cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Density-property relationships in collagen-glycosaminoglycan scaffolds.

Abstract Collagen–glycosaminoglycan scaffolds for the regeneration of skin have previously been fabricated by freeze-drying a slurry containing a co-precipitate of collagen and glycosaminoglycan. The mechanical properties of the scaffold are low (e.g. the dry compressive Young’s modulus is roughly 30 kPa and the dry compressive strength is roughly 5 kPa). There is interest in using these scaffolds for tendon and ligament regeneration where there is a need for improved mechanical properties. Previous attempts to increase the mechanical properties of the scaffold by increasing the solid volume fraction of the scaffolds were limited by the increasing viscosity of the slurry, making it more difficult to mix and giving inhomogeneous scaffolds. Our recent work on mineralized collagen–glycosaminoglycan scaffolds used a vacuum filtration technique to increase the volume fraction of solids in the slurry, thereby increasing the density and mechanical properties of the scaffolds. In this work, we used this technique to fabricate collagen–glycosaminoglycan scaffolds with dry densities between 0.0076 and 0.0311 g cm −3 and pore sizes between 250 and 350 μm, values appropriate for soft tissue growth. The compressive Young’s modulus and strength in the dry state increased from 32 to 127 kPa and from 5 to 19 kPa, respectively, with increasing density. The tensile Young’s modulus in the dry state increased from 295 to 3.1 MPa with increasing density. Finally, we showed that the attachment of cells onto the scaffold was directly proportional to the specific surface area of the scaffold, which defines the total internal surface area per volume of scaffold.
Long- and short-term affective states in happiness: Model, paradigm and experimental evidence

The present paper evaluates relevant findings on long- and short-term affective states in subjective well-being and argues for a componential model that combines the two into the more general concept of happiness. Two age parameters, one for long-term and one for short-term affect are added to the simple model to account for age changes in happiness. Measures of long- and short-term affect are presented, as is a paradigm for separating the components. Support for the simple model is provided by an experimental investigation with 64 college students who were exposed to positive and/or negative mood induction. As expected, the induction had substantially greater effect on short- than on long-term affect measures, particularly the negative induction procedure. These findings are consistent with predictions. However, multiple age cohorts will have to be assessed within a longitudinal framework to obtain values for the age parameters.
Religious Coping and Church‐Based Social Support as Predictors of Mental Health Outcomes: Testing a Conceptual Model

This study assesses religious coping and church-based social support as mechanisms explaining religious benefits to mental health. We build on recent research and test an explanatory model using the 1998 General Social Survey. The model considers both institutional and individual aspects of religiousness, and their interrelations, as predictors of mental health outcomes. It considers negative effects of religion along with the well-known positive effects. We found that benefits of attendance, a measure of institutional participation, are mediated by church-based social support. Benefits of prayer, an individual form of religiousness, are mediated by the similarly privatized religious coping. Institutional measures of religion were found to impact individuals' religious coping styles. Implications are suggested for the scientific study of religion as well as for the applied efforts of clergy, pastoral counselors, and lay church members concerned with improving religious benefits.
Vehicle-to-grid scheme based on inductive power transfer for advanced distribution automation

The latest technological advances in battery and converter technology, along with government mandates on energy independence and resilience, are expected to pave the way for higher deployment of plug-in electric vehicles (PEV) in the transportation fleet. These vehicles, when equipped with bidirectional energy transfer capabilities, can function as mobile energy resources and can be utilized in a Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) scheme in order to temporarily inject energy back into the power grid, thereby functioning as energy storage systems. The forecasted increase in the number of these dispersed vehicles can potentially turn them into a significant energy resource that can be used by the utilities for ancillary services or even for long-term integration with the power system. The notion of energy injection through V2G schemes has been conceptually investigated in the literature for charging stations or single residential charging devices. In all these case studies, the vehicle needs to be parked, and a connection be established by the driver, for the duration of the battery charge or discharge. This paper looks into V2G through the employment of contactless means for energy transfer, namely inductive power transfer (IPT). IPT adds flexibility to V2G schemes by allowing energy exchange with vehicles in motion or when the driver is not physically present to establish a connection. The performance of IPT for bidirectional power flow has been shown through simulation as well as experimental results. Also, statistical analysis are provided that demonstrate the large scale integration of these vehicles into the grid.
Rain gauge derived precipitation variability over Virginia and its relation with the El Nino southern oscillation

Abstract The El-Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Phenomenon has a strong impact on local and regional scale climate through strong teleconnections affecting the coupled ocean-atmosphere and even land system. Recent studies have pursued the effects of such periodic events on different climatological and meteorological parameters. This study focuses on ENSO impact on local precipitation patterns. We study the precipitation patterns derived from gauge stations over Virginia, USA. Forty years of the Hourly Precipitation gauge Data (HPD) jointly developed by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) and the Forecast Systems Laboratory (FSL) at five gauge locations in Virginia are considered. High frequency random noise at each station is removed through wavelet decomposition. A Morlet wavelet basis function is then fitted to the non-seasonal data to derive the interannual and longer periodic signals. Three to five years' cycles are observed in the anomaly signal in keeping with the 2–8-year period of ENSO signals reported in the literature. An Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) is also applied to the data set. The signal is found to correlate reasonably well with the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) with a correlation coefficient of 0.68 at a confidence level of 95% for the stations. Cross-spectral coherency and phase analysis reveals a strong physical link between precipitation and ENSO. One of the major outcomes of this study is that ENSO may strongly affect local precipitation.
Hypertension and cardiovascular disease: contributions of the framingham heart study.

Summary This is a historical review of the contribution of the Framingham Heart Study to our understanding of the epidemiology of blood pressure (BP) and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Framingham investigators initially explored the epidemiological relationship of various BP components to coronary heart disease in men and women and how this risk is further modified by age, that is, how diastolic blood pressure (DBP) is the stronger predictor of coronary heart disease risk in young people versus systolic blood pressure (SBP) in middle-aged and elderly people. Framingham investigators then examined the natural history of various BP components over a 30-year follow-up in normotensive and untreated hypertensive individuals and showed how this provides hemodynamic insights into the importance of pulse pressure as a marker of large artery stiffness in middle-aged and elderly people. Importantly, pulse pressure was also found to be superior to SBP or DBP as a predictor of coronary heart disease in a middle-aged and elderly Framingham population. Lastly, dual models of SBP with DBP and pulse pressure with mean arterial pressure were superior to single BP component models for predicting CVD events; thus, increases in both peripheral vascular resistance and central large artery stiffness contribute to CVD in varying proportions depending on age. Furthermore, the Framingham Heart Study provided evidence that DBP
Multiple-rate sampled-data systems

The characterization of multiple-rate sampled-data systems by the ordinary z-transform of single-rate systems is shown. Single-rate sampling, or impulse modulation, of continuous signals is performed by an impulse modulator, M; the sampled, or “starred,” function is described by the z-transform. In an analogous manner, a submultiple-rate modulator is introduced; its presence in a branch allows the passage of every nth pulse, or a train of pulses at a submultiple rate; the nomenclature of single-rate systems is continued through the performance of submultiple-rate “starring” of discrete signals and discrete niters. Table I permits starred expressions to be rewritten as functions of the z-transform in closed form. Techniques are shown for the reduction of discrete, and mixed continuous and discrete systems via flow graphs, so that, after the modulators are removed from the feedback loops, the analysis may proceed by standard methods. Representation of single-and submultiple-rate modulation in the s- and z-planes is used to demonstrate that submultiple-rate modulation of discrete signals is analogous to the impulse modulation of continuous signals.
Laparoscopic and robotic donor pancreatectomy for living donor pancreas and pancreas–kidney transplantation

Pancreas transplantation is a widely accepted procedure that can efficiently restore euglycemia and prevent progression of complications. In most instances, the limiting factor for deceased donor organ transplantation is the availability and quality of the available organs. Living donor pancreas transplant was introduced at the University of Minnesota in 1979. Because of the potential risks for the donor and the technical challenges in the recipient operation, this procedure has not become very popular since then. In 1999, in the attempt to decrease the morbidity associated with open distal pancreatectomy, the first laparoscopic donor distal pancreatectomy with hand-assisted technique was performed at the same institution. In 2000, the FDA approved the robotic surgical system Da Vinci for general use. Since then, the system has been extensively used at our institution to perform living donor nephrectomy. The only case reported worldwide of robotic distal pancreatectomy and nephrectomy for living donor pancreas–kidney transplantation was successfully performed by our team in 2006 at the University of Illinois at Chicago and proved as a promising technique. The application of minimally invasive techniques has allowed an increased acceptance of the procedure among potential donors and may, therefore, increase the number of donors for this life-saving transplant. The initial results are encouraging and clearly prove feasibility.
DynaMMo: mining and summarization of coevolving sequences with missing values

Given multiple time sequences with missing values, we propose DynaMMo which summarizes, compresses, and finds latent variables. The idea is to discover hidden variables and learn their dynamics, making our algorithm able to function even when there are missing values.We performed experiments on both real and synthetic datasets spanning several megabytes, including motion capture sequences and chlorine levels in drinking water. We show that our proposed DynaMMo method (a) can successfully learn the latent variables and their evolution; (b) can provide high compression for little loss of reconstruction accuracy; (c) can extract compact but powerful features for segmentation, interpretation, and forecasting; (d) has complexity linear on the duration of sequences.
Google Scholar Users and User Behaviors: An Exploratory Study

The University of Mississippi Library created a profile to provide linking from Google Scholar (GS) to library resources in 2005. Although Google Scholar does not provide usage statistics for institutions, use of Google Scholar is clearly evident in looking at library link resolver logs. The purpose of this project is to examine users of Google Scholar with existing data from interlibrary loan transactions and library Web site click-through logs and analytics. Questions about user status and discipline, as well as behaviors related to use of other library resources, are explored.
Cohomology of gauge fields and explicit construction of Wess-Zumino lagrangians in nonlinear sigma models over G/H

Abstract By generalizing the well-known Chern-Weil and Chern-Simons theorems, we are able to define a tower of cocycles in the entire space of gauge potentials. This construction not only induces (though not directly) the usual tower of cocycles on a gauge orbit, but also generates nontrivial cocycles, by appropriate projection, in the gauge-orbit space. As an application, using the Chern-Simons one-cocycle in this new tower, we explicitly construct the Wess-Zumino action in nonlinear sigma models over a homogeneous space G/H in any even dimensions.
Measurement equivalence and differential item functioning in family psychology

Several hypotheses in family psychology involve comparisons of sociocultural groups. Yet the potential for cross-cultural inequivalence in widely used psychological measurement instruments threatens the validity of inferences about group differences. Methods for dealing with these issues have been developed via the framework of item response theory. These methods deal with an important type of measurement inequivalence, called differential item functioning (DIF). The authors introduce DIF analytic methods, linking them to a well-established framework for conceptualizing cross-cultural measurement equivalence in psychology (C.H. Hui and H.C. Triandis, 1985). They illustrate the use of DIF methods using data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN). Focusing on the Caregiver Warmth and Environmental Organization scales from the PHDCN's adaptation of the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory, the authors obtain results that exemplify the range of outcomes that may result when these methods are applied to psychological measurement instruments.
Transmitting Plant Viruses Using Whiteflies

Whiteflies, Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae, Bemisia tabaci, a complex of morphologically indistinquishable species(5), are vectors of many plant viruses. Several genera of these whitefly-transmitted plant viruses (Begomovirus, Carlavirus, Crinivirus, Ipomovirus, Torradovirus) include several hundred species of emerging and economically significant pathogens of important food and fiber crops (reviewed by(9,10,16)). These viruses do not replicate in their vector but nevertheless are moved readily from plant to plant by the adult whitefly by various means (reviewed by(2,6,7,9,10,11,17)). For most of these viruses whitefly feeding is required for acquisition and inoculation, while for others only probing is required. Many of these viruses are unable or cannot be easily transmitted by other means. Therefore maintenance of virus cultures, biological and molecular characterization (identification of host range and symptoms)(3,13), ecology(2,12), require that the viruses be transmitted to experimental hosts using the whitefly vector. In addition the development of new approaches to management, such as evaluation of new chemicals(14) or compounds(15), new cultural approaches(1,4,19), or the selection and development of resistant cultivars(7,8,18), requires the use of whiteflies for virus transmission. The use of whitefly transmission of plant viruses for the selection and development of resistant cultivars in breeding programs is particularly challenging(7). Effective selection and screening for resistance employs large numbers of plants and there is a need for 100% of the plants to be inoculated in order to find the few genotypes which possess resistance genes. These studies use very large numbers of viruliferous whiteflies, often several times per year. Whitefly maintenance described here can generate hundreds or thousands of adult whiteflies on plants each week, year round, without the contamination of other plant viruses. Plants free of both whiteflies and virus must be produced to introduce into the whitefly colony each week. Whitefly cultures must be kept free of whitefly pathogens, parasites, and parasitoids that can reduce whitefly populations and/or reduce the transmission efficiency of the virus. Colonies produced in the manner described can be quickly scaled to increase or decrease population numbers as needed, and can be adjusted to accommodate the feeding preferences of the whitefly based on the plant host of the virus. There are two basic types of whitefly colonies that can be maintained: a nonviruliferous and a viruliferous whitefly colony. The nonviruliferous colony is composed of whiteflies reared on virus-free plants and allows the weekly availability of whiteflies which can be used to transmit viruses from different cultures. The viruliferous whitefly colony, composed of whiteflies reared on virus-infected plants, allows weekly availability of whiteflies which have acquired the virus thus omitting one step in the virus transmission process.
On estimations of maximum and average interfacial temperature rise in sliding elliptical contacts

Abstract This study considers the approaches of Blok and Jaeger for the estimation of maximum and average temperatures in sliding elliptical contacts with both uniform and semi-ellipsoidal (Hertzian) heat distributions. The accuracy of each of these methods, which are based on single-point temperature matching between contacting bodies, is assessed relative to a numerical solution of the heat partition problem developed in a previous work, which imposed temperature matching at all nodal points. Comparisons are made for a wide range of Peclet numbers, as well as for moderate ranges of thermal conductivity ratio and elliptical ratio. It is found that the application of Blok's hypothesis yields remarkably accurate predictions of the maximum interfacial temperature, with typical errors less than 3%, whereas the hypothesis of Jaeger leads to predictions of the average interfacial temperature that have typical errors of around 6%. The authors also assess the accuracy of approximate formula developed by Tian and Kennedy to predict the maximum temperature at the interface for the case of sliding circular contacts and find the error to be no more than 2.6% for the full range of Peclet number. Further, the authors of the current study use fundamental heat source solutions developed by Tian and Kennedy to arrive at formulae for average temperature rise for circular contacts that are analogous to the Tian and Kennedy maximum temperature rise formulae. It is found that the formulae for computing the average interfacial temperature rise are also quite accurate, but have slightly more error than the maximum temperature rise formulae. Finally, in the present work, extensions are suggested to the maximum and average temperature rise formulae of Tian and Kennedy to include the effects of elliptical contact geometry. It is found that these formulae are at least 91% accurate for elliptical ratios between 0.4 and 5.0.
Non-peptide angiotensin II receptor antagonist and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor: effect on a renin-induced deficit of a passive avoidance response in rats.

Non-peptide receptor ligands with differential affinity for the angiotensin II-1 (AII-1) receptor (EXP3312, EXP3880) or the AII-2 receptor (PD123177) and an angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor captopril were evaluated for the ability to protect against a renin-induced performance deficit in a passive avoidance (PA) task in rats. The ability to retain a PA response was shown to decrease as the dose of intracerebroventricularly (i.c.v.) administered renin increased with maximal retention deficits occurring at 1.0 micrograms/5 microliters i.c.v. EXP3312 (1-100 micrograms/5 microliters i.c.v.) and EXP3880 (1-100 micrograms/5 microliters i.c.v.) produced dose-dependent increases in retention latencies when co-administered with renin. The peak effect dose (PED) for EXP3312 and EXP3880 was 3 and 30 micrograms i.c.v., respectively. In contrast, PD123177 was not effective in preventing the renin-induced decrease in retention across a broad range of doses (0.1-100 micrograms/5 microliters i.c.v.). Captopril (1-100 micrograms/5 microliters i.c.v.) also prevented the renin-induced performance deficit with a PED of 30 micrograms/5 microliters i.c.v. These results suggest that renin given i.c.v. produces a deficit in performance of a PA response in rats and that this effect can be attenuated by an ACE inhibitor, AII-1 receptor ligands, but not AII-2 receptor blocker.
Experimental Structural Dynamic Characterization of the Hawkmoth (Manduca Sexta) Forewing

While many bio-inspired flapping wing micro air vehicle wing designs continue to be conceived and studied in earnest, a general consensus of which physical attributes of the biological entity are important for flight is still at-large. It is proposed herein that the eigenstructure of the wing should figure prominently among rigorous engineering metrics for guiding flapping wing micro air vehicle wing designs at the scales of large insects. With virtually no compelling work done in this area to date, the method and results of system identification tests for the forewings of a representative sample of hawkmoth (Manduca Sexta) are presented, revealing the underlying structural nature of this incredibly agile flyer's wings. Despite their inherent biological variability, these wings show very little variability in eigenstructure which may suggest it as a critical attribute for robust flight. Further supporting this hypothesis, the wings of four other insect species are briefly examined and show remarkable simi...
Cloning and characterization of gene TNF α encoding equine tumor necrosis factor alpha

Abstract We report the molecular cloning and nucleotide sequence of the equine gene encoding tumor necrosis factor α. The 2610-bp genomic sequence was derived from three overlapping polymerase chain reaction products.
Effect of nitrogen dioxide on surface membrane fluidity and insulin receptor binding of pulmonary endothelial cells

Abstract Nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), an environmental oxidant pollutant, is known to peroxidize membrane lipids of lung cells. We evaluated the ability of NO 2 to alter the surface membrane fluidity, lipid composition, and insulin receptor binding of porcine pulmonary artery endothelial cells in culture. After 3- to 24-hr exposure to 5 ppm NO 2 , cells were labeled with either 1-(4-trimethylaminophenyl)-6-phenyl-,3, 5-hexatriene (TMA-DPH), a cationic fluorescent aromatic hydrocarbon that anchors at the lipidwater interface, or fluorescamine, a fluorescent molecular probe that covalently binds with amino groups of surface phospholipids and proteins. Membrane fluidity was measured by monitoring changes in the steady-state fluorescence anisotropies ( r s ) for TMA-DPH and fluorescamine. Insulin specific receptor binding was monitored by measuring time-dependent binding of 125 I-insulin. Following NO 2 exposure, r s values for TMA-DPH and fluorescamine were increased significantly in a time-dependent fashion, with maximum increases at 24 hr (P r s , values were observed in isolated plasma membranes as well as in lipid vesicles prepared from total lipid extracts of endothelial cells or their plasma membranes. Phosphatidylethanolamine plus phosphatidylserine content in lipid extracts from 24-hr but not 3- to 12-hr NO 2 -exposed cells was increased significantly (P 125 I-insulin to cells exposed to NO 2 for 12 and 24 hr (but not 3 and 6 hr) was reduced significantly (P 2 exposure caused a 5-fold reduction in insulin receptor binding sites in endothelial cells. Recovery was achieved 24 hr after NO 2 exposure with, but not without, changing culture medium. These results indicate that NO 2 exposure causes reversible changes in the physical state of lipids in the superficial lipid domains of the pulmonary endothelial cell plasma membrane, and these alterations may interfere with plasma membrane-dependent functions such as receptor-ligand interaction.
Clinical evaluation of ramus frame and staple bone implants

Abstract Atwood 13 pointed out that "variability of human response (resistance to infection, susceptibility to bone resorption, and psychologic capacity) demands more basic research and clinical trials to improve success". This study can serve as a baseline for further longitudinal studies and controlled clinical research. Barring tissue or systemic complications, the prosthodontist must take the responsibility through sound treatment principles and awareness to ensure continued satisfaction and success of these implant systems.
The effects of GLP-1 infusion in the hepatic portal region on food intake

A wide range of evidence points to a role for GLP-1 to regulate food intake. Anorectic effects of GLP-1 are most apparent when the peptide is administered directly into the central nervous system (CNS), but suppression of food intake has also been noted in some cases with peripheral administration. It is unclear which GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1r) population mediates the effects of plasma GLP-1, although direct actions to activate CNS neurons have been demonstrated. More recently several groups have demonstrated that GLP-1 can activate peripheral nerves in the hepatic portal vein to regulate glucose metabolism. To test the hypothesis that GLP-1 receptors on nerve terminals in the hepatic portal affect feeding behavior, we compared the effects of direct infusions into hepatic portal and jugular veins in rats. Jugular GLP-1 decreased food intake at doses as low as 10 microg from 0.5-4 h into the dark cycle, whereas portal GLP-1 decreased food intake only at the highest dose tested (100 microg). The blockade of endogenous GLP-1 action before or during eating by infusing dH-Ex, GLP-1 receptor antagonist, into either jugular or portal vein did not cause any change in food intake during either the dark or light cycles. Taken together, these data suggest that while peripheral GLP-1 may be involved in the regulation of food intake, the key GLP-1 receptors are unlikely to be those associated with vagal afferent nerves innervating the hepatic portal vein.
Reinforcement learning technique using agent state occurrence frequency with analysis of knowledge sharing on the agent’s learning process in multiagent environments

Reinforcement learning techniques like the Q-Learning one as well as the Multiple-Lookahead-Levels one that we introduced in our prior work require the agent to complete an initial exploratory path followed by as many hypothetical and physical paths as necessary to find the optimal path to the goal. This paper introduces a reinforcement learning technique that uses a distance measure to the goal as a primary gauge for an autonomous agent’s action selection. In this paper, we take advantage of the first random walk to acquire initial information about the goal. Once the agent’s goal is reached, the agent’s first perceived internal model of the environment is updated to reflect and include said goal. This is done by the agent tracing back its steps to its origin starting point. We show in this paper, no exploratory or hypothetical paths are required after the goal is initially reached or detected, and the agent requires a maximum of two physical paths to find the optimal path to the goal. The agent’s state occurrence frequency is introduced as well and used to support the proposed Distance-Only technique. A computation speed performance analysis is carried out, and the Distance-and-Frequency technique is shown to require less computation time than the Q-Learning one. Furthermore, we present and demonstrate how multiple agents using the Distance-and-Frequency technique can share knowledge of the environment and study the effect of that knowledge sharing on the agents’ learning process.
The effect of levamisole on experimental carcinogenesis of rat submandibular gland

Abstract Sixty young adult male albino rats were studied for the effect of a non-specific enhancer of cell-mediated immunity (levamisole) on the development of chemically induced tumours of submandibular gland. Levamisole was previously shown to delay chemical carcinogenesis of hamster buccal pouch and it was felt that these findings should be confirmed in another species and another experimental tumour system. Group 1 animals received a pellet of 9,10-dimethyl-1,2-benzanthracene (DMBA) implanted into the right submandibular glands and were injected with 0.6 mg levamisole once daily on three consecutive days at intervals of two weeks. Group 2 animals were implanted with DMBA but received no levamisole. Groups 3 and 4 were levamisole-treated and untreated controls. Group 1 animals (DMBA-levamisole) showed delayed carcinogenesis of submandibular gland. Group 2 (DMBA) animals developed tumours more rapidly and they demonstrated more anaplasia and greater invasiveness than those developing in the levamisole-injected animals.
Level of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure, Center Based Intervention, and Weschler Pre and Primary School Intelligence Scores (WPPSI-R) at Four Years of Age

Level of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure, Center Based Intervention, and Weschler Pre and Primary School Intelligence Scores (WPPSI-R) at Four Years of Age
Prevalence of heparin/platelet factor 4 antibodies before and after cardiac surgery.

Background The clinical significance of heparin/platelet factor 4 (PF4) antibodies in subjects undergoing cardiac surgery has not been systematically studied. We prospectively investigated whether the presence of heparin/PF4 antibodies would predict clinical thrombosis in this population. Methods In 299 patients scheduled for cardiac surgery between October 2003 and March 2005, the heparin/PF4 antibodies and platelet count were measured immediately prior to, and 5 days after, surgery. The patients were followed up at 30 days for thrombotic complications. Results The prevalence of the heparin/PF4 antibodies was 4.3% (13 of 299) prior to surgery and increased more than fivefold to 22.4% (62 of 277) postoperatively (p Conclusions The high prevalence of antibodies to the heparin/PF4 complex after cardiac surgery and the low rate of thromboembolic complications in this population suggest that the antibody alone does not confer an increased risk of thrombotic complications. Monitoring for thrombocytopenia is recommended.
Oxidant and acid precipitation effects on soybean yield: Cross-sectional model development

Abstract Regression models have been constructed to examine effects of oxidant and acid precipitation air pollutants and regional factors on soybean yield. Although regional factors provide most of the explanatory power, effects of oxidants and acid precipitation are statistically significant. These regressions suggest that controlling oxidant air pollution may produce greater benefit than controlling acid precipitation. Specifically, controlling pH to 5.2 or 5.6 would result in a national-level increase in soybean yield of ∼ 1%. In comparison, if oxidant concentrations were controlled to 40 or 25 ppb (nL/L), a national-level increase of 4%–9% is predicted. Simultaneous control of both pollutants (i.e., pH = 5.6, oxidant = 25 ppb (nL/L) would result in a national-level benefit of ∼ 10%. Regression models and field generated dose-response functions predict similar results. Before the methods developed in this paper can be used for policy analysis, data and sources of estimate uncertainty need to be more closely examined.
Effect of Castration and Steroid Replacement on Immunoreactive Luteinizing Hormone Cells in the Pars Tuberalis of the Rat

The response of LH cells in the pars tuberalis of the rat hypophysis to castration alone or castration and subsequent administration of testosterone propionate or estradiol benzoate was studied. To accomplish this, LH cells were labeled by the peroxidase-antiperoxidase immunocytochemical method, with use of an antiserum generated against hCG. LH cells were detected in the caudal region of the pars tuberalis of all intact control animals studied. After castration, LH cells in both the pars distalis and pars tuberalis showed similar degrees of hypertrophy and hyperplasia. This response was inhibited by either testosterone propionate or estradiol benzoate in the pars distalis as well as in the pars tuberalis. These results indicate that LH cells in the pars tuberalis, in addition to those in the pars distalis, are responsive to fluctuations in circulating steroid hormone levels and that the pars tuberalis may contribute to the overall secretion of gonadotropin by the adenohypophysis.
The effect of humidity on the stability of an octadecyltriethoxysilane monolayer self-assembled on untreated and plasma-treated mica

We investigated the stability of an octadecyltriethoxysilane (OTE) monolayer self-assembled on plasma-treated and untreated mica using a surface forces apparatus by measuring the thickness of the water layer that is adsorbed from vapor. The OTE monolayers are initially highly hydrophobic, but contact angle hysteresis indicates that water interacts favorably with the monolayers on prolonged exposure. Defects in the monolayer most likely make it possible for the water to reach the hydrophilic region between the silane headgroups and the mica. This explains why there has been very little success in measuring hydrophobic forces between OTE-coated mica surfaces. Hydrophobic forces between OTE surfaces have been successfully measured only with silica as the substrate. Even though these monolayers are not suitable for studies of the so-called hydrophobic force, they are ideal for studies designed to probe the interactions between the silane headgroups and mica. For a given relative humidity, the water film thick...
Next-generation lithography mask development at the NGL Mask Center of Competency

Mask fabrication is one of the difficult challenges with all Next Generation Lithography (NGL) technologies. X-ray, e-beam projection, and ion-beam projection lithography all use some form of membrane mask, and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography uses a reflective mask. Despite some differences, the various mask technologies share some common features and present similar fabrication difficulties. Over the past several years, the IBM Advanced Mask Facility (AMF) has focused on the fabrication of x-ray masks. Several key accomplishments have been demonstrated including fabricating masks with critical dimensions (CD) as small as 75 nm, producing line monitor masks in a pilot line mode to evaluate mask yields, and fabricating masks to make working microprocessors with the gate level defined by x-ray lithography. The experience on fabricating 1X x-ray masks is now being applied to the other NGL mask technologies. Progress on membrane and absorber materials can be applied to all the technologies, and patterning with advanced e-beam writing with chemically amplified resists utilizes learning from writing and baking on x-ray membrane masks.
A map of the common chimpanzee genome.

The completion of the chimpanzee genome will greatly help us determine which genetic changes are unique to humanity. Chimpanzees are our closest living relative, and a recent study has made considerable progress towards decoding the genome of our sister taxon.1 Over 75,000 common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) bacterial artificial chromosome end sequences were aligned and mapped to the human genome. This study shows the remarkable genetic similarity (98.77%) between humans and chimpanzees, while highlighting intriguing areas of potential difference. If we wish to understand the genetic basis of humankind, the completion of the chimpanzee genome deserves high priority. BioEssays 24:490–493, 2002. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
TRANSPLANTATION OF THE TREMATODE PHILOPHTHALMUS HEGENERI TO NEW AND ALTERED SITES.

Abstract Six of 10 juvenile eye flukes, Philophthalmus hegeneri Penner and Fried 1963 homotransplanted into chicks' eyes survived, grew, and developed. Two flukes that developed in the same eye of a chick appeared fertile. The other 4 flukes developed individually in chicks' eyes and were infertile. The absence of live flukes implanted into the coeloms of chicks indicated an incompatibility of this site. Flukes implanted into the cloacas of chicks showed no signs of growth or development and were dead by the third day postimplantation. Sixteen of 25 juvenile flukes transplanted into chicks' eyes lacking nictitating membranes survived, grew, and developed on the sciera, cornea, and eyelids. Four flukes migrated to intact eyes and developed on the normal site, the interior surface of the nictitating membrane. They were larger than worms that remained in altered eyes. Twenty-three of 120 metacercariae inoculated into the median slits of 7 chicks lacking both nictitating membranes survived, grew, and developed in the altered eyes. Since fertile worms were not recovered from eyes lacking nictitating membranes, the possibility exists that the physicochemical requirements of sexually mature eye flukes differ from those of juvenile flukes.
The stochastic radiative transfer equation: Quantum damping, Kirchoffs law and NLTE

Abstract A method based on the theory of quantum damping is presented, for deriving a self consistent but approximate form of the quantum transport for photons interacting with a fully ionized electron plasma. Specifically, we propose in this paper a technique of approximately including the effects of background plasma on a photon distribution function without directly solving any kinetic equations for the plasma itself. The result is a quantum Langevin equation for the photon number operator; the quantum radiative transfer equation. A dissipation term appears which is the imaginary part of the dielectric function for an electron gas with photon mediated electron–electron interactions due to absorption and re-emission. It depends only on the initial state of the plasma. A quantum noise operator also appears as a result of spontaneous emission of photons from the electron plasma. The thermal expectation value of this noise operator yields the emissivity which is exactly of the form of the Kirchoff–Planck relation. This non-zero thermal expectation value is a direct consequence of a fluctuation–dissipation relation (FDR).
Stability and Performance Limits of Adaptive Primal-Dual Networks

This paper studies distributed primal-dual strategies for adaptation and learning over networks from streaming data. Two first-order methods are considered based on the Arrow-Hurwicz (AH) and augmented Lagrangian (AL) techniques. Several revealing results are discovered in relation to the performance and stability of these strategies when employed over adaptive networks. The conclusions establish that the advantages that these methods exhibit for deterministic optimization problems do not necessarily carry over to stochastic optimization problems. It is found that they have narrower stability ranges and worse steady-state mean-square-error performance than primal methods of the consensus and diffusion type. It is also found that the AH technique can become unstable under a partial observation model, while the other techniques are able to recover the unknown under this scenario. A method to enhance the performance of AL strategies is proposed by tying the selection of the step-size to their regularization parameter. It is shown that this method allows the AL algorithm to approach the performance of consensus and diffusion strategies but that it remains less stable than these other strategies.
Structural evolution of layered LixMnyO2 : Combined neutron, NMR, and electrochemical study

The conversion upon electrochemical cycling from a layered structure to a spinel in nonstoichiometric LixMnyO2 has been studied by neutron diffraction and NMR. This process occurs in all layered lithium manganate materials, irrespective of the ion-exchange route. The high temperature of the ion exchange under reflux in n-hexanol is sufficient to promote formation of some spinel within the as-synthesized material. Upon cycling, all the different layered LixMnyO2 compounds begin to transform to a spinel. In the first 50 or so cycles, the various layered LixMnyO2 compounds behave rather differently, with a higher spinel fraction being observed for materials ion-exchanged under more extreme conditions. However, the rate of this transformation is significantly slower than was observed in stoichiometric layered LiMnO2, with only 25% spinel observed after 100 cycles. Ultimately, upon extended cycling, the entire structure will form a well-ordered spinel phase.
Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer Reveals Interleukin (IL)-1-dependent Aggregation of IL-1 Type I Receptors That Correlates with Receptor Activation

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) was used to investigate whether interleukin-1 (IL-1) causes the aggregation of IL-1 type I receptors (IL-1 RI) at the cell surface. For these experiments, a noncompetitive anti-IL1 RI monoclonal antibody, M5, was labeled separately with a donor probe, fluorescein isothiocyanate, or with an acceptor carbocyanine probe, Cy3. Donor-labeled M5 and acceptor-labeled M5 were simultaneously bound to transfected mouse IL-1 RI on either C-127 mouse mammary carcinoma cells or on Chinese hamster ovary (CHO)-K1 cells, and the ratio of acceptor emission at 590 nm to donor emission at 525 nm (excitation at 488 and 514 nm) was monitored with flow cytometry as an indicator of FRET. Addition of a saturating concentration of human IL-1 alpha at 22 degrees C causes a time-dependent increase in FRET for both cell lines that indicates IL-1-dependent self-association of IL-1 RI. Binding of the IL-1 receptor antagonist at 22 degrees C causes little or no FRET for both cell lines, indicating a correlation between receptor aggregation and the ability of the ligand to stimulate a functional response. When donor-labeled and acceptor-labeled Fab fragments of M5 are used to monitor FRET, IL-1 alpha causes efficient energy transfer in the CHO-K1 cells at 22 degrees C, but not at 4 degrees C. In contrast, IL-1 alpha causes much less FRET at 22 degrees C in C-127 cells when the M5 Fab fragments are used instead of the intact bivalent M5. In a striking parallel, IL-1 alpha-dependent activation of prostaglandin E2 production depends on the bivalent M5 antibody in the C-127 cells, but is independent of this monoclonal antibody in the CHO-K1 cells. These results provide a strong correlation between the ability of IL-1 to cause the aggregation of IL-1 RI and the stimulation of a functional response.
VEGFA Family Isoforms Regulate Spermatogonial Stem Cell Homeostasis in Vivo

The objective of the present study was to investigate vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) isoform regulation of cell fate decisions of spermatogonial stem cells (SSC) in vivo. The expression pattern and cell-specific distribution of VEGF isoforms, receptors, and coreceptors during testis development postnatal d 1–180 suggest a nonvascular function for VEGF regulation of early germ cell homeostasis. Populations of undifferentiated spermatogonia present shortly after birth were positive for VEGF receptor activation as demonstrated by immunohistochemical analysis. Thus, we hypothesized that proangiogenic isoforms of VEGF (VEGFA164) stimulate SSC self-renewal, whereas antiangiogenic isoforms of VEGF (VEGFA165b) induce differentiation of SSC. To test this hypothesis, we used transplantation to assay the stem cell activity of SSC obtained from neonatal mice treated daily from postnatal d 3–5 with 1) vehicle, 2) VEGFA164, 3) VEGFA165b, 4) IgG control, 5) anti-VEGFA164, and 6) anti-VEGFA165b. SSC transplantation analysis demonstrated that VEGFA164 supports self-renewal, whereas VEGFA165b stimulates differentiation of mouse SSC in vivo. Gene expression analysis of SSC-associated factors and morphometric analysis of germ cell populations confirmed the effects of treatment on modulating the biological activity of SSC. These findings indicate a nonvascular role for VEGF in testis development and suggest that a delicate balance between VEGFA164 and VEGFA165b isoforms orchestrates the cell fate decisions of SSC. Future in vivo and in vitro experimentation will focus on elucidating the mechanisms by which VEGFA isoforms regulate SSC homeostasis.
A Reflection Grating Spectrometer for the X-Ray Multi-Mirror (XMM) Space Observatory: Design and Calculated Performance

Attention is given to a spectrometer design candidate for the X-ray Multi-Mirror observatory, being planned by the European Space Agency as a long-lived large-area array of telescopes. The science requirement of moderate resolution spectroscopy in a two octave region with extremely high throughput leads to the use of grazing incidence reflection gratings. It is noted that the sensitivity of the instrument is sufficient to permit the first spectral detection of soft X-ray features in external galaxies.
Solution of a system of simultaneous linear equations with a sparse coefficient matrix by elimination methods.

A method is described for handling systems of linear equations with a sparse coefficient matrix as economically as possible. In particular, a convenient rule for the order of pivoting is given. Numerical experiments indicating considerable savings have also been performed.
The effect of surface active agents on the stability characteristics of falling liquid films

Abstract The effect of the presence of surface active agents on the stability characteristics of falling liquid films is considered. Using an asymptotic analysis based on the assumption of a large surface elasticity parameter, it is shown that: (1) the bifurcation Reynolds number which is obtained via a small wave number perturbation solution is indeed the critical Reynolds number for the system, and (2) that the presence of surfactants results in a large decrease in the growth rate and a large increase in the wave length of the most rapidly amplified disturbance.
A self-testable SiGe LNA and Built-in-Self-Test methodology for multiple performance specifications of RF amplifiers

In this paper, a self-testable SiGe low noise amplifier (LNA) is designed and a Built-in-Self-Test (BIST) methodology is proposed for amplifiers embedded in RF systems. In this BIST methodology, the RF amplifier has the capability to simultaneously test multiple performance specifications on-chip, including Gain and PldB. The self-testable LNA can be placed in a testing mode, in which it self generates a signature of its health using oscillation principles. It eliminates the requirement of any external test stimulus for testing purposes, thus enables the possibility of self-testable RF designs. For the proof of concept, the presented SiGe LNA is designed to operate in the X-band (9.0 GHz) in a commercially-available 6 metal layer, 0.18 µm, 120 GHz SiGe BiCMOS platform. This self-testing design concept can be extended to CMOS amplifiers as well. Furthermore, in this paper, the built-in-self-test methodology is demonstrated using board-level as well as chip-level prototypes.