cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A robust method for generating inflow conditions for direct simulations of spatially-developing turbulent boundary layers

A method for generating inflow conditions for direct numerical simulations (DNS) of spatially-developing turbulent boundary layers is presented. The method is a modification of that of Lund et al. [J. Comput. Phys. 140 (1998) 233]. The approach of Lund et al. is based on having an auxiliary simulation (Code-A) in a three-dimensional domain similar to that of the main simulation (Code-B). The instantaneous velocity field on a selected plane in Code-A is used as the instantaneous inflow conditions for Code-B. The inflow conditions for Code-A are generated through a sequence of operations in which the velocity field at a downstream station is rescaled and re-introduced at the inlet plane. Our present method modifies the operations in Code-A by introducing a set of additional steps preceding the rescaling process. This set involves imposing at the inlet plane an appropriate spectrum E(k) for the turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) and a condition for insuring that the statistical correlation 〈u' 1 u' 3 〉 between the streamwise and vertical velocity fluctuations retain a non-vanishing magnitude. This modification is essential for sustaining the production rate of TKE near the wall throughout the domain. Our DNS results obtained with the new modification are in excellent agreement with the experimental data of DeGraaff and Eaton [J. Fluid Mech. 422 (2000) 319] for Re 0 = 1430.
An Experience in Learning

Reams have been written on teaching ability and more will be. There is much vulgar enthusiasm and too little recognition of the deeper meaning of the remark that the verb to teach is not a transitive verb. Why not assume that a teacher leads mainly by his example and that like pathologists we can more readily recognize the result than define the process? I do not ignore the more tangible evidence of ability in writing and speaking clearly and vigorously: in fact I wish we would triple the emphasis currently laid upon the capacity of our recruits to read, write and speak the English language. 1 —Alan Gregg, M.D. 1 Director for the Medical Sciences The Rockefeller Foundation
Enterprising Southerners: Black Economic Success in North Carolina 1865-1915

Surprisingly, there existed a small population of southern blacks who experienced economic gains in the fifty years following the Civil War. This book examines the characteristics of North Carolina's African-American population in order to explain the social and political factors that shaped economic opportunity for this group.
Mobility and depositional controls of radioelements in hydrothermal systems at the Long Valley and Valles calderas

Abstract The loci and abundance of U and Th were examined in tuffaceous rocks encompassing hydrothermal systems at the Long Valley caldera, California and the Valles caldera, New Mexico. Aspects of these systems may be analogous to conditions expected in a potential site for a high-level waste repository in welded tuff. Examination of radioelements in core from scientific drill holes at these sites was accomplished by gamma-ray spectrometry and fission-track radiography. In the lateral-flowing hydrothermal system at the Long Valley caldera, where temperatures range from 140 to 200 °C, U is concentrated to 20 ppm in Fe-rich zones of varved tuff and to 50 ppm with Fe-rich mineral phases in tuff fragments of a calcite-cemented breccia. U-series disequilibrium in some of these samples suggests mobilization/deposition of parent U and/or its daughters. In the vapor zone of the Valles caldera's hydrothermal system (temperature ~ 100 °C), the concordance of high U, low Th/U and decreasing whole-rock O-isotope ratios suggests that U was concentrated in response to hydrothermal circulation when the system was formerly liquid-dominated. In the underlying present-day liquid-dominated zone (temperature to 210 °C), U, up to several tens of parts per million, occurs with pyrite and Fe-oxide minerals, and in concentrations to several percents with a Ti-Nb-Y-rare earth mineral. In the Valles system's outflow zone, U is also concentrated in Fe-rich zones as well as in carbonaceous-rich zones in the Paleozoic sedimentary rocks that underlie the Quaternary tuff. Th, associated with accessory minerals, predominates in breccia zones and in a mineralized fault zone near the base of the Paleozoic sedimentary sequence. Relatively high concentrations of U occur in springs representative of water recharging the Valles caldera's hydrothermal system. In contrast, considerably lower U concentrations occur in hot waters (> 220 °C) and in the system's outflow plume, suggesting that U is concentrating in the hotter part of the system. The Long Valley and Valles observations indicate that U and Ra are locally mobile under hydrothermal conditions, and that reducing conditions associated with Fe-rich minerals and carbonaceous material are important factors in the adsorption of U, and thus can retard its transport in water at elevated temperature.
Autophosphorylation at serine 1987 is dispensable for murine Atm activation in vivo

The ATM (ataxia telangiectasia mutated) protein kinase is activated under physiological and pathological conditions that induce DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). Loss of ATM or failure of its activation in humans and mice lead to defective cellular responses to DSBs, such as cell cycle checkpoints, radiation sensitivity, immune dysfunction, infertility and cancer predisposition. A widely used biological marker to identify the active form of ATM is the autophosphorylation of ATM at a single, conserved serine residue (Ser 1981 in humans; Ser 1987 in mouse)1. Here we show that Atm-dependent responses are functional at the organismal and cellular level in mice that express a mutant form of Atm (mutation of Ser to Ala at position 1987) as their sole Atm species. Moreover, the mutant protein does not exhibit dominant-negative interfering activity when expressed physiologically or overexpressed in the context of Atm heterozygous mice. These results suggest an alternative mode for stimulation of Atm by DSBs in which Atm autophosphorylation at Ser 1987, like trans-phosphorylation of downstream substrates, is a consequence rather than a cause of Atm activation.
Temporal stability of surface soil moisture in the Little Washita River watershed and its applications in satellite soil moisture product validation

The concept of temporal stability can be used to identify persistent soil moisture patterns and estimate the large scale average from select representative sensor locations. Accurate and efficient estimation of large-scale surface soil moisture is a primary component of soil moisture satellite validation programs. However, monitoring the soil surface at large grid scales is difficult. As part of the aqua satellite advanced microwave scanning radiometer (AMSR) Validation Program, a soil moisture sensor network was installed in the little Washita river watershed in Oklahoma, USA in 2002. Along with data from the soil moisture experiment 2003 (SMEX03), this network will provide a valuable dataset for satellite soil moisture product validation. Analysis shows that most of the network sensors are temporally stable at multiple scales and four sites are identified as representative with negligible bias and small standard deviation to the watershed mean. As part of this analysis, the protocols established for large-scale soil moisture sampling campaigns such as in the soil moisture experiments (SMEX) are validated. This analysis showed that basing grid scale estimates on six sampling points is reasonable and accurate. Temporal stability is shown to be a valuable tool for soil moisture network analysis and can provide an efficient means to large-scale satellite validation.
Fully Differentiated HIV-1 Specific CD8+ T Effector Cells Are More Frequently Detectable in Controlled than in Progressive HIV-1 Infection

Background CD8+ T cells impact control of viral infections by direct elimination of infected cells and secretion of a number of soluble factors. In HIV-1 infection, persistent HIV-1 specific IFN-gamma+ CD8+ T cell responses are detected in the setting of disease progression, consistent with functional impairment in vivo. Recent data suggest that impaired maturation, as defined by the lineage markers CD45RA and CCR7, may contribute to a lack of immune control by these responses. Methodology/principal findings We investigated the maturation phenotype of epitope-specific CD8+ T cell responses directed against HIV-1 in 42 chronically infected, untreated individuals, 22 of whom were "Controllers" (median 1140 RNA copies/ml plasma, range 750000). Evaluation of a mean of 5 epitopes per person revealed that terminally differentiated CD8+ T cells directed against HIV-1 are more often seen in HIV-1 Controllers (16/22; 73%) compared to HIV-1 progressors (7/20; 35%)(p = 0.015), but the maturation state of epitope-specific responses within a given individual was quite variable. Maturation phenotype was independent of the HLA restriction or the specificity of a given CD8+ T cell response and individual epitopes associated with slow disease progression were not more likely to be terminally differentiated. Conclusions/significance These data indicate that although full maturation of epitope-specific CD8+ T cell responses is associated with viral control, the maturation status of HIV-1 specific CD8+ T cell responses within a given individual are quite heterogeneous, suggesting epitope-specific influences on CD8+ T cell function.
RECOVERY IN LANDRY-GUILLAIN-BARRÉSYNDROME AFTER PROLONGED RESPIRATORY SUPPORT

Abstract A patient with the Landry-Guillain-Barresyndrome required 266 days of complete ventilatory support. The complete respiratory and extremity paralysis then improved remarkably over the next 2 weeks, and the patient could be removed from the ventilator and the tracheostomy was removed. Further neuromuscular recovery followed. This case represents the longest period of paralysis, with ultimate recovery, on record.
Diffusion-induced grain-boundary migration in calcite

Grain boundaries in synthetic calcite bicrystals and slabs of Yule marble exposed to SrCO3 at temperatures between 650 and 800 °C undergo diffusion-induced grain-boundary migration (DIGM). As the boundary migrates through the crystal, it produces a (Ca, Sr)CO3 solid solution. DIGM is known to occur in metals at temperatures as low as one-third the melting temperature, where lattice diffusion rates are insignificant compared to grain-boundary diffusion rates. The similarity between microstructures in calcite and metals systems is striking. In both systems, grain boundaries migrate to increase their total area and reduce their radius of curvature, migration occurs in the absence of significant storud internal strain energy, and boundary migration is accompanied by changes in the chemical composition of the solid. Although a widely accepted theory for DIGM is lacking, it is clear that the process involves the formation of a compositionally distinct phase, which grows by material transport along an advancing grain or interphase boundary. Grain-boundary migration during DIGM must be driven at least in part by the reduction of chemical free energy associated with the chemical composition change that takes place behind the advancing boundary. Although the reaction mechanisms by which multicomponent, multiphase systems in the earth reach equilibrium are likely to be numerous and diverse, it is possible that some mechanisms are analogous to the DIGM as observed in Laboratory experiments on calcite bicrystals.
A strategic approach to advancing sustainability at Steelcase

To minimize its environmental footprint—in fact, to have a positive impact everywhere it operates—Steelcase pursues many paths to sustainability: environmentally friendly facilities and processes, eco-sensitive products and materials that can be re-used and recycled, informing and engaging stakeholders, and sharing learning with others in the industry, to name just a few. Challenging itself to do more through continuous learning and improvement is at the core of a green strategy that has earned accolades for the company. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Occupational and Environmental Medicine

The past year was remarkable for two occurrences in the field of occupational and environmental medicine. The first is the role that preventive medicine, in its occupational and environmental aspects, played in protecting the health of US forces participating in Operation Desert Storm in the Middle East. Because of preventive actions taken in relation to the ambient working environment, and for the important issues of supplying necessary water and controlling infectious diseases, the half million troops participating in Operation Desert Storm experienced a remarkably low incidence of preventable illness traceable to infectious causes or dehydration. The insistence on proper fluid intake, coupled with infection control at the "worksite," led to a low casualty rate among troops. A major source of morbidity and mortality involved traditional workplace problems such as injuries, including motor vehicle accidents. While clearly nontraditional, an outstanding contribution was made to the overall effort by those who had
Increased exercise tolerance and reduced duration of ischemia after isosorbide dinitrate oral spray in angina pectoris

Abstract The prophylactic and therapeutic anti-ischemic efficacy of isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN) oral spray was assessed in 10 patients with coronary artery disease and stable angina pectoris. The patients entered a randomized crossover study of ISDN spray and placebo, involving bicycle exercise testing. Each patient underwent 2 exercise tests at least 4 hours apart. Immediately before initiation of exercise they received either ISDN spray or placebo and crossed over during the other test. ISDN spray delayed the onset of anginal pain by about 40%, from a mean of 5.1 ± 1.4 minutes with placebo to 7.2 ± 1.3 minutes with the active drug (p
Understanding the impact of threshold voltage on MLC flash memory performance and reliability

MLC (multi-level cell) NAND flash memory based solid state drives (SSDs) have been increasingly used in supercomputing centers because of their merits in cost, performance, and energy-efficiency. However, as each cell starts to store two or more bits, a threshold voltage range employed to represent a state has to be continuously shrunk, and a narrowed threshold voltage range causes more bit errors. An ad-hoc solution to this problem is to apply an enhanced ECC (error correction code) scheme. Still, a comprehensive understanding of the impact of threshold voltage on MLC flash performance and reliability is an open question. In this paper, we first empirically measure the correlations between threshold voltage and program/erase (P/E) performance as well as reliability. After analyzing experimental results, we make several interesting observations: 1) a memory cell programmed to a lower threshold voltage has a faster programming speed (up to 31%) as well as a fewer number of bit errors; 2) the programming time of an MSB page is about 2 to 3 times shorter than that of an LSB page; 3) erase performance is highly correlated to threshold voltage. These new findings provide system implications for the development of a better SSD. Further, to demonstrate how these findings can be leveraged to enhance MLC flash, we propose an approach called threshold voltage reduction (TVR), which increases programming speed and longevity by 50% and 7.1%, respectively. Finally, we conduct a study on TVR-powered SSDs. Simulation results show that overall mean response time can be reduced by up to 35%.
An extracellular matrix protein prevents cytokinesis failure and aneuploidy in the C. elegans germline.

Interactions between extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and their transmembrane receptors mediate cytoskeletal reorganization and corresponding changes in cell shape during cell migration, adhesion, differentiation and polarization. Cytokinesis is the final step in cell division as cells employ a contractile ring composed of actin and myosin to partition one cell into two. Cells undergo dramatic changes in cell shape during the division process, creating new membrane and forming an extracellular invagination called the cleavage furrow. However, existing models of cytokinesis include no role for the ECM. In a recent paper, we demonstrate that depletion of a large secreted protein, hemicentin, results in membrane destabilization, cleavage furrow retraction and cytokinesis failure in C. elegans germ cells and in preimplantation mouse embryos. Here, we demonstrate that cytokinesis failure produces tetraploid intermediate cells with multipolar spindles, providing a potential explanation for the large number of aneuploid progeny observed among C. elegans hemicentin mutant hermaphrodites.
Grazing effects on aboveground primary production and root biomass of early-seral, mid-seral, and undisturbed semiarid grassland

Abstract Annual/perennial and tall/short plant species differentially dominate early to late successional shortgrass steppe communities. Plant species can have different ratios of above-/below-ground biomass distributions and this can be modified by precipitation and grazing. We compared grazing effects on aboveground production and root biomass in early- and mid-seral fields and undisturbed shortgrass steppe. Production averaged across four years and grazed and ungrazed treatments were 246, 134, and 102 g m−2 yr−1 for the early-, mid-seral, and native sites, respectively, while root biomass averaged 358, 560, and 981 g m−2, respectively. Early- and mid-seral communities provided complimentary forage supplies but at the cost of root biomass. Grazing increased, decreased, or had no effect on aboveground production in early-, mid-seral, and native communities, and had no effect on roots in any. Grazing had some negative effects on early spring forage species, but not in the annual dominated early-seral community. Dominant species increased with grazing in native communities with a long evolutionary history of grazing by large herbivores, but had no effects on the same species in mid-seral communities. Effects of grazing in native communities in a region cannot necessarily be used to predict effects at other seral stages.
Immunofluorescent studies on Z-line-associated protein in cultured cardiomyocytes from neonatal hamsters.

The organization of the cytoskeletal proteins, alpha-actinin, vinculin and desmin, was studied in new-born hamster cardiomyocytes in vitro by immunofluorescent microscopy. Since there have been indications that the in vitro organization of certain cytoskeletal elements of cardiomyocytes is not the same as in vivo, the studies were designed to examine the reorganization of these proteins in cultured cells. The observations concentrated on three proteins that are known to be associated in vivo with myofibrillar Z-lines. Beginning at 2 days in culture, and during subsequent days, the proteins examined underwent substantial redistributions before they reorganized back to their associations with the myofibrillar Z-lines. The pattern and time course for these redistributions were characteristic for each protein. Alpha-actinin was the first to return to its typical location at the level of the Z-lines during the second day in culture, followed by desmin at 4 days. Vinculin usually did not become associated with the Z-lines until 6 days in vitro. In the present study, analyses of the distributions and redistributions of particular proteins in the cultured cardiomyocytes have been useful for helping to identify changes in the myocyte as a result of isolation and culture conditions. In addition, a better understanding of the temporal and spatial relationships between cytoskeletal proteins assembling into the Z-line area has been gained.
Are Children of Young Mothers Disadvantaged because of Their Mother's Age or Family Background?.

Using a national sample of children 3 to 16 years old, this study found that the lower test scores and increased behavior problems of children born to younger mothers are not due to her age but to her family background. First, for nonfirstborn children, maternal age at first birth has a significant effect on test scores, whereas maternal age at the child's birth does not. Second, this study replicated a controversial study by Geronimus, Korenman, and Hillemeier (1994) and found that the disadvantage of children born to younger mothers is greatly reduced when maternal family background is controlled through a comparison of children born to sisters. Third, maternal age is not an important predictor of children's test score rates of improvement over time. This evidence suggests that maternal age is not causal.
Porphyromonas gingivalis lipopolysaccharide stimulation of human monocytes: dependence on serum and CD14 receptor

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors influencing the ability of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) derived from Porphyromonas gingivalis to elicit secretion of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF alpha) from human monocytes (adherent mononuclear cells). The results indicate that P. gingivalis LPS stimulation of TNF alpha from monocytes is comparable to LPS from Escherichia coli. Both LPS, although structurally different, increased TNF alpha secretion in a dose-dependent manner. In serum-free conditions, TNF alpha secretion was relatively low, but it dramatically increased at human serum concentrations as low as 1%. Maximal secretion was observed in the presence of 10% serum, with a slight decrease at higher serum concentrations. The CD14 molecule is a putative monocyte LPS receptor. When cells were pre-incubated with a blocking monoclonal antibody (My4) to CD14, TNF alpha-mRNA accumulation and TNF alpha secretion were reduced to control levels at LPS concentrations of up to 10 ng/ml. At higher LPS concentrations, the blocking effect was only partial, in spite of 50-fold excess antibody concentration. The blocking effect was observed only in the presence of serum. The effect of the CD14 antibody was dose-dependent with saturation at 2.5 micrograms/ml. The results suggest that CD14 is one of the major receptors for P. gingivalis LPS but highlight the necessity to investigate other cell-surface receptors mediating P. gingivalis-LPS interactions. These interactions are believed to be important in the pathogenesis of periodontal destruction.
Mechanism of inhibition of net ion transport across frog corneal epithelium by calcium channel antagonists

In the isolated bullfrog cornea, three calcium channel antagonists had dose-dependent inhibitory effects on the Cl-originated short-circuit current (SCC). Their order of decreasing potency was bepridil, verapamil and diltiazem. One millimolar diltiazem inhibited the SCC by 98% and subsequent incubation with the calcium ionophore A23187 had no restorative effect. Increasing the bathing solution Ca concentration from 0.05 to 15mm, however, decreased diltiazem's inhibitory efficacy. This antagonist depolarized the intracellular potential differenceV m from −54 to −18 mV (tear: reference) and the voltage divider ratioFR 0 decreased from 0.58 to 0.30, suggesting an increase in basolateral membrane electrical resistance. Additional indication of a basolateral membrane effect by the drug was that preincubation with 105 m amphotericin B in Cl-free Ringer's did not eliminate the inhibitory effect of the drug on the Na- and K-elicited SCC. In the absence of amphotericin B in Cl-free Ringer's (SCC=0), 1 ×103 m diltiazem depolarized theV m from −78 to −9 mV suggesting that the increase in basolateral membrane resistance was due to K channel blockade. Diltiazem (1×103 m) significantly decreased cyclic AMP content; however, isoproterenol in the presence of the drug increased cyclic AMP fourfold without having any restorative effect on the inhibited SCC. Therefore, the inhibition of the Cl-originated SCC resulting from an increase in basolateral membrane K resistance is not caused by a decline in cyclic AMP content. In plasma membrane-enriched fractions prepared from broken cell preparations of bovine corneal epithelium, 1×103 m diltiazem had no inhibitory effects on either Na,K-ATPase or Ca,Mg-ATPase activities. These latter effects further point to the selectivity of diltiazem as an inhibitor of K-channel activity, but do not preclude a Ca-channel blocker effect by the drug in the micromolar range.
Detecting occult malignancy in prophylactic mastectomy: preoperative MRI versus sentinel lymph node biopsy

High-risk patients undergoing prophylactic mastectomy (PM) may have unsuspected cancers identified on pathology. The optimum way to identify and manage them is controversial. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may identify occult cancer preoperatively. Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) allows intraoperative staging and axillary dissection during the same operation. We determined the efficacy and cost of MRI and/or SLNB in managing high-risk PM patients. We reviewed 192 PMs in 173 patients from 1999 to 2005. Costs were estimated for MRI and SLNB during PM by the 2005 Medicare Resource-Based Relative Value Scale. We also estimated costs and procedures for the four strategies in a larger hypothetical cohort. A total of 19 (10%) of 192 PMs contained occult cancers, 14 ductal carcinoma-in-situ (DCIS) and 5 invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). In 59 patients, MRI detected an IDC but missed two DCIS and an IDC. Positive MRIs generated an additional average cost of $1207 per patient. In 56 PMs with SLNB, 6 occult cancers were found, 5 DCIS and 1 IDC, all with negative SLNBs. Adding a SLNB costs an additional average of $644. A theoretical analysis demonstrated that PM alone costs $808 per patient, PM with SLNB costs $1420, PM with MRI and selective SLNB costs $1774, and PM with routine MRI and SLNB costs $2379. MRI adds great cost and misses most occult cancers in PMs. SLNB allows the rare patient with occult IDC to avoid axillary dissection but adds cost. Given the low rate of unsuspected invasive cancers and the costs of MRI and SLNB, neither is recommended as standard practice for PM patients.
Clinical trials for glaucoma neuroprotection are not impossible.

Purpose of reviewTo discuss issues that affect development of new glaucoma treatments known as neuroprotection.Recent findingsThere are barriers to neuroprotection trials for glaucoma.SummaryWith design features discussed in the review, neuroprotection trials can be effectively carried out.
Blast-resistant structural concrete and steel connections

A series of numerical studies were conducted on the behavior of structural concrete and structural steel connection subjected to blast loads. These studies gradually enhanced the understanding of the role that structural details play in affecting the behavior. Observations from those studies highlighted possible safety concerns with current blast design procedures. Conclusions and recommendations are provided for correcting the observed problems.
The right of public access to cadaver organs.

Abstract It is argued that waste during a period of scarcity which results in human suffering and death is bad. It is then argued that it is immoral for waste to continue especially if nonwaste requires no sacrifice to the responsible parties. Allowing one's organs, which might otherwise be transplanted to help others, to deteriorate in the grave is an example of waste. Since a prodigious number of people might benefit from an organ transplant, the waste of organs is wrong. Moreover, since the deceased no longer exists, the removal of his organs constitutes no sacrifice on the deceased's part. Therefore, it is immoral to waste transplantable human organs.
The impact of college timing on earnings

Abstract Adult students, those 25-yrs-old and over, currently constitute 43% of all college students. This paper investigates the importance of the timing of schooling in determining earnings. It is revealed that those who complete college at a later age receive a significantly smaller initial increase in earnings than those who acquire their education earlier in life. This result is important for both personal human capital investment decisions and policy makers.
PSA for outcome prediction and posttreatment evaluation following radiation for prostate cancer: do we know how to use it?

Pretreatment prostate-specific antigen (PSA) has been shown to be a powerful predictor of expected outcome after radiation for prostate cancer. Additional measures such as recursive partitioning analysis and PSA Cancer Volume calculations are further refining this useful tool to provide the greatest degree of prognostic information. The post-treatment PSA level is also being used as a means to assess therapeutic efficacy rapidly and objectively. Although no single PSA value has been shown to equate to long-term clinical tumor control consistently, consensus has been reached regarding the value of a rising PSA level as an early surrogate for tumor recurrence. Since the first introduction of PSA as a tumor marker, we have become much more comfortable with what it means, the ways it can help us, and how to use it.
Data Mixing at the Source, Relay, and in the Air in Multiple-Access Relay Networks

We consider a multiple access relay network where multiple source nodes send independent packets to a common destination with the assistance from a relay node. We assume that the relay node is equipped with multiple antennas and is allowed to choose either spatial multiplexing (SM) or beam forming mode as transmit diversity (TD). We develop an integrated design methodology for MIMO transmission, network coding at the relay node, and channel coding rate at the source nodes that minimizes the end-to-end outage probability.
Enhanced cellulase production in mutants of Thermomonospora curvata

Thermomonospora curvata, a thermophilic actinomycete, secretes multiple forms of endo-beta 1-4-glucanase (EG)when grown on cellulose-mineral salts liquid medium. The EG activity(measured as carboxymethyl cellulose hydrolysis) was separated by ion exchange chromatography into three distinct components which differ in their kinetic properties. Exposure of Thm. curvata to ultraviolet light, N-nitrosoguanidine, or ethane methyl sulfonate produced mutants with enhanced EG production. Selection of colonies which cleared cellulose agar plant containing 2-deoxtglucose of glycerol yielded mutants having 1.5 to 2.6 times the extracellular EG and saccharifying activity (measured by filter-paper and cotton-fiber hydrolysis). The secretion of extracellular protein was increased proportionally in mutant cultures.
Measuring Invariances in Deep Networks

For many pattern recognition tasks, the ideal input feature would be invariant to multiple confounding properties (such as illumination and viewing angle, in computer vision applications). Recently, deep architectures trained in an unsupervised manner have been proposed as an automatic method for extracting useful features. However, it is difficult to evaluate the learned features by any means other than using them in a classifier. In this paper, we propose a number of empirical tests that directly measure the degree to which these learned features are invariant to different input transformations. We find that stacked autoencoders learn modestly increasingly invariant features with depth when trained on natural images. We find that convolutional deep belief networks learn substantially more invariant features in each layer. These results further justify the use of "deep" vs. "shallower" representations, but suggest that mechanisms beyond merely stacking one autoencoder on top of another may be important for achieving invariance. Our evaluation metrics can also be used to evaluate future work in deep learning, and thus help the development of future algorithms.
Effects of seasonal pack ice on the distribution of macrozooplankton and micronekton in the northwestern Weddell Sea

The presence of mesopelagic organisms in the guts of surface-foraging seabirds feeding in open areas within seasonal pack ice in the Antarctic has given rise to questions regarding the effects of pack ice on the underlying mesopelagic community. Bottom-moored free-vehicle acoustic instruments were used in concert with midwater trawls and baited traps to examine the abundance, size distribution and vertical distribution of pelagic organisms in the uppermost 100 m of the water column during the austral spring of 1992 in two areas of the northwestern Weddell Sea, one covered by sea- sonal pack ice and the other free of ice cover. Acoustic targets were more abundant and significantly larger at the open-water station than beneath pack ice. How- ever, targets at the ice-covered site exhibited a pro- nounced diel pattern, with the largest targets detected only at night. Samples from night trawls at the ice- covered site contained several species of large, vertically-migrating mesopelagic fishes, whereas these species were absent from trawls taken during the day. In addition, baited traps deployed in pack ice just beneath the ice-water interface collected large numbers of scavenging lysianassoid amphipods, while deeper traps beneath the ice and traps at the open-water sta- tion were empty, indicating the presence of a scaveng- ing community associated with the undersurface of the ice. These results support the idea that mesopelagic organisms migrate closer to the surface beneath pack ice than in open water, exposing them to possible predation by surface-foraging seabirds.
Moving from Unknown Unknown to Known Unknown

The post-genome era was heralded as one that would provide answers to the mysteries underlying deadly diseases. However, the results thus far seem to be an ever-expanding set of questions: What is the role of the vast majority of functionally uncharacterized DNA? How are gene products organized into higher-level functional networks that govern cellular phenotypes? How do the microenvironment and microbiomes influence cellular regulation? The mere ability to define such questions is a breakthrough. In the pre-genome era, such questions resided in the domain of the “unknown unknown”—we didn’t know what we didn’t know. Now, to a large extent, we know what we don’t know. The key questions are “known unknowns,” and we thus can seek the answers. Now, Lawrence et al. attempt to define the number of genes that are recurrently mutated in cancer and estimate the sizes of data sets necessary to identify them all. The authors analyzed whole-exome sequencing data from tumor-normal pairs of 4742 tissue samples spanning 21 cancer types. A total of 254 different genes were substantially mutated in at least one tumor type or when considering all tumor types together, based on criteria that included mutation frequency above background, clustering of mutations within the gene, and evolutionary conservation of mutated sites. Out of 82 genes previously reported to be mutated in the analyzed tumor types, 60 (73%) were recovered with the de novo analysis. Many of the previously unreported genes were associated with cancer-related processes, such as proliferation, apoptosis, genome stability, chromatin regulation, immune response, and RNA processing. On the basis of down-sampling analysis, the number of substantially mutated genes continued to increase linearly up to the maximum sample size profiled for each tumor type, indicating that the full repertoire of mutated genes is far from being characterized by using current data sets. Specifically, most genes mutated in >20% of samples appeared to be identified, whereas many genes with lower mutation rates required larger sample sizes. The authors estimated that developing a catalog of genes mutated at >2% frequency would require profiling between 650 and 5300 samples per tumor type, depending on the background mutation rate, corresponding to roughly 100,000 samples required to characterize 50 tumor types. Following the theme of modern biomedical research, the current study perhaps creates more questions than answers. The oncogenic impact of many recurrently mutated genes remains to be characterized, and the cumulative importance of multiple low-frequency mutations remains unclear. Further research is also needed to understand to what extent low-frequency mutations correspond to tumor molecular subtypes with different therapeutic and prognostic implications. For now, the ability to ask such questions gives us hope of finding their answers. M. S. Lawrence et al ., Discovery and saturation analysis of cancer genes across 21 tumour types. Nature 505 , 495–501 (2014). [[Abstract]][1] [1]: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v505/n7484/abs/nature12912.html?lang=en
Role for hetC in the Transition to a Nondividing State during Heterocyst Differentiation in Anabaena sp.

Nitrogen-deprived filaments of wild-type or hetC Anabaena sp. produce respectively, at semiregular intervals, heterocysts and weakly fluorescent cells. Unlike heterocysts, the latter cells can divide and elongate, producing a pattern of spaced series of small cells. Because a hetR::gfp fusion is expressed most strongly in the small cells, we propose that these small cells represent a very early stage of heterocyst differentiation. hetC::gfp is expressed most strongly in proheterocysts and heterocysts.
Antiradiation compounds XIX: Metal-binding abilities of thioureas

Metal-binding stability constants for a series of N- and N,N′-substituted thioureas with Cu(II), Ni(II), Al(III), and Fe(III) ions were determined by potentiometric titration. The sequence of constants for thiourea, N-methylthiourea, and N,N′-dimethylthiourea indicated steric effects of the methyl groups and that both nitrogen and sulfur were involved in the complexation. The magnitude of the constants was somewhat lower than those of the simple peptides. The mechanism of protection against ionizing radiation by thioureas is probably due to hydrogen-atom transfer rather than binding of metal ions that catalyze cellular oxidations.
Melting the iceberg: A new Megaselia Rondani species (Diptera: Phoridae) from Mali with the most striking wing ornament

Megaselia guentermuelleri sp. n. with a remarkable wing pattern is described from Mali. The new species readily differs from all other Megaselia, including those with ornamented wings, by the presence of a large pigmented swelling in its wing, among other features.
Ideal observer perturbation analysis reveals human strategies for inferring surface orientation from texture

Abstract Optical texture patterns contain three quasi-independent cues to planar surface orientation: perspective scaling, projective foreshortening and density. The purpose of this work was to estimate the perceptual weights assigned to these texture cues for discriminating surface orientation and to measure the visual system's reliance on an isotropy assumption in interpreting foreshortening information. A novel analytical technique is introduced which takes advantage of the natural cue perturbations inherent in stochastic texture stimuli to estimate cue weights and measure the influence of an isotropy assumption. Ideal observers were derived which compute the exact information content of the different texture cues in the stimuli used in the experiments and which either did or did not rely on an assumption of surface texture isotropy. Simulations of the ideal observers using the same stimuli shown to subjects in a slant discrimination task provided trial-by-trial estimates of the natural cue perturbations which were inherent in the stimuli. By back-correlating subjects' judgements with the different ideal observer estimates, we were able to estimate both the weights given to each cue by subjects and the strength of subjects' prior assumptions of isotropy. In all of the conditions tested, we found that subjects relied primarily on the foreshortening cue. A small, but significant weight was given to scaling information and no significant weight was given to density information. In conditions in which the surface textures deviated from isotropy by random amounts from stimulus to stimulus, subject judgements correlated well with the estimates of an ideal observer which incorrectly assumed surface texture isotropy. This correlation was not complete, however, suggesting that a soft form of the isotropy constraint was used. Moreover, the correlation was significantly lower for textures containing higher-order information about surface orientation (skew of rectangular texture elements). The results of the analysis clearly implicate texture foreshortening as a primary cue for perceiving surface slant from texture and suggest that the visual system incorporates a strong, though not complete, bias to interpret surface textures as isotropic in its inference of surface slant from texture. They further suggest that local texture skew, when available in an image, contributes significantly to perceptual estimates of surface orientation.
Physically powerful can be hazardous: negative pressure pulmonary edema.

ERIANESTHESIA NURSING is a wonderful nd demanding profession. As an academic proessor, working with patients in Phase I is a treat nd a nice break from tests and lectures. As omeone who needs new experiences and stimlation, I have found my “special place” in the ACU because there is no room for complaency. Every so often, however, I am in need of reminder of the demanding nature of the field have chosen.
Recent advances in the molecular genetics of Dictyostelium

DNA mediated transformation is a critical technique for uniting genetic, molecular genetic and reverse genetic approaches to a wide range of problems in cell and molecular biology. In Dictyostelium, there is now the capability not only to manipulate DNA sequences in vitro and put them back into the cell, but also to alter the sequences of endogenous chromosomal genes through high frequency homologous recombination. This means that the range of gene manipulation techniques that have made yeast such a useful system should now be applicable in Dictyostelium. For studying problems such as cellular motility, morphogenesis, and gene regulation, few organisms have the combination of features offered by Dictyostelium.
Inferring Coancestry in Population Samples in the Presence of Linkage Disequilibrium

In both pedigree linkage studies and in population-based association studies there has been much interest in the use of modern dense genetic marker data to infer segments of gene identity by descent (ibd) among individuals not known to be related, to increase power and resolution in localizing genes affecting complex traits. In this article, we present a hidden Markov model (HMM) for ibd among a set of chromosomes and describe methods and software for inference of ibd among the four chromosomes of pairs of individuals, using either phased (haplotypic) or unphased (genotypic) data. The model allows for missing data and typing error, but does not model linkage disequilibrium (LD), because fitting an accurate LD model requires large samples from well-studied populations. However, LD remains a major confounding factor, since LD is itself a reflection of coancestry at the population level. To study the impact of LD, we have developed a novel simulation approach to generate realistic dense marker data for the same set of markers but at varying levels of LD. Using this approach, we present results of a study of the impact of LD on the sensitivity and specificity of our HMM model in estimating segments of ibd among sets of four chromosomes and between genotype pairs. We show that, despite not incorporating LD, our model has been quite successful in detecting segments as small as 10(6) bp (1 Mpb); we present also comparisons with fastIBD which uses an LD model in estimating ibd.
Lung Flute Improves Symptoms and Health Status in COPD with Chronic Bronchitis: A 26 Week Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by mucus hypersecretion that contributes to disease related morbidity and is associated with increased mortality. The Lung Flute® is a new respiratory device that produces a low frequency acoustic wave with moderately vigorous exhalation to increase mucus clearance. We hypothesized that the Lung Flute, used on a twice daily basis will provide clinical benefit to patients with COPD with chronic bronchitis. Methods: We performed a 26 week randomized, non-intervention controlled, single center, open label trial in 69 patients with COPD and Chronic Bronchitis. The primary endpoint was change in respiratory symptoms measured with the Chronic COPD Questionnaire (CCQ). Secondary endpoints included health status, assessed by the St. George Respiratory questionnaire (SGRQ), BODE (Body-Mass Index, Airflow Obstruction, Dyspnea, and Exercise Capacity) index score and exacerbation frequency. Results: While the control patients did not demonstrate any significant changes in the primary endpoint (CCQ change at 26 weeks of +0.01, p =0.8), a trend (p=0.08) to decrease (improvement) in the CCQ (-0.23 at 26 weeks) was seen with the Lung Flute. Furthermore, a significant improvement in the symptom domain of the CCQ was seen only with the lung flute (-0.42, p = 0.004). Health status (SGRQ) improvement, was also only seen with the Lung Flute (-3.23, p = 0.03). The BODE score increased in the control group (3.31 at baseline, 4.14 at 26 weeks), however it remained stable in the Lung Flute arm (3.16 at baseline and 26 weeks), with the changes from baseline being significantly different between the 2 arms (p = 0.01). There was a trend for less exacerbations in the Lung Flute group (p = 0.07). Adverse effects were minor, with only 1 patient discontinuing treatment because of lack of efficacy. Serious adverse effects seen were all determined to be unrelated to the device use. Conclusions: The Lung Flute is a safe and effective treatment in COPD with chronic bronchitis, providing a wide array of benefits.
John Eisner and Roger Cardinal, eds. The Cultures of Collecting; and Werner Muensterberger. Collecting, An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives.

The Cultures of Collecting. Edited by JOHN ELSNER and ROGER CARDINAL. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1994. vii. 312 pp. Halftones, references, select bibliography, index. $39.95 (cloth), $18.95 (paper). Collecting, An Unruly Passion: Psychological Perspectives, WERNER MUENSTERBERGER. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994. xi. 295 pp. 12 b/w illus., notes, bibliography, index. $24.95 (cloth).
On a transportable high level language for minicomputers

This paper describes a high-level, PASCAL-based language, which is easily implementable on minicomputers with limited amounts of memory. The added features include a machine and operating system—independent formalism for describing file structures, and allow either compile time or run-time specification of the actual-formal file correspondence. A similar formalism for handling program overlays is described. These constructs are implemented in a manner consistent with the underlying language PASCAL, and allow one to easily write operating systems components.
The development of six ethical business dilemmas

As interest in the field of business ethics grows, so does the need for measures which can be utilized by a wide range of researchers. The purpose of this study is to research ethical business scenarios which are useful in studying ethical decision making, six such dilemmas are presented. The preliminary analysis, utilizing 248 respondents employed in full‐time positions, indicates that overall the dilemmas do not simply measure demographic characteristics of the individual or organization, but instead measure actual differences in ethical decision making.
High-resolution holographic opto-fluidic microscope on a chip

We demonstrate a lensless holographic opto-fluidic microscope based on pixel super-resolution techniques to create high-resolution amplitude and phase images of flowing objects within a micro-fluidic chip without complicated fabrication processes or uniform flow.