cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Binge-like Postnatal Alcohol Exposure Triggers Cortical Gliogenesis in Adolescent Rats

The long-term effects of binge-like alcohol exposure on cell proliferation and differentiation in the adolescent rat neocortex were examined. Unlike the hippocampal dentate gyrus, where proliferation of progenitors results primarily in addition of granule cells in adulthood, the vast majority of newly generated cells in the intact mature rodent neocortex appear to be glial cells. The current study examined cytogenesis in the motor cortex of adolescent and adult rats that were exposed to 5.25 g/kg/day of alcohol on postnatal days (PD) 4–9 in a binge manner. Cytogenesis was examined at PD 50 (through bromodeoxyuridine, BrdU, labeling) and survival of these newly generated cells was evaluated at PD80. At PD50, significantly more BrdU positive cells were present in the motor cortex of alcohol-exposed rats than controls. Confocal analysis revealed that the majority (>60%) of these labeled cells also expressed NG2 chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan (NG2 glia). Additionally, survival of these newly generated cortical cells was affected by neonatal alcohol exposure, based on the greater reduction in the number of BrdU-labeled cells from PD50 to PD80 in the alcohol-exposed animals compared to controls. These findings demonstrate that neonatal alcohol exposure triggers an increase in gliogenesis in the adult motor cortex.
Kudzu fiber-reinforced polypropylene composite

Kudzu fiber-reinforced polypropylene composites were prepared, and their mechanical and thermal properties were determined. To enhance the adhesion between the kudzu fiber and the polypropylene matrix, maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (MAPP) was used as a compatibilizer. A continuous improvement in both tensile modulus and tensile strength was observed up to a MAPP concentration of 35 wt %. Increases of 24 and 54% were obtained for tensile modulus and tensile strength, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed improved dispersion and adhesion with MAPP. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy showed an increase in hydrogen bonding with an increase in MAPP content. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis indicated little change in the melting temperature of the composites with changes in MAPP content. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 85: 1961–1969, 2002
Technocracy and Gender in the Workplace

Technocracy, the most recent in a series of different types of workplace control, is analyzed, particularly with regard to its gender implications. Technocratic organization is characterized by: (I) polarization into expert and non-expert sectors and the erosion of internal labor markets in favor of external credentialing, (2) flexible configurations of centralization/ decentralization, (3) skill restructuring, (4) increased importance of expertise rather than rank authority as the primary basis of organizational authority, and (5) technocratic ideology of apolitical decision making based on technical imperatives and system maintenance. These changes have particular implications for women because they structure economic opportunity in new and yet still gendered ways.
Dilute fluid suspensions

A special case of the theory of oriented fluids has been proposed as a model for the flow of dilute suspensions. The paper shows how the proposed theory may be regarded as an analogy of the classical theory of binary mixtures.
Dynamic price competition with discrete customer choices

Abstract For many years, dynamic pricing has proven to be an effective tool to increase revenue in the airline and other service industries. Most studies, however, focused on monopolistic models and ignored the fact that nowadays consumers can easily compare prices on the Internet. In this paper, we develop a game-theoretic model to describe real-time dynamic price competition between firms that sell substitutable products. By assuming the real-time inventory levels of all firms are public information, we show the existence of Nash equilibrium. We then discuss how a firm can adapt if it knows only the initial – but not the real-time – inventory levels of its competitors. We compare a firm’s expected revenue under different information structures through numerical experiments.
The approach of pp and pp elastic scattering to “asymptopia”☆

We have previously made a model-free analysis of the t = 0 amplitude for pp and pp elastic scattering using data in the energy region 5<√s<62 GeV. We use our high-energy values of σtot and ϱ to fix the energy dependence of the Chou-Yang model of elastic scattering and compute the differential elastic scattering cross sections, dσn/dt, at large −t. In this note, we show that this model, which is dominated at low energies by the matter distribution of the pp (pp) system, goes over at SSC energy, 40 TeV, essentially into a structureless black disk. The curvature parameter, C = (12)d2[log(dσn/dt]/dt2 at t=0, is a sensitive indicator of this transition to “asymptopia”, being positive at ISR energies, going through zero near √s=2 TeV (the tevatron collider), and becoming very negative at √s=40 TezV (the SSC), where the predictions for the Chou-Yang model are hardly distinguishable from those for a sharp disk, after the diffraction minima have been filled in by the contribution of the real part.
Maximizing SIMD resource utilization in GPGPUs with SIMD lane permutation

Current GPUs maintain high programmability by abstracting the SIMD nature of the hardware as independent concurrent threads of control with hardware responsible for generating predicate masks to utilize the SIMD hardware for different flows of control. This dynamic masking leads to poor utilization of SIMD resources when the control of different threads in the same SIMD group diverges. Prior research suggests that SIMD groups be formed dynamically by compacting a large number of threads into groups, mitigating the impact of divergence. To maintain hardware efficiency, however, the alignment of a thread to a SIMD lane is fixed, limiting the potential for compaction. We observe that control frequently diverges in a manner that prevents compaction because of the way in which the fixed alignment of threads to lanes is done. This paper presents an in-depth analysis on the causes for ineffective compaction. An important observation is that in many cases, control diverges because of programmatic branches, which do not depend on input data. This behavior, when combined with the default mapping of threads to lanes, severely restricts compaction. We then propose SIMD lane permutation (SLP) as an optimization to expand the applicability of compaction in such cases of lane alignment. SLP seeks to rearrange how threads are mapped to lanes to allow even programmatic branches to be compacted effectively, improving SIMD utilization up to 34% accompanied by a maximum 25% performance boost.
Grain scale simulations of loose sedimentary beds: the example of grain-bed impacts in aeolian saltation

Sediment transport by wind is one of many processes of interest to the geomorphologist in which grain to grain contacts play an important role. In order to illustrate the modelling of collections of frictional, inelastic sedimentary grains with the particle dynamics method (PDM), we use the grain impact process in aeolian saltation as a specific example. In PDM, all the forces on each particle are evaluated at a sequence of small time-steps, and the Newtonian equations of motion are integrated forward in time. Interparticle forces at grain contacts are treated as springs with prescribed stiffness (normal force) and by a Coulomb friction law (tangential force); particle inelasticity is represented by spring damping. The granular splash resulting from saltation impacts is assessed for sensitivity to the choice of grain properties, and the integration time-step. We find that for the range of impact speeds and impactor masses relevant to aeolian settings, grain splashes are relatively insensitive to grain stiffness, grain inelasticity and grain friction, and that the pattern of ejection from the bed is largely controlled by bed microtopography. A large set of impact realizations involving a variety of impact points on a small set of target beds is used to collect the appropriate statistics for describing the stochastic splash process. The splash function representing these statistics is then available for use in calculations over longer time-scales, such as the evolution of the saltation curtain. The details given here will enable the interested reader to adapt PDM modelling to other types of clastic sedimentary systems.
Some apparently simple relationships involving missing scutellar bristles in scute mutants of Drosophila melanogaster

An analysis of the presence or absence of the anterior and posterior scutellar bristles on the left and right sides of scute-bearing Drosophila melanogaster and of the distribution of the 16 possible patterns of the four scutellar bristles among 2893 males suggests the following: (1) that scutellar bristles are commonly present or absent in frequencies involving powers of 1/2; and (2) that observed excesses of symmetrical classes can be accounted for by the detection of potentially asymmetrical flies and their subsequent correction. ‘Corrected’ asymmetrical flies seem to be converted with equal frequencies into one or the other of the corresponding symmetrical ones. An explanatory model has not been constructed; the precise ratios, however, suggest that correspondingly precise chromosomal events are involved.
Phase III results in Genotype 1 naïve patients: predictors of response with boceprevir and telaprevir combined with pegylated interferon and ribavirin

The addition of telaprevir or boceprevir to pegylated interferon (PEG-INF) and ribavirin (RBV) has improved sustained viral response (SVR) rates in genotype-1-infected individuals. The recent publication of Phase III trials has made it possible to examine pretreatment and on-treatment predictors of response in genotype 1 naive patients. Both telaprevir- and boceprevir-based therapy improve SVR rates in most treatment groups including individuals who are difficult-to-treat such as those with a high viral load, Black patients and those with advanced fibrosis. Although data sets were not complete, patients with IL28B CT and TT genotype appear to significantly improve when these agents are combined with PEG-INF and RBV. The presence of the IL-28B CC genotype appears to be predictive for a short duration of therapy. On-treatment viral response is also predictive of the SVR: approximately half of the patients are successfully treated with short duration and response-guided therapy.
Nonlinear effects on impurity segregation in edge dislocation strain fields

Elastic field coupling to solute concentration is known to produce dislocation-driven impurity segregation. Recent reports detailing the distribution of boron around edge dislocations in B2-ordered FeAl indicate that nonlinear coupling of species concentration and elastic strain to the chemical potential must be considered to assess the magnitude of boron segregation around edge dislocations. One type of nonlinear coupling spatially shifts the solute distribution relative to the dislocation strain field, while another maintains the centers of the respective distributions.
Soluble model involving four identical particles

Using a nonrelativistic field theoretic formalism, a soluble model of scattering involving four identical spinless particles is developed and solved numerically. In addition to the elementary "nucleon" (the $n$), two composite particles meant to approximate the deuteron and triton are introduced with the couplings $d\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}n+n$ and $t\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}d+n$. By consistently excluding all particle-exchange contributions to the three-body sector, four-body integral equations are obtained for the two-to-two processes: $nt\ensuremath{\rightarrow}nt$, $nt\ensuremath{\rightarrow}dd$ as well as for $dd\ensuremath{\rightarrow}dd$ and $dd\ensuremath{\rightarrow}nt$. Numerical solutions of the equations are found to satisfy unitarity constraints above the two-, three-, and four-body thresholds. The positions of the four-body bound states are obtained and a complete phase shift calculation is performed. The sum of the total three- and four-body breakup cross sections predicted by the model are displayed as a function of energy and the angular distributions for all 2 \ensuremath{\rightarrow} 2 reactions are compared with the four-nucleon data.NUCLEAR REACTIONS Four-body problem. Spinless model of the four-nucleon system.
Influences of Storm-Embedded Orographic Gravity Waves on Cloud Liquid Water and Precipitation

Abstract This study illustrates opportunities for much improved orographic quantitative precipitation forecasting, determination of orographic cloud seedability, and flash flood prediction through state-of-the-art remote sensing and numerical modeling of gravity wave clouds. Wintertime field observations with multiple remote sensors, corroborated in this and related papers with a mesoscale–cloud scale numerical simulation, confirm that storm-embedded gravity waves can have a strong and persistent influence on orographic cloud liquid water (CLW) and precipitation. Where parallel mountain ridges dominate the landscape, an upwind ridge can force the wave action, and a downwind ridge can receive the precipitation. The 1995 Arizona Program was conducted in such terrain. In the scenario examined, traveling waves cyclically caused prefrontal cross-barrier winds that produced gravity waves. Significant cloud bands associated with the waves carried substantial moisture to the area. With the passage and waning of t...
A two-scale model for an array of AFM's cantilever in the static case

The primary objective of this paper is to present a simplified model for an array of Atomic Force Microscopes (AFMs) operating in static mode. Its derivation is based on the asymptotic theory of thin plates initiated by P. Ciarlet and P. Destuynder and on the two-scale convergence introduced by M. Lenczner which generalizes the theory of G. Nguetseng and G. Allaire. As an example, we investigate in full detail a particular configuration, which leads to a very simple model for the array. Aspects of the theory for this configuration are illustrated through simulation results. Finally the formulation of our theory of two-scale convergence is fully revisited. All the proofs are reformulated in a significantly simpler manner.
Nucleotide sequence of the P1 attachment-protein gene of Mycoplasma pneumoniae

Abstract The specific attachment of Mycoplasma pneumoniae to the respiratory ciliated epithelium is mediated by a surface protein designated P1. The nucleotide (nt) sequence of the P1 attachment-protein gene has been determined and the amino acid (aa) sequence deduced. mRNA and cDNA sequencing confirm that this gene is transcribed in M. pneumoniae. The predicted amino acid sequence matches the N-terminal 12 aa residues of P1 protein from M. pneumoniae [Jacobs et al. J. Gen. Microbiol. 133 (1987) 2233–2236] beginning with Asn at aa position 60, where aa 1 represents the first codon of the open reading frame (ORF). Notably, the Trp at aa position 69 aligns with a UGA codon deduced from the nucleotide sequence, providing supporting evidence that UGA is read as Trp rather than stop in M. pneumoniae. Analysis of the first 59 aa suggests that it is probably a leader sequence that is processed to yield the mature protein. The codons of the mature P1 protein sequence represent 1568 aa with a calculated Mr of 169758. A unique feature of this protein sequence is the lack of cysteine, and this was confirmed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacryamide gel electrophoresis of M. pneumoniae proteins metabolically labeled with radioactive cysteine or methionine. This study has revealed that the 4881 nt of the P1 structural gene are flanked by ORFs, and there are no obvious ribosome-binding sites or transcription termination sequences in the immediately adjacent regions. This suggests that the P1 gene is transcribed as part of a larger polycistronic message. In addition, a number of untran scribed and therefore nonfunctional P1 epitope sequences were found in the M. pneumoniae genome; their purpose remains unknown.
Corporate fictions: Cameron Hawley and the institutions of postwar capitalism

This article reads the novels of Cameron Hawley as examples of ‘corporate fictions’, the many post-World War II novels that take as their subject the modern corporation, its organizational structure, and its managerial practices. Through a survey of the history of the corporation in America and a reading of the management theory of Peter Drucker, the article identifies a postwar trend towards ‘corporate liberalism’, the belief that the unregulated corporation can be led by ethical management to serve the public good. I argue that Hawley aligns the practice of literature with the practice of management when he attempts to imagine and prescribe through fiction a harmonious solution to the contradictions of the modern corporation.
Dissecting the role of molecular motors in the mitotic spindle

Accurate segregation of genetic material during both mitosis and meiosis is essential for the viability of future cellular generations. Genetic material is packaged in the form of chromosomes during cell division, and chromosomes are segregated equally into two daughter cells by a dynamic, microtubule-based structure known as the spindle. Molecular motor proteins of the kinesin and dynein superfamilies are essential players in the functional microanatomy of cell division. They power various aspects of spindle assembly and function, including establishing spindle bipolarity, spindle pole organization, chromosome alignment and segregation, regulating microtubule dynamics, and cytokinesis. This review highlights the roles that various members of the kinesin and dynein motor superfamilies play during mitosis and meiosis. Understanding how microtubule motors function during cell division will unravel how the spindle precisely segregates chromosomes, and may offer insights into the molecular basis of disease states that arise from spindle malfunctions. For example, chromosome non-disjunction during meiosis causes such disorders as Klinefelter, Turner, and Down Syndromes. Chromosome non-disjunction during mitosis is an important contributing mechanism for tumor progression. In addition, since motor proteins are essential for spindle assembly and function, they provide obvious targets for intervention into the cell division cycle, and compounds that specifically block motor functions during mitosis may prove to be valuable chemotherapeutic agents. Anat Rec (New Anat) 261:14-24, 2000.
Herpetomonas, with Bacterium‐like Inclusions, in Malaysian Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus*

SYNOPSIS Herpetomonas sp. was found repeatedly in the Malpighian tubules of laboratory-reared male and female Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in Malaysia. The flagellates occurred irregularly, in batches, and were absent during long periods. The data suggest an exogenous source of infection for the mosquitoes, presumably from another insect, probably of another genus. Thirty to 40% of the flagellates of Aedes contained intracytoplasmic rod-shaped structures strongly resembling bacteria. These were found often in groups suggesting intracellular multiplication. They were passed to the Herpetomonas daughter cells during division. Parasitism of Aedes by Herpetomonas is extremely unusual, only one previous record, an inconclusive one, having been found. Parasitism by Herpetomonas containing bacterium-like rods has apparently never been reported.
Tandem separation schemes for preparative high-performance liquid chromatography of proteins.

Abstract Preparative chromatography of protein mixtures was carried out by tandem separation schemes involving frontal chromatography followed by stepwise desorption or displacement. In this way, with columns and instruments generally employed in analytical high-performance liquid chromatography, proteins could be purified in quantities similar to those typically separated by a preparative-scale system. A mixture of β-lactoglobulin A and B was loaded onto an anion-exchange column, and, in the process, a large fraction of the less-retained β-lactoglobulin B was recovered in pure form. The column was then flushed with the carrier, and subsequent desorption of the substances bound on the stationary phase was carried out by single-step desorption, two-step desorption, or displacement. With this mixture, the last two methods yielded approximately the same results in terms of the amount of product obtained per unit column volume. Whereas stepwise desorption is a simpler technique than displacement, the latter is required for the separation of components having similar adsorption behavior. In another set of experiments, a protein mixture obtained by heat treatment of human growth hormone was fractionated on a reversed-phase column. After loading the column by frontal chromatography, which separated a large fraction of the main product from the other components retained by the column, four desorption steps were applied to recover the individual components. These separation schemes offer an approach to preparative chromatography of proteins that is superior to conventional linear elution in terms of column load capacity, low mobile phase consumption, simultaneous separation and concentration, as well as enrichment of trace components.
A Survey of Bee Species Found Pollinating Watermelons in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas

Using a combination of flower traps and visual observations, we surveyed three watermelon (Citrullus lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. & Nakai) fields in the Lower Rio Grande Valley to determine what bees inhabit this crop in this region. No managed honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) hives were in any of the fields; however, two contained managed hives of the common eastern bumble bee, Bombus impatiens (Cresson). A total of 15 species were collected or observed from all three fields combined. Of these species, only four were found to be very abundant: Agapostemon angelicus Cockerell/texanus Cresson, A. mellifera, Lasioglossum coactum (Cresson), and Melissodes thelypodii Cockerell. Apis mellifera comprised 46% of all bees collected from all three fields combined and was highly abundant in two of the three fields. In the third field, however, A. mellifera and Agapostemon angelicus/texanus were equally abundant. Surprisingly, B. impatiens comprised only 1% of the total bees surveyed in all three fields combined, despite two of the fields having several managed hives each. As B. impatiens is not native to this region, it was not surprising that none were collected or observed in the field with no managed hives.
Renormalization, vortices, and symmetry-breaking perturbations in the two-dimensional planar model

The classical planar Heisenberg model is studied at low temperatures by means of renormalization theory and a series of exact transformations. A numerical study of the Migdal recursion relation suggests that models with short-range isotropic interactions rapidly become equivalent to a simplified model system proposed by Villain. A series of exact transformations then allows us to treat the Villain model analytically at low temperatures. To lowest order in a parameter which becomes exponentially small with decreasing temperature, we reproduce results obtained previously by Kosterlitz. We also examine the effect of symmetry-breaking crystalline fields on the isotropic planar model. A numerical study of the Migdal recursion scheme suggests that these fields (which must occur in real quasi-two-dimensional crystals) are strongly relevant variables, leading to critical behavior distinct from that found for the planar model. However, a more exact low-temperature treatment of the Villain model shows that hexagonal crystalline fields eventually become irrelevant at temperatures below the ${T}_{c}$ of the isotropic model. Isotropic planar critical behavior should be experimentally accessible in this case. Nonuniversal behavior may result if cubic crystalline fields dominate the symmetry breaking. Interesting duality transformations, which aid in the analysis of symmetry-breaking fields are also discussed.
Circulating Antibodies to Egg Albumin in Man.

Summary1) Sera from 1086 patients admitted to a general hospital and from 38 medical students were examined for antibodies to egg albumin using both a microprecipitin technic and a very sensitive hemagglutination technic. 2) Of 450 sera examined by the microprecipitin technic, all were negative. 3) Only 15 patients of the 1124 or 1.3% were found to have antibodies by the hemagglutination technic. Their HA titers ranged from 25 to 2190 with a median of 80. None of these HA positive sera contained precipitins. 4) Five of these patients with circulating antibody had abdominal complaints, 4 were pregnant and the remaining 6 had miscellaneous illnesses.
PEELING AND BOND-POINT PROPAGATION IN A SELF-ADHERED ELASTICA

The problem of an elastic strip which is closed on itself and bonded over an interior region is considered for the case where the edges of the strip are subjected to transverse loading
A Macroscopic Traffic Data-Assimilation Framework Based on the Fourier–Galerkin Method and Minimax Estimation

In this paper, we propose a new framework for macroscopic traffic state estimation. Our approach is a robust “discretize” then “optimize” strategy, based on the Fourier–Galerkin projection method and minimax state estimation. We assign a Fourier–Galerkin reduced model to a macroscopic model of traffic flow, described by a hyperbolic partial differential equation. Taking into account a priori estimates for the projection error, we apply the minimax method to construct the state estimate for the reduced model that gives us, in turn, the estimate of the Fourier–Galerkin coefficients associated with a solution of the original macroscopic model. We illustrate our approach with a numerical example that demonstrates its shock capturing capability using only sparse measurements and under high uncertainty in initial conditions. We present implementation details for our algorithm, as well as a comparison of our method against the ensemble Kalman filter applied to a “local” discretization of the same traffic flow model.
Photodriven electron and energy transfer from a light-harvesting metallodendrimer.

Intermolecular electron and energy transfer from a light-harvesting metallodendrimer [Ru{bpy(C-450)4}3]2+, where bpy(C-450)4 is a 2,2‘-bipyridine derivative containing 4 coumarin-450 units connected together through aryl ether linkages, is observed in acetonitrile solutions at room temperature. The model complex [Ru(dmb)3]2+, where dmb is 4,4‘-dimethyl-2,2‘-bipyridine, is included for quantitative comparison. The excited states of both compounds are metal-to-ligand charge transfer in nature and participate in excited-state electron and triplet energy transfer processes. Quenching constants were determined from luminescence and time-resolved absorption experiments at constant ionic strength. [Ru{bpy(C-450)4}3]2+ displays significantly slower quenching rates to molecular oxygen and methyl viologen relative to the other processes investigated. Triplet energy transfer from [Ru{bpy(C-450)4}3]2+ to 9-methylanthracene is quantitatively indistinguishable from [Ru(dmb)3]2+ while reductive electron transfer from ph...
In vivo murine and in vitro M-like cell models of gastrointestinal anthrax.

Abstract Bacillus anthracis is the causative agent of anthrax and is acquired by three routes of infection: inhalational, gastrointestinal and cutaneous. Gastrointestinal (GI) anthrax is rare, but can rapidly result in severe, systemic disease that is fatal in 25%–60% of cases. Disease mechanisms of GI anthrax remain unclear due to limited numbers of clinical cases and the lack of experimental animal models. Here, we developed an in vivo murine model of GI anthrax where spore survival was maximized through the neutralization of stomach acid followed by an intragastric administration of a thiabendazole paste spore formulation. Infected mice showed a dose-dependent mortality rate and pathological features closely mimicking human GI anthrax. Since Peyer's patches in the murine intestine are the primary sites of B. anthracis growth, we developed a human M (microfold)-like-cell model using a Caco-2/Raji B-cell co-culturing system to study invasive mechanisms of GI anthrax across the intestinal epithelium. Translocation of B. anthracis spores was higher in M-like cells than Caco-2 monolayers, suggesting that M-like cells may serve as an initial entry site for spores. Here, we developed an in vivo murine model of GI anthrax and an in vitro M-like cell model that could be used to further our knowledge of GI anthrax pathogenesis.
Knowledge and Opinions About Social Security

This study of a probability sample of 2,207 adult Alabama residents found respondents to be relatively well informed about the major features of the Social Security retirement system. Level of knowledge, however, was not systematically related to public preferences for recently advanced policy alternatives for the system.
Spectroscopic study of sorption of nitrogen heterocyclic compounds on phyllosilicates

The present study focused on understanding the sorption characteristics of acridine (AcN) and acridine-9-carboxylic acid (AcNCOOH), two typical nitrogen heterocyclic compounds (NHCs), on well-characterized phyllosilicates (hectorite, saponite, and muscovite). Results presented in this article show that the degree of sorption of NHCs on phyllosilicates was dependent on the nature of the participating sorbates and sorbents. Sorption of the selected NHCs was pH-dependent, with maximum sorption occurring at low pH conditions, especially at pH < pK{sub a} of the NHC. Though sorption of the cationic forms of the NHCs on clays was preferred, neutral, zwitterionic, and anionic species of NHCs also sorbed on the clay surfaces. Spectroscopic studies have shown that sorbed NHC molecules formed clusters on clay surfaces, which acted as templates for molecular aggregation. Finally, the authors have also found that the clay surfaces promoted protonation of neutral AcN molecules at low sorbate concentrations.
Femtosecond Dynamics of a Simple Merocyanine Dye: Does Deprotonation Compete with Isomerization?

The primary photochemistry of the trans isomer of a simple merocyanine dye of the stilbazolium betaine type 1-methyl-4-(4‘-hydroxytyryl)pyridinium betaine (Mtrans) and its conjugate acid MH+trans in aqueous solution is studied by femtosecond time-resolved pump probe spectroscopy. The measured rate of the primary photodynamics is determined to be k = 1.1 × 1012 s-1 for Mtrans at pH 10 and 0.8 × 1012 s-1 for MH+trans at pH 6. This was assigned to either conformational changes or a simple vibrational relaxation before the actual isomerization takes place. Wavelength excitation studies give support for the former assignment. These results are discussed in terms of the recent results found for the primary processes of retinal in bacteriorhodopsin. Time-resolved transient measurements show that no excited-state deprotonation of MH+trans occurs in aqueous solutions at pH 6 or pH 0, suggesting that the deprotonation occurs on a longer time scale than the picosecond time domain. This is in agreement with present t...
Spinal afferents to SI and SII of the rat thalamus.

Abstract Spinal pathways projecting to thalamic SI and SII regions were delineated by by the following procedure: A site was localized stereotactically in SII which responded to tactile stimulation of the hind leg; input was then interrupted by partial ablation of the spinal cord or lower medulla; then a site in SI was localized which responded to tactile stimulation of the same peripheral field, and further ablation of the spinal cord was performed to abolish this response. In one series of experiments, localization of the hind leg region was done in SI first, and in addition, electrical stimulation of the dorsal funiculi was performed to investigate the possibility of interactions between collaterals of dorsal funicular fibers and the cells of origin of other ascending pathways. Results indicated that input to SI ascends in the dorsal funiculus, whereas input to SII ascends in the ventral quadrant (both corssed and uncrossed) and in the dorsal part of the lateral funiculus. The pathway to SI represents the classical dorsal funiculusmedial lemniscus system. Pathways ascending in the ventral quadrant appear to be equivalent to the spinothalamic tract, and the pathway ascending in the dorsal lateral funiculus appears to correspond to the spinocervical tract of the cat. Further, it was ascertained that collaterals of dorsal funicular fibers synapse with neurons which form the spinocervical tract and with those which form the spinothalamic tract.
Effects of goal-related motivational states on the orienting of spatial attention

Three experiments are presented indicating that motivational processes arising from incentive and feedback signals exert specific effects on the orienting of visual spatial attention. Subjects played a video game in which targets were presented in one of two peripheral locations. Pre-target cues were employed to orient attention to a location where points could be gained (positive incentive cue), to a location where points could be lost (negative incentive cue) or to neither location (neutral cue). Cost-benefit analyses were used to assess the consequences of such orienting. Although there was no evidence of general attentional biases favoring positive over negative incentives, all three experiments demonstrated an interaction between the incentive value of the current trial and the outcome of the previous trial. Following unsuccessful outcomes, attentional costs were greater for positive than negative incentives, whereas following successful outcomes, costs were larger for negative than positive cues. This pattern was evident for tasks involving detection, perceptual discrimination and memory scanning. These findings are discussed in light of contemporary models of motivation and the control of attention.
Potent interleukin 3 receptor agonist with selectively enhanced hematopoietic activity relative to recombinant human interleukin 3.

Abstract A systematic evaluation of structure-activity information led to the construction of genetically engineered interleukin 3 (IL-3) receptor agonists (synthokines) with enhanced hematopoietic potency. SC-55494, the most extensively characterized member of this series, exhibits 10- to 20-fold greater biological activity than recombinant human IL-3 (rhIL-3) in human hematopoietic cell proliferation and marrow colony-forming-unit assays. In contrast, SC-55494 is only twice as active as rhIL-3 in priming the synthesis of inflammatory mediators such as leukotriene C4 and triggering the release of histamine from peripheral blood leukocytes. The enhanced hematopoietic activity of SC-55494 correlates with a 60-fold increase in IL-3 alpha-subunit binding affinity and a 20-fold greater affinity for binding to alpha/beta receptor complexes on intact cells relative to rhIL-3. SC-55494 demonstrates a 5- to 10-fold enhanced hematopoietic response relative to its ability to activate the priming and release of inflammatory mediators. Therefore, SC-55494 may ameliorate the myeloablation of cancer therapeutic regimens while minimizing dose-limiting inflammatory side effects.
APPLICATION OF RADIOISOTOPIC YIELD TO THE QUANTITATION OF THE N-TERMINAL AMINO ACIDS OF FIBRINOGEN.

Abstract The N-terminal amino acids of bovine and human fibrinogen have been quantitated with an isotopic-yield procedure using the phenylthiohydantoins of [14C]amino acids as internal standards. Losses of N-terminal amino acids in the Edman-Sjoquist procedures subsequent to the isolation of the phenylthiocarbamyl protein were evaluated for each determination. The average N-terminal amino acid content found for a series of three bovine fibrinogen samples was 1.6 moles glutamic acid and 1.9 moles tyrosine per mole of fibrinogen while the average content found for a series of six human fibrinogen samples was: alanine, 1.6; tyrosine; 1.9 and aspartic acid, 0.9 mole per mole fibrinogen. Further work is necessary to establish that aspartic acid is an N-terminal residue of native human fibrinogen. The results of this study are compared with the results reported by other investigators and the values commonly accepted for the N-terminal amino acids of bovine and human fibrinogen.
Phase Conjugation in a High Power Regenerative Laser Amplifier System

We discuss the design and performance of a master oscillator/regenerative power amplifier laser system using a stimulated Brillouin scattering phase conjugator to control beam aberrations within the amplifier cavity. The master oscillator is a self-seeded Q-switched ND:YLF laser which provides up to 40mJ of single frequency light in a 10ns to 15ns pulse for amplification. The power amplifier uses a regenerative ring design with approximately 10 total passes and a phase conjugate mirror after the 5th pass. The conjugator is necessary to help produce a plane wavefront and thus a uniform intensity distribution within the ring, a requirement to avoid damage at the high intensities. The energy at the phase conjugate mirror exceeds 1J/pulse and thus careful attention is paid to the tradeoff between input energy, conjugator reflectivity and nearfield spatial fidelity of the return. The laser output is in the range of 20J/pulse, 2GW peak with average power of 70 W. Measurements have been made at high power of the nearfield and farfield beam quality.
Low temperature photoluminescence of lead azide

Abstract Photoluminescence has been found for lead azide films at 15°K. The emission extends from 370–400 nm. Fine structure is observed. Five or six maxima are found with separations of approximately 0.03 eV. Photodecomposition occurs concurrent with the photoluminescent excitation, resulting in loss of the luminescence. The possible origin of the luminescence and its relation to optical absorption are discussed.
The diffusion-concentration product of oxygen in lipid bilayers using the spin-label T1 method

A method is described to measure the oxygen diffusion-concentration product, DO[O2], at any locus that can be probed or labeled using nitroxide radicals. The method is based on the dependence of the spin-lattice relaxation time T1 of the spin label on the bimolecular collision rate with oxygen. Strong Heisenberg exchange between spin label and oxygen contributes directly to T1 of the spin label, while dipolar interactions are negligible. Both time-domain and continuous wave saturation methods for studying T1 are considered. The method has been applied to phospholipid liposomes using fatty acid spin labels. A discontinuity in DO[O2] at the main phase transition was observed.
Two Strong 5′ Splice Sites and Competing, Suboptimal 3′ Splice Sites Involved in Alternative Splicing of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 RNA

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) genome contains 20 exons that are alternatively spliced from 16 splice sites to generate more than 40 different mRNAs, including incompletely spliced and unspliced mRNAs. In contrast to avian retroviral RNA, which has a cis-acting element in gag that negatively regulates splicing (NRS), HIV-1 RNA did not have any NRS sequences in the gag or pol genes detectable by a splicing inhibition assay. However, this assay demonstrated that the HIV-1 first 5' splice site competed with a cellular 5' splice site, suggesting that HIV-1 may have some strong splice sites. To extend this observation, we used a splice site swapping strategy to determine the efficiency of 14 HIV-1 splice sites in human beta globin chimeras tested in transient transfection experiments. While the 1st HIV-1 5' splice site used in all spliced transcripts and the 4th 5' splice site used in most of the 2-kb transcripts were efficient, the other splice sites, including all the 3' splice sites, were less efficient, ranging in use from 25 to 60%. We propose that this range of splice site efficiencies contributes to the regulation of alternative splicing of HIV-1 mRNAs.
Optimal surface temperature reconstructions using terrestrial borehole data

[1] We derive an optimal Northern Hemisphere mean surface temperature reconstruction from terrestrial borehole temperature profiles spanning the past five centuries. The pattern of borehole ground surface temperature (GST) reconstructions displays prominent discrepancies with instrumental surface air temperature (SAT) estimates during the 20th century, suggesting the presence of a considerable amount of noise and/or bias in any underlying spatial SAT signal. The vast majority of variance in the borehole dataset is efficiently retained by its two leading eigenvectors. A sizable share of the variance in the first eigenvector appears to be associated with non-SAT related bias in the borehole data. A weak but detectable SAT signal appears to be described by a combination of the first two eigenvectors. Exploiting this eigendecomposition, application of optimal signal estimation methods yields a hemispheric borehole SAT reconstruction that is largely consistent with instrumental data available in past centuries, and is indistinguishable in its major features from several published long-term temperature estimates based on both climate proxy data and model simulations.
Complex geometry plasmonic terahertz waveguides created via 3D printing

We demonstrate the applicability of 3D printing for creating complex terahertz waveguide geometries that are difficult to fabricate using other approaches. We will describe the properties of linear waveguides, y-splitters and spiral waveguides.
The development of local song preferences in female cowbirds (Molothrus ater) : Flock living stimulates learning

We carried out two experiments across 2 yr on song perception in female cowbirds (Molothrus ater). In the first experiment, juvenile and adult female brown-headed cowbirds, living in same-sex flocks in outdoor aviaries, were periodically tutored with recordings of local male cowbirds’ songs. In the spring, four adult male cowbirds were placed with half of the females for a 12-d period. We then tested song preferences of all females by measuring copulation solicitation displays during the breeding season. We found that the females exposed only to tapetutor songs preferred those songs to those of the unfamiliar males used as companions and that the females allowed to interact with males preferred their songs over the familiar tape-tutor songs. These data establish the modifiability of female cowbirds’ song preferences at the level of local song. In a second experiment, we studied the playback responses of juvenile females, hand-reared from the egg, who were tape-tutored only in the spring in the presence or absence of adult females. There were no differences between the responses of juveniles housed with or without adult females and the hand-reared juveniles were significantly less responsive to song than adult females. Adult females responded more to familiar songs than to the unfamiliar songs: juvenile females made no such distinction. Taken as a whole, these data are the first to document that female cowbirds’ song preferences for local song can be reshaped by post-natal experience. These data complement recent study in cowbirds and other species showing that socially more complex contexts reveal plasticity in female song preferences that are not apparent when learning opportunities are constrained by impoverished laboratory settings.
Characteristics of workload management in public child welfare agencies

Abstract This study examines the relationship among supervisor support, availability of resources, and worker ability and their impact on workload management. Child welfare caseworkers struggle to maintain their workloads amid tremendously high caseloads and ever-increasing paperwork. A structural equation model is utilized to determine the dynamic relationship of these variables. Results suggest that supervisor support and availability of resources have a direct impact on workload management. Additionally, supervisor support is significantly associated with worker ability and availability of resources. While worker ability does not directly affect workload management, it is significantly related to availability of resources. Results of this study can be useful to public child welfare agencies by identifying variables associated with increased manageability of employee workloads.
VALUING PROFESSIONAL COLLEAGUES: ADJUNCT FACULTY IN COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGES

Adjunct faculty play a major role in the success of America's community colleges. Part-time faculty bring industry expertise, professional know-how, and workplace experience to the classroom. They also provide an economic benefit to the institutional bottom line. Yet they are often regarded by administrators and full-time faculty alike as “second-class citizens,” not fully appreciated for the contributions they bring to the colleges and to the students they serve. This article discusses four issues central to an understanding of adjunct faculty: (1) the increasing use of adjunct faculty, (2) reasons people teach part-time, (3) competency and compensation issues, and (4) opportunities for professional development. Adjunct faculty provide a significant service to community and technical colleges. They should be recognized and valued as professional colleagues working in collaboration with full-time faculty and administrators to achieve the teaching mission of America's community colleges.
Numerical method for adjusting magnetic arrays for medical NMR imaging

Nuclear magnetic resonance is expected to replace CAT scan as a leading diagnostic tool because of its non invasive nature. The magnet generating the static field is a major part of the cost because of the high level of field homogeneity required for imaging, Two or three further magnetic sources generate a gradient field. I propose replacing these sources with an array of adjustable magnetic sources and I provide a preliminary numerical method of determining adjustments so that static field inhomogeneities will be removed at the same time as the gradient field is inserted, This reduces cost by relaxing the homogeneity requirements for the large static field magnet. Field measurements across the image plane are used as input to the computer inversion algorithm. The magnetic moments required to compensate the inhomogeneities and add the gradient field are computed. I show for a simple configuration that the accuracy of the field is a function of the number of elements in the magnetic array.
Wind Deployment in the United States: States, Resources, Policy, and Discourse

A transformation in the way the United States produces and uses energy is needed to achieve greenhouse gas reduction targets for climate change mitigation. Wind power is an important low-carbon technology and the most rapidly growing renewable energy technology in the U.S. Despite recent advances in wind deployment, significant state-by-state variation in wind power distribution cannot be explained solely by wind resource patterns nor by state policy. Other factors embedded within the state-level socio-political context also contribute to wind deployment patterns. We explore this socio-political context in four U.S. states by integrating multiple research methods. Through comparative state-level analysis of the energy system, energy policy, and public discourse as represented in the media, we examine variation in the context for wind deployment in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, and Texas. Our results demonstrate that these states have different patterns of wind deployment, are engaged in different deb...