cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator improves arterial recanalization rates and reduces infarct volumes in patients with hyperdense artery sign on baseline computed tomography.

Background We sought to evaluate arterial recanalization as measured by changes in the presence of hyperdense artery sign (HAS) on initial and 24-hour computed tomography scans in patients treated with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) or placebo, and to assess the effect of rt-PA on patient outcomes in this population. Methods Patients in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) rt-PA Stroke Trial composed the study group. We determined the percentage of patients with HAS in rt-PA- and placebo-treated groups who had persistence (HAS +/+) or resolution (HAS +/–) of HAS on 24-hour computed tomography, and compared outcomes in those with resolution or persistence of the sign in these treatment groups. Results Baseline HAS occurred in 79 of 604 eligible patients (13%). The two treatment groups were similar, although patients treated with rt-PA were significantly older. Of the 79 patients with HAS on baseline computed tomography scan, 14 of 37 (38%) treated with rt-PA had resolution of HAS at 24 hours compared with 7 of 42 (17%) treated with placebo ( P = .03). Infarct volumes at 24 hours were significantly smaller in patients treated with rt-PA with resolution of the sign, compared with those who had persistence of the sign ( P = .004). In our analysis, functional outcomes were not significantly improved based on resolution of HAS in either treatment group. There were 4 symptomatic ICHs in the rt-PA–treated group with HAS as compared with two in the placebo-treated group. Conclusion Among patients with HAS at baseline in the NINDS rt-PA Stroke Trial, intravenous rt-PA increased recanalization as measured by resolution of HAS and reduced infarct volumes at 24 hours.
Assessment Matters Integration, Reflection, Interpretation: Realizing the Goals of a General Education Capstone Course:

For the past twenty-three years, students at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona have benefited from a sequential, interdisciplinary general education program that culminates in a cap...
Dabigatran in Clinical Practice for Atrial Fibrillation With Special Reference to Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time

Background: The distribution of activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) patients under dabigatran therapy remains to be clarified. Methods and Results: The study population was 196 NVAF patients who were treated with dabigatran in 2011 (126 with 220mg/day). The APTT values showed a wide distribution among the patients, especially in those with a reduced dose, who seemed to show a high value even in patients without contraindications. Conclusions: We found a wide distribution of APTT in NVAF patients under dabigatran treatment. High APTT might help screen for bleeding risks among patients under dabigatran, but requires future investigation. (Circ J 2012; 76: 755-757)
Preparation and characterization of MgO(100) surfaces

Abstract The preparation of crystalline magnesium oxide surfaces by means of mechanical polishing, acid etching, oxidative annealing and vacuum annealing has been studied on an atomic scale using low energy electron diffraction (LEED) and ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) atomic force microscopy (AFM). Mechanical polishing results in a microscopically smooth and an atomically disordered surface. Although acid etching of the magnesium oxide surface results in LEED patterns indicating a crystalline nature, AFM characterization of these surfaces reveals that surface layers are removed in an anisotropic fashion resulting in a surface roughness on the order of 100 A (which is not probed by the LEED studies). Annealing this same surface in vacuum only modestly reduces the surface roughness while high temperature anneals of an acid etched surface in a 1 atm oxygen environment produces a well ordered surface characterized by 1000 A terraces separated by single and double layer step heights. Further annealing these terraced surfaces to 1000°C under vacuum produced well-ordered and crystallographic surfaces on an atomic scale. Topographic images of the MgO(100) surface obtained under UHV conditions reveal rows of oxygen atoms oriented in a 〈110〉 direction with a spacing of 3.0 A and indicate that this surface preparation results in an unreconstructed, bulk termination of the rock salt structure.
Laboratory Thermal Performance Tests on a Model Heat Exchanger Pile in Sand

Pile-anchored geothermal systems are increasingly being implemented as an innovative and sustainable method of harvesting shallow geothermal energy. With a view of characterizing heat exchange through geothermal piles in sand, this paper describes and analyzes results from a series of laboratory thermal performance tests on a model geothermal pile in sand. Heat carrier fluid was circulated through a U-shaped circulation tube embedded within the model concrete pile. The effects of fluid circulation velocity and initial temperature difference between soil and circulation fluid (at the inlet point) on heat transfer performance of the model pile is investigated. Temperature measurements were obtained at several locations within the test setup and data collected during the thermal tests are further used to characterize time-dependent heat exchange behavior of the model pile. Moreover, soil thermal conductivity values obtained from element thermal conductivity tests are compared with equivalent soil thermal conductivity values derived from thermal performance tests on the model pile.
The effect of initial taste preference on subsequent radiation-induced aversive conditioning to saccharin solution

Fifty male albino rats were used to determine if previous results showing greater aversion for the more preferred of two food substances could be generalized to degree of preference within a single highly preferred substance. The Ss were given 5 days of 2-h access to two water bottles, one containing tap water and the other containing a 0.1% solution of sodium saccharin. After a stable saccharin preference developed, the Ss were exposed to a total of 104 R of ionizing radiation while allowed access to the saccharin solution alone. Postirradiation preference showed a decided shift away from saccharin preference across all animals. Those animals who showed a high preirradiation saccharin preference showed a higher postirradiation avoidance relative to Ss with a low preirradiation preference.
Endothelial injury and dysfunction: Role in the extension phase of acute renal failure

Endothelial injury and dysfunction: Role in the extension phase of acute renal failure. The pathophysiology of ischemic acute renal failure (ARF) involves a complex interplay between renal hemodynamics, tubular and endothelial cell injury, and inflammatory processes. A growing body of evidence supports the contribution of altered renal vascular function, especially at the microvascular level, in initiating and subsequently extending the initial tubular injury. The extension phase of ischemic ARF involves continued reduction in renal perfusion, ongoing hypoxia, and inflammatory processes that occur during reperfusion and contribute to continued tubular cell injury. Vascular endothelial cell injury and dysfunction play a vital part in this extension phase. With injury, the endothelial cell loses its ability to regulate vascular tone, perfusion, permeability and inflammation/adhesion. This loss of regulatory function has a detrimental impact upon renal function. Vascular congestion, edema formation, diminished blood flow, and infiltration of inflammatory cells have been documented in the corticomedullary junction of the kidney. However, linking their genesis to microvascular endothelial injury and dysfunction has been difficult. New diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to ischemic ARF must incorporate these finding to devise early recognition strategies and therapeutic approaches.
An analysis of auditory alphabet confusions

The present study, using the nonhierarchical overlapping clustering algorithm MAPCLUS to fit the Shepard-Arabie (1979) ADCLUS model, attempted to derive a set of features that would accurately describe the auditory alphabet confusions present in the data matrices of Conrad (1964) and Hull (1973). Separate nine-cluster solutions accounted for 80% and 89% of the variance in the matrices, respectively. The clusters revealed that the most frequently confused letter names contained common vowels and phonetically similar consonants. Further analyses using INDCLUS, an individual differences extension of the MAPCLUS algorithm and ADCLUS model, indicated that while the patterns of errors in the two matrices were remarkably similar, some differences were also apparent. These differences reflected the differing amounts of background noise present in the two studies.
Introduction to the use of activity cycles as a basis for system's decomposition and simulation

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the concept of activity cycles and discuss their use as the basis for the decomposition of complex systems. Furthermore, it is shown that activity cycles provide a sound and logical basis for system simulation. Activity cycles are defined and illustrated in the context of a simple production system. The simple rules necessary to simulate a system, based upon an activity cycle diagram, are given and used in simulating the production system. The production system is then expanded to demonstrate the power of activity cycle concepts to handle complex problems.
The Challenge of Social Networks

Research and theory focused on the contemporary development of social networks appears not to appreciate that this phenomenon may mark a new stage in the ongoing development of human consciousness. Given this, it seems that an entirely new paradigm is required if social networks are to be understood and the questions they raise for public administration theory and practice are to be articulated and addressed. A review of one possible history of the evolution of the human mind supports the idea that consciousness is at a point of fundamental change. The current form of social organization (modernism) and the style of analysis it produced for considering the social world (one that sees human behavior as constituted of rational responses to social role requirements and economic constraints) is over. The rise of social networks signifies this development and reveals that human beings are becoming oriented toward social life in a generically different manner. Consequently, public administration, as theory and ...
Creation of EcR isoform-specific mutations in Drosophila melanogaster via local P element transposition, imprecise P element excision, and male recombination

Collections of single P transposable-element insertion strains that currently inactivate more than 25% of essential Drosophila genes have proven to be a valuable tool for genome research in Drosophila melanogaster. For genes unrepresented in these collections, strategies including local P element transposition and transposase-induced imprecise excision can be used to inactivate or delete the gene of interest. Here we report our use of local P element transposition followed by imprecise P element excision and transposase-induced male recombination to generate two deficiencies specific for the EcR-A isoform of the ecdysone receptor (EcR) gene, and four larger deficiencies likely to affect multiple EcR functions. We also report here the determination of sequences flanking six EcR-B deficiencies generated in a previous imprecise excision screen. EcR-A encodes one of a family of three related nuclear receptor proteins that, together with the heterodimer partner USP, mediate ecdysone signaling during Drosophila development. Our results delineate sequences required in vivo for EcR-A function, as well as identifying EcR-A intron 1 sequences that are not essential for EcR function.
The kinetics of the autoxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids

The kinetics of the autoxidation of a series of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) with increasing degrees of unsaturation and the mono-, di- and triglycerides of linoleate have been studied in homogeneous chlorobenzene solution at 37 C under 760 torr of oxygen. The autoxidations were initiated by thermal decomposition of azo initiators and followed by measuring the rate of oxygen uptake. The rate of chain initiation was determined by the induction period method using alpha-tocopherol as the chain-breaking antioxidant. The measured oxidizabilities of the PUFA are linearly dependent on the number of doubly allylic positions present in the molecule. Thus, the oxidizability of linoleate is 2.03 X 10(-2) M-1/2 sec-1/2, and the value for docosahexaenoate is five times greater, 10.15 X 10(-2) M-1/2 sec-1/2. The rate of autoxidation for all PUFA studied and for the mono- and diglyceride is proportional to the substrate concentration and to the square root of the rate of chain initiation, implying that the autoxidation of these compounds follows the usual kinetic rate law. The autoxidation of the triglyceride is more complex and does not appear to follow the same rate law at all substrate concentrations. This deviation from the usual kinetic rate expression may be due to lipid aggregation at low concentrations of the triglyceride.
Value Conflict and Public Opinion Toward Prisoner Reentry Initiatives

The dramatic growth in the incarceration rate since the mid-1970s has unintentionally resulted in massive numbers of people being released from prison each year. Consequently, prisoner reentry initiatives are receiving greater attention than ever before. At this point few studies have looked at public support for reentry initiatives, and the existing ones have taken a rather general and atheoretical approach. The current study explores public opinion toward a wide range of reentry policies and practices through a value conflict framework. Results from a randomly selected, statewide sample in Missouri indicate that people take into account such values as social welfare, retribution, and self-interest when assessing their support for reentry measures. As reentry initiatives may struggle to attain legitimacy and resources without public support, a number of policy implications are discussed. These implications include informing the public of the need for servicing those with prior prison terms and communicat...
Effects of estrogen and progesterone on LHRH release from a hypothalamic synaptosomal fraction of ovariectomized rats

Mitochondrial-synaptosomal fractions (P2) from the basomedial hypothalamus of adult ovariectomized rats were employed to study the effects of estradiol benzoate (EB) and progesterone (P) on the release of luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH). Treatment of ovariectomized rats with 5 or 50 micrograms of EB significantly reduced the total LHRH released from P2 under both control and K+-stimulated conditions. Furthermore, rats given 50 microgram EB demonstrated cyclic variations in the magnitude of inhibition of LHRH release. Comparison of LHRH release from P2 of rats sacrificed at 0900 hr with that from those sacrificed at 1500 hr revealed a small but persistent facilitation of LHRH release each afternoon. This facilitation, associated with an increase in the soluble component of LHRH release, was absent when rats also received 5 mg of P. No effects on LHRH release were observed when 17 beta-estradiol alone or when P was applied to P2 in vitro. The data show that the regulatory effects of estrogen and progesterone given in vivo on LHRH secretion can be observed in a subcellular fraction of the hypothalamus containing neurosecretory cell terminals.
Rapid Viral Induction of Plasmacytomas in Pristane-Primed BALB/c Mice

Strain BALB/c mice were injected intraperitoneally with 0.5 milliliter of pristane, and 39 to 56 days later they were infected with Abelson murine leukemia virus, which is a lymphosarcomagenic variant of Moloney virus. Fifty-eight percent of the mice developed lymphosarcoma, and 28 percent developed immunoglobulin-producing plasmacytomas within 20 to 93 days (77 to 149 days after the pristane injection). Two of 57 control mice developed plasmacytomas at days 138 and 166 after a single injection of pristane; no plasmacytomas were found in mice treated with virus alone.
Asymptotic convergence of scheduling policies with respect to slowdown

We explore the performance of an M/GI/1 queue under various scheduling policies from the perspective of a new metric: the slowdown experienced by the largest jobs. We consider scheduling policies that bias against large jobs, towards large jobs, and those that are fair, e.g., processor-sharing (PS). We prove that as job size increases to infinity, all work conserving policies converge almost surely with respect to this metric to no more than 1/(1 - ρ), where ρ denotes the load. We also find that the expected slowdown under any work conserving policy can be made arbitrarily close to that under PS, for all job sizes that are sufficiently large.
Commentary: Austerity Metrics and the Restructuring of Public Higher Education

undergone a sea change, with less than 10 percent of their budgets now attributable to tax-levy public money. Th e City University of New York has lost more than a half billion dollars of its public funding in the past fi ve years. Th e California systems have also been targeted for similar cuts. With the politics of austerity policy, privatized forms of revenue, most notably tuition, have replaced public funding. Th e calculus is simple: as public funding declines, private forms Michael B. Fabricant
Structural Studies of a Trinucleotide Repeat Sequence Using 2-Aminopurine†

The secondary structure of repeated trinucleotide sequences results in the development of several neurodegenerative diseases, and these studies consider the (CAG)8 sequence that forms a stem−loop hairpin. The structural and thermodynamic properties of this hairpin are assessed using 2-aminopurine substitutions for adenine at six positions in this repeated sequence. Circular dichroism spectra and thermal denaturation experiments show that the secondary structure is not disturbed by the modifications. The local structure of the hairpin was monitored using the fluorescence intensities of 2-aminopurines, the changes in the intensity relative to the denatured state, and the sensitivity of the fluorescence to quenching by acrylamide. To establish the stem and loop characteristics in (CAG)8, known reference points for stem, loop, and exposed base motifs were used. In the vicinity of the loop, the bases become more solvent exposed, which suggests that the instability associated with this repeated hairpin influenc...
Anglo-American aesthetes and native Indian corn: Candace Wheeler and the revision of American nationalism

Recently, revisionist scholars of the “new Western history” have challenged the frontier thesis of Frederick Jackson Turner who, in 1893, canonized a view of the American West as wild and uncivilized, an area penetrated, conquered and subdued by the rugged individual fighter. These historians point out that highly developed Indian civilizations existed in the West, that “cultural convergence” not conquest was the historical reality, and that women played a prominent role in the over-all story. What has gone unnoticed by these revisionist scholars, however, was an earlier attempt by a Victorian woman artist to re-write the myth of the West in her own time, a re-telling much like the new Western scholars of today.
Women managers and fear of success: A study in the field

Reported here is the first stage of a study designed to test Matina Horner's fear of success (FOS) hypothesis in the field of management. A matched sample of 18 male and 18 female executives wrote stories for TAT-type verbal cues concerned with a successful management career. No significant differences were indicated between sexes in negative imagery, though both expressed anxiety toward success. Implications for Horner's hypothesis are discussed with respect to changing attitudes and expectations of men and women for each other and their relationships in business. The report concludes that understanding of FOS requires research on a broader representation of men and women actually involved in the pursuit of careers via ongoing studies in touch with rapidly changing times.
Cell-wall components in divergent germplasms of four perennial forage grass species.

Neutral-detergent fiber (NDF) is an estimate of total cell-wall (CW) components, which limit digestibility in forages. This study was conducted to determine whether concentration differences exist for NDF and CW components in four perennial grasses and to what extent these can account for reported variation in digestibility. ‘Napier’ and ‘Orion’ orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), ‘Barton’ and ‘Rebound’ smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis Leyss.), germplasm of reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) selected for high or low specific leaf weight, and germplasm of tall fescue (Festuca arun-dinacea Schreb.) selected for high or low rate of leaf-area expansion were seeded in mid-August on a Webster silty clay loam (fine-loamy, mixed, mesic Typic Haplaquoll). At several spring harvests in 2 yr, total herbage and plant parts were assayed for NDF and CW components. Despite large differences in tiller size, NDF concentration of herbage and plant parts did not vary consistently between germplasms within reed canarygrass or tall fescue. Thus, selecting for fast growth rate and large tillers did not affect concentrations of NDF or CW components. In orchardgrass, NDF concentration was 3% greater and CW-lignin concentration was 24% greater in Napier than in Orion herbage. In smooth bromegrass, NDF concentration was 5% greater in herbage and stems of Barton than of Rebound; CW-lignin concentration was 5% greater in stems of Barton than of Rebound. In orchardgrass, cultivar variation for herbage digestibility was an inverse function of CW-lignin concentration; in smooth bromegrass, variation in NDF and CW-lignin concentrations had equal effect. Contribution of Iowa Cluster Program of the U.S. Dairy Forages Res. Ctr. and Iowa State Univ. Journal Paper no. J-13438 of the Iowa Agric. and Home Econ. Exp. Stn., Ames; Project 2709.
Structure learning for biomolecular pathways containing cycles

Bayesian network structure learning is a useful tool for elucidation of regulatory structures of biomolecular pathways. The approach however is limited by its acyclicity constraint, a problematic one in the cycle-containing biological domain. Here, we introduce a novel method for modeling cyclic pathways in biology, by employing our newly introduced Generalized Bayesian Networks (GBNs) and proposing a structure learning algorithm suitable for the biological domain. This algorithm relies on data and perturbations which are feasible for collection in an experimental setting, such as perturbations affecting either the abundance or activity of a molecule. We present theoretical arguments as well as structure learning results from simulated data. We also present results from a small real world dataset, involving genes from the galactose system in S. cerevisiae.
Emotion Detectors, Answering Machines, and E-Unions: Multi-Surveillances in the Global Interactive Service Industry:

Global call centers, such as those in India receiving back office work from the U.S., are testing grounds for new ICTs (information and communication technologies). While the “electronic sweatshop” has been the prevailing model for understanding the implications of these ICTs, this analysis proposes that a multi-surveillances framework offers a more compelling account. It widens the lens from managers alone, and uncovers a web of actors directly involved in the daily operations of Indian call centers—technology vendors, American outsourcing clients, American consumers, Indian shopfloor supervisors, and Indian employees. Using a case study of the Indian call center industry, this analysis shows each of these actors participates in their own independent surveillance of the others. It charts the proliferation of the technologies themselves and shows how devices like emotion detectors, answering machines, and online unions are symbolic of changing relations in global interactive service.
Improving degradation resistance of sisal fiber in concrete through fiber surface treatment

Abstract As part of an ongoing effort to improve the sustainability of reinforced concrete, recycled concrete aggregate is being considered together with natural fibers such as sisal fiber as replacement of synthetic reinforcement. Since natural fibers are known to undergo potential deterioration in the alkaline cement matrix especially in outdoor erosive environment, they need to be treated to improve their durability. This paper describes two such methods (thermal and Na2CO3 treatment) and evaluates their effects on the degradation resistance of sisal fiber and durability of sisal fiber-reinforced concrete with recycled concrete aggregate. Concrete specimens were subjected to cycles of wetting and drying to accelerate aging. The microstructure, tensile strength and Young's modulus of sisal fiber as well as the weight loss of the composite were evaluated. Of primary interest were the effects on compressive and splitting tensile strength of sisal fiber-reinforced concrete. Thermal treatment and Na2CO3 surface treatment were shown to improve the durability of the composite as measured by splitting tensile strength by 36.5% and 46.2% and the compressive strength by 31.1% and 45.4%, respectively. The mechanisms of these two treatment methods were also analyzed. The thermal treatment achieved improvement of cellulose's crystallization, which ensured the initial strength and improved durability of sisal fiber. A layer consisting of calcium carbonate sediments, which protects the internals of a fiber from the strong alkali solution formed in the cement hydration process, was formed and filled in pits and cavities on the Na2CO3 treated sisal fiber's surface to improve their corrosion resistance and durability and reduced the detrimental effects of Na+ ions on concrete.
Developing a Code of Ethics for Human Cloning

Under what conditions might the cloning of human beings constitute an ethical practice? A tendency exists to analyze human cloning merely as a technical procedure. As with all revolutionary technological developments, however, human cloning potentially exists in a broad social context that will both shape and be shaped by the biological techniques. Although human cloning must be subjected to technical analysis that addresses fundamental ethical questions such as its safety and efficacy, questions exist that focus our attention on broader issues. Asserting that cloning inevitably leads to undesirable consequences commits the fallacy of technological determinism and untenably separates technological and ethical evaluation. Drawing from the Report of the National Bioethics Advisory Committee 1 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, 2 we offer a draft Code of Ethics for Human Cloning in order to stimulate discussion about the ethics of the broader ramifications of human cloning as well as its particular technological properties.
THE ENDOCRINE SECRETION OF HEN-FEATHERED FOWLS

In the older literature there are many references to changes that have been noticed in old hens and female pheasants that make these birds more like the males of their species. They become quarrelsome, they sometimes crow, the feathers change their color, etc. It has been recorded in several cases that these changes appear after the female has ceased to lay, and in a number of cases that the change was associated with a diseased condition of the ovary. Complete removal of the ovary of birds is a difficult operation owing to its irregular shape and to its close adherence to the body wall. Goodale has succeeded, nevertheless, in completely removing the ovary of young fowls. When the adult plumage develops in such birds it is like that of the cock of their breed. In the Leghorns, where the difference between the sexes is very great, the result is most striking. The comb and wattles, and the spurs also, grow larger than in the normal hen. Evidently something produced by the ovary—some internal secretion perha...
Exploring the Influence of TorsinA Expression on Protein Quality Control

DYT1 dystonia is caused by a glutamic acid deletion (ΔE) in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) protein torsinA. Previous studies suggest that torsinA modulates the aggregation of cytosolic misfolded proteins and ER stress responses, although the mechanisms underlying those effects remain unclear. In order to investigate the bases of these observations, we analyzed the interaction between torsinA expression, protein aggregation and ER stress in PC6.3 cells. Unexpectedly, we found that expression of torsinA(wt) or (ΔE) does not influence the inclusion formation by an expanded polyglutamine reporter protein in this cellular model. Furthermore, torsinA does not prevent the activation of ER stress induced by thapsigargin or the reducing agent DTT. Interestingly, DTT induces post-translational changes in torsinA, more prominently for torsinA(wt) than (ΔE). This work highlights the importance of model system selection for the study of torsinA function. Furthermore, it provides additional evidence suggesting that torsinA is sensitive to changes in the cellular redox potential.
Temporal processes of form: Sessions's third Piano Sonata

Conceptions of musical form have tended toward “space-like” models historically; while in the twentieth century, “time-like” or processive models have been used to formalize pitch structure in tona...
Probabilistic aircraft conflict resolution: A stochastic optimal control approach

This paper is focused on the aircraft midair conflict resolution problem which is a key function to enable the automated and decentralized air traffic control in the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). In most previous research, conflict resolution is to generate conflict-free trajectories for aircraft to follow. However, in real applications, aircraft subject to various disturbances could not exactly follow the predesigned trajectories. If the cross-track error is too big, going back to the predesigned trajectories may not necessarily be optimal. In this paper, the problem is solved by using a stochastic optimal control approach which generates an optimal conflict-free feedback control law rather than trajectories. If the aircraft always uses the optimal feedback control law, the resulted nondeterministic trajectories are optimal and conflict-free. This stochastic optimal control problem is solved numerically by a Markov chain approximation approach.
W.E.B. Du Bois and the Wounded World: Seeking Meaning in the First World War for African‐Americans

In his unpublished and published writings, W.E.B. Du Bois struggled for fifteen years with multiple interpretations of the First World War's significance for African-Americans. Du Bois argued that the war was a futile exercise brought on by capitalist imperialists, but then glorified the military accomplishments of black soldiers and the chance African-American soldiers had to experience the joys of being treated as equals by the French. The urgency he felt to present his version of the history of the First World War reflected his belief that unstable race relations would likely mean another war in the near future. The possibility of a Pan-African community emerging from the war fascinated Du Bois, and he hoped the war would provide a way for the black world to reunite and become a political force. Du Bois also wanted the white world to take note of the central role Africa and black soldiers played in the war. Du Bois, however, gradually became disillusioned with the notion that war could serve as a vehicle for positive social change as he realized that postwar economic problems had intensified racial hatred throughout the world. He also doubted the ability of World War I to serve as “the war to end all wars” until the problem of racial prejudice was solved. In the end, Du Bois rejected war as a way to advance the economic or political interests of the black world.
Forest Canopy Interception Loss Across Temporal Scales: Implications for Urban Greening Initiatives

Increasing urban forest canopy coverage due to greening initiatives requires watershed managers to balance societal water practices with forest hydrological processes. One such process, canopy rainfall interception, can remove substantial portions of precipitation from catchments by simply intercepting, storing, and evaporating meteoric water. We performed a field study examining interception losses across temporal scales comparing two landscaping species of contrasting crown structures (Fagus grandifolia Ehrh., American beech, and Liriodendron tulipifera L., yellow poplar), native to the highly urbanized northeastern United States, to highlight the effect of landscape design on urban water and storm water management. Results show that landscape designs using the rougher bark texture, lower branch inclination, and thinner canopy of L. tulipifera can increase water losses during rainfall and, therefore, can be used to improve storm water management. On the other hand, the smoother bark, higher branch incli...
A 72-base pair AT-rich DNA sequence element functions as a bacterial gene silencer.

Abstract We have previously demonstrated that sequential activation of the bacterial ilvIH-leuO-leuABCD gene cluster involves a promoter-relay mechanism. In the current study, we show that the final activation of the leuABCD operon is through a transcriptional derepression mechanism. TheleuABCD operon is transcriptionally repressed by the presence of a 318-base pair AT-rich upstream element. LeuO is required for derepressing the repressed leuABCD operon. Deletion analysis of the repressive effect of the 318-bp element has led to the identification of a 72-bp AT-rich (78% A+T) DNA sequence element, AT4, which is capable of silencing a number of unrelated promoters in addition to the leuABCD promoter. AT4-mediated gene silencing is orientation-independent and occurs within a distance of 300 base pairs. Furthermore, an increased gene-silencing effect was observed with a tandemly repeated AT4 dimer. The possible mechanism of AT4-mediated gene silencing in bacteria is discussed.
In Situ Measurement of Wire-Bond Strain in Electrically Active Power Semiconductors

Thermal-mechanical displacement/strain in power semiconductor devices is investigated using electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI). Validated models for thermal-mechanical strain are key to improving the reliability of power electronics modules. ESPI is a noncontact optical technique capable of providing surface displacement measurements with submicrometer resolution. The significant contribution of this paper is an experimental methodology by which wire-bond displacement/strain can be measured in an active device. Simultaneous in-plane and out-of-plane measurements are combined to accurately measure the displacement field across the wire-bond interface, while decoupling thermal-mechanical deformation not related to wire-bond strain (such as base plate thermal expansion). Experimental results verify the electrical-loss-driven thermal-mechanical displacement/strain in an electrically active discrete insulated gate bipolar transistor switching at 5 kHz.
Effects of Isolating Sensorimotor Cortex in Monkeys

Summary This is the second in a series of studies, prompted by results in brain-injured human cases, on the role in manual discrimination of cortex outside the contralateral sensorimotor region. The first dealt with the effects in monkeys of sensorimotor and complementary nonsensorimotor abaltions ipsilateral to the tested hand. The present study investigates the nonsensorimotor region contralateral to the tested hand. Ablation of this region produced a severe retardation in learning the preliminary discriminations but not the later, difficult ones (the reverse of that found earlier after ipsilateral sensorimotor lesions) and an elevation of roughness but not of size thresholds. Subsequent analysis with modified lesions showed that, whereas the roughness deficit resulted from the tissue ablation alone, the severe impairment on the preliminary tasks was due to the tissue ablation plus transection of the corpus callosum (an unintended accompaniment of the cingulate removal in the initial group). The impairment in the early phases of discrimination learning, even though confined to one hand, was interpreted as a difficulty in developing basic tactual discrimination strategies and was attributed to disconnection of the contralateral sensorimotor cortex from other regions of the telencephalon. Observation suggested further that the difficulty in discrimination learning was one aspect of a more general deficiency in the adaptive use of the hand.
Seasonal mood changes in 250 normal women

A 1-year prospective study of seasonal mood changes was conducted in 250 female Boston area residents, aged 43 to 72, who were participants in a study of vitamin D supplementation. Each woman completed the Profile of Mood States questionnaire at four study visits. There were significant changes over the year in scores for Tension-Anxiety, Depression-Dejection, Anger-Hostility, Fatigue-Inertia, and Confusion-Bewilderment. These scores were all highest or "worst" in the fall and lowest in the spring or summer. Worse mood scores were associated with fewer hours of sleep. Serum thyroxine was positively associated with higher Depression-Dejection scores in August through November and with higher (better) Vigor-Activity scores in February through May. Supplementation with 400 IU of vitamin D did not appear to affect levels or changes in mood scores.
Adiabatic dynamics of superconducting quantum point contacts.

Starting from the quasiclassical equations for non-equilibrium Green's functions we derive a simple kinetic equation that governs ac Josephson effect in a superconducting quantum point contact at small bias voltages. In contrast to existing approaches the kinetic equation is valid for voltages with arbitrary time dependence. We use this equation to calculate frequency-dependent linear conductance, and dc $I\!-\!V$ characteristics with and without microwave radiation for resistively shunted quantum point contacts. A novel feature of the $I\!-\!V$ characteristics is the excess current $2I_c/\pi$ appearing at small voltages. An important by-product of our derivation is the analytical proof that the microscopic expression for the current coincides at arbitrary voltages with the expression that follows from the Bogolyubov-de Gennes equations, if one uses appropriate amplitudes of Andreev reflection which contain information about microscopic structure of the superconductors.
Kinetics of phytoplankton decay during simulated sedimentation: Changes in biochemical composition and microbial activity under oxic and anoxic conditions

Abstract A series of oxic and anoxic incubations examined the decay of two marine phytoplankton, the diatom Thalassiosira weissffogii and the coccoid cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp, in flow-through systems without macrozooplankton grazers. The major biochemical fractions of algal carbon (protein, carbohydrates, and lipid) were quantified over time together with bacterial abundance and activity. Oxic decay constants of bulk and individual biochemical fractions showed good agreement between both phytoplankters, suggesting that composition at the molecular level within a particular biochemical class does not influence decay rate as much as differences among the major biochemical fractions. Large differences in decay rates did exist among biochemical classes, with carbohydrates utilized most rapidly under oxic conditions, followed by protein and then lipid. Turnover times among the particulate pools ranged from 10.7 days for diatom and cyanobacterial carbohydrates under oxic conditions to over 160 days for cyanobacterial lipids under anoxia, with oxygen having a substantial effect on overall rates of algal carbon decomposition. PON values tracked POC with an average POC:PON ratio of 4.99 ± 0.52 for diatoms and 4.48 ± 0.66 for cyanobacteria throughout the experiments. Bacterial abundances and activity varied substantially over the course of the incubations with greatest activity during periods of greatest particulate loss. Bacterial abundances and metabolism were comparable under oxic and anoxic conditions even though the amount of material degraded under anoxic conditions was significantly less than when oxygen was present, suggesting that oxygen increased rates of particulate material degradation.
CPU/power-constrained mobile devices

Due to the limited processing capability, memory constraints, and the power budget of mobile clients, multimedia coders and/or decoders are often difficult to implement on wireless handheld PDAs. In this Universal Tuner project, we designed and implemented a wireless video streaming system that transcodes MPEG-1/2 videos or live TV broadcasting videos to the BW or indexed color Palm OS devices. In our system, the complexity of multimedia compression and decompression algorithms is adaptively partitioned between the encoder and decoder. A mobile client would selectively disable or reenable stages of the algorithm to adapt to the device's effective processing capability. Our variable-complexity strategy of selective disabling of modules supports graceful degradation of the complexity of multimedia coding and decoding into a mobile client's low-power mode, i.e. the clock frequency of its next-generation low power CPU has been scaled down to conserve power. We modified the structure of the standard motion-compensated DCT video codecs to implement a simplified the encoder on a PC server and the decoder on a complexity-constrained PDA viewing client.
Heparin facilitates the extraction of tissue fibronectin

Extraction of fibronectin from two human tissues, lung parenchyma and placental villi, was facilitated by the incorporation of heparin into extraction media. The effect of heparin was additive to the effect of urea which is known to extract fibronectin. These experiments provide further evidence that fibronectin and glycosaminoglycans are associated in connective tissues and the use of heparin forms the basis for a simple method for extraction and quantitation of tissue fibronectin.
Fair morse functions for extracting the topological structure of a surface mesh

Morse theory reveals the topological structure of a shape based on the critical points of a real function over the shape. A poor choice of this real function can lead to a complex configuration of an unnecessarily high number of critical points. This paper solves a relaxed form of Laplace's equation to find a "fair" Morse function with a user-controlled number and configuration of critical points. When the number is minimal, the resulting Morse complex cuts the shape into a disk. Specifying additional critical points at surface features yields a base domain that better represents the geometry and shares the same topology as the original mesh, and can also cluster a mesh into approximately developable patches. We make Morse theory on meshes more robust with teflon saddles and flat edge collapses, and devise a new "intermediate value propagation" multigrid solver for finding fair Morse functions that runs in provably linear time.
Detecting subtle port scans through characteristics based on interactive visualization

Port-scan detection is essentially vital to enterprise networks, since many intrusions start with scanning. A port scan can be obvious or subtle in terms of the volume of network traffic. In this paper, we propose a creative approach by combining the characteristic-based method and visual analytics to detect those hard-to-find subtle scans as well as obvious scans in an enterprise environment. The goal of designing this system is to provide useful information and implications about port-scan attackers and benign hosts to a network security team in a simple and efficient manner. The major components of the system consist of three different semantic level visualizations. Through several use cases, we illustrate how the system can detect both obvious and subtle port-scanning activities. The analysis approach proposed in this study proves to be effective by identifying all the port-scan attackers in the data sets.
On generalized Cartan subspaces

Let G be a connected reductive algebraic group defined over a field k of characteristic not 2, θ an involution of G defined over k, H a k-open subgroup of the fixed point group of θ and G k (resp. H k ) the set of k-rational points of G (resp. H). The variety G k /H k is called a symmetric k-variety. For real and p-adic symmetric k-varieties the space L 2(G k /H k ) of square integrable functions decomposes into several series, one for each H k -conjugacy class of Cartan subspaces of G k /H k . In this paper we give a characterization of the H k -conjugacy classes of these Cartan subspaces in the case that there exists a splitting extension of order 2 and (G, σ) is (σ, k)-split conjugate (see Subsection 3.8). This condition is satisfied for k the real numbers and several other fields for which the symmetric k-variety has a splitting extension of order 2. For $$ k = \mathbb{R} $$ we prove a number of additional results as well.
Avidity of antibodies in sle

The avidity of antibodies to DNA in the sera of 8 patients with SLE was determined by saturation analysis and Scatchard plots. Five of the patients had severe lupus nephritis; the other 3 had relatively mild or no kidney disease. The Scatchard plots revealed components with high relative avidity in the patients with severe nephritis (K values 4.4-10.4 X 10(5) M-1 for nDNA), compared with the patients who had mild or no kidney disease (K values 0.3-1.8 X 10(5) M-1 for nDNA). Avidity measurements may be helpful in the evaluation and treatment of patients with SLE.
Aberrant V(D)J Recombination in Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated-Deficient Lymphocytes Is Dependent on Nonhomologous DNA End Joining

During lymphocyte Ag receptor gene assembly, DNA cleavage by the Rag proteins generates pairs of coding and signal ends that are normally joined into coding joints and signal joints, respectively, by the classical nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathway of DNA double strand break repair. Coding and signal ends can also be aberrantly joined to each other, generating hybrid joints, through NHEJ or through NHEJ-independent pathways, such as Rag-mediated transposition. Hybrid joints do not participate in the formation of functional Ag receptor genes and can alter the configuration of Ag receptor loci in ways that limit subsequent productive rearrangements. The formation of these nonfunctional hybrid joints occurs rarely in wild type lymphocytes, demonstrating that mechanisms exist to limit both the NHEJ-dependent and the NHEJ-independent joining of a signal end to a coding end. In contrast to wild-type cells, hybrid joint formation occurs at high levels in ataxia telangiectasia mutated (Atm)-deficient lymphocytes, suggesting that Atm functions to limit the formation of these aberrant joints. In this study, we show that hybrid joint formation in Atm-deficient cells requires the NHEJ proteins Artemis, DNA-PKcs, and Ku70, demonstrating that Atm functions primarily by modulating the NHEJ-dependent, and not the NHEJ-independent, joining of coding ends to signal ends.
Automated bead-positioning system for measuring impedances of RF cavity modes

We describe a fully automated bead puller system which uses stepping motors to position the bead, and an HP-8510 network analyzer to measure the resulting frequency shifts, both devices being under computer control. Longitudinal motion of the bead is used for measurement of cavity shunt impedance. In addition, azimuthal scans at fixed longitudinal position aid in determining the multipole character of higher-order modes. High sensitivity/accuracy is made possible by measuring phase shifts at the unperturbed resonant frequencies (rather than frequency shifts themselves), thereby permitting averaging factors of >500. With only modest increases in data acquisition time. Sample measurements will be presented. >