostic Laboratory of SDSU conducted a 6 month study in 1993 with two purposes: 1. to determine the diagnostic success rate of antemortem fecal specimens from calves in the acute stages of diarrhea, relative to the diagnostic success of shipped tissue specimens and to whole bodies brought to the laboratory; and 2. to encourage the use of antemortem fecal specimens as an alternative diagnostic tool, if the study indicated usefulness.
The LINC complex is required for endothelial cell adhesion and adaptation to shear stress and cyclic stretch.

The LINC complex is a critical structure for anchoring the nucleus to the cytoskeleton. It is shown that disruption of the LINC complex results in endothelial cells with impaired cell-cell junction...
Variation in Boilerplate: Rational Design or Random Mutation?

Standard contract doctrine presumes that sophisticated contracting parties choose their terminology carefully because they want courts or counterparts to understand the precise meaning they intend to convey. The implication of this “rational design” model of commercial contracting behavior is that courts should pay close attention to the plain or ordinary meaning of the language in a standardized term and interpret observed changes in terminology as embodying new meaning that varies from the original formulation. Using a study of the sovereign bond market, we examine the rational design model as applied to standard-form contracting. In NML v. Argentina, federal courts in New York attached great weight to the precise phrasing of the boilerplate contract terms at issue. The industry promptly condemned the decision for endorsing a supposedly erroneous interpretation of a variant of a hoary boilerplate clause. Utilizing data on how contracting practices responded to the courts’ decisions, we ask whether the market response indicates that parties in fact intended the variations in their standard contract language to embody different meanings. The data support a model of evolution of boilerplate language that is closer to random mutation rather than rational design.
All-fiber, Optical Parametric Oscillator Based on Birefringent Phase Matching in a Polarization Maintaining Fiber

We present an all-fiber, synchronously pumped, optical parametric oscillator based on birefringent phase matching in a polarization maintaining fiber. The laser system produces ultrashort signal and idler pulses near 930 nm and 1230 nm.
Structural Requirements for the Interaction between the Na + /K + -ATPase α - and β-Subunits

Identification of domains involved in assembly of the Na,K-ATPase α- and β- subunits is a major focus of our lab. These studies can lead to an understanding of the mechanisms controlling subunit assembly and may provide information about the membrane topology of the α-subunit and folding properties of the β-subunit extracellular domains. Our approach has taken advantage of the unique properties of several monoclonal antibodies that recognize the chicken β1 -subunit. Expression of chimeric subunits and/or subunits lacking portions of the polypeptide chains, followed by immune precipitations with these monoclonal antibodies, has allowed us to identify minimal regions within both the α- and β-subunit amino acid sequences that are sufficient for assembly.
The Cause of Urban Regulation

Land use regulations can be seen all across the United States, but what causes more or less regulation and how can we measure it? Joseph Gyourko, Albert Saiz, and Anita Summers provided a current ranking of communities based on the regulation in the housing market in their survey from the Urban Studies Journal Foundation titled “A New Measure of the Local Regulatory Environment for Housing Markets: The Wharton Residential Land Use Regulatory Index” (2008). The goal of the authors is to explain this measure of regulation and the underlying data in order to provide a basis for future analysis of housing markets with regard to regulation.
NK-2 is the predominant tachykinin receptor subtype in the swine ureter.

Objective To determine which of the known tachykinin receptor subtypes is predominant in the swine ureter. Materials and methods Ureters from adult pigs were harvested, cut into longitudinal strips and placed in 10 mL tissue baths containing Krebs buffer, under 4 g of initial tension. The magnitude and frequency of contractions were recorded. Tissues were incubated with 1 μmol/L solutions of peptidase inhibitors (phosphoramidon and captopril) for 1 h to inhibit degradation of peptides and treated with either CP 96,345 (NK-1 receptor antagonist), SR 48,968 (NK-2 receptor antagonist) or saline (control). Concentration–response curves to the tachykinins substance P (SP), neurokinin A (NKA) and neurokinin B (NKB) were determined. Results Ureteric segments showed a concentration-dependent response to all tachykinins; NKA stimulated increased contractions at a lower concentration than either SP or NKB (P<0.05). This was reflected by the difference in the effective concentration required to obtain half the maximal response (EC50 ) for each of the peptides. The mean (sd) EC50 values were (μmol/L): NKA, 0.2 (0.02); SP, 3.5 (0.7); and NKB, 4.5 (1.7). In addition, the selective NK-2 antagonist (SR 48,968) significantly reduced contractile responses to all peptides, as indicated by a 10-fold rightward shift of the concentration–response curves (P<0.05), whereas the NK-1 antagonist (CP 96,345) had no significant effect. Conclusion These results indicate that NK-2 is the predominant tachykinin receptor subtype responsible for contraction of ureteric smooth muscle. The use of mediators which act on NK-2 receptors may have clinical applications for the treatment of ureteric disease.
Pluto, Charon, and the Kuiper Belt Objects

This chapter provides a review of the current state of knowledge concerning Pluto, Charon, and other objects in the Kuiper Belt (KB). Necessarily, some background information on the KB itself is also provided, but the emphasis is not on the KB as a structure, but the objects in it. We begin by placing the discovery of Pluto and the KB in historical context. We then provide overviews regarding the Pluto system, the KB, and Kuiper Belt objects (KBOs) themselves. We then review the environment of the KB and the properties of Pluto and KBOs in more detail. This is followed by a discussion of scenarios for the origin of the KB and KBOs. We end by examining the goals and prospects for future progress in these areas over the next 10–15 years.
A genetic selection for supercoiling mutants of Escherichia coli reveals proteins implicated in chromosome structure

Chromosomes are divided into topologically independent regions, called domains, by the action of uncharacterized barriers. With the goal of identifying domain barrier components, we designed a genetic selection for mutants with reduced negative supercoiling of the Escherichia coli chromosome. We employed a strain that contained two chromosomally located reporter genes under the control of a supercoiling-sensitive promoter and used transposon mutagenesis to generate a wide range of mutants. We subjected the selected mutants to a series of secondary screens and identified five proteins as modulators of chromosomal supercoiling in vivo. Three of these proteins: H-NS, Fis and DksA, have clear ties to chromosome biology. The other two proteins, phosphoglucomutase (Pgm) and transketolase (TktA), are enzymes involved in carbohydrate metabolism and have not previously been shown to affect DNA. Deletion of any of the identified genes specifically affected chromosome topology, without affecting plasmid supercoiling. We suggest that at least H-NS, Fis and perhaps TktA assist directly in the supercoiling of domains by forming topological barriers on the E. coli chromosome.
Particles or Events

I believe I should start with a kind of opening statement which will make the purpose of this paper clear and its presentation easier to follow. In the first place, it is not going to be a paper on philosophy or methodology of science — at least not in its usual, orthodox sense — but rather a philosophical comment on one particularly significant trend in twentieth-century physics. You may call it an essay in ‘philosophy of nature’, if we understand the term properly. I am fully aware of how unpopular and discredited this term has become; it is now rare to find institutions which still offer courses in ‘philosophy of nature’. It really takes courage to do so and I commend my colleague Robert Cohen for having introduced courses of this kind in the Boston University curriculum. It is not difficult to trace the causes of this unpopularity and I have analyzed them in some of my previous writings. In the first place, the term itself is a translation of the German Naturphilosophie coined by the German idealists in the post-Kantian period, and a lingering disappointment with their speculative and arbitrary constructions comes immediately to mind as soon as the word is mentioned. In truth, we could hardly find another period in which the contrast between sterile and a priori speculations such as those of Schelling and Hegel and the genuine progress in the empirical sciences were more striking; we have only to consider the development of geology, biology, chemistry and of the physics of electricity and magnetism during the same period.
d-IRA: A Distributed Reachability Algorithm for Analysis of Linear Hybrid Automata

This paper presents the design of a novel distributed algorithm d-IRA for the reachability analysis of linear hybrid automata. Recent work on iterative relaxation abstraction(IRA) is leveraged to distribute the reachability problem among multiple computational nodes in a non-redundant manner by performing careful infeasibility analysis of linear programs corresponding to spurious counterexamples. The d-IRA algorithm is resistant to failure of multiple computational nodes. The experimental results provide promising evidence for the possible successful application of this technique.
Development of an environmentally friendly protective coating for the depleted uranium–0.75 wt.% titanium alloy: Part IV. Vibrational spectroscopy of the coating

Abstract Molybdenum oxide based conversion coatings have been formed on the surface of the depleted uranium–0.75 wt.% titanium alloy and the coating structure was found to undergo changes as it ages. Raman and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopies have been performed to examine these changes. Raman spectroscopic measurements indicate that the coating is based on an octamolybdate structure and FT-IR experiments show that uranyl hydroxide is present in the as-made coating but no longer apparent in the aged coatings, supporting the proposed mechanism describing the aging of the coating. Both techniques show that none of the molybdenum is in the form of tetrahedral molybdates.
Funnel chest; indications for surgery and the time of choice for operation.

Funnel chest as seen in childhood seldom produces disability. A review of the literature reveals a growing number of cases of funnel chest in adult patients in whom varying degrees of cardiac disability have been described. In a questionnaire answered by 25 American physicians, the majority feel that among adult patients with severe funnel chest there are some who suffer from cardiac or respiratory disability. There was a feeling that many of these patients undergo psychologic trauma. Twenty-three of the 25 feel that operative correction of a severe degree of funnel chest should be undertaken in childhood. A series of eight cases operated upon by the author is reviewed. Of these cases the outcome has been the most successful in children operated upon by radical surgery between 2 and 6 years of age. The author believes that, for children with a severe grade of funnel chest, surgery should be recommended when they are between 2 and 6 years of age.
Successful introduction of cardiac index, fluid responsiveness and oxygen delivery data into the primary survey at a central London major trauma centre and impact on time to CT, fluid resuscitation and disposal

The use of cardiac output monitoring has been shown to be beneficial in the setting of perioperative medicine and critical illness [1,2]. More recently, its application in the setting of major trauma has been described [3]. Here, we describe our preliminary experience of embedding bioreactance flow monitoring within the major trauma primary survey of severely injured patients and the subsequent effect on patient management.
A language for role specifications

This paper presents a new language for identifying the changing roles that objects play over the course of the computation. Each object's points-to relationships with other objects determine the role that it currently plays. Roles therefore reflect the object's membership in specific data structures, with the object's role changing as it moves between data structures. We provide a programming model which allows the developer to specify the roles of objects at different points in the computation. The model also allows the developer to specify the effect of each operation at the granularity of role changes that occur in identified regions of the heap.
All‐Dry Fabrication of Poly(methacrylic acid)‐Based Membranes with Controlled Dissolution Behavior

The all-dry fabrication of porous poly(methacrylic acid)-based membranes displaying tunable dissolution behaviors in aqueous media is presented. Poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) membranes were fabricated using a low temperature, solventless technique with gaseous initiator and monomer precursors. The PMAA was then converted to poly(methacrylic acid-co-methacrylic anhydride) by thermal annealing. By controlling the annealing time, the methacrylic anhydride (MAN) content was varied, which allowed for the dissolution behavior to be tuned. The incorporation of MAN moieties in the membranes also allowed for crosslinking via a vapor phase reaction with 1,3-diaminopropane. The membranes can be deposited on a variety of substrates, including gauze.
Aggregation-dependent turnover of flagellar adhesion molecules in chlamydomonas gametes

Previous studies on flagellar adhesion in chlamydomonas (Snell, W. and S. Roseman. 1979. J. Biol. Chem. 254:10820-10829.) have shown that as gametes adhere to flagella isolated from gametes of the opposite mating type, the adhsiveness of the added flagella but not of the gametes is lost. The studies reported here show that the addition of protein synthesis inhibitors (cycloheximide [CH] or anisomycin) to the medium of such cell- flagella mixtures causes the cells to lose their adhesiveness. This loss, however, occurs only after the cells have interacted with 4-8 flagella/cell and does not occur if the cells are kept in CH (7 h) without aggregating. The availability of an impotent (imp) mating type plus (MT(+)) mutant (provided by U.W. Goodenough), which adheres but is unable to undergo the fusion that normally follows adhesion, made it possible to determine whether a similar loss of adhesiveness occurs in mixtures of matting type minus (mt(-)) and imp mt(+) gametes. In the absence of inhibitor, mt(-) and imp mt(+) gametes adhered to each other (without fusing) for several hours; however, in the presence of CH or anisomycin, the gametes began to de-adhere 35 min after mixing, and, by 90 min, 100 percent of the cells were single again. This effect was reversible, and the rapid turnover of cells were single again. This effect was reversible, and the rapid turnover of molecules involved in adhesion occurred only during adhesion inasmuch as gametes pretreated for 4 h with CH were able to aggregate in CH for the same length of time as nonpretreated cells aggregated in CH. By the addition of CH at various times after the mt(-) and imp mt(+) gametes were mixed, measurements were made of the "pool size" of the molecules involved in adhesion. The pool reached a minimum after 25 min of aggregation, rapidly increased for the next 25 min, and then leveled off at the premixing level. These results suggest that flagellar adhesion in chlamydomonas causes modification of surface molecules (receptors, ligands), which brings about their inactivation and stimulates their replacement.
Quantum electrodynamics on a lattice: A Hamiltonian variational approach to the physics of the weak-coupling region

We develop and apply a Hamiltonian variational approach to the study of quantum electrodynamics formulated on a spatial lattice in both 2 + 1 and 3 + 1 dimensions. Two lattice versions of QED are considered: a noncompact version which reproduces the physics of continuum QED, and a compact version constructed in correspondence with lattice formulations of non-Abelian theories. Our focus is on photon dynamics with charged particles treated in the static limit. We are especially interested in the nonperturbative aspects of the solutions in the weak-coupling region in order to clarify and establish aspects of confinement. In particular we find, in accord with Polyakov, that the compact QED leads to linear confinement for any nonvanishing coupling, no matter how small, in 2 + 1 dimensions, but that a phase transition to an unconfined phase for sufficiently weak couplings occurs in 3 + 1 dimensions. We identify and describe the causes of confinement.
Theory of Holographic Relaxation Spectroscopy with Nonsinusoidal Gratings

The theory of holographic relaxation experiments is presented with special attention given to nonsinusoidal laser-induced concentration patterns. Diffraction efficiencies are derived at all Bragg orders for photochromic volume gratings created both with crossed laser beams and by means of square-wave intensity patterns. Analytical equations are obtained for the square-wave case. The equations include real and imaginary parts of the complex index of refraction, the wavelength of the probe beam, and time dependence resulting from mass diffusion. Numerical evaluations are presented for first- and second-order diffraction from pure absorption gratings with various optical thicknesses as functions of exposure. It is concluded that square-wave grating profiles with optimized duty factors produce higher diffraction efficiencies under almost all conditions than do profiles created holographically. Square-wave exposure profiles are recommended for use in grating relaxation experiments because of both efficiency and experimental convenience. In general, the time dependence of transient signals is very complicated; but for low efficiencies, i.e., weak gratings, diffraction at the jth Bragg incidence is dominated by a single exponential term having a characteristic time of 1/[D(jK)2] where D is the tracer diffusion coefficient and K is 2π divided by the grating period.
Negative interactions between chemical resistance and predators affect fitness in soybeans

1. Plants may benefit from both chemical resistance traits and the presence of predators of herbivores. In past studies, the interaction between resistance and predators varies from complementary to antagonistic among different systems. However, this interaction has primarily been quantified by effects on predator abundance or vigor, not effects on plant fitness. 2. In this study, the combined effects of chemical resistance and predators on plant fitness were examined using soybeans (Glycine max), herbivorous Mexican bean beetles (Epilachna varivestis), and predaceous spined soldier bugs (Podisus maculiventris). Mexican bean beetles were reared in field cages in the presence or absence of spined soldier bugs on soybeans with or without strong constitutive chemical resistance. 3. Spined soldier bugs were more likely to feed on Mexican bean beetles that fed on susceptible than on resistant plants. 4. Susceptible plants with predators produced significantly more seeds than those without predators, while resistant plants did not produce significantly different numbers of seeds based on the presence or absence of predators. 5. Selection for the production of some types of chemical resistance in plants would thus be expected to be stronger with lower predation rates. 6. These results also suggest predator introductions would be more effective on plants without a strong constitutive chemical resistance to herbivores.
REAL PRODUCT AND PRICE COMPARISONS BETWEEN LATIN AMERICA AND THE REST OF THE WORLD

The purpose of this article is to add 12 Latin American countries to the Phase III of the United National International Comparisons Project (ICP). The data for Latin America was obtained through ECIEL. It has been demonstrated that the exchange rates do not usually reflect the relative purchasing power of currencies. When low-income countries are compared to higher income countries the exchange rate conversion tends to understate the relative income of the lower income countries. This is true for the total GDP and even more so for the GDP components. In per capita terms it is found that for low income countries their income is more than twice as great as is indicated by the exchange rate conversion.
Aromatic Production from Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis of Biomass-Derived Feedstocks

The conversion of biomass compounds to aromatics by thermal decomposition in the presence of catalysts was investigated using a pyroprobe analytical pyrolyzer. The first step in this process is the thermal decomposition of the biomass to smaller oxygenates that then enter the catalysts pores where they are converted to CO, CO2, water, coke and volatile aromatics. The desired reaction is the conversion of biomass into aromatics, CO2 and water with the undesired products being coke and water. Both the reaction conditions and catalyst properties are critical in maximizing the desired product selectivity. High heating rates and high catalyst to feed ratio favor aromatic production over coke formation. Aromatics with carbon yields in excess of 30 molar carbon% were obtained from glucose, xylitol, cellobiose, and cellulose with ZSM-5 (Si/Al = 60) at the optimal reactor conditions. The aromatic yield for all the products was similar suggesting that all of these biomass-derived oxygenates go through a common intermediate. At lower catalyst to feed ratios volatile oxygenates are formed including furan type compounds, acetic acid and hydroxyacetaldehyde. The product selectivity is dependent on both the size of the catalyst pores and the nature of the active sites. Five catalysts were tested including ZSM-5, silicalite, beta, Y-zeolite and silica–alumina. ZSM-5 had the highest aromatic yields (30% carbon yield) and the least amount of coke.
Epstein-Barr-encoded RNA in situ hybridization: Diagnostic applications☆

Latent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection is associated with a variety of malignancies and other diseases. Highly restricted viral antigen expression and low viral genome copy number in infected tissues impede conventional immunohistochemical or in situ hybridization approaches to the detection of virus in these tissues. In situ hybridization detection of two small but very abundant nuclear RNAs known as the EBERs serves as an alternative approach. The EBERs are stable over time and can be detected in all common fixatives. This technique facilitates characterization of the cellular locus of latent EBV infection in histologically complex tissues, such as Hodgkin's disease and angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy with dysproteinemia.
How Managed Care Can Help Couples Cope

ABSTRACT This article traces how managed care became a quick fix to curb out-of-control healthcare costs rather than a real effective approach to managing care. To date, the impact has been not only a negative experience, but impediment to treating couples facing relationship and related problems. The author is optimistic about how managed care will evolve to recognize the importance of couples and family treatment as we enter the future with integrated systems of healthcare. ∗ The future will also require significant shifts in the thinking and practice patterns of providers and an emphasis on quality and outcomes.
The Validation of Horizontal Well Models Using a Physical Model of Heat Flow in an Anisotropic Conductor

Two recently proposed models of fluid flow in anisotropic media yield different expressions for horizontal well productivity due to their representation of the wellbore. The model developed by Babu and Odeh used a point source/sink for the wellbore, while Peaceman`s model implemented an isobaric boundary along the surface of the wellbore. Babu and Odeh`s model predicted elliptical isobars, even in the immediate vicinity of the wellbore. Peaceman`s model predicted a rapid transition from circular to elliptical isobars as the distance from the wellbore increased. Both models were mathematically correct and seemed plausible. Therefore, the more appropriate model to use in reservoir simulation was determined experimentally. The temperature-induced flow of heat from an anisotropic conductor into a circular heat sink is analogous to the pressure-induced flow of fluids from an anisotropic porous medium into a circular wellbore since the governing differential equations for both processes are identical in form. Heat transfer experiments were, therefore, used to model this fluid flow problem. The results clearly indicated that a transition from circular to elliptical isopotential occurred, in agreement with Peaceman`s model. It is, therefore, more appropriate to model a wellbore as an isopotential when studying near-wellbore problems, such as the calculation of well more » productivity. The calculation of well productivity, however, involves near-wellbore effects. The point source does not bound the porous medium which is governed by the differential equation. Since it is separated from the medium by a distance equivalent to the radius of the well, it should not be used as a boundary condition. The isobaric surface of the wellbore does bound the medium, and, therefore, provides the better representation of the high conductivity wellbore. « less
Petals of Aztec Marigold, Tagetes erecta, as a Source of Pigment for Avian Species

SUMMARY—The deposition of the pigments of Aztec marigold petal was determined in the egg and tissue of laying hens fed 33–66 and 99 mg of the pigments per kg of low pigment diet. Thirty-three mg pigment per kg of feed produced yolk color which is considered acceptable to the consumer. With an increase in the amount of pigment in the feed, color deposition in the organs increased, but efficiency of utilization was lowered.
National revivals and violence

Micro factors that induce violent confrontations amidst national revival movements are identified. These factors include the nature of local social structures, tipping phenomena, and fortuitous events that set off action/reaction cycles. They are shown to he better explanations than reigning macro theories to account for the peaceful nationalist revival in Catalonia in contrast to the violent one in the Basque Country. A robustness test for the micro factors succeeds in differentiating levels of violence in the politics of separation from the Soviet Union in the Ukraine and Georgia.
Development and application of effective pairwise potentials for UO2n+, NpO2n+, PuO2n+, and AmO2n+ (n = 1, 2) ions with water

Intra- and intermolecular force field parameters for the interaction of actinyl ions (AnO2n+, where, An = U, Np, Pu, Am and n = 1, 2) with water have been developed using quantum mechanical calculations. Water was modeled with the extended simple point charge potential (SPC/E). The resulting force field consists of a simple form in which intermolecular interactions are modeled with pairwise Lennard-Jones functions plus partial charge terms. Intramolecular bond stretching and angle bending are treated with harmonic functions. The new potentials were used to carry out extensive molecular dynamics simulations for each hydrated ion. Computed bond lengths, bond angles and coordination numbers agree well with known values and previous simulations. Hydration free energies, computed from molecular dynamics simulations as well as from quantum simulations with a solvation model, were in reasonable agreement with estimated experimental values.
Sequential insertion of formaldehyde and carbon monoxide into a sulfide-bridged Pd-Ge bond followed by reductive elimination to form a [1,3,2] oxathiagermolan-4-one

The reaction of (2) with paraformaldehyde under photolytic conditions results in the insertion of formaldehyde into the Pd−Ge bond, with bond cleavage, to give (Et3P)2Pd(μ-S)(μCH2O)Ge[N(SiMe3)2]2 (3). Subsequent addition of CO to 3 results in migratory insertion into the Pd−C bond, followed by rapid reductive elimination to regenerate the Pd0 metal center and give a unique five-membered organic heterocycle, (6). The X-ray crystal structure of the dppe (dppe = bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane) derivative of 3, (dppe)Pd(μ-S)(μCH2O)Ge[N(SiMe3)2]2 (4), is reported.
Looking for answers: eye movements in non-visual cognitive tasks

It is not known why people move their eyes when engaged in non-visual cognition. The current study tested the hypothesis that differences in saccadic eye movement rate (EMR) during non-visual cognitive tasks reflect different requirements for searching long-term memory. Participants performed non-visual tasks requiring relatively low or high long-term memory retrieval while eye movements were recorded. In three experiments, EMR was substantially lower for low-retrieval than for high-retrieval tasks, including in an eyes closed condition in Experiment 3. Neither visual imagery nor between-task difficulty was related to EMR, although there was some evidence for a minor effect of within-task difficulty. Comparison of task-related EMRs to EMR during a no-task waiting period suggests that eye movements may be suppressed or activated depending on task requirements. We discuss a number of possible interpretations of saccadic eye movements during non-visual cognition and propose an evolutionary model that links these eye movements to memory search through an elaboration of circuitry involved in visual perception.
The Politics of Black Presence in Britain and Black Male Exclusion in the British Education System

This article examines Black settlement in the United Kingdom in relation to the experience of Black male exclusion in the British education system. The time frame covers the post-World War II era a...
Effects of cross-shore boundary condition errors in nearshore circulation modeling

The paper analyzes the effect which prescribed errors in the cross-shore boundary conditions for a computational domain along a beach have on the flow field predicted inside the domain. This problem is relevant because errors in boundary conditions are unavoidable when modeling limited domains of a nearshore region. For simplicity, we consider a longshore uniform plane beach with monochromatic, obliquely incident waves, and assume depth uniform currents. It is then studied analytically and numerically how small perturbations of the boundary conditions along both upstream and downstream cross-shore boundaries spread inside the computational domain. It is found that the errors at the upstream cross-shore boundary tend to spread over a long distance downstream of the boundary, while the influence of the errors in the downstream boundary condition is limited to the adjacent upstream area of the computational domain. Both the numerical and analytical solutions show that the errors introduced at the upstream boundary decay exponentially in the surf zone at a rate proportional to the bottom friction. A simple formula is developed to estimate the influence distance of the upstream errors. If we consider the mismatch in the volume flux at the upstream boundary, the error merely redistributes in the cross-shore direction to conserve volume. In the case of excessive flux or velocity specified at the cross-shore boundaries, a circulation cell tends to appear in the offshore region where the errors caused by the boundary mismatch increase with the cross-shore width of the model domain.
Control of sound radiation with active/adaptive structures

Recent research is discussed in the area of active structural acoustic control with active/adaptive structures. Progress in the areas of structural acoustics, actuators, sensors, and control approaches is presented. Considerable effort has been given to the interaction of these areas with each other due to the coupled nature of the problem. A discussion is presented on actuators bonded to or embedded in the structure itself. The actuators discussed are piezoceramic actuators and shape memory alloy actuators. The sensors discussed are optical fiber sensors, Nitinol fiber sensors, piezoceramics, and polyvinylidene fluoride sensors. The active control techniques considered are state feedback control techniques and least mean square adaptive algorithms. Results presented show that significant progress has been made towards controlling structurally radiated noise by active/adaptive means applied directly to the structure.
Preparation of Microspheres of Poly(Glycidyl Methacrylate) and its Derivatives as Carriers for Immobilized Proteins

Microspheres of poly(glycidyl methacrylate) and its derivatives have been prepared. The diameter can be varied in the range from 0.5 to 5μm. Proteins were immobilized on the microspheres by various processes. The maximum amount of covalently immobilized γ-globulin on the microspheres was found to be about 6mg/m2. It was shown that dyed microspheres with a diameter of 2 - 4μm are applicable to immunological agglutination tests on a microplate as carrier particles substituting for red blood cells.
NHE Inhibition Does Not Improve Na+ or Ca2+ Overload During Reperfusion: Using Modeling to Illuminate the Mechanisms Underlying a Therapeutic Failure

Reperfusion injury results from pathologies of cardiac myocyte physiology that develop when previously ischemic myocardium experiences a restoration of normal perfusion. Events in the development of reperfusion injury begin with the restoration of a proton gradient upon reperfusion, which then allows the sodium-proton exchanger (NHE) to increase flux, removing protons from the intracellular space while importing sodium. The resulting sodium overload drives increased reverse-mode sodium-calcium exchanger (NCX) activity, creating a secondary calcium overload that has pathologic consequences. One of the attempts to reduce reperfusion-related damage, NHE inhibition, has shown little clinical benefit, and only when NHE inhibitors are given prior to reperfusion. In an effort to further understand why NHE inhibitors have been largely unsuccessful, we employed a new mathematical cardiomyocyte model that we developed for the study of ischemia and reperfusion. Using this model, we simulated 20 minutes of ischemia and 10 minutes of reperfusion, while also simulating NHE inhibition by reducing NHE flux in our model by varying amounts and at different time points. In our simulations, when NHE inhibition is applied at the onset of reperfusion, increasing the degree of inhibition increases the peak sodium and calcium concentrations, as well as reducing intracellular pH recovery. When inhibition was instituted at earlier time points, some modest improvements were seen, largely due to reduced sodium concentrations prior to reperfusion. Analysis of all sodium flux pathways suggests that the sodium-potassium pump (NaK) plays the largest role in exacerbated sodium overload during reperfusion, and that reduced NaK flux is largely the result of impaired pH recovery. While NHE inhibition does indeed reduce sodium influx through that exchanger, the resulting prolongation of intracellular acidosis paradoxically increases sodium overload, largely mediated by impaired NaK function.
Taking Financial Relationships into Account When Assessing Research

Many scientific journals, government agencies, and universities require disclosure of sources of funding and financial interests related to research, such as stock ownership, consulting arrangements with companies, and patents. Although disclosure has become one of the central approaches for responding to financial conflicts of interest (COIs) in research, critics contend that information about financial COIs does not serve as a reliable indicator of research credibility, and therefore, studies should be evaluated solely based on their scientific merits. We argue that, while it is indeed important to evaluate studies on their scientific merits, it is often difficult to detect significant influences of financial relationships that affect research credibility. Moreover, at least five factors can be examined to determine whether financial relationships are likely to enhance, undermine, or have no impact on the credibility of research. These include as follows: whether sponsors, institutions, or researchers have a significant financial stake in the outcome of a study; whether the financial interests of the sponsors, institutions, or researchers coincide with the goal of conducting research that is objective and reliable; whether the sponsor, institution, or researchers have a history of biasing research in order to promote their financial goals; how easy it is to manipulate the research in order to achieve financial goals; and whether oversight mechanisms are in place which are designed to minimize bias. Since these factors vary from case to case, evaluating the impact of financial relationships depends on the circumstances. In some situations, one may decide that the financial relationships significantly undermine the study's credibility; in others, one may decide that they have no impact on credibility or even enhance it.
When Is a Theft Not a Theft? Relic Theft and the Cult of the Buddha's Relics in Sri Lanka

This essay examines the phenomenon of relic theft in the Theravada Buddhist tradition of Sri Lanka. Having noted the relative paucity of scholarship on this topic, the essay first examines the canonical warrant for the practice of relic veneration in the Mahāparinibbāna-sutta, and identifies a fundamental tension that the cult of veneration poses for the tradition. Relics, as valued material objects subject to human manipulation and possession, would appear to encourage attachment. The canonical passages that deal with the cult of veneration simultaneously affirm the value of the practice, while warning of the danger that attachment to the relics poses. The essay goes on to note evidence, in the form of expanded relic lists in canonical sources, of the expansion of the relic cult and of the need to affirm the authenticity of new centers of sacrality associated with the enshrinement of particular relics. The essay then examines several accounts of relic theft in the Pali chronicle (vamsa) literature, noting that these accounts serve to simultaneously affirm the desirability of relics, and to account for the orderly movement of these valued objects from one location to another. Yet these accounts of relic theft are problematic in that they appear to endorse the practice of stealing, which is a violation of both lay and monastic Buddhist ideals. In response to this problem, the essay identifies two different models of relic theft, noting that one model is religiously affirmed, while the other is condemned. The essay concludes with a brief comparison of relic theft accounts in the Buddhist and Christian traditions.
Arsenomethane Polymer: A ladder structure

Purple arsenomethane crystallises in the orthorhombic system, space group Ima2 (C) with a = 5.81, b = 5.79, c = 13.64 A and 8 units of CH3As in the cell. The structure is polymeric, the arsenic atoms lying on infinite coplanar ladders parallel to a. The distance between two arsenic atoms on one rung of the ladder is 2.4 A, the distance between two arsenic atoms on the same upright and adjacent rungs is 2.9 A, and the shortest distance between two arsenic atoms in neighbouring ladders is 3.4 A. Each arsenic atom is bonded to one methyl group (1.97 A), and along the ladder upright or on any one rung these methyl groups lie on alternate sides of the ladder.
Mitochondrial DNA synthesis in synchronous cultures of the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract The synthesis of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) has been investigated by three independent methods of analysis during consecutive synchronous cell cycles in the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae . The rates of pulse-label incorporation indicate maximal [ 3 H]adenine uptake into mtDNA at the time of nuclear DNA synthesis. In contrast, the relative concentrations of mtDNA as determined by both the ratio of mtDNA to total cellular DNA and by the kinetics of isotope dilution analysis were found to increase continuously during synchronous growth. We conclude that whereas nuclear DNA replicates discontinuously during the cell cycle, mitochondrial DNA is synthesized continuously during this time. The discontinuous pattern of pulse-label incorporation into mtDNA is not considered to reflect its true mode of replication during the cell cycle.
Reactivation phenotype in rabbits of a herpes simplex virus type 1 mutant containing an unrelated antiapoptosis gene in place of latency-associated transcript.

Latency-associated transcript (LAT) significantly enhances the spontaneous reactivation phenotype of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1). The mechanism by which LAT accomplishes this has been elusive. To determine if LAT’s antiapoptosis activity is involved, the authors used a rabbit eye model to analyze the spontaneous reactivation phenotype of an HSV-1 mutant in which LAT was replaced by an unrelated antiapoptosis gene. This virus, dLAT-cpIAP, contains the open reading frame of the baculovirus inhibitor of apoptosis protein gene (cpIAP) in place of LAT, under control of the LAT promoter. The authors report here that in a rabbit ocular model of infection, dLAT-cpIAP had a spontaneous reactivation phenotype similar to wild-type virus and significantly higher than LAT(−) viruses. This was consistent with their previous findings using the mouse trigeminal ganglia explant—induced reactivation model. Whether LAT (and in the case of dLAT-cpIAP, cpIAP) enhances the spontaneous reactivation phenotype by functioning during establishment of latency, maintenance of latency, or reactivation from latency, or during two or more of these periods, remains to be determined. Regardless, the results presented in this study strongly support the hypothesis that LAT’s antiapoptosis activity is the dominant function that enhances HSV-1’s spontaneous reactivation phenotype.
Passive smoking and cancer--American experience.

Although one U.S. case-control study has shown that nonsmoking women married to smokers have a greater risk of lung cancer than do nonsmoking women married to nonsmokers, data from the American Cancer Society's prospective study have failed to show such risk; and, a case-control study based on reports of whether or not nonsmoking women and men were exposed to smoke of others also failed to show an elevated risk of lung cancer. Data presented here indicate that 40–50% of nonsmoking American women married to nonsmokers may be exposed to passive smoke. More studies are needed to demonstrate the role of passive smoke in the development of lung cancer in nonsmokers. The American Cancer Society is currently collecting such data in a case-control and a prospective study.
All-optical regeneration

The irresistible growth in capacity demand for optical transmission systems calls for an increase in both channel granularity and bit rate, while maintaining signal quality. The document reviews recent developments in the field of all-optical regeneration and show its potential to meet the challenge with cost-effective implementation. We also report a 160Gbit/s all-optical regenerator based on the simultaneous optical regeneration of four 40Gbit/s WDM channels in a single polarization-insensitive modulator chip by using an all-optical cad simulation tool. Regenerated transmission with 0.2(bit/s)/Hz spectral efficiency is achieved over 10,000km distance.
Papanicolaou smear history and diagnosis of invasive cervical carcinoma among members of a large prepaid health plan.

BACKGROUND Despite the widespread use of Papanicolaou (Pap) smear screening, substantial morbidity and mortality from cervical carcinoma continue in the U.S. Although access to screening is a major barrier to use of the Pap smear, invasive cervical carcinoma (ICC) still is observed in health plan members who have comprehensive preventive care coverage. METHODS For all women diagnosed with ICC between 1988 and 1994 in a large prepaid health plan, the authors retrospectively reviewed the medical records for prediagnosis Pap smear history to identify antecedents to ICC. RESULTS Of 642 women diagnosed as having ICC, 455 (71%) had been plan members for ≥ 30 of the 36 months before diagnosis. Of these 455 women, 240 (53%) had no Pap smear during the 6–36 months prior to diagnosis (i.e., were nonadherent to screening), 127 (28%) had only “normal” Pap smear results, 42 (9%) had at least 1 abnormal Pap smear and were adequately followed, 17 (4%) had at least 1 abnormal result without adequate follow-up, and 29 (6%) were classified as “other.” Compared with adherent women, more nonadherent women presented with later stage disease, were symptomatic at the time of diagnosis, were older, and were of a race/ethnicity other than non-Hispanic white. CONCLUSIONS Nonadherence to screening recommendations was found to be the most important modifiable antecedent to ICC in this population. The rate of incidence of ICC could be reduced by interventions to increase screening in women who do not have Pap smears regularly and by the use of newer screening technologies to reduce the false-negative rate of Pap smears. Cancer 2000;88:2283–9. © 2000 American Cancer Society.
Mixing of two-electron spin states in a semiconductor quantum dot

We show that the low-lying spin states of two electrons in a semiconductor quantum dot can be strongly mixed by electron-electron asymmetric exchange. This mixing is generated by the coupling of the electron spin to its orbital motion and to the relative orbital motion of the two electrons. The asymmetric exchange can be as large as $50%$ of the isotropic exchange, even for cylindrical dots. The resulting mixing can contribute to understanding spin dynamics in dots, such as recent observations of light polarization reversal.