cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Magnetic and hydrodynamic torques: Dynamics of superparamagnetic bead doublets

Abstract Rotating chains of magnetic microparticles have many applications in lab-on-a-chip technologies. The simplest such chain is the fluid-borne doublet, where two beads are in close contact, but remain unattached, allowing each bead to freely rotate. These beads typically have two components contributing to their net magnetic moment: (i) a superparamagnetic moment and (ii) a field-independent permanent moment. In a rotating magnetic field, there are magnetic torques that separately rotate the doublet and its constituent beads as well as a hydrodynamic torque from the bead-doublet coupling. This study investigates, through experiments and simulations, the dynamics of field-driven doublets. New dynamics were found for the case where the dominant torque stems from the hydrodynamic coupling.
The Industrial Revolution and Its Effects

Bowen and Gleeson argue that the greatest challenges that threaten to overwhelm our problem-solving capacities today are rooted in the duel, upward growth spiral of population and per capita production. This growth spiral eluded all previous human cultures until techno-science set off the industrial revolution in Western Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In this chapter, Bowen and Gleeson argue that techno-science itself was made possible only by several centuries of evolutionary problem-solving following the Black Death, combined with the unique historical events of the Columbian Exchange. These events initiated the rise of a new form of industrial social relations, centuries before the rise of techno-science. Industrial social relations enabled the dual growth spiral that has led to the Anthropocene.
Ghrelin octanoylation by ghrelin O-acyltransferase: Unique protein biochemistry underlying metabolic signaling

Ghrelin is a small peptide hormone that requires a unique post-translational modification, serine octanoylation, to bind and activate the GHS-R1a receptor. Ghrelin signaling is implicated in a variety of neurological and physiological processes, but is most well known for its roles in controlling hunger and metabolic regulation. Ghrelin octanoylation is catalyzed by ghrelin O-acyltransferase (GOAT), a member of the membrane-bound O-acyltransferase (MBOAT) enzyme family. From the status of ghrelin as the only substrate for GOAT in the human genome to the source and requirement for the octanoyl acyl donor, the ghrelin-GOAT system is defined by multiple unique aspects within both protein biochemistry and endocrinology. In this review, we examine recent advances in our understanding of the interactions and mechanisms leading to ghrelin modification by GOAT, discuss the potential sources for the octanoyl acyl donor required for ghrelin's activation, and summarize the current landscape of molecules targeting ghrelin octanoylation through GOAT inhibition.
Impact of Non-Uniform Subnets on the Performance of Wireless Network-on-Chip Architectures

Recent studies suggest that organizing cores in a network-on-chip (NoC) into subnets and adding a wireless router per subnet help improve performance by reducing the communication latency. Uniform subnets, where each subnet has about the same number of cores, are not beneficial for general purpose applications, because different application may require different number of cores for better performance. On average, uniform/fixed subnets may involve multiple subnets, multiple hops, and thus introduces more delay and consumes more power. In this work, we study the impact of non-uniform subnets in wireless NoC (WNoC) architectures on performance and power consumption. A 64-core architecture is partitioned into distinct sized subnets to get advantage of workloads that require different number of processing cores. VisualSim simulation tool is used to design and model the proposed systems. The tool is used to generate random workloads with six jobs, which has 31 individual subtasks. The preliminary experimental results show that non-uniform partition of subnets helps in reducing the communication latency by up to 11.11%, hop count by up to 26.26%, and the total power consumption by up to 14.76% when compared with those of uniform subnets.
Meaningful Data Sharing: Developing the Illinois Data Bank Metadata Framework

In Summer 2016, the Illinois Data Bank, the new data repository at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was launched. This paper will cover the development of the repository’s metadata s...
Revisiting and revitalizing political ecology in the American West

Abstract Political ecology, initially conceived to better understand the power relations implicit in management and distribution of natural resources in the developing world, came “home” to the American West in the 1990s and 2000s. This groundswell of research did much to problematize socio-environmental conflicts in the region, long typified by tensions over land and resources, identity and belonging, autonomy and authority. Since first touching down in the West, however, the “big tent” of political ecology has only grown bigger, incorporating new perspectives, epistemologies, and ontologies. At the same time, the nexus of environment and society is perhaps even more salient today, amid a regional conjuncture of populist revolt, climate change, and rapid political economic transformation. Here we reflect on three longstanding regional concerns – energy development, wolf reintroduction, and participatory governance – leveraging the pluralism of contemporary political ecology to better understand their contemporary incarnations. In so doing, we highlight the need to bring together insights from both “traditional” approaches and newer directions to better understand and engage contemporary challenges, with their heightened stakes and complexity. Such an approach demonstrates what we might learn about global processes in this place, as well as what insights regional praxis (often woefully provincial) might gain from elsewhere – new ways of seeing and doing political ecology. Our goal is to generate discussion among and between political ecologists and regional critical scholars, initiating new collaborative engagements that might serve the next wave of political ecology in the 21st century American West.
Noncommutative Knörrer periodicity and noncommutative Kleinian singularities

Abstract We establish a version of Knorrer's Periodicity Theorem in the context of noncommutative invariant theory. Namely, let A be a left noetherian AS-regular algebra, let f be a normal and regular element of A of positive degree, and take B = A / ( f ) . Then there exists a bijection between the set of isomorphism classes of indecomposable non-free maximal Cohen-Macaulay modules over B and those over (a noncommutative analog of) its second double branched cover ( B # ) # . Our results use and extend the study of twisted matrix factorizations, which was introduced by the first three authors with Cassidy. These results are applied to the noncommutative Kleinian singularities studied by the second and fourth authors with Chan and Zhang.
Mid-Infrared Detection using a Microwave Resonator Photoconductive Architecture

In this paper, we present the microwave resonator photoconductor (MRPC), a photoconductive detector architecture which couples an active mid-infrared pixel to a Ku band microwave resonator. We compare the room temperature sensitivity of our MRPC to a standard photoconductor, and discuss the potential advantages.
45. LOW FIDELITY, IN-SITU SIMULATION: IT WORKS!

Pediatric acute care delivery is an essential learned skill in residency training. Simulation-based training allows trainees to build upon knowledge and improve technical skills. Our training program has previously shown that low-fidelity simulation enhances situational awareness and trainee comfort, but the extent of clinical performance improvement is unknown. The objectives are to demonstrate improved competence in acute care clinical performance and to improve teamwork and communication during high-stress, high-acuity clinical situations. Weekly simulation-based case scenarios were led on three inpatient units. Each unit performed one unique clinical scenario per week, for a total of four per month. These included status epilepticus, anaphylaxis, respiratory failure, and cardiac arrest. These same four cases were repeated monthly with different residents. An intern was designated as a front-line provider, and a senior resident was available. A low-fidelity mannequin and resuscitative equipment were used. Case-specific checklists containing required clinical steps and key communication concepts were completed followed by a structured debrief. Data collected from Aug 2019 through Dec 2019 reflects an improvement in both clinical achievement and communication from week to week within the same resident group (Fig 1). The average percentage of completed case-specific clinical steps at week 1 was 58% and by week 4 was 85%. The average percentage of communication components achieved at week 1 was 52% and by week 4 was 78%. This study demonstrates sustained improvement in acute care delivery over the course of a single inpatient block. The improvement in clinical competency and communication over a four-week period suggests that resident performance is enhanced with frequent in-situ simulation and with teamwork within the same resident cohort. We believe these results solidify the utility of standardized cases and structured debriefs to effectively train residents on acute clinical care. Further steps include assessment of resident achievement in acute care simulation over several months to evaluate long-term improvement and sustainability.
A poética quantitativa do Formalismo Russo

Este ensaio aborda a teoria formalista russa de uma perspectiva quantitativa. Seu foco esta nas teorias sobre a arte verbal conforme desenvolvidas por Boris Tomachevski, Boris Eikhenbaum, Roman Jakobson e especialmente por Boris Iarkho. Aborda o pioneirismo de Iarkho quanto ao estudo quantitativo de aspectos do texto artistico e dos usos da estatistica para tal. Alem disso, trata-se do primeiro estudo sobre as contribuicoes de Iarkho no contexto do Formalismo Russo publicado no Brasil.
The ductile/brittle transition, is it well posed and determinable

Abstract It is developed and derived that the ductile/brittle transition is located at ν * =2/3 where ν * is the renormalized form of the standard Poisson's ratio. This is for homogeneous and isotropic materials in the state of uniaxial tension. This then converts to the ductile/brittle transition as being established at μ / k =1/2 where μ and k are the shear and bulk moduli. The consequences of these results for the elements of the Periodic Table are surveyed. It is found that the ductile/brittle transition occurs at or very near to the element iron. Nevertheless these results apply more generally than just to the elements and they have far reaching implications. They reveal a fundamental and specific relationship between the elastic properties of materials and the failure properties of materials. These developments validate and generalize the insightful but empirical observations of Pugh [7] given 66 years ago.
Characteristics and outcomes of patients with RET-fusion positive non-small lung cancer in real-world practice in the United States.

Contradictory and limited data are available about the presentation and outcomes of patients with RET-fusion positive metastatic NSCLC as compared to patients without RET fusions. This observational study utilizing a linked electronic health records (EHR) database to genomics testing results was designed to compare characteristics, tumor response, progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) outcomes by RET fusion status among patients with metastatic NSCLC treated with standard therapies. Adult patients with metastatic NSCLC with linked EHR and genomics data were eligible who received systemic anti-cancer therapy on or after January 1, 2011. Adjusted, using all available baseline covariates, and unadjusted analyses were conducted to compare tumor response, PFS and OS between patients with RET-fusion positive and RET-fusion negative disease as detected by next-generation sequencing. Tumor response outcomes were analysed using Fisher’s exact test, and time-to-event analyses were conducted using Cox proportional hazards model. There were 5807 eligible patients identified (RET+ cohort, N = 46; RET- cohort, N = 5761). Patients with RET fusions were younger, more likely to have non-squamous disease and be non-smokers and had better performance status (all p < 0.01). In unadjusted analyses, there were no significant differences in tumor response (p = 0.17) or PFS (p = 0.06) but OS was significantly different by RET status (hazard ratio, HR = 1.91, 95% CI:1.22–3.0, p = 0.005). There were no statistically significant differences by RET fusion status in adjusted analyses of either PFS or OS (PFS HR = 1.24, 95% CI:0.86–1.78, p = 0.25; OS HR = 1.52, 95% CI: 0.95–2.43, p = 0.08). Patients with RET fusions have different baseline characteristics that contribute to favorable OS in unadjusted analysis. However, after adjusting for baseline covariates, there were no significant differences in either OS or PFS by RET status among patients treated with standard therapy prior to the availability of selective RET inhibitors.
A multidisciplinary approach to the management of nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease: a clinical perspective.

Management of nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease (NTM-LD) can be encumbered by difficult diagnostic criteria and complex treatment decisions. As prevalence of this debilitating, often refrac...
Reparametrization to incorporate constraints in the inverse design of nanophotonic devices

We propose a new design scheme to incorporate hard experimental constraints to the global optimization of inversely designed nanophotonic devices. We demonstrate the concept by design globally optimized freeform high performance deflection gratings with robustness and hard constraints imposed..
Developing Mathematical Proficiency for Elementary Instruction: An Introduction

Subject training forms the foundation for subject instruction in school education. What elementary teachers need to know and learn in mathematics for teaching is not a trivial question, and calls for careful thinking and extensive research from different perspectives. In this chapter, we provide the background for the joint effort by scholars from different disciplines who contributed their research on this long-standing question. A brief description of the book structure and each chapter is also provided as a general guideline for readers to gain insights from reading this book.
A Unification of Mediator, Confounder, and Collider Effects

Third-variable effects, such as mediation and confounding, are core concepts in prevention science, providing the theoretical basis for investigating how risk factors affect behavior and how interventions change behavior. Another third variable, the collider, is not commonly considered but is also important for prevention science. This paper describes the importance of the collider effect as well as the similarities and differences between these three third-variable effects. The single mediator model in which the third variable (T) is a mediator of the independent variable (X) to dependent variable (Y) effect is used to demonstrate how to estimate each third-variable effect. We provide difference in coefficients and product of coefficients estimators of the effects and demonstrate how to calculate these values with real data. Suppression effects are defined for each type of third-variable effect. Future directions and implications of these results are discussed.
Lived Experiences of Low-Income, African American Males in a High School STEAM Academy: Implications for School Counselors:

Using a qualitative case study approach, this investigation focused specifically on the school and home experiences of low-income, African American males who had attended a career academy focused o...
Using Machine Learning to Objectively Determine Colorimetric Assay Results from Cell Phone Photos Taken Under Ambient Lighting

Colorimetric assays are an important tool in point-of-care testing that offers several advantages such as rapid response times and inexpensive costs. A factor that currently limits their use is objective measures to determine results. Current solutions consist of creating a test reader that standardizes the conditions the strip is under before measuring. However, this increases the cost and decreases the portability of these assays. The focus of this study is to train a convolutional neural network (CNN) that can objectively determine results of colorimetric assays under varying conditions. To ensure the flexibility of the model to several types of colorimetric assays, three models are trained on the same CNN. The images these models are trained on consist of positive and negative images of ETG (99.87% positive classification, 99.96% negative classification), fentanyl (99.60% positive classification, 99.56% negative classification), and HPV antibody (99.86% positive classification, 100% negative classification) strips taken under different lighting and background conditions. A fourth model is trained on an image set composed of all three strip types with the lowest classification accuracy being 99.11%.
Legal Consciousness and Intimate Partner Violence Survivors’ Perceptions of Protection Order Violations

Civil protection orders are individualized orders that survivors of intimate partner abuse and violence can pursue in addition to or independently of criminal charges. The efficacy of protection orders is defined in various ways in existing literature. One way to understand the effectiveness of these orders is to determine the extent to which they are violated, the willingness of survivors to report violations, and the legal system’s (i.e., police, criminal court, and civil court) responses to survivors’ reports. Research exists on the extent to which protection orders are violated, the extent to which violations are reported, and factors affecting enforcement of the orders. However, research has yet to examine the perceptions and behaviors of survivors who do not report order violations. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with women who sought civil protection orders against abusive male partners, this research uses a legal consciousness framework to examine survivors’ perceptions of order violations, their decision-making processes regarding whether to report violations, and barriers to reporting the violations. The interviews reveal that not all survivors perceive contact as an order violation and, for those who do, not all survivors report the violations. Specifically, obstacles to reporting were related to survivors’ perceptions of the violations and accessibility to and usefulness of the legal system. Policy implications for both the civil and criminal justice systems to create more victim-centered and trauma-informed responses to survivors who experience protection order violations are discussed.
Paying for the party : how college maintains inequality

Two young women, dormitory mates, embark on their education at a big state university. Five years later, one is earning a good salary at a prestigious accounting firm. With no loans to repay, she lives in a fashionable apartment with her fiance. The other woman, saddled with burdensome debt and a low GPA, is still struggling to finish her degree in tourism. In an era of skyrocketing tuition and mounting concern over whether college is "worth it," Paying for the Party is an indispensable contribution to the dialogue assessing the state of American higher education. A powerful expose of unmet obligations and misplaced priorities, it explains in vivid detail why so many leave college with so little to show for it. Drawing on findings from a five-year interview study, Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton bring us to the campus of "MU," a flagship Midwestern public university, where we follow a group of women drawn into a culture of status seeking and sororities. Mapping different pathways available to MU students, the authors demonstrate that the most well-resourced and seductive route is a "party pathway" anchored in the Greek system and facilitated by the administration. This pathway exerts influence over the academic and social experiences of all students, and while it benefits the affluent and well-connected, Armstrong and Hamilton make clear how it seriously disadvantages the majority. Eye-opening and provocative, Paying for the Party reveals how outcomes can differ so dramatically for those whom universities enroll.
Quantification and Standardization of Allergens

This chapter talks about natural or recombinant proteins or glycoproteins used in the diagnosis and/or treatment of immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated allergic disease. The purpose of allergen standardization is to ensure that the extracts are well characterized in terms of allergen content and that variation between lots is minimized even among different manufacturers. In the United States, the use of a biological model of allergen standardization has permitted the assignment of bioequivalent allergen units (BAU) for most standardized allergens. Although skin testing is an essential component of the allergen standardization program, it is not intended for routine use in the testing of manufactured lots of extracts prior to release. For the Hymenoptera venom allergens, the potency determination is also based on the content of the known principal allergens within the extract, hyaluronidase and phospholipase, which is determined by enzyme activity. Individual allergens may be measured and detected by various approaches using monospecific antisera or antibodies. Assay designs using these antisera include the radial immunodiffusion (RID) assay, crossed immunoelectrophoresis/ crossed radioimmunoelectrophoresis (CIE/CRIE), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) variants (direct, two-site, and competition). Each of the assays utilizes monospecific antisera or antibodies to detect and quantify the specified allergen. The identity of an allergen extract may be verified by visualizing the separated allergen proteins on the basis of their size and isoelectric points.
Contribution of eicosapolyenoic fatty acids to the sesquiterpenoid phytoalexin elicitor activities of Phytophthora infestans spores

The concentrations of arachidonic (AA) and eicosapentaenoic (EPA) acids in lyophilized sporangia from isolates representing four races of Phytophthora infestans and in lyophilized zoospores and newly-formed cystospores of an isolate of race 0 were determined. The predominant eicosapolyenoic acid was EPA, and the levels of EPA and AA were similar in all four isolates. In the race 0 isolate, the total concentration of EPA and AA was greater in sporangial tissue than in tissues from zoospores or cystospores. Treatment of spores with bromine eliminated AA, EPA and other unsaturated fatty acids and abolished phytoalexin elicitor activity. Addition of a mixture of lipids from P. infestans containing free and esterified EPA and AA or of pure eicosapolyenoic acids to brominated sporangia restored 76 and 55%, respectively, of the elicitor activity present in untreated sporangia. The elicitor activities of these mixtures were significantly greater than the activities of the lipids or free fatty acids. Bromine treatment also abolished the elicitor activities of zoospore and cystospore tissues, and the treated tissues retained the capability to significantly enhance AA elicitor activity. The results demonstrate a requirement of unsaturated lipid in spore tissues of P. infestans for elicitor activity and provide evidence that the levels of eicosapolyenoic acids in lyophilized sporangia of P. infestans are sufficient to account for the major portion of their elicitor activity, provided that the components which enhance fatty acid elicitor activity are also present.
Trial by fire: understanding the design requirements for agents in complex environments

Phoenix is a real-time, adaptive planner that manages forest fires in a simulated environment. Alternatively, Phoenix is a search for functional relationships between the designs of agents, their behaviors, and the environments in which they work. In fact, both characterizations are appropriate and together exemplify a research methodology that emphasizes complex, dynamic environments and complete, autonomous agents. Within the Phoenix system, we empirically explore the constraints the environment places on the design of intelligent agents. This article describes the underlying methodology and illustrates the architecture and behavior of Phoenix agents.
Picosecond measurements of the primary photochemical events in reaction centers isolated from the facultative green photosynthetic bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus: Comparison with the purple bacterium Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides

The primary charge separation process in reaction centers isolated from the green photosynthetic bacterium Chloroflexus aurantiacus has been investigated with picosecond transient absorption techniques. Transient spectra and kinetics are compared with those obtained under identical conditions on reaction centers from the purple bacterium Rhodopseudomonas sphaeroides. An early electron acceptor complex in both organisms appears to involve interacting bacteriopheophytin-a and bacteriochlorophyll-a molecules. However, there are significant spectral and kinetic differences in the two reaction center preparations.
Impact of Population Stratification on Family-Based Association in an Admixed Population

Population substructure is a well-known confounder in population-based case-control genetic studies, but its impact in family-based studies is unclear. We performed population substructure analysis using extended families of admixed population to evaluate power and Type I error in an association study framework. Our analysis shows that power was improved by 1.5% after principal components adjustment. Type I error was also reduced by 2.2% after adjusting for family substratification. The presence of population substructure was underscored by discriminant analysis, in which over 92% of individuals were correctly assigned to their actual family using only 100 principal components. This study demonstrates the importance of adjusting for population substructure in family-based studies of admixed populations.
Auditory attention strategy depends on target linguistic properties and spatial configuration.

Whether crossing a busy intersection or attending a large dinner party, listeners sometimes need to attend to multiple spatially distributed sound sources or streams concurrently. How they achieve this is not clear—some studies suggest that listeners cannot truly simultaneously attend to separate streams, but instead combine attention switching with short-term memory to achieve something resembling divided attention. This paper presents two oddball detection experiments designed to investigate whether directing attention to phonetic versus semantic properties of the attended speech impacts listeners' ability to divide their auditory attention across spatial locations. Each experiment uses four spatially distinct streams of monosyllabic words, variation in cue type (providing phonetic or semantic information), and requiring attention to one or two locations. A rapid button-press response paradigm is employed to minimize the role of short-term memory in performing the task. Results show that differences in the spatial configuration of attended and unattended streams interact with linguistic properties of the speech streams to impact performance. Additionally, listeners may leverage phonetic information to make oddball detection judgments even when oddballs are semantically defined. Both of these effects appear to be mediated by the overall complexity of the acoustic scene.
LARGE-SCALE AURORAL MOTIONS AND POLAR MAGNETIC DISTURBANCES. III. THE AURORA AND MAGNETIC STORM OF 11 FEBRUARY 1958

The drastic changes that occurred in the distribution of the arctic aurora during the great magnetic storm of February 11, 1958, are described, on the basis of the records of the auroral all-sky cameras in North America, together with one in East Siberia and the one in Japan. Over the dark hemisphere, the aurora occurred overhead in a strip of varying width that lay parallel to the auroral zone. Its northern border fluctuated considerably during the storm, in parallel with the occurrence of polar magnetic substorms (DP) during the main storm. In the quiet intervening intervals, the northern border of the strip of aurora descended to geomagnetic latitude 50 deg N. During these quiet intervals, the aurora was completely absent from the region of the auroral zone, where normally it is most frequent and intense. During the DP' s the strip was widest and expanded mainly by northward movement of its northern border. The southern border moved slightly southward at the same time, but its latitude was nearly constant throughout the main D/sub st/ phase of the storm. An explanation is suggested in terms of the varying distribution of particles in the region of the Van Allen belts. (auth)
From Algol to Beta Lyrae

We believe that we understand reasonably well the structure and evolutionary status of Algol and similar semi-detached systems, which will for brevity be called Algols. β Lyrae is much more complicated, and some of the problems of revealing its structure are discussed. The best model available at the present considers β Lyrae as an Algol-type semi-detached system in a phase of fairly rapid mass transfer, i.e. younger than typical Algols. The most important conclusion drawn in this article is that β Lyrae is not so unique as it is usually believed. Some characteristics that are so puzzling in β Lyrae actually appear already in such classical Algols like U Cephei and RW Tauri. The mass-accreting components in these systems are surrounded by a hot, turbulent layer which probably expands and which is the seat of emission lines of fairly high ionization discovered in the far ultraviolet. In β Lyrae and the so-called W Serpentis stars, the circumstellar hot turbulent shell is much more extensive and probably also denser, and may be forming a kind of a “superchromosphere”. Also, a trend appears among the W Serpent is stars for the gainers to be sorrounded by thick disks, and this trend, too, appears more forcefully in β Lyrae, where the disk propably completely sorrounds and hides the accreting star proper.
Examination of the Equine Foot

There are excellent journal articles and book chapters that describe the examination of the foot, some of which are listed as references. Reviewing them reveals that each clinician performs their examination in their own style, and they emphasize different aspects of the examination; however, they all have a method, and all describe an effective process to diagnose as effectively as possible the various conditions that affect the equine foot. This article describes the author’s approach to examination of the foot, which is a synthesis of formal education received, personal experience, and experience of others. It is a reductionist rather than procedural approach. The majority of disease processes originating in the foot that cause lameness are associated with inflammation, usually related to trauma or infection. Disease processes associated with a marked focus of inflammation, typically associated with acute onset of lameness, are most likely to be identified with a basic examination, whereas disease processes associated with subtle symptoms and longer duration may require much more extensive examination of the limb and ancillary diagnostic tests. Furthermore, even the best examination in conjunction with ancillary diagnostic tests may not always obtain a definitive diagnosis, but the information gained may suggest an approach for symptomatic treatment. The latter is particularly important when access to advanced diagnostic technology, such as magnetic resonance imaging, is limited. Therefore, the following discussion is divided into two parts, the basic examination and a more detailed examination. The detailed examination is further divided into three main sections that provide different types of information. All examinations begin by gathering the presenting complaint, signalment, and history. With most foot problems, the presenting complaint is lameness. However, presenting complaint may also be the appearance of the foot. The signalment for any horse does not give specific information about the presenting complaint, but it does contain risk factors for certain conditions, which must then be correlated with information obtained from the history and physical examination. There are three main time points of importance in history taking: the date of the examination, the date that the problem was first noticed, and the date that the owner first knew/owned the horse. The second date gives an indication of the duration of the problem, and the length of time between the second and third dates gives the clinician an indication of how much history before this problem is known; this may lead to further enquiry about this time. No two sets of questions asked during a history taking are the same, because so many questions are pred-
Tuning CMOS-MEMS resonators with embedded heater

MEMS resonators cover a wide range of applications, such as oscillators, gyroscopes, biosensors, and gas sensors. Frequency tuning capability is required to compensate for frequency changes due to fabrication tolerances, ambient temperature variations, or to cover broad range of frequencies for frequency hopping and signal tracking. Passive, as well as active techniques have been reported in the literature to address this requirement. Passive methods, with up to 4% frequency tuning, may only be used to address fabrication inconsistencies. On the other hand, active methods are repeatable and reversible. Such methods used for temperature compensation present a promising potential for use in frequency hopping, and signal tracking applications. Table-1 shows reported MEMs resonators of previous works having low resonance frequency and limited frequency tuning in comparison with the resonators designed in this work (Goktas and Zaghloul, IEEE ED Letters, accepted).
Conservation of the 15-kilodalton lipoprotein among Treponema pallidum subspecies and strains and other pathogenic treponemes : Genetic and antigenic analyses

The 15-kDa lipoprotein of Treponema pallidum is a major immunogen during natural syphilis infection in humans and experimental infection in other hosts. The humoral and cellular immune responses to this molecule appear late in infection as resistance to reinfection is developing. One therefore might hypothesize that this antigen is important for protective immunity. This possibility is explored by using both genetic and antigenic approaches. Limited or no cross-protection has been demonstrated between the T. pallidum subspecies and strains or between Treponema species. We therefore hypothesized that if the 15-kDa antigen was of major importance in protective immunity, it might be a likely site of antigenic diversity. To explore this possibility, the sequences of the open reading frames of the 15-kDa gene have been determined for Treponema pallidum subsp. pallidum (Nichols and Bal-3 strains), T. pallidum subsp. pertenue (Gauthier strain), T. pallidum subsp. endemicum (Bosnia strain), Treponema paraluiscuniculi (Cuniculi A, H, and K strains), and a little-characterized simian isolate of Treponema sp. (Fribourg-Blanc strain). No significant differences in DNA sequences of the genes for the coding region of the 15-kDa antigen were found among the different species and subspecies studied. In addition, all organisms showed expression of the 15-kDa antigen as determined by monoclonal antibody staining. The role of the 15-kDa antigen in protection against homologous infection with T. pallidum subsp. pallidum Nichols was examined in rabbits immunized with a purified recombinant 15-kDa fusion protein. No alteration in chancre development was observed in immunized, compared to unimmunized, rabbits, and the antisera induced by the immunization failed to enhance phagocytosis of T. pallidum subsp. pallidum by macrophages in vitro. These results do not support a major role for this antigen in protection against syphilis infection.
Is America Breaking Apart

Is America Breaking Apart? John A. Hall and Charles Lindholm. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999. 162 pp.
Design and baseline characteristics for the ACE Inhibitor After Anthracycline (AAA) study of cardiac dysfunction in long-term pediatric cancer survivors.

Abstract Purpose The ACE Inhibitor After Anthracycline (AAA) study is a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial comparing enalapril with placebo to determine whether treatment can slow the progression of cardiac decline in patients who screen positive for anthracycline cardiotoxicity. Methods The primary outcome measure is the rate of decline, over time, in maximal cardiac index (in liters per minute per meters squared) at peak exercise; the secondary outcome measure is the rate of increase in left ventricular end systolic wall stress (in grams per centimeters squared). Patients >2 years off therapy and Results A total of 135 patients were randomized to enalapril or placebo. Baseline characteristics were similar across treatment groups. Conclusions The AAA study will provide important information concerning the efficacy of using angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors to offset the effects of late anthracycline cardiotoxicity. (Am Heart J 2001;142:577-85.)
Symbolic Representation in Police Traffic Stops

Bureaucratic representation is the idea that nonelected officials can address the interests of citizens as effectively as elected officials can. It has an active component and a passive component. The passive component is the concept that citizens are affected in a different way cognitively by a bureaucratic actor who resembles them than by one who does not. The chief difficulty in addressing the question of a symbolic effect has been a reliance on aggregate data. This study uses as its data supplemental surveys to the National Crime Victimization Survey called the Police-Public Contact Survey. A difference was found in how African American and White citizens react to police officers.
Perspective: group cognition factors in sociotechnical systems.

Objective: This commentary on the special issue suggests a focus on group cognition factors in investigations of teamwork involving sociotechnical systems. Background: The author has conducted rese...
Role of pH in solubility and conformational changes of pacific whiting muscle proteins

This study was conducted to better understand biochemical changes of fish muscle proteins as affected by novel surimi process, acid- or alkali-aided solubilization. At 10 mM NaCI, between pH 5 and 10, the solubility of Pacific whiting muscle proteins was low but increased dramatically as the pH was shifted to either acidic or alkaline pH. At 600 mM NaCI, the isoelectric point was shifted to the acidic direction by about 2 pH units, resulting in aggregation of proteins at low pH, but improving the solubility of MHC (myosin heavy chain) between pH 6 and 10. ANS surface hydrophobicity (ANS-S o ) showed much greater values than PRODAN surface hydrophobicity (PRODAN-S o ) for samples treated at pH 2 - 4 perhaps due to an enhancement of the electrostatic interactions between the ANS probe and proteins. At very high pH, according to hydrophobicity results, proteins were partially refolded when the ionic strength increased. Under acidic conditions, SDS-PAGE demonstrated the degradation of MHC at 10 mM NaCl. The formation of MHC polymers was observed under alkaline treatment with a concomitant decrease of SH content.
Twinning and symmetry.

Twins of the first and second kind are found to be indistinguishable in crystals of high symmetry. A basis for the symmetry dependence is found which will delineate some situations where this is expected. Namely, when the space group of the twinned crystals is the same and contains the transformation operator which relates the two crystals, and when the twinning operator contains no translation, such compound twins are expected. Furthermore, the two invariant planes and directions are members of the same families of planes and directions, respectively. Otherwise, either compound twins are found where the invariant planes are not members of the same family or the compound twin transforms into the two separate kinds.
Serially configured matched filter interrogation technique for Bragg grating arrays

We describe an interrogation technique for fiber Bragg grating sensors based on serially arranged set of receiver FBG elements, which are used to decode strain induced wavelength shifts of six FBG sensor elements. Each of the receiver elements is wavelength-matched to one of the FBG sensor elements allowing for wavelength discrimination and passive demodulation of individual sensor strain information.
Liposome Dependent Delivery of N-(Phosphonacetyl)-L-Aspartic Acid to Cells in Vitro

AbstractN-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartic acid (PALA) exhibits a considerable increase in its in vitro growth inhibitory potency when it is incorporated into liposomes. Encapsulation in negatively charged liposomes increases the growth inhibitory potency of PALA by up to 360 times. For CV1-P and L929 cells, encapsulation in liposomes prepared from neutral phospholipids does not increase the potency of PALA. the potency of encapsulated PALA is not dependent on the size of liposomes, being equally effective in all liposomes between 0.1 and 1 µm in diameter. the potency of PALA is greatest when it is incorporated into liposomes prepared from high phase transition temperature lipids. Exposure of cells to 7.5 mM ammonium chloride substantially inhibits the effects of both free and encapsulated PALA. the potency of free PALA is more sensitive to changes in exposure length than is the potency of encapsulated PALA. Consequently the difference in potency between free and encapsulated PALA is greatest when exposure len...
Dissolution of Weak Acids Under Laminar Flow and Rotating Disk Hydrodynamic Conditions: Application of a Comprehensive Convection–Diffusion–Migration–Reaction Transport Model

ABSTRACT: A steady-state mass transfer model that incorporates convection, diffusion, ionic migration, and ionization reaction processes was extended to describe the dissolution of weak acids under laminar flow and a rotating disk hydrodynamics. The model accurately predicted the experimental dissolution rates of benzoic acid, 2-naphthoic acid, and naproxen in unbuffered and monoprotic buffers within the physiological pH range for both hydrodynamic systems. Simulations at various flow rates indicated a cube root dependency of dissolution rate on the flow rate for a given bulk pH value for the laminar hydrodynamic system, as proposed earlier by Shah and Nelson (1975. J Pharm Sci 64(9):1518–1520) for neutral compounds. The model has limitations in its ability to accurately predict the dissolution of weak acids under certain conditions that imposed steep concentration gradients, such as high pH values, and for polyprotic buffer systems that caused the numerical solution to be unstable, suggesting that alternative numerical techniques may be required to obtain a stable numerical solution at all conditions. The model presents many advantages, most notably the ability to successfully predict the complex process under physiological conditions without simplifying assumptions, and therefore accurately representing the system in a comprehensive manner. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association
A positron annihilation lifetime study of isotactic polypropylene

Positron lifetime studies were performed on well-characterized annealed and quenched samples of isotactic polypropylene. The positron experiments were conducted from −20 to 110°C as a function of both heating and cooling. Of the three decaying exponential components resolved from the lifetime spectra, only the long-lifetime ortho-positronium (o-Ps) pickoff component was affected by the changes in temperature. The behavior of both the lifetime and intensity of the o-Ps component was interpreted with the aid of x-ray diffraction, densitometry, and optical microscopy examinations and results from previously reported investigations of the thermal transition behavior of polypropylene. The present experiments demonstrate that o-Ps lifetimes were similar for both the annealed and quenched samples, independent of thermal cycling, while the o-Ps component intensity was significantly larger for the quenched material during heating, with both sample types exhibiting a significant hysteresis upon cooling. These results suggest that the mean free-volume cavity size is independent of prior thermal treatment, while the density of free-volume sites is a sensitive function of structure and prior thermal history. The variations of lifetime and of intensity with temperature have provided insight into polypropylene's glass transition phenomena.
Economic loss: myth and measurement

This paper covers a number of pitfalls that could hinder the development of a common methodology for estimating flood damage. Such pitfalls include double counting, ignoring post‐disaster liabilities, ignoring non‐market losses (e.g. recreation, loss of leisure, damage to historic sites and cultural assets, etc.), ignoring the needs of the end user, and questions as to how indirect/systemic losses might be modeled. With one exception, much of what is discussed in the paper is based on off‐the‐shelf economics and will not prove to be contentious. Regional economists are likely to have different opinions as to how to best model indirect and systemic loss; it is this that will lead to a lively debate as to how to proceed. Assessments of economic fallout from the World Trade Center attack are used to illustrate some of the problems reported in this paper.
Does Competitive Environment Moderate the Market Orientation-Performance Relationship?:

Recent studies have shown evidence of a positive relationship between market orientation and performance. However, some scholars have suggested that competitive environment could moderate this rela...
POSTMODERNISM; OR, THE CULTURAL LOGIC OF POST‐FORDISM?

This article examines attempts by Marxist thinkers such as Fredric Jameson and David Harvey to explain the cultural transition from modernism to postmodernism by the economic transition from Fordism to post-Fordism. They argue that the movement of advanced industrial societies from standardized mass production to diverse flexible production has created a new culture that stresses difference, superficiality, and ahistoricality. But in their attempts to portray a synchronous development of economy and culture, these thinkers ignore the uneven developments between and within each realm. I argue that in the United States the popular arts like automobile design developed postmodern traits long before the high arts like architecture. Instead of this change in popular culture resulting from post-Fordism, it dialectically influenced this economic change.
Analysis model visualization and graphical analysis attribute specification system

Abstract A visual environment for defining and manipulating engineering analysis information has been developed. This environment: (i) allows queries and modifications of the topology and geometry that defines a geometric model obtained from various geometric modeling systems, (ii) abstracts the modeler's functionality needed to associate analysis information, (iii) provides a hierarchical attribute association model, and (iv) gives a graphical user interface to both the geometric modeler abstraction and attribute management system. Finally graphical issues relating to performance, portability and flexibility of different workstation environments are discussed.