cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Does Glutamine Supplementation Increase Radioresistance in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Cervix

Abstract Objective. Glutamine is proposed to protect bowel from radiation. However, glutamine may decrease cancer's radiosensitivity. We evaluate glutamine's effect on the growth rate and radiosensitivity of two cervical carcinoma cell lines in vitro. Methods. HeLa and CaSki cells were seeded at 3000 cells/well in glutamine-free medium. An increasing amount of glutamine (0.4, 10, and 20 mM) was added to the respective plates, incubated, and irradiated with a single fraction of 0.5, 1, 3, and 6 Gy. Using a growth inhibition assay and photometric analysis, the viable cells were counted on day 8. Cell counts represent a mean ± standard deviation from six experiments and are expressed in 10 3 cells. Analysis of variance was performed. Results. In nonirradiated HeLa plates, absence of glutamine results in 5.7 ± 1.2 cells/well. Addition of glutamine at 0.4, 10, and 20 mM to nonirradiated cells significantly ( P P P Conclusions. Growth of HeLa and CaSki cells in vitro requires a minimum of 0.4 mM of glutamine in the medium. Supraphysiologic glutamine concentration does not increase tumor growth or radioresistance. Glutamine should be evaluated further as a potential bowel radioprotector.
Effects of diethanolamine on phosphatidylcholine biosynthetic enzymes of rat liver microsomes

Abstract 1. 1. The effect of administration of diethanolamine on the phosphatidylcholine biosynthetic enzymes. phosphatidylethanolamine methyltransferase, phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine methyltransferase and choline phosphotransferase of liver microsomes was measured in rats. 2. 2. In animals fed a stock diet for 3 days plus 0.5 mmol of diethanolamine by intraperitoneal injection. a significant stimulation of the activity of phosphatidylethanolamine methyltransferase was observed. There was a significant inhibition of choline phosphotransferase. 3. 3. Rats stomach tubed with 1 mmol diethanolamine for 3 days showed a significant stimulation of phosphatidylethanolamine methyltransferase and phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine methyltransferase activities. There was a significant inhibition of choline phosphotransferase. 4. 4. A cholinemethionine deficient diet was used to facilitate the incorporation of diethanolamine into an atypical phospholipid fraction. Feeding this diet containing 1% diethanolamine for 7 days resulted in a significant decrease in the in vitro activity of the methylating enzymes phosphatidylethanolamine methyltransferase, phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine methyltransferase and phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine methyltransferase.
Radiochemotherapy plus 3-aminopyridine-2-carboxaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (3-AP, NSC #663249) in advanced-stage cervical and vaginal cancers ☆ ☆☆

Abstract Objective Cervical and vaginal cancers have virally-mediated or mutated defects in DNA damage repair responses, making these cancers sensible targets for ribonucleotide reductase inhibition during radiochemotherapy. Methods We conducted a phase II study evaluating 3× weekly 2-hour intravenous 3-aminopyridine-2-carboxaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (3-AP, 25mg/m 2 ) co-administered with 1× weekly intravenous cisplatin (40mg/m 2 ) and daily pelvic radiation (45Gy) in women with stage I B2 –IV B cervical (n=22) or stage II–IV vaginal (n=3) cancers. Brachytherapy followed (40Gy). Toxicity was monitored by common terminology criteria for adverse events (version 3.0). The primary end point of response was assessed by 3-month posttherapy 2-[ 18 F] fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography (PET/CT) and clinical examination. Results 3-AP radiochemotherapy achieved clinical responses in 24 (96% [95% confidence interval: 80–99%]) of 25 patients (median follow-up 20months, range 2–35months). 23 (96% [95% confidence interval: 80–99%]) of 24 patients had 3-month posttherapy PET/CT scans that recorded metabolic activity in the cervix or vagina equal or less than that of the cardiac blood pool, suggesting complete metabolic responses. The most frequent 3-AP radiochemotherapy-related adverse events included fatigue, nausea, diarrhea, and reversible hematological and electrolyte abnormalities. Conclusions The addition of 3-AP to cisplatin radiochemotherapy was tolerable and produced high rates of clinical and metabolic responses in women with cervical and vaginal cancers. Future randomized phase II and III clinical trials of 3-AP radiochemotherapy are warranted.
Simple heuristics and PTASs for intersection graphs in wireless ad hoc networks

In wireless ad hoc networks, each wireless device has a transmission range, which is usually modeled as a disk centered at this node. A wireless node can send message directly to all nodes lying inside this disk. We present several intersection graphs to model the wireless networks. Then we present some simple heuristics and/or PTASs to approximate the maximum independent set, the minimum vertex cover and the minimum graph coloring in these graph models.
Comparison of diffusion‐weighted high‐resolution CBF and spin‐echo BOLD fMRI at 9.4 T

The quantification of blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) functional MRI (fMRI) signals is closely related to cerebral blood flow (CBF) change; therefore, understanding the exact relationship between BOLD and CBF changes on a pixelby-pixel basis is fundamental. In this study, quantitative CBF changes induced by neural activity were used to quantify BOLD signal changes during somatosensory stimulation in -chloralose-anesthetized rats. To examine the influence of fast-moving vascular spins in quantifying CBF, bipolar gradients were employed. Our data show no significant difference in relative CBF changes obtained with and without bipolar gradients. To compare BOLD and CBF signal changes induced by neural stimulation, a spin-echo (SE) sequence with long SE time of 40 ms at 9.4 T was used in conjunction with an arterial spin labeling technique. SE BOLD changes were quantitatively correlated to CBF changes on a pixel-by-pixel and animal-by-animal basis. Thus, SE BOLD-based fMRI at high magnetic fields allows a quantitative comparison of functional brain activities across brain regions and subjects. Magn Reson Med 47: 736 ‐741, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
On statistical computer programs and literary criticism

The literature of statistical computer programs is considered in the light of the literature of literary criticism. Examination of certain controversies which have occurred within the later field appear to foreshadow eventual problems to be encountered by the critic of statistical programs. Extrinsic versus ontological criticism, discovery as the critics role and his professional status as middleman are three issues which are only beginning to be faced in the field of statistical computer science. Considering how much has been written concerning the above issues in the literature of literary criticism, it would be a shame to not tap at least the vocabulary, if not some of the experiences, of those who deal with words, chapters and books before we begin to formally criticize statements, subroutines and packaged programs.
The social psychology of creativity: A componential conceptualization.

Despite the clear importance of social and environmental' influences on creative performance, a social psychology of creativity is yet to be developed. Theory and research have focused almost exclusively on a personality approach to creativity and, to a lesser extent, a cognitive-abilities approach. Following a consideration of the definition and assessment of creativity, a componential framework for conceptualizing creativity is presented here. Including domain-relevant skills, creativity-relevant skills, and task motivation as a set of necessary and sufficient components of creativity, the framework describes the way in which cognitive abilities, personality characteristics, and social factors might contribute to different stages of the creative process. The discussion emphasizes the previously neglected social factors and highlights the contributions that a social psychology of creativity can make to a comprehensive view of creative performance. A striking feature of many phenomenological accounts of creativity is the degree to which outstandingly creative individuals feel influenced by social and environmental factors. In many cases, these factors are quite ordinary, mundane events; it appears that even seemingly insignificant features of the environment can be detrimental or conducive to creativity in some individuals. For example, in a letter to a friend, Tchaikovsky (1906) described the devastating effect that
Using empirical demand data and common random numbers in an agent-based simulation of a distribution network

Agent-based simulation provides a methodology to investigate complex systems behavior, such as supply chains, while incorporating many empirical elements relative to both systems structure and agent behavior. While there is a significant amount of simulation and analytical research investigating the impact of information sharing in supply chains, few studies have used empirical demand for the model. This research utilizes empirical distributions in order to determine the demand process faced by distribution centers in a distribution network. Therefore, the distribution centers face independent and heterogeneous demand that is not normal, and exhibits a much larger coefficient of variation than is generally utilized in similar research. With so much complexity and variability, contrasting different inter-organizational information sharing configurations provides an ideal setting for utilizing common random numbers for variance reduction. Comparisons made using this methodology show clear differences between the different information sharing schemes.
Mapping of the msDNA operon in the chromosome of Escherichia coli B

Summary An msDNA operon, consisting of genes for msDNA and a reverse transcriptase, is present in Escherichia coli B and absent from E. coli K12. We have found that the msDNA operon is located on a DNA fragment, longer than 15 kb, that is absent from E. coli K12. Using conjugation, P1 transduction, and nucleic acid hybridization between E. coli B and E. coli K12 strains, we have located the position of the msDNA operon on the E. coli B chromosome at a site that corresponds to minute 19 on the genetic map and to position 900 on the physical map of the E. coli K12 chromosome.
The effect of peer selection and buffering strategies on the performance of peer-to-peer file sharing systems

Peer-to-peer systems contain a collection of equivalent entities that form an application-layer overlay network. Each entity acts as client, server, and overlay network router. Peer-to-peer systems enable the rapid development of distributed applications; peer-to-peer file sharing has become one of the most popular Internet applications. There are two primary functions in a peer-to-peer file sharing application: content discovery (determining which peers have the desired content) and content retrieval (transferring content from a peer to the requester). We focus on two aspects of content retrieval that have received limited attention, namely peer selection and request buffering. Using a combination of analytic modelling and simulation, we find that a simple greedy scheme that uses only local information to select a peer has performance comparable to alternative schemes, including those that make more globally-informed decisions. We also find that the optimal request buffering strategy depends on the system load and availability of peer information. For example, when peer information is scarce, download buffering works well; when peer information is plentiful, no buffering is preferable for a better throughput. Our results have implications for the design of high-performance, low overhead peer-to-peer file sharing systems.
Iron, Bis(pyridine)bis(2-pyridinecarboxylato-N1,O2)

[128391-66-2] C22H18N4Fe1O4 (MW 458.26) InChI = 1S/2C6H5NO2.2C5H5N.Fe/c2*8-6(9)5-3-1-2-4-7-5;2*1-2-4-6-5-3-1;/h2*1-4H,(H,8,9);2*1-5H;/q;;;;+2/p-2 InChIKey = AHTMLQBGZRBOAQ-UHFFFAOYSA-L [183183-14-4] InChI = 1S/2C6H5NO2.2C5H5N.Fe/c2*8-6(9)5-3-1-2-4-7-5;2*1-2-4-6-5-3-1;/h2*1-4H,(H,8,9);2*1-5H;/q;;;;+2/p-2 InChIKey = AHTMLQBGZRBOAQ-UHFFFAOYSA-L (catalyst for Gif-type oxygenation and functionalization of CH bonds; aliphatic CH bonds, αheteroatom functionalized sp3 CH bonds) Physical Data: mp 157 °C. Solubility: soluble in polar organic solvents. Form Supplied in: brick-red microcrystalline solid. Analysis of Reagent Purity: 1H, 13C NMR, IR, UV-vis and elemental analysis. Handling, Storage, and Precaution: store under inert atmosphere. Avoid skin contact and inhalation.
Atherosclerosis 2005 Recent Discoveries and Novel Hypotheses

Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory process that selectively affects arteries and is highly prevalent in both women and men. Thrombo-occlusive complications of atherosclerosis, including stroke and myocardial infarction, are major causes of morbidity and mortality. Senescence of the arterial tree is a biological process that follows a natural course that can be accelerated by the combined injury of multiple risk factors. A repair capacity that is intrinsic to the organism can counteract the natural time- and risk factor– dependent obsolescence of arteries. The failure of this repair process is intimately linked to atherosclerotic inflammation and lesion formation. Recruitment and targeting of bone marrow–derived progenitor vascular cells, and probably vascular progenitors originating in other tissues, that have an intrinsic capacity for repair of the vascular wall represent a promising area for research and development. This review focuses on recent discoveries relevant to vascular progenitor cells and others that are likely to influence atherosclerosis research. It highlights the exciting recent findings that demonstrate the vital role of vascular progenitor cells in the homeostasis of the vessel wall and the mitigation of atherosclerosis. In the context of atherosclerosis, this review also discusses the relevance of this paradigm to pharmacological treatment of atherosclerosis and the process of aging.
Doubling of bandwidth utilization using two orthogonal polarizations and power unbalancing in a polarization-division-multiplexing scheme

We propose and experimentally implement a method of demultiplexing two data channels, which were multiplexed using orthogonal polarizations on the same wavelength in a power ratio of 1:2 in order to double the bandwidth utilization in the fiber. Our technique facilitates the straightforward decoding of the two data channels and does not require the demultiplexing of the two orthogonal polarizations at the receiver. The two polarization channels each at 2.2 Gb/s are recovered after 100 km of fiber transmission with <1.0-dB power penalty.
Structure elucidation of nigricanoside A through enantioselective total synthesis

Nigricanoside A was isolated from green alga, and its dimethyl ester was found to display potent cytotoxicity. Its scarcity prevented a full structure elucidation, leaving total synthesis as the only means to determine its relative and absolute stereochemistry and to explore its biological activity. Here we assign the stereochemistry of the natural product through enantioselective total synthesis and provide initial studies of its cytotoxicity.
Statistical Retardation Delay of I-MOS and Its Measurement Using TDR

In this letter, we study the statistical retardation delay of the impact ionization MOSFET (I-MOS) that is observed during the turn-on transient. Since seed carriers are required to initiate an avalanche breakdown in the I-MOS, the turn-on delay of the I-MOS has an additional random component associated with the generation of seed carriers. The characteristics of this delay are statistically analyzed and measured for the first time with time-domain reflectometry. The results show a fundamental limitation of the I-MOS delay, which is directly associated with the leakage current.
Formation and Contents of Yellow-Pine Chipmunk (Tamias amoenus) Winter Larders

Despite much attention to the foraging habits and hibernation patterns of food-storing mammals, little is known about the contents of winter larders under natural conditions or how animals prepare a winter larder. Here we describe the contents of 15 yellow-pine chipmunk (Tamias amoenus) winter larders from 3 different years and describe the movement of scatter-hoarded seeds into larders. We found larders by locating 14 radio-collared chipmunks in their winter dens. One additional larder was found by tracking the movement of seeds labeled with radioactive scandium-46 from scattered caches into the larder. Chipmunks formed winter dens and rapidly provisioned winter larders in the fall, just before the onset of winter. Surface caches were dynamic, with seeds residing in 1-6 cache sites (x - = 2.6, s = 1.1) before being found in the larder. Distances from scattered caches to the winter larder were 34.5 m (s = 17.1). Contents of winter larders consisted of pine and shrub seeds. In 14 of the 15 larders, pine seeds contributed most to the size and caloric content of larders. Pine seeds and other seeds found in winter larders were produced by plants 2-4 months before the onset of winter. We conclude that if yellow-pine chipmunks did not scatter-hoard seeds during summer and autumn, seeds would not have been available for use in winter larders.
Tracking the Movement and Changing Surface Characteristics of Arctic Sea Ice

A technique to track the location and motion of sea ice parcels in the Arctic Ocean has been developed. This method blends the observations of passive microwave satellite imagery with buoy motions to yield a daily motion product. Ancillary information derived from collocated satellite data enables researchers to track the evolution of ice characteristics as it advects through the Arctic Ocean. Because this ice dataset spans over 20 years, age of the ice can also be estimated, and results show that the recent Arctic ice pack contains a larger fraction of younger ice than the pack contained 20 years ago.
What systems researchers need to know about NAND flash

Flash memory has been an active topic of research in recent years, but hard information about the parameters and behavior of both flash chips and SSDs has been difficult to obtain for those outside of the industry. In this paper several misconceptions found in the literature are addressed, in order to enable future researchers to avoid some of the errors found in prior work. We examine the following topics: flash device parameters such as page and erase block size, speed, and reliability, as well as flash translation layer (FTL) requirements and behavior under random and sequential I/O. We have endeavored to find public sources for our claims, and provide experimental evidence in several cases. In doing so, we provide previously unpublished results showing the viability of random writes on commodity SSDs when restricted to a sufficiently small portion of the logical address space.
The C. elegans EMAP-like protein, ELP-1 is required for touch sensation and associates with microtubules and adhesion complexes

The founding member of the EMAP-like protein family is the Echinoderm Microtubule-Associated Protein (EMAP), so-named for its abundance in sea urchin, starfish, and sand dollar eggs. The EMAP-like protein family has five members in mammals (EML1 through EML5) and only one in both Drosophila (ELP-1) and C. elegans (ELP-1). Biochemical studies of sea urchin EMAP and vertebrate EMLs implicate these proteins in the regulation of microtubule stability. So far, however, the physiological function of this protein family remains unknown. We examined the expression pattern of C. elegans ELP-1 by means of transgenic gene expression in living embryos and adults, and by immunolocalization with an ELP-1-specific antibody in fixed tissues. In embryos, ELP-1 is expressed in the hypodermis. In larvae and adults, ELP-1 is expressed in the body wall, spermatheca and vulval muscles, intestine, and hypodermal seam cells. In muscle, ELP-1 is associated with adhesion complexes near the cell surface and is bound to a criss-crossing network of microtubules in the cytoplasm. ELP-1 is also expressed in a subset of mechanoreceptor neurons, including the ray neurons in the male tail, microtubule-rich touch receptor neurons, and the six ciliated IL1 neurons. This restricted localization in the nervous system implies that ELP-1 plays a role in mechanotransmission. Consistent with this idea, decreasing ELP-1 expression decreases sensitivity to gentle touch applied to the body wall. These data imply that ELP-1 may play an important role during the transmission of forces and signals between the body surface and both muscle cells and touch receptor neurons.
Spatial data query support in peer-to-peer systems

The distributed hash table (DHT) mechanisms have been proposed to manage data in very large, structured peer-to-peer (P2P) systems. DHT algorithms provide efficient exact-match object search capabilities without requiring global indexing and are hence extremely scalable. However, range queries - which are very common with spatial data - cannot be executed efficiently in these systems because the adoption of uniform hash functions to ensure excellent load balancing unfortunately destroys any existing data locality. In this report we propose a novel technique to preserve spatial locality information while also keeping some of the load balancing properties of DHT based systems. We describe our design as an extension of content-addressable networks (CAN) and illustrate the feasibility of supporting spatial range queries.
Laboratory Evaluation of Virulence of Heterorhabditid Nematodes to Plodia interpunctella Hübner (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae)

The Indianmeal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hubner), is a cosmopolitan pest of stored products, infesting most commodities in warehouses and grain bins. We studied the susceptibility of Indianmeal moth adults and larvae to seven entomopathogenic nematode species and strains. The nematodes studied were Heterorhabditis bacteriophora Poinar (HP88, Lewiston, and Oswego strains); H. indica Poinar, Karunakar, and David (Homl strain); H. marelatus Liu and Berry (Point Reyes strain); H. megidis Poinar, Jackson, and Klein (UK211 strain); and H. zealandica Poinar (NZH3 strain). Overall, the nematodes that had the highest virulence to larvae and adults of Indianmeal moth were H. indica, H. megidis, and H. marelatus. Adult Indianmeal moths seemed to be more susceptible to the nematodes than the larvae, and egg laying was significantly reduced by at least 44% in Indianmeal moths adults that survived exposure to the nematode strains. We conclude that H. indica, H. megidis, and H. marelatus should be studied further as potential biocontrol agents of Indianmeal moth in stored grains and processed commodities.
White matter structural connectivity changes correlate with epilepsy duration in temporal lobe epilepsy

Abstract Purpose Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is thought to be a network disease and structural changes using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) have been shown. However, lateralized differences in the structural integrity of TLE, as well as changes in structural integrity with longer disease duration, have not been well defined. Methods We examined the fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) in the hippocampus, as well as its primary (cingulum and fornix) and remote (uncinate and external capsule) connections in both right and left TLE. Changes in diffusion measures over the disease course were examined by correlating FA and MD in the various structures with epilepsy duration. The potential for each measure of anisotropy and diffusivity as a marker of TLE laterality was investigated using random forest (RF) analysis. Results MD was increased in the bilateral hippocampus, cingulum, fornix and the right external capsule in both left and right TLE compared to controls. In addition, left TLE exhibited an increased MD in the ipsilateral uncinate fasciculus and bilateral external capsules. A decrease in FA was seen in the left cingulum in left TLE. RF analysis demonstrated that MD of the right hippocampus and FA of the left external capsule were important predictors of TLE laterality. An association of increased MD with epilepsy duration was seen in the left hippocampus in left TLE. Conclusion Evidence of disrupted white matter architecture in the hippocampus and its primary and remote connections were demonstrated in TLE. While changes in the hippocampus and cingulum were more prominent in right TLE, remote changes were more prominent in left TLE. MD of the right hippocampus and FA of the left external capsule were found to be the strongest structural predictors of TLE laterality. Changes associated with duration of epilepsy indicated that changes in structural integrity may be progressive over the disease course. This study illustrates the potential of structural diffusion tensor imaging in elucidating pathophysiology, enhancing diagnosis and assisting prognostication.
Large Interactive Public Displays: Use Patterns, Support Patterns, Community Patterns

Large displays have several natural affordances that should make it simple to support collaborative work. They are large enough to hold multiple work areas and are easy for a small group to see collectively. The BlueBoard is a large plasma display with touch sensing and a badge reader to identify individuals using the board. The onboard software acts as a thin client giving access to each participant’s content (e.g., home pages, project pages). The client also has a set of tools and mechanisms that support rapid exchange of content between those present. The overall design of the BlueBoard is one that is easily learnable (under 5 minutes), very simple to use, and permits novel uses for collaboration. Our initial field study revealed a number of social issues about the use of a large interactive display surface, yet indicated that a shared public display space truly has distinct properties that lends itself to sharing content. Extreme learnability & overall simplicity of design makes BlueBoard a tool for collaboration that supports intermittent, but effective use for side-by-side collaboration between colleagues.
Alcohol, Memory, and Molecules

The amnesic effects of acute ingestion of ethanol are well documented in both human and animal studies (Goodwin et al, 1969; Lowy, 1970; Lister et al., 1987; Zimmerberg et al., 1991; Ryback 1971; Castellano and Populin, 1990; Tako et al., 1991). However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms that underlie these effects are unknown. In the past, the vast majority of studies of learning and memory have been conducted under conditions where it was very difficult to perform cellular and molecular analyses—namely in studies of animal behavior. There are, of course, good reasons to begin studying learning and memory under such complex circumstances, perhaps the most obvious being the limitations of simple systems models of memory. Nonetheless, within the last 25 years, there have been a number of important discoveries which indicate that future research may provide extremely important new information about the cellular and molecular substrates of learning and memory deficits. The discovery of long-term potentiation (LTP) provided a cellular mechanism that had many properties thought to be essential for a biological substrate of memorial processes. Subsequent work revealed that both chronic and acute ethanol inhibited this form of neuronal plasticity (Durand and Carlen, 1984; Sinclair and Lo, 1986; Mulkeen et al, 1987; Blitzer et al., 1990).
Prenatal Diagnosis of Ectrodactyly in the First Trimester by Three-Dimensional Ultrasonography

Introduction Ectrodactyly, also known as split hand/foot malformation, is a rare developmental abnormality of the limbs that consists of absent central digits, a deep median cleft, and fusion of the remaining lateral digits, ultimately producing clawlike extremities. This case represents one of the earliest reported diagnoses of this anomaly to utilize three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonography. Case A nulliparous woman presented at 13 weeks of gestation for first-trimester aneuploidy screening. On two-dimensional (2D) imaging, she was noted to have a fetus with a shortened right upper limb and a malformed right hand with no clearly visualized digits. The anomaly was then further evaluated with both transabdominal and transvaginal 2D and 3D ultrasonography with postprocessing visualization, revealing absent central digits. Neither the patient nor her husband reported any personal or family history of skeletal or other structural malformations. Discussion Fetal limb abnormalities are being encountered at increasingly earlier gestational ages due to improvements in image quality and expanded use of ultrasound in the first trimester. Early identification of fetal limb malformations without a definitive diagnosis or a clear pattern of inheritance can present a challenging clinical scenario. Patients may opt for earlier termination of pregnancy rather than wait for additional information to guide decision-making.
Predicting Population Cycles of the Pink Bollworm by Thermal Summation

Degree-day (dd) accumulation was used as a means of forecasting moth population peaks of Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders). Male moths exhibited cyclic population peaks at intervals of 23176±1154 dd’s. These findings should reduce the monitoring period for pink bollworm on cotton in southern California by allowing checking of sex-lure traps only at critical periods.
Pronounced variations in Fagus grandifolia abundances in the Great Lakes region during the Holocene

Mesic tree species such as Fagus grandifolia and Tsuga canadensis experienced multiple abundance declines in eastern North America during the last 8000 years, but the causes remain unclear. This paper presents a new sub-centennial record of Holocene vegetation, fire and sedimentological changes at Spicer Lake, IN, to test hypotheses about the role of fire and hydrological variations on shifts in vegetation composition. Four pollen zones are reported: Abies–Picea forests (15–11.8 ka BP), Pinus-dominated mixed forest (11.8–10.6 ka BP), transitional mixed forest (10.6–6.8 ka BP), and deciduous forest characterized by the expansion and high variability of F. grandifolia (after 6.8 ka BP). Macroscopic charcoal indicates five to seven fires between 6.1 and 4.4 ka BP and no fires between 4.4 and 2 ka BP, despite several large declines in F. grandifolia, and more fires after 1.8 ka BP likely linked to declining F. grandifolia abundances after 1.1 ka BP. Six peaks in mineralogenic sediments are suggestive of hydro...
NMR Study of the Chain End and Branching Units in Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-tetrafluoroethylene)

2D-NMR techniques were used to identify the detailed structures of chain end and branching units in poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-tetrafluoroethylene), poly(VDF-co-TFE). Atomic connectivity information was provided by selective 19F–19F COSY (correlation spectroscopy), 19F{1H} gHETCOR (gradient heteronuclear correlated), and 1H{13C} HSQC (heteronuclear single quantum correlation) experiments. Diffusion ordered spectroscopy (DOSY) and spin–lattice relaxation (T1) data permitted distinction of backbone, short chain branch, and chain end resonances from one another. Quantitative data on these structures are reported; quantitation also supported assignments through the consistent relative intensities of resonances from the same structures. Possible reactions during the polymerization which could lead to these structures are discussed.
Coping with loneliness and locus of control.

The present study sought to determine the relative ability of internal and external subjects to handle the problem of loneliness. Research by Johnson and Sarason (1978) has suggested that an internal locus of control is much more effective in helping one deal with stressful life events. If this is the case, one should find a positive relationship between degree of loneliness and number of emotional and psychosomatic complaints on the Cornell Medical Index Form N-2 (Weider, Wolff, Brodman, Mittelman, & Wechsler, 1949) for external subjects but not for internal ones. Subjects were 150 college sophomores in introductory psychology. A score of 11, the median, was used to define extercality. Pearson correlations between loneliness scores on the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, Peplau, & Ferguson, 1978) and on the Cornell Index were for male internal subjects ( N = 41) .48 ( P .05), for female internal subjects ( N = 35) .38 (P :05). The results indicate positive and significant small to moderate relationships between loneliness and somatic and psychological distress for internal subjects but not external subjects although the correlation for female external scorers falls just short of significance. These results call into question the conclusion of Johnson and Sarason that internal subjects cope better with stress. This certainly is not true for the stress of loneliness. On the contrary, it was particularly the male external subjects who appeared to be least affected by loneliness. This seems to be one of the few areas reported so far in the literature where an external orientation seems to hold some advantage. Whether the advantage is temporary or long-term remains to be determined.
A Modal Model to Simulate Typical Structural Dynamic Nonlinearity

Some initial investigations have been published which simulate nonlinear response with almost traditional modal models: instead of connecting the modal mass to ground through the traditional spring and damper, a nonlinear Iwan element was added. This assumes that the mode shapes do not change with amplitude and there are no interactions between modal degrees of freedom. This work expands on these previous studies. An impact experiment is performed on a structure which exhibits typical structural dynamic nonlinear response, i.e. weak frequency dependence and strong damping dependence on the amplitude of vibration. Use of low level modal test results in combination with high level impacts are processed using various combinations of modal filtering, the Hilbert Transform and band-pass filtering to develop response data that are then fit with various nonlinear elements to create a nonlinear pseudo-modal model. Simulations of forced response are compared with high level experimental data for various nonlinear element assumptions.
Infrastructural health monitoring using self-powered Internet-of-Things

By incorporating sensing capabilities in passive radio-frequency identification (RFID) tagging technology it is possible to extend the coverage of Internet-of-Things (IoT) to monitor the health of different segments of a large civil infrastructure like pavement highway, buildings or a multi-span bridge. The challenge in this regard is to deliver energy to the RFID sensors that are embedded inside the structures in a manner that they can continuously sense for occurrence of any rare structural events. This paper summarizes some of the progress that has been made to-date in the area of self-powered R FID sensor networks within the concept of IoT. The core sensor uses a self-powering method which directly harvests computational and storage energy from slight strain-variations in the structure. The event signatures can then be stored on a non-volatile memory and remotely retrieved at a later period of time. In this “sense now retrieve later” paradigm, self-powering is only used for continuous sensing and data-logging of essential statistics; whereas, data retrieval and reconfiguration is achieved using a low-cost commercial RFID system. Another advantage of using a commercial RFID system for data retrieval is that the related standards and FCC compliance are well established and the technology can be easily integrated with other IoT network infrastructure.
Newsworthy Rumor Events: A Case Study of Twitter

Rumor events differ in how and where they originate, what topics they address, the emotions they invoke, and how they engage their audience. In this paper, we study various semantic aspects of rumors and analyze the motivational and functional roles they play. Using Twitter as a case study, we develop a framework to characterize rumors. Our characterization covers intrinsic and extrinsic factors, tweet and event-level, as well as usage analysis. We determine the roles various user-types play and analyze rumor propagation from both a re-tweeting and burstiness perspective.
Energy aware routing of multi-level Network-on-Chip traffic

The emergence of Network-on-Chip (NoC) as a communication paradigm for Multi-Processor System-on-Chips (MPSoCs) significantly exacerbates the need to provide a methodology that optimizes the energy consumption of the overall system. This is especially important when factoring in current Network-on-Chip advances which have multiple communication media such as on-chip wireless or nano-photonics links, hybrid with traditional wired links. All of these media have different energy profiles, and if not taken into consideration the system will incur a higher power consumption throughout the runtime of the application. In this work, the case for EDP (energy-delay product) optimization between different levels of a multi-level Network-on-Chip is presented. Using a dynamic, energy aware algorithm, the EDP improvement is compared to a multi-level Network-on-Chip using a statically optimized routing. The proposed routing algorithm handles the different types of energy-delay profiles of multiple links. The end product is a methodology that lowers the overall energy consumption by optimizing the energy profile of the Network-on-Chip while also minimizing the network delay.
From Nihilism to Nostalgia: Blackfish (2013) and the Contradictions of the Nature Documentary

Abstract:Blackfish is a key entry into the “nature” documentary genre, highlighting the tension between sentimentalizing and fearing wildlife. While such tensions are usually contained within the “violent thrills” of most documentaries, Blackfish's conflicted attitude toward the captive orcas raises this tension in ways that the movie's emotional ending fails to alleviate.
Mourning and Grief on Facebook: An Examination of Motivations for Interacting With the Deceased.

Facebook not only changed the way we communicate but also the way we mourn and express grief. The social networking site allows users to interact with deceased users’ walls after death. This study utilized textual analysis to categorize Facebook posts (N = 122) on 30 deceased users’ walls according to uses and gratifications theory. Most posts were found to be motivated by entertainment, followed by integration and social interaction. Facebook users posted memories, condolences, and interacted with friends and family members in the deceased user’s network. Implications and potential future research are discussed.
One-Trial, Long-Delay, Conditioned Preference in Rats

Water-deprived rats were exposed to a distinctive (striped) arm of a T maze for 10, 20, or 40 min and then, following a 30- or 120-min delay interval, placed in a reinforcement chamber where they received either 15-min access to a sucrose solution (experimental subjects) or nothing (controls). About 44 hr after this conditioning trial a spatial preference test was administered in which the amount of time spent in the striped and in the alternative, black, arms of the T maze was recorded. Experimental animals spent greater amounts of time in the striped arm than did the controls, indicating a conditioned preference for the striped arm. Exposure to the striped arm was a critical variable in that conditioned preference was obtained with both the 20- and the 40-min exposures when reinforcement delay was 30 min but with the 120-min delay of reinforcement only the 40-min exposure was effective. These results indicate that one-trial, long-delay learning is not restricted to the acquisition of taste aversions.
Terrier of Llanthony Priory’s houses and lands in Gloucester 1443

At the point of the Dissolution, Llanthony Secunda Priory had amassed a large amount of land and property in Gloucester and the surrounding area; the size of its urban estates earned it the positio...
Housing location choices of the poor: does access to jobs matter?

AbstractThis research investigates whether access to jobs affects poor households’ residential location choices using data from individual households in the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Our results, based on discrete choice models, show that the effects of job accessibility on household location choices are contingent upon households’ automobile ownership and employment status. Places with higher job accessibility by public transit mode are more likely to attract poor households that do not own cars but have at least one employed worker or one labour force participant, while job accessibility by automobile travel mode has no positive effect on the location choices of poor households who own automobiles. The results stress the importance of job accessibility for those poor households with limited transportation mobility but strong needs for access to jobs.
How organizational structure influences members’ organizational identification

Previous research on the antecedents of organizational identification (OI) has not thoroughly examine the effect of structural forces within an organization. As an attempt to narrow this gap, I foc...
Sub-failure Stretch Injury Response in Rat Achilles Tendon

Sub-failure ligament and tendon injuries are of great concern to athletes and the general population because they account for a significant proportion of all musculoskeletal injuries per year. The goals of this manuscript were to design and evaluate the performance of a reproducible small animal model for tendon sub-failure injury and investigate the tissue response to a singular, controlled sub-failure stretch damage in rat Achilles tendon matrices using biochemical, biomechanical, and image analyses. Utilizing a new tendon stretch injury device, we showed that sub-failure stretch lead to significant changes in the elastic moduli of the toe region of the stress-strain curves of tendons. Scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the ultrastructural damage and disorganization of the normally aligned collagen matrix of the tendon. Additionally, ex vivo biomechanical testing confirmed the persistence of compromised biomechanical properties for up to 7 days post-injury in the healing Achilles tendon. Furthermore, in vivo magnetic resonance imaging and histological analysis showed strong evidence of the injury during repair. Lastly, immunohistochemical staining revealed increased expression of myofibroblast markers elastin and smooth muscle actin, indicative of matrix remodeling facilitated by migrating tissue fibroblasts. These results support the clinical utility of this new in vivo model for the study of sub-failure injury of tendon. Taken together, these findings provide clinically relevant information about the most common type of ligament and tendon injury. Sub-failure sprain and strain injuries to ligaments and tendons are common injuries of the musculoskeletal system. We set out to design a device that could accurately model the response of a sub-failure tendon stretch injury in rat. Using 3D-printed parts, we developed a new injury device and tested the biological and biomechanical response of stretch injury in rat cadavers and live rats for up to 1 week. Our results showed sub-failure stretch of the Achilles tendon led to changes in the biomechanics, most notably the toe region modulus under tension. We saw persistence of compromised biomechanics for up to 1 week, accompanied by a cellular response led by migrating tendon fibroblasts. Future studies will evaluate the long-term response of the stretch injury in rat, in addition to adapting the device for larger animal models.
Leaching and sorption of neonicotinoid insecticides and fungicides from seed coatings

Seed coatings are a treatment used on a variety of crops to improve production and offer protection against pests and fungal outbreaks. The leaching of the active ingredients associated with the seed coatings and the sorption to soil was evaluated under laboratory conditions using commercially available corn and soybean seeds to study the fate and transport of these pesticides under controlled conditions. The active ingredients (AI) included one neonicotinoid insecticide (thiamethoxam) and five fungicides (azoxystrobin, fludioxonil, metalaxyl, sedaxane thiabendazole). An aqueous leaching experiment was conducted with treated corn and soybean seeds. Leaching potential was a function of solubility and seed type. The leaching of fludioxonil, was dependent on seed type with a shorter time to equilibrium on the corn compared to the soybean seeds. Sorption experiments with the treated seeds and a solution of the AIs were conducted using three different soil types. Sorption behavior was a function of soil organic matter as well as seed type. For most AIs, a negative relationship was observed between the aqueous concentration and the log Koc. Sorption to all soils tested was limited for the hydrophilic pesticides thiamethoxam and metalaxyl. However, partitioning for the more hydrophobic fungicides was dependent on both seed type and soil properties. The mobility of fludioxonil in the sorption experiment varied by seed type indicating that the adjuvants associated with the seed coating could potentially play a role in the environmental fate of fludioxonil. This is the first study to assess, under laboratory conditions, the fate of pesticides associated with seed coatings using commercially available treated seeds. This information can be used to understand how alterations in agricultural practices (e.g., increasing use of seed treatments) can impact the exposure (concentration and duration) and potential effects of these chemicals to aquatic and terrestrial organisms.
How Do Feminist-Identified Women Cope With Discrimination? A Feminist Standpoint and Grounded Theory Study:

Women experience a higher incidence of mental health concerns compared to men, and scholars have located these challenges within a discriminatory sociocultural context. Although scholars have sugge...
Reply to Hull

Strange things happen to a philosopher who hangs out with historians of science. Some days you’re prudishly inoffensive, apologetic, etc. with regard to the relations between the fields, some days you’re defensive, and some days you’re a Lakotosian reactionary. And, hopefully, some days you’re just appropriately historically conscious, whatever that means.
Effects of betaine on growth, carcass characteristics, pork quality, and plasma metabolites of finishing pigs.

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of dietary betaine (0, 0.125, 0.250, or 0.500%) on growth, carcass traits, pork quality, plasma metabolites, and tissue betaine concentrations of cross-bred finishing pigs. Four replications of three pigs (two barrows and one gilt) each were used for each treatment. The basal diet contained 0.85 (69 to 88 kg BW) or 0.65% Lys (88 to 115 kg BW). Overall ADG and gain:feed were not affected (P > 0.10) by betaine, but overall ADFI was decreased (quadratic, P 0.10) by betaine. Tenth-rib backfat thickness was decreased (quadratic, P 0.10) by betaine. Betaine was not detectable ( 0.10). Plasma total cholesterol (linear, P < 0.10) and NEFA (quadratic, P < 0.10) were increased in pigs fed betaine. Betaine improved carcass traits when provided at 0.250% of the diet and improved some aspects of pork quality.
Living Coordination Polymerization of a Six-Five Bicyclic Lactone to Produce Completely Recyclable Polyester

The development of chemically recyclable polymers promises a closed-loop approach towards a circular plastic economy but still faces challenges in structure/property diversity and depolymerization selectivity. Here we report the first successful coordination ring-opening polymerization of 4,5-trans-cyclohexyl-fused γ-butyrolactone (M1) with lanthanide catalysts at room temperature, producing P(M1) with Mn up to 89 kg mol-1 , high thermal stability, and a linear or cyclic topology. The same catalyst also catalyses selective depolymerization of P(M1) back to M1 exclusively at 120 °C. This coordination polymerization is also living, enabling the synthesis of well-defined block copolymer.