cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Conductance pathways involved in chloride secretion and their regulation.

Cystic fibrosis impairs the secretory activities of a variety of exocrine glands and other secretory epithelia in the intestines and airways. The secretion of salt and water across epithelia of this type is driven by a secondary active Cl transport mechanism (Frizzell et al., 1979). Chloride enters secretory cells due to the combined activities of three basolateral membrane transport events: Na/K/Cl co-transporters, Na/K pumps, and K channels. Chloride leaves secretory cells across the apical membranes by diffusion, and alterations in apical Cl conductance represent a pivotal control point that determines Cl secretion rate. A variety of hormones and neurotransmitters stimulate salt secretion via their intracellular mediators, cAMP and Ca. The overall Cl secretory process is electrogenic so that the co-ion, Na, accompanies Cl to the lumen via paracellular pathways, driven by the lumen-negative voltage arising from Cl secretion.
Insights from Quiet Minds: The Converging Fields of Mindfulness and Mind-Wandering

Our lives are filled with an endless array of perceptions, thoughts, and feelings, and our attention usually darts back and forth between them. Yet meditative traditions have long valued the capacity to remain undistracted from our immediate experience, and countless individuals make a practice of stabilizing their awareness in the here and now. What are the implications of anchoring our usually restless minds? Could stabilizing our attention provide an informative lens into the dynamics of the human brain? Here we review recent research that situates mindfulness as an opposing construct to mind-wandering and a remedy for wandering minds. We then review empirical intersections between mindfulness and mind-wandering from recent neuroimaging studies.
Securing the Frisbee multicast disk loader

Shared network testbeds rely on the ability to bring nodes to a known "clean" state, and to allow experimenters to customize the software installed on the nodes assigned to them. This is typically done by replacing the contents of the nodes' disks with a clean disk image. Frisbee is designed for just this purpose. It is a fast, highly scalable system for creating, distributing, and installing disk images. It rapidly and reliably distributes disk images over a LAN to many simultaneous clients, and has proven itself through many years of production use in shared testbed environments. However, three main security features have been lacking in Frisbee: confidentiality of the image contents, integrity protection, and authentication of the image's source. Frisbee's design and target environment present challenges in providing these features. In this paper, we explore these challenges and present our design and implementation of a secure Frisbee.
Aging, Personality, and Social Change: The Stability of Individual Differences Over the Adult Life Span

The multidisciplinary Zeitgeist of American social science has witnessed numerous efforts to integrate psychological and sociological conceptions of human life-span development. The conceptual sweep of these efforts is often impressive, but seldom do these incorporate a commitment to verify existing hypotheses regarding various aspects of constancy and change in the empirical record. Taking the investigation of human stability as theoretically and empirically problematic, this article proposes a framework for integrating what is known about patterns of stability over the life span. This framework focuses explicitly on the introduction of the concept of molar stability, the persistence of a behavior or behavioral orientation as expressed in age-homogenous rates of change over specified periods of time, as a means of organizing empirical information on human constancy and change. The approach taken to the estimation of molar stability solves three problems that have plagued past researches on the 136question of lifespan trajectories of stability. First, using a latent variable model, the approach insists on the unconfounding of measurement errors and true change. Second, this model can be used to assess differences in stability between occasions of measurement in longitudinal studies of the same individuals, or within age groups of reinterview studies of shorter duration in order to ascertain life-span trajectories of stability. The model is extremely useful in conjuction with a synthetic-cohort approach, as stability estimates can be generated across several groups of cohorts varying in age, with an eye toward estimating different trajectories of human stability within panels that have considerable heterogeneity in age. Third, this approach allows us a method by which one can not only compare estimates of stability across cohorts differing in age, but also compare molar stability estimates across concepts, or content domains of personality, as well as across different studies using different remeasurement designs. Using this approach, six different prototypic models of human stability are introduced — the persistence, lifelong openness, increasing persistence, impressionable years, midlife stability, and decreasing persistence models — and their descriptive applicability to several relevant domains is considered. Longitudinal assessments of intelligence and personality traits reveal relatively high levels of stability from early adulthood to old age, whereas extant evidence on the stability of identities, self-image, and attitudes appear to follow either the impressionable years or mid-life stability models, in which constancies in behavioral orientations are substantially lowest in young adulthood, but reach a peak in midlife, and from there either persist or decline in stability through the mature years.
Margaret Oliphant, Women and Money

This chapter shows that Oliphant was beset by financial problems and anxieties throughout her adult life, and that these troubles are reflected in the economic plots of her fiction. Oliphant grew up in Liverpool, and her first three novels were set there. Her short stories and better-known novels such as Hester (1883) and Kirsteen show the ways in which she complicates representations of women and money. Oliphant treats the subjects of slavery’s legacy, life insurance, and the struggles of women to achieve financial independence, evincing a distinctly ambivalent attitude toward new opportunities for women that situate her in the same context as her late nineteenth-century contemporaries Riddell and Gissing.
Role of pH in Aerosol Processes and Measurement Challenges

pH is one of the most basic chemical properties of aqueous solution, but its measurement in nanoscale aerosol particles presents many challenges. The pH of aerosol particles is of growing interest in the atmospheric chemistry community because of its demonstrated effects on heterogeneous chemistry and human health, as well as potential effects on climate. The authors have shown that phase transitions of aerosol particles are sensitive to pH, focusing on systems that undergo liquid–liquid phase separation. Currently, aerosol pH is calculated indirectly from knowledge of species present in the gas and aerosol phases through the use of thermodynamic models. From these models, ambient aerosol is expected to be highly acidic (pH ∼ 0–3). Direct measurements have focused on model systems due to the difficulty of this measurement. This area is one in which physical chemists should be encouraged to contribute because of the potential consequences for aerosol processes in the environment.
Microfabricated Dual-Microdialysis and Capillary Isoelectric Focusing Devices for Cleanup and Separations / Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Biomolecules

A laser microfabricated device was constructed for rapid on-line microdialysis cleanup of biological samples for analysis by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). Efficient desalting was achieved for protein samples using ESI with an ion trap mass spectrometer. Signal-to noise ratios were greatly enhanced compared to direct infusion of the original nondialyzed samples. Microfabricated capillary isoelectric focusing (CIEF) devices were also constructed and successful separations of various protein samples with the CIEF chip were demonstrated.
Is early invasive management as ST elevation myocardial infarction warranted in de Winter’s sign?—a “peak” into the widow-maker

de Winter's sign was first described by de Winter et al. in 2008 as a new electrocardiographic (EKG) pattern of acute proximal left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) occlusion. Instead of the normal presentation of ST elevation, it is described as depression of ST segment at the J point in the precordial leads V1-V6, which are upsloping leading to hyper-acute T waves, with ST elevation in aVR. The initial retrospective systematic analysis proved this sign to be present in about 2% of anterior myocardial infarction. This review aims to address the important question of mode and urgency of intervention, on detection of de Winter's sign. In this review, we take a look at the de Winter's sign EKG characteristics, accuracy in diagnosis, typical patient presentation, and the outcomes of early intervention. We conducted a Medline search using various combinations of "de Winter's sign," "STEMI equivalent," "cardiac catheterization," and "thrombolysis" to identify pivotal research articles published before June 1, 2019, for inclusion in this review. Concurrently, major practice guidelines, trial bibliographies, and pertinent reviews were examined to ensure inclusion of relevant trials. A consensus among the authors was used to choose items for narrative inclusion. The following section reviews data from pivotal trials to determine the need for early invasive management in de Winter's sign. Research articles reviewed evaluating cardiac catheterization in de Winter's sign. de Winter's sign, although rare (~2%), should be promptly recognized, as it reveals underlying severe coronary artery pathology, frequently involving the LAD which is associated with a high rate of mortality. This systematic review emphasizes awareness and strong consideration of early activation of the cardiac catheterization lab with PPCI; which may yield better treatment outcomes. The evidence suggests that de Winter's sign, presenting with ST depression and T wave elevation, should indeed be treated as ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) equivalent, with prompt recognition and early intervention.
Distinct hemodynamic responses to (pyr)apelin-13 in large animal models.

Our findings provide much needed insight regarding the pharmacological cardiac and coronary effects of (pyr)apelin-13 in larger animal preparations. In particular, data highlight distinct hemodynam...
Palmar Dislocations of the 5th Carpometacarpal Joint: Case Report of a Rare Injury and Review of Published Cases

Isolated palmar dislocation of the 5th carpometacarpal joint (CMCJ) is a rare injury that can be easily missed and requires a high index of suspicion to detect. We report a case of an initially missed isolated ulnopalmar dislocation of the 5th CMCJ and a summary of other published case reports comparing methods of fixation and outcomes. We conclude that a delay in diagnosis will significantly reduce the chances of successfully managing this injury via closed reduction.
A transfer learning approach for automatic segmentation of the surgically treated anterior cruciate ligament

Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging enables quantitative assessment of the healing anterior cruciate ligament or graft post-surgery, but its use is constrained by the need for time consuming manual image segmentation. The goal of this study was to validate a deep learning model for automatic segmentation of repaired and reconstructed anterior cruciate ligaments. We hypothesized that 1) a deep learning model would segment repaired ligaments and grafts with comparable anatomical similarity to intact ligaments, and 2) automatically derived quantitative features (i.e., signal intensity and volume) would not be significantly different from those obtained by manual segmentation. Constructive Interference in Steady State sequences were acquired of ACL repairs (n=238) and grafts (n=120). A previously validated model for intact ACLs was retrained on both surgical groups using transfer learning. Anatomical performance was measured with Dice coefficient, sensitivity, and precision. Quantitative features were compared to ground truth manual segmentation. Automatic segmentation of both surgical groups resulted in decreased anatomical performance compared to intact ACL automatic segmentation (repairs/grafts: Dice coefficient=.80/.78, precision=.79/.78, sensitivity=.82/.80), but neither decrease was statistically significant (Kruskal-Wallis: Dice coefficient p=.02, precision p=.09, sensitivity p=.17; Dunn post-hoc test for Dice coefficient: repairs/grafts p=.054/.051). There were no significant differences in quantitative features between the ground truth and automatic segmentation of repairs/grafts (0.82/2.7% signal intensity difference, p=.57/.26; 1.7/2.7% volume difference, p=.68/.72). The anatomical similarity performance and statistical similarities of quantitative features supports the use of this automated segmentation model in quantitative MRI pipelines, which will accelerate research and provide a step towards clinical applicability. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Oxo 2-Adamantylidene Complexes of Mo(VI) and W(VI)

Molybdenum and tungsten oxo 2-adamantylidene (Adene) complexes that contain two nonafluoro-tert-butoxide (ORF9) ligands have been prepared through addition of 2-methylene- or 2-ethylideneadamantane...
The Economics of Cystoscopy: A Microcost Analysis.

Abstract Objective To evaluate the per-procedure cost of flexible cystoscopy in relation to reimbursement. Materials and Methods Capital, maintenance, reprocessing, labor, and disposable costs were calculated at a high-volume academic institution over the fiscal year 2019. Five-year amortized values were used to calculate reusable cystoscope and automated endoscopic reprocessor (AER) per-procedure cost. Twenty flexible cystoscope procedure cycles were timed and multiplied by prevailing medical office assistant wages to determine labor costs. Medicare and commercially insured reimbursements were queried to evaluate the cost and profitability of cystoscopy. Results In total, 3739 flexible cystoscopies were performed with 415 procedures per cystoscope. Total annual costs for capital and maintenance, reprocessing, labor, and disposable supplies was $202,494, $147,969, $128,117, and $121,904, respectively. The per-procedure cost for reusable cystoscopy with AER reprocessing, reusable cystoscopy with a high-level disinfectant (HLD), and theoretical costs of disposable cystoscopy were calculated to be $161, $133, and $222, respectively. The volume of procedures per scope had a significant impact on cost and profitability. The number of procedures per cystoscope performed to have equivalent cost as a disposable scope was, 196 and 145 cystoscopies per cystoscope per year, for AER and HLD-reprocessed cystoscopes, respectively. Conclusions There is a considerable contribution of capital equipment, maintenance, labor, and supplies to the cost of cystoscopy with profitability highly depend on the volume of cystoscopies performed for each cystoscope. The use of AER results in higher cost than HLD. Cost-effectiveness of disposable scopes needs to be determined but will vary by clinic volume and site of practice.
Survived & Coerced: Epistemic Injustice in the Family Regulation System

Calls to defund the police in the summer of 2020 were quickly followed by calls to fund social service agencies. Some included the funding of the family regulation apparatus. These demands fail to consider the shared carceral logic of the family regulation and criminal legal system. I utilize the term family regulation system to more accurately describe the surveillance apparatus that is commonly referred to as the "child welfare system". By using this term, I highlight that the family regulation system not only intersects with but mirrors the criminal legal system. The general premise of the family regulation system is that it is non-adversarial and rehabilitative, geared towards child safety. In practice, involved parents, including survivors of domestic violence, encounter an intrusive, disempowering surveillance system. The removal of children and extensive supervision mechanisms operate as powerful coercion tools, especially for survivors, who may find the state actively engaging in unwanted family separation. Family regulation cases, which already disproportionately affect Black and Brown families, further perpetuate the subjugation of marginalized experiences. Survivor narratives that do not align with the expectations of the family regulation system are discredited and instrumentalized to justify family separation, and even the termination of parental rights. The effects of lengthy "Child Protective Services" (CPS) involvement on a family's life are rarely discussed in ways that center the experiences of marginalized domestic violence survivors and their individual, authentic knowledge and needs. The family regulation system depends on compelling Black and Brown families to participate in the reproduction of existing knowledge to legitimize its purported goal of child safety. This system, ostensibly there to protect children, facilitates harmful knowledge production by coercing false narratives and excluding alternate knowledge. This article analyzes knowledge production within the family regulation system through the framework of epistemic injustice theory. Epistemic injustice theory examines how hegemonic power structures discredit and subjugate marginalized knowledge. I make the novel argument that the concept of a survivor's "lack of insight" into their own abuse is a form of epistemic injustice. The cycle of subjugating marginalized knowledge is embedded in a carceral power structure that pathologizes poor mothers and labels them "weak" and "dependent". I argue that the dismantling of epistemic injustice will require more than mere counter-narratives. In response to the current reckoning with carceral systems, a growing social movement led by directly impacted parents, demands an end to their silencing and the crediting of their knowledge.
Facts and Frictions: Conflicts of Interest in Medical Research: From the Selma and Lois DeBakey Lectureship in Biomedical Communications, given in the spring of 2010

Overview I’m going to give you a bird’s eye view, as an editor-in-chief, of why conflict of interest in medical research is such a vital problem today in medicine. By the time I am finished, I hope that I will convince you that we physicians and medical scientists need to make sure we take control of our profession to protect our patients in a way that only we can do. The first definition of “conflict of interest” that I could find goes back to 1850 in Webster’s Dictionary: “To conflict between the private interests and the official responsibility of a person in a position of trust.” That sounds familiar to all of us in medicine, because that’s who we are. Why do authors and reviewers have conflicts of interests? Career advancement, peer recognition, competing research interests, competition for research grants, intellectual biases and passions, and financial conflicts that we sometimes let get in the way. Editors have conflicts of interest because we want to promote our journal and improve our “impact factor”—a measure of the average number of citations to articles published in scientific journals. The impact factor is often used to gauge the relative importance of a journal within its field. I would love to do away with this. It is the most manipulative thing in the world because journal editors have to live by it, and departments use the impact factor as a mechanism for promotion. Editors also want to increase subscriptions and increase the financial profitability of their journals; sometimes, they have a conflict of interest because they’re trying to eliminate or decrease stress, hostility, or harassment. In fact, I invite anyone who doesn’t think a journal editor deals with stress, hostility, or harassment to spend a day with me.
Skills, Behaviors, Expectations, and Experiences Associated with Improved Postsecondary Outcomes for Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities:

An in-depth literature review was conducted to identify the skills, behaviors, expectations, and experiences (SBEEs) associated with employment, further education, and independent living for studen...
Collective polymerase dynamics emerge from DNA Supercoiling Mediated Transcription

All biological processes ultimately come from physical interactions. The mechanical properties of DNA play a critical role in transcription. RNA polymerase can over or under twist DNA (referred to as DNA supercoiling) when it moves along a gene resulting in mechanical stresses in DNA that impact its own motion and that of other polymerases. For example, when enough supercoiling accumulates, an isolated polymerase halts and transcription stops. DNA supercoiling can also mediate non-local interactions between polymerases that shape gene expression fluctuations. Here, we construct a comprehensive model of transcription that captures how RNA polymerase motion changes the degree of DNA supercoiling which in turn feeds back into the rate at which polymerases are recruited and move along the DNA. Surprisingly, our model predicts that a group of three or more polymerases move together at a constant velocity and sustain their motion (forming what we call a polymeton) whereas one or two polymerases would have halted. We further show that accounting for the impact of DNA supercoiling on both RNA polymerase recruitment and velocity recapitulates empirical observations of gene expression fluctuations. Finally, we propose a mechanical toggle switch whereby interactions between genes are mediated by DNA twisting as opposed to proteins. Understanding the mechanical regulation of gene expression provides new insights into how endogenous genes can interact and informs the design of new forms of engineered interactions.
Philosophical Considerations and Computer Packages

Scientific research has become an area of enormous data production. Reams of data are routinely generated as the trend towards quantification within the sciences has increased. The need for sound mathematical methods for analyzing these data is crucial. Often data are continually produced without stopping for such analyses. The result can be the production of large amounts of inferior data. Studying the mathematical patterns underlying the data can often help to determine the best next step in the analysis and to draw meaningful conclusions from the data already gathered. Moreover, such studies may reveal that better experimental designs can be devised and implemented effectively. Also, underlying properties of the data, not directly measurable, but related to the data being produced, may be studied, and predictions related to the scientific content of the data, and future data, become possible.
Early detection of fraud storms in the cloud

Cloud computing resources are sometimes hijacked for fraudulent use. While some fraudulent use manifests as a small-scale resource consumption, a more serious type of fraud is that of fraud storms, which are events of large-scale fraudulent use. These events begin when fraudulent users discover new vulnerabilities in the sign up process, which they then exploit in mass. The ability to perform early detection of these storms is a critical component of any cloud-based public computing system. In this work we analyze telemetry data from Microsoft Azure to detect fraud storms and raise early alerts on sudden increases in fraudulent use. The use of machine learning approaches to identify such anomalous events involves two inherent challenges: the scarcity of these events, and at the same time, the high frequency of anomalous events in cloud systems. We compare the performance of a supervised approach to the one achieved by an unsupervised, multivariate anomaly detection framework. We further evaluate the system performance taking into account practical considerations of robustness in the presence of missing values, and minimization of the model's data collection period. This paper describes the system, as well as the underlying machine learning algorithms applied. A beta version of the system is deployed and used to continuously control fraud levels in Azure.
Metabolic and microbial responses in western crossbred and Meishan growing pigs fed a high-fiber diet

Four Duroc x White composite crossbred (21.8 +/- 1.0 kg BW) and four 12-wk-old Meishan purebred (20.7 +/- 1.6 kg BW) growing barrows were used to determine the relative breed differences in metabolic and microbial responses to a high-fiber diet. The pigs were trained to consume 700 g of a diet containing 35% (as-fed basis) dehydrated alfalfa meal once daily. The pigs' daily intakes of DM, N, GE, NDF, and ADF were 610 g, 16.6 g, 2.64 Mcal, 150 g, and 88 g, respectively. On d 12 after surgical catheterization of the portal vein, ileal vein, and carotid artery, a 3-d total urine and feces collection was conducted. On d 24 after surgery, each pig was placed in an open-circuit calorimeter, and its catheters were connected to a system for simultaneous measurements of oxygen consumption by portal-drained viscera and by whole body, and the net portal absorption of VFA after a 24-h fasting and during a 5-h postprandial period. The VFA measured included acetic, propionic, isobutyric, butyric, isovaleric, and valeric acids. A second 3-d total urine and feces collection was conducted on d 30 after surgery. There were no differences (P = 0.13) between the first and second collections in apparent total-tract digestibility coefficients for nutrients and N retention of pigs. Compared with Duroc x White composite crossbred pigs, Meishan pigs had lower (P = 0.05) apparent digestibility coefficients for DM, N, NDF, hemicellulose, and N retention, but their portal-drained viscera used a greater (P = 0.05) fraction of whole-body oxygen consumption. No differences (P = 0.12) were found between Duroc x White composite crossbred and Meishan pigs in total viable bacteria and cellulolytic bacteria from fecal samples, in vitro digestibility of alfalfa NDF fractions by fecal inocula, whole-body oxygen consumption, net portal absorption of VFA, total energy of absorbed VFA, and the potential of absorbed VFA for meeting the energy needs for whole-body heat production. These results indicate that, in contrast to previous beliefs, the ability of Meishan growing pigs to utilize a high-fiber diet is not superior to that of Duroc x White composite crossbred growing pigs.
Properties of the DsJ states

Recent measurements involving the newly discovered DsJ particles are reported. The results of DsJ production and decay branching fraction measurements are shown. Possible spin-parity and quark content assignments of DsJ mesons are discussed. The results are based on a large data sample recorded by the Belle detector at the KEKB e+e− collider.
The Nucleon Form Factor in QCD

We review the results obtained for nucleon form factors using QCD and perturbation theory. We also make some comments upon the data, and indicate what momentum transfer can suffice for seeing quark effects that are calculable in simple ways.
Analyzing change in students' gene-to-evolution models in college-level introductory biology

Research in contemporary biology has become increasingly complex and organized around understanding biological processes in the context of systems. To better reflect the ways of thinking required for learning about systems, we developed and implemented a pedagogical approach using box-and-arrow models (similar to concept maps) as a foundational tool for instruction and assessment in an Introductory Biology course on genetics, evolution, and ecology. Over the course of one semester, students iteratively constructed, evaluated, and revised “Gene-to-Evolution” (GtE) models intended to promote understanding about the connections linking molecular-level processes with population-level outcomes. In practice, a successful GtE model contextualizes information provided in a case study and explains how genetic-level variation originates at the molecular level, is differentially expressed among individuals, and is acted upon by the environment to produce evolutionary change within a population. Our analyses revealed that students' ability to construct biologically accurate models increased throughout the semester. Model complexity peaked near mid-term then subsequently declined. This suggests that, with time, students were building more parsimonious models, shedding irrelevant information, and improving in their ability to apply accurate and appropriate biological language to explain relationships among concepts. Importantly, we observed the greatest relative gains in model correctness among students who entered the course with lower mean GPA. In an analysis comparing performance among achievement tritiles, lower-performing students effectively closed the achievement gap with the highest performing students by the end of the semester. Our findings support the effectiveness of model-based pedagogies for science teaching and learning, and offer a perspective on pedagogical application of modeling strategies to foster systems thinking and knowledge structuring in college-level biology.
Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism in Farm Animals

Much research on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in farm animals conducted over the second half of the 20th century has focused primarily on increasing the production efficiency and improving the quality and acceptability of animal-derived foods. Research was also performed with the express interest in greater understanding of biochemistry and metabolism of livestock species with ultimate application in the food industry. Knowledge about basic nutritional concepts and differences in metabolism among farm animals, however, has been accumulated and has been used successfully to better understand different health problems in humans such as obesity, atherosclerosis, diabetes, and others that are associated with disturbances in metabolism and nutrition. Here we focus on researchers who made major contributions to our understanding of the synthesis and degradation including digestion of carbohydrates and lipids during the past half-century and to our understanding of the growth and development of meat-producing animals (e.g., pigs and cattle) and milk-producing dairy cattle. These findings will serve as the basis for current and future animal biologists to develop newer concepts and methods for use in improving the efficiency of conversion of animal feed to food and the healthfulness of that food for human consumers.
The reaction of carbon monoxide with palladium supported on cerium oxide thin films

In this study we probe the reaction of carbon monoxide with Pd nanoparticles supported on cerium oxide thin films. With the use of soft X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (sXPS), and temperature programmed desorption (TPD) the surface intermediates and pathways leading to reaction products of CO on Pd supported on ceria were investigated. When Pd is supported on the stoichiometric CeO{sub 2} surface (Ce{sup +4}) only the molecular adsorption of CO on Pd is visible (286.4 eV). All of the CO desorbs below 520 K, however a small amount of O exchange between the CO and the ceria was indicated through the acquisition of labeled {sup 18}O from the substrate in the desorbed CO. The Pd nanoparticles are activated on partially reduced CeOx to promote the dissociation of <10% of the CO as indicated by a C-Pd species (284.4 eV) in sXPS. The C recombines with O from the ceria and desorbs between 600 and 700 K. The majority of the CO does not dissociate, however, and the degree of dissociation does not increase with the degree of ceria reduction. This result is in contrast with Rh nanoparticles supported on ceria where the degree of dissociation increased with the degree of ceriamore » reduction and nearly total dissociation was obtained when the ceria was highly reduced.« less
Binding the Abdomen Can Improve Speech in Men With Phrenic Nerve Pacers

Two men with high cervical spinal cord injuries and phrenic nerve pacers were studied with and without an elastic binder around the abdomen. Speech improved with the binder, as determined by listen...
Primordial electrical induction heating of asteroids

Abstract Recently observed systematic trends of asteroidal composition with respect to size and heliocentric distance are interpreted according to the hypothesis that primordial asteroidal thermal evolution was driven by electromagnetic induction in a dense pre-main-sequence solar wind. It is found that the spatial distribution of induction heating corresponds well with that inferred from the present-day distribution of asteroidal compositional types when reasonable proto-Solar-System characteristics are assumed. From this match is deduced a rough constraint on the induction heating epoch's duration (≈10 5 years) and the temperature-dependent electrical conductivity of the protoasteroidal material (about the same as that of the C2 meteorite Murcheson).
N-Linked Glycosylation Sites Adjacent to and within the V1/V2 and the V3 Loops of Dualtropic Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Isolate DH12 gp120 Affect Coreceptor Usage and Cellular Tropism

The envelope glycoprotein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is extensively glycosylated, containing approximately 23 asparagine (N)-linked glycosylation sites on its gp120 subunit. In this study, specific glycosylation sites on gp120 of a dualtropic primary HIV-1 isolate, DH12, were eliminated by site-directed mutagenesis and the properties of the resulting mutant envelopes were evaluated using a recombinant vaccinia virus-based cell-to-cell fusion assay alone or in the context of viral infections. Of the glycosylation sites that were evaluated, those proximal to the V1/V2 loops (N135, N141, N156, N160) and the V3 loops (N301) of gp120 were functionally critical. The glycosylation site mutations near the V1/V2 loop compromised the use of CCR5 and CXCR4 equally. In contrast, a mutation within the V3 loop preferentially inhibited the usage of CCR5; although this mutant protein completely lost its CCR5-dependent fusion activity, it retained 50% of the wild-type fusion activity with CXCR4. The replication of a virus containing this mutation was severely compromised in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, MT-4 cells, and primary monocyte-derived macrophages. A revertant virus, which acquired second site changes in the V3 loop that resulted in an increase in net positive charge, was isolated. The revertant virus fully recovered the usage of CXCR4 but not of CCR5, thereby altering the tropism of the parental virus from dualtropic to T-tropic. These results suggest that carbohydrate moieties near the V1/V2 and the V3 loops play critical roles in maintaining proper conformation of the variable loops for optimal interaction with receptors. Our results, combined with those of previously reported studies, further demonstrate that the function of individual glycans may be virus isolate dependent.
Effects of Prostaglandins E2 and F2 alpha on the Carotid Arterial Blood Flow, Cerebrospinal Fluid Pressure and Intraocular Pressure in Dogs.

Abstract : The effects of prostaglandins (PGE2) and (PGF2 alpha) on carotid arterial blood flow, intraocular pressure (IOP) and cerebrospinal fluid pressure (CSFP) were studied in anesthetized dogs. It was found that an i.v. infusion of PGE2 decreases systemic arterial pressure, and increases heart rate, carotid arterial blood flow, IOP and CSFP. During the period of infusion, however, after an initial increase, carotid arterial pressure gradually decreases to control levels. In contrast, an i.v. infusion of PGF2 alpha decreases heart rate, carotid arterial blood flow, IOP and CSFP, as mean systemic arterial pressure remains essentially unchanged. This study suggests that the changes in IOP induced by PGE2 or PGF2 alpha are not only due to their direct effect on the eye but also due to their effect on carotid arterial blood flow. In contrast, the changes in the CSFP are most likely due only to the effects of PGE2 and PGF2 alpha on carotid arterial blood flow. (Author)
Infrastructure Management : Integrated AHP/ANN Model to Evaluate Municipal Water Mains' Performance

Canadian municipalities have noted that 59% of their water systems needed repair and the status of 43% of these systems is unacceptable. In the United States, ASCE assigned a near failing grade of D– to the condition of water system infrastructure. Therefore, municipalities face a great challenge of managing the expected large replacement and new installation projects of water mains. This research aims at designing a robust model in order to assess the condition and predict the performance of water mains. Data are collected from three different Canadian municipalities: (1) Moncton (New Brunswick); (2) London (Ontario); and (3) Longueiul (Quebec). An integrated model and framework, using an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and artificial neural network (ANN), are developed. In addition, an automated, user-friendly, web-based infrastructure management tool (CR-Predictor) is developed based on the integrated AHP/ANN model to assess water main condition. The developed tool and models are validated in which they show robust results (98.51%) — the average validity percent. They are expected to benefit academics and practitioners (municipal engineers, consultants, and contractors) to prioritize inspection and rehabilitation planning for existing water mains.
Gas purification by means of cataphoresis in a radial glow discharge

Abstract Concentration gradients have been known to occur within d.c glow discharges containing various gas mixtures. This effect, resulting from one component being drawn preferentially toward the cathode, is termed cataphoresis. The theory of cataphoresis, recently developed for the traditional discharge tube geometry, has been extended to the cylindrical geometry; in the cylindrical geometry, the discharge is established within the annular space between two concentric electrodes. When the impurity ions and neutrals, are tightly coupled, the reacting system is found to be equivalent to an inert system; however, the inert system is one in which the “effective’ ion mobility is a product of the true ion mobility and the level of ionization of the impurity. Calculations show that cataphoresis is of practical interest only when the electrostatic Peclet number is greater than 0·1. Generally this implies that the level of ionization of the impurity must be greater than ≈ 10 ppm; thus, limits are established for various operating parameters. Calculations also indicate that the characteristic time of diffusion is a weak function of the level of impurity ionization, and a strong function of geometry. Possible shortcomings of this linear model are also discussed.
Incorporating social justice in tourism planning: racial reconciliation and sustainable community development in the Deep South

Tourism can serve as a vehicle for sustainable community development by contributing to equity and social justice. This happens as tourists learn about marginal groups through educational tourism, engage in development projects with host-area residents, undertake pilgrimages that bring greater meaning and cohesiveness to an ethnic identity, or encounter stories that transform their view of social injustice and spur further action to reduce inequities. Tourism planning can produce a sense of reconciliation when it brings historically divided groups together. An example is found in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, where a group of white and African American residents are collaborating to develop tourism projects designed around a narrative of reconciliation, while they use the process of tourism planning to work towards racial reconciliation within their community. This case illustrates strategies tourism planners employ and challenges they face when they envision tourism as more than merely a means of eco...
Neurexin IV, caspr and paranodin—novel members of the neurexin family: encounters of axons and glia

Axonal insulation is of key importance for the proper propagation of action potentials. In Drosophila and other invertebrates, it has recently been demonstrated that septate junctions play an essential role in axonal insulation or blood-brain-barrier formation. Neurexin IV, a molecular component of Drosophila septate junctions, has been shown to be essential for axonal insulation in the PNS in embryos and larvae. Interestingly, a vertebrate homolog of Neurexin IV, caspr--also named paranodin--has been shown to localize to septate-like junctional structures. These vertebrate junctions are localized to the paranodal region of the nodes of Ranvier, between axons and Schwann cells. Caspr/paranodin might play an important role in barrier formation, and link neuronal membrane components with the axonal cytoskeletal network.
Measurement properties of the CLOX Executive Clock Drawing Task in an inpatient stroke rehabilitation setting.

Objectives The goal of this study was to explore the psychometric properties of the CLOX Executive Clock Drawing Task (Royall, Cordes, & Polk, 1998) in persons who had sustained a stroke and were receiving inpatient rehabilitation. Method Rasch modeling was utilized to examine the psychometric properties of the CLOX. Separate analyses were conducted for the free draw (CLOX 1) and copy (CLOX 2) portions of the measure to investigate each presentation mode independently. The sample consisted of 66 inpatient adults who had sustained a stroke. Results CLOX 1 met most Rasch model expectations for item fit, unidimensionality, test reliability, and sample targeting. CLOX 2 was less psychometrically sound and contained two items with significant misfit. CLOX 2 demonstrated a significant ceiling effect that resulted in poor sample targeting. Conclusions CLOX 1 is a psychometrically sound screening instrument for assessing persons with stroke receiving inpatient rehabilitation. In addition to the psychometric weaknesses of CLOX 2, its interpretive yield is minimal and clinicians may consider omitting it. Recommendations are made for using the Rasch item-person maps in clinical practice.
Ultratrace Analyses by Optical Emission Spectroscopy: The Stray Light Problem

When atomic emission spectroscopy is employed for the determination of trace elements at concentrations near the detection limit, the spectral background will normally be a large fraction of the total measured signal. Precise background corrections are therefore required if accurate analyses are to be achieved. Experimental evidence is presented to document the fact that stray light may produce substantial shifts in the background signal measured with some spectrometers when the total composition of the sample changes. The data presented have been obtained with the inductively coupled plasma as an excitation source; similar effects can be expected with other excitation sources as well. Examples of various forms of stray light originating from grating defects (ghosts, near and far scatter) and defects in the design of spectrometers are presented. Various methods for the reduction, elimination or correction of stray light effects are also discussed.
Learning with limited bandwidth and attention to others' learning

Abstract I present E-stability results for a model in which bandwidth-limited agents revise their expectations while monitoring others' expectations. I find that under a certain condition, and regardless of the structure of attention to others' expectations, the REE is E-stable.
Visible light-driven hydrogen production from aqueous protons catalyzed by molecular cobaloxime catalysts.

A series of cobaloxime complexes—([Co(dmgH)2pyCl] (1), [Co(dmgH)2(4-COOMe-py)Cl] (2), [Co(dmgH)2(4-Me2N-py)Cl] (3), [Co(dmgH)(dmgH2)Cl2] (4), [Co(dmgH)2(py)2](PF6) (5), [Co(dmgH)2(P(n-Bu)3)Cl] (6), and [Co(dmgBF2)2(OH2)2] (7), where dmgH = dimethylglyoximate monoanion, dmgH2 = dimethylglyoxime, dmgBF2 = (difluoroboryl)dimethylglyoximate anion, and py = pyridine—were synthesized and studied as molecular catalysts for the photogeneration of hydrogen from systems containing a Pt terpyridyl acetylide chromophore and triethanolamine (TEOA) as a sacrificial donor in aqueous acetonitrile. All cobaloxime complexes 1−7 are able to quench the luminescence of the Pt(II) chromophore [Pt(ttpy)(C≡CPh)]ClO4 (C1) (ttpy = 4′-p-tolyterpyridine). The most effective electron acceptor for hydrogen evolution is found to be complex 2, which provides the fastest luminescence quenching rate constant for C1 of 1.7 × 109 M−1 s−1. The rate of hydrogen evolution depends on many factors, including the stability of the catalysts, the d...
Obesity-induced tissue free radical generation: An in vivo immuno-spin trapping study

Assessment of tissue free radical production is routinely accomplished by measuring secondary by-products of redox reactions and/or diminution of key antioxidants such as reduced thiols. However, immuno-spin trapping, a newly developed immunohistochemical technique for detection of free radical formation, is garnering considerable interest as it allows for the visualization of 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide (DMPO)-adducted molecules. Yet, to date, immuno-spin trapping reports have utilized in vivo models in which successful detection of free radical adducts required exposure to lethal levels of oxidative stress not reflective of chronic inflammatory disease. To study the extents and anatomic locations of more clinically relevant levels of radical formation, we examined tissues from high-fat (HF) diet-fed mice, a model of low-grade chronic inflammation known to demonstrate enhanced rates of reactive species production. Mice subjected to 20 weeks of HF diet displayed increased free radical formation (anti-DMPO mean fluorescence staining) in skeletal muscle (0.863±0.06 units vs 0.512±0.07 units), kidney (0.076±0.0036 vs 0.043±0.0025), and liver (0.275±0.012 vs 0.135±0.014) compared to control mice fed normal laboratory chow (NC). Western blot analysis of tissue homogenates confirmed these results showing enhanced DMPO immunoreactivity in HF mice compared to NC samples. The obesity-related results were confirmed in a rat model of pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure in which intense immunodetectable radical formation was observed in the lung and right ventricle of monocrotaline-treated rats compared to saline-treated controls. Combined, these data affirm the utility of immuno-spin trapping as a tool for in vivo assessment of altered extents of macromolecule oxidation to radical intermediates under chronic inflammatory conditions.
Response of vegetation distribution, ecosystem productivity, and fire to climate change scenarios for California

The response of vegetation distribution, carbon, and fire to three scenarios of future climate change was simulated for California using the MC1 Dynamic General Vegetation Model. Under all three scenarios, Alpine/Subalpine Forest cover declined, and increases in the productivity of evergreen hardwoods led to the displacement of Evergreen Conifer Forest by Mixed Evergreen Forest. Grassland expanded, largely at the expense of Woodland and Shrubland, even under the cooler and less dry climate scenario where increased woody plant production was offset by increased wildfire. Increases in net primary productivity under the cooler and less dry scenario contributed to a simulated carbon sink of about 321 teragrams for California by the end of the century. Declines in net primary productivity under the two warmer and drier scenarios contributed to a net loss of carbon ranging from about 76 to 129 teragrams. Total annual area burned in California increased under all three scenarios, ranging from 9-15% above the historical norm by the end of the century. Annual biomass consumption by fire by the end of the century was about 18% greater than the historical norm under the more productive cooler and less dry scenario. Under the warmer and drier scenarios, simulated biomass consumption was initially greater, but then at, or below, the historical norm by the end of the century.