cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Release of piperonyl butoxide and permethrin from synergized ear tags on cattle and effects on horn fly mortality.

A study was conducted to determine the release rates of piperonyl butoxide (PBO) and permethrin from synergized insecticidal cattle ear tags and their effects on mortality of the horn fly, Hematobia irritans irritans (L.) (Diptera: Muscidae). PBO was released from the ear tags at a higher rate than permethrin in both winter and summer trials. The cumulative release of PBO and permethrin from the ear tags at the end of 18 wk in the winter trial was 50.4 and 30.3%, respectively. The cumulative release of PBO and permethrin from the ear tags at the end of 18 wk in the summer trial was 66.7 and 44.7%, respectively. There was a significant correlation between the cumulative daily high ambient temperature (°C) and the cumulative release of both PBO and permethrin. Compared with the susceptible horn fly strain, the permethrin-resistant strain demonstrated 7.9- and 12.8-fold resistance to permethrin at the levels of LC50 and LC90, respectively. When exposed to filter paper wipes taken from the shoulders of cattle treated with the PBO-synergized permethrin tags from the summer trial, the resistant strain demonstrated reduced mortality compared with the susceptible strain. The mortality of the resistant strain at 2- and 3-h exposure exhibited a pattern of declining fly mortalities as a result of the decreased release of PBO and permethrin, as well as the decline in the ratio of PBO:permethrin released from the tags after 8 wk. A similar decline in horn fly mortalities was observed in the susceptible strain at 30-min exposure time that coincided with the pattern of reduced release of PBO and permethrin from the ear tags over the course of summer trial.
High-fat feeding of different fats during pregnancy and lactation in rats: Effects on maternal metabolism, pregnancy outcome, milk and tissue fatty acid profiles

This study was designed to examine the effects of consumption of different fats during pregnancy and lactation on maternal metabolism, pregnancy outcome, and milk and tissue fatty acid (FA) profiles. Wistar rats were divided into three groups according to dietary fat source: PM (40% crude palm oil), n = 7; SB (40% soybean oil), n = 7; and VS (40% partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening), n = 8. Rats were fed experimental diets from day 1 of pregnancy to sacrifice, which was one week after weaning of pups (21d). Milk was expressed from dams on day 14 of lactation. PM, SB and VS milk samples had the same fat content and had FA profiles similar to that of their respective diets. SB and VS dams had significantly more pups dead at birth compared to PM dams. One week after weaning of pups, PM dams had significantly higher triglyceride levels compared to all other groups (PM = 2.08 ± 0.27 mmol/L; SB = 0.88 ± 0.10 mmol/L; VS = 0.78 ± 0.08 mmol/L, p<0.05). PM dams may have slower triglyceride clearance, making hypertriglyceridemia apparent post-weaning. Retroperitoneal adipose tissue and carcass FA profiles of dams positively reflected the FA content of the respective diets. Such influence of diet on milk, adipose tissue and carcass FA content may thus alter metabolic processes during and following pregnancy and lactation and may also affect offspring growth and development via differences in milk composition.
The effect of an Anemia—Producing Diet on the Growth of Carcinoma, Sarcoma and Melanoma in Animals

There is no reliable evidence to show that cancer occurs more often in well nourished persons than in persons with nutritional anemia, or vice versa . Obese persons appear to be as susceptible to cancer as emaciated, anemic persons. In the late stages of cancer, however, there may be anemia or deficiency in the quality and quantity of the blood, but this is apparently a result of the cancerous condition and not the cause of it. Anemia is often caused by deficient diet, but it may also be due to inheritance or to a disturbance in function of the blood-forming organs. The work here reported was planned to determine what influence, if any, a nutritional anemia may have upon the growth of transplantable malignant neoplasms in animals.
Elements of the history of our present concepts of anaphylaxis, hay fever and asthma.

What follows is an attempt to sketch, in an admittedly very incomplete and imperfect fashion, how many of our present ideas of the mechanisms underlying anaphylaxis and other human immediate (‘anaphylactic’) type syndromes arose and developed. The human anaphylactic-type syndromes I shall be discussing are hay fever and allergic asthma. To include the latter two as anaphylactic-type syndromes is in accord with most of present day thinking, but is itself the result of an historical process. I have included ‘most’ in the above sentence because it is now realized that although allergic asthma has an immediate type component there is also another pathway using CD4 T-helper cells [1]. I have tried to avoid history both as a string of scientific ‘begats’ and Butterfield’s, ‘Whig Interpretation of History’, i.e. ‘to produce a story that is a ratification if not the glorification of the present’ [2]. I hope I shall illustrate that our ideas concerning several of these topics did not arise as direct and ineluctable inferences from a smooth series of results but rather out of the clash of opposing interpretations of contradictory observations. In what follows, I wish to try to answer the questions — Why did our forefathers make the observations they did? What questions were they designed to answer and why were these questions considered important? Of course, in a number of instances crucial observations were stumbled on while searching for something else: one example is the discovery of anaphylaxis by Richet and Portier (Fig. 1). But what was that ‘something else’ and why did the individual investigator and those that came after him undertake to follow the ‘accidental’ observations and attribute significance to them? In other words, not only, what were the problems our forebearers set themselves but what were the presuppositions and the set of beliefs and assumptions which they brought to bear in choosing the problems and trying to solve them. In the beginning
A model of stereociliary tip-link stretches

A model of the tip-link stretches produced by angular deflections of the stereocilia of vertebrate acoustico-lateralis hair cells is presented. It is shown that tip-link stretch in the model is proportional to the angle of stereociliary deflection. By contrast, the stretch of a horizontal (e.g., row-to-row) link is proportional to the square of the angle of stereociliary deflection. Possible roles of these stretches in sensory transduction are discussed.
Fretting fatigue crack nucleation in Ti–6Al–4V

Fretting fatigue crack nucleation in Ti−6Al−4V when fretted against itself is investigated to determine the influence of contact pressure, stress amplitude, stress ratio, and contact geometry on the degradation process. For the test parameters considered in this investigation, a partial slip condition generally prevails. The resulting fatigue modifying factors are 0.53 or less. Cycles to crack nucleation, frictional force evolution, crack orientations and their relationship to the microstructure are reported. The crack nucleation process volume is of the same order as the microstructural length scales with several non-dominant cracks penetrating 50 μm or less. The effective coefficient of friction increases during early part of fretting. Observations suggest that cyclic plastic deformation is extensive in the surface layers and that cyclic ratchetting of plastic strain may play a key role in nucleation of the fretting cracks. A Kitagawa–Takahashi diagram is used to relate the depth of fretting damage to the modifying factor on fatigue life.
Selective acrylamide-induced degeneration of color opponent ganglion cells in macaques.

Pβ (color opponent) retinal ganglion cells in macaques were found to degenerate as a result of oral administration of acrylamide. Histological examination, wheat germ agglutinin-horseradish peroxidase transport and cytochrome oxidase histochemistry indicate that other retinal ganglion cells and other neurons in the visual pathways were spared.
Teambugs: a collaborative bug tracking tool

Bug trackers are considered to be one of the primary coordination tools in software development. Interactions with the bug tracker occur throughout the development process, in different settings, from the meeting room to the developer's desk. In this paper, we look at previous field studies of bug trackers and identify the key challenges in supporting coordination. We then describe through several scenarios TeamBugs, a new bug tracker tool. We conclude by raising several research questions for future work.
Tiling optimization for the solution of two-dimensional time-dependent heat equation

Tiling optimization for the solution of the Dirichlet problem for the two-dimensional heat equation on computers with distributed memory is investigated. Estimates of the amount of communications and computations are obtained. The tiling optimization problem is reduced to the minimization of a function that explicitly expresses the dependence of the execution time on the tile size and the parameters of the target supercomputer—the dimension and size of the computing environment, processor performance, initialization time, and capacity of the communication channels.
A partial characterization of indoleacetylinositols from zea mays

Abstract This is a report of the isolation from corn kernels, of four esters of indole-3-acetic acid (IA) and myo-inositol. Two of the esters, B1 and B2, contain IA and inositol and two, B3 and B4, contain IA, inositol and arabinose. The conjugation of IA with inositol is of possible physiological significance, since IA is a plant growth hormone and inositol is a growth factor ( Pollard et al, 1961 , Letham, 1963 ). Other reports have indicated the existence of IA conjugates in plant tissues ( cf. Andreae and Good, 1955 , Hamilton et al., 1961 , Zenk, 1964 ).
Comparison of two models of similarity judgment

Abstract The conventional multidimensional distance model of similarity judgment was compared with a new model in which component differences are weighted and then averaged . To evaluate the models, qualitative and quantitative predictions were derived from Romney and D'Andrade's (1964) componential analysis of American kinship terms, and these predictions were tested by having subjects rate the similarity (in experiment 1) and the difference (in experiment 2) between all possible pairs of 12 kinship terms. In both experiments, violations of qualitative predictions for both a simple distance model and a simple averaging model revealed that the componential analysis was not sufficient to account for the data. However the averaging model was able to account for the data when the dichotomous dimension of lineality used by Romney and D'Andrade was replaced by a continuous dimension of immediacy or closeness of kin. In contrast, no comparable elaboration under the distance model was successful. These results were discussed in terms of the likely psychological processes underlying similarity judgment.
On Mordell–Weil groups of isotrivial abelian varieties over function fields

We show that the Mordell–Weil rank of an isotrivial abelian variety with cyclic holonomy depends only on the fundamental group of the complement to the discriminant, provided the discriminant has singularities in CM class introduced here. This class of singularities includes all unibranched plane curves singularities. As a corollary, we describe a family of simple Jacobians over the field of rational functions in two variables for which the Mordell–Weil rank is arbitrarily large.
Spiritual Wellbeing Among Patients with Cancer Receiving Concurrent Outpatient Oncologic and Palliative Care (S757)

s, and PsycINFO, with search results compiled in a reference manager. Inclusion and exclusion criteria for the articles were developed. Articles were screened by a title-abstract primary screen, title-abstract secondary screen, and full article screen. Final articles were reviewed and relevant data and study quality metrics were abstracted into a predetermined abstraction sheet with the abstracted data collected into summary tables. Tables were examined to reveal emerging themes. A total of 4531 articles were collected in the reference manager following the database searches. Primary and secondary title/abstract screen yielded a total of 157 articles appropriate for full review. Emerging themes already reveal the utilization of over twenty different types of advance care planning aids with study populations ranging from healthy asymptomatic adults to severely ill, highly symptomatic patients and families. Conclusion. Advance care planning decision aids are being developed for, and tested in, a wide variety of patient populations. They improve patient and surrogate comfort with decision making and comprehension, though their impact on health care utilization is still unclear. Impact of Automatic Palliative Care Consultation for Hospitalized Patients with Advanced Cancer (S759) Gabrielle Rocque University of Alabama at Birmingham, Mountain Brook, AL. Toby Campbell, MD, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. Jens Eickhoff, PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. Renae Quale, RN, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI. Anne Barnett, PA-C, UW Hospital Madison Wisconsin, Oregon, WI. James Cleary, MD, UW School of Medicine & Public Health, Madison, WI.
Über Querschwingungen von gelenkten Anhängern

Fur die Querschwingungen eines gelenkten Anhangers werden die beiden ungedampften Eigenschwingungszahlen und ein Verfahren zur Bestimmung des Einflusses der Dampfung angegeben. Bei geradliniger Bewegung des Zughakens wird ein vereinfachtes Anhangermodell betrachtet. Die von L. Huber auf Grund von Versuchen angegebenen Ausdrucke fur die auf einen Luftreifen wirkenden Seitenkrafte werden verwendet. Zur Bestimmung der beiden ungedampften Eigenschwingungszahlen werden kleine Querschwingungsamplituden betrachtet.
The role of polymer-mediated dopant correlations in damage moderation and self healing

The fact that chromophores doped into a polymer self heal after photodegradation seems to contradict the common understanding that molecular damage is a thermodynamically irreversible process. We have proposed a model that takes into account all observations, including the kinetics of photodegradation and recovery as a function of concentration, temperature, intensity, and sample thermal/intensity history. Correlations between chromophores, perhaps mediated through van der Waals forces or hydrogen bonding with the polymer, appear to actively favor the undamaged species by inducing healing in analogy to Bose-Einstein condensation. This model is shown to predict the behavior of photo-induced decay and recovery experiments as measured with amplified spontaneous emission and absorption spectroscopy.
Mechanism-based inactivation of cytochrome P450 2D6 by 1-[(2-ethyl-4-methyl-1H-imidazol-5-yl)methyl]- 4-[4-(trifluoromethyl)-2-pyridinyl]piperazine: kinetic characterization and evidence for apoprotein adduction.

The kinetics for inactivation of cytochrome P450 2D6 by (1-[(2-ethyl-4-methyl-1H-imidazol-5-yl)methyl]-4-[4-(trifluoromethyl)-2-pyridinyl]piperazine (EMTPP) were characterized, and the mechanism wa...
Hooking She3p onto She2p for myosin-mediated cytoplasmic mRNA transport

The segregation of approximately two dozen distinct mRNAs from yeast mother to daughter cell cytoplasm is a classical paradigm for eukaryotic mRNA transport. The information for transport resides in an mRNA element 40–100 nt in length, known as “zipcode.” Targeted transport requires properly positioned actin filaments and cooperative loading of mRNA cargo to myosin. Cargo loading to myosin uses myosin 4 protein (Myo4p), swi5p-dependent HO expression 2 protein (She2p) and 3 protein (She3p), and zipcode. We previously determined a crystal structure of Myo4p and She3p, their 1:2 stoichiometry and interactome; we furthermore showed that the motor complex assembly requires two Myo4p⋅She3p heterotrimers, one She2p tetramer, and at least a single zipcode to yield a stable complex of [Myo4p⋅She3p⋅She2p⋅zipcode] in 2:4:4:1 stoichiometry in vitro. Here, we report a structure at 2.8-A resolution of a cocrystal of a She2p tetramer bound to a segment of She3p. In this crystal structure, the She3p segment forms a striking hook that binds to a shallow hydrophobic pocket on the surface of each She2p subunit of the tetramer. Both She3p hook and cognate She2p binding pocket are composed of highly conserved residues. We also discovered a highly conserved region of She3p upstream of its hook region. Because this region consists of basic and aromatic residues, it likely represents part of She3p’s binding activity for zipcode. Because She2p also exhibits zipcode-binding activity, we suggest that “hooking” She3p onto She2p aligns each of their zipcode-binding activities into a high-affinity site, thereby linking motor assembly to zipcode.
Adherencia al tratamiento antihipertensivo: ¿por qué aún no despega, y en qué medida influye en el control de la Presión Arterial?

De acuerdo a un informe de la Organizacion Mundial de la Salud la adherencia a la farmacoterapia en general se ha mantenido sin variaciones en los ultimos 30 anos, oscilando entre el 20-50%, mayor en las enfermeda-des agudas y menor en las cronicas. Si no ocurren cambios favorables, la proporcion de no adherentes a la farmacote-rapia ira en aumento con el envejecimiento progresivo de la poblacion y la consiguiente mayor prevalencia de enfer -medades cronicas
Semisimple rings of quotients

Necessary and sufficient conditions on an arbitrary Gabriel filter of left ideals of a ring R are determined in order that the ring of quotients of R with respect to the filter be semi-simple artinian. Special instances include generalizations of earlier work on classical rings of quotients and maximal rings of quotients.
Improved thin-layer chromatographic detection of diethylstilbestrol and zeranol in plasma and tissues isolated with alumina and ion-exchange membrane columns in tandem.

Clean-up procedures for the isolation of zeranol and diethylstilbestrol (DES) were modified to reduce the analysis time and to increase the efficiency of purification. Several dyes (Fast Blue BB, Fast Corinth V, Fast Blue RR, Fast Blue B, Fast Red Violet B and Fast Violet B) were evaluated, and their minimum detectabilities were determined. Conditions for non-instrumental, semi-quantitative thin-layer chromatography were optimized. Zeranol and DES in plasma and tissues were determined using modified procedures. Enzyme digestion brought about significant improvement in detectabilities of zeranol and DES in both fortified and incurred plasma, serum and tissues. Minimum detectabilities for zeranol and DES were 25 ppb in fortified plasma and tissues. The amount of incurred zeranol measured in the serum of an experimental cow was increased four times, i.e. from 50 to 200 ppb, after protease digestion. Glucuronidase digestion showed an eight-fold increase in detection of incurred zeranol levels in bovine liver eight times. These results suggest that digestion releases zeranol and DES from protein and glucuronide complexes, thereby allowing detection of low levels of zeranol and DES which may not be detectable without digestion. Further modification of the purification with an ion-exchange membrane reduced the analysis time by 25%, and the membranes were regenerated up to ten times without loss of activity, allowing an automated process. This method utilizes inexpensive equipment and avoids use of organic solvent, in this case diethyl ether.
The structure of R-NiF3, and synthesis, and magnetism of new R3 MIINiIVF6 (M = Fe, Co, Cu, Zn), and MIINiIIF4 (M = Co, Cu)

Abstract Neutron diffraction, at 2 K, of R -NiF 3 indicates the formulation approaches Ni II Ni IV F 6 , with Ni II − F = 1.959(3) and Ni IV − F = 1.811(3) A, but 295 K data allow for only a slight increase in any Ni III . Relatives have been precipitated from liquid anhydrous HF, at ≤ 20 °C, by adding K 2 NiF 6 to M(SbF 6 ) 2 (M = Co, Cu, Zn) or M(AsF 6 ) 2 (M = Fe). CuNiF 6 like NiNiF 6 is metastable and loses F 2 easily, above 40 °C. CuNiF 6 is reduced by Xe or C 3 F 6 at −20 °C; CoNiF 6 by H 2 at 350 °C, each giving pseudo-rutile MNiF 4 . Magnetic data indicate the dominant formulation is M II Ni IV F 6 (Ni(IV) low spin d 6 ) with field dependence in CoNiF 6 (≤ 220 K) and FeNiF 6 (≤ 295 K).
Address by the Honorary Founding President of the Xenotransplantation SocietyThe Eye of an Eagle: xenobiology and the quest for bioadvantage

My purpose in these remarks is to stimulate us to consider the vast array that nature has provided us in the differentiation of species, and to examine the possibility that some of these differences might prove useful in other species, including man.
An internal friction study of polytetrafluoroethylene

A torsion pendulum has been used to measure the internal friction of polytetrafluoroethylene. The crystallinity of the specimens varied form 48 to 92%, and the measurements were made over a wide temperature range. The site of each relaxation was assigned by observing the variation of relaxation strength and peak height with crystallinity. In this way amorphous relaxations were found to occur at 176.5°K. (0.60 cycle/sec.) and 399°K. (0.62 cycle/sec.). The crystallite relaxations occur at 291°K. (0.28 cycle/sec.) and the crystallite melting point, 600°K. It is concluded that the amorphous regions of polytetrafluoroethylene exist in three phases between 4.2°K. and the crystallite melting point. The supercooled liquid which exists below 600°K. is transformed into an amorphous solid at a temperature in the region of 400°K. This solid undergoes another transformation at approximately 176°K. to form a third phase which is stable down to 4.2°K. The crystallite realaxation centered at 291°K. consists of a series of disordering transitions including the well-known first-order transition. There is evidence that hindered rotation occurs within the crystallites at temperatures as low as 220°K.
Predictive modeling of human perception subjectivity: feasibility study of mammographic lesion similarity

The majority of clinical content-based image retrieval (CBIR) studies disregard human perception subjectivity, aiming to duplicate the consensus expert assessment of the visual similarity on example cases. The purpose of our study is twofold: i) discern better the extent of human perception subjectivity when assessing the visual similarity of two images with similar semantic content, and (ii) explore the feasibility of personalized predictive modeling of visual similarity. We conducted a human observer study in which five observers of various expertise were shown ninety-nine triplets of mammographic masses with similar BI-RADS descriptors and were asked to select the two masses with the highest visual relevance. Pairwise agreement ranged between poor and fair among the five observers, as assessed by the kappa statistic. The observers' self-consistency rate was remarkably low, based on repeated questions where either the orientation or the presentation order of a mass was changed. Various machine learning algorithms were explored to determine whether they can predict each observer's personalized selection using textural features. Many algorithms performed with accuracy that exceeded each observer's self-consistency rate, as determined using a cross-validation scheme. This accuracy was statistically significantly higher than would be expected by chance alone (two-tailed p-value ranged between 0.001 and 0.01 for all five personalized models). The study confirmed that human perception subjectivity should be taken into account when developing CBIR-based medical applications.
Diagnostic Criteria for Essential Tremor: A Population Perspective

Background Prevalence estimates vary 2750-fold among the 20 studies of essential tremor (ET). It is not clear how the choice of diagnostic criteria affects research results. Objective To determine the impact of alternative sets of diagnostic criteria on the diagnosis of ET. Methods As part of the Washington Heights-Inwood Genetic Study of ET (WHIGET), a population-based study of ET, 285 subjects who include 36 case subjects with probable or definite ET, 34 case subjects with possible ET, and 215 normal subjects were interviewed and examined. All diagnoses in WHIGET were assigned by 2 neurologists. Ten of the 20 published prevalence studies of ET provided diagnostic criteria for ET. Criteria differed in terms of requirements for the distribution, duration, and severity of tremor. These 10 sets of criteria were then each separately applied to the subjects in the WHIGET cohort to determine their impact on the diagnosis of ET. Results Depending on which diagnostic criteria were applied to the WHIGET cohort, the proportion of WHIGET case subjects with definite or probable ET who would have been diagnosed as having ET was as low as 14% and the proportion of WHIGET normal subjects who would have been diagnosed as having ET was as high as 51%. Diagnostic criteria that included a positive family history of ET or a lengthy duration of tremor would have classified many WHIGET case subjects with ET as normal, whereas criteria that did not specify a minimal tremor severity would have classified many WHIGET normal subjects as having ET. Conclusions Alternative sets of diagnostic criteria for ET greatly impact on the diagnosis of ET. For population-based studies, information on tremor type and severity rather than family history should be included in diagnostic criteria.
METAL CLUSTERS IN CATALYSIS XVI1. THE SELECTIVE HYDROGENATION OF TRIPLE BONDS WITH ORGANOMETALLIC TRANSITION METAL COMPOUNDS

Abstract A thesis is developed that solution phase catalysis of triple bond hydrogenation, e.g. in carbon monoxide, nitrogen, isocyanides and nitriles, can be more readily achieved with a polynuclear complex, a metal cluster, than with a mononuclear complex. Experimental support of the thesis was obtained from an exploratory study of the catalytic properties of the highly reactive metal cluster, Ni 4 [CNC(CH 3 ) 3 ] 7 . This cluster selectively catalyzed the hydrogenation of acetylenes to cis-olefins at 20°. At 90°, the cluster proved to be a selective catalyst for the hydrogenation of t-butyl isocyanide, using Ni [CNC(CH 3 ) 3 ] 4 as the isocyanide source, to give t-butylmethylamine.
Why Does the Affordable Care Act Remain So Unpopular

Challenges Ahead Major challenges remain for the affected countries and international groups working to eliminate the transmission of Ebola. The already fragile health systems of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone have suffered serious damage. More than 800 health workers have had confirmed Ebola infections and at least 488 have died of the disease, according to the WHO. Liberia is just beginning to reopen hospitals shuttered during the epidemic, and MSF is running mobile clinics to help meet primary care needs. “Anaddedstruggle is theparalysisof the public health system [in Sierra Leone],” said Karline Kleijer, MSF’s emergency coordinator, in a statement. “One in ten of the country’s healthworkers have died of Ebola, the medical facilities are in disarray, and people with non-Ebola illnesses struggle to get the treatment they need,” she said. Some populations have been difficult to reach, such as those communities in forested areas of Guinea, or are resistant to public health measures aimed at reducing the spread of Ebola virus disease. In certain regions, it is customary towash the body in preparation for burial, explained Damon. If properprecautionsarenot takenduring this process, the high levels of virus still present on the bodymay infect others. Damonsaid that theCDCandothersare working to develop alternative, safe burial practices, “thatare respectfulof religiousbeliefsandallowthe familyandclergy tobeappropriately attired and protected.” Althoughsustained reductions in infection rates would be welcome news, the dwindling number of new infections could pose challenges for clinical trials that relyon large cohorts of patients to produce robust results. Already, Chimerix, the manufacturer of brincidofovir, ended its participation in the University of Oxford–led clinical trial of the drug for Ebola treatment, citing declining casenumbers in Liberia (http://bit . ly/ 18HJqh0). Nonetheless, even trials with inadequate statistical power to demonstrate efficacycanstill provideuseful safetyandsubgroupefficacydata that canbeused to gain approvals for an intervention, Fauci explained. Schuchat noted that the CDC Sierra Leone trial testing the efficacy of the yet-to-be-chosen vaccine has been designed to account for reduced cases. Some emerging evidence suggests that the Ebola virus might be evolving (Kugelman JR et al. MBio. doi:10.1128/mBio .02227-14 [published online January 20, 2015]). Geisbert and his colleagues are currently investigating genetic changes in the Ebola virus and acknowledge that this presents a valid concern, particularly because such changes could influence the effectiveness of experimental interventions in development. “Our work is focused on the leading candidate vaccines and therapies and making sure they still protect [against mutated forms of the virus],” he said.
Finding groups using model-based cluster analysis: heterogeneous emotional self-regulatory processes and heavy alcohol use risk

Model-based cluster analysis is a new clustering procedure to investigate population heterogeneity utilizing finite mixture multivariate normal densities. It is an inferentially based, statistically principled procedure that allows comparison of nonnested models using the Bayesian information criterion to compare multiple models and identify the optimum number of clusters. The current study clustered 36 young men and women on the basis of their baseline heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV), chronic alcohol use, and reasons for drinking. Two cluster groups were identified and labeled the high alcohol risk and normative groups. Compared to the normative group, individuals in the high alcohol risk group had higher levels of alcohol use and more strongly endorsed disinhibition and suppression reasons for use. The high alcohol risk group showed significant HRV changes in response to positive and negative emotional and appetitive picture cues, compared to neutral cues. In contrast, the normative group showed a significant HRV change only to negative cues. Findings suggest that individuals with autonomic self-regulatory difficulties may be more susceptible to heavy alcohol use and use of alcohol for emotional regulation.
Raman spectrum of BaTiO3

Abstract The Raman spectrum of BaTiO3 is investigated in the tetragonal and the cubic phase, where it is found that two strong transitions are still present. The temperature dependence of the intensities for the lines perculiar to the tetragonal phase correlates well with the presence of a tetragonal distortion. The analysis of the polarized spectra in this phase yields tentative assignments for most expected vibration modes.
Effect of lithium salts on the ionic conductivity of lithium silicate gels

Abstract Lithium silicate gels were prepared by hydrolyzing tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) with various monovalent and divalent lithium salts. In addition to lithium nitrate, which has been used before, lithium chloride, lithium sulfate, lithium acetate and mixtures were used. All gels had the nominal composition 15 mol% Li 2 O·85 mol% SiO 2 . AC conductivity measurements were carried out using the complex impedance method. Measurements were made on dried gels heated from room temperature to 600°C, with blocking electrodes and frequencies from 0.1 Hz to 65 kHz. Heat treated gels were checked with X-ray diffraction for the presence of crystals. Over the temperature range where conductivities were measurable, the lithium nitrate gels had the highest conductivities (> 10 −3 (Ω cm) −1 at 300°C), lithium chloride gels had conductivities two orders of magnitude lower, and lithium sulfate and lithium acetate gels had the lowest values and the highest activation energies. Only the lithium nitrate gels appeared to have salt crystals which assisted in ionic conductivity.
Adding to the Mix: Integrating ELSI into a National Nanoscale Science and Technology Center

This paper describes issues associated with integrating the study of Ethical, Legal and Social Issues (ELSI) into ongoing scientific and technical research and describes an approach adopted by the authors for their own work with the center for nanophase materials sciences (CNMS) at the Oak Ridge national laboratory (ORNL). Four key questions are considered: (a) What is ELSI and how should it identify and address topics of interest for the CNMS? (b) What advantages accrue to incorporating ELSI into the CNMS? (c) How should the integration of ELSI into the CNMS take place? (d) How should one judge the effectiveness of the activity? We conclude that ELSI research is not a monolithic body of knowledge, but should be adapted to the question at hand. Our approach focuses on junctures in the R&D continuum at which key decisions occur, avoids topics of a purely ethical nature or advocacy, and seeks to gather data in ways that permit testing the validity of generalization. Integrating ELSI into the CNMS allows dealing with topics firmly grounded in science, offers concrete examples of potential downstream applications and provides access to the scientists using the CNMS and their insights and observations. As well, integration provides the opportunity for R&D managers to benefit from ELSI insights and the potential to modify R&D agendas. Successful integration is dependent on the particular ELSI question set that drives the project. In this case questions sought to identify key choices, information of value to scientists, institutional attributes, key attributes of the CNMS culture, and alternatives for communicating results. The opportunity to consult with scientists on ELSI implications is offered, but not promoted. Finally, ELSI effectiveness is judged by observing the use to which research products are put within the CNMS, ORNL, and the community of external scholars.
Genetic Evidence for ATP-dependent Endoplasmic Reticulum-to-Golgi Apparatus Trafficking of Ceramide for Sphingomyelin Synthesis in Chinese Hamster Ovary Cells

LY-A strain is a Chinese hamster ovary cell mutant resistant to sphingomyelin (SM)-directed cytolysin and has a defect in de novo SM synthesis. Metabolic labeling experiments with radioactive serine, sphingosine, and choline showed that LY-A cells were defective in synthesis of SM from these precursors, but not syntheses of ceramide (Cer), glycosphingolipids, or phosphatidylcholine, indicating a specific defect in the conversion of Cer to SM in LY-A cells. In vitro experiments showed that the specific defect of SM formation in LY-A cells was not due to alterations in enzymatic activities responsible for SM synthesis or degradation. When cells were treated with brefeldin A, which causes fusion of the Golgi apparatus with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), de novo SM synthesis in LY-A cells was restored to the wild-type level. Pulse-chase experiments with a fluorescent Cer analogue, N-(4,4-difluoro-5,7-dimethyl-4-bora-3a, 4a-diaza-s-indacene-3-pentanoyl)-D-erythro-sphingosine (C5-DMB-Cer), revealed that in wild-type cells C5-DMB-Cer was redistributed from intracellular membranes to the Golgi apparatus in an intracellular ATP-dependent manner, and that LY-A cells were defective in the energy-dependent redistribution of C5-DMB-Cer. Under ATP-depleted conditions, conversion of C5-DMB-Cer to C5-DMB-SM and of [3H]sphingosine to [3H]SM in wild-type cells decreased to the levels in LY-A cells, which were not affected by ATP depletion. ER-to-Golgi apparatus trafficking of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored or membrane-spanning proteins in LY-A cells appeared to be normal. These results indicate that the predominant pathway of ER-to-Golgi apparatus trafficking of Cer for de novo SM synthesis is ATP dependent and that this pathway is almost completely impaired in LY-A cells. In addition, the specific defect of SM synthesis in LY-A cells suggests different pathways of Cer transport for glycosphingolipids versus SM synthesis.
New printing pattern design and processing of MWT solar cells for pilot-line

We present a feasible process for metal-wrap-through (MWT) solar cell with two-stage sintering. The main advantage of MWT solar cell is its larger illuminated area compare to those of conventional cells. Base on this, we design a new front side printing pattern which can optimize the current through each hole to achieve low series resistance and high fill factor. Besides, n layer is only located on the front surface owing to thin silicon nitride coating on the rear and via sidewall; so we don't need to make isolation on edge and rear bus bar which would decrease fill factor and short-circuit current density. After the front Ag finger and rear Al metallization, we fill via holes and rear bus bar with the finger Ag paste. The deviation of cell efficiency is very large due to unstable non-firing via holes and bus bar resistivity but it can be improved dramatically from 1.2% to 0.1% after burning organic out by a controlling 400 °C IR furnaces. The best cell efficiency is 16.6% on 270µm thick multi-crystalline silicon of 125×125 mm2 and the average efficiency is 16.5%.
THE IMPERFECTIVE PARADOX AND TRAJECTORY-OF-MOTION EVENTS

In the first part of the paper, I present a new treatment of THE IMPERFECTIVE PARADOX (Dowty 1979) for the restricted case of trajectory-of-motion events. This treatment extends and refines those of Moens and Steedman (1988) and Jackendoff (1991). In the second part, I describe an implemented algorithm based on this treatment which determines whether a specified sequence of such events is or is not possible under certain situationally supplied constraints and restrictive assumptions.
Variational principles of guiding centre motion

An elementary but rigorous derivation is given for a variational principle for guiding centre motion. The equations of motion resulting from the variational principle (the drift equations) possess exact conservation laws for phase volume, energy (for time-independent systems), and angular momentum (for azimuthally symmetric systems). The results of carrying the variational principle to higher order in the adiabatic parameter are displayed. The behaviour of guiding centre motion in azimuthally symmetric fields is discussed, and the role of angular momentum is clarified. The application of variational principles in the derivation and solution of gyrokinetic equations is discussed.
The Crossroads of Race and Sexuality Date Selection among Men in Internet “Personal” Ads

The authors examine 2,400 personal ads from male advertisers collected from the Internet, focusing on issues of race and sexual orientation. They look at advertisers’desire for a partner of a particular race and the effect of their race and sexual orientation on their choices. The data indicate that Black, Hispanic, and Asian men are more likely than White men to have a race preference for a partner. Additionally, gay men are more likely to mention race than straight men. However, gay Black men and gay Hispanic men are less likely to have a race preference. The authors explain the differences in terms of race sensitivity and how prefer ences reflect the current racial hierarchy.
Rapid evolution of a polyphenic threshold

Polyphenisms are thought to play an important role in the evolution of phenotypic diversity and the origin of morphological and behavioral novelties. However, the extent to which polyphenic developmental mechanisms evolve in natural populations is unknown. Here we contrast patterns of male phenotype expression in native and exotic and ancestral and descendant populations of the horn polyphenic beetle, Onthophagus taurus. Males in this species express two alternative morphologies in response to larval feeding conditions. Favorable conditions cause males to grow larger than a threshold body size and to develop a pair of horns on their heads. Males that encounter relatively poor conditions do not reach this threshold size and remain hornless. We show that exotic and native populations of O. taurus differ significantly in the body size threshold that separates alternative male phenotypes. Comparison with archival museum collections and additional samples obtained from the native range of O. taurus suggests that allometric differences between exotic and native populations do not reflect preexisting variation in the native range of this species. Instead, our data suggest that threshold divergences between exotic and native populations have evolved in less than 40 years since the introduction to a new habitat and have proceeded in opposite directions in two exotic ranges of this species. Finally, we show that the kind and magnitude of threshold divergence between native and exotic populations are similar to differences normally observed between species. Our results support the view that certain components of the developmental control mechanism that underlie polyphenic development can evolve rapidly in natural populations and may provide important avenues for phenotypic differentiation and diversification in nature. We discuss the role of developmental control mechanisms in the origin of allometric diversification and explore potential evolutionary mechanisms that could drive scaling relationship evolution in nature.
Regulation and Physiologic Significance of the Agmatine Deiminase System of Streptococcus mutans UA159

We previously demonstrated that Streptococcus mutans expresses a functional agmatine deiminase system (AgDS) encoded by the agmatine-inducible aguBDAC operon (A. R. Griswold, Y. Y. Chen, and R. A. Burne, J. Bacteriol. 186:1902-1904, 2004). The AgDS yields ammonia, CO2, and ATP while converting agmatine to putrescine and is proposed to augment the acid resistance properties and pathogenic potential of S. mutans. To initiate a study of agu gene regulation, the aguB transcription initiation site was identified by primer extension and a putative sigma70-like promoter was mapped 5' to aguB. Analysis of the genome database revealed an open reading frame (SMU.261c) encoding a putative transcriptional regulator located 239 bases upstream of aguB. Inactivation of SMU.261c decreased AgD activity by sevenfold and eliminated agmatine induction. AgD was also found to be induced by certain environmental stresses, including low pH and heat, implying that the AgDS may also be a part of a general stress response pathway of this organism. Interestingly, an AgDS-deficient strain was unable to grow in the presence of 20 mM agmatine, suggesting that the AgDS converts a growth-inhibitory substance into products that can enhance acid tolerance and contribute to the competitive fitness of the organism at low pH. The capacity to detoxify and catabolize agmatine is likely to have major ramifications on oral biofilm ecology.
Efficient 3D finite difference frequency-domain modeling of scattering in lossy half-space geometries

A novel 3D Matlab-based FDFD model has been introduced and tested, and an example of simulated scattered E-field is presented. The modeled results compare well to results from other models. This model can easily handle complicated geometry including rough surfaces. The required CPU time is relatively fast at about 1 hour for the typical grid size (90x90x90). The iterative LGMRES method without preconditioner works well and converges quickly.
Fluorescence resonance energy transfer studies on anthrax lethal toxin

Abstract Anthrax lethal toxin is a binary bacterial toxin consisting of two proteins, protective antigen (PA) and lethal factor (LF), that self-assemble on receptor-bearing eukaryotic cells to form toxic, non-covalent complexes. PA63, a proteolytically activated form of PA, spontaneously oligomerizes to form ring-shaped heptamers that bind LF and translocate it into the cell. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to substitute cysteine for each of three residues (N209, E614 and E733) at various levels on the lateral face of the PA63 heptamer and for one residue (E126) on LFN, the 30 kDa N-terminal PA binding domain of LF. Cysteine residues in PA were labeled with IAEDANS and that in LFN was labeled with Alexa 488 maleimide. The mutagenesis and labeling did not significantly affect function. Time-resolved fluorescence methods were used to study fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between the AEDANS and Alexa 488 probes after the complex assembled in solution. The results clearly indicate energy transfer between AEDANS labeled at residue N209C on PA and the Alexa 488-labeled LFN, whereas transfer from residue E614C on PA was slight, and none was observed from residue E733C. These results support a model in which LFN binds near the top of the ring-shaped (PA63)7 heptamer.
Unequal-error-protection codes in SRAMs for mobile multimedia applications

In this paper, we introduce unequal-error-protection error correcting codes (UEPECCs) to improve SRAM reliability at low supply voltages for mobile multimedia applications. The fundamental premise for our work is that in multimedia applications, different bits in the same SRAM word are usually not equally significant, and hence deserve different protection levels. The key innovation in our work includes (i) a novel metric, word mean squared error, to measure the reliability of a SRAM word when different bits are not equally significant and (ii) an optimization algorithm based on dynamic programming to construct the UEPECC that assigns different protection levels to bits according to their significance. The advantage of the UEPECC over the traditional equal-error-protection ECC is demonstrated using two representative multimedia applications. For the same area, power, and encoding/decoding latency, SRAMs with UEPECC increase the peak signal-to-noise ratio by 8 dB in image processing and incur 60% less errors on average in optical flow (motion vector) computation.
An overlapping variable linkage benchmark suite

In this paper, a novel benchmarking suite for global real-valued evolutionary optimization is presented. It combines some merits of the Real-Parameter Black-Box Optimization Benchmarking (BBOP), the Benchmark Functions for the CEC'2010 Special Session and Competition on Large-Scale Global Optimization (LSGO) and one of its extensions benchmarks in regards to fitness functions consisting of overlapping sub-problems of varying size with a varying degree of overlapping, a previously not fully investigated scenario.
Liquid-metal flow in an insulated rectangular expansion with a strong transverse magnetic field

This paper concerns a steady liquid-metal flow through an expansion or contraction with electrically insulated walls, with rectangular cross-sections and with a uniform, transverse, externally applied magnetic field. One pair of duct walls is parallel to the applied magnetic field, and the other pair diverges or converges symmetrically about a plane which is perpendicular to the field. The magnetic field is assumed to be sufficiently strong that inertial effects can be neglected and that the well-known Hartmann-layer solution is valid for the boundary layers on the walls which are not parallel to the magnetic field. A general treatment of three-dimensional flows in constant-area ducts is presented. An error in the solution of Walker et al. (1972) is corrected. A smooth expansion between two different constant-area ducts is treated. In the expansion the flow is concentrated inside the boundary layers on the sides which are parallel to the magnetic field, while the flow at the centre of the duct is very small and may be negative for a large expansion slope. In each constant-area duct, the flow evolves from a concentration near the sides at the junction with the expansion to the appropriate fully developed flow far upstream or downstream of the expansion. The pressure drop associated with the three-dimensional flow increases as the slope. increases.