cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Two membrane sites for DNA synthesis in Pneumococcus.

A DNA membrane fraction extracted from pneumococci can be separated into two subfractions with respect to macromolecular composition and DNA synthesis by centrifugation in a 30–60% w/v neutral sucrose gradient. Each fraction can be rebanded in a sucrose gradient or centrifuged to equilibrium in a CsCl density gradient without altering the ability of the fractions to synthesize DNA. The fast sedimenting (heavy) fraction contains 45% of the DNA, and the bulk of the phospholipid, protein, and RNA. The light fraction contains 50% of the DNA, and lower, but significant amounts of phospholipid, RNA, and protein. Both fractions contain a DNA replication complex consisting of a number of enzymes involved in synthesizing DNA or DNA precursors, as well as RNA polymerase activity. However, the specific activity of DNA polymerase in the light fraction is much greater than that in the heavy fraction. In addition, the following results suggest that the former is concerned primarily with replication of the genome while the latter has characteristics of a repair function for the genome. (1) newly synthesized DNA can be detected within 30 s in the light fraction but not until 4 min in the heavy fraction. (2) an RNA-DNA single-stranded hybrid can be demonstrated during initial stages of DNA synthesis in the light, but not heavy fraction. (3) extensive semiconservative DNA replication occurs in the light fraction, whereas little such replication is detected in the heavy fraction. (4) DNA polymerase activity in the light fraction has several of the characteristics of a polymerase identified by others as being concerned with normal DNA replication, such as inhibition by N-ethylmaleimide, and relatively high rates of chain elongation (4.9×104 nucleotides/min). In contrast, DNA polymerase activity in the heavy fraction has characteristic properties associated with DNA polymerase I, a possible repair enzyme. These include higher activity for a d(A-T)n template than that detected in the light fraction, no effect of N-ethylmaleimide, and relatively low rates of chain elongation (9×103 nucleotides/min).
Erythrocyte cytosolic free Ca2+ and plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase activity in cystic fibrosis.

The properties of the Ca2+, Mg2+-ATPase of erythrocyte membranes from patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) were extensively compared to that of healthy controls. Following removal of an endogenous membrane inhibitor of the ATPase, activation of the enzyme by Ca2+, calmodulin, limited tryptic digestion or oleic acid, as well as inhibition by trifluoperazine, were studied. The only properties found to be significantly different (CF cells vs controls) were calmodulin-stimulated peak activity (90 vs 101, P < 0.02) and trypsin-activated peak activity (92 vs 102, P < 0.02). No significant difference could be measured in the steady-state Ca2+ — dependent phosphorylation of CF and control erythrocyte membranes indicating similar numbers of enzyme molecules per cell. The functional state of Ca2+ homeostasis in intact erythrocytes was investigated by measuring the resting cytosolic free Ca2+ levels using quin-2. Both CF and control erythrocytes maintained cytosolic free Ca2+ between 20 to 30 nM. Addition of 50 uM trifluoperazine resulted in an increase in erythrocyte cytosolic free Ca2+ to about 50 nM in both CF and control cells. Estimates of erythrocyte membrane permeability using the steady-state uptake of 45Ca into intact erythrocytes revealed no differences between CF and control cells. These results confirm that there is a small decrease in the calmodulin-stimulated activity of the erythrocyte Ca2+, Mg2+-ATPase in CF. However, this deficit is apparently not large enough to impair the ability of the CF erythrocyte to maintain normal resting levels of cytosolic free Ca2+.
Magnesium Lowers the Incidence of Postoperative Junctional Ectopic Tachycardia in Congenital Heart Surgical Patients: Is There a Relationship to Surgical Procedure Complexity?

Magnesium sulfate was given to pediatric cardiac surgical patients during cardiopulmonary bypass period in an attempt to reduce the occurrence of postoperative junctional ectopic tachycardia (PO JET). We reviewed our data to evaluate the effect of magnesium on the occurrence of JET and assess a possible relationship between PO JET and procedure complexity. A total of 1088 congenital heart surgeries (CHS), performed from 2005 to 2010, were reviewed. A total of 750 cases did not receive magnesium, and 338 cases received magnesium (25 mg/kg). All procedures were classified according to Aristotle score from 1 to 4. Overall, there was a statistically significant decrease in PO JET occurrence between the two groups regardless of the Aristotle score, 15.3 % (115/750) in non-magnesium group versus 7.1 % (24/338) in magnesium group, P < 0.001. In the absence of magnesium, the risk of JET increased with increasing Aristotle score, P = 0.01. Following magnesium administration and controlling for body weight, surgical and aortic cross-clamp times in the analyses, reduction in adjusted risk of JET was significantly greater with increasing Aristotle level of complexity (JET in non-magnesium vs. magnesium group, Aristotle level 1: 9.8 vs. 14.3 %, level 4: 11.5 vs. 3.2 %; odds ratio 0.54, 95 % CI 0.31–0.94, P = 0.028). Our data confirmed that intra-operative usage of magnesium reduced the occurrence of PO JET in a larger number and more diverse group of CHS patients than has previously been reported. Further, our data suggest that magnesium’s effect on PO JET occurrence seemed more effective in CHS with higher levels of Aristotle complexity.
Geographic Variation in Carbon Composition of the Pallid Bat, Antrozous pallidus, and its Dietary Implications

We used carbon stable-isotope techniques to test the hypothesis that the pallid bat, Antrozous pallidus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae), obtains substantial amounts of carbon from plants of the Cactaceae and Agavaceae, which employ the Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) photosynthetic pathway, in areas where there are bat-adapted flowers of cacti and agaves. Our analysis revealed significant geographic variation in carbon composition of the pallid bat during the blooming periods of bat-visited cacti and agaves. Although the pallid bat probably visits flowers to eat insects, it is a legitimate pollinator of bat-adapted CAM plants and may represent an early stage in the evolution of nectarivory and frugivory in the Vespertilionidae.
Preparation of densely grafted poly(aniline‐2‐sulfonic acid‐co‐aniline)s as novel water‐soluble conducting copolymers

Various densely grafted polymers containing poly(aniline-2-sulfonic acid-co-aniline)s as side chains and polystyrene as the backbone were prepared. A styryl-substituted aniline macromonomer, 4-(4-vinylbenzoxyl)(N-tert-butoxycarbonyl)phenylamine (4-VBPA- t BOC), was first prepared by the reaction of 4-aminophenol with the amino-protecting moiety di-tert-butoxyldicarbonate, and this was followed by substitution with 4-vinylbenzyl chloride. 4-VBPA- t BOC thus obtained was homopolymerized with azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator, and this was followed by deprotection with trifluoroacetic acid to generate poly[4-(4-vinylbenzoxyl)phenylamine] (PVBPA) with pendent amine moieties. Second, the copolymerization of aniline-2-sulfonic acid and aniline was carried out in the presence of PVBPA to generate densely grafted poly(aniline-2-sulfonic acid-co-aniline). Through the variation of the molar feed ratio of aniline-2-sulfonic acid to aniline, various densely grafted copolymers were generated with different aniline-2-sulfonic acid/aniline composition ratios along the side chains. The copolymers prepared with molar feed ratios greater than 1/2 were water-soluble and had conductivities comparable to those of the linear copolymers. Furthermore, these copolymers could self-dope in water through intermolecular or intramolecular interactions between the sulfonic acid moieties and imine nitrogens, and this generated large aggregates.
Clinker deposits, Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana: A new source of high‐fidelity paleomagnetic data for the Quaternary

Clinker, rock baked and fused by in situ burning of underlying coal, posesses a thermoremanent and/or thermochemical magnetization that resides in magnetite, hematite, and goethite. Data from individual sites imply that clinker may provide a high resolution recording of the geomagnetic field (e.g., within-site virtual geomagnetic pole angular standard deviations are usually less than 10°) , but this is dependent on its thermal history and the time over which magnetic phases formed. Data from 17 sites in the Powder River Basin (13 normal polarity, 4 reverse) yield a mean of Decl. = 348°, Incl. = 62°, α95 = 5°, k = 42 and a corresponding pole position of 81° lat., 158° long. with a virtual geomagnetic pole angular standard deviation of 17.3°. The mechanism of clinker formation, the wide geographic distribution, and the range of available fission-track ages suggest that clinker may contain a nearly complete geomagnetic field record for much of the Quaternary.
Avian scale development. IV. Ultrastructure of the anterior shank skin of the scaleless mutant.

Scales do not form on the legs and feet of the scaleless mutant chicken, and consequently, the skin in these regions remains soft and pliable, similar to that covering the rest of the body. By 17 days of embryonic development, both the peridermal and subperidermal cell layers have developed along the surface of the anterior shank epidermis. Subsequently, the scaleless epidermis cornifies, producing an alpha stratum characteristic of the inner epidermal surface of normal scales. The cells of the alpha stratum elaborate lipid droplets, multigranular bodies, and peripherally located keratohyalin granules. The beta stratum found along the outer epidermal surface of normal scales never develops.
Microtopographic controls on lowland Amazonian canopy diversity from imaging spectroscopy

Microtopographic variation is ubiquitous throughout lowland Amazonia, and it may impart patterns of species richness and abundance, and perhaps community compositional changes. To date, no studies have determined the degree to which lowland microtopography influences forest canopy diversity. We developed the first high-resolution maps of forest canopy diversity in Amazonia, focusing on four landscapes on two river systems in Peru. Spectroscopic images were acquired using the Carnegie Airborne Observatory combined with a new method based on spectral species to map α- and β-diversity. We analyzed spatial patterns in diversity with respect to floodplain and terrace (terra firme) surfaces and in upriver and downriver locations with contrasting landscape morphologies. We found slightly lower average α-diversity in floodplains, but with greater variance than in terrace communities caused by the floodplain mix of swamp forests, anoxic low-diversity ecosystems, and high-diversity areas. β-diversity estimated with the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity (BC) was strongly related to microtopography, with floodplains showing higher internal compositional dissimilarity than terraces. Throughout all landscapes, remotely mapped BC within terrace environments ranged from 0.25 to 0.43, but these values increased 30–77% on floodplains. Upriver landscapes characterized by higher terraces showed more distinct community turnover than did their downstream counterparts. We conclude that microtopography strongly influences β-diversity throughout the study landscapes, but terrain is weakly associated with variation in α-diversity. We uncover the importance of microtopography in determining species composition in lowland Amazonia and highlight the value of imaging spectroscopy for biodiversity research and conservation.
Ruptured feedback loops: Body image/schema and food journaling technologies

The psychoanalytical term ‘body image’ is commonly understood by women today as a way of describing how we feel about our outward appearance compared to others. A second term—‘body schema’—remains part of the specialized vocabulary of philosophy, but provides a fuller account of how we come to experience our bodies in movement and in knowing the world around us. The two concepts together form our embodiment through feedback loops between mind, body, and technology. After briefly situating the practice of food journaling in response to the social pressure to be thin, I explore how the food journal serves as a site where these feedback loops between body image and body schema are ruptured, interrupting the eating process and providing cognitive dissonance in the weight reduction process. I propose the ecstatic body as a means to rejoin the body image and body schema through Health at Every Size practices.
Temperature-dependent bit-error rate of a clocked superconducting digital circuit

We measured the bit-error rate (BER) of an RS latch, a clocked SFQ circuit. A digital error-detection circuit was used to detect BER in the range unity to 10/sup -13/; below 10/sup -7/, the circuit was operated with a 12 GHz on-chip clock. BER was measured as a function of control current; both positive and negative control current was applied, leading to two distinct modes of error incidence. The error function curves extrapolate to 10/sup -80/ for optimal control current at a temperature of 5.5 K. Measurements were repeated over the range 3-7 K. Comparison to theoretical error-function estimates of BER indicate that the noise is strictly thermal.
Integration of Density Multiplication in the Formation of Device-Oriented Structures by Directed Assembly of Block Copolymer–Homopolymer Blends

Non-regular, device-oriented structures can be directed to assemble on chemically nanopatterned surfaces such that the density of features in the assembled pattern is multiplied by a factor of two or more compared to the chemical pattern. By blending the block copolymers with homopolymers and designing the chemical pattern rationally, complicated structures such as bends, jogs, junctions, terminations, and combined structures are fabricated. Previously, directed assembly of block copolymers has been shown to enhance the resolution of lithographic processes for hexagonal arrays of spots and parallel lines, corresponding to the bulk morphologies of block copolymer systems, but this is the first demonstration of enhanced resolution for more complicated, device-oriented features. This fundamental knowledge broadens the range of technologies that can be served by the directed assembly of block copolymers.
Two-way Poisson mixture models for simultaneous document classification and word clustering

An approach to simultaneous document classification and word clustering is developed using a two-way mixture model of Poisson distributions. Each document is represented by a vector with each dimension specifying the number of occurrences of a particular word in the document in question. As a collection of documents across several classes usually makes use of a large number of words, the document vectors are of high dimension. On the other hand, the number of distinct words in any single document is usually substantially smaller than the size of the vocabulary, leading to sparse document vectors. A mixture of Poisson distributions is used to model the multivariate distribution of the word counts in the documents within each class. To address the issues of high dimensionality and sparsity, the parameters in the mixture model are regularized by imposing a clustering structure on the set of words. An EM-style algorithm for the two-way mixture model will be derived for parameter estimation with the clustering of words part of the estimation process. The connection of the two-way mixture model with dimension reduction will also be elucidated. Experiments on the newsgroup data have demonstrated promising results.
Severe Eczema Vaccinatum in a Household Contact of a Smallpox Vaccinee

Background We report the first confirmed case of eczema vaccinatum in the United States related to smallpox vaccination since routine vaccination was discontinued in 1972. A 28-month-old child with refractory atopic dermatitis developed eczema vaccinatum after exposure to his father, a member of the US military who had recently received smallpox vaccine. The father had a history of inactive eczema but reportedly reacted normally to the vaccine. The child's mother also developed contact vaccinia infection. Methods Treatment of the child included vaccinia immune globulin administered intravenously, used for the first time in a pediatric patient; cidofovir, never previously used for human vaccinia infection; and ST-246, an investigational agent being studied for the treatment of orthopoxvirus infection. Serological response to vaccinia virus and viral DNA levels, correlated with clinical events, were utilized to monitor the course of disease and to guide therapy. Burn patient-type management was required, including skin grafts. Results The child was discharged from the hospital after 48 days and has recovered with no apparent systemic sequelae or significant scarring. Conclusion This case illustrates the need for careful screening prior to administration of smallpox vaccine and awareness by clinicians of the ongoing vaccination program and the potential risk for severe adverse events related to vaccinia virus.
Relation of Smoking and Low-to-Moderate Alcohol Consumption to Change in Cognitive Function: A Longitudinal Study in a Defined Community of Older Persons

To determine whether smoking habits and alcohol consumption are related to changes in cognitive function, the authors conducted a prospective, community-based study of persons aged 65 years and over in East Boston, Massachusetts. In 1982 and again in 1985, the subjects were given three brief tests of cognitive function: immediate memory, digit span, and a mental status questionnaire, which primarily assessed orientation. The 1,201 individuals who performed well in 1982 were included in linear regression analyses of 3-year change in performance, adjusted for age, sex, education, and income. Relative to nonsmoking, current smoking, past smoking, and pack-years were not significantly related to change in immediate memory. None was significantly related to change in orientation. Only pack-years was significantly related to normal change score in digit span (normal change score change per unit of predictor = 0.001, 95% confidence interval 0.0003-0.002). Low-to-moderate alcohol consumption during the month preceding baseline testing was not significantly related to a subsequent 3-year change in performance in two of the three tests. However, people who consumed a very small amount of alcohol had a normal change score that was 0.088 (95% confidence interval 0.015-0.160) better for digit span than did nondrinkers. This study provides evidence that the reported levels of smoking and alcohol use among older persons are not consistent or substantial predictors of the longitudinal change in cognitive function observed in a community.
Effects of prepartum dietary carbohydrate source and monensin on periparturient metabolism and lactation in multiparous cows.

Abstract Eighty-five multiparous Holstein cows were used in a completely randomized design with restrictions to evaluate the effects of prepartum carbohydrate (CHO) source and monensin on periparturient dry matter intake (DMI), blood parameters, and lactation performance of dairy cows. Dietary treatments were arranged in a 2×2 factorial arrangement with a conventional (CONV) dry cow diet and a nonforage fiber source (NFFS) dry cow diet not supplemented (−) or supplemented (+) with 330 mg/cow per d of monensin as a top dressing. The CONV diet contained 70% forage and the NFFS diet contained nonforage fiber sources such that 28% of the forage was replaced with cottonseed hulls and soyhulls. The experimental diets (CONV and NFFS) were fed throughout the entire dry period (for 60 d before parturition). Monensin was top dressed once daily starting 28 d (27±1.8 SD) before the expected calving date and continued until parturition. After parturition, all cows received the same lactating cow diet. During the last 28 d of gestation, cows receiving the NFFS diets prepartum had greater DMI (15.8 vs. 11.9 kg/d), DMI as a percentage of body weight (2.1 vs. 1.6% of body weight), plasma glucose (67.4 vs. 64.6 mg/dL), and serum insulin concentrations (0.59 vs. 0.45 ng/mL), and lower plasma nonesterified fatty acid concentrations (185 vs. 245 μ Eq/L) compared with cows receiving the CONV diets prepartum. Average milk production or composition during the first 56 d of lactation was not significantly affected by prepartum source of CHO, monensin, or their combination; however, there was a trend for the prepartum CHO source to affect milk production over time. Supplementation of monensin as a top dressing for 28 d prepartum had no effect on periparturient measurements. The prepartum diet did not affect postpartum DMI, blood glucose, nonesterified fatty acids, insulin concentrations, or liver triglyceride content. Results from this research demonstrated that partly replacing conventional dietary carbohydrate sources with NFFS, cottonseed hulls and soyhulls, in the dry cow diet improved or maintained the prepartum DMI and therefore enhanced the prepartum metabolic status, as indicated by key blood metabolite concentrations. This greater prepartum DMI may potentially increase milk production during early lactation.
Turnover of glial filaments in mouse spinal cord.

: Twenty-day-old mice received a single tail vein injection of [guanido-14 C]arginine. The cytoskeleton was extracted from the spinal cords at varying lengths of time thereafter. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) formed a distinct, broad band that was widely separated from other protein bands in one-dimensional polyacrylamide gels. The purity of the GFAP band was verified by Western blot analysis of one- and two-dimensional electrophoretic patterns. In addition, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and quantitative Western blot analysis indicated that 95% of the total spinal cord GFAP was extracted in the cytoskeletal preparation. The specific activity of GFAP was obtained by eluting the protein from the cytoskeletal GFAP band in preparative one-dimensional gels. Specific activity reached a peak 2 h after injection with [14C]arginine. Forty percent of the incorporated radioactivity was still present in cytoskeletal GFAP at 9 weeks, indicating that a significant proportion of glial filaments turns over relatively slowly in vivo.
ULTRASTRUCTURAL VARIATIONS IN CRYPTOMONAD FLAGELLA1

The arrangement of flagellar appendages in 19 cryptomonad species was examined and four new flagellar types are described. The first new type has a single row of mastigonemes on both flagella and hairs on the side opposite the mastigonemes. The second type, which is common, has unilateral rows of mastigonemes on both flagella, but no hairs. A third type has an acronematic short flagellum and a single row of mastigonemes on the long flagellum. A fourth type lacks mastigonemes but has a unilateral row of curved “spikes” on the short flagellum and hairs on both flagella. These additional flagellar variations may contribute to a more natural system of classification for cryptomonads.
Composite Zeolite-Based Catalysts and Sorbents

Beq equilibrium concentration of methylcyclopentenes BiR Biot number for the reactant A in the composite sphere and cylinder (along the r direction) BiZ Biot number for the reactant A along the z d...
Finding biomedical categories in Medline

Background There are several humanly defined ontologies relevant to Medline. However, Medline is a fast growing collection of biomedical documents which creates difficulties in updating and expanding these humanly defined ontologies. Automatically identifying meaningful categories of entities in a large text corpus is useful for information extraction, construction of machine learning features, and development of semantic representations. In this paper we describe and compare two methods for automatically learning meaningful biomedical categories in Medline. The first approach is a simple statistical method that uses part-of-speech and frequency information to extract a list of frequent nouns from Medline. The second method implements an alignment-based technique to learn frequent generic patterns that indicate a hyponymy/hypernymy relationship between a pair of noun phrases. We then apply these patterns to Medline to collect frequent hypernyms as potential biomedical categories.
Spatial variation in ambient air toxics concentrations and health risks between industrial-influenced, urban, and rural sites.

Abstract Concentrations of 38 gas-phase organic air toxics were measured over a 2-yr period at four different sites in and around Pittsburgh, PA, to investigate spatial variations in health risks from chronic exposure. The sites were chosen to represent different exposure regimes: a downtown site with substantial mobile source emissions; two residential sites adjacent to one of the most heavily industrialized zones in Pittsburgh; and a regional background site. Lifetime cancer risks and non-cancer hazard quotients were estimated using a traditional and interactive risk models. Although study average concentrations of specific air toxics varied by as a much as a factor of 26 between the sites, the additive cancer risks of the gas-phase organic air toxics varied by less than a factor of 2, ranging from 6.1 × 10-5 to 9.5 × 10-5. The modest variation in risks reflects the fact that two regionally distributed toxics, formalde-hyde and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), contributed more than half of the cancer risk a...
Race-Ethnicity as a Predictor of Attitudes Toward Mental Health Treatment Seeking

Objective: Previous research on mental health disparities shows that persons from racial-ethnic minority groups have less access to mental health care, engage in less treatment, and receive poorer-quality treatment than non-Hispanic whites. Attitudes and beliefs about mental health treatment were examined to determine whether they contribute to these disparities. Methods: Data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) were analyzed to determine attitudes toward treatment-seeking behavior among people of non-Hispanic white, African-American, and Hispanic or Latino race-ethnicity. Additional sociodemographic variables were examined in relation to attitudes and beliefs toward treatment. Results: African-American race-ethnicity was a significant independent predictor of greater reported willingness to seek treatment and lesser reported embarrassment if others found out about being in treatment. These findings persisted when analyses adjusted for socioeconomic variables. Hispanic or Latino race-ethnicity also was associated with an increased likelihood of willingness to seek professional help and lesser embarrassment if others found out, but these differences did not persist after adjustment for the effects of socioeconomic variables. Conclusions: Contrary to the initial hypothesis, African Americans and Hispanics or Latinos may have more positive attitudes toward mental health treatment seeking than non-Hispanic whites. To improve access to mental health services among racial-ethnic minority groups, it is crucial to better understand a broader array of individual-, provider-, and system-level factors that may create barriers to care. (Psychiatric Services 60:1336–1341, 2009)
A W-band surface micromachined monopole for low-cost wireless communication systems

A W-band CPW-fed 3-D quarter-wavelength monopole that is vertically mounted on a variety of substrates is reported for the first time. A transition from coplanar waveguide to vertical coaxial structure is investigated. The structure demonstrates broadband impedance matching and symmetry radiation pattern in W-band. Greater than 10 dB return loss over 19 GHz bandwidth is measured on chromium coated soda-lime glass substrate, while over 10 GHz bandwidth for silicon and sapphire substrates is also observed in simulation. As a low-cost solution without etching requirements, this idea can be easily extended to integrate with other RF front-end components and to design more compact millimetre wave systems. Experimental and numerical simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the idea.
Law and Christian Ethics: Signposts for a Fruitful Conversation

This essay invites Christian ethicists to engage in a mutually beneficial conversation with the secular law, particularly the common law. It argues that the common law’s feature of narrative accountability provides a natural bridge to Christian ethics. It also points out contact points between the two fields regarding normative concepts of persons, actions, norms, and the common good. Finally, it illustrates the possibilities of a conversation between law and Christian ethics by delving into the leading case on the doctrine of unconscionability, which permits courts to refuse to enforce contracts that shock the conscience.
The cyber education project

The Cyber Education Project (CEP) is an initiative to develop undergraduate curriculum guidelines and a case for accreditation for undergraduate degrees in "Cyber Science". The project is supported by a diverse group of computing professionals representing academic institutions, a broad spectrum of industries and several professional societies.
Impact of saltwater spray andsand deposition on the coastal annualTriplasis purpurea (Poaceae).

Pioneer coastal plants occur in areas where sand movement and airborne salt are common. The objectives of this study were to (1) quantify natural levels of salt and sand deposition in relation to distance from the shoreline of Staten Island, New York, and (2) experimentally determine the impact of saltwater sprays and partial sand burial on growth and reproduction of the native dunegrass Triplasis purpurea. This summer annual matures most seeds in cleistogamous spikelets on leaf sheath-enclosed axillary panicles along culm internodes. Levels of salt deposition onto T. purpurea shoots over 6 d were determined with a conductivity meter to be 175 mg/cm 2 at 39 m from shore in 1997, but declined rapidly with increasing distances to 90 m. Sand deposition over 1 mo in the summer averaged 30 mm at 72‐90 m from shore. In a greenhouse factorial experiment, seedlings were unburied, buried to 50% height, or buried to 75% height and simultaneously subjected to no sprays, two sprays/wk, or six sprays/wk of seawater over the summer. Sand deposition increased plant size and seed production, but seawater sprays were mostly detrimental, reducing plant size, seed production, and seed mass. However, T. purpurea tolerated moderate levels of salt deposition. The stimulation of growth and reproduction in partially buried plants is adaptive on the sandy soils. Prolific seed production and tolerance to moderate levels of airborne salt allow this annual to maintain high population densities close to shore.
Design and implementation of an attribute based authorization management system

The proposed research is in the area of attribute-based authorization systems. We address two specific research problems in this area. First, evaluating authorization policies in multi-authority systems where there are multiple stakeholders in the disclosure of sensitive data. The research proposes to consider all the relevant policies related to authorization in real time upon the receipt of an access request and to resolve any differences that these individual policies may have in authorization. Second, to enable a lot of entities to participate in the authorization process by asserting attributes on behalf of the principal accessing resources. Since it is required that these asserted attributes be trusted by the authorization system, it is necessary that these entities are themselves trusted by the authorization system. Two frameworks are proposed to address these issues. In the first contribution a dynamic authorization system is proposed which provides conflict detection and resolution among applicable policies in a multi-authority system. The authorization system is dynamic in nature and considers the context of an access request to adapt its policy selection, execution and conflict handling based on the access environment. Efficient indexing techniques are used to increase the speed of authorization policy loading and evaluation. In the second contribution, we propose a framework for service providers to evaluate trust in entities asserting on behalf of service users in real time upon receipt of an access request. This trust evaluation is done based on a reputation system model, which is designed to protect itself against known attacks on reputation systems.
A Special Class of C3 Rational Quartic Spline Curves for Two-Harmonic Trajectory Synthesis

This paper develops an algorithm for constructing C 3 continuous rational quartic B-spline curves such that each rational Bezier curve segment corresponds to a two-harmonic trajectory pattern. Such smooth low-harmonic spline curves can be used for synthesizing robot joint trajectories that are least susceptible to vibrational excitation.
Cavity use by secondary cavity-nesting birds and response to manipulations

Etude experimentale (manipulation des cavites de nidification par blocage par exemple) menee sur trois parcelles experimentales le long du cours inferieur du Colorado (Arizona). Dans deux des parcelles sur trois le nombre des cavites n'a pas limite le nombre des reproducteurs mais la ou peu de cavites etaient disponibles, le blocage de certaines a reduit le nombre de reproducteurs alors que l'apport de nids artificiels l'a augmente
Automated High Moisture Diet Feeding System for Laying Hens

Abstract An automated feeding system was developed to deliver high moisture by-product diets to laying hens by modifying a commercially available cage system. Two high moisture by-products, corn stillage or methane digester effluent, were top-dressed onto air-dried feedstuffs via the feeding system during two 4-wk feeding trials to evaluate the system design and operation. With proper equipment and management high moisture by-products (corn stillage and methane digester effluent) were fed successfully to laying hens.
Waste Glass Analytical Bias Correction Using a Reference Standard Glass

Analytical round robins were established to allow laboratories responsible for the analysis of (nuclear) wastes glasses to compare their analytical capabilities and techniques with one another in a non-competitive atmosphere. In addition the quality of analyses using different analytical techniques on the same materials could be compared. Analytical Round Robin 7 had two primary objectives: 1) to evaluate the effect of using the same analytical reference glass as a reference standard for bias correcting analytical results for all the participating laboratories in making the analyses; and 2) to discuss the analytical methods and results from the participating laboratories between the participants for the purpose of evaluating quality and interlaboratory consistency. This paper will primarily address the first objective. The purpose of an analytical reference material is to bring the analytical results from various laboratories into better agreement by providing them a common reference point No reference glass is likely to be ideal for each element in the glass being analyzed. Obviously, the closer the reference material is to the unknown, the more confidence there will be in the results because less judgement is called for. Use of the reference glass to bias correct analytical results for a standard set of analyses from several laboratories provides the data needed to determine the effectiveness of an Analytical Reference Glass (ARG) in producing interlaboratory agreement. Concurrently, whether or not the analytical results using ARG-1 are more valid or systematically biased can be evaluated using standard statistical methods. The conclusion is that bias correcting with a standard glass such as ARG-1 for results obtained by the inductively coupled plasma - atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) analytical technique produces more accurate results.
UNIFYING GENETIC MODELS FOR THE EVOLUTION OF FEMALE CHOICE.

A best-of-N rule of female mating preferences can give rise to lines of unstable equilibria in a two-locus haploid model of sexual selection. Under the best-of-N rule, which corresponds to choice at a lek, male fitnesses can exhibit a form of positive frequency-dependence that is not seen under fixed-relative-preference rules (Kirkpatrick, 1982). This positive frequency-dependence can be strongly destabilizing. Lande's (1981) criterion for the stability of the equilibria in quantitative-genetic models of sexual selection applies exactly and in general to the related family of simple population-genetic models. This offers some insight into the workings of these models and greatly simplifies their analysis.
Comprehension and Training of International Road Signs

Interest in cross-cultural traffic signs is in part motivated by the increase of motorists driving in foreign countries. This study investigated comprehension levels of 100 international road signs...
High-energy electronic excitations in Sr 2 IrO 4 observed by Raman scattering

Spin-orbit interaction in ${\mathrm{Sr}}_{2}{\mathrm{IrO}}_{4}$ leads to the realization of the ${J}_{\mathrm{eff}}=1/2$ state and also induces an insulating behavior. Using large-shift Raman spectroscopy, we found two high-energy excitations of the $d$-shell multiplet at 690 and 680 meV with ${A}_{1g}$ and ${B}_{1g}$ symmetry, respectively. As temperature decreases, the ${A}_{1g}$ and ${B}_{1g}$ peaks narrow, and the ${A}_{1g}$ peak shifts to higher energy while the energy of the ${B}_{1g}$ peak remains the same. When $25%$ of Ir is substituted with Rh the ${A}_{1g}$ peak softens by $10%$ but the ${B}_{1g}$ peak does not. We show that both pseudospin-flip and non-pseudo-spin-flip d-d electronic transitions are Raman active, but only the latter are observed. Our experiments and analysis place significant new constraints on the possible electronic structure of ${\mathrm{Sr}}_{2}{\mathrm{IrO}}_{4}$.
ClipX: Auf dem Weg zur Industrialisierung des Schaltschrankbaus

Der globale Wettbewerb stellt die Fertigung im Maschinen- und Anlagenbau vor grose Herausforderungen. Hintergrund ist die Forderung nach reduzierter Lieferzeit, spater Individualisierung und Fehlerfreiheit bei gleichzeitiger Zunahme der Funktionsvielfalt, die sich meist in Elektronik und Software abbildet. Damit steigt die Bedeutung des Schaltschranks innerhalb der gesamten Wertschopfungskette. Die Branche ist jedoch gepragt von einem geringen Automationsgrad und unzureichender IT-Integration. Eine industrielle Linienfertigung kann Abhilfe schaffen und den Prozess der Schaltschrankproduktion auf die gestiegenen Anforderungen vorbereiten. Befahiger sind dabei Prinzipien aus dem Zukunftsprojekt Industrie 4.0.
Emotional instability and bipolar disorder

Background Affective dysregulation is a core feature of bipolar disorder (BD) and a significant predictor of clinical and functional outcome. Affective dysregulation can arise from abnormalities in multiple processes. This study addresses the knowledge gap regarding the precise nature of the processes that may be dysregulated in BD and their relationship to the clinical expression of the disorder. Methods Patients with BD (n = 45) who were either in remission or in a depressive or manic state and healthy individuals (n = 101) were compared in terms of the intensity, duration and physiological response (measured using inter-beat intervals and skin conductance) to affective and neutral pictures during passive viewing and during experiential suppression. Results Compared to healthy individuals, patients with BD evidenced increased affective reactivity to neutral pictures and reduced maintenance of subjective affective responses to all pictures. This pattern was present irrespective of clinical state but was more pronounced in symptomatic patients, regardless of polarity. Patients, regardless of symptomatic status, were comparable to healthy individuals in terms of physiological arousal and voluntary control of affective responses. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that increased affective reactivity to neutral stimuli and decreased maintenance of affective responses are key dimensions of affective dysregulation in BD.
Reactive Power Optimization Based on Improved Immunity Genetic Algorithm

To remedy defects of existing reactive power optimization algorithm, an improved immune genetic algorithm, which integrates fuzzy logic and simulated annealing algorithm with immune algorithm, is proposed. To avoid falling in with local optima, According to fuzzy logic, variable crossover and mutation operators are obtained; by use of annealing immune algorithm the antibody is selected; the immune operator is used to update the individuals, thus the diversity of group is reinforced and the local optima can be avoided. Besides, the calculation accuracy and its speed are improved by decimal integer encoding and reserving optimal individuals. The performance of the proposed algorithm and the accuracy of its solution are tested by IEEE 30-bus test system, simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is far better than existing genetic algorithm for reactive power optimization in global convergence and calculation speed.
Computational Complexity Results of Robust Discrete Optimization Problems

In previous chapters, we have mentioned that the robust discrete optimization problems are in general more difficult to solve than their deterministic counterparts. The major source of complexity comes from the extra degree of freedom — the scenario set. For many polynomially solvable classical optimization problems such as assignment, minimum spanning tree, shortest path, resource allocation, production control, single machine scheduling with sum of flow times criterion, and two machine flow shop scheduling, their corresponding robust versions are weakly or strongly NP-hard. We have found (see Yu and Kouvelis (1995)) that some of the above mentioned problems can be solved by pseudo-polynomial procedures based on dynamic programming if the scenario set is restricted to be bounded (constituting bounded number of scenarios). The well known pseudo-polynomially solvable knapsack problem also remains pseudo-polynormally solvable for bounded scenario set, but becomes strongly NP-hard for unbounded scenario set.
A simplified procedure for the gas chromatographic determination of nicotine: Application of the method to mouse skin

The gas Chromatographic procedure can be used for the rapid and accurate determination of small amounts of nicotine in biological material. Application of the method proved successful in the determination of the disappearance of nicotine from mouse skin following the application of this alkaloid directly to the skin surface. A plot ofμg of nicotine per mg DNA or protein of mouse skin versus the time in hr following the application of nicotine showed that the biological half-life of nicotine in mouse skin over the first 6 hr is 1.2 hr.
Association of dietary magnesium and DNA repair capacity with lung cancer risk.

B173 Context: Magnesium is an essential nutrient for humans because it is required for the maintenance of genomic stability. Genetic instability is strongly implicated in cancer risk. However, the associations between dietary magnesium intake and cancer risk has not been evaluated in detail. Objective: The objective of this study was to examine the relationship of dietary magnesium intake and DNA repair capacity (DRC) on lung cancer risk. Methods: We used an ongoing study of 1,676 incident lung cancer patients and 1,676 matched healthy controls to achieve our objective. A modified NCI-Block FFQ and a lifestyle questionnaire were interviewer-administered to each participant. Cellular DRC was assessed by the host-cell reactivation assay that measures nucleotide-excision repair capacity in peripheral blood lymphocytes culture. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to assess the associations between dietary magnesium and DRC with lung cancer risk. Results: After adjustment for recognized confounding factors, the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of lung cancer by increasing quartiles of dietary magnesium intake were: 1.0, 1.07 (0.82-1.38), 0.89 (0.67-1.18), 0.67 (0.48-0.94), respectively (P-trend
APHiD: Hierarchical Task Placement to Enable a Tapered Fat Tree Topology for Lower Power and Cost in HPC Networks

The power and procurement cost of bandwidth in system-wide networks has forced a steady drop in the byte/flop ratio. This trend of computation becoming faster relative to the network is expected to hold. In this paper, we explore how cost-oriented task placement enables reducing the cost of system-wide networks by enabling high performance even on tapered topologies where more bandwidth is provisioned at lower levels. We describe APHiD, an efficient hierarchical placement algorithm that uses new techniques to improve the quality of heuristic solutions and reduces the demand on high-level, expensive bandwidth in hierarchical topologies. We apply APHiD to a tapered fat-tree, demonstrating that APHiD maintains application scalability even for severely tapered network configurations. Using simulation, we show that for tapered networks APHiD improves performance by more than 50% over random placement and even 15% in some cases over costlier, state-of-the-art placement algorithms.
CNS findings in chronic fatigue syndrome and a neuropathological case report

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is characterized as a persistent, debilitating complex disorder of unknown etiology, whereby patients suffer from extreme fatigue, which often presents with symptoms that include chronic pain, depression, weakness, mood disturbances, and neuropsychological impairment. In this mini review and case report, we address central nervous system (CNS) involvement of CFS and present neuropathological autopsy findings from a patient who died with a prior diagnosis of CFS. Among the most remarkable pathological features of the case are focal areas of white matter loss, neurite beading, and neuritic pathology of axons in the white matter with axonal spheroids. Atypical neurons displaying aberrant sprouting processes in response to injury are observed throughout cortical gray and white matter. Abundant amyloid deposits identical to AD plaques with accompanying intracellular granular structures are observed as well. Neurofibrillary tangles are also present in the white matter of the frontal cortex, thalamus and basal ganglia. Taken together, these neuropathological findings warrant further studies into CNS disease associated with CFS.
Remote Mutations Induce Functional Changes in Active Site Residues of Human DNA Polymerase β.

With the formidable growth in the volume of genetic information, it has become essential to identify and characterize mutations in macromolecules not only to predict contributions to disease processes but also to guide the design of therapeutic strategies. While mutations of certain residues have a predictable phenotype based on their chemical nature and known structural position, many types of mutations evade prediction based on current information. Described in this work are the crystal structures of two cancer variants located in the palm domain of DNA polymerase β (pol β), S229L and G231D, whose biological phenotype was not readily linked to a predictable structural implication. Structural results demonstrate that the mutations elicit their effect through subtle influences on secondary interactions with a residue neighboring the active site. Residues 229 and 231 are 7.5 and 12.5 A, respectively, from the nearest active site residue, with a β-strand between them. A residue on this intervening strand, M...