cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Use of EMG in a kinesiological study in industry.

Abstract The study was conducted in an automobile upholstery plant which manufactures interior trim panels and seat covers. The job was one which required workers to lean repetitively across a 965 mm (38 in) high flat table-like die while securing sheets of material to the die. Two employees in the embossing department volunteered to participate in a comparative evaluation of the accumulation of low back fatigue from working for a full day using a die with a 914 mm (35 in) maximum reach requirement versus that of a die with a 813 mm (32 in) maximum reach requirement. Electromyography (EMG) of the low back muscles was the measure used for the evaluation. EMG recordings from static muscular contractions were made at selected intervals for an 8 h work day while maintaining normal production. Integrated EMG amplitude and power frequency shifts formed the bases for comparison. The integrated EMG amplitude increase over the course of the day was 47% and 100%, respectively, for the two subjects while working with the 813 mm (32 in) die; the respective EMG amplitude increases for the day while working with the 914 mm (36 in) die were 83% and 263%. None of the power frequency shifts exceeded a predetermined minimum level considered necessary to indicate fatigue. As a result of this study, the plant reduced as much as possible the maximum reach required on every die in the embossing department in order to reduce worke r fatigue.
STRAIN DEPENDENCY OF TRANSFORMING GROWTH FACTOR-BETA 1 (TGF-betal) REQUIREMENT FOR PREIMPLANTATION MOUSE DEVELOPMENT. † 352

Murine embryos express TGF-betal as early as 2-4 cell stage. To investigate the functions of TGF-betal in vivo, our laboratory disrupted the TGF-betal gene (Shull et al, Nature 1992: 359, 693-99). Genotypes of pups born from intercrosses of animals heterozygous for the disrupted TGF-betal allele in the 129×CF-1 strain revealed a significant deviation from the mendelian ratio of 1:2:1. Of 806 live offsprings born, 280 were homozygous wild type(+/+), 413 were heterozygous (+/-) and 113 were homozygous mutant (-/-), giving a ratio of 1:1.5:0.4. The +/+ data has been normalized to 1. To determine the gestational stage at which embryonic lethality occurred, genotyping of embryos derived from heterozygous crosses were undertaken at various developmental stages. In the 129×CF-1 strain, genotypic analysis of 398 blastocysts showed the ratio to be 1:1.3:0.5 (+/+: +/-: -/-). Next, in vitro development of preimplantation embryos derived from TGF-betal heterozygous crosses in the same strain was assessed. 134 four cell stage embryos out of 140 could be successfully cultured to healthy compacted morula/blastocyst stage embryos, the culturing efficiency being no different from controls. To demonstrate that the embryonic loss cannot be accounted for by differential fertilization rates, crosses were undertaken between +/+ and+/- animals in both sexes. Of 170 pups born to TGF-betal +/- male and +/+ female the ratio of +/+: +/- pups was 1:1.5. When TGF-betal +/+ males were mated with TGF-betal +/- females, the ratio of +/+: +/- pups was 1: 0.82(N=180) (p>0.05). Thus there was no under-representation of +/- embryos at fertilization. These results suggest that in the 129×CF-1 strain, approximately 50% TGF-betal -/- embryos fail to develop past the first two cell divisions in preimplantation embryogenesis.
Fully-integrated implementation of large time constant Gm-C integrators

A novel technique is proposed to take advantage of system-level properties of applying negative feedback to an operational transconductance amplifier to implement fully integrated large time constant integrators. Based on the proposed idea a first-order lowpass Gm-C filter as an integrator with a cutoff frequency of 20 Hz has been designed, fabricated and tested. Experimental results are in close agreement with theoretical and simulation results.
Linked twist maps in Hamiltonian systems

Linked twist maps of ergodic theory are modified to provide a model for chaotic orbits in ‘double bowl’ potentials in conservative systems, e.g. direct ‘exchange’ orbits in the planar restricted problem of three bodies. The maps are typically ergodic (and mixing), and provide a clue to the nature of relaxation or diffusion in chaotic Hamiltonian systems.
Demand-Insensitive price relationships in competitive private commons

We introduce an economic model for private commons that consists of network providers serving a fixed primary demand and making strategic pricing decisions to improve their revenues by providing service to a secondary demand. For general forms of secondary demand, we establish the existence and uniqueness of two critical prices for each provider: the break-even price and the market sharing price. The prior determines service profitability while the latter determines a provider's willingness to share the market. We further show that the market sharing price is always greater than the break-even price, leading to a price interval in which a provider is both profitable and willing to share the market. Making use of these results, we shed insight into the nature of market outcomes (Nash equilibria) when two providers compete to attract secondary demand: (i) if the market sharing intervals of the two providers overlap, then the providers end up sharing the market; (ii) else, the provider with the lower break-even price captures the entire market as the result of a price war.
Photoinduced inter-cavity electron transfer between Ru(II)tris(2,2′-bipyridne) and Co(II)tris(2,2′-bipyridine) Co-encapsulated within a Zn(II)-trimesic acid metal organic framework

Photoexcitation of a Zn(II)-trimesic acid based metal organic framework containing co-encapsulated Ru(II)tris(2,2′-bipyridine) (RuBpy) and Co(II)tris(2,2′-bipyridine) (CoBpy) results in inter-molecular electron transfer (ET) between the excited state of RuBpy (3MLCT) and the ground state CoBpy The rate of inter-cavity ET, kET, is found to be 3.7 × 106 s−1. Using the semi-classical Marcus equation and the observed rate constant, it is determined that ET occurs between RuBpy and CoBpy complexes located in adjacent cavities (∼19.6 A).
Lithium Metasomatism Around Pegmatites: ABSTRACT

A widespread exogenetic effect accompanying the crystallization of lithium pegmatites is the introduction of small amounts of lithium into the wall rocks. Lithium is not found in altered wall rock around pegmatites that do not contain independent lithium minerals. This metasomatic lithium is housed in a number of different minerals, especially muscovite, biotite, tourmaline, and holmquistite. Lithium-bearing hedenbergite and hornblende each have been reported from a single deposit. Likewise, lepidolite and zinnwaldite have each been reported once, but proof of their identities has not been given. Thus it may be affirmed that the major pegmatic species (spodumene, lepidolite, petalite, amblygonite, Fe-Mn-Li phosphates) are not formed exogenetically. Mineralogically, two types of lithium metasomatism are known. (1) The lithium is restricted to combinations of muscovite, biotite (usually also contains Li, Rb, Cs) and tourmaline. This type occurs typically in micaceous schists or gneisses around zoned or structurally complex pegmatites that contain lepidolite, amblygonite, Fe-Mn-Li phosphates ± spodumene. (2) The lithium occurs chiefly in holmquistite (± a narrow Li-biotite zone closer to the pegmatite). This is developed invariably in hornblendic wall rocks around unzoned, poorly zoned (Kings Mtn. type), or zoned pegmatites that contain early-crystallized spodumene, usually as the sole lithium species, or with petalite, rarely with lepidolite. The number of holmquistite occurrences is now known to be ten, with a new discovery at Bernic Lake. End_of_Article - Last_Page 531------------
A rational chemical intervention strategy to circumvent bioactivation liabilities associated with a nonpeptidyl thrombopoietin receptor agonist containing a 2-amino-4-arylthiazole motif.

The current study examined the bioactivation potential of a nonpeptidyl thrombopoietin receptor agonist, 1-(3-chloro-5-((4-(4-fluoro-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)thiazol-2-yl)carbamoyl)pyridine-2-yl)piperidine-4-carboxylic acid (1), containing a 2-carboxamido-4-arylthiazole moiety in the core structure. Toxicological risks arising from P450-catalyzed C4–C5 thiazole ring opening in 1 via the epoxidation → diol sequence were alleviated, since mass spectrometric analysis of human liver microsome and/or hepatocyte incubations of 1 did not reveal the formation of reactive acylthiourea and/or glyoxal metabolites, which are prototypic products derived from thiazole ring scission. However, 4-(4-fluoro-3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)thiazol-2-amine (2), the product of hydrolysis of 1 in human liver microsomes, hepatocytes, and plasma, underwent oxidative bioactivation in human liver microsomes, since trapping studies with glutathione led to the formation of two conjugates derived from the addition of the thiol nucleophile...
B-spline goal-oriented error estimators for geometrically nonlinear rods

We consider goal-oriented a posteriori error estimators for the evaluation of the errors on quantities of interest associated with the solution of geometrically nonlinear curved elastic rods. For the numerical solution of these nonlinear one-dimensional problems, we adopt a B-spline based Galerkin method, a particular case of the more general isogeometric analysis. We propose error estimators using higher order "enhanced" solutions, which are based on the concept of enrichment of the original B-spline basis by means of the "pure" k-refinement procedure typical of isogeometric analysis. We provide several numerical examples for linear and nonlinear output functionals, corresponding to the rotation, displacements and strain energy of the rod, and we compare the effectiveness of the proposed error estimators.
Toll-Like Receptor 1/2 Stimulation Induces Elevated Interleukin-8 Secretion in Polymorphonuclear Leukocytes Isolated from Preterm and Term Newborn Infants

Background: Neonatal neutrophil dysfunction contributes to inflammatory tissue damage in newborn infants. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) activate the innate immune response through recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns. Expression and function of TLRs by neonatal neutrophils has not well been characterized. Objective: We hypothesized that, compared to polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) isolated from adults, neonatal PMNs isolated from either term or preterm infants express and release different levels of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in response to stimulation with TLR1–9 agonists. Methods: We stimulated PMNs isolated from preterm (n = 12) and term (n = 10) infants as well as adults (n = 10) with agonists recognized by TLRs1–9 and quantified chemokine and cytokine expression and secretion by ELISA and Luminex® multiplex quantification assay. Results: Neonatal and adult PMNs stimulated with agonists recognized by TLRs1–9 differentially secrete inflammatory products. Signaling via TLR2 heterodimers is a potent mechanism for release of interleukin-8, a critical proinflammatory chemokine, by neonatal PMNs – a previously unrecognized facet of neonatal inflammation. Following TLR1/2 (PAM3CSK4) stimulation, interleukin-8 secretion by neonatal PMNs, whether term or preterm, substantially exceeds that of adult PMNs assayed in parallel. Conclusions: These studies provide new insights relevant to the inflammatory biology of neonates, both term and preterm, and implicate exaggerated PMN recruitment in neonatal syndromes of dysregulated inflammation such as necrotizing enterocolitis or neonatal chronic lung disease.
More than one way to blanch a lizard

Adaptation to the prevailing environment results from Darwinian natural selection (1). Physical, behavioral, physiological, and biochemical adaptations have been documented in laboratory experiments and in nature (2–7), but it has been more difficult to identify the genes and the molecular mechanisms that underlie adaptation. Recently, however, genes responsible for adaptive evolution have been identified in a wide range of taxa (8, 9).
Rotational temperatures of cyanodiacetylene in Sagittarius B2, TMC-1, and IRC +10216

Four consecutive HC/sub 5/N transitions J = 7--6, 8--7, 9--8, and 10--9 have been recorded for each of the three sources Sgr B2, TMC 1, and IRC +10216. The observed line brightness temperatures have been used to derive HC/sub 5/N rotational temperatures: 28 K for Sgr B2, 5.5 K for TMC-1, and 13 K for IRC +10216. These are consistent with temperatures previously estimated for these molecular clouds. The J = 55--54 transition of HC/sub 11/N was searched in TMC-1 but was not found.
Young Children's Processing of Television: Modality Differences in the Retention of Temporal Relations.

Abstract Two experiments were conducted to examine modality differences in pre-schoolers' ability to recognize or recall temporally related events. Results of both experiments demonstrated that temporally related events were remembered more frequently when they were conveyed visually rather than aurally. This modality effect was found both when the semantic content of the auditory and visual sequences was either the same or different, and for shows designed for educational and purely entertainment purposes. The data suggest that children show relatively impoverished integration of the temporal parameters of auditory information, which may contribute to their misunderstandings about the plot of a televison show.
How Selective Are Selective Private Colleges

Comparing the admissions selectivity of colleges on the basis of accept rates can be misleading because the quality of the applicant pool is ignored. However, many rate comparisons can be improved using the demographic technique of direct standardization. In this study, SAT-specific accept rates for about 200 private four-year colleges and universities in the United States were estimated and used to compute adjusted (standardized) accept rates. College-bound high school seniors who took the SAT verbal and mathematics examinations in 1986 formed the standard populations. Standard errors for the differences in adjusted accept rates between colleges were computed so that selectivity groupings of colleges could be constructed. Results showed that selectivity rankings changed substantially depending on whether crude or adjusted accept rates were used. Adjusted rates reduced the problems of comparing admissions selectivity among colleges whose applicant quality varied significantly.
Construction of new β-glucuronidase cassettes for making transcriptional fusions and their use with new methods for allele replacement

Five cassettes carrying uidA, encoding beta-glucuronidase, were made for the construction of insertion mutants with transcriptional fusions to uidA. Three uidA cassettes contain antibiotic-resistance genes, for chloramphenicol (Cm), for kanamycin (Km) and neomycin (Nm), or for streptomycin (Sm) and spectinomycin (Sp). Some cause polar insertions while others provide a promoter for downstream gene expression. The expression of these uidA cassettes was compared to the expression of lacZ at the same site in phnD, a phosphate-regulated gene for phosphonate use. Several phn::uidA or phn::lacZ insertions were recombined onto the chromosome to test mutational effects and to measure gene expression in single copy. This was done using one of three methods for allele replacement. A new method involved recombination of mutations in M13 onto the chromosome by infection of an Escherichia coli rep mutant that fails to propagate single-stranded DNA phages. Merodiploid recombinants were selected using a resistance marker carried by the M13 phage; segregants lacking M13 sequences were then selected as deoxycholate-resistant (DocR) ones. An improved method for recombination of mutations in pir-dependent, oriR6K vectors involved the use of plasmids containing genes for tetracycline resistance (TcR). Merodiploid recombinants were selected by conjugative transfer of such plasmids into a recipient lacking pir (encoding the pi protein of the R6K plasmid); segregants lacking vector sequences were subsequently selected as Tc-sensitive ones. Both procedures are efficient and allow for recombining marked as well as unmarked mutations onto the chromosome. In addition, some insertions with an antibiotic-resistance marker were directly recombined onto the chromosome by transformation of a recD mutant with linear DNA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Lack of Relationship Between Age and Incidence of Clinical and Laboratory Adverse Reactions in Patients Treated with Ceftazidime

AbstractA retrospective analysis of the relationship between age and incidence of clinical adverse reactions and changes in laboratory values was conducted for approximately 3000 patients who received ceftazidime in U.S. clinical trials. Patients were grouped by age in decades. Incidences of adverse reactions and blood chemistry changes in different age groups were compared statistically. Blood chemistries included BUN, serum creatinine concentration, SGOT, SGPT, GGT, LDH, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin, and prothrombin time. The mean number of patients per decade through the eighth decade was 331 (range = 155–467). No clinically significant age-related differences in the incidence of adverse reactions or changes in laboratory values were observed. Changes in laboratory values were reversible, small in magnitude, and occurred in a low percentage of patients. These observations support the safe use of ceftazidime in patients of virtually all ages with infectious diseases due to susceptible pathogens.
Kinetics of growth of nanosized gold clusters in glass

Gold particles were grown in a potassium borosilicate glass. An analysis of the growth kinetics suggests that the particles were of uniform size, spherical, and grew by diffusion of gold atoms from the glass matrix to the particles. Knowledge of the growth kinetics allows one to calculate the size of particles when they are so small that they can be observed only with difficulty in the electron microscope.
Block-sparse reconstruction and imaging for lamb wave structural health monitoring

A frequently investigated paradigm for monitoring the integrity of plate-like structures is a spatially-distributed array of piezoelectric transducers, with each array element capable of both transmitting and receiving ultrasonic guided waves. This configuration is relatively inexpensive and allows interrogation of defects from multiple directions over a relatively large area. Typically, full sets of pairwise transducer signals are acquired by exciting one transducer at a time in a round-robin fashion. Many algorithms that operate on such data use differential signals that are created by subtracting prerecorded baseline signals, leaving only signal differences introduced by scatterers. Analysis methods such as delay-and-sum imaging operate on these signals to detect and locate point-like defects, but such algorithms have limited performance and suffer when potential scatterers have high directionality or unknown phase-shifting behavior. Signal envelopes are commonly used to mitigate the effects of unknown phase shifts, but this further reduces performance. The blocksparse technique presented here uses a different principle to locate damage: each pixel is assumed to have a corresponding multidimensional linear scattering model, allowing any possible amplitude and phase shift for each transducer pair should a scatterer be present. By assuming that the differential signals are linear combinations of a sparse subset of these models, it is possible to split such signals into location-based components. Results are presented here for three experiments using aluminum and composite plates, each with a different type of scatterer. The scatterers in these images have smaller spot sizes than delay-and-sum imaging, and the images themselves have fewer artifacts. Although a propagation model is required, block-sparse imaging performs well even with a small number of transducers or without access to dispersion curves.
Suppression of reflex urethral responses by sacral dermatome stimulation in an acute spinalized feline model

Aims Reflex contractions of the external urethral sphincter (EUS) are a major component of voiding dysfunction after neurological injury or disease. Aberrant urethral reflexes can prevent voiding and cause serious medical complications. Characterizing these urethral reflexes during genitourinary studies is necessary for evaluating novel pharmacological or neuroprosthetic approaches. The objectives of the present study were to generate urethral reflexes in the acute spinal feline, to quantify these reflexes, and to suppress them with electrical stimulation of the sacral dermatomes.
Active, Programmable Elastomeric Surfaces with Tunable Adhesion for Deterministic Assembly by Transfer Printing

Active, programmable control of interfacial adhesion is an important, desired feature of many existing and envisioned systems, including medical tapes, releasable joints, and stamps for transfer printing. Here a design for an elastomeric surface that offers switchable adhesion strength through a combination of peel-rate dependent effects and actuation of sub-surface fluid chambers is presented. Microchannels and open reservoirs positioned under a thin surface membrane can be pressurized in a controlled manner to induce various levels of surface deformation via inflation. These pressurized structures demonstrate utility in controllably decreasing the strength of adhesion of flat, solid objects to the elastomeric surface, particularly in the limit of low peel-rates. Experimental and theoretical studies of these systems reveal the key mechanisms, and guide optimized geometries for broad control over adhesion, in a programmable and reversible manner. Implementing these concepts in stamps for transfer printing enables new modes for deterministic assembly of micro- and nanoscale materials onto diverse types of substrates. Collections of silicon plates delivered onto plastic, paper and other surfaces with single or multiply addressable stamps illustrate some of the capabilities.
Hypocentral Accuracy of Surficial Detonations in Northern California

Terrorist attacks on the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the World Trade Center in New York City, and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. point to a need for the real-time monitoring and characterization of surficial detonations, particularly along lifelines in sparsely populated areas. To help evaluate the feasibility of monitoring such detonations using seismic networks, I have compiled actual hypocentral errors for 163 shallow borehole detonations used for seismic refraction experiments in northern California. The charge size used for these refraction detonations averaged about 1,000 kg, a size that has been used in terrorist attacks (Holzer et al. , 1996). The detonations compiled here were used in a series of seismic refraction experiments from 1976 to 1995. The precision and spatial coverage provided by this database of refraction detonations far exceeds those of the quarry blasts traditionally used to compute absolute hypocentral location errors ( e.g. , Olsen and Zoback, 1995). In a related paper, Brocher (2002) summarized charge size versus coda magnitude relationships for 293 seismic refraction detonations in California and Nevada ranging in size up to 106 kg (1 kiloton). Because the number and distribution of seismic stations in northern California have changed only slightly since 1976 (Figure 1), one would not expect the hypocentral location accuracy of the network to have improved dramatically since then. As the station geometry is not uniform, however, one would expect that location errors will vary with location. I thus compare location errors for all detonations in northern California to those for a subset of the data for detonations in the greater San Francisco Bay area, where the station density is higher. The accuracy of the estimates of the uncertainty of the catalog locations of the detonations is also of interest. Comparison of the actual hypocentral location errors with the …
The contextual focused topic model

A nonparametric Bayesian contextual focused topic model (cFTM) is proposed. The cFTM infers a sparse ("focused") set of topics for each document, while also leveraging contextual information about the author(s) and document venue. The hierarchical beta process, coupled with a Bernoulli process, is employed to infer the focused set of topics associated with each author and venue; the same construction is also employed to infer those topics associated with a given document that are unusual (termed "random effects"), relative to topics that are inferred as probable for the associated author(s) and venue. To leverage statistical strength and infer latent interrelationships between authors and venues, the Dirichlet process is utilized to cluster authors and venues. The cFTM automatically infers the number of topics needed to represent the corpus, the number of author and venue clusters, and the probabilistic importance of the author, venue and random-effect information on word assignment for a given document. Efficient MCMC inference is presented. Example results and interpretations are presented for two real datasets, demonstrating promising performance, with comparison to other state-of-the-art methods.
Processing aerosols and filaments in a TM010 microwave cavity at 2.45 GHz

As part of the development of generic microwave processes for spray-drying of homogeneous complex metal oxide powders and for inorganic fiber processing, we have investigated the use of 2.45 GHz microwaves in a high-Q single-mode TM{sub 010} cavity coupled directly to aerosols and fibers. Aqueous and ethanol aerosols of ferric nitrate solutions have been successfully dried at 1.8 kW of cavity power for a loaded Q greater than 6000 in flowing nitrogen gas. Similarly, we have observed extremely rapid heating rates in the TM{sub 010} cavity for small-diameter confined cylinders of water and lossy inorganic fibers. These observations suggest using 2.45 GHz microwave power for drying, calcining, and sintering extruded ceramic filaments. Droplet modeling indicates that the large dielectric shielding for spherical droplets can significantly limit the coupling of 2.45 GHz microwave with spherical aerosols, but not with fibers. Experimental observations on the microwave interactions with ferric nitrate aerosols and with ceramic filaments in the TM{sub 010} cavity are described.
Building Sustainable Cities in a Post-Katrina Nation HR’s Role in Mitigation and Planning

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, governments at all levels have placed a greater emphasis on emergency planning. The federal government has increased mitigation funding, but the process can b...
MUSCLE LENGTH CHANGES DURING SWIMMING IN SCUP: SONOMICROMETRY VERIFIES THE ANATOMICAL HIGH-SPEED CINE TECHNIQUE

Recent attempts to determine how fish muscles are used to power swimming have employed the work loop technique (driving isolated muscles using their in vivo strain and stimulation pattern). These muscle strains have in turn been determined from the anatomical high-speed cine technique. In this study, we used an independent technique, sonomicrometry, to attempt to verify these strain measurements and the conclusions based on them. We found that the strain records measured from sonomicrometry and the anatomical-cine techniques were very similar. The ratio of the strain measured from sonomicrometry to that from the anatomical-cine technique was remarkably close to unity (1.046 +/- 0.013, mean +/- S.E.M., N = 15, for transducers placed on the muscle surface and corrected for muscle depth, and 0.921 +/- 0.028, N = 8, in cases where the transducers were inserted to the average depth of the red muscle). These measurements also showed that red muscle shortening occurs simultaneously with local backbone curvature, unlike previous results which suggested that white muscle shortening during the escape response occurs prior to the change in local backbone curvature.
Predicting the perceived quality of online mathematics contributions from users' reputations

There are two perspectives on the role of reputation in collaborative online projects such as Wikipedia or Yahoo! Answers. One, user reputation should be minimized in order to increase the number of contributions from a wide user base. Two, user reputation should be used as a heuristic to identify and promote high quality contributions. The current study examined how offline and online reputations of contributors affect perceived quality in MathOverflow, an online community with 3470 active users. On MathOverflow, users post high-level mathematics questions and answers. Community members also rate the quality of the questions and answers. This study is unique in being able to measure offline reputation of users. Both offline and online reputations were consistently and independently related to the perceived quality of authors' submissions, and there was only a moderate correlation between established offline and newly developed online reputation.
A Valuation Model for Developing-Country Debt with Endogenous Rescheduling

Creditors have little recourse if a sovereign state repudiates debt obligations. They can, however, threaten to impose penalties if such action occurs which results in deadweight losses to the system as a whole. A preferred alternative for both borrower and lender is to reconstruct debt obligations. Reschedulings are a device that creditors can use to restructure the incentives faced by borrowers such that repudiation is never a rational action. This article develops a numerical method of valuing the option to reschedule. The model shows why fees are preferred to higher interest spreads during a rescheduling exerise; why maturities get shorter prior to a debt crisis but are lengthened in a rescheduling; and why little has been done to attempt to seize the assets of countries that have not repaid any interest or principal for extended periods of time. The model shows that lenders are willing to commit greater amounts if reschedulings are possible than if they are not, and that precommitment to provide additional funds at rescheduling can raise the market value of existing debt and should not be construed as concessions by commercial lenders. Alternately, the model can be used to improve systems for ranking country creditworthiness, to assess the degree of adjustment requried to spark resumption of spontaneous lending, or to estimate how much interest rates would have to fall to restore a country's creditworthiness.
Immunopathologic studies of rheumatoid arthritis.

A sensitive complement-dependent chromium release cytotoxicity assay was used to determine whether sera from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients contain antibody specific for an antigen on rheumatoid synovial cell cultures. Two hundred eight RA sera-RA synovial culture combinations were studied employing 21 sera and 16 synovial membranes; control combinations were derived from 5 normal sera and 10 degenerative joint disease synovial membranes. Anticomplementary activity of some rheumatoid sera was overcome using an increased complement concentration. The percent cytotoxicity of RA serum-RA culture combinations, both homologous and autologous, was not significantly greater than that of RA serum-control culture combinations. No correlation between duration of disease or duration of cell culture and percent cytotoxicity was found. Thus a unique antigen on cultured rheumatoid synovial cells was not recognized by rheumatoid serum antibody by use of this cytotoxicity assay.
Regulation of flagellar motility during biofilm formation

Many bacteria swim in liquid or swarm over solid surfaces by synthesizing rotary flagella. The same bacteria that are motile also commonly form nonmotile multicellular aggregates called biofilms. Biofilms are an important part of the lifestyle of pathogenic bacteria, and it is assumed that there is a motility-to-biofilm transition wherein the inhibition of motility promotes biofilm formation. The transition is largely inferred from regulatory mutants that reveal the opposite regulation of the two phenotypes. Here, we review the regulation of motility during biofilm formation in Bacillus, Pseudomonas, Vibrio, and Escherichia, and we conclude that the motility-to-biofilm transition, if necessary, likely involves two steps. In the short term, flagella are functionally regulated to either inhibit rotation or modulate the basal flagellar reversal frequency. Over the long term, flagellar gene transcription is inhibited and in the absence of de novo synthesis, flagella are diluted to extinction through growth. Both short-term and long-term motility inhibition is likely important to stabilize cell aggregates and optimize resource investment. We emphasize the newly discovered flagellar functional regulators and speculate that others await discovery in the context of biofilm formation.
Finding Input Data Rates of Statistically Multiplexed Traffic

This work examines the problem of determining the degree of mixing of two independent traffic streams given just their statistically multiplexed output. Specific results are provided for the special case mixing Poisson and Pareto traffic streams.
An efficient implementation of the backward greedy algorithm for sparse signal reconstruction

Recent work in sparse signal reconstruction has shown that the backward greedy algorithm can select the optimal subset of unknowns if the perturbation of the data is sufficiently small. We propose an efficient implementation of the backward greedy algorithm that yields a significant improvement in computational efficiency over the standard implementation. Furthermore, we propose an efficient algorithm for the case in which the transform matrix is too large to be stored. We analyze the computational complexity and compare the algorithms, and we illustrate the improved efficiency with examples.
Reduced order motion planning for nonlinear symmetric distributed robotic systems

This paper develops a motion planning algorithm which exploits symmetry in distributed systems to reduce complexity and motion planning design time. The motion planning computations are carried out on a reduced order system, then extended to larger-order equivalent systems in such a way that the objectives of the larger system are satisfied and collision avoidance is guaranteed. The algorithm maintains a rigid body formation as a group robots follows a specified trajectory at the beginning and end of the trajectory. At this point, our algorithm is open loop. A simulation of four robots maintaining a square formation is presented to demonstrate the utility of the algorithm.
Fate of xanthohumol and related prenylflavonoids from hops to beer

The fate of three prenylated flavonoids of the chalcone type, xanthohumol, desmethylxanthohumol, and 3'-geranylchalconaringenin, was monitored with LC/MS-MS from hops (Humulus lupulus L.) to beer in two brewing trials. The three prenylchalcones were largely converted into their isomeric flavanones, isoxanthohumol, prenylnaringenins, and geranylnaringenins, respectively, in the boiling wort. Losses of prenylflavonoids were due to incomplete extraction from the hops into the wort (13-25%), adsorption to insoluble malt proteins (18-26%), and adsorption to yeast cells (11-32%) during fermentation. The overall yield of xanthohumol, after lagering of the beer and largely in the form of isoxanthohumol, amounted to 22-30% of the hops' xanthohumol. About 10% of the hops' desmethylxanthohumol, completely converted into prenylnaringenins, remained in the beers. 3'-Geranylchalconaringenin behaved similarly to desmethylxanthohumol. Solubility experiments indicated that (1) malt carbohydrates form soluble complexes with xanthohumol and isoxanthohumol and (2) solubility does not dictate the isoxanthohumol levels of finished beers.
An In-Depth, Analytical Study of Sampling Techniques for Self-Similar Internet Traffic

Techniques for sampling Internet traffic are very important to understand the traffic characteristics of the Internet (Feldman et al., 2000). In spite of alt the research efforts on packet sampling, none has taken into account of self-similarity of Internet traffic in devising sampling strategies. In this paper, we perform an in-depth, analytical study of three sampling techniques for self-similar Internet traffic, namely static systematic sampling, stratified random sampling and simple random sampling. We show that while all three sampling techniques can accurately capture the Hurst parameter (second order statistics) of Internet traffic, they fail to capture the mean (first order statistics) faithfully. We also show that static systematic sampling renders the smallest variation of sampling results in different instances of sampling (i.e., it gives sampling results of high fidelity). Based on an important observation, we then devise a new variation of static systematic sampling, called biased systematic sampling (BSS), that gives much more accurate estimates of the mean, while keeping the sampling overhead low. Both the analysis on the three sampling techniques and the evaluation of BSS are performed on synthetic and real Internet traffic traces. Our performance study shows that BSS gives a performance improvement of 40% and 20% (in terms of efficiency) as compared to static systematic and simple random sampling
Leadership und Talentinitiativen in der Urologie

Over the past 2 years the majority of clinics in Germany had problems to find qualified personnel. This was the conclusion of a study by the Victoria Life Insurance and the FAZ Institute. The investigation was based on a survey of those responsible for personnel decisions in large business concerns and clinics in Germany. The main topics of the interviews were the insufficient professional perspectives, inadequate financial resources, family unfriendly working hours and continuously growing bureaucracy.
Urban Transportation Impacts of Tall Buildings

Large cities in all parts of the United States are experiencing large development and redevelopment projects in their downtown areas. Regardless of the land‐use activities involved, the maintenance of basic levels of mobility for travel to, from, and within the central business district is crucial to the development's success. Strangely, a systematic advance evaluation of the ability of the transportation system to serve (or survive) the new activity was not common practice until recently. Given the enormous investments involved in these commercial projects, a coherent procedure to determine how well the transportation system will support the venture seems a prudent step. Given the variety of useful tools with which to build this procedure, investors and public officials alike should be able to analyze the situation within a wide range of precision and cost. This paper cites a number of techniques that are “on the shelf,” and illustrates how each component of the downtown transportation system is closely ...
PGE2-mediated cytoprotection in renal epithelial cells: evidence for a pharmacologically distinct receptor

Although the exact mechanism of prostaglandin E2(PGE2)-mediated cytoprotection has not been elucidated, its ability to induce cytoprotection in cell culture suggests this action occurs at the cellu...
Pilot Evaluation of CAPS: A School-based Intervention for Pregnant and Parenting Teens

Teen pregnancy is associated with numerous problems for teen mothers and their children. Though annual rates of teen pregnancy have declined recently in the United States (U.S.), they still remain high compared to other industrialized nations, with the southeastern part of the U.S. having particularly high rates. Given these rates and the challenges associated with teen pregnancy, prevention and intervention programs have been developed and implemented. This study evaluated one such program - Child and Parenting Skills (CAPS) - a school-based program for pregnant and parenting high school students in a metropolitan area in Tennessee. A retrospective post-then-pre design was used to assess program participants' (N = 25) perceptions of the program and changes in (a) perceived knowledge of child health/safety, (b) parental hopefulness, and (c) self-esteem. Results indicated high levels of program satisfaction and group cohesion as well as significant increases in all three outcomes.
Chlamydia and incidental carcinoid tumor in spontaneous abortion.

Maternal Chlamydia trachomatis infections have been associated with premature rupture of the membranes, preterm labor, premature birth, and fetal wastage. Women with acute infection may be at particular risk. We report the case of an unexplained second trimester spontaneous abortion with serologic evidence of recent infection with C. trachomatis. Serum IgG antibody titer ultimately exceeded 1: 10,240. This patient also had an incidental finding of appendiceal carcinoid tumor. While treatment of asymptomatic chlamydial infections in early pregnancy is controversial, we suggest that delaying treatment may result in fetal loss.
Reporting the greatest linear extent of ductal carcinoma in situ on needle core biopsy

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the breast is staged as pTis regardless of size; however, extent of DCIS correlates with local recurrence rates and likelihood of close or positive margins. As a result, DCIS extent influences patient management and is an important element in the College of American Pathologists tumor summary checklist for excision specimens. There are no recommendations regarding routine reporting of DCIS extent on needle core biopsy material, and to our knowledge, no systematic studies have evaluated the impact of reporting this in biopsy material. Consecutive cases of DCIS performed or reviewed at our institution were identified by pathology report search over a 7-year period. The greatest linear extent of DCIS on core biopsy was compared with the estimated extent in the excision. Of 241 total cases, there were 157 (65%) cases in which the DCIS extent on biopsy was smaller, 13 (5%) cases in which the sizes were equal, and 70 (29%) cases in which the biopsy size was greater, including 30 (12%) with no residual tumor on excision. Mean extent was greater on excision than on core biopsy (16.0 versus 5.7 mm; P < .0001); however, the opposite was seen when only small tumors (≤ 10 mm final size) were considered (4.5 versus. 3.6 mm; P = .0161). There was strong linear correlation (r = 0.9761; P < .0001) between the size change (excision size minus biopsy size) and final pathologic size. For accurate tumor summary checklist completion, DCIS extent should be reported for needle biopsy material, particularly in the setting of small tumors.
The United Airline Bankruptcy and the Future of Employee Ownership

The collapse of the UAL employee stock ownership experiment in UAL's bankruptcy does not demonstrate the inevitable failure of the institutional form any more than the collapse of Enron shows the impossibility of the large publicly held corporation. Rather, UAL suffered from particular design flaws in its stock ownership plan and, more seriously, the absence of complementary institutions focused on the distinctive problems of employee-owned firms.
In vitro potency, affinity and agonist efficacy of highly selective delta opioid receptor ligands

The purpose of these investigations was to estimate the relative potency, receptor affinity, and agonist efficacy of several selective delta opioid agonist peptides of diverse structure, including cyclic [D-Pen2,D-Pen5]enkephalin and its p-Phe4 halogen-substituted analogs, [D-Ser2-O-tBu,Leu5,Thr6]enkephalin, Tyr-D-Ala-Phe-Asp-Val-Val-Gly-NH2 (deltorphin I) and Tyr-D-Ala-Phe-Glu-Val-Val-Gly-NH2 (deltorphin II) in functional bioassays. The mouse-isolated vas deferens (MVD) and guinea pig-isolated ileum longitudinal muscle/myenteric plexus bioassay preparations were used; selectivity for delta opioid receptors was quantified by the relative agonist activity of the various peptides in the guinea pig-isolated ileum and MVD assays; agonist affinity and efficacy were determined using the technique of partial irreversible receptor inactivation in the MVD. Data from these experiments were analyzed both by the traditional null method and by use of the operational model of pharmacologic agonism; a comparison of these two methods, which were found to be similar, was performed. Potency determinations in MVD for the various peptides essentially matched those determined in other investigations; the relative affinity of the peptides correlated with the results of radioligand binding studies performed in other laboratories. The relative efficacies of the peptides studied were indistinguishable except for the peptide deltorphin I, which demonstrated efficacy several-fold lower than the remaining seven. All peptides were sufficiently efficacious to appear as full agonists under control conditions. These results suggest that the principle factor determining increases in potency of novel delta receptor ligands to date is an increase in receptor affinity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Multi-Task Word Alignment Triangulation for Low-Resource Languages

We present a multi-task learning approach that jointly trains three word alignment models over disjoint bitexts of three languages: source, target and pivot. Our approach builds upon model triangulation, following Wang et al., which approximates a source-target model by combining source-pivot and pivot-target models. We develop a MAP-EM algorithm that uses triangulation as a prior, and show how to extend it to a multi-task setting. On a low-resource Czech-English corpus, using French as the pivot, our multi-task learning approach more than doubles the gains in both Fand Bleu scores compared to the interpolation approach of Wang et al. Further experiments reveal that the choice of pivot language does not significantly a ect performance.
Insights into the Mechanism of O2 Formation and Release from the Mn4O4L6 "Cubane" Cluster

To probe photoinduced water oxidation catalyzed by the Mn4O4L6 cubane clusters, we have computationally studied the mechanism and controlling factors of the O2 formation from the [Mn4O4L6] catalyst, 6. It was demonstrated that dissociation of an L = H2PO2− ligand from 6 facilitates the direct O−O bond formation that proceeds with a 28.3 (33.4) kcal/mol rate-determining energy barrier at the transition state TS1. This step (the O−O single bond formation) of the reaction is a two-electron oxidation/reduction process, during which two oxo ligands are transformed into to μ2:η2−O22− unit, and two (“distal”) Mn centers are reduced from the 4+ to the 3+ oxidation state. Next two-electron oxidation/reduction occurs by “dancing” of the resulted O22− fragment between the Mn1 and Mn2/Mn2′-centers, keeping its strong coordination to the Mn1′-center. As a result of this four-electron oxidation/reduction process Mn centers of the Mn4-core of I transform from {Mn1(III)-Mn1′(III)-Mn2(IV)-Mn2′(IV)} to {Mn1(II)-Mn1′(II)-Mn...
Gas-chromatographic Determination of Mexiletine with a Nitrogen-selective Detector

The authors present a procedure for the determination of mexiletine in serum. The drugs are extracted under basic conditions into n-heptane/isobutanol (96/4 by vol) and then extracted again into 1 mol/L H2SO4. The acidic solution is made basic with sodium hydroxide, reextracted with diethyl ether, and the extract evaporated. The residue is redissolved in ethanol and analyzed by gas chromatography with a nitrogen-selective detector. By use of two internal standards, diphenhydramine and p- chlorodisopyramide , concentration and instrument response are related linearly from 500 micrograms/L to 4.0 mg/L. Interferences from other drugs also are eliminated by using two internal standards. Within-run precision (CV) was 5% at the 1 and 2 mg/L concentration: between-run precision was 10% and 5% at those respective concentrations. Interference studies indicate that most commonly prescribed basic drugs will not interfere with this procedure.