cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Technical considerations in two-stage functioning free muscle transplantation reconstruction of both flexor and extensor functions of the forearm

We report on two patients with severe injuries of the forearm who were reconstructed using functioning free muscle transplantation (FFMT) for individual replacement of flexor and extensor function. In both cases a two-stage procedure was performed: The extensor reconstruction preceded the flexor reconstruction by 4-6 months. The extensor digitorum communis and flexor digitorum profundus were successfully reconstructed in both cases using bilateral gracilis FFMT. In one case the flexor pollicis longus and extensor pollicis longus were also reconstructed using the adductor longus in addition to the gracilis. Clinical follow-up was a minimum of 2 years. Both patients achieved wrist control, excellent finger flexion, and metacarpophalangeal joint extension. One patient also had good interphalangeal finger extension, but the other developed a persistent claw deformity due to the lack of recovery of ulnar nerve function. Performing the extensor reconstruction prior to the flexor reconstruction theoretically allows a more rapid return of function and a shorter rehabilitation period than using the converse sequence.
Microelectrogravimetry with wire-type electrodes

Electrogravimetry with a simple wire cathode dates back more than 70 years. Work may have been discouraged by factors such as long deposition times, difficult technique and, sometimes, low precision. A simple cell that employs a rapidly-rotating helical cathode has now been designed. Easily constructed, the system is comparatively easy to use. The cathode, merely a 10–15-cm length of 0,05-cm platinum wire, is easily replaceable if damaged or lost. Factors that affect precision, accuracy, and speed of copper deposition by the Milner-Whittem procedure have been studied. An adaption of this procedure has been found to permit the recovery of 99.5% of 3–10 mg of copper in approximately 90 min. Similar results were obtained for copper in standard samples of bronze. After the copper deposition, electrolysis was continued to determine tin plus lead. Here the recovery was 97.4+0.8%.
Survival function estimation for a generalized proportional hazards model of random censorship

Abstract Let X 1 ,…, X n be i.i.d. random variables with P(X 1 >t) = F (t) , where F is an unknown continuous survival function. Let ( β 1 , Y 1 ),…,( β n , Y n ) be another sequence of i.i.d. random vectors, independent of X 1 ,…, X n , with P ( β 1 ≤ b ) = B ( b ) and P(Y 1 >t | β 1 = b) = F b (t) . Under a censorship model where the observations are ( Z 1 , δ 1 ),…,( Z n , δ n ) with Z i = min( X i , Y i ) and δ i = I ( X i ≤ Y i ), an estimator of F is proposed. This estimator converges weakly to a Gaussian process, and is uniformly strongly consistent for F. When B is the geometric distribution, the model possesses a proportional odds ratio property. In this particular case the proposed estimator is demonstrated to be better than the product-limit estimator and an estimator under the Koziol- Green model. Finally, the procedures developed are applied to a life-test data.
Physician awareness of rehabilitation costs

Containment of health care costs is a pressing national issue. In this study, we examined physician knowledge of rehabilitation hospital costs by quantifying their awareness of hospital charges. All physicians at a free-standing rehabilitation hospital were surveyed. Approximately one-half of the physicians responded, including 19 attending and 17 resident physicians. The survey addressed three issues: physicians' estimate of the billing fee (hospital charge to the patient) for various items; how confident they were of the charge; and how frequently they ordered each item. The survey listed 65 items including diagnostic testing, drugs, therapies, and equipment. The average error in the charge estimates was quite large. For example, it was 52, 48, and 108% for hematologic tests, imaging studies, and pharmaceuticals, respectively. Charges were underestimated twice as often as they were overestimated. Physicians' confidence in their knowledge of these fees was quite low. They indicated that they were guessing 80 to 90% of the time, had an idea of the cost for 10 to 20% of the items, and were confident in their knowledge for less than 1% of the items. There were no significant correlations between accuracy of the charge estimates and ordering frequency, actual charge of the item, or experience level of the physicians.
Designing analog and RF circuits in nanoscale CMOS technologies: Scale the supply, reduce the area and use digital gates

We will present our recent research that has centered around three themes aimed at facilitating the design of analog and RF interface circuits in digital nanoscale CMOS processes. Nanometer CMOS is operating with supply voltages of about IV or less and for low power operation in future deeply scaled nodes supply voltages as low as 0.5V are projected. Supply reductions are needed to maintain reliability for scaled devices, but are further strongly driven by the requirement to improve energy efficiency, so that functional density can increase without raising power density. In our research we have investigated the scaling of the supply voltage of analog and RF interfaces down to 0.5V. Keeping these interfaces compatible with the core digital technology and supply is eventually always preferred for high volume applications and can offer advantages in low power system-on-chip applications with large digital signal processing cores. We will show that this research track offers ample opportunities for innovations in device biasing, circuit topologies, system architectures and signaling. Our ultra-low voltage prototypes include reference circuits, filters, analog-to-digital converters and fully integrated RF front-ends including baseband filtering and frequency synthesis. A second important theme is circuit design techniques to reduce area used by RF integrated circuits. Recent RFIC designs rely substantially on the use of on-chip spiral inductors, but these structures do not scale sufficiently with technology and become progressively more expensive. We will show design and layout techniques that allow to reuse the space under spiral inductors without affecting the performance of the building blocks. Examples include voltage-controlled oscillators and fully integrated phase-locked loops. Finally we will discuss the use of digital gates to improve the performance of analog and RF integrated circuits. Digital signal processing blocks are reducing much faster in area and power than analog or RF circuits and whenever possible the assistance of digital computation should be exploited to reduce the need for analog/RF circuits or enhance their performance. In particular we will discuss the opportunities for using digital intelligence to improve the linearity performance of RF front-ends while making them more robust to process variations and simplifying their design. We will point out the need for a different approach for digital assistance for RF functions compared to mixed signal functions.
FNAL R&D in medium energy electron cooling

Abstract The first stage of the Fermilab Electron Cooling R&D program is now complete: a technology necessary to generate hundreds of milliamps of electron beam current at MeV energies has been demonstrated. Conceptual design studies show that with an electron beam current of 200 mA and with a cooling section of 20 m electron cooling in the 8.9 GeV/c Fermilab Recycler ring can provide antiproton stacking rates suitable for the Tevatron upgrades beyond Run II luminosity goals. A novel electron beam transport scheme with a weak magnetic field at the cathode and in the cooling section, and with discrete focusing elements in between will be used. A prototype of such an electron cooling system is now being built at Fermilab as part of the continuing R&D program. This paper describes the status of the electron cooling R&D program at Fermilab.
Why Internally Coated Piping Is Used for the World's Largest Seawater Injection System

Since Saudi Aramco's seawater injection system was commissioned in 1978, it has undergone a series of expansions and modifications. The system is unique, not only in its size (7 million barrels per day capacity), but also in its complicated piping network. While the original piping system was completely made of bare carbon steel, the new system is made of pipe which is internally coated with fusion bonded epoxy (FBE). Saudi Aramco's field experience in the past ten years with its seawater injection system has demonstrated the benefits of internally coated pipe. This paper explains why Saudi Aramco decided to use internally coated pipe, which is not a standard practice in the oil industry. Saudi Aramco has two objectives: minimizing water quality deterioration and controlling internal corrosion. First, despite the stringent solids and oxygen removal processes at the intake, water quality always deteriorates as it travels through the pipe. This water, upon arrival at some remote injection wells 250 to 300 kilometers away and 36 hours later, could cause excessive injectivity decline of the wells. Second, internal corrosion generally has not been a problem for uncoated lines, if they are regularly scraped and treated with bactericide for control of microbiologically influenced corrosion. However, uncoated lines which are unscrapable and untreatable require extra corrosion protection. This paper also discusses the technical challenges concerning coating applications, particularly for coating girth-weld areas in the field. It also discusses scraping requirements for internally coated pipelines, which remains a controversial topic.
Understanding design-manufacture interaction using compromise decision support problems—II. Preliminary synthesis of composite pressure vessels

Abstract The decision support problem (DSP) technique is being developed to facilitate the concurrent implementation of design, manufacture and maintenance. This involves the development of a domain-independent method (and the associated software) that can be used to process domain-dependent information and thereby provide support for human judgment. Modeling and gaining an understanding of the interaction between design and manufacture is an important step in this development. A conceptual model of a process for design (for composite material pressure vessels) and the formulation of a ‘non-textbook’ compromise DSP template for modeling and understanding the issues involved in design manufacturing integration are reported in Part I of this paper. Here we present our observations after exercising the template for the preliminary synthesis of composite pressure vessels. The template is exercised thrice; the weights (priorities) associated with the different goals of the design are changed, the failure criteria used to evaluate the failure of the pressure vessel are changed and the template is modified to include reserve strength considerations. The method proposed to account for intact and reserve strength in the design process is unique and an effective means of including strength considerations in the evaluation of the overall technical efficiency of the system. The successful implementation of this template, in our opinion, provides a test problem to study and understand various issues associated with the development of design methods and provides the foundation from which to develop a template to help understand the interaction between design and manufacture. The focus in this paper is on the method and on understanding the subsequent ramifications; the focus is not on the designs which are obtained by solving the template.
Three‐dimensional triple‐quantum–filtered 23Na imaging of in vivo human brain

A scheme for the generation of three-dimensional, triple-quantum-filtered (TQ) sodium images from normal human brain is presented. In this approach, a three-pulse, six-step, coherence transfer filter was used in conjunction with a fast twisted projection imaging sequence to generate spatial maps of the TQ signal across the entire brain. It is demonstrated, theoretically as well as experimentally, that the use of the three-pulse coherence filter leads to TQ sodium images in which the dependence of the image intensity on the spatial variation of the flip angle is less pronounced than it is in the "standard," four-pulse, TQ filter. Correction for the variation of the TQ signal intensity across the field of view because of radio-frequency (RF) inhomogeneity is straightforward with this approach. This imaging scheme allows the generation of RF inhomogeneity-corrected, TQ, sodium images from human brain at moderate field strength (3.0 T) in times acceptable for routine clinical examinations (20 minutes). Magn Reson Med 42:1146-1154, 1999.
Sensitivity to reward and punishment in major depressive disorder: effects of rumination and of single versus multiple experiences

In the current study, we examined the postulation that rumination makes it difficult for depressed individuals to learn the exact probability that different stimuli will be associated with punishment. To do so, we induced rumination or distraction in depressed and never-depressed participants and then measured punishment and reward sensitivity with a probabilistic selection task. In this task, participants first learn the probability that different stimuli will be associated with reward and punishment. During a subsequent test phase in which novel combinations of stimuli are presented, participants’ sensitivity to reward is tested by measuring their tendency to select the stimuli that were most highly rewarded during training, and their sensitivity to punishment is tested by measuring their tendency to not select the stimuli that were most highly punished during training. Compared with distraction, rumination led depressed participants to be less sensitive to the probability that stimuli will be associate...
Neutron multiplicity measurements of Cf and Fm isotopes

Prompt neutrons in coincidence with the fission fragments from the spontaneous fission of $^{250,252,254}\mathrm{Cf}$ and $^{257}\mathrm{Fm}$ were measured inside a 75-cm-diameter, Gd-loaded liquid scintillation counter having a neutron-detection efficiency of about 78%. Measurements for $^{256}\mathrm{Fm}$ were done just outside the counter with an efficiency of 31%. The kinetic energies of both fission fragments and the number of neutrons for each fission event were recorded. From these data, the fragment kinetic energies and masses and the neutron multiplicity distributions were determined for $^{250,252,254}\mathrm{Cf}$ and $^{257}\mathrm{Fm}$. Variances of neutron multiplicity distributions as a function of total fragment kinetic energy and the ratio of fragment masses have been calculated and are presented for all the nuclides studied.
Characterization of a dialyzable immunosuppressive fraction from mastocytoma culture supernatants (39901).

SummaryImmunosuppression induced by mastocytoma cells is related to a soluble factor present both in the supernatants of tumor cell cultures and in tumor cell extracts and ascites fluid of tumor-bearing animals. In the present study culture supernatants of mastocytoma cells growing in serum-free medium contained an immunosuppressive material which was readily dialyzed. The concentrated dialysates from the culture supernatants were fractionated by Sephadex gel filtration. The postvoid volume fraction from Sephadex G-10 columns contained most of the immunosuppressive activity present in the dialysates. The material in the active fractions had a molecular weight in the range of 1000 to 5000. The immunosuppressive activity of the culture supernatants, the concentrated dialysates, and the post-void volume Sephadex fractions were stable to heating at 56° for 30 min but was inactivated when heated at 80°. Furthermore, the immunosuppressive activity was inhibited by treatment with trypsin in vitro but was resista...
Origin of Interstitial Fibroblasts in an Accelerated Model of Angiotensin II-Induced Renal Fibrosis

To determine whether previous renal injury accelerates the progression of glomerulosclerosis and interstitial fibrosis, we examined the effect of treating rats with angiotensin II after Habu venom injury. After initiating disease, we examined the origin of interstitial myofibroblasts by locating α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)-positive and Na + ,K + -ATPase-positive cells relative to interstitial space, tubular epithelial cells, the tubular basement membrane (TBM), and vascular structures. Tubular epithelial-mesenchymal transition was also assessed by examining TBM integrity and by using Texas Red (TR)-dextran in intravital tracking experiments. The staining of α-SMA-positive myofibroblasts dramatically increased in peritubular interstitial spaces 48 hours after Habu venom plus angiotensin II, particularly in and around perivascular and periglomerular regions, while tubular epithelial cells were α-SMA-negative. Na + ,K + -ATPase-positive and TR-dextran-labeled cells were restricted to the tubular epithelium and excluded from the interstitium. By 7 and 14 days, expanded interstitial space contained only α-SMA-positive myofibroblasts without TR-dextran endocytic particles. Epithelium of atrophic tubules containing TR-dextran remained confined by surrounding interstitium and myofibroblasts. These studies indicate that early expansion of α-SMA-positive cells in the interstitium and loss of tubular area occur via encroachment of interstitial myofibroblasts from perivascular into atrophic tubular spaces rather than via epithelial-mesenchymal transition and migration of tubular cells through the TBM into the interstitium.
Paleoceanography of coral reefs in the Hawaiian-Emperor Chain — revisited

This paper is a review of the present knowledge of coral reef ecology and paleoecology in the Hawaiian-Emperor Chain during the last 70 Ma. Research on fossil coral deposits throughout the H-E Chain has played a major role in producing information concerning the subsidence, uplift and drowning of individual islands, as well as the paleocirculation of the North Pacific Ocean during Tertiary time. The origin of the Hawaiian Islands and seamounts over the Hawaiian hotspot and their subsequent subsidence and transport by plate motion to the north and northwest are reviewed and new data concerning uplift of the central high Hawaiian Islands caused by lithospheric flexure and the effect of sea level change on the geological evolution of individual islands are presented. The Darwin Point, where atolls drown to form guyots, is redefined in dynamic terms as a function of climate and sea level history. The absence of coral reefs during the first half of Hawaiian history is evidence for a major change in ocean circulation in the north Pacific about 35 million years ago during the Middle Tertiary.
THE DIRECT AND INDIRECT CONTRIBUTIONS OF A SERIES OF INTELLECTIVE AND NON-INTELLECTIVE STUDENT ATTRIBUTES TO THE PREDICTION OF HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE ACHIEVEMENT: A PATH ANALYTIC MODEL

A path analytic model is hypothesized and tested to explain the effect of a series of intellective and non-intellective student attributes on high school achievement and college achievement. Path coefficients were calculated to determine the extent to which these predictors directly affect college performance and the extent to which their effect is mediated by previous high school achievement. Patterns of predictability for male and female students are compared.
Parental perception of preschool child body weight.

Obesity in preschoolers has risen dramatically in the last decade. Although studies have demonstrated that parents of preschoolers have incorrect perceptions of their child's body weight, little is known about the factors that may be associated with these perceptions. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between parental perceptions of preschool child body weight and parental psychosocial factors. Quantitative analyses included descriptive statistics, correlations, and regression analyses. More than one third of the children in the sample were at risk for being overweight or were already overweight. However, less than 6% of parents felt that their child had an elevated body weight. Results from univariate logistic regression analyses demonstrated that the parent's health literacy level was a significant predictor of the accuracy of their perceptions regarding their child's body weight ( p
Doing Being Playful in the Second Language Classroom

Much work on classroom interaction has been devoted to the IRF or IRE structure as well as pair or group work. Relatively little is known about less “legitimate” moments such as humor or off-task talk, and existing studies on playful interaction have been limited to EFL or foreign language classrooms. Based on 16 hours of videotaped interactions from eight different adult ESL classrooms, I provide a conversation analytic account of how participants mobilize identity as a key resource for doing being playful. In particular, I show that it is through ascribing, displaying or invoking situational, relational, and personal identities that the participants manage to enter an alternative universe unfettered by the roles and the setting of the classroom. Under the mask of play, the learners perform a range of subversive acts and experience the equality and contingency of conversation. Findings of this study contribute to illuminating the nature of pragmatic play and provide further empirical support for the legitimacy and utility of playful talk in language learning from a previously unexamined context (i.e., ESL classrooms).
Conversion of the severe to the moderate disease phenotype with donor leukocyte microchimerism in canine leukocyte adhesion deficiency

Leukocyte adhesion deficiency-1 (LAD-1), a genetic immunodeficiency disease characterized by life-threatening bacterial infections, results from the defective adherence and migration of leukocytes due to mutations in the leukocyte integrin CD18 molecule. Canine LAD (CLAD) represents the canine homologue of the severe phenotype of LAD-1 in children. In previous studies we demonstrated that non-myeloablative stem cell transplantation from matched littermates resulted in mixed donor-host chimerism and reversal of the disease phenotype in CLAD. In this study, we describe two CLAD dogs with less than 2% donor leukocyte chimerism following non-myeloablative transplant. Both dogs are alive more than 24 months after transplant with an attenuated CLAD phenotype resembling the moderate deficiency phenotype of LAD. The improvement in the CLAD phenotype with very low levels of donor CD18(+) leukocytes correlated with the preferential egress of the CD18(+) neutrophils into extravascular sites. The clinical response with very low levels of donor CD18(+) leukocytes in CLAD supports using this model for testing gene therapy strategies since the low levels of gene-corrected hematopoietic cells expected with hematopoietic gene therapy would likely have a therapeutic effect in CLAD.
Modeling of electrochemistry and steam–methane reforming performance for simulating pressurized solid oxide fuel cell stacks

Abstract This paper examines the electrochemical and direct internal steam–methane reforming performance of the solid oxide fuel cell when subjected to pressurization. Pressurized operation boosts the Nernst potential and decreases the activation polarization, both of which serve to increase cell voltage and power while lowering the heat load and operating temperature. A model considering the activation polarization in both the fuel and the air electrodes was adopted to address this effect on the electrochemical performance. The pressurized methane conversion kinetics and the increase in equilibrium methane concentration are considered in a new rate expression. The models were then applied in simulations to predict how the distributions of direct internal reforming rate, temperature, and current density are effected within stacks operating at elevated pressure. A generic 10 cm counter-flow stack model was created and used for the simulations of pressurized operation. The predictions showed improved thermal and electrical performance with increased operating pressure. The average and maximum cell temperatures decreased by 3% (20 °C) while the cell voltage increased by 9% as the operating pressure was increased from 1 to 10 atm.
Molecular diagnostic tests for microsporidia

The Microsporidia are a ubiquitous group of eukaryotic obligate intracellular parasites which were recognized over 100 years ago with the description of Nosema bombycis, a parasite of silkworms. It is now appreciated that these organisms are related to the Fungi. Microsporidia infect all major animal groups most often as gastrointestinal pathogens; however they have been reported from every tissue and organ, and their spores are common in environmental sources such as ditch water. Several different genera of these organisms infect humans, but the majority of infections are due to either Enterocytozoon bieneusi or Encephalitozoon species. These pathogens can be difficult to diagnose, but significant progress has been made in the last decade in the development of molecular diagnostic reagents for these organisms. This report reviews the molecular diagnostic tests that have been described for the identification of the microsporidia that infect humans.
Teacher Competence, Student Diversity, and Staff Training for the Inclusion of Middle School Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

The findings from the pilot phase of Project Destiny, a 3-year research and training project concerning the knowledge and skills that middle school teachers need to educate students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) in inclusive settings, are reported. Teachers' self-ratings concerning their knowledge base and skill mastery in the area of EBD were assessed and analyzed. Results of the teacher self-assessments are reported in relation to their ratings of the diverse academic, social, and emotional behaviors of their students in these inclusive classrooms. These initial results suggest that teachers viewed themselves as having only little-to-some competence for working with the academic and behavioral challenges that students with EBD present. The Project Destiny Training Model was empirically developed from these preliminary results, and initial staff development activities in the model are discussed in terms of their value for expanding the knowledge, skills, and strategies of teachers in incl...
Preparation and use of metal surface-immobilized DNA hairpins for the detection of oligonucleotides

The following protocol describes the experimental steps used to prepare arrayable and label-free biological sensors that are based on the fluorescence unquenching of DNA hairpins immobilized on metal surfaces. This two-part protocol describes both the creation of gold-coated substrates and the oligonucleotide surface self-assembly process that transforms the substrates into reporters for detecting DNA. Using this procedure, one can create sensors for oligonucleotides that are highly sensitive and have demonstrated an exceptional specificity to single nucleotide polymorphisms. From start to finish, the entire procedure can be accomplished in 24-30 h.
Development of sandwich HPLC microcolumns for analyte adsorption on the millisecond time scale.

A new class of columns is reported that uses only microgram quantities of active support and that provides for the retention of biological compounds and other analytes on the millisecond time scale. This was accomplished by packing standard HPLC supports into layers as small as 60 μm in length and using only 90 μg of support material. This provided columns with effective residence times in the millisecond time range when routine HPLC flow rates and pressures were used. The retention of analytes by such columns was examined under both adsorption- and diffusion-limited conditions. The RPLC adsorption of hemoglobin (a system with diffusion-limited retention) was found to give 95% binding in as little as 4 ms. The adsorption of fluorescein by an anti-fluorescein antibody column (an adsorption-limited system) gave 95% retention in 100−120 ms. One application examined for these columns was their use in a chromatographic-based competitive binding immunoassay. This used bovine serum albumin (BSA) as the model ana...
Survival and toxicity differences between 5-day and weekly cisplatin in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer.

BACKGROUND. Cisplatin (CDDP) administration concomitant with radiotherapy (RT) for the treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer has evolved from an inpatient 5-day every 21-day regimen to a weekly outpatient regimen. This study was designed to test for differences in progression-free survival (PFS) and toxicity between the 2 regimens. METHODS. In all, 77 consecutive patients at a single institution with stage IB2-IV cervical cancer were included in this analysis (using the International Federation of Gynecologists and Obstetricians staging system). All patients were treated with CDDP, external beam RT, and 2 9-Gy high-dose-rate brachytherapy treatments. Two cohorts were compared: 1) 5-day, patients treated from 1995 to 2001 with CDDP 20 mg/m2 × 5 days every 21 days concomitant with RT; 2) weekly, treated after May 2001 with CDDP 40 mg/m2 weekly concomitant with RT. RESULTS. In all, 50 patients were treated with the 5-day regimen and 27 patients with the weekly regimen. There were no significant demographic differences between the groups. Overall 3-year PFS, controlling for stage, was 90% and 76% for 5-day and weekly groups, respectively (P = .01). Adjusting for stage, age, and completion of treatment, the risk of treatment failure among the weekly group was 3.46 times higher than the 5-day group (P = .02). The weekly group had a 3.43 times higher risk of developing acute toxicities than the 5-day group (P = .02) in advanced-stage patients. CONCLUSIONS. Patients who received weekly CDDP have a shorter 3-year PFS. Patients with advanced-stage cervical cancer who received weekly CDDP had significantly more acute toxicities. These data should be confirmed in a multiinstitutional, randomized, controlled study. Cancer 2007. © 2006 American Cancer Society.
Transformation of UV-hypersensitive Chinese hamster ovary cell mutants with UV-irradiated plasmids.

SummaryTransfection of UV-hypersensitive, DNA repair-deficient Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines and parental, repair-proficient CHO cells with UV-irradiated pHaprt-1 or pSV2gpt plasmids resulted in different responses by recipient cell lines to UV damage in transfected DNA. Unlike results that have been reported for human cells, UV irradiation of transfecting DNA did not stimulate the genetic transformation of CHO recipient cells. In repair-deficient CHO cells, proportionally fewer transformants were produced with increasing UV damage than in repair-proficient cells in transfections with the UV-irradiated hamster adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (APRT) gene contained in plasmid pHaprt-1. However, transfection of CHO cells with UV-irradiated pSV2gpt resulted in neither decline in transformation frequencies in repair-deficient cell lines relative to repair-proficient cells nor stimulation of genetic transformation by UV damage in the plasmid. Blot hybridization analysis of DNA samples isolated from t...
Altitude trends in conifer leaf morphology and stable carbon isotope composition

The natural ratio of stable carbon isotopes (δ 13 C) was compared to leaf structural and chemical characteristics in evergreen conifers in the north-central Rockies, United States. We sought a general model that would explain variation in δ 13 C across altitudinal gradi- ents. Because variation in δ13C is attributed to the shifts between supply and demand for carbon dioxide within the leaf, we measured structural and chemical variables related to supply and demand. We measured stomatal density, which is related to CO 2 supply to the chlorop- lasts, and leaf nitrogen content, which is related to CO 2 demand. Leaf mass per area was measured as an inter- mediate between supply and demand. Models were test- ed on four evergreen conifers: Pseudotsuga menziesii, Abies lasiocarpa, Picea engelmannii, and Pinus contor- ta, which were sampled across 1800 m of altitude. We found significant variation among species in the rate of δ13C increase with altitude, ranging from 0.91‰ km -1 for A. lasiocarpa to 2.68‰ km -1 for Pinus contorta. Leaf structure and chemistry also varied with altitude: stomatal density decreased, leaf mass per area increased, but leaf nitrogen content (per unit area) was constant. The regressions on altitude were particularly robust in Pinus contorta. Variables were derived to describe the balance between supply and demand; these variables were stomata per gram of nitrogen and stomata per gram of leaf mass. Both derived variables should be positively related to internal CO 2 supply and thus negatively relat- ed to δ 13 C. As expected, both derived variables were negatively correlated with δ13C. In fact, the regression on stomatal density per gram was the best fit in the study (r 2 =0.72, P<0.0001); however, the relationships were species specific. The only general relationship observed was between δ 13 C and LMA: δ 13 C (‰)=-32.972+ 0.0173〈LMA (r2=0.45, P<0.0001). We conclude that species specificity of the isotopic shift indicates that ev- ergreen conifers demonstrate varying degrees of func- tional plasticity across environmental gradients, while the observed convergence of δ 13 C with LMA suggests that internal resistance may be the key to understanding inter-specific isotopic variation across altitude.
Hydrodynamic instabilities in beryllium targets for the National Ignition Facility

Beryllium ablators offer higher ablation velocity, rate, and pressure than their carbon-based counterparts, with the potential to increase the probability of achieving ignition at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [E. I. Moses et al., Phys. Plasmas 16, 041006 (2009)]. We present here a detailed hydrodynamic stability analysis of low (NIF Revision 6.1) and high adiabat NIF beryllium target designs. Our targets are optimized to fully utilize the advantages of beryllium in order to suppress the growth of hydrodynamic instabilities. This results in an implosion that resists breakup of the capsule, and simultaneously minimizes the amount of ablator material mixed into the fuel. We quantify the improvement in stability of beryllium targets relative to plastic ones, and show that a low adiabat beryllium capsule can be at least as stable at the ablation front as a high adiabat plastic target.
Drug effects on stimulus generalization gradients in the monkey

Monkeys that had been trained to avoid shock in the presence of only one of eight possible light intensities showed maximal responding during the one dangerous intensity and a decreasing response frequency as the light intensity was varied further and further from the dangerous value. The effects of d-amphetamine, scopolamine, and caffeine were studied on these maintained gradients of stimulus generalization. The drugs had varying effects on specific measures of response output, but all drugs flattened the slopes of the generalization gradients; monkeys responded much more often than normally to intensities that were very different from the dangerous intensity. Since selected doses of caffeine facilitated overall response output more than d-amphetamine did, but had less of a gradient-flattening effect than d-amphetamine, variations in gradient slope are apparently more or less independent of effects on response strength.
Students' Perceptions of Peer Evaluation: An Expectancy Perspective.

Because of the difficulty of evaluating uneven performance among group members, many researchers suggest incorporating peer evaluations in a grading system that permits an instructor to evaluate and grade individual performance more equitably within a group. In this study, the authors employ expectancy theory to assess key factors that may motivate students to participate in the peer evaluation process of group projects. Results show that students generally thought that the most attractive outcome of peer evaluation is its use in the determination of peers' grades. The second most attractive outcome is its use for reduction of conflict and uneven workload distribution among group members. The authors provide implications for instructors planning to use peer evaluation in group projects.
Multiplexing surface plasmon polaritons on nanowires

The authors demonstrate a plasmonic device that generates and steers tightly focused plasmon beams between neighboring subwavelength metal-strip waveguides. By introducing a controlled phase shift into the plasmon condenser, they shifted the focused plasmon spot by microns with nanometer accuracy and realized the multiplexer functionality.
Formation of effective energy carriers in donor or acceptor lattice disturbances at the band-gap edges of photonic crystals

The effect of a long-range, slowly varying, modulation of the refractive index of a photonic crystal is investigated. It is shown that the Bloch modes are modified by essentially being modulated by an envelope function which adapts to the long-range dielectric function perturbation. This envelope function obeys a simple linear Schroedinger equation of classical (non-quantum) origin. Close to a band extremum, at a gap edge, the envelope functions can be interpreted as wave functions of relativistic particles possessing a finite rest mass. These effective energy carriers come as two species, referred to as “effective photons” (for positive band curvatures) or “photonic holes” (for negative band curvatures). The energy transfer through the chirped structure can be viewed as resulting from the migration of these particles under forces implied by the long-range dielectric function modulation.
Benzamides, p-nitrobenzamides, benzenesulfonamides,p-toluene-sulfonamides, and acetamides as identification derivatives of long-chain amines

Benzamides, p-nitrobenzamides, benzenesulfonamides,p-toluenesulfonamides, p-nitrobenzenesulfonamides, and acetamides of dodecyl, tetradecyl, hexadecyl, and octadecyl amines were synthesized and evaluated as identification derivatives. Acetamides melt approximately 7° apart and the benzene sulfonamides approximately 6° apart. Seventeen previously unreported compounds were prepared.
Toward a better understanding of Vygotsky's process of internalization: Its role in the development of the concept of friendship

Abstract The role of Vygotsky's concept of internalization is delineated with regard to the development of the concept of friendship. Two studies were reviewed; Corsaro's (Friendship and peer culture in the early years, Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1985 ) research on nursery school children's peer culture, and Rizzo's (Friendship development among children in school, Norwood, NJ: Ablex, in press) work on friendship development among 1st-grade children. We found the process of internalization becomes increasingly complex as development proceeds. Initially and throughout development, changes in the social-ecological demands created changes in children's practical activities and ultimately development in their social knowledge and skills. In addition, however, we noted that 1st-grade children appeared to have an internalized concept of friendship which served multiple functions in peer relations. In each case, the children's actions suggested that they were not always willing to adjust their concepts to accommodate their friends' or playmates' behaviors. The end result was often conflict at the interpersonal level and intrapersonal evaluation. In line with these observations, we stressed the short-term, cyclical nature of movement from external to internal processes in the development of social knowledge and the active role children play in creating the conflict and changes in their practical activities leading to further development. Finally, we reviewed recent work on children's reflective concepts of friendship and noted that young children's reflective understanding of friendship appears to lag behind their everyday experiences with friendship. In line with Vygotsky, we postulated that as the children become more reflective in their everyday lives the complex concepts which they currently enact in their interactions with friends will gain in significance for them and that further development of the concept of friendship will involve internalization and cognitive reflection synergistically.
Vicissitudes of the Clinician-Patient Relationship in End-of-Life Care: Recognizing the Role for Teams

The patient-doctor relationship is arguably the most extraordinary social contract in human history. Two strangers meet in a confidential, unobserved setting that emphasizes their differences: the pain and subjective needs of one contrasted with the professionally defined availability of the other; the scientific naivete and personal orientation of the one contrasted with the highly trained and fiduciary role of the other. Yet within minutes and precisely because one is there as a healer, an incredible evolution occurs. The physician is granted an access, an intimacy, and a candor that the patient would not extend to another human being. A remarkably intense bond is forged, within which information is obtained, analyzed, and exploited for therapeutic advantage. What allows this to happen? At the social level, tradition and experience institutionalize a role that the doctor is allowed to occupy on the basis of designated training and continued technical competence. But at the personal level, the physician’s role is expressed in empathic and deeply caring behavior dedicated to achieving the best possible outcome for the patient. In other words, the effective physician must continually improve skills that foster the remarkable connectedness within which a healing role can be exercised.
Highly Reflecting Films of Zinc Sulphide

The initially high reflection from zinc sulphide is still further enhanced by constructive interference in thin films. By distilling sphalerite in vacuum, thin films showing first order interference and reflecting white light brilliantly are produced. The application of such films to the metallographic microscope, Michelson interferometer and other instruments is discussed.
Performance Study of a Minimalistic Simulator on XSEDE Massively Parallel Systems

Scalable Simulation Framework (SSF), a parallel simulation application programming interface (API) for large-scale discrete-event models, has been widely adopted in many areas. This paper presents a simplified and yet more streamlined implementation, called MiniSSF. MiniSSF maintains the core design concept of SSF, while removing some of the complex but rarely used features, for sake of efficiency. It also introduces several new features that can greatly simplify model development efforts and/or improve the simulator's performance. More specifically, an automated compiler-based source-code translation scheme has been adopted in MiniSSF to enable scalable process-oriented simulation using handcrafted threads. A hierarchical hybrid synchronization algorithm has been incorporated in the simulator to improve parallel performance. Also, a new set of platform-independent API functions have been added for developing simulation models to be executed transparently on different parallel computing platforms. In this paper, we report performance results from experiments on different XSEDE platforms to assess the performance and scalability of MiniSSF. It is shown that the simulator can achieve superior performance. The simulator can adapt its synchronization according to the model's computation and communication demands, as well as the underlying parallel platform. The results also suggest that more automatic adaptation and fine-grained performance tuning is necessary for handling more complex large-scale simulation scenarios.
The lectin of Euonymus europeus: Purification, characterization, and an immunochemical study of its combining site

Abstract The lectin from Euonymus europeus seeds was purified by adsorption onto insoluble polyleucyl hog A + H blood group substance and subsequent elution with lactose. The isolated lectin formed three lines in immunoelectrophoresis against rabbit antisera to the crude seed extract and showed three components on electrophoresis in acrylamide gel at pH 9.4. In analytical isoelectric focusing the purified lectin had six closely spaced bands with p I from 4.3 to 4.7. It sedimented as two peaks: a big symmetrical peak with s 20,w 0 of 7.8 and another small, diffuse moving peak. The intrinsic viscosity was 0.057 dl/g and the M r calculated from the sedimentation coefficients, intrinsic viscosity, and V of 0.71 was about 166,000. In sodium dodecyl sulfate, it gives subunits of M r 17,000 and 35,000; 20% of the 35,000 subunit resists reduction by dithiothreitol in 7 m guanidine-HCl. The Euonymus lectin is a glycoprotein containing 4.8% d -galactose, 2.9% d -glucose, and 2.8% N -acetyl- d -glucosamine. The purified lectin precipitated well with B and H blood group substances and with the P1 fraction of blood group B substance but not with A 1 substances. It precipitated poorly with Le a and Le b and precursor I blood group substances. Inhibition of precipitation with milk and blood group oligosaccharides showed the lectin to be most specific for blood group B oligosaccharides having the structure: d Galα1 → 3[ l Fucα1 → 2] d Galβ1 → 3 or 4 d GlcNAcβ→. It is also inhibited by blood group H oligosaccharides but to a lesser degree. For 50% inhibition of precipitation, 3.5, 850, and 290,000 nmol of B and H oligosaccharides and lactose, respectively are required. The B and H specificities are an intrinsic property of a single lectin site since absorption and elution from an H immunoadsorbent gave material with B as well as H specificity. Millipore-filtered crude extracts of Euonymus europeus preserved with 0.02% sodium azide are stable in the refrigerator for many months and can be used for quantitative precipitin and for quantitative inhibition assays, results being the same as with purified lectin.
Biofilm‐Eradicating Properties of Quaternary Ammonium Amphiphiles: Simple Mimics of Antimicrobial Peptides

Bacterial biofilms are difficult to eradicate because of reduced antibiotic sensitivity and altered metabolic processes; thus, the development of new approaches to biofilm eradication is urgently needed. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and quaternary ammonium cations (QACs) are distinct, yet well-known, classes of antibacterial compounds. By mapping the general regions of charge and hydrophobicity of QACs onto AMP structures, we designed a small library of QACs to serve as simple AMP mimics. In order to explore the role that cationic charge plays in biofilm eradication, structures were varied with respect to cationic character, distribution of charge, and alkyl side chain. The reported compounds possess minimum biofilm eradication concentrations (MBEC) as low as 25 μM against Gram-positive biofilms, making them the most active anti-biofilm structures reported to date. These potent AMP mimics were synthesized in 1-2 steps and hint at the minimal structural requirements for biofilm destruction.
Collision enforced transitions in cesium

Abstract New bands, associated with cesium forbidden lines, appear in absorption spectra of cesium with atmospheric pressure of xenon. They are not seen clearly with lighter noble gases or at reduced xenon pressures and are ascribed to collision enforced transitions.