cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The admittance of the infinite cylindrical antenna immersed in a lossy, compressible plasma

Some numerical results obtained from an analysis of the admittance of an infinite cylindrical antenna excited at a circumferential gap of finite thickness and immersed in a lossy, compressible (warm) plasma are given. The linearized hydrodynamic equations are used for the electrons (ion motion is neglected). A free-space layer, or vacuum sheath, is used to approximate the ion sheath which forms about an object at floating potential in a nonzero temperature plasma. Values for the antenna admittance are obtained by a direct numerical integration of the Fourier integral for the current, and are presented as a function of frequency for plasma parameter values typical of the E region of the ionosphere. The admittance exhibits a maximum below the plasma frequency unless the electron temperature and sheath thickness are both zero; however, above the plasma frequency, the sheath and electron temperature have relatively little effect on the antenna admittance. The nonzero plasma temperature considerably enhances the antenna conductance below the plasma frequency compared with the zero-temperature case while at the same time reducing the dependence of the conductance on the electron collision frequency. A susceptance zero the location of which is not sensitive to the vacuum sheath thickness occurs near the plasma frequency.
Poly-β-hydroxybutyric acid—a naturally occurring thermoplastic material

Poly-β-hydroxybutyric acid has been isolated in quantities sufficient for characterization and evaluation of mechanical properties from both Bacillus megaterium and a special strain of Rhizobium. Its presence in a larger variety of bacteria than previously suspected has been demonstrated by a screening method based on density-gradient centrifugation. The intrinsic viscosity of the isolated polymer has been shown to depend on the technique of isolation; basic solvents facilitate hydrolytic cleavage of the polyester. Mechanical properties of the polymer are based on the high crystallinity and polarity of the material; in a highly crystallized state, it is quite brittle, but its rigidity exceeds that of polypropylene. Thermal degradation of molecular weight, due to beta-eliminatin of the carboxyl group from the polyester structure, severely limits processing of the polymer in the melt.
Honey supplementation and its developmental consequences: evidence for food limitation in a paper wasp, Polistes metricus

. 1 Polistes metricus Say (Hymenoptera: Vespidae, Polistinae) field colonies were supplemented with dilute honey during the pre-emergence and early post-emergence phases of colony development. 2 Supplementation did not increase number of nest cells constructed or rates of loss to predation or foundress disappearance compared with controls. 3 Colonies receiving honey supplementation produced first offspring earlier in the season than control colonies. The difference is due to a shorter time span between founding and first emergence. 4 Foundresses of supplemented and control colonies did not differ in wing length or per cent body fat. 5 Offspring of both supplemented and control colonies had shorter wing lengths than did foundresses of supplemented colonies. Offspring of control colonies had shorter wing lengths than did foundresses of control colonies but not foundresses of supplemented colonies. 6 The per cent body fat of offspring from control colonies was lower than that of all foundresses and of offspring from supplemented colonies. 7 The per cent body fat of offspring from supplemented colonies was higher than that of all foundresses.
Radiofrequency ablation therapy of the posteroseptal accessory pathway

Among 652 patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome who underwent radiofrequency ablation in this laboratory, 139 (21%) were found to have a total of 146 posteroseptal accessory pathways. Ablation was conducted by the regular transvenous or transaortic approach; ablation from cardiac venous structures was used only if regular approaches were unsuccessful. Of the 146 posteroseptal accessory pathways, 94 were successfully ablated from the left posteroseptal region and 45 from the right posteroseptal region. In 3, successful ablation of the accessory pathway required delivery of the current to the proximal coronary sinus, and in 1 it required delivery of the current to both the atrial and ventricular aspects of the tricuspid valve at the right posteroseptum. Thus, the accessory pathway was successfully ablated in 143 (98%) of 146 instances or in 136 (98%) patients. In 3 patients, ablation was unsuccessful despite delivery of current to the left posteroseptum, the right posteroseptum, the proximal coronary sinus, and the middle cardiac vein. Seventy-seven (57%) patients with an initial success, including 9 patients with resumed preexcitation or recurrence of paipitations, underwent a follow-up electro-physiologic study 90 +/- 72 days after ablation. Of these 9 patients, the initial successful ablation site was the right posteroseptum in 7 and the left posteroseptum in 2. The accessory pathways were ablated successfully by subsequent trials in 8 patients, whereas in 1 the accessory pathway was severely damaged. Thus radiofrequency ablation of posteroseptal accessory pathways can be achieved by the regular transvenous or transaortic approach; delivery of current to the coronary sinus or middle cardiac vein is unnecessary in most patients.
Lethality of human melanoma cells for normal mice immunosuppressed with cyclosporin A

After intraperitoneal inoculation of BRO human melanoma cells, phenotypically immunocompetent mice given cyclosporin A (CyA) developed extensive and lethal tumors. Survivals were not significantly different for normal mice treated with this immunosuppressant compared to nude mice, which lack functional T-lymphocytes. BRO cells could be passaged in CyA-treated mice without alteration of isozymes or other properties tested. This model may have implications for growth and metastasis of human tumors under immunosuppressed conditions and may be useful for studying the mechanism of action of CyA in vivo.
Distributions of Calcium in A and I Bands of Skinned Vertebrate Muscle Fibers Stretched to Beyond Filament Overlap

Measurements were made of the distributions of total calcium along the length of A and I bands in skinned frog semitendinosus muscles using electron probe x-ray microanalysis. Since calcium in the water space was kept below the detection limit of the technique, the signal was assumed to reflect the distribution of calcium bound to myofilament proteins. Data from sarcomeres with overlap between thick and thin filaments showed enhancement of calcium in this region, as previously demonstrated in rabbit psoas muscle fibers in rigor (Cantino, M. E., T. S. Allen, and A. M. Gordon. 1993. Subsarcomeric distribution of calcium in demembranated fibers of rabbit psoas muscle. Biophys. J. 64:211-222). Such enhancement could arise from intrinsic non-uniformities in calcium binding to either thick or thin filaments or from enhancement of calcium binding to either filament by rigor cross-bridge attachment. To test for intrinsic variations in calcium binding, calcium distributions were determined in fibers stretched to beyond filament overlap. Calcium binding was found to be relatively uniform along both thick and thin filaments, and therefore cannot account for the increased calcium observed in the overlap region. From these results it can be concluded that the observed enhancement of calcium is due to an increase in calcium binding to myofilaments as a result of rigor attachment of cross-bridges to actin. The source of the enhancement is most likely an increase in calcium binding to troponin, although enhancement of calcium binding to myosin light chains cannot be ruled out.
Transient Molecular-Ion Formation in Rydberg-Electron Capture

Resonance structure has been observed in total cross sections for the capture of an electron from a Rydberg-state atom by a singly charged projectile with speed {ital v}{sub ion} comparable to the Bohr velocity {ital v}{sub {ital e}} of the target electron. Prominent peaks in the data at reduced velocities {ital {tilde v}}={ital v}{sub ion}/{ital v}{sub {ital e}}=0.8 and 0.5 result from two distinct capture mechanisms in which the target electron passes once or three times, respectively, through the midplane between the nuclei. The three-swap peak at {ital {tilde v}}=0.5 marks the high-velocity limit of molecular-ion formation in which the electron is shared between the two charge centers. This result illustrates that new paradigms for collision dynamics may emerge when reactions are examined at or near the correspondence principle limit.
Relevance of differential immunogenicity of human and mouse recombinant desmoglein-3 for the induction of acantholytic autoantibodies in mice.

Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an antibody-mediated autoimmune disease of the skin and mucous membranes. Desmoglein-3 (dsg-3) expressed in the suprabasal layer of the skin serves as an autoantigen in PV. Passive transfer of sera, either from patients with PV or from experimental animals immunized with a recombinant human dsg3 (hdsg3) into neonatal BALB/c mice results in blister formation, suggesting strongly that there is significant cross-reactivity between the mouse dsg3 (mdsg3) and the hdsg3. However, efforts to induce disease in adult mice through active immunization using hdsg-3 have not been successful, suggesting that the epitopes required for the induction of pathogenic antibodies in adult mice might not be present in hdsg3. Therefore, in this study, we expressed a full-length mdsg3 in insect cells and compared its serological reactivity with that of the hdsg3 using species specific polyclonal sera and a panel of seven monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) with unique binding specificities to hdsg3. Studies using sera demonstrated a considerable cross-reactivity, while studies using MoAbs exhibited specific epitope differences between the two proteins. Because of these differences, we reasoned that immunization with mdsg3 might induce disease in adult mice. Immunization of four strains of mice (i.e. BALB/c, DBA/1, HRS/J and SJL/J) with mdsg3 resulted in considerable antibody response, but failed to induce lesions. However, sera from immunized BALB/c mice induced acantholysis of neonatal mouse skin in vitro. These studies indicated that our inability to induce lesions in adult mice through active immunization is not due to differences in the ability of mouse and human dsg3 to induce acantholytic antibodies, but due probably to structural differences between adult and neonatal mouse skin. Alternatively, immunization with a combination of dsg3 protein along with other proteins might be necessary to induce pemphigus disease in adult mice. Nevertheless, our current studies show that molecular mechanisms leading to the production of acantholytic antibodies in mice can now be studied using homologous mdsg3.
Multivariable Expansion of the Scattering Amplitude Involving an Arbitrary Number of Spinless Particles; Crossing Symmetry for Partial Waves

We derive an infinite number of sum rules for the scattering processes involving any finite number of spinless particles. Each sum rule involves a finite number of partial-wave amplitudes from direct and crossed channels. These sum rules are implied by the crossing symmetry of the system and are complete. We classify these sum rules into an independent set, thus obtaining a basis for multivariable expansion. This basis displays the threshold and pseudothreshold zeros and kinematic singularities of the partial waves.
Slave Marriage and the Family

This article contributes to the literature on slave marriage and the family [in the United States] by analyzing evidence from plantation records and Civil War pension files....The data...reveal seasonal patterns of marriage and birth and the stability of slave unions.... (EXCERPT)
Modeling solar proton access to geostationary spacecraft with geomagnetic cutoffs

Abstract Solar energetic particle (SEP) cutoffs at geosynchronous orbit are sensitive to moderate geomagnetic activity and undergo daily variations due to the day–night asymmetry of the magnetosphere. At geosynchronous orbit, cutoff rigidity also has a large directional dependence, with the highest cutoff rigidity corresponding to ions arriving from magnetic east and lowest cutoff rigidity corresponding to ions incident from the west. Consequently, during geomagnetically quiet periods, the SEP flux observed by an eastward facing particle detector is significantly lower than observed by a westward facing particle detector. During geomagnetically disturbed periods the cutoff is suppressed allowing SEPs access well inside of geosynchronous, so that the east–west SEP flux ratio approaches unity. Variations in the east–west SEP flux ratio observed by GOES Energetic Particle Sensors (EPS) have recently been reported by Rodriguez et al. (2010) . In NOAA’s operational processing of EPS count rates into differential fluxes, the differential flux is treated as isotropic and flat over the energy width of the channel. To compare modeled SEP flux with GOES EPS observations, the anisotropy of the flux over the EPS energy range and field of view must be taken into account. A technique for making direct comparisons between GOES EPS observations and SEP flux modeled using numerically computed geomagnetic cutoffs is presented. Initial results from a comparison between modeled and observed flux during the 6–11 December 2006 SEP event are also presented. The modeled cutoffs reproduce the observed flux variations well but are in general too high.
Specific recombination in vitro promoted by the restriction endonuclease HgaI.

Abstract We describe the use of the restriction endonuclease HgaI from Haemophilus gallinarum for the efficient construction in vitro of recombinant molecules. Using bacteriophage f 1 DNA, we show that only HgaI fragments that were originally adjacent on the genome are ligated, that upon ligation infectious molecules are reassembled with high efficiency, and that recombinant genomes can thus be easily constructed. The method relies upon the unique properties of HgaI and is applicable to any viral or plasmid DNA that contains several HgaI recognition sites.
Tissue Expression Pattern of PMK-2 p38 MAPK Is Established by the miR-58 Family in C. elegans

Analyses of gene expression profiles in evolutionarily diverse organisms have revealed a role for microRNAs in tuning tissue-specific gene expression. Here, we show that the relatively abundant and constitutively expressed miR-58 family of microRNAs sharply defines the tissue-specific expression of the broadly transcribed gene encoding PMK-2 p38 MAPK in Caenorhabditis elegans. Whereas PMK-2 functions redundantly with PMK-1 in the nervous system to regulate neuronal development and behavioral responses to pathogenic bacteria, the miR-58, miR-80, miR-81, and miR-82 microRNAs function redundantly to destabilize pmk-2 mRNA in non-neuronal cells with switch-like potency. Our data suggest a role for the miR-58 family in the establishment of neuronal-specific gene expression in C. elegans, and support a more general role for microRNAs in the establishment of tissue-specific gene expression.
Instruction set extensions for dynamic time warping

Processor specialization through application-specific instruction set customization can significantly improve performance while reducing energy. Due to the costs associated with semiconductor fabrication, specialized processors are only viable for products with high production volumes. The emergence of low-cost sensor-based computing products in recent years has created an urgent need to process time-series data with the utmost efficiency. Although most sensor data is fixed-point, the normalization process---an absolute necessity for highly accurate similarity search of time-series data---converts the data to floating-point in order to avoid a loss in precision. The sensors that collect time-series data are typically connected to low-power microcontrollers or RISC processors sans floating point units. The computational requirements of real-time similarity search would overwhelm such processors. To address this concern, we introduce a specialized instruction set for time-series data mining applications to a 32-bit embedded processor, yielding a 4.87x performance improvement and a 78% reduction in energy consumption compared to a highly optimized software implementation.
Discipline and Party Institutionalization in Post-Soviet Legislatures:

Fearing that weak or poorly institutionalized party systems may undermine democratic consolidation, scholars have examined party systems in a myriad of contexts. The vast majority of these studies ...
Impact of non-remission of depression on costs and resource utilization: from the COmorbidities and symptoms of DEpression (CODE) study

AbstractObjective:To determine the economic impact of sustained non-remission of depression on the total annual all-cause healthcare costs of patients with a history of depression.Methods:Adults with ≥2 claims with depression diagnosis codes from the HealthCore Integrated Research Database were invited to participate in this retrospective/prospective fixed-cohort repeated-measures study. Patients with scores >5 at initial survey and 6 month assessment on the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS-SR) were considered to be in ‘sustained non-remission’, while those with scores ≤5 at both assessments were considered to be in ‘sustained remission’. Patients also completed self-report instruments to assess pain, fatigue, anxiety, sleep difficulty, and other health and wellness domains. Survey data were linked to patient claims (12 month pre- and post-initial-survey periods). After adjusting for demographic and clinical characteristics using propensity scores, post-survey costs and resource utilizat...
Dietary Fiber and Colorectal Cancer: What Is Appropriate Advice?

Two recent studies question the role of dietary fiber in the prevention of colorectal cancer. However, the duration of dietary intervention, dose of fiber, and the complexity of polyp formation and transformation to carcinomas make interpretation of such studies difficult. Multiple rationales exist for promoting the consumption of high-fiber, low-fat, fruit- and vegetable-rich diets.
French Typography for American Authors

Author's Summary— Do American authors adopt either the normal or the easiest styles of French typography?
N the theory of randomized responses to two sensitive questions

This paper sets forth a stochastic model which can be applied to randomized response designs wherein more than one question is sensitive of stigmatizing. Using three specific designs applied to a pair of stigmatizing or sensitive traits leading to two by two contingency tables, it is proved that if the two traits are statistically independent then the responses are also and conversely. The converse statement gives the support we need for inference to be made on the traits based on the randomized responses.
Illness in the first trimester of pregnancy: Its lack of significance in relation to congenital anomaly of the offspring and to full-term pregnancy, prematurity, and stillbirth

Summary Of 1,228 mothers who gave birth to 1,237 infants in 1948, at St. Marys Hospital in Rochester, Minn., 148 mothers were ill at some time in the first trimester of pregnancy. These ill mothers subsequently gave birth to 149 children, eight of whom (5.4 per cent) had congenital anomalies. The 1,080 mothers who were not ill in the first trimester of pregnancy gave birth to 1,088 infants of whom fifty-seven (5.2 per cent) had congenital anomalies. Thus, there was no significant difference between the incidence of congenital anomalies following maternal illness in the first trimester of pregnancy and that following uneventful pregnancy. Furthermore, whether or not themothers were ill in the first trimester of pregnancy apparently made no significant difference in the incidence of full-term pregnancy, prematurity, or stillbirth.
Carbonate platform sedimentology, upper Cambrian Richland Formation, Lebanon Valley, Pennsylvania

ABSTRACT The Richland Formation is exposed on both limbs of the Lebanon Valley nappe in southeastern Pennsylvania. The nappe probably contains the farthest transported carbonate platform rocks of the Cambro-Ordovician continental margin sequence. Intertidal to deep subtidal environments are represented. Intertidal deposits include cryptalgalaminates and tabular-laminated dolomites. Ooid grainstones, in part altered to coarsely crystalline dolomites, are shoal or beach deposits. Subtidal deposits include mudstones, peloid packstone/wackestones, thrombolites, and domal stromatolites. Ribbon carbonates were probably deposited in an open-platform setting below fair-weather wave base. Lithofacies occur in cyclic peritidal, subtidal, and thrombolitic facies associations. Facies sequences on each limb are reciprocally related. Upper-limb rocks occupied a more seaward platform position. The upper limb features a 180-m-thick cyclic peritidal sequence followed by 320 m of deep to shallow subtidal deposits. On the lower limb a 300-m-thick cyclic subtidal sequence is succeeded by 100 m of cyclic peritidal deposits. The contrasting facies successions on each limb imply two major depositional phases. Phase one featured a shelf system with a broad shoal complex (upper limb) situated in front of or beside lagoon or embayment deposits (lower limb). In the second phase, deep subtidal conditions spread across the area of the upper limb while cyclic peritidal facies were established in the lower-limb setting. The upper-limb shoal complex probably was incipiently drowned during a transgression that culminated in a late Cambrian-early Ordovician sea-level highstand.
The pricking of a sacred cow: A suggestion for reform of the manuscript review process and the gatekeepers’ response

The paper examines the review process currently in vogue in the social sciences and contends that the process is in need of reform. The authors propose multiple submissions of extended abstracts as a possibility. The paper tests this alternative and presents an analysis of the results.
Vector model for normal and dichromatic color vision

The inclusion of cone mechanisms in a slightly revised version of an earlier model allows accounts of phenomena that involve receptor effects as well as dichromatic color vision. Intensity-dependent parameters that stimulate the adaptation of receptors and opponent and nonopponent mechanisms are varied to predict a wide range of data for both normals and dichromats, including: (i) color matching; (ii) the approximate apparent hue and saturation of the spectrum; (iii) foveal spectral sensitivities obtained by flicker photometry and by detection in the dark and under conditions of achromatic or chromatic adaptation; (iv) heterochromatic additivity failures in the dark-adapted and chromatically adapted eye; (v) approximate differences between brightness and luminance; and, (vi) color and wavelength discrimination under varying adaptation conditions.
Diminution by vesicular stomatitis virus of acute graft vs host mortality in mice.

Abstract Preincubation of parental spleen cells with vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) in vitro reduces their subsequent ability to cause lethal GVH disease in irradiated F 1 hybrid recipients. Antibody to VSV is needed to protect the irradiated mice against the virus. Protection is afforded even to the acute GVH induced by spleen cells presensitized to the other parent. No reduction of the late-occurring GVH mortality is obtained with VSV, even though this late GVH is mediated by T cells as it is completely abolished by pretreatment of BM with anti-Thy 1.2 + C. The results suggest that the known ability of VSV to replicate in activated T cells may be used selectively to inhibit certain unwanted immune reactions in vivo .
The Genetics of Type 2 Diabetes: A Realistic Appraisal in 2008

Context: Over the last few months, genome-wide association studies have contributed significantly to our understanding of the genetic architecture of type 2 diabetes. If and how this information will impact clinical practice is not yet clear. Evidence Acquisition: Primary papers reporting genome-wide association studies in type 2 diabetes or establishing a reproducible association for specific candidate genes were compiled. Further information was obtained from background articles, authoritative reviews, and relevant meeting conferences and abstracts. Evidence Synthesis: As many as 17 genetic loci have been convincingly associated with type 2 diabetes; 14 of these were not previously known, and most of them were unsuspected. The associated polymorphisms are common in populations of European descent but have modest effects on risk. These loci highlight new areas for biological exploration and allow the initiation of experiments designed to develop prediction models and test possible pharmacogenetic and other applications. Conclusions: Although substantial progress in our knowledge of the genetic basis of type 2 diabetes is taking place, these new discoveries represent but a small proportion of the genetic variation underlying the susceptibility to this disorder. Major work is still required to identify the causal variants, test their role in disease prediction and ascertain their therapeutic implications.
Developmental profiles and ecdysteroid regulation of the mRNAs for two ecdysone receptor isoforms in the epidermis and wings of the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta.

Ecdysteroids acting through multiple isoforms of the ecdysone receptor (EcR) initiate molting and metamorphosis of insects. Two isoforms of EcR, A (this paper) and B1 (Fujiwaraet al., Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol.25, 845–856, 1995), were isolated from the tobacco hornworm,Manduca sexta,and shown to be similar to the correspondingDrosophilaEcR isoforms. The developmental profiles of both EcR-A and EcR-B1 (determined by both analysis of isoform-specific mRNAs and use of monoclonal antibodies that detect either EcR-B1 or all forms), however, were different inManducaepidermis, which produces sequentially the larval, the pupal, and the adult cuticles. EcR-B1 predominated through the larval, pupal, and early developing adult stages with an upregulation early in each molt. By contrast, EcR-A was present only at the onset of new cuticle synthesis during the larval molt, but in the pupal and adult molts was upregulated slightly later than EcR-B1 during the commitment period and was present during the predifferentiative phase. Both isoforms appeared in the larval wing discs after pupal commitment and persisted through pupal differentiation. The mRNAs for both isoforms were directly induced in larval epidermisin vitroby 20-hydroxyecdysone, but EcR-B1 mRNA accumulated more rapidly, peaking at 3 hr. In the presence of a protein synthesis inhibitor, the accumulation of EcR-B1 mRNA was slower and its subsequent decline was prevented, but the accumulation of EcR-A mRNA was unaffected. Thus, in this polymorphic epidermis both isoforms appear in every molt, with EcR-B1 present during the commitment and predifferentiative phases and then at the onset of cuticle synthesis EcR-A prevails. Additionally, EcR-A is apparently associated with the switching and predifferentiative events necessary for a new synthetic program.
T cell receptor Vβ genes expressed by IgG anti‐DNA autoantibody‐inducing T cells in lupus nephritis: Forbidden receptors and double‐negative T cells

In the (SWR × NZB)F1 (SNF1) model of lupus nephritis, pathogenic variety of IgG anti-DNA autoantibodies are induced by certain T helper (Th) cells that are either CD4+ or CD4−CD8− (double negative; DN) in phenotype. From the spleens of eight SNF1 mice with lupus nephritis, 149 T cell lines were derived and out of these only 25 lines (≈ 17%) were capable of augmenting the production of pathogenic anti-DNA autoantibodies. Herein, we analyzed the T cell receptor (TcR) Vβ genes used by 16 such pathogenic autoantibody-inducing Th cell lines. Twelve of the Th lines were CD4+ and among these five lines expressed Vβ8 (8.2 or 8.3). The Vβ8 gene family is contributed by the NZB parent to the SNF1 mice, since it is absent in the SWR parental strain. Three other CD4+ Th lines expressed Vβ4, another was Vβ2+ and one line with poor autoantibody-inducing capability expressed Vβ1. Four autoantibody-inducing Th lines from the SNF1 mice had a DN phenotype and these lines were also autoreactive, proliferating in response to syngeneic spleen cells. Among these DN Th lines, two expressed Vβ6 and one expressed Vβ8.1 TcR. Both of these are forbidden TcR directed against Mls-1a (Mlsa) autoantigens expressed by the SNF1 mice and such autoreactive T cells should have been deleted during thymic ontogeny. Thus, the DN Th cells of non-lpr SNF1 mice are different from the DN cells or MRL-lpr which lack helper activity and do not express forbidden TcR. The spleens of 6 out of 19 nephritic SNF1 animals tested also showed an expansion of forbidden autoreactive TcR+ cells that were mainly DN. Two of these animals expressed high levels of Vβ6 (anti-Mlsa) and Vβ11 (anti-I-E) TcR+ cells, three others had high levels of Vβ11+ cells alone and one animal had an expanded population of Vβ17a+ (anti-I-E) cells. The I-E-reactive TcR again should have been eliminated in the SNF1 thymus, since they express I-E molecules contributed by the NZB parent. The SWR parents of SNF1, are I-E−; moreover, they lack the Vβ11 gene but they express Vβ17a in peripheral T cells. Whereas the NZB parents are I-E+, they lack a functional Vβ17a gene and they delete mature Vβ11+ T cells. Thus, a combination of MHC class II and TcR genes inherited from the NZB and SWR parents and abnormalities in thymic deletion/selection processes may generate the autoantibody-inducing Th cells in the SNF1 mice.
Electrochemical detection of carbohydrates at carbon-nanotube modified glassy-carbon electrodes

This communication reports on the catalytic oxidation of carbohydrates and the sensitive and stable fixed-potential (+0.45 V) amperometric carbohydrate response at glassy-carbon electrodes modified with single-wall carbon-nanotube (CNT) coatings. Variables affecting the electrocatalytic oxidation are assessed and optimized. The oxidation process starts around +0.25 V using a 0.1 M NaOH electrolyte solution. The amperometric response is extremely stable, with no loss in sensitivity over a continuous 2 h operation. The flow-injection response is characterized with a detection limit of 10 μM galactose and a relative standard deviation of 3.45% (n=20). Such attractive performance characteristics indicate great promise for monitoring sugars in chromatographic effluents.
The orbitofrontal cortex and ventral tegmental area are necessary for learning from unexpected outcomes

Humans and other animals change their behavior in response to unexpected outcomes. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is implicated in such adaptive responding, based on evidence from reversal tasks. Yet these tasks confound using information about expected outcomes with learning when those expectations are violated. OFC is critical for the former function; here we show it is also critical for the latter. In a Pavlovian overexpectation task, inactivation of OFC prevented learning driven by unexpected outcomes, even when performance was assessed later. We propose this reflects a critical contribution of outcome signaling by OFC to encoding of reward prediction errors elsewhere. In accord with this proposal, we report that signaling of reward predictions by OFC neurons was related to signaling of prediction errors by dopamine neurons in ventral tegmental area (VTA). Furthermore, bilateral inactivation of VTA or contralateral inactivation of VTA and OFC disrupted learning driven by unexpected outcomes.
Optimal design of FIR filters with the complex Chebyshev error criteria

We present an improved algorithm for an established filter design problem, the design of an FIR filter that best approximates, in the complex Chebyshev sense, a desired complex-valued frequency response. The algorithm is a variant of the simplex algorithm of linear programming, which has an interpretation as an implicit multiple exchange. It is iterative, robust, and exhibits good convergence speed. Global optimum convergence is guaranteed. Both complex and real-valued impulse responses can be designed with it; the design of complex coefficient filters is new. An example is given for each case. The design of noncausal filters is new. In addition to these new applications, we conjecture that this new algorithm may have important advantages over existing techniques, with respect to the maximum filter length possible, speed and stability of convergence, accuracy, and memory requirements. The ability to design long filters is among the more significant improvements over previous work. Filters of length 1000 have been designed with the new method. >
Quality Initiatives: Anatomy and Pathophysiology of Errors Occurring in Clinical Radiology Practice

The Joint Commission requires development of comprehensive error detection systems that incorporate root cause analyses for all sentinel events. To prevent medical errors from occurring, there is a need for a readily available and easy-to-implement system for detecting, classifying, and managing mistakes. The wide spectrum of interrelated contributing factors makes the classification of errors difficult. Contributors to and causes of radiologic errors can be classified under latent and active failures. Latent failures include technical and system-related failures, with a radiology-specific subgroup of communication failures that includes documentation, inaccurate or incomplete information, and communication loop failures. Active failures may be ascribed to human failures (more specifically failure of execution of a task, inadequate planning, or behavior-related failures), patient-based failures, and external failures. Classification of an error should also include the impact of the error on the patient, staff, other customers, and radiology practice. Further considerations should include nonmedical impact of the error, including legal, social, and economic effects on both the patient and the system. Rather than focusing the investigation on blaming individuals for active failures, the primary effort should be to discover latent system failures that can be remedied at a departmental level. Such an error classification system will decrease the likelihood of future errors and diminish their adverse impact.
Micro‐Raman spectroscopic study of fine‐grained, shock‐metamorphosed rock fragments from the Australasian microtektite layer

Shock-metamorphosed rock fragments have been found in the Australasian microtektite layer from the South China Sea. Previous X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies indicate that the most abundant crystalline phases in the rock fragments are coesite, quartz, and a 10 A phase (mica/clay?). In addition, the presence of numerous other phases was suggested by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. In the present research, ten of the rock fragments, which had previously been studied using SEM/EDX, were studied by micro-Raman spectroscopy. The presence of K-feldspar, plagioclase, rutile, ilmenite, titanite, magnetite, calcite, and dolomite were confirmed. In addition, the high-pressure TiO2 polymorph with an α-PbO2 structure (i.e., TiO2II) was found in several rock fragments. Two grains previously thought to have been zircon, based on their compositions, were found to have Raman spectra that do not match the Raman spectra of zircon, reidite, or any of the possible decomposition products of zircon or their high-pressure polymorphs. We speculate that the ZrSiO4 phase might be a previously unknown high-pressure polymorph of zircon or one of its decomposition products (i.e., ZrO2 or SiO2). The presence of coesite and TiO2 II, and partial melting and vesiculation suggest that the rock fragments containing the unknown ZrSiO4 phase must have experienced shock pressures between 45 and 60 GPa. We conclude that micro-Raman spectroscopy, in combination with XRD and SEM/EDX, is a powerful tool for the study of small, fine-grained impact ejecta.
Influence of Temperature on the Mechanical Properties of Cardiac Muscle

The influence of temperature on contractile performance, total myocardial stiffness, and the elastic and viscous components of stiffness was studied in intact hearts (dog) and isolated cardiac muscle (cat). In 12 dogs on whole-heart bypass, stiffness (Δ P /Δ V ) was determined by inducing sinusoidal 0.5-ml volume changes in paced, isovolumically contracting left ventricles and measuring the resultant pressure changes (Δ P ). In eight cat papillary muscles contracting isometrically at Lmax, stiffness (Δ T /Δ L ) was similarly determined from the changes in tension and length during sinusoidal length changes of 0.25% L max. Total stiffness was linearly related to ventricular pressure or muscular tension during both contraction and rest. As the temperature rose from 33° to 40°C in vivo and from 22° to 40°C in vitro, the slopes of the stiffness-pressure and stiffness-tension relationships and the intercept of the latter declined; therefore, stiffness is inversely related to temperature. Since both preparations responded as linear second-order systems, stiffness could be separated into its elastic and viscous components. The moduli of both components varied in the same direction as total stiffness during temperature changes; however, the viscous component was more sensitive to the influence of temperature.
On surface waves in generalized thermoelasticity

Knowles' representation theorem for harmonically time-dependent free surface waves on a homogeneous, isotropic elastic half-space is extended to include harmonically time-dependent free processes for thermoelastic surface waves in generalized thermoelasticity of Lord and Shulman and of Green and Lindsay.
Parental barriers to weaning infants from the bottle

Background Optimal bottle weaning should occur between 12 and 15 months of age. We hypothesized that high-risk populations have different parental attitudes, learned behaviors, and knowledge of weaning practices. Objective To determine whether high-risk populations are less likely to wean their children by 15 months of age than low-risk populations. Methods A cross-sectional survey using a convenience sample of parents was conducted at 3 community-based pediatric clinics. Spanish- and English-speaking parents with weaned and unweaned children 12 to 36 months of age were included in the study. A self-administered questionnaire was completed at a clinic visit. The questionnaire addressed aspects of parents' sociodemographic characteristics and included feeding history; weaning practices; sources of information about weaning; and parental behaviors, attitudes, and knowledge of age at which the child should be weaned. Results One hundred eighty questionnaires were completed. Marital status was related to weaning behavior. Seventy-six percent of single mothers had weaned their children in a timely manner, whereas 48% of married mothers had done so (χ 2 =7.70; P =.008). Parental education, race, and income were not significantly related to the timeliness of weaning. When respondents rated the helpfulness of multiple sources, only the health clinic was found to be significantly more important for the timely weaning group ( t =−2.13; P =.04). Parents with timely weaned children stated that the mean±SD optimal age for weaning is 13.6±3.2 months. Parents with unweaned and late-weaned children stated that the mean±SD optimal age is 19.9±6.6 months. Bedtime bottle feedings were reported in more than 87% of the unweaned group. Sixty-nine percent reported poor dental development associated with delayed weaning. Conclusions Married parents are at risk of late weaning. Parents continue to allow their children to sleep with milk bottles in their mouths in bed at night. Parents are not aware of the medical problems associated with late weaning. Late-weaning parents are not knowledgeable about current weaning recommendations. Current approaches are not effective in altering set patterns of inappropriate weaning habits. Additional interventions and innovative parental education methods are needed to improve age-appropriate weaning practices.
Correlation between the numbers of two types of children in a family, using the Markov-Polya model

Abstract Biologists, human geneticists, demographers, statisticians, and social scientists have long been concerned with questions relating to the family size and the distribution of boys and girls within families of different sizes. One of the significant questions raised by such studies, whether or not there is a correlation between the numbers of children of each sex, has been examined by Rao et al. (1973). Assuming a binomial model, these authors developed a method of computing the correlation between two types of children in a family. If the sibship size N follows a negative binomial (or binomial), Rao et al. (1973) have shown that the correlation ϱ between the numbers of boys, X , and girls, Y , in a family is positive (or negative), and when N has the Poisson distribution, ϱ is zero. In the present paper, the same question is examined under the Markov-Polya model. General expressions for the correlation coefficient, ϱ, are obtained when N has (1) a generalized power-series distribution, and (2) a modified power-series distribution. Certain characterization theorems are proved in the context of correlation between X and Y . Thus, it is shown that (a) under the Markov-Polya distribution with positive (negative) contagion, ϱ is zero if, and only if N has a negative binomial (binomial) distribution; (b) when N has the Poisson distribution, ϱ is greater or less than zero according as the parameter of contagion is negative or positive.
Perceptual augmentation to support skilled interaction

Ecological task analysis (ETA) is proposed as a technique for enhancing the acquisition of skilled interaction through the design of perceptually augmented information displays. Motivated by Brunswik and Gibson approaches, ETA rests on the primary assumption that skilled interaction will be most readily supported by a display on which perceptual information is available to fully specify the environmental constraints upon productive behavior. Demands for learning and resource-intensive cognitive activity are assumed to result when such information is not perceptually available. ETA can thus be used to identify perceptually impoverished conditions in order to indicate how displays should be augmented with perceptual information to enhance skill acquisition. The results of an experiment using a laboratory videogame, StarCruiser, which compared human performance using a perceptually augmented display with a baseline interface, are reported. Results indicated that the display based on the ETA framework significantly enhanced the acquisition of skill. >
On Data and Visualization Models for Signaling Pathways

Signaling pathways are chains of interacting proteins, through which the cell converts a (usually) extracellular signal into a biological response. The number of known signaling pathways in the biological literature and on the web has been increasing at a very high rate, thus demanding a need for efficient ways of storing, visualizing, querying, and mining signaling pathways. In this paper, first we briefly compare the data modeling and visualization capabilities of existing signaling pathways systems. Then, we present a signaling pathway data model and its visualization that subsumes the existing models. Our model visualizes a signaling pathway (a) as a nested graph, (b) with explicit location information (e.g., cell, tissue, organelle, nucleus, etc.), and (c) in four abstraction levels, namely, the levels of molecule-tomolecule signaling steps, collapsed sub-pathways, molecule-to-pathway connections, and pathway-to-pathway connections. We model (1) the effects of specific signaling steps, (2) state changes of signaling molecules, (3) various (extensible) structural/physical changes of signaling molecules such as complex formation, dissociation, assembly, oligomerization, di-/trimerization, cleavage and degradation, (4) condensation/hydrolysis signaling steps, and (5) exchanges and translocations as signaling steps. The visualization model gracefully models incomplete information and hierarchical levels of signaling molecules. Finally, we introduce a completely new visualization dimension for pathways, namely, Gene Ontology (GO)- based functional visualizations of pathways. We believe that functional visualizations of pathways provides new opportunities in understanding, defining and comparing existing pathways, and in helping discover new ones.
Production of specific antisera against sickle cell anemia erythrocytes; antibody in sicklemia sera.

Summary1. Erythrocytes from 2 individuals with sickle cell anemia, when injected into rabbits, produced antisera which agglutinated erythrocytes of 19 individuals with sickle cell anemia, but not those of 21 individuals with sickle cell trait nor those of 124 normal individuals.2. Such sera may be useful in the differential diagnosis between sickle cell anemia and sickle cell trait.3. The presence of agglutinin antibody has been demonstrated in the sera of all of 13 patients with sickle cell anemia. This finding may explain the hemolysis which is characteristic of this disease.4. Of 11 patients with sickle cell trait, definite agglutinin antibody was demonstrated in the sera of 4, and doubtful agglutinin antibody in 2.
On joining and caching stochastic streams

We consider the problem of joining data streams using limited cache memory, with the goal of producing as many result tuples as possible from the cache. Many cache replacement heuristics have been proposed in the past. Their performance often relies on implicit assumptions about the input streams, e.g., that the join attribute values follow a relatively stationary distribution. However, in general and in practice, streams often exhibit more complex behaviors, such as increasing trends and random walks, rendering these "hardwired" heuristics inadequate.In this paper, we propose a framework that is able to exploit known or observed statistical properties of input streams to make cache replacement decisions aimed at maximizing the expected number of result tuples. To illustrate the complexity of the solution space, we show that even an algorithm that considers, at every time step, all possible sequences of future replacement decisions may not be optimal. We then identify a condition between two candidate tuples under which an optimal algorithm would always choose one tuple over the other to replace. We develop a heuristic that behaves consistently with an optimal algorithm whenever this condition is satisfied. We show through experiments that our heuristic outperforms previous ones.As another evidence of the generality of our framework, we show that the classic caching/paging problem for static objects can be reduced to a stream join problem and analyzed under our framework, yielding results that agree with or extend classic ones.
Teaching FPGA system design via a remote laboratory facility

This short paper describes a remote laboratory facility for platform FPGA education. With the addition of an inexpensive piece of hardware, many commercial off-the-shelf FPGA development boards can be made suitable for use in a remote laboratory. The hardware and software required to implement a remote laboratory has been developed and a remote laboratory facility deployed at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Advantages, concerns, and actual costs are reported. The experience of using this facility in a senior/first-year graduate-level platform FPGA course is also described. Although these data are preliminary, survey results and first-hand experience with the laboratory were very encouraging and suggests that further studies on student learning are warranted.