cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An expert system for improving nuclear emergency response

The accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl have produced initiatives aimed at improving nuclear power plant emergency response capabilities. These initiatives include the development of emergency response facilities with capabilities for the acquisition, processing, and diagnosis of data. Such facilities are needed to help coordinate plant operations, engineering support and management under emergency conditions. A shift in the way operators and other nuclear power plant personnel are trained to deal with emergencies occurred, namely, from the event-oriented approach to the symptom-oriented approach. The result of this shift is reflected in the use of computerized devices such as the safety parameter display system (SPDS). Other computer aides have been developed which address some of the problems of information overload in the control room, however, a need for additional sides has been identified. A prototype expert system, EPX, has been proposed to address some of these needs. The EPX (Emergency Planning eXpert) system is a prototype expert system intended to help coordinate the overall management during emergency conditions using data available at the control room and the emergency operations facility (EOF). It was built using the GEN-X expert system shell developed by General Electric. Among its main features is its variety of knowledge representation mechanisms. The EPX system runs on an IBM PC-XT or AT computer or compatible. It is portable, modular, user friendly, can interact with external programs and interrogate data bases. This system can run in the interactive or semi-automated mode. The knowledge base was built using several knowledge acquisition methods, such as interviews, participation in drills, card method, etc. Knowledge was obtained from several sources, namely, State Procedures for Emergency Classification, State Radiological Emergency Preparedness Plan, and expertise from several agencies, the NY State Radiological Emergency Preparedness Group, the NY Power Authority and American Nuclear Insurers. The EPX system was validated since its inception and throughout its development by independent experts, while running pre-planned scenarios as well as some "on-the-spot" cases. Several methods were employed to grade its performance. The EPX can be used for training personnel in emergency response, for designing drills and for playing "what-if" games. Future versions of it could interface directly with the plant computer or SPDS and ask only "judgmental" questions. We believe that the use of expert systems by plant operators, when making decisions of potential safety risk, can act as a check and a source of valuable information, and help increase the overall safety of the plant.
A theme-based hybrid simulation model to train and evaluate emergency medicine residents.

Objectives: The authors sought to design an integrated theme-based hybrid simulation experience to educate and evaluate emergency medicine (EM) residents, to measure the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) competencies using this simulation model, to measure the impact of the simulation experience on resident performance on written tests, and to measure resident satisfaction with this simulation experience. Methods: A theme-based hybrid simulation model that takes advantage of multiple simulation modalities in a concentrated session was developed and executed to both educate and evaluate EM residents. Simulation days took place at an integrated simulation center and replaced one 5-hour didactic block per quarter. Modified competency checklists were used to evaluate residents based on ACGME competencies. Written tests were administered before, during, and after simulation days. Residents were given the opportunity to evaluate the simulation days using standard residency program evaluation tools. Results: The model was proven feasible. Core competencies were measured using the model, which was executed on four occasions in 2007. Most residents met expectations based on objective checklist criteria and subjective assessment by an observing faculty member. Data from the written tests showed no overall difference in scores measured before, during, or after the simulation days. The simulation model was rated highly useful by the residents. Conclusions: With the use of a highly developed simulation center and an organized, theme-based, hybrid simulation model that takes advantage of multiple simulation modalities, the authors were able to successfully develop an educational model to both train and evaluate EM residents with a high degree of resident satisfaction.
Cryptococcal xylosyltransferase 1 (Cxt1p) from Cryptococcus neoformans plays a direct role in the synthesis of capsule polysaccharides.

The opportunistic yeast Cryptococcus neoformans causes serious disease in humans and expresses a prominent polysaccharide capsule that is required for its virulence. Little is known about how this capsule is synthesized. We previously identified a β1,2-xylosyltransferase (Cxt1p) with in vitro enzymatic activity appropriate for involvement in capsule synthesis. Here, we investigate C. neoformans strains in which the corresponding gene has been deleted (cxt1Δ). Loss of CXT1 does not affect in vitro growth of the mutant cells or the general morphology of their capsules. However, NMR structural analysis of the two main capsule polysaccharides, glucuronoxylomannan (GXM) and galactoxylomannan (GalXM), showed that both were missing β1,2-xylose residues. There was an ∼30% reduction in the abundance of this residue in GXM in mutant compared with wild-type strains, and mutant GalXM was almost completely devoid of β1,2-linked xylose. The GalXM from the mutant strain was also missing a β1,3-linked xylose residue. Furthermore, deletion of CXT1 led to attenuation of cryptococcal growth in a mouse model of infection, suggesting that the affected xylose residues are important for normal host-pathogen interactions. Cxt1p is the first glycosyltransferase with a defined role in C. neoformans capsule biosynthesis, and cxt1Δ is the only strain identified to date with structural alterations of the capsule polysaccharide GalXM.
Retention of silica nanoparticles on calcium carbonate sands immersed in electrolyte solutions.

Understanding nanoparticle–surface adhesion is necessary to develop inert tracers for subsurface applications. Here we show that nanoparticles with neutral surface charge may make the best subsurface tracers, and that it may be possible to used SiO2 nanoparticle retention to measure the fraction of solid surface that has positive charge. We show that silica nanoparticles dispersed in NaCl electrolyte solutions are increasingly retained in calcium carbonate (calcite) sand-packed columns as the solution ionic strength increases, but are not retained if they are injected in pure water or Na2SO4 electrolyte solutions. The particles retained in the NaCl experiments are released when the column is flushed with pure water or Na2SO4 solution. AFM measurements on calcite immersed in NaCl solutions show the initial repulsion of a silica colloidal probe as the surface is approached is reduced as the solution ionic strength increases, and that at high ionic strengths it disappears entirely and only attraction remains. These AFM measurements and their interpretation with Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (DLVO) theory shows the calcite surface charge is always negative for Na2SO4 solutions, but changes from negative to positive in a patchy fashion as the ionic strength of the NaCl solution increases. Since mixed-charge (patchy) surfaces may be common in the subsurface, nanoparticles with near-zero charge may make the best tracers.
The Synthesis of High-purity Oscillations Suitable for Single-sideband Receivers

An oscillator is controlled by a phase locked loop, its output frequency being mixed with a selected part of a 100 kc/s spectrum to form an i.f. in the 900–1000 kc/s region. This i.f. feeds one side of a phase detector, the other side being fed by an interpolating signal. The latter may be derived either by another similar stage operating at a lower frequency, or by any other suitable method, the required purity in this signal being only of the order of 40 dB. The a.p.c. loop will lock when the i.f. and the interpolating frequency are the same. In the locked condition an additional filter is switched into the loop by means of a quadrature phase detector, and this filter reduces the amplitude of spurious frequencies and noise in the output. The paper discusses factors affecting the resultant purity.
Integration, interoperability, and information management: What are the key issues for nanomanufacturing?

Nanomanufacturing can be defined as all manufacturing activities that collectively support an approach to design, produce, control, modify, manipulate, and assemble nanometer scale objects and features for the purpose of fabricating a product or system that exploits properties seen at the nanoscale. This includes information technologies and systems that support each aspect of this collective approach. This paper focuses on research topics centered on information technology for manufacturing and metrology applications that are broadly grouped into three categories: integration, interoperability, and information management.
Nonagonistic familiarity decreases aggression in male Turkish hamsters, Mesocricetus brandti

In laboratory studies, hamsters (Mesocricetus spp.) exhibit intense male-male aggression, thus making them an excellent model system for studies of the functional and mechanistic bases of aggression. In a field study of golden hamsters (M. auratus) in the wild, however, the few documented male-male interactions were not highly aggressive. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that familiarity modulates aggression in hamsters. Previous investigations of the effects of familiarity on aggression have mostly involved familiarization of unfamiliar individuals through agonistic interactions. Here we allowed male Turkish hamsters (M. brandti) to become familiar with each other by housing them together but separated by a wire-mesh partition (thus 'non-agonistic' familiarity). We found that although non-agonistic familiarity did not decrease investigation of the familiar male, it did decrease the occurrence of fights, the number of fights, and the percentage of time fighting; it also increased the latency to fight. These results are consistent with the 'dear enemy' hypothesis, which proposes that males are less aggressive toward familiar neighbors than to unfamiliar conspecifics because previous interactions have provided enough information about the other individual to render severe aggression unnecessary. Most importantly, our results suggest that information gained about other individuals through non-agonistic interactions decrease the frequency and intensity of fights with those individuals. We conclude that results from laboratory studies on aggression that do not consider the kind of social interactions that individuals have in nature should be interpreted with caution.
Agonistic Behavior of Mice and Rats: A Review

This paper reviews the results of research on the agonistic behavior of wild and tame strains of house mice ( Mus musculus ) and the Norway rat ( Rattus norvegicus ) and covers papers that have appeared since an earlier review (Scott and Fredericson, 1951) Various methods for observing, measuring, and eliciting fighting are described and their appropriate uses discussed. Measures of latency and frequency are more satisfactory than arbitrary rating scales. Situations involving competition over food present complex motivational problems. The basic agonistic behavior patterns (ethograms) of rats and mice are compared. Differences appear in the lack of playful fighting and weaning threats in mice, the dual “boxing” posture of rats, and the unique “tail rattling” in mice. Both species are alike in their inability to form complex dominance hierarchies in which fighting is reduced to threat and avoidance. As a general theory, each species has evolved behavior patterns and physiological mechanisms of behavior which are adaptively related to its own social organization and population dynamics. Mice and rats have evolved along different lines both from each other and other species of mammals.
Complications by age in primary pediatric renal transplant recipients.

We asked whether pediatric renal transplant recipients, subgrouped by age, differed in the percentage and number of hospital readmissions and in the incidence of infectious complications post transplant. Between 1 August 1985 and 31 October 1993, a total of 164 patients 5 years, urinary tract infection. The overall incidence of viral infection did not differ among groups (P = NS). The most common viral infection in recipients ≤5 years was varicella and those >5 years, cytomegalovirus infection. Risk factors for infection in the first 6 months post transplant included age <2 years and Solu-Medrol treatment for acute rejection. In conclusion, young recipients <2 years of age at the time of transplant are at a higher risk for bacterial infection post transplant.
Philosophical Sense and Classical Chinese Thought

A Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought Chad Hansen, 1992 New York; Oxford University Press xvi + 448 pp., hb $65.00
Two-photon and time-resolved fluorescence conformational studies of aggregation in amyloid peptides.

The conformational changes associated with the aggregation of proteins are critical to the understanding of fundamental molecular events involved in early processes of neurodegenerative diseases. A...
Shock waves in relativistic nuclear matter. I

We develop the relativistic Rankine-Hugoniot relations for a three-dimensional plane shock and a three-dimensional oblique shock. Using these discontinuity relations together with various equations of state for nuclear matter, we calculate the temperatures and the compressibilities attainable by shock compression for a wide range of laboratory kinetic energy of the projectile.
ISOLATING MECHANISMS IN HYBRIDS OF GOSSYPIUM GOSSYPIOIDES

THE CROSSING BEHAVIOR of Gossypium gossypioides (Ulbr.) Standley from Mexico has recently been described by the authors (Brown and Menzel, 1952a, b). Crosses were readily effected with several diploid species (G. herbaceum, G. arboreum, G. anomalum, G. thurberi), and with natural and synthetic tetraploids (G. hirsutum, tetraploid G. arboreum, and allotetraploid arboreuum-anomalum, and arboreum-stocksii), but the hybrids died, usually in the cotyledon stage. The lethality was least pronounced in the hirsutum-gossypioides hybrids, which usually produced a few buds before the characteristic stem necrosis was fatal. One exception to the general hybrid incompatibility of G. gossypioides was the hybrid between G. raimondii and G. gossypioides, which was vigorous and flowered freely. It was also found that when crosses were made between the F1 hybrid thurberi-raimondii and G. gossyp,ioides, viable hybrids were obtained. The present paper reports additional observations on the latter two types of viable diploid hybrids, and the results of crossing G. gossypioides with the allotetraploid species, G. barbadense. Certain aspects of the hybrids between G. raimondii and G. thurberi, and between G. hirsutum and G. barbadense, which have a bearing on the genetic structure of G. gossypioides, will also be discussed. MATERIALS AND METHODS.-It has been amply demonstrated bv a number of workers that the natural allotetraploid species G. barbadense and G. hirsutum have one set of chromosomes similar to those of the cultivated Asiatic diploid species, G. arboreum and G. herbaceum (the A genome), and one set similar to those of the American wild diploids (the D genome). The genome formulae of the species discussed here, following the scheme initiated by Beasley (1940), are as follows: G. thurberi, 2D1,; G. raimondii, 2Ds; G. gossypioides, 2D%; G. hirsutum, 2 (AD) 1; G. barbadense, 2 (AD) 2. The subgenomes of G. hirsutum are referred to as Ah and Dh, and those of G. barbadense, Ab and Db. Cytological studies were made of acetocarmine smears of pollen mother cells. All parents and hybrids were grown in the greenhouse with the exception of the segregating generations of the hirsutum-barbadense crosses, which were grown in field plots during the summers of 1951 and 1953. VIABLE HYBRIDS OF G. GOSSYPIOIDES WITH OTHER DIPLOIDS.-The raimondii-gossypioides F1 hybrid.As reported previously, the raimondii-gossypioides
Ordering due to disorder in dipolar magnets on two-dimensional lattices

We calculate the effects of thermal fluctuations, dilution, and a uniform external field on the continuously degenerate ground state of dipolar magnets on the square and honeycomb lattices. In all cases, these perturbations make terms in the free energy that favor particular states, reducing the continuous degeneracy to a discrete symmetry. Dilution and thermal selection compete; i.e., they select different states. For the cases of thermal fluctuations and dilution, the discrete symmetry is fourfold on the square lattice and sixfold on the honeycomb lattice; for a uniform field it is twofold and threefold, respectively. In addition, dilution generates effective random axes, which disorder all of the selected phases in each system, except for the dilution-selected phase of the square lattice. We present a proposed phase diagram including speculations on the finite-temperature transition.
Improving schedulability and energy efficiency for real-time systems with (m,k)-guarantee

In this paper, we explore improving the schedulability and energy performance for real-time systems with (m, k)-constraints, which require that at least m out of any k consecutive jobs of a task meet their deadlines. The preliminary results demonstrated that our proposed approach is very promising in achieving these dual goals.
Synthesis and Potent Anti-HIV Activity of l-3‘-Fluoro-2‘,3‘-Unsaturated Cytidine

l-2‘,3‘-Didehydro-2‘,3‘-dideoxy-3‘-fluorocytidine (l-3‘-Fd4C), a novel potent anti-HIV agent (EC50 0.03 μM in PBM cells), has been synthesized from l-xylose in 14 steps.
Introduction: Civil Service Training

“Competent employees don't remain competent forever. Skills deteriorate and can become obsolete. That's why organizations spend billions of dollars each year on formal training.”1 This symposium ex...
Hip-hop redemption: Finding God in the rhythm and the rhyme

Ralph Basui Watkins, Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2011, xii + 159 pp., $17.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-8010-3311-7 In the spirit of Watkins's semi-autobiographical writing style, it is appropriate ...
SANS and SAXS studies of pluronic L64 in concentrated solution

Abstract The supramolecular structure, formed by a PEO-PPO-PEO copolymer, PEO 13 PEO 30 -PEO 13 or Pluronic L64, in mixtures of xylene/water, was investigated by small-angle X-ray scattering over a temperature range of 25–60°C and by small-angle neutron scattering over a temperature range of 13–29°C. The large aggregates had a hexagonally packed cylindrical structure with the interdomain spacing being in the order of ∼ 10 nm interdomain spacing increased with increasing amount of solubilized water in the large aggregates.
Electronic Structure and Stability of Semiconducting Graphene Nanoribbons

We present a systematic density functional theory study of the electronic properties, optical spectra, and relative thermodynamic stability of semiconducting graphene nanoribbons. We consider ribbons with different edge nature including bare and hydrogen-terminated ribbons, several crystallographic orientations, and widths up to 3 nm. Our results can be extrapolated to wider ribbons providing a qualitative way of determining the electronic properties of ribbons with widths of practical significance. We predict that in order to produce materials with band gaps similar to Ge or InN, the width of the ribbons must be between 2 and 3 nm. If larger bang gap ribbons are needed (like Si, InP, or GaAs), their width must be reduced to 1-2 nm. According to the extrapolated inverse power law obtained in this work, armchair carbon nanoribbons of widths larger than 8 nm will present a maximum band gap of 0.3 eV, while for ribbons with a width of 80 nm the maximum possible band gap is 0.05 eV. For chiral nanoribbons the band gap oscillations rapidly vanish as a function of the chiral angle indicating that a careful design of their crystallographic nature is an essential ingredient for controlling their electronic properties. Optical excitations show important differences between ribbons with and without hydrogen termination and are found to be sensitive to the carbon nanoribbon width. This should provide a practical way of revealing information on their size and the nature of their edges.
Potentiation by cocaine of the stimulus-induced increase in dopamine synthesis in rat brain striatal synaptosomes.

Abstract Rat brain striatal synaptosomes respond to short-term exposure to depolarizing concentrations of veratridine with an increase in the rate of dopamine synthesis. This increase is potentiated by concentrations of cocaine (1–100 μM) or benztropine (10 μM) which significantly inhibit dopamine uptake. In addition, the subsequent inhibition of dopamine synthesis that occurs during prolonged exposure to veratridine is markedly antagonized by cocaine. At a higher concentration (1 mM), cocaine caused a 45% inhibition of synthesis, and completely blocked the veratridine-induced synthesis stimulation. These results suggest that following depolarization newly released dopamine may play a role in regulating its own synthesis rate by a process involving neuronal re-uptake and that this regulation can be significantly altered by agents, such as cocaine, which can inhibit dopamine re-uptake.
Hearth and Household Economy in an Andean Village

This study situates fuel collection and hearth activity in a rural village (Machu Picchu Historic Sanctuary, Cusco, Peru) as cultural practices essential to securing household and collective production and reproduction. The physical hearth is spatially fluid, allowing it to serve as material and symbolic center throughout the household's life cycle. All members from children to the elderly participate in fuel collection, providing a new means of defining household composition. Wood connects the house to uncultivated landscapes and supports reciprocal labor networks and community festivals. Gendered and intergenerational divisions of labor result in four types of collection trips involving different plant species, wood sizes, and source ecosystems. With increased tourism to Machu Picchu, daily and seasonal labor patterns are changing as men and women do tourism work and children are educated in town. The physical hearth becomes more mobile as houses are improved. Changing labor patterns mean women bear an ...
Bias in a placebo-controlled study due to mismeasurement of disease status and the regression effect.

We raise the concern of whether the use of a placebo group in a randomized clinical trial is sufficient to eliminate bias in the assessment of the effectiveness of a drug when enrollment into the trial prior to intervention requires diagnosis of a dichotomous disease, and the diagnostic test is subject to uncertainty. Due to misclassification and the regression effect, the observed difference in the proportions of diseased individuals between the treatment and placebo groups at follow-up will be equal to the true difference multiplied by the positive predictive value at screening and the difference between the sensitivity and the false-positive value at follow-up. Thus, measurement error of disease status before and after administering the intervention attenuates the intervention effect. Validation data corresponding to both the screening and follow-up conditions are necessary to provide additional information on the validity of the diagnostic test. Proper statistical analysis should include such data for an accurate portrayal of the effectiveness of the treatment.
Matched unrelated donor bone marrow transplantation for the treatment of platinum refractory ovarian carcinoma: a case report

Abstract Background . We are reporting on a case of platinum-refractory low-grade ovarian cancer responding to treatment with an allogeneic bone marrow transplantation from an unrelated donor. Case . The 37-year-old patient received a preparative regimen consisting of fludarabine 25 mg/m 2 on days −6, −5, −4, −3 and −2, melphalan 70 mg/m 2 on days −3 and −2, and thymoglobulin 2 mg/kg on days −3, −2 and −1. An unrelated HLA-compatible bone marrow was infused on day 0. Graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis consisted of tacrolimus and methotrexate. The patient demonstrated complete donor chimerism. Serial CT scans of the abdomen and pelvis over the following 15 months showed a slow regression of the malignant lesion. Conclusion . Engraftment of an unrelated donor marrow was achieved in a patient with ovarian cancer and induced a tumor response. This suggests the presence of a graft-versus-tumor effect in ovarian cancer. Further study is underway.
The Next Step Indigenous Development of Neighborhood-Restorative Community Justice

The challenge for modern crime-control policies is that they must work simultaneously across multiple environments within communities that are characterized by overlapping needs, issues, and servic...
Antiinflammatory Therapy Outcomes for Mild OSA in Children

BACKGROUND OSA is highly prevalent in children and usually initially treated by adenotonsillectomy. Nonsurgical alternatives for mild OSA primarily consisting of antiinflammatory approaches have emerged, but their efficacy has not been extensively assessed. METHODS A retrospective review of clinically and polysomnographically diagnosed patients with OSA treated between 2007 and 2012 was performed to identify otherwise healthy children ages 2 to 14 years who fulfilled the criteria for mild OSA and who were treated with a combination of intranasal corticosteroid and oral montelukast (OM) for 12 weeks (ICS + OM). A subset of children continued OM treatment for 6 to 12 months. RESULTS A total of 3,071 children were diagnosed with OSA, of whom 836 fulfilled mild OSA criteria and 752 received ICS + OM. Overall, beneficial effects occurred in > 80% of the children, with nonadherence being documented in 61 children and adenotonsillectomy being ultimately performed in 12.3%. Follow-up polysomnography in a subset of 445 patients showed normalization of sleep findings in 62%, while 17.1% showed either no improvement or worsening of their OSA. Among the latter, older children (aged > 7 years; OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.43-4.13; P 1.65; OR: 6.3; 95% CI, 4.23-11.18; P CONCLUSIONS A combination of ICS + OM as initial treatment of mild OSA appears to provide an effective alternative to adenotonsillectomy, particularly in younger and nonobese children. These results support implementation of multicenter randomized trials to more definitively establish the role of ICS + OM treatment in pediatric OSA.
Detection of laryngeal function using speech and electroglottographic data

The purpose of this research was to develop quantitative measures for the assessment of laryngeal function using speech and electroglottographic (EGG) data. Two procedures for the detection of laryngeal pathology were developed: (1) a spectral distortion measure using pitch synchronous and asynchronous methods with linear predictive coding (LPC) vectors and vector quantization (VQ), and (2) analysis of the EGG signal using time interval and amplitude difference measures. The VQ procedure was conjectured to offer the possibility of circumventing the need to estimate the glottal volume velocity waveform by inverse filtering techniques. The EGG procedure was to evaluate data that was 'nearly' a direct measure of vocal fold vibratory motion and thus was conjectured to offer the potential for providing an excellent assessment of laryngeal function. A threshold based procedure gave 75.9 and 69.0% probability of pathological detection using procedures (1) and (2), respectively, for 29 patients with pathological voices and 52 normal subjects. The false alarm probability was 9.6% for the normal subjects. >
Bat-Inspired Wing Aerodynamics and Optimization

A S ENGINEERS search to make micro air vehicles more stable, maneuverable, and efficient, many are turning toward biology for inspiration. Bats adapt to their environment by morphing their wings in flight. Depending on their niche, certain species soar and glide [1], whereas others perform barrel rolls in nature [2] and can pull up to 4.5g in obstacle courses [3].Morphological changes afford bats great agility at low speeds, and they are able tomaintain stability and control at low Reynolds numbers, in which viscous effects and leading edge laminar separation bubbles cause nonlinearities in lift [4–6]. Bats achieve these feats with fingerlike jointed bone structures and flexible wing membranes. These unique traits allow them to change camber and twist in flight, unlike avian span changes. Recent studies investigate replicating flapping bat flight [7–9], whereas others focus specifically on flexible, membrane wing benefits at low Reynolds numbers for improvements in gust alleviation and delayed stall characteristics [10–12]. These wings are passive elements, and it is difficult to attach control surfaces to them for flight authority. By actively controlling and morphing flexible wings, conventional controllers can be replaced. Aircraft morphing allows single vehicles to have multiple functions, ideally with continuous lifting surfaces to alleviate drag and vibration and increase efficiency. This is the focus of Garcia et al. [13], which proposes a nonflapping wing with twist capabilities. Morphing enables tailoring of wing shapes to multiple flight regimes, from takeoff through cruise to landing [14–16]. Many mechanisms have been proposed for morphing, such as the smart joint, an active rigidity composite suited to actuating a batlike membrane wing in flight [17]. This low-profile device can be embedded at joints in the fingerlike skeletal wing structure as a bimorph actuator [18]. Whereas this work focuses on static wing configurations rather than morphing behavior, results help specify actuator requirements used for a variable camber and twist wing. In this work, two key features of bat flight are studied, uniquely evolved bat wing planforms adapted to environments, and capabilities afforded through variable camber and twist, and are applied to rigid, fixed wing designs for small man-made craft. The goal of this study is not to mimic natural bat flight, but to understand how certain aspects of bat flight apply to the engineering problem of wing design for micro air vehicles. II. Background and Motivation
Some tissue specific differences in adenosine deaminase

Abstract 1. 1. Preliminary studies of duodenal and liver adenosine deaminase in the chicken and frog ( Rana grylio ) have revealed large differences in relative substrate specificities between these tissues in the frog and large differences in activation energy between these tissues in chickens. 2. 2. A more extensive analysis of adenosine deaminases in liver and duodenum of chickens have shown that these enzymes exhibit different relative substrate specificities and Michaelis constants, as well as activation energies. 3. 3. On the basis of these results, we have concluded that there are tissue specific adenosine deaminases in these organisms.
Energy loss partitioning during ballistic impact of polymer composites

The objective of this study is to determine the energy dissipation processes in polymer-matrix composites during impact of ballistic projectiles. These processes include heat, fiber deformation and breakage, matrix deformation and fracture, and interfacial delamination. In this study, experimental measurements were made, using specialized specimen designs and test methods, to isolate the energy consumed by each of these processes during impact in the ballistic range. Using these experiments, relationships between material parameters and energy dissipation were examined. Composites with the same matrix but reinforced with Kevlar, PE, and graphite fabric were included in this study. These fibers were selected based on the differences in their intrinsic properties. Matrix cracking was found to be one of the most important energy absorption mechanisms during impact, especially in ductile samples such as Spectra-900 PE and Kevlar-49 reinforced polymer. On the contrary, delamination dominated the energy dissipation in brittle composites such as graphite reinforced materials. The contribution from frictional forces was also investigated and the energy partitioning among the different processes evaluated.
Sleep disturbances and fatigue in women with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Objective: To determine the relationship between sleep disturbances and fatigue in women with fibromyalgia (FM) and those with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and to assess whether any differences existed between the two groups. Design: Descriptive comparative. Setting: Community program on chronic fatigue syndrome and related disorders. Participants: Sixty-three women who attended the program; 13 had CFS. and 50 had FM. Main outcome measures: A moderately strong relationship between fatigue and sleepiness was found (r = .63, p .01). Trouble staying asleep was the highest rated sleep disturbance, and fatigue was the most common subjective feeling reported. Women with CFS reported significantly more trouble staying asleep than women with FM. t(61) = 1.81.p < .03. Conclusions: Data from this study support that women with FM and CFS encounter problems sleeping. Clinicians are encouraged to assess women with FM and CFS for their quality of sleep rather than amount of sleep. Researchers are encouraged to continue study of sleep disturbances in women with FM and CFS to improve understanding of the disturbances and to test the effectiveness of sleep interventions.
SEISMIC PERFORMANCE OF MASONRY-INFILLED RC FRAMES WITH AND WITHOUT RETROFIT

This paper presents the findings of a research that focused on the seismic performance of masonry-infilled, nonductile, RC frames. This research has resulted in improved analytical methods and effective retrofit techniques to assess and enhance the performance of these structures. The methods were validated by a series of quasi-static tests conducted on one-story frame specimens as well as shake-table tests conducted on two 2/3-scale, three-story, two-bay, masonry-infilled, RC frames. This paper focuses on the observations from the shake-table tests and the further insight gained from a numerical study conducted with finite element models. The first shake-table test specimen had no retrofit measures, and the second had infill walls in the first and second stories strengthened with Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) and Fiber Reinforced Polymeric (FRP) overlays, respectively. The tests demonstrated the effectiveness of the retrofit measures. Finite element models that combine smeared and discrete cracks have been used in a numerical study to examine the benefits of the ECC retrofit and the influence of the capacity of the shear dowels that connect an ECC overlay to the RC beams on structural performance. It has been shown that these shear dowels play a critical role in enhancing both the strength and ductility of a retrofitted structure.
African American men's understanding and perceptions about prostate cancer: why multiple dimensions of health literacy are important in cancer communication.

Prostate cancer (PrCA) is the most diagnosed cancer among men in the United States, especially among African American (AA) men. The purpose of this formative study was to explore the implications of applying Nutbeam’s multidimensional health literacy framework to AA men’s understanding of PrCA information. Participants were 25 AA men aged 45 and older in South Carolina. Their functional health literacy was assessed using two modified Cloze tests and the Shortened Test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA). Men also participated in interviews or focus groups during which they were asked questions about PrCA risk, prevention, and screening. Transcripts were reviewed for recurrent themes and analyzed qualitatively using NVivo7. Mean S-TOFHLA was 28.28 (±1.98), implying “adequate” comprehension. Mean Cloze was .71 (±.05) for a Grade 8 document and .66 (±.04) for a Grade 13 document, also showing “adequate” comprehension. Cloze scores for the Grade 8 resource were lower for participants with less education (P = .047). Despite having satisfactory literacy test scores, results from interviews and focus groups revealed participants’ limited understanding and misconceptions about PrCA risk. Many wanted information about screening and family history delivered word-of-mouth by AA women and church pastors as few of them had ever received or actively sought out PrCA resources. Using Nutbeam’s framework, gaps in health literacy which were not adequately captured by the validated tools emerged during the interviews and focus groups. Study findings provide important implications for PrCA communication with AA men to correct misperceptions about cancer risk and motivate preventive behaviors.
Liver allograft rejection in rats depleted of CD8+ cells

The mechanism(s) of rejection or tolerance induction is a competitive, complex process that presumably involves interactions between multiple subpopulations of T lymphocytes. We investigated the roles of CD8+ cytolytic and CD4+ helper T cells in rat strains that tolerate liver allografts and that differ at both the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) (RT1) and minor histocompatibility genes. Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) with arterial reconstruction was performed with Brown Norway (BN) (RT1n) donors and Lewis (RT1(1)) recipients, some of which were untreated, others treated with anti-CD8 antibody, and still others treated with anti-CD4 antibody. Liver graft rejection was monitored for 28 days on the basis of two criteria: (1) serum levels of AST enzyme at 3-day intervals and (2) liver biopsies at weekly intervals and at the time of sacrifice at the end of the study period. In the untreated control group, an elevation of AST was found to peak at day 6 after grafting, and it remained elevated until day 28 (AST 542 +/- 72 U/l). Histologically, signs of severe rejection were first observed on day 9; these changed to moderate rejection about day 21 and to mild rejection by day 28, when the animals were sacrificed. Recipients pre-treated with anti-CD8 demonstrated a significant elevation of AST within 6 days that, unlike in the control recipients, continued to rise sharply through the observation period (AST 1127 +/- 181 U/l, P = 0.009 vs control group). Liver biopsies showed mild rejection at day 9 and moderate rejection at days 21 through 28. Recipients pretreated with anti-CD4 showed a time course of enzyme elevation and severity of rejection that was not significantly different from that observed in the control group. However, anti-CD4 treatment resulted in only 75% depletion of CD4+ cells in peripheral blood as compared to complete elimination of CD8+ cells following anti-CD8 treatment. Functional studies of spleen and liver-infiltrating lymphocytes obtained after 28 days showed low proliferative response in mixed lymphocyte culture with both BN and PVG stimulator spleen and lymph node cells. These results suggest that in this donor/recipient combination, removal of CD8+ cells increases the severity of rejection as demonstrated by a progressive rise in AST and histology. Moreover, OLT in this combination results in a profound, nonspecific inhibition of proliferative T-cell responses to MHC alloantigens.
Searching for synergy in silico, in vitro and in vivo

Summary In this paper, I examine the role of the idea of synergy in life science research using examples in the fields of pharmacology/toxicology, molecular genetics and development, biochemistry, ecology and metabolic engineering. The research shows that synergy exhibits scale invariance. Small molecules act synergistically in the activation of single receptor molecules. Proteins function synergistically in development, metabolism and signaling. Synergy was found in the interaction between communities of organisms. Synergy manifests itself quantitatively or qualitatively: synergistic effects can be smaller or larger or they can be entirely different from what was expected. There is no single mathematical model that can be used uniformly to detect and quantify synergy. Synergy provides benefits for human health, wellbeing and economy. Synergy has explanatory and heuristic value in our quest to understand the function of and in designing complex biological systems.
Argonautes compete for miR165/166 to regulate shoot apical meristem development

Plant stem cells in the shoot apical meristem (SAM) possess the unique abilities of both self-renewal for SAM maintenance and providing undifferentiated daughter cells for initiation and subsequent development of aerial organs. The coordination between stem cell renewal and cell differentiation during organogenesis is regulated by elaborate genetic pathways involving numerous transcription factors and other molecules. In the past decade, microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as pivotal regulators in many biological processes including meristem homeostasis and differentiation in plants. In this review, we summarize current knowledge about the function and mechanism of a family of miRNAs (miR165/166), the miRNA-designated Argonautes (AGOs), and the miRNA-regulated targets in SAM development and maintenance.
Inhomogeneous Superconductivity in BaPb1−xBixO3

Transport and magnetization measurements of single crystas of BaPb1−x Bi x O3, for Bi compositions spanning the superconducting phase diagram, show signatures of granular and inhomogeneous superconductivity, possibly associated with the nanoscale structural phase separation found for compositions around optimal doping. The material exhibits a field-tuned superconductor-to-insulator transition for Bi compositions 0.24≤x≤0.28. For optimally doped samples (x≈0.25), the magnetoresistance curves show scaling, suggesting some kind of critical behavior.
Local and Landscape Effects of Introduced Trout on Amphibians in Historically Fishless Watersheds

Introduced trout have often been implicated in the decline of high-mountain amphibian populations, but few studies have attempted to understand whether fish stocking also influences the distribution and abundance of amphibians throughout entire mountain basins, including the remaining fishless lakes. We examined this relationship using the relative abundance of long-toed salamanders (Ambystoma macrodactylum) and Columbia spotted frogs (Rana luteiventris) in fish-containing and fishless lentic sites in basins with varying levels of historic fish stocking. All lentic waters were surveyed for fish and amphibians in 11 high-elevation basins in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, Idaho, between 1994 and 1999. We found introduced trout (Oncorhynchus clarki, O. mykiss, O. m. aguabonita) in 43 of the 101 sites, representing 90% of the total surface area of lentic water bodies available. At the scale of individual water bodies, after accounting for differences in habitat characteristics between fish-containing and fishless sites, the abundance of amphibians at all life stages was significantly lower in lakes with fish. At the basin scale, densities of overwintering life stages of amphibians were lower in the fishless sites of basins where more habitat was occupied by trout. Our results suggest that many of the remaining fishless habitats are too shallow to provide suitable breeding or overwintering sites for these amphibians and that current trout distributions may eventually result in the extirpation of amphibian populations from entire landscapes, including sites that remain in a fishless condition.
Automatic Field Uniformity Corrections In Scintillation Cameras

AbstractMost Anger scintillation cameras are now fitted with mircoprocessors for live cor-rection of field non -uniformities. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the correctedflood field uniformity under conditions simulating clinical usage. Uniformity was eval-uated by computing the location and percentage of cells in a 64 x 64 matrix that were with-in + 5% of the mean cell count. When reference floods were stored at high data input rates,corrected floods measured at low rates showed a 10% decrease in the number of cells within _+ 5 %. From 3 to 17% more time was required to generate corrected images. The addition ofas much as 10.2 cm of scatter medium during the correction process caused the number ofcells to decrease by 1.5 %. Change of collimator type after storage of the reference floodcaused as much as a 10% decreas0 in the number of cells falling within -+5 %. Changes inanalyzer window size and location also produced significant decreases in the number of cellsfalling within the prescribed limits.IntroductionIn the last few years there have been marked improvements in the intrinsic spatial reso-lution of Anger scintillation cameras. This has been accomplished through the use ofthreshold preamplifiers, increased numbers of photomultiplier tubes, improved photomulti-plier tubes, and by positioning the photomultiplier tubes closer to the detector. However,in most cases the improvement in spatial resolution has been achieved at the expense offield uniformity. As a result, many of the Anger scintillation cameras currently beingmarketed have, or offer as an option, microprocessors that provide automatic, live cor-rection of field non -uniformities. This technique requires that a reference flood be stor-ed in the microprocessor memory each day for use in correcting clinical images. The specif-ic details of the correction circuits differ amongst the manufacturers that offer thiscapability, but they will not be described in this paper.The purpose of this work was to examine the characteristics of the correction techniqueused by one of the major camera manufacturers, Ohio- Nuclear Inc. More specifically, thefollowing characteristics were measured:
Addressing the variables in LED product design to ensure product reliability

Continuing developments in LED lighting are leading to more lighting products for illumination in LED fixtures for the residential, commercial, and industrial facilities. Most of the research in the past ten years has been aimed at developing LEDs with higher brightness, higher efficacies, good color performance and longer life. Many efforts have been accomplished to develop LED driver circuits to drive LED arrays, even drivers that are dimmable. Manufacturers are increasing their level of concern with the performance and life of the whole LED product with a renewed emphasis on reliability. Reliability for LED products not only involves thermal management, fixture design, and driver loading but also how products respond to electrical disturbances that occur in the building electrical environments where the products must function. EPRI research has demonstrated that the immunity of LED lighting systems to common everyday electrical disturbances is critical to establishing the reliability needed to ensure expected performance and for their survival during product life. Test results showing the application of voltage surges, transients, and sags among other disturbances will be presented. This paper will discuss the application of the results of EPRI research in this area, the test protocol associated with EPRI system compatibility concept, examples of how applying the concept has identified reliability problems in LED products, and how the reliability of these LED systems can be easily improved.