cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Selection on floral characters in natural Spanish populations of Silene latifolia

In insect-pollinated plants, floral characters are expected to play an important role in paternal and maternal reproductive success. Bateman's principle states that male reproductive success increases with more mating opportunities, while female reproductive success is limited by the amount of resources available to produce progeny, thus there should be greater selection on male floral characters than on female. In the case of the dioecious plant Silene latifolia, floral characters are likely to be influenced by its association within its native European range with moths of the genus Hadena, which serve as both pollinators and seed predators. The present study addresses relationships between male and female reproductive success, spatial location and floral characters (corolla, calyx and claw) over a 2-year period in two Spanish populations of S. latifolia in the presence of Hadena moths. A maximum likelihood paternity analysis using genetic variation at six allozyme markers showed heterogeneity in male reproductive success. There was much less variation in female reproductive success. When this analysis was extended to include interplant distance as a causal factor underlying variation in male success, we found that successful pollination tended to be limited to nearby females, in accordance with exponential decay of pollen dispersal with increasing distance. When the paternity analysis included floral characters as a causal factor underlying variation in male success, our data showed little evidence for directional selection, but there was stabilizing selection in one of the two years for calyx diameter. Selection on female characters varied widely between sites and years, in most of the site/year combinations there was little selection on female floral characters; however, in one site/year there was evidence for selection on all three floral characters. We conclude that pollinators visit flowers that are close together, and that while floral characters are important for the attraction of pollinators, larger flowers do not necessarily attract more pollinators at all sites and that variation among sites and years makes difficult any conclusions about the long-term importance of the predictions suggested by Bateman's principle.
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

Abstract This review essay on SAARC is based on two sets of SAARC publications and selected reference materials on economic integration in South Asia. The first set of publications—SARC to SAARC, SAARC Documents and SAARC Summits—are the proceedings of the meetings and summits. These also include declarations of the Summits and Reports by the Secretary General. The second set of publications—SAARC Newsletter—reports news, meetings and SAARC initiatives. Outside references have been utilized to make the essay a fairly exhaustive reading. Overall, the essay is a description of SAARC objectives, principles and economic programs. A blueprint of intra-regional industrial projects, export zones and economic institutions is also proposed.
Perfectionism and Choice

Empirical evidence suggests that perfectionism can affect choice behavior. When striving for perfection, a person can desire to keep normatively appealing options feasible even if she persistently fails to use these options later. For instance, she can “pay not to go to the gym,” as in DellaVigna and Malmendier (2006). By contrast, some perfectionists may avoid normatively important tasks for fear of negative self-evaluation of their performance. This paper models perfectionist behaviors in Gul and Pesendorfer's (2001) menu framework where agents may be tempted to deviate from their long-term normative objectives. In addition to self-control costs, I identify a utility component that reflects emotional costs and benefits of perfectionism. My model is derived from axioms imposed on preferences over menus in an essentially unique way.
Pulsus paradoxus: Effect of gravity and acceleration in its production

Abstract The appearance of pulsus paradoxus of significant degree has been noted during 60 ° head-up tilt and during rotation of the seated subject in the vertical axis. Common to both studies are decreases in venous return and cardiac output. Analysis of the temporal relations between inspiration and the decline in arterial pressure negates any constant direct influence of inspiration on left ventricular pressure. The relation is in fact rate-dependent; at slow respiratory rates the effect of inspiration is to enhance systemic pressure, and at higher rates inspiration appears deleterious only because of phase lag. In the two stresses studied, pulsus paradoxus seems predominantly due to phasic right ventricular output delayed in appearance by resistive and capacitative impedance of the lung.
The Effect of Venture Capital Backing on the Top Management Quality of Entrepreneurial Firms and Implications for Initial Public Offerings

In this paper we make use of hand-collected data on the quality and reputation of the management teams of a large sample of 3,240 entrepreneurial firms going public during 1993-2004 to conduct the first large-sample study of the relationship between venture capital (VC) backing and management quality and the effect of these two variables on a firm’s IPO characteristics and valuation, post-IPO financial and investment policies, and post-IPO operating performance. We hypothesize that VC-backing positively affects the quality of a firm’s management team, and that both management quality and VC-backing play a certifying role in conveying a firm’s intrinsic value to the IPO market, reducing the information asymmetry faced by it. Our empirical findings are broadly consistent with the above hypotheses, and can be summarized as follows. First, VC-backed firms are associated with higher management quality compared to non-VC-backed firms. Second, both management quality and VC-backing have a positive effect on a firm’s IPO underwriter reputation, offer size, post-IPO analyst coverage, and post-IPO institutional equity holdings; and a negative effect on its costs of going public. Third, management quality and VC-backing also have a positive effect on firm valuation, both in the IPO and in the immediate secondary market. Fourth, management quality is associated with lower post-IPO leverage ratios, and both management quality and VC-backing are associated with larger post-IPO investment levels, as well as larger values of post-IPO acquisitions. Finally, both VC-backing and management quality are positively related to changes in a firm’s post-IPO operating performance. While VC-backing and management quality act as substitutes in their effect on a firm’s IPO characteristics, they act as complements in their effect on a firm’s IPO valuation, post-IPO financial and investment policies, and post-IPO operating performance.
Professions and the Public

The issue of professions in the area of health and illness tends to revolve almost exclusively around the profession of medicine and its power vis-a-vis other medical groups, including most importantly, nursing. Classical sociological theory maintains that, despite the appropriation of the label “profession” to many occupations in contemporary society, only those occupations that hold a position at the top of a division of labor can truly be called professions. Occupations that are sociologically classified as professions must be autonomous and self-directing, having gained control over the substance (or content) of their own work. In contrast to early theories of medical professions, these theories, referred to as theories of professional dominance, recognized that power and prestige rested on two factors – gaining as much of a monopoly in healing as possible, and gaining wider societal support. The former, monopoly status, was achieved through a political process of legal licensing (the necessary condition of “professional dominance”), while the latter could only could only come from broader public support (the sufficient condition of “consulting status”). Keywords: health care; health professions; illness behavior; medicine
“Step Up and Be a Man in a Different Manner”: Unemployed Men Reframing Masculinity

Although the percentage of women working for pay outside the home has steadily increased over time, traditional gender frames still valorize the male breadwinner and the female caregiver, and most households remain organized along gender lines. Recently, however, the global economic crisis significantly altered the structure of work in the United States. Beginning in 2007, “breadwinning” men began to lose jobs in multiple economic sectors. Because work is tied to masculine identities, these men suffered psychologically as well as economically. Using data from 40 semistructured intensive interviews with diverse men, we examine their strategies for coping. These men reframed household labor as work befitting men, even while reiterating traditional gender ideals. They began to adopt gender-flexible schema in response to structural changes beyond their control.
Evaluation of the intrinsic kinetic activity of nanoparticle ensembles under steady-state conditions

Abstract We report theory and strategies for evaluating the intrinsic kinetic activity for oxygen reduction at Pt nanoparticle (NP) ensembles on a large glassy carbon electrode (GCE) under steady-state conditions. Pt NPs were synthesized using reverse microemulsions which facilitated the deposition of random ensembles of bare NPs with controlled NP mean size and coverage. Steady-state voltammograms (SSVs) for oxygen reduction were recorded for various NP ensembles with different NP size and coverage. The effects of NP coverage and mass-transport rate on SSV features were analyzed. For SSVs normalized with respect to their limiting current, more negative potentials are needed to reach the limiting current region and the i–E slope decreases as NP coverage decreases. For those normalized SSVs having unequal limiting currents, the kinetic rate relative to the mass-transport rate changes and plays a role in the decreasing steepness of the SSV. In contrast, normalized SSVs recorded under the same mass transport conditions and decreasing NP coverage are displaced negatively along the potential axis without a change in the i–E slope. Normalized SSVs recorded using the same mass transport conditions on electrodes with similar fractions of inactive area but different NP sizes were found to be similar. Tafel plots were constructed by processing the SSVs either directly through the use of the electroactive surface area AES or indirectly through a two-step procedure that uses the geometric surface area where an apparent potential-dependent kinetic current density j K app (E) is first calculated. These two approaches are equivalent and the resulting kinetic current density jK(E) dependencies were shown to be equivalent. The direct method is applicable when AES can be determined whereas the indirect approach is useful when the measurement of AEAS is not possible, but information relating to the fraction of active or inactive area is available.
Patterns of size change in late Neogene pocket gophers from the Meade Basin of Kansas and Oklahoma

A dense late Neogene history of pocket gophers from the Meade Basin of south-western Kansas and north-western Oklahoma preserves a detailed record of size change, as indicated by mean length of the lower fourth premolar. A ‘time for space substitution’ interpretation results in the tentative recognition of a pattern analogous to character displacement, in which the small to medium-sized Pliogeomys buisi, P. louderbachi, Geomys minor and G. floralindae are considered ecological analogues and treated as a single ecological entity, Avatar A. The larger G. jacobi and G. quinni are combined as Avatar B. Statistical analyses confirm that populations of Avatar A are of equal size when allochronic from Avatar B, and significantly smaller when synchronic (and sympatric) with Avatar B. However, this pattern is complicated by the observation that Avatar A began dwarfing before the appearance of Avatar B. This historical perspective suggests that static size patterns among modern taxa may have a complex history. Occa...
Drug-activation of brain reward pathways

A wide variety of biologically important stimuli can serve as rewards and establish adaptive behavior patterns in higher animals. Such stimuli act through brain mechanisms that evolved long before the human invention of the hypodermic syringe, the human harnessing of fire, or the human development of methods for refining and concentrating psychoactive substances that occur in nature. These brain mechanisms utilize endogenous neurotransmitters that are blocked or mimicked by a variety of addictive exogenous substances. The brain mechanisms for feeding, for example, have depended on endogenous opioid peptide neurotransmitters from the earliest stages Ž of our evolutionary history Josefsson and Johansson, . 1979; Kavaliers and Hirst, 1987 . A complete understanding of the brain mechanisms of addiction will require an understanding of the anatomy and normal functions of brain pathways that evolved because they served basic adaptive functions. Our current understanding of the brain circuitry through which various rewards gain control over behavior has developed from studies of brain stimulaŽ . tion reward Olds and Milner, 1954 . Rewarding brain stimulation is useful in anatomical localization of reward-relevant circuit elements because focal electrical stimulation of the brain only activates nerve fibers passing within a fraction of a millimetre of the elecŽ . trode tip Fouriezos and Wise, 1984 . However, while stimulation differentially activates fibers of different sizes, the stimulation is indiscriminate with respect to the neurotransmitter a given set of fibers carry. Thus our knowledge of the neurochemical subtypes of reward-relevant neurons derives primarily from pharmacological studies; the rewarding effects of brain stimulation can be attenuated or augmented by drugs that are selective for various neurotransmitter sysŽ . tems Wise and Rompre, 1989 , and neurochemically selective drugs can be rewarding in their own right Ž . Wise, 1978 . Moreover, laboratory animals can be trained to self-administer drugs injected directly into Ž . the brain Bozarth and Wise, 1981 ; such injections are, to a significant degree, both anatomically and neurochemically selective.
Periodic potential energy functions with sine and cosine terms

Abstract The matrix elements required for calculating the energy levels for a periodic potential function containing both sine and cosine terms are presented. Such potential functions are applicable for internal rotation when the top and/or the frame of the molecule belongs to the C1 symmetry point group. The energy levels and wavefunctions are described for two characteristic potential functions—one with three different maxima and three different minima, the other with two different maxima and two different minima.
Parametric Study Simulating the Daily Operation of a Thermocline Thermal Storage System

This work considers a packed-bed thermocline for use as an energy storage device in solar thermal power generation. A preliminary sizing procedure of a thermocline system for a 50 MWe plant is demonstrated along with predicted transient performance under various conditions. The inlet fluid temperatures are modeled as constant or time-dependent. The time-varying inlet conditions represent solar insolation variations throughout the day which roughly take a periodic form. Sinusoidal and periodic functions based on recorded data supply this inlet condition. A constant inlet temperature can be produced by circulating the heat transfer fluid in the collection field. Both possibilities are explored and the performance is compared for various charging time allotments. The study uses an efficient, accurate numerical scheme which has been developed to model the transient behavior of a porous thermocline tank. The model can be a useful tool for thermocline heat storage sizing. This can help take guess work out of the early stages of the design process as many simulations can be run efficiently and accurately.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Effect of pH on the electrochemical reduction of some heterocyclic quinones

Abstract The reduction of 1,10-phenanthroline-5,6-quinone(I), 5,8-quinolinequinone(II) and 6,7-dichloro-5,8-quinolinequinone(III) was investigated using cyclic voltammetry and coulometry at mercury electrodes and 50% dimethylsulfoxide+water solvent. Each compound is reduced to the corresponding hydroquinone in a diffusion-controlled, reversible two-electron process. The pH-dependence of the reversible potential indicated that the quinone forms were unprotonated, but the hydroquinones could be protonated at the heterocyclic nitrogen atom with p K a = 5.3 for I and 3.5 for III. Careful analysis of the cyclic voltammetric peak shape revealed that the difference between the standard potentials for the introduction of successive electrons, E 2 0 − E 1 0 , was 70 ±20, >100 and 80 ± 20 mV for I–III. Investigation of the pH-dependence of E 1 0 and E 2 0 showed that the p K a of the semiquinone of I was about 8.
Challenges in understanding RLK function.

Plants use receptor-like kinases (RLKs) to transduce extracellular signals into the cell. Recent advancements in RLK research include the cloning of the BRASSINOSTEROID INSENSITIVE1 and CLAVATA1 genes, revealing RLK roles in development. Our understanding of RLK function has also been broadened by transgenic approaches in the study of the RLKs pollen receptor kinase 1, and wall associated kinase 1. These results extend the observations that RLKs function in developmental processes and plant defense responses. Additionally, expression based studies suggest roles for other newly reported RLKs in development and light responses. Taken together, the studies confirm the importance of RLKs in diverse plant processes, yet major challenges remain. These include identifying ligands that activate RLKs and characterizing downstream pathways. These challenges can be conquered by coordinated efforts from investigators using molecular, genetic, and biochemical approaches.
[Parietal focal block; an experimental and electrocardiographic study].

A method of producing focal ventricular block is described. The sequence of the electrocardiographic variations is ascribed to changes in the velocity and direction of the excitatory process in the ventricular wall. The epicardial electrocardiograms resemble those considered indicative of ventricular hypertrophy or of "incomplete" or of "complete" bundle branch block. When the focal block is pronounced a positive deflection appears in the cavitary tracing. The ventricular blocks can be subdivided into "conduction blocks" and "fiber blocks," the former produced by the delay of the stimulus in the specialized conduction system and the latter produced by the delay of the excitatory process in the ordinary heart muscle.
A digital photographic measurement method for quantifying foot posture: validity, reliability, and descriptive data.

Abstract Context: Although abnormal foot posture long has been associated with lower extremity injury risk, the evidence is equivocal. Poor intertester reliability of traditional foot measures migh...
Hypocalcaemic seizures following gastrectomy

Two cases of hypocalcaemia following removal of the stomach due to complications of surgery for tracheo-oesophageal anomalies are reported. In both instances grand mal seizures were the presenting features with radiological and biochemical evidence of rickets. Both children had elevated blood parathyroid hormone levels. The bone changes, hypocalcaemia and symptoms responded to parenteral vitamin D therapy. Sub total gastrectomy is a rare event in infancy and consequently no previous cases of vitamin D lack has been recorded as a complication of gastric surgery in this age group.
Thank you, Leo van Lier!

The article expresses the gratitude of the organization National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations (NFMLTA) and the editorial board of the journal for the work of Leo van Lier, the outgoing editor of the journal. Topics include the Impact Factor of the journal, the digitization of the journal's back issues, and the creation of an annual special issue. Also addressed are expanded access to the journal in the developing world, the involvement of emerging scholars in the journal, and the workload of the journal's editor.
A mobile platform for real-time human activity recognition

Context-aware applications have been the focus of extensive research yet their implementation in mobile devices usually becomes challenging due to restrictions in regards to processing power and energy. In this paper, we propose a mobile platform to provide real-time human activity recognition. Our system features (1) an efficient library, MECLA, for the mobile evaluation of classification algorithms; and (2) a mobile application for real-time human activity recognition running within a Body Area Network. The evaluation indicates that the system can be implemented in real scenarios meeting accuracy, response time, and energy consumption requirements.
Molecular Dynamics Modeling of Thermal Transport in Damaged Continua

The interaction between the damage state and the thermal conductivity is studied in this paper. The damage propagation and the effective thermal conductivity of the damaged continuum is studied using equilibrium molecular dynamics (EMD) method based on the Green-Kubo relation. A solid gold lattice is considered and the damage is initiated and propagated by stretching two opposite ends while system is maintained at constant volume, constant temperature (NVT) condition. Both Lennard-Jones (LJ) 6–12 and embedded-atom method (EAM) potentials are used to model the inter-atomic interactions. Results are presented illustrating the load-displacement relationship during damage growth and the thermal conductivity change behavior for a selected crack length.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Dynamic Three-Dimensional Imaging of Cellular Shape Changes and Protein Expression in the Developing Zebrafish Heart

We present our results in dynamic three-dimensional (3D) imaging and quantification of the cellular shape changes and gene expressions of the developing zebrafish heart, in the effort to understand the mechanisms of the embryonic construction of this critical organ. The vertebrate heart is built up through a series of steps taking two flat layers of cells to a hollow heart tube to a multi-layered, multi-chambered, chirally twisted structure of the mature organ. Additionally, the heart is the first organ in the developing embryo to function, through its beating and pumping of the blood, shortly after the formation of the heart tube. Despite this intrinsic dynamic 3D nature of the developing heart, previous works documenting its development consist of largely 2D and/or static imaging (utilizing pharmacological means to stop the beating of the heart), due to the challenges in achieving fast, high 3D-resolution with conventional imaging modalities. To overcome these challenges, we employ 2-photon light sheet microscopy and a wavelet-based synchronization and registration method to achieve the required spatial and temporal resolution to capture the 3D motion of the heart. The high speed 3D imaging and analysis is carried out on several transgenic zebrafish lines that have been recently generated in our lab where proteins important for heart development are fluorescently tagged at their endogenous loci. We thus document not only cellular morphology but also critical genes' expression, with sub-cellular resolution, of the developing heart, over its beating cycle and at different development times. These results provide the necessary groundwork to start deciphering the process where the dynamic changes in cellular shapes, gene expressions, and cellular physical properties participate, in concert with the genetic program, in the development of the vertebrate heart.
Assessment of internal medicine trainee sign-out quality and utilization habits

Transfers of care have been associated with adverse events. High quality sign-out may help mitigate this risk. The authors sought to characterize the clinical questions asked of physicians covering patients overnight and to determine the adequacy of current sign-out practice to anticipate inquiries. The authors conducted a prospective, self-report study of interns’ overnight experience at two hospitals. We collected data from novice interns (July 7–August 3, 2010) and experienced interns (March 2–March 29, 2011) in an Internal Medicine residency program. Interns recorded information about overnight inquiries regarding cross-covered patients. For each inquiry about a patient, the intern was asked to record what the situation was about, who initiated the contact, where the intern found the desired information, whether all required data was located, whether the call could have been anticipated by the primary team, if so, whether the call was anticipated, whether the sign-out was sufficient, the time required to address the question, and whether the patient was physically visited. Twenty-one interns (13 novice, 8 experienced) reported 167 overnight inquiries. Most were from nursing staff (87 %) about a wide range of topics, with orders (25 %) and plan of care (20 %) being most common. Trainees used the oral or written sign-out to answer 56 % of inquiries. The proportion of inquiries successfully anticipated (47 % overall) significantly decreased as the academic year progressed (AOR = 0.4, 95 % CI 0.2, 0.8). Trainees rely on sign-out to answer nearly half of overnight inquiries, but the quality of sign-out may decrease over the course of the academic year. The deterioration of sign-out quality from novice to experienced interns and the common use of sign-out as a reference by covering interns suggest continued education, support and oversight by supervising physicians may be beneficial.
Osteomyelitis of the mandible: a complication of routine dental extractions in alcoholics

Osteomyelitis is a rare sequel to a dental extraction. Three cases are described where osteomyelitis followed routine dental extractions in patients with a history of alcoholism. It is suggested that depression of the host's defences, due to alcoholism, modified the response to and the spread of this serious infection. Such patients represent a high risk group and should be identified prior to treatment to avoid unnecessary complications.
Acromegaly without imaging evidence of pituitary adenoma.

Context: GH-secreting pituitary adenomas are nearly always visible on conventional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. However, management and outcome of acromegalic patients lacking imaging evidence of GH-secreting pituitary adenomas are undefined. Objective: The aim was to evaluate surgical exploration for MR-invisible GH-secreting pituitary adenomas. Design and Setting: We conducted a retrospective review at two tertiary care centers. Patients or Other Participants: Consecutive acromegalic patients without imaging evidence of a pituitary adenoma on pre- and postcontrast, spin echo T1-weighted MR imaging and who lacked evidence of an ectopic (nonpituitary) source causing GH excess were included. Interventions: Surgical exploration with identification and resection of a pituitary adenoma was performed. Main Outcome Measures: Laboratory values (GH, IGF-I), surgical findings, and clinical outcome were analyzed. Results: Six patients (three males, three females; 3% of all patients) with suspected GH-secreting adenomas did not demonstrate imaging evidence of pituitary adenoma on conventional MR imaging. Three patients underwent a postcontrast, volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination MR-imaging sequence (1.2-mm slice thickness), which revealed a 4-mm pituitary adenoma not seen on the spin echo T1-weighted MR imaging in one patient. A pituitary adenoma was identified and removed in all patients (mean diameter, 5.6 mm; range, 5 to 6.7 mm). Histological analysis confirmed that the lesions were GH-secreting adenomas. All patients achieved biochemical remission after surgical resection. Conclusion: Acromegaly can be caused by GH-secreting pituitary adenomas that are not evident on conventional MR imaging. Adenomas in some of these patients become evident using volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination MR imaging. Surgical exploration of the pituitary gland in acromegalic patients with endocrine findings consistent with a GH-secreting adenoma but negative MR imaging can lead to identification and removal of an adenoma.
The paper chromatography and electrophoresis of selected therapeutic agents. I. The paper chromatography of antihistaminic agents.

The paper chromatography of some antihistamines has been performed with six solvent systems. Pretreatment of the paper with monosodium citrate resulted in consistently lower and more widely varying R f values, in all of the solvent systems used. A greater degree of resolution was obtained. The solvent systems that provided the most successful resolution of a mixture of the antihistamines were: ( a ) isoamyl alcohol-water-citric acid, 50:50:3 Gm.; ( b ) n -butanol-water-amyl acetate, 10:1:4 v/v; and ( c ) isoamyl alcohol-water-ethyl acetate, 10:1:3 v/v.
Near infrared spectroscopic analysis of foundry moulding and core sands

Sands coated, mixed and polymerised with a wide variety of materials are used to make moulds and cores for the casting of metals. Heating results in the production of a wide variety of organic materials by pyrolysis. These resulting compounds may need to be characterised before waste sands can be beneficially used in the environment. The objective of this work was to examine the potential of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to qualitatively identify organic residues in waste green sands (clay-bonded moulding sand). Examination of spectra of waste green sands, burnt and unburnt cores and components used in producing sands for the foundry industry have demonstrated that NIR spectroscopy has potential for use to confirm the identity and composition of source materials. Additional research is needed to determine if NIR spectroscopy can be successfully used to quantify organics present in waste foundry sands.
Particularity, Incarnation, and Discernment: Bonhoeffer’s "Christmas" Spirituality

Dietrich Bonhoeffer has a “Christmas” spirituality, an incarnate spirituality immersed in the complexity and particularity and messiness of the world â where the God who becomes flesh lives. In his writings he is not primarily interested in the triumph of Easter but in the deepening incarnation precisely into God’s own poverty, darkness, emptiness â and joy, mercy, sweetness, love â met for Christians in Jesus Christ. In a world today where Christians in our context too often tend to see ourselves in the place of the victor, the divine agent, the conqueror in the name of “God,” his is a refreshingly humble and open perception of divine reality, curious about the world as it is and eager to find precisely in the faces and alterity of every other the very face of God.
k -th order symmetric SAC boolean functions and bisecting binomial coefficients

The Strict Avalanche Criterion (SAC) and symmetry for Boolean functions are important properties in cryptographic applications. High order SAC was first studied by Forre. Based on bisecting binomial coefficients and S. Lloyd's work, we describe a method to find kth order symmetric SAC functions (SSAC(k)). In this paper, we determine all the SSAC(k)n-variable functions for n=<30, k=1,2,...,n-2. Also, for infinitely many n, we give some nontrivial binomial coefficient bisections. The existence of nontrivial bisections makes the problem to find all SSAC(k) functions very difficult.
Proteolysis, proteasomes and antigen presentation

Proteins presented to the immune system must first be cleaved to small peptides by intracellular proteinases. Proteasomes are proteolytic complexes that degrade cytosolic and nuclear proteins. These particles have been implicated in ATP-ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis and in the processing of intracellular antigens for cytolytic immune responses.
Hartshorne's Arguments Against Empirical Evidence for Necessary Existence: An Evaluation

Is experiential evidence irrelevant to acceptance or rejection of belief in the existence of a Divine Being? Charles Hartshorne answers that it is indeed irrelevant, and this answer has an initial and, for me, continuing surprising ring to it. Specifically, Hartshorne makes two distinguishable claims: (i) the traditional allegedly a posteriori arguments, the teleological and cos mological, are in fact incompatible with empiricist methodology and are disguised ontological arguments; (2) the conception of God as necessary being demands that belief in such a being's existence or non-existence in no way depend upon empirical evidence. On the contrary, I shall argue, first, that empirical evidence for God is truly empirical and second, that there is no incompatibility between empirical evidence and necessary existence. My argument will involve an attempt to understand and clarify somewhat the very difficult concepts of 'experience' and 'necessity' as they arise in the context of religious epistemology. I wish to make clear at the outset that my aim is not to eliminate ontological arguments for God in favour of empirical arguments, for I believe that Hartshorne's work on the modal ontological argument contributes substantially to providing grounds for reasonable belief in theism. Rather, my purpose is to show that ontological and empirical patterns of theistic argumentation are neither incompatible with each other nor reducible to each other.
Generalized Fourier transform processor

Fourier processing method is very popular in signal and image analysis. In this paper, a generalized Fourier transform (GFT) processor is introduced. It is generalized in that it contains the conventional Fourier transform (CFT) processor as a very limited special case by extending the diagonal filter matrix in CFT to a nondiagonal one. Thus, obviously, the GFT processor should be more powerful than the CFT processor. A computer demonstration shows this.
SERIOUS PLAY: VERBAL ART AND PERFORMANCE

Language speaker-listeners do not merely mouth sounds or put together syntax; they perform to affect an audience. Anthropologists since Boas's time have written extensively about how speaker-listeners use language to amuse, amaze, persuade, and seduce. Joel Sherzer catalogs puns, jokes, word games, and poetry using examples from several languages. Josef Stern argues that the ability to understand metaphor is a rule-ordered part of language competence, rather than extra-linguistic idiosyncratic. Paulla A. Ebron looks at the ways Africans present themselves as verbal performers in various settings, focusing on Gambian jail musicians.
Tactual performance test trials: internal consistency reliability using the Gilmer-Feldt coefficient.

Internal consistency reliabilities using the Gilmer-Feldt coefficient were calculated for the Tactual Performance Test for the Preferred Hand (n = 298), Nonpreferred Hand (n = 302), and Both Hands (n = 314) trials, and total time. Reliabilities were reported for the total sample and three groups: 118 normal volunteers, 95 inpatient alcoholics, and 103 undiagnosed patients sent for neuropsychological assessment. The reliabilities ranged from .5584 to .8953.
Siberia: a history of the people

In the mid-1990s, a small Soviet-style “village of the town type” in Northern Sakha Republic (Yakutia) had to be evacuated during a mid-winter crisis caused by nondelivery of fuel. Most of the free...
Spinal and cranial hypertrophic neuropathy in multiple sclerosis

Two patients with multiple sclerosis developed symptomatic chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy with massive spinal or cranial nerve hypertrophy revealed by neuroimaging. Sural nerve biopsy in one showed only moderate demyelination, axonal loss, and onion-bulb formation, illustrating dichotomy between severe proximal and milder distal nerve involvement. Patients with coexistent central and peripheral demyelination usually are symptomatic from dysfunction at one site or the other, but not from both. Our patients showed minimal response to steroids, intravenous immunoglobulin, or azathioprine. These cases suggest that the mechanism of disease in symptomatic central and peripheral demyelination may differ from that of disease in only one region, and that optimal therapy in this situation must be explored further.
Responses To the Odors of Conspecifics By the Crayfish Orconectes Virilis

Male, female, and juvenile crayfish (Orconectes virilis) were introduced individually to test arenas containing a clean shelter and a shelter that had been previously occupied by a male, female, or juvenile conspecific. Males avoided shelters that had been occupied by males, females were attracted to shelters that had been occupied by females, and juveniles were attracted to shelters that had been occupied by juveniles. Significantly more males, females, and juveniles failed to occupy any shelter when the arena had been occupied previously by male conspecifics compared to when the arena had been occupied previously by female (for male and female subjects) or juvenile (for juveniles) conspecifics.
Antineutrophil and myocardial protecting actions of a novel nitric oxide donor after acute myocardial ischemia and reperfusion of dogs.

BACKGROUND It has recently been demonstrated that myocardial ischemia and reperfusion results in a marked decrease in the release of nitric oxide (NO) by the coronary endothelium. NO may possess cardioprotective properties, possibly related to inhibition of neutrophil-related activities. We tested the hypothesis that a cysteine-containing nitric oxide donor compound, SPM-5185, would reduce infarct size and inhibit neutrophil-related activities (adherence to coronary vascular endothelium, accumulation). METHODS AND RESULTS The effects of intracoronary infusion of SPM-5185 were investigated in a 5.5-hour model of myocardial ischemia (1 hour) and reperfusion (4.5 hours) (MI-R) in anesthetized, open-chest dogs. SPM-5185 (500 nmol/L) or saline vehicle was infused for 4.5 hours into the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) at the time of reperfusion after 1 hour of LAD occlusion. MI-R in dogs receiving saline vehicle resulted in severe myocardial injury characterized by dyskinesis, a profound elevation of plasma creatine kinase, marked myocardial necrosis, and high cardiac myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in the ischemic and necrotic zones. In contrast, treatment with SPM-5185 resulted in a modest restoration of regional function, a reduction of myocardial necrosis expressed as a percentage of the area at risk (12.5 +/- 3.2% versus 41.7 +/- 5.4%, P < .001), and significant reductions of MPO activity in the ischemic zone (0.8 +/- 0.1 versus 2.5 +/- 0.7 U/100 mg tissue, P < .05) and the necrotic zone (1.6 +/- 0.2 versus 3.3 +/- 0.6 U/100 mg tissue, P < .05). In additional studies, SPM-5185 (500 nmol/L) significantly (P < .001) attenuated the adherence of LTB4-stimulated canine neutrophils to autologous segments of coronary artery and attenuated the neutrophil-induced contraction of isolated coronary arterial rings. CONCLUSIONS SPM-5185 reduces myocardial necrosis and neutrophil accumulation in an acute model of canine myocardial ischemia and reperfusion. This reduction in myocardial cell injury may be partially related to the inhibitory actions of this novel NO donor on neutrophil adherence to the coronary endothelium.
Aspirin intolerance. II. A prospective study in an atopic and normal population.

Abstract In a prospective study 1,372 patients with asthma and rhinitis and 808 normal individuals were directly questioned about symptoms of intolerance to aspirin. The frequency of aspirin intolerance in our asthmatic group was significantly greater (3.8 per cent) than the frequency in the rhinitis alone group (1.4 per cent) or in our normal group (0.9 per cent). There was no statistical difference of aspirin intolerance between rhinitis alone and our normal individuals. The predominant symptom of aspirin intolerance in our asthmatic group was bronchospasm, while the predominant symptom in our rhinitis alone group was urticaria. In our normal individuals, manifestations of aspirin intolerance were about equally divided between bronchospasm and urticaria. It appears that at least two possible pathogenic mechanisms may be present in aspirin intolerance, one producing bronchospasm and the other resulting in angioedema/urticaria.
Inexpensive Performance Monitoring of Solar Domestic Water Heating Systems

Performance monitoring is essential in order to conclusively demonstrate the cost effectiveness of a solar heating system. Unfortunately, this ''last step'' is an aspect which has received little engineering consideration. The monitoring programs in progress typically use instrumentation which is much to expensive and complex for use by individual operators of domestic water heating systems. Hence, few systems are monitored, and the average owner knows little about the performance characteristics of his system. Even malfunctions go undetected. An inexpensive performance monitoring system is described in this paper. It could probably be mass-produced for under 15 dollars or built by the typical homeowner for under 30 dollars. The monitor indicates the instantaneous solar fraction. Overall system performance can be improved with this monitor, since it enables the user to correlate load with the availability of solar heated water. Methodology, performance parameters, and some performance data are presented.
The TWIN™ permeator — development and commercialization of a new RO device

Abstract It has been well over 20 years since DuPont first invented the hollow-fiber permeator and the single-bundle reverse osmosis (RO) aramid membrane used inside it. In the intervening years the B-9 brackish and B-10 seawater devices were commercialized and became standards in the field for the production of high-quality desalted water. Many improvements were made to the permeators and the technology for desalination. DuPont has now commercialized a new RO device, a double-bundle permeator, which builds on the knowledge gained in thousands of RO installations. This paper discussed the development and commercialization of this TWIN/TM permeator: how the bundle design and fluid flow patterns were optimized and the inventive concepts required to provide a mechanically stable product. Field test data and the commercialization of this new module are reviewed.
Quantum-electrodynamic radiative corrections to the decay pi 0--> gamma e+e-

The quantum-electrodynamic radiative corrections to both the decay rate for ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\gamma}{e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ and the differential spectrum in the invariant mass of the Dalitz pair for experiments with limited geometrical acceptance are calculated.
An RNA-binding protein associated with Src through its SH2 and SH3 domains in mitosis

The tyrosine kinase activity of c-Src is stimulated during mitosis by dephosphorylation of its regulatory tyrosine residue. This is associated with increased accessibility of its Src homology-2 (SH2) domain for binding a phosphotyrosine-containing peptide. But physiological targets of activated c-Src in mitosis have not yet been identified. Here we report that a 68K protein (p68) becomes tyrosine-phosphorylated and physically associates with Src during mitosis in mouse fibroblasts. p68 independently binds the Src SH2 and SH3 domains in vitro and both domains are required for p68 phosphorylation and binding in vivo. p68 is closely related to the p62 protein that is associated with the Ras GTPase-activating protein (GAP) and selectively binds, directly or indirectly, polyribonucleotides. Because the Src SH3 domain also binds heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K, these results raise the intriguing possibility that c-Src may regulate the processing, trafficking or translation of RNA in a cell-cycle-dependent manner.
Nonthermal Electron Measurements in Solar Flares with Hinode EIS

The spectral range of the Hinode EIS (EUV Imaging Spectrometer) instrument is 170-211 ? and 245-291 ?; lines emitted by low-energy levels in highly ionized Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni, as well as the very energetic -->1s2s3S1?1s2p3P2 transition in Fe XXV, appear in the EIS range. In this paper, we investigate the use of these lines for detecting the presence of nonthermal, high-energy electrons in flares. We first calculate line fluxes among the various lines expected in the EIS range, assuming that the electron velocity distribution is strictly Maxwellian. Then, we calculate line fluxes using a velocity distribution composed of a Maxwellian distribution plus an additional population of electrons with a temperature of 10 keV ( -->1.2 ? 108 K) providing 1%, 2%, 4%, 7%, and 10% of the total free electrons. The calculations indicate that flux ratios between the highly excited Fe XXV line and lines originating in low-lying levels of other highly ionized ions in the EIS range could shed light on the electron velocity distribution in hot flare plasmas.
Initiation of SV40 DNA replication in vivo: Location and structure of 5′ ends of DNA synthesized in the ori region

Initiation sites for DNA synthesis were located at the resolution of single nucleotides in and about the genetically defined origin of replication (ori) in replicating SV40 DNA purified from virus-infected cells. About 50% of the DNA chains contained an oligoribonucleotide of six to nine residues covalently attached to their 5' ends. Although the RNA-DNA linkage varied, the putative RNA primer began predominantly with rA. The data reveal that initiation of DNA synthesis is promoted at a number of DNA sequences that are asymmetrically arranged with respect to ori: 5' ends of nascent DNA are located at several sites within ori, but only on the strand that also serves as the template for early mRNA, while 5' ends of nascent DNA with the opposite orientation are located only outside ori on its early gene side. This clear transition between discontinuous (initiation sites) and continuous (no initiation sites) DNA synthesis defines the origin of bidirectional replication at nucleotides 5210--5211 and demonstrates that discontinuous synthesis occurs predominantly on the retrograde arms of replication forks. Furthermore, it appears that the first nascent DNA chain is initiated within ori by the same mechanism used to initiate nascent DNA ("Okazaki fragments") throughout the genome.
Thermal and structural characterization of a series of homoleptic Cu(II) dialkyldithiocarbamate complexes: bigger is only marginally better for potential MOCVD performance

Abstract A series of Cu(II) dialkyldithiocarbamate complexes, Cu(S2CNRR′)2, with R=R′=n-Bu (1); i-Bu (2); c-Hex (3); CH2Ph (4); R=n-Bu, R′=Et (5); R=n-Pr, R′=c-PrCH2 (6); R=R′=n-Pr (7); i-Pr (8); allyl (9), were prepared. The thermal properties of the complexes were investigated to determine if their potential performance in chemical vapor deposition processes was affected by the nature of the peripheral substituents of the ancillary ligands. Modest gains in volatility were noted for 2 and 7 over the most often utilized complex with R=R′=Et, while 1 and 8 had thermal parameters and stability comparable to this standard. Unsymmetrical substitution, such as in 5, also improved volatility, with some loss of stability for this particular compound. X-ray diffraction studies of complexes 1–6 suggested that long range Cu⋯S interactions in the solid-state have little bearing on the thermal properties of this class of Cu(II) complexes.