cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lateral Gene Transfer in Multicellular Organisms

The transfer of genetic material in the absence of sex, lateral gene transfer (LGT), is ubiquitous in prokaryotes and increasingly described in eukaryotes, including animals. Here, we provide an overview and discussion of the many recent examples of LGT in animals with examination of important studies in plant LGT and differentiate LGT from adaptive hybridization. LGT involving both retroelements and Wolbachia endosymbionts is rampant. LGT occurs from bacteria to asexual animals and from endosymbionts to their invertebrates hosts where it is frequently transcribed, albeit at low levels. When LGT is adaptive, meaning that it confers a selective advantage, it is frequently followed by gene duplication and gene conversion.
The increase in FDA-approved novel cancer drugs over the last 5 years: What factors are involved?

e14111Background: In 2015, The FDA approved the most number of novel drugs in the last 19-years. We propose to evaluate the factors associated with the significant increase in FDA approved oncologi...
Use of immunotherapy (IO) supplied free of charge to cancer patients.

e18914Background: IO has increased both hope and uncertainty for patients (pts) with cancer. Many pts with off-label indications not qualifying for trials have received IO from the manufacturer fre...
The Immune-Mind Connection

How does stress promote anxiety? In this issue of Cell, Fan et al. report that immune cells have a direct role in this process. They show that chronic stress promotes mitochondrial fission in CD4+ T cells, causing increased synthesis of xanthine, which acts on the brain and induces anxiety-like behaviors.
Asymmetric Electrophilic Amination and Hydrazination of Acyclic α-Branched Ketones for the Formation of α-Tertiary Amines and Hydrazines

Chiral α-tertiary amines can be accessed directly through the electrophilic amination of α-branched ketones utilizing di-tert-butyl azodicarboxylate as the electrophilic nitrogen source. This proce...
Alpine plant community diversity in species–area relations at fine scale

Observations of diversity in alpine vegetation appear to be scale dependent. The relations of plant species richness with surface processes and geomorphology have been studied, but patterns of beta...
Correction of Facial Asymmetry Using Patient-Specific Implants: A Case Report:

Dentofacial deformities can have a profound impact on patients’ function and facial aesthetics. Traditionally, dentofacial deformities and malocclusion have been managed with growth modification, o...
Microstructural evolution of nanotwinned Al-Zr alloy with significant 9R phase

Aluminum (Al) alloys have a multitude of applications, notably in the automotive, aerospace and coating industries, yet they exhibit significantly lower mechanical strength than conventional steels...
Accuracy of dose volume metric calculation for small volume radiosurgery targets

Purpose For stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), accurate evaluation of dose-volume metrics for small structures is necessary. The purpose of this study was to compare the DVH metric capabilities of five commercially available SRS DVH analysis tools (Eclipse, Elements, Raystation, MIM, and Velocity). Methods DICOM RTdose and RTstructure set files created using MATLAB were imported and evaluated in each of the tools. Each structure set consisted of 50 randomly placed spherical targets. The dose distributions were created on a 1-mm grid using an analytic model such that the dose-volume metrics of the spheres were known. Structure sets were created for 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, and 20 mm diameter spheres. The reported structure volume, V100% [cc], and V50% [cc], and the RTOG conformity index and Paddick Gradient Index, were compared with the analytical values. Results The average difference and range across all evaluated target sizes for the reported structure volume was - 4.73%[-33.2,0.2], 0.11%[-10.9, 9.5], -0.39%[-12.1, 7.0], -2.24%[-21.0, 1.3], and 1.15%[-15.1,0.8], for TPS-A through TPS-E, respectively. The average difference and range for the V100%[cc] (V20Gy[cc]) was - 0.4[-24.5,9.8], -2.73[-23.6, 1.1], -3.01[-23.6, 0.6], -3.79[-27.3, 1.3], and 0.26[-6.1,2.6] for TPS-A through TPS-E, respectively. For V50%[cc](V10Gy[cc]) in TPS-A through TPS-E the average and ranger were - 0.05[-0.8,0.4], -0.18[-1.2, 0.5], -0.44[-1.4, 0.3], -0.26[-1.8, 2.6], and 0.09[-1.4,2.7]. Conclusion This study expanded on the previously published literature to quantitatively compare the DVH analysis capabilities of software commonly used for SRS plan evaluation and provides freely available and downloadable analytically derived set of ground truth DICOM dose and structure files for the use of radiotherapy clinics. The differences between systems highlight the need for standardization and/or transparency between systems, especially when evaluating plan quality for multi-institutional clinical trials.
Certified Robustness of Nearest Neighbors against Data Poisoning Attacks

Data poisoning attacks aim to corrupt a machine learning model via modifying, adding, and/or removing some carefully selected training examples, such that the corrupted model predicts any or attacker-chosen incorrect labels for testing examples. The key idea of state-of-the-art certified defenses against data poisoning attacks is to create a \emph{majority vote} mechanism to predict the label of a testing example. Moreover, each voter is a base classifier trained on a subset of the training dataset. Nearest neighbor algorithms such as k nearest neighbors (kNN) and radius nearest neighbors (rNN) have intrinsic majority vote mechanisms. In this work, we show that the intrinsic majority vote mechanisms in kNN and rNN already provide certified robustness guarantees against general data poisoning attacks. Moreover, our empirical evaluation results on MNIST and CIFAR10 show that the intrinsic certified robustness guarantees of kNN and rNN outperform those provided by state-of-the-art certified defenses.
Disability Access in Higher Education: Documenting as University Health Service Providers

As the number of students with disabilities on college campuses continues to steadily increase, collaborative efforts between Health Service Departments and Disability Service Offices (DSO) become increasingly critical in relation to retention and matriculation. To remove potential barriers experienced by students, health service providers should be familiar with the eligibility and documentation requirements of the DSO. Proactive collaboration between Health Service Departments and Disability Service Offices is essential to support students experiencing acute episodes of disability, normalize mental health management, promote help-seeking behavior and self-care, and develop student-centered leave of absence policies and processes.
Intergenerational effects of childhood maltreatment: The roles of parents' emotion regulation and mentalization.

Abstract Background Children living with parents who have childhood maltreatment histories tend to develop compromised behavioral health outcomes, suggesting the intergenerational effects of child maltreatment. Objective Driven by attachment theory, this study aims to identify the pathways from parents' childhood maltreatment to their child's behavioral problems and functioning. Participants and Setting The sample of parent participants (N = 202) was recruited from an online data collection platform – Amazon Mechanical Turk. Methods Structural equation modeling with the estimator of maximum likelihood was used to examine the intergenerational effects of child maltreatment. Results This study identified two important mediators, i.e., parents' emotion regulation and parental mentalization. Parental childhood maltreatment had a positive association with parents' difficulties in emotion regulation (β = 0.45, p Conclusion This study advances our existing understanding of the complexities of child maltreatment and informs an intergenerational approach in terms of screening and intervention, so professionals can effectively work for families to alleviate the enduring negative effects of child maltreatment, to reduce prohibitive social expenditures of mental health services, and to promote social justice.
A tribute to Dr. Jean Schmittau (1937–2015)

In 1990, Dr. Jean Schmittau (1937–2015) traveled to Russia to study the Davydov elementary mathematics program. Later she worked closely with Davydov to translate the program into English and oversaw an implementation of the program at a local private school. This tribute overviews her tremendous work in making the program known to so many scholars.
Capnometric feedback training decreases 24-h blood pressure in hypertensive postmenopausal women.

BACKGROUND High normal resting pCO2 is a risk factor for salt sensitivity of blood pressure (BP) in normotensive humans and has been associated with higher resting systolic BP in postmenopausal women. To date, however, no known studies have investigated the effects of regular practice of voluntary mild hypocapnic breathing on BP in hypertensive patients. The objective of the present research was to test the hypothesis that capnometric feedback training can decrease both resting pCO2 and 24-h BP in a series of mildly hypertensive postmenopausal women. METHODS A small portable end tidal CO2 (etCO2) monitor was constructed and equipped with software that determined the difference between the momentary etCO2 and a pre-programmed criterion range. The monitor enabled auditory feedback for variations in CO2 outside the criterion range. 16 mildly hypertensive postmenopausal women were individually trained to sustain small decreases in etCO2 during six weekly sessions in the clinic and daily sessions at home. 24-h BP monitoring was conducted before and after the intervention, and in 16 prehypertensive postmenopausal women in a control group who did not engage in the capnometric training. RESULTS Following the intervention, all 16 capnometric training participants showed decreases in resting etCO2 (- 4.3 ± 0.4 mmHg; p < .01) while 15 showed decreases in 24-h systolic BP (- 7.6 ± 2.0 mmHg; p < .01). No significant changes in either measure was observed in the control group. In addition, nighttime (- 9.5 ± 2.6; p < .01) and daytime (- 6.7 ± 0.2 mmHg) systolic BP were both decreased following capnometric training, while no significant changes in nighttime (- 2.8 ± 2.2 mmHg; p = .11) or daytime (- 0.7 ± 1.0 mmHg; p ≤ .247) systolic BP were observed in the control group. CONCLUSIONS These findings support the hypothesis that regular practice of mild hypocapnic breathing that decreases resting etCO2 reliably decreases 24-h blood pressure in hypertensive postmenopausal women. The extent to which these effects persist beyond the training period or can be observed in other hypertensive subgroups remains to be investigated.
Enhancing the quality and social impacts of urban planning through community-engaged operations research:

While inquiry in operations research (OR) modeling of urban planning processes is long-standing, on the whole, the OR discipline has not influenced urban planning practice, teaching and scholarship...
Hippocampus, amygdala and stress: Interacting systems that affect susceptibility to addiction

Stress is one of the major factors in drug abuse, particularly in relapse and drug-seeking behavior. However, the mechanisms underlying the interactions between stress and drug abuse are unclear. For many years, studies have focused on the role of the dopaminergic reward system in drug abuse. Our results, for example, show that increased dopaminergic activity is induced by drug sensitization and different stressors via potentiation of the ventral subiculum-nucleus accumbens (NAc) pathway. Although the role of the norepinephrine (NE) system in stress is well known, its involvement in drug abuse has received less attention. This review explores the different mechanisms by which stressors can modulate the ventral subiculum-accumbens pathway, and how these modulations can induce alterations in the behavioral response to drug administration. In particular, we will focus on two main afferents to the NAc, the basolateral amygdala and the ventral subiculum of the hippocampus, and their interactions with the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system.
The Influence of Age on the Effects of Lifestyle Modification and Metformin in Prevention of Diabetes

Background The incidence of type 2 diabetes increases with age. It is unknown whether interventions to prevent diabetes are as effective in elderly persons as in younger adults.
The Nature and Function of Criminal Theory

The practice of teaching and writing in the field of criminal law has changed dramatically in the last half-century. In the United States and England, and to a lesser extent in other English-speaking countries, we have witnessed a turn toward theoretical inquires of a greater depth and variety than had existed previously in the history of Anglo-American law. The subjects of this new literature include the nature and rationale of punishment;' the theory of justification and of excuse, that is, of wrongdoing and responsibility;2 the relevance of consequences to the gravity of offenses (the problem of moral luck);3 and the proper structuring of specific fields of law, notably the law of homicide, particularly at the beginning and the end of life,4 of rape,5 and of victimless offenses that result in
Analysis of microbenchmarks for performance tuning of clusters

Microbenchmarks, i.e. very small computational kernels, have become commonly used for quantitative measures of node performance in clusters. For example, a commonly used benchmark measures the amount of time required to perform a fixed quantum of work. Unfortunately, this benchmark is one of many that violate well known rules from sampling theory, leading to erroneous, contradictory or misleading results. At a minimum, these types of benchmarks can not be used to identify time-based activities that may interfere with and hence limit application performance. Our original and primary goal remains to identify noise in the system due to periodic activities that are not part of user application code. We discuss why the 'fixed quantum of work' benchmark provides data that is of limited use for analysis; and we show code for, discuss, and analyze results from a microbenchmark which follows good rules of sampling hygiene, and hence provides useful data for analysis.
U.S. public safety networks: Architectural patterns and performance

Through this paper we advance insights regarding common patterns among information and communication technology ICT architectures ICTA found in United States' public safety networks PSNs. A PSN is an inter-organizational collaboration enabled by ICT to support information sharing and interoperability needs of police and associated public safety organizations. Substantial evidence makes clear the information systems designed and used by PSNs are typically expensive and complex, support multiple public agencies from different organs of government and span different political and geographic boundaries. Better understanding of PSN ICTA patterns could lead to improved designs and possibly improved performance of these and perhaps other forms of multi-agency technology-enabled collaborations. Empirical data from 61 operational PSNs provides the basis for this work. These data were analyzed using fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis fsQCA, an approach ideally suited for detailed analyses across smaller data sets that allows us to assess inter-dependence among variables. Results show that 1 functionally similar configuration patterns of ICTA exist among PSNs and 2 several common architectural patterns are associated with higher levels of PSN performance, but these include a large number of unique successful arrangements.
Standard deviation is a strongly Leibniz seminorm

We show that standard deviation satises the Leibniz inequality (fg) (f)kgk +kfk (g) for bounded functions f;g on a probability space, where the norm is the supremum norm. A related inequality that we refer to as \strong" is also shown to hold. We show that these in fact hold also for noncommutative probability spaces. We extend this to the case of matricial seminorms on a unital C*-algebra, which leads us to treat also the case of a conditional expectation from a unital C*-algebra onto a unital C*-subalgebra.
Tracing neuronal connections through genetic approaches (651.16)

Premature babies are at risk for life-threatening autonomic dysfunction, including abnormal CNS control of breathing. These problems arise in part from immaturity of the autonomic nervous system in premature babies. The transcription factor PHOX2B is a master regulator of autonomic nervous system function as well as the specification of noradrenergic neurons. All autonomic afferent and efferent circuits require normal PHOX2B function, and therefore PHOX2B-derived neurons must have attained developmental maturity at birth for normal physiological function. Incomplete maturity and/or absence of noradrenergic and serotonergic neuron networks are a proposed mechanism of infant breathing disorders including apnea of prematurity, sudden infant death syndrome, and congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS). PHOX2B mutations result in the “chemosensation” loss characteristic of CCHS, resulting in poor respiratory drive secondary to hypercarbia (high pCO2). The developmental processes occurring during late...
STIFF: A Forecasting Framework for SpatioTemporal Data

Nowadays spatiotemporal forecasting has been drawing more and more attention from academic researchers and industrial practitioners for its promising applicability to complex data containing both spatial and temporal characteristics. To meet this increasing demand we propose STIFF (SpatioTemporal Integrated Forecasting Framework) in this paper. Following a divide-and-conquer methodology, it 1) first constructs a stochastic time series model to capture the temporal characteristic of each spatially separated location, 2) then builds an artificial neural network to discover the hidden spatial correlation among all locations, 3) finally combines the previous individual temporal and spatial predictions based upon statistical regression to obtain the overall integrated forecasting. After the framework description a real-world case study in a river catchment, which bears abrupt water flow rate fluctuation, obtained from a British catchment with complicated hydrological situations, is presented for illustration purpose. The effectiveness of the framework is shown by an enhanced forecasting accuracy and more balanced behaviors.
Microsurgical Fenestration and Paraspinal Muscle Pedicle Flaps for the Treatment of Symptomatic Sacral Tarlov Cysts

Objective Sacral Tarlov cysts are rare causes of sciatic and sacrococcygeal pain and neurologic deficits. Although several microsurgical treatments have been described, the optimal treatment has yet to be determined. We describe our initial experience with symptomatic lesions combining 1) cyst fenestration and imbrication and 2) filling the epidural space using vascularized paraspinous muscle flaps rotated into the cystic cavity. Methods We retrospectively reviewed all consecutive cases of symptomatic giant sacral Tarlov cysts treated with microsurgery at our institution between 2003 and 2011. The main outcome measure was self-reported symptom relief. Postoperative imaging, surgical complications, and subsequent treatments were also recorded. Results Thirty-five patients were treated. Mean age was 52 years. All patients presented with a chief complaint of sacral-perineal pain. The mean cyst size was 3.6 cm (largest diameter). Follow-up beyond the initial hospital stay was available in 86% (median 8 months). Ninety-three percent reported improvement in pain at some point during the postoperative course but 50% of those developed recurrent pain symptoms. Postoperative imaging was available in 69% of the patients in whom 92% showed complete obliteration (25%) or reduction in cyst size (67%). Conclusions The combination of microsurgical cyst fenestration and the use of vascularized muscle pedicle flaps to fill the cystic cavity and the epidural space results in obliteration or reduction in size of the majority of cysts and is associated with initial improvement in pain in most patients. However, delayed recurrence of pain was common with this technique.
A self-tuning fuzzy control approach for end-to-end QoS guarantees in web servers

It is important to guarantee end-to-end quality of service (QoS) under heavy-load conditions. Existing work focus on server-side request processing time or queueing delays in the network core. In this paper, we propose a novel framework eQoS to monitoring and controlling client-perceived response time in Web servers. The response time is measured with respect to requests for Web pages that contain multiple embedded objects. Within the framework, we propose an adaptive fuzzy controller, STFC, to allocating server resources. It deals with the effect of process delay in resource allocation by its two-level self-tuning capabilities. Experimental results on PlanetLab and simulated networks demonstrate the effectiveness of the framework: it controls client-perceived pageview response time to be within 20% of a pre-defined target. In comparison with static fuzzy controller, experimental results show that, although the STFC has slightly worse performance in the environment where the static fuzzy controller is best tuned, because of its self-tuning capabilities, it works better in all other test cases by 25% in terms of the deviation from the target response time. In addition, due to its model independence, the STFC outperforms the linear proportional integral (PI) and adaptive PI controllers by 50% and 75%, respectively.
Intrapulmonic neurogenic tumor.

A case of primary, solitary intrapulmonic tumor of nerve sheath origin in a 7½-year-old child is presented. The case is apparently the first one in this age group and should be considered in the differential diagnosis of chilhood lung tumors. Therapy is surgical removal, and results are excellent.
Effects of kinetin and indole-3-acetic acid on multiplication rates of Paramecium.

KINETIN (6-furfuryl aminopurine) is known to cause division in certain plant cells which could not otherwise divide1. But other cases are reported in which the rate of cell division is decreased after its application, for example, those of De Ropp2, Kemp et al. 3, Pilet et al. 4, and Ham et al. 5. How this substance affects the rate of division of animal cells is a question of interest. In a recent report6, Guttman and Back re-analysed data and repeated experiments in which they had previously7 found that kinetin causes an increase in the rate of division of Paramecium caudatum when added in low doses to the culture medium. Their later work6 indicated that stimulation of cell division was present, but on a lower level than that previously reported. Coincident with the appearance of the second report of Guttman and Back, we reported elsewhere8 the results of experiments in which kinetin, when used at the same concentrations and under similar conditions, was found to be inhibitory to division of P. caudatum.
Associations between frequency of bullying involvement and adjustment in adolescence.

Abstract Objective To examine whether infrequent bullying perpetration and victimization (once or twice a month) are associated with elevated levels of internalizing and externalizing problems and to assess evidence for a minimum frequency threshold for bullying involvement. Methods The analytic sample included 128,681 6th, 9th, and 12th graders who completed the 2010 Minnesota Student Survey. Logistic regression and general linear models examined the association between bullying frequency and adjustment correlates including emotional distress, self-harm, physical fighting, and substance use while controlling for demographic characteristics. Gender and grade were included as moderators. Results Infrequent bullying perpetration and victimization were associated with increased levels of all adjustment problems relative to those who did not engage in bullying in the past 30 days. Grade moderated many of these findings, with perpetration frequency being more strongly related to substance use, self-harm, and suicidal ideation for 6th graders than 12th graders, whereas victimization frequency was associated with self-harm more strongly for 12th graders than 6th graders. Evidence for minimum thresholds for bullying involvement across all outcomes, grades, and bullying roles was inconsistent. Conclusions Infrequent bullying involvement may pose risks to adolescent adjustment; thus, clinicians and school personnel should address even isolated instances of bullying behavior. Researchers should reexamine the use of cut points in bullying research in order to more fully understand the nature of bullying in adolescence. These data indicate the need for prevention and intervention programs that target diverse internalizing and externalizing problems for bullies and victims, regardless of bullying frequency.
Intracoronary stent implantation using a single high-pressure perfusion balloon catheter.

Currently, the recommended strategy for Palmaz-Schatz intracoronary stent implantation is to use two balloons: an undersized balloon for predilation to facilitate a channel for the stent and a high pressure balloon for postdilation to obtain good apposition of the struts into the vessel wall. We reported our experience using the perfusion balloon as the initial balloon to dilate intracoronary lesions and demonstrated a reduction in the total number of balloons used per angioplasty procedure. The objective of this study was to examine whether a single balloon could effectively be used for stent implantation. The study population included 95 patients who underwent elective intracoronary stent placement to 100 lesions using 110 Palmaz-Schatz stents by nine individual operators. Lesions were predilated with an ACS RX LIFESTREAM balloon at a low pressure of 4–6 atm (mean 5.7 ± 2.6). After stent deployment, the same balloon was used at a high pressure (mean 16.2 ± 1.2). Mean balloon size, which was chosen as the stent size, was 3.4 ± 0.4 mm. Comparison of this strategy with the recommended strategy of 68 consecutive elective stent deployments at a single center during the same time was performed. Stent implantation using a single balloon strategy was angiographically successful in 99 of 100 (99.0%) lesions. The single balloon strategy was associated with a balloon burst rate of 9.1%. The number of balloons used per stent deployment was 1.2 vs. 2.4 using the recommended strategy (P < 0.0001). There was no evidence of stent thrombosis, any MI, or target lesion revascularization during the procedure and hospitalization. One in-hospital death as a result of nonhemorragic stroke was documented in the treated group. We concluded that using a single high pressure perfusion balloon for pre and postdilation in patients undergoing elective stent placement is safe and reduces the number of balloons used per procedure. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Diagn. 40:140–143, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Water vapor transport in liquid crystalline and non-liquid crystalline epoxies

This paper presents a comparison of moisture permeation in liquid crystalline and non-liquid crystalline epoxy systems. The permeability is obtained using a dynamic method. It is found that diffusion in both epoxy systems is Fickian. The liquid crystalline epoxy network exhibits higher barrier properties to moisture transport than the conventional epoxy network. The efficient chain packing of the smectic mesophase of the liquid crystalline epoxy is the main factor for this difference. The stoichiometry has a large effect on the moisture permeation. The diffusion coefficient decreases monotonically with increasing amine/epoxide functional ratio. The permeability (P) and solubility coefficient (S) reach a minimum for a functional ratio of one. The results are described on the basis of hydrogen bonding of water to the epoxy network and the two phase morphology of cured epoxies.
REVIEW—Transformation Toughening in Ceramics: Martensitic Transformations in Crack-Tip Stress Fields

The toughness of ceramics can be substantially enhanced by inducing a martensitic transformation in the stress field of the dominant crack. The specific characteristics of martensitic transformations pertinent to this toughening process are examined in this paper. A generalized model of the toughening is developed, which indicates the specific roles of the transformation parameters on the expected magnitude of the toughening. Finally, the implications of the analysis for the development of high-toughness ceramics are discussed.
Birth and weaning traits in crossbred cattle from Hereford, Angus, Brahman, Boran, Tuli, and Belgian Blue sires

The objective of this study was to characterize breeds representing diverse biological types for birth and weaning traits in crossbred cattle. Gestation length, calving difficulty, percentage of unassisted calving, percentage of perinatal survival, percentage of survival from birth to weaning, birth weight, BW at 200 d, and ADG were measured in 2,500 calves born and 2,395 calves weaned. Calves were obtained by mating Hereford, Angus, and MARC III (one-fourth Hereford, one-fourth Angus, one-fourth Pinzgauer, and one-fourth Red Poll) mature cows to Hereford or Angus (British breed), Brahman, Tuli, Boran, and Belgian Blue sires. Calves were born during the spring seasons of 1992, 1993, and 1994. Sire breed was significant for all traits (P < 0.002). Offspring from British breeds and the Belgian Blue breed had the shortest gestation length (285 d) when compared with progeny from other sire breeds (average of 291 d). Calving difficulty was greater in offspring from Brahman sires (1.24), whereas the offspring of Tuli sires had the least amount of calving difficulty (1.00). Offspring from all sire breeds had similar perinatal survival and survival from birth to weaning (average of 97.2 and 96.2%, respectively), with the exception of offspring from Brahman sires, which had less (92.8 and 90.4%, respectively). Progeny of Brahman sires were heaviest at birth (45.7 kg), followed by offspring from British breed, Boran, and Belgian Blue sires (average of 42.4 kg). The lightest offspring at birth were from Tuli sires (38.6 kg). Progeny derived from Brahman sires were the heaviest at 200 d (246 kg), and they grew faster (1.00 kg/d) than offspring from any other group. The progeny of British breeds and the Belgian Blue breed had an intermediate BW at 200 d (238 kg) and an intermediate ADG (average of 0.98 kg/d). The progeny of Boran and Tuli sires were the lightest at 200 d (227 kg) and had the least ADG (0.93 kg/d). Male calves had a longer gestation length, had a greater incidence of calving difficulty, had greater mortality to weaning, were heavier, and grew faster than female calves. Sire breed effects can be optimized by selection and use of appropriate crossbreeding systems.
Effects of frequency disparities on trading of an ambiguous tone between two competing auditory objects

Listeners are relatively good at estimating the true content of each physical source in a sound mixture in most everyday situations. However, if there is a spectrotemporal element that logically could belong to more than one object, the correct way to group that element can be ambiguous. Many psychoacoustic experiments have implicitly assumed that when a sound mixture contains ambiguous sound elements, the ambiguous elements “trade” between competing sources, such that the elements contribute more to one object in conditions when they contribute less to others. However, few studies have directly tested whether such trading occurs. While some studies found trading, trading failed in some recent studies in which spatial cues were manipulated to alter the perceptual organization. The current study extended this work by exploring whether trading occurs for similar sound mixtures when frequency content, rather than spatial cues, was manipulated to alter grouping. Unlike when spatial cues were manipulated, results are roughly consistent with trading. Together, results suggest that the degree to which trading is obeyed depends on how stimuli are manipulated to affect object formation.
Nonlinearly Viscoelastic Behavior of Polycarbonate. II. The Role of Volumetric Strain

The creep responses of (bisphenol A) polycarbonate at 80°C undercombined two-dimensional shear with superposed tensile and compressivestress states were measured on Arcan specimens in the nonlinearlyviscoelastic regime. Of particular interest is the influence of thedilatational deformation component on the nonlinearly viscoelastic creepbehavior. Because the nonlinear material response determines the stressdistribution under fixed deformation or load, but is not known a priori,a re-estimation of the latter is essential to verify or adjust thestress state(s). This is accomplished by approximating isochronalstress-strain relations derived from shear creep behavior, encompassingthe nonlinear domain, by a classical incremental elasto-plastic materialdescription at appropriate times. To the extent that the two-dimensionalcharacter of the test configuration permits accessing three-dimensionalinformation, a coherent representation of the results is examined interms of maximum shear and/or octahedral representation.
Investigation of Ni-Mo-P Coating Electrodeposition under Stabilized Magnetic Field and its Hydrogen Evolution Activity

Through the application of parallel and vertical magnetic field, which range from 0T to 1.0T, the effects of electromagnetic field in electrodepositon process to prepare Ni-Mo-P coating on its micro-morphology, alloying component, crystal structure and hydrogen evolution activity were investigated. The results showed that the surface of Ni-Mo-P coating obtained was smooth with less ball cellular depositions under an external vertical magnetic field. The coating showed more ball cellular depositions, and the number of which increased gradually with the increasing of the magnetic field intensity under an external parallel magnetic field. The content of Mo increased slightly and the plating structure has switched from transition state into the amorphous state with applied magnetic field. Ni-Mo-P coating obtained with parallel magnetic field had the highest hydrogen evolution activity, while the hydrogen evolution activity decreased under Vertical magnetic field.
Ultimate axial load capacity of a delaminated beam-plate

The paper presents elastic buckling and postbuckling analysis of an axially loaded beam-plate with an across-the-width delamination symmetrically located at an arbitrary depth. It is found that, for a relatively short and thick delamination, the buckling load of the delaminated plate is a close lower bound of the ultimate axial load capacity. In the case of a relatively slender delamination, the postbuckling axial load can be considerably greater than the buckling load, while the failure of the plate may or may not be governed by delamination growth. The energy-release rate associated with delamination growth is systematically computed for various combinations of the delamination length and axial load. The resulting curves determine the possibility and the stability characteristics of delamination growth and provide a basis for finding the ultimate axial load capacity. Nomenclature = half-length of delamination = thickness of delamination = half-length of the plate = thickness of the plate =a/t = a/h = axial forces = bending moments w = transverse deflections = bending stiffnesses Young's modulus in the axial direction amplitude of deflection a h / t a a Pi Mf u, v,
980nm-1550nm vertically integrated duplexer for hybrid erbium-doped waveguide amplifiers on glass

Ion-exchanged devices on glass have been successfully used to realize passive and active integrated optic devices for sensor and telecom applications. Nowadays, research is focused on the reduction of the chip dimensions with an increase of the number of different function integrated. In this paper we present how the use of two stacked optical layers can allow realizing efficient and compact pump duplexer for ion-exchanged hybrid erbium doped waveguide amplifier. Indeed our complete theoretical study of the device shows that excess losses lower than - 0.1 dB and crosstalk lower than -20 dB can be achieved.
Response to Letters by Chiti et al and You et al

Response: I certainly applaud Chiti et al for their enthusiasm in this often-overlooked arena of public awareness in stroke. I want to clarify, however, that our article was not intended to promote the use of one message over another but instead to examine the sensitivity of either message to detect stroke within a population. Chiti et al is very concerned about the lower sensitivity of the FAST message, but we found that for ischemic stroke patients, that sensitivity was 92%, which we consider reasonable. Whether FAST is remembered better by the lay public is as of yet unproven. This is the key point, and we cannot recommend one …
SUBURBAN MULTIFAMILY VACANCY RATES AND FEDERAL INCOME TAX POLICIES

Though urban planning issues continue to be created largely by local problems, urban theorists have become sensitive to the indirect modifying effects of federal urban policy on the local land-use structure. Federal tax policies on income derived from multifamily real estate appear to have generated excessive apartment construction during the 1968–73 period in Minneapolis-St. Paul suburbs. The consequence of these policies is evident in high multifamily suburban vacancy rates for Twin City apartments built during this period.
Patterns of substrate utilization during long-term incubations at different temperatures

Abstract Microorganisms play key roles in biogeochemical cycling by facilitating the release of nutrients from organic compounds. In doing so, microbial communities use different organic substrates that yield different amounts of energy for maintenance and growth of the community. Carbon utilization efficiency (CUE) is a measure of the efficiency with which substrate carbon is metabolized versus mineralized by the microbial biomass. In the face of global change, we wanted to know how temperature affected the efficiency by which the soil microbial community utilized an added labile substrate, and to determine the effect of labile soil carbon depletion (through increasing duration of incubation) on the community's ability to respond to an added substrate. Cellobiose was added to soil samples as a model compound at several times over the course of a long-term incubation experiment to measure the amount of carbon assimilated or lost as CO 2 respiration. Results indicated that in all cases, the time required for the microbial community to take up the added substrate increased as incubation time prior to substrate addition increased. However, the CUE was not affected by incubation time. Increased temperature generally decreased CUE, thus the microbial community was more efficient at 15 °C than at 25 °C. These results indicate that at warmer temperatures microbial communities may release more CO 2 per unit of assimilated carbon. Current climate–carbon models have a fixed CUE to predict how much CO 2 will be released as soil organic matter is decomposed. Based on our findings, this assumption may be incorrect due to variation of CUE with changing temperature.
Steroidogenic Capacity of Residual Ovarian Tissue in 4-Vinylcyclohexene Diepoxide-Treated Mice

Menopause is an important public health issue because of its association with a number of disorders. Androgens produced by residual ovarian tissue after menopause could impact the development of these disorders. It has been unclear, however, whether the postmenopausal ovary retains steroidogenic capacity. Thus, an ovary-intact mouse model for menopause that uses the occupational chemical 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide (VCD) was used to characterize the expression of steroidogenic genes in residual ovarian tissue of follicle-depleted mice. Female B6C3F1 mice (age, 28 days) were dosed daily for 20 days with either vehicle or VCD (160 mg kg−1 day−1) to induce ovarian failure. Ovaries were collected on Day 181 and analyzed for mRNA and protein. Acyclic aged mice were used as controls for natural ovarian senescence. Relative to cycling controls, expression of mRNA encoding steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (Star); cholesterol side-chain cleavage (Cyp11a1); 3beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (Hsd3b); 17alpha-hydroxylase (Cyp17a1); scavenger receptor class B, type 1 (Scarb1); low-density lipoprotein receptor (Ldlr); and luteinizing hormone receptor (Lhcgr) was enriched in VCD-treated ovaries. In acyclic aged ovaries, mRNA expression for only Cyp17a1 and Lhcgr was greater than that in controls. Compared to cycling controls, ovaries from VCD-treated and aged mice had similar levels of HSD3B, CYP17A1, and LHCGR protein. The pattern of protein immunofluorescence staining for HSD3B in follicle-depleted (VCD-treated) ovaries was homogeneous, whereas that for CYP17A1 was only seen in residual interstitial cells. Circulating levels of FSH and LH were increased, and androstenedione levels were detectable following follicle depletion in VCD-treated mice. These findings support the idea that residual ovarian tissue in VCD-treated mice retains androgenic capacity.
Effects of human–carnivore conflict on tiger (Panthera tigris) and prey populations in Lao PDR

Unique to South-east Asia, Lao People's Democratic Republic contains extensive habitat for tigers and their prey within a multiple-use protected area system covering 13% of the country. Although human population density is the lowest in the region, the impact of human occurrence in protected areas on tiger Panthera tigris and prey populations was unknown. We examined the effects of human-carnivore conflict on tiger and prey abundance and distribution in the Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area on the Lao-Vietnam border. We conducted intensive camera-trap sampling of large carnivores and prey at varying levels of human population and monitored carnivore depredation of livestock across the protected area. The relative abundance of large ungulates was low throughout whereas that of small prey was significantly higher where human density was lower. The estimated tiger density for the sample area ranged from 0.2 to 0.7 per 100 km². Tiger abundance was significantly lower where human population and disturbance were greater. Three factors, commercial poaching associated with livestock grazing followed by prey depletion and competition between large carnivores, are likely responsible for tiger abundance and distribution. Maintaining tigers in the country's protected areas will be dependent on the spatial separation of large carnivores and humans by modifying livestock husbandry practices and enforcing zoning.
Diversity in DNS performance measures

DNS is a critical component of the operation of Internet applications. However, DNS performance in the wide-area is not well understood. A number of studies present DNS performance measurements [1], [2], [3], [4], but the measurements are out of date, are not collected at client locations (e.g., they are taken at root servers), or are collected at very few client locations.In this paper we present the largest known study of wide-area DNS performance at clients. We use data obtained under a variety of network environments such as location in the Internet topology, connection technology and client ISP. We identify DNS system performance measures and investigate the degree to which they vary from site to site. We report on measures that are relatively consistent throughout the system such as the fraction of names whose lookups succeed, and those that vary widely, such as overall response times and response times from root and gTLD servers. We also discuss the impact of some of these measures on DNS performance for non-cached domain names, confirming some current notions about DNS operation while challenging others.
Expression of TNFα by CD3+ and F4/80+ cells following irradiation preconditioning and allogeneic spleen cell transplantation

The pathogenesis of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) includes tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) expression by macrophages and T cells. However, the temporal comparison of donor vs host cells to TNFα expression in response to irradiation conditioning and alloreactivity has not been reported. This study compared intracellular TNFα expression in donor vs host spleen T cells and macrophages using a murine model of aGVHD. Total body irradiation conditioning alone resulted in increased frequency of F4/80+/TNFα+ cells, but no increase in CD3+/TNFα+ cells. Syngeneic transplantation resulted in an increased frequency of F4/80+/TNFα+ cells, while CD3+/TNFα+ cells increased on days 1 and 3 but declined on day 5. Allogeneic transplantation resulted in an increased frequency of donor CD3+/TNFα+ cells, while the frequency of host CD3+/TNFα+ cells declined. Similarly, donor F4/80+/TNFα+ cells also increased in frequency after allotransplantation, while the frequency of host F4/80+/TNFα+ cells was increased on day 1 and declined through days 3 and 5. In absolute cell numbers, CD3+/TNFα+ cells were greater than F4/80+/TNFα+ cells post allotransplantation. We conclude that (1) both donor and host CD3+ and F4/80+cells are present in the post transplant period and contribute to TNFα production and (2) in terms of frequency, the majority of TNFα producing cells in the spleen after allogeneic BMT are CD3+.
Intensity modulated radiotherapy dose delivery error from radiation field offset inaccuracy.

In Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT), irradiation is delivered in a number of small aperture subfields. The fluences shaped by these small apertures are highly sensitive to inaccuracies in multileaf collimator (MLC) calibration. The Radiation Field Offset (RFO) is the difference between a radiation and a light field at the Source to Axis Distance (SAD) for a MLC. An Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT) system must incorporate a RFO by closing in all leaf openings. In IMRT, RFO inaccuracy will result in a dose error to the interior of a target volume. We analyze dosimetric consequences of incorporating a wrong RFO into the CORVUS, 1 cm x 1 cm, step and shoot, IMRT system. The following method was employed. First an IMRT plan is generated for a target volume in a phantom, which produces a set of dynamic MLC (DMLC) files with the correct RFO value. To simulate delivery with a wrong RFO value, we wrote a computer code that reads in the DMLC file with the correct RFO value and produces another DMLC with an incorrect RFO specified by a user. Finally the phantom was irradiated with the correct and the incorrect RFO valued DMLC files, and the doses were measured with an ionization chamber. The method was applied to 9 fields, 6 MV, IMRT plans. We measured Dose Error Sensitivity Factor (DESF) for each plan, which ranged from (0-8)% mm(-1). The DESF(x) is defined as a fractional dose error to a point (x) in a target volume per mm of the RFO error, i.e., DESF(x) is equivalent to ?deltaD(x)/D(x)deltaRFO?. Therefore, we concluded that for CORVUS, 6 MV, 1 cm x 1 cm, step and shoot IMRT, RFO must be determined within an accuracy of 0.5 mm if a fractional dose error to a target volume is to be less than 4%. We propose an analytic framework to understand the measured DESF's. From the analysis we conclude that a large DESF was associated with an DMLC file with small average leaf openings. For 1 cm x 1 cm, step and shoot IMRT, the largest possible DESF is predicted to be 20% mm(-1). In addition, we wrote computer code that can calculate a DESF of a DMLC file. The code was written in Mathematica 3.0. The code can be used to screen patient IMRT plans that are highly sensitive to a RFO error.