cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Empirical Status of Deterrence Theory: A Meta-Analysis

The literature on deterrence theory has undergone a number of changes in recent years. With the rise of new ways of thinking about rational decision-making and offending, four developments have changed the way criminologists view the deterrence perspective: the effectiveness of certain situational crime prevention strategies; the recognition of the importance of the "non-legal costs" of criminal behavior; the integration of deterrence theory with other criminological perspectives, such as social learning and self-control theories; and how the imposition of sanctions can actually lower individuals' perceived estimates of getting caught in the future, known as the "resetting effect". The body of "shaming" research points to the growing recognition of the complex effects that criminal sanctions have on individuals' future criminal behaviour. Even independent of shame, however, research has emerged indicating that individuals who have been punished end up being more inclined to commit future offenses than those who have not been punished.
Detecting Heart Rate Variability using Millimeter-Wave Radar Technology

Identifying cardiac abnormalities has mainly been determined by the observation of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. To collect ECG signals, it is often necessary to place ECG electrodes on the body for critical analysis of ECG data transmitted by such electrodes. By analyzing this collected data, it is then possible, for example, to examine the intervals between the heartbeats (or R-R intervals) to measure the heart rate variability (HRV). However, this process requires a multilayered setup for both hardware and software which can be costly and time consuming. To overcome these challenges, we introduce in this paper a real-time millimeter-wave radar-based, non-contact vital sign monitoring system that is capable of detecting the heart variability rate without the use of any heart rate sensors or wires required. Through this system, it is then possible to detect any heart rate abnormalities by analyzing the collected data. Throughout the paper, we present results for three individuals and compare our approach to heart rate monitoring devices and Apple Watch.
Sites of metastases (mets) and their association with clinical outcomes (CO) in urothelial cancer patients (pts) treated with immunotherapy (IO).

473Background: Several IO agents have been approved for treatment of advanced urothelial cancer pts. We investigated the association between sites of mets and CO in urothelial cancer pts treated wi...
Advection without compounding errors through flow map composition

Abstract We propose a novel numerical methodology to compute the advective transport and diffusion-reaction of tracer quantities. The tracer advection occurs through flow map composition and is super-accurate, yielding numerical solutions almost devoid of compounding numerical errors, while allowing for direct parallelization in the temporal direction. It is computed by implicitly solving the characteristic evolution through a modified transport partial differential equation and domain decomposition in the temporal direction, followed by composition with the known initial condition. This advection scheme allows a rigorous computation of the spatial and temporal error bounds, yields an accuracy comparable to that of Lagrangian methods, and maintains the advantages of Eulerian schemes. We further show that there exists an optimal value of the composition timestep that yields the minimum total numerical error in the computations, and derive the expression for this value. We develop schemes for the addition of tracer diffusion, reaction, and source terms, and for the implementation of boundary conditions. Finally, the methodology is applied in three flow examples, namely an analytical reversible swirl flow, an idealized flow exiting a strait undergoing sudden expansion, and a realistic ocean flow in the Bismarck sea. New benchmark problems for advection-diffusion-reaction schemes are developed and used to compare and contrast results with those of classic schemes. The results highlight the theoretical properties of the methodology as well as its efficiency, super-accuracy with minimal numerical errors, and applicability in realistic simulations.
Social Determinants of Mental Health and Physician Aid-in-Dying: The Real Moral Crisis.

An increasing number of jurisdictions in the United States and elsewhere have passed laws or are considering allowing physician aid-in-dying (PAD) for patients with terminal illnesses. If the sever...
Flexible Intelligent Real-time dc-ac grid Emulator (FIRE): Power Electronic Hardware-in-the-Loop (PE-HIL) Amplifier

Grid modernization efforts are leading to increased penetration of power electronics in the existing alternating current (ac) bulk power systems (BPS). Some examples of power electronics based applications that are being developed in BPS include high-voltage direct current (HVdc) systems, renewable generation systems, energy storage systems, and others. One of the requirements to succeed in the goals of grid modernization (like increased efficiency and reliability) is to setup a platform that can evaluate basic building blocks of such systems. For example, the basic building block of a modular multilevel converter (MMC)-based HVdc system is a submodule (SM). The evaluation platform will provide means to innovate new SM circuit architectures, new semiconductor devices in the SM, new gate-drivers, new controllers, and others. The flexible intelligent real-time dc-ac grid emulator (FIRE) platform incorporates the evaluation capability to evaluate the basic building blocks. The FIRE platform incorporates this evaluation capability through the power electronic hardware-in-the-loop (PE-HIL) concept. The PE-HIL for MMC-HVdc system can evaluate SMs in the MMC. In this paper, the design of amplifier required to perform PE-HIL simulation is presented. Experimental results of the amplifier and the simulation results of the PE-HIL concept utilizing the amplifier are presented.
The Dirty Kanza and #200women200miles: Constraints to Female Participation in a Male-Dominated Sport

Long-distance endurance sports have been dominated by men since their inception, and gravel cycling is no exception. However, one event held annually in Emporia, Kansas—the Dirty Kanza—increased female participation in its signature event, a 200-mile gravel road race, by reserving 200 places for women in the 2017 event and promoting this initiative with a social media hashtag campaign, “#200women200miles.” Women historically represented just 10% of participants in the race, despite finishing at similar times and at similar rates as men. To try to increase female participation, event organizers recruited women using a marketing initiative and reserved spaces for them in the race. Given the novel nature of this intentional, inclusive initiative, we wanted to understand women’s constraints to participating, as well as which negotiation strategies and which facilitation efforts helped them ultimately compete. We compared men’s and women’s motivations, constraints, negotiation strategies, and facilitation strategies to help identify marketing efforts that may have improved women’s participation, using a post-race survey. With a sample of 916 participants (53% response rate), independent sample t-tests detected differences between men and women in motivations, constraints, negotiation strategies, and facilitation strategies. Women were more constrained—in training and competing—and used more negotiation strategies than men. Women also reported concerns related to safety and training, indicating that more work needs to be done to make other aspects of cycling more inclusive. Despite these challenges, the targeted initiative #200women200miles was successful in filling spots in the 200-mile race, as many women reported that the marketing campaign was a facilitator of their participation. Thus, implications for event organizers include the demonstrated potential for similar strategies to increase participation in other underrepresented groups. If gender equity is desired by event promotors and organizers, explicit efforts to make endurance cycling races welcoming for women is essential. Although some findings confirmed hypotheses, we found that this sample was largely unconstrained, which speaks to the relative affluence and privilege of the sample. Future research should therefore investigate constraints faced by other underrepresented groups, such as those with low incomes or racial and ethnic minorities, to see what facilitation strategies might be employed to continue increasing participation in elite sports. Subscribe to JPRA
Airway management in a neonatal cystic hygroma

Abstract Cystic hygromas are relatively rare, congenital, benign lymphatic malformations, characterized by single or multi-loculated, fluid filled cavities. As these masses most often occur in the head and neck they can result in significant airway obstruction. We present the case of an infant born with a large, obstructive cervical cystic hygroma and the challenges of airway management in this clinical scenario.
Unsplittable flow Edge Load factor Balancing in SDN using P4 Runtime

The spread of services and applications using cloud computing has led to an increase in the amount of network traffic. Therefore, traffic control methods using an SDN architecture for flexibly managing a network have been studied. Previous studies have proposed a traffic load balancing method by a single SDN controller. However, implementation with multiple SDN controllers has been considered to cope with scalability and redundancy. This paper model the distributed network as a flow network and defines the ratio of flow to capacity in an edge as a load factor. Besides, this study proposes a traffic load balancing method considering Unsplittable flow Edge Load factor Balancing problem and implements it to confirm its feasibility in a real network.
Effect of Blanching on Aflatoxin Contamination and Cross-Contamination of Almonds.

ABSTRACT Blanching of almonds was examined for reducing the aflatoxin content of contaminated nuts. Almonds with intact pellicles were spiked with aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and blanched at 85°C. Following blanching, almond kernels and pellicles contained 20 and 19% of the spiked AFB1, respectively. The blanching water contained an additional 41% of the spiked AFB1. In a separate study, postblanching water was spiked with AFB1 and used for subsequent blanching of uncontaminated almonds. The resulting blanched kernels acquired 3.3% of the AFB1 from the spiked water, demonstrating a low level of cross-contamination from reused contaminated blanching water. The effect of the blanching temperature on partitioning of AFB1 from almonds to blanching water was significant at a 20-ppb spiking level, but not at 100 ppb. AFB1 levels that were unaccounted for in the mass balance of blanching components were presumed to be lost due to binding to water-solubilized almond components and were independent of pH and blanching time. Blanching reduced total aflatoxins in naturally contaminated almonds by 13 to 76%, depending on almond quality, as well as blanching time and temperature. These results indicate that the association between almond components and aflatoxin generated through mold contamination is more complex than in spiking experiments. HIGHLIGHTS
Daily Cycles of Reversible Protein Condensation in Cyanobacteria

An emerging principle of cell biology is the regulated conversion of macromolecules between soluble and condensed states. To screen for such regulation of the cyanobacterial proteome, we use quantitative mass spectrometry to identify proteins that change solubility during the day-night cycle. We find a set of night-insoluble proteins that includes many enzymes in essential metabolic pathways. Using time-lapse microscopy and isotope labeling, we show that these proteins reversibly transition between punctate structures at night and a soluble state during the day without substantial degradation. We find that the cyanobacterial circadian clock regulates the kinetics of puncta formation during the night and that the appearance of puncta indicates the metabolic status of the cell. Reversible condensation of specific enzymes is thus a regulated response to the day-night cycle and may reflect a general bacterial strategy used in fluctuating growth conditions.
Impact of Age on Surgical Outcomes for Locally Advanced Esophageal Cancer.

Background Older patients are often considered high-risk surgical candidates for locally advanced esophageal cancer, and the benefit of surgery in this population is unclear. This national analysis examines the effect of age on esophagectomy outcomes and compares surgery versus chemoradiation in older patients. Methods The National Cancer Database was used to identify patients with clinical stage II to III esophageal adenocarcinoma undergoing surgery or definitive chemoradiation between 2004 and 2015. Restricted cubic splines were used to examine the relationship between age and survival after esophagectomy, and maximally selected rank statistics were used to identify an age at which survival worsened. We used Cox proportional hazard models including an interaction term between age and treatment to compare overall survival, as well as survival of patients receiving esophagectomy versus definitive chemoradiation. Results Of 17,495 patients, 11,680 underwent esophagectomy and 5815 received chemoradiation. Survival after esophagectomy worsened with increasing age and decreased considerably after age 73 (hazard ratio = 1.05, 95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.06, per increasing year after 73 versus hazard ratio = 1.01, 95% confidence interval, 1.00-1.01, per increasing year to 73; both P Conclusions Survival worsens with age after esophagectomy for locally advanced esophageal cancer. However, esophagectomy is associated with improved survival compared with definitive chemoradiation at most ages, including octogenarians. Esophagectomy may be considered over chemoradiation for patients who can tolerate surgery regardless of age.
Nanoencapsulated rituximab mediates superior cellular immunity against metastatic B-cell lymphoma in a complement competent humanized mouse model

Background Despite the numerous applications of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in cancer therapeutics, animal models available to test the therapeutic efficacy of new mAbs are limited. NOD.Cg-Prkdcscid Il2rgtm1Wjl/SzJ (NSG) mice are one of the most highly immunodeficient strains and are universally used as a model for testing cancer-targeting mAbs. However, this strain lacks several factors necessary to fully support antibody-mediated effector functions—including antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis, and complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC)—due to the absence of immune cells as well as a mutation in the Hc gene, which is needed for a functional complement system. Methods We have developed a humanized mouse model using a novel NSG strain, NOD.Cg−Hc1Prkdcscid Il2rgtm1Wjl/SzJ (NSG−Hc1), which contains the corrected mutation in the Hc gene to support CDC in addition to other mechanisms endowed by humanization. With this model, we reevaluated the anticancer efficacies of nanoencapsulated rituximab after xenograft of the human Burkitt lymphoma cell line 2F7-BR44. Results As expected, xenografted humanized NSG−Hc1 mice supported superior lymphoma clearance of native rituximab compared with the parental NSG strain. Nanoencapsulated rituximab with CXCL13 conjugation as a targeting ligand for lymphomas further enhanced antilymphoma activity in NSG−Hc1 mice and, more importantly, mediated antilymphoma cellular responses. Conclusions These results indicate that NSG−Hc1 mice can serve as a feasible model for both studying antitumor treatment using cancer targeting as well as understanding induction mechanisms of antitumor cellular immune response.
Clarity and Coherence

If your sentences flow, chances are your ideas will flow. If your ideas flow, people are much more likely to understand you. And if people understand you, they are much more likely to be persuaded by you. This essay examines the mechanics of that progression.
Duty of Disclosure: Comparison of Securities Regulations between U.S. and S. Korea by Cases in Bio-Pharmaceutical Industry

This paper introduces the concept of false and misleading statements or omissions regarding companies in the bio-pharmaceutical industry, based on court decisions. Due to essential problem of stock market, “asymmetry of information,” if company’s public statements about material information are not trustworthy, investors who purchased the company’s shares might lose their assets, and the confidence in and the soundness of the stock market would be damaged as a result. This paper attempts to clarify violations of §10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the corresponding rule of the Securities and Exchange Commission, 17 C.F.R. §240.10b-5 (“Rule 10b-5"), particularly, (1) a material misrepresentation or omission, and (2) scienter through reviewing recent cases of bio-pharmaceutical companies, Aratana case and Chelsea case. In the Republic of Korea, Hanmi Pharm’s caserepresents how the late public announcement or omission would affect investors’ half-baked decision and damage the stock market by insider trading. Pursuant to §391 of the Financial Investment Services and Capital Market Act, Korea Exchange announced a law “Negative Disclosure Regulations on Material Information,” on May 2, 2016. Nevertheless, the regulation does not appear to be effective guideline for investors and stock market. In the proposed scienter tests, this paper introduces ImClone stock trading scandal to represent the relatively easy scienter case in the bio-pharmaceutical industry. Also, this paper illustrates two hypothetical cases, Brandon Therapeutics, Inc. in the United States, and Hoon Biosimilar Co., Ltd. case to suggest the better solution to solve scienter cases in the bio-pharmaceutical industry. In conclusion, this paper compares both American and Korean cases and related regulation, and then proposes a supplement that will promote a sound stock market.
Digital Strategies in Restorative and Rehabilitative Perspectives of the Criminal Justice Reform Era

In 2018, the United States (“U.S.”) Congress passed the Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act, or “First Step Act”. Among other goals, the First Step Act seeks to reform unfair sentencing laws and reduce the duration of incarceration for federal offenders. The Act recognizes digital technology as a tool to address issues like recidivism, unfair sentencing, and injustice in the criminal justice system. The Act also moderates the enhanced and harsh consequences of the U.S. criminal law systems (Osler, 2020) as it creates the stage for programs to deter crimes and achieve the goals of reduced recidivism, with the “evidence-based” concepts. Cyber criminology is the empirical and sociological study of crimes, deviances and illegal activities on the internet and other networked platforms. Digital inventions often influence criminal laws in this technological era. Contemporary crime and regulatory regimes impose harsh punishment; for example, new-millennium crimes like illegal hacking carry severe jail and monetary penalties. However, the First Step Act empowers the Attorney General and the Board of Prisons to apply programs like artificial intelligence or software as tools of establishing an evidence-based risk assessment in forecasting criminogenic and behavioral patterns of released prisoners. The First Step Act creates the avenue to use digital capacities to better achieve the fundamental objectives of punishment — including deterrence, rehabilitation and restoration — without inflicting unfair consequences upon the incarcerated and convicted. The First Step Act highlights how the deployment of digital criminology, a subset of criminology may ameliorate, the unfairness of the current criminal justice system. Those created programs would accelerate released offenders’ reentry and restorative justice initiatives in ways that are insulated from human bias and common administrative prejudices. For example, racial and gender prejudices inherent in most prison systems. Lawmakers’ recognition of human frailties and reliance on “evidence-based” risk assessment metrics to reduce recidivism will likely promote the successful reentry for released offenders. As such, the First Step Act reflects a shift in policy that reinvigorates the goals of both criminal and social justice in the United States. A system where real fairness and equity is applied in the dispensation of criminal and civil laws. This paper proceeds in four Sections. Section I establishes the four traditional objectives of criminal punishment and discusses how the First Step Act achieves one of those objectives: restoration. Section II examines how the First Step Act works towards reducing recidivism. Section III analyzes how the First Step Act improves reentry processes. Section IV considers how the First Step Act moderates the harshness of the prior criminal justice system.
Convergence analysis of the extragradient method for vector quasi-equilibrium problems

We study the extragradient method for solving vector quasi-equilibrium problems in Banach spaces, which generalizes the extragradient method for vector equilibrium problems and scalar quasi-equilibrium problems. We propose a regularization procedure which ensures strong convergence of the generated sequence to a solution of the vector quasi-equilibrium problem, under standard assumptions on the problem without assuming neither any monotonicity assumption on the vector valued bifunction nor any weak continuity assumption of $f$ in its arguments that in the many well-known methods have been used. Also, we show that the boundedness of the generated sequences implies that the solution set of the vector quasi-equilibrium problem is nonempty, and prove the strong convergence of the generated sequences to a solution of the problem. Finally, we give some examples of vector quasi-equilibrium problems in several Banach spaces to which our main theorem can be applied. We also present some numerical experiments.
A General Framework for Problems in the- Statics of Finite Elasticity

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses a general framework for problems in the statics of finite elasticity. The chapter provides a brief description of the concepts of a continuous body and of a load system acting on such a body. It defines an elastic body and describes the load operator of such a body. This operator associates with each placement of the body—that is, the load-system necessary to keep the body in this placement. The chapter discusses a general framework for problems in elastostatics. The new feature of this framework is that boundary data is not described but an environmental reaction operator is prescribes that specifies the way the environment would act on the body for every conceivable placement. The problem then is to find the placements, if any, for which the load operator and the environmental reaction operator have the same value. The chapter also discusses the modification necessary to accommodate external constraints as well as the subject of stability.
ITC 2004 panel: cost of test - taking control Mike Tripp Intel Corporation

Intel are focusing on the cost of test, but the focus is on the cost of quality. The quality goals are used to drive the process as a whole and optimize the steps within the process to minimize cost to Intel. DFT has been the key in our efforts to manage test costs in order to meet our goals. Our HVM products have focused DFT to enable test reuse or to enable low capability testers. In order to manage the cost of test, establish DFM requirements/goals during product definition and product design, standardize the test interface, establish the test cost goals and use predictive models for test content and test time, DFT enables the test problem to be avoided completely.
Idiopathic enlargement of the right atrium of adult onset

Abstract Idiopathic enlargement of the right atrium is generally considered a congenital abnormality. A patient is described who had clinical evidence of this entity in the fourth decade of life. In addition, atrial vectorcardiograms (P sE loops) are reported for the first time for this anomaly. These tracings were abnormal, whereas the P waves of the electrocardiogram were within normal limits.
Optimal Information Acquisition for Heterogenous Duopoly Firms

Abstract This paper analyzes a stochastic duopoly market in which heterogenous firms acquire costly information about the stochastic market demand prior to their production decisions. The equilibrium amounts of information acquired by each firm are compared. The comparative statics analyses show the differential effects of a change in information cost, the degree of uncertainty in the market demand, and the demand and cost function parameters. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: D82, L13, L15.
12. The Difficulty of Tolerance

“The Difficulty of Tolerance” deals not only with freedom of expression, but also with other forms of activity that affect the nature of a society by influencing what others believe and how they act. This essay develops the idea of “informal politics”. “The Difficulty of Tolerance” is concerned with the costs of having certain rights generally recognized, and with the problems posed by their open-ended character. Its particular concern is with the risks involved in having one’s society be always open to being altered by the activities of individuals and groups whose values one does not share. I argue that one must bear this risk as the price of recognizing one’s fellow citizens as equal members of society – and thus equally entitled to play a role in determining how that society evolves.
Which Came First, the Grammar or the Lexicon?

Computational approaches to learning aspects of language typically reduce the problem to learning syntax alone, or learning a lexicon alone. These simplifications have led to disconnected solutions and some unreasonable assumptions about inputs to their algorithms. In this paper, we present an approach that exploits a grammar learning algorithm to learn its own alphabet, or lexicon. We present empirical results and categorize the successes and types of errors lexical acquisition approaches encounter.
Evidence for the Roche Lobe Overflow in VV Cephei

The VV Cep close binary system (O8V + M2 lab; P = 20 3 yrs.) is described from published spectral, radial velocity, photometric, and astrometric results. A long-term photometric monitoring program shows intrinsic variability in a red bandpass. Variability exists on several time scales and the longest of these is attributed to tidal distortion of the cool supergiant by the equally massive hot companion. A theoretical “distortion” light curve, when faced against the observations, indicated the radius of the supergiant to be significantly smaller than the accepted value of ~1600R ⊙ . This conclusion is examined in the context of a pulse of polarized red light occurring near the time of periastron and interpreted as Roche Lobe overflow of the supergiant envelope. It is shown that the photometric and polarimetrie results may be made accordant, not by appeal to a very large level of scattered red light, but rather by invoking the loss of constraint originally imposed by the Roche Lobe geometry.
Catching the whispers from Uranus

Sophisticated telecommunications techniques are described that were used to acquire images of Uranus, its 14 moons and ten narrow rings darker than coal. The images, equal in quality to those transmitted from Saturn several years earlier despite the signal being weaker by 6 dB due to the increased distance, were received from Voyager 2 during its January 24, 1986 flyby of Uranus. Solutions to the problem of the weakening signal were found in modifications to Voyager's image processing system and NASA's ground tracking network. In April 1985, Voyager's prime flight data computer was reconfigured to accept only nonimaging science data, and its backup, only imaging data; the latter was reprogrammed to determine only arithmetic differences between adjacent pixel intensities rather than absolute intensities. By image compression, equivalent imaging information could be sent at lower bit rates. Instead of Golay coding, Reed-Solomon onboard encoding was used. These techniques gained the equivalent of 4-dB in imaging yield. Additional improvements were gained by using earth station antennas in pairs (the Parkes radio telescope and the Canberra ground station antenna). Moves under way to prepare for the Voyager encounter with Neptune in 1989 are described (using additional antennas and arrays, scaling up the Deep Space Network antennas from 64 m to 70 m, etc.) to assure almost Saturn-equivalent pictures despite a further 3.5-dB drop in signal strength.
Acquisition of #sC clusters: universal grammar vs. language-specific grammar

This study is a cross-linguistic examination of the patterns of acquisition of two-member /s/-clusters. Data from six languages (English, Dutch, Norwegian, Croatian, Hebrew, and Polish) gathered from the productions of typically developing children and from children with phonological disorders are analyzed. Correct renditions in the productions showed correlation with the change of C2 from [-continuant] to [+continuant] of the target clusters in Germanic languages, while there was no such correlation in the other languages. The differences in the two groups of languages give support to the specific-language grammar hypothesis which states that children acquire language based on the patterns in the input language, which drive children’s acquisition of phonology; the input triggers the default settings to be set or reset.
Slow Release Kinetics of Mitoxantrone from Ordered Mesoporous Carbon Films.

High porosity and surface areas of ordered mesoporous materials provide substantial capacity for loading of guest molecules, and the well-defined morphology of such materials can control their transport for controlled release. Here, the loading and release of mitoxantrone from unmodified ordered mesoporous carbon films is monitored using UV/Vis spectroscopy. Organic–organic self-assembly of Pluronic F127 with phenolic resin leads to interconnected elliptical pores (≈2 nm) in the film after carbonization. Interestingly, the total loading (2.6 ± 0.4 μg/cm2) and release of mitoxantrone is independent of film thickness (50–400 nm), suggesting diffusion limitations in pore filling. With an alternative template, the pore size increases to ≈5 nm and the mitoxantrone loading increases to 3.5 ± 0.9 μg/cm2, but the loading still remains thickness independent. Using phosphate buffered saline at 37 °C, less than 60% of the loaded mitoxantrone is readily released from the mesoporous carbon films over a two-week period. The release profile includes an initial burst with a modest fraction (<20%) of the loaded drug released within the first day, followed by a near linear release over the subsequent 5–9 days. Interestingly, the smaller pores (ca. 2 nm) release nearly 50% more mitoxantrone over 2 weeks than the larger pores (ca. 5 nm), despite the lower initial loading. These results illustrate potential limitations as well as opportunities for the use of highly hydrophobic porous materials for the controlled release of hydrophobic biologically active compounds as drug delivery systems.
Continuous requirement of ethylene for apple fruit volatile synthesis

Pre- and postclimacteric Super Red Delicious apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) fruit were treated with ethephon, aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG), and diazocyclopentadiene (DACP) after harvest. Ethylene and volatile production were measured 1, 5, and 13 days after treatment. Production of some esters by preclimacteric fruit was enhanced after ethephon treatment, but the same treatment reduced production of various esters by postclimacteric fruit. Ethylene and volatile production were inhibited by AVG and DACP in preclimacteric fruit. Volatile acetate esters were not affected by any treatment, whereas AVG and DACP inhibited production of other volatile esters in postclimacteric fruits. The results suggest synthesis of some volatile esters requires continuous ethylene action and a high rate of ethylene production.
Possible role of natural immune response against altered fibroblasts in the development of post-operative adhesions.

Problem Post-operative adhesion tissue fibroblasts (ATF) differ from normal peritoneal fibroblasts (NPF). Natural immune response participates in the elimination of altered cells. In this study, we investigated NPF and ATF expression patterns of immune response-related markers, and lymphokine-activated killer (LAK) cell-mediated fibroblast elimination in vitro. Method of study Primary cell cultures of both NPF and ATF obtained from the same four patients were used in the experiments. The expression of CD54, CD40 and CD120b, and allogeneic LAK cell-mediated ATF and NPF elimination were studied by flow cytometry. Results Average expression of CD54 in ATF was greater by 12.3-fold compared with NPF (P = 0.021), with ratios of 2.4 and 1.9-fold for CD40 (P 0.956; P < 0.05 for each). Conclusions These results demonstrate that ATF are more susceptible to lymphocyte-mediated elimination than NPF and the development of adhesions despite this could be explained by either impaired or overwhelmed autologous natural immune response against reactive fibroblasts.
Nocturnal enuresis as a biobehavioral problem

A biobehavioral conceptualization of childhood nocturnal enuresis is presented. Recent research on the etiology and pathophysiology of enuresis suggests two important physiological parameters are involved: (1) deficient circadian release of antidiuretic hormone, and (2) deficient spontaneous inhibitory muscular responses. A brief review of medical and behavioral treatments also suggests that these two physiological processes are involved in successful treatments. Suggestions for future collaborative investigations between medical and behavioral researchers are offered. Advances in basic research on the pathophysiology of enuresis present the opportunity for behavioral and medical researchers to identify the mechanisms of action of proven treatments such as the urine alarm.
The Vacuolar ATPase: Sulfite Stabilization and the Mechanism of Nitrate Inactivation

Using vacuolar membranes from Neurospora crassa, we observed that sulfite prevented the loss of vacuolar ATPase activity that otherwise occurred during 36 h at room temperature. Sulfite neither activated nor changed the kinetic behavior of the enzyme. Further, in the presence of sulfite, the vacuolar ATPase was not inhibited by nitrate. We tested the hypothesis that sulfite acts as a reducing agent to stabilize the enzyme, while nitrate acts as an oxidizing agent, inhibiting the enzyme by promoting the formation of disulfide bonds. All reducing agents tested, dithionite, selenite, thiophosphate, dithiothreitol and glutathione, prevented the loss of ATPase activity. On the other hand, all oxidizing agents tested, bromate, iodate, arsenite, perchlorate, and hydrogen peroxide, were potent inhibitors of ATPase activity. The inhibitory effect of the oxidizing agents was specific for the vacuolar ATPase. The mitochondrial ATPase, assayed under identical conditions, was not inhibited by any of the oxidizing agents. Analysis of proteins with two-dimensional gel electrophoresis indicated that nitrate can promote the formation of disufide bonds between proteins in the vacuolar membrane. These data suggest a mechanism to explain why nitrate specifically inhibits vacuolar ATPases, and they support the proposal by Feng and Forgac (Feng, Y., and Forgac, M.(1994) J. Biol. Chem. 269, 13244-13230) that oxidation and reduction of critical cysteine residues may regulate the activity of vacuolar ATPases in vivo.
Temperature-induced variation in the survival of brooded embryos drives patterns of recruitment and abundance in Semibalanus balanoides

Abstract Geographic distributions of species are frequently influenced by temperature and as a result, there is considerable interest in predicting the effect of climate change on biogeography. Previous studies have found strong correlations between sea surface temperature and recruitment in the acorn barnacle Semibalanus balanoides, an important member of temperate intertidal communities in the Northern Hemisphere. The underlying mechanism that drives this relationship is, however, unknown. The hypothesis tested here is that variation in recruitment is determined by temperature-induced variation in survival of brooded embryos. Brooding adults were held under several environmentally-relevant temperature conditions from 7 °C to 13 °C until eggs were ready to hatch. There was no significant effect of temperature on embryonic development rate. Brooding individuals held at colder temperatures had more than twice the reproductive mass of those held at warmer temperatures. This mass difference is caused by an over three-fold larger number of embryos surviving in the coldest treatment (7 °C) compared to the warmest treatment (13 °C). Temperature-induced variation in number of surviving embryos likely contributes to differences in recruitment following cold winters vs. warm winters. Such temperature-dependent variation in recruitment has been shown to cause year to year fluctuations in the positions of the geographic limits of the species in Southwest England, France, and Spain. This study illustrates the key role of adult input into the larval pool in generating variation in recruitment and its influence on biogeography.
Dimerization constants of water-soluble porphyrins in aqueous alkali

Abstract Spectrophotometric analysis of changes in absorption spectra on dilution of different 2,4-disubstituted derivatives of deuteroporphyrin yielded dimerization constants (KD) for each porphyrin in aqueous alkali. The KD values appear to be related to the hydrophobic/hydrophilic interactions of the system such that KD for proto- > meso- > deutero- > hemato- > coproporphyrin. The effects of alcohol, temperature, and ionic strength on the KD were examined. A simple approach to the graphic analysis of the dilution curves is presented for use when absorbance readings at A100 and A0 cannot be reliably determined, and the use of soluble porphyrins as model systems for studying hydrophobic/hydrophilic interactions in aqueous media is discussed.
Use of PV systems in remote car filling stations

In Egypt, the average daily solar energy incident on a horizontal surface exceeds 5 kWh/m 2 /day and, also, there are many remote areas that are not covered by the electrical energy of the grid utility. So it was necessary to depend on solar energy in supplying these remote applications. This paper introduces a case study for designing a PV system for feeding a remote area car filling station to be operated using photovoltaic energy. The design parameters will depend mainly on the load energy needed by the station, the geographical site data (solar radiation, ambient temperature) and, also, the degree of availability of electrical energy needed for the system. To ensure the PV system availability and reliability during its operation, an expectation for the system performance is prepared. The expected monthly average daily output energy from the PV system is compared with that needed by the load during a complete year. In the case of rural zones, it is proven that the economic situation of the photovoltaic system will be competitive, especially in a site of high availability of solar energy, like the remote areas of Egypt. 7 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Effects of Smooth Brome on Brewer's Sparrow Nest Survival in Sagebrush Steppe

Abstract. Invasive plants represent a serious threat to native biodiversity worldwide through direct competition with native species and indirect effects resulting in ecosystem-level changes. In the western U.S., the sagebrush ecosystem has been seriously altered by the invasion of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), an exotic annual, and other species including smooth brome (B. inermis), an exotic perennial. We monitored 112 Brewer's Sparrow (Spizella breweri) nests (2006 and 2007) in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, to assess the potential effects of a smooth brome vs. native understory on nest survival in sagebrush steppe. Brewer's Sparrows settled earlier and clutch size was larger in native habitat, but indices of nest success were higher in the exotic habitat. Rates of failure and nest predation were higher in the native habitat. Using the logistic-exposure method, we compared estimates of survival in the two habitats. The model with the greatest support, according to AICc model-selection criteria, con...
Neural stem cells target intracranial glioma to deliver an oncolytic adenovirus in vivo

Adenoviral oncolytic virotherapy represents an attractive treatment modality for central nervous system (CNS) neoplasms. However, successful application of virotherapy in clinical trials has been hampered by inadequate distribution of oncolytic vectors. Neural stem cells (NSCs) have been shown as suitable vehicles for gene delivery because they track tumor foci. In this study, we evaluated the capability of NSCs to deliver a conditionally replicating adenovirus (CRAd) to glioma. We examined NSC specificity with respect to viral transduction, migration and capacity to deliver a CRAd to tumor cells. Fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis of NSC shows that these cells express a variety of surface receptors that make them amenable to entry by recombinant adenoviruses. Luciferase assays with replication-deficient vectors possessing a variety of transductional modifications targeted to these receptors confirm these results. Real-time PCR analysis of the replication profiles of different CRAds in NSCs and a representative glioma cell line, U87MG, identified the CRAd-Survivin (S)-pk7 virus as optimal vector for further delivery studies. Using in vitro and in vivo migration studies, we show that NSCs infected with CRAd-S-pk7 virus migrate and preferentially deliver CRAd to U87MG glioma. These results suggest that NSCs mediate an enhanced intratumoral distribution of an oncolytic vector in malignant glioma when compared with virus injection alone.
Simulation of transient dynamic behavior in laterally coupled VCSEL arrays

A novel, fast simulation tool for transient response is developed to study jitter and noise caused by lateral cavity interactions in VCSEL arrays. The cavity mode profiles, obtained from a paraxial eigenmode analysis, are used to derive fast 1-D rate equations that implement gain confinement, edge clipping, wide angle scattering and diffraction (self-interference) losses. These equations are augmented by lateral coupling terms describing the interactions among nearest neighbor cavities. Slow time scale coupling describes interactions of phase-shifted cavities via mutually induced electric polarization, cross-hole burning and cross-cavity gain due to optical fringe-field interactions. The tool is used to study cavity cross-talk, lateral bit pattern error effects, and the possibility of excitation of long range modulations over the array. Conclusions relating VCSEL packing density to BER, bit suppression by neighboring cavities, and array phase locking are given.
An In-situ Identification Method for Joint Parameters in Mechanical Structures

This paper presents an improved scheme based on the frequency response functions (FRFs) for in-situ identification ofjoint parameters of mechanical structures. Despite that measurement of FRFs at joint locations is essential for identifying the joint parameters of a structural dynamic system, it is often impossible to measure FRFs at joint locations. To this end, the present paper suggests an indirect estimation technique for unmeasured FRFs which are required for identification but not available. Theoretical investigation is made to delineate the effects of measurement noise and modeling error on indirect estimation and identification. Two index functions are introduced, which can indicate the quality of estimation or identification along the frequency. The index functions are proven to be useful not only as a weighting function in the identification procedure but also for evaluating the frequency region appropriate for identification. A series of simulations as well as experiments are performed for validation of the method.
Dual-vessel integrated microwave sample decomposition and digest evaporation for trace element analysis of silicon material by ICPMS : Design and application

A dual-vessel apparatus using closed-vessel microwave sample preparation is designed. A protocol that includes in situ reagent purification, sample decomposition, and digest evaporation has been de...
Physics of heavy-quark production in quantum chromodynamics.

For very heavy quark masses, QCD predicts that the inclusive hadronic production of heavy quarks is governed by quark and gluon hard-scattering subprocesses. On general grounds, one expects corrections of order \ensuremath{\mu}/${M}_{Q}$, where \ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\sim}300 MeV and ${M}_{Q}$ is the heavy-quark mass. At the charm mass scale, such corrections could be important, possibly accounting for the anomalies observed in the nuclear-number dependence, the longitudinal-momentum distributions, and beam-flavor dependence of charm hadroproduction. In this paper we present a general overview of such corrections. In particular, we discuss a ``coalescence'' correction, which substantially alters the cross section in situations where the heavy quark is known to have a low velocity relative to one or more constituents of the spectator jet. In attractive channels the result is a large enhancement. In inclusive cross sections this final-state-interaction effect is suppressed by only a single power of the heavy-quark mass.
Digital Autofocus Using Scene Content

A real-time digital scene based focusing algorithm, which will be implemented on the Honeywell FUR is described. Focus merit functions (FMF) which are optimal for Honeywell FUR imagery are examined. The algorithm was tested by demonstrating its capability to focus on a static scene.
Causality and stochastic dynamic systems

This paper deals with the problem of determining the possible states of a stochastic dynamic system $S_1 $ with known outputs, provided it is in a certain causal relationship with another stochastic dynamic system $S_2 $ whose states (or some information about them) are given.
Molecular cascades. 1. Tandem cyclopropyl iminium ion rearrangement-[4+2] cycloaddition reactions

Abstract A tandem cyclopropyliminium ion rearrangement-Hofmann elimination affords rapid access to 3-vinyl Δ2-pyrrolines in some cases bearing an unsaturated tether in good yield. The resulting dienamines subsequently undergo both inter- and intramolecular [4+2] cycloaddition reactions. Good yields were obtained for a number of cases of intramolecular intermolecular cycloaddition reactions affording cycloadducts in good yields with sufficiently reactive dienophiles such as fumarate, acrylate and methacrolein. Evidence suggests a non-concerted pathway for these cycloaddition reactions.