cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Scalable synthesis of gyroid-inspired freestanding three-dimensional graphene architectures

Three-dimensional porous architectures of graphene are desirable for energy storage, catalysis, and sensing applications. Yet it has proven challenging to devise scalable methods capable of producing co-continuous architectures and well-defined, uniform pore and ligament sizes at length scales relevant to applications. This is further complicated by processing temperatures necessary for high quality graphene. Here, bicontinuous interfacially jammed emulsion gels (bijels) are formed and processed into sacrificial porous Ni scaffolds for chemical vapor deposition to produce freestanding three-dimensional turbostratic graphene (bi-3DG) monoliths with high specific surface area. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show that the bi-3DG monoliths inherit the unique microstructural characteristics of their bijel parents. Processing of the Ni templates strongly influences the resultant bi-3DG structures, enabling the formation of stacked graphene flakes or fewer-layer continuous films. Despite the multilayer nature, Raman spectra exhibit no discernable defect peak and large relative intensity for the Raman 2D mode, which is a characteristic of turbostratic graphene. Moire patterns, observed in scanning tunneling microscopy images, further confirm the presence of turbostratic graphene. Nanoindentation of macroscopic pillars reveals a Young's modulus of 30 MPa, one of the highest recorded for sp2 carbon in a porous structure. Overall, this work highlights the utility of a scalable self-assembly method towards porous high quality graphene constructs with tunable, uniform, and co-continuous microstructure.
Wide Bandgap Components for Space Applications

This paper will go over the benefits and advantages of GaN over traditional silicon and summarize the Single Event Effects (SEE) testing that was done for Renesas' GaN FETs. This paper will also discuss the results of the SEE testing and what they mean with respect to a typical Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO) mission.
New Records of Ground and Tiger Beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) As Prey for Asilidae (Diptera) in the High Plains of New Mexico and Texas

One hundred and fifty records of Carabidae (three subfamilies, six tribes, 16 genera, and 24 species) preyed upon by 23 species (in seven genera) of robber flies (Diptera: Asilidae) in the High Plains of eastern New Mexico and adjacent west Texas are listed. Five species of cicindelines represented 42% of all carabid records, while 19 non-cicindelines comprised 58%. Four species of ground/tiger beetles represented 66% of all records: Cicindelidia punctulata (Olivier), 22.7%; Selenophorus pedicularius Dejean, 21.3%; Cicindelidia ocellata (Klug), 11.3%; and Harpalus amputatus amputatus Say, 10.7%. These four species were preyed upon by 9, 11, five, and four species of robber flies, respectively. The top four asilid predators of Carabidae, based on percentage of total records, were Saropogon combustus Loew, 14.7%; Heteropogon patruelis (Coquillett), 14.0%; Efferia helenae (Bromley), 12.7%; and Proctacanthus milbertii Macquart, 10.0%. Twelve species of carabids are represented by only one or two records. No robber flies were identified as specialists on ground beetles; most species, notably in Efferia Coquillet, are considered generalist predators. These new records represent a significant addition to the previous knowledge of carabid prey taken by robber flies, particularly for the non-cicindelines. Asilid predation on tiger beetles may be more significant than previously thought. A review of previously published records on carabid prey taken by Asilidae is given.
Protein exchange is reduced in calcium-independent epithelial junctions

Desmosomes are cell-cell junctions that provide mechanical integrity to epithelial and cardiac tissues. Desmosomes have two distinct adhesive states, calcium-dependent and hyperadhesive, which balance tissue plasticity and strength. A highly ordered array of cadherins in the adhesive interface is hypothesized to drive hyperadhesion, but how desmosome structure confers adhesive state is still elusive. We employed fluorescence polarization microscopy to show that cadherin order is not required for hyperadhesion induced by pharmacologic and genetic approaches. FRAP experiments in cells treated with the PKCα inhibitor Go6976 revealed that cadherins, plakoglobin, and desmoplakin have significantly reduced exchange in and out of hyperadhesive desmosomes. To test whether this was a result of enhanced keratin association, we used the desmoplakin mutant S2849G, which conferred reduced protein exchange. We propose that inside-out regulation of protein exchange modulates adhesive function, whereby proteins are "locked in" to hyperadhesive desmosomes while protein exchange confers plasticity on calcium-dependent desmosomes, thereby providing rapid control of adhesion.
Rapid transformation of H1-antihistamines cetirizine (CET) and diphenhydramine (DPH) by direct peroxymonosulfate (PMS) oxidation

With growing interest in advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), the number of research studies on peroxymonosulfate (PMS) mediated pollutant degradation has increased significantly due to its high radical generation potential upon activation. However, rare studies have focused on the non-radical based PMS reactions. In this study, degradation of model H1-antihistamines cetirizine (CET) and diphenhydramine (DPH) by unactivated PMS was investigated. Addition of scavengers to the reaction mixture ruled out the involvement of hydroxyl radical (OH), sulfate radical (SO4-), singlet oxygen (1O2) and superoxide anion radical (O2-), indicating direct PMS oxidation as the predominant reaction path. Such a mechanism was further supported by the N-oxide products identified by mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses. Solution pH had a pronounced influence on the degradation kinetics regardless the presence or absence of transition metal Fe(II). The highest species dependent second order rate constants were kHSO5-/DPH0 of 175 ± 15.9 M-1 s-1 and kHSO5-/CET- of 36.6 ± 0.16 M-1 s-1. The addition of 100 μM Fe(II) promoted OH mediated degradation of H1-antihistamines and their N-oxide products. This study demonstrated selective transformation with the potential for extensive degradation employing both the direct and catalytic PMS oxidative processes.
Adoption workers' perspectives on adoption adjustment and the honeymoon period

Abstract The process of adopting a child holds specific challenges for a new adoptive family. When a child joins an adoptive family, the adjustment necessary for each family member plays a significant role in the outcome of the placement. Yet, despite the importance that adjustment plays in the success of an adoption, very few studies have focused on the adjustment process or the “honeymoon period” for children and families. This study offers valuable insight into various aspects of healthy adoption adjustment and the honeymoon period and provides a foundation for a model of adoption adjustment with specific time frames and insight into when the most challenges to healthy adjustment arise. Implications for practice include tools and strategies for adoption workers in child welfare to monitor adoption adjustment more closely.
Masculinidades e paternidades: novos olhares

Masculinidades e paternidades sao fenomenos fluidos e transitorios a depender das concepcoes de uma sociedade em diferentes periodos historicos, territorios, geracoes. As experiencias de paternidade durante o periodo da gravidez ainda nao sao exploradas expressivamente pela comunidade cientifica. Neste sentido, o presente estudo tem como objetivo conhecer, durante a gestacao, as expectativas dos homens quanto as mudancas em suas vidas apos o nascimento da crianca. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, descritiva e exploratoria, onde foram entrevistados dez homens que utilizavam o servico de pre-natal de uma unidade de saude publica federal no Rio de Janeiro. As expectativas de mudancas levantadas pelos participantes envolvem planejamento do tempo, fatores socioeconomicos, perspectivas de vida, visao de mundo e preocupacoes voltadas a gestante e ao bebe. Apesar da crescente ampliacao da atuacao dos homens enquanto pais, nesta pesquisa foram observados discursos que aproximam estes sujeitos de uma paternidade com atuacao ainda restrita. Palavras-chave: Masculinidade. Paternidade. Cuidado pre-natal.
Direct numerical simulations of a statistically stationary streamwise periodic boundary layer via the homogenized Navier-Stokes equations

This work focuses the simulation of incompressible flat-plate boundary layers in streamwise periodic domains under our proposed homogenized Navier-Stokes equations. These simulations are conducted without needing multiple stations while also achieving statistical stationarity. The global quantities and profiles obtained via this method are comparable to those obtained via spatially developing simulations. These results were obtained at a computational cost approximately an order of magnitude lower than that of the spatially developing simulations.
Palm Bruising in Infants: A Recognizable Pattern of Abuse.

Abstract Background Bruising in an infant is an important sentinel injury that should raise concern for child physical abuse, and should prompt a medical evaluation for occult injury. Hyperflexion during forceful squeezing of an infant's hand results in a distinct pattern of bruising along the palmar and interdigital creases, as well as the palmar eminences. Self-inflicted injury by the infant or injury resulting from benign handling should not be accepted as plausible explanations for this injury. The presence of concurrent occult injuries is common, and further supports concerns for abuse. However, when this distinct pattern of palm bruising is identified in an infant, the absence of occult injuries should not prevent the recognition of child physical abuse. Case Report We report 11 cases depicting this distinct pattern of palm bruising in infants. Additionally, we include a perpetrator's documented confession. To the best of our knowledge, this pattern of bruising has not been previously described in the medical literature. Why Should an Emergency Physician Be Aware of This? Emergency physicians play a crucial role in recognizing and addressing child physical abuse. Prompt recognition of this finding can aid in the identification of child physical abuse, even in the absence of underlying occult injury. This, in turn, can potentially prevent further injury, and even death, of an infant.
VIBRATORY FORCES ON A SIMULATED HULL SURFACE PRODUCED BY TRANSIENT PROPELLER CAVITATION

An experimental setup is described for the measurement of propeller-induced vibratory force on a simulated segment of hull surface located above a model propeller operating in a water tunnel. Measurements are made of the influence of transient cavitation induced by a wake screen on the vibratory force. These experiments confirm recent observations that, in many cases, hull vibratory excitation is completely dominated by transient propeller cavitation.
The Culture “America”: Warhol, Celebrity, Death and the Simulacrum

Celebrity and Death— two concepts with which Andy Warhol was obsessed. In theory, they are completely different realms of existence: Death is concrete and eventually experienced by all humans, while Celebrity is the elusive prize that only the "special" people obtain. But in the post-war America when Warhol began his work, Death began to take on the same mythical qualities of Celebrity, and Celebrity began to posses some of the finality of Death. Through the proliferation of mass media and cultural commodities in the late 1940s and early 1950s, Death and Celebrity began their unified trajectory to a plane of an all-American "other" reality. Warhol's fascination with the two subjects accounts for some of his most striking work— the Death and Disaster series and the Celebrity silkscreens. It is not coincidental that these two series were created during the same time period, and perhaps the closeness of their inception and creation accounts for some of the cynicism that comes when viewing the two series together. For when looking at Warhol's silkscreens, it becomes obvious that only in the culture "America" is it sometimes necessary to die in order to achieve a certain "superstar" status of Celebrity; only in the culture "America" can someone find Death masquerading as separation, public domain, and immortality in Celebrity.
Toward Scalability in ASL Recognition: Breaking Down Signs into Phonemes

In this paper we present a novel approach to continuous, whole-sentence ASL recognition that uses phonemes instead of whole signs as the basic units. Our approach is based on a sequential phonological model of ASL. According to this model the ASL signs can be broken into movements and holds, which are both considered phonemes.This model does away with the distinction between whole signs and epenthesis movements that we made in previous work [17]. Instead, epenthesis movements are just like the other movements that constitute the signs.We subsequently train Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) to recognize the phonemes, instead of whole signs and epenthesis movements that we recognized previously [17]. Because the number of phonemes is limited, HMM-based training and recognition of the ASL signal becomes computationally more tractable and has the potential to lead to the recognition of large-scale vocabularies.We experimented with a 22 word vocabulary, and we achieved similar recognition rates with phoneme-and word-based approaches. This result is very promising for scaling the task in the future.
Performance characteristics of scintigraphic measurement of gastric emptying of solids in healthy participants

Background Gastric emptying (GE) is measured in pharmacodynamic and diagnostic studies. Our aim was to assess inter- and intra-subject coefficients of variation (COV) of scintigraphic GE measurements in healthy subjects, and associations of GE with gender and body mass index (BMI). Methods Data from participants with scintigraphic measurements of gastric emptying of solids were analyzed. Primary endpoints were gastric emptying T1/2 (GE T1/2) and GE at 1, 2, 3, and 4 h. Key Results The patient cohort consisted of 105 males and 214 females; at least two studies were performed in 47 subjects [16 males (M), 32 females (F)]. Inter-subject COV (COVinter) for GE T1/2 were similar in M and F: overall 24.5% (M 26.0%, F 22.5%); COV are predictably lowest for GE at 4 h (COVinter 9.6%). COVintra for T1/2 and GE at 4 h were overall 23.8% and 12.6%, and were similar to COVinter values. Gender (but not age or BMI) was significantly associated with GE T1/2 [P < 0.001, F 127.6 ± 28.7 (SD) min; M 109.9 ± 28.6 min] and with GE at 1 h and 2 h. Repeat GE T1/2 values in 47 participants were significantly correlated (r = 0.459, P < 0.001) with median difference of −6 min (mean −1.6, range −56 to 72 min). Bland–Altman plots showed Δ GE T1/2 similarly distributed across mean GE T1/2 100–155 min, and across studies conducted 90–600 days apart. Conclusions & Inferences Inter-subject variations in scintigraphic GE results are only slightly higher than the intra-subject measurements, which are also reproducible over time in healthy volunteers. Gender, but not BMI, is significantly associated with GE results.
An Interaction Based Approach to Document Segmentation for the Visually Impaired

While reading devices for the visually impaired have been available for many years, they are often expensive and difficult to use. The image processing required to enable the reading task is a composition of several important sub-tasks, such as image capture, binarization, pyramidal representation, region segmentation, regions grouping, separation of text sentences from images, words recognition, etc. In this paper we deal with some of these sub-tasks in an effort to prototype a machine (Tyflos-reader) that will read a document for a person with a visual impairment and respond to voice commands for control. The methodology used and illustrative results are provided in this paper.
Drift Velocity and Drift Mobility Measurement in Organic Semiconductors Using Pulse Voltage

This chapter is focused on the electrical characterization of organic field effect transistors. Conventional methods for characterizing mobility in organic semiconductors include field-effect mobility measurement and optical time-of-flight measurement of drift mobility. In his presentation This chapter describes a new method that combines the advantages of both these methods. It involves the injection of carriers at the source of a transistor using a voltage pulse followed by their subsequent extraction at the drain. The delay between the two events is used to extract the velocity of carriers. The electronic time-of-flight method is a fast, simple and direct method to determine the charge transport properties of the semiconductor. In combination with the prevalent methods the electronic time-of-flight method presents itself as a source of information for understanding injection into the semiconductor and determining the trap distribution
Carbon-Metal Fluoride Nanocomposites Structure and Electrochemistry of FeF3: C

The practical electroactivity of electrically insulating iron fluoride was enabled through the use of carbon-metal fluoride nanocomposites (CMFNCs). The nanocomposites were fabricated through the use of high energy mechanical milling and resulted in nanodomains of FeF, on the order of 1-20 nm encompassed in a matrix of carbon as characterized by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) Electrochemical characterization of CMFNCs composed of 85/15 wt % FeF 3 /C resulted in a nanocomposite specific capacity as high as 200 mAh/g (235 mAh/(g of FeF 3 ) with the electrochemical activity associated with the Fe 3+ → Fe 2+ occurring in the region of 2.8-3.5 V. The CMFNCs revealed encouraging rate capability and cycle life with <10% fade after 50 cycles. Structural evolution during the first lithiation reaction was investigated with the use of ex situ and in situ XRD. Initial results suggest that x from 0 to 0.5 in Li x FeF 3 proceeds in a two-phase reaction resulting in a phase with significant redistribution of the Fe atoms within a structure very similar to the base FeF 3 . FeF 3 -based CMFNCs also exhibited a very high specific capacity of 600 mAh/g at 70°C due to a reversible reaction at approximately 2 V.
Distinct solid and solution state self-assembly pathways of RADA16-I designer peptide.

Solid state NMR measurements on selectively 13C-labeled RADA16-I peptide (COCH3–RADARADARADARADA–NH2) were used to obtain new molecular level information on the conversion of α-helices to β-sheets through self-assembly in the solid state with increasing temperature. Isotopic labeling at the A4 Cβ site enabled rapid detection of 13C NMR signals. Heating to 344–363 K with simultaneous NMR detection allowed production of samples with systematic variation of α-helix and β-strand content. These samples were then probed at room temperature for intermolecular 13C–13C nuclear dipolar couplings with the PITHIRDS-CT NMR experiment. The structural transition was also characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and wide angle X-ray diffraction. Independence of PITHIRDS-CT decay shapes on overall α-helical and β-strand content infers that β-strands are not observed without association with β-sheets, indicating that β-sheets are formed at elevated temperatures on a timescale that is fast relative to the NMR experiment. PITHIRDS-CT NMR data were compared with results of similar measurements on RADA16-I nanofibers produced by self-assembly in aqueous salt solution. We report that β-sheets formed through self-assembly in the solid state have a structure that differs from those formed through self-assembly in the solution state. Specifically, solid state RADA16-I self-assembly produces in-register parallel β-sheets, whereas nanofibers are composed of stacked parallel β-sheets with registry shifts between adjacent β-strands in each β-sheet. These results provide evidence for environment-dependent self-assembly mechanisms for RADA16-I β-sheets as well as new constraints on solid state self-assembled structures, which must be avoided to maximize solution solubility and nanofiber yields. Copyright © 2013 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Peer Mentoring and Tutoring in Higher Education

In today’s world, colleges and universities are implementing many different types of instruction to not only save money but to also increase student success and retention. Many of these implementations involve peer situations including peer tutoring and peer mentoring. While these peer situations have found much success, there have also been problems. In order to increase the chances for success students, mentors, and tutors, as well as instructors, all need to understand the definition of the role being utilized, the benefits and risks for all involved, and the implications of power and resistance. This chapter outlines each of those and also gives suggestions for implementing peer mentoring and tutoring programs.
The pharmacology of cardioaccelerators in the central nervous system of Periplaneta americana (L.)

Abstract 1. 1. Saline extracts of various portions of the cockroach nerve cord were assayed on the isolated heart which had been pretreated with either atropine, eserine or picrotoxin. 2. 2. The activities of extracts of the supraesophageal, subesophageal and thoracic ganglia were reduced by atropine pretreatment of the heart, while they were potentiated by eserine pretreatment. 3. 3. The activities of extracts of the abdominal ganglia, however, were potentiated by atropine pretreatment of the heart and reduced by eserine pretreatment. 4. 4. The results of pretreatment with picrotoxin were qualitatively similar to those obtained with atropine. 5. 5. The results seem to indicate the presence in the extracts of cholinergic and non-cholinergic cardioacceleratory substances as well as a cholinergic inhibitory substance.
The isomeric preference of Holliday junctions influences resolution bias by λ integrase

λ site‐specific recombination proceeds by a pair of sequential strand exchanges that first generate and then resolve a Holliday junction intermediate. A family of synthetic Holliday junctions with the branch point constrained to the center of the 7 bp overlap region was used to show that resolution of the top strands and resolution of the bottom strands are symmetrical but stereochemically distinct processes. λ integrase is sensitive to isomeric structure, preferentially resolving the pair of strands that are crossed in the protein‐free Holliday junction. At the branch point of stacked immobile Holliday junctions, the number of purines is preferentially maximized in the crossed (versus continuous) strands if there is an inequality of purines between strands of opposite polarity. This stacking preference was used to anticipate the resolution bias of freely mobile junctions and thereby to reinforce the conclusions with monomobile junctions. The results provide a strong indication that in the complete recombination reaction a restacking of helices occurs between the top and bottom strand exchanges.
Quantifying the aging response and nutrient composition for muscles of the beef round.

The objective of this study was to determine the optimal postmortem aging period and nutrient composition for Beef Value Cuts of the round. Forty USDA Select and 40 Premium USDA Choice beef carcasses were selected from a commercial beef packing plant in Colorado over a 12-wk period. The bottom and inside rounds were collected from both sides of each carcass for further fabrication into the following muscles: adductor, gastrocnemius, gracilis, pectineus, and superficial digital flexor. Each pair of muscles was cut into 7 steaks and randomly assigned to 1 of the following aging periods: 2, 4, 6, 10, 14, 21, and 28 d, and placed in refrigerated storage (2°C, never frozen). Upon completion of the designated aging period, steaks were removed from storage, cooked to a peak internal temperature of 72°C, and evaluated using Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF). A 2-way interaction was detected (P 0.05) WBSF values for the adductor, gastrocnemius, pectineus, and superficial digital flexor muscles. Exponential decay models were used to predict the change in WBSF from 2 to 28 d postmortem (aging response). The adductor, gastrocnemius, Select gracilis, Premium Choice gracilis, and pectineus required 21, 14, 23, 23, and 25 d, respectively, to complete the majority of the aging response. To determine the nutrient composition of the adductor, gastrocnemius, gracilis, pectineus, semimembranosus, and superficial digital flexor, bottom and inside rounds were collected from 10 USDA Select and 10 Premium USDA Choice carcasses and fabricated into the respective muscles, cut into 2.54-cm cubes, frozen (-20°C), and then homogenized. The adductor, gracilis, pectineus, semimembranosus, and superficial digital flexor were analyzed for DM, moisture, CP, and ash percentages. All muscles were evaluated for total lipid, fatty acid, and cholesterol composition. When quality grades were combined, all muscles fell into the extra lean or lean categories specified by USDA guidelines. Results of this study illustrate the potential for Beef Value Cuts of the round to be sold in food service operations and retail stores with marketing emphasis being placed on the exceptional leanness and acceptable tenderness of these cuts.
Progressive compression for triangular meshes with quality control

In this paper we present a mesh compression algorithm based on a layered mesh simplification method which allows a multiresolution representation for triangular meshes. Unlike previous progressive compression methods which use the greedy vertex removal scheme to achieve the best compression results, we adopt a new layered mesh simplification algorithm to generate a sequence of meshes at a broad range of resolutions with very good visual quality through a derived threshold bounding curve. In order to achieve the desirable coding gain, we perform two types of prediction for geometric data a well as topological data. The advantage of the proposed algorithm is that it generates progressive meshes of linear resolutions, i.e. we can smoothly move from meshes of lower resolutions to higher ones by linearly adding geometry primitives. It can deal well with general meshes containing special topological features such as boundary edges.© (2000) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Transcending Library Catalogs: A Comparative Study of Controlled Terms in Library of Congress Subject Headings and User-Generated Tags in LibraryThing for Transgender Books

Perhaps the greatest power of folksonomies, especially when set against controlled vocabularies like the Library of Congress Subject Headings, lies in their capacity to empower user communities to name their own resources in their own terms. This article analyzes the potential and limitations of both folksonomies and controlled vocabularies for transgender materials by analyzing the subject headings in WorldCat records and the user-generated tags in LibraryThing for books with transgender themes. A close examination of the subject headings and tags for twenty books on transgender topics reveals a disconnect between the language used by people who own these books and the terms authorized by the Library of Congress and assigned by catalogers to describe and organize transgender-themed books. The terms most commonly assigned by users are far less common or non-existent in WorldCat. The folksonomies also provide spaces for a multiplicity of representations, including a range of gender expressions, whereas the...
Norton’s Sustainability: Some Comments on Risk and Sustainability

Bryan Norton’s 2005 book Sustainability describes a pragmatic approach to environmental philosophy that stresses philosophy’s role as one of mediating between scientific and ordinary language. But on two topics, Norton’s approach is not pragmatic enough. In the case of his discussion of risk, he accedes to a scientific notion that fails to acknowledge the way that ordinary usage of the word risk involves pragmatic links to human action and moral responsibility. With respect to the word sustainability, his analysis fails to acknowledge important scientific work that characterizes the functional integrity of system cycling, opting instead for usage grounded either in economic accounting or in an even less substantive sense of a broad social movement for environmental improvement. On each of these topics, adherence to the pragmatic orientation of Norton’s philosophy results in a different analysis of the concepts in question.
Industrialization in Mexico

Entrepreneurs and Politics in Twentieth-Century Mexico. Roderic A. Camp. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. xiv + 306 pp., notes, bibliographic essay, index. $37.00 (cloth). ISBN 0–19–505719–8. Industry and Underdevelopment: The Industrialization of Mexico, 1890-1940. Stephen H. Haber. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989. xv + 237 pp., notes, bibliography, index. $37.50 (cloth). ISBN 0-8047-1487-8. The Monterrey Elite and the Mexican State, 1880-1940. Alex M. Saragoza. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1988. x + 258 pp., notes, selected bibliography, index. $12.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-292-71113-1.
Symbolic modeling of a universal reconfigurable logic gate and its applications to circuit synthesis

With the help of a simple reconfigurable logic gate that emulates conjunction, implication and a 1-bit memory cell, we devise a mechanism for synthesizing fine grained circuits that overlap multiple logic functions.The use of the gate as an integrated combinational and sequential logic building block enables processor architectures that naturally avoid the von Neumann bottleneck and support fine grained parallel execution.A symbolic model of the approach, including an exact synthesizer for small circuits, is provided as a literate Haskell program, available from http://logic.csci.unt.edu/tarau/research/2012/fsyn.hs.
Crowded Colleges and College Crowd-Out: The Impact of Public Subsidies on the Two-Year College Market

This study assesses the impact of an increase in funding for public community colleges on the market for two-year college education, considering both the effect on community college enrollments and on the number of proprietary schools in a market. I draw on a new administrative dataset of for-profit colleges in California and votes on local community college bond referenda to implement a unique regression discontinuity design. The results suggest that bond pas - sage diverts students from the private to the public sector and causes a corresponding decline in the number of proprietary schools in the market. (JEL H75, I22, I23)
Long-term follow-up of six patients with acute spinal injury following dural decompression

We report six cases of spinal injury in which there was bony encroachment on the spinal cord. At the time of decompression the dura was noted to be tense and non-pulsatile. This method of anterior decompression of burst fractures of the spine suggests that bony decompression of the spinal canal associated with durotomy released the spinal epidural veins which had become congested and had inhibited the free flow of CSF, and we believe also had decreased arteriolar inflow to the cord. Full neurological recovery occurred in three of the six neurologically impaired patients and partial recovery in the remaining three. We believe that a dural decompression may be of some use in preventing a 'compartment syndrome' of the spinal cord. Further animal studies are recommended before the procedure is used routinely.
Jelly, Slush, and Red Mists: Poetics of Amorphous Substances in Serbian Jeremiads of the 1990s

Mud, jelly, mist, and other amorphous substances were often used as tropes by people in Serbia when they tried to describe the confusion of their everyday experience during the 1990s. I try to provide a wider context for this "poetics of opacity" by tracing amorphous substances through different contexts in which they are figuratively used in "stories Serbs tell themselves (and others) about themselves." Thus, as a background to jeremiads that bewail the messiness of Milosevic's Serbia in terms of jelly, slush, and red mists, I first unpack the "argument of images" that combines mud and Gypsies in Serbian films as ambivalent self-presentation oriented toward dominant European "geopolitical imaginings," and then explore amorphous substances as metaphors for the sense of in-betweenness that often characterize peripheries like Serbia.
Optical imaging of intrinsic signals in somatosensory cortex

The method of optical imaging of intrinsic signals emitted in the near-infrared (IR; 820-846 nm) was used to study the response of somatosensory cortex (SI) of anesthetized cats and squirrel monkeys to precisely controlled vibrotactile stimuli. The cortical territory exhibiting decreased average IR reflectance in response to a low frequency, modest amplitude (25 Hz; 200 - 400 microns peak-to-peak, sinusoidal) vibrotactile stimulus shifted location in a manner consistent with a published map of SI topographical organization generated from receptive field mapping observations. The size of the SI territory responding with a decrease in reflectance was greatly reduced by intravenous administration of even small doses of a selective NMDA receptor blocker (ketamine). Extracellular single and multiunit recordings obtained during microelectrode penetrations of the same SI region studied with the IR imaging method revealed that (i) the spike discharge activity of neurons sampled within territories exhibiting decreased average IR reflectance values in response to a vibrotactile stimulus was consistently elevated by the stimulus, and (ii) the discharge activity of neurons sampled in regions exhibiting stimulus-evoked increases in average IR reflectance was consistently depressed. Neurons located in regions which did not exhibit a reflectance change rarely were influenced by the stimulus. Analysis of the time course of the IR reflectance changes evoked by both short (500-1000 msec) and long-duration (6-10 sec) stimuli revealed considerable dynamics in the two types of SI territories (excitatory vs. inhibitory) that modify their average IR reflectance in response to vibrotactile stimulation. In a final series of experiments we evaluated the IR intrinsic signals evoked in SI of anesthetized subjects in whom the spinal dorsal column pathway had been surgically transected. The findings show that in the absence of the spinal dorsal column pathway, the dynamics of the IR intrinsic signals evoked in SI by a low frequency vibrotactile stimulus are strikingly different than observed in normal subjects. In a number of respects, the abnormal dynamics of the IR intrinsic signals observed in SI after dorsal column transection appear to parallel the disturbances in vibrotactile detection and discriminative capacity reported for monkeys with a selective dorsal column lesion.
Legionella pneumophila infection of Drosophila S2 cells induces only minor changes in mitochondrial dynamics.

During infection of cells by Legionella pneumophila, the bacterium secretes a large number of effector proteins into the host cell cytoplasm, allowing it to alter many cellular processes and make the vacuole and the host cell into more hospitable environments for bacterial replication. One major change induced by infection is the recruitment of ER-derived vesicles to the surface of the vacuole, where they fuse with the vacuole membrane and prevent it from becoming an acidified, degradative compartment. However, the recruitment of mitochondria to the region of the vacuole has also been suggested by ultrastructural studies. In order to test this idea in a controlled and quantitative experimental system, and to lay the groundwork for a genome-wide screen for factors involved in mitochondrial recruitment, we examined the behavior of mitochondria during the early stages of Legionella pneumophila infection of Drosophila S2 cells. We found that the density of mitochondria near vacuoles formed by infection with wild type Legionella was not different from that found in dotA– mutant-infected cells during the first 4 hours after infection. We then examined 4 parameters of mitochondrial motility in infected cells: velocity of movement, duty cycle of movement, directional persistence and net direction. In the 4 hours following infection, most of these measures were indistinguishable between wild type and dotA−.infection. However, wild type Legionella did induce a modest shift in the velocity distribution toward faster movement compared dotA− infection, and a small downward shift in the duty cycle distribution. In addition, wild type infection produced mitochondrial movement that was biased in the direction of the bacterial vacuole relative to dotA-, although not enough to cause a significant accumulation within 10 um of the vacuole. We conclude that in this host cell, mitochondria are not strongly recruited to the vacuole, nor is their motility dramatically affected.
Vladimir Nabokov's Invitation to a Beheading or the Artifice of Mortality

Invitation was one of Nabokov's favorite novels, written “in one fortnight of wonderful excitement and sustained inspiration.” Although it reads like an attack on dictatorial rule, Nabokov denied it political relevance, aiming at totalitarianism of a higher order: the constraints of mortality that he seeks, as the epigraph indicates, to refute: “Comme un fou se croit Dieu, nous nous croyons mortels.” The novel rebels against the certainty that life is movement toward death operating in conjunction with the uncertainty of when death will come. Its hero is condemned to execution, but denied “compensation for a death sentence”—the “knowledge of the exact hour when one is to die.” His nearing end is manifested metaphorically, but it is in the construction of the world of Invitation that Nabokov—whom one reviewer called “almost as much a theorizer of fiction as a practitioner”—develops narrative strategies that engage the reader in his challenge to mortality. This article considers his strategies.
Angiopoietin-like 4 Modifies the Interactions between Lipoprotein Lipase and Its Endothelial Cell Transporter GPIHBP1

The release of fatty acids from plasma triglycerides for tissue uptake is critically dependent on the enzyme lipoprotein lipase (LPL). Hydrolysis of plasma triglycerides by LPL can be disrupted by the protein angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4), and ANGPTL4 has been shown to inactivate LPL in vitro. However, in vivo LPL is often complexed to glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored high density lipoprotein-binding protein 1 (GPIHBP1) on the surface of capillary endothelial cells. GPIHBP1 is responsible for trafficking LPL across capillary endothelial cells and anchors LPL to the capillary wall during lipolysis. How ANGPTL4 interacts with LPL in this context is not known. In this study, we investigated the interactions of ANGPTL4 with LPL-GPIHBP1 complexes on the surface of endothelial cells. We show that ANGPTL4 was capable of binding and inactivating LPL complexed to GPIHBP1 on the surface of endothelial cells. Once inactivated, LPL dissociated from GPIHBP1. We also show that ANGPTL4-inactivated LPL was incapable of binding GPIHBP1. ANGPTL4 was capable of binding, but not inactivating, LPL at 4 °C, suggesting that binding alone was not sufficient for ANGPTL4's inhibitory activity. We observed that although the N-terminal coiled-coil domain of ANGPTL4 by itself and full-length ANGPTL4 both bound with similar affinities to LPL, the N-terminal fragment was more potent in inactivating both free and GPIHBP1-bound LPL. These results led us to conclude that ANGPTL4 can both bind and inactivate LPL complexed to GPIHBP1 and that inactivation of LPL by ANGPTL4 greatly reduces the affinity of LPL for GPIHBP1. Background: Lipoprotein lipase (LPL) function is modified by interactions with its transporter GPIHBP1 and the inhibitor angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4). Results: ANGPTL4 inactivated GPIHBP1-bound LPL. Inactivated LPL could not bind GPIHBP1. Conclusion: ANGPTL4 inactivation of LPL reduces the affinity of LPL for GPIHBP1 causing dissociation. Significance: Understanding ANGPTL4's interactions with LPL in a physiological context is vital to clarifying ANGPTL4's role in triglyceride metabolism.
From Living to Virtual: Learning from Museum Objects

Interactive museum exhibits have increasingly placed replicated and virtual objects alongside exhibited authentic objects. Yet little is known about how these three categories of objects impact learning. This study of family learning in a botanical garden specifically focuses on how 12 parent-child family units used explanations as they engaged with three plant types: living, model, and virtual. Family conversations were videotaped, transcribed, and coded. Findings suggested that: 1) explanations of biological processes were more frequent than other types; 2) model and virtual plants supported more process explanations than did the living plants; 3) the model plant supported more references to school than did the living and virtual plants; and 4) the living plant supported more references to everyday experiences than did the virtual plant.
Thermodynamics of random-exchange Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chains

Diagrammatic valence-bond methods are introduced for $s=\frac{1}{2}$ magnetic insulators whose random Heisenberg exchanges satisfy some distribution $f(x)$. Rapid solution of arbitrary 10-spin replicas yields, for the first time, complete static thermodynamics by generating successive replicas whose exchanges match $f(x)$. The usual singular distribution $J{x}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\gamma}}$ for structurally disordered tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) salts is contrasted with a nonsingular distribution for a random concentration $c$ of weak exchanges $\ensuremath{\epsilon}J$ along a chain of uniform $\mathrm{Js}$. A renormalization procedure for interactions among odd segments at low temperature generates a wide range of couplings for a single $\ensuremath{\epsilon}g0$ and yields power laws for nonsingular $f(x)$. Experimental magnetic susceptibility $\ensuremath{\chi}(T)$, magnetization $M(T, H)$, and magnetic specific heat $C(T, H)$ results for the closely similar 1:2 complexes of quinolinium and acridinium with TCNQ are compared to $J{x}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\gamma}}$ and to interacting segments. The usual distribution has $\ensuremath{\gamma}=0.75$ and an enormous $J=2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{7}$ K, but fails to describe the $\ensuremath{\chi}(T)$ crossover around 20 K. Interacting segments fit $\ensuremath{\chi}(T)$ over the entire range, as well as available $M(T, H)$ and $C(T, H)$ data, for some $c=0.10$ weak exchanges $\ensuremath{\epsilon}J=70$ K among uniform exchanges $J=230$ K. Small differences between the two complexes were not parametrized. The microscopic picture of strong disorder leads to charge disproportionation on the TCNQ stack and to $J{x}^{\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\gamma}}$, while weak disorder and supermolecular TCN$\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}{\mathrm{Q}}_{2}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ ion radicals rationalize the picture of weakly interacting segments.
Demonstration of the lack of acrosin in mouse spermatozoa by a radioassay.

Abstract A highly sensitive radioassay for tryptic activity was used to measure acrosin in mouse and rabbit spermatozoa. The assay showed acrosin activities for rabbit spermatozoa similar to those published by others while the specific activities in mouse spermatozoa were ten-fold lower. Inhibitor studies showed that this residual amount of trypsin-like activity could not be inhibited by tryptic inhibitors which have an effect on rabbit spermatozoa. It is concluded that mouse spermatozoa do not have significant amounts of acrosin.
Functions of 1α, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 in mammary gland : from normal development to breast cancer

Abstract This review examines the role of 1α,25(OH)2D3 (1,25D) and the vitamin D3 receptor in growth regulation of normal and transformed mammary epithelial cells. 1,25D exerts both anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic functions in transformed mammary cells such as MCF-7. The anti-proliferative effects of 1,25D have been linked to suppression of growth stimulatory signals and potentiation of growth inhibitory signals, which lead to changes in cell cycle regulators such as p21, p27, cyclins and Rb. The pro-apoptotic effects of 1,25D involve alterations in the relative ratios of the bcl-2 family members which regulate mitochondrial integrity. In MCF-7 human breast cancer cells, 1,25D mediated apoptosis is associated with translocation of the pro-apoptotic protein Bax to the mitochondria, generation of reactive oxygen species, dissipation of the mitochondrial membrane potential and release of cytochrome c. These mitochondrial events trigger apoptosis in a caspase-independent manner, since caspase inhibitors do not rescue 1,25D treated cells from death. The potential role of 1,25D in growth and differentiation of normal mammary epithelial cells has been examined in VDR null mice. Initial data indicates a significant decrease in ductal differentiation in VDR null mice compared to age matched wild type mice, reflected as an increased number of undifferentiated terminal end buds in the VDR null mouse. These data suggest that 1,25D promotes differentiation during early mammary gland development. In summary, our studies suggest an expanding role for the vitamin D3 endocrine system in control of proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis of mammary epithelial cells.
Evaluation of Spectral Interferences Associated with a Direct Current Plasma-Multielement Atomic Emission Spectrometer (DCP-MAES) System

Spectral interferences associated with a direct current plasma combined with a 20-element, direct reading echelle spectrometer have been characterized. The results indicate that molecular emission interferences due to entrained air are generally negligible, but the presence of high carbon concentrations may cause problems for two elements. Spectral interferences due to the presence of high concentrations (500 mg/l) of Ca, K, Mg, and Na were also studied. No problems were noted for Na or K while an interference due to atomic emission of Mg was observed. Calcium was responsible for stray light interferences due to near scatter and to reflections occurring in the secondary optics. The latter were eliminated by masking techniques and the former were compensated for via the use of a simple procedure. Overall, the spectral interferences encountered appear to be less severe than those reported for an inductively coupled plasma-direct reading spectrometer system.
SALS, a WH2-Domain-Containing Protein, Promotes Sarcomeric Actin Filament Elongation from Pointed Ends during Drosophila Muscle Growth

Organization of actin filaments into a well-organized sarcomere structure is critical for muscle development and function. However, it is not completely understood how sarcomeric actin/thin filaments attain their stereotyped lengths. In an RNAi screen in Drosophila primary muscle cells, we identified a gene, sarcomere length short (sals), which encodes an actin-binding, WH2 domain-containing protein, required for proper sarcomere size. When sals is knocked down by RNAi, primary muscles display thin myofibrils with shortened sarcomeres and increased sarcomere number. Both loss- and gain-of-function analyses indicate that SALS may influence sarcomere lengths by promoting thin-filament lengthening from pointed ends. Furthermore, the complex localization of SALS and other sarcomeric proteins in myofibrils reveals that the full length of thin filaments is achieved in a two-step process, and that SALS is required for the second elongation phase, most likely because it antagonizes the pointed-end capping protein Tropomodulin.