cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Ontogeny and hormonal control of polyphenoloxidase isozymes in tobacco pith.

Isozymes of tobacco pith polyphenoloxidases ( o -diphenol oxidase, EC 1.10.3.1) were separated electrophoretically from fresh pith of intact plants and from cultured pith sections. Extracts of fresh pith contained a poorly resolved complex of two to three anodic bands after starch gel electrophoresis at alkaline pH. This anodic complex was more active with chlorogenic acid than with 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine and was found in greater activity per gram fresh weight of tissue in younger internodes than in older ones. The longitudinal gradient of activity was thus the opposite of that found for the constitutive isozymes of peroxidase. A well defined cathodic band of polyphenoloxidase activity appeared after culture of pith in modified White9s medium with shaking. This band, which was more active with 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine than with chlorogenic acid, could be detected after 1 to 2 days of incubation. Its appearance was enhanced by the addition of 10 μm indoleacetic acid; kinetin (1 μm tended to prevent this indoleacetic acid effect). Such hormonal control is opposite to that previously reported for the rapidly appearing new isozymes of peroxidase. The pattern of the major isozymes associated with polyphenoloxidase activities differs from that of peroxidase.
Sensation seeking and tourism: Tourist role, perception of risk and destination choice

Abstract Sensation seeking (SS) is a personality trait associated with the need for novelty and stimulation and has been linked to tourist behavior. Tourist role, perceptions of risk associated with travel to particular regions of the world, and international travel experience were investigated in relation to SS and gender. Survey data were collected from 290 US young adults. Although males were higher in overall SS, gender was not a significant predictor of tourist role or international travel experience. However, SS was related to tourist role, with those higher in SS choosing explorer and drifter roles. SS was not related to perceptions of risk. Both high and low sensation seekers perceived risk similarly. However, those higher in SS were more likely to have traveled internationally and to have traveled to regions of the world rated as riskier. The findings provide empirical support for the proposition that personality traits may influence travel styles and destination choices.
Measures of concentration in the daily newspaper industry

The author argues that the amount of circulation controlled by, and number of papers owned by, major newspaper firms does not provide adequate measures of economic concentration. The study measures the national newspaper market and thirty local markets using various concentration ratios and finds that all markets surpass the levels of concentration normally associated with monopoly.
The semantics of pain in Indian culture and medicine

An interpretive perspective offers a counterpoint to the behavioral orientation in the social scientific literature on pain. The present paper develops a meaning-centered approach which focuses on three interconnected aspects of the experience of suffering: (1) the cultural construction of pain sensation; (2) the semiotics of pain expression; (3) the structure of pain's causes and cures. These connections are explored through a variety of linguistic and semiotic forms, including metaphors, etymologies, gestural codes, taxonomies, and semantic networks. The study of metaphor has special value in revealing the cultural construction of pain, especially its sensory qualities, such as temperature, weight, and movement. The concept of semantic network provides a complementary tool for understanding pain experience; the analysis makes pain sensation the center of the network and argues that multiple meanings attach to this sensory core. The paper examines these perspectives in the context of North Indian culture and medicine, specifically Unani Tibb, or Greco-Arab medicine. Pursuing questions of the "fit" between everyday belief and traditional medicine, the essay traces continuities in the "language of pain" in North Indian culture, classical Unani Tibb, and contemporary Unani clinical practice.
Design and experimental evaluation of adjustable bone plates for mandibular fracture fixation

Conventional bone plates are commonly used for surgical mandibular fracture fixation. Improper alignment between bone segments, however, can result in malocclusion. Current methods of fixation require a surgeon to visually align segments of bone and affix a metal plate using bone screws, after which little can be done to adjust alignment. A method of adjusting fracture alignment after plate placement, without screw removal, presents an improvement over costly and risky revision surgery. A modified bone plate has been designed with a deformable section to give surgeons the ability to reduce misalignments at the fracture site. The mechanics of deformation for various adjustment mechanisms was explored analytically, numerically, and experimentally to ensure that the adjustable plate is comparable to conventional bone plates. A static force of 358.8 N is required to deform the adjustable bone plate, compared with predicted values of 351 N using numerical simulation and 362 N using a simple beam theory. Dynamic testing was performed to simulate in vivo loading conditions and evaluate load-capacity in both deformed and un-deformed bone plates. Results indicate that bending stiffness of a rectangular bone plate is 709 N/mm, compared with 174 N/mm for an octagonal plate and 176 N/mm for standard plates. Once deformed, the rectangular and octagonal plates had a stiffness of 323 N/mm and 228 N/mm, respectively. Un-deformed and deformed adjustable bone plates have efficacy in bone segment fixation and healing.
Sensitivity of caudal arteries and the mesenteric vascular bed to norepinephrine in DOCA-salt hypertension.

This study was undertaken to determine what factors might contribute to arterial supersensitivity to norepinephrine associated with deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-salt hypertension in the rat. Experimental groups of male rats were uninephrectomized and 1 week later began receiving twice weekly injections of DOCA (20 mg/kg s.c. in sesame oil) plus 1% NaCl and 0.2% KCl in their drinking water. For each experimental group, a group of age-matched male rats underwent a sham operation and received injections of sesame oil and the NaCl-KCl drinking water. Perfused caudal arteries from 3-week-hypertensive rats were supersensitive to intraluminal and extraluminal norepinephrine administration. However, this difference in sensitivity between hypertensive and control caudal arteries was demonstrable at low rates of perfusion, 0.5 to 1.0 ml/min, but not at rates of 2.0 to 2.6 ml/min. The supersensitivity was not due to differences in neuronal uptake or to inhibition of extraneuronal uptake by DOCA. The perfused mesenteric vascular bed from 3- or 6-week-hypertensive rats was also supersensitive to intraluminal norepinephrine. However, the demonstration of supersensitivity in the mesenteric vasculature was independent of perfusion rate (2.3-6.8 ml/min) and perfusion pressure in the range of 30 to 60 mm Hg. There was little or no supersensitivity to transmural nerve stimulation in either the caudal artery or the mesenteric vasculature, a finding consistent with the observed decrease in endogenous norepinephrine content. Microelectrodes were used to determine resting membrane potential in the smooth muscle cells. No differences in resting membrane potential were detected between caudal or mesenteric arteries from hypertensive compared with control rats 2, 3, or 6 weeks after initiation of the DOCA-salt regimen. It is concluded that 1) the perfusion rate is a critical factor in designing experiments to test the sensitivity of caudal arteries to drugs, 2) the perfused mesenteric vascular bed is a useful preparation for studying sensitivity of blood vessels in hypertension, 3) the supersensitivity of blood vessels in the DOCA-salt model may be of greater importance relative to circulating catecholamines than to sympathetic innervation, and 4) the supersensitivity of blood vessels to norepinephrine in the DOCA-salt model is not due to changes in neuronal uptake, extraneuronal uptake, or membrane potential of the vascular smooth muscle cells.
Altering sensorimotor feedback disrupts visual discrimination of facial expressions

Looking at another person's facial expression of emotion can trigger the same neural processes involved in producing the expression, and such responses play a functional role in emotion recognition. Disrupting individuals' facial action, for example, interferes with verbal emotion recognition tasks. We tested the hypothesis that facial responses also play a functional role in the perceptual processing of emotional expressions. We altered the facial action of participants with a gel facemask while they performed a task that involved distinguishing target expressions from highly similar distractors. Relative to control participants, participants in the facemask condition demonstrated inferior perceptual discrimination of facial expressions, but not of nonface stimuli. The findings suggest that somatosensory/motor processes involving the face contribute to the visual perceptual-and not just conceptual-processing of facial expressions. More broadly, our study contributes to growing evidence for the fundamentally interactive nature of the perceptual inputs from different sensory modalities.
Rancidity in Selected Sites of Frozen Catfish Fillets

Gas chromatographic volatiles and TBA values for three external fillet sites (lateral line, visceral-side and skin-side) and the fillet interior were compared with sensory evaluations of baked fillets to determine rancidity development. A sampling technique was developed that allowed procurement of the various fillet site tissues from whole fillets after storage at -20 o C for up to 6 mo. The lateral line had the most rancidity while internal tissues had the least. Instrumental examination of the lateral line proved effective for predicting sensory detection of rancidity. Correlation coefficients for lateral line total volatiles and TBA values with flavor were 0.98 and 0.95, respectively
Along-strike upper-plate deformation in response to metamorphic core complex emplacement, SE Arizona

Abstract Metamorphic core complexes represent concentrated zones of crustal extension; universally, the hanging walls of these systems are extensively fractured, attesting to the significant horizontal extension above the evolving detachment zone. Recent analysis of a large grid of 2-D seismic reflection lines within the Tucson Basin of southeastern Arizona has facilitated a nearly three-dimensional interpretation of subsurface features related to Cenozoic crustal extension. Within the northern Tucson Basin, the Catalina detachment fault dips 23–35° to the southwest from the western flank of the Catalina/Rincon Metamorphic Core Complex. In the southern portion of the basin, the NE-trending Santa Rita normal fault dips 15–20° to the northwest from the western flank of the Santa Rita Mountains and is cut by the Catalina detachment beneath the central Tucson Basin. The orientation of the Santa Rita fault is problematical in that its orientation is nearly perpendicular to extension directions in the region, while geologic and seismic reflection evidence indicates that the Catalina detachment and Santa Rita fault were active synchronously. One possible explanation is that the Santa Rita fault is accommodating along-strike upper-plate deformation in response to core complex emplacement. To test this, we employed a finite-element modeling approach. A two-dimensional model consisting of a homogenous elastic material undergoing uniform extension is used to study changes in stresses and displacements in proximity to a zone of weakness representing a detachment fault in the upper crust. Away from the detachment fault, primary principal stresses are oriented parallel to the regional extension direction as expected. Near the detachment, extension in the system produces a rotation of the primary principal stresses of nearly 60° with respect to the regional stress field around the end of the fault. Additionally, the model predicts mechanical failure of the upper-plate of the detachment system to the south of the Catalina core complex. This model supports our interpretation that the orientation and early displacement noted on the Santa Rita fault is the result of a perturbation in the regional stress field caused by the Catalina detachment and the associated brittle failure of the upper-plate from the extreme crustal extension associated with core complex emplacement.
Impact of Organic Insecticides on the Survivorship and Mobility of Halyomorpha halys (Stål) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in the Laboratory

Abstract The invasive brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys (Stal) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) has become a major concern for specialty and row crop growers in the United States. Management tactics against this new pest are currently limited to repeated synthetic insecticide applications, thereby making this problem even more challenging for the organic grower community. This study evaluated the insecticidal efficacy of organically-approved insecticides (azadirachtin, potassium salts of fatty acids, spinosad, pyrethrins, and pyrethrins + kaolin) and experimental biopesticides (Chromobacterium subtsugae Martin et al. strain PRAA4-1T [MBI-203], extract of Eucalyptus sp. [MBI-205], and Burkholderia sp. [MBI-206]). These materials were presented as 18-h old dried residues against adult H. halys in the laboratory. Nonlethal effect on horizontal walking mobility of H. halys was evaluated during a 4.5-h insecticide exposure period; vertical walking mobility was measured at 4.5 h and 7 d after the insectici...
The personal touch: strategies toward personalized vaccines and predicting immune responses to them

The impact of vaccines on public health and wellbeing has been profound. Smallpox has been eradicated, polio is nearing eradication, and multiple diseases have been eliminated from certain areas of the world. Unfortunately, we now face diseases such as hepatitis C, malaria or tuberculosis, as well as new and re-emerging pathogens for which we lack effective vaccines. Empirical approaches to vaccine development have been successful in the past, but may not be up to the current infectious disease challenges facing us. New, directed approaches to vaccine design, development, and testing need to be developed. Ideally these approaches will capitalize on cutting-edge technologies, advanced analytical and modeling strategies, and up-to-date knowledge of both pathogen and host. These approaches will pay particular attention to the causes of inter-individual variation in vaccine response in order to develop new vaccines tailored to the unique needs of individuals and communities within the population.
A Videotape-Based Training Method for Improving the Detection of Depression in Residents of Long-Term Care Facilities

Purpose: This article reviews the effectiveness of a new training program for improving nursing staffs’ detection of depression within long-term care facilities. The course was designed to increase recognition of the Minimal Data Set (MDS) Mood Trigger items, to be brief, and to rely on images rather than didactics. Design and Methods: This study used a delayed intervention design. Twenty nurses from two facilities participated in all four sessions of the study. Results: Staff exposed to the intervention (Site 1) improved significantly in their ability to detect mood symptoms in videotaped patients after completing the training course compared with those exposed to the delayed intervention (Site 2). Improvement in detection skills at Site 2 following the training confirmed the intervention’s utility. The improvement was demonstrated across levels of staff (licensed and unlicensed). Maintenance of skills was demonstrated at the 4-month followup. Implications: Staff successfully improved knowledge and skill of MDS mood triggers. This method may lend itself to other MDS domains.
COMBINING SIMILARITIES AND DISSIMILARITIES IN SUPERVISED LEARNING

Categorization, as an active phase of the visual perception, must include a stage where a currently viewed exemplar of an object is compared to the previously acquired category representatives; comparisons between exemplars as opposed to simply examining one exemplar in isolation lead to improved supervised learning. An abstract model of a neuron (SD neuron) is introduced, that can compare inputs by detecting (S)imilarities and (D)issimilarities in sequentially presented stimuli. Using SD neurons in a traditional Back Error Propagation (BP) neural networks improves categorization and learning capability. The nonlinear combination of similar and dissimilar input features captures more extensive information about stimulus. SD networks also display more effective convergence properties than BP networks when tested with XOR problems. Finally, in a comparative study of printed-letter categorization, the SD network model performed better than the traditional BP network.
C-Reactive Protein Mediates the Effect of Apolipoprotein E on Cytomegalovirus Infection

Background. Although the apolipoprotein (APOE)–4 allele has been shown to determine the outcome of several infections, its relationship with cytomegalovirus (CMV) has not been explored. We examine whether APOE determines CMV and herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) antibody levels and assess whether C-reactive protein (CRP) mediates any observed relationships. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of a randomly selected subset (n 1561/1789) of participants aged 60 –101 in the Sacramento Area Latino Study on Aging. Blood samples were tested for APOE genotype, CRP, and immunoglobulin G antibodies to CMV and HSV-1. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the association between4 and CMV and HSV antibody levels. We also assessed whether CRP mediates the effects of any observed associations between 4 and viral antibody levels. Results. CMV antibody and CRP levels varied significantly by APOE genotype. The association between CRP and CMV antibody was strengthened in the presence of 4. In contrast, this effect was not observed in HSV-1. We found that APOE-4 carriers had significantly lower levels of CRP yet significantly higher levels of CMV antibodies, suggesting a mediating pathway. Conclusions. APOE-4 carriers may experience immunological aberrations that lead to lower levels of CRP and correspondingly higher CMV antibody levels. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is a 299-aa protein involved in the packaging of cholesterol and other lipids. Three APOE alleles, APOE-2, -3, and -4 (henceforth referred to as 2, 3, and 4, respectively), give rise to 3 protein isoforms, apoE2, apoE3, and apoE4, which have different affinities to lipoprotein receptors. The4 allele has been shown to determine the outcome of several infections, including herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1), hepatitis C virus (HCV), HIV, and Chlamydia pneu
Multi-resolution visualization techniques for nested weather models

Scaling of simulations challenges the effectiveness of conventional visualization methods. This problem becomes two-fold for mesoscale weather models that operate in near-real-time at cloud-scale resolution. For example, typical approaches to vector field visualization (e.g., wind) are based upon global methods, which may not illustrate detailed structure. In addition, such computations employ multi-resolution meshes to capture small-scale phenomena, which are not properly reflected in both vector and scalar realizations. To address the former critical point analysis and simple bandpass filtering of wind fields is employed for better seed point identification of streamline calculations. For the latter, an encapsulation of nested computational meshes is developed for general realization. It is then combined with the seed point calculation for an improved vector visualization of multi-resolution weather forecasting data.
Detection of loci affecting milk production and health traits in an elite US Holstein population using microsatellite markers

Quantitative trait loci (QTL) affecting health and milk production traits were studied in seven large half-sib US Holstein families by using the granddaughter design. Genotyping for 16 markers was completed and marker allele differences within and pooled-across families were analysed. Potential QTL were identified for somatic cell score (SCS), fat yield, fat percentage, protein yield and protein percentage. Three markers (BM203, BM4505 and BM2078) were associated with significant effects for different traits and, after further analysis, may be useful in marker-assisted selection in specific families. Comparisons between these data and previously identified QTL support the location of a QTL for milk yield and protein yield on chromosome 21.
Biclustering gene-feature matrices for statistically significant dense patterns

Biclustering is an important problem that arises in diverse applications, including analysis of gene expression and drug interaction data. The problem can be formalized in various ways through different interpretation of data and associated optimization functions. We focus on the problem of finding unusually dense patterns in binary (0-1) matrices. This formulation is appropriate for analyzing experimental datasets that come from not only binary quantization of gene expression data, but also more comprehensive datasets such as gene-feature matrices that include functions of coded proteins and motifs in the coding sequence. We formalize the notion of an "unusually" dense submatrix to evaluate the interestingness of a pattern in terms of statistical significance based on the assumption of a uniform memoryless source. We then simplify it to assess statistical significance of discovered patterns. Using statistical significance as an objective function, we formulate the problem as one of finding significant dense submatrices of a large sparse matrix. Adopting a simple iterative heuristic along with randomized initialization techniques, we derive fast algorithms for discovering binary biclusters. We conduct experiments on a binary gene-feature matrix and a quantized breast tumor gene expression matrix. Our experimental results show that the proposed method quickly discovers all interesting patterns in these datasets.
Amino Acid Digestibilities of Soybean Meal and Meat Meal in Male and Female Turkeys of Different Ages

Abstract Amino acid digestibilities of two protein feedstuffs (soybean meal and meat meal with bone) were compared in male and femal turkeys of different ages using a standard digestibility assay. Data were also compared to values found in cockerels. Soybean meal digestibilities did not differ overall between age, sex or species. Meat meal values did not differ between species, age or sex, but toms had lower digestibilities for some amino acids compared to turkey hens. The data indicate that amino acid digestibilities of the feedstuffs examined are similar in a variety of turkey models as well as the standard rooster model.
Feeling the elephant of cardiovascular cell therapy.

There is an ancient and well-known Asian folk-tale that, in a version by the poet Rumi in Tales from the Masnavi , tells of four men who are asked to feel an elephant in a dark room and describe what they are sensing. Each of them touches just one part of the elephant, so they all reach different conclusions and think that they are in the presence of either a water-spout, a fan, a pillar, or a throne, depending on whether they are touching the trunk, ear, leg, or back of the elephant.1 Article see p 315 This allegory has often been used in science to describe the limitations of our individual approaches when we study specific pathways but struggle with developing an overall perspective. The analogy of the elephant may be especially applicable to the emerging field of cardiovascular cell therapy. Particularly in the past decade, this field has virtually exploded, with huge numbers of publications investigating stem cells, progenitor cells, or other therapeutic cells that seem to improve vascular function or cardiac function in a variety of animal models of disease.2–4 However, a significant impediment to achieving an in-depth understanding of cardiovascular cell therapy is the enormous heterogeneity in the employed approaches, which can occur at several levels. Cells that have been used to improve cardiovascular function include adult endothelial progenitor cells, unpurified bone marrow mononuclear cells, adult myocardial stem cells, adult mesenchymal stem cells from the bone marrow or fat, and embryonic stem cells.5 But even within a cell type, there can be significant differences in how cells are isolated, processed, and cultured. For example, endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are among the most widely used cell types in cardiovascular cell therapies, but recent analyses have revealed that depending on how EPCs are isolated and …
Photosynthetic responses of tree seedlings in grass and under shrubs in early-successional tropical old fields, Costa Rica

Only recently have studies addressed the effect of early-colonizing vegetation on tree seedling survival and growth during secondary succession in tropical old fields, and few studies have elucidated the physiological responses of tree seedlings to different vegetational communities. We compared growth and various photosynthetic parameters for seedlings of four rain-forest tree species, Cedrela tonduzii, Inga punctata, Ocotea whitei, and Tapirira mexicana, growing in areas of pasture grass and shrubs in early-successional abandoned pasture in Costa Rica; in addition, we made measurements for two species in forest gaps. We tested the general hypothesis that early-colonizing shrubs facilitate growth of forest tree seedlings. Specifically, we measured microclimate, growth, CO2 assimilation, stomatal conductance, photosystem II quantum yield (ΦPSII), and xanthophyll pigment pools for all seedlings. Photosynthetic flux density (PFD) was higher under grass than shrubs or forest gaps, but was highly variable in each growth environment. For three of the four species, height growth was greatest in the grass compared to the shrubs and forest gaps; growth was similar below grass and shrubs for O. whitei. Photosynthetic capacity, apparent quantum yield, and stomatal conductance did not vary across habitats, but light compensation point and PFD at light saturation tended to be higher in the grass compared to forest and shrub growth environments. Water use efficiency differed across growth environments for three of the species. For plants in ambient PFD and dark-adapted plants, the efficiency of excitation energy transfer through PSII was lowest for plants in the grass compared to shrubs and forest gaps and also differed across species. Measurement of steady-state responses of ΦPSII to increasing PFD indicated a significant effect of growth environment at low PFD for all species and significant effects at high PFD only for I. punctata. All species exhibited a high degree of midday xanthophyll de-epoxidation in the different growth environments. Xanthophyll pigment pool size on an area basis was highest in the grass compared to shrubs and forest gaps for all four species. The results suggest that shrubs do not provide a facilitative effect for growth or photosynthesis for ~1.5-year-old seedlings of these four species. We conclude that site differences in success of tree seedlings during succession are a result of complex interactions of facilitation and competition and are not simply based on physiological responses to PFD.
Skin Mast Cells Protect Mice against Vaccinia Virus by Triggering Mast Cell Receptor S1PR2 and Releasing Antimicrobial Peptides

Mast cells (MCs) are well-known effectors of allergic reactions and are considered sentinels in the skin and mucosa. In addition, through their production of cathelicidin, MCs have the capacity to oppose invading pathogens. We therefore hypothesized that MCs could act as sentinels in the skin against viral infections using antimicrobial peptides. In this study, we demonstrate that MCs react to vaccinia virus (VV) and degranulate using a membrane-activated pathway that leads to antimicrobial peptide discharge and virus inactivation. This finding was supported using a mouse model of viral infection. MC-deficient (Kit(wsh-/-)) mice were more susceptible to skin VV infection than the wild type animals, whereas Kit(wsh-/-) mice reconstituted with MCs in the skin showed a normal response to VV. Using MCs derived from mice deficient in cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide, we showed that antimicrobial peptides are one important antiviral granule component in in vivo skin infections. In conclusion, we demonstrate that MC presence protects mice from VV skin infection, MC degranulation is required for protecting mice from VV, neutralizing Ab to the L1 fusion entry protein of VV inhibits degranulation apparently by preventing S1PR2 activation by viral membrane lipids, and antimicrobial peptide release from MC granules is necessary to inactivate VV infectivity.
Proportional degradation services in wireless/mobile adaptive multimedia networks

Adaptive multimedia services are very attractive since resources in wireless/mobile networks are relatively scarce and widely variable, and more importantly the resource fluctuation caused by mobility and channel fading can be mitigated using adaptive services. Therefore, there are extensive research activities on Quality of Service (QoS), call admission control, as well as bandwidth degradation and adaptation for adaptive multimedia services in wireless/mobile networks in recent years. However, fairness of bandwidth degradation has largely been ignored in previous work and remains an important issue in adaptive multimedia service provisioning. In this paper, we propose and study proportional degradation service provisioning in wireless/mobile networks that offer multiple classes of adaptive multimedia services. The proposed proportional degradation fairness model guarantees the proportional bandwidth degradation among different classes of services. Two proportional degradation scenarios are studied in this paper. In the first scenario, we study the proportional degradation provisioning with two QoS parameters for adaptive multimedia: the degradation ratio (DR) and the degradation degree (DD). In the second scenario, we study the proportional degradation provisioning with a new QoS parameter for adaptive multimedia: the degradation area (DA). For each scenario, based on the QoS parameters, proportional degradation adaptation algorithms are proposed to approximate the proportional degradation model, to fairly adapt calls' degradations, to utilize the system resource efficiently, as well as to optimize QoS parameters. Performance studies show that in the first scenario, proportional DR has been achieved very well, whereas proportional DD has not been well achieved. In other words, DR outperforms DD in terms of proportional degradation. In the second scenario, proportional DA has been well achieved. Furthermore, bandwidth resources have been efficiently utilized and DA has been minimized. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Arrhythmias in Pregnancy

Pregnant women have an increased risk of having the usual arrhythmias seen in women of childbearing age. Most of these are benign sinus tachycardias or bradycardias or atrial and ventricular ectopic beats. Women who have had sustained supraventricular or ventricular tachycardias before pregnancy frequently develop them during pregnancy. These arrhythmias often have enough hemodynamic significance to decrease uterine blood flow, which adds a sense of urgency for treatment. The management is similar to that of nonpregnant women, with nuances important for the protection of the developing fetus.
Optical absorption spectrum of hematite, αFe2O3 near IR to UV☆

Optical absorption spectra have been measured on thin (011) single crystal platelets and on highly oriented (110) thin films of αFe2O3. We have observed and assigned some of the absorption bands predicted by ligand field theory and SCF-Xα calculations. The temperature dependence of the 11760 cm−1 single crystal band has been fitted to the function ƒ = ƒ0(1 + exp (− θT)) with ƒ0 = 0.85 × 10−4 and θ = 200 K (139 cm−1). We have measured the photocurrent as a function of wavelength and have found several peaks that coincide with optical absorption bands.
Femtosecond four-wave-mixing spectroscopy of interacting magnetoexcitons in semiconductor quantum wells

Nonlinear exciton equations for one- and two-exciton variables, obtained by mapping the two-band model onto the molecular (Frenkel) Hamiltonian, are applied to calculate resonant optical nonlinearities in two-dimensional semiconductors in a strong perpendicular magnetic field. The polarization dependence of the time-resolved four-wave-mixing signals provides a direct probe for the two-exciton manifold as well as for the asymmetry of the particle-particle and particle-hole Coulomb interactions.
Designing interconnection networks for multi-level packaging

A central problem in building large scale parallel machines is the design of the interconnection network. Interconnection network design is largely constrained by packaging technology. The authors start with a generic set of packaging restrictions and evaluate different network organizations under a random traffic model. They identify families of networks (product of complete graphs, high degree deBruijn graphs) that they believe will be useful for multilevel packaging. The results indicate that customizing the network topology to the packaging constraints is useful. Some of the general principles that arise out of this study are: (1) making the networks denser at the lower levels of the packaging hierarchy has a significant positive impact on global communication performance, (2) it is better to organize a fixed amount of communication bandwidth as a smaller number of high bandwidth channels, and (3) providing the processors with the ability to tolerate latencies (by using multithreading) is very useful in improving performance.
Adaptation of a culturally relevant nutrition and physical activity program for low-income, Mexican-origin parents with young children.

Latino children experience higher rates of obesity than do non-Latino white children. Family-centered nutrition interventions can slow the rate of weight gain in this population. Ninos Sanos, Familia Sana (Healthy Children, Healthy Family) is a 5-year, community-based, participatory research study that targets rural Mexican-origin farmworker families with children aged 2 to 8 years in California's Central Valley. Adaptation of a culturally relevant obesity prevention program involved qualitative research to tailor key obesity prevention messages, pilot testing and implementation of key messages and activities at family nights, and continual modification to incorporate culturally innovative elements. Of the 238 families enrolled, 53% (125) attended the recommended minimum of 5 (of 10 possible) classes during the first year. A university and community partnership can guide development of a culturally tailored obesity prevention program that is suitable for reaching a high-risk Mexican-origin audience through cooperative extension and other public health programs.
Social effects of marijuana use in a recreational setting

Adult male volunteers with a prior history of either moderate (N = 12) or heavy (N = 14) marijuana use were systematically observed before, during, and after a 21-day period of free access to marijuana cigarettes. Data relevant to social interaction and recreational preferences were collected at hourly intervals. Moderate users consumed an average of 2.6 cigarettes per day and showed both acute and persistent (21-day) decrements in social interaction. Heavy users consumed 5.7 cigarettes per day but indicated fewer social reactions. The results suggested that marijuana inhibits social interaction in moderate users but behavioral tolerance in heavy users may mitigate this effect.
Evaluation of modal pushover analysis using generic frames

The recently developed modal pushover analysis (MPA) has been shown to be a significant improvement over the pushover analysis procedures currently used in structural engineering practice. None of the current invariant force distributions accounts for the contribution of higher modes-higher than the fundamental mode-to the response or for redistribution of inertial forces because of structural yielding. By including the contributions of a sufficient number of modes of vibration (generally two to three), the height-wise distribution of responses estimated by MPA is generally similar to the 'exact' results from non-linear response history analysis (RHA). Although the results of the previous research were extremely promising, only a few buildings were evaluated. The results presented below evaluate the accuracy of MPA for a wide range of buildings and ground motion ensembles. The selected structures are idealized frames of six different heights: 3,6,9,12,15, and 18 stories and five strength levels corresponding to SDF-system ductility factor of 1,1.5,2,4, and 6; each frame is analysed for 20 ground motions. Comparing the median values of storey-drift demands determined by MPA to those obtained from non-linear RHA shows that the MPA predicts reasonably well the changing height-wise variation of demand with building height and SDF-system ductility factor. Median and dispersion values of the ratios of storey-drift demands determined by MPA and non-linear-RHA procedures were computed to measure the bias and dispersion of MPA estimates with the following results: (1) the bias and dispersion in the MPA procedure tend to increase for longer-period frames and larger SDF-system ductility factors (although these trends are not perfect); (2) the bias and dispersion in MPA estimates of seismic demands for inelastic frames are usually larger than for elastic systems; (3) the well-known response spectrum analysis (RSA), which is equivalent to the MPA for elastic systems, consistently underestimates the response of elastic structures, e.g. up to 18% in the upper-storey drifts of 18-storey frames. Finally, the MPA procedure is simplified to facilitate its implementation in engineering practice-where the earthquake hazard is usually defined in terms of a median (or some other percentile) design spectrum for elastic systems-and the accuracy of this simplified procedure is documented.
Treating acquired resistance to EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors: Still a work in progress

While most patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) containing sensitizing mutations in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene will achieve an objective response to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) such as erlotinib or gefitinib, patients inevitably develop resistance to these agents. One of the strategies being tested to overcome acquired resistance to EGFR TKIs is the use of irreversible EGFR inhibitors such as afatinib. In the randomized phase 2b/3 LUX-Lung 1 trial in advanced NSCLC patients who progressed after at least 12 weeks of benefit from EGFR TKIs, afatinib failed to improve overall survival compared to placebo. Although the liberal entry criteria likely allowed the inclusion of some patients without true acquired resistance, the failure of this study calls into question the viability of irreversible EGFR inhibitors in this patient population.
The Legal Service Market in China: Implementation of China's GATS Commitments and Foreign Legal Services in China

China agreed to open its service market, gradually and conditionally, to its fellow WTO members under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) as part of accession commitments. Legal services are the very first ones to appear in China’s schedule of commitments. Foreign legal services are a necessary supplement to the legal services provided by Chinese legal professionals. However, they threaten to derail or at least forestall the development of the infantile Chinese legal industry with their overwhelming financial and organizational strength. A struggle between Chinese legal profession and its foreign counterparts is bound to ensue. State intervention will be vital for the survival of the Chinese legal profession. But how will the Chinese authority balance this interest with its obligations as a member of the WTO? Four modes of supply – through which cross-border delivery of services are realized – were incorporated into GATS. Three of the four – Cross-border Supply, Commercial Presence, and Temporary Movement of Natural Persons – are relevant to this topic. The discussion will focus on Commercial Presence, which is the delivery of legal services through direct foreign investment. We will take a close look at the effect of the presence of FLSP on the Chinese legal service market, and the discrepancies between China’s WTO commitments and their implementations in reality.
Robotic Partial Nephrectomy During Pregnancy: Case Report and Special Considerations

Objective To report a case of robotic partial nephrectomy (RPN) during pregnancy and review the existing literature on the topic. Methods A 35-year-old asymptomatic pregnant woman at 20 weeks gestation was found to have a large mass in the right kidney during routine anatomic ultrasound for fetal assessment. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated a 7.5 cm right upper-pole solid-enhancing renal mass, concerning for malignancy, without evidence of local extension or metastases. Ultimately, after shared decision-making between the patient and her physicians, the patient elected to proceed with RPN. A multidisciplinary approach was undertaken perioperatively. Notably, coordination between high-risk maternal fetal medicine, obstetrics, anesthesia, and urology were paramount to this endeavor. Results The patient was seen and assessed by obstetrics and maternal fetal medicine preoperatively, and fetal heart tones were monitored immediately before and after surgery and every day of her hospitalization. Total operating time was 253 minutes with an estimated blood loss of 120 cc. Warm ischemia time was 36 minutes, and 70% of normal renal parenchyma was preserved. The patient's creatinine peaked at 0.81 mg/dL, and her hemoglobin nadir reached 9.6 g/dL. She was discharged on postoperative day 6 in excellent condition. Final pathology demonstrated a 6.6 cm chromophobe renal cell carcinoma with negative margins. Conclusion RPN during pregnancy is feasible but requires perioperative planning, multidisciplinary coordination, and careful operative decision-making to ensure optimal safety of mother and fetus. Herein, we report the first described case of RPN for renal neoplasm during pregnancy.
Professional Development Considerations for Makerspace Leaders, Part One: Addressing “What?” and “Why?”

As makerspaces begin to move into school libraries and classrooms, there is a growing need for professional development to help K-12 educators answer common questions such as “what is a makerspace,” “why should I bother with a makerspace,” “how do I run a makerspace,” and “how do I teach from a makerspace?” In part one of this two-part series, content and professional development activities are recommended to help educators answer the “what” and “why” questions. These questions typically come up first and if adequately addressed, can help motivate educators to dig deeper into the how questions that are addressed in part two of this series. This article summarizes related literature and best practices from maker leaders to ground recommenced professional development activities that may be applied in workshops or in the authentic context of making.
Pathophysiological mechanisms of intraoperative and postoperative hearing deficits in cerebellopontine angle surgery: an experimental study.

Pathophysiological mechanisms responsible for intraoperative and postoperative hearing deficits associated with cerebellopontine (CP) angle operations were explored experimentally in dogs.
A sensitive radioenzymatic assay for glycerol and acylglycerols

A sensitive radioenzymatic assay for glycerol and acylglycerols is described. The assay depends on the quantitative phosphorylation of glycerol to glycerophosphate by glycerol kinase using [gamma-32P]ATP as a substrate. The 32P content of the formed glycerophosphate is determined and gives a measure of the original glycerol content. Acylglycerols can be determined by prior hydrolysis to glycerol. The assay is sensitive to about 0.1 nmol of glycerol and can be extended to 100 nmol. The assay can be applied to the determination of acylglycerols separated by thin-layer chromatography in amounts as low as 0.5 nmol. The assay is particularly useful in the determination of the specific activity of 14C- or 3H-labeled glycerol moeities.
Implementation of a New Hardware Real-time Data Exchange Technique in Digital Protection

Fast,efficient,and reliable data transmission and processing are one of critical techniques to achieve smart digital relay protection.The fundamental technology requirements for data transmission of digital protection and related equipments are analyzed,and a new high-speed multi-channel synchronous serial hardware real-time exchange technique is proposed,which is based on multi field programmable gate array(FPGA) system for data sharing among CPU boards.Then the design and implementation of this technology in digital protection is introduced in detail.Meanwhile,the specific methods of hardware reliability design are presented.Finally,the digital protection equipment with this technique has been successfully applied in typical digital substation.In addition,this technique can be extended to applications of other digital equipment.
Advances of desloratadine in clinic treatment of allergic diseases

Desloratadine is a new H1-histamine antagonist which have potent, rapid and continuous anti-allergic effect. In additional, it possesses unique anti-inflammatory properties and mechanism. Many recent clinic studies had confirmed a good prospect of desloratadine in clinic treatment of allergic diseases.
The role of attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and moral norm in the intention to purchase local food products

The primary purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents to the intention to purchase local food by extending the theory of planned behavior with additional considerations of moral aspects. Structural equation modeling was conducted with a sample group comprising 695 U.S. consumers. The results showed that data fitted the hypothesized model fairly well and explained respondents’ local food purchase intention. Attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and moral norm were found to influence consumers’ local food purchase intention directly or indirectly.
Nuclear Forensics of a Non-Traditional Sample: Neptunium

Recent nuclear forensics cases have focused primarily on plutonium (Pu) and uranium (U) materials. By definition however, nuclear forensics can apply to any diverted nuclear material. This includes neptunium (Np), an internationally safeguarded material like Pu and U, that could offer a nuclear security concern if significant quantities were found outside of regulatory control. This case study couples scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with quantitative analysis using newly developed specialized software, to evaluate a non-traditional nuclear forensic sample of Np. The results of the morphological analyses were compared with another Np sample of known pedigree, as well as other traditional actinide materials in order to determine potential processing and point-of-origin.