cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Experimental Investigation of Elastodynamic Nonlinear Response of Dry Intact, Fractured and Saturated Rock

Nonlinear elastodynamic response of fractured rocks carries crucial information on fracture features that can be exploited to forecast flow properties, friction constitutive behavior and poromechanical response. Well-controlled laboratory experiments are designed to measure the nonlinear elastodynamic response of Westerly granite in three states: dry intact, dry fractured and saturated fractured. We study the effect of fracturing and saturation in modifying the elastodynamic response of the rock. Each sample is tested at a normal stress level of 15 MPa. We measure the elastodynamic response of an intact L-shaped sample of Westerly Granite subjected to normal stress oscillations of prescribed amplitudes (0.2–1 MPa) and frequencies (0.1, 1, 10 Hz). Ultrasonic waves transmitted across the sample are used to monitor the evolution of wave velocity before, during and after dynamic stressing. The nonlinearity of the elastodynamic response is measured in terms of: (1) the offset in normalized wave velocity; (2) the amplitude of wave velocity fluctuation during the oscillations; and (3) recovery rate of the wave velocity post-oscillation. We observe that the three nonlinearity parameters show a similar trend. Irrespective of the parameter, the nonlinearity measures higher for sample in dry-intact condition than that for dry-fractured and the saturated-fractured sample exhibits smaller nonlinearity than the dry-fractured sample. As expected, the saturated sample exhibits less nonlinearity than the dry intact and fractured samples due to the presence of interstitial fluid and the resulting increased interface stiffness. Conversely, the dry intact rock shows a higher nonlinearity than the dry fractured. We use numerical simulations to show that the presence of fracture significantly alters the strain distribution across the bulk of the sample and only the contacting asperities are highly strained, thus resulting in a decrease in the measured elastodynamic nonlinearity.
Examining the information seeking and sharing activities in a virtual community of librarians

The study examines the information exchange activities among librarians when communicating in a virtual community. Specifically, the study explores the kind of information librarians seek or share ...
Framework to Implement Performance-Based Contracting for Chip-Seal Road Maintenance

AbstractThe road maintenance workload for transportation agencies increases every year. To maintain roads effectively, one contracting method state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) use to outso...
Twinning Rider Haggard’s Ayesha and Joseph Conrad’s Kurtz

Circumstantial evidence counts as hard fact in the attempt to understand what infl uenced Joseph Conrad’s works. Twenty-seven years ago Allan Hunter boldly argued that Conrad’s Heart of Darkness was, owing to many similar passages and phrases, strongly infl uenced by Rider Haggard’s She. To date, Hunter’s argument has been left unevaluated. This essay highlights similarities between the two antiheroes Kurtz and Ayesha in order to add circumstantial evidence to Hunter’s stated, but relatively unexplored view. This essay does not attempt to prove a direct infl uence, but hopes to show that engaging with this specifi c question of infl uence is worthwhile.
v-CAPS: A Confidentiality and Anonymity Preserving Routing Protocol for Content-Based Publish-Subscribe Networks

Content-based Publish-Subscribe (CBPS) is a widely used communication paradigm where publishers “publish” messages and a set of subscribers receive these messages based on their interests through filtering and routing by an intermediate set of brokers. CBPS has proven to be suitable for many-to-many communication offering flexibility and efficiency in communications between a dynamic set of publishers and subscribers. We are interested in using CBPS in healthcare settings to disseminate health-related information (drug interactions, diagnostic information on diseases) to large numbers of subscribers in a confidentiality-preserving manner. Confidentiality in CBPS requires that the message be hidden from brokers whereas the brokers need the message to compute routing decisions. Previous approaches to achieve these conflicting goals suffer from significant shortcomings—misrouting, lesser expressivity of subscriber interests, high execution time, and high message overhead. Our solution, titled v-CAPS, achieves the competing goals while avoiding the previous problems. In v-CAPS, the trusted publishers extract the routing information based on the message and the brokers keep minimal information needed to perform local routing. The routing information is cryptographically secured so that curious brokers or other subscribers cannot learn about the recipients. Our experiments show that v-CAPS has comparable end-to-end message latency to a baseline insecure CBPS system with unencrypted routing vectors. However, the cost of hiding the routing vectors from the brokers is significantly higher.
Arbitrarily Shaped Periods in Multidimensional Discrete Time Periodicity

Traditionally, most of the analysis of discrete time multidimensional periodicity in DSP is based on defining the period as a parallelepiped. In this work, we study whether this framework can incorporate signals that are repetitions of more general shapes than parallelepipeds. For example, the famous Dutch artist M. C. Escher constructed many interesting shapes such as fishes, birds and animals, which can tile the continuous 2-D plane. Inspired from Escher’s tilings, we construct discrete time signals that are repetitions of various kinds of shapes. We look at periodicity in the following way - a given shape repeating itself along fixed directions to tile the entire space. By transcribing this idea into a mathematical framework, we explore its relationship with the traditional analysis of periodicity based on parallelepipeds. Our main result is that given any such signal with an arbitrarily shaped period, we can always find an equivalent parallelepiped shaped period that has the same number of points as the original period.
Expression and regulation of the human GLUT4/muscle-fat facilitative glucose transporter gene in transgenic mice.

To study the molecular basis of tissue-specific expression of the GLUT4/muscle-fat facilitative glucose transporter gene, we generated lines of transgenic mice carrying 2.4 kilobases of the 5‘-flanking region of the human GLUT4 gene fused to a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene (hGLUT4[2.4]-CAT). This reporter gene construct was specifically expressed in tissues that normally express GLUT4 mRNA, which include both brown and white adipose tissues as well as cardiac, skeletal, and smooth muscle. In contrast, CAT reporter activity was not detected in brain or liver, two tissues that do not express the GLUT4 gene. In addition, the relative levels of CAT mRNA driven by the human GLUT4 promoter in various tissues of these transgenic animals mirrored those of the endogenous mouse GLUT4 mRNA. Since previous studies have observed alterations in GLUT4 mRNA levels induced by fasting and refeeding (Sivitz, W. I., DeSautel, S. L., Kayano, T., Bell, G. I., and Pessin, J. E. (1989) Nature 340, 72-74), the regulated expression the hGLUT4[2.4]-CAT transgene was also assessed in these animals. Fasting was observed to decrease CAT activity in white adipose tissue which was super-induced upon refeeding. These alterations in CAT expression occurred in parallel to the changes in endogenous mouse GLUT4 mRNA levels. Although CAT expression in skeletal muscle and brown adipose tissue was unaffected, the endogenous mouse GLUT4 mRNA was also refractory to the effects of fasting/refeeding in these tissues. These data demonstrate that 2.4 kilobases of the 5‘-flanking region of the human GLUT4 gene contain all the necessary sequence elements to confer tissue-specific expression and at least some of the sequence elements controlling the hormonal/metabolic regulation of this gene.
A Review of “Teaching the Bible Through Popular Culture and the Arts”

Influenced in part by the 2006 court decision allowing elective classes on the Bible to be taught in Georgia public schools, there has been a growing body of popular and academic resources designed...
The effects of sound conditioning on gentamicin-induced vestibulocochlear toxicity in gerbils.

Objectives/Hypothesis: Recent studies in animal models have shown via physiologic and histologic measures that the administration of exogenous antioxidants is protective against gentamicin-induced oto-vestibulo toxicity. In addition, studies have also shown that sound conditioning increases cochlear antioxidants. The objective of this study is to determine wether sound conditioning provides protection against gentamicin in the cochlear and/or vestibular system. Study Design: Prospective animal study. Methods: Three-month-old gerbils were divided into three groups (A, B, and C). The gerbils in group A were sound conditioned only (n = 2). In group B, the animals received gentamicin on the round window (n = 2). The gerbils in group C were sound conditioned first and later received gentamicin to the round window (n = 2). The animals were ultimately sacrificed and their right cochlea and posterior crista ampullaris were removed, processed, and sectioned. The specimens were analyzed for inner hair cell (IHC) and outer hair cell (OHC) loss and vestibular supporting and sensory hair cell nuclei per micrometer of vestibular epithelium. Results: The sound-conditioned group (A) had no loss of cochlear hair cells. The gerbils treated with gentamicin only (B) had a 34% decrease of OHCs and 49% decrease of IHCs. The sound-conditioned plus gentamicin-treated group (C) had a 5.5% decrease in OHCs and 12% decrease in IHCs. There were no significant differences with regards to supporting cell nuclei within the posterior crista across all groups. When compared to group A, the gerbils in groups B and C did have a 23 to 42% decrease in the number of sensory cell nuclei per micrometer of vestibular epithelium. Conclusions: Sound conditioning does appear to attenuate the effects of gentamicin in the cochlea, although not significantly altering its vestibulotoxicity. An upregulation of cochlear-specific antioxidants is believed to be an important factor. As we had a small sample size, we can only note trends in the data, but future studies with more animals and measurements of antioxidant levels after sound conditioning would be useful to quantify this effect and determine if it can be exploited clinically.
Immune Response: Evolution

Phagocytosis in unicellular animals represents the most ancient and ubiquitous form of defence against foreign material. Multicellular invertebrates and vertebrates possess phagocytic cells and have evolved more complex functions attributed to immuno-defence cells that specialized into cellular and humoral immune responses. Keywords: invertebrate; vertebrate; immunology; evolution; comparative immunology
The virtual scope: an impedance match to the beginning ECE student

Because of the poor quality of available oscilloscopes and the often limited lab experience of beginning ECE (electrical and computer engineering students), a viable computer-simulated substitute was created. Based on experience in the student labs, an affordable virtual scope combination of hardware and software was conceived that would aid the beginning ECE student. The design is based on the 'user interface' of the Macintosh computer. The A/D hardware interface is based on an inexpensive single-board-computer (SBC). Software, custom programmed in the Forth language to implement the virtual scope concept, links the two computers. Fifteen systems were built by an undergraduate student technician during the summer of 1988. The devices are currently in use in the undergraduate laboratories at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. The author discusses the design philosophy and the implementation of the hardware and software. >
Identification of subgroups of persons with chronic pain based on profiles on the pain stages of change questionnaire

This study sought to identify reliable subgroups of patients with chronic pain based on profiles of subscale scores on the Pain Stages of Change Questionnaire (PSOCQ), a reliable and valid measure of individuals' readiness to adopt a self-management approach to chronic pain. The PSOCQ was administered to 633 people seeking treatment for chronic pain. Participants were predominantly White, averaged 48 years of age, about half were men, and about half reported back pain as the primary complaint. In a first study, cluster analysis was applied to 250 respondents. Five clusters were identified and named Precontemplation (11.0% of the sample), Contemplation (18.0%), Noncontemplative Action (12.4%), Participation (25%), and Ambivalent (33.6%). Results of a discriminant function analysis (DFA) on this sample, using the solution from the cluster analysis yielded a total error rate of 0.036. In a second study, the results of the first DFA were applied to an independent sample of 383 respondents in order to cross validate the solution from the first study. Cluster assignment proportions were very similar to the first sample and the posterior probability error rate for the second DFA was 13%. As predicted, clusters did not differ on measures of pain, disability, or demographics. Moreover, clusters differed significantly in theoretically consistent directions by scores on the Survey of Pain Attitudes, thus demonstrating criterion related validity for the clusters. Future research should examine the utility of PSOCQ profiles, relative to individual PSOCQ scale scores alone, in predicting response to self-management treatment approaches.
The influence of goethite and gibbsite on soluble nutrient dynamics and microbial community composition

Iron and aluminum (oxyhydr)oxides are ubiquitous in the soil environment and have the potential to strongly affect the properties of dissolved organic matter. We examined the effect of oxide surfaces on soluble nutrient dynamics and microbial community composition using an incubation of forest floor material in the presence of (1) goethite and quartz, (2) gibbsite and quartz, and (3) quartz surfaces. Forest floor material was incubated over a period of 154 days. Aqueous extracts of the incubations were harvested on days 5, 10, 20, 30, 60, 90, and 154, and concentrations of P, N, PO4 3−, NO2 −, NO3 −, and organic C were measured in the solutions. Microbial community composition was examined through pyrosequencing of bacterial and fungal small subunit ribosomal RNA genes on selected dates throughout the incubation. Results indicated that oxide surfaces exerted strong control on soluble nutrient dynamics and on the composition of the decomposer microbial community, while possibly having a small impact on system-level respiration. Goethite and gibbsite surfaces showed preferential adsorption of P-containing and high molar mass organic solutes, but not of N-containing compounds. On average, organic C concentrations were significantly lower in water extractable organic matter (WEOM) solutions from oxide treatments than from the control treatment (P = 0.0037). Microbial community composition varied both among treatments and with increasing time of incubation. Variation in bacterial and fungal community composition exhibited strong-to-moderate correlation with length of incubation, and several WEOM physiochemical characteristics including apparent (weight averaged) molar mass, pH and electrical conductivity. Additionally, variation in bacterial community composition among treatments was correlated with total P (r = 0.60, P < 0.0001), PO4 3− (r = 0.79, P < 0.0001), and organic C (r = 0.36, P = 0.015) concentrations; while variation in fungal communities was correlated with organic C concentrations (r = −0.48, P = 0.0008) but not with phosphorus concentrations. The relatively small impact of oxide surfaces on system-level microbial respiration of organic matter despite their significant effects on microbial community composition and WEOM dynamics lends additional support to the theory of microbial functional redundancy.
Assessing the input costs of disease management programs

This paper presents a practical blueprint for modeling and evaluating the costs of disease interventions. Retrospective estimates of therapy costs and analyses of various treatment pathways are critical to projecting the likely cost impacts of disease management programs. This presentation outlines the information requirements necessary to identify baseline costs, to set cost outcomes targets, and to monitor costs over the life of an agreement. The chief components of this process are: (1) developing a framework for input cost analysis; (2) identifying costing requirements for various types of disease management interventions; (3) identifying key classifications in such a cost framework; and (4) identifying principal obstacles to cost assessment.
Optimizing visual performance by adapting images to observers

Visual adaptation is widely assumed to optimize visual performance, but demonstrations of functional benefits beyond the case of light adaptation remain elusive. The failure to find marked improvements in visual discriminations with contrast or pattern adaptation may occur because these become manifest only over timescales that are too long to probe by briefly adapting observers. We explored the potential consequences of color contrast adaptation by instead “adapting” images to simulate how they should appear to observers under theoretically complete adaptation to different environments, and then used a visual search task to measure the ability to detect colors within the adapted images. Color salience can be markedly improved for extreme environments to which the observer is not routinely exposed, and may also be enhanced even among naturally occurring outdoor environments. The changes in performance provides a measure of how much in theory the visual system can be optimized for a given task and environment, and can reveal the extent to which differences in the statistics of the environment or the sensitivity of the observer are important in driving the states of adaptation. Adapting the images also provides a potential practical tool for optimizing performance in novel visual contexts, by rendering image information in a format that the visual system is already calibrated for.
Intraocular endoscopic surgery.

We have successfully used a new small endoscope in posterior segment surgery in situations where the operating microscope or binocular indirect ophthalmoscope provided an inadequate view. In this series of 18 procedures, we performed posterior vitrectomies, removed retained foreign bodies, and reattached persistent retinal detachments. The only major complication was a retinal detachment. Learning to use a monocular system requires practice and preparation with experimental animals.
Efforts to Foster All-Channel Television

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has long considered 12 VHF channels incapable of providing an efficient television system. Its responsibilities to make UHF broadcasting competitive with VHF led it to seek authority from Congress to require that all receivers be equipped with UHF tuners. Having obtained this authority, the FCC turned to other concurrent activities which would lead to surmounting the technical and nonechnical problems encountered in UHF broadcasting. In particular, an industry advisory committee was formed in 1963 entitled, "Committee for the Full Development of All-Channel Broadcasting." This Committee makes recommendations to the FCC as to how, by amendment of its rules and policies, UHF broadcasting can become fully viable.
Editorial: The Logical Place to Publish

This PDF file contains the editorial “Editorial: The Logical Place to Publish” for OE Vol. 30 Issue 09
Low noise electronics for the CLEO III silicon detector

Abstract We report here the status of the CLEO III silicon vertex detector electronics. The CLEO III silicon detector is a 4-layer barrel-style device which spans 93% of the solid angle observing the interaction region. All layers will be constructed with double-sided silicon. The innermost layer must be able to handle large singles rates associated with a detector situated near the interaction region. In order to cover the required solid angle, the outermost layer is 55 cm long and presents a large capacitive load to the front-end electronics. The electronics chain chosen to meet this challenge consists of a low noise cascode preamplifier followed by an ADC on each channel. The system issues will be described herein together with the chosen solutions, noise performance of each subsystem prototype, and expected results of the full system.
Electronic and crystal structure of fully strained LaNiO 3 films

First-principles band structure calculations have been used to investigate epitaxially strained ${\mathrm{LaNiO}}_{3}$ films. Experimentally, tensile biaxial strain has been realized in pseudomorphic ${\mathrm{LaNiO}}_{3}$ films grown on ${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{3}$ (001) substrates using ozone-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. Measured and calculated out-of-plane lattice parameters are in excellent agreement. This demonstrates the viability of the computational method as well as the high quality of the films.
Niacin Absorption from the Rumen

Absorption of niacin from the rumen was tested in vivo using a buffer solution that contained either nicotinic acid or nicotinamide. The experimental design was a 3 X 3 Latin square with three midlactation, ruminally cannulated Holstein cows. Orthogonal comparisons were control versus niacin and nicotinic acid versus nicotinamide. Nicotinamide was more rapidly absorbed from the rumen than nicotinic acid; this may have been caused by differences in the dissociation constants of the compounds. The effects that differential absorption may have on ruminal fermentation and animal metabolism require further study.
Core Journal Lists for Behaviorally Disordered Children

Two professionals, one an academic researcher and the other a classroom teacher, each selected starting sets of journals that they found most useful in their work with behaviorally disordered children. Using citation analysis, core lists of journals were developed from these starting sets and ranked by "discipline impact factor," or DIF. Only two journals were common to both lists. The uncritical acceptance of core lists without considering the value judgements that are a part of the selection process can be misleading.
Activity of piperacillin/tazobactam in combination with amikacin, ciprofloxacin, and trovafloxacin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa by time-kill

Pseudomonal infections have a high rate of morbidity and mortality, thus combination therapy is often recommended. We compared the activity of piperacillin/tazobactam in combination with amikacin, ciprofloxacin, or trovafloxacin at different concentrations against P. aeruginosa using time-kill methodology. MICs were determined for 4 clinical isolates of P. aeruginosa. Time-kill studies were conducted over 24 h. Each drug was tested alone and in combination using the following concentrations: 2 and 1/4, 1/4 and 2, and 1/4 and 1/4xMIC of piperacillin/tazobactam and amikacin, ciprofloxacin, or trovafloxacin. Combinations were classified as synergistic, indifferent, or antagonistic. Synergy was defined as > or = 2-log(10) decrease in CFU/mL at 24 h with the combination when compared to the most active single agent and the number of surviving organisms for the antimicrobial combination was > or =2-log(10) less than the initial inoculum. The MICs for piperacillin/tazobactam, amikacin, ciprofloxacin, and trovafloxacin, ranged from 4/4-512/4, 0.5-4, 0.125-4, and 0.5-8 microg/mL, respectively. Fifty eight percent of the combinations using concentrations of 1/4xMIC of piperacillin/tazobactam and 2xMIC of amikacin, ciprofloxacin, and trovafloxacin or 2xMIC of piperacillin/tazobactam and 1/4xMIC of amikacin, ciprofloxacin, and trovafloxacin were synergistic. Although no differences existed in synergistic activity between the two combinations, the 1/4 and 2xMIC maintained colony counts below the limit of quantification for 24 h for a significantly greater percentage of isolates than the 2 and 1/4xMIC combinations (75 and 25%, respectively; p = 0.04). Overall, synergy was most frequently (42%) noted with the piperacillin/tazobactam and amikacin combinations followed by 33 and 8% of the piperacillin/tazobactam and trovafloxacin and ciprofloxacin combinations. No combination demonstrated antagonism. Further more extensive studies are necessary to determine clinical significance.
Fellow-regional Associations in the Ch'ing Dynasty: Organizations in Flux for Mobile People. A Preliminary Survey

As had been the case throughout much of Chinese history, government during the Ch'ing dynasty (1644–1911) was largely in the hands of a civil bureaucracy staffed by the Confucian literati. Prevailing political thought held that moral suasion and commonly held ideals were in a large way responsible for keeping both the society and the body politic running smoothly. For this and other reasons, the court assigned a rather small number of bureaucrats to manage a truly vast population. In addition, it was commonly assumed by rulers and the ruled that China's was and should be primarily an agrarian society of self-sufficient peasants. The only orthodox avenue of social, even spatial, mobility was the Confucian examination system which led successful candidates into the bureaucracy. This view denigrated the importance of commerce, of technological advancement, of learning outside the Confucian classics; and it acted as a brake on social, political, and economic development.
Synergy in ant foraging strategies: memory and communication alone and in combination

Collective foraging is a canonical problem in the study of social insect behavior, as well as in biologically inspired engineered systems. Pheromone recruitment is a well-studied mechanism by which ants coordinate their foraging. Another mechanism for information use is the memory of individual ants, which allows an ant to return to a site it has previously visited. There is synergy in the use of social and private information: ants with poor private information can follow pheromone trails; while ants with private information can ignore trails and instead rely on memory. We developed an agent-based model of foraging by harvester ants, and optimized the model to maximize foraging rate using genetic algorithms. We found that ants' individual memory provided greater benefit in terms of increased foraging rate than pheromone trails in a variety of food distributions. When the two strategies are used together, they out-perform either strategy alone. We compare the behavior of these models to observations of harvester ants in the field. We discuss why individual memory is more beneficial in this system than pheromone trails. We suggest that individual memory may be an important addition to ant colony optimization and swarm robotics systems, and that genetic algorithms may be useful in finding an adaptive balance between individual foraging based on memory and recruitment based on communication.
An Optimization Framework for Polynomial Zerofinders

for an appropriate choice of xq. There are two standard and equivalent ways to derive it: algebraically (via the Taylor expansion) and geometrically (via the tangent line). We show initially how it can be derived in yet another way, via a constrained opti mization problem, by considering the special case of solving p(x) ? 0 for its smallest zero, where p(x) is a polynomial with all real zeros. We then do the same for several more classical zerofinders and construct some apparently new ones using the same optimization framework. While some of the resulting methods are applicable only to polynomial equations, others, like Newton's method, can be used for general nonlinear equations. The usefulness of this approach does not limit itself to the mere construction of zerofinders. As we will see later, it also allows us to carry out a controlled enhancement of those zerofinders. The paper is organized as follows: in section 2 we introduce our notation and state some preliminaries, in section 3 we derive Newton's and other methods, and in section 4 we show how these methods can be enhanced.
Agglutination test with ragweed pollen

Abstract An agglutination test was devised to study ragweed pollen grains. Rabbit antiragweed sera were shown to contain "complete" antibodies causing clumping and increased sedimentation of ragweed pollen and "incomplete" antibodies detectable by means of the indirect Coombs test. With human sera, only the indirect Coombs test was positive. The human antiragweed factor responsible for this reaction was present in 88 per cent of adult sera. There was no difference in the incidence of positive reactions observed in patients suffering from ragweed hypersensitivity and subjects without it. Evidence was presented that the antiragweed factor detectable in human sera is a serum globulin of IgM type. The possible natural-antibody character of this factor was discussed.
Birth and Fortune Revisited: A Cohort Analysis of Underemployment, 1974–2004

The cohort is a key concept in the study of social demography and social change. The enduring influence of cohort membership can arise from history-based and/or size-based effects. The most prominent proponent of size-based cohort effects is Easterlin (Birth and fortune: The impact of numbers on personal welfare, 1980) who argues that individuals hailing from unusually large cohorts will experience adverse labor market conditions relative to the members of the smaller cohorts that bracket them. Drawing on data from the March Current Population Survey for the period spanning 1974–2004, we examine the influence of relative cohort size on underemployment. The results provide modest support for the Easterlin thesis, showing the odds of underemployment to be greatest among members of relatively large cohorts, net of other significant predictors. The results also show that the impact of relative cohort size differs by educational level, suggesting that adverse economic conditions produced by large cohort size can be offset by broader changes in the labor market and other social institutions.
A high P-T single-crystal X-ray diffraction study of thermoelasticity of MgSiO 3 orthoenstatite

P-V-T data of MgSiO3 orthoenstatite have been measured by single-crystal X-ray diffraction at simultaneous high pressures (in excess of 4.5 GPa) and temperatures (up to 1000 K). The new P-V-T data of the orthoenstatite, together with previous compression data and thermal expansion data, are described by a modified Birch-Murnaghan equation of state for diverse temperatures. The fitted thermoelastic parameters for MgSiO3 orthoenstatite are: thermal expansion ∂α/∂P with values of a=2.86(29)×10-5 K-1 and b=0.72(16)×10-8 K-2; isothermal bulk modulus K T o =102.8(2) GPa; pressure derivative of bulk modulus K′=∂K/∂P=10.2(1.2); and temperature derivative of bulk modulus K=∂K/∂T=-0.037(5) GPa/K. The derived thermal Gruneisen parameter is γ th=1.05 for ambient conditions; Anderson-Gruneisen parameter is δ T o =11.6, and the pressure derivative of thermal expansion is ∂α/∂P=-3.5×10-6K-1 GPa-1. From the P-V-T data and the thermoelastic equation of state, thermal expansions at two constant pressures of 1.5 GPa and 4.0 GPa are calculated. The resulting pressure dependence of thermal expansion is Δα/ΔP=-3.2(1)× 10-6 K-1 GPa-1. The significantly large values of K′, K, δ T and ∂α/∂P indicate that compression/expansion of MgSiO3 orthoenstatite is very sensitive to changes of pressure and temperature.
Species-specific shrimp allergens: RAST and RAST-inhibition studies.

Abstract Two edible shrimp species are widely available in Louisiana, Penaeus setifecus (white shrimp) and Penaeus aztecus (brown shrimp). Some sensitive individuals report only occasional allergic symptoms after shrimp ingestion, suggesting that there may be species-specific allergens. To investigate this possibility, we evaluated shrimp species-specific reactivity in 31 individuals with a history of immediate hypersensitivity reactions after shrimp ingestion with skin prick tests and RASTs with white and brown shrimp extracts. On selected individuals, RAST-inhibition studies were performed with white shrimp and/or brown shrimp-coupled disks, with white and/or brown shrimp extracts as inhibiting allergen. Positive skin tests to both types of extract were observed in 77% (23130) of the subjects; one individual reacted to brown shrimp extract only. Elevated RASTs to both extracts were observed in 16131 study participants; one subject reacted only to white shrimp extracts and two subjects to brown shrimp extract alone. Sera from two individuals tested by RAST inhibition recognized qualitatively different allergens in brown and white shrimp extracts, supporting the hypothesis that there are species-specific shrimp allergens. Species specificity is important because it may explain the intermittent symptoms of some study subjects. The percentage of shrimp-sensitive subjects testing positive by skin test and RAST can be increased by use of extracts from more than one species of shrimp.
A Unified Treatment of Selection Rules and Symmetry Relations for Sum-Frequency and Second Harmonic Spectroscopies

A simplifying treatment is developed for describing the molecular origins of electric dipole allowed sum-frequency generation (SFG) and second harmonic generation (SHG). The full sum-over-states expressions for the nonlinear polarizability simplify tremendously at or near resonance to straightforward formulas easily connected to intuitive molecular properties. For resonance enhancement at the sum or second harmonic frequency, the molecular nonlinear polarizability tensor is shown to be the direct product of the transition moment and the two-photon absorption (TPA) polarizability tensor. To our knowledge, this is the first rigorous mathematical demonstration indicating such a simple relationship directly connecting second harmonic generation with TPA, providing a link between the two fields of inquiry. Under resonance enhancement with one of the incident frequencies, the SFG and SHG nonlinear polarizability tensors similarly are given by the products of the transition moments and the anti-Stokes Raman pola...
Multidimensional Simulations of Mixing in Zero‐ and Solar‐Metallicity SNe

We present multidimensional simulations of zero‐ and solar‐ metallicity stars in the last stages of their lives and estimate their resulting nucleosynthetic output. When primordial stars with masses less than about 100 solar masses explode as supernovae, some portion of the star falls back onto the black hole, while the rest escapes to enrich the next generation of stars. The composition of the escaped gas depends on processes that cannot be adequately modeled in one dimension. Multidimensional simulations are needed to capture the inherently asymmetric processes that enrich the outer layers of the star and determine its final yield. We investigate the effects of Rayleigh‐Taylor‐induced mixing and asymmetries in the explosion on the final composition of the escaped gas. For spherically symmetric explosions, we find that Rayleigh‐Taylor‐induced mixing has little effect on the shells interior to oxygen, and so very little material interior to the oxygen shell goes on to enrich the interstellar medium. Some asymmetry in the explosion is needed in order for elements interior to oxygen to escape from the star in significant amounts
Fast parallel strong orientation of mixed graphs and related augmentation problems

The strong orientation problem is: Given an undirected graph, G, assign orientations to its edges so that the resulting directed graph is strongly connected. Robbins showed when such an orientation exists. A generalization of this problem is when the input graph is mixed (i.e., contains some directed and some undirected edges). Boesch and Tindell gave necessary and sufficient conditions for a strong orientation to exist in a mixed graph. In this paper we give an NC algorithm for constructing a strong orientation for a given mixed graph after determining if it exists. We also give an NC algorithm for adding a minimum set of arcs to a mixed graph to make it strongly orientable. We give simplified NC algorithms for the following special cases: find minimum augmentations to make a digraph strongly connected and to make an undirected graph bridge-connected. All the algorithms presented run within the time and processor bounds required for computing the transitive closure of a digraph.
A TECHNIQUE FOR MEASURING THE KINETICS OF ELECTROCHEMICAL REACTIONS WITH BARE METAL SURFACES

Abstract To assist in the understanding of corrosion fatigue crack growth in aqueous environments, an in situ fracture technique for measuring the kinetics of electrochemical reactions with bare metal surfaces has been developed and evaluated. The experimental procedure and preliminary results as well as the potential of this technique in advancing the understanding of corrosion fatigue are described and discussed.
Temporal factors affecting cocaine-opioid interactions: a cocaine drug discrimination study in rats.

Rationale: Increasing concomitant abuse of cocaine and morphine-like opioids has prompted a number of studies aimed at understanding how these drugs interact. Objective: The present study was designed to determine if variations in opioid pretreatment time would affect how µ opioid agonists interact with cocaine. Methods: Rats were trained to discriminate 10 mg/kg cocaine from saline. One group of subjects (n=6) received morphine (5.6 mg/kg) 0.5 h, 1 h or 4 h prior to cumulative doses of cocaine (0.1–17.8 mg/kg). These pretreatment times were selected to overlap with states of acute opioid tolerance (~1 h) or acute opioid dependence (~4 h) as demonstrated by previous studies. A second group (n=6) was administered naloxone (0.3 mg/kg) 5 min prior to cumulative cocaine doses, with or without a 4-h morphine (5.6 mg/kg) or methadone (3.0 mg/kg) pretreatment. In a third procedure, the same subjects used in the second experiment were also tested for time-dependent changes in the analgesic effect of morphine using a hot-plate assay. Results: Morphine pretreatment 1 h prior to assessment of the cocaine dose-response function significantly enhanced the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine. However, neither 0.5-h or 4-h morphine pretreatment had any effect. In contrast, when naloxone was administered 4 h following either morphine or methadone and 5 min prior to assessment of the cocaine dose-response curve, the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine were significantly attenuated. In assessing morphine-induced analgesia, paw-lick latency was significantly longer at 1 h and shorter at 4 h following morphine administration. Conclusions: The results illustrate the importance of temporal parameters for interactions between cocaine and µ opioid agonists.
Manobo Dreams in Arakan: a people's struggle to keep their homeland

Karl M. Gaspar, Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2011, 239 pp., ISBN 9789715506298 Bro. Karl Gaspar, CSsR, is a Mindanawon Redemptorist brother, former political detainee and cultura...
Atmospheric freeze drying for the reduction of powder electrostatics of amorphous, low density, high surface area pharmaceutical powders

Amorphous itraconazole (ITZ) was prepared by Thin Film Freezing (TFF) utilizing 1,4-dioxane as the solvent with subsequent solvent removal via conventional tray lyophilization (ITZ LYO) or atmospheric freeze drying (ITZ AFD). ITZ AFD was prepared under various drying conditions to assess the influence of drying parameters on powder properties. XRD analysis confirmed all products were amorphous and DSC analysis revealed both drying processes resulted in the formation of the nematic mesophase of ITZ. SEM revealed a larger pore size and agglomerate size with fewer fine particles (i.e. less than 10 microns in diameter) for ITZ AFD compared to ITZ LYO. Residual solvent analysis revealed a primary drying temperature of -10°C resulted in residual solvent levels above the acceptable limits set by the International Conference on Harmonization as a result of microcollapse. Primary drying temperatures of less than -10°C resulted in acceptable residual solvent levels. The extent of microcollapse did not alter the macrostructure of the resulting powder. Powder flowability was determined to be similar for ITZ AFD and ITZ LYO based on Carr's index and the Hausner ratio, as well as by dynamic angle of repose. All powders displayed poor flowability. Chargeability measurements demonstrated a lower charge transfer for ITZ AFD powders compared to ITZ LYO due to a combination of factors including differences in residual solvent level, particle size, pore size, surface area, and fine particles content. The reduction in chargeability as a result of AFD is highly desirable because it allows for improved powder handling and use post-production.
Interhemispheric transfer of test stimulus representations in memory scanning

Test stimuli were presented in either the right or left visual field during a memory scanning task. The Ss indicated whether or not a given test stimulus, either a letter or a picture, matched one of a previously presented set of letters. Reaction times were recorded and plotted as a function of the size of the set of letters. The results are in agreement with the hypothesis that the two types of test stimuli are processed by different cerebral hemispheres with differing stimulus representations.
New perspectives on the public policy implications of defense and welfare expenditures in four modern democracies: 1950–1970

This article compares expenditure decisions in four “Western” democracies (Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States) in the policy areas of defense, health, education, and all government expenditures from 1950 to 1970. In addition, national income is used as a measure of economic growth in the four countries. The research focuses on the yearly fluctuations of expenditures and the statistical relationships existing among the variables under changing conditions.
STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR GLOBAL COMPETITION

The world's economic and business environment has changed in fundamental ways over the past two decades. Corporations now face growing incentives and pressures to seek opportunities in a world marketplace. This article describes a method that can be used by multinational corporations to recognize global competition within their industries, and it examines some emerging trends with which MNCs will have to contend.
Regeneration of articular cartilage in healer and non-healer mice

Mammals rarely regenerate their lost or injured tissues into adulthood. MRL/MpJ mouse strain initially identified to heal full-thickness ear wounds now represents a classical example of mammalian wound regeneration since it can heal a spectrum of injuries such as skin and cardiac wounds, nerve injuries and knee articular cartilage lesions. In addition to MRL/MpJ, a few other mouse strains such as LG/J (a parent of MRL/MpJ) and LGXSM-6 (arising from an intercross between LG/J and SM/J mouse strains) have now been recognized to possess regenerative/healing abilities for articular cartilage and ear wound injuries that are similar, if not superior, to MRL/MpJ mice. While some mechanisms underlying regenerative potential have been begun to emerge, a complete set of biological processes and pathways still needs to be elucidated. Using a panel of healer and non-healer mouse strains, our recent work has provided some insights into the genes that could potentially be associated with healing potential. Future mechanistic studies can help seek the Holy Grail of regenerative medicine. This review highlights the regenerative capacity of selected mouse strains for articular cartilage, in particular, and lessons from other body tissues, in general.
Field-emission spectrum of a nanometer-size supported gold cluster: Theory and experiment.

The electron-energy spectrum of a single 1-nm-diam Au cluster supported on a W substrate has been studied by measuring the distribution of electrons field emitted from the cluster. A resonance-tunneling theory is described that reproduces the salient features of the experimental spectrum and relates it to the electronic structure of the supported cluster.
Drums, curve descriptors and affine invariant region matching

In this paper we present a new physically motivated curve/region descriptor based on the solution of Helmholtz's equation. The descriptor we propose satisfies the six principles set by MPEG-7: it has a good retrieval accuracy, it is compact, it can be applied in general contests, it has a reasonable computational complexity, it is rotation and scale invariant and provides an hierarchical representation of the curve from coarse to fine. In addition to these properties, the descriptor can be generalized in order to take into account also the intensity content of the image region defined by the curve. The construction of the descriptor can be coupled with a preprocessing step that enables us to describe a curve in an affine invariant fashion. The performance of our approach has been tested in the contest of affine invariant curve and region matching, both within a controlled experimental setup and also using real images. The experiments show that the proposed approach compares favorably to the state of the art curve/region descriptors.
Bone response to alternate-day mechanical loading of the rat tibia

Mechanical loading of the living skeleton influences bone formation, mass, and strength. The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the influence of different loading schedules (days/week) on the bone response to external loading using an in vivo rat tibia four-point bending model. Three studies were conducted to (1) characterize the loaded region, (2) examine the variation of the response within the loaded region, and (3) test the response to different loading schedules. In all studies adult female retired breeder Sprague-Dawley rats were used (6 months, 285 g). First, the location of the loaded region during four-point bending was determined by radiogrammetry of 7 rats. Second, 5 rats were externally loaded for 8 of 10 days at 31 N, 36 cycles, and 2 Hz (1349 ± 244 μϵ). The extent of labeled (forming) periosteal and endocortical surface in the loaded region was compared both among four serial sections from the same tibia and between the loaded and the contralateral tibiae. Finally, 50 rats were randomized into five groups: two nonloaded, control and sham, and three loaded, alternate day, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and daily. The rats were externally loaded for 3 weeks at 35 N, 36 cycles, and 2 Hz (1533 ± 308 μϵ). The tibia and fibula were studied for labeled surfaces and mineral apposition rate. For adult female rats with tibial length 39 mm, the loaded region was located 3.5–14 (±0.7) mm proximal to the tibia-fibula junction (TFJ). With multiple repositionings in the same rat, the location of the distal inner pad varied from 3.2 to 3.8 mm proximal to the TFJ (95% confidence interval). The response to loading was consistent within the loaded region and reliably sampled by two cross sections from the loaded region. The bone response under the loading pads was not different from that at other points within the loaded region. There were no differences in the response to external mechanical loading among the three loading schedules (daily, alternate day, and Monday-Wednesday-Friday). Loading created greater formation surface on the medial periosteum of the tibia (70%) and on the fibula (92%) of externally loaded legs than in nonloaded legs. Loading had no effect on the lateral periosteal formation surface or on the endocortical surface of the tibia. Loading created greater mineral apposition rate in loaded than nonloaded tibia (28–72% greater) at all periosteal surfaces. The pattern of response to loading was the same in both studies 2 and 3. In an adult rat, this model produces a predictable bone response to external mechanical loading in a defined region of the tibial diaphysis. External loading 3 or 4 days/week is as effective as daily loading for increasing periosteal bone formation surface and mineral apposition rate.