cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of substrate interactions on the melting behavior of thin polyethylene films

Polymer films have been known to change their physical properties when film thickness is decreased below a certain value. The cause of this phenomenon is still unclear but it has been suggested that interactions and/or chain free-volume changes at the surface of the films are largely responsible for this behavior. In this paper, the effect of substrate interactions on the behavior of polymer thin films is evaluated quantitatively. The infrared spectra of nanothin polyethylene (PE) films were recorded as a function of temperature and amount of substrate covering the surface of the film. The evolution of specific bands in the CH2 rocking region of the spectra was used to determine the melting temperature (T m ) of the material. Results show different variations in T m depending on the nature of the substrate, indicating that interactions dominate free-volume considerations in PE thin films. By varying the amount of surface coverage, a quantitative estimate of the heat of interaction was determined, which confirmed the importance of surface interactions.
How to Queer the Past Without Sex: Queer Theory, Feminisms and the Archaeology of Identity

A queer archaeology is often equated to looking for ancient homosexuality. As a challenge to heteronormative practice, queer theory, instead, provides a framework for engaging with all aspects of identity formation and the processes and behaviors that mediate it. This article examines two primary points: (1) queer theory’s relationship to feminist practice and archaeology and (2) its application to the construction and production of difference among ancient Maya commoners. Through this analysis, I explore how investigations of identity and status can and should be part of a queer analysis. Work at the Northeast Group, part of the site of Chan, Belize illustrates how focus on internal class composition, specifically change through time, “queers” traditional models of ancient Maya class formation.
Damping solid—flow fluctuations

Abstract In the two-phase flow of solids and gases, fluctuations in the solid flow often plagues the experimenter or operator. A technique using an expansion volume based on the damping of gas pulsations in one-phase flow is proposed for the two-phase system. The resulting formulation was applied to actual tests on a coal—air flow system and tests show that the damping of the coal—flow fluctuations were achieved, which are in agreement with the theory. This pipe expansion arrangement is suggested as a technique to smooth two-phase flow system operations.
Major and minor life events as predictors of psychological distress: further issues and findings.

Current trends in research on stressful life events and disease have been to focus upon other psychosocial factors that may be associated with stress and illness relationships. Recently, the study of relatively minor life events or situations (e.g., daily hassles) has provided a promising alternative avenue of inquiry into basic stress measurement and the relationship of stress to disorder. While initial findings in this area of research appear encouraging, several methodological and procedural issues currently preclude definitive conclusions. The present paper outlines several of the most important limitations of existing research on this topic and provides further data taking these limitations into account for the role of minor life events as predictors of psychological distress. The results of the present prospective study indicate that undesirable minor events (e.g., hassles) significantly predict psychological symptoms, even once initial symptom status is controlled for statistically. Additionally, hassles were uniformly better predictors of subsequent psychological symptoms than were major life event categories; potentially important interactive effects (e.g., hassles x prior symptoms; hassles x prior major events) were also tested and their implications are discussed. Finally, basic associations between major and minor events were examined. The findings are discussed specifically in the context of recent advances in this area and more generally in relation to clarifying our understanding of psychosocial predictors of disorder.
A investigation on the correlation-coefficient and power metrics for MIMO antennas in a reverberation chamber

Many MIMO antenna specifying aspects have been investigated. These aspects include capacity, diversity gain, BER between multiple antennas, K-factor and their mutual relations in both a reverberation chamber and an anechoic chamber. In this presentation, the correlation-coefficient (ρCC) of the transmission coefficients will be compared to the complex transmission-coefficient squared (TCS) by investigating the behavior of the coefficient of variance (Cv) for the two measures. The Cv is calculated by normalizing the standard deviation by the mean for the different positions in the reverberation chamber. The transmission coefficients S13 and S23 are obtained from a three-port vector network analyzer measurement done between two monopole antennas (connected on ports 1 and 2, on a single ground-plane) and a brass-horn antenna (on port 3). Three sets of monopoles are at fixed separation distances on a ground plane (called fix separation parallel-monopole antenna (FSPA)), and are representative of good, bad, and average multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna's. Another antenna with an adjustable separation distance between the monopoles (called variable separation parallel-monopole antenna (VSPA)), allows variation of the MIMO antenna over a range from good to bad. For both types of MIMO antennas, the ρCC as function of the monopole separation follows the trend of the analytic model (Bessel-function). The ρCC is better (i.e., a smaller value) at larger separations as can be seen in Figure 1a and 1b. With increasing separation the Cv increases to values of approximately 0.4 to 0.5, which implies that the ρCC is becoming less accurate. However, if we look at the case were there are 6 typical RF absorbers-sections added for loading, the Cv of the TCS almost doubles while the Cv of the ρCC stays more-or-less the same. In conclusion, for a small separation between the monopoles, especially in a heavily loaded environment, the ρCC would likely exhibit less uncertainty as a performance metric for a MIMO system, than the TCS measurement.
Challenges to early prevention and intervention: personal experiences with adherence.

Objective To describe potential adherence-related difficulties encountered in the implementation of a secondary prevention, early intervention study with acute low back pain patients. An additional goal is to provide recommendations, based on the authors' experience, on how best to overcome these potential obstacles for future research. Design The study used a predictive algorithm, identified through previous research, to identify which patients presenting with acute low back pain were at risk for developing chronic problems. These subjects were then treated prophylactically with an interdisciplinary intervention. Specific difficulties initially encountered during the pilot stage of implementation of this intervention included securing adequate physician referrals to the study and helping patients to progress through treatment in the most efficient manner. Conclusions Potential difficulties are discussed in the contextual framework of treatment adherence and factors affecting it, including the impact of personality factors, satisfaction, comprehension, side effects, financial issues, length of treatment, type of regimen, social issues, patient beliefs, and biologic factors. It is hoped that the present authors' experience will enable future investigators to anticipate these common problems, and structure their research endeavors accordingly.
Review of synthetic metal multilayers

Current experimental work on multilayer metal systems is reviewed with emphasis on superconducting systems prepared by sputter and electron-beam deposition.
On the lack of host-cell reactivation of UV-irradiated phage T5 II. Further characterization of the repair inhibition exerted by T5 infection.

Abstract Experiments reported in the preceding paper [4] had shown that host-cell reactivation (HCR) of UV-irradiated phage T1 in excision-repair proficient Escherichia coli cells is inhibited by superinfection with phage T5. Theoretical considerations have led to predictions concerning the dependence of repair inhibition on the multiplicity of superinfecting T5 phage and on the UV fluence to which they were exposed. These predictions have been supported by experimental results described in this paper. The fluence dependence permitted calculation of the relative UV sensitivity of the gene function responsible for repair inhibition; it was found to be about 2.3% that of the plaque-forming ability of phage T5. The T5-inhibitable step in excision repair occurs early in the infective cycle of T1. Furthermore, experiments involving the presence of 400 μg/ml chloramphenicol showed that HCR inhibition of T1 is caused by a protein produced after the FST segment of T5 (i.e. the first 8% of the T5 genome) has entered the host cell. A previously described minor T1 recovery process, occuring in both excision-repair-proficient and -deficient host cells, is inhibited by T5 infection due to a different substance, which is most likely associated with the “second-step-transfer” region of T5 DNA (involving the remainder of the genome). Superinfection with T4ν1 phage resulted in HCR inhibition of T1, resembling that observed after T5 superinfection. The discussion of these results suggests that inhibition of the bacterial excision repair system by T5 or T4 infection occurs at the level of UV-endonucleolytic incision, and that lack of HCR both in T-even phages and in T5 can be explained in the same manner.
The U.S.A.'s Land Data Legacy from the 19th Century: A Message from the Henry George-Francis A. Walker Controversy over Farm Land Distribution

. Today's perception of land problems stems in part from agriculturally-oriented data developed in the late 19th Century and continued in present day series. Henry George criticized the agricultural statistics of his time but he was as much a captive of the data as his antagonist, Francis A. Walker. The historical identity of farm with farm operator in agricultural statistics is a basis for current concerns about the structure of agriculture. Landownership issues now transcend agriculture. The distribution of wealth, control of use, incidence of taxes and subsidies require land data not tied to a particular firm, industry or program.
T cell repertoire in systemic sclerosis.

An increase of certain T cell subsets in systemic sclerosis patients, particularly of V81+ γδ T cells in the blood and lungs and CD8+ αβ T cells in the lungs, has been shown. The diversity of T cell antigen receptor (TCR) Vδ1, Vα, and Vβ gene repertoires was examined using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction to amplify rearranged TCR transcripts across the junctional region. This was followed by two methods of analysis. First, the relative expression of Vα and Vβ genes was determined in the blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of the patients. Second, we looked for evidence of restricted diversity of the junctional regions in TCR Vδ1 transcripts and in different Vα and Vβ gene families. Limited Vδ1-Cδ junctional region lengths were observed in the patients compared to controls. This was confirmed by sequence analysis of Vδ1-Cδ junctional regions after subcloning amplified products in a bacterial vector. A restricted diversity of the junctional region lengths was also detected in a number of ...
Electron Diffraction Analysis of Mixtures of Hexagonal and Cubic Cadmium Sulphide

ESTIMATION of hexagonal cadmium sulphide in mixtures with the cubic form can be obtained by reflexion electron diffraction of the polycrystalline material. Photographic plates are microphotometered and the integrated intensities are measured for several lines. Intensity ratios for the sample are compared with similar data for calibration standards and the hexagonal content is obtained graphically.
Visual Optimization with Domain Reduction

Presented in this article is a visual aid approach in solving unconstrained optimization problems over bounded domains with or without any standard optimization algorithms. No explicit information about the problem is needed except for the values of the objective function. A reasonable estimate of a global solution is usually found quickly.
Trabecular Eccentricity and Bone Adaptation

It is well established that bones functionally adapt by mechanisms that control tissue density, whole bone geometry, and trabecular orientation. In this study, we propose the existence of another such powerful mechanism, namely, trabecular eccentricity, i.e. non-central placement of trabecular bone within a cortical envelope. In the human femoral neck, trabecular eccentricity results in a thicker cortical shell on the inferior than superior aspect. In an overall context of expanding understanding of bone adaptation, the goal of this study was to demonstrate the biomechanical significance of, and provide a mechanistic explanation for, the relationship between trabecular eccentricity and stresses in the human femoral neck. Using composite beam theory, we showed that the biomechanical effects of eccentricity during a habitual loading situation were to increase the stress at the superior aspect of the neck and decrease the stress at the inferior aspect, resulting in an overall protective effect. Further, increasing eccentricity had a stress-reducing effect equivalent to that of increasing cortical thickness or increasing trabecular modulus. We conclude that an asymmetric placement of trabecular bone within a cortical bone envelope represents yet another mechanism by which whole bones can adapt to mechanical demands.
Voice activated wheelchair controller

The Voice Activated Wheelchair Controller (VAWC) project was designed to develop a feasibility model for activating a wheelchair using a low-cost speech recognition system. A microcontroller was programmed to provide user control over each command, as well as to prevent voice commands from being issued accidentally.
Pacemaker after transcatheter aortic valve replacement: unexpected, but not infrequent outcome

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a management choice for patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis (AS) who are deemed poor operative candidates. The decision to proceed with TAVR is by no means simple; it requires the evaluation of considerations such as the team performing
Kan Yu Ret an Rayt en Ingles: Children Become Literate in English as a Second Language.

Current research on second language development in children has provided teachers and curriculum planners with multiple possibilities for innovations in classroom practice. In the case of oral language development in ESL, this research has made significant contributions both to classroom teaching and to the materials being published for classroom use. Classroom practices in literacy for ESL children, however, have not kept up with research. This article presents several general findings from recent research on second language reading and writing development in children. These findings suggest: that even children who speak virtually no English read English print in the environment; that ESL learners are able to read English with only limited control over the oral system of the language; that the experiential and cultural background of the ESL reader has a strong effect on reading comprehension; that child ESL learners, early in their development of English, can write English and can do so for various purposes. This article also presents classroom applications for each finding.
Treatment of a lingual goiter with triiodothyronine.

ABSTRACT This report concerns a myxedematous patient, aged 55, with severe dysphagia produced by a large vascular tumor at the base of her tongue. Radioiodine was useful in establishing a diagnosis of lingual goiter. However, in dosages which could be tolerated by the patient, it could not be concentrated sufficiently for therapeusis. Since the gland was too vascular and large for easy surgical removal, the patient was given 75 μg. of triiodothyronine per day, both for treatment of the myxedema and for shrinkage of the goiter via suppression of pituitary thyrotropic activity. The goiter shrank remarkably within six weeks and the patient became asymptomatic. Desiccated thyroid was then substituted as maintenance therapy. Such treatment is recommended: 1) as preoperative preparation when surgery is necessary, or 2) as the sole treatment of large lingual goiters.
How Up-to-date should it be? the Value of Instant Profiling and Adaptation in Information Filtering

In profile-based or content-based adaptive systems, one of the open research questions is how frequently the user's profile and the list of recommended items should be updated. Different systems tend to choose one of the two extremes. Some systems do it once per session (thus called between-session update strategy), whereas some others update whenever there is feedback (called instant update strategy). This paper presents our attempt to assess the value of keeping the list of recommended items up-to-date in the context of task-based information exploration. We conducted controlled studies involving human users performing realistic tasks using two systems that have the same adaptive filtering engine but with the above two different update strategies. Our results show that the between-session strategy helped to find better quality information, and received better subjects' responses about its usefulness and usability. However, it prolonged the selection of useful passages, whereas the instant update strategy helped subjects to obtain almost all of their selected passages (> 98%) within the first 5 minutes. Based on the results, we hypothesize that the best strategy for updating might be a hybrid between the two update strategies, where both adaptability and stability can be achieved.
A Curving Bactericidal Plasma Needle

An atmospheric-pressure nanosecond pulsed plasma jet was directed into a dielectric microtube to form a curving plasma needle and fill the entire volume of the tube. The bactericidal effect of the plasma was demonstrated against Enterococcus faecalis biofilms, which were grown on the inner surfaces of the tubes.
Threshold Selection as a Function of Region Count Stability

In this paper we present a novel method for threshold selection. The idea is based upon quantifying the stability of the number of regions segmented as the threshold is varied. We capture this idea using a scale-space formulation, and detect "stable" segmentations as local minima in the scale-space. This work was originally motivated by the problem of detecting some types of common lesions in retinal images (many lesions appear as abnormally bright areas), on which we show some results. We also compare our method against an approach based on saliency.
Molecular Approaches to Urea Transporters

Urea plays a critical role in the urine-concentrating mechanism in the inner medulla. Physiologic data provided evidence that urea transport in red blood cells and kidney inner medulla was mediated by specific urea transporter proteins. Molecular approaches during the past decade resulted in the cloning of two gene families for facilitated urea transporters, UT-A and UT-B, encoding several urea transporter cDNA isoforms in humans, rodents, and several nonmammalian species. Polyclonal antibodies have been generated to the cloned urea transporter proteins, and the use of these antibodies in integrative animal studies has resulted in several novel findings, including: (1) the surprising finding that UT-A1 protein abundance and urea transport are increased in the inner medulla during conditions in which urine concentrating ability is reduced; (2) vasopressin increases UT-A1 phosphorylation in rat inner medullary collecting duct; (3) UT-A protein abundance is upregulated in uremia in both liver and heart; and (4) UT-B is expressed in many nonrenal tissues and endothelial cells. This review will summarize the knowledge gained from using molecular approaches to perform integrative studies into urea transporter protein regulation, both in normal animals and in animal models of human diseases, including studies of uremic rats in which urea transporter protein is upregulated in liver and heart.
Determining Dust and Trash Contents of Cottons with the Cotton Particulates Analyzer: Part II: Evaluation of Respirable Dust Measuring Machines and Methods

The general validity of an equation relating cotton trash and respirable dust fractions obtained using gravimetrical measurements made with the cotton particulates analyzer has been tested with data from a variety of other respirable dust separating machines. Six different cottons with a wide range of Shirley trash content were used to test these machines. In the machines where pairs of metallic clothed rolls open the lint to aero dynamically liberate respirable dust, the Shirley trash fraction is proportional to the square of the respirable dust fraction. The Shirley trash is proportional to the respirable dust from the Anderson-Baker dry and Thibodeaux wet methods where the respirable dust is separated from the lint by an air jet and methanol wash, respectively, and for a machine in which the fibers are worked by two perforated, pinned cylinders.
Approaches to building self healing systems using dependency analysis

Typical distributed transaction environments are a heterogeneous collection of hardware and software resources. An example of such an environment is an electronic store front where users can launch a number of different transactions to complete one or more interactions with the system. One of the challenges in managing such an environment is to figure out the root cause of a performance or throughput problem that manifests itself at a user access point, and to take appropriate action, preferably in an automated way. Our paper addresses this problem by analyzing the dependency relationship among various software components. We also provide a theoretical insight into how a set of transactions can be generated to pinpoint the root cause of a performance problem that is manifested at the user access point.
EVOLUTION OF SEXUAL SIZE DIMORPHISMS IN EMYDID TURTLES: ECOLOGICAL DIMORPHISM, RENSCH'S RULE, AND SYMPATRIC DIVERGENCE

The origin of sexual size dimorphisms (SSD) has long been a central topic in evolutionary biology. However, there is little agreement as to which factors are most important in driving the evolution of SSD, and several hypotheses concerning SSD evolution have never been tested empirically. Emydid turtles include species with both male and female-biased SSD, and some emydids exhibit among the most extreme SSD in tetrapods. Here, we use a comparative phylogenetic approach in emydids to analyze the origins of SSD and test several hypotheses for the evolution of SSD, some for the first time. We test the Fairbairn-Preziosi hypothesis for the origin of Rensch's rule, and support it in lineages with male-biased SSD but not those with female-biased SSD. We also find support for the secondary ecological dimorphism hypothesis, which proposes that selection for ecological divergence between sexes exaggerates preexisting SSD. Finally, we find only equivocal support for the Bolnick-Doebeli hypothesis, which relates intersexual ecological divergence to interspecific ecological divergence. Our results also illustrate how global analyses of SSD may mislead in groups in which the factors that drive the evolution of SSD vary among clades.
Detection and segmentation of generic shapes based on affine modeling of energy in eigenspace

This paper presents a novel approach for detection and segmentation of man made generic shapes in cluttered images. The set of shapes to be detected are members of affine transformed versions of basic geometric shapes such as rectangles, circles etc. The shape set is represented by its vectorial edge map transformed over a wide range of affine parameters. We use vectorial boundary instead of regular boundary to improve the robustness to noise, background clutter and partial occlusion. Our approach consists of a detection stage and a verification stage. In the detection stage, we first derive the energy from the principal eigenvectors of the set. Next, an a posteriori probability map of energy distribution is computed from the projection of the edge map representation in a vectorial eigen-space. Local peaks of the posterior probability map are located and indicate candidate detections. We use energy/probability based detection since we find that the underlying distribution is not Gaussian and resembles a hypertoroid. In the verification stage, each candidate is verified using a fast search algorithm based on a novel representation in angle space and the corresponding pose information of the detected shape is obtained. The angular representation used in the verification stage yields better results than a Euclidean distance representation. Experiments are performed in various interfering distortions, and robust detection and segmentation are achieved.
Test anxiety in relation to measures of cognitive and intellectual functioning.

The potential impact of test anxiety on cognitive testing was examined in a sample of 300 predominantly male veteran referrals who were administered a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. Exclusionary criteria included failure on effort testing (n ¼ 14). Level of test anxiety was significantly related to performance on the WAIS-III Working Memory Index (r ¼ 2.343, p , .001) but not to scores on the Processing Speed, Perceptual Organization, or Verbal Comprehension indexes. Test anxiety was not related to a global index of neuropsychological performance on the HRNES-R (Average Impairment Scale). Level of education had a collinear relationship with test anxiety in predicting cognitive test performance. Regression analyses revealed a more prominent role for education, indicating the possibility that test anxiety may be a reaction to, more than a cause of, deficient working memory performance. These results suggest that clinicians who use these particular tests should be reluctant to attribute poor test performance to anxiety that occurs during the testing process.
Operational construction of integrity constraints

Shows that data and knowledge base integrity constraints can be regarded as queries. This allows the author to use his visual query language Vizla for the construction of constraints in an operational style. The primary tool for this is the Vizla filter, which lets through only those elements of a set that satisfy a filter predicate. The main contribution of the paper is a method of using filter predicates as constraints, but fuzzy integrity constraints are also considered. >
Two DSP-base vibrotactile hearing devices

Digital signal processors (DSPs) have been used to develop better research devices. Two such devices are described: (1) a 16-channel vibrotactile vocoder that transforms speech into a vibratory pattern applied to the skin, and (2) a combination acoustic/vibrator system that augments the reception of speech sounds outside the usable range of the impaired ear with vibration. The differences between the two devices indicate the range of applications that are possible. >
Cincinnatian Series--Model for Cyclic and Episodic Deposition of Carbonates and Shales on a Storm-Dominated Ramp: ABSTRACT

End_Page 311------------------------------Upper Ordovician (Cincinnatian) strata in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky were deposited as cyclic sequences. Three types of cycles are represented: thin, graded storm cycles, moderately thick megacycles (carbonate to shale sequences), and thick shoaling-upward cycles (shale-rich, grainstone-poor facies that grade upward into shale-poor, grainstone-rich facies). Cincinnatian strata were deposited on a gently sloping, shallow-marine carbonate ramp. Sedimentation was episodic; periods of in-situ carbonate accumulation were frequently interrupted by storm events. Tropical storms affected sedimentation and benthic ecology in seven ways by: (1) eroding sediments; (2) transporting allochthonous clays and silts onto a carbonate ramp; (3) winnowing, transporting, and redistributing carbonate sediments; (4) generating downslope gravity flows; (5) mixing benthic fauna from different communities; (6) periodically interrupting the process of community succession; and (7) creating favorable conditions for the evolution and success of opportunistic species. Because of the excellent preservation of episodic storm events and their influence on sedimentation and paleoecology, the Cincinnatian Series is recognized as an example of an ancient storm-dominated, carbonate ramp. The following characteristics are diagnostic of storm domination in the rock record: (1) abundant storm sequences occur in all facies; (2) storm sequences are variable; (3) inner shelf facies have thin, discontinuous bedding; (4) rudites dominate in inner shelf facies; (5) fine grainstones are concentrated in outer-shelf facies; (6) textural inversions are common; (7) carbonate rock types are widely variable; (8) storm-generated structures occur in all facies; (9) in-situ faunal communities are rare; and (10) most beds contain a mixture of fossil-preservational states.End_of_Article - Last_Page 312------------
Spatial and Temporal Variability in Sediment Denitrification Within an Agriculturally Influenced Reservoir

Reservoirs are intrinsically linked to the rivers that feed them, creating a river–reservoir continuum in which water and sediment inputs are a function of the surrounding watershed land use. We examined the spatial and temporal variability of sediment denitrification rates by sampling longitudinally along an agriculturally influenced river–reservoir continuum monthly for 13 months. Sediment denitrification rates ranged from 0 to 63 μg N2O g ash free dry mass of sediments (AFDM)−1 h−1 or 0–2.7 μg N2O g dry mass of sediments (DM)−1 h−1 at reservoir sites, vs. 0–12 μg N2O gAFDM−1 h−1 or 0–0.27 μg N2O gDM−1 h−1 at riverine sites. Temporally, highest denitrification activity traveled through the reservoir from upper reservoir sites to the dam, following the load of high nitrate (NO3−-N) water associated with spring runoff. Annual mean sediment denitrification rates at different reservoir sites were consistently higher than at riverine sites, yet significant relationships among theses sites differed when denitrification rates were expressed per gDM vs. per gAFDM. There was a significant positive relationship between sediment denitrification rates and NO3−-N concentration up to a threshold of 0.88 mg NO3− -N l−1, above which it appeared NO3−-N was no longer limiting. Denitrification assays were amended seasonally with NO3−-N and an organic carbon source (glucose) to determine nutrient limitation of sediment denitrification. While organic carbon never limited sediment denitrification, all sites were significantly limited by NO3−-N during fall and winter when ambient NO3−-N was low.
Growth-related oncogene-α induces endothelial dysfunction through oxidative stress and downregulation of eNOS in porcine coronary arteries

Growth-related oncogene-α (GRO-α) is a member of the CXC chemokine family, which is involved in the inflammatory process including atherosclerosis. We hypothesized that GRO-α may affect endothelial...
Defensins act as potent adjuvants that promote cellular and humoral immune responses in mice to a lymphoma idiotype and carrier antigens.

Defensins released by neutrophils are able to kill a broad spectrum of microbes. They also induce leukocyte migration in vitro and elicit inflammatory leukocyte responses at s.c. injection sites in mice. In vitro experiments showed that human defensins enhanced concanavalin A-stimulated murine spleen cell proliferation and IFN-γ production. This led us to examine the effects of human defensins on specific immune responses in vivo. BALB/c mice were immunized with 50 µ go f keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) adsorbed to aluminum hydroxide and administered with defensins in aqueous solution. Intraperitoneal administration of defensins significantly increased the production of KLH-specific IgG1, IgG2a and IgG2b antibodies 14 days after immunization. In vitro splenic KLH-specific proliferative responses were higher in mice treated with KLH and defensins than in those treated with KLH alone. Increased IFN-γ and, to a lesser extent, IL-4 production were also detected in the supernatants of ex vivo KLH-activated spleen cells from mice treated with defensins. Finally, defensins significantly enhanced the antibody response to a syngeneic tumor antigen, lymphoma Ig idiotype and also augmented resistance to tumor challenge. These results indicate that defensins act as potent immune adjuvants by inducing the production of lymphokines, which promote T cell-dependent cellular immunity and antigen-specific Ig production. Thus, defensins appear to function as neutrophil-derived signals that promote adaptive immune responses.
Exploiting redundancy for cost-effective, time-constrained execution of HPC applications on amazon EC2

The use of clouds to execute high-performance computing (HPC) applications has greatly increased recently. Clouds provide several potential advantages over traditional supercomputers and in-house clusters. The most popular cloud is currently Amazon EC2, which provides a fixed-cost option (called on-demand) and a variable-cost, auction-based option (called the spot market). The spot market trades lower cost for potential interruptions that necessitate checkpointing; if the market price exceeds the bid price, a node is taken away from the user without warning.We explore techniques to maximize performance per dollar given a time constraint within which an application must complete. Specifically, we design and implement multiple techniques to reduce expected cost by exploiting redundancy in the EC2 spot market. We then design an adaptive algorithm that selects a scheduling algorithm and determines the bid price. We show that our adaptive algorithm executes programs up to 7x cheaper than using the on-demand market and up to 44% cheaper than the best non-redundant, spot-market algorithm.
Assessment of the Geographic Distribution of Ornithodoros turicata (Argasidae): Climate Variation and Host Diversity

The third author’s middle initial is listed incorrectly. The correct name is Andrew Y. Li. The correct citation is: Donaldson TG, Perez de Leon AA, Li AY, Castro-Arellano I, Wozniak E, Boyle WK, et al. (2016) Assessment of the Geographic Distribution of Ornithodoros turicata (Argasidae): Climate Variation and Host Diversity. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 10(2): e0004383. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0004383
Bundled Presentation, Susceptibility to Influence and Calorie Estimation

The way in which choices are offered to consumers may affect their purchase decisions and the amounts they consume, potentially leading to harmful overspending and/or overconsumption. This research adds to the growing body of literature on how presentation can affect perceptions of food choices by examining how estimates of meal size and the accuracy of these estimates are affected by the bundling of menu items in a fast food context. Results of an experiment indicated that consumers were more likely to underestimate the calorie count of items when they were offered in a meal rather than individually, particularly for consumers who were more susceptible to interpersonal influence.
Fatal disseminated cytomegalic inclusion disease in an adult presenting with a lesion of the gastrointestinal tract.

The purpose of this paper is to report a fatal case of disseminated cytomegalic inclusion disease (CMID) in a 71-year-old woman, with involvement of the anorectal region. CMID, an infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV), has been infrequently reported in the adult. In 1962 Wong and Warner were able to find only 41 cases reported in the world literature, to which they added the findings on 14 adult patients. Since then an increasing number of cases has been reported. ' • In most instances, however, the CMV did not appear to be primarily responsible for clinical disease, but seemed to represent a secondary subclinical infection. Human cytomegaloviruses are responsible for many opportunistic viral infections affecting individuals with debilitating diseases such as leukemias, malignant lymphomas, chronic infections, severe malnutrition, and patients receiving renal homotransplants, especially those treated with immunosuppressive drugs and ionizing radiation 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11 Although clinical manifestations are infrequent, studies based on frequency of complement-fixing antibodies against CMV in various age groups indicate that some, if not all, members of this group of viruses are widely disseminated throughout the population.' 10 The most severe form of disseminated primary CMID is seen in the neonatal period after an intrauterine infection by transplacental passage of the CMV from the mother.'
The Making of Great Cheeses: The first steps in making great cheeses involve building the right physical and chemical environment to support microbial ripening

Cheese making transforms milk into either fresh or ripened cheese, with the aging process ranging from weeks to years. The first days establish the chemical characteristics of the cheese before it begins to age, setting the stage for microbial ripening. Of the plethora of organisms in new cheese, some remain viable and may proliferate during aging, others will be suppressed, while still others may be suppressed initially and then favored or vice versa, depending on the chemical environment to which they are subject. To add to this complexity, the chemical environment within the cheese may change dramatically as ripening progresses. Much of this complexity can be reduced to a few scientific principles that cheese makers vary systematically to achieve a wide range of outcomes. The historical development of distinctly different cheese varieties involved modulating these basic principles.
Are contraindications to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation slowly vanishing

In the mid-1980s, the application of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) in newborns with severe respiratory failure gained a footing when fewer than a dozen ECMO centers became established. What followed was the emergence of nearly 100 ECMO centers in the United States and very successful
Afm Study of CeO2 Growth on Sapphire as a Buffer Layer for YBa2Cu3O7

The structure of CeO2 films grown on (1102) sapphire and on YBCO thin films was investigated. The films reported on here were grown by pulsed excimer laser deposition and their surface structure was probed using atomic force microscopy. We found that CeO2 films grown on sapphire were epitaxial with a granular structure which is smooth on an atomic scale. We see evidence of a surface reconstruction on a very smooth CeO2 (100) oriented surface. At higher growth temperatures, three dimensional islands begin to form. When a CeO2 film is grown on top of a YBCO film, the growth mode is two dimensional. The steps in this layer by layer growth are a surprisingly large 2 nm. This is about equal to 4 times the CeO2 lattice constant. This step height appears to be temperature dependent.
Evolution of Chinese solid rocket propulsion technology for space missions

The evolution course of Chinese solid rocket propulsion technology for space missions since 1950s is presented.The technical features,development process,ground tests and flight records of nine typical solid motors are described.These motors were developed for sounding rockets,upper stages of launch vehicles and orbit transfer systems in application satellites respectively.The evolution of basic technology of Chinese solid rocket motors and future developing concept are briefly introduced.The information in the paper are all based on the published literatures.
Theory of patch-antenna metamaterial perfect absorbers

A metasurface that absorbs waves from all directions of incidence can be achieved if the surface impedance is made to vary as a function of incidence angle in a specific manner. Here we show that a periodic array of planar nanoparticles coupled to a metal film can act as an absorbing metasurface with an angle-dependent impedance. Through a semi-analytical calculation based on coupled-mode theory, we find the perfect absorbing condition is equivalent to balancing the Ohmic and radiative losses of the nanoparticles at normal incidence. Absorption over a wide range of incidence angles can then be obtained by tailoring the scattered far-field pattern of the individual planar nanoparticles such that their radiative losses remain constant. The theory provides a means of understanding the behavior of perfect absorbing structures that have been observed experimentally or numerically, reconciling previously published theories and enabling the optimization of absorbing surfaces.
Mental Retardation and g

Publisher Summary This chapter deals with the relationship between mental retardation and general cognitive ability, g. There have been a number of different approaches to the study of g when groups with mental retardation are compared with non-retarded groups. The evidence from these psychometric studies indicates that groups with mental retardation have higher intercorrelations on the subtests of intelligence tests as well as on any battery of mentally challenging tasks than do groups of higher intelligence. New data obtained by Jensen suggest that the higher intercorrelation of low IQ groups is a result of greater investment of what g they have in all the subtests of an intelligence test, regardless of each subtest's g loadings when derived from large, representative samples. Low IQ groups have fewer diverse abilities than higher IQ groups and are thus more dependent on what g they have to execute a variety of tasks. Although the interest correlation does not tell the strength of g in different groups, there are other strategies for making this measurement. Performance of groups of mentally retarded individuals, when compared with groups of higher ability, produces evidence that the mentally retarded groups perform most poorly on those tests that are the most highly g-loaded. Results thus far require further substantiation, but at the same time, the search for the nature of intelligence should also explore the biological nature of g.
Reading Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway and To The Lighthouse

Reading Woolf’s fiction means participating in the process of sorting out values, for she does not measure her characters by a set of moral principles as, say, Jane Austen does in Emma. On every page we experience Woolf’s own quest for meaning, her puzzlement with life’s riddles, her sense of wonder intermingled with her anxiety and doubt. In the voices of her narrators, we feel the presence of Woolf desperately trying to create meaning from the material within her narrative. This effort to create meaning mirrors the major subject of her novels: the quest of her characters to create meaning within a world in which time and mortality are the first principles and where order — divine or otherwise — is absent. Woolf is the subject of her fiction, and the form is the correlative to her search for personality, character, and meaning. But because her search is the act of desperation of a person living on the edge, we realize that she is willing to settle for something far more ephemeral for both herself and her characters: moments of apparent unity, temporary states of feeling which inevitably must pass; aesthetic insights that are undermined by the imperfection of art; resting places that are marked by the absence of turmoil rather than by the presence of anything vital except her language. In other words, her quest is for islands in which the soul’s turmoil might rest before continuing on its excruciatingly painful mortal journey. Yet she knew that moments of visions, those intense and splendid oases of the soul when one could not separate the dancer from the dance, were always more real in their anticipation than their effects.
Compressed He 3 and He 4

Some of the more surprising aspects of both He3 and He4 are the exceedingly complex phase diagrams which have been mapped for these seemingly simple substances. In connection with the λ-transition of He4, we have already seen how the P-V-T and thermal properties behave anomalously, as we have also discussed some of the unusual characteristics of compressed liquid He3 as a Fermi liquid. While these are generally understandable as direct consequences of the degeneracy conditions of nonideal quantum fluids, there are several other remarkable equilibrium features attributable to quantum effects. Principal among these are first, that the solidification curves for both liquids display a minimum in the P-T plane, and second, that both isotopes have been found to exist in three different stable crystallo-graphic modifications.
Criminal Justice Considerations for Unsubmitted and Untested Sexual Assault Kits: A Review of the Literature and Suggestions for Moving Forward:

One of the latest reforms to the criminal justice response to sexual assault involves changes to the submission and testing of sexual assault kits. Across the United States, thousands of kits have ...
Die distale spleno-renale termino-laterale Anastomose nach Warren

Verff. berichten uber 28 distale termino-laterale splenorenale Shunts nach Warren. 17 dieser Patienten sind klinischen, hamatologischen und angiographischen Kontrollen, im Durchschnitt 10 (2–46) Monate nach der Operation, unterzogen worden. Die kritische Betrachtung der gewonnenen Ergebnisse last den Schlus zu, das die Warrensche Derivation, obwohl zum Zeitpunkt der Operation tatsachlich selektiv, mit der Zeit zu einem gewissen hepatofugalen Kreislauf fuhrt, dessen Wirksamkeit das primare Vorhaben einer gezielten Drainage des gastro-oesophagealen Bettes allein ubersteigt.
Critical mass matters: The long-term benefits of retail agglomeration for establishment survival in downtown Detroit and The Hague:

This paper explores the long-term sensitivity of street-level retailers to agglomeration to corroborate its theorised benefits under current economic modelling. It does so by studying the annualise...
Free Axisymmetric Vibrations of a Hollow Cylinder of Finite Length Made of a Functionally Graded Material

On the basis of the three-dimensional elasticity theory, we study a problem of free axisymmetric vibrations of inhomogeneous hollow cylinders of finite length made of functionally graded materials under different boundary conditions imposed on their end faces. The elastic properties of the material continuously vary in the radial direction. We propose a numerical-analytic approach for the solution of this problem. The original problem of the elasticity theory containing partial differential equations is reduced to a boundary-value problem for the systems of ordinary differential equations of high order in the radial coordinate by using spline approximations and collocation methods. The obtained one-dimensional problem is solved by using a stable numerical method of discrete orthogonalization together with the method of step-by-step search. We also present the results of determination of the frequencies and modes of vibrations of the cylinder made of a functionally graded material obtained as a composition of stainless steel and nickel for different types of boundary conditions imposed at the end faces and different values of temperature.
Recent Advances in the Control of Chlorination

The well known orthotolidine test for residual chlorine is easily made with simple equipment, and thus the tendency is to consider the test as satisfactory and one needing little attention in seeing that reliable results are secured. In reality, however, this apparently simple test is influenced by many factors which must be borne in mind to insure reliable results under varied conditions. Because