cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Borate formation in a perennial lacustrine setting: Miocene–Pliocene Furnace Creek Formation, Death Valley, California, USA

Abstract The Miocene–Pliocene Furnace Creek Formation was deposited in marginal lacustrine and lacustrine environments in an extensional setting. Laminated facies comprising marlstone/limestone and mudstone/marlstone laminites lack features of surficial or shallow water deposition, indicating that sediment accumulated on the floor of a deep, perennial lake. Meter-scale mounds of porous limestone with a clotted-micritic fabric are spring-apron tufas that formed where groundwater discharged into more saline lake-bottom waters. The bedded borate facies comprises meter-scale bodies of borate, mainly colemanite, interbedded with laminated mudstone. The massive borate facies comprises thick, nonbedded borate layers, locally containing host rock clasts with sharp to diffuse boundaries. Borate formation took place at or below the sediment/water interface at the bottom of a permanently stratified carbonate lake. The composition of the borate deposits varies from mainly colemanite to zoned, with colemanite surrounding a core of probertite and ulexite. High Ca2+/Na+ ratios favored primary deposition of hydrated Ca-borates, which subsequently transformed by diagenetic dehydration to colemanite. Gradual depletion of Ca2+ and decreasing Ca2+/Na+ ratios resulted in NaCa-borate precipitation. Finally, renewed onset of elevated Ca2+/Na+ ratios again caused Ca-borate deposition.
Are estrogen receptors cytoplasmic or nuclear? Some immunocytochemical and biochemical studies

The subcellular localization of estradiol receptor (ER) has been examined using various experimental approaches. Immunocytochemical studies using the monoclonal antibody JS 34/32, raised against calf uterine cytosolic ER, yielded only equivocal results. In general, cells and tissues pretreated with estradiol showed positive immunostaining in the nuclei whereas those not exposed to the steroid did not show any staining. Nuclear translocation of ER was examined in intact MCF-7 cells using compounds which are known to influence receptor activation. When MCF-7 cells were exposed to molybdate (20 mM), nuclear translocation was completely inhibited while dithiothreitol (20 mM), dibutyryl cAMP (1 microM) and dibutyryl cGMP (1 microM) increased the translocation 2-3-fold. Phenol red, at the range of concentrations generally used in tissue culture media, also increased translocation. The physiological validity of such translocation was examined using cellular progesterone receptor (PR) synthesis as a specific parameter. When MCF-7 cells were grown in media containing phenol red for 48 h, the PR synthesis increased significantly. We further examined whether cytoskeletal proteins are involved in the translocation of ER. Colchicine, an inhibitor of microtubule assembly, inhibited translocation of ER in MCF-7 cells at 1-10 microM. PR synthesis was also inhibited by colchicine in a dose-dependent manner. It may be concluded from these and other published data that ER may not be located at all times in a single subcellular compartment but may rather exist in a dynamic equilibrium between the plasma membrane, cytoplasm and nucleus.
New VCSEL technology with scalability for single mode operation and densely integrated arrays

Data are presented demonstrating a new lithographic vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) technology, which produces simultaneous mode- and current-confinement only by lithography and epitaxial crystal growth. The devices are grown by solid source molecular beam epitaxy, and have lithographically defined sizes that vary from 3 μm to 20 μm. The lithographic process allows the devices to have high uniformity throughout the wafer and scalability to very small size. The 3 μm device shows a threshold current of 310 μA, the slope efficiency of 0.81 W/A, and the maximum output power of more than 5 mW. The 3 μm device also shows single-mode single-polarization operation without the use of surface grating, and has over 25 dB side-mode-suppression-ratio up to 1 mW of output power. The devices have low thermal resistance due to the elimination of oxide aperture. High reliability is achieved by removal of internal strain caused by the oxide, stress test shows no degradation for the 3 μm device operating at very high injection current level of 142 kA/cm 2 for 1000 hours, while at this dive level commercial VCSELs fail rapidly. The lithographic VCSEL technology can lead to manufacture of reliable small size laser diode, which will have application in large area 2-D arrays and low power sensors.
Effect of Ion Bombardment on the Structure and Properties of Polycrystalline Chromium Films

Abstract Polycrystalline chromium films were fabricated by electron beam evaporation with concurrent bombardment using argon ions from an ion gun or by sputtering with substrate bias. The microstructure and composition of the films were characterized using TEM/EDS. It was found that the grain size/shape, porosity, and argon content of the films strongly depend on the deposition parameters such as bombardment ion current density, deposition rate, argon pressure and substrate bias. Film properties including residual stress, resistivity, and reflectance were measured. A correlation of deposition, structure, and properties is discussed.
Gauge-Neutral Matter in a Three-Generation Superstring Compactification

The complete set of gauge-neutral matter superfields (singlets) is parametrized for an R-symmetric three-generation Calabi-Yau superstring compactification. Unlike the number of matter 27s and 27*s, the number of singlets increases when the defining polynomials are made R-symmetric. We also verify the existence of certain flat directions in the field space which enables one to deform this (2, 2)-compactification into an asymmetric (2, 0)-compactification.
Weak lensing and CMB: Parameter forecasts including a running spectral index

We use statistical inference theory to explore the constraints from future galaxy weak lensing (cosmic shear) surveys combined with the current CMB constraints on cosmological parameters, focusing particularly on the running of the spectral index of the primordial scalar power spectrum, αs. Recent papers have drawn attention to the possibility of measuring αs by combining the CMB with galaxy clustering and/or the Lyman-α forest. Weak lensing combined with the CMB provides an alternative probe of the primordial power spectrum. We run a series of simulations with variable runnings and compare them to semianalytic nonlinear mappings to test their validity for our calculations. We find that a “reference” cosmic shear survey with fsky=0.01 and 6.6 × 10^8 galaxies per steradian can reduce the uncertainty on ns and αs by roughly a factor of 2 relative to the CMB alone. We investigate the effect of shear calibration biases on lensing by including the calibration factor as a parameter, and show that for our reference survey, the precision of cosmological parameter determination is only slightly degraded even if the amplitude calibration is uncertain by as much as 5%. We conclude that in the near future weak lensing surveys can supplement the CMB observations to constrain the primordial power spectrum.
Orientational dynamics of room temperature ionic liquid/water mixtures: water-induced structure.

Optical heterodyne detected optical Kerr effect (OHD-OKE) measurements on a series of 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) as a function of chain length and water concentration are presented. The pure RTIL reorientational dynamics are identical in form to those of other molecular liquids studied previously by OHD-OKE (two power laws followed by a single exponential decay at long times), but are much slower at room temperature. In contrast, the addition of water to the longer alkyl chain RTILs causes the emergence of a long time biexponential orientational anisotropy decay. Such distinctly biexponential decays have not been seen previously in OHD-OKE experiments on any type of liquid and are analyzed here using a wobbling-in-a-cone model. The slow component for the longer chain RTILs does not obey the Debye–Stokes–Einstein (DSE) equation across the range of solutions, and thus we attribute it to slow cation reorientational diffusion caused by a stiffening of ...
Pathophysiologic role of calcium in the development of vascular smooth muscle tone

Recent information indicates that the intracellular ionized calcium concentration [Ca2+]i plays a regulatory role not only in determining the magnitude of vascular tone but also in regulating growth of vascular tissue. Studies on living vascular smooth muscle cells using the calcium indicator aequorin have revealed that the relation between [Ca2+]i and contraction of the vascular smooth muscle cell is complex. More than 1 intracellular kinase may be involved, leading to the coexistence of multiple excitation-contraction coupling pathways. However, it appears that all of these pathways may be calcium-dependent. It is not yet known whether the cause of human essential hypertension involves an elevated [Ca2+]i in the vascular smooth muscle cell. However, evidence is presented supporting the concept that a decreased [Ca2+]i in the hypertensive smooth muscle cell will lead to a decrease in vascular tone and total peripheral resistance, and possibly also antagonize the growth response of the vascular smooth muscle cell associated with the secondary effects of hypertension.
On the extended boundary condition as applied to the dipole antenna problem

It is shown that if the surface currents on a dipole antenna of revolution generate zero axial E -field on the interior symmetry axis of the antenna, then the entire interior E -field is zero and the conventional boundary condition is satisfied.
Multi-dimensional versions of a determinant formula due to Jost and Pais

We explore the extent to which a variant of a celebrated formula due to Jost and Pais, which reduces the Fredholm perturbation determinant associated with the Schrodinger operator on a half-line to a simple Wronski determinant of appropriate distributional solutions of the underlying Schrodinger equation, generalizes to higher dimensions. In this multi-dimensional extension the half-line is replaced by an open set Ω ⊂ ℝ n , n = 2, 3, where Ω has a compact, nonempty boundary ∂Ω satisfying certain regularity conditions. Our variant involves ratios of perturbation determinants corresponding to Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions on ∂Ω and invokes the corresponding Dirichlet-to-Neumann map. As a result, we succeed in reducing a certain ratio of modified Fredholm perturbation determinants perturbation associated with operators in L 2 (Ω d n x ) to modified Fredholm determinants associated with operators in L 2 (∂Ω; d n −l σ), n = 2, 3.
Introduction: Economics of the Pharmaceutical Industry: Essays in Honor of Henry G. Grabowski

This special issue of the International Journal of the Economics of Business honors Henry G. Grabowski, Professor of Economics and Director of the Program in Pharmaceutical Economics, at Duke Unive...
Organic geochemical proxies of paleoceanographic, paleolimnologic, and paleoclimatic processes

Abstract Organic matter constitutes a minor fraction of marine and freshwater sediments, yet its important contribution to the sedimentary record can be used to reconstruct marine and continental paleoenvironments. The organic matter content of sediments is the residue of past biota. The amounts and types of organic matter present in sediments consequently reflect environmental conditions that impacted ecosystems at different past times. General sources of the organic matter are inferred from bulk properties such as elemental compositions, carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios, Rock-Eval pyrolysis data, and organic petrography. Details of organic matter origins are refined by analyses of biomarker molecular compositions. Source changes are proxies for fluctuations in sea-level, oceanic surface currents, and continental climates. Algal paleoproductivity rates are indicated by organic-carbon mass accumulation rates and carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic compositions. These parameters record past availability of nutrients and, therefore, are proxies of surface mixing in the oceans and amount of land runoff to lakes. Sea-surface paleotemperatures are recorded by the number of carbon–carbon double bonds in lipid biomarkers produced by marine algae. Larger proportions of the double bonds are proxies for the cooler surface waters that accompanied periods of global glaciation and intervals of enhanced upwelling. The δ13C and δD values of plant organic matter record past concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and changes in delivery of atmospheric moisture, respectively. Diagenesis, which causes the concentration and composition of organic matter in sedimentary settings to differ from those of the original biologically synthesized materials, can bias organic geochemical paleoenvironmental records. The magnitude of this potential source of misinformation must always be considered and evaluated. Comparison of multiple organic geochemical proxies of past conditions helps to compensate for the effects of diagenetic alterations and thereby to improve interpretations of paleoenvironmental change.
State estimation for partially observed jump processes

Abstract In this paper partially observed jump processes are considered and optimal filtering equations are given for the conditional expectation of a functional on the past of the process. Rudemo [6] derived filtering equations for a partially observed jump Markov process. Snyder [3] gives equations for the conditional characteristic function of a jump process. Segall et al. [2] discuss filtering for processes with counting observations. Their work carries over to processes with counting observations the martingale methods that Fujisaki et al. [1] had used to derive nonlinear filtering equations for processes governed by Ito equations. Many further references to filtering for processes with discrete state measurements are given in the references cited. The objective of this paper is to show that by making use of the concept of a representation of a functional the idea of Rudemo's proof of [6, pp. 595–599] can be carried over to jump processes. The author feels that this is a very interesting proof because of its simplicity. It involves only calculations with conditional expectations and the rule for differentiation of a quotient.
Effects of Right Hemisphere Strokes on Personality Functioning

Strokes affecting large areas of the right hemisphere are common. However, many of the most frequently seen deficits that accompany such strokes are underassessed, go untreated, and are never reported or described to family members or patients. Too often, this creates devastating but avoidable consequences. As a result, many individuals return to their homes with family members who cannot understand their behavior changes, who do not seek appropriate treatment for the stroke-injured person, and who cannot come to an acceptance of the individual’s strengths and limitations. This article discusses those deficits to remind those working with right hemisphere stroke patients of the importance of considering them when assessing and treating these individuals and when working with their family members.
Echocardiographic findings in classical and hypermobile Ehlers–Danlos syndromes†

Structural cardiovascular alterations in the classical and hypermobile forms of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome(EDS) warrant investigation. We have examined a cohort of 38 patients with hypermobile and classical EDSs using two-dimensional echocardiography. The cohort includes 7 males and 31 females, with an age range from 12-60 years. Altered echocardiographic parameters were seen in the initial cross-sectional data analysis in 24/38 patients. Five of the 38 participants had mildly dilated aortic root (AR) or sinuses of Valsalva (SV), and an additional 7 patients had an abnormal pouching of the SV, although the absolute dimensions did not exceed the normal range. Ten patients had mild mitral, tricuspid, or aortic regurgitation, and only one patient had mitral valve prolapse (MVP). Three patients had low normal systolic function; three had evidence of mildly elevated pulmonary pressures, and two patients had mild concentric left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). Five patients had evidence of impaired left ventricular relaxation (LVR) based on mitral valve E to A velocity ratio. Interestingly, 26/38 subjects demonstrated a prominent right coronary artery (RCA) easily visualized by trans-thoracic echocardiography, and 10/38 had an elongated cardiac silhouette on the 4-chamber apical views. The "pouching" shape of the SV was more common in hypermobile type than in the classical type of EDS. The study is ongoing and will accrue longitudinal data on 100 subjects with classical and hypermobile EDSs at 2-year intervals.
Assessment of calibration methods for estimating bone mineral densities in trauma patients with quantitative CT: an anthropomorphic phantom study.

Abstract Rationale and Objectives Osteoporosis may contribute to the increased morbidity and mortality of elderly persons involved in motor vehicle accidents. Such patients commonly undergo whole-body computed tomographic (CT) studies that may be analyzed with quantitative CT. Various quantitative CT calibration techniques were investigated for use with patients who have suffered trauma, who are typically scanned on a backboard. Materials and Methods Lumbar simulator phantoms were used to simulate small and large patients. Vertebral spongiosa inserts with a wide range of bone and fat compositions were placed in the phantoms, and their bone mineral densities (BMDs) were measured by using calibration lines derived from the CT numbers of a calibration standard. Four calibration techniques were tested. In three the lumbar simulator and the calibration standard were scanned simultaneously, with the standard placed beneath the backboard (method 1), on top of the backboard adjacent to the lumbar simulator (method 2), or on top of the abdomen region of the lumbar simulator (method 3). The fourth technique employed a single calibration line derived from a separate scan of the calibration standard beneath the small lumbar simulator without the backboard, with correction for patient body size. Results The best overall results were obtained with the single calibration line method. The root mean square errors of the BMD values were 2.9–18.4, 2.5–7.5, 2.5–14.9, and 0.3–2.8 mg/cm 3 for methods 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively (ranges represent variations in the errors of the measured BMDs of the inserts due to changes in scanner table height and lumbar simulator phantom size). Conclusion The single calibration line method is an accurate means of measuring BMD in trauma patients.
The Later School Achievement of Treated and Untreated Emotionally Handicapped Children.

Abstract Comparisons were made of Stanford Achievement Test Scores over a five-year period for 40 children receiving treatment and 43 equally handicapped children who received no treatment. No overall differences were found, but achievement was found to be affected by grade at beginning treatment. Rate of improvement in achievement over the five years differed between groups. Neither of the groups achieved the expected nine-months gain for any year. Implications for diagnosis by school psychologists and alternative ways of improving school achievement in the emotionally handicapped are discussed.
Epidermal cell confluence and implications for a two-step mechanism of wound closure.

In contrast to freshly isolated cells, some cultured keratinocytes have the ability to adhere and spread in protein-free media. Reported here are experiments testing the hypothesis that the social history of keratinocytes influences their ability to spread in defined media. The experiments indicate that confluent cells lack the ability to spread in defined media while subconfluent cells have this property. The inability of dissociated confluent cells to spread in protein-free media is referred to phenomenologically as a "confluent block." The confluent block is acquired rapidly (1–3 days) and lost slowly (5–7 days). The ability of subconfluent cells to spread in the absence of media protein is sensitive to cycloheximide. Aortic endothelial cells and dermal fibroblasts do not demonstrate a confluent block. These observations are consonant with a two-step mechanism of epidermal wound repair: the first occurs immediately after wounding during which the cells require substratum-active proteins, and the second occurs 5–7 days later when the cells are able to synthesize their own substratum.
Math Preference and Mastery Relationship in Middle School Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

We conducted this study to determine the relationship between math preference and mastery for five middle school students with autism spectrum disorders. We randomly presented several math addition and subtraction problem formats to determine the students’ preferences. Results indicated that preference was idiosyncratic across students. In addition, preference was not related to mastery in some students. Results are discussed within a theoretical framework of matching law. Implications for practitioners are discussed.
Effects of bolus volume, viscosity, and repeated swallows in nonstroke subjects and stroke patients

This study examined the effects of bolus volume and viscosity and the variability of repeated swallows in ten stroke patients and ten age-matched nonstroke subjects. The ten stroke patients demonstrated single unilateral cortical (three subjects), subcortical (six subjects), or brainstem (one subject) infarcts on computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging scans at three weeks post-ictus. All subjects underwent videofluoroscopic swallow studies in which seven temporal pharyngeal swallow measures were examined. Despite the dissimilarity in lesion locations, the swallow physiology in the stroke patients was relatively homogeneous, ie, no swallowing disorders severe enough to prevent oral intake. As bolus volume increased, pharyngeal delay time diminished in stroke patients, but not in nonstroke subjects. Increasing bolus volume affected three other pharyngeal swallow measures similarly in nonstroke and stroke subjects: laryngeal closure durations and cricopharyngeal (CP) opening durations increased and duration of tongue base contact to posterior pharyngeal wall decreased. On viscosity comparisons (liquid vs paste), both subject groups displayed longer duration of base of tongue contact to posterior pharyngeal wall. On paste swallows, nonstroke subjects had longer CP opening and lower swallow efficiency, whereas stroke patients did not. This study found no statistically significant learning/repetition effect for repeated swallows in either subject group, or both groups combined.
Meeting on radio interferometry techniques for geodesy

Developments and applications of radio interferometry techniques for geodesy were the subjects of a meeting at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and the Northeast Radio Observatory Corporation's Haystack Observatory in Westford, Massachusetts, on June 19–21,1979. One hundred thirty persons from eight countries attended the meeting, which was cosponsored by the American Geophysical Union and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Office of Space and Terrestrial Applications, in cooperation with Special Study Group 2.51, on radio interferometry techniques, of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG). Fifty-four papers treated practically all aspects of this rapidly maturing geodetic method. Papers presented at the meeting are being collected in a NASA Conference Publication by Robert J. Coates of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. This publication should be available by January 1980.
The effects of facilitative and debilitative achievement anxiety on notetaking

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to assess the effects of anxiety on notetaking behaviors during a lecture and on subsequent test performance. Eighty-seven high school juniors and seniors classified as having high facilitative anxiety, high debilitative anxiety, low facilitative anxiety, or low debilitative anxiety according to Alpert and Haber’s (1960) Anxiety Achievement Test were assigned to one of two treatments. In the Anxiety Inducing Treatment, subjects were told that they would be given a difficult test after listening to a lecture, that they should take notes, and that their scores on the test would allow the teacher to see how well they learned new material. In the second treatment, Neutral Instructions, subjects were told only that they should take notes on a lecture and that they would be tested. Dependent measures included two scores for the notes, including note quality and efficiency and the scores on a multiple choice posttest covering lecture material. A multivariate analysis of vari...
Anomalous dielectric properties of amorphous solids at low temperatures

Abstract The dielectric response, ɛ′ (ω) +iɛ″ (ω), of amorphous and glassy systems at low temperatures has been explained with considerable success by relaxation and resonant tunneling of independent tunneling two level systems (TLS) in response to an AC electric field. However, recent measurements have shown an AC response to the application of large DC electric fields which does not appear explicable in terms of independent TLS, but instead may result from the formation of a hole in the density of states of the TLS at zero effective local electric field, similar to that postulated to exist in spin glasses. This paper reports new studies of this response at very low temperatures which further support this interpretation, again suggesting that interactions are important in understanding the dynamics of such systems at low temperatures.
Muscle function, dynamic loading, and femoral neck structure in pediatric females.

AB Purpose: Muscle forces influence the development of bone mass and structure, but dynamic loading via impact exercise is considered particularly osteogenic. We hypothesized that indices of local muscle function and physical activity exposure would predict femoral neck (FN) structure in premenarcheal females. Methods: We tested this hypothesis in 76 healthy, premenarcheal girls (46 gymnasts and 30 nongymnasts). Height, weight, Tanner breast stage, and prior year nonaquatic, organized physical activity level (PAL) were recorded semiannually. Hologic dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scans (whole body, left FN) yielded total body nonbone lean mass and bone outcomes, including narrow neck (NN) hip structural analysis data. Dynamometers assessed nondominant hand grip and left hip flexion/extension indices. Parsimonious regression models tested the following as predictors of bone outcomes: local muscle function, PAL, gymnast status, and lean mass, accounting for Tanner breast stage and height, as appropriate. Results: Hip flexion indices were significantly correlated with indices of FN mass, density, structure, and strength (P < 0.05). However, the entry of PAL, gymnast status, and lean mass into regression models supplanted local muscle function explanatory value. In contrast, for many variables, the significant association of gymnast status persisted after accounting for physical maturity, body size/lean mass, and PAL. For all skeletal indices except FNArea, NNwidth, NN endosteal diameter, and NN buckling ratio, gymnast status was more strongly associated with bone outcomes than PAL. Conclusions: Greater activity doses and exposure to extreme dynamic loading provide independent benefits to FN structure during growth. Furthermore, weight-bearing activity and high-impact exercise exposure appear superior to local muscle force measures for prediction of FN structure.
Numerical simulation of the integrated space shuttle vehicle in ascent

A simulation of the flow about the integrated space shuttle vehicle in ascent mode has been undertaken for various flight conditions using the Chimera composite grid discretization approach. Overset body-conforming grids were used to represent each geometric component, and an implicit approximately factored finite-difference procedure was used to solve the three-dimensional thin-layer Navier-Stokes equations. The computational results have been compared with both wind tunnel and flight test data. Although relatively good agreement is obtained with the experimental data, further refinement and evaluation of numerical error is under way.
An analytical approach for calculating energy spectra of relativistic runaway electron avalanches in air

Simplified equations describing the transport and energy spectrum of runaway electrons are derived from the basic kinematics of the continuity equations. These equations are useful in modeling the energy distribution of energetic electrons in strong electric fields, such as those found inside thunderstorms. Dwyer and Babich (2011) investigated the generation of low-energy electrons in relativistic runaway electron avalanches. The paper also developed simple analytical expressions to describe the detailed physics of Monte Carlo simulations of relativistic runaway electrons in air. In the current work, the energy spectra of the runaway electron population are studied in detail. Dependence of electron avalanche development on properties such as the avalanche length, radiation length, and the effective Moller scattering efficiency factor are discussed in detail. To describe the shapes of the electron energy spectra for a wide range of electric field strengths, the diffusion term responsible for random deviation of electron energy ionization loss from the mean value is added to the kinetic equation. We find that the diffusion in energy space helps maintain an exponential energy spectrum for electric fields that approach the runaway electron threshold field.
Probing the nature of three-centered hydrogen bonds in minor-groove ligand-DNA interactions: the contribution of fluorine hydrogen bonds to complex stability.

Double-stranded DNA sequences have been prepared in which single atoms (the O2-carbonyls of selected thymines) have been replaced by fluorine or methyl. To maintain normal Watson−Crick hydrogen bonding with the complementary purines, these analogue derivatives have been prepared as C-nucleosides. The O2-carbonyls of interest for this study are those involved in a bifurcated (or three-centered) hydrogen bond with the minor groove binding ligand 4‘,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI). TM studies of the duplexes illustrate that the DNA duplexes are destabilized when fluorine or methyl replaces one or both of the minor groove O2-carbonyls, which can in part be explained by changes in minor groove hydration. In the presence of DAPI, most of the duplexes exhibit an increased TM due to the presence of DAPI bound in the minor groove. The extent of helix overstabilization negatively correlates with the presence of one or both methyl groups in the minor groove, suggesting that ligand binding is weakened in the presen...
Presidents, Parties, and Referenda in Latin America:

Over the past two decades the use of referenda has spread throughout Latin America, and 39 referenda have taken place since 1990. For some observers, referenda can improve accountability, promote participation, and reduce corruption. For others, given the strong tradition of Latin American presidentialism, referenda can be manipulated by populist presidents attempting to bypass unpopular representative institutions such as congresses or to bolster their popularity. This article provides a more nuanced view of referenda, arguing that presidents cannot always manipulate referenda to increase their power. The effect of referenda on executive power varies depending on the scope of the referenda, that is, whether they aim at institutional change or, alternatively, at policy change. Moreover, the agenda-setting process and the role of political parties in referenda campaigns also mediate the effect of referenda on executive power. Although referenda do not necessarily enhance executive power, the risks of presi...
Role of arginines in coenzyme A binding and catalysis by the phosphotransacetylase from Methanosarcina thermophila.

Phosphotransacetylase (EC 2.3.1.8) catalyzes the reversible transfer of the acetyl group from acetyl phosphate to coenzyme A (CoA): CH3COOPO32− + CoASH ⇆ CH3COSCoA + HPO42−. Phosphotransacetylase and acetate kinase are important components of the energy-yielding pathway in most anaerobic microbes from the domain Bacteria. In the archaeon Methanosarcina thermophila, sequential reactions catalyzed by acetate kinase and phosphotransacetylase initiate the pathway of acetoclastic methanogenesis by activating acetate to acetyl-CoA (1). Though acetyl transfer has been studied in other enzymes, very little is known concerning the catalytic mechanism of phosphotransacetylase. Until recently, the only biochemical study reported was in 1976 on the enzyme from Clostridium kluyveri (2). Genes encoding phosphotransacetylase from at least 34 organisms have been reported and all share 51 to 79% deduced sequence similarity to the M. thermophila enzyme (BLAST search results), suggesting similar mechanisms. Recently, the M. thermophila phosphotransacetylase was overexpressed in Escherichia coli, allowing the use of site-directed mutagenesis to investigate the mechanism (6, 8). Thus, this enzyme can serve as a model for all phosphotransacetylases. Chemical modification studies using N-ethylmaleimide implicated a cysteine as an essential active-site residue in the C. kluyveri phosphotransacetylase (2); however, recent site-directed mutagenesis studies on the M. thermophila enzyme showed that the reactive cysteine (Cys 312), though present in the active site, is nonessential for catalysis (8). A second cysteine (Cys 159) was identified as being important for structural stability and possibly for catalysis. Based on preliminary kinetic analyses of a single variant it was postulated that Arg 87 and Arg 133 may be important for binding of CoA (8); however, the roles for these residues were not investigated further. Here we report on the analysis of a suite of Arg 87 and Arg 133 variants using inhibitors and CoA analogs that establish roles for these residues and identify specific interactions with CoA. Inhibitor studies of the wild-type enzyme indicated that at least one arginine other than Arg 87 and Arg 133 is present in the active site and is important for catalysis.
Strategies to compensate for the effects of nonresponse on forest carbon baseline estimates from the national forest inventory of the United States

Forest ecosystem carbon (C) stocks and stock change in the United States (US) have been documented using Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) procedures and guidance with 1990 as a baseline reference for all United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change reports. In the US, estimates of forest C stocks and stock change are obtained from data collected and maintained by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the US Forest Service. Over the course of the IPCC monitoring period, the FIA program made a transition from state-by-state multiyear periodic inventories selected on a rotating basis – with reporting standards largely tailored to regional requirements – to nationally consistent, annual inventories (where a proportion of plots is measured in each state each year) designed for large-scale strategic requirements. Lack of measurements on all forest land during the periodic inventories, along with plot access difficulties and misidentification of forest plots as nonforest due to poor aerial imagery, have resulted in missing data (i.e., nonresponse) throughout the FIA database. Nonresponse, which in some US states is greater than 20%, may lead to differences in estimates of forest C stock change due to the procedural transition from periodic to annual inventories. As an initial step towards rectifying the differences in estimates, we examined several strategies to compensate for missing observations using the most recent annual inventory data from the Lake States region of the US. Results varied by state in the study but given the annual reporting cycle and requirements to compile national estimates of forest C, it was deemed that techniques, where non-observed samples are removed from estimation procedures, provided the optimal combination of statistical performance and efficiency. While the initial analysis focused on the Lake States region, several compensation strategies described may be useful in bridging the gap between national C flux estimates from periodic and annual forest inventories.
Systematic induction and parsimony of phenomenological conservation laws

Abstract Selection rules in the form of conservation laws are sometimes postulated in order to explain the non-observation of certain reactions in elementary particle physics. One way to device selection rules is by induction: data on observed and non-observed reactions are used to induce phenomenological selection rules directly from experience. This article describes a systematic procedure to carry out direct induction of selection rules and quantum properties from reaction data. The procedure has been implemented as acomputer program and applied to historical data on the discovery of strangeness, with interesting results. Experience with the program also led to the conjecture and proof that, given any reaction data whatsoever that can be accounted for by selection rules of conservation, exactly one selection rule is sufficient, unless additional constraints are stipulated.
Prioritizing clinical and nonclinical issues for emergency department quality assessment studies

There is a need at both the emergency department and national level for a systematic method to prioritize clinical and nonclinical areas for research and quality assessment. A method has been developed and applied that allows frequently presenting diagnoses and management issues to be rated in terms of morbidity generated, efficacy of (optimal) clinical intervention, discrepancy between optimal and current treatment, and the impact of an evaluative intervention study on improving care. Also, a summary research priority score was derived. When this method was used by physicians, nurses and administrators at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Adult Emergency Department, a reasonable level of agreement between the three responding groups emerged.
Clinical Integration of Next Generation Sequencing: A Policy Analysis

In 1996, President Clinton offered a promissory vision for human genetics when he said: “I think it won't be too many years before parents will be able to go home from the hospital with their newborn babies with a genetic map in their hands that will tell them, here's what your child's future will likely be like.” The rapid evolution of genetic sequencing technologies has advanced that vision. In October 2006, the cost of sequencing an entire human genome was $10.4 million; by 2014 the cost had decreased a thousand fold. The term next generation sequencing (NGS) describes a variety of laboratory methods that allow efficient determination of the precise order of nucleotides in a DNA sequence. The papers in this issue of the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics focus on “clinical NGS,” which refers to rapid DNA sequencing using second-, third- and fourth-generation sequencing technologies to perform genome-wide sequencing of multiple genes or alleles for clinical prognostic, diagnostic, and therapeutic purposes.
An autoradiographic study of the distribution and excretion of 14C-dicoumarol in the rat.

Abstract 1. 1. The distribution of 14C-dicoumarol was studied using autoradiographic techniques on frozen sections of rat at various times after intravenous injection of the drug. 2. 2. The blood, liver, kidney, and vessel-rich tissues were most radioactive early in the experiment. Muscle, brain, and spinal cord were low in radioactivity at all time periods studied. 3. 3. The contents of the intestine in the region of the stomach showed signs of radioactivity 30 minutes after the intravenous administration of the drug. The intestinal contents and faecal pellets became increasingly radioactive with time, suggesting biliary excretion of the drug.
The Scavenger Hunt Exercise: Symbols of Organizational Culture:

This article describes a Scavenger Hunt Exercise that provides students with a concrete example of organizational culture. Groups of students locate items that reflect aspects of a particular organ...
Preliminary Design and Analysis of an In-plane PRSEUS Joint

As part of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) program, the Pultruded Rod Stitched Efficient Unitized Structure (PRSEUS) has been designed, developed and tested. However, PRSEUS development efforts to date have only addressed joints required to transfer bending moments between PRSEUS panels. Development of in-plane joints for the PRSEUS concept is necessary to facilitate in-plane transfer of load from PRSEUS panels to an adjacent structure, such as from a wing panel into a fuselage. This paper presents preliminary design and analysis of an in-plane PRSEUS joint for connecting PRSEUS panels at the termination of the rod-stiffened stringers. Design requirements are provided, the PRSEUS blade joint concept is presented, and preliminary design changes and analyses are carried out to examine the feasibility of the proposed in-plane PRSEUS blade joint. The study conducted herein focuses mainly on the PRSEUS structure on one side of the joint. In particular, the design requirements for the rod shear stress and bolt bearing stress are examined. A PRSEUS blade joint design was developed that demonstrates the feasibility of this in-plane PRSEUS joint concept to terminate the rod-stiffened stringers. The presented design only demonstrates feasibility, therefore, some areas of refinement are presented that would lead to a more optimum and realistic design.
Balanced fractional opial inequalities

Abstract Here we present L p , p > 1 , fractional Opial type inequalities subject to high order boundary conditions. They involve the right and left Caputo, Riemann–Liouville fractional derivatives. These derivatives are blended together into the balanced Caputo, Riemann–Liouville, respectively, fractional derivative. This balanced fractional derivative is introduced here for the first time. We give applications to a special case.
Attenuation of the biphasic effects of ethanol on avoidance extinction by RO 15-4513 in rats.

Abstract Ethanol had biphasic effects on jump-up avoidance extinction with low doses (1 g/kg) increasing, and high doses (2.5 g/kg) decreasing number of trials to extinction criterion. In Experiment 1 these doses of ethanol were studied alone, and in combination with RO 15–4513 (0.3, 3 or 6 mg/kg). The stimulation of responding produced by low ethanol doses was reversed by 3 and 6 mg/kg doses of RO 15–4513 which had intrinsic suppressive effects, but the depressed responding produced by higher ethanol doses was not attenuated by RO 15–4513. Experiment 2 analysed the interaction between ethanol and benzodiazepine antagonists RO 15–1788 and CGS 8216. RO 15–1788 did not have intrinsic action and did not interact with ethanol. CGS 8216 showed an intrinsic suppressive action much like RO 15–4513, and also reversed the stimulation produced by low dose ethanol, but not the effects of the high dose. Experiment 3 showed that the benzodiazepine agonist, chlordiazepoxide, had effects much like low dose ethanol which were reversed by CGS 8216 and RO 15–4513. The major conclusions were that RO 15–4513 and CGS 8216 possess inverse agonist properties which may cancel out the effects of alcohol under certain circumstances.
Use of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry in a 51-mutation test for cystic fibrosis: evidence that 3199del6 is a disease-causing mutation.

Purpose: We developed a 51-mutation extended cystic fibrosis (CF) panel that incorporates the 25 previously recommended CFTR mutations, plus 26 additional mutations including 3199del6, which was associated with I148T. Methods: This assay utilizes an integrated matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry system. Results: CF testing was performed on over 5,000 individuals, including a 3-year-old Hispanic-American patient with a compound heterozygous G542X/3199del6 genotype. He is negative for I148T, or other mutations assessed by CFTR gene sequencing. Conclusion: These results demonstrate the successful implementation of MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry in CF clinical testing, and establish 3199del6 as a disease-causing CF mutation.
Hybrid Impulsive Control of Stochastic Systems with Multiplicative Noise Under Markovian Switching

A problem of state output feedback stabilization of discrete-time stochastic systems with multiplicative noise under Markovian switching is considered. Under some appropriate assumptions, the stability of this system under pure impulsive control is given. Further under hybrid impulsive control, the output feedback stabilization problem is investigated. The hybrid control action is formulated as a combination of the regular control along with an impulsive control action. The jump Markovian switching is modeled by a discrete-time Markov chain. The control input is simultaneously applied to both the stochastic and the deterministic terms. Sufficient conditions based on stochastic semi-definite programming and linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) for both stochastic stability and stabilization are obtained. Such a nonconvex problem is solved using the existing optimization algorithms and the nonconvex CVX package. The robustness of the stability and stabilization concepts against all admissible uncertainties are...
The Veblenian Predator and Financial Crises: Money, Fraud, and a World of Illusion

An issue raised regarding recent fraudulent activities in the financial sector of the economy is whether fraud is systemic, thus part and parcel of observed financial instability, or of a less important, ancillary nature that can be controlled through effective regulation. Examining the issue from the perspective of a monetary production economy, with particular reference to Veblenian predation, assists in positioning the issue to allow closer analysis of fraud and its place within the economic order. Recent work undertaken by anthropologists reinforces our understanding of money, predation, and fraudulent behavior. This paper concludes that while fraud is not necessary for monetary profit creation — indeed, fraud cannot generate profits in the aggregate — the evolution of capitalism, with its growing emphasis on monetary gain, increasingly systematizes fraud as a normal function.