cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Circuit-Level Timing-Error Acceptance for Design of Energy-Efficient DCT/IDCT-Based Systems

An intrinsic notion of quality floors present in typical digital signal processing circuits can be used to strategically accept some runtime errors in exchange for a reduction in energy consumption. Conventional very large scale integration design strategies do not exploit this degree of error tolerance and aim to guarantee timing correctness, thereby sacrificing energy efficiency. In this paper, we propose techniques for timing error acceptance to improve the quality-energy tradeoff in image and video processing systems under scaled $V_{DD}$ . The basic philosophy is to prevent signal quality from severe degradation, on average, by using data statistics. The introduced innovations include techniques for carefully controlling possible errors and exploiting the specifics of error patterns for low-cost postprocessing to minimize quality degradation. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed techniques on a 2-D inverse discrete cosine transform (IDCT) and a 2-D DCT design. The designs were synthesized using a 45-nm standard cell library, with energy and delay evaluated using NanoSim and VCS. Experiments show that direct applications of controlled error-acceptance techniques allow up to 59% and 71% energy savings by permitting fewer than 1-dB peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) decrease for the 2-D IDCT and DCT designs, respectively. The resulting PSNR remains above 30dB, which is a commonly accepted value for lossy image and video compression. Achieving such energy savings by direct $V_{DD}$ scaling without the proposed transformations results in a 12-dB PSNR loss. The area overhead for the needed control logic is about 4.8% of the original design. To further minimize quality degradation caused by accepted errors in the IDCT, we introduce postfiltering on the output image. The significant improvement of the perceived image quality allows further voltage scaling leading to overall energy savings of 70% for the 2-D IDCT, while costing an additional 1.1% in area.
DataONE: Data Observation Network for Earth - Preserving Data and Enabling Innovation in the Biological and Environmental Sciences

This paper describes DataONE, a federated data network that is being built to improve access to, and preserve data about, life on Earth and the environment that sustains it. DataONE supports science by: (1) engaging the relevant science, library, data, and policy communities; (2) facilitating easy, secure, and persistent storage of data; and (3) disseminating integrated and user-friendly tools for data discovery, analysis, visualization, and decision-making. The paper provides an overview of the DataONE architecture and community engagement activities. The role of identifiers in DataONE and the policies and procedures involved in data submission, curation, and citation are discussed for one of the affiliated data centers. Finally, the paper highlights EZID, a service that enables digital object producers to easily obtain and manage long-term identifiers for their digital content.
Second virial coefficient of an interacting anyon gas

We consider the statistical mechanics of an interacting anyon gas with a repulsive pair potential of the form g/r2. The second virial coefficient is calculated and shown to be a smooth function of the statistical parameter-alpha for g < 0, without the cusps previously found at the Bose point in a noninteracting anyon gas. As g -< 0 the cusps remain absent but a different type of singularity develops at the Bose point, showing that the order of limits is crucial.
Polyradiculopathy Due to Cytomegalovirus: Report of Two Cases in Which Improvement Occurred After Prolonged Therapy and Review of the Literature

Neurological syndromes attributed to cytomegalovirus (CMV) in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) include encephalitis, myelitis, and peripheral neuropathy. More recently, polyradiculopathy due to CMV has been described. We review the literature and describe two patients with CMV polyradiculopathy whose conditions improved only after prolonged therapy with ganciclovir. Patients typically are young men who are severely immunocompromised and have had other opportunistic infections. The syndrome is characterized by subacute onset of leg weakness and numbness progressing to paraparesis or paraplegia. Bladder dysfunction is common. In many patients, CMV may be identified elsewhere; concomitant retinitis is common and often subclinical. Laboratory studies commonly show an increased number of neutrophils in CSF and hypoglycorrhachia. Electromyography and nerve conduction studies support the diagnosis. Imaging studies may be most useful to exclude spinal lesions. Without treatment prognosis is poor. Survival time is improved and symptoms often abate, sometimes dramatically, with ganciclovir therapy. Improvement of conditions may be rapid but can take months, as illustrated by these two cases. Once initiated, ganciclovir should be administered indefinitely to patients with CMV polyradiculopathy.
Classroom Order as Practical Action: the making and un‐making of a quiet reproach

This paper details the interactional work and resources of a high school teacher and student engaged in a brief sequence of reproach. Across their several turns of talk and gesture, as teacher and student press and deflect the object of the reproach, we gain access to a basic structure of classroom accountability: how teachers tie their remarks to the behaviors that prompt them. The sequential analysis of their scene shows the interactional competence that both parties bring to their exchange, the orderly structures they produce and orient to, and the potential for discovery about classroom order and management practices that lies in the observable detail of everyday scenes.
Syntheses and studies of amamistatin B analogs reveals that anticancer activity is relatively independent of stereochemistry, ester or amide linkage and select replacement of one of the metal chelating groups

A series of analogs of the amamistatin natural products was designed and synthesized to facilitate additional anticancer structure-activity relationships. The results indicate that the anticancer activity is relatively independent of stereochemistry, ester or amide linkage and replacement of the oxazoline/oxazole based iron-binding group with a catechol.
Metabolic changes in excised fruit tissue—II. The development of a lipid synthesis system during the ageing of peel disks from pre-climacteric apples

Abstract Disks of peel from immature (pre-climacteric) apples develop a lipid synthesizing system when aged aerobically at 25°. Full development of the system is rapid, occurring within 2–4 hr ageing and is dependent upon protein synthesis, being reversibly inhibited by low concentrations of cycloheximide. The ability to oxidize fatty acids and acetate to CO 2 is also increased by ageing. The nature of the lipids formed from 14 C-1-acetate by fresh and aged disks of apple peel is described.
WD repeat domains target dictyostelium myosin heavy chain kinases by binding directly to myosin filaments.

Myosin heavy chain kinase (MHCK) A phosphorylates mapped sites at the C-terminal tail of Dictyostelium myosin II heavy chain, driving disassembly of myosin filaments both in vitro and in vivo. MHCK A is organized into three functional domains that include an N-terminal coiled-coil region, a central kinase catalytic domain unrelated to conventional protein kinases, and a WD repeat domain at the C terminus. MHCK B is a homologue of MHCK A that possesses structurally related catalytic and WD repeat domains. In the current study, we explored the role of the WD repeat domains in defining the activities of both MHCK A and MHCK B using recombinant bacterially expressed truncations of these kinases either with or without their WD repeat domains. We demonstrate that substrate targeting is a conserved function of the WD repeat domains of both MHCK A and MHCK B and that this targeting is specific forDictyostelium myosin II filaments. We also show that the mechanism of targeting involves direct binding of the WD repeat domains to the myosin substrate. To our knowledge, this is the first report of WD repeat domains physically targeting attached kinase domains to their substrates. The examples presented here may serve as a paradigm for enzyme targeting in other systems.
Generalized urn models

This heuristic article introduces a generalization of the idea of drawing colored balls from an urn so as to allow mutually incompatible experiments to be represented, thereby providing a device for thinking about quantum logic and other non-classical statistical situations in a concrete way. Such models have proven valuable in generating examples and counterexamples and in making abstract definitions in quantum logic seem more intuitive.
Reasons-Responsive Compatibilism and the Consequences of Belief

John Martin Fischer and Mark Ravizza offer a theory of moral responsibility which makes responsibility dependent upon the way in which moral agents view themselves. According to the theory, agents are responsible for their actions only if they think of themselves as apt candidates for praise and blame; if they come to believe they are not apt candidates for praise and blame, they are ipso facto not morally responsible. In what follows, I show that Fischer and Ravizza’s account of responsibility for consequences is inconsistent with this subjective element of their theory, and that the subjective element may be retained only if they are willing to implausibly restrict their account of responsibility for consequences. I end by discussing the broad significance of the failure of the subjective element for their overall approach to moral responsibility.
A generalized thermal modeling for laser drilling process—I. Mathematical modeling and numerical methodology

Abstract Conduction and advection heat transfer in the solid and liquid metal, respectively, the free surface flow of the liquid melt and its expulsion, the tracking of the solid-liquid and liquid-vapor interfaces with different thermo-physical properties in the two phases and the evolution of latent heat of fusion over a temperature range are mathematically modeled for the two-dimensional axisymmetric case in the transient development of a laser drilled hole where the impressed pressure and temperature on the melt surface is provided by a one-dimensional gas dynamics model. Significant improvement made to our earlier melting and solidification submodel is discussed that comprises a temperature transforming model on a fixed grid system. The resulting advection-diffusion equation's compatibility with the present fluid flow simulation model is described. The mathematical formulation of the submodels and the numerical methodology is presented.
Pleistocene tectonic accretion of the continental slope off Washington

Abstract Interpretation of reflection profiles across the Washington continental margin suggests deformation of Cascadia basin strata against the continental slope. Individual reflecting horizons can be traced across the slope-basin boundary. The sense of offset along faults on the continental slope is predominantly, but not entirely, west side up. Two faults of small displacement are seen to be west-dipping reverse faults. Magnetic anomalies on the Juan de Fuca plate can be traced 40–100 km eastward under the slope, and structural interpretation combined with calculated rates of subduction suggests that approximately 50 km of the outer continental slope may have been formed in Pleistocene time. Rocks of Pleistocene age dredge from a ridge exposing acoustic “basement” on the slope, plus the results of deep-sea drilling off northern Oregon, are consistent with this interpretation. The question of whether or not subduction is occurring at present is unresolved because significant strain has not affected the upper 200 m of section in the Cascadia basin. However, deformation of the outer part of the slope has been episodic and may reflect episodic yield, deposition rate, subduction rate, or some combination of these factors.
Characteristics of annual, seasonal, and diurnal precipitation in the Southeastern United States derived from long-term remotely sensed data

Abstract The objective of this paper is to investigate long-term inter-annual, seasonal, and diurnal rainfall characteristics in the Southeastern United States. In order to capture precipitation features at high resolution, we use precipitation estimates from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM); the TRMM Precipitation Radar (TPR 2A25: 0.05° × 0.05°/daily) and the TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA 3B42: 0.25° × 0.25°/3-h) datasets to create a 13-year rainfall climatology. The higher resolution climatology (2A25) displays a greater ability to capture more localized landform precipitation features when compared with 3B42. On an annual basis, the Southeastern US is characterized by a succession of cold and warm precipitation regimes. The cold season is characterized by higher rain intensity West of 82°W (roughly Atlanta, GA) and the warm season is characterized by higher rain intensity over the coastal areas. The cold/warm rainfall regime duality is modulated by local topographic characteristics that prevail along a W–E direction. During the cold season, the diurnal cycle of precipitation is characterized by a quasi-constant repartition of rain events throughout the day and an absence of land/ocean contrast. On the contrary for summertime there is a strong land/ocean signature with a predominance of late morning/early afternoon (12:00–15:00LST) rainfall over ocean and afternoon/early evening (15:00–18:00LST) precipitation events over land that account for more than 25% of the daily events along the coasts. Differences are observed for the Florida peninsula, where the diurnal cycle displays an afternoon maximum of variable intensity due to sea breeze effects regardless of the season.
Simulation of hormone effects by polycations.

Steroidogenesis in Y-l adrenal tumor and 1–10 Leydig tumor cells is sensitive to polylysines of a wide molecular weight range. At low concentrations of polymer there is a 5–10-fold stimulation of steroidogenesis in both cell lines. This is abolished at higher polylysine concentrations. With degrees of polymerization >9–18, half-maximal stimulation occurs at ∼1 × 10−4M monomer concentration irrespective of molecular weight. Adenylate cyclase in partially purified membranes from Y-l and 1–10 cells is stimulated by polylysines which act as partial agonists under these conditions (in contrast to steroidogenesis where responses were comparable to maximal effects obtained with ACTH1–24 or adenosine, respectively). Half-maximal stimulation for all molecular weights of polylysine occurred at 5 × 10−4M when the level is expressed as the concentration of monomer. As in the case of steroidogenesis, ribonuclease A is an effective stimulator but spermine stimulates only membranes and not intact cells. At concentration...
Diabetes-Accelerated Atherosclerosis and Inflammation

To the Editor: We read with interest the Letter to the Editor by Marfella et al1 in response to our review article on the role of glucose and lipids in diabetes-accelerated atherosclerosis.2 Marfella et al1 point out that inflammation is likely to play important roles in diabetes-associated cardiovascular events. Indeed, in our review article,2 we highlighted recent data suggesting that both elevated glucose and lipids contribute to increased inflammation. There is increasing evidence that type 1 and type 2 diabetes are associated with an enhanced inflammatory state and that inflammatory cells contribute to atherosclerotic …
Anchored Design of Protein-Protein Interfaces

Background Few existing protein-protein interface design methods allow for extensive backbone rearrangements during the design process. There is also a dichotomy between redesign methods, which take advantage of the native interface, and de novo methods, which produce novel binders. Methodology Here, we propose a new method for designing novel protein reagents that combines advantages of redesign and de novo methods and allows for extensive backbone motion. This method requires a bound structure of a target and one of its natural binding partners. A key interaction in this interface, the anchor, is computationally grafted out of the partner and into a surface loop on the design scaffold. The design scaffold's surface is then redesigned with backbone flexibility to create a new binding partner for the target. Careful choice of a scaffold will bring experimentally desirable characteristics into the new complex. The use of an anchor both expedites the design process and ensures that binding proceeds against a known location on the target. The use of surface loops on the scaffold allows for flexible-backbone redesign to properly search conformational space. Conclusions and Significance This protocol was implemented within the Rosetta3 software suite. To demonstrate and evaluate this protocol, we have developed a benchmarking set of structures from the PDB with loop-mediated interfaces. This protocol can recover the correct loop-mediated interface in 15 out of 16 tested structures, using only a single residue as an anchor.
Taming Wild Horses: The Need for Virtual Time-Based Scheduling of VMs in Network Simulations

The next generation of scalable network simulators employ virtual machines (VMs) to act as high-fidelity models of traffic producer/consumer nodes in simulated networks. However, network simulations could be inaccurate if VMs are not scheduled according to virtual time, especially when many VMs are hosted per simulator core in a multi-core simulator environment. Since VMs are by default free-running, on the outset, it is not clear if, and to what extent, their untamed execution affects the results in simulated scenarios. Here, we provide the first quantitative basis for establishing the need for generalized virtual time scheduling of VMs in network simulators, based on an actual prototyped implementations. To exercise breadth, our system is tested with disparate applications: (a) a set of message passing parallel programs, (b) a computer worm propagation phenomenon, and (c) a mobile ad-hoc wireless network simulation. We define and use error metrics and benchmarks in scaled tests to empirically report the poor match of traditional, fairness-based VM scheduling to VM-based network simulation, and also clearly show the better performance of our simulation-specific scheduler, with up to 64 VMs hosted on a 12-core simulator node.
Computational Study Of Viscoelasticity Of Crosslinked Actin-like Networks

Mechanical force is very significantplays many important roles in eukaryotic cells in whichwhere the cross-linked actin cytoskeleton consisting largely of actin and actin binding proteins is one of the major structural components. Thus, the investigationit is critically crucial to study the of rheological properties of actin networks is indispensable in order to elucidate cell mechanics and various related cellular processes. Using Brownian dynamics, we develop a computational model equipped withthat incorporates virtues features such as including repulsive forces between actin filaments, realistic network morphology, and the consideration oftakes into account the stiffness, binding, and unbinding of actin cross-linking protein (ACP). Via bulk rheology and the analysis of thermal fluctuations of actin filaments, we elucidate investigate the viscoelastic properties of actin networks in under diverse aspectsconditions. We first validate ourThe model is first validated model by comparison with an experiments performed under similar conditions. Then, we study the influences of prestrain and ACP concentration on viscoelastic moduli, G′ and G″, are examined. The storage modulus, G′, tends is found to increase and becomes almost nearly independent of frequency at high ACP concentration or at large prestrain. We also find that the behavior of networks underAlso, under conditions of high prestrain, network rheology is governed by only a small portion of filaments that are highly stretched. Inclusion of ACP unbinding events under high prestrain results in stress relaxation and also leads to a power law behavior in G′ as observed in many cells, and causes the loss modulus, G″, to increase at low frequency. We observe Nnonlinear stress-strain behaviors of actin networks are observed that are dependent on shear strain rates and the concentration and rupture of ACP. [Supported by GM076689]
Structural Transition in Large-Lattice-Mismatch Heteroepitaxy

The mechanisms of island nucleation, growth, and dislocation formation in large lattice-mismatch heteroepitaxy are analyzed theoretically. It is shown that 2D platelets tend to transform to 3D islands as they exceed a certain critical size. During island growth, the increase of the strain concentration at the island edge makes it increasingly difficult for adatoms to reach the island, which leads to the formation of homogeneously sized islands. The high strain concentration at the island edge is eventually relieved by growing-in of misfit dislocations.
A Bathysiphon (Foraminifera) `shell bed' from the Cretaceous of northern California, USA: Example of a parautochthonous macro-skeletal deposit in deep-ocean turbidites

Abstract Shell beds consisting of concentrations of minimally transported, slightly damaged skeletal remains of indigenous organisms—comparable to bedded shelly accumulations of certain shallow-marine environments—have rarely been reported from truly deep-ocean turbidites. The general expectation is that shelly accumulations, when they do occur, ought to be derived from upslope sources and many kilometers away from the site of deposition. A Cretaceous thin-bedded turbidite in the Franciscan Complex of northern California, however, hosts a concentration of large specimens of the giant foraminiferan, Bathysiphon aaltoi , reflecting localized transportation and deposition in the original life habitat. The tests were derived from a densely populated thicket of the bathysiphonid probably located only a few metres/10s-of-metres away, decimated by a turbidity current that either overflowed an active submarine fan channel or spread outward from a suprafan lobe. As such, this unusual bathysiphonid-rich deposit can be viewed as a kind of deep-ocean level bottom ‘shell bed’.
Unusual cuticle-associated organs in the heterotardigrade, Echiniscus viridissimus

Echiniscus viridissimus possesses two organs that lie above the ventromedial body wall approximately at the level of the second and third pair of legs. Each organ is composed of one medial and two lateral cells and possesses a pair of convoluted ducts. The lateral cells produce and release profuse amounts of filamentous basement membrane-like material into the body cavity. The proliferated material persists en masse adjacent to the lateral cells and is associated with disrupted droplets of pigmented body cavity material (BCM). The medial cell is larger than the lateral cells and possesses numerous tubular invaginations in which droplets of BCM are frequently found. Each duct originates as an infold that becomes a simple channel in the lateral cell and continues through the medial cell in a deep groove covered by a long process of the lateral cell. Although the ducts lie on the medial cell surface, they are “internalized” at the base of deep clefts and isolated from the body cavity by “tight” zonulae adherentes junctions. In the medial cell the ducts have a cuticle-like lining and the associated plasma membrane is characterized by numerous saccular infolds containing flocculent material. The duct linings, which extend beyond the limits of the medial cell, project into the endocuticle and terminate on the lateral body wall. Because the lateral cells are producing and releasing profuse basement membrane and because material with an electron density similar to BCM is present in the saccules, the distal regions of the ducts and in the endocuticle, we propose (1) that the lateral cells are producing basement membrane to disassociate BCM and (2) that the medial cell is absorbing and via its ducts translocating that BCM to the endocuticle. Furthermore, because the medial cell exhibits characteristics of transporting epithelia, namely numerous tubular infolds of the outer surface, a layer of distended saccules surrounding the duct and a high density of mitochondria, we suggest that the medial cell also functions in ion or osmotic regulation. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Equilibrium determinacy and inflation measures for interest rate rules

Abstract Empirical evidence suggests that goods are highly heterogeneous with respect to the degree of price rigidity. We develop a two-sector dynamic general equilibrium model to study the equilibrium determinacy properties of interest rate rules that respond to inflation measures differing in their degree of price rigidity. We find that rules responding to a headline measure, which puts some weight on the inflation of the sector with low price stickiness, are more prone to generate endogenous aggregate instability—in the form of fluctuations driven by self-fulfilling expectations and equilibria where fluctuations are unbounded—than rules that respond exclusively to a core measure, which includes only the inflation of the sector with high price stickiness. We discuss how our results depend on the elasticity of substitution across goods, the timing of the policy rule, and reacting to aggregate activity.
Neuroblastoma survival and death: an in vitro model of hypoxia and metabolic stress

Heterogeneous oxygen tension and access to metabolites in solid tumors may produce variability in response to adjuvant therapy. To better understand these microenvironmental features, we examined survival and proliferation of neuroblastoma (NB) cells in an in vitro model of hypoxia and metabolite deprivation. Human NB cells (SH-SY5Y) were subjected to a "self-generated" diffusion gradient of nutrient and oxygen deprivation in a modified in vitro "sandwich model." In this model, the extent of both hypoxia and metabolite deprivation were individually altered, and the effects of each were studied. Cellular proliferation was confirmed by proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) immunocytochemistry and morphology and hypoxia by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and pimonidazole immunocytochemistry. We examined apoptotic cell death using TUNEL analysis, assaying for plasma membrane transfer of phosphotidylserine and the presence of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 using immunocytochemistry. As predicted, cellular survival diminished with increasing duration and severity of hypoxia and metabolite deprivation; oxygen deprivation was determined to be the more important contributory factor to early survival and proliferation. PCNA immunocytochemistry confirmed decreasing fractions of proliferating cells as a function of distance from oxygen and metabolites. VEGF and Bcl-2 immunoreactivity increased with prolonged exposure and increased extent of oxygen/metabolite deprivation. TUNEL analysis and phosphotidylserine transfer demonstrated cellular death of hypoxic and metabolite-deprived NB cells in a manner consistent with a mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. This in vitro model demonstrates that increasing the severity of hypoxia and metabolite deprivation results in diminished proliferation and greater apoptotic death, observations analogous to that of clinical NB tumors.
A Generalization of the Slash Half Normal Distribution: Properties and Inferences

In this article, we introduce a generalization of the slash half normal distribution. We define the generalization by means of a stochastic representation as the mixture of a generalized half normal random variable with respect to a power of a uniform random variable. The proposed generalization is more flexible in terms of its kurtosis than the slash half normal distribution. Properties involving moments are studied. We apply the distribution to some data applications where model fitting is implemented by a maximum likelihood procedure.
On local well-posedness of the thin-film equation via the Wasserstein gradient flow

A local existence and uniquness of the gradient flow of one dimensional Dirichlet energy on the Wasserstein space is proved. The proofs are based on a relaxation of displacement convexity in the Wasserstein space and can be applied to a family of higher order energy functionals which are not displacement convex in the standard sense. As the result a local well-posedness of the corresponding nonlinear evolution equations including the thin-film equation and the quantum drift diffusion equation are proved.
Chronic coinfections in patients diagnosed with chronic lyme disease: a systematic review.

PURPOSE: Often, the controversial diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease is given to patients with prolonged, medically unexplained physical symptoms. Many such patients also are treated for chronic coinfections with Babesia, Anaplasma ,o rBartonella in the absence of typical presentations, objective clinical findings, or laboratory confirmation of active infection. We have undertaken a systematic review of the literature to evaluate several aspects of this practice. METHODS: Five systematic literature searches were performed using Boolean operators and the PubMed search engine. RESULTS: The literature searches did not demonstrate convincing evidence of: 1) chronic anaplasmosis infection; 2) treatment-responsive symptomatic chronic babesiosis in immunocompetent persons in the absence of fever, laboratory abnormalities, and detectable parasitemia; 3) either geographically widespread or treatment-responsive symptomatic chronic infection with Babesia duncani in the absence of fever, laboratory abnormalities, and detectable parasitemia; 4) tick-borne transmission of Bartonella species; or 5) simultaneous Lyme disease and Bartonella infection. CONCLUSIONS: The medical literature does not support the diagnosis of chronic, atypical tick-borne coinfections in patients with chronic, nonspecific illnesses.
ECTO-NUCLEOSIDE TRIPHOSPHATE PYROPHOSPHOHYDROLASE ACTIVITY AND CALCIUM PYROPHOSPHATE DIHYDRATE CRYSTAL DEPOSITION DISEASE: 231

Elevated levels of nucleoside triphosphate pyrophosphohydrolase (ENP) (NTP→NMP+PPi) are present in cartilage extracts of patients with calcium pyrophosphate (PPi) crystal deposition disease (CPPD) (Tenenbaum, Arth Rheum 24:492, 1981). PPi is generated from 1 mM ATP in dog articular cartilage organ culture (800 ± 300 pmol/hr/mg wet wt, n=11. The specific activity of (32P)PPi produced from 1 mM gamma-(32P)ATP is 97% that of the labeled ATP. AMPCP, EHNA, and dipyridamole do not alter PPi generation in this system. No PPi is generated when adenosine, AMP or ADP are substituted for ATP. ENP activities on cultured human skin fibroblasts from 24 CPPD subjects are elevated compared to 13 oestoarthritic and 7 normal controls (p<0.002, Wilcoxon's rank sum) with higher values for 13 sporadic compare to 11 familial cases of CPPD. No differences exist for ecto-5'nucleotidase or pyrophosphatase. Intracellular PPi is higher for CPPD fibroblasts (p<0.0002) and correlates with ENP activity (rs=0.49, <p.0.05, Spearman's rank correlate). These data demonstrate the in vitro generation of PPi in cartilage in the presence of ATP is entirely due to ENP activity. The expression and variation of ENP activity and intracellular PPi levels in nonarticular human cells support the hypothesis of a generalized metabolic defect in CPPD.
The Type III Histone Deacetylase Sirt1 Protein Suppresses p300-mediated Histone H3 Lysine 56 Acetylation at Bclaf1 Promoter to Inhibit T Cell Activation *

The NAD-dependent histone deacetylase Sirt1 is a negative regulator of T cell activation. Here we report that Sirt1 inhibits T cell activation by suppressing the transcription of Bcl2-associated factor 1 (Bclaf1), a protein required for T cell activation. Sirt1-null T cells have increased acetylation of the histone 3 lysine 56 residue (H3K56) at the bclaf1 promoter, as well as increasing Bclaf1 transcription. Sirt1 binds to bclaf1 promoter upon T cell receptor (TCR)/CD28 stimulation by forming a complex with histone acetyltransferase p300 and NF-κB transcription factor Rel-A. The recruitment of Sirt1, but not p300, requires Rel-A because blocking Rel-A nuclear translocation in T cells and siRNA-mediated knockdown of Rel-A can inhibit Sirt1 binding to bclaf1 promoter. Although knockdown of either p300 or GCN5 partially suppressed global H3K56 acetylation, only p300 knockdown specifically attenuated H3K56 acetylation at the bclaf1 promoter. Lastly, knockdown of Bclaf1 suppresses the hyperactivation observed in Sirt1−/− T cells, indicated by less IL-2 production in CD4+ T cells and reduced proliferation. Therefore, Sirt1 negatively regulates T cell activation via H3K56 deacetylation at the promoter region to inhibit transcription of Bclaf1.
An alternating current polarographic determination of nonprotein sulfhydryl in biological systems

Abstract A sensitive alternating current polarographic method of determination of NPSH in biological systems is described. Ascorbic acid does not interfere with the determination. The method can detect the physiological differences in nonprotein sulfhydryl levels in rat liver caused by stress.
Let sleeping files lie: pattern matching in Z-compressed files

The current explosion of stored information necessitates a new model of pattern matching, that of compressed matching. In this model one tries to find all occurrences of a pattern in a compressed text in time proportional to the compressed text size, i.e., without decompressing the text. The most effective general purpose compression algorithms are adaptive, in that the text represented by each compression symbol is determined dynamically by the data. As a result, the encoding of a substring depends on its location. Thus the same substring may ``look different'' every time it appears in the compressed text. In this paper we consider pattern matching without decompression in the UNIX Z-compression. This is a variant of the Lempel Ziv adaptive compression scheme. If n is the length of the compressed text and m is the length of the pattern, our algorithms find the first pattern occurrence in time O(n+m) or O(n log m+m). We also introduce a new criterion to measure compressed matching algorithms, that of extra space. We show how to modify our algorithms to achieve a trade-off between the amount of extra space used and the algorithm's time complexity. ] 1996 Academic Press, Inc.
Method and Global Relationship for Estimation of Transmitted Solar Energy Distribution in Passive Solar Rooms

Estimation of the distribution of transmitted solar radiation within a room with large windows is required for correct prediction of building thermal performance and for optimal positioning of the thermal storage mass. This article presents a detailed computer method that determines the instantaneous solar radiation transmitted through a window and absorbed by each room interior surface, and a correlation for estimating the fraction of daily total transmitted solar radiation absorbed by the floor for several latitudes, for different shapes of enclosures, and for varying surface solar absorptances. The correlation was developed by fitting an exponential relationship to results obtained from a numerical study of the variation of the following parameters influencing the distribution of solar radiation: latitude, day of year, geometry of enclosure (width-to-depth ratio and window azimuth angle), window-to-floor area ratio, and surface absorptances.
Supercapacitor energy storage for low-voltage ride through in a 13.8KV AC system

We report conceptual design and analysis of a supercapacitor-based voltage support system for a 13.8KV AC power system. The power source has been designed to ride through a 2s voltage sag caused either by high load demand or remote system fault. The simulation model currently supports study of both power injection and power absorption. Response of the SC storage to a line fault has also been studied and compared with the response due to high load demand. Simulation results verified the effectiveness of the integrated system and forms the basis for further development of a more robust system in terms of power management.
How Robust are Semiconductor Nanorods? Investigating the Stability and Chemical Decomposition Pathways of Photoactive Nanocrystals

Anisotropic II–VI semiconductor nanostructures are important photoactive materials for various energy conversion and optical applications. However, aside from the many available surface chemistry studies and from their ubiquitous photodegradation under continuous illumination, the general chemical reactivity and thermal stability (phase and shape transformations) of these materials are poorly understood. Using CdSe and CdS nanorods as model systems, we have investigated the behavior of II–VI semiconductor nanorods against various conditions of extreme chemical and physical stress (acids, bases, oxidants, reductants, and heat). CdSe nanorods react rapidly with acids, becoming oxidized to Se or SeO2. In contrast, CdSe nanorods remain mostly unreactive when treated with bases or strong oxidants, although bases do partially etch the tips of the nanorods (along their axis). Roasting (heating in air) of CdSe nanorods results in rock-salt CdO, but neither CdSe nor CdO is easily reduced by hydrogen (H2). Another ...
Developing coordination policies for paratransit and the transportation disadvantaged

Many social service agencies, for example, those serving the elderly, people with mental illness, or those in poverty and looking for work, operate their own van service for their own clientele. That type of service, if viewed regionally, is often duplicative and inefficient. The duplicative approach toward serving transportation-disadvantaged people has led to coordination as a policy response. However, key elements that policy makers need to consider are usually not well understood or delineated. There are four key factors and six subfactors that should be addressed in the pursuit of statewide policies of transportation coordination. The four key factors are to explicitly define what coordination means, to pursue efforts of coordination at the state level, to understand the political climate within which coordination policy will be presented, and to promote decisions on local coordination support. Finally, a new model of service delivery, the Community Support Organization, is presented as one way to better achieve positive results when coordination is pursued as a strategy for improving the efficiency and reach of local services to the transportation disadvantaged.
Isotopic difference in the heteronuclear loss rate in a two-species surface trap

We have realized a two-species mirror-magneto-optical trap containing a mixture of {sup 87}Rb ({sup 85}Rb) and {sup 133}Cs atoms. Using this trap, we have measured the heteronuclear collisional loss rate {beta}{sub Rb-Cs}{sup '} due to intraspecies cold collisions. We find a distinct difference in the magnitude and intensity dependence of {beta}{sub Rb-Cs}{sup '} for the two isotopes {sup 87}Rb and {sup 85}Rb which we attribute to the different ground-state hyperfine splitting energies of the two isotopes.
Laser frequency stabilization by polarization spectroscopy of a reflecting reference cavity

Abstract We propose a new scheme for locking the frequency of a laser to a resonant reference cavity. A linear polarizer or Brewster plate is placed inside the reference cavity, so that the reflected light acquires a frequency-dependent elliptical polarization. A simple polarization analyzer detects dispersion shaped resonances which can provide the error signal for electronic frequency stabilization without any need for modulation techniques.
THE PERFORMANCE OF A COMMERCIAL HIGH-TEMPERATURE IONIZATION CHAMBER FOR RADIOISOTOPE ANALYSIS OF GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY VAPORS.

Abstract A system is described for the simultaneous analysis of the effluent of a gas chromatograph column for thermoconductivity and radioactivity. A gas chromatograph was cnstructed for inclusion of a 275 ml high temperature ionization chamber. The effluent from the thermoconductivity cell passes directly into the ionization chamber providing coincident peaks on two pen recorder. Argon is used as a purge gas for the system. The sensitivity of the system was such that 400 disintegrations per minute of carbon-14 could be detected. Under ideal conditions 206 d.p.m. could be distinguished from background noise.
6.6+ GHz Low Vmin, read and half select disturb-free 1.2 Mb SRAM

A fully functional read and half select disturb-free 1.2 Mb SRAM is demonstrated. Measured results show an operating range of 0.4 V to 1.5 V and -25degC to 100degC, speed of 6.6+ GHz at IV, 25degC and yield of 90-100%.
Costs of chronic disease management for newly insured adults.

ObjectiveHealthcare reform will result in substantial numbers of newly insured, low-income adults with chronic conditions. This paper examines the costs of a chronic disease management program among newly insured adults with diabetes and/or hypertension.Research Design and MethodsLow-income adults w
A comparison of two ulcerogenic techniques

Long Evans rats 45, 130, or 280 days old were exposed either to a supine restraint or a water restraint treatment for two hr. This was followed by a 2-hr rest period. Core body temperature was recorded every 30 min. Stress-induced hypothermia was greatest in the water restraint treatment and in younger rats irrespective in both restraint conditions. The water restraint procedure as compared to the supine restraint produced significantly more ulcers in 130- and 280-day-old rats.
Synthesis and characterization of two phases of manganese oxide from decomposition of permanganate in concentrated sulfuric acid at ambient temperature

Abstract The preparation of amorphous and tunnel structured-type MnO 2 materials with the smallest particle size is reported here. The synthesis is based on the decomposition of solid KMnO 4 powder in concentrated sulfuric acid in air at ambient temperature and aging for 18 days. Contrary to reports in the literature, the reaction did not explode possibly because it was done in low humidity and at 28 °C. Characterization of these materials was performed using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and N 2 adsorption (BET) analysis. The XRD patterns showed that sublimation produced amorphous-type MnO 2 , while aging produced crystalline cryptomelane-type MnO 2 . The product yield for the latter was 16%. TEM studies confirmed a non-fibrous structure for the amorphous material and a fibrous structure for cryptomelane. The HRTEM images of amorphous MnO 2 show a dynamic step-flow pattern near dislocations during growth and sublimation and also exhibit the classic rotating Archimedean spiral motion. For cryptomelane, the HRTEM images show that nanofibers have different orientations and discontinuity in the growth of the tunnel. Here we also observe some fibers, which are perpendicular to the other fibers that allowed us to calculate a diameter of ∼3 nm for the tunnel structure. The BET surface area of this nanomaterial was found to be 124 m 2 g −1 . The TGA measurements demonstrate that it possesses an excellent thermal stability up to 400 °C. We show here that two phases of MnO 2 could be produced from the decomposition of KMnO 4 in concentrated sulfuric acid at ambient temperature.
Production of thermal insulation refractory plates and their use in the linings of continuous casting machine pony ladles

The authors describe the production and properties of refractories used for the liners of casting ladles and manufactured from the waste quartz and other mineral wastes of the glass industry. The refractory is a composite of quartz and aluminium oxides and cement materials and makes possible a decrease in the use of more valuable resources such as iron oxides. Grain size and pore structure information is given along with thermal insulation effectiveness.
A Device for Performing Controlled Cutting Operations

Cutting operations using blades appear in several different industries such as food processing, surgical operations, gardening equipment, and so forth. Many practitioners of cutting operations will notice that it is easier to cut something by pressing and slicing at the same time versus doing each motion individually. They will also notice that certain angles or certain blade geometries make it easier to cut certain materials. As our society continues to increase our technological prowess, there is an ongoing need to better understand the underlying causes of simple tasks such as cutting so that cutting operations can be performed with more precision and accuracy than ever before. For many applications it is not possible to achieve the most optimum cutting force, cutting angle, and push to slice ratio and a compromise must be made in order to ensure the functionality of a cutting device. A means of objectively and efficiently evaluating cutting media is needed in order to determine the optimum parameters such as cutting force, cutting angle, and push to slice ratio for certain applications. The approach taken in this work is to create a testing apparatus that uses standard cutting media and performs controlled cutting operations to determine key parameters to specific cutting operations. Most devices used for performing experimental controlled cutting operations are limited to a single axis of motion, thus not incorporating the effect of the push to slice ratio. The device created and discussed in this paper is capable of performing controlled cutting operations with three axes of motion. It is capable of accurately controlling the depth of cut, push to slice ratio, and angle of cut in order to accurately capture motions seen in typical cutting operations. Each degree of freedom on the device is capable of withstanding up to 1550 N of cutting force while still capable of maintaining smooth motions. The device is capable of controlling the velocity of the push and slice motions up to 34 mm/s. Depth of cut, for both pushing and slicing, the reaction forces, and the angle of cut are all controlled and measured in real-time so that a correlation can be made between them. Data collected by this device will be used to investigate the effects of the push to slice ratio and angle of cut on cutting force and overall quality of cutting operations. Preliminary testing in wood test samples evaluates the effectiveness of the device in collecting cutting data. This device will also be used to validate several finite element analyses used in investigating cutting mechanics.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Ethylene Economics and Production Forecasting in a Changing Environment

Abstract An historical perspective is presented with an emphasis on major uses for ethylene and past ethylene supply and demand balances and prices. Then an exponential model is developed that correlates annual U.S. ethylene production over more than three decades with a coefficient of determination of 0.99. Next, future U.S. ethylene supply and demand and prices are discussed within the context of a changing environment. Special consideration is given to the influence of future markets, energy needs, end products, and feedstocks. A review of fast ethylene production forecasts is presented, and our model is used to forecast ethylene production for the next decade. Finally, the changing international ethylene picture is analyzed with emphasis on Western Europe, Japan, and the Middle East.