cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Definition of the carbohydrate response element of the rat S14 gene. Evidence for a common factor required for carbohydrate regulation of hepatic genes.

The 5‘-flanking region of the S14 gene from -4316 to +18 contains regulatory sequences responsible for activation of promoter activity in response to elevated carbohydrate metabolism in primary hepatocytes. To map these sequences, a series of constructs containing various internal deletions of the S14 5‘-flanking sequence were assayed in primary hepatocytes. The region from -1601 to -1395 was found to be essential for this response. Comparison of the sequence of this S14 region to a region of the L-type pyruvate kinase gene that has been shown to mediate carbohydrate regulation (Thompson, K. S., and Towle, H. C. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 8679-8682) revealed a segment with 9 out of 10 identity. In both cases, this conserved sequence aligned with a DNase I footprint formed with hepatic nuclear extract. Oligonucleotides (approximately 30 base pairs) from either S14 or pyruvate kinase genes containing the conserved element bound to a hepatic nuclear factor(s) that gave identical complexes by mobility shift assay. Furthermore, these two oligonucleotides cross-competed for binding to the nuclear factor(s), suggesting that a common factor(s) binds to this conserved element. Reinsertion of the S14 oligonucleotide into an unresponsive S14 promoter construct restored the carbohydrate control. Moreover, this oligonucleotide could confer a glucose response when fused to a heterologous promoter. Thus, the S14 segment from -1457 to -1428 is a carbohydrate response element essential for the binding of nuclear factor(s) regulated by increased carbohydrate metabolism. This factor(s) may be common to the carbohydrate regulation of the S14 and pyruvate kinase genes.
Global Axonal Transport Rates are Unaltered in Htau Mice in vivo

Microtubule-based axonal transport is believed to become globally disrupted in Alzheimer's disease in part due to alterations of tau expression or phosphorylation. We previously showed that axonal transport rates along retinal ganglion axons are unaffected by deletion of normal mouse tau or by overexpression of wild-type human tau. Here, we report that htau mice expressing 3-fold higher levels of human tau in the absence of mouse tau also display normal fast and slow transport kinetics despite the presence of abnormally hyperphosphorylated tau in some neurons. In addition, markers of slow transport (neurofilament light subunit) and fast transport (snap25) exhibit normal distributions along optic axons of these mice. These studies demonstrate that human tau overexpression, even when associated with a limited degree of tau pathology, does not necessarily impair general axonal transport function in vivo.
The impact of respiratory motion on tumor quantification and delineation in static PET/CT imaging

Our aim is to investigate the impact of respiratory motion on tumor quantification and delineation in static PET/CT imaging using a population of patient respiratory traces. A total of 1295 respiratory traces acquired during whole body PET/CT imaging were classified into three types according to the qualitative shape of their signal histograms. Each trace was scaled to three diaphragm motion amplitudes (6 mm, 11 mm and 16 mm) to drive a whole body PET/CT computer simulation that was validated with a physical phantom experiment. Three lung lesions and one liver lesion were simulated with diameters of 1 cm and 2 cm. PET data were reconstructed using the OS-EM algorithm with attenuation correction using CT images at the end-expiration phase and respiratory-averaged CT. The errors of the lesion maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) and lesion volumes between motion-free and motion-blurred PET/CT images were measured and analyzed. For respiration with 11 mm diaphragm motion and larger quiescent period fraction, respiratory motion can cause a mean lesion SUVmax underestimation of 28% and a mean lesion volume overestimation of 130% in PET/CT images with 1 cm lesions. The errors of lesion SUVmax and volume are larger for patient traces with larger motion amplitudes. Smaller lesions are more sensitive to respiratory motion than larger lesions for the same motion amplitude. Patient respiratory traces with relatively larger quiescent period fraction yield results less subject to respiratory motion than traces with long-term amplitude variability. Mismatched attenuation correction due to respiratory motion can cause SUVmax overestimation for lesions in the lower lung region close to the liver dome. Using respiratory-averaged CT for attenuation correction yields smaller mismatch errors than those using end-expiration CT. Respiratory motion can have a significant impact on static oncological PET/CT imaging where SUV and/or volume measurements are important. The impact is highly dependent upon motion amplitude, lesion location and size, attenuation map and respiratory pattern. To overcome the motion effect, motion compensation techniques may be necessary in clinical practice to improve the tumor quantification for determining the response to therapy or for radiation treatment planning.
The involvement of nurse cells in oogenesis and embryonic development in the marine sponge, Haliclona ecbasis

Oogenesis and embryonic development in the marine sponge, Haliclona ecbasis, were studied using standard histological procedures. When the oocytes reach a diameter of about 30 μ, nurse cells begin to aggregate around them. Then when the oocytes are about 36 μ in diameter, they begin to engulf the associated nurse cells. Whole nurse cells are engulfed; and although the nucleus of the nurse cells disappears either as or soon after the cells are engulfed, the cytoplasm remains essentially unchanged. The accumulation of these cells within the oocytes most of the cytoplasm is nurse cell cytoplasm. During cleavage of the egg, the engulfed nurse cells are gradually fragmented, but otherwise appear unchanged. At the same time the cytoplasm of the nurse cells is progressively incorporated into that of the blastomeres by what appears to be fusion process. When the latter process is complete, the embryo develops into a typical parenchymula larva.
Size Distribution of Health-Relevant Trace Elements in Airborne Particulate Matter During a Severe Winter Stagnation Event: Implications for Epidemiology and Inhalation Exposure Studies

Size distributions for As, Cd, Bi, Br, Fe, Mn, S, Sb, Tl, K, V, Rb, elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), sulfate (SO 2− 4 ), chloride (Cl−), and nitrate (NO− 3 ) were measured at Bakersfield and Modesto CA between 12/15/2000–01/07/2001. S and V size distributions were highly correlated with little diurnal variation suggesting that, during stagnant winter conditions, inhalation exposure and epidemiological studies can choose exposure/analysis times of several days during which population exposure will be relatively uniform. In contrast, the size distribution and temporal patterns of Fe are highly variable requiring more frequent measurements and shorter health analysis periods to adequately characterize exposure concentrations. K and Rb (tracers for wood smoke) exhibited nearly identical diurnal size distribution shifts (R 2 > 0.99) with smaller particles emitted at night and larger aged particles evident during the day. This pattern suggests that the health effects of fresh wood smoke could be stu...
Foreign-born Peers and Academic Performance

The academic performance of foreign-born youth in the United States is well studied, yet little is known about whether and how foreign-born students influence their classmates. In this article, I develop a set of expectations regarding the potential consequences of immigrant integration across schools, with a distinction between the effects of sharing schools with immigrants who are designated as English language learners (ELL) and those who are not. I then use administrative data on multiple cohorts of Florida public high school students to estimate the effect of immigrant shares on immigrant and native-born students' academic performance. The identification strategy pays careful attention to the selection problem by estimating the effect of foreign-born peers from deviations in the share foreign-born across cohorts of students attending the same school in different years. The assumption underlying this approach is that students choose schools based on the composition of the entire school, not on the composition of each entering cohort. The results of the analysis, which hold under several robustness checks, indicate that foreign-born peers (both those who are ELL and those who are non-ELL) have no effect on their high school classmates' academic performance.
Electric-magnetic duality and supersymmetry in stringy black holes

We present a generalization of the U(1${)}^{2}$ charged dilaton black hole family whose main feature is that both U(1) fields have electric and magnetic charges, the axion field still being trivial. We show the supersymmetry of these solutions in the extreme case in which the corresponding generalization of the Bogomolnyi bound is saturated and a naked singularity is on the verge of being visible to external observers. Then we study the action of a subset of the SL(2,R) group of electric-magnetic duality rotations that generates a nontrivial axion field on those solutions. This group of transformations is an exact symmetry of the N=4, d=4 ungauged supergravity equations of motion. It has been argued recently that it could be an exact symmetry of the full effective string theory. The generalization of the Bogomolnyi bound is invariant under the full SL(2,R) and the solutions explicitly rotated are shown to be supersymmetric if the originals are. We conjecture that any SL(2,R) transformation will preserve supersymmetry.
Effect of Depth of Information Processing on Students’ Ability to Acquire and Retrieve Information Related to Different Instructional Objectives

Abstract The purpose of this exploratory investigation was to evaluate the effects that variations in depth of information processing have on students’ memory systems in terms of their ability to acquire and retrieve information related to different types of instructional objectives. In addition, the study examined the effect of visual/verbal testing of visualized instruction. Two hundred undergraduate students were randomly assigned to treatment groups, and received their respective instructional presentation and either visual or verbal test formats of the five criterion measures. Results indicated that all levels of depth of information processing are not equally effective in facilitating student achievement of different instructional objectives. Findings also support the contention that although information acquisition may be facilitated by the use of visualization, information is converted from the visual format to the verbal format for storage and retrieval purposes and is subsequently most readily r...
AN EMBRYOLOGIST VISITS JAPAN

It was my good fortune to be invited to Japan in spring, when the famous cherry and peach blossoms cover the countryside and invade even the serene temple gardens which symbolize the eternal life of nature and of the spirit and banish all other bright-colored flowers. Perhaps they remind you there of the evanescence of life. But this is not the mood of the blossom-viewing parties and picnics which have been popular for ages, and immortalized by poets and painters. As the 17th century poet Basho says in one of his famous short poems or haiku which are the classical form of Japanese lyrical poetry
Optimizing nanophotonic cavity designs with the gravitational search algorithm

Designing photonic crystal cavities with high quality factors and low mode volumes is of great importance for maximizing interactions of light and matter in metamaterials. Previous work on photonic crystal cavities has revealed dramatic improvements in performance by fine-tuning the device design. In L3 cavities, slight shifts of the holes on the edge of the cavity have been found to greatly increase quality factors without significantly altering the mode volume. Here we demonstrate utilizing a nature inspired search algorithm to efficiently explore a large parameter space. The results converge upon a new cavity model with a high quality factor to mode volume ratio (Q/V = 798,000 (λ/n)−3).
Justice Lies in the District: The U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, 1902-1960

In 1902 a new federal district court court was established to serve a broad segment of the Texas Gulf Coast region, including Houston. In the use of its discretion to choose between "private" and "public" law, this court for many years served the interests of the region's economic and political elite and helped stabilize a fast-changing economy that was undergoing wild swings of boom and bust. After 1945, however, the court reluctantly began to address growing demands for public law enforcement of national policies, including civil rights, and by 1960, public law issues had come to dominate the court's dockets. In this groundbreaking study of a representative lower federal court, Charles L. Zelden provides insight into the functioning of district courts and their impact on the larger legal, economic, and political systems. Combining the perspectives of legal history with those of economic, business, urban, political, and social history, and drawing on largely untapped manuscript court records, he offers a unique view of the ways in which the federal courts have shaped the nation's public and private life. The well-crafted narrative looks at the full range of the court's decisions, clearly explaining complex legal issues. It sketches in as well the personalities and political positions of the judges. Zelden demonstrates that a judge's personal and class background largely determined his judicial philosophy and set his agenda on the bench. Zelden's work contributes an important dimension to the growing literature on the economic, social, and urban history of Texas and of America in the first half of this century. It elucidates the judicial role in consolidating a cultural ethos of economic growth, self-reliant individualism, and freedom from governmental restraint.
Transport and sorption studies in beta and USY zeolites via temporal analysis of products (TAP)

Abstract Single pulse TAP experiments were chosen for obtaining estimates of intra-particle diffusion coefficients and better insight into adsorption–desorption dynamics and equilibria for isobutane and n -butane in commercially available beta and USY zeolite. This technique provides a unique way of directly estimating transport and sorption processes at extremely low surface coverage ( θ i → 0), in the absence of an inert carrier stream, with no external mass transfer resistance, and with a negligible thermal effect. The use of a thin zone TAP reactor configuration enables the use of small zeolite particles without causing high bed resistance. A theoretical model that considers transport and adsorption–desorption phenomena in the inter-particle and intra-particle space is developed and numerically solved. Numerical experiments demonstrate the ability of the model to represent the actual experimental response curves. It is shown that reliable values of intra-particle diffusivity and adsorption–desorption constants can be obtained from the TAP single pulse experiments when the three dimensionless constants of the model τ p i (the ratio of characteristic diffusion time in the micro-reactor to characteristic diffusion time in zeolite pore), K eq i (the ratio of characteristic desorption time to characteristic adsorption time), and k d i ∗ (the ratio of characteristic diffusion time in the micro-reactor to characteristic desorption time) fall within a prescribed range.
Basalt-flow imaging using a high-resolution directional borehole radar

A new high-resolution directional borehole radar-logging tool (DBOR tool) was used to log three wells at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). The radar system uses identical directional cavity-backed monopole transmitting and receiving antennas that can be mechanically rotated while the tool is stationary or moving slowly in a borehole. Faster reconnaissance logging with no antenna rotation was also done to find zones of interest. The microprocessor-controlled motor/encoder in the tool can rotate the antennas azimuthally, to a commanded angle, accurate to a within few degrees. The three logged wells in the unsaturated zone at the INEEL had been cored with good core recovery through most zones. After coring, PVC casing was installed in the wells. The unsaturated zone consists of layered basalt flows that are interbedded with thin layers of coarse-to-fine grained sediments. Several zones were found that show distinctive signatures consistent with fractures in the basalt. These zones may correspond to suspected preferential flow paths. The DBOR data were compared to core, and other borehole log information to help provide better understanding of hydraulic flow and transport in preferential flow paths in the unsaturated zone basalts at the INEEL.
Early State Formation in Southern Mesopotamia: Sea Levels, Shorelines, and Climate Change

ABSTRACT The evolution of the earliest complex state-level societies and cities from small sedentary communities took place in southern Mesopotamia between 8000 and 5000 cal yrs BP during the ‘Ubaid and Uruk periods. Attempts to explain this transition often discount the role of environmental change and tend to evaluate available archaeological evidence for urban-based state development either within a static environmental context or assuming conditions similar to those of the present. This practice is no longer tenable given newly available paleoenvironmental records for the region. Post-glacial sea-level rise resulted in the inundation and creation of the Arabo-Persian Gulf, and, as the marine transgression slowed in the Middle Holocene, rich coastal and aquatic habitats formed in southern Mesopotamia. These habitats favored the establishment and growth of ‘Ubaid Period communities and the efficient transport of goods, ideas, and people throughout the region. High water tables also promoted early experi...
Photoluminescence and electroluminescence of new PPV-based light-emitting copolymers

Abstract Photoluminescence and electroluminescence in new PPV-based copolymers and in their low molar mass model analogs were studied. The separation of the chromophoric units in the copolymer chain by inert aliphatic spacers ca. 4–12A˚in length did not significantly effect the luminescence behavior. Light emission is due to the radiative deactivation of singlet excitations located at the chromophoric units generated either by light or formed as a result of the recombination of charge carriers injected from the adjacent electrodes.
Enzymatic analysis of 2,5-anhydro-d-mannitol and related compounds☆

Two enzymatic assay procedures for the measurement of 2,5-anhydrohexitol fructose analogs have been devised. Both procedures are based on the measurement of ADP formed during enzymatic phosphorylation of the analogs either by hexokinase or by fructokinase. The actual measurement makes use of the coupled assay system using pyruvate kinase, PEP, lactate dehydrogenase, and NADH. Both systems can be used to measure fructose and appropriate analogs at cuvette concentrations up to 0.10 mM. The hexokinase procedures allows the measurement of fructose, 2,5-anhydromannitol, and 2,5-anhydromannose. Glucose, which also reacts, can be removed by pretreatment of the samples with glucose oxidase. The fructokinase procedure allows the measurement of fructose, 2,5-anhydromannitol, 2,5-anhydroglucitol, and 2,5-anhydrotalitol.
Cloning of the Canine β-Glucuronidase cDNA, Mutation Identification in Canine MPS VII, and Retroviral Vector-Mediated Correction of MPS VII Cells

Mucopolysaccharidosis type VII (MPS VII) is an inherited disease resulting from deficient activity of the lysosomal acid hydrolase β-glucuronidase (GUSB) and has been reported in humans, mice, cats, and dogs. To characterize canine MPS VII, we have isolated and sequenced the canine GUSB cDNA from normal and affected animals. A single nucleotide substitution was detected in the GUSB cDNA derived from MPS VII dogs. This guanosine to adenine base change at nucleotide position 559 in the canine cDNA sequence causes an arginine to histidine substitution at amino acid position 166. Introduction of the G to A substitution at position 559 in a mammalian expression vector containing the normal canine GUSB cDNA nearly eliminated the GUSB enzymatic activity, demonstrating that this mutation is the cause of canine MPS VII. A retroviral vector expressing the full-length canine β-glucuronidase cDNA corrected the deficiency in MPS VII cells.
The University Supervisor: A Disenfranchised Outsider.

Abstract This study explores the interpersonal dynamics of a graduate student teaching assistant supervisor, department chair, cooperating teacher, student teacher in a traditional teacher education program at a university. The study focuses on supervisor efficacy in university and school site communities and her attempts to define her role. The primary data sources included taped and transcribed interviews with triad members; taped transcripts and field notes of student teaching seminars; transcripts of three-way conferences during the semester; and field notes of discussions with the supervisor. Findings reveal the importance of teacher education programs to consider reform efforts related to supervision.
Genetic influence on human intelligence (Spearman's g): How much?

The history and conceptual background of the heritability statistic is briefly discussed. The construct of heritability is embedded in the method of structural equation modeling widely used in modern population genetics and in human behavior genetics. The application of structural equation modeling to behavioral phenotypes is shown to be a useful and informative analytic tool, as it implements the research strategy of ‘strong inference’. I describe the application of ‘strong inference’, via the use of structural equation models in the domain of human intelligence, and demonstrate its utility as a means of refuting well formulated scientific hypotheses. The construct of Spearman’s g is shown to be a strongly confirmed scientific hypothesis. Genetic and environmental influences are shown to influence g differentially over time, with shared environmental influences predominating early in life, but dissipating to near zero by adulthood. The hypothesis of substantively significant genetic influence on adult g is documented by multiple lines of evidence and numerous replications.
Millimeter accuracy passive tag ranging via second harmonics RF backscattering against body movement interference

Interference caused by unpredictable body motion is notorious in RF-based ranging and tracking. For passive tags, the strong self-leakage signal and large unwanted direct reflections encountered in conventional RFID transceivers make precision ranging even more difficult. To achieve fast, high accuracy ranging capability against body motion interference, we investigate a second harmonic backscattering solution in the opportunistic method of sequential-test heuristic multi-frequency continuous wave ranging (ST-HMFCW). We show that direct reflection and self-interference are greatly suppressed, so the received second harmonic phase variation is decoupled from the power-dependent phase distortion caused by large interference. ST-HMFCW further seeks opportunities in phase fluctuations caused by interferer motion with drastic performance improvement as bandwidth increases. Robust millimeter-accuracy ranging is achieved under strong body-motion interference with the broadband nonlinear transmission line (NLTL) backscatter tags. We present the theory, simulation and experimental prototypes to verify the effectiveness of the proposed ST-HMFCW ranging method.
The occurrence and chemical implications of geothermal convection of seawater in continental shelves

[1] Geothermal convection is an important driving force for fluid flow and diagenesis in carbonate platforms, and the similar shape of continental shelves in general suggests that geothermal convection could occur in continental shelves around the world. Numerical models based on seven transects of the shelf off the east coast of North America were developed to bracket possible fluxes. Simulations assuming relatively permeable sediments (medium-grained carbonates) failed to produce significant thermal variations, suggesting that chemical tracers will be required to detect this flow in the field. Fluxes calculated assuming lower permeabilities (fine grained carbonates) between Cape Fear and the Savannah River were approximately 3 orders of magnitude smaller than river discharge for the area, a difference similar to that between global river discharge and hydrothermal convection at mid-ocean ridges. Sediment diagenesis during geothermal convection in continental shelves thus has the potential to affect ocean chemical budgets, including potassium, calcium, and magnesium.
Some pharmacological properties of murexine (urocanoylcholine).

Abstract Murexine (urocanoylcholine, [2-β-imidazol-4(5)-ylacryloyloxyethyl] trimethylammonium bromide) has been shown to possess ganglion stimulating and neuromuscular blocking actions in cat, dog and rat. The blockade has been shown to be of the depolarizing type both on the basis of the resemblance of the pharmacological properties of the substance to that of known depolarizing blocking agents, and also directly by recording the depolarization produced in the endplate region of the gracilis muscle of the rat.
Comparative study of the initial oxidation behavior of a series of titanium–aluminum alloys

Abstract Auger electron spectroscopy was used to investigate the adsorption of molecular oxygen and the growth of the initial surface oxide layer on a series of titanium–aluminum alloys. The aluminum content of the alloys varied from zero to 75 at%. The uptake kinetics, the reaction sequence of the adsorbed oxygen, the oxidation state of the metallic surface species, and the initial surface composition of each alloy were obtained from the data. All measurements were performed at room temperature (about 295 K).
On the classification of epistatic interactions.

Modern genomewide association studies are characterized by the problem of “missing heritability.” Epistasis, or genetic interaction, has been suggested as a possible explanation for the relatively small contribution of single significant associations to the fraction of variance explained. Of particular concern to investigators of genetic interactions is how to best represent and define epistasis. Previous studies have found that the use of different quantitative definitions for genetic interaction can lead to different conclusions when constructing genetic interaction networks and when addressing evolutionary questions. We suggest that instead, multiple representations of epistasis, or epistatic “subtypes,” may be valid within a given system. Selecting among these epistatic subtypes may provide additional insight into the biological and functional relationships among pairs of genes. In this study, we propose maximum-likelihood and model selection methods in a hypothesis-testing framework to choose epistatic subtypes that best represent functional relationships for pairs of genes on the basis of fitness data from both single and double mutants in haploid systems. We gauge the performance of our method with extensive simulations under various interaction scenarios. Our approach performs reasonably well in detecting the most likely epistatic subtype for pairs of genes, as well as in reducing bias when estimating the epistatic parameter (e). We apply our approach to two available data sets from yeast ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae ) and demonstrate through overlap of our identified epistatic pairs with experimentally verified interactions and functional links that our results are likely of biological significance in understanding interaction mechanisms. We anticipate that our method will improve detection of epistatic interactions and will help to unravel the mysteries of complex biological systems.
Single molecule probes of lipid membrane dynamics

Single molecule fluorescence measurements are used to characterize the local dynamics in model lipid films of DPPC. Analysis of emission trajectory autocorrelations reveals a dependence in the single molecule emission fluctuations which is correlated with the surface pressure of the lipid monolayer. Comparison of DPPC monolayers transferred onto mica at (pi) equals 5 mN/m and (pi) equals 30 mN/m exhibit characteristic single molecule fluctuation times of 700 ms and 1.30 s, respectively. These fluctuation times are correlated with the order in the film. Comparison with recent near-field measurements of probe molecule orientation and AFM measurements of film topography, however, indicate that the lipid phase surrounding the probe molecule remains the same from (pi) equals 5 mN/m to 30 mN/m. The increase in the characteristic emission fluctuation times with increasing surface pressure, therefore, reflects a decrease in the freedom surrounding a single molecule. These fluctuations are consistent with long range concerted motions of the lipid tailgroups in the lipid film.
Osteoprotegerin in sputum is a potential biomarker in COPD.

Background COPD is characterized by chronic airflow limitation and inflammation of the respiratory tract. Several inflammatory biomarkers have been evaluated in COPD but are poorly related to disease severity and progression. Osteoprotegerin (OPG) is a glycoprotein mediator that is expressed in the lung and macrophages, so we have studied its concentration in induced sputum and macrophages of patients with COPD. Methods OPG was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in induced sputum of patients with COPD and control subjects. Results OPG concentrations in induced sputum of patients with COPD (18.7 ± 18.6 ng/mL, n=39) were significantly higher than those of healthy smokers (8.1 ± 5.6 ng/mL, n=15), healthy nonsmokers (3.5 ± 3.8 ng/mL, n=14), or patients with asthma (8.0 ± 5.4 ng/mL, n=18). Sputum OPG levels in COPD negatively correlated with FEV 1 and positively correlated with residual volume to total lung capacity ratio (RV/TLC) ( r = 0.55, P r = −0.53, P r = −0.61, P Conclusions Sputum OPG may be a useful biomarker to monitor parenchymal destruction in COPD.
A Linear-like Biasing Technique for Nonlinear Circuits

A new biasing technique is introduced for complex analog circuits. The technique is gradual, controllable and fast converging. The technique offers the circuit designers to initially and directly choose the devices operating points first and later proceed for linear designing. The technique is based on a local biasing method that removes all DC supplies from the circuit and replaces them with sources augmented to the devices so that the devices ports are DC-nullified. It is shown that when the local biasing is done in steps the additivity property, used in linear circuits, can be implemented. Finally, the local biasing makes the nonlinear devices to respond to an AC signal, at selected operating points, just like other linear elements without any need of externally bias them.
Bend loss effects in diffused, buried waveguides

Bend loss effects can be a significant concern in the design and performance of diffused, buried waveguide devices. Since diffused, buried waveguides typically do not have analytical mode solutions, the bend mode must be expressed as an expansion of straight waveguide modes. For the case of buried ion-exchanged waveguides, the bend loss is affected by bend radius, the duration of the ion exchange and burial processes, as well as the size of the mask opening used to create the waveguides and applied field during burial. The bend loss effects for each of these variables are explored under typical fabrication conditions.
Procedures for suppressing premature exothermic decomposition in ammonium perchlorate

In order to enhance extinguishment reliability of controllable solid-propellant motors, an investigation has been made by differential thermal analysis to search for additives or techniques that could eliminate or inhibit the normal first exotherm of propellant grade ammonium perchlorate (AP). The first exotherm was eliminated by controlled heating of the AP for several minutes at 370-390°C. This technique was effective in the presence of fluorocarbon binder or copper catalysts. It was also found that the temperature at which this first AP exotherm occurred could be raised 85°C by adding 1.5% ammonium hexafluorophosphate. The additive was also effective when fluorocarbon binder was in contact with the AP. Although the first AP exotherm was strongly catalyzed by as little as 0.04% of copper nitrate, the catalysis was suppressed by the NKUPFe additive. Independent tests in a combustion-bomb and in a motor have demonstrated the increased extinguishment reliability suggested by the thermal analysis curves of AP containing 1% NH4PF6. The effect on AP decompositian and combustion exotherms has also been tested for a series of additives consisting of ammonium salts, flame retardants, Lewis acids, and transition-metal compounds.
Persistent activation of select forebrain regions in aggressive, adolescent cocaine-treated hamsters

Hamsters repeatedly exposed to cocaine throughout adolescence display highly escalated offensive aggression compared to saline-treated littermates. The current study investigated whether adolescent cocaine exposure activated neurons in areas of hamster forebrain implicated in aggressive behavior by examining the expression of FOS, i.e., the protein product of the immediate early gene c-fos shown to be a reliably sensitive marker of neuronal activation. Adolescent cocaine-treated hamsters and saline-treated littermates were scored for offensive aggression and then sacrificed 1 day later and examined for the number of FOS immunoreactive (FOS-ir) cells in regions of the hamster forebrain important for aggression control. When compared with non-aggressive, saline-treated controls, aggressive cocaine-treated hamsters showed persistent increases in the number of FOS-ir cells in several aggression regions, including the anterior hypothalamus, nucleus circularis, lateral hypothalamus (i.e., the hypothalamic attack area), lateral septum, and medial and corticomedial amygdaloid nuclei. Conversely, aggressive cocaine-treated hamsters showed a significant decrease in FOS-ir cells in the medial supraoptic nucleus, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and central amygdala when compared with controls. However, no differences in FOS-ir cells were found in other areas implicated in aggression such as the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus, or in a number of non-aggression areas. These results suggest that adolescent cocaine exposure may constitutively activate neurons in select forebrain areas critical for the regulation of aggression in hamsters. A model for how persistent activation of neurons in one of these brain regions (i.e., the hypothalamus) may facilitate the development of the aggressive phenotype in adolescent cocaine-exposed animals is presented.
Comparison of Ho:YAG, Tm:YAG, and argon lasers for fusion of intestinal tissues

Numerical modeling and experimental verification studies were conducted to compare continuous wave Ar, Tm:YAG, and Ho:YAG fusion characteristics in rat intestinal tissues. Spot sizes, powers, and activation times were varied according to laser characteristics. Exposed transected bowel wall was apposed and irradiated to obtain fusion in vivo. Tissue surface temperature distributions were measured with a thermal camera in the 8 to 12 micrometers band for calibration of the numerical models. The lasers were operated at fixed power, duration, and spot size. Experimental results were analyzed histologically to determine the extent of changes in submucosal collagen as indicated by birefringence loss. Modeling studies based on damage kinetics were conducted for the Tm:YAG and Ho:YAG experiments to study the microscale thermal and damage accumulation phenomena. Comparisons between predicted and measured damage boundaries showed favorable agreement.
Effect of corn moisture on the properties of pet food extrudates

ABSTRACT Corn moisture (9.5–13.5%) was significantly correlated to extrudate properties, even though water was added at the extruder to compensate for the differences in moisture. Water addition was more effective at the preconditioner than at the extruder, and longer retention preconditioner improved expansion. Water added to the pet food formula apparently was absorbed by the other formula ingredients and not the corn. Controlling the specific mechanical energy did not compensate for differences in corn moisture.
Growth criteria for solvent crazes

Single methanol crazes are grown from sharp cracks in polymethylmethacrylate. Double exposure holographic interferometry is used to determine the sequential strain energy release rates G and opening displacement profile of the craze from the initiation of growth to its cessation. The craze stress profile is determined at various points in its growth from the opening displacement profiles using a Fourier transform method. The rapid increase in G observed just before the craze ceases to grow demonstrates that craze growth criteria based on the concept of a constant critical total strain energy release rate cannot be correct. Similarly, the large stress concentration which develops just behind the craze tip at growth cessation is incompatible with the assumption that the craze grows to a length that just eliminates a stress singularity at its tip (Dugdale model). This feature, however, would be expected if sufficient methanol cannot reach the fibrils just behind the tip of the craze to plasticize them fully.
Agility and mixed-model furniture production

The manufacture of upholstered furniture provides an excellent opportunity to analyze the effect of a comprehensive communication system on classical production management functions. The objective of the research is to study the scheduling heuristics that embrace the concepts inherent in MRP, JIT and TQM while recognizing the need for agility in a somewhat complex and demanding environment. An on-line, real-time data capture system provides the status and location of production lots, components, subassemblies for schedule control. Current inventory status of raw material and purchased items are required in order to develop and adhere to schedules. For the large variety of styles and fabrics customers may order, the communication system must provide timely, accurate and comprehensive information for intelligent decisions with respect to the product mix and production resources.
Supply Chain Networks, Electronic Commerce, and Supply Side and Demand Side Risk

In this paper, we develop a supply chain network model in which both physical and electronic transactions are allowed and in which supply side risk as well as demand side risk are included in the formulation. The model consists of three tiers of decision-makers: the manufacturers, the distributors, and the retailers, with the demands associated with the retail outlets being random. We model the optimizing behavior of the various decision-makers, with the manufacturers and the distributors being multicriteria decision-makers and concerned with both profit maximization and risk minimization. We derive the equilibrium conditions and establish the finite-dimensional variational inequality formulation. We provide qualitative properties of the equilibrium pattern in terms of existence and uniqueness results and also establish conditions under which the proposed computational procedure is guaranteed to converge. We illustrate the supply chain network model through several numerical examples for which the equilibrium prices and product shipments are computed. This is the first multitiered supply chain network equilibrium model with electronic commerce and with supply side and demand side risk for which modeling, qualitative analysis, and computational results have been obtained.
Sedimentation in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica: a disturbance mechanism for benthic invertebrates

A slumping event that occurred on permanent transect lines from 12- to 30- m depth located at Arrival Heights, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica in 1993, provided an opportunity to examine the effects of sediment-mediated disturbance on the benthic invertebrate fauna. The disturbance had a particularly significant impact on the soft coral Alcyonium paessleri, which resulted in 84% colony mortality downslope from the slump site compared to an average annual mortality rate of 14% on control transects. In contrast, anchor ice at the same site accounted for removal of 5% of the population in 1992. Laboratory experiments with A. paessleri colonies under conditions of periodic sediment resuspension indicate that the soft corals are susceptible to this form of disturbance. Our observations suggest they are capable of shedding fine silt in the laboratory, which might explain the presence of A. paessleri in soft-sediment sites around McMurdo Sound. However, scarring by larger gravel in laboratory assays was slow to heal and may account for much of the colony mortality we observed. Several invertebrate-barren rocky benthic regions in McMurdo Sound were suggestive of historical slumping events. Given the removal of the smaller grain size sediments from these areas – a typically slow process – it appears these communities are slow to recover. The long-term effects of sedimentation on the benthic communities are unknown, but the impact on A. paessleri, one of the most common and fastest growing species, suggests this disturbance mechanism could lead to significant restructuring of these communities.
Phase II Study of Pyrazine Diazohydroxide (NSC 361456) for Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Abstract Pyrazine diazohydroxide (NSC 361456) (PZDH) was selected for further development after demonstrating more stability than its parent compound and significant antitumor activity in a number of in vivo tumor models. Its proposed mechanism of action is through the formation of DNA adducts via the reactive pyrazine diazonium ion. The aim of this phase II trial was to determine the toxicity and antitumor activity of PZDH in advanced non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). From May 1995 through April 1996, 17 chemotherapy- naive patients were entered into this study. PZDH was administered via a 5-minute intravenous bolus injection at a dose of 100 mg/m 2 for 5 days and repeated every 42 days. Per interim guidelines, the study was closed early due to lack of activity. Seventeen patients were evaluable for toxicity while 15 patients were evaluable for response. The median number of cycles administered was 2 (range, 1-7). Toxicity was moderate with grade 3-4 thrombocytopenia being the most common and occurring in six of 17 patients. Of the 15 patients evaluable for response, no partial or complete responses were observed (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0%-22%), while seven patients had stable disease and eight patients progressed during therapy. All but one patient have died. The median survival for the group is 6.6 months (95% CI: 3.4-10.8 months). PZDH possesses modest but acceptable hematologic toxicity when delivered at the above dose and dosing scheme. Our results demonstrate that PZDH has no clinical activity in advanced NSCLC with this dose and schedule.
Synthesis and characterization of poly(ε‐caprolactone)‐containing amino acid‐based poly(ether ester amide)s

A new family of biodegradable amino acid-based poly(ether ester amide)s (AA-PEEAs) consisting of three building blocks [poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL), L-phenylalanine (Phe), and aliphatic acid dichloride] were synthesized by a solution polycondensation. Using DMA as the solvent, these PCL-containing Phe-PEEA polymers were obtained with fair to very good yields with weight average molecular weight (Mw) ranging from 6.9 kg/mol to 31.0 kg/mol, depending on the original molecular weight of PCL. The chemical structures of the PCL-containing Phe-PEEA polymers were confirmed by IR and NMR spectra. These PCL-containing Phe-PEEAs had lower Tg than most of the oligoethylene glycol (OEG) based AA-PEEAs due to the more molecular flexibility of the PCL block in the backbones, but had higher Tg than non-amino acid based PEEA. The solubility of the PCL-containing Phe-PEEA polymers in a wide range of common organic solvents, such as THF and chloroform, was significantly improved when comparing with aliphatic diol based poly(ester amide)s and OEG based AA-PEEAs. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012
Disequilibrium and variational inequalities

In this paper we introduce a new market disequilibrium model in a spatial economic setting, which genemlizes a recent spatial disequilibrium model to the asymmetric case. We derive two alternative variational inequality formulations of the market conditions, in the case of price rigidities and/or controls, and discuss existence and uniqueness properties. We then propose a decomposition algorithm which resolves the variational inequality problem into three distinct and simpler variational inequality subproblems with special structure, which are then solved in sequential fashion. Any appropriate algorithm can then be used to solve the individual subproblems. The first variational inequality subproblem, however, is identical to the one governing the well-known spatial price e&tilibritmt problem and, hence, a plethora of algorithms are available for its solution. We conclude with computa- tional experience with the decomposition algorithm on large-scale market examples. This work bridges the study of disequilibrium and equilibrium problems via the theory of variational inequalities. Kepor&: Disequilibrium, spatial equilibrium, economics, variational inequalities.
Transition metal complexes of donor–acceptor biradicals

Abstract The nature of the electronic coupling in transition metal Donor–Acceptor and Donor–Bridge–Acceptor systems has become a subject of interest in the last decade due to the importance of electronic coupling in molecular electronics. Here we review the synthesis, structure, magnetism, and spectroscopy of donor–acceptor biradicals as they pertain to understanding the electronic origins and magnitude of the electronic coupling matrix element that figures prominently in electron transfer (transport). Stable D–A systems may be thought of as ground state analogues of charge separated states generated in photoinduced electron transfer processes and as model systems for understanding single molecule mediated electron transport between biased nanoelectrodes. The strong coupling (adiabatic) regime will be covered in this review as well as the methodology for probing the magnitude of the electronic coupling in this limit. D–A biradicals can facilitate long-range ferromagnetic exchange between localized spins mediated by delocalized electrons, and this is a new phenomenon in molecular systems. The use of the VBCI approach to develop a complete electronic structure description of strong electronic coupling in D–A and D–B–A biradicals, the origin of long-range biradical ferromagnetic exchange, and the relationship of these biradicals to molecular electronic materials will form the basis of the review.