cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Integrating text chunking with mixture hidden markov models for effective biomedical information extraction

This paper presents a new information extraction (IE) technique, KXtractor, which integrates a text chunking technique with Mixture Hidden Markov Models (MiHMM). KXtractor is differentiated from other approaches in that (a) it overcomes the problem of the single Part-Of-Speech (POS) HMMs with modeling the rich representation of text where features overlap among state units such as word, line, sentence, and paragraph. By incorporating sentence structures into the learned models, KXtractor provides better extraction accuracy than the single POS HMMs do. (b) It resolves the issues with the traditional HMMs for IE that operate only on the semi-structured data such as HTML documents and other text sources in which language grammar does not play a pivotal role. We compared KXtractor with three IE techniques: 1) RAPIER, an inductive learning-based machine learning system, 2) a Dictionary-based extraction system, and 3) single POS HMM. Our experiments showed that KXtractor outperforms these three IE systems in extracting protein-protein interactions. In our experiments, F-measure for KXtractor was higher than ones for RAPIER, a dictionary-based system, and single POS HMM respectively by 16.89%, 16.28%, and 8.58%. In addition, both precision and recall of KXtractor are higher than those systems.
Spray Toxicity and Risk Potential of 42 Commonly Used Formulations of Row Crop Pesticides to Adult Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

To combat an increasing abundance of sucking insect pests, >40 pesticides are currently recommended and frequently used as foliar sprays on row crops, especially cotton. Foraging honey bees may be killed when they are directly exposed to foliar sprays, or they may take contaminated pollen back to hives that maybe toxic to other adult bees and larvae. To assess acute toxicity against the honey bee, we used a modified spray tower to simulate field spray conditions to include direct whole-body exposure, inhalation, and continuing tarsal contact and oral licking after a field spray. A total of 42 formulated pesticides, including one herbicide and one fungicide, were assayed for acute spray toxicity to 4-6-d-old workers. Results showed significantly variable toxicities among pesticides, with LC50s ranging from 25 to thousands of mg/liter. Further risk assessment using the field application concentration to LC1 or LC99 ratios revealed the risk potential of the 42 pesticides. Three pesticides killed less than 1% of the worker bees, including the herbicide, a miticide, and a neonicotinoid. Twenty-six insecticides killed more than 99% of the bees, including commonly used organophosphates and neonicotinoids. The remainder of the 13 chemicals killed from 1-99% of the bees at field application rates. This study reveals a realistic acute toxicity of 42 commonly used foliar pesticides. The information is valuable for guiding insecticide selection to minimize direct killing of foraging honey bees, while maintaining effective control of field crop pests.
Finding optimal bipartitions of points and polygons

We give efficient algorithms to compute an optimal bipartition of a set of points or a set of simple polygons in the plane. We examine various criteria involving the perimeter and the area of the convex hulls of the two subsets.
Populations of uncultivated American cranberry in sphagnum bog communities harbor novel assemblages of Actinobacteria with antifungal properties

The American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton) is a perennial plant in northern latitudes that co-occurs with sphagnum mosses in uncultivated populations, in habitats characterized by high ac...
Promoter proximal pausing on genes in metazoans.

The past two decades of research into transcriptional control of protein-encoding genes in eukaryotes have focused on regulatory mechanisms that act by controlling the recruitment of Pol II to a gene’s promoter. Recent genome-wide analyses of the distribution of Pol II indicates that Pol II is concentrated in the promoter regions of thousands of genes in human and Drosophila cells. In many cases, Pol II may have initiated transcription but paused in the promoter proximal region. Hence, release of Pol II from the promoter region into the body of a gene is now recognized as a common rate-limiting step in the control of gene expression. Notably, most genes with paused Pol II are expressed indicating that the pause can be transient. What causes Pol II to concentrate in the promoter region and how it is released to transcribe a gene are the focus of this review.
High dose cytosine arabinoside (HDARAC) in refractory acute leukemia

Thirteen leukemic patients with disease refractory to conventional chemotherapy were treated with 1.0 to 7.5 g/m2 of Cytosine Arabinoside (Ara-C) over 29 drug cycles. Drug infusions were spaced at 12-hour intervals; a maximum of four doses was administered over 36 hours. After single dose tolerance had been established, three or four dose cycles were given at 2- to 30-day intervals. There were three partial remissions (PR) and one complete remission (CR) in a treatment group of four patients with AML, five with ALL, two with lymphoma converted to leukemic phase, one CML in blast crisis, and one promyelocytic leukemia. Five of the patients were septic and considered terminally ill at the time of treatment. All other patients had evidence of drug responsiveness. The nadir of the white count occurred from 3 to 12 days after treatment, with subsequent recovery of the peripheral granulocyte count between days 12 and 28. Toxicity included nausea and vomiting (GI symptoms) in twelve patients, central nervous system (CNS) disturbances in eight patients, one episode of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone syndromes (SIADH), one of hyperuricemia, and fever in eleven patients. There was no evidence of hepatic or renal dysfunction. These high doses of Ara-C appear useful for treatment of patients with refractory leukemia. Hospitalization is brief and toxicity acceptable.
Managing agitation and difficult behavior in dementia

The dementias are associated with disruptions in cognition, function, and behavior. Before the advent of dementia-specific therapies, management of difficult behaviors was the primary ‘‘treatment’’ of demented persons. Problematic behavioral symptoms such as agitation, apathy, depression, anxiety, delusions, irritability, and disinhibition are highly prevalent during the course of dementia [1]. Agitation and difficult behaviors are important factors influencing a family’s decision to choose nursing home placement for their demented elder [2]. Agitation occurs in as many as 70% to 90% of demented elderly nursing home patients, perhaps 50% of whom become frankly aggressive [3]. The term ‘‘agitation’’ describes inappropriate verbal, vocal, or motor activity that does not result from need. The agitated behaviors do not serve the interest of the patient and adversely affect others’ efforts to help. Some behaviors are inherently inappropriate, whereas others may be inappropriate due to their intensity, frequency, or the context in which they are exhibited [4]. Increasingly, the term ‘‘behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia’’ is used for clinical purposes to group the myriad agitated and difficult behaviors arising in demented patients [5].
Determination of the Ground and Excited State Dipole Moments of Free Base Chlorin and Isobacteriochlorin

The ground state dipole moment of free base chlorin (H2Ch) was determined by dielectric constant measurements of H2Ch/benzene solutions (Ig ) 2.93 ( 0.08 D). This was combined with the previously measured change in dipole moment (¢Ige )- 0.255 ( 0.005 D) associated with the S1 r S0 (﷿﷿*) transition to calculate the excited-state dipole moment (Ie ) 2.68 ( 0.08 D) of H2Ch. These values were used with solvatochromic shift data to find the cube of the cavity radius, a 3 , for the H2Ch molecule; the assumption was made that the cis and trans tautomers of free base isobacteriochlorin (H 2iBC) have this same a 3 . This number ((4.49 ( 0.05) 10 ;23 cm 3 ) was combined with the spectral shifts and measured ¢Ige vectors to determine the ground and excited state dipole moments of cis-H2iBC (Ig ) 0.35 ( 0.01 D; Ie )- 0.97 ( 0.01 D) and trans-H2iBC (Ig ) 2.16 ( 0.05 D, Ie ) 3.51 ( 0.05 D). Our solvatochromic shift data also indicated that when inferring the sign of a Stark effect determined change in dipole moment, only solvents with low polarizabilities (nonaromatic) should be used.
Corticomuscular coherence with and without additional task in the elderly.

Aging and dual-task paradigms often degrade fine motor performance, but the effects of aging on correlated neural activity between motor cortex and contracting muscle are unknown during dual tasks ...
The Local Discontinuous Galerkin Method for Advection-Diffusion Equations Arising in Groundwater and Surface Water Applications

We describe a discontinuous finite element method for groundwater and surface water applications, based on the local discontinuous Galerkin method of Cockburn and Shu [16] . This method is defined locally over each element, allows for the use of different approximating polynomials in different elements, and allows for nonconforming elements. Upwinding is built into the method for stability in advection-dominated cases. The method is also locally and globally conservative. We describe the method for fairly general multi-dimensional systems of nonlinear advection-diffusion equations, and then give some numerical results specifically for contaminant transport in groundwater and surface water hydrodynamics.
SEU hardened clock regeneration circuits

Single event upsets (SEUs) are becoming increasingly problematic for VLSI circuits due to device scaling, decreasing supply voltages and increasing operating frequencies. To deal with SEUs, radiation hardening is often employed to increase the reliability of VLSI systems. Most existing radiation hardening approaches focus on the combinational or sequential part of the design. Little or no attention has been paid to the impact of radiation particle strikes on the clock network of an IC. Recently, it has been shown that in the deep submicron regime, radiation particle strikes on clock networks can prove to be catastrophic. As a result, the clock network contributes significantl to the chip level Soft Error Rate (SER). In this paper, we present two SEU hardened clock regenerator designs which are immune to radiation particle strikes. The new designs result in a significan reduction in SEU induced clock jitter. Experimental results demonstrate that our clock regenerator hardening approaches reduce the radiation induced jitter to around 30ps and completely eliminates radiation induced voltage glitches, for radiation strikes with a deposited charge of up to 150fC.
Scrolling Color Projection Display Using Surface Plasmon Tunable Filters

Surface plasmon tunable filter (SPTF) is a new technology under development at Jet Propulsion Lab. when applying to LCD projects, SPTF can simplify the system structure, and enhance the efficiency. A scrolling SPTF which consists three SPTFs can generate scrolling red, green and blue colors, is able to enhance the efficiency of a single panel LCD projector up to the same level as a three panel LCD projector. A scrolling SPTF which consists six SPTFs and can generate two set of scrolling RGB colors, will enable a single panel LCD projector to be 100 percent more efficiency than the current three panel LCD projector.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
A Food Supplement From Biomass Growth In Terminal Sewage Lagoons1

Properly constructed sewage lagoons offer an inexpensive alternative to activated sludge and trickling filter treatment. Lagoons are more efficient, and convert sewage nutrients to plants and invertebrates. Dietary salt and water softeners produce mixomesohaline conditions in lagoon mariculture. Laboratory evaluation of lagoon biomass has shown a potential for animal food. We have determined the amino acid, lipid, carbohydrate and ash content in the product. In addition, the levels of vitamins (biotin, cobalamin, naicin, pantothenic acid, total B6, riboflavin and thiamine) have been found in the biomass. Our evidence on the fate of enteric pathogens compliments well-documented studies at other laboratories which indicate that the material is safe for consumption. Integration of sewage lagoons, with other types of sewage treatment is possible in order to provide the lowest cost of sewage treatment, with the potential for production of a nutritionally valuable food supplement.
SPARCL: an effective and efficient algorithm for mining arbitrary shape-based clusters

Clustering is one of the fundamental data mining tasks. Many different clustering paradigms have been developed over the years, which include partitional, hierarchical, mixture model based, density-based, spectral, subspace, and so on. The focus of this paper is on full-dimensional, arbitrary shaped clusters. Existing methods for this problem suffer either in terms of the memory or time complexity (quadratic or even cubic). This shortcoming has restricted these algorithms to datasets of moderate sizes. In this paper we propose SPARCL, a simple and scalable algorithm for finding clusters with arbitrary shapes and sizes, and it has linear space and time complexity. SPARCL consists of two stages—the first stage runs a carefully initialized version of the Kmeans algorithm to generate many small seed clusters. The second stage iteratively merges the generated clusters to obtain the final shape-based clusters. Experiments were conducted on a variety of datasets to highlight the effectiveness, efficiency, and scalability of our approach. On the large datasets SPARCL is an order of magnitude faster than the best existing approaches.
Flu strikes the hygiene hypothesis

According to the 'hygiene hypothesis', viral infections prevent the development of asthma and other atopic diseases. Influenza virus appears now to enhance, rather than inhibit, the development of asthma and allergic responses.
Animal navigation: a map for all seasons.

Summary Before migrating from their home streams to the ocean, young Pacific salmon already know the magnetic parameters of their feeding grounds, allowing them to steer into a favorable habitat. What kind of ‘map' representation underlies this remarkable ability?
Activation product transport in a FLiBe-vanadium alloy-HT9 system

Abstract An assessment is made of the gamma radiation hazards likely to be found around a fusion reactor heat transfer and tritium breeding loop which employs a vanadium alloy for the blanket and first wall structure and the ferritic-steel HT9 for the remainder of the loop. The coolant/tritium breeding fluid is the molten metallic salt FLiBe. Since the radiation levels near the primary loop components are found to be less than 100 mR/h 3–5 days after shutdown after three years of continuous full power operation, limited hands-on maintenance could be allowed. The very short half-lives of the predominant corrosion products make this result possible and make such a system very attractive.
Teledynamic evaluation of oropharyngeal swallowing.

Purpose The objective of the present investigation was to test the feasibility and clinical utility of a real-time Internet-based protocol for remote, telefluoroscopic evaluation of oropharyngeal s...
Carabid Beetles in Soybean Agroecosystems

Seasonality and habitat preference of 34 species of carabid beetles were investigated in soybean, Glycine max Merrill, agroecosystems during 1978–79. Habitats included conventional and conservation tillage systems of soybeans and adjacent areas of a fescue pasture, old field (mixed annual grasses and herbaceous plants), and mixed hardwood-pine woodlot. Pitfall trapping indicated greatest carabid abundance in mid-spring and late summer. Populations often were several-fold greater in conservation than conventional tillage soybeans. Harpalus pensylvanicus DeG. was the dominant species in all habitats, except the conventionally tilled soybeans. Mark/recapture experiments indicate carabid movement from field and fescue border areas into soybean fields of either type tillage system.
Red blood cell alloimmunization in sickle cell disease: pathophysiology, risk factors, and transfusion management

Red blood cell transfusions have reduced morbidity and mortality for patients with sickle cell disease. Transfusions can lead to erythrocyte alloimmunization, however, with serious complications for the patient including life-threatening delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions and difficulty in finding compatible units, which can cause transfusion delays. In this review, we discuss the risk factors associated with alloimmunization with emphasis on possible mechanisms that can trigger delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions in sickle cell disease, and we describe the challenges in transfusion management of these patients, including opportunities and emerging approaches for minimizing this life-threatening complication.
Effect of Biologically Active Substances in the Diet on Development and Reproduction of Heliothis Spp.

Several concentrations of substances known to be biologically active in insects were added to the standard larval diet for Heliothis spp., and their effects on the larval and pupal development and reproduction of the bollworm, Heliothis zea (Boddie), and the tobacco budworm, H. virescens (F.), were determined. Some compounds affected larval growth and development and/or the subsequent reproductive capacity of the treated insects. Therefore, these substances may have a possible role as insecticides and/or as chemosterilants.
Abdominal computed tomography in blunt trauma.

S INCE THE EARLY 1980s computed tomography (CT) has come to play a greater role in the initial evaluation of patients sustaining blunt or penetrating trauma. CT has largely replaced abdominal radiography, nuclear scintigraphy, intravenous pyelography (IVP), and sonography in the acute evaluation of the abdomen. Numerous publications have addressed the relative strengths and weaknesses of CT scanning of the abdomen versus the more traditional diagnostic peritoneal lavage (DPL). CT is advantageous over DPL in that (1) CT can assess the retroperitoneum, (2) CT decreases the rate of nontherapeutic laparotomies, which varies from 6% to 25%, that are performed based on a positive DPL result,1-3 (3) CT is more specific regarding the precise site and extent of injury, (4) CT can identify retroperitoneal or pelvic sources of hemorrhage that may create a false-positive DPL, (5) CT is noninvasive, (6) CT can detect intraparenchymal injury or subcapsular hemorrhage that may be missed by DPL, and (7) CT can be used serially to assess resolution or progression of injuries including those managed either expectantly or surgically. Critics of abdominal CT scanning point out a lack of sensitivity for detection of certain injuries particularly the bowel (occuring in up to 4% of major abdominal trauma) and pancreas.4J CT and DPL provide different and complimentary types of information and are not mutually
United States demand for hardwood plywood imports: A distributed lag model

Abstract A theoretical model of the United States demand for hardwood plywood imports was developed. Demand derives from activity in the construction industry where costs are minimised subject to a generalised Cobb-Douglas technology. This static model was then modified to reflect dynamic adjustments of imports to prices and housing starts. The resulting model was estimated with monthly data for the period January, 1974 to December, 1979. The choice of either c.i.f., f.a.s. or customs data did not significantly affect the statistical results. No significant substitution was apparent between imported hardwood plywood and domestic hardwood or softwood plywood. Import data appeared to be explained by expectations on housing starts and relative prices. Importers' expectations were represented by Cagan's adaptive expectations model and by Almon's polynomial lag equation. The latter model, relating imports to (i) housing starts and (ii) import prices, gave significantly better results. The maximum lag was of 9 months, with a mean lag of 4·5 months. The long-term elasticity of imports with respect to housing starts was estimated at 1·10 (±0·12). The long-term elasticity with respect to real price was −1·98 (±0·24), using the price of all commodities as the deflator.
Cocaine and speedball users: Differences in psychopathology

Abstract Affective distress and related symptoms associated with co-injected cocaine and opioid (“speedball”) use are incompletely explored, and the extent to which they diverge from problems shown by cocaine abusers who do not prefer opioids is unknown. This investigation compared groups of speedball and non-speedball cocaine users on global measures of depression and anxiety and modal groupings of personality characteristics measured by the MMPI. Compared to men who use cocaine without opioids, compulsive speedball users evidenced significantly greater problems with depression, trait anxiety, and related symptomatology, and were more uniformly characterized by modal profiles reflecting severe psychopathology and maladjustment. These results agree with descriptions of severe pathology associated with speedball use.
Biological activity of the methyl esters of prostaglandin E2 and its (15S)-15-methyl analogue☆

2 methyl ester analogues of PGE2, PGE2 methyl ester (PGE2-ME) and (15S)-15-methyl PGE2 methyl ester (PGE2-15S), were compared to natural PGE2 for relative vasodepressor (rat), vasodilator (dog) and musculotropic (isolated intestinal smooth muscle) activities. The vasodepressor assay provided evidence that at low doses, 80% of either analogue was inactivated in the lung as opposed to greater than 95% for standard PGE2. The renal vasodilator activity of PGE2 was considerably more potent that either of the analogues; whereas, in the hindlimb, the vasodilator effects of PGE2 and PGE2-15S were similar. PGE2-ME showed a threefold increase in its duration of femoral vasodilator activity when compared to either PGE2 or PGE2-15S. PGE2 and PGE2-15S showed identical smooth muscle-stimulating properties, whereas PGE2-ME was much less potent. Thus, the analogues of PGE2 are less susceptible to pulmonary inactivation and are variably affected in their vasodilator and musculotropic actions when compared to natural PGE2.
Expression of a wheat α-gliadin gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Abstract A vector was constructed that directs the expression of foreign genes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This vector contains an expression site that was constructed by in vitro modification of the iso-1-cytochrome c (CYC1) gene of S. cerevisiae. The expression of heterologous sequences can be experimentally controlled by catabolite control sequences, promoter and transcription initiation sequences and termination sequence derived from the CYC1 gene. A portion of a genomic wheat a-gliadin gene consisting of the entire 861 bp of protein-coding sequence, 18 bp of 5' leader sequence and 54 bp of 3'-noncoding sequence was inserted into the expression site. A CYC1 : : α-gliadin transcript of approx. 1050 nucleotides was synthesized in transformed yeast under the control of the CYC1 regulatory region. The transcripts terminated within the α-gliadin 3'-noncoding region, near a nucleotide sequence similar to the yeast transcription termination consensus sequence. The α-gliadin was immunochemically detected in total protein extracts from transformed cells and accounted for approx. 0.1% of the total cellular protein. The size of a-gliadin synthesized in yeast is the same as that of mature wheat α-gliadin. This is consistent with recognition and cleavage of the signal peptide by yeast. Due to the amino acid composition of α-gliadin, the availability of glutamine tRNA is a potential translational limitation to high-level synthesis in yeast.
Research Note: The Effects of Darkling Beetles on Broiler Performance

Abstract Six polyvinylchlorine pipe darkling beetle traps were placed in 20 commercial broiler production facilities, and the relative level of beetle infestation was determined from weekly sampling during 4 wk of the growout period. The average number of beetles found at each facility was compared with the following production parameters: mortality, feed conversion, condemnation rate, and production cost. In the 20 commercial broiler flocks evaluated, the level of darkling beetles within the facility was not related to any of the production parameters measured.
Oxytocin facilitates the sexual receptivity of estrogen-treated female rats.

Abstract Oxytocin (OXY) and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) are widely distributed within the brain and have a number of behavioral effects resulting from central administration. We have previously found that central OXY administration accelerated the onset of maternal behavior in ovariectomized (OVXed) estrogen-treated nulliparous rats. We now report that intracerebroventricular (ICV) injections of OXY enhance lordosis behavior in OVXed estrogen-treated rats. After treatment with 0.15, 0.20, or 0.25 μg EB IM for three days, OXY (800 ng) infusion ICV on the fourth day produced a significant increase in lordosis behavior between 20 and 90 minutes after administration. Doses of OXY between 0.8 and 5 μg injected ICV significantly increased lordosis behavior in animals pretreated with 0.5 μg EB for three days. In other OVXed rats treated with 0.5 μg EB for three days, ICV injections of 1 μg OXY or an equimolar dose of AVP significantly increased lordosis while equimolar doses of ACTH1–10, ACTH4–10, arginine-vasotocin, GnRH and alpha-MSH did not significantly increase lordosis behavior over saline vehicle levels. ACTH1–24 significantly lowered lordosis quotients. We have concluded from these data that central administration of OXY (and possibly AVP) enhance female sexual receptivity. This effect is estrogen dependent, dose related and under our test conditions, specific to OXY and AVP.
Detection of Salt Marsh Vegetation Stress and Recovery after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in Barataria Bay, Gulf of Mexico Using AVIRIS Data

The British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the biggest oil spill in US history. To assess the impact of the oil spill on the saltmarsh plant community, we examined Advanced Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) data flown over Barataria Bay, Louisiana in September 2010 and August 2011. Oil contamination was mapped using oil absorption features in pixel spectra and used to examine impact of oil along the oiled shorelines. Results showed that vegetation stress was restricted to the tidal zone extending 14 m inland from the shoreline in September 2010. Four indexes of plant stress and three indexes of canopy water content all consistently showed that stress was highest in pixels next to the shoreline and decreased with increasing distance from the shoreline. Index values along the oiled shoreline were significantly lower than those along the oil-free shoreline. Regression of index values with respect to distance from oil showed that in 2011, index values were no longer correlated with proximity to oil suggesting that the marsh was on its way to recovery. Change detection between the two dates showed that areas denuded of vegetation after the oil impact experienced varying degrees of re-vegetation in the following year. This recovery was poorest in the first three pixels adjacent to the shoreline. This study illustrates the usefulness of high spatial resolution airborne imaging spectroscopy to map actual locations where oil from the spill reached the shore and then to assess its impacts on the plant community. We demonstrate that post-oiling trends in terms of plant health and mortality could be detected and monitored, including recovery of these saltmarsh meadows one year after the oil spill.
Distinct responses of Gulf of Mexico phytoplankton communities to crude oil and the dispersant corexit® Ec9500A under different nutrient regimes

This study examines the potential effects of exposure to South Louisiana sweet crude oil (LSC), Corexit® EC9500A, and dispersed oil on enclosed phytoplankton communities under different nutrient regimes. Three distinct microcosm experiments were conducted for 10 days to assess changes to the structure of natural communities from the Gulf of Mexico as quantified by temporal changes in the biomasses of different phytoplankton groups. Concentration of NO3, Si and PO4 were 0.83, 0.99 and 0.09 μM for the unenriched treatments and 14.07, 13.01 and 0.94 μM for the enriched treatments, respectively. Overall, the contaminants LSC and Corexit® EC9500A led to a decrease in the number of sensitive species and an increase in more resistant species. Phytoplankton communities showed more sensitivity to LSC under nutrient-limited conditions. The addition of nutrients to initially nutrient-limited treatments lessened the inhibitory effect of LSC in the short term. Centric diatoms benefited most from this enrichment, but pennate diatoms demonstrated considerably greater tolerance to crude oil at low crude oil concentrations in nutrient-enriched treatments. Dinoflagellates showed relatively higher tolerance in nutrient-limited treatments and high crude oil concentrations. Corexit® EC9500A inputs significantly increased the toxicity of crude oil. Corexit® EC9500A alone had a highly inhibitory effect at 63 ppm on phytoplankton communities. This study highlights the fact that different nutrient regimes play a major role in determining the shifts of the phytoplankton community in response to exposure to different concentrations of crude oil and dispersant. Determination of the functional equivalence of shifted phytoplankton groups could complement our research and allow for more pertinent extrapolation to real world conditions.
Convex and analytically-invertible dynamics with contacts and constraints: Theory and implementation in MuJoCo

We describe a full-featured simulation pipeline implemented in the MuJoCo physics engine. It includes multi-joint dynamics in generalized coordinates, holonomic constraints, dry joint friction, joint and tendon limits, frictionless and frictional contacts that can have sliding, torsional and rolling friction. The forward dynamics of a 27-dof humanoid with 10 contacts are evaluated in 0.1 msec. Since the simulation is stable at 10 msec timesteps, it can run 100 times faster than real-time on a single core of a desktop processor. Furthermore the entire simulation pipeline can be inverted analytically, an order-ofmagnitude faster than the corresponding forward dynamics. We soften all constraints, in a way that avoids instabilities and unrealistic penetrations associated with earlier spring-damper methods and yet is sufficient to allow inversion. Constraints are imposed via impulses, using an extended version of the velocitystepping approach. For holomonic constraints the extension involves a soft version of the Gauss principle. For all other constraints we extend our earlier work on complementarity-free contact dynamics – which were already known to be invertible via an iterative solver – and develop a new formulation allowing analytical inversion.
The chainable matrix, a special combinatorial matrix

The results of this paper comprise a study of a special class of combinatorial matrices called chainable matrices. The structure and algebraic behavior of these matrices are given specific attention.
Selective flourinations with 1-flouro-2-pyridone

Abstract 1-Fluoro-2-pyridone has been used to fluorinata selectively enamines and Grignard reagents under mild conditions.
Heterogeneity in informal sector mitigation of micro‐enterprise credit rationing

Economists have observed that informal credit markets may mitigate micro-entrepreneurial rationing in formal credit markets. While informal credit markets may have that effect, the uniformity and magnitude of the mitigation is not apparent. We analyse micro-enterprise credit rationing on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the United States. We find that micro-entrepreneurs have virtually no access to formal credit markets and that informal credit markets have differential impacts on micro-entrepreneurs' rationing in formal credit markets. Informal markets appear to ease credit rationing the most for the mid-size micro-enterprises in our sample, with the smallest and largest micro-enterprises still facing severe rationing constraints. We also find that micro-enterprises of all sizes face a positive probability of credit rationing. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Predicting Degree Completion: Examining the Interaction between Orientation Course Participation and Ethnic Background

This article reports an examination of the predictive nature of orientation course participation and degree completion. It also inspects the potential interactions between ethnic background, orientation course participation, and degree completion. Although interaction terms for African American and Hispanic student participation in orientation courses were not significantly predictive of degree completion, a significant main effect was found for orientation course participation and degree completion. Graduation for students who participated in the orientation course was 72 times higher than for nonparticipants. This main effect—as well as the interaction term for White students participating in the orientation course—and degree completion accounted for 30% of the variance in the criterion of variable degree completion.
Double direct templating of periodically nanostructured ZnS hollow microspheres.

We introduce a “double direct templating” method for obtaining hollow microspheres with periodically nanostructured walls. Silica or polystyrene colloids are dispersed in a self-assembled hexagonal lyotropic liquid crystal containing precursors for ZnS. The semiconductor ZnS mineralizes on the surface of the colloid, expressing a pore morphology that is a copy of the structure of the liquid crystal. After etching of the sacrificial colloids, hollow capsules with templated and uniform mesoporous shells are obtained.
Intermittent naloxone attenuates the development of physical dependence on methadone in rhesus monkeys

Abstract Rhesus monkeys that received 15 daily injections of methadone (2 mg/kg i.m.) exhibited a characteristic opiate withdrawal syndrome after injection of naloxone (0.5 mg/kg i.m) on the 16th day. In comparison, injection of naloxone (0.5 mg/kg i.m.) once every 2 days during a similar 15 day methadone treatment period in these same monkeys significantly attenuated the severity of the opiate withdrawal syndrome exhibited after naloxone injection on the 16th day. Each naloxone administration during the 15 day methadone treatment period elicited an opiate withdrawal syndrome that did not significantly differ on each of the 7 days it was given and was less severe than the syndrome precipitated by naloxone following 15 days of methadone without intermittent naloxone. The lack of increments in the withdrawal response to the seven naloxone injections during the 15 days of methadone treatment and the attenuation of the withdrawal response to naloxone on day 16 after intermittent naloxone administration during the 15 day methadone treatment period support the hypothesis that naloxone modifies opiate receptor mechanisms so that they revert to an agonist-naive state following antagonist exposure. These findings suggest that various agonist and antagonist drugs opiate combinations or mixed agonist-antagonist drug could be clinically useful in the management of situations where physical dependence on opiates is a problem.
Vortex Rings in Bio-Inspired and Biological Jet Propulsion

Pulsed-jets are commonly used for aquatic propulsion, such as squid and jellyfish locomotion. The sudden ejection of a jet with each pulse engenders the formation of a vortex ring through the roll-up of the jet shear layer. If the pulse is too long, the vortex ring will stop forming and the remainder of the pulse is ejected as a trailing jet. Recent results from mechanical pulsedjets have demonstrated that vortex rings lead to thrust augmentation through the acceleration of additional ambient fluid. This benefit is most pronounced for short pulses without trailing jets. Simulating vehicle motion by introducing background co-flow surrounding the jet has shown that vortex ring formation can be interrupted, but only if the co-flow is sufficiently fast. Recent in situ measurements on squid have captured vortical flows similar to those observed in the laboratory, suggesting thrust augmentation may play a role in their swimming performance. Likewise, recent measurements with a mechanical self-propelled pulsed-jet vehicle (“robosquid”) have shown a cruise-speed advantage obtained by pulsing.
The Politics and Economics of Constitutional Choice: Voting in Canada's 1992 National Referendum

National referendums have been used with increasing frequency in democracies to decide important political issues, but systematic studies of voting behavior in these events remain in short supply. This article employs national survey data to study voting in Canada's 1992 national referendum on constitutional reform. Attitudes toward the referendum proposal and process and its possible consequences for the country had important effects on the vote. However, net of these and other factors, voters' economic evaluations were influential. The political economy of the vote was such that widespread dissatisfaction with a faltering economy eroded support for the referendum proposal by lowering support for a government that had negotiated the constitutional accord and campaigned vigorously on its behalf.
Wear and mechanical characterisation on micro- to picoscales using AFM

AbstractAtomic force/friction force microscopy (AFM/FFM) techniques are increasingly used for tribological studies of engineering surfaces at scales ranging from atomic and molecular to microscales. An AFM with a suitable diamond tip can be used to measure microscratching/microwear and nano-/picoindentation behaviour of solid surfaces and thin films. AFM has also been used for nanofabrication/nanomachining purposes. Scratch and wear properties of a variety of materials have been measured. Mechanisms of material removal on microscales are studied. Wear precursors can be detected at early stages of wear using localised surface potential measurements. Localised surface elasticity maps of composite materials with penetration depths of less than 100 nm can be obtained. Nanoindentation hardness and Young's modulus of elasticity can be measured with a depth of indentation as low as 1 nm. Scratching and indentation on nanoscales are the powerful ways to screen for adhesion and resistance to deformation of ultrath...
THE IMPORTANCE OF CAFFEINE AS A FLAVOR COMPONENT IN BEVERAGES

Caffeine contributes to the flavor profiles of beverage and food products, and other bitter compounds, such as quinine, cannot replicate caffeine's bitterness. Research also has indicated caffeine's ability to enhance desirable tastes, such as sweetness and saltiness, in beverages by modifying neurological pathways. Caffeine may reduce potential “ off-flavors” by solubilizing some compounds, while having little effect on other compounds considered important in beverage flavor profiles. Exposure to caffeine may enhance cognition and potentially heighten the capacity for smell and taste. Thus, use of caffeine in beverages may positively affect flavor profiles and the experience of beverage consumption.
SYNERGIES OF BUS RAPID TRANSIT AND HIGH-OCCUPANCY TOLL LANES: SIMULATION OF BUS RAPID TRANSIT IN CONGESTED CORRIDOR WITH ROADWAY VALUE PRICING

The costs and benefits of integrating two major areas of urban transportation enhancement—high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes and bus rapid transit (BRT)—are explored. The goal is to assess a synergistic strategy of providing premium public transit services in conjunction with roadway pricing strategies. The use of BRT is specifically addressed in the context of a congested urban travel corridor with roadway value pricing. A simple simulation is used to determine those circumstances in which BRT might be an effective element of a multimodal value-pricing corridor strategy. The model used is a variation of SMITE (Spreadsheet Model for Induced Travel Estimation) extended to include managed lanes developed previously by DeCorla-Souza at FHWA. The analysis simulated some alternatives differing from those included in the original DeCorla-Souza assessment of options for the Capital Beltway in Northern Virginia. This is currently a 14-mi-long, 8-lane freeway with no restricted lanes. Seven alternatives are examined....
Asset markets, relative price shocks and trade anomalies in international real business cycle models

Abstract Both relative prices and the flow of goods between countries are significantly smoother in international real business cycle models than in the data. Also, in these models, increases in output cause a worsening of the terms of trade, while in the data, these variables are roughly uncorrelated. Because the imperfect substitutability of goods already limits the ability to pool country-specific risk, restricting access to asset markets has little impact on these anomalies. However, introducing exogenous terms of trade shocks allows the model to explain these trade and price anomalies while retaining the ability to replicate other aspects of the data.
Prevention of Nosocomial Infection During Dermoscopy

BACKGROUND Dermatoscopes are applied directly to cutaneous or mucocutaneous surfaces with immersion fluid (IF) such as oil or alcohol to reduce light reflection. Recently, Staphylococcus aureus has been isolated from dermatosopes that used mineral oil as the IF. Thus, dermatoscopes might be a potential source of nosocomial infection. OBJECTIVE In this study we propose the use of an alcohol-based antibacterial gel to reduce nosocomial infection transmission while optimizing optical resolution during dermatoscopic examination. MATERIALS AND METHODS Aerobic bacterial cultures were performed on three dermatoscopes used in an outpatient setting after routine examination of 31 patients with an alcohol-based antibacterial gel as IF. RESULTS There was no bacterial growth after using the antibacterial gel with the dermatoscopes. The optical resolution for the antibacterial gel appeared equal to the 'dermatoscopy oil' and superior to alcohol wipes. CONCLUSIONS Alcohol-based antibacterial gel appears to inhibit bacterial colonization while offering excellent optical resolution during dermoscopic examination. The use of alcohol-based IF appears to obviate the risk of nosocomial infections.
Cascaded nonlinear difference-frequency generation of enhanced terahertz wave production.

Cascaded nonlinear optical interactions are analyzed for their potential to overcome quantum-defect related limitations on the efficiency of terahertz wave difference-frequency generation. The dispersion of ZnTe permits phase-matched production of a series of Stokes lines from two initial near-infrared beams. As the pump beams run down the Stokes ladder, the number of terahertz photons continually increases. A potential improvement by a factor of 5 is demonstrated in a 0.26-cm-long crystal by use of 25‐MW/mm2 pumps at a wavelength of 824 nm.
Probing the orientation of electrostatically immobilized Protein G B1 by time-of-flight secondary ion spectrometry, sum frequency generation, and near-edge X-ray adsorption fine structure spectroscopy.

To fully develop techniques that provide an accurate description of protein structure at a surface, we must start with a relatively simple model system before moving to increasingly complex systems. In this study, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), sum frequency generation spectroscopy (SFG), near-edge X-ray adsorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy, and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) were used to probe the orientation of Protein G B1 (6 kDa) immobilized onto both amine (NH3+) and carboxyl (COO–) functionalized gold. Previously, we have shown that we could successfully control orientation of a similar Protein G fragment via a cysteine-maleimide bond. In this investigation, to induce opposite end-on orientations, a charge distribution was created within the Protein G B1 fragment by first substituting specific negatively charged amino acids with neutral amino acids and then immobilizing the protein onto two oppositely charged self-assembled monolayer (SAM) surfaces (NH3...
A numerical method for calculating steady unsymmetrical supersonic flow past cones

Abstract Telenin's numerical method is adapted to the problem of steady supersonic flow past pointed conical bodies at yaw. The method is formulated for cones of circular crosssections with the intention of determining bounded analytic solutions uniformly valid in the region between the shock and cone surfaces. Attention is focused on the nature of the entropy field and the behavior of the streamlines as influenced by variations in the free-stnearn conditions.
Effect of eccentricity on the relationship between detection and identification.

The relationship between the ability to detect a low-contrast grating and to identify its spatial frequency or orientation was examined at eccentricities ranging from 0 to 17.5 deg. The form of the relationship between the ability to detect and to identify stimuli as contrast varies was found to be the same for peripheral viewing as for central viewing, i.e., proportionality. Individual variations were seen in the effect of eccentricity on the identification/detection (I/D) performance ratio for a given discrimination. However, the composite data show no effect of eccentricity on the I/D ratio when low-frequency stimuli are used. With high-frequency stimuli, the I/D ratio decreases at large eccentricities. The results support the hypothesis that the primary difference between central and peripheral vision is the scale at which visual information is represented. In particular, the results suggest no change in the bandwidths of tuned mechanisms with respect to spatial frequency and orientation.
Transfer patient imaging: a survey of members of the American Society of Emergency Radiology

When trauma patients are transferred from outside hospitals, the receiving clinicians often consult their local radiologists for definitive interpretations of outside examinations (IOE). Such requests introduce a host of logistical, medicolegal, and financial concerns related to quality control and resource utilization. We surveyed 701 members of the American Society of Emergency Radiology to elucidate these concerns. We found that the majority of emergency departments still rely on compact disks for conveyance of outside images; hard film and network transfers were minor mechanisms for most respondents. Sixty-nine percent of the respondents indicated that radiologist reports accompany fewer than 25 % of all transferred imaging studies; of the reports that do arrive, most are unverified preliminary reads. There is considerable variability in billing practices and reimbursement patterns for radiologic second opinions; 68 % of the respondents do not know how often their IOEs are reimbursed. Suboptimal communication between community hospitals and referral centers may result in duplicated efforts and inconsistent quality of medical imaging studies. Further investigation into the role of radiology trainees in the handling of outside studies is also highly recommended.
PCPP: On Remote Host Assessment via Naive Bayesian Classification

Private computing on a public platform (PCPP) is a new paradigm in public computing in which an application executes on a previously unknown remote system securely and privately. The first step in the PCPP process is remote assessment of a prospective remote host to determine whether it is capable of executing the PCPP application and to classify the host as a potential threat or non-threat. This paper explores the use of a naive Bayesian classifier to classify prospective remote hosts. We show that the naive Bayesian classifier learns to recognize subtle patterns in historical host measurements and performs the classification task accurately and with minimal negative performance implications.