cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Perceptual reconstruction in the treatment of inordinate grief.

Abstract Troubled by continuing emotionally painful memories of her ill mother's face as she struggled to breathe during her terminal days in the hospital, an adult daughter requested hypnosis to “erase” those images from her memory. Since that is not feasible, the subject instead was provided in a single session with a hypnosis-based, imagery-focused strategy in which the disturbing images of her mother were replaced by hypnotically reconstructed positive memories as she had appeared in prior, happy times. This was successful: the restructured images were maintained and grew stronger over time as reported four months post-session. It was concluded that hypnotically restructured memories can be useful techniques in the management of inordinate grief.
Vapor growth of graded composition crystals of (Zn, Cd)S and (Zn, Cd)Te

Abstract Graded composition crystals of (Zn, Cd)Te have been grown from the vapor phase using the self-sealing method. Graded composition crystals have been prepared with typical optical band gap gradients of 1 eV/cm and maximum gradients of 1.5 eV/mm. Since the observed growth rates agree with those calculated for transport by diffusion only, the growth is concluded to be diffusion limited. The optimum values observed for the growth parameters are consistent with diffusion limited growth.
A Dynamic Nutrient Budget of Subsystem Interactions in a Salt Marsh Estuary

Abstract In tidal salt marsh estuaries, the different habitats of the ecosystem interact primarily through the tidal creek water column. These interactions include nutrient and materials exchanges with the salt marsh, oyster reefs, creek bottoms, and adjacent uplands. Nutrient budgets are often used to synthesize these kinds of subsystem exchange data, and are usually based on annual totals without accounting for nutrient variability at finer temporal resolutions. In this paper, we present a dynamic budget of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) for the North Inlet estuary, South Carolina that synthesizes subsystem flux data in a new way. We have developed a dynamic budget that uses a tidal hydrology model to generate daily areas of inundated intertidal habitat (i.e. vegetated marsh and oyster reef) from tidal heights calculated hourly and combines them with flux data to determine a net daily input to, or removal from, the water column. Daily surpluses or deficits of each nutrient were compared with daily rates of change in observed tidally-averaged nutrient concentrations. Particular emphasis was placed on evaluating budget output from the intertidal subsystems. We compared our total annual budgets to values from syntheses of two North Inlet flux studies. Although areas of marsh inundated were 150-200 times greater than areas of oyster reef inundated, interactions per unit volume of estuarine water column were comparable in magnitude for soluble reactive P (SRP), particulate organic C (POC), and dissolved organic C (DOC). The marsh dominated the ammonium (NH+4) and nitrate + nitrite (NN) exchanges in the summer but the NH+4 and POC output were particularly sensitive to changes in oyster reef area. Winter and spring DOC release by the marsh coincided closely (in timing and magnitude) with the peak in DOC concentrations observed in the North Inlet estuary, suggesting that forest stream inputs of DOC are not nearly as important as has been hypothesized. Comparison of our budget predictions to a previous synthesis of the same subsytem flux data confirmed the power of using tidal hydrology to estimate subsystem interactions between sampling times. These comparisons also emphasized the importance of (1) water column processes to NH+4 dynamics (2) subtidal benthic fluxes to DOC dynamics, and (3) external inputs to NN dynamics. By incorporating our best current knowledge of estuary-wide subsystem areas, the dynamic budget also allowed us to link subsystem flux data to the results of a study quantifying exchanges between the estuary and the coastal ocean. That comparison indicated the shortcomings of any site-specific extrapolation to whole-system conclusions where a homogeneous ecosystem must be assumed. We used the differences between our total annual C, N, and P budgets and reported exports of those constituents from the system to generate hypotheses and suggest future research efforts both at North Inlet and southeastern salt marsh estuaries in general.
Dislocations, kink bands, and room-temperature plasticity of Ti 3 SiC 2

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of aligned, macrograined samples of Ti3SiC2, deformed at room temperature, shows that the deformed microstructure is characterized by a high density of perfect basal-plane dislocations with a Burgers vector of 1/3〈112 0〉. The dislocations are overwhelmingly arranged either in arrays, wherein the dislocations exist on identical slip planes, or in dislocations walls, wherein the same dislocations form a low-angle grain boundary normal to the basal planes. The arrays propagate across entire grains and are responsible for deformation by shear. The walls form as a result of the formation of kink bands. A dislocation-based model, that builds on earlier ideas proposed for kink-band formation in hexagonal metallic single crystals, is presented, which explains most of the microstructural features. The basic elements of the model are shear deformation by dislocation arrays, cavitation, creation of dislocation walls and kink boundaries, buckling, and delamination. The delaminations are not random, but successively bisect the delaminating sections. The delaminations and associated damage are contained by the kink boundaries. This containment of damage is believed to play a major role in endowing Ti3SiC2 and, by extension, related ternary carbides and nitrides with their damage-tolerant properties.
Mitochondrial matters in Huntington disease.

Huntington Disease (HD) is a relatively common inherited neuropathy with characteristic cognitive and behavioral features. HD usually has a late onset and often is not recognized until the third or fourth decades of life. Transmitted as an autosomal dominant trait, HD has become a prototype for understanding a group of neurogenetic disorders. As a class, HD and the others are manifestations of the expansion of a trinucleotide repeat within the gene coding or structural region. In HD expansion of the (CAG)n repeat in the first exon from an average of 18 (normal) to a median of 44 is the underlying molecular biologic change. In affected individuals, the mutant HD protein (Huntingtin, mHtt) thus contains an extended polyglutamine repeat. Clinical and neuropathic changes in the caudate and putamen nuclei occur relatively early with other brain regions being affected later. Mitochondrial structure, altered electron transport and increased brain lactate levels have implicated mitochondria in HD pathophysiology. There is also evidence that reduced transcription of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator (PGC-1α) leads to altered downstream gene regulation. Further evidence for mitochondrial involvement is presented in the following reviews. Clarifying mitochondrial derangements has led to some possibilities for therapeutic intervention.
Effect of the surface morphology on the energy transfer in ion-surface collisions

Abstract Time- and energy-resolved surface-induced dissociation (SID) of singly protonated des-Arg 1 -bradykinin (PPGFSPFR) combined with RRKM modeling was used to explore the effect of surface morphology on the energy transfer in collisions of large ions with surfaces. Experiments were performed in a Fourier Transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer (FT-ICR MS) specially configured for SID studies. Mass-selected and vibrationally relaxed ions were collided with three diamond surfaces of varying degree of roughness along the surface normal. The results demonstrate that internal energy distributions resulting from collisions of large ions with surfaces are rather independent of the surface morphology: the translational to vibrational (T → V) energy transfer efficiency is 19.5 ± 0.5% for all three diamond surfaces. However, the scattered ion signal increases by a factor of 2 with decrease in the degree of roughness of the SID target suggesting that smooth diamond surfaces are better targets for analytical applications.
Using Participatory Action Research to Develop a School-based Environmental Intervention to Support Healthy Eating and Physical Activity

Abstract Rates of overweight children and adolescents have nearly tripled over the past 30 years. Many barriers exist to healthy eating and physical activity for children and adolescents, including factors in the school and community environment. It is these modifiable school environmental factors that led to the development of the Nutrition Friendly Schools and Communities (NFSC) model to prevent the development of overweight in children and adolescents. Development of the NFSC model built upon the Coordinated School Health Program, the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, Participatory Research, and Empowerment Evaluation. The purpose of the NFSC environmental intervention is to actively engage the school community to prevent overweight in students through a multi-level participative intervention that facilitates coordinated changes in the school environment in the following areas: health education, physical education, health services, food services, school policy, staff wellness, psychosocial services, a...
Stokes flow response to a localised change in interfacial tension

The interfacial tension contribution to the normal stress balance leads to a rather complicated low-Reynolds number hydrodynamic response to the imposed surface tension variation. It is shown that the assumptions dictated by the model prevent the steady state of zero response from ever being attained and thereby demand that the forcing be switched off, after which the interface displacement decays algebraically in time with a small amplitude.
Low-serum carotenoid concentrations and carotenoid interactions predict mortality in US adults: the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Evidence regarding the health benefits of carotenoids is controversial. Effects of serum carotenoids and their interactions on mortality have not been examined in a representative sample of US adults. The objective was to examine whether serum carotenoid concentrations predict mortality among US adults. The study consisted of adults aged ≥20 years enrolled in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988 to 1994, with measured serum carotenoids and mortality follow-up through 2006 (N = 13,293). Outcomes were all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality. In adjusted Cox proportional hazards models, participants in the lowest total carotenoid quartile ( 1.75 μmol/L). For α-carotene, the highest quartile (>0.11 μmol/L) had the lowest all-cause mortality rates (P < .001). For lycopene, the middle 2 quartiles (0.29-0.58 μmol/L) had the lowest all-cause mortality rates (P = .047). Analyses with continuous carotenoids confirmed associations of serum total carotenoids, α-carotene, and lycopene with all-cause mortality (P < .001). In a random survival forest analysis, very low lycopene was the carotenoid most strongly predictive of all-cause mortality, followed by very low total carotenoids. α-Carotene/β-cryptoxanthin, α-carotene/lutein+zeaxanthin and lycopene/lutein+zeaxanthin interactions were significantly related to all-cause mortality (P < .05). Low α-carotene was the only carotenoid associated with cardiovascular disease mortality (P = .002). No carotenoids were significantly associated with cancer mortality. Very low serum total carotenoid, α-carotene, and lycopene concentrations may be risk factors for mortality, but carotenoids show interaction effects on mortality. Interventions of balanced carotenoid combinations are needed for confirmation.
The gardens of Barrackpore

Abstract Barrackpore, in former times the country retreat of the Governor-General of India, lies some fifteen miles upriver from Calcutta. A short distance, one would think, but enough to guarantee a respite from the sweltering heat that descended on the capital of British India for much of the year. Its gigantic trees, luxuriant shrubbery, and gentle lawn sloping down to the river's edge held the promise of shade and fresh breezes, even a hint of home in a distant land. Like the name of the place itself (referring to the nearby cantonment of soldiers), the garden was a hybrid, both Indian and English. As it evolved, it mirrored the individual tastes of the inhabitants of the house but also the exigencies of the country itself. At the moment when India was reeling from the unexpected ferocity of the Mutiny of 1857–58, the gardens of Barrackpore reached their apogee under the gentle hand of Lady Charlotte Canning.1
Toll-like receptor 4 is involved in the mechanism of early alcohol-induced liver injury in mice.

Abstract Chronic alcohol administration increases gut-derived endotoxin in the portal blood, which activates Kupffer cells and causes liver injury. Mice (C3H/HeJ) with mutations in toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) are hyporesponsive to endotoxin. To test the hypothesis that TLR4 is involved in early alcohol-induced liver injury, the long-term intragastric ethanol feeding protocol developed by Tsukamoto and French for rats was adapted to mice. Animals with nonfunctional TLR4 and wild-type mice (C3H/HeOuJ) were compared. Two-month-old female mice were fed a high-fat liquid diet with either ethanol or isocaloric maltose-dextrin as control continuously for 4 weeks. There was no difference in mean urine alcohol concentrations between the groups. Dietary alcohol significantly increased liver-to-body weight ratios and serum alanine transaminase (ALT) levels in wild-type mice (109 ± 18 U/L) over high-fat controls (40 ± 3 U/L), effects that were blunted significantly in mice with a mutation of TLR4 (55 ± 9 U/L). While no significant pathologic changes were observed in high-fat controls, dietary ethanol caused steatosis, mild inflammation, and focal necrosis in wild-type animals (pathology score = 5.2 ± 1.2). These pathologic changes were significantly lower in TLR4-deficient mice fed ethanol (score = 2.0 ± 1.3). Endotoxin levels in the portal vein were increased significantly after 4 weeks in both groups fed ethanol. Moreover, ethanol increased tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) mRNA expression in wild-type, but not in TLR4-deficient, mice. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that Kupffer cell activation by endotoxin via TLR4 is involved in early alcohol-induced liver injury. (H EPATOLOGY 2001;34:101-108.)
COMPLEX AMPHIPHILIC HYPERBRANCHED FLUOROPOLYMERS BY ATOM TRANSFER RADICAL SELF-CONDENSING VINYL (CO)POLYMERIZATION.

Amphiphilic hyperbranched fluorohomopolymer (Mn = 9.06 kDa, Mw/Mn = 1.90) and fluorocopolymer (Mn = 17.2 kDa, Mw/Mn = 2.50) with tri(ethylene glycol) units incorporated at the molecular level were synthesized by atom transfer radical self-condensing vinyl homopolymerization of an inimer, 4-[oxy(tri(ethylene glycol))bromoisobutyryl]-2,3,5,6-tetrafluorostyrene, and copolymerization of the inimer with 2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorostyrene (1:3, inimer:monomer), using 2,2‘-bipyridine together with CuCl/CuCl2 as the ligand/catalyst/deactivator system. The structure and composition of the fluoropolymers were characterized by 1H, 13C, and 19F NMR spectroscopies. As detected by thermogravimetric analyses, the homopolymer and the copolymer had thermal stability up to 175 and 210 °C, respectively. Differential scanning calorimetry revealed a glass transition temperature of −19 °C for the homopolymer and 20 °C for the copolymer. Solubility tests indicated that both polymers were soluble in a broad range of organic solvents, ...
A structural approach to estimating cracking resistance in an anisotropic metal

A form of the Hahn-Rosenfield model is used in a structural approach to evaluating cracking resistance in an anisotropic metal by standard test data for uncracked specimens subject to biaxial loading. The formulas incorporate a generalized function of the structural parameters covering the effect of the interaction between the preliminary strain path and the repeat-strain one on the yield point and the dimensional parameter for the terminal crack zone. The approach has been confirmed by experiments on low-cycle loading of 12KH18N10T steel containing a normal-detachment crack if the directions of the preliminary and repeat stretching coincide or are orthogonal.
Building bridges – identifying generational communication characteristics to facilitate engineering collaboration and knowledge transfer across field-practicing engineers

As engineers of the Baby Boom generation retire from their career posts, novice engineers are entering the workplace. Workforce transformation and loss of strategic corporate knowledge underscore the need to generate understanding regarding engineering norms aiding or impeding knowledge transfer. While research exists regarding how Millennials learn, utilize technology for learning, and engage in social learning, no research exists utilizing generational categories as a means for analyzing behaviors that might support knowledge transfer .Using quantitative action research, this exploratory study investigates themes of engineering culture, communication, and generational norms. It begins by soliciting viewpoints of Baby Boom and Millennial engineers, comparing each generations’ communication preferences. Findings suggest that while communication differences do exist between the two engineering generations, similarities also abound. This paper discusses how revealing understanding and leveraging the generat...
Unidirectional intraaortic balloon pumping in cardiogenic shock and intractable left ventricular failure

Abstract Intraaortic balloon pumping effectively interrupts the vicious circle of cardiogenic shock by increasing coronary blood flow and decreasing left ventricular work and myocardial oxygen requirements. Clinical experience with intraaortic balloon pumping in 4 patients with intractable cardiogenic shock and in 1 patient with intractable left ventricular failure from myocardial infarction is reported. Four of the 5 comatose anuric patients were returned to the coronary care unit alert and in a hemodynamically stable state after an average of 12 hours of pumping. Since the fate of the patient in cardiogenic shock from myocardial infarction depends upon the balance between myocardial oxygen supply and demand, it is believed that the primary aim of intraaortic balloon pumping should be directed toward increasing coronary blood flow. A dual-chambered balloon mounted on a single lumen catheter is described which, in contrast to the conventional single-chambered balloon, pumps the blood unidirectionally toward the root of the aorta and markedly increases coronary and cerebral blood flow. A safety chamber is interposed between the intraaortic balloon and driving unit, which permits use of carbon dioxide, instead of helium, and a vacuum to assist deflation of the balloon, to assure maximal decrease in left ventricular afterload by facilitating ventricular ejection. Intraaortic balloon pumping is shown to be an innocuous procedure which is easily instituted at the bedside. A plea is made for earlier referral of patients. Although intraaortic balloon pumping by itself may not salvage these patients with shock, it effectively prepares them for more definitive surgical therapy, such as coronary artery bypass or infarctectomy. One such patient was successfully supported and referred for infarctectomy.
Reaction potential and the intervening variable question

(1960). Reaction potential and the intervening variable question. Australian Journal of Psychology: Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 149-161.
Will more complete inhibition of the RAAS with angiotensin receptor blockade improve survival following myocardial infarction

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors have a well-established role in the management of patients with hypertension, diabetes, heart failure and myocardial infarction (MI). ACE inhibitors have been particularly well studied in acute and chronic MI with consistent and substantial survival benefits demonstrated, particularly in the higher risk groups. The recent development of angiotensin II (Ang II) receptor blockers (ARBs) as a well tolerated pharmacological therapy to more completely inhibit the actions of Ang II at the AT1-receptor level raises questions concerning comparative efficacy with the proven ACE inhibitor experience. Two major trials will provide a direct comparison of ARBs with an ACE inhibitor. The Valsartan in Acute Myocardial Infarction (VALIANT) trial is specifically designed to compare and contrast the ARB, valsartan, used both alone as well as in combination with a proven ACE inhibitor regimen, in a high risk MI population. VALIANT, with its three arms targetting 14,500 patients, is uniquely poised to determine whether the pharmacological advance in the development of ARBs confers additional clinical (survival) value in high risk MI patients.
Attentional control: temporal relationships within the fronto-parietal network.

Abstract Selective attention to particular aspects of incoming sensory information is enabled by a network of neural areas that includes frontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex, and, in the visual domain, visual sensory regions. Although progress has been made in understanding the relative contribution of these different regions to the process of visual attentional selection, primarily through studies using neuroimaging, rather little is known about the temporal relationships between these disparate regions. To examine this, participants viewed two rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) streams of letters positioned to the left and right of fixation point. Before each run, attention was directed to either the left or the right stream. Occasionally, a digit appeared within the attended stream indicating whether attention was to be maintained within the same stream (‘hold’ condition) or to be shifted to the previously ignored stream (‘shift’ condition). By titrating the temporal parameters of the time taken to shift attention for each participant using a fine-grained psychophysics paradigm, we measured event-related potentials time-locked to the initiation of spatial shifts of attention. The results revealed that shifts of attention were evident earlier in the response recorded over frontal than over parietal electrodes and, importantly, that the early activity over frontal electrodes was associated with a successful shift of attention. We conclude that frontal areas are engaged early for the purpose of executing an attentional shift, likely triggering a cascade through the fronto-parietal network ultimately, resulting in the attentional modulation of sensory events in posterior cortices.
Stability and Optimization of the CSMA and CSMA/CD Channels

A comprehensive study of the stability and optimization of the infinite population, slotted, nonpersistent CSMA and CSMA/ CD channels is presented. The approach to both stability and performance optimization differs significantly from previous work, and provides a number of new results including robustness in stability and performance in the presence of channel and control parameter variations. It is first shown that both channels are unstable under the usual assumption of random retransmission delay. Pake's lemma is then applied to study the properties of a type of distributed retransmission control which provides stable channels. Basic results are in the form of inequalities which define stability regions in the space of channel and control parameters, and further permit one to specify controls which maximize channel throughput as a function of packet length and CD time with stability guaranteed. The delay versus throughput characteristic for the stabilized channels is derived and used to demonstrate the performance achievable with these channels.
Spintronic Memristor Through Spin-Torque-Induced Magnetization Motion

Existence of spintronic memristor in nanoscale is demonstrated based upon spin-torque-induced magnetization switching and magnetic-domain-wall motion. Our examples show that memristive effects are quite universal for spin-torque spintronic device at the time scale that explicitly involves the interactions between magnetization dynamics and electronic charge transport. We also proved that the spintronic device can be designed to explore and memorize the continuum state of current and voltage based on interactions of electron and spin transport.
A Brief History of Asa Gray's Manual of Botany

Abstract. The eight editions of Gray's Manual are overviewed, with special attention being given to the first six, the editions in which Asa Gray was sole author (editions one through five) or co-author (edition six). Changes to the editions are summarized and reviews, positive in the beginning and more critical later with the sixth edition, are discussed. While Gray himself admitted that he failed in his effort to make the Manual a vade mecum he did succeed in providing an excellent identification manual for the region in a single volume. This Manual would be used by almost all students of the flora's region, including those who would criticize later editions when it did not keep up with all of the botanical discoveries that were occurring in the Manual's range.
Development, Fabrication, and Testing of a Prototype Water-Cooled Gas Turbine Nozzle

The design and development of a water-cooled high temperature gas turbine has been under active investigation by the General Electric Gas Turbine Division for the past 15 years. The transition from testing small scale, laboratory-size experimental hardware to full scale industrial gas turbine components was initiated in 1975 by General Electric and extended further under the U.S. Department of Energy's High Temperature Turbine Technology (HTTT) program. A key element in this transition was the identification of a composite (hybrid) design for the first stage nozzles. This design permits efficient heat transfer to the water-cooling passageways, thus lowering effective strains and increasing part life. This paper describes the metallurgical considerations and process technology required for such hardware. A review of the materials selection criteria utilized for the nozzle is presented, along with the results of several materials development programs aimed at determining metallurgical compatibility of the component materials, diffusion bonding behavior and both hot corrosion and aqueous corrosion performance of key materials. A brief description of the actual cascade testing of the part is given, along with results of a post-test metallurgical analysis of the tested hardware.
Efficacy and fumigation characteristics of ozone in stored maize.

This study evaluated the efficacy of ozone as a fumigant to disinfest stored maize. Treatment of 8.9tonnes (350bu) of maize with 50ppm ozone for 3d resulted in 92-100% mortality of adult red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), adult maize weevil, Sitophilus zeamais (Motsch.), and larval Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hubner) and reduced by 63% the contamination level of the fungus Aspergillus parasiticus Speare on the kernel surface. Ozone fumigation of maize had two distinct phases. Phase 1 was characterized by rapid degradation of the ozone and slow movement through the grain. In Phase 2, the ozone flowed freely through the grain with little degradation and occurred once the molecular sites responsible for ozone degradation became saturated. The rate of saturation depended on the velocity of the ozone/air stream. The optimum apparent velocity for deep penetration of ozone into the grain mass was 0.03m/s, a velocity that is achievable in typical storage structures with current fans and motors. At this velocity 85% of the ozone penetrated 2.7m into the column of grain in 0.8d during Phase 1 and within 5d a stable degradation rate of 1ppm/0.3m was achieved. Optimum velocity for Phase 2 was 0.02m/s. At this velocity, 90% of the ozone dose penetrated 2.7m in less than 0.5d. These data demonstrate the potential usefulness of using ozone in managing stored maize and possibly other grains.
Investigation of UV LEDs for compact back-lighted thyratron triggering

The back-lighted thyratron (BLT), an optically-triggered pseudospark switch, employs high energy (e.g. UV) photons to produce photoelectrons and initiate the breakdown a low-pressure high-power glow discharge. Characteristics of these switches are high-voltage hold-off (≫30 kV), high peak current capability, excellent current rise rate (up to 1012 A/s) and a simple device geometry [1]. It is of interest to develop ultra-compact BLTs [2] with reliable and practical optical triggering systems for applications in compact pulsed power. Recent remarkable advances in ultraviolet (UV) light emitting diodes (LEDs) [3] have potentially enabled new optical trigger schemes for compact BLTs: replace expensive trigger light sources such as lasers or UV flash lamps, and thereby substantially simplify the light-triggered BLT systems, significantly reducing the total switch cost and the BLT system volume. In this work, potential utilization of UV LEDs for BLT triggering is discussed. The photoelectron yields are measured for metal photocathodes illuminated by a 266 nm UV Laser with 5 ns duration and at a pressure range typical for BLT operation. The number of photoelectrons needed to generate an avalanche in a switch and initiate breakdown is extrapolated from a BLT-based, electron-beam current measurement.
FMR1 CGG expansions: Prevalence and sex ratios

We have estimated the prevalence of FMR1 premutation and gray zone CGG repeat expansions in a population-based sample of 19,996 male and female adults in Wisconsin and compared the observed sex ratios of the prevalence of FMR1 CGG premutation and gray zone expansions to theoretical sex ratios. The female premutation prevalence was 1 in 148 and comparable to past research, but the male premutation prevalence of 1 in 290 is somewhat higher than most previous estimates. The female:male premutation prevalence ratio is in line with the theoretically predicted sex ratio. The prevalence of CGG repeats in the gray zone (45-54 repeats) was 1 in 33 females and 1 in 62 males. The prevalence of the "expanded" gray zone (defined here as 41-54 CGG repeats) was 1 in 14 females and 1 in 22 males, leading to a female:male ratio of 1.62 (95% confidence interval 1.39-1.90). This female:male ratio was significantly lower than the expected ratio of 2.0. We examined results from three previously published FMR1 prevalence studies and found similar female:male ratios for CGG repeats in this "expanded" gray zone range (pooled female:male ratio across all four studies 1.66, 95% confidence interval 1.51-1.82). Further research is needed to understand the apparent excess prevalence of males with CGG repeats in this range.
Towards cell‐free isobutanol production: Development of a novel immobilized enzyme system

Producing fuels and chemical intermediates with cell cultures is severely limited by low product concentrations (≤0.2%(v/v)) due to feedback inhibition, cell instability, and lack of economical product recovery processes. We have developed an alternate simplified production scheme based on a cell-free immobilized enzyme system. Two immobilized enzymes (keto-acid decarboxylase (KdcA) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH)) and one enzyme in solution (formate dehydrogenase (FDH) for NADH recycle) produced isobutanol titers 8 to 20 times higher than the highest reported titers with S. cerevisiae on a mol/mol basis. These high conversion rates and low protein leaching were achieved by covalent immobilization of enzymes (ADH) and enzyme fusions (fKdcA) on methacrylate resin. The new enzyme system without in situ removal of isobutanol achieved a 55% conversion of ketoisovaleric acid to isobutanol at a concentration of 0.135 (mole isobutanol produced for each mole ketoisovaleric acid consumed). Further increasing titer will require continuous removal of the isobutanol using an in situ recovery system.
Paleoceanography of the Gulf of Alaska during the past 15,000 years: Results from diatoms, silicoflagellates, and geochemistry

article i nfo abruptly during the Bolling-Allerod (Bo-Al) warm interval (14.7-12.9 cal ka), declined during the Younger Dryas (YD) cold interval (12.9 to 11.7 cal kyr BP), and rose again during the earliest Holocene. At this site, the record after ~11 cal kyr BP is dominated by oceanic diatoms and silicoflagellates, with geochemical proxies displaying more subtle variation. Cores EW0408-66JC in the Yakobi Sea Valley near Cross Sound and EW0408-11JC in the Gulf of Esquibel contain an expanded, composite record along the southeast Alaskan margin. Core 66JC contains a detailed record of the Bo-Al and YD. Diatoms and silicoflagellates indicate that coastal upwelling and biosiliceous productivity were strong during the Bo-Al but declined during the YD. Sea ice-related diatoms increased in abundance during the YD, indicating cooler, but less productive waters.
Genetics and social class

Design: Using genetic epidemiological principles, five claims on the role of genes in determining social class are examined: (1) traits that run in families are usually inherited; (2) complex traits can be explained by alleles at a single gene locus; (3) complex traits are transmitted intact from one generation to the next; (4) natural selection explains social advantage. (5) Heritability estimates provide a valid estimate of the importance of genes in explaining complex human traits or behaviour. Results: (1) Traits that run in families can result from environmental exposures that differ by social class. (2) The protein encoded by any single gene has too narrow a range of biological activity to explain traits as complex as social status. (3) Because alleles at different gene loci are transmitted independently, genetic inheritance cannot explain why offspring display the same complex traits as their parents. (4) The propagation of mutations that might result in a selective advantage takes much longer than the time for which any social class has achieved or maintained dominance. (5) Heritability measures are accurate only when environment is maintained constant. This is impossible in evaluating human traits. Conclusions: The roots of social class differences do not lie in our genes. Consequently, genetics cannot be used as a justification for maintaining a ruling class, limiting procreation among the poor, or minimising social support programmes.
High level synthesis for reconfigurable datapath structures

High level synthesis techniques for the synthesis of restructurable datapaths are introduced. The techniques can be used in applications such as design for fault tolerance against permanent faults, design for yield improvement, and design of application specific programmable processors. The paper focuses on design techniques for built in self repair (BISR), which addresses the first two of these applications. The new BISR methodology consists of two approaches which exploit the design space exploration abilities of high level synthesis. The first method uses resource allocation, assignment, and scheduling, and the second uses transformations. The effectiveness of the approaches are verified on a set of benchmark examples.
Estrogen receptor beta mediates acute myocardial protection following ischemia

Background Gender differences have been noted in acute ischemia/reperfusion injury. Estrogen and the estrogen receptors (ER) appear to play a critical role in cardiovascular gender differences, given that females have improved myocardial functional recovery associated with decreased tissue inflammation. It has been suggested that ER beta plays a part in decreasing myocardial inflammation following hemorrhage. It remains unknown, however, whether ER beta also may be protective following the more severe insult of complete global, normothermic ischemia/reperfusion injury in the isolated mouse heart. Methods Adult male and female wild-type (WT) and ER beta knockout (ERbKO) mouse hearts were subjected to 20 minutes ischemia and 60 minutes reperfusion (Langendorff model). Myocardial contractile function (±dP/dt) was continuously recorded. Heart tissue was analyzed for tumor necrosis factor, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and IL-10 levels as determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results Females had markedly improved functional recovery compared with males following ischemia/reperfusion. This recovery was associated with lower levels of myocardial tumor necrosis factor, IL-1β, and IL-6 in females. However, ERbKO females exhibited significantly less postischemic functional recovery than WT females and were similar to WT males. Interestingly, increased myocardial production of tumor necrosis factor, IL-1β, and IL-6 was noted in ERbKO female hearts in response to ischemia/reperfusion. No significant differences were found between male WT and male ERbKO in postischemic functional recovery and proinflammatory cytokine production. Conclusion ER beta plays a role in the protective effects of estrogen following global, warm ischemia/reperfusion of the isolated mouse heart. This understanding ultimately may enable the development of pharmaceutical agents that harness such protection with minimal collateral sex hormone effects.
Study of Ni Metallization in Macroporous Si Using Wet Chemistry for Radio Frequency Cross-Talk Isolation in Mixed Signal Integrated Circuits

A highly conductive moat or Faraday cage of through-the-wafer thickness in Si substrate was proposed to be effective in shielding electromagnetic interference thereby reducing radio frequency (RF) cross-talk in high performance mixed signal integrated circuits. Such a structure was realized by metallization of selected ultra-high-aspect-ratio macroporous regions that were electrochemically etched in p − Si substrates. The metallization process was conducted by means of wet chemistry in an alkaline aqueous solution containing Ni 2+ without reducing agent. It is found that at elevated temperature during immersion, Ni 2+ was rapidly reduced and deposited into macroporous Si and a conformal metallization of the macropore sidewalls was obtained in a way that the entire porous Si framework was converted to Ni. A conductive moat was as a result incorporated into p − Si substrate. The experimentally measured reduction of crosstalk in this structure is 5~18 dB at frequencies up to 35 GHz.
Climate and environment of the subtropical and tropical Americas (NH) in the mid-Holocene: comparison of observations with climate model simulations

Abstract Published paleoecological records from 36 sites in the subtropical and tropical Americas, spanning the region from the equator to 30°N, are used to summarize the history of Holocene environmental and climatic changes. Although there is considerable regional variability, and although site coverage is still sparse in many places, it is clear that significant parts of the USA Southwest, Northern and Central Mexico, the Yucatan, and Central America were wetter than present in the early to mid-Holocene and then exhibited a drying trend toward the late Holocene, with many sites undergoing especially significant drying between 6000 and 5000 years ago. In contrast, the USA southeast was drier than present in the early to mid-Holocene and became wetter in the late Holocene. These observations are compared to simulations of climate for 6000 years ago, and for the present, made with four different climate models. The models showed fair agreement both with each other and with the proxy record in many locations, particularly in the subtropics, although significant differences were also noted, especially in the tropics. The accuracy of the models is simulating correctly the sign of observed changes (wetter or drier) was, when the simulated change was large, from 45% to 69%, with a pooled accuracy among four models of 61%. This result is a strong indication that, although currently useful for studies of mechanisms, models still have considerable room for improvement in their accuracy of simulation. Our result underlines the value of using more than one model for data/model comparison as a means of assessing the robustness of simulated climate patterns. The observed general drying trend from early through middle Holocene is captured in part by two climate models that simulated all or portions of the Holocene climate sequence. This drying trend coincides with the timing of some events in the environmental history of the region.
The role of registration in accurate surgical guidance

Registration is presented as the central issue of surgical guidance. The focus is on the accuracy of approaches employed today, all of which use pre-operative images to guide surgery on rigid anatomy. The three most well-established approaches to guidance, namely the stereotactic frame, point fiducials, and surface matching, are examined in detail, together with two new approaches based on microstereotactic frames. It is shown that each method relies on the registration of points in the image to corresponding points in the operating room, and therefore that the error patterns associated with point registration are similar for all of them. Three types of registration error, namely fiducial localization error (FLE), fiducial registration error (FRE), and target registration error (TRE), are highlighted, as well as two additional guidance errors, namely target localization error and total targeting error, the latter of which is the overall error of the guidance system. Statistical relationships between TRE and FLE, between FRE and FLE, and between TRE, TLE, and TTE are given. Finally some myths concerning fiducial registration are highlighted.
The Isoenzymes AcP, EsD and PGM1 in Human Inner Ear Fluid

Searching for genetically conditioned characters not only in the red cells but also in other tissues and body fluids is quite comprehensible in forensic medicine. New discovery in this sphere increases the changes of individual identification of human cadavers in cases in which cannot be made in the red blood cells.
Glutamine supplementation attenuates ethanol-induced disruption of apical junctional complexes in colonic epithelium and ameliorates gut barrier dysfunction and fatty liver in mice

Previous in vitro studies showed that glutamine (Gln) prevents acetaldehyde-induced disruption of tight junctions and adherens junctions in Caco-2 cell monolayers and human colonic mucosa. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of Gln supplementation on ethanol-induced gut barrier dysfunction and liver injury in mice in vivo. Ethanol feeding caused a significant increase in inulin permeability in distal colon. Elevated permeability was associated with a redistribution of tight junction and adherens junction proteins and depletion of detergent-insoluble fractions of these proteins, suggesting that ethanol disrupts apical junctional complexes in colonic epithelium and increases paracellular permeability. Ethanol-induced increase in colonic mucosal permeability and disruption of junctional complexes were most severe in mice fed Gln-free diet. Gln supplementation attenuated ethanol-induced mucosal permeability and disruption of tight junctions and adherens junctions in a dose-dependent manner, indicating the potential role of Gln in nutritional intervention to alcoholic tissue injury. Gln supplementation dose-dependently elevated reduced-protein thiols in colon without affecting the level of oxidized-protein thiols. Ethanol feeding depleted reduced protein thiols and elevated oxidized protein thiols. Ethanol-induced protein thiol oxidation was most severe in mice fed with Gln-free diet and absent in mice fed with Gln-supplemented diet, suggesting that antioxidant effect is one of the likely mechanisms involved in Gln-mediated amelioration of ethanol-induced gut barrier dysfunction. Ethanol feeding elevated plasma transaminase and liver triglyceride, which was accompanied by histopathologic lesions in the liver; ethanol-induced liver damage was attenuated by Gln supplementation. These results indicate that Gln supplementation ameliorates alcohol-induced gut and liver injury.
Film Boiling Heat Transfer Enhancement via Electrostatic Leidenfrost State Suppression

Boiling heat transfer has enormous impact on the effectiveness of various industrial processes like steam generation, desalination, and nuclear reactor operations. Heat transfer in the film boiling regime is significantly reduced as compared to the nucleate boiling regime due to the existence of a vapor layer at the solid-liquid interface (Leidenfrost effect). This vapor layer degrades heat transfer by up to two orders of magnitude and causes dryout, which can result in severe temperature excursions. This work maps out the heat transfer benefits of electrostatic suppression of the Leidenfrost state. Electrical suppression of the Leidenfrost state is observed for a variety of liquids, including organic solvents, water and electrically conducting salt solutions. Successful Leidenfrost state suppression is observed with moderate voltages even at ultrahigh temperatures exceeding 550 °C. Elimination of the vapor layer increases heat dissipation capacity of film boiling by more than one order of magnitude; up to 45X enhancement was measured in this work. This work also introduces the concept of tunable film boiling heat transfer. Overall, electrically-enhanced boiling can enable a new class of technologies for active control and enhancement of boiling heat transfer, with various applications in energy systems.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
The Intermittent Behavior of the Cosmic Mass Field Revealed by a QSO's Lyα Forest

The intermittent behavior of the space-scale distribution of the Lyα-transmitted flux of QSO HS 1700+64 has been analyzed via a discrete wavelet transform. We found that there are two strong indications of intermittency on scales down to about 10 h-1 kpc: (1) the probability distribution function of the local fluctuations of the flux has a significantly long tail on small scales, and (2) the local power spectrum of the flux shows prominent spiky structures on small scales. Moreover, the local power spectrum, averaged on regions with different sizes, shows similar spiky structures. Therefore, the random mass density field traced by the Lyα forest is rougher on smaller scales, consistent with singular clustering.
Victim Ambiguity: Bystander Intervention and Sexual Assault in the College Drinking Scene

ABSTRACTAlcohol-related sexual assault is the most common form of sexual victimization on college campuses. Bystander intervention has been suggested as effective in preventing sexual assault, but its usefulness in sexual assaults that involve alcohol in particular has not yet been examined. The current study draws from intensive interviews with 30 undergraduates at a large Midwestern university to understand how students’ perceptions about sexual victimization and alcohol use affect their bystander behavior. Findings suggest that in alcohol-involved situations, the ambiguity of whether the woman is at risk and her perceived worthiness are significant barriers to intervention. Policy implications are discussed.
GaNAs/GaAsSb type II active regions for 1.3-1.5μm operation

We investigated a new active material consisting of GaNAs/GaAsSb type II quantum wells on GaAs for 1.3-1.5μm wavelength operation. Absorption spectra of two samples with different compositions were measured, showing good agreement with simulation.