cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pressure, flow, and concentration profiles in open and spacer-filled membrane channels

A finite element model was developed to study momentum and mass transport in cross flow membrane filtration systems with open and spacer-filled channels. Simulated conditions represented a range of membrane desalination applications and considered both open and spacer-filled straight through channels, as well as a geometry representing lab-scale cross flow membrane filtration cells. The finite element model agreed with classical analytical models for pressure drop, fluid shear, and concentration polarization in straight-through open channels at low flux and high cross flow. In simulations of representative lab-scale cross flow membrane filters, stagnant regions at the entrance and exit regions, as well as developing flow lead to significant deviations between analytic model and finite element model results. In spacer-filled channels, axial pressure drops were substantially higher than in open channels, varying by a factor of 2 for different spacer configurations (cavity < zigzag < submerged), while shear rates were on average enhanced, but appeared to create stagnant zones where the filaments contacted the membrane. On average, feed channel spacers reduced the extent of concentration polarization because of the enhanced wall shear rates. However, the stagnant regions (in front and behind some spacer filaments) led to enhanced concentration polarization, which suggests certain spacer designs could promote local scale and cake formation in spiral wound elements.
Recurrent seizures induce a reversible impairment in a spatial hidden goal task.

A major question concerning the learning and memory deficits characteristic of epilepsy is the relative importance of the initial insult that leads to recurrent, unprovoked seizures versus the seizures themselves. A related issue is whether seizure-induced cognitive decline is permanent or reversible when convulsions cease. To address these problems, adult rats were extensively trained in the “spatial accuracy task,” a dry-land analog of the Morris water maze. This task allows the rat's estimate of the location of a hidden goal zone to be repeatedly measured within each behavioral session. One aim was to measure, in well-trained animals, the time course of any cognitive impairment caused by a daily flurothyl-induced generalized seizure over 11 days. A second aim was to look for possible recovery during 9 subsequent days with no seizures. We saw a cumulative degradation in spatial performance during the seizure days and reversal of the deficit after seizures were stopped such that performance returned to baseline. Interestingly, the rate of learning to an asymptote, the rate of performance decline during one-per-day seizures and the rate of relearning during the recovery period were all similar. Given that the hippocampus plays an important role in spatial memory and that it is the brain structure most vulnerable to abnormal excitation the implication is that the hippocampus remains essential for precise spatial navigation even after prolonged training in locating a fixed goal zone. Clinically, this finding questions the assumption that patients who experience seizures should return to a baseline cognitive level within hours. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
New catalytic route to vinyl esters

Abstract Higher vinyl esters (RC(O)OCHCH 2 , R > CH 3 ) are highly desirable monomers which can be transformed into a wide variety of end use polymer products. Even so, industrial availability in the USA has been historically limited to products imported from Europe. Union Carbide is responding to this market need through the introduction of VYNATE TM and VYNEX TM vinyl ester monomers. A novel, commercially viable technology has been discovered and developed which promotes the vinyl ester interchange (transvinylation) between vinyl esters and numerous carboxylic acids. The properties of the catalyst offer performance advantages over prior art technologies using palladium and mercury catalysts. Several vinyl esters can be manufactured by this technology. Examples include VYNATE TM aliphatic vinyl esters and aromatic vinyl esters, and VYNEX TM multireactants such as divinyl diesters and vinyl alkenoates.
Autoignition of H2/air/NOx mixtures - The effect of temperature and pressure

An attempt has been made to determine the effects of temperature and pressure on H{sub 2}-air ignition delay in the presence of NOx, using a computer model to predict H{sub 2}-air ignition delay for various NOx concentrations, temperatures and pressures. Model results indicate that NO serves as a catalyst at concentrations lower than 1 percent, reducing ignition delay by counteracting the three-body termination reaction leading to HO{sub 2}; the effects of NO decrease as pressure is reduced and temperature is increased.
Steiner triple systems with a doubly transitive automorphism group

On demontre qu'un systeme triple de Steiner S(v) avec un groupe d'automorphismes doublement transitif G est necessairement soit un espace affine sur GF(3) ou un espace projectif sur GF(2)
Hepatic microsomal ethanol oxidizing system (MEOS): differentiation from alcohol dehydrogenase and NADPH oxidase.

Abstract Washed hepatic microsomes contain an active ethanol oxidizing system (MEOS) but no detectable ADH activity, even when 3-AP-NAD is used as a cofactor. ADH inhibitors (pyrazole and DMSO) failed to affect MEOS activity at concentrations which markedly reduced ADH activity. Therefore ADH is not a component of MEOS. Cholate, which inhibits the activities of both microsomal NADPH oxidase and MEOS, also strikingly diminishes that of other microsomal enzymes such as aniline hydroxylase and aminopyrine demethylase. Furthermore cholate inactivates both total and enzymatically reducible microsomal cytochrome P450. Thus, because of the non-specific nature of the inhibition by cholate, one cannot conclude from its effects that NADPH oxidase is a component of MEOS.
Hepatocyte growth factor stimulates the proliferation and migration of oligodendrocyte precursor cells

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) was initially identified as a potent mitogen for mature hepatocytes and has since been found to affect a variety of cells. Evidence suggests that HGF may also influence the nervous system, in that HGF stimulates the proliferation of myelin-forming Schwann cells and olfactory ensheathing cells. However, it is not known whether HGF influences oligodendrocytes. To address this issue, oligodendrocyte precursors were obtained from neonatal rat cerebra and cultured. Immunostaining and Western blotting revealed expression of both HGF and the HGF receptor (c-Met) by cultured oligodendrocytes. When the ability of HGF to stimulate oligodendrocyte division and migration was examined, we observed that treatment with HGF (10-50 ng/ml) elicited twofold increases in oligodendrocyte precursor proliferation. HGF also enhanced oligodendrocyte precursor migration, with 2.5-fold increases in rates of migration seen after treatment for 8 hr. HGF also influenced inducing the oligodendrocyte cytoskeleton by altering patterns of F-actin and beta-tubulin distribution and enhanced the expression of actin and beta-tubulin. These observations show that a functional HGF/c-Met system is present in oligodendrocytes, which can influence the growth, development, and cytoskeletal organization of oligodendrocytes.
Cortisol-induced hematologic and immunologic changes in channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus).

Abstract 1. 1. Intravenous injections of physiologic doses of cortisol resulted in both hematologic and immunologic changes in channel catfish peripheral blood leucocytes. These changes mimicked those seen when catfish were acutely stressed by handling and transport. 2. 2. Eighteen hours after the administration of cortisol, decreases in the number of circulating lymphocytes and concomitant increases in the number of circulating neutrophils were observed, i.e. to the same levels seen previously in stressed fish. 3. 3. Functional analysis of peripheral blood leucocytes from cortisol-injected fish indicated that the remaining lymphocytes were no longer capable of responding to mitogenic stimuli. 4. 4. This suppression of mitogenic stimuli was not seen when peripheral blood leucocytes were cultured in vitro with physiologic doses of cortisol. 5. 5. This latter observation suggests that the cortisol alone was probably not directly responsible for the loss of responsiveness but possibly acted in vivo as an initiator of other events that eventually resulted in the observed immunosuppression.
Relationship of Avalonian and Cadomian terranes to Grenville and Pan-African events

Abstract Suturing of the supercontinent Rodinia in the Grenville event (~ 1000 Ma) was followed by rifting in the late Proterozoic (~ 800-700 Ma), reorganization to Gondwana in the Pan-African (~ 700-500 Ma) and further accretion to develop Pangea at the end of the Paleozoic. One of the Rodinian rifts followed part of the Grenville suture, it produced the margin of eastern North America and southern Baltica and the contrasting margin of west Gondwana in present South America. The Paleozoic accretionary wedge against the Grenville-age margin of North America and Baltica contains Avalonian/Cadomian terranes that exhibit Pan-African erogenic events ± sediments apparently developed while the terranes were in or near Gondwana. These terranes carry lower-Paleozoic fauna (Acado-Baltic) that are not indigenous to North America and Baltica. UPb zircon ages range from 1500-1000 Ma in Grenville terranes and from 800–500 Ma with minor inheritance in Avalonian terranes; they are generally much older in Cadomian terranes, implying very little resetting during Pan-African events. T DM ages are generally 2000–1200 Ma in Grenville terranes, 1300–600 Ma in Avalonian terranes and 2000–1200 in Cadomian terranes. These summary data show that: (1) the Grenville orogenic event produced almost no juvenile crust; (2) the Avalonian terranes of North America contain crust that evolved primarily in the late Proterozoic, possibly as a mixture of juvenile Pan-African material and Grenville or slightly older material; (3) the Cadomian terranes of Europe consist of old (middle-Proterozoic to Archean) crust with minor juvenile Pan-African material. The Avalonian terranes apparently evolved near, and partly on, the Grenville-age crust now in South America during the intense orogeny associated with rotation of Gondwana away from North America. The Cadomian terranes of Europe, however, appear to be fragments of other parts of Gondwana, probably West Africa.
Alveolar Macrophage Innate Response to Mycobacterium immunogenum, the Etiological Agent of Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis: Role of JNK and p38 MAPK Pathways

Mycobacterium immunogenum is an emerging pathogen of the immune-mediated lung disease hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) reported in machinists occupationally exposed to contaminated metal working fluid (MWF). However, the mechanism of its interaction with the host lung is unclear. Considering that alveolar macrophages play a central role in host defense in the exposed lung, understanding their interaction with the pathogen could provide initial insights into the underlying immunopathogenesis events and mechanisms. In the current study, M. immunogenum 700506, a predominant genotype isolated from HP-linked fluids, was shown to multiply intracellularly, induce proinflammatory mediators (TNF-α, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, GM-CSF, NO) and cause cytotoxicity/cell death in the cultured murine alveolar macrophage cell line MH-S in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The responses were detected as early as 3h post-infection. Comparison of this and four additional genotypes of M. immunogenum (MJY-3, MJY-4, MJY-12, MJY-14) using an effective dose-time combination (100 MOI for 24h) showed these macrophage responses in the following order (albeit with some variations for individual response indicators). Inflammatory: MJY-3 ≥ 700506 > MJY-4 ≥ MJY-14 ≥ MJY-12; Cytotoxic: 700506 ≥ MJY-3 > MJY-4 ≥ MJY-12 ≥ MJY-14. In general, 700506 and MJY-3 showed a more aggressive response than other genotypes. Chemical blocking of either p38 or JNK inhibited the induction of proinflammatory mediators (cytokines, NO) by 700506. However, the cellular responses showed a somewhat opposite effect. This is the first report on M. immunogenum interactions with alveolar macrophages and on the identification of JNK- and p38- mediated signaling and its role in mediating the proinflammatory responses during these interactions.
Creating a GUI for Zori, a Quantum Monte Carlo Program

Rappture is a new GUI development kit that enables developers to build I/O interfaces for specific applications. In this article,, the authors describe the Rappture toolkit's use in generating a GUI for the Zori computer code.
Criterion for the Occurrence of Luminescence

A mechanism is suggested for the nonradiative quenching of excited states of simple impurity centers, namely a crossover to the ground electronic state of the center immediately after excitation and before thermal equilibrium has had time to come about. It is proposed that this mechanism is responsible for the absence of strong luminescence in some impurity and color centers, e.g., the $F$-center in alkali-halide crystals. The quenching process proposed here is applicable only for certain geometries of the configuration coordinate diagram, which are discussed with a view to a criterion for strong luminescence. The quenching mechanism is consistent with known configuration coordinate curves, and leads to a prediction which is experimentally verified, to the effect that the wavelength of emitted radiation is not more than twice that of the light absorbed by the center. The same mechanism shows the possibility of photoconductivity arising from absorption in discrete lines even at low temperatures.
Aggressiveness of response to new business opportunities following deregulation: An empirical study of established financial firms

Abstract Certain researchers have argued that industry structure constrains a firm's ability to respond to new business opportunities. An important research question is to determine the relationship between organizational structure and strategy and a firm's response to new business opportunities. This article measures how established financial firms respond to new business opportunities following deregulation and then compares these activities to accepted, well-known strategy typologies and structural arrangements. Using secondary data, the new business venturing activities of the entire population of Texas savings and loans (N = 270) was determined following an industry deregulation. Forty-four of these savings and loans (S&Ls) then were identified as having a high-level of venturing activity, whereas 71 S&Ls were characterized by a low-level of venturing activity. A questionnaire describing specific, well-known strategies and structural arrangements was mailed to the top managers of these 115 S&Ls. Telephone interviews were obtained from 99 of the 115 S&Ls receiving questionnaires. Chief executive officers and executive vice-presidents from 37 high-level venturing activity S&Ls and 62 low-level venturing activity S&Ls responded. Twenty-eight of the 37 high-level venturing activity S&Ls reported the use of a prospector-type strategy, whereas 52 of the 62 low-level venturing activity S&Ls reported having a defender strategy. This final sample of 80 S&Ls (28 + 52) was used in all subsequent data analyses. Total assets of the S&Ls sampled ranged from 10.2 million to 4.1 billion dollars. A covariance
TELEVISION MERGERS AND DIVERSITY IN SMALL MARKETS

“Diversity of the airwaves”—making sure that viewers have a varied mix of ideas and information available in the relevant media market—remains one of the central goals of broadcasting policy for the ownership of television stations. In an effort to protect diversity of the airwaves, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) prevents one entity from owning more than one television station in small television markets. This paper shows that the FCC's policy is probably counterproductive; allowing television mergers in small markets is very likely to increase diversity of the airwaves. Hence, when regulating television mergers in small markets, the FCC should have a presumption in favor of the merger.
What is breast cancer doing before we can detect it

Breast cancer is a cellular disease and the cellular kinetic events in the predetectable period are of great clinical significance. Such events include rate of replication, angiogenesis with distant metastasis, rate of cell death, and the number of cells needed to produce a detectable and later a symptomatic mass of neoplasm. A consideration of these events and their interrelatedness is reported using data from The Breast Cancer Detection and Demonstration Projects and significant reports in the literature. Growth rates in the predetectable period are estimated to be much faster than those that occur with grossly measurable breast cancers in keeping with the prediction of Gompertzian growth.
Addressing Remnats of the Past: Proactive Responses to Equity Issues in Public Administration

Local governments, along with other American institutions, have integrated culturally and ethnically diverse residents into the mainstream of society. Yet, vestiges of segregation and exclusion continue to impact quality of life issues for minorities. These historical remnants pose equity, ethical, and practical dilemmas for local government managers as they wrestle with delivery and access of services and corrections of past environmental injustices for all residents. This article explores how these holdovers continue to challenge managers today and seeks from a practitioner's point of view to provide methods to rectify these inequalities.
Leatherback Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) in the Gulf of California: Distribution, Demography, and Human Interactions

ABSTRACT Since 1943, a total of 40 leatherbacks have been documented in neritic and offshore waters of the Gulf of California, Mexico: 13 as fisheries by-catch, 11 in indigenous ceremonies, 8 coastal strandings, 4 at-sea sightings, 3 observed by fishing fleets, and 1 via satellite telemetry. Leatherback hatchlings were observed on 3 occasions in the northern Gulf of California. The range of curved carapace lengths for nonhatchling leatherbacks was 113 to 160 cm curved carapace length (mean = 139 ± 12 cm). All but 1 leatherback were reported between November and May, a period of cooler water temperatures for the region.
PLAYAS: critical reflection in an immersive space

This paper proposes a demonstration of the hybrid video game and installation environment, Playas: Homeland Mirage. Exhibited at ISEA/ZeroOne 2006 [1]. The collaboratively developed project serves as a model of artist-driven research. This demonstration will discuss the findings gathered from a naturalistic inquiry into the effect of mediation on critical reflection.
Density Gradient Enrichment of Escherichia coli Conditional msbA Mutants

Insight into the mechanism of lipid transport to the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria has been hampered by the lack of an effective genetic screen for defective mutants. This work demonstrates an enrichment of conditional mutants defective in lipopolysaccharide export by Ludox density gradient centrifugation and selection for detergent resistance. New temperature-sensitive mutants with lipid export defects were isolated with single missense mutations in msbA. The results demonstrate the power of this approach for the study of lipid export in Escherichia coli.
Spatially explicit dispersal dynamics and equilibrium population sizes in marine harvest refuges

For marine reserves to function as effective harvest refuges for exploited species, the reserve must protect a substantial proportion of the population for an indefinite period of time. Because most marine reserves are space-limited, the buildup and equilibrium population sizes of mobile species will be influenced by the size and boundary conditions of the refuge. A logistic rate model was used to predict equilibrium population sizes in a marine harvest refuge, based on species-specific dispersal dynamics and the spatial configuration of the refuge. The model parameters were derived for Caribbean spiny lobsters and queen conch in an isolated marine reserve at Glover's Reef, Belize, and were compared to observed population change over a 5-yr period. Spiny lobsters and queen conch, the two most heavily exploited species in the Caribbean, differ in larval recruitment rates (immigration) and mobility of adults (emigration). The expected increase in the population size of spiny lobsters in this refuge was 250% and queen conch was 420% over that of the initial fished population. The observed densities of lobsters and conch in the refuge approached the predicted estimates within three years. To further explore the impact of alternative spatial configurations on refuge populations, the model was run on the same populations in two hypothetical refuges. In a refuge of the same area but 50% less absorbing boundary (adjacent to intensively fished areas), the spiny lobster population was expected to be 30% larger than the equilibrium population size in the original refuge, whereas the queen conch population was not expected to change from that in the original refuge. In a refuge that was 50% larger and with 50% less absorbing boundary, the spiny lobster population was expected to increase 110% and the queen conch population was expected to increase 50% over the equilibrium population size in the original refuge. Relatively minor changes in refuge area and boundary conditions may thus result in major population-level responses by exploited species, depending on dispersal dynamics and habitat availability. This simple model may be applicable for rapid assessment of the potential efficacy of proposed harvest refuges. Copyright 2002 International Council for the Exploration of the Sea. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
The input output unit for the attitude and articulation control subsystem on the Cassini spacecraft

The Input Output Unit (IOU) for the Attitude and Articulation Subsystem (AACS) for the Cassini spacecraft uses an embedded microprocessor to format and interpret data packets sent over a bus with the electrical characteristics of MIL-STD-1553B. The IOU used available design and protocol elements when possible, and employed custom hardware and firmware elements when necessary. As a result, the hardware design of the IOU, including the design of a custom gate array, took place in a extremely short time. With extensive simulation and modeling of the design at both the chip and board level, design iterations were minimal, and there were no iterations of the gate array. The embedded microprocessor in the IOU provides great versatility and flexibility, and allowed the incorporation in many functions in firmware. For this reason, firmware design and verification were challenging linchpins of this effort. This I/O approach is a marked departure from approaches used on previous JPL spacecraft. It has resulted in significant changes in the interfaces of AACS peripherals and their integration at the subsystem level. Future trends are reinforcing this approach, with "smart" peripherals and instruments communicating over much higher bandwidth optical buses.
THE ROUTE OF ENTERIC INFECTION IN NORMAL MICE

This study followed the early pathogenesis of orally induced murine typhoid fever. Intragastrically administered Salmonella enteritidis moves quickly through the normal undisturbed gut so that only a small residuum remains in the cecum and large intestine after the first few hours. Dye injection of the gut wall was used to show that lymph from discrete portions of the gastrointestinal tract drains to separate lymph nodes, probably via the regional Peyer's patches. Plating techniques capable of detecting a single colony-forming unit of S. enteritidis within the different Peyer's patches and draining lymph nodes indicate that, although the cecum and large intestine are exposed to large numbers of Salmonella for longer time periods than the small intestine, the primary site of bacterial penetration involves the distal ileum. This area of the small intestine as well as the cecum are both drained by the distal mesenteric lymph nodes, and were the only nodes which contained detectable numbers of viable Salmonella over the first 24 h of infection. Neither the pyloric nor the proximal mesenteric lymph nodes (which drain the stomach and duodenum) nor the pancreatic and caudal lymph nodes (which drain the transverse and descending colon) contained viable Salmonella. Salmonella were observed to infect the ileal mucosa and its Peyer's patches. With time, this infection progresses to the draining lymph node and ultimately reaches the liver and spleen. Some of the implications of these findings relative to the development of acquired resistance to enteric disease are discussed.
Bringing the Marks on a Whiteboard to Electronic Life

This paper discusses our implementation and experience with a camera-based whiteboard scanner. The ZombieBoard system (so called because it brings to electronic life the marks on a whiteboard) is built into both the physical environment and the information space, while augmenting and linking the two. Computer vision underlies two key technology components. First, image mosaicing is used to obtain high-resolution images of large surfaces using relatively low-resolution cameras. Second, real time activity analysis and line drawing analysis enable a Diagrammatic User Interface whereby commands are issued to the system by drawing on the whiteboard itself. The system has been in routine use at our research center for two years and has demonstrated the value of this approach to linking whiteboards with the electronic document world.
Oriented tensor reconstruction: tracing neural pathways from diffusion tensor MRI

In this paper we develop a new technique for tracing anatomical fibers from 3D tensor fields. The technique extracts salient tensor features using a local regularization technique that allows the algorithm to cross noisy regions and bridge gaps in the data. We applied the method to human brain DT-MRI data and recovered identifiable anatomical structures that correspond to the white matter brain-fiber pathways. The images in this paper are derived from a dataset having 121/spl times/88/spl times/60 resolution. We were able to recover fibers with less than the voxel size resolution by applying the regularization technique, i.e., using a priori assumptions about fiber smoothness. The regularization procedure is done through a moving least squares filter directly incorporated in the tracing algorithm.
Efficacy and financial benefit of an anesthesiologist-directed university preadmission evaluation center

Abstract Study Objective: To study the effectiveness of an anesthesiologist-directed preadmission evaluation center (PEC) in our institution. Design: I: Preoperative test costs were measured on two sets of patients undergoing same-day surgery, II: Rate of cancellation was measured on all patients undergoing same-day surgery in a subsequent one-year time period. Setting: The PEC, short procedure unit, and same-day admission unit of a university hospital. Patients: I: 3,062 male and female patients undergoing same-day surgery between January 1, 1992, and August 31, 1992. II: 9,454 male and female patients undergoing same-day surgery between July 1, 1993, and June 30, 1994. Interventions: Age, ASA physical status, type of surgery performed, and tests ordered were recorded in two groups of same-day surgical patients. Group S had testing primarily ordered by surgeons, augmented by the anesthesiologists in the PEC. Group A had testing primarily ordered by the anesthesiologists in the PEC, but surgeons could still order tests they felt necessary. On the day of surgery, the attending anesthesiologist recorded any additional testing that was required or would have altered intraoperative management. In a follow-up study, cancellations of same-day surgical patients were recorded for a one-year period. Measurements and Main Results: I: With the exception of complete blood counts with differentials, significantly fewer tests were ordered in Group A than Group S. These changes produced an average cost savings of $20.89 per patient. There were no recorded cancellations or apparent alterations in intraoperative management attributable to inadequate testing. II: Of the 9,454 same-day procedures from 7/1/93 to 6/31/94, 66 were cancelled on the day of the procedure. None of the patients seen in the PEC were cancelled due to causes possibly preventable by a PEC, unlike the cases of 4 patients who had not been evaluated in the PEC and were cancelled. Conclusion: A PEC, in which the anesthesiologist primarily orders preoperative tests and approves patients' readiness for surgery, is both an efficient and cost-effective system.
Artistic and everyday creativity: An act-frequency approach.

Scholars often distinguish everyday creativity and creativity in more formal domains, such as the arts. However, everyday creativity has been rather neglected in research. This paper compares artistic and everyday creativity. Three studies examine the content of behavior in artistic and everyday creativity, as well as similarities and differences in their relationships with personality traits, psychological well-being, and psychopathology. Typical artistic creativity acts referred to time investment in the arts, generation of art works, and achievement in the arts, whereas typical everyday creativity acts concerned humor and self-expression in daily activities. Both kinds of creativity were related to openness to experience, a personality trait described as the disposition towards creativity. However, artistic creativity was related to higher rates of psychopathology, while everyday creativity was related to extraversion, conscientiousness, and personal growth.
Houses Far from Home: British Colonial Space in the New Hebrides

Houses Far from Home: British Colonial Space in the New Hebrides. Margaret Critchlow Rodman. University of Hawai'i Press, 2001. xiv. 247 pp., map, photographs, references, index.
Fetal window of vulnerability to airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on proportional intrauterine growth restriction.

Background Although the entire duration of fetal development is generally considered a highly susceptible period, it is of public health interest to determine a narrower window of heightened vulnerability to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in humans. We posited that exposure to PAHs during the first trimester impairs fetal growth more severely than a similar level of exposure during the subsequent trimesters.
Analysis of the benefits of Superposition Coding in random wireless networks

Network-wide adoption of a multipacket transmission scheme such as Superposition Coding (SC) for local “one-to-many” communication results in mutually interfering “broadcast” clusters. We analyze the benefits of SC and traditional Frequency Division (FD) with this interference via a utility function that measures the rate of information transfer per unit area. In particular, we study transmitters forming a Poisson point process and using ALOHA for medium access. For a fixed bandwidth allocation, FD allows spatial reuse to be independently optimized for each frequency band. On the other hand, with SC for a fixed power allocation, the optimal spatial reuse depends on the relative contribution of each link to the utility function. Since optimal spatial reuse is a function of the network geometry, the gains provided by SC depend on the geometry of the receiver node placement.
Delegation and Organizational Structure in Small Businesses: Influences of Manager’s Attachment Patterns

Two studies examined the influences of small business managers’ social expectations of others in close, nonbusiness relationships (attachment patterns) on their relationships with employees, tenden...
Various vitamin and mineral supplements are observed to increase mortality risk in older women, with the exception of calcium, which decreases risk

Commentary on: J Mursu, K Robien, LJ Harnack, et al.. Dietary supplements and mortality rate in older women: the Iowa Women9s Health Study.Arch Intern Med2011171:1625–33.
Seeing What's Not THere: The Enigma of Entrepreneurship

The process is clear: entrepreneurs initiate business ventures. What is not clear is why they do so. The debate continues to rage about entrepreneurial behavior and this singular act of individual volition which is so vital to a nation's economic health and well being. The drives and personalities continue to be debated. Gartner (1988) asks, "Can one know the dancer from the dance?" Is it even important to try? Carland, Hoy and Carland (I 988) think it is essential because one cannot understand the dance without understanding the dancer.We think that the dance takes on the personality of the dancer. It is the dancer who interprets the dance and each artist makes the process his or her own. If we seek to understand the entrepreneurial process, we must have some insight into the entrepreneurial psyche. This is especially true if we wish to design educational and training programs for prospective and practicing entrepreneurs.In this work, we empirically examine 502 owner/managers of small businesses. We identify entrepreneurial vision, the ability to see what is not there, as their commonality. We empirically /ink that vision to the entrepreneurial psyche and use that to build insight into the entrepreneurial enigma, the process of entrepreneurship.
Mechanisms of action of anticonvulsant agents.

Article abstract-Systematic screening of many compounds in animal models led to identification of the established antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). By contrast, the newer AEDs were specifically designed to enhance an inhibitory process or to inhibit a specific excitatory pathway. However, it was later discovered that some of the designed drugs differed in their modes of action from what was envisioned. Recently, it has become apparent that all AEDs, old and new, may affect sodium and calcium channels, increase brain concentration of free γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and reduce glutamate-mediated excitation by inhibiting N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and the a-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) receptors. However, not all the drugs affect all of these mechanisms. Understanding the modes of action of each drug may explain why some of them are effective in treating other neurologic and neuropsychiatric disorders. This understanding may make it possible to develop a group of neuroexcitatory amino acid transmitter antagonists with intended antiepileptogenic actions.
Direct Modulation for Microwave Photonics

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction to Direct Modulation for Microwave Photonics Review of Semiconductor Laser Devices RF Signal Strength and Optical Link Gain Signal Bandwidth and High-speed Lasers Signal Distortion and Spurious Free Dynamic Range Low-cost VCSEL RF Photonic Links Cascade Laser Optical Links References ]]>
Detecting Gaussian signals in the presence of interferers using the coprime sensor arrays with the min processor

A coprime sensor array (CSA) requires fewer sensors to achieve similar spatial resolution as a fully populated ULA with the comparable aperture. CSAs commonly multiply the subarray beampatterns to resolve the ambiguities introduced by spatial aliasing. This paper proposes choosing the minimum between the CSA subarray spatial spectrum estimates for each bearing to resolve the aliasing ambiguities. The resulting CSA- min detection PDFs for each bearing are weighted sums of products of exponential functions and Marcum Q-functions. The CSA-min processor improves the ROC performances in detecting Gaussian signals in the presence of interferers and noise in Monte Carlo simulations.
Association of membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis with mantle cell lymphoma

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a rare and aggressive lymphoid neoplasm. It can involve the kidney, either by direct lymphomatous infiltration or by a paraneoplastic glomerulonephritis. We present here the case of a man with rectal bleeding and rapidly progressive renal failure, who had MCL in the gastrointestinal tract and paraneoplastic membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis, and whose renal dysfunction normalised after chemotherapy.
Positive Lyme disease serology in patients with clinical and laboratory evidence of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis

In 10 consecutive patients with an acute febrile illness, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis was confirmed with specific polymerase chain reaction studies, serologic conversion, or both. Although no patients had the clinical features most suggestive of early Lyme disease (eg, erythema migrans or cranial nerve palsy), tests for antibody to Borrelia burgdorferi produced a reaction in most patients. In 6 of 7 patients (86%) with evaluable results, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay yielded positive or equivocal findings, and an immunoblot technique yielded positive findings in 60% to 90% of patients, depending on the criteria used for interpretation. Inasmuch as approximately 25% of nymphal Ixodes scapularis ticks in Westchester County, New York, are infected with B burgdorferi, the probability that at least 9 of these patients were coinfected with B burgdorferi and human granulocytic ehrlichiosis by the same tick bite is estimated to be .00003. These observations suggest that serodiagnosis is insufficient to establish the presence of coinfection with B burgdorferi.
First-in-Human Assessment of the Novel PDE2A PET Radiotracer 18F-PF-05270430

This was a first-in-human study of the novel phosphodiesterase-2A (PDE2A) PET ligand 18F-PF-05270430. The primary goals were to determine the appropriate tracer kinetic model to quantify brain uptake and to examine the within-subject test–retest variability. Methods: In advance of human studies, radiation dosimetry was determined in nonhuman primates. Six healthy male subjects participated in a test–retest protocol with dynamic scans and metabolite-corrected input functions. Nine brain regions of interest were studied, including the striatum, white matter, neocortical regions, and cerebellum. Multiple modeling methods were applied to calculate volume of distribution (VT) and binding potentials relative to the nondisplaceable tracer in tissue (BPND), concentration of tracer in plasma (BPP), and free tracer in tissue (BPF). The cerebellum was selected as a reference region to calculate binding potentials. Results: The dosimetry study provided an effective dose of less than 0.30 mSv/MBq, with the gallbladder as the critical organ; the human target dose was 185 MBq. There were no adverse events or clinically detectable pharmacologic effects reported. Tracer uptake was highest in the striatum, followed by neocortical regions and white matter, and lowest in the cerebellum. Regional time–activity curves were well fit by multilinear analysis-1, and a 70-min scan duration was sufficient to quantify VT and the binding potentials. BPND, with mean values ranging from 0.3 to 0.8, showed the best intrasubject and intersubject variability and reliability. Test–retest variability in the whole brain (excluding the cerebellum) of VT, BPND, and BPP were 8%, 16%, and 17%, respectively. Conclusion:18F-PF-05270430 shows promise as a PDE2A PET ligand, albeit with low binding potential values.
The Meaning of a Patronymic Prefix

The courts have ruled that adding a suffix to a descriptive word will probably not render that word non-descriptive. McCarthy cites the addition of the suffix, “-ize” to a base form, as in Flexitized (collar stays) and Nylonized (nylon-treated fabrics) as examples of a suffix that does not deprive the term of a descriptive connotation (1984: 460). McCarthy does not mention prefixes, but there is no reason to think that prefixes and suffixes do not operate the same way in terms of trademark law. Linguists lump both prefixes and suffixes into the same category, called affixes (which would include infixes, although English does not make use of these). The major question in the following case is whether or not conjoining a prefix found in another company’s proper noun name with a different common noun constitutes a trademark infringement. Of particular interest here is that the prefix in question is, historically at least, a patronym commonly found at the beginning of some Irish and Scottish names.
Revolution and Solidarity

One of Iran’s core foreign policy goals when the clerics came to power in 1982 was the export of their Revolution. The Islamic theme in foreign policy was not an Iranian innovation, for Islam had always been a significant element of Saudi and Pakistani foreign policy. But the Iranian Islamic theme was distinctive. By asserting the right to judge the Islamic credentials of other governments, and by couching the idea of liberation in universal Islamic justice, Iran challenged the political status quo in nearby and distant countries alike. Professor R.K. Ramazani provides a useful explanation of the Khomeini regime’s ‘mission’ to spread Iran’s version of Islamic revolution: Simply stated, Iran must export the revolution both to pave the way for the ultimate establishment of an Islamic world order when the Mandi appears and to meet the more immediate, short-term need to make the Iranian regional environment safe for Iran’s power and for its new revolutionary ideology.1
Irr Mediates Cellular Responses to Iron Stress in Bradyrhizobium japonicum

Nitrogen-fixing bacteria require iron for processes common to prokaryotes and eukaryotes, but also utilize the metal as a component of the nitrogenase complexes and other iron-sulfur proteins, heme proteins for microaerobic respiration and O2 sensing, and indirectly in plant hemoglobins in symbiotic systems for O2 transport. Iron in the environment is oxidized and therefore nearly insoluble. Thus, soil bacteria are faced with the challenge of acquiring exogenous iron and coordinating levels with iron-dependent cellular processes. Here, we focus on the biosynthesis of heme, an iron protoporphyrin, and its regulation by iron in Bradyrhizobium japonicum.
Exposure Therapy for Claustrophobic Reactions to Continuous Positive Airway Pressure

Publisher Summary Exposure therapy is indicated for individuals with sleep apnea who are unable to tolerate continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices due to anxiety reactions. Some patients prescribed CPAP therapy for sleep-related breathing disorders experience claustrophobia, anxiety, or panic symptoms related to wearing the mask (feeling restricted) and/or tolerating the air pressure (feeling suffocated). Exposure therapy is indicated for such individuals. To understand the treatment needs of patients who present with claustrophobic reactions to CPAP, it seems useful to consider first the etiology and mechanisms that perpetuate such reactions. Claustrophobia is a form of specific phobia that entails extreme anxiety and panic elicited by situations such as tunnels, elevators, or other settings in which the individual experiences a sense of being closed in or entrapped.
Introduction: historiography and bibliography

The writing of the history of Maharashtra and the Marathas is almost as old as the polity itself. The first histories, termed bakhars, and written in Marathi by Brahmin eulogists, were the product of the late seventeenth century to the mid-eighteenth century. The current consensus is that much of the genre was hagiographical and often confused in dating and placing events. Nevertheless, the best of this literature – the Shabasad Bakhar and the 91-Kalami Bakhar – is important both for the facts and the tone of the heroic and tragic events which form the basis of the popular history of Maharashtra. Unfortunately, many of the statements of even these two most reliable bakhars have found their way into scholarly writing without careful use of corroborating evidence. Considered critically, however, the bakhar literature does raise several important issues for our understanding of the Maratha polity. First, this literature treats Shivaji – founder of the polity – as a near divine figure, regularly inspired by the goddess Bhavani to great deeds, which were primarily important as a Hindu resistance to Muslim domination and as leading to the establishment of a Hindu state. This theme of some decisive difference between Shivaji's Maharashtrian kingdom and earlier Muslim Maharashtrian kingdoms is an important one which runs regularly through the later historiography on Maharashtra. Just what those differences were and how they came about are critical to any discussion of the Maratha polity.
A novel computational model to probe visual search deficits during motor performance

Visual search has traditionally been studied in cognitive and perceptual paradigms, but little is known about how it contributes to visuomotor performance. We have developed a novel computational m...
Ronald Fisher’s Great Idea

While Pearson had spent a lifetime formulating statistics for such individual predictors as a distribution’s mean and variance , and Fisher helped improve Pearson’s statistics, Fisher also offered a new and groundbreaking insight into the overall power of statistical models. While at Rothamsted, Fisher also refined a geometric interpretation of statistical measures that dated back to Gauss , and integrated most of the statistical measures we employ today.
Early presentation of cerebral fat embolism

Cerebral fat embolism syndrome has been identified in patients with long bone trauma, and usually occurs after a symptom free interval of 12 h. Treatment includes supportive care, and outcome is va...
Three-dimensional eeg signal tracking for reproducible brain activity monitoring

Electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring methods play a highly important role in studying human brain electrical activities. Its ability to achieve millisecond scale time resolution is critical for obtaining causal relationship. However, due to the dynamic nature of brain electrical activity, the same stimuli may generate different responses at different time or different psychological setting. Time averaging and repeat testing are usually required to obtain reproducible and meaningful data that can link to behaviors. Here, we propose a new approach to link single measurement with behaviors that can monitor brain functions reproducibly without repeating measurements. The method opens doors to freely explore brain functions and responses in real time without many restrictions like, for example, doing event related potential (ERP) measurement.
Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound for Guidance of Percutaneous Liver Interventions in Neoplastic Hepatic Disease

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is an evolving technique for the detection and characterization of focal liver lesions. Currently, it is recommended mainly for inconclusive cases and for patients with contraindications to computed tomography (CT)/magnetic resonance imaging. For percutaneous liver interventions, image guidance is of utmost importance to detect the target lesion. Primarily, ultrasound guidance is used for liver biopsies and ablations. CT is reserved for challenging cases, for example, when the target or the surrounding structures are not well identified with standard B-mode ultrasound. Instead of CT guidance, CEUS has gained increasing interest for percutaneous liver interventions. CEUS has the advantage of superior target visualization, real-time imaging guidance of probe or needle advancement without exposure to radiation.