cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Platelet aggregation monitored in a 96 well microplate reader is useful for evaluation of platelet agonists and antagonists

Optimal conditions for a method to simultaneously measure aggregation in 96 samples using a microplate reader were developed. The temperature of the assay was set at 25 degrees C, the optimal platelet concentration range was determined to be from 1-3 x 10(8) per mL, the assay volume was determined to be best at 100 microL and an agitation rate of setting #5 on the vortex was found to yield the most reliable aggregation response. After these initial assay parameters were established, EC50 values for standard platelet agonists including ADP, thrombin, collagen and thrombin receptor activating peptides were determined using the plate assay and compared to those obtained by measuring light transmittance in an aggregometer. The results were quantitatively similar, and qualitatively the shapes of the aggregations as monitored by both methods were characteristic of those expected for each agonist. The use of this assay was then extended to quantitate the inhibition of aggregation by antagonists of the fibrinogen receptor as well as by an inactive thrombin receptor peptide and by antibodies against the thrombin receptor. This method provided useful data for characterization of both platelet agonists and antagonists and should be useful for future platelet aggregation studies.
Not a Simple Yes or No: Uncertainty in Indirect Answers

There is a long history of using logic to model the interpretation of indirect speech acts. Classical logical inference, however, is unable to deal with the combinations of disparate, conflicting, uncertain evidence that shape such speech acts in discourse. We propose to address this by combining logical inference with probabilistic methods. We focus on responses to polar questions with the following property: they are neither yes nor no, but they convey information that can be used to infer such an answer with some degree of confidence, though often not with enough confidence to count as resolving. We present a novel corpus study and associated typology that aims to situate these responses in the broader class of indirect question--answer pairs (IQAPs). We then model the different types of IQAPs using Markov logic networks, which combine first-order logic with probabilities, emphasizing the ways in which this approach allows us to model inferential uncertainty about both the context of utterance and intended meanings.
High-fat diet consumption during pregnancy and the early post-natal period leads to decreased α cell plasticity in the nonhuman primate

We investigated the impact of poor maternal nutrition and metabolic health on the development of islets of the nonhuman primate (NHP). Interestingly, fetal offspring of high fat diet (HFD) fed animals had normal total islet and β cell mass; however, there was a significant reduction in α cell mass, and decreased expression of transcription factors involved in α cell differentiation. In juvenile animals all offspring maintained on a HFD during the postweaning period demonstrated increases in total islet mass, however, the control offspring displaying increased islet number, and HFD offspring displayed increased islet size. Finally, while control offspring had increases in α and β cells, the HFD offspring had increases only in β cell number. These studies indicate that consumption of a HFD diet during pregnancy in the NHP, independent of maternal metabolic health, causes long-term abnormalities in α cell plasticity that may contribute to chronic disease susceptibility.
Zooplankton species composition is linked to ocean transport in the Northern California Current

In the Northern California Current (NCC), zooplankton communities show interannual and multiyear shifts in species dominance that are tracked by survival of salmon populations. These zooplankton community changes correlate with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) index: a 'warm-water' copepod species group is more abundant during warm (positive) phases of the PDO and less abundant during cold (negative) phases; the reverse occurs for a 'cold-water' species group. The observed relationship led to the hypothesis that the relative dominance of warm/cold-water copepods in the NCC is driven by changes in the horizontal advection of surface water over different phases of the PDO. To test this hypothesis, variation in surface water advection to coastal regions of the NCC over the period of 1950-2008 was investigated using a Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) and passive tracer experiments, then was compared with zooplankton collected off Oregon since 1996. Results showed that surface water advection varied with the phase of the PDO; the low-frequency component of advection anomalies strongly correlated with copepod species composition (R > 0.9). During positive phases of the PDO, current anomalies were northward and onshore, resulting in transport of warmer waters and the associated copepods into the region. During negatives phases, increased equatorward current anomalies led to a copepod community that was dominated by cold-water taxa. Our results support the hypothesis that climate-driven changes in basin-scale circulation controls copepod community composition in the NCC, and demonstrate that large-scale climate forcings downscale to influence local and regional ecosystem structure.
Digestion and passage rates of grass hays by llamas, alpacas, goats, rabbits, and horses

Many studies have suggested that South American camelids (SAC) have greater digestive efficiency than pecoran ruminants, but others have found no difference. In an effort to provide new data on this issue, we investigated the ability of SAC (alpacas and llamas), goats, horses, and rabbits to digest C 3 (Bromus inermis) and C4 (Cynodon dactylon) grass hay with nearly equal nitrogen and cell wall concentrations. Dry matter digestibility (DMD) of the C3 grass hay was not significantly different between SAC and goats. Foregut fermenters (SAC and goats) digested C3 and C4 grasses more efficiently than hindgut fermenters (horses and rabbits). SAC digested C4 grass hays more efficiently than goats, possibly due to their relatively longer particulate matter mean retention times (71 and 54 h, respectively). Apparent nitrogen digestibility was 9% higher for all species with the C3 grass in comparison to C4 grass. This suggests that the highly-vascularized bundle sheath cells of C 4 plants prevent efficient utilization of dietary nitrogen. © 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Standoff and standoff resolution in deadlock free networks with virtual circuits

One of the most common approaches to deadlock prevention is a mechanism known as buffer preallocation. The key concept is that buffers are allocated, most usually for a virtual circuit or class of virtual circuits, before any data is transmitted, and this allocation is done in such a way that no deadlocks are possible. This preallocation typically occurs through the transmission of reservation control messages prior to the transmission of normal data traffic. Control traffic deadlock prevention has yet to be studied. It is shown that deadlocks may occur in connection with this initializing control traffic, and that the resolution of such deadlocks must be handled with some care. If such resolution is not handled with sufficient care, a condition termed standoff may result, whereby contention for the allocation of one or more critical buffers results in resource being allocated to none of the contending parties. Protocols that prevent the phenomenon of standoff, thereby ensuring true deadlock-free operation are described. >
WLC39-5: Power Allocation and Coverage for a Relay-Assisted Downlink with Voice Users

We study the downlink coverage of a base station terminal (BST), which has access to a relay node. Continuing a previous study in which the BST is assumed to provide a variable-rate data service, here we assume that each active user requires a target data rate, corresponding to a voice type of service. The relay is assumed to serve a separate set of (non- cellular) users, corresponding to a WiFi Access Point (AP). A one-dimensional model is considered in which cellular and non- cellular users are uniformly distributed along a line. The BST and AP jointly allocate available power across users and the BST-AP link to maximize the total number of users served. We characterize the optimized set of active cellular users served by the BST directly and the AP relay, and the non-cellular users served by the AP. We also give a closed-form upper bound on the increase in the total number of users provided by the relay as a function of user densities and path loss exponents. Our results show that depending on the distance between the BST and the AP, the addition of a relay gives a modest increase in the total number of active users.
An Unsupervised Model for Statistically Determining Coordinate Phrase Attachment

This paper examines the use of an unsupervised statistical model for determining the attachment of ambiguous coordinate phrases (CP) of the form n1 p n2 cc n3. The model presented here is based on [AR98], an unsupervised model for determining prepositional phrase attachment. After training on unannotated 1988 Wall Street Journal text, the model performs at 72% accuracy on a development set from sections 14 through 19 of the WSJ TreeBank [MSM93].
Conclusion to "Global Justice and International Economic Law: Opportunities and Prospects"

Since the beginnings of the GATT and the Bretton Woods institutions, and on to the creation of the World Trade Organization, states have continued to develop institutions and legal infrastructure to promote global interdependence. International economic law, a field dominated by legal regimes to liberalize international trade but that also includes international financial law and international law relating to economic development, has become a dense web of treaty commitments at the multilateral, regional, and bilateral levels. International lawyers are experts in understanding how these institutions operate in practice, but they tend to uncritically accept comparative advantage as the principal normative criterion to justify these institutions. In contrast, moral and political philosophers have developed accounts of global justice, but these accounts have had relatively little influence on international legal scholarship and on institutional design. What is needed is a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the economic fairness problems that societies face as they become increasingly interdependent, and the solutions that international economic law and institutions might facilitate. This volume brings together philosophers, legal scholars, and economists to discuss the problems of understanding international economic law from the standpoints of rights and justice, in particular from the standpoint of distributive justice. In this Introduction, the editors map the terrain and introduce the contributions of each chapter author to this overall inquiry into the relationship between global justice and international economic law.
Determinants of Forest Landowner Participation in the Endangered Species Act Safe Harbor Program

This article presents an empirical analysis of the determinants of landowner participation in the Safe Harbor program. Safe Harbor has been introduced as an alternative to the traditional “command and control” approach to implementing the Endangered Species Act. Results from the empirical model suggest that size of land ownership, certain land characteristics, some silvicultural management practices, and landowner perceptions and opinions are the significant determinants of participation in the program. The results will aid public agencies and policy-makers as they refine the program contents and strategies, thereby increasing the rate of participation.
EXPLAINING THE THIRD REICH: ETHICS, BELIEFS, INTERESTS

In recent years, the historiography of Nazi Germany has taken what Neil Gregor has called a “voluntarist turn.” By this, Gregor means that the recent literature on Nazi Germany has emphasized “that the panoply of organizations actively involved in occupation and murder, the number of German men and women who actively participated in these crimes, and the range of places in which they committed them, was much, much greater than has hitherto been acknowledged.” In the first instance this voluntarist turn has meant an increased stress on the centrality of Nazi criminality and atrocity to the regime, not as one feature, but as the central characteristic, of the Third Reich. Alongside this, however, has come an increased insistence that these criminal policies were both widely known at the time and broadly popular among Germans. As Saul Friedlander has put it, “the everyday involvement of the population with the regime was far deeper than has long been assumed, due to the widespread knowledge and passive acceptance of the crimes, as well as the crassest profit derived from them.” In short, then, the most recent trend among historians of the Third Reich is to insist that people believed in the Nazi project, including its criminal aspects.
Spatial signatures of retrograde spanwise vortices in wall turbulence

The spatial signatures of retrograde spanwise vortices in wall turbulence are assessed from particle-image velocimetry measurements in the streamwise-wall-normal plane of a zero-pressure-gradient turbulent boundary layer at Re τ ≡u * δ/ν =2350. The present results suggest that a proportion of retrograde spanwise vortices have a well-defined spatial relationship with neighbouring prograde vortices. Two-point cross-correlations and conditionally averaged velocity fields given a retrograde vortex reveal that such structures are typically oriented either upstream of and below or downstream of and above a prograde core. While these pairings are consistent with the typical-eddy patterns reported by Falco and co-workers, we offer an alternative interpretation for a proportion of these retrograde/prograde pairs. In particular, the arrangement of a retrograde spanwise vortex upstream of and below a prograde core is also consistent with the spatial signature revealed if an omega-shaped hairpin structure were sliced through its shoulder region by a fixed streamwise-wall-normal measurement plane.
Family Engagement in Child Protection Social Work

Family engagement is key to the success of child protection interventions. Families can only benefit from the social work interventions they are committed to being involved with, and a multitude of factors act as barriers to effective family engagement with child protection interventions. Despite the importance of family engagement as a practice value there is a lack of specificity in the field regarding how we build engagement, how we identify when it is present, and how we concretely identify its positive results. This article first reviews successful family engagement strategies and examines facilitators of and barriers to effective engagement. A model is then presented that can guide social workers, supervisors, and evaluators by operationalizing the process of family engagement. The model first details actions child protection social workers can take to build engagement and proposes indications that effective engagement has been established. The model then details the increases in information, resour...
Envelope Vaccination Shapes Viral Envelope Evolution following Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in Rhesus Monkeys

The evolution of envelope mutations by replicating primate immunodeficiency viruses allows these viruses to escape from the immune pressure mediated by neutralizing antibodies. Vaccine-induced anti-envelope antibody responses may accelerate and/or alter the specificity of the antibodies, thus shaping the evolution of envelope mutations in the replicating virus. To explore this possibility, we studied the neutralizing antibody response and the envelope sequences in rhesus monkeys vaccinated with either gag-pol-nef immunogens or gag-pol-nef immunogens in combination with env and then infected with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). Using a pseudovirion neutralization assay, we demonstrate that envelope vaccination primed for an accelerated neutralizing antibody response following virus challenge. To monitor viral envelope evolution in these two cohorts of monkeys, full-length envelopes from plasma virus isolated at weeks 37 and 62 postchallenge were sequenced by single genome amplification to identify sites of envelope mutations. We show that env vaccination was associated with a change in the pattern of envelope mutations. Prevalent mutations in sequences from gag-pol-nef vaccinees included deletions in both variable regions 1 and 4 (V1 and V4), whereas deletions in the env vaccinees occurred only in V1. These data show that env vaccination altered the focus of the antibody-mediated selection pressure on the evolution of envelope following SIV challenge.
Keeping birds of a feather together.

Summary Vertebrate species display extreme variation in grouping behaviours, ranging from solitary living to the aggregation of thousands of animals. Comparisons of territorial and gregarious species reveal differences in the distributions of several neuropeptide receptor types, primarily within the lateral septum, and the presence of neuropeptide neurones that encode social valence (positive–negative). Experiments show that these neural elements potently influence decisions about group size.
As Accessible as a Book on a Library Shelf: The Imperative of Routine Simulation in Modern Health Care

Technology-enhanced patient simulation has emerged as an important new modality for teaching and learning in medicine. In particular, immersive simulation platforms that replicate the clinical environment promise to revolutionize medical education by enabling an enhanced level of safety, standardization, and effi ciency across health-care training. Such an experiential approach seems unique in reliably catalyzing a level of emotional engagement that fosters immediate and indelible learning and allows for increasingly reliable levels of performance evaluation—all in a completely risk-free environment. As such, medical simulation is poised to emerge as a critical component of training and certifi cation throughout health care, promising to fundamentally enhance quality and safety across disciplines. To encourage routine simulation-based practice as part of its core quality and safety mission, Massachusetts General Hospital now incorporates simulation resources within its historic medical library (est. 1847), located at the center of the campus. In this new model, learners go to the library not only to read about a patient’s illness, but also to take care of their “patient.” Such an approach redefi nes and advances the central role of the library on the campus and ensures that simulation-based practice is centrally available as part of everyday hospital operations. This article describes the reasons for identifying simulation as an institutional priority leading up to the Massachusetts General Hospital Bicentennial Celebration (1811-2011) and for creating a simulationbased learning laboratory within a hospital library.
Some Aspects of Child Phonology in Imitative and Spontaneous Speech.

Child phonologists have made varying assumptions concerning the nature of phonological characteristics of children's imitative utterances and their relationship to the characteristics of spontaneous utterances. This study examined this relationship in children in early Stage I. A task was devised which permitted an inspection of children's unsolicited imitations of nonsense words reflecting syllabic shapes and consonants in and out of the child's phonological system. The results are discussed with respect to production constraints, phonological idioms, and selection and avoidance rules operative in imitative speech during this period of development. The findings indicated that while these imitative utterances were subject to the same production constraints they were not subject to the same selection and avoidance rules operative in spontaneous speech.
SPORADIC PARTHENOGENESIS IN THREE SPECIES OF CHIRONOMUS (DIPTERA)

Female midges were reared in isolation and allowed to produce unfertilized eggs. Some egg batches of Chironomus atrella, C. attenuatus, and C. stigmaterus showed evidence of parthenogenesis. In C. attenuatus 733 unhatched embryos and 191 hatched larvae were counted among approximately 9771 eggs produced by 12 females. In attempts to rear them, some of the parthenogenetic larvae attained the fourth instar.
In vitro measurement of human T cell responses to varicella zoster virus antigen.

Means to quantitate cell-mediated immunity are increasingly in demand as modifications to existing vaccines and new vaccines are tested. For immunity to varicella zoster virus, there is over a decade of experience with estimates of responder cell frequency obtained by diluting the number of lymphocytes in antigen-stimulated cultures. This method shows substantial variations between subjects, so populations of 12 or more subjects per group are needed to make comparisons possible. Cytokine-based methods for T lymphocyte responses may prove more sensitive, as may direct antigen-binding methods using tetramers of peptide and histocompatibility antigens — but experience with both is very limited.
Public Health Impact of Disasters

Natural and man made disasters have the direct and indirect impact on the health of the population, resulting in physical trauma, acute disease and emotional trauma along with increase in the morbidity and mortality associated with chronic diseases. A public health sector, which conducts routine surveillance, good immunisation coverage, maintains adequate environmental control is recommended to withstand the increased need following a disaster, while also expecting the health system to be prepared to resist the disaster.
The mago nashi locus encodes an essential product required for germ plasm assembly in Drosophila

In Drosophila, the localization of maternal determinants to the posterior pole of the oocyte is required for abdominal segmentation and germ cell formation. These processes are disrupted by maternal effect mutations in ten genes that constitute the posterior group. Here, the molecular analysis of one posterior group gene, mago nashi, is presented. Restriction fragment length polymorphisms and transcript alterations associated with mago nashi mutations were used to identify the mago nashi locus within a chromosomal walk. The mago nashi locus was sequenced and found to encode a 147 amino acid protein with no similarity to proteins of known or suspected function. The identification of the mago nashi locus was confirmed by sequencing mutant alleles and by P element-mediated transformation. Nonsense mutations in mago nashi, as well as a deletion of the 5′ coding sequences, result in zygotic lethality. The original mago nashi allele disrupts the localization of oskar mRNA and staufen protein to the posterior pole of the oocyte during oogenesis; anterior localization of bicoid mRNA is unaffected by the mutation. These results demonstrate that mago nashi encodes an essential product necessary for the localization of germ plasm components to the posterior pole of the oocyte.
Comparison of Alfalfa Hay and Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles, Alone or in Combination with Cull Beans, as Protein Sources for Beef Cows Grazing Native Winter Range

Abstract A grazing study was conducted at the Eastern Colorado Research Center (ECRC) to evaluate the use of locally available protein sources as supplements for beef cows grazing native winter range. The four treatments were as follows: 1) alfalfa hay to supply 182 g/d CP (Alfalfa); 2) a mixture of alfalfa hay and cull Great Northern Beans to each supply 91 g/d CP (Alfalfa/Beans); 3) distillers dried grains to supply 182 g/d CP (DDG); and 4) a mixture of DDG and cull Great Northern Beans to each supply 91 g/d CP (DDG/Beans). Pregnant, multiparous, spring calving crossbred cows (n = 112; 566 ± 59 kg) were randomly assigned to one of four treatments within one of two replicates. Supplemental CP was increased to 273 g/d ca. 60 d before calving. Cow BW change was affected by treatment (P 0.05) by treatment. Feeding cull Great Northern Beans to supply one-half of the supplemental CP reduced feed costs with little effect on subsequent cow performance. In this study, DDG was a less desirable source of supplemental protein because of higher cost and a lower percentage of degradable intake protein (DIP).
Tissue Strain Reorganizes Collagen With a Switchlike Response That Regulates Neuronal Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase Phosphorylation In Vitro: Implications for Ligamentous Injury and Mechanotransduction

Excessive loading of ligaments can activate the neural afferents that innervate the collagenous tissue, leading to a host of pathologies including pain. An integrated experimental and modeling approach was used to define the responses of neurons and the surrounding collagen fibers to the ligamentous matrix loading and to begin to understand how macroscopic deformation is translated to neuronal loading and signaling. A neuron-collagen construct (NCC) developed to mimic innervation of collagenous tissue underwent tension to strains simulating nonpainful (8%) or painful ligament loading (16%). Both neuronal phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), which is related to neuroplasticity (R2 ≥ 0.041; p ≤ 0.0171) and neuronal aspect ratio (AR) (R2 ≥ 0.250; p < 0.0001), were significantly correlated with tissue-level strains. As NCC strains increased during a slowly applied loading (1%/s), a "switchlike" fiber realignment response was detected with collagen reorganization occurring only above a transition point of 11.3% strain. A finite-element based discrete fiber network (DFN) model predicted that at bulk strains above the transition point, heterogeneous fiber strains were both tensile and compressive and increased, with strains in some fibers along the loading direction exceeding the applied bulk strain. The transition point identified for changes in collagen fiber realignment was consistent with the measured strain threshold (11.7% with a 95% confidence interval of 10.2-13.4%) for elevating ERK phosphorylation after loading. As with collagen fiber realignment, the greatest degree of neuronal reorientation toward the loading direction was observed at the NCC distraction corresponding to painful loading. Because activation of neuronal ERK occurred only at strains that produced evident collagen fiber realignment, findings suggest that tissue strain-induced changes in the micromechanical environment, especially altered local collagen fiber kinematics, may be associated with mechanotransduction signaling in neurons.
A SIMULATION OF WRIGHT'S SHIFTING-BALANCE PROCESS: MIGRATION AND THE THREE PHASES.

Wright partitioned the shifting-balance process into three phases. Phase one is the shift of a deme within a population to the domain of a higher adaptive peak from that of the historical peak. Phase two is mass selection within a deme towards that higher peak. Phase three is the conversion of additional demes to the higher peak. The migration rate between demes is critical for the existence of phases one and three. Phase one requires small effective population sizes, hence low migration rates. Phase three is optimal under high migration rates that spread the most-fit genotype from deme to deme. Thus, a population-wide peak shift requires intermediate levels of migration. By altering the rates of phases one and three, migration affects the predominant direction of mass selection within a population. This study examines the degree to which migration, through its effects on phases one and three, determines the probability of a simulated population arriving at its genotypic optimum after 12,000 generations. These simulations reveal that there is a range of migration rates for which an entire population might be expected to shift to a higher peak. Below m = 0.001 peak shifts occur frequently (phases I and II) but are not successfully exported out of subpopulations (phase III), and above 0.01 peak shifts within demes (phase I and II), required to initiate phase III, become increasingly uncommon. Because it is unlikely that real populations will have uniform migration rates from generation to generation, the probable effects of varying migration rates on broadening the range of conditions producing peak shifts are discussed.
Selective surface and near-surface modification of a noncatenated, catalytically active metal-organic framework material based on Mn(salen) struts.

From a combination of chiral Mn(salen) struts and the tetratopic ligand tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene, a large-pore, noncatenated metal-organic framework (MOF) material, MnSO-MOF, has been synthesized. Following solvent exchange with hydrophobic CHCl3, treatment of MnSO-MOF with aqueous H2O2 allowed for the selective demetalation of Mn(salen) struts at and near the surface of the crystals. The resulting crystals displayed greatly enhanced size-selective catalysis compared to the as-synthesized material. Handling of the mechanically fragile MnSO-MOF crystals was greatly facilitated by activation with supercritical CO2.
Effects of various fixatives and fixation conditions on DNA ploidy analysis. A need for strict internal DNA standards.

DNA ploidy and cell cycle analyses are being used with increasing frequency as additional, sometimes independent, biologic prognosticators of various malignancies. For obvious reasons, most of the large studies published are retrospective, using archival paraffin-embedded tissues likely to have been fixed and processed differently. To assess the effect of various fixation conditions on ploidy analyses, the authors performed a comprehensive study in which five contiguous aliquots from 26 tissue samples were fixed in formalin for 8, 24, and 48 hours; B5; and the ethanolbased fixative Omnifix® (Omni, Xenetics Biomed Inc., Irvine, CA), respectively. The samples were prepared and stained with the use of Hedley's method; the DNA analyses were done with a Coulter EPICS V® flow cytometer (Coulter Electronics, Hialeah, FL); and the resulting histograms were interpreted with Multicycle® software (Phoenix Flow Systems, San Diego, CA). Mean channels and coefficients of variation (CVs) of the Go/G] peaks were compared. Increasing fixation times in formalin produced slight shifting to the left on the G0/Gi peaks with differences up to 13 channels. Omni caused similar but more conspicuous changes, with maximal shifting of 51 channels. B5 created the opposite effect, with right-shifted G0/G, peaks up to 22 channels. The CVs deteriorated progressively with increasing fixation times in formalin. B5 and Omni fixatives conferred the worse histograms, with 6 and 15 cases, respectively, displaying CVs greater than 8. Such significant differences preclude the use of any other internal standard but adjacent normal tissue that was processed exactly the same as the tumor. The validity of DNA results obtained otherwise should be considered questionable. These findings may explain some of the previously published controversial reports and emphasize the need to use an internal standard and more stringent criteria to define aneuploidy in paraffin-embedded tissue.
Granular Flow Modeling and Simulation Using a Dynamic Finite Element Method

Granular flow behavior is of fundamental interest to the engineering and scientific community because of the prevalence of these flows in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, food service, and powder manufacturing industries. Granular materials exhibit very complex behavior, oftentimes acting as solids and at other times as fluids. This dual nature leads to very complex and rich behavior, which is not yet well understood. Therefore, the present investigation introduces a new technique that can potentially be used to unveil the mystery of granular flow phenomena. To this end, advanced finite element modeling and simulation techniques have been applied to the study of the complex nature of granular flow. More specifically, the explicit dynamic code LS-DYNA has been utilized to gain an understanding of the complex flow nature and collision stresses of granules in a shear cell.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
EXAMPLE OF 2 :1 INTERLIMB COORDINATION DURING FICTIVE ROSTRAL SCRATCHING IN A SPINAL TURTLE

Stein, Paul S. G. and Margaret L. McCullough. Example of 2:1 interlimb coordination during fictive rostral scratching in a spinal turtle. J. Neurophysiol. 79: 1132–1134, 1998. The usual interlimb c...
Liver-Specific Deletion of Phosphatase and Tensin Homolog Deleted on Chromosome 10 Significantly Ameliorates Chronic EtOH-Induced Increases in Hepatocellular Damage

Alcoholic liver disease is a significant contributor to global liver failure. In murine models, chronic ethanol consumption dysregulates PTEN/Akt signaling. Hepatospecific deletion of phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome 10 (PTENLKO) mice possess constitutive activation of Akt(s) and increased de novo lipogenesis resulting in increased hepatocellular steatosis. This makes PTENLKO a viable model to examine the effects of ethanol in an environment of preexisting steatosis. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of chronic ethanol consumption and the absence of PTEN (PTENLKO) compared to Alb-Cre control mice (PTENf/f) on hepatocellular damage as evidenced by changes in lipid accumulation, protein carbonylation and alanine amino transferase (ALT). In the control PTENf/f animals, ethanol significantly increased ALT, liver triglycerides and steatosis. In contrast, chronic ethanol consumption in PTENLKO mice decreased hepatocellular damage when compared to PTENLKO pair-fed controls. Consumption of ethanol elevated protein carbonylation in PTENf/f animals but had no effect in PTENLKO animals. In PTENLKO mice, overall hepatic mRNA expression of genes that contribute to GSH homeostasis as well as reduced glutathione (GSH) and oxidized glutathione (GSSG) concentrations were significantly elevated compared to respective PTENf/f counterparts. These data indicate that during conditions of constitutive Akt activation and steatosis, increased GSH homeostasis assists in mitigation of ethanol-dependent induction of oxidative stress and hepatocellular damage. Furthermore, data herein suggest a divergence in EtOH-induced hepatocellular damage and increases in steatosis due to polyunsaturated fatty acids downstream of PTEN.
The Analysis of Virtual Prototype Model for Hood Latch based on ADAMS

Based on ADAMS software,the paper establishes virtual prototype model for hood latch,and carries out simulating analysis at last.And then we can acquire the rule of the primary parameters of hood latch.
351 THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SLEEP TIME AND BODY MASS INDEX IN CLINIC PATIENTS.

Background Obesity has become a major health problem in the United States. The identification of potentially modifiable risk factors should lead to better treatment of this problem. Epidemiological studies have shown an association between shorter sleep times and increased body mass index (BMI). We used a survey instrument in our clinic patients to evaluate the association between sleep time and BMI and to identify potential confounding factors. Methods We obtained a convenience sample of consecutive patients in internal medicine resident clinics. Two hundred patients agreed to participate and four refused. Patients were given a structured questionnaire asking about sleeping, eating, and lifestyle habits. We used descriptive statistics, logistic regression, and multivariate linear regression for data analysis. Unstable sleep was defined as having greater than a 2 hr range in to bed times or greater than a 2 hr range in wake-up times, or naps of length greater than 1 hr. Results The final sample had 199 patients (74 men and 125 women). The median age was 54 with a range of 18 to 89. The mean BMI was 28.8 in men and 29.1 in women (p .05 by t-test). BMI was higher in younger patients (18-49) than older patients (> 50) (p .05). Logistic regression demonstrated that the probability of obesity (BMI $ 30) increased in women (odds ratio [OR]: 2.7),in young patients (18-49 yrs, OR: 4.9), with short sleep periods (first quartile: 3-6.9 hrs, OR: 2.82), with dieting (OR: 7.03), with drinking alcohol (OR: 4.11), in diabetics (OR: 2.39), in hypertensive patients (OR: 2.39), and in sleep apnea (OR: 8.77). Subgroup analysis with logistic regression demonstrated that short sleep periods increased the probability of obesity in males and in stable sleepers but not in women or in unstable sleepers. Sleep period had a U-shaped effect in young patients (18-49) but not older patients. Conclusion Adult BMI depends on genetic background, environmental influences, and acquired diseases. In this clinic population, shorter sleep time (3-6.9 hrs), age (18-49), and female gender increased the probability of obesity. Our subgroup analysis suggests that weight loss programs should focus on young males with short sleep times (less than 7 hours). In addition, our results suggest that sleep research studies need to separate patients with stable sleep patterns from patients with unstable patterns.
Cholesterol-Independent SREBP-1 Maturation Is Linked to ARF1 Inactivation

Lipogenesis requires coordinated expression of genes for fatty acid, phospholipid, and triglyceride synthesis. Transcription factors, such as SREBP-1 (Sterol regulatory element binding protein), may be activated in response to feedback mechanisms linking gene activation to levels of metabolites in the pathways. SREBPs can be regulated in response to membrane cholesterol and we also found that low levels of phosphatidylcholine (a methylated phospholipid) led to SBP-1/SREBP-1 maturation in C. elegans or mammalian models. To identify additional regulatory components, we performed a targeted RNAi screen in C. elegans, finding that both lpin-1/Lipin 1 (which converts phosphatidic acid to diacylglycerol) and arf-1.2/ARF1 (a GTPase regulating Golgi function) were important for low-PC activation of SBP-1/SREBP-1. Mechanistically linking the major hits of our screen, we find that limiting PC synthesis or LPIN1 knockdown in mammalian cells reduces the levels of active GTP-bound ARF1. Thus, changes in distinct lipid ratios may converge on ARF1 to increase SBP-1/SREBP-1 activity.
System Discontinuity and Switchability

In this Chapter, from Luo (2005, 2006, 2012), system discontinuity and switchability at the boundary will be reviewed. The accessible and inaccessible sub-domains will be introduced in discontinuous dynamic systems. On the accessible domains, the corresponding dynamic systems will be defined. The switchability and tangency (grazing) of a flow to the separation boundary between two adjacent accessible domains will be discussed, and the necessary and sufficient conditions for such passability and tangency of the flow to the boundary will be presented. The product of the two dot products of the boundary normal vector and vector fields will be presented, and the corresponding conditions for the flow switchability to the boundary will be discussed.
Increased [18F]ASEM α7-nAChR binding in diffuse traumatic brain injury (TBI) is opposite to that in the focal TBI in rodent models.

347 Objectives The main objective of this project was to evaluate [18F]ASEM for PET imaging of α7-nAChR binding in the diffuse impact acceleration (IA) TBI model in rodents. Many lines of evidence suggest active involvement of α7-nAChRs in pathophysiological processes of TBI. In vitro α7-nAChR autoradiography studies demonstrated decreased binding in the brain of mice, rats and piglets with focal TBI. Our previous PET experiments with [18F]ASEM, a highly specific and selective clinical PET tracer for α7-nAChRs, demonstrated the reduction of α7-nAChR binding in the focal controlled cortical impact TBI model in rodents due to neuronal damage. Methods [18F]ASEM PET imaging experiments (dynamic scans) were performed with an ARGUS small-animal PET/CT scanner (Sedecal, Madrid, Spain) in an IA-TBI model in mice. The following post-trauma intervals were evaluated: 3, 7, 14 and 31 days. Sham animals that were scanned side-by-side with IA mice were used for comparison to IA animals (n=4 for each group). Regional SUV values for the cortex, hippocampus, striatum, thalamus and cerebellum were generated and SUVTBI/ SUVsham ratio values were compared on different days post trauma. Immunofluorescence staining (dual labeling with anti-α7-nAChR antibody and another antibody from markers including either neuronal marker-NeuN, microglial markers - IBA1 and CD68 or astrocytal marker - GFAP) was performed in a separate set of sham and IA mouse brains (n=4 for each group). Results In the PET experiments, a significant increase of SUVTBI values was observed on days 3 (40-60%) and 7 (15-30%) in the mouse brain regions in IA versus SUVsham, but there was no significant difference on days 14 and 31 (Fig). Similar results were also obtained in rat IA model. Immunofluorescence staining of the brain tissue demonstrated that microglia α7-nAChRs were present in the impact acceleration TBI mouse brain, but nearly absent on the sham mice. Conclusions [18F]ASEM - PET experiments show transient increases (day 3) of α7-nAChR binding in the diffuse IA-TBI model in mice potentially due to expression of α7-nAChRs in the activated microglia. This study indicated that α7-nAChR might be involved differently in diffuse TBI (present study) than in focal TBI (previous studies).
Modeling anthropogenic boron in groundwater flow and discharge at Volusia Blue Spring (Florida, USA)

Volusia Blue Spring (VBS) is the largest spring along the St. Johns River in Florida (USA) and the spring pool is refuge for hundreds of manatees during winter months. However, the water quality of the spring flow has been degraded due to urbanization in the past few decades. A three-dimensional contaminant fate and transport model, utilizing MODFLOW-2000 and MT3DMS, was developed to simulate boron transport in the Upper Florida Aquifer, which sustains the VBS spring discharge. The VBS model relied on information and data related to natural water features, rainfall, land use, water use, treated wastewater discharge, septic tank effluent flows, and fertilizers as inputs to simulate boron transport. The model was calibrated against field-observed water levels, spring discharge, and analysis of boron in water samples. The calibrated VBS model yielded a root-mean-square-error value of 1.8 m for the head and 17.7 μg/L for boron concentrations within the springshed. Model results show that anthropogenic boron from surrounding urbanized areas contributes to the boron found at Volusia Blue Spring.
Working together to block alloimmunization.

In this issue of Blood, Bernardo et al demonstrate that monoclonal antibody combinations recapitulate the efficacy of polyclonal antibodies in suppressing red blood cell (RBC) alloimmunization. These results hold significant promise in the development of monoclonal antibody alternatives to human-derived sources for anti-Rh (RhD) immunoprophylaxis.1
A dynamic power-aware process variation calibration scheme

In this paper, a power-aware process variation calibration scheme is proposed. The proposed calibration system provides the ability to detect and control the n- and p-type variations independently through the use of all-n and all-p ring oscillators. Calibration is then carried out through the use of the supply voltage and body bias to alter the device parameters to match those of a certain process corner that is determined by the system designer. This scheme is characterized by its ability to dynamically change the desired mapping target according to the computational load. The calibration system has been implemented and simulated in TSMC 90-nm technology. Simulation results show that the maximum variation in the operating frequency was reduced from 44.3% to 3.1% and worst-case leakage current reduced by 21%. The results also show the system's ability to compensate for dynamic load variations.
A boron-based Ireland-Claisen approach to the synthesis of pordamacrine A

Abstract A synthetic approach to pordamacrine A that features two key transformations is discussed. The first transformation applies an Ireland-Claisen rearrangement to establish sterically congested vicinal carbon centers. Although a hard enolization technique for accessing the silyl ketene acetal failed, a soft enolization, boron-based reaction was highly successful. The second step involves a proposed cascade palladium-catalyzed biscyclization to construct two carbocycles of the natural product. The overall strategy is presented, demonstrating the challenges of the cyclization events in this complex setting.
Performance evaluation of series connected 15 kV SiC IGBT devices for MV power conversion systems

The 15kV SiC IGBT (2 μm buffer layer) with chip area of 8.4 × 8.4 mm2 is the state of the art high voltage device designed by Cree Inc. This device is expected to increase the power density of converters and the demonstration of the device in applications like Solid State Transformers has been published. Therefore, it is interesting to investigate the performance of the device in very high voltage (HV) application, where the series connection of devices is required. This paper addresses design considerations of the series connection of 15kV SiC IGBT devices for high voltage converter applications. A simple RC snubber has been used to control both ‘dv/dt’ and dynamic voltage balancing during turn-off. The experimental results show that there is a significant difference in the static and dynamic voltage sharing between two unmatched 15kV SiC IGBTs without active compensation method. With external RC snubber at total DC bus voltage of 10 kV, the difference in dynamic voltage between the two 15 kV SiC IGBT devices during turn-off transition nearly negligible. Also with external snubber, the total turn-off dv/dt of less than ‘5 kV/ μs’ is achieved across each device of two series connected 15kV SiC IGBTs. Furthermore, optimization of RC snubber to minimize semiconductor switching losses and total losses per device including the snubber resistor losses in series connection has been presented.
A Diagnostic Marker to Discriminate Childhood Apraxia of Speech From Speech Delay: III. Theoretical Coherence of the Pause Marker with Speech Processing Deficits in Childhood Apraxia of Speech

Purpose Previous articles in this supplement described rationale for and development of the pause marker (PM), a diagnostic marker of childhood apraxia of speech (CAS), and studies supporting its v...
Keynote address : EPRI's global coal initiative

The use of coal for power generation is being questioned in many developed countries, as a result of ever-tightening environmental restrictions and concerns about the potential impact of CO2 emissions on climate. Coal will continue to be the fuel of choice for new power plants for many developing countries with large percentages of the worldi?½s population, because of its relatively low cost and broad availability. Even in many of the developed countries that are under pressure, coal will continue to fuel large percentages of power due to the installed base. Using coal efficiently and in an environmentally responsible manner will be a challenge for technology and politics in this new century, with the politics played out on the world stage. Coal use will vary in the next few decades, including short-term changes such as the use of more diverse coals and the increased use of efficient ultra-supercritical boilers to longer term i?½refiningi?½ of coal to produce a range of energy and chemical outputs. This paper outlines EPRIi?½s Global Coal Initiative aimed at needed developments and demonstrations that support the long-term vision of environmentally sound and economical coal use for power generation, and discusses some of the forces that are driving this development effort.