cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The prospects for high resolution imaging

Abstract The success of high resolution electron microscopy in providing clearly recognizable images showing the arrangements of some atoms in some thin crystals has lead in recent years to the rapid growth of its applications in many areas of solid state science. The impact on solid state chemistry has been important, especially for the understanding of the nature of the defects and disorder associated with nonstoichiometry of the mechanisms of solid state reactions and of crystallographic transformations associated with superstructure formation. Analogous information is proving valuable for studies of minerals for which the added complications of the variability of composition are often significant. Work on many alloys, semiconductors and ceramics is hampered by the lack of adequate resolution of the current 100keV and 200keV instruments which cannot provide images of the closely spaced projected atomic rows except under conditions which prevent direct intuitive image interpretation. To some extent this limitation has been overcome by the use of the high voltage, high resolution electron microscopes. Important advances have been made in the imaging of noncrystalline materials except those, including most biological substances, for which the limitations of radiation damage are a factor. However attention is turning more to the areas where crystallinity and non periodicity are coexistent as in the case of localized defects, atomic disorder or surface structure of crystals or small crystallites in a near-amorphous matrix. Here the simplifying assumptions used for interpreting images on the basis of perfect periodicity or complete randomness of the atomic arrangement must often be abandoned or else used only under carefully controlled conditions for a limited range of specimen configurations.
New stable icosahedral quasicrystalline phase in the Sc–Cu–Zn system

Stable icosahedral quasicrystals have been synthesized in the Sc–Cu–Zn system by quench-and-anneal or in-situ filtration methods. These have a composition near Sc16.2(3)Cu12.3(3)Zn71.5(6) at 480°C ...
Quantum Dissipative Dynamics: A Numerically Exact Methodology

A fully quantum mechanical methodology for simulating the time evolution of low-dimensional systems in harmonic dissipative environments is presented. The key features of the method are the numeric...
A patent review of glucokinase activators and disruptors of the glucokinase – glucokinase regulatory protein interaction: 2011 – 2014

Introduction: Glucokinase (GK) is a key regulator of glucose homeostasis, and development of small molecule activators of this enzyme represents a promising new approach for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus.Areas covered: This manuscript reviews small molecule patent disclosures between late 2011 and February 2014 for both GK activators (GKAs) and GK−glucokinase regulatory protein (GK−GKRP) disruptors. The review is organized by company and structural class.Expert opinion: The field of GKA research continues to progress, driven by research across many organizations. To date, > 20 candidates have entered clinical development with the most advanced in Phase II trials. Despite promising efficacy, a significant number of early candidates have been discontinued for various reasons including increased risk of hypoglycemia and lack of durability. Recent work in the field has focused on liver-selective activators, which have shown lower hypoglycemia risk, including the development of novel GK-GKRP disrup...
An overview of mining and mineral processing waste as a resource

Abstract The volume of wastes generated by the mining, mineral processing and metallurgical industries now exceeds 1.8 billion mg annually. These wastes include gases, dusts solutions, sludges, and mineral materials such as mine waste, ore processing tailings and leach residues, fly ash and slags. Some of the wastes are being processed to recover minor or associated mineral and metal values such as gold, titanium, uranium and fluorine, and progress has been made toward processing or utilizing others but more remains to be done. Large volumes of materials still are discarded annually accounting for the loss of significant mineral and metal values which might be recovered to augment our primary mineral and metal resource supply base. In addition to the mineral values lost, the disposal of these materials imposes a substantial economic and environmental burden on the industry and the public. Special attention needs to be given to encouraging their recycling. The resource potential of wastes generated by the iron ore, copper, coal, gold, and phosphate rock industries, and a number of nonmetallic mineral mining operations, are discussed. The progress made in recovering accessory or unrecovered minerals associated with mining and processing of the wastes is presented. The technologies now being applied or those under development, offer solutions to better utilization of valuable minerals and metals now wasted.
Diet/genetic interactions and their effects on inflammatory markers.

The importance of a healthy diet to living well is well recognized. A growing array of experimental, epide-miological, and clinical studies have revealed an association between pro-inflammatory responses and the progression of numerous serious disease states, including the metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. Further studies have established a “diet/genetic interaction” that further modulates markers of inflammation, producing both positive and negative effects, depending on the net changes in gene expression. Yet, there are few studies that reveal the mechanisms underlying this modulation of the inflammatory response. Highlighted here are several such recent and ongoing studies that investigate the mechanisms underlying the effects of diet/genetic interactions on inflammatory biomarkers, followed by a discussion of to what extent these interactions may translate into healthier aging and increased longevity. Whether these interactions translate into healthier aging and increased longevity remains to be determined; however, the prospects are enticing.
Spectra of uranyl nitrate adducts with organophosphorus and organonitrogen ligands

Abstract The near visible absorption and emission spectra (spectrophotometric) and infrared spectra were obtained for adducts of uranyl nitrate with a large variety of organophosphorus and organonitrogen ligands, with the object of providing a rationale for the spectra of these uranyl compounds. Adducts without a symmetry center show enhanced absorption in the near visible as compared to the absorption for adducts with a symmetry center. This enhancement is observed both for solid mulls and for solutions. The spectra for adducts without a symmetry center are very similar to and are classified with those obtained for inorganic double nitrates, while the spectra for adducts with a symmetry center are classified with that of simple uranyl nitrate. The origins of the progressions in the near visible are discussed. It is proposed that the enhanced absorption has something in common with hypersensitivity in rare-earth spectra. It is concluded, however, that no entirely satisfactory rationale, including the one developed in this work, has yet been provided for the near visible spectra of uranyl compounds. The near visible absorption spectra cannot be rationalized in terms of a singlet-triplet transition, but must involve some more complicated group of transitions.
Age-Dependent Emergence and Progression of a Tauopathy in Transgenic Mice Overexpressing the Shortest Human Tau Isoform

Filamentous tau aggregates are hallmarks of tauopathies, e.g., frontotemporal dementia with parkinsonism linked to chromosome 17 (FTDP-17) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/parkinsonism-dementia complex (ALS/PDC). Since FTDP-17 tau gene mutations alter levels/functions of tau, we overexpressed the smallest human tau isoform in the CNS of transgenic (Tg) mice to model tauopathies. These mice acquired age-dependent CNS pathology similarto FTDP-17 and ALS/PDC, including insoluble, hyperphosphorylated tau and argyrophilic intraneuronal inclusions formed by tau-immunoreactive filaments. Inclusions were present in cortical and brainstem neurons but were most abundant in spinal cord neurons, where they were associated with axon degeneration, diminished microtubules (MTs), and reduced axonal transport in ventral roots, as well as spinal cord gliosis and motor weakness. These Tg mice recapitulate key features of tauopathies and provide models for elucidating mechanisms underlying diverse tauopathies, including Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Treatment of idiopathic autoimmune hemolytic anemia in children. Review and report of two fatal cases in infancy.

. Report of two cases of severe idiopathic autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) in infants who underwent splenectomy and received corticosteroids and cyclophosphamide without benefit. One infant, additionally, was treated with thymectomy and azathioprine without influencing his disease. Experience of therapy for childhood AIHA is reviewed. Four children with AIHA have been thymectomized. Two of these failed to benefit from surgery. There have been fifteen previous trials with immunosuppressive agents in childhood AIHA. About 60% of the children so treated (9 of 15) have shown improvement. Additional clinical trials with this agent are warranted.
Diisocyanate-exposed auto body shop workers: a one-year follow-up.

Background Diisocyanates currently are the most commonly identified cause of occupational asthma in industrialized countries. Auto body shops, a common hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) exposure setting, are difficult to study due to their small size and episodic exposures. Objectives A 1-year follow-up was undertaken as an adjunct to the cross-sectional SPRAY study (Survey of Painters & Repairers of Auto bodies by Yale) to investigate the effects of HDI on auto body shop workers over time and whether or not the healthy worker effect may exist in this industry. Methods and Results Forty-eight workers from seven shops were re-contacted. Thirty-four subjects who stayed at the same shop and 11 who left their original shop participated. No statistically significant changes in physiology, symptoms, and immunologic responses from baseline to follow-up were noted. However, significant differences between those who left the shops and those who stayed were noted. Those who left were younger, less experienced in the industry, and more likely to have a history of asthma (23 vs. 3%; P < 0.05), bronchial hyper-responsiveness (23 vs. 9%), HDI-specific IgG (64 vs. 29%; P < 0.05), and HDI-specific proliferation (S.I. 2.0 vs. 1.3; P < 0.05). Conclusions The differences in workers who stayed at their shop compared to those who left, combined with the low asthma prevalence and high job turnover rate, all suggest that a healthy worker effect may exist in the auto body industry, and may in part account for the low prevalence of asthma noted in SPRAY and other cross-sectional studies of diisocyante workers. Am. J. Ind. Med. 42:511–518, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Finalist vie for super collider, without New York

The final race for the super collider is on, but with a late scratch—New York. In the wake o f that state's failed attempt to substitute a site near the Canadian border for one that local residents opposed, on January 19, 1988, the Department of Energy (DOE) adopted as its own the short list of proposed locations for the Superconducting Super Collider submitted last fall by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Meanwhile, the possibility that the final selection may be made by Congress and not DOE looms in the distance.
Hypothesis: The Changing Relationships of Helicobacter pylori and Humans: Implications for Health and Disease

Helicobacter pylori has apparently colonized the human stomach since time immemorial and is superbly adapted for persistence. Several genotypes, including cag + , are associated with increased risk of gastric and duodenal diseases. With modern life, for probably the first time in human history, there are large numbers of noncolonized persons. Duodenal ulceration has been present essentially for only 200 years; that its incidence rose just as H. pylori was waning is best explained by changes in gastric microecology. As H. pylori is disappearing, duodenal ulceration and gastric cancer rates are falling. However, more proximal diseases, gastro-esophageal reflux (GERD), Barrett's esophagus, and adenocarcinomas of the gastric cardia and lower esophagus, are increasing; colonization with cag + H. pylori strains appears protective against these diseases. Thus, in the 21st century, the continuing decline in H. pylori may lead to the disappearance of duodenal ulcers and distal gastric cancers and toward a marked increase in GERD, Barrett's esophagus, and esophageal adenocarcinoma.
Cocaine intake by rats correlates with cocaine-induced dopamine changes in the nucleus accumbens shell.

Extracellular dopamine levels were determined by microdialysis in the core and shell of the nucleus accumbens and the frontal cortex of rats before and after an injection of cocaine (20 mg/kg, IP). After removal of the probes, these same animals were then tested for their voluntary intake of cocaine using the two-bottle, free-choice paradigm. Baseline dopamine levels and their responses to an injection of cocaine differed among the three brain areas. No significant correlations were found between baseline dopamine levels in any of the three brain regions and the voluntary cocaine consumption. A significant negative correlation was found between cocaine-induced increases in extracellular dopamine in the shell of the nucleus accumbens and the voluntary intake of cocaine (r = −0.73, p < 0.01). No such correlations were observed in the accumbens core region or the frontal cortex. These results provide further evidence of the role of the accumbal shell region in cocaine preference, and indicate that cocaine-induced increases in dopamine levels play a role in oral cocaine self-administration or preference. In addition, this relatively novel approach in using the same animals for both cocaine induced neurotransmitter responses and cocaine preference studies can also be applied for the study of other neurotransmitters and drugs of abuse.
Validation of an amperometric high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of epinephrine in bupivacaine and epinephrine injection

Epinephrine, as the bitartrate salt at a 1:200000 dilution is contained in the 0.5% bupivacaine HCl, 2-piperidinecarboxamide, 1-butyl-N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)-, monohydrochloride monohydrate. The development and validation of a sensitive and specific stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) assay method utilizing amperometric detection was desired as an improvement over and simplification of previous methods for epinephrine in this product
Direct Fidelity Estimation from Few Pauli Measurements

We describe a simple method for certifying that an experimental device prepares a desired quantum state ρ. Our method is applicable to any pure state ρ, and it provides an estimate of the fidelity between ρ and the actual (arbitrary) state in the lab, up to a constant additive error. The method requires measuring only a constant number of Pauli expectation values, selected at random according to an importance-weighting rule. Our method is faster than full tomography by a factor of d, the dimension of the state space, and extends easily and naturally to quantum channels.
Studies of Bilayers and Vesicle Adsorption to Solid Substrates: Development of a Miniature Streaming Potential Apparatus (SPA)

A new miniature streaming potential apparatus (SPA) was developed to determine the streaming potentials (Ψstr) and zeta potentials (ζ) of substrates under different ionic conditions while simultaneously visualizing the state of the surfaces, such as the adsorption of surfactants or polymers, using fluorescence microscopy and/or fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). Experimental results with different surfaces show that the new SPA provides streaming potential values (hence zeta potentials) that agree with results obtained using traditional electrokinetic analyzers. Using the new SPA, the formation of supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) on glass from fluorescently labeled, unilamellar (∼100 nm diameter), charge neutral dimyristoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DMPC) vesicles was studied in aqueous electrolyte solutions at different lipid concentrations. Simultaneous zeta potential measurements and fluorescence imaging for measuring diffusion coefficients by confocal microscopy enabled us to precise...
Precision fabrication of D-shaped single-mode optical fibers by in situ monitoring

A technique has been developed to locally remove, over a distance of several millimeters of fiber length, the cladding layer of single-mode (at the 1300 nm wavelength) optical fibers with 1 /spl mu/m depth precision by use of mechanical lapping and in situ optical transmission monitoring. A cylinder lap dressed with diamond is used to perform high-pressure mechanical lapping. The in situ monitoring technique is based on the specific different attenuations exhibited by higher order propagating modes (for 633 nm light) as the cylinder penetrates into the fiber. Advantages include relatively rapid overall processing, high lapping rate, good optical surface quality, and 1 /spl mu/m precision. Experimental results are presented and analyzed by an approximate geometrical-optics model. >
Schleiermacher: Theology as Human Reflection

When Schleiermacher appeared in the lecture hall at the University of Berlin, instead of reading to his students a polished narrative of his completed thinking, he spoke from simple notes and laid everything before them “as problems” to be thought through again in their presence. He was by nature, David Friedrich Strauss later recalled, decidedly one of those men in whom liveliness and a quicksilver-like mobility predominate, If he spoke from the pulpit, a tone of solemnity counter-balanced this vivacity, but in lecturing his manner was restless, as he moved from one idea to another, examining it now from this side and now from that, until he would have made his auditors dizzy were it not that his power of speech seemed to hold the listener by the hand and help him over the fissures in the presentation. “Imagine now,” Strauss declared, “the task of capturing such a lecture in writing! It likens itself to that of photographing a dancer in full motion.”
Nonlinear backstepping control design for miniature helicopters using the rotation matrix

This paper presents a backstepping control design for small scale helicopters. The objective is for the helicopter to autonomously track predefined position and yaw trajectories. The position reference trajectories are arbitrary, possibly aggressive, with some constraints in their higher order time derivatives. The main idea of the algorithm is to control the direction and magnitude of the thrust vector appropriately in order to stabilize the position dynamics. In contrast with most control schemes that use Euler angles or quaternions for the control of the attitude dynamics, this design use the elements of the rotation matrix. The intermediate pseudo controls related with the directional dynamics are enhanced with terms that guarantee that the helicopter will not overturn while tracking the position reference signals.
Voluntary ethanol intake enhances excitatory synaptic strength in the ventral tegmental area.

THE DOPAMINE NEURONS of the ventral tegmental area (VTA), which project to regions such as the nucleus accumbens (NAc), basolateral amygdala, and prefrontal cortex, are potent modulators of addictive and goal-directed behaviors (Cardinal et al., 2002; Fields et al., 2007; Paxinos, 1995; Spanagel and Weiss, 1999; Wise, 2004). Several studies have shown that dopamine signaling in the NAc can facilitate self-administration of ethanol (Hodge et al., 1997; Samson et al., 1999; Weiss et al., 1996; but see Rassnick et al., 1993), and direct inhibition of the VTA reduces ethanol self-administration (Hodge et al., 1993, 1996). In addition, animals self-administer ethanol directly into the VTA (Gatto et al., 1994; Rodd-Henricks et al., 2000), suggesting that the VTA may be important for the reinforcing effects of ethanol. Glutamatergic afferents to the VTA are key modulators of dopamine cell firing and drug-seeking behavior (Canavier and Landry, 2006; Overton and Clark, 1997; You et al., 2007; Zhang et al., 1997) and therefore may play an important role in the manifestation of voluntary alcohol consumption. Of particular interest are the α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors (AMPAR) on VTA dopamine neurons, which show increased expression (Churchill et al., 1999; Fitzgerald et al., 1996; Ortiz et al., 1995) and thus enhance excitatory synaptic strength (Liu et al., 2005; Saal et al., 2003; Ungless et al., 2001; Zhang et al., 1997) in response to many drugs of abuse, including ethanol. While previous studies have demonstrated that passive administration of drugs of abuse alters excitatory signaling onto VTA neurons, it is not known whether voluntary alcohol consumption can alter synaptic strength. We therefore trained rats to self-administer alcohol in an intermittent access, 2-bottle choice paradigm for ~6 weeks and assayed synaptic changes in the VTA following 12 to 24 hours withdrawal from ethanol.
Advance Care Planning in Patients With Cancer Referred to a Phase I Clinical Trials Program: The MD Anderson Cancer Center Experience

Purpose Patients with advanced malignancies referred for early clinical trials have a short life expectancy. We designed this survey to ascertain the status of advance care planning in this population. Patients and Methods Patients who were seen in a phase I clinic were asked to anonymously complete an investigator-designed survey. Results Of 435 individuals approached, 215 (49%) returned completed or partially completed surveys, whereas many others stated that they wanted to avoid the topic, because they had come to the phase I clinic for cancer therapy. Most patients (n = 149; 69%) were still hopeful about their future. Approximately 42% of patients (n = 90) reported having a living will, 46% had a medical power of attorney (n = 98), and 19% had a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order (n = 40). Approximately 20% of participants (n = 43) had not discussed advance care planning. Fifty-nine percent of patients wanted to discuss advance care planning with their physician. Having a DNR order in place was significan...
Differential Support for Police Use of Force, the Death Penalty, and Perceived Harshness of the Courts: Effects of Race, Gender, and Region

Logistic regression models were estimated using the 1994 General Social Survey to examine effects of race, gender, and geographical region on support for various criminal justice policies. Dependent variables included support for capital punishment, perceived harshness of courts, and support for police use of force under five conditions of escalating severity. African Americans were less likely to support capital punishment and police use of force than their counterparts. These results were enhanced when re-estimated using only the southern sample. Thus, regional prejudices affect minorities' perceptions of bias in criminal justice policy and practices. However, although African Americans were less likely to endorse police use of force in general, we found situationally specific instances in which African Americans did endorse police use of force.
Neurons of the superior nucleus of the medial habenula and ependymal cells express IL-18 in rat CNS.

The habenular-interpeduncular pathway is involved in the modulation of several functions including neuroendocrine and stress responses. Interleukin-18 (IL-18) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine predominantly studied as a modulator of immune functions and also produced in the adrenal cortex following activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. In the central nervous system, IL-18 was demonstrated to induce sleep and to influence long-term potentiation and was proposed to mediate local inflammatory reactions. The present study investigated the localization of IL-18 and its expression following either acute or chronic restraint stress in the brain of adult male Wistar rats. Using immunocytochemistry and in situ hybridization we report the unprecedented localization of IL-18 in the neurons of the superior part of the medial habenula (MHbS), their projections to the interpenducular nucleus and its expression in the ependymal cells surrounding the third and the lateral ventricles. In addition, acute (2 h) or chronic (6 h/day for 3 weeks) restraint stress induced a strong elevation of IL-18 immunostaining in the MHbS but not in ependymal cells. The present data suggest that IL-18 may participate in the modulation of stress responses in the MHbS. They also suggest that ependymal cells may be the source of IL-18 previously reported in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The role of IL-18 in the ependyma and the CSF remains to be elucidated.
Active contours and optical flow for automatic tracking of flying vehicles

In this paper, we describe fast implementations of optical flow and geometric active contours to reliably track flying vehicles. Given the position of the vehicle at time t-1, optical flow information is used to initially place an active contour in the basin of attraction of a region of interest in a given dynamical image at time t. For real-time tracking, fast convergence of the active contour as well as rapid computation of the optical flow are crucial. In this note, we describe algorithms that make fast tracking possible in this framework using only standard computing platforms.
Initiation and Termination Mutants of Bacillus subtilis Bacteriophage SPO1

Abstract Mutants affected in cistrons 21 and 32 of bacteriophage SPO1 are defective specifically in the initiation of DNA replication. Mutations in cistron 32 also specifically affect the termination of replication.
Antiretroviral Refill Adherence Correlates with, But Poorly Predicts Retention in HIV Care

If antiretroviral refill adherence could predict non-retention in care, it could be clinically useful. In a retrospective cohort study of HIV-infected adults in Philadelphia between October 2012 and April 2013, retention in care was measured by show versus no-show at an index visit. Three measures of adherence were defined per person: (1) percent of doses taken for two refills nearest index visit, (2) days late for last refill before index visit, and (3) longest gap between any two refills. Of 393 patients, 108 (27.4 %) no-showed. Adherence was higher in the show group on all measures with longest gap having the greatest difference: 40 days (IQR 33-56) in the show versus 47 days (IQR 38-69) in the no-show group, p < 0.001. Yet, no cut-points of adherence adequately predicted show versus no-show. Antiretroviral adherence being associated, but a poor predictor of retention suggests that these two behaviors are related but distinct phenomena.
Prime waterfront real estate: Apple snails choose wild taro for oviposition sites

While difficult to prevent introductions, scientific research can help guide control efforts of exotic, invasive species. South American island apple snails Pomacea insularum have quickly spread across the United States Gulf Coast and few control measures exist to delay their spread. Usually occupying cryptic benthic habitats, female apple snails crawl out of the water to de- posit large, bright pink egg clutches on emergent objects. To help identify the most likely place to find and remove clutches, we conducted four lab experiments to investigate what specific object qualities (i.e. material; shape and height; plant species; natural and artificial) attracted P. insularum females to lay clutches. In our fourth experiment, we specifically examined the relationship between female size and reproductive output. To further understand reproductive output, we quantified experimental clutch chara- cteristics (height above water, dimensions, mass, approximate volume, number of eggs, hatching efficiency). Pomacea insu- larum females laid more clutches on plant material, chose round over flat surfaces and failed to differentiate between tall and short structures. In comparison to a common native plant in the eastern US, Pontederia cordata, snails clearly preferred to lay clutches on a widely distributed exotic, invasive plant (wild taro, Colocasia esculenta). Unexpectedly, smaller snails showed higher overall total fecundity as well as more eggs per clutch than larger snails. Therefore, hand removal efforts of large fe- males may not be enough to slow down clutch production. Collectively, our results indicate that conservationists and managers should search emergent plants for P. insularum clutches carefully to guard against established populations (Current Zoology 57 (5): 630-641, 2011).
Field evaluation of relationships between a vegetation structural parameter and sheltering against wind erosion

Measurements of natural vegetation canopies and of threshold friction velocities for soil movement were made at three arid and semiarid field sites. Threshold friction velocities for the vegetated surface and for bare soil were used to evaluate the partitioning of shear stress between that absorbed by the plant canopies and that absorbed by the soil surface (this potentially causing movement of soil particles). Canopy measurements were used to estimate lateral cover (total frontal-silhouette area per unit ground area), a parameter shown by previous laboratory studies to be a good predictor of shear stress partitioning. The relationship between lateral cover and shear stress partitioning for the field sites agreed with the laboratory results of Gillette and Stockton (1989). Results indicate that the protective influence of vegetative cover against wind erosion can be successfully predicted using simple measurements of vegetation canopy structure.
Yield-driven iterative robust circuit optimization algorithm

This paper proposes an equation-based multi-scenario iterative robust optimization methodology for analog/mixed-signal circuits. We show that due to local circuit performance monotonicity in random variations constraint maximization can be used to efficiently find critical constraints and worst-case scenarios of random process variations and populate them into a multi-scenario optimization. This algorithm scales gracefully with circuit size and is tested on both two-stage and fully differential folded-cascode operational amplifiers with a 90 nm predictive model. The improving yield-trends are confirmed across process and random variations with Hspice Monte-Carlo simulations.
Antisense Gets a Grip on miR-122 in Chimpanzees

Innovations in antisense drug design have enhanced potency and selectivity, as demonstrated in a recent study by Lanford and colleagues, who treated hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected chimpanzees with SPC3649. This compound is a second-generation antisense RNA molecule that is complementary to the microRNA miR-122, a major regulatory RNA in liver that fine-tunes the expression of over 100 cellular genes and enhances HCV replication. Serum concentrations of cholesterol and HCV RNA were reduced in chimpanzees treated with 12 weekly intravenous infusions of SPC3649, and no major side effects were noted, paving the way for clinical trials of SPC3649 and other antisense drugs directed against microRNAs. Potential therapeutic uses of SPC3649 include the treatment of HCV infection and liver cancer.
Stub-loaded inverted-F antenna synthesis via Wind Driven Optimization

A novel technique to design and optimize a low profile wire antenna with high broadside gain is introduced. The desired antenna properties are achieved by loading an electrically long inverted-F antenna (IFA) with two optimal wire stubs along the body of the antenna. The best lengths and locations of the stubs as well as other antenna design parameters were selected by a new nature-inspired technique called Wind Driven Optimization (WDO). The results of this work demonstrate that an optimized stub-loaded inverted-F antenna (SLIFA) can provide not only lower profile than that of a conventional IFA but also an enhanced gain of 8.2 dB at broadside where the IFA has a null.
Fuzzy Logic Intelligent Control System of Magnetic Bearings

This paper presents a fuzzy logic based intelligent control system applied to magnetic bearings. The core in the expert system is fuzzy logic controllers with Mamdani architecture. The fuzzy logic controllers for rub detection and automatic gain scheduling were implemented. The expert system not only provides a means to capture the run time data of the magnetic bearings, to process and monitor the parameters, and to diagnose malfunctions, but also protects the magnetic bearings from rub anomaly and implements the control on a real time basis.
Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (Abridged)

Arcadia Biosciences is seeking to introduce genetically modified rice to China that will lower farmers' costs and generate environmental benefits through reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The case describes challenges facing this small agricultural biotechnology company, notably uneven enforcement of intellectual property in emerging market countries and uncertainty regarding the provision and market value of carbon credits under international climate change agreements. In September 2008, Eric Rey, Arcadia's CEO, faces an inflection point concerning his leading technology, genes for Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) in rice. He can determine a price to charge for NUE seed based on savings to farmers from their reduced use of expensive nitrogen fertilizers. Or he can advance a plan to earn revenue from carbon credits allocated under the Kyoto Protocol to China for use of Arcadia's rice, since reduced nitrogen fertilizer use will lower greenhouse gas emissions. The case provides context on the company; describes advances in seed technologies focused to climate change and the associated resource issue of fertilizer use; and presents the strategic choices facing a start-up company operating at the intersection of business, agriculture, and climate change agreements.Learning Objective: Value creation and value capture in an industry where environmental externalities, intellectual property rights, and market power are critical.
Long-term survival following nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma: The 15 year University of California-Los Angeles experience

14532 Background: Significant advances in the diagnosis, staging, and treatment of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) during the last 2 decades have resulted in improved survival of a select ...
Modulating crack propagation in a multilayer stack with a super-layer

Quantitative characterization of interface adhesion and fracture properties of thin film materials is of fundamental and technological interests in modern technologies. Sandwich beam specimens used in fracture mechanics techniques, such as four-point bending and double-cantilever beam have been widely adopted, including the semiconductor industry. In this work, we highlight some of the challenges that these techniques are facing in characterizing ever thinner films and tough interfaces, and propose a simple strategy to address these challenges by engineering the stack structure of the specimen. We show that crack propagation in a multilayer stack can be controlled using a super-layer (SL) structure, and the dependence of the cracking behavior on the thickness and mechanical properties of the SL is studied. The effectiveness of the SL strategy is demonstrated for a range of technologically important material systems used in the on-chip interconnects of modern microprocessors, which represents one promising path to extend the industry-standard techniques to meet future characterization needs.
Deflection of MeV Electrons by Self-Generated Magnetic Fields in Intense Laser-Solid Interactions

We show that the interaction of relativistic-intensity, picosecond laser pulses with solid targets is affected by the reflected light through the strong currents and ${10}^{4}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{T}$ magnetic fields it produces. Three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, with the axisymmetry broken by a small angle of incidence, show that these magnetic fields deflect the laser-accelerated electrons away from the incident laser axis. This directly impacts the interpretation of electron divergence and directionality in applications such as laser-driven ion acceleration or fast-ignition inertial fusion.
The Return of Curriculum Inquiry from Schooling to Education

(1982). The Return of Curriculum Inquiry from Schooling to Education. Curriculum Inquiry: Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 221-232.
Pathogenesis of Arterial Hypertension in Coarctation of the Aorta

ConclusionsPartial (or even complete) occlusion of the aorta rats produces hypertension only if there is living renal tissue distal to the occlusion, just as there must be a kidney beyond a partially occluded renal artery in order to produce hypertension in a Goldblatt dog. The same degree of mechanical obstruction due to stenosis of the aorta and the presence of a collateral bed never results in hypertension when all of the renal tissue is above the site of occlusion.
SOUND PRODUCTION DURING COURTSHIP IN SIX SPECIES OF SUNFISH (CENTRARCHIDAE).

Understanding the mechanisms involved in maintaining species integrity is central to the study of systematics and evolution, and is especially interesting in recently evolved species where isolation is incomplete and still in the process of forming. Thus, natural hybridization is relatively frequent in these groups. The genus Lepomis (sunfish) is such a group and has been noted for the occurrence of natural hybrids (Hubbs, 1920; Hubbs, 1955). Breder and Rosen (1966) state of the sunfish family (Centrarchidae);
Hydrodynamic Performance of Deformable Fish Fins and Flapping Foils

A computational study of fish fin hydrodynamics is being conducted concurrently with experimental analysis. The presence of a complex shaped moving boundary makes this a difficult proposition for computational fluid dynamics and here we use a Cartesian grid based immersed boundary solver designed to handle such flows in all their complexity. High resolution, high speed video of fish fin movement during steady swimming by a bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) is obtained and these are used as a basis for developing a high fidelity geometrical model of the flapping fish fin. Simulations are carried out in order to examine the hydrodynamic performance of the fish fin and understand the wake topology of such fins. The fin motion is highly complex and a number of different strategies including proper orthogonal decomposition of the fin kinematics are used to examine the various kinematical features of the fin motion as well as their impact on the fin performance.
Work requirements and ego defects. Work dilemmans for the recovering psychotic

The purpose of this paper was to examine the work dilemmas of the recovering psychotic in terms of the collision of ego deficiences with the requirements of work realities. The vocational rehabilitation of the psychotic is a difficult undertaking and the techniques for accomplishing it are limited by the incompleteness of our understanding of the real nature of his work handicaps. Estranged as he is from the world of objects and indifferent to its rewards, concerned with the maintenance of a vulnerable integrity rather than with the development of potentials, lacking the life and work goals toward which a firm personal identity impels, the psychotic is indeed profoundly handicapped. Yet, his survival as a person depends upon his success in finding opportunities for identification, esteem, belonging and mastery. For him, as for the vast majority of other members of complex industrialized societies, the world of work can potentially provide such opportunities. A carefully structured work setting, with its positive meanings for security to the recovering psychotic, would therefore appear to be a proper starting place for his social restoration.
Coupled Dynamics and Entropic Contribution to the Allosteric Mechanism of Pin1.

Allosteric communication in proteins regulates a plethora of downstream processes in subcellular signaling pathways. Describing the effects of cooperative ligand binding on the atomic level is a key to understanding many regulatory processes involving biomolecules. Here, we use microsecond-long molecular dynamics simulations to investigate the allosteric mechanism of Pin1, a potential therapeutic target and a phosphorylated-Ser/Thr dependent peptidyl-prolyl cis–trans isomerase that regulates several subcellular processes and has been implicated in many diseases, including cancer and Alzheimer’s. Experimental studies suggest that the catalytic domain and the noncatalytic WW domain are allosterically coupled; however, an atomic level description of the dynamics associated with the interdomain communication is lacking. We show that binding of the substrate to the WW domain is directly coupled to the dynamics of the catalytic domain, causing rearrangement of the residue–residue contact dynamics from the WW do...
Investigation on influenza B Outbreak in Primary and Secondary Schools of JingXi County of Guangxi Province during 2008—2009

[Objective]To analyze the causes and epidemiologic features of influenza B outbreak in primary and secondary schools of Jingxi County from 2008—2009,and provide scientific evidence for developing control measures of influenza B.[Methods]Field epidemiological investigation was adopted to perform case verification.Throat swab specimens were analyzed for influenza virus nucleic acid by RT-PCR.[Results]From 2008—2009,influenza B outbreaks were reported in 9 primary and secondary schools of 7 counties,with 491 cases;most cases were school students,occupying 81.47%(400/491),among which 60.90% (299/491) were primary school students,followed by secondary school students,preschoolers and scattered children,only a few adult patients.40 throat swab specimens out of 52 were detected influenza B virus nucleic acid positive.[Conclusion]The outbreak in this district is caused by influenza B virus.Strengthening health education on school students plays an important role in the epidemic control.
Effect of TiO_2 membranes with different phase composition on growth of neurons

The Effect of TiO2 membranes with different phase composition on the adherent cells growth were observed by hypothalamic neurons culture in vitro for the immunoisolation application of TiO2 membranes.The TiO2 membranes with different phase composition supported on porous Ti planar were prepared under different sintering temperature by sol-gel technique.The results showed that the hypothalamic neurons could grow well on the TiO2 membranes with rutile phase.These neurons not only had typical nerval morphological characters,but also kept its secretory function of β-endorphin.The contents of β-endorphin remained between 42.5 pmol/L and 45.0 pmol/L.The livability of neurons,which were cultured on the TiO2 with rutile phase,was 86.7%.At the same time,the hypothalamic neurons,which were cultured on the TiO2 membranes with anatase phase,mostly died and the surviving neurons(5.3%) had neither normal nerval morphological characters nor secretory function.These results indicated that the TiO2 membranes with rutile phase were more propitious to adherent cells growth than that with rutile phase.
Computational micromechanics of fatigue of microstructures in the HCF–VHCF regimes

Abstract Advances in higher resolution experimental techniques have shown that metallic materials can develop fatigue cracks under cyclic loading levels significantly below the yield stress. Indeed, the traditional notion of a fatigue limit can be recast in terms of limits associated with nucleation and arrest of fatigue cracks at the microstructural scale. Although fatigue damage characteristically emerges from irreversible dislocation processes at sub-grain scales, the specific microstructure attributes, environment, and loading conditions can strongly affect the apparent failure mode and surface to subsurface transitions. In this paper we discuss multiple mechanisms that occur during fatigue loading in the high cycle fatigue (HCF) to very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) regimes. We compare these regimes, focusing on strategies to bridge experimental and modeling approaches exercised at multiple length scales and discussing particular challenges to modeling and simulation regarding microstructure-sensitive fatigue driving forces and thresholds. We conclude by discussing some of the challenges in predicting the transition of failure mechanisms at different stress and strain amplitudes.
Studies of the Properties of the System TaS 2− x Se x

We have been interested for some time in the intercalation properties of many of the transition metal dichalcogenides with organic compounds. The 2Ha phase of TaS2, in particular, has been found to be readily intercalated by a wide range of organics,1 but it forms very poor crystals. On the other hand, 2Ha-TaSe2 forms nearly perfect crystals but is not readily intercalated. We have found that samples of the mixed anion system TaS2−x Se x are sufficiently well formed to carry out single-crystal measurements, yet they intercalate. For reviews of the structural and electrical properties of TaS2 and TaSe2, see Jellinek2 and Huisman and Jellinek,3 respectively.
Policy Statements: Call for Response

The following draft policy statements were prepared for discussion from earlier original drafts by Ernest P. Willenberg. Many individuals, notably Fred MacKinnon and Paul Voelker, have assisted in considering these statements. Reactions and suggestions concerning these draft papers are encouraged and should be directed as soon as possible to:This statement of the Policies Commission is presented to the CEC membership for any final comments before being prepared for consideration by the Executive Committee, the Board of Governors, and the Delegate Assembly at the CEC Miami Beach Convention.
Topological surface superconductivity in doped Weyl loop materials

We study surface superconductivity involving the ``drumhead'' surface states of (doped) Weyl loop materials. The leading weak-coupling instability in the bulk is toward a chiral superconducting order, which fully gaps the Fermi surface. In this state the surface also becomes superconducting, with $p+ip$ symmetry. We show that the surface SC state is ``topological'' as long as it is fully gapped, and the system traps Majorana modes wherever a vortex line enters or exits the bulk. In contrast to true two-dimensional $p+ip$ superconductors, these Majorana zero modes arise even in the ``strong pairing'' regime where the chemical potential is entirely above/below the drumhead. We also consider conventional $s$-wave pairing, and show that in this case the surface hosts a flat band of charge neutral Majorana fermions, whose momentum range is given by the projection of the bulk Fermi surface. Weyl loop materials thus provide access to new forms of topological superconductivity.