cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Detailed measurements of the flowfield in the vicinity of an airfoil with glaze ice

An experimental study has been conducted in the OSU subsonic tunnel to measure the characteristics of the separation bubble on an airfoil with glaze ice. A measured glaze ice accretion on a NACA 0012 airfoil was simulated in wood for this dry tunnel test. The 21 inch chord model was pressure belted and the ice shape internally tapped to obtain surface pressures, lift and moment coefficients. A wake survey probe was used to obtain airfoil drag. The separation bubble was explored by measuring the time averaged velocities using a split film probe. The probe was positioned using a computer controlled two-dimensional traversing system. In this paper, airfoil lift, drag, and moment coefficient data are compared for the airfoil with and without glaze ice. Velocity profiles in the separation bubble are presented for several chordwise stations at three angles of attack. The ice shape caused a severe lift and drag penalty. The velocity profiles show clearly the large bubble geometry, regions of reversed flow, and bubble reattachment.
New sulfur isotope ratios from South American volcanoes

Four new sulfur isotope ratios of native volcanic sulfur are given and it is shown that isotope distributions are best presented with histograms. Possible causes governing the isotope compositions of native volcanic sulfur are briefly discussed.
Toward new forms of nuclear matter with relativistic heavy-ion collisions

Abstract At BNL and CERN new experiments on relativistic heavy-ion collisions have been started, and this field is growing at enormous speed. This introductory talk covers a) physics goals, b) current status at BNL and CERN, c) data related to reaction dynamics, and d) efforts toward the search for new forms of nuclear matter using the beams at RNL and CERN.
Anti-IgE therapy in allergic disease.

Purpose of reviewRecombinant monoclonal humanized anti-IgE has put forward a fundamentally new concept for the control of allergic disorders. This review will present recent data from clinical studies with anti-IgE in asthma, allergic rhinitis, and food allergy and will examine the place of anti-IgE
Schizophrenia patients' perceptual biases in response to positively and negatively valenced emotion chimeras.

Background. In a prior study, we observed that schizophrenia patients display atypical perceptual biases in response to emotional (happy}neutral) facial chimeras. Methods. The present study was an attempt to replicate and extend those findings, using emotional stimuli with negative aective valence (angry}neutral chimeras) as well as positive valence, and including more than one type of non-aective facial comparison task. We compared schizophrenia patients (N fl 37) and controls (N fl 48) on free-vision tasks that typically yield left spatial field biases indicative of right hemisphere activation. There were six chimera tasks, including two emotion (happy, angry) chimeras, two non-emotion (gender, age) chimeras and two non-face (dots, gradients) chimeras. Results. We observed a Group‹Task interaction, with schizophrenia patients displaying significantly less of the expected left spatial perceptual bias in response to the happy}neutral chimeras and the angry}neutral chimeras relative to the controls. In contrast, the patients and controls did not dier in terms of their response to the Gender, Age, Dots, or Gradients tasks. Conclusions. These findings are consistent with the assertion that, compared with healthy controls individuals with schizophrenia perceive emotion dierently.
Thermocapillary flow and natural convection in a melt column with an unknown melt/solid interface

A vertical melt column set up between an upper heating rod and a lower sample rod, i.e., the so-called half-zone system, is a convenient experimental tool for studying convection in the melt in floating-zone crystal growth. In order to help understand the convection observed in the melt column, a computer model has been developed to describe steady state, axisymmetrical thermocapillary flow and natural convection in the melt. The governing equations and boundary conditions are expressed in general non-orthogonal curvilinear coordinates in order to accurately treat the unknown melt/solid interface as well as all other physical boundaries in the system. The effects of key dimensionless variables on the following items are discussed: (1) convection and temperature distribution in the melt; (2) the shape of the melt/solid interface; (3) the height of the melt column. These dimensionless variables are the Grashof, Marangoni and Prandtl numbers.
Geostrophic comparisons from moored measurements of current and temperature during the Mid-Ocean Dynamics experiment

Abstract Observed current differences obtained from moored current measurements are compared with geostrophic current differences estimated from moored temperature measurements during the Mid-Ocean Dynamics Experiment (MODE). The advantages of using moored temperature measurements are that temperature time series can be filtered to eliminate internal wave contamination in estimates of geostrophic current difference and that long time series of geostrophic current difference can be obtained without the extensive effort and ship-time required to do a long time series of hydrographic stations. Geostrophic current differences can be estimated from temperature measurements alone, however, only when a tight correlation between temperature and salinity, such as that present in the MODE region, exists in the measurement region. Thirty-two geostrop3ic comparisons for 4-day averaged observed and geostrophic current differences give agreement with geostrophic balance within estimated three standard deviation errors. Only two comparisons do not agree within two standard deviations. Geostrophic current differences account for 92% of the variance in observed current differences. The standard deviation of the discrepancy between observed and geostrophic differences is 1.9 cm s −1 , which is 26% of the standard deviation of observed current difference. An error analysis for higher-order horizontal momentum balances is carried out. Such higher-order balances are not possible with present measurement capability because deviations from geostrophic balance cannot be estimated with an accuracy of 1 cm s −1 day −1 . The largest error is due to the uncertainty in density determination which must be reduced to 2 ppm before deviations from geostrophic balance can be estimated accurately enough to predict time changes of momentum.
Separation of S-Triazine Herbicides by Countercurrent Chromatography

Abstract Countercurrent chromatography (CCC) has been successfully applied for the separation of four chlorinated s-triazine derivatives, namely, simazine, atrazine, propazine, and trietazine, which are widely used as herbicides. Of several solvent systems investigated, n-hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol-water (8:2:5:5) gave the best range of the partition coefficient values because of the satisfactory solubility for all samples and therefore was used for the separation of s-triazines. Two types of countercurrent chromatographs, high speed CCC, and horizontal flow-through coil planet centrifuge, were used for s-triazines separation, and the identity of the separated fractions was unequivocally established by mass spectrometry. The potential practical application of CCC to herbicide analysis is discussed.
Saccharin increases the effectiveness of glucose in stimulating ingestion in rats but has little effect on negative feedback

To determine if oropharyngeal stimulation contributes to the magnitude of the negative feedback signal during ingestion, we tested rats on a series of solutions that varied in taste intensity but not in nutritive or osmotic properties. To do this, Na saccharin was added to a standard 0.2 M glucose solution in concentrations of 0, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, and 8 mM. Nondeprived rats were given free access to these solutions in ascending order of concentration in 30-min tests in test cages with a lickometer that recorded the time of each lick to the nearest msec. The cumulative licking curve for each rat on each test, obtained by cumulating the number of licks in each successive minute during the test, was fit by the least squares method to an exponential function. This provides an estimate of the initial rate of licking and of the rate of decline in the rate of licking. The results were that the volume ingested increased from 6 to 26 ml and the initial rate of licking increased from 50 to 230 licks/min/min over the saccharin concentration range, but the estimates of the rate of decline of the rate of licking remained constant at about 0.06 licks/min over this range. Thus, we found no evidence for an oropharyngeal contribution to the decline in the rate of licking. Changes in the volume ingested depended solely on the initial avidity with which the rats ingested the solution.
Bisphosphonates suppress periosteal osteoblast activity independently of resorption in rat femur and tibia

Recent studies demonstrate that bisphosphonates suppress bone resorption by leading to apoptosis of the osteoclast and inhibiting the differentiation to mature osteoclasts. The influence of bisphosphonates on bone formation is unknown, although it has been hypothesized that bisphosphonates inhibit osteoblast apoptosis and stimulate osteoblast proliferation and differentiation in vitro, leading to increased bone formation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of bisphosphonates on bone formation. We administered risedronate at 0.05, 0.5 or 5.0 microg/kg/day or alendronate at 0.1, 1.0 or 10 microg/kg/day subcutaneously for 17 days to 6-month-old female Sprague-Dawley rats. Control rats were given a daily subcutaneous injection of saline. Following sacrifice, the femoral and tibial mid-diaphyses were harvested and mineralizing surface (MS/BS), mineral apposition rate (MAR) and bone formation rate (BFR/BS) were measured on periosteal and endocortical surfaces. In the femur, periosteal MAR was significantly lower in all treatment groups (22-29% for risedronate, 26-36% for alendronate) than in control. In the tibia, periosteal MAR and BFR of all treatment groups were significantly lower (41-50% for risedronate, 43-52% for alendronate) than in the control group. Because the periosteal surfaces of these bones are only undergoing bone formation in modeling mode, our results show that bisphosphonates suppress bone formation independently of bone resorption. Because this effect is seen on periosteal MAR rather than on periosteal MS/BS, we hypothesize that bisphosphonates affect the activity of individual osteoblasts at the cell level. This may help to explain the reason that the anabolic effects of teriparatide are blunted when administered concurrently with or following a course of bisphosphonates in humans.
The Last PEG or Community Media 2.0? Negotiating Place and Placelessness at PhillyCAM

This article investigates the changes, challenges and opportunities present in American community media through a case study of PhillyCAM, a community television/media center in Philadelphia, PA. From this ethnographic study, it is suggested that community media navigate the tensions between television and digital media/user-generated content through reliance on place and liveness. In shifting from ‘community television’ to ‘community media’ these organizations are able to situate themselves as dynamic components in a local and participatory media ecosystem, develop new programs and strategic partnerships, and differentiate themselves from other organizations, while remaining consistent with their original mandates.
Ethylene hydroformylation on graphite nanofiber supported rhodium catalysts

Abstract We have investigated the effect of supporting rhodium on several different types of graphite nanofibers (GNFs) for the ethylene hydroformylation reaction at temperatures over the range 180–300°C. The performance of these systems was compared with that of a catalyst where the same metal loading was dispersed on silica. It was found that in general, while the activity of all the catalyst systems was similar, the GNF supported rhodium catalysts exhibited a higher selectivity for the formation of propionaldehyde than the corresponding silica supported system. Furthermore, among the various rhodium/GNF catalysts, the ribbon type nanofibers appeared to give the highest selectivity to the desired product. The optimum temperature for the hydroformylation reaction was found to be 240°C, since at this condition one was able to achieve the combination of maximum activity with acceptable selectivity. Based on many experiments in which the ratio of gaseous reactants was systematically varied it was evident that high partial pressures of CO and C2H4, and a concomitant low partial pressure of H2 gave the optimum performance. It is believed that the morphological characteristics acquired by rhodium when dispersed on the GNF edges is a critical factor rather than the size of the individual crystallites.
Pleistocene Overkill and the Associational Critique

Abstract The “associational critique”, the claim there are insufficient associations between extinct Pleistocene mammalian genera and cultural materials to support a model of human overkill, has been challenged by Grayson (1984) . He argues that it is based on a faulty assumption regarding the sample of terminal Pleistocene megafauna, and that analysis using the radiocarbon record of extinct fauna demonstrates that there are actually more extinct genera found in archaeological association than would be expected by chance. He concludes that the associational critique is weakly based. However, his analysis warrants careful examination for, by including only radiocarbon-dated sites, and utilizing dates of questionable reliability, it is subject to sample bias. Re-analysis suggests that a rejection of the associational critique is premature. There are far too few sites showing evidence of human predation to support a model of human overkill.
Neuropeptides, appetite regulation, and human obesity.

SELECTED CASE A 55-YEAR-OLD married white woman presented with a 30-year history of progressive morbid obesity. Her birth weight was normal, at 3.8 kg. Her weight gain continued progressively, except for two self-induced remissions by means of severe restriction of energy intake (840 to 1680 J/d [1 cal = 4.2 J]). Her usual diet consisted of 18 900 to 21 000 J/d. Associated medical problems included choledocholithiasis, resulting in a cholecystectomy at age 29 years, and severe osteoarthritis involving both knees and the lower vertebral column. Meningitis with encephalitis occurred at age 3 years. The patient had normal urinary free cortisol (70 μg/d) and thyroid function test results. The patient was treated with moderate restriction of energy intake (decrease of 4000 J/d) without anorexigenic medications. She walked 3.3 km/d five times per week. Results of physical examination were as follows: blood pressure, 220/120 mm Hg in the left arm with a
Super Learner Analysis of Electronic Adherence Data Improves Viral Prediction and May Provide Strategies for Selective HIV RNA Monitoring.

Objective Regular HIV RNA testing for all HIV-positive patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) is expensive and has low yield since most tests are undetectable. Selective testing of those at higher risk of failure may improve efficiency. We investigated whether a novel analysis of adherence data could correctly classify virological failure and potentially inform a selective testing strategy. Design Multisite prospective cohort consortium. Methods We evaluated longitudinal data on 1478 adult patients treated with ART and monitored using the Medication Event Monitoring System (MEMS) in 16 US cohorts contributing to the MACH14 consortium. Because the relationship between adherence and virological failure is complex and heterogeneous, we applied a machine-learning algorithm (Super Learner) to build a model for classifying failure and evaluated its performance using cross-validation. Results Application of the Super Learner algorithm to MEMS data, combined with data on CD4 T-cell counts and ART regimen, significantly improved classification of virological failure over a single MEMS adherence measure. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, evaluated on data not used in model fitting, was 0.78 (95% confidence interval: 0.75 to 0.80) and 0.79 (95% confidence interval: 0.76 to 0.81) for failure defined as single HIV RNA level >1000 copies per milliliter or >400 copies per milliliter, respectively. Our results suggest that 25%-31% of viral load tests could be avoided while maintaining sensitivity for failure detection at or above 95%, for a cost savings of $16-$29 per person-month. Conclusions Our findings provide initial proof of concept for the potential use of electronic medication adherence data to reduce costs through behavior-driven HIV RNA testing.
Megahertz bandwidth AlxGa1-xN/GaN-based p-i-n detectors

This paper discuses recent results of time response and spectral responsivity measurements made on AlxGa1-xN/GaN-based p-i-n UV detector with .03 < x < 0.12, where x is the aluminum concentration. AlxGa1-xN/GaN-based p-i-n detectors with response times as fast as 6 ns corresponding to greater than 26 MHz bandwidths are reported. Peak spectral responsivities of homojunction Al.03Ga.97N p-i-n UV detectors were found to be as high as 0.08 A/W at 343 nm while those of the Al.1Ga.9N/GaN p-i-ns were as high as 0.15 A/W at 360 nm. Homojunction GaN and Al.03Ga.97N as well as p-Al.1Ga.9N/i-GaN/n-GaN structures were grown on sapphire substrates by reactive molecular beam epitaxy and processed into UV detectors. These p-i-n detectors were then characterized in terms of their time response and spectral responsivity. Attempts to measure the noise of the Al.03Ga.97N homojunction p-i-ns are also discussed.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Magnetosheath bursts of predominantly medium nuclei observed with Imp 8 on February 16, 1974

This paper presents observations made with detectors aboard Imp 8 of a unique series of charged particle bursts that occurred on February 16, 1974, while the spacecraft was traversing the dawn magnetosheath region. This event was unlike any other observation of Imp 7 and 8 in 5.5 years of operation in orbit. The measurements are most directly interpreted as an intense (6000/(sq cm s sr MeV/nucleon)), highly collimated beam flowing in the antisolar direction composed of medium (carbon, nitrogen, or oxygen) nuclei. Both the degree of collimation in arrival direction and the composition are unique to this event. The event is possibly an important signature of terrestrial O(+) ions escaping from the magnetosphere.
A Comparison of Fabrication Techniques for Hollow Retroreflectors

Despite the wide usage of hollow retroreflectors, there is limited literature involving their fabrication techniques and only two documented construction methods could be found. One consists of an adjustable fixture that allows for the independent alignment of each mirror, while the other consists of a modified solid retroreflector that is used as a mandrel. Although both methods were shown to produce hollow retroreflectors with arcsecond dihedral angle errors, a comparison and analysis of each method could not be found which makes it difficult to ascertain which method would be better suited to use for precision-aligned retroreflectors. Although epoxy bonding is generally the preferred method to adhere the three mirrors, a relatively new method known as hydroxide-catalysis bonding (HCB) presents several potential advantages over epoxy bonding. HCB has been used to bond several optical components for space-based missions, but has never been applied for construction of hollow retroreflectors. In this paper we examine the benefits and limitations of each bonding fixture as well as present results and analysis of hollow retroreflectors made using both epoxy and HCB techniques.
Juvenile parkinsonism: A patient with possible primary striatal dysfunction

A 15-year-old boy who initially manifested dystonic features and later developed classic parkinsonism is described. Cerebrospinal fluid homovanillic acid levels were normal or slightly elevated both before and after administration of probenecid. The patient responded favorably to treatment with levodopa and carbidopa. The normal or slightly elevated cerebrospinal fluid homovanillic acid levels contrast with the low levels usually seen in adult parkinsonian patients. The data on this patient suggest direct neostriatal involvement rather than depletion of neurons of the substantia nigra. Juvenile parkinsonism may have at least two distinct pathological forms, but they have similar clinical features and a similar response to treatment.
Experimental analysis of critical oxygen delivery.

Systemic variables were evaluated with respect to O2 delivery to test the hypothesis that critical O2 delivery and critical Hb can be estimated by multiple variables collected simultaneously. Rats ...
Characterization of the mechanical stress impact on device electrical performance in the CMOS and III–V HEMT/HBT heterogeneous integration environment

The stress impact of the CMOS and III–V heterogeneous integration environment on device electrical performance is being characterized. Measurements from a partial heterogeneous integration fabrication run will be presented to provide insight into how the backside source vias, alternatively referred to as through-silicon-carbide vias (TSCVs), used within the heterogeneous integration environment impacts GaN HEMT device-level DC performance.
As we may perceive: finding the boundaries of compound documents on the web

This paper considers the problem of identifying on the Web compound documents (cDocs) -- groups of web pages that in aggregate constitute semantically coherent information entities. Examples of cDocs are a news article consisting of several html pages, or a set of pages describing specifications, price, and reviews of a digital camera. Being able to identify cDocs would be useful in many applications including web and intranet search, user navigation, automated collection generation, and information extraction.In the past, several heuristic approaches have been proposed to identify cDocs [1][5]. However, heuristics fail to capture the variety of types, styles and goals of information on the web, and do not account for the fact that the definition of a cDoc often depends on the context. This paper presents an experimental evaluation of three machine learning-based algorithms for cDoc discovery. These algorithms are responsive to the varying structure of cDocs and adaptive to their application-specific nature. Based on our previous work [4], this paper proposes a different scenario for discovering cDocs, and compares in this new setting the local machine learned clustering algorithm from [4] to a global purely graph based approach [3] and a Conditional Markov Network approach previously applied to noun coreference task [6]. The results show that the approach of [4] outperforms the other algorithms, suggesting that global relational characteristics of web sites are too noisy for cDoc identification purposes.
Hypergraph Partitioning for Exploiting Localities in Nonlinear Constrained Optimization

In this paper, we present a new hypergraph partitioning algorithm that jointly optimizes the number of hyperedge cuts and the number of shared vertices in nonlinear constrained optimization problems. By exploiting the localities of constraints with respect to their variables, we propose to partition the constraints into subproblems. We use a relaxed global search to solve the subproblems and resolve those violated global constraints across the subproblems by updating the corresponding penalties. As resolving violated global constraints is computationally expensive, we propose to reduce the number of global constraints by increasing the number of shared variables. This trade-off is advantageous because the number of global constraints in many benchmarks can be significantly reduced by having a small number of variables shared across the subproblems. Partitioning in this context can be achieved by partitioning the corresponding hypergraph. We improve hMETIS to jointly optimize the number of hyperedge cuts and the number of shared vertices. Our experimental results demonstrate improved solution quality with similar computational overhead on some VLSI cell placement benchmarks.
Hindlimb gait defects due to motor axon loss and reduced distal muscles in a transgenic mouse model of Charcot–Marie–Tooth type 2A

Charcot–Marie–Tooth (CMT) disease type 2A is a progressive, neurodegenerative disorder affecting long peripheral motor and sensory nerves. The most common clinical sign is weakness in the lower legs and feet, associated with muscle atrophy and gait defects. The axonopathy in CMT2A is caused by mutations in Mitofusin 2 (Mfn2), a mitochondrial GTPase necessary for the fusion of mitochondria. Most Mfn2 disease alleles dominantly aggregate mitochondria upon expression in cultured fibroblasts and neurons. To determine whether this property is related to neuronal pathogenesis, we used the HB9 promoter to drive expression of a pathogenic allele, Mfn2 T105M , in the motor neurons of transgenic mice. Transgenic mice develop key clinical signs of CMT2A disease in a dosage-dependent manner. They have a severe gait defect due to an inability to dorsi-flex the hindpaws. Consequently, affected animals drag their hindpaws while walking and support themselves on the hind knuckles, rather than the soles. This distal muscle weakness is associated with reduced numbers of motor axons in the motor roots and severe reduction of the anterior calf muscles. Many motor neurons from affected animals show improper mitochondrial distribution, characterized by tight clusters of mitochondria within axons. This transgenic line recapitulates key motor features of CMT2A and provides a system to dissect the function of mitochondria in the axons of mammalian motor neurons.
Interfacial shear strength studies of nicalon fibers in epoxy matrix using single fiber composite test

Interfacial properties of Nicalon (SiC) fiber in epoxy matrices of varying stiffnesses were studied using the single fiber composite test, in conjunction with stress birefringence patterns. Extensive debonding was observed with hard epoxies, but transverse matrix cracks were found in the more flexible epoxies, with the interface remaining intact. Micromechanical modeling and Monte Carlo simulation of the single fiber composite fragmentation process provided a basis to compute the interfacial shear stress from the final fragmentation length distribution. The interfacial shear stress appeared to decrease moderately with increasing matrix ductility. The large diameter Nicalon fibers create transverse cracks in the single fiber composite specimens made with flexible epoxies. Consequently, there is a high possibility of premature failure of the specimen before fiber break saturation is reached. This poses some difficulty in interpreting the results for flexible epoxies. It was also found that the interfacial shear stress values from the single fiber composite tests were always considerably higher than the ultimate shear stress values obtained from bulk epoxy (without fiber) tension tests. This effect is similar to what was seen earlier for single fiber composite tests based on graphite fibers and similar epoxy blends, though the difference between the two values was not as great.
Exploring the Challenges of Climate Science Literacy: Lessons from Students, Teachers and Lifelong Learners

Today more than ever, being climate literate is a critical skill and knowledge area that influences our interaction with the environment around us, our understanding of scientific news and the daily decisions that we make. Yet, the term climate literacy can be misunderstood, as are the terms weather, climate and climate variability. This article surveys the existing literature and highlights six challenges to achieving a climate literate citizenry in both formal and informal or lifelong learning. The lessons learned from high school and undergraduate students, teachers and lifelong learners, many of whom are retired, serve as the threads which are woven into a tapestry of strategies for embedding climate science principles across entire school curricula as well as society at large.
Constant power loads and negative impedance instability in sea and undersea vehicles: statement of the problem and comprehensive large-signal solution

Power electronic converters are usually loaded by passive loads or combinations of passive elements and voltage and current sources. However, there is an emerging vehicular system configuration where converters are loaded by power converters and a better model for the load is a constant power model. This converter operation appears in multi-converter applications such as advanced sea and undersea vehicles where a main converter has as loads a set of converters operating in closed-loop with tight output voltage regulation. This set of converters present at the input terminals a dynamic behavior similar to a constant power load (CPL) for a range of input voltages and a frequency span that ranges from DC up to the bandwidth of the converters. The primary goal of this paper is the development and extension of a technique for large-signal analysis of power electronic converters operating with constant power loads in sea and undersea vehicles using a phase plane analysis. This proposed approach could be used to present advantages and limitations of different controllers and, based on that analysis, define the selection and synthesis of controllers to achieve the required performance and robustness of the system.
Spatial Analysis of News Sources

People in different places talk about different things. This interest distribution is reflected by the newspaper articles circulated in a particular area. We use data from our large-scale newspaper analysis system (Lydia) to make entity datamaps, a spatial visualization of the interest in a given named entity. Our goal is to identify entities which display regional biases. We develop a model of estimating the frequency of reference of an entity in any given city from the reference frequency centered in surrounding cities, and techniques for evaluating the spatial significance of this distribution
PPAR-γ agonists induce the expression of VEGF and its receptors in cultured cardiac myofibroblasts

Objectives: Myofibroblasts (myoFb) are the major cell types that appear at the site of myocardial infarction (MI) in response to injury and play a vital role in tissue repair/remodeling. Since vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays a crucial role in the infarcted/ischemic heart, we hypothesized that activation of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-γ by its agonists induces VEGF expression while simultaneously decreasing inflammation (NF-κB). Such an increase in myoFb VEGF expression by PPAR-γ agonists may play a role in angiogenesis. Methods: Rat myoFb were treated with PPAR-γ agonists and VEGF expression was measured by ELISA. The effect of these agonists on VEGF receptors was determined by qRT-PCR and flow-cytometric analysis. VEGF produced by these cells was also used for analysis of in vitro tubule formation (Matrigel assay). Results: The PPAR-γ activators troglitazone (TZ) and 15-deoxy-prostaglandin J2 (15J2) induced the expression of VEGF and its receptors (Flt-1 and KDR) in myoFb. TZ and 15J2 elicited a significant increase in the expression of KDR (14.7±1.0% and 9.6±2.1% respectively) and Flt-1 (24.5±2.0%, and 14.0±2.2% respectively) when compared to untreated myoFb. MyoFb treated with PPAR-γ agonists increased extracellular VEGF, augmenting tubule formation on a Matrigel. The PPAR-γ activator 15J2 significantly decreased the NF-κB activity in myoFb. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the induction of the VEGF accompanied by a reduction of NF-κB activity (inflammatory signaling) by PPAR-γ agonists in cardiac myoFb. These results may further the understanding of the beneficial effects of PPAR-γ agonists on infarcted tissue repair and angiogenesis.
Receptivity to cigarette and tobacco control messages and adolescent smoking initiation

Background Tobacco industry cigarette advertising is associated with increased adolescent smoking, while counter tobacco advertising is associated with reduced smoking. As these campaigns compete for influence, there is a need to understand their inter-relationship on youth smoking. Methods This study reports data from a national population of families (n=1036) with an oldest child aged 10–13 years, identified by random digit dialling. Parent and child dyads completed baseline questionnaires in 2003. Adolescents were resurveyed in 2007–2008 (response rate 74%). Adjusted logistic regression explores associations between receptivity to cigarette and tobacco control advertising and adolescent smoking initiation. Results In 2007–2008, 57.9% of adolescents reported a favourite tobacco control advertisement and 43.3% reported being receptive to cigarette advertisements. Thirty per cent reported receptivity to cigarette and tobacco control advertisements. Among those receptive to cigarette advertising, having a favourite anti-smoking advertisement had a borderline significant association with a 30% lower smoking rate. Anti-industry tobacco control messages were three times more likely to be favourites of those who were receptive to cigarette advertising than other tobacco control advertising. Conclusions Receptivity to tobacco control advertising appeared to ameliorate the promotion of initiation from cigarette advertising. Anti-industry advertising appears to be the most effective counter for tobacco control and should be considered for wider use. A larger longitudinal study is needed to confirm these findings.
Carotenoids bolster immunity during moult in a wild songbird with sexually selected plumage coloration

Carotenoid-based colours in animals are valuable models for testing theories of sexual selection and life-history trade-offs because the pigments used in coloration are chemically tractable in the diet and in the body, where they serve multiple purposes (e.g. health enhancement, photoprotection). An important assumption underlying the hypothesized signalling value of carotenoid coloration is that there is a trade-off in carotenoid pigment allocation, such that not all individuals can meet the physiological/morphological demands for carotenoids (i.e. carotenoids are limited) and that only those who have abundant supplies or fewer demands become the most colourful. Studies of carotenoid trade-offs in colourful animals have been limited largely to domesticated species, which may have undergone artificial selection that changed the historical/natural immunomodulatory roles of carotenoids, to young animals lacking carotenoid-based signals or to species displaying carotenoid-based skin and bare parts. We studied the health benefits of carotenoids during moult in house finches (Carpodacus mexicanus), which display sexually selected, carotenoid-based plumage coloration. We manipulated dietary carotenoid availability during both winter (nonmoult) and autumn (moult) in captive males and females and found that carotenoid-supplemented birds mounted stronger immune responses (to phytohemagglutinin injection and to a bacterial inoculation in blood) than control birds only during moult. This study provides experimental, seasonal support for a fundamental tenet of Lozano's ‘carotenoid trade-off’ hypothesis and adds to a growing list of animal species that benefit immunologically from ingesting higher dietary carotenoid levels. © 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 102, 560–572.
Shining New Light on the Hawthorne Illumination Experiments

Objective: This study provides an historical and statistical analysis of archival data from the Hawthorne illumination experiments.Background: Previous accounts of the illumination experiments are fraught with inconsistencies because they have been based on secondary sources. The general consensus has been that variations in light levels had no effect on worker productivity at Hawthorne. All reports and data were thought to have been destroyed, but an archive at Cornell University was found to contain copies of the original documentation and much of the data from all three illumination experiments. Conclusions were originally drawn from visual comparisons of productivity graphs, and the data have never been properly statistically analyzed.Method: Archival reports, notes, photographs, and letters on the experiments were consulted. Productivity data were extracted from the tables and graphs in the reports and statistically analyzed for each experiment.Results: Previously unpublished details of the illuminat...
Modern statistical techniques for the analysis of longitudinal data in biomedical research.

Longitudinal study designs in biomedical research are motivated by the need or desire of a researcher to assess the change over time of an outcome and what risk factors may be associated with the outcome. The outcome is measured repeatedly over time for every individual in the study, and risk factors may be measured repeatedly over time or they may be static. For example, many clinical studies involving chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) use pulmonary function as a primary outcome and measure it repeatedly over time for each individual. There are many issues, both practical and theoretical, which make the analysis of longitudinal data complicated. Fortunately, advances in statistical theory and computer technology over the past two decades have made techniques for the analysis of longitudinal data more readily available for data analysts. The aim of this paper is to provide a discussion of the important features of longitudinal data and review two popular modern statistical techniques used in biomedical research for the analysis of longitudinal data: the general linear mixed model, and generalized estimating equations. Examples are provided, using the study of pulmonary function in cystic fibrosis research.
Enhanced hydrogen production from glucose by metabolically engineered Escherichia coli

To utilize fermentative bacteria for producing the alternative fuel hydrogen, we performed successive rounds of P1 transduction from the Keio Escherichia coli K-12 library to introduce multiple, stable mutations into a single bacterium to direct the metabolic flux toward hydrogen production. E. coli cells convert glucose to various organic acids (such as succinate, pyruvate, lactate, formate, and acetate) to synthesize energy and hydrogen from formate by the formate hydrogen-lyase (FHL) system that consists of hydrogenase 3 and formate dehydrogenase-H. We altered the regulation of FHL by inactivating the repressor encoded by hycA and by overexpressing the activator encoded by fhlA, removed hydrogen uptake activity by deleting hyaB (hydrogenase 1) and hybC (hydrogenase 2), redirected glucose metabolism to formate by using the fdnG, fdoG, narG, focA, focB, poxB, and aceE mutations, and inactivated the succinate and lactate synthesis pathways by deleting frdC and ldhA, respectively. The best of the metabolically engineered strains, BW25113 hyaB hybC hycA fdoG frdC ldhA aceE, increased hydrogen production 4.6-fold from glucose and increased the hydrogen yield twofold from 0.65 to 1.3 mol H(2)/mol glucose (maximum, 2 mol H(2)/mol glucose).
Heterozygous Beta-Thalassemia in Association with Hereditary Elliptocytosis: A Family Study

The association of the genes for beta-thalassemia and hereditary elliptocytosis are described in an Italian family. Genetic study of this family indicates that the involved genes are not allelic and are not closely linked. Clinical and laboratory data further suggest that the effects of both genes are summated when present in the same individual.
Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia, Tactical Urbanism: Short‐Term Action for Long‐Term Change (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2015).

Planning is often a drawn-out, exhausting, and exceedingly bureaucratic process. In Tactical Urbanism, Mike Lydon and Anthony Garcia address those problems by suggesting a deliberate and phased app...
Wheels-Off Time Estimation at Non-ASDE-X Equipped Airports

This paper is devoted to the development and evaluation of wheels-off time estimation and selection of airports without advanced automation that could benefit from wheels-off time estimation. After eliminating non-hub, small-hub, and airports with Airport Surface Detection Equipment Model-X, 29 airports were selected for further analysis. Using taxi-out delay, traffic management initiative delay counts and commercial operation counts as metrics in a multiple-metric K-Means method, these airports were organized into three groups. San Jose International, Cleveland-Hopkins International and San Francisco International are recommended for development and testing of wheels-off time estimation methods as they are suitable representatives of these three groups. The second part of the paper is devoted to wheels-off time estimation using a simulation procedure that uses kinematic models of different types of aircraft and a node-link graph to simulate surface traffic. The central idea is to integrate the aircraft equations of motion along the path in the node-link graph while complying with separation constraints and rules for waiting to cross intersections and active runways. While the intent was to apply the wheels-off estimation method to San Jose, the geometry data and the surveillance data were not received in time for this study. Therefore, modeling, simulation and tests were done with Dallas-Fort Worth traffic for which the needed data were available. Of the two approaches described in the paper, the data-driven approach, which uses historical taxi-times, can be readily applied to airports like San Jose, Cleveland and San Francisco.
Genetic relationship between ethanol-induced conditioned place preference and other ethanol phenotypes in 15 inbred mouse strains.

The genetic relationships between different behaviors used to index the rewarding or reinforcing effects of alcohol are poorly understood. To address this issue, ethanol-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) was tested in a genetically diverse panel of inbred mouse strains and strain means from this study and other inbred strain studies were used to examine the genetic correlation between CPP and several ethanol-related phenotypes, including activity measures recorded during CPP training and testing. Mice from each strain were exposed to a well-characterized unbiased place conditioning procedure using ethanol doses of 2 or 4 g/kg; an additional group from each strain was exposed to saline alone on all trials. Genotype had a significant effect on CPP, basal locomotor activity, ethanol-stimulated activity and the effect of repeated ethanol exposure on activity. Correlational analyses showed significant negative genetic correlations between CPP and sweetened ethanol intake and between CPP and test session activity, as well as a significant positive genetic correlation between CPP and chronic ethanol withdrawal severity. Moreover, there was a trend toward a positive genetic correlation between CPP and ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion. These genetic correlations suggest overlap in the genetic mechanisms underlying CPP and each of these traits. The patterns of genetic relationships suggest a greater impact of ethanol’s aversive effects on drinking and a greater impact of ethanol’s rewarding effects on CPP. Overall, these data support the idea that genotype influences ethanol’s rewarding effect, a factor that may contribute importantly to addictive vulnerability.
Prevalence of Cytomegalovirus Antibodies in Blood Donors

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) obtained through blood products has proven to be a significant pathogen in newborn infants and immunocompromised hosts. Serum samples from 250 blood donors were evaluated by five commercial tests for the presence of CMV antibodies. Fifty percent of the 250 donors were positive by three or more of the tests and therefore were considered to be true positives. Solid-phase fluorescence immunoassay (SFI), indirect hemagglutination assay (IHA), immunofluorescent antibody (IFA), passive latex agglutination (LA), and enzyme immunoassay (ElA) were evaluated for sensitivity, specificity, and ease of use. SFI, ELISA, and LA tests had high sensitivity and specificity ratings. IHA and IF A had high sensitivity ratings but poor specificity rates. IHA and LA had the best functional ratings, followed in order by SFI, ELISA, and I FA. Our findings suggest that LA is the best choice among these tests for an accurate, reliable, and simple screening test for CMV antibodies.
Sales Planning and Control Using Absorbing Markov Chains

A stochastic model that generates data for sales planning and control is described. An example is presented that shows how these data are used to plan short-run sales activities and train effective salesmen. Changes in customer propensities to buy are treated as Markov processes.
Chest image of ARDS

Acute respiratory distress syndrome(ARDS)is non-cardiogenic,acute,progressive hypoxic respiratory failure.It is a nonspecific response of the lung to injury that can occur after a pulmona- ry or extrapulmonary insult.The histologic change of this disease consists of wide-spread exudation and hyaline membrane formation in alveoli,which results in alveolar consolidation extensively.At the outset of ARDS,there are ground-glass opacities in chest films.The diffusing and homogeneous consolidation ap- pears with the progress of ARDS;From CT scans,the craniocaudal and sternovertebral density gradients can be found.The ventral part of lung is normal,and consolidations tend to distribute in the dorsal part of lung beside the vertebra.In addition,the middle part is displayed as ground-glass opacities.
Litigation Financing and the Birth of a Legal Market

Litigation financing is the practice whereby a noninterested third-party investor offers capital to a plaintiff in return for a share of a settlement, judgment, or verdict down the road. Fifteen years ago, litigation financing was nonexistent in the American legal system. Today, it is a multi-billion dollar industry. Simply put, litigation financing has converted the American legal system into a "legal market." Unfortunately, outside of those directly participating in the market, this market is a black box.Currently, existing scholarship on litigation financing fails to define key aspects of the legal market. It cannot define how large or sophisticated the market is, how litigation financing firms make money, or where the market is likely to go. This paper attempts to close this aforementioned hole in existing scholarship by focusing solely on litigation financing's market aspect. This paper analyzes how litigation financing firms make money, forecasts the future of the market, and predicts what distortive effects a future market could have on our legal system. In doing so, this paper provides a foundational understanding of the current state of litigation financing, and forecasts its future as it grows more sophisticated by the day.
Photophysics of semiconducting polymer-C60 composites: A comparative study

Abstract Experimental results on the metastable, reversible, ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer between semiconducting, conjugated polymers and Buckminsterfullerene, C 60 , are summarized. The results are discussed in terms of opportunities for solar energy conversion, for photodetector devices and for a variety of other applications which use photoinduced charge separation like in the photosynthesis.