cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Nutritional and quality characteristics of meat from goats and lambs finished under identical dietary regime

Abstract This experiment was conducted to compare the chemical composition and quality characteristics of chevon and lamb from animals raised under similar conditions. Crossbred goats ( n = 16) and lambs ( n = 16) raised under the same management conditions were slaughtered using standard procedures. After 24 h of cooler storage (2 °C), each carcass was fabricated into primal cuts. The loin chops (2.5-cm thick) from the left side were allotted for determination of cooking loss and Warner–Bratzler shear force (WBSF) values, and the chops from the right side were used to measure fresh meat color (CIE L * a * b * values). Subsequently, the Longissimus muscle (LM) and subcutaneous fat were excised from the right side chops to determine metmyoglobin percentages, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), proximate compositions, and fatty acid profiles. No differences ( P > 0.05) were found in moisture, protein, and fat percentages between the LM of goats and lambs. However, the ash content in the LM of goats (1.73%) was higher ( P P P P P a * values (redness) of lamb chops were higher ( P P > 0.05) between chevon and lamb chops. The WBSF values were lower ( P
Fast Retinex for color image enhancement: methods and algorithms

There exist various implementations of the Retinex algorithm first developed by Edwin H. Land and Mcann, all of which allow for varying amounts of user control of specifications, intermediary steps and filters, and different forms of application. The purpose of this project is to study various existing algorithms implementing multiscale Retinex (and color restoration) in order to understand how they differ, their various advantages and limitations, and overall which are the most powerful methods. From this study, we attempted to improve upon an existing algorithm in order to greatly reduce processing time while still achieving a good result which we would judge using a new measure of color constancy.
COULOMB REPULSION IN MULTIPLY CHARGED IONS : A COMPUTATIONAL STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVE DIELECTRIC CONSTANTS OF ORGANIC SPACER GROUPS

Abstract Using dication and dianion models, effective dielectric constants have been calculated for several organic spacer groups (alkyl, poly-ether, and poly-ketone). Specifically, ab initio calculations at the MP2/6-31+G( d , p )//HF/6−31+G( d ) level were used to estimate the Δ H acid and the proton affinity (PA) values of a series of diammonium and dialkoxide ions, respectively. The variation in these values as a function of the distance between charges leads to the effective dielectric constant (e) of the organic spacer group. For all the spacer groups, effective dielectric constants near unity were obtained indicating that the spacer group does not reduce the Coulomb repulsion in the doubly charged ion (relative to a vacuum). The values obtained in this study are all slightly less than unity (∼0.85) because the definition of the charge separation as the distance between the formal charge centers (N or O) neglects delocalization and overestimates the true charge separation. For similar reasons, e values slightly less than unity are also appropriate for zwitterionic systems.
Interaction Structures between a Child and Two Therapists in the Psychodynamic Treatment of a Child with Asperger's Disorder.

Leading the charge to link intervention research with clinical practice is the development of process research, which involves a detailed analysis of specific therapeutic processes over the course of treatment. The delineation of interaction structures – repetitive patterns of interactions between patient and therapist over the course of treatment – can inform therapists of what may be expected from patients with particular patterns of symptoms or behaviours in their clinical practice and how interactions change over time. Using the Child Psychotherapy Q-Set, this study aims to compare the different interaction structures that emerged in the two-year psychotherapy of a six-year-old child conducted, for one year each, by two doctoral-student therapists in a university-based community mental health clinic. The study allows for exploration of the independent role of the therapist in the psychodynamic therapy of a child diagnosed with Asperger's disorder. The results suggest that four distinct interaction str...
10 The montmorillonite-catalyzed synthesis of RNA dimer

A synthesis has been developed, providing nucleotide dimers comprising natural or unnatural nucleoside residues. A ribonucleoside 5′-phosphorimidazolide is added to a nucleoside adsorbed on montmorillonite at neutral pH with the absence of protecting groups. Approximately, 30% of the imidazolide is converted into each 2′-5′ dimer and 3′-5′ dimer with the rest hydrolyzed to the 5′-monophosphate. Experiments with many combinations have suggested the limits to which this method may be applied, including heterochiral and chimeric syntheses. This greener chemistry has enabled the synthesis of dimers from activated nucleotides themselves, activated nucleotides with nucleosides, and activated nucleotides with nucleotide 5′-monophosphates. Both homo- and heterochiral combinations of reagents have been tried. The montmorillonite-catalyzed oligomerization of 5′-activated nucleotides leads to oligomers up to 50 residues in length (Huang & Ferris, 2007) using the excellent catalyst Volclay®. However, all oligomers mu...
Nitriloxide, XVIII1) Das Tetramere der Knallsäure (Isocyanilsäure) und seine Derivate

Die Struktur 3b der a-Isocyanilsaure als (E,E)-3,4-Bis(hydroxyiminomethyl)-1,2,5-oxadiazol-2-oxid wurde durch stufenweisen Abbau zu dem bekannten Furazandicarbonsaurediamid (13) bewiesen. 3,4-Dicyan-1,2,5-oxadiazol-2-oxid (Dicyanfuroxan, 5) wurde auf einem neuen Weg synthetisiert und der Mechanismus seiner Hydrolyse zu 3-Carbamoly-4-cyan-1,2,5-oxadiazol-2-oxid (Anhydro-isocyanilsaure) aufgeklart. Die meisten der aus 3b unter Einwirkung von Wasser, sauren oder basischen Agenzien entstehenden Verbindungen haben aufgrund neuer chemischer und spektroskopischer Befunde eine andere als die ihnen bisher zugeschriebene Struktur. Alle bisher als offenkettige C3- oder C4-Derivate formulierten Folgeprodukte von 3 sind in Wirklichkeit heterocyclische Verbindungen. Der Versuch einer neuen mechanistischen Deutung dieser Reaktionen wird vorgelegt. Nitrile Oxides, XVIII1). – The Tetramer of Fulminic Acid (Isocyanilic Acid) and its Derivatives The structure 3b of α-isocyanilic acid was established by stepwise degradation to furazandicarboxamide (13) as (E,E)-3,4-bis(hydroxyiminomethyl)-1,2,5-oxadiazole 2-oxide. For 3,4-dicyano-1,2,5-oxadiazole 2-oxide (dicyanofuroxan, 5) a new synthesis was developed and the mechanism of its hydrolysis ot 3-carbamoly-4-cyano-1,2,5-oxadiazole 2-oxide (anhydroisocyanilic acid) established. Chemical re-examination and spectroscopic evidence show most of the compounds formed from 3b by the action of water, acidic or basic reagents to have structures different from those previously assigned. All C3 and C4 derivatives of 3b which were considered to be open-chain compounds are really heterocyclics. A new mechanistic interpretation of these reactions is attempted.
The significance of the attachment of rat kidney glutaminase to the inner mitochondrial membrane.

Abstract The inner mitochondrial membrane of rat kidney mitochondria was altered by 0.03% Triton X-100 treatment in such a way as to render it permeable to NAD and CoA molecules without release of phosphate-dependent glutaminase. A break of linearity in the Arrhenius plot of the enzyme activity was characteristic for a conformational change of a membrane-bound enzyme. The activity of phosphate-dependent glutaminase immobilized in the inner mitochondrial membrane, as studied in 0.03% Triton X-100-treated mitochondria, and solubilized, as in the supernatant of sonicated mitochondria, was hyperbolic with respect to glutamine concentration. Under optimal conditions (pH 8.6 and 100 mM phosphate) the V max and K m were 216 ± 12 nmol/mg per min and 2.7 ± 0.4 mM, respectively, for Triton X-100-treated mitochondria, and 121 ± 8 nmol/mg per min and 15.9 ± 1.8 mM for sonicated mitochondria. Under near physiological conditions (pH 7.8 and 20 mM phosphate), distinct differences in phosphate-dependent glutaminase kinetics were observed. The V max was 29.8 ± 0.4 and 2.6 ± 0.3 nmol/mg per min and the apparent K m 1.55 ± 0.06 and 24.5 ± 6.6 mM for Triton X-100 and sonicated mitochondria, respectively. The sigmoidal activation by phosphate at pH 7.8 was significantly shifted to the left in Triton X-100-treated as compared to sonicated mitochondria. As opposed to the data obtained in sonicated mitochondria, the kinetics of phosphate-dependent glutaminase in 0.03% Triton X-100-treated mitochondria agreed quite well with those obtained in intact, rotenone-inhibited and metabolically active mitochondria. These results suggest that an attachment of phosphate-dependent glutaminase to the inner membrane of kidney mitochondria has a profound effect on its kinetics, particularly under near physiological conditions.
HISTORIES OF MASS CULTURE: FROM LITERARY TO VISUAL CULTURE

VICTORIAN STUDIES has always been, for me, a form of cultural studies. As early as my sophomore year in college, while reading Raymond Williams’s Culture and Society for a modern humanities course, I was fascinated to learn that a case could be made for the nineteenth century as the period during which notions of culture were constructed. Williams’s work was presented without much contextualization and it was only much later that I came to associate it with either British cultural studies or Marxism. My somewhat unconscious interest in forging connections between culture and politics, which I would argue is the founding mission of cultural studies, was matched by another unconscious interest in Victorian studies, and more specifically, studies of the novel, as a field in which to pursue feminism. By the time I reached graduate school in the 1980s, feminism had become a field and a methodology, and within English departments, Victorian studies produced a rich range of scholars, including Elaine Showalter, Ellen Moers, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, and Nina Auerbach, who dominated the interdisciplinary field of women studies, which, like cultural studies, also sought to explain the relations between culture and politics. Their work on women authors and revising the canon was followed by that of an equally powerful group of feminist Victorianists, including Nancy Armstrong, Mary Poovey, Catherine Gallagher, and Eve Sedgwick, who explored not only how categories of gender and sexuality were integral to nineteenth-century social formations, but how they were invented in the modern period.
The development of liquid chromatography/electrochemistry from a historical perspective

A personal view of the development of liquid chromatography/electrochemistry from a laboratory curiosity to a practical tool for routine use. An introduction to a special issue of the journal devoted to recent developments in this field.
MultiPoint: a case study of multimodal performance for building presentations

MultiPoint is a speech and pen user interface for building presentations, implemented as an add-on to Microsoft PowerPoint™. In this study, we compared users' performance between building presentations with MultiPoint and with PowerPoint. We also compared participants' performance between using Wizard of Oz (Woz) speech recognition and computer speech recognition. In aggregate, six participants with Woz recognition completed tasks in about the same time and with about the same number of errors, as they did using PowerPoint alone. Six participants with computer speech recognition took twice the time and committed four times as many errors, as they did using PowerPoint.
A counterpart’s feminine face signals cooperativeness and encourages negotiators to compete

Early on, negotiators take each other’s measure, drawing inferences that shape subsequent decisions and behaviors. In two studies, we investigate whether impressions based on the facial femininity of counterparts affect negotiators’ behaviors. In our first experiment, we tested whether negotiators would choose counterparts with more feminine-featured faces over those with less feminine faces. As predicted, regardless of counterpart sex, negotiators preferred counterparts with more feminine-featured faces. When choosing agents, however, this preference reversed, indicating strategic decision making on the part of negotiators. In a second experiment, we tested our underlying claim that facial femininity evokes stereotypes of cooperativeness. It did, and in keeping with our main hypotheses, negotiators demanded more from their feminine-featured counterparts.
Obsolescence in subject description

Purpose – The paper aims to explain the character and causes of obsolescence in assigned subject descriptors.Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of a conceptual analysis with examples and reference to existing literature.Findings – Subject description comes in two forms: assigning the name or code of a subject to a document and assigning a document to a named subject category. Each method associates a document with the name of a subject. This naming activity is the site of tensions between the procedural need of information systems for stable records and the inherent multiplicity and instability of linguistic expressions. As languages change, previously assigned subject descriptions become obsolescent. The issues, tensions, and compromises involved are introduced.Originality/value – Drawing on the work of Robert Fairthorne and others, an explanation of the unavoidable obsolescence of assigned subject headings is presented. The discussion relates to libraries, but the same issues arise i...
Relation of single unit properties to the oculomotor function of the nucleus of the basal optic root (accessory optic system) in chickens.

Single unit recordings in the nucleus of the basal optic root (nBOR) of the accessory optic system in chickens suggest that it has a role in vertical stabilizing eye movements. Cells have unusually large receptive fields and never respond to small stationary stimuli. They respond best to large richly patterned stimuli moving slowly (2–4 °/s) in vertical directions. Cells responsive to upward movement tend to be located in the dorsal portion of nBOR, which projects to motor areas producing upward eye movement, whereas cells responsive to downward movement tend to be located in the ventral portion of nBOR, which projects to motor areas producing downward eye movement; this suggests that these synapses onto oculomotor neurons are excitatory.
Plasma formation and electrical breakdown in water

Summary form only given. The temporal development of plasma formation in water with up to MV/cm pulsed electric fields applied was explored in a strongly inhomogeneous (wire-plane), and a semi-homogeneous (sphere-plane) electric field configuration. In the first case, by applying 120 kV voltage pulses to a tungsten wire with a diameter of 75 pm, and the second, plane electrode being 23 mm apart, an electric field of more than 2 MV/cm was generated at the wire surface. Replacing the wire with a 1.5 mm diameter sphere allowed us to study electrical breakdown in water in a quasihomogeneous electric field configuration. With submillimeter gaps and voltages of up to 30 kV, electric fields of up to MV/cm could be generated in this case. High-speed photography and an interferometric method were used to explore the temporal development of the discharges. The temporal resolution was, determined by a high-speed camera, on the order of one nanosecond.
Non Solus—A leadership challenge

It has been a true privilege to serve as the 90th President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS). I view the AATS as an extraordinarily productive organization. I take pride in the fact that I have always belonged to productive outfits, starting with my own family. I owe a great deal to my father, John, and my mother, Joan. I was raised as the second child of a large family in a beautiful small town in Eastern Ontario. My older brother Andy, sisters Christine and Charlotte, and younger brothers Duncan and Malcolm are all productive people who have supported Susan and me in our professional and family life. I am pleased they are here today. A short while ago I heaped praise on Susan Mackinnon as an outstanding surgical-scientist. We get along fine in the operating room as long as I do exactly as I am told. She is also a wonderful spouse and mother. She has provided me with a wonderful family. I would not be standing before you today without her love and support. We are blessed with 4 beautiful and productive children. Lachlan, shown here with our granddaughter, Lydia, is an outstanding chef. His restaurant, Frasca, is ranked one of the top 40 restaurants in the United States. He is a James Beard Award winner, and his restaurant is nominated for another James Beard Award at the annual James Beard Awards Ceremony in New York City this evening. Our daughter, Megan, an orthopedic hand surgeon, is shown here with her husband, Ganesh, a sports orthopedic surgeon, and our grandson, Kiran. Megan and Ganesh are on the faculty at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Our son Brendan is to be married to Jenny this weekend. Brendan will graduate later this month from Washington University School of Medicine and begin his orthopedic training at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, I am told under the direct supervision of his big sister. Our daughter Caitlan, shown here with her partner, Tom, just completed a Master’s of Health Administration degree at Tulane University and begins an administrative fellowship at Barnes-Jewish Hospital next month. Susan and I will soon be working for Caitlan.
Reactivity to alcohol assessment measures: an experimental test.

Aims Previous research has suggested that alcohol screening and assessment may affect drinking. Design This study was a randomized test of reactivity to alcohol assessment questionnaires among a group of heavy drinking college students. Setting and participants A total of 147 university students completed a screening questionnaire and were randomized to either immediate assessment or delayed assessment. The immediate assessment group completed a set of drinking questionnaires at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months, while the delayed assessment group completed questionnaires only at 12 months. Measurements Primary outcomes included overall volume of drinking, risky drinking and use of risk reduction behaviors. Findings We found a significant effect of assessment on measures of risky drinking and risk reduction behaviors, but not on overall volume of drinking. Specifically, at 12 months, participants who had previously completed drinking assessments had a lower peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) (d = −0.373), were more likely to report a low score on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT; odds ratio = 2.55) and tended to use more strategies to moderate their alcohol consumption (d = 0.352). Risk reduction behaviors that were affected tended to be those that limited alcohol consumption, rather than those that minimized consequences. Conclusions These results may have implications for the development of brief interventions.
Proinflammatory role of leukocyte-derived Egr-1 in the development of murine postoperative ileus.

Background & Aims: Early growth response gene-1 (Egr-1) is an important inflammatory transcription factor. We hypothesize that leukocyte-derived Egr-1 plays a key inflammatory role in causing postoperative ileus. Methods: Wild-type, Egr-1 knockout, and chimera mice (constructed by irradiation followed by injection with Egr-1+/+ or Egr-1−/− bone marrow) were subjected to surgical manipulation of the gastrointestinal tract to induce ileus. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry quantified and localized Egr-1. Lumenal transit of nonabsorbable fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled dextran and in vitro organ bath techniques measured functional gastrointestinal motility. Inflammatory mediator expressions were measured by Griess reaction, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and multiplex Luminex assay. Results: Intestinal manipulation rapidly and significantly induced Egr-1 messenger RNA and protein within the inflamed muscularis externa. Egr-1 was colocalized early to smooth muscle and enteric neurons and later in extravasated monocytes after surgery when postoperative ileus was functionally prominent. The functional severity of postoperative ileus was significantly ameliorated in mice deficient in Egr-1−/− and chimera wild-type mice transplanted with Egr-1−/− bone marrow, whereas knockout mice with Egr-1+/+ bone marrow again displayed significant ileus. Motility was mechanistically associated in Egr-1−/− gene deficiency with a down-regulation in the release of nitric oxide, prostanoids, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, macrophage inflammatory protein-1α, interleukin-6, interleukin-1, and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, as well as a decrease in the recruitment of leukocytes into the manipulated muscle wall of the intestine compared with wild-type mice. Conclusions: Leukocyte-derived Egr-1 plays an early critical inflammatory role in the initiation of the postoperative inflammatory response, which leads to a prolonged decreased in gastrointestinal motility after intestinal surgery.
Unstable chromosome changes in tuberculin-stimulated leukocyte cultures from irradiated patients. Evidence for immunologically committed, long-lived lymphocytes in human blood.

Unstable chromosome aberrations (acentrics, dicentrics, rings) have been observed in tuberculin-stimulated leukocyte cultures from three patients up to six months after therapeutic irradiation. This is considered evidence that human blood contains immunologically committed, long-lived, nondividing small lymphocytes which retain the latent capacity to proliferate when re-exposed to the sensitizing antigen. "Immunologic memory" may reside in such cells, which, because they are not continually dividing, need not have undergone genetic alteration in becoming immunologically committed.
Conformational analogies of morphine agonists and antagonists as revealed by carbon-13 NMR spectroscopy

The extreme similarity (except in the vicinity of the nitrogen atom) of the 13C spectra of the agonist-antagonist pairs oxymorphone-naloxone and morphine-nalorphine and their respective hydrochlorides suggests that the N-methyl and N-allyl compounds have analogous conformations. This makes unlikely an interpretation of the agonist-antagonist dichotomy in terms of confonnational differences. Both morphine hydrochloride and nalorphine hydrochloride exist as mixtures of two diastereomers: ca 83% of the isomer with equatorial N-alkyl and 17% of the isomer with axial N-alkyl (ΔG°=O.95 kcalmol−1).
Potential of Cytoplasmic Effects for Selection in Dairy Cattle

Abstract Maternal cytoplasmic inheritance may cause an upward bias in heritability estimates from daughter on dam regression. Inaccurate evaluations of bulls or dams of future sires would result if such estimates were used in genetic evaluation. Expected genetic selection differential for bulls would be overestimated, but genetic gain would be little affected by incorrect heritability estimates. Genetic evaluations of dams of sires would be less accurate when incorrect heritability estimates are used, but actual selection differentials would be only slightly less than optimum. If cytoplasmic effects were ignored during selection, less genetic improvement would seem to be the result. However, expected genetic gain would be only slightly increased if selection considered both nuclear and cytoplasmic components of inheritance rather than nuclear inheritance only. Reasons for both results are that selection for cytoplasmic effects can be done directly only through dams of cows for which selection is not very intense and that overestimates of heritability have little effect on genetic selection differentials as compared to using correct estimates of heritability. Expected genetic gain, if based on overestimates of heritability, however, will be considerably greater than can be realized.
Asymptotic orders of reachability in perturbed linear systems

A framework for studying asymptotic orders of reachability in perturbed linear, time-invariant systems is developed. The systems of interest are defined by matrices that have Taylor or Laurent expansions in the perturbation parameter ? around the point 0. The reachability structure is exposed via the Smith form of the reachability matrix. This approach is used to provide insight into the kinds of inputs needed to reach weakly reachable target states, into the structure of high-gain feedback for pole placement, and into the types of inputs that steer trajectories arbitrarily close to almost (A,B)- invariant subspaces and almost (A,B)-controllability subspaces.
TcpF Is a Soluble Colonization Factor and Protective Antigen Secreted by El Tor and Classical O1 and O139 Vibrio cholerae Serogroups

Vibrio cholerae causes diarrhea by colonizing the human small bowel and intoxicating epithelial cells. Colonization is a required step in pathogenesis, and strains defective for colonization are significantly attenuated. The best-characterized V. cholerae colonization factor is the toxin-coregulated pilus (TCP). It has been demonstrated that TCP is required for V. cholerae colonization in both humans and mice. TCP enhances bacterial interactions that allow microcolony formation and thereby promotes survival in the intestine. We have recently discovered that the TCP biogenesis apparatus also serves as a secretion system, mediating the terminal step in the extracellular secretion pathway of TcpF. TcpF was identified in classical isolates of V. cholerae O1 as a soluble factor essential for colonization in the infant mouse cholera model. In the present study, we expanded our analysis of TcpF to include the O1 El Tor and O139 serogroups and investigated how TCP and TcpF act together to mediate colonization. Additionally, we demonstrated that antibodies generated against TcpF are protective against experimental V. cholerae infection in the infant mouse cholera model. This observation, coupled with the fact that TcpF is a potent mediator of colonization, suggests that TcpF should be considered as a component of a polyvalent cholera vaccine formulation.
Hope in “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption”: A Human Becoming Hermeneutic Study

This article is the report of the human becoming hermeneutic method study on "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" (the short story, the screenplay, and the film). The study unfolded during the Parse-King dialogue that answered the research question what is hope as humanly lived? Emergent meanings were discovered that enhanced knowledge and understanding of hope in general and expanded the human becoming school of thought.
Legislators' Views Regarding the Privatization of Involuntary Treatment

Abstract This article reports on a study of legislative attitudes about privatizing involuntary treatment services (IMHT) for people diagnosed with severe mental illness (SMI). The results suggest that party affiliation and attitudes about efficiency of the private sector may have important effects on legislative attitudes about the propriety of contracting these services to voluntary organizations. Attitudes about effectiveness of private treatment facilities had little independent effect. This has ramifications for (1) government sector administrators who currently manage IMHT services, (2) voluntary sector administrators interested in positioning their organizations to be able to receive contracts to provide IMHT services and (3) leaders of consumer advocacy organizations that have a vested stake in the provision of mental health services for themselves and their loved ones. Implications for each group are discussed.
The cosmographic heart: Cordiform maps of the 16th century

(1965). The cosmographic heart: Cordiform maps of the 16th century. Imago Mundi: Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 13-21.
Dysfunctional conglomerates: an explanation provided by linking ontological individualism to social relationships within an open systems context

The arguments presented in this paper regarding the widespread failure of the most recent American experiment with conglomeration link psychoanalytic, sociological, and open systems literature. Executive decision-making is proposed to affect social relationships within an organization and between the open systems organization and other organizations in its environment. Specifically, dysfunctionality on the individual living systems level (on the executive level) is postulated to create dysfunctional relational patterns that can be generalized across a hierarchy of nonliving organizational systems that, in turn, contain living systems. An understanding of Laing's (1959) description of a schizoid process for individuals guides our construction of a dynamic model of dysfunctional organizational states (MODOS, Figure 1). The MODOS depicts unsuccessful conglomerate organizations as dysfunctional nonliving relational systems with tendencies toward pro-entropic, systemic deterioration.
A broadband viscoelastic spectroscopic study of bovine bone: implications for fluid flow.

To explore the hypothesis that mechanical excitation-induced fluid flow and/or fluid pressure are potential mechanical transduction mechanisms in bone adaptation, a complementary experimental and analytical modeling effort has been undertaken. Experimentally, viscoelastic tan d properties of saturated cortical bovine bone were measured in both torsion and bending, and significant tand values in the 10 0 -1 0 5 Hz range were observed, although the nature of the damping is not consistent with a fluid pressure hypothesis. Analytically, micro- mechanically based poroelasticity models were exercised to quantify energy dissipation associated with load-induced fluid flow in large scale channels. The modeling results indicate that significant damping due to fluid flow occurs only above 1 MHz frequencies. Together, the experimental and analytical results indicate that at excitation frequencies presumed to be physi- ological ~1-100 Hz!, mechanical loading of bone generates extremely small pore fluid pressures, making the hypothesized fluid-pressure transduction mechanism upon osteocytes unten- able. © 2001 Biomedical Engineering Society. @DOI: 10.1114/1.1385813#
Dependence of Thresholds for Pulmonary Capillary Hemorrhage on Diagnostic Ultrasound Frequency

Pulmonary ultrasound examination has become routine for diagnosis in many clinical and point-of-care medical settings. However, the phenomenon of pulmonary capillary hemorrhage (PCH) induction during diagnostic ultrasound imaging presents a poorly understood risk factor. PCH was observed in anesthetized rats exposed to 1.5-, 4.5- and 12.0-MHz diagnostic ultrasound to investigate the frequency dependence of PCH thresholds. PCH was detected in the ultrasound images as growing comet tail artifacts and was assessed using photographs of the surface of excised lungs. Previous photographs acquired after exposure to 7.6-MHz diagnostic ultrasound were included for analysis. In addition, at each frequency we measured dosimetric parameters, including peak rarefactional pressure amplitude and spatial peak, pulse average intensity attenuated by rat chest wall samples. Peak rarefactional pressure amplitude thresholds determined at each frequency, based on the proportion of PCH in groups of five rats, were 1.03 ± 0.02, 1.28 ± 0.14, 1.18 ± 0.12 and 1.36 ± 0.15 MPa at 1.5, 4.5, 7.6 and 12.0 MHz, respectively. Although the PCH lesions decreased in size with increasing ultrasonic frequency, owing to the smaller beam widths and scan lengths, the peak rarefactional pressure amplitude thresholds remained approximately constant. This dependence was different from that of the mechanical index, which indicates a need for a specific dosimetric parameter for safety guidance in pulmonary ultrasound.
Analysis of the photodecomposition products of Ru(bpy)3(2+) in various buffers and upon zeolite encapsulation

The photodecomposition products of Ru(bpy)32+ in water, in aqueous buffered solutions and encapsulated in zeolite-Y have been analyzed by chromatography and UV−visible spectroscopy. The chromatographic method is found to be capable of separating species with the same charge but slightly different ligands as well as geometrical isomers. In all the systems investigated, photodecomposition proceeded via photoaquation resulting in the formation of cis- and trans-Ru(bpy)2(OH2)22+. In the case of acetate and phthalate buffers, a third species, Ru(bpy)2(L)(OH2)+, where L is the buffer anion, was found to be the dominant product. For a given pH, the extent of decomposition was found to be dependent on both the buffer anion, following the trend, phosphate < acetate ≪ phthalate and buffer concentration. The presence of the electron-transfer quenching agent, N,N‘-dimethyl-4,4‘-bipyridinium ion in the medium led to a decrease of the photodecomposition and closely followed the quenching efficiency as measured by inten...
Resolving the titer of murine cytomegalovirus by plaque assay using the M2-10B4 cell line and a low viscosity overlay

Background: Murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) is increasingly used as an infectious model to investigate host-pathogen interactions in mice. Detailed methods have been published for using primary murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) for preparing stocks and determining viral titers of MCMV. For determining the titer of MCMV by plaque assay, these methods rely on a high viscosity media that restricts viral spreading through the supernatant of the culture, but is also usually too viscous to pipet. Moreover, MEFs must be repeatedly generated and can vary widely from batch-to-batch in purity, proliferation rates, and the development of senescence. In contrast, the M2-10B4 bone marrow stromal cell line (ATCC # CRL-1972), which is also permissive for MCMV, has been reported to produce high-titer stocks of MCMV and has the considerable advantages of growing rapidly and consistently. However, detailed methods using these cells have not been published. Methods: We modified existing protocols to use M2-10B4 cells for measuring MCMV titers by plaque assay. Results: We found that MCMV plaques could be easily resolved on monolayers of M2-10B4 cells. Moreover, plaques formed normally even when cultures of M2-10B4 cells were less than 50% confluent on the day of infection, as long as we also used a reduced viscosity overlay. Conclusions: Overall, our protocol enabled us to use a consistent cell line to assess viral titers, rather than repeatedly producing primary MEFs. It also allowed us to start the assay with 4-fold fewer cells than would be required to generate a confluent monolayer, reducing the lead-time prior to the start of the assay. Finally, the reduced viscosity CMC could be handled by pipet and did not need to be pre-mixed with media, thus increasing its shelf-life and ease-of-use. We describe our results here, along with detailed protocols for the use of the M2-10B4 cell lines to determine the titer and grow stocks of MCMV.
Introduction to the Special Issue, Part I: New Research on Trauma, Psychopathology, and Resilience among Child Soldiers around the World

The need to understand and respond to the traumatic aftermath of war has a long and important history in the literature on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In fact, recognition of trauma amon...
Pouch and pouchitis

Pouchitis is an inflammation of unknown origin occurring in the ileal pouch after IPAA. It is considered by many to be a form of ulcerative colitis that recurs in the pouch and rarely, if ever, occurs in patients with FAP. Most patients respond to a short course of antibiotics. When remission cannot be maintained or the disease is nonresponsive to prolonged treatment with antibiotics, anti-inflammatory agents or steroids may be useful. A variety of alternative drugs have been tried with mixed success and should be considered as experimental. Rarely, when pouchitis is refractory to medical management, excision of the pouch may be required.
NON-TIMBER FOREST PRODUCT EXTRACTION: EFFECTS OF HARVEST AND BROWSING ON AN UNDERSTORY PALM

Despite the advocacy for non-timber forest product (NTFP) extraction as a form of sustainable development, the population ecology of many NTFPs remains unstudied, making it difficult to assess the ecological impacts of extraction. We investigated the demography and population dynamics of the harvested, understory palm, Chamaedorea radicalis in the El Cielo Biosphere Reserve, Mexico. Our objectives were: (1) to describe patterns of C. radicalis abundance and population size structure, (2) to document C. radicalis demography, (3) to test experimentally how this demography was affected by different leaf harvest regimes and livestock browse intensities, and (4) to project their effects on transient and long-term population dynamics. Data on palm abundance and population size structure were collected from belt-transects along hillsides. We also exposed 100 adult palms to each of five leaf harvest treatments (N = 500): control, harvest once per year, harvest twice per year, harvest four times per year, and a mo...
Dual scintillator detection method to solve PSPMT edge resolving problem

For the design of a high resolution PET detector based on PSPMTs (position-sensitive PMT), the insensitive area at the edge of the PSPMT normally prevents close packing of the scintillator crystals directly on the entire front face of the PSPMT. This edge-resolving problem is particularly severe for a high resolution PET system with multiple detector rings since it would cause gaps between detector rings and may lead to severe image artifacts. We have proposed a new method to solve this edge resolving problem by a dual scintillator detection method: it optically couples one scintillator at the insensitive edge of the PSPMT to another scintillator at the adjacent sensitive area; these two scintillators have different decay times. With this method, a gamma ray interaction that happens inside either scintillator can be detected, and the identification of which scintillator can be achieved by differentiating pulse shapes between the two scintillators. The feasibility of the method has been demonstrated with experiments measurements. Also, the artifacts from the missing data due to the gaps among detector rings has been investigated preliminarily with PET System Monte Carlo simulations.
Lubrication of Highly Viscous Core-Annular Flows in Microfluidic Chambers

We investigate the lubrication transition of high-viscosity fluid threads flowing in sheaths of less viscous fluids, i.e., viscous core-annular flows, in microchannels. Focus is given on the flow behavior of threads as they traverse a quasi-two-dimensional diverging-converging slit microfluidic chamber. The role of the viscosity contrast is examined for both miscible and immiscible fluids, and, for the later case, both partially wetting and nonwetting threads are considered. The conditions for lubrication are established in relation to flow rates of injection, interfacial properties, viscosities, and phenomena such as viscous buckling, wetting, breakup, and coalescence.
Petrological and Geochemical Study of Spilites and Associated Rocks from St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

A continuous section of extrusive and intrusive rocks has been recovered through a drill core of about 2430 ft that was taken at St. John, Virgin Islands. This study is confined to the upper 1180 ft and comprises a cumulative total of 950 ft of altered mafic extrusive rocks (spilite). The spilite is intruded by two amphibole porphyries, one albite-diabase, and oneandesine-diabase. This spilite is further subdivided, according to its appearance, into three zones: a patchy spilite, a non-patchy spilite, and a brecciated spilite. The patchy spilite comprises the upper 650 ft of the core and consists of dark gray patches (2 cm average diameter) containing plagioclase, clinopyroxene, chlorite, and an abundant dark mesostasis. These patches are set into a green matrix rich in chlorite, epi-dote, quartz, and calcite, but low in plagioclase relative to the dark patches. The occurrence of the dark patches and their disappearance with depth (non-patchy spilite) is an igneous feature related to the cooling history of the parental magma of the spilite. The upper part of the flow (patchy spilite) solidified faster than the lower portion (non-patchy spilite), giving rise to centers of crystallization (dark patches) set into a glassy groundmass (green matrix). The effect of autometasomatism as a primary process for the origin of the spilites is still questionable or perhaps masked by a post-consolidation process. It was found that pumpellyite and prehnite disappeared below 700 ft in the core with a concomitant increase of actinolite. Some mobile compounds, mainly K 2 O, also decreased continuously with depth throughout the different lithological units encountered in the core. These mineralogical and chemical variations suggest that the parental magma of the spilites from St. John was altered due to a burial metamorphism of the prehnite-pumpellyite facies grading into the green-schist facies. While the preserved textural features of the spilite show a close correlation with basaltic rocks, the chemistry of the spilite may approach the composition of an amphibolite.
A Novel Role for Keratin 17 in Coordinating Oncogenic Transformation and Cellular Adhesion in Ewing Sarcoma

Oncogenic transformation in Ewing sarcoma is caused by EWS/FLI, an aberrant transcription factor fusion oncogene. Glioma-associated oncogene homolog 1 (GLI1) is a critical target gene activated by EWS/FLI, but the mechanism by which GLI1 contributes to the transformed phenotype of Ewing sarcoma was unknown. In this work, we identify keratin 17 (KRT17) as a direct downstream target gene upregulated by GLI1. We demonstrate that KRT17 regulates cellular adhesion by activating AKT/PKB (protein kinase B) signaling. In addition, KRT17 is necessary for oncogenic transformation in Ewing sarcoma and accounts for much of the GLI1-mediated transformation function but via a mechanism independent of AKT signaling. Taken together, our data reveal previously unknown molecular functions for a cytoplasmic intermediate filament protein, KRT17, in coordinating EWS/FLI- and GLI1-mediated oncogenic transformation and cellular adhesion in Ewing sarcoma.
Power flow control of inverter based distributed generators in LV microgrids

The objective of the paper is to present active and reactive power control schemes for inverter based distributed energy generators connected to low voltage electric power networks. Inverter power flow control strategies for both grid-connected and standalone modes are presented. The inverter uses a Phased Locked Loop (PLL) signal to synchronize with the grid voltage in islanded mode and to control the DG active and reactive power outputs after synchronization. The control schemes are developed using MATLAB\Simulink and Simpowersystem toolbox. The simulated model has been tested for various case scenarios. The results confirm the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed methods.
Episodic volcanism on Enceladus: Application of the Ojakangas-Stevenson model

The main equations in the paper “Episodic volcanism of tidally heated satellites with application to Io” by Ojakangas and Stevenson [Icarus 66, 341–358] are presented; numerical integration of these equations confirms the results of Ojakangas and Stevenson [Icarus 66, 341–358] for Io. Application to Enceladus is considered. It is shown that Enceladus does not oscillate about the tidal equilibrium in this model by both new nonlinear stability analysis and numerical integration of the model equations.
A Ka-band microstrip reflectarray with elements having variable rotation angles

This paper demonstrates a novel means of achieving cophasal far-field radiation for a circularly polarized microstrip reflectarray with elements having variable rotation angles. Two Ka-band half-meter microstrip reflectarrays have been fabricated and tested. Both are believed to be the electrically largest reflectarrays ever developed using microstrip patches. One, a conventional design, has identical square patches with variable-length microstrip phase-delay lines attached. The other has identical square patches with identical microstrip phase-delay lines but different element rotation angles. Both antennas demonstrated excellent performance with more than 55% aperture efficiencies, but the one with variable rotation angles resulted in better overall performance. A brief mathematical analysis is presented to validate this "rotational element" approach. With this approach, a means of scanning the main beam of the reflectarray over a wide angular region without any RF beamformer by using miniature or micromachined motors is viable.
Sinoleperditiini (Ostracoda) from the Lower Emsian Shanglun Formation at the Shanglun village, central Guangxi, China

Abstract The Shanglun Formation at the Shanglun locality contains a sinoleperditiine fauna of five species of which two are new [Sinoleperditia (Sinoleperditia) shanglunensis and Paramoelleritia (Paraleperditia) wangchengyuani] and one is left in open nomenclature because of inadequate materials. In this fauna, the ratio of the vertical height of the trailing chevron muscle scar to that of the adductor muscle scar (th:ah ratio) ranges from 0.85 to 0.95 with a mean value of 0.90. On the basis of the sinoleperditiines and a beyrichiid ostracode, the upper part of the Shanglun Formation is correlated with the middle-to-late early Emsian Moding Formation. The sinoleperditiines and microfacies analysis indicates that the sediments bearing the fauna were deposited in a low energy restricted carbonate platform environment.
BitTorious volunteer: server-side extensions for centrally-managed volunteer storage in BitTorrent swarms

Our publication of the BitTorious portal [1] demonstrated the ability to create a privatized distributed data warehouse of sufficient magnitude for real-world bioinformatics studies using minimal changes to the standard BitTorrent tracker protocol. In this second phase, we release a new server-side specification to accept anonymous philantropic storage donations by the general public, wherein a small portion of each user’s local disk may be used for archival of scientific data. We have implementated the server-side announcement and control portions of this BitTorrent extension into v3.0.0 of the BitTorious portal, upon which compatible clients may be built. Automated test cases for the BitTorious Volunteer extensions have been added to the portal’s v3.0.0 release, supporting validation of the “peer affinity” concept and announcement protocol introduced by this specification. Additionally, a separate reference implementation of affinity calculation has been provided in C++ for informaticians wishing to integrate into libtorrent-based projects. The BitTorrent “affinity” extensions as provided in the BitTorious portal reference implementation allow data publishers to crowdsource the extreme storage prerequisites for research in “big data” fields. With sufficient awareness and adoption of BitTorious Volunteer-based clients by the general public, the BitTorious portal may be able to provide peta-scale storage resources to the scientific community at relatively insignificant financial cost.