cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hemodynamic and metabolic effects of isosorbide dinitrate in chronic congestive heart failure

To assess the potential beneficial effects of a nonparenteral vasodilator, sublingual isosorbide dinitrate (5 to 15 mg.) was administered in 12 patients with chronic congestive heart failure refractory to conventional therapy. Hemodynamic measurements were performed before and at 15 minute intervals after drug administration for 90 minutes. Venous capacitance was measured at 5 minute intervals. Myocardial metabolism was also studied in five patients before and after drug administration. Hemodynamic effects were characterized by a modest decrease in mean arterial pressure (85 +/- 3 to 78 +/- 2 [S.E.M.] mm. Hg) and substantial decrease in right atrial (10 +/- 1 to 6 +/- 1), pulmonary arterial (39 +/- 4 to 30 +/- 4) and pulmonary capillary wedge pressures (28 +/- 2 to 21 +h- 2). These changes were accompanied by an increase in venous capacitance (2.46 +/- 0.16 to 3.99 +/- 0.24 c.c./100 c.c. of tissue). Along with a decrease in left ventricular filling pressure, cardiac index increased (1.99 +/- 0.13 to 2.37 +/- 0.15 L./min/M.2). No significant effect on heart rate was seen. Delta P/delta t, an index related to left ventricular dp/dt, increased in all but one patient (253 +/- 31 to 298 +/- 39 mm. Hg/sec.) (p less than 0.02 for all changes) in the face of decreased preload and afterload and unchanged heart rate, suggesting improved contractile state. A decrease in coronary blood flow (165 +/- 13 to 131 +/- 15 c.c./min.) and myocardial oxygen consumption (18.1 +/- 1.6 to 14.5 +/- 1.6 c.c./min.) was noted (p less than 0.02). No change in arterial-coronary sinus oxygen difference or lactate extraction was observed. These data demonstrate that the objectives of therapy in congestive heart failure, namely improved forward output and decreased ventricular filling pressures, can be achieved without metabolic deterioration by using sublingual isosorbide. The mechanisms responsible are related to diminished impedence to ventricular ejection and peripheral pooling of blood. Since the duration of action does not usually exceed 90 minutes, frequent drug administration may be a source of patient inconvience.
Determination of N-hydroxysuccinimidyl-activated polyethylene glycol esters by gel permeation chromatography with post-column alkaline hydrolysis

Abstract An HPLC method is reported for the determination of N-hydroxysuccinimidyl-activated polyethylene glycol ester. The activated polyethylene glycol sample is first separated by size-exclusion chromatography on a polymeric column with tetrahydrofuran as the eluent, and after elution is subjected to post-column on-line hydrolysis with 0.1 M sodium hydroxide. Liberation of N-hydroxysuccinimide occurs rapidly and is monitored by UV detection at 266 nm. The amount released is determined from a standard curve generated from free N-hydroxysuccinimide and used to calculated the concentration of active ester initially present.
Highly efficient isolation of Populus mesophyll protoplasts and its application in transient expression assays.

Background: Populus is a model woody plant and a promising feedstock for lignocellulosic biofuel production. However, its lengthy life cycle impedes rapid characterization of gene function. Methodology/Principal Findings: We optimized a Populus leaf mesophyll protoplast isolation protocol and established a Populus protoplast transient expression system. We demonstrated that Populus protoplasts are able to respond to hormonal stimuli and that a series of organelle markers are correctly localized in the Populus protoplasts. Furthermore, we showed that the Populus protoplast transient expression system is suitable for studying protein-protein interaction, gene activation, and cellular signaling events. Conclusions/Significance: This study established a method for efficient isolation of protoplasts from Populus leaf and demonstrated the efficacy of using Populus protoplast transient expression assays as an in vivo system to characterize genes and pathways.
Prenatal exposure to diazepam results in enduring reductions in brain receptors and deep slow wave sleep

After prenatal exposure to diazepam (Valium), mature rats at 4 months of age displayed slow wave sleep (SWS) electroencephalographic patterns indicating impaired synchronization and SWS mechanisms. These animals spent a much greater portion of their SWS in the lighter SWS I, as compared to the control group which showed a predominance of the deeper SWS II. At one year of age, the diazepam-exposed rats had much fewer diazepam-specific binding sites in the thalamus than the vehicle-exposed controls. These results provide first evidence for a physiological role for benzodiazepine receptors by showing that prenatal exposure to diazepam has an enduring and detrimental effect on their ontogenesis and sleep mechanisms.
Effects of Cyclopentadienyl and Phosphine Ligands on the Basicities and Nucleophilicities of Cp‘Ir(CO)(PR3) Complexes†

Basicities of the series of complexes CpIr(CO)(PR(3)) [PR(3) = P(p-C(6)H(4)CF(3))(3), P(p-C(6)H(4)F)(3), P(p-C(6)H(4)Cl)(3), PPh(3), P(p-C(6)H(4)CH(3))(3), P(p-C(6)H(4)OCH(3))(3), PPh(2)Me, PPhMe(2), PMe(3), PEt(3), PCy(3)] have been measured by the heat evolved (DeltaH(HM)) when the complex is protonated by CF(3)SO(3)H in 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) at 25.0 degrees C. The -DeltaH(HM) values range from 28.0 kcal/mol for CpIr(CO)[P(p-C(6)H(4)CF(3))(3)] to 33.2 kcal/mol for CpIr(CO)(PMe(3)) and are directly related to the basicities of the PR(3) ligands in the complexes. For the more basic pentamethylcyclopentadienyl analogs, the -DeltaH(HM) values range from 33.8 kcal/mol for the weakest base CpIr(CO)[P(p-C(6)H(4)CF(3))(3)] to 38.0 kcal/mol for the strongest CpIr(CO)(PMe(3)). The nucleophilicities of the Cp'Ir(CO)(PR(3)) complexes were established from second-order rate constants (k) for their reactions with CH(3)I to give [Cp'Ir(CO)(PR(3))(CH(3))](+)I(-) in CD(2)Cl(2) at 25.0 degrees C. There is an excellent linear correlation between the basicities (DeltaH(HM)) and nucleophilicities (log k) of the CpIr(CO)(PR(3)) complexes. Only the complex CpIr(CO)(PCy(3)) with the bulky tricyclohexylphosphine ligand deviates dramatically from the trend. In general, the pentamethylcyclopentadienyl complexes react 40 times faster than the cyclopentadienyl analogs. However, they do not react as fast as predicted from electronic properties of the complexes, which suggests that the steric size of the Cp ligand reduces the nucleophilicities of the CpIr(CO)(PR(3)) complexes. In addition, heats of protonation (DeltaH(HP)) of tris(2-methoxyphenyl)phosphine, tris(2,6-dimethoxyphenyl)phosphine, and tris(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)phosphine were measured and used to estimate pK(a) values for these highly basic phosphines.
Stress tolerance in a polyextremophile: the southernmost insect1

Since biotic interactions within the simple terrestrial communities on the Antarctic Peninsula are limited compared with tropical and temperate regions, survival is largely dictated by the numerous...
Survival of the exotic Chinese mystery snail ( Cipangopaludina chinensis malleata ) during air exposure and implications for overland dispersal by boats

The exotic Chinese mystery snail (Cipangopaludina chinensis malleata) has invaded lakes and rivers across North America and is particularly widespread in northern Wisconsin. Although deliberate introductions and aquarium releases have likely been important, recreational boats may speed the spread of this snail into lakes. Prior research indicated boater access to be a significant predictor of invasion by C. chinensis and other invasive species in Wisconsin. To mimic the process of boater transport between lakes, I examined the tolerance of juvenile C. chinensis to air exposure in a series of field and laboratory experiments. Field experiments under mesic conditions indicated that this snail can survive exposure to air for at least 4 weeks. Larger juveniles were more resistant than smaller juveniles, an effect that was also observed in the laboratory during short-term (3–14 days) experiments. Tolerance of small juveniles to air exposure appeared to be unaffected by temperature, but was affected by humidity, with higher survival at 64% than 34% relative humidity (RH). Results from the current study suggest that C. chinensis is highly resistant to air exposure and could be readily transported by boats moving between lakes, particularly in cool mesic environments. Since juvenile C. chinensis are common around the roots of emergent macrophytes, hitchhiking with boats should be particularly common with boats or trailers infested with aquatic plants.
The reliability and validity of flight task workload ratings

Twelve instrument-rated general aviation pilots each flew two scenarios in a motion-base simulator. During each flight, the pilots verbally estimated their workload every three minutes. Following each flight, they again estimated workload for each flight segment and also rated their overall workload, perceived performance, and 13 specific factors on a bipolar scale. The results indicate that time (a priori, inflight, or postflight) of eliciting ratings, period to be covered by the ratings (a specific moment in time or a longer period), type of rating scale, and rating method (verbal, written, or other) may be important variables. Overall workload ratings appear to be predicted by different specific scales depending upon the situation, with activity level the best predictor. Perceived performance seems to bear little relationship to observer-rated performance when pilots rate their overall performance and an observer rates specific behaviors. Perceived workload and performance also seem unrelated.
Transgenic RNAi Reveals Essential Function for CTCF in H19 Gene Imprinting

The imprinted regulation of H19 and Insulin-like growth factor 2 expression involves binding of the vertebrate insulator protein, CCCTC binding factor (CTCF), to the maternally hypomethylated differentially methylated domain (DMD). Howthis hypomethylated state is maintained during oogenesis and the role of CTCF, if any, in this process are not understood. With the use of a transgenic RNA interference (RNAi)–based approach to generate oocytes with reduced amounts of CTCF protein, we found increased methylation of the H19 DMD and decreased developmental competence of CTCF-deficient oocytes. Our results suggest that CTCF protects the H19 DMD from de novo methylation during oocyte growth and is required for normal preimplantation development.
Altered Spermidine/SpermineN 1-Acetyltransferase Activity as a Mechanism of Cellular Resistance to Bis(ethyl)polyamine Analogues

To develop a model system to investigate mechanisms of antiproliferative action of bis(ethyl)polyamine analogues, intermittent analogue treatments followed by recovery periods in drug-free medium were used to select anN 1,N 12-bis(ethyl)spermine-resistant derivative of the Chinese hamster ovary cell line C55.7. The resulting C55.7Res line was at least 10-fold resistant toN 1,N 12-bis(ethyl)spermine andN 1,N 11-bis(ethyl)norspermine. The stability of the resistance in the absence of selection pressure was ≥9 months, indicating that a heritable genotypic change was responsible for the resistance phenotype. Polyamine transport alterations and multi-drug resistance were eliminated as causes of the resistance. Spermidine/spermineN 1-acetyltransferase (SSAT) activity and regulation were altered in C55.7Res cells as basal activity was decreased, and no activity induction resulted from exposure to analogue concentrations, which caused 300-fold enzyme induction in parental cells. SSAT mRNA levels in the absence and presence of analogue were unchanged, but no SSAT protein was detected in C55.7Res cells. A point mutation, which results in the change leucine156 (a fully conserved residue) to phenylalanine, was identified in the C55.7Res SSAT cDNA. Expression of wtSSAT activity in C55.7Res cells restored sensitivity to bis(ethyl)polyamines. These results provided definitive evidence that SSAT activity is a critical target of the cytotoxic action of these analogues.
Thermophotovoltaics: A new paradigm for power generation?

Thermophotovoltaic systems convert the radiant energy produced by fuel combustion directly into electricity. Such systems can potentially attain high overall conversion efficiencies. Because they may use renewable as well as fossil fuels, they permit a smooth pathway for an environmentally benign method of electrical energy generation. In this paper we examine the technology and the kind of performance that can be expected.
Clarithromycin in 2003: Sustained efficacy and safety in an era of rising antibiotic resistance

Data from surveillance studies show increasing prevalence of respiratory pathogens resistant to commonly used antibiotics. Thus, a Medline search was conducted to identify studies of clarithromycin, especially those addressing macrolide resistance. Changing trends of in vitro susceptibility have not affected clinical efficacy with clarithromycin. Over the last 12 years, clarithromycin study results have shown consistent rates of clinical cure and bacteriological eradication, which are similar to those observed with comparator agents. The incidence of clarithromycin treatment failure in patients infected with Streptococcus pneumoniae is substantially less than that predicted by macrolide resistance rates from surveillance programmes. In summary, despite widespread use since its introduction, clarithromycin remains active both in vitro and in vivo against clinically relevant respiratory tract pathogens.
The Refined and Further Defined Freedom Paradigm: A Response to Ottens and MacCluskie.

The proposed freedom paradigm is briefly reviewed as an overarching framework that may provide a structure for integrating the counseling profession and counseling theories. Freedom is defined and discussed in terms of four modalities: freedom from, freedom to, freedom with, and freedom for. This is followed by a response to comments on Hanna's (2011) article and addresses such topics as the nature of practice, the value of techniques, hypnotherapy, and the applicability of the paradigm for mental health professionals in general. A further clarification of counseling toward object orientation and internal control is also included.
Spectrophotometric determination of yttrium with molybdophosphoric acid

Abstract A simple sensitive spectrophotometric determination of yttrium, based on the reaction of molybdophosphoric acid with yttrium at pH 4.8, is described. The resulting complex is reduced and the absorbance measured at 695 nm. The method is applicable in the presence of several-fold excesses of lanthanum, cerium, and phosphate.
Relationships among attachment styles, personality characteristics, and disordered eating.

Objective: Insecure attachment styles and certain personality characteristics (i.e., high levels of neuroticism) have been associated with eating pathology. However, previous research has not examined these variables simultaneously and has not examined possible mediating relationships between attachment and personality characteristics for disordered eating. Because personality characteristics have emerged as some of the most robust predictors of disordered eating, it was predicted that the link between attachment and disordered eating might be through personality styles. Method: Participants included 85 female twins and triplets who took part in the Michigan State University Twin Study. Disordered eating, attachment style, and personality characteristics were assessed. Hierarchical linear models were used to examine relationships among the variables. Results: Overall, neuroticism, and extra version to a lesser extent, mediated the relationship between insecure-resistant attachment and disordered eating. Specifically, higher scores on the neuroticism scale predicted more disordered eating and explained the relationship between insecure-resistant attachment and disordered eating. Conclusion: These results suggest that relationships between attachment style and disordered eating are indirect, in that neuroticism fully mediates associations between insecure-resistant attachment and disordered eating. © 2006 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 2006
Portable spectral profiler probe for rapid snow grain size stratigraphy

Abstract We present a portable spectral profiler probe to measure snow grain size stratigraphy in mountain snowpack at up to 5 mm vertical resolution, without the need for snow pit excavation. The probe infers grain size using near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy by inserting into the snowpack an optical package consisting of a light source and fiber optic receiver, which views the snow laterally and sends the collected reflected light to a spectrometer at the surface. The instrument can be easily dismantled and transported in a backpack, and rapidly deployed in the field. Grain size profiles from the probe, along with snow-pit contact spectroscopy and hand lens measurements were gathered and compared during winter and spring 2010 field campaigns in Colorado. Results from the probe agree to within 30% with snow-pit contact spectroscopy measurements, except when thin layers are present, which are detected at better vertical resolution by the profiler probe. The results highlight the lateral heterogeneity inherent in most mountain snowpacks, which is impractical to measure with conventional techniques. This type of measurement, along with density measurements, can greatly impact the accuracy of remote passive and active microwave retrievals.
Sex Similarity in Personality Correlates of Test Anxiety.

Sex differences in correlation coefficients between the California Psychological Inventory, Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire scales and Alpert-Haber Achievement Anxiety Test scales were evaluated in four samples of Ss in French (54 males and 156 females), mathematics (124 males and 66 females), and two introductory psychology courses (81 males and 146 females in the first sample and 297 males and 349 females in the second sample). The fact that fewer than 7% of differences were significant at the 5% level in 216 pair-wise comparisons and there were significant correlations between correlation matrices seems to indicate the lack of sex differences in personality correlates of test anxiety.
Causal Tendency: A Review

Suppose that some event F occurs and later an event E either occurs or does not.2 I am going to talk about the extent to which F tends to cause E, or the contribution from F to the tendency for E to occur, or the tendency of F to cause E, denoted by Q(E:F). For example, F might be the event that the captain of a firing squad shouts “Fire” and E might be that the victim’s life is Ended (F for Fire, E for Ended). The negation of E is denoted by Ē, which in this example means that the victim does not drop dead. The question arises whether Q(E:F) can be sensibly defined in terms of physical probability = material probability.3 I believe there is a good definition which, to state it roughly, is the weight of evidence against F if E does not occur (Good 1961, 1980e). If the victim does not drop dead it is strong evidence that the captain did not shout “Fire”. In other words the captain’s order to fire had a great deal to do with the potential death of the victim.
Characteristics ionospheric multipath phase fluctuations

The characteristics of the phase-difference fluctuations expected for an interferometer in a multipath field are derived from elementary considerations. The specific case considered is a two-path field in which the signal strength of the multipath components may be different at each of the interferometer elements. The phase fluctuations so derived bear a striking resemblance to some measured phase fluctuations of ionospherically propagated radio waves.
Power estimation for high level synthesis

Techniques for rapidly and accurately estimating power consumption based on high level descriptions of system architectures are described. This approach, based on stochastic modeling of bus statistics, achieves the accuracy traditionally associated with gate and circuit level estimation tools while exploiting the reduced computational complexity offered by the architectural level of abstraction. The results presented indicate an estimation accuracy within 9.4% of gate level simulations, while existing high level techniques can be off 80% or more. >
The Modern Feedlot for Finishing Cattle

The modern beef feedlot has evolved into a complex system that is very dependent upon technology. Modern feedlots are organized into departments, often including the office, cattle, yard, feed milling, and feed departments, that allow for improvements in production efficiency through the specialization of management and labor. Regardless of size, feedlots must succeed at the following tasks: cattle procurement, cattle receiving, cattle processing, daily cattle observations, health treatments, cattle marketing, feed procurement, feed commodity receiving, feed commodity storage, diet formulation, diet delivery, bunk management, and environmental management. Apart from cattle ownership, feedlots create most of their gross income from feed sales, yardage, inventory gain on flaked grain, and combinations of these sources. The future of the industry is filled with economic and political challenges, including high grain prices owing to competition from the ethanol industry, environmental regulations, excess feed...
CONTRASTING PATTERNS OF SYNONYMOUS AND NONSYNONYMOUS SEQUENCE EVOLUTION IN ASEXUAL AND SEXUAL FRESHWATER SNAIL LINEAGES

Abstract In asexual lineages, both synonymous and nonsynonymous sequence polymorphism may be reduced due to severe founder effects when asexual lineages originate. However, mildly deleterious (nonsynonymous) mutations may accumulate after asexual lineages are formed, because the efficiency of purifying selection is reduced even in the nonrecombining mitochondrial genome. Here we examine patterns of synonymous and nonsynonymous mitochondrial sequence polymorphism in asexual and sexual lineages of the freshwater snail Campeloma. Using clade-specific estimates, we found that synonymous sequence polymorphism was significantly reduced by 75% in asexuals relative to sexuals, whereas nonsynonymous sequence polymorphism did not differ significantly between sexuals and asexuals. Two asexual clades had high negative values for Tajima's D statistic. Coalescent simulations confirmed that various bottleneck scenarios can account for this result. We also used branch-specific estimates of the ratio of amino acid to sile...
Parametric study of the Hartmann–Sprenger tube

Experiments were conducted with a Hartmann–Sprenger tube (H–S) to study the effect of different parameters on the frequency and amplitude of acoustic fluctuations excited when the H–S underexpanded jet impinges on an in-line cavity. Time averaged shadowgraphs were acquired to study the flow field between the underexpanded jet and the cavity for varying parameters of the H–S tube. It was observed that the H–S tube primarily excited two different modes. The first mode corresponds to the jet regurgitant mode (JRG) where the frequency of oscillations scales as a function of the cavity depth. The other mode is screech where an oscillating shock is formed in front of the cavity. The screech mode excites a higher acoustic frequency than the JRG and it is observed to be a strong function of the pressure ratio R, and distance between the jet and the cavity X. At a fixed cavity length, varying standoff distance X could excite either the JRG or screech. At very low standoff distances (X/Dj 1 was found to sustain JRG over a wide range of X. Diameter ratios Dc/Dj<1 sustained high frequency screech modes in a wide range of H–S tube parameters.
Sexual Assault on Campus: A Multilevel, Integrative Approach to Party Rape

This article explains why rates of sexual assault remain high on college campuses. Data are from a study of college life at a large midwestern university involving nine months of ethnographic observation of a women's floor in a “party dorm,” in-depth interviews with 42 of the floor residents, and 16 group interviews with other students. We show that sexual assault is a predictable outcome of a synergistic intersection of processes operating at individual, organizational, and interactional levels. Some processes are explicitly gendered, while others appear to be gender neutral. We discuss student homogeneity, expectations that partiers drink heavily and trust their party-mates, and residential arrangements. We explain how these factors intersect with more obviously gendered processes such as gender differences in sexual agendas, fraternity control of parties, and expectations that women be nice and defer to men. We show that partying produces fun as well as sexual assault, generating student resistance to criticizing the party scene or men's behavior in it. We conclude with implications for policy.
Microscopic Feather Fractures

Certain microfractures adjacent to faults in experimentally deformed cylinders of Westerly Granite form as a result of shear displacement along the primary fault, and they are oriented consistently relative to the fault surface. These fractures are described in detail because they are: (a) symptomatic of a homogeneous state of stress in the region of the fault at the time of faulting; (b) criteria to demonstrate that shear displacement has occurred along a fault; and (c) criteria to establish unequivocally the sense of shear.
Analyzing conductance correlations involved in recovery of bursting after neuromodulator deprivation in lobster stomatogastric neuron models

In the crustacean stomatogastric ganglion (STG) functional neuronal activity can be produced with widely varying cellular parameter combinations. This variability has been observed in neurophysiological (e.g., [4]) and computational (e.g., [5]) studies. One possible mechanism responsible for this phenomenon is coregulation of ionic current levels. Although many relationships between ionic currents are cell-specific [6], some appear in several STG neurons. Those include the coregulation of the hyperpolarization-activated inward current, Ih, and the transient K current, IA, which affects neuronal firing properties [3], and the relationship between the delayed rectifier K current, IKd, and the transient Ca 2+ current, ICaT, which affects the peak and duration of the slow-wave oscillation in bursting STG neurons [1]. Interestingly, ionic current coregulation depends on neuromodulation, not activity [2]. This is intriguing because the STG can recover function after neuromodulator deprivation (i.e., deafferentation). After the stomatogastric nerve, via which the STG receives neuromodulatory inputs, is cut or blocked, STG neurons initially lose their function. However, within 24h to 96h, without external intervention, they again exhibit activity similar to that in intact STGs. The interplay between deafferentation, function recovery, and coregulation of ionic currents is under active research, which has so far produced interesting results showing that while some relationships are lost due to neuromodulator deprivation, some of them are altered (presumably to support recovery) [8]. Here, we use a computational approach to study these phenomena in an important STG neuron, the anterior burster (AB). Previously, we explored a 12dimensional parameter space of an AB model by simulating 21,600,000 parameter combinations [7]. Every parameter set was simulated and classified as functional if it produced realistic bursting activity and properly responded to deafferentation (i.e., became quiescent), which was simulated by removal of the modulatory proctolin current. Out of the ~400,000 models that failed the second criterion (i.e., exhibited non-quiescent behavior) we selected those that showed bursting (~14,000). We consider those models “recovered,” as they function despite neuromodulation deprivation. By analyzing the parameter values in the “recovered” neurons, we investigate the impact of deafferentation on coregulations of ionic currents. We show that the relationship between Ih and IA is preserved regardless of the presence of neuromodulation, although the slope of the relationship is altered, which coincides with results from two other STG neurons [8]. We also observe the preservation of the IKd and ICaT relationship, albeit with an altered slope, which has not been reported in AB or any other STG neuron.
Neighborhood Quality-of-Life Dynamics and the Great Recession: The Case of Charlotte, North Carolina:

This paper examines neighborhood responses to the business cycle of the decade 1999–2009. Utilizing a quality-of-life (QoL) framework to profile neighborhoods in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, we investigate with a Markov-chain methodology how the process of change was impacted by short-term economic fluxes including the greatest downturn since the Great Depression. Results indicate that neighborhoods falling within the lowest QoL category exhibited the greatest boost in relative upward mobility in the boom leading up to the recession. Many of these same neighborhoods reverted back to their previous conditions once the recession hit. Overall, neighborhood resilience is context dependent and so is neighborhood response to exogenous shocks. The same patterns did not hold true when the QoL index was decomposed into its four comprising dimensions.
Experimental results and numerical simulation of mode partition noise suppression in multiwavelength modelocked semiconductor lasers

We report experimental data and a simple numerical model which accurately explain multiwavelength modelocked semiconductor laser behavior with and without a saturable absorber used for mode partition noise suppression.
Retinol Combined with Retinoic Acid Increases Retinol Uptake and Esterification in the Lungs of Young Adult Rats when Delivered by the Intramuscular as well as Oral Routes

The lungs require an adequate supply of vitamin A for normal embryonic development, postnatal maturation, and maintenance and repair during adult life. We have previously shown that a nutrient-metabolite combination of vitamin A admixed with a small proportion (10%) of retinoic acid (RA), referred to as VARA, acts synergistically to increase lung retinyl ester (RE) concentration in neonatal rats. A series of studies was designed to test whether VARA increases RE in adult lungs, and whether VARA is more effective than vitamin A when given by the i.m. route. Orally administered VARA increased RE in the lungs of vitamin A-marginal adult rats more than either vitamin A or RA alone (P < 0.05). In vitamin A-deficient young adult rats, lung RE was increased by VARA when administered by the i.m. route. When a tracer of (3)H-retinol was added to the placebo (oil), vitamin A, and VARA doses, total (3)H and (3)H-RE increased in the lungs more with VARA than vitamin A alone, for oral and i.m. dosing. Nevertheless, when VARA and vitamin A were given by the oral route, they were more effective in increasing RE in the liver. Plasma retinol was increased similarly in vitamin A-deficient rats after administration of VARA and vitamin A, by either the oral or the i.m. route. Overall, VARA can increase retinol uptake and esterification in adult lungs when delivered intramuscularly as well as orally.
Rigel: A 1,024-Core Single-Chip Accelerator Architecture

Rigel is a single-chip accelerator architecture with 1,024 independent processing cores targeted at a broad class of data- and task-parallel computation. This article discusses Rigel's motivation, evaluates its performance scalability as well as power and area requirements, and explores memory systems in the context of 1,024-core single-chip accelerators. The authors also consider future opportunities and challenges for large-scale designs.
Women's Lives in Medieval Europe : A Sourcebook

Praise for the first edition: 'It is difficult to imagine another book in which one could find all this diverse material, and no doubt Amt's collection, in its richness, and in its genuine clarity and simplicity will takes prominent place in our expanded, diversified medieval curriculum, a curriculum that takes class, gender, and ethnicity as central to an understanding of world cultural history.' - The Medieval Review Long considered to be a definitive and truly groundbreaking collection of sources, Women’s Lives in Medieval Europe uniquely presents the everyday lives and experiences of women in the Middle Ages. This indispensible text has now been thoroughly updated and expanded to reflect new research, and includes previously unavailable source material. This new edition includes expanded sections on marriage and sexuality, and on peasant women and townswomen, as well as a new section on women and the law. There are brief introductions both to the period and to the individual documents, study questions to accompany each reading, a glossary of terms and a fully updated bibliography. Working within a multi-cultural framework, the book focuses not just on the Christian majority, but also present material about women in minority groups in Europe, such as Jews, Muslims, and those considered to be heretics. Incorporating both the laws, regulations and religious texts that shaped the way women lived their lives, and personal narratives by and about medieval women, the book is unique in examining women’s lives through the lens of daily activities, and in doing so as far as possible through the voices of women themselves.
Suicide and Rurality in Urban Society

Recent findings suggest that suicide increases with rurality, but research on rural suicide leaves many questions unanswered. This study specifies problems of community organization as a reason for expecting a positive effect of rurality on the suicide rate. A multiple regression analysis of county data shows that rurality has a substantial positive effect and is, in fact, the best predictor of the suicide rate among several variables selected from the previous literature. Additional research is needed to test the interpretation that rurality contributes to an incomplete, fragmented form of community organization which influences the suicide rate by disrupting primary relationships.
Fish Surgery: Presurgical Preparation and Common Surgical Procedures

Fish surgical procedures are commonplace in aquaria, zoos, laboratory facilities, and pet clinical practice. To incorporate fish surgery into a clinical setting, an understanding of anatomic differences between mammals and fish, bath anesthetics, and recirculating anesthesia techniques must be developed; a system or different size systems to accommodate anesthesia and surgery of particular species of concern at an institution or practice constructed; and familiar mammalian surgical principles applied with some adaptations. Common surgical procedures in fish include coeliotomy for intracoelomic mass removal, reproductive procedures, gastrointestinal foreign body removal, radiotransmitter placement, and integumentary mass excision.
High-Gain Single-Stage Boosting Inverter for Photovoltaic Applications

This paper introduces a high-gain single-stage boosting inverter (SSBI) for alternative energy generation. As compared to the traditional two-stage approach, the SSBI has a simpler topology and a lower component count. One cycle control was employed to generate ac voltage output. This paper presents theoretical analysis, simulation and experimental results obtained from a 200 W prototype. The experimental results reveal that the proposed SSBI can achieve high dc input voltage boosting, good dc–ac power decoupling, good quality of ac output waveform, and good conversion efficiency.
MedLingMap: A growing resource mapping the Bio-Medical NLP field

The application of natural language processing (NLP) in the biology and medical domain crosses many fields from Healthcare Information to Bioinformatics to NLP itself. In order to make sense of how these fields relate and intersect, we have created "MedLingMap" (www.medlingmap.org) which is a compilation of references with a multi-faceted index. The initial focus has been creating the infrastructure and populating it with references annotated with facets such as topic, resources used (ontologies, tools, corpora), and organizations. Simultaneously we are applying NLP techniques to the text to find clusters, key terms and other relationships. The goal for this paper is to introduce MedLingMap to the community and show how it can be a powerful tool for research and exploration in the field.
Fundus Autofluorescence Captured With a Nonmydriatic Retinal Camera in Vegetarians Versus Nonvegetarians

Background:A baseline level of lipofuscin in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is inevitable with age, but increased levels due to increased oxidative stress can result in deleterious vision los...
Formal Reasoning and Marketing Strategy

Some serious marketing theorists are attempting to use formal reasoning in creating marketing programs.This article surveys the new methods developed by formalists. The implications of this new app...
Nature-Based Child-Centered Play Therapy: An Innovative Counseling Approach

Nature-based child-centered play therapy (NBCCPT) is an innovative counseling approach that expands upon child-centered play therapy (CCPT) to emphasize the child’s relationship with nature in addition to the relationship with the counselor. NBCCPT sessions occur within the natural environment with
Synthesis, Optimization, and Performance Demonstration of Electrospun Carbon Nanofiber-Carbon Nanotube Composite Sorbents for Point-of-Use Water Treatment.

We developed an electrospun carbon nanofiber–carbon nanotube (CNF–CNT) composite with optimal sorption capacity and material strength for point-of-use (POU) water treatment. Synthesis variables including integration of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and macroporosity (via sublimation of phthalic acid), relative humidity (20 and 40%), and stabilization temperature (250 and 280 °C) were used to control nanofiber diameter and surface area (from electron microscopy and BET isotherms, respectively), surface composition (from XPS), and strength (from AFM nanoindentation and tensile strength tests). Composites were then evaluated using kinetic, isotherm, and pH-edge sorption experiments with sulfamethoxazole (log Kow = 0.89) and atrazine (log Kow = 2.61), representative micropollutants chosen for their different polarities. Although CNFs alone were poor sorbents, integration of CNTs and macroporosity achieved uptake comparable to granular activated carbon. Through reactivity comparisons with CNT dispersions...
Contrastive experiments and combustion characteristics of a square-pans fire under low pressure and low oxygen concentration in Tibet

In order to study the combustion mechanism of combustible materials under low pressure and low oxygen concentration in Tibet,a set of heptane fire experiments were conducted in Lhasa and Hefei respectively.Two gasoline tanks of different sizes were used in the fire experiments conducted in two combustion chambers of the same size.Several combustion parameters,such as temperature surrounding the fire,thermal radiation flux and weight loss,were measured.The experimental data show that the combustion rate and flame size in Lhasa are lower than those in Hefei.With the same combustion rate,the radiation heat flux in Lhasa is lower than that in Hefei.However,the fire temperature is higher than that in Hefei.
Images: perineal pain and malodorous drainage in a patient with rectal cancer.

A 59-year-old diabetic, obese, male smoker was on neoadjuvant chemotherapy for stage IV rectal cancer with liver metastasis. He presented with perineal pain and a foul smell. The patient had a 20×10 cm necrotic wound extending from the posterior scrotum to the anal verge that was tender, malodorous and draining dishwater fluid (figure 1). Urgent debridement of his Fournier's gangrene …
Implementation of a Cartesian robot for remote Mission Critical Operator training

As part of ongoing work to create training for Mission Critical Operators, a new training system was developed offering multiple degrees of freedom (DOF), which was a desirable addition as part of a progression of training systems of increasing complexity. With the addition of multiple DOF, the user may be exposed to a more complex control environment presenting challenging tasks related to full range of motion on multiple axes. The electromechanical training system was developed following a previously developed standard allowing control by two separate controllers; a Micro800 series programmable logic controller (PLC) or a National Instruments myRIO. This gives the user an opportunity to learn two programming languages: ladder logic and LabVIEW. The training system includes 4 DOF and has free range of motion in the X, Y, and Z axis. This allows for multiple applications to be simulated. The overall approach is presented; the final designs are being made available under an open-source license.
Geometry-aware partitioning of complex domains for parallel quad meshing

We develop a partitioning algorithm to decompose complex 2D data into small and simple subregions suitable for effective distributed and parallel quadrilateral mesh generation. To support high-quality quad mesh generation, the partitioning reduces to solving an integer quadratic optimization problem with linear constraints. Directly solving this problem is expensive for large-scale data. Hence, we also suggest a more efficient two-step algorithm to obtain an approximate solution. First, we partition the region into a set of cells using L Centroidal Voronoi Tessellation (CVT), then we solve a graph partitioning on the dual graph of this CVT to minimize the total partitioning boundary length, while enforcing the load balancing and each subregions connectivity. With this decomposition, subregions are distributed to multiple processors for parallel mesh generation. Through comparisons on the quality of the final meshes and the performance of simulations run on these meshes, we show that our decomposition algorithm outperforms existing partitioning approaches by offering more simulation-friendly regular meshes. A new data partitioning algorithm for large-scale quad mesh generation.A parallel computing framework for distributed geometric processing and meshing.A quad mesh generator for efficient scientific simulations of large geometric data.
Impact force loss behavior of flocked surfaces

The impact force loss behavior of flocked energy absorbing materials (FEAM) was experimentally studied in the context of double-side flocked FEAM element layered structures. A ball drop test determined the force loss per cent (FL%) properties of various assembled panels. This study showed that: (a) FEAM layers are most effective when used in multiple layer configurations. (b) When fabricating multi-layer two-side flocked FEAM layer configurations, a film or fabric divider sheet should be placed between adjacent flocked layers to prevent the flocked fibers from intermeshing with each other during compressional deformation. (c) FEAM elements perforated with 6.4 mm (¼”) diameter holes, 12.7 mm (½”) off staggered centers, exhibit a higher FL% per areal density compared to non-perforated FEAM panels. (d) Promising improvements in FL% properties are found by sandwiching either foam or spacer fabric between two FEAM layers. These three-layer structures are found to have higher FL% values than individual foam or ...
The Psychoanalytic Rationale for Anti-Administration

David Farmer's theory of anti-administration is heterodox to the point of posing a paradigmatic challenge to conventional rational thinking about administrative action. It can be described as orienting itself around the following premises: 1. Anti-administration can only be realized through application. 2. Official, prescribed, or conventional positions must be questioned, as doubt is the path to clarity. 3. Abstractions cannot be trusted so action must be engaged with hesitancy. Lacanian psychoanalytic theory provides a rationale for these by suggesting that since neurotic resistance is universal among human beings, institutional structure and dynamics are apt to be flawed and should not be taken for granted. Anti-administration is especially relevant to the contemporary world because practicing it renews the social bond?which is eroding rapidly under the corrosive effects of economic globalization. A number of developments on the intellectual and social scene suggest that conditions favorable to the anti administration framework are spreading. What I'm talking about is?going the other way. David Farmer Virtue itself turns into vice, being misapplied, and vice sometimes by action dignified. William Shakespeare
Multigrade kindergarten classrooms and children's academic achievement, executive function, and socioemotional development

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class of 2010-2011 (ECLS-K: 2011; n = 11,000), this study examined the developmental outcomes of 5-year-old children in multi-grade classrooms (combined pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classrooms serving 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds) compared with 5-year-olds attending kindergarten-only classrooms serving primarily 5-year-olds. Results from regression and propensity score analyses revealed that 5-year-old children who attended multi-grade classrooms with pre-kindergarteners made smaller gains in math and literacy skills and demonstrated less optimal executive function at the end of the school year as compared with children who attended kindergarten-only classrooms. Classroom-level factors largely explained the differences in children's academic achievement but did not consistently explain differences in their executive functioning. No consistent differences emerged for children's social-behavioral development.
Length and pressure matter: Expediting evidence-based progress in femoropoliteal intervention.

Key Points Preprocedural lesion length and ankle-brachial indices (ABI) synergistically predict 12-month patency and repeat revacularization in claudicants treated with bare metal nitinol stents for femoropopliteal disease. This predictive length-ABI model will permit broader evidence-based indirect comparisons of newer femoropopliteal approaches such as drug eluting balloon treatment with or without atherectomy. The length-ABI model is a step to supplement and supplant randomized controlled trials with indirect comparisons as the necessary evidence source expediting innovation and optimizing personalized endovascular therapy for infrainguinal obstructive peripheral arterial disease.
Molecular Genetics of Thyroid Cancer

In recent years, knowledge of the genetics of differentiated thyroid carcinomas has been rapidly increasing. Mutations identified in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) can be subdivided into BRAF- or RAS-like and include BRAF, RET/PTC, RAS, TRK, TERT, and EIF1AX. The leading genetic alterations in follicular thyroid carcinoma (FTC) are RAS, PAX8/PPARG, PTEN, PI3K/AKT pathway, and IDH1. Chapter 2 will provide an overview of common mutations and rearrangements in differentiated thyroid carcinoma in association with their clinical and pathologic characteristics and the current state of the rapidly advancing field.