cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A study of temperature measurement in a solar furnance

Abstract A survey indicates that thermocouples and two-color pyrometers can be used to measure accurately the temperature of a specimen being heated in a solar furnace. The thermocouples found to be most satisfactory and accurate to ± 3 4 per cent in the range room temperature to 1100°C are chromelconstantan, chromel-alumel, useful in oxidizing atmospheres, Driver-Harris, No. 242 (Geminol P) vs. No. 33 (Geminol N), useful in neutral and reducing atmospheres. The range 1100°C to 3500°C can be determined by means of a two-color pyrometer with an accuracy of better than ± 10°C. Both instruments, if properly designed, have been demonstrated to be independent of the emissivity of the specimen and the environmental conditions existing in a solar furnace. In addition, the two-color pyrometer can be used in conjunction with a conventional brightness pyrometer to determine the effective emissivity of the specimen in the spectral band passed by the brightness pyrometer.
Memristor crossbar based hardware realization of BSB recall function

The Brain-State-in-a-Box (BSB) model is an auto-associative neural network that has been widely used in optical character recognition and image processing. Traditionally, the BSB model was realized at software level and carried out on high-performance computing clusters. To improve computation efficiency and reduce resource requirement, we propose a hardware realization by utilizing memristor crossbar arrays. Memristors can remember the historical profiles of the excitations and record them as analog variables. The similarity to biological synaptic behavior has encouraged a lot of research on memristor-based neuromorphic hardware system. In this work, we explore the potential of a memristor crossbar array as an auto-associative memory. More specifically, the recall function of a multi-answer character recognition based on BSB model was realized. The robustness of the proposed BSB circuit was analyzed and evaluated based on massive Monte-Carlo simulations, considering input defects, process variations, and electrical fluctuations. The physical constraints when implementing a neural network with memristor crossbar array have also been discussed. Our results show that the BSB circuit has a high tolerance to random noise. Comparably, the correlations between memristor arrays introduce directional noise and hence dominate the quality of the circuit.
Coronary Sinus Activation Pattern in Patients with Atrioventricular Nodal Reentrant Tachycardia

Patterns of left atrial (far-field signals) or coronary sinus (CS) muscle (near-field) have been defined in CS recordings. The purpose of this study was to define the activation patterns from the coronary sinus in patients with anterior and posterior type of atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) circuits. Methods and Results: This retrospective study involved a total of 149 patients with 155 episodes of AVNRT which were divided into 3 patterns. In the anterior pattern (123 tachycardias), the atrial deflection from the His bundle electrogram preceded that from the proximal CS electrogram. In the posterior pattern (23 tachycardias), the proximal CS electrogram (CSp) was recorded earlier than the His bundle atrial electrogram. In the left atrial pattern (9 tachycardias), activation of distal CS sites preceded both proximal CS and atrial activation from the His bundle electrogram. A decapolar catheter with a 5-mm interelectrode distance was used for CS recording. The CS electrograms were analyzed to determine the total signal duration as well as the duration of the initial component. An initial slow wave was defined as a duration exceeding 10 ms. 1) The duration of the initial component in patients with the anterior pattern was longer than in those with the posterior pattern in CSp (7.3 ± 3.1 ms vs. 4.5 ± 2.0 ms), CS7-8 (7.4 ± 2.9 ms vs. 3.8 ± 1.5 ms), CS5-6 (7.3 ms ± 3.3 ms vs. 4.4 ms ± 2.5 ms) and CS3-4 (6.7 ms ± 2.4 ms vs. 4.5 ms ± 2.0 ms) (p Conclusions: The pattern of an initial slow wave followed by a rapid wave in the CS was characteristic of an anterior AVNRT circuit and is explained by the initial involvement of far field left atrial components. In contrast, the predominant early rapid waves in the posterior AVNRT circuit are compatible with early CS activation from the right atrium.
Worker Exposure to Nickel-Containing Aerosol in Two Electroplating Shops: Comparison Between Inhalable and Total Aerosol

Abstract This article describes a study that was carried out at two electroplating shops to investigate the levels of personal exposure to inhalable nickel-containing aerosols and the impact of introducing new personal sampling instrumentation with performance consistent with the latest criteria proposed by the International Standards Organisation, the Comite Europeen Normalisation, and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH). Experiments were carried out to investigate the effect of changing from the current widely used method for total aerosol (using the closed-face, 37-mm filter holder) to a new method for inhalable aerosol (using the IOM inhalable aerosol sampler). The results showed that measured inhalable aerosol exposures—for both overall aerosol and total nickel—were consistently and significantly higher than the corresponding measured total aerosol exposures. Weighted least-squares linear regression yielded biases for one company ranging from about 1.3 to 2.5 and for...
Phase I Study of Adenovirus p53 Administered by Bronchoalveolar Lavage in Patients With Bronchioloalveolar Cell Lung Carcinoma: ECOG 6597

Purpose This pilot phase I trial evaluated the safety and maximum-tolerated dose of p53 gene transfer using an adenovirus vector (Ad-p53) delivered via bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) to patients with bronchioloalveolar lung carcinoma (BAC). Patients and Methods Patients were initially administered two treatments of Ad-p53 to a single involved lobe, beginning at 2 × 109 viral particles (vp) per dose and escalated to a maximum of 2 × 1012 vp. If a clinical benefit was seen and the treatment was well tolerated, additional doses could be administered to additional lobes. Results Twenty-five patients were treated at doses between 2 × 109 and 2 × 1012 vp. At 2 × 1012 vp, one patient experienced grade 4 pulmonary toxicity, and one patient died 25 days after his second cycle; therefore, a cohort of 10 patients was treated at the recommended phase II dose of 5 × 1011 vp, with no grade 4 toxicity observed. The most frequent toxicities included low-grade fever, hypoxia, and dyspnea. Of the 23 assessable patients, 16 h...
Shiga Toxin 2-Specific but Not Shiga Toxin 1-Specific Human Monoclonal Antibody Protects Piglets Challenged with Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli Producing Shiga Toxin 1 and Shiga Toxin 2

Escherichia coli strains that produce Shiga toxin 2 (Stx2) are isolated from hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) cases more frequently than are strains that produce both Shiga toxin 1 (Stx1) and Stx2, whereas strains that produce only Stx1 are rarely isolated from HUS cases. Studies have implicated Stx2 as the sole contributor to acute kidney failure and other systemic complications in humans. The aim of the present study was to determine whether Stx2-specific antibody would be as effective against Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains that produce both Stx1 and Stx2 as it is against strains that produce only Stx2, compared with Stx1-specific antibody. We found that Stx2-specific and Stx1-specific antibodies protected 100% and 0% of piglets, respectively, against oral challenge with a Stx1- and Stx2-producing STEC strain. We conclude that Stx2-specific antibody is sufficient to protect piglets, and possibly humans, against STEC strains that produce both toxins.
Intensity characteristics of inversionless lasers from induced atomic coherence

We analyze a laser system consisting of N closed three-level atoms confined in a single-mode cavity and derive the conditions for the onset of lasing without inversion or with inversion. We calculate the steady-state gain and lasing in the system and show that far above the lasing threshold, depending on the pumping and decay rates, the inversionless laser may operate in three different regimes, where the intensity of the laser depends linearly on N, is proportional to \ensuremath{\surd}N , or independent of N.
Linkage analysis of complex traits using affected sibpairs: Effects of single‐locus approximations on estimates of the required sample size

We investigated the power of the affected sibpair method for detecting a disease locus when the disease is inherited through two bi-allelic loci. The power was computed for all possible values of the gene frequencies and penetrances that lead to a given population prevalence and a given sibling relative risk. A method to generate rapidly all possible models that give a specific population prevalence and relative risk is provided. We applied it to the case of a two-locus disease with a prevalence of 10% and a low sibling relative risk of 1.5. For this particular example, regardless of the true underlying model, a sample size (N = 450 for alpha = 0.05, N = 1,500 for alpha = 0.0001) may be determined such that one would expect enough power (0.80) to detect at least one of the two disease genes. In addition to the general case, we examined a special class of models in which the marginal penetrances at each locus are either recessive or dominant. In this instance, the gene frequencies were excellent predictors of the power afforded by a particular sample size. These methods have been implemented in a C program called SIBPOWER which is freely available from the first author. With this program, investigators can perform their own power calculations for any two-locus model of their choice thus avoiding the need to use single-locus approximations that may grossly underestimate the necessary sample size.
Reverse direction substrate kinetics and inhibition studies on the first enzyme of histidine biosynthesis, adenosine triphosphate phosphoribosyltransferase.

Initial velocity steady-state substrate kinetics for ATP phosphoribosyltransferase were determined in the direction reverse to the biosynthetic reaction and are consistent with a sequential kinetic mechanism. Histidine inhibited the reverse reaction cooperatively and completely. Product and alternate product inhibition studies were conducted to elucidate binding order. The alternate product β,γ-methylene ATP was competitive with respect to N1-phosphoribosyl-ATP and noncompetitive with respect to pyrophosphate. Phosphoribosylpyrophosphate was noncompetitive with respect to both substrates. These data and those of the biosynthetic direction reaction are in satisfactory quantitative agreement with the ordered Bi-Bi kinetic mechanism with ATP or phosphoribosyl-ATP binding to free enzyme.
Concurrent Validity of the Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency

Relationships between the Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency (TOSWRF; Mather, Hammill, Allen, & Roberts, 2004), a recently developed measure of fluency, and other operationalizations of reading, including subtests from the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS; 1996), and the Woodcock-Johnson- III Tests of Achievement, (WJ-III; Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001), were determined by assessing the performance of 98 elementary students at risk for or identified with reading problems. Results yielded significant positive relationships between TOSWRF and CTBS Spelling (p < .01) and between TOSWRF and CTBS Reading and Language Composite scores (p < .05), when corrected for restriction in range. Relationships between TOSWRF and WJ-III subtests were also significant, whether corrected or uncorrected (e.g., Letter-Word Identification, Reading Fluency, Passage Comprehension, Spelling, and Broad Reading Cluster, p < .01). The TOSWRF has encouraging psychometric properties with potential for use in busy classrooms...
Preparation of novel core-shell nanocomposite particles by controlled polymer bridging

Ceramics that are composed of nanosized granules show enhanced properties in various applications. A layer-by-layer deposition process is developed in this study to prepare core-shell nanocomposite particles, using controlled polymer adsorption. Submicrometer-sized alumina particles that have been chosen as the starting core particles are first dispersed by pH control and then modified by adsorption of anionic poly(acrylic acid) to facilitate the subsequent deposition of nanoparticles on them. A key step in the processing involves the removal of excess polymer in the supernatant after the adsorption by controlled washing, so that the added nanoparticles do not self-flocculate among themselves. A coating of nanosized particles is indicated by the charge reversal of the micrometer-sized composite particles. The isoelectric point of the composite particle is similar to that of nanosized particles under both low and high coverage conditions. Scanning electron microscopic observation of coated particles shows full monolayer coverage of the nanoparticles on core particles, which confirms the efficiency of the coating scheme that is discussed here. The present study reveals the feasibility of coating nanoparticles onto micrometer-sized core particles, using controlled polymer bridging, for the preparation of the multilayer nanocomposite powders.
A new approach to thin film crystal silicon on glass: Biaxially-textured silicon on foreign template layers

Abstract We propose a new approach to growing photovoltaic-quality crystal silicon films on glass. Other approaches to film Si focus on increasing grain size in order to reduce the deleterious effects of grain boundaries. Instead, we propose aligning the silicon grains biaxially (both in and out of plane) so that (1) grain boundaries are ‘low-angle’ and have less effect on the electronic properties of the material and (2) subsequent epitaxial thickening is simplified. They key to our approach is the use of a foreign template layer that can be grown with biaxial texture directly on glass by a technique such as ion-beam-assisted deposition or inclined substrate deposition. After deposition of the template layer, silicon is then grown aligned to the template and subsequently thickened. Here, we outline this new approach to silicon on glass, describe initial experimental results and discuss challenges that must be overcome.
Material properties of Pacific hake, Humboldt squid, and two species of myctophids in the California Current

We measured the material properties of Pacific hake (Merluccius productus), Humboldt squid (Dosidicus gigas), and two species of myctophids (Symbolophorus californiensis and Diaphus theta) collected from the California Current. Density contrast (g) was measured for pieces of hake and myctophid flesh, and the following Humboldt squid body parts: mantle, arms, tentacle, braincase, eyes, pen, and beak. Density contrast varied with fish species, as well as among squid body parts. Effects of animal length and environmental conditions on nekton density contrast were investigated. Sound speed contrast (h) was measured for hake and myctophid flesh, Humboldt squid mantle and braincase, and varied within and between nekton taxa. These material property measurements can be used to more accurately parameterize target strength models and increase the accuracy of nekton biomass from acoustic surveys.
Interception of O2− by benzoquinone in cyanoaromatic-sensitized photooxygenations

Abstract Benzoquinone decreases the rate of dicyanoanthracene-sensitized photooxidation of trans-stilbene, apparently by intercepting the reactant O 2 − .
Hypervariable genes—experimental error or hidden dynamics

In a homogeneous group of samples, not all genes of high variability stem from experimental errors in microarray experiments. These expression variations can be attributed to many factors including natural biological oscillations or metabolic processes. The behavior of these genes can tease out important clues about naturally occurring dynamic processes in the organism or experimental system under study. We developed a statistical procedure for the selection of genes with high variability denoted hypervariable (HV) genes. After the exclusion of low expressed genes and a stabilizing log-transformation, the majority of genes have comparable residual variability. Based on an F-test, HV genes are selected as having a statistically significant difference from the majority of variability stabilized genes measured by the ‘reference group’. A novel F-test clustering technique, further noted as ‘F-means clustering’, groups HV genes with similar variability patterns, presumably from their participation in a common dynamic biological process. F-means clustering establishes, for the first time, groups of co-expressed HV genes and is illustrated with microarray data from patients with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and healthy controls.
Song learning in montane white-crowned sparrows: from whom and when

Abstract White-crowned sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys , adults and nestlings were colour-banded and songs of mature progeny recorded to determine whether songs were learned from fathers, age peers or adults other than fathers. Four out of 17 sons and daughters sang the same song types as their fathers, indicating that transmission of song from fathers to their young (vertical transmission) is not the norm. Since juveniles do not sing full (‘crystallized’) songs until they are older, transmission from juvenile to juvenile (horizontal) is unlikely on the breeding grounds but may occur if siblings migrate together and hear each other's song on the wintering grounds. The usual mode of transmission is via other adults (oblique). Birds learn one or two songs prior to or during migration, and upon settling on the breeding area the following year may utter only one theme, that which matches the neighbours' songs during matched countersinging bouts. A bird's song dialect is thus not necessarily an indicator of its birthplace. One wild and one laboratory-reared bird sang songs of a Lincoln sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii , and a strawberry finch, Amandava amandava , respectively. These data and data from field playback studies lend support to the notion that interspecific terrioriality may lead to acquisition of alien song for use in matched countersinging during territorial encounters with allospecific neighbours.
Interest on reserves, unregulated interest on demand deposits, and optimal sweeping

Abstract This paper examines the joint determination of the interest rate on demand deposits and swept funds given interest on reserves and the elimination of Regulation Q. Our model works within monopolistically competitive loan and deposit markets and incorporates sweeping from deposit accounts to reserve-exempt accounts. Under unregulated deposit rates, we derive solutions for the market equilibrium values of the deposit rate and the share of deposits allocated to swept funds. Sweeping responds positively to the interbank loan rate and marginal resource costs for unswept funds, and negatively to the interest rate on reserves, reserve ratio, and the marginal resource cost of sweeping. The deposit rate responds positively to the interbank loan rate, interest rate on reserves, and reserve ratio, but negatively to marginal resource costs of sweeping and holding unswept funds. We also investigate deposit market equilibrium under a zero deposit rate restriction with sweeping. Here, the share of swept funds and the portion of the interbank rate passed on to swept balances adjust to attain market equilibrium. Sweeping enables banks to replicate outcomes from unhindered deposit rate competition. The equilibrium return that banks pay depositors and the share of swept funds are the same as with unrestricted deposit rates.
Some observations on the use of slit rheometry for characterizing the primary normal stress difference of extrudates

Abstract Experimental evidence is presented to demonstrate that the standard procedure of linearly extrapolating pressure profiles through the exit of slit rheometers as a means of characterizing extrudate elastic properties is inappropriate. This widely used procedure, based on the assumption that the pressure gradient is constant over the entire instrument, is erroneous because the flow does not remain fully developed through the exit of the rheometer.
LIM DOMAIN PROTEIN-3 (LMP3) COOPERATES WITH BMP7 TO PROMOTE TISSUE REGENERATION BY LIGAMENT PROGENITOR CELLS

Gene transfer of key regulators of osteogenesis for mesenchymal stem cells represents a promising strategy to regenerate bone. It has been reported that LMP3, a transcription variant of LIM domain mineralization protein (LMP) lacking LIM domains, can induce osteogenesis in vitro and in vivo. As little is known about the effects of LMP3 gene therapy on periodontal ligament (PDL) cell osteogenic differentiation, this study sought to explore whether gene delivery of LMP3 can promote PDL cell mineralization and bone formation. Our results showed that adenoviral mediated gene transfer of LMP3 (AdLMP3) significantly upregulated ALP (Alkaline Phosphatase), BSP (Bone Sialoprotein) and BMP2 gene expression and increased in vitro matrix mineralization in human PDL. Although AdLMP3 gene delivery to PDL cells did not induce ectopic bone formation in vivo, we found that AdLMP3 augments new bone formation, which co-delivered with AdBMP7 gene transfer. Our study provides the evidence that there is a synergistic effect between LMP3 and BMP-7 in vivo, suggesting that LMP3 delivery may be used to augment BMP-mediated osteogenesis. LMP3 and BMP-7 combinatory gene therapy may also have specific applications for oral and periodontal regenerative medicine.
Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Studies of Metal on Metal Epitaxy.

Prior to the advent of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), most experimental studies measured average properties such as overall chemical composition and long-range periodic structure using techniques such as electron- and photon-based spectroscopies and diffraction. This article reviews selected contributions that STM has made in the understanding of metal-on-metal epitaxy. This is presented not from a historical perspective but rather by highlighting key scientific issues that STM has and will continue to impact. The paper is divided into three topic areas: nucleation, structure, and composition. This is done only for organizational purposes and not to imply that they can be viewed distinctly. There exist fundamental interactions between all of these phenomena that lead to the rich behavior in metal films highlighted throughout the article. One of the great contributions of STM has been precisely to discover these links. 106 refs.
Michel Mirowski and the automatic implantable defibrillator

I n one of the operating rooms at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, a large group of people crowded the floor and the overhead viewing booth on February 4, 1980, to watch the first installation of an automatic implantable defibrillator in a human being.* The patient was a 57-year-old woman who had had a myocardial infarction and coronary artery bypass graft operation for angina. She had lost consciousness several times from ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation, and antiarrhythmic drugs had not controlled her symptoms. It was only a matter of time until one of the episodes would prove fatal. She had flown to Hopkins from California for the procedure with her cardiologist, Dr. Roger Winkle of Stanford University Medical School. The operation was performed by Dr. Levi Watkins, a young Hopkins cardiothoracic surgeon. Assisting him were Dr. Philip R. Reed, a cardiac electrophysiologist and head of the arrhythmia service at Hopkins, and Dr. Morton Mower, a cardiologist from Sinai Hospital of Baltimore and one of the developers of the defibrillator. Close to the operating table, in unaccustomed surgical scrub suit and mask, was Dr. Michel Mirowski, at 55 years of age the man whose waking hours had been dominated by his efforts to build the electronic device now being applied for the first time to treat a patient. Michel Mirowski (Figure 1) believes that he began learning how to construct the automatic implantable defibrillator when he was 15 years old. At that time there were no pacemakers, no external detibrillators, no clear understanding, in fact, of how to resuscitate a patient from cardiac arrest. Mirowski was certainly not considering then how to invent a defibrillator, but he was about to have experiences that would teach him how to accomplish what was seemingly impossible. Mieczyslaw Mirowski-Michel is his nickname, given to him by his wife-was born on October 14, 1924, in Warsaw, Poland. His parents operated a delicatessen and “factory,” as Mirowski remembers the establishment, where much of the kosher food they sold was processed. “My parents worked long hours,” he recalls. “I don’t think my father ever took a vacation. My mother and I would leave Warsaw for a week or so in the summer and stay in a pension outside the city.” Warsaw was then a city of one million people, one third of whom, including the Mirowskis, were Jewish. Earlier generations of the family had been quite reli-
Simultaneous analysis of 2,3,4,6-tetrachloroanisole, pentachloroanisole and the corresponding chlorophenols in biological tissue.

A method has been developed for the analysis of 2,3,4,6-tetrachloro- and pentachloroanisoles and the corresponding chlorophenols in biological extracts. Ethylation followed by separation of the preformed anisoles from the corresponding phenetoles (ethyl phenyl ethers) by gas chromatography using an electron capture detector provides a sensitive method of analysis. The extraction method of Likens and Nickerson, whilst satisfactory for the chloroanisoles in all the samples investigated, was not adequate for quantitative recovery of chlorophenols from muscle or fatty tissue. An alternative extraction method, not applicable to chloroanisoles, was satisfactory for muscle but was not suitable for skin or fatty tissue.
Denormalization guidelines for base and transaction tables

This article outlines heuristic guidelines for denormalizing transaction tables in relational databases. Denormalization as a process seeks to improve the response time for data retrieval while maintaining good system performance for row insertions, updates, and deletions. These guidelines apply especially for client-server environments where response time for on-line, transaction-processing systems is critical to end-user satisfaction and productivity.
Phenomenological dynamics: From Navier–Stokes to chiral granular gases

This paper reviews the derivation of equations for slow dynamical processes in a variety of systems, including rotating rigid rotors, crystalline solids, isotropic and nematic elastomers, gels in an isotropic fluid background, and nematic liquid crystals. It presents a recent derivation of the Leslie-Ericksen equations for the dynamics of nematic liquid crystals that clarifies the nature of the nonhydrodynamic modes in these equations. As a final example of the phenomenological approach to slow dynamical processes, it discusses the dynamics of a driven nonequilibrium system: a two-dimensional gas of chiral ‘rattlebacks’ on a vibrating substrate.
Theory and calculation of water distribution in bentonite in a thermal field

Highly compacted bentonite is under consideration for use as a buffer material in geological repositories for high-level radioactive wastes. To assess the suitability of bentonite for this use, it is necessary to be able to predict the rate and spatial extent of water uptake and water distribution in highly compacted bentonite in the presence of thermal gradients. The ''Buffer Mass Test'' (BMT) was conducted by workers in Sweden as part of the Stripa Project. The BMT measured uptake and spatial distributions of water infiltrating annuli of compacted MX-80 sodium bentonite heated from within and surrounded by granite rock; the measurements provided a body of data very valuable for comparison to results of theoretical calculations. Results of experiments on adsorption of water by highly compacted MX-80 bentonite have been reported by workers in Switzerland. The experiments included measurements of heats of immersion and adsorption-desorption isotherms. These measurements provide the basis for prediction of water vapor pressures in equilibrium with bentonite having specified adsorbed water contents at various temperatures. The present work offers a phenomenological description of the processes influencing movement of water in compacted bentonite in the presence of a variable thermal field. The theory is applied to the bentonite buffer-watermore » system in an assumed steady state of heat and mass transport, using critical data derived from the experimental work done in Switzerland. Results of the theory are compared to distributions of absorbed water in buffers observed in the Swedish BMT experiments. 9 refs., 2 figs.« less
Associations between two gene markers and indicator traits affecting fresh and dry-cured ham processing quality.

The study objective was to evaluate the effects of mutations in two genes, PRKAG3 and CAST, on fresh and dry-cured processing characteristics. Processing and curing followed normal commercial procedures. A 100 g sample of the semimembranosus was excised and frozen for later DNA harvest. Genotypes for CAST, and PRKAG3 were determined after DNA extraction from the frozen samples. The PRKAG3 marker had no affect on dry-cured ham processing characteristics. The CAST gene marker was a significant source (P < 0.05) of variation for cured ham moisture content and tended to be a significant source (P < 0.10) for yield, ham weight loss, salt content and Minolta color change. The data demonstrate that the CAST 11 genotype is associated with greater processing yields. Alternatively, selection or sorting for the CAST 22 genotype should produce cured hams that exhibit more efficient moisture loss and, as a result, require less processing time and contain greater salt content.
Classroom Note: A note on calculating steady state results for an M/M/k queuing system when the ratio of the arrival rate to the service rate is large

The formulas for calculating steady state results for the M/M/k queuing system are well known. Computational difficulties, however, can arise in using these formulas in situations in which the ratio of the arrival rate to the service rate is high. In this paper we consider a recursive approach for calculating steady state results which avoid such computational difficulties. As an additional benefit, such formulas are far easier to program into a spreadsheet package than the traditional formulas presented in most management science texts.
Chemical self-organization length scales in non- and nano-crystalline thin films

Abstract This paper identifies different length scales λs for strain-reducing chemical bonding self-organizations (CBSO) in non-crystalline and nano-crystalline thin films. CBSOs are differentiated spectroscopically, and explained by semi-empirical bond-constraint theory (SE-BCT). Non-crystalline thin film CBSOs are characterized by molecular scale, strain-reducing chemical ordering with λs > 0.6 nm, and extending to at most 1 nm. The non-random bonding results in reduced defect densities that are enabling for device applications. Nano-crystalline transition metal oxide thin films display qualitatively different properties in two distinct nano-scale regimes in which the length scale metric is defined by π-bond coupling between atoms in strings of neighboring primitive unit cells (PUCs): (i) type I with nano-grain dimensions and λs ∼ 2 nm (or 3–4 nm (>6 PUCs). There are also diphasic nano-crystalline/non-crystalline technologically important thin films in which strain percolation is also minimized by CBSOs that combine molecular and PUC scales of order. Representative non-crystalline, nano-crystalline and diphasic nano-crystalline/non-crystalline thin film materials with qualitatively different behaviors and degrees of phase stability/metastability are addressed.
The management of high grade dysplasia and early cancer in Barrett's esophagus

Background. The incidence of Barrett's-associated esophageal adenocarcinoma is rising, but experience in the treatment of high-grade dysplasia (HGD) or early cancer is limited. Based on an endoscopic surveillance program, the authors developed a systematic multidisciplinary approach to this problem. Methods. Surgical resection was considered if biopsies of the Barrett's segment, performed according to a published protocol, showed invasive cancer, intramucosal carcinoma, or repeated evidence of HGD. The type of resection was based on the length of the Barrett's segment and included an en bloc lymph node dissection for staging purposes. Careful intraoperative pathologic evaluation ensured that all of the Barrett's mucosa was resected. Results. From 1984 to 1993, 27 consecutive patients (23 men, 4 women), with median age of 61 years (range, 45-75 years) underwent surgical exploration. Indications for operation were invasive cancer in 17 patients, intramucosal carcinoma in 5 patients, and HGD in 5 patients. Median length of the Barrett's segment was 9 cm (range, 1-17 cm). Only 15 patients (55%) had abnormalities visible with endoscopic examination that were potentially suspicious for malignancy. Twenty-six patients underwent resection with complete removal of the Barrett's mucosa, 20 by Ivor Lewis esophagogastrectomy, and 6 by transhiatal esophagectomy. Pathologic tumor stages were: TisNOMO in 10 patients; T1NOMO in 11 patients; T2NOMO in 2 patients; T3NOMO in 3 patients; and T1NXM1 in 1 patient. There were no postoperative deaths or anastomotic leaks. Major complications occurred in 4 patients. With a median follow-up of 3.7 years, 22 patients were alive, and only 2 patients had recurrences. Conclusions. This increasingly important group of patients with HGD or early carcinoma in the Barrett's esophagus has a high chance of cure but requires careful multidisciplinary treatment by the surgeon, gastroenterologist, and pathologist.
Mechanisms controlling toluene removal from saturated soils during in situ air sparging

In situ air sparging is an effective method for removing volatile organic compounds from saturated soils and groundwater. Removal efficiency levels as high as 98% are often reported, and the remediation time is significantly less than that required for conventional pump and treat technology. However, predictions of the time required for contaminant mass removal by air sparging have been approximate at best due to a lack of understanding of the relative importance of the various mechanisms that are responsible for this contaminant removal. Volatilization is considered the most dominant mass transfer mechanism during the air sparging process. Dissolution, desorption and biodegradation are the other major mechanisms that determine the rate at which contaminants are partitioned into different phases or transformed into nonhazardous substances. Additionally, advection, dispersion and diffusion are the transport mechanisms that dictate the overall contaminant removal efficiency. This paper first describes these different mechanisms along with the factors that affect these mechanisms. Then, experimental data is presented for toluene removal from Ottawa sand and fine gravel by means of air sparging. The tests performed included batch tests to characterize the adsorption characteristics of toluene on the Ottawa sand, and air sparging column tests on both the sand and the gravel to provide information on the effects of soil type and injected air flow rate on the overall air sparging remedial efficiency. These test results are assessed in light of the mechanisms affecting contaminant removal during air sparging.
Early complications and outcomes of the current technique of transperitoneal laparoscopic herniorrhaphy and a comparison to the traditional open approach

We conducted a prospective study to evaluate early complications and complaints of 60 patients who underwent laparoscopic transperitoneal hernia repair at our institution. Average follow-up was 9 months. Patients graded levels and duration of postoperative pain subjectively. Nine patients (15%) had complications of anterior/medial thigh numbness, 4 (6.7%) scrotal swelling, 4 (6.7%) scrotal ecchymosis, 3 (5%) hematoma, 2 (3.3%) prolonged sensation of tightness/pressure, 1 (1.7%) seroma, 1 (1.7%) urinary retention, and 1 (1.7%) pain with intercourse. Twenty-six (43%) had no postoperative complaints. Overall, 57 (95%) stated they were satisfied with their repair and would recommend the laparoscopic technique. Fifty-five patients (92%) returned to basic activities of daily living in less than 2 weeks. Thirty-five (73%) of the 48 patients who were employed returned to work within 3 weeks. In comparison, only 7 (29%) of 24 patients in an open hernia repair group resumed normal activity during the first 2 postoperative weeks, and only 3 (14%) of the 21 employed patients in this group returned to work at 3 weeks. The laparoscopic and traditional open herniorrhaphy methods were compared in terms of operating room time and cost. The average unilateral laparoscopic repair (n = 51) cost $3,094 and lasted 81 minutes. Bilateral laparoscopy procedures (n = 9) averaged $3,774 and 110 minutes. Unilateral traditional hernia repairs (n = 24) had an average cost of $1,990 and duration of 69 minutes. In follow-up ranging from 2 to 28 months, there has been only 1 recurrence to report in the laparoscopic group (1.7%). All patients continue to be followed to determine long-term recurrence risks.
Coded-Seeking: A Simple HDD Speed-Up Concept

Consider a single hard disk drive (HDD) composed of rotating platters and a single magnetic head. We propose a simple internal coding framework for HDDs that uses coding across drive blocks to reduce average block seek times. In particular, instead of the HDD controller seeking individual blocks, the drive performs coded-seeking: It seeks the closest subset of coded blocks, where a coded block contains partial information from multiple uncoded blocks. Coded-seeking is a tool that relaxes the scheduling of a full traveling salesman problem (TSP) on an HDD into a $k$ -TSP. This may provide opportunities for new scheduling algorithms and to reduce average read times.
Squatting, eviction and development

Abstract This paper explains both squatting and preemptive eviction by landowners within the context of incomplete land markets. The model shows that squatting is not inevitable in incomplete property markets; instead, it arises from optimal landowner decisions not to fully exercise property rights. The analysis explains why squatters' housing investments and owners' preemptive eviction rates tend to be higher than efficient and why eviction rates for open property are inefficiently high. It also examines informal land markets comprising potential squatters and owners and shows why they need not fully resolve inefficient squatter investment and landowner eviction decisions.
“The Army is a Service, Not a Job”: Unionization, Employment, and the Meaning of Military Service in the Late-Twentieth Century United States

This article tells the story of an often-forgotten attempt to unionize the United States armed forces in the 1970s. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), an AFL-CIO-affiliated union representing federal employees, voted to allow military personnel to join its union in 1976. Military personnel proved far more open to the bid than expected. Nursing grievances from threatened congressional cuts to their institutional benefits, between one-third and one-half welcomed the union. Though a worried Congress, a powerful military leadership, and skeptical public opinion quashed unionization within the year, the brief episode nevertheless left an influential legacy. Coming just after the difficult transition from the draft to the volunteer force, the union bid forced military leaders, soldiers, and supporters in Congress to defend both military service and military benefits from encroachments of an “occupational” model symbolized by unionization. Their successful distinction between military service and employment elevated the former as uniquely honorable and arduous—and thus deserving of unwavering congressional support. Public unions, the embodiment of the occupational threat to military service, emerged bruised by the comparisons to vaunted military service and endured a decades-long decline in membership and congressional protection.
Relaxation of icosahedral-cage silicon clusters via tight-binding molecular dynamics

We have used a tight-binding total-energy expression for silicon to study the stability and structure of relatively large silicon clusters. Relaxation is performed using a fictitious Lagrangian and molecular dynamics. Specifically, we have looked at the relaxation of 50-, 60-, and 70-atom spheroidal hollow (icosahedral-cage-structure) clusters. We find that these clusters are not stable and relax into structures which look like puckered balls. Our results show that the unrelaxed clusters are metallic and the relaxed clusters are insulating with the Fermi level passing between localized states. We have also examined the relaxation of large clusters (size of about 100 atoms) extracted from pure diamond, fcc, and sc bulk silicon. We find that the cohesive energies of the relaxed icosahedral-cage clusters are greater than the relaxed diamond clusters and less than the relaxed fcc clusters. We also find that a single layer of flat silicon graphite is not stable and relaxes into a nonplanar layer with properties very similar to those of the relaxed icosahedral clusters.
A hydrodynamic method for the measurement of Laponite-RD caffeine binding

Abstract A novel flow-based technique to determine effective binding constants between caffeine and dispersed Laponite-RD particles in aqueous dispersions is presented. The technique, which is based on wide-bore hydrodynamic chromatography principles, exploits diffusion coefficient and flow profile differences between caffeine and Laponite-RD. A high-pressure liquid chromatography pump is used to create a laminar flow of mobile phase through a 0.25 mm diameter capillary; flow conditions are optimized in the capillary to exploit differences in diffusion coefficients of the dispersed Laponite-RD particles and caffeine. Different flow profiles for Laponite-RD and caffeine result enabling a deconvolution algorithm to determine the concentrations of caffeine associated with the Laponite-RD, a model nanoparticle, as well as the caffeine free in solution. Using these data, binding isotherms are presented from which an effective binding constant of caffeine associated with Laponite-RD can be obtained.
Electrophoretic Analysis of Gizzard Shad from the Lower Mississippi River and Ohio

Abstract Horizontal starch gel electrophoresis was used to analyze allozyme variation among subpopulations of gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum collected from the Mississippi River near Eudora, Arkansas in May and September, 1980. Fish from five river habitats (dikefield, natural bank shoreline, revetment shoreline, abandoned channel, and oxbow lake) were compared to those taken from Acton Lake, Ohio and Lake Erie. Of the 32 enzyme and protein loci that were examined, only esterase-2, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase-1, and hemoglobin were polymorphic. Chi-square contingency analyses of allele frequencies showed homogeneity among the Mississippi River habitats; significant heterogeneity was observed between the Mississippi River and Ohio populations. Allele frequencies between male and female fish were homogeneous. However, the allele frequencies of the esterase-2 locus were significantly different between age-I and age-II fish. Genic variation was estimated for gizzard shad fro...
Enhanced immune response and protection in rainbow trout to Aeromonas salmonicida bacterin following prior immersion in immunostimulants

Abstract Bathing rainbow trout for 30 min in immunostimulant solutions before a 2 min bath in Aeromonas salmonicida O antigen bacterin elevated both the nonspecific defence mechanisms and the specific immune response. Levamisole, a known T lymphocyte stimulator in mammals; QAC, a quaternary ammonium compound, and ISK a short-chain polypeptide, heightened the neutrophil oxidative activity as measured by nitroblue tetrazolium assay and increased the phagocytic uptake of glutaraldehyde-fixed sheep red blood cells. The heightened activity of the specific immune response was monitored by counting numbers of plaque-forming cells, and by demonstrating elevated circulatory antibody titres. Protection levels against the virulent pathogen were also increased when the fish were challenged 14 days later. Giving an immunostimulatory bath before the antigen bath is a relatively easy method of increasing efficacy and potency of immunogens for the prevention of diseases in fishes.
Morphology and Charge Transport in Conjugated Polymers

Determining the relationship between charge transport and morphology is key to increasing the charge carrier mobility of conjugated polymers. This review details a fundamental study of the charge t...
How to Measure Everything

The ideal camera measures wide-field diffraction-limited images of the full focal stack with photon-limited spectral and temporal resolution and infinite dynamic range. Multiscale optics and compressive coding may bring practical cameras close to this limit.
Backtracking: pursuing residency training after working.

The traditional path for new pharmacy graduates is to pursue a general pharmacy practice residency immediately following graduation and then seek employment or further training through specialty residencies or fellowships. In 2005, there were 1091 positions offered with the National Matching
Digital Signal Controllers Improve Efficiency for Solar Power Inverters

A worldwide concern for future access to affordable, sustainable energy is driving the development of more efficient solar power generation. In any photovoltaic (PV)-based system, the inverter is a critical component responsible for current control between the PV module, battery, loads and power grid. Inverters, which convert direct to alternating current, can be designed to be used with different voltage ranges and topologies for varying applications, and they can also be designed with or without transformers. Besides DC/AC conversion, inverters provide additional functions such as maximizing power, battery charging and protecting the circuit. All of these functions require optimized intelligent control that can occur in real time or near-real time; and the wide variations in application and operational requirements mean that the system control has to be highly flexible. Digital signal processor (DSP)-based controllers, such as the Texas Instruments TMS320C2000 family of controllers, provide the high level of computational performance and programming flexibility needed for the real-time signal processing in solar power inverters. Highly integrated digital signal controllers help inverter manufacturers create more efficient, more cost-effective products that can support the growing demand for solar energy in upcoming years