cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Non-neoplastic disorders of the mammary gland.

The pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of mastitis, galactostasis, agalactia, galactorrhea, and mammary hypertrophy are discussed.
Childhood lead poisoning prevention: The tortuous trail from human health impact assessment to effective environmental policy

Abstract Early U.S. government interventions to protect the health of its citizens were addressed to sanitation and infectious disease. Environmental pollution was recognized and addressed later, often against powerful resistance from industries (e.g., automotive and lead paint) that sought to avoid regulation. The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 was the “basic national charter for protection of the environment;” environmental protection rather than human health protection was its primary focus, although there has been considerable ambiguity in its implementation. For the environmental pollutant lead, controls have been strengthened since its toxicity at very low levels was established; most legislative and regulatory intiatives are gradually becoming health-based. Illustrative issues are: lead in air, lead in water, lead-based paint, and blood lead levels in children.
Marijuana Effects on Semantic Memory: Verification of Common and Uncommon Category Members:

Effects of smoked marijuana containing 10 mg delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol and placebo on retrieval of simple, real-world knowledge in semantic memory were studied. In Exp. 1, subjects (36 men, mean age 23.8 yr.) decided whether an item (e.g. apple) belonged to a specified category (e.g., fruit). In Exp. 2, subjects (40 men, mean age 22.8 yr.) decided whether two items (e.g., apple, peach) belonged to the same category. Marijuana did not alter the normal difference in reaction time between common and uncommon examples of categories, suggesting that effects of marijuana on associations do not derive directly from underlying, general alterations of semantic memory retrieval. Marijuana's effects were not influenced by the demands on memory retrieval or by providing advance information relevant to the required decisions, suggesting memory retrieval was not impaired by this dose of marijuana.
Metabolic Remodeling in Moderate Synchronous versus Dyssynchronous Pacing-Induced Heart Failure: Integrated Metabolomics and Proteomics Study

Heart failure (HF) is accompanied by complex alterations in myocardial energy metabolism. Up to 40% of HF patients have dyssynchronous ventricular contraction, which is an independent indicator of mortality. We hypothesized that electromechanical dyssynchrony significantly affects metabolic remodeling in the course of HF. We used a canine model of tachypacing-induced HF. Animals were paced at 200 bpm for 6 weeks either in the right atrium (synchronous HF, SHF) or in the right ventricle (dyssynchronous HF, DHF). We collected biopsies from left ventricular apex and performed comprehensive metabolic pathway analysis using multi-platform metabolomics (GC/MS; MS/MS; HPLC) and LC-MS/MS label-free proteomics. We found important differences in metabolic remodeling between SHF and DHF. As compared to Control, ATP, phosphocreatine (PCr), creatine, and PCr/ATP (prognostic indicator of mortality in HF patients) were all significantly reduced in DHF, but not SHF. In addition, the myocardial levels of carnitine (mitochondrial fatty acid carrier) and fatty acids (12:0, 14:0) were significantly reduced in DHF, but not SHF. Carnitine parmitoyltransferase I, a key regulatory enzyme of fatty acid s-oxidation, was significantly upregulated in SHF but was not different in DHF, as compared to Control. Both SHF and DHF exhibited a reduction, but to a different degree, in creatine and the intermediates of glycolysis and the TCA cycle. In contrast to this, the enzymes of creatine kinase shuttle were upregulated, and the enzymes of glycolysis and the TCA cycle were predominantly upregulated or unchanged in both SHF and DHF. These data suggest a systemic mismatch between substrate supply and demand in pacing-induced HF. The energy deficit observed in DHF, but not in SHF, may be associated with a critical decrease in fatty acid delivery to the s-oxidation pipeline, primarily due to a reduction in myocardial carnitine content.
Contrasting nodal and antinodal behavior in the cuprates via multiple gap spectroscopies

Using a precursor superconductivity scenario for the cuprates we present a theory for the temperature dependent behavior of the spectral gaps associated with four distinct spectroscopies: angle-resolved photoemission, differential conductance $dI/dV$, quasiparticle interference spectroscopy, and the autocorrelated ARPES pattern. We find reasonable agreement for a range of existing experiments and make predictions for others. Our theory, which incorporates the necessary (observed) contrast between the nodal and antinodal response, shows how different nodal gap shapes are associated with these alternative spectroscopies.
Hepatic Cat Scratch Disease: Case report and review of the differential diagnosis of necrotizing granulomatous inflammation in the liver

Abstract: Cat scratch disease (CSD) was initially described in 1931, but the etiologic agent (Bartonella henselae) was not elucidated until decades later. Hepatic CSD is an atypical presentation that lacks the characteristic of superficial lymphadenopathy and inoculation site papule, and may be initially misdiagnosed as another infectious process or neoplasm. The hallmark histologic lesion is a necrotizing granuloma with distinct zonation and a central stellate microabscess. This review presents a case of hepatic CSD, and discusses the history and epidemiology of CSD, pathologic features, current diagnostic modalities, and a detailed differential diagnosis that focuses on the different morphologic patterns of hepatic granulomas, particularly in infectious diseases.
Microwave Measurements of 14N and D Quadrupole Coupling for (Z)-2-Hydroxypyridine and 2-Pyridone Tautomers

Rotational spectra for the two tautomers (Z)-2-hydroxypyridine and 2-pyridone and their deuterated isotopomers were measured in the microwave range between 4 and 14 GHz using a pulsed beam Fourier transform microwave spectrometer. Nitrogen and deuterium quadrupole hyperfine structure was completely resolved for many of the observed transitions, and the measured 14N quadrupole coupling tensors are quite different for these two tautomers. The eQqcc(N) values have opposite signs. The 14N quadrupole coupling strengths for (Z)-2-hydroxypyridine in the principal inertial axis system are as follows: eQqaa(N) = −0.076(11), eQqbb(N) = −2.283(6), and eQqcc(N) = 2.359(6) MHz. The 14N and D nuclear quadrupole coupling strengths for (Z)-2-deuteriohydroxypyridine in the principal inertial axis are eQqaa(N) = −0.1465(4), eQqbb(N) = −2.2045(4), and eQqcc(N) = 2.3510(4) MHz and eQqaa(D) = −0.0250(9), eQqbb(D) = 0.1699(4), and eQqcc(D) = −0.1449(4) MHz. The 14N quadrupole coupling strengths for 2-pyridone in the principal...
Design issues and architecture of HACIENDA, an experimental image processing system

The paper provides the rationale for the architecture and design of a color image display and processing system called HACIENDA. The system was heavily influenced by one of its most important intended applications, the processing of LANDSAT data, including that to be provided by LANDSAT D. Also considered in the paper are the trade-offs involved in making the system suitable for a broader range of image processing work without unduly adding to cost or complexity.
Additional conformer observed in the microwave spectrum of methyl vinyl ketone

Abstract A chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave spectrometer was used to record the rotational spectrum of methyl vinyl ketone (MVK, 3-butene-2-one). Two stable conformations were identified: the previously documented antiperiplanar (ap) conformer and synperiplanar (sp), which is reported for the first time in this microwave study. Methyl torsional analysis resulted in V3 barrier heights of 433.8(1) and 376.6(2) cm−1 for ap- and sp-MVK, respectively. Heavy atom isotopic species of both conformers were detected in natural abundance allowing bond lengths and angles of the molecular frames to be calculated through Kraitchman analysis. A comparison with ab initio calculations is included.
Controllability of viscoelastic stresses for nonlinear Maxwell models

Abstract We investigate a class of models for viscoelastic fluids, in which the elastic stress is determined by a conformation tensor, and the conformation tensor is linked to the velocity field by a system of ordinary differential equations. We study the question which values of the conformation tensor can be reached in a homogeneous flow, subject to a given initial condition and arbitrary velocity fields. This problem is a special “easy” case for the question of controllability of viscoelastic flows. For a class of models, we show that constraints on the values of the conformation tensor are given by lower and/or upper bounds on its determinant. The behavior of seemingly similar models, e.g. the PTT, Giesekus and Peterlin dumbbell models, turns out to be surprisingly different.
REVERSIBLE GELATION OF WHEY PROTEINS: MELTING, THERMODYNAMICS AND VISCOELASTIC BEHAVIOR

Whey protein isolates formed reversible gels following heating at 90°C for 15 min under certain conditions i.e., pH 6.5 to 8.5 with protein concentration of 9.0–10.5%. The melting temperatures of the gels formed at pH 8.0 ranged from 24.5°C to 57.8°C. The maximum enthalpy of formation (ΔHf) was –858 call mole of crosslinks. A maximum storage modulus (G') of 240 dynes/cm2 was obtained following holding for 7 h at 8°C.
Planetary Materials (Reviews in Mineralogy, Volume 36)

Understanding the origin of planetary systems requires our comprehension of the materials from which the planets in our solar system formed. Exploring planetary formation draws from and contributes to a variety of scientific disciplines ranging from astrophysics to geology. One of the methods for understanding the composition and the geological history of the Earth is to study rocks. Much of the earliest history of our planet, however, has been recycled, leaving little evidence of its infancy To gain insight into the accretion and differentiation history of our planet and others, it is necessary to investigate rocks not formed on Earth.
Nutrition planning is alive and well, thank you

Abstract This article is a rejoinder to an article by John Osgood Field which discussed the failure of multisectoral nutrition planning. The author argues that, although nutrition planners may have been overly optimistic in their hopes that political systems could be made responsive to the problems, significant advances have been achieved. He outlines many of the successes of nutrition planning and the importance of multisectoral work. Malnutrition is a problem that escapes all the standard programmes, and cannot be tackled through the health and agriculture sectors alone.
Stable chemical bonding of porous membranes and poly(dimethylsiloxane) devices for long-term cell culture

We have investigated the bonding stability of various silane treatments for the integration of track-etched membranes with poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) microfluidic devices. We compare various treatments using trialkoxysilanes or dipodal silanes to determine the effect of the organofunctional group, cross-link density, reaction solvent, and catalyst on the bond stability. We find that devices made using existing silane methods delaminated after one day when immersed in cell culture medium at 37 °C. In contrast, the dipodal silane, bis[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]amine, is shown to yield stable and functional integration of membranes with PDMS that is suitable for long-term cell culture. To demonstrate application of the technique, we fabricated an open-surface device in which cells cultured on a track-etched membrane can be stimulated at their basal side via embedded microfluidic channels. C2C12 mouse myoblasts were differentiated into myotubes over the course of two weeks on these devices to demonstrate biocompatibility. Finally, devices were imaged during the basal-side delivery of a fluorescent stain to validate the membrane operation and long-term stability of the bonding technique.
Forming chunks in instrumental learning: The role of overshadowing

Lower order units combined into higher order functional units (e.g., letters into words) are calledchunks. The hypothesis tested here suggests that chunks are formed when memories of goal events signal other goal events, a signal capacity that can be reduced when memories are seriously overshadowed by other more valid cues calledgrouping cues. In support of this hypothesis, it was found, in each of three experiments employing rats in runways, that the capacity of the memory of nonreward to signal reward depended on its validity relative to that of two other situational cues, runway brightness cues and a change in brightness cues, from one trial to the next. Specifically, the capacity of the memory of nonreward to signal reward was much more seriously reduced when it was in competition with more valid situational cues (.33 vs. 1.00, Experiment 1; .50 vs. 1.00, Experiment 2) than when it was in competition with situational cues having either the same validity (.33, Experiment 1) or a slightly higher validity (.33 vs. .50, Experiment 3). It was also found that grouping each of two series was less effective in producing chunking than was grouping only one of the series.
WTCP: a reliable transport protocol for wireless wide-area networks

Wireless wide-area networks (WWANs) are characterized by very low and variable bandwidths, very high and variable delays, significant non-congestion related losses, asymmetric uplink and downlink channels, and occasional blackouts. Additionally, the majority of the latency in a WWAN connection is incurred over the wireless link. Under such operating conditions, most contemporary wireless TCP algorithms do not perform very well. In this paper, we present WTCP, a reliable transport protocol that addresses rate control and reliability over commercial WWAN networks such as CDPD. WTCP is rate-based, uses only end-to-end mechanisms, performs rate control at the receiver, and uses inter-packet delays as the primary metric for rate control. We have implemented and evaluated WTCP over the CDPD network, and also simulated it in the ns-2 simulator. Our results indicate that WTCP can improve on the performance of comparable algorithms such as TCP-NewReno, TCP-Vegas, and Snoop-TCP by between 20% to 200% for typical operating conditions.
A seismotectonic model for the 300-kilometer-long eastern Tennessee seismic zone

Ten years of monitoring microearthquakes with a regional seismic network has revealed the presence of a well-defined, linear zone of seismic activity in eastern Tennessee. This zone produced the second highest release of seismic strain energy in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains during the last decade, when normalized by crustal area. The data indicate that seismicity produced by regional, intraplate stresses is now concentrating near the boundary between relatively strong and weak basement crustal blocks.
US foreign aid

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of similarities and distinctions between development and educational assistance in the USA as compared with other countries, this paper provides a general review of relevant materials on US foreign aid. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews published books and articles as well as US government budget and Congressional reporting materials and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development statistics. Findings – Beginning with the Marshall Plan following Second World War, the USA has always been a leader in foreign aid. In many ways, US development agencies resemble counterparts in other countries – foreign aid is part of larger network of bilateral relationships, funding requests must compete with requests from other sectors, etc. In other ways, the US stands apart. Because of US Congressional reporting requirements and for philosophical reasons, the US has been reluctant to join other countries in provision of budgetary support...
Attitudes of researchers toward deception in communication research

Eighty communication researchers representing twenty‐six universities responded to a questionnaire designed to assess attitudes toward deception‐related practices in conducting communication research. Nearly seven out of ten of the respondents perceived misleading and/or misinforming human subjects as an acceptable research strategy when accompanied by debriefing. The majority of the respondents favored research review boards and informed consent procedures and indicated familiarity with the APA standards for ethical research involving human subjects.
Tribolium castaneum progeny production and development on diets supplemented with eggs or adults of Plodia interpunctella

Abstract Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) progeny production and rate of development on cracked corn (substandard diet) increased after dead eggs or adults of Plodia interpunctella (Hubner) were added to the diet. This finding suggests that dietary supplementation with P. interpunctella eggs or adults could lead to a population buildup of T. castaneum and a population reduction of P. interpunctella when the two species occur together in nature on a diet that is substandard for T. castaneum.
Injection Pump Analysis

An injection pump is one of the simplest mechanics devices imaginable with no moving parts and a very simple geometry. We examine the device performance for steam injectors using primarily a control volume analysis and consider to what extent this simplified analysis represents optimal performance. We seek the rationale for performing CFD studies and develop optimization scenarios.
Palaeoclimate: Into an ice age

Analyses of a new ice core from Greenland yield the first high-resolution picture of the start of the last ice age in the Northern Hemisphere, and of the onset of climate instability as our planet cooled.
Extension of Friedland's bias filtering technique to a class of nonlinear systems

In this note we show that Friedland's [1] bias filtering technique is extendable to a very useful class of nonlinear systems. A methodology, for such an extension is given.
Illusions of Sense in the Tractatus: Wittgenstein and Imaginative Understanding

Certain expositors of the Tractatus have tried to make sense of Wittegnstein’s curious revocation of its propositions by suggesting that although they lack content, they nonetheless express (“show,” but do not say) some ineffable truths about reality. Such a view Cora Dimaond labels “chickening out.” I attempt to diagnose the lingering attraction of the ‘chicken’ (in this case an attraction to an illusion of sense) by condsidering a (false) parallel with the case of perceptual illusion. To this end, I make a brief excursion into the work of Gareth Evans in order to draw out what the parallel would look like and more specifically how the chicken might be tempted to think that there is indeed such a parallel. In this way, I hope to better ‘understand’ the chicken and her seduction, and in the process make a plea for not “chickening out.” I then turn to a positive consideration of how we should in fact read this work. In particular, I consider Diamond’s idea that the Tractatus requires an “imaginative understanding” of its reader, an ability to ‘think’ oneself into certain philosophical illusions of sense in order to dismantle them from within. I explore exactly what such an imagination involves. In particular, I suggest that it presupposes a kind of ‘metaphysical’ thesis of its own about the nature of human beings and their innermost tendencies, a position, I argue, that Wittegnstein held.
Local Government and Local Development: Bridging the Gap through Critical Discourse: Evidence from the Commonwealth Caribbean

Local development, whether construed broadly as community development or more narrowly as local as economic development (LED) is not always associated with local government but rather is the purview of a central government department or agency in Anglophone Caribbean policy systems. However with the emergence of ‘local place - and people-oriented approaches’ to development that offer new propositions about how to respond to risks and opportunities brought by globalization, local government is seen increasingly as an appropriate institutional context in which to pursue short-range objectives, such as creation of market opportunities and redressing the disparities within national economies; as well as the long-range goal of social transformation. A developmental role for local government raises two questions that form the central concerns of this paper: What are the institutional and organisational imperatives of a developmental role for local government? To what extent have these imperatives been addressed in reform? A critical analysis of local government reform policies in Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica revealed substantive convergence around local development as an outcome of reform but also important divergence in the approach to achieving this goal which suggests the absence of a cohesive model. The paper argues for a new agenda in reform that links local government more consistently with a local development strategy. It asserts that such a strategy must incorporate gender equality, the informal economy and institutional organisational capacity in the process of transformation and as a basis for creating a local context in which all types of resources can be maximized in the process of wealth creation in a locality.
Defects and deceptions-the Bjork-Shiley heart valve

The development of mechanical heart valves is one of the success stories of contemporary medicine. Many people with diseased heart valves become seriously disabled and soon die unless a prosthetic valve can be installed. Shiley, Inc., later a subsidiary of Pfizer, was a pioneer in the development of mechanical heart valves. In 1974 the company developed a radial spherical (R/S) valve, consisting of a disk held in place by two wire struts, allowing it to swing open and closed in response to blood flow. The struts are welded to a metal ring, which is covered with a cloth sewing ring for attachment to the heart. In 1979 Shiley introduced a similar valve, the 60/spl deg/ Convexo-Concave (C/C), which it believed would improve blood flow through the valve. In this valve, the inlet strut was an integral part of the metal ring and only the outlet strut was welded. A C/C valve that opened to 70/spl deg/ was also manufactured, but it was not approved for sale in the US. The original C/C valve was withdrawn from sale due to a less than 1% failure rate. The ethical, legal and moral issues of this decision are discussed.
Improvement of Stability and Accuracy for Weighted Essentially Nonoscillatory Scheme

This paper studies the weights stability and accuracy of the implicit fifth-order weighted essentially nonoscillatory finite difference scheme. It is observed that the weights of the Jiang-Shu weighted essentially nonoscillatory scheme oscillate even for smooth flows. An increased e value of 10 -2 is suggested for the weighted essentially nonoscillatory smoothness factors, which removes the weights oscillation and significantly improves the accuracy of the weights and solution convergence. With the improved e value, the weights achieve the optimum value with minimum numerical dissipation in smooth regions and maintain the sensitivity to capture nonoscillatory shock profiles for the transonic flows. The theoretical justification of this treatment is given in the paper. The wall surface boundary condition uses a half-point mesh so that the conservative differencing can be enforced. A third-order accurate finite difference scheme is given to treat wall boundary conditions. The implicit time-marching method with unfactored Gauss-Seidel line relaxation is used with the high-order schemes to achieve a high convergence rate. Several transonic cases are calculated to demonstrate the robustness, efficiency, and accuracy of the methodology.
Using continuous features in the maximum entropy model

We investigate the problem of using continuous features in the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model. We explain why the MaxEnt model with the moment constraint (MaxEnt-MC) works well with binary features but not with the continuous features. We describe how to enhance constraints on the continuous features and show that the weights associated with the continuous features should be continuous functions instead of single values. We propose a spline-based solution to the MaxEnt model with non-linear continuous weighting functions and illustrate that the optimization problem can be converted into a standard log-linear model at a higher-dimensional space. The empirical results on two classification tasks that contain continuous features are reported. The results confirm our insight and show that our proposed solution consistently outperforms the MaxEnt-MC model and the bucketing approach with significant margins.
Application of Satellite Sensor Data and Models for Energy Management

Effective, environmentally sound development, production, and delivery of energy depend on Earth monitoring information. Satellite remote sensing data and products provide unique, objective information that has the additional advantage of yielding global, homogeneous, and repetitive coverage. Satellite remote sensing data and products have been used extensively in parts of the energy sector for applications ranging from climatology to identification of solar and wind energy sources, yet there is significant potential to expand energy applications. This paper discusses the key energy sector organizations and decision-support tools with the greatest potential to benefit from new applications of satellite remote sensing data, identifies relevant remote sensing data and products with a focus on NASA Earth science resources, and provides examples that show the added value of the Earth observations. These examples come from the application of NASA data to solar energy information needs. Although continued work for support of solar energy is warranted, this paper focuses on areas identified with the greatest demonstrated potential for new or expanded applications: renewable energy (specifically wind, biomass, and hydroelectric resources), load forecasting, and long-term energy modeling. This study also addresses the evolving context of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), and the broader framework of integrating satellite remote sensing into energy sector decision-support tools.
Testing case‐descriptive models

Crudely, there are three reasons models are built. First, models are either normative or descriptive. Within the class of descriptive models, there are norm-descriptive and case-descriptive ones. Case-descriptive models, unlike the other kinds, are not generalizations. They represent a set of referent causal processes by detailed analysis of one, or a few, specific cases. Then such questions arise as: Is the model sufficient? Does it represent the real situation? How can one test its value? For case-descriptive models, the usual likelihood tests are not appropriate because they are designed to evaluate generalizations. Outlined here, in addition to frame of reference for the building of case-descriptive models, are suggestions for testing them.
Sensing sheets: Optimal arrangement of dense array of sensors for an improved probability of damage detection

Reliable early-stage damage detection and localization ideally requires continuous sensing over large areas with dense arrays of sensors, and that is the reason for the creation of sensing sheets b...
Use of artificial viscosity in multidimensional fluid dynamic calculations

The von Neumann-Richtmyer concept of artificial viscosity that is used in calculating the propagation of shocks was formulated in one space-dimension. A generalization of the method for two and for three space-dimensions is presented here. The basic objectives were to find the one-dimensional equivalent of shock compression that avoided geometric convergence effects and to determine a characteristic grid length. A description is given of a linear viscosity for damping the spurious oscillations that arise when the quadratic von Neumann-Richtmyer artificial viscosity is used. The linear viscosity minimizes the smearing of the shock front. Unwanted distortions that can occur in multidimensional grids are discussed. Results in two and three dimensions are given for the Navier-Stokes-type viscosity developed to damp these distortions.
High-precision dual-inlet IRMS measurements of the stable isotopes of CO2 and the N2O/CO2 ratio from polar ice core samples

Abstract. An important constraint on mechanisms of past carbon cycle variability is provided by the stable isotopic composition of carbon in atmospheric carbon dioxide (δ13C-CO2) trapped in polar ice cores, but obtaining very precise measurements has proven to be a significant analytical challenge. Here we describe a new technique to determine the δ13C of CO2 at very high precision, as well as measuring the CO2 and N2O mixing ratios. In this method, ancient air is extracted from relatively large ice samples (~400 g) with a dry-extraction "ice grater" device. The liberated air is cryogenically purified to a CO2 and N2O mixture and analyzed with a microvolume-equipped dual-inlet IRMS (Thermo MAT 253). The reproducibility of the method, based on replicate analysis of ice core samples, is 0.02‰ for δ13C-CO2 and 2 ppm and 4 ppb for the CO2 and N2O mixing ratios, respectively (1σ pooled standard deviation). Our experiments show that minimizing water vapor pressure in the extraction vessel by housing the grating apparatus in a ultralow-temperature freezer (−60 °C) improves the precision and decreases the experimental blank of the method to −0.07 ± 0.04‰. We describe techniques for accurate calibration of small samples and the application of a mass-spectrometric method based on source fragmentation for reconstructing the N2O history of the atmosphere. The oxygen isotopic composition of CO2 is also investigated, confirming previous observations of oxygen exchange between gaseous CO2 and solid H2O within the ice archive. These data offer a possible constraint on oxygen isotopic fractionation during H2O and CO2 exchange below the H2O bulk melting temperature.
Modal evolution and inversion for seabed geoacoustic properties in weakly range-dependent shallow-water waveguides

In a shallow-water ocean environment, the range dependent variation of the geoacoustic properties of the seabed is one of the crucial factors affecting sound propagation. Since the local modes of propagation depend on the spatial changes in the bottom sediments, the local eigenvalues of these modes are useful as tools for examining the range dependence of the sediment properties. In order to extract the local eigenvalues from measurements of the pressure field in a laterally inhomogeneous waveguide, the zeroth-order asymptotic Hankel transform with a short sliding window is utilized. The local peak positions in the output spectra differ from the local eigenvalues due to both the range variation of the local modes and the interference of adjacent modes. The departure due to the former factor is evaluated analytically by using the stationary phase method. In order to reduce the error induced by the latter factor, mode filtering is utilized by incorporating data from a fixed vertical array of receivers. The methods developed are applied to simulated pressure field data as well as experimental field data, and it is shown that the range evolution of the local modes can be successfully estimated. In addition, field measurements are used to demonstrate that the modal trajectories in range can be used to infer the range-dependent geoacoustic properties of the seabed.
Genistein and daidzein induce neurotoxicity at high concentrations in primary rat neuronal cultures

It is known that estrogen can protect neurons from excitotoxicity. Since isoflavones possess estrogen-like activity, it is of interest to determine whether isoflavones can also protect neurons from glutamate-induced neuronal injury. Morphological observation and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay were used to estimate the cellular damage. It is surprising that, contrary to estrogen, isoflavones, specifically genistein and daidzein, are toxic to primary neuronal culture at high concentration. Treatment of neurons with 50 μM genistein and daidzein for 24 h increased LDH release by 90% and 67%, respectively, indicating a significant cellular damage. Under the same conditions, estrogen such as 17β-estradiol did not show any effect on primary culture of brain cells. At 100 μM, both genistein and daidzein increased LDH release by 2.6- and 3-fold, respectively with a 30-min incubation. Furthermore, both genistein and daidzein at 50 μM increased the intracellular calcium level, [Ca2+]i, significantly. To determine their mode of action, genistein and daidzein were tested on glutamate and GABAA receptor binding. Both genistein and daidzein were found to have little effect on glutamate receptor binding, while the binding of [3H]muscimol to GABAA receptors was markedly inhibited. However, 17β-estradiol did not affect GABAA receptor binding suggesting that the toxic effect of genistein and daidzein could be due to their inhibition of the GABAA receptor resulting in further enhancement of excitation by glutamate and leading to cellular damage.
Equal Force Recovery in Dysferlin-Deficient and Wild-Type Muscles Following Saponin Exposure

Dysferlin plays an important role in repairing membrane damage elicited by laser irradiation, and dysferlin deficiency causes muscular dystrophy and associated cardiomyopathy. Proteins such as perforin, complement component C9, and bacteria-derived cytolysins, as well as the natural detergent saponin, can form large pores on the cell membrane via complexation with cholesterol. However, it is not clear whether dysferlin plays a role in repairing membrane damage induced by pore-forming reagents. In this study, we observed that dysferlin-deficient muscles recovered the tetanic force production to the same extent as their WT counterparts following a 5-min saponin exposure (50 μg/mL). Interestingly, the slow soleus muscles recovered significantly better than the fast extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles. Our data suggest that dysferlin is unlikely involved in repairing saponin-induced membrane damage and that the slow muscle is more efficient than the fast muscle in repairing such damage.
In vivo forces generated by finger flexor muscles do not depend on the rate of fingertip loading during an isometric task

Risk factors for activity-related tendon disorders of the hand include applied force, duration, and rate of loading. Understanding the relationship between external loading conditions and internal tendon forces can elucidate their role in injury and rehabilitation. The goal of this investigation is to determine whether the rate of force applied at the fingertip affects in vivo forces in the flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) tendon and the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) tendon during an isometric task. Tendon forces, recorded with buckle force transducers, and fingertip forces were simultaneously measured during open carpal tunnel surgery as subjects (N ¼ 15) increased their fingertip force from 0 to 15 N in 1, 3, and 10 s. The rates of 1.5, 5, and 15 N/s did not significantly affect FDP or FDS tendon to fingertip force ratios. For the same applied fingertip force, the FDP tendon generated more force than the FDS. The mean FDP to fingertip ratio was 2.470.7 while the FDS to tip ratio averaged 1.571.0 (po0:01). The fine motor control needed to generate isometric force ramps at these specific loading rates probably required similar high activation levels of multiple finger muscles in order to stabilize the finger and control joint torques at the force rates studied. Therefore, for this task, no additional increase in muscle force was observed at higher rates. These findings suggest that for high precision, isometric pinch maneuvers under static finger conditions, tendon forces are independent of loading rate. r 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Theory of superfluorescent fiber lasers

We report a theoretical analysis of superfluorescence in short active fiber devices for fiber system applications requiring broad-band light sources. Using a mode overlap approach, we derive simple expressions for the threshold and energy conversion efficiency of this new class of devices, and study the effect of the fiber V -number and internal loss on their overall performance. We show that near single-mode Nd:YAG single crystal fibers pumped near 810 nm, possibly with a high-power laser diode, are anticipated to exhibit thresholds on the order of a few milliwatts, conversion efficiencies in excess 35 percent, and power-independent bandwidths of several nanometers.
A Unified Model for Product Data Management and Software Configuration Management

Software Configuration Management (SCM) is the discipline of managing the evolution of a software system. Product Data Management (PDM) is the discipline of controlling the evolution of a product design. These two domains have been evolving independently and fairly disconnected. Nowadays, the development of modern products involves a substantial and growing part of software development. However, due to the limitations of approaches taken by both domains, efforts to build a unified configuration management (CM) model of SCM and PDM have had limited success. This paper presents a novel unified CM model and its associated CM infrastructure/tools that are configurable and tailorable to support any engineering area. Key contributions include a novel methodology, a unified CM model, and associated tools that allow for the automatic generation of CM code for supporting both hardware designs and software artifacts in multidisciplinary engineering areas.
The Sociology of Ecology Ecological Organicism Versus Ecosystem Ecology in the Social Construction of Ecological Science, 1926-1935

Environmental sociology has been divided in recent years by a debate between realists and constructionists centering on the knowledge claims of ecological science. Following a consideration of this debate and its relation to both environmental sociology and the “sociology of ecology,” a “realist constructionism” is advanced, taking as its concrete case the conflict in the 1920s and 1930s between Jan Christian Smuts's organicist ecology and Arthur Tansley's ecosystem ecology. A central analytical issue (derived from Marx and Engels) is the “double transfer” of ideas from society to nature and back again and how this was manifested in the early 20th-century ecology in the form of a justification for ecological racism/apartheid.
Complementary use of runtime validation and model checking

The increasing gap between design complexity and compute power for verification necessitates radically new solutions to meet the verification challenges for future generations of hardware designs. Increasingly it will not be possible to completely validate hardware prior to fabrication. We will need to reconcile ourselves to the fact that hardware, like software, will be shipped with bugs. However, this can be acceptable with appropriate mechanisms for runtime validation that detect bugs and recover from them when needed. This paper takes a significant step in examining runtime validation as part of the verification methodology. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of runtime validation and how it may be used to complement model checking in a hybrid methodology. We consider the use of on-chip hardware for detecting bugs using hardware assertions. These assertions may be used for validating abstractions and assumptions for use in offline model checking. Hardware based assertions monitor properties at runtime and do not suffer from the state explosion problem. Offline model checking is used to validate globally distributed properties where runtime error detection has limitations in monitoring and responding to signals separated by many clock cycles. In this case the hardware based runtime validated abstractions and assumptions help in reducing the state space for model checking. Our ideas are demonstrated on a highly concurrent, yet simple to understand token sharing protocol, as well as a fairly complex cache coherence system.
Pesticide residues and breast cancer: the harvest of a silent spring?

During this century, age-adjusted breast cancer incidence rates have increased in the United States (7), and breast cancer incidence has also been associated with international variations in affluence (2). The search for the aspects of our 20th-century Western lifestyle that contribute to this increase in breast cancer has identified reproductive and possibly dietary variables as being partially responsible. However, it is unclear how much of the increase in breast cancer incidence these variables explain. Given this incompletely understood secular trend in breast cancer rates and a community climate of concern about the possible carcinogenic hazards of environmental pollution (especially organochlorine pesticides in the food chain), it is somewhat surprising that few investigators have examined the relationship between pesticide exposure and breast cancer. Although the one ecologic study of this relationship is consistent with the hypothesis that pesticide exposure can indeed lead to breast cancer (5), ecologic studies provide weak evidence for causal interpretation. Previous analytic studies are limited to small case-control studies that included only nine case patients (4), 20 case patients (5),
Social Validity Assessment in Social Competence Interventions for Preschool Children: A Review

Social competence intervention studies published from 1970 to 2008 for preschoolers were reviewed for reports of social validity assessment. Analysis of 90 studies indicated that nearly 27% (n = 24...
AQUA analysis of thymidylate synthase reveals localization to be a key prognostic biomarker in 2 large cohorts of colorectal carcinoma.

Abstract Context.—Increased thymidylate synthase expression is a marker for decreased survival in colorectal cancer. Objective.—Thymidylate synthase localizes to both the nucleus and cytoplasm, but how the relationship of these expression levels affects colon cancer outcome has yet to be determined. Design.—Using AQUA, we assessed prognosis of thymidylate synthase expression as a function of subcellular localization in 2 retrospective cohorts of colorectal carcinoma. We used the first cohort (n = 599) as a training set, subsequently validating optimal expression cut points in the second cohort (n = 447). Results.—A significant association between decreased 5-year disease-specific survival and increased nuclear expression (16% decreased survival [72% to 56%] for the top 60% of nuclear-expressing tumors [P < .001]) and cytoplasmic expression (12% decreased survival [70% to 58%] for the top 54% of cytoplasmic-expressing tumors [P = .02]) was observed for the training set. A higher nuclear to cytoplasmic rati...
Phenol Peeling and the History of Phenol Peeling

Historically, phenol peeling has been embraced by plastic surgeons as the method of choice for improving the appearance of coarse facial rhytides. The principal advantage of phenol peeling is its predictability: it requires no pretreatment regime. This article details the technical aspects of phenol peeling, its uses and limitations, as well as methods for avoiding complications through appropriate patient selection.
Vectorial efflux of cGMP and its dependence on sodium in the cortical collecting duct

Guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) is an important second messenger that regulates transport in the nephron. We propose that the transport mechanisms that remove cGMP from the cell are different in the luminal and basolateral membranes of the cortical collecting duct (CCD). We examined efflux of cGMP from cultured and isolated perfused CCDs in response to atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) and nitric oxide (NO). In the presence of phosphodiesterase inhibition, these compounds resulted in preferential efflux of cGMP across the basolateral membrane in both cultured and isolated CCDs. In the presence of ANF, efflux was five times higher across the basolateral than the luminal membrane in cultured CCD cells (n = 14). In isolated CCDs, effluxes across the basolateral and luminal membranes were 1.02 +/- 0.2 and 0.03 +/- 0.01 fmol.mm-1.min-1, respectively, in the presence of ANF (n = 6; P < 0.007) and 0.87 +/- 0.21 and 0.02 +/- 0.01 fmol.mm-1.min-1, respectively, in the presence of NO (n = 6; P < 0.011). Efflux across the basolateral membrane in the presence and absence of sodium was 37 +/- 7.3 and 19.9 +/- 5 fmol.cm-2.min-1, respectively, in cultured cells (n = 12; P < 0.044) and 1.02 +/- 0.2 (n = 6) and 0.41 +/- 0.12 (n = 5) fmol.mm-1.min-1 in isolated perfused tubules (P < 0.042). There was no difference in luminal transport in the presence and absence of sodium in either model. We conclude that there are at least two different mechanisms involved in the removal of cGMP from the cell, one sodium dependent and the other sodium independent. The basolateral membrane appears to contain both, whereas the luminal membrane contains only the sodium-independent mechanism.
The integration of parallel processing streams in the sound localization system of the barn owl

The barn owl, Tyto alba, exhibits both peripheral and central nervous system specializations that enable it to accurately localize sounds in space. Interaural time difference (ITD), for azimuthal localization, and interaural level difference (ILD), for vertical localization, are computed in parallel by two independent pathways. These pathways remain anatomically and physiologically segregated up to the level of the lateral shell of the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus (LS). Electrophysiological mapping studies of the LS were performed to characterize the mechanisms underlying the convergence of the ITD and ILD processing streams. These studies suggest that the space specificity observed in the owl’s auditory mid-brain is an emergent property of a hierarchically organized feed-forward network arranged anatomically across the mediolateral extent of the LS.
Retrotransposons as regulators of gene expression

Transposable elements (TEs) are both a boon and a bane to eukaryotic organisms, depending on where they integrate into the genome and how their sequences function once integrated. We focus on two types of TEs: long interspersed elements (LINEs) and short interspersed elements (SINEs). LINEs and SINEs are retrotransposons; that is, they transpose via an RNA intermediate. We discuss how LINEs and SINEs have expanded in eukaryotic genomes and contribute to genome evolution. An emerging body of evidence indicates that LINEs and SINEs function to regulate gene expression by affecting chromatin structure, gene transcription, pre-mRNA processing, or aspects of mRNA metabolism. We also describe how adenosine-to-inosine editing influences SINE function and how ongoing retrotransposition is countered by the body's defense mechanisms.