cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Shunted Piezoelectric Control of Airfoil Vibrations

The application of shunted piezoelectric elements to provide passive structural damping is investigated by means of experiments performed in the Purdue High Speed Axial Compressor Research Facility. Piezoelectric elements are bonded to three airfoils in the stator row. This airfoil is excited by the wakes generated by an upstream rotor. As the wakes drive the airfoil vibrations, the piezoelectrics experience a strain and in response produce an electric field. Tuned electrical circuits connected to the piezoelectrics as shunts dissipate this electrical energy, with multiple shunting techniques utilized. This electrical energy dissipation and the corresponding reduction in the airfoil mechanical energy result in a reduction in the magnitude of the resonant vibrations. Thus, these passive vibration control experiments demonstrate that shunted piezoelectrics have significant damping capability and could be practical for the elimination or minimization of gas turbine blading flow induced vibrations.Copyright © 1999 by ASME
Nervous system function: Behavioral influences of gene effects on peripheral nerve conduction velocity in mice

Strains of mice different with regard to caudal nerve conduction velocity are shown to differ in reflex behavior which involves sciatic nerve function. The pattern of behavioral differences is exactly that which would be predicted if gene differences effecting caudal nerve had simultaneous effects on sciatic velocity. About 12% of the phenotypic variance in this behavior is due to additive genetic variance.
Influences of dietary sodium on functional taste receptor development: a sensitive period

Restriction of maternal dietary sodium on or before embryonic day 8 reduced taste responses of the chorda tympani nerve to sodium chloride in the offspring. The response attenuation was substantial; responses to sodium chloride in the offspring of deprived rats were approximately 40 percent of those in control animals. Instituting the low sodium diet at embryonic day 10 or later did not produce functional changes. Thus, a sensitive period for the gustatory system exists, and the abrupt transition from maximal environmental susceptibility to no susceptibility occurs during a 2-day prenatal period. Moreover, events important in determining the developmental fate of taste membrane components occur before the initial formation of taste buds.
Cerebral somatosensory responses evoked during sleep in man.

Human somatic evoked responses (SERs) were recorded from the scalps of eleven subjects to percutaneous shock stimulation of median nerve during waking, slow wave and REM sleep. Both short- and long-latency SERs vary systematically with stage of sleep: 1. 1. The cortical primary post-synaptic positivity is markedly reduced in REM sleep compared to waking and slow wave sleep; in contrast, this response in cat is reported to be largest during REM. This possibly reflects a species difference between man and cat in cortical responsiveness during REM. 2. 2. Short-latency (15 msec) “myogenic” evoked responses recorded percutaneously from trapezius muscle at the neck show no change from waking to sleep. Thus they do not appear to be mediated in the same way as monosynaptic or polysynaptic spinal reflexes found by others to be suppressed during REM. 3. 3. Long-latency SERs seen during waking are essentially absent in the drowsy subject and during REM. As the EEG synchronizes, late activity occurs consisting of two negative-positive sequences which we label 6a and 6b respectively. Component 6a decreases in amplitude with increasing cortical synchronization; it may correspond to waking component 4 but the latency increase is very large. Component 6b appears in stage 2 at a much longer latency than any waking component and increases in amplitude with increasing synchronization. We suggest that it has no waking counterpart but represents the release of neural activity inhibited in waking and REM. SER components 6a and 6b are also evoked by auditory stimulation. Component 6b corresponds to the K complex.
Long-term results of combined-modality therapy in resectable non-small-cell lung cancer.

PURPOSE: Assessment of long-term results of combined-modality therapy for resectable non–small-cell lung cancer is hampered by insufficient follow-up and small patient numbers. To evaluate this, we reviewed our collective experience. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study was a retrospective chart review recording demographics, tumor stage, treatment, and outcome of consecutive patients undergoing surgery. Survival was analyzed by Kaplan-Meier, and prognostic factors were analyzed by log-rank and Cox regression. RESULTS: From January 1993 to December 1999, 470 patients were treated, with follow-up in 446: 27 stage I, 55 stage II, 316 stage III, 43 stage IV (solitary M1), and five uncertain. Chemotherapy was mitomycin/vinblastine/cisplatin (174 patients [39.0%]), carboplatin/paclitaxel (148 [33.2%]), and other combination (124 [27.8%]); 75 patients (16.8%) received induction radiation. Resection was complete in 77.4%, incomplete in 8.3%, attempted but with gross residual disease afterward in 1.8%, and not perfor...
Human sociogeophysics — Phase I: Explaining the macroscopic patterns of man on earth

The demography of man on earth is treated by a physical model for that forward transport for the subspecies in time. By examining the distribution of man and his Neanderthaler precursor, it is inferred, as a likely hypothesis, that the initial “Phase I” expansion of man on earth (40,000–15,000 ybp) was at a constant density of about 0.04 persons per sq.km with little or no remixing. We suggest that the nature of the physical process was a diffusion, a “random walk” process with a diffusive velocity of one roaming range (30 km) per generation, i.e., 1.5 km per year. The physics and physiology of the breeding process permits us to estimate the total earth population, the birth rate b, the death rate d, and the net difference (that is the Malthusian constant K, dP/dt = KP, where K = b-d, P = population, and dP/dt is the rate of change in population).
Identification of lysine 346 as a functionally important residue for pyridoxal 5'-phosphate binding and catalysis in lysine 2, 3-aminomutase from Bacillus subtilis.

Lysine 2,3-aminomutase (LAM) catalyzes the interconversion of l-lysine and l-β-lysine. The enzyme contains pyridoxal 5‘-phosphate (PLP) and a [4Fe-4S] center and requires S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) for activity. The hydrogen transfer is mediated by the 5‘-deoxyadenosyl radical generated in a reaction of the iron−sulfur cluster with SAM. PLP facilitates the radical rearrangement by forming a lysine−PLP aldimine, in which the imine group participates in the isomerization mechanism. We here report the identification of lysine 346 as important for PLP binding and catalysis. Reduction of LAM with NaBH4 rapidly inactivated the enzyme with concomitant UV/visible spectrum changes characteristic of reduction of an aldimine formed between PLP and lysine. Following reduction with NaBH4 and proteolysis with trypsin, a single phosphopyridoxyl peptide of 36 amino acid residues was identified by reverse-phase liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). The purified phosphopyridoxyl peptide exhibited an absorption b...
Passive cation permeability of turtle colon: evidence for a negative interaction between intracellular sodium and apical sodium permeability.

The role of intracellular sodium in the regulation of apical sodium permeability was investigated in an electrically “tight” epithelium, the turtle colon. In the presence of low mucosal sodium (3 mM) and serosal ouabain, an inhibitor of the basolateral sodium pump, the apical membrane retained a substantial amiloride-sensitive, sodium conductance and the basolateral membrane exhibited a barium-sensitive potassium conductance in parallel with a significant sodium (and lithium) conductance. In the presence of a high mucosal sodium concentration (114 mM), however, inhibition of active sodium absorption by ouabain led to a disappearance of the amiloride-sensitive, transepithelial conductance that was due, at least in part, to a virtual abolition of the apical sodium permeability. Two lines of evidence indicate that this permeability decrease was dependent upon an increase in intracellular sodium content. First, raising the mucosal sodium concentration from 3–114 mM in the presence of ouabain reversibly inhibited the amiloride-sensitive conductance. The time course of the decline in conductance paralleled the apparent intracellular accumulation of sodium in exchange for potassium, which was monitored as a transient deflection in the amiloride-sensitive, short-circuit current. Second, the inhibitory effect of mucosal sodium-addition was markedly attenuated by serosal barium, which prevented the accumulation of sodium by blocking the electrically coupled, basolateral potassium exit. These results support the notion of a “negative feedback” effect of intracellular sodium on the apical sodium permeability.
Core Practices for Teaching History: The Results of a Delphi Panel Survey

AbstractRecent education literature and research has focused on identifying effective core teaching practices to inform and help shape teacher education and professional development. Although a rich literature on the teaching and learning of history has continued to develop over the past decade, core practice research has largely overlooked history–social studies and focused primarily on math, English-language arts, and science. This article takes a step toward identifying and defining core history teaching practices. It presents and discusses the findings from a Delphi panel survey of 26 expert history educators—teachers, teacher educators, and educational researchers—focused on building consensus around a set of core teaching practices for secondary history education.
On the Survival of Mallard Ducks After "Habituation" To the Hawk-Shaped Figure 1)

1. Mallard ducks were reared in a highly restricted environment from hatching until testing began at 25 days of age; the stimuli presented were moving cardboard models resembling a "hawk" or a "goose" in flight. 2. Non-emotional or enting responses toward the hawk and goose models are made by mallard ducks after more than two thousand presentations of the models and after there has been virtually a complete disappearance of overt fear response to them. 3. The orienting responses may be selective toward a particular model shape depending on the conditions of presentation. 4. The results suggest that the "habituation" of fear responses to the hawk shape is the result of a change in the organization of behavior, in which emotional disruption is replaced by non-emotional orienting responses.
“Joking isn't safe”;: Fanny fern, irony, and signifyin(g)

Abstract Much about the trope of irony is confusing. However, a consideration of the similarities between irony and African American Signification can help us recognize that this confusion can empower rhetors. One rhetor who can illustrate this power is Fanny Fern, a white nineteenth‐century American newspaper columnist whose rhetoric could be described as Signification. Simultaneously praising and condemning subjects such as suffrage, Fern was able to write on subjects forbidden to many. In addition, Fern's use of Signifyin(g) ironic rhetoric illustrates that language is not as determined as many would believe.
Modelling the Young's moduli of dental composites

Braem et al. [1] recently determined the Young's moduli of 55 isotropic dental composites using a dynamic method. Based on their experimental data, they propose an exponential fit for Young's modulus against composite filler fraction as a phenomenological model to predict the elastic modulus. They show this phenomonological model is bounded above and below by the Voigt and Reuss models, respectively (their Fig. 3). However, when the two end-component moduli differ by so much, here Efille r '~ 20 Ematrix , the traditional Voigt and Reuss models do not provide meaningful bounds on the elastic modulus of the composite through most of the range, e.g. even at 95% filler, merely 5% resin, the. Reuss modulus ER, is only approximately 54% of the Voigt odulus, EV; this amounts to a difference of 26 GPa between E v and E R . A similar problem in modelling bones' behaviour as a composite was discussed by Katz [2] and Piekarski [3]. Katz also applied an approximation of Hashin and Shtrikman [4] in order to obtain a tighter set of bounds. As Braem et al. [1] only measured the Young's modulus for each specimen, application of the Hashin-Shtr ikman approximation to their data involves some additional modelling. As is the case, in principle, with the Voigt and Reuss bounds, the Hashin-Shtr ikman calculation is based on obtaining the upper bounds, K u, G u, and lower bounds, KL, Gr~, of the bulk and shear moduli, respectively, for the two-phase composite, in this case silica (filler) with moduli Kr, Gf, and unfilled resin (matrix) with moduli Km, Gin. The upper bound, E u, and lower bound, EL, on the Young's modnli are then obtained using the isotropic relationship
Different algorithms for glycemic control will yield different results

To the Editor, We read with interest Abdelmalak et al.’s recent randomized controlled trial of insulin infusion algorithms. As stated in the title, ‘‘validation’’ of the algorithm is successful as reported. However, further statistical comparisons reported between the groups (Table 2) lose significance once the significant differences between the two treatment algorithms are appreciated. The conventional group is noteworthy in that so few patients (15%) were treated with insulin compared with those treated in the intensive group (90%). While the targets of glycemic control differed between the two groups, it is unclear how the conventional group could be expected to achieve glycemic control with such infrequent use of insulin. If an appropriate comparison is to be made between the two groups, treatment initiation should be equivalent. In the target group, insulin was started at a glucose level exactly that of the upper target limit (6.1 mmoL L). However, in the conventional group, insulin was introduced at a glucose level of 11.9 mmoL L, which is 7.5% above the upper target limit (11.1 mmoL L). Given the anticipated delay to achieve target range after start of insulin, the conventional group was disadvantaged from the outset, and assigning statistical significance to the % time in the relative target range favours the intensive group (Table 2). Furthermore, the desired target range prejudices the conventional treatment group further as that of the intensive group is significantly narrower (27-37% of outer limits vs 10-11%, respectively), again favouring the intensive group since % time within target is a reported measure. In Table 2, assigned statistical significance to differences in time within a glucose range of 4.4-6.1 mmoL L or even [ 6.1 mmoL L will obviously favour the intensive group, since the conventional group never received insulin at a glucose \ 8.3 mmoL L. We appreciate the authors’ publication of a detailed safe and effective insulin strategy. However, although statistical differences in glucose measures were found between the two groups, we caution that these are to be expected given the inherent inequalities assigned to the non-insulin conventional group management. Future prospective evaluations could include the same initial glucose trigger followed by divergent insulin algorithms. If separate triggers are chosen, insulin must be initiated at an equivalent point within the trigger range, and ranges should be mathematically comparable.
Endpoints in trials for clinical liver transplantation.

Purpose of reviewThe past decade has seen significant improvements in patient and graft survival following liver transplantation. Likewise, acute rejection rates have been dramatically reduced with newer immunologic agents. To this end, past and present conventional endpoints, such as short-term gra
Response of an elastic Bingham fluid to oscillatory shear

The response of an elastic Bingham fluid to oscillatory strain has been modeled and compared with experiments on an oil-in-water emulsion. The newly developed model includes elastic solid deformation below the yield stress (or strain), and Newtonian flow above the yield stress. In sinusoidal oscillatory deformations at low strain amplitudes the stress response is sinusoidal and in phase with the strain. At large strain amplitudes, above the yield stress, the stress response is non-linear and is out of phase with strain because of the storage and release of elastic recoverable strain. In oscillatory deformation between parallel disks the non-uniform strain in the radial direction causes the location of the yield surface to move in-and-out during each oscillation. The radial location of the yield surface is calculated and the resulting torque on the stationary disk is determined. Torque waveforms are calculated for various strains and frequencies and compared to experiments on a model oil-in-water emulsion. Model parameters are evaluated independently: the elastic modulus of the emulsion is determined from data at low strains, the yield strain is determined from the phase shift between torque and strain, and the Bingham viscosity is determined from the frequency dependence of the torque at high strains. Using these parameters the torque waveforms are predicted quantitatively for all strains and frequencies. In accord with the model predictions the phase shift is found to depend on strain but to be independent of frequency.
Exploring the design space of gestural interaction with active tokens through user-defined gestures

Multi-touch and tangible interfaces provide unique opportunities for enhancing learning and discovery with big data. However, existing interaction techniques have limitations when manipulating large data sets. Our goal is to define novel interaction techniques for multi-touch and tangible interfaces, which support the construction of complex queries for big data. In this paper, we present results from a study which investigates the use of gestural interaction with active tokens for manipulating large data sets. In particular, we studied user expectations of a hybrid tangible and gestural language engaging this space. Our main results include a vocabulary of user-defined gestures for interaction with active tokens, which extends beyond familiar multi-touch gestures; characterization of the design space of gestural interaction with active tokens; and insight into participants' mental models, including common metaphors. We also present implications for the design of multi-touch and tangible interfaces with active tokens.
Isolation of Human and Canine IgM Utilizing Protein a Affinity Chromatography

Human and canine high molecular weight IgM's were isolated employing a system of G-200 column chromatography and passage through a protein A Sepharose 4B column. Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis (PAGE) analysis of the isolated immunoglobulin revealed polypeptides corresponding to mu and light immunoglobulin chains of IgM which were identified immunochemically as IgM. Ultracentrifugation studies revealed that the isolated immunoglobulin co-migrated with 19S IgM markers. This simple and efficient procedure may serve as an alternative to classical isolation procedures of IgM from certain mammalian species.
Inferring affect from fMRI data

Neuroimaging findings are often interpreted in terms of affective experience, but researchers disagree about the advisability or even possibility of such inferences, and few frameworks explicitly link these levels of analysis. Here, we suggest that the spatial and temporal resolution of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data could support inferences about affective states. Specifically, we propose that fMRI nucleus accumbens (NAcc) activity is associated with positive arousal, whereas a combination of anterior insula activity and NAcc activity is associated with negative arousal. This framework implies quantifiable and testable inferences about affect from fMRI data, which may ultimately inform predictions about approach and avoidance behavior. We consider potential limits on neurally inferred affect before highlighting theoretical and practical benefits.
Networked real-time control strategies dealing with stochastic time delays and packet losses

A novel model-predictive-control strategy with a timeout scheme and p-step-ahead state estimation is presented in this paper to overcome the adverse influences of stochastic time delays and packet losses encountered in network-based real-time control. An open-loop unstable magnetic-levitation (maglev) test bed was constructed and employed for its experimental verification. The compensation algorithms developed in this paper deal with the network-induced stochastic time delays and packet losses in both the forward path and the feedback path simultaneously. With the p-sampling-period delay upper bound, the networked control system (NCS) can also accommodate up to p - 1 successive packet losses. Experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of this networked real-time control strategy.
Overcoming Impediments to Cell Phone Forensics

Cell phones are an emerging but rapidly growing area of computer forensics. While cell phones are becoming more like desktop computers functionally, their organization and operation are quite different in certain areas. For example, most cell phones do not contain a hard drive and rely instead on flash memory for persistent storage. Cell phones are also designed more as special-purpose appliances that perform a set of predefined tasks using proprietary embedded software, rather than general-purpose extensible systems that run common operating system software. Such differences make the application of classical computer forensic techniques difficult. Also complicating the situation is the state of the art of present day cell phone forensic tools themselves and the way in which tools are applied. This paper identifies factors that impede cell phone forensics and describes techniques to address two resulting problems in particular: the limited coverage of available phone models by forensic tools, and the inadequate means for validating the correct functioning of forensic tools.
Inhibition of rat prolactin release by apomorphine in vivo and in vitro.

Studies were performed to determine if apomorphine (APO), a specific dopamine receptor stimulant, was able to influence serum prolactin levels in vivo and in vitro. Administration of APO (ip, 20 mg/kg) to rats with normal 4-day estrous cycles reduced serum prolactin levels during diestrus and prevented the proestrous rise of serum prolactin. The elevation of serum prolactin observed after chlorpromazine treatment (2.5 or 1 /mg) was significantly attenuated by APO. In addition, treatment: of lactating rats with 15 mg/kg of APO prevented the suckling-induced rise of serum prolactin. These observations demonstrate that dopamine receptor stimulation results in inhibition of prolactin secretion in vivo. Incubation of pituitary halves in vitro with 8 + 10−8M (25 ng/ml) APO consistently resulted in a significant decrease in the amount of prolactin released by the pituitary tissue. Concentrations of APO as low as 1.6 + 10−8M (5 ng/ml) were effective.Pimozide, a specific dopamine antagonist, was able to reduce the...
MMSE multiuser detection for CDMA data networks

We consider minimum mean-squared-error (MMSE) design for multiuser detection in direct sequence/spread-spectrum (DS/SS) code division multiple access (CDMA) data networks. State-space model for the CDMA channel adopted. The multiuser detectors are shown to have the same form as the state estimators, and the MMSE detector to be equivalent to the Kalman filter after suitable augmentation with the mean-squared-error (MSE) preserved. The bit error rate (BER) is analyzed, and an illustrative example is worked out for the linear MMSE multiuser detector obtained in this paper.
Exercise training in postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome: Blocking the urge to block β-receptors?

See related article, pp 167–175 When heart rate is “too high,” perhaps the reflex therapeutic response is to give β-blockers. These drugs are certainly used to treat the excessive heart rate responses to standing seen in the Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS).1 In this context, since POTS was defined as an identifiable syndrome, ideas abut inadequate peripheral vasoconstriction, altered blood volume regulation, and baroreflex dysfunction emerged as pathophysiological explanations for it.2 However, the final common symptom pathway that seems to prompt many patients to seek medical attention is typically dominated by concerns about a high heart rate response to standing. Over the last 5 to 10 years, a number of investigators interested in exercise and familiar with bedrest deconditioning began to ask simple questions about the potential role of deconditioning in POTS and other forms of orthostatic intolerance.3–5 The driving forces behind these questions were observations in POTS patients that included low exercise tolerance, high heart rate responses during submaximal exercise, …
Faire plus avec moins : comment survivre à la transition économique au Yucatán, Mexique (1982-2002)

Surviving the Economic Transitions in Yucatan, Mexico, 1985-2002 Within the free market economic policy of contemporary Mexico, rural inhabitants are particularly prone to under-employment, a decline of purchasing power, low incomes, government withdrawal from social programs and a disorganized agricultural sector. Given these conditions, there should be a shift by extended rural families in the Yucatan state of southeastern Mexico, to return to a domestic (or food-) based income - to generate activities as a means of easing their growing economic vulnerability. We propose to examine the role of the domestic factor in the need to return to traditional survival strategies by rural Yucatecan families. Despite destabilizing economical and structural variables, mayadescendant mestizo populations have implemented effective combinations of income sources within a system of resource pooling on a domestic scale. One of the survival strategies they have implemented includes assigning a new role to the domestic unit, as one of production. The link between domestic production and the informal sector of the economy provides rural families a needed economic boost in the new rural economy.
OCCURRENCE OF TOMATO RINGSPOT VIRUS AND TOBACCO RINGSPOT VIRUS IN HIGHBUSH BLUEBERRY IN NEW YORK STATE

SUMMARY A survey for viruses by DAS-ELISA of highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) showing viruslike symptoms and decline in vigor, showed the occurrence of Tomato ringspot virus (ToRSV) and Tobacco ringspot virus (TRSV) in New York State (USA). The presence of the two viruses was confirmed in leaf samples by RT-PCR and IC-RT-PCR with appropriate primer pairs that amplify a 320 bp and a 585 bp fragment of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase gene of TRSV and ToRSV, respectively. Comparative sequence analysis of viral amplicons of New York isolates indicated moderate (80.7-99.7%) and high (90.8-99.7%) nucleotide sequence identities with other ToRSV and TRSV strains, respectively. Analysis of soil samples from the root zone of blueberry bushes for the occurrence of dagger nematodes revealed the presence of Xiphinema americanum-group nematodes at low population densities. Cucumber bait plants potted in soil samples containing X. americanum became infected with ToRSV or TRSV in a greenhouse. Together, these findings show the occurrence of ToRSV and, to a lesser extent, TRSV in highbush blueberry plantings in New York, as well as of the vector X. americanum sensu lato.
Method for monitoring the electromagnetic impacts due to high voltage overheads lines in Aosta Valley

The aim of this paper is to show the methodology used by the Environment Protection Agency (ARPA) of the Aosta Valley for evaluating the electromagnetic impact due to high voltage overhead lines which cross the region, with regards to public exposure. Simulation and inspections have been used to identify the buildings which can be characterized by electromagnetic pollution, due to their proximity to the lines. After the measurements it is definitely possible verify if limits are exceeded, evaluate the exposure level of population living near the lines and identify actions to reduce it. So far, two important branches were examined with the purpose to extend the controls to all lines in Aosta Valley.
MELUS: A Community of Intellectuals, Scholars, and Teachers for Forty Years

It is unclear to me now precisely when in the 1990s I read my first issue of MELUS. I do know that the journal was on my radar before I had become aware of MELUS as a literary society. My return to graduate school in 1988, after realizing the limitations of my Master’s degree in allowing me to pursue the type of scholarly writing that I had wished to do, resulted in my introduction to the journal. I believe that the first time I read the journal I was very likely in the M. D. Anderson Library at the University of Houston, although I also might have borrowed the volume from the library and read it elsewhere. Someone had told me that my scholarship might be welcomed in MELUS. And it was. I imagine perhaps skimming volume eighteen, but I vividly recall issue 19.3, “Intertextualities.” The cover displays a crossword puzzle interlocking names of ethnic US writers linking to the name Shakespeare prominently displayed in boxes near the center of the puzzle. I do not know whether my current feelings about that image were conscious to me in the 1990s, but now that image seems to make a powerful statement about the politics of the linguistic and literary results of colonialism, imperialism, settlers, displacement, migration, diaspora, ethnicity, and reconfiguration. In 1994, at the time of the MELUS 19.3 publication, I had been reading Native American and Asian American literature in addition to my primary scholarly interest in African American literature. That volume of the journal includes an article on writings by Rudolfo Anaya, whose Bless Me Ultima (1972) had enchanted me with its language and the power of its narrative. The issue also includes an article focusing on women’s voices in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior (1976) and Isabel Allende’s The House of Spirits (1982). Kingston’s novel already had contributed to my pleasures in complex narratives. Novels by Toni Morrison and Gloria Naylor are the focus of another article connecting their writing to Shakespeare, and to round out the intellectual pleasures in the issue, Jack Kerouac is the subject of another scholarly article. Where else could I have found all of that? I was a fellow traveler and have remained so since that time. I probably joined MELUS in 1996 (although it could have been 1995 or 1997), as I recall wishing to attend the conference in Hawai’i yet not being able to do so.
Molecular cloning and transcriptional regulation of ompT, a ToxR-repressed gene in Vibrio cholerae.

Summary In pathogenic Vibrio cholerae, at least 17 genes are co-ordinately regulated by ToxR. Most of these genes, including those that encode cholera toxin (CT), toxin co-regulated pilus (TCP), accessory colonization factor (ACF) and OmpU, are positively regulated. OmpT is the only identified protein under negative regulation of ToxR. To understand the molecular mechanism by which ToxR represses OmpT expression, we cloned ompT and characterized the ompT promoter and its interaction with ToxR. Sequence analysis revealed that ompT encodes a predicted 35.8 kDa outer membrane porin of V. cholerae. Primer extension analysis identified a transcriptional start site 104 bp upstream of the translational start codon. Both primer extension analysis and promoter fusion studies showed that ToxR represses OmpT expression at the transcriptional level. Promoter fusion studies also suggest that cyclic AMP receptor protein (CRP) is involved in ompT activation. Gel mobility shift assays combined with DNase I footprinting analysis demonstrated that ToxR mediates repression of ompT transcription by directly binding to an A/T-rich region between ˇ95 and ˇ30 of the ompT promoter. To further understand how the interaction of ToxR with different promoters results in its function as an activator or repressor, we have also mapped the regions on the ctxAB and toxT promoters to which ToxR binds. The regions protected by ToxR on each of these promoters are all A/T rich and large in size, although they are positioned differently relative to each transcriptional start site.
DEVICE FOR MEASURING SHEAR RESISTANCE OF HOT-MIX ASPHALT IN GYRATORY COMPACTOR

The development of a gyratory load-cell and plate assembly (GLPA) to measure the shear resistance of hot-mix asphalt mixtures is described. The GLPA is a simple tool that allows the measurement of the eccentricity of the resultant load applied by the gyratory compactor in real time during compaction. The GLPA is inserted on top of the mixture specimen in the compaction mold, requiring no changes in the compaction procedure. The results from the GLPA give a continuous measure of the resistance of asphalt mixtures to shearing under gyratory loading at a fixed angle. On the basis of a simplified analysis, it is hypothesized that the bulk shear resistance estimated from the GLPA is a good indicator of the compactibility of asphalt mixtures and their potential resistance to rutting under traffic. The shear resistance and volumetric characteristics of a number of trial mixtures fabricated in the laboratory were tested to show the utility of the GLPA. The results show that the shear resistance is highly sensitiv...
Impact crater related surficial deposits on Venus: Multipolarization radar observations with Arecibo

[1] The distribution of surficial deposits in the vicinity of impact craters on Venus was studied using measurements of the polarization properties of the reflected radar wave. Subsurface scattering of an incident circularly polarized radar signal results in a linearly polarized component in the radar echo due to the differing transmission coefficients at a smooth (at wavelength scales) atmosphere-surface boundary for the horizontal (H) and vertical (V) linearly polarized components of the incident wave. Arecibo 12.6 cm wavelength radar observations in 1999 and 2001 provided images of the surface of Venus in the full Stokes polarization parameters of the reflected echo, from which images in the degree of linear polarization were derived. These images show that substantial areas of Sedna, Guinevere, and Lavinia Planitias return a radar echo with a significant degree of linear polarization, indicating that mantling deposits may be relatively widespread on the plains of Venus. The areas showing linear polarization enhancements are strongly correlated with topographic features, primarily impact craters, dome fields, and windblown deposits, including dune fields. A strong linearly polarized echo component (∼10–40% linear polarization) is found from regions near 45 impact craters, including 5 parabolas. These linear polarization features typically correspond to diffuse, higher backscatter cross-section (bright) regions in Magellan images. The linearly polarized component in these regions is attributed to subsurface echoes from a mantled substrate or from buried rocks.
Somatosympathetic Reflexes From the Low Back in the Anesthetized Cat

In the appendicular skeleton, substantial evidence demonstrates that somatosensory input from deep tissues including limb muscles and joints elicits somatosympathetic reflexes. Much less is known a...
Una pedagogía antimétodo: Una perspectiva freiriana

Ante el fracaso educativo, algunos educadores liberales o neoliberales han redescubierto a Freire como una alternativa a un modelo educacional mas conservador. Han reivindicado la pedagogia de Freire al mismo tiempo que una actitud paternalista hacia aquellos estudiantes o comunidades que intentaban dotarse a si mismos de poder. Estos educadores y educadoras han intentado tambien estructurar el debate educativo en base a la competitividad y privatizacion de las escuelas. Han reducido la pedagogia de Freire al metodo, sin tener en cuenta el hecho de que las ideas principales de Freire trascienden el mero metodo para guiamos hacia el pensamiento critico y hacia una toma de conciencia sobre nuestra presencia en el mundo. El metodo dialogico, entendido como solamente un metodo, puede consistir en nada mas que un mero grupo de terapia. En cambio, si vamos mas alla de su contenido metodologico, el dialogo freiriano implica todo un proyecto politico dirigido a desmantelar las estructuras opresivas. La pedagogia antimetodo rechaza los rigidos paradigmas metodologicos y nos hace entender el dialogo como una forma de praxis social. En este sentido, el compartir experiencias esta enfocado a la reflexion y la accion politica. La pedagogia antimetodo nos libera de certezas y especializaciones y estimula nuestra capacidad critica para entender el mundo y hacemos conscientes de nuestra presencia en el. ABSTRACT Against educational failure, some liberal or neoliberal educators have rediscovered Freire as an altemative to a more conservative educational model. They have claimed Freire's pedagogy while adopting a patemalistic attitude towards those students or communities that try to empower themselves. These educators have also attempted to structure the educational debate in terms ofschool competition and privatization. They have reduced Freire s pedagogy to a method without taking into account the fact that Freire's leading ideas transcend a mere method to guide us towards critical thinking and towards the awareness of our own presence in the world. The dialogic method, if taken only as a method, can consist of no more than a mere group therapy. Yet if we move beyond its methodological content, Freirean dialogue involves a whole political project that aims to dismantle oppressive structures. The antimethod pedagogy refuses rigid methodological paradigms and makes US view dialogue as a form of social praxis. In this way, the sharing of experiences is aimed at reflection and political action. The antimethod pedagogy frees us from certainties and specialisms and fosters our critical.
Pn and Sn tomography across Eurasia to improve regional seismic event locations

Abstract This paper has three motivations: first, to map P n and S n velocities beneath most of Eurasia to reveal information on a length scale relevant to regional tectonics, second, to test recently constructed 3-D mantle models and, third, to develop and test a method to produce P n and S n travel time correction surfaces which are the 3-D analogue of travel time curves for a 1-D model. Our third motive is inspired by the need to improve regional location capabilities in monitoring nuclear treaties such as the nuclear Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). To a groomed version of the ISC/NEIC data, we apply the tomographic method of Barmin et al. [Pure Appl. Geophys. (2001)], augmented to include station and event corrections and an epicentral distance correction. The P n and S n maps are estimated on a 1°×1° grid throughout Eurasia. We define the phases P n and S n as arriving between epicentral distances of 3° and 15°. After selection, the resulting data set consists of about 1,250,000 P n and 420,000 S n travel times distributed inhomogeneously across Eurasia. The rms misfit to the entire Eurasian data set from the P n and S n model increases nearly linearly with distance and averages about 1.6 s for P n and 3.2 s for S n , but is better for events that occurred on several nuclear test sites and for selected high-quality data subsets. The P n and S n maps compare favorably with recent 3-D models of P and S in the uppermost mantle and with recently compiled teleseismic station corrections across the region. The most intriguing features on the maps are the low-velocity anomalies that characterize most tectonically deformed regions such as the anomaly across central and southern Asia and the Middle East that extends along a tortuous path from Turkey in the west to Lake Baikal in the east. These anomalies are related to the closing of the Neo-Tethys Ocean and the collision of India with Asia. The uppermost mantle beneath the Pacific Rim back-arc is also very slow, presumably due to upwelling that results from back-arc spreading, as is the Red Sea rift, the Tyrrhenian Sea and other regions undergoing active extension.
Two Modes of North American Drought from Instrumental and Paleoclimatic Data

Abstract Droughts, which occur as a part of natural climate variability, are expected to increase in frequency and/or severity with global climate change. An improved understanding of droughts and their association with atmospheric circulation will add to the knowledge about the controls on drought, and the ways in which changes in climate may impact droughts. In this study, 1) major drought patterns across the United States have been defined, 2) the robustness of these patterns over time using tree-ring-based drought reconstructions have been evaluated, and 3) the drought patterns with respect to global atmospheric pressure patterns have been assessed. From this simple assessment, it is suggested that there are two major drought patterns across North America, which together account for about 30% of the total variance in drought patterns—one resembles the classic ENSO teleconnection, and the other displays an east–west drought dipole. The same two patterns are evident in the instrumental data and the reco...
Discriminative stimulus effects of a centrally administered, delta-opioid peptide (d-Pen2-d-Pen5-enkephalin) in pigeons

The present study assessed the discriminative stimulus effects of the delta-opioid agonist [d-Pen2-d-Pen5]enkephalin (DPDPE) in pigeons. Food-restricted pigeons were trained to discriminate between ICV injections of 100 µg [d-Pen2-d-Pen5]enkephalin (DPDPE) and saline in a two-key operant procedure; acquisition of discriminative control was rapid (14–28 daily sessions). [d-Ser2, Leu5, Thr6]enkephalin (DSLET) and [d-Ala2]deltorphin II, peptides selective for delta-opioid receptors, produced discriminative stimulus effects similar to DPDPE, and were approximately equipotent to DPDPE. The non-peptidic, delta-opioid agonist BW373U86 (0.032–100 mg/kg, IM) partially generalized to DPDPE. The kappa-opioid agonist U69,593 (0.01–1 mg/kg, IM), and the mu-opioid agonists, DAMGO (0.1–3.2 µg, ICV) and morphine (1–10 mg/kg, IM), did not produce discriminative stimulus effects similar to DPDPE, up to doses that markedly decreased response rates. Naltrindole (0.1 mg/kg, IM), an antagonist selective for deltaopioid receptors, produced approximately a 30-fold reduction in the potency of DPDPE. DPDPE's discriminative stimulus effect in pigeons appears to be mediated through a delta-opioid receptor; this effect may provide a procedure for assessing delta-opioid receptor function in vivo.
Efficient computation of optimal assignments for distributed tasks

Abstract We consider the problem of finding an optimal assignment of the modules of a program to processors in a distributed system. A module incurs an execution cost that may be different for each processor assignment, and modules that are not assigned to the same processor but that communicate with one another incur a communication cost. An optimal assignment minimizes the sum of the module execution costs and the intermodule communication costs. This problem is known to be NP-complete for more than three processors. Using a branch-and-bound-with-underestimates algorithm to reduce the size of the search tree, we evaluate its average time and space complexity for two underestimating functions through simulation. The more complex of the two functions, called the minimum independent assignment cost underestimate (MIACU), performs extremely well over a wide range of values of program model parameters such as the number of modules, the number of processors, and the ratio of average module execution cost to average intermodule communication cost. By reordering the list of modules to allow a subset of modules that do not communicate with one another to be assigned last, further improvements using MIACU are possible.
The catenin family at a glance

Members of the catenin family were first isolated complexed with the cytoplasmic domains of cadherins at cell-cell junctions, and this relationship is considered one of the defining aspects of catenins. Their functions at such contacts are multifaceted and remain under active study and discussion.
EEG and Arteriographical Findings in Carotid Artery Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIAs)

Thirty patients over 35 years of age with one or more episodes of carotid TIA lasting less than one hour were studied. No patient had a history of brain disease and each had an EEG followed by an arteriogram. Arteriographical study showed 15 patients to have occlusive disease of the internal carotid artery, and four of these had intracranial occlusive arterial disease as well. An additional three patients had only intracranial occlusive arterial disease. Twelve patients had normal arteriographical studies. The EEGs of nine patients were diffusely or focally slow. Twenty-one patients had normal records. Six of the nine patients with abnormal EEGs had arteriographical evidence of intracranial occlusive arterial disease. Only one patient with extracranial carotid stenosis alone showed an EEG abnormality. In two patients with an abnormal EEG the arteriogram was completely normal or showed insignificant change. These data indicate that the EEG has the capacity to reflect changes in cerebral function not clinic...
Disseminated tuberculosis with tuberculous meningitis in an immunocompetent host

Disseminated tuberculosis (TB) results from the lymphohematogenous spread of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Despite the availability of effective therapy, diagnosis is usually late and mortality remains high. We report a case of a 29-year-old male with a history of alcohol abuse that presented with altered mental status and was found to have a ‘tree-in-bud’ sign on chest radiography. Chest computed tomography revealed innumerable pulmonary nodules in a miliary pattern. Examination of sputum and cerebrospinal fluid was positive for M. tuberculosis on nucleic acid amplification testing. The case emphasizes the importance of considering disseminated TB in patients with risk factors and typical radiographic patterns even in geographic areas with low disease prevalence.
Metabolic regulation of leaf respiration and alternative pathway activity in response to phosphate supply

In this study the question whether the alternative respiratory pathway acts as an electron bypass for the cytochrome pathway under conditions of growth on limited phosphorus in leaves of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) and Gliricidia sepium Walp was investigated. The oxygen isotope fractionation technique was used to assess the in vivo activities of the cytochrome and alternative respiratory pathways in the absence of added inhibitors. The response of respiration to low phosphorus supply varied among species. Growth at low phosphorus reduced cytochrome pathway activity in bean and tobacco. Alternative pathway activity increased only in bean leaves in response to low phosphorus and not in tobacco. In the case of G. sepium, cytochrome pathway activity remained unchanged whereas the alternative pathway activity increased with low nutritional phosphorus. At low phosphorus, alternative oxidase protein levels increased in the leaves of bean and G. sepium but not in tobacco, suggesting a dependence of alternative pathway activity on protein level. Alternative pathway activity was also not correlated with soluble carbohydrate concentration in bean or tobacco at any phosphorus level. These results show that the alternative pathway does not always act as an electron bypass in response to the downstream restriction of the cytochrome pathway imposed by low phosphorus supply. These results suggest that factors in addition to cellular carbohydrate level and adenylate control can act to regulate alternative pathway activity.