cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A reexamination of cellulose carbon-bound hydrogen δD measurements and some factors affecting plant-water D/H relationships☆

The method of Epstein et al. (1976) for analysis of D/H ratios of cellulose carbon-bound hydrogen has been modified. This modified “renitration” method yields δD values which are in agreement with those obtained by the sodium chlorite delignification method. Comparison of results obtained by the renitration method with the published results of Epstein et al. (1976) indicate some differences in the δD values of individual samples. However, the overall plant-water δD relationship determined by Epstein et al., is not greatly changed upon redetermination by the renitration method. Additional data from a variety of plants representing a wide geographical range reveal that relative humidity is an important variable in determining the δD value of cellulose C-H hydrogen on this inter-regional scale. The role of relative humidity can be reasonably explained by a leaf water model that assumes an isotopic steady-state during transpiration. These results reaffirm the conclusion of Epstein et al., that the δD variations of the source water are the dominant control of the δD variations of cellulose C-H hydrogen from naturally grown plants. Thus, there is an expectation that these cellulose δD variations can have climate significance.
An Efficient Method for Setting Gill Nets under Ice

Abstract We describe a method for stringing a line under ice to be used for setting gill nets. This technique is repeatable and allows any length of gill nets to be positioned under the ice with minimal effort. A pulling line is positioned under the ice by attaching it to the terminal end of a series of boards that are connected end to end and inserted under the ice. The boards and rope are retrieved through an exit hole at the forward end of the board series, and the rope is used to deploy the nets under the ice. The method is simple and requires minimal time to execute.
Staying the Distance: Avoiding the Proteasomal Trap

There are a multitude of nuclear receptor coactivators, and as a result, individual constituents of activation complexes are often overlooked when studying the specific actions of hormone signaling pathways. Specificity is typically associated with the receptor and its cognate ligand. However, SRC-3 has distinguished itself by persistent association with cell growth. In the February 29 issue of Molecular Cell, Yi et al. demonstrate that estrogen-induced posttranslational modulation of SRC-3 by atypical PKC shields it from proteasomal degradation, facilitating increased estrogenic gene activity. This process may have important implications in different types of hormone-sensitive tumors, particularly breast cancer.
LOWSTAND TEMPESTITES: DEPOSITIONAL MODEL FOR CRETACEOUS SKELETAL LIMESTONES, WESTERN INTERIOR BASIN

High-resolution sedimentologic, paleontologic, and stratigraphic data were collected for three Cenomanian-Turonian skeletal limestone packages in the Western Interior basin. Results of the study have significant implications for sequence stratigraphy in fine-grained basinal facies. (1) Skeletal limestones represent calcareous tempestites deposited at or near storm wave base, and their stratigraphic distribution provides a constraint on paleobathymetry. (2) Skeletal limestones are widely traceable and can be correlated to coeval progradational/retrogradational shoreface deposits, placing them in a relative sea-level context. (3) Skeletal limestone origin can be described by a comprehensive depositional model. The model incorporates effects of winnowing/erosion on relative fall, and sediment starvation/condensation on subsequent rise, relating both to the absence of an effective depositional gradient. (4) Application of the model suggests a reinterpretation of relative sea-level history for the Cenomanian-Turonian in the Western Interior that is better constrained than previous estimates.
Being Two People at the Same Time: Bicultural Identity Integration Affects Intergroup Prejudice

Biculturals internalize two cultural identities and tend to refer both of their cultural affiliations as me or us. The current research examines whether the implicit attitudes of Asian American bic...
Immune responses to malignancies.

Immune responses to tumor-associated antigens (TAs) are often detectable in tumor-bearing hosts, but they fail to eliminate malignant cells or prevent the development of metastases. Patients with cancer generate robust immune responses to infectious agents (bacteria and viruses) perceived as a “danger signal” but only ineffective weak responses to TAs, which are considered as “self.” This fundamental difference in responses to self versus nonself is further magnified by the ability of tumors to subvert the host immune system. Tumors induce dysfunction and apoptosis in CD8+ antitumor effector cells and promote expansion of regulatory T cells, myeloid-derived suppressor cells, or both, which downregulate antitumor immunity, allowing tumors to escape from the host immune system. The tumor escape is mediated by several distinct molecular mechanisms. Recent insights into these mechanisms encourage expectations that a more effective control of tumor-induced immune dysfunction will be developed in the near future. Novel strategies for immunotherapy of cancer are aimed at the protection and survival of antitumor effector cells and also of central memory T cells in the tumor microenvironment.
ENHANCER FUNCTION OF A 53-BP REPETITIVE ELEMENT IN THE 5' FLANKING REGION OF THE HUMAN NEUTROPHIL ELASTASE GENE

Abstract Expression of the human neutrophil elastase (NE) gene is limited to the early stage of myeloid cell differentiation in bone marrow cells. While NE gene expression is controlled mainly at the transcriptional level during bone marrow cell differentiation, the mechanism of transcriptional control is not fully understood. One motif of interest in the 5′ flanking region of the gene is the six tandem repeats of a 53-bp nucleotide sequence (REP53) containing a potential binding site for a basic helix-loop-helix protein located at −1032 to −716. The REP53 sequence can function as a non-cell specific transcriptional enhancer which is capable of augmenting heterologous promoter activity. When the single REP53 element was inserted into the pAZ1037 chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) expression vector immediately upstream of the chicken β-actin promoter in either normal or inverted orientation and used to transfect K-562 erythroleukemia or HeLa cervical carcinoma cells, these modified vectors achieved 2 to 3-fold higher CAT activity than the parental pAZ1037 vector irrespective of orientation of the REP53.
A Universal Relationship Between Magnetization and the Local Structure in La1xCaxMnO3 a Probe of the Magnetization Process

We report X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (XAFS) measurements of the colossal magneto-resistance (CMR) samples La0.79Ca0.21MnO3 and La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 at high magnetic fields. For T near Tc, the width parameter of the pair distribution function, ?, decreases significantly as the applied magnetic field is increased. For a given magnetization, M, the decrease in ?2 from the disordered polaron state is the same, irrespective of whether M was achieved through a change in temperature or the application of an external magnetic field. This universal behavior can be modeled as a quadratic function of magnetization, and suggests a new model for the magnetization process.
An ultrastructural comparison of spores from various strains of Clostridium perfringens and correlations with heat resistance parameters

It has been shown that Clostridium perfringens isolates associated with food poisoning carry a chromosomal cpe gene, whereas nonfood-borne human gastrointestinal disease isolates carry a plasmid cpe gene. In addition, the chromosomal cpe gene isolates exhibit greater heat resistance as compared with the plasmid cpe strains. Therefore, the current study conducted ultrastructural measurements of spores from several plasmid and chromosomal cpe-positive C. perfringens isolates. In support of the dehydration mechanism of spore heat resistance, the C. perfringens spore core average size was found to show a negative correlation with D-values for spores obtained at 100 degrees C. Dipicolinic acid (DPA) concentrations assayed for the spores did not correlate well with C. perfringens spore core averages nor with D(10)-values at 100 degrees C. Spore core thickness might be a distinguishing phenotypic characteristic used to identify heat resistance and survival potential of C. perfringens in improperly cooked foods.
The organization of connections between the pulvinar and visual area MT in the macaque monkey

Injections of horseradish peroxidase were placed in visual area MT which is located in the superior temporal sulcus of the macaque monkey occipital cortex. Overlapping retrogradely filled cells and anterogradely transported terminal grains were found to be located only within a crescent shaped region which traverses the brachium of the superior colliculus to include the inferior pulvinar and dorsal overlying lateral pulvinar. The connections between MT and the pulvinar crescent are reciprocal and topographically organized, with the lower visual field represented dorsally and the upper visual field represented ventrally. There is an expanded representation of central vision located caudally within the crescent while peripheral vision is represented rostrally. These findings indicate that any functional properties derived from the visual thalamus must arise from this crescent shaped region of the pulvinar.
Was There a Separation between Church and State in Mid-17th-Century England and Colonial Maryland?

This essay concerns the labors of Catholics in the mid seventheenth-century English settlement at St. Mary's in Mary land and their ideas concerning the establishment of religious freedom. To a certain degree it also concerns the Catholics in England. The essay raises the possibility that the Catholics in Maryland narrowed the separation between church and state to advance what they believed was their religious freedom. At the same time in England, the laboring people may have widened the separation between church and state to achieve the same goal. Part of the discussion centers on why laboring Catholics took one path to religious freedom in Maryland and another in England. The traditional historical interpretation of the Maryland community during the period emphasizes the role of the 1649 Act of Religious Toleration, which in a sense widened the sepa ration between church and state to protect the Catholics' free dom.1 However, the focus of this essay is on a series of laws enacted soon after settlement which narrowed the separation between church and state. These laws preceded the 1649 Act by a decade. The earlier laws addressed a threat to the
A multidirectional non-cell autonomous control and a genetic interaction restricting tobacco etch virus susceptibility in Arabidopsis.

Background Viruses constitute a major class of pathogens that infect a variety of hosts. Understanding the intricacies of signaling during host-virus interactions should aid in designing disease prevention strategies and in understanding mechanistic aspects of host and pathogen signaling machinery. Methodology/Principal Findings An Arabidopsis mutant, B149, impaired in susceptibility to Tobacco etch virus (TEV), a positive strand RNA virus of picoRNA family, was identified using a high-throughput genetic screen and a counterselection scheme. The defects include initiation of infection foci, rate of cell-to-cell movement and long distance movement. Conclusions/Significance The defect in infectivity is conferred by a recessive locus. Molecular genetic analysis and complementation analysis with three alleles of a previously published mutant lsp1 (loss of susceptibility to potyviruses) indicate a genetic interaction conferring haploinsufficiency between the B149 locus and certain alleles of lsp1 resulting in impaired host susceptibility. The pattern of restriction of TEV foci on leaves at or near the boundaries of certain cell types and leaf boundaries suggest dysregulation of a multidirectional non-cell autonomous regulatory mechanism. Understanding the nature of this multidirectional signal and the molecular genetic mechanism conferring it should potentially reveal a novel arsenal in the cellular machinery.
Application of perceptual difference model on regularization techniques of parallel MR imaging

Parallel magnetic resonance imaging through sensitivity encoding using multiple receiver coils has emerged as an effective tool to reduce imaging time or to improve image SNR. The quality of reconstructed images is limited by the inaccurate estimation of the sensitivity map, noise in the acquired k-space data and the ill-conditioned nature of the coefficient matrix. Tikhonov regularization is a popular method to reduce or eliminate the ill-conditioned nature of the problem. In this approach, selection of the regularization map and the regularization parameter is very important. Perceptual difference model (PDM) is a quantitative image quality evaluation tool that has been successfully applied to varieties of MR applications. High correlation between the human rating and PDM score shows that PDM should be suitable to evaluate image quality in parallel MR imaging. By applying PDM, we compared four methods of selecting the regularization map and four methods of selecting the regularization parameter. We found that a regularization map obtained using generalized series (GS) together with a spatially adaptive regularization parameter gave the best reconstructions. PDM was also used as an objective function for optimizing two important parameters in the spatially adaptive method. We conclude that PDM enables one to do comprehensive experiments and that it is an effective tool for designing and optimizing reconstruction methods in parallel MR imaging.
New Oral Chelating Agent for Treatment of Wilson's Disease

THERE is some doubt1 about the relevance of abnormal copper metabolism to the pathogenesis of hepato-lenticular degeneration (Wilson's disease), but the most important aspect of therapy at present is the mobilization and excretion of tissue copper and the reduction of absorption of copper from the gastro-intestinal tract. The majority viewpoint was well expressed by Scheinberg when he wrote “… it is difficult to believe, from the evidence already at hand, that chronic copper toxicity is not the basis of this disease”2. At the present time, the cupruretic drug of choice is penicillamine (ββ-dimethylcysteine) first introduced in 1956 (ref. 3).
Family and peer predictors of substance use from early adolescence to early adulthood: an 11-year prospective analysis.

The focus of this study was social (i.e., family and peer) influences on substance use from early adolescence to early adulthood. A large, ethnically diverse sample of early adolescents (N = 998) was followed from age 12 to age 23. We tested direct and indirect effects of parental monitoring, family relationship quality, and association with deviant peers on change in substance use across time. Outcomes for tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use were analyzed as separate pathways within the same overall model. The results suggest that a significant shift in the nature of family influence occurred across adolescence and into early adulthood, but deviant peer influence was relatively consistent across this period. Specifically, parental monitoring and deviant peer association were predictive of substance use in early adolescence, but family relationship quality was a significant predictor across the transition to high school and generally continued to predict use into later adolescence, as did association with deviant peers. Deviant peers were the only significant predictor in early adulthood. Our results also suggested that parental monitoring and family relationship quality indirectly predicted later substance use by way of deviant peers, implying that an important aspect of the family context is its influence on choice of friends and peer group composition. Implications for family-based prevention and intervention are discussed.
Response of Lake Pontchartrain Fish Assemblages to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

To assess possible impacts on Lake Pontchartrain fishes from the 2005 hurricanes, we compared trawl, beach seine, and gillnet collections taken before (2000–2003, 2005) and after (2006–2009) to determine if significant assemblage changes occurred. We also compared basic environmental variables to test for hurricane-related changes. Significant post-hurricane changes in fish assemblages occurred in trawl (analysis of similarity (ANOSIM), R < 0.090, p < 0.05) and beach seine (ANOSIM, R < 0.120, p < 0.05) collections across all seasons. Gillnet assemblages exhibited changes in only one season (ANOSIM, R = 0.045, p < 0.05). These consistently low global R values (all R < 0.120) across all gears suggest only minor compositional changes in species. When peak abundance periods were compared for individual species, Gulf menhaden (Brevoortia patronus) declined in trawl collections after the hurricanes (Friedman's test, χ 2 = 6.00, p = 0.014) but increased in gillnet collections (Friedman's test, χ 2 = 5.00, p = 0.025). Hardhead catfish (Ariopsis felis) increased in trawl collections, but Gulf pipefish (Syngnathus scovelli), naked gobies (Gobiosoma bosc), and rough silverside (Membras martinica) all declined in beach seine samples and Atlantic croakers (Micropogonias undulatus), Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus maculatus), and sand seatrout (Cynoscion arenarius) all declined in gillnet samples. In general, salinity increased and water clarity and dissolved oxygen decreased after the hurricanes. While the overall composition of Lake Pontchartrain fish assemblages remains stable, the significant decline of some species and changes in certain environmental variables are cause for concern. Future monitoring should determine if all elements of this estuary will recover from these impacts.
Mean state of the troposphere over south‐east Asia and the East Indies, December 1978

The mean state of the troposphere over south-east Asia from 8–30 December 1978 is described. In the lower troposphere, a jet was observed over the South China Sea extending south-westward from the Philippines. Evidence suggests that this north-easterly jet was supported by downstream blocking induced by the Borneo land mass. At the equator, the jet had the appearance of being channelled between the highlands of Borneo and Sumatra. On its left flank, near the west coast of Borneo, was a semi-permanent and quasi-stationary vortex. Being warm core, this vortex was probably maintained, in part, by latent heat release in cumulus convection. By partitioning the data into means at 00 and 12 GMT, the intensity of the rising branch of the Hadley circulation over Borneo was shown to increase by a factor of two, from −100 × 10−5 to −200 × 10−5mb s−1, from 00 to 12 GMT.
A highly fluorinated epoxy resin. III. Behavior in composite and fiber‐coating applications

The behavior of a highly fluorinated epoxy resin used as a composite matrix material with AS-4 fibers and as an AS-4 fiber coating was studied. The composite mechanical properties were obtained, and the adhesion of the matrix to the fibers was evaluated. Comparisons of uncoated and fluoropolymer coated AS-4 fibers using single fibers embedded in an Epon 828 matrix were made. Substantial improvement in fiber critical length, and therefore fiber-matrix adhesion, was observed.
Enzyme replacement in a bacterium: phenotypic correction by the experimental introduction of the wild type enzyme into a live enzyme defective mutant pneumococcus.

Summary Wild type pneumococcal autolysin, an N-acetyl-muramyl-L-alanine amidase (1), was adsorbed onto live autolysin-defective mutant bacteria. Such cells “reverted” to the wild type phenotype in several properties that included lytic response to bacteriolytic antibiotics (penicillin, vancomycin, cephalothin, oxacyllin, cycloserine); lysis by detergents and by hypertonic sucrose; stationary phase lysis. Enzyme binding required choline residues in the cell wall of the mutant cells. The experimentally introduced enzyme seems to be located in the cell walls, its activity is inhibited by lipoteichoic acid and by the inhibition of protein synthesis in the carrier cells. The enzyme segregates with the cell walls during growth of the carrier bacteria.
Origin of cartilage laminae in MRI

To understand the origin of the laminated appearance of cartilage in MRI (the magic angle effect), microscopic MRI (mu MRI) experiments were performed at 14-microns pixel resolution on normal canine articular cartilage from the shoulder joints. Two-dimensional images of the spin-spin relaxation time (T2) of the cartilage-bone plug at two angles (0 degree and 55 degrees) were calculated quantitatively. A distinct T2 anisotropy was observed as a function of the cartilage tissue depth. The surface and the deep regions exhibit strong orientational dependence of T2, whereas the upper-middle region exhibits little orientational dependence of T2. These three mu MRI regions correspond approximately to the three histologic zones in cartilage tissue. The results from the bulk T2 measurements agreed with these mu MRI results. Our studies show that the laminated appearance of cartilage in MRI is caused by T2 anisotropy of the tissue. We further suggest that the molecular origin of the T2 anisotropy is the nuclear dipolar interaction. The structure of the cartilage tissue indicates that the collagen meshwork defines this T2 anisotropy. The results show that the T2 anisotropy provides an indirect but sensitive indicator for the orientation of macromolecular structures in cartilage. The clinical implications of this anisotropy are discussed.
George Lorentz and inequalities in approximation

George Lorentz influenced the author’s research on inequalities in approximation in many ways. This is the connecting thread of this survey paper. The themes of the survey are listed at the very beginning of the Introduction. 0. Introduction 1. Bernstein-type inequalities for exponential sums. 2. Remez-type inequalities for exponential sums. 3. Lorentz degree of polynomials. 4. Markovand Bernstein-type inequalities for constrained polynomials. 5. Muntz-type theorems. 6. Remez-type inequalities and Newman’s product problem. 7. Multivariate approximation. 8. Newman’s inequality. 9. Littlewood polynomials. 10. Inequalities for generalized polynomials. 11. Markovand Bernstein-type inequalities for rational functions. 12. Nikolskii-type inequalities for shift-invariant function spaces. 13. Inverse Markovand Bernstein-type inequalities. 14. Ultraflat sequences of unimodular polynomials. 15. Zeros of polynomials with coefficient constraints. 1. Bernstein-type Inequalities for Exponential Sums The results in this section were, in large measure, motivated by the letter of Lorentz below. “Dear Tamas: Feb. 27, 1988 I know you are interested in Bernstein-type inequalities and I am also. In some non-linear cases one has ‖P ‖X ≤ Φ(n)‖P‖Y , where n is the dimension of the set of the P ’s, and the norms are taken in different Banach spaces X and Y . For instance, inequalities of Dolzhenko and Pekarskii for rational 2000 Mathematics Subject Classifications: Primary: 41A17 Typeset by AMS-TEX 1 functions are of this type. I have proved an inequality of this type for exponential functions ∑n 1 aje λjx or the extended exponential sums
Measurements of chemical warfare agent degradation products using an electrophoresis microchip with contactless conductivity detector.

This paper reports on a microfluidic device for the screening of organophosphonate nerve agent degradation products. The miniaturized system relies on an efficient chip-based separation of alkyl methylphosphonic acids (breakdown products of Sarin, Soman, and VX nerve agents) followed by their sensitive contactless conductivity detection. Experimental parameters relevant to the separation and detection processes have been optimized to yield high sensitivity (with 48−86 μg L-1 detection limits), fast response (50 s for a three alkyl methylphosphonic acid mixture), high precision (RSD = 3.8−5.0%), and good linearity (over the 0.3−100 mg L-1 range). Applicability to natural (river) water samples is demonstrated. The new microsystem offers promise for monitoring degradation products of chemical warfare agents, with advantages of speed/warning, efficiency, portability, sample size, and cost compared to conventional ion chromatography or capillary electrophoresis systems.
Exploiting HF ambient noise to synchronize distributed receivers

Coherent processing of data from distributed HF receivers requires the receivers to be synchronized to an accuracy within fractions of a wavelength. The HF band extends from 3 MHz to 30 MHz and has wavelengths corresponding to time delays ranging from approximately 33 ns to 333 ns. Thus the receivers must be synchronized to within a few nanoseconds. This is typically beyond the capabilities of even GPS-disciplined oscillators. Traditional clock synchronization methods require distributing a common reference signal to all the receivers, either by cables or by using a local reference transmitter. Both these approaches introduce extra cost and complexity. In this paper, we present an approach for clock synchronization which uses the coherent component of wideband ambient HF background noise to estimate time delays between receivers. The approach exploits the flexibility of inexpensive broadband direct-conversion digital receivers in the 3 - 30 MHz band. Two techniques are presented for measuring time delays between receivers: 1) Time-domain Green's Function estimator based on an approach recently used in underwater acoustics, and 2) an optimal Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimator. Both estimators are shown to choose the maximum of particular generalized cross correlations. The Camer-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB) for time delay estimation from ambient noise is also derived and simulation results are presented that demonstrate the performance of the estimators. For low signal to noise ratio (SNR) or low time-bandwidth product (TBP), the estimators do not achieve the CRLB due to peak ambiguities in the generalized cross correlations. However, for sufficiently large SNR and TBP, we demonstrate that the ML estimator is able to overcome the peak ambiguities and achieve the CRLB. In this case, the ML estimator is able to achieve sub-nanosecond RMS delay errors using a 2.5 s observation of 2 MHz bandwidth isotropic HF ambient noise. Thus the ML estimator is the preferred method for synchronizing the distributed receivers.
Extra-disciplinary curriculum: analysis of the presentation of legal materials to computer science students

An experimental course entitled Computers and the Law was offered to graduating Computer Science seniors at the University of Missouri-Rolla. This paper briefly reviews the purposes, content, and organization of the course; and presents the author's views on the results of the course and his suggestions for subsequent offerings.
A fractal dimension-based method for statistical process control

For the development of computer-based statistical process control, it would be useful to have an algorithm that performs the work of a Shewhart control chart without actually having to construct such a chart. In this paper, we test the use of fractal dimension, an algorithm to track ‘out of control’ states and find it to be moderately successful.
A novel apparatus to measure reflected sunlight from the Moon

We describe a new apparatus for measuring the spectral irradiance of the Moon at visible wavelengths. Our effort builds upon the United States Geological Survey’s highly successful Robotic Lunar Observatory (ROLO), which determined a precise model for the time-dependent irradiance of the Moon from six years of observations obtained with an imaging telescope equipped with a set of narrow-band filters. The ROLO Irradiance Model allows the Moon to be used as a radiometric reference for tracking changes in the absolute responsivity of near-infrared to visible satellite sensors as a function of time to better than 1 %. The goal of the present effort is to improve the absolute radiometric accuracy of the ROLO model, presently estimated at 5 % - 10 %, to better than 1 %. Our approach, which uses an integrating sphere at the focal plane of a telescope to direct light from the integrated lunar disk into a stable spectrograph, also eliminates the need to interpolate between the 32 visible and near-infrared bands measured by ROLO. The new measurements will allow weather, climate, land-surface, and defense satellites to use the Moon as an absolute calibration reference, potentially reducing the impact of disruptions in continuous long-term climate data records caused by gaps in satellitesensor coverage.
Whither the Public-Private Partnership A Critical Overview

The conceptual underpinnings of the public-private partnership idea are examined from the vantage point of whether such entities can produce economically efficient outcomes, can be considered politically effective, can prove administratively feasible, and can equitably distribute the benefits that they purchase. The author concludes by addressing the issue of what the future may hold for such collaborations.
Umklapp electron-electron scattering resistivity of half-filled copper-oxygen chains and planes.

The resistivity due to Umklapp electron-electron scattering is calculated for half-filled one-dimensional and two-dimensional tight-binding bands corresponding to the copper-oxygen chains and planes found in the high-temperature superconductor YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-//sub x/. In the simple models studied, this resistivity is shown to be proportional to the temperature. The Umklapp electron-electron scattering rate for the model is very sensitive to doping, and thus does not explain the observed resistivity of YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-//sub x/, in which the planes are believed to be doped away from half filling. Nonetheless, the calculated magnitude of the resistivity is similar to that observed experimentally in the superconducting cuprates.
Superlattice and Quantum Dot Unipolar Barrier Infrared Detectors

We report device performance and provide theoretical analysis of a modified long-wavelength complementary barrier infrared detector structure that incorporates a double tunnel junction contact designed for simpler material growth while retaining the robustness for processing. We also provide analysis of a mid-wavelength quantum dot barrier infrared detector and explain its spectral shape and turn-on characteristics.
Laser machining of micro-notches for fatigue life

Evaluation of fatigue life for engineering components used in structurally demanding applications is very important. Micro-notches need to be fabricated on test specimens to replicate surface defects for experimental determination of fatigue life studies. A study for generating micro-notches on engineering materials like stainless steel and aluminum alloys using a nano-second pulsed fiber laser has been carried out and results are reported in this paper. The effect of different process parameters on the notch size has been studied. The mechanism of material removal in forming the notches has been studied as a function of laser fluence. The development of the notch by the interaction of laser pulses has also been studied by monitoring the reflected light from the interaction region.
A 1.4 Meter Fourier Transform Spectrometer For Astronomical Observations

The observational capability and instrumental details of a Fourier spectrometer intended for moderate to very high resolution (20 cm-1 to 0.005 cm-1) observations of astronomical sources in the visible and infrared (700-2800 cm-1 i.e., 0.36μm to l4μm) are described and a few initial spectra are shown to illustrate performance achieved to date. The instrument is unusual in that it can be maintained by a moderate level of non-specialist technical support and does not require the observer to be an instrumentalist familiar with the details of the spectrometer.© (1979) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
WHICH CHILDREN SHOULD HAVE GROWTH HORMONE THERAPY

Existing criteria for the diagnosis of growth hormone (GH) deficiency do not identify all children who can be made to grow faster with GH. There is a spectrum of GH secretion in short slowly growing normal children and in some cases the secretion may be inadequate to promote optimum growth in height. A diagnostic/therapeutic trial of GH therapy, with auxological monitoring, may be the only means of identifying some patients who will benefit. Assessment of the place for GH therapy in the treatment of short stature requires special knowledge of childhood diseases, growth, and endocrinology.
A protein subunit of human RNase P, Rpp14, and its interacting partner, OIP2, have 3′→5′ exoribonuclease activity

The processing of precursor tRNAs at their 5′ and 3′ termini is a fundamental event in the biosynthesis of tRNA. RNase P is generally responsible for endonucleolytic removal of a leader sequence of precursor tRNA to generate the mature 5′ terminus. However, much less is known about the RNase P counterparts or other proteins that are active at the tRNA 3′ terminus. Here we show that one of the human RNase P subunits, Rpp14, together with one of its interacting protein partners, OIP2, is a 3′→5′ exoribonuclease with a phosphorolytic activity that processes the 3′ terminus of precursor tRNA. Immunoprecipitates of a crude human RNase P complex can process both ends of precursor tRNA by hydrolysis, but purified RNase P has no exonuclease activity. Rpp14 and OIP2 may be part of an exosome activity.
Decision-Making Models in the Cost-Loss Ratio Situation and Measures of the Value of Probability Forecasts

Abstract In this paper we describe and compare two models of the familiar cost-loss ratio situation. This situation involves a decision maker who must decide whether or not to take protective action, with respect to some activity or operation, in the face of uncertainty as to whether or not weather adverse to the activity will occur. The original model, first described by J.C. Thompson, is based in part upon the (implicit) assumption that taking protective action completely eliminates the loss associated with the occurrence of adverse weather. In the model formulated in this paper, on the other hand, it is assumed that taking protective action may reduce or eliminate this loss. The original model, then, is a special am of this “generalized” model. We show that the decision rule in each model depends upon a cost-loss ratio and that in both models this ratio is simply the cost of protection divided by the protectable portion of the loss. Thus the two models are equivalent from a decision-making point of vie...
The Policy Impact of the Committee Assignment Process in the House

Although it is well established that committee assignments in the House are distributed by routine processes of accommodating members' requests, less attention has been given to the question of whether the policy results of the procedure are routine and unbiased. An analysis of contests among Democratic applicants for committees from 1961 to 1975 shows that it is rare for either more liberal or more conservative competitors to prevail consistently for seats on semiexclusive committees. Instead, the impact of the assignment process itself on the ideological composition of committees seldom differs from the results obtainable from a series of coin tosses. Change or inertia in the policy orientations of committees is then primarily due to change (or lack thereof) in the willingness of members to request assignments
Phase I Trial and Pharmacokinetic Study of Pemetrexed in Children With Refractory Solid Tumors: The Children's Oncology Group

Purpose We report results of a phase I trial and pharmacokinetic study of pemetrexed (LY231514) in children and adolescents with refractory solid tumors. Pemetrexed is a novel antifolate that inhibits multiple enzymes necessary for the biosynthesis of thymidine and purine nucleotides. The purpose of this study was to determine the maximum-tolerated dose (MTD), dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs), and pharmacokinetic properties of pemetrexed in children. Patients and Methods Pemetrexed was administered as a 10-minute intravenous infusion every 21 days. Patients received vitamin B12 and folic acid supplementation as well as dexamethasone prophylaxis. Cohorts of three to six children were enrolled at dose levels of 400, 520, 670, 870, 1,130, 1,470, 1,910, and 2,480 mg/m2. Pharmacokinetic studies were performed during the first course of treatment. Results Thirty-three patients (31 assessable) with a median age of 12 years were enrolled. DLT occurred in one of six patients at 1,470 mg/m2 and two of four patients ...
Accelerated Weight Gain Among Children During Summer Versus School Year and Related Racial/Ethnic Disparities: A Systematic Review

Introduction The objective of this study was to compile and summarize research examining variations in weight gain among students during the summer in comparison to the school year, with a focus on racial/ethnic disparities and students who are at risk of overweight. Methods A systematic search of PubMed and Embase was conducted. Reference lists of identified articles and Google Scholar were also reviewed. Studies that assessed summer weight gain in school children were included. Inclusion criteria were: 1) a focus on children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 attending school; 2) a measured body composition before and after the summer vacation; 3) English-language articles; and 4) publication in a peer-reviewed journal since January 1, 1990. Data were extracted from selected studies in the following categories: study purpose, setting, study design, population, sample size, data collection method, and findings. Results Seven eligible studies were included in the review. Six of the 7 studies reported accelerated summer weight gain for at least a portion of the study population, with an effect of summer on weight gain identified for the following subgroups: black, Hispanic, and overweight children and adolescents. Conclusion There may be a trend in increased rate of weight gain during summer school vacation, particularly for high-risk groups, including certain racial/ethnic populations and overweight children and adolescents. Potential solutions for the problem of accelerated summer weight gain include greater access to recreational facilities, physical activity programming, and summer food programs. Further research in this area is needed as summer weight gain may exacerbate existing health disparities.
Coping with all the Earth science data

A report on the NASA-sponsored Earth Science and Applications Data Systems (ESADS) Workshop is presented. The ESADS report is reviewed and the task groups of the workshop are listed. The program set up to implement the recommendations of the workshop is discussed. The priorities of the ESADS committee recommendations include the development of standards and guidelines for data and metadata exchange, the creation of interoperable catalogs and directories, the development of guidelines for ancillary data archives, development of standard user interfaces, providing greater bandwidth in the user environment, collecting information about data storage technologies, and providing improved network connectivity.
Social approval and facilitation in predicting modeling effects in alcohol consumption.

Abstract Purpose: An important question for alcohol abuse prevention and treatment is whether individuals with high needs for social approval, or those who drink heavily in social contexts, are particularly vulnerable to modeling effects in alcohol consumption. Methods: Male and female heavy social drinkers ( N =202), as distinguished by these cognitive and situational variables, participated in a multisession dyadic modeling effects study along with a same-sex confederate model who exhibited alternating patterns of heavy and light consumption in an experimental barroom. Results: Subjects with high needs for social approval, and those who tend to drink heavily in social contexts, were particularly vulnerable to imitating directional changes in modeled drinking levels across heavy and light consumption experimental sessions. Additionally, modeling effects were revealed, including reductions in drinking levels, regardless of individual characteristics such as demographics or levels of intoxication achieved on “usual drinking occasions.” Implications: Findings suggest that individuals exhibiting high needs for social approval, and those who tend to drink heavily in social contexts, may benefit from (1) befriending lower risk models and (2) prevention and/or intervention efforts to reduce risk for substance use by reducing excessive needs for social approval and/or reducing exposure to social contexts where heavy drinking and related risk behavior is normative.
Minimizing Penile Implant Infection: A Literature Review of Patient and Surgical Factors

Inflatable penile prosthesis (IPP) is an effective treatment for erectile dysfunction in patients' refractory to oral or injectable treatment. While the rate of infection has decreased over the past decade, it is still the most feared complication of IPP placement. Here, we assemble possible patient and surgical factors attributing to the risk of infection. Studies have been gathered addressing each of these factors, and an Oxford Level of Evidence is assigned to each recommendation based on strength of the study. The goal of this review is to inform surgeons of possible risks in order to further reduce the risk of infection and thus increase success of IPP placement.
Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of papillary thyroid carcinoma: diagnostic utility of cytokeratin 19 immunostaining.

BACKGROUND Papillary thyroid carcinoma is the most common malignant neoplasm of the thyroid gland, and fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) often is the initial diagnostic method used in its detection. Prior studies have shown that immunohistochemical staining for various cytokeratins in general, and cytokeratin 19 (CK19) in particular, can be applied as an ancillary technique for diagnosing papillary thyroid carcinoma in histologic specimens. In the current study the authors assessed the diagnostic utility of CK19 to detect papillary carcinoma effectively in cytologic preparations of thyroid FNABs. METHODS Immunocytochemical staining with CK19 was performed on cytologic aspirates from 37 papillary thyroid carcinomas and 36 other lesions of the thyroid (14 follicular adenomas, 10 multinodular goiters, 5 cases of Hashimoto thyroiditis, 6 oncocytic [Hurthle cell] neoplasms, and 1 follicular carcinoma). All cases included in the study had a corresponding histopathology specimen. RESULTS Positive immunocytochemical reactivity for CK19 was identified in 34 of 37 papillary carcinomas and in 1 of 36 other thyroid lesions (sensitivity of 92% and specificity of 97%). Although the strongest reactivity was obtained in methanol fixed thin layer preparations, the antibody also was effective in detecting papillary carcinoma in alcohol fixed and air-dried smears. The single false-positive case was a follicular adenoma with focal areas of papillary hyperplasia. All other aspirates including those from cases of Hashimoto thyroiditis, multinodular goiter, follicular adenoma, oncocytic neoplasms, and follicular carcinoma were negative. CONCLUSIONS CK19 is an effective, highly sensitive, and specific ancillary tool for the diagnosis of papillary carcinoma in thyroid FNABs. Cancer (Cancer Cytopathol) 2000;90:307–11. © 2000 American Cancer Society.
Finding equitable convex partitions of points in a polygon efficiently

Previous work has developed algorithms for finding an equitable convex partition that partitions the plane into n convex pieces each containing an equal number of red and blue points. Motivated by a vehicle routing heuristic, we look at a related problem where each piece must contain one point and an equal fraction of the area of some convex polygon. We first show how algorithms for solving the older problem lead to approximate solutions for this new equitable convex partition problem. Then we demonstrate a new algorithm that finds an exact solution to our problem in O(N nlog N) time or operations, where n is the number of points, m the number of vertices or edges of the polygon, and N:=n+m the sum.
A Personal Account of Developments in Enthalpy Relaxation : A Tribute to C. T. Moynihan

The contributions of Connie Moynihan to the science of enthalpy relaxation are reviewed. The author's professional involvement with Moynihan's science is outlined, and the origins of a number of seminal developments are described. Developments of Moynihan's many and varied seminal contributions are described.
Fabrication and control of a 6-DOF magnetic levitation stage with nanopositioning capability

This work presents a compact 6-DOF (degree of freedom) maglev stage that levitates a platen of 0.212 kg and has nanopositioning capability over the linear travel range of 300 /spl mu/m. A controller was designed and implemented to stabilize the platen. The decoupling between the vertical and horizontal actuation forces was considered and taken care into controller. Various kinds of experiments were carried out to test the capabilities of the system. The experimental results show that the maglev device has a position resolution of better than 2 nm with a maximum velocity of 1 m/s and an acceleration of 30 m/s/sup 2/. This positioner can carry an additional payload of 400 g to orient and position the object under nanopositioning precisely. The nominal power consumption is only 15 mW by each horizontal actuator, and 320 mW by each vertical actuator. The potential applications of this maglev device include fabrication of nanoparts and their assembly, vibration isolation for delicate instrumentation, and microscale stereolithography.
GS2: an efficiently computable measure of GO-based similarity of gene sets

Motivation: The growing availability of genome-scale datasets has attracted increasing attention to the development of computational methods for automated inference of functional similarities among genes and their products. One class of such methods measures the functional similarity of genes based on their distance in the Gene Ontology (GO). To measure the functional relatedness of a gene set, these measures consider every pair of genes in the set, and the average of all pairwise distances is calculated. However, as more data becomes available and gene sets used for analysis become larger, such pair-based calculation becomes prohibitive. Results: In this article, we propose GS2 (GO-based similarity of gene sets), a novel GO-based measure of gene set similarity that is computable in linear time in the size of the gene set. The measure quantifies the similarity of the GO annotations among a set of genes by averaging the contribution of each gene's GO terms and their ancestor terms with respect to the GO vocabulary graph. To study the performance of our method, we compared our measure with an established pair-based measure when run on gene sets with varying degrees of functional similarities. In addition to a significant speed improvement, our method produced comparable similarity scores to the established method. Our method is available as a web-based tool and an open-source Python library. Availability: The web-based tools and Python code are available at: http://bioserver.cs.rice.edu/gs2. Contact: ude.ecir@shtur.yort
3D modeling of SNS ring injection dump beam line

The SNS ring injection dump beam line has been suffering high beam losses since its commissioning. In order to understand the mechanisms of beam losses, we have built 3D simulation models consisting of three injection chicane dipoles and one injection dump septum magnet. 3D particle trajectories in the models are obtained. The study has clearly shown the design problems causing beam losses in the injection dump beam line. This paper reports our findings and proposed remedies.