cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Observations on the Uses of Order

Francis Bacon struck a note which still reverberates: that knowledge is power. He saw a relationship between our knowledge of the external world, and our ability to submit the laws of its action to our own ends; the realization of the relationship was to lead, in effect, to a revision of those laws. But in Bacon’s opinion, one of the obstacles which impedes our progress is that “the human mind is of its own nature prone to suppose the existence of more order and regularity in the world than it finds.” 1 We must rather abandon the “pernicious and inveterate habit of dwelling on abstractions,” 2 and fix our attention instead upon the evidence of the senses.
The influence of rainfed and limited irrigation conditions and early vs. late plantings on kenaf as a potential industrial crop in the southern High Plains, USA

Abstract Kenaf ( Hibiscus cannabinus L.) is a nonwoody fiber source with many uses. To evaluate the dry matter yield potential of kenaf at two locations in the southern High Plains of the USA and the effects of late planting/late emergence as a possible replacement for hail damaged cotton, four varieties were grown in 2004 and 2005 at New Mexico State University's Agricultural Science Centers at Clovis, under limited irrigation, and Tucumcari, under rainfed conditions. Each study was a randomized complete block design having four replicates. A year × location interaction existed ( P −1 for mid-May planting and emergence and early July emergence or planting, respectively, P P
Bipolaron density-wave driven by antiferromagnetic correlations and frustration in organic superconductors

Abstract We describe the paired electron crystal (PEC) which occurs in the interacting frustrated two-dimensional 1 4 - filled band. The PEC is a charge-ordered state with nearest-neighbor spin singlets separated by pairs of vacant sites, and can be thought of as a bipolaron density wave. The PEC has been experimentally observed in the insulating state proximate to superconductivity in the organic charge-transfer solids. Increased frustration drives a PEC-to-superconductor transition in these systems.
The surface coat of epididymal, ejaculated and capacitated sperm.

Washed and unwashed epididymal, ejaculated, and capacitated rabbit sperm were incubated for the demonstration of Concanavalin A receptors in the surface coat. In washed cauda epididymal and ejaculated sperm, a uniform, dense layer of reaction product covered the head. The surface coat of the flagellum was thinner and discontinuous. There were no Concanavalin A receptors in the neck. The majority of caput sperm showed no surface reaction. A few were coated with a thin deposit, indicating formation of components containing Concanavalin A receptors. Because unwashed cauda epididymal and ejaculated sperm did not bind to Concanavalin A, it was concluded that receptors were masked by constituents in epididymal and seminal fluid. The plasmalemma of capacitated sperm showed a loss of Concanavalin A binding over the acrosome, beginning at the tip of the head. Shedding of the surface coat may be evidence for membrane alterations during capacitation which prepare sperm for fertilization.
Catalytic and immunochemical detection of hepatic and extrahepatic microsomal cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) in white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus).

Abstract We have characterized microsomal systems and measured the levels of microsomal cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) and ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity in multiple internal organs of male and female white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus acutus) from the northwest Atlantic Ocean. Internal organs were sampled within 24 h of death, sometimes in a period of hours, collection times which are significantly less than usually seen for marine mammals. Tissue autolysis, as assessed by histological analysis of liver, was minimal to none in all individuals. Total P420 did not correlate with time from death to sampling, suggesting that it is a poor indicator of P450 degradation in cetacean tissues where perfusion is not practical. The total hepatic microsomal P450 content, cytochrome b5 content, and NADPH-cytochrome c (P450) reductase (CPR) activity averaged 0.29 nmol mg−1, 0.12 nmol mg−1, and 238 nmol mg−1 min−1, respectively. Microsomal CPR activity in liver was higher than that in lung and kidney, and was higher than that reported in liver of most other cetacean species. Immunodetected CYP1A1 content was low in all organs, less than 3 pmoles CYP1A equivalents mg−1. EROD activity ranged from 9 to 376 pmoles mg−1 min−1 and was greater in liver than in other tissues. Hepatic microsomal EROD activity and CYP1A1 content did not correlate. However, hepatic EROD activity, but not CYP1A1 protein content, was well correlated with both total PCB and Σmono-ortho PCB concentrations in blubber. Length, as a proxy for age, did not correlate with hepatic EROD activity or CYP1A1 protein levels, and sex did not influence the relationship between EROD and contaminant concentrations. We cannot easily control for the extent of tissue degradation in cetacean studies nor do we have a complete history of these animals. Therefore, other factors such as degradation or hormonal state may have a role in the observed relationships. Yet, as in other mammals, hepatic tissues appear to be a major site of CYP1A1 expression and probably of biotransformation of CYP1A substrates in white-sided dolphin. The expression of an EROD catalyst in liver likely reflects induction by PCBs, but the P450 enzyme catalyzing hepatic EROD activity in these whales may not be CYP1A1.
Projectionally exposed cones

Programming problems, based on the objective function and types of constraints, may be classified as linear, nonlinear, discrete, integer, and Boolean, just to name a few. These programming problems represent special cases of the more general Abstract Convex Programming Problem given by: Find $\operatorname{Min} \{ f(x):g(x) \in - K,x \in \Omega \} $ where $\Omega \subseteq \mathbb{R}^n $ is convex, K is a convex cone, and f, g are convex functions. Characterizations of optimality to the Abstract Convex Programming Problem are of paramount importance in the investigation of optimization problems. A cone K in $\mathbb{R}^n $ is called projectionally exposed if for each face F of K there exists a projection $P_F $ of $\mathbb{R}^n $ such that $P_F (K) = F$. In particular, it has been shown that when the constraint function g of the Abstract Convex Programming Problem takes values in a projectionally exposed cone, then certain multipliers, associated with optimality, may be chosen from a smaller set (see § 6...
Simple filtration system improves efficiency of a hydropneumatic root elutriator

Separating roots from soil is a laborious and costly process, but a commercially available hydropneumatic root elutriator can semi-automate the job. Hydraulic and pneumatic systems elutriate the roots from the soil, while the electrical system controls the on/off functions of the hydraulic system. The extruded steel frame of the elutriator serves a dual purpose; structural support and transport of water and compressed air. Water is transported in the lower and air in the upper part of the hollow inner cavity of the extruded steel frame. They exit the frame into polyethylene tubes that extend to the base of the elutriator. After prolonged use, however, this design feature can become problematic because flow to the elutriator of either system can be blocked at the nozzle inlets with rust particles that originate from the steel frame's inner walls. The blockage increases sample processing time due to dismantling, clearing, and reassembling, which eventually degrades the elutriator. To resolve these problems a 40-mesh (420 micron) in-line stainless steel water filter and a 40-micron in-line bronze air filter were installed in the polyethylene tube lines between the extruded steel frame and the base of the elutriator. These filters were found to reduce nozzle blockage, thereby increasing sample processing efficiency by 10% and improving sample quality.
Bandwagon effects and error bars in particle physics

Abstract We study historical records of experiments on particle masses, lifetimes, and widths, both for signs of expectation bias, and to compare actual errors with reported error bars. We show that significant numbers of particle properties exhibit “bandwagon effects”: reported values show trends and clustering as a function of the year of publication, rather than random scatter about the mean. While the total amount of clustering is significant, it is also fairly small; most individual particle properties do not display obvious clustering. When differences between experiments are compared with the reported error bars, the deviations do not follow a normal distribution, but instead follow an exponential distribution for up to ten standard deviations.
Kinetics and Inhibition of Reductive Dechlorination of Chlorinated Ethylenes by Two Different Mixed Cultures

Kinetic studies with two different anaerobic mixed cultures (the PM and the EV cultures) were conducted to evaluate inhibition between chlorinated ethylenes. The more chlorinated ethylenes inhibite...
Oxidation of sulfide by Spartina alterniflora roots

Root tips from the marsh grass Spartina alterniflora, collected from areas of high and low pore-water sulfide, exhibited a substantial capacity to catalyze sulfide oxidation, as determined by closed-chamber respirometry. A large proportion of this catalysis was apparently nonenzymatic and was higher in roots of plants from the high-sulfide versus the low-sulfide site. Activity exhibiting characteristics of enzymatic sulfide oxidation was significantly higher in plants from the low-sulfide site. Results from elemental analysis of root tissue were consistent with the theory that metals play a role in nonenzymatic catalysis. These results indicate that estuarine plants may detoxify environmental sulfide via sulfide oxidation.
Substance Use Among American Indian Youth in an Eastern City

This study represents one of the first efforts to examine substance use among American Indian (AI) youth in an Eastern city. As part of a school-based study in metropolitan Columbus, Ohio, 596 self-identified AI youth (grades 6-12) completed surveys describing their use of alcohol, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, marijuana and inhalants. Net of gender, grade and family structure, AI youth were more likely than their white peers to regularly use most substances while overall prevalence resembled estimates from studies of urban AI youth in the Western United States. These findings highlight the complex interactions of geography, identity and risk behavior among ethnic minority adolescents.
On the influence of recoil effects in the microscopic description of inelastic scattering

Abstract A method is presented to calculate the influence of recoil effects in the microscopic description of inelastic scattering. Examples for two simple test cases are given.
Preparation, experience, and aftermath of hurricane Floyd.

ABSTRACT In September 1999, Hurricane Floyd threatened the southeastern coast of the United States, causing the largest peacetime evacuation in history. The hurricane moved onto land when it curved northward and slammed into southeastern North Carolina near Wilmington and Cape Fear. This region already had experienced three hurricanes in recent years and had been brushed by Hurricane Dennis one month earlier. This article describes actions taken by the New Hanover Regional Medical Center surgical services department in Wilmington, NC, to prepare for and weather the storm. The aftermath and cleanup also are discussed. AORN J 72 (July 2000) 82–93.
Prospects for an Asian currency area

Abstract Let me say how delighted I am to be able to take part in this 24th ACAES conference in Beijing. In my remarks today I want to focus on some features of the world economy that have a special impact on the Asian economy and are relevant for the making of macroeconomic policy in China.
Effect of severe hemorrhage on rat hepatic glycolytic intermediates

Abstract The concentrations of key hepatic glycolytic intermediates were determined at different time intervals in fasted adult male rats following the removal of 40% of the estimated blood volume. This procedure lowered arterial pressure to 40–45 mm Hg. Frozen liver samples taken immediately after bleeding showed an 87% decrease of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), a critical high-energy metabolite, while glucose 6-phosphate (G6P) was reduced 67% compared to controls. Liver lactate increased 2.5-fold and fructose 1,6-diphosphate (FDP) was doubled, indicating the rapid onset of hypoxic conditions and the simultaneous decline of gluconeogenesis. Within 15 min, however, homeostatic mechanisms had restored PEP levels to normal and at 1 hr to supernormal concentrations. G6P rose almost to the control range in 1 hr and was 100% overcompensated at 3 and 5 hr. Liver lactate and FDP were normalized at 3 and 5 hr. The data reveal the great sensitivity of the glycolytic cycle to the hypovolemia and hypoxia of severe hemorrhage and, additionally, the remarkable capacity of the liver to promptly restore depleted substrates. Theoretically significant was the fact that the hepatic metabolite pattern differed completely from previous findings on endotoxic and septic livers studied at 5 hr. This difference in metabolic pattern suggests that the changes in endotoxemic and septic liver are not caused by circulatory deficits and that the hypoglycemia of terminal infective states results from some other factor.
Studies in chlorin chemistry. II. A versatile synthesis of dihydrodipyrrins.

Dihydrodipyrrins are key building blocks for the synthesis of hydroporphyrins, many of which have important biological activity. The title compounds were prepared in stereo- and regioselective fashion by a three-step sequence consisting of (1) Pd(0)-catalyzed coupling-cyclization of 2-iodopyrroles with γ-alkynoic acids to afford enelactones of the desired substitution pattern, (2) methylenation at the lactone carbonyl group employing the Petasis reagent, and (3) in situ enol-ether hydrolysis and amination of the resultant 1,4-diketone to close the pyrroline ring (nine examples). Yields for each step were generally high, although in substrates not blocked by geminal substitution aromatization to a dipyrromethane is a competing side reaction.
Smad6 as a Transcriptional Corepressor

Smad6 and Smad7, a subgroup of Smad proteins, antagonize the signals elicited by transforming growth factor-beta. These two Smads, induced by transforming growth factor-beta or bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) stimulation, form stable associations with their activated type I receptors, blocking phosphorylation of receptor-regulated Smads in the cytoplasm. Here we show that Smad6 interacts with homeobox (Hox) c-8 as a transcriptional corepressor, inhibiting BMP signaling in the nucleus. The interaction between Smad6 and Hoxc-8 was identified by a yeast two-hybrid approach and further demonstrated by co-immunoprecipitation assays in cells. Gel shift assays show that Smad6, but not Smad7, interacts with both Hoxc-8 and Hoxa-9 as a heterodimer when binding to DNA. More importantly, the Smad6-Hoxc-8 complex inhibits interaction of Smad1 with Hoxc-8- and Smad1-induced transcription activity. These data indicate that Smad6 interacts with Hox transcription factors as part of the negative feedback circuit in the BMP signaling pathway.
Turbulence modification by particles in a backward-facing step flow

The current study investigates turbulence modification by particles in a backward-facing step flow with a fully developed channel flow inlet. This flow provides a range of flow regimes in which to compare turbulence modification under the same experimental conditions. Gas-phase velocities in the presence of 3–40% mass loadings of three different particle classes (90 and 150 μm diameter glass and 70 μm diameter copper spheres) were measured. Attenuation of the streamwise fluid turbulence of up to 35% was observed in the channel-flow extension region of the flow for a 40% mass loading of the largest particles. The level of attenuation decreased with decreasing particle Stokes number, particle Reynolds number and mass loading. No modification of the turbulence was found in the separated shear layer or in the redevelopment region behind the step, although there were significant particle loadings in these regions.
Ion channel hypothesis for Alzheimer amyloid peptide neurotoxicity.

1. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic dementia and neurodegenerative disorder affecting the oldest portions of the population. Brains of AD patients accumulate large amount of the AβP peptide in amyloid plaques.
Galactic evolution. II - Disk galaxies with massive halos

Models of galactic evolution are computed in which matter shed by dying halo stars accumulates in a smaller, more rapidly rotating disk. The models are simpler and more successful than one-zone (pure disk) models in that (1) the observed absence of low-metal-abundance low-mass dwarfs is expected, not anomalous and (2) the relative birthrate function (or IMF) need not be a strongly variable function of time in agreement with recent interpretations of observed stellar populations and neutral hydrogen in our own and other galaxies. Even a simple 'Salpeter' IMF for both disk and halo will produce an acceptable model. The model with a halo 'Salpeter' IMF, roughly one-quarter of the mass in the secondary disk, and approximately half the metals produced in the halo seems most compatible with observations of the metal abundance in low-mass stars, the deuterium abundance, halo planetary nebulae, and light from Population II stars, as well as with arguments on the stability of the disk.
Comparison of Several Nep Determination Methods

The formation of neps during the cotton yarn manufacturing process is a continuing problem. Fiber characteristics and processing conditions affect nep formation. Four methods of nep determination a...
Generalized master equations under delocalized initial conditions

The initial condition term that must be appended to the generalized master equation (GME) when the density matrix is not initially diagonal in the representation chosen is studied and explicit expressions are obtained for several cases. The term is shown to vanish for initial occupation of a Bloch state of arbitrary wave vector if the system is a crystal and the representation is that of site states, despite the violation of the initial diagonality condition. It is pointed out how one is to use the expressions for the initial term in transport calculations.
Design and tuning of a fuzzy logic controller for micro-hole electrical discharge machining

The design and tuning of a three-input fuzzy logic controller for electrical discharge machining (EDM) of diesel injector spray holes are presented. The tuning process is based on the variable type and discretization level to balance the data precision and computational time for servo motion updates in the fuzzy logic controller and is performed to improve the micro-hole EDM drilling time. The type and number of input parameters are studied to select the gap voltage, spark ratio, and change of spark ratio as input parameters for the fuzzy logic controller. A gain scheduling controller is used as the baseline and shows excellent drilling time in drilling a 1.14 mm thick workpiece using a 150 μm diameter wire electrode. The tuned fuzzy logic controller is comparable with the gain scheduling controller in drilling time and demonstrates its advantages on different EDM drilling configurations, including deep-hole and small-diameter micro-hole drilling. Analysis of EDM pulse trains reveals insights for controller design and identifies requirements for further improvement.
The oxidation of methylglyoxal by mammalian pyruvate dehydrogenase.

Abstract Mammalian pyruvate dehydrogenase actively catalyzed the oxidation of methylglyoxal to acetyl-CoA. The reaction was fully enzymatic with an estimated Km of 1.89 m m . On the other hand, methylglyoxal was a competitive inhibitor of the enzyme for pyruvate, the Ki being in the 1 m m range. The reaction was inhibited in the presence of HgCl2. The reaction products were quantitatively identified as acetyl-CoA and formic acid. A mechanism for the reaction is proposed.
Fluorescence lifetime measurement of free and cell/particle-bound fluorophore by phase-sensitive flow cytometry

We report new and novel electronics to quantify lifetimes of free (fluorophore solution) and cell/particle-bound fluorophores. This technology combines flow cytometry and frequency-domain fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy measurement principles to provide unique features for making excited-state lifetime measurements of free fluorophore and cell/particle-bound fluorophore on a cell-by-cell basis in real time. Cells labeled with fluorophore and suspended in fluorophore solution are analyzed as they intersect a high- frequency, intensity-modulated (sine wave) laser excitation beam. Fluorescence pulse (cells) and steady-state (fluorophore solution) signals are processed by separate phase-sensitive detection channels to quantify lifetimes. The cell-bound fluorophore measurement channel employs a phase comparator to provide two output signals (proportional to the sine and cosine of the phase difference between the signal pulse input and a steady-state reference signal), whereas, the free (solution) fluorophore lifetime measurement channel employs a second phase comparator to provide steady-state sine and cosine outputs which can be gated externally (pulse generator) or by a cell being analyzed. The phase comparator outputs are input to ratio modules for determining the respective lifetimes. Examples of solution and cell/particle lifetime measurements using common fluorophores are described.
An accelerated workflow for untargeted metabolomics using the METLIN database.

Metabolites, typically recognized as small molecules that are involved in cellular reactions, provide a functional signature of phenotype that is complimentary to the upstream biochemical information obtained from genes, transcripts, and proteins. The high-level of correlation between metabolites and phenotype has created a surge of interest in the field that is reflected in the number of metabolomic publications growing from just a few articles in 1999 to over five thousand in 2011. Although relatively new compared to its genomic and proteomic predecessors, already metabolomics has led to the discovery of biomarkers for disease, fundamental insights into cellular biochemistry, and clues related to disease pathogenesis.1,2
King and Miles' Equity Sensitivity Instrument: a cross-cultural validation.

To investigate the relation between equity sensitivity and negotiators' cooperative behaviors King and Miles' Equity Sensitivity Instrument was translated into Spanish and administered to 50 Mexican industrial exporters. Cronbach alpha was .86. Correlations between equity sensitivity scores and negotiators' perceptions of their own cooperative behaviors ranged from .36 to .71.
Liquid sheet instability

A linear instability analysis is presented for an inviscid liquid sheed emanated into an inviscid gas medium. The influence of Weber number and gas to liquid density ratio on the evolution of two and three dimensional disturbances of symmetrical and antisymmetrical type is studied. It is found that two dimensional disturbances always dominate the instability process at low Weber number. When the Weber number is large, symmetrical three dimensional disturbances become more unstable than two dimensional ones for long waves. The effect of increasing the gas to liquid density ratio is to promote the dominance of long three dimensional symmetrical waves over their two dimensional counterpart. For antisymmetrical waves, two dimensional disturbances always prevail over three dimensional disturbances regardless of Weber number or gas to liquid density ratio especially for long waves. For short waves, both two and three dimensional disturbances grow at approximately the same rate. It is demonstrated that a critical Weber number exists, above which three dimensional disturbances become unstable. Furthermore, a finite wave number is necessary for the onset of three dimensional instability. The wave number range that leads to a higher growth of, symmetrical three dimensional disturbances than two dimensional ones is investigated. An explanation of the differences in the behavior of three dimensional symmetrical and antisymmetrical instabilities is provided.
Group's affective relevance: a proposal for studying affective relevance in collaborative information seeking

In an interactive information-seeking environment, it is important to consider more user-centric notion of relevance, which includes motivational and affective relevance. In this poster we introduce the notion of group's affective relevance for collaborative information seeking. We propose a new model for implementing and studying group's affective relevance in information systems that provide support for collaborative information seeking. In addition, we present preliminary results from a laboratory experiment for studying how affective information judgments are related to the performance of a group.
Different spike mechanisms in axon and soma of molluscan neurone.

STUDIES with a few invertebrate preparations have suggested different ionic mechanisms for spike generation in the soma and axon of the same neurone. Iwasaki and Satow1 found that somatic spikes in the crayfish eyestalk X organ had a mixed Na–Ca dependency, while the extracellular axon spikes disappeared in Na-free or tetrodotoxin (TTX)-containing solutions. Wald2 recorded attenuated axon spikes in hyperpolarised somata of snail ganglion cells and showed that they varied in amplitude with external sodium concentration but, curiously, were not blocked by TTX. In voltage-clamp experiments with the left pleural giant cell in Aplysia, Kado3 found that early inward currents in the axon-hillock region were much more sensitive to TTX than early inward currents in the opposite end of the soma, suggesting a greater Na-dependency of the axon spike.
Consideration of radial dependences of axial stresses in the shear-lag model for fibre pull-out

The shear-lag model has been used extensively to analyse stress transfer during single-fibre pull-out. To achieve analytical solutions, the radial dependences of the axial stresses in the fibre and the matrix are generally ignored in the shear-lag model. The present study considered these radial dependence in the shear-lag model. The differences between the predictions obtained by ignoring these radial dependences, considering the radial dependence of the axial stress in the fibre only, considering the radial dependence of the axial stress in the matrix only, and considering both radial dependences, have been addressed.
Equilibrium Price Dispersion, Mergers and Synergies: An Experimental Investigation of Differentiated Product Competition

Abstract This paper reports an experiment conducted to examine market performance and mergers in an asymmetric differentiated product oligopoly. We find that static Nash predictions organize mean market outcomes reasonably well. Markets on average respond to horizontal mergers with price increases as predicted and marginal cost synergies exert the predicted the power‐mitigating price effects. Nash predictions, however, organize outcomes for specific markets and for the different firm‐types less precisely. The variability of individual markets and firm‐level decisions undermine the predictive capacity of merger simulations conducted with the Antitrust Logit Model, a merger device used by US antitrust authorities to help identify problematic mergers.
Procter and Gamble keynote speech: mining biomedical texts for disease-related pathways

I will describe my collaborators' and my own effort to compile large models of molecular pathways in complex human disorders. The talk will address a number of interrelated questions: How to extract facts from texts at a large scale? How to assess the quality of the extracted facts? How to identify sets of conflicting or unreliable facts and to generate an internally consistent model? How to use the resulting pathway model for automated generation of biological hypotheses?
Bacterial artificial chromosome array‐based comparative genomic hybridization using paired formalin‐fixed, paraffin‐embedded and fresh frozen tissue specimens in multiple myeloma

BACKGROUND: Multiple myeloma (MM) is a neoplasm of malignant plasma cells that often harbors many chromosomal aberrations. Currently, fresh frozen tissues (FT) are considered the most reliable for molecular genetic analysis; however, formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues are easily retrievable. Compared with conventional cytogenetics, bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) array-comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) allows more sensitive detection of chromosomal abnormalities. METHODS: The authors analyzed 7 paired FT and FFPE samples of bone marrow aspirate materials obtained from patients with MM in parallel to determine the efficacy of BAC array-CGH using FFPE. RESULTS: Thirty-four aberrations were identified, including 29 that were observed in both sample types, yielding 85% concordance. Nonrandom anomalies, including gains on 7q, 9q, 15q, and 19p and losses on 8p and 13q, were observed in paired samples from at least 2 patients. To verify these results, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was performed using probes specific for 7q and 15q, and gains were observed in the 4 samples that were examined. Furthermore, 1 of 3 samples from patients who had monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance that were tested also carried gain on 7q, suggesting that this aberration may be an early transforming event. CONCLUSIONS: The current results indicated that BAC array-CGH can be effective using FFPE samples and is a sensitive method for the identification of nonrandom chromosomal aberrations in MM. Cancer 2009. © 2009 American Cancer Society.
Mean flow refraction effects on sound radiated from localized sources in a jet

It is well-known that sound generated by localized sources embedded in a jet undergoes refraction as the acoustic waves propagate through the jet mean flow. For isothermal or hot jets, the effect of refraction causes the deflection of the radiated sound waves away from the jet flow direction. This gives rise to a cone of silence around the jet axis where there is a significant reduction in the radiated sound intensity. In this work, the mean flow refraction problem is investigated through the use of the reciprocity principle. Instead of the direct source Green's function, the adjoint Green's function with the source and observation points interchanged is used to quantify the effect of mean flow on sound radiation. One advantage of the adjoint Green's function is that the Green's functions for all the source locations in the jet radiating to a given direction in the far field can be obtained in a single calculation. This provides great savings in computational effort. Another advantage of the adjoint Green's function is that there is no singularity in the jet flow so that the problem can be solved numerically with axial as well as radial mean flow gradients included in a fairly straightforward manner. Extensive numerical computations have been carried out for realistic jet flow profiles with and without exercising the locally parallel flow approximation. It is concluded that the locally parallel flow approximation is valid as long as the direction of radiation is outside the cone of silence.
Evolving test-fields in a black-hole geometry

We consider the initial value problem for a massless scalar field in the Schwarzschild geometry. When constructed using a complex-frequency approach the necessary Green's function splits into three components. We discuss all of these in some detail. (1) The contribution from the singularities (the quasinormal modes of the black hole) is approximated and the mode sum is demonstrated to converge after a certain well-defined time in the evolution. A dynamic description of the mode excitation is introduced and tested. (2) It is shown how a straightforward low-frequency approximation to the integral along the branch cut in the black-hole Green's function leads to the anticipated power-law falloff at very late times. We also calculate higher order corrections to this tail and show that they provide an important complement to the leading order. (3) The high-frequency problem is also considered. We demonstrate that the combination of the obtained approximations for the quasinormal modes and the power-law tail provide a complete description of the evolution at late times. Problems that arise (in the complex-frequency picture) for early times are also discussed, as is the fact that many of the presented results generalize to, for example, Kerr black holes.
On the riddle of coding equality function in the garden hose model

Recently, Harry Buhrman et al introduced a novel communication complexity model, called “garden-hose”. This model sprout from a research on using quantum properties to allow for position based cryptography. SAT is one of the fundamental NP-Complete problem - finding a satisfying assignment to a CNF (conjunctive Normal Form) formula, or proving that none exists. We will not get into the details of the quantum physics, neither we are going to explain the internal work of SAT solver. Instead we will start from the mathematical garden hose model; describe the way we used SAT solver as a tool; give some lower and upper bounds on implementing the equality function; and conclude with open questions.
Techniques for Melt‐Growth of Luminescent Semiconductor Crystals under Pressure

Wide‐bandgap III–V and II–VI binary semiconductor crystals can be grown from the melt by a variety of methods, all requiring pressure. The necessary apparatus, from the simple to the sophisticated, has been investigated. Methods using resistance or rf heating, unsupported or supported ampoules of several materials, without or with high‐pressure autoclave, under inert or active gas pressure, and the required control systems, are described. A broad description of the liquid encapsulation method is given, and construction details are contained in the figures. Special attention is given to the growth of gallium phosphide crystals and to the preparation of the starting material from the elements.
Pension funds and corporate governance in developing countries: what do we know and what do we need to know?

Conventional wisdom holds that pension reforms from pay-as-you-go to fully funded systems spur the development of stock markets through a corporate governance channel, i.e. pension funds become large shareholders of publicly traded firms and therefore have the incentives to monitor managers and improve investor protections. This paper reviews the literature on the corporate governance channel associated with pension reforms in developing countries, and asks what we know and need to know about it. We know that pension funds are not yet large shareholders of publicly traded firms in developing countries. However, econometric results suggest that pension reforms lead to stock market development, but do not allow us to identify and separate the corporate governance channel. We know that pension reforms are followed by pro-investor legislation, but there is no convincing evidence that the pro-investor laws are enforced. We need to know more about the effects of pension reform on stock prices and performance of publicly traded firms, and whether pension fund management companies act in the best interest of pensioners. The paper also reviews the political economy explanations of the links between pension fund specific capital controls and the corporate governance channel, and suggests that there is a trade-off between the objectives of pensioners' welfare maximization, and corporate governance reform and stock market development.
A bidimensional empirical mode decomposition method for color image processing

Bidimensional empirical mode decomposition (BEMD) techniques decompose an image into several bidimensional intrinsic mode functions (BIMFs) and a bidimensional residue (BR). Although currently existing BEMD methods are proposed for gray level images, there has been no BEMD method for color image analysis. In this paper an approach of BEMD technique is developed for the first time to decompose and analyze color images, named as color BEMD (CBEMD). For this purpose, a recently developed fast and adaptive BEMD (FABEMD) method is utilized, which employs order statistics filters (OSFs) to get the upper and lower envelopes instead of surface interpolation. Experimental results with real images depict the usefulness of the CBEMD method.
Constituency Bias in a Federal Career System? A Study of District Rangers of the U.S. Forest Service

A discriminant analysis of environmentalist and industrialist constituent publics of the U.S. Forest Service along with agency responses to 26 attitude, preference, and conservation value questions...
Colonies of Bumble Bees (Bombus impatiens) Produce Fewer Workers, Less Bee Biomass, and Have Smaller Mother Queens Following Fungicide Exposure

Bees provide vital pollination services to the majority of flowering plants in both natural and agricultural systems. Unfortunately, both native and managed bee populations are experiencing declines, threatening the persistence of these plants and crops. Agricultural chemicals are one possible culprit contributing to bee declines. Even fungicides, generally considered safe for bees, have been shown to disrupt honey bee development and impair bumble bee behavior. Little is known, however, how fungicides may affect bumble bee colony growth. We conducted a controlled cage study to determine the effects of fungicide exposure on colonies of a native bumble bee species (Bombus impatiens). Colonies of B. impatiens were exposed to flowers treated with field-relevant levels of the fungicide chlorothalonil over the course of one month. Colony success was assessed by the number and biomass of larvae, pupae, and adult bumble bees. Bumble bee colonies exposed to fungicide produced fewer workers, lower total bee biomass, and had lighter mother queens than control colonies. Our results suggest that fungicides negatively affect the colony success of a native bumble bee species and that the use of fungicides during bloom has the potential to severely impact the success of native bumble bee populations foraging in agroecosystems.
Cyanotic painful index and long fingers associated with an asymptomatic ulnar artery aneurysm: Case report

Abstract A single patient is reviewed in whom painful and cyanotic index and long fingers of the right hand were seen in association with an otherwise asymptomatic u1nar artery aneurysm. The patient was evaluated by digital plethysmography and preoperative arteriography with findings at surgery consistent with peripheral emboli having been thrown from his ulnar artery aneurysm. Following resection of the aneurysm and repair of his ulnar artery, digital perfusion has continued to improve and a digital subtraction angiogram has shown patency of his ulnur artery repair.
An integrated reduction technique for a double precision accumulator

The accumulation operation, An+1 = An + X, is perhaps one of the most fundamental and widely-used operations in numerical mathematics and digital signal processing. However, designing double-precision floating-point accumulators presents a unique set of challenges: double-precision addition is usually deeply pipelined and without special micro-architectural or data scheduling techniques, the data hazard that exists between An+1 and An requires that each new value of X delivered to the accumulator wait for the latency of the adder. There have been several techniques proposed for alleviating this problem, but each carries significant overheads and/or restrictions on input characteristics. In this paper we present a design for a double precision accumulator that requires no timing overhead relative to the underlying add operation. We achieve this by integrating a coalescing reduction circuit within the low-level design of a base-converting floating-point adder. To demonstrate our accumulator design, we use it in a sparse matrix vector multiplication architecture, achieving a throughput of up to 3.7 GFLOPS.
Effect of reverse biased voltage at source and drain on plasma damage

We have examined the possible effects of reverse-biased floating potential at the source and drain during plasma processing on the performance of n-channel metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). Threshold voltage degradation was evaluated by subjecting the gate oxide to high-field injection. Device degradation is found to be enhanced with the floating potential at source and drain for the devices subjected to substrate injection. An increase in electron trapping was observed with an increase in floating potential. Estimation shows that the effective antenna ratio of MOSFET increases with the reverse-biased floating voltage at source and drain. Our results indicate that plasma-charging damage can be significant even under uniform plasma if a potential is developed at the antenna-connected source and drain terminals. Damage in devices subjected to gate injection on the other hand, could have minimal dependence on source and drain potential.
Abnormal mitoferrin-1 expression in patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria

Objective Most patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria have deficient ferrochelatase (FECH) activity due to changes in FECH DNA. We evaluated seven patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria phenotype in whom abnormalities of FECH DNA were not found by conventional analysis. The major focus was mitoferrin-1 (MFRN1), the mitochondrial transporter of Fe used for heme formation by FECH and for 2Fe2S cluster synthesis, which is critical to FECH activity/stability. Materials and Methods Four patients had a deletion in ALAS2 that causes enzyme gain-of-function, resulting in increased formation of protoporphyrin; one had a heterozygous major deletion in FECH DNA. All had an abnormal transcript of MFRN1 in messenger RNA extracted from blood leukocytes and/or liver tissue. The abnormal transcript contained an insert of intron 2 that had a stop codon. The consequences of abnormal MFRN1 expression were examined using zebrafish and yeast MFRN -deficient strains and cultured lymphoblasts from the patients. Results Abnormal human MFRN1 complementary DNA showed loss-of-function in zebrafish and yeast mutants, whereas normal human MFRN1 complementary DNA rescued both. Using cultured lymphoblasts, quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction showed increased formation of abnormal transcript that was accompanied by decreased formation of normal transcript and reduced FECH activity in patients compared to normal lines. A positive correlation coefficient (0.75) was found between FECH activity and normal MFRN1 messenger RNA in lymphoblasts. However, no obvious cause for increased formation of abnormal transcript was identified in MFRN1 exons and splice junctions. Conclusions Abnormal MFRN1 expression can contribute to erythropoietic protoporphyria phenotype in some patients, probably by causing a reduction in FECH activity.
Corporate Governance in the Context of Crises: Towards a Stakeholder Theory of Crisis Management

In this paper, we take a step towards developing a stakeholder theory of crisis management. We argue that, in the context of crises, adopting the principles of a stakeholder model of corporate governance will lead companies to engage more frequently in proactive and/or accommodating crisis management behaviour even if these crisis management behaviours are not perceived to maximize shareholder value. We also propose a mechanism that may explain why the stakeholder model may be associated with more successful crisis management outcomes. We conclude by challenging the efficacy of the shareholder view in crisis and crisis-like situations, and call for further theoretical and empirical research.
Count-rate dependent sensitivity in position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes

A significant count-rate dependence of mean scintillation-pulse amplitude has been observed in prototype small gamma cameras employing NaI(Tl) crystals coupled to Hamamatsu R2487 and R3941 position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes (PSPMTs). The magnitude of the effect is position dependent. Within each camera's 56 mm/spl times/56 mm field-of-view, as the scintillation rate is increased from 500 to 10,000 counts per second, the response to 140 keV gamma emissions from a collimated source of Tc-99m increases by approximately 2-8% in the R2487 and 1-6% in the R3941. The count-rate dependent sensitivities of both tubes were investigated by varying the rate and position of LED pulses directed at the face of the tubes with a 1 mm diameter optical fiber. Within the specified effective area of the R2487, the increase in response from a 500 Hz rate to a 100 kHz rate varied from 1.5% in the center to 20% at one edge; corresponding increases in the R3941 were only 1% and 8%. In both cases, most of the response increase occurred between 500 Hz and 10 kHz. Similar LED tests on conventional photomultiplier tubes resulted in no more than 2% increases. >
Asian American Political Participation: Research Challenges for an Emerging Minority

Asian Americans are among the fastest-growing minority groups in the United States. In recent years, their impact on politics has been the focus of a growing number of scholars in the social sciences, which raises the definitional question: Who are Asian Americans? The working definition deployed here is that an Asian American is a person who “resides in the United States on a permanent or long-term basis, regardless of citizenship or other legal status” (Lien, Conway, and Wong 2004). However, the definition of who an Asian is has undergone significant expansion over the last 150 years because of “shifts in the racial and ethnic makeup of the U.S. population and changes in social attitudes and political concerns regarding racial and ethnic minorities” (Lien, Conway, and Wong 2004). These concerns expressed themselves in various modes of political participation; referred to in the literature as the “Asian American movement” (Wei 1993), these have ranged from litigation to the boycott activities of Asian Americans on a variety of issues.I would like to extend my gratitude to Jane Junn of Rutgers University as well as to members of the APSA Committee on the Status of Asian Pacific Americans in the Profession for encouragement and valuable feedback on this article.
A class of systems for which balanced truncation is Hankel-norm optimal

Balanced truncation is studied for members of a certain class of linear multivariable systems. For this class of systems, it is shown that balance truncation is Hankel-norm optimal. Various properties of balanced approximates are derived explicitly in terms of the original plant poles. For example, the H/sub infinity /-norm of the error system is precisely the inverse of the distance from the most dominant discarded pole to the origin. The results are exploited to analyze the ability of a particular low-order H/sub infinity /-controller, designed for a reduced system, to control the original high-order system. >
Carbonation Interactions with Sweetness and Sourness

The effects of CO2 level on sweetness and of sweetener level on carbonation perception were measured in two sweetened systems. The effects of CO2 level on sourness and of acid level on carbonation perception were measured in two acidulated systems. The effects were measured at concentrations in ranges of 2-16% (w/v) sucrose, 0.015-0.12% (w/v) aspartame, 0.02-0.29% (w/v) citric acid, and 0.015-0.06% (v/v) phosphoric acid. Little effect of carbonation on sweetness was found in either sweetened system. Sucrose at 16% (w/v) reduced carbonation perception. Carbonation enhanced sourness ratings at the lower acid levels and had no effect at higher acid levels for either acid. No effect of acid level on carbonation perception was found.