cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Theoretical and experimental characterization of thermal effects in doped fibers

Nonradiative decay mechanisms in doped fibers introduce heat into the fiber core and often decrease the upper state lifetime of a dopant. This can be detrimental to doped-fiber lasers, amplifiers, and in some cases all-optical switches. In this paper we report theoretical and experimental studies of thermal effects in doped fibers, with particular emphasis on their impact on all-optical nonlinear switches using resonant nonlinearities. We observe significant thermal effects in transition metal-doped silica fibers. We determine that sub-microsecond(s) switching using a resonant nonlinear effect in a conventional switch architecture requires dopant oscillator strengths of 3.6 10-3 or greater when nonradiative processes are the predominant decay mechanism.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
A control-theoretic approach to optimal stopping

A general problem of optimal stopping is studied via continuous-time Dynamic Programming. Local necessary and sufficient conditions for optimality are obtained in the form of generalized variational inequalities.
Electrogalvanic stimulation for levator syndrome: how effective is it in the long-term?

Levator syndrome is a symptom complex of severe pain and pressure in the anorectal area. Electrogalvanic stimulation (EGS) has been proposed as a treatment for this condition. Several reports have described EGS as up to 90 percent “effective” in treating levator syndrome, but the length of follow-up was uncertain or short-term in these studies. The purpose of this study was to examine the long-term benefits of EGS in levator syndrome patients treated at one institution. All patients undergoing EGS for levator syndrome between 1985 and 1991 were studied. Initial complaints, physical examination, number of treatments, procedure tolerance, and long-term benefit were determined through personal interviews and chart reviews. There were 52 patients (63 percent females and 37 percent males) with a median age of 54 years (range, 24–84 years). All patients presented with anorectal pain. Tenderness was localized by examination to the left in 43 percent, to the right in 23 percent, and bilateral in 8.6 percent and was not localized in 2.6 percent. Fifty percent received fewer than four one-hour treatments, 33 percent received four to six treatments, and 17 percent received more than six treatments. Seventy-seven percent felt that the treatment was painless. Follow-up results were as follow: number, 52; percent follow-up, 88; mean follow-up, 28 months (range, 0–71 months); symptoms relieved, 19 percent; partial relief, 24 percent; no relief, 57 percent. Of four patients with a wrong diagnosis, three were ultimately diagnosed with recurrent pelvic cancer and one had an anal fissure. At our institution, EGS was a tolerable treatment, but a substantial number of patients received no benefit. An organic etiology of anorectal pain must always be excluded.
Fiscal Reform Over Ten Years of Transition

This paper analyzes fiscal reforms in transition economies during the decade leading up to 1998. The paper argues that macroeconomic stabilization, price liberalization and privatization--he core reforms visualized by the shock therapy approach--are necessary but not sufficient conditions for a complete transition to a market economy. Further deep changes--such as the creation of new fiscal institutions, changes in incentives and processes, and changes in the role of government--are needed.
Marketing Myths and Marketing Realities: A Commentary on the Consumer as Voter, Judge and Jury

Offering a counterpoint to ‘‘The Consumer as Voter, Judge and Jury,’’ this commentary compares the ‘‘modern origins’’ of the ‘‘marketing myths’’ in the article with an alternative view; contrasts t...
Sensitivity analysis of hydrate thermodynamic reference properties using experimental data and ab initio methods

Various sets of thermodynamic reference properties currently available in the literature were examined by applying the van der Waals and Platteeuw model to predict monovariant three-phase equilibria for hydrate-forming binary mixtures from 260 to 320 K. Two recent and well-accepted experimental studies of cyclopropane hydrates by Dharmawardhana et al. (1980, 1981) with analysis by Holder et al. (1984) (Δμ 0 w = 1299 J/mol, ΔH 0 w = 1861 J/mol) and the NMR study of xenon hydrates by Handa and Tse (1986) (Δμ 0 w = 1287 J/mol, ΔH 0 w = 931 J/mol) were revisited. The deviations introduced by experimental uncertainties were found to be large enough to cause significant changes in the prediction of dissociation pressures. The methodology and parameters fitted to various pure and binary hydrate systems provided by Sloan (1998) were also employed in our calculations for methane hydrates using the Lennard-Jones and Devonshire (LJD) approximation and the Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK) or the Peng-Robinson (PR) equation of state. The comparison between the experimental data and software prediction provided by Sloan (1998) is in good agreement over the low-temperature range (<290 K), but there are significant differences at high temperatures (290-320 K). The methane-water intermolecular potential from our previous ab initio study was also used to obtain the reference properties with small deviations (Δμ 0 w = 1236 ′ 4 J/mol, ΔH 0 w = 1703 ′ 62 J/mol), and the resulting parameters were able to give the best prediction over the entire temperature range using the ab initio potential. More importantly, the use of the ab initio potential removes the need for adjusting fitted potential parameters to make up for errors in the reference parameters. Statistical variations (′) at the 95% confidence limit computed for our data and those from previous researches are found to be significantly smaller using our method. Note that these statistical variations do not take into account systematic error, which is possible in both the experimental and ab initio cases. Sensitivity analyses based on both the LJD approximation and our ab initio study were performed. The value of Δμ 0 w was found to be much more sensitive to the three-phase equilibria prediction of methane hydrates than ΔH 0 w . For example, a variation in Δμ 0 w of ′10-20 J/mol results in an error of 5%-10% in the predicted dissociation pressure.
A spatio-temporal-textual crime search engine

This paper proposes a STT(spatio-temporal-textual) search engine for extracting, indexing, querying and visualizing crime information. Until recently, it's a labor-intensive work to identify crime entities, cluster similar suspect activities, and discover patterns from massive online collections. It's a big challenge to reveal inherent ST(spatio-temporal) correlations among mass crime information. It's getting more difficult considering the subjectivity and vagueness of information retrieval from narratives of victims or witness and online documents of social networks. We have developed a crime search engine for Washington DC metropolitan area that includes geo-temporal-tagger, STT indexer, heuristic query and ranker and dynamical ST visualization. It assists crime detection for investigators, identification of crime trends and patterns for decision makers and researchers, and security of city life for residents and journalists.
Oscillatory potentials of visually inattentive children

The oscillatory potentials (OPs) are probably generated in the proximal retina. The OPs of 20 visually inattentive infants and children were recorded. All 20 had evidence of abnormalities of the visual parts of the brain. The a- and b-waves, indices of distal retinal function, were normal in 10 patients, abnormal in the other 10. Among the patients with abnormal, attenuated a- and b-waves, OP amplitudes were more attenuated than among those with normal a- and b-waves. However, the timing of the OP wavelets was not correlated with distal retinal activity. These results suggest that in humans OP amplitude may be determined by inputs from the distal retina, but OP latency and periodicity are governed by processes within the proximal retina.
Smooth muscle research: from Edith Bülbring onwards

The properties of smooth muscle are currently being studied extensively. Indeed, the small size of myocytes and the huge range of behaviours they exhibit make them an attractive focus for current research. However, this was not always the case. These properties initially made smooth muscles more difficult to study than the larger specialized striated muscles that were the focus of attention of leading researchers. In the UK, research into the physiology of smooth muscles began in the Pharmacology Department at Oxford, led by Edith Bulbring; her early results attracted much attention and resulted in the formation of an active international smooth muscle research group. Although several areas of current interest in the field of smooth muscle were not tackled by the Oxford group, progression of much of the field has clear links to Bulbring and her group.
Modal Spaces for Pelitic Schists

Modal space is unconventional and still unfamiliar to most readers. Some historical remarks with reference to earlier papers are therefore necessary. Modal spaces, then called “net-transfer reaction spaces” were first introduced by myself, with Jo Laird and Alan Thompson (Thompson et al. 1982; see also Thompson 1981, 1982a, b), as an aid in understanding the metamorphism of mafic rocks over a wide range of pressures and temperatures. As viewed in retrospect, that paper was overly concerned with the accessible limits of such a space as determined by the bulk composition of a given assemblage, and was too little concerned with the fact that these spaces also contain an array of isopleths. The isopleths provide useful information on variations in modal abundance of the mineral phases involved. The orientations of such isopleths depend only on the stoichiometry of the reactions selected as basis vectors, and are thus independent of the bulk composition of a given assemblage. As a consequence of our early emphasis, the spaces we presented have been regarded as useful primarily in the study of mafic rocks lying within a highly limited range of bulk composition. In some of my later papers, including this one, I have introduced some simplifications in methodology and tried to emphasize the wider utility of the concept. The name “modal space” was introduced in a volume dedicated to the memory of Paul Niggli (Thompson 1988), and the idea was extended further, but still with emphasis on mafic rocks, in a volume dedicated to Hugh Greenwood (Thompson 1991). An extension to (mainly peraluminous) quartzo-feldspathic rocks was presented at the Korzhinskii symposium in Moscow in 1999, and has recently been published (Thompson 2000). The method presented is applicable to a wide range of metamorphosed quartzo-feldspathic rocks that may be of either igneous or …
Pax6 guides a relay of pioneer longitudinal axons in the embryonic mouse forebrain.

We have characterized a system of early neurons that establish the first two major longitudinal tracts in the embryonic mouse forebrain. Axon tracers and antibody labels were used to map the axon projections in the thalamus from embryonic days 9.0–12, revealing several distinct neuron populations that contributed to the first tracts. Each of the early axon populations first grew independently, pioneering a short segment of new tract. However, each axon population soon merged with other axons to form one of only two shared longitudinal tracts, both descending: the tract of the postoptic commissure (TPOC), and, in parallel, the stria medullaris. Thus, the forebrain longitudinal tracts are pioneered by a relay of axons, with distinct axon populations pioneering successive segments of these pathways. The extensive merging of tracts suggests that axon–axon interactions are a major guidance mechanism for longitudinal axons. Several axon populations express tyrosine hydroxylase, identifying the TPOC as a major pathway for forebrain dopaminergic projections. To start a genetic analysis of pioneer axon guidance, we have identified the transcription factor Pax6 as critical for tract formation. In Pax6 mutants, both longitudinal tracts failed to form due to errors by every population of early longitudinal axons. Taken together, these results have identified potentially important interactions between series of pioneer axons and the Pax6 gene as a general regulator of longitudinal tract formation in the forebrain.
Functional organization and visual representations of human ventral lateral prefrontal cortex.

Recent neuroimaging studies in both human and non-human primates have identified face selective activation in the ventral lateral prefrontal cortex even in the absence of working memory demands. Further, research has suggested that this face-selective response is largely driven by the presence of the eyes. However, the nature and origin of visual category responses in the ventral lateral prefrontal cortex remain unclear. Further, in a broader sense, how do these findings relate to our current understandings of lateral prefrontal cortex? What do these findings tell us about the underlying function and organization principles of the ventral lateral prefrontal cortex? What is the future direction for investigating visual representations in this cortex? This review focuses on the function, topography, and circuitry of the ventral lateral prefrontal cortex to enhance our understanding of the evolution and development of this cortex.
Imaging of Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition Disease

Calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease (CPPD) is a common and clinically heterogeneous form of arthritis caused by the deposition of calcium pyrophosphate (CPP) crystals in articular tissues. The diagnosis of CPPD is supported by the presence of radiographic chondrocalcinosis; yet, conventional radiography detects only about 40 % of clinically important CPPD. Here, we critically review the recent literature on imaging in CPPD. New studies inform our use of conventional radiographic screening methodologies for CPPD and provide additional evidence for the utility of diagnostic ultrasound. Recent work also highlights the polyarticular nature of CPPD, its association with tissue damage, and the high prevalence of tendon involvement. While dual energy CT and diffraction-enhanced synchrotron imaging remain research tools, they present potential avenues for improved visualization of CPP deposits. Advances in imaging in CPPD will increase diagnostic accuracy and eventually result in better management of this common form of arthritis.
Design and performance of a new generation, compact, low cost, very high Doppler precision and resolution optical spectrograph

This paper is to report the design and performance of a very high Doppler precision cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph, EXtremely high Precision ExtrasolaR planet Tracker III (EXPERT-III), as part of a global Exoplanet Tracker (ET) network. The ET network is designed to hunt low mass planets, especially habitable rocky planets, around GKM dwarfs. It has an extremely high spectral resolution (EHR) mode of R=110,000 and a high resolution (HR) mode of R=56,000 and can simultaneously cover 0.38-0.9 mu m with a 4kx4k back-illuminated Fairchild CCD detector with a single exposure. EXPERT-III is optimized for high throughput by using two-prisms cross-disperser and a large core diameter fiber (2 arcsec on sky, or 80 mu m at f/4) to collect photons from the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) 2.1m telescope. The average overall detection efficiency is similar to 6% from above the atmosphere to the detector for the EHR Mode and about 11% for the HR mode. The extremely high spectral resolution in a compact design (the spectrograph dimension, 1.34x0.8x0.48 m) is realized by coupling the single input 80 mu m telescope fiber into four 40 mu m fibers and re-arranging the four small core diameter fibers into a linear fiber slit array (a one-to-four fiber image slicer). EXPERT-III is operated in a vacuum chamber with temperature controlled to similar to 2 milli-Kelvin rms for an extended period of time. The radial velocity (RV) drift is controlled to within 10 meters/second (m/s) over a month. EXPERT-III can reach a photon noise limited RV measurement precision of similar to 0.3 m/s for a V=8 mag GKM type dwarf with small rotation (vsini = 2 km/s) in a 15 min exposure. EXPERT-III's RV measurement uncertainties for bright stars are primarily limited by the Thorium-Argon (ThAr) calibration source (similar to 0.5 m/s). EXPERT-III will serve as an excellent public accessible high resolution optical spectroscope facility at the KPNO 2.1m telescope.
Energy expenditure of selected household activities during pregnancy.

(2007). Energy Expenditure of Selected Household Activities During Pregnancy. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport: Vol. 78, No. 2, pp. 133-137.
Thalamocortical projections activated by phrenic nerve afferents in the cat

This study identified thalamocortical projections activated by respiratory afferents. Cortical evoked potentials were recorded in the right primary somatosensory cortex of the cat following electrical stimulation of the left C5 root of the phrenic nerve. The majority of primary sites were located in the vicinity of the postcruciate dimple, in area 3a near the 3a/3b border, corresponding to the trunk region of the cortical body map. Retrograde fluorescent tracers injected at the sites of primary activation produced labeled cells in the oralis nucleus of the ventroposterior complex [4]. Control injections made in adjacent cortical areas not activated by phrenic stimulation resulted in labeling in the ventroposterior complex which did not overlap that seen with injections of primary activation sites. We conclude that respiratory muscle afferents in the phrenic nerve elicit activity in the trunk region of primary somatosensory cortex via specific thalamocortical projections originating in the oralis portion of the thalamic ventroposterior complex.
The role of windstorm exposure and yellow cedar decline on landslide susceptibility in southeast Alaskan temperate rainforests

Interactions between ecological disturbances have the potential to alter other disturbances and their associated regimes, such as the likelihood, severity, and extent of events. The influence of exposure to wind and yellow cedar decline on the landslide regime of Alaskan temperate rainforests was explored using presence-only modeling techniques. The wind regime was found to be a significant influence on the spatial distribution of landslide events. This effect was mediated by slope, with little interactive effects at low angles and stronger influences on steeper slopes. Mechanistically, the interaction appears to be mediated by root strength, which is an important factor in stability of high-angle slopes. Yellow cedar decline, despite increasing landslide susceptibility in fine-scale studies, was not significant—although a stronger relationship may develop with time. Overall, inclusion of other disturbances in the modeling framework resulted in a significant spatial refinement when predicting landslide susceptibility. This results from the varying importance of individual disturbance drivers across the landscape, of which only a subset are exposed to potential disturbance interactions. This spatial effect is an important consideration when characterizing landscape-scale disturbance regimes and their interactions with other disturbances.
Tower-based conditional sampling for measuring ecosystem-scale carbon dioxide exchange in coastal wetlands

Long-term measurements of CO2 exchange between coastal wetlands and the atmosphere are necessary to improve our understanding of the role these ecosystems play in the global carbon cycle, and the response of these systems to environmental change. We conducted research to adapt and evaluate tower-based conditional sampling as a method for measuring net CO2 exchange (NCE) at the ecosystem scale on a continuous basis. With conditional sampling, NCE is determined from the product of the standard deviation of vertical wind velocity, the difference in CO2 concentration between updrafts and downdrafts in the constant flux portion of the boundary layer above the surface, and an empirical coefficient. We constructed a system that used a sonic anemometer to measure vertical wind velocity (w) and control a high-speed three-way valve that diverted air from updrafts and downdrafts into separate sample lines, depending on the direction ofw. an infrared gas analyzer was used to measure the concentration difference. The conditional sampling system was installed and tested in a marsh in the Nueces River Delta near Corpus Christi, Texas, as part of a long-term study of effects of freshwater inflow on CO2 flux. System accuracy was evaluated by comparing conditional sampling measurements of water vapor flux with independent estimates obtained with the Bowen ratio method. Average daily flux estimates for the two methods agreed to within 13%. Measurements showed that freshwater inflow due to flooding of the Nueces River increased NCE by increasing CO2 assimilation and decreasing CO2 efflux. Over a 65-d period, daily NCE varied from a maximum gain of 0.16 mol CO2 m−2 d−1 during flooding to a maximum loss of −0.14 mol CO2 m−2 d−1 when the marsh dried. Our study showed that conditional sampling was well suited for quantifying CO2 exchange in coastal wetlands on a diel, daily, and seasonal basis.
Risk factors for family violence: introduction to the special series

Abstract The purpose of this series is to review the strength of risk and protective factors for each of seven forms of family violence: partner physical, psychological, and sexual abuse; child physical, psychological, and sexual abuse and child neglect. Definitions of risk and protective factors are presented, as is the five-stage prevention intervention research cycle. The reviews in this series are designed to provide stakeholders with a convenient summary from which to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current risk and protective factor knowledge. Such reviews are necessary to allow for the eventual construction of etiological models that can support the development of preventive intervention programs and research into their efficacy.
Scene-Based Nonuniformity Compensation for Imaging Sensors

Multidetector imaging focal plane arrays like CCD TV cameras and infrared arrays possess large detector-to-detector dark current (offset) and responsivity (gain) variations which can completely mask the useful information. Conventional compensation techniques require temperature references of constant radiance over the entire field of view and a mechanical/electrooptical shutter to calibrate the focal plane. This detracts from the mechanical simplicity of multi-detector staring (nonscanning) focal planes. This correspondence describes a real-time offset and responsivity (gain) compensation technique which dispenses with temperature references and shutters in staring focal planes. It makes use of the scene statistics for calibration and continuously updates the compensation coefficients without interrupting the field of view. The results of real-time simulations of this technique with a number of sensors are presented. Real-time LSI/VLSI hardware architectures are addressed. The technique can be implemented with the addition of very little hardware to a conventional compensation technique requiring temperature references. The technique is also suitable for multi-detector scanning focal planes and for the removal of shading in TV sensors as well.
Exploring Time and Frequency Domains for Accurate and Automated Anomaly Detection in Cloud Computing Systems

Cloud computing has become increasingly popular by obviating the need for users to own and maintain complex computing infrastructures. However, due to their inherent complexity and large scale, production cloud computing systems are prone to various runtime problems caused by hardware and software faults and environmental factors. Autonomic anomaly detection is crucial for understanding emergent, cloud-wide phenomena and self-managing cloud resources for system-level dependability assurance. To detect anomalous cloud behaviors, we need to monitor the cloud execution and collect runtime cloud performance data. For different types of failures, the data display different correlations with the performance metrics. In this paper, we present a wavelet-based multi-scale anomaly identification mechanism, that can analyze profiled cloud performance metrics in both time and frequency domains and identify anomalous cloud behaviors. Learning technologies are exploited to adapt the selection of mother wavelets and a sliding detection window is employed to handle cloud dynamicity and improve anomaly detection accuracy. We have implemented a prototype of the anomaly identification system and conducted experiments on an on-campus cloud computing environment. Experimental results show the proposed mechanism can achieve 93.3% detection sensitivity while keeping the false positive rate as low as 6.1% while outperforming other tested anomaly detection schemes.
TAXONOMY OF CHARA BRAUNII: AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH1

SUMMARY Results from the present study suggest that Chara braunii encompasses a complex of geographical races or incipient species that although morphologically similar, are isolated to varying degrees ranging from partial interfertility to complete reproductive incompatibility. Most of the 6 clones studied were interfertile to the extent that fertilization was followed by the development of black oospores, but subsequent germination tests disclosed that many of these either failed to germinate or gave rise to offspring that were partially or completely sterile. No support was encountered for the suggestion that C. braunii is of recent development or that it has been distributed rapidly throughout the world.
On nonlinear spatio-temporal instability regime for electrically forced viscous jets [Errata Corrige]

Abstract The authors have found errors in the published paper, Nonlinear spatio-temporal instability regime for electrically forced viscous jets, Int. J. Nonlinear Mech. 67 (2014), 218–230. The errors and the corrections provided here do not affect the abstract, main findings and conclusions of the original paper.
Secretion of insulin-like growth factor I and its binding proteins by collecting duct cells.

Secretion of insulin-like growth factor I and its binding proteins by collecting duct cells. Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) has been found in the kidney, particularly in the collecting duct in the rat. Since cultured rabbit collecting duct cells constitute a convenient system for in vitro studies, we have examined whether these cells secrete IGF-I. Culture medium conditioned by collecting duct cells was concentrated by reverse phase chromatography and applied to a Sephadex G100 column equilibrated in a denaturing buffer. Two major species with apparent molecular weights of 7.5 and greater than 25 kilodaltons (kD) were identified by IGF-I RIA. A smaller amount of 10 kD species was also observed. Further characterization of 7.5 kD IGF-I immunoreac-tive species by reverse phase HPLC showed that it eluted in a single peak. To determine whether the higher molecular weight species possessed IGF-I binding activity, appropriate fractions were desalted, incubated with [ 125 I]IGF-I (thr59) for two hours at 30°C and applied to a Sephadex G100 column equilibrated in a non-dissociating buffer. The major peak of radioactivity was confined to a high molecular weight region; there was no radioactivity in the fractions corresponding to 7.5 kD. Western ligand analysis of unreduced conditioned medium identified two IGF-I binding species of 25 and 30 kD, similar in size to species observed in normal rabbit serum. 125 I-IGF-I binding as assessed in a charcoal adsorption assay could be displaced by IGF-I and IGF-II but not by insulin. Further characterization of the 10 kD peak of IGF-I immunoreactivity indicated that it did not possess IGF-I binding activity. In addition, its size was not affected by reduction of disulfide bonds. We conclude that cells cultured from rabbit collecting duct secrete: (1) IGF-I; (2) a high molecular weight IGF-I-containing species; and (3) IGF-I binding proteins. Since proximal tubular cells and mesangial cells possess specific IGF-I receptors, these data suggest that IGF-I may act as paracrine factor that regulates renal growth and/or function.
False‐positive hepatitis B surface antigen screening test results in patients receiving granulocyte‐colony‐stimulating factor

BACKGROUND: Granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) is used for the mobilization of progenitor cells and granulocytes. False-positive hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) (NML) from one manufacturer in individuals receiving G-CSF have been observed. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Sixty-six autologous peripheral blood progenitor cell donors from 1994 were retrospectively reviewed. Donors typically received 5 to 10 micrograms of G-CSF per kg subcutaneously for 5 days before collection. Additional ELISA dilutional studies (1-in-10, 1-in-100, 1-in-1000) with known HBsAg- negative serum were made with G-CSF. Testing was performed by the University of North Carolina, the American Red Cross in Charlotte, NC, or the National American Red Cross, Washington, DC. RESULTS: Of the 66 patients, none reacted for antibody to hepatitis B core antigen, and 30 (45%) had a positive reaction in the ELISA. Surface antigen positivity was “confirmed” on 6 of the 30 patients by neutralizing ELISA reactivity with an antibody to HBsAg test from the same manufacturer. In all cases, the clinical presentation was not suggestive of hepatitis, and these individuals were not at high risk for hepatitis B. Twenty-seven of the 30 cases were tested with a monoclonal HBsAg ELISA (AUSZYME) from another manufacturer in the peridonation period and did not react. In 1994, 256 autologous whole-blood donors not receiving G- CSF were similarly tested and only 1 (0.4%) had a positive reaction with the second manufacturer's HBsAg ELISA (p < 0.001). Of this group, 41 patients with histories of malignancy were identified, which is comparable to the history of the peripheral blood progenitor cell donors in this study, and none of these blood donors tested positive for HBsAg (p < 0.001). Dilutional studies with G-CSF produced no reactions. CONCLUSION: The NML HBsAg ELISA studied has an unacceptably high false-positive rate in patients or donors receiving G-CSF. The false reactivity of this assay appears to be an indirect consequence of G-CSF administration, which can also lead to spurious confirmation by the HBsAg neutralization assay from the same manufacturer.
The sensitivity of room-air pulse oximetry in the detection of hypercapnia

Abstract Objective To estimate the sensitivity of room-air pulse oximetry in the detection of moderate hypercapnia. Methods In this retrospective case-control study, charts were reviewed from patients with and without moderate hypercapnia (Paco 2 >50 mm Hg), as determined by analysis of arterial blood gas samples obtained in the ED. Test characteristics (sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios [LR) for room-air pulse oximetry ≤96% to detect hypercapnia were calculated, as were confidence intervals. Results A total of 349 charts were eligible for abstraction—92 cases and 257 controls. A room-air pulse oximetry reading ≤96% detected 88 of 92 cases of hypercapnia. Test characteristics were as follows (with 95% confidence interval): sensitivity, 0.96 (0.89-0.99); specificity, 0.39 (0.33-0.45), LR of a room-air pulse oximetry value >96%, 0.1 (0.04-0.3); and LR of a room-air pulse oximetry value ≤96%, 1.6 (1.4-1.7). Conclusion Room-air pulse oximetry detects moderate hypercapnia with high sensitivity.
Educational Accountability and Policy Feedback

Over the past 30 years, accountability policies have become more prominent in public K-12 education and have changed how teaching and learning are organized. It is less clear the extent to which these policies have altered the politics of education. This article begins to address that question through the lens of policy feedback. It identifies shifts in interest group coalitions and strategies as one of several elements of a new politics that has emerged in response to accountability policies, and it argues that the Common Core State Standards are a primary example of the feedback cycle influencing future policy.
Decomposition of refractory carbides in the analytical electron microscope

Abstract The effect of electron irradiation on carbon concentration in TiC is considered in terms of a short knock-on displacement model which explains the observed carbon loss. Volume knock-on displacement is suggested to be the rate-controlling step in the depletion process. Application of this model suggests that the threshold energy for knock-on displacement of carbon in TiC is between 4 and 8 eV which is consistent with predictions made by comparison with vanadium carbide (5.4 eV).
The potential response of global terrestrial carbon storage to a climate change

An analysis is undertaken to examine the potential impacts of a global climate chang on patterns of potential terrestrial C storage and resulting fluxes between terrestrial any atmospheric pools. A bioclimatic model relating the current distribution of vegetation to globe climate patterns is used to examine the potential impacts of a global climate change on the glob distribution of vegetation. Climate change scenarios are based on the predictions of two genera circulation model equilibrium simulations for a 2XCO2 atmosphere. Current estimates of 1 reserves in the vegetation types and associated soils are then used to calculate changes i potential terrestrial C storage under the two climate change scenarios. Results suggest a potentia negative feedback to increasing atmospheric concentrations of CO2, with the potential fo terrestrial C storage increasing under both scenarios. These results represent an equilibriun analysis, assuming the vegetation and soils have tracked the spatial changes in climate patterns An approach for providing an estimate of the transient response between the two equilibria (i.e. current and 2XCO2 climates) is presented. The spatial transitions in vegetation predicted by th equilibrium analyses are classified as to the processes controlling the transition (eg., succession dieback, species immigration). Estimates of the transfer rates related to these processes are the used to estimate the temporal dynamics of the vegetation/soils change and the associated pools. Results suggest that although the equilibrium analyses show an increased potential for storage under the climate change, in the transient case the terrestrial surface acts as a source c CO2 over the first 50 to 100 yrs following climate change.
A nonlinear theory of energy and current modulation in relativistic klystron amplifiers

A self-consistent nonlinear theory of the energy and current modulation in a relativistic electron beam propagating through a klystron amplifier is developed. A closed integro-differential equation for the beam current is obtained, assuming that the beam current is a function of time t and propagation distance z. Properties of the current and energy modulation are investigated from this integro-differential equation for a broad range of system parameters. Magnitudes of the energy and current modulation are determined in terms of the gap voltage, the cavity frequency, geometric configuration, the beam intensity and initial kinetic energy of the beam. The modulation amplitude increases, reaches peak and decreases slowly, as the beam propagates through the amplifier.
A web-based assessment of pediatrics resident medical knowledge in childhood hereditary gastrointestinal cancer predisposing syndromes.

Background. Pediatricians need to competently care for children with hereditary gastrointestinal cancer-predisposing syndromes. Pediatrics resident education on this subject has hithertofore never been studied. Methods. Forty-five US pediatrics/internal medicine-pediatrics program directors allowed their residents to participate in an anonymous questionnaire. The survey-questionnaire was administered as a hyperlinked interactive Web page through e-mail to all consenting residents. Results. Thirty-eight sites including 290 of 1327 residents (21.5%) and 33 internal medicine-pediatrics participated in the study. Knowledge on polyposis syndromes varied by syndrome (14% to 84% correct) but not by year of training. Internal medicine-pediatrics residents were more likely to inquire on family history including polyposis, early colorectal cancer, than pediatrics residents. Conclusions. This study suggests that familiarity with cancer syndromes does not accrue during resident training in pediatrics. The observations suggest that greater emphasis on resident education on these syndromes may improve outcomes in this vulnerable group.
Studies of T4 Primosome DNA Unwinding by Single-Molecule Fluorescence-Detected Linear Dichroism

The replication machine (replisome) of the T4 bacteriophage is an important model system for studies of DNA synthesis in all higher organisms. The helicase-primase (primosome) complex is one of three major sub-assemblies of the replisome, whose function is to processively unwind double-stranded DNA to expose single-stranded daughter strands for template-directed DNA synthesis. The detailed mechanism by which the primosome complex assembles and performs duplex DNA unwinding is not understood. Recently, we developed and applied single-molecule fluorescence-detected linear dichroism (smFLD), which can detect fluctuations of the transition dipole orientation on microsecond-to-millisecond time scales. We have studied model DNA replication fork constructs with cyanine fluorophores rigidly incorporated at the fork junction to monitor 'breathing' of the backbone as it interacts with the weakly binding T4 hexameric helicase. Our recent results [1] indicate that the time scale and distribution of microsecond breathing fluctuations at the replication fork junction are heavily influenced by the presence of the weakly binding T4 helicase, and suggest that these motions are on the pathway to the formation of the fully assembled DNA-primosome complex. The possible significance of these findings for helicase mechanisms will be discussed.[1] Phelps, C.; Lee, W.; Jose, D.; von Hippel, P. H.; Marcus, A. H. “Single-Molecule FRET and Linear Dichroism Studies of DNA ‘Breathing’ and Helicase Binding at Replication Fork Junctions,” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. (in press, accepted July 26, 2013, doi/10.1073/ pnas.1314862110).
Decreased IgG-FcγRII dissociation kinetics in the presence of a protein antigen

Abstract Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy has been used to examine the interaction of a mouse monoclonal IgG2b, in the absence and presence of its protein antigen, with mouse FcγRII in substrate-supported planar membranes. Equilibrium association and kinetic dissociation constants were measured for the antibody S6-34.11, which is specific for bovine prothrombin fragment 1 (BF1). These measurements showed that BF1 induces a statistically significant decrease (30–40%) in the IgG-FcγRII dissociation kinetics. A corresponding increase in the equilibrium association constant was not observed, perhaps because the statistical accuracy of the equilibrium measurements is lower than that for the kinetic measurements. The consequences of these results for understanding the mechanism by which macrophages recognize and ingest opsonized targets are discussed.
Cell Cycle Progression in Escherichia coli B/r Affects Transcription of Certain Genes: Implications for Synthetic Genome Design

We propose that transcript levels for some genes are affected by the bacterial cell division cycle and this may be an important factor to consider when designing synthetic bacterial genomes. To test this hypothesis, transcript levels of 58 genes in Escherichia coli B/r A were determined at five times during the cell division cycle. A two-step ANOVA technique was used to analyze data from custom oligonucleotide microarrays containing genes involved in important cellular processes including central metabolism, macromolecular synthesis, and transport and secretion. Consistent with results previously found in Caulobacter, approximately 17% of the transcript levels were cell cycle dependent. Cell cycle regulation can be divided into two classes: genes displaying increased transcript concentrations following gene replication and genes displaying an increased transcript concentration prior to replication initiation. Transcripts levels for hns, uspA, and zwf were affected by the cell division cycle, but did not fit well into either class. These results indicate that transcription of a significant fraction of the genome is affected by replication cycle progression. The results also show that both physical gene position and the physiological function of a gene affect when it is transcribed. In addition to the simple association with replication fork progression, other phenomena must be occurring to account for some of our observations. In conclusion, gene position, with regard to the C period, and gene function are important factors to incorporate into design criteria for synthetic bacterial genomes.
Estimating steep wave statistics using a wave gauge array

Abstract A new wavelet analysis methodology is used to estimate the statistics of steep waves using a wave gauge array. The method is applied to open ocean wave height data from the Flux, Etat de la mer et Teledetection en Condition de fetch variable (FETCH) experiment (1998) and the Adverse Weather experiment (2000). Results from the analysis of surface wave measurements show high wave slope crests appearing over a wide range of wavenumbers and frequencies for both low wind and high wind forcing conditions. For all cases considered, the steep wave statistic obtained from the analysis of the array of wave gauges reveals a larger amount of steep waves at high wavenumbers than at low wavenumbers at high wave slope thresholds. This trend is modulated in the case of high wind and at medium wave slope thresholds due to Doppler shifting which causes wave frequencies higher than the dominant wave to be associated with wavenumbers much lower than those given by the linear dispersion relationship. The steep wave statistic also decreases with wave slope threshold at a faster rate for the low wind forcing condition than the high wind forcing condition. Directionality analysis shows that most of the steep waves move in the downwind direction.
Persistent Depression and Anxiety in the United States: Prevalence and Quality of Care

Objective Although effective treatments exist, individuals with depressive and anxiety disorders can remain ill for years. Little is known regarding mental health status and treatment use in this population. This study provided national estimates of the prevalence of persistent depression and anxiety, as well as estimates of illness severity, treatment use, and quality of care in this population.
Progress in development of HEDP capabilities in FLASH’s Unsplit Staggered Mesh MHD solver

FLASH is a publicly available astrophysical community code designed to solve highly compressible multi-physics reactive flows. We are adding capabilities to FLASH that will make it an open science code for the academic HEDP community. Among many important numerical requirements, we consider the following features to be important components necessary to meet our goals for FLASH as an HEDP open toolset. First, we are developing computationally efficient time-stepping integration methods that overcome the stiffness that arises in the equations describing a physical problem when there are disparate time scales. To this end, we are adding two different time-stepping schemes to FLASH that relax the time step limit when diffusive effects are present: an explicit super-time-stepping algorithm (Alexiades et al. in Com. Num. Mech. Eng. 12:31–42, 1996) and a Jacobian-Free Newton-Krylov implicit formulation. These two methods will be integrated into a robust, efficient, and high-order accurate Unsplit Staggered Mesh MHD (USM) solver (Lee and Deane in J. Comput. Phys. 227, 2009). Second, we have implemented an anisotropic Spitzer-Braginskii conductivity model to treat thermal heat conduction along magnetic field lines. Finally, we are implementing the Biermann Battery term to account for spontaneous generation of magnetic fields in the presence of non-parallel temperature and density gradients.
Effect of individual caseins on plasminogen activation by bovine urokinase-type and tissue-type plasminogen activators.

Abstract The effect was examined of individual caseins on the rate of plasminogen activation by bovine urokinase-type and tissue-type plasminogen activators. All individual caseins (α-CN. β -CN, and κ-CN) enhanced the activity of both types of plasminogen activators. Optimal concentrations for α-CN and β -CN were 5 and 25 μ g/ml, respectively. The enhancement of enzymatic activity declined when concentrations of α-CN and β -CN were higher. In contrast, increasing concentrations of κ-CN from 0 to 200 μ g/ml resulted in corresponding increases in activity of both types of plasminogen activators. On a weight basis, α-CN was the most effective enhancer of plasminogen activator activity. Indirect evidence obtained with experiments utilizing α-CN immobilized on agarose suggested that the effect is related to extensive binding of plasminogen and both types of plasminogen activators to casein.
REMARKS ON THE POLE-SHIFTING PROBLEM OVER RINGS

Given a square n-matrix Fand an n-row matrix G, pole-shifting problems consist in obtaining more or less arbitrary characteristic polynomials for F+ GK, for suitable (“feedback”) matrices K. A review of known facts is given, various partial results are proved, and the case n = 2 is studied in some detail.
The Reduction of Chromosome Number in Meiosis Is Determined by Properties Built into the Chromosomes

In meiosis I, two chromatids move to each spindle pole. Then, in meiosis II, the two are distributed, one to each future gamete. This requires that meiosis I chromosomes attach to the spindle differently than meiosis II chromosomes and that they regulate chromosome cohesion differently. We investigated whether the information that dictates the division type of the chromosome comes from the whole cell, the spindle, or the chromosome itself. Also, we determined when chromosomes can switch from meiosis I behavior to meiosis II behavior. We used a micromanipulation needle to fuse grasshopper spermatocytes in meiosis I to spermatocytes in meiosis II, and to move chromosomes from one spindle to the other. Chromosomes placed on spindles of a different meiotic division always behaved as they would have on their native spindle; e.g., a meiosis I chromosome attached to a meiosis II spindle in its normal fashion and sister chromatids moved together to the same spindle pole. We also showed that meiosis I chromosomes become competent meiosis II chromosomes in anaphase of meiosis I, but not before. The patterns for attachment to the spindle and regulation of cohesion are built into the chromosome itself. These results suggest that regulation of chromosome cohesion may be linked to differences in the arrangement of kinetochores in the two meiotic divisions.
Force calculation of polyatomic molecules in quantum Monte Carlo using Pulay's corrections

We calculated the variational and diffusion quantum Monte Carlo forces using the Hellmann–Feynman theorem and Pulay's correction for the first-row diatomic and triatomic molecules (CO, NO, CO2 and NO2). It is demonstrated that Pulay's correction is important for accurate calculation of forces on non-hydrogen atoms.