cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Male rank and reproductive activity in Savanna baboons

Access to sexually receptive baboon females has been linked to male dominance rank. An intensive 19-month field study of mate choice and mate competition among savanna baboons was undertaken in order to elucidate those factors influencing mating success. During this study, male agonistic rank was not correlated with male mating success among adult males. However, the inclusion of adolescent males into the analysis yielded significant correlations between rank and mating success. Examination of prior fieldwork revealed that no baboon field study has conclusively demonstrated a significant correlation between male rank and reproduction among adult males. Most studies reporting a correlation between male rank and reproduction have included subadult males in the analysis. It is concluded that male rank is an unreliable predictor of male reproductive activity among adult male baboons. A low agonistic rank need not reduce male mating success because adult male baboons utilize a variety of reproductive tactics in gaining access to consort females.
Microstructural mechanics of granular media

Abstract A geometrically and physically linear micromechanical theory for elastic granular media is presented, based on the identification of the constituent grains with the nodes of a Bravais lattice. Adjacent particles are permitted to displace normally and transversely to each other, and to rotate with respect to the doublet axes. Thus, microstrains of the axial, torsional, and shear type are generated. The conjugate microstresses are then defined. Through a variational formulation, the microstress equations of motion are derived, together with natural boundary conditions and the transition from the microstresses to the macrostresses. The principles of thermodynamics are employed to derive the most general, invariant, and appropriately symmetric microconstitutive equations, and to close the system of field equations for the granular medium, subject to both adiabatic and non-adiabatic processes. The problem of a granular semispace loaded by compressive boundary force is solved as an application, and the existence of locally tensile microstresses is determined, while the associated macrostresses are computed to coincide with the well-known Flamant's solution and thus to be compressive everywhere.
In vivo imaging to initialize a biophysical model of tumor growth: Preliminary results

Recent advances in MRI and PET have increased the availability of noninvasive measurements of the molecular, cellular, and physiological characteristics of tumors. It may be possible to incorporate these measurables into realistic biophysical models that can then be used to predict tumor growth and therapy response on an individual basis. Here we incorporate quantitative imaging data acquired during the course of a tumor development in rat model of glioma. Early measurements are used to initialize and constrain a biophysical model to predict tumor status at later time points. The initial results show a promising ability to use early time point data to predict later time point tumor size, cellularity, and distribution.
Anal Intercourse Among Preadolescent and Early Adolescent Low-Income Urban African-Americans

Objective: The purpose of this study, which was conducted as part of a larger study on adolescent risk behaviors, was to determine the frequency of anal intercourse among preadolescent and early adolescent youths. Design: Survey. Subjects: Three hundred fifty-one low-income urban African-American youths aged 9 to 15 years. Main Outcome Measures: A questionnaire assessing self-reported acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-risk behaviors was administered via a "talking" computer. The outcome measure was anal intercourse. Results: Of the 137 youths (39%) who had engaged in any sexual intercourse (vaginal or anal), 50 (36%) had engaged in anal intercourse, including 41(35%) sexually active boys and nine (43%) sexually active girls. Youths who had engaged in anal intercourse were significantly more likely to report having been sexually molested and having engaged in several delinquent behaviors than were virgins or youths who had engaged in coitus only. Conclusions: Efforts at preventing acquired immunodeficiency syndrome that target low-income urban African-American early adolescents should include the highrisk nature of anal intercourse. (Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1994;148:1201-1204)
Gastric and pancreatoduodenal resection for malignant lesions after previous gastric bypass—diagnosis and methods of reconstruction

Abstract Background The diagnosis and treatment of gastric and pancreatoduodenal neoplasms after previous gastric bypass has been limited. Experience should increase in the future owing to the number of bariatric procedures being performed. The diagnosis and resection of these neoplasms and restoration of biliopancreatic intestinal continuity pose challenges. We present a 2-institutional experience of diagnosis and reconstruction after resection of gastric and pancreatoduodenal neoplasms and discuss the technical options for reconstruction. Methods The medical records were reviewed retrospectively from 2003 to 2009 for patients with previous gastric bypass who developed a gastric or pancreatoduodenal neoplasm. Results Of the available patients, 7 were identified with 2 remnant gastric cancers (2 signet ring cell adenocarcinomas), 4 pancreatic neoplasms (2 adenocarcinomas and 2 neuroendocrine cancers), and 1 ampullary cancer. The gastric neoplasms required complete remnant gastrectomy but did not require additional gastrointestinal reconstruction. The pancreatic and duodenal neoplasms required pancreatoduodenectomy, with 4 of 5 patients also undergoing remnant gastrectomy. The patients after pancreatoduodenectomy required biliary and pancreatic reconstruction with the pancreaticobiliary limb, Roux limb, or proximal common channel, depending on the limb length. Operative mortality was nil, and the morbidity rate was 28%. Conclusion Gastric and pancreatoduodenal neoplasms after previous gastric bypass, although rare, will most likely increase as the number of bariatric operations increases. A high index of suspicion and focused diagnostic testing are key in identifying these lesions. Resection is feasible and safe but could require complex gastric and pancreatobiliary reconstruction.
Predictability of tool failure modes in turning with complex grooved tools using the equivalent toolface (ET) model

Abstract This paper presents a new methodology for predicting the most dominant tool failure modes in turning with complex grooved tools. Predictions are made using a newly developed equivalent toolface (ET) model. The changes in cutting conditions and chip-groove geometry are reflected in the cutting forces. The ET model predicts the ‘equivalent flat-faced’ tool geometry from the cutting forces in terms of the effective inclination and rake angles. The dominant modes of tool failure are established from an analysis of the ET geometry. Thus, tool failure is related to the initial cutting forces and this is verified from experimental results using different chip-groove geometries for a range of cutting conditions and a given tool/work material combination.
The Reasoning Voter Meets the Strategic Candidate: Signals and Specificity in Campaign Advertising, 1998

Theories of voting suggest voters use shortcuts to minimize the costs associated with becoming informed about candidates' policy positions. Although there is much theorizing about how voters use cues, there is little empirical work on whether candidates send them. Data from advertisements run during the 1998 elections show that candidates do not often send obvious kinds of policy relevant cues—information about party and ideology. This analysis of advertising suggests that candidates send signals in strategic ways. They obfuscate to avoid being labeled a partisan of the less popular party, but they know when they are not well known enough (being a challenger) such that party may help people learn about them. In open primaries, candidates attempt to steal voters away from the opposing party by not explicitly mentioning their party or ideology but by talking about specific issue positions in hopes of attracting independent voters.
Noninvasive laser vasectomy: preliminary ex vivo tissue studies.

Background and Objectives Male sterilization (vasectomy) is more successful, safer, less expensive, and easier to perform than female sterilization (tubal ligation). However, female sterilization is more popular, primarily due to male fear of vasectomy complications (incision, bleeding, infection, and scrotal pain). The development of a completely noninvasive vasectomy technique may eliminate these concerns. Materials and Methods Ytterbium fiber laser radiation with a wavelength of 1,075 nm, average power of 11.7 W, 1-second pulse duration, 0.5 Hz pulse rate, and 3-mm-diameter spot was synchronized with cryogen cooling of the scrotal skin surface in canine tissue for a treatment time of 60 seconds. Results Vas thermal lesion dimensions measured 2.0±0.3 mm diameter by 3.0±0.9 mm length, without evidence of skin damage. The coagulated vas bursting pressure measured 295±72 mm Hg, significantly higher than typical vas ejaculation pressures of 136± 29 mm Hg. Conclusions Noninvasive thermal coagulation and occlusion of the vas was produced in an ex vivo canine tissue model. However, chronic in vivo animal studies will be necessary to optimize the laser/cooling treatment parameters and confirm long-term vas occlusion with absence of sperm in the ejaculate, before clinical application. Lasers Surg. Med. 41:203–207, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Oxidation of CrIII aminocarboxylate complexes by hydrous manganese oxide: products and time course behaviour

Environmental context Oxidation of CrIII (trivalent chromium) to CrVI (hexavalent chromium) is of environmental concern because CrVI is a known mutagen and carcinogen. Our results show that hydrous manganese oxide (HMO) is capable of oxidising soluble CrIII complexed with iminodiacetic acid and nitrilotriacetic acid to CrVI at appreciable rates. CrVI production from soluble CrIII organic complexes is therefore expected to occur in natural and engineered systems that contain HMO. Abstract MnIII,IV (hydr)oxides are believed to be the principal oxidants of CrIII in the subsurface. In nearly all previous work on this subject, the CrIII reactant was prepared from inorganic salts (e.g. nitrate, chloride, sulfate). In our present work, CrIII complexes with the synthetic chelating agents iminodiacetic acid (IDA) and nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) were reacted with hydrous manganese oxide (HMO) over a wide pH range to examine rates of reaction and product distribution. Capillary electrophoresis was used to quantify changes in reactant (CrIII–IDA and CrIII–NTA) and product (CrVI, free IDA and free NTA) concentrations as a function of time. In addition, a small number of experiments were performed using solutions prepared from CrIII alum (KCr(SO4)2·12H2O(s)) as the CrIII reactant. CrIII–IDA and CrIII–NTA were oxidised to CrVI, but rates were considerably lower than those obtained using inorganic CrIII. Within the timescales of our experiments, complete conversion of CrIII–NTA occurred at pH >7, but not under moderately acidic conditions, even when there was a large stoichiometric excess of HMO. MnCl2 addition experiments indicated that the observed reaction inhibition was attributable to MnII generation during the reaction. Our previous work has shown that citric acid, IDA, NTA and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid solubilise CrIII from amorphous Cr(OH)3(s) at appreciable rates. The results of this study show that HMO is capable of oxidising the resulting soluble CrIII complexes, providing a viable mechanism for CrIII oxidation to CrVI over a wide pH range.
Variables influencing the mode of processing of complex stimuli

The present study attempts to specify some of the conditions under which parallel and serial processing may occur. The three variables studied were (1) type of task, (2) relative set for speed vs accuracy, and (3) practice. Pairs of multidimensional, geometric stimuli were presented either simultaneously or successively to S who was required to indicate whether they were the same or different. Each S participated in nine sessions. For half of the Ss speed was emphasized, and for the other half accuracy was emphasized. The results indicated that: (1) responses were faster with successive presentation than with simultaneous presentation; (2) with successive presentation, processing was serial; (3) in the simultaneous presentation condition, a gradual shift from serial to parallel processing occurred with practice; and (4) the speed and accuracy instructions used in this experiment produced no differential effects on latency or errors.
Use of cereal fiber to facilitate adherence to a human caloric restriction program

Background and aims: Caloric restriction (CR) attenuates biological aging in animal models but there is little information on the feasibility and efficacy of CR regimens in humans. We examined the effects of consuming an insoluble cereal fiber supplement on ability to sustain CR over 1 year in healthy overweight adults. Methods: In 34 healthy overweight women and men (BMI 25–30 kg/m2, age 20–42 yr), a 30% CR regimen meeting national recommendations for dietary fiber was provided for 24 weeks, and for an additional 24 weeks subjects were counseled to prepare the same regimen at home. During 5–10 weeks of CR, subjects were randomized to consume an extra 20 g/day of dietary fiber from a high fiber cereal (+F) or to not consume additional fiber (−F). After this time, all subjects were encouraged to consume the extra fiber. Outcomes included adherence to the provided and self-prepared CR regimens (energy intake determined using doubly labeled water), changes in body weight, and self-reported satisfaction with the amount of consumed food. Results: During 5–10 weeks of CR when all food was provided, both +F and −F groups were highly adherent to the CR regimen and there was no significant difference between groups in energy intake (p=0.51), weight change (p=0.96), or satisfaction with amount of provided food (p=0.08). During self-prepared CR from 25 to 48 weeks, mean adherence was lower than during the food-provided phase and there was a significant association between fiber intake and % CR (r=0.69, p<0.001), decreased BMI (r=− 0.38, p=0.04) and satisfaction with the amount of consumed food (r=0.59, p=0.002). Conclusions: A high fiber cereal intake may facilitate CR in humans self-selecting their own food; longer-term intervention studies are needed to confirm these findings.
Determination of tool friction in presence of flank wear and stress distribution based validation using finite element simulations in machining of titanium and nickel based alloys

Abstract Tool friction plays a very important role in machining titanium and nickel-based alloys and is an important parameter in Finite Element based machining simulations. It is the source for the high amount of heat generation, and as a result, the excessive flank wear during machining these materials. The worn tool is known to create poor surface qualities with high tensile surface residual stresses, machining induced surface hardening, and undesirable surface roughness. It is essential to develop a methodology to determine how and to what extent the friction is built up on the tool. This study facilitates a determination methodology to estimate the stress distributions on the rake and flank surfaces of the tool and resultant friction coefficients between the tool and the chip on tool rake face, and the tool and the workpiece on tool flank face. The methodology is applied to various tool edge radii and also utilized in solving stagnation point location on the tool edge. Predicted friction results are further validated with comparison of predicted stress distributions from FE simulations for machining of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V and the nickel-based alloy IN-100. It was found that tool stresses and friction are mainly influenced by tool rake angle, edge radius, and tool flank wear and are slightly affected by the cutting conditions in the ranges that were considered in this study.
Reproductive tract lesions resulting from subchronic administration (63 days) of tri-o-cresyl phosphate in male rats

An initial dose-range pilot study where animals were gavaged with between 100 and 1600 mg tri-o-cresyl phosphate (TOCP)/kg/day for 14 days resulted in decreased epididymal sperm density and disruption of the seminiferous epithelium in 100% of treated animals. A subchronic 63-day study (reflecting the 49-day length of the rat seminiferous epithelium cycle plus the 14-day transit time of spermatids through the epididymis was initiated. Dose-dependent (10 to 100 mg TOCP/kg/day) decreases in cauda epididymal sperm motility and density, testicular enzyme activities, and alterations in sperm morphology were observed. Concurrent pair-fed controls (matched to the highest dose group, 100 mg TOCP/kg/day) indicated that weight loss resulting from TOCP administration had minimal contributory effects to the testicular toxicity seen. Plasma alpha-tocopherol acetate (vitamin E) and testosterone concentrations were unaffected. Tri-p-cresyl phosphate (TPCP), the nonneurotoxic structural analog of TOCP, produced no toxic effects, demonstrating the necessity of the ortho-cresol moiety for induction of damage. A minimum effective (threshold) dose for observable testicular toxicity was determined to be 10-25 mg TOCP/kg in this study. These data suggest that TOCP interferes with spermatogenic processes and sperm motility directly and not via an androgenic mechanism or decreased vitamin E availability.
A rapid and efficient new assay for determination of the three biotypes of Agrobacterium tumefaciens

We describe a new method for determining the biotype of Agrobacterium tumefaciens strains, based on differential motility in a medium adjusted to different pH levels. Motility of biotype I increases with increasing pH. That of biotype II slightly decreases, but the cells remain motile; the motility of biotype III decreases and the cells become non-motile. The assay is able to distinguish between strains of all three biotypes within 2 d, and can be applied to relatively large numbers of isolates. Thus it is more rapid and efficient than the frequently used biochemical biotype tests.
Tree-height minimization in pipelined architectures

A method of tree-height minimization for networks of commutative and associative operators is proposed. An algorithm is described for minimizing latency and shimming delays in a synchronous data-flow architecture such as that used in pipelined or bit- or digit-serial computation. The algorithm rearranges operator trees to meet the joint goals, often allowing otherwise impossible scheduling constraints to be met. It may also be applied to word-parallel pipelined architectures to optimize operator trees within pipelined stages. The method is evaluated by testing it on several filter examples for which it finds optimal network topologies and schedules. >
Abstract 454: Childhood Determinants of Subendocardial Viability Ratio in Biracial (Black-White) Young Adults: The Bogalusa Heart Study

Background: non-invasive estimation of myocardial oxygen supply and demand as measured by Subendocardial Viability Ratio (SEVR) continues to gain importance in the early detection of coronary artery disease (CAD). While adult risk factor associations with SEVR have been documented, especially in patients with CAD, no information is available on the childhood predictors of SEVR in relatively young and healthy adults. Methods: this aspect was examined in 610 non-institutionalized individuals (68.7% whites, 54.6% females; aged 29.4 - 51.3 years) that participated in the Bogalusa Heart Study and had cardiovascular risk factors information available since childhood. SEVR was estimated in adulthood through applanation tonometry of the radial artery. The average value of childhood measurements was used as the childhood value, standardized to age, race and sex-specific z-scores. Multivariable linear regression analyses were used to estimate childhood risk factor associations with SEVR in adulthood. Results: Blacks and females had significantly lower mean levels of SEVR (p Conclusion: These findings support the hypothesis that the impact of risk factors on adult cardiovascular disease starts early in life and differs among white and black race groups. Further, the adverse effects of childhood obesity on coronary microcirculation in adulthood, as measured through SEVR, underscores the importance of primordial prevention of CV risk factors at an early age, especially obesity, to avoid regrettable complications in adulthood.
Novel role of CD8(+) T cells and major histocompatibility complex class I genes in the generation of protective CD4(+) Th1 responses during retrovirus infection in mice.

CD4+ Th1 responses to virus infections are often necessary for the development and maintenance of virus-specific CD8+ T-cell responses. However, in the present study with Friend murine retrovirus (FV), the reverse was also found to be true. In the absence of a responder H-2b allele at major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II loci, a single H-2Db MHC class I allele was sufficient for the development of a CD4+ Th1 response to FV. This effect of H-2Db on CD4+ T-cell responses was dependent on CD8+ T cells, as demonstrated by depletion studies. A direct effect of CD8+ T-cell help in the development of CD4+ Th1 responses to FV was also shown in vaccine studies. Vaccination of nonresponder H-2a/a mice induced FV-specific responses of H-2Dd-restricted CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). Adoptive transfer of vaccine-primed CD8+ T cells to naive H-2a/a mice prior to infection resulted in the generation of FV-specific CD4+ Th1 responses. This novel helper effect of CD8+ T cells could be an important mechanism in the development of CD4+ Th1 responses following vaccinations that induce CD8+ CTL responses. The ability of MHC class I genes to facilitate CD4+ Th1 development could also be considerable evolutionary advantage by allowing a wider variety of MHC genotypes to generate protective immune responses against intracellular pathogens.
Current Treatment Strategies for Rheumatoid Arthritis

The management of rheumatoid arthritis has changed considerably during the past 15 years. Current strategies emphasize the need for early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention based on the use of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs. The advent of agents that are more tailored to inhibit the specific disease processes will profoundly affect management. Immunogenetic studies may eventually assist in identifying subgroups of patients with rheumatoid arthritis who have more aggres sive disease and who require a more aggressive treatment approach.
Examining Patent Examination

The USPTO receives more applications today than it ever has before. What happens to those applications? Patent prosecutors all have stories and personal experiences. Until quite recently, however, this sort of “anecdata” was all that was available, because the law prevented anyone from every finding out what happened to patent applications that did not ultimately issue as patents.That changed in 2001, when the PTO began publishing data on pending applications, and when the PAIR system allowed the public to track the fate of those applications in real time. In this paper, we use those changes to report – for the first time ever – systematic data on the fate of applications in the PTO. We are able to confirm much received wisdom, but also to offer some surprising results.
Population Characteristics of Native Freshwater Mussels in the mid-Columbia and Clearwater Rivers, Washington State

Freshwater mussels are thought to have declined in abundance and changed in species composition in the Columbia River in recent years. We surveyed the 118 km of river between Vernita Bridge and Wallula Gap and found only two small aggregations of floaters (Anodonta spp.) and no western pearlshell mussels (Margaritifera falcata), a species which was formerly dominant in the river. One of the floater aggregations appears to have been nearly extirpated but may be recovering, while the other aggregation appears to be stable. Scattered individual floaters were also found in McNary Reservoir. Two populations of western pearlshell mussels were studied in the Clearwater River in Jefferson County, WA for comparison. The Clearwater populations were large, densely aggregated, of multiple size classes, and showed little evidence of mortality. Mussel tissues from each site were analyzed for lipid content and levels of arsenic, mercury, and organochlorine pesticides. The highest lipid content and mercury concentration ...
Learning Intonation Rules for Concept to Speech Generation

In this paper, we report on an effort to provide a general-purpose spoken language generation tool for Concept-to-Speech (CTS) applications by extending a widely used text generation package, FUF/SURGE, with an intonation generation component. As a first step, we applied machine learning and statistical models to learn intonation rules based on the semantic and syntactic information typically represented in FUF/SURGE at the sentence level. The results of this study are a set of intonation rules learned automatically which can be directly implemented in our intonation generation component. Through 5-fold cross-validation, we show that the learned rules achieve around 90% accuracy for break index, boundary tone and phrase accent and 80% accuracy for pitch accent. Our study is unique in its use of features produced by language generation to control intonation. The methodology adopted here can be employed directly when more discourse/pragmatic information is to be considered in the future.
Localization of human equilibrative nucleoside transporters, hENT1 and hENT2, in renal epithelial cells

Nucleoside transporters are important in the disposition of nucleosides and nucleoside analogs in the kidney. Two human equilibrative nucleoside transporters have been cloned and characterized, hENT1 and hENT2. The primary goal of this study was to localize these transporters in polarized renal epithelia. hENT1 and hENT2 were tagged with green fluorescence protein, stably expressed in renal epithelial cells, and localized by immunofluorescence and functional analysis. Our data demonstrated that both transporters are expressed on the basolateral membrane. hENT1 is also present on the apical membrane. Additionally, we examined the importance to basolateral targeting of two COOH-terminal targeting motifs: a RXXV motif for hENT1 and a dileucine repeat for hENT2. Neither motif appeared to affect targeting, but the dileucine repeat was implicated in surface expression of hENT2. In addition, a splice variant of hENT2 was identified that is predicted to result in a 156-residue COOH-terminal truncation. This variant had a tissue distribution similar to wild-type hENT2 but was retained intracellularly. These data suggest that hENT1 and hENT2 on the basolateral membrane function with concentrative nucleoside transporters on the apical membrane to mediate active reabsorption of nucleosides within the kidney.
The Strongest Families intervention is more effective than usual care in children with mild or moderate oppositional, attention or anxiety disorders

disorders QUESTION Question: Is a family-centred distance intervention delivered by non-professionals effective in children with mild or moderate oppositional-defi ant (ODD), attention defi cit hyperactivity (ADHD) or anxiety disorders? Patients: 243 children with a mild or moderate diagnosis of ODD, ADHD or an anxiety disorder based on the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime Versions parental interview (K-SADS-PL); with impairment in ≥2 domains, symptoms for ≥6 months, and stable medication in the month before baseline. Of the participants, 80 children (3–7 years old) had a primary diagnosis of ODD; 72 children (8–12 years old) had ADHD; and 91 children (6–12 years old) had an anxiety disorder. Setting: Home settings, Nova Scotia, Canada; from May 2003 to September 2007. Intervention: The Strongest Families intervention or usual care alone. The intervention consisted of evidence-based handbooks and videos promoting skill-focused learning, and weekly telephone coaching sessions with the parent and/ or child delivered by trained non-professionals. The anxiety group received 11-weekly telephone sessions and the ODD and ADHD groups received 12-weekly sessions; all three diagnosis groups had booster calls 2 and 4 months after treatment completion. Outcomes: Treatment success at 120, 240 and 365 days (defi ned as no longer having their primary mental health diagnosis according to K-SADS-PL). Patient follow-up: 95.9% completed fi nal follow-up; 100% included in intention-to-treat analysis.
Bifocal technique for accurate measurement of total attenuation coefficient in scattering media with OCT

Accurate measurements of tissue optical properties are needed for many diagnostic and therapeutic applications of optical techniques. OCT recently proposed for high-resolution imaging in tissue can potentially be applied for accurate and noninvasive measurement of tissue optical properties. We proposed a bifocal technique for accurate measurement of tissue total attenuation coefficient with OCT. This technique utilizes detection of OCT signals from two focal planes within scattering media that allows correction for confocal function. In this paper, we studied the capability of the bifocal technique to measure accurately total attenuation coefficient in scattering media simulating tissue with high and low scattering. The experiments were performed with tissue phantoms: suspension of polystyrene microspheres in water with different total attenuation coefficients. Our studies demonstrated that the bifocal technique substantially improves accuracy of measurement: absolute values of total attenuation coefficient can be measured with 7% accuracy (compared with theoretically calculated values), while the accuracy of relative measurements can be 1.5%. Our results indicate that the bifocal technique is a promising approach to accurate measurement of total attenuation coefficient in tissues.
A Battery-Aware Deployment Scheme for Cooperative Wireless Sensor Networks

Although current research focused on sensor deployment to balance the energy consumption among the sensor nodes for prolonging the lifetime of wireless sensor networks, sensor nodes with larger communication radius have to consume more energy to overcome wireless channel fading and path loss. Cooperative transmission allows nodes with single-antenna to cooperate on information transmission and/or reception to achieve a lower average error probability than its non-cooperative counterpart under the same transmit energy budge. In this work, we introduce the concept of cooperative transmission into sensor deployment to balance the energy consumption among sensor nodes. The key idea is to deploy an optimal number of cooperative nodes into a given area. In this way, batteries of all sensor nodes are discharged at the same rate. Extensive simulations have been conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme. Compared with non-cooperative cases, the proposed scheme with cooperative transmission improves the battery energy efficiency by 52.1%, and prolongs the lifetime of wireless sensor network by three times.
RECOMBINATION OF ANTIBODY POLYPEPTIDE CHAINS IN THE PRESENCE OF ANTIGEN.

Conditions were developed by which the separated H and L chains of gamma2 globulins recombined to form four-chained molecules in good yields. In the absence of antigen, anti-2,4-dinitrophenyl (anti-DNP) H chains randomly reassociated with a mixture of antibody and non-specific gamma2 globulin L chains. In the presence of a specific hapten, however, the antibody H chains preferentially interacted with the anti-DNP L chains. Antibody H chain-antibody L chain recombinants formed in the presence of hapten were more active than the corresponding recombinants formed in the absence of hapten. Speculations are made regarding the possible mechanisms and biological significance of these effects.
The effects of branched chain fatty acid incorporation into Neurospora crassa membranes

Phytanic acid (3,7,11,15-tetramethylhexadecanoic acid), an unusual branched chain fatty acid thought to disrupt the hydrophobic regions of membranes, can be incorporated into the lipids of growing Neurospora cultures. The phytanic acid must be supplied in a water soluble form, esterified to a Tween detergent (Tween-Phytanic). This fatty acid and its oxidation product, pristanic acid, were found in both the phospholipid and neutral lipid fractions of Neurospora. In phospholipids of the wild-type strain, phytanic acid was present to the extent of 4 to 5 moles percent of the fatty acids and pristanic acid, about 41 moles percent. The neutral lipids contained 42 and 4 moles percent of phytanic and pristanic acids respectively. By employing a fatty acid-requiring mutant strain (cel−), the phytanic acid level was raised to a maximum of 16 moles percent in the phospholipids and to 63 moles percent in the neutral lipids. Under this condition, the level of pristanic acid was reduced to about 6 moles percent in phospholipids and 1 mole percent in the neutral lipids. The phytanic acid levels could not be further elevated by increased supplementation with phytanic acid or by a change in the growth temperature. In strains with a high phytanic acid content, the complete fatty acid distribution of the phospholipids and neutral lipids was determined. In the neutral lipids, phytanic acid appeared to replace the 18 carbon fatty acids, particularly linoleic acid. The presence of phytanic acid in the phospholipids was confirmed by mass spectrometry, and by the isolation of a phospholipid fraction containing this fatty acid via silicic acid column chromatography. Most of the phytanic acid in phospholipids appeared to be in phosphatidylethanolamine, and 2 lines of evidence suggest that it was esterified to both positions of this molecule. In the fatty acid-requiring mutant strain (cel−), the replacement by phytanic acid of 10 to 15% of the fatty acids in the phospholipid produced an aberrant morphological change in the growth pattern of Neurospora and caused this organism to be osmotically more fragile than the wild-type strain. The lack of noticeable effect of the high levels of pristanic acid in the phospholipids suggests that it is not just the presence of the methyl groups in a branched chain fatty acid which leads to the altered membrane function in this organism.
The role of insulin receptor substrate-1 in transformation by v-src.

The insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS-1), a docking protein for both the insulin (InR) and the insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-IR) receptors, sends a mitogenic, anti-differentiation and transforming signal. We now show that down-regulation of IRS-1 in cells transformed by v-src reverses the transformed phenotype (growth in serum-free medium and colony formation in soft agar). IRS-1 translocates to nuclei and is found in the cyclin D1 and rDNA promoters. Stat3, which is activated by src, requires both IRS-1 and src for promoter occupancy. IRS-1 (by itself or in combination with src) also markedly increases transcription from these two promoters. We also show that IRS-1 binds to src via its two PI3-K binding tyrosine residues, and that these two residues are required for transformation of mammary cancer cells expressing v-src. Taken together, these results indicate a significant role of IRS-1 in the activation of cell cycle progression genes and transformation of cells by v-src. J. Cell. Physiol. 215: 725–732, 2008. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Some nuclear matter calculations

Abstract The exact method used by Kohler and McCarthy to calculate the reaction matrix for 16 O is applied to some nuclear matter calculations with the Hamada-Johnson potential. The method can easily be combined with approximate methods for calculating the reaction matrix which are adequate for some states or when less accuracy is required. The geometric series approximation is extremely good for the 1 S 0 state, but is less good for the 3 S 1 state, the error being about 0.05% in the former case and 4% in the latter. For the 3 D 1 state the approximation fails completely as in the 16 O calculations. It is thus desirable to use the exact method to calculate the 3 S 1  3 D 1 states. For the 3 D 1 state the second-order expansion as used in the “reference spectrum method” of Bethe, Brandow and Petschek is also a reasonable approximation. The c.m. averaging usually used to approximate the Pauli operator and the energy denominator is quite accurate, giving an error in binding of about 0.1 MeV. The third-order insertion in hole-lines increases the binding by 2–4 MeV. The larger value is obtained with a potential spectrum which is attractive for momenta in the region k F → 2 k F . This makes the wound integral larger, by increasing the long-range correlations. To obtain the effect of the insertion accurately it is thus necessary to calculate the particle spectrum for small excitations, which in turn means carefully calculating the three-body diagrams. Brueckner, Gammel and Kubis found the third order insertion increases the binding by about 1 MeV for the BGT potential. The larger result for the Hamada-Johnston potential results from the larger core radius for this potential. When calculating the above insertion, the c.m. averaging is again found to be quite accurate.
Market effects of catch share management: the case of New England multispecies groundfish

In 2010, management of New Englandmultispecies groundfish transitioned from input restrictions on harvester effort to collective rightsbasedmanagement. Facedwith a large reduction in harvesting days, 432 active vessels, representing 98%of historical landings, joined one of the 17 sectors allocated catch shares. The incentives presented under sectormanagement, combinedwith regulations of several separately managed, revenue-important species, led to changes in harvest strategies and the timing of landings for both multispecies groundfish and many other species targeted by the sector vessels. Temporally modified landings altered the exvessel market mix of a range of species throughout the fishing year, significantly affecting prices received as well as annual harvester revenues. Two counterfactual individual harvester landings’ timing scenarios for 25 species are combinedwith independent fixed effectsmodels of inverse dealer demand in estimating the revenue effects of catch shares during their first year. Aggregate gains of over $30 000 000 were found to result from advantageous market timing changes brought on by more flexible catch share management.
The Contract Research Organization and the Commercialization of Scientific Research

The early 1980s constituted a watershed in science, mainly concerning the extent and nature of globalization and commercialization of scientific research, and its impact upon the university. Consid...
The unmasking of ‘junk’ RNA reveals novel sRNAs: from processed RNA fragments to marooned riboswitches

While the notion that RNAs can function as regulators dates back to early molecular studies of gene regulation of the lac operon, it is only over the last decade that the ubiquity and diversity of regulatory RNAs are being realized. Advancements in high throughput sequencing and the adoption of these approaches to rapidly sequence genomes and transcriptomes and to examine gene expression and RNA binding protein specificity have revealed an ever-expanding RNA world. In this review, we focus on recent studies revealing that RNA fragments cleaved from larger coding or noncoding RNAs can have regulatory functions. Additionally, we discuss examples of riboswitches that function in trans as mRNA or protein-binding sRNAs, upending the traditional thinking that these are exclusively cis-acting elements.
Hungary’s Long Nineteenth Century: Constitutional and Democratic Traditions in a European Perspective. Collected Studies of László Péter

The fourteen studies included in this book on nineteenth-century Hungarian constitutional history focus on the conversion of a legal system based on customary rights to one that was partly based on...
On Singularities of Mappings from the Plane into the Plane

The emphasis in this chapter will be on the key paper by H. Whitney published in 1955, which should be regarded as a landmark in the development of the theory of singularities of mappings. In this paper, Whitney not only proved the remarkable theorem which I stated in the last chapter but also did something else which turned out to be very important in later developments in singularity theory. Namely, he found that information about the behavior of differentiable functions is contained in the values of its derivatives, and he was also able to formulate a very useful concept in this regard. Thus to extract information about a map f it makes sense to consider as a separate mathematical object a certain space, which will be called a Jet Space, which possesses as its points the values of the rth order derivatives of a function, for some r. It was also in this paper that Whitney observed that the non-degeneracy criterion which the Morse function must satisfy is merely the condition that, when the first order partials all vanish, the second order partials will not lie in a certain proper algebraic subset of the jet space, referred to as the “bad” set, and defined by the vanishing of a finite set of polynomials.
Antibody Response to Bacteriophage ΦX 174 in Non-Mammalian Vertebrates

Discussion and SummaryAfter a single injection of 108–10 bacteriophage ΦX 174, the chicken, frog and goldfish were shown to produce approximately the same levels of neutralizing, rapidly sedimenting, γ-globulin antibodies as those previously obtained in analogously immunized mammals(5,6). Repeated injections of bacteriophage in the frog and goldfish, at intervals of 2–4 weeks, did not elicit an anamnestic antibody response. However, higher levels of antibody, mainly in the slowly sedimenting γ-globulin fraction were produced after immunization with bacteriophage in complete Freund's adjuvant, and, in the case of the goldfish, after further elevation of the environmental temperature to 32°C. Thus, in 3 classes of non-mammalian vertebrates a change was observed in the sedimentation properties of antibody γ-globulins produced during immunization. This change appeared similar to the replacement of 19S by 7S antibodies in the circulation of immunized mammals. These findings suggest that the mechanisms responsi...
Semi-blind deblurring images captured with an electronic rolling shutter mechanism

The electronic rolling shutter mechanism found in many digital cameras may result in spatially-varying blur kernels if camera motion occurs during an imaging exposure. However, existing deblurring algorithms cannot remove the blurs in this case since the blurred image doesn't typically meet the assumptions embedded in these algorithms. This paper attempts to address the problem of modeling and correcting non-uniform image blurs caused by the rolling shutter effect. We introduce a new operator and a mask matrix into the projective motion blur model to describe the blurring process of each row in the image. Based on this modified geometric model, an objective function is formulated and optimized in an alternating scheme. In addition, noisy accelerometer data along x and y directions is incorporated as a regularization term to constrain the solution. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by experimental results on synthetic and real images.
Statistical QoS-Driven Power Adaptation Over MIMO-GFDM Based Underwater Wireless Networks

With the explosive developments of underwater acoustic communications, underwater acoustic communications have played a critically important role in many critical applications, such as oceanographic data collection, pollution monitoring, offshore exploration, disaster prevention, and tactical surveillance. Due to hash underwater environment, underwater acoustic communications impose new challenges to wireless communications research. Therefore, to guarantee the system performance with minimum resource consumption for underwater acoustic channel, we propose the novel statistical QoS-driven power adaptation over MIMO generalized frequency division multiplexing (GFDM) [1] based underwater wireless networks. The objective of underwater acoustic communications is to transmit large-volume data information at a high-data rate with quality of service (QoS) provisioning. The statistical QoS guarantees [2], in terms of effective capacity and queue-length-bound/delay-bound violation probabilities, have been proposed and demonstrated as the powerful way to characterize delay QoS requirements for wireless traffics. On the other hand, to support the underwater acoustic wireless networks, for the last several years researchers have made a great deal of efforts in investigating various advanced wireless techniques, such as the MIMO-OFDM scheme [3]. However, the complicated application scenarios present new challenges making the OFDM less efficient in various underwater wireless networks. To overcome the aforementioned challenges, in this paper we propose the novel GFDM based scheme over underwater wireless networks.
Prenatal adrenal hemorrhage confirmed by postnatal surgery

AbstractA case is reported of massive adrenal hemorrhage in a newborn with evidence of bleeding in utero. A large cystic mass noted on prenatal ultrasonography at 20 weeks of gestation was followed by serial examinations until birth at 38 weeks of gestation. Postnatal evaluation included abdominal sonography, diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid renal scan, voiding cystourethrography and abdominal plain film. Surgical exploration confirmed massive adrenal hemorrhage.
Photon: Remote Memory Access Middleware for High-Performance Runtime Systems

We introduce the Photon RDMA middleware librarythat enables consistent remote memory access semantics overa number of network interconnect technologies. A primarygoal of Photon is to expose a lightweight and flexible network abstraction that minimizes communication and message handlingoverheads for high-performance applications and runtime systems, in particular those that require the manipulation of objectswithin a global address space. Both one-sided and rendezvouscommunication models are supported and asynchronous networkprogress is exposed at a fine granularity. Photon implements anovel communication pattern called put-with-completion (PWC) that optimizes a completion notification path with variable sizedata for realizing active message-driven computation. The resultsof our performance evaluation show that our PWC model iscomparable, and often improves upon, existing one-sided RDMAlibraries in message latency and throughput metrics.