cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Life-cycle management of deteriorating civil infrastructure considering resilience to lifetime hazards: A general approach based on renewal-reward processes

Abstract Civil infrastructure during its service life is subject to progressive deterioration due to aggressive environments and sudden deterioration due to natural and/or manmade hazards. This paper presents a general approach to perform life-cycle management considering both types of deterioration. As an important aspect of life-cycle asset management under hazards, the present study introduces a novel concept, referred to as lifetime resilience. The lifetime resilience of a deteriorating structure is characterized by its cumulative losses to lifetime hazards. By modeling lifetime hazards and life-cycle performance as renewal-reward processes, the proposed approach resorts to the renewal theory to formulate analytical expressions of expected values of lifetime intervention costs, lifetime failure risks, and lifetime resilience losses. Owing to the efficiency in evaluating these expressions, a generic life-cycle management framework is proposed using multi-objective optimization. This proposed framework is applicable to a wide range of civil infrastructure systems under various types of hazards. The proposed approach is illustrated by using a numerical example.
Climate-Specific Thermal Model Coefficients for c-Si and Thin-Film PV Modules

The thermal model coefficients (Uc and Uv), similar to the thermal loss factors used in PV syst for various PV technologies specific to a hot climate are presented in this paper. Minitab, a statistics package was used for the analysis of the data. These coefficients were determined by statistically correlating a year-long data for the modules mounted on free-standing arrays of four PV technologies (crystalline silicon, CdTe, CIGS, a-Si) which experienced hot-desert climate conditions. Various statistical approaches were used to analyze the data. Limiting the wind speed in the one hour interval data showed statistically satisfactory patterns in the model adequacy plots. The U c and Uv values determined for a-Si module with Tefzel superstrate was higher than the a-Si module with glass superstrate. The lowest Uc and Uv values were observed for CdTe PV technology. For crystalline PV technology, Uc value of 25.46 W/m2• K and Uv value of 4.31 W/m3·K·s were obtained.
An inner activation gate controls TMEM16F phospholipid scrambling.

Transmembrane protein 16F (TMEM16F) is an enigmatic Ca2+-activated phospholipid scramblase (CaPLSase) that passively transports phospholipids down their chemical gradients and mediates blood coagulation, bone development and viral infection. Despite recent advances in the structure and function understanding of TMEM16 proteins, how mammalian TMEM16 CaPLSases open and close, or gate their phospholipid permeation pathways remains unclear. Here we identify an inner activation gate, which is established by three hydrophobic residues, F518, Y563 and I612, in the middle of the phospholipid permeation pathway of TMEM16F-CaPLSase. Disrupting the inner gate profoundly alters TMEM16F phospholipid permeation. Lysine substitutions of F518 and Y563 even lead to constitutively active CaPLSases that bypass Ca2+-dependent activation. Strikingly, an analogous lysine mutation to TMEM16F-F518 in TMEM16A (L543K) is sufficient to confer CaPLSase activity to the Ca2+-activated Cl− channel (CaCC). The identification of an inner activation gate can help elucidate the gating and permeation mechanism of TMEM16 CaPLSases and channels. TMEM16F is an enigmatic Ca2 + -activated phospholipid scramblase (CaPLSase) that passively transports phospholipids. Here authors identify an inner activation gate and its disruption profoundly alters TMEM16F phospholipid permeation.
Visible Remote Sensing

Overleaf: The coastal zone color scanner on NIMBUS-7 measures visible radiance from the sea in several narrow bands. The data are processed into images that show variations in ocean color that are correlated with phytoplankton abundance. The original image uses reds and oranges for higher productivity zones, and shades of blue for zones of lower productivity. This reproduction of the original off the central California coast shows higher abundance near the coast and lower abundance offshore, separated by an oceanic front (north-south trending serpentine light gray pattern). The circles show the location and abundance of tuna catches, and demonstrates one operational use for these images. Figure courtesy of NASA JPL; original in color.
Holographic molecular binding assays

We demonstrate that holographic particle characterization can directly detect binding of proteins to functionalized colloidal probe particles by monitoring the associated change in the particles' size. This label-free molecular binding assay uses in-line holographic video microscopy to measure the diameter and refractive index of individual probe spheres as they flow down a microfluidic channel. Pooling measurements on 104 particles yields the population-average diameter with an uncertainty smaller than 0.5 nm, which is sufficient to detect sub-monolayer coverage by bound proteins. We demonstrate this method by monitoring binding of NeutrAvidin to biotinylated spheres and binding of immunoglobulin G to spheres functionalized with protein A.
THE ROLE AND OUTCOMES OF NEW SUPRAVENTRICULAR TACHYCARDIA SVT AMONG PATIENTS WITH MILD HEART FAILURE

We aimed to assess predictors of new supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) and the association with subsequent clinical outcomes among mild heart failure (HF) patients who receive primary prevention device therapy Study population comprised 1820 patients enrolled in MADIT-CRT, after exclusion of
Differential Role of Liver X Receptor (LXR) α and LXRβ in the Regulation of UDP-Glucuronosyltransferase 1A1 in Humanized UGT1 Mice.

Liver X receptors (LXRs), LXRα and LXRβ, are nuclear receptors that regulate the metabolism of cholesterol and bile acids and are activated by oxysterols. Humanized UGT1 (hUGT1) mice express the 9-human UGT1A genes associated with the UGT1 locus in a Ugt1-null background. The expression of UGT1A1 is developmentally delayed in the liver and intestines, resulting in the accumulation of serum bilirubin during the neonatal period. Induction of UGT1A1 in newborn hUGT1 mice leads to rapid reduction in total serum bilirubin (TSB) levels, a phenotype measurement that allows for an accurate prediction on UGT1A1 expression. When neonatal hUGT1 mice were treated by oral gavage with the LXR agonist T0901317, TSB levels were dramatically reduced. To determine the LXR contribution to the induction of UGT1A1 and the lowering of TSB levels, experiments were conducted in neonatal hUGT1/Lxrα−/−, hUGT1/Lxrβ−/−, and hUGT1/Lxrαβ−/− mice treated with T0901317. Induction of liver UGT1A1 was dependent upon LXRα, with the induction pattern paralleling induction of LXRα-specific stearoyl CoA desaturase 1. However, the actions of T0901317 were also shown to display a lack of specificity for LXR, with the induction of liver UGT1A1 in hUGT1/Lxrαβ−/− mice, a result associated with activation of both pregnane X receptor and constitutive androstane receptor. However, the LXR agonist GW3965 was highly selective toward LXRα, showing no impact on lowering TSB values or inducing UGT1A1 in hUGT1/Lxrα−/− mice. An LXR-specific enhancer site on the UGT1A1 gene was identified, along with convincing evidence that LXRα is crucial in maintaining constitutive expression of UGT1A1 in adult hUGT1 mice. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT It has been established that activation of LXRα, and not LXRβ, is responsible for the induction of liver UGT1A1 and metabolism of serum bilirubin in neonatal hUGT1 mice. Although induction of the human UGT1A1 gene is initiated at a newly characterized LXR enhancer site, allelic deletion of the Lxrα gene drastically reduces the constitutive expression of liver UGT1A1 in adult hUGT1 mice. Combined, these findings indicate that LXRα is critical for the developmental expression of UGT1A1.
Local meanings of international student assessments: an analysis of media discourses of PISA in China, 2010-2016

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has garnered increasing attention since its inception in 2000. Correspondingly, there has been heightened interest in ‘PISA poster countrie...
Borders of Compassion: Immigration Preferences and Parochial Altruism:

Anti-immigration preferences among educated and racially egalitarian voters is hard to explain using existing frameworks of self-interest or prejudice. I address this puzzle by developing a theory ...
Ghosts in the machine: understanding digital citizenship as the struggle of students’ souls with classroom technology

Through this paper, the authors describe the challenge of interpreting and teaching digital citizenship in the classroom. They present digital citizenship as a concept that features a range of appl...
Resistance to Gender-Based Rules: Development in Adolescence.

To investigate whether adolescents approve of disobedience or lying in response to rules that restrict behavior based on gender, 89 younger (Mage = 11.74) and older (Mage = 16.67) adolescents and...
Safe Collateral, Arm’s-Length Credit: Evidence from the Commercial Real Estate Market

When collateral is safe, there are less opportunities for things to go wrong. We examine matching between collateral and creditors in the commercial real estate mortgage market by comparing loans in commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) conduits and bank portfolios. We model CMBS financing as lower cost but less informed, such that only safe collateral is funded by CMBS. This prediction is tested using the 2007-2009 shutdown of the CMBS market as a natural experiment. The loans funded by banks that would have been securitized are less likely to default or be renegotiated, indicating that the securitization channel, when available, funds safe collateral.
Managing International - Civil Militarized Conflicts (I-CMC): Empirical Patterns

This study examines international-civil militarized conflicts (I-CMCs), those that lie at the intersection of violent intra- and interstate conflict. The data compilation identifies I-CMCs and the ...
Altered eutopic endometrial T-regulatory and T-helper 17 lymphocyte ratio in women with unexplained subfertility.

Problem:Perturbations in T-helper lymphocyte profiles have previously been associated with endometriosis related subfertility and conception failure. Hence a retrospective in vitro study was conduc...
Evolution of degrees of carnivory and dietary specialization across Mammalia and their effects on speciation

Conflation between omnivory and dietary generalism limits ecological and evolutionary analyses of diet, including estimating contributions to speciation and diversification. Additionally, categorizing species into qualitative dietary classes leads to information loss in these analyses. Here, we constructed two continuous variables — degree of carnivory (i.e., the position along the continuum from complete herbivory to complete carnivory) and degree of dietary specialization (i.e., the number and variety of food resources utilized) — to elucidate their histories across Mammalia, and to tease out their independent contributions to mammalian speciation. We observed that degree of carnivory significantly affected speciation rate across Mammalia, whereas dietary specialization did not. We further considered phylogenetic scale in diet-dependent speciation and saw that degree of carnivory significantly affected speciation in ungulates, carnivorans, bats, eulipotyphlans, and marsupials, while the effect of dietary specialization was only significant in carnivorans. Across Mammalia, omnivores had the lowest speciation rates. Our analyses using two different categorical diet variables led to contrasting signals of diet-dependent diversification, and subsequently different conclusions regarding diet9s macroevolutionary role. We argue that treating variables such as diet as continuous instead of categorical reduces information loss and avoids the problem of contrasting macroevolutionary signals caused by differential discretization of biologically continuous traits.
ProChecker: An Automated Security and Privacy Analysis Framework for 4G LTE Protocol Implementations

Cellular protocol implementations must comply with the specifications, and the security and privacy requirements. These implementations, however, often deviate from the security and privacy requirements due to under specifications in cellular standards, inherent protocol complexities, and design flaws inducing logical vulnerabilities. Detecting such logical vulnerabilities in the complex and stateful 4G LTE protocol is challenging due to operational dependencies on internal-states, and intertwined complex protocol interactions among multiple participants. In this paper, we address these challenges and develop ProChecker which- (1) extracts a precise semantic model as a finite-state machine of the implementation by combining dynamic testing with static instrumentation, and (2) verifies the properties against the extracted model by combining a symbolic model checker and a cryptographic protocol verifier. We demonstrate the effectiveness of ProChecker by evaluating it on a closed-source and two of the most popular open-source 4G LTE control-plane protocol implementations with 62 properties. ProChecker unveiled 3 new protocol-specific logical attacks, 6 implementation issues, and detected 14 prior attacks. The impact of the attacks range from denial-of-service, broken integrity, encryption, and replay protection to privacy leakage.
Acoustofluidic Droplet Sorter Based on Single Phase Focused Transducers

Droplet microfluidics has revolutionized the biomedical and drug development fields by allowing for independent microenvironments to conduct drug screening at the single cell level. However, current microfluidic sorting devices suffer from drawbacks such as high voltage requirements (e.g., >200 Vpp), low biocompatibility, and/or low throughput. In this article, a single-phase focused transducer (SPFT)-based acoustofluidic chip is introduced, which outperforms many microfluidic droplet sorting devices through high energy transmission efficiency, high accuracy, and high biocompatibility. The SPFT-based sorter can be driven with an input power lower than 20 Vpp and maintain a postsorting cell viability of 93.5%. The SPFT sorter can achieve a throughput over 1000 events per second and a sorting purity up to 99.2%. The SPFT sorter is utilized here for the screening of doxorubicin cytotoxicity on cancer and noncancer cells, proving its drug screening capability. Overall, the SPFT droplet sorting device shows great potential for fast, precise, and biocompatible drug screening.
Challenges and Considerations during In Vitro Production of Porcine Embryos

Genetically modified pigs have become valuable tools for generating advances in animal agriculture and human medicine. Importantly, in vitro production and manipulation of embryos is an essential step in the process of creating porcine models. As the in vitro environment is still suboptimal, it is imperative to examine the porcine embryo culture system from several angles to identify methods for improvement. Understanding metabolic characteristics of porcine embryos and considering comparisons with other mammalian species is useful for optimizing culture media formulations. Furthermore, stressors arising from the environment and maternal or paternal factors must be taken into consideration to produce healthy embryos in vitro. In this review, we progress stepwise through in vitro oocyte maturation, fertilization, and embryo culture in pigs to assess the status of current culture systems and address points where improvements can be made.
Electron microscopy in in situ and invasive vulvar Paget's disease.

Abstract Electron microscopic studies of two cases of vulvar Paget's disease (1 invasive and 1 in situ) were undertaken in an attempt to elucidate further the histogenesis of the characteristic Paget cell. Secretory vesicles, mitochondria, ferritin-like granules, and membrane junctional structures are described which are typical of apocrine cells. These findings, plus the location of some cells against the basement membrane, support the hypothesis that the Paget cell is an apocrine cell differentiating within a more generalized epithelial neoplasm.
Chapter 18 Advances in water quality modeling in the coastal environment

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on advances made in the in water quality modeling in the coastal environment in the United States. The complexity of biogeochemical processes requires large numbers of parameters for process equations as a result of incomplete knowledge of the process relationships. The maximum growth rate and half-saturation constant used in this model must be specified with optimal values usually decided through model calibration. Phytoplankton chlorophyll models usually compute, and is only a surrogate indicator of phytoplankton biomass or carbon, and it varies with species and other factors, such as nutrient availability, thereby making it difficult to predict. Computer technology made long-term simulations feasible.
Effects of antagonists of protein phosphatases on superoxide release by neutrophils.

Neutrophils stimulated with 4 beta-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) release large quantities of superoxide (O2-) and exhibit phosphorylation of two proteins with molecular masses of 47(p47) and 49 kDa (p49). Addition of inhibitors of protein kinases (e.g. 1-(5-isoquinolinylsulfonyl)-2-methylpiperazine (H-7)) to these cells after stimulation with PMA results in the loss of 32P from these proteins and a rapid cessation of O2- release (e.g. Heyworth, P. G., and Badwey, J. A. (1990) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1052, 299-305). In this paper we report that antagonists of type 1 and 2A protein phosphatases (okadaic acid, calyculin A) prevented both the loss of 32P from p47 and the termination of O2- release in stimulated neutrophils treated with H-7. Calyculin A also caused a remarkable hyperphosphorylation of a number of proteins in neutrophils and increased O2- release from these cells in response to a suboptimal amount of PMA. Enzymes present in both the soluble and particulate fractions of neutrophils catalyzed the near complete dephosphorylation of 32P-labeled p47 and p49 bound to Immobilon-P membranes. Dephosphorylation of these blotted phosphoproteins occurred at physiological rates and was inhibited by okadaic acid and calyculin A. These data strongly suggest that p47 undergoes a continual cycle of phosphorylation and dephosphorylation throughout the period of O2- release when PMA is the stimulus. Moreover, we show that antagonists of type 1 and 2A protein phosphatases block dephosphorylation of p47 both in vivo and in vitro, indicating that these enzymes may modulate O2- release under certain circumstances.
Congressional-Executive Information Access Disputes: A Modest Proposal - Do Nothing

between Congress and the White House over the executive's obligation to respond to congressional demands for information are legion. Starting with George Washington's 1796 refusal to provide the House of Representatives with correspondence relating to the negotiation of the Jay Treaty, 1 the legislative and executive branches have advanced dramatically different articulations of the reaches and limits of Congress' power to investigate executive branch operations. Reflecting deep-seated differences between executive and legislative branch sensibilities, these conflicts seem destined to continue. The Clinton Justice Department, for example, unsuccessfully fought an epic battle with the House Energy and Commerce Committee over the propriety of committee investigators interviewing 4 'line attorneys" of the Department's environmental crimes unit.2 A remarkable feature of these battles is that Congress' ultimate weapon to bring the executive branch into compliance with its information requests, the subpoena power, appears very much dependent on executive branch officials. Specifically, were Congress to conclude that an executive branch official was in contempt for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena, the matter would then be turned over to the Justice Department. Were the White House to assert executive privilege, however, as was the case with Reagan's EPA Administrator Anne Burford,3 the contempt finding almost certainly would go
Schooling in Capitalism: Navigating the Bleak Pathways of Structural Fate.

In this review essay Kevin Murray and Dan Liston examine three texts in what this symposium has deemed the recent resurgence in neo-Marxist accounts of schooling: David Blacker's The Falling Rate of Learning and the Neoliberal Endgame, Mike Cole's Marxism and Educational Theory, and John Marsh's Class Dismissed. Murray and Liston argue that Blacker, Cole, and Marsh provide a much-needed structural delineation of schooling in capitalist society. All three works have substantial merit and are in need of minor adjustments. Blacker's vision is telling and chilling but may need some fine-tuning; Cole's defense of Marxism is commendable but tends toward the disembodied abstract; and Marsh's text capably highlights educationists' blinders but seems to miss elements of a critical structural account. While recognizing real limitations on transformative education under capitalism, Murray and Liston nevertheless elaborate a variation of the radical humanist project. It is their skeletal attempt at an educationally and morally defensible reparative theory.
MORE HI SHELLS AND SUPERSHELLS or A NEW EXPLANATION OF "NONCIRCULAR MOTIONS" IN THE GALAXY

The discovery of HI shells and supershells in distant parts of the galaxy (Heiles, 1979) utilized the Weaver/Williams (WW; 1973) HI survey of the galactic plane, which is restricted to |b|< 10°. These shells have diameters ranging up to 2 kpc, and some expand with velocities up to 24 km/sec. If produced by stellar winds and supernovae, a very large--perhaps unreasonably large--number of massive stars in a young cluster is required.
The Uneven Landscape of California's Historical Landmarks

Historical markers help preserve and display history and communicate what a group deems important about a place's past. This paper analyzes the changing themes and landscape relevance of California...
Gay Men and Lesbians as Adoptive Parents

Abstract Adoption by gay men and lesbians is not a new phenomenon. Children have always been placed by public agencies in homes with gay and lesbian parents. Some gay men and lesbians have adopted children independently from private agencies or have made private adoption arrangements with individual birth mothers. This article draws on research literature, case examples, and in-depth interviews to identify and discuss the issues and concerns surrounding gay and lesbian adoptive parenting. Within the spirit of the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) of 1997 (PL. 105-89), this article also presents a policy framework, which is inclusive of gay men and lesbians as adoptive parents, as a means to inform solid child welfare policies, practices, and programs.
Re-imagining Citizenship, Re-imagining Social Work: U.S. Immigration Policies and Social Work Practice in the Era of AZ SB1070

The literature on immigrant cultural citizenship (Ong, 1996; Rosaldo, 1997) has argued that traditional and normative definitions of citizenship ignore various forms of civic participation and belonging and fails to capture the experiences of immigrants in an increasingly globalized world (Getrich, 2008), calling for more nuanced and multiple meanings of citizenship. As agents of civil society, social workers have much power in constructing and maintaining (or resisting) normative discourses of citizenship, and how we participate in this process has material consequences for those we serve. Applying poststructural and postcolonial theories, this paper excavates discourses of exclusion and inequity that produce the idea of U.S. citizenship through a critical historical analysis of key U.S. immigration and naturalization-related policies and proposes immigrant cultural citizenship as a conceptual frame for re-imagining social work practice with immigrants.
Hydrazine-mediated strongly coupled Re(CO)3 dimers.

Dimeric metal complexes can often exhibit coupling interactions via bridging ligands. In this report, we present two Re(CO)3 dimers, where the metals are linked via a bis(pyca) hydrazine (pyca = pyridine-2-carbaldehyde imine) Schiff base ligand. For the dimeric compounds 4 and 5, we observe strong coupling across the dimer as measured by cyclic voltammetry: ∼480 mV separations between the first and the second reduction waves that correspond to comproportionation constants close to 1.5 × 108. Evidence for a mixed valence state upon one electron reduction was also observed by spectroelectrochemistry in which a clear inter-valence charge-transfer (IVCT) band was observed in [4]- and [5]-complexes. The electronic structures of all target compounds were probed by DFT and TDDFT computational methods. DFT calculations indicate that reduction takes place at the diimine units, and that the observed coupling is a ligand-based phenomenon, rather than one that involves metal-based orbitals.
Kinetics of fiber heat treatment. I: Experimental apparatus

Appareil de mesure pour la cinetique de cristallisation de fibres de polymeres soumises a un traitement thermique
Support for association of RORA variant and post traumatic stress symptoms in a population-based study of hurricane exposed adults

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is moderately heritable, with estimates ranging from 30 to 70%.1 However, most of the genetic variation accounting for this heritability has yet to be identified, and the majority of molecular studies to date on PTSD have been candidate gene designs.2 Only one genome wide association study of PTSD has been published. In a sample of white non-Hispanic trauma-exposed veterans and their spouses/partners with and without PTSD, Logue and colleagues3 found that one single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP; rs8042149) in the retinoid-related orphan receptor alpha gene (RORA) reached genome-wide significance. RORA has been implicated, in part, in protecting brain cells from the damaging effects of injury, stress and disease,3 and it is possible that individuals with the variation in RORA may be at increased risk for developing PTSD due to deficits in initiating neuroprotective processes after trauma. We sought to provide supporting evidence for the genetic association between RORA*rs8042149 and PTSD using data from the 2004 Florida hurricanes study.
Improving the representation of legal case texts with information extraction methods

The prohibitive cost of assigning indices to textual cases is a major obstacle for the practical use of AI and Law systems supporting reasoning and arguing with cases. While progress has been made toward extracting certain facts from well-structured case texts or classifying case abstracts under Key Number concepts, these methods still do not suffice for the complexity of indexing concepts in CBR systems.In this paper, we lay out how a better example representation may facilitate classification-based indexing. Our hypotheses are that (1) abstracting from the individual actors and events in cases, (2) capturing actions in multi-word features, and (3) recognizing negation, can lead to a better representation of legal case texts for automatic indexing. We discuss how to implement these techniques with state-of-the-art NLP tools. Preliminary experimental results suggest that a combination of domain-specific knowledge and information extraction techniques can be used to generalize from the examples and derive more powerful features.
Changes in intestinal water absorption in coho salmon during short-term seawater adaptation : a developmental study

Abstract Intestinal water absorption of juvenile coho salmon smolts, pre-smolts, and post-smolts as a function of seawater adaptation was investigated. Net water absorption (Jv) of mid and posterior gut sections in vitro did not change markedly from the freshwater state through 7 days of salt water exposure, although long-term seawater residents had a higher Jv in posterior gut segments, and post-smolts had lower Jv's in both segments than smolts. Rectal fluid [Na+] and pH, and liver [K+], changed in distinctive ways during the first 7 days in seawater, and the changes are compared between developmental stages. Ion analysis of intestinal fluid from different segments of the gastrointestinal tract of seawater-and freshwater-adapted coho indicates that ingested seawater is slightly diluted in the stomach, that 95% or more of the water absorption in seawater-adapted fish occurs in the anterior intestine and pyloric caecae, and that the mid and posterior intestine may be important in water absorption only in the initial stages of seawater adaptation.
A meta-analysis of 61 sperm count studies revisited

Abstract Objective: To re-examine data on sperm counts over time from 61 studies from around the world. Design: Parametric analyses and flexible nonlinear models of the relation between sperm counts and time. Main Outcome Measure(s): Mean sperm concentrations per milliliter and regression coefficients for possible trends of concentrations over time. Result(s): A significant decline was found only in U.S. studies. Conclusion(s): Studies from specific sites have found declines in sperm counts, but a worldwide decline has not been demonstrated. Rigorous assessment of statistical models should be done before conclusions are drawn. Flexible smoothing models are a useful addition to currently available analytic methods.
The genetic effective size of a metapopulation

The structure of a population over time, space and categories of social and sexual role governs its ability to retaingenetic variation in the face of drift. A metapopulation is an extreme form of spatial structure in which loosely coupledlocal populations “turnover”, that is, suffer extinction followed by recolonization from elsewhere within themetapopulation. These local populations turn over with a characteristic half-life. Based on a simulation model thatincorporates both realistic features of population ecology and population genetics, the ability of such a metapopulation toretain genetic variation, which may be defined as proportional to its so-called effective population size, denoted N c (meta) , can be one to two orders of magnitude lower than themaximum total number of individuals in the system. N c (meta) dependson the persistence time associated with longevity of local populations (the turnover half-life), the average number of localpopulations extant in the metapopulation and the gene flow between local populations. Habitat fragmentation, which can createa metapopulation from a formerly continuously distributed species, may have unappreciated large genetic consequences forspecies impacted by human development.
CEIDP recollections, 1965-2001

The author briefly outlines his recollections of the Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena (CEIDP), mentioning the changes in direction that have occurred and the changes in personnel during the review period.
In vitro responses of neurons in the periaqueductal gray to hypoxia and hypercapnia.

Hypoxia-sensitive neurons in the caudal hypothalamus (CH) have been shown to project to the periaqueductal gray (PAG) which, in turn, sends descending projections to an area of the ventrolateral medulla (VLM) containing neurons inherently excited by hypoxia. The purpose of this study was to determine if neurons in the PAG are excited by hypoxia or hypercapnia in an in vitro environment. Extracellular responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia of neurons located throughout the PAG were recorded in a rat brain slice (400-500 microm thick) preparation. Hypoxic (10% O(2)/5% CO(2)/85% N(2)) and hypercapnic (7% CO(2)/93% O(2)) stimuli were delivered to the tissue through gas bubbled into the brain slice chamber. A majority (39 of 53) of the neurons tested responded to hypoxia. Of these neurons, 92% responded to hypoxia with an increase in firing rate. Neurons in the dorsolateral/lateral regions increased firing rates to a greater extent than neurons located in ventrolateral regions. All neurons tested (n=6) also responded to hypoxia after perfusion of the tissue with a low Ca(2+)/high Mg(2+) solution to block classic synaptic transmission. Only a small proportion (7/33) of neurons tested responded to hypercapnia. These findings indicate that neurons in the periaqueductal gray region of the brain have an inherent responsiveness to hypoxia and, thus, may contribute to the overall coordination of cardiorespiratory responses to systemic hypoxia.
Patterns in the species composition of fish assemblages among Wisconsin streams

To better understand patterns of fish assemblage composition in Wisconsin streams in relation to major environmental gradients, I carried out multivariate direct gradient analysis (canonical correspondence analysis) of two large independent datasets on fish species abundance in Wisconsin streams. Analysis of the two datasets yielded similar results, suggesting that observed patterns and relationships were real. Stream sites were distributed along fish species-environment gradients, but segregation into distinct stream temperature and geographic groups was also evident. The strongest gradient in both datasets was related to summer water temperature patterns, and encompassed a transition from small, coldwater streams dominated by salmonids, cottids, certain cyprinids, and few other species, to both small and large, warmwater streams dominated by a high diversity of different cyprinids, catostomids, ictalurids, centrarchids, and percids. A second gradient in both datasets was complex but largely geographic. Within it, sites from each of the four ecoregions that occupy Wisconsin formed fairly discrete groups. The strongest differences were between sites in the two southern Wisconsin ecoregions, the Driftless Area and the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains, that were dominated by certain cyprinids, ictalurids, and centrarchids, and sites in the two northern Wisconsin ecoregions, the North Central Hardwood Forests and the Northern Lakes and Forests, that were dominated by a different set of cyprinids and ictalurids, plus some petromyzontids, salmonids, catostomids, and percids. Sites from the Driftless Area that were mostly higher-gradient (steep stream slope) and had many riffle-dwelling species could also be distinguished from sites in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains that were mostly lower-gradient and had many pool-dwelling species. The patterns of fish assemblage composition among sites and the associated fish species-environment relationships that were revealed by the analyses provided a framework for developing an ecologically meaningful hierarchical classification of Wisconsin stream sites based on stream thermal regime, ecoregion, stream size, and stream gradient.
Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase attenuates inhibitor development in gene-therapy-treated hemophilia A mice

A serious impediment to gene and protein replacement therapy in hemophilia A is the development of inhibitors. Mechanisms responsible for inhibitor development include T-cell-dependent adaptive immune responses and the CD28-B7 signaling pathway that eventually leads to the formation of antibodies directed against factor VIII (FVIII). Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is a potent immunosuppressive enzyme that can inhibit T-cell responses and induce T-cell apoptosis by regulation of tryptophan metabolism. Kynurenine, one of the metabolites of tryptophan, has been implicated as an immune modulator. Here we hypothesize that co-delivery of the genes for FVIII and IDO can attenuate inhibitor formation. Using transposon-based gene delivery, we observed long-term therapeutic FVIII expression and significantly reduced inhibitor titers when the genes were co-delivered. Co-expression of FVIII and IDO in the liver was associated with increased plasma kynurenine levels, an inhibition of T-cell infiltration and increased apoptosis of T cells within the liver. These experiments suggest that modulation of tryptophan catabolism through IDO expression provides a novel strategy to reduce inhibitor development in hemophilia gene/protein therapy.
Flame-photometric determination of lithium oxide in yttrium oxide

It was established that the intensity of lithium radiation diminishes in the presence of high yttrium concentrations and in the presence of more than 0.2 g-eq/liter HCl. A method is proposed for determining Li2O in yttrium oxide by flame-photometry. The precision of the determination equals 0.05% Li2O. The coefficient of variation in measurements of less than 0.1% Li2O is 17.7% but with 0.2–2% Li2O it does not exceed 3.5%. The determination requires a maximum of 3.5 h.
A laminar cortical model for 3D perception of slanted and curved surfaces and of 2D images: development, attention, and bistability

A model of laminar visual cortical dynamics proposes how 3D boundary and surface representations arise from viewing slanted and curved 3D objects and 2D images. The 3D boundary representations emerge from non-classical receptive field interactions within intracortical and intercortical feedback circuits. Such non-classical interactions within cortical areas V1 and V2 contextually disambiguate classical receptive field responses to ambiguous visual cues using cells that are sensitive to colinear contours, angles, and disparity gradients. Remarkably, these cell types can all be explained as variants of a unified perceptual grouping circuit whose most familiar example is a 2D colinear bipole cell. Model simulations show how this circuit can develop cell selectivity to colinear contours and angles, how slanted surfaces can activate 3D boundary representations that are sensitive to angles and disparity gradients, how 3D filling-in occurs across slanted surfaces, how a 2D Necker cube image can be represented in 3D, and how bistable 3D Necker cube percepts occur. The model also explains data about slant aftereffects and 3D neon color spreading. It shows how chemical transmitters that habituate, or depress, in an activity-dependent way can help to control development and also to trigger bistable 3D percepts and slant aftereffects. Attention can influence which of these percepts is perceived by propagating selectively along object boundaries.
Genome-wide analysis of the Zn(II)₂Cys₆ zinc cluster-encoding gene family in Aspergillus flavus.

Proteins with a Zn(II)2Cys6 domain, Cys-X2-Cys-X6-Cys-X5-12-Cys-X2-Cys-X6-9-Cys (hereafter, referred to as the C6 domain), form a subclass of zinc finger proteins found exclusively in fungi and yeast. Genome sequence databases of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans have provided an overview of this family of genes. Annotation of this gene family in most fungal genomes is still far from perfect and refined bioinformatic algorithms are urgently needed. Aspergillus flavus is a saprophytic soil fungus that can produce the carcinogenic aflatoxin. It is the second leading causative agent of invasive aspergillosis. The 37-Mb genome of A. flavus is predicted to encode 12,000 proteins. Two and a half percent of the total proteins are estimated to contain the C6 domain, more than twofold greater than those estimated for yeast, which is about 1 %. The variability in the spacing between cysteines, C3-C4 and C5-C6, in the zinc cluster enables classification of the domains into distinct subgroups, which are also well conserved in Aspergillus nidulans. Sixty-six percent (202/306) of the A. flavus C6 proteins contain a specific transcription factor domain, and 7 % contain a domain of unknown function, DUF3468. Two A. nidulans C6 proteins containing the DUF3468 are involved in asexual conidiation and another two in sexual differentiation. In the anamorphic A. flavus, a homolog of the latter lacks the C6 domain. A. flavus being heterothallic and reproducing mainly through conidiation appears to have lost some components involved in homothallic sexual development. Of the 55 predicted gene clusters thought to be involved in production of secondary metabolites, only about half have a C6-encoding gene in or near the gene clusters. The features revealed by the A. flavus C6 proteins likely are common for other ascomycete fungi.
Optimal chaos control through reinforcement learning

We present an approach for the control of chaotic systems based on reinforcement learning. Reinforcement learning algorithms provide a solution to the optimal control of systems in situations where system dynamics and analytic information about the desired goal state are not available. We formulate the chaos control problem as a reinforcement learning problem to obtain a general purpose chaos controller which acts globally, allows control in non-stationary and noisy environments, and can be used in parametric or impulsive control applications. To reduce the computational complexity of the reinforcement learning problem vector quantization techniques are applied and the control policy is approximated in the reduced space. To find minimal sufficient codebooks we suggest a fixed-point sensitive growing chaos controller which combines a modification of Fritzke's Growing Neural-Gas algorithm with reinforcement learning. We demonstrate the algorithm in a variety of applications including low- and high-dimensional discrete and chaotic systems, logistic coupled map lattices and a multistable rotor.
Structure-Function Analysis of Bcl-2 Protein: IDENTIFICATION OF CONSERVED DOMAINS IMPORTANT FOR HOMODIMERIZATION WITH Bcl-2 AND HETERODIMERIZATION WITH Bax

The Bcl-2 protein is a suppressor of programmed cell death that homodimerizes with itself and forms heterodimers with a homologous protein Bax, a promoter of cell death. Expression of Bax in Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a membrane-bound fusion protein results in a lethal phenotype that is suppressible by co-expression of Bcl-2. Functional analysis of deletion mutants of human Bcl-2 in yeast demonstrated the presence of at least three conserved domains that are required to suppress Bax-mediated cytotoxicity, termed domains A (amino acids 11-33), B (amino acids 138-154), and C (amino acids 188-196). In vitro binding experiments using GST-Bcl-2 fusion proteins demonstrated that Bcl-2(ΔB)and Bcl-2(ΔC) deletion mutants had a markedly impaired ability to heterodimerize with Bax but retained the ability to homodimerize with wild-type Bcl-2. In contrast, Bcl-2(ΔA) and an NH2-terminal deletion mutant Bcl-2(Δ1-82) retained Bax binding activity in vitro but failed to suppress Bax-mediated cytotoxicity in yeast. Sequences downstream of domain C in the region 197-218 also were shown to be required for Bax-binding in vitro and anti-death function in yeast. Analysis of Bcl-2/Bcl-2 homodimerization using both in vitro binding assays as well as a yeast two-hybrid method provided evidence in support of a head-to-tail model for Bcl-2/Bcl-2 homodimerization and revealed that sequences within the NH2-terminal A domain interact with a structure that requires the presence of both the carboxyl B and C domains in combination. In addition to further delineating structural features within Bcl-2 that are required for homo-dimerization, the findings reported here support the hypothesis that Bcl-2 promotes cell survival by binding directly to Bax but suggest that ability to bind Bax can be insufficient for anti-cell death function.
Petabit-per-Second Routers: Case for All-Optical over Electronic Implementation

This paper investigates merits and challenges of all-optical routers. All-optical routers can exploit the wavelength domain not available in electronic routers to overcome the lack of optical buffers, and to realize compact ultralow power systems.
Linearized lattice QED

Abstract We present a linearized formulation of lattice QED. The cutoff theory is locally gauge invariant and satisfies the associated Ward identities exactly, even though the physical transverse vector potential enters the action only linearly. The quenched version of the model is simulated and a continuous chiral symmetry breaking transition is found at strong coupling. Lattice monopoles are found to be unimportant near the transition, which supports the picture that chiral symmetry breaking is due solely to strong vector forces. The critical region of the model is very narrow and estimates of critical indices are very sensitive to which value of the critical coupling is taken. The critical index δ is 2.5(1), distinct from mean field theory.
Bioconversion of Fumaric Acid to Succinic Acid by Recombinant E. coli

Succinic acid was produced efficiently from fumaric acid by a recombinant E. coli strain DH5α/pGC1002 containing multicopy fumarate reductase genes. The effects of initial fumaric acid and glucose concentration on the production of succinic acid were investigated. Succinic acid reached 41 to over 60 g/L in 48.5 h starting with 50 to 64 g/L fumaric acid. Significant substrate inhibition was observed at initial fumaric acid concentration of 90 g/L. l-Malic acid became the major fermentation product under these conditions. Provision of glucose (5–30 g/L) to the fermentation medium stimulated the initial succinic acid production rate over two folds.
Computer Anxiety and Computer-Based Training: A Laboratory Experiment

Seventy-four undergraduate students voluntarily participated in a laboratory experiment involving the learning of WordStar, a personal computer word processing software package. The experiment constituted a 2X2X2 factorial design; two levels of computer anxiety (based on a pre-experimental questionnaire), two types of training (lecture/demonstration versus self-paced tutorial) and a matching/nonmatching of personal preference for a particular leaning mode. Results indicated that pre-experimental computer anxiety directly affected post-experimental computer anxiety, number of questions asked during training and future intentions to avoid using WordStar. Type of training affected the number of questions asked and marginally influenced the number of errors. Preferred choice of training demonstrated no main effects but did interact with the other independent variables.
Three‐dimensional reduced Navier–Stokes solutions for subsonic separated and non‐separated flows, using a global pressure relaxation procedure

The reduced Navier–Stokes and thin layer approximations to the Navier–Stokes equations are used to obtain solutions for viscous subsonic three-dimensional flows. A spatial marching method is combined with a direct sparse matrix solver to obtain successive solutions in a global relaxation process. Results have been obtained for flow fields with and without regions of flow reversal.
A novel approach of three-dimensional hybrid grid methodology: Part 1. Grid generation

We propose a novel approach of three-dimensional hybrid grid methodology, the DRAGON grid method in the three-dimensional space. The DRAGON grid is created by means of a Direct Replacement of Arbitrary Grid Overlapping by Nonstructured grid, and is structured-grid dominated with unstructured grids in small regions. The DRAGON grid scheme is an adaptation to the Chimera thinking. It is capable of preserving the advantageous features of both the structured and unstructured grids, and eliminates/minimizes their shortcomings. In the present paper, we describe essential and programming aspects, and challenges of the three-dimensional DRAGON grid method, with respect to grid generation. We demonstrate the capability of generating computational grids for multi-components complex configurations.