cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Depth-specific variation in carbon isotopes demonstrates resource partitioning among the littoral zoobenthos

SUMMARY 1. Benthic animals readily consume benthic algae, phytoplankton and terrestrial organic matter and are themselves a major component of fish diets. However, the effect of variation in resource availability on resource use by littoral macroinvertebrates remains poorly resolved. 2. Using stable isotopes of carbon, we quantified depth-specific resource use by zoobenthic functional feeding groups in five lakes in northern Wisconsin. The littoral zoobenthos was collected from soft sediments at several depths in conjunction with samples of bulk periphyton (top 5 mm of sediment and biofilm) and measurements of benthic algal primary productivity. 3. Periphyton d 13 C was positively correlated with depth-specific benthic algal primary productivity, but grazer d 13 C was consistently higher than that of the periphyton. 4. The d 13 C of infaunal collectors and predators was tightly correlated with, and nearly identical to, bulk periphyton d 13 C (collectors: R 2 , 0.88; slope, 0.97; P < 0.0001; predators: R 2 , 0.78; slope, 0.88; P < 0.0001). Reliance of collectors and predators on benthic algal carbon varied between 43 and 100%, depending on whether grazers or bulk periphyton was used as the benthic algal end-member. 5. Despite the apparent homogeneity of the sediments, benthic grazers and collectors partitioned resources in a consistent way in our study lakes, indicating either selective ingestion or assimilation of different components of the biofilm.
Sinus pericranii in a young adult with chronic headache

An 18-year-old-man, with no relevant medical history, presented to the outpatient clinic for the evaluation of chronic headache. The patient described a waxing waning pressure sensation in the occipital area that had started a few months prior, and was slowly progressing in severity. The patient denied any head trauma, exacerbating factors or associated symptoms. He did not use tobacco, alcohol or illicit drugs. Family history was non-contributory, and medications included occasional use of over the counter …
Unilateral vs. bilateral ultrasound in the monitoring of cerebral microemboli

We used bilateral transcranial Doppler to monitor the number of microembolic events (ME) in the left and right middle cerebral arteries of 29 patients during cardiac surgery that required extracorporeal circulation. Based on a previously published study, we hypothesized that the commonly used method of doubling unilateral ME counts to obtain an estimated bihemispheric load would result in significant errors of estimation. In our sample, estimated bihemispheric counts were inaccurate by an average of 18% (range 0--80%). Despite this large range of error, calculation of Cronbach's alpha revealed that actual error due to unreliability (4%) was small relative to the large variation in ME counts across subjects in this patient series. These findings suggest that unilateral monitoring is sufficient when the goal is to characterize a given subject's ME load within the context of the other subjects in the sample. However, when precise ME counts are required, bilateral monitoring is essential.
The clinical significance of right axis deviation in the electrocardiogram

Abstract 1. 1. We have made a clinical analysis of 200 cases in which the electrocardiogram showed right axis deviation of more than +90°, excluding those with low voltage of the QRS complexes and intraventricular or bundle branch block. The most common findings were mitral stenosis, in 44.5 per cent of the cases, and no heart disease, in 37.5 per cent, leaving only 18 per cent associated with other conditions. Congenital heart disease was the third most common finding, responsible for 7 per cent of the cases. 2. 2. The upper normal limit of right axis deviation we found to be +109°, except for 3 cases. We believe, therefore, that axis deviation of +110°, or more, practically always indicates organic heart disease. 3. 3. Of the 200 cases of right axis deviation, coronary heart disease was found in only 7 (3.5 per cent), and in only one was it of more than slight degree. The position of the heart in the chest, rather than right ventricular strain, probably accounts for this combination. In view of the fact that the incidence of coronary heart disease is high among patients whose electrocardiograms are made in this laboratory, it is evident that the finding of right axis deviation electrocardiographically is strong, though not conclusive, evidence that the patient does not have coronary heart disease. In such cases cor pulmonale, partienlarly, should be considered. 4. 4. An analysis of the electrocardiogram with regard to axis deviation in cases of cor pulmonale and of the most common types of congenital cardiac defects (tetralogy of Fallot, interventricular septal defect, and patent ductus arteriosus) led to the following conclusions: (1) the tetralogy of Fallot always causes right axis deviation, usually of a high degree, except when there is an associated congenital dextrocardia; (2) interventricular septal defect rarely causes any deviation of the electrical axis, and if it does, the tendency is for right axis deviation to occur; (3) patency of the ductus arteriosus almost never causes right axis deviation, but may cause significant left axis deviation; and (4) in cor pulmonale there is always right axis deviation (or a tendency to right axis deviation), although not necessarily of high degree. 5. 5. We believe that even a slight degree of right axis deviation may be very significant and that its proper evaluation can be of prime importance in leading to a correct clinical diagnosis. In the normal person a vertical position of the heart in the chest or its rotation to the left around its longitudinal axis by a thoracic or spinal deformity is the most important factor leading to right axis deviation; while in the case of a transverse or enlarged heart, right axis deviation is almost always due to a cardiac defect which has led, either primarily or secondarily, to right ventricular strain.
CONTROL OVER A PACKET DROPPING NETWORK WITH NORM BOUNDED UNCERTAINTIES

In this paper, we consider a robust networked control problem. We consider linear unstable and uncertain discrete time plants with a network between the sensor and controller as well as between the controller and plant. We investigate the effect of data dropout in the form of packet losses and we focus on the tradeoff between packet arrival rate versus the uncertainties of the system dynamics. We show that the minimum packet arrival rate and the maximum uncertainty of the system dynamics have a positive correlation. Four distinct control schemes are explored and serve as examples to study this tradeoff. We derive sufficient condition for each scheme to ensure almost sure stability of the closed loop system. Simulation and examples are provided to assist the theory. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society
Proximal junctional acute collapse cranial to multi-level lumbar fusion: a cost analysis of prophylactic vertebral augmentation

Abstract Background context Limited data are available regarding incidence of proximal junctional acute collapse after multilevel lumbar spine fusion. There are no data regarding the cost of prophylactic vertebral augmentation adjacent to long lumbar fusions compared with the costs of performing revision fusion surgery for patients suffering with this complication. Purpose To perform a cost analysis of prophylactic vertebral augmentation for prevention of proximal junctional acute collapse after multilevel lumbar fusion. Study design Retrospective chart review and cost analysis. Patient sample All female patients older than 60 years undergoing extended lumbar fusions were reviewed to establish the incidence of proximal junctional acute collapse. Outcome measures Cost estimates for two-level vertebroplasty, two-level kyphoplasty, and revision instrumented fusion were calculated using billing data and cost-to-charge ratios. Methods Cost comparisons of prophylactic vertebral augmentation versus extension of fusion for patients suffering from proximal junctional acute collapse were performed. Results Twenty-eight female patients older than 60 years underwent lumbar fusions from L5 or S1 extending to the thoracolumbar junction (T9–L2). Fifteen of the 28 patients had prophylactic vertebroplasty cranial to the fused segment. Proximal junctional acute collapse requiring revision surgery occurred in 2 of the 13 patients (15.3%) treated without prophylactic vertebroplasty. None of the 15 patients undergoing cement augmentation experienced this complication. Assuming a 15% decrease in the incidence of proximal junctional acute collapse, the estimated cost to prevent a single proximal junctional acute collapse was $46,240 using vertebroplasty and $82,172 using kyphoplasty. Inpatient costs associated with a revision instrumented fusion averaged $77,432. Conclusions Prophylactic vertebral augmentation for the prevention of proximal junctional acute collapse may be a cost effective intervention in elderly female patients undergoing extended lumbar fusions. Further efforts are needed to determine more precisely the incidence of proximal junctional acute collapse and the effects of various risk factors on increasing this incidence, as well as methods of prevention.
Toward an appropriate EIL pedagogy: re-examining common ELT assumptions

This article argues that the teaching of English as an international language (EIL) should be based on an entirely different set of assumptions than has typically informed English language teaching (ELT) pedagogy. To begin, several defining features of an international language are described. Because these features have altered the nature of English itself, the author maintains that the pedagogy for teaching English must also change. The author then describes how two developments – a dramatic increase in the number of second language speakers of English and a shift in the cultural basis of English – have significantly altered the nature of English. These changes challenge several common assumptions of ELT pedagogy, namely that: interest in learning of English is largely the result of linguistic imperialism; ELT research and pedagogy should be informed by native speaker models; the cultural content for ELT should be derived from the cultures of native English speakers; the culture of learning that informs communicative language teaching (CLT) provides the most productive method for ELT. The article ends by positing major assumptions that should inform a comprehensive theory of EIL pedagogy.
IGNITION AND COMBUSTION OF ISOLATED COAL WATER SLURRY DROPLET

A digital image processing technique is used to investigate the ignition and combustion characteristics of an isolated coal water slurry droplet in low Re flow. Coal water slurry droplet study is useful for dilute coal suspensions based on the premise that ignitability of a spray of coal water slurry must depend on the ignition characteristic of an isolated coal water slurry droplet. A flat flame burner is used for optical accessibility and also for simulating vitiated gases as existing in boiler burners. A quartz wire of 0.175 mm dia is chosen for low thermal conductivity to hold the droplet above the flat flame burner. The following sequence of events are observed: (i) Ignition occurs at the leading edge of the droplet, (ii) For coal water slurry droplet of the order less than 1 mm ejection of volatiles as jets in the direction of convective flow followed by coalescence, (iii) For a droplet with diameter of the order greater than 1 mm it was observed that the volatile combustion occurs away from the droplet in the wake of the combustible gases made upstream, (iv) Combustion of coal water slurry droplet is intermittent. Ignition time and volatile combustion times were obtained for a typical coal water slurry droplet. Calculations were carried out to determine the number of particles, interparticle spacing and density of coal water slurry droplet.Copyright © 1997 by ASME
Automatic pool allocation: improving performance by controlling data structure layout in the heap

This paper describes Automatic Pool Allocation, a transformation framework that segregates distinct instances of heap-based data structures into seperate memory pools and allows heuristics to be used to partially control the internal layout of those data structures. The primary goal of this work is performance improvement, not automatic memory management, and the paper makes several new contributions. The key contribution is a new compiler algorithm for partitioning heap objects in imperative programs based on a context-sensitive pointer analysis, including a novel strategy for correct handling of indirect (and potentially unsafe) function calls. The transformation does not require type safe programs and works for the full generality of C and C++. Second, the paper describes several optimizations that exploit data structure partitioning to further improve program performance. Third, the paper evaluates how memory hierarchy behavior and overall program performance are impacted by the new transformations. Using a number of benchmarks and a few applications, we find that compilation times are extremely low, and overall running times for heap intensive programs speed up by 10-25% in many cases, about 2x in two cases, and more than 10x in two small benchmarks. Overall, we believe this work provides a new framework for optimizing pointer intensive programs by segregating and controlling the layout of heap-based data structures.
Analysis of Trace Elements in Forages by Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy

Use of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) for elemental analysis has been limited to a few elements including Ca, P, K, and Mg. However, other elements are of interest in the agricultural industry. Therefore, NIRS spectra were collected on forage samples consisting of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum and A. desertorum), and alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). Elemental concentrations of Ba, Li, Mo, Ni, Pb, V, Al, S, and Si were determined by ICP (Inductively Coupled Argon Plasma) analysis while selenium (Se) was determined by fluorometry. The elemental analyses were regressed against NIRS apparent absorption from 1100 to 2500 nm at 2-nm increments. Coefficients of variation /CV = (standard error of performance / the mean from the chemical procedure) X 1001 ranged from a high of 211% for Li in crested wheatgrass to 11% for S in alfalfa. Determination of Ba, Li, Mo, Ni, Pb, and V exhibited enough inconsistency in CVs among the three forages to preclude their determination with NIRS. Aluminum and S appear to be present in an organic form that NIRS is able to detect (CV = 22 and 15, 21 and 12, and 28 and 11%, for tall fescue, crested wheatgrass, and alfalfa, respectively). Silica exhibited slightly more variation than S or Al, with alfalfa having the highest CV (49%). Selenium was only determined on a tall fescue population with a CV = 27%. Using the statistical values as parameters indicative of NIRS utility, it appears that Al and S are the only elements in this group of minerals that can be determined with NIRS for these forage types.
An upper bound on the entropy of run-length coding (Corresp.)

An upper bound on the entropy per run in binary run-length coding is a \loga - (a - 1)\log (a - 1) , where a is the average run length. This upper bound is attained by a time-quantized Poisson square wave.
Automatic SystemC TLM generation for custom communication platforms

This paper presents a tool for automatic generation of transaction level models (TLMs) in SystemC for MPSoC designs with custom communication platforms. The MPSoC platform is captured as a graphical net-list of components, busses and bridge elements. The application is captured as C processes mapped to the platform components. Once the platform is decided, a set of transaction level communication APIs is automatically generated for each application C process. After the C code is input, an executable SystemC TLM of the design is automatically generated using our tool. This TLM can be executed using standard SystemC simulators for early functional verification of the design. Although, several TLM styles and standards have been proposed in the past, our approach differs in the fact that the designers do not need to understand the underlying SystemC code or TLM modeling style to verify that their application executes on the selected platform. Another key advantage of our tool is that the platform can be easily customized for the application and a new TLM for that platform can be automatically generated. The TLM can be used to program the custom platform early in the design cycle before the components are available. Our experimental results demonstrate that for large industrial applications such as MP3 decoder and H.264, high-speed TLMs can be generated for several platforms in a few seconds.
A Fulbright Counseling Psychologist in a Rebellious Soviet Republic

In this article, challenges met in living and lecturing as a Fulbright scholar in the Soviet Republic of Estonia are described Requested topics for lectures included counseling techniques, psychological testing, and career development. Insights gained about important influences in Soviet psychology are described. Also reported are certain current conditions and trends in Soviet society related to counseling psychology.
El turismo urbano y la geografía de la ciudad

Para la literatura urbana post-estructuralista, las ciudades aparecen como paisajes fracturados en enclaves protegidos y excluyentes, los cuales colonizan y reemplazan los lugares locales. Consecuentemente, se considera que los enclaves turisticos facilitan el control autoritario del espacio urbano, modificando el consumo y reemplazando y suprimiendo la cultura local con "ambientes Disney". Este articulo plantea que si bien dentro de los enclaves turisticos se intenta -y generalmente se alcanza- un regimen no democratico, directivo y autoritario, incluso en estos espacios el control social no es total; el analisis que aqui se propone respecto de los espacios turisticos revela que la fractura de los espacios de las metropolis postmodernas puede crear diversidad y diferencia, mas que monotonia y uniformidad. Se concluye que, para los visitantes de las ciudades, la distopia urbana predicha por los post-estructuralistas no ha sido aun materializada.
Cell lineage analysis of the amphipod crustacean Parhyale hawaiensis reveals an early restriction of cell fates

In the amphipod crustacean, Parhyale hawaiensis, the first few embryonic cleavages are total and generate a stereotypical arrangement of cells. In particular, at the eight-cell stage there are four macromeres and four micromeres, and each of these cells is uniquely identifiable. We describe our studies of the cell fate pattern of these eight blastomeres, and find that the eight clones resulting from these cells set up distinct cell lineages that differ in terms of proliferation, migration and cell fate. Remarkably, the cell fate of each blastomere is restricted to a single germ layer. The ectoderm originates from three of the macromeres, while the remaining macromere generates the visceral mesoderm. Two of the micromeres generate the somatic mesoderm, a third micromere generates the endoderm and the fourth micromere generates the germline. These findings demonstrate for the first time a total cleavage pattern in an arthropod which results in an invariant cell fate of the blastomeres, but notably, the cell lineage pattern of Parhyale reported shows no clear resemblance to those found in spiralians, nematodes or deuterostomes. Finally, the techniques we have developed for the analysis of Parhyale development suggest that this arthropod may be particularly useful for future functional analyses of crustacean development.
Because of the risk of developing heterotopic ossification, are passive range of motion exercises contraindicated following traumatic injuries?

The purpose of “Evidence in Practice” is to illustrate the literature search process to obtain evidence that can guide clinical decision making. This article is not a case report. The examination, evaluation, and intervention sections are purposely abbreviated. A 62-year-old man was referred for outpatient physical therapy 2 weeks after he had fallen and fractured the head of his right radial bone. The fractured radial head was excised the day after the injury, and the patient had been using a sling on his right arm for comfort. The radiology report stated that good bony alignment was observed and that no bony abnormalities were present following surgery. The patient's goal was to return to his job as a courtroom deputy. The surgeon had referred the patient to me for examination, evaluation, and intervention, noting the need to increase range of motion in the right elbow, but he had specifically written “no passive range of motion exercise” on the consultation form. Upon initial examination, range of motion of the right elbow, as measured with a standard goniometer, as described by Armstrong et al,1 was 75 degrees to 115 degrees of flexion, 10 degrees of supination, and 20 degrees of pronation. Because of the surgeon's note, I was concerned that the absence of interventions designed to increase the range of motion of the right elbow could delay the recovery of function, and I was uncertain why he made this request. I therefore contacted the surgeon to discuss his rationale. He said that he was concerned that passive range of motion following a traumatic injury could lead to heterotopic ossification (the appearance of ectopic bone in the soft tissues around the elbow). I proceeded with the initial physical therapist examination of the patient and the creation of an active exercise program, but I …
Waveform Correlation and Optimization Issues for MIMO Radar

In this paper, waveform optimization for multiple- input multiple-output (MIMO) radar systems is considered. Two types of waveform optimization are studied for static radar envi- ronments. Firstly, image-energy optimization using environmen- tally adaptive waveform design is considered. Secondly, waveform optimization for angle estimation in clutter-free environments is treated using Cramer-Rao bounds.
Advances in mechanical assist devices and artificial hearts for children.

Purpose of reviewMechanical circulatory support (MCS) has rapidly evolved toward continuous flow technology in adults. In the pediatric population, the Berlin EXCOR, a paracorporeal pulsatile pump, is the only MCS device specifically approved for pediatric use. The current era of pediatric MCS inclu
A Bayesian Developmental Approach to Robotic Goal-Based Imitation Learning

A fundamental challenge in robotics today is building robots that can learn new skills by observing humans and imitating human actions. We propose a new Bayesian approach to robotic learning by imitation inspired by the developmental hypothesis that children use self-experience to bootstrap the process of intention recognition and goal-based imitation. Our approach allows an autonomous agent to: (i) learn probabilistic models of actions through self-discovery and experience, (ii) utilize these learned models for inferring the goals of human actions, and (iii) perform goal-based imitation for robotic learning and human-robot collaboration. Such an approach allows a robot to leverage its increasing repertoire of learned behaviors to interpret increasingly complex human actions and use the inferred goals for imitation, even when the robot has very different actuators from humans. We demonstrate our approach using two different scenarios: (i) a simulated robot that learns human-like gaze following behavior, and (ii) a robot that learns to imitate human actions in a tabletop organization task. In both cases, the agent learns a probabilistic model of its own actions, and uses this model for goal inference and goal-based imitation. We also show that the robotic agent can use its probabilistic model to seek human assistance when it recognizes that its inferred actions are too uncertain, risky, or impossible to perform, thereby opening the door to human-robot collaboration.
Intentionality: Husserl’s Early Theory

Husserl’s criticisms of Brentano’s theory of the intentional object as immanent to experience move Husserl—as we have already seen—toward a new view of intentionality and the intentional object. Smith and McIntyre argue that this new view sees the intentional object as a mediating abstract entity, the “ideal” or “intentional” content of an act, rather than an intended objectivity either immanent or transcendent to the act. We have seen, furthermore, that Frege’s semantics appeals to a notion of sense as an abstract entity which, in ordinary contexts, mediates between the linguistic expression and its referent. Smith and McIntyre suggest that this theory of sense can be employed—even if Frege had no influence whatsoever on Husserl—to elucidate Husserl’s theory of the intentional content of an act, and it is to Husserl’s first formulation in LU of the theory of intentional contents that we must now turn. Our concern is to understand the development of his thought as he moved from Brentano’s object-theory to his own theory of intentionality. This theory reaches its mature form no earlier than 1913 and the publication of Ideen I,1 although even then the doctrine of the noema requires further clarification and there are themes, e.g. the notions of horizon and genetic analysis, which still require much development.
Algorithm Modification Approach to Improve the Kinect’s Performance in Point Cloud Processing

Since its introduction in 2010, Microsoft’s Kinect input device for game consoles and computers has shown its great potential in a large number of applications, including game development, research and education. Many of these implementations are still in the prototype stages and exhibit a somewhat limited performance. These limitations are mainly caused by the quality of the point clouds generated by the Kinect, which include limited range, high dependency on surface properties, shadowing, low depth accuracy, etc. One of the Kinect’s most significant limitations is the low accuracy and high error associated with its point cloud. The severity of these defects varies with the points’ locations in the Kinect’s camera coordinate system. The available traditional algorithms for processing point clouds are based on the same assumption that input point clouds are perfect and have the same characteristics throughout the entire point cloud.In the first part of this paper, the Kinect’s point cloud properties (including resolution, depth accuracy, noise level and error) and their dependency on the point pixel location will be systematically studied. Second, the Kinect’s calibration, both by hardware and software approaches, will be explored and methods for improving the quality of its output point clouds will be identified. Then, modified algorithms adapted to the Kinect’s unique properties will be introduced. This method allows to better judge the output point cloud properties in a quantifiable manner and then to modify traditional computer vision algorithms by adjusting their assumptions regarding the input cloud properties to the actual parameters of the Kinect. Finally, the modified algorithms will be tested in a prototype application, which shows that the Kinect does have the potential for successful usage in educational applications if the according algorithms are design properly.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
Erie and Problems of Constitutional Structure: A Response to Professor Clark

Erie has become a lamentably prevalent authority for limiting federal judicial power; I have called this phenomenon Erie's new myth. New-myth advocates often trade on Erie's celebrity and on distaste for Swift v. Tyson's federal general common law. But the new myth sweeps broader than simply rejecting Swift's holding or endorsing Erie's. In fact, new-myth opposition to federal common law applies inherently unstable concepts, resulting in a malleable theory that risks selective and unwarranted expansion. Bradford Clark's scholarship fits this pattern. One unique feature of Clark's analysis is his claim that the Supremacy Clause, Erie, INS v. Chadha, and the constitutional structure form interrelated limits on federal judicial power. This Essay argues that the first three cannot support Clark's conclusions, but that Clark's reliance on structure needs detailed attention. The term structure has multiple meanings in constitutional law, and Clark's scholarship illustrates structural interpretation's strengths and weaknesses. Part I challenges Clark's view of the Supremacy Clause as Erie's constitutional source, and considers his arguments' threat to administrative lawmaking. Part II explores Clark's vision of constitutional structure and illustrates how such interpretive methods can incorporate unstated assumptions about how the Constitution should operate. I conclude that, although arguments about constitutional structure are important, such claims merit scrutiny similar to other assertions about constitutional penumbras and ordered liberty.
What properly belongs to grammar? A response to Lepore and Stone

AbstractLepore and Stone devote Part I of their book to setting out a number of views that act as foils for their own positive ‘disambiguation’ view of interpretation developed in Part II. They divide their opposition into three camps: The Gricean rationalists, the neo-Gricean lexicalists, and the empirical psychologists. I try to show why a ‘disambiguation’ view of such phenomena is unappealing and why Relevance Theory provides a better account of these phenomena. I end with some brief remarks about what all of this tells us about the interface between semantics and pragmatics.
Diffusion of a Spherical Probe through Static Nematogens: Effect of Increasing Geometric Anisotropy and Long-Range Structure

Diffusional behavior of a spherical probe through static nematogens (or needles) is probed via molecular dynamics simulations. The needles are modeled as spherocylinders and are arranged in idealized limits of an isotropic phase and a slowly quenched nematic mesh. The spherical probe exhibits superdiffusive motion through both the isotropic and nematic scatterer configurations. The superdiffusive behavior results from directional collisions between the spherical probe and the static nematogens. Velocity autocorrelation functions show long time correlations caused by directionality of transport due to the geometric anisotropy of the scatterers; however, glassy behavior exhibited by the tracer is observed when the scatterers are sufficiently long, leading to a downturn in the diffusion coefficients. Diffusion through the nematic configuration shows anisotropic diffusion with preferential motion occurring along the orientational director by way of effective channels formed by the long-range orientational ord...
Modeling and Simulation of a Dynamic Turbofan Engine Using MATLAB/Simulink

A dynamic, high-bypass turbofan engine model is being developed in the modeling and simulation environment of MATLAB/Simulink. Individual elements, including the fan, compressor, combustor, high pressure turbine, low pressure turbine, and exit nozzle, have been combined to investigate the behavior of a typical turbofan engine throughout a specified aircraft mission. The model is being developed generically through the use of variables and can easily be adapted to match specific engine characteristics when necessary. Special attention has been paid to the development of transient capabilities throughout the model. Capturing these dynamic behaviors not only increases model fidelity, but also eliminates algebraic constraints while reducing simulation time through the use of advanced numerical solvers. This lessening of computation times is paramount for conducting future aircraft system-level design trade studies efficiently, as demonstrated in previous thermal tip-to-tail modeling of a generic and non-proprietary long range strike platform. Thrust production will be tracked as the new engine model is run for a specified mission profile and fuel flow. Preliminary results for each component, as well as the high and low pressure spools, are compared to the previous tip-to-tail engine to verify accuracy. Future work will integrate these components in a new engine model in an effort to reduce overall simulation time. Upon completion, the new engine model will be integrated with the full tip-to-tail model to quantify these simulation time reductions.
Hearing Status of Locomotive Stewards in Nanning Locomotive Depot

[Objective]To understand the hearing status of locomotive stewards in Nanning Locomotive Depot.[Methods]Occupational examination data of locomotive stewards from Nanning Locomotive Depot were statistically analyzed in 2010.The results were compared with the hearing test results of electric generator locomotive drivers who receiver physical examination in the same period.[Results]The incidence of noise-induced hearing loss among stewards was 57.4%,with noise-induced deafness of 9.8%.The proportion of normal hearing among stewards was 42.6% which was higher than 32.1% of electric generator locomotive drivers,the difference was not significant(P 0.05).The incidence of injury between stewards with different service lengths was significant(P 0.01).[Conclusion]The proportion of normal hearing among stewards is higher than that of electric generator locomotive drivers.Noise-induced hearing loss of stewards positively correlates with service length,which means the incidence is increasing with the extending of service length.
Analysis on Transmission Line Porcelain Insulator String Breakage Caused by Lightning and Its Countermeasure

The paper analyzed porcelain insulator string breakage happened in 220 kV Fengjin line No.50 strain tower and 220 kV Wanwen I line.In order to prevent transmission line porcelain insulator string breakage,reasons and countermeasures for it were presented according to the result of string breakage test.
Seasonal Changes in Food Consumption of Little Brown Bats Held in Captivity at a “Neutral” Temperature of 92° F

Little brown bats, Myotis lucifugus , were maintained on a diet of mealworms in captivity throughout most of one year at a neutral temperature of 92° F. An attempt was made to maintain constant body weights of bats within the normal range of those in nature. Under these conditions, seasonal and sex variations in food consumption were observed. Major differences in food consumption were thought to result from a shift in the zone of thermal neutrality and alterations in the female reproductive cycle. Food consumption and body weight in M. lucifugus appear to follow a seasonal cycle under constant laboratory conditions.
EbbRT: a framework for building per-application library operating systems

General purpose operating systems sacrifice perapplication performance in order to preserve generality. On the other hand, substantial effort is required to customize or construct an operating system to meet the needs of an application. This paper describes the design and implementation of the Elastic Building Block Runtime (EbbRT), a framework for building per-application library operating systems. EbbRT reduces the effort required to construct and maintain library operating systems without hindering the degree of specialization required for high performance. We combine several techniques in order to achieve this, including a distributed OS architecture, a low-overhead component model, a lightweight event-driven runtime, and many language-level primitives. EbbRT is able to simultaneously enable performance specialization, support for a broad range of applications, and ease the burden of systems development.An EbbRT prototype demonstrates the degree of customization made possible by our framework approach. In an evaluation of memcached, EbbRT and is able to attain 2:08× higher throughput than Linux. The node.js runtime, ported to EbbRT, demonstrates the broad applicability and ease of development enabled by our approach.
Analog processing board for the MiCES small animal PET scanner

The analog signal summing board for the micro crystal element scanner (MiCES) small animal positron emission tomograph is described. The MiCES scanner uses a detector module with a position sensitive photomultiplier tube (PSPMT) providing 12 output signals. To reduce the number of electronic channels, the signals are summed to produce four output signals (X+, X-, Y+, Y-). Our current analog summing board uses a simple resistor network to provide weighting of the summed input signals. A weakness of this implementation is the decoding performance of crystals near the edges of the PSPMT. Because the MiCES scanner incorporates a very compact crystal array (22/spl times/22 crystals, each 0.8/spl times/0.8/spl times/10mm), that uses all of the PSPMT photocathode, improving the edge decoding is an important goal. The analog summing board described in this paper uses a threshold amplifier, weighted resistor network, and a low voltage differential signal (LVDS) converter. Thresholds are set on each of the 12 PSPMT signals to block those signals that inject more noise than information into the summing network. The result is an improvement in edge decoding. Output signals are converted to LVDS levels to minimize noise during signal transfer to the system analog processing boards.
The multifaceted roles of inflammasome proteins in cancer.

Purpose of reviewInflammasomes are major actors of the innate immune system, through their regulation of inflammatory caspases and maturation of IL-1β and IL-18. These multiprotein complexes have been shown to play major roles in inflammatory and metabolic diseases and have more recently been implic
Primary and Secondary Exercise Dependence in a Sample of Cyclists

Exercise dependence (EXD) has been documented in several types of athletes and physically active individuals, yet prevalence rates in cyclists are unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine primary and secondary variants of EXD in cyclists. Cross-sectional survey. Cyclists recruited from the Sea Otter Classic bike races (N = 179; M age = 32.47 years, SD = 12.94; 69.83% male; 74.30% Caucasian) completed measures of race history, exercise dependence, eating disorder risk, and exercise amount. Prevalence of at-risk for primary EXD was 8.24% and secondary EXD was 1.18%. A majority of participants reported being symptomatic of primary EXD (70.0%). A high proportion of cyclists may be experiencing symptoms of primary EXD and few exhibit eating disorder risk. Results may inform coaches and therapists about risk for exercise pathology in cyclists.
‘I need somebody to hear me’: YouTube and identity expression of biracial individuals

AbstractThe first time multiracial individuals were afforded the opportunity to identify with more than one race on the US Census was in the year 2000. Between 2000 and 2010, the black-white multiracial subpopulation was the largest and fastest growing within the two or more races category. The identities of many within this particularly youthful group are being formed within the digital world of social media, what has become a platform for individuals to share their personal truths with real and imagined audiences. Thus, a mapping of the current identity expression landscape must consider uses of digital media. This article takes up this task through a critical discourse analysis through a critical discourse analysis of a selection of YouTube video commentaries posted by black-white biracial individuals. As individuals describe experiences had in educational spaces, they also communicate beliefs about their identities – the ways they see themselves and the ways they want to be seen.
Caring for Xate, caring for Xateros: NGO monitoring, livelihoods, and plant-human relations in Uaxactún, Guatemala

In Uaxactun, a community forest concession inside Guatemala's Maya Biosphere Reserve, three species of xate palm, a non-timber forest product, are at the heart of quickly evolving webs of knowledge, identity, institutional alliances, and livelihoods. Xate palms are simultaneously the "daily beans" for the majority of Uaxactun residents, the object of intense study and regulation, a commodity marketable to international floral markets, a marker of local identity, and a ubiquitous part of the forest landscape. Now, as the result of a series of projects instituted by the conservation NGO, the Wildlife Conservation Society and other institutions, xate in Uaxactun is being transformed from a "natural", exploited part of the landscape to something to actively cuidar, or care for. NGO-driven dynamics of monitoring, study, and other external knowledge-making about the village are central to these ongoing shifts in xate-human relations, and to broader changes in local senses of place and identity. "Care" describes both material and affective relations, including practices and values that strive for a more liveable world without assuming an ultimate goal or a best solution. NGO projects that foster relations of care between villagers and xate palms are also a form of caring for villagers themselves, working as they do towards sustainable shared human/non-human futures. At the same time, however, these projects are "necessary but not sufficient" – caught in the problematic local scale, and failing to address deeper structural problems that keep Uaxactun residents dependent on precarious sources of income. Keywords: Guatemala, Maya Biosphere Reserve, NTFPs, NGOs, environmental knowledge, care
Introduction to Sumoylation

Reversible post-translational modification is a rapid and efficient system to control the activity of pre-existing proteins. Modifiers range from small chemical moieties, such as phosphate groups, to proteins themselves as the modifier. The patriarch of the protein modifiers is ubiquitin which plays a central role in protein degradation and protein targeting. Over the last 20 years, the ubiquitin family has expanded to include a variety of ubiquitin-related small modifier proteins that are all covalently attached to a lysine residue on target proteins via series of enzymatic reactions. Of these more recently discovered ubiquitin-like proteins, the SUMO family has gained prominence as a major regulatory component that impacts numerous aspects of cell growth, differentiation, and response to stress. Unlike ubiquitinylation which often leads to proteins turn over, sumoylation performs a variety of function such as altering protein stability, modulating protein trafficking, directing protein-protein interactions, and regulating protein activity. This chapter will introduce the basic properties of SUMO proteins and the general tenets of sumoylation.
Characterization of Pyrin Dephosphorylation and Inflammasome Activation in Macrophages as Triggered by the Yersinia Effectors YopE and YopT.

ABSTRACT Pathogenic Yersinia species deliver Yop effector proteins through a type III secretion system into host cells. Among these effectors, YopE and YopT are Rho-modifying toxins, which function to modulate host cell physiology and evade immune responses. YopE is a GTPase-activating protein (GAP) while YopT is a protease, and they inhibit RhoA by different modes of action. Modifications to RhoA are sensed by pyrin, which, once activated, assembles a caspase-1 inflammasome, which generates cytokines such as interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and cell death by pyroptosis. In Yersinia-infected macrophages, YopE or YopT triggers inflammasome assembly only in the absence of another effector, YopM, which counteracts pyrin by keeping it inactive. The glucosyltransferase TcdB from Clostridium difficile, a well-studied RhoA-inactivating toxin, triggers activation of murine pyrin by dephosphorylation of Ser205 and Ser241. To determine if YopE or YopT triggers pyrin dephosphorylation, we infected lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-primed murine macrophages with ΔyopMYersinia pseudotuberculosis strains expressing wild-type (wt) or YopE mutant variants or YopT. By immunoblotting pyrin after infection, we observed that wt YopE triggered dephosphorylation of Ser205 and inflammasome activation. Pyrin dephosphorylation was reduced if a YopE variant had a defect in stability or RhoA specificity but not membrane localization. We also observed that wt YopT triggered pyrin dephosphorylation but more slowly than YopE, suggesting that YopE is dominant in this process. Our findings provide evidence that RhoA-modifying toxins trigger activation of pyrin by a conserved dephosphorylation mechanism. In addition, by characterization of YopE and YopT, we show that different features of effectors, such as RhoA specificity, affect the efficiency of pyrin dephosphorylation.
Analysis of pleiotropic genetic effects on cognitive impairment, systemic inflammation, and plasma lipids in the Health and Retirement Study.

Abstract Variants associated with modulation of c-reactive protein (CRP) and plasma lipids have been investigated for polygenic overlap with Alzheimer's disease risk variants. We examined pleiotropic genetic effects on cognitive impairment conditioned on genetic variants (SNPs) associated with systemic inflammation as measured by CRP and with plasma lipids using data from the Health and Retirement Study. SNP enrichment was observed for cognitive impairment conditioned on the secondary phenotypes of plasma CRP and lipids. Fold enrichment of 100%–800% was observed for increasingly stringent p-value thresholds for SNPs associated with cognitive impairment conditional on plasma CRP, 80%–800% for low-density lipoprotein, and 80%–600% for total cholesterol. Significant associations (false discovery rate Q ≤ 0.05) between cognitive impairment, conditional with either CRP, low-density lipoprotein, or total cholesterol, were found for the locus on chromosome 19 that contains the APOE, TOMM40, APOC1, and PVRL2 genes. Relative numbers of significant SNPs in each of the genes differed by the conditional associations with the secondary phenotypes. Biological interpretation of both the genetic pleiotropy results and the individual genome-wide association results showed that the variants and proximal genes identified are involved in multiple pathological processes including cholesterol metabolism, inflammation, and mitochondrial transport. These findings are potentially important for Alzheimer's disease risk prediction and development of novel therapeutic approaches.
Electric Machines Theory of Operation and Potential for Advances Using Carbon Nanotube Wire and Soft Magnetic Composite Materials

Abstract Electric machines and other electromechanical systems are utilized in many components in our everyday lives. Electric power generation is also very important in aerospace and defense systems. Setting up remote power systems on temporary air bases or spacecraft and space stations are examples of power generation systems. Electric, mechanical, and aerospace engineers should have basic knowledge of electromechanical devices in order to design electric machines of the future and to integrate these machines into larger systems. Specifically, the use of new carbon nanotube electric and thermal conductors and soft magnetic composite (SMC) materials in electromechanical devices is an upcoming new technology for the design of lightweight airborne vehicles such as helicopters, drones, and future hybrid or total electric cars. This chapter is intended to familiarize engineers with the different types of electric machines and their applications. The chapter will also explore the potential use of carbon nanotube and SMC materials in manufacturing lighter and more efficient electromechanical devices.
Influence of moisture infiltration on flexible pavement cracking and optimum timing for surface seals

Moisture increase in pavement subsurface layers has a significant influence on granular material properties that affect the expected pavement performance. In situ moisture variations over time in a...