cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dissociation of retinal fibers by degeneration rate.

In the cat, retinal ganglion cells send axons bilaterally to subcortical visual centers located in each hemisphere of the brain 4,10. Such a bilateral projection from each eye requires a partial decussation of fibers and an associated subdivision of the retina. In general, axons from the nasal retina of each eye cross to the opposite side of the brain and make their connections contralaterally, whereas axons from the temporal retina remain almost exclusively uncrossed and terminate ipsilaterally. Because fibers originating from either the nasal or temporal retina terminate in opposite sides of the brain, the population of optic tract fibers is generally divided into at least two types: contralateral and ipsilateral. Of interest is whether these two groups of fibers will degenerate at different rates. If so, then differences in degeneration rate may be used to examine the projection of nasal and temporal fibers in greater detail, without assuming that one group always projects contralaterally and the other ipsilaterally. The right eye of 9 neonatal kittens (3 litters) was enucleated asceptically under anesthesia within 24 h of birth. From 6 h to 6 days after the operation, the animals were again anesthetized and perfused through the heart with C.9 ~o saline followed by l0 formol-saline. Frozen sections through the dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and superior colliculus were cut coronally at 30/~m. Every fifth section was stained for degenerating axons and their terminals by the Fink-Heimer 3 silver method I. Adjacent sections were also stained with cresyl violet. In a separate staining series, sections through the L G N and superior colliculus from different brains were stained simultaneously to improve the validity of evaluating the density of degeneration following different survival periods. Of course, for each survival period, comparisons between the ipsilateral and contralateral projections were always made in the same section. The most detailed measurements were made in the middle one-third of the L G N where the density of degeneration was quantified. This was accomplished by counting the number of silver particles in regions 250/~m in diameter as seen in one plane of focus at x 125. At least 5 estimates of particle density were made for laminae A and A1 of the L G N and for the superior colliculi from two or more sections from each brain. A typical section through the LGN is shown in Fig. 2. Following enucleation of an eye in young kittens, optic fibers degenerate much more rapidly than in the adult cat. In adult animals optimal degeneration is not seen
Diffusive separation of noble gases and noble gas abundance patterns in sedimentary rocks

The mechanisms responsible for noble gas concentrations, abundance patterns, and strong retentivity in sedimentary lithologies remain poorly explained. Diffusion-controlled fractionation of noble gases is modeled and examined as an explanation for the absolute and relative abundances of noble gases observed in sediments. Since the physical properties of the noble gases are strong functions of atomic mass, the individual diffusion coefficients, adsorption coefficients and atomic radii combine to impede heavy noble gas (Xe) diffusion relative to light noble gas (Ne) diffusion. Filling of lithic grains/half-spaces by diffusive processes thus produces Ne enrichments in the early and middle stages of the filling process with F(Ne) values similar to that observed in volcanic glasses. Emptying lithic grains/half-spaces produces a Xe-enriched residual in the late (but not final) stages of the process producing F(Xe) values similar to that observed in shales. 'Exotic but unexceptional' shales that exhibit both F(Ne) and F(Xe) enrichments can be produced by incomplete emptying followed by incomplete filling. This mechanism is consistent with literature reported noble gas abundance patterns but may still require a separate mechanism for strong retention. A system of labyrinths-with-constrictions and/or C-, Si-nanotubes when combined with simple adsorption can result in stronger diffusive separation and non-steady-state enrichments that persist for longer times. Enhanced adsorption to multiple C atoms inside C-nanotubes as well as dangling functional groups closing the ends of nanotubes can provide potential mechanisms for 'strong retention'. We need new methods of examining noble gases in rocks to determine the role and function of angstrom-scale structures in both the diffusive enrichment process and the 'strong retention' process for noble gas abundances in terrestrial rocks.
Principal ideals and semi-direct products in commutative Banach algebras

Abstract We prove necessary conditions for a commutative Banach algebra to be the semi-direct product of some subalgebra together with a specified principal ideal.
Hybrid magnet program at the Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory MIT

The authors chronicle the evolution of hybrid magnets built at the Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory. It is noted that resistive water-cooled magnets can generate field according to how much power is available. The hybrid concept has been developed for generating fields beyond a power limit, up to 45 T. Along the way five successively more adventurous designs have been tried. >
Issues in the Economics of Pesticide Use in Agriculture: A Review of the Empirical Evidence

In this article, we review three perspectives used to place an economic value on pesticide use in agriculture and present associated empirical results. One approach is based on calculations of the marginal productivity; a second strategy considers the expected loss to pests relative to some current or maximum yield; and a third approach, related to the second, calculates the economic effect of banning pesticides, which is effectively the value that producers and consumers place on the chemicals used. We also review the economic effects of government policies to reduce or restrict pesticide use, including regulation and pesticide taxes as well as use of alternative technologies believed to reduce pesticide use, such as integrated pest management and genetically engineered plants.
Discourse Structure and Anaphora: Written and Conversational English

1. Introduction 2. Conversation analysis 3. Anaphora in conversational English 4. Rhetorical structure analysis 5. Anaphora in expository written English texts 6. Anaphora in expository written and conversational English 7. Conclusions.
THE LOCAL ORGANIZATION OF BEHAVIOR: DISSOCIATIONS BETWEEN A PIGEON'S BEHAVIOR AND SELF‐REPORTS OF THAT BEHAVIOR

The purpose of the experiment was to study the relation between what an organism does in a setting that demands temporal patterning of behavior and what it reports it has done. More specifically, a pigeon produced two classes, shorter and longer, of temporal patterns of key pecks (interresponse times) on a center key. Occasionally, a symbolic matching-to-sample probe arranged on side keys asked the pigeon whether its most recent pattern was a shorter or longer one. The longer reinforced pattern was always three times as long as the shorter one and the two patterns were reinforced equally often. Absolute duration of reinforced patterns was varied. In some conditions, interresponse-time distributions on the center key were bimodal, indicating a clear behavioral adaptation to the contingency, yet a bird did not report very well by appropriate side-key responding what its most recent interresponse time had been. In other conditions, the interresponse-time distributions were less clearly bimodal, yet a bird reported more accurately its previous interresponse time as shorter or longer. Thus, there was a dissociation between how well behavior on the center key conformed to the schedule requirement and how well a bird reported what it was doing on the center key. In addition, as absolute duration of the reinforced patterns was increased, a bird categorized its most recent pattern less well even as its preference for the shorter pattern increased dramatically. These results were interpreted as an example of the phenomenon of dissociation between tacit knowledge and knowledge.
Nonlinear model of the DNA molecule

We study a simple nonlinear model that mimics many features of the DNA molecule, where the source of the nonlinearity is the hydrogen bonds between nucleotides. We find an asymptotic solution of the equations of motion in the limit of small amplitudes. For an arbitrary initial condition, however, the equations of motion have to be integrated numerically. In this case we find essentially two different regimes, one in which an initial pulselike disturbance is pinned, and another one in which it propagates along the chain. In this latter case, propagation is a linear effect, in which the nonlinearity plays little role.
Origin and Behavior of Main Electron Traps in Si-Implanted GaAs

The electron traps in Si-implanted active layers(n~1017 cm−3) have been studied by capacitance and conductance DLTS techniques in conjunction with different anneal conditions, which include rapid thermal anneals at different temperatures and furnace anneals with a Si3N4 cap or capless in an AsH3 atmosphere. As compared to the electron traps in as-grown bulk n-GaAs (n~4×1016 cm−3), nearly the same electron traps, i.e. EL2, EL3, ELM, EL5, EL6 and EL9 can be observed in the Si-implanted layers. Through a comparison with the annealing behavior of the main elect ron traps in bulk n-GaAs, the processing associated origins of some of the traps(EL2, EL3, EL4, EL5 and EL9) observed in Si-implanted GaAs layers have been determined. For some Si-implanted GaAs capped with Si3N4 and furnace annealed, traps EL3 and EMA dominate the trap EL2. In such layers it is found that emission due to EL3 is reduced while emission from EL12 is augmented by increasing the filling pulse width from 10 μs to 5×103 μs. This phenomenon can be explained in terms of a defect reaction enhanced by electron capture, showing a metastability or bistability.
On periodic trichotomies

We study the kth order rational difference equation Particularly, we observe trichotomy behaviour which depends on a comparison between A and . We develop several new trichotomy results and resolve several conjectures regarding the boundedness character of the kth order rational difference equation.
Response of Adult Plum Curculios (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) to Contrasting Shades in Field and Laboratory Experiments

The responses of adult plum curculios, Conotrachelus nenuphar (Herbst), to visual stimuli were assessed in field and laboratory conditions to evaluate the hypothesis that adult captures should increase when traps visually contrast with a lighter horizon, such as the sky. Release-recapture field studies tested whether adult responses to traps were influenced by the trap's visual contrast with background on the horizon. Results at four sites showed that significantly more adults were captured in traps with woodlots behind them, refuting the hypothesis. Laboratory tests in environmental conditions of 315 lux or less observed the movement of adults between intervals. These showed that significantly more females and males relocated in areas marked with black. This effect occurred when adults were presented with black surfaces, stripes, or lines. The black shade used correlated with lower reflected lux (<110), and when in conditions of ≤ 10 lux, significant adult relocation on black was not observed. These results suggest that adults arrest in or move toward areas with low reflected lux. The laboratory and field results combined suggest that higher adult captures in traps correlated with the largest areas of low lux on the horizon. The results imply that trap placement should take reflected lux from all nearby objects into account and that even in small patterns on traps, variance in shade or reflected lux may permit manipulation of plum curculio movement.
The influence of prepuberal and postpuberal pinealectomy on treadwheel activity.

Abstract The effect of prepuberal and postpuberal pinealectomy on treadwheel activity was determined in male rats, either pinealectomized or sham-operated at age 93–98 days (Group I), or pinealectomized or sham-operated at age 2–4 days (Group II). The schedule used consisted of 22 hr of fasting, 1 hr of treadwheel running, and 1 hr of feeding. Both groups were tested in absolute darkness and bright light beginning at age 42–45 days. Group I was rerun on the treadwheel at age 108–113 days, after pinealectomy or sham operation. Neither mean revolutions per hour in darkness and light, nor dark vs. light comparisons, were found to differ significantly for the pinealectomized and sham-operated animals of Groups I and II. It is concluded that treadwheel activity is not affected in the male rat when the pineal is extirpated neonatally or postpuberally.
Posterior decompression and stabilization, and surgical vertebroplasty with the vertebral body stenting for metastatic vertebral and epidural cauda equina compression

We present the technique of combined posterior decompression and spinal instrumentation, and surgical (open) vertebroplasty using a novel system called vertebral body stenting (VBS) during a single session in a patient with metastatic vertebral and epidural cauda equina compression. J. Surg. Oncol. 2010; 101:253–258. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
THE AVERAGE ENERGY OF BETA-RAY SPECTRA

The average beta-energy per disintegration has been measured for ${\mathrm{P}}^{32}$, ${\mathrm{Y}}^{90}$, ${\mathrm{I}}^{131}$, and ${\mathrm{Ca}}^{45}$. An air-filled water-electrode extrapolation ionization chamber was used for measurement of the rate of emission of energy. The absolute disintegration rate was determined by $4\ensuremath{\pi}$-counting. Good agreement was found between the measured average energy values and values predicted by the Fermi theory using maximum energy data from the literature. Experimental results obtained were ${\mathrm{P}}^{32}$, 0.696\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.03 Mev; ${\mathrm{Y}}^{90}$, 0.895\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.035 Mev; ${\mathrm{I}}^{131}$, 0.189\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.008 Mev (includes conversion electrons); and ${\mathrm{Ca}}^{45}$, 0.0746\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.003 Mev.
Relationship between interleukin-1 and prostaglandins in resorbing neonatal calvaria.

The relationship between the cytokine interleukin-1 and prostaglandins in resorbing bone cultures is very confusing. In some reports, the effects of interleukin-1 are described as prostaglandin dependent, but in some they appear prostaglandin independent. Recent data suggest that events occurring during the preculture period may be important for understanding later effects of any factor on bone resorption in neonatal mouse calvaria. In this study, we examined neonatal mouse calvaria morphologically for indices of resorption to determine the importance of this preculture period to their subsequent response to interleukin-1. Our results show that after a preculture period of 24 h in control media, osteoclast numbers and resorption areas are markedly enhanced. The numbers of osteoclasts fall when the calvaria are transferred to fresh control media for the following 72 h. This increase in osteoclast formation was inhibited by the addition of indomethacin (10−6 M) during the preincubation period. When interleukin-1 was added to bones after the preincubation period, osteoclast numbers present at this time were maintained and indomethacin had no effect on this response. Furthermore, the inhibitory effect of indomethacin on osteoclast formation during the preculture period could be reversed by adding prostaglandins of the E series in low concentrations together with indomethacin. The effects of interleukin-1 did not appear to be related to osteoclast precursor proliferation, since hydroxyurea (which inhibits DNA synthesis in these cultures) had no effect on the response of calvarin to interleukin-1. These results indicate that prostaglandin production by mouse calvaria increases osteoclast numbers during the preincubation period. The effects of interleukin-1 were not dependent on prostaglandin synthesis, and this factor may stimulate bone resorption by acting at later stages in osteoclast formation and activation in these bones.
Predictors of Coparenting Relationship Quality in African American Single Mother Families: An Ecological Model

Nonmarital coparents, or adults who assist mothers with childrearing, play a significant role in the lives of African American single mothers and their children. Yet relatively little research has ...
Site‐Specific Labeling of Proteins and Peptides with Trans‐cyclooctene Containing Handles Capable of Tetrazine Ligation

There is a growing library of functionalized non-natural substrates for the enzyme protein farnesyltransferase (PFTase). PFTase covalently attaches these functionalized non-natural substrates to proteins ending in the sequence CAAX, where C is a cysteine that becomes alkylated, A represents an aliphatic amino acid, and X is Ser, Met, Ala, or Gln. Reported substrates include a variety of functionalities that allow modified proteins to undergo subsequent bioconjugation reactions. To date the most common strategy used in this approach has been copper catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). While being fast and bioorthogonal CuAAC has limited use in live cell experiments due to copper’s toxicity.1 Here we report the synthesis of trans-cyclooctene geranyl diphosphate. This substrate can be synthesized from geraniol in six steps and be enzymatically transferred to peptides and proteins that end in a CAAX sequence. Proteins and peptides site-specially modified with trans-cyclooctene geranyl diphosphate were subsequently targeted for further modification via tetrazine ligation. Since tetrazine ligation is bioorthogonal, fast, and is contingent on ring strain rather than the addition of a copper catalyst, this labeling strategy should prove useful for labeling proteins where the presence of copper may hinder solubility or biological reactivity.
Cache isolation and thin provisioning of hypervisor caches

Server virtualization has enabled resource consolidation and has minimized the need for additional and expensive hardware. Server virtualization has been widely deployed in a lot of organizations, because of the attractive benefits it offers like minimal hardware, cost effective resource consolidation, easier management and maintenance of hardware resources and so on. Many cloud service providers have offloaded processing capabilities to virtual servers in their data centers instead of using multiple physical servers which are very expensive these days. When such a virtualized server setup is connected to disk arrays, latency of data access becomes prominent. In order to minimize the response time of application requests on the virtual servers and make efficient utilization of cache, a dynamic caching mechanism is proposed by the authors on the hypervisor. The caching mechanism proposed in the research is different, in the sense that, it is an isolated, unshared and dynamic cache, where caching is done on the hypervisor instead of the virtual machines. The dynamic cache allocation algorithm enables thin provisioning of the hypervisor cache and leads to efficient cache utilization. Experimental results obtained using the thin provisioning algorithm look promising in terms of reducing the response time and efficiently utilizing the available cache.
Role of glucocorticoids in the maturation of the rat renal Na+/H+ antiporter (NHE3).

Role of glucocorticoids in the maturation of the rat renal Na + /H + antiporter (NHE3). Background Neonates have a lower Na + /H + antiporter activity on the apical membrane of proximal tubule than that of adults. The maturational increase in Na + /H + antiporter activity occurs at the time when there is a rise in serum glucocorticoid levels in rats. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether glucocorticoids are responsible for the postnatal increase in Na + /H + antiporter activity. Methods Nine-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats were compared with rats studied at 30 days of age who had either a sham operation or adrenalectomy (ADX) at nine days of age and with rats that had an adrenalectomy and physiologic corticosterone replacement (ADX-Cort) to determine whether glucocorticoid deficiency prevented the maturational increase in Na + /H + antiporter activity. Na + /H + antiporter activity was measured in proximal convoluted tubules perfused in vitro by the change in cell pH (pH i ) following luminal sodium removal. NHE3 mRNA abundance was measured using Northern blot analysis, and NHE3 protein abundance was measured by immunoblot. Results Na + /H + antiporter activity was 93.8 ± 17.7, 157.0 ± 18.0, 356.7 ± 29.9, and 402.5 ± 14.5 pmol/mm · min in nine-day-old, ADX, ADX-Cort, and sham control groups, respectively. The ADX-Cort and sham control were higher than the 9-day-old and the 30-day-old ADX group ( P P P Conclusions These data demonstrate that glucocorticoids play a role in the postnatal maturation of the proximal tubule Na + /H + antiporter activity and brush-border membrane NHE3 protein abundance. Glucocorticoid deficiency does not completely prevent the maturational increase in Na + /H + antiporter activity and does not affect NHE3 mRNA abundance.
Developmental expression of muscarinic receptors in the eyes of zebrafish.

Abstract In previous work, we have shown that light-adaptive pigment granule dispersion can be induced in vitro by treating retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) isolated from bluegill retina with acetylcholine or its analog carbachol and that these agents act through muscarinic receptors to induce pigment granule dispersion. RPE is a monolayer of tissue found between the neural retina and the choroid. In fish, RPE has long apical projections enmeshed with the distal part of photoreceptors, reaching down to the level of their nuclei. The RPE disperses melanin pigment granules into the apical projections to shield light-sensitive photoreceptor outer segments from photobleaching when fish are under bright-light conditions. During development, RPE begin to respond to light at 5 days post-fertilization, raising the question of whether responsiveness is correlated to receptor expression. Here, we isolate, clone and sequence chrm-odd receptor genes in zebrafish, characterize them phylogenetically and observe their expression in the eyes of the zebrafish at different developmental stages using RT-PCR and immunofluorescence microscopy. We find that zebrafish express six unique chrm-odd receptor subtypes: chrm1a, chrm1b, chrm3a, chrm3b, chrm5a and chrm5b — and these receptors are differentially expressed during development. Our phylogenetic analysis confirms the assignments of chrm1b and chrm5b, isolated here, as well as other muscarinic receptor genes and their duplicates and suggests previously described muscarinic receptors may need to be reclassified. Differences between the expression patterns of ostensibly duplicated genes raise the possibility that subtle differences between the duplicates may enable refined regulation of specific developmental events.
Identification of Novel Host Factors via Conserved Domain Search: Cns1 Cochaperone Is a Novel Restriction Factor of Tombusvirus Replication in Yeast

A large number of host-encoded proteins affect the replication of plus-stranded RNA viruses by acting as susceptibility factors. Many other cellular proteins are known to function as restriction factors of viral infections. Previous studies with tomato bushy stunt tombusvirus (TBSV) in a yeast model host have revealed the inhibitory function of TPR (tetratricopeptide repeat) domain-containing cyclophilins, which are members of the large family of host prolyl isomerases, in TBSV replication. In this paper, we tested additional TPR-containing yeast proteins in a cell-free TBSV replication assay and identified the Cns1p cochaperone for heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and Hsp90 chaperones as a strong inhibitor of TBSV replication. Cns1p interacted with the viral replication proteins and inhibited the assembly of the viral replicase complex and viral RNA synthesis in vitro. Overexpression of Cns1p inhibited TBSV replication in yeast. The use of a temperature-sensitive (TS) mutant of Cns1p in yeast revealed that at a semipermissive temperature, TS Cns1p could not inhibit TBSV replication. Interestingly, Cns1p and the TPR-containing Cpr7p cyclophilin have similar inhibitory functions during TBSV replication, although some of the details of their viral restriction mechanisms are different. Our observations indicate that TPR-containing cellular proteins could act as virus restriction factors.
N-terminal arginylation of proteins in explants of injured sciatic nerves and embryonic brains of rats

Posttranslational modification of proteins by arginine and lysine has been demonstrated in crude extracts of vertebrate nerves and brain but not in intact cells. In the present experiments we have exploited the fact that Arg is added posttranslationally only at the N-terminus of target proteins, to demonstrate these reactions in intact cells of sciatic nerves and embryonic brains of rats. Sciatic nerves were crushed in anaesthesized rats and 2 hrs later segments of nerve, including the site of the crush, were removed and incubated in media containing [3H]Arg. Incorporation of [3H]Arg into total proteins was analyzed by acid precipitation and the presence of label at the N-terminus was determined by a modification of the Edman degradation procedure. Approximately 25% of protein bound [3H]Arg was released from the N-terminus by the Edman reaction indicating that it was added posttranslationally rather than through protein synthesis. N-terminal labeling was not detectable in nerves not crushed prior to explant and incubation. Slices of embryonic day 20 visual cortex, when incubated under similar conditions as injured sciatic nerves, also showed approximately 25% of the protein incorporated [3H]Arg at the N-terminus, while arginylation was not detectable in adult rat brain slices. Since Lys is not added posttranslationally to the N-terminus, we have attempted to observe lysylation of proteins in intact cells by using cycloheximide (Cx) to block protein synthesis without interfering with protein modification. The posttranslational incorporation of Arg/Lys into proteins was found to be insensitive to up to 2.0 mM Cx in tissue extracts (in vitro). However, in intact cells, doses as low as 10 uM Cx completely inhibited the incorporation of [3H]Arg/Lys into proteins. One uM Cx allowed for some incorporation of [3H]Arg/Lys into protein and approximately 40% of the Cx insensitive Arg was incorporated into the N-terminal. These results show that in vivo but not in vitro, Cx can block protein modification, suggesting that either in intact cells protein modification requires protein synthesis, or that Cx has effects other than as an inhibitor of protein synthesis on cells in culture, effects that it does not have on the partially purified components of the reaction.
Exactly soluble Ising models on hierarchical lattices

Certain approximate renormalization-group recursion relations are exact for Ising models on special hierarchical lattices, as noted by Berker and Ostlund. These lattice models provide numerous examples of phase coexistence and critical points at finite temperatures, including cases of continuously varying critical exponents and phase transitions without phase coexistence. The lattices are, typically, quite inhomogeneous and may possess several inequivalent limits as infinite lattices.
The effect of partial hepatectomy and chronic alcohol administration on the population of basic polypeptides of rat liver nuclear ribonucleoprotein monoparticles

Summary Ribonucleoprotein particles sedimenting with an approximate sedimentation coefficient of 30S were prepared from rat liver nuclei. The polypeptides of the particles were separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis into three major molecular weight species with five charge isomers each ranging in apparent pI from 6.6 to 8.7. In the ethanol administered rats, the yield of ribonucleoprotein particles decreased by 15% whereas, in case of 18 hr regenerating liver, the decrease in the yield was 65% of the control. The protein-to-RNA ratio of 18 hr regenerating liver increased to 30:1 from the normal liver particle ratio of 4.4:1. The 18 hr regenerating liver particles were depleted of charge isomers of the prominent polypeptides. A normal pattern was retained after 30 hr of regeneration. Ribonucleoprotein particles isolated from the nuclei of alcohol abused livers had four major proteins composed of charge isomers with the apparent pI ranging from 6.4 to 7.5.
Detecting Tree Distributed Predicates

In a large-scale locality-driven network, knowing the state of a local area is sometimes necessary due to either interactions being local and driven by neighborhood proximity or the users being interested in the state of a certain region. We propose locality-aware predicates that aim at detecting a predicate within a specified area. We model the area of interest as the set of processes that are within distance $k$ from the initiator process. By associating the predicate with a tree topology, we force the set of processes satisfying the predicate to form a tree with height no more than $k$. This enables the detection of the predicate within the area of interest. We also formalize several classes of locality-aware predicates, which deal with strong stable and stable predicates for both conjunctive and relational types. The algorithms to detect each class are also proposed. These algorithms associate a tree topology constraint with the predicate to be detected. Since a locality-aware predicate detects predicates only within the specified area, the complexities of the corresponding algorithms are thus scale-free. These properties make locality-aware predicate a natural fit for detecting distributed properties in systems such as modular robotics and wireless sensor networks.
Sphingosine-1-phosphate protects endothelial glycocalyx by inhibiting syndecan-1 shedding

Endothelial cells (ECs) are covered by a surface glycocalyx layer that forms part of the barrier and mechanosensing functions of the blood-tissue interface. Removal of albumin in bathing media induces collapse or shedding of the glycocalyx. The electrostatic interaction between arginine residues on albumin, and negatively charged glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in the glycocalyx have been hypothesized to stabilize the glycocalyx structure. Because albumin is one of the primary carriers of the phospholipid sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), we evaluated the alternate hypothesis that S1P, acting via S1P1 receptors, plays the primary role in stabilizing the endothelial glycocalyx. Using confocal microscopy on rat fat-pad ECs, we demonstrated that heparan sulfate (HS), chondroitin sulfate (CS), and ectodomain of syndecan-1 were shed from the endothelial cell surface after removal of plasma protein but were retained in the presence of S1P at concentrations of >100 nM. S1P1 receptor antagonism abolished the protection of the glycocalyx by S1P and plasma proteins. S1P reduced GAGs released after removal of plasma protein. The mechanism of protection from loss of glycocalyx components by S1P-dependent pathways was shown to be suppression of metalloproteinase (MMP) activity. General inhibition of MMPs protected against loss of CS and syndecan-1. Specific inhibition of MMP-9 and MMP-13 protected against CS loss. We conclude that S1P plays a critical role in protecting the glycocalyx via S1P1 and inhibits the protease activity-dependent shedding of CS, HS, and the syndecan-1 ectodomain. Our results provide new insight into the role for S1P in protecting the glycocalyx and maintaining vascular homeostasis.
Phenytoin, midazolam, and naloxone protect against fentanyl-induced brain damage in rats

UNLABELLED In previous studies, large-dose fentanyl produced electrographic seizure activity and histologically evident brain damage. We assessed whether fentanyl-induced brain damage is attenuated by using anticonvulsant drugs. Using halothane/nitrous oxide anesthesia, 40 Sprague-Dawley rats underwent tracheal intubation, arterial and venous cannulation, and insertion of biparietal electroencephalogram electrodes and a rectal temperature probe. Halothane was discontinued. The dose of IV fentanyl shown previously to cause maximal brain damage was given to all animals and N(2)O was discontinued. Control rats were given fentanyl only. Rats in the three study groups also received midazolam, phenytoin, or N(2)O/naloxone. After characteristic seizure activity began with fentanyl loading the study drug was started. After a 2-h infusion, wounds were closed, and animals recovered overnight and underwent cerebral perfusion-fixation. Neuropathologic alterations were ranked on a scale of 0-5 for both neuronal death (0 = normal, 5 = more than 75% neuronal death) and for malacia. Significantly fewer rats in the N(2)O/Naloxone, Phenytoin, and Midazolam Groups sustained any brain damage compared with controls. Protection against opioid neurotoxicity is achieved with midazolam, naloxone, and phenytoin. If opioid neurotoxicity is clinically relevant, a small change in anesthetic practice might reduce any potential neurologic morbidity. IMPLICATIONS Narcotics in large doses can cause brain damage in rats. This brain damage is attenuated by a narcotic antagonist, a sedative, and an antiepileptic drug.
Cross-National Gender Differences in Adolescents' Preferences for Free-Time Activities

According to a procedure developed by Sundberg and Tyler, adoles cents (904, 14 to 16 years of age) from Cyprus, India, the Nether lands, and the United States listed all the free-time activities t...
Degenerate Systems and Mass Singularities

For a system with degenerate energies, the power series expansions of the $S$-matrix elements may become singular. An elementary theorem in quantum mechanics is proved which shows that under certain general conditions such singularities do not appear in the power series expansions of the transition probabilities, provided these are averaged over an appropriate ensemble of degenerate states. Application of this theorem leads to the cancellations of mass singularities and infrared divergences in quantum electrodynamics. The question of whether a charged particle can have zero mass is studied.
Microtexture and Composition of Reaction Products in the System Kaolin–Lime–Water

Textural and compositional features of reaction products in the system kaolin-lime-water were examined by electron microscopy and electron diffraction. Electron micrographs of replicas of fracture surfaces of compacted mixtures and transmission electron micrographs of powdered compacts showed considerable attack of kaolinite particles by hydrated lime and indicated formation of significant amounts of calcium silicate hydrate phases. Electron diffraction of reaction products confirmed the presence of calcium silicate hydrates. The presence of these hydrates is undoubtedly responsible for the stabilizing effects of lime which have previously been reported in the literature. /Author/
Conservation of bats in suburban landscapes: roost selection by Myotis yumanensis in a residential area in California

Abstract Protection of roosting habitat is essential to the conservation of bats in human-dominated landscapes. To help define bat roosting needs in suburban settings, we used radio telemetry to locate day roosts of a common North American species (Myotis yumanensis) within a residential area in California. Between June and August 2000, we tracked 16 bats to 20 roosts in two buildings and 18 trees. We used multiple logistic regression to assess roost selectivity at multiple spatial scales. Of 15 tree, plot, and site characteristics considered, only three helped distinguish roosts from random comparisons: tree diameter, distance to water, and forest cover. Myotis yumanensis preferred large trees (mean diameter 115 cm), and roosted only in the five species of largest mean diameter (Sequoia sempervirens, Pseudotsuga menziesii, Quercus agrifolia, Quercus lobata, and Acer macrophyllum). At the site level, these bats selected roosts that were close to water and had substantial forest cover in the surrounding 100-m radius. Unlike other North American bats, they often roosted in live trees (89% live). Relatively high roost fidelity (mean 4.8 days) and large travel distances between consecutive roosts (mean 1130 m) and between capture sites and roosts (mean 2007 m) may indicate a greater degree of roost limitation at this site versus other research sites. We recommend the preservation of large trees and forested parkland, particularly along stream corridors, to help maintain bat populations in urbanizing landscapes.
Adhesion of Staphylococcus epidermidis to biomaterials is inhibited by fibronectin and albumin.

Decades of contradictory results have obscured the exact role of adsorbed fibronectin in the adhesion of the bacterium, Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis), to biomaterials. Here, the ability of adsorbed fibronectin (FN) or bovine serum albumin (BSA) to modulate S. epidermidis adhesion to various biomaterials is reported. FN or BSA were adsorbed in increasing surface densities up to saturated monolayer coverage onto various common biomaterials, including poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP), poly(ether urethane) (PEU), silicone, and borosilicate glass. Despite the wide range of surface characteristics represented, adsorption isotherms varied only subtly between materials for the two proteins considered. S. epidermidis adhesion to the various protein-coated biomaterials was quantified in a static-fluid batch adhesion assay. While slight differences in overall adherent cell numbers were observed between the various protein-coated substrata, all materials exhibited significant dose-dependent decreases in S. epidermidis adhesion with increasing adsorption of either protein (FN, BSA) to all surfaces. Results here indicate that S. epidermidis adhesion to FN-coated surfaces is not a specific adhesion (i.e., receptor:ligand) mediated process, as no significant difference in adhesion was found between FN- and BSA-coated materials. Rather, results indicate that increasing surface density of either FN or BSA actually inhibited S. epidermidis adhesion to all biomaterials examined.
Do we need neurosurgical coverage in the trauma center

The undersupply and maldistribution of neurosurgeons coupled with the apparent abandonment of trauma care by a significant number of rank and file neurosurgeons, and perhaps an over demand for their services, has created a crisis in access to neurotrauma care across the country. There is evidence to support that the immediate availability of a neurosurgeon to participate in the care of all trauma patients, including those who have documented head injury, may not be essential to providing optimal care, calling the American College of Surgeons' mandated criterion for trauma center verification into question. Given the volume, nature, and timeliness of head injury and its care, it seems this crisis can be resolved to a great extent by having trauma surgeons or other properly trained, credentialed, and monitored providers assume nonoperative, in-patient neurotrauma care when hospital admission is actually indicated. Although part of the solution lies in increased supply of neurotrauma services regardless of provider type, a second component rests in decreasing demand for these services in cases of mild and extremely severe head injury. Such a solution seems feasible and advantageous in several respects and should be seriously considered by healthcare policy makers, trauma system planners, and the leaders of the neurosurgical and trauma surgery disciplines. What is truly needed in hospitals treating trauma patients (ie, trauma centers) is a philosophy centered on patient services rather than the specific provider. What is needed is a provider who is committed, capable, and competent, who recognizes and meets the patients' needs and provides the appropriate services. These providers, regardless of pedigree, must be supported and valued by the healthcare system and society. In the future this may require regionalization of services. In some hospitals and systems the primary person responsible for providing these services will be a neurosurgeon. In others, it may not and perhaps need not be.
Behavioral Treatments for Heterosocial Problems Effects on Daily Self-Monitored and Roleplayed Interactions

Three group treatments for heterosocial problems (systematic desensitization, social skills training, structured homework with cognitive restructuring) were compared to an assessment-control condition. Extensive self-recording of naturally-occurring social interactions and roleplayed interactions in the laboratory provided data for the evaluation of treatment impact. Roleplay assessment of social behavior produced effects for repeated measurement but did not discriminate between treatment conditions. Analyses of covariance of daily self-monitoring data revealed treatment differences, but the covariate (baseline level of performance) was the largest source of variation. The importance of person variables or person-by-situation interactions is highlighted; suggestions for future research are discussed.
Automatic detection of atrial fibrillation using stationary wavelet transform and support vector machine

BackgroundAtrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, and a major public health burden associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Automatic detection of AF could substantially help in early diagnosis, management and consequently prevention of the complications associated with chronic AF. In this paper, we propose a novel method for automatic AF detection. MethodStationary wavelet transform and support vector machine have been employed to detect AF episodes. The proposed method eliminates the need for P-peak or R-Peak detection (a pre-processing step required by many existing algorithms), and hence its performance (sensitivity, specificity) does not depend on the performance of beat detection. The proposed method has been compared with those of the existing methods in terms of various measures including performance, transition time (detection delay associated with transitioning from a non-AF to AF episode), and computation time (using MIT-BIH Atrial Fibrillation database). ResultsResults of a stratified 2-fold cross-validation reveals that the area under the Receiver Operative Characteristics (ROC) curve of the proposed method is 99.5%. Moreover, the method maintains its high accuracy regardless of the choice of the parameters? values and even for data segments as short as 10s. Using the optimal values of the parameters, the method achieves sensitivity and specificity of 97.0% and 97.1%, respectively. DiscussionThe proposed AF detection method has high sensitivity and specificity, and holds several interesting properties which make it a suitable choice for practical applications. A novel method for automatic detection of Atrial fibrillation (AF) is proposed.This method eliminates the need for P and/or R peak detection.Sensitivity and specificity of the method is 97.0% and 97.1%, respectively.It holds several interesting properties suitable for practical applications.
Asymptotic efficiency of linear multiuser detectors

Demodulation of data streams transmitted synchronously by several users over a Gaussian multiple access channel is considered. Each user modulates a different signal from a linearly independent signal set. The asymptotic efficiency criterion is used to evaluate the perfomance of different detection rules. The two currently most important detectors are presented and compared: the optimum multiuser detector whose complexity is exponential in the number of users and the single user detector whose performance degrades very rapidly as the multiuser interference energy increases. In contrast, a memoryless linear transformation on the matched filter outputs of the receiver is proposed, which is shown to guarantee a high lower bound on the asymptotic efficiency, which is independent of signal energies, while the time-complexity per bit is linear in the number of users. An algorithm which finds the best linear transformation is given, along with sufficient conditions on the signal energies and crosscorrelations to ensure optimum asymptotic efficiency of the proposed detector.
High-speed low-power integrating CMOS sample-and-hold amplifier architecture

A novel "current-mode" sampling architecture for sample-and-hold (S&H) amplifiers results in a substantial reduction in error due to sampling clock jitter and aperture time. These reduced errors make possible a substantial reduction in power over a conventional "voltage mode" S&H with the same sample rate. In order to demonstrate the performance of this architecture, a S&H with 4 subsampled parallel outputs has been designed using less than 2 mm/sup 2/ die area in a 1.2 /spl mu/ CMOS process. Operating at 100 MS/s the circuit dissipates only 25 mW of power. Integral nonlinearity of the S&H circuit is less than 0.4%. Simulation results of the second generation S&H circuit with improved common-mode rejection are also presented.
Third International Workshop on Software Engineering for High Performance Computing (HPC) Applications

High performance computing systems are used to develop software in a wide variety of domains including nuclear physics, crash simulation, satellite data processing, fluid dynamics, climate modeling, bioinformatics, and financial modeling. The TOP500 website (http://www.top500.org) lists the top 500 high performance computing systems. The diversity of government, scientific, and commercial organizations present on this list illustrates the growing prevalence and impact of HPC applications on modern society.
The Transporter Classification (TC) System, 2002

The Transporter Classification (TC) system is a functional/phylogenetic system designed for the classification of all transmembrane transport proteins found in living organisms on Earth. It parallels but differs from the strictly functional EC system developed decades ago by the Enzyme Commission of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB) for the classification of enzymes. Recently, the TC system has been adopted by the IUBMB as the internationally acclaimed system for the classification of transporters. Here we present the characteristics of the nearly 400 families of transport systems included in the TC system and provide statistical analyses of these families and their constituent proteins. Specifically, we analyze the transporter types for size and topological differences and analyze the families for the numbers and organismal sources of their constituent members. We show that channels and carriers exhibit distinctive structural and topological features. Bacterial-specific families outnumber eukaryotic-specific families about 2 to 1, while ubiquitous families, found in all three domains of life, are about half as numerous as eukaryotic-specific families. The results argue against appreciable horizontal transfer of genes encoding transporters between the three domains of life over the last 2 billion years.
Faculty Perceptions of SoTL at a Research Institution: A Preliminary Study:

Boyer (1990) and others have challenged the traditional boundaries of scholarship, calling for a broader view that includes the scholarship of integration, application, and teaching. The discipline of psychology has been productively involved in the debate, resulting in both contributions to the literature and changes in reward policies in some departments (e.g., Mathie et al., 2004). I examined psychology faculty's perceptions of how their department evaluates the scholarship of pedagogy and what they believe are the true boundaries of scholarship in psychology. I found a significant gap in what is “counted” as scholarship and what faculty believe should be counted.