cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Anatomic variations of the phrenic nerve at the superior thoracic aperture (thoracic inlet): Implications for the cardiothoracic surgeon

Routine use of the internal thoracic (mammary) artery (ITA) in coronary revascularization has prompted surgeons to seek ways to increase its length and mobility while avoiding phrenic-nerve (PN)injury related to dissection of the ITA to its origin. Because no clear anatomic description of the PN/ITA relationship exists, we investigated the course of the PN through the superior thoracic aperture (thoracic inlet) and its proximity to the origin of the ITA in 51 cadavers. The ITA coursed posterior to anterior as it crossed the subclavian vein and the PN, passing between the subclavian artery and vein, was lateral to the origin of the ITA (100%). The superior/inferior position of the PN to the ITA is variable. The PN passed superior and medial to the ITA (66%) but was not consistent from side to side in the same cadaver. The PN passed lateral and inferior to the IMA in the right hemithorax (27%) and in the left (40%). A bilateral superior/medial relationship was found in 50% of cadavers and a bilateral inferior/lateral one in 20%. The surgical implications of this anatomic finding are that the PN is vulnerable to injury when it is inferior to the ITA as it passes from lateral to medial through the superior thoracic aperture (thoracic inlet) and ITA dissection is carried past the posterior border of the subclavian vein; 1 cm of soft tissue will protect the PN if dissection ends at the anterior border of the vein.
A projection-based likelihood measure for speech recognition in noise

Investigates a projection-based likelihood measure that significantly improves automatic speech recognition performance in the presence of additive broadband noise. The measure was developed by modifying likelihood scores in continuous Gaussian density hidden Markov models (HMMs), resulting in the weighted projection measure (WPM). Experimental results using the proposed measure are reported for several performance factors: different cepstral-based parameters, normal and multistyle speech, and various noise signals, including white, jittering white, and broadband colored noise. In all cases, significant improvements in speaker-dependent, isolated word recognition were achieved using the WPM instead of the standard Gaussian likelihood measure (weighted Euclidean distance (WED)). As an example, at a SNR of 5 dB, the WPM resulted in improvement in recognition accuracy from 19.4 to 80.6% compared with the standard WED for the DFT mel-cepstral representation. >
The influence of thiophene on the selective reduction of NO by NH3

The selective reduction of NO by NH3 addition has been studied in a lean-burning oil-fired laboratory combustion tunnel with pyridine and thiophene added to the fuel oil. Two distinct but interrelated effects were observed. The conversion of a fixed amount of fuel nitrogen to NO in the flame increased as the thiophene concentration increased. In the postcombustion gases, there was a shift in the temperature dependence of the reduction process when the sulfur combustion products were present. The extent of the NO reduction was not significantly altered, but the optimal temperature for reduction shifted to higher values as the thiophene concentration increased.
Medullary thyroid carcinoma presenting as rectangular cell type on fine-needle aspiration.

Medullary thyroid carcinoma typically presents as dyscohesive plasmacytoid, spindled, or polygonal cells on fine-needle aspiration smears. We recently encountered a case of sporadic medullary thyroid carcinoma that presented as a hypercellular aspirate composed of cohesive aggregates of rectangle-shaped cells. The case was mistakenly reported as a hypercellular follicular neoplasm on cytology. Subsequent thyroidectomy revealed medullary carcinoma. We draw attention to this distinctive rectangular cell type as an additional morphology for medullary thyroid carcinoma. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The Structure of a Novel DNA Duplex Formed by Human Centromere d(TGGAA) Repeats with Possible Implications for Chromosome Attachment during Mitosis

Abstract The solution structure of the DNA duplex [GTGGAATGGAAC]2containing a tandem repeat of the human centromere (TGGAA)nunit has been determined by two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (2D-NMR), distance geometry (DG) and molecular dynamics/energy minimization (MD/EM) methods. This remarkably stable "self-complementary" antipar allel duplex contains a tandem repeated motif in which unpaired guanine residues from opposite strands intercalate and costack between sheared G·A pairs. Twelve independent refined structures were determined from the NMR data and found to converge to a single family of closely related structures with pair-wise r.m.s.d. values of 0.55±0.25 A. All sugar residues are in the normal C2′-endoconformation except for the unpaired guanosines, which are in the unusual C3′-endoconformation. The guanosine residues of the bracketing G·A pairs have high-antiglycosidic torsion angles and ζ backbone torsion angles close to thetransdomain. The structure exhibits many unusual interstrand interactions, including base-sugar stacking, base-phosphate hydrogen bonding and cross-strand base stacking. The [GGA]2unit contains a stack of four contiguous guanine residues, all of which have their hydrogen-bonding surface (N2H-N1H-O6- N7) exposed to solvent and available for interaction with other bases or ligands. This unexpected property may explain the unique morphology and function of the human centromere in mitosis.
Non-coding RNAs: Meet thy masters

New DNA sequencing technologies have provided novel insights into eukaryotic genomes, epigenomes, and the transcriptome, including the identification of new non-coding RNA (ncRNA) classes such as promoter-associated RNAs and long RNAs. Moreover, it is now clear that up to 90% of eukaryotic genomes are transcribed, generating an extraordinary range of RNAs with no coding capacity. Taken together, these new discoveries are modifying the status quo in genomic science by demonstrating that the eukaryotic gene pool is divided into two distinct categories of transcripts: protein-coding and non-coding. The function of the majority of ncRNAs produced by the transcriptome is largely unknown; however, it is probable that many are associated with epigenetic mechanisms. The purpose of this review is to describe the most recent discoveries in the ncRNA field that implicate these molecules as key players in the epigenome.
Random attractors for stochastic reaction–diffusion equations on unbounded domains

The existence of a pullback attractor is established for a stochastic reaction–diffusion equation on all n-dimensional space. The nonlinearity is dissipative for large values of the state and the stochastic nature of the equation appears as spatially distributed temporal white noise. The reaction–diffusion equation is recast as a random dynamical system and asymptotic compactness for this is demonstrated by using uniform a priori estimates for far-field values of solutions.
An Idealized Semi-Empirical Framework for Modeling the Madden–Julian Oscillation

AbstractThe authors present a simple semi-empirical model to explore the hypothesis that the Madden–Julian oscillation can be represented as a moisture mode destabilized by surface flux and cloud–radiative feedbacks. The model is one-dimensional in longitude; the vertical and meridional structure is entirely implicit. The only prognostic variable is column water vapor W. The zonal wind field is an instantaneous diagnostic function of the precipitation field.The linearized version of the model has only westward-propagating (relative to the mean flow) unstable modes because wind-induced surface latent heat flux anomalies occur to the west of precipitation anomalies. The maximum growth rate occurs at the wavelength at which the correlation between precipitation and surface latent heat flux is maximized. This wavelength lies in the synoptic- to planetary-scale range and is proportional to the horizontal scale associated with the assumed diagnostic wind response to precipitation anomalies.The nonlinear version...
Barriers and bridges to the adoption of environmentally-sustainable offerings☆☆☆

Abstract This research identifies the factors that inhibit the incorporation of environmentally-sustainable offerings into firms' operations, while outlining strategies that environmentally-sustainable suppliers can use to overcome such adoption barriers. A discovery-oriented approach analyzes twenty in-depth interviews with mid- and senior-level managers whose firms were faced with, and yet overcame, adoption barriers. Results indicate that supplier related barriers, such as associated costs, ease of use, suppliers' credibility, and their offerings' creativity and execution, and intraorganizational barriers, such as organizational structure and culture, inhibit adoption. The refinement and alignment of suppliers' actions, communications, and offerings were suggested to aid in overcoming the barriers. This research yields insights for both research and practice, as it provides a series of testable research propositions, supports several theories, and furnishes supplier firms with strategies to better position their firms and offerings.
Bio-aerosol fluorescence sensor

A real-time, point-type sensor has been developed for early warning of threat bio-aerosols. The sensor, which is based on laser-induced-fluorescence detection of aerosol particles, incorporates two spectral channels for discrimination of threat aerosols from background aerosols. Field tests at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, in September 1997 showed that the sensor can detect threat bio-aerosols at a concentration of 5–10 particles per liter of air and can discriminate threat aerosol from natural background aerosols. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Field Anal Chem Technol 3: 240–248, 1999
Dual response surface optimization

Vining and Myers adapted the dual response approach to achieve the goals of Taguchi's philosophy. This excellent approach contains some deficiencies that will be highlighted in this paper. A more satisfactory and substantially simpler optimization proce..
Sex differences in the densities of α2-adrenergic receptors in the song control system, but not the medial preoptic nucleus in zebra finches

In songbirds, song is regulated by a specialized group of brain nuclei known as the song system. Other aspects of courtship, such as male sexual interest in a female, are likely regulated by the medial preoptic nucleus (POM). The song control system and the POM are rich in norepinephrine, which appears to regulate courtship behaviors, including song. Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) exhibit an extreme sexual dimorphism in song behavior; males sing, primarily to attract or maintain mates, and females do not. We explored possible sex differences in the distribution and density of the alpha(2)-adrenergic receptors in the song system and POM of zebra finches. Receptors were labeled with the selective ligand, [(3)H] RX821002, via autoradiographic procedures. In males, dense alpha(2)-receptors were observed in the song system (Area X, the high vocal center (HVc), the lateral portion of the magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum, and the robust nucleus of the archistriatum). In contrast, in females neither the lateral portion of the magnocellular nucleus of the anterior neostriatum nor the HVc could be identified based on alpha(2)-receptor binding. Females lack Area X and indeed differential alpha(2)-binding was not observed within the female lobus parolfactorius. The robust nucleus of the archistriatum contained less dense alpha(2)-binding in females compared to males. Alpha(2)-binding in the POM was similar in males and females. The dimorphism in alpha(2)-binding in nuclei of the song system likely relates to the dimorphism in song behavior observed in male and female zebra finches.
Part/whole percentaging as a useful method in policy/program evaluation

Abstract Part/whole percentaging analysis is a simple and meaningful way of evaluating alternative policies, decisions, or other options with multiple goals measured on different dimensions. That kind of analysis involves converting the raw scores of each alternative policy on each goal into a part/whole percentage by summing the raw scores for each goal and dividing each raw score by the total. One can then sum the part/whole percentages across the goals for each policy after assigning at least tentative relative weights to each goal. Part/whole percentages are added for goals that one would like to maximize and are subtracted for goals that one would like to minimize. Where the relative weight of a goal or score is too difficult to determine, one can determine the threshold value at which there is a tie between the tentative first choice and the second choice, and then just determine whether the actual value is above or below the threshold value. The aggregated part/whole percentages for each policy can be used to choose the best policy, the best subset of policies, or to allocate a budget across the policies in proportion to their aggregated part/whole percentages.
Deuterium exchange of benzo[b]thiophene: model complex and heterogeneous reactor studies

Abstract The complexes [CpRu(BT)]+ and [CpRu(3-MeBT)]+, where BT is benzo[b]thiophene and 3-MeBT is its 3-methyl derivative, are models for π-coordination of BT to hydrodesulfurization (HDS) catalysts via the benzene ring. The BT in these complexes undergoes base-catalyzed deuterium exchange, at the 2 and 7 positions; in KOH CD 3 OD solutions, the exchange follows the rate law: rate = k[Ru complex][OH−]. The mechanism is proposed to involve rate-determining proton abstraction by OH− from either [CpRu(BT)]+ or [CpRu(3-MeBT)]+ followed by transfer of D+ from the CD3OD solvent to give the deuterated BT complex. Heterogeneous reactor studies of deuterium exchange of BT with D2 over several HDS catalysts (PbMo6.2S8, Co0.25MoS, and 5% Re γ- Al 2 O 3 ) and γ-Al 2 O 3 indicate that BT is activated to exchange at the 2 and 3 positions over the catalysts. These results suggest that deuterium exchange of BT over HDS catalysts may occur through routes other than those involving BT π-bonding through its benzene ring to the catalyst surface.
POLO - Gigabyteh parallel optical links for multimedia, computer cluster and switching systems

The POLO (Parallel Optical Link Organization) is a collaborative development consortium of Hewlett-Packard, AMP, Du Pont, SDL, and the University of Southern California. The goal of the POLO program is to develop low cost, high performance parallel optical links for applications in central office switching environments, clustered computing, and multimedia. Previous reports have described preliminary results and the general design of the POLO interconnect module [1]. In this paper, we discuss the performance results of the 1st generation POLO module (POLO-1) and progress in the design and assembly of the 2nd generation optimized module.
Effects of manipulations of glucoregulation on feeding in the ground squirrel

Insulin and 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) stimulate feeding in rats, while glucagon inhibits feeding. We report here their effects on food intake in the 13-lined ground squirrel (Spermophilus tridecumlinectus). These hibernating animals are an interesting model for studying appetite regulation because of the marked seasonal variations in food consumption. Food intake reached a peak of 286 +/- 7 g/kg/day in mid July, decreasing to 16.1 +/- 3 g/kg/day in September. Studies during the hyperphagic period showed that glucagon (0.5 to 1 mg/kg) decreased feeding 30 minutes post injection (p less than 0.01) whereas at 4 hours glucagon produced a 37% increase in feeding (p less than 0.05). During the hypophagic period, glucagon failed to alter food consumption. Insulin (5-100 Units/kg) produced no effect on feeding in hyperphagic animals despite a decrease in glucose from 193 +/- 10 mg/dl to 55 +/- 4 mg/dl after 100 Units/kg. However, insulin (50 and 100 Units/kg) resulted in significant increases in food consumption at 2 and 4 hours (p less than 0.01 and 0.05, respectively) when administered while the animals were hypophagic. 2-DG (250-750 mg/kg) increased food consumption (hyperphagic phase) by 76% at 20 hours (p less than 0.01) with significant increases being present as early as 4 hours, although when 2-DG was given to hypophagic animals it resulted in decreased food intake at 4 hours (p less than 0.05). We conclude that the effects of glucoregulatory manipulations on food consumption are markedly influenced by the circannual rhythm of feeding in the 13-lined ground squirrel.
The solvent‐jump relaxation method using continuous flow

A step perturbation (concentration-jump or solvent-jump) relaxation method is described for studying the rates of fast reactions, using nontransient observation in a steadystate flow system. Therelaxation time is determined from a single measurement of an integrated relaxation amplitude. Remeasurement of the rate of dimerization of aqueous rhodamine B is reported.
Determination of water in cooked cottonseed meats by a modified indirect conductivity method

The modified indirect conductivities and oven-dry moisture percentages were determined on mine Samples of cooked cottonseed meats (1.8 to 13.9% water). Statistical treatment of the data yields the following results: (1) equation of the regression line, {fx177-1} (2) correlation coefficient, 0.998; (3) standard deviation from the regression line, 0.27% water.
Common Knowledge Sharing Model of 24-Hour Knowledge Factory of Grid Computing Based on Case Based Reasoning

In order to improve the level of decision making and competitive advantage, organizations try to learn and develop new knowledge management techniques that are suited for the evolving global economy. Decision makers are becoming increasingly faced with a dilemma: great difficulty arises in sharing knowledge where distributed and heterogeneous data sources are so rich in terms of their information content. In order to address the problem of knowledge sharing, this article proposes a common knowledge sharing modelâ€” the 24-hour knowledge factoryâ€”of grid computing founded on case-based reasoning (CBR). This article begins with a description of the 24-hour knowledge factory, the enterprise common knowledge shared (ECKS) methodology and the time-shift sharing model. Next, the notion of a CBR-adapted approach for 24-hour knowledge factory, based on grid computing, is presented. Third, based on the ECKS concept, this article analyzes the use of the model described in this article in decision evolution and builds upon enterprise sharing structure ECK modeling, focusing on activity-work sharing, passive-work sharing and mix-work sharing. Multiple types of enterprise common knowledge transfer mechanisms are presented in this article.
Computerized approach to X‐linked mental retardation syndromes

Photographs of normal and abnormal relatives with X-linked mental retardation (XLMR) and clinical data are combined in a Macintosh II computer system to provide an objective and versatile means of evaluating developmental abnormalities. The system includes a flatbed scanner for the entry of photographs and text, additional memory to enhance resolution of photographs, and several programs which facilitate searches for keywords. The primary advantages of the system include an easy interaction between descriptive words and photographs, and rapid comparison of whole faces and specific traits from many individuals. Information within families and between disorders can easily be compared in coded or uncoded fashion. Data from the 34 currently described syndromes emerging from the category of "non-specific XLMR" are being used to develop and test this approach. Neither standard photographs nor most computerized diagnostic systems permit this flexibility. Ultimately, this approach will provide a valuable diagnostic and teaching aid.
Copper(I) β-Boroalkyls from Alkene Insertion: Isolation and Rearrangement

The insertion of alkenes into an (NHC)copper(I) boryl affords isolable β-boroalkyl complexes in high yields; competition experiments using substituted styrenes show that electron-donating substituents slow the reaction. Although the insertion products are stable at ambient temperature, a β-hydride elimination/reinsertion sequence affords a rearranged α-boroalkyl complex on heating.
Contribution by bradykinin to the natriuretic response to the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor ramiprilat in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

It is well documented that angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors decrease blood pressure, which is associated with natriuresis in humans and certain animal models of hypertension. However, it is not clear whether these beneficial effects are due solely to blockade of angiotensin-II production and/or also involves any contribution by kinins. The present study was performed in Inactin® (5-ethyl-5-(1-methylpropyl)-2-thio-barbiturate sodium)-anesthetized spontaneously hypertensive rats aged 10–13 wks to examine the relative influence of the angiotensin receptor antagonist losartan (2-n-butyl-4-chloro-5-hydroxymethyl-1- [(2′-(1H-tetrazol-5-yl)biphenyl-4-yl)methyl] imidazole potassium salt) and the bradykinin receptor 2 antagonist HOE 140 (D-Arg-[Hyp3, Thi5, D-Tic7, Oic8] bradykinin) on renal and hemodynamic responses to the angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor ramiprilat. We found that ramiprilat (1 mg/kg, i.v.) caused sustained reduction in mean blood pressure, marked increases in urine output and urinary sodium excretion without alteration in glomerular filtration rate. In a separate group of animals, it was found that losartan (1 mg/kg, i. v.) decreased blood pressure to a similar degree as ramiprilat and the magnitude of blood pressure fall seen following the combined administration of ramiprilat and losartan was similar to that caused by either compound alone. However, the increase in urinary sodium excretion seen following losartan administration was significantly smaller than that following ramiprilat or ramiprilat plus losartan. It was also found that HOE 140 (50 μg/kg, i.v.), which did not significantly affect both hemodynamic and renal parameters when administered alone, significantly attenuated the natriuretic and diuretic, but not the antihypertensive effect of ramiprilat. These results indicate that inhibition of angiotensin II formation accounts for the major portion of antihypertensive, diuretic and natriuretic effects of ramiprilat and that the accumulation of kinins contributes significantly to renal but not the acute antihypertensive effects of ramiprilat.
Design, fabrication, and initial testing of a miniature PEM fuel cell with micro-scale pyrolyzed carbon fluidic plates

Carbonization of machined polymers is a method of creating carbon structures with small feature sizes without having to directly machine carbon (a difficult and expensive process). Pyrolyzed carbon fluidic plates with feature sizes less than 1 mm are used to create a miniature fuel cell. Epoxy is used to seal the fuel cell and water is directly applied to exposed Nafion® to hydrate the membrane. The use of miniature carbon fluidic plates will allow for fabrication of 3D (non-planar) proton exchange membrane fuel cells utilizing carbon bipolar plates. Initial test results of the fuel cell are given.
Pectus Carinatum: The Undertreated Chest Malformation

Pectus carinatum (PC) consists of a spectrum of congenital protrusion deformities of the chest, the most frequent being anterior displacement of the mid and lower sternum and adjacent costal cartilages, which is usually first recognized during early adolescence. Asymmetrical deformities with a tilted sternum are common, occasionally with localized depression of one or both sides of the lower anterolateral chest. Protrusion of the upper sternum (chondromanubrial) with occasional depression of the lower sternum occurs in approximately 12% of cases.1 PC is approximately seven times less frequent than pectus excavatum (PE), and occurs more than six times more often in males.2 More than 30% of PC patients have a familial occurrence of pectus deformities.1 Less than 5% have congenital heart disease.1 More than 60% have mild to moderate scoliosis.1 Symptoms from PC are infrequent during early childhood, except for those few patients who develop chondromanubrial prominence at an early age (10%).1 Although many adolescent children with PC deformities indicate to parents and physicians that they have increasingly severe shortness of breath, often with only mild exercise, and reduced stamina and endurance with activity, as well as exercise-induced wheezing, most physicians are likely to indicate to the family that there is no correlation between PC and cardiorespiratory dysfunction, and that the deformity is primarily a cosmetic problem.3 Patients are often advised that PC is difficult to correct surgically and that the operation is very painful with many complications and is minimally effective in producing physiological benefit. Each of these views are incorrect based on present knowledge of PC deformities and current techniques for surgical repair.1 Several surgeons have observed decreased Pectus Carinatum: The Undertreated Chest Malformation
Distribution of toenail selenium levels in young adult Caucasians and African Americans in the United States: the CARDIA Trace Element Study.

Background Data on selenium (Se) levels in American young adults, especially in African Americans, are lacking.
Conservative Models: Parametric Entropy vs. Temporal Entropy in Outcomes

The geologic architecture in aquifer systems affects the behavior of fluid flow and the dispersion of mass. The spatial distribution and connectivity of higher-permeability facies play an important role. Models that represent this geologic structure have reduced entropy in the spatial distribution of permeability relative to models without structure. The literature shows that the stochastic model with the greatest variance in the distribution of predictions (i.e., the most conservative model) will not simply be the model representing maximum disorder in the permeability field. This principle is further explored using the Shannon entropy as a single metric to quantify and compare model parametric spatial disorder to the temporal distribution of mass residence times in model predictions. The principle is most pronounced when geologic structure manifests as preferential-flow pathways through the system via connected high-permeability sediments. As per percolation theory, at certain volume fractions the full connectivity of the high-permeability sediments will not be represented unless the model is three-dimensional. At these volume fractions, two-dimensional models can profoundly underrepresent the entropy in the real, three-dimensional, aquifer system. Thus to be conservative, stochastic models must be three-dimensional and include geologic structure.
Self-assembled monolayer growth of octadecylphosphonic acid on mica

Self-assembled monolayers are formed by exposing freshly cleaved mica to a solution of octadecylphosphonic acid in tetrahydrofuran. Atomic force microscope images of samples immersed in solution for varying exposure times show that prior to forming a complete monolayer the molecules aggregate into dense islands (1.8 ± 0.2 nm high) on the surface. The islands have a compact, rounded morphology. The cosine of the contact angle between hexadecane and the partial monolayers has an approximately linear dependence on coverage. However, the cosine of the contact angle of water decreases linearly to about 50% coverage (the percolation threshold of the phosphonate islands) and then appears to saturate.
SURGNET: an integrated surgical data transmission system for telesurgery

Remote surgery information requires quick and reliable transmission between the surgeon and the patient site. However, the networks that interconnect the surgeon and patient sites are usually time varying and lossy which can cause packet loss and delay jitter. In this paper we propose SURGNET, a telesurgery system for which we developed the architecture, algorithms and implemented it on a testbed. The algorithms include adaptive packet prediction and buffer time adjustment techniques which reduce the negative effects caused by the lossy and time varying networks. To evaluate the proposed SURGNET system, at the therapist site, we implemented a therapist panel which controls the force feedback device movements and provides image analysis functionality. At the patient site we controlled a virtual reality applet built in Matlab. The varying network conditions were emulated using NISTNet emulator. Our results show that even for severe packet loss and variable delay jitter, the proposed integrated synchronization techniques significantly improve SURGNET performance.
Cloning, heterologous expression, and substrate specificities of protein farnesyltransferases from Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania major.

Abstract Chagas disease and leishmaniasis are tropical diseases caused by the protozoan parasites, Trypanosoma cruzi and Leishmania species, respectively. Protein farnesyltransferase (PFT) is being investigated as a target for anti-trypanosomatid agents because inhibitors of this enzyme are highly toxic to these parasites compared to mammalian cells. Here, we report the cloning of the α- and β-subunit genes of PFT from T. cruzi and Leishmania major . The proteins encoded by these genes are considerably larger than those of mammalian PFTs due to the presence of a number of inserts of >25 amino acids that map to junctions between helical structural elements. These inserts are not part of the active site or the interface between the two subunits. Northern blots demonstrate expression of messenger RNA for the PFT subunits in both mammalian and insect life-cycle stages of these parasites. The T. cruzi , Trypanosoma brucei , and L. major PFTs were overexpressed in the Sf9 cell/baculovirus system as active enzyme forms. Kinetic studies with a panel of CALX-containing peptides with all 20 amino acids in the X-position show that trypanosomatid PFTs have similar substrate specificities and these are different from the mammalian PFT substrate specificity patterns.
2-Amino-2-Deoxytetrose Derivatives. 2. Preparation from d-Glyceraldehyde Acetonide: A Reinvestigation

Abstract A diastereomeric mixture of nitriles 1a,b was prepared by a Strecker synthesis from D-glyceraldehyde acetonide and benzylamine. The reported selective hydrolysis of the acetonide group of 1a could not be accomplished. Nitrile diastereomers 1a,b were carried forward as a mixture to amines 3a,b where the diastereomers were readily separable. The hydrochloride of 3a was transformed via sequential debenzylation, N-acetylation, reduction, and exhaustive acetylation to the 2-amino-2-deoxy-D-threose derivatives 5 and 6. The corresponding 2-amino-2-deoxy-D-erythrose derivatives 10a and 11 were prepared similarly from amine 3b.
Isolated caudate lobe resection for hepatocellular carcinoma

Summary Isolated resection of the caudate lobe for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), indicated for cases associated with liver cirrhosis, usually challenges surgeons. To understand the anatomical relationship and feeding vessels of the tumor is important before a surgical plan. The approach depends upon the location and the size of the tumor and the liver function. For tumors in the paracaval portion, how to secure the inflow control and outflow control is needed. Theoretically, the outcome of HCC of the caudate lobe is worse than that for carcinoma (cancer) in other segments. However, a comparable outcome may be obtained in some patients.
Dynamic Characteristics of Externally Pressurized, Double-Pad, Circular Thrust Bearings With Membrane Restrictors

The dynamic characteristics of externally pressurized, double-pad, circular thrust bearings with membrane variable flow compensation are analytically studied
Dynamic management of QoS multimedia multicasting

The interaction between multicasting and real-time multimedia streams poses various new and interesting problems in research on communication protocols and architectures. For example, display systems of heterogeneous users in the same session may have different or even varying latency, display resolution, and/or processing capabilities. In this paper, we propose a receiver-oriented resource reservation mechanism, called Dynamic Management of QoS with Priority (DMQP), for multimedia multicasting over the Internet that provides QoS guarantees with service differentiation for heterogeneous users. In DMQP a real-time application requests QoS by specifying a range of bandwidth values and delay, and the network tries to reserve resources for it within its bandwidth range. The service differentiation is achieved by classifying the end-users into normal user and prioritized user. When the number of end-users increases, the new end-users are not simply rejected. Instead, all nodes, including receiver node(s), sender node(s) and intermediate node(s), readjust their reserved resources dynamically to admit more end-users, as long as their minimum bandwidth requirement is met. By treating the bandwidth requirements as ranges, DMQP provides the flexibility needed for operation in the dynamic Internet environment. It has the significant benefit of allowing more flexible sharing of available resources among applications. We have conducted simulations to evaluate the performance of the proposed mechanism.
Endgame: engaging the tobacco industry in its own elimination

A billion deaths from tobacco are expected by 2100. Many policy interventions such as increased taxation, restrictions on advertisement, smoking bans, as well as behavioral interventions, such as pharmacological and psychological treatments for smoking cessation, decrease tobacco use, but they reach their limits. Endgame scenarios focusing on tobacco supply rather than demand are increasingly discussed, but meet with resistance by the industry and even by many tobacco control experts. A main stumbling block that requires more attention is what to do with the tobacco industry in endgame scenarios. This industry has employed notoriously talented experts in law, business, organization, marketing, advertising, strategy, policy, and statistics and has tremendous lobbying power. Performance-based regulatory approaches can pose a legal obligation on manufacturers to decrease – and eventually – eliminate tobacco products according to specified schedules. Penalties and rewards can make such plans both beneficial for public health and attractive to the companies that do the job well. We discuss caveats and reality checks of engaging the tobacco industry to eliminate its current market and change focus. Brainstorming is warranted to entice the industry to abandon tobacco for other profit goals. To get the dialogue started, we propose the wild possibility of hiring former tobacco companies to reduce the costs of healthcare, thereby addressing concurrently two major challenges to public health.
Induction of GVHD-like skin disease by passively transferred CD8(+) T-cell receptor transgenic T cells into keratin 14-ovalbumin transgenic mice.

To understand the mechanisms involved in immunological tolerance to skin-associated antigens, we have developed transgenic (Tg) mice that express a model self-antigen, membrane-bound chicken ovalbumin (OVA), under the control of a keratin 14 (K14) promoter. K14-mOVA Tg mice express OVA mRNA in the epidermis, and appear normal. K14-mOVA Tg mice failed to mount T cell and delayed type hypersensitivity reactions to OVA, suggesting that the Tg mice were tolerant to OVA. Skin dendritic cells, including Langerhans cells, may contribute to the tolerance induction because migratory skin DC derived from K14-mOVA efficiently activated CD8+ T cells from OVA-specific T-cell receptor (Va2/Vb5) Tg (OT-I) mice. OT-I cells expanded and accumulated in skin-draining lymph nodes after intravenous injected into K14-mOVA mice and exhibited activation markers. Graft-versus-host disease-like skin lesions appeared in K14-mOVA mice by day 7 after injection of OT-I cells. These studies demonstrate that K14-mOVA Tg mice are susceptible to an autoimmunelike skin disease induced by passively transferred naive CD8+ OVA T-cell receptor Tg T cells, and serve as a good model for understanding self-tolerance and for the investigation of the pathogenesis, treatment and potential prevention of cell-mediated autoimmune reactions in skin.
DOES THE JUDICIARY DOMINATE THE BUREAUCRACY? A SIMPLE THEORY OF BUREAUCRATIC COMPLIANCE

The question of who dominates the bureaucracy has been the subject of much political science research for the past two decades. The role that the judiciary plays in bureaucratic control has generally been neglected, although statistics show overwhelming compliance by federal agencies with court rulings. This paper examines the reason for the overwhelming compliance by the bureaucracy with court decisions. First, a decision theoretic model is used to find out what factors influence compliance. The insight of this model points to the decision ratio of the majority as the most important factor. This is then tested empirically using a random sample of administrative law cases. The empirical test generally supports the conclusion of the decision theoretic model.
Potassium adsorption on hydrogen-covered Ru(0001) studied by metastable quenching spectroscopy, thermal desorption, and electron-stimulated desorption

Abstract Metastable quenching spectroscopy, thermal desorption spectroscopy, and electron stimulated desorption spectroscopy were used to study how potassium adsorption affects hydrogen binding to the Ru(0001) surface. Potassium causes the appearance of Penning ionization peaks from H/Ru surface states, which are found to be more prominent with Ne∗ than with He∗. This intensity difference is explained qualitatively by a model in which the competition between metastable quenching by resonance ionization or by Penning ionization is examined in terms of surface work function, the metastable atom ionization potential, and the image-charge potential. Potassium adsorption on Ru(0001) precovered with hydrogen leads to the appearance of a narrow high temperature peak in the H2 thermal desorption spectrum. At that temperature H2 desorbs simultaneously with the last of the adsorbed potassium left on the surface. This peak is increased and broadened if the Ru surface is sputtered prior to H2 and K coadsorption. The presence of potassium increases the ESD H+ yield by a factor of up to 30 times that without potassium, with the yield peaking at the potassium coverage giving the minmum work function, and sharply decreasing as the potassium coverage is increased further. This effect is discussed in terms of a model proposed by Lanzillotto, Dresser, Alvey and Yates for similar results on the H/K/Ni(111) system.
Effect of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid on different metabolic types of bacteria.

The effect of auxins (plant hormones) on microorganisms has been studied by several investigators. The bacteriostatic effects of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4-D), a growth-regulating substance, was first demonstrated by Stevenson and Mitchell (13) and by Lewis and Hammer (3). Dubos (1) observed that a number of synthetic, unsaturated, ring-containing acids including 2, 4-D, exerted bacteriostatic effects on certain microorganisms.
A First-Order Superscalar Processor Model

A proposed performance model for superscalar processorsconsists of 1) a component that models the relationshipbetween instructions issued per cycle and the sizeof the instruction window under ideal conditions, and 2)methods for calculating transient performance penaltiesdue to branch mispredictions, instruction cache misses,and data cache misses.Using trace-derived data dependenceinformation, data and instruction cache miss rates,and branch miss-prediction rates as inputs, the model canarrive at performance estimates for a typical superscalarprocessor that are within 5.8% of detailed simulation onaverage and within 13% in the worst case. The modelalso provides insights into the workings of superscalarprocessors and long-term microarchitecture trends such aspipeline depths and issue widths.
Bovine Serum Growth Hormone, Corticoids and Insulin During Lactation

Serum GH and insulin were measured in 26 cows and serum corticoids were measured in 12 cows. Blood samples were collected 2–4 hr before, immediately after and 1 hr after milking for the duration of a lactation (44 weeks). Milking was associated with the release of corticoids and insulin but not GH. Serum GH was negatively associated with milk yield, especially after 24 weeks of lactation. This negative, relationship may be more directly caused by changes associated with concurrent pregnancy rather than with lactation per se, because serum GH concentrations decreased as lactation advanced, but increased as gestation progressed. Serum GH was greater (p < 0.05) during estrus than during the luteal phase of the estrous cycle of lactating cows. Serum insulin concentrations were inversely related to GH levels (increasing as lactation advanced, but decreasing as pregnancy progressed), and insulin was consistently negatively related to milk yields. Serum corticoids were variable, but on the average they changed v...
Orienting Toleranced Polygonal Parts

Parts manufactured to tolerances have variations in shape. Most previous work in robotic manipulation assumes that parts do not have shape variations. Orienting devices such as bowl feeders often fail due to variations in part shape. We study the effects of uncertainty in part shape on orienting to develop systems that can orient toleranced polygonal parts. We present a tolerance model in which the part center of mass and vertices lie in circular uncertainty zones around their nominal positions. The variations in part shape are characterized by the tolerance model and the part’s nominal shape. We describe the nondeterminism that arises due to part shape uncertainty for a conveyor-based orienting system and show that sensor-based and sensorless orienting plans can exist for toleranced polygonal parts. We present implemented planners that generate orienting plans for the entire variational class of part shapes given a nominal part shape and tolerance bounds. These plans use both deterministic and nondetermi...
Artificial photosynthetic antenna-reaction center complexes based on a hexaphenylbenzene core

A hexaphenylbenzene scaffold has been used to organize the components of artificial photosynthetic antennas and antenna-reaction center mimics that feature bis(phenylethynyl)anthracene antenna moieties and porphyrin-fullerene charge-separation units. The five bis(phenylethynyl)anthracene chromophores absorb in the spectral region around 430-480 nm, where porphyrins have low extinction coefficients but solar irradiance is maximal. The hexaphenylbenzene core was built up by the well-known Diels-Alder reaction of diarylacetylenes with substituted tetraphenylcyclopentadienones. The latter were in turn prepared by condensation of substituted benzils and dibenzyl ketones, allowing flexibility in the design of the substitution pattern on the core. The spacing between the various chromophores is suitable for rapid singlet-singlet energy transfer among antenna moieties and the porphyrin, and the relatively rigid structure of the hexaphenylbenzene limits conformational heterogeneity that could reduce the efficiency of energy and electron transfer. NMR studies reveal a high barrier to rotation of the porphyirn plane relative to the hexaphenylbenzene.
An empirical study of interest rate swap usage by nonfinancial corporate business

This study examines the relationship between the probability and extent of a firm's participation in interestrate swap markets and the magnitude of some of its operating and financial ratios. These ratios are selected to proxy incentives to reduce agency costs of leverage and information asymmetry in credit markets. The data on swap usage are obtained from disclosures mandated by SFAS 105. The results suggest that fixed-rate payers, compared to non-swap-users, have more leverage, greater profitability, more growth options, less operating risk, lower ratios of fixed to total assets, and more divergent earnings estimates. On the other hand, floating-rate payers do not seem to have financial and operating characteristics significantly different from non-swap-users, although they do have less divergent earnings estimates.
Human Eating Behavior: a Critical Review of Studies in Normal Weight and Overweight Individuals

Human eating behavior has been studied in order to understand its role in spontaneous body weight regulation and to develop eating control strategies that can be used in weight loss or maintenance programs. This review evaluates all studies of eating behavior conducted since 1968 that use amount eaten, meal duration, rate of eating, eating style, verbal report and salivation as dependent variables. Both laboratory and field studies, using deception and no deception, were included. The results have been equivocal in that few characteristics of the subjects, the food itself or the experimental context appear to have uniform effects. General results include (1) palatability is the most consistent variable influencing amount eaten and producing overweight-normal weight differences in amount eaten. (2) Deprivation, palatability and overweight do not differentially affect meal duration when the impact of amount eaten on meal duration is held constant. (3) Differences in rate over the course of a meal may differentially reflect hunger (rapid eating at onset) and satiety (slowing to termination); overweight people appear less likely to show this satiety-related slowing. (4) Measures of eating style have not yielded much information since they have generally not been used in conceptually meaningful ways. (5) Verbal reports of hunger and palatability relate to state of short-term deprivation but generally correlate poorly with measure of amount eaten, perhaps because they are each measuring different processes. (6) In general, salivation in response to a food stimulus increases with deprivation and palatability. However, it is not yet clear whether salivation is a measure of appetite or some other construct since its relationship to food consumption has not been systematically tested. It is concluded that, thus far, many of the research questions in this area have not been posed in theoretically meaningful ways. Further, many of the methodologies used were not adequate to test the research questions that were posed. Third, collectively the studies continue to be impressive in their demonstration of the lack of clear overweight-normal weight differences in eating behavior. Finally, there has been much confusion among factors related to eating, those related to overeating and those related to both the onset and maintenance of obesity. The validity of the various measures are critically considered and suggestions are made for new tests and integrations of data that would be compatible with the study of human eating behavior in order to address theoretical questions regarding the regulation of intake and body weight.