cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Juvenile hormone regulates the titer of a hemolymph factor that enhances ecdysone synthesis by insect (Manduca sexta) prothoracic glands in vitro

The hemolymph of last instar Manduca sexta larvae contains a protein factor that enhances ecdysone synthesis by prothoracic glands in vitro. The titer of the factor fluctuates during development in a pattern that suggests that it is regulated by juvenile hormone (JH). In untreated control larvae, the titer drops from 2.17 U ml−1 on day 1 to 0.27 U ml−1 on day 3. When larvae were treated with (7S)-hydroprene (a JH analog), the titer remained elevated (2.09 U ml−1 on day 3). JH I, however, was ineffective in preventing the precommitment drop in the titer of the factor. After pupal commitment, the titer of the factor increases in untreated larvae from 0.84 U ml−1 on day 5 to 1.62 U ml−1 on day 7. This increase was blocked when the sources of JH (the corpora allata) were removed on day 5 by head ligation. When head-ligated day 5 larvae were treated with either (7S)-hydroprene or JH I, the titer of the factor was driven to a level (1.88 U ml−1 and 2.05 U ml−1, respectively) that was not significantly different from that found in untreated day 7 larvae (1.62 U ml−1). The combined results indicate the titer of the hemolymph factor is regulated by JH.
Modeling Pulsed-Blowing Systems for Flow Control

A linear model for analyzing the performance of pulsed-blowing actuator systems commonly used in many flow-control applications is presented and compared with experiments. The pulsed-blowing system consists of a regulated air supply, an oscillatory valve, transmission tubing, and an actuator. The elements of the actuator are a cavity and slot at the location in the flow to be controlled. The typical design objective is to achieve the largest possible velocity-fluctuation levels at the actuator-slot exit for a given fluctuating pressure input. However, the performance of the system is strongly dependent on component geometry, flow rate, and frequency of pulsation. Lumped-element models are useful for estimating the performance of the actuator cavity and slot, but fail to account for the effects of the transmission tubing. A distributed model for the tubing combined with a lumped-element model for the actuator provides estimates of the system resonant frequencies and amplitudes. Comparisons with experiments are made for a wide range of tubing lengths, slot widths, mean flow velocities, and forcing frequencies. The resonances of the pulsed blowing system and the changes in resonant behavior are characterized by considering the reflection coefficient of the system. Unexpected behavior such as reversed flow at the slot exit and reduced fluctuation levels with increasing pressure are demonstrated and explained with the system model.
Progress report on the ASHI/CAP proficiency survey program in histocompatibility testing II. HLA-DR, DQ serologic typing, antibody identification, and B-cell crossmatching

This report summarizes the 8-year experience of the DR survey program designed to evaluate the performance of histocompatibility laboratories in the serologic typing of cell specimens for HLA-DR and HLA-DQ polymorphisms and the HLA class II antibody identification and B-cell crossmatching of serum specimens. The number of participants increased from 45 in 1985 to 214 in 1992. Although the performance criteria are based on laboratory consensus, the availability of DNA typing since 1990 has enabled a critical assessment of the reliability of serologic HLA-DR, DQ typing. The survey results shows that unsplit HLA class II antigens DR1-DR8, DR52/53, and DQ1-3 are generally correctly identified in over 90% of the participating laboratories. DR9 and DR10 have not yet been tested and testing for DQ4 has not yet achieved this level on consensus. In contrast, the assignments of serologic subtypes of HLA-DR and HLA-DQ are less consistent and frequently unreliable. Although the B-cell crossmatches show generally high laboratory consensus rates, the serum screening results show frequently inconsistent results regarding HLA class-II-specific antibody identification.
Understanding issue correlations: a case study of the Hadoop system

Over the last decade, Hadoop has evolved into a widely used platform for Big Data applications. Acknowledging its wide-spread use, we present a comprehensive analysis of the solved issues with applied patches in the Hadoop ecosystem. The analysis is conducted with a focus on Hadoop's two essential components: HDFS (storage) and MapReduce (computation), it involves a total of 4218 solved issues over the last six years, covering 2180 issues from HDFS and 2038 issues from MapReduce. Insights derived from the study concern system design and development, particularly with respect to correlated issues and correlations between root causes of issues and characteristics of the Hadoop subsystems. These findings shed light on the future development of Big Data systems, on their testing, and on bug-finding tools.
Direct recombination and Auger deexcitation channels of La 4d. -->. 4f resonant excitations in LaB/sub 6/

La 4d/sup 9/4f/sup 1/ excited states (/sup 1/P/sub 1/, /sup 3/D/sub 1/, and /sup 3/P/sub 1/) created by resonant photoexcitations h..nu..+4d/sup 10/ ..-->.. 4d/sup 9/4f/sup 1/ decay via direct recombination and Auger de-excitation channels as revealed from a photon energy dependence of photoemission spectra of LaB/sub 6/. The Auger de-excitation channel is dominant for /sup 3/D/sub 1/ and /sup 3/P/sub 1/ excited states below 4d core-level threshold, while for the /sup 1/P/sub 1/ excited state above the threshold both channels are important to a comparable extent.
Minerals recovery from salton sea geothermal brines: a literature review and proposed cementation process

Abstract The potential for minerals recovery from a 1000-MWe combined geothermal power and minerals recovery plant in the Salton Sea is examined. While the possible value of minerals recovered would substantially exceed the revenue from power production, information is insufficient to carry out a detailed economic analysis. The recovery of precious metals—silver, gold and platinum—is the most important factor in determining the economics of a minerals recovery plant. However, the precious metal content of the brines is not certain. Such a power plant could recover 14–31% of the U.S. demand for manganese and substantial amounts of zinc and lead. Previous work on minerals extraction from Salton Sea brines is reviewed and a new process, based on a fluidized-bed cementation reaction with metallic iron, is proposed. This process would recover the precious metals, lead and tin present in the brines.
ATM switching architectures for wafer-scale integration

This paper proposes the use of wafer-scale integration (WSI) technology for ATM switching systems and presents two different switching architectures specifically designed for WSI. WSI is particularly useful for switching networks since the interconnection lengths are minimized when the entire network is laid out on a single semiconductor wafer. We propose a defect-tolerant multipath buffered crossbar (MBC) with an expandable structure which can easily be scaled up or down according to the choice of wafer size. We also design an ATM-based Manhattan-street network (MSN) as an alternative architecture, suitable for wafer-scale implementation. We compare the two architectures from different standpoints such as performance, defect-tolerance, delay, practicality, testability, complexity, yield, and area.
Using audio fingerprinting for duplicate detection and thumbnail generation

Audio fingerprinting is a powerful tool for identifying file-based or streaming audio, using a database of fingerprints. The paper presents two new applications of audio fingerprinting: duplicate detection, whose goal is to identify duplicate audio clips in a set, even if they differ in compression quality or duration, and thumbnail generation, which aims to provide a representative short clip of a music track. Neither application requires an external database of fingerprints. Thanks to the robustness of the fingerprinting engine, both applications perform well; the duplicate detector has a false positive rate that is conservatively bounded above by 1% on a very large data set, and the thumbnail generator significantly outperforms using a fixed window.
Early Reduction of Microglia Activation by Irradiation in a Model of Chronic Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive decline and ultimate death of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). While multiple risk factors are associated with glaucoma, the mechanisms leading to onset and progression of the disease remain unknown. Molecular analysis in various glaucoma models has revealed involvement of non-neuronal cell populations, including astrocytes, Mueller glia and microglia, at early stages of glaucoma. High-dose irradiation was reported to have a significant long-term protective effect in the DBA/2J (D2) mouse model of glaucoma, although the cellular and molecular basis for this effect remains unclear. In particular, the acute effects of irradiation on specific cell populations, including non-neuronal cells, in the D2 retina and nerve have not been assessed. Here we report that irradiation induces transient reduction in proliferating microglia within the optic nerve head and glial lamina within the first week post-irradiation. This was accompanied by reduced microglial activation, with no effect on astrocyte gliosis in those regions. At later stages we confirm that early high-dose irradiation of the mouse head results in improvement of axonal structural integrity and anterograde transport function, without reduction of intraocular pressure. Thus reduced microglial activation induced by irradiation at early stages is associated with reduced optic nerve and retinal neurodegeneration in the D2 mouse model of glaucoma.
Bristlecone pine tree rings and volcanic eruptions over the last 5000 yr

Many years of low growth identified in a western USA regional chronology of upper forest border bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva and Pinus aristata) over the last 5000 yr coincide with known large explosive volcanic eruptions and/or ice core signals of past eruptions. Over the last millennium the agreement between the tree-ring data and volcano/ice-core data is high: years of ring-width minima can be matched with known volcanic eruptions or ice-core volcanic signals in 86% of cases. In previous millennia, while there is substantial concurrence, the agreement decreases with increasing antiquity. Many of the bristlecone pine ring-width minima occurred at the same time as ring-width minima in high latitude trees from northwestern Siberia and/or northern Finland over the past 4000–5000 yr, suggesting climatically-effective events of at least hemispheric scale. In contrast with the ice-core records, the agreement between widely separated tree-ring records does not decrease with increasing antiquity. These data suggest specific intervals when the climate system was or was not particularly sensitive enough to volcanic forcing to affect the trees, and they augment the ice core record in a number of ways: by providing confirmation from an alternative proxy record for volcanic signals, by suggesting alternative dates for eruptions, and by adding to the list of years when volcanic events of global significance were likely, including the mid-2nd-millennium BC eruption of Thera.
Promoter analysis of the human ascorbic acid transporters SVCT1 and 2: mechanisms of adaptive regulation in liver epithelial cells

Ascorbic acid, the active form of vitamin C, is a vital antioxidant in the human liver, yet the molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of ascorbic acid transporters [human sodium-dependent vitamin C transporters (hSVCT) 1 and 2] in liver cells are poorly understood. Therefore, we characterized the minimal promoter regions of hSVCT1 and 2 in cultured human liver epithelial cells (HepG2) and examined the effects of ascorbic acid deprivation and supplementation on activity and regulation of the transport systems. Identified minimal promoters required for basal activity were found to include multiple cis regulatory elements, whereas mutational analysis demonstrated that HNF-1 sites in the hSVCT1 promoter and KLF/Sp1 sites in the hSVCT2 promoter were essential for activities. When cultured in ascorbic acid deficient or supplemented media, HepG2 cells demonstrated significant (P<.01) and specific reciprocal changes in [(14)C]-Ascorbic acid uptake, and in hSVCT1 mRNA and protein levels as well as hSVCT1 promoter activity. However, no significant changes in hSVCT2 expression or promoter activity were observed during ascorbic acid deficient or supplemented conditions. We mapped the ascorbic acid responsive region in the hSVCT1 promoter and determined that HNF-1 sites are important for the adaptive regulation response. The results of these studies further characterize the hSVCT1 and 2 promoters establish that ascorbic acid uptake by human liver epithelial cells is adaptively regulated and show that transcriptional mechanisms via HNF-1 in the hSVCT1 promoter may, in part, be involved in this regulation.
Realism and Constructivism in Kantian Metaethics (2): The Kantian Conception of Rationality and Rationalist Constructivism

In the second half of this essay, I discuss the robust conception of rationality that lies at the heart of the Kantian version of Rationalist Constructivism – offering some reasons to prefer this conception to the more minimal accounts of rationality associated with Humean views. I then go on to discuss some of the potential metaethical advantages of the resulting form of constructivism.
Epidemiology of Metastatic Hepatocellular Carcinoma, A Nationwide Perspective

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary tumor of the liver. The aim of this study was to describe the prevalence, trends, and predictors of metastatic HCC on a national scale. We used two nationwide datasets for our study: the University Health Consortium (UHC) and the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) databases. We included adults with a primary diagnosis of HCC from 2000 to 2011. We collected information regarding demographics, insurance, HCC risk factors, liver decompensation, and the sites and frequencies of metastases. Multivariable regression analysis was used to examine predictors of metastatic HCC. Trend analysis was performed to examine the change in metastatic HCC prevalence over time. We included 25,671 and 26,054 HCC patients from UHC and NIS, respectively. Prevalence of metastatic HCC was 18 % with lung being the most frequent site (31 %). Compared with Caucasian, African American ethnicity was an independent predictor of metastasis in both the NIS [OR 1.13 (1.02–1.25)] and UHC [OR 1.4 (1.3–1.6)] databases. Lack of long-term insurance was associated with significantly higher prevalence of metastasis in both the NIS [OR 1.6 (1.4–1.9)] and UHC [OR 1.9 (1.6–2.2)] databases. There has been an increased prevalence of metastatic HCC over the last decade with an annual percentage change of +1.25 and +1.60 % (p = 0.03 and p = 0.08) for the NIS and UHC databases, respectively. Metastasis is not rare among HCC patients and is rising in prevalence over the last decade. Lungs were the most common metastatic site. Ethnicity and insurance status are independent predictors of metastasis.
Comestible Considerations in Research Development

I provide advice on sources of material for research publications and factors to consider in writing and publishing research articles and demonstrate how to combine grocery list considerations and academic publishing aspirations. Topics related to comestibles in various disciplines, such as economics, marketing, real estate, packaging, and applied operations management, can be synthesized with appropriate, inappropriate, and nonexistent statistical and operations research techniques. Readers may wish to develop similar lists of research opportunities from the mundane activities of their everyday lives.
Pharmacotherapeutic management of erectile dysfunction

Erectile dysfunction is a common condition in aging men and significantly affects their quality of life and interpersonal relationships. Its prevalence and incidence are associated with aging, lifestyle factors and cardiovascular comorbidities. Preoccupation with male virility has been present for centuries, and a wide variety of herbs and potions have been used to treat any sexual deficiencies. Recent major advances in understanding of erectile physiology and pathophysiology led to development of currently available systemic and local pharmacotherapies. They are designed to work either centrally or peripherally and to either suppress anti-erectile mechanisms, enhance the pro-erectile ones or influence both. Since all the current formulations have variable safety and efficacy profiles, the search for highly specific, simple, convenient and clinically effective impotence treatments or prophylactics continues.
Simple opportunistic routing protocol for wireless mesh networks

Multihop wireless mesh networks are becoming a new attractive communication paradigm. Many cities and public places have deployed or are planning to deploy mesh networks to provide Internet access to residents and local businesses. Routing protocol design is critical to the performance and reliability of wireless mesh networks. Traditional routing protocols send traffic along pre-determined paths and have been shown ineffective in coping with unreliable and unpredictable wireless medium. In this paper, we develop a simple opportunistic adaptive routing protocol (SOAR) for wireless mesh networks. SOAR maximizes the progress each packet makes by using priority-based timers to ensure that the most preferred node forwards the packet with little coordination overhead. Moreover, SOAR minimizes resource consumption and duplicate transmissions by judiciously selecting forwarding nodes to prevent routes from diverging. To further protect against packet losses, SOAR uses local recovery to retransmit a packet when an ACK is not received within a specified time. SOAR uses a combination of selective ACKs, piggyback ACKs, and ACK compression to protect against ACK loss while minimizing ACK overhead. We evaluate SOAR using NS-2 simulations. Our preliminary results show that SOAR is promising to achieve high efficiency and effectively support multiple simultaneous flows.
Use of a pregnancy-specific nomogram for thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) to improve screening for thyroid disease

LATING HORMONE (TSH) TO IMPROVE SCREENING FOR THYROID DISEASE JODI DASHE, BRIAN CASEY, DONALD MCINTIRE, C. EDWARD WELLS, WILLIAM BYRD, KENNETH LEVENO, F. GARY CUNNINGHAM, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Dallas, TX OBJECTIVE: To establish a normal TSH range for each gestational age, and to evaluate the consequences of using non-pregnant reference values. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective observational study in which TSH was assessed at the initial prenatal visit using a 3rd generation assay (Immulite 2000, Diagnostic Products Corporation) between 12/2000 and 11/2001. All pregnancies that resulted in liveborn singletons weighing at least 500 grams were included. TSH reference ranges were constructed for each gestational age from 6-42 weeks using multiple logistic regression analysis through cubic splines. Values were compared with the 2.5th and 97.5th percentile values for nonpregnant adults provided by the manufacturer, 0.4 mIU/mL and 4.0 mIU/mL, respectively. Analyses were performed using Kruskal-Wallis test and chi-square. RESULTS: Nomogram data for 13,719 singleton pregnancies are presented below. The TSH range is shifted downward between 9 and 16 weeks of gestation, P < 0.001. If the 4.0 mIU/ml non-pregnant threshold were used to screen for hypothyroidism, fewer women would be detected at 9-16 weeks than during the remainder of gestation, P = 0.04. Though the non-pregnant threshold would detect 96% of cases of TSH elevation before 9 weeks and after 16 weeks, 24% would be missed during the 9-16 week interval—when 44% of our pregnancies were screened, P < 0.02.
Fusion of visual and IR images for concealed weapon detection

Image fusion for concealed weapon detection (CWD) using visual and IR images is studied. A large set of existing image fusion algorithms are identified and their performance is compared for the CWD application using quantitative and qualitative measures.
Retaining Undergraduate Women in Science, Engineering, and Technology: A Survey of a Student Organization

National Council for Research on Women finds that much of the progress that women have made in science, engineering, and technology has stalled or eroded. As we enter the new millennium, there will be an increasing need for a scientifically and technologically literate workforce. A student organization, Women in Technology, was formed at Purdue University–West Lafayette in 1998 in response to data indicating that there had been no increase in the number of women enrolled in the University’s School of Technology over the past five years. Such data were consistent with those produced by national studies indicating that the trend of increasing numbers of women enrolling in engineering, science, and technology programs in American colleges and universities, established in the preceding two decades, had ceased. The aim of Women in Technology was to attract more women to the School, and reduce the attrition rate of women already in the program by serving as a well-recognized, formal context in which they could receive mentoring and in which they could find stable social support to help them achieve their academic and career objectives. This article discusses an overview of the organization, the results of a survey of members’ undergraduate classroom experiences, student-generated strategies for addressing the concerns revealed in the survey, and the implementation of those strategies.
Climatic stress increases forest fire severity across the western United States

Pervasive warming can lead to chronic stress on forest trees, which may contribute to mortality resulting from fire-caused injuries. Longitudinal analyses of forest plots from across the western US show that high pre-fire climatic water deficit was related to increased post-fire tree mortality probabilities. This relationship between climate and fire was present after accounting for fire defences and injuries, and appeared to influence the effects of crown and stem injuries. Climate and fire interactions did not vary substantially across geographical regions, major genera and tree sizes. Our findings support recent physiological evidence showing that both drought and heating from fire can impair xylem conductivity. Warming trends have been linked to increasing probabilities of severe fire weather and fire spread; our results suggest that warming may also increase forest fire severity (the number of trees killed) independent of fire intensity (the amount of heat released during a fire).
Locusts and remote sensing: a review

A dozen species of locusts (Orthoptera: Acrididae) are a major threat to food security worldwide. Their outbreaks occur on every continent except Antarctica, threatening the livelihood of 10% of the world’s population. The locusts are infamous for their voracity, polyphagy, and capacity for long-distance migrations. Decades of research revealed very complex bio-ecology of locusts. They exist in two, inter-convertible and density-dependent states, or “phases.” Despite the evident progress in understanding locust behavior, our ability to predict and manage locust outbreaks remains insufficient, as evidenced by locust plagues still occurring during the 21st century. One of the main reasons is that locusts typically inhabit remote and scarcely populated areas, and their distribution ranges often spread across continents. This creates tremendous obstacles for locust population monitoring and control. Traditional ground locust surveys are inadequate to address the enormous spatial scale of the locust problem in a limited window of time dictated by the pest’s development. Remote sensing (satellite information) appears a promising tool in locust monitoring. Satellite data are increasingly used for monitoring and forecasting two locust species, the desert and the Australian plague locust. However, applications of this geospatial technology to other locust species remain rare.
Low-power (10.6-μm) laser-beam amplification by thermal-grating-mediated degenerate four-wave mixing in a nematic liquid-crystal film

We present a detailed theoretical analysis of degenerate four-wave mixing by a laser-induced thermal grating in a nematic liquid-crystal film. In particular, we show that the coupling of the (strong) pump beam to the first-order diffracted beam can give rise to substantial amplification of a (weak) probe beam. Experimental verification of this effect with a CO2 laser beam is also made. A probe-beam gain of greater than 20 can easily be observed in a 120-μm film with a pump intensity of the order of a few watts per square centimeter.
A Review of “Cultural Memory and Western Civilization: Functions, Media, Archives”

One morning while working in the archives basement stacks, after walking past hundreds of Hollinger boxes stuffed with manuscripts, I stopped for a moment and asked myself an odd question. How diff...
Factors Influencing the Central Nervous System Distribution of a Novel Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase/Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Inhibitor GSK2126458: Implications for Overcoming Resistance with Combination Therapy for Melanoma Brain Metastases

Small molecule inhibitors targeting the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway (Braf/mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase/extracellular signal-regulated kinase) have had success in extending survival for patients with metastatic melanoma. Unfortunately, resistance may occur via cross-activation of alternate signaling pathways. One approach to overcome resistance is to simultaneously target the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/mammalian target of rapamycin signaling pathway. Recent reports have shown that GSK2126458 [2,4-difluoro-N-(2-methoxy-5-(4-(pyridazin-4-yl)quinolin-6-yl)pyridin-3-yl) benzenesulfonamide], a dual phosphoinositide 3-kinase/mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor, can overcome acquired resistance to Braf and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase inhibitors in vitro. These resistance mechanisms may be especially important in melanoma brain metastases because of limited drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that influence the brain distribution of GSK2126458 and to examine the efficacy of GSK2126458 in a novel patient-derived melanoma xenograft (PDX) model. Both in vitro and in vivo studies indicate that GSK2126458 is a substrate for P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and breast cancer resistance protein (Bcrp), two dominant active efflux transporters in the blood-brain barrier. The steady-state brain distribution of GSK2126458 was 8-fold higher in the P-gp/Bcrp knockout mice compared with the wild type. We also observed that when simultaneously infused to steady state, GSK212658, dabrafenib, and trametinib, a rational combination to overcome mitogen-activated protein kinase inhibitor resistance, all had limited brain distribution. Coadministration of elacridar, a P-gp/Bcrp inhibitor, increased the brain distribution of GSK2126458 by approximately 7-fold in wild-type mice. In the PDX model, GSK2126458 showed efficacy in flank tumors but was ineffective in intracranial melanoma. These results show that P-gp and Bcrp are involved in limiting the brain distribution of GSK2126458 and provide a rationale for the lack of efficacy of GSK2126458 in the orthotopic PDX model.
cis,cis-[(bpy)2RuVO]2O4+ catalyzes water oxidation formally via in situ generation of radicaloid RuIV-O*.

The mechanism of the catalytic oxidation of water by cis,cis-[(bpy)2Ru(OH2)]2O4+ to give molecular dioxygen was investigated using Density Functional Theory (DFT). A series of four oxidation and four deprotonation events generate the catalytically competent species cis,cis-[(bpy)2RuVO]2O4+, which breaks the H−OH bond homolytically at the rate determining transition state to give a hydroperoxo intermediate. Our calculations predict a rate determining activation barrier of 25.9 kcal/mol in solution phase, which is in reasonable agreement with the previously reported experimental estimate of 18.7−23.3 kcal/mol. A number of plausible coupling schemes of the two metal sites including strong coupling, weak ferromagnetic and weak antiferromagnetic coupling have been considered. In addition, both high-spin and low-spin states at each of the Ru(V)-d3 centers were explored and we found that the high-spin states play an important mechanistic role. Our calculations suggest that cis,cis-[(bpy)2RuVO]2O4+ performs forma...
Measurement of Acetone Fluorescence and Phosphorescence at High Presssures and Temperatures

Laser-induced fluorescence and phosphorescence signals of liquid acetone at pressures from 1 to 15 atm were measured and analyzed. Liquid acetone, which was preprocessed to minimize any dissolved oxygen, was injected as a low velocity jet into a pressurized chamber with either an air or nitrogen co-flow. The actone was excited at 266 nm. The laser-induced fluorescence intensity from the liquid was found to be invariant with pressure and co-flow conditions. The measured phosphorescence lifetimes were also found to independent of pressure, for both nitrogen and air environments. The phosphorescence lifetime for the liquid was measured to be ~1 µs, which is significantly smaller than the lifetime for acetone vapor (200 µs). This is likely due to self-quenching by acetone. The effect is further seen in the phosphorescence to fluorescence (P/F) ratio comparison between the liquid and vapor. The P/F ratio for liquid is 0.012, which is much smaller than the vapor value of 9.0. The overall phosphorescence intensities, however, were seen to decrease in the air co-flow cases compared to the nitrogen co-flow. Diffusion of oxygen into the liquid jet was observed, and the estimated concentration was found to be a few orders of magnitude less than the saturated concentration.
Pneumococcal Surface Protein A Plays a Major Role in Streptococcus pneumoniae–Induced Immunosuppression

Intact, inactivated Streptococcus pneumoniae [including the unencapsulated S. pneumoniae, serotype 2 strain (R36A)] markedly inhibits the humoral immune response to coimmunized heterologous proteins, a property not observed with several other intact Gram-positive or Gram-negative bacteria. In this study, we determined the nature of this immunosuppressive property. Because phosphorylcholine (PC), a major haptenic component of teichoic acid in the S. pneumoniae cell wall, and lipoteichoic acid in the S. pneumoniae membrane were previously reported to be immunosuppressive when derived from filarial parasites, we determined whether R36A lacking PC (R36A(pc-)) was inhibitory. Indeed, although R36A(pc-) exhibited a markedly reduced level of inhibition of the IgG response to coimmunized chicken OVA (cOVA), no inhibition was observed when using several other distinct PC-expressing bacteria or a soluble, protein-PC conjugate. Further, treatment of R36A with periodate, which selectively destroys PC residues, had no effect on R36A-mediated inhibition. Because R36A(pc-) also lacks choline-binding proteins (CBPs) that require PC for cell wall attachment, and because treatment of R36A with trypsin eliminated its inhibitory activity, we incubated R36A in choline chloride, which selectively strips CBPs from its surface. R36A lacking CBPs lost most of its inhibitory property, whereas the supernatant of choline chloride-treated R36A, containing CBPs, was markedly inhibitory. Coimmunization studies using cOVA and various S. pneumoniae mutants, each genetically deficient in one of the CBPs, demonstrated that only S. pneumoniae lacking the CBP pneumococcal surface protein A lost its ability to inhibit the IgG anti-cOVA response. These results strongly suggest that PspA plays a major role in mediating the immunosuppressive property of S. pneumoniae.
A low-power wearable substance monitoring device

Alcohol and illicit drug abuse has become a major problem in recent years. According to US Census, there are approximately 40 million teenagers between the age of 10–19, and 20% of them have used an illegal substance at least once in their lifetime. Therefore, by extrapolation, there are potentially 8 million drug abuse cases across the board. This opens up a major requirement for drug monitoring and devices capable of monitoring drug abusers or helping addicts recover. Previous research has shown that certain quantifiable physiological parameters become altered following illicit drug or alcohol consumption. A solution that addresses the problem of detecting drug abuse is the core focus of this research. Initial steps have been focused on developing a device in the form of a wrist-watch that is capable of measuring selected physiological parameters using commercially available sensors. An Android application with algorithms capable of determining if the user is under the influence of alcohol or drugs has been developed and tested.
Effect of Anti-Placenta Serum on Development of Foetus in the Pregnant Rat

Conclusion(1) Rabbit-anti-rat-placenta serum effectively interferes with the normal development of the placenta and foetus in the pregnant rat. (2) The same result is obtained with much smaller injections of rabbit anti-rat-whole-blood serum. (3) Rabbit anti-rat-serum serum fails to influence pregnancy unless injected in sufficient volume to induce anemia. (4) Anti-hormone serum and normal rabbit serum are without effect on pregnancy in the rat. (5) The immunological factor or factors responsible for the resorption of the foetuses following the injection of anti-placental serum and anti-whole-blood serum are as yet unknown.
The Lapidus Procedure: A Prospective Cohort Outcome Study

Background: Multiple reports are found in the literature about the surgical treatment of hallux valgus deformities. Few, however, are prospective outcome studies. The purpose of this study was to p...
Based on the Finite Element Method of Eddy Current Sensor Probe coil Design

To study the effect of the probe coil geometry parameters on the sensitivity and linear measurement range of eddy current sensor,the magnetic flux distributions on the axis plane of the cylinder coils are analysis based on finite element analysis method. And the effects of internal and external radiuses,thickness of the cylindrical coil on the performances of ECS are investigated under two cases : the turn density of the coil is fixed and variable. The conclusions from the study provide a reference for deter mining the coil shape parameters and optimizing the performance of ECS.
Utero-placental vascular development and placental function.

The rate of fetal growth and subse- quent birth weight are major determinants of postna- tal survival and growth. Because the placenta is the organ through which respiratory gases, nutrients, and wastes are transported between the maternal and fetal systems, its primary function is to supply the metabolic substrates necessary to support fetal growth. Placental growth and development, therefore, are critical for normal fetal growth and development. During the last half of gestation in mammals, growth of the fetus is exponential, whereas utero-placental growth slows or ceases. Nevertheless, unless placental transport capacity keeps pace with the continually increasing demands of the fetus, fetal growth will be compromised. Studies over the last two decades have shown that placental transport capacity does indeed keep pace with fetal growth. This increase in placental function can be accounted for primarily by continual increases in placental (uterine and umbilical) blood flows, associated with increased placental vascularity. Placental vascular growth and development, in turn, are probably regulated by angiogenic factors produced by the placental tissues themselves. These placental angiogenic factors are produced primarily by the maternal placental tissues, are heparin-binding, and seem to be related to the fibroblast growth factor family. Further elucidation of the factors responsible for placental growth and vascular development is critical for an improved understanding of utero- placental-fetal interactions, which result in delivery of a healthy offspring.
Rule Based Programming

“What we need in the future are systems which support both algorithmic coding of the basic mathematics and a rule-driven interface for the user to direct the semantic flow of the calculations in as flexible a manner as possible.” [Hearn]
Assessment of health utilities and quality of life in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Background Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease associated with increased liver-related mortality. Additionally, NAFLD could potentially impair health-related quality of life. Although an approved treatment for NAFLD does not exist, a number of new drugs for treatment of NAFLD are being developed. As the efficacy and safety of these regimens are being established, their cost-effectiveness, which requires the use of quality of life metrics and health utility scores to quality-adjusted outcomes, must also be assessed. The aim of this study was to report quality of life and health utilities in patients with NAFLD with and without cirrhosis for future use. Methods Patients with NAFLD were seen in an outpatient clinic setting. Each patient had extensive clinical data and completed the Short Form-36 (SF-36 V.1) questionnaire. The SF-6D health utility scores were calculated. Results There were 89 patients with the spectrum of NAFLD completed the SF-3...
Dynamic analysis and control of lightweight manipulators with flexible parallel link mechanisms

The objective is the theoretical analysis and the experimental verification of dynamics and control of a two link flexible manipulator with a flexible parallel link mechanism. Nonlinear equations of motion of the lightweight manipulator are derived by the Lagrangian method in symbolic form to better understand the structure of the dynamic model. The resulting equation of motion have a structure which is useful to reduce the number of terms calculated, to check correctness, or to extend the model to higher order. A manipulator with a flexible parallel link mechanism is a constrained dynamic system whose equations are sensitive to numerical integration error. This constrained system is solved using singular value decomposition of the constraint Jacobian matrix. Elastic motion is expressed by the assumed mode method. Mode shape functions of each link are chosen using the load interfaced component mode synthesis. The discrepancies between the analytical model and the experiment are explained using a simplified and a detailed finite element model.
Why Does Alkylation of the N–H Functionality within M/NH Bifunctional Noyori-Type Catalysts Lead to Turnover?

Molecular metal/NH bifunctional Noyori-type catalysts are remarkable in that they are among the most efficient artificial catalysts developed to date for the hydrogenation of carbonyl functionalities (loadings up to ∼10–5 mol %). In addition, these catalysts typically exhibit high C═O/C═C chemo- and enantioselectivities. This unique set of properties is traditionally associated with the operation of an unconventional mechanism for homogeneous catalysts in which the chelating ligand plays a key role in facilitating the catalytic reaction and enabling the aforementioned selectivities by delivering/accepting a proton (H+) via its N–H bond cleavage/formation. A recently revised mechanism of the Noyori hydrogenation reaction (Dub, P. A. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 3505) suggests that the N–H bond is not cleaved but serves to stabilize the turnover-determining transition states (TDTSs) via strong N–H···O hydrogen-bonding interactions (HBIs). The present paper shows that this is consistent with the large...
Anesthesia, Brain Changes, and Behavior: Insights from Neural Systems Biology.

Long-term consequences of anesthetic exposure in humans are not well understood. It is possible that alterations in brain function occur beyond the initial anesthetic administration. Research in children and adults has reported cognitive and/or behavioral changes after surgery and general anesthesia that may be short lived in some patients, while in others, such changes may persist. The changes observed in humans are corroborated by a large body of evidence from animal studies that support a role for alterations in neuronal survival (neuroapoptosis) or structure (altered dendritic and glial morphology) and later behavioral deficits at older age after exposure to various anesthetic agents during fetal or early life. The potential of anesthetics to induce long-term alterations in brain function, particularly in vulnerable populations, warrants investigation. In this review, we critically evaluate the available preclinical and clinical data on the developing and aging brain, and in known vulnerable populations to provide insights into potential changes that may affect the general population of patients in a more, subtle manner. In addition this review summarizes underlying processes of how general anesthetics produce changes in the brain at the cellular and systems level and the current understanding underlying mechanisms of anesthetics agents on brain systems. Finally, we present how neuroimaging techniques currently emerge as promising approaches to evaluate and define changes in brain function resulting from anesthesia, both in the short and the long-term.
Assessing Patients’ Expectations in Ambulatory Medical Practice

To compare three different approaches to the measurement of patients' expectations for care, we conducted a randomized controlled trial. Medical outpatients (n = 318) of a small (six-physician), single-specialty (internal medicine), academically affiliated private practice in Sacramento, California, were contacted by telephone the night before a scheduled office visit and enrolled over a 5-month period in early 1994. Patients were randomly assigned to receive: (1) a self-administered, structured, previsit questionnaire combined with a postvisit questionnaire; (2) an interviewer-administered, semistructured, previsit interview combined with a postvisit questionnaire; or (3) a postvisit questionnaire only. We assessed the number and content of patients' expectations by previsit questionnaire versus interview; the interaction between sociodemographic characteristics and survey method in predicting number of reported expectations; the effect of unfulfilled expectations elicited by questionnaire and interview on visit satisfaction; and the effect of unfulfilled expectations elicited directly and indirectly on visit satisfaction. Patients reported more expectations by structured questionnaire than semistructured interview (median 12 vs 3, p = .0001). Although there was no main effect of sociodemographic characteristics on expectations, nonwhite patients reported more expectations than white patients by questionnaire and fewer by interview. The number of interventions desired before the visit but not received (indirectly reported unfulfilled expectations) was associated with lower visit satisfaction regardless of whether a questionnaire or interview was used to elicit previsit expectations (p value for the interaction between number of expectations and survey method, & gt; .20). Having more indirectly reported unfulfilled expectations was significantly associated with lower visit satisfaction even after controlling for the number of directly reported unfulfilled expectations (p = .021), but the incremental change in classification accuracy was small (increase in receiver-operating characteristic curve area, 3%). In conclusion, studies of patients' expectations for care must contend with a substantial "method effect." In this study from a single group practice, patients checked off more expectations using a structured questionnaire than they disclosed in a semistructured interview, but both formats predicted visit satisfaction. Asking patients about interventions received in relation to their previsit expectations added little to simply asking them directly about omitted care. The interaction of survey method with ethnicity and other sociodemographic characteristics requires further study.
Randomized Outpatient Trial of Single- and Dual-Hormone Closed-Loop Systems That Adapt to Exercise Using Wearable Sensors

OBJECTIVE Automated insulin delivery is the new standard for type 1 diabetes, but exercise-related hypoglycemia remains a challenge. Our aim was to determine whether a dual-hormone closed-loop system using wearable sensors to detect exercise and adjust dosing to reduce exercise-related hypoglycemia would outperform other forms of closed-loop and open-loop therapy. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Participants underwent four arms in randomized order: dual-hormone, single-hormone, predictive low glucose suspend, and continuation of current care over 4 outpatient days. Each arm included three moderate-intensity aerobic exercise sessions. The two primary outcomes were percentage of time in hypoglycemia ( RESULTS The analysis included 20 adults with type 1 diabetes who completed all arms. The mean time (SD) in hypoglycemia was the lowest with dual-hormone during the exercise period: 3.4% (4.5) vs. 8.3% (12.6) single-hormone ( P = 0.009) vs. 7.6% (8.0) predictive low glucose suspend ( P P = 0.49). Time in hypoglycemia was also the lowest with dual-hormone during the entire 4-day study: 1.3% (1.0) vs. 2.8% (1.7) single-hormone ( P P = 0.04) vs. 3.1% (3.2) current care ( P = 0.007). Time in range during the entire study was the highest with single-hormone: 74.3% (8.0) vs. 72.0% (10.8) dual-hormone ( P = 0.44). CONCLUSIONS The addition of glucagon delivery to a closed-loop system with automated exercise detection reduces hypoglycemia in physically active adults with type 1 diabetes.
Corporate Personhood and the Corporate Responsibility to Race

Often overlooked in studies of the corporation is the recognition that the modern corporate form and its power are rooted in the issue of race, and more specifically, in racial oppression. The racialized roots of the corporation become exposed when we acknowledge the significance of slavery and the Fourteenth Amendment to the evolution of the corporate form along with the discriminatory role corporations have traditionally played in shaping race relations in the U.S. This article draws upon several theoretical perspectives, primarily critical race theory, management theory, legal studies, diversity management, and corporate social responsibility to introduce the corporate responsibility to race concept and establish it as a new basis for understanding why corporate persons have a responsibility for improving race relations.
Functional Evaluation of Penile Veins by cavernosography in Papaverine-Induced Erection

AbstractOf 49 patients in whom cavernosography was performed after papaverine-induced erection 38 had abnormal venous leakage to various drainage systems (corpus spongiosum, cavernous vein or superficial and deep dorsal veins). Because the effect of papaverine on penile arteries, sinusoids and veins is similar to that caused by electrostimulation, we believe that this technique is better than other reported means of evaluating the functional status of the penile veins. However, we recommend that only patients with a normal arterial response but poor erection after papaverine injection be considered candidates for erection cavernosography, since they most likely will benefit.