cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Merleau-Ponty’s implicit critique of the new mechanists

I argue (1) that what (ontic) New Mechanistic philosophers of science call mechanisms would be material Gestalten, and (2) that Merleau-Ponty’s engagement with Gestalt theory can help us frame a standing challenge against ontic conceptions of mechanisms. In short, until the (ontic) New Mechanist can provide us with a plausible account of the organization of mechanisms as an objective feature of mind-independent ontic structures in the world which we might discover—and no ontic Mechanist has done so—it is more conservative to claim that mechanistic organization is instead a mind-dependent aspect of our epistemic strategies of mechanistic explanation.
John A. Davidson: Coccidologist, Artist, Teacher and Naturalist

Dr. John Davidson was honored at the XIV International Symposium on Scale Insect Studies with the Career Achievement award for his outstanding research on scale insects, particularly armored scales. His contributions with colleagues and students include a comprehensive treatise on the economic armored scale insects of the United States, and a series of taxonomic works on armored scales in the genera Abgrallaspis, Crenulaspidiotus, Hemigymnaspis, Melanaspis, and Pseudischnaspis. He is best known for his detailed line drawings and beautiful color photographs. Research of his laboratory has emphasized the biology of the species studied including life history information on more than 20 species. He has undertaken pioneering research using integrated pest management strategies to develop the first arborist and nursery IPM programs. In ornamental landscapes he was among the first to test and promote summer oils for the control of armored scales. As a teacher, he taught courses in such diverse subjects as introductory entomology, systematics, insect taxonomy, insect morphology, parasitology, medical and veterinary entomology, coccidology, acarology, insect pests of ornamental plants, scientific illustration, ornithology, and human histology. He received high accolades from his students and was a member of more than 20 graduate committees in addition to serving as major professor to 10 graduate students in coccidology and acarology. John is a true naturalist and is knowledgeable of botany, general entomology, ichthyology, ornithology, herpetology, and acarology. He is well known for his sense of humor and his probing interest in science.
Detection of Apoptotic Circulating Tumor Cells Using in vivo Fluorescence Flow Cytometry

Most cancer patients die from metastatic disease as a result of a circulating tumor cell (CTC) spreading from a primary tumor through the blood circulation to distant organs. Many studies have demonstrated the tremendous potential of using CTC counts as prognostic markers of metastatic development and therapeutic efficacy. However, it is only the viable CTCs capable of surviving in the blood circulation that can create distant metastasis. To date, little progress has been made in understanding what proportion of CTCs is viable and what proportion is in an apoptotic state. Here, we introduce a novel approach toward in situ characterization of CTC apoptosis status using a multicolor in vivo flow cytometry platform with fluorescent detection for the real-time identification and enumeration of such cells directly in blood flow. The proof of concept was demonstrated with two-color fluorescence flow cytometry (FFC) using breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 expressing green fluorescein protein (GFP), staurosporine as an activator of apoptosis, Annexin-V apoptotic kit with orange dye color, and a mouse model. The future application of this new platform for real-time monitoring of antitumor drug efficiency is discussed. © 2018 International Society for Advancement of Cytometry.
Fighting Digital Piracy in Publishing: Interview with Sari Frances and Lui Simpson

In this installment of “Conversations,” Sari Frances, manager of digital license compliance for IEEE, and Lui Simpson, vice president of global policy for the Association of American Publishers, di...
Optimal Design of a Fully Superconducting Machine for 10- MW Offshore Wind Turbines

Fully superconducting (SC)machines hold immense promise for high-power-density and higher efficiency machine solutions for offshore wind turbine applications. In this paper, a 10MW air-core fully SC machine is designed for offshore wind turbine applications. This machine design is considered with inside armature coils and outside rotating field coils. In this topology, shield iron can be eliminated or reduced by replacing it with shield coils which contain the magnetic flux inside the machine. This machine is attractive for off-shore wind turbine application due to its high-power density and high efficiency compared to a conventional shield iron design. However, due to the introduction of additional shield coils, this topology uses relatively more amount of SC material than a conventional shield iron design. Therefore, a tradeoff between the shield coils and the shield iron is explored in this paper. In addition, machine designs with different pole-counts are investigated to identify the optimal pole-count design for a low-speed application. A detailed ac loss calculation is evaluated for the machine and required cryocooler power is evaluated to obtain the machine efficiency.
Introduction to the Vulkan® computer graphics API

Vulkan is better at keeping the GPU busy than OpenGL is. OpenGL drivers need to do a lot of CPU work before handing work off to the GPU. Vulkan lets you get more power from the GPU card you already have.
Left ventricular filling pressure and survival following aortic valve replacement for severe aortic stenosis

Objective To determine whether echocardiography-derived left ventricular filling pressure influences survival in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) undergoing aortic valve replacement (AVR). Methods We retrospectively reviewed 1383 consecutive patients with severe AS, normal ejection fraction and interpretable filling pressure undergoing AVR. Left ventricular filling pressure was determined according to current guidelines using mitral inflow, mitral annular tissue Doppler, estimated right ventricular systolic pressure and left atrial volume index. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess the influence of various parameters on mortality. Results Age was 75±10 years and 552 (40%) were female. Left ventricular filling pressure was normal in 325 (23%), indeterminate in 463 (33%) and increased in 595 (43%). Mean follow-up was 7.3±3.7 years, and mortality was 1.2%, 4.2% and 18.9% at 30 days and 1 and 5 years, respectively. Compared with patients with normal filling pressure, patients with increased filling pressure were older (78±9 vs 70±12, p Conclusions Preoperative increased left ventricular filling pressure is common in patients with AS undergoing AVR and has important prognostic implications, regardless of symptom status. Future prospective studies should consider whether patients with increased filling pressure would benefit from earlier operation.
Racial variations in lacosamide serum concentrations in adult patients with epilepsy

Abstract Lacosamide (LCM) is a third-generation anti-epileptic drug (AED) for partial-onset epilepsy with minimal hepatic metabolism and drug-drug interactions. The impact of individual patient variables such as race on drug metabolism have been under-reported in AEDs and LCM has not been specifically investigated. Our aim was to assess the role race plays on serum LCM levels in the management of epilepsy. Thus, we retrospectively reviewed patients with focal seizures who received LCM and had LCM levels as part of their routine clinical care in our Level IV Epilepsy Center. Variables including age, race, gender, LCM serum levels, LCM daily dose, and concomitant AEDs were collected and analyzed. A total of 93 patients with 1–3 clinic visits yielded 122 LCM serum levels. African Americans (AA) comprised 62.3% of our serum samples. Daily LCM doses averaged 350 mg/day (range 50–1000 mg/day). Eighty-nine percent of patients took 1–2 other AEDs. Overall, AA patients had lower LCM levels (mean 6.8 μg/mL) compared to White patients (mean of 7.1 μg/mL) (p = .017) even when considering for the daily dose effect (p = .007). Analysis of co-variables did not have significant effect on LCM levels. Overall, AA patients had a weaker relationship between LCM daily dose (adjusted for weight) and serum levels as compared to White patients and require a higher LCM dose per weight to achieve similar levels. Differences in pharmacogenetics may play an important role in these findings and focus on how these variations impact seizure burden.
Testing the nonlinear Luttinger liquid.

The lifetime of plasmonic excitations in semiconducting carbon nanotubes is found to strongly depend on the carrier density, offering a platform to study non-conventional one-dimensional electron dynamics and realize integrated nanophotonic devices.
Interlude: “There’ll Be Scary Ghost Stories”—English Ghosts of Christmas Past

Given that Joyce’s “The Dead” takes place at a Christmas party, it is here necessary to detour into a discussion of the lost tradition of Christmas ghost stories in English literature. Taking a cue from Andy Williams’s “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” this chapter sketches a genealogy of Christmas ghost stories, from Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” to Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, G.K. Chesterton’s 1922 commentary on the same, J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye; and the cult-classic film “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” This chapter theorizes that the Anglosphere most freely indulges in altruism during the Holidays for the same reason they used to tell ghost stories: because Christmas is the sole time of year when both have the least ability to disrupt them.
“A Part of Our Family”? Effects of Psychiatric Service Dogs on Quality of Life and Relationship Functioning in Military-Connected Couples

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can have corrosive impacts on family relationships and individual functioning. Emerging evidence has shown that psychiatric service dogs may be an effective com...
Using Nonequilibrium Fluctuation Theorems to Understand and Correct Errors in Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium Simulations of Discrete Langevin Dynamics

Slicing continuous time into discrete segments is necessary in computer simulations, but inevitably introduces artifacts. Drawing on the recent development in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have learned a new way to systematically characterize and separate the artifacts in simulations of molecular dynamics.
Parallel Chopped Symbolic Execution

Symbolic execution, a well-known and widely studied software testing technique, faces scalability issues due to path explosion that limits its effectiveness. Recent work on chopped symbolic execution introduced the Chopper technique that allows the user to specify uninteresting parts of code that the symbolic analysis can try to ignore by focusing first on the essential parts. If necessary, the ignored parts are later explored once their impact on the main code under analysis becomes unavoidable. We introduce a parallel approach to chopped symbolic execution that integrates path-based partitioning with Chopper. Our tool, called PChop, speeds up chopped symbolic exploration by allowing multiple participating workers to explore non-overlapping regions of the code in parallel. We demonstrate the impact of our technique in a failure reproduction scenario, where we use both PChop and Chopper to re-create security vulnerabilities in the GNU libtasn1. The experimental results show that PChop is beneficial in situations where Chopper requires more than a minute to find the vulnerability when using a specific search strategy. For two vulnerabilities, PChop identified a previously undocumented code location to manifest each of them.
Thermal Kinetic Inductance Detectors Camera: System Level Design, Strategy and Performance Forecast

The next-generation instruments for millimeter-wave astronomy will require large arrays of detectors to surpass current performance [see (Hui, 2016) and (Ade, 2018)]. On account of integration challenges, focal planes relying on transition edge sensor (TES) bolometers will not scale gracefully. Thermal Kinetic Inductance Detectors (TKIDs) are highly scalable and have the design flexibility to solve this problem. We present an update on our detector development and systems engineering in preparation for a 2022 TKIDs camera deployment that includes noise performance, optical characterization, and a calibration strategy.
Freeze-printing of pectin/alginate scaffolds with high resolution, overhang structures and interconnected porous network

Abstract We report herein the fabrication of a pectin-based scaffold (6 wt% pectin, 3 wt% alginate) with high resolution (small-diameter rods), small pores, and interconnected porosity using a low temperature 3D printing process known as freeze-printing. The ability to successfully print natural polymers has been a long-standing challenge in the field of additive manufacturing of polymeric tissue scaffolds. This is due to the slow evaporation rate of the aqueous solvent, which leads to unstable structures. This problem has been addressed by utilizing the fast solidification rate of the freeze-printing process. Scaffolds with a hgresolution (rod-diameter of 83 ± 14 µm), small pores (
Nonsmokers-only hiring policies: personal liberty vs. promoting public health

There is a fierce debate about nonsmokers-only hiring policies, also referred to as no-nicotine hiring policies and “tobacco free” hiring policies. The favorable outcomes of no-nicotine hiring poli...
Using COCA to evaluate The Chicago Manual of Style’s usage prescriptions

By querying the Corpus of Contemporary American English and subjecting the results to statistical analysis, this study examined usage prescriptions in the most detailed style manual in the United States – The Chicago Manual of Style. The results lead to five recommendations. One, about half of the prescriptions are valid across all the registers and should be retained as they are. Two, in some cases, significant variations among registers should be acknowledged. Three, some prescriptions should be modified. Four, a few prescriptions should be eliminated for all registers due to widespread disregard. Five, a few prescriptions are universally observed and are no longer needed. The mean for each written register ranges from 86.1% to 88.6%. The median percent of total for all of the preferred written variants tested in this study ranges from 92.4% in the academic register to 95.5% in the newspaper register, indicating that Chicago’s prescriptions match actual educated usage half the time. These results carry significant implications for future editions of style manuals.
Use of geostatistics to estimate surface ozone patterns

Models of spatial and temporal distributions of ambient ozone (O3) in the Sierra Nevada in the spring/summer season of 1999 were developed with the Geostatistical Analyst, an extension to ArcMapTM 8.1.2 (ESRI, Redlands, CA). The models were based on a combination of O3 concentrations data from passive O3 samplers and active monitors, digital elevation models, and available meteorological data for the study area. Strong spatial variation of O3 concentration and weaker temporal variation over the study area were found. Ozone concentrations were the highest at the foothills of the southern Sierra Nevada and the lowest at the high altitudes of the northern part of the range. Summer thunderstorms influenced distribution of O3 concentrations by setting spatial and temporal pockets that reduced concentrations of pollutants. The number of O3 monitoring points in the network was not sufficient to ensure a high and relatively uniform level of confidence in the O3 concentration estimates, especially on the eastern slopes of the southern portion of the Sierra Nevada. High O3 concentrations in portions of the eastern Sierra Nevada indicate the possibility of a long-range transport of highly polluted air plumes from the California Central Valley and/or the Los Angeles area.
Terminology and notation

The symbol “∪” is used both for the set-theoretical union and for the more general notion of Boolean join. In most cases, if both interpretations of “∪” are possible, they coincide. In the opposite case, either it is explicitly stated, or it is evident from the text how the symbol “∪” should actually be interpreted. The same remarks hold for the symbol “∩” used both for the set-theoretical intersection and for the more general notion of Boolean meet. They hold also for the symbols “ ∪ ” and “ ∩ ” of the corresponding infinite operations (see also notation on p. 50–51 for infinite Boolean joins and meets) and for the symbol “—” of complementation and the symbol “ ⊂ ” of inclusion.
Compressive Properties and Laser Absorptivity of Unidirectional Metal Matrix Composites

Abstract : Metal matrix composite use has been impeded because there is no well qualified property data base. Elevated temperature compressive properties and laser absorptivity data are in great demand in the design, modelling, and analysis of MMC structures in elevated temperature applications and survivability assessment. Testing methods were developed for room temperature and elevated temperature compressive modulus and strength measurements of single-ply unidirectional graphite-aluminum (Gr/Al) and graphite-magnesium a(Gr/Mg), and to generate laser absorptivity data for these two types of materials. An effective gage length was established for valid compression tests to eliminate buckling failure. The measured failure strength values for Gr/Al and Gr/Mg are approximately 50 to 60% lower than the material tensile strength. Small gage strain gages are being used to measure the compressive modulus as a function of temperature. The laser absorptivities of Gr/Al and Gr/Mg were measured by the use of an in-house developed differential calorimeter. The calorimeter has been used to measure total hemispherical emittance and normal laser absorptance of specimens as a function of temperature from 200 to 700 C. Test results indicated that the laser absorptances of Gr/Al and Gr/Mg at 10.6 micrometer wavelength remain more or less constant over most of the temperature range tested. 888
Sorting out of coaggregated brain cell types mediated by specific cell recognition factors in vitro. I. Experimental histogenesis and quantitative analysis.

Abstract Two region-specific cell recognition factors (CRF, cerebrum specific, and OTF, optic tectum specific), which markedly increased the size of aggregates formed by dissociated cells of homologous type, have also been shown to promote selective association of homologous cells within coaggregates formed from commingled cerebrum and tectum cell suspensions. The resulting patterns of cell sorting were examined quantitatively. Nearest-neighbor analysis of cell associations within equatorial histological sections of these coaggregates evaluated the enhanced association of regionally homologous brain cell types in response to each specific brain cell recognition factor. The statistical analysis also examined a characteristic positional segregation of cerebrum and tectum cells in the sorted out coaggregates: tectum cells tended to segregate toward the periphery of the coaggregate while cerebrum cells massed in the core. These data demonstrate that the cells of each population associated preferentially with one another in direct response to their homologous cell recognition factor. The application of this quantitative nearest-neighbor analysis for making assessments of associative affinities between neural cell populations is evaluated and implications of using this analysis for studying regional and functional homology between nerve cells during development are discussed.
The control of cell fate along the dorsal-ventral axis of the Drosophila embryo

We have analyzed the contributions made by maternal and zygotic genes to the establishment of the expression patterns of four zygotic patterning genes: decapentaplegic (dpp), zerknullt (zen), twist (twi), and snail (sna). All of these genes are initially expressed either dorsally or ventrally in the segmented region of the embryo, and at the poles. In the segmented region of the embryo, correct expression of these genes depends on cues from the maternal morphogen dorsal (dl). The dl gradient appears to be interpreted on three levels: dorsal cells express dpp and zen, but not twi and sna; lateral cells lack expression of all four genes; ventral cells express twi and sna, but not dpp and zen. dl appears to activate the expression of twi and sna and repress the expression of dpp and zen. Polar expression of dpp and zen requires the terminal system to override the repression by dl, while that of twi and sna requires the terminal system to augment activation by dl. The zygotic expression patterns established by the maternal genes appear to specify autonomous domains that carry out independent developmental programs, insofar as mutations in the genes that are expressed ventrally do not affect the initiation or ontogeny of the expression patterns of the genes that are expressed dorsally, and vice versa. However, interactions between the zygotic genes specific to a particular morphological domain appear to be important for further elaboration of the three levels specified by dl. Two of the genes, dpp and twi, are unaffected by mutations in any of the tested zygotic dorsal-ventral genes, suggesting that dpp and twi are the primary patterning genes for dorsal ectoderm and mesoderm, respectively.
Learning Styles: What Difference Do the Differences Make?

As the legal academy contemplates education reform, many scholars are looking to education theory and best practices to guide curriculum and course design. This has resulted in the publication of several law journal articles discussing different aspects of learning theory, including learning styles. Broadly speaking, “learning styles” have been defined as “those cognitive, affective, and psychological behaviors that indicate how learners interact with and respond to the learning environment and how they perceive, process, store, and recall what they are attempting to learn.” Most of law journal articles on learning styles presume the validity of the concept. The concept of learning styles is, and always has been, controversial, however. Many education psychologists and others involved in researching educational theories are highly critical of the notion that students possess fixed learning styles, which teachers must address so that the students can learn. In the last few years, two comprehensive literature reviews have been conducted to assess the theoretical and research bases underlying the spectrum of learning style theories. These two are just the most recent. And yet, many in legal education think of the existence of learning styles as being settled fact. They also think of them rather narrowly – primarily as a question of whether one has a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic style – although many different learning style theories exist.In “Learning Styles: What Difference do the Differences Make?” I introduce the controversy surrounding the issue of learning styles and present the critical bases for the controversy. I explain that most disinterested researchers are particularly skeptical of the “matching hypothesis”; that is, that one must teach to specific styles. As the first article to address these issues in the context of legal education, this article presents a unique perspective for those who seek to enhance teaching and learning in law schools.
Preparation of primary monolayer cultures of postnatal rat liver cells

We describe a perfusion with collagenase followed by dissociation with collagenase to isolate hepatocytes from 7 to 10-d postnatal rat liver. Subsequent culture in an arginine-deficient medium selects for hepatocytes by preventing overgrowth by other cell types that are unable to synthesize arginine.
Theoretical Studies on Thiamin-Substrate Adducts

Abstract The conformational behavior and stability of thiamin adducts formed by the C2 addition of the substrates pyruvate and glyoxylate to the thiamin system as well as its decarboxylation products are investigated within the force field version PIMM90 and the semiempirical PM3 method. The calculations on the key intermediates of the Breslow mechanism are performed in order to study the steric aspects of both adducts which show a different pathway in the catalytic cycle. Moreover, the energetic and steric influence of the 4′-aminopyrimidine ring on the generation of the relevant conformations of the intermediates is taken into account. The most stable conformers of the adducts are characterized by V-like structures and the formation of a significant intramolecular hydrogen bonding under participation of the 4′-amino group. The findings support the "least-motion-maximum-overlap mechanism" and the relay function of the substituted pyrimidine ring. The calculations on the decarboxylation products of both adducts show that the energetically preferred structure essentially corresponds to an enamine resonance contributor in comparison with the α-carbanion resonance. There are no hints for a different stabilization of the intermediates of both substrate adducts by steric reasons within the simple nonenzymatic model.
Abrogation of murine lupus by the xid gene is associated with reduced responsiveness of B cells to T-cell-helper signals.

Abstract Introduction of the xid genetic mutation into strains of mice (NZB, MRL/1, BXSB), which are normally susceptible to a lupus-like disorder, significantly delays the onset of disease and reduces the polyclonal B-cell activation characteristic of the lupus-prone strains. Evidence is presented here which shows that B cells from NZB and MRL/1 mice which carry the xid mutation have drastically reduced responses to T-cell-derived B-cell-growth- and differentiation-inducing activities. These results are in accord with a theory that acceleration of lupus onset may be due to overproduction of and/or increased responsiveness to B-cell-activation signals.
Rescue of ΔF508-CFTR by the SGK1/Nedd4-2 Signaling Pathway

The most common mutation in cystic fibrosis (CF) is ΔF508, which is associated with failure of the mutant cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) to traffic to the plasma membrane. By a still unknown mechanism, the loss of correctly trafficked ΔF508-CFTR results in an excess of the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) on the apical plasma membrane. ENaC trafficking is known to be regulated by a signaling pathway involving the glucocorticoid receptor, the serum- and glucocorticoid-regulated kinase SGK1, and the ubiquitin E3 ligase Nedd4-2. We show here that dexamethasone rescues functional expression of ΔF508-CFTR. The half-life of ΔF508-CFTR is also dramatically enhanced. Dexamethasone-activated ΔF508-CFTR rescue is blocked either by the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist RU38486 or by the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor LY294002. Co-immunoprecipitation studies indicate that Nedd4-2 binds to both wild-type- and ΔF508-CFTR. These complexes are inhibited by dexamethasone treatment, and CFTR ubiquitination is concomitantly decreased. We further show that knockdown of Nedd4-2 by small interfering RNA also corrects ΔF508-CFTR trafficking. Conversely, knockdown of SGK1 by small interfering RNA completely blocks dexamethasone-activated ΔF508-CFTR rescue. These data suggest that the SGK1/Nedd4-2 signaling pathway regulates both CFTR and ENaC trafficking in CF epithelial cells.
Design of Integrated Bipolar Symmetric Output DC–DC Power Converter for Digital Pulse Generators in Ultrasound Medical Imaging Systems

This paper presents a bipolar symmetric output switching dc-dc converter for digital pulse generators in ultrasound medical imaging systems. The proposed power stage architecture can generate symmetric bipolar supply voltages, while operating in a time-interleaving manner. Meanwhile, in order to power unipolar pulse generators with the same peak-to-peak pulse amplitude, the power stage can also be reconfigured to deliver a 2× unipolar output voltage. The power converter employs an adaptive ΔI charge balance control scheme to ensure that the outputs are symmetrically balanced and well regulated. At the circuit level, to utilize a single feedback controller for both power stage topologies, the assignment of a suitable chip ground is discussed. A prototype is fabricated using a 0.25-μm CMOS process and occupies a chip area of 6 mm 2. For an input supply voltage of 1.5 V, the dc-dc converter can regulate the bipolar outputs at a nominal voltage level of ±2.5 V and at 5 V for the unipolar output configuration and a maximum load current of 45 mA for both. The bipolar output power converter achieves a maximum efficiency of 83.4% at a load power of 187.5 mW, with the voltage balance error maintained within ± 2% over the entire load range.
Electrochemical Stability of Embedded Steel and Toxic Elements in Fly Ash/Cement Beds

The electrochemical stability in fly ash/cement beds is of major concern to the durability of construction metals (iron or steel) embedded in the matrix as well as the stabilization (fixation) of toxic elements. The electrochemical stabilities were evaluated by measuring the redox potential as a function of both time and leach solution. For simulating the field conditions, the measurements were made on leachates of a prepared solution simulating rain composition in the area of application and results were contrasted to those obtained on leachates of standard deionized water. Two leaching techniques were used: the standard EPA-EP test; a test developed at MRL/PSU for simulating field conditions in which leaching fluids are pumped up a fly ash/cement column. The redox potentials (based on hydrogen scale), Eh’s, were plotted vs. pH of the leachates and the regions of stability of various construction materials and toxic elements were predicted. Tafel plots were also constructed for iron in contact with different leachates, and its corrosion rate was estimated.
On symmetry in elliptic systems

We prove symmetry of positive solutions of quasimonotone elliptic systems. We show by counterexamples that quasimonotonicity of the systems and positivity of solutions are necessary for solutions to be symmetric. We consider solutions in both bounded domains and in the entire space. We also point out an error in a published paper
Sustainable urban redevelopment and shrinking the federal government's footprint

The federal government's accelerating effort to reduce its footprint comes at a time when local governments have become wary of manufacturing and other large businesses. In a globalizing world economy, corporate giants seem to have no loyalty to the communities that have hosted them, and their departure is typically associated with a depressed economy and an environmental legacy. Instead of focusing limited local resources on trying to recruit and retain large businesses, local governments increasingly are investing in schools, housing, amenities, and other sustainable local attributes. This change in approach makes it more difficult for the federal government to shrink its footprint, unless it is willing to add inducements and guarantees to the terms of the agreement with local government. Federal government efforts to sell land to private business for uses that are not favored by local government will, in some instances, precipitate considerable angst against the federal government and political pressure against the sale. In cases where the land has residual contamination and little market value, the only option may be environmental conservation. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Stuttering following acquired brain damage: A review of the literature

Communication problems resulting from acquired brain damage are most frequently manifested as motor speech disorders such as dysarthria, syndromes of aphasia, and impairments of pragmatics. A much less common phenomenon is the onset of stuttering in adults who sustain a stroke, traumatic brain injury, or other neurologic events. When stuttering occurs in association with neuropathology, precise characterization and explanation of observed behaviors is often difficult. Among the clinical challenges presented by acquired stuttering are the problem of distinguishing this form of dysfluency from those associated with dysarthria and aphasia, and identifying the neuropathological condition(s) and brain lesion site(s) giving rise to this speech disorder. Another challenge to the precise characterization of acquired stuttering is the fact that some cases of acquired stuttering apparently have a psychological or neuropsychiatric genesis rather than a neuropathological one. In this paper we provide a review of the literature pertaining to the complicated phenomenon of acquired stuttering in adults and draw some tentative explanatory conclusions regarding this disorder.
WhereStore: location-based data storage for mobile devices interacting with the cloud

In recent years, two major trends have changed the way mobile phones are used: smartphones have become a platform for applications, and 3G connectivity has turned them into ubiquitous Internet clients. Increasingly, applications on smartphones (such as document sharing, media players and map browsers) interact with the cloud as a backend for data storage and computation. We observe that, for many mobile applications, the specific data that is accessed depends on the current location of the user. For example, a restaurant recommendation application is often used to get information about nearby restaurants. In this paper, we present WhereStore, a location-based data store for smart-phones interacting with the cloud. It uses filtered replication along with each device's location history to distribute items between smartphones and the cloud. We discuss the challenges of designing such a system, relevant applications, and a specific design and prototype implementation.
Investigation of Grafting Sites of Acrylic Monomers onto Alkyd Resins via gHMQC Two-Dimensional NMR: Part 1

Abstract Acrylic monomers were grafted onto alkyds via free radical chemistry. The alkyd was a medium oil soya-based alkyd with glycerol, phthalic anhydride, and tetrahydrophthalic anhydride (THPA) as the other components. To identify the specific graft locations, 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy techniques were utilized. Gradient heteronuclear multiple quantum coherence (gHMQC) 2D NMR was required to assign the chemical shifts of the 1D carbon and proton NMR spectra. Three acrylic monomers, methyl methacrylate (MMA), butyl acrylate (BA), and methacrylic acid (MAA) were grafted to the alkyd, resulting in either MMA, BA, or MAA modified alkyds. Two-dimensional gHMQC spectra for each system confirm grafting at doubly allylic hydrogens located on the fatty acid chains and the polyol segment of the alkyd backbone. The gHMQC spectra show no evidence of grafting across double bonds on either pendant fatty acid groups or THPA unsaturation sites for any of the monomer choices.
A NEW MULTI-BAND RADIAL VELOCITY TECHNIQUE FOR DETECTING EXOPLANETS AROUND ACTIVE STARS

The radial velocity (RV) technique is one of the most efficient ways of detecting exoplanets. However, large RV jitters induced by starspots on an active star can inhibit detection of any exoplanet present or even lead to a false positive detection. This paper presents a new multi-band RV technique capable of substantially reducing starspot-induced RV jitters from stellar RV measurements to allow efficient and accurate extraction of RV signals caused by exoplanets. It takes full advantage of the correlation of RV jitters at different spectral bands and the independence of exoplanet signals at the corresponding bands. Simulations with a single-spot model and a multi-spot model have been conducted to investigate the RV jitter reduction capability of this method. The results show that this method can reduce the RV jitter amplitude by at least an order of magnitude, allowing detection of weaker exoplanet signals without significantly increasing RV observation time and cadence. This method can greatly reduce the observation time required to detect Earth-like planets around solar type stars with {approx}0.1 m s{sup -1} long term Doppler precision if spot-induced jitter is the dominant astrophysical noise source for RV measurements. This method can work efficiently for RV jitter removal if: (1)more » all the spots on a target star have approximately the same temperature during RV observations; (2) the RV jitter amplitude changes with wavelength, i.e., the RV jitter amplitude ratio, {alpha}, between two different spectral bands is not close to one; (3) the spot-induced RV jitter dominates the RV measurement error.« less
Microstructure/Processing Relationships in High-Energy High-Rate Consolidated Powder Composites of Nb-Stabilized Ti3Al + TiAl

A new approach to powder processing is employed in forming titanium aluminide composites. The processing consists of internal heating of a customized powder blend by a fast electrical discharge of a homopolar generator. The high-energy high-rate “1MJ in 1s” pulse permits rapid heating of an electrically conducting powder mixture in a cold wall die. This short time at temperature approach offers the opportunity to control phase transformations and the degree of microstructural coarsening not readily possible with standard powder processing approaches. This paper describes the consolidation results of titanium aluminide-based powder composite materials. The focus of this study was the definition of microstructure/processing relationships for each of the composite constituents, first as monoliths and then in composite forms. Non-equilibrium phases present in rapidly solidified TiAl powders are transformed to metastable intermediates en route to the equilibrium gamma phase. The initial single phase beta in Nb-stabilized Ti 3 Al is transformed to alpha two with an intermediate beta two phase. In composite blends of TiAl powders mixed with Nb-stabilized Ti 3 Al powders a 10 μm thick interfacial layer is formed on the dispersed TiAl. Limited control of post-pulse heat extraction prevents full retention of the rapidly solidified powder microstructures.
Caveolin-3 Directly Interacts and Regulates the Function of Cardiac CaV3.2 (A1H) T-Type Ca2+ Channels

Voltage-gated T-type Ca2+ channel (TTCC), Cav3.1 and Cav3.2, are normally expressed during cardiac development but are re-expressed in cardiac hypertrophy and may contribute to the altered intracellular Ca2+ during this disease. However, the mechanism of altered Ca2+ signaling in cardiac hypertrophy is not clearly known. Caveolae containing scaffolding protein caveolin-3 (Cav-3), provide spatiotemporal regulation of intracellular Ca2+ in cardiomyocytes. To define the source of signaling Ca2+ involved and basis of dysregulated contractile function in cardiac hypertrophy and to investigate the role of caveolae and TTCC in the regulation of Ca2+ signaling, we used a transthorasic aortic constriction (TAC) induced mouse model of cardiac hypertrophy. Western blot analysis revealed re-expression of Cav3.1 and Cav3.2 proteins and significant increase in expression of Cav-3 in adult ventricle from TAC mice but not from sham treated mice. Electron microscopy analysis demonstrated significant increase in the number of caveolae and co-localization of Cav3.2 and Cav-3 in the ventricular myocytes in the TAC hearts. Co-immunoprecipitation analysis using anti-Cav-3 antibody revealed that re-expressed Cav3.2 co-IPs with Cav-3 in the TAC hearts, but not in sham hearts. GST pull-down analysis using Cav-3 fusion proteins confirmed that Cav-3 directly associates with Cav3.2 channels. Whole cell patch clamp analysis in HEK293 cells co-expressed with either CaV3.2 and wild-type Cav-3 or GFP revealed that co-expression of Cav3.2 + Cav-3 significantly decreased the peak ICav3.2 (−12 ± 3 pA/pF, n=11) compared to Cav3.2+GFP (−31 ± 4 pA/pF, n=11). Whereas co-expression of Cav-3 had no effect on the ICav3.1. Cav-3 coexpression did affect the voltage dependent activation or inactivation of ICav3.2. We conclude that Cav-3 associates with Cav3.2 channels and regulates its function. Increased Cav-3 expression may play a crucial role in regulation of Ca2+ signaling during hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Does our literature support sectors newer to project management? The search for quality publications relevant to nontraditional industries

Despite the broadening use of systematic approaches to project management, the majority of related literature is focused on a handful of industries—construction, engineering, government, information technology, and utilities—that have, until recently, been the traditional areas for project management. Currently, the nontraditional project management areas include banking, pharmaceuticals, consulting, advertising, legal, health care, safety, and nontraditional manufacturing and industrial sectors (Kerzner, 2001). In recognition of growth, scholars and practitioners have begun to include viewpoints generalized across the field as well as perspectives from specific industries. We report on the findings from a systematic review of project management literature.
Disparity between improvement in left ventricular function and changes in clinical status and exercise capacity during chronic enoximone therapy

Abstract Twenty patients with moderately severe congestive heart failure were randomized to chronic enoximone (n = 10) or placebo (n = 10) therapy in a double-blind manner and serially evaluated over a 16-week-period. The purpose of the study was to determine if the addition of standard doses (1 and 2 mg/kg) of this new phosphodiesterase inhibitor to conventional therapy (digitalis and diuretics) would alter the clinical and laboratory course of this patient population. Except for a transient improvement in the quality of life score, none of the symptomatology indicators were significantly affected by enoximone. Similarly, maximal exercise capacity was not altered. Enoximone did elicit a statistically significant augmentation of echocardiographic, radionuclide angiographic, and systolic time interval parameters of left ventricular function. These enoximone-induced effects were accompained by a significant increase (7% to 11%) in resting heart rate. Enoximone is capable of improving ventricular function when added to digitalis-diuretic therapy in moderately severe congestive heart failure. While individual patients may benefit from enoximone, the ability of standard doses of this agent to improve symptoms and exercise capacity over a 16-week period appears somewhat limited in a moderately severe heart failure population as a whole. Furthermore, a disparity between improvement in ventricular function parameters and changes in clinical status and exercise performance is apparent in this heart failure population.
Comparison of potency of α2‐adrenoceptor antagonists in vitro: evidence for heterogeneity of α2‐adrenoceptors

Abstract A comparison has been made of affinity of alpha-adrenoceptor antagonists for alpha 2 binding sites in radioligand binding assays, and functional antagonist activity at pre- and postjunctional alpha 2-adrenoceptors in various in vitro preparations. The antagonists displaced [3H]-rauwolscine from rat brain and rabbit spleen membranes but there were substantial differences in rank order and absolute potency in the two tissues. pA2 values for yohimbine, phentolamine and Wy26703 against the selective alpha 2 agonist UK-14,304 were determined in the rat left atrium, rat and rabbit vas deferens and rabbit saphenous vein preparations. The pA2 values varied substantially between the tissues, differing by two orders of magnitude in the case of Wy26703. Yohimbine was more potent in rabbit preparations while Wy26703 was markedly more potent in all the rat preparations. Yohimbine and Wy26703 were compared in the dog saphenous vein preparation where pre- and postjunctional alpha 2 antagonist activity can be compared in the same tissue. As in the rabbit preparations, yohimbine was more potent than Wy26703 at both sites but the absolute potencies were different. It is concluded that alpha 2-adrenoceptors are a heterogeneous population, different subgroups being more apparent between species rather than between tissue types or location.
Tessellation-based computational methods for the characterization and analysis of heterogeneous microstructures

The objective of this paper is to develop a quantitative characterization and response analysis of a multi-phase representative material by the use of Voronoi cells as a unified tool. Voronoi polygons are obtained by Dirichlet tessellation of micrographs, which is the process of discretizing a heterogeneous domain based on the location of a finite set of heterogeneities. Each heterogeneity has associated with it a polygon which is nearer to it than to any other. Composite and porous microstructures with different volume fractions, second-phase counts, shapes, sizes and orientations are generated by computer. The spatial distributions of heterogeneities are random with a given inhibition distance, also known as hard-core distributions. The network of tessellated Voronoi cells is used as elements in the Voronoi cell finite-element method (VCFEM), developed by the authors. Various characterization functions of geometric parameters are generated. VCFEM is executed for plane strain analysis of the microstructures, from which global and local responses are evaluated. Results of the analyses are used for establishing anisotropy measures, and for evaluating statistical functions of stresses.
Rapporteur's report : treatment and response

During earlier sessions of this conference it was observed that the incidence of breast cancer has, in the past, been lower in Japan than in the West, and in addition, the average survival of Japanese women with breast cancer, especially postmenopausal women, has been longer. In this session, the possibility that these observed differences in survival were due to differences in treatment or in response to treatment was discussed.
Rotational anomaly and fractional spin in the gauged CP 1 nonlinear σ model with the Chern-Simons term

We consider the interacting ${\mathrm{CP}}^{1}$ nonlinear $\ensuremath{\sigma}$ model in 2 + 1 dimensions in the presence of an Abelian Chern-Simons term and quantize it canonically using the Dirac-Bergmann algorithm. There arises an anomalous term in the angular momentum in presence of the interaction, which in the long-range limit yields the fractional spin for the excitations.
Quadrupolar-fluctuation model for high-Tc superconductivity: A quantum Monte Carlo study.

We present results for quantum Monte Carlo simulations of the quadrupolar fluctuation model of high-temperature superconductivity. The simulations focused on measurement of the pairing susceptibility in various interesting pairing channels (on-site, nearest-neighbor, and second-nearest-neighbor {ital s}- and {ital d}-wave pairing). The lattice was 4{times}4 in the oxygen sites, with eight copper sites bearing quadrupole moments. Exchange of these quadrupolar fluctuations may lead to attraction between oxygen holes. As in weak-coupling theory, we find (i) favorable tendencies towards second-nearest-neighbor {ital s}- and {ital d}-wave filling, with larger doping favoring {ital d}-wave symmetry; (ii) a nonmonotonic dependence of the pairing tendencies upon the on-site quadrupole level splitting; and (iii) a strong suppression of all nearest-neighbor pairing.