cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
THE FALLIBILITY PARADOX

Reasons-responsiveness theories of moral responsibility are currently among the most popular. Here, I present the fallibility paradox, a novel challenge to these views. The paradox involves an agent who is performing a somewhat demanding psychological task across an extended sequence of trials and who is deeply committed to doing her very best at this task. Her action-issuing psychological processes are outstandingly reliable, so she meets the criterion of being reasons-responsive on every single trial. But she is human after all, so it is inevitable that she will make rare errors. The reasons-responsiveness view, it is claimed, is forced to reach a highly counterintuitive conclusion: she is morally responsible for these rare errors, even though making rare errors is something she is powerless to prevent. I review various replies that a reasons-responsiveness theorist might offer, arguing that none of these replies adequately addresses the challenge.
Predicting earthquake-induced sliding displacements using effective incremental ground velocity

This article evaluates a pulse intensity measure, the effective incremental ground velocity (EIGV), for predicting sliding displacements induced by real ground motions. EIGV is based on computing t...
Temporal changes in abundance-occupancy relationships over 40 years.

Abundance-occupancy (A-O) relationships are widely documented for many organismal groups and regions, and have been used to gain an understanding of regional population and community trends. Monitoring changes in abundance and occupancy over time may be what is required to document changes in conservation status and needs for some species, communities, or areas.We hypothesize that if there is a higher proportion of declining species in one group of species compared with another (e.g., migratory species vs. permanent residents), then a consequence of that difference will be vastly different abundance-occupancy relationships. If this difference persists through time, then the resulting A-O relationships between the groups will continue to diverge.For neotropical migrants, short-distance migrants, and permanent resident birds of North America, we assess the numbers of declining species over 1969-2009. We further test for differences in the A-O relationship across these three groups, and in rates of change in abundance and occupancy separately.We find significant differences in numbers of declining species across the migratory groups, a significant decline in the A-O relationship for permanent residents, a significant increase for Neotropical migrants, and a nonsignificant decline for short-distance migrants over the 40 years. Further, abundances are not changing at different rates but occupancies are consistently greater over time for neotropical migrants versus permanent residents, likely driving the changes in A-O relationships observed.In these analyses, we documented changing A-O trends for different groups of species, over a relatively long time period for ecological studies, one of only a few studies to examine A-O relationships over time. Further, we have shown that a temporally unvarying abundance-occupancy relationship is not universal, and we posit that variability in A-O relationships is due to human impacts on habitats, coupled with variation in species' abilities to respond to human impacts.
Feasibility and Acceptability Findings of an Energy Balance Data Repository of Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults with Cancer

Cancer patients suffer changes in energy balance (EB), the combination of energy intake (nutrition) and energy expenditure (physical activity (PA)), which may influence cancer-related morbidity, mortality, and quality of life. Significant gaps remain in our understanding of the frequency and magnitude of these EB changes. Herein, we report on the feasibility and acceptability of a longitudinal repository of EB outcomes in children, adolescents and young adults (AYA) with cancer along the cancer continuum to fill these gaps. This EB repository includes PA, nutrition, and physical function (PF) parameters. PA data were gathered through activity trackers. Nutritional data were gathered through food diaries and micronutrient labs. PF was assessed with validated objective and patient-reported measures. Feasibility was achieved with >50% enrollment of eligible patients (n = 80, Mage = 18.1 ± 7.5); 26 were children with cancer and 54 were AYAs with cancer. An 88.75% retention rate indicated acceptability. Despite COVID-19 disruptions, >50% of participants provided completed data for PA and micronutrient labs as of April 2020. Food diaries and PF data collection experienced disruptions. Methodological adaptations are in progress to minimize future disruptions. Overall, our findings demonstrate that prospective EB assessments are feasible and acceptable among children and AYAs with cancer.
Robot scheduling for pod retrieval in a robotic mobile fulfillment system

Abstract In order to increase the order picking efficiency, e-commerce retailers have started to implement order picking systems where mobile robots carry inventory pods to pick stations. In pick stations, pickers pick the products from inventory pods and put them in customer bins. In such a robotic mobile fulfillment center, pickers are constantly busy with picking customer orders and avoid non-value adding activities such as walking to reach storage locations. To fulfill customer orders, each robot needs to complete a sequence of missions and each mission includes a set of retrieval requests. We study the operational problem of scheduling a mobile robot fulfilling a set of customer orders from a pick station. The mobile robot needs to bring each pod from a retrieval location to the pick station and return the pod to a storage location. The objective is to minimize the total travel time of the robot which can be considered as a proxy for other objectives such a shorter lead time, higher throughput and less capital investment. We formulate the basic problem as an asymmetric traveling salesman problem. We then extend the model by adding general precedence constraints to give different priorities to customer orders based on their urgency (e.g. same-day, one-day, two-day, and standard orders). We also study a variation of the problem where the pod can be stored in multiple alternative locations. In this case, we model the problem as a generalized asymmetric traveling salesman problem. An adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic is developed to efficiently solve real size instances. The method outperforms the heuristics commonly used in practice.
Die Entleerungsdefäkographie und die Defäkoflowmetrie in der Diagnostik der chronischen Obstipation Eine prospektiv vergleichende Studie bei 49 Patienten

Bei der chronischen Obstipation konnen 2 grose Gruppen unterschieden werden. Auf der einen Seite finden wir die „Slow-transit-Obstipation“, der eine Transportstorung zugrunde liegt, und auf der anderen Seite die obstruktive Defakationsstorung, deren Ursache in pathologischen Veranderungen des Beckenbodens und des Rectums zu suchen ist. Sowohl die Videodefakographie als auch die Defakoflowmetrie stellen sich erganzende Diagnostikmasnahmen zur dynamischen Messung der Rectumentleerung dar, wobei die Videodefakographie zusatzlich eine optische Beurteilung des Entleerungsvorgangs ermoglicht, wahrend die Defakoflowmetrie eine Darstellung der analen und rectalen Druckverhaltnisse erlaubt. Im Rahmen einer prospektiven Studie wurden die Untersuchungsverfahren bei 19 Patienten mit „Slow-transit“ und 30 Patienten mit obstruktiver Defakationsstorung vergleichend beurteilt. Es zeigt sich bei der „Slow-transit-Obstipation“ (Defakoflowmetrie: 65 %; Videodefakographie 80 %) in beiden Untersuchungen eine deutlich hohere Entleerungsrate als bei der obstruktiven Defakationsstorung (50 bzw. 58 %). Die Defakationszeit war in beiden Gruppen pathologisch auf 43–55 s verlangert. Rectocelen fanden sich defakographisch in 94 % bei der „Slow-transit“ und in 72 % bei der obstruktiven Defakationsstorung. Sehr haufig fanden wir auch bei der „Slow-transit-Obstipation“ eine obstruktive Komponente. Andererseits kann jedoch durch eine normale Videodefakographie oder Defakoflowmetrie eine obstruktive Defakationsstorung ausgeschlossen werden. Die Videodefakographie und Defakoflowmetrie stellen somit wichtige Teilaspekte in der komplexen Diagnostik der chronischen Obstipation dar.
High-Efficiency Bilateral S–SP Compensated Multiload IPT System With Constant-Voltage Outputs

In this article, we propose a bilaterally transmitted domino-type multiload inductive power transfer (IPT) system for constant-voltage (CV) outputs, low voltage attenuation, and high efficiency. There are three major contributions. First, the series–series/parallel (S–SP) topology is developed to design the multiload IPT system, which can realize the load-independent CV outputs without using compensation inductors, enabling a compact IPT system. Second, a bilateral IPT structure is proposed with two parallel power transfer routes to mitigate the practical output voltage attenuation issue, resulting in a better CV property. Third, system efficiency is improved by the proposed bilateral IPT structure. With the bilateral S–SP compensated multiload IPT design, the output voltage attenuation analysis and system efficiency are investigated considering parasitic resistances. A 70 W six-load bilateral IPT prototype is implemented and compared with the unilateral counterpart. With k = 0.26 and Q = 300, the proposed bilateral IPT system validates an improved CV output with a small attenuation rate of 10.22%, which is much lower than the unilateral one. The maximum efficiency achieves 90.39%, showing 5.17% higher than the unilateral IPT system in the identical load condition.
A New Look at Models of the Combined Effect of Temperature, pH, Water Activity, or Other Factors on Microbial Growth Rate

A popular approach to mathematical modeling of the combined effect of temperature, pH, water activity, oxygen tension, and the concentration of salts, sugars, alcohol, and/or antimicrobials on microbial growth rate is known as the gamma hypothesis. It is based on the notion that the growth rate, however defined, can be expressed as a multiplication product of algebraic terms each constructed from the individual factors’ cardinal parameters, i.e., their minimal, optimal, and maximal levels. These three alone, however, need not define a unique mathematical relationship, an issue that can be resolved by the terms’ redefinition or amendment. Offered are simulated examples where the roles of temperature, pH, or oxygen tension, which have an optimal level, are represented by a term that for the same three cardinal parameters can produce either curve having different maxima or different curves having the same maximum. Where a growth factor’s effect can be considered as rising or falling monotonically, as in water activity or inhibitory salt concentration, it can be represented by a single exponential or stretched exponential term. The resulting models can be used to simulate static and dynamic growth patterns to reveal how different cardinal parameter combinations may affect the growth kinetics.
Is Eliphaz a false prophet? The vision in Job 4.12-21

The night vision recounted by Job’s friend Eliphaz in Job 4.12-21 has received an extraordinary amount of scholarly attention. Among other difficulties, the core of the vision’s message (4.17) – ty...
Integrating parsing and word alignment in syntax-based machine translation

Training a state-of-the-art syntax-based statistical machine translation (MT) system to translate from a source language into a target language requires a large parallel corpus of example sentences in the source language translated into the target language by a human; a word alignment (word-to-word correspondence between each source-target sentence pair); and a parse tree (syntactic representation) of each sentence in the source language, target language, or both. From these resources, the string-to-tree syntax-based MT system used in this thesis [34, 33] acquires rules governing the process of translating a source string into a target parse tree. After training, these rules are used to translate previously unseen source sentences into the target language. The parallel corpora used to train current state-of-the-art systems are too large for manual annotation; instead, word alignment and parsing must be performed automatically. There are two problems with current approaches to automatic word alignment and parsing. First, both processes introduce errors that propagate through the pipeline. Improving the accuracy of either process can therefore improve translation quality. Second, the two processes are typically performed independently. Since each process produces constraints that can be used to guide the other, we can improve the accuracy of both processes by integrating them more closely. Word alignment and parsing jointly determine the set of translation rules acquired by a system during training, so it is desirable to optimize them both in order to produce the best translation rules possible. In this thesis, we address these two problems as follows. First, we recombine the output of multiple parsers, improving parse and translation quality. Second, we use features of the word alignment to correct parse errors. Third, we use features of the parse trees to correct word alignment errors, improving alignment and translation quality. Fourth, we integrate word alignment and parsing by producing n-best lists of candidates for each process, and discriminatively reranking (word alignment/parse tree) pairs to optimize the quality of the extracted translation rules. Our results demonstrate that integrating word alignment and parsing improves the accuracy of each process, and in some cases improves translation quality relative to a state-of-the-art syntax-based MT system.
Improving Safety of Vulnerable Road Users: Effectiveness of Environment and In-Vehicle Warning Systems at Intermodal Interchanges

ABSTRACTIn certain environments pedestrians are at an increased risk for pedestrian-vehicle crashes. Sites such as bus terminals, where there is an increase in foot traffic, create a higher risk for pedestrian injuries and fatalities. The current study investigates the effectiveness of structural and in-vehicle interventions for modifying driver behavior as drivers approach, pass through, and depart from an urban bus terminal. The impact of facility structural elements (pedestrian crossing signs, marked crosswalks, and sidewalks) and an in-vehicle pedestrian warning system was evaluated using the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems driving simulator. Thirty-seven participants completed an urban driving task in a high-fidelity driving simulator. Driver speed and lane position were evaluated. An in-vehicle alarm indicating “high pedestrian areas” led to reduced driver speed, but drivers shifted closer to the shoulder (and pedestrians). Marked crosswalks had no observed effect on driver speed or vehicle co...
Thermal Performance of Cryogenic Multilayer Insulation at Various Layer Spacings

Multilayer insulation (MLI) has been shown to be the best performing cryogenic insulation system at high vacuum (less that 10 (exp 3) torr), and is widely used on spaceflight vehicles. Over the past 50 years, many investigations into MLI have yielded a general understanding of the many variables that are associated with MLI. MLI has been shown to be a function of variables such as warm boundary temperature, the number of reflector layers, and the spacer material in between reflectors, the interstitial gas pressure and the interstitial gas. Since the conduction between reflectors increases with the thickness of the spacer material, yet the radiation heat transfer is inversely proportional to the number of layers, it stands to reason that the thermal performance of MLI is a function of the number of layers per thickness, or layer density. Empirical equations that were derived based on some of the early tests showed that the conduction term was proportional to the layer density to a power. This power depended on the material combination and was determined by empirical test data. Many authors have graphically shown such optimal layer density, but none have provided any data at such low densities, or any method of determining this density. Keller, Cunnington, and Glassford showed MLI thermal performance as a function of layer density of high layer densities, but they didn't show a minimal layer density or any data below the supposed optimal layer density. However, it was recently discovered that by manipulating the derived empirical equations and taking a derivative with respect to layer density yields a solution for on optimal layer density. Various manufacturers have begun manufacturing MLI at densities below the optimal density. They began this based on the theory that increasing the distance between layers lowered the conductive heat transfer and they had no limitations on volume. By modifying the circumference of these blankets, the layer density can easily be varied. The simplest method of determining the thermal performance of MLI at cryogenic temperature is by boil-off calorimetry. Several blankets were procured and tested at various layer densities at the Cryogenics Test Laboratory at Kennedy Space Center. The densities that the blankets were tested over covered a wide range of layer densities including the analytical minimum. Several of the blankets were tested at the same insulation thickness while changing the layer density (thus a different number of reflector layers). Optimizing the layer density of multilayer insulation systems for heat transfer would remove a layer density from the complex method of designing such insulation systems. Additional testing was performed at various warm boundary temperatures and pressures. The testing and analysis was performed to simplify the analysis of cryogenic thermal insulation systems. This research was funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Exploration Technology Development Program's Cryogenic Fluid Management Project
On multiple spline approximations for Bayesian computations

Probabilistic reasoning typically suffers from the explosive amount of information it must maintain. There are a variety of methods available for curbing this explosion. However, in doing so, it is important to avoid oversimplifying the given domain through injudicious use of assumptions such as independence. Multiple splining is an approach for compressing and approximating the probabilistic information. Instead of positing additional independence conditions, it attempts to identify patterns in the information. While the data explosion is multiplicative in nature, O(n_1n_2{\cdots}n_k), multiple splines reduces it to an additive one, O(n_1 + n_2 + \cdots + n_k). We consider how these splines can be found and used. Since splines exploit patterns in the data, we can also use them to help in filling in missing data. As it turns out, our splining method is quite general and may be applied to other domains besides probabilistic reasoning which can benefit from data compression.
Thermal and mechanical properties of advanced, high temperature ceramic-composite insulation

It is found that the mechanical properties of fibrous refractory composite insulation (FRCI) can be improved if a higher calcination temperature is used before final processing. The results also reveal that a higher density FRCI containing 60 wt pct aluminoborosilicate fibers will exhibit minimal surface recession at 1480 C in a convective-heating environment. Another finding is that the material performance in the convective-heating environment is limited by the coating and the temperature capability of its emittance agent. A table is included giving the coating compositions used with the composite insulation and tested in the convectively heated environment at a surface temperature of 1480 C.
News Media Consumption and the Democratic Behavior of Individuals in Latin America

Attempts to understand how news media consumption impacts individuals have proliferated in recent decades. Lacking from this body of research are efforts to understand how news media consumption affects people generally across non-developed regions. This project looks to add to our understanding of media effects by shifting the population of interest to include individuals in Latin America. Recognizing that consuming news media has a socializing effect lodged in promoting powerful symbols in news coverage, survey data collected by the Latin American Public Opinion Project are employed to search for evidence of changes in political behavior given varying levels of news media consumption. The results of the statistical analysis support two conclusions. (1) There is evidence that Latin Americans who consume news media have a higher probability of political participation relative to individuals who consume no news media. (2) The influence of news media consumption on political behavior may be better understood when an intervening variable, political interest, is included.
Drug transport: II. The effect of various cations on the passive transfer of drugs across the everted rat intestine

1. 1. It has been shown in a previous report that replacement of Na+ by K+ in a Krebs bicarbonate buffer significantly reduced the passive transfer of several water-soluble drugs across the everted rat intestine. As an extension of that study the influence of other cations (vis. NH4+, Li+, Tris+, and guanidine+) and the dependence of the drug-transfer rate on K+ concentration, have been examined. 2. 2. It is shown that ouabain (1 mM) in the Na+ control buffer has no effect on the transfer process of riboflavin, salicylate and sulfanilamide. NH4+ and guanidine+, as well as K+ significantly reduced the transfer of riboflavin while Tris+ had no effect; NH4+ and K+ decreased salicylate transfer and Li+ and K+ inhibited sulfanilamide transfer. Increasing concentrations of K+ caused a progressive decrease in riboflavin transfer. 3. 3. The effect of these various cations on the tissue fluid uptake was examined. Good agreement with previously published results has been obtained. The fluid uptake by rat intestinal segments is strongly influenced by the major cation in the buffer solution and decreases in the following order K+ > NH4+ > Li+ > Na+ control > guanidine+ > Tris+. 4. 4. The inhibition of riboflavin transfer by various cations appears to correlate well with the degree of tissue fluid uptake by intestinal tissue.
Resource-Driven optimizations for transient-fault detecting superscalar microarchitectures

Increasing microprocessor vulnerability to soft errors induced by neutron and alpha particle strikes prevents aggressive scaling and integration of transistors in future technologies if left unaddressed. Previously proposed instruction-level redundant execution, as a means of detecting errors, suffers from a severe performance loss due to the resource shortage caused by the large number of redundant instructions injected into the superscalar core. In this paper, we propose to apply three architectural enhancements, namely 1) floating-point unit sharing (FUS), 2) prioritizing primary instructions (PRI), and 3) early retiring of redundant instructions (ERT), that enable transient-fault detecting redundant execution in superscalar microarchitectures with a much smaller performance penalty, while maintaining the original full coverage of soft errors. In addition, our enhancements are compatible with many other proposed techniques, allowing for further performance improvement.
A shaped PVDF hydrophone for producing low sidelobe beampatterns

The authors determine if a multi-wavelength continuous hydrophone, shaped to achieve low sidelobes, can produce desired sidelobes and beamwidths. Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) was selected as the sensor material. Theoretical beampatterns are calculated for three different hydrophone shapes (or weighting functions). They are the rectangular aperture, the modified linear taper, and a -40 dB, 26-point Chebyshev aperture. The beampatterns are calculated using the summation of weighted discrete elements as an approximation. The approximation is validated by comparing the element summation results of the modified linear taper case to its exact solution using Fourier transforms. Measured beampatterns of a rectangular aperture hydrophone and a modified linear taper shaped hydrophone are compared to the theoretical beampatterns. >
16-kbps modem design using vector quantization

As compared to traditional modem schemes, vector quantisation (VQ) offers higher transmission rates for a fixed SNR or lower SNR's for a fixed transmission rate. The initial simulation efforts, written in F77, used the AWGN channel with low dimensions (1-8) and data rates of 1-3 bits/sample or equivalently 8000-24000 bits/second. The research strategy involves the following: (1) upgrading the VQ modem algorithm; (2) channel modeling and computer simulation of higher dimension; (3) system performance simulation; and (4) development of VQ modem system. Simulations of higher dimension sizes (8-16) are written in C programming language and using the VQ modem algorithm with AWGN 3.2 kHz channels, transmission rates of 16 kbps are achievable across 'average' telephone lines. The printed circuit board design of a real-time VQ modem system is being ported onto Mentor Graphics CAD tools on Apollo workstations. >
The impact of sectoral shifts in investment on unemployment in U.S. labor markets

Capital stock data for the U.S. economy are used to develop a measure of sectoral shifts in productive resources. Within the context of the creative destruction process, this measure provides a direct indicator of sectoral shifts in resource demands independent of aggregate fluctuations. Years with greater reallocations of capital have higher unemployment, a result consistent with the traditional sectoral shifts hypothesis. However, fluctuations in unemployment appear to be more strongly influenced by aggregate rather than sectoral shocks. Significant variation exists across demographic groups in the responsiveness of unemployment to aggregate fluctuations and sectoral shifts. The adverse impact of sectoral shifts is greater for males and members of the nonwhite labor force.
Models of financially repressed developing economies

Abstract The past decade has witnessed an explosion of research on financial sector models of financially repressed developing economies. For the most part, financial repression is interpreted to be the technique of holding interest rates (particularly deposit rates of interest) below their free market equilibrium levels. The recent spate of activity in this field was produced by the simultaneous publication in 1973 of books by McKinnon and Shaw. Both authors demonstrate how economic theory can be applied to the analysis of the effects of financial conditions on investment and the real rate of economic growth. Since 1973, models of financially repressed developing economies have been formalized mathematically, extended to open economies in order to analyse exchange rate policies, and tested empirically. This paper presents a critical survey of the major contributions to the literature in this field since 1973.
SOLAR WIND HEAVY IONS OVER SOLAR CYCLE 23: ACE/SWICS MEASUREMENTS

Solar wind plasma and compositional properties reflect the physical properties of the corona and its evolution over time. Studies comparing the previous solar minimum with the most recent, unusual solar minimum indicate that significant environmental changes are occurring globally on the Sun. For example, the magnetic field decreased 30% between the last two solar minima, and the ionic charge states of O have been reported to change toward lower values in the fast wind. In this work, we systematically and comprehensively analyze the compositional changes of the solar wind during cycle 23 from 2000 to 2010 while the Sun moved from solar maximum to solar minimum. We find a systematic change of C, O, Si, and Fe ionic charge states toward lower ionization distributions. We also discuss long-term changes in elemental abundances and show that there is a ~50% decrease of heavy ion abundances (He, C, O, Si, and Fe) relative to H as the Sun went from solar maximum to solar minimum. During this time, the relative abundances in the slow wind remain organized by their first ionization potential. We discuss these results and their implications for models of the evolution of the solar atmosphere, and for the identification of the fast and slow wind themselves.
Molecular basis of muscular dystrophies.

Muscular dystrophies represent a heterogeneous group of disorders, which have been largely classified by clinical phenotype. In the last 10 years, identification of novel skeletal muscle genes including extracellular matrix, sarcolemmal, cytoskeletal, cytosolic, and nuclear membrane proteins has changed the phenotype-based classification and shed new light on the molecular pathogenesis of these disorders. A large number of genes involved in muscular dystrophy encode components of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex (DGC) which normally links the intracellular cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix. Mutations in components of this complex are thought to lead to loss of sarcolemmal integrity and render muscle fibers more susceptible to damage. Recent evidence suggests the involvement of vascular smooth muscle DGC in skeletal and cardiac muscle pathology in some forms of sarcoglycan-deficient limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. Intriguingly, two other forms of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy are possibly caused by perturbation of sarcolemma repair mechanisms. The complete clarification of these various pathways will lead to further insights into the pathogenesis of this heterogeneous group of muscle disorders.
HIV-1 production from infected peripheral blood T cells after HTLV-I induced mitogenic stimulation

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) are two distinct human retroviruses that infect T cells. Recent epidemiologic studies have identified a cohort of individuals that are coinfected with both viruses. It is reported here that human peripheral blood leukocytes infected with HIV-1 in vitro can be induced to produce large quantities of HIV-1 after mitogenic stimulation by noninfectious HTLV-I virions. It is also shown that HTLV-I virions may exert this effect prior to, immediately following, or well after the cells are infected with HIV-1. These results provide further impetus for epidemiologic studies of dually infected individuals to determine whether HTLV-I may act as a cofactor for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Long-term effects of lactational zinc deficiency on bone mineral composition in rats fed a commercially modified Luecke diet

The purpose of this study was threefold: 1. to determine the long-term effects of interactions between lactational zinc deficiency and gender on bone mineral composition in repleted rat offspring, 2. to determine the nutritional efficacy of the second of two commercially designed, modified Luecke diets (ML2) during the gestational and lactational stress, and 3. determine the ultratrace element contents of Ralston Rodent Laboratory Chow #5001. The ML2 basal diet, based on dextrose, sprayed egg white, and corn oil contained 0.420 μg Zn/g, was supplemented with Zn (as zinc acetate) at 0 (diet 0ML2) or 30 (diet 30ML2) μg/g, and was mixed and pelleted commercially. all rat dams were fed the 30ML2 diet ad libitum during gestation. Beginning at parturition, the dams were fed either the 1. 0ML2, 2. 30ML2 (food restricted), or 3. 30ML2 (ad libitum) diets. All pups were fed the 30ML2 diet ad libitum from 23 to 40 d of age. From d 40 to 150, all pups were fed Ralston Rodent Laboratory Chow. The 30ML2 diet was found to be nutritionally efficacious; litter size and pup growth were normal and pup mortality was only 1.2%. Pups (ZD) with access to the 0ML2 diet until 23 d of age and nursed by dams fed the 0ML2 diet, when compared to pups (PF) fed restricted amounts of the 30ML2 diet, exhibited increased mortality and decreased concentrations of tibial zinc but no change in growth. Inadequate zinc nutriture during infancy, despite postlactational zinc repletion, induced imbalances in adult bone mineral metabolism. Thus, at 150 d of age, the ZD pups exhibited increased levels of bone P and Mg and decreased concentrations of K as compared to the PF pups.
The binding energy of CO on clean and sulfur covered platinum surfaces

Abstract The desorption of CO from clean Pt(111) and (100), and from the same surfaces with partial overlayers of sulfur, was studied by Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy. The method of desorption rate isotherms was employed for data analysis. The desorption of CO from the (111) surface and both surfaces with ordered sulfur overlayers can be described as a first order process with coverage dependent activation energies. The desorption of CO from the clean Pt(100) surface is complicated by the dynamic interaction of the molecule with a thermally activated change of platinum surface structure. On both platinum faces surface sulfur decreases the initial binding energy of CO. As the CO concentration increases, its binding energy decreases very rapidly. This is due to a repulsive interaction which exists between co-adsorbed species.
Thermodynamics of the ErFe2-H(D) system☆

Abstract The ErFe2-H system has been thermodynamically characterized from pressure-composition-temperature data. Six different solid phases form with five two-solid-phase coexistence regions; although, for one, the plateau pressure is not well defined over the temperature range investigated. The plateau pressures of the various two-phase regions must naturally increase with the average hydrogen content of the two-phase region; however, the enthalpies for hydride formation do not increase regularly with the plateau pressures. The D/H isotope effect, RT ln( p D 2 p H 2 ) 1 2 , is small and changes sign over the measured temperature range from 273 to 403 K. Disproportionation to ErH2 ± δ and Fe occurs at elevated temperatures.
Glycerol metabolism in higher plants: glycerol kinase.

Glycerol kinase activity was identified in extracts of higher plant seeds and seedlings, and was partially purified and characterized from cucumber radicle tissue. The enzyme was localized in the post-mitochondrial supernatant of the cell, and catalyzed the formation of glycerol-3-phosphate. The pH optiumum was 9.0. ATP, CTP, GTP or UTP could be used as the phosphoryl group donor. The Km for glycerol was 55 uM and Km values for the nucleoside triphosphates were 145–620 uM. The Vmax for the reaction was 40–78 pmol product per min. Kinetic data indicate that the enzyme has a sequential mechanism.
Paramagnetic conduction electrons in GeSx-glasses

Abstract The 9.5 and 35 GHz spectra of GeSx-glasses with x = 1.25−2.01 synthesized in evacuated Vycor ampules between 683°C and 895°C exhibit a symmetric narrow line (A-component: geff = 2.003, ΔHpp (9.5 GHz) = 3 G, ΔHeff (35 GHz) = 4.8 G) and an asymmetric broader resonance (B-component: X-Band, geff = 2.0112, ΔHpp = 16.25 G, Q-band: geff = 2.0045, ΔHpp = 11 G). The line width of the A- and B-components was measured between 10 K and 300 K. For the A component the ΔHpp versus temperature of measurements, TM, and ln(ΔHpp) versus T M − 1 4 plots were best fitted assuming two straight lines in the ranges from 34 K to 160 K and from 160 K to 300 K. The line width of the B-component is invariant with temperature of measurements from 10 K to 300 K. On the basis of the frequency and temperature behavior of these lines we suggest that the A-component is due to a paramagnetic electron hopping between different sites and attribute the B-component to conduction electrons in Ge rich regions in the glass.
Peripartum Pulmonary Embolism

Pregnancy is an example of Virchow's triad predisposing to the development of venous thromboembolism (VTE). Specific risk factors for antepartum and postpartum VTE have been identified. The diagnosis of pulmonary embolism in pregnancy is complicated by the physiologic changes of pregnancy as well as physicians' apprehension about ordering radiologic studies during pregnancy because of concerns with fetal well-being. Therapy for VTE is complicated by pregnancy physiology affecting medication pharmacokinetics and bioavailability, and the unpredictable occurrence of labor during therapeutic anticoagulation.
CPEB1 regulates β-catenin mRNA translation and cell migration in astrocytes

A crucial step in directed cell migration is the recruitment of cytoskeletal regulatory and signaling proteins to the leading edge of the cell. One protein localized to the leading edge of a migrating astrocyte is β-catenin. Using an in vitro wound healing assay, we show the localization of β-catenin to the leading edge is dependent upon new protein synthesis at the time of wounding. We examined the mRNA encoding β-catenin for potential regulatory elements and identified a conserved cytoplasmic polyadenylation element in the 3′-untranslated region (UTR). We now show that the CPE-binding protein (CPEB1) is expressed in astrocytes and that translation of β-catenin mRNA is regulated by CPEB1. Further, expression of a mutant CPEB1 protein in astrocytes not only blocks β-catenin protein localization, it inhibits cell migration. These findings demonstrate a role for CPEB1-mediated protein synthesis in the localization of β-catenin protein to the leading edge of migrating astrocytes and in regulating directed cell motility.
Effects of Nitrogen Fertilization on Plant Communities of Nonsorted Circles in Moist Nonacidic Tundra, Northern Alaska

Nitrogen availability is considered to be a key limiting factor for plant growth in arctic tundra. Freeze-thaw cycles, which can produce patterned-ground features, may also limit the establishment and growth of arctic plants. In this experiment, we fertilized nonsorted circles, a type of patterned-ground feature, and the surrounding more stable vegetation in moist nonacidic tundra of northern Alaska to determine if nitrogen availability limited plant communities on these disturbance-dominated features. Similar to other studies in moist nonacidic tundra, the fertilized stable vegetation showed an increase in graminoid biomass and a decrease in moss biomass, but no total biomass response. The plant communities on nonsorted circles were less responsive to the addition of nitrogen as compared to the well-vegetated rims. The nonsorted circle vegetation may be limited by additional factors, such as frost heave disturbance, availability of buried seeds, and/or other nutrients. This difference in fertilization response shows that the presence of these features creates spatial heterogeneity in tundra plant community dynamics that should be taken into account when studying tundra responses to environmental change.
Effects of PKC activation and receptor desensitization on neurosteroid modulation of GABAA receptors

The effect of calcium-phospholipid-dependent protein kinase (PKC) activation on neurosteroid modulation of the GABA(A) receptor was examined in Xenopus oocytes expressing human recombinant alpha1beta2gamma2L GABA(A) receptors. GABA-gated chloride currents were measured using the two-electrode voltage-clamp technique. The peak amplitude of GABA-gated chloride currents was reduced by the PKC activator phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), but not by the inactive analog phorbol 12-mono-myristate (PMM). This effect of PMA was inhibited by the protein kinase inhibitor staurosporine. To investigate whether the activation of PKC could alter neurosteroid modulation of the GABA(A) receptor, the effect of PMA was studied on the positive allosteric modulatory steroid 3alpha,21-dihydroxy-5alpha-pregnan-20-one (THDOC) and the negative modulatory neurosteroid pregnenolone sulfate (PS). THDOC potentiation of GABA-gated chloride currents was found to be increased by approximately 120% following PMA treatment, while PS inhibition was not affected. The increase in THDOC potentiation by PMA was blocked by staurosporine. No change in THDOC potentiation was observed following PMM treatment. The enhancement of THDOC potentiation following PMA treatment was not due to a shift in the GABA EC50. In addition to inhibiting the peak amplitude of the GABA response, PMA treatment resulted in non-desensitizing GABA responses. Similarly, GABA responses of receptors which had been desensitized with prolonged GABA application also showed a reduction in peak amplitude and reduced desensitization. THDOC potentiation of desensitized receptors was enhanced approximately 70% with respect to non-desensitized receptors. The present results demonstrate that protein phosphorylation and receptor desensitization alter modulation of the GABA(A) receptor complex by some neurosteroids.
Atomic force microscopy investigation of vocal fold collagen.

Objectives: Collagen is an important constituent of the vocal fold extracellular matrix and is necessary for providing tensile strength and maintaining tissue geometry. Traditional investigations of vocal fold collagen using light and electron microscopy do not provide information on the organization and mechanical properties of collagen in native topographic state. The primary objective of this study was to use Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) to examine the surface characteristics and organization of collagen in the deep layer of the lamina propria at nanoscale resolution. Study Design: Experimental in vitro design. Methods: Freshly dissected porcine vocal folds were mounted on AFM discs and imaged under contact and tapping mode to obtain information on topographic distribution of collagen. Results: AFM imaging of the deep layer of the lamina propria revealed dense, abundant collagen fibers with a characteristic banding pattern. The distribution of collagen was heterogeneous, with both hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions within a sample. Conclusions: AFM offers a useful tool to obtain topographic information about biologic samples at nanoscale resolution with minimal sample preparation. Mapping the topography and mechanical properties of vocal fold collagen is necessary for designing rheologically compatible bioimplants for the treatment of dysphonia resulting from vocal fold scarring and bowing.
Leiomyoma in a “blind pouch”

This report describes a patient with anemia and chronic diarrhea secondary to an ulcerating leiomyoma in a blind pouch. It emphasizes the clinical and radiologic difficulty in diagnosing focal lesions of the mesenteric small bowel and the need for a careful scrutiny of all segments of small bowel in a patient with unexplained anemia and diarrhea.
On the Molecular Identity of ESR Signal II Observed in Photosynthetic Systems: The Effect of Heptane Extraction and Reconstitution With Plastoquinone and Deuterated Plastoquinone

Speculation as to the identity of Signal II, the light-induced, broad, slow decaying electron spin resonance signal with hyperfine structure observed in photosynthetic materials, has tended to center on the semiquinone of plastoquinone. Experiments reported here were designed to give direct evidence bearing on that speculation. Heptane extraction of lipids from lyophilized spinach and tobacco chloroplast fragments reduced the amplitude of Signal II and increased the ratio of Signal I:Signal II. Reconstitution of the system by the addition of plastoquinone partially restored Signal II as well as the ratio of Signal I:Signal II to its pre-extraction condition. Addition of totally deuterated plastoquinone to extracted chloroplasts in which considerable Signal II had survived heptane extraction resulted in a spectrum which showed the characteristic hallmarks of Signal II observed in totally deuterated organisms. These results establish that a free radical immediately derived from plastoquinone contributes to Signal II. The data taken by themselves are consistent with plastochromanoxyl as well as plastosemiquinone free radicals giving rise to Signal II. Other contributors to Signal II are not ruled out.
L-type voltage-sensitive Ca2+ channel activation regulates c-fos transcription at multiple levels

A mechanism by which voltage-sensitive Ca2+ channel (VSCC) activation triggers c-fos transcription has been characterized. Ca2+ influx through VSCCs stimulates phosphorylation of the transcription factor cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB) on serine 133 leading to an increase in the formation of transcription complexes that can elongate through a transcription pause site within the c-fos gene. Ca(2+)-stimulated CREB serine 133 phosphorylation is mediated by a Ca(2+)-activated kinase and is not dependent on the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). While necessary for c-fos transcriptional induction following VSCC opening, CREB serine 133 phosphorylation is not sufficient for transcriptional activation. A second, PKA-dependent event is required. Following induction, c-fos transcription is rapidly down-regulated. Dephosphorylation of CREB serine 133 parallels and likely mediates the transcriptional shut-off event. These results suggest that the phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of CREB controls its ability to regulate transcription in membrane-depolarized cells and that multiple pathways contribute to Ca(2+)-activated gene expression.
Distinguishing local moment versus itinerant ferromagnets: Dynamic magnetic susceptibility

Radio-frequency measurements of dynamic magnetic susceptibility of various ferromagnets show striking differences between local-moment ferromagnetism (LFM) and weak itinerant ferromagnetism (IFM) ferromagnetic systems. LFMs show a very sharp peak in susceptibility in the vicinity of the Curie temperature TC that rapidly decreases in amplitude and shifts to higher temperature with the application of a weak dc bias field. In stark contrast, the generally accepted IFM systems show no peak, but rather a broad maximum well below TC. The temperature of this maximum shifts to lower values and the amplitude is suppressed with an applied dc field.
Low temperature transport properties and heat capacity of single-crystal Na8Si46.

The low temperature thermal conductivity, resistivity, and Seebeck coefficient of single-crystal Na8Si46 are investigated revealing the intrinsic low temperature transport properties of this material. Metallic conduction is observed, with a higher residual resistance ratio than any other known type I clathrate. Heat capacity together with thermal conductivity provide insight into the Na disorder inside the polyhedra formed by the Si framework. Single-crystal structural refinement and thermal property analyses reveal anisotropic disorder for Na inside the tetrakaidecahedra due to a reduction in the symmetry inside these polyhedra, unlike that for Na inside the dodecahedra.