cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Noninvasive cardiac output estimation: a preliminary study

The availability of a simple-to-use, automatic measurement system for noninvasive flow estimation is imperative, given the clinical demand for an acceptable noninvasive procedure rather than the standard invasive procedure of thermodilution. A method for calculating cardiac output from noninvasively derived pressure pulses has been developed, and the results of a preliminary evaluation study on post-cardiac surgery patients for whom invasive flow measures were readily available for comparison are provided in this report. The proposed method relies on fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis of pulses measured externally at the carotid and femoral pressure points. A transfer function of the aorta is computed from digitally filtered pulse measurements, and a tapered model of the aorta is parametrically adapted using a simplex optimization algorithm so that its transfer function matches that derived experimentally. An aortic input impedance term is obtained from the optimized model and utilized along with the carotid pulse (analogous to input voltage) to compute aortic flow. In addition to its automation, attractive features of this method include the requirement for relatively few pulses for analysis as well as considerable resistance to noise artifact. For 59 data records collected from 54 post-cardiac surgery patients, the average flow measurements computed over several pulses compare well with the standard, invasive method of thermodilution. Preliminary results also indicate a strong potential for tracking changes in cardiac output over time, and invite further use of the method in monitoring hemodynamically unstable patients.
Evaluating Pulse Jet Mixing With Non-Newtonian Slurries

Pulse jet mixer technology has been selected for implementation in the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant. However, processing non-Newtonian fluids using this technology is not mature. Experiments were conducted at several scales to develop an understanding of the scaling mechanisms that govern this type of mixer performance.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Apolipoprotein assays: standardization and quality control.

A correct approach to standardization, accuracy-based methods, and well-defined quality assurance programs is indispensable for the definition of international reference intervals of apo A-I and apo B. Variability in the immunochemical determination of apo A-I and apo B can be due to both preanalytical and analytical variations, and standardized laboratories should evaluate and minimize each source of error in determining the reference intervals. A key requirement to reduce the variation between measurement techniques is the use of a common protocol for the calibration of the different methods. The basis of a calibration system is the primary standard with the absolute mass accurately determined. The primary standard is indispensable in assigning an accurate target value to reference materials with a reference method in which the primary standard immunochemically reacts the same as the protein in plasma. The reference material, which must behave immunochemically the same as the patient's sample in all met...
Noisy desired signal in transient detection using neural networks

In this paper we show the effect that several desired signals have on the performance of a neural network dynamic classifier for transient detection. We compare performances of the same neural network trained with the conventional 1/0 desired signal, a prediction framework and a desired signal composed of noise during the background. This last choice is the one that works best. We show that in terms of statistical decision theory this choice of desired signal should work as well as the optimal a posteriori detector. We provide an explanation why the noise during the background works for transient detection. Finally we comment on the implications of this choice of desired signal for learning in biological networks.© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Analysis of a defect correction method for viscoelastic fluid flow

We study a defect correction method for a viscoelastic fluid flow obeying an Oldroyd-Btype constitutive law. In the defect step, the constitutive equation is computed with the artificially reduced Weissenberg parameter for stability, and the residual is taken care of in the correction step. We show the convergence of the defect correction method and derive an error estimate.
Scaling of nectar foraging in orchid bees.

Abstract: Morphology influences the rate at which foraging bees visit nectar flowers, the quantity of nectar they must consume to fuel their activities, and, consequently, the profitability of flower species. Because feeding time is a major determinant of visitation rate, I used a biomechanical model to examine how energy intake rate (E) varies with sucrose concentration, body mass (M), and proboscis length in orchid bees (Apidae: Euglossini). Under geometric scaling, the optimal sugar concentration (Smax) should be largely independent of body size, and \documentclass{aastex} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{bm} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{pifont} \usepackage{stmaryrd} \usepackage{textcomp} \usepackage{portland,xspace} \usepackage{amsmath,amsxtra} \usepackage[OT2,OT1]{fontenc} \newcommand\cyr{ \renewcommand\rmdefault{wncyr} \renewcommand\sfdefault{wncyss} \renewcommand\encodingdefault{OT2} \normalfont \selectfont} \DeclareTextFontCommand{\textcyr}{\cyr} \pag...
Parent Brine of the Castile Evaporites (Upper Permian), Texas and New Mexico

ABSTRACT The Upper Permian (lower Ochoan) Castile Formation is a major evaporite sequence (10,000 km3) of calcite, anhydrite, and halite in west Texas and southeastern New Mexico. Traditionally the Castile brine has been considered to have been derived from seawater. This tradition has recently been challenged by two versions of the closed-basin drawdown model. They call for deposition from a mixed brine, in part marine and in large part nonmarine. They propose drawdown of as much as 500 m to form a major sink for ground water issuing from the surrounding Capitan reef complex. A large fraction of the solute in the brine body is inferred to have been recycled from older Permian evaporites on the surrounding shelf. Strontium-isotope analyses show no evidence that meteoric ground water was contributed to the Castile brine. From a stratigraphic, geographic, and lithologic array of 65 samples of anhydrite, gypsum, and calcite, 59 have an 87Sr/86Sr ratio of 0.706923 (sw of -225.0), a ratio that is the same as that of strontium in early Ochoan ocean water. If considerable (>15%) influx of meteoric water had occurred, enough continental strontium would have been introduced to have resulted in higher ratios. Low bromide values (20-40 ppm) in Castile halite, which have been used to argue for meteoric influx and for recycled salt, probably resulted from diagenesis. During shallow burial by halite, centimeter-size, bottom-grown crystals of gypsum were altered to nodular anhydrite. The rising water of dehydration caused the halite to recrystallize. During the recrystallization, some bromide was expelled. Despite the large volume of water that evaporated annually from its surface (52 km3/yr, assuming an evaporation rate of 2 m/yr), the Castile brine body never completely desiccated. The surrounding shelf was flat, hot, and generally dry. It probably could not have supplied a significant volume of meteoric spring water to the basin over tens of thousands of years. More likely, during the entire history of the evaporite sequence, influx was dominantly marine. Marine ground water flowed through the Capitan Formation into the evaporite basin along its southern and possibly western margin probably with a rate of flow that was usually fast enough to prevent major drawdown of the brine surface.
Discursive Practice among Teachers Co-Learning during Field-based Elementary Science Teacher Preparation

Abstract Over the past decade, there has been increasing emphasis for the development of collaborative approaches in teacher education (Carnegie, 1986; Holmes, 1986, 1990, 1995; Levine, 1992; National Research Council, 1996; Raizen & Michelsohn, 1994). While tremendous strides have been made toward bridging the proverbial “theory and practice” gap, more work is needed to examine the nature of learning experienced by educators as they participate in these collaborative situations. In this study, we focus on how and why prospective and classroom teachers appropriate their thoughts and actions during co-learning situations, and the implications this might have for design of field-based teacher-learning.
Autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation for chronic myelogenous leukemia

Experimental and clinical evidence for persistence of polyclonal Philadelphia chromosome negative (Ph-) progenitors in chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) patients has provided the rationale for autologous transplantation. Clinical trials of autologous transplantation suggest that this procedure can induce cytogenetic remissions in a subset of patients and may be associated with longer-than-expected patient survival. Most autologous transplant recipients, however, continue to have evidence of persistent leukemia. Recent reports indicating that it is possible to collect sufficient numbers of Ph- peripheral blood stem cells for autologous transplantation from most patients in complete cytogenetic remission on imatinib treatment have rekindled interest in autologous transplantation in CML. Additional approaches to eliminate residual disease in autografts and to sustain cytogenetic response after transplantation, however, will be required to achieve long-term restoration of Ph- hematopoiesis. Several promising methods to improve purging of the autograft and for more effective elimination of residual leukemia are being explored.
Genomic Organization, Chromosomal Mapping, and Promoter Analysis of the Mouse Dentin Sialophosphoprotein (Dspp) Gene, Which Codes for Both Dentin Sialoprotein and Dentin Phosphoprotein

Our laboratory has reported that two major noncollagenous dentin proteins, dentin sialoprotein and dentin phosphoprotein, are specific cleavage products of a larger precursor protein termed dentin sialophosphoprotein (MacDougall, M., Simmons, D., Luan, X., Nydegger, J., Feng, J. Q., and Gu, T. T. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272:835–842). To confirm our single gene hypothesis and initiate in vitropromoter studies, we have characterized the structural organization of the mouse dentin sialophosphoprotein gene. This gene has a transcription unit of ∼9.4 kilobase pairs and is organized into 5 exons and 4 introns. Exon 1 contains a noncoding 5′ sequence, and exon 2 contains the transcriptional start site, signal peptide, and first two amino acids of the NH2 terminus. Exons 3 and 4 contain coding information for 29 and 314 amino acids, respectively. The remainder of the coding information and the untranslated 3′ region are contained in exon 5. Chromosomal mapping localized the gene to mouse chromosome 5q21 in close proximity to other dentin/bone matrix genes. Computer analysis of the promoter proximal 1.6-kilobase pair sequence revealed a number of potentially important cis-regulatory sequences; these include the recognition elements of AP-1, AP-2, Msx-1, serum response elements, SP-1, and TCF-1. In vitro studies showed that the DSPP promoter is active in an odontoblast cell line, MO6-G3, with basal activity mapped to −95 bp. Two potential enhancer and suppresser elements were identified in the regions between −1447 and −791 bp and −791 and −95 bp, respectively. The structural organization of the dentin sialophosphoprotein gene confirms our finding that both dentin sialoprotein and dentin phosphoprotein are encoded by a single gene with a continuous open reading frame.
Study of reprojection methods in terms of their resolution loss and sampling errors

Two reprojection methods are studied to their resolution loss and sampling errors. The methods are area weighted convolution (AWC), and Gaussian pixel convolution (GPC). Modulation transfer function (MTF) is used to evaluate the resolution loss, and the residual sum of squares (RSS) of the difference between the reprojected sinogram and a reference sinogram corresponding to infinite sampling is used to assess the sampling errors. The resolution loss is found to be determined by the reconstruction filter, the linear interpolation in the backprojection, and the convolution kernel. Sampling errors are found to be angle-dependent, and the angular dependency is more pronounced for the GPC. To avoid significant sampling errors, the width of the convolution kernel needs to be two times larger than the pixel distance. Large sub-binning size of the projection array leads to interpolation error, which is more pronounced for AWC than for GPC. For the GPC method, with pixel size twice the pixel distance, the sampling error can be greatly reduced. The sampling error can be reduced without additional resolution loss by using a smaller pixel distance. >
Broadband Imaging of a Large Sample of Irregular Galaxies

We present the results of UBV imaging of a large sample of irregular galaxies: 94 Im systems, 24 blue compact dwarfs (BCDs), and 18 Sm galaxies. We also include JHK imaging of 42 of these galaxies. The sample spans a large range in galactic parameters. Ellipse fit axial ratios, inclinations, and position angles are derived, integrated photometry and azimuthally averaged surface photometry profiles are determined, and exponential fits give the central surface brightnesses, scale lengths, and isophotal and half-power radii. These data are used to address the shapes of Im galaxies, look for clues to past interactions in large-scale peculiarities, examine the nature and consequences of bars, study color gradients and large-scale color variations, and compare the exponential disk profiles of the young and old stellar components. For example, color gradients exhibit a great variety and not all passbands are correlated. Bars are associated with higher star formation rates. Many irregulars show a double-exponential radial light profile that is steeper in the outer parts, and these are reproduced by a new model of star formation that is discussed in a companion paper. Some galaxies, primarily BCDs, have double exponentials that are steeper (and bluer) in the inner parts, presumably from centralized star formation. Im-type galaxies have thicker, less prominent dust layers than spiral galaxies because of their lower average surface densities and midplane extinctions.
To Prosecute or Not to Prosecute, That is the Question: Agency Litigation under the Influence of Appellate Courts

Abstract. This article examines how institutional uncertainty within the US federal circuit courts influences regulatory agencies' enforcement choices of prosecution or non-prosecution. I argue that the circuits' random assignment of judges and cases creates institutional uncertainty in terms of variation in each circuit's possible rulings with respect to the bureaucracy's policy position. This, in turn, affects agencies' probability of prosecution because the high degree of uncertainty will discourage prosecution, given its cost. In other words, agencies reduce their exposure to judicial review by avoiding prosecution. I use ideological variance within the circuits as a proxy for measuring the circuit courts' internal group dynamics. Large ideological variance indicates high institutional uncertainty and consequently leads to fewer numbers of prosecutions by the bureaucracy. The empirical results based on the prosecution record of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice from 1950 to 1994 strongly support the theory.Resume. L'article analyse comment l'imprevisibilite des decisions judiciaires au niveau des cours d'appel federales de circuit influence les decisions par les agences publiques de poursuivre les contrevenants a la reglementation. Je montre que l'attribution des juges et des causes par loterie cree de l'incertitude quant a l'issue des poursuites. L'incertitude reduit la probabilite que les agences publiques entament des poursuites judiciaires etant donne le cout eleve de celles-ci. En d'autres termes, les agences publiques attenuent l'implementation de la reglementation par crainte de perdre devant des tribunaux imprevisibles. J'utilise une mesure de variance ideologique pour quantifier la dynamique de groupe a l'interieur des circuits judiciaires. Une grande variance ideologique signifie un resultat incertain et mene a un nombre reduit de poursuites initiees par les agences publiques. Les donnees empiriques, provenant des registres de la Division Anti-trust du Ministere de la Justice des Etats-Unis pour la periode s'etendant de 1950 a 1994, soutiennent fortement la theorie.
Raloxifene and antiestrogenic gonadorelin inhibits intestinal tumorigenesis by modulating immune cells and decreasing stem-like cells.

Studies suggest that estrogen plays a contributing role in colorectal cancer. This project examined the preventive effects of raloxifene, a selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM), and gonadorelin, an antiestrogenic drug, in female Apc(Min/+) mouse intestinal tumorigenesis. Six-week-old Apc(Min/+)mice were fed diet containing 1 ppm raloxifene or control diet. Gonadorelin (150 ng/mouse) was injected subcutaneously into one treatment group. Intestinal tumors were evaluated for tumor multiplicity and size. Mice treated with raloxifene and gonadorelin showed colon tumor inhibition of 80% and 75%, respectively. Both drugs significantly inhibited small intestinal tumor multiplicity and size (75%-65%, P 2 mm in size. In mice fed with raloxifene or injected with gonadorelin, tumors showed significantly reduced proliferating cell nuclear antigen expression (58%-65%, P < 0.0001). Raloxifene treatment decreased β-catenin, cyclin D1, laminin 1β, Ccl6, and stem-like cells (Lgr 5, EpCAM, CD44/CD24), as well as suppressed inflammatory genes (COX-2, mPGES-1, 5-LOX,). Gonadorelin showed significant decrease in COX-2, mPGES-1, iNOS, and stem-like cells or increased NK cells and chemokines required for NK cells. Both drugs were effective in suppressing tumor growth albeit with different mechanisms. These observations show that either suppression of estrogen levels or modulation of estrogen receptor dramatically suppresses small intestinal and colonic tumor formation in female Apc(Min/+) mice. These results support the concept of chemoprevention by these agents in reducing endogenous levels of estrogen or modulating ER signaling.
Hypoxia Signaling—License to Metastasize

Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIF) have long been linked to malignant tumor phenotypes in various cancer types, and several downstream mediators of HIF action are deregulated in metastatic carcinomas. A new study links hypoxia-induced collagen remodeling to sarcoma progression, providing evidence for unifying mechanisms of carcinoma and sarcoma metastasis.
Learning a Hierarchical Monitoring System for Detecting and Diagnosing Service Issues

We propose a machine learning based framework for building a hierarchical monitoring system to detect and diagnose service issues. We demonstrate its use for building a monitoring system for a distributed data storage and computing service consisting of tens of thousands of machines. Our solution has been deployed in production as an end-to-end system, starting from telemetry data collection from individual machines, to a visualization tool for service operators to examine the detection outputs. Evaluation results are presented on detecting 19 customer impacting issues in the past three months.
Elasticity between the cadastre and land tenure: balancing civil and political society interests in Poland

The cadastre provides formal instruments for governments to administer land, theoretically assuring critical space and resources for economic activities in Western societies. The informal organization of access and control of land in any society, conducted often in parallel to the formal cadastre, is known as land tenure. The cadastre records land ownership and rights to land. It is also an important means for coordinating land governance, private activities, and public concerns related to land. The ongoing challenges for government use of the cadastre are largely administrative and political, no longer technical. In the case examined here of Poland, a country undergoing rapid post-Socialist socio-economic change, the challenges are evident in rural discrepancies between the cadastre and land tenure. They reflect historical tensions between colonizing formal government institutions and informal resistance institutions developed to allocate access and control of land for most of the past 300 years in Poland. During this period Polish political and civil society has worked out a number of complex delegations of control and authority to regulate these discrepancies and provide for a flexible balance between competing and conflicting interests. Much rural land ownership was secured through an array of informal arrangements involving actors with overlapping and conflicting interests. The formal cadastre, in these cases, is often reduced to a self-referential institution solely for use by government agencies. Verdery's concept of "elasticity" aids in understanding how discrepancies between cadastre and land tenure have been traditionally resolved in relations between Polish political and civil society. The current transformation of Poland to a capitalist economy beginning in 1989 is altering various aspects of these arrangements. Recent entry (May, 2004) into the European Union has additionally greatly accelerated the process of change. Based on literature analysis and the preliminary analysis of the different roles the cadastre plays in three Polish counties (powiat), the article presents some ideas for conceiving of the cadastre as part of a framework for the societal allocation and the coordination of access and control to land. It argues that the elasticity between rural formal de jure cadastre and informal de facto land tenure points to problems plainly visible in rural Poland yet relevant to cadastral information infrastructures occurring around the world.
An efficient technique for determining the steady-state membrane potential profile in tissues with multiple cell types

Most simulations of cardiac electrophysiology use the steady state as initial condition. Spatial variations in steady-state membrane potential may arise due to ischemia, coupling with fibroblasts, or local changes in intrinsic resting potential. In large scale models, simulating free evolution until the steady-state is reached may be computationally expensive when long time constants or slow concentration drifts are involved in the cell models. This paper describes a dedicated Newton-based root-finding solver to determine the steady state of a tissue in which two or more cell types coexist in the monodomain framework. This approach was applied to a 2D microstructural tissue model in which myocytes were coupled to fibroblasts, leading to an inhomogeneous elevation of the myocyte resting potential.
Reference data for commonly used sensory and motor nerve conduction studies.

Introduction: The goal of this study was to generate reference data for a wide range of sensory and motor nerve conduction studies (NCSs) that are commonly used in routine electrodiagnostic practice. Methods: NCS data were collected from control subjects with a normal neurological examination and no known risk factors for or symptoms to suggest disease of the peripheral nervous system. Thirteen sensory and motor nerves were studied in the upper and lower limbs using standard recording techniques. Quantile regression was used to obtain estimates of the lower (e.g., 5th) percentiles for sensory and motor amplitudes and conduction velocities, as well as estimates of the upper (e.g., 95th) percentiles for distal motor latency and F-wave latencies. Results: Reference data for sensory and motor amplitudes required adjustment for age; F-wave latencies required adjustment for gender. Covariate adjustments were not required for other reference data. Data from N = 100 and N = 190 subjects permitted estimation of as low as the 4th and 2nd percentile, respectively, but further increases to N = 296 did not permit estimation of a more extreme percentile. Discussion: Efforts to develop reference data require careful selection of study subjects; sufficient sample size; adjustment for relevant covariates; and appropriate statistical methods for analysis. Reference data that cannot be estimated reliably due to absent potentials or data variability must be interpreted with caution. We present data for a range of clinically applicable reference percentiles, but judgment regarding which is most appropriate for diagnostic purpose awaits empiric evaluation in a disease population. Muscle Nerve 40: 772–794, 2009
Alternative splicing: Functional diversity among voltage-gated calcium channels and behavioral consequences

Neuronal voltage-gated calcium channels generate rapid, transient intracellular calcium signals in response to membrane depolarization. Neuronal Ca(V) channels regulate a range of cellular functions and are implicated in a variety of neurological and psychiatric diseases including epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, chronic pain, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. Each mammalian Cacna1 gene has the potential to generate tens to thousands of Ca(V) channels by alternative pre-mRNA splicing, a process that adds fine granulation to the pool of Ca(V) channel structures and functions. The precise composition of Ca(V) channel splice isoform mRNAs expressed in each cell are controlled by cell-specific splicing factors. The activity of splicing factors are in turn regulated by molecules that encode various cellular features, including cell-type, activity, metabolic states, developmental state, and other factors. The cellular and behavioral consequences of individual sites of Ca(V) splice isoforms are being elucidated, as are the cell-specific splicing factors that control splice isoform selection. Altered patterns of alternative splicing of Ca(V) pre-mRNAs can alter behavior in subtle but measurable ways, with the potential to influence drug efficacy and disease severity. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Calcium channels.
Viscoelastic Effect of FR-4 Material on Packaging Stress Development

In the microelectronics device, FR-4 material is one of the key component materials in the packaging structure. The structure of FR-4 is featured as a typical orthotropic polymer composite material reinforced with glass fiber. Although the material may exhibit viscoelastic behavior, the material is commonly regarded as temperature-dependent elastic one in the microelectronics reliability analysis. The purpose of this study is to investigate the material property modeling effect of FR-4 on the reliability prediction. To obtain the FR-4 material properties, a series of stress relaxation test was performed. Based on the data, the behavior of the FR-4 was modeled as orthotropic temperature-dependent elastic and viscoelastic. An analytical method was employed to calculate the engineering constants required for the calculations. The elastic calculation was performed by ANSYS, and the viscoelastic calculation by a FORTRAN program, respectively. The FORTRAN program was written separately, and capable of calculating the viscoealstic calculations when the material is orthotropic. Board on chip (BOC) packaging structure, a new type of the first level packaging for memory chip, was considered for the stress development analysis. The results were compared to examine the difference based on the FR-4 material property modeling.
New progestins—Clinical experiences: Gestodene

Gestodene, one of three new gonane progestins, is the most potent on a per weight basis in regard to progestational effects and has little or no estrogenic effect. In in vivo animal studies, gestodene also has less androgenic activity compared with progestins found in older combination oral contraceptive formulations. It binds to mineralocorticoid receptors and consequently is a competitive aldosterone inhibitor, leading to speculation that it may be beneficial in hypertensive patients. Numerous large clinical trials have shown that the combination of gestodene and ethinyl estradiol is as effective in preventing pregnancies as other oral contraceptives presently on the market. Irregular bleeding and spotting rates appear to be at least as good as older formulations. In general, studies show that the incidence of side effects associated with the progestin and estrogen components tends to be low, with very little impact on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. Gestodene-containing oral contraceptives have been associated with small increases in clotting factors, generally because of the estrogen component with compensatory changes in the fibrinolYtic system. Although gestodene-containing oral contraceptives have been used in Europe since 1987, they have not been available in the United States except for use in clinical trials. At present a triphasic formulation containing 50 to 100 μg of gestodene plus 30 to 40 of ethnyl estradiol is awaiting approval by the Food and Drug , Administration.
An 850 MHz current feedback operational amplifier

A monolithic DC-to-850 MHz, low-distortion current feedback operational amplifier fabricated in a complementary bipolar bonded wafer technology is described. Discussed are an approach for achieving low-input offset voltage without sacrificing common-mode range or gain bandwidth; design for expected package and board parasitics; the use of low-overhead, high-impedance signal mirrors in the gain stage; and inverting input bias current cancellation. The output clamp is described. A summary of the circuit's performance obtained from production and bench testing on multiple fabrication lots is presented. >
Automatic heuristic construction in a complete general game player

Computer game players are typically designed to play a single game: today's best chess-playing programs cannot play checkers, or even tic-tac-toe. General Game Playing is the problem of designing an agent capable of playing many different previously unseen games. The first AAAI General Game Playing Competition was held at AAAI 2005 in order to promote research in this area. In this article, we survey some of the issues involved in creating a general game playing system and introduce our entry to that event. The main feature of our approach is a novel method for automatically constructing effective search heuristics based on the formal game description. Our agent is fully implemented and tested in a range of different games.
Solar-Powered Aircraft: Energy-Optimal Path Planning and Perpetual Endurance

This paper considers energy-optimal path planning and perpetual endurance for unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with solar cells on the wings, which collect energy used to drive a propeller. Perpetual endurance is the ability to collect more energy than is lost during a day. This paper considers two unmanned aerial vehicle missions: 1) to travel between given positions within an allowed duration while maximizing the final value of energy and 2) to loiter perpetually from a given position, which requires perpetual endurance. For the first mission, the subsequent problem of energy-optimal path planning features the coupling of the aircraft kinematics and energetics models through the bank angle. The problem is then formulated as an optimal control problem, with the bank angle and speed as inputs. Necessary conditions for optimality are formulated and used to study the optimal paths. The power ratio, a nondimensional number, is shown to predict the qualitative features of the optimal paths. This ratio also quantifies a design requirement for the second mission. Specifically, perpetual endurance is possible if and only if the power ratio exceeds a certain threshold. Comparisons are made of this threshold between Earth and Mars. Implications of the power ratio for unmanned aerial vehicle design are also discussed. Several illustrations are given.
Haplotype structure and expression divergence at the Drosophila cellular immune gene eater

The protein Eater plays an important role in microbial recognition and defensive phagocytosis in Drosophila melanogaster. We sequenced multiple alleles of the eater gene from an African and a North American population of D. melanogaster and found signatures of a partial selective sweep in North America that is localized around the second intron. This pattern is consistent with local adaptation to novel selective pressures during range expansion out of Africa. The North American sample is divided into two predominant haplotype groups, and the putatively selected haplotype is associated with a significantly higher gene expression level, suggesting that gene regulation is a possible target of selection. The eater alleles contain from 22 to 40 repeat units that are characterized by the presence of a cysteine-rich NIM motif. NIM repeats in the structural stalk of the protein exhibit concerted evolution as a function of physical location in the repeat array. Several NIM repeats within eater have previously been implicated in binding to microbial ligands, a function which in principle might subject them to special evolutionary pressures. However, we find no evidence of elevated positive selection on these pathogen-interacting units. Our study presents an instance where gene expression rather than protein structure is thought to drive the adaptive evolution of a pathogen recognition molecule in the immune system.
Nucleation and crystal proliferation kinetics: Amorphous‐crystalline transformation of basic copper carbonates

The transformation of amorphous basic copper carbonate precipitates into the crystalline form in aqueous solutions was experimentally studied. The unique blue-to-green color change and drastic volume reduction of the precipitates in transition made continuous observation and quantitative determination of the transformation process feasible. The transformation, which involves both nucleation and crystal growth proliferation, was autocatalytic. Experimental results are in good agreement with the rate equation formulated on the two-stage kinetics model postulated for the system. Also studied were the effects of temperature and precipitate concentration on the rate of transformation. In the temperature range between 34° and 39°C., the apparent nucleation activation energy was 19.8 kcal./g.-mole.
Locating Hazardous Waste Facilities: The Influence of NIMBY Beliefs

The 'Not-In-My-Backyard' (NIMBY) syndrome is analyzed in economic decision making. Belief statements that reflect specific NIMBY concerns are subjected to factor analysis and the structure reveals two dimensions: tolerance and avoidance. Tolerance reflects an acceptance of rational economic arguments regarding the siting of a hazardous waste facility and avoidance reflects a more personal fear-of-consequences. Analysis identifies demographic characteristics of individuals likely to exhibit these two beliefs. These beliefs also are shown to influence the acceptance of a hazardous waste disposal facility in ones neighborhood when compensation is offered.
Enhanced synthesis of saturated phospholipids is associated with ER stress and lipotoxicity in palmitate treated hepatic cells

High levels of saturated FAs (SFAs) are acutely toxic to a variety of cell types, including hepatocytes, and have been associated with diseases such as type 2 diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. SFA accumulation has been previously shown to degrade endoplasmic reticulum (ER) function leading to other manifestations of the lipoapoptotic cascade. We hypothesized that dysfunctional phospholipid (PL) metabolism is an initiating factor in this ER stress response. Treatment of either primary hepatocytes or H4IIEC3 cells with the SFA palmitate resulted in dramatic dilation of the ER membrane, coinciding with other markers of organelle dysfunction. This was accompanied by increased de novo glycerolipid synthesis, significant elevation of dipalmitoyl phosphatidic acid, diacylglycerol, and total PL content in H4IIEC3 cells. Supplementation with oleate (OA) reversed these markers of palmitate (PA)-induced lipotoxicity. OA/PA cotreatment modulated the distribution of PA between lipid classes, increasing the flux toward triacylglycerols while reducing its incorporation into PLs. Similar trends were demonstrated in both primary hepatocytes and the H4IIEC3 hepatoma cell line. Overall, these findings suggest that modifying the FA composition of structural PLs can protect hepatocytes from PA-induced ER stress and associated lipotoxicity.
Increased Adhesion of Erythrocytes to Components of the Extracellular Matrix: Isolation and Characterization of a Red Blood Cell Lipid That Binds Thrombospondin and Laminin

Red blood cell (RBC) adhesion to the vascular endothelium is increased in several pathologic conditions, including sickle cell disease and malaria. However, RBC interactions with components of the subendothelial matrix are not well-characterized. Under in vitro flow conditions of 1 dyne/cm2, washed RBCs bound to the purified adhesive molecules thrombospondin (TSP) and laminin. Sickle RBCs had the greatest adhesion of all tested RBCs. The adhesion of sickle RBCs to immobilized TSP was inhibited by the anionic polysaccharides high molecular weight (MW) dextran sulfate and chondroitin sulfate A, but not other anionic polysaccharides of similar structure and/or charge density. These data were consistent with the RBC adhesive molecule being a sulfated glycolipid. Therefore, TSP-binding lipids from normal and sickle RBCs were isolated and characterized. The TSP-binding lipid was purified by alkaline methanolysis, anion exchange chromatography and preparative thin layer chromatography (TLC). A homogeneous band on TLC was identified using a specific overlay TSP-binding assay. TSP binding to the purified lipid was stable to bass and neuraminidase treatment, labile to acid treatment, and was inhibited by high MW dextran sulfate, similar to that seen with intact RBCs binding to immobilized TSP under conditions of flow. In addition, soluble laminin bound to the purified RBC lipid. This acidic TSP- and laminin-binding lipid(s) isolated from both sickle and normal RBC membranes may contribute to erythrocyte interactions with the subendothelial matrix, hereby participating in the pathogenesis of vaso-occlusive diseases.
The Language of Lobbying: The Role of Lobbyist-Proposed Language in the Formulation of State Policy in New England

How do lobbyists influence the legislative process? The influence of lobbyists, particularly at the federal level has been widely reported on. Over 15,000 registered lobbyists spent more than 3 billion dollars in 2008 attempting to influence Congress. Scholars have noted a similar trend in the states, where both the number and importance of lobbying has increased sharply since the late 1980s. Despite the growth of lobbying at both levels, as well as a corresponding expansion of scholarly interest, we still lack a clear understanding of precisely how lobbying actually 'influences' legislative outcomes. The scholarly debate has coalesced around two distinct approaches to the study of lobbying: exchange and persuasion theories. Each approach captures important aspects of the lobbying process, but both seek to explain how lobbying directly affects legislative behavior. As such, they face the challenge of demonstrating that a specific legislative act is in fact a product of lobbying and not some other factor. To address this weakness in the lobbying literature, this paper proposes an alternative approach that looks at the role of lobbyist-proposed language inserted into committee reports and bill filings as an indicator of the 'influence' lobbying has on the legislative process. We have sought to test this relationship through a survey analysis of contract lobbyists, legislators and legislative staff at the state level in the six New England states.
Impact of Molecular Conformation on Barriers to Internal Methyl Rotation: The Rotational Spectrum of m-Methylbenzaldehyde

The ground state spectrum of m-methylbenzaldehyde (m-MBA) was measured with a chirped-pulse Fourier transform microwave (CP-FTMW) spectrometer. The methyl rotor on m-MBA introduces an internal rotation barrier, which leads to splitting of the torsional energy level degeneracy into A and E states. Ab initio calculations predict a low torsional barrier for both the O-cis and O-trans conformers, resulting in a large doublet splitting up to several gigahertz in the frequency spectrum. The rotational constants, distortion terms, and V3 values for both species have been determined from the ground state rotational spectrum using the BELGI-Cs fitting program. There are significant differences in the torsional potential for the O-cis and O-trans m-MBA conformers. Molecular orbitals and resonance structures for each conformer are analyzed to understand the difference in torsional barrier height as well as the irregular shape of the O-trans torsional potential.
The Firebird of the national imaginary: The myth of Russian culture and its discontents:

This article considers the origins of the Russian obsession with culture. Focusing on the last third of the nineteenth century, when in the aftermath of the Great Reforms of the 1860s Russia experi...
Inhibition of calcification in vitro by luteocobalti chloride.

Summary1. Luteocobalti chloride inhibits calcification in vitro when tibial sections are exposed to its action, either prior to their exposure to the calcifying solution, or concomitant therewith. The inhibition is antagonized by calcium ions. 2. That the luteocobalti cation deposits on the surface of the epiphyseal plate can be seen because of its color. This deposit is prevented by calcium ions. 3. The capacity of tibial sections to bind luteocobalti chloride is destroyed by their preliminary exposure to trypsin.
Macrophage lipoprotein receptors.

Summary Macrophages possess a number of surface receptors that are capable of mediating the internaliz­ ation of lipoproteins. The low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor of human monocyte macro­ phages recognizes apolipoprotein B-100 and apolipoprotein E and is rapidly regulated in response to changes in intracellular cholesterol levels. In contrast, in J774 macrophages LDL receptor regulation is defective and LDL can cause massive cholesterol accumulation. The ft migrating very low density lipoprotein (/3-VLDL) receptor is poorly regulated by cellular cholesterol concen­ trations, readily recognizes apolipoprotein E, poorly recognizes apolipoprotein B-100, and is immunologically related to the LDL receptor. The scavenger receptor (acetyl-LDL receptor) appears to have a molecular weight of 250 000 and is not regulated by cellular cholesterol levels. This receptor recognizes LDL that has been chemically or biologically altered. LDL complexes can also enter macrophages and cause cholesterol accumulation. Examples of such complexes are LDL-dextran sulphate complexes, LDL-proteoglycan aggregates, LDL-mast cell granule complexes, LDL-heparin-fibronectin-denatured collagen complexes, and LDL-antibody com­ plexes. The entry of lipoprotein into macrophages by a pathway that is poorly regulated or is not regulated by cellular cholesterol concentrations appears to be a prerequisite for the formation of arterial foam cells.
Progress of classification and detection methods of rodenticide

The paper summarizes the classification and detection methods of rodenticide. In the past 10 years,the detection methods of rodenticideinclude ultraviolet spectrophotometry,thin-layer chromatography,ion chromatography,gas chromatography(GC)and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS),high performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)with UV-detector,HPLC with fluorescence detector,and HPLC-MS/MS. Rodenticide detection is gradually changing from early UV detection to GC/MS and LC-MS/MS,from single-component detection to multi-component simultaneous detection. The future research focuses on the preparation methods of different samples and multi-component detection with high sensitivity.
Correction to "Sharp p-Divisibility of Weights in Abelian Codes Over ${\BBZ}/p^d{\BBZ}$ " [Dec 08 5354-5380]

This corrects a proposition and its proof in the paper “Sharp $p$ -Divisibility of Weights in Abelian Codes over ${\BBZ}/p^d{\BBZ}$ ” by Daniel J. Katz (2008). This proposition was used to prove further results in the paper. The rest of the paper (including the main results and all other claims, and their proofs) stands as written, for it is not at all sensitive to the change.
Neonatal Gastrointestinal Mucosal Immunity

The gastrointestinal mucosal immune system is immature early in life. This puts the newborn infant at risk for infectious and allergic diseases. Breast milk contains cells, immunoglobulins, and antimicrobial substances which may be important for host defense. With age and proper nutrition the gastrointestinal mucosal immune system matures and becomes important in host defense.
Medical Marijuana-Opportunities and Challenges.

Over the recent years, public and political opinions have demonstrated increasing support for the legalization of medical marijuana. To date, 24 states as well as the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis for medical use, 4 states have legalized the recreational use of Marijuana [1]. Marijuana is derived from the hemp plant Cannabis sativa. Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the major psychoactive constituent of cannabis, while cannabidiol (CBD) is the major non-psychoactive constituent. THC is a partial agonist at CB1 and CB2 receptors, while CBD at high levels is an antagonist CB1 and CB2 [2]. CB1 is abundantly expressed in the brain, and CB2 is expressed on immune cells (expression of CB2 on neurons remains controversial) [3]. The brain also produces endogenous cannabis-like substances (endocannabinoids) that bind and activate the CB1/CB2 receptors [4]. There is tremendous interest in harnessing the therapeutic potential of plant-derived and synthetic cannabinoids. Evidently, more preclinical and clinical research should be done to help better understand the benefits and pitfalls of medical marijuana. This Editorial provides an overview of diseases that may be treated by cannabinoids. The list is meant to be representative but not comprehensive.
A MATERIALS MODEL FOR STRAIN SOFTENING WITH APPLICATIONS IN MODELING STRAIN LOCALIZATION

ABSTRACT An advanced model of nonelastic deformation is proposed which is capable of predicting strain softening in metals during complex non-proportional loading histories. The model, an extension of the MATMOD constitutive equations, now includes representations of the effects of microstructural heterogeneity, strain-activated recovery, and colinearity of internal stress and strain rate; these additions underly the model's ability to predict strain softening in aluminum. This ability is utilized by coupling the new model, MATM0D-4V, with a model of strain localization. Model predictions of strain softening and strain localization caused by strain softening demonstrate some of the capabilities of MATMOD-4V.
The Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians (FAECT):: The Politics and Social Practice of Labor

During the 1930s, as unemployment among architects and draftsmen in the United States reached 90 percent or more, these practitioners joined with other technical workers to form the Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians (FAECT). From 1933 until after World War II, the FAECT served as a trade union and activist organization for the purpose of securing higher wages, employment benefits, and labor rights. For architectural workers the organization also focused on a commitment to affordable housing and the efficiency of manufactured housing. Through its publications, the FAECT Bulletin and Technical America , the Federation debated key issues and promoted its advocacy to members nationwide. In The Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians (FAECT): The Politics and Social Practice of Labor , Mardges Bacon examines how the FAECT provides a historical model of solidarity and activism for future practitioners in the architecture profession.