cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Anatomy of the pulmonary veins in patients with atrial fibrillation and effects of segmental ostial ablation analyzed by computed tomography.

Pulmonary Vein Anatomy. Introduction: The anatomic arrangement of pulmonary veins (PVs) is variable. No prior studies have quantitatively analyzed the effects of segmental ostial ablation on the PVs. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of segmental ostial radiofrequency ablation on PV anatomy in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods and Results: Three-dimensional models of the PVs were constructed from computed tomographic (CT) scans in 58 patients with AF undergoing segmental ostial ablation to isolate the PVs and in 10 control subjects without a history of AF. CT scans were repeated approximately 4 months later. PV and left atrial dimensions were measured with digital calipers. Four separate PV ostia were present in 47 subjects; 3 ostia were present in 2 subjects; and 5 ostia were present in 9 subjects. The superior PVs had a larger ostium than the inferior PVs. Patients with AF had a larger left atrial area between the PV ostia and larger ostial diameters than the controls. Segmental ostial ablation resulted in a 1.5 ± 3.2 mm narrowing of the ostial diameter. A 28% to 61% focal stenosis was present 7.6 ± 2.2 mm from the ostium in 3% of 128 isolated PVs. There were no instances of symptomatic PV stenosis during a mean follow-up of 245 ± 105 days. Conclusion: CT of the PVs allows identification of anatomic variants prior to catheter ablation procedures. Segmental ostial ablation results in a significant but small reduction in ostial diameter. Focal stenosis occurs infrequently and is attributable to delivery of radiofrequency energy within the PV. (J Cardiovasc
A “Sense of Place” in Public Participation in Scientific Research

Public participation in scientific research (PPSR) within the natural sciences has been demonstrated as an effective strategy to expand cognitive knowledge and understanding of ecology, with implications regarding individual perspectives, attitudes, and behaviors about the environment and feelings about the personal relevance of science. Yet the development of PPSR outcomes, the processes through which they form, and the settings where they are shaped are still not fully understood. Because most PPSR takes place and is grounded in specific sites and socioecological contexts, the relationships among PPSR participants and the places in which they explore, collect, and gather information are central to the PPSR experience. Nonetheless, a dearth of empirical research on the interactions between people and places in PPSR highlights a promising area of future scholarship. Drawing from theoretical traditions within geography and environmental psychology, this article contends that PPSR experiences and outcomes both influence and are influenced by a “sense of place.” Highlighting the significance of people–place relationships in PPSR via a place-based window, this article calls for efforts that bridge multiple academic communities to open innovative avenues for understanding natural science PPSR experiences, the cognitive, conative, and affective outcomes of such encounters, and the dynamics of human–environment interactions.
Changes in nodule and root biomass of Sesbania sesban and Leucaena leucocephala following coppicing

A pot study was conducted to measure the extent of and determine the factors controlling fine root and nodule shedding following coppicing of Sesbania sesban and Leucaena leucocephala. Fine ( 2 mm) roots than Sesbania. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that relatively lower allocation to below-ground storage tissue is the cause for Sesbania's relatively greater sensitivity to cutting.
Memory For Events Occurring During Arousal From Sleep

Many instances exist of significant memory loss for events during brief awakenings from sleep. The present experiment sought to determine whether such memory loss was attributable to depth of pre-awakening sleep or to length of awakening. Fourteen young adult subjects performed a standard memory task after being awakened from stage 2 or stage 4 sleep. Subjects either remained awake for 8 min or returned to sleep immediately after the learning task. Both short and long term memory were significantly worse when awakenings were made from stage 4 (deep) compared with stage 2 (light) sleep and when learning occurred immediately after being awakened. No significant effects were found when the length of the period awake after learning was lengthened. It was concluded that memory for events occurring during brief awakenings was affected by the prior stage of sleep. The effect was discussed as an example of state dependent learning.
Displaced inferior ramus fractures as a marker of posterior pelvic injury.

Introduction Injuries to the anterior or posterior pelvic ring rarely occur in isolation. Disruption to the anterior pelvic ring, indicated by a fracture of the superior or inferior pubic ramus, or injury to the pubic symphysis, may be indicative of additional pelvic ring disruption. The purpose of this retrospective study was to determine whether displaced inferior pubic ramus fractures warrant a more detailed investigation of the posterior ring in an effort to predict unstable posterior pelvic ring injuries.
Igneous thermometers and barometers based on plagioclase + liquid equilibria: Tests of some existing models and new calibrations

Although many formulations of plagioclase + liquid equilibria have been calibrated in the last decade, few models specifically address the issue of temperature ( T ) prediction. Moreover, for those that do, T error is not addressed, greatly limiting their use as geothermometers. Several recent models of plagioclase-liquid equilibria are thus tested for their ability to recover T from their calibration data, and predict T from experiments not used for calibration. The models of Sugawara (2001) and Ghiorso et al. (1995, 2002) outperform earlier calibrations. These models perform reasonably well at T > 1100 °C, though recovery and prediction of T is less precise for hydrous compositions. In addition, these models cannot be integrated with geo-hygrometers, or other mineral-melt thermometers and barometers; the following expression predicts T with up to 40% greater precision: \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \begin{eqnarray*}&&\frac{10^{4}}{\mathit{T}(K)}\ =\ 6.12\ +\ 0.257\ ln\ \left(\frac{[Ab^{pl}]}{[Ca^{liq}(Al^{liq})^{2}(Si^{liq})^{2}]}\right)\ {-}\ 3.166[Ca^{liq}]\ +\ 0.2166[H_{2}O^{liq}]\\&&{-}\ 3.317\left[\frac{Al^{liq}}{Al^{liq}\ +\ Si^{liq}}\right]\ +\ 1.216[Ab^{pl}]^{2}\ {-}\ 2.475\ {\times}\ 10^{{-}2}[\mathit{P}(kbar)]\end{eqnarray*} \end{document}(1) Because these thermometers are pressure ( P ) sensitive, a temperature-sensitive barometer was also developed \batchmode \documentclass[fleqn,10pt,legalpaper]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \pagestyle{empty} \begin{document} \begin{eqnarray*}&&\mathit{P}(kbar)\ =\ {-}42.2\ +\ 4.94\ {\times}\ 10^{{-}2}\ [\mathit{T}\ (K)]\ +\ 1.16\ {\times}\ 10^{{-}2}\ \mathit{T}\ (K)\ ln\left(\frac{[Ab^{pl}Al^{liq}Ca^{liq}]}{[An^{pl}Na^{liq}Si^{liq}]}\right).\\&&{-}\ 382.3[Si^{liq}]^{2}\ +\ 514.2[Si^{liq}]^{3}\ {-}\ 19.6ln[Ab^{pl}]\ {-}\ 139.8[Ca^{liq}]\\&&+\ 287.2[Na^{liq}]\ +\ 163.9\ [K^{liq}]\end{eqnarray*} \end{document}(2) In these models, T is in Kelvins and P is in kbar. Anpl and Abpl are the fractions of anorthite and albite in plagioclase, calculated as cation fractions: An = CaO/(CaO + NaO0.5 + KO0.5) and Ab = NaO0.5/(CaO+NaO0.5+KO0.5). Terms such as Alliq refer to the anhydrous cation fraction of Al in the liquid; H2O in Equation 1 is in units of wt%. Errors on these models are comparable to those for clinopyroxene thermobarometers: In Equation 1, R = 0.99 and the standard error of estimate (SEE) is 23 K; for Equation 2, R = 0.94 and the SEE is 1.8 kbar. The models successfully recover mean pressures for experimental data that are not used for calibration, and are furthermore able to recover near-1-atm P estimates for volcanic rocks from Kilauea, Hawaii, which are thought to have crystallized at or very near Earth’s surface.
Behavioral Inhibition and Risk for Developing Social Anxiety Disorder: A Meta-Analytic Study

Objective Behavioral inhibition (BI) has been associated with increased risk for developing social anxiety disorder (SAD); however, the degree of risk associated with BI has yet to be systematically examined and quantified. The goal of the present study was to quantify the association between childhood BI and risk for developing SAD. Method A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify studies that assessed both BI and SAD. Meta-analyses were performed to estimate the odds ratio (OR) of the association between BI and SAD in children. Results Seven studies met inclusion criteria. BI was associated with a greater than sevenfold increase in risk for developing SAD (odds ratio=7.59, p Conclusions Identifying early developmental risk factors is critical for preventing psychiatric illness. Given that 15% of all children show extreme BI, and that almost half of these inhibited children will eventually develop SAD, we propose that BI is one of the largest single risk factors for developing SAD.
Vibrio cholerae Flagellins Induce Toll-Like Receptor 5-Mediated Interleukin-8 Production through Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase and NF-κB Activation

Vaccine reactogenicity has complicated the development of safe and effective live, oral cholera vaccines. Δctx Vibrio cholerae mutants have been shown to induce inflammatory diarrhea in volunteers and interleukin-8 (IL-8) production in cultured intestinal epithelial cells. Bacterial flagellins are known to induce IL-8 production through Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5). Since the V. cholerae genome encodes five distinct flagellin proteins, FlaA to FlaE, with homology to conserved TLR5 recognition regions of Salmonella FliC, we hypothesized that V. cholerae flagellins may contribute to IL-8 induction through TLR5 and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling. Each purified recombinant V. cholerae flagellin induced IL-8 production in T84 intestinal epithelial cells and also induced nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activation in HEK293T/TLR5 transfectants, which was blocked by cotransfection with a TLR5 dominant-negative construct, demonstrating TLR5 specificity. Supernatants derived from ΔflaAC and ΔflaEDB mutants induced IL-8 production in HT-29 intestinal epithelial cells and in HEK293T cells overexpressing TLR5, whereas ΔflaABCDE supernatants induced significantly less IL-8 production, demonstrating the contribution of multiple flagellins in IL-8 induction. NF-κB activation by ΔflaABCDE supernatants was partially restored by flaA or flaAC complementation. Western analysis confirmed the presence of V. cholerae flagellins in culture supernatants. Purified recombinant V. cholerae FlaA activated the MAPKs p38, c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and extracellular regulated kinase (ERK) in T84 cells. FlaA-induced IL-8 production in T84 cells was inhibited by the p38 inhibitor in combination with either the JNK or ERK inhibitors. Collectively, these data suggest that V. cholerae flagellins are present in culture supernatants and can induce TLR5- and MAPK-dependent IL-8 secretion in host cells.
Responses of male green June beetles Cotinis nitida (L.) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) to female volatiles in a flight tunnel

Etude de la relation entre la concentration en pheromone et l'attraction sexuelle des mâles
An exercise in institutional reflection: the learning analytics readiness instrument (LARI)

While the landscape of learning analytics is relatively well defined, the extent to which institutions are ready to embark on an analytics implementation is less known. Further, while work has been done on measuring the maturity of an institution's implementation, this work fails to investigate how an institution that has not implemented analytics to date might become mature over time. To that end, the authors developed and piloted a survey, the Learning Analytics Readiness Instrument (LARI), in an attempt to help institutions successfully prepare themselves for a successfully analytics implementation. The LARI is comprised of 90 items encompassing five factors related to a learning analytics implementation: (1) Ability, (2) Data, (3) Culture and Process, (4) Governance and Infrastructure, and, (5) Overall Readiness Perception. Each of the five factors has a high internal consistency, as does the overall tool. This paper discusses the need for a survey such as the LARI, the tool's psychometric properties, the authors' broad interpretations of the findings, and next steps for the LARI and the research in this field.
Intermolecular contacts of deoxyhemoblogin S: a hypothesis and search for possible anti-sickling agents.

Summary A single replacement of β6 glutamic acid in each of the β chains of hemoglobin (Hb) A by valine in Hb S should have only a local conformational change near the N-terminals. It is hypothesized that the first turn of helix A (β4–6) is unwound and residues β1–6 of one β chain of a Hb S molecule contacts the nonhelix EF region of residues β77–84 (between helices E and F) of another Hb S molecule. The aggregation proceeds in both directions of the two β chains leading to single filaments, followed by lateral aggregation into 6-stranded fibers and gelation of sickle-cell hemoglobins. We propose that small peptides which mimic portions of the binding sites might interfere with the gelation, thus becoming possible anti-sickling agents.
Energy of an ion crossing a low dielectric membrane: solutions to four relevant electrostatic problems.

The influences on ion energy of membrane thickness, ion-pair formation, “pores” and “carriers” have been estimated. Only “pores” and “carriers” lower the energy barrier significantly.
Practical scheduling schemes with throughput guarantees for multi-hop wireless networks

In wireless communication systems, the interference between links results in a challenging scheduling problem. A K-hop interference model is defined as one for which no two links within K-hops can successfully transmit at the same time (note that IEEE 802.11 DCF corresponds to a 2-hop interference model). For a given K, a throughput-optimal scheduler needs to solve a maximum weighted matching problem subject to the K-hop interference constraints. Previous work has mainly focused on developing scheduling algorithms with performance guarantees for the primary interference model (K=1). For K>=2, the problem is NP-Complete and cannot be approximated within a constant factor by any polynomial time algorithm. Our algorithm achieves at least a constant fraction (1/3) of the capacity region under any K-hop interference model. The simplicity of the solution and low control complexity makes it highly amenable for practical implementation. Simulation results show that when the communication overhead is taken into account, the delay characteristics of the proposed scheme may be better than the ideal optimal scheduler (given the prices at all the links, the ideal scheduler computes the optimal schedule instantaneously).
The Relationship between Identity Crises and Crises of Control

Corporate governance is a theme that is important to Business Ethicists for various reasons. It relates to how and for whose benefit corporations are governed, to how important corporate decisions are taken, and to how organizational cultures are “managed.” In this article, it will be argued that in each of these respects, corporate governance relies on particular identity constructs that need to be questioned. In fact, it will be argued that the way in which corporate governance initiatives address the various crises of capitalism, allows us to gloss over some crucial ontological questions that could precipitate a more rigorous questioning of capitalist practices. The article will plot the limitations of the kind of thinking that we encounter within the corporate governance realm, and expose its problematic assumptions by exploring a selection of Deleuzoguattarian concepts. It will be argued that the challenges facing corporate governance relate to the relationship between identity crises and crises of control. We will argue that a better understanding of the nature of capitalism could open new avenues for ethical questioning of contemporary corporate practices, and put the various “crises” that capitalism faces in a new perspective.
Differential gene expression in genetically matched mouse melanoma cells with different metastatic potential

In vitro fusion of weakly metastatic Cloudman S91 melanoma cells with macrophages from DBA/2J mice (syngeneic with Cloudman S91 melanoma) produced hybrids with metastatic potentials ranging from low to high, with more than half showing enhanced metastasis over the parental melanoma [Clin. Exp. Metastasis 16 (1998) 299]. These hybrids, derived from the same parental fusion partners, represent a unique genetically matched model for analyzing differential gene expression regulating the metastatic phenotype. We have examined the differences in gene expression in metastatic fusion hybrid compared to its parental partners, non-/poorly metastatic melanoma cells and normal macrophages. An approach by selective polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and display of 3' end restriction fragments of double-stranded cDNAs was used [Methods Enzymol. 303 (1999) 272]. Gene expression analyses showed an extensive set of transcripts that were up- or down-regulated in the most metastatic hybrid, H95-1, compared to the parental macrophages or melanoma cells. Sequence analyses of more than 60 of these differentially expressed cDNAs revealed significant up- or down-regulation of a number of genes known to be associated with metastasis of melanoma and other solid tumors. Some genes are found to express exclusively either in normal macrophages or in melanoma. Thirteen fragment sequences were found with no matches with GenBank search. Comparison of these gene expression patterns should be of great value in understanding the coordinate programs regulating metastasis. Further, the increased expression of gene(s) common in macrophage and fusion hybrids may be of importance in identifying the regulatory factor(s) related to macrophage-like trait, motility, a critical step of metastatic processes, in hybrids.
The affective eliciting and reducing properties of attraction stimuli

In three different experiments we investigated the affect eliciting and reducing properties of attraction stimuli. In Experiment 1 it was found that dissimilar attitudes elicit negative effect (as measured by the semantic differential), while the evaluation of the stranger holding those attitudes reduced affect. Similar attitudes did not elicit positive affect. Further, affect was not reliably altered by similar or dissimilar attitudes when the affect was measured by the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist or the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale. In Experiment 2 it was tentatively concluded that the simultaneous use of more than one measure of affect can influence scores of all affective measures used. The inconsistency in results in Experiment 1 was attributed to the use of multiple affect measures in certain groups. In Experiment 3 the results of Experiment 1 were replicated while introducing a more powerful stimulus in an attempt to elicit positive effect. As in Experiment 1, negative stimuli elicited negative affect and, as predicted, positive evaluations elicited positive affect. Evaluation of the person who had delivered the affect eliciting personal evaluations effectively reduced that affect.
Amino acid precursors in lunar fines - Limits to the contribution of jet exhaust

A sample of lunar fines collected at a maximum distance, 6.5 km, from the descent engine on Apollo 17 has been analyzed for total amino acids obtainable by hydrolysis of aqueous extracts. The minimum amounts of amino acids, calculated for a disk of 6 km radius are 10,000 to 100,000 times those which could be contributed by the lunar module jet exhaust, on the basis of conservatively limiting assumptions. The amino acids thus obtained are not explainable as due to chemical or biological contamination; their source is accordingly inferred as lunar. Under the conditions of hydrolysis of lunar extracts, cyanide is found to be converted, almost exclusively to glycine, to an extent of 0.0001.
The prelamin A pre-peptide induces cardiac and skeletal myoblast differentiation

Prelamin A processing is unique amongst mammalian proteins and results in the production of a farnesylated and carboxymethylated peptide. We examined the effect of pathogenic LMNA mutations on prelamin A processing, and of the covalently modified peptide on cardiac and skeletal myoblast differentiation. Here we report a mutation associated with dilated cardiomyopathy prevents prelamin A peptide production. In addition, topical application of the covalently modified C-terminal peptide to proliferating skeletal and cardiac myoblasts induced myotube and striated tissue formation, respectively. Western blot analysis revealed that skeletal and cardiac myoblasts are the first cell lines examined to contain unprocessed prelamin A, and immunostaining of peptide-treated cells revealed a previously unidentified role for prelamin A in cytoskeleton formation and intercellular organization. These results demonstrate a direct role for prelamin A in myoblast differentiation and indicate the prelamin A peptide may have therapeutic potential.
TextRunner: Open Information Extraction on the Web

Traditional information extraction systems have focused on satisfying precise, narrow, pre-specified requests from small, homogeneous corpora. In contrast, the TextRunner system demonstrates a new kind of information extraction, called Open Information Extraction (OIE), in which the system makes a single, data-driven pass over the entire corpus and extracts a large set of relational tuples, without requiring any human input. (Banko et al., 2007) TextRunner is a fully-implemented, highly scalable example of OIE. TextRunner's extractions are indexed, allowing a fast query mechanism.
Microcomputer vs. mainframe simulations: a case study

The research was conducted to two parts. Part one consisted of a study of the feasibility of running the Space Transportation Model simulation on an office IBM-AT. The second part was to design simulation runs so as to study the effects of certain performance factors on the execution of the simulation model. The results of this research are given in the two reports which follow: Microcomputer vs. Mainframe Simulation: A Case Study and Fractional Factorial Designs of Simulation Runs for the Space Transportation System Operations Model. In the first part, a DOS batch job was written in order to simplify the execution of the simulation model on an office microcomputer. A comparison study was then performed of running the model on NASA-Langley's mainframe computer vs. running on the IBM-AT microcomputer. This was done in order to find the advantages and disadvantages of running the model on each machine with the objective of determining if running of the office PC was practical. The study concluded that it was. The large number of performance parameters in the Space Transportation model precluded running a full factorial design needed to determine the most significant design factors. The second report gives several suggested fractional factorial designs which require far fewer simulation runs in order to determine which factors have significant influence on results.
Characterization of Fe/ZSM-5 by isotopic exchange with 18O2

Abstract Exchange of 18 O 2 with O atoms in two groups of Fe containing ZSM-5 catalysts was studied. One class was prepared by sublimation of FeCl 3 onto H-ZSM-5 with various Si/Al ratios. These materials are highly active and selective catalysts in the reduction of NO x with alkanes. A second group, further called Fe 2 O 3 /ZSM-5, was prepared by impregnation. Significant differences in the exchange behavior were found between both groups; the exchange rate is higher for Fe 2 O 3 /ZSM-5 than for Fe/ZSM-5, in accordance with the higher selectivity for alkane combustion of Fe 2 O 3 /ZSM-5 and its low selectivity for NO x reduction. The data suggest that negligible amounts of iron oxide particles exist in the Fe/ZSM-5 catalyst. For Fe/ZSM-5 catalysts the exchange is not limited to the oxygen atoms directly attached to iron; some zeolite oxygen is also exchanged, although this does not occur for the metal-free zeolite. Kinetic analysis shows that with Fe 2 O 3 /ZSM-5 the R 2 exchange mechanism prevails in which 18 O 2 is exchanged in one step against two 16 O atoms. For the selective Fe/ZSM-5 catalyst R 1 exchange prevails at low temperature, i.e., 18 O 2 molecules exchange only one O atom against an atom of the solid. The qualitative difference between both types of catalyst indicates that Fe/ZSM-5 catalysts owe their selectivity in NO x reduction to Fe oxo-ions.
On definable subsets of p-adic fields

The brilliant work of Ax-Kochen [1], [2], [3] and Ersov [6], and later work by Kochen [7] have made clear very striking resemblances between real closed fields and p-adically closed fields, from the model-theoretical point of view. Cohen [5], from a standpoint less model-theoretic, also contributed much to this analogy.In this paper we shall point out a feature of all the above treatments which obscures one important resemblance between real and p-adic fields. We shall outline a new treatment of the p-adic case (not far removed from the classical treatments cited above), and establish an new analogy between real closed and p-adically closed fields.We want to describe the definable subsets of p-adically closed fields. Tarski [9] in his pioneering work described the first-order definable subsets of real closed fields. Namely, if K is a real-closed field and X is a subset of K first-order definable on K using parameters from K then X is a finite union of nonoverlapping intervals (open, closed, half-open, empty or all of K). In particular, if X is infinite, X has nonempty interior.Now, there is an analogous question for p-adically closed fields. If K is p-adically closed, what are the definable subsets of K? To the best of our knowledge, this question has not been answered until now.What is the difference between the two cases? Tarski's analysis rests on elimination of quantifiers for real closed fields. Elimination of quantifiers for p-adically closed fields has been achieved [3], but only when we take a cross-section π as part of our basic data. The problem is that in the presence of π it becomes very difficult to figure out what sort of set is definable by a quantifier free formula. We shall see later that use of the cross-section increases the class of definable sets.
Inhibitors of an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase.

Much interest of late has centered around RNAdirected DNA synthesis. Initially, with the finding of an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase in oncogenic RNA viruses [l-S] and what was described as the exclusive presence of the polymerase in acute leukemia cells as opposed to ‘normal’ cells [6] , speculation as to a molecular basis for leukemogenesis and a predictive test for leukemia abounded. However, with the identification [7, S] of the polymerase in ‘normal’ cells (cells not known to be RNA virally transformed) the hope of an absolute predictive index for leukemia or neoplasia has lost credibility, and the RNA-dependent DNA polymerase may be of more interest from the standpoint of gene amplification as opposed to a neoplastic predictor. In our studies of this polymerase we have undertaken an extensive, systematic experiment designed to note the effects of a number of potential inhibitors (primarily antibiotics) on the RNAdependent DNA polymerase in vitro. The present brief report gives the results of these experiments. Several compounds were shown to be potent inhibitors of an RNA-dependent DNA from mouse leukemia cells.
Structural properties of large scale systems

The role of the structural properties of large scale systems for the synthesis of feasible control schemes is investigated. The feasibility of considering a state variable as an output (control objective) of a system is expressed via the concepts of multi-input connectability and structural functional controllability. It is shown that these concepts can be formulated as mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problems and efficient algorithms are presented for the determination of the above notions as well as for accessibility, structural controllability and observability. Several examples illustrate the concepts and the proposed approach.
Respiratory Mechanics During Ventricular Asystole in Dogs with Complete Heart Block

Eleven mongrel dogs were studied in which complete heart block had been produced surgically. Ventricular rate was maintained by artificial stimulation until the time of study. Each experiment involved abrupt cessation of stimulation and the monitoring of pulmonary mechanical behavior during the ensuing period of ventricular asystole. These studies have shown that all aspects of the mechanical behavior of the lungs are altered during ventricular asystole in complete heart block. The changes which occur during this short interval of time are basically attributable to the systemic, stagnant hypoxia and the central vascular congestion. The pulmonary changes produced include augmentation of the rate and depth of breathing, reduction of the functional residual capacity, decreased pulmonary compliance, and increased pulmonary airway resistance. The result is that both the inspiratory and expiratory work of breathing are increased, while the efficiency of breathing is decreased. All of these alterations occur within the 20-second period of ventricular asystole and are restored to control levels soon after the re-establishment of a normal ventricular rate. The possible mechanisms involved are discussed.
Amazonian landscapes and the bias in field studies of forest structure and biomass.

Tropical forests convert more atmospheric carbon into biomass each year than any terrestrial ecosystem on Earth, underscoring the importance of accurate tropical forest structure and biomass maps for the understanding and management of the global carbon cycle. Ecologists have long used field inventory plots as the main tool for understanding forest structure and biomass at landscape-to-regional scales, under the implicit assumption that these plots accurately represent their surrounding landscape. However, no study has used continuous, high-spatial-resolution data to test whether field plots meet this assumption in tropical forests. Using airborne LiDAR (light detection and ranging) acquired over three regions in Peru, we assessed how representative a typical set of field plots are relative to their surrounding host landscapes. We uncovered substantial mean biases (9–98%) in forest canopy structure (height, gaps, and layers) and aboveground biomass in both lowland Amazonian and montane Andean landscapes. Moreover, simulations reveal that an impractical number of 1-ha field plots (from 10 to more than 100 per landscape) are needed to develop accurate estimates of aboveground biomass at landscape scales. These biases should temper the use of plots for extrapolations of forest dynamics to larger scales, and they demonstrate the need for a fundamental shift to high-resolution active remote sensing techniques as a primary sampling tool in tropical forest biomass studies. The potential decrease in the bias and uncertainty of remotely sensed estimates of forest structure and biomass is a vital step toward successful tropical forest conservation and climate-change mitigation policy.
Slow maturing primary exo-erythrocytic schizonts of Plasmodium berghei in an experimentally infected tree-rat (Thamnomys surdaster)

Abstract A laboratory bred tree-rat (Thamnomys surdaster) TR203 was inoculated intravenously with 650,000 sporozoites of Plasmodium berghei NK65. Parasitaemia was first observed 67 hours after sporozoite inoculation; 18 parasitized erythrocytes per 10,000 examined. Parasitaemia rose to 3% at 80 hours and reached 8·2% at 96 hours. A liver biopsy was obtained at 48 hours. In the stained histological sections, nearly mature and mature pre-erythrocytec schizonts were observed (8–11 per section) of normal morphology and staining reaction. The tree-rat was killed at 97 hours after sporozoite inoculation. In the histological sections of the liver taken at the time, ripe and bursting exo-erythrocytec schizonts were seen (6–8 per section) of a remarkable synchronous growth. They appeared normal in structure and in their staining reaction. The occurrence of a slowing down of the growth rhythm in the pre-erythrocytec schizogonic cycle is discussed in its relation to the occurrence of “chronic” schizonts of P. berghei yoelii which have been observed in wild Thamnomys rutilans and which have recently been produced by experimental procedure of exposing the sporozoite infected rodent host to low temperatures (15°C).
Role of sulphur in radioprotective extracts of Micrococcus radiodurans.

A HIGHLY efficient, low molecular weight endogenous radioprotective agent, capable of protecting relatively sensitive strains of bacteria such as E. coli B/r against the lethal effects of X-irradiation, can be extracted from Micrococcus radiodurans1. There was indirect evidence that the protective extract contained a sulphydryl-amine, derived from methionine, similar to mercaptoethylamine (MEA), cystamine or mercaptopropylamine (MPA)1–3. The most effective chemical radioprotective agents found so far are amino-thiols of the general structural formula, R2N—(CH2)n–SH, where R=H+ or NH2 and n is not greater than three. Non-thiol compounds and sulphydryl compounds which digress from the scheme are usually ineffective in bacterial systems4–6. Recent evidence indicates that the radioprotective component in extracts from Micrococcus radiodurans may not be sulphydryl in nature.
Training reference “Cross Trainees” by committee: A practical solution

Many academic libraries have staffing arrangements where library employees work in more than one library branch or unit. These can be dual assignments or less formal agreements in which employees spend several hours per week away from their home departments. Zimmerman Library reference department, the social sciences, humanities, and education reference unit of the University of New Mexico (UNM) General Library (an ARL library serving over 25,000 students), uses “volunteer” staff from other library departments to help provide reference services as part of a library‐wide cross training program. According to library policy, “Cross training is an arrangement whereby a library employee from one department spends time training and working in another department. Cross training is that time an employee spends in another department or unit of the library learning to perform a task or a group of tasks and includes the time spent performing those tasks after training.” This article discusses a staff‐initiated and committee‐coordinated in‐service training program designed for these reference desk workers. This method is innovative, as library training, as evidenced by the literature, is typically viewed as the responsibility of the supervisor or manager. This training approach may serve as a model for other academic library reference departments requiring in‐house training for similar needs.
Online and Operand-Aware Detection of Failures Utilizing False Alarm Vectors

This work presents a framework which detects online and at operand level of granularity all the vectors which excite a set of diagnosed failures in combinational modules. The failures may be of various types and may change over time. We propose to utilize this ability to detect failures at operand level of granularity to improve yield, by not discarding those chips containing failing and redundant computational units as long as they are not failing at the same time. The main challenge in realization of such a framework is the ability for on-chip storage of all the (test) vectors which excite the set of diagnosed failures. A major contribution of this work is to significantly minimize the number of stored test cubes by inserting only a few but carefully-selected "false alarm" vectors. As a result, a computational unit may be mis-diagnosed as failing for a given operand however we show such cases are rare and the chip may continue to be used.
Dry matter yield combining ability among nine sources of orchardgrass germplasm

Yield gains in orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), like most cool-season grasses, have lagged compared to other crop species. The development of synthetic varieties may capitalize on combining ability: mother genotypes are selected after progeny testing. The progenies are obtained from polycrosses and their performance is a measure of the general combining ability (GCA) of the mother genotypes. An initial step to this breeding strategy is the identification of combining ability in germplasm sources of interest for breeding. This study evaluated nine orchardgrass germplasm sources utilizing a diallel crossing design to determine general and specific combining abilities among population hybrids. Three forage harvests were taken each year for 3 years from population hybrids, parental populations, and commercial checks. Differences (P < 0.05) were observed among the entries for dry matter yield within harvests and on a total yearly basis. Population hybrids were identified with comparable or higher yields than the check varieties. Significant general and specific combining ability (SCA) effects for dry matter yield were observed. A breeding population, derived from collections from the Altai region of Russia, possessed high overall general combining ability. A germplasm population, collected from Xinjiang Province in China, possessed SCA when hybridized with the germplasm from Japan and with the variety Latar, although this Chinese germplasm possessed low GCA. Genetic similarity among parental populations was not correlated with SCA, but one parent population with high within population similarity exhibited particularly high GCA. These results highlight a considerable variation in combining ability with potential use in breeding.
FUZZY SUBSETS OF TYPE II IN DECISIONS

We are interested in the construction of an ideal decision function from its approximation in terms of other decision functions. We investigate fuzzy subsets of type II, those with linguistic grades of membership. We also discuss fuzzy subsets whose elements are fuzzy subsets of another set.
Beyond the test: L2 dynamic assessment and the transcendence of mediated learning

A major preoccupation in assessment is connecting examinees' performance in assessment and nonassessment contexts. This preoccupation has traditionally been framed in terms of generalizability. This article reconceptualizes this problem from a qualitatively different perspective on human abilities and their development, namely, the Sociocultural Theory of Mind outlined in the work of Vygotsky (1986, 1998). From this perspective, assessment occurs not in isolation from instruction but as an inseparable feature of it. Assessment and instruction are dialectically integrated as a single activity that seeks to understand development by actively promoting it. This pedagogical approach, known as Dynamic Assessment (DA), challenges the widespread acceptance of independent performance as the privileged indicator of individuals' abilities and calls for assessors to abandon their role as observers of learner behavior in favor of a commitment to joint problem solving aimed at supporting learner development. In DA, the traditional goal of producing generalizations from a snapshot of performance is replaced by ongoing intervention in development. Following Vygtosky's argument that true development goes beyond improvement on a given assessment task, DA practitioners have devised a method known as transcendence (TR), in which they collaborate with learners on increasingly complex tasks. In this article, transcendence in the second language (L2) domain is illustrated with examples of advanced learners of French composing oral narratives with support from a mediator. The article concludes with recommendations for future research on TR in L2 development.
Competitive learning algorithms for image coding

Vector quantization is a powerful technique for image coding. Generalized Lloyd Algorithm is a commonly acknowledged non-neural network benchmark algorithm for vector quantizer design. The main drawbacks of this algorithm are its computational complexity and large memory requirement. On the other hand, competitive learning algorithms in neural networks appear to be well-suited for use in vector quantization applications. In this paper, we first discuss three existing competitive learning algorithms for training a vector quantizer, Basic Competitive Learning Algorithm, Kohonen Self-Organizing Feature Map, and Frequence- Sensitive Competitive Learning Algorithm. Then, we introduce a new Near-Optimal Learning Algorithm (NOLA) which combines the advantages of both KSFM and K-means algorithms. It `on-line' generates codebooks with the least disturbance to previously learned results. Finally, we compare NOLA with the Generalized Lloyd Algorithm. The experimental results show that NOLA achieves a near-optimal performance with the entire execution time slightly more than one iteration of Generalized Lloyd Algorithm. This offers the potential for achieving real-time vector quantization. In addition, NOLA does not need to store the entire training set but only the previously trained results.
Radiobiologic Response of Cho-Ki Cells Treated with Vitamin A

Treatment of CHO-KI cells with vitamin A altered their response to subsequent gamma irradiation. In general longterm preincubation with low doses of the vitamin caused a relative increase in the number of cells surviving a given radiation dose. The effect resulted in an increase in the D0 of the survival curve. Long or short term exposure to high concentrations of the vitamin caused a decrease in the number of surviving cells leading to a decrease in the extrapolation number of the survival curve. Recovery of cells from radiation damage, assessed using the split dose technique, was also impaired by vitamin A pretreatment. A mechanism involving repair of potentially lethal damage may explain the protective effect of vitamin A since this was highly dependent on the cell density of cultures at the time of irradiation. However, in view of the data showing that the vitamin A concentrations necessary to alter the radiation survival curve shoulder caused a significant release of sialic acid into the medium, a mechanism involving membrane stability may account for both the reduction in repair/recovery capacity of the treated cells and the radioprotective effect.
SCISAT to study ozone depletion

The Canadian Space Agency's SCISAT satellite began its mission to study the depletion of the ozone layer, following a successful launch on 12 August. The goal for the atmospheric chemistry experiment, which is SCISAT's mission, is to improve the scientific understanding of the complex chemical changes occurring in the upper atmosphere, particularly in the far north, according to Canada's Minister of Industry, Allan Rock.
Comparison of cupric ion location and adsorbate interactions in Cu(II)-exchanged H-SAPO-5 and H-SAPO-11 molecular sieves determined by electron spin resonance and electron spin echo modulation spectroscopies

The locations and interactions of cupric ion exchanged into H-SAPO-11 and H-SAPO-5 molecular sieves with water, methanol, ethanol, ammonia, ethylene and pyridine have been compared by electron spin resonance and electron spin echo modulation spectroscopies. After dehydration, equilibration with ethylene and pyridine adsorbates was slower compared with that for more polar adsorbates. One major difference between these two molecular sieves in cupric ion coordination to adsorbates is that two waters are coordinated in CuH-SAPO-11 while three waters are coordinated to cupric ion in CuH-SAPO-5. This indicates different coordination sites for the cupric ion in these two molecular sieves of rather similar structure. By considering a particular location of the cupric ion, these coordination numbers can be understood, however. Another major difference involves coordination to ammonia; four ammonias are coordinated to cupric ion in CuH-SAPO-11 consistent with the cupric ion being located in the center of a 10-ring channel, while only three ammonias are coordinated in cupric ion to CuH-SAPO-5. This indicates a different coordination site for cupric ion between these two molecular sieves also with ammonia adsorbate. The coordination site in the SAPO-5 material for cupric ion is suggested to be the same for ammonia coordination and water coordination and is different from the site for water coordination in the SAPO-11 material.
High Temperature Humidity Sensing Materials

New proton conducting materials were prepared and characterized for potential applications in humidity sensing at temperatures higher than 100°C by complex impedance or galvanic cell type techniques. Calcium metaphosphate, β-Ca(PO3)2 as a galvanic cell type sensor material yields reproducible signals in the range from 5 to 200 nmm Hg water vapor pressure at 578°C, with short response time(-30 sec). Polycrystalline samples of α-Zr(HPO4)2 and KMO3 P5.8Si2O25, and the gel converted ceramic, 0.10Li2O-0.25P2O5-0.65SiO2 as impedance sensor materials show decreases in impedance with increasing humidity in the range from 9 nmn Hg to 1 atm water vapor pressure at 179*C.
Alga-Like Fossils from the Early Precambrian of South Africa

Micropaleontological studies of carbonaceouis chert from the Fig Tree Series of South Africa (> 3.1 x 10(9) years old) revealed the presence of spheroidal microfossils, here designated Archaeosphaeroides barbertonensis, interpreted as probably representing the remnants of unicellular alga-like organisms. The presumed photosynthetic nature of these primitive microorganisms seems corroborated by organic geochemical and carbon isotopic studies of the Fig Tree organic matter, and is consistent with the geologically and mineralogically indicated Early Precambrian environment. These alga-like spheroids, together with a bacterium-like organism previously described from the Fig Tree chert, are the oldest fossil orgisms now known.