cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Molten salt synthesis of highly ordered and nanostructured hexagonal boron nitride

Abstract Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a well-known ceramic that has wide application areas ranging from electronics to metallurgy. However, highly ordered h-BN is conventionally synthesized at high temperatures above 1800 °C. In this work, we investigated the formation of BN from boric acid (H3BO3)-ammonium chloride (NH4Cl) mixture in the sodium chloride (NaCl)-potassium chloride (KCl) eutectic salt. We report the synthesis of highly ordered and nanostructured h-BN at 1000 °C using molten salt synthesis. The effect of starting composition, synthesis temperature, and dwell time on BN formation and its structural ordering were systematically investigated. It is concluded that the molten salt plays important roles in the formation of BN and its structural ordering, which is achieved by i) decomposing the boron (B)-nitrogen (N) bearing reactants that lead to the formation of BN layers, and ii) increasing the mobility of BN layers formed. Furthermore, we propose a possible reaction mechanism that governs the BN formation from the reactant mixture in molten salts and explain the observations based on thermodynamic and kinetic considerations.
Spectroscopic Study on the Polymer Condensates Formed via Pyrolysis of Levitated Droplets of Dicyanamide-Containing Ionic Liquids.

To investigate the suitability of ionic-liquid-based hypergolic fuels as replacements for traditional hydrazine-based propellants, a 1-methyl-4-amino-1,2,4-triazolium dicyanamide ([MAT][DCA]) dropl...
An Evidence Map for Interventions Addressing Transition from Pediatric to Adult Care: A Systematic Review of Systematic Reviews.

Abstract Problem Adolescents and young adults with chronic illnesses continue to face barriers as they transition from pediatric to adult care. An evidence map can help to identify gaps in the transition literature to determine targets for future research. Eligibility criteria We searched PubMed, CINAHL, PsycInfo, and Cochrane for systematic reviews published through February 2018. Eligible reviews included at least one comparative study testing a youth-focused intervention for improving transition with at least one quantitative health-related outcome reported. Sample We identified 431 unique reviews in our search, and 37 reviews (containing 71 eligible primary studies) met inclusion criteria. Results Most reviews (20 of 37) summarized some aspect of transition across diagnoses. Type 1 diabetes was the most common diagnosis studied (7 of 37 reviews and 24 of 71 primary studies). Only 14 of 71 primary studies focused on care after transfer to adult care. Conclusions The literature on interventions to improve transition to adult care has focused on a limited number of diagnoses, most commonly Type 1 diabetes. Common pediatric conditions, such as asthma, have not been studied with regard to transition. Efforts have been mainly targeted on transition preparation, with less focus on transition needs after transfer to adult care. Implications There is a need for transition research focused on common pediatric conditions and transition needs after transfer to adult care.
Advanced lung disease conference.

Dr. David Sugarbaker has often been described as a force of nature. His passion for clinical excellence drove him to establish the modern day paradigm for thoracic surgical education in the United States and abroad. Dr. Sugarbaker advanced the field of invasive interventions for mesothelioma and other thoracic malignancies and established world premier programs at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston and, more recently, at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston.
Differential impacts of Oncotype DX and Mammostrat prognostic indices upon the management of ER+ N0 breast cancer.

599 Background: Oncotype DX (Genomic Health, Redwood City CA) and Mammostrat (Clarient, Aliso Viejo CA) are two distinct prognostic measures currently marketed to facilitate adjuvant chemotherapy d...
Potential scalability of a cost-effective purification method for MgCl2-Containing salts for next-generation concentrating solar power technologies

Abstract Next-generation concentrating solar power (CSP) technology requires a high-temperature heat-transfer fluid and thermal energy storage media. Molten MgCl2-KCl-NaCl is considered a potential candidate salt due to its thermophysical properties. However, MgCl2 presents various challenges because of its hygroscopic nature. To keep corrosion under control, this molten chloride needs to remain free of hydrates and other impurities. Here, we have developed an effective purification method for MgCl2-containing salts by 1) combining known laboratory-scale, batch-style thermal and chemical purification processes to enable scalable, continuous-style processes for commercial next-generation CSP operation; 2) improving overall efficiency and minimizing the major corrosive impurity MgOHCl by optimizing key engineering parameters such as heating temperature/time and amount of elemental Mg addition; and 3) investigating the addition of halite (NaCl) to carnallite (KMgCl3) to reduce the liquidus temperature. Laboratory-scale results suggest that 1) adding 6.5 wt% of halite and less than 0.1 wt% of elemental Mg to commercial carnallite and 2) following a heating schedule to at least 650 °C with ~3 h of holding time at that temperature can produce a ternary MgCl2-KCl-NaCl salt composition with a low liquidus temperature of about 400 °C. It also reduces the presence of the corrosive impurity, MgOHCl, from ~1 to 2 wt.% to ~0.1 wt%. Findings of these key engineering parameters should provide a pathway toward a scalable, continuous-style salt-purification process at a scale of metric tons per hour that can produce a corrosion-controlled chloride molten salt for CSP applications.
“Tell me the story of home”: Afrofuturism, Eric Killmonger, and Black American malaise

Marvel's Black Panther (2018) begins with a young N’Jadaka (aka Erik “Killmonger” Stevens) asking his father, Prince N’Jobu, to tell him the story of home. N’Jobu shares the origin story of Wakanda...
A 9-μm Precision 5-MSa/s Pulsed-Coherent Lidar System With Subsampling Receiver

This letter presents a 19.5-GHz pulsed-coherent ranging system with an optical transmitter and an electrical subsampling receiver. A laser source is modulated by two electrical-optical modulators with two-level modulation at 19.5-GHz RF carrier frequency and 140-MHz pulsed modulation. At the receiving end, an analog front-end down-converts the echoed signal to 4.87-GHz IF, and an ADC directly subsamples the IF signal. The segmented time-of-flight information is then decoded by a digital signal processor. A proposed envelope detection reduces the nonlinearity which varies with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) thus enhances the receiver’s sensitivity. This envelope detection also eases the handoff between the coherent detection and the envelope detection. In a free-space measurement, this prototype achieves 9- $\mu \text{m}$ precision, 5-MHz sampling rate, and 100- $\mu \text{m}$ maximum INL across the 10-cm dynamic range at 2.5-m displacement.
A predictive growth model for Clostridium botulinum during cooling of cooked uncured ground beef.

Abstract A dynamic model to predict the germination and outgrowth of Clostridium botulinum spores in cooked ground beef was presented. Raw ground beef was inoculated with a ten-strain C. botulinum spore cocktail to achieve approximately 2 log spores/g. The inoculated ground beef was vacuum packaged, cooked to 71 °C to heat shock the spores, cooled to below 10 °C, and incubated isothermally at temperatures from 10 to 46 °C. C. botulinum growth was quantified and fitted into the primary Baranyi Model. Secondary models were fitted to maximum specific growth rate and lag phase duration using Modified Ratkowsky equation (R2 0.96) and hyperbolic function (R2 0.94), respectively. Similar experiments were also performed under non-isothermal (cooling) conditions. Acceptable zone prediction (APZ) analysis was conducted on growth data collected over 3 linear cooling regimes from the current study. The model performance (prediction errors) for all 22 validation data points collected in the current work were within the APZ limits (−1.0 to +0.5 log CFU/g). Additionally, two other growth data sets of C. botulinum reported in the literature were also subjected to the APZ analysis. In these validations, 20/22 and 10/14 predictions fell within the APZ limits. The model presented in this work can be employed to predict C. botulinum spore germination and growth in cooked uncured beef under non-isothermal conditions. The beef industry processors and food service organizations can utilize this predictive microbial model for cooling deviations and temperature abused situations and in developing customized process schedules for cooked, uncured beef products.
Comparing feedback and spatial approaches to advance ecosystem-based fisheries management in a changing Antarctic

To implement ecosystem-based approaches to fisheries management, decision makers need insight on the potential costs and benefits of the policy options available to them. In the Southern Ocean, two such options for addressing trade-offs between krill-dependent predators and the krill fishery include "feedback management" (FBM) strategies and marine protected areas (MPAs); in theory, the first adjusts to change, while the latter is robust to change. We compared two possible FBM options to a proposed MPA in the Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Sea given a changing climate. One of our feedback options, based on the density of Antarctic krill (Euphasia superba), projected modest increases in the abundances of some populations of krill predators, whereas outcomes from our second FBM option, based on changes in the abundances of penguins, were more mixed, with some areas projecting predator population declines. The MPA resulted in greater increases in some, but not all, predator populations than either feedback strategy. We conclude that these differing outcomes relate to the ways the options separate fishing and predator foraging, either by continually shifting the spatial distribution of fishing away from potentially vulnerable populations (FBM) or by permanently closing areas to fishing (the MPA). For the krill fishery, we show that total catches could be maintained using an FBM approach or slightly increased with the MPA, but the fishery would be forced to adjust fishing locations and sometimes fish in areas of relatively low krill density-both potentially significant costs. Our work demonstrates the potential to shift, rather than avoid, ecological risks and the likely costs of fishing, indicating trade-offs for decision makers to consider.
Surface Functionalization of Ti3C2Tx MXene Nanosheets with Catechols: Implication for Colloidal Processing.

Precise tailoring of two-dimensional nanosheets with organic molecules is critical to passivate the surface and control the reactivity, which is essential for a wide range of applications. Herein, we introduce catechols to functionalize exfoliated MXenes (Ti3C2Tx) in a colloidal suspension. Catechols react spontaneously with Ti3C2Tx surfaces, where binding is initiated from a charge-transfer complex as confirmed by density functional theory (DFT) and UV-vis. Ti3C2Tx sheet interlayer spacing is increased by catechol functionalization, as confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), while Raman and atomic force microscopy-infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR) measurements indicate binding of catechols at the Ti3C2Tx surface occurs through metal-oxygen bonds, which is supported by DFT calculations. Finally, we demonstrate immobilization of a fluorescent dye on the surface of MXene. Our results establish a strategy for tailoring MXene surfaces via aqueous functionalization with catechols, whereby colloidal stability can be modified and further functionality can be introduced, which could provide excellent anchoring points to grow polymer brushes and tune specific properties.
A functional approach to rotation equivariant non-linearities for Tensor Field Networks

Learning pose invariant representation is a fundamental problem in shape analysis. Most existing deep learning algorithms for 3D shape analysis are not robust to rotations and are often trained on synthetic datasets consisting of pre-aligned shapes, yielding poor generalization to unseen poses. This observation motivates a growing interest in rotation invariant and equivariant methods. The field of rotation equivariant deep learning is developing in recent years thanks to a well established theory of Lie group representations and convolutions. A fundamental problem in equivariant deep learning is to design activation functions which are both informative and preserve equivariance. The recently introduced Tensor Field Network (TFN) framework provides a rotation equivariant network design for point cloud analysis. TFN features undergo a rotation in feature space given a rotation of the input pointcloud. TFN and similar designs consider nonlinearities which operate only over rotation invariant features such as the norm of equivariant features to preserve equivariance, making them unable to capture the directional information. In a recent work entitled "Gauge Equivariant Mesh CNNs: Anisotropic Convolutions on Geometric Graphs" Hann et al. interpret 2D rotation equivariant features as Fourier coefficients of functions on the circle. In this work we transpose the idea of Hann et al. to 3D by interpreting TFN features as spherical harmonics coefficients of functions on the sphere. We introduce a new equivariant nonlinearity and pooling for TFN. We show improvments over the original TFN design and other equivariant nonlinearities in classification and segmentation tasks. Furthermore our method is competitive with state of the art rotation invariant methods in some instances.
Decision List Compression by Mild Random Restrictions

A decision list is an ordered list of rules. Each rule is specified by a term, which is a conjunction of literals, and a value. Given an input, the output of a decision list is the value correspond...
Vision's Immanence: Faulkner, Film, and the Popular Imagination

William Faulkner occupied a unique position as a modern writer. Although famous for his modernist novels and their notorious difficulty, he also wrote extensively for the "culture industry," and the works he produced for it-including short stories, adaptations, and screenplays-bore many of the hallmarks of consumer art. His experiences as a Hollywood screenwriter influenced him in a number of ways, many of them negative, while the films turned out by the "dream factories" in which he labored sporadically inspired both his interest and his contempt. Faulkner also disparaged the popular magazines-though he frequently sold short stories to them. To what extent was Faulkner's deeply ambivalent relationship to-and involvement with-American popular culture reflected in his modernist or "art" fiction? Peter Lurie finds convincing evidence that Faulkner was keenly aware of commercial culture and adapted its formulae, strategies, and in particular, its visual techniques into the language of his novels of the 1930s. Lurie contends that Faulkner's modernism can be best understood in light of his reaction to the popular culture of his day. Using Theodor Adorno's theory about modern cultural production as a framework, Lurie's close readings of Sanctuary, Light in August, Absalom! Absalom!, and If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem uncover the cultural history that surrounded and influenced the development of Faulkner's art. Lurie is particularly interested in the influence of cinema on Faulkner's fiction and especially the visual strategies he both deployed and critiqued. These include the suggestion of cinematic viewing on the part of readers and of characters in each of the novels; the collective and individual acts of voyeurism in Sanctuary and Light in August; the exposing in Absalom! Absalom! and Light in Augustof stereotypical and cinematic patterns of thought about history and race; and the evocation of popular forms like melodrama and the movie screen in If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem. Offering innovative readings of these canonical works, this study sheds new light on Faulkner's uniquely American modernism.
Urban Storm-Induced Discharge Impacts: US Environmental Protection Agency Research Program Review

Fecal coliform bacteria (and pathogens), high flow rates, sediment, toxic heavy metals and organic pollutants are most commonly associated with urban receiving water problems. Most beneficial uses have been shown to be adversely affected by urban runoff, including shell fish harvesting, fish and aquatic life propagation, drinking water supplies, aesthetics and recreation. Most of the problems occur over long periods of time and are not associated with individual runoff events, making cause and effect relationships difficult to study. The Storm and Combined Sewer Program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has sponsored several long-term research projects to investigate these problems, along with data reviews to identify urban runoff problems from available information. Current research efforts are stressing sources and controls for toxicants in urban runoff.
Transient electric birefringence for determining global conformations of nonhelix elements and protein-induced bends in RNA.

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the transient electric birefringence (TEB) that determines the global conformations of nonhelix elements and protein-induced bends in RNA. TEB is a sensitive method for characterizing both the conformations and the flexibilities of RNA molecules in solution. In its application to the study of RNA conformation, it is fundamentally a hydrodynamic method; RNA helices with central bends undergo more rapid rotational diffusion than do their linear counterparts, because the bent molecules experience less frictional resistance. Because rotational diffusion is much more sensitive to changes in overall helix conformation than is translational diffusion and the relationship between the experimental diffusion constants and hydrodynamic theory is more straightforward, TEB has proven to be quite useful for quantifying both intrinsic and protein-induced bends in RNA. Another important distinction between rotational and translational diffusion pertains to the magnitude of the direct frictional contribution of a bound protein or element of RNA tertiary structure. For centrally placed elements, rotational diffusion is relatively insensitive to the frictional surface of the added protein or RNA structure because such elements lie close to the center of rotation. In a typical TEB experiment, an element of interest is placed at the center of an otherwise duplex RNA molecule. By comparing the birefringence decay time of the heteroduplex (or protein-bound) molecule to a linear control, a measure of the effective angle between the helix arms is obtained.
Comments on Michael (1993): Establishing Operations

The present comments concern Michael's concept of motivative variables, and the implications of that concept for our understanding of the nature of reinforcement as well as the extinction of responses maintained through positive and negative reinforcement. We note that both extinction and altering motivative variables decrease responding, but they do so differently. The former does so by discontinuing the response-reinforcer relation. The latter does so by altering the motivation to respond. We emphasize that we shouldn't conclude we have extinguished a response just because we have performed some operation that results in decreased responding. The difference is especially important for an understanding of how we might reduce maladaptive avoidance responses, such as found in phobias or obsessive-compulsive disorders.
Confinement Physics Research Facility/ZTH: a progress report

In October 1985, the Controlled Thermonuclear Research (CTR) Division began the design and construction of the Confinement Physics Research Facility (CPRF) and the ZTH toroidal, reversed-field-pinch (RFP), plasma physics experiment. An update is presented of the CPRF, a facility which will provide the buildings, utilities, pulsed power system, control system, and diagnostics needed to operate a magnetically confined fusion experiment. ZTH will be the first experiment operated in the facility. The construction of CPRF/ZTH is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 1993. >
Care of the Child With a Colostomy

Colostomy in infancy and childhood is usually performed for benign disease and is of a temporary nature. The colostomy often may be functional for 12 to 18 months, however, and therefore requires skilled care by the patient and/or his parents. The purpose of this report is to describe a combined inpatient-outpatient program of colostomy care that has resulted in improved management of infants and children with colostomies. The physician, parent, nurse, and enterostomal therapist are all intimately involved in the program. It is further intended to acquaint the pediatric physician with complicating factors related to the procedure. Colostomies in children are frequently performed to relieve colonic obstructions resulting from congenital anomalies such as Hirschsprung9s disease, colon atresia, and imperforate anus, and occasionally for pelvic and perineal tumors, Crohn9s disease of the colon, and instances of rectal perforation.1,2
Effects of cannabinoids on preimplantation mouse embryo development and implantation are mediated by brain-type cannabinoid receptors.

We examined the relative importance of G (Gi) protein-coupled brain-type (CB1-R) and spleen-type (CB2-R) cannabinoid receptors in preimplantation embryo development using agonists and antagonists specific to CB1-R and CB2-R. The results establish that endogenous cannabinoid ligands, anandamide and sn-2 arachidonoylglycerol, arrest embryo development in vitro, and this effect is reversed by CB1-R antagonists SR141716A or AM 251, but not by SR144528, a CB2-R antagonist. A CB2-R selective agonist AM 663 failed to affect embryo development. These results suggest that cannabinoid effects on embryo development are mediated by CB1-R. We also observed that A 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol ([-]THC) infused in the presence of cytochrome P450 inhibitors interfered with blastocyst implantation. This adverse effect was reversed by coinfusion of SR141716A. The less active stereoisomer (+)THC plus the inhibitors failed to affect implantation. Analysis of tissue levels demonstrated that uterine accumulation of (-)THC occurred when it was infused in the presence of the P450 inhibitors. These results demonstrate that the uterus and perhaps the embryo have the cytochrome P450 enzymes to metabolize (-)THC and neutralize its adverse effects on implantation. Collectively, the present study demonstrates that cannabinoid effects on embryo development and implantation are mediated by embryonic and/or uterine CB1-R, but not CB2-R.
Catalytic mechanism of a heme and tyrosyl radical-containing fatty acid α-(di)oxygenase.

The steady-state catalytic mechanism of a fatty acid α-(di)oxygenase is examined, revealing that a persistent tyrosyl radical (Tyr379•) effects O2 insertion into Cα−H bonds of fatty acids. The initiating Cα−H homolysis step is characterized by apparent rate constants and deuterium kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) that increase hyperbolically upon raising the concentration of O2. These results are consistent with H• tunneling, transitioning from a reversible to an irreversible regime. The limiting deuterium KIEs increase from ∼30 to 120 as the fatty acid chain is shortened from that of the native substrate. In addition, activation barriers increase in a manner that reflects decreased fatty acid binding affinities. Anaerobic isotope exchange experiments provide compelling evidence that Tyr379• initiates catalysis by H• abstraction. Cα−H homolysis is kinetically driven by O2 trapping of the α-carbon radical and reduction of a putative peroxyl radical intermediate to a 2(R)-hydroperoxide product. These findings...
Perceived environmental predictors of physical activity over 6 months in adults: activity counseling trial.

Purpose: In the present study, the authors extend previous cross-sectional findings by using a prospective design to determine whether physical and social environmental characteristics predict physical activity over 6 months. Design: Inactive adults were recruited to the Activity Counseling Trial, a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial of physical activity intervention in primary care. Participants were 387 women and 474 men aged 35-75 years in 3 regions; 1/3 were minorities; 56% had some college education. Baseline perceived environmental variables were used to predict physical activity at 6 months, adjusting for experimental condition and other potential moderators. Measures: The validated 7-day physical activity recall interview was used to estimate minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity. A standardized survey was used to measure social and physical environmental variables around the home and neighborhood. Results: Women reporting no unattended dogs and low crime in their neighborhoods and men reporting frequently seeing people being active in their neighborhoods did 50-75 more minutes of physical activity per week than did those with different environmental characteristics. Interactions of environmental variables with age group suggested that older adults may be more affected by environmental variables than are younger adults. Conclusions: Self-reported social and physical environmental variables were significantly related to moderate to vigorous physical activity among a diverse sample of adults living in 3 regions of the United States. These prospective findings strengthen the conclusion from previous cross-sectional studies that environmental variables are important correlates of physical activity.
Sennius yucatan, n. sp., a Redescription of S. infractus, and New Host Records for Other Sennius (Coleoptera: Bruchidae)

The new species Sennius yucatan Johnson, which breeds in the seeds of Senna atomaria (L.) Irwin and Barneby, is described, and Sennius infractus Johnson and King-solver is redescribed. Figures of the male genitalia, habitus, hind leg, and antenna are included for both species. Host records for 19 other species of Sennius are recorded. An analysis of the host records for use as taxonomic characters when compared with a, new classification of the legume subtribe Cassiinae revealed no new significant conclusions.
Blueberry Production in new Brunswick, nova scotia, And Maine: A Reply to wood ET AL.

Wood et al [4] have criticized Kevan's [1] analyses of blueberry production in New Brunswick as related to insecticide applications. Their criticisms have elements of validity, but do not refute in general Kevan's conclusions. That is not to say Kevan's original analyses were not overly simple. However, we present here further arguments which lend strong credence to the essential validity of Kevan's position [1, 2] that blueberry production in New Brunswick has suffered since 1970 because of applications of fenitrothion directed at spruce-budworm infestations in the forest, but which also have adversely affected native pollinating bees of the blueberry lands. The crucial feature of the criticism is Kevan's choice of the co-variate, Nova Scotia, with which to compare New Brunswick. Wood et al object to the choice of Nova Scotia because of the presence of positive trend in blueberry production. In order to clarify this objection it is necessary to point out that Kevan used the time period 1960-75, wheras Wood et al use 1951-77. The trend coefficients and their significance levels for 1960-75 for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia were —0.017 (p = .849) and 0.251 (p= .047), respectively. These estimates support Wood et al. However, Wood et al go on to argue that Kevan should have used Maine as the comparison; their correct logic up to this point is now used in error.
Physical performance tasks: What are the underlying constructs?

Abstract Novy DM, Simmonds MJ, Lee CE. Physical performance tasks: What are the underlying constructs? Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2002;83:44-7. Objectives: To investigate the structural validity of a battery of physical performance tasks and to investigate the construct validity of the resulting factors. Design: A measurement study. Setting: A large, private orthopedic clinic and a physical therapy clinic in an urban area. Participants: One hundred three consecutive adult patients with low back pain who were referred for physical therapy assessment. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: The physical performance battery was composed of the 50-foot speed walk, 5-minute walk, repeated trunk flexion, sit to stand, loaded reach, rollover tasks, and Sorensen upper-body lift. Participants also completed 5 self-report measures. Results: Two correlated (.74) factors, speed and coordination and endurance and strength, were derived from the physical performance tasks. The Sorenson upper-body lift task was the only indicator that was not useful in defining the factors. Both factors had statistically significant correlations with measures of physical disability, lack of self-efficacy, and negative affect. Both factors had a trivial correlation with a numeric rating of pain intensity. Conclusions: There is support for 2 meaningful empiric groupings (ie, the derived factors) of the performance tasks. Pain intensity had a trivial overlap with speed-coordination and endurance-strength factors. © 2002 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Stage-Dependent Accumulation of Cadmium and Induction of Metallothionein-Like Binding Activity in the Testis of the Dogfish Shark, Squalus acanthias

Cadmium (Cd) is an established spermatotoxicant. Using the shark (Squalus acanthias) testis model, we investigated stagerelated patterns of intratesticular Cd accumulation and effect. After a single injection of 109 CdCl2, tracer was rapidly eliminated from plasma but accumulated and was retained in testis for at least 7 days. Intratesticular 109 Cd was stage dependent, resulting in a 3- to 5-fold gradient: germinal zone (GZ) . premeiotic (PrM) . meiotic (M) . postmeiotic (PoM) stages. When measured as tissue:plasma ratios, the Cd-binding mechanism in GZ (71:1) was similar to that in liver (87:1) but lower than in kidney (381:1). The same intratesticular gradient was seen in untreated controls when tissue Cd levels were measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy, implying environmental exposure. A single CdCl2 injection (5 mg/kg i.v.) elevated testicular Cd . 160fold in all stages but did not alter the direction or magnitude of the gradient. Intratesticular distribution of metallothionein-like Cd-binding protein was stage dependent (PrM 5 PoM . GZ 5 M), but the pattern differed from the Cd gradient. This binding component was Cd inducible in all but M stages, but induction did not alter the stage-dependent pattern of binding activity or Cd accumulation. Analysis of tissue subfractions after in vivo tracer injection indicated that the binding mechanism responsible for the intratesticular gradient is mainly cytosolic, but that a second less abundant component is associated with the nucleus. The functional significance of preferential Cd accumulation in GZ and PrM stages of spermatogenesis remains to be determined.
The use of proton affinity distributions for the characterization of active sites of alumina-supported Co-Mo catalysts

Abstract A series of MoO3/Al2O3catalysts of varying weight loading were characterized after calcination by their buffering capacity during potentiometric titration. Strong buffering of the aqueous electrolyte occurred in distinct pH ranges, which indicated the formation of hydrolysis products of the surface compounds formed in these pH windows. Addition of cobalt, followed by calcination, revealed a new feature which signaled the formation of a possible surface heteropolymolybdate compound. If cobalt was added first this compound was not formed, however, if cobalt and molybdenum were coimpregnated it was detectable. As a promoter, Ni(II) had an effect similar to cobalt, but Fe(III) did not. The series of catalysts were further tested for their hydrodesulfurization activity using thiophene as a reactant. The thiophene conversion, as a function of the amount of surface compound formed by addition of the cobalt promoter, resulted in a linear relation, indicating that the Co/Mo compound detected in the oxidic state could be correlated with the HDS activity of these catalysts.
Driver Performance in the Moments Surrounding a Microsleep.

This study examined if individuals who are at increased risk for drowsy driving because of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS), have impairments in driving performance in the moments during microsleep episodes as opposed to during periods of wakefulness. Twenty-four licensed drivers diagnosed with OSAS based on standard clinical and polysomnographic criteria, participated in an hour-long drive in a high-fidelity driving simulator with synchronous electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings for identification of microsleeps. The drivers showed significant deterioration in vehicle control during the microsleep episodes compared to driving performance in the absence of microsleeps on equivalent segments of roadway. The degree of performance decrement correlated with microsleep duration, particularly on curved roads. Results indicate that driving performance deteriorates during microsleep episodes. Detecting microsleeps in real-time and identifying how these episodes of transition between wakefulness and sleep impair driver performance is relevant to the design and implementation of countermeasures such as drowsy driver detection and alerting systems that use EEG technology.
Pleural Effusion in Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Intrathoracic non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) usually presents with roentgenographic evidence of mediastinal lymph node enlargement, pulmonary masses, pleural effusion, and a clinical picture of a systemic disease with lymphadenopathy. The presentation of NHL with pleural effusion as the major roentgenographic abnormality and no clinical peripheral lymphadenopathy or organomegaly is unusual. During a seven-year period, we encountered 19 patients with NHL in whom pleural effusion was the major roentgenographic and clinical finding. Pleural fluid cytologic results were diagnostic in only two patients. Closed pleural biopsy was positive in three. Eight of 11 patients had diagnostic immunophenotypic lymphocyte cell marker studies. Seven of nine patients had diagnostic thoracoscopy and one thoracotomy. The CT scan identified biopsy sites when pleural fluid and tissue studies were nondiagnostic. Lymphomatous tissue was obtained from the pleura in 17 of the 19 patients supporting the contention that pleural effusion in patients with NHL is usually due to pleural lymphoma rather than obstruction to mediastinal lymphatics.
Effect of Insulin on Fatty Acid Synthesis from Pyuvate, Lactate, or Endogenous Sources in Adipose Tissue: Evidence for the Hormonal Regulation of Pyruvate Dehydrogenase1

The incorporation of radioactivity from tritiated water into fatty acids has been used as a measure of the rate of fat synthesis in rat epididymal adipose tissue. Tissue removed from fasted-refed rats incubated in the presence or absence of glucose synthesized fatty acids at a rate comparable to that of normal tissue incubated with glucose and insulin. This high rate of synthesis was increased about 100% by the addition of insulin when glucose was present. When no substrate was added, insulin produced a 40% increase in the rate of fatty acid synthesis while decreasing glyceride-glycerol and lactic acid formation. It is concluded that insulin addition alters the metabolic disposition of carbohydrate arising from intracellular sources. Tissue from normally fed rats incorporated 5 times as much tritium from water into fatty acids when 20 mM pyruvate was provided as substrate as when 20 mM lactate was present. Insulin increased fatty acid synthesis in the presence of pyruvate by 40% and with lactate by 60%. T...
Decentral and multilevel controllability of large-scale systems

Satisfactory synthesis of controllers for large scale systems must necessarily be conducted within a decomposition - decentralization framework to overcome the twin problems of high dimensionality and constraints on the available information structure, and the determination of controllability conditions are useful in such designs. New concepts of controllability based primarily on the degree of permitted information exchance among the various parts of the system, are introduced and conditions under which completely decentralized and multilevel controllers can be synthesized are developed. These control schemes are shown to possess additional beneficial features such as tolerance to structural perturbations and provision of efficient means of handling time delays caused by information transfer.
Scheduling nonlinear computational loads

A scheduling model for a tree network is studied where the computation time for each node is nonlinear in the size of the assigned load. Optimal load allocation and speedup for simultaneous load distribution for a quadratic nonlinearity are obtained using simple equations. An iterative solution for sequential load distribution is presented for a nonlinearity of arbitrary power. Superlinear speedup is possible when computational complexity is nonlinear in the size of assigned loads. Aerospace applications include spectrum computation, radar and sensor data processing, and satellite image processing.
Diffusion-accommodated flow and superplasticity

Abstract Polycrystalline matter can deform to large strains by grain-boundary sliding with diffusional accommodation. A new mechanism for this sort of deformation is described and modelled. It differs fundamentally from Nabarro-Herring and Coble creep in a topological sense: grains switch their neighbors and do not elongate significantly. A constitutive equation describing the mechanism is derived from the model. The strain-rate may be diffusion controlled, in which case the constitutive equation resembles the Nabarro-Herring-Coble equation but predicts strain-rates which are roughly an order of magnitude faster. Or it may be controlled by an interface reaction—roughly speaking, by the restricted ability of a boundary to act as a sink or source for point defects, or by its restricted ability to slide. The flow behavior of superplastic alloys can be explained as the superposition of this mechanism and ordinary power-law creep (“dislocation creep”). The combined mechanisms appear to be capable of explaining not only the observed relation between strain-rate and stress, but most of the microstructural and topological features of superplastic flow as well.
A test of the pollinator limitation hypothesis for a neotropical herb

We hand—pollinated all flowers in inflorescences of the neotropical herb Calathea ovandensis (Marantaceae) and compared fruit and seed set of treatment plants to that of open—pollinated controls. Hand—pollination increased the number of initiated fruits by 24%, the number of mature fruits by 6.8%, and the number of seeds by 12.6%, but only the first of these differences was statistically significant. The proportion of flowers that matured fruits was very low compared with data reported for other species: 8.1% for the hand—pollinated treatment and 7.4% for open—pollinated controls. The proportion of flowers that initiated fruits was also quite low: 24.5% for hand—pollinated plants and 20.2% for open—pollinated plants. Mature fruit and seed production were significantly affected by nonpollinating animals that act at different developmental stages. Antguards attracted to extrafloral nectaries on the inflorescence appeared to stimulate flower production, while an ant—tended herbivore of reproductive tissues h...
Victorian Reformations: Historical Fiction and Religious Controversy, 1820-1900

In this exceptionally well-researched and informative study, Miriam Elizabeth Burstein argues that Victorian novelists repeatedly set their fictions in the sixteenth century, amid the rise of Engli...
An analysis of toxicology and medical journal conflict-of-interest polices.

Basic science and medical journals are increasingly requiring authors to disclose financial interests they have in the subject matter of contributed articles and letters. A comparison of journal conflict-of-interest (COI) policies can provide insight into published reports of low compliance rates and inconsistencies in disclosures by the same author found in different journals. The objective of this article is to compare the criteria, specificity, and scope of COI polices in toxicology and medical journals. We studied the COI policies of 47 toxicology and 180 medical journals catalogued in Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory for criteria of competing interests, types of submissions covered, monetary or time thresholds for reporting, and penalties for violations. Indicators were constructed for rating policy specificity, author discretion, and policy scope. Written COI policies were found in 87% if the toxicology and 84% of the medical journals; 15% and 28% of the toxicology and medical journals, ...
Tibetan Medicine Resources on the Internet

Tibetan medicine has a long, rich history. Recent efforts to preserve and promote Tibetan medicine and practice have resulted in an increased Internet presence. Several Web sites are identified that provide reliable, credible information on Tibetan medicine. It should be noted that the listing is not exhaustive and is limited to English only resources.
Extent of inter-hydrogen bond correlations in water. Temperature effect

Abstract In a series of molecular dynamics calculations, we analyze static and dynamic correlations with fluctuations of neighboring bonds in water above and below room temperature, including the supercooled regime. For molecular pairs sharing a common hydrogen bond, we find that the probabilities of participating in additional bonds are well described as statistically uncorrelated events. Through an application of the reactive-flux formalism, we partition the dynamics according to the local environment of hydrogen bonding. We show that the variation of relaxation rate with respect to changes in local hydrogen bond population has little dynamical consequences at all temperatures studied. Furthermore, we discuss the experimental evidence for both findings.
Protein kinase C mediates flow-induced prostaglandin E2 production in osteoblasts.

Interstitial fluid flow generated by skeletal loading may be responsible for load-induced bone remodeling. Production of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), a potent mediator of bone remodeling, is augmented in osteoblasts exposed to fluid flow. Exposure to fluid flow resulted in a slight initial increase in PGE2 production (1–2 hour), followed by a dramatic increase (2–8 hours). The initial phase of only slightly increased PGE2 production was dependent on substrate availability. H7, a protein kinase C inhibitor, strongly inhibited flow-induced prostaglandin E2 production at all time points examined without effecting production in stationary cultures. Blocking protein synthesis with cycloheximide resulted in a 56% reduction in long-term flow-induced PGE2 production. Thus, the later phase appeared to be the result of an increased number of enzymes as well as increased activity of existing enzymes or increased substrate availability. In conclusion, fluid flow increases PGE2 production in osteoplasts via a protein kinase C-dependent pathway involvingde novo protein synthesis.
Report of the Standing Committee on Problems of the Upper Atmosphere

This is the first report of the new Standing Committee on Problems of the Upper Atmosphere of the Section of Meteorology, AGU. It is intended that this report be primarily of use to those who are not specialists in the upper atmosphere, but it is probable that it will be of use to people working in this field also, since it is becoming difficult to keep up with the recent developments. The phases which are being specifically discussed below are upper-atmosphere research by means of sound-propagation observations and by means of meteor observations, and research on some of the theoretical aspects of the upper atmosphere. It is recognized that this leaves some serious gaps, such as ionospheric research by radio-radar techniques, soundings by rockets, and studies of the radiations from the upper atmosphere. An attempt will be made to fill these gaps in future reports, since it is hoped to make one every year.
Fatty acylation of yeast glycoproteins proceeds independently of N-linked glycosylation.

The relationship between protein glycosylation and fatty acylation of glycoproteins was studied in the wild-type and asparagine-linked glycosylation-deficient mutants (alg1 and alg2) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. At the non-permissive temperature (37°C), both mutant cells exhibited increased incorporation of [3H]palmitate into five polypeptides based on SDS-PAGE. In contrast, the wild-type yeast cells contained [3H]palmitate-labeled polypeptides of higher molecular weights, which were converted to the bands seen in the mutant cells upon treatment of the cell extract with endoglycosidase H prior to SDS-PAGE. In addition, labeling of the wild-type yeast cells with [3H]palmitate in the presence of tunicamycin revealed the incorporation of [3H]palmitate into the same five bands as found in the alg1 and alg2 mutants at the non-permissive temperature without tunicamycin. These results indicate that fatty acylation of glycoproteins proceeds independently of protein N-glycosylation in yeast cells.
Mating behavior of the screw-worm fly as affected by differences in strain and size.

The effects of differences in strains and size on the mating frequency of male screw-worm flies, Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel), were studied in observed mating tests with a recently colonized (Mexican) and a laboratory-adapted (Florida) strain of flies. Large or small males of the Florida strain were obtained by rearing the flies on 2 different artificial media. Flies comparable in size to wild flies were reared in artificial wounds on sheep. Ancillary studies required sterilization of the males by exposure to gamma irradiation. Differences in mating frequency among male flies that were attributable to strain disappeared after the Mexican flies had been colonized for 15 generations. However, differences in mating frequency between large and small Florida males persisted, regardless of the strain of the female flies, when the females were as large as flies in natural populations.